Sometimes I like to write sad stories. This one started out being written as a sad story, but then I thought of two more ideas to add onto it and now I don't really even know what this turned into.

This is an alternate timeline where:

A. Marco realizes that destroying the Magic is going to also destroy the portals and prevent interdimensional travel as soon as Star tells him she's going to destroy it.

B. The Magic doesn't cleave Earth and Mewni together.

I had the idea for this after listening to the song "Dancing Away With My Heart" by Lady Antebellum.

Oh, and sticking with my rule from "You Should Kiss Her and other short Starco stories" I'm referring to Pony Head by her first name because I feel like it. It's Lilacia, if you didn't know.

Part 1: Last Dance

Star didn't need the calendar to know what the date was. Even so, she dreaded looking at that page that hung above her dresser. She didn't want to be reminded. It was exactly one year to the day; The anniversary of the worst day of her life.

With a heavy sigh, she laid her finger on the printed square that bore the day's date. The past year felt as though it had dragged by at half-speed. A year was a long time to not receive a call, text, email, letter, card, scroll, signal flare, social media post, telegram, video chat, smoke signal, or messenger hawk. But sadly, there was no form of communication that he could use to reach her, nor any way for her to reach him.

Not without Magic.

Magic...

Magic was what had brought them together. It was also what eventually tore them apart. Forever.

The bedroom door suddenly burst open, causing Star to jump in surprise. "Hey, gurrrl!" Lilacia called excitedly. "What isup?!"

"Oh...hey, Pony Head," Star replied dejectedly.

The flying unicorn head raised a confused eyebrow. "What's the matter with you?"

Star sighed again and moved to her window, leaning heavily on the sill as she stared out at the Mewni landscape beyond the grounds of the Monster Temple where her bedroom still resided. "It's been a year, Pony. A whole year."

"A year siiiiiiince...? What?"

Star couldn't believe Pony Head didn't remember. "Since I destroyed the Magic? You know, to save you and all the others that got hit by that Solarian Warrior's sword and stop Mina from killing all the monsters?" Her voice became louder and angrier with every word. "Since I lost Marco forever?"

"Ohhh...sorry..." Lilacia grimaced with embarrassment.

Star took a deep breath and calmed herself. She was too sad to be angry. "I miss him so much..."

Lilacia slowly floated over to the window, just behind her bestie. "I know you do, Star. I hate to admit it, buuuuut...I kinda miss him, too."

Star felt a warm tear slide down her cheek over the spot where her heart-shaped cheek marks used to be. "I wonder if he still misses me, or if..."

"You know he does."

"...Do I? What if he...moved on? He may have forgotten all about me." Star didn't want to believe it, but she found it hard to deny it was possible. It had been a whole year, after all, and they'd only known each other for barely two. They hadn't even been a couple for a full twenty-four hours.

But those precious few hours that they'd spent together were burned into her memory like a brand on a steer: Their kiss in the pig-goat barn. Her mother's betrayal. Being rescued by Heckapoo from certain annihilation at the hands of a power-crazed Mina Loveberry. Her discussion with Glossaryck about destroying the Magic, finding her completed tapestry in the grandma room, and realizing that without Magic, she and Marco would be separated forever.

But what happened next haunted Star's dreams. It was a beautiful nightmare that she could see again and again just as it had happened, as if she were experiencing it all over again.

Star closed her eyes and deeply inhaled the warm Mewni air, instantly transported back to the Tavern at the End of the Multiverse in her memories, the scene playing out before her eyes as if witnessing it for the first time...

Star took a gasping breath as she broke through the dark bubble of pupil juice in which she had just exited Glossaryck's eye.

"Star!" Marco yelped as he rushed over to her. "Jeez! We were kinda getting worried about you!" he said as he helped her to her feet and took her hands in his. "Did you, uh...you figure anything out in there?"

Star only hesitated long enough to take one more deep breath. The words she was about to say should have overjoyed her. She was not only going save everyone from Mina's wrath and heal all those afflicted, but also destroy the very power that repeatedly evoked issues for Mewni across centuries of Butterfly family rule. But she couldn't be happy. Not when that same action was going to tear her away from her best friend.

