This chapter was very difficult to write what with all the ways I tried to tie elements of the show into, you know, the Force. Hopefully I did a decent job of that.
Although, I do think Star feels more in-character in this chapter than any chapters prior, so that's a plus.
One standard week later...
The door slid open the instant the pair of stormtroopers knocked, revealing a tall assassin droid.
"What is your directive?" it droned.
One trooper held up a small holoviewer. It showed two images, ripped from security footage, displayed side-by-side. "We're looking for these two fugitives. They had business here in the city about seven rotations ago. Have you seen them?"
The droid stared silently at the holographic images for a second as if considering the question. "My programming does not permit me to divulge such information."
The stormtroopers gave an exasperated sigh. The second trooper stepped forward, pulling a device from his belt. "Guess we'll have to slice it."
"What are you-?" Before the droid could finish its question, the trooper had slapped a restraining bolt onto its chest plate. It was no ordinary restraining bolt, though. It shut down all AI functionality, including balance, and the assassin droid unceremoniously fell forward, crashing to the ground. The first trooper produced a small tool kit and dropped down to one knee beside the droid. He removed the fasteners from the droid's rear cranial access panel and flipped it away. "Have at it," he said, standing up and moving aside to give his partner room.
The second stormtrooper took his place, attaching a cable to his datapad and connecting the other end to the droid's memory access port. He made quick work of bypassing the security lockout and accessing the droid's memory banks.
"Okay. He's ready."
They rolled the droid over onto its back and the stormtrooper used his datapad to command AI functionality return, but kept motor-skills switched off so that the droid could not move.
The first stormtrooper held up the holoviewer again. "Droid, have you seen these two?"
"Yes."
"Do you know who they are?"
"Yes."
"Who are they?"
"Captain Ordonia and Lucy."
"'Lucy'?" the second trooper wondered as he recorded the droid's responses in his datapad. "Lucy Lucille Lucitor?"
"Lucy," the droid repeated.
The first trooper went on. "What business did they have here?"
"Shopping."
"Shopping? Shopping for what?"
"Parts."
"What kind of parts?"
"It is not my directive to know."
The troopers looked at each other, then to the open doorway through which the droid had emerged.
"Let's check it out."
Inside they found a tiny, grimy room with no discernible features save for an empty cabinet set into the rusty durasteel wall on the left and a keypad on the adjacent wall that operated some unseen device.
The first trooper threw up its hands in confusion. "There's nothing here. It's just an empty room. I thought that droid said they were shopping for parts."
"I sure don't see any parts."
"So what were they doing here?"
"Who cares? They were here, that's all the inquisitor will care about. Let it figure out what they were doing here."
"Good point. I'll call it in."
They stood a pace apart, weapons at the ready, staring each other down, daring the other to make the first move. The air in the forest was deathly still; no breeze rustled through the branches, and no birds or winged reptiles chirped in their leaves. The pair of onlookers held their breath, not daring to make a distracting sound.
Separated by barely a millisecond, the lightsaber in each combatant's hand ignited. The clash of the plasma blades shattered the stillness of the mid-afternoon, and more followed.
Back and forth, ebbing and flowing like the tide against a shore, the opponents blocked and parried, the shimmering blades creating a hypnotizing swirl of blue and green. The duel raged on for several long minutes.
Janna checked her chronometer. "Six minutes, you guys."
Their blades locked together, the opponents leaning hard against one another's sword. "Longest one yet!" Marco said, hoping that he sounded sufficiently encouraging. "You're getting better, Star!"
But Star still felt unsure of herself, the way she always did during practice duels.
Facing off against opponents wielding blasters, Star was nearly unstoppable. Her acute connection to the Force strengthened and accelerated her movements, her emerald lightsaber becoming a blur as she deflected any shot that came near her. Her adventures on Coruscant and Moraband had proven that much.
But her saber-to-saber combat skills still had their woes.
Three days earlier had been the beginning of training. She and Marco would venture out into the woods with Glossaryck, far from distraction and away from innocent civilians who might be accidentally caught up in...they weren't exactly sure what. Together, they would meditate, attempting to join Star and Marco's focus, hoping to achieve...something.
When they weren't training with Glossaryck (Star found the hours of quiet meditation and focus to be extremely boring) Marco worked with Star on her dueling.
"The problem with Shii-Cho," he had told her, referring to the lightsaber form they had both been taught as younglings, "is that the motions are kind of...how do I put this? They're big and swoopy. So you tend to leave yourself unprotected a lot." He ignited the azure blade of his new lightsaber and slowly moved through the classic motions of Form I lightsaber combat, demonstrating the many points in the motions that left him unprotected by the blade.
