X-x-X-x-X
The day was far past being young. The sky was filled with unimaginably grey clouds above, the surroundings of the forest were charred, the two were alone in the middle of the forest. Neither could manage a word of comfort to the other, only their embrace. Star and Marco sat on the ground in the middle of the forest, long since emotionally and physically exhausted.
The most damning of the evidence of this was Marco. He sat on his knees, eyes locked on his hands. They were painted with dried blood. It wasn't his own, but someone else's. It was the blood of a teenager, the blood of someone who used to be a friend, the blood of Tom. Whether or not it had been in self-defense, that did little to comfort Marco. He was only yards away from the bloodied and beaten corpse of the child that he had so mercilessly murdered.
Marco felt only hate and remorse toward Tom, and yet it still gnawed at him knowing what he had done. He could have- should have stopped once Tom was down. He didn't. He beat the living hell out of the boy until he could hardly breath, and then killed him.
Star sat by Marco's side, not knowing what she could do to help. In truth, Tom meant a lot of things to Star, but that was not Tom. That was the grim reality of who Tom could be if nobody restrained him, or if somebody had pushed him to do such things. He planned to force Star to marry him, and once that failed, he had tried, in vain luckily, to kill Star. It was only by the heroics of Marco that she lived to be in this moment, breathing, with the person she loved.
Wordlessly, Star pulled from Marco's embrace and stood above him. He was unmoving, still staring at his own bloodied hands. Star held out a hand to him, which seemed to pull him out of his transe. He eyed her hand cautiously, noticing not a drop of blood on her's, which made him refuse her help, to bloody her own hands with his. He stood up on his own, avoiding the gaze of Star, who only looked at him, confused.
The two began to walk side by side, without words, without holding each other's hands, for the first time since they had become an item, not to mention since they met so long ago. They walked in the direction of Marco's home, hoping to finally sit down for a moment and clear their heads of the traumatic events of the day thus far.
The walk was short lived, it didn't take long for the two people to find a familiar street. They walked along the sidewalk, with petrified faces on the both of them. Marco couldn't dare look away from his hands as the two walked. Star noticed this and although she couldn't do much about it now, she would help him out of it as soon as she had the chance.
After a short walk down the street, the two arrived at the familiar area of where the home once was. The sight was shocking, even to Star, who hadn't lived in the house a fraction of the time that Marco had. It was the house he was brought back to from the hospital after his birth, it was the same house he walked in, the first house he talked in, and the first place Marco had done a number of other things. He stared on in horror, finally ungluing his eyes from his bloody palms.
It was not even a house anymore, but a heap of ash and cracked glass. "No," was all that Marco could manage as he looked to his childhood home, allowing several tears to escape his eyes as he dropped to his knees.
It crushed Star to see Marco in such sorrow. He had lost so much that day. He lost his home, his patience, and finally, his innocence. Star felt so terrible for Marco that she felt as if her heart was shattering at the very sight of his ashpile of a home.
The two looked at the house, which was surrounded by firefighters, still working to put out the last of the fires. Two people stood in front of the house, they were his parents. The aforementioned pair turned around and spotted Marco on his knees, sobbing at the sight in front of him. They approached.
Angie, to her credit, was very calm given the circumstances. They didn't have the greatest of insurances, so this was certainly a big blow to the family, but what could be done. Angie somehow kept her unwavering optimism through it all, which Star found to be quite admirable.
Rafael stood by her side, slightly more disturbed by the heap that was once his home. He was the first to say a word in what seemed like an eternity, "My son, I am glad that you are safe, but what just happened?" His voice was not accusatory, but worried. He looked on to his son, noticing scorch marks and cuts all over his body, not to mention the blood, oddly enough in areas nowhere near his own cuts.
