Fleeting Moments

Ch. 4

Fool Me Once

Marco felt an unchecked, alarming warmth.

Or, was it a freezing, hollow cold?

Whichever it was, he was feeling something, and it sat squarely on the brim of sensitive discomfort. He shook away the last bits of sleep and memories from his head, finding the daylight providing enough warmth to have roused him from the bed. Of course, in stark contrast was the chill of the morning air that swept through his very bones, reminding him he was shirtless under the makeshift blanket.

Immediately following the temperature changes was a sudden, scalding pain in his side and head, but he managed to push them down long enough to get his bearings and account for his most recent memories. One in particular sticking out like a sore, orange, angry thumb.

'Oh yeah...the fight,' he thought to himself as he struggled to sit upright in his makeshift bed of moss, 'thatsssss gonna be sore for a couple of days.'

As some odd, distant birds sang, he checked his side and arms for any protrusions or bleeding, noting that he had scattered bandages from his emergency safety kit taped about. Which brought him to the next topic of interest: the girl who had probably applied them.

He looked around, his vision groggy and washed with daylight, finding a smoldering campfire that should have been put out before bed, and another moss-bed with a noticeably more petite depression in it. "Star?" He called out, but the forest he resided in yielded no response. Just the quiet, cold breeze rattling the leaves, and the sound of flowing water in the distance.

"Guess she must have wandered off or something."

With some difficulty, he pushed his hands skyward to stretch his stiffened muscles. Boxing had helped him bulk up more than he had expected, but with injuries to boot, and having slept for two or three days, they were of little use at the moment.

Carefully, he began to position himself to sit upright, feeling the strain worsen, and his bones groan under the weight. But for now, they held true, and he slowly rose to his feet, happy to find his clothes were still where they belonged, minus his hoodie.

Looking around the small forest clearing where the makeshift camp lay, Marco found nothing of particular or immediate interest, smelled the air only once, and decided that maybe a bath was in order. Privacy or not, he didn't dare greet Star in his current state, especially since she had taken pretty good care of him.

Making his way towards what he could only hope was a river, he did his best to ignore the obvious sequence of events that had led him here, but it was hard to find something else to carry his attention. One stupid night on the bridge, a harmless offer to let Star live- …'I really, really, hope this is just some fucked up version of purgatory.' Kicking himself for drawing his thoughts back to that night, he arrived at the source to the sound of rushing water, and it took his breath away.

A small waterfall poured a teal-colored stream into a basin flourishing with wild plants Marco had never even imagined. There were indigo vines resting just above the falls with flowers that seemed to 'drink' from the water. There were mushrooms as big as refrigerators bearing every color sitting just at the edge of the basin, and trees with leaves of orange bulbs hung high, casting scattered shafts of blazing sunlight. The most breathtaking feature, however, was a series of webbing stalks that wound between two trees, their branches crossing and knotting into an intricate pattern. And where there was open space, was a thin, multicolored membrane that created a natural, stunning design.

With no one in sight, aside from the scarce fish that danced about under the surface, Marco peeled off his tainted shirt and set to work on the rest of his ruined clothes.

'I mean, let's say this whole situation is real, like magic' he thought to himself, 'That lady can't really expect us to find hundreds of her, and kill them, right? She seemed to know Star pretty well, so maybe it's just some weird lesson I got caught in.'

It was a hopeful thought, but Hekapoo had sought him out even after she had Star. And given his fractured bones, carefully tended to, of course, it didn't seem like this was something that would be over in a couple more days.

'But isn't this what you wanted?'

That cynical, dark voice in his head that always managed to escape when he was at his lowest, crept out from the shadows of his subconscious. And of course, it was completely right. He had wanted this. To be alone, to get away from his old life, to escape the broken pieces of his old home; this was a wish granted if he was being honest. But something about it was still wrong, playing with his emotions and jutting into the silence he so desperately craved. And that particular something… well, she would probably be back soon.

Marco shook the intrusive thought from his head and stepped into the river, nothing but his boxers separating him from the wild. 'I could probably ditch her,' he thought, immediately regretting it. She was alone, just like him, and if he was being honest, he'd be dead if not for her. It was also worth mentioning that he wouldn't have been beaten and taken here if not for her, but seeing that he still wouldn't be alive today if she hadn't shown up that night...

"Let's just focus on the bath for now, and divvying up blame later." With a shake of his head, Marco dove right into scrubbing dried blood and spots of dirt from his face and arms, then went lower to carefully wipe clean his abs and chest. There was a certain degree of pride one holds for their body, especially after years of work, but with many parts of it broken and healing, now he just felt disgusted, and a slight degree of shame.

Scrubbing his hair, Marco pushed down his wounded pride and instead focused on the rainbow-colored eels that skated just under the surface of the water. They curled around one another, the sunlight painting rays across their backs. It was nice to watch as he stroked his fuzzy chin, making him wonder what else the world had to offer.

'Jeez, I won't be able to shave out here, will I?' He wondered, shrugging off the sights of the riverbank, and moving lower down his body. 'Eighteen and already growing a damn beard, lucky me."

"I like the beard-"

"JESUS! WHAT THE FU-" Marco yelled, practically diving into the water to keep his exposed body hidden. Star, having scared him nearly to death, cocked an eyebrow at his reaction and continued as if nothing had happened. "Reminds me of my cousin Rey's beard, except not as...I dunno, filled?"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Marco yelled, glaring daggers at her from just above the waterline, but still, Star's naivety persisted. The intruder gave him a confused look that melted into an exhausted resignation.

