"Once again, there was no intention of our worlds colliding," Star said, looking at one of the cameras, "We're not even sure how it happened either, but I'm begging you to stop killing our natives. Those people you call monsters all have families of their own and they're just as scared as you are."

Star held her serious face until the green light turned off and Ferguson gave her the all clear. Then a smile broke out and she jumped for joy. It felt great, to actually be doing something that could help people. After talking things with Pony Head and Seahorse, Marco had brought in his tech-savvy friends Alfonso and Ferguson to help edit and broadcast their recordings all over the world.

""Girl, you were so good!" Pony Head flew circles around her bestie, "You were so inspiring. It was like you were born to be in front of a camera – just like me! I'm sure that this will put an end to all that stuff going outside."

"If we start work now, it should be ready by tonight," Alfonso said. He, Ferguson, and Seahorse started doing their nerd things right away and Marco walked up.

"What happened to you?" Pony head asked.

"I didn't sleep good last night," Marco shrugged, "Just a few nightmares, though. Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Well you should really put some makeup on to hide those bags under your eyes, it's not a good look," Pony head huffed. Marco glared at her back as she left. His face softened when his eyes came back to Star.

"You look terrible," Star said, pulling him into a hug, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," there was a subtle edge in his voice that subdued Star's happy mood. But it was probably just because he was tired, she reasoned. He's always grumpy when he's tired. At least they were together, though.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Star asked.

Marco nodded.

"I think my parents are hiding things from me again."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, I assumed that after everything that happened on Mewni that we wouldn't keep any secrets from each other, but I've barely seen Eclipsa or my mom since we first arrived. I know they're planning things, but I haven't been invited to any of the meetings.

"I'm scared that they're going to make things worse. Neither of them have as much experience with humans as I do."

"Maybe that's why they're excluding you, then," Marco replied nonchalantly, "They know that you're biased and that you always want to see the best in people instead of preparing for the worst.

"I'm not saying it's the right thing to do," He continued, "But it may be their line of reasoning."

"How could you say that? Is it a bad thing that I'm giving humans a chance? Those are your people out there, Marco, and you won't even try and help them?"

"Exactly," Marco replied, "Those are my people out there, but look at what happened when they mixed with mewman monsters. Don't you remember what happened to Dave?"

"Of course I remember!" Star through her hands in the air, "But if we give up, then what chance do the mewmans have? Or anyone? If we don't try and see the best in people, then they will only show us their worst!

"We fought so hard for equality on Mewni, are you really going to throw it all away?"

"I'm not throwing it away," Marco argued, "But it didn't work, did it? Mina was still able to rally mewmans to fight the monsters. They were almost forced off a cliff! I don't know about you, but I don't want that to happen again."

"Ugh! I can't believe you!" Star yelled, storming out. Tears in her eyes, she made her way onto the outer walls. She saw the growing crowd of humans by the front gate. Why couldn't they just leave and let things be? Why did their have to be anger in their hearts?

Star wanted to yell and scream at them to just leave them alone, but she held her tongue because she knew it would only make things worse. That didn't mean she would just sit around and twiddle her thumbs all day though. She would do what she could to help.

(Line Break)

Star was worried. Her family had been very secretive since she arrived. Especially her father, who had been in a dark mood ever since he disappeared with Marco.

She noticed the increased defenses as well. There were more guards on watch than before and there was now a second line of defense within the castle walls. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were expecting some attack, but why were they keeping Star out of the loop?

Whatever, Star huffed. If they were going to exclude her on their plans, then she would do the same to them. After everything that happened earlier today, she asked Rich pigeon if he would send out some of his pigeon carriers out with a message that told monsters that the castle was a safe refuge. She couldn't just sit here while she knew that her friends were in terrible danger. Not after she watched one get gunned down right in front of her eyes.

It hadn't been hard to evade the people who were avoiding her and sneak to one of the secret side entrances. Even Marco seemed to know something she didn't! They said a lot of things before their worlds collided, a lot of really nice words, but she felt farther from him now than ever before.

Tears started to brim her eyes and Star forced herself to take a deep breath. This was not the time to let her emotions get in the way of the right course of action.

As soon as the sun set, Star opened the secret door.

"Buff Frog!" Star had been so worried about him and his family. She ran out and hugged him.

"Is good to see you, too, Star Butterfly," He said, "We are grateful that you have opened the doors once more."

Star quickly glanced around then let them inside. She didn't want her parents to know she had gone behind their back so she took all of the refuges into the infirmary.

"You'll all be safe here," She said once they had all settled in. There were four mewmans and about twenty monsters, "I'll see what food I can find and if there any extra blankets."

"Before you go," Buff Frog said, "Do you have a plan? We are in Castle, yes, but we cannot stay in here forever."

"Marco and I are working on a video that's going to broadcasted across the country," Star replied, "And from there we'll just do what we have to."

Buff Frog and some of the others looked dubious, but Star reaffirmed that this was only a temporary solution.

"Just like last time," Star heard Buff Frog mutter to himself just before she closed the door.

