Tom limped over to Star's side and helped her up, he felt like he was the reason Marco is gone.
"Star? Star, we gotta go. Kelly and her friend ain't looking too hot. You need to teleport us out of here." Tom explained as he shook his friend's shoulders.
Star kept the blank expression on her face as she waved her wand and conjured a portal near the injured. Tom assisted Kelly up and they both helped Dennis on to his feet as they walked through the portal. The group appeared in the throne room and guards immediately took the injured pair downstairs to the medical bay. Tom went back to grab Star and she still had that blank look on her face.
"Star. We'll get him back. Marco would never do something so stupid without a plan."
"I'm starting to think that he doesn't have one." The girl responded coldly as she walked into the portal with Tom in tow.
Tom and Star were met with the King and Queen, along with Star's parents; they all wore concerned looks on their faces as they looked at the broken princess. Star never felt this empty before, her friends almost died and Marco is god-knows-where. Star looked up at her mother, who had a pitiful expression, and was suddenly filled with rage. The princess marched up to the stairs that led to the thrones and pointed up at them.
"WHY IS IT ALWAYS US THAT GETS THROWN INTO THE LION PIT? From the START, we got NO help from ANYONE! Not ONE royal has lifted a FINGER to help us. MY FRIENDS ARE OUT THERE DYING! WHILE YOU SIT ON YOUR ASSES! WE'RE KIDS! AND WE DO ALL OF YOUR FUCKING DIRTY WORK!" Star spat at the shocked royalty.
"STAR BUTTERFLY! HOW DARE YOU!" Moon shouted back at the princess.
"How dare I? HOW DARE YOU! You've been sitting on the sidelines, mother! I have not seen ONE thing that the Magic High Commission has done. Ludo was more helpful to me! AND HE'S FUCKING DEAD!"
Moon stood up and narrowed her eyes at her daughter, she was fuming with rage after being disrespected by her own kin. Tom grabbed Star and held her back before she went on another rant. She screamed and kicked to let go of her, but Tom stood firm. Globgor stood from his throne and the room darkened with his presence, Eclipsa raised an eyebrow at her husband's actions but let him continue.
"She's right. We've been doing nothing to lend a hand towards a mutual goal. And for that, I am sorry, Star Butterfly. I think it's about time we STOP letting our kids fight our battles and show them what we, grown-ups, can do." The monster king boomed.
The guards of the room slammed the butt of their halberds onto the granite floor in unison, the collective sound echoing throughout the room as they shouted "YES SIRE!"
"Rally the troops! Notify our allies! And prepare the kingdom! We are going to get Marco back. Today, we bring the battle to them!" The king demanded as the knights shouted back in agreement.
The knights ran off to prepare for battle, while Star looked at the king through her angry tears and smiled weakly. Globgor peered down at the princess and winked.
Marco fell onto his hands and knees as him and Reaper exited the portal. He stayed in that position to catch his breath, voices whispered around him as he faced the floor.
"Who the fuck is this, Reaper?"
"My suggestion as to who should fill Onyx's spot."
"What?"
"The kid is tougher than he looks. And the BALLS on this one? He reminds me exactly of Onyx."
"Didn't we tell you to go retrieve the key? NOT to interview people. And where is Angelface?"
Marco was sick of hearing the name of the monster who ambushed him and his friends, he glared up at who was speaking with Reaper. I knew I heard that voice before! The boy thought as he made eye contact with the person who trained him: Arthur. Marco also noticed Esmeralda standing at the foot of the broken throne that Arthur sat on. There were multiple people that sat upon thrones and their right-hand men stood beside them. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the evil Star sitting on a throne nearby, with her lapdog Marco off to the side. The man had bandages covering half of his face and what seemed like a metal left arm. He didn't recognize most of the others, besides a little grey bird that sat atop of the biggest throne with a slight smile on his face.
"Oh yeah that chick bit the dust back at the crash site. Turns out the fucker's friends are pretty tough too and you know how Angel loved to underestimate people. But I have the key because of this guy!" Reaper explained as he pointed towards Marco.
Arthur finally acknowledged the boy beside Reaper and widened his eyes at the glare he was receiving from him before smiling deviously as he recognized who it was.
"Marco, my boy! To think you would make it to the endgame, was unfeasible for me. But I am glad all the same." The former master remarked.
"If you weren't such a side character to my objective then I would rip that smirk right off your face for what you did to Annebelle. Fortunately for you, my business is with him." The boy pointed to Ludo as he slowly stood up and stepped forward.
"Oh?" Ludo chuckled as he made contact with the boy's determined eyes.
"I have a deal to offer you, Toffee."
"What do YOU have that I can possibly want more than the key?"
"You don't have the key. That box is empty, the key is in the woods of some random dimension."
Reaper widened his eyes at the boy's statement and opened the golden box to realize that he was telling the truth. The box IS empty. Reaper growled and pulled a shotgun out of thin air and held it to the back of the boy's skull. He was about to pull the trigger when Ludo demanded that he wait.
"So what do you have to offer then?"
"Another means of escape. My body."
The room became completely silent as Ludo stared at the boy, then the bird erupted into a deep laughter.
"Boy if I was able to tie my consciousness to one person then I would have done so already. I use fragmented pieces of me to control who I like, but if I were to fully take one body hostage then that person would die immediately. I've tried thousands of hosts and not ONE has been up to standard. What makes you special?"
"Nothing. It seems like a win-win for you though. You either get to escape or remove another thorn in your side. What do you have to lose?"
Ludo thought over what Marco said and spoke, "very well boy come forward."
Marco obeyed as he walked to the foot of Ludo's throne and noticed a golden sarcophagus in front of the steps. It was covered in markings and rare gems, but what caught Marco's eyes is the drawing of a lizard in the middle.
"Place your hand on the sarcophagus." The bird commanded.
Marco followed his orders and touched the golden surface. He felt nothing at first, but a rush of dizziness invaded his head as he blacked out. When the boy opened his eyes, he was surrounded by darkness just like in his dream. This darkness was heavy like a blanket smothering you and it gave Marco a feeling of uneasiness.
"You would think I would get used to the cold by now." He called out.
Marco turned around to face the presence behind him and he was met with the man of the hour, Toffee.
AUTHOR's NOTE: And I am going to stop right there, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed this split chapter, the next one will most likely be split as well. The story will probably end at chapter 30. I will detail at the end of chapter 30, if there will be a sequel or not. This story wasn't even supposed to run this long but I saw that people were reading and enjoying it so I pressed on. Anyway, you know the drill; please read and review your thoughts on the story. Now would be the time to voice any opinions/want of a sequel, it would definitely put me in the direction of making another one; if people were willing to tell me that they wanted a sequel. The next chapter will be put out tomorrow most likely.