T-Minus 7 days until season 4, and I'm super excited. In the meantime, we have some Blood Moon mysteries to continue to explore!
Eclipsa's old tower above the Rose Garden had been left untouched since she became queen, making it a great hideout for secret meetings. Or so Star thought. When she opened the door, a musty smell made her gag and dust swept across the floor like tumbleweeds. They collected in the corners and formed gross little hills hiding who-knew-what underneath them. From the ceilings and walls dangled vines and cobwebs, which threatened to further consume the rest of the furniture in the decaying room. That's where the smell is coming from, Star realized when she caught the whiff of a putrid, damp smell from the collection of mildewed pillows and covers on the bed in the corner. The overall dampness made her skin clammy. Man, this room is a dump, she kicked a book that had fallen on the floor. A cloud of dust rose and choked her.
"You said it."
She turned around to reply but realized that Marco hadn't actually been talking to her. He was instead busy trying to force the windows open to let in light and fresh air. Should I reply? Star played with her hair, trying to sort out her feelings and clear her lungs with another cough.
Star had no idea why Marco still freaked out about the mind-sharing thing between them. At first, she understood the fear. In fact, when she was freshening up yesterday and heard his voice, she thought she was possessed by a demon. Anyone would feel the same if they were sitting in their room and suddenly heard someone in their head asking about sugar for Mexican food. However, she got used to it quickly. The benefits of the arrangement were amazing. Now, she could talk to Marco whenever she wanted, and they could spend as much time together as possible. Even while they slept too! Imagine the cool mind adventures they could have or the hidden secrets they could share…the possibilities were endless!
Truthfully, the mental link didn't require a huge adjustment either. They had always been really close ever since she crashed into Marco's life, and at this point, she could anticipate his every thought and movement. Right now, without even tapping into her boyfriend's mind, Star knew he was worried about the germs in the musty room, the amount of dust in the air, and whatever Janna was doing with his clones. Likewise, he probably knew that Star would much rather be out exploring dimensions than settling down for a history lesson on the Blood Moon. Who cared about that night anyway? It was nothing more than a botched date with a desperate Tom Lucitor. And the mind-sharing only reflected how intimately Star and Marco knew each other. Perhaps that was what triggered the effect—just knowing each other's fears, dreams, and pet peeves. Hopefully, Janna could put Marco's mind at ease that nothing happened during the stupid Blood Moon Ball.
The trio of teens sat on the shelf near the window, arranging the cleaner of the pillows around them so they could recline against the walls. Star snuggled close to Marco, inhaling his musky boy-scent as it rolled off his soft red hoodie. Meanwhile, he was staring out the window, and the princess knew he was lost in his "Marco-mode." His chocolate-brown eyes focused quietly on a sight unseen and his thick expressive eyebrows wrinkled. So handsome, she sighed, weaving her fingers through his and marveling at the delicate-yet-sturdy hands that could wield a katana and strike enemies. Star blushed slightly thinking about the other cool places on Marco's body, like his abs and tush. Both of those made her drool slightly.
"My what?!" Marco's face turned red, and his girlfriend covered her mouth.
"N-nothing," she muttered while her face hurt from the embarrassment. For a second, she forgot about how Marco could read her thoughts about him. They were finally even when it came to leaking their inner secrets on accident.
Janna, who sat across from them and was setting up her books, just shook her head. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Nope, not at all!" Star rubbed her arm, knowing her friend could see right through her. Just casually mind-flirting with Marco.
"So that's what you call complementing my butt?" He said teasingly, making her heartmarks glow a deep red.
"I thought you didn't like mind-reading?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
He shrugged, "Maybe it's not too bad."
"Get a portal, you two," Janna rolled her eyes.
"Janna!" The pair snorted together, followed by, "Ugh, stop reading my mind!"
Without a word, the dark-haired girl cracked open her largest book and gently thumbed through the crumbling yellow pages. She settled on a section written in faded blood-red ink and spun the book around for Star and Marco to see. It was written in weird runes that were nearly impossible to read, but luckily, Janna was an expert on the creepy and demonic. "Alrighty, it's time to tell you about the curse of the Blood Moon."
