Like Father, Like Daughter
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Star vs. the Forces of Evil
Chapter 25: Nightmares
Hekapoo was running, dreams flashed around her. It wasn't all that hard to jump to other random dreams once you knew the trick. Everyone's dreams were interconnected by the Dream Eater; it was just taking advantage of that fact. She couldn't do anything until she lost the Dream Eater though.
She couldn't let herself get distracted; she had a mission.
"Hekapoo!"
She skidded to a stop as a familiar voice called out to her. "Marco?"
As she stopped, she found herself in front of the school, and a strange feeling washed over her. "Something is wrong."
"H-Poo, what's wrong?" Marco stood beside her, smiling as he spoke.
"Marco?" Hekapoo looked at him, something was off. She felt strange, as things began to change. Her thoughts became clouded, and her horns faded away as her skin took on a pinkish hue. Then her crown and dress shifted into a headband and short Earth style dress.
"What? What's happe-" Marco black jacket formed over her.
It smelled like Marco and felt so soft.
Marco moved next to her placing an arm around her.
"Marco?"
Marco gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, "Morning, my jacket does look really nice on you."
"Uh, well, yeah everything looks good on me."
"Let's go to class, I don't want Skullnick giving us detention today."
Hekapoo and Marco walked into the classroom as a presence wafted over them.
Hekapoo had been unaffected by the Dream Eater last time they faced it because she didn't sleep, but since then she has developed the habit and didn't think about it. As she ventured further into the dreams of others without any immunity to the lulling effect of the monster, she fell under the same spell as the others. It lulled her into a pleasant dream, which helped her lose the Dream Eater, but now she was just like all the other dreamers.
Hekapoo was trapped in a pleasant dream that she got to spend her days with Marco.
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"Huh?" Seraph muttered, she wasn't sure what to expect.
It kinda felt weird.
As she walked into a vast shining palace, "So, is this Star's dream?" Seraph walked through the halls. She hadn't been to Mewni or knew how the castle looked like. She could only assume it was her castle.
As she passed a long diamond hall, she paused and looked at a mirror that hung there. She didn't know what to expect within a dream, but she didn't expect to see herself like how she was. She was a living flame vaguely shaped like herself.
She knew dreams were weird, but is this how they saw her? Is that why she looked like that? Seraph knew she was big with fire and everything but didn't understand why she looked like she was on fire. Did she think this about herself? Like was this how she imagined herself?
Seraph started to spiral into the interpretations of oneself and the things she learned from one of her Dad's books when she saw people coming.
There were people from school coming down the hall. The jocks were dressed up as knights and a lot of the girls were dressed as handmaidens.
"Star?" Seraph let out as she saw a familiar blonde.
But the princess was dressed like a jester and pranced around someone in a fancy gown.
"Brittney?"
The dark-haired cheerleader was strutting around in a crown and purple gown.
Seraph had been told that if they managed to get to the dreamer, got them to reject this reality, and accept it as a dream, then they could escape this. So Seraph figured this had to be Brittney's dream. She hadn't spoken much to the girl, but she was bossy and seemed to have a thing about princesses. She decided just to try and get her to snap her out of it.
"Hey! Hey! Brittney!" Seraph went towards the group and yelled out.
Brittney took a step back, but everyone else just stood there without reacting, "What is that thing?"
"Huh? I guess this isn't because of you then." Seraph muttered.
"Keep it away!" Brittney orders, her guards took up spears and turned them to Seraph.
"Ah, It's me, Seraph! Marco's daughter!" Seraph took a step back as the group charged at her.
"Stop! Please!"
"Get that monster away from me!"
Seraph continued to move back, "This is a dream! None of this is real!"
Brittney wasn't listening, and Seraph felt pressure trying to remove her from the palace. Seraph thought about trying to fight the knights, but gave up on it because they looked like her friends and classmates. Even if they weren't real, she didn't like the idea of fighting them.
