An all new room, one he had lived with for years, yet was devoid of all familiarity.

The small of lingering smoke had permeated the walls, and faint specks of ash floated about the room lazily.

The sun was out and shining bright in the California sky, but even so, the light seemed cold and dark as it shone through the bedroom window.

Not the best place to find yourself wallowing in despair and hopelessness, but then again, what was? It was a fully furnished room, it was dry, it was mostly clean, and it carried the stinging regret of being left behind. Frankly it was perfect.

But Marco didn't see it so, instead opting to look only at the negatives of his circumstances as he sat propped against the wall of the spare bedroom. He hadn't eaten since yesterday, and yet, that emptiness in his stomach paled in comparison to the emptiness he felt in his heart. He had been abandoned, not trusted with his own safety nor the safety of the girl he had promised to protect. It had been a full two days since Star had disappeared, taking his only means of transport with her, but it still felt just as raw and crushing as it had that night.

He had reviewed all possible options the following day, a bout of hope and determination to keep the fire in his gut alive, but in the end it had been fruitless. He wanted so desperately to find a way, some means of reaching her, sure he wouldn't stop, wouldn't give up. And yet? Nothing. Not a single possible avenue was left for him to take.

He had tried reaching out to Tom, desperate to use a demonic portal and find a way to reach Star, but the demon in question was neither here, nor was he answering his phone. Some bullshit text about 'not having enough power saved up for a portal twice in one day'. So it was likely Star had gotten to him first, and had forced him to abstain from assisting in any way.

Then Marco turned to an unlikely ally, hoping that Janna, the Queen of the Occult herself could scrounge up some means of interdimensional travel, or could at the very least point him towards a means to procure one. But her answer was pretty much the same as Tom's; a lazy brush-off about there 'not being anything like that on Earth, and not knowing why she would even have that lying around.' He knew that was a bold faced lie, especially after what Omnitraxus had shown him, but he had that explanation worked out to. All of his close friends were lost on options, or clueless as to the situation, so it all pointed to one possibility: Star had blocked every option, and really didn't want him leaving Earth.

That much was clear, given the circumstances of her departure, but only a day after such an event? Marco was forced to accept that he hadn't misread anything, and the situation was exactly as he had imagined. That realization had carried large sums of anger yesterday, having been left behind with no explanation other than 'I need you to stay safe', but now? He was still angry, hurt, and spiteful, but he found those emotions being whittled away be the second, his thoughts remaining as his only companion.

She clearly had her reasons for leaving him though, right? She was probably scared of losing him, she had even gone on to say that she felt responsible for his safety, and even if it stung to not be trusted with his own life, Marco still found that ever-present glimmer of understanding. Star was someone who put others before herself, and it only made sense that she would follow the same narrative now. And surely she must be just as glum and angry as he was for having to resort to leaving him behind.

'I gotta find a way to Mewni… I have to help her,' he thought to himself, his eyes drawn to the small pile of ash on the floor. He had tried to do some cleaning while he thought of ideas, but all that amounted to was a return of those stinging feelings. 'She can't do it on her own. If even Moon couldn't stop him, there's no way she can beat Vartek alone. I have to get to her, because if she dies, there's no point in living without…'

He decided it best to not think about that grim prospect, instead turning back to his reaffirming plans. After all, Marco did know of one way to get to Mewni from Earth, one he had seen for himself in the distant future that was fleeting with each passing second. Likely, with his scissors having been stolen, and with no other possible avenue for interdimensional travel, he was left with one, dangerous option: "The well of Magic. If I can just-"

'You know that place is bad news. Remember how well it worked last time?'

Marco stood quickly, displacing a good deal of ash on the floor as he scanned the room, searching for the source of the uninvited voice. However, after a short moment of cautious unease, he came to recognize the voice as his own. He watched with careful scrutiny as the room faded to grey, the colors of his vision and the feelings against his skin all dissipating to emptiness, and that's when he saw it. A shadow forming to his right, just by the window.

"Who are you," Marco asked carefully, moving to distance himself from the shadow that stared out the window. It was semi-transparent, and he could just barely make out the wash of grey that was the outside world, but he chose not to focus on that. Instead, he let his nerves tighten even further when the shadow answered him. "You know very well who I am," it chuckled, it's voice an echo of his own, "I'd have thought we'd be a lot closer by now, but I guess you and I aren't really besties, are we."

Finally, Marco let a sigh of ease escape his lips as he realized who, or what had invaded his home. "You're that...thing inside me, that parasite Vartek left behind. Darc."