"There's no way it's called that," Marco objected in disbelief.
She folded her arms, "Well, let me see you read demon, Diaz." When he fell silent, she went on, "The Blood Moon curse causes couples to split apart forever. In fact, very few couples who have completed the Blood Moon Ball stay together—most of them end up hating each other."
"Why?" The edge in Marco's tone stemmed from his protectiveness over his relationship than anger. "What does the Blood Moon do?"
How could something that brought her and Marco together rip them apart? In all honesty, the "curse" seemed pretty positive.
As if the life-altering news wasn't shocking enough, Janna shrugged, "I dunno. The page with that information is lost to history." There was a huge section of the book missing where the explanation should have been.
Marco let go of Star's hand and groaned, "Ugh! Janna, c'mon! Star and I need to know what we're up against."
"Not my fault the book is old," she replied in indifference. "Maybe the original owner has the explanation."
"Okay, who'd you get it from?" The boy questioned.
"From this guy who deals in rare magical books. I think he mentioned getting it from some guy who's Prince of the Underworld."
"You mean Tom?" Star and Marco replied together. Why did her ex-boyfriend have to be in the center of her relationship drama? They had broken up only a few months ago after dating a second time when Star finally realized that her heart belonged to Marco. She and Tom were still friends and the lingering tension between them was over, so the princess was worried about dredging up unpleasant feelings. Was the demon aware of the Blood Moon curse during the dance? He told her that any talk of soul-binding was just an old superstition…Guess we're going to the Underworld today.
Janna's face lit up, intrigued, "So Star's boyfriend?"
"Ex-boyfriend," Marco cleared his throat.
"Calm down, Diaz," she held up her hands. "Just seemed like you were both her cuddle buddies."
"Can we forget that year happened?" Star grumbled. So many mistakes were made, and everyone involved was glad that it was all over.
Her friend rolled her eyes and handed the couple the book with a little note card. "Really?" The couple groaned once they realized that it was her phone number.
"What? He's fair game now."
The next trip on the quest for the truth involved the deep nether regions of Mewni. For many in the dimension, the Underworld was nothing more than a creepy, hot place ruled by demons—and they were exactly right about that. While the entirety of the dimension tended to be an odd, magical place, nothing topped the weirdness of the Lucitor kingdom. It had lakes of lava, volcanic mountains of doom, and Soulrises. Plus, it had to be the worst place for cornshakes in the universe. Despite the things that set the Underworld apart, it shared one thing in common with the other kingdoms: royal moody teen issues.
Tom Lucitor seemed like the perfect guy to one-day inherit the blistering hot dimension. Broody, snarky, and short-tempered, he wasn't known for being the most well-mannered of the other royal children, but his looks and dancing prowess made him popular among the princesses. Star fell for his charms twice. This time, there wouldn't be a third try because she and Tom were done for good—they made that clear with one another after the battle against Meteora. But all was not lost as they were now pretty good friends when the demon stopped being depressed over the break he should have seen coming. Finally, the demon prince was kinda fun to be around with the feelings out of the way.
As usual, when Star and Marco arrived in his room, Tom was lounging in a beanbag chair, playing videogames. He kept two of his eyes on the screen and glanced up at his friends with the third in the middle of his forehead. "Hey, you guys," he greeted them. "Pull up a chair; the game can support three players."
He was playing his favorite fighting game, which he always won no matter who played against him. If Star got lucky in her strategy of random button smashing, she could usually manage second. "So that's how you beat me?" Marco blinked.
"Yeah, I just don't overthink it," she replied, sitting down in a chair her partner had fetched for both of them. Instead of picking up a controller to join in, they placed the book from Janna on the floor in front of them.
"Tom," Marco spoke. "We need to talk to you about the Blood Moon Ball."
The demon's third eye studied them warily, "What about it? It kinda just happened, y'know."
He's hiding something, Star knew Tom well enough to read into his expression and sharp tone. There was something about the night he didn't want to talk about. Probably about the fact he knew more about the Blood Moon than he had let on. "Tom, please," she pressed for more information. "We need to know about the curse of the Blood Moon."
