Ever After

by ArtGirlLullaby

After everything they went through, it came a time of peace. But in times like these, important decisions must be taken and so both Star and Marco will need to be ready to face the destiny and consequences of their actions and choices.

14. After Departure

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS?!

But with actual chapter while I'm having a break down again because... Aparrently witchcraft? and I actually needed to drop something and feel like I'm doing something to this universe so...

Yeah, there's that. For that reason I won't say much. that's all. Thank you everyone for following and been patiente, I'll be thanking properly on the next time.

I hope you guys enjoy (grab tissues) and be patient with me and this ill brain of mine.

Love, AGLullaby~

See ya!

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Chapter 14: After Departure

The princess stepped in her kingdom once again and then looked behind as the portal to Earth closed forever. The dimensional scissors in her hands felt heavy and dull, maybe she should give it back to Pony Head, she wouldn't use them anyway.

Her heart was stinging. She felt the longing of going back already, but that was impossible now. Being a world out of magic, the scissors couldn't connect the magic from one to another there wasn't.

With a sigh, Star went straight her room ready to pass out on her bed.

"Star."

And avoid the confront with her mother waiting her right beside her door.

"Mom," Star said calmly and tired as she went inside her room, "I know you wanted me to come back early, but I needed to say goodbye and-" She stopped talking as the one goodbye that matters the most went completely wrong. Trying to keep her breathing even, she continued- "can we talk about everything tomorrow?"

Her mother gestured for the remaining maids to stop getting the baggage in place and leave them alone. Once they were out, she turned her attention completely to Star "Do you really think I wouldn't notice?"

Star held her breath. Did her mother noticed she was trying to avoid her goodbye to Marco? Was she mad at it? Did she not approve him? Well, the last option didn't matter anymore. It no longer mattered as there was nothing left of it.

Queen Moon sighed, "I know there's something wrong. Something that happened on Earth that got you in a hurry to come back. I don't expect you to tell me right away, because I trust your reasons and that you'll tell me when the time is right…"

Star felt a relief to know her mother wouldn't pressure her to confess what happened. "Then why are you here?" Trying to act as casual and normal as possible, the princess took one of the baggages and continued the work of the maids.

"I'm not here as the Queen," she explained taking a few steps closer, "I'm here as your mother. I came here because my daughter come back home. She had to say goodbye to her dearest friends and had a hard time doing so, especially with her best friend…"

Star felt the tears burning in her eyes, but she refused to shed them. She couldn't; she should not.

"Star, my darling, I know it must have hurt, a lot. I'm here to give you the only thing I can to help you…"

"A spell to broken hearts?" She asked with a sniff.

"Stronger." Moon smiled warmly at her daughter and opened her arms.

It was all that it took for Star to stop pretending things would be fine, that nothing hurt and she could live like that. The princess let go her bags, dropping everything on the floor and she run for the queen and got into the warm embrace of her mother. She let it all out, the tears, the screams, the whines, the pain and hurt… Star gave herself that unique moment to feel everything as it was to her.

Her mother didn't ask anything or said for her to control herself. Instead, Moon caressed the blond strands of her child, holding her close and offering the comfort as she could give. Once in awhile, she would give comforting words, since it was all she could do in the moment of pain and grief.

Star held into her like a life force, the same way she did as a child and she hadn't done in a very long time. They both sat on the floor, Star was more into laying on it as she kept her face into her mother's chest, as if it could hide her from every single pain and keep her safe from anything. She had forgotten how warm her mother could be. Thus, as Moon caressed the princess head and kept holding her close until the young royal fell asleep. Still soothing her, Moon called her husband and a guard to help to take the princess to her bed. Moon decided to keep company for her child in grief as did River.

That night the royal family slept together on the same bed, holding the princess between them, as they haven't done in a long, long time. The princess sobbed every once in awhile still calming down in her sleep.

In the darkness, neither of them were able to see the blurred makeup and the revealing marks of breaking hearts underneath.

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The first to notice something wrong was Ponyhead.

If Star was honest with herself, it was expected. Really. They were best friends since their early age, she had been there in almost every moment and they shared everything. The first sign of her broken state was probably when she refused to speak of that night. Her best friend could understand and even expect she wouldn't tell Moon, River, the royal counselors and even her other best friend. But to hide something from Pony Head… meant serious business.

"Star, you know you can tell me anything…"

"I know Ponnie…" Star sighed as she got measures for a new dress done, "I just don't wanna talk about that."

"Why, what could happened so bad?!"

Star flinched, but no one got needles on her. Ponyhead wondered for a moment about the things her friend did the night before going back to her kingdom and then made a face, because the only thing that could possibly gone bad, was the only thing she was absolutely sure it should have been fine.

Unless a certain Earth-Turd…

"No. Freaking. Way."

For her voice and horrified face, Star knew she figured out the puzzle, "Ponyhead…"

"Earth Turd could not have rejected you! He couldn't! His mother said he-"

"It doesn't matter!" Star interrupted, unable to hear the words to be said.

The maid frowned and pulled her down. "Stay still, please"

"Look," Star got the maids notes and showed in her face "You have enough measure to start a few dresses, I am out of patience and I need a moment alone with Princess Ponyhead, so please, leave for now. I'll call you when we're done and I'm ready to take the other measures."

The maid nodded at the princess then gave the same order to the others around to follow her lead and get out the room. Once they were all out Star took a breath and turned to her best friend.

"One, please do not mention that day, it brings me headache just to think anything related to it. Second, yes, he did. He's free to choose Ponyhead, and he did. He wanted his girlfriend and he got to be with her." The Mewni princess looked away to a random spot in the room.

And she didn't feel hurt about it, more like the bittersweet taste of rejection, it didn't hurt her that her best friend got a choice over his future on the same way she didn't. To be fair, there was a lot of things she wasn't feeling lately. Sleepy, hungry, energetic, or even determined with wanderlust. Days passed by like grey. There was a routine to it, get up, have breakfast with parents, royal duties, study a way out the marriage mess, how a war could be avoided, dinner with her parents, bath, sleep. There was nothing more to do with them, so she focused in doing things well since it was the only thing to do.

Deep inside Star knew the problem was deeper. Mewnian magic worked as the sound of element one. Moon, water, time, even a heart; if the heart was sad, magic wouldn't be powerful, if it was happy, it would bring wonderful things, if it was angry, it would be very destructive…

If her heart was broken, it meant so was her magic.

Which was why she had hidden the greyish pink broken hearts under makeup. She had enough to be worried about without her magic involved. All she had to do is avoid using spells - Which in a time of peace, shouldn't be that hard. Glossaryck had realized the problem, but for some reason decided to be quiet about it, just advising to be careful.

Ponyhead made a sad face looking at her best friend worried.

"Star… That means…"

The Mewni princess looked at her best friend smiling uneasy "Means nothing. I confessed, he made his choice and I should respect that and carry on with my life."

"But your magic…"

"It's fine." She said pointing to her cheeks "See? I am sad that things happened on the way they did, but I already knew nothing could be done."

Ponyhead went closer to her looking at her face carefully "Are you sure?"

"I am. I'll be fine eventually. Right now it's just too soon… So just give me time to pull myself together, ok?"

Pony Head touched her cheek against Star and smiled. "Anything you want, bestie! Just promise to not hide anything!"

Star hugged her friend without a reply to the promise. She wouldn't break promises if she haven't done them in first place.

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The second to notice… Was a surprise.

"You're not pregnant are you?"

Star spilled her tea and looked at Kelly with wide eyes "Excuse me?!"

Her green haired friend blinked twice unamused "What?"

"Why everytime I have to say something or act different people think I am pregnant?!"

"Because you lived under the same roof with a boy and you both are healthy and hormonal, then one thing can lead to another..." she replied.

"That…!" Star frowned, replying in a confused yet understanding "That actually makes sense."

"So?"

Groaning she leaned back on her own chair blushing as she replied, "I'm not pregnant. I am still one hundred percent untouched!"

"Are you sure?" Ponyhead said "Cause you've been getting weight…"

Star knew Ponyhead was joking and pretended to be offended. Truth to be said she had been feeling numb ever since the moment she got in the portal to be away from him. She didn't feel tired or sleepy, hunger and energy weren't a problem too. It's been a week and she already lost some weight, noticed by a few clothes getting a bit more of space than usual.

"Yeah, you're acting strange… I actually haven't seen you smile since the moment I got in here." Kelly stated.

"Yeah, are you already grump because of the baby?"

Star groaned "First, there's no baby. Second, ask that for Kelly! The two doves are always escaping to…"

"Well," Kelly interrupted "we are engaged so it's accepted."

Both princesses looked at Kelly and blinked twice.

"Huh… Say what?" Star said.

Their friend lifted her hand and showed off a green bracelet in her left hand. It was by knowledge of the girls in there that in Kelly's dimension they would exchange a bracelet to later on the wedding day make a matching mark. The bracelet symbolized to be handcuffed with their partner in everything, the tattoo was a signal of the mark the person left on you forever. Star always thought both creepy and cute, but it was part of her friend culture so she never questioned further.

After a moment absorbing the news, both princesses smiled and hugged the third girl close while celebrating in giggles and screams.

"When did this happen?!" Ponyhead asked.

"How?! Where?!" Star said startled.