"But Master Fisto used Shii-Cho, didn't he?" Star had asked. "And he faced off against spin-y twirly General 'Immaaddyourlightsabertomycollection'. Can't imagine that guy is easy to fight if you're constantly leaving yourself open."
"True, Kit did fight General Grievous, and he had him on the ropes, too, if what he said was true. But Kit was such a master of the form that he made up for its short-comings," Marco explained. "He defeated me pretty handily the first few times we dueled until he started to teach me his tricks, but I really started getting better when I started learning some of the Form III techniques. That's the form Master Kenobi used."
"Oh, well, that guy was in tons of duels and never so much as lost a finger, so I guess he must have been doing something right," Star joked.
"Exactly. I think Form III would suit you better than Form I, anyway, because it focuses more on defense than offense. You know how Obi-Wan Kenobi survived so many duels? He simply outlasted his opponent, keeping the fight going until his opponent started to run out of stamina and made a mistake for him to take advantage of."
"Everyone in the Temple always said that I was high-energy," she laughed. "Might as well put it to use the same way Obi-Wan did."
So Marco showed Star how he had learned to incorporate some of the defensive Form III motions into his own Form I technique.
Since Buff Frog insisted that the mechanics at Skywynne Airbase would take care of the installation of the Raventalon's new hyperdrives and engine (though Captain Ordonia had insisted that PY-HD would stay with her ship), Janna and Tom found it very entertaining to watch their Jedi friends practice with their lightsabers. After the incident on the day of their return to Mewni, Marco was surprised at how easily Janna accepted his apology.
"Dude, seriously, don't sweat it. Even if you had killed me, I wouldn't have been upset with you."
Marco almost didn't know how to react. "Really?"
"Sure. I don't want to die a boring death. I want my death to be legendary. Being the first victim of a Force-user falling to the Dark Side, that would have been memorable." She put her arm around Marco's shoulders. "Trust me, Dude, it's cool. I mean, I did lose your lightsaber."
"And that wasn't really your fault."
"I say we call it even and move on." She took her arm from around his shoulders and stuck out her hand. "Friends?"
Marco smiled. He grasped her hand appreciatively and shook it. "Friends."
In retrospect, Marco realized he probably shouldn't have been surprised that Janna was totally cool with it. Nothing much ever really phased her.
As for Moon and River, who were understandably distressed at the thought of someone so clearly violent and unstable being in close proximity to their daughter, Glossaryck had taken care of them.
"I wasn't aware you could use the Force to erase someone's memory," Star said.
Glossaryck laughed. "I'd say not to tell any of the other Jedi, but, ah..."
"Yeah..."
"Seriously, though, don't try this yourself. I only erased the very specific memory of Marco making everyone in the dining hall float around. It took years for me to figure out how to erase something specific like that. First time I did it, the guy I tried it on forgot how to breathe."
"Errg."
And so, Star having had enough Force-training for one day, the pair had another duel. She met Marco's eyes across the locked crackling sabers and gave a nervous smile. "If I managed to not lose for this long, then I must be getting a little better," she said. "But I'm still not sure I could beat you."
"Then do what I always did to try to beat Master Fisto."
"What's that?"
"Get creative."
"Creative, huh?" An idea popped into Star's mind. It was probably a dirty move, but she didn't imagine that anyone actually trying to kill her would give her a fair fight.
Quickly, Star stepped back, ducking as Marco's blade shot forward without resistance against it. Her opponent's blade now nowhere near his body, she lunged forward, swinging her blade upward from her side. Marco hastily flipped his lightsaber in front of him and their swords collided hard enough for a handful of sparks to fly over his shoulder. Marco's blade was knocked to the side again and nearly flew from his hand. He stumbled backwards a few steps, out of Star's range. Her plan hadn't quite worked.
"Wow, okay! You nearly had me there!" He smiled confidently. "But you won't catch me off guard that easily!"
His balance restored, Marco charged forward and their rapid back-and-forth exchange resumed. A full minute passed and their fight did not slow. Janna called out seven minutes, then eight, then ten. All the while, Star looked for an opening to attempt to put her plan into action again. When none came, she decided to invent her own opportunity: by pretending to be losing.
She blocked a particularly hard strike from Marco and pretended to be knocked off-balance, stumbling backwards a step and allowing Marco to double his attack. She let the second hit knock her over backward. Not prepared for the sudden loss of resistance, Marco lost his own balance and fell forward, ending up on his knees astride Star on the ground, their lightsabers locked between them. He continued the engagement, though, pressing as hard as he could against Star's lightsaber.
