Welcome back Starco fans! This is the beginning of the second half of this story.

This chapter is more of an epilogue for the Ragnarok arc, the new status quo for the story with Marco having magic will be the topic of this and the next chapter. Enjoy!


"Deadly Lances!"

Several pitch black swords appeared out of thin air as he called out for them, they circled the boy as he threw them forward one by one. Each hit bouncing off of a golden shield being held by a blonde girl with a red hoodie over her dress. She struggled to maintain the shield as each sword created further cracks in the barrier.

"Marco, you have to stop!" she called out to him, tears cascading down her face.

He didn't care what she said; he only focused on his goal "Dusk Meteor!" a sphere of dark magic burst from his hand and smashed into the shield, shattering it to pieces. The girl on the other side looked frightened, staring at him with desperate eyes "Marco It's me, It's Star!"

Despite her protests, nothing managed to stir his lost heart. He took slow steps as he approached the girl, watching her with his blank red eyes. The girl had lost all feeling in her legs, unable to run from her impending doom.

He held his hand to her head, dark magic coursing through his veins. He felt nothing as he shot his spell forward, taking the life of the girl struck by it.

Someone else was screaming, someone close by, but he was all alone. The anguished screams pounded at his skull, forcing him to his knees as he held his throbbing head. The screams got louder and louder as they filled his mind, once they were loud enough he knew who was screaming, it was him.

There was someone inside his body, someone that cared deeply about the girl who lay deceased beside him. His entire body shook with pain, unable to comprehend the intense grief he felt.

"You have done well."

A deep voice called from behind; taking a peak he found a tall skeleton like figure wearing a cloak. It towered over him as its shadow engulfed all the light that remained, its red eyes burned into his soul "Now that the light is gone, everything else shall fall with it!"

Everything crumbled around him, the world turned to dust. He reached out to the girl beside him but found her crumbling away as well "No! No, Star!" he screamed.

"Marco, wake up!"

Marco's eyes shot open, he gasped loudly and put a hand to his racing heart. Beside him was his girlfriend Star Butterfly, holding on to him with a concerned gaze "Star I-"Marco started before he noticed something odd. They were floating.

It wasn't just the two of them, everything in his room was glowing red and levitating off of the ground, most objects orbited above his head in a circling motion. The boy took a couple of deep breaths and gradually everything began to follow the laws of gravity once more. Other than what floated in the circle was back where it was supposed to be, not glowing at all.

"Not again." Marco groaned, covering his face in his hands. Star patted his back gently "Hey, nothing's on fire this time." She tried to reassure him.

Thanks to Star, Marco had finally been freed from Ragnarok's brainwashing. He was overjoyed at being reunited with his friends and family, having spent the whole day chilling out at home and apologizing for his actions. After sobbing into Star's shoulder for forty minutes they thought that was it, but being forced to try and kill the ones you love isn't something that Marco could just forget about.

Star spent the night, not wanting to be apart again after the ordeal. Marco felt the same way, glad to have her in the same room as him. Around midnight, Star was awoken with a shock, literally a small electric zap. Marco was tossing and turning in his sleep, crying in pain as he was trapped in a nightmare. His newly permanent red moons lit up the room with red light, producing magical electric currents that shot through the entire house. His parents rushed in right as Star got up out of her sleeping bag to try and comfort her boyfriend. The three of them successfully got Marco to wake up after a few shakes, the magic stopped and but Marco wasn't much better. He clung onto the three of them for a while, letting his tears dry out as he continuously apologized for what he had done.

His parents let go eventually but Star didn't, she stayed beside him the whole night to keep him calm. The same event repeated the next night, except the sparks were replaced with magical tremors that brought some of the furniture to life. The third night Star didn't bother putting up a sleeping bag; she curled up on the bed beside him right from the start. That's how it's been for the last few days now, Star stayed beside him and woke him up from his horrifying nightmares, and stopping whatever magical outburst he caused in his sleep.

Falling back onto his pillow, Marco exhaled loudly "Star, I'm so sorry." Star dropped her head onto the other side of the pillow, gently taking hold of her boyfriend's hand and running her thumb across his knuckles "Marco, you don't need to apologize anymore. Everything is ok now."