The shadow coalesced itself into a solid form, shifting like smoke to stand before him until it was no longer transparent, a carbon-copy of Marco Diaz smiling at himself. "Bingo, sad-guy. In the flesh, or rather… in your mind I guess. Honestly I'm not too sure where I call home these-"

"What do you want?" Marco barked, taking an edged step closer to his mirrored counterpart, and flashing a tuft of azure flames in his hand. If this thing was planning on being a nuisance, at a time like this, it had another thing coming. But ultimately, Darc held up his hands innocently and shook his head, offering that same, casual smile. "You're thinking of taking the ole' well over to your sad-girlfriend, aren't you."

With noticeable distaste written across his face, Marco nodded, but still he kept his flame aloft, ready in case the parasite tried to make a move. "And what if I am?" he asked bitterly, his mood not improving the longer he talked to it, "I'm kind of out of options here, so the wells are looking like my only chance at getting to Mewni in time." But where he expected Darc to concede to the idea, or at the very least shift to a different, useless topic entirely, he instead shook his head and folded his arms indignantly. "Yeah, that's not gonna work, buddy."

Annoyed with the intrusion, Marco made to ask why exactly it thought so, but Darc beat him to the punch. "The Realm of Magic is a hinderent, not an escape route. Vartek has turned that place into a wasteland of corruption, and even if you could navigate it?" his expression turned deadly serious, pointing to Marco's chest as he finished, "You wouldn't be able to fight off his magic before turning, losing your memory, or both." Marco met that grim sentiment with a great deal of consideration, reviewing what he could remember and what the current situation would surely entail. Ultimately, he figured Darc had a point.

"So what do you know?" Marco asked, releasing his steadied flame and folding his arms to express just how impatient he was with their entire conversation. He guessed he didn't have anything immediate to worry about, even rationalizing that Darc might have a point, but still he kept his guard up. For now. Darc, however, found it absolutely captivating to be able to talk to someone new for a change, even if that someone looked just like him, and took to answering with that same confidence he exuded when he arrived. "You remember last time, don't you? Toffee is inside the wand, but the Realm of Magic is Vartek's domain now. The energy of that place is twisted and warped, so going there would be suicide," Dark noted with a Cheshire smile. "...unless…"

Marco narrowed his eyes at Darc, his expression as grim as yesterday. "Unless you have the magic to change it back, Like Star did last time." At that, Darc nodded, poofing into smoke before flowing to the bed, re-forming to lay against the guest headboard with his head resting on his folded hands. Marco scowled at the idea that the Realm of Magic was all but suicide until Star fixed it, and took to impatiently glaring at Darc as he drew closer to the bedside. "So how do I get to mewni, then? You have to know something, because coming here just to gloat doesn't seem like your style."

But at that accusation, Darc only shrugged, ditching his telltale smile and shifting his gaze to the ceiling. "As things are now, there is no way for you to get back to her," he grumbled, a touch of honesty evident in his tone, "As the old man says, you're 'up shit creek without a canoe'."

Marco growled in frustration and sat beside the bed, glaring at the wall as though it had hidden some other secret means of escape. He had nothing left, then. And he was just as hopeless now as he was when he was stuck on- '...wait…' Marco turned to look at Darc, and one memory of their many interactions stuck out like a sore thumb: Darc could open portals, he had done so before when he and Torriddity were trapped in the Forest of Certain Death.

"Then… How about we make a deal?"

Darc rolled his gaze down to Marco, and found his origin staring up at him with steadfast resolve, his brown eyes locked with the pinpricks of light Darc was known for. And after a quiet moment of consideration, finally Darc mumbled, "I'm listening?"

Marco stood slowly from the floor and dusted the remaining, disturbed bits of ash from his clothes before turning to face Darc properly. "You know how to open portals, I've seen them before when I was stuck on Mewni," he noted, recognizing the look of deliberation written on his face. But when the parasite made no efforts to disagree with his assessment, Marco pressed on. "So, if you can get me to Mewni… I'll give you control."

Silence filled the room, the only sound present being the hum of the A.C. and the ticking of the clock downstairs. And after what seemed like an eternity, Darc sat upright, facing Marco directly with piqued interest. Genuinely, he hadn't expected that, or even the boy to remember the portal at all. "Complete control, huh? Free to do as I-"

"There is one condition," Marco interrupted with a narrowed, yet resigned stare, "you have to keep Star safe, no matter what the cost. If you can promise that, then this body is all yours." More silence between them as Darc carefully considered the possibility. He had his own plans, his own path to rid the universe of Varteks wrath, but this? This was certainly an offer worth considering. His plan involved both he and Vartek alike being wiped from existence, but to have the chance to make a fresh start? As his origin had so foolishly refused? Darc narrowed his eyes at Marco with terrible scrutiny. "Are you truly prepared to make that sacrifice, all to keep the girl safe? You know there are no take-backsies," Darc noted, neither of them moving a muscle, "The old man, the girl, not even the Ones themselves will be able to give you back that body, are you sure you want to pay that price?"