What had they done to deserve this? They had only just confessed their feelings for each other! And now they were going to separated forever? Star would have given anything for just one day alone with Marco.

But time was of the essence, a luxury that they simply did not have. Those wounded by the Solarian Warriors did not have much time left before the magical scars consumed them. Star figured that the best course of action was to just get to it before she had a chance to change her mind.

"I'm gonna destroy the Magic."

"You're gonna destroy the Magic?!" Marco repeated in shock. "Is that even possible?"

"I'm pretty sure if I say the whispering spell inside the Magic, then-" She waved her arms apart. "Poof!"

Her mother and Eclipsa watched her explain anxiously. "Star...wait," Eclipsa urged nervously, but Star ignored her, walking with purpose toward where Heckapoo sat lounging at the bar. Her plan would never work if she couldn't get to the Realm of Magic, and for that, she needed the portals to work. Portals that soon would never work again.

Don't think about that. This has to be done. Don't hesitate. If you hesitate too much, you'll change your mind, Star quickly thought. "Hey! Heckapoo! I need you to open the portals. I'm destroying the Magic."

The Scissors Enforcer smirked. "Yeah, sure." She snapped her fingers, releasing a tiny flame that signaled the resumption of portal functionality once again. "Blow it up."

"Wait! Heckapoo!" Marco protested. "You're made of Magic!" A chill suddenly ran down Marco's spine. "And so...are the portals..."

Oh, no, Star thought. He figured it out.

"If there's no Magic, we can't travel between dimensions!" Marco looked worriedly at his best friend. "Can we?"

Star sighed, nervously clasping her hands behind her back. "No...no, Marco, we...we can't."

Marco opened his mouth to say something else, but Eclipsa beat him to the punch. "Wait, Star! What if we all go and fight Mina together?"

A new conversation was sparked between the Magic-users as Moon and Eclipsa tried to convince Star not to destroy the Magic, but Marco didn't hear a single word of it. His mind was whirling a mile a minute, but he could not form a single coherent thought. His gaze was locked on Star, looking past the Mewni queens at him with great pain in her eyes.

Marco's silent pleas for a private conversation were deafening, drowning out every word of Moon and Eclipsa's argument against destroying the Magic. Star pushed past them. "Can you guys give us a second, please?" she asked as she took Marco by the wrist and led him away to the other side of the tavern.

"Star!" Moon barked angrily. "Come back here! We're not done talking about-"

"Let them go," Eclipsa said, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"But-"

"Moon."

The two Mewni queens locked eyes. Eclipsa lowered her voice sadly. "Give then a moment. They deserve it."

Star more or less dragged Marco into the most secluded corner of the tavern, right next to where the "wall" of nothingness began. She let go of his hand, refusing to face him, staring at the floor.

"Star..." Marco said slowly. "There's no way between Earth and Mewni without Magic, is there?"

"No, Marco...there isn't. Not that I know of, anyway."

Marco sighed. "I didn't think so."

For several moments, neither spoke. Star still could not bring herself to look at Marco as tears began to steam down her face. She heard Marco take a deep breath.

"I just wish I could say goodbye to my folks."

"What?" Star whirled around, finally meeting his eyes.

"If I had know this morning would be the last time I'd see them, I would have said goodbye." Marco slowly took both of her hands in his, his own eyes becoming moist as he struggled to maintain his composure. "But I'm sure they'd understand. I'm staying, Star. With you."

"Oh, Marco...that...that's so sweet of you...but you can't."

"Of course I can." He gave her hands an affectionate squeeze. "You're my best friend, Star, and I love you. I'd rather live in your world than be without you in mine."

Star sniffled. "You stole that from a song," she sobbed. Marco chuckled through the tears. "Yeah, well...it's true."

"But you don't understand. You literally can't stay on Mewni. Glossaryck told me that when the Magic is gone, it'll put you back where you belong..." She shut her eyes as if in pain. "...which is on Earth."

"...No, I...I belong with you."

"The Magic doesn't think so."

"But...but...it...why...?" Marco could not find the words. He sighed, supposing it was pointless to argue with Magic. "...so...we'll be separated...permanently?"

Star nodded sadly.

"There's no other way? Destroying the Magic..." Marco swallowed the growing lump in his throat. "That's the only option?"