Marco flipped his body so that he was facing her, he never tried to hide his pain from her, she would see right through him either way "I know you forgive me Star; I know all of you do. But…I just…I can't forgive myself." He was tired; the nightmares had taken a toll on his sleep and psyche. Star ran her other hand through his hair, calming his nerves as he went on "I hurt you. I tried to kill you. I swore I would protect you and then-"

"Hey." She stopped his spiraling "We're safe now, I got you." Her words put him at ease, he felt his eyelids falling once more as he whispered "Thank you Star….love you…" sleep took him instantly. Star didn't fall asleep yet, she kept watching him for a few minutes longer. She couldn't stand to see him hurting like this; she loved him too much to let him keep beating himself up over his actions. Snuggling into his arms, Star prayed tomorrow would be better.

OXOXOXOX

The following morning had been peaceful at least, Star was able to fix whatever Marco's magic affected with her own magic, and she had gotten good enough to only need a single spell to put everything as it should be. Marco seemed normal when speaking to his parents at breakfast; it was a nice distraction from his thoughts. Afterwards he had sat down in the living room beside Mariposa, while Star stayed behind to talk with his parents.

"How was he last night?" shut the refrigerator door as she gave her son's girlfriend her full attention. Star slumped down in her seat and shook her head "The same as usual." She regretfully informed the two adults. Mr. and Mrs. Diaz sat back down at the table on both sides of Star, Mrs. Diaz patted the blonde on the back, passing a reassuring smile in her direction "This won't last forever, these things take time."

Mr. Diaz looked back at his children in the other room "We can only imagine what our son has been through, I wish he would talk to us about what happened." Star felt guilty, she had only told the Diaz's that Marco had been kidnapped, nothing about the rest of their ordeal. Marco had chosen not to let them know what he had done, he couldn't tell them what he had done. His parents knew there was much more that the couple was hiding from them, heck their son had magic now, but pushing Marco to tell them what happened might only make things worse.

Star took a deep breath before giving a smile back at them "You know, there's something I've been thinking of that might help Marco get out of this funk."

"Ooh, go on!" Mr. Diaz pushed her to continue, which she did "Marco has been back for almost a week now, but we never got to give him a welcome home party." Star dug through her purse and took out a piece of paper covered in scribbles "We could throw Marco a huge party in the backyard, we'll invite everyone he knows, we'll make him the biggest cake and have a huge firework display to show him how much we love him!"

While Star was enthusiastic about her idea, Marco's parents seemed uncertain "Star, sweetie." Mrs. Diaz gently pushed the piece of paper down onto the table "I know you want to cheer him up, we all do, but I think this idea might be a little too much for him right now." "Yes, and we already got some fireworks from his magic two nights ago." Mr. Diaz helpfully reminded them.

Star crumbled the paper and tossed it to the side in frustration, it had taken her forever to come up with that one idea and now she had to start from scratch. Mrs. Diaz stood up and picked the paper off of the ground "A welcome home party is a good idea Star, just maybe not so over the top. Marco needs a chance to unwind, so why not do something simpler?"

Mrs. Diaz's suggestion got Star thinking, what would Marco want to do? Memories of one of their old traditions came to mind, giving Star a new idea "I know what to do."

Back in the living room…

Mariposa giggled as she reached out to grab her finger puppet from her older brother, Marco chuckled and just barely held it out of reach "You've got this sis, stand up and grab the puppet." The littlest Diaz fumbled onto her knees, unable to get her legs to hold steady as she tugged at her brother's sleeve.

The baby pulled on Marco's hoodie, purposely letting her drool drip onto the cloth "Ew, Mariposa!" he moved his hands to wipe off the liquid, lowering the puppet within reach for Mariposa as she grabbed onto her prize "Maako! Maako!" she cheered, earning an amused reaction from Marco "Hey, you tricked me you little stinker!" he laughed as he set Mariposa down beside a stack of books.

