Aflame
Chapter 17
The worst day ever
Many words could be used to describe the current tone in the Echo creek hospital lobby.
Boring. Dull. Soulless. Devoid of any positive emotion. Even with the recent news about the prison break, Eclipsa and Janna had been waiting long enough that they were already starting to completely forget about it, with their minds wandering to new and tedious places in the meanwhile. Both of them hoped that it was impossible to die of boredom, because if it wasn't, then Marco's death would be far from the only one today.
Time and time again, Eclipsa would ask the front desk attendant how long it would be until they got news on either Star or Marco, and they always gave the same answer: "I don't know. I'll send a request." Then they typed something on their computer, Eclipsa sat down, and this cycle continued for a few more times. At one point Eclipsa caught a glimpse of the screen, and it appeared to be displaying some kind of card game. She sighed in frustration and walked back over to the bench, where Janna was waiting, indistinguishable from a corpse.
"How long has it been?" Eclipsa asked the corpse look-alike.
Janna's immediate response to this was to look at Eclipsa without even moving her head, someone only moving her right eye while the left one remained still. "I don't know. You were the one who just asked the person at the front desk." She said, Eclipsa's nagging clearly starting to get on her nerves, "But whatever. It's been 2 hours, 30 minutes…and 45 seconds."
"Were you counting the exact number of-"
"Yup."
Eclipsa sighed at Janna's usual apathetic response and attempted to stretch herself out. She could practically feel her bones creaking in the process, as if her body had been standing still for thousands of years, and it was just now taking its first movements. All this despite her constant pacing.
But this feeling was appropriate, considering that it had felt like it had been much longer than that. More than two hours had passed since the pair had heard the news about Mina's followers breaking out of prison, and as much as Eclipsa wanted to leave and help out however she could, the current situation required their attention. She and Janna needed Star and Marco for this. They were the ones who knew Mina best. They were the only ones on their side who had found her base before it was burned to the ground. If anyone knew anything about where her followers might be hiding or planning, it would be them. Except for Manfred. But he had skipped town as soon as he could, and nobody could be bothered to try and find him. So Star and Marco were the only option.
Easier said than done however, as there was still no sign of their return. Eclipsa figured that they would have to do this with Marco alone, as Star's injuries would likely require her to stay in the hospital overnight, or perhaps even longer. As for Marco, Eclipsa could just find him and order the doctors to release him. She certainly had the authority, and she was currently wondering why she hadn't done that already. But she knew that those doctors would never release him until the got the information that they wanted. She remembered how they carried him off, the look in their eyes being identical to a person who had just won the lottery.
However, Eclipsa knew that they wouldn't get anything out of those tests. They wouldn't be able to find any proper medical reason for why Marco was brought back. Some of them might assume it was magic, some might think otherwise, but as long they let him go unharmed, then it didn't really matter to Eclipsa. If it was before the end of the day of course.
As for Star, Eclipsa knew that she had to be much more patient. The fact that she had literally been coughing up blood were plain signs that her wounds were life-threatening. Eclipsa was willing to let the doctors take all the time they needed to help her. She quietly shook her head in disappointment thinking about all the time Star had waited until she let herself get medical attention. Star was tougher than most people Eclipsa knew, but she also seemed to be the only one that didn't recognize her own limits. She just kept pushing herself, and Eclipsa figured that one day it would lead to an untimely demise.
Despite all this however, Eclipsa didn't want to waste her precious thinking time on what might soon become inevitable. She was more focused on the present. Other than her endless inner monologues about how she would march right into that hospital room and demand for them to release Marco so she could leave, (in about half of these fantasies she was successful), she had also been thinking about how to deal with the return of Mina's followers, and the bigotry that would surely follow.
Her current plan for them? Negotiation. She didn't want to take any chances. Although they didn't look like much without their leader, Eclipsa knew just how dangerous they could be. Kidnapping Meteora and Mariposa, the assassination attempt which might have actually succeeded if not for Bren tipping them off for personal reasons, and their charred plans for the future of a twisted Earthni, found in the burned out remains of the DMV. What was left of them described a monster free Mewni with an almost religious fervor, no doubt written by Mina herself. Although she cringed at the thought of Mina's death, about how painful it must have been to be burned alive like that, Eclipsa was the smallest bit grateful that Mina had been taken care of. Even if it was done in such a horrible manner.
'Jealousy…' She thought. 'That's why Bren killed her, right? He wanted the pleasure of killing us all to himself. I wonder though…did he break Mina's gang out of prison? He definitely has the firepower with Tom and who knows what else on his side, although I don't see any reason why he would do this. Unless, of course, he wants us to be focused on them while he prepares something else that could take us down. I suppose only time will tell at this point, unless he brags about it to our faces. Seems like the kind of thing he would do…'
Eclipsa sighed and sat back down, knowing subconsciously that although her plans sounded good in her head, they had a slim chance of working in reality. People like them, Mina's followers, they didn't listen. They wouldn't back down. They didn't care for words. Eclipsa suspected that the only way to deal with them would be forcefully, and if it had to come to that, then so be it. She was done with Bren, done with the monster bigotry, and done with the constant supply of new questions she had any time they made progress with anything. She just wanted to solve all her problems as quickly and quietly as possible, no matter what she had to do to accomplish that. No matter the cost. No matter the-
'Oh shut up.' She thought to herself. 'Now you're thinking like a tyrant. That's not who you are Eclipsa. You're the queen. You have a family who loves you and friends who care about you. There is no reason to act up. Besides, it's not like Mina's followers will be able to do much anyways. Mina was the real brains behind their operation, even if she was insane. Without her or Manfred leading them, they're nothing but a bunch of mindless drones, wandering around like machines without a purpose. Their hatred towards monsters was and is their singular goal, and we can use that against them. They're stupid. They'll be easy to deal with. The real problem to solve here is making sure that the prison can't be broken out of in the future. If this all goes to plan, it might have a new resident very soon…'
Eclipsa paused her inner thoughts to chuckle to herself, amused by the thought of Bren thrown into a prison cell like a common criminal. After all he had done, prison wasn't his forever home if they beat him. That would likely be a gallows.
'But is that really what will happen?' Eclipsa thought. 'Obviously, throwing him in a cell won't work. He's probably planned for that. Mapped out the whole prison in case we ever caught him. Who knows how far he planned ahead. Nevertheless, it won't happen. After that demon attack, both the humans and the Mewmans are out for blood. The hatred that was previously directed at monsters is now fixed primarily on him. So what would really happen if we captured him? The Mewmans will want him publicly executed the second we defeat him. The humans will want him tried for his crimes, and then executed. As for the monsters, well, they'll just want him locked up. They were always more peaceful than the other two sides. At least nowadays. But either way, this will likely end with him dying. And…...as much as it irks me to say it, or think it really, I'm completely fine with that. Earthni's first criminal execution. Hopefully something we will never have to do again.'
Growing bored of her own thoughts, Eclipsa snapped back to reality and looked around, as if expecting a change in her surroundings. But no. Still the same old, detestable, waste-of-space hospital lobby. Alright. That was it. Time to go get Marco.
Eclipsa got to her feet and headed for the door that led into the main hospital, not caring if anybody tried to stop her. But nobody did, as Janna was now asleep and the front desk attendant was too occupied with their game of solitaire to notice. She pushed open the double doors and entered the now vaguely familiar hallways, noticing that they were filled with hospital staff, unlike before. But they were all the ones that had carried off Star, not Marco. Eclipsa groaned loudly upon realizing that they were likely still testing him. Treating him like some kind of lab rat. Well, no more. They all had more important matters to deal with.