All was going according to Star's plan. She carefully let Marco push her lightsaber down, his face drawing closer and closer to hers. And then, when they finally drew near enough together, Star gave him a firm kiss on the lips.
The returning resistance on her lightsaber slackened. Marco looked utterly confused, blinking in shock.
"Wha-?"
And then he launched a dozen meters into the air as Star Force-pushed him off of her.
"AHHHHH!" Marco screamed as he arced through the air, his weapon switching off. Janna laughed hysterically.
Star quickly sat up, letting her lightsaber extinguish as she stretched out her hand and focused on Marco with the Force. She caught him upside down, stopping his plummet back to Mewni just a few centimeters off the ground. "Let's just pretend you crashed into the ground really hard head-first!" she yelled to him from where she sat a dozen yards away.
"Huh?!"
She dropped her connection to the Force and Marco unceremoniously fell to the ground on his back. "Ow."
Star hopped to her feet and launched herself into the air with the Force, aiming to land on top of Marco. "YAAAAAAA!" she war-cried, igniting her lightsaber again.
Marco gasped and rolled out of the way as Star's blade plunged into the ground where he had just been. He pushed himself up back to his feet and ignited his lightsaber, but found it swatted out of his hand by Star's blade. The blade went out again as it clattered to the ground and bounced away, but it never fully came to rest as it suddenly flew through the air and into Star's left hand, where the azure blade came back to life once again. She pointed both blades at Marco's neck and smiled mischievously.
"Gotcha!" She switched off both weapons and tossed Marco's new lightsaber back to him. "Yes! I win!"
"That was a dirty move," Marco groaned.
"So? You said get creative," she laughed. "I figured the last thing you would expect would be getting smooched mid-fight."
"Well...I mean...but you can't-"
Janna unexpectedly appeared behind Star. "Hey! A win is a win, no matter how you earn it!" She gave Star a high-five. "Good job, Star."
Marco scowled with annoyance.
The inquisitor arrived alone. The pair of stormtroopers saluted it.
"Sir!"
"Sir!"
The inquisitor waved away their formal greeting. It pointed to the stiff assassin droid leaning against the wall where the stormtroopers had propped it. "What's that?"
"The droid we sliced."
"And it's seen those two brats?"
"It said they shopped here."
"Who are they?"
"It only referred to them as Captain Ordonia and Lucy."
The inquisitor raised an eyebrow beneath its helmet. "'Captain' Ordonia? One of those kids refers to themself as 'Captain'?"
"Unknown, sir."
It pushed past them and stepped through the doorway, looking about the rusty walls of the small space. "What is this? This is just an empty room."
"We're not sure, sir."
Noticing the keypad on the wall, the inquisitor reached out with the Force, feeling the space. The stormtroopers watched as it lifted its hand toward the rear wall, and suddenly, with a screeching groan, the wall was gone, bent in half and blasted out of its track.
"Whoa," they both marveled, but they quickly forgot about the inquisitor's demonstration of power when they noticed the giant, brightly lit warehouse of parts revealed by the destroyed door.
"Well, well, well..." The inquisitor stepped slowly forward, observing the aisles packed to the gills with starship parts. "Looks like someone was buying parts to fix their YV-560 freighter." It stalked down the center aisle with purpose. "Let's find the purveyor of this establishment."
"Concentrate...feel the Force flowing between you, and direct it toward your target."
Star and Marco sat side-by-side, facing Glossaryck, their eyes closed. Between the two Padawans and the Force-guru was a large rock, short, but about as wide as King River. They each held one hand aloft, outstretched toward the chunk of hardened sediment, focusing hard.
"Concentrate..."
"Glossaryck, you saying 'concentrate' over and over makes it really hard to concentrate," Star said, her eyes still closed.
"Well, excuse me for trying to be helpful."
The Padawans continued their attempt to collectively focus on the rock. They strained to the point of fatigue, their bodies trembling.
But when they finally dropped their hands and broke their connection to the Force, the rock still had not moved.
"That's disappointing," Marco muttered.
"Rrrragh," Star growled in frustration, "Why can't we move it? I could easily move it on my own!" She held her hand up and focused on the rock, and the rock floated easily up off the ground about a meter before she let it fall back to the ground. "Why is it so much harder trying to move it together?!"
Glosssryck scratched his chin. "I believe your opposing powers are canceling out instead of creating balance because your 'singularities' are not 'cleaved'."
Marco rolled his eyes. "If only we knew what that actually meant."
"Yeah, where's the instruction manual for this prophecy?" Star asked.
Glossaryck sighed in exasperation.
"There is an unauthorized entrant at the main customer vestibule," a cheerful voice announced via a speaker system in the ceiling. "Please remove them from the Reflectacorp Showroom."
