I really did plan on publishing this one week earlier, but I spent more time studying for my mid-term exams than I'd anticipated... my bad, guys.
Replies to the latest reviews:
Zeldex72: Will try, my friend! And thanks!
Guest: *ahem* ENGLISH, MOTHERF***, DO YOU SPEAK IT!? (Sorry, couldn't resist xD In all seriousness, I don't speak Spanish, so please type future reviews in English if you can.)
Disclaimer: I do not claim the right to Star vs. the Forces of Evil or any of the characters that appear in the show. They belong to Disney and the show's creator, Daron Nefcy. I do, however, claim the right to the plot as well as any original characters that may appear in this fic, and would kindly ask you to inform me should you want to use anything from this fic in your own story. -jolleIQ
Beta read by ElleFreak.
Story cover by Luzz015. Be sure to check her out on DeviantArt!
Star vs. The Forces of Evil: Staring it up!
Chapter 8
Secrets Exposed, Part 3
"Stay away from my friends, you vixen!" a rage-filled, demonic voice boomed. The trio turned towards the source and saw Tom floating mid-air, his eyes burning with demonic flames, two fireballs in his hands, both aimed at Jackie. Behind Tom stood the red harpy girl Marco had met some time ago, bearing a blank, expressionless look.
"Tom!? Have you lost your marbles!?" Star yelled at the demon, waving her hands frantically above her head. "You could have killed us!"
"Yo, I'm here. What did I miss?" Pony Head stated as she casually floated over to her friends, more specifically Janna.
"Eh, nothing much," Janna replied dully. With a snap of her fingers, a bad of popcorn popped in her hand. "Want some?" She offered to Pony Head, who didn't question it and gave her a nod.
Tom landed on the ground and shot a vicious glare at Jackie as he aimed a fireball at the frightened girl. Star and Marco both stepped in front of her. The princess aimed her wand at the demon.
"What the heck, Tom!?" Star yelled while glaring angrily at him.
"Star, Marco, step away from her! You don't know what you're dealing with! She's dangerous!" Tom declared, refusing to lower his arms.
"Jackie!? Dangerous!?" Marco said, his voice a mixture of anger and confusion. He crossed his arms and chuckled mockingly. "Tom, I have no idea what's gotten into you, but you're crazy if you think Jackie is dangerous."
Tom's eyes narrowed further as the staredown progressed. He lowered his arms but did not extinguish the fireballs, ready to shoot as soon as he had the chance. He looked directly at Marco and asked, "Marco, you remember that thing we talked about?"
"What thi- oh, that thing," Marco followed up on his question, eying Star for a moment before giving Tom a hesitant nod.
"Thing? What thing?" Star questioned the two, feeling upset that the two had a secret she didn't know of.
Neither answered the princess. Marco instead replied to Tom,"Yeah, I remember. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"She's one of them," Tom replied, short, sweet and to the point.
Marco's eyes widened in shock and he immediately turned his head around to look at Jackie.
There's no way she's evil! he mulled upon seeing her cowering in fear behind him, probably scared out of her wits.
Marco's head snapped back towards Tom.
"Not buying it."
"What!?" the demon demanded, surprised by the boy's decisive response. In a moment of disbelief, Tom released the magical energy that was being used to materialise the two fireballs in his hands. "Dude! Trust me on this!" Tom pointed an accusing finger at Jackie. "She's evil!"
"Tom, did you hit your head or something?" Marco replied nonchalantly, refusing to believe a single word that came from the demon's mouth. "This is Jackie you're talking about. Jackie Lynn Thomas. Essentially the coolest and nicest person on the face of the planet!"
Behind them, Jackie stood motionlessly, her expression unreadable.
"Marco! Star! Step aside right now!" Tom demanded once more and summoned two additional fireballs. "I don't wanna hurt either of you! I just wanna talk to her!"
"Talk to her? Really?" Marco asked rhetorically, eying the two balls of flame in Tom's hands. "Unless your definition of talking is hurtling fireballs at someone, I highly doubt you 'just wanna talk'!"
"Hey! I'm a demon! I am not to be held responsible for any rash actions that I may commit!"
"You almost killed us!" Marco declared.
"Did not!"
"Did so!"
"Did not!"
"Did so!"
"Did not!"
"Did so-"
"Knock it off!" Star screamed, startling the two into silence. Both looked at her. Star shot an annoyed glare at each, then said, "Alright. Now that I've got your attention, would someone mind explaining to me what in corn's name is going on, and why Tom wants to incinerate Jackie?"
"We used a memory restoration spell on Tom," the red harpy in the back calmly explained. "It ended preemptively, but enough of his memories were restored to allow him some recognition of the past."
"Uh, and you are...?" Star asked.
