A/N: Aged up, altered timeline AU
Chapter 7: The Old Knight of Mewni
Marco Diaz, captain of the Knights of Mewni and personal guard to the queen walked slowly through the halls of Butterfly castle. His cybernetic left eye blinked in tandem with his chocolate brown right one to prevent vertigo and he walked with a pronounced limp, his old wound from a battle against a group of assassins bothering him more than usual today. Perhaps he had slept on it funny. His once dark brown hair had faded to a grey-white to match the medium grey beard which adorned his face, a sign of the years he had seen. He wore his customary steel plate emblazoned with a butterfly crest on the chest piece with a red cape and longsword. Not that anyone wouldn't recognize him, Marco reflected as he nodded to the servants running about prepping the castle for another day. He had been living here for quite some time after all.
Continuing down the hall from his quarters Marco went past the open doors of the memorial room, or the grandma room as a certain rebel princess had been fond of calling it. All the past queens of Mewni had a tapestry woven by magic depicting their life's most consequential moment and a small plaque beneath describing it as a short poem. Immediately facing him through the open doors was a young blue haired woman screaming as she fired a blast from her wand to slice off the finger of a seemingly immortal monster. Moon the Undaunted, Star's mother. Beneath the tapestry and plaque was a small display case which housed Moon's favorite tiara and a gargantuan battle-axe that had belonged to the late King River. The two had passed years ago, Moon first and River just a month later. As with every time he passed the room, Marco sent a silent prayer to whoever might be listening that they had found happiness together in the hereafter as they had in life.
Further down the hall the left-side wall rather suddenly gave way to a series of open archways which allowed one entrance to a vast enclosed rose garden. Basking for a moment in the warm rays of the early morning sun, Marco remembered Star telling him about the strange woman who she'd found in the garden one day, and how later on as her squire he had guarded her as she and her "granny" Eclipsa had tended the bushes together, slowly coaxing it back to life. These days the garden was considered one of the gems of the castle, a place for relaxation by day and contemplative strolls, or secret dalliances, by night. Marco could have stayed here the whole day just enjoying the sunshine and remembering, but he had somewhere to be today.
Another few minutes of walking brought Marco to the intersection with the castle's main hallway. To the right lay the doors to the throne room while to the left lay the main entrance to the castle. Marco had to fight off his kneejerk reaction to turn right and stand at his usual place by the queen, but before he could leave a soft cough behind him compelled him to turn around. He was unsurprised by who he saw. Standing in front of him was Higgs, once his fellow squire, now vice-captain of Mewni's knights. When they had first met Higgs had dubbed him as Star's royal plaything, a squire by name without having earned the title. Over the years through hard work and battle prowess, Marco had gained the fiery redhead's respect, then friendship, and eventually admiration. And, Marco had to admit to himself, he'd even earned her affection for a while. Youthful indiscretions were called so for a reason, and he and Higgs had had more than their fair share. Of course, none of that had stopped her from challenging Marco in front of the entire court when he'd first been named captain of Mewni's knights. True to his impressive skill, Marco had swiftly and soundly defeated Higgs. Many suggested that for such disgraceful conduct that she be stripped of her own knighthood and cast out. Instead, as his first act as captain, Marco had decreed before the entire court that Higgs was to be placed in charge of training all future squires and was to be his vice-commander. He would guard Mewni's present, but he declared he could think of no other who could better guard Mewni's future. From then on, he'd had Higgs' complete loyalty and the two had fought side by side through many battles in the years since.
"You're going there today, aren't you?" Higgs' question broke Marco out of his reprieve and he nodded in response. Higgs came to rest a hand on his shoulder, unspoken words flowing between the two comrades. "I'll take your watch today; take all the time you need captain." Without waiting for a response, Higgs marched off towards the throne room. For his part, Marco continued out of the castle and into Butterfly Village, the main town for supplying the castle with its daily needs.
Walking down the thoroughfare, Marco still marveled at how far the town had come. When he'd first arrived, the streets had been mud and pig-goat dung mixed together, the street vendors had sold mostly rags and half-rotten fruit, and the stores and homes were wood or mud with thatched roofs. Now, the streets were cobblestone, vendors sold a variety of exotic goods from around Mewni and across dimensions, and brick and stone homes and stores lined the way. Of course, the greatest change were the monsters. Everywhere Marco looked monsters were milling about, running businesses, buying wares, or entering or leaving home. Monster and mewman children played together in the street while their parents chatted, and he even spotted a few monster-mewman couples together. It all brought a smile to Marco's face. This is what he and Star had fought, cried, bled, and collected scars for. A peaceful and prosperous Mewni that was truly equal. As he walked down the sidewalk some of the older townsfolk bowed to or applauded him, recognizing their great hero. The younger ones who didn't know of him by sight still admired the bright armor and looked up at him in awe. Some vendors attempted to grab his attention to hawk their wares, and in year past an early morning goblin dog or corn shake would have seemed like the perfect start to the day. But today Marco was simply passing through and had soon walked out of town.