This was enough to stop the inquisitor in its tracks, wondering what in the galaxy "Reflectacorp" was and why the announcer seemed so happy about the intrusion.
It didn't have very long to wonder about it, though. A pair of assassin droids were hurrying toward it from opposite sides, each carrying a disintegration rifle.
"Inquisitor!" yelled one of the stormtroopers. "Incoming hostiles!" The inquisitor stood perfectly still as the assassin droids came to rest, one on the left and one on the right, aiming their rifles at it. "Please exit the building immediately and relinquish any and all Reflectacorp property," demanded the droid on the right.
The inquisitor leaned slightly toward the droid. "No."
"Then prepare for extermination."
The droids lifted the sights of their rifles up to their photoreceptors. Just before they fired, the inquisitor leapt into the air, propelled by the Force, and the disintegration rounds flew past each other. The pair of assassin droids were each struck by the other's shot, and in just a second, both droids had completely vanished, reduced to tiny piles of ash.
The inquisitor landed gracefully, almost completely without noise. "C'mon, you two," it barked at the stormtroopers still gawking from where they stood in the doorway.
"Wow," one trooper said as they cautiously followed.
"Yeah. Wow."
"Alright, no tricks this time," Marco said. "You've improved so much, I know you can out-duel me without trickery."
Star's face was illuminated by the green glow of her blade as it ignited. The Mewni sun was sinking toward the horizon, and night was fast approaching. PY-HD had summoned Tom and Janna to Skywynne Airbase, telling them that the repairs to the Raventalon were complete, so this time the Padawans dueled without an audience.
Star assumed ready position, signaling that she was ready to begin, but remained silent. Marco's azure bladed-lightsaber sprang to life in his hand, adding to the colorful luminescence surrounding them, and he took his own fighting stance.
They faced each other down, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Star decided to initiate this time, and started to swing her blade at Marco. He brought his own sword up to block-
"You two don't mind if I observe, do you?"
Startled by the sudden voice, they both dropped their fighting stances and found Glossaryck floating toward them, holding a small container nearly the size of his body between his six-fingered hands.
Star raised an eyebrow. "Um...why?"
"A Jedi is very attuned to the Force while engaged in lightsaber combat," Glossaryck said. They waited for the little blue man to continue his explanation, but he offered no more, settling down on a nearby log.
"Um...I guess I don't mind," Marco said. "Star?"
"I, uh, guess it doesn't matter." She resumed her ready stance, trying her best to ignore the intruder. "Come on, Marco, let's go."
Marco raised his own blade, and they repeated their waiting game. Just as Marco was about to make the first move, he was distracted by the sound of foil being noisily removed from something. They both looked at Glossaryck again.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did that distract you?" He held up the container, the top now open. "I was just opening my pudding cup. Can't analyze a lightsaber duel without pudding, now, can you?"
Star groaned softly and they took their stances for a third time. Star struck almost right away this time, but did not manage to take Marco by surprise. He blocked easily and returned the strike, and back and forth the battle commenced.
Glossaryck calmly watched as their blades twirled and crashed, slowly shoveling globs of pudding into his mouth with his bare hands.
Several minutes passed, neither combatant gaining any kind of advantage. One particularly violent clash of the lightsabers sent Star and Marco both stumbling backwards a step, and they paused to catch their breath.
"Hey, Star?"
She was surprised to hear Glossaryck calling out to her again. "What?"
"You're fighting with your eyes too much."
"Huh?"
"Give yourself to the Force, let it guide your hand, and, by extension, your blade."
"Uh..." Star looked at the lightsaber in her hand, then back at Glossaryck again. "How do I do that?"
Glossaryck set down his pudding and floated up into the air, eye level with Star. "You have to let go of your emotions. You fight with confidence, but you duel with anxiety. You've got to release your fears and really let the Force fllllllloooooowwwww. Feel it in here." He patted his belly. Then he lay his hand over his chest. "And in here. It's already there, waaaaaay down deep inside you. Energy, brimming with anticipation. Reach down in there and bring it up."
"It kinda sounds like you're asking her vomit," Marco said slowly.
"Quiet, Boy. Bring that Force energy up from within and let it flow throughout your body, up your fingers to that crystal in your lightsaber. Trust in it, and it will move you." He smiled at her. "Get it?"
"...no."
Glossaryck's excited expression vanished. "You gotta dip-down, Star. You know? Dip-down? Figuratively grab ahold of all the Force energy inside you and let it flow out?"
"Um...okay...I'll try."
