Fleeting Moments

Ch.3

Three's a Crowd

"Seriously, can you stop doing that?"

"Doing what?"

Marco sat on the couch, reading one of his favorite books as he groaned to the room with growing impatience, built up over the last few days. Carefully, he placed a simple stained wooden bookmark between the pages and closed it, half-turning to look toward the kitchen with muted irritation. "That weird noise with your light-up hula hoop disappearing trick, you do it like, every half hour."

A glow, the sound of tearing fabric, and a gentle hum lit up his senses, pulling his attention to the space in front of him. There she was again, her head poked through some kind of circular, thrumming loop that lit up with stunning colors of every hue. Looking at it was fine, even mesmerizing, but it was the humming that got on his nerves.

"It's just a portal Marco," Star offered, her face inches from his and grinning from ear to ear, "It's how I get around. I can go basically anywhere with these bad boys." She flashed that same, silly pair of scissors that she claimed 'could cut open fissures between dimensions,' and beamed at him. Always all about the show, he noted.

"Look, I'm not saying the trick isn't cool, Star, but could you rehearse it somewhere else? I'm trying to read and...well. You're being distracting." His tone was loud and clear with an apology, but his face drove home how he really felt about her using magic. Same as always.

Three weeks ago, when she moved in with him, Star had used one of her largest spells to wow the boy from Earth; to really prove just how extraordinary she was, his world was. But in return, she got dismissal and apathy for her efforts. Just like with her parents. Every effort led to the same result: 'Star go do that somewhere else,' 'Star I knows that's a prank,' 'Star you don't eat toothpaste'. So logically, the best course of action? Up the antics until the little idiot took her seriously.

Of course, that was how she got herself stuck on Earth, but she knew the old saying about rock meeting bottom well enough to ignore that little detail. "Like I've said a hundred times, Marco, it's not a trick," she answered with thinning patience.

"And like I keep telling you, I'm not buying into your crazy devotion to the act."

He noticed her sharp reaction this time and decided to play it a little cooler, maybe ease her into leaving him alone instead of demanding it like last time. God only knows how she could pout so hard. "Look, I appreciate what you did for me...that night. And I'm really glad to have you here to stay, help out, and be good company. But this? You need to cool it with-"

"Marco I can prove it's not a trick! Ask me for anything, and I'll get it for you," Star offered, closing the portal and drawing her scissors, ready to fetch and prove. One little trinket from the other side of the world, and he was as good as sold.

"A day of peace and quiet," he answered coldly, dropping the niceties and giving her a stern look. He flashed his book and held her stare, but didn't ask twice.

Star felt the familiar, uncomfortable silence after rejection begin to creep up her shoulders, but she pushed it back down. She wasn't on Mewni, so she wasn't going to take it from some grouch that slept on the couch every night. For whatever reason. "I'm serious Marco. Gimme a 'thing', anything, and as long as I know where to find it, I can give it to you in seconds."

Marco stood up and popped his back, setting his worn book down carefully. "Can ya grab the mail, then? I think the bills might be coming in today," he waved, and made his way into the kitchen in search of food.

Star stood there, agitated to no end by the simple, yet so mundane request of her nearly limitless form of travel. Here she was, offering- hell, he could literally ask for anything! "Marco! Come on! This isn't like last time! It's not gonna hurt you, or turn your arm into a tentacle, and it won't make your cute little goatee grow again, just tell me what you want me to get. Please?"

Corn, she hated having to plead with him, to give him something, but at last, it seemed her efforts would be rewarded when he sighed, and tapped a finger against his fuzzed chin. "One thing and you leave me alone for the day, deal?" He asked, trying to keep the hostility out of that request. Maybe left alone was too much, when he really just wanted to be close to someone in silence. Close to her, his only real friend, without words or distraction.

"I promise. I'll even leave the house if you want me to," she offered in an obvious attempt to sweeten the deal. Not that it was the first time she chose to give him some space on his less than composed days. Days where company could only heal you so much.

"Fine, but...you don't have to leave or anything, just a little quiet this afternoon would be pretty cool. ….Bring meee…," Marco still tapped his chin, but his eyes were mischievously darting around the room, before landing on her. He gave her a coy smile and leaned against the counter, his lips spread into a grin amongst his budding goatee. "Bring me, to Mewni."