Seraph turned away and ran down the hall towards the entrance of the palace as Brittney continued to order them to attack her.
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"Huh?" Marco was pretty sure he didn't end up in Star's dream. Having so many people sleeping in one place must have made the jumps a little unstable, which is probably why he and Hekapoo got separated.
He found himself in a little world filled all sorts of wonders from the multiverse, and there was only one other person there, well two.
A centaur pranced over towards Marco, one end had Alfonzo and the other end had Ferguson.
Marco vaguely remembered a field trip with them taking this shape and both very eager to keep it.
"What's wrong buddy?" Ferguson galloped up to Marco.
Marco figured he should try to wake whoever was the dreamer. "Ah, there is this thing. It's kinda hard to explain, but there is this dream demon thing, and it put everyone in town to sleep. This is a dream, and it's draining your life so I have to wake as many of you guys up as I can before we can stop it."
"How can we help?" Alfonzo asked.
"Wait, you believe me?" Marco was surprised
"Why wouldn't we?" Alonzo told him.
"Plus this a recurring dream for me," Ferguson added. "So it makes sense."
"What do we have to do?"
Marco glanced pass them and noticed a door formed behind them. "You already did it. You rejected the dream, just walk through the door, and you will wake up."
Alfonso looked at Marco, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, man," Ferguson looked at him worried, "You look stressed out. What's wrong? Is Seraph in here too?"
"No, thank goodness." Marco shook his head, "I fought this thing back when I was chasing Hekapoo, and it trapped me. But now I'm immune to it, and Seraph is immune too. We got her out of here and to her Uncle's. She's safe, but we can't beat this thing until it gets weaker, and then we can beat it."
"How can we help?" Ferguson asked.
"Yeah, we're Seraph's honorary Uncles," Alfonzo held out his chest "we gotta help"
Marco wanted to stop them right then and there, but the faster they did this the better, and through dreams, it wasn't too dangerous.
"Okay, you have to get into other people's dreams. Get them to accept that everything here is fake. When they do that and are ready to leave something like a door appears, and they can use it to wake up. The trick to walking into another person's dream is pretty simple. You have to accept that you're in a dream and find a path and take it. Dreams aren't complete, you start in the middle and what you see is all there is. You just walk down a path and its end, and you show up in another dream. I never really got a handle of aiming it though, so it's pretty random. Think of a person, and you might get in their dream."
"Okay, got it," Ferguson told.
"Okay, and the Dream Eater might be watching us. If you feel like you're being watched, you probably are. Think about waking up, and the door you need to get out will show up again. Use it and run!"
Both boys looked at the urgency in Marco's eyes, there was a fear they had never seen in Marco. Marco stood there and watched them leave down a path and vanish.
Marco sighed, he hoped they would be fine. He didn't have time to wait as they needed to act, and maybe they could help. They were goofs, but they were his friends.
Marco walked down another path hoping to find Hekapoo or Star. He did pause for a moment to wonder if he had been talking to Alonzo or Ferguson.
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Hekapoo wrapped her arms around Seraph, "I have a day off, and I couldn't help but see you."
The ageless mother cuddled her daughter, Seraph smiled lightly at her mother's embrace.
Janna couldn't help but smile a little at the delight on the girl's face.
"I was thinking that maybe we could go on a little trip," Hekapoo told her daughter.
"Oh," Seraph let out, "We actually had some plans together today."
Janna stopped her, "Go with your Mom. You don't get enough time to spend together. We can all hang out together another time, go run off with your Mom."
Seraph turned to Marco who gave her a nod, and it didn't take much more than a moment for them to wander into a portal for a day together.
Marco and Janna found themselves alone, Marco turned to her, "So, we still have the rest of day. We could still hang out, if you want."
Janna grinned at him, "Yeah, I'd like that."
