'Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.'
'The Uses of Sorrow', Mary Oliver.
I do not own 'Star vs. the Forces of Evil'.
(Chapter 7)
"So… you and the Safe Kid have a date tonight, huh?" Janna asked during the walk to the Stop & Slurp, a sly grin on her face.
Jackie smiled and rubbed her arm. "Yeah. Me and Marco are gonna go seashell hunting and drink some slushies. We were gonna do it last night, but he got caught up with work."
"Uh-oh." Janna replied with a wag of her eyebrows. "Caught up with the Princess, huh? Maybe they played Come-into-my-castle."
"Uugh." Jackie groaned. "Why do all of our conversations seem to include the implication of Marco sleeping with someone?"
"They don't all imply Marco sleeping with someone." Janna argued. "But a lot of them do, yeah."
"Do you really think Marco is the kind of guy that would cheat on his girlfriend?" Jackie asked. "It took almost all of his willpower just to ask me out on a quote-on-quote date."
"Of course I don't think that. Come on, it's Marco we're talking about." said Janna. "But still, the competition just got interdimensional. Who knows what kind of chicks Marco's meeting at his new job? Mermaids-which would prove his type, fairies-not the gay kind, princesses-which has already been established, demons-I hope to holy hell."
Jackie rolled her eyes. "You are terrible."
"I know, girl. I know." Janna's eyes widened. "Woah. Who the heck is that?"
Jackie followed Janna's gaze. A strange lady had exited the Stop & Slurp carrying a bag in each hand. "Thank you, dear! Have a lovely day!" She called to the cashier with an English accent. The woman definitely stood out from the crowd. She was dressed in a dark, Victorian style dress and wore a large, matching sun hat. An umbrella hung on her arm, even though there was no rain. It did complete her look, though.
"Is the renaissance fair in town or something?" Janna asked. "She looks like the witch who cursed Juliet into loving Romeo."
"That's not what happened in Romeo and Juliet." Jackie told her.
"Right, two middle schoolers boned them committed suicide. Like that version is any better."
I think that's the Diaz family's new nanny." said Jackie. "Mr. and Mrs. Diaz needed someone to take care of Mariposa with Marco gone."
"Oh, yeah. They completely blew me off when I offered to watch Mariposa." Janna recalled. "Well, I suppose I should meet Marco's replacement."
The beanie wearing girl walked towards the strange lady and Jackie followed. The woman was reading one of the flyers on the store window. "Hmmmm… This 'yoga' thing sounds interesting. I might as well try new things while I'm here."
"Excuse me! Hey!" Janna greeted as she walked up to the lady. "What's up?"
"Hm?" The woman turned from the window. When she saw Jackie and Janna, her eyes lit up. "Oh! Why, hello there!" the lady replied in a friendly tone. "What can I do for you two girls?"
"You're the nanny for the Diaz family, right?" Janna asked.
"That's me." The lady did a small curtsy. "Eclisse Farfalla, at your service. It's nice to finally meet the both of you."
Jackie tilted her head in confusion. "Finally? Do you know us?"
"But of course. Janna Ordania and Jackie Lynn Thomas. The devil and angel on Marco's shoulders."
"Oh my god, I love that analogy." said Janna. "Jackie, we should totally get matching tattoos that say that. I'll get one that says 'Marco's devil' and you can get one that says 'Marco's angel'. We'd have to get them somewhere where Marco can always see them, it'll drive him crazy."
"I like this one." said Eclisse.
"But, how do you know our names?" Jackie asked. "Have you met Marco?"
"Not in person, no." Eclisse replied. "But I know who you are. I know many things."
"I'm getting a really good vibe from this lady." said Janna.
"I know you currently possess the heart of Marco Diaz." Eclisse grinned. "You managed to reel in a prize, now haven't you?"
Jackie pushed back the hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Ooo, I do love girl gossip!" Eclisse said with the giddiness of a schoolgirl. "Tell me, what's it like to be Marco's top pick of ladies?"
Jackie blushed. "I… I think it'll be nice. You know… dating a guy who likes me for… me, and isn't just interested in everything besides that."
"Oh, I've been there, my dear." Eclisse empathized. "It's a good feeling when a man loves you for the person you are, and not the object he sees."
Jackie's blush doubled. "Yeah, Marco… he's a really sweet guy." Jackie smiled. "But enough about me, tell me about yourself. Where are you from?"
"Yeah, your name sounds Italian, your accent sounds British, and you're the nanny for a Spanish family." Janna remarked. "Lot of worlds colliding with you."
"More worlds than you know." Eclisse responded mysteriously. "Believe me when I say that my homeland is not worth mentioning. It's a land of prejudicial, one-track minded corn munchers incapable of accepting the need for change due to their ignorance of the difference between being stubborn and being intelligent."
"That basically describes over half of America." said Janna.
"But this place? I love this place!" Eclisse lifted up the grocery bags in her hands. "The variety of sweets they have here is phenomenal! Chocolate with coconut in it, chocolate with marshmallow in it, chocolate with peanut butter in it, I'll be fat by day's end!"
"God bless the USA." Janna commented.
"And the music is grand!" Eclisse pulled out a couple of CDs she bought from the store. To the girls' shock, the Italian-named English lady had bought herself Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Avenged Sevenfold, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, and Nickelback CDs.
"Woah. Did not take you for a metalhead." Janna remarked.
"Women like you and I, we're full of surprises, aren't we?" Eclisse asked with a quirky grin.
"This woman is everything I wanna be when I grow up." Janna whispered to herself.
"Now, I don't want to impose. But," Eclisse put on an embarrassed smile. "Could you girls show me how to use these CDs? I'm new to this kind of technology."
"We'd love to!" Janna quickly replied. "Do you have a CD player?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Well first things first, we gotta get you one of those. There's a Best Buy at the edge of town, they'll probably have one."
"Lead the way, my new friends." replied the Queen of Darkness.
Marco let out a yawn. His eyes slowly opened as he woke up from his deep sleep. Marco looked around at his surroundings. 'Huh… looks like I fell asleep in the library.' Marco wasn't really all that fazed. He had fallen asleep in the library back home numerous times during study sessions. Normally, the librarian would wake him up before they closed. If not, then Marco just slept in the library overnight, which was always pretty comfortable. Libraries are awesome.
Marco tried to get off the couch he was sitting on, but he felt a weight on the left half of his body keep him from moving. 'What the heck?' He looked over to see what the problem was, and his blood froze in his veins.
"Oh-no."
Star had her head resting in the crook of Marco's neck and she had his arm wrapped in her grip. The Princess was still asleep, snoring softly into Marco's neck. In fact, she didn't seem too keen on moving from her spot on the couch.
Marco's face turned tomato red. 'I gotta get outta here before someone sees!' he thought to himself frantically. Marco had watched enough TV to know that if someone saw him like this with the Princess, it would not end well for him. The Book of Queens laid open on both their laps, so Marco closed the book so it was laying only on his lap. Careful not to wake up Star, Marco slowly pulled his arm out of her grip. Although, his heart stopped beating for a second when the Princess let out a whiney hum in her sleep. He then gently laid Star's head down on the Book of Queens as a makeshift pillow.
Star stirred in her sleep. "...snoooooore… my goblin dog… snoooooore… get your own… snoooooore… warnicorns… snoooooore…"
Marco raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Yeesh." he muttered before heading towards the exit. On his way, he walked by the Librarian at the front desk.
"Sorry I didn't wake you." The bookish woman said. "But you and the Princess looked so adorable."