Though she was likely trying to hide it, Star's eyes widened noticeably enough at his request. Bring him, to her home? Like, Mewni Mewni? He couldn't be serious, as even he knew she wasn't allowed to go back home. She figured that was at least mostly clear, but maybe not. "Marco… I can't even go there, that's not fair," she sulked with deep sincerity.

His smile faltered, seeing her visibly upset with him for asking, but she did say 'anything', even if she meant to bring here. "Alright alright, uhmm…" he felt bad now, putting her off like that when she was clearly trying to have some fun with him. And if he was rewarded with some quiet time, maybe he could even try to get her into a bit of reading with him. Oh, the silence would be bountiful, then. And in that moment, he heard a low, barely audible growl echo from the living room.

Star's eyes shot wide open, her cheeks growing flushed, but she kept her position intentionally unmoving, waiting for his request. And Marco, knowing that she was obviously just as hungry as he was, finished coming up with a plan to make them both happy.

"Alright, take this," he began, handing her a crisp, twenty dollar bill, and closing her fingers around it as he held up a timer, "And go get us a couple of burritos for lunch. Given the time, if you were there and back in the blink of an eye, it would only take you two minutes."

Star looked down at the money, her mouth already watering at the promise of a delicious sugarito, and looked back up at him. "Time starts now," he noted with a smug grin before starting the clock. Star stammered for a few precious seconds before remembering the point of all of this, and cut open a portal to Brittas. She practically dove through, not noticing as Marco checked behind the portal for her, and when it closed, he barely even noticed.

His phone was ticking down, second for second, but he was scanning the room in search of any sign of a trick, his nerves winding with each passing beat. There was no way she could pull it off. The burritos would be cold if she had some saved, but there was no way she could have known what he'd ask for. Unless the stomach growl was a ploy to get him to ask for Brittas.

'Possible', he noted.

As the time hit one minute, he decided to wait and see what her return would bring, be it a stash of impossibly fresh burritos, or an excuse for the lack thereof. Marco cracked open the fridge and checked for some sodas, just in case he was insanely wrong.

However, with that coveted silence overtaking the house in glorious envelopment, his thoughts began to drift. Drifting away from his new roommate, away from the color and life she brought into his world, and towards the lifeless, gray memories that brought him here. Only in silence could he revisit the past, and dig through the pain to find only the sweetest of moments that always slipped through his fingers.

A last heartfelt goodbye, a doomed night alone with a girl he thought he loved, games with those he once called friends. Those fleeting moments passed him by, and painted his heart every shade of gray, leaving only a husk void of color, and too broken to know how to find some. Most days, it hurt, but what scared him wasn't the pain of being alone, or the hurt of being left behind, no. It was the fear that he would forget, and make the same mistakes again.

Marco's thoughts were ripped from the past when a portal opened in the living room, that continuous thrum of energy burrowing into his ears. He checked his phone and saw the time hadn't even whittled down to thirty seconds yet. "Alrighty then, let's see what the cat...brought….back?"

Marco fumbled with his words, turning to find not his rambling, energetic new roommate, but instead, a volatile creature oozing malice in his direction. From what he could tell, it looked like a woman, with fiery red hair down to her...boots? They were pointed straight at the floor, like she was walking on her toes. Her arms had odd protrusions making a jagged edge on the back of her forearms, but the most alarming factors? The two, massive horns jutting from her head, and her ghostly white skin.

"Star?" He asked carefully, noting the being's taste in fashion was a poofy orange dress, but her eyes spelled rage beyond any he'd ever seen. It made him want to run, but as the shock wore off, he knew he was being played. "I know that's you, Star. Nice try with the costume, but I don't see any Burr-"

He was silenced when the creature blurred for a moment and reappeared inches from his face. She grabbed his collar and before he could even move, drove a hard fist into his gut, pushing every breath of air from his lungs. He gasped, shock gripping his nerves and adrenaline flooding his brain, but she wasn't done yet.

She gripped his wheezing neck and kicked his legs out before slamming him into the ground with an audible crack, either from him or the floor, he couldn't tell. Picking him up, she threw him towards the living room, shattering the coffee table and leaving him a battered, questionably bleeding heap. Groaning, Marco fought to keep his eyes open as those pointed footsteps drew closer, and reached for the only thing close enough to wield in defense: a worn-out book.