She walked up to a random doctor and stopped in front of them. "Excuse me." She said in the most polite tone she could muster. "Do you happen to know where Marco Diaz is? It's urgent."
"Who?" The doctor said at first. "Oh, you're talking about that kid that was brought back to life. Yeah, they're doing some tests on him. Freaky stuff. I didn't want any part of it."
"Where?" Eclipsa asked.
"I think it was...hallway G, room 12." The doctor said, pointing at the nearby stairwell. "You just go up those stairs, go through the first door, take a right, and then go forward until you see it. By the way, you do have permission to be here, right?"
"I'm the Queen. I don't need permission." Eclipsa said, walking past him. She opened the stairwell door and went up aforementioned stairs until she reached the first door. She opened that one, took a right, and then kept going until she saw what she was looking for. Room 12. Not bother to knock, she twisted the doorknob and threw it open.
Inside was a rather odd scene. Marco was sitting on some kind of giant cushioned hospital bench, with several wires coming out of machines sticking to him via suction cups. He was wearing one of those hospital gowns Eclipsa had seen earlier and looked extremely displeased with the whole situation. As for the rest, they were comprised of the doctors that Eclipsa had seen from earlier, all of them looking like they hadn't blinked in the last two hours.
Eclipsa frowned and cleared her throat, hoping to catch their attention. But they didn't even notice, and wrote what looked like random scribbles on clipboards.
"Excuse me!" She yelled, and everyone turned around to look at her. "I'm sorry about this, but I'm going to need Marco back now. There are some things that have happened, and I'd like his help."
"No can do." One of the doctors said, his right eye twitching. "We still haven't figured out what brought him back. But we think we're close! We just need a couple more hours."
"Oh, that is not happening." Eclipsa muttered. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to allow that. I'd like him back. Right. Now. Please don't make me ask again, I'm short on patience here."
"But we don't know what-"
"He wasn't brought back by science you morons!" She yelled, finally losing her temper. "You're not going to figure anything because those instruments of yours won't be able to detect anything! What revived him is something that you wouldn't be able to understand!"
"Why not?" Someone asked.
"Because-because-because he was brought back by magic!" Eclipsa stuttered. "Those tools of yours can't detect magic. I don't know exactly what they're built for, but I know it's not that."
"Wait, I thought magic was destroyed." One of the doctors said. "You literally gave an announcement in front of the town hall about how magic existed, and then you destroyed it. Kind of a bummer really."
"This...is a different type of magic." Eclipsa said. "Listen, I'm not going to explain everything to you. Just hand over Marco, and we can end this whole conversation."
"That's not happening." Somebody said. "If magic is what revived him, even if it was a different type of magic, maybe there's still some left in his body. Maybe we can find and harness that!"
"Impossible." Eclipsa said. "Not without the right materials. Which I'm certain you have none of. Please. Hand him over."
"No. Not when we're so close!"
"You're not close, and you're never going to be close. Give Marco back his clothes and let him go, or I will-"
"HEY!" Marco yelled, making everybody shut up instantly. "Have you people even considered what I have to say about all of this?"
Nobody spoke, but everybody shifted in place.
"I'm an actual living person." Marco said. "Not some lab rat." He pointed to the doctors. "Not some precious object." He pointed at Eclipsa. "Stop acting like I'm any of those. I played along for those first couple of hours because I knew you would never let me leave at first, and because I knew you would want to run some tests. But if this is what it's come to, then I'm getting the hell out of here whether you like it or not. Screw all of you."
Marco then pulled all the various wires off of him and jumped off the table, shoving two doctors out of his way. He tore the hospital gown off before grabbing his shirt and hoodie and slipping them on. He then pushed past more people and headed for the door.
"Hold on." A doctor said. "You can't just-"
"Yes, I can." Marco said. "There's nothing wrong with me anymore. No reason for me to stay at the hospital.
I was allowing you to examine me by my own free will. However, I don't feel that way anymore. So I'm pretty sure that you forcing me to stay here is illegal. No injuries, no problems. Go heal up Star, and don't expect me to come back anytime soon. Whatever results you got from those tests is all you're going to get."
Marco then looked away from the shocked faces of the doctors and walked past Eclipsa towards the door.
"Let's go." He growled. Eclipsa actually winced at this and then followed him, leaving behind a room of terrified/annoyed/confused medical staff.
Except for one doctor, who started chuckling at the whole situation. "Well...anyone else find that humerus?" He joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Oh, shut the hell up Carl." Another said, saying aloud what everyone was thinking.
Back in the (thankfully) pun-free hallway, Marco was heading back towards the lobby like he owned the place, walking in the middle of the corridor so everyone had to detour around him. Eclipsa followed him at a leisurely pace, trying to spark conversation.
"Um, Marco…" She nervously started. "I'm sorry. I didn't think that-"
"That I was an actual person?" Marco said furiously, finishing the sentence for her. "Listen Eclipsa, I know that shits really hit the fan this time, but I've been through 24 hours of hell. The only fun I've had all day was a few brief moments at the beach, which eventually turned into a literal nightmare in which I was systematically beaten, broken, and tortured. Then I was forced to beat Star up, had a panic attack or two while going to the sanctuary, and then I fucking died. Slowly. Painfully. Agonizingly. I think I have a right to be in a bad mood right now, because my mental state at the moment can best be compared to a thin layer of ice. And the weight of every single painful thing that's happened to me is resting on top, ready to break through the surface. It's starting to crack. I can already feel it."
"I know." Eclipsa said. "I haven't forgotten about any of that. But something happened recently, and I think you should know about it."
"Yeah?" Marco said, still clearly pissed off. "What needs our attention this time? Bren acting like his usual self? Another giant demon on the loose? Glossaryck came back to life? Tell me, which one is it this tim-"
"Mina's followers broke out of prison!" Eclipsa yelled, growing tired of his attitude. "They broke out this morning."
Marco stopped in his tracks so fast that Eclipsa nearly ran into his back, and he simply stood in place for a moment, thinking. Narrowing his eyes, he turned around and faced Eclipsa, a single question being his only thought at the moment.
"What time?" He asked.
"Um, I don't know." Eclipsa said. "The TV just said early this morning. It never gave an exact time. Why?"
"Just...wondering." Marco answered, before turning back around and walking away like nothing happened. Eclipsa shook her head in confusion and followed him, and soon they got back to the lobby, where they found Janna still snoring away and the desk attendant still playing solitaire.
"Alright, where's Star?" Marco asked. "Haven't they released her yet?"
"It's probably going to be a little while for her Marco." Eclipsa said. "Maybe a day or two. She was in really bad shape. It might take a while for them to fix her up."
Marco moaned in aggravation and took a seat on the nearest bench, far away from Janna as well as everything else. He buried his face in his hands and then threw his head back, trying and failing to relax.
"Who else knows?" He suddenly asked. "Who else knows I died?"
"Well, soon everyone's going to know…" Eclipsa reminded him.
"I remember!" He said. "Who else knows right now?"
"Ah. I think just you, me, Janna, Star, and the people in this hospital."
"That's it?"
"Hmmm...wait no." Eclipsa said. "Janna said she texted your mother about the whole situation. She knows as well."
"Wait, texted her before or after I was resurrected?"
"...Before."
"Oh my god." Marco whined. "She still thinks I'm dead. Why-ugh! Dammit! I can't imagine what she's thinking right now."
Eclipsa sighed. "I'm sure she's-"
Eclipsa's attempt at speaking was interrupted when a loud screeching sound was heard, specifically coming from directly outside the hospital. They both recognized it instantly, the sound of tires braking against the pavement after having gone a hundred miles an hour. A few seconds later, the sliding doors to the hospital were practically ripped open, and they were forcefully parted to reveal Angie, tears streaming down her face and looking out of breath.
