AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello my friends! I just wanted to warn you guys of a slight change in formatting. As usual, I am working on my writing. I am toning up the details as much as I can and am making some minor changes. If you see some things in italics and not in any form of quotations, it is a character's thoughts. I will use this for flashbacks, inner thoughts, and anything else I see fit. Sorry for the annoying note, I just wanted to clear up any confusion. Anyways, ENJOY!

X-x-X-x-X

The monster kingdom - dawn

The former queen did not look very good. She stood in the shadows of town with slightly tattered clothes. The nights before were not kind to her. She hid from the public for as long as possible so she could ease herself into society as she saw fit. She was confused the night before when she noticed a poster of Moon, she was much older than she was the last time Eclipsa saw her. Did it really take her that long to deal with her enemy? The spell that Eclipsa lended to Moon was one of great power that could kill most anyone.

Now that she was free, she wanted to hide her identity for a while. It made sense because she had been gone for over 300 years. That fact should help her blend in more, that was until the rumors broke out. Just that morning, word began to spread that Eclipsa, former queen of darkness had broken free of her prison. It was a blasphemous lie, but the bigger picture was true. The rumor was that the royal guard hoped to catch her so they could freeze her once more.

Despite her newfound freedom, she was as much a prisoner to her own fear as she was a prisoner to Rhombulus not long ago. She and her tattered clothes were the image of someone who was on the run. She had not slept an hour since her escape days ago. She simply found secluded spots to lay for the night, not closing her eyes at any point, not even enough to blink. She couldn't go on like this much longer. She was not someone made to survive on her own, let alone with people chasing after her. She had to make a move.

It was decided. Eclipsa was going to have to face the problem head on. No matter how she ran, she would always be just out of Moon's vise and that was no way to live. She had a faint amount of fleeting hope that maybe, against all odds, Moon may show her mercy. She knew it was a long shot, but anything was better than living amongst the rodents that inhabited the alleyway that she sat in.

So just like that, she left the alley and directed her gaze to the majestic towers of the Butterfly castle. She was going to the castle, what would happen there was a mystery.

X-x-X-x-X

Morning had come. The night before was one that was full of both pain (mostly physical) and the joy that followed the bonding of Star and Marco. Many times before they actually got together they had been assumed to be a couple. Secretly, Star never minded the idea, but at the time, Marco was after Jackie and her crush would have to be just that. But now, things were different.

This was evident when Star opened her eyes and noticed that she was not alone in her place of sleep. She had not left the couch the night before. Obviously she wasn't alone in her "accidental" laziness. In truth, Star was in no mood to move from the comfort of Marco… her Marco.

The boy in question lay on the couch, sound asleep with his arms wrapping around Star's waist. The way he held her was both firm and loving. He wished to never lose her, so the tightness checked out, and… well it's pretty obvious why the embrace was loving. Star didn't complain once she discovered the boy's embrace, instead she blushed. She turned her gaze to Marco, who was more comfortable than she had seen him in a very long time. If things weren't as insane as they were on her homeworld, Star would have happily stayed with the boy on the couch until he woke, but she instead chose to take her opportunity to get some things done at home while he was asleep.

Very carefully and slowly, Star pried the boy's hands from her waste. As much as it had made her heart flutter, she had to get home. She intended on coming home, to Marco, once she had her royal tasks done, so she pulled out a piece of pink paper from her yellow, star shaped purse that sat on the coffee table. She jotted down a note and laid it on the table in front of him, placing his phone on top of it so it wouldn't blow away somehow.

She then looked at the boy once more, giggling to herself at the cute look that remained on Marco's face as he slept. She vowed to herself to come back and have yet another great day with Marco. She wanted to be back soon, so she opted to make things as fast as possible. She pulled out her scissors out of the aforementioned purse and sighed as she tore open a portal that would lead to her home.

…

Another hour would pass before Marco would awaken. He had slept for roughly nine and a half hours, so he was definitely going to be full of energy once he awakened. She opened his eyes quickly before pinching them shut again instantly. The sunlight was right in his eyes, coming from the living room window. He then rubbed his eyes and opened them again, this time away from the intense light. He then came to the grim realisation that Star was absent from his side. Initially he panicked, so he grabbed his phone quickly in an attempt to call Star, but before he could do so, he noticed the pink paper lying underneath.