Star spoke in place of Marco, "It's all my fault. I'm so sorry Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, he was after me! That was my ex boyfriend Tom, I have never seen him like that,-" Star made to continue, but Marco finally spoke, "No, he was after me. He wanted to kill me." The thought made everyone around him cringe, but Marco spoke once more, in an unsettlingly confident tone, "But I beat him to it. He's dead and everything is going to be fine."
To Star, this was a bad sign. Marco had never been someone to lie to people. It was not a lie to protect himself though, but those around him. In his own eyes, if he could keep everyone else from worrying, the only person to be affected by the events of last night would be those who deserved to, like himself.
Even his parents knew something was up, but they opted to wait for a better opportunity to reach out to their clearly emotionally unstable child.
Marco put on a facade of coolness, simply staring at the house and putting on a fake smile. Star was the next to speak, "So what are you two gonna do? Where are you guys gonna live? I could take you back to my dimension if you would-" she was interrupted by Rafael, who simply responded, "That will not be necessary, we will figure something out. You should take Marco with you though, if you don't mind that is."
"Of course I will." Star said, not even having considered leaving him here.
The parents nodded and shared a knowing glance with Star, pleading for her to help Marco over whatever was going on with him, to which her own glance reassured that she would.
So off the two went into a glowing indigo portal that appeared right in front of Marco. Star happily entered the portal first when Marco made his typical 'ladies first' move.
X-x-X-x-X
Much to both Star's delight and surprise, the castle was largely quiet, save for the stomping around of the castle staff, but no telltale signs that her parents were around. She had zero intentions of dealing with them today, especially with what happened only an hour ago with… fellow nobility.
She could tell Marco was guilty, but she had no experience with this. She had killed before of course, but not ever on purpose and it was always in self defense. Apparently, killing was much less glamorized on Earth, so Marco was justifiably upset.
The two walked to the dining hall to get something in their stomachs for the first time in at least 10 hours. They spoke on and off as they made their way down the familiar cobblestone hallways of the castle, ignoring anything that could have been happening around them.
Star, for the most part, was happy to be back home, but seeing Marco with such an obvious problem would hurt her on her worst of days, and it had. She hadn't imagined things going so terribly back there. Worst of all, it was her ex trying to kill her man. She should have put him down on the spot, but much to her dismay, it was Marco. He was the purest person she had ever met. He glowed with happiness and was always by her side, through the best of times… as well as the worst.
Marco on the other hand hoped against hope that his appearance would ease her worries. Unknown to him was that Star had an equal facade of happiness on. She was so kind, pure, and innocent that he felt terrible, as if he had stained her very existence with his own. She was the light at the end of the tunnel, someone who always made him better, someone who changed him in more ways than he could have imagined, largely for the better. And yet, he felt undeserving of her love. He had just killed someone so close to her in her past, and she was just.. Okay?
Marco looked down to his shoes once more, but instead saw his hands. They were already halfway to the dining room, so he reluctantly asked Star if he could peel off for a moment to freshen up. He used a bathroom that was conveniently not far from where they were, and Star simply nodded.
He made some ground away from the princess and as she walked away, he swore that her eyes never left him. Usually that would have been a comfort, but it definitely was not in this situation. He made for the sink immediately. The very first, and most important thing that had to be done, was the cleansing of his bloodied hands.
To be fair, some of the blood was his own, but it rocked him to his core every time he imagined the boy against a tree. He began scrubbing, to his own surprise, much of the dried blood left him. On the surface, his hands were clean, but to him, he swore he still saw blood.
He madly scrubbed his hands with every fiber of his being, but the visions of Tom remained. He laid against the tree, looking horrified at Marco looming over him, but worst of all was that Tom had tried to throw a knife in the direction of Star. It was only thanks to the very power of the Blood Moon that he had saved her. Otherwise he would have had to helplessly watch as she would have received a knife in her own chest.
The very thought made Marco run to the toilet and vomit. Finally, for the first time since it happened, he felt an ever so slight feeling of justification. It was fleeting, but it was there. The very fact that he did it for Star was a comfort in and of itself. Marco wiped the puke from himself and found his hoodie was still torn with four claw marks across his chest. He jumped at his mirror image and found himself in a light panic.