She would have kept going forward into the hospital, but she froze when she saw Marco, who was equally as surprised to see her. They both stared at one another for a moment, saying and doing nothing.
Eventually, Marco broke the silence, speaking in the most awkward tone anyone had the displeasure of hearing.
"Uhhh...hey mom." He said with a wave. "So, um, that text Janna sent you was kind of outdate-"
Angie didn't wait a second more. She rushed forward and hapless her son in a tight hug, lifting him off the ground and cutting off his breathing. His face turned red and he flailed widely, gasping for air. Just before he died for a second time, he managed to push away from her and bent over, hands on his knees and desperately trying to take a breath.
Angie approached him again, but Marco quickly put a hand up and stopped her.
"Wait..." He panted. "Hard...to breath…"
"Oh. Sorry about that." Angie said, her voice shaking while tears streamed down her face. "It's just...I thought you were…and then I called that Uber to get here...but now you're…how?"
"It's a long story." Marco said, finally able to speak properly again. "Actually, not really. But long story short, yes, I did die. But I was brought back to life. Safe and sound."
Angie wiped several tears away and gave him another hug, almost reflexively. Although she was much more careful to give him the chance to breathe this time. Marco didn't even try to stop her. He couldn't imagine what she was feeling. Wait, could he? What was the feeling back at the not-sanctuary with that statue? When he was told he would never see anyone again? Was that what she was-
Before he could come to a conclusion, Angie let go of him again and looked him up and down, continuing to cry.
"Then…...the doctors here brought you back?" She assumed. "That is what happened right?"
"Errrr...no." Marco said. "It's complicated. We don't really know what brought me back at the moment, but Eclipsa and Star have a few theories. But it definitely wasn't the doctors. For one thing, I was dead to long for them to bring me back, and even if I wasn't...they wouldn't have been able to do anything anyways."
"Why not?" Angie asked, a growing look of concern appearing on her face.
"Let's just say that when I was revived, all my injuries were healed." Marco said, not wanting to describe all the horrific wounds he sustained from Bren. "And there were...quite a lot of those."
"Oh you poor-" Angie started, but she was unable to finish her sentence, and pulled Marco in for a third hug. Once again, he didn't stop her and returned it graciously.
After a minute or so of that, they let go of each other and Angie sat down on a nearby bench, rubbing her forehead in amazement.
"Anything else I should know?" She asked. "Anything that'll make me want to hug you again?"
"Erm...everything?" Marco guessed. "I mean, I had a mental breakdown or two, performed a failed assassination attempt, don't ask, then Bren killed me by beating me to death, and then I was resurrected with no idea of how or who or why. I think every second of the last two hours-no, the last day constitutes."
"Ah…" Angie said, using every bit of her willpower to not pull him into another bone crushing hug. "But Marco, I need to know something. Why did you attack Star earlier? She said you were under the control of some being, but I wasn't sure if that was truly the cas-"
"That's exactly what happened." Eclipsa said, stepping in. "Marco was being possessed. His actions over the last few hours have not entirely been his own. He is not to blame."
"Oh thank god." Angie exclaimed. "I was worried sick about that. But will it happen again? Are you going to attack anyone else?"
"No." Marco said. "It's not going to happen again."
"...And how can you be so sure?" Eclipsa asked, suspicion evident in her voice. "We don't know if it's going to occur again. Why are you so positive that it won't?"
"Uhh…" Marco stuttered, but in his mind, he was swearing furiously. He let it slip. He was supposed to keep it all a secret, anything that happened during that talk. He had to play this off somehow.
"I just feel that it won't". He said unconvincingly. "A gut feeling, you know?"
"No, I think I really don't." Eclipsa said. "But even so, we should still watch out. If it happens again, we might not be able to stop you. Star made a comment on how you had super-strength when you fought her. She could hardly even land a hit."
"Yeah, same thing happened to me, only with Bren." Marco said. "Somehow, he was as strong as an ox. Maybe even stronger than that. There was literally no way I could have stood up to him, and unfortunately, I realized that a little too late."
"And that proves my point." Eclipsa said. "If you start acting like a lunatic again Marco, and you start gaining what basically adds up to superpowers, then I'm sorry, but we may have to resort to more...drastic measures."
"Wait, like killing me?! For the second time?!" Marco asked, momentarily forgetting that the whole "acting like a lunatic" was promised to never happen again.
"What?! No! Nothing like that." Eclipsa said frantically. "Trust me, we are not letting that happen again. But at the end of it all, you may be in pretty bad shape. I'm sorry, but if you're as durable as you are strong, then we'll have to do whatever we can to stop you."
"...Okay, that's fair." Marco said. "I don't even know how strong I am when I'm like that. I think I remember lifting up a bed, but there's really no way to tell how-"
"There is." A sudden voice said, and all three of them turned to look at Janna, wide awake.
Marco gaped at her in a mixture of annoyance and surprise, wondering if she had been listening in the whole time.
"Have you been listening in the whole time?" He asked.
"Pretty much." Janna shrugged. "By the way, welcome back to the living world. Mind telling me what you saw on the other side?"
"I didn't see anything." Marco lied. He expected Janna to have more questions for him about that, but she remained silent, so he cleared his throat and asked one of his own. "But what did you say? There's a way to tell how strong I am when I'm going...psycho, I guess?"
"Not just how strong." Janna said, grabbing her crutches and forcing herself up. "How durable you are. Who did this to you. Maybe even why they did it. I may have the answer to that."
"You did mention that earlier…" Eclipsa said, reminiscing on their earlier conversation. "How do we get this answer then?"
"There's this book I have." Janna said. "Tom gave it to me as a gift."
"What? Why?" Marco asked.
"That's none of your business." Janna said, shooting him a sudden death glare. "But as I was saying, I have a book. It contains a bunch of useless crap that I didn't think would ever be useful. Until now. The recent events of today, yesterday, basically the entire past few weeks are described in that book."
"Wait, so it's like some kind of prophecy book?!" Marco asked. "It-it knows what's going to happ-"
"No, not like that!" Janna said. "It doesn't have what's going to happen. But it describes a few things that happened. Like Marco's super-strength, Bren's demon and the magic that created it, and the person who might be behind all the terrible crap that's happened to us. It had explanations for all of this. And apparently, that book isn't even from the Underworld. It's from someplace else entirely."
"Where?" Everyone asked simultaneously.
"I don't really know." Janna said, being truthful. "Tom didn't know the official name of the place it came from. Only a nickname or two. Which was "the last of the brother dimensions or something.""
Marco suddenly felt like his body weighed ten times heavier, and a flurry of memories flowed into his mind.
"Sister." He corrected.
Janna looked at him in surprise. "Huh?"
"It's "the last of the sister dimensions," not brother." Marco said. "That's where Tom's book came from."
"How...how did you know that?" Janna asked, actually intrigued by what Marco had to say.
"Because that's where Bren came from." Marco answered, getting a thousand yard stare. "The first time me and Star met him at the sanctuary, we asked him where he was from, and he gave us that answer. The last of the sister dimensions. The last of the parallels. That was exactly what he said."
"But...what does it mean?" Angie asked. "What does "sister dimension" or "parallels" mean exactly?" She turned towards Eclipsa. "Some kind of weird magic term?"
"Don't look at me." Eclipsa said. "I have no idea what either of those are. Janna, do you know anything?"
"Not a clue." Janna admitted. "Also, I didn't read the whole book. It gets really annoying to translate after a while. It's so old that half of the pages have faded to dust, and everything else crumbles to pieces so damn easily."