You know me too well, Marco thought. He then scooched forward on the couch in order to reach for the note. Once he finally gathered the strength to do so, he did it with a grunt. That probably should have hurt more, Marco noted, his pain was noticeably subsided by comparison to how it was the night before. He definitely wasn't 100% healed yet, but knowing as much as he did, his progress overnight was not only fortunate, but impossible. Magic was somehow involved.

He was now in a sitting position on the edge of the couch. He grabbed the note carefully and began to examine it. He noticed that the paper was definitely not from Earth, mostly due to the fact that there was a watermark on the bottom corner that read 'Made on Mewni'. Shameless, Marco thought. He noticed Star's gorgeous handwriting. Every i was topped with a heart and her o's were in the shape of stars. Her writing style was oddly neat to be coming from Star of all people. Her spacing and punctuation was perfect, most likely due to her princess lessons that she had been getting over the years, and she even wrote the note in proper letter format. As impressed as Marco was at her effort in the small note, he was tired of examining it so finely, so he chose to finally read the contents.

The note was positive, much to Marco's pleasure. To Marco's dismay however, the note warned that she would likely be gone for a little while while she was doing "princess things", as she worded it. The thought of Star being gone on the first day of the first day of their official romantic relationship annoyed Marco, but he knew better than to be mad at such a thing. He had been with Star for well over a year now, so he knew that the things she would do that day would be not only boring, but very unimportant. It was as if the Queen made her do such things out of spite.

Marco finished reading the note. All that was written after her warning were some cutesy jokes aimed at Marco. Most of which were calling him pet names such as Yammy, Macho Man, Safe kid, Karate boy, and a few others that he determined were a little too non-pg 13 for his liking. If she knows what some of these mean, we are going to need to have a serious discussion later, Marco thought to himself. Star often said things by accident that could be… misconstrued.

He giggled to himself while thinking of such occurrences. She's the best, he thought as he got up. The process was much easier than it had been the past few days, once again surprising Marco. It wasn't something to worry about, but it was certainly strange how quickly he was healing at this point. He pushed the thoughts out of his mind though. He was hungry.

The boy walked to the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of Sugar Seeds, almost pouring a second one for his best friend, but once he realised she wasn't home, he sighed and put the second bowl away. He ate his dangerously over-sugared breakfast somberly. He missed Star and he had nothing to do. It was Monday, so both of his parents were at work, Mariposa was being watched by the Morrisons, and Star was gone.

He really had nothing to do. He was not someone who would "die of boredom" like Star would, but that didn't mean that he would enjoy his lack of fun either. Not that he would be doing much if Star was there or anything, but at least he would have her. They could make fun out of anything. It seemed that something magical radiated off of the two when they were together, forcing the two to be comfortable and at ease with each other. Weird, Marco thought.

X-x-X-x-X

Star stepped through her portal and into her childhood home. She went directly to her room, hoping to not have to deal with her parents. She hoped to just come in, do her meaningless duties, avoid her parents, and get out. As usual, she had done no planning to help her do so.

She stepped out of her room and into the hallway. What she wasn't happy to see was her parents. Luckily, they weren't paying attention as they walked down the hallway, otherwise Star would have likely had to compromise her plans before they could even begin. She sprinted down the cobblestone hall in the opposite direction of her parents. She had to get to her office if she was going to get her work done, but she had to take the long way this time, due to her disgust at the thought of talking to her parents.

She was still angry at them. Not only had they doubted Marco, even after he risked his life for her, but they had the nerve to do something else. The fact that they even considered lining up suitors for her was appalling. Let alone the fact that Moon straight up ordered her to allow her ex boyfriend to court her. Her parents knew fully well of how terrible he was, so it was clear why they were doing it. Normally, it would be good to put the kingdom above anything, but her daughter? Star felt betrayed by her parents, especially Moon.

After a fair amount of running, Star reached her office. The door to which was bright pink. It fit her perfectly. I was covered in stickers of rainbows, clouds, unicorns, and a giant sticker that read 'NO BOYS!'. The latter of which was an addition brought from her father. She opened the door, surprised to be met with a cold breeze. It was a room that Star dreaded. As someone who often found herself "dying from boredom", it was a place that Star hated to be.

She hadn't been there in a long while though, so she likely had a ridiculous amount of work waiting for her. She sighed as she lit the lamp in the corner of her office, revealing a massive pile of papers waiting to be signed. Star audibly groaned as she looked at the pile.