"Same as you, Marco, we're kinda stuck out here? You got some memories knocked out of that head of yours when you fought Hekapoo or something?" She rested her head in her hands, sitting cross-legged and watching the eels that had captured his attention just a moment ago. "Would explain the first couple of days you spent sleeping."

Marco narrowed his eyes at her, but since she didn't seem to grasp that he was basically naked, and she seemed more interested in the eels than him, he let his guard down. "I meant, why are you here," he gestured at the water around him, even adding a splash to get the point across, "I'm- ya know- like- swimming." He added a little motion of scrubbing his arm, but Star didn't seem to get the point.

"Two people can swim in the river, Marco, you don't have to hog it," she grumbled as she stood, moving closer to the riverbank, "maybe I wanna swim too?"

"NO! I mean-," Marco dipped lower in the water at Stars immediate withdrawal, "I'm taking a bath, Star. Can you maybe go back to camp?"

Star inclined her head toward him, the gears turning in that brain of hers. Then, through a tidal wave of red, she blushed so hard her hearts were almost purple. "OH MY GOD! I'M SO SORRY!" she yelled, scrambling to turn around and cover her eyes, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE NAKED?! I WAS LIKE EIGHT FEET AWAY FROM YOU!"

"I'M NOT NAKED! EVEN IF IT'S STILL WEIRD! AND WHY ARE WE YELLING!"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE TAKING A BATH RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!"

"I'M NOT, NAKED!" Marco returned, glaring at her, but with her back turned, the expression was useless. So without much prodding, he shook his head and wiped the water out of his hair, Hoping she'd leave sooner rather than later.

A minute of silence passed before Marco glanced over at Star again, finding her just barely peeking at him and quickly turning to look away. But before he could dive right back into that shouting match, she asked simply, "soooo, you think someone will come looking for us?"

In silence, Marco gradually let his open-mouthed bitterness bubble down, slumping his shoulders at her proposed question. "Maybe for you, yeah. But not for me."

"What do you mean?" She asked quicker still, a newfound interest igniting within, apparently.

"Ugh. I mean, no ones coming to find me, as in, no one cares to find me. I go missing, no one's gonna notice, Star."

She let that grim prospect roll around in her head before she found a response she liked.

"I'd notice."

'Nailed it,' she thought.

"You don't count because you're here too. But thanks anyway," Marco waved it off, checking to make sure she was still looking away before moving out of the water to collect his clothes, not caring if they got a bit wet. "We should talk about what our plan of attack is, and what we should do next, though," he added, clearing his throat that she could look now.

"I kinda figured we would just look for Hekapoo, and then go home," she was sharp to offer, following him back to camp, "did you have something else in mind? Maybe more swimming?"

He reddened, but Marco brushed it off, answering, "I was thinking maybe more like seeing if we're actually alone out here? Maybe find out where we are, if there's civilization, and what this place is like?"

"Mmmm, sounds kinda long-term, but I guess that's not a bad idea." She sounded somewhat disappointed in his suggestion, but immediately, a smile spread across her face as she reached into Marco's now-empty first aid bag. "Look! I forgot I found one of these!"

What happened next was the second most horrifying thing to happen to him that day. Star pulled some terrifying, dead, bloody, antlered thing, from the bag, and was waving it in his face as he struggled between his wounds and his need to escape.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!" he yelled, finding solid ground and lurching back two steps towards safety. Star pulled back her kill and gave him a concerned look, as if trying to understand his reaction, but when Marco recognized she was just holding a dead animal, he calmed down. "A little warning next time you wanna wave a dead rat in my face would be nice," he breathed, rubbing his sore ribs to ease the stabbing pain emanating there, "where did you 'find' it, anyway?"

"Welllllll, maybe hunted for three hours is a liiiitttle more accurate, but you get the idea." She pointed at a small pile of what looked like peach pits just at the edge of their small camp, the two plopping down beside the fire-hole."I figured some real food in your belly would be better than those little sour berries I found yesterday. And then this little guy just showed up, so I thought hey? Why not!"

"So you just decided to-, Wait... have you been feeding me wild berries you knew nothing about while I was unconscious?" Marco cut in just as Star laid out the maimed, six-legged Jackelope in front of her, her eyes clearly wider with trepidation. "If I say yes, will you be mad?"

"Wha- YES?!"

"Then no, no I have not. I uhm, knew they were safe?"

"Then what are they called?"

"...sssssour-" Marco narrowed his eyes at her almost immediately, so she backtracked a little offering another lie, this one far more clever. "I mean, uhh, ssswwweet? Berries?"

This time, Marco nodded as if accepting either her stupidity, or the fake name of those potentially dangerous fruits, pleading in a much softer tone, "try to be more careful next time, okay? We don't know what's out there, so we should treat everything like it could kill us."

Star wanted to jetpack into a joke about how that sounded as compulsively overactive as nitroglycerin, but she didn't. Instead, she leaned back and nodded towards the canopy, willing to relent if it meant she wouldn't be scolded for her mistake.

"Did you used to hunt a lot? Back home?"

Star stiffened at the question, that much he could see, but her tone was even softer than his, more resigned as she answered, "Yeah, actually. My dad used to take me all the time when I was little. But, around my teenage years- well, earlier teenage years i guess -we just stopped going together. And I stopped asking why."

