Marco took a deep breath, a board set between two blocks of concrete.
"Hey Marco?"
"Yeah?"
"What should I wear on my date with Oskar? Octopus dress or Narwhal dress?" Star held both outfits over her nightgown.
"They're both fine." Marco focused on the board again, taking another deep breath.
"I don't know..."
"Haven't you been on dates with Tom?"
"I guess. But I barely know Oskar."
"How well do you know Tom?" Star shrugged in response, before going back to her room, badmouthing Tom under her breath.
"Ok. Time to do this, Diaz." Marco muttered, cracking his knuckles.
"I'm heading to Oskar's. Good luck with whatever you're up to."
"See ya Star." Marco said, and after she was out of earshot he took a third and final deep breath, before bringing his arm down in a swoop.
Needless to say, Marco ended up in the hospital about 15 minutes after.
Star nervously did her hair into a loose braid as she walked to Oskar's. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A lady who looked like Oskar with longer hair opened the door.
"Hi. Is Oskar here?" Star asked, clutching her purse.
"Oskar, your date's here!"
"Coming." Oskar ran down the stairs, walked onto the steps, and slammed the door behind him, before cleaning out the passenger seat in his car, throwing empty soda cans and spare keytars into the back.
"Thanks Oskar." Star slid in, and Oskar started blaring the car radio.
An hour or so later, Marco lay face first on his bed, grumbling, when Star came home, like she just ate a burrito dipped in sugar, which she just had.
"Hey Marco! Guess what happened-oh. What did you do to your-"
"Don't ask. How was your date?" He didn't say it like a question, even though it was.
"Amazing."
"So Oskar's your boyfriend."
"I wouldn't go that far."
"Why not?"
"Look, you're acting pretty gloomy."
"I have a karate competition tomorrow, and if I don't participate everyones gonna think I'm a wimp." Marco said, gesturing towards his broken arm.
"Hmm..." Star picked up the spellbook and flipped through it, until she found the page she was looking for. She skimmed it, before turning to Marco.
"What?" He asked, holding the pillow over his head.
"Wait, what are you doing-"
"Releaseo Demonius Infestica!" Star aimed her wand at Marco, and he flinched, before opening his eyes.
"Star, what the heck did you do?"
"I...I healed your broken arm...I think?" Star said, and stared at the tentacle.
"Demonius? I'm not exactly sure what you expected to happen!"
"Don't worry. Maybe I'll find a way to reverse it."
The next morning at breakfast, Star sat down and took a bite out of her cereal
"There's no way to reverse it."
"Are you kidding me? So I'm going to have a monster arm forever?"
"No- I know who might be able to do something..."
"Who?"
"Tom. Demon-ex-boyfriend-Tom Lucitor."
"Oh, gimme a break."
"After we get rid of that monster arm buddy." Star yawned and cut open a dimensional portal to the Underworld.
Tom was furiously playing a video game on a controller, fire spitting from his fingers, a pile of charred controllers sitting on the side of the TV, when he heard a dimensional portal open.
"Hey Tom...?"
"Yeah Star- Wait Star?" Tom threw the controller across the room, and glanced at Star, Marco, monster arm and all, in tow.
"What happened there?"
"Releaseo Demonius Infestica happened."
"Oh Man."
"Is there any way to reverse it?"
"Not that I know of. I could look it up in my Grandpa's study. I'll get back to you by tomorrow."
"Thanks Tom."
"No problem, Starship." Tom said, picking up another controller.
The next morning, Star got a phone call at 8 on the dot from Tom, and she laid on her side in her bed.
"Hey Tom." Star said, following it with a yawn.
"I've been up all night. There's no way to reverse it."
"Wonderful."
"Sorry Starship."
"It's not you. The whole situation."
"Oh ok. There's no way to reverse it, but there's a way to...combine it, I guess? With his regular arm?"
"Well ok then, how?"
"I'm reading it right now...what crystal does your wand have?"
"It's yellow...?"
"Amberized Starglass. Very Rare." Glossaryck said, shoveling pudding into his mouth.
"Thanks Glossaryck. It's Amberized Starglass."
"Ok. It says you can use your wand to heal it, just press it on his wrist, crystal down, where his veins are, and do the whispering spell, although just substitute the word magic with monster. Got it?"
"Ok. I'll try. Thanks so much Tom. You're a lifesaver."
"No problem, Starship. But can you be straight with me for a second?"
"Sure."
"Is that boy your boyfriend?" Tom aske,d and Star burst out laughing, and before long Tom was laughing too.
"No, he's not." Star said, once she was settled down. Star sat criss-cross-applesauce on her bed and they talked until the sun was overhead in the sky, and Tom had to leave for something.
"Bye Tom."
"See ya Starship." Tom waved and hung up. Afterwards he took a deep breath.
Meanwhile, Star burst into Marco's room, and held up her wand.
"I figured it out. Well, TOm did but still."
"Tom? Are you sure about this?"
"Yup." Star grabbed the monster arm and pressed the yellow crystal into his wrist, and followed Tom's instructions.
"Break the bond, scare the monster, cleave the demonius, monster no longer." Star whispered, and lifted her wand up, a print of the wand's crystal layered over the tentacle skin, which began to peel away, leaving Marcio's arm the same as it was. Marco took a deep breath and winced.
"What's wrong?"
"Arm's still broken."
"Oops."
"Oh nevermind. At least Tom isn't out to get us."
"Yeah. It was nice to catch up with him."
The two looked out the window, the sun setting, the sky a rusty orange and peach and pink swirled into the Earth, which faded gently into a galaxy of stars, twinkling and shining. All was well.
Until Star saw the menacing red of the blood moon out of the other window. She turned her head around, the blood moon bathing them in the gentle light. She shrugged and turned back to the stars. She knew the moon meant something, but never said a thing.