Marco blushed again. "You won't tell anyone about that, right? Since it may result in me being hung at sunrise?"
"I would never do anything to harm or inconvenience you, Mr. Diaz." the Librarian replied. "You are the only thing that gives my life any meaning or the slightest amount of excitement anymore."
"...Oh…okay." Marco coughed awkwardly into his fist. "Have a good day."
"Oh, I probably won't. But, thank you anyway."
Marco felt like he should have talked with the Librarian about her problems or at least suggested therapy, but he instead just left the Library.
Once Marco was gone, the Librarian sighed. "I should have been a dentist."
"Yeah, you got anything that isn't corn based?" Marco asked the cook. "I'll eat the leftover bread crusts as long as no corn was used in the making of the bread."
"You don't want corn for breakfast?!" the tubby, mustached cook asked like it was a true enigma. "How barbaric!"
Marco rolled his eyes. "Forget it. I'll just go back to Earth for breakfast." Marco pulled out his dimensional scissors and cut open a portal. "Rice is pretty good too, ya know." He said before walking through the portal.
Only the cook noticed the portal blink orange as Marco entered.
Marco stepped out to the other side of the portal. "I should really consider introducing new crops to-wwwwwhat the hell?"
Marco was not on Earth, that was for sure. It looked like Pandora from Avatar had been lit on fire and doused with liquid rainbow. Marco was currently standing on one of many large, floating hunks of ground, this one being about the size of his backyard in Echo Creek, which floated through the sky like a lazy jellyfish. The whole world's atmosphere seemed to have a permanent Aurora Borealis, except this one was bigger and looked like a fiery rainbow had dominated the heavens. No actual ground could be seen below the floating masses, just an endless void.
"Woooooah." Marco breathed.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
It was then that Marco realized he wasn't alone. Sitting across from him by an open campfire near the edge of the floating mass of ground was a familiar demoness with long, blood red hair in an orange dress. She was cooking hot dogs over the fire and even had a pot of coffee hanging above the fire.
"You hungry?" Hekapoo asked. "Come. Have a seat."
"...No." Marco replied sternly. "I'm not doing this." He pulled his dimensional scissors out and attempted to open a portal. But, to Marco's confusion, nothing happened. He tried a few more times to make a portal to no avail. "Come on, come on…"
"Have a seat." Hekapoo repeated. "You're not going anywhere without my leave, so you might as well stick around."
Marco narrowed his eyes at the demoness, but knew that there was nothing he could do. Hekapoo had given him the gift of interdimensional travel, and she could take it away just as easily. So with great reluctance, Marco walked over and sat down on the other side of the fire.
Hekapoo rotated the two hot dogs she had roasting at the end of her fork. "Hungry?" she asked again.
"For hot dogs?"
"Even better; Goblin Dogs." Hekapoo whipped out her scissors and cut open a small red portal. She reached in and pulled out a pair of hot dog buns for the both of them. "Normally, cooking my own Goblin Dogs would be both impossible and incredibly illegal. But, I have my ways." She took one of the dogs off the fork and put it on a bun, which she handed to Marco.
Marco looked at the food skeptically, then tried a bite. "Hmm… pretty good."
"Pretty good?" Hekapoo had burned her Goblin Dog to a crisp before putting it on her bun. "Some people wait for years to get their hands on one of these, and they're just 'pretty good'?" Hekapoo bit into her wiener (I couldn't help myself) and chewed thoughtfully. "Mmm… yeah, you're right. They are just 'pretty good'."
The two of them finished off their Goblin Dogs in silence. Hekapoo pounded her chest with her fist and belched. Marco burped into his fist. "Thanks for the food. Now, since it's kinda obvious you want something, how about you tell me what you want?" said Marco.
Hekapoo cut open another portal. She pulled out two coffee mugs and took the pot off of the fire. She poured Marco and herself a mug and handed Marco one of the mugs. "I'll do you the courtesy of speaking bluntly. You're going to help me look for Queen Eclipsa."
Marco did a spit take with his coffee. "Say WHAT?!"
Hekapoo pulled a flask out of her dress and Irished up her coffee with what looked like molten lead. Since Marco first walked through the portal that had brought him to this place, Hekapoo's demeanor was like a bored college student. But she smiled in anticipation, like her roommate was bringing back a bag of weed for them to share.
"I have no more say in the matter than you do." the scissor forger said. "In order to make sure, one hundred percent, that you aren't up to anything, the Magic High Commission has decided by majority vote to recruit you in the hunt for the Queen Eclipsa."
Marco gulped. "Do… Do you think I'm up to anything?"
"Not really." Hekapoo answered. "You don't exactly strike me as the conniving type. Which is why this whole operation is part forced recruitment, part forced job interview."
Marco blinked. "Excuse me?"
"My work keeps me pretty busy; recovering stolen scissors, destroying illegal copies, fixing dimensional rifts and anomalies, tracking and apprehending any dimension-hoppers who think they can escape to another world." Hekapoo explained. "I hire some muscle every half a century or so to help me out with that stuff. My current guy, Talon, isn't doing all that good of a job. He's… well, he's an idiot. After you and I finish looking for Eclipsa, then we can talk about hiring you into my service."
"...Uhhhhh… I don't think-"
"You don't have to answer right now, you can wait until we're done looking for Eclipsa." said Hekapoo. "No rush."
Marco took a deep breath. "Well… I guess there's no way out of this. So, okay. How long is this gonna take?, I have somewhere to be tonight."
"Can't say for sure, honestly. When it comes to interdimensional travel, time gets really hard to keep track of. Even for me." Hekapoo stood up and opened one more portal. This time, she pulled out Marco's sword, Rebanador. "You might need this." She said before tossing him the sword.
Marco caught the sword and held it in his hands. He pulled the blade out of its sheath and stared into his reflection in the silver metal. 'I pray we don't find what we're looking for.'
Star let out a loud yawn and stretched like a cat waking up from it's nap. Her eyes slid open, revealing that she had fallen asleep in the Library. Star lifted herself to a sitting position on the sofa and looked around. "Marco?" There was no sign of the mocha-skinned boy.
Star looked down at the book she was using a pillow. The last thing Star remembered was reading on how Queen Hemera the Builder used her magic to build Butterfly Castle into the mountain, then she fell asleep to the strange but pleasant smell of deodorant and corn chips. Star hopped off the couch and walked out of the Library.
Star decided to head to Marco's room. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she felt like she should check on her tutor. Maybe Marco already had another tutor session planned. Or maybe they could just hang out a bit. Marco was new to Mewni, and to the entire multiverse, for that matter. Star was considering taking Marco for a fun-run through Mewni and some of her favorite places outside of the dimension, to thank him for being a great tutor. 'I bet he would love the Bounce Lounge.'
"Star."
Star froze at the sound of her mother's voice. She turned around to see Queen Moon approaching her.
"May I ask where you're heading off to?" Moon asked.
Star crossed her arms in irritation. "I'm just going to see Marco. See if he wants to tutor or hang out."
The look her mother gave Star was a weird one. "Actually, Star, would you walk with me for a minute? I wanted to talk to you about something."
Star raised an eyebrow. "About what?"
"Just walk with me, please." Moon continued down the hall and Star reluctantly walked by her side. Any castle staff member that the two royals came upon quickly moved out of their way. Star always had mixed feelings on the special treatment she received from everyone in the castle. The perks were always nice, Star wasn't about to lie about that. But sometimes, Star wondered what it would be like if people treated her like a normal person.
