Hey, guys. So, funny thing, I started this at the end of season one of SVTFOE, and while I was writing this chapter, I kind of forgot that. So, rewrote it.
(Star's POV)
Star sat on the ground and looked up her best friends, the person she fell in love with, but to her, it was like she couldn't recognize him at all. Sure, he was the same person, but . . . she couldn't tell what it was, but he didn't feel the same.
"OW!" He yelled, grabbing his left fist. "Jeez, that hurt!"
There was no answer to his cries, as Star just sat there staring at him. Her eyes started to tear up soon as Marco shook the shock out of his hand.
"Hey, you okay, Star?" Marco said, turning back to look at her. "Nothing was broken or bleeding?"
Star shook her head slowly instead of speaking, as she didn't trust her voice right now. Marco sighed.
"That's a relief." He said, turning to where Mason lay unconscious. "I gotta go get that guy."
Marco walked hurriedly over to Mason, and Star stared at him while he did so. She had no idea what to do or say right now, just stared in awe at him. He picked up the unconscious blond and walked him over to where Star was.
"Did you see a red-head around?"
". . . Uh, yeah." She said. "She just took Kalahari somewhere."
"Kalahari?" Marco asked, confused. "Who's that?"
"My friend." She said, still staring at Marco.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." He said. "Mason here's a little ruffed up, but he'll be fine."
"Good," Star said, cause she had no other idea what to say.
"Hey, you ready to get out of here?" He asked, smiling at her warmly.
Looking at his smile, something still felt off about him. Different, way too different. They haven't seen each other in how long? Weeks, and now they were talking face to face. But it didn't feel like she was talking to Marco, not really. It was him, she could tell, but something inside her told her that this was not the same boy she used to know.
While Star stared at him over the prolonged period of silence, Marco's face shifted from confident to worried.
"Star?" He asked. Star blinked out of her trance and cleared her throat.
"I'm fine. Let's go." She stood up shakily, still recovering from the strange series of events that had just taken place, and wiped herself off.
"All right, hold still," Marco said. Star stopped and looked at him confused.
It happened during a blink. Star had closed her dry eyes, felt a rush of wind, and when she opened them the scenery had changed. Suddenly, she was in a different place, a run-down bunker with walls all around her, slightly rusted and aged. She stood for a second, shaken, before quickly spinning around in an instinct to recognize threats.
Marco stood not three feet away, laying the guy he called Mason down on some kind of cot.
"There you go, buddy," Marco said, standing up. "Hopefully Chelsea'll be back soon."
Star still said nothing.
"I'm-ma go make sure that thing's put somewhere safe. Be right back."
He was gone in a flash of red lightning and a gust of wind. Star stared at the empty space where he was, and then like that he was back again. Marco stretched his body, the sounds of multiple bones popping at once.
"Lucky I got there when I did," He said, "I don't think it would have turned out much good for you guys."
"Marco?" Star said. The boy turned and looked at her, sudden concern on his face again.
"Yeah?" He asked. She continued to stare at him, not knowing what to say beyond that. It was as if she just kept pulling blanks from her head. Marco walked close to her and put a comforting hand on her arm. He must've thought she was shaken from what had just happened, and perhaps she was. But the contact was sudden, and even the warmth from his body felt wrong. As soon as his gloved hand made contact with her, she flinched slightly away from his touch.
A shot of hurt flew behind his eyes, but it was gone in a second, only concern on his features as he let his hand fall to his side.
"Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you should lie down, a lot's happened."
Yes. A lot had happened. She had only been back on earth for, what, less than an hour? Yet it felt like years almost. She had even less of an idea of what was going on now, and being in this strange place did not clear anything up for here. She suddenly longed to be somewhere familiar, with someone familiar.