Star closed her eyes and took a deep breath, holding it deep in her lungs before slowly exhaling. Marco watched her with interest. She repeated her deep breath again, and then suddenly sprang at Marco, lightsaber flashing.
"Whoa!" Marco yelped, throwing up a panicked block.
Star's rapid attacks continued, barely giving Marco a chance to return with any of his own. Her movements became more fluid, each stroke of her emerald blade flowing perfectly and gracefully into the next one, and the one after that. Marco no longer felt like he was dueling Star; instead, he was reminded of the first few times he battled Kit Fisto, barely able to keep up.
And then suddenly, the fight was over. Three successive very powerful attacks at odd angles caused Marco to throw difficult blocks that loosened his grip, and the fourth sent his new lightsaber flying from his hand, extinguishing as it clattered to the ground.
Star blinked in surprise as she let her fingers slip from her lightsaber's activation plate.
"Wow, Star!" Marco exclaimed. "That was incredible!"
Her elation came on slowly, but grew rapidly. "...Yeah, it was! I beat you fair and square!" She punched the air a few times. "Woo! I! Am! Amazing!" Then, with equal enthusiasm: "Can either of you explain to me how I did that? I feel like I just blacked out and I'm not really sure what just happened!"
Marco put his hand on her shoulder. "I don't know what happened, either. You were, like, a machine! I wish you knew what happened so you could teach me to do that, too!"
Star smiled. "Well, you taught me a lot." She wrapped him in a hug. "Thank you, Marco."
He happily hugged her back. "You're welcome, Star."
Glossaryck watched their lengthy embrace, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Hmmm..."
More assassin droids came, rushing down the aisle. The inquisitor ignited its twin crimson lightsabers as it charged forward. The first few blaster bolts it deflected as it ran, then tossed one sword forward, letting it spiral through the air until it impaled one droid's torso. Blocking shots with its remaining blade, the inquisitor continued to sprint forward, jumped into the air, and came down with a slashing blow that decapitated the nearest droid's head. It sliced its way through the pack of assassin droids until it reached the now toppled over one with its red lightsaber still sticking out of its chest. The inquisitor called it to its free hand with the Force, causing it to shred through the droid as it rose into its hand.
Only one droid remained, and the inquisitor diced it up with three quick motions: one severed the barrel of its blaster in half, the next removed the droid's arms from its body, and the last bisected the droid diagonally across its body. The pieces clattered to the floor, and the inquisitor extinguished its lightsabers as it calmly stepped over the broken droids.
The two stormtroopers behind it stared. They hadn't even been given the opportunity to fire a single shot.
Star let out a tired sigh, and Marco put his arm around her. They sat together on a bench in the courtyard behind Butterfly Castle, watching the sun slowly sinking in the evening sky.
"Ugh," Star groaned, resting her head on Marco's shoulder. "This is exhausting, all this training."
"I sure wish we knew what we were supposed to be doing," Marco said, slowly rubbing Star's arm as she nestled into his side. "When the guy trying to teach you isn't even sure what he's supposed to be teaching you, it's really hard."
"I know, right?!"
"Well, let's just forget about it for a little while, really clear our minds for a bit." Marco jostled her arm affectionately. "Tomorrow's another day."
"Tomorrow..." Star closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Sometimes...when we're together like this...you know, when no one is trying to kill us or anything...I wish the moment would never end...and tomorrow would never come."
Marco let out a deep breath. "Yeah...I know what you mean." He looked out at the orange ball in the sky slowly making its way to the horizon. "You know, if only we'd left the Jedi Temple a day earlier..."
"I thought of that, too. I'm definitely sorry I didn't tell you I wanted to leave sooner." She opened her eyes and looked up at her best friend. "Can we just, like, not even talk...about anything...for a little bit? And just sit here together?"
Marco smiled. "Of course, Star."
She wrapped her arms around him as best she could and nestled her head into the space beneath Marco's jaw, closing her eyes once more. Marco pushed Star's pointy headband off of her hair and leaned his head over on hers, pulling her closer.
And as they sat there together, both Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz let all of their feelings, worries, anxieties, fears, and distraction slip away, without even realizing it. As far as they were concerned, the rest of the galaxy no longer existed. It was just the two of them, breathing steadily in unison and holding onto each other, and that was all that mattered.
And as Glossaryck spied on them from a nearby shrub, he noticed that the hearts on Star's cheeks were glowing. A matched set of previously invisible crescents on Marco's face were emitting a soft light, as well.
Hmmm...now there's something you don't see...ever.
And Glossaryck suddenly understood.
