Strangled

by RoseShower

[MarcoBadBoy!AU] - His life had been filled with Death and Heartbreak, changing him for the worst. That is, until one obedient princess helped change it for the better.

21. Blood Moon Ball Pt2 (Final)

Chapter 21: Blood Moon Ball P.2 (Final Part)

Rating: (T-M) Not for Children.

Pairings: Starco, JanTom

A/N: Another chapter of 10k! (Or more) Sorry for the long wait! School's a bitch. Seriously.

---

Marco panicked; what the hell was he supposed to do in a situation such as this?

The thumping in his chest, the same thumping below his feet- it caused him to feel many emotions at once. He absolutely hated to admit that right now, he was concerned. That right now, he was scared. That right at this moment, with Star right here, he was hurt. He didn't even know what or why it ached him. So he blamed it on the situation.

What the hell just happened? Why...why did this seem familiar to him, only more drastic?

'Let her die.'

Marco's eyes widened as a scream echoed in the distance, his legs trying to keep up with the crowd of "normal" looking demons that ran either slower, or faster than he did.

That voice. The voice.

It filtered out all his happy-hopeful, thoughts, and replaced them with depressing things he didn't or ever really wanted.

The reason this all felt familiar was because it matched the voice; the situation is almost exactly like the event that took place back when Star had been stabbed by that bird.

He was running, carrying her in a manner like a groom would a bride, trying to out run a demon wanting to kill him. Or so he thought that's what those disgusting looking creatures wanted to do. He wasn't sure yet, but it was best to avoid just in case.

This time, he cared much more than the first. He seemed to realize this as he stumbled on rocks and small red pebbles, still with the crowd who seemed to be heading in a completely different direction.

That was his ache.

The care. The stupid care he felt for this girl, the girl who claimed she would help him in every way she could.

Was it bad that he believed her?

---

Star could perceive herself to be moving, as she could clearly feel the humid waves of air that rushed in between the gloved fingers of her limp hand. She could also feel her body bobbing up and down in small jumps, seeming to be pressed against someone that radiated the right temperature; neither warm nor cold. Hands were wrapped around her upper chest as well as her thighs, and their fingers felt bare and heated along her open skin. They felt...familiar. Was this who she thought it to be?

Her eyes tried to flutter open, and weakly, they barely managed to slit a peek at whoever it was that was taking her somewhere. All she could see was just a blur of darkness.

A coursing scent of something minty and of chocolate taste went through her nose, and almost instantly, she could recognize that the person who was holding onto her was Marco. Her ears could hear his rough pants of raged breathing, the way his dress shoes crunched when they made contact with the rocky ground below them.

She tried to lift up her arm and tell him-ask him something that she didn't know of, but she found her eyes closing again, and the little strength she received from that little moment vanished.

Faintly however, before she slipped back into her unconsciousness, she managed to hear a heavy sentence coming from him that made her feel warm inside.

"You're fine. You're safe. I'm here."

She couldn't help but feel at ease with that, despite the constant visions of her once loving Grandmother Eclipsa.

---

Marco heaved a heavy gasp of air as he hid himself behind a rock, his back pressed against the stony red colored object. He managed to take a detour that avoided him from the crowd, maybe somewhere secluded where the demons wouldn't take them.

He slid down and made sure to gently have Star at ease in his hands, taking a look at her delicate features that would almost always go through his head. His head then darted upwards, breathing in and breathing out as his eyes took in the darkening bloody red of the underworld. He hated to admit it spooked him.

Looking back down, he shuffled Star on his arm closer to him, and made sure to check and see if she was breathing.

In all the screaming and commotion, he could faintly hear a soft snooze from her. His body relaxed a bit more at the thought that she wasn't gone like the voice wanted her to be.

His eyes took a look around to check and see if any of those beasts were there, and softened his posture when he noticed none. Though, his expression hardened when a wave of questions began to swim through his mind.

This whole situation was a mess. It was driving him mad-what the hell was this all about? Why had Star passed out? Why were there red bony-looking creatures at the party?

Who the hell is Eclipsa?

Marco paused. Really, who was that? Never had Star mentioned a name like that. It was confusing and worrisome when Star had just said that. It made him feel as if she were about to die, and that the name was her last bearing breath of some sort of warning. It was scaring him.

Star moved on his arm, and drew closer as her bun began to come itself undone. Though, surprisingly, it was still clasped on tight; there was no legit possible way that it could completely fall back unless something big happened to cause her hair to flow out.

His cheeks hued in pink when she shuffled again, her head now perched against his shoulder; her breathing hitting the nape of his neck.

In an effort to calm down, he avoided to look at her face, and darted to look around and see if the demons-or monsters really, have emerged or came back.

There was still nothing, thankfully. He could still hear screams however, screams that he wasn't sure if they came from the monsters, or the demon's themselves.

While he looked around, his eyes brought themselves back to her, and suddenly, he noticed something sparkle from her hair. He turned to it fully, and his eyes slightly widened as he took in that her wand was there. The first thing that came to his mind was: "How does she keep that in there?"

But he brushed any of those ridiculous questions aside, because unlike him, Star was a mystery that could literally do anything without thinking that it was considered 'weird'.

A different thought crossed his mind. Maybe she could- He stopped himself from his thinking as the realization struck him. She was unconscious, and she was lucky she could barely breath. She was in no state of physicality or mind to even produce any sort of 'magic', let alone do anything else with the wand to get them out of this.

He only hoped that she would be fine.

"Eclipsa.." She murmured out of nowhere, and he jumped slightly in place as her brows creased.

Her mouth formed a frown, and he could faintly see a small trail of purple flame erupting from under her closed eyes.

"Star...?" He whispered, his hand reaching over to brush off strays of her messed up hair.

Her eyes suddenly shot open, and her body jerked up, as her mouth yelled loudly, "Eclipsa!"

With what she did, she hit her head against his, and groaned as he now rubbed at the sore spot.

Star looked around, confused and afraid, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as her legs tangled up with his own.

Marco let out another groan as he rubbed at his temple, and saw that Star was desperately trying to move away, her eyes a dark purple instead of green. "Whoa, whoa, Star?" He groaned as he adjusted himself, keeping an eye on Star the entire time.

She said nothing as she slowly turned her head to face him, the purple smoke coming from her eyes making it seem as if she were ready to shoot a laser at him.

Marco approached closer now as he waved a hand in front of her, to which she flinched at as her eyes darted everywhere at him. Did she not recognize him?

"Eclipsa?" Star whispered, taking his waving hand and examining it.

"I'm not Eclipsa, or whatever that person's name is." He said a bit bothered, giving her a look. "It's Marco. See, M-a-r-c-o." He said to her, allowing her to feel his bare hand as he used his other hand to point at the features of his face.

Star seemed to recognize his name, for she perked up, glancing away from his hand to his face. "Marco..?" She whispered again, voice shaking a bit.

Marco sighed. "Yes, Marco. You know it's me, right?" He whispered back, low-key enjoying the way her gloved thumb glazed over the palm of his hand.

Star's purple smoke disappeared, and her purple eyes returned back to their normal color, blue as a crystal. "Marco.." She whispered again, and the confused look that entered her expression had vanished, replacing itself with a small pinkish smile. 'This isn't Eclipsa. This isn't mom. This isn't Father. This isn't me. This is Marco..'

Marco remained expressionless, but Star could see a small twitch on his lips going upwards.

"You can see me, right?" Marco asked again, and flushed a bit in color when she squeezed his hand, her head nodding up and down.

"Yes..I can." She breathed, not feeling as if this were real.

Then, a small tear came out from her right eye, her body slumping in overjoyed sadness. Their hands were still holding onto each other, and Marco was completely confused when she had began to chuckle a little, her hand wiping a sad tear that rolled down her cheek. She swallowed thickly as her head turned around to examine her surroundings, and she found herself confused once more when all she could see was miles and miles of the color red, fire, and rocks. "Where...are we?" Star whispered, and gently untangled her fingers from his own.

Marco wouldn't admit that he felt a bit disappointed when she let go. "The Underworld, remember? You came here." Marco told her, feeling a bit weird that she hadn't remembered anything.

Star stifled a gasp as the iris' of her eyes flashed a dark green color. She then, this time, looked better around, and realized that indeed, they were in the underworld. In a vacant area that wasn't safe to be around, considering the horrid demon monsters that were sent to these areas. "Oh no.." Star hissed, and began to stand up, but Marco pulled her back down instantly.

"What the hell? Don't stand up!" Marco muttered, holding onto her arm as if his life depended on it.

"Why not?" Star responded, a bit angry.

"I don't know if they're dangerous or not, but there's some seriously fucked up shit going on out there, behind this damn rock. Something crashed the party, apparently, and started eating everyone that was inside." He explained, pointing his thumb back over his head.

Star gulped. "This is bad. What...do they look like?" She hesitantly asked, and Marco winced.