That was the very last thing that she needed to hear, so with a thunderous kick, Star swung the bathroom door open to reveal a once again sobbing Marco on the floor. She softened her glare and ran to his aid, feeling all of his emotions flow through her. She jolted back at first when she felt it, but she needed this. She needed to feel what he felt. She needed to have the ability to give him understanding.
She knelt next to him with her palm on his temple, absorbing his very thoughts. Marco knew nothing of this, only the guilt that tore the strings holding his heart in place. It was only when Marco opened his eyes and saw Star teary eyed that he ceased his fit.
He stared at her with a certain panic, having suspicions that he had finally done something to lose her. Luckily, Star, with her hand still on his head, felt his panic and immediately wrapped her arms around him. It was all he wanted. All he needed. And it was the only place in the entire universe where he could possibly feel safe right now. In her arms.
"I love you Marco." Star said aloud, not caring of the implications it carried.
She looked down at Marco, who was surprisingly not panicked anymore, only sharing her own emotions.
He looked up to her with adoration before affirming, "I love you, more than life itself, Star Butterfly."
In that moment alone, Marco didn't think of his guilt, only of his love. It was the only certain thing that he had anymore.
X-x-X-x-X
There was an eerie air about the Lucitor Castle. Things were always broody in a place like this, but there was something different, someone missing. It was supper time. Dave was the only person to know of Thomas' absence. Wrathmelior was fully unaware of the conniving of her husband. She was well aware of the agreement that they had come to with the Butterflies, but she knew nothing of the contract that Dave gave to Tom.
The couple sat at opposite ends of the long table in the dining room. It was like a hellish version of the Butterfly dining room, in fact it was. There was a red tint to just about every single thing in the room. That was just the way they liked things down here.
The night was calm. Wrathmelior initially questioned Tom's absence, which Dave passed off as sneaking out to probably court Star. To be honest, Dave had no faith that Tom would actually go through with it. He knew Tom loved Star, but he didn't have the stomach to take what he wanted.
Dinner was served. The dish was of the carnivorous variety. It was the meat of something called a hellcow. It was like they just added the word hell in front of things and called it a day. Wrathmelior picked at her food as time went on. Dave simply devoured his food, only breaking to clean his face before diving back in.
The two were just about to call it a night and head to bed, but something unexpected happened. The two large mahogany wooden doors swung open with mighty force. It was the servant close to Tom. It was the very same one that refereed the ping pong match between Tom and Marco long ago. He flew through the doors with a panicked and horrified expression.
Dave sat silently, barely moving at the sudden movements. Wrathmelior was going to question his burst in, but before she could, she ended up being interrupted by the monster, "My Queen, my King, there is awful news!"
Dave rolled his eyes in the direction of the servant while Wrathmelior made her interest obvious. Dave dismissed the monster with a simple "Whatever you have to say, you can tell us tomorrow." Wrathmelior didn't seem as happy to dismiss the monster, but she wasn't going to openly disagree with Dave, that didn't usually work out for her.
The monster didn't falter though, he insisted, "My liege, I must disagree."
He was dismissed once more, by a far more frustrated Dave. This couldn't be good. Dave got up from his chair and angrily sauntered over to the servant.
Sensing that his time was limited, the monster decided that it was now or never. He yelled, "THE PRINCE IS DEAD!"
It made even Dave stop in his tracks, although he wore a face not of sadness, but disappointment. Wrathmelior was in disbelief. Her eyes welled up so fast that she could do little to contain her tears. She started to sob. There was thunder that could be heard right outside of the castle, causing an equal amount of screams to be heard. Wrathmelior smashed the table in front of her with anger. Dave shared no such emotion, only anger. He was such a waste of my effort, Dave thought in regards to his son.