"Trisha. The royal librarian. A pleasure to meet you, princess Star Butterfly." Trisha replied as she bowed respectfully. "I would advise the two of you to step aside so master Tom can incapacitate the malefactor that is taking cover behind you."
"Huh?" Star arched an eyebrow at the harpy, unable to understand her terminology.
"She wants us to let Tom hurt Jackie!" Marco explained, his very tone implying that he would not allow that to happen. He daren't look at Jackie; the poor girl was probably scared out of her wits right now. Tom took notice of this and tried the diplomatic approach.
"Marco, listen! What could I possibly gain from making this up! She's evil!"
Despite Tom's tone of sincerity, Marco wouldn't have any of it.
"Tom, I'll give you 10 seconds to apologise to Jackie and stop this... whatever it is!"
"...so you don't believe me?"
"Not a single word."
Not a moment after the exchange of words, Tom raised his hands.
"Sorry guys, but you leave me no choice! This is for your own good!" Tom shouted in a demonic voice and hurtled a single, large fireball at the three. Star raised her wand to cast a counterspell, but fumbled around with her hands and allowed the wand to slip out of her grasp. She hastily picked it up and raised it anew, but before she could muster up a spell to protect them, the fireball was mere feet away. Suddenly, a golden sphere enclosed the trio and blocked the fireball, allowing none of its flames to harm them.
Star looked around in confusion and froze upon noticing that the source of the magical barrier was none other than her human boyfriend, Marco. He was standing in what looked like a karate position, with his right arm fully extended and the palm of his hand wide open. Upon lowering his right arm and relaxing his posture, the magical barrier dispersed.
Everyone present, aside from Janna and Jackie, stared at the boy dumbfoundedly as he was glaring menacingly at a confused Tom Lucitor.
"Tom," Marco said calmly and crossed his arms angrily. "That was not cool, dude!"
"Marco Ubaldo Diaz! Since when can you use magic!?" Star shrieked definingly into the boy's ear. He turned to face her with an expression of disbelief and rage.
"Tom just attacked us and you're mad at me!?" he demanded, stretching his arms out to the sides rapidly.
"This is getting spicy!" Janna muttered through a mouthful of popcorn.
"I know!" Pony Head agreed. "This is better than my favourite Korean drama!" Pony Head then arched an inquisitive eyebrow at Janna. "By the way. I thought you were just some regular girl from Earth. How'd you come here and conjure up that popcorn?"
Janna smirked and, instead of answering the question directly, took off her hat for a second and pointed at the top of her head.
"Ohh... so that's what you are! I knew there was something off about you, girl! Nice! I approve!" Pony Head seemed impressed, no, delighted at the new discovery. "Wanna chill out sometime?"
"Sure. What's your number?" Janna asked whilst returning her hat to its rightful place atop her head.
As the exchange between the two continued, they remained completely oblivious to the happenings around them.
Things were definitely heated.
"Look, all I'm saying is that me knowing magic is not the main issue right now!" Marco explained as calmly as he could in an attempt to calm his girlfriend's temper. After a moment of consideration, Star gave in and nodded.
Satisfied, Marco turned his attention to Jackie. She wasn't as frightened as he'd expected. She didn't look scared, at all, rather dazed.
"Jackie," Marco placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back to reality. "Don't worry. We won't let Tom hurt you. Everything's gonna be fine. We'll talk him out of this nonsense."
"Nonsense!?" Tom, having overheard the boy, walked over to him but kept a few feet of distance in case things went south. "Marco, I'm telling you the truth! She, is, dangerous! She's one of them! You've gotta trust me, man! I'm not making this stuff up!"
"One of who?" asked Star, but received no answer.
"Tom, look. I'm willing to forgive you for attacking us, but you've gotta stop this nonsense. Jackie could never be evil, and she definitely isn't dangerous. She's one of my closest friends."
Marco looked at Jackie, expecting her to look at least somewhat relieved after his words, but instead, all she did was frown and sigh heavily. She then began mumbling something in a language he could not understand.
"Erum et'ta ri Mera, Mera et tu'um Rizik." Once the words were spoken, an azure glow engulfed her eyes and hands.
"J-Jackie...?" Marco took a step back, his mouth agape.
"No!" Tom shouted and threw a fireball at Jackie. It never reached her. Instead, it stopped mid-air, spun around, and shot at him with full force, hurting him across the room. Trisha reactively caught him but saw that he was out cold.
Before either Marco or Star could react, blue serpents sprung from Jackie's hands and wrapped themselves around each of them, like snakes do when squeezing the life out of their prey, and squeezed tightly, incapacitating them and sending them falling to the ground. Jackie then walked over to Star and knelt down next to the shellshocked princess. Star stared at her and noticed great remorse in Jackie's eyes.