"It's good to know that you and Marco are becoming so well acquainted." Moon said.
"Oh, yeah!" Star responded cheerfully. "Marco's a great guy, and he's a great tutor too! Did you know that Celestia the Queen of Winter was so powerful with her ice magic, she literally-"
"froze the Underworld over." Moon smiled. "The Lucitors were so frightened of Queen Celestia, they gave in to her demands and swore off using Mewman souls for their demonic shenanigans. I think they ended up getting their souls across dimensions." Moon looked over at her daughter. "You and Marco read the chapter on your grandmother as well, yes?"
Star nodded. "Yeah. The book made her sound pretty great."
"She was pretty great." Moon smiled wistfully. "In fact, she was extraordinary. You are so much like your grandmother, it's scary sometimes."
Star was genuinely surprised by the comment, but she smiled back at her mother.
Moon turned her attention back to her path and her smile faded. "I know you and I don't always get along very well, and I'm sorry for that. I'm not like you or your grandmother, I had no choice but to be the way I am now."
"A grouchy, boring stick in the mud?" Star asked.
Moon slowly closed her eyes. "...Yes, Star… that." Moon reopened her eyes. "But you have to understand; I was born a bastard princess, to a Queen that, at the time, many viewed as weak and unfit to rule. But with your grandmother refusing each and every one of her suitors, and me being her only child, I was heir to the throne of Mewni whether the Kingdom liked it or not. So I had no choice but to prove to the people that I was a proper princess and a capable successor to my mother, and I was put to the ultimate test when… when my mother was murdered by the Septarians, and I was put on the throne." Moon stopped walking and looked directly into Star eyes.
"I became Queen Moon the Undaunted… because I could not afford to be anything else."
Star stared at her mother in both disbelief and confusion. "What… What are you trying to tell me? That I have no choice but to be like you?"
"I didn't have a lot of say in how my life turned out, or on the kind of person I became. Your father was the one choice in my life that was mine to make, and… well, you know how chaotic the family gatherings can get."
"I think Uncle Heartrude is still recovering from the fork he took to the knee."
"My point, Star, is that as the future Queen of Mewni, you will have to make sacrifices." Moon placed a hand on Star's shoulder.
"I'm not saying that you're doomed to have a terrible life. Not at all. But, I am saying that you are not always going to get what you want. You are going to have to accept what… or who… you can't have."
Star blinked at her mother with her mouth ajar. She then looked down at the ground, trying to deny the fact that her mother might be right.
Marco and Hekapoo exited the portal into a dreary looking swamp. The place looked like the end level of a videogame where the final boss was an evil ghost or something. The tall, dead trees hung menacingly over the foggy, murky, still swamp water.
"Well, this is welcoming." Marco commented sarcastically. "After all, I can't think of a single movie with a swamp in it that didn't have something bad happen in said swamp."
"You're not scared, are you?" Hekapoo taunted.
"No, I'm just confused on why we're here." said Marco. "Is this where Queen Eclipsa practiced witchcraft or something?"
Hekapoo shrugged. "Close. A witch lives in this swamp, and when Eclipsa was like, fourteen, she and her friends would sneak off to this dimension and buy some of the witch's homemade moonshine."
"Wait, what? This was where Eclipsa used to do her booze run? Why the hell are we here then? You think she came back after three hundred just to get hammered?"
"Hey, if I was imprisoned for three hundred years in a crystal, I would definitely need a drink afterwards." Hekapoo walked ahead. "Stay close. Follow the same trail I do."
Marco did as Hekapoo instructed and followed behind her. Walking through the menacing marsh made Marco feel like he was walking through a den of vipers. The swamp reeked like sweet poison and the slightest movement would make Marco reach for Rebanador's hilt. Marco and Hekapoo eventually came to the entrance of a large cave, dug into the side of a large cliff face.
"Alright, this is the place," said Hekapoo. "Now-"
A shrill roar echoed out of the cave entrance.
Marco drew his silver sword and Hekapoo pulled out her scissors and pulled them apart, wielding them like duel knives.
"Betcha ten bucks it's a crow monster." Hekapoo said. "For like, every other witch, their protector is some kind of crow monster."
A giant crow monster stalked out of the cave. It spread it's coal-black wings and cawed in challenge.
"Called it."
The giant crow reared it's head and sent it's sharp beak flying towards Marco and Hekapoo, who both backflipped out of the way as the crow's beak stuck into the ground. While Big Crow (like the name?) was trying to dislodge it's beak, Hekapoo jumped up and split into five Hekapoos. Two Hekapoos landed on either wing while the main Hekapoo landed on the beast's neck. Big Crow drew his beak out of the ground and cried out in pain as the Hekapoo Quintet began stabbing away at the bird's large body.
The Hekapoos struggled as Big Crow attempted to throw them off. "Marco! Go for-"
(SWISH)
With the sound like a sharp whip of wind, Big Crow froze in place. Marco landed back on his feet and sheathed his sword.
"Off with your head."
Big Crow's head slid of it's shoulders and fell to the ground, then the rest of him fell. The Hekapoos hopped off as the body began to boil away like black water until there was nothing left. The five Hekapoos stared in shock at Marco as they fazed back into one Hekapoo, then the one Hekapoo grinned.
"There he is."
Marco blinked. "There's who?"
"The real you." Hekapoo walked up to Marco, who looked like he was snapping out of a trance. "It's good to see your Neverzone know-how never went away. Face it, Human, you missed this kind of stuff."
"I don't-"
"You really gonna tell me you prefer teaching the Princess how to count to ten?" Hekapoo mocked. "Come on, we both know you're gonna be begging me to enlist you into my service after this is done. You miss the real action. It's a drug you've become addicted to and there's no shame in wanting more."
Marco stared at Hekapoo for a while before pushing past her and entering the cave. "I don't want any of this." Marco said.
"You can't deny what's inside, meatbag!" Hekapoo called after him before following Marco into the cave.
Marco led the way through the cave. It was one of those smooth, one-way caves, so the traverse required little to no effort. The two of them eventually found themselves in front of a large cauldron. Standing on a large step stool was a hunchback witch with green skin wearing a black robe and matching pointy hat. Your garden-variety witch.
When the witch noticed Marco and Hekapoo, she grunted in annoyance. "You damn teenagers, coming in here looking to buy some hooch." The witch sighed. "Alright, how much do you want? I charge depending on what kind of currency you use in your dimension. Hell, I'll accept rocks if you've got enough of them."
Hekapoo stepped forward. "We're not here for your moonshine. Well, actually, I'll take two bottles, but we're actually here about a former customer of yours. She might've called herself Princess Eclipsa back then."
"That delinquent? I haven't seen her in over three hundred years. Why you asking me about her now?"
"So you haven't seen her lately? Hekapoo asked. "I remind you that lying to the Magic High Commission and aiding an enemy of the Magic High Commission can and will result in eternal imprisonment or possibly execution."
"I told you I haven't seen hide nor tail of that girl in three stinkin' centuries!" the witch cried. "Now get out! Or buy some booze, then get out!"
"Is this what you do for a living?" Marco asked. "Sell moonshine to minors?"
"I also sell curses. You have a stepparent or ex that you want cursed? I'm your witch!"
"Boy, you are an angry teenager's dream come true." Marco commented.
"Say, did you two kill my giant crow?" the witch asked.
"...No." Hekapoo and Marco replied in unison.
"It's cool if you did, I was planning on getting a new one anyway."