Sometime later the old knight had reached the entrance to the Forest of Certain Death. Marco shook his head at that. He'd tried for years to get the name changed; it wasn't even that dangerous anymore! But the people loved to stick by their old traditions and so the forest of certain death it had remained. Not far into the woods the path forked with Marco taking the path heading right. The dappled sunlight filtering through the forest canopy brought back memories of childhood camping trips with his parents and of later teenage trips where Star had come along. It was ironic that at the time Marco had thought dealing with a slightly manic princess from another dimension who could do magic had complicated his life beyond all belief. If only he could tell his past self just how much more insane his life was going to get.
After close to 45 minutes of walking/limping along, the tree cover started to thin out and Marco found himself in a meadow full to bursting with flowers of every color and variety, wild unicorns grazing peacefully, paying the old human no mind. Few people on Mewni, in the whole multiverse for that matter, knew about this place. As he headed to a small rise in the center of the meadow, Marco remembered when he had first set eyes on the place. Queen Moon had come down with an illness that no magic or medicine seemed capable of curing. Many said the constant stress of her rule, from the loss of her own mother at a tender age to all the trouble that Toffee had caused and everything in between had simply caused her body to give out. Needless to say, Star had been devastated. The situation only grew worse when River had passed shortly thereafter. When Moon had died, River had taken up a brief regency to give Star time to grieve and prepare her to rule. But with his rather sudden death the nobility immediately began pressuring Star to take up the crown. Facing the immeasurable sense of loss at having lost both of her parents and her old trepidations about ruling, Star had run. Marco, ever the loyal squire and friend, was soon hot on her heels.
He'd chased her through Butterfly Village and the Forest of Certain Death, but even in his prime and unencumbered by armor he was no match for Star's immense strength and speed. When he finally caught up to her atop the same hill he now found himself standing on, it had been because she had collapsed rather than Marco had caught up with her. Great heaving sobs had rocked her body, each breath looking like it was being choked out. Marco had done the only thing he could do and wrapped her in an embrace, trying desperately to find the words of comfort that would soothe the shattered soul resting inside his friend. He reminded her of the conversation they'd had years earlier, that she would rule Mewni her way. That she would have friends and advisors to help guide her, like Kelly and Pony Head and her boyfriend Tom. And of course, Marco. He'd be by her side always he promised.
When Star had tried to dissuade him from such declarations, he'd pulled Star to her feet and drawn his sword. Kneeling in front of her with the point of his sword resting above his heart, handle towards Star. It was the ultimate gesture of submission to another's will, a literal trusting of one's life into the hands of another. Had Star wanted to she could have seized Marco's sword then and there and with a quick thrust ended him. Instead she had stood in awed silence as Marco declared that henceforth instead of her squire, he would be Sir Marco Diaz, her personal knight. He would keep her secrets, protect her from enemies, and give her counsel when asked for it. Star had accepted, and the knowledge that Marco would always be there for her gave her strength, though not enough of it.
In the end, Star had still been too hesitant about ruling, and ultimately had begged Eclipsa to retake the throne. Eclipsa reluctantly agreed, and although some of the nobility had raged against the decision, she ultimately found enough support to claim the crown. And so, the queen of darkness for the second time in her life found herself ruling Mewni. It had been under her reign that the first laws granting monsters full equality with mewmans had been enacted, and although there had been great backlash there had also been great prosperity as the willing of both races came together to build a better world. She had also been the one to elevate Marco to his captain's rank which set off the fight with Higgs.
Although Star had been hesitant to rule, she'd immediately thrown as much effort as possible into the monster-mewman equality project when Eclipsa asked for her help. As a princess with friends and experiences in both the Mewman and monster worlds, Star was a unique ambassador to both camps and was dispatched all over Mewni. If Star had been busy with princess duties when Moon was alive, now she had become a downright workaholic. Marco would sometimes go a week without seeing her, and he was supposed to be her personal knight for corn's sake! Still, they'd still found time to be together. Rather than the adventurers of her youth, these days Star tended to drag Marco off to the meadow where the rest of the world's problems faded away amidst warm sunlight and the vibrant colors of the flowers. She had taught Marco had to ride and tame a wild unicorn, and Marco had presented her with a gorgeous moon opal for her birthday that year. In spite of the years of friendship and all they had done and shared, Marco could honestly say those days simply relaxing in that meadow had been some of the happiest in both of their lives.