Marco looked up from her prize to see her staring at it like a lost friend. A faded reminder that her better days had since passed. So, sensing she was likely still a bit sore of the subject, he sought to help her feel better. As she had done for him countless times in those few weeks.

"You think you could show me how to dress the kill?" He asked with a thin smile. Star could see right through it, that he was probably just trying to steer away from an awkward conversation, so she shrugged and stared down at the rabbit, her face turned deep in concentration. "I think he has a few too many legs for jeans, Marco. But, maybe a dress or something?"

He scoffed at her but failed to hide his amused grin, shuffling to explain, "I meant can you show me-"

"I know, Diaz, just messin with ya a little," Star smiled, pulling out a knife from the first aid bag and moving both herself and her kill closer to him. "So you start with this little cut behind the head, and you circle around to the front, okay?"

"O-okay? And...do you just, peel the skin off?"

Star furrowed her brow and thought for a moment. "Nah, it's more like, hook your fingers in the back skin hole and just pull down real hard. ….heh heh, skin hole."

"Not the time Star, less profanity, more teaching, please," Marco asked, stern but calm, "if you have any more of those berries, I can probably cook us up something?"

"Little cookoff action, then huh? I'll make the meat, you make the chutney?" Star asked with a beaming smile, to which Marco could only snort in assent.

"Oh ho ho ho, bring it, sister."

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

It was a solid two hours later by the time the two had finished a whirlwind of scattered concocting, using anything and everything that might have helped their 'dish' taste slightly better. Star had done well with the roasted jackelegs, as they had decided to call it, the meat roasted to near perfection. Marco, in a similar fashion, had used various herbs from the clearing and some other fruits from the forest to craft an odd, purple-colored mush that he assured Star would taste fine.

When all was said and done, the two sat down on their beds of moss, and dug in.

"Hur- gack! Ahhh, Mmmmm," Star managed with a fractured smile, though she found Marcos's reaction matching hers.

"This tastes like dirt and tree bark over spoiled bologna," he managed to mutter after spitting out the remnants of his first bite. Star nodded in assent and spat out her bite just as quick, even rubbing her tongue free of all the foul taste. "Bleeeeeehhhh…. How?" She asked, "how could it taste so bad? It looked totally normal!"

Marco shivered and groaned before he rather unceremoniously dumped the remains into the fire, a plume of purple flames flaring. "Either we suck at cooking, or our skill with cooking won't matter here, because things taste different," he murmured as Star dumped her food as well. "Maybe uh...maybe we should get busy finding other people? They might have food we can actually eat."

"Not a bad idea," Star nodded, "how should we start looking? Have you done this before?"

Marco gave her a quizzical look, still at that phase in his friendship with her that he wasn't sure if she was joking or not. When he assessed that she was fully serious, he shook his head. "Nah, I've never been lost on an alien planet before. My best guess? We just start walking and hope we find something before we starve. Unless we wanna try choking down more of...this."

Star looked from him to the charring pile of flaming food and moved to collect their scarce belongings. "You get the fire, I'll pack up the safety kit."

And in a few minutes, the two were left with naught but the clothes on their backs and the two bags they had managed to sneak through the portal. Between Marco's safety kit and Star's purse, they had probably one meal's worth of food, and a year's worth of safety precautions. Thank corn for Star's urge to keep an emergency burrito ready.

It wasn't long after they started walking, however, that trouble soon began. And it came in the form of boredom.

"Soooo, Marco, Marcus, Marcolemew," Star listed off, poking his arm, "how do you suppose we find 'civilization'? Do we just keep walking until we die?"

Marco, for all his weeks spent with Star, spent being an empty shell of a human being resigned of outward emotion, was unusually chipper in his response. "Yup. Could take us days, so I guess we should ration out the burrito to a few bites a day."

"Are you serious?" Star stared at him in abject horror, to which he actually laughed!

"No! Oh my god did you think I was? Star, we literally crossed a stone road like two minutes after we left camp! There's bound to be someone close by."

"And are you okay with that?" Star asked, making Marco slow as he turned to look at her quizzically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked back shortly.

Star only gave him a shrug as the two tracked through the woods, avoiding his lingering gaze. "I take you for the kinda guy that doesn't want help, doesn't like people. Are you okay with, ya know, being around all that? Are you okay with stepping out of your comfort zone?"

It sounded like she was actually asking if he was afraid of people. Afraid of stepping back into the cold pool of opening up to help, as if accepting hers wasn't enough. "I'm okay with not starving to death if it means being nice to people and pretending to care for a day or two," he barked, picking up the pace.

"Marco. I know what it meant to open up to me, to let someone in for the first time in a while," Star muttered from behind, keeping up, "if we do find someone else out here, and if you do start to feel...uncomfortable, just tell me. And we can leave, okay?"

She figured Marco would slow, or at least acknowledge what she was offering, but he only muttered, "yeah," over his shoulder, his pace remaining the same. 'As if I would just walk away from food and a place to sleep right now.'

Star frowned, offended by the shortness of his response. Rather than accept his attitude like before, though, she jogged to his side and grabbed his shoulders, making him turn to face her directly. With his eyes locked to hers, she repeated, "okay?"

He wore an expression of both impatience and remorse, but it took mere seconds for her blind sincerity to break him on both fronts, earning her a short, "okay, Star. ...thanks."

He turned. And whether or not she really believed him was for her to decide. He didn't really care past that. If lying to some medieval people, or advanced farmers decades past earths, got him a free meal? It was worth it enough to put on a brave face and hope he didn't have to talk much.