Where he expected the boy to hurriedly agree, to heroically claim that no price was too high, no matter what cost, blah blah blah, Marco looked down, his eyes dark as he weighed the conditions. It took a moment of thought, but ultimately, Marco nodded to himself, answering, "I'll do what I have to, so long as she makes it out of this alive. Do we have a deal?"

He held out his hand, as though he really needed to 'shake on it' with the entity inside his head, but after another quiet moment, Darc ultimately took it. The two shook hands, Darc flashing that shame wicked, jagged smile before muttering simply, "Deal."

Almost immediately, Darc's form etherealized into a dark cloud of smoke before flowing into Marco's mouth, the original version choking on the black-tar air that slowly, surely took control. Marco's skin shifted from tan, to a ghostly white in an instant, scattered gorges of green cracks etched up his arms and neck, and after a moment of hoarse breathing, he opened his black eyes, now only pinpricks of green light at the centers.

He fell to his knees, the strain of the shift proving almost too sudden to bear, but more steady breathing, and Darc slowly managed to stand, eager to test out the limits of his new form. He lifted his left hand and flexed it, finding it responding well, and as he splayed his fingers, a ready tuft of teal fire burst from his palm. "Ooohh, that's reeeaal good," he whispered with a smile, before squeezing the fire into nothing, "But, no time to stand on ceremony, bud. We have a job now, and I intend to deliver."

He flexed his right hand, gathering a smatter of purple and teal energy, before slashing at the air to cut open a portal. But just as his fingers arched through the air, a pixelating wall of energy hiss against his fingernails to keep him from latching onto the fabric of the dimension. Grunting in frustration, Darc tried again, focusing his energy to fuel the fire in his palm further, and once again he tried to hack open a portal. Nothing, just the grind against the barrier that held true, and sparks thrown onto the floor.

"Playing hard to get, huh? Alright then," he mused before drawing his right hand to his chest. Smiling with those jagged teeth, Darc splayed his left hand to form a ball of dark violet energy, before forcing it onto his right. And as expected, it began to take form around his hand and wrist to the shape of a gauntlet, the fingers of the magical armor coming to a point with steady crackles of teal energy. "Let's see ya keep this one from cutting through!"

With a powerful swipe through the air, the gauntlet hooked onto the energy of the barrier with a satisfying clang, both teal fire and bits of pixelated energy shooting all throughout the room. The heat of the barrier struggled to keep hold as Darc fought for control, and after what seemed like forever, finally he felt it give a little. That translucent membrane hissed and glitched as the gauntlet slowly drug down its face, and with one more push, Darc felt the barrier dissolve under his strength, the tips of his armored fingers ripping through to the next dimension.

Exhaling with a pleased grin, Darc flexed his fingers to dissolve the gauntlet as he stared at the black tear, satisfaction oozing from every pore. "Now, let's see just what daddy dearest has been up to," he chuckled to himself, "In the meantime, do give my regards to Glossaryck." and with that, he stepped through the portal, its white hot edges hissing as he passed before ultimately closing off from the empty, ashy room.

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

Marco saw only darkness, but he knew his eyes were open as a wave of pressure slammed into him, sending his body hurtling back into the void. He could feel himself falling, from where, or to where, he had no idea, all he knew was that it felt like hours since he had seen light. Ultimately, after some time of the darkness holding his vision and senses prisoner, finally he felt something snap inside of him, like another pressure had been released in his chest.

With a blink, his vision was a wash of light, and he squeezed his eyes shut to keep it out, finding that after a moment of struggling to peek, he finally saw where he was. A simple campfire before him, it's flames burning teal against the dark void around him, and in the distance there lay a beam of similarly colored energy running from one horizon to the next. "Nice of you to stop by, kid," a voice prompted from just the other side of the flames, drawing his vision to a little blue man sitting on nothing, "If you're looking for your… counterpart, you juuuust missed him."

"...Wha- Glossaryck?!" Marco asked incredulously, his eyes wide as he leaned closer, "What are you doing here? Or better yet, what even is this place? Where are we?"

But as usual, glossaryck simply shrugged, likely hell-bent on being as uninformative as possible to everyone he came across. Some things never change, apparently. "What, you don't know? You did give your body away to our little friend there, so it should be pretty obvious." Marco looked around, finding the space they occupied as empty as the farthest reaches of space, and the cold of the void slowly seeping through his clothes, despite the fire blazing before him. "No, I have no idea," he mumbled, staring at the fire until an idea burrowed its way into the forefront of his mind, "Are we...dead? Is that how Star found you last time?"