She'd only made it halfway to the kitchen before she ran into Marco. Literally.

"They've started to rally!" He rushed, picking her up and dragging her towards the backside of the castle, "We've got to get out here,"

"Who's rallying?" Star planted her feet and refused to move, "What's going on?"

Marco took a deep breath. "We'd noticed that there was an increase in activity around the front gates. I was up there and one of the men started to speak.

"He was so charismatic. I think they're going t-"

An explosion rumbled off in the distance.

"To try and breakthrough…" He finished.

Star took off running towards the sounds of mayhem, and once again Marco found himself following her against his better judgement.

Star burst through the doors and gasped. There were men and women charging through a gaping hole in the wall. It reminded her of the time her and Marco had poked an ant colony.

Bang.

Gunfire rang through the night. It was a sound that Star had already heard too many times in her life. No one needed a weapon that deadly.

"That was the guy who was rallying everyone," Marco pointed to a man wearing a shirt with the American flag, ripped jeans, and a leather jacket. He still had his megaphone and was using his voice as a whip to motivate the people forward.

Star leapt into action; running across the front wall until she jumped off and hit him mid-air. They tumbled away from the main battle.

"What the hell, kid?" He sputtered.

"Why are you attacking us?" Star demanded. She didn't have her magic wand to back her up, but that didn't make her any less frightening. Picking the man up, she shoved him against the castle wall, "What gave you the right?"

"You're one of them human look-a-likes, aren't you?" He smiled cruelly, "She told us about you. Said y'all were just as bad as the monsters."

He spit in her face and laughed. Before she knew what was happening, Star's fist collided with his face with a mean right-hook.

"What is wrong with you?" Star screamed. The man smiled again, but this time there was blood on his teeth. Unable to help herself, she punched him again. Anger rose in her chest and her vision became tunneled. This man was the reason that people were dying around her.

"Star!" Came the masculine voice of her father. He dragged her off the man, "You can't be here anymore! Take a look around – this isn't going to end well. The castle is no longer safe."

"We can't abandon our people!" Star exclaimed.

"We're not. I will stay behind to lead our defense. It's not looking good," River paused to glance at the fallen soldiers, "but we're buying enough for the civilians to escape out the back."

"You can't stay here- you'll die!" Tears streamed down Star's face, "Come with me."

"Get out of here!" He pushed Star towards Marco, who arrived just in time to hear River's speech, "Don't you worry about me, I'll be fine!" Marco nodded his respects to the ex-king, grabbed Star, and ran back into the castle.

"Tell me there's another way out of here," Marco knew all of the main corridors of the castle, but he'd never felt the need to learn the secret tunnels. Star took the lead and together they ran away from the sounds of battle.

Marco was confused as to why they were heading towards the infirmary until he saw all of the refugees.

"The castle has been infiltrated; we have to get out!" Star yelled. Everyone had been on edge since they heard the explosion and they were instantly on their feet, ready to go. Marco took the rear and Star led them towards a secret exit that only the royal line was aware of. It had been put in by one of her ancestors and was intended to be an escape just in case there was ever a coupe.

She pulled a hidden lever and the tapestry of her great-great-great grandmother creaked open, revealing a musty tunnel behind it. It was only wide enough to go one person at a time so Star led the way.

They emerged in a Mewman house a quarter mile from Butterfly Castle. Star could still hear gunshots and distant screaming, and when she looked out the window, she could see the faint glow of flames. Her home was being burned down.

She turned to bury her head in Marco's shoulder, but he wasn't there.

"Where's Marco?" Star panicked. Her breathing increased and she started to hyperventilate. Buff Frog had to block the tunnel in order to stop her from going back through.

"It is not safe there anymore," he said, wrapping Star in a hug, "I am sure that whatever reason Marco left the group is a good one, we will just have to wait and see."

"You guys can wait and see," One of the mewmans said, "but I'm getting as far away from here as possible." Some of the monsters nodded in agreement and soon it was just Star, Buff Frog, and his children.

Star's eyes never left the entrance to the tunnel.

Where are you, Marco?

Marco's mind wandered back to his argument with Star. He hadn't meant to offend her, or to make her feel like it was right for her parents to exclude her. He was only trying to figure out their line of reasoning, however flawed it might be.

But Star didn't like that. She wanted things to make sense from her point of view and had exploded on him for suggesting that different people might think differently. Maybe the voice in his head was right, Star was becoming a little unstable… glass shattered up ahead.

Marco peered around the corner. It was the second group of humans he had run into since he left the group. Even though he was a human, he wasn't sure he would live long enough to tell them that before they put a bullet in his chest.

Best to just avoid them entirely.

When the coast was clear, he continued to make his way towards the media room. Getting out alive was important, but getting out with Alfonso and Ferguson was more important. He'd invited them and he'd be damned if he left them here on their own.

He could already see the signs of chaos around him. Tables were overturned, curtains were torn, and shattered glass littered the floors.

Marco heard a commotion in front of him and pressed himself behind a plant. He could see another group through the green leaves.

"Alright guys," one of them said, "let's burn this place down. Marco heard the distinct sound of a zippo lighter and then the smashing of bottles.