"I don't know how to describe them, really. They just...I don't know, they look like a fucking twisted up red bloody woman." He said, moving his hands to his face as if trying to signal or form out what he thought they looked like.

Star paled. "Do they look as if they're starving?" Star asked him, hoping, praying, that it wasn't who she thought they were.

Marco took a moment to answer. "You mean skinny or something? Yeah. How come?"

'Eclipsa.' Star thought to herself miserably, remembering the portrait she showed Star all those years ago.

Her demon servants...and her husband.

Globgor.

"We need to leave this place immediately." Star said out of nowhere, crawling over to press her body against the rock.

"That was literally the entire plan this whole night." Marco deadpanned, and Star threw him a glare.

Her body lifted up a bit to check over the rock, just to take a peek to see if there were any of those demons around. She was surprised to find none.

"What are you doing?" Marco growled, propping himself up as well, taking a look for himself.

"I thought you said they were back here.." Star said to him, glaring as she observed the area.

"They must've left, I don't know!" Marco yapped, a bit mad that Star had so carelessly looked over.

"But those things...they don't just..they don't just disappear." Star told him, turning back around now.

Her body slid down the rock as he continued to look back, his brows crinkled in thought. "What do you mean they don't just disappear?" He asked her, his eye catching sight of something spilling black in the distance.

Star felt her body shiver when she recalled the exact words Eclipsa had told her so long ago.

"They never leave, you see, that's the great part! But alas, that's not much of a good thing either. They just hide long enough until the prey emerges again, to strike. My dear beloved was such an intelligent demon.. How agonizing must it be that he got trapped.."

Star grabbed onto her arms tightly, shutting her eyes closed.

She suddenly felt a soft, tender hold on her bare shoulder. Looking up, she found Marco peering at her, a hint of concern behind his assertive eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asked, and he felt like smacking himself when Star's frustrated expression turned into one of sadness.

Of course she wasn't okay. He actually thought that she never was, whenever he asked. Jeez, he felt stupid now that he asked that question.

"Forget I asked that," Marco told her, looking back over the rock, "I didn't mean to make you feel more sad than you already were."

Star felt surprised. "It's fine." She muttered.

"It isn't." He muttered back to her, not daring to look back into her face. He didn't feel as if he needed to be relatable again. Those eyes of hers...they made him feel the things he knew too well. Maybe even worse.

Star found herself looking over the rock again, matching his lamented expression as her body fully turned back to see. "It is. I swear. It's okay. None of this is at your fault." Star told him softly, and took a look at him.

Her eyes centered to his own, finding them to be sad. To be pained. To be...r-red?

"Marco, your eyes-" Star let out a small pained cry as she was pulled back hard enough onto the floor, her shoulder stinging from the sudden prickly stabs that went almost through her skin, enough to draw blood.

She cried out in pain when they removed the sharp object, as she suddenly felt Marco pull her towards him.

"Oh my god-" Marco couldn't even finish what he was saying, for the monster screamed, kicking them both off onto the hard rocks resting on the floor.

---

"Sooo, what happened?"

Tom heaved an exasperated sigh as he sat down on a black bench, his body slumping back. "I don't know. Something Good? Bad?" He muttered, facing up.

Janna stood in front of him, leaning on her hip with her arms crossed in front of her. "I'm gonna go ahead and say it went bad. Like, reaaaallly Bad." She said, and Tom sighed.

"Apparently, I got encased in ice." Tom said, and Janna seemed surprised.

"Ice, really? How's that even possible? We're in the underworld." She said, finding it odd that he would get iced in somewhere this hot.

"My parents said it was Star who shot at me. Blasted me with some sort of ice spell or something.." Tom murmured, his brows creasing the more he thought about it.

Janna crossed her arms. She heard from one of the demons that passed by Tom's room, but she found it hard to believe. Star didn't seem like the type to do something like that, since she looked like one of those certain people who actually believed in rules. "I totally forgot she was coming." Janna told him, meaning it.

Tom knew she would be coming. Maybe not for him, but for her mom. Don't ask him how he has these certain feelings; it just occurs to him. "Yeah. I completely forgot too."

Janna threw him a look. "You know, I'll admit, you're pretty good at certain things, but you suck at lying." Janna told him.

Tom frowned. "I was hoping I'd talk to her. To...you know... make up after everything. To say sorry and junk." He muttered, and Janna felt a sickly feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Janna didn't seem surprised anymore. She knew from the start that this girl wanted nothing to do with Tom; and that she'd be willing to do some pretty drastic stuff to stop him from getting close to her. Janna kind of felt bad for Tom. "Hey, man, look," Janna saw the way his eyes seemed to perk up, "You gotta understand that she doesn't really like you anymore. Let's see the situation here, what exactly happened before she y'know, hit you with that icy spell?"

Tom sat up a bit straighter. "Well, she was dancing with this dude-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Janna said, raising her hand up to signal 'stop'. "You saw a guy dancing with her. And, let me guess, did you get jealous?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

Tom huffed and closed his eyes, frowning. "I don't know how to answer that.."

Janna gave him a weary frown. "Tom, you gotta stop this, dude." She said seriously, and he opened his eyes now, widened. "You just-look, you obviously still like the poor girl," Janna whispered, looking around as if she was afraid someone would see her. "But you have to face the reality that she's gone. She's no longer with you, and she wants nothing to do with you." Janna hissed, a bit harsher than she intended to.

Tom seemed to shrink back at her words. He knew she was right. He knew she was correct about everything, and he knew that she was trying to help. Though, he still denied it, because of his stupid false hope. His expression hardened, and he gave her a harsh glare. "How do you know if she doesn't want anything to do with me? How do you know if she wants me back or not? You have never even dated anyone before!" He spat, and Janna remained motionless, expression blank.

"Trust me, Tom. I know my shit. I know that she doesn't want anything to do with you-hell! She didn't even want to come to the ball in the first place because she knew you would be hosting it." Janna said slowly, trying not to raise her voice.

"So what? As if you know anything that me and Star had, anyway. You don't know anything of what you're saying!" He continued, the tips of his horns lighting up in a small flame.

Janna looked away from his angered look, her arms now uncrossed, hands clenching to her sides.

"I'm tired of everything that people tell me about her. Nobody knows if she wants me back or not! Nobody even knew about our fucking relationship, and now they're over here trying to give off their stupid opinions that don't even matter!" He snarled, standing up while still yelling at her.

Janna flinched when he stood, and she stared at him now, intimidated. But she could feel her anger bubble up, something she never thought she had inside of her."You don't know shit, Tom." She said darkly, the necklace vibrating against her skin.

Tom's eyes widened and his expression softened as she again, looked away.

"You're so stupid. You're so fucking hopeful for someone you fucking know will never love you back. And you're so stupid for telling me that I don't know shit about what's happening." She growled, looking back at him with a hated look. "You think I don't know shit of what the fuck is happening? I may have never dated anyone, ever, but I understand what's going on. Why do you think I told you about Marco? We were best friends for fuck's sake! And me, I liked the dude because he was just so nice, he was calm, he was the best guy I've ever met!" She cried out, her eyes flashing red along with her necklace.

"But since his parents disappeared, and that stupid bullying and shit from Jackie's fucking break up, he turned into someone else. He told me to fuck off, he told me to go away, because I'm supposedly the one that caused everything to happen." Janna hissed, eyebrows furrowing in sadness.

"That's exactly what Star did to you." Janna added softly, feeling absolutely miserable.

Tom clenched his cuff with his hand, gripping it tightly as he stared at Janna, who seemed to be on the verge of tears. His ears drooped as he finally looked away, expression one of known sadness.

"I hate that you live in this illusion. An illusion that you think that one day, Star will finally be back with you, and she'll tell you how much she'll love you, adore you, everything." Janna said a bit bitterly, jealous herself. "But that's not going to happen. Because she's already been caught by someone else, Tom. She loves someone else now. And I know that for sure, hell. I can see it in her eyes." Janna whispered, eyes flashing with sadness at the thought of Marco.

"Then who the fuck is it? Who the fuck is this other shithead that she loves now?" Tom snarled, no longer upset, but angry.

Janna stared at him, mouth shut, angry.

She couldn't believe it. The fuck was his problem? Why did he still believe in any of anything? Why couldn't he see? Why couldn't he see that she was right fucking there-

She turned around and walked away.

Tom stared after her, and was about to go after her, but stopped when a gigantic scream echoed in the background.

When Janna heard the scream, she gasped and whipped back, eyes widening. "That's..." Her eyes lidded as her words left her mouth, her necklace burning her chest.

She felt as if she were about to fall, and she so desperately tried to keep herself up.

Tom seemed to feel the burning ache in his chest, one so tremendous he swore it felt like dying heartburn.

Then, he heard another scream commence, and he turned back at Janna, who was about to fall.

