A/N: Damn it, you guys have me all figured out. The entire purpose of this fanfic was to lead you guys into believing that Starco is the main pairing when in reality it was to give Marco a harem. That is totally what I am up to. Totally. His harem will include, among others: Star, Janna, Pony Head, Oscar, Tom, the laser puppies, Walter White, Waldo, Scooby Do, Jackie Chan, and the entire cast of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Enjoy the chapter!
Replies to the latest reviews:
SugarQueen97: DW, by the end of this fanfic, Marco is gonna have about 10 girlfriends and 4 boyfriends.
Rock Raider: You definitely should not have typed that, but luckily I've got other things planned that are ore sinister than your idea.
archivewriter3: We've discussed your review (I'm still waiting for a reply, btw -.-'!)
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 9
Family
Part 3
There are quite a few distinct sounds one immediately recognises. The cracking of thunder during a storm; the howling of the wind as it blows so strongly that it fells tress; the pouring of the rain as it gushes from the clouds.
Oh, and laughter.
Loud, crude laughter.
Indeed, at the moment, Marco could hardly think of a sound more recognisable or more obnoxious as he was once again the fool being laughed at. And who else was the source of the repugnant sound but Janna, laughing frantically, so much that Marco thought her lungs might fly out of her gut at any moment?
To say the least, Marco was not amused.
"Could you stop it already!?" Marco shouted in anger, his face bloody-red from the embarrassment.
But Janna was giving him no leisure and instead gripped her stomach that was aching from the non-stop laughter.
Honestly, it was his own fault. He should have known that the devilish Janna was toying with him when she'd named her price for the desired information. Anything to make him look like a gullible fool, apparently.
"Oh man!" Janna said in between laughs, opening one tear-filled eye and looking at Marco, then resuming her untamed laughter with an even greater intensity. "Haha! Your face looks like the butt of a baboon, dude!"
"Knock it off!"
"Sorry, dude, but you are just way too easy to tease, haha!"
"Janna!"
Janna was gripping her gut tightly as it began to hurt from the laughter.
"It's not funny!"
"Oh, it is! Believe me, it is!" Janna regained just enough composure to straighten herself and look an angry and flustered Marco in the eyes. "So easy!"
Marco rolled his eyes.
"Ha-ha, yeah, you got me, hilarious..."
Marco's resentful expression and posture seemed to trigger enough sympathy within Janna to make her stop and pat him on the shoulder.
"C'mon, I was just messing with you. You should be used to it by now."
Marco arched an eyebrow at her sceptically.
"Should I? Because requesting something like that isn't exactly something I should be accustomed to, Janna."
Janna chuckled despite herself. "Hey, don't worry, I was just kidding." She cast a suggestive smirk in his direction. "I know you'd never betray your darling princess, lover boy."
"Could you not call me that?" Marco groaned.
"Sure thing, princy."
"I am not a prince!"
Janna raised a finger.
"Not yet."
"..."
Marco sighed. This girl really did know how to jab at every single on one of his good nerves, even those he didn't know he had. Try as he may, he just couldn't win against her.
"Will you just stop wasting my time and tell me where Star is? I gotta find her before something happens that could get us into serious trouble, Janna!"
"Because assault and kidnapping aren't enough to get you in trouble," said Janna and cast a sly smirk in Marco's direction. The boy's response was instant: a low growl and a nasty glare aimed at the girl, who blissfully ignored his anger and instead continued, "Anyway, I'll do you one better: I'll take you straight to her."
"Alright, but how exactly do you know where she is?"
"Do you want me to 'waste' more of your time by telling you, or do you want me to lead you to Star first?"
Marco's shoulders slumped and he groaned irritably.
"Fine..." he mumbled, not at all pleased with himself that Janna had outwitted him yet again. What made matters worse was the smug grin of victory now plastered on her face, drowning his pride even further with each passing moment.
