Well it's another beautiful day in quarantine, what better way to get our minds off of the anxiety we feel than with another new chapter!
Also before anyone asks, Glossaryck and the MHC were not resurrected with the magic. Star and Marco tried to revive Glossaryck and Hekapoo but were unable to.
to answer a review by this is totally a person: Sorry I didn't respond to you sooner, things have been rather hectic in my day to day life. I hope this chapter was worth the wait, as for how long each chapter takes, it depends. Before Coronavirus I would write 1000 words each time I had a day with nothing planned. Now that all my days are free (minus video games, watching this weeks Precure eps and walking my dog) I keep trying to write more but always find myself trapped downstairs by my family instead of finishing the next 500 words I am supposed to write. I would say twice a month would be about right.
Magic was a thing again, the whole dimension knew this already. It had come as a shock that after seven months with magic completely gone, it was not only back but anyone could earn the right to use it. One person with newly acquired magic was Marco Diaz; he spent two years living with Star and her magic before the cleaving, but had only used the stuff himself twice before this month. Out of everyone that had awakened their own magic already, Marco was without a doubt the one most troubled by it.
"Nachos, hold still!" Marco frantically tried to get his dragoncycle under control. An hour rolling in the mud had caused Marco's companion to desperately need a bath, the one thing that Nachos always thought against her rider about "Come on, this would only take a second if you would sit still for a moment." He once again tried to reach the dragoncycle with a soapy brush.
As Nachos flailed around, her tail struck Marco on the ankle and sent him stumbling backwards until his butt fell inside the tub of soap water "Nachos!" his moon marks flickered to life at his annoyance. The bucket beneath him vibrated violently before throwing him off, the animated bucket shot its contents out into the sky, creating a soapy rain that soaked the two below "That's one way to do it I guess." Marco sighed.
OXOXOXOX
"Don't go in the closet, don't go in the closet." Marco bit his nails as the suspense lingered.
The boy sat at his desk in the dark as the horror film played on his laptop, his eyes were glued to the screen as the protagonist slowly turned the doorknob and the door creaked open. All was quiet, he didn't dare make a move, Marco was completely engrossed in the suspense.
"Hey, Marco!" Tom erupted out of a portal burning through the floor; his sudden appearance spooked the brunette and made his cheek emblems light up with a scream "Tom! Do NOT sneak up on someone when they are watching a horror movie!"
The red magic sparked into the laptop, unseen by the two, and a scaly hand reached out of the screen "I tried to text you, but you wouldn't pick up!" Tom justified his entrance "If you would look at your messages every once in a while you would know that-there's a hand on your shoulder!" his three eyes widened.
Marco noticed the appendage on his hoodie and screamed even louder "What the heck?!" he punched the hand in an attempt to get it to release him. The arm kept extending until the creature it belonged to was halfway through the computer screen "PUSH IT BACK! PUSH IT BACK!" Marco shrieked, Tom similarly freaked out and tried to free Marco from the monsters grip.
OXOXOXOX
Marco had the house to himself tonight, so for dinner he made a personal pan pizza for himself. Dressed in his apron and chef hat, Marco rolled the pizza cutter across the cheesy surface "Why won't this thing cut?" he grumbled.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a red glow "Nononono-" the magic brought the pizza cutter to life and it rapidly ran across the pizza, creating an explosion of cheese and tomato sauce that covered the room. As the glow faded and the pizza cutter fell against the counter, Marco just sighed "Magic stinks."
OXOXOXOX
The following day, Star Butterfly happily skipped up to the Diaz residence. Marco wanted her over first thing in the morning, so naturally she came straight over after oversleeping until eleven "I smell a bowl of Captain Blanches Sugar Seeds with my name on it." She rubbed her growling stomach "What is it about skipping meals that makes me so hungry?"
After a knock on the door, she was greeted to the sight of a red moon-less faced Marco in front of her "Marco, your marks are gone!" Star gasped, Marco just shrugged "Oh, it's just-"his girlfriend's hands smushed against his face "What happened? Is your magic gone? Do you have more sugar seeds?" she rapidly questioned him.