"Well, it's all we've got." Marco said. "Because he didn't say anything else about where he came from."
"At least it confirms he's from another dimension." Eclipsa said. "Although why didn't you tell us this sooner Marco?"
"Me and Star were planning to." He said. "At the next council meeting. Which, by the way, is still tomorrow."
"Oh Mewni, don't remind me." Eclipsa said. "But unfortunately, it seems you'll have to explain everything yourself. Star is-"
"In critical condition and has to stay in the hospital for a few more days?" Marco said. "Yeah, you already mentioned that. And I should have seen it coming as well. But you know Star. They won't be able to keep her here for long. Nobody will. Probably not even if you order her too Eclipsa."
Eclipsa nodded. "That's the truth, isn't it? You should have seen her. Back when we were waiting on the news of whether you were okay or not." Eclipsa suddenly coughed violently. "She refused to let anybody give her medical attention until she knew you were okay. And when she found out you weren't, she went kind of…berserk."
"I think the fact that she managed to do that at all shows that she's in much better condition than she looks." Marco deduced. "I'm sure she'll be fine in a few more hours."
"Marco, she was literally coughing up blood." Eclipsa said. "You saw it. I saw it, and I'm pretty sure that means she far from being "fine". So I'm going to have to disagree with you. It's going to be a while."
Marco sighed. "Should I go visit her? See if she's doing okay?"
"I don't see why not." Eclipsa said. "Although you might have to get permission to see her first. And I'd have to escort you through the hospital, because I wouldn't put it past those doctors to jump you and and test on you again."
"That would be extremely illegal." Janna pointed out. "But yeah, if they think Marco is immortal, and can make other people immortal, than I wouldn't put it past them. Humans have been trying to figure out the secret to immortality for...what, forever?"
"I mean, they swore the Hippocratic oath." Marco said. "I don't think they'll jump me and then forcefully test me just to figure that out."
"Oath or not, you should watch your back." Janna said. "Just a bit of advice."
"I've learned to not follow your advice in the past Janna." Marco said. "But if all of you say so, then okay. I'll watch myself. I just hope they don't tell the local news or the government or anything like that, otherwise I'd be getting hounded on a daily basis."
"I promise I won't let it come to that if they tell anyone." Eclipsa promised. "Not let's go see Star. Janna? Angie? Do you two want to come with us too?"
"I'm good." Janna said. "I know this may sound mean, but she's not dead, so I'm not concerned. If she was, I could tell. And I don't really have anything to say to her.
"Not even going to ask how..." Eclipsa mumbled, before turning to Angie.
"I think I'll come with you." Angie said. "Just to check up on Star. Maybe she'll be happy to see me."
"I hope so." Marco said. "First things first, we should probably try and find out what room she's in." Marco then walked over to the front desk and waited for the attendant to ask him what he needed, but they ignored him entirely and continued to play their game of solitaire, so Marco cleared his throat to get their attention. They make a low humming noise similar to a
silent groan, and looked up from their computer at him.
"Yeah?" They asked, clearly annoyed that Marco had interrupted their game.
"I need to find out the room number where a patient is staying." Marco said, getting straight to the point. "Her name is Star Butterfly."
"You mean the girl who was causing a scene down here a few hours ago?" The attendant said, not posing it as a question. "Give me a second." They typed on their computer for a few moments until a new screen appeared, showing everything the hospital had on Star.
"She's in room 21, A wing." The attendant said. "Was just checked into that room a few hours ago. Said she's in for...serious bodily hard, and apparently they momentarily restrained her to the hospital bed so she couldn't escape. I think they were just removed though."
Marco started to clench his fist at the thought of Star being forcefully tied up, but he cooled himself after realizing that it was probably the best decision. Star would have tried to leave if they hadn't made it so she was unable.
"Thank you." Marco said, and then walked back to Eclipsa and Angie. "I know where she is." He said. "Room 21, A wing."
"That's on the second floor." Janna chimed in. "Should be pretty easy to find."
"Thanks." Marco said, and then focused his attention back on the others. "I guess we should just go then?"
"Yes. Let's." Eclipsa said, and the three of them walked back into the hospital, the desk attendant hardly even casting a look at them. Janna made a mental note to get them fired and then looked back at the TV, which still broadcasting news on the prison break. She wondered how they were able to report the same story for over two hours straight, despite there being hardly any information on it. She looked away and then closed her eyes again, not caring enough to let it bother her.
Meanwhile, the trio of Marco, Eclipsa and Angie has just reached the top of the nearest, stairwell, and pushed open a door that led onto the second floor. The exact same as the first, except for what appeared to be an extra bathroom, in plain sight from the stairwell.
Spotting this, Marco was reminded that he hadn't used one in several hours, and decided that he better use it before they continued on. "Excuse me for a second." He said, and then walked over to it and pulled the door open, letting it close behind him. Eclipsa and Angie simply waited patiently, until Eclipsa looked down the hall and spotted someone spying on them from around a corner.
"What the…" She started, but the spy, realizing that she could see them, darted away out of view. Eclipsa grumbled, knowing exactly what this was. One of the doctors from earlier, no doubt looking for an opportunity to snatch Marco. A giant wave of disgust swept over her as she thought about this. These people that had sworn to save the lives of others, and now they were getting closer and closer to kidnapping a teenager.
"Angie, make sure to watch out." She whispered, leaning in close to her. "I just spotted someone spying on us. I think these people still want to do some tests on Marco, to find out if he's immortal or not."
"Uh...is he?" Angie asked. "I'm still in the dark on that whole thing."
"No." Eclipsa said with certainty. "It's something else. I'll explain later if you're any me too, but just watch out for now. If they take and forcefully experiment on him, then I swear that as the Queen I will make sure that every single one of them is fired and that they will never be able to hold a job ever again."
"Quite the promise." Angie said. "Not that I'm complaining. If they do that, you'll have to tear me off them. I'm not letting anything hurt him. Not after what just happened."
"Agreed." Eclipsa said, and a moment later, Marco exited the restroom, still shaking some leftover water off his hands.
"What's wrong?" He asked, noticing their worried expressions. "Oh god, what happened now?"
"Nothing happened. Yet, at least." Eclipsa said. "We're more worried about what might happen. We saw somebody spying on us, and I'm pretty sure that they were looking for you. from now on, you're walking between me and your mother."
"Got it." Marco said, quickly accepting this. He'd rather not have to face any more of those tests. And he definitely didn't want to see what would happen to him if those doctors took ethics out of the equation. He almost shuddered at the mere thought of it. The earlier tests had been bad enough, but for them to practically kidnap him and tie him down while they experimented on him? Disgusting. He nearly threw up right then and there.
But Marco somehow managed to keep his lunch down, and he along with the others made their way to room 21. Outside the room was one of the hospitals security guards, looking like he'd rather be anywhere than there.
"Hey." Marco said, grabbing the man's attention . "Can we, um, see her? Can we see Star?"
The guard shook his head. "Sorry, I was told that I'm
not allowed to let anybody in here unless the head doctor said so. So unless he himself suddenly shows up and tells me you can go in, then you're going to have to wait."
"What? No." Marco said. "We have to see her. A lot of terrible crap just happened, and she really needs to know! I am not just going to leave her there, injured and ignorant!"
"Sorry kid, but neither of us have a choice here." The guard said, shrugging. "If I let you in, I would get thrown out onto the street. And if you try to force your way in, then I'll taze and arrest you. I know it's unfair, but if you have a problem, then you'll have to send a formal complaint."
"How long does it take for a reply to get to us if we send one?" Eclipsa asked.
