Cursed Regardless

Passing Globgore had stopped frightening Marco or giving him night terrors, at least not after he'd watched queen Eclipsa tend to him for so long. He found it sweet after a while and considered how he might do the same thing in similar circumstances. Although such attachments still remained a mystery to him in many respects, he found that they weren't completely alien either. He'd left his life on earth after all, but noticing a hole in his memory, wanted to revisit a particular moment of the blood moon ball. He knew however, that it was futile. Sighing while passing Globgore's door, he looked up at Star; as haggard as he was after saving a new squire from the lint catcher, and said Good night. "I'll just check on something."

She waved back, somehow regaining her usual vigour. "Good night."

While Star went off, he returned to the door, knocking while sticking his head in. "Hi." He saw Eclipsa on a scaffolding brushing Globgore's teeth, and after she nodded him in, entered. "I just wanted to see if there was something I could do."

"No no, it's quite alright." She looked over her shoulder at him with an odd smirk. "Should I ask how things are between you and Star?"

"Oh." Despite knowing she would see through him, he was taken aback at how quickly she'd managed it. "Great! It's like there was never a problem to begin with."

With a concerned look, she paused for a moment. "That's lovely."

Marco questioned if he should've gone to Star first, but wondered if she started to regret using the severing stone yet or if talking her might cause it to happen earlier than it would otherwise have. "Is something wrong?"

"No, but." She put brush away and began to come down from her scaffolding. "I'm not sure if I should-"

Marco scratched the back of his neck. "Well-"

Now standing in front of him, Eclipsa had a pensive look on her face. "I don't mean to be-"

"We used a severing stone?" Seeing a flash of horror in her eyes followed by a feigned smile; a clear attempt to hide her disappointment, Marco cringed. He knew then that he aught to have gone to Star or no-one at all, save perhaps Tom's great grandfather. "I shouldn't- It's getting late."

Eclipsa sighed. "Let me pour you some tea."

. . .

Star picked up her diary for the first time since leaving Earth. She'd planned on writing down some new spells, but on seeing her old diary she was gripped by a sudden joy. Taking it in hand, she fell on her bed while flipping through old entries. She wondered if she only understood them because she remembered everything as she read, and seeing her entries on mewberty and Oskar, could guess at why several past kings and queens struck certain years from their own diaries. Then she read about the blood moon ball, finding a hole in her memory. It left her in a malaise to know a moment like that was gone forever. What's more, she'd chosen to cut it away.

With a sigh, she snapped her diary shut and tossed it to one side of her bed. Sitting up, she looked at her mirror and considered calling Tom. While she knew this would drive him mad, he was still her boy friend and she thought if nothing else, that he should at least find out from her rather than hearing about it through some happen-stance. At that, she found some guilt left from kissing Marco and not saying a thing to Tom, which surprised her. It also left her hopeful that he would take this relatively well. After some hesitation, she got up and walked to her mirror. "Call Tom." In the few seconds of waiting, she concluded that this was daft.

"Hey Star." Tom answered with a cheery voice, but after a moment he looked altogether more worried, as though spotting a wound she hadn't noticed. "Is something wrong?"

"Hey." Scratching her head, she looked for a place to start; uncertain if she should ease him in with some small talk or just get it over and done with, but with a sigh she noticed the silence which threatened to make things even more difficult. "I think I have to talk to you about something- It's not about us, but," Trailing off, she wondered how not to drive him mad.

"Come on." Despite smiling, he still looked concerned and somewhat afraid. "You can tell me."

She smiled at him, somehow comforted by his visible and strained effort. Resolving to get it over and done with, she hoped for the best. "I'm thinking about the severing stone."

"Wow." His eyes went blanc, and he turned pale. Breathing heavily with one hand rested on the wall, he began incoherent ramblings that switched between admissions of guilt and swallowing questions of 'why.' "Star, I don't-"

"Come on, you're my boyfriend." Feigning a smile, she was thankful he took this relatively well. "I want to come to you about these things." Watching the blue return to his face and his breathing go back to normal, she still saw the guilt in his face, only now it seemed like it over more than the severing stone.

Sighing in relief, Tom scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about that, I just didn't think that would- and now I can't stop thinking about grandpa Relicor, but." Sighing he put on hand on his head. "Ok! Talk to me." Again. He put on a smile.

Despite the obvious strain of his smile, it still proved a comfort to her and it gave her full confidence to speak. "Thank you... I don't know where to start. It's not that I have feelings for Marco-" Pondering this for a moment, she began to doubt herself. "-but it's like I've lost the spell book all over again, only now it just affects me which makes it easier? I guess?" Seeing Tom crouch a little, she questioned if she was putting too much on him at once. "Do you know what I mean?" Now she doubted telling him was as daft as she'd thought.