Maybe he could use this though. A small smile donned his face, just out of Wrathmelior's vision. The smile put off the servant, but just as he made to question it, Dave let out a fireball from his hand directly into the servant's chest. He flew in the other direction, reeling. He coughed up blood as he laid on the ground. He summoned the hellevator suddenly, directly in the middle of the room. Due to his lack of strength or control in the immense pain he was in, it fell right onto the table with full force.
The doors flung open to reveal a disturbing sight. Tom lay sprawled out in the middle of the hellevator. He had a crooked dagger in his eye and his body was covered in bruises, cuts, and holes. All over his face was his own blood. Most disturbing of all was the enormous hole in his chest. It still burned a bright red, which was a telltale sign of just who could do such a thing.
Dave, who knew all of the secrets of the underworld, as he needed to to get to his current place of power. So it was no surprise that he could easily identify the powers of the Blood Moon. That was the moment that he came to understand who killed his son.
"This was the work of Star Butterfly." He said flatly. Wrathmelior jolted up from her position and an angry expression donned her already horrified face. This was certainly a great opportunity for Dave. Maybe he wasn't totally worthless after all, Dave thought to himself. He was going to dethrone the Butterflies.
X-x-X-x-X
Dinner went off without a hitch. Star was happy to see Marco genuinely happier than earlier, and also she didn't have to deal with her parents. If she was lucky, she could continue to avoid the two for at least a few days.
The two made their way back to Star's room to hang out for a little while. It still shocked Marco to see Star's room in such an identical state to how it was at his house… before it was burned down that is. The two sat on Star's bed, ignoring the events of the day. They struggled to find a topic to speak of, with very little else on their minds.
Finally, Star broke the tension by bringing up something that did happen today, but it wasn't on the topic Marco would need to avoid.
"Hey Marco?" Star asked in a soft tone.
Her voice was soothing, Marco was frustrated that the events of the day were causing so much trouble between the two, so he was ecstatic that she found something else to talk about.
"Yes Star?" Marco questioned, ignoring his own voice crack.
"What happened with that Blood Moon lady? I mean that was super crazy." Star asked.
To be honest, Marco was almost just as curious as Star was, so he was happy to have something to talk about.
"No kidding. I mean what were the powers that she was talking about?" Marco wondered.
"Yeah, she was pretty vague back there." Star added.
"I mean, I did shoot a laser out of my hand when… I… ya know." Marco struggled to say, but Star got the message.
"You don't need to talk about-" Star attempted to reassure Marco, but the door to her room opening was plenty to stop her speaking as she flung herself into Marco's arms out of fear.
Who else would it be other than Manfred. He always does this, Star thought to herself. Manfred stood in the door, emotionless, clearly with news for Star. He was at least slightly surprised to see Marco, but the more he thought about it the more sense it made. He didn't take long to speak, "Princess Star, the Queen would like to see you in her office. And I doubt that Marco here would be welcome, no offense."
"None taken," Marco added. Star wasn't having it though, "Manfred, don't talk to him like that. Also, what does she want?" Star spat.
"My apologies, Princess. I do not know however. It seems to be confidential." Manfred calmly responded.
"Just don't do it again. Thank you Manfred." Star finished, dismissing Manfred.
Manfred took the message, shutting the door and walking away from the room. Marco, who awkwardly had to watch the conversation, asked "So Star, what do you want me to do?"
Star seemed a little confused by his confusion, so she said "Well you're coming with me dummy."
Marco didn't take offense to the playful insult, so he simply nodded with a light grin. He was still quite mortified from the events of the earlier part of the day, but he always enjoyed watching Star in 'princess mode'.
So on they walked in a gingerly saunter toward Queen Moon's office. Star was quite annoyed with having to meet her mother today, but having Marco by her side had a very calming effect.