Tom rushed to her and watched as her body buckled and fell on him, eyes lidded, red smoke erupting from those very same eyes.

Tom could sense it-the book, that fucking book, he knew, he fucking knew.

'It tricked me.' Tom said disbelievingly, paralyzed as he held onto Janna.

He reached her up into his arms, and widened his eyes as he saw the red smudge of the necklace on her chest.

That's when he felt his mind go wild; he should've taken that necklace off. What the hell was he thinking, using Janna to get Star back? What was he doing following that stupid books order?

Another scream commenced, and the doors they came from bolted open, a package of screaming ten-foot monsters emerging from within, with pieces of what seemed to be limbs and organs inside their multiple mouths.

He didn't think twice when he flew away from the scene carrying Janna, headed straight to his parents for help.

For answers.

For whatever the fuck just happened.

---

The rocks had bid them for good measure. They hurt themselves from the power of the kick, but it wasn't that that caused them to almost completely black out; it was the rocks, the landing had made them react as if something stabbed into them, into their heads. Miraculously, they were still able to capture reality, and not knock out into nothingness.

When they stood back up, they almost tripped and fell with the rocks in the way from running away from the charging creature, aimed straight for them. Star was the first to move; she grabbed Marco's arm and dragged him to follow after her, to avoid any upcoming attacks.

They felt as if there was no more rocks; only dust. They also felt the presence of many more of those horrid things, and they stopped, turning around.

Marco instantly saw the way the Monster raised it's hand to strike at it's opponent, aiming straight at him. It's eyes were red just like his, and he could've sworn he saw it hesitate.

Star stepped in front of Marco to cover him from the blow, determined to save him at the cost of her own life.

As she awaited the impact of the hit, she was surprised when she felt nothing, and opened her eyes to find the red creatures just staring at her, or...through her.

Marco was holding onto Star tightly, as he had so cowardly held himself back behind her, much to his dismay of his thoughts.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Marco whispered, and proceeded to move to stand next to her now, barely able to sniff her whiff of watermelon from being a bit far away.

When he moved however, another scorching monster emerged, and swiped it's long arm across over to Marco's direction.

Though, Star acted quickly and pushed him away, the swipe cutting a lock of her binned hair.

They landed with a dusty 'oof', and Star lay still, as Marco tried to adjust his vision to whatever was happening.

That's when he gasped and rolled Star away, his mariachi suit now dusted with the dirty red of the ground as Star's bun began to slowly become undone.

He had seen the upcoming swipe of yet another monster, whom he swore he heard a voice follow after it.

It sounded...trapped.

He was on top of her now, and he stared at her widened eyes, before Star pushed him off her, as another hand was heading over to pierce through their bodies.

Star managed to be scratched against her back, but she brushed it off, as she had began to grab her wand that was stuck onto her undone hair.

Before a third monster leaped at them, Star fixated her wand quickly and blasted it, a form of greenish colors emerging from within it's glowing crystal Star. The monster fell, dark patches of burns scathed around it's disgusting body.

She was still standing next to Marco, blocking him from anything else that would try to come at them. A few more monsters approached and tried to attack, but all they managed to do was knock Marco down again, right before being blasted away with another spell.

Marco was groaning as he stood up, and he held onto Star's shoulder as she blasted the last of the Monster's that were around at the time.

That's when he heard it, the faint sound of a voice, someone he clearly knew all too well.

It was followed by a sob, in which Star finally grasped that there was someone indeed here, not just some soul.

"Star I think-"

Star slapped her hand onto his mouth, and motioned for him to quiet down, as the monsters were attracted to the noise. Her eyes could see the monsters staring at them, or at Marco specifically, and watched as some of them left.

They stood there, frozen in place, no movement.

The monsters just stared, and it was freaking her out. It was freaking them out.

Why the fuck weren't they attacking? Was it because of Marco's eyes? The way they suddenly changed color?

One of the monster's shifted and locked eyes with Star, and let out a scream.

She jumped and pointed her wand at it, shaking.

The monsters caught on and they began to circle around them, causing her to panic. Eclipsa had told her that they closed in on their pray if they caught sight of something red. For some reason, they couldn't or wouldn't be able to attack anything of any form of crimson, as they themselves were 'red'. It had something related about family.

They stopped.

Star, and Marco flinched at the syncing stop.

They awaited for something-anything to jump at them, kill them on the spot, to end them. But nothing happened, and all they did was spare a glance, and retreat away.

Though, they began to run when they heard a scream that sounded human-like, surprisingly. They all left, except for one, who just stared at the floor, instead of them.

Star tried something.

She stepped forward.

Nothing happened.

So, she continued, grabbing Marco's arm as she slowly made her way behind some sort of stone.

"What the fuck-"

Star signaled him urgently to shut up, finger over her lips. "Shhh!" She hissed through her teeth, looking around. "They'll know we're here.." Star hushed, and then brought him close, locking her fingers with his. "Stay close to me." She suddenly whispered, and Marco nodded numbly, as he had seemed off guard by the way she had held onto him.

Heading off, Star couldn't seem to control herself that well. Because of the adrenaline that coursed through her body, she felt as if she were back in that place, back where hate and anguish fueled her veins.

Though, the tight hold on Marco aided her for the better, for she could bring herself back into reality if she ever caught herself back in her memories.

The pain on her shoulder was bringing her even more down though. Not to mention that scratch on her back... She felt almost desperate to a point to just hide herself and run off when all would clear.

But she knew that if they didn't get back to the portal by the time it struck 3:06, her and Marco would be stuck here. Without any of the souls or the Royal Family knowing. It was one of those demon ritual rules-demonism or something like that.

"Why did we come here..." Star muttered to herself as she hid against a rock, bringing Marco down as another Monster passed by, it's red bony hands leaving scathing imprints on the red ground.

After two more had followed after it, they plodded on, following after the abrupt sobs that could so expertly be heard by her own ears.

Though, she was stricken odd that the monsters hadn't even bothered to even care of who cried there, which brought suspicion.

"Star, you're breaking my hand." Marco whispered, trying to get loose of her piercing hold.

Star seemed to pause and flinch, and she let go of him now, as she internally began to panic.

Never should she feel this way, but she couldn't help it. It was who she was now; she was always scared.

Marco swallowed his arrogance and immediately went to grab her hand again, a softer firmness now. "I never said to let go of my hand." He deadpanned, trying to stop his face from flushing red just like the ground.

Star, even in her dramatic feared state, managed to smile and grip his hand back, her eyes warm and sincere.

Marco responded by rolling his eyes, but smiling back nonetheless. Maybe he should start acting a bit more casual around her.

A louder sob echoed, and Star jumped as she turned to a bright fire nearby, a fire that burned in the middle of the so called area here.

There, she saw familiar green eyes right in between the flames, though it was hard to tell since the fire seemed to blaze more than it needed to.

Star's eyes became assertive, and she again began to slowly pace about to the fire, hoping she didn't see who she thought she saw.

Marco had saw it too, and even if he didn't want to venture even deeper to wherever they were going, he had to follow, because something attracted him to the area.

As they neared, Marco looked back to check and see if there were anymore of those horror movie looking demons, and stiffened when he saw about five in a row staring at him; intently if he might add.

Their multiple eyes seemed excruciatingly horrific, and Marco forced himself to deal with wherever they were headed to.

Star held back a gasp when she saw the same familiar red neckerchief, the same well fixed parted hair, and the same glimmering green eyes she remembered so vividly tried to seduce her. Though now, they were filled with tears, and his colors were gone; replaced by gray. It reminded her of her own self.

"Oskar?" Marco hissed out, which was a terrible, terrible idea, for a long and malevolent shriek echoed in the distance.

Star had to stop herself from leaving Marco right then and there.

With all her dignity, she practically pulled him hard enough close to her as she quickly hid behind another giant rock, shoving his face into her chest.

Because of the red of her dress, Star presumed they would bypass her as just a rock with glimmering yellow hair.

Her thought was actually correct, for when the monster had advanced to the rock, looking at them dead in the eye, it had not moved. It seemed to be examining them, and Marco, even if he was beyond embarrassed and a bit angry for what she did, he did not dare move a muscle.

When Star saw the monster screech and then turn, she exhaled the breath she was holding, and Marco instantly pulled away from her, gasping for breath.

But then Star placed her hand over his mouth again, glaring at him. "Are you trying to get us killed?" Star hissed at him, and Marco narrowed his own eyes, yanking her hand off his mouth.

"Shu-"

Star, again, covered his mouth, eyeing him angrily.

Then, without a word, she bobbed her head to the side where Oskar was clearly mourning at, and removed her hand from his mouth.

"We need to get him out of there." Marco instantly said, surprising both himself, and Star.

Star shut her eyes closed. "How in the Queen's name of Urania did he end up here? Is that why he's been missing for so long?" Star asked, opening them again, confused and utterly not comprehending.