Of course, if Marco was only mildly concerned about the frantic pace Star had set for herself, then Tom had been downright furious. Always jealous of how little time the two had gotten to spend together before, he now raged at how he barely saw her and how their relationship seemed to fade further and further from her mind. One day he'd appeared in the middle of the castle in a column of fire. He'd tracked down Marco and seized him by the collar demanding to know where Star was. Unfortunately for him, Star rounded the corner at exactly the wrong moment and the first thing she'd seen was her boyfriend attempting to maul her best friend and knight. A heated argument had broken out which had turned into a fight that nearly destroyed half the kingdom. Marco had eventually been able to calm the two of them down and get them to have an actual conversation with one another and by the end of it there had been if not an amicable breakup then certainly a less violent one. Tom had ended up leaving in tears and Star wasn't doing much better. Not so long thereafter, Marco had contemplated revealing his long-repressed feelings to Star, part of him holding out hope that she still held some of the affections she had confessed to him during his summer party years ago. He'd ultimately decided against it at the time, Star had been dealing with enough and in that moment, she needed Marco to be her rock, not complicate her life further.
By now Marco had reached the top of the hill and found what he'd been walking towards all day, a tall stone obelisk with a five-pointed star capping it on top. He slowly lowered himself to the ground until he was leaning against the monolith. Painful as it was, he then summoned up the memories that had led to the monument's creation. Eclipsa's reign had been prosperous, but short. It seemed that the extended crystallization had had a delaying effect on the aging process, and when the time had caught up to her, she had deteriorated rapidly. After five years on the throne, the queen of darkness had passed away and again the nobility had turned to Star, insisting that this time she take up her birthright. Eclipsa's daughter Meteora, who had been resurrected as a toddler after a drawn-out battle with Star and Eclipsa, was far too young to take over. Star had again hesitated, and again Marco had pledged that he would help in any way he could. He also gently reminded her that her accession would mean the continuation of monster-mewman integration. Ultimately the effort proved successful and Star Butterfly at last ascended the throne of Mewni as queen.
From the start, Star's reign had proved troubled. The grumbling that had started under Eclipsa from reactionary elements against equality for monsters had gown to a fever pitch as Star moved even faster with the program than Eclipsa had. The loudest, and by far the most radical, voice of all these had been the deranged solarian warrior, Mina Loveberry. She didn't simply advocate for a return to the status quo but instead for what she dubbed a "cleansing" of Mewni, the eradication of all monsters. She began to recruit others to her cause and her followers soon began a series of guerilla and terrorist attacks against Mewni in an effort to undermine Star's work. Marco had been dispatched frequently to do what he could and Star had joined him on occasion. Sometimes they managed to stop an attack before it happened and other times they'd been too late. Each had collected wounds which transformed into unsightly scars in the process. A particularly nasty flail had caught Marco in the back once and even after it healed the scar made it looked like someone had punched him in the kidney and managed to leave a dent.
After two years of this, Mina either grew impatient or believed she had gathered enough strength and put enough fear among the general populace to challenge Star directly. One of her followers had come to Butterfly Castle with an ultimatum: Star was to abdicate the throne and head into exile immediately. All monsters were to permanently leave all mewman settled areas and submit themselves to future resettlement if called for. Any who chose not to obey would face the headsman's axe. Star had issued an ultimatum in return, declaring that if Mina was a true warrior, she would face Star in the field instead of cowering behind idle threats and massacres of the innocent. Marco had frankly never been prouder of her than in that moment. Mina's messenger had left with Star's reply while Star herself began sending out messages for help, attempting to rally all who would join her. Two days later the two armies met one another in an open field. Mina had recruited thousands of disaffected mewmans and had evidently found enough steel to arm and armor them all to the teeth. Star for her part commanded a far more mixed army. Marco had been given command of Mewni's knights, while their old friend Buff Frog had rallied the monsters to Star's cause, reminding them of how much she had done to right the sins of the past. Kelly had come from her dimension to fight alongside her friends, and Star's cousin Rock Johanson had brought his clan's fiercest barbarians. The biggest surprise of all had been Tom's arrival. A massive fissure had split the ground and the young demon prince had ridden out of it on a flaming skeletal horse dressed in black, ruby-encrusted armor. He led a massive contingent of demons, shades, and hellhounds that had swelled their ranks.