"Eh, a couple weeks." The guard said. "We get dozens of those things every day. Mostly from people angry about hospital bills, but it's not like I control that either."
"A few weeks?!" Marco said, shocked. "Okay, that's not happening. Eclipsa, tell him to get out of the way."
Eclipsa was about to question this, before realizing once more that she had the authority to basically tell anyone in the entire town what to do. "Um, yes!" She said. "Listen, as Queen, I am ordering you to let us in. If you don't comply, then I will summon the Mewman royal knights, and they will...ta...ta...um, what was the word again Marco?"
"Taze."
"Ah, right. Then I'll send the Mewman Royal knights to taze and then arrest you." Eclipsa finished, hoping that this would work. In all honesty, she didn't really have the nervy at the moment to summon the knights just to make this guy move out of the way, and so if he told them to leave, then she would leave, even if she had to drag Marco away.
Luckily, the bluff paid off, and the guard responded with a "Okay." He had seemingly chosen being fired over being tazed by a bunch of drunk, crazed Mewmans. He pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door with it. He then pulled it open for them and they all entered, while the guard shut it behind them, regretting ever taking this job offer.
Inside, Marco was nearly heartbroken at the sight he saw. Star's injuries looked bad before, but with all the medical junk surrounding her now, it made it look ten times worse. She wasn't in as bad a shape as Janna was, but it was still terrible to look at, with bandages covering her arms and legs, and several wires hooked up to her, monitoring her heartbeat. (Which, thankfully, was steady.)
"Heyyyy…...Star." He said slowly, making her open her eyes.
"Marco!" She said in excitement, and tried to get up, before remembering that she was hooked up to the wall. "You're here. All of you guys! Well, except for Janna. Where is she?"
"Still in the lobby." Eclipsa said. "She said that since you aren't dead, she isn't really concerned."
"Yeah, I can see her saying that…" Star mumbled, before her eyes landed in Angie. "Hey Mrs. Diaz. How are you doing? How'd you get here? I thought you were back with your car."
"I took an Uber." Angie said. "And I'm doing fine, I suppose, if still not a little confused."
"Do-do you know about the whole part where Marco-"
"Died? Yes, yes I do." Angie said. "And unfortunately, I thought it was permanent, thanks to a text that Janna sent me, until I came here and saw him standing in the lobby, completely fine. In that moment, I had never been more relieved, or more confused, than in my entire life."
"Yeah, it was a shock to us all." Star said. "But a good one! Me and Eclipsa think we know what caused it, and I suppose we can tell you later, but for now, why are you guys up here? Just wanted to check up on me and say hi?"
"That's pretty much it." Marco said. "And you are fine, right?"
"Marco, what did I say earlier?" Star sighed. "Yes, I am fine. All these wires and bandages are overkill. I'm strong! I don't need them! All I need is you."
"Star, there's a difference between being brave, and then just being foolhardy." Eclipsa said. "I know you may disagree, but you do need this. You were throwing up blood earlier, and there's absolutely no way you could have just walked that one off."
"Pft." Star said. "Fine. Whatever you say Eclipsa. But I still plan to get out of here as soon as possible. I assume you have a plan for what we're going to do next?"
"I do." Eclipsa said. "But there's something you should know first. Early this morning, there was a break in at the towns prisons. Among the inmates that escaped are all of Mina's followers."
"A break in?!" Star exclaimed, overwhelmed by what Eclipsa had just told her. "And-and all of Mina's followers escaped?! Oh Mewni, just when I thought we couldn't have any more problems. Does this ever end?!"
"I think this is the end of it though." Eclipsa said. "I have a feeling that after we defeat them and Bren, it should be smooth sailing."
"Somebody knock on wood." Marco said. "Otherwise we'll have a foreign army on our doorstep the second we take care of those two problems."
"Don't be superstitious Marco. That's not a good mindset to have." Star said. "But yeah, you do have a bit of a point. I don't think anything will be "smooth sailing" Eclipsa. Not even if we defeat Mina's followers and Bren. There's always going to be someone trying to ruin what we've accomplished. The only question is who."
"That's...a fair point." Eclipsa admitted. "But that shouldn't be a way to think either. If we all turn into pessimists, then by the end of the day we'll have given up on everything. Seen that it was pointless."
"Given up…" Star said, scratching her chin in thought
like some kind of ancient philosopher. "Hm. I wonder what Bren would do if we told him we were just giving up. He wants us to fight him, to do everything we can to stop his plans, so I wonder what would happen if we just...didn't do that."
Marco looked at her like she was crazy. "You're not thinking about doing that, right?"
"Of course not." Star said, waving him off. "Just a thought."
"I'm pretty sure he would just kill us anyways." Eclipsa concluded. "He's obviously planned this for months, I don't think he'll stop what he's doing if we start acting like we don't care."
Star sighed. "That's true. We can never get what we want, can we? I bet no matter how good a plan we think up, Bren has a counterplan that would undo it in an instant."
"I don't think so." Marco said. "Yeah, it's evident he's planned this for a long time. But he can't expect everything. He didn't expect me to beat you up. That was genuine surprise he showed when I told him."
"...Why did you tell him that?" Star asked, disturbed that Marco would share that with Bren.
"He-he sorted of manipulated me." Marco admitted. "And I wasn't in my right mind at the moment."
"Let's hope so." Star said. "I don't even want to know what else you told him."
"Not much." Marco said. "But as I was saying, he hasn't expected everything we've thrown at him. He didn't expect me to show up at the sanctuary. He didn't expect me to try and assassinate him right then and there. And I'm betting he certainly isn't expecting me to still be alive. I'd love to see the look on his face."
"Oh yeah. Your little assassination attempt. With a towel bar." Star scoffed, ignoring every other thing he just said. "How did that go by the way?"
"Not good." Marco said. "But I did learn something new. Something that may be useful later. Here's how the whole thing went." Marco then cleared his throat and prepared to give a play-by-play. "So Bren turned to leave, growing tired of me, and I basically chucked the bar at him like a spear. I would have gotten him, killed him probably, but Tom reached out and grabbed it."
"What?" Star said, a look of confusion crossing her face. "Why would he do that? If he was about to be free from Bren's control, why would he help him?"
"Because he wouldn't have been free." Marco said. "Bren told me that even if he died, the leverage he had on Tom would still be in effect. Meaning that even if we killed him, Tom, or who or whatever Bren has that's making him do this, would still be in danger."
"Which we still have to figure out by the way." Star said. "We still don't know what he has that's turning Tom into his personal slave."
"I think it's...its...uh…" Marco started, and then stuttered, as if the thought had been washed out his mind. What had that been? Why did he feel like he already knew? He suddenly had a faint memory appear, one of Tom mouthing something to him, but now it seemed more like a dream. What was-
"What's wrong?"
"Huh?" Marco said, looking back at Star.
Star shook her head and sighed. "You were about to say something, but ten you started stuttering, and then you stared into space for like a minute. What was that? Did you have some kind of flashback or something?"
"I mean...maybe?" Marco guessed, unsure of the answer himself. He didn't know if that memory was an actual memory or just some dream, as nowadays he found it difficult to distinguish between the two with all the crazy shit happening around them.
Ah well. It didn't matter now.
"It was nothing." Marco finally said. "Just a lost thought."
"Hm. If you say so." Star said, shrugging. "But now, are you guys gonna get me out of here or what? I can't leave with that guard at the door, so you'll have to tell him that they have to let me leave."
"Star...we can't do that." Eclipsa said, knowing what was best for her. "You can't leave just yet. You're still in terrible shape, covered in bandages, and hooked up to the wall. And you're going to stay like that for quite a while. Look at Janna. It's been a few days since she was sent to the hospital. But almost nothing has changed for her. She's still months away from being fully healed. And while your injuries are not as severe as hers, it's still the same deal. It's going to take you a while until you're at one hundred percent again."