"It's the only thing I can think of. You saw what happened when my Mom tried to take away the warriors' power. And our friends that were wounded, their scars are made of Magic. But if the Magic is gone..."

She didn't finish. Marco didn't need her to. He nodded slowly. "So...we can save everyone...but it means we'll never...see each other again..."

"Yeah..."

Marco shut his eyes and sucked in a choking breath. "I guess we have no choice. I just..."

"Just what?"

"I just...wish we could have a little more time. I mean, Mina's probably getting ready to push all the monsters off a cliff, and who knows how long our friends who were wounded have." He squeezed Star's hands again. "I'd give anything for one more day with you. A solid hour, even."

"Me, too, Marco. But we don't have that kind of time."

The tavern had been silent up to that point, save for the patrons' quiet milling. But now there was something new: A soft, slow song now drifted through the air, taking the pair by surprise. It's source was not difficult to find: a juke box adjecent to the bar. And standing beside it was Eclipsa, who looked back at the teenagers and smiled knowingly.

Star and Marco's eyes met again, the latter slowly moving his left hand to Star's waist. "Can we spare three minutes for one last dance?"

She moved her own left hand to mirror her partner's. "Definitely."

As the slow, somber love ballad began its first verse, the couple began a slow dance in time with the music. Gone were the swooping motions and slow rotation of their waltz at the Blood Moon Ball so long ago. They gently swayed back and forth, their eyes locked on each other as the fingers of their right hands became intertwined.

Marco moved his hand from Star's waist, reaching up to carefully push back the bangs that perpetually hung over the tops of her large, piercing blue eyes, eyes he had seen so many times before. Never before, though, had he gazed into them quite so deeply. So beautiful were those vibrant orbs, always so full of energy and life, just as she saw the warmth and calm in his brown eyes. Emotion flowed back and forth between them without a single spoken word, their eyes transmitting every feeling. Love. Longing. An aching pain deeply rooted in their hearts, begging the other to never let go.

Star opened her mouth as if to speak, but her words were swallowed up by her emotion. She shut her eyes and slowly laid her head on Marco's shoulder. He shifted his free hand and wrapped it around her shoulders, hugging her close as they continued to slowly sway to the music.

I wish this song would never end, Star thought. I wish it could go on forever and ever and ever...

Marco opened his eyes with a sigh. Despite the passage of a year, he could still feel his best friend in his arms, her long mane of blonde hair tickling his neck as she lay her head on his shoulder.

They'd ended their dance when the song did, plucking up courage as Star opened a portal and they hurried into the Realm of Magic before Moon could try to talk them out of it again. They still had to save their friends' lives...friends Marco had never been able to see again. He hoped their plan had worked and all those afflicted by the Solarian Warrior's blade had survived, and the warriors' powers taken away. He had no way of knowing.

Just like he had no way of knowing if Star was okay.

They'd rushed back into the collapsing Realm of Magic, each hoping desperately that Glossaryck had been wrong and the Magic wouldn't return them back to their individual dimensions, desperately clinging to each other as the realm disintegrated around them. Marco wasn't sure when he had lost consciousness, but when he awoke he was strapped to a stretcher beside the remains of the sunken Britta's Tacos. And Janna.

The very same girl was now sitting across from him at his kitchen table. Having been tormented by her for close to a decade, he was so thankful to have her for a friend. After both had been transported back to Earth when the Magic was destroyed, Marco took great comfort in her presence. Sure, she still teased and annoyed him whenever possible, but Janna was also the only one who truly understood what he felt inside, and when it came to that subject, she was shockingly comforting. In Star's absence, it had become a rare occurrence for Marco and Janna to not be together.

She looked up from her phone at him, seeing the look on his face. "You're thinking about Star again." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah...I miss her so much..." Marco leaned heavily on his hands, staring at the table.

"I know. I miss...uh, Star...too."

A strange feeling pricked at the back of Marco's neck. He looked up at Janna and found a strange expression on her face that was completely unfamiliar to him. "Janna, are you okay? Do you need an antacid or something?"

"What are you talking about?" She raised an eyebrow, looking more like her usual self again.

"You...you looked weird. I thought maybe you had indigestion or something."

"Oh." Janna blinked. "Heh. Something like that, I guess."