Molotov cocktails.

On their own, it wouldn't be enough to take down a castle, but Marco had a feeling that they were only just beginning. There was no time for him to try and put out the fires because he had to find his friends. Fast.

Marco burst through the door to the media room, but it was empty. He looked in every corner, calling out their names but no one responded. They must've fled when they heard the commotion outside.

Marco cursed; they could literally be anywhere now. Sprinting out, he took a left and continued his search.

Fire occupied more and more of the hallways and Marco saw empty gas jugs. Smoke permeated the air and it became increasingly difficult to breathe.

"Alfonso!" Marco called out, "Ferguson!"

He was getting desperate now. He barely saw any humans and that could only mean that the big finale was coming soon.

Marco had to lunge forward as a piece of the ceiling caved in. the burning support timbers released a spray of embers that singed Marco's skin. No one could survive here much longer, but he continued to look.

Running, he turned a corner and saw them at the other end of the corridor. Even from a distance, the fear on Alfonso and Ferguson's faces were evident. They were terrified. The only thing that separated them now was the gaping hole in the floor.

Oh.

It was too far for them to jump, and even though there was a bit of floor left on the sides, the walls were completely engulfed in flames.

"Marco!" Alfonso had to scream to be heard over the roaring inferno, "What do we do?!" Marco looked around for a solution, some way to help them cross the gap dividing them.

There was nothing.

"You're going to have to escape on your own!" He yelled back, "If you take a left at the other end of the hallway, you can get to the main ballroom! From there you're going to have to find some way down before this whole place collapses!"

Marco leaned against a part of the wall that wasn't ablaze and coughed. It was getting so hard to breathe.

"Get out of here!" He managed to scream. Alfonso looked at Ferguson before stepping forward.

"Take this!" He screamed, throwing something across the gap. Marco caught it. It was a flash drive, "We finished Star's speech! You need to put it somewhere were it can't be ignored!"

Marco tried to respond, but he doubled over. His eyes stung from the acidic smoke and it was getting so hard to breathe. He fell all the way to the floor, moaning. Crawling back down the hallway, the smoke slowly thinned out until Marco could stand up again.

He had to get out of here, but the way he had originally come from was blocked off. In fact, it looked like every hallway had been damaged beyond repair. The mob was surprisingly good at vandalism, although that didn't help out his current situation.

Marco turned another corner and came across two young children in the tapestry room. A teenage boy lay unmoving on the floor and the other, a girl, was leaning over him. Every instinct in his body was telling him to run the other direction and leave them alone, but he took a step forward.

The girl's face snapped around.

"Stay back!" she screamed, "Wait… Marco?"

"How do you know my name?" He asked. Maybe his instincts had been right… Marco was sure he'd never seen her before, although something about her face was familiar. Like when you had a song stuck in your head but you could only remember one word.

"I can explain later," she said, "Do you have a way out of here? Dipper isn't doing well and I'm starting to get really worried. His breathing is getting shallow."

Marco was about to tell her that they were trapped in, that there was no hope, when the voice inside his head spoke.

Look left, behind the tapestry of Celena.

Marco yanked the portrait off without a second and thought and gasped when he saw that there was a secret tunnel hidden behind it. The girl put one of the unconscious boy's arms around her shoulder and together they ran.

Marco burst out of the tunnel first and fell to his knees. Fresh air got into his lungs and slowly cleared his vision. Before he was aware of his surroundings, Marco was pulled into a tight hug.

"Where did you go?" Star asked through his sweater. Guilt crept into him when he felt the moisture seeping through his clothes.

"I… got lost," Marco said.

Star's response died in her throat when she saw who was behind them.

"What are you two doing here?" She asked, rushing over to help lower the boy on a bay of hale.

"Dipper and I were trying to figure out what on Earth happened to our planet" the girl through her hands in the air with exasperation, "and the next thing we know we're part of a mob and end up in a burning castle!"

"How do you guys know each other?" Marco asked and Star's eyes widened.

"I met them on one of my adventures with Tom," She blurted out. Marco's memory of Dipper and Mabel had been wiped and that wasn't an adventure she wanted to explain to him right now – or ever. She still got nightmares, "That's Mabel and Dipper is the guy on the ground."

"Who's To-" Mabel asked.

"Marco, Star," Buff Frog interrupted, much to the relief of Star, "I thank you for your help, but it is time we went our different paths"

"What, why?" Star asked.

"We tried to befriend the mewmans – didn't work. We gave humans chance – they burn castle. I will not put my children in harm's way." He replied, pulling Katrina into his side and not-so-subtlety glanced at Dipper and Mabel, "You are good person, Star Butterfly, but I fear this is too big even for you. My first priority must be keeping family safe."

The tadpoles all came and gave Star and Marco a hug, and then they too left. Of all the people that had been with Star this morning, it was just her, Marco, Dipper, and Mabel now.

AN: Things are starting to happen! Star and Marco have finally been reunited with Dipper and Mabel; I wonder what their plan will be?

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Hope you guys have a great week!