"Last week. He made a surprise while we were on a date." Kelly smiled at the bracelet with green stones "He said he would go against his parents and even council members if they tried to take us apart because we are from different dimensions…"

Star gulped air. She didn't feel upset or angry, just… Null. She could feel happiness for her friend, but she find herself unable to absorb to herself. Maybe it was because her friend romance was very much alike hers, but took a completely different way from hers…

If that was the reason, then Star supposed she should have been hurt or feel pain, right? And yet… She didn't felt anything. The thought itself scared her, maybe the broken hearts meant more than just her feelings? But then what could be?

Star shook her head taking attention of Kelly and Ponyhead again. Kelly was giving details of how it went her engagement, her parents reaction, how they wanted the ceremony and all. Star was smiling slightly to both friends relief, trying to show she was ok at the same time. While drinking another glass of soda was when she got choked by accident.

The Mewni princess coughed hard for a long time until what she got in her lungs was out and she could try to calm them down along with the burning.

Ponyhead laughed in a worried way telling Star to breathe. Once Star was able to, she tried to calm down and took a quick glance at her hand… She closed in a firm fist and hide under the table resting her fist on her legs. Kelly apologized by the joke and how it got her. The blond princess just told her to not worry, getting up with the excuse to grab something in her room to celebrate, Ponyhead and Kelly kept talking as Star walked in direction out the yards.

She hid behind a pillar as soon as she was out of vision of her friends. Blue eyes looked around to assure she was alone, only then daring to open her hand carefully. A little blue petal rested on her palm. Small and delicate, with faint hints of white spots…

The petal she coughed out her lungs.

Star felt her blood run cold. She had seen movies about this with Janna, also asian videos and stories… She knew what this was, but Janna had assured her it was only fictional.

Then why it was happening to her now?

Gulping she observed the little petal closely. There was no blood or saliva, it didn't look like she coughed it out of her… Maybe she was just freaking out and it was just a coincidence. Yeah, it should be, that sickness never existed to begin with right?

Even so that little petal in her hand was there, adorable, pretty, delicate, in perfect shape…

And very deadly.

Star clenched her fist smashing the petal and dropped her arm at her side trying to control on her breathing.

It was just her mind. She wasn't sick. It couldn't be. That sickness never existed, then it should be no reason for her to worry. The petal meant nothing, she was in a garden, the wind could have blowed and she didn't felt while coughing. It made sense, she should just calm down.

And yet, she couldn't stop her hand from shaking.

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Her chest was getting more aching and more irritated as the days passed by. She was trying her best to hold the coughs and not call any doctors, but the rumor she might had been sick was going around already in whispers between the maids and butlers. As result Star found herself doing what she did best: escaping the palace and royal responsibilities.

If once was for the sake of the young self and fun, now was for the sake of her secret. there was nothing else she could do.

Star sighed and looked up to the moon above her balcony, watching the multiple moons with a strangeness feeling after looking into the little white one from Earth after those four years. It was still beautiful as always had been and given the name of her mother, but it felt odd to know that was her only option now that Earth was out of magic.

She missed Earth so much.

She missed him so much it hurts (and she meant it in every single way).

The princess let a breath laugh escape her lips. She was suffering for someone who didn't had idea she ever existed, that had the girl of his dreams with him along friends and his normal life just like he was supposed to… Why she thought that could have ended different? It began with her going to Earth, so it was obvious their story would be over when she left… It was ridiculous.

"I doubt you even miss me at all…" Star looked down her garden with a sad smile, "You have everything you ever needed or could want…" The princess closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath. Now she was talking to the absence, just great. Next rumor is that she went insane probably. She turned her back to the balcony and began to walk into her room so she could sleep.

"I do!"

The breath escaped from her lungs as she heard his voice so clear and evident of need, she turned around in surprise ready to meet with the face of his and the brown eyes looking at her with the same kind of feeling his voice tried to apply.

His name escaped her lips in a hopeful way to address his presence, "Marco?!"

She turned around with a heart full of hope and pounding loudly inside of her like she didn't feel in a long time.

Instead there was void behind her. Just her room and the balcony to the night sky, but none of him or his presence. Star let a breathless laugh escape. Of course he wasn't there. Why would he? There was any reason to why he could be possibly going after her, and how could he when his dimension lacked of every single possibility of magic?

Star continued to laugh at her own delusion. She felt something on her face and touched her cheek. The wet glove was very evident of the tears of her face. The princess tried to dry her tears in an attempt to not start crying over again on the matters of her shattered heart. but it was useless. More tears kept coming from the pain inside her, her never ending ache and endless void that the absence of him caused on her and all the pain he brought with the breaking of them as friends, as any possibility of more, with all the craving she would never fill… From the pain of her love for him.

For what was going to be the death of her.

Her legs got weak and she fell to the floor curving down and letting her tears flow free down her face wetting her gloves as she curled on herself crying without the shoulder she wished she could still rely on.

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Two days later, Star could be found in the library of the castle.

At first the few workers found weird for the princess to be there (and reading the books.) As much she still disliked to study, dire times call drastic measures, and Star was in a dire time for her kingdom. The information about the menace wasn't public, and as much Star didn't like to keep secrets to her future citizens, the information would bring tension and unnecessary pressure. So it was agreed to only council and royal members would know about it (Song Day was a lesson that some things were better to remain in secret).

Sure, her friends on Earth knew, but that made no difference by now. Ponyhead was part of the council now, so she knew it too, but as much her best friend was trying to help, she was also getting empty handed.

With a sigh, the princess closed another book and laid on the table. There was no princess that got in a situation like hers in Mewni before, because the tradition avoided it - And to those that didn't follow up the tradition already had either married or someone to be taken as future king.

There must be something she could use to avoid the madness of that arranged marriage.

She stood up and decided to walk around to try clear her head so she could think clearly again. There wasn't much on her mind when she began to walk between aisles of books looking around mindlessly. It was distraction and she needed some right now.

Her lung felt itchy, and the coughs begin. Star supported herself in a aisle until the cough ceased and her lungs felt fine. She sighed, she was probably catching a cold or something by the amount of times she would cough feeling her lungs and throat itchy.

Star sighed and looked down to get the books she dropped without realizing. The princess kneeled down and got two books before dropping them again and looking at the small object along the book that certainly didn't belong there.

A blue petal. The same type and kind of blue petal she found when she had the first series of coughs with Ponyhead and Kelly.

Star begin to sweat cold and held the petal on her fingers. Again, it was dry, soft and delicate like any flower petal, but she knew it was more than that this time.

Without wasting time and abandoning the books where they were, Star got up and ran through the books to the center of the library. If there was something to be found, she was in the right place.

Star looked at the Book Guider, then opened and closed her eyes as a bright light came out of it.

"Come on, Catalogica, you have to do that every time?"

A miniature of woman got out the book smiling. She looked a lot like Glossaryck, but with her own features. Her skin was Lilac and eyes green as emerald, her hair was a blue very closer to being white. Her dress was similar to Glossaryck's, but in a deep scarlet shade.

"Hello princess… It's been a loooong while" She turned upside down smiling at her. "What's the problem?"

"Why do you think I have a problem?"

"By your research story with me, you only come to here when something is serious."

Star snorted "It's a time of peace. Nothing is wrong, I just got curious."

Catalogica raised one eyebrow in suspicion "About what?"

Star kept her voice even, trying to convey pure curiosity "I was watching a movie from Earth last night and they refer to a love-sickness, so I got curious if there's something like that in real life."

She floated upside down again, resting her head in her hands "You want the love-sickness book?"

"There's a book just for that?" Star asked really curious this time.

"Yes" Catalogica said "Most of the sickness were eradicated thought. Love-sickness were cruel and deadly most of times, the council did everything they could for generations to eradicate the most deadly ones. Right now just minors still around."

"Like what?"

"Mewberty." At the startled expression of the princess, the guider scoffed "It's not deadly and it's a natural thing from Mewnians, but in some dimensions it was classified as a sickness."

"I see…" she replied relaxing a bit "You know where the book is? I want to see anyway."

"Sure" Catalogica shrugged.

The guide creature floated just a bit above the book, arms open and eyes turning completely white as her guide book shone bright. Strings of light come out the book and went around the library. Star followed the way with her eyes, but didn't move since it wasn't necessary.

A few seconds later the stings retreat to bringing another book and giving in her hands before disappearing.

"Well," Catalogica said yawning "that was tiring. I did all my work for today, so if you don't mind, I'm leaving princess." Without waiting an answer, the lilac creature retreated to her book and closed it locking it with a sign of "to not be disturbed".

Well, Star guessed Glossaryck had chosen the right one for him.

Resting the book in top of the catalogue, Star observed the cover with a heart with thorns and roses around. The title gave her a shiver.

"Dying for love"

The princess gulped and opened the book, trying to search for something useful and reading to herself.

"Worms in the brain; a sickness caused by suspicion and lack of trust in the loved one, normally connected with jealousy and suspicion of betrayal. If the victim kept in silence, the worms would begin to get out on every possible hole in them. In more serious cases the worms would begin to eat the brain, some few victims died, but most of them had the memory wiped clean from the beginning to end. Some of those victims were found unable to love ever again by the effect that the worms got rid of the emotional side of the brain and it was impossible to be recovered even with the strongest magic" Star shivered in disgust and was happy that she wasn't a victim of that "The sickness was originally from Earth dimension, it was eradicated long ago when the dimension got isolated." Star frowned confused by that statement. She turned the page trying to find something more interesting.

