Hoshi no Kirifuda
Episode 12 - Chapter 02

Disclaimer:
The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this written work are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred. These written works are not-for-profit, and are protected under Fair Use laws. I do not own these characters, all credit and rights belongs to Disney, Daron Nefcy, and Toei.

Content is only suitable for mature adults. May contain explicit language and adult themes.

Author's Notes:

Please keep the reviews coming, especially if it is constructive.

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Star groggily woke up to someone's hand going through her hair. Her head laid in a warm pillow. She slowly opened her eyes, the buzz of fluorescent lights attacked her sight. Star could make out the shadow of a person next to her.

"Star?"

It was Marco's voice. Soft and gentle, Star considered just continuing to lay there and soak in the soothing situation.

"You awake Star?"

"No. Sleeping." she giggled.

Marco was glad to hear that the girl was fine. While her head rested on his thigh, he had been sweeping his hand through her hair. He had seen her bloodlust before, but this time was different. This was the first time he had ever seen the odd purple color her arms had taken. Luckily enough, the purple hearts that had been persistent on covering her body peeled off and vanished when she passed out. He didn't know what it was, and he was happy it was gone. There was something unnatural with those hearts.

"My, my, don't you two make the cutest couple?" Mr. Lucitor jested.

Star covered her blushing face. She recalled everything that led up to moment of her blacking out. They were in the middle of sparring against the Undead king. She felt desperate when the gap in strength was apparent. It was then that something deep down her snapped and she blacked out. Only to wake up in Marco's lap.

"Uh- no. It- it's not like that Mr. Lucitor." Marco tried to defend himself.

The Undead teacher gave him an incredulous look. "You're bad at this aren't you? Just shut up and let the girl enjoy herself. Don't ruin a good thing. Understand?"

The boy just slowly nodded in agreement.

Nose deep into his novel, Mr. Lucitor was quite amused at the two teenagers. How nice it must be to be young. One moment dealing with a life threatening situation, the next cuddling each other for warmth. "Now, if you two are done playing… lovers, I need you two to go home."

Star instantly shot up and ran to the girl's locker room to hide her embarrassment. Marco, just grinned a bit before turning towards his teacher. The smile faded from Marco's face as he was now alone with the Undead king.

"Do you know what happened to Star?"

Mr. Lucitor's eyes never left the pages. "Hmm, I have an idea. But you don't have a reason to worry. It is just in her nature."

Marco tightly squeezed his two fists. There was something with the way that the Undead king said that sounded distasteful. "What do you mean by that?"

"That Star is not what she seems. What you saw was a scratch on the surface." He flipped to the next page in his book. "I mean, she is from Mewni. It honestly makes a lot of sense, for the most part."

"Okay, then what doesn't make sense?"

"My boy, we've had this discussion before. Have you not been paying attention?" He finally lifted his eyes from his book, to examine the boy. For someone apparently not romantically involved with the girl, Marco always was so overprotective of her. "Her story."

Marco took a second to ponder before he verified, "You mean how could she be from Mewni, if there were no Mewmen left?"

"I'll let you know that she is from Mewni. That I do not doubt. What I doubt is her story, it shouldn't be possible. And if she is what I believe she is… well let us hope she isn't."

"What do you think she is?"

The teacher licked his finger and flipped the page in his book. "Only Mewni knows."

000

Star clung to Marco as he pedaled home. He had explained to her the events that had happened and she was worried. She knew she had fits of blood rage before, but she had never blacked out during one before. However, when Marco mentioned her skin turning purple, something about it didn't faze her. It was surprising to hear, but it didn't make her worried. It was like an everyday occurrence that one didn't think about until someone brought it up. One didn't question breathing, and that's what it sounded like Marco had pointed out. But losing control of herself, that was worrisome. It sounded very similar to her first transformation into Chalice. She had lost control then, and once again she lost control. If she couldn't find a way to keep herself in check, she feared she may strike out at Marco again.

Marco looked back at Star as he stopped at a red light. The girl held onto him the entire time. She didn't feel cold, but he could feel her shivering against his back. He sighed, when he saw Star berserking, all he could think of was when she did so the first time as Chalice. He wasn't afraid of Star, but his body remembered, and held him back when it really mattered. 'If only I was strong enough.'

They both remained silent during their trip home, their only communication was through their slow heavy breaths.

000

Star had volunteered to clean up after dinner. She was normally against peasant work, but she honestly found the work to be cleansing. With her hands deep into the sink scrubbing the dishes of any leftovers, she hadn't noticed it when Marco walked up next to her. Without a word, he took the plate off of her hands and rinsed it off. A pattern between the two developed as they both silently washed and rinsed the dishes. Their hands would slightly graze against each other as they passed the ceramics between each other. Star giggled to herself as she compared the spectacle of them both doing chores akin to Marco's parents. The Diaz couple would normally handle the clean up, and they always looked comely. Star hoped that both she and Marco mirrored the older couple.

Marco was the first to break the silence. "Hey Star?"