C-HRS3 watched from the counter as more Reflectacorp assassin droids disappeared down the center aisle into a cacophony of blaster fire and humming of lightsaber blades. As the very last assassin droid protector of the Reflectacorp showroom headed into the fray, the C-HRS3 would have been very nervous...had anxiety been incorporated into its AI programming.
A few seconds later, the smashed body of that same last assassin droid came sliding out from the end of the isle, followed by the inquisitor stalking toward the front counter with a pair of stormtroopers in tow.
"It appears that I am Reflectacorp's last line of defense." C-HRS3 reached beneath the counter and snatched up a Dressellian projectile rifle, taking quick aim and firing at the intruder.
The inquisitor could not deflect the slug fired by the projectile rifle, but it could block it with its lightsabers, which it did. The protocol droid fired shot after shot as the inquisitor deliberately made its way to the counter. It slashed the droid's arms off with a stroke of its crimson blades and the trisected slugthrower rifle clattered to the floor.
"You have destroyed a great deal of Reflectacorp property," C-HRS3 said cheerfully, still completely unphased. "You will be billed for-" The droid suddenly flew across the counter, it's face dragged directly into the inquisitor's open hand by the Force. "I'm sorry, but this type of behavior is not permitted-"
"Shut it, droid! Trooper!" the inquisitor barked.
"Yes, sir!" both stormtroopers replied.
"Bring the holo!"
The trooper with the holoviewer came to the inquisitor's side, holding the hologram of Tom and Janna up before C-HRS3's photoreceptors. "Talk, droid! Where are these two?"
"Reflectacorp's privacy policy prohibits me from divulging information about our customers," C-HRS3 happily informed the hunter.
"I hate droids so much." The inquisitor looked toward the second stormtrooper. "Slice it. Now."
"Right away, sir."
As the trooper began prying open the back of C-HRS3's head, the purple protocol droid, still speaking in the jauntiest of tones, said, "Tampering with Reflectacorp employees is punishable by-"
"Oh, please shut up," the stormtrooper muttered, and as he jacked into the droid's central processor, C-HRS3 fell silent.
Marco was preparing to climb into bed when his ears picked up the sound of someone crawling through the ventilation ducts. He smiled.
Here she comes.
A moment later, Star gracefully hopped from the vent, sticking the landing beside the bed in Marco's guest room. She wore a magenta nightgown that had been provided by Sir Lavabo and lacked the horn headband which had become a permanent mainstay of her everyday garb.
"Hey, Marco!" she greeted with hushed excitement.
"Let me guess," he said with a knowing smile, "You want to stay with me again tonight?"
She sauntered up to him and teasingly tickled his chin. "What was your first clue? The fact that I am clearly all ready for dreamland, or that I've been sneaking in here every night for over a week?" She looked at him with false sad eyes. "I hope you aren't growing tired of me."
Marco laughed and wrapped her in a hug. "I could never get tired of spending time with my best friend."
"Dawwww..."
"Heyohhhhh!"
Star and Marco about jumped out of their skins at the sound of the voice in their ears and found Glossaryck hovering right beside them.
"Glossaryck!" Star exclaimed, forgetting to be quiet. "What the heck are you doing?"
"Well, you know, I had an idea how you two might be able to 'cleave' yourselves and I honestly just couldn't contain my excitement!" He gave a chuckle. "Also, it's really fun to sneak up on you."
"You and Janna must be from the same cut of cloth," Marco huffed.
Star put a hand to her temple. "Couldn't this have waited until morning?"
"Nope! Now come on!" Glossaryck snapped his fingers and the next thing Star and Marco knew, they were standing in the forest beyond the castle grounds.
"What the-?!" Marco exclaimed. "How did we get here?"
Glossaryck casually waved his hand. "I just transported you with magick. Pretty cool, huh?"
Star raised an eyebrow. "I mean, yeah, it totally was. But I'd really rather not be transported without a heads up again."
"I'm not going to agree to that. Anyway, sit! Sit! We haven't got all night!"
Star and Marco glanced at each other. Star shrugged. They both sat down cross-legged on the grass.
"Comfortable?" Glossaryck asked.
"Not particularly," Star replied.
"Well, then get comfortable! Pretend I wasn't here right now, how would you two sit together?"
"If you weren't here right now, we would be snuggling in bed," Marco quipped.
The little blue man gave an exasperated sigh. "Just...please? Okay?"
Star slid over closer to Marco, letting her legs splay out to the side. "Hey, Glossaryck wants us to pretend he isn't here, so let's do that." She pulled Marco's arm around her and nestled into his side, resting her head on his chest.
Marco frowned at Glossaryck. "Um...why are we doing this?"
"You ever notice the hearts on Star's cheeks?" Glossaryck asked.