After a few pages she found another one that got her attention. "Colored skin. This sickness was known to reveal someone feeling by changing the color of the victim skin. The most known case was the witch that turned green by jealousy. There was no age or common cause of the sickness, nor it was passed from one to another. The real reason behind this sick remains unknown, traces of such had been gone by long. The only lasting feature of such thing is… Mewberty?!" Star said confused by the statement, but let it pass, she would talk to her mother later.

Deciding not to waste more time, Star passed pages and more pages until she found the sickness she was trying to figure out.

Hanahaki Disease.

The princess looked at the page beautifully illustrated by flowers and hearts. She would appreciate it more if the reason that they were there was for artistic means, but she knew it wasn't.

She just wasn't that lucky.

"Hanahaki Disease," The princess read out loud after taking a breath "This is in case one of the most cruel and deadly love-decease found out and yet the perform of it is unsettlingly beautiful." Star frowned at that "It begins with the feeling of love, the seed of the feeling that born in the heart and consumes the body. The seed of love is magical form of the feeling that happens to everyone that can either grow after receiving affection or die after rejection…"

She turned the page and went on "What happens with this disease; it acts directly in the seed of the feeling. It turns the seed to get a material form, it usually gets to be in the lungs, but it can affect the heart and other organs. The reason why it gots such reaction it's due to suppressing the feeling for too long, more than necessary and more than the person can take…"

Star gulped, she thought on how much she kept it hidden and how it went wrong when it got out, but mostly on how much still was there to be said and it never would.

"There's a theory that the reason of the seed becoming material it's the suffocating of it; most commonly attached to the act of never speaking to the loved one the truth in all…" Star realized her hands were trembling, so she closed her eyes and took a few breaths whispering to herself, "Calm down, Star, it's just a book and what you saw it's very different from this, it's probably fictional."

Blue eyes kept the reading on, "The seed then begins to flourish. What comes from it and the speed of the process once it begins depends on the loved one and the victim. From the seed a flower from the favorite kind of the loved one begins to grow. The pace of it depends on their relationship, it's proven that pairs in long distance and contact goes slower while the ones who have a routine to see each other very often or every day would go faster and in rare cases even immediately." She turned the page again.

"There's also the factor of the flower that is there to bloom. If the type was small, it would spread more, but it normally takes long to make an negative effect. If the flower it's big it affects faster due to its size on the organs. Either way, the symptoms are overall the same; difficult to breath, tiredness, restless and discomfort for the first days or weeks. The second phase begins when the flowers are blooming…"

"What are you doing?"

Star jumped at the sudden voice, turning around she met a creature that looked like a cat with wings, the cute features hiding the wild and powerful being underneath the appearance.

"Oh, hey Baby" An uneasy smile appeared on the princess lips and she found incredibly easy to maintain the indifference facade, she had no idea why though, "What you doing here?"

"The queen requested me to help with a solution to your problem. Being your fairy godmother it's my obligation to guide you, even in romantic aspects."

The surprise in the speech wasn't a lie "Really?"

"Yes, princess. So I am curious, what are you doing here researching…" Baby floated a bit higher and looked at the book "Love sickness… Is there anything wrong?"

"No," she lied (it was rather easy and that wasn't usual to her), "I just decided to take a break and I remember this movie I watched with Janna. I got curious if such thing existed…" she looked at the flowers drawn in the book "Apparently it does."

"Not anymore." Baby replied floating beside her "The council did everything they could to eliminate these diseases."

"What do you mean by everything they could?" she asked.

"I mean that they eliminated the deadly ones by all the means they could." Baby lowered herself until she was standing on the book top and then continued "They were too dangerous, they could initiate wars and be the cause of dozen deaths… It was necessary a cure, but a few couldn't be cured by no means, so drastic measures were taken."

The princess gulped "Such as?"

"The Evanescent."

Something inside Star had shook, it felt weirdly familiar to whatever that meant.

Baby realized the confusion of the royal, so she took a breath. "Princess, do you understand the true meaning of the Erasing Magic?" she shook her head "It disappears with every single part of magic on someone or somewhere. It's not just with the purpose of them getting forgotten, but also to unable ever believing or remember again."

The fairy took a few steps to the side as she started to pace "Such thing was created because when people lost magic, but still acknowledge the existence of it, they usually lost their minds. Either trying to get it back or stealing, it wouldn't turn out well. The only way to prevent such madness was to erase the cause." She stopped and looked to Star "In this case meant erasing all their memories and make them think it was all a dream."

The princess nodded understanding "What does this have to do with me or the sickness ?"

"There were a few diseases that couldn't be cured by no means, and even after taking magic out the person, the people around could get sick. For that reason there were planets and even whole dimensions in which magic ceased to exist."

The sudden realization hit Star without Baby finishing her explanation "Earth…"

The fairy just nodded. "It was needed. There were the most fearful and deadly ones, like this one you were just looking now…" Baby flew again and looked at the page for a moment and the at the Mewnian princess "This is not real anymore. This one now it's only fictional, it cannot hurt anyone anymore."

Star gulped, but was unable to smile to ease her godmother; so she just nodded again and pretended to read the page anyway and pull up another lie. "I see. I guess it's good then. I was only looking by curiosity, but it was a fun lesson. Thank you, Baby."

"You're welcome, my princess" Baby bowed slightly and then got in position again "I'll check a few books about the matters at hand then if you don't mind." Baby flew away before Star give her proper permission for the simple fact she didn't need one.

As soon as Baby was away Star went back to reading the book worriedly.

"The second phase begins when the flowers are blooming. The victim begins to have more troubles to breathe, they would cough a lot and sometimes…" Star finished to read with dread washing over her, if she wasn't supporting herself on the shelf she probably wouldn't be standing right now.

Sometimes they would cough a petal out their lungs.

This one time Star didn't even tried to hold the way her body trembled or pretend things were ok. With wild eyes she went on reading.

"As the coughs increase, the victims would began to cough petals or even whole flowers as their bodies try to uselessly fight back the sickness. After a time the body begin to try take the illness out the system by making the victims throw up the flowers and petals, but instead of helping, it gets worse. The flowers taken out would grow faster and multiply, and that would cause the disease to go from bad to worse."

Star clutched her chest in worry and agony, her mind imagining the scenarios of her getting that bad.

"If the victim does not take any measures to cure, the flowers will bloom and multiply themselves until it's too much for the victim to resist. The would take the whole organ they were born into. Since most common cases were in the lungs, they would get all the spaces and suffocate the victim to death."

A silent gasp made way through the princess. Blue eyes looking around taking in all the information she got. Outside the sun was getting down the mountains in distance and coloring everything in orange, it gave a warm feeling to the library, a warm invitation to take refuge in the middle of books and knowledge… And even so inside her, as much Star was scared, frightened of her fate, she found herself unable to be worried for herself. She was worried for her parents, for her friends, for the kingdom, for the wand… She dismissed the fact she wasn't even concerned about herself being.

"There must be a cure…" Star said trying to find the place she stopped to continue from there, and then continued to read to herself "There are some cases that even the cure methods wouldn't be enough to save the victim life. If the pace the flowers blooming is over the edge then it's already too late." Star took a breath and kept reading on since the next topic was what she wanted to know.

"There are three ways to cure the Hanahaki: Naturally, Reciprocity or Magically. It's understood that by Magic the method that consists in getting rid of the seed, the victim would have the placement of the sed found and then every flower would be removed along with the seed and every single petal and root. By doing this method, you get rid of the feeling causing the sickness, by this the consequence is the inability of the person to develop the feeling again (in some serious case to any person or anything else in question) thus, also erasing every single memory and evidence of the loved one and things related to them."

Star frowned in discomfort, because this method was basically the Evanescent magic, but apparently could be done by magicless doings too. Still, felt cruel to be forever unable to love again (be it just someone or some doing.)

"The second method is the Reciprocity: If the victim confess to the loved one and the other loves back, then the seed and the flowers will dissolve into the emotion once again. But for this method to work, the loved person must have the same feelings and show in some kind of affection gesture to validate the confession. Its fairly hard to happen, not only by the reluctance of the victim, but for the loved one to feel or show the same way. In most cases the affection wasn't enough, as much as the loved one cared for the victim, it wasn't love, thus, there wouldn't be a cure." There was an image of two hearts, one tangled with flowers and another completely free, then another with a broken heart still with flowers and the other in the blue color.

"The last resource and cure is the Natural: Letting the sickness happen and take over. This is a last resource for the reasons it means no fighting back or resistance. The victim let the flowers take over them and the sickness take natural course of taking over inside out until the last breath of the victim. The victim accepts their fates and die in a flower bed. For being deadly lovesickness hard to cure, it's considered one of the most cruel ones, for the symptoms it's considered beauty. Which originated the alternative name: Deadly Flowers"

Star closed the book letting out a weak breath on shock. The methods of cure were out of her way, Earth without magic making impossible to reach Marco, he also made very clear he hadn't the same feelings for her and by this meant no other escape then let it happen.

Star gulped and took a deep breath. There was nothing to do if she got this sickness, then she shouldn't worry or do anything about it. No royal blood, crown, magic or jewels could do something for her now and the only one who could try was unable to help… There was no other way, then she should as well accept.

It was weird that she felt the acceptance over the matter so easily? maybe, she couldn't know. The princess went back to the books and met her godmother. She had a small time to work over a big and complicated matter as the arranged wedding, and Star was determined to get it done before she was gone.

If love would be the end of her, so be it.

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Three days later she had an unpleasant surprise.