"Hmm?" Star hummed her response.

Marco finished rinsing and dried off the last plate, before turning towards Star and clasped her hand. Star blushed at the abrupt contact. Their damp hands caressed one another, the suds on her hands making the connection slick and slippery. She turned towards him to meet with his questioning tone.

"I- I want to let you know…" the boy scrupled to say what was on his mind.

Star waited to hear what he wanted to say. Though it was more that Star had hoped that he would say what she really wanted to hear. Or was it something she needed to hear?

"-Sigh- I'm sorry I haven't been the best squire."

"Wait? What?" Star was confused as to what brought this up. All tension from her dropped as the mood drastically changed.

"I said I'm sorry that I haven't been a good squire. I should be there for you more and-"

The blonde girl pulled her sudsy hand away from his and interrupted his train of thought. "You do not get to decide that. Marco, you're not just my squire, you're a friend. And right now, I need a friend first. Don't worry about the squire thing, I just shoved that on to you anyways."

He may not have always acted on it, but Marco was proud to be Star's squire. "Star, I know you're my friend. But… I don't want to see you get hurt. I promise, I'll get stronger-."

"Marco Diaz." Star took her hand and placed it back into Marco's. "You don't have to promise me anything."

"But-"

"No buts. But, if you want to promise me something, promise me that you'll always be there as a friend. I can see that you're worried about me. I… haven't been at my best recently and there has been a lot of questions about several things. And I want to let you know that you shouldn't hold yourself accountable for my mission. I appreciate the help, but I don't need you to save me. I can handle myself." She told him, not fully believing in that last sentence.

"I promise to always be there for you Star."

"And I promise the same for you Marco. Best friends forever?"

"Forever," he swore to the princess.

000

Both Star and Marco were in their transformed states chasing after the Jaguar Undead. It had been some time after their heartfelt talk, and some needed exercise seemed a great way for both of them to expel excess energy. The only problem was that it had remained a chase. The Undead had always outpaced both the teens. It's intention was to always stay a step ahead of the two, never directly confronting them.

Every time either of them would get close enough to attempt to land an attack, the Jaguar Undead would speed up and dodge everything thrown at it. To add insult to injury, it would just continuously laugh at both of them. The elusive Undead found amusement in their failures.

'You should let me do it. I can show you how to use your power.' The Voice invaded Marco's head.

Exhaustion from the chase was getting to the boy, allowing the Voice to penetrate the mental barriers he had put up. He hated these moments of brief weaknesses.

'Sleep.'

"No!" Marco stated. "I'm not listening!"

Star stopped in her tracks and turned her attention to the beleaguered boy. "Marco?!"

He couldn't hear the cry from his friend. Instead his head was filled with the insistent nagging of the Voice. His breathing grew ragged and a pain shot from his right arm. Marco fell over onto his knees, cradling his arm.

'You're pushing yourself too hard. Just let me take over,' the Voice sinisterly sneered.

Marco haggardly spoke, "No… I can't…"

Seeing it's chance, the Undead made an instant one-eighty and charged right at Marco. Star barely had time to blink as the Undead made strides towards Marco. By the time she opened her eyes, she witnessed the end result of the Undead's knee meeting with Marco's head.

"MARCO!" Star was too tired from constantly chasing the Undead for the past hour and struggled to close the distance between her and Marco. However, it wasn't just the chase that had gotten to her, the lesson with Mr. Lucitor and her berserking had already wore her thin for the day. And truth be told, Star had hoped that fight with the Undead would be an easy one, not a game of tag.

Marco's body flew backwards from the impact. His extremities flailing about as he rag-dolled through the air. Finally landing onto the pavement and skidding across the asphalt of the road.

Star tripped on herself as her legs gave out underneath. "Marco!"

The Jaguar Undead made quick work of the distance between it and Blade. It leapt into the air and landed with a stomp on top of Marco's chest. An audible hack could be heard from the boy. The Undead didn't give up with just a single strike, it continued the assault, determined to cave the rider's chest in.

Star crawled towards Marco, heaving with every ounce of her strength. Her body now shutting down as the fatigue accumulated. Every inch closer drained her reserves. It was tough for her to admit that the Undead Teacher may have been more right than she liked to believed.

'I would rather not die,' the Voice stated.

Marco wasn't even paying attention to it anymore. His head turned and he gazed at Star struggling to crawl. If his lungs weren't constantly being assaulted, he might've sighed at how pathetic he was right now. He had just made a promise to be there for Star forever, and he was going to break it. His eyelids closed as all the pain shut his body down. No longer was there strength for him to do anything. Or so he thought.

'Don't mind me, its just my turn.'

Marco could feel a demonic grin slither across his face. The sickening feel of someone forcing him to smile churned his stomach. His right arm grabbed onto the Jaguar Undead's left ankle and pulled it out from under. The Undead fell over landing next to the boy with a thud.

It was a haze, and his mind was a blank as Marco could feel his body pull itself off the pavement like a puppet being strung up. Too tired to resist, Marco felt his body flex for a moment and dust itself off.