He held it up and struggled to his feet just as the being stepped around the couch, circling around towards him as he slowly evaded her march. *cough* *cough*, "Star…" he wheezed, "what the hell is wrong with you? Are you out of your mind?!"

The being stopped her advance and stared at him, boredom mixing with her impatience as Marco continued to put distance between them. "Playing stupid won't get you out of it, human. You're coming with me, and we're gonna have a niiiice chat about stealing, FROM HEKAPOO!" She roared, blurring again and appearing behind him. She was too impossibly fast to even see, drawing his guess to more of Star's tricks, but when he whirled around to strike with the book, he was met with no resistance, his body falling through suddenly cool air.

Falling, yeah, falling was what he was doing. Where to, was anyone's guess, but it was like the floor under his feet was suddenly ripped away leaving only open outdoor air, and hot sunlight in his eyes. Instinct made him flail to right his body, but before he could turn, the ground rose up to meet him with a bone-rattling thud, stealing his breath yet again. His shoulder lit up with fire, burning towards his right midsection, but his adrenaline kept him moving.

He struggled to his knees, keeping his likely broken arm to his side, using his other to steady himself.

"Marco?"

A soft, familiar voice silenced the throbbing pain for a moment, giving him enough rationality to suck in some air before searching for the source. And when he saw her, all of the screaming pain was silenced.

Star sat a few feet away, a deep cut across her arm singing with scarlet liquid, and her face growing a noticeable bruise under her left cheek stamp. In short, she looked just as bad as him, but where he felt terror, her face spelled confusion blooming from a stem of fading rage. Like his arrival had snapped her out of whatever trauma burned in her chest. "What are you doing here?" She asked, having received no answer.

Marco drew in a shaky breath and bit back a multitude of curses, his worry for her quickly fading as reality sunk in. "What am I doing here? You dragged me here! And beat the shit out of me! What the hell do you thi-?!" He demanded, but was silenced by the throbbing pain in his side. It stole his breath, making him hiss every gasp away and clutch his ribs.

After a short moment of wet coughs and burning breaths, he spat, "you beat the shit out of me and dumped me out here with your stupid portal trick...fuck do you think?" Clearly, he would need to reassess her living situation, or at best, set a whole new list of boundaries. But as he made to give her the scolding of a lifetime, he found her eyes wide with shock, and the anger draining from her face. "I...Marco this is real...and I didn't do this, you have to believe me. I told her to leave you alone, that you had nothing to do with-"

"Star! Cut the shit already!" He snapped, reaching his breaking point. For three weeks he found her antics mildly tolerable, but this? This was just insanity. "You could have killed me!"

Where he expected her to finally see reason, he was met with burning resistance, her eyes doubling down to meet his with unyielding resolve. A stone-willed determination he had only seen that night on the bridge, to keep him safe. "If you want to survive, you're going to keep your mouth shut, listen to me, and do what I tell you," she ordered without a hint of play in her voice, "I can handle you choosing to not believe magic is real, but for the next ten minutes, I need you to at least pretend it is, and follow my lead. Do I make myself clear?"

Marco blinked, trying to figure out how hard he had hit his head. Gone was the girl who fought a water fountain, or laughed for three hours at a joke about corn, and in her place was a young woman demanding obedience without question. A woman with instinct and authority radiating into his bones. Wordlessly, at her request, he nodded, and she turned towards a dying oak tree resting against a cliff he hadn't noticed yet.

From nowhere, a seam split the air with a fountain of white-hot sparks, spreading wider and wider until a solid ring hummed under the tree. It looked like a swirling pool of lava, and as badly as Marco wanted to get angry at it, he kept his mouth shut.

From the portal, that same woman stepped out, brandishing those same scissors Star was using earlier. It really drove home that they must have been in cahoots with one another, but he stayed silent as the woman approached. She looked down at them with scorn and distaste in her eyes, and after a short moment, let out a deep sigh. "I expected better from 'the princess of disaster', but I guess I was wrong," she muttered, her stare since falling on Star. "I can handle you being a screw-up, and I can handle you ruining things on Mewni. I was happy to hear that you'd be sent to Earth, because maybe then you could finally try to be someone worth following, but stealing, Star Butterfly? Really? And from me?"