Not that she could show as she felt herself more and more devoid of reaction. Her mother thought it was still lingering sadness about leaving Earth, her father thought it was because of the arranged marriage deal they had at hands. Either way wasn't completely wrong, but still away from the truth (even if at this point, she wasn't sure of what was getting the best of her lately.)

So when the King and prince from the kingdom threatening war announced thy would be arriving by afternoon, all Star did was to sigh and get ready for the longest afternoon of her life.

"We will be around all the time," Moon assured as she fixed Star's crown once again, "remember we still didn't gave our answer, so you can refuse still any kinds of courtesy and gentleness they try to use to convince you to agree on their terms."

"I'll be fine, mom" Star replied fixing her dress skirt one last time. "He's not the first who will try that kind of thing, nor will be the last. We just need to assure everyone will be safe."

Because if she was really in Hanahaki... that was the least she could do.

Moon looked at her in confusion by the indifference and cold Star was handing the matter. Two weeks ago she would have be freaking out and thinking on ten ways to blows off both father and son out their kingdom… But here she was calm as ever as if that was a simple meeting with their council, not her menace to freedom (both hers and the kingdom.) She had been acting a bit oddly ever since she had come back from Earth, but aside her resistance in taking the star pearled earrings off, Moon didn't got to find anything else.

"It's from the Diaz…" She had said "It's the last thing I got from them and they gave to me as a symbol I would always be part of them…" When her daughter looked at her mother with so much feeling and hope, Moon already knew that whatever she asked by then couldn't be denied; she was asking in the purest form of need and longing "Please… I already lost them along everyone else, this is all I got. Please I don't want to lose anything else."

As that being the princess request, it had been attended. She was so protective of the earrings that even the maids weren't allowed to touch them (and if they did it had to be with Star's consent) and when Moon made a move to touch them she would tense up and massage her wrist automatically.

The queen wondered if her daughter would ever get over her friends, she still hasn't opened about whatever happened in the prom and more time passed by, more she worried about her daughter. Her mother instincts were alert since that night, she was sure something wasn't right, but between her getting apart from her dear friends, the menace on Mewni and whatever happened at the prom, she didn't know how to approach her daughter to find out.

The doors opened taking the queen back to the reality of the moment. Their messenger bowed and introduced the two royals.

"King Bass Melodiaz and Prince Sax Melodiaz." The messenger got out the way for the two.

Star would have laughed on the irony of their name being essentially music instruments and the "Diaz" coming again into her life to remind of what she left behind. She understood the irony and even felt like laughing at the ironic tragedy. But as much she knew what reaction she should have, she just couldn't… React.

As soon as the royal messenger left the meeting room so the crowns could talk whatever matter they had, Moon frowned deeply, but kept her hard instance and voice even.

"I wish I could say it's a pleasure to meet you." The queen said sternly.

King Melodiaz laughed in a mocking way "I am sure you're honored to meet me."

"You…" River said taking a breath to keep calm "have the audacity to threaten our kingdom, try to take my daughter and laugh?!"

"Well, I see you got our message wrong." The king gave a few steps forward, his head up in a proud stance "We simply made an offer. Your daughter it's just a few years younger than my son, She'll be 18 soon, and as says the tradition it's the age in which she seeks a man to carry the crown-"

"Or woman." Moon interrupted sternly, "The tradition is genderless."

"Whatever…" King Melodiaz rolled his eyes annoyed, "She would have to choose candidates to the crown, put them to test and then choose between them who would be the best for the kingdom, all that before she turns 21! How inconvenient and waste of time!" The king walked around the room looking at both queen and king "We simply offer a simple solution and our help, My son needs a queen, your daughter needs a king. It's just a match of equal needs."

"So you call a menace to attack hundreds of innocents and lose so many lives in battle, risking to break a time of peace for the sake of your own ego in case of denial, a 'Match of equal needs'?!" Moon said dryly.

"You see, Moon-"

"Queen Butterfly, for the ones like you."

"Oh well, Queen Butterfly, This is all a offer, a negotiation of marriage between our children in order to keep the peace and improve our kingdoms. An arrangement of the best kind! Now, if there are consequences beyond that if there's a denial, that's completely out of my control." Bass smirked.

"You really think we'll believe in such trash words masked with good intentions?" River asked in sarcasm "Your kingdom is a supremacy to old rich men with blind eyes, that's how you got so dirty in the first place. We are well aware on how your laws work and how we would lose our country to you just because our crown would come from the woman."

"Oh, that's not my fault, those had been laws for generations before me." the other king replied.

"As if you didn't know any of this…"

The visiting king shrugged, "We can't just change tradition, can we?"

For all the time the adults had been staring and talked to each other, Star mind was empty. She got nothing to say and it was clear the King wouldn't hear either. So she took her time observing the boy in which he was trying arrange her with.

His skin was a weird tone of green and brown spots, his face was matured and indifferent to the situation in front of him. His hair was long to his shoulders length into a complicated braid. His eyes were gray, long nose and pointed ears with something that looked like the earlobe but in the tip of the ear. His back and shoulders were straight and feet together. The perfect role model of a prince to his kind.

Just the type of person (or should she say marionette?) she disgusted the most.

"So, does our princess have an answer to our kind offer?" King Melodiaz asked.

River took a step in front of Star "How dare you-"

"I do have not and nor I intend to give a proper answer before the precise time." Star replied completely neutral "I am still on time to think about my options and take my decision based on everything I take in thought. I do not appreciate any rushing or pressure, so I will be grateful if you do neither of those."

Star looked at the astonished face of Melodiaz royals and then at her parents. She could see the hint of worry in her mother's face by how neutral she was on her speech, but by this point Star couldn't care less. She had no patience or time to waste with the invited royals trying to play games.

"If that is all you wanted, then I may excuse myself, but I have more matters to attend."

So the princess gave a respectful bow and left the room.

Later that evening she found out that both royals would stay for a few days as guests much to everyone displeasure. The only response Star gave was a neutral face nodding and a broken hand mirror.

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Two days later, the royals announced they would leave in the next day. Which was a relief to Star, she was indifferent to their ways to try make her more intimate of the prince, but still get on her nerves. Most of the time the king was after her, he was the one talking while the prince would be just there listening and watching in silence to all that his father said. He kept trying to deceive Star even after she says clearly she had no intentions to hand her kingdom that easy over and over again in more polite ways.

Not that she didn't want to slap his face or something, she just didn't had any motivation to do so. Her energy (the little she still got) should be used to find a way to save her kingdom (and her too if possible) the very best way she could. If she couldn't find happiness, she should at least guarantee a chance for others to do so.

The meal was tense and yet somehow pleasing. The king had given up on getting on her or her parents nerves and now decided to talk about random things (either that or he was too drunk to care,) which helped to ease the tension in the air, even if there was so much caution. On the lower level there was a ball happening for a reason Star couldn't remember or understand.

It was hard to stand there watching so many couples dancing happily while she knew her happiness had been broken forever. It wasn't much of jealousy or envy, more like a never ending longing that she knew would be never satisfied. She had decided to retire early by the moment she saw the couples dancing, so when slower songs started and the prince turned to her as if to speak, she was quick to stand up and turn to her parents.

"I'm sorry, but can I retire to my room early? I'm not feeling well."

River looked at her worried, "Is everything ok, my dear?"

No. "Yes," she nodded, "Just a bit tired and with a bit of headache."

"Very well then" Moon agreed nodding, "Rest for the night, Star."

The princess nodded and went to her room without any diversions. One of her maids was there and Star dismissed her after getting out of her dress since there was no intentions for her to do anything else then resting.

Or trying to do so.

The princess had just brushed her hair out of the locks it was earlier when she finally felt the absence. Her reflection in the mirror just improved her suspicions and her hand went to the place instantly as if it could have been somehow invisible, but as her hand felt the absence or her earring, panic grew within Star.

"No…" She began to look around her wardrobes and all around her room in case she had took it out but forgot. "No, no, no!"

Frantic eyes began to search everywhere, under carpets, the bed, her closet, betweens clothes, she was turning her bedroom a mess but she wouldn't stop messing everything around until she found the missing jewel.

The chief of maids heard of the tantrum she was doing in the bedroom and went to check on the princess, Star was unable to reply as she kept searching through the whole room, but the absence of one earring was enough for her to understand what happened.

Star continue her desperation search feeling her throat hurting and a few coughs escaping, even so she was unable to pay attention to the few petals she let escape. Her earring was gone. The very last gift from The Diaz, the one thing that connected her to the family and still carried a whole meaning to it. Her only mission was to keep it and take care of it and she lost one.

A pair of arms hugged Star and she tried to get away from them to keep searching.

"Star… It's me" the large hands of her father caressed her arms trying to calm her down, "Tell us what's wrong, please…"

"It's gone…" Star said, her eyes lost around the room looking everywhere to see if she missed any detail "I lost it, I need to find, please dad!"

River looked at his daughter worried on how the blue eyes couldn't focus on anything for more than 3 seconds. That was not normal and it was time he admitted that Moon's concerns about Star were real and they should watch out for whatever was happening and the cause of it.

With gentleness, River made Star sit on the floor and hugged her. He caressed her head holding her tight even with her protests.

"I need to find! Father, please, let me go!"

"The maids are already searching for it…" He said softly trying to calm her down, "We will find it, Star. I promise."

In the next moment Star hold on him and sniffed, her didn't felt any tears coming up, but he had no doubt they must had been there. He caressed her head trying to calm the princess down from losing such important souvenir, on the other side of the room, Moon looked at them worried and then ordered to all the other maids keep searching for it until it was found again and to the very few still on the ball, to escort the few guests out the palace in order to search in the ballroom with no suspicions.