The ensuing battle had been bloody. While the soldiers on the ground were about evenly matched, Star and Mina were in a league of their own, tearing through entire platoons of soldiers like they were tissue paper. Kelly had been the first to fall. She had attempted to end the battle by going directly for Mina but the solarian had been too fast for her and had skewered her with a jagged sword made of glowing red energy. The green haired woolet had died immediately. Marco himself had been the next to try and had nearly been decapitated for the effort, managing to lose his left eye in the process. He'd been down on the ground with Mina standing over him triumphantly, readying the killing blow. Marco prepared for the end but then Tom had blasted Mina with fire, refocusing her attention away from the wounded knight. The demon prince had fared the best of any of them, managing to set Mina's hair ablaze and badly scorching her arm. Marco had attempted to reach him to help, cutting down enemies left and right in a mad dash to reach his friend. His efforts ultimately proved futile however, and Tom fell clutching his open throat. The death of their prince had set off a deep wail among the underworld troops. Many of them fled soon after, and it was clear the tide was turning in favor of Mina and her followers.
Marco and Higgs found themselves back to back, fighting off the horde of opponents desperate to reach Star. By this point Mina wasn't even engaged in the fighting anymore, hovering over her troops with a self-satisfied grin on her face, she knew that she had won. Marco's eye had briefly locked onto Star's own gaze and to his surprise rather than guilt, or anger, or sadness, or any of the other emotions he expected to see on her face, she looked almost apologetic. In an instant, Star had transformed into her butterfly form and raised the wand aloft. A blinding flash of light emanated from the magical object and to Marco's horror a massive purple skull with a pair of butterfly wings surged forth and blasted directly into Mina who had no time to react. Star had unleashed Eclipsa's most dangerous and forbidden spell, created during her younger and angrier days when she had just wanted all the pain and suffering on Mewni to come to an end. She'd supposedly unleashed it on some empty world in a long-forgotten dimension and had been so horrified by what it wrought that she had refused to title it. And so it was referred to as the spell with no name. An unstoppable destruction spell, one touch equaled instant death, and once unleashed the spell never stopped, carving a path through whatever it came into contact with until it met an equally destructive force that could cancel it out. Rumor had it that the original spell Eclipsa had created was still mindlessly flying around the desolate world, forever seeking something else to destroy.
Mina had been vaporized instantly, and much of her army had followed soon after, the rest fleeing in fear. But the spell was insatiable and it soon began to circle towards the remnants of their own army. Despite Marco's pleas for her to stop, Star had launched herself into the sky and fired a beam of concentrated magical energy at the skull which redirected its attention towards the young mewman queen. A massive ball of light engulfed the sky rivaling the sun, and the shockwave knocked almost everyone onto the ground. When the light and noise faded, Marco watched Star's body, now returned to its normal form, tumble broken to the ground. He'd raced over to her, heedless of shoving aside any who got in his way, and could only gasp at the broken and bleeding form of his friend and love. He'd cradled her body into his own, desperate cries pouring forth as he begged and pleaded, with her, with the universe, with anyone who would listen to bring her back to him. Star's eyes had briefly opened, but it quickly became apparent that she wasn't going to make it. Their last words together had been another oath. Star made Marco swear that he would continue to protect Mewni and fight for the dream they had shared of a free and equal land. What else could Marco do but accept, even as tears flowed down his face and he continually begged her to stay with him? Star drew her last breath and died in Marco's arms. She had lost both of her parents at age 25 and had become queen at age 30. Now only 32, Mewni had lost its queen, Star the Underestimated.
The entire kingdom had gone into mourning for weeks, and Marco longed to do little else but climb inside a bottle of corn ale and drown his sorrows in an alcoholic haze. But Mewni had needed him and honor, along with his oath to Star, compelled him to keep his head. First had been the matter of the succession. In her will, Star had unsurprisingly named Meteora as heir to the throne and it was accepted without much fanfare. Most of the nobility who might have bristled at the notion of a half mewman- half monster queen on the throne had joined Mina and were likely dead or in hiding by this point. What had caused quite a bit more controversy had been Star's other declaration, that Marco serve as Lord Protector and regent until Meteora was old enough to handle the wand and the throne. Many of the remaining more conservative mewman nobles bristled at the idea of a mere human ruling them, the remanents of the other branches of the Butterfly family more so. But Marco had the unconditional support of the surviving knights and most of the allied kingdoms. Marco himself almost rejected the role, but again his oath bound him, and so Marco Diaz, Lord Protector of Mewni, sat the throne for a time.