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Marco kept walking through dreams hoping to find Star or Hekapoo. He tried to wake people as he went along, but he didn't much like jumping into people's dreams. He'd read a lot on psychology, and some of the stuff he discovered felt very personal, invasive.
Still, he kept walking along. He didn't have much choice either way. It felt like it had been days, dreams were hard to describe… hard to grasp. Dreams could go on their own rules, time was fluid, one night could seem like days.
Marco had no idea how long he'd been walking through dreams, in reality though it probably had been only a few minutes. He'd been through something like this before when he was tortured by the Dream Eater for days in his dream. Marco dreamed that he lost everyone he cared about, and he wasn't about to let that happen again. Marco just had to find them.
He didn't know what he would do if he didn't.
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Star felt her hands shaking as Seraph ran around cheering about how she was going to be a big sister.
Her chest felt tight, and she felt like she was dropped in a bathtub of cold water. No, this couldn't be right. No. Where was Marco?
"Star?"
Star blinked and found Marco standing there before her looking around confused. Had he gotten back from the vending machine?
"Why are you older? Why am I older?" Marco looked around confused, "So, what's this? Dreaming about when you're going to be queen? I must have jumped into the form of the Marco in your dream, huh?"
"Marco?" Star looked quizzically. There was something different about Marco, almost like he had weight or something.
"Daddy?" Seraph spoke up.
"… Seraph?" Marco was stunned, it was his daughter but little. She was wearing a cute dress and looking up at him. He'd seen a few pictures of her at this age, but here she was.
"Daddy?" She held out her hands to reach for him.
Marco didn't think, he just reached out for her arms and before he knew it she jumped into his hands. Marco trembled as he pulled her into a hug. She was so light and so warm.
"Daddy!" Seraph cheered, hugging him back tightly. She seemed so happy without a care in the world, just a little girl.
"Sorry Daddy." Seraph told him, "I couldn't help myself."
Marco blinked unsure of what she was talking about. He needed to be a bit more careful. If he interacted with too much of the dream NPCs, he could alert the Dream Eater. It was best to interact with only the dreamer, and luckily most people stood out since everything revolved around them.
Marco decided to play along, "It's okay, baby. " He ruffled her hair; it was fluffy and soft.
He tried to smile but found it hard. He knew this was all fake, but it stung. He'd never get to hold Seraph like this. He never got to play with his baby girl and hear her laugh like babies do. This pleasant illusion just reminded him of everything he lost because of fate.
"I told Aunty Star about my future baby sister or brother."
"Wait what?" Marco let out.
"Daddy, I told her we're going to have another baby in the family."
Marco choked up, his mind was filled with the image of him and Hekapoo having another child together. He saw himself holding onto the baby and watching them grow up. He wanted it; he wanted to be a good father. He feared he wasn't one, but he wanted to do it right.
He had to stop.
Marco put the girl down on the ground and moved back, "This isn't right. This isn't real." He had to pull away.
"Daddy?"
Marco's eyes went wide; he had to remind himself that everything here was a dream.
"No, you're not my daughter." Marco steeled himself.
"Marco?" Star went to his side. She didn't know what was happening, but she knew he was upset.
"Daddy?" Moonlight filtered through the window lighting the small girl in blood red light.
"No, you're not my Seraph."
"Is that so Marco Diaz?" The fake Seraph's mouth stretched wide into a cold grin.
"It's you, isn't it?" Marco took a step back.
"Long time no see Marco Diaz," The Dream Eater in the body of a little girl took a step closer. "And this must be Star Butterfly. I thought it was you, but you looked different from how you looked like in his dreams. So many people, and I haven't fully recovered. I couldn't do a proper in depth search."
Star took a step back herself, it was terrifying to see such a cute little girl talking so maliciously.
"I sensed something," The Dreamer Eater hissed, "some power infiltrating my dreams. I think she was calling for you. Normally, I would be upset, but this was a great opportunity for us to have a reunion. So I just stayed around this girl to see if you'd actually show up, and you did. What great luck."