Marco looked at his friend (as questionable as that title was by now) and found her shockingly crestfallen. Her eyes were glued to the grass, and all of that bravado had since melted away, leaving her the same as that first night on Earth: nervous, timid, and reserved. "Moon was right about you: you're hopeless. Just a screw-up princess destined to doom the kingdom. I thought- hoped, that you'd learn something from your relocation, but I see that being grounded to Earth wasn't enough. You stole from me, and abused my scissors to what? Grab food? Are you serious?"

"I was-" Star began, but the words died in her throat. "I didn't know- I never-"

"What? Never thought you'd get caught?" The woman demanded, folding her arms, "you thought just because you were way out here, I wouldn't notice? I forged these babies from pieces of my own spirit, I know when someones abusing them to RUN ERRANDS!"

Star seemed to crumple into herself some, her grimace bordering on desperation. All of that bravado, the resolve, all of it melted under the scorching glare of the woman with her scissors.

"Sounds to me like you need to keep better track of your shit," Marco coughed, turning to glare at her. "If this little ball of crazy can steal from you, and I doubt she did, then it's really your fault, isn't it?"

The forge master was stunned, or rather, she was so cross with anger it was forced to register as surprise. Her hands were balled into fists, and she prepared to tear this little meatbag a new one, but it kept talking. "Star is annoying, loud, maybe a bit delusional, and definitely a little childish, but she's not a thief."

"Then how is it, I wonder, that she came to possess my scissors? And why did she not bring them to me herself?" The woman prodded, glaring even harder, "She stole these scissors, and I'm not letting her scoot by without punishment. Proper, punishment."

Star paled at the idea, but of what, Marco wasn't sure. He managed to stand on his own two feet and glare right back at the stranger, raising his fists into a boxing stance. "Go fuck yourself. You want her, you're gonna have to go through m-"

Stars. Three of her, foggy and blurred, but there for him to see. She was angelic in this light, the way her cute little bangs hung at this angle, leaning over him with...worry? Her face was stunning, but she looked kinda scared, and mad. Maybe she was mad at him for getting hit. 'Wait, what?' Marco thought, the pounding waves in his head settling for just a moment as he registered the cool blood trickling from his nose.

"Oh man, you humans are a riot, you know that?" the woman asked with a grin, wiping a bit of blood from her knuckles, "feisty little things, yet so fragile. So temporary. I can appreciate the little white knight act, kid, but you should learn to keep your mouth shut in the presence of an Immortal. I have business with Star first, and then you later."

"Hekapoo, please," Star began, oh, with that same resolve and confidence bolstering her shoulders higher. "Leave Marco alone, and you can take me to my mother. I'll face the consequences, and you can have your scissors back. Nobody has to get hurt."

Marco begged to differ on that point, but lying on one's back in the grass with a bloody nose tended to shift one's priorities. And if he was still hearing things correctly, did Star just say she was willing...to leave? He tried sitting up, but the pounding in his head and the firm, yet gentle hand holding him down kept him there. Star watched Hekapoo, who seemed to deeply consider the offer, tapping her pointed fingers against her scissors.

"Nah, I don't think you'll learn your lesson," she finally admitted, "and your little boy toy here seems to be against that course of action."

Star blushed hard as the blood rose to her cheeks, and covered Marco's mouth before he could say something stupid. Hekapoo grinned and twirled the scissors in her hand as she approached the two cautious teens, a wildfire alight in her eyes. "Tell you both what: we're gonna play, a little game, and if you win? You both get your very own pairs of scissors, and you get to go home scot-free."

Star met Hekapoo's eyes and continued to hold Marco down, asking simply, "And if we lose?"

Hekapoo shrugged and pocketed her scissors, folding her arms with a suppressed grin. "Probably don't wanna know the answer to that one, Princess. Are you interested?"

Star held back a shudder at the possibilities a loss could dictate, but she held her head high and matched Hekapoos grin with a nod, her eyes set into a scowl. Whatever Hekapoo was planning, going back home to explain herself was far, far worse.

"What about you, Meatbag, you wanna play? 'Cuz if you don't, I can think of a few good ways to hide your corpse." Hekapoo sounded whimsical and confident, but that last statement? Marco could work out that it was more than a threat. With Star's hand still covering his mouth, he nodded. What did he have to lose really?