Until late night, there were no signals of the earring. The princess fell asleep due to exhaustion.

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It had been two or three days since Star had to drop using the Diaz earring. She was reluctant at first, but then people begin to ask around, it was raising questions she didn't want to answer and attention she wasn't willing to give back. It was hard to put the earring back in the box she got them without the respective pair, so Star requested to her mother to take care of it until the respective complement was found.

On the first days, Moon hoped that Star would come up soon the grief inside her (she knew no one have died, that should have helped to get over it… but it didn't). Now as weeks went by and more quiet and less expressive, the queen feared that maybe she would never come over her pain. Or that years by she would still keep going in the slow stages without never ending and never getting on the last one to finally move on.

The tension grew day by day, River tried his best to come up his ways by bringing her into adventures on the woods and exploration, but it was becoming useless. He realized as she refused to go with him one day. Then another. And now she would only go if she didn't felt like she could be doing anything else, in which to Star was never a good signal.

The parents would sit down once in a while to talk about their day and the possible outcomes of the menace to the crown, but they could never focus to talk about the matter for much long. Not when they could see how sick their daughter was getting, not when they knew what it caused and how there was no kind of medicine or magic to heal a broken heart.

"She's losing weight…" River said worried "She had been eating a bit less as days go by, losing appetite so fast as the moment she gets into the room. She hardly finish a plate right now."

Moon sitting in front of him observed her hands resting on her lap, "I held her hand a few days ago… Her gloves seems be getting a bigger… She's using her clothes to cover her weight loss, River. I don't remember the last time I saw her smile in here, she doesn't cry or do anything, she's just…"

The king held her hands in a comforting way. Moon looked up at her husband curving at her legs, eyes just as sad, blue and worried as hers. His hand caressed her face and it took a second for her to realize he was drying away her tears.

"We will figure out. For our daughter, for the sake of our Star, we will find a way."

"I hope so…" Moon nodded "I hope so…"

The king embraced his queen as she let her guard down to relieve the angst at her chest.

Star dismissed the spying spell and looked at the wand. Once the broken piece reflected as a failure, than later on on something she almost lost and a power out of balance by her fault. It was at that time she confessed to have a crush on her best friend, without realizing that such feeling was much deeper and it didn't change to a platonic one as she thought it did after years (and a few sacrifices along the way) and…

Why was she thinking on him again?

Star groaned. She was starting to worry her parents, they might soon find the sickness, and try to force her to do things she felt no motivation to. Like talking to a doctor or even magician to help her. Or trying to find a way to get contact to him and-

Why things went back to him?

No, she had to move on. for the sake of herself, for her parents of the kingdom. She had to at least try it, in order to survive and live again for them. Inside she knew that her chances in falling in love with anyone else was probably gone in the moment her heart was broken beyond repair, but she could still try, couldn't she? She knew he surely had been moving on-

Why him again?

She had to stop making things get back to him. Stop relating everything around him, that was what caused her to end like this in first place, to build her future and ideas around him, she was way too dependant on him and that was what it truly was killing her. She needed to stop going around the same thing, to close her eyes and don't see his face every single time.

Star punched the wall frustrated that things didn't seem to get any better. She walked around her room trying to make her mind get out of those thoughts. She had a menace on her kingdom, an agreement to work on, a possibility of things getting to work out that went 50% on luck and 50% on trusting someone she didn't trust at all. She had a sickness caused by the love that could both kill or save her, and that probably would end up killing her by her own actions. She needed to stop, she had to.

And still when she closed her eyes she could still see his face dancing with her at the prom, such genuine smile and happiness… Such a beautiful thing she didn't want to wreck, but ended up destroying much further by speaking without a thought first...

"Why can't you let me go?!" Star said angry at herself slapping the wall beside her.

Then there were the coughs again. They were getting recurring and more frequent, but there wasn't much she could do about aside let it happen. This once time was long and hard, she could feel her throat stinging to get whatever was there out. No petal had took that time, so for a moment Star thought she might had just choked on her own by stressing herself out.

But then, when the coughs stopped and she stopped her eyes she got to observe the object on her hands. Five petals, blue as always and the little spots of white, and that wouldn't have concerned Star since they had been having then since she had come back if wasn't for the fact they were connected.

It was a whole flower.

A whole forget-me-not flower in her palm that she just got out of her lungs.

The time of breaking down completely probably should have been clear it was close to happen, it was inevitable, just eminent as the rising sun of every morning and coming closer by every single second that passed.

Still, in the moment Star held that little flower in her hand, she knew her fate was decided. Either she get a way to find him and hope he loved her, or move on for the little time she had as the flowers continued to kill her from inside out. She knew the first option was out of question, which meant her only destiny was… Acceptation.

And like hell she would accept such fate that easy… No she wouldn't, she would… She would…

She couldn't do anything.

And in the moment of intense pain and realization of everything that happened and was about to come, Star reached her point of losing control. She pushed everything out her table, smashing perfumes, makeups, fragrances and decorative object to the ground, breaking most of them.

Why things had to be like that?

She sat on her couch holding her head trying to keep her thoughts in control. It wasn't fair, it really wasn't but since when life was supposed to be fair? She also was to blame, it was no wonder he got so surprised… She avoided talking to him about deeper matters for weeks and suddenly she confessed… Why did she do it?! Just why?!

Star grabbed the pillow beside her and teared apart, feathers falling from inside the ripped pillow as the princess was nowhere done and continued to rip and shake up and down throwing on the floor angrily afterwards. He had every right to be despised of her, he had a girlfriend, the girl of his dreams, Star knew she was nowhere close to be what Jackie meant to him for so long and that he finally had it and she almost crushed all that.

Why she kept everything as a secret? She should have told him from the first day, she wouldn't be in this mess - She wouldn't be dying if she did… Why?!

Standing up and questioning herself, Star saw an glass angel standing and threw it at the wall to break it. For what reason she thought keeping a secret was better? For what reason she thought confessing at once that night was better?

Why she was so sure Marco would never hurt her?

The mewnian reacted for her dossel pulling and bringing the whole thing down her bed, ripping the fabrics and smashing pillows. She saw portraits and threw them at the floor, kicking a table before turning it around messing up the books and papers on it.

He would never hurt her? That was a joke… He was literally killing her now, without knowing, completely innocent and ignorant of the consequence of his actions… their actions. She wouldn't deny her own guilt on this, and to know that just make her even more mad. She did to herself, she was also to blame for all of this, for now to be dying from inside out.

Star grabbed part of the broken dossel and smashed a jar of flowers, breaking into million pieces, she smashed cold candles to the floor and hit them over and over until they were completely broken and useless. She wanted the pain to be over, she wanted to be able to do more than just stay around and wait the flower to take over her.

The worst part… The worst part is that no matter how much she was trying, no matter how much she despised it all, no matter how angry she was, none of that mattered, because beyond all that, she still loved Marco endlessly. She wanted him, she needed him… It was way too painful and ironic that the one thing that was killing her would be the medicine to cure all of this.

She needed him. She couldn't help it. She never could and now more than ever she needed him.

The blond pulled a bookcase away from her wall and making a huge mess as everything on it went to the ground. She grabbed a chair and threw on a center table, breaking the glass on it and the another flower pot, water and dirty getting on the floor. She threw another decoration at the wall, then a pot with blue dust on the floor.

She didn't know why she was doing that, she couldn't help it. She just wanted to break it all and try to make it easier on herself, but it wasn't working.

She looked up to the chandelier and threw everything she could reach into it, breaking a few glasses, but not taking down. On a last attempt, she grabbed her wand and broke the metal string holding it on air and watched as it fell to the ground, shattering all the decorative glasses. Letting go of the wand without a care, she held a book and started to rip it apart throwing the papers all around her.

And when her fury didn't end by then, she grabbed the closest object to threw at the mirror. The wand happened to be right there by her feet and without a second thought she threw at her mirror.

The pieces flew out of it, shattering in a thousand pieces. It was the same mirror Marco used to communicate with her while she was on Mewni or that day she learned to ride a bike, the mirror her mother gave as a present and she used to see Ponyhead…

Star looked wildly around trying to find something to smash… And by doing so she finally came to notice little by little the destruction she made herself at her room, there was nothing left to be broken unless she wanted to lift up a fire or rip her clothes… But by the time she came to her senses on the little things left to break, the urge to keep destroying things around her had vanished.

She left her body fall into her couch full of feathers and ripped fabrics, taking slow breaths and letting her tears slide down her face without realizing. Her eyes looking at a point, but mind far far away.

There was a smashing, then before she realized the warmth of her parents was around her. She kept looking at a little detail, but her parents wouldn't figure out anytime soon that she wasn't looking at the chandelier down the floor, but the little blue flower smashed under it.

River's voice was a eccho on her, Moon's warmth was on her arms as her mother held her in there trying to speak to her. It took awhile for Star to blink and pay attention to the words and make a sense out of them.

"Star, please tell us what's wrong."

The princess thought about telling them, but as she felt her face wet and dried it using her gloves, she heard the gasp of her parents and figure out she didn't have to say what they could clearly see right there. There was a sad smile in a void way to try come over her hurt.

"Well, things didn't work out on the best way… Or any way I think…"

"Star…"

"I want to declare myself as One Queen."

Her mother eyes widened in surprise, then hurt and apprehension. "I can't let you do that… not like this, not right now… Star, you know the consequences of declaring One Crown. I can't let you take this decision until I'm sure you're doing with a right mind."