"Does it look like I know? I'm just as confused as you!" He whispered harshly, and Star opted for a glare.

A choked sob was heard, and Star felt a shiver go down her spine, as did Marco.

"What do you think we should do, then?" Star asked, glancing back at Oskar.

Marco closed his eyes and crossed his arms, thinking.

His eyes opened again, and Star again, noticed it's still crimson-like color. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." Marco muttered to himself, and shifted his eyes to Oskar, who was still bawling his eyes out. He eyed the fire, and then took a look at her wand. Looking up at her, he asked something simple.

"Do you think you can cast that ice spell again?"

---

"Dad, Mom!" Tom yelled, his body bolting through the big doors of the throne room.

He found them there, frozen in place with Dave holding onto his wife's human form, one hand on her waist, other hand caressing her face.

Tom felt his face scrunch up in disgust, and glared at who he thought was the stranger, who was sheepishly grinning as her hand clung onto her husband's suit.

"What the hell is this?" Tom yelled out, careful as to not burn Janna who he had in his arms at the moment. "Who the hell is that woman, father?!" Tom yelled, pointing angrily at the woman with ginger hair, and pretty red eyes.

Dave seemed confused to who he was referring to, and he followed Tom's finger to be pointing at Wrathmelior, who also seemed confused.

Then realization struck both of them. They never told their son that his mother could change forms.

"Answer me!" Tom yelled once again, the tips of his horns igniting with fire. "Are you cheating on mother?!"

They parted, and Wrathmelior was the first to speak. "I...am...mother..." She tried saying, pointing to herself. "Wrathmelior." She said simply, and Tom looked confused.

"What...? What are you saying?" Tom asked, taking a look at her fully before turning his hard gaze towards his father.

"Thomas, my boy, you must be confused. This is Wrathmelior! Your mom, my wife." Dave said quickly, walking towards Tom.

Wrathmelior followed suit, a small placid smile adorning her almost perfect lips. "I...am...mother..." She repeated, slowly now as she approached her son.

Dave noticed the distrustful look in his son's eyes. "Thomas, my beloved is right here. I don't believe we ever told you." He said rather sadly.

Tom looked between them. "Told me what? What have you not told me?" He asked, trying to get out all of the questions that kept piling up more and more.

Wrathmelior sighed. Ever so slowly, she backed away, catching both their attention. Once far enough, she stood still.

In about a few seconds, her features and body structure began to change, as her once fair skin slowly changed into a deep crimson.

Tom watched as his once human-looking mother grew larger and larger, until finally, she had became herself again. Her horns returned, her three orange eyes came back, as did the rest of her.

"Mom...?" Tom whispered, confounded at what he took witness in.

Dave placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and Tom turned to him, still confused.

In his arms, Janna lay still, eyes closed with her hands covering over the necklace. Nobody could really tell she had a burn mark there; only if they really were right next to her, examining her.

"I'm sorry we never told you, Tom." Dave said lightly, frowning.

Wrathmelior crouched and nodded, going over to pet Tom on his head.

Before Tom could say anything, Wrathmelior gasped, her clawed finger brushed over Janna's head.

Dave took notice, barely at the moment, that Janna seemed to look dead, as her chest barely lifted and fell.

"What has happened?" Dave suddenly bit out, letting go of Tom's shoulder to point at Janna. "Why does she look as if she's perished?"

Tom inhaled sharply. "Don't say that." Tom told them softly, worry gripping his expression. "Please. Don't. I-I don't know what's happening, she-she-she-" Tom stopped and exhaled, closing all three of his eyes. His heart was beating fast, and it wasn't for a good reason. He wasn't sure if she really was dead, he didn't get the time to check. And this worried him, what if she truly was dead? What would he do now, without her around? Would he do the same thing he did before, just prowl around by himself? Thinking, thinking, and thinking over different scenarios on how it could've turned out? Would he blame himself?

Wrathmelior watched as her only son stood troubled with himself, carrying the girl they planned for him to marry. Well, in secret, because they never actually told him.

"Thomas." Dave spoke up, and Tom snapped out of his thoughts and took a look back at his worried father. "What has happened?" Dave asked, crossing his arms behind his back, an old habit he would do whenever he would become with worry.

Tom was afraid to tell. He didn't want to-not at all. What would his parents think when their only son followed the Book's rule after they had told him not to so long ago?

His eyes looked at both of his parents, and frowned. He took a look at Janna, and then looked back up, deciding.

And he decided he should tell them.

That was exactly what he did; because he couldn't stand to look at Janna's quiet face, he just couldn't stand to see her so...dead. Even if his parents were going to throw a fit over his unplanned decisions, he still needed to say something. His parents always knew what to do in situations like these.

---

"You're telling us that there's been an attack in the castle!?" Dave yelled, pacing out and about in place inside a small dark room. Wrathmelior was at the door, crouched and looking through the large door way.

"Yes. It only happened just now." Tom said to them, and Dave pulled at his own hair in panic.

"Oh my goodness! Of all days, of all years, of all time, it just had to be today!? Good sheesh! I'm going to faint-" Dave stopped for a second before sitting on Wrathmelior's hand, who was ready to catch him at any moment. Dave clutched his head and then shook it, before pointedly looking at Tom, who was sitting by Janna.

Breathing in and out, Dave fixed the crown on top of his head, and stood up. "We need to send The Ghouls and Iron-Demons to take care of whatever's going on. Beloved," Dave turned to Wrathmelior who was now smiling at him morally. "If you don't mind, would you do the honors of calling in the guardsmen and sending them off to deal with the monsters inside the castle? We can handle the ones on the outer perimeter." He said to her, giving her a small smooch on her palm.

Without a word, she nodded and stood up, her steps shaking the floor of their room as she made her way to the big mirror behind one of the curtains of the throne room.

Once out of sight, Dave turned back to his son, frowning with worry. "We'll take care of your wife as well, son. Just please be sure to blow out the torches inside this room. The darker it is, the better it is for her to recover. With a necklace such as that one, there's no telling whether she'll be able to wake up any time soon." He said, which made Tom worry more.

Dave gave Tom a small smile of comfort, and headed for the door. "Don't worry so greatly, Thomas. She'll wake up the darker it is. As soon as she does, remove the necklace from her neck immediately. There's a chance that the book wants to use her body for some sort of control." Dave issued him, closing the door.

Tom's expression slightly softened, but his mood was still in shambles.

Standing up, he went around the room and turned off every torch, worried to death about the girl laying on the black and red colored bed.

---

Moon paced back in forth from inside her grand room, tugging at the loose threads of her gloves that needed fixing ever so much.

Her hair was an absolute mess, and the little dignity of her so called 'royalty' she had left was gone, replaced with utter concern.

When Rhombulus had so casually informed her of Eclipsa's escape earlier this day, she lost it. She immediately told the others, prompting her that they were on to it, out of the sake for Star.

Moon was surprised to find that Glossaryck refused to join in, stating that he had 'much better use of time and space' if he were here trying to 'decipher the locked pages of the book'. Moon didn't mind that, but she did mind when he so bluntly told her that Star would be destroyed in a manner of seconds if she went out looking for her. Along with the fact that he was getting pudding all over the magic book.

Glossaryck had a notch for being a liar, but she couldn't help but believe what he said mostly because of his stoic expression.

Moon wanted to join, of course, because again, this was her own daughter she was talking about, but she couldn't. She had already told her to head into the Underworld, maybe to buy her some time to get her things together.

She only hoped Eclipsa would have trouble contacting her there, hence, all the bad spirits and forces in that one area.

A knock (he he) knocked her out of her thoughts. Moon turned and saw the wooden door of her room opening slowly, and Moon began to wonder who so disturbingly interrupted her alone time inside her bedroom.

When she saw it was only Hekapoo, she relaxed, letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Moon." Hekapoo spoke up, closing the door behind them softly. "She's not in the Crystal dimension. I don't think she's in any dimension, for that matter." Hekapoo told her clearly, a bit shaken up herself.

Moon blinked, and then closed her eyes. "How...how exactly is that possible? She's a physical being, how is it possible that she isn't in any dimension?" Moon cried out, grabbing a hold of her up do hair, accidentally brushing off the fake curls that were attached to either side of her head.

Hekapoo sighed. "I don't know. That's the thing, and me, I know all about these things. It's baffling me that she's not in...any dimension. The only one that she seemed to probably be at was the Terra Dimension, but her whereabouts aren't 100%. The tracking device says there's a 43% chance that she's there."

Moon's eyes widened. "Oh, Urania, my daughter's in that dimension! And how is it only 43%? There's never been a percentage of who's where and who's not since eons ago! That can't be possible." Moon said, hardening her worried tone.