"Wonderful. The name of the game is tag," Hekapoo explained, suddenly turning all smiles from a woman seeking punishment. Star made to speak, but Hekapoo held up a hand, a gentler warning than Marco's to listen and not speak, or else. "The rules are pretty simple. Blow out this flame," she began, a small tuft of orange fire sparking into existence between her horns, "before you die."

Star and Marco both exchanged a quick, confused glance, the former of the two asking, "That's it?"

"That's it."

Another shared glance. Marco pried Star's hand from his mouth and asked, "what do you mean 'before we die'?"

Hekapoo, this odd, demonic-looking thing that spoke and acted like a person, laughed at the question as if it was common knowledge. "Age, probably. But there's a loooot out here that can kill you. So you probably better hurry."

Marco looked from her, to Star, then back to Hekapoo. She couldn't have been serious, right? One minute she's wrecking his house, beating him to a pulp, and the next, she wants to play tag to the death? Just how crazy was this chick? He never got to ask, as in the blink of an eye, Star was already charging, her labored footsteps picking up speed as she raced for her target.

But Hekapoo, he witnessed, she was so much faster. Faster than he could register as possible, she evaded Star, blurring out of focus and zipping about the field, always several steps out of reach. When she got too close, Marco moved to join into the fray, only to find that Hekapoo wasn't truly interested in having him play yet. One slap on the back of his head led to scorching heat on his scalp, and she was out of focus again.

But Star wasn't having it. As Hekapoo blurred and zipped in jagged lines, cutting ruts of burned grass into the field, the young princess drew her wand, aiming it right for the forge master's flame. "Narwhal bla-!" she began, but like a screaming tempest, Hekapoo was there, her dress and hair flowing to catch up in a burr of red and orange.

As fast as a change in the winds, Star was on her hands and knees, panting to keep her focus, as Hekapoo stopped and twirled the wand in her fingers. "Don't worry, Pipsqueak, I know I can't use this, but I wouldn't want you cheating, ya know?"

"Give me back... my wand," Star seethed, the fire in her eyes alight with outrage. But Hekapoo simply pocketed the artifact, crossing her arms at the future Queen. "You want it? Then earn it, Princess. Show me you're worth more than this gift given purely by chance. That you're more than just a birthright with a name and expectations!"

Marco struggled to stand, desperate to keep his footing and actually contribute, but Hekapoo was suddenly there, standing right in front of him with a disappointed look.

"You're pathetic," she mused with a grin before tapping his broken nose, the simple gesture sending him back to the ground.

"Never heard that before," he grunted, planting one foot on the ground, "but ya know, lately? I don't care as much." He lunged for her, hoping to even get half a breath on the flickering flame, but an abrupt knee driven up and into his chest put stars in his vision, and not the 'cute' kind. He crumpled like a burnt spider and lay motionless as his lungs fought to regain control of his halted breathing.

Another few seconds and Star was there, leaning over him, again, looking down at him with tired, ragged eyes. She let out a breath of relief when she heard him cough, and watched Hekapoo as he spoke. "I think...I'm ready….to go home," he panted.

Star couldn't help but feel the same, especially given that it was his home and not hers they'd return to. But a curt chuckle from a few yards away let them know that that was but a fleeting dream by now. Hekapoo twirled her scissors in that same arrogant fashion and grinned at the two teens. "I feel like I mentioned this, but the only way home is with these. And the only way to get these, is to win. So how about we make things interesting."

"Interesting how? Because I gotta say, kicking the shit out of us wasn't very interesting," Marco quipped between ragged breaths, but Hekapoo ignored him enough to roll her eyes.

"A thief is only ever given due punishment, and you stand alongside one, Human. Count yourself lucky I'm letting you breathe."

Marco wheezed an unsteady laugh and eyed the fiery being. "Debatable on that one, lady, but go on…"

Star shot Marco a sideways glare and elbowed him in the good arm, shaking her head to not make this any worse, if that was even possible. She wondered how much he believed now, or if he would still pretend this was all somehow her doing. Maybe she'd ask him if they got out of this alive.

"You know the old saying, three's a crowd, right?" Hekapoo asked, pressing her palms together and giving them a pompous smirk, "well, a few hundred is a party!" She pried her hands apart, and before Marco's very eyes, she began to multiply, faster and faster as she doubled exponentially, filling the field with copies of herself.