"Ah… See, we still got plenty of gas left."

Star stopped her movements. She could hear Marco's voice, but it wasn't his voice. Something about it sounded wrong. It was heavier, with more gravitas and command in its tone.

"Don't worry Star. We got this."

'We? Who was Marco referring to?' Star thought to herself. 'It sounded like some Other Marco.'

The Undead quickly got up and inquisitively stared at its prey. It could've sworn that the boy was crushed and on the cusp of death. And yet, Marco stood in front of it like nothing had happened. It didn't like what was happening, and looked for a way to escape. Something wasn't right, it would be best to retreat and try another day.

Before the Undead could retreat, Marco reached out with his right hand. A familiar force extruded from his body. Star's eyes lit up as she felt it, it wasn't as powerful, but it was close to the pressure that Crescenta and Mr. Lucitor had used. But now Marco was emitting it.

The Jaguar Undead froze before it could take a step. It knew it was hunting down the Ace of Spades, but this was beyond its comprehension. The boy gave off the bloodlust and pressure of a king. Fear grasped what should've been its heart and petrified the Undead. The only movement it could produce was the weak buckling it had in its knees.

Marco's body reached down to his sword and picked it up in his right hand. He held it up as if to examine it. The overwhelming pressure never gave up an inch, relentlessly determined to crush the Undead. Star could swear that a dark glint had raced across Marco's eyes as he stared down the frozen Undead. He slowly paced himself, closing the distance between himself and the Undead. When he was in front of the monster, he held his sword at the chest of the Jaguar Undead.

Startling Star, Marco started a bloodcurdling laugh. "Cah-cah-cah! CAH-CAH-CAH! CAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

Star felt goosebumps on her skin. The girl couldn't tear her eyes from the sight as she witnessed Marco slowly plunge his sword into the Undead. She couldn't see his face, but there was no doubt in her mind that the boy was enjoying the imipalement of the Undead. The sword had pierced through the Undead, and green blood dripped from the wound covering the blade.

She could faintly hear the Undead gurgle a question, "mIwqoqvam'e' roQ? (What are you?)"

Coldly, Marco replied, "I'm going to be king."

Then he pulled out a blank sealing card and pressed it against the defeated Undead's forehead. With a flash of green light, the Jaguar Undead was sealed. Apathetically, the card was placed into his card holder. Marco then flicked his sword, the blood splattered off the blade and onto the ground, before he sheathed his sword. The pressure he had been emitting had dissipated along with his transformation as he sashayed towards Star. Star's eyes traced his hips as he ostentatiously enamoured her.

'Aw yeah, you shake that butt. I mean… what?' Star shook her head, trying to resist the allure of this Other Marco.

Marco bent down to her level and whispered, "Keh, you going to stay like that? I mean… I don't mind. If you wanna keep the armor on, I bet it'd be pretty fun to strip you out of that."

Star blushed, 'What was Marco saying?' This wasn't the usual safe Marco, instead he was cool and charming. Before she knew it, she had already let go of her Kamen Rider armor.

"I guess I can work with that too."

Star could feel Marco's eyes roaming her muscles. And this was when she broke the boy's spell. Regaining her composure, she picked herself off the ground and went onto the defensive. There was something wrong with Marco, and Star had to resist the boy's seduction.

Marco licked his lips, like savoring a morsel. "Aw, don't be like that Star."

"Who are you? You're not Marco, you're some Other Marco," Star accused him.

Star could hear him chuckling, "You're not wrong, but you're not right. I am Marco. I'm just not the safe kid."

"Give him back!"

"Give? You think I took him? I haven't done anything. He's just sleeping right now."

"Wake him up."

There was a moment of a pause, though it was just Other Marco humoring Star. He didn't have any intention of giving up control just yet. The plan was to wring out every second he could, and it was a plus to tease Star. "No."

At that, Star leapt at Marco and hoped that she could knock some sense into him. However, instead, he caught her in his arms. He held her in a warm embrace as she flailed about trying to escape.

"Let me go!" Star demanded.

"Keh, nuh-uh." he breathed down her neck.

The warm breath contrasted against the chilly autumn wind and sent shivers down her body. Her limbs went limp as butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Marco pressed his lips right beneath her right ear before inhaling a deep breath.

"Star, you smell good," his lips mumbled against her sensitive skin. Marco began to trace her back in small circles.

The goosebumps came back as Star shivered against the boy's ministrations. With a beleaguered sigh, Star pushed Marco's head away. She was determined to defy the boy.

"No... Marco. Please... wake up," she pleaded. "You said you'd be there for me, please come back."

Marco struggled with himself, Star's words were rousing him from his slumber. He pushed himself away from Star and clutched his head shaking it fervently.

"Get out of my head..." Marco growled at The Voice.

"Aw c'mon I was just doing what you want-"

"NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Marco demanded.

Star reached out to caress Marco's anguished face.

"-Sigh- Fine, I'll be back." Other Marco winked at Star, "Laters Princess."