"...kinda hard not to?"
"Did you know you have crescent moons on your own cheeks?"
"What? No I don't!"
Star briefly opened her eyes. "I can confirm that is true," she said sarcastically. "I have spent quite a bit of time in very close proximity to Marco's face recently. No crescent moons."
Glossaryck shook his head. "No, they're there, alright. You just can't see them. Until, they start to glow, that is."
Star let go of Marco and sat up. Both Padawans stared wide-eyed in disbelief. "Say what now?" they chorused.
"Oh, yes, I saw it for myself with my own eyes earlier when you two were all snuggled up on the bench in the courtyard."
"You were spying on us?" Marco cried. Star was less concerned about that part of the information, asking, "Our cheeks were glowing?"
"Yes! And I believe that was an indication that your, as the prophecy said, 'singularities were cleaved.'"
Star and Marco met each other's gaze again. "Huh..."
Marco considered their earlier cuddle session on the bench. "Well, I...did feel really close to you..."
"So did I. Think we can do that again? You know, on purpose? And then also be able to focus on something at the same time and be able to use the Force on it?"
Marco gave her a sly smile. "Guess there's only one way to find out."
Star gave a single, confident nod. "Let's give it a whirl! C'mere, you!" And she roughly clamped her arms around Marco once more. He put his arm around her and leaned his head over on hers.
Glossaryck nodded. "Excellent. Let the love flow through you," he said teasingly. "Now, once you reach the point of being 'cleaved' it may be difficult to perceive anything around you without interrupting your conjoined state. So, once you're ready, try to use the Force on, uh..." He glanced around and spotted the trunk of a long fallen tree, which he levitated over closer with the Force, setting it carefully on the ground between himself and the Padawans. "...This log!"
"What do you want us to do with it?" Marco asked.
Glossaryck shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Whatever you feel. Just do something."
"You got it!" Star said, rubbing her cheek against Marco's shoulder.
"Ready, sir."
The trooper roughly let the droid fall down to the counter and backed away, giving the inquisitor room.
"Where is Captain Ordonia?"
"I am afraid I have no idea who you are referring to," C-HRS3 replied, it's tone still as cheerful as ever.
The inquisitor held out its hand and ripped the holoviewer from the other stormtrooper's palm with the Force, shoving it roughly in front of the purple protocol droid's photoreceptors. "These two! I know they were here!"
"Oh! You refer to Han's friends!"
"Who the heck is Han? 'Han' what?"
"...data file incomplete."
"Whatever! What business did they have here?"
"They purchased new components for their YV-560 light freighter," said the droid. "Sublight thruster, starboard side, direct factory replacement, part number M-dash-six-six-zero-zero-dash-five-"
"Shut up!" the inquisitor yelled. "Where did they go?"
"To get their ship."
"From?
"Wherever they parked it."
"Which was-?" The inquisitor's patience was wearing thin.
"I regret to inform you that I do not know that information."
The inquisitor was growing increasingly angry. "Forget it. Where were they going?"
"Reflectacorp policy dictates that employees do not ask questions that are unnecessary in order to perform parts sales transactions."
The inquisitor groaned and looked at the stormtrooper that was still observing the droid's memories on his connected datapad. "This is infuriating," it said.
"Sir, this droid's audio memories can be played back," said the trooper. "We could listen to the entire interaction with the fugitives and see if they said any useful information."
The inquisitor slammed the holoviewer down on the counter hard enough to crack the projection lens. "What are you waiting for? Do it!"
"Yes, sir! Just give me a moment to locate the exact conversation..."
"I don't feel anything," Star said. "How are we supposed to do this if we aren't even sure what we did before?"
"Just relax," Glossaryck told her. "And don't actually do anything. If you want to know what you did before...that's it, kid. You did nothing."
Marco lowered his eyes. "Kinda hard to relax when we're trying to do nothing to do something."
"I know. But you'll get it!" Glossaryck said encouragingly. "Just empty your minds of all inhibitions. Your fears, your worries, everything. Let it all go, except for each other."
"Alright," Star said. "We'll try."
The pair settled in again, attempting to forget that Glossaryck was watching them. Star and Marco breathed together in tandem, slowly, attempting to forget the galaxy they were sitting in.
Star found it hard to quiet her mind, especially when she began dozing off and had to fight to stay awake.
Ugh. Forget it. I might as well stop fighting it and just go to sleep.
So, she did, as did Marco. They fought against the beckoning call of sleep no more.
But that was exactly what they needed to do.
There was no galaxy, no fear, no anxiety, no war, no Empire, no darkness, no light, no Force. Just each other, each a cuddly, loving pillow for the other to hold onto. And right on the edge of sleep...