"Oh. Then yeah, we totally did." said Hekapoo. "Sorry about that."
"S'all good."
"...Can I get two bottles to go now?"
"Right right right, sure."
Star walked into the training yard. The armor-clad knights and knights-to-be were sharpening both their blades and their skills. Star saw an assortment of weapons clashing; swords, axes, spears, maces, and even a cudgel or two. Star couldn't help but smile. As a toddler, she spent a lot of time with the knights as her babysitters. A lot of the nobility said that the knights turned her into a barbarian with their babysitting methods. And if it wasn't the knights, it was her dad that got the blame. Speaking of which…
In the training yard, King River was kicking ass and taking names with his trusty axe. Dressed in his traditional Johansen fur armor, Star's dad was tossing the knights around like a professional juggler. "COME ON! IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?!" the king bellowed. "MY GRANDMOTHER HAD MORE FIGHT THAN YOU SORRY EXCUSES FOR KNIGHTS!"
Star dodged a knight that River had thrown across the yard. "Hey, dad?!"
"Star, my dear!" River greeted while he was choking out a knight-trainee. "How is my baby angel doing on this fine day?!"
Star blushed and smiled at being called 'baby angel'. "I… wanted to talk to you about something. Something…" Star's smile faded. "...important."
Picking up on his daughter's distress, River frowned and dropped the now unconscious trainee to the ground. "Alright everyone! Take five!"
The knights looked beyond relieved. They all quickly cleared the area, and King River rested his axe on his shoulder and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Phew! What a workout. Now then, sweetheart, what's biting you?"
Star rubbed her forearm. "Dad, do you… do you like being a king?"
King River chuckled. "It certainly has its perks! I literally live like a king!"
"But, you've never found the life of a royal to be… I don't know… restricting?" Star asked. "Like… would you say life as a royal has a… certain lack of choices?"
River stared at Star for a bit, then let out a deep sigh. "Ah, I knew we would have this talk someday." The King walked over to a nearby bench and patted the spot next to him. "Have a seat, Star."
Curious as to where her dad was going with this, Star took a seat next to him.
"Star, I know that, as the future Queen of Mewni, there's a lot of pressure on you. And, you may just now be feeling that pressure, if we're finally having the talk." River began. "As the youngest Johansen Prince, I had a lot of pressure on me as well. And when I married your mother, when I became the King of Mewni," River took a deep breath. "I won't lie, I was terrified. I had to sacrifice a lot just to be her King. But I was willing to make those sacrifices, because that's how much I love your mother."
"But how much did you have to sacrifice?" Star asked. "How much of yourself did you have to lose in order to meet everyone's standards?"
"I never met everyone's standards." River replied grimly. "Your mother's side of the family still thinks I'm a joke after all these years. Ho-ho, you wouldn't believe the speech your Aunt Etheria gave at our wedding. It nearly started a war!"
'Huh. I just now realized that Aunt Etheria was named after Queen Etheria… the name does not suit her.' "Well, what about mom? Was there ever a time where she wasn't so… uptight?" Star asked.
"Believe it or not, your mother has a fun side she keeps hidden from prying eyes." The king chuckled. "You wanna know where we went for our honeymoon? I convinced your mother to go warnicorn riding, and then we hiked through the Forest of Certain Death."
"Woah! For real?!" Star exclaimed. No matter how hard she tried, Star just couldn't picture her mother doing anything so exciting.
"Ah, your mother and I had a blast." River smiled in reminiscence. "We fought beasts, we escaped traps, and then we cuddled in these hot springs we found in the middle of the forest. Ah, she was as beautiful back then as she is now, and I got more than just a good look at her beauty that day."
Star turned green. "Ew. No more. Please. Ew."
"But, it's safe to say that that was our first and only day of fun in our marriage." River continued. "Your mother took her duty as Queen very seriously, and she earned a fair amount of respect for her work. All the while, I did my best to be a good king for her."
"...So, that was it?" Star asked. "You guys had one fun day, and then the rest of your lives were just 'queen' this and 'king' that?"
"Well, and whatever you do, do not tell your mother, I sneak off every now and then to do my own thing." River looked around to make sure no one had heard him. "As King, no one really expects me to do a whole lot. To be perfectly honest, all anybody really expects the King to do is make public appearances and put a baby in the Queen."
"Again, ew."
"But your mother, she got the raw end of the deal. Everyone looks to her to make the right decision for the Kingdom. She does her best to be the perfect Queen, and she's a damn good Queen!"
Star looked down at the ground in dismay. "So… I'm just doomed to be like mom?" she asked. "I'll never be able to be anything else, because the Kingdom won't accept anything else?"
"Spit on what the Kingdom accepts!" River exclaimed. "Star, you may not become the perfect Queen, but who is, honestly? The truth of the matter is, there's no such thing as perfection. Are you doomed to have responsibilities? Of course you are, everyone is. Even me, whether or not I like it. But those responsibilities need not change who you are. You're a wild, unpredictable, rebellious girl with a heart of gold, and I don't see that changing any time soon, nor do I see a reason for it to change."
River placed a hand on Star's shoulder. "You're going to be a great Queen someday, Star. I know it, and so does your mother. You may not be the Queen everybody will want, but you're the Queen everybody will get. And if they don't like it, they can eat the sharp end of my sword!"
Star gave it some thought, then smiled at her father. "Thanks, dad. I really needed to hear that. I'd hug you, but you're all sweaty and stinky."
"Good call, my dear. Good call." said King River. "Eh, completely off topic, but how is that Marco boy treating you as a tutor?"
"Marco? Oh, he's a pretty good tutor. We learned about the Queens of Mewni last night."
"...Last night?" River asked suspiciously. "If this 'study session' was in your bedroom, then I'm-"
"NO! It was in the Library!" Star shouted, her face reddening. "Come on, dad! Nothing is going on between me and Marco!"
"There'd better not be." King River warned. "I don't care if he did save you and a school full of other princesses, the boy's not going to lay a finger on my precious little girl."
"Ugh." Star hopped off the bench. "Bye, dad. Thanks for the talk."
"You're welcome, dear. Have a good rest of your day, sweetheart." River stood up off the bench and hefted his axe. "Alright, men! BACK TO IT!"
Hekapoo and Marco stepped out of the portal. "Alright, this is the last place on the list." Hekapoo looked up at the tall red mountain. The stone mountain was the only thing of notice in the lifeless environment they were in. Everywhere else was red sand and tumbleweeds.
Marco looked up at the mountain. He was covered in bruises and his hoodie sported several cuts and tears. "What is this place? It's just a mountain."
"Nah, this is where you can find The Pub Within. It's a bar that caters to the baddest of the bad and the toughest of the tough. Eclipsa used to come here to perform her music. She was a respected regular in this place."
"Queen Eclipsa played music?" Marco asked.
"You want another mind blower? She played that heavy metal stuff. Not gonna lie, she had some mad skill on her guitar."
"Let me ask you something, what exactly did Queen Eclipsa do that was so bad?" Marco asked. "This entire time, you and everybody else have been going on and on about how much of a villain the Queen of Darkness was, but what exactly did she do that earned her time in a crystal?"
Hekapoo refused to make eye contact with Marco. "Eclipsa practiced dark magic, and I mean the really dangerous stuff. She rejected Mewman society and ran off with the Monster King, Globgor."
"But, like, did she murder somebody? Steal something? Maybe double dip at a party-"
"She was a danger to herself and the people around her." Hekapoo replied defensively. "We did what we had to do."