Hekapoo exhaled softly. "Moon, this is Eclipsa we're talking about. She escaped her crystal, for BloodRealm's sake. A crystal. Of course she'll be able to turn herself into a partial spirit. It's been done before." Hekapoo told her, eyes drooping. "Comet had done that before." She whispered, and Moon frowned.

"My mother could do many things. But turning into gas was never one. Eclipsa, however, even if she was just like my own mother-" Moon felt her voice drip with sadness, "She has the probability to destroy the entire magics of dimensions, and ruin society. Ruin everything. Reminding me of my family's probabilities of magic doesn't relate to anything. Therefore, I believe Eclipsa isn't exactly as you say she is. Besides, she can't do physical magic." Moon explained, confusing the scissor's woman in front of her.

Hekapoo raised a brow. "If she can't do magic, then how is all of this happening? How is it possible that she could've cursed Star-"

"I made a deal." Moon flat out pointed out, and Hekapoo refrained herself from gasping.

Eyes widened, she was about to speak up, but the door to Moon's room opened again, and in entered Rhombulus.

He looked between Hekapoo's shocked expression to his Crush's (Moon, obv.) melancholic one, and raised his one non-existent brow. "Uh...Is this a bad time?"

---

Janna opened her eyes, finding herself surrounded by shredded darkness.

Below her body, she felt some sort of silky and fuzzy material, along with a cushion that propped her head a little higher. A burning feeling still commenced from the middle of her chest, but it wasn't as bad as she remembered it.

She felt herself panic because for a moment she thought she had actually went blind, but later recovered when she heard soft breathing coming from beside her.

She also heard her name, and instinctively, she tried turning around, but she couldn't because of how weak her body was. She could barely even turn her eyes for Christ's sake.

"Janna?" She heard again, and her body moved.

Someone moved her body, not her. And all of a sudden, she found herself to be staring up at three bright red eyes, looking discreetly concerned.

It took her a moment to take in exactly who she was staring at, before she struggled with a response on who she thought it was. "...Tom?" She hoarsely said, her throat feeling dry and burned.

At her asking, Tom immediately brightened and pulled her close for what seemed to be a hug. It took her for surprise, as she had never really experienced something like this with him. Something emotional, she would guess.

Janna was confused, but upon hearing soft little sniffles, her arm weakly went over to embrace him back. If she had to admit anything, she hadn't received a hug since a few years back, when Marco hugged her tightly as he cried to himself about his parents.

Pulling away, she immediately felt hands go behind her neck and pull at the necklace bound to her. She could practically feel soft breaths along her neck, and she shivered at the contact. After a few pathetic tries, it came off, and she instantly felt her breath return. It felt good that it was finally off her.

Tom held onto the little object before burning it with his bare hands, and throwing it off to the side to let it cook to a crisp. He knew that it couldn't burn, but the blood inside might. Once it's gone, it should finally let go of the owner.

After a few moments, his hands abruptly gripped her shoulders, and she gave an urk forward. "Janna, you're awake." He whispered quietly, and she could hear the small cracks in his voice.

Janna smiled. "Obviously, I am." She told him softly, reaching over to mockingly pat the side of his cheek.

She felt an acid like substance hit her thumb, but she didn't flinch. At the second one though, she removed her hand, and tried to look at it even if it was difficult for her to see. As she rubbed at her hands, she looked back up into his eyes, and saw the smallest bits of clear crystalline towards the ends. Was he crying?

"Are you crying?" She snorted, still staring at his bright red eyes.

Tom almost hiccuped if it wasn't for his pride stopping him. "N-No.." He stuttered, and removed one of his hands from her shoulder to wipe his eyes.

Janna sighed, the smile still on her face. "You're crying." She said once more, stating it rather than questioning it.

Tom wiped his eyes furiously, "Hell no, no I'm not." He denied.

Janna shook her head. "Hey, hey," She didn't reach for him for she could not see, but tried to anyway, managing to grasp his forearm and bring it lower. "It's okay to cry. Sure, you're kind of a pussy now," She cracked a small smirk, "But it's okay." She finished, voice still as soft as she could manage it to. Her throat still hurt.

Tom still felt tears come out of his eyes, even if he wiped at them furiously. With a frown, he reluctantly stopped and let them out. "I thought you died." He said to her. Sure, he always trusted his father in everything, but for this one time in his life, he couldn't believe whether she would be okay or not. Maybe it was because of the nervousness in his father's voice, but he still wasn't quite sure. It certainly assured him a little, but not completely so.

Janna felt her smile ware down. "Me, die?" She whispered, a hint of humor in her voice. "I don't think that's possible, Tommy." She told him, still frowning.

Tom sat silent, staring at her. It was hard to believe her too. "You almost died once..." He whispered without meaning to, causing Janna to widen her eyes.

Janna felt the heaviness of the room. And even if she tried to humor it out, she knew that this time, she couldn't. It was a bad habit of hers to try and get out of a sad situation, as she was never really a fan of them. Making herself cry or feel bad about herself was the last thing she wanted to do. "I'm... sorry. I'm sorry I worried you or anything." She apologized, meaning it.

Tom's eyes widened. "Why are you saying sorry? You literally have nothing to apologize for." He said.

Janna shrugged, and let out a sad sigh. "I know. But I got the need to apologize anyway. I don't like making other people worry about something as stupid as me." Janna told him, smiling a bit to herself.

Tom was about to bite back at her and tell her that she wasn't at all what she thought she was, but decided against it. Janna was one of those girls who will persist to say bad things about herself, no matter what they told her.

"Still though," She spoke up, once more clenching the sheets. "I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to make you worry." She paused for a moment, thinking. Something clicked in her head, and once again, she felt herself to be guilt ridden. "I'm also sorry for...giving out my own opinion." Janna said.

Tom knew what she was talking about. "No, no, no. Look, Janna, it's fine. You were just..." He exhaled softly. "You were only telling me the truth. I'm the one that's supposed to be sorry. I wasn't supposed to lash out on you like that." He murmured, reaching over to brush a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Janna swiped at his hand, but caught it and held it. "I know. But...I was just...I was just so pissed off, y'know? Like seriously, I...I can't understand why you're still holding onto Star.." Janna told him, squeezing his hand. Of course she understood. But the problem was, that she didn't want him to make her understand-hell, she still thinks that Marco will return. Maybe not as friends, but making amends will definitely lift the burden she put him through.

Tom's hand felt shaky from where she held it. "I...I don't either." He simply muttered, squeezing her hand back. He could feel his eyes begin to tear up once more. "She just...it was my fault..I wasn't-I wasn't supposed to do that to her, I was never supposed to just..." His voice broke, and he paused, trying to regain his bearings.

Janna took a look at him skeptically. "Do what, Tom? What did you do to make her break up with you?"

Tom closed his eyes, his tears subsiding. "I...I don't want to say. I already hate myself enough as it fucking is. I just...fuck." He whimpered out, sniffling.

Janna frowned. "Dude, you can totally tell me. I won't make fun of you, I swear. I won't hate you either. It must've been a mistake, we all make mistakes." She said to him, encouraging to spill.

Tom sighed and wiped his eyes again. He was debating whether he should tell her or not. Thinking of the consequences for telling her and not telling her at the same time made him feel all the while worried. What would she think? Sure, she said she wouldn't hate him, but it's easier said than done. Thinking back almost a year ago, when Star was 16, he remembered vividly how terrified she looked, how hopeless she had been. And it was all his fault, all his fucking fault, just because he couldn't keep his damn anger in check. It's always this and that that ticks him off. Who was he to do something like that? To...just...hurt her like that?

"Tom?" Janna asked when she received no answer.

Tom didn't like himself. Even after he apologized, he would never forgive himself. Even now, he couldn't.

"I burned her." Tom muttered unintentionally, instantly when his mind had decided he wouldn't tell Janna of all people. His mouth, however, wanted him to speak about it. "I burned her." Tom repeated, his red eyes trailing after a strand of her black hair.

Janna raised a brow. "That's it? You just burned her?" She asked, peering at him.

Tom blinked. What's with that tone? "Yes. I...did." He muttered, admitting to it.

Janna shook her head. "Tom. Burning someone isn't so bad-"

Tom gave her a pointed look, gesturing to her arm.

Janna made a thin line with her lips. "Okay. Fair point. Getting burned is fucking terrible." Janna reluctantly said. Then, she frowned. "How...how'd you burn her?" She asked him, and he winced at the memory.

"We were...talking. I was..one of the people visiting her, and that was actually the first time she's accepted my request." Tom said, and inhaled deeply.

"Wait, wait, wait, is it that one time you told me the story about how she just...told you that you guys were done, or something?" Janna asked, connecting two and two together.

Tom flinched. "Yes," He said, guilty. "Yes, yes it was." Tom responded. He continued, "We did talk...I did...listen. But I was in the middle of telling her that I love her, when she said that we were finished." Tom closed his eyes as he remembered, regretting that day so in depth.