"I'm sorry." Still crouched slightly, he seemed bitter with himself, only himself. "I wish I knew what to say."

Sighing, Star wondered if she should go to Marco,or perhaps take up Demon; something so she could relate to someone over this.

. . .

"I'm sorry Marco, I wish I knew what to say." Eclipsa put her cup on the table she'd conjured.

Suddenly any comfort from telling someone about this disappeared, while Marco sat slumped in front of his now cold tea. He didn't blame her for not knowing what to say, but after explaining the entire ordeal in fits, starts and sudden out pourings that may or may not have been as coherent as he remembered, he found himself hoping for something more. Turning to Globgore, he began to watch the remaining soap bubbles drip down from in front of his teeth.

"If it helps at all," With an uncertain look on her face, she breathed a melancholy sigh. "I've had to give up my attempts to free him."

While that did distract from his own feelings, it still left him similarly depressed. He did however, find some odd reassurance in having his misery directed at someone else's situation. "You'll probably get to one of these days." Standing up, he finally noticed how tired he was from his second round in the lint catcher. "But, thanks for listening to me. I think I needed it."

. . .

Regardless of the clear guilt on his face, Tom kept encouraging her to talk about it. Despite wishing he could relate in the same way Marco could, or his great grandfather for that matter, Star wanted to thank him.

"Maybe you should talk to Marco about this?"

"Tom?" Backing up slightly, she knew she'd put too much on him. "Are you alright?"

"Come on." With a hesitant smile, he shrugged. "I trust you. And besides, I don't think you'd rather to talk to grandpa Relicor."

Scoffing, she admitted that he was right. "Yeah, I guess... thank you." She saw his face light up as if she'd mentioned being cursed with him instead, and found joy in causing that. After trading good byes for a moment, they hung up.

. . .

While walking toward breakfast; still in his pyjamas, Marco pondered going to Star about the severing stone. Despite feeling somewhat lighter after talking with queen Eclipsa, he still wished she'd known what to say. Beginning to feel ungrateful however, he wanted to stop thinking. While scratching one eye, he resolved to see if he still felt the same way after eating, but knowing it was a simple excuse, failed to silence his thoughts.

He looked up at the walls knowing what he wanted to do, and wishing he wanted something else. Considering Star hasn't shown any regret, he hoped to avoid spreading it like some virus. And when passing Star, they both gave a simultaneous "mornin'."

This drew an inexplicable laugh from both of them while Marco held back a joke about the curse still binding them. Looking around, he looked for something else to talk about; something easier to laugh at. After a moment he wondered if he should start drinking coffee, if only to have an excuse for this sort of situation.

She shrugged, seeming a little hesitant. "I've been thinking about the severing stone."

Failing to hold back a snigger, Marco found a surprising relief to know she'd already caught this regret. "Sorry. Sorry, but it's like we're still connected" Hearing that joke slip out of his mouth, he had a moment of guilt immediately turned into one of joy when she snorted at it.

"Tell me about it!" While grinning, she gestured as though she'd found something wonderful.

"Why did we even-" Stopping himself, he sighed and reminded himself that was going too far, but seeing a more serious expression on Star's face, he knew it was already too late for that.

"I tried telling tom about this." She had a hesitant smile.

Cringing, he found himself unable to guess at Tom's reaction. "How did he take it?"

"He's fine. It's just he didn't know what to say." She shrugged, now smiling less hesitantly. "Even suggested talking to you."

Marco wanted to curse. He'd thought his feelings for Star had gone with the curse. Now with jealousy spiking through him however, he wanted to take a jack-hammer to the severing stone.

"Marco?" She stopped for a moment, giving him a worried look. "Are-"

"Oh. No, it was almost the same thing with Eclipsa." Remembering why they'd used that thing to begin with, he sighed and questioned if he could ask it to sever itself.

Star put on a smirk, but still looked worried. "Maybe we could use a year and learn Demon in Hekapu's dimension?"

"Ha! Yeah. Why not." She knew. That much was obvious. "Then we can all sit together and make everyone feel guilty for laughing at our jokes-" He would've said more if not fore how loudly Star began to laugh. Laughing along with her, he quickly recognized this from when they were both on Earth.

Star suddenly had a mischievous grin. "You know diplomatically, we might be able to get away with that."

"You're serious?" Despite enjoying himself, he considered learning Demon for more than simply joking purposes, and in his reverie let the conversation go silent. Now he wanted to curse at himself but when he looked up at Star, he found her with an awkward smile. He recognized it from before they'd used the severing stone, and decided to use a joke he'd made to himself only moments earlier. It seemed like an agreement to not act on any mutual feelings but despite that, they were still the only people they could relate to over the severing stone, even excluding Relicor.