Well this is some bulls-

…

Hours passed. She had trimmed down the pile immensely, but now her hand and arm were both throbbing in pain from the nonstop work. "WHY MUST YOU CURSE ME WITH THIS TREACHEROUS PAPERWORK MOTHER!" Star dramatically exclaimed.

Much to her dismay, she was far louder than intended and she snapped her hands to her mouth. She most likely just alerted not only her parents that she was here, but anyone else within a mile radius. So in a panic, Star sprinted to the door. She swung it open quickly and made to run out, but ran directly into someone. Oh no, Star thought as she looked up and realised who she ran into.

"Hi Dad!" Star exclaimed, hoping he hadn't heard her complaints mere seconds ago. The man didn't look mad though. Her father simply looked overjoyed by his daughter's presence. He hadn't been able to talk to her alone in far too long. Now that things had settled down, he could finally have his chance, "HELLO MY DEAR!" River yelled as he flung his giant, muscly arms around his daughter in a hug. Star, who was avoiding her parents at the time, was mildly annoyed at herself, but at least it's not my mom, Star thought to herself before responding to her father.

"So what brings you around this part of the castle?" Star asked, genuinely curious. Her father didn't have many duties to attend to, but he never came around this area of the castle, so something had to be going on. Her father's smile disappeared.

He noticed his own expression and in an attempt to hide it from his daughter, he shot up another fake smile at her and responded, "Oh nothing my dear… just umm… it all started with the fanny packs!"

Star, utterly confused by why he said that, lost her train of thought. She tilted her head at her father, clearly showing her concern before she asked him, "Hey, I ran into you pretty hard, are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

River, noticing that he finally threw his daughter off of the previous topic, sighed in relief before responding, "I am fine, really. Some of the royal fanny packs are missing." This time he spoke much more confidently, mostly because it was actually true.

Star giggled verbally before getting to her feet. She helped her father up and dusted her own shoulders off. She then spoke once more to her father, "Alright, it's nice catching up but I have to get going!" Star spoke confidently. Her father was always the one between her parents who would have her back, so she wasn't worried about him telling her mother that she was here.

River simply sighed. He wished to speak to her longer, but if he did he would surely reveal what he was hiding before. He had to let her go, so after sighing loudly, he agreed "It really was… just stay out of trouble okay?" His concern was genuine, knowing that Star had already been through a lot and what would come in the next couple of weeks may push her over the edge.

Star nodded at her father and turned the other way. She opened a portal and walked through, revealing that she was on her way to be with Marco. River did not know that they were actually together yet, but he certainly figured it would happen at some point. He felt guilty as he thought more about her and Marco. They were always together, and from the experiences that he had with Marco, River knew him to be a very charming young man. The idea of him being with her daughter was a comfort. The guilt was caused by the fact that he was likely going to ruin his own daughter's life in the coming days.

A single tear left his eye at the thought. Unlike Moon, River was very reluctant when he was forced to sign the contract that his wife presented to the Lucitors. In the moment, he finally made the mental decision. He hoped that things fell through with the Lucitor boy. I am sorry Star, River thought to himself as if he was speaking to her.

He turned on his heels and walked in the other direction. There were more important matters to deal with at the moment. He made his way through the halls with a determined expression. He eventually reached the dungeon, which was not far from Star's office.

As he walked down the stairs and into the dungeon, he spotted his wife standing by a cell. Behind the bars was a figure that River only knew from the royal paintings. It was Eclipsa, former Queen of Darkness.

Moon turned and spotted River entering the dungeon. She spoke, "River, have you seen Star?"

Miraculously, River lied, "No my dear, she is likely still on Earth." he spoke with a faked sad tone. Moon somehow didn't pick up on it, she then turned back to the woman in the cell.

She stood in against the bars, as close to Moon as she could get. She was wearing her dirty, ripped queen attire. She wore a dirty feather hat and she wore a calm expression. It was a surprise to only River. Moon had already met Eclipsa years ago. All that time ago, she made a promise. In Moon's eyes, she was forced by Eclipsa to do so, but to Eclipsa it was obviously just a request. She asked Moon to allow her freedom out of the kindness of her heart. She grew annoyed with the notion of Moon going back on her promise.

Moon spoke, "It was awfully bold of you to come here." Her tone was cold. She was cruel in her words. Even though her freedom was Moon's doing, she spoke about it as if she had no part to play in it.