The two arrived in the Queen's office after a short amount of time. They enjoyed each other's presence and once again found themselves feeling much better than earlier. Marco insisted to Star that he could sit outside the room, but Star was even more insistent that he was coming in with her, so he did. They entered the room and spotted an emotionless Moon. Somehow, there was just an air about the room. Things were tense.
Marco came into the room, but he had no intentions on being involved in the conversation, so he sat in a chair behind Star and stayed calm in his still ripped hoodie. Star did not falter under her mother's cruel glare. She had dealt with her mother so many times in her life, so this was about as normal as anything she could deal with right now.
Moon was the one to break her self-created silence, although the tension remained, even growing when she finally spoke "Star, what is he doing here?" Her tone was so cruel that it burned the very noise into Marco's brain, probably for the rest of his life.
Star came to his defense, claiming "We have had a long day, I wasn't going to leave him alone just to talk to you. He has just as much right to be here as anyone else." She found that her response helped Marco slightly as her hand received a squeeze from Marco. His palms were sweaty, he was afraid and she didn't blame him.
Moon spoke again, in an even more hurtful tone, "Well whatever the circumstance, I assure you he won't want to hear what we have to say."
"We?" Star asked.
Her confusion wouldn't live much longer, due to the likes of River making his presence known by opening the door behind Star. He had a very conflicted expression on his face, and she wore a face of betrayal on her own.
Her father made his way to her mother's side as she continued speaking, "Yes, we. I hate to inform you of this, but as royalty, you don't just get to do whatever you want without consequences." It was something she had told Star a hundred times, but this time felt different. There was a purpose behind it and she was sure of it.
Star didn't respond, she instead squeezed Marco's hand, broadcasting her panic to him. She listened as her mother explained "We think it is time that you put your kingdom first.. And get an arranged marriage."
Star and Marco gasped, looking at each other, knowing that Moon had no intention of picking the two. Star cringed once she came to the realization, she's gonna say Tom.
"Peace between the people of the Underworld and Mewni will bring great reward to us and our people. It is for that reason that I must demand that you marry Thomas Lucitor." Moon calmly stated.
"Mom… that's not gonna happen." Star said, more concerned with Marco being behind her than her parents trying to make her marry.
"Star, I'm afraid it isn't up to you anymore.." Moon responded.
"No, mom, that literally CAN NOT happen." Star responded, feeling Marco's hand tense up.
"Star what are you talking-" Moon said, but was interrupted as the door to her office was flung open at breakneck speed.
"You murdering little bitch!" Dave yelled as he opened the door. Of course it was an act, but he had to at least convince Moon, so he had to say it.
Marco got light headed. His ears began to ring at the sight of Tom's parents. He would have fainted if he hadn't heard what they said. He felt his anger resurfacing. He stood up and got in between Dave and Star.
"Oh, it's that piece of worthless garbage from Earth. Why don't you go pathetically pretending you're worth anything somewhere else?" Dave spat.
This elicited a response from Star, "STOP! HE DOESN'T DESERVE ANY OF THIS! LEAVE HIM OUT OF IT!"
Moon, utterly confused at what was going on, asked "What are you even talking about?"
"Are you kidding me?! Your daughter KILLED MY SON!" Dave screamed.
"Star?!" Moon yelled, instantly believing what Dave accused her of.
"Marco we need to get out of here.." Star whispered. She tried to pull on Marco to drag him out of the room with her, but he was unmoving. He was frozen in place.
Marco spoke in place for Star, "It wasn't Star."
Everyone in the room jolted their gaze to Marco, Dave included. This was not what Dave had in mind, but he could make something from this nonetheless.
"What.." Dave said.
Uh oh, Star thought. That's enough of that, she thought as she grabbed Marco's hand and forcefully pulled him out of the room. Nobody left the room other than the two. Normally, Moon would have magically shut the door, but she was too shocked.
The two sprinted into the hallway, Marco gave no resistance this time. He had just stared into the eyes of the father of the boy he killed. It was haunting, he wouldn't soon forget the daggers that Dave stared at him. Not to mention that he had likely started a really big problem among the royals.
