POOF

Marco rushed up the stairs, hoping to stop Star from running away. He heard the door slam and the loud poof, but things were moving too fast to grant time to think about it. He made it up to her door and kicked it open, but all he saw was a portal close and Star's room fading away.

"NO!" Marco practically screamed as the room faded away. Star was gone and by the look of things, she wasn't coming back. Marco punched the floor in frustration, causing the wood to crack wildly. While the pain in his fist was strong, the pain he felt emotionally was far worse. Star was actually gone. This couldn't be it, he would have to go to Mewni. It was far too much to bear.

He went to grab his scissors in his pocket, but was angered once he found that they were nowhere to be found. Where had he left them? Surely Star wouldn't have taken them, she has no right to-. His spiralling thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something hitting the floor next to him. It was his scissors. He looked back behind him to see where they came from, he was surprised to see Janna, but when she nodded at him, he only nodded back and picked up the scissors.

He immediately began to cut a portal, but when he heard a set of footsteps eclipsing the top of the stairs, he stopped. He turned around once more and spotted his parents. They looked shocked, but when Marco tried to begin reasoning with them, they shushed him and gave him something. It was Marco's go bag. He thought that nobody knew about it, but his parents apparently did. He had things prepared in case there was ever a situation where he had to leave for a long time.

The bag was stocked with canned food that wouldn't expire, water, a change of clothes, and a knife. When the bag hit the floor in front of Marco, he looked down at it, then back up at his parents and spoke again, "I have to." He expected some resistance from his parents, but was surprised to receive none. All they gave him was a nod and a quick hug.

"I will be back," Marco stated sincerely to his parents. They simply nodded and said "Goodbye." to their son. They knew that him and Star were very talented and only tonight did they understand exactly why Marco had to do this, but they did now. Even though he had crushed on Jackie for months and was now dating her, he needed Star. It wasn't the same with her. It was deeper. It was love.

X-x-X-x-X

On Mewni, in the middle of the Forest of Certain Death

Star fell through her portal and collapsed to the ground, sobbing. Moon saw her tears and tried to console her daughter, "Star, I am truly sorry that you have to do this, but I cannot risk losing you." Her attempts to console her daughter were awful and fell on deaf ears. Star had finally confessed her feelings toward Marco and would likely never see him again.

For now, she had to focus on dealing with Toffee though. He was the one who imploded her life and he would feel her wrath soon enough.

Star eventually pulled herself off of the ground and responded to her concerned mother, "I'm gonna kill that dumb lizard even if it is the last thing I do." The fury in Star's eyes was something that Moon had never seen. Nobody had seen it actually, it was beyond the anger she had toward Toffee the first time that he captured Marco. Now things were personal.

"Star, I won't let it be the last thing you do." Moon said. This statement pulled Star from her anger and into a more loving feeling as she realised that her mother was hugging her. She reciprocated the hug and stepped into the carriage that Moon prepared. It was only then that she noticed the floating Magical High Commission behind the carriage. Before she could ask her mother about it, Moon said "This is what Toffee is doing to people. We are going to go to the Magic Sanctuary to hopefully fix them." Star simply nodded as Moon finished. The carriage then began to move.

X-x-X-x-X

Butterfly Castle

River lay in bed, asleep when he heard the sound of a portal opening. River, being not only a Johanson, but the King, grabbed a sword and readied himself for combat after being awoken by the small noise .

The portal that opened was a light blue and the person that stepped through was someone that the King was fairly familiar with. It was Marco. Marco walked through the portal with confidence, that same confidence robbed from him as he was tackled by the King.

"What are you doing here boy?" River asked. Marco, with a sword to his neck, answered, "I think Star is in danger. I'm not going to let her get hurt." The answer was sufficient. That was evident when River got off of the boy and pulled his sword back. "What do you mean in danger? My Moonpie just went by to grab her and make sure she was safe." Marco didn't know that Queen Moon had done this, but he chose to use that information to his own advantage, "Don't you think that that means they're in trouble?" Marco asked.

The question made River stir a small bit. He hadn't been told what Moon was saving Star from in particular, but he knew it couldn't be good because Moon had prepared outfits for him for at least months. "I suppose that you are right Marco, but I cannot leave my kingdom in such a time, and I have no idea where the two of them are, so you should stay here if you really want to help." River explained. Marco didn't want to stay, and knew he wouldn't stay for long, but chose that he would stay for the night at least.

River showed Marco to a guest room down the hall from his own and allowed him to settle in.