Marco blinked. "What did you 'have' to do?"
Hekapoo walked ahead towards the mountain without even acknowledging Marco had said anything. Marco followed, although the questions running through his head made it hard to think.
Hekapoo led Marco into a small fissure in the mountain base. The two of them walked until they came to a pulley elevator guarded by a nine-foot tall minotaur built like a professional wrestler, wearing black jeans and a white muscle shirt. The minotaur snorted steam as Marco and Hekapoo approached him.
"Ya'll lost or somethin'?" the minotaur asked in a deep baritone. "Beat it."
"Do you know who I am?" Hekapoo asked.
"Nah. I don't really care either." the bull man replied. "I know your kind, and your kind don't got no place here. So like I said before: Beat it."
"I am Hekapoo of the Magic High Commission. Me and my associate here are looking for an escaped convict that may have sought refuge here. Queen Eclipsa Pendle Butterfly, the Queen of Darkness. Is she here?"
The minotaur narrowed his eyes dangerously. "We ain't got no beef with the MHC. We ain't got no beef with the Queen of Darkness either. We don't harbor criminals in our bar, not to say that Eclipsa was a criminal. She's aight. You, though? You and your beat up boytoy better scram while the scrammin's good, girl."
Hekapoo placed a hand on Marco's arm before he could draw his sword out. "You have two options right now." Hekapoo growled. "You can either let us in, and we'll look around the pub you claim harbors no fugitives, or, I can get the entire Magic High Commission here in less than five minutes and we'll all show ourselves in. And I think we both would prefer the former, wouldn't we?"
The minotaur glared at Hekapoo with a look that could kill. Then he growled angrily before stepping out of the way. "Don't make me come up there!"
Hekapoo and Marco walked into the elevator and the minotaur pulled a lever. The Human and demoness gradually rose up into a dark shaft that made its way into the heart of the mountain. The only light was the glow of the oil lamp fixed on the top of the elevator, and Hekapoo's head flame.
"Get ready for a fight. I get the feeling these guys are big Queen of Darkness fans." said Hekapoo.
"This is it, right?" Marco asked. "After this, you and the MHC will get off my back?"
Hekapoo smirked and took a step towards Marco. "Stop pretending you're not enjoying this. The adrenaline, the excitement. Admit it. Deep down, you're loving this. And besides," Hekapoo took another step towards Marco. "I like to think we work pretty well together."
Marco took two steps back, and hoped the dark concealed his blush. "Listen. I don't need to add 'side job as hired muscle for demoness portal master' to the things I need to worry about."
"But you really, really want to." Hekapoo replied. "Look, it's not a bad gig. I'd have you do jobs for me in the Neverzone. Missions that would last for months or even years for you, but to everyone else, a few minutes at best. Just a quick in and out when I need you. No inconvenience to your schedule whatsoever. The one thing you would have to worry about is coming back alive. And with your skillset, I wouldn't be too concerned about that. And by working for me, you give the MHC even less of a reason to distrust you. You couldn't ask for a better night job!"
Marco turned around so Hekapoo couldn't read his face. "My answer is still no."
"Your answer is currently no." said Hekapoo.
The lift brought them up to a large hollowed out pocket in the mountain, which was being used as a pub. Numerous wooden tables and seats were scattered about with tough looking patrons of various species. A jukebox played death metal and there was a currently in use pool table, dart board, and knife toss target for the entertainment of the patrons. A bar counter sat in the back of the cave, a wall of booze lining the back of the cave wall. A merman bartender served drinks to any who needed to wet their whistle. No sign of any Mewman Queen of Darkness.
When the bar patrons noticed Hekapoo and Marco, the music stopped with that annoying record scratch sound. Several of the patrons surrounded the duo, like a pack of wolves trying to scare off two intruding coyotes.
"Queen Eclipsa!" Hekapoo shouted. "Where is she?!"
A large cyclops in a biker jacket and blue jeans pushed his way to the front of the group. "There ain't no one here by that name!" he bellowed. "Now, get out!"
Hekapoo closed her eyes as if trying to hear a sound. "No portal activity for the past three hours. If she's here, then she hasn't left yet."
"Maybe we should go." Marco suggested. "I don't think Eclipsa's in this bar. And, we're clearly not welcome here."
Hekapoo looked around at the angry looking bar scruffs. "So none of you have seen Eclipsa? Well, thanks for nothing, assholes." Hekapoo pulled out her scissors to cut a portal out of the pub.
"Yeah, get out of here, ya succubus!"
Hekapoo froze. The eye that wasn't hidden by her bangs began to glow a fiery orange color. "¿WhO cAlLeD mE tHaT?"
Everyone in the bar took a scared step back. Even Marco. The bar patrons began whistling casually, pretending Hekapoo wasn't even there.
Hekapoo broke her scissors apart into a knife duo and her head flame intensified. Three clones appeared on either side of her like a spreading fire.
"¡¿WhIcH oNe Of YoU sAiD iT?!"
The Hekapoos were about to advance on the frightened bar scruffs, but Marco ran in front of the main Hekapoo and spread his arms out. "Woah! Hekapoo, calm down! Eclipsa's not here. The job's done, let's just go. These guys aren't worth the trouble."
Hekapoo narrowed her eyes dangerously at Marco. The two of them had a staring contest for a long time. Everyone else in the bar held their breath in fear and anticipation.
Finally, Hekapoo's fire died down and the angry glow in her eye faded away. The Hekapoo clones fazed away. Hekapoo cut open a red-orange portal. "Come on, Human." she said before walking through the portal.
The cyclops guy from before came up and placed a hand on Marco's shoulder. "Thanks, man."
"Yeah, you guys take it easy." Marco replied before walking through the portal.
When Marco emerged from the other side of the portal, the familiar sight of barren fields, icy mountains, and active volcanoes gave Marco pause.
"The Neverzone?" Marco grabbed his throat. "Gah! My voice!" Marco looked down at his body, which was now the body of a ripped thirty-year-old. Marco once again looked like a movie star who played the role of a roguish bounty hunter whose poster girls hung in their room. Tanned biceps and abs, biker gloves and open leather jacket with a ripped up, red hoodie around his neck, brown pants stuffed into black combat boots, even the scar over his eye and tattoo on his bicep had returned.
"Oh, give me a break." Marco said in his returned deep voice.
"No complaints over here."
Marco turned to see Hekapoo standing off to the side, grinning and examining Marco with a fiery glint in her eye. "I personally, am enjoying the view."
"Nope. Not doing this." Marco pulled out his scissors and attempted to cut open a portal. It wouldn't work.
Hekapoo raised her hand up and wagged her finger. "Ah, ah, ah, muscles. You don't leave until I say you leave."
Marco narrowed his eyes and pocketed his scissors. "The deal was I help you sniff around for Eclipsa, and then you and the rest of the Magic High Commission leave me alone. I helped you, the trail was cold, now uphold your goddamn end of the deal."
Hekapoo shrugged innocently. "Come on, you got off too easy. There was no bar fight, and I was both expecting and looking forward to a good old fashioned bar brawl. Now instead, we're gonna climb that mountain."
Marco looked in the direction Hekapoo pointed and his eyes went wide. An incredibly tall mountain that put Everest to shame loomed over them. There were even menacing, dark clouds and lightning at the peak, which can give you a pretty clear idea on where this is going.