Everybody around Star nodded along with this, agreeing with Eclipsa's sentiment. Even Marco agreed. Sure, he wanted Star to be up and about so they could keep being a happy couple, but he knew deep in his heart that she needed rest and time to recover. Putting it off for so long probably only hurt her more, and he hated the idea of her getting hurt.
Star, however, did not agree with this.
"Oh give me a break." She said, waving her hand at them. "How many times have I said it guys? How many times? I. Am. Fine. Unhook from all these machines and we can just walk out of here. Then we can go and beat up Mina's followers, kick Bren's teeth in for he did to my Marco…" Star momentarily paused to growl like an angry dog. "And we'll all be happy again!"
"Star, no." Marco said. "You need this. I know you actually feel terrible. I saw you trembling a little when you waved your hand at us. That hurt you. I know it did. You can try and convince all you want, but you can't hide the fact that you're in pain."
"I'm not in any kind of pain!" Star said, shooting up like a rocket before her aching knees forced her to lay back down. She yelped at the sudden affliction and started rubbing her knees, desperately trying to get rid of the pain. "Ow ow ow…" She moaned, before finally realizing her mistake. "That wasn't what it looked like."
"Star, you're usually not this stubborn. I think…" Eclipsa said. "But it doesn't matter. Just please stay her and don't try to leave. For the town. For me. For Marco."
Star was about to try and argue again, but she stopped and thought about what Eclipsa had just said, doing this for Marco and everyone else. Growling internally, she knew she had no choice but to consent to this.
"Fine." She whispered, just barely audible to the three people standing in the room. "I'll stay here. But the second stuff starts going to hell, even more so than it already has, do the same thing you did with Janna and get me out of here Eclipsa. You know all I want to do is help."
"I know." Eclipsa said. "And you will. But not right now. Just stay here and rest."
"Sure. Whatever you say." Star pouted. "Now, this whole conversation is growing kind of boring, so I'd like some time to myself. Just to think."
"Of course." Angie said, before turning to leave. "We should go."
The other two nodded and they all left the room, Marco casting one last glance at Star. She caught his eye and blew him a kiss. Marco grinned widely and blew her one back, and then left and closed the door, happy to at their relationship hadn't been damaged by the recent events.
Once they had all left, Star tugged impatiently on her hospital gown and leaned back in the bed, letting her head hit the pillow. She still thought it was all
A bit much. They didn't need a full bed for her. They didn't need to do all this. And they definitely didn't need to dress her in this embarrassing hospital gown. She still remembered the noise she made when they told her to wear it. They practically had to wrestle her into
the damn thing.
Star then sighed and closed her eyes, tired and finally accepting the situation completely. She would have to wait. There was no avoiding it. Marco was okay, the town was safe for now, and she would eventually be okay. It had to all turn out well in the end. She could feel it.
And that was the last thought she had before her mind closed its eyes and she fell asleep, the only sound in the room now the beeping of the monitor.
Outside of said room…
Now already already heading back to the lobby, Marco, Eclipsa and Angie remained silent, happy that Star hadn't tried to leave forcefully. Marco kept his mouth shut for a minute or so more, until he decided that he had to say something.
"So, she seems okay." He said. "At least she didn't try to get up and leave. I don't think I could have forced myself to stop her. She's here because of me after all…"
"Wrong." Eclipsa said. "She's in here because of whatever being possessed you and made you beat her up. You don't have to be guilty, I don't want you to be guilty, because right now, with everything else going on, I don't want to break down crying over something that wasn't your fault."
Marco wasn't sure if that was an attempt to make him feel better or just an order to not feel bad for hurting Star, but either way, it worked. "Okay." He said. "You're right. She isn't mad at me anyways. Nothing had changed. Nothing has changed at all."
"If you're talking about just your relationship with her, then I would agree with you." Eclipsa said. "Unfortunately, we've had a lot of changes recently that don't involve you two. Do you want me to go over them again, or can you remember?"
"...I can remember." Marco whispered.
"Can I chime in?" Angie asked, fully intending to not taking "no" for an answer. "I don't think all these changes are the problem here. Those changes don't mean anything if we don't take out the thing that keeps causing them. We shouldn't worry about new things, just the old thing that keeps coming back to haunt all of you."
"That is a good point." Eclipsa said, agreeing with her. "But these changes still are a problem. The old one, you know who, is just the first one on our list. There are changes out there that we can't every even if we kill him."
"Kill?" Angie said in surprise. "Don't you mean capture?"
Eclipsa paused, unable to meet her gaze. But it was likely one of confusion, and worry. She hoped they would have figured it out that Bren was almost certainly going to die if they captured him, but apparently not.
'They can learn later.' She thought. 'Focus on the now.'
"Yes. Capture." She said, pretending to correct herself. "Even if we capture him, there are still things out there that we won't be able to revert. Marco and Star will suffer the scars they received today for the rest of their life. Figurative for Marco, literal for Star. This hospital will never forget the day someone had magically been brought back from death, fully healed of all their wounds. This town will never forget that demon attack, even if we repair all the damage. The mental changes are the ones that will hurt the most. The ones that will never go away."
"Are you sure?" Marco asked. "If people want to forget that something happened, they may block it out from their mind entirely. I bet that in ten years from now, there's going to be a dozen people walking around town, with no memory of a demon attack, simply because they didn't want to remember."
"I'm not sure that's how memory works." Angie said. "But he does have a point Eclipsa. Even the mental scars will fade."
"But it'll still take too long." Eclipsa said. "That's a fact of life at this point. How many people had their lives decimated in that demon attack? All the damage to property, homes, shops...it's too much. What do you think would have happened if there were people in town at the time? If Brudo hadn't had that pay off all your taxes day? So many would have died. And we never would have gotten back to normal."
"You're thinking about what could have happened." Marco said. "Not what did happen. I've learned it's not a good idea to try and do both. And I think it's obvious which of the two is the most favorable."
"Perhaps." Eclipsa said. "But I can't stop thinking about it that way. I even told myself that earlier. Think about what's happening, not what did happen. But I couldn't resist. I'm the Queen. I have to think about stuff like that so that if it happens again, and it happens a different way, I can be ready to respond appropriately."
Marco paused and then nodded. "I suppose with a position like that, you can't really afford to just look to the future. But uh, do you have an idea about what we would have done if people were in the town during the demon attack? I'm kind of curious."
"It would be mostly the same." Eclipsa said. "Taking the thing down, that is. The backlash would have been far would severe however. No simple speech, not even the one that Star did this morning, would calm them down. They would blame us for not stopping it sooner, and then we would be ripped into bloody bits. All because we couldn't stop it in time. Which reminds me, you still owe us an explanation about the sanctuary and what exactly it is. Star told us it was some kind of church, or-"
"That's exactly what it is." Marco said. "And I feel like you already asked this question before. And we already gave you an answer. So either my memories are on the fritz, or yours are."
"I don't think it matters who's memories are on the fritz." Angie said. "I don't think Marco and Star not telling you about the sanctuary matters at all right now Eclipsa."
"I...yes. You're right." Eclipsa said. "On our list of problems, that one is at the very bottom. Right now, we're going back to the lobby and Janna will show us that book that contains information about why this is all happening and preventing Marco from turning feral again."