"So it's true then," Eclipsa asked, in more of a statement than a question. Moon glared at her with hatred as she continued speaking, "Moon, Why must you do this?" Moon's glare faltered for a short moment. Snapping her out of her hate filled mood. She looked back at the woman before responding in a cold tone "You know that I can't allow you to roam these lands. You are far too dangerous to be aloud."

Eclipsa knew that in her absence rumors were spread around about her, the vast majority of then being untrue. Eclipsa looked back to the queen with a pleading face. She didn't want to be frozen again. If she was, she may never be let out again. She spoke to the queen once more, "My queen," She attempted to be formal in attempts to help her argument, "I do not wish to be frozen. I know how you and your people feel about me, but the rumors are not true! I do not wish to hurt anybody, I only wish to be free of my prison." a lump formed in her throat as she finished the end of her sentence.

Moon looked into the cell, dumbfounded, before questioning "Is it not true that you wrote the evil chapter in the book of spells?" Eclipsa cringed at the question before answering, "Yes, I did. I do not think that it is evil, but if that is what you wish to call it, then so be it." Moon was annoyed with the response, so she asked another question, "Is it not true that you favored the Monsters over your own kind when you ruled?" Eclipsa was clearly angered by her suggestion, so she shot back a response in a surprisingly cool tone, "No. I only treated them equally unlike yourself."

River was infuriated by the woman speaking ill of his wife, so he yelled, "Woman! Do not dare to speak ill of the Queen! She has done far more in her rule than you could have ever dreamed to!" Moon looked at her husband as he spoke, smirking slightly at his attempts to help her. Eclipsa was another story. She was not happy. She spoke, "King Johansen, is it not true that YOU are trying to sell off your daughter to the prince of the underworld?!"

The whole room fell silent. Moon was panicked as she realised that NOBODY should know about the agreement. How could she possibly know? River stood there in silence. The question seemed to strike a chord with him. He was already conflicted about his actions, but now that he knew that people somehow knew, he fell to his knees. The room remained silent.

X-x-X-x-X

Through the portal stepped Star. She entered the living room that served as a bedroom the night before. She plopped onto the couch and sunk into it. It was the beginning of the afternoon and she noticed the distinct lack of Marco on the couch. She sighed. So much for cuddle time, she thought.

She got up from the couch and grasped her hand, which was still sore from the hours of work that she had done. As she got up, she noticed that there was no noise in the house, meaning that the oldest and youngest of the Diaz family were absent. Star wasn't sure where Marco was though. She left him a note before she left and she slightly hoped that he would still be asleep. He wasn't though, instead he was somewhere in the house. She began to look around for him.

"Marco?" She asked as she opened the door to Marco's room. He was not there however, which honestly surprised Star. She silently had placed a bet with herself that he would be in his room playing video games. She lost the bet with herself, but did notice a piece of paper on the boy's bed. Clever Marco, she thought, ignoring the fact that Marco somehow knew that was where she would look for him.

The note was on Earth paper and it was in his handwriting. It wasn't nearly as formal as Star's note, but he also wasn't a princess, so that made plenty of sense. The note was simple. It only housed one word. Roof.

She sighed to herself as a grin formed on her face. She then instantly made her way to the roof from the back yard, where a ladder to the roof was clearly left for her. She climbed the ladder quickly, although her right arm begged for her to stop as she moved up every peg. Through the aching and stinging of her arm, she made it to the roof. She was immediately greeted by the sight of Marco, who sat facing the opposite direction. He faced the street wearing his signature outfit. Something was different about Marco by comparison to the past few days though. He wasn't slouching, as if he felt no pain anymore. Weird, Star thought to herself.

She made her way behind the boy and tapped him on the shoulder, obviously catching the boy off guard. He flinched at her touch, but when he turned and saw her, he lowered his hood, revealing earbuds. He took them out and looked at Star with a smile.

"Whatcha doing?" Star questioned. She had never seen the boy sitting on the roof. She had never seen him listening to music either for that matter. He simply looked back at her and shrugged before answering, "Well I didn't have anything to do, so I just wanted to relax…"

"Since when do you relax on the roof?" Star asked as she raised an eyebrow at the boy. He giggled at her and responded, "Since I didn't have a magical princess to pull me into some random adventure." His tone was obviously a joking one and Star giggled at the boy's joke.

She then asked, "Mind if I join you?" Marco expected the question though, so he patted a spot next to him, signalling for her to sit down. She happily obliged. The roof was not nearly as uncomfortable as it looked, it was definitely hard, but it was definitely a good place to wind down. She then turned her gaze to ahead, wondering what Marco was looking at in the middle of the autumn day. Marco must have sensed her confusion because he pointed off into the distance, where some mountains in the East could be seen. It wasn't a marvellous sight, but it was something.