Playing with his baby sister always brought a smile to his face, enough to make him forget about his problems at the moment "Now that you got your little friend, how about I read you a story?" Mariposa clapped happily as Marco picked up the first book on the stack, a compilation of short children's stories. He flipped to a random page "This story is called, the tale of Onion Boy." Marco cleared his throat and began to read aloud "Once upon a time there was a tiny farm, and in that tiny farm was a group of vegetable friends. Among them was Onion Boy, a nice boy that everyone liked. One day he met a group of bigger vegetables, the squash, who wanted him to be their friend. Onion Boy wanted to fit in with the cool kids so he agreed to be their friend. But in order to be their friend, Onion Boy was told to betray his…other friends…"

Marco set the book on his lap; unwanted memories of fighting his friends invaded his head. Mariposa tilted her head in concern, nudging her brother's knee to get him to keep reading "I'm fine Mariposa, just…I don't think this story is any good." He hastily shut the book and grabbed the TV remote in its place "Hey, maybe that show you like is on; the one with the talking unicycle that solves crimes."

Sure enough, when Marco turned on the television the show was on "Welcome back to Cycle of Life!" the voice on the TV blared. The screen shifted to show an animated Unicycle with a face and fedora cycling through a dark alley, the unicycle uses a flashlight on his handlebar to search around the perimeter. A silhouette sprints away as the flashlight gets close to it, the Unicycle notices the presence and chases the mysterious person. He corners the figure against a wall, illuminating its features to reveal another unicycle with eyelashes and lipstick "It can't be…my own girlfriend?!" the Unicycle gasps. The female one sneers "That's right; I've turned to the dark side now! Tell me babe, are you willing to fight the woman you love?"

Before the episode could continue further, Marco hastily grabbed the remote and shut it off. Mariposa pointed to the screen with sadness, not understanding the wide eyed stare her brother gave to the screen "Too much TV is bad for babies anyway!" his eyes shifted around the room for something else to do "H-Hey Mariposa, how about some music?" he went up to grab a portable radio and set it beside them.

As the radio turned on an old song from the 80's was playing "I'm going bad, I'm turning mean, I'm the worst nightmare you'v-" Marco turned the knob and changed stations to a new song "Why'd ya have to hurt me, my love? How could you-" he changed the station again "Greetings Darkness my old acquaintance-" Marco kept changing stations one after another "I can't control myself-" "I'll kill it all-" "My greatest mistake-" "Never forgive-" "These painful memories-" "So evil-" "A villai-"

As Marco grew more and more frustrated as he turned the dial furiously, he didn't notice his red moon's started crackling with red magic. The radio became covered in the same red magic as it shook violently, exploding with a loud boom that pushed Marco backwards.

Hearing the explosion, Marco's parents and Star rushed into the living room. Mariposa simply chewed on her toy as Marco was lying awkwardly on the floor "Let's just stick to CD's from now on." Marco sighed.

OXOXOXOX

"-so I am very sure I'm not ever going to listen to radio ever again." Marco finished relaying the events of the morning to his friends. Sitting beside him were Janna, Tom and Kelly, listening to their friends troubles. The four of them were having lunch at Britta's Tacos; Janna however wore a fake mustache and glasses to conceal her identity from the staff. Normally Star would be joining them, but she had run off to 'do something normal' as she had said.

"So, what have you guys been up to lately?" Marco took a bite of his taco while his friends recapped their time "Well I have successfully driven a giant possum out of my chimney." Janna proudly announced "Related to that, I have to get some stains out of the living room before my parents get home."

Janna relaxed and put her feet on the table as she grabbed her drink "You do anything cool Kelly?" she looked to the Woollet next to her "Not exactly cool but I've made some progress with my search. Now that magic is back all dimensional scissors are working again, I've been spreading the word as best as I can but there are so many dimensions I don't even know how to get to."

"It's going to take a while for the mirrors to go back up, which would've made it so much easier to get the word out." Tom commented with a mouth full of burrito. Kelly gave him her attention as she passed the torch to him "Well how's the underworld? Any good dead people lately?"

Tom looked amused "Actually, there are two souls that just got in that are driving the torturers crazy!"

OXOXOXOX

Down in the underworld, a demon with a hood over his face is stuck between two transparent souls in the middle of an argument. The demon detaches his own hands to plug his ears from their bickering.

"This is all your fault!" Mina accuses the monster.

"No this is your fault!" Seth sends his own accusation towards the Mewman.

"Your fault!"

"Your fault!"

"Your fault!"

"Your fault!"

"My fault!"

"My fau-your fault!"

"Ha, I tricked you!" Mina gloats.

OXOXOXOX

"They've been at it for days." Tom chuckled.