Star nodded. It was acceptable. To be One Crown meant to sacrifice the need for a partner, but more than that. Once a royal declared One Crown, that is, the decision to rule the kingdom alone, such declaration couldn't be taken back by no means. Sacrificing the need for a queen or king meant the decision to devote themselves to the kingdom only, without anything else to take their minds.

And that meant no love interests, no partners, no wife or husband, no lovers, no children, no sons or daughters. One Crown meant loneliness, as so there was only one queen in the whole story of Mewni that took such actions, the same one to establish the rules for the same declaration. She did to avoid people to steal the crown and reign Mewni in fear and chaos, later on she decided the heir by judging someone with a brave and kind heart to do so, afterwards no queen or king ever relied on One Crown again.

Both royals knew that in the situation Star was in, to declare herself as One Queen was an available choice… But they wouldn't consider it until they were sure Star wasn't doing that because of a broken heart and menace on her future kingdom, or that at least she had full mind on the consequences of declaring the One Crown.

And on the loneliness that would be to do so.

The princess was embraced once more by her parents and, surrounded by warmth and safety, her body gave into fully relaxing after such stress.

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The castle halls were brighter than she had even seen, the halls almost too white if wasn't for the blue carpet and portraits of her family on the ways. To see the place she grew in to be to clear and bright almost like a huge diamond in the shape of a castle, Star knew she was dreaming.

It was peaceful.

She doesn't remember when was the last time she had a dream, or felt peaceful enough to have no troubles around her. It was warm and safe, relaxing and a soothing kind of calm. The halls normally with servants and maids around were just her and the portraits eyes. It was a bit of funny, she felt herself smiling before she realized, for no reason at all.

There was a weird sound around, something vibrating around her that somehow guided her steps to the source of sound. The next thing she knew was a name escaping her lips, a name she hadn't said out loud for too long, she didn't allowed herself to.

"Marco?"

There was a pause in the vibration, only to come stronger around her. She could feel the same intensity on her own heart as her body disobeyed her wishes and began to follow the way her shattered heart told it to.

No, Star had to be sincere. The truth was that she was eager (desperate even,) to see him. The last weeks had been a living nightmare, she remember last time she had been this long away from him and when they were put apart by danger… It was suffocating her, and to think about that, the whole flower sickness made sense.

She went down the stairs, still trying to find his face. He was there, but where? At moments the beats around her felt stronger, then weaker. Her voice and breathing was the only thing she could hear through echoes of empty halls, so yet again she tried to have a response "Marco!?"

Where are you?! Her chest was aching, the same ache she knew she couldn't fill, but that now felt so close to be completed that it began to hurt.

Turning a corner through an outside corridor that gave way to the garden, then she stopped and got the air trapped in her lungs. Right before her, running down the corridor, she saw the back of the boy that began all this. Everything was so rushing and intense that her body paralyzed for a moment and she found herself unable to speak or move. It took the realization that he was still running for her to get over it and so something before she lost him once again.

And God, that was a pain she couldn't endure once again.

"Marco!"

Her voice broke whatever tension there was in the air to bring a new one. Hope, desire, wanting… Love. She watched as he suddenly stopped and stood straight. His clothes were a bit different from what she remember, but it wasn't important as long he was there. His hair was cut and it was the length he always used and liked. Her heart began to beat fast and urgent as he slowly turned around and so she allowed herself to give a small smile at him.

There was everything she loved in him and more. The gentle and worried eyes, the way he began to reply to her smile slowly and…

He was hurt.

After so many years fighting back to back, Star knew none of those injuries were serious, but still were there nonetheless and it worried her. What could have happened for him to go on fighting like that? He had a band-aid in his chin, a broken lip, a cut in his eyebrow, one eye that seemed to be healing from being purple, restless eyes that observed her, and a mark on his forehead as if he had hit something.

Star was unable to say if the tears on her face were from relief or worry, and she didn't think much about that as he went to hold her close and suddenly most of her pain and ache was gone instantly. there was warmth, safety, caring, love and… home. It felt like home.

That was the problem. She had to stop feeling like that, it was how she got in the way to be ruined little by little. He would have to leave back to his own normal life again and she would be left with nothing yet again, she had to overcome those feelings. Mostly because she didn't have any other choice.

"Marco..." She said taking a step back as she dried her tears, "You shouldn't be here…"

"Why…?" He said in a breath while cupping her face, before she could react "Why did you do all this?"

As much it hurt to say and to accept, she told the truth. "Because I had to."

"I don't get it… I am looking everywhere for you, I can't find you anywhere, not even a clue! Everything I do slip away from my hands again! Why you're doing this?!"

"That's the way it is." She said trying to be calm, but her hand was shaking and her eyes had to look away to get to finish, "Things are in their right place, on where they belong and shouldn't have changed…"

"That's not true!" he replied as he held shoulders shaking her gently for her surprise "We are not together to fight against the world! We are best friends and…"

Star smiled at him getting speechless, even after not having a single idea of who she was, in her dreams he was still gentle as ever trying to comfort her as he always did "Marco, it's ok…"

"It's not…" He shook his head and looked down "And stop trying to convince me it is like everyone else!" He screamed, tears going down his cheeks yet again "Why… If you loved me, then why did you leave? Why did you leave me?"

She felt her pain echoing faintly on her body again, this time to see him suffering. A tear escaped her eyes and he looked at her perplexed. Star knew that he had noticed the broken marks by then, but didn't mention it, choosing to reply him instead "I would have to do it anyway. And you told me to…"

His face was confused for a moment, then he cupped her face once more looking at her with longing, urgency and so much hurt. Marco looked at her as if he had been betrayed and now tried to understand why.

Star heard something in the background, and then noticed that they were suddenly on a bridge and the castle around them was collapsing. She tried to move, but found herself unable to. Around them the castle cracked as fire began to take over the scenario.

"I close my eyes and try to forget you, but every time I do, I just see your face…" the ground under them cracked and the flames were coming closer, burning everything around them in a odd gentle way.

Before Star realized, he was the one slowly cracking and catching fire.

"And after all the hell we've been through… Why are you so willing to walk away?" Star looked at him with wide eyes in both fear and surprise by his words. The ground under her shook, Marco took the appearance of ashes statue collapsing on her fingers. On the next moment, the bridge broke under her feet, there was water underneath her, but her hands were trying to reach the place where once Marco was, but he had already vanished as her body feel on the water underneath.

Then Star woke up sitting up abruptly.

Her head then hurt and the room began to go on circles. Two hands held her arms helping her to rest back on pillows again. She didn't bother to open her eyes again, not until she was sure her head was ok and the world didn't seem to dance anymore.

That wasn't her room, the comfy and whole sheets under and up her body let that very clear. And at the moment the person started talking, Star had doubts if she was still in Mewni.

"You should be more careful."

The princess let a sigh "What do you want Tom?"

"I was just come over to visit when I got to see your room being cleaned… I couldn't leave after that."

Star opened her eyes and looked beside her where Tom was just to sit on the edge of the bed. He didn't change much after years, mostly his way to dress up, but his hair was a bit longer than the last time she saw him.

"So, what did he do to make you get… like that?"

"Why are you so sure he did something?

"Because your marks of hearts are shattered. And if Blood Moon was anything, it mean your souls are linked forever. Which means either both of you hurt each other really hard, or he did something that hurt you beyond anyone could imagine."

"He…" Star sighed and sat up hugging her legs and ignoring the remark on her cheeks. It was useless to hide once people had been it once already "He just said something… It's no big deal."

"Tsunamis are just waves with a stronger and bigger impact, and still they destroy everything in their way. And just as such, sometimes saying something can be just as destructible as a tsunami can be. Either water or words, if it hurt you don't make anything less than it really is."

The princess looked at him with a soft curiosity, "How come you care now? And what about all that poetry?"

The demon prince shrugged "Just a few things I listened from mortals and friends."

Star looked back at ceiling with an absent mind. Tom didn't mind much, he was there to be supportive, if that meant to just sit around all day while she was wondering with her thoughts, Tom would do so.

"Is it possible to miss someone more than you loved them?"

Tom looked at her looking above his shoulder, "what you mean?"

"I mean… To miss a lot more everything about the person than the love you felt?"

"Hmm…" Tom sat for a moment thinking and then provided an answer "Yes, I think it is. I mean, when you miss someone you're not missing just your feeling for that person, you miss all of it, the memories, the smiles and what made you happy. Of course, it doesn't mean you love less or isn't related, but missing means more than just that."

Star nodded laying down again and Tom turned around. "Thanks."

"It's ok. We might be ex, but I think we both had come in terms to being friends, didn't we?"

"It's just… Tom, I miss him so much." Star took a shaking breath, "I miss talking to him, I miss walking around, going to school, learning about new things, watching movies under the blanket, dancing and singing random songs, laughing as he scream to me for stealing his cereal yet again. I miss everything about him and other stuff so much it hurts…" she sniffed "I miss school, I miss Janna, Ferg, Al and Jackie, I even miss Oskar… I miss my friends and my life there mixed with mine here. I miss not going to movies and not being able to call them or read the stuff Janna sent me to read with the korean people!"

Tom frowned confused. "Korean people?"

"I miss everything I had and what I'll never get… It's not just just about how much I love him, it's a big part for sure but right now… I miss everything than I ever loved it all. If I could just… Watch around or be there… But it's gone. And I can't help to miss it all."

