ATUHOR'S NOSE: ... I suppose I should rewatch Star vs at some point, because at this point the majority of what I remember about it is from a friend in a roleplay group more than actual canon. (I literally thought Brantley's name was Greg for a while because I remembered El Goonish Shive better...) Anyway here is chapter.

I popped into the... dark realm between or whatever in a completely nondescript spot, as usual. I was at this point kinda losing my grip, as any observer would have immediately gathered from the pacing and the rapid string of semi-words I was mumbling. Y'know, if there were any observers.

Running away from our problems again, are we?

Strike that. There was one. I halted in my tracks. "I have had enough of you," I spat. "Manifest."

... eh?

"You heard me. We're in the Kingdom Hearts multiverse, use some handwavey magic nonsense and manifest physically so I can shake some damn manners into you."

I dunno, that's an awful lot to ask from someone you don't think actually exists —

"Can you stop fucking with me for one minute?!"

Whoa. Full-on uncensored F-bomb. Must be right at the end of your rope.

"I am, actually! And you are not helping!"

... Right. Okay, kitty, before anything else, you need to take a moment to breathe and center yourself. And... yeah, I'll dial it down a bit, they added in a slightly begrudging tone of... voice, I guess?

I bit back the urge to snap back at that, recognizing that I was, indeed, losing my composure — and that this cryptic entity had made their own concession toward playing nice. So, despite myself, I listened to them, closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"... Okay. Calm." I took a few more breaths.

... haven't seen you fly off that fast before. What's up?

"What am I gonna do?" I whined plaintively. "I screwed this up and I don't know how to fix it!"

Well, you can't take the Keyblade back, he's not gonna stay in town forever, and teaching him how to fight with a Keyblade isn't enough. So that excludes those options. Leaving...

"What, I somehow give Marco a magical concealment-from-Heartless spell?"

... Tempe, I don't know why you're saying "magical" in that sarcastic tone. You. Are. Literally. A. Primary. Spellcaster.

"... Oh yeah, huh. I don't know any spells that'd do that offhand, but... I could find one. Or make one. Or—"

Whatever third thing I was about to suggest was forgotten as I felt a dark chill up my spine. "... There's a weird sensation. Am I being watched with the All-Seeing Eye, perchance? Cause if I am... that was awfully fast.

"... But as you can see, I have regained my composure, and shortly I will be returning —"

And a portal opened and Marco and Star barreled out.

"... or that. That's also something that's possible to do." I sighed. "Y'all, this is not a particularly great place to be hanging out..."

"You're hanging out here, aren't you?" Marco countered.

"I wouldn't call this 'hanging out', per se..." I said. "I — y'know what, before we get into the semantics of what we would and wouldn't call things, let's get back to the regular normal part of the world, shall we?"

And one normal amount of time later, we were back at the taco stand.

"So, uh..." I was hesitant to acknowledge any of what had happened before the kids had showed up, but I quickly realized I didn't really have much choice. "...just to get us all on the same page, where was I when you started spying on me?"

"We first heard you say something about making a spell...?" Marco said.

"Ah, yeah, that," I said. "So, magic, it's a thing, it's got rules and stuff, I've been meaning to get into spellcrafting anyway... I could just make a spell to keep the Heartless off you."

"See, that sounds helpful!" Marco exclaimed. "Why didn't you mention that earlier, instead of freaking out and vanishing?"

"I hadn't figured it out yet at that point, silly," I said. "And the things I had figured out didn't seem to be... working. That's something I don't handle super well..." I shrugged. "But don't worry about that. I'm an adult and I shouldn't be dumping my issues on a pair of kids. What I should be doing is working on that spell."

"Ooh, I can help!" Star exclaimed. "I'll just go grab my spellbook — "

"Nooot necessary," I interrupted. "First off, I don't even know if your kind of magic is compatible with my kind — " and I am actively trying not to find out! " — and, also, uh, as well, in addition to that..."

"How exactly are you planning to deal with the whole monster-magnet thing in the meantime?" Marco said, saving me from my floundering.

"Right! That! Because... I'm probably going to have to go back to an off-world library to research the spell, and..." My brain swiftly assembled the pieces... or perhaps it'd be more accurate to say it haphazardly smashed them together. "I am going to bring Marco there with me!"

"What?!"

"Er — provided of course that this is a thing Marco is okay with," I added at their shocked reactions.

This doesn't seem to play nice with the world order, interjected the increasingly-familiar second train of thought.

Thank you but I do not care!

Fair enough. Still had to check.

"Well, first of all, can I ask why?" Marco said.

"Oh, sure, of course, it's... um..." I stammered aimlessly for a bit. "It's... because... ugh, honestly, it's mostly because I can't think of a better idea. Like, leaving you here to just fend for yourself while I'm spellcrafting is an obvious nonstarter, right? Anyway, you can get between here and there easy enough with your scissors, so it's not like I'm really taking you away from anything."

Marco gave me a skeptical look that lasted at least ten solid seconds. "Maybe I should talk to a better adult about this."

"Yes! You should definitely do that," I declared, probably louder than necessary. "I would quite like to hear any ideas a better adult has because mine are kind of... desperate."

"Okay but who would a better adult be?" Star asked. "Definitely not Dad. I think Mom would probably just freak out. Your parents don't know anything about magic. Anyone Tempe knows would be off-world. ... Eclipsa?"

Of all the adults in this show, it's her and maybe Brantley I'd trust just in general... and obviously Brantley is a no-go in the magic department anyway, so... "Yeah, Eclipsa seems the best bet."

"Based on what I just said now?" Star asked, sounding a bit confused.

Right. She doesn't know the 'appearing in another world's cartoons' part. "Yes obviously. You didn't say that much, but based on that, this is the most reasonable conclusion to draw."

"And not 'I should get more information before deciding'."

"Star you already have the information."

"I thought you didn't trust me."

"Only when impulses are involved!"

"... okay yeah that's fair. Let's go talk to Eclipsa."

I stood up... and immediately faltered. "... er, where is Eclipsa, anyway?"

Star gave me a suspicious look, because apparently I wasn't getting enough of those today. "Why, don't you know?"

"Why would I know that?"

"You know who she is, don't you?"

"Obviously, why wouldn't I know that?"

"Cause you're not even from this world!"

"You think they didn't give us any reference material?"

I like how you're very carefully not making a real assertion of fact there.

Well, I certainly wouldn't tell her the actual reason I know this stuff.

Despite my perfectly-worded equivocation, Star's suspicious look only deepened. "I'm watching you..."

"Good. Someone better be."