"You want me to climb to the top of that mountain?" Marco asked. "Look, I've already done the wild goose chase through hell ordeal, so if there's a glow-in-the-dark makeup kit on the top of that mountain, so help me God, I will end you."
"Your thank you gift for helping me search for Eclipsa is up there." Hekapoo said. "Although, I thought I'd have you do one more Neverzone run to get it. You know, for old times sake."
Marco tilted his head. "Thank you gift? Care to tell me what it is so I can decide whether or not it'll be worth it?"
Hekapoo shrugged. "Could be a new weapon, could be a sick set of armor," Hekapoo walked up and ran a finger along Marco's abs. "could be a fur skin rug and the two bottles of moonshine I bought off the witch. Why not let it be a surprise, Hmm?"
Marco backed away from the demoness. 'Damn these adult urges. They're not as bad as my teen urges, but still.' "You...You're gonna have to do better than that if you want me to climb that mountain with you."
"Alright." Hekapoo brought her fingers to her mouth and whistled. With the mixed sound of a motorcycle engine and the roar of a beast, something descended from the sky.
Marco began to feel excitement well up within him at the sound of the roar. "Is… is that…?"
The creature landed in front of Marco and folded it's bat-like wings. It looked like if a motorcycle-sized, grey-scaled dragon had both it's hind and front legs holding onto a spiked wheel, perfectly balanced. The beast snorted smoke, then pounced on Marco.
The dragoncycle pinned Marco between it's wheels and began licking his face with it's forked tongue. "AH! Down, girl! Down! I missed you too! Down, Nachos!" With a laugh, Marco finally managed to push the dragoncycle off of him.
"What do ya say, muscles?" Hekapoo asked. "One more ride, and I'll leave you alone if you really want me to."
Marco stood back up and Nachos nudged his arm with her head, purring loudly and silently demanding to be scratched behind the ear. Marco sighed. "I guess… one more ride couldn't hurt." he replied begrudgingly. "But that's it! I'm not working for you, so don't get your hopes up!"
Hekapoo grinned. "We'll see."
Star knocked on Marco's door. "Hey, Marco!" she called. "You wanna hang out a bit? You're good with a sword. I'm good with everything else including a sword. Maybe we could spar a bit? Or we could, like, do some crossbow shooting, if you're looking for something more mellow."
There was no answer on the other side of the door.
Star knocked again. "Marco? You in there?" Curious, Star opened the door and peeked inside. "Hello? Any Humans in here?" Star pushed the door open and walked inside. The room was so tidy and organized, Star might've guessed her mom had come in here and cleaned up the place.
"Where the cornhush is that-AHHHHHHH!"
Glossaryck was sitting on Marco's bed in nothing but his underwear, shaving his legs. The half naked genie stared up at the grossed out Star with a tired expression. "I guess a closed door means 'come on in' when no one answers, huh? Boy, I really am behind the times."
Star averted her gaze. "Glossaryck! Please put your robe back on!" Star begged.
Glossaryck rolled his eyes. With a wave of his hands, he was once again covered in his yellow robe. "Looking for Mr. Diaz, are you?"
Star peaked through her fingers to make sure Glossaryck was back in his robe before uncovering her eyes. "Yeah. you know where he is?"
"He's with Hekapoo in the Neverzone."
"Oh. Well, when he gets back, can y… wait, what?!"
"The guy spent all day with my daughter, how do you think I feel…? You got me, I don't really care."
"We gotta get him out of there!" Star shouted. "That place is crazy dangerous!"
"He's been in there before, you know. Marco knows what he's doing." Glossaryck smirked. "Or do you just want to get him away from Hekapoo?"
Star blushed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Not yet, perhaps. Not entirely, anyway." Glossaryck floated up off the bed. "But if you're looking to get into the Neverzone, I might know a way in."
"You'd help me get into the Neverzone?" Star asked skeptically.
"Sure, I got nothing better to do today. And besides, I always get a kick out of pissing off Hekapoo. She does this scary demon voice when she gets really mad that is just a treat to hear."
"Yeah, I know all about the scary demon voice." Star replied with a roll of his eyes. "How you find it enjoyable is beyond me."
"To each his own." said Glossaryck. "You wanna go now? Hekapoo does her best to keep me out of her dimension, but what kind of dad would I be if I didn't have a copy of my daughter's keys, so to speak?"
"...Can we go now?"
"Yeah, sure."
Mounted on his dragoncycle, Marco swung his sword and decapitated another battle goblin as he rode up the mountain. Hekapoo sat behind him, her arms wrapped around Marco's waist and her hands covering his abs. A trio of harpies flew down at them. Hekapoo jumped into the air and split into three. The Hekapoos slashed off the Harpies' wings midair, then she morphed back into one as Hekapoo landed back on the dragoncycle and the harpies crashed into the ground.
Thunder roared and lightning crashed as Marco and Hekapoo rode towards the mountain peak. More beasts attacked them on their way up, and the duo had to slice and dice their way through the horde with Nachos' occasional bite and breath of fire adding to the fray. When they finally reached the flattened, gym-sized peak, Marco was astounded by what he saw. "Por la gracia de Dios."
In the center of the peak, a large, charcoal-black brazier burned with a mesmerizing blue flame, like the eye of God himself. Marco and Hekapoo dismounted Nachos, who growled at the blue fire.
"There it is." said Hekapoo in awe. "The Neverzonian Ethereal Flame. Every few millennia or so, the very power of the Nightosphere itself burns atop this mountain."
The fire began to dance wildly.
Marco took a step back. "What's going on?!"
Something jumped out of the brazier. It looked like a hideous scarecrow that had caught on fire. Blue flames covered it's tall, lanky body and his eyes and mouth were filled with blue fire as well. Instead of hands, it had two wicked looking sickle blades protruding out of its wrists. The hellish creature raised its long arms menacingly and the sharp blades glinted like a pair of crescent moons.
"It's a Reaper." said Hekapoo. She and Marco both pulled out their weapons. "Every time the flame appears, you always see one of these assholes soaking up it's power. It enhances their abilities tenfold."
Marco got into a fighting stance. "Any tips on how to kill this thing?"
Hekapoo got in a stance as well. "Go for the head."
The Reaper rushed them. It slashed and swiped at both Marco and Hekapoo with inhuman speed. Marco and Hekapoo fought for their lives to counter and block each of the Reaper's attacks. The creature danced like a maniac around Marco and Hekapoo in an attempt to slash at an opening. Marco did manage to get a swipe at it's head, but the head just hopped up and down like a rabbit and Rebanabor cut only air. With the skill of a master martial artist, the Reaper planted a speedy double kick that lifted Marco and Hekapoo off their feet and onto their backs. With an expert backroll, they immediately got back on their feet.
Hekapoo growled angrily and charged at the Reaper with Marco right behind her. Hekapoo feinted an attack to the creature's front, but at the last millisecond, split into two and caught the creature's sickle blades with her scissors and held back it's arms. Marco used the brief advantage to slice at the Reaper's head again. This time, it was too stunned to do the head-hop trick. So as soon as the blade cut the neck, the Reaper exploded, sending Marco and the Hekapoos flying back.
The Hekapoos managed to land on their feet, but Marco landed painfully on his back and groaned in pain. Sensing her master's distress, Nachos quickly wheeled over and began licking away at Marco's face.
Marco laughed and pushed the dragoncycle away from his face. "I'm fine, girl, I'm fine! Down!" The Hekapoos came up and grabbed either arm, hosting Marco back on his feet.
The Hekapoos fazed back into one and the one held out her hand. "Give me your scissors for a second."