"I'm sure they miss you just as much." Tom said in a sad smile, patting her arm gently.

"They don't. They don't even know I was once there."

Tom looked at Star confused for a minute, then he gasped and his three eyes were in shock and by then she knew exactly why. He put the pieces together and figured out what she did. There was a mix of emotions in his face, confusion, then fury, then more confusing, and so, hurt and only for last one caring.

He took his hands away from her, and looked down at his lap "You did what you thought it was better and what you had to do. As much it hurts, as a prince I can understand." He put his hand in her hand in a caring way and respecting her space too. "And I know you didn't have to know about me keeping a certain human in observation… You made them cut ties with us all, and I understand… But we are friends, we made our terms. You should have told me sooner, I could have been there to help you..." He sighed "I wish I was there."

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok. We can't change anything now" he shrugged, "I'll leave you to rest. You got emotionally exhausted and you need as much rest you need."

"Thanks, Tom."

The blond smiled and the demon got up to leave her to rest. He stopped by the door looking back at the room one last time observing the blond princess laying down and almost asleep again. In a worried smile, Tom closed the door as silent as possible and called Ponyhead.

"Hey, we have a situation. No, I… Ponyhead!" He sighed blushing and continued "Star is far more important, you get to tease me later, ok?"

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That day she was again at the library studying books of olds to find possible come outs from either the tradition or the menace. It was when she came across a story that reminded her a lot of another royal she learned in history class back on her Earth days.

It was a possibility to do that, but it would also be a great sacrifice… Due to her condition, maybe not so great, she might not last enough to feel the true impact of such announcement.

A double tailed cat sat beside Star, he purred as she caressed his fur and tried to get the piece of paper on the ring around his paw, the symbol he belonged to someone royal. Star frowned and got the paper out, the cat meowed in thankfulness and jumped out the table going on with his life.

She unfolded the note given for him to deliver and felt both a great relief and ultimate fury. There wasn't a reaction even if she identified the feelings, it felt odd, but she couldn't react to that either. Unable to react much to none of that, she decided to follow the instructions on the note.

In the late night, the princess went to the garden, on the depths of it where the roots of plants dried by autumn, they made a cover from the moonlight and possible viewers. She stepped inside and waited a few minutes, ready to meet whoever took her precious earrings and make any kind of deal to have it back.

The wind was cold, but she didn't mind. Even if she stood there with a decent coat and determined eyes, there was a slight shiver of cold on her body that didn't go unnoticed by the person who just arrived.

"Do you want my coat?" He asked under a coat that hidden his appearance.

"So you speak." She laughed ironically, "And no, I rather just have what's mine back and go back to my room."

Prince Melodiaz nodded taking the cover of his face away as he realized there was no reason to hide his face from her in first place.

"Why are you hiding, prince?"

"I didn't want anyone following me or trying to get in the way of our meeting." He put his hand on the pocket of his coat and showed her the missing earring; "You kept touching them too much. It fell during the ball, but you left before I could tell you… I heard about the reasons behind your breakdown a bit later with the maids chattering. If I knew this was it I would have given back sooner."

Star took from his hands and held close to her chest. She had no intentions to run away, but she needed the earring close to her.

"That's not what your note says"As much she didn't want to speak to him, the deal was her earring back in the exchange to listen to him, so whatever he had to say she still reserved the right to disagree or refuse, which was good.

The prince sighed in discomfort, "It's impossible to get your attention in any other way or without my father knowing about."

Star raised one eyebrow suspicious "So your father doesn't know you're here?"

"No." He replied crossing his arms as he leaned on the wall beside him to speak to her, he was still tense even if he was trying not to show it "I made sure he doesn't and I want to keep that way."

"Why is that? This would be a perfect opportunity for a check-mate and try convince me of the marriage to benefit your kingdom."

He sighed looking down in shame "My father and I have different thoughts and plans for the kingdom and it's growth. Because of that I can't voice my thoughts and opinions to him."

Star looked at him a bit surprised, but her voice sounded neutral still "By this then I guess he doesn't knows yours? That's why you don't speak around him?"

Prince Melodiaz nodded, "If he suspects he will find a way to give the crown to someone who just obeys him, the kingdom lived like that for far too long. King after king being controlled, brainwashed and manipulated by the older generation until the time they become the old generation themselves and lost their own views." He looked up, but Star knew his mind was far away from there. "It's time to change, our people, our kingdom and the generations to come need that; but for that I have to pretend I agree with everything first or the circle will just repeat when he put me away."

"You speak as someone who has a plan."

"I do." he looked at the princess with confidence and also overwhelming respect, "But, as insane it sounds, you'll need to agree with the marriage to work it out."

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As the princess recovered her earrings, she didn't speak how she found the missing pair, but Moon was happy to see that at least that was able to get some reaction from her. She was becoming distant and something inside her told that more she drifted away, more would be impossible to save her daughter.

Star wouldn't know how much time it has been, she stopped counting days in a way to try stop thinking about what was left behind. Counting days meant counting how long they had break apart, it meant counting how much she had (or not) left to herself. So if she didn't count, in theory would be easier to move on as much as she could.

She had finally got her room back, all the broken pieces replaced and fixed around. She still used makeup to cover the broken hearts, in such time they didn't need to make the kingdom go wild at her marks. Ponyhead was visiting with Tom often ever since the day she broke down. Part of her knew they were still around because they cared, but another part wondered if they knew it was a lot more dangerous than just a heartbreak.

As soon as the princess walked into the room, she could feel something weird. Her throat was more irritated and her breathing got heavier. It didn't take much to the first cough, then the second. Then blue petals. The flowers and it continued on and on.

There was something off. Something that belonged to the other world, something that belonged to him and now, after refreshing her room she could feel it. It was like he was everywhere… For Lord she could smell him everywhere.

The coughs went on, petals and flowers mixing up and getting on the ground.

She began to look around to the source desperate. She needed to get it away, she needed to eliminate it if she wanted any chance of salvation. Following the perfume to where it felt stronger, the princess went to her wardrobe taking the pieces with the smell out the floor to be washed. She coughed hard from times to times, letting more petals and flower lay around the floor as she continued her task, assuming it was because she was getting contact with something she wasn't supposed to.

Something from him, something that it was there for some reason.

And after dropping another dress she found it. The air missed her breath, eyes hurt and tender at the same time, her hands reaching out before she could even think otherwise. She took a few steps back observing the red hoodie in her hands. It must had ended up mixed with her things when she left in a hurry, it was the hoodie he gave to her in the game night in which she cried to sleep when she saw the Twilight Princess doing exactly what she would do.

Star walked around her room admiring the details of the hoodie. From the lines of stitches to the fading red it was becoming, to the pockets and… She raised the hoodie to her face to feel the perfume and caress against her cheek. The blond sighed softly, tenderly and warming… It was like he was there with her for a moment.

And then she coughed. Annoyed by her own actions Star threw the hoodie in the carpet. She had to stop that. She needed to get rid of that, it wasn't doing any well to her and… Before deciding to look on how he was.

"Oh, who cares?!" Taking her wand again, she turned around and begin to say the enchantment it could be forbidden to her right now, but she didn't care. She needed to see him, to know how he was, what he was doing, to ease a bit of her aching...

"I'm summon the all seeing eye…" Her hair began to float and her marks grew into a golden light "To tear a hole into the sky. Reveal to me which is hidden; Unveil to me what is forbidden."

There was wind around and after it stopped whipping Star's hair into her face, she opened her eyes to watch how her friends were. The first thing she saw was their smiling faces, Marco smiling as he talked to Janna, Ferguson and Alonso driving down the street to somewhere. They were talking about some fight Marco won and laughing. Probably some championship she missed, and it explained his injuries healing, he still had dark marks under his eyes and one that looked to be healing from a punch.

A tear rolled through the princess eye. She should expect that. They don't remember her or even have a clue about her existence… It should have been obvious that was what it was waiting for her, to see they living and moving on as if nothing had happened or changed, because for them it really was like that… Glossaryck had told her more than once that the All Seeing Eye was a hurtful magic to the caster, she should have listened more.

Star dropped the wand at her feet and watched as the smiling faces of her friends and love disappeared. That was it. They had forgotten and she did that, she couldn't be angry at them or it and she wasn't.

She was angry at herself.

In a desperate and determined motion, Star took her scissors and grabbed the red hoodie, sitting on her knees she held the scissors tight. The Scissors might not work anymore to get her to earth, but it still could help her to get rid of the one thing left killing her slowly from inside out.

Dropping the red clothing, Star raised her arm holding the scissor as high as she could, and took a breath ignoring the tears in her eyes. Supporting herself and holding the fabric in one hand, the other could freely stab it to begin tearing apart. Her hand shook, her breath got shallow and harder, and she still coughed more petals out her body.

She counted to three and got ready to end that once for all. So she closed her eyes and did as she should, as her very soul begged her to do.

Star hugged his hoodie.

The scissor was still on her hand, but the original intent was gone for good. She couldn't destroy it. It was the only thing she had left from him, and even if it would kill her faster, it didn't change the fact she would die anyway, so why not keep it? She had that right, she could keep the only thing still remaining him on her life couldn't she?

Her body suddenly begged her to turn around and let it all out, she found out where it should be maybe some of her lunch, there was just a bunch of flowers and petals surrounding her in blue. All of them that were inside her, and she had no doubts there were still more and more growing as she kept coughing more petals out.