"Please don't call it that." Marco said, almost in a begging tone. "But shouldn't we be focusing on taking down Mina's followers first? I feel like they're the main problem as of right now
"No." Eclipsa said. "I'm tackling the problem that I see as the most threatening one. Those followers are disorganized morons without Mina. I doubt they're even a full group right now. So I don't consider them much of a threat. You on the other hand…" She looked over at Marco. "That little part where you get superpowers after being possessed is a gigantic threat. Bren is as well. This book should explain both of those threats, and hopefully will outline a way to defeat them. You won't ever go feral again, and Bren will be taken care of."
After hearing this, one of half of Marco just wanted to scream the truth at Eclipsa, telling her that he would never be possessed again. He didn't want to them to worry about it, but that wasn't his choice. If he told them, bad things would happen. And then it would be in his hands. But as for the other half, it just wanted to yell at her for calling his possessed state "feral" for the second time in a row.
It would have to be option two. Although he made sure to not include the yelling part.
"Please don't call it going feral again." Marco said. "That's the second time."
"Sorry." Eclipsa said, smiling slightly for the first time in hours. "I just thought of it, and it fits so well. So excuse me if I use it for a third."
"Don't expect me too." Marco said. "Doesn't matter though. So are we going to Janna's house now? Looking through that book?"
"That's exactly right." Eclipsa said. "We'll take my car and go there, all four of us. Unless...Angie, do you want to come?"
"Depends. Does the inside of your car have Marco's blood in it?" Angie asked. This led to a short but awkward silence, and it was plain to see that Eclipsa didn't want to answer that.
"...There's probably a few stains in the back seat." She finally admitted, her voice almost shaking as the words came out.
"Then no." Angie said. "I'd rather not see that. Besides, I have to get back to my car. It's probably been towed already, and even if it hasn't, I still need to move it."
"I understand completely." Eclipsa said, knowing how she would feel about climbing into a car with Meteora's blood covering the inside. She almost shed a tear at the mere thought of it. "I suppose we'll see you later then? We could use your help incase If Marco ever goes fer-I mean, if Marco ever gets possessed again."
"Nice save." Marco muttered.
"Of course." Angie said, before turning her attention towards her son. "Marco, once you guys finish reading that book of yours, can you come home? I think you need to take some time to relax."
"Tempting as that is, I'm fine." Marco said, mirroring Star's words. "I know a lot of crazy stuff has happened to me, but I'm at 100 percent capacity right now. Never better. I-"
"Marco, I can see the bags under your eyes. I could see you shaking anytime Eclipsa mentioned you being possessed." Angie said in a motherly tone. "I'm saying the same thing to you that we said to Star. You're not fine. Both of you need some time off from having to fight all these battles."
Marco was about to argue against this, but he knew she was right. In actuality, he just wanted to just kick back and do nothing for the next week and a half. Like some kind of reward for making it through all the insane stuff that happened to him since this morning.
"Okay." He said. "You're right. I need to chill. After the book thing, let's go back home. Eclipsa, do you think you could-"
"Of course." Eclipsa said. "I'll take you back to your house later. And your mother is right, like you said. You deserve to take some time off. Next time there's a problem, I promise that we won't come scrambling to you or Star, and I'll send the knights instead."
"Does this mean I won't have to come to the meeting of the Mewnian high council tomorrow?" Marco asked, hopeful.
"...No." Eclipsa said. "They need answers. We all do. Relax a little today, and then you can have the rest of the day off tomorrow after the meeting. Get a good night's sleep as well. No matter what happens, I promise you won't have to deal with it."
"Let's hope…" Marco whispered, knowing full well that something was bound to those that would require his attention. Life was just like that nowadays.
The three of them continued in silence until they got back to the lobby, where Janna was still waiting for them. She was over at the front desk, looking over the top of their computer to watch them play solitaire. The receptionist was obviously annoyed by this, but having encounter Janna during her stay in the hospital, she knew it was pointless to try and tell her to leave.
"Janna. We're leaving." Marco announced. "We're going to your house to check out that book of yours."
"Alright." Janna said, before looking up at the receptionist. "You're the worst solitaire player I've ever seen." She then walked away, leaving them both dumbfounded and insulted.
"Are we all getting in Eclipsa's car?" She asked. "I mean, that thing probably still had pieces of Marco hanging around inside it…"
"That's an over exaggeration." Eclipsa said, before leaning in towards Janna and speaking with a whisper. "And please don't say things like that. You really think his mother is going to want to hear that?"
"...Sorry." Janna whispered back, before heading for the door so she could leave. Marco watched her go and then turned to Angie.
"Thanks for being here for me and Star mom." He said. "I know how hard and confusing this has to be for you, as well as-"
"Marco, it's okay." Angie said. "You don't have to say anything, I already knowing the meaning behind those words."
"Oh." Marco said, taken aback. "I'll...see you back at home then?"
"I'll be waiting for you." Angie responded, before giving him a quick hug and then leaving as well. 'That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.' She thought. 'But it'll all be worth it once he and Rafael come home. We should do something as a family tonight. Maybe I should ask Rafael if he...oh. Right. I still have no idea where he is. Well, I guess I'll just call him again. And if that doesn't work, then I'll check around town as many times as I need to."
Back in the lobby, Marco watched his mother leave and sighed. "She's really suffering." He said. "I could hear it in her voice. I just hope she's okay. I don't want her to worry about me anymore than she needs to."
"She seems to be doing pretty well, considering." Eclipsa said. "But she needs to worry about you Marco. We all do. Possession, remember?"
"I'm never getting possessed again." Marco said under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Marco said. "And yeah, still remember. I remember all of it. Trust me, that's something I'm not going to forget." He got a faraway look in his eyes. "Not until the day I die…...again."
"Glad to hear it." Eclipsa said. Now let's get a move in, Janna must be bored out of her mind right now."
Marco nodded and the two left the lobby and went straight for Eclipsa's car. Janna was waiting outside it looking displeased for some reason.
"I just checked the back seat." She said. "And there is a lot more blood than I thought there would be. So, we have to decide who's sitting back there, unless one of you want to ride on the roof."
"Well, I have to drive the thing." Eclipsa said. "So you and Marco will have to decide."
Janna then glanced over at Marco, who now looked equally displeased. He knew this was coming ever since his mother had asked that question earlier, and had been dreading it for that entire time. On one hand, it was his blood, so he really wasn't as gross and weird as he thought it out to be. But on the other...he didn't want to.
Janna, however, seemed to be a lot more okay with it. This wouldn't have been the weirdest thing she had ever done. Heck, it wouldn't even be in the top ten. She had touched Marco's blood before, when she was filling up that vial that helped get rid of Bren's demon. This wasn't odd to her. It wasn't disgusting. But just like Marco, she still didn't want to. It was still the blood of her friend back there, while he had been dying, and even if it was dried, it didn't feel right. But she knew that Marco would never want to sit back there, so she had no choice.
"Okay." She said. "I'll take the-"
"I'll take the back seat." Marco said, and before Janna had a chance to respond, he clambered in and sat down. Although he scooted as far away from the dried blood stains as possible, he didn't overdo it. He knew he couldn't let Janna sit back there. It was his blood, not Janna's. It wouldn't be appropriate to force her to sit there and probably suffer in silence.
Outside the car, Janna was simply shocked hat Marco had willingly gone in there. She was literally just about to say that she had taken the back seat. But if he wanted it, then she wasn't complaining. She shrugged, opened the passenger side door, and carefully set her crutches down in front of her before buckling herself up.
"Are you two finally ready?" Eclipsa asked. "Because when I looked outside, the look on each of your faces made me think that your heads were about to explode."
"Just had to make some tough choices." Marco said. "It's fine though."
"Yeah. Totally." Janna said in response. "Now can we go? If I don't feed the colony of cockroaches that lives in my closet before five, they're going to get cranky."