But that same small pair of hands grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down, right into a soft hug, one short and brisk enough to have been mistaken for a brush of the arm, but conveying everything it needed to, all the same. She was back to his side and the two kept walking in silence that, like that short hug, shared all that it needed to.

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

The two walked like that for over six more hours, little questions and jokes here and there, when finally they caught a glimpse of what they had been searching for.

"What do you think?" Star asked, crouching beside him at the crest of a hill overlooking a small village, the buildings resembling those from an era of knights and kings. Marco rolled his eyes and frowned, the ant-sized occupants of said village the objects of his attention. "Dunno Star, I've never seen aliens before, so naturally I'm a little skeptical!"

"Aliens? Marco come on, they're not little green people," Star joked before suddenly getting serious, "Unless…."

"I think they look weird as hell. You sure those are even 'people'?" he asked, turning to face her, "We might be better off just finding a pack of wolves and asking to be killed quickly."

"Oh come on, don't be like that," Star fired back, giving him a shove, "even the- …different, people from where I live, they can be really cool. You never know until you talk to them."

Marco gave her a skeptical look, as promised, asking, "How do we know they even speak english? How do you speak english?"

"Magic, mostly. It's like an, 'area of effect' type of spell? It translates for me and people I associate with. Makes being queen of crazy species easier."

"Well then, I'd prefer you do most of the talking, to be honest," Marco sighed, willing to give her some ground, "but if you think it's worth a shot… I guess we don't have much of a choice. Between these guys, and starving, well it's close. But I'd rather die here than out in the woods."

Star gave him a playful shove and pushed to her feet, pulling him up as well. "So optimistic, it's a wonder how you ever got depressed enough to want to jump off- ...sorry. Rambling again."

This time Marco grinned and set off with her down the hill. "It's okay, Star. Come on, let's go meet your friends."

"Bet I can make them your friends by the end of the day," she chided, "but we'll start with hello and maybe some food, and see where the night takes us."

Marco gave her a quizzical look, finding her skipping down the hill beside him, and ruefully shook his head. "I know you wanna hope these people are just gonna hand us free stuff, Star, but chances are, we're gonna have to work for a meal, if they don't just kill us."

Star matched his curious stare with one of her own, her skips slowing back down to a trekking walk. "Well, yeah… I know they probably won't be all that nice, but hey: optimistic, alright?" She asked, giving him a shove and a hopeful grin, "step one of surviving a new dimension: meet the locals, and play nice. I'm about to be two for two."

"Alright, you got me there," he chuckled, the two nearly at the edge of the small village, "still, let's not put all our eggs into one-"

"Oh! Hello you two! It's about time you showed up!" The closest of a small gathering of villagers announced, "Thankfully, you're not too late! We're almost done preparing a feast for your arrival!"

Marco and Star stopped in their tracks, exchanging a short glance of confusion as the woman- if you could call it that -approached. She was dressed in ragged clothes stitched together haphazardly around her four arms, each of them carrying a basket of…' Sweet Fruits'. Her hair was blonde like Star's, tied back in a braid over her shoulder, but that was about where the similarities ended.

The oddest part about all of them wasn't the extra pair of arms, but instead, the uniform shade of deep red their eyes held, glowing almost in the afternoon sun. All of them shared that trait, despite being different sizes, genders, shades, and strength. They all had those creepy eyes...

"Well heck yeah! See Marco! Some free food and a little R and R, and you thought they might be mean," Star chided, nudging his elbow. But Marco was more or less unresponsive to her jesting, his expression one of rigid assessment. He didn't like them, as he had predicted he wouldn't, but whether or not it was a culture shock, or perhaps just the way life on other planets behaved, he didn't know. They creeped him out.

"Star, I dunno, don't you think we should-" he began, but Star clamped a hand over his mouth and beamed the smiling villagers a smile to behold. "Sorry! He's just nervous around new people, trust issues, you know how it is. Can you maybe show us around?"

The closest of the villagers, if it was even possible, smiled even wider and beckoned for them to follow. Marco noted that her smile didn't really seem malicious, just more or less a bit hollow. And it bugged him. But regardless, he let out a shaky breath after Star released him, and followed the odd woman around.

She introduced herself as Makeeth, but when Star made to offer their own names, she brushed it off, explaining that "I already know who the both of you are, Star Butterfly and Barco Danz. We've been waiting for you, after all. Will you be staying to rest your tired bones?"

"Kinda weird that you already know our names," Marco muttered to himself, "have you been watching us? Spying on our every move and waiting until we found our way here?" He stared at the woman, realizing he had asked the question openly. Star was watching him with apprehension but didn't speak as Makeeth turned slightly to give Marco a dismissive glance. "Yes," she said shortly, as if it were obvious, "we saw you cross into our borders earlier today. We have excellent hearing, and heard plenty enough to know you weren't a threat."

Marco once again found himself staring at Star with wide eyes, but she readily continued smiling at the woman, pressing one finger to her lips when she gave him a short glance. He rolled his eyes and resigned himself to walk quietly behind her, keeping his mouth shut until they were alone.

Over the next several minutes, Makeeth continued to present the village to them in its entirety, which wasn't much. There were a few acres of farmland dedicated to that sweet fruit, and several small buildings for storage and farming equipment. Around the perimeter, a few grazing beetles the size of cars roamed alongside odd, six-legged animals resembling a camel and a moose. Marco rather enjoyed their small workshop, but what really got his attention was a neat, dirt circle near the center of town.