She held the hoodie tighter, scared for her life, even if that made it worse, it was her only comfort for now. As much she wanted to there was no way she could completely cut her connection to Marco, even if the red string was just there- wait what?

The princess lifted her hand, in her little finger there was a string tied that went around her and then disappeared to somewhere (probably to link her to Marco.) The string that should be invisible and indestructible was just there, she could reach it out so easily…

So could the dimensional scissors.

And in a quick thinking, in a desperate way to finish her pain, Star, just reached out for the string using the scissors. They were strong enough to rip apart the dimensional veil and cut through to any other, they could just cut a little fragile red string that was already fading and almost broken, couldn't it? What was holding the string one to another still anyway? Marco certainly wasn't it… It probably was just her. If she just cut it, she would be free from him and him from her, she could move on…

She could live.

Taking a short breath, Star opened the blades and placed the string between. In a short and fast movement.

All she had to do, was to cut the string.

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The Queen and king were reunited with Tom and Ponyhead along with Glossaryck and Baby in the High Commission room to talk.

"There is something deeper than her being apart from her friends, I know this…" Moon said.

"I wish I could just go and impale the guy!" Ponyhead kept screaming.

"The only way to do that," Baby said munching a chicken leg "would be if someone from the isolated side broke the spell somehow and got magic to flow in that world, even if in a small amount. One little leak is enough to make it flow it over again, but then again no living being ever broke the Erasing Magic to all of we know."

"It's not the time to discuss that!" River claimed "We need to know the deepness of what's going on first to take action."

"In my opinion…" Glossaryck replied taking another spoon of pudding, "You're all wasting time."

Moon looked at the guardian worried, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that whatever was done, is done. It can't be undone and the only cure it's on the other side and there's nothing to change that."

"What? you mean my daughter is condemned and there's nothing I can do?! How could you not stopped her?!"

Glossaryck looked at Moon with a bored expression, "My queen, you should know more than anyone else in this room that certains kind of magic are unstoppable and too pure."

Baby went closer to the table and grabbed a bowl of cookies to eat while speaking "Love is the greatest and the worst thing to ever come to exist. It could both destroy or save someone…"

Moon and River went pale with those words, but before anything else was said, there was a deafening sound roaming through the castle, shaking and echoing through it all like a thunder, followed by a high pitch scream. Both royals looked at each other before running in the direction of the doors.

"Star!"

Tom and Ponyhead confused looked back at Baby and Glossaryck, both with a solemn expression showing a bit more on surface than the normal lazy guardian and magic cat usually let it show. Baby took another cookie before turning to them "I am afraid the princess it's placed in the first option."

A shiver went on both Tom and Ponyhead, they looked at each other for a second before running out the door after Moon and River.

They didn't bother to knock the door, each parent opening their side as wide as they could with frantic eyes for their child both speaking at the same time "Star!"

The king and queen ran to their child collapsed on the floor, Moon held her in her arms carefully as Tom and Ponyhead got in, the second one gasped to the pieces of a broken scissor laying around.

It took awhile for her to be able to answer, her whole being hurt, her body felt like being alive was more painful, it was hard to breathe and more she tried to get air, more painful and agonizing it was, she could hardly see around her aside shadows and silhouettes, she couldn't hear anything aside a void sound and echoes, her body was numb, it hurt to move so she didn't try.

There was a weird taste on her mouth that she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was, she felt so sick, whatever food she had in her stomach wanted to get out but at the same was struggling to stay, the room was spinning, her veins felt like fire, burning and hurting all the way and still she felt utterly cold to her bones, she was shaking and that didn't help the pain.

She felt something holding on her, but her body was so numb that she couldn't tell the difference or who it was. Whoever was rescuing her let her take her time to recover and talk before speaking.

After what felt an eternity, she finally felt ease enough to try open her eyes again and breathing wasn't that hard. She saw her mother holding her in her lap, her father caressing her head in worry, she looked down and saw the queen's hand glowing faintly above her chest, using some kind of cure magic to help her recover. Moon only stopped the spell when Star could take a deep breath and exhale right after, in a signal she could at least breathe again.

Ponyhead came into view above, but still in a safe distance to give her space to breathe. Her question was laced with agony and helplessness, "Star, what did you do?"

River took notice of the cloth Star was holding so tight while recovering, "Darling, is that…?"

The princess held it closer to her, "I'm sorry… I just… I thought I could fix this… I thought if I-" she sniffed- "cut it apart, I could fix everything… but it didn't work…"

Tom looked at the shattered parts of the scissor Hekapoo was picking up, understanding what she did. He kneeled beside her as Ponyhead moved to the other side, looking over Moon's shoulder to her.

"Oh, Star…" Moon said sadly caressing her face "You can't tear apart a bond of love. It's impossible. There's no other way to break unless both parts do it… If yours it's not broken, means one of you still struggling to keep it."

"Or both…" Ponyhead whispered to herself, but loud enough for Star to hear.

"It was only one string still holding, and it's so fragile and so close to break at once…"

Tom looked at her frustrated, "You could have died, Star!"

The princess shook her head gently as she could since the world was still spinning, "I don't want this anymore. I'm tired of suffering, of waiting and aching for him and I'm so scared-" Star didn't finished her sentence as she pulled her mother away so she could give in her body urge to throw away more flowers.

The look on Moon's face wasn't even something she was able to describe once she looked at her mother, her father looked as if he saw death in front of him and now wished it was looking at him, Tom got up and stood there in shock, Ponyhead mouth hang open from her gasp. Star wiped her eyes clean and sniffed again coughing a few more petals out her throat and mouth.

"Since when this is happening?" Moon said sternly.

"Mom…"

"Since when, Star?!" She screamed holding her daughter shoulders "Star, don't you know how deadly that is?! You can be in a very dangerous situation!"

"It's too late to think that."

The group looked at Baby that flew closer to them observing the flowers around, Glossaryck close behind.

"I guess this answers a few things, such as your inability to feel positive emotions by yourself lately."

Moon looked at the fairy cat desperate, "There is a cure, isn't?"

Glossaryck sighed floating before Moon, "There are a few, but the only two you do like, aren't really alternatives."

"Tell me."

Star held her Mother shoulder trying to take her attention "Mom…"

"Just tell me already how to save my daughter!" The queen screamed while getting up and dropping Star into her father by doing so.

The blue skinned being just sighed, "On one, we would need the Earth boy, which is unavailable in the moment." Moon looked at her daughter in her husband's arms for a moment then back at him.

"And the other?"

Glossaryck looked at Star who shook her head, then at fierce and worried Moon and closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath sighing deeply after.

"If you found a way to take out the flowers and the original seed, you might be able to save her, however-" Glossaryck interrupted Moon from saying anything, "by doing so you would take all the love inside her. She might become unable to love ever again, even if not romantically. She might even die while you try doing so."

Tom looked at him angry "Those aren't options at all!"

Star saw as her mother closed her hand in a determined fist, showing she had made her mind and got breathless, reaching out for her again trying to speak to her still, "No! Mom… Mommy, no!"

"I won't let you just die, Star! It must be done!" She looked at a few maids by the door "Call the best doctors and magicians! Now!" The maids just nodded and left as fast as they had come.

"Mommy! Please!"

"My child…" River tried to hold her, but she avoided his arms.

"I can't just watch you die if there's a way to save you, Star! Why can't you get that?!"

"Because I would lose him and everything about Earth!" Star screamed startling her mother, "By taking the flower, you take anything related to my love for him away, memories, presence, anything! And after you do I'll be left with no love or memory of him!" The tears started to flow again and she tried as much as she could to wipe them clean, "These memories are all I have, please don't take them away from me!"

Moon looked at her shocked, "Star… You'll die if we don't do this…"

"I rather die than to live a life in which he doesn't exist, in which there's no love for me…"

"Oh, darling…"

"Please don't take the little I have away…" Star shook her head letting the tears fall "Don't take him away from me. Why would you send me to Earth to just take it all now?! This is all I have, I don't care if it kills me. Just don't take this away."

Moon hugged her, and for a moment Star felt things would be fine, as the warmth and caring of her mother enveloped her in a sweet and safe embrace that took her to sleep. It took just another moment for her to realize why she felt so sleepy suddenly.

"No…" Star sighed trying to fight the sleep need with no avail, "Please, no…"

"I'm sorry. I can't lose you." In the next moment Star was asleep in her arms and moon gave her to the doctors and magicians present. "Baby, Glossaryck, you stay with her." Both entities nodded and flowed the others out the room.

River approached his wife carefully and put a hand on her shoulder. The queen hugged him tight crying on his shoulder right away and so did he. They stood like that for a long time, trying to conceal each other feelings to ease their worry over their little girl. Tom and Ponyhead outside the room looked to give a bit of comfort to each other as they decided to wait for her recovery.

Hours later Glossaryck would go out the room to give them bad news and Baby would affirm that taking the seed would be impossible to be taken away for being placed in her heart. The most they could do would to be take away the flowers from times to times in order to help her live longer, but it couldn't be done forever as the flowers would grow back as the memories would too, and each time it got trimmed, it would grow faster.

After waking up with little love inside her being, Star would call her parents, and once in the room, she would finally take a shoot and gave her final word into the complicated decision she had at hand. So when they stood by her side, Star sat straight and with composure that wasn't like her, taking a deep breath, she look into their eyes and make an announcement of her decision at once for all.

"I'm willing to accept the kingdom requisition and needs. I'll be accepting the proposal and the arrangement to get married to Prince Melodiaz."