A normal person would have questioned why Janna had a "colony of cockroaches" living in her closet, But Maroc and Eclipsa had been around her long enough to expect that sort of response from her
"Yeah. We're going…" Eclipsa said, and she turned on the car and left the hospital parking lot. None of them looked back as they drove away, happy to finally leave that place behind.
None of them spoke either. Not a single sound from any of them. Maybe just how traumatic the day events had been was finally being realized. All of them would remember this day. Marco more the others, but still, today had been torturous from start to finish. Literally for one of them. So they remained silent, afraid that if they opened their mouths, then they would never be able to stop talking. Talking about what had happened to them and how much it sucked. It had been the worst day in a long time.
As they drove along, Eclipsa already seemed to know where she was going, leading Marco to believe she had gone to Janna's house before. That or Janna had told her earlier and he just wasn't there for it. But it didn't matter either way. He leaned over and pressed the side of his head against the car window, not really looking out of it but instead looking at nothing. In that moment, he felt nothing. He thought he would still be worried. Worried about what that god had said and about Bren, but he wasn't. He was literally too tired to care about anything.
'Maybe I shouldn't even be doing this.' He thought to himself. 'I should really ask Eclipsa to take me home right now so I can relax. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to do that for me.'
Something that had the semblance of a smile crept over Marco's face as he thought about being alone, with no bren, no torture dreams, no nothing. Just him alone at his house. Maybe making some nachos, practicing his karate, and being himself for once.
But he couldn't. And he knew that. He had to see today out to the end. He had to go to Janna's house and read that stupid little book. He...had too. His only response to these thoughts was a gigantic sigh that swept over his whole body. He accepted his sad fate and stretched his legs out in an attempt to get comfortable. He had to make the best of a bad situation. It was the only thing left to do.
After a few more minutes of silence and swerving, Eclipsa pulled up next to Janna's house and parked right next to a mailbox. Everybody climbed out without saying a word and headed for the door. They all knew what they were here for. No need for them to speak about it.
They all entered and saw Janna's parents sitting on the couch, and Janna gave them a small wave.
"Hey." She said. "This are my friends Marco and Eclipsa. I'm gonna show them something in my room? Is that okay?"
Both of her parents gave her a thumbs up and went back to the books they were reading, unconcerned with anything. Janna nodded after Eclipsa and Marco and the two followed her up her staircase, before turning a corner and entering her room.
It was the same as when Marco last saw it. Weird things. Weird statues. Weird everything. None of them seemed fazed by it. Janna walked over to her bed and pulled out a book the size of a briefcase out from under it, set it on a nearby desk, and they all crowded around to look.
"Okay." Janna said, flipping the gigantic book open to a new page, written in a language only she understood.
"So, according to this book, there's this sort of deity. The god we talked about earlier. A god of-"
"Of flame." Marco said, remembering his earlier encounter with the being. "We talked about it earlier."
Janna looked at him in surprise. "Oh yeah. Must have been a fun conversation. But anyways, this god encompasses everything flame-realized. Fire, ash, heat, coal, the whole thing. But while is a god, it's apparently on the weaker side of the scale. Which meant that it usually doesn't take matters into its own hands, but had others do it for them."
"Others like Bren." Marco seethed. "Was he sent by this fire god to kill us?"
"I'm getting there." Janna said. "So in order to make sure it's servants had a better chance of doing whatever they were supposed to do, this God grants them abilities."
"With demon magic." Eclipsa chimed in. "All of this was made possible with that twisted form of magic."
"I wouldn't say twisted." Janna said. "More like misunderstood. But you're right. It gave them their abilities with demon magic. Bren's abilities, Marco's abilities, all of it."
"What kind of abilities does it grant them?" Marco asked. "I know there's already a few we know about, but are there any others?"
"Well...it says it gives them enhanced strength, durability, reflexes, and...pyrokinesis." Janna said nervously. "Although I guess we haven't seen Bren do that last yet, so he may be hiding it from us, or he just doesn't have it for some reason. Then again, you never did it either Marco. Star had no burn marks on her. So you obviously never used or even had that ability."
"Or I did, and I just didn't know." Marco pointed out. "But I do remember that Bren never used that ability in our fight. So maybe he doesn't have it like you said, or he just didn't want too and felt satisfied beating me up with his bare hands."
"Let's hope it's the former." Eclipsa said. "Now, can anything hurt people who have been given this power?" She asked. "Something has to be able to."
"According to the book," Janna said, practically whispering. "The person who's granted the gods power has their skin become as "hard as iron." But I think that's just an exaggeration. He's tough, but he's not like, you know, bulletproof or anything close to that."
"Let's hope so…" Marco said. "Would something like a sword hurt him?"
"Enough hits probably would." Janna said. "It would have to be a good sword though. Especially since he's strong and fast enough that he could easily catch the blade."
"How strong?" Eclipsa asked.
Janna took a deep breath. "He could bench press a dozen school buses."
"WHAT?!" Everybody else in the room said, (all two of them) shocked beyond belief.
Janna stared at them for a few moments, then burst out laughing. "You should have seen the looks on your faces!" She said. "A dozen school buses...yeah, nobody is that strong."
"This is not really the time for jokes Janna." Marco said. "You literally had me thinking that he would be unbeatable for a second there."
"Just trying to lighten the mood, jeez. Appreciate the fact that I don't make jokes often, much less laugh." She shook her head in disappointment. "But in all seriousness, he's strong enough that he could beat anyone in one-on-one combat. Not to mention his reflexes were also enhanced. So taking him on directly would not be a good idea, as we saw in his fight with Marco."
"Noted." Eclipsa said. "So why is he doing this? Like Marco asked, did this god of fire tell Bren to kill us all?"
"I don't think so." Janna said. "The book says that the God of fire grants abilities to people who are on quests of their own. Whatever reason Bren is doing this for, it's personal. The God of fire is just helping him along the way for its own reasons."
"But I'm not in any sort of quest." Marco said. "It never contacted me before taking over my body. It only tortured me in some giant arena in my dream!" He then quickly added, "If they were the same person, of course."
"Oh yeah." Janna said. "That torture dream of yours. Star told us a little bit, but never the whole thing. I'd ask you, but I feel like you wouldn't be comfortable talking about it."
"Thank you for taking that into consideration." Marco mumbled. "And yes. I would not be comfortable."
"Going back to the main topic, what do we do now?" Eclipsa asked.
"Well." Janna said. "I think the best thing we could do is-"
Janna was suddenly interrupted by the sound of her bedroom door swing open, and everyone present turned to look at Janna's father, standing in the doorway and holding a phone in his hand.
"Hey." He said. "You friend Marco's mother is on the phone. Said she needs to tell him something".
"Thanks dad." Janna said, and she took the phone away from him. Her father gave her a quick nod, she nodded back, and that was that. He left and Ianna closed the door behind him, locking it after the fact so nobody else could barge in.
"Here." She said, handing the phone to Marco. Marco gingerly plucked it out of her hands and held it up to his ear.
"Hello?" He said, expecting trouble.
"Marco…" It was his mother's voice. But at the same time, not one he heard very often. It sounded scared. Fearful. Worried. Marco took notice of her terrified tone almost instantly and responded in kind.
"What happened?" He asked frantically. "Is everything alright?"
"No." Angie said. "Marco...it's your father."
End chapter 17
A/N: Just in case anyone is wondering, no. Rafael is not dead. But he's not in a good place either, as the next chapter will show.
This chapter was also shorter than the ones I've been doing recently, and it might stay around this length, due to school being a pain and other projects I'm working on. Hope everyone understands.
Until next time.