Makeeth explained that it was part of their tribe's culture to learn excessive hand to hand combat at a young age, as the land was shared with other beings of varying benevolence. What these four-armed, trained villagers had to fear, Marco didn't want to think about, and decided it best not to ask, letting the tour continue.

She showed them an unusual collection of stone huts that she fondly rereferred to as residencies organized in a hexagonal pattern, honeycombing for fifty yards before giving way to farmland. Star seemed to be interested in the fragrant aromas wafting from several of them, but after receiving an odd look from Marco, she bristled and did her best to hide her obvious salivation.

He wasn't sure what it was about the people that seemed off to him, perhaps their amicable reception to newcomers, their ever-present yet hollow smiles, or even just the way they talked. But it made his skin crawl. While Makeeth was showing them the lackluster elders hall, he began to wonder if he was imagining the odd sensation of being watched, or if it was simply that Makeeth had explained their exemplary hearing. 'Whatever. They have food, at the very least. I can play along for a day if it means leaving with a full belly,' he wanted to grumble.

"What's that little weird building over there?" Star asked, pointing to a smaller hut littered with wooden figurines and- 'are those bones?' Marco thought. Makeeth, for the first time, frowned at a question. But she continued walking, ushering them to follow in a different direction. "Do not worry about that place. The man who lives there is reclusive and practices odd magic. It is best to stay away from him."

Another red flag for Diaz, but just as before, he merely gave Star a withering look and kept his mouth shut. No questions, not yet.

Finally, Makeeth stopped at the door to a modest little hut and opened it for them, her lingering smile following them as they stepped inside. Marco was careful to note the windows, the door on the opposite side, and the cracked rocks that could be kicked out for escape, before stepping in after Star. Makeeth stood there for an uncomfortable moment before Marco cleared his throat, pressing his lips together and forcing a grin.

"Do you think you could give us a few minutes alone to get adjusted?" He asked gently, his twitching cheek betraying his nerves, "Sorry, it's just that we've been alone for a while, and I can get nervous around people."

He waited for her to respond, biting the inside of his cheek and hoping she would just leave. Maybe he was being overly paranoid about strange new people, but he wasn't going to resign himself to danger so recklessly.

Surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly, Makeeth nodded and without a word, shut the door behind her on her way out. Immediately, Marco turned to Star with narrowed eyes, careful to speak as quietly as possible. "You can't seriously trust these people, right?" He asked quickly.

Star seemed shocked at his abrasiveness, but immediately she softened as she realized that that was probably just how Marco was around people. "I know you don't trust people much, Marco, but come on; they're giving us a place to crash, they prepared a meal for us, the least we can do is give them the benefit of the doubt," she whispered back, "Besides, you heard what she said. It sounds like we dodged a real bullet with those other villages, they sound really messed up."

"Or maybe they're the normal ones. Maybe these people are the instigators and we're sitting right in the middle of a ploy," Marco fired back. He held Star's gaze and for a moment, realized how crazy it sounded before doubling down with his gut. "I'm not just being paranoid, I don't trust them, and I think we should leave."

"Marco!" Star yelled silently, making him wince and shoot a darting glance at the door, "we need food. Badly. We don't know the area, we don't know how to provide for ourselves, we don't even know how to cook, and we still have to worry about finding Hekapoo."

"I know but-" he began, but Star was on a roll.

"I for one think we can trust them, and I'm the only one of us who's actually been to other dimensions. So if you wanna go out there and starve when there's perfectly good food and shelter right here, you be my guest, but…" she softened her frown and looked at the door, "but I really think we should stay. Together."

In that little stone hut furnished with animal skin decorum and wooden 'appliances', the two stood in silence as the new world moved around them, Deja Vu playing into their minds. One was afraid, and wanted to run, while the other pleaded with him to stay. With her. Marco could almost feel the crinkle of a note in his hand, and Star shivered under an imaginary brisk wind of the night.

"...no."

"...no?" Star stared at him, confusion and worry written across her face. And as Marco's slowly shifted to an apathetic resignation, he muttered, "you said you'd go with me if I asked. And now I'm asking for a good reason. So if that was a lie, then I guess I'm leaving alone."

"Marco, I wasn't- We can't- ...it's not safe out there." She struggled to put the right words in the air between them, but he was past that reasoning.

"It's not safe here, Star! I thought you would trust me on that!" He winced when he realized how loud he was speaking, and lowered his voice back down to a whisper as Star stared.

"But if you want to stay, I won't stop you," Marco whispered, lowering his head, "I've had to leave a lot of people behind in my lifetime, and I've been left behind more than that… so I hope- …I hope you take care, but I need to keep moving."

He didn't wait for her to argue, or raise a point to defend herself. He gave her a short nod, walked towards the door, and left. As simple as flipping a switch. While the new world was different and challenging and frightening, the one constant he trusted most was that he couldn't trust people. People were always the same, and it was a lesson hard learned that no one ever gives you something for free. Star had given him a second chance at life, and it had cost him his old one. People lie, and he was better off alone anyway.

She stood there, alone in the now-hollow hut. She didn't move, perhaps waiting for him to come back, or perhaps out of fear that if she moved, things would stay this way. Only two weeks together, and it already felt like she had lost a part of herself now that he had left. No tears, no sobs, just an empty pressure in her chest to remind her that she was truly alone now.