Marcos blood ran cold and Star's cheeks paled at the sight before them, Marco whispering only, "H-hundreds…."

"H-Hekapoos…" Star finished, both of their eyes wide in astonishment, or perhaps fear. The small army of white, red, and orange beings parted to let what they could only hope to assume was the original through. She stood before the crowd and smiled right through the two teens, her confidence an annoying beacon shining brighter than the hundreds of flames.

"Princess Star Butterfly! *cough*-andmeatbag," Hekapoo began, the crowd of clones hushing down to a dull roar, "This, is my challenge to the both of you! Do you want to leave, with scissors you've earned, instead of stolen?"

Marco could swear she was looking right at him. "To be the master of your own fate, and to redefine who you truly are?"

Star felt Hekapoos gaze fall onto her next. "To break free from your role in life, and to rewrite your own destiny? Or would you prefer to die as you are now?"

Star and Marco both shared an unsteady, and very ragged glance, the pair of blue and brown eyes meeting with a seldom given feeling of understanding. Hekapoo watched as the two teens slowly nodded to one another before offering, "Then catch me if you can, pussbuckets, I'll be waiting for you."

With a snap of her fingers, a broad wall of portals opened behind Hekapoo's imitation legion, and like an army of ants, they all charged through them. Disappearing by the second, one by one, flooding down to nothing, until only two souls remained, alone in the field.

Marco turned to Star, perhaps in the hope that somehow, this was an elaborate trick of the hand, and she had him fooled from the start, but instead, he found her glaring at him, her left cheek swelling enough to warp her heart. "Star, are you-" he began, however, she quickly cut him off.

"DO YOU BELIEVE ME NOW?!" she yelled, pushing to her feet and trudging toward the portals in the distance, their masters having long since gone. She huffed, glaring at those rings as though it was their fault for her predicament, but where her anger really lay was anyone's guess. Maybe being mad was in and of itself, a relief after weeks of sitting idly. Or maybe Hekapoo had a point.

Stunned at her words, Marco made to stand in an effort to console her, maybe apologize, something, but as he lifted himself from the grass, it only rose to meet him. And after a thump echoed in his ears, a familiar blanket of darkness overtaking him, his name echoing in Star's voice, somewhere far, far away.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O

"But...why are you leaving again? You promised we'd go somewhere together this time.."

"I know. Maybe next time you can come with us."

"Ha, you said that last time, Mom…"

"Well, you were so close… you could have joined us anytime you wanted."

"I...I wanted too...you were gone, and I was so close. But she stopped me… she held me back when I was so close to you…"

"Oh, Marco… my little man, growing up already… you'll be with us soon...we'll be waiting for you, you know."

"I know, Mom. I'll see you guys soon… I know you'll be there...when I leave…"

O - O - O - O - O - O - O

When Marco felt the last wisps of sleep unfolding from his mind, and those fleeting words that held his heart in a never-ending vice loosen their grip, he dared to open his eyes.

Big mistake.

Immediately, his body flooded him with reports of mending wounds, broken skin, and throbbing pain. Everywhere. He struggled to breathe, fighting to keep his lungs full of air, but with each passing second, he felt that vice returning, drawing him back into the void. His last fading sight was a flash of blonde, a worried look, and the deepest of sapphire.

Some time passed, however long he wasn't sure, with more of the same. Fading images of those who were gone, those who had left him, and more darkness. Again the void graced him with a glimmer of control, finally letting the veil of darkness fall as he struggled to open his eyes.

"-ust saying, you should try to stay still," that soothing voice offered to the tune of lingering impatience, "you're not a Mewman like me, so you took the most damage. ...plus she really had it out for you."

Marco moved his mouth to answer, but his voice was gone in lieu of a raspy whisper. He wanted to say 'like hell I'm gonna stay still! Are you okay? Where are we?', but all that came out was 'hiiheeemooohaaaaheeehaaa.'

He heard Star sigh, and when he managed to look her way, he realized that he was lying on his back beside a cozy little fire, somewhere in the woods, his roomie a few feet away. She rested her chin in her hand and slouched, giving him a tired look. "I'm fine, thanks for asking, though I wish I could say the same about you. As for where, I have no idea. I dragged you through at least a dozen portals looking for her, but… Well, here we are."

Marco took the moment to digest that information, letting the pain crest and subside in waves, before he again tried to speak.