Marco grabbed Star's hand and pulled her away, "We gotta run!"
Star found herself in a full sprint and looked behind herself to Seraph grinning with vicious glee as she chased after them.
"RUN! RUN ALL YOU WANT! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE!"
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Hekapoo smiled as she ate with Marco at the lunch table, they were just talking about random everyday things. It was peaceful. It warm, it was safe, it was beautiful.
But Hekapoo couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. Something significant.
"Something wrong H-Poo?" Marco told her.
"Don't call me that." Hekapoo smacked him but smiled as she did.
"You know you like it,"
"Just shut up,"
Everything was perfect, but why did it feel like something was missing? Like something inside her was screaming for her to remember.
"So, you wanna do something this weekend?" Marco asked her, taking her out of her thoughts.
"Do? Not sure, I don't have any plans."
"You want to go see a movie together?"
"Hmm, maybe, anything good playing?"
"There's the new superhero film."
"Yeah. Yeah, you and Seraph wanted to see it. I'm not into that stuff, but if you two want to see it."
"Whose Seraph?"
Hekapoo blinked, "How can you forget our daughter?"
"Daughter?!" Marco gasped, "How-"
Who was Seraph? Why did she say that name? Why?
Her head felt like it was splitting open. Her mind was suddenly flooded with images of a girl with horns and brownish-red hair. She remembered the girl smiling as she rode some sort of dragon. The girl was smiling while wearing a strange hat with big round ears. The girl, but smaller, in her arms crying.
The girl, no a baby, in her arms as her eyes blinked and looked up to her. Her small hand was reaching out to hers, those tiny little finger wrapping around her finger.
Hekapoo found herself staring at her hands, it still felt this tiny fingers wrapping around her hand.
"H-Poo?" Marco's voice broke her out of stupor.
"I can't stay here." Hekapoo whispered, "She's waiting for me. She's waiting for us, the real you."
Slowly, Hekapoo felt her clothes change back and her horns return as her appearance returned to normal, she closed her eyes and turned away. She couldn't look back, she didn't know if she could pull herself away again. She fell into a dream of her own, she wasn't used to dreaming, so it caught her off guard. She couldn't let it happened again, so she remembered the person who was waiting.
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"Ah! Chelsea stop!" Seraph slapped away the other girl.
When she arrived at the dream, she found herself in the middle of some sort of baking show. She quickly found Chelsea in the middle of it, and she started to scream. Even in another dream, Seraph was a living flame, and Chelsea reacted by pulling out a fire extinguisher. Seraph yelled out in pain as the white spray hit her.
"I'm leaving!" Seraph ran off looking for a way out of the dream.
Seraph walked off the stage and down the hall; eventually, she was engulfed by light and found herself somewhere else.
Seraph pushed off the foam from her body. She was already exhausted and just sat down.
She looked around confused about where she ended up. It was dark, and it looked like the only real light besides her flame form was a bright moon above. With Seraph's light, she could just make out gravestones all around.
She had no idea whose dream she had ended up in, but it couldn't be right. She curled up into a ball pulling her legs close.
She was tired, and as she tried to remove more of the foam and it stung her flesh or flames. Everywhere she went people were screaming at her, scared of her, trying to hurt her, and these had all been people she'd known. They knew her, but we're trying to get rid of her. Did they all hate her in real life?
Was this how people saw her?
She sobbed, the feeling dug itself deep into her heart. She was hurt and scared and alone.
Why did she come here?
Why did she try?
Why did she think she could help?
She tried, and she didn't manage to help one person. She had gotten herself hurt and lost. Her parents were out there trying to help, but she just couldn't keep up. She just couldn't come close.
She just wasn't good enough.
She buried her face into her hands and cried to herself.