Marco groaned "Star…" releasing her hands from his face, Star found her hands coated in make up the same color as his skin. His moons were partly visible again save for the smeared make up left on his cheeks "I just used cover up. The moons are still here." He bluntly pointed to the aforementioned marks.
"Oops." Star awkwardly attempted to reapply the makeup; Marco shook his head and walked over to the bathroom to grab a towel to wash off his face and her hands "It's fine, I'll do it again after lunch."
"Why are you covering up your marks Marco?" Star tilted her head in confusion, watching as Marco walked over to the sink and placed the stained towel under the running water "I'm…it's just kind of weird to me. You have your hearts, I have a mole, but now I got moons and a mole and it's just crowding my whole face up! "He shut off the faucet and faced his love "Plus, I am so sick of all these magic outbursts. I can't make a pizza without it exploding on me!"
Star reached up into a cabinet and grabbed a box of cereal as Marco spoke to her, taking a bite straight out of the box "Yeah, magic can be a pain sometimes. I've never heard of anything like your outbursts though." She poured some sugar seeds into a bowl and continued to stuff her face as the two of them sat down on the couch and turned on the TV "There is some good magic news-"Star spoke with a mouthful of cereal.
Flipping through the channels, Star stopped on a news station where they showed a video of a guy robbing a bank "As you can see in this video footage, a man in Rome is holding the bank hostage. Instead of the regular weapons that are used to rob a bank, he appears to be using magic as a weapon." The man on screen shoots a firecracker-like spell at one of the tellers "Star, this is terrible!" Marco stares in horror; Star quickly shushes him "Watch what happens next."
As the man prepares another spell, he is enveloped by a blinding light for around thirty seconds before it fades away. The man seems to be panicking and tries to use his magic once more, only nothing happens this time "After the light disappeared, the robber was unable to use any magic at all. The police were quick to take him down and he is currently in their custody." The screen switches to an interview with the man in jail "I'm telling ya, some weird half unicorn, half dragon thing came out of nowhere and took the magic right out of me!" The feed cuts back to the newsroom as the anchorwoman read off a sheet of paper "As of ten days ago, there have been eight reported cases of people suddenly gaining the ability to use magic. Out of the eight, two have already lost their magic, both in the middle of criminal acts, and both claiming to have seen a strange unicorn-dragon thing. Now here's Weather-Bot with the weather." The screen switched to a menacing robot wearing a pineapple-print tie "THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE HUMIDITY."
Putting the TV on mute, Star slurped down the rest of her cereal before smiling at Marco proudly "Looks like Hank's doing their job. Magic is finally out of the hands of stupid jerkfaces for good!" While Marco was proud of the Dragcorn for handling magic on their own, it still didn't answer one other question "How did they even earn magic in the first place if they were gonna use it for wrongdoings anyway?" Marco wondered "We barely know how this new magic works, we can't even figure out the catalyst for unlocking magic."
"One problem at a time Marco." Star patted him on the shoulder "Before we worry about other people's magic, we need to figure out yours."
Marco placed a hand on top of hers "I know, the nightmares are gone but the outbursts keep happening. Your mom and Eclipsa have known magic longer than anyone else alive; do you think they can figure out what's going on with me?"
"I bet they know exactly what's wrong with you."
OXOXOXOX
"We have no idea what's wrong with you."
Eclipsa's blunt statement crushed Marco's hope of a speedy fix; he leaned back in his chair and groaned. Marco and Star sat in the Monster temple library across from Moon and Eclipsa (with Meteora sitting in her lap). The three other Butterfly's had gotten their own cheek emblems back, but strangely enough no one other than Marco had gained cheek emblems when they got magic, yet another unexplainable occurrence.
Moon cleared her throat, eyeing the woman beside her with annoyance "What Eclipsa means is that we don't know yet, but will gladly help you find the cause of your uncontrollable magic."