"Hhaaaveeeeessttaaaaaamaaaaheeeee?"

"Nah, not even a peep. ...how are you holding up? You've been asleep for two days." At his silence, Star looked over at him and found him staring, his eyes wide with shock. "Yeah, you really took a beating. Sorry, I couldn't do more, but my mom never really taught me a lot of first aid, I had to cut off your arm…"

Marco jerked to draw his arms up and hissed in pain, but found relief in that they were both still attached, if a little busted. He shot Star a pained glare and found her grinning at him with pride. "Annnnd, I managed to grab your book for you, something about memory, and a name? I dunno, didn't grab me." Go figure.

She watched as his eyes widened, barely enough to notice, so she moved the worn little book to his side, watching as he struggled to pick it up. As expected, the first thing he did was check for that little wooden bookmark, and melt with relief when he found it.

"Sooo, Diaz. I take it, you have something you wanna say to me right about now," she continued, raising an eyebrow in his direction. What she found was a tightened glare, but it wasn't for her. Instead, Marco was glaring at the canopy above, and ohhh corn she relished in that beaten look. Not physically beaten, but...you know.

"Mhrmmrhrmrhemrmrhrm," Marco grumbled with noticeably less difficulty than before. But Star wasn't letting him off easy.

"Sorry, could you repeat that? Must still have some gum root in my ears from the hollering monkeys," she purred, waiting for that beautiful set of words.

"You. Were right," Marco spat quickly, but at a more sincere pace, he added, "and I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I...I don't even know how to process everything I saw, but you were right. About everything."

"Annnnnd," Star prompted, scooching closer to really savor that apology.

"And I, Marco Diaz, according to our deal, declare that I am dumb. And Star is amazing."

"Ahhhh, there he issss," she hummed, resuming her place beside the fire. "Knew you'd finally see things my way."

Marco didn't respond, instead opting to keep his gaze squared on the treetops with his jaw set. Star took notice of his rigid stance, but she wasn't sure what it meant, or what he might be thinking in that big head of his. "Sorry, I just kinda waited a few weeks for you to finally admit that-"

"Star."

"...yeah?"

As Marco let a hiss of held breath out in the form of a resigned sigh, he surprised her by slowly sitting upright and turning to face her. "Magic… is real. And, that changes….everything for me. I'm in so far over my head, and nothing makes sense. This is… crazy," he finished, the slight effort of sitting up and speaking having drained him of energy. He laid back down, but Star had seen though the fires light a fresh stream of tears that had glistened his cheeks.

She didn't know what to make of such a response, but she figured the best she could offer was a word of consolation, anything to help him cope with things a bit better. After all, she was new to the experience, having lived her whole life knowing magic was a reality.

"You did good, standing up to Hekapoo like that. Not a lot of people can call themselves so brave. And even less would stand up to her as my friend."

She heard Marco turn his head, but she had her eyes glued to the firewood, pretending to focus on its embers. A few seconds passed, and he offered softly, "Of course, Star. You stuck by me when I needed you...so I want to do the same, no matter how…different this all is. You saved my life, so the least I can do is call you my friend."

"I was just- ya know. I wanted to make sure you were okay and not being stupid"

"And I'm so glad you did," he continued, though she could tell from his labored breathing, he wasn't gonna last much longer. "I'm with you, Star. Wherever we are, whatever we have to do, I'm with you."

As the crickets chirped in the quiet forest around them, Star made to offer some sort of thanks, hopefully one that wouldn't be too cheesy, or too weird, but Marcos breathing had slowed enough to alert her that he had passed out again. Hopefully not for another two days of course.

Sitting at the little lonely campfire, in a place she was entirely unfamiliar with, with a boy she had only known for a few weeks, both battered and broken, Star found herself smiling. Not at her past, and not at her uncertain future, but at that one fleeting moment she could safely say that she wasn't alone. Not that she ever was when Marco was around.

"I got you, Marco Diaz. Just… hang in there for me. We'll be out of here in no time."

"Despite what you choose to believe, being alone is never the worst fate a man can find himself with. It's when even you abandon yourself that you should be afraid. For we are never truly alone. In your mind you have your greatest enemy, your unquestionable backup, your last resort, your greatest teammate. You. But when you give up on you, only then are you truly alone, and at your most vulnerable."

~Mr. Ronald Reagan