"Star? Are you both ready for dinner?" Makeeth asked from the other side of the door, "fear not, we took precautions to ensure your privacy, if you felt discomforted by that. May I enter?"

Star looked from the spot where Marco had been standing to the door, quickly answering, "Yeah, come in."

Makeeth opened the door, a smaller version of herself standing idly behind. "This is my daughter, Rheneeth. She was very excited to meet a friendly outsider, I hope it's no- ...you are alone?" Makeeth looked around the room, not finding any sign on the boy bearing the red cloth. Her ears, pointed and tucked to the sides of her head, unfurled slightly and twitched, though she still asked, "where has Barco gone? Is he well?"

"He um...he left," Star admitted after a short pause. She didn't have the heart to tell her that it was out of fear and mistrust, so she ironically decided to lie. "He's not really good with people, so he decided to keep moving. He said he'd hope you understand."

Makeeth nodded slowly and grew her trademark smile as Rheneeth inspected the room for anything of interest. "Do not be troubled, I am sure he will return when hunger takes him, or he realizes how difficult it is to live without one's mate."

Star blushed profusely at the mention of that word, quick to defuse even the idea that she and he were… "No no no no you got it all wrong, sister. Marco and I are just friends, we don't…mate. Just besties on a mission together."

Makeeth looked down at Rehneeth, the two of them sharing a knowing look before wordlessly shrugging the odd phrasing off. "No matter, I am sure he will return. For now, a celebration is underway to welcome you to our village! Come, come!"

And so the four-armed woman and child led Star out of the empty hut and down the stone path towards the village center, where the elder's hall was waiting with a banquet of food and a crowd of villagers dispersed around a scattered group of tables and benches of various sizes and shapes.

From what she could tell, it looked like the village was separated into four social classes: the hunters, the warriors, the farmers, and the builders. And atop all of those, was the village elder. Basically the equivalent of the Johansen clan chief.

"Sit here, the elder will speak," Makeeth informed her, pulling up a chair beside her own and motioning for Star to sit. "He will welcome you, and then we will feast."

Something about the way she said feast made Star nervous, like one of those old movies about people eating people, but with meat, fruit, and a bounty of unrecognizable food readily available, Star figured it was just...Marcos nerves getting into her head. She made to ask what the elder was like, but before she could, a ground-shaking horn blared from somewhere else in the village, signaling for everyone to quiet themselves and sit.

However, when the fur door flap to the elder's hall was pulled back by a warrior, Star was somewhat disappointed to find not a chief like her grandfather, but a fragile old man. He had a silver beard nearly touching the stone below, wore a hide robe sashed over his shoulder, and held a wooden cane in two of his hands as he slowly stepped into the light.

Thankfully not that kind of light.

"My people...I wish we could meet on-" the old man began before being interrupted by a warrior, the much taller and vastly more fit man turning the chief around to face the crowd. "Apologies, Hermeeth. Please continue."

Star stifled a giggle, but it felt hollow, as everyone in the village shared the same giggle at once. A little odd, but the chief's speech retained her attention. "As I was saying...er… I wish we could gather like this more often, and not stand on ceremony, but I suppose I will enjoy the gathering regardless."

He gestured an open hand towards Star, his wrinkled, furry smile giving her ease in such an odd place. "It has been far too many moons since we had a visitor with such pure intentions. I welcome you, Stan, and I welcome your mate. Stay as you wish, and enjoy what our village has to offer, for it has been many moons since-"

"Very good, Hermeeth. The chief wishes you all enjoy the feast!" A young warrior called out, ushering the much older man to his selected seat among the crowd. A wash of sterile cheers went up, and then right back down in the oddest way, but being close to starvation, Star didn't much care. Someone passed her by and placed a board lined with meat and fruit in front of her, and that was it.

'Go time,' she thought before digging in, her mouth immediately assaulted with delicious, savory flavors. The fruits were different, having a largely earthy, root taste to them, but when Rheneeth showed her that you drink the juice, not eat it, it was something else entirely. They tasted like cider, with a hint of ginger following, and it was refreshing to no end. Three days of river water, while appreciated, had done her in, but this? This was a gift.

"Enjoying the splendor of our village, child?" a voice like a breeze through dead autumn leaves asked. Star turned mid-bite and stopped when she saw who was speaking. He looked like many of the other villagers, but, different? His eyes weren't red, but rather a deep sapphire, like hers. His hair was as white as the elder's, but he looked as young as many of the warriors, wearing a sashed robe adorned with various fangs and skulls from small animals.

Her first impression of the strange man? Frankly, he reminded her of Dave Lucitor, a collected yet deceptively sinister man. "Yes, thank you." That was all she wanted to say. Perhaps she was spending too much time with Marco, because despite his polite facade, everything about him was screaming RUN to her ears.

"Very good. I trust you shall enjoy many more to come. Allow me to introduce myself, Star Butterfly. My name is Zaleeth, the village priest. I had foreseen your arrival, and instructed my people to prepare at once." He gestured to the feast, but Star's attention was unmoving. Like if she looked away, he would strike.

"You're the guy who lives in the house with all the bones, right?" She guessed, but a short nod from Zaleeth proved her right. "Well it's nice to meet you, and thanks for the food."

Zaleeth nodded to himself and smiled, but his was...hollow. Like there was nothing behind it to send the message of good intentions. "It was my pleasure, child. Tell me, from where do you hail? And the boy, your…'bestie'."