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Hekapoo huffed; she wasn't used to it. The whole dreaming thing is still foreign to her. Now that she was going through dreams it felt like she was walking through mud. Most people, when they walk through a dream, naturally knew how to navigate it because they had experience with their own dreams. Hekapoo had only really recently started sleeping somewhat regularly since meeting with Marco, and usually only when he was around.
She tried to focus, but it was all a swirl of colors, smells, emotions, and sounds. The first thing she heard was the sound of her steps on wood.
Hekapoo centered herself and found herself face to face with Marco and Jackie as they held hands.
"You." Jackie let out.
"…Uh, hi."
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Marco pulled Star into a closet and put a finger on her lips to keep her from speaking. He tried to close the door but didn't get a chance to, just barely closing it enough so they weren't spotted. He was afraid of shutting it all the way and alerting the Dream Eater.
"Star, you need to stay calm."
That was easier said than done as a small child look set upon killing them and looked more than able to it.
The fake Seraph was skipping and looked around, "Marco? Where are you? You can't hide forever. You know that." The Dreamer Eater used Seraph's voice, "Where are you? You might be able to hide and control your emotions since your previous experience, but can your friend?"
The fake Seraph's body contorted and twisted as colors shifted with a cracking sound, like a million roaches scrambling around.
"Star? Sweetie?" Moon Butterfly stood there , "Come to Mommy?" The Dream Eater chuckled, "Or maybe…" The form twisted again, and was replaced by Heinous, "Princess! It's time for you to return to school. I'll find you sooner or later, just come along and make this easy."
Star's eyes went wide. They could see through the crack in the door. It was terrifying to see the Dream Eater change, and it didn't help who it was choosing to turn into.
"No, no, no, this simply won't do," Heinous form twisted into itself and changed into a lizard in a suit, "Hm, this seems better," Its eyes blinked and turned to closet. "Did you really think you could hide in a closet? I expected better than that."
The Dream Eater held out a hand with a missing finger, and the closet changed and twisted until the pair found themselves in a glass cube.
"Does this remind you of anything?"
"No." Star gasped, as the location changed to Ludo's castle.
"Star, no!" Marco yelled as soon the walls were pressing against them.
"No! No! No!" Star was panicking. It was what the Dream Eater had wanted, to dredge up a terrible memory of Star and use it against them. The stronger her emotions, the easier it was to find her and then to exploit it.
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Janna had a fun day; they just got to hang out together no Seraph, no Star, no crazy magic, just them being together. They got some tacos at Britta's before Janna got them kicked out. They went digging through the quarry to see what they could find.
And they were ending the day having a picnic in the graveyard like she had always wanted. The moon was out and lovely, yet a tad creepy and exactly like what she wanted in a date.
It seemed perfect.
"Okay, so I made your favorite," Marco told her as he started to take out food to set on their picnic blanket.
"For all your faults, you are a good cook Diaz." Janna teased him, she paused though as she thought she heard something. "Ah, Marco do you hear someone crying?"
It was faint, but Janna was sure she was hearing someone cry, and it sounded familiar.
"No, I don't hear anything."
"Uh, are you sure? Maybe it's like some sort of weeping ghost? It sounds so familiar…"
"You're just hearing things?"
"Maybe someone lost?" Janna couldn't help but imagine some sort of kid got lost and scared. "Maybe we should go look to make sure."
"No, let's just have a picnic together."
Janna blinked, "That was pretty uncaring for you."
"I just want to spend time with you; that's all."
"Yeah, and I like that. I really do, but I also liked that you care about people. Sure, it can be annoying but-"
Janna stopped as she remembered where she had heard that cry before. She remembered finding Seraph crying on the floor of her room.
"Seraph!" Janna started to bolt towards the sounds of crying.
Marco pulled her back, "Whose Seraph?"
"She's your daughter! How could you forget about her?" Janna then realized something, "It's really late. It's almost midnight, and she hasn't come back home. Why aren't you freaking out for her being five minutes late? Why aren't you calling them worried sick?"
"Why would I be worried you're here? You are all I need."