"That's great, cause we are getting nowhere on our own." Star honestly admitted, all she had managed to deduce on her own was that they occurred when Marco was stressed, that much was obvious to everyone.
Marco raised an eyebrow "So this hasn't happened to any of the old Butterfly Queens?"
"No, nothing of this sort has ever been recorded." Moon told the boy "However, magic has been fundamentally changed. None of our old resources will be of any use."
"If I may?" Eclipsa held up her hand "There is one old thing that may still be helpful to us."
OXOXOXOX
The Queen of Darkness led the way as she traversed down a flight of stairs, Meteora in one hand and a glowing light orb in the other. The entry to the basement had not yet been fitted with electricity; the orb was the only source of light as they traveled deeper towards their goal "If we are going to find the root of Marco's problem, first we have to know how strong the magic we're dealing with is." Eclipsa explained.
"You make a good point, for once." Moon muttered the last two words under her breath "Everyone else who gained magic recently has been nowhere near as powerful as the Butterfly lineages. None of them are capable of using summoning spells like your cloudy charm or more complicated spells like the Warnicorn Stampede. They can only access the basics."
"Looks like only us with emblems on our cheeks can use magic to its full extent." Eclipsa agreed, booping the clovers on her daughter's cheeks.
After a few more steps, the group reached the basement. Eclipsa's sight wandered around the room before stopping on a tarp "A-ha! There it is!" she pushed a few boxes aside as she cleared a path through the junk. Grapping the tarp, Eclipsa tossed it aside to reveal what looked like a strength tester you'd find in a truck stop diner "Oh I remember this." Moon dusted off the wooden frame "Does it still work?"
"Uh, what is that exactly?" Star asked her mother, Marco cast a similar look of confusion "And how does it help us?"
Moon patted the side of the machine "This is an old magic power level indicator, Baby used to have princesses use this to test how powerful their magic was while they were training. Let me show you." Gripping the handle tightly, Moon's diamonds lit up and the meter on the device lit up until it reached a little over halfway "A seven, that's better than what several queens have gotten." Moon sounded very proud of herself.
"Ooh, let me try!" Eclipsa reached over and grabbed the handle, her spades glowing as she did so. The bar lit up even further than Moon had "I'm a nine!" Eclipsa cheered, unaware of Moon's irritated expression behind her "Well you have created some very advanced spells; it's no wonder your higher up than me." Moon concluded.
"My turn!" Star pushed herself up to the front, her glowing hearts sent the meter rocketing up to the top of the scale "A ten?! No Butterfly has ever gotten the bar to the top!" Moon gasped in surprise. Little Meteora drooled and grabbed the handle herself, the glowing clovers ranked at a seven "Oh, look Moon! Meteora is at the same magic level as you!" Eclipsa excitedly cuddled her child, while Moon stared in disbelief "She's a baby!?"
Looking back at her boyfriend, Star grabbed Marco by the arm and pulled him in front of the machine "Your turn Marco, let's see what you got!" the boy nervously grabbed the handle, his moons glowing in unison with the machine. The lights on the machine rose until they landed at the highest setting "I'm a ten?!" Marco couldn't believe his eyes; neither could the Butterfly women "Holy corn!" Star exclaimed "Your magic is as strong as mine!"
"Between hosting the entirety of dark magic for several months, and recreating magic with Star, it's no wonder your powers are so…well, powerful." Eclipsa stated, impressed and surprised by the human boy.
"It all makes sense now." Moon realized "You went from being a non-magical human to one of the most powerful magic users in such a brief time, that's why your magic is acting out! Your body isn't used to containing so much active magic; the outbursts are probably a side effect to that."
On one hand, Marco was relieved to understand why his magic was so crazy; on the other hand, the reality of his powers was weighing down on his shoulders. Marco took a seat atop an unopened crate, shaking his head in disbelief "I-I should have known, the universe itself wanted both of us to be the embodiments of magic. It's really hard to imagine that I'm just as powerful as Star." He looked back up the four Butterfly's "You guys have to help me; I can't keep living without control of my magic."