"Pssst...Star...Marco...look."
The soft beckoning of their teacher's voice drew the Padawans back from the precipice of sleep. Slowly, their eyes opened once more, and they both stared in wonder as their gaze fell upon each other's face. The heart-shaped marks on Star's cheeks were glowing with pure, white light, and the invisible crescents on Marco's face did the same.
"Whoa..." Star said softly, almost afraid to move for fear she might break the connection.
"Weird..." Marco mused. "Star, the log."
"Huh? Oh! Right!"
With painstakingly slow and cautious movement, the two Padawans held out their hands toward the large fallen tree trunk. Glossaryck watched with bated excitement. Together, they gathered their focus on the log, and it quickly lifted off the ground with surprising ease.
"Yes!" Glossaryck cried, trying not to startle them out of their concentration.
"Okay, here we go."
The stormtrooper pressed a command key on his datapad and the recorded audio of the fugitive's visit to Refelectacorp played back through the datapad's speaker.
"Hey, Seahorse," said a voice none of them recognized, "My friends here are looking for some rather rare parts. YV-class, model 560. Is there a variation? Like the YT's have?"
"I didn't think the YV's ever had variations." The inquisitor knew that voice belonged to the girl she had dueled on the train.
"You are correct. I will search Reflectacorp's extensive catalog for available YV-560 parts." There was a long period of dead air, interrupted by an astromech bleeping something in the background. "The Reflectacorp catalog is currently showing six hundred and thirty-two individual components in stock-"
"Fast forward!" barked the inquisitor, "Before I go mad listening to this thing ramble. Or better yet, just listen yourself until you hear something useful."
The stormtrooper looked down at the motionless droid. "Um...okay. Right away, sir."
Glossaryck watched the large log floating above his head. "Wonderful, kids! You're able to use the Force together! Very impressive."
Star and Marco did not answer, worried that they would interrupt their connection. Glossaryck closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, feeling the presence of the two Padawans before him.
"Yes...the energy between you two indeed seems to be in perfect balance." He opened his eyes again. "If you can, try some other Force ability. See if it is more powerful than either of you could be on your own."
"Let's see how high we can launch it," Star said matter-of-factly.
Marco nodded. "Okay. Count it down." Both spoke quietly, still hoping to keep their concentration. They guided the floating log directly above their heads.
"Right. On three," Star said. "One...two...three!"
They enacted a Force-push on the log, straight upwards. The log shot into the air like a projectile from a canon and, in a split second, disappeared into the clouds high above.
Star and Marco's cheeks stopped glowing as they stared in disbelief.
"Whoa," Star murmured.
"'Whoa' indeed," Glossaryck concurred, his eyes still on the sky where the log had vanished. "That was even more powerful than I was expec-"
A noise interrupted his train of thought, and when he looked to see what it was, he found Star and Marco lying sprawled out on the ground, unconscious, having fainted. His eyes widened. "Okay. Wasn't expecting that, either!"
The stormtrooper looked up at the inquisitor. "Sir...I think I found something."
"Play it."
The trooper tapped a few buttons on the datapad, changing the output from his helmet commlink to the datapad's speaker and pressed play.
"Um...how in the galaxy are we gonna get this thing back to the ship?" That was the demonicite's voice. "We can't bring that on the subway!"
"Reflectacorp has complementary component transportation service!" The droid informed them.
Then the girl. "You're really gonna transport this stuff all the way back to Mewni for us?"
Behind its mask, the inquisitor's eyes widened.
"Oh, no, you misunderstand. Allow me to-"
"THEY'RE ON MEWNI?!" roared the inquisitor over the recording playback. It grabbed the C-HRS3 by the faceplate and swung the protocol droid up over her head, the jack cable yanking the datapad from the stormtrooper's hands. It smashed the droid into the duracrete floor with enough force to shatter what remained of the purple body, the still-connected datapad clattering to the floor beside it, the screen pulverized. "They pulled my monitoring squad out of the system, those brats probably snuck in right after they left! IDIOTS!"
The stormtroopers exchanged a nervous glance, afraid to even speak.
The inquisitor activated its commlink as it began sprinting back toward the exit. The stormtroopers hurried after it, quickly falling far behind. "Rosado! Order everyone back to the ship right now! Butterfly and Diaz are on Mewni!" The inquisitor stopped briefly as it reached the Reflectacorp security vestibule, its voice suddenly falling gravely low. "And this time, I'm calling for reinforcements. I will not allow those two to slip through my fingers again. As soon as you reach the ship, contact Lord Vader. I will speak with him when I arrive."
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