"That is very sweet but also very creepy and wrong."
Janna kinda wanted Marco to say something like that to her before but not to the point of forgetting his daughter.
"No! No! This is wrong!" Janna pulled away and ran into the graveyard. She didn't know where she was heading to, but she knew that was Seraph. Janna ran and ran and saw a firelight, it had to be her.
"Seraph!" Janna turned a corner.
"Janna!" Seraph scooted back and flinched.
"Seraph! You're on fire! Are you okay?"
"…" Seraph shuddered, "…you're not scared of me?"
"Are you hurt?"
"No, not really." She didn't mention the foam.
"Then no. You look awesome! I didn't know you could turn yourself into a fire like that."
"I can't. I just walked into here, and everyone saw me like this."
"You walked into a graveyard and caught on fire? Is it a concentrated ground thing?"
"No, no, this isn't a graveyard! This is a dream! There is a dream monster putting everyone in dreams!"
Janna blinked, as she looked around things did seem off. Some of the graves were blank or jumbled letters. She read one "'Moe Les- that's not a real name!" As she thought about it the more sense it made, Marco seemed more like a twisted version of what she wished for.
If this was a dream, her dream, she pushed out Seraph so she could have Marco to herself, Janna felt guilty about that. She would never want to take Marco from his kids. She never intended to be the evil stepmother. She wanted to be the cool stepmom who the kids liked more than then their birth mom sure, but not evil stepmom.
She looked at Seraph and as impossible as it seemed tears streaked against her flaming face.
"Are you sure you're okay? You look upset?"
"... people were scared of me. I've been going through people's dreams trying to wake them up, but they screamed at me. Am I scary?"
"Pffft" Janna let out, "as if, you're the sweetest and cutest girl. Only an idiot would be scared of you."
Janna patted Seraph on the head right between her flaming horns.
"Janna no!"
"Something wrong?"
"... no, it's - I - my flames burn here, and I didn't want you to get burned."
"Like you could burn me, besides remember in art class you put a spell on me so I couldn't get burned."
"yeah, but it fades like after a few minutes. That's why I have to put it back on every time we make hot stuff."
Janna blinked, Seraph regularly recast the spell on her just Janna so eager to play with fire and heat but never noticed it after the first time.
Janna shook her head and saw how Seraph was still so unsure about everything including herself.
"You really are your father's daughter" she moved in and gave her a hug. "Seraph you are a wonder and I love having you in my life, don't you dare forget that"
Seraph returned the hug weakly. Janna smiled; she knew the girl needed the hug.
"Heh" Seraph managed to let out a weak chuckle,
"What's so funny?"
"Yeah, that just reminds me of something Mom and Dad have told me."
"Yeah, well they got that right"
"Yeah, you actually remind me a lot of Mom sometimes"
"Really? I don't see the resemblances."
"Well, it's not physical. You two are just kinda alike. You both fun and caring and…" Seraph pauses trying to come up with the words, "warm. I get that same warm feeling from both of you. You both like to have fun and make me smile, and I feel like I'm safe with you two. And I guess you both like to pull tricks and tease Dad. I guess sometimes I kinda think of you like Mom."
Janna's heart swelled at the words, and she hugged her tighter. She smiled as a thought struck her, "Well I guess you can think of me like that. If your mom can't be there because she's saving the universe or whatever, I'll be there for you. You can just think of me like your Mama Janna."
"Mama Janna?" Seraph loved her mother, and she understood why she couldn't always be there but she missed having a mother figure around all the time, and here was Janna ready to help with that.
"Thank you," It was nice to know someone would be there.
"Okay," Janna spoke softly, "this is a dream. This is my dream? Makes sense I guess. You need to wake me up. How? Pinch me?"
Seraph blinked and raised a hand pointing to pass the girl, a black gothic door formed in between the gravestones.
"The book with the spell that I used to get here told me about them. You rejected the false reality of the dream and a door forms for you to take. You walk through it, and you wake up."