But this was Marco. The boy she fell in love with, her best friend, who she had been around with so much. From the whole Monster-Arm incident to the Blood Moon Ball. She knew who he was. So why did being around him feel wrong somehow? She wanted to speak up, wanted to talk to him about what she was feeling. Say something, anything, to put her mind at ease, let her know that it was all in her head. That this was truly the same boy she fell in love with.
"I could use a nap." She joked halfheartedly. Marco, ever so caring, nodded. He walked over to an adjacent door and opened it, revealing a bedroom.
"You can rest here. I still have to go get Chelsea and find out what happened with your friend."
She nodded and walked into the room. Why was she suddenly so exhausted? She had been here not even a day, so she shouldn't be this tired. Yet she allowed herself to lay down and close her eyes, drifting into a restless sleep.
(Marco's POV)
The speedster closed the door to Star's room. He was confused, to say the least, about his best friend's behavior. She was usually so bubbly and out-spoken, yet when he tried to speak with her she was quiet.
Well, she had just seen her friend get injured, almost been killed, with her wand nowhere insight. So he understood if she wasn't exactly in the mood for talking. Still, he felt slightly disappointed. Especially after she had flinched away from him like that, but they could work out what she was going through later.
He sped away to the local hospital, hoping to find Chelsea there, although there wasn't any guarantee that this was the hospital she was going to. If not, he would just try the net one over. On the way there, he made sure to stop and "borrow" some clothes, since most of his were now destroyed. Boy, when his parents got back they were sure going to be mad-
Wait, that's right. He was down to one parent now. He didn't know what happened, exactly, but something must have. If Kat had died, then . . .
No, he wouldn't think about that right now. He needed to make sure everyone was okay first. He would call his dad the first chance he got.
He stopped by a couple of hospitals, although none of them had seen a redhead girl check in a white-haired boy. When he finally found it, he was told he wouldn't be admitted to see them.
"What, why not?"
"Your friend was in critical condition. I don't know what all he was admitted for, but the doctors took him right into intensive care."
"Do you know when he can have visitor's then?"
"It's hard to tell. But you'll have word on him soon, at least. In the meantime, the one who brought him in is over in the waiting area near the ER. That's all I can do for you right now."
Marco grumbled to himself and walked over to where the lady had directed him. Sure enough, Chelsea was sitting there, reading a small magazine. He was honestly surprised she was still here. Maybe she thought Mason had the situation handled. He walked around behind her, looking down at the article she was reading, not yet noticed be her.
"Huh, I didn't know you were into golf," Marco said, startling the red-head.
"What, the-" She spun around and gazed at Marco.
A second passed as she took in his presence, before promptly getting up and punching him in the nose.
"OW!" He stepped back and grabbed his face. "What the hell was that for?!"
"Where the hell were you?!" She yelled at him. "You've been gone for days!"
"Yeah, sorry about that." He chuckled nervously. "Been kind of busy."
"Busy! You better have a good explanation or I swear to god-"
"I do, I promise. But can we talk somewhere else first?" He asked, glancing around at the stares he was getting from the random people seated in the same room.
"Fine." She grabbed his wrist and tugged him along to the exit.
"Hell of a right hook you got, I think there's a welt on my face."
"It's about to be worse," she said as they got outside, "now talk."
"Okay, so, first Justin kind of kidnapped me-"
"What?! What did that asshole do to you?"
"Hey, hey, calm down, can I finish first? Anyways, Justin kidnapped me and took me to meet the head of Arcangel-"
"Yeah, you-"
"Let me finish first, then you can ask all the questions you want. Anyways, after that I came back, you got mad at me, then my mom died, and because the head of Arc Angel was my mom's irregular she also died. Then my irregular died so I died. I kind of met God, or a God. Whatever it was, it brought me back to life and I went to help Mason fight that thing."
"Okay, okay, slow down, I feel like I'm missing a lot of information here. What do you mean you died, and your mom, the head- . . . okay, there's a lot of stuff not adding up here."
"Right, right, can't really compress it all can I? All right, I'll start at the prophecy."