"I'm sorry, Star, but I've been betrayed way worse than this..." Jackie murmured as she took Star's wand from her. The princess stared in shock as Jackie pulled out a pair of dimensional scissors, cut open a portal, hesitated for a second, then walked through as the portal that then closed behind her.
She was gone.
The serpents pinning Star and Marco in place faded into oblivion, allowing the two to pick themselves up. The two could only stare at the spot where Jackie had disappeared.
"My wand... Jackie stole my wand!" the realisation hit Star like a hundred-tone train speeding at a million miles per hour. Her expression was a mixture of shock and disbelief. She then looked at Marco, and her expression of concern shifted into one of anger and hurt. "And you! You can use magic! Why can you use magic!? And you-" she pointed a finger at Tom, who'd just regained consciousness and was rubbing his aching head, "Why did you attack us outright instead of just talking to us!? And what's the deal with you and Marco hiding something from me!? What the heck is going on!?"
"Star, calm down!" Marco pleaded and patted her on the back. She was huffing and puffing from anger and he was fairly sure he saw steam coming out of her ears. She shot a vicious glare at him. Nonetheless, he kept his composure and said as calmly as he could. "Look, if you give me a few minutes, I'll explain everything to-"
"Alright! Explain! Explain to me why you can you magic, why Jackie is an evil villain who stole my wand and what you and Tom keep referring to all the time! Talk, buster!"
Jeesh, she looks like she wants to bite my head off!
Marco sighed and nodded.
"Ok. So, do you remember that time I walked outside during the not-wedding afterparty?"
"Yeah. I sent Jackie to look fetch you. Why?"
"Good. Well, you see, I was called outside by Tom who explained a few things to me, some pretty important things. Apparently he was a member of some group-" And so Marco explained most of the story to her; how Tom had confessed about his involvement in the evildoers' plans, how he'd warned Marco about the oncoming danger, how his memories were wiped after he'd left and how, apparently, Jackie was also part of the crew of villains. The only detail he left out was the Curse of the Bloodmoon. She didn't need to know that.
Not yet.
Once he was finished, everyone fell into a silence, which Star broke.
"So in short, there's this gang of evildoers that are planning on doing... something, but nobody, not even my mom knows exactly what that something is?"
Marco nodded. "And they took your wand. And Jackie seems to be one of them, which I still can't believe..." he said, adding insult to injury.
"And Tom was with them?" Star looked at To upon asking this. The demon made no attempt to deny it and nodded shamefully.
"Yeah, sorry. But the moment I realised what those sickos were up to, I pulled out. I swear that I have no ties to them anymore."
"Tom," Star looked him in the demon "Did you remember anything else aside from Jackie? Like, where their base is or who the leader is?"
Tom only shook his head.
"I dunno. I woke the moment I saw her in my memories, so anything prior to that is a giant blur," he said apologetically.
"Dang it!" Star kicked the ground in frustration.
"We could cast the spell again," Trisha commented.
Tom shook his head. "No. If it's used repeatedly it could wipe out my memories entirely. I'm not risking it. I'd rather wait a week or two before using it," he stated. "If it isn't too late by then," he added reluctantly. "Damn it! Why didn't you trust me on this!? I told you that girl was evil! I made my point more than obvious!"
"You threw a fireball at us!" Marco declared without hesitation.
"... good point..."
Star sighed. "Well, this is just great!" she slumped onto the ground. "Oh, mom is gonna kill me for losing the wand. Again!"
"I mean, she can't really blame you for this mess of a situation since nobody even knows what exactly is going on. We're kind of in the dark, here." Marco commented.
Star sighed and nodded, then narrowed her eyes dangerously as she stared at Marco.
"Tom, Janna, Pony and..." Star struggled to recall the red harpy's name.
"Trisha," Trisha said.
"Right. Could you guys please leave for a moment. Marco and I have a few things to talk about. Things like keeping secrets from each other!"
Marco swallowed audibly. The rest of the group knew what she was implying and, apart from Janna, felt a lang of sympathy for Marco, then went to the other side of the dance floor, leaving the young couple to themselves.
Star kept a challenging stare on Marco, then sighed and turned her head away from him. Marco scratched the back of his head awkwardly, then sat down next to her. They remained thus for a time, each expecting the other to initiate the conversation. Marco was the one who broke under the pressure.
"So..." he began awkwardly. "On a scale from 1 to 10, how mad are you at me?"
Star wobbled her hand.
"Ehh, somewhere between 7 and 8, I guess."
"Oh, that's not so bad..."
"You should ask me how disappointed I am."
"Oh..."
"Marco, I thought we agreed to trust each other and not keep secrets!" Star exclaimed. "Why would you not tell me that you can use magic?"