"I-"

"So, you got angry, and burned her?" Janna interrupted for him, raising an interested brow.

Tom swallowed. "I didn't mean to. I didn't know what came over me, it was just...just a rush of anger, just something in general. I could've sworn that she could feel my anger too."

Janna threw him a skeptic's Look. "Feel it too? What do you mean by that?" She asked, unwillingly balling her fists to clench at the black fuzzy fabric of the blanket.

Tom paused. It had been a while since he tried to remember. And it was hurting him to do so. Fortunately though, he managed to suppress the feeling of regret that clogged the words from escaping. "She had this look on her face... and I could've sworn her eyes shaded into a green color-"

Tom stopped talking immediately when he felt the presence of something non-human, and he cursed under his breath for forgetting for a brief moment that those things were still around.

Both Janna and Tom jumped at the sudden banging against the door, with a horrific scream grazing right after it.

Janna's blood instantly felt like water, and her heart dropped. That scream-it was familiar. She knew it, she remembered it, and it was the same one she tried to run away from almost two weeks ago. "That-that-that-scream-" Janna stuttered, and cursed at herself for feeling utterly frightened. If only she still had her courage from all those years ago. Now, she can barely open a demon's book, let alone a Satan summoner.

The banging continued.

"That's what?" Tom urgently asked, covering his ears when another scream rang out like a bell ringing it's toll.

Janna also covered her ears, and squeezed her eyes shut when the door broke down, creating red dust particles to fly out and into the room.

Before she could even answer him, Tom grabbed a hold of her, and snapped his fingers before opening a portal.

He pushed her inside right when the monster charged at them, the portal closing almost instantly.

Janna lay there, now on the fuzzy carpet of her home, dazed and worried.

---

Marco bit back a gasp when the monster standing frozen in ice began to break free, it's one eye in the middle of what seemed to be it's stomach area moving wildly as it stared at both of them.

Oskar was sitting with ice now circled around him, tears still falling as he looked up at Star, who was angrily pointing her wand at the monster. He then took a look at Marco who was making his way over to him as silently as he could, with what he could only describe as fear running along his face.

"Be careful!" Star hissed at him, taking her eyes off the monster for a second to make sure Marco was still on his way to recover Oskar.

Marco rolled his eyes. "You think I won't? I don't wanna die!" Marco yapped back at her, and Star said nothing as her eyes seemed to threaten the being located only a few feet in front of her.

Oskar took a look at his friend, and then at Star, and a sudden rush of color's went along his body.

The monster inside the ice immediately turned to Oskar, and it seemed to be surprised that the boy had regained his colors once again.

As Star waited on the other side, Marco had actually crouched down and met his eye level, raising a brow. "Can't believe this shit." Marco muttered to himself, grabbing his arm and helping him up. "I have to be saving your ass inside this damn hell hole. You're lucky I'm scared shitless, right now." Marco said bitterly, but helped his friend nonetheless as Oskar's arm draped over his neck.

Marco instantly felt as if a burden was carried upon him, and a feeling of resentment and guilt had cradled his mind. The fuck? Since when did he have any guilt for Oskar?

Oskar's tears were gone, but Marco could still see the wet line marks that went down his cheeks.

Walking through the ice, they both made an effort not to slip or fall, as a fall into the ice would certainly give them some sort of concussion. Trust me, Marco fell before, and he was sent to the hospital when he hit his head against the ice, when he went ice skating over seven years ago. He vividly remembered his parents worried sick about him, despite the fact that Marco was already fine.

Star saw Marco approaching, and immediately pointed her wand at both of them, making them stop dead in their tracks.

"What are you doing?" Marco whisper-yelled, as Star was still pretty far.

Star motioned him to be quiet, and gently whispered words through her lips, as her wand began to glow vibrantly with pink. Marco could've sworn it was green before. Could it be that maybe the wand changes colors based on spells?

Before they both knew it, they were levitating off the ground, as a pink-sparkly sort of substance engulfed their whole body, freezing them in place. Marco could not move or even blink, even if he wanted to, but he could certainly feel the humid waves of air that encircled his hair as Star brought them directly next to her.

His body felt numb for a few seconds before he blinked, and then stared at Star wide-eyed, unable to comprehend what happened.

"I've been training my magic." Star said to him simply, before ushering him over to follow her.

It took him a moment to process what she said, until Oskar broke it off for him as he had tapped his shoulder. Marco felt odd for a second before realizing what he was asking, and finally catching on that Oskar was silently telling him to heed after Star's asking.

As soon as Marco took a step however, they heard a crack, followed by a shatter.

'Fuck.' Marco grumbled internally as an arm pounced on him. Though, before it could reach him, Star shot it off, burning it with a sizzling noise.

The monster made no sound as it's face was still encased in ice, but a low vibration from the very same ice sent off a rattling sensation towards their ears.

Oskar was afraid and his weak legs managed to turn to Marco, hiding behind him now with his hands gripping his shoulders.

Marco glared at him but still pulled him along anyway, now trying to follow behind Star who was a good runner, first of all.

Though he was pulled down, and Oskar was pushed off him, landing away from Marco. Oskar moved right out of the way when another arm broke off from the ice, however he was still disconnected from his balance. His face connected with the bits of ice Star had to make in order to freeze the fires, causing him to pass out on the spot.

Marco was too busy getting pulled from his leg to complain about Oskar's lack of consciousness. Was he that fucked up?

Before he even realized what was pulling him, he held onto an ice shard stuck between the dirt, trying to pull himself away from the crusty hand that encircled around his leg. Though, he could barely hold on, as the other hand was now pulling on the very same leg, making it harder for him to keep his hands from slipping. The ice shard was sharp, and it was hurting his palm the more he persisted to hold on.

Star was pulling Oskar and gasped when she saw Marco being pulled from the thing inside the ice. Using her famous jellybean spell, she shot it towards the now black hand, accidentally harming Marco in the process. The other hand dived in for her, but it couldn't, since she was now at a good moderate distance away. So again, she shot off the same spell, hoping it would outcome another burn to the monster.

It was a minor burn, but it still hurt when he tried pulling again, only for the monster to pull hard, as he heard a crack from his knee come by.

Star felt her heart drop at what she did, and quickly lay Oskar down to retrieve Marco, hoping that when she used her same spell, she wouldn't hurt him again.

Her loose hair flew back when her wand lighted up a light pink and yellow, blasting away in crystallized and jellybean forms.

It managed to loosen the monsters grip, which Marco took advantage of as he began to crawl and pull himself towards Star.

She came running for him, and grabbed him from his arms, pulling him up to his feet.

Though, as soon as his left leg came in contact firmly onto the ground, he almost fell, as a pain so grand shot off from his ankle.

Luckily though, Star pulled him far enough from the monster, laying him softly before she went after Oskar, who was still sprawled out like a pathetic loser.

Once done, she re-zapped the monster with her same ice spell, and made sure to check and see if any other of those things were around.

Surprisingly, they weren't.

Marco held onto his foot, small wells of tears on the corner of his eyes. He dealt with worse, but the pain was still going, and it hurt immensely to even move his foot.

Star checked on Oskar and then turned to Marco with a worried frown, dropping to her knees to inspect him just as she had done to his friend.

Before she could say anything, Marco stopped her. He gave her a small shake of his head, silently telling her that it was okay.

She bit her lip in worry.

---

Tom slipped away from the monster's sight, blasting off a few of them before rocket-flying towards his parents who were crushing certain of them around the perimeter of the castle. They were accompanied with a few well armed guards, who were finishing off several of those beings when they spotted him.

One of them whistled and Tom brought himself down, catching the attention of his parents, and the other guards.

With his torn suit and burned patches along his back, he sheepishly grinned at his parents, who seemed to be perfectly fine.

"Oh, my son!" King Lucitor cried out happily as he approached him. "I see you got yourself a bit in trouble. Don't worry! Wrathmelior will fix you right after we get rid of the rest of these foul beasts." He growled lightly, foisting his palm as he took a look at one that was laying limp on the floor.

Tom sighed. "It's okay, dad. I'm a demon, I can't really get burned, remember?" He told his father, who then deflated a bit.

"Ah, my apologies. I totally forgot! I just have to worry about my son, you know?" Dave began, clasping his hands together worriedly over his chest.

Tom rolled his eyes and then glared at the guards who snickered in the background. They only gave him smiles of approval, to which annoyed Tom.

Wrathmelior bent down and softly ran a claw over his salmon hair, smiling sadly at him. It was the suit she picked out for him, a shame it got ruined.

Tom allowed her to pet him affectionately, and smiled back at her, assuring her with a grin that he was okay. It seemed good enough for her.

"Hold on a moment..." Dave started, and the guards immediately straightened their posture, awaiting an order. "Where is your Janna?" He asked his son, who sighed.