It would be a restless night, but it would at least be one on the same planet as Star. He yearned for her presence, but he didn't quite know why. Did he just miss her, or was it something deeper? He was caught off-guard when Star professed her feelings toward him, but he knew that in some way or another, the feelings went both ways.

"How did I let her get away?" Was the only thing that Marco could say to himself now that he was left alone with his thoughts. He chose to do his best to fall asleep in the uncomfortable cornstock bed, and to his delight he succeeded.

X-x-X-x-X

Inside the moving carriage

"How did I let her get away?" was all Star heard from the other end of her feed of the all seeing eye spell.

Marco was thinking aloud when he said this, so Star actually heard the words. She felt terrible about leaving him behind, but what was more concerning was that he wasn't sleeping in his own room, but one inside the Butterfly Castle. The thought of Marco ditching his life for her was at the same time comforting and concerning. She had left him in hopes that he wouldn't follow her. Not that she wasn't glad to see him now, but she didn't want to see him get hurt at the hand of Toffee.

Moon, who was steering the carriage from outside, assumed her daughter had fallen asleep due to the immense silence inside the carriage. Star was done watching the boy sleep and decided to follow his example as she always had and go to sleep.

Once asleep, she felt a cold breeze hit her arms and inside the dream, she put on Marco's hoodie that she had taken with her. Now that she was warmer, she took notice of a worn gravel path and decided to walk along it. Once she began moving, she took note of an orange glox that was radiating off of everything. Suddenly she felt warm, no. Hot.

She hurried to take off the hoodie and felt better afterwards, but then took note of some new surroundings. She was in the underworld. She knew the place well from dating Tom in the past, so when she noticed she was still walking along that same worn path, she realised where she was going. She was on her way toward the Lucitor Castle. Why had her dream taken her to such a place? All memories of the place were bad, that was except one. The Blood Moon Ball.

In hopes that that was the event that her dream had taken her to, she continued walking toward the Castle with a newfound resolve. She was walking quickly with a certain confidence guiding her.

Once she reached the gates of the castle, she was shocked by what was beyond. This was not the room that should be here… It was the ballroom, which was where Star hoped to be going, but this was supposed to be the throne room. Surely her own memories of the place would have kept that detail consistent. Despite the castle being in a different arrangement than she knew, she continued her walk in and noticed the room. It was exactly the same as the night of the blood moon. All of the same people were in the exact same places as they were that night. All except Marco that is. She was hoping to see him there because this was where she had begun to think of him in a different light. The light being that of the Blood Moon.

That same light then shone down on her. There was a second beam though. Was it leading to Tom? Star certainly hoped it wasn't. Much to her delight, the person under the light was coming closer. She followed suit and began to notice that she was wearing the same dress that she had on the night she danced with Marco. She eventually caught a sight of the person on the other end of the beam. It was Marco. At the sight of him, Star sprinted in his direction and tackled him in a hug. To her surprise, Marco spoke, "Star? Why did you just tackle me?". Star was taken aback by Marco speaking because this was supposed to be a memory.

Star then got off of Marco and helped him up, dusting him off. Star then questioned "If this is my dream then shouldn't you be dancing with me?". Marco, confused on what she meant, grabbed her hand and obliged to her request. He had plenty of questions, but they could be answered later. He was enjoying the dance to a level even beyond the time that the two had actually danced on the real night of the Blood Moon.

The dance was nothing magical, but it was one that the two craved deeply and enjoyed just as much. Watching one another dance was a spectacle to each of the teens just as much. As Marco spun Star with one hand, she grabbed his other and pulled herself in. Star wanted more than anything to kiss the boy, but what she didn't know was that the two were actually sharing a dream.

"Star?" Marco asked. Star then snapped out of her attempt and looked into Marco's eyes, confused on why her dream had betrayed her in such a way. "This dream sucks…" Star said. Marco then spoke again, "This isn't just your dream Star, I don't understand what is going on, but I think that this is my dream too." Star was dumbfounded by what she was hearing. This dream just continued to grow in confusion when Star chose to respond by asking "If this is your dream too then why did you stop me?"

"Maybe I would rather do it in person." Marco responded. At that, Star gasped. Before she could ask any more questions, she woke up. She was gasping for air when her mother noticed her. "Star, are you quite alright?" Moon asked. Star, conflicted whether or not to believe the reality that she was sharing a dream with Marco, responded to her mother, "Yeah, totally totally totally totally."

X-x-X-x-X

Marco woke up from his dream in a cold sweat, he lost his breath and was attempting to find it. When he gathered the strength to control his breathing, he calmed himself. Marco was just as confused as Star on the matter, but he handled it much differently than her. Upon the realisation that he had finally spoken to Star, in one way or another, made him feel much better. He wouldn't try to go to sleep again that night, rather he would contemplate where Star could be. 'Hopefully it isn't that dumb lawer guy again' He thought to himself.