Hoping he was finally able to leave, Marco pulled out his dimensional scissors and handed them to Hekapoo. The demoness walked over to the blue flame brazier and held the scissors up in the air. The fire began to dance again, but not as violently. A pair of fiery orbs shot out of the either side of the brazier and arced towards the scissors. The orbs hit the scissors and the dimensional cutlery caught on fire, so it looked like Hekapoo was holding a lit torch without the torch. The demoness chanted in a language unknown to Marco and the fire soaked into the scissors. The blades glowed blue for a bit before returning to normal.
Hekapoo walked back and presented the scissors to the confused Marco. "What did you just do?" he asked.
With a smile, Hekapoo grabbed each of the scissor's handles and yanked them apart. The separated blades grew into a pair of short swords with blue, fiery blades.
Marco's eyes lit up. "Woah!"
"Pretty cool, right?" Hekapoo brought the scissors back together and the blades shrunk back down to their regular appearance. "They work like mine, but not as good. I save the best for myself," Hekapoo offered Marco the scissors. "but consider it a fine addition to the Marco Diaz arsenal."
Marco took the scissors and admired them. He looked back to Hekapoo and smiled. "Thank you."
Hekapoo held out her hand again. "Now, give me your compact mirror."
Marco blinked. "Wha-"
"Come on, come on." Hekapoo opened and closed her hand impatiently.
Although suspicious, Marco pulled out his mirror phone and handed it to Hekapoo, who opened it up and began typing away.
"Hey, what're you doing?" Marco demanded.
"Adding me to your contacts." Hekapoo flipped the mirror closed and tossed it back to Marco. "For when you decide you want to work for me."
Marco narrowed his eyes. "I'm not working for you."
"Sure you are." replied Hekapoo. "Come on, man. Did you not see what you just did? You're capable of more than just tutoring a reckless princess." Hekapoo walked up and poked Marco's abs. "Just admit it, you need this. After all the crap Glossaryck shoved you headfirst in? You need this outlet. In fact, you crave it."
Marco took a step back from Hekapoo. "...I-"
A blue portal opened up by the brazier and Glossaryck floated out of the portal and Star jumped through with her wand aimed at anything that moved. "Marco! Are you ok- ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhAHHHHHHHHHHHHahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
"Star? What the heck are you doing here?" Marco asked in confusion.
Star's eyes sparkled like twin diamonds. "What-what-what-what-what-what-what happened to you?"
"Huh? Oh, time works differently in the Neverzone. I'm thirty now." Marco explained. "...Star? You okay there?"
Star tore her eyes off of Marco's abs. "What?"
"Glossaryck! What the hell?!" Hekapoo shouted. "It's bad enough when you come into my dimension, but what were you thinking bringing the Princess here?! This place is dangerous!"
Glossaryck shrugged. "I was bored. This seemed like it would lead to something fun."
"Hey, Marco! What's that?!" Star pointed above him.
Marco looked up and Star took the picture. "What? What is it?"
Star put her mirror back in her dress pocket. "Nothing, my bad."
Hekapoo rolled her eyes. "Are you guys done now?"
"I am, yeah." said Glossaryck. "By the way, Marco, don't you have somewhere to be? You may want to check the time on your mirror."
Marco pulled his mirror back out and opened it up. His eyes went wide when he saw the time. "Oh, crap! I gotta get going!"
"What? Where ya going?" Hekapoo asked.
"Yeah. We just got here." Star complained. "Please keep talking. The sound of your voice is very… voice."
"I'm gonna be honest, I did not predict him looking like that." said Glossaryck. "I mean, wow. I feel so disgusted with my body all of a sudden. It might be a while before I can eat pudding again."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Marco shouted. "I have a life outside of tutoring princesses and working with demons and genies!" Marco used his scissors to cut open a portal. He then stomped over to Nachos and hopped into her saddle.
"And now, I'm going to live that life!" Marco revved up the dragoncycle and she blew a column of fire before charging into the portal, which blinked out of existence after Marco was gone.
The three magicians (look it up, they all qualify) remained quiet for a minute before Star awkwardly coughed into her fist. "Uh… Glossaryck? Can ya take me home, now?"
Glossaryck snapped his fingers and the portal they came through reappeared. "Vamoose, Star. I'm gonna chat with Hekapoo for a bit."
"Yeah, I'd prefer it if you just left." said Hekapoo.
Glossaryck swiped his hand in front of him and with a startled yelp, Star was flung into the portal, which disappeared once she was through.
Hekapoo grunted in frustration. "Ugh. Fine. Just say what you want to say and leave."
Glossaryck floated closer to Hekapoo. His expression was perfectly poker faced. "Be honest, you didn't want to find Eclipsa."
Hekapoo's eye widened in shock for a bit before settling back down. "My job was to look for her, and I did. I didn't find her, but if I had-"
"You just might, just might, have turned the other way and kept walking like you didn't see her." said Glossaryck.
Hekapoo crossed her arms angrily. "What's your damn point?!"
"My damn point is, out of all of my children, you make me the most proud."
Hekapoo blinked her eyes like the compliment greatly surprised and confused her.
"My dear, I know that you and the others still feel a tad guilty over what happened all those years ago." Glossaryck continued. "And you should. What you did was heinous."
"We did what-"
"No, you didn't. You did what you felt had to be done. There's a difference."
Hekapoo turned her back on Glossaryck. "What's next on the list? You gonna tell me to leave Marco alone? Don't like me playing with your puppet?"
"I'll let him do him. He's earned a break." replied Glossaryck. "And besides, you could use a friend for a change. I think we both know that's all you really want at the end of each day."
Hekapoo eyes burned orange and she spun around at Glossaryck. "¡GeT oUt Of My DiMeNsIoN!"
"Ah, there's the scary voice. Still manages to give me chills." Glossaryck began to float upward. "I'll see you 'round, kid." he said before disappearing like TV static.
Hekapoo's fire died back down. The scissor forger stood there, on the top of the mountain, in the most dangerous dimension in the known multiverse.
And she felt alone.
Jackie sat on the rock with her legs crossed and bounced her feet. The sun was setting over the ocean once again, a beautiful view the surfer/skater girl never grew tired of. Jackie began drumming her fingers on the rock in a blend of nervousness and impatience. 'Where the heck is he?' Marco had a lot on his plate, and Jackie understood that. But still, Jackie barely saw Marco anymore. And she hated to admit it, but Janna's 'interdimensional competition' bit from earlier worried Jackie more than she had let on. She was really looking forward to dating Marco, he was a great guy. But he was working across dimensions now, with a princess Jackie understood to be around their age.
A blue portal suddenly appeared in front of Jackie and a dragon-thing on wheels flew out of it. The platinum haired girl screamed in alarm.
"DON'T PEPPERSPRAY ME!" the rider shouted.
Jackie blinked. "Wha… Marco?!"
Sure enough, it was Marco, sitting in the dragon-thing's saddle. Although, the hoodie he wore was ripped and torn like a cat's pillow.
"Hey, Jackie!" Marco greeted. "And before you say anything, I am, technically, not late."
With eyes wide with panic, Jackie stared at Marco's new pet. "Uhhhh… what is that?"
"Oh, this is Nachos." Marco patted Nachos' neck. "My dragoncycle."
"...Okay."
Marco dismounted the dragoncycle. "Alright, girl. Get back in there." Marco pointed to the portal. "I'll see you later." The dragoncycle gave Marco's face a friendly lick before going back the way it came.