Sending her boyfriend a soft gaze, Star knelt down and held his hand in hers "Don't worry; we'll have this under control in no time." Marco gratefully smiled as she lifted him back up "I'm ready when you are." He told the princess.
OXOXOXOX
An hour later (and a brief stop for lunch), Star and Marco stood on opposite sides of the knights training field "The knights are off today to attend a renaissance fair, so we got the whole field to ourselves." Star announced before lifting a massive wooden target at setting it down in Marco's path. Running over to her boyfriend's side, she reached out her arm and took aim at the target, shooting a simple pink magic blast to the center of the target "Bullseye! Now you try!"
Unsure and nervous, Marco did exactly what Star had done; he aimed his arm at the target and released a red magic blast. Except, his came out as a massive beam nearly the size of himself, sending the boy hurling backwards into a stone wall and demolishing the target into splinters "Ooh, this is gonna take a lot of work." Star grimaced at the destroyed target.
LESSON 1
Star stood in front of a whiteboard, she grabbed a black marker and scribbled some writing and stick figures on the surface "So in a strange twist of fate, I'm the one in control and organized with my magic, whereas you are the one more likely to set things on fire with rainbows." She drew a flaming rainbow to illustrate her point "If we want to get your magic working safely, we need to figure out how to focus it. Any questions?"
Marco raised his hand "Is that permanent marker?"
Star paused, looking between the whiteboard and the pen with uncertainty "Don't question my judgement."
The blonde ran into the center of the field, placing a wooden box in the center before returning to Marco's side "Lesson 1, concentration. If you want to focus your magic, ya gotta focus your mind." Star placed her fingers on her forehead to emphasize her point "Levitatato this box over to the wall without losing focus."
Marco looked relieved "That's easy, piece of cake." He sent his magic into the box, lifting it into the air with ease…and then dropped it when the sound of cymbals banging together roared in his ears "What the-?!" Marco turned to find his girlfriend banging the golden discs together "FOCUS DIAZ!"
Doing his best to ignore the clanging racket, Marco lifted the box with magic once more "Marco, did you know the sky is eighty percent walnuts and forty percent cheese?!" the entire incorrectness of that statement was hard to ignore, but Marco kept moving the box slowly. Marco felt a small object bounce off of his head, within seconds it was raining blueberries "Ignore the fruit, focus on the box." Marco muttered to himself.
The box had almost reached the wall, when a purple walrus wearing a pirate hat poofed into existence and began throwing rocks at the boy "Really?!" he gave a quick look to his girlfriend, who shrugged in response "He's the goalie, now ignore him and focus on the box!"
Dodging rocks while focusing was incredibly difficult, Marco kept getting close before losing focus as a rock threatened to hit his head. After several tries, the moons lit up and the box came crashing down on the pirate walrus like a flaming comet. Letting out ragged, deep breaths, Marco slowly realized he had another outburst "Star, I think we need to use a different approach." "Yeah, maybe something less intense that doesn't involve squashing a pirate walrus with a flaming box filled with smaller boxes." Star nodded.
"Wait, that box was filled with smaller boxes? What's the point of that?!"
LESSON 2
"Lesson 2, fighting an opponent without seriously maiming them." Star announced to the two before her, other than Marco, her father River had joined them "Is that why I'm here?" River raised his hand "Yep, the two of you will have a sparring match, and Marco you can only fight with magic, no karate. The goal is to beat my dad without creating another outburst."
Marco had a few dozen concerns "Star, I don't think this is-"
"AND FIGHT!" the boy's concerns fell on deaf ears as Star waved a flag, signaling the match to begin. River screamed and tackled Marco to the ground, pinning him with a body slam "Don't hold back my boy! If I wear a bear I would have killed you by now!"
Marco stopped struggling for a moment, taking a moment to assess the situation "Balloon Bounce Back!" he encased himself in a balloon forcefield, causing River to be flung away from his body. The balloon popped once Marco was standing once again, he watched River come at him again and tried to think of a way to counter "Uhhh…Wet Sock Attach!" his spell caused a pair of wet socks to appear on River's feet "NO KIND OF CLOTHING CAN STOP ME!" River shouted, tearing the socks to shreds by sheer willpower alone.