Star had left a number of other requests in her will, but the only other one Marco played a serious role in was her funeral. It had been a massive affair, the whole populace, mewman and monster alike, had been allowed into the castle to see her lie in state in the throne room. The public story was that she would be interred alongside the other queens in the massive Butterfly royal mausoleum. And indeed, a grand tomb was constructed for just such a purpose, but that was a ruse. Star had indicated she wanted to be buried atop the hill in her and Marco's secret meadow where they had shared so many happy memories over the years, a place where only those closest to her would know where to find her and what the memorial marker atop her grave meant. Marco had honored the request, and made a vow that he would return once a year on the anniversary of her death to stand vigil at her grave, and to remember his friend, his secret love, and his queen, who had brought such happiness and sorrow, chaos and stability, to his life.
Marco sighed tiredly, coming back to the present. Star had been gone for just over 30 years now, and Marco was an old man of 65. True to his word, he had reigned as regent, slowly guiding and training the young Meteora, molding her into the queen she would one day have to be. He had eventually gained her trust and respect, eventually becoming like a father figure to her. Marco would never admit it to anyone, but in his deepest of hearts he sometimes pictured Meteroa as the daughter he and Star had never gotten to have. When she'd taken the throne at age 16, she had asked Marco to stay on as captain and as head of her advisory council. This time Marco had accepted without hesitation, Mewni was his home now. In the early days, he had traveled back to Earth frequently to spend time with his parents and his rapidly growing sister, Mariposa. Now, he visited his former home rarely. His parents had lived full and long lives and had passed about 10 years ago. Mariposa was in her 40's and had a family of her own. Marco adored his nieces and nephews and they in turn loved visits from their mysterious "Tio Marco." As children they had been told that their uncle simply worked and lived far away, accentuated by the strange and fascinating gifts he always brought them. When they'd gotten older, they had been told the truth and their childish love for an uncle who always brought cool presents had morphed into full-on her worship. He made sure never to miss a birthday or a special occasion, but he could honestly say that Earth hadn't been his home in decades, and likely never would be again.
Meteroa too had a family. She'd settled down with a Lucitor, finally arranging the political match that Star and Tom had been saddled with as kids and later as teens. Although this time the relationship had come up organically. Marco had seen what political matches could do via Eclipsa and Star, and he'd be damned if he let scheming nobles ruin yet another young girl's life. The pair had had a daughter rather quickly, securing the succession and providing another pillar of stability in what was admittedly an already stable time. True, in the last few decades Marco had helped defeat assassins, stamp out rebellions, and waged wars to defend Mewni, but taken as a whole Meteroa's reign had the most peaceful since before Queen Comet, Star's grandmother.
Marco glanced up at the sunset now bathing the meadow in a brilliant gold. Some of the fading rays hit the star carving in Star's memorial, casting dancing shadows across the flowers, as if an elegant waltz was playing out across the meadow. It brought bittersweet memories for Marco, but he would have to contend with those another time. For now, he stood and softly placed a hand on the obelisk. "I miss you Star, every day," he whispered. "I'll be back next year, I promise." At that particular moment a strong gust of wind whipped through the clearing, ruffling Marco's hair in much the same way that Star had used to when she teased him. He could only shake his head ruefully, even from beyond the grave he was sure his rebel princess was with him.
As he started the long trek back to the castle to relieve Higgs for the night watch, Marco reflected that at this point he certainly had more years behind him than ahead of him. His life had been filled with joy and sorrow, laughter and tears. He remembered once as a young man telling a blond girl he'd just met that he wasn't some safe kid and that he would relish a life of adventure and excitement. He'd certainly gotten more than he'd bargained for in that regard. Now as he entered the twilight of his life, all he really longed for was peaceful days. And, at the end, if the universe or some deity or whatever was out there was able to reward him in some way, one day he would close his eyes and awake to see a smiling blond queen holding out her hand for him to take hold of, never to let go. As he spied the towers of Butterfly Castle come into view, Marco smiled. It was as good a dream as any to have he supposed.
A/N: I want to wish everyone reading this a very happy new year! I hope you liked this chapter, I wanted to explore the idea of what Marco's would be like living out his days on Mewni with Star gone. I ended up liking it so much, I'm actually thinking of doing a spinoff series with it. Maybe some more one-shots, maybe an actual story. If that's something you'd want to see, please comment or PM me. On a side note, these first seven chapters have come out pretty frequently because I've been on break but with the new semester starting up soon the frequency is going to drop off a bit. I want to say that here and now just in case anyone thinks I'm abandoning the story. Trust me, not even close. On another side note, the absolutely perfect fic, "The once and future queen" an M-rated fic by Ronald Regan and Lord Cornwallis under the penname Lord Ronaldwalis has just updated. If you haven't read it yet, go do that now. And make sure to leave a fav, follow, and review on it, they live off of that! And while you're at it, feel free to leave a fav or follow or review here too. Until next time!