The portal disappeared and Jackie gave her heart a minute to stop accelerating. "Ya know… most guys get dogs."
Marco rubbed his shoulder and chuckled nervously. "Sorry. My day has been… pretty hectic. Ya ready to look for seashells now?"
Jackie studied Marco for a bit, then reached behind her and pulled out two slushies from Stop & Slurp. "That was the plan, but judging from your torn up look and the tick in your eye, maybe we should just relax and watch the sunset together." Jackie scooted over on the rock to make room for Marco. "Sit, Rover."
Marco took his slushie and sat down next to Jackie. The rock wasn't all that big, so Marco and Jackie's shoulders rubbed together. Marco felt his stomach twirl from the close contact.
Jackie took a drink out of her slushie. "So… you wanna talk about your hectic day? You look like you came out of a blender."
Marco slurped his drink. "I'm not even sure how far back I should go."
Jackie rested her head in the crook of Marco's neck, lighting the boy's face up like a red Christmas light. "Whatever you need to unload, go ahead and unload."
Marco took a deep breath. "Well… tutoring the Princess isn't all that bad of a job. In fact, learning about her family history has been kinda fun. It's everything else about the job that's super stressful. I still don't think the Queen fully trusts me, and her work associates made it clear they don't. And the food selection is ridiculous, those Mewmans are nuts for corn. They eat it for every meal. Plus, Mewni has a bit of a dark side that I'm afraid I may have stumbled into."
"If you hate the job so much, then why not quit?" Jackie asked.
"...The medical benefits, I guess." Marco replied. "Mewni is the only place where I can… diagnose what I've got."
Jackie lifted her head off of Marco's shoulder and looked into Marco's eyes. "What do you have?" She asked in worry.
"It's not a disease or anything," said Marco. "It's… more like a gift that I'm paying for."
"Doesn't really sound like a gift."
"You're telling me."
Jackie took another sip of her slushie. "If you're not gonna quit, maybe you should find a hobby or something for when you're not working. You know, to take the edge off and help you relax."
Marco rubbed the back of his head. "Well… one of the Queen's work associates offered me a side job. And I won't lie to you, it's a tempting offer. But, the risk may not be worth it."
"Well, ya gotta find something." said Jackie. "It's obvious the stress is eating away at you. You need to find a relief from work. If it gets really bad, we could try having sex if you want."
Marco nearly passed out. "I… I… I-I think it might be a little… soon, for that." Marco squeaked in reply.
Jackie laughed at Marco's flustered state. "I'm just messing with you, dude. Why are you so nervous with me? You're the one who asked to start dating, and now your face matches your hoodie whenever I so much as touch you."
Marco gulped. "Well… it's just… you're super cool, and… I've never done this before, and… there isn't exactly a how-to manual for this kind of thing."
"You don't need a manual for dating." Jackie set her slushie down. "Here, I have an idea."
Before Marco could ask what she was doing, Jackie grabbed Marco's shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes.
"Now, repeat after me." Jackie instructed. "Jackie Lynn Thomas is my girlfriend."
Marco blushed. "Jackie Lynn Thomas is… my girlfriend."
"Again." Jackie ordered.
"Jackie Lynn Thomas is… my girlfriend."
"Again."
"Jackie Lynn Thomas is… my girlfriend."
"Again."
"Jackie Lynn Thomas is my girlfriend."
"Now kiss me."
Marco's blush tripled. Jackie let go of his shoulders and rested her hands on her lap. "I'm not gonna move an inch. You have to kiss me if you wanna pass the test."
"This is a test?" Marco asked.
"Yup. You don't wanna get your first 'F', do you?"
Marco gulped. Jackie's smile and gaze were inviting him in, but Marco still hesitated. Then he thought about how people called him the Safe Kid, and the absurdity of the name. In less than a week, Marco had fought monsters, killed an immortal lizard, survived fifteen years in a nightmarish dimension, and he was scared to kiss a girl who clearly wanted to be kissed?
Slowly but surely, Marco leaned towards Jackie. As his lips neared hers, Jackie closed her eyes in preparation. Marco closed his eyes as well when their lips met. Shortly after the kiss commenced, Marco let sheer instinct take hold and the two teens began making out. Jackie ran her fingers through Marco's hair and Marco grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to him.
When the make out session ended, Marco and Jackie parted their flushed faces. Jackie smiled and scooted up even closer to Marco. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head back in the crook of Marco's neck. Marco wrapped an arm around Jackie and the two of them watched the sunset together.
"...This is nice." said Jackie.
"Yeah." said Marco. "It is."
They sat together in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company, until Jackie broke the silence. "You gonna take that side job you were talking about?"
"...I'm not sure." Marco admitted. "The problem is… I don't want to get lost in a world of magic and monsters, but I feel drawn to it. Like, it's right where I should be. I'm actually really good at the work the side job requires me to do. But I'm already waist deep in this magic voodoo madness, and I'm still hoping I can pull myself out somehow. I am Marco Ubaldo Diaz, a human being from Earth. I don't want anything to change that."
Jackie gave it some thought before she replied. "Do whatever you think you have to do, Marco. You're smart enough to make the right call. But I will say this: You gotta find some way to let the stress go. And if you're good at this side job, and if you enjoy the work, then maybe you should consider taking the job. It's about willpower. Being able to keep your head above the surface so you don't drown. You can't just let the frustration fester within you, that's not healthy."
"You're saying I should take the job?"
"I'm saying no matter what it is, you need to find an activity that allows you to focus your energy on something other than your work and your work environment. I don't think I could stay sane without surfing and skateboarding. I also do soccer and I'm thinking about doing track and field."
"You must have a lot of stress." Marco said.
"No I don't, thanks to my hobbies. You need to find a hobby to take the edge off too." Jackie grinned. "If it comes down to it, I trust you enough to let you take the edge off on me. Wink, wink."
Marco forgot how to breathe for a couple of seconds.
Jackie chuckled. "Hey, did I tell you I met Mariposa's nanny at the Stop & Slurp today?"
"Yeah?" Marco squeaked, still red-faced.
"Yeah. Me and Janna talked to her. We had to teach her how to use a CD player 'cause she's not good with technology. I think Janna might have a girl crush on her. She seemed really cool. Kinda weird, but still really cool. She's a foreign lady from... well, she didn't say. She said her name was-"
Jackie's phone rang in her pocket.
Jackie separated from Marco and pulled out her phone. "It's my mom, gotta take this." Jackie answered the phone. "Hey, mom… Yes, I'm fine… I'm at the beach with Marco… Marco Diaz, yeah… Mom… Mom… Can this wait until I get back home…? Okay… Okay, I'm coming home now. Bye." Jackie hung up and sighed in aggravation.
"Gotta run?" Marco asked.
"Yup." Jackie and Marco stood up off their rock. "Call me when you're free?"
Marco smiled. "You got it."
Jackie kissed Marco goodbye. "'Till next time, Diaz." And with that, she walked away.
Marco watched her walk away with a goofy smile. When she was gone though, his smile slowly faded away. Marco sat back down on the rock and put on his thinking face. He sat there for a long time before he took out his mirror.
Marco sighed heavily. "It's all or nothing, I guess." He flipped open the mirror.
"Call Hekapoo."
"Calling, Hekapoo."
Hekapoo's smirking face appeared in the mirror's glass. "Took you long enough." she commented.
"...You got any work for me?"
'The measure of a man… is what he does with power.'
Plato.