Janna smiled triumphantly and ushered Marco to follow her.
"Alright. Let's go find mama bear."
Meanwhile
"So... tired... so... hungry... need... water... need... food..."
"Dude, we've been walking for only, like, an hour..."
Star was genuinely impressed that anyone could grow so exhausted in such a short span of time as she and Zora stared at the Cps agent as he lay on the ground and kept dragging himself onward with his arms. His legs had given in after about three-quarters of an hour, and by the looks of it, his arms would soon follow. Star wasn't sure whether she should pity him or not. Either way, what she was witnessing was just sad.
"You do realise that a 6-year old has more endurance than you, right?"
The man raised his face from the dirt and shot Star a resentful glare.
"Shut up..."
"I'm just saying."
Star offered the man a hand, which he brushed away and opted to stand up by himself.
"So, Mr. Drama Queen, this is the 4th time we've passed this exact same tree," Star informed him and pointed at a nearby birch tree. "Are you still sure you wanna keep leading the way because I would be more than happy to-"
"Nonsense!" The man declared, gritting his teeth together, refusing to let his pride take a hit by being led to safety by two young girls. "You're two young girls and I'm the adult! Therefore, I am in charge of keeping you safe, even if you are the cause I'm here in the first place!"
"Are you always so full of yourself?" Star narrowed her eyes at him. "Listen, just because you're older doesn't mean you know everything or that there's nothing the two of us can do better, you know?" Star said in a matter-of-fact fashion and crossed her arms. "Zora survived alone in the freezing rain, and my dad taught me how to survive in the wilderness, so I think I am much better suited to find a way out of here than you are."
"Hmph, just like you think you're suited to take care of that girl?"
"Those are two entirely different things!"
"In what way? Wouldn't you be assuming the role of the adult in either case, hmm?"
"I-" Star paused mid-sentence, thinking of a comeback. "I'd be assuming the role of a camper more than anything else! Seriously, what is your problem!?"
"My problem, young lady, is that you're stepping ahead of yourself."
"Stepping ahead of myself? I'm just trying to do the right thing!"
Both knew that the topic of the conversation was no longer who would guide the group, but something of far greater proportions. What surprised Star was the man's sudden shift of expression; he no longer looked angry, more worried than anything else.
"Listen," he began with a surprising calmness to his voice, "How old are you again?"
"Fifteen."
"Exactly. Fifteen. As in teen. As in teenager. As in-"
"I know what it means, I'm not dumb!" declared Star. Did he really think she was an idiot? She swiftly added, "And I'm definitely not a kid!"
"But you're also not an adult, and you're definitely not old enough to even consider becoming that young girl's legal guardian!"
Star was stunned and stared a the man with wide eyes. Zora, too, stared dumbfoundedly, but her gaze was aimed at Star, not at the man.
"You... what?" The small girl asked breathlessly in a state of complete disbelief.
"I..."
Star had no response. How could she respond when she'd been caught red-handed? If she were a book, then it seemed as though this man had read her through and through time and time again, or at least the chapters that featured her inner thoughts.
Zora could only look at the princess dumbfoundedly. To say the least, she was not expecting this.
After a time the man spoke.
"Listen, I think it's time we resolve-"
"Star! Zora! You here?"
The familiar voice calling her name snapped the princess out of her daze. She turned towards the source of the cries and soon noticed the brustling of a bush from which none other than Janna and Marco emerged, the former smiling proudly as she whispered something to Marco, forcing a groan of agitation from his throat to which Janna chuckled.
"Marco!" Star forgot herself for a moment and lunged at her boyfriend at full speed and practically flew through the air as she jumped at him and knocked him over.
The boy found himself pinned to the ground by Star in a suffocating hug. Just as he thought the situation couldn't get worse for him, Zora mimicked Star's behaviour and joined in on the fun, crawling underneath Star - and subsequently crushing Marco's ribcage - so that she found herself pinned between the two teenagers.