The last time that he had seen Toffee was of course the night that he was captured, so he wasn't exactly happy about the thought of him. The thing he was happy to think about was Star. He hated what had just happened in his dream, or her dream.. Their dream…

He felt guilty because he was not only dating Jackie, but Star was his best friend. Could he really let himself think of her in such a way? After what had been uncovered that night, he knew that Star thought of him that way already, but couldn't liking her back make things worse?

He knew that no matter how much he tried to oppose these thoughts, they were going nowhere. This was one of those things that doesn't just leave. He always thought that Star was beautiful, but he had been pining after Jackie all this time. Did he even like Jackie like that though? They had only been dating a short while, but Marco knew hardly anything about her and he knew that his attraction was a physical one. He knew Star for a fraction of the time that he knew Jackie, but did he even know Jackie? He knew Star better than anyone and he knew that the same applied to her.

"No matter what happens, I can't lose her." Marco thought allowed.

X-x-X-x-X

"No matter what happens, I can't lose her." Marco spoke. Star was watching him once again in order to confirm her suspicions about their shared dream, but what she heard was much more invaluable. Did he think of her in that way as well? Then why was he dating Jackie? 'I can't lose you either Diaz…' She thought to herself.

Eventually, Moon and Star arrived at the location of the Magical Sanctuary. They exited the carriage and Moon gestured for Star to follow her. She obliged and walked toward the lakeside. Once she got there, she asked her mother, "Uhh...Mom… Where is the sanctuary?"

Moon, in response, told her daughter "It isn't visible Star, I have to have them pull it up."

Star, as confused as ever asked "Who?"

Moon didn't respond, she instead called for a gator, "BWAH".

Star was very confused by what her mother was doing. Had she lost her mind? She was trying to talk to a gator, she had abandoned her kingdom, and she had pulled Star from her life. What could have possibly happened to make her-

She was knocked out of her line of thought when she witnessed the impossible. The gator swam away from Moon, and very quickly a large group of gators began to rise from the water, carrying a building with them.

"Star, it is called the Magic Sanctuary, what did you expect?" Moon asked her daughter in a joking tone.

"I don't know, but it definitely wasn't this." Star responded.

The building had finally been pulled fully out of the water by now and it was magnificent. It was a white building with intricate carvings on the outside. Before she could fully take in the appearance of the building in front of her however, she was pulled inside of it by her mother. There was an unfamiliar sense of urgency displayed by her now, not that she was a slow worker by any means, but it was as if being outside terrified her. Star decided to just let herself be dragged in for now.

Once inside, Star was shocked to see a large Glossaryck themed room around a giant fountain. There were six pods surrounding the room. Was this how Moon planned on 'fixing' the Magical High Commision? That question didn't take long to get answered because Moon soon asked Star to help her turn a wheel to get the magic flowing. After a second of pushing, Star asked "Is the magic supposed to look like that?"

Moon looked over expecting to see the usual golden goop, but was horrified when she saw the terrifying black sludge. "NO!" Moon yelled, pulling the wheel back into the correct direction, just barely stopping the sludge from getting out of the pipes, save for a drop or two that luckily missed the pods.

Moon knew that Toffee was inside the magic, but she had no clue how much control he had gained over it. Is it too late to stop him now?

"Mom, what are we gonna do?" Star asked.

"I...I don't know Star." Moon responded.

"You have NO plan?" Star asked, noticeably annoyed.

Moon then glared at her daughter before responding, "My PLAN was to keep you safe, Star!"

Star, infuriated to have her whole life uprooted by someone who had no idea how to save it, then spoke with the same fury that she had at the mention of Toffee's name, "That is IT. If you don't even have a plan, I'm gonna go deal with this myself. At least that way, if I die, I at least made an effort to fix things."

Just as Star was going to storm out of the room, Moon grabbed her arm. Star slapped her mother's hand away in response, practically thundering at her mother, "WHAT?!"

"Did you notice that Lekmet isn't here?" Moon asked.

"Yes, I thought he was going to meet us here…" Star responded.

"Star, Lekmet is dead, and Toffee killed him." Moon finished.

A silence fell upon the room as a tear ran down Moon's cheek. Star gasped at the revelation and fell to her knees. She didn't personally know Lekmet, but she knew of the legends. Lekmet was regarded as one of the most powerful beings in the universe, even rivalling Glossaryck. If what her mother said was true, Toffee may actually be too dangerous to handle.