While Kelly and Janna were amused by their enemies' fate, Marco avoided eye contact and absentmindedly stirred his straw in circles. Janna caught sight of Marco's behavior and sighed "Oh come on Marco, you didn't kill those two, Ragnarok did."

Marco was not comforted by her words in the least "But I still stood there and watched it happen." He still turned his head away from his friends. Janna lifted the fake mustache and glasses off of her face for a moment as she rolled her eyes "Come on Diaz, it's been six days now! You gotta move on already."

The red-hooded boy froze "Move on. Do you really think I can just forget about what happened and move on?!" he slammed his fists onto the table "Believe me, I wish I could forget what I did. Instead, my memories are crystal clear of all the terrible things I did under Ragnarok's control! I tried to kill all of you and nearly succeeded, do you know how painful it is Janna? To be forced to kill your loved ones and you gladly agree to it since your state of mind is so twisted you can't remember them?! Star almost died by my hands, and so did the three of you!" Marco pointed to Janna "I had you almost dropped into lava!" he pointed to Tom "I almost suffocated you with the Monster Arm!" he pointed to Kelly "And Pony told me about the giant scar I gave you when I shot spikes into your side back in St. Olga's!" Kelly instinctively held her side, surprised he knew about that.

Tears built up around his eyes and his cheek marks started to spark "I've never wanted to hurt you guys, but every night I see horrible visions of what could have happened! I can't just let it go like the rest of you, so don't tell me to just move on!" A strong burst of magic released as Marco shouted the last words, sending a powerful shock that collided with Janna and knocked her to the ground "Janna!" Tom cried out as he rushed to her side, Kelly followed his lead.

His magic subsided and Marco stared horrified by what he had done. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't find his voice. While Tom and Kelly were preoccupied helping Janna get back on her feet, Marco pulled his hoodie over his head and ran off before anyone could stop him.

"Ugh, I'm gonna feel that in the morning." Janna held on to Tom's arm for balance as she stood up "Dang Marco, I- Where'd he go?" the bluenette had noticed that their friend was nowhere in sight. Tom and Kelly looked around for any sight of the boy "Aw crud." Tom spoke under his breath. Suddenly, Pony Head flew in from nowhere and stood beside the others "Yo Pony is in the house! So what did I miss?" she obliviously asked the concerned trio.

OXOXOXOX

Marco had no idea how long he had been running, he didn't even know where he was running to. By the time he slowed down and took his eyes off of the ground, he found himself deep inside a forest. He had no idea if he was in the forest of Certain Death or farther out beyond the city limits, it wouldn't be a surprise if he had unconsciously opened up a portal to a secluded spot in Earthni. Marco sat beside a tree, catching his breath as his mind raced with what he had done. He had hurt one of his friends again, he hurt Janna, everything he had done with his magic on his own was hurt people. It was no wonder the embodiment of destruction sought him out.

"Why, why does this keep happening?!" he punched his fist into the ground, leaving a few cracks in the dirt "Why does my magic only hurt the people I care about?! Why do I even have this power?!"

Marco pulled himself away from the tree, before turning back to it and punching the bark with his bare hands. His frustrated grunts echoed through the trees, no one was around to hear him so he let it all out. Punch after punch, the tree remained intact, which only frustrated Marco further "Aaargh!" his fists began to glow with his magical aura, shattering the tree upon contact and reducing it to a stump.

Marco panted as he glared at the stump, feeling better now that he had managed to break it.

That feeling lasted but a second, and then his blood ran cold. He froze, he felt good about destroying something. Unwanted memories flashed through his mind, the memories of using his magic for evil. He remembered this feeling, and that horrified him.

He stumbled back, clenching his chest to try and stop his racing heart. His cheek marks blinked slowly, becoming the only source of light as the forest suddenly turned dark. Marco looked around in panic; his eyes darted everywhere before landing on his own shadow. The pitch black outline of himself grew larger with each blink of his marks; he could swear there was an identical pair of moons on his shadow, but black instead of red.

"No, no not again!" Marco backed away and started running again. With each tree he passed, his shadow followed, each time its shape resembled less of his current attire and more of his brainwashed one. The boy didn't stop; he kept running forward until he reached a dead end at a cliff. As he looked beside himself for an exit, his eyes landed on a puddle by his feet. His reflection in the water showed him as his evil self.