Well, I guess this isn't the worst way to go...
"Marco, you found us!" Star yelled in delight.
"Thank Janna, she's the one who led me here."
"Thanks, Janna!" Star thanked the girl, interpreting Marco's figure of speech literally.
"Meh, don't sweat it." Janna waved it off as if it were nothing at all and smirked devilishly. "After all, I can't have princy over there running around town harassing people for your location."
Marco rolled his eyes and let Janna's comment slide, then looked at the other girl lying atop of him.
"You ok, Zora?"
"Mh-hmm," the girl gave him a reassuring nod. "Not a scratch."
"Well, that's good to hear but, uh, would the two of you mind getting off me? You're kinda crushing my ribcage..."
"Whoops! Sorry, Marco!" Both said simultaneously and granted Marco his freedom back as they stood up.
Marco saw a hand offering him some assistance in getting up and noticed that it belonged to the man Star had flown off with.
"Thanks," Marco mumbled and gladly accepted the aid. At least Star hadn't eaten him or anything, which was a huge relief. "What are you guys doing here anyway? Why didn't you go back to town?"
"I tried leading us out of here, but this forest is large and we got lost along the way, so it's a good thing you managed to track us down," the man explained. Marco blinked twice and cocked an eyebrow while Janna lost it at that moment and began laughing uncontrollably. "What's so funny all of a sudden?"
"Um, dude, I'd hate to break it to you, but you were never lost in any forest. We're in the park..."
"Huh?" The man looked at Marco, astonished by the new piece of information.
"Yeah, this patch of trees is, like, a hundred square feet. How could you not find your way out?"
Marco heard Janna snickering from the side, but as soon as he turned to face her, she whistled innocently and turned away.
That girl has a lot of explaining to do after this...
"Anyway," Marco continued, looking up at the man. "I'm sorry for what happened back there. My girlfriend isn't exactly your everyday girl..."
"Yes, I've noticed," the man replied dully and added, "But even so, I would like to talk about a few things, if you don't mind."
The man cast a worried look at Star and Zora, then smiled at the latter.
"Sweetie, would you mind sitting down on that stump over there while the three of us discuss something... important."
Zora looked at Star with an unreadable expression, then feigned ignorance and nodded and obediently sat down on the stump. She was well aware of what they were going to talk about and made sure to listen in on their conversation in secret.
"Well, I'm not gonna disturb you guys. Good luck, Star," Janna winked and walked off to join Zora, remaining in earshot of their talks.
The Cps agent waste no time and gazes at Star. "So, as I was saying before, I wasn't trying to imply that you're an idiot, what I was trying to imply was that you are a mere teenager, and what you're planning to undertake is beyond your capabilities. You're far too young to take on such an enormous responsibility."
"Star, what exactly is he talking about?" Marco couldn't help but ask, unsure of what the man was talking about. What enormous responsibility?
Star took Marco's hand and cast an ashamed smile at Marco.
"Marco, the truth is that, well... we need to find Zora a good home and a kind family. We both know she deserves one."
"Yeah, I know," Marco replied. Why was she being so reluctant about this? It's wasn't like they hadn't talked about it already. As Star continued, Marco understood exactly why.
"Well, I've been thinking lately that, well..." Star aimed her gaze past Marco's shoulder and looked at Zora, who was talking about something with Janna. Star looked Marco in the eyes and took a deep breath before continuing, "I've been thinking; why look for a family elsewhere when she already has one right here?"
"I don't follow."
Star sighed in frustration and shook her head at Marco's cluelessness. The princess then smiled sincerely.
"Marco, I'm saying that... what if we become Zora's new family?"
To be continued...
Sorry for the slight delay, I still had a few things to finish up this week and figure out how to write certain scenes of this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it regardless ^^!
Remember to leave feedback! Constructive criticism is always welcome!
'Till next time!
Expected update: Anywhere between Saturday and Monday.