Moon then broke the silence by saying "Star, I know that it isn't in your nature to sit and wait, nor is it common that you would plan things out, but Toffee is far too strong for you to fight. He's too strong for even me to fight…"

Star had figured this by now, but to hear Moon say it herself was different. Her mother was able to fight anything. She always, without fail, won battle after battle for the sake of Mewni. And sure, Star was more advanced than Moon was at her age, but Moon was vastly stronger at the moment and to kill Toffee, it would take a miracle.

"How do we win?" Star asked quietly.

"I don't believe that we can…" Moon finished seriously.

Star had never heard her mother so hopeless before. Toffee had really done a number on her.

"What does he want?" Star asked.

Moon, doubting that it even mattered, responded to her daughter, "Well he told me to pass a message to you…"

"And that would be?" Star asked.

"He is coming for his finger…" Moon said.

The revelation was both helpful and not. It gave a motive, but what would happen if he got his finger back? He was stuck in the magic for the time being, so would giving it to him let him out?

"Maybe we should give it back to him…" Star reasoned.

Moon was not having it though. If Toffee wanted it, surely it meant terrible things for Mewni if he was to get it. "Absolutely not! Do you have any idea what-" Moon tried to ask, but was interrupted by her daughter, "Mom, do you have any idea? If you and the entire magical high commission couldn't deal with him, maybe we should just take the bait?"

The idea was insane. To give Toffee what he wanted could NOT be good. Star knew that Toffee wanted the magic gone, so what would he do if it was and he was left alone. If all he wanted was the magic gone then maybe allowing it to leave was all they could do.

After mulling it over for a moment, Moon was about to disagree when she felt something at her feet. It was the dark sludge. The place was flooding for some reason and it was rising fast. Star, being the fast thinker that she was, blasted a hole in the side of the building with magic and sprinted over to it.

Once outside, the two watched as the sanctuary sunk into the water. "Mom, finger or not, we need to get out of here." She looked around for ideas and spotted a frog before continuing, "I know it sounds insane, but I have an idea and you need to trust me." Moon usually wouldn't agree with the notion, but with a lack of better options, she agreed.

X-x-X-x-X

Buff Frog's House

KNOCK KNOCK

"Hello, I thought I told you I am not normal monster, I will not join dumb club." Buff frog yelled from behind the door before answering.

"Ohh, Star Butterfly, I am sorry you heard that… What brings you and the Queen here?" Buffrog asked.

"Hey Buffrog, I was hoping we could crash here for the night if it isn't a bother…" Star requested.

"Of course you can, I need to pay you back for all of that tadpole sitting!" Buffrog agreed.

Moon, dumbfounded that Star had made friends...with a...monster, didn't object.

When the two stepped inside, they were greeted with a muddy floor, slugs on the couch, and toys on the ground. Buffrog asked the two if they could take their shoes off and they obliged. Moon then sat on the couch as far from the slugs as she could and allowed herself to get comfortable. "I must thank you for your hospitality Mr… Buff Frog." Moon spoke. Buffrog in response laughed out loud and spoke, "Is no problem. Your daughter is a very good friend of mine and we have plenty of room."

"Who is...we?" Moon asked, just as that word came out, she glanced at Star, who was now laying in the mud, covered in tadpoles. Moon nearly yelped at the sight, but Buffrog stopped her, "Queen Moon, I know this must all be strange to you, but they are only children. You must not be so quick to judge my kids just because we are monster kind."

The notion was one that Moon hadn't put much thought into before. She was always taught to stay away from monsters, but they didn't seem all that bad up close. She had met them up close before, but maybe the only reason they were aggressive was because they were defending their homes.

Moon then solemnly nodded at the large frog and asked "I am not sure why Star had us come over here, but we can use any help that we can get on this matter, so what do you know?"

"I know everything, my Queen. I know that Ludo has a wand hand and he has gone insane. The word is that he plans to invade your kingdom as soon as tomorrow morning." Buffrog spoke.

"That isn't Ludo, it's Toffee…" Star added from the ground.

"If what you are saying is true, then your people are in big trouble. We must go to kingdom now!" Buffrog suggested.

Moon then reentered the conversation, "That is the problem Buffrog, he beat the entire commission, so how are we to stop him?"

"That is mystery, but staying here will do nothing." Buffrog reasoned.

Hearing someone else agree on what she had been saying, Star got back on her feet and injected herself back into the conversation, "He's right mom, we have to do something. I can't let those people get hurt. I can't let Marco get hurt."