Star felt a discomfort stirring in her gut, but pushed it down, remembering Makeeth's words to avoid the creep. "I'm from...Earth. The same as Marco." A short answer to convey her disinterest in talking to him, but he didn't yield, his interest seemingly growing. Where the corn was Makeeth?

"A fascinating discovery, and a new species to add to the menagerie," Zaleeth muttered to himself as Star felt that familiar tug of her fight or flight reflexes kicking in, "tell me, what level of magic do you possess, do all Mewmans possess such power?"

Star felt her blood run cold, and it was only then that she realized that it was deathly quiet. She pried her eyes away from that sinister, voracious grin, and found that all the men and women from the village, all the buildings, all the animals, the farms, hell, even the roads, were gone. Star blinked hard, and upon opening her eyes, she discovered she was sitting in a rotting wooden chair in the middle of the woods, the darkness of night enveloping everything around her.

"If you're still hungry, feel free to eat, and answer later," Zaleeth whispered into her ear, and when Star looked down, she saw no sign of cooked meat and cider filled fruits, but instead found rotten sour fruits and the freshly torn apart carcass of a jackalegs. "Wha- WHA-…*hurk* UGH!"

Star jumped from her chair and pushed the man away, dropping to her knees and vomiting unspeakable, bloody things onto the grass. She didn't want to know what must have been all over her face. "Star, are you unwell? I should hate to take in a sickly creature for my collection," Zaleeth chided, "perhaps you need some...comfort? From a friend?"

He stepped back and touched the Jackalegs skull on his robe, rubbing the antlers as the eyes began to glow red. Before Star's very eyes, a mass of black sludge coalesced out of the aether, forming a writhing mass in front of Zaleeth.

She coughed the last bits of refuse from her stomach and struggled to stand, her head still spinning, but she couldn't get the ground to stay still. On wobbly legs she got her footing, holding onto the chair for support when she turned to look back at- "Marco?"

He was there, between the two of them as casually as if they were back on Earth. And it made her sick.

"What the fuck are you?" She spat, eying Zaleeth with all the malice she could muster. The four-armed shaman looked at her, confused, but smiled nonetheless. While his mouth moved, it was Marco's mouth and voice that answered. "Star, are you feeling alright? Maybe you should-"

Without the slightest bit of hesitation, Star swung her fist in a wild haymaker, colliding with 'Marco's' cheek to blast the sludge head into a spray of black. Zaleeth took a step back and wiped a few stray drops away, but kept his smile intact as the Jackalegs skull inhaled the remaining liquid.

"So, you really can see through me," he murmured, almost in note, "Fascinating. Your magic, it must be something to behold."

"Where...are the villagers?" Star demanded, barely hiding the boiling rage in her voice, but Zaleeth chuckled as though he was amused by the question. "My village, they are nothing but a memory now, child. I put their bodies to good use decades ago, wasted nothing in my… experiments. Their life energy; it was bountiful, but yours will provide so much more than they ever could."

He began to reach two of his hands towards Star, but she backed up a step in return, raising the chair over her shoulder. "If you want at least one of your arms to stay attached to your body, you're gonna walk away, right now. Understand?"

He gave her a puzzled look, but it was one that quickly shifted towards annoyance. "Hmmmm. Your ability to see through my magic...is troubling, but nothing I would consider a deterrent." Zaleeth splayed all four sets of hands, each one glowing red to match every eye socket dotting his robes.

Suddenly, Star felt an icy chill riding up her spine that contracted every muscle between her neck and her wings. Her vision was blurring, if that was possible, and the color seemed to fade from the world, draining from every blade of grass, every leaf, every root; straight into Zaleeth's hands.

"You possess an energy, a life force," Zaleeth breathed, his chest heaving with the effort as he lurched closer to her, "your body holds magic of unrivaled purity, and you would be wise to surrender it."

"And you'd be wise to shut up and die, but I think we're both gonna walk away disappointed," Star shot back, dropping the chair and pressing her palms together. Wasting no time, Zaleeth brought all four hands to the ground, driving each finger deep into the earth and filling it with his dark spell. Immediately, the ground began to shake and come apart as the bones of decades worth of dead animals crawled from the dirt, some with flesh still clinging to their bones. Even Star's 'feast' had come back for revenge.

"Her bones, skin, heart, nothing must be wasted. Bring her to me," was all Zaleeth whispered, sending a thundering of creatures of all sizes towards the young woman before him. But Star was in no mood to stick around and find out what they could do. When she separated her hands, four more followed until six arms hung at her sides. She kicked off the ground and unfurled a radiant set of purple wings, flapping hard to catch the wind just as a set of fangs snapped at the space she had been standing.

Her eyes, now heart-shaped beacons of white light, stared unfeeling at Zaleeth, sharing a second of unspoken warning before she raised two pairs of hands. They hummed with brilliant purple, as if hungry to be set loose on the deceiver, but it was a mixture of real hunger, panic, and desperation that held them back, Star being in no condition to fight.

She wasted no time blasting off above the canopy, taking a few branches with her in a mad dash to escape that nightmare. Her last thought was on finding Marco before her instincts kicked in and took control.

Zaleeth, however, stared up at the heart-shaped hole in the leaves above him, watching as a pinprick of purple light beamed across the sky before disappearing into the distance.