"Red Belt Tendrils!" Marco sent out a pair of animated red karate belts, using them to momentarily constrict River. The former king chewed through them in no time flat "Come on Marco! Use a real attack! I can take it!"
The boy couldn't come up with another spell before the man in a loincloth lifted him over his shoulder and spun his in circles over his head. Amid the nausea he was experiencing, Marco's cheeks lit up as he called out his next move "Volcanic Storm!"
The ground shook and cracked as ash-grey clouds filled the sky above them, instead of rain the clouds released a tornado made of magma. River dropped the boy and began running away from the fiery twister that had begun to chase after him "HA HA! Just like my honeymoon!" River cheered, not even a little concerned that the tornado was coming closer.
"I didn't mean to make that!" Marco gasped, horrified that his spell had mutated past his initial intentions. He had certainly not wanted to send a magma storm after his future father-in-law; it was supposed to be a simple meteor shower-like spell. Following the tornado himself, Marco quickly invented a spell to neutralize it "Hydro Monsoon Stream!" a massive geyser of water shot out of the ground directly below the tornado, instantaneously cooling the magma into a black rock structure.
Marco exhaled deeply, trying to calm his heart as it raced a mile a minute. Star came up beside him and held his shoulder in concern "I don't think sparring is working…" Star sheepishly admitted, earning a dry remark from Marco "Ya think?" his moons glowed once more, turning the rocks into snow that tumbled over and covered the three with a white blanket of frost. River poked his head out of the snow unharmed "So, who won?"
OXOXOXOX
LESSON 3
"Alright, don't be discouraged Marco. It always takes a little trial and error before we find what works." Star reassured her boyfriend, who was currently lying face down into the dirt "Forget it Star, I'll just lay here for the rest of my life. I can't screw up if I don't do anything." Marco's voice was muffled by the ground, but Star could understand him regardless "Come on, you know that's not the answer…the only reasonable solution is for you to never get stressed again." Star suggested, completely serious.
Marco lifted his face up to stare at his girlfriend "How did you do it?"
Star tilted her head "Do what?"
Lifting himself out of the dirt, Marco took Star's hand into his own as he searched her eyes "There was a time when your magic was acting up, I almost got sucked into a hole in the sky remember? How did you regain control of your magic then?"
"I…" Star thought back to that time of her life, when her feelings for Marco had first become conscious and her heart was trapped in emotional turmoil "I think it got better when I started accepting my feelings. Sure Toffee's influence was part of the problem, but my emotional state was the main reason my spells got all weird back then."
Thinking back on it, Star came up with an idea that was stupid and crazy enough to work "Marco, I have a plan. I want you to blindly trust me on this." Her choice of words filled him with a sense of dread "This won't end well."
Star held onto his shoulders and spun him around until he was facing away from her "Keep your eyes over here for one second." She let go and began using her magic to construct something big. All the banging and crunching going on behind him was very concerning to the boy in the hoodie "Star, please don't make anything that has the potential to kill us."
Putting the finishing touches on her creation, she turned Marco back around to face the monstrosity on the field…a simple jar of pickles. Marco was at a loss for words, how was a jar of pickles supposed to help him "Star, care to explain?"
"Open the jar Marco." Star simply told him "How is-""Just open the lid." Star pushed him over to the jar. Marco cautiously held the jar, fearing the worst that when he opened it a magic catastrophe would emerge from the pickle and try to kill them. Maybe the pickles were actually alive and he had to free them before they suffocated. Whatever was going to happen when he opened the jar, Marco had to be ready.
He turned the lid to the side, and it wouldn't budge "Huh?" he tried again, holding it against his body as he tried to unscrew the lid "It…won't…open!" he grunted, using all the force he could muster and he was still unsuccessful at opening the jar.