"Marco is on Earth so-" Moon was saying before Star interrupted, "No, he used his scissors and is at the castle. I can't let him get hurt mom, I...I really care about him." Hearing this, Moon scoffed, "Did you say 'his scissors'?".

"Yes, Marco chased Hekapoo for 16 years in her dimension after she took mine." Star told.

"Well if that is the case then maybe you are right. We will go back to the kingdom at first light." Moon concluded.

X-x-X-x-X

5:00 AM

Marco had awoken. He hadn't spent much time sleeping last night, but he was asleep shortly before just now being awoken. Marco was always someone who woke up early in order to tackle the day. Now was no different, if fact it was even more prominent. He was on a mission today. He would NOT lose Star even if it meant fighting a hundred lawyer lizards.

Once he was out of bed, he quickly combed his hair in the mirror that the room had, applied some deodorant and left his room.

He would go to the King's room and see what he could do. When he made it back to the room that he portalled into the night before, he opened the door to see the King on the side of his bed, in tears.

He tried to shut the door and make it seem like he hadn't seen anything, but the King called out, "Come in my boy, I'm glad you're awake." So Marco opened the door again, this time walking in.

"Sorry King River, I was just waking up and I hoped that I could find you so we could talk about-" Marco reasoned, being interrupted by the King, "Son, I have nothing for you. My family is gone and I doubt they are coming back soon, so what is the point of trying?"

"There is always a point in trying King. Could you do it for your own wife and daughter?" Marco asked. He should have known not to bring up the King's family, but luckily for him, River respected Marco. "Normally, talking like that would get you beheaded my boy." River said, glaring at Marco before continuing, "But now, things are different. As for Star and Moonpie, I don't know where they went, but we could help them for the time being by holding things down on this end."

For the first time in a while, the King sounded not only sane, but like he was speaking with determined sincerity. Marco nodded and asked the King "Alright, what can we do on this end?"

The king was happy to see Marco so receptive to him, so he got right into it. We must talk to the subjects. The two walked toward the balcony of the room. Once outside, River shouted "MY LOYAL SUBJECTS! HOW ARE YOU DOING ON THIS FINE MORNING?"

To the both of the men's surprise, there was no immediate response, in fact there was none. There was nobody outside. River looked at Marco and shrugged before turning and walking back inside. Before they could go through the door however, there was a voice. It was one that River had never heard before, of course the same didn't apply to Marco. It was the voice of a small, bearded avarian man. It was Ludo Avarius.

"Leaving so soon, King Butterfly?" Ludo asked smugly.

River turned around. He looked down and spotted the small man with his two pets. The bird was perched on a building above Ludo and the spider was underneath Ludo as he conversed. River then responded to Ludo, "What do you want you little ugly bird?"

"You might not want to be so disrespectful to someone who is about to take over your kingdom." Ludo stated.

"You and what army?" River asked.

"I don't need an army, I can kill you myself." Ludo spoke aggressively. There was a hatred behind his words that Marco hadn't heard before. What was going on with Ludo? He's harmless, I mean he has a wand, but he sucks with it. And he was never so hate filled.

"Ludo, what are you doing here?" Marco asked.

"Isn't it obvious you vermin, I am here to kill the king so I can rule over this pathetic kingdom." Ludo calmly let out.

A rip could be heard from behind Marco and the King, just as last time, River readied himself for combat. The people that stepped through were a sight for sore eyes. It was Moon and Star. Upon seeing the two, River dropped his sword and charged at his wife, hugging her. Marco did the same, but aimed at Star. Star and Marco met halfway and dove into each other.

"Hey, Marco?" Star asked.

"Yeah Star?" Marco asked in return.

"I can't lose you either." Star said. The words hit Marco like a train. He said those words last night when he was alone, how could Star- His thoughts were allowed to leave him as he gripped Star even tighter. Star of course matched his force and sighed in contentment.

"I'd love to hug you a little longer, but Ludo is outside and he doesn't sound happy." Marco said.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that guy." Star said. She wanted more than anything to remain in her embrace with Marco, but he was right. There was someone outside who wanted the throne, and he wouldn't get it without a fight. They had every intention of giving him just that.

X-x-X-x-X

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! I'm thrilled that you read this! I plan on switching from fic to fic on uploading these. I really like this story, maybe more than my other one, and I think it has some great potential. I know that I said this would be about Star and Marco vs Tom, but I have to get some story in before I get that stuff going. I promise you that the second I finish these, I will put it out, no delays. Please leave a review and a favorite to help me make this story better and follow my insta page for svtfoe starcovstheworld! I look forward to chapter 2 and I'll see you guys again soon.

~Chimp Enthusiast