"What? No, jeez kid. We're more like, stuck here until our dearly departed lets you take the reins again, and your little tiff of a romance comes looking for me," Glossaryck answered, suddenly somewhat more helpful than he'd ever been. But Marco didn't have time to enjoy the prospect of either of those two coming to the rescue. He simply shook his head in dejection and glanced around at the darkness. God it was getting cold, here. "That's uh, probably not gonna happen," he mumbled, earning a curious look from his compadre, "Star left me behind to go fight Vartek on her own, so I let him take over in exchange for keeping her safe. I mean, he's stronger than me anyway, so I figure he might just be able to pull it off."

Handing Marco a pudding cup, which the boy begrudgingly took, Glossaryck asked, "Is that really the best idea? I would have thought it might take you a lot more convincing to just… give up like that, right?" Marco shivered at the encroaching cold that was seeping into his skin, and without answering, took to eating his gifted pudding. Glossaryck stroked his beard, watching him carefully as the realization came to him that Marco likely had been out of options. Perhaps Darc was his last resort, and desperation took hold.

"What about your scissors? You guys went through a lot to get those, didn't you?

"Stolen by Star."

"And the Demons? They do get around, don't they?"

"Gone, at Star's request to not help me."

"What about that weird girl, she's got pretty good connections?"

"Nothing, she refused to help and blew me off, probably also at Star's request."

"Jeez, she sure did a number on you, then," Glossaryck noted, watching as Marcos shivering became more apparent, "And what about your own magic?"

Marco slowly looked up at him, his eyes downcast and shallow in the shadow of the flames. But in that shallowness, there was a hint of curiosity, and that familiar desperation he had likely endured in Star's absence. Mocking impatience, Glossaryck cracked open a pudding cup of his own, corn knows where he got it, and took a bite, pointing his spoon at Marco as he asked, "What, you didn't ask Luna for help? She opens portals for me all the time."

"Yeah uhh, we haven't exactly been in touch with the Blood Moon for a bit…," Marco mumbled, though between tense breathing to stave off the cold, and his sluggish response, it was hard to tell, "She hasn't been answering us, but I guess I know why, what with you being stuck here and not back in her love goddess room."

Glossaryck smiled at that, happy to see at least a little positivity from the boy as he picked at his pudding. "Ah, so you really were stuck then," he chuckled, almost as though it wasn't the worst possible outcome, "and you made a deal for Star's safety, only to leave her for the rest of her natural life in the slight hope that Darc might actually be able to stop Vartek?" Marco nodded, curling into himself as he took another bite of pudding.

"Like I said, he's stronger than me, and from what I can tell he has at least a little control over the corruption, so...yeah."

Glossaryck was silent as he mulled over that, and ultimately found himself shrugging at the prospect that Darc could potentially put an end to all this. "If that's what you think is best," he offered, poking at the fire to keep the teal embers hot, "here's hoping he can find her in time." Marco made to ask what exactly he meant by that, but frankly, there was only one thing he could be referring to. The Whispering Spell had worked last time, so it wasn't much of a stretch to assume she'd likely try it again.

"What do you think?" Marco asked, looking up from the fire to find Glossaryck tilting his head in curiosity, " Does she have a chance on her own? Or are we just screwed, and I've just let an enemy take control?" Where he expected something useful or insightful on the situation, in tune with the last few minutes at least, Glossaryck only shrugged it off before resuming his poking of the embers. "Look, kid. I'm not part of the Ones up top. I don't know everything, but what I do know, is that things rarely work out the way we plan them to, and that applies to everyone."

Marco nodded, listening to Glossaryck's outlook as the impish little man began to list things off on his many fingers. "Star has a plan, the Queen has a plan, Vartek has a plan, Darc has a plan, even I have a plan," he finished with a gesture to Marco, "but do you know what's comforting in our situation?" Marco looked down at his pudding cup, finishing it in two bites as absently as possible, only to find that it returned some semblance of warmth to his chest, even staving off the encroaching cold. "You don't," Glossaryck finished with a smile, leaning forward with newfound optimism, "you have no plan, so in the end, I think you'll manage to pull through."

"Just… trust in yourself when the time comes, and don't be afraid to go with the flow. Trust your gut, and you'll be fine. The both of you.

AUTHORS NOTE

Finished this segment early, so enjoy! I'll see y'all on tuesday!

~Mr. Ronald Reagan