"Staaaaaar!?"

"Relax, Marco." She said, opening her book to the fortification and defense section. "I'm sure there's a counterspell in h- there is no counterspell in here."

Marco quickly rushed up next to her, checking the pages for himself. "W-what do you mean 'it's not in here'?! It has to be!"

"If it is, it's not in this section…" She said, checking the pages, once more. "…and Glossaryck is the only one who would know where to start."

"Aaand he's in Mewni."

"Mmm-hm." She sighed.

"Wait! Hold on, Star, your scissors!" He blurted, grabbing Star by the shoulders. "You can use your scissors to get us out!"

Star gave Marco a guilty smile and rubbed the back of her neck. "About that…"

"Pleeeeease don't tell me you left them outside!" he begged, tightening his grip on the princess's shoulders.

"No no, I've got them right here." She said, pulling the blades out from her tiny, star-shaped satchel. Marco let out a sigh of relief, releasing her from his grasp. "But…" She added.

"But?"

"Buuuuuuut, I thought that frog guy, who hangs out in that tree, by the house, would get suspicious about me boarding up my windows, and I didn't want to risk Ludo interrupting our little discussion…" Star began to twirl her long, blonde hair in her finger tips, avoiding eye contact with Marco. "So, I maaaaaay have put up a field around the house that cancels any kind of dimensional tear from forming." She said, flashing Marco that same guilty smile.

Marco didn't move. He couldn't even bring himself to scream. They were trapped. No way out. No means of escape.

"Buuuut!" She added cheerfully, looking down at her book again. "The field does ware off over time!"

"Really? How long?"

Star began to hum, as she ran her finger down the massive page. "Here we go! It says it should take aroouund… two to three days." She said, looking over to Marco.

"Two to thre- Star, we can't wait here that long. What about school?" School… School! His backpack, of course! He still had his phone and laptop in there! Marco jumped to his feet and ran to the spot his bag had landed after Star had thrown him into her personal, inescapable death bunker. "Star! I-I have my phone! We can call for help!" before he could dial 9-1-1, he heard Star's voice.

"Don't bother." She groaned. Marco looked up from the phone to see Star Butterfly, sprawled across her bed. Face-up, arms out, and legs dangling off the sides. "This stuff's indestructible. Without the counter-spell, these plates aren't going anywhere"

What was up with this sudden pessimism? "So, what? You don't even want to try? Who knows? Someone might be able to get us out of here!"

Star didn't move. "You're just going to make everyone worry. Trust me, Marco. The best thing to do, is to wait it out." Her voice was flat and joyless. She couldn't escape the fact that, no matter how good her intentions were, this was her fault. Marco was here because of her. They were both trapped here because of her. She should have taken her dad's advice more seriously. 'Star, if you're going to mess around with magic, always make sure you have some sort of counter-spell on-hand.' Maybe her mom was right. Maybe she was too reckless. She didn't know how Marco managed to put up with her.

"Star." Star looked up from her bed to see Marco standing in front of her, an arm outstretched and a warm smile on his lips. "Come on." He coaxed, still offering his hand to her. Star grabbed it and Marco hoisted her up into a sitting position. Marco took a seat next to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Star. Don't go beating yourself up over this. Moaping around isn't going to help anyone."

She was so lucky to have a friend like Marco. He was so tough, confident, capable, and he could fight really well. But he was also awkward and adorable. Patient, gentle, sincere. She honestly didn't deserve someone like him.

"Come on, it'll be fun. Like a sleepover." Marco said, in an attempt to cheer her up. Judging by the way her eyes suddenly lit up, it must have worked. A slumber party? With her bestie!?

"Oh my gosh! Marco, you're right! We can totally have a slumber party! Why have we never done this before?!"

"Because we live together."

"That's no excuse!" She cried, jumping to her feet. "Alright, let's see…" Star began to pace around the room. "First thing we need to do is make this room a little less doom 'n gloom." She said, clanging her wand against the cold, metallic surface.

"And how are we gonna do that?" Marco deadpanned.

"Oh, you'll see." She said, looking over her shoulder. Star grasped her wand with both hands and closed her eyes. Before long, the wand began to radiate a soft pink glow. The light slowly got brighter and stronger as streaks of ribbon-like magic began to dance through the air. Star remained silent with her eyes closed and gently placed the wand to her forehead. "Roomy Sunshine Cover-up" She spoke softly, before touching the radiant object to the metallic plate in front of her. The light of the wand dissipated as a glowing ripple of magic road along the walls, leaving a beautiful scenery in its wake.

With the blinding light gone, Marco finally opened his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was absolutely breath taking. "Wow." Was all he could manage.

Within only a few short moments, their inescapable, metal tomb had been transformed into, what Marco could only describe as: a millionaire's log cabin. The walls were now made of a beautiful wooden finish with dozens of small light fixtures arranged on the walls and ceiling. The structure of the room did not change, this was still clearly Star's room. Same two stories, same spiral staircase, same extremely high ceiling. But Marco felt like he'd been teleported far away from Echo Creek. It even had a lit fire place and alarmingly realistic fake windows. Marco slowly got up and peered out one of the windows. It was a dark, moonlit night. An untouched layer of pure, white snow, glistened in the moonlight. Not another living soul to be seen. No people, no structures, no lights. Marco thought he could make out some mountains in the distance, but his vision was limited by the steady downpour of gently falling snow. It was so beautiful, so peaceful. If not a little disorienting, judging by the fact it was only five o'clock in the afternoon, but utterly breathtaking either way.

"S-Star! What di-…W-When did you learn how to do this?!"

Star shrugged.

"Why haven't you done this before?!"

Star shrugged again. "Never really felt the need to. I already like how everything here looks… Also it drains my battery quite a bit" She added, looking at her wand. "I got about 70% left."

Marco just stayed silent and continued absorbing his surroundings.

"Alriiiiight. Next thing we're gonna need is snacks!" She said, tapping her wand against her lips.

Those words shook Marco to his core. How did he not think about this sooner?! "Snacks? Snacks?! Star, we're trapped in here without any food or water!" Marco screamed, pulling at his hair. "What are we going to do? We're going to starve and die here!"

Star shot her friend a cocky look before poofing a long table with a huge pile of potato chip bags and several six-packs of bottled soda into the room. "'Aint no party like a slumba party cuz a slumba party don't stop!" She chanted.

"Right… The Party Table. I forgot you learned how to do that." He said, a bit embarrassed by his dramatic episode.

"Now, all that's left is the sleeping arrangements" Star said, climbing the spiral staircase to the second floor of the tower. With a few zaps of her wand, Star created two sleeping bags. One was dark red with a little black dot, and the other was a turquoise with two pink hearts.

"Dibbs on the blue one." Marco teased, reaching the top of the staircase.

"Alright." She shrugged

"Star, I was joking."

"No, please, take it. I feel like it suits you."

The two laughed. It was gonna be a fun night.