"She's back home in her own dimension. A lot of those things attacked our room, so I sent her back there so that I could deal with them." Tom told him, or really everyone, as they were clearly listening despite him being royalty. You see, it's a death sentence if someone of lower class listens to the king's and queen's personal troubles. In old times, they would be beheaded, and hanged on the wall as a trophy. But because Tom allowed the guards to be around him, it was clearly no trouble at all.

Dave released a sigh, placing a hand on his heart with relief. "Thank goodness your wife is safe. You mustn't ever leave your beloved alone, especially in a situation like this." The king said, and Wrathmelior blushed a darker splotch of crimson as an affectionate smile came over her lips.

Tom blushed as well, scoffing as the guards all whistled in the background, some of them motioning to 'call her later'.

"Enough." Tom growled, crossing his arms. "Let's just get this place cleared up, I'm tired already as it is."

"You never said no!" One of the guards in between the others said, and Tom snapped his head towards them, but all of them looked away, as if he wasn't just menacingly trying to eye-kill them.

Ten out of the 24 guards that were with them winked at Tom, and turned off to march away to eliminate the rest.

"I knew you'd fuck her!" A familiar Aqua looking demon whispered to him, aware that his parents were now busying themselves to find and capture the rest of those things.

Tom elbowed him, glaring scathingly. "Shut the fuck up, Oxy. You're too in it."

Oxy held onto his ribs, still smiling despite the small pain of Tom's burn. "That's... what... she said!" He muttered, feeling good about his friend.

Later, a small 'ow' followed by a 'fuck you' was heard in the distance.

---

Star groaned as she carefully dragged Oskar from one side of the fence to the other, while Marco made sure to check if the coast was clear.

"You're very fortunate that you damaged your leg, Diaz." Star grumbled, grabbing a hold of Oskar, bringing him up bridal style.

Marco didn't seem to like when he saw that Star had held onto Oskar like that, but he brushed off the anger when he remembered the small kiss she gave to him when he was sick. "I don't think having my leg almost broken is considered lucky, Star." He replied, limping as he walked and checked.

Star shuffled Oskar in her arms to make herself more comfortable. "That is true..but my shoulder is completely stabbed, yet I am seeing no blood on your part." She shot at him.

Marco seemed to be guilt-ridden all of a sudden. What was he doing? He certainly offered to carry Oskar, of course, but a true gentlemen would just help out the lady anyway. Star was in no position to carry someone as heavy as that pig.

Wait a second, since when did he care about acting nice and proper-

"Marco. Do you get this feeling that you're in denial or in conflict at the moment?" Star suddenly asked him, furrowing her brows in thought as the sudden feeling of overwhelming conflict invaded her.

Marco paused. "Yeah..." He said suspiciously, still limping as he walked down the rocky parts of the underworld.

"Now I feel...confused? Is there something wrong with me?" Star asked, and recoiled a bit when Oskar moved his face to her chest.

Marco also seemed to dislike what he did, and he narrowed his eyes at Oskar, trying to decipher if he truly was fucked up or not. "I think I need to carry him now." Marco said to her, and Star shook her head.

"No, Marco. Your leg is in pain. It is best if I carry him." She cooed, and Marco rolled his eyes, a small blush dusting his cheeks.

"I'm not a fucking baby, Star. Just let me carry this waste of a sperm." Marco grumbled, and almost fell over when his bad foot accidentally stepped onto a rock too hard.

Star worried and immediately went to his side to steady him out, but stopped when she realized that her hand was gripping her wand, and that her arms were busy carrying Oskar.

She regretfully watched as Marco fell over, his bad leg hitting the ground first.

He grimaced and he sat up, dusting the top half of his suit. "Great. Fucking great. Now it hurts even more." He said to her, staring sadly at his damaged leg.

"I'm terribly sorry, Marco. If only I could've-"

"It's okay, Star. This wasn't your fault. I just happened to fall, okay? Quit saying sorry so much. You're making me feel bad." He said to her calmly, still staring at his leg as Star stood before him, Oskar still on her arms.

Star sighed and placed Oskar softly onto the ground, before she moved to sit properly in front of Marco. "I don't mean about your recent fall, Marco." She whispered, tilting her wand to aim at his leg, "I meant about my actions this day. I shouldn't have just stood there like some pathetic fish, I should have moved to help you. But because I didn't, you're in pain. And I'm sorry. It was my fault for giving any sort of pain to you." Star concluded, voice a little broken.

Marco softened. "Star, really, it's okay. I would've reacted the same way if I was you, so don't blame yourself. It was my fault for even coming here in the first place. I got us lost, in the underworld no less." Marco muttered, clutching onto his shin as he tried to subdue the mild pain.

Star frowned even more. "Please, don't blame yourself for anything that happened. It pains me. You were only trying to get us out of another dire situation. You were doing what you thought was best. And even if things went wrong," Her wand blasted the tiniest amounts of magic onto his leg, its form coming out in light pink and blue swirls. "You should not blame yourself. You saved us, Marco. You saved me. A lot of times, you've saved me." Star told him, agony in her voice because she knew how he felt. She knew that he blamed himself, despite the fact that all he was trying to do tonight, was help. Star always tried to help, but no matter what she did, she was always to blame. So, now, she blames herself for having to cause Marco the pain he's enduring.

Something warm pooled over Marco's eyes, and Star could feel her own spirit bounce up as he gave her the most warmest of smiles, a smile she swore she would never see from his face.

It made her heart thump against her chest, and a sudden longing mixed with the flutters and drops.

She could've sworn she felt what he felt. But maybe it was just an illusion.

And like that illusion, his smile was again, gone.

"Where are we even going, anyways?" Marco asked her, a little relieved that his leg didn't hurt as much anymore.

Star took a look at her wand and then looked back up again, her eyes brightening in a small stint of pink. "We're heading back to the castle. I was here before, so maybe I can remember where it's at. All I know is that if you head straight, you'll go to where the outside booths are." She explained, standing upright.

Marco was about to stand up as well, but he found himself being pulled up by Star, with surprising ease. She was strong. "Uh...thank you." Marco muttered, arranging his hat on top of his head. It was a crazy thing that he hadn't lost it. Or...maybe not. He wasn't going to lose his only prized possession of his father.

Star hummed in appreciation, and then proceeded to grab Oskar.

"You sure you wanna carry him?" Marco asked, glaring at the little charmer.

A thought occurred to Star when she shuffled Oskar's big body, and suddenly, she felt incredibly like an idiot. Why hadn't she thought of this sooner? Was her head literally in the clouds?

Star sighed. "I feel so stupid at the moment." She said instead, and she dropped him onto the floor, surprising Marco.

Then, she brought her wand up and blasted at the ground.

Marco watched as a dusty pink color began to up rise, circling that specific area in swirling waves.

The dust particles brought themselves together, and amazingly formed a decently big pink cloud.

With eyes.

And a mouth.

Marco almost screamed if it weren't for the situation they were in. So he yelped at a question, "What the hell is that?!"

Star seemed proud of herself, but a bit freaked out as well. "Oh, this? This is Cloudy. He carries stuff. I remember using him a long time ago." Star told him, smiling at the cloud.

The cloud smiled back and turned to Marco with bulging eyes, the grin falling from it's face. "Star! Star! This is your suitor now? Is this the Tom?" It wailed, and Star winced as Marco stepped back from the menacing glare it wove off.

"No, no, cloudy! This is Marco. He's a friend, so don't you worry yourself." Star whispered at it, and almost instantly, the cloud brightened.

"Okie Dokie! Where to, Star Buttttteerrflyyyy?" It whispered back, seeming to get the memo.

Star grabbed Oskar and placed him on top of the cloud, and then proceeded to grab Marco as well.

"Get on, Marco. It's okay." She told him, noticing the way Marco looked petrified.

"On top of that thing? Hell no. This is freaking me out!" He hissed, and Star glared at him.

"It's okay, Marcooooo! I'm just your friendly neighborhood candy cloud!" Cloudy said to him, grinning at him with a goofy edge.

Marco turned to Star and gave her a look.

Star returned an equally good expression as well. "Get. On." Star muttered in between her gritted teeth, and Marco sweated a bit.

Star, or that horrific cloud?

---

Marco held onto Star's arm as the cloud moved along the humid air near the ground.

He chose the cloud.

And frankly, it seemed to be the better choice in his opinion.

"Marco, you're cutting the circulation to my arm.." Star whispered, wincing every time Marco would press himself closer to her.

It seemed that his pride was now out the window.

"Oh.." He whispered back, letting go a bit, "my bad." He muttered, his crossed legs bringing themselves closer to her legs.

This was making him feel uncomfortable...What did he do to deserve this?

'You did everything-'

"Shut the fuck up." Marco whispered to himself, and Star turned to him, raising a brow.

"Did you say something?" Star asked, peering at him and his solemn expression.

Marco seemed confused and then realized what he said, "Oh, no, sorry. I was just...uh...talking to myself." He said, and then felt like smacking his face when she looked at him weirdly.