Marco frowned. Something weird was up with Janna, and not Janna's usual brand of weird. He watched as she turned her attention back to her phone, her expression much softer than usual. She seemed to be taking great care to make sure he could not see the screen.

"Whatcha looking at there?" Marco asked suspiciously.

Janna quickly wrapped her hand around her phone for extra protection from prying eyes. "Nothing."

"Doesn't seem like nothing."

"It's nothing!" she shot back, laying the device facedown on the table.

"Then what is it?"

"Why do you care?"

Marco leaned forward, making hard eye-contact from the opposite side of the table. "Because it seems like you don't want me to know, that's why. And you're acting weird, but not normal Janna-weird."

For a moment, neither moved, and neither spoke.

And then, almost without even realizing what she was doing, Janna slowly turned her phone over. Marco was surprised to find Tom's trio of eyes looking back at him. He looked up at Janna questioningly, and she looked away as if ashamed.

Marco examined the picture more closely. It was a selfie Tom had taken with his compact. The demon stood beside Janna, the outer rim of the giant metal boot visible behind them, the boot itself perched atop one of the massive piles of garbage. The clear Mewni sky provided the rest of the background. Tom's smile stretched ear-to-ear, clearly enjoying herself. And Janna...

Marco didn't think he had ever seen her with an expression of such pure joy.

"Janna...do you miss Tom?"

"...No..." She refused to look in his direction, turning sideways in her chair. "Why would I?"

Marco stood up, taking Janna's phone with him. He circled the table and knelt down in front of her, holding up the phone for her to see the picture on screen. She shifted her eyes away.

"The Janna in this picture disagrees. I don't know that I've ever seen you look this happy."

"Boot sledding was really fun! It didn't matter if Tom was there or not!"

"Then why were you looking at this picture?"

"Because-" She abruptly fell silent as she met his gaze. "Because..."

Marco said nothing. He just gave her a knowing look.

"I swear to corn, Marco, if you ever tell anyone about this..."

"I would never spill my friend's secret."

Janna sucked in a deep breath. "I...may have...possibly...had...a little crush on Tom."

Marco still said nothing. He gave up on kneeling and sat down on the floor in front of her, motioning for her to go on.

A loud groan escaped Janna's throat. "Fine." She slid off the chair and sat cross-legged in front of Marco. For some reason, she found sitting on the floor felt more private. "Tom's a demon. That's, like, so cool and weird. He can do all kinds of freaky things with fire, and summon lost souls, and...I thought he was...you know..."

"Attractive?"

"Yeah. That word." And then Janna actually blushed, ever so slightly, and Marco just about fell over in shock. "I just thought he was really cool and..."

"I understand...Tom was...is...very cool."

Minutes passed in silence, both deep in thought, staring at the tile floor.

"No."

Janna looked at Marco, his single word of speech confusing. "Huh?"

"No," he repeated. "No. This is wrong."

"Why? Because I'm a human and he's a demon?"

"No, no, no, not that. Us. Sitting here on my kitchen floor, feeling sorry for ourselves and missing the people we care about." Marco got to his feet. "So what if they're in another dimension? They're our friends, and we've completely given up on ever seeing them again!"

"Um, Marco? No Magic, remember?"

"We don't need Magic! There has to be another way to get to them! It's just science! Physics, math, whatever. There's another way to get to Mewni, I just know it!"

Janna was skeptical. "And what makes you think we can find that 'other way' to Mewni?"

He crouched down in front of her again, making hard eye contact. "Because I'm Marco F-ing Diaz, and you're Janna F-ing Ordonia. We may not having Magic, but if we put our heads together, we can figure it out! You know, we will sooner or later." He stood, holding out his hand to Janna. "Are you with me or what?"

She considered his hand for a moment. "You know something, Diaz? If you were any other being in the multiverse, I'd say no. But you do seem to have an uncanny ability to overcome ridiculous odds. And-" She clasped his hand and quickly hopped to her feet. "-somehow...when you say we can do it, I actually believe you."

Marco smiled with confidence, suddenly feeling a rush of affection for Janna. He squeezed her hand. "We can do this. I know we can."

Janna returned her own determined grin. "Darn right, Diaz. Let's get our friends back."

To be continued...