"Stop! Stop this!" Marco cried out, stomping on the puddle so his reflection went away. Moving away from the puddle, Marco turned around to go back the way he came, blocking his path was his dark self.

"What the- how- you're…" Marco found himself at a loss for words. His dark copy summoned dark magic into his hand, releasing it towards his counterpart. Marco ducked as the blast passed above him "Ok, I've had enough of this. I'm through with running, if it's a fight you want then it's a fight you'll get!" Marco resigned himself to the situation. He released a beam of his own magic that collided against his doppelganger, which only smirked and sent an identical spell right back at him.

Every spell he cast, every move he did, the dark reflection would copy him and sent his own attack hurling right back at him. Unlike the copy, the real Marco was getting tired. He fell to his knees after another blast and looked up at his attacker defiantly; the copy stared at him and said its first words "You cannot win, I am you."

The copy held its hand up to Marco's forehead, preparing to cast the final blow. Marco didn't look up, he didn't flinch, he just let out a quiet whisper "You're wrong." The spell fizzled out of the copy's hand. Marco lifted his head, facing his reflection with determined eyes "You're wrong! You're not me!" his body lit up with a red glow "I'm not you! I am Marco Diaz, and I will never become you ever again!" his moons shined intensely, released a powerful blast from his entire body that covered the immediate area.

Marco blinked his eyes, waiting to regain his vision after that spell. When his sight returned, there was no trace of his copy, nor any damage done to the area save for his previous spell. Looking up to the night sky, Marco let out a long breath, looking at his shadow he found it to be normal.

"Marco!" he heard a familiar voice call in the distance. He walked back towards the trees and saw his amazing girlfriend rushing towards him "There you are!" she skidded to a stop and wrapped her arms around him "What are you doing out here, it took forever to find you!"

"Sorry Star, I just…needed to sort my thoughts out." Marco admitted, absentmindedly running his fingers through her hair "How were you able to find me?"

Star poked the moon below his mole "Your magic is really strong; when you let out a bunch of your magic I was able to feel it all the way back home." She pulled away to look him in the eyes, Marco smiled softly in turn "Home, that's where I'd like to be right now." He sighed.

Without another word, Star held out her hand and created a small portal "Then let's get you back, we're all waiting for you." She tugged his arm as she stepped through the portal, leaving Marco confused momentarily "We?"

Coming out of the portal, Marco was greeted by his friends and family as they crowded around him in his living room, all save for his baby sister saying his name and telling him how worried they were. Janna waited until everyone else was done talking before approaching the boy "Hey, so…I'm sorry about earlier. Didn't know that would set you off so badly."

"Well this is the first time you've apologized for something, and you have done way worse than that, so apology accepted." Marco reassured her.

"Ok, good, we're all friends or whatevs-let's just get the movie in already!" Pony Head grabbed a bowl of popcorn with her mouth and floated over to the TV area, which had been set up with several bean bag chairs, blankets and snacks "So much for Pony not ruining anything today." Kelly muttered under her breath.

Noticing the set-up, Marco looked to Star for an explanation "Star?" "Marco…" Star started "You've been so miserable these last couple of days; I wanted to throw you a party to make you feel better. Not a crazy-off the chain party with flaming chicken jugglers and fireworks in the shape of your face, but a small movie-watching party with your closest friends and family. Just…something to show you that we really care about you Marco."

Marco was touched, he gave Star a sincere smile "Thank you, this is perfect." He gave his girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek before they sat on the couch beside his parents while the other four took the bean bag chairs. Tom pressed the remote and the DVD menu for a Mackie Hand movie filled the screen "We got the whole Mackie Hand collection, we'll be up all night binging this." Tom showed his friend the stack of DVD's beside him.

As the films played and the night went on, some of the teens had fallen asleep. Star kept her eyes on the screen, watching as the credits for the fourth movie rolled, and she felt a weight on her shoulder. She looked to her right and found Marco sound asleep, nuzzling into her shoulder and gripping her arm. Star snuggled her head on top of his, beginning to nod off as well. For the first time since he got back, Marco wasn't troubled by his nightmares, the pain wouldn't disappear, but with the support of the people that loved him, he could move forward.