"Talking...to yourself?" She repeated, trying to ignore the way her heart kept pounding at her chest the longer he held onto her.

Marco made a thin line with his lips. "Yes?" He squeaked, which only further pushed Star's curiosity.

The humid air lapped at their hair, and Oskar shifted below them, his head now on top of another pink fluffy curl.

It took Star a moment to process, but she grinned, rather than make fun of him. Why would she anyway? She does that to herself all the time. More negatively, of course. She would smile and laugh at his embarrassment, but she felt too trapped to give any sort of joyous emotion. The sight of Eclipsa stressed her out, and she could still feel the way her palms and arms pulsed painfully.

Marco noticed how quiet she went. He knew that look on her face; pained, and hopeless. He'd seen it many times, though he'll never admit it to her because he knew how uncomfortable she would get for mentioning it.

"Is your shoulder okay?" He quietly asked, loosening more of his gentle grip of her upper arm as he turned to look at the small splotches of dried red.

Star nodded. "Yes. It just hurts. At least it's not leaking more of my blood anymore." She told him with an equal tone, feeling his eyes on her.

There were four small stabs, yet they still looked pretty ruffed up. Maybe it was because of the swelling that took place?

"We'll just...fix it later, okay?" He told her reassuringly, and Star smiled kindly.

Progress, progress indeed.

---

Star inhaled sharply when Cloudy took a sharp turn, away from one of the monsters in the area. Weirdly enough, there wasn't many around anymore.

"How rarely odd..." Star muttered to herself, shifting her legs to sit crossed in front of her.

Marco, who was half-asleep, woke up at the sound of her voice, and peered around with his red colored eyes. That dust that was on him was seriously starting to get on his nerves, it kept falling and falling from his hair for some reason. "What...?" He muttered, raising his head up a little from next to her lap. Instantly he flushed and turned away when he almost saw under her dress. There, he spotted Oskar, who was still soundly resting.

"Uh...has he even woken up yet?" Marco asked, glaring at him.

Star shook her head. "No, not really. Why?"

Marco sat up, his shoulder touching her shoulder. "Nah it's just, what the fuck is his problem? Seriously, I would've woken up already."

Star shook her head. "Every person is different Marco. You just might have a better 'waking' up ability, as we call it." Star told him, noticing a few black bumps on the ground.

Marco noticed them too, but shrugged it off as normal things expected inside the Underworld. "I guess. It's pretty stupid, though." Marco countered, and widened his eyes when they fell on the castle shortly away from them.

Star hummed. "Not stupid, Marco. Unfair." Star told him, and he threw her a look.

"Stupid suits it better." Marco told her, and almost fell forward if it wasn't from Star holding him from his arm.

"I think we're heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere!" Cloudy exclaimed happily, and Star bit her lip when she heard a few blasts not long from where they were.

"Do you hear that?" Marco asked, looking around.

"How strange..." Star whispered, clenching her wand.

They eased off Cloudy slowly, stepping back on the solid ground that countered with the fluffiness of the cloud.

Marco was having trouble standing in place when he got off, for the pain in his ankle had kept him from standing properly in place.

"Is this...how the fuck did I miss this?" Marco asked, and tried limping towards Star who was already a few feet ahead of him. Though he buckled when a small hole in the dust trampled within his path, and he knocked himself onto her by accident.

She was quick to respond however, and held onto him to keep him from falling onto some pebbles below.

His heart leaped to his throat when Star stopped his fall, and he looked to the side as to avoid her piercing eyes. "Sorry." He mumbled and tried to push himself off her, but couldn't because he kept putting pressure on his ankle. With a sigh, he let Star place him properly up, helping him out by allowing his body to lean onto hers.

"It's okay, Marco. Just please be careful next time." Star scolded lightly, smiling softly.

Marco was going to glare at her, because of course, that's what he always does when someone flushes him up. But decided not to. Instead, he only stared blankly, and nodded.

---

Tom held the fire inside him when he saw Star and the guy who danced with her, together and seriously ruffed up.

He knew this was the cause of his anger. He knew that this was why he always took it out on others; because he hated to see the person he once loved with someone else who he knew would treat her better than he did. It wasn't fair. It never would be.

She left, she's the one who didn't want him anymore. And for what reason? None. She just told him to leave, that no longer they'll be together. It should've ended right then and there, without any fights, without any fire alarms going off, without seeing the solid fear inside her eyes.

Without seeing her...afraid of him.

Burning someone like that...what was wrong with him?

Janna was right. He needs to let go. He needs to stop before this whole thing ends up becoming an obsession, something unhealthy.

The fire inside him stopped. He took a real look at her this time, passed all her beauty and outer countenance.

And he saw someone with hope. Maybe not exactly hope...but something.

Janna was right with so many things. It wasn't a lie; she already loved someone else. And he knew because of the way she looked at him, the way she carried him back onto that abnormally large pink cotton candy cloud, the way her body relaxed when he was around.

It was fair.

This is what she wanted.

And who was he to stop her?

"Thomas, son," Dave came running to him with a small burn on the side of his head, his hair coaled black. "Why have you stopped? There are only a few left." His dad said, gleaming happy despite the wince he gave when he moved his head.

Tom kept staring at them from a good distance, his heart hurting, but not burning. If he could just...apologize..maybe they could've been at least friends. It's better than this, that's for sure.

"Son?" Dave called out again, concerned now from the lack of an answer from his son.

Tom turned to him as if he just heard him, eyebrows creased in sadness. "Yeah? What happened?"

Dave saw his expression and frowned. Looking towards the direction of where Tom was just looking at, his wonder only spiked when he found no one there. "Are you alright? We can rest and let the rest of the guards handle the rest." Dave suggested, pointing with his thumb behind him.

Tom looked back and found no one there, and released a sigh. "No, no, it's okay, really. I was just...thinking." Tom mumbled, rubbing his neck in a tired manner.

Dave shook his head. "Tom," Dave went over and placed a soft hand on his shoulder, where his shoulder pads used to be. "Try not to do such a thing. Thinking to much of a problem only hurts you more." He said, and Tom only looked away, back to where they once stood.

With a pat on his back, Dave went back to his wife to join in on the vanquishing of the rest of those things, leaving Tom there to stand alone.

He shot off into the sky to join back in, because of course, being alone only makes him think more.

Maybe he should try to make amends again.

---

Star felt it. She knew it.

She was here, just a few halls away from her.

Going through the portal, she carefully brought Oskar over, stepping successfully back into her room.

From there, she placed Oskar on her bed quickly (regretfully), and headed over to pull Marco back in, hoping he was still there, waiting for her.

With a relief, she found him there, waiting for her to come back.

"Do you feel that?" Marco asked, grabbing onto her wrist as she did to him.

Star pulled him in, careful to watch his ankle. "Feel...what?" She asked, ignoring the groan he released when he stepped into her room.

"That girl voice-you might think I'm crazy or something, but I swear I've been hearing that since we made it back in here." Marco said, and Star froze.

"Voice? What voice?"

Marco winced as he sat on a beanbag, clutching his ankle when it accidentally bumped against a little pink stool. "Fuck..ow. Um..that..that voice, you know? It keeps telling me-"

"Despair." Star finished, and Marco instantly snapped back up to look at her.

"Yeah. How'd you-"

"That's Eclipsa." Star whispered, her eyes flashing purple, then green.

Marco frowned when he heard that name again, wondering and wondering-who the hell was this Eclipsa?

Behind them, they failed to notice the bright green that brightened up the Star on the wand, an ominous echo coming by it. 'Despair, sweetheart. Despair.'

---

An angry growl begun at the edge of Tom's bed, a glowing red flashing over and over again inside the dark room.

His plan failed.

It was perfect.

It was brilliant.

It was everything he needed for it to bring back his dear Eclipsa and his daughter.

Why must it all fail?

"Of the sky realms that taunt me so, When shall I achieve family? When shall I finally be free from this trap, of this accursed book meant to burn like the rest of it's useless demon pages? Why must it be hard for me through the ages?"

The book flipped open and went inside the hyptonese section, reminding himself of the failed plan.

"Oh, sweetheart. You must have missed me, have you not?"

Eclipsa approached the glowing book as it slammed shut, seeming to turn to her with it's nonexistent head.

Her glowing purple eyes could be seen from beyond him, a barely visible smile gracing her beautiful face.

"My...beloved..."

---

A/N: Deeply sorry, this chapter was supposed to be posted three weeks prior from today, but I got caught up in work. Although, I hope you enjoy it anyway! (Even if it is late...)

One more thing: If you guys want to ask questions, you can always check out my AskFm, it's on my profile. Just copy and paste, because the linking somehow doesn't work.

Oh yeah, another thing; this was the longest chapter I created. 15,000 words, bro.

Toodles~

Ana.