The longer he tried to open the jar, the more his frustration built. Star waited eagerly until she saw the moons glow on his cheeks "Yes." She whispered to herself. Marco began to lift off the ground; magical plasma surrounded his form and shot out in every direction. The boy realized what had happened and dropped the jar in panic "No! Stop it!" he tried to stop the magic.
Star grinned and purposely ran in the path of one of the plasma beams, Marco turned to see her and his heart sank "STAR!" he stretched his hand out, stopping the beam inches from her chest. Marco gaped in astonishment, Star smiled at him proudly, nodding for him to try again. Marco hesitated, but carefully tried to recall his magic, and this time it listened.
As his feet touched the ground, Marco grasped his cheeks in disbelief "I-it stopped. I made it stop!" he ran over to his girlfriend "Star, are you alright?!" "I'm fine Marco, but I'm even more fine now that we've figured out how to take control of your magic." She beamed with excitement.
"Wait…you did this on purpose!" Marco realized, he was never supposed to open the jar, it was only a trigger for another outburst "Star what the heck were you thinking?! I could have hurt you!" Marco shook her shoulders.
"That's just it Marco, that's how you were able to do it. When I lost control of my magic, the thought of protecting you was what made me regain control." Star recalled "You did the same thing just now; you overpowered the magic with the need to protect me."
Marco still looked unsure "But I can't keep putting you in danger for the sake of training."
"You don't need to; I know how to make this work." Star reassured him.
OXOXOXOX
Several hours had passed, the sun had long since set, yet the sounds and lights of magic continued on the training ground. Marco trained with a new method, when he felt stressed he forced himself to think about keeping Star safe. Those feelings calmed his magic, with every lesson he subdued his outburst more and more until the magic no longer leaked unwillingly.
"Pomegranate Flash Cross!" magenta colored lights rippled through the ground in an X shape. As one of the lines rushed on a collision course with Marco, the boy smirked and created a green turtle-like shield "Tortoise Shell Wall!" the magic deflected off of his shield, Marco lifted one hand to the sky and shot out a stream of red material "Red Hot Salsa Sludge!" Star leapt backwards to avoid the boiling, yet delicious, acid "Milk Wave!" Star sent the dairy whirlpool at Marco's spell, destabilizing it "Ha! You shouldn't have taught me milk destroys salsa!" Star taunted.
"That's not what-"Marco decided to forego telling her where she went wrong, and instead took the opportunity to strike "Kitten Bombs Extra Glitter!" he released several bombs resembling both cats and himself, surrounded Star and covering the immediate area in a glitter cloud "Glitter is my thing Diaz!" Star held a hand over her mouth as she shouted, hoping to not swallow any glitter again.
The dust cleared and Marco was gone, or so Star thought "Gotcha!" a voice came from behind her, pulling her against his chest with a bear hug "Check and mate." Marco quipped. Star giggled and accepted defeat "It appears the student has become the master."
Releasing his girlfriend, Marco let some magic glow in his hand, smiling with excitement "I can't believe it; I finally got this under control." Star held some of her magic in her hand as well, holding Marco's hand and letting the pink and red hues mix together "I knew you could do it." Hearts and moons gently lit up the dark "I couldn't have done it without you Star."
"Yeah, I am a great teacher aren't I?...hmmm…." Star let go of her lover's hands, bringing them up to her face as she tapped her chin "You know, there are a whole lot of new magic users now. They'll need someone to help teach them how to use it."
OXOXOXOX
"And…it's live." Marco tapped away at his keyboard, scooting over slightly so Star could look at the screen "This is so amazing! Quick, let's do an introduction video!" without waiting for a reply, Star pressed the video camera on Marco's laptop and hit record "Hey creatures of various dimensions! So you may have heard that magic has returned, and some of you can now use it yourselves. You are going to have a lot of questions, like how you should use it, how it works, who the dragcorn is, I'll do my best to help you out! I'm Star Butterfly and this is my boyfriend Marco Diaz, and welcome to Glossaryck dot com!" Marco butted his head in "The name was her idea."