"So you finally noticed you were Blood Mooned?" Tom said while pausing his game. "Took ya long enough."
"You knew the entire time?" Part of her wanted to blast his head off, but their friendship kept her from acting on the instinct. He swore the Blood Moon Ball was nothing more than a dance like the Silver Bell Ball or prom. While Star knew the ball was one of his schemes to make her fall in love with him again, trying to force their souls together sounded so sinister.
"Easy, Starship," the prince took her hand, possibly to prevent her from hurting him too. "Ugh…where do I even start on this one…?" He paused to gather his words, then said. "I was a horrible, desperate guy who couldn't let you go, okay? I don't need to tell you how hung up I was on getting us back together, so I'll skip that. Anyways, one day I found out about the Blood Moon Ball and the superstition that it could bind two beings together forever."
"Did you know about the mind-sharing stuff?" She asked.
Tom sighed, "Kinda. I read it in a book, but I didn't believe that crap at all. I mean, who would believe a simple red moon can merge two fates together? All this stuff about sharing dreams and minds sounded stupid, so I ignored it…until I saw how close you two were."
"What do you mean?" Star and Marco glanced at each other.
"That," Tom smirked while pointing at them. "You're inseparable, and I learned it the hard way while dating you, Starship. You've got this thing going on that no one can get in the middle of, which is kinda amazing. Sometimes, I'd see you interact and think maybe that stupid story about the Blood Moon is real—I mean you are practically joined at the hip. Actually, you definitely are now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" They argued.
Tom shook his head, "I know about 'Relationship Thursday.' Sounds intense."
The couple blushed but said nothing even though that hadn't crossed their minds. At least, Star managed to keep said ideas to herself. Instead, she gave Tom a brief hug because his confession was sincere. The past year had been such a mess for everyone, and now they could put that behind them and focus on being good friends. With the awkward talk largely behind them, Tom picked up the book and thumbed through the pages quickly. "So you mentioned something about there being a curse…" he scratched his chin. "Didn't read anything about that—although I lost this book after the Blood Moon Ball. Y'know, I've always wondered what happened to—oh…"
Star and Marco watched his face suddenly turn red, and they soon saw why. Wedged in the binding on the same page as the section on the curse was a second notecard with Janna's name, her number, and a picture of her face. The princess didn't know how to feel about the situation, but she knew her boyfriend was cringing at the prospects of Tom and Janna potentially getting together.
The demon prince beheld the slip of paper as curiosity piqued his interest, "Hey…isn't she that cool girl from Star's birthday?"
"I don't know about 'cool,' but sure…" Marco rubbed his arm.
"Might have to hit her up then," Tom chuckled softly. Is he blushing? Star noticed the slight flush on her ex's cheeks, which was a surreal sight. He had never been so giggly over anything besides her and Love Sentence. "I mean, I'm a single demon now; better start looking."
"Ew…but Janna," Marco shuddered.
"Glad she freaks you out," the demon tucked the notecard in his pocket. "Now I know you won't steal my next girlfriend."
"I didn't steal Star from you on purpose. I just wanted to get out of the photo booth."
"Mhm…"
The boys laughed, knowing that their words were only in jest. Things were going too well to be serious about fighting. Marco fell silent while Star and Tom passed out controllers and snacks. She was ready to put talk of the Blood Moon behind her, although the curse aspect still bothered her slightly. Then again, it couldn't be anything they couldn't face together. They were Star and Marco after all; the best team on Earth and Mewni. Nothing could keep them apart. But a twinge of doubt radiated from her boyfriend's mind, bothering both of them while they played with Tom: what if the Blood Moon forced them together?
Review Round-Up
Sugar- I think season 4 will be Star and Marco solving the mysteries of Mewni together. My idea is that the relationship drama will be ended early, so we can be happy and move on.
Aldal- Thanks for reading! I have two possible theories for "Curse." 1. Is something like Fairytale and 2. Is Star and Marco have to complete the dance to fulfill some larger prophecy like The Sign of the Moon or The Dance of the Stars. Both of which are equally plausible, although I feel like Daron is definitely going to drum up some juicy drama.
Starco4everr- Thanks and I will!