Star was surprisingly cool under the stress that she was dealing with right now. Her only thoughts were on getting Marco out of the castle, alive. She tore a portal with little thought behind where to go.
The two dove into the portal and immediately closed it behind her. The two sat on the ground, panting.
"Well that didn't go well." Star said very matter of factly.
"Nope." Marco said as he dug his head into his hoodie and tightened the strings.
"Ahh, Marco… Everything is gonna be alright, I promise." Star said.
Even something as small as that helped him more than she could imagine. He got onto his knees and smiled at her. Wherever they were didn't matter as much. Because once again, for the third time since Marco had to kill someone, she was there for him. Things were slowly starting to feel better.
As he began to look around, he noticed that he wasn't somewhere where he had been before. It was definitely similar to Earth, but the giveaway that he wasn't on Earth was pretty obvious. There was a ginormous moon in the sky that, unsurprisingly enough, burned a bright red. Not helping, Marco thought.
"Where are we?" Marco asked.
Star took a moment to respond, knowing she had no idea, and said "Marco, I've got good news and I've got bad news."
Marco started to panic, "Oh no."
"Don't you wanna know the good news?" Star asked.
"Well what's the bad news?!" Marco asked.
"Well that's hardly any way to make you feel better!" Star rebutted.
"I don't want to be better! I wanna survive!" Marco added.
Star giggled at him having a Marco moment and decided to give him both of the pieces of news at once, "Okay, so I don't know where we are, but when I made the portal I was imagining a place where we could be safe, so we're okay, right?"
Marco was slightly eased by this, but the fact that they had no clue where they were didn't make it easy.
"Do you trust me?" Star asked sincerely.
"Of course I do Star." Marco added without second thought.
"Then let's go." Star finished. The two got off the floor and walked in the direction of the Moon, hand in hand.
X-x-X-x-X
"I want him DEAD!" Dave screamed.
River sat in silence watching the two royals discussing the fate of the boy who did so much for his only daughter. In truth, he loved Marco, they had met many times and every time he was more impressed than the last. And he knew how Tom was, it was very likely in self defense.
"Of course David, it will be handled." Moon said very matter of factly.
"I want his head on a platter! You have three days!" Dave added.
"Three days until.. What?" Moon asked in an oddly menacing calm tone.
"I will burn this castle to the ground. You are warned." Dave said.
Moon was infuriated, but acting on her anger would do nothing but make things worse, so she did not. She only watched as Dave stomped out of the room. River also walked out of the room, refusing to make eye contact with his wife.
In the hallway, he looked both ways to insure he was alone and pulled out his compact mirror.
He dialled the number of his daughter and walked in the opposite direction that Dave had.
Moon stayed in her office, now alone. She needed to abide by Dave's wishes. By some stretch of the imagination, she viewed killing Marco as the best thing that she could do for her kingdom. She knew it would hurt Star, but kingdom over happiness.
She magiced up a quick bounty. The paper read 'WANTED: DEAD or ALIVE: MARCO DIAZ' the amount he was due for was unstated, it only said "as much as you can imagine" satisfied with her work, Moon grinned and waved her hands with magic. Thousands of papers began to fly out of the windows of her office and into the town.
X-x-X-x-X
In front of the castle
Manfred stood in awe as he saw hundreds upon hundreds of papers flying out of the castle into the kingdom. This was the work of Moon, that was clear enough. But when he caught the paper she was broadcasting, he looked in horror at the picture on the wanted poster. It was a picture of Marco, obviously fabricated, stabbing Star.
X-x-X-x-X
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for reading, I'm super happy with how this story is going and I'm glad you guys are too. Please feel free to favorite, follow, and review to help me make this story even better, your opinions are the ones that matter most to me, so please feel free to voice your opinions. Look forward in the next week or so to the next chapter, "Titles"
~ Chimp Enthusiast