"Well, Cosmos told me that you magic users don't like it when species outside of the magical realms pick it up," explained Marco in a diplomatic fashion whilst looking straight at her. "So, are you ok with the fact that I can use magic?"
Star jumped on the spot, eyes wide.
"Yes! Duh! Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" she proclaimed, her voice cracking numerous times. Marco didn't believe a single word.
"...Star..."
"Argh, fine! I am not cool with it!" she admitted.
"Well, that was easy."
"You're a human! You're not supposed to use magic and why can you use magic!?" Star grabbed him by the shoulders and violently shook him for several seconds until she came to her senses and realised what she was doing. "Sorry!" she recoiled and watched Marco wobble in place and rub his head, which was no doubt spinning. Luckily he was already seated and recovered quickly.
"Urgh... this is why I didn't wanna tell you anything..." he groaned and looked at her with a straight face.
"You still should have. I mean, yeah, I can't say I approve of it, but you always have a reason for doing something, so why did you learn to use magic?"
"I-I just wanted to keep you safe, ok?"
"Keep me safe?"
Marco nodded. "Yeah. I mean, you're my best friend. Once I found out about the danger we're in and how powerless I am against other magic users, I felt like I'd be a burden rather than a help if we had to fight any of them and you'd end up having to protect me, but I wanna be the one to protect you, Star!" Marco declared. Star blinked several times as her lips curved into a faint smile. However, Marco was so lost in his rambling that he took no notice of it. "It's just- I'd never be able to forgive myself if you got hurt while I could only stand there and watch! I had to do something to make sure I could protect you! And it's not like I wanted to keep it a secret from you, but then Cosmos told me not to tell you because you would get mad at me and I didn't wanna make you mad and-"
"Oh, shut up," Star said and interrupted him with a big hug. Marco could feel that this wasn't an 'all is forgiven' hug, but an 'I'm mad at you, but I'll let it slide' hug. His assumption was proven true not a moment later. "I think it's sweet that you went to such lengths just to protect me, silly, even if you tried hiding it for who knows how long."
"Yeah, sorry..."
"I'm happy that you care about me so much! You're the best boyfriend any princess could ask for!" Star broke the hug and gave Marco a quick peck on the cheek, then added in a bleak voice, "But if you ever hide something like this from me again, you'll have to make me so many nachos that you're gonna have nightmares about them!"
Marco chuckled at Star's threat and gave her a thumbs up.
"Alright, miss Butterfly, we have a deal!"
Once their argument was settled, Star and Marco turned their attention to the rest of the group, only to find that Janna was gone. Tom was in a conversation with Trisha and Pony Head was enjoying the free leftover snacks. The two teenagers stood up and made their way over to the demon and the harpy, who promptly put their conversation to a halt.
"So, any idea about what we should do?" Marco asked Tom.
"I'm gonna go back to the castle and order a few of my men to scout for Jackie, though I can't guarantee that they'll find anything," he explained. "And you?"
Marco pondered for a moment, rubbing his chin.
"Well, we'll have to tell Star's parents about her wand. We can't keep it a secret from them."
Star nodded reluctantly.
"Yeah, but can we do it tomorrow? After what just happened, the last thing I need is my parents yelling at me for losing the wand. Again."
"Alright, we'll do that," said Marco. "Anyway, there's not much else we can do right now. I guess I'll go check out Jackie's house tomorrow and see if I can find anything, meanwhile you can call your mom and tell her about the wand situation." Marco sighed heavily and shook his head.
So Jackie is...
He clenched his fist. He still couldn't believe it.
"Alright, that's all we can do at the moment. Hopefully, we'll find some clues soon and find a way to track down Jackie and the wand."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Tom said, then opened a portal to the underworld. "Ok, I don't think we have the luxury to waste time, so I'll just go on ahead and notify the scouts. Be careful, you two. Now that they know that we know about them, there's no telling what their next course of action is gonna be."
"No worries," said Marco with a determined frown. "If those guys try something, I'll make sure they'll regret it."
Tom gave him a nod and departed with Trisha.
"Well," began Marco. "Let's head home, shall we?"
"But what about Princess Pony-" Star was about to say 'Head' when she noticed her other best bestie munching away at the snacks table.
"Gurl, you can go on ahead! Ain't no way I'm lettin' free food go to waste!" Pony Head stated, then dove headfirst into a large bowl of punch.
Marco smacked his forehead and Star smiled a proud smile.
"Oh, Pony, never change."
Marco sighed, then took out his scissors, cut open a portal and led Star through, ready to enjoy some rest and relaxation. However, upon their return, the two discovered something that would quickly collapse their plans.
To be continued in the Epilogue...
Chapter End notes: You guys can probably tell what's about to go down. No worries, you won't have to wait another 2 weeks for the Epilogue. It'll be up tomorrow or the day after, promise!
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'Till next time!
Bye!