Star then asked, "What were you listening to?" To be honest, Star had no idea what kind of music the boy liked, besides Love Sentence of course. This was why when Marco responded "I don't really know," she was only further confused.

He then cleaned off the left earbud and gave it to the girl, who was sitting to his left. She took it and inspected it. She had never used earbuds before, so it kind of confused her. She knew that music came out though, so she just trusted Marco and put it in her ear. Immediately she was greeted with some mellow music. It had no lyrics, only soft and relaxing noises. She was visibly confused, but as she saw Marco's face turn into one of worry, she turned to him and yelled "I REALLY LIKE IT!" She obviously didn't know how loud she was being, but Marco only laughed at her naivety. He then signalled for her to take it out for a second. She did.

"What's up Marco?" She asked as she looked directly into Marco's eyes with an innocent smile gracing her lips.

"Well, nothing, I was just wondering how your trip went," he spoke innocently, but noticed that upon hearing his question, Star's smile faltered. He continued, "Oh…"

Star sighed, "Yeah.." She leaned on his shoulder and absorbed his warmth. Truthfully, she was kind of cold, so once she started shivering (only slightly), she craved his warmth. He noticed her shivers and pulled out of the embrace before taking off his red hoodie, wrapping it around Star, who looked at him with a you didn't need to do that look on her face. He was happy to though, so he only shrugged before allowing her to nuzzle back into his shoulder.

Star happily took the invitation. As she felt him, still warm, she spoke "Thanks Marco, I needed this." She tucked her hurting hand into the jacked and with the other, she pulled an earbud into her ear, enjoying the melodic tune that came through. She sighed in contentment as Marco put the other earbud in and laid his head on top of hers.

The two remained where they were for a while. An hour or two possibly passing without much movement from the two, save for the occasional adjustment to gain comfort in the other's warmth. As the two saw a familiar minivan turn onto their street, Marco raised his head from atop Star's and asked, "Wanna go say hi?"

Star nodded at her boyfriend. She pushed out of her position and pulled her hand from her new hoodie's pocket. She gasped when she discovered the sudden lack of pain. Marco noticed the gasp and he turned to the girl with an are you alright look on his face. She giggled and said, "My hand was hurting before and now it feels better, so you can calm down safe kid." As she finished her sentence, she planted a soft kiss on the boy's lips. The embrace lasted only a few moments, but the emotion behind it would last for the rest of the night to be sure. Marco stood with a dumbfounded look on his face as if he had seen a ghost. Star giggled at the boy's adorable panic. She gave him a sly smile and gestured that she wanted to go now.

X-x-X-x-X

Tom's Room

Tom stood in the dark room behind a table with a crystal ball on it. Inside, there was an image clear as day. He had been watching the event transpire between Star and Marco. He was furious to see them together, so he got up and put a piece of paper into a fanny pack that laid around his waist.

He then walked toward the ball once more, as if to confirm that what he was seeing was true. Once he saw Star kiss Marco, he was pushed beyond his limit. He picked up the mystical ball and furiously threw it against a wall. It shattered into nonexistence from the raw force of his throw.

Tom had had enough of this waiting for the right time thing. He was running out of time to get Star. She was a princess, so young marriage was a pretty common thing. If he wanted Star for himself, he needed to act now.

Tom fastened the fanny pack around his waist and walked to the door of his room. He looked deeply into it as he contemplated. After stealing his nerves, he exhaled his long held breath and grabbed the doorknob.

I will have her…

X-x-X-x-X

AUTHOR'S NOTE: AYYYYY, I'm really happy with how this one came out. Obviously it isn't perfect, mostly because I'm not either, but I really like how things are turning out. Also, I wanted to take a moment to thank those who favorited my story. It really does mean the world. I hope to keep you guys happy as I keep pushing these out as often as I can. That brings me to another point. This week I have a bunch of school projects to work on and I have football practice Monday through Thursday, so it's unlikely that I can put out a chapter unless I write before bed during those nights. I will try, but I wanted to warn you guys in advance in case things go worse than I expect. Anyways, look forward to the next chapter! Leave a favorite if you enjoyed and if there is anything you want to see happen in the fic, feel free to leave a review as well!

~Chimp Enthusiast