His ravenous, rotting army snarled and snapped at each other, confused as to where their target had disappeared to, but Zaleeth stood motionless, watching the sky. "Very…curious," was all he breathed before collapsing into a pile of steaming black sludge, his army crumbling back to corpses to be reclaimed by the forest. All that was left was a single chair and a bloody Jackalegs.

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

"So, what's it gonna be kid? Your money or your life?"

*spits* "I don't suppose you take Discover?" Marco asked, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip and eyeing the four, bodied men lying unconscious in front of him. "I get good cashback with them, and so can-" *THWACK!*

Another kick sent another man to the ground, but his ribs were on fire. He shouldn't be moving like this, let alone fighting like this. But running into- he supposed they were basically bandits -had a funny way of forcing his hand. Seven of them were armed, with five on the ground now, so raising his hands in tight fists, he eyed their leader.

He was a bigger dude, but he didn't have that ragged, cut up look like the rest of them, even wearing nice clothes to set him apart. But he hadn't said a word, not even one, and it pissed Marco off to no end. "Let's go, eventually one of you is gonna kill me, but before that? I'm gonna make sure the next one who tries never walks again."

A few of the leftover bandits shifted uneasily, but most of them inched closer, weapons drawn to make a move. Finally, one of them darted forward to thrust at Marco's chest with his shortsword, but the boxer was ready for him. Marco swept a hand to push the blade just far enough off course to miss, and went in close. He sent three hard jabs to his ribs, fired a blurred elbow to the bandit's temple, and grabbed his right wrist. Twisting, the bandit dropped his blade and finally managed a yelp when Marco forced him lower, and drove his heel straight into the side of his knee.

The man screamed in agony, clutching his twisted leg as Marco dropped him to the ground and stomped him unconscious. "Better luck next time, pal. ...Anyone else?" He breathed, clutching his own burning ribs, "I feel like you have a pretty good chance." He pointed at the next largest bandit after the leader, but before any one of them could move, a loud buzzing sound forced them all to look up.

In a blur of purple, something slammed into the ground, kicking up dust in a shimmer of light and loud buzzing, forcing everyone to either shield themselves or risk getting blown away. Marco's first reaction was to raise his fists and take a ready stance, but as the dust began to clear to reveal what it was that had interrupted the fight, he slowly lowered them.

"Star?" He asked through slow, deliberate breaths, "is that you?"

The purple being with wings of the deepest amethyst slowly looked over at him, saying nothing with wide, glowing eyes, before turning back to face what was left of the bandits. Two of them raised their swords, ready to fight this strange creature, but without any chance for hesitation, it used two of its own hands to fire split beams of light, blasting them back into the woods.

"Oh hoho, you guys are so fucked now," Marco chuckled, wincing as each breath set his ribs ablaze. But the bandit leader held up a hand, signaling for the remaining four to stand down, watching the creature carefully. And then he spoke, his voice a deep growl, but somehow still calm and decisive.

"Would you be interested in a deal, boy?"

"Go fuck yourself," Marco barked.

Star held steadfast against the five men, a silent barrier between them. But even in her strange, alien, mute form, she seemed to radiate more anger at the leader's question, and fragility with Marco behind her. A tinge of resentment burned in the back of his mind for her earlier dismissal of his warnings, but he did his best to ignore it.

Maybe he had something to prove, or maybe he was feeling desperate, because his next words shocked even him with the carelessness they carried. "Unless...you have something good to offer."

The bandits turned to one another, but Marco was still watching Star, staring at the odd, new, alien form she had taken on. There was a chance this was what she really looked like, that maybe she was just blending in on Earth. But the more he thought about it, the less likely it seemed.

Star was so determined to stay at the village, even going back on her word to leave if he felt uneasy. So now, to see her change her tune and looks so quickly, and to show up only an hour later? 'Something must have happened, they must have done something,' he assessed, taking into consideration her current state.

"Are you okay, Star?" He asked quietly, but he got no answer.

"You. Boy," the leader called out, his tone all business, "we have uses for you and your...pet. Our clan has food, medicine, shelter, and women; all we ask is that you join us, and raise your sword in our name."

Marco looked at each of them, noting that they seemed to be, though highly incompetent in combat, at least well-armed. And now that they knew what he and Star could do, betrayal was all the more unlikely. And again, maybe it was desperation, but something in the back of his mind told him that this was a better option than the village.

The bandits watched as Marco drew closer to Star; calmly, carefully, so as not to spook her. And in a whisper, he asked, "do you trust me?"

After a moment of apparent, deep consideration, the creature resembling his friend nodded, her eyes darting to his.

That was good enough of an answer for now. Whatever happened to her, whatever caused her to turn into this, whether or not she'd go back to normal; it could wait. For now, Marco was about to make a decision that could end or change his life within a day. But the beauty of life he had grown to know is that bad people can be trusted so long as you're of value to them, so long as you can buy their loyalty. Their intentions were the clearest. Good-natured people, well they can't be bought, and you never know what they really want.

"If you cross us," Marco prompted, standing beside Star to seem more intimidating, "you won't live long enough to regret it."

The leader nodded, both all too eager to accept, and disappointed with the response. "You have our word, boy."

Trust.

Something so immaterial, yet treasured by those from all walks of life. From the lowest of scum to the highest of principle, Trust is something that can be given, broken, treasured, and missed. Those who have it fear its loss, and those without it know naught but fear in its absence. To have it is a gift, but to lose it? That is a lesson one doesn't forget.

~Mr. Ronald Reagan