"What about you?"
".. I-I've been trying to help. I've been trying to wake people up, but no one wants to listen. You are the first person I've managed to wake up. I can't save anyone, I'm not good enough…"
Janna smiled at her, "You saved me. I heard you, and I came for you. You saved me, and I'm sure you can save more people." Janna pulled back and took a long look at her before taking her hand and giving her a squeeze. "Okay, if you're not sure you can do, I'm sure enough for the both of us. I'll just have to come along."
Seraph mustered up a smile, "…thank you."
"Okay, how do we do this?"
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Hekapoo had been around a long time, she had seen a lot and had made a lot of enemies. Yet she was reasonably sure she hadn't seen anyone give her such a look of hatred. From what she could see Jackie and her dream Marco were on a date together at the docks.
"No," Jackie said in little more than a whisper, she stood before her Marco, "No, you can't take him."
"Jackie?" Hekapoo tried to reassure her. "You need to stay calm."
Jackie saw the woman who took Marco away, took him for years from his friends, from his family, and from her. The woman that made Marco forget about her. Why? Why? WHY? They had a daughter together, a whole life together, and Marco never even remembered about her. All because of Hekapoo. Was she that unimportant to him? Was she all that easy to forget and replace? Did Hekapoo even have to try to make him forget about her? Or was Marco just waiting for someone else to come along?
Each thought struck deep into Jackie's heart.
It was all Hekapoo's fault, she had never come along they still could have been together. What was so good about her? Was she really better than her?
The air was tense and hard, the wind started to pick up, and the waves began to hit the boardwalk.
Dreams were made from the thoughts of the dreamer, more specifically the unconscious thoughts and feelings. Hekapoo knew that Jackie still held a grudge after everything that had happened.
Maybe she had every right to.
Jackie had thus far been trying to be cool, trying to be mature, trying to be understanding but that never left her with a chance to vent. Never gave her the opportunity to even try to get some closure. In the dreams, those emotions were always just under the surface waiting for something. This was an idealized possibility, maybe if Hekapoo hadn't taken him away, they could have had this, maybe not. But Hekapoo's presence had shattered it, and then all the vent up frustration and anger began to gush out.
The sky turned dark as storm clouds raged above them and soon it was just the two of them there, waves of water striking the boardwalk over and over again matching Jackie's beating heart. The world was acting according to Jackie's emotions.
"Why?" Jackie let out, tears streamed from her eyes. "Why did you have to ruin it? Why did you have to take him?"
The waves struck Hekapoo, and she barely managed to stay on feet.
Hekapoo forced herself to her feet but as she looked up she found Jackie racing towards her tears in her eyes.
"Why?" Jackie tackled her to ground. "Was I not good enough?"
Hekapoo couldn't respond as she raised her arms to protect herself Jackie started to last out at her.
Jackie was filled with grief, the sense of being betrayed, forgotten, and tossed aside.
Jackie grabbed Hekapoo and slammed her down. Hekapoo couldn't force herself to attack her. After all, this despair was of her own making. She couldn't do anything but protect herself. The ocean water struck the docks and the water level began to rise. Slowly water was rising around them. Hekapoo realized it as water started to raise above her.
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Marco and Star were being squashed by the glass cage.
The Dream Eater using Toffe's skin smirked, "You know what the best part of this is? It won't kill you. I can pull out your crumbled bodies, and we can start again." He moved right up to the glass, "You've been through this before, to watch your loved ones die over and over again." He taunted Marco, "How do you think the Princess will fair?"
Star looked over to Marco wondering what happened that he never spoke to her about this. Marco's strong arms wrapped around her. "Don't worry Star. I'm going to make sure we get out of this."
He started to press against the walls.
Star looked at Marco, at the determination in his eyes even amongst the fear. She felt him press against her as the walls pushed closer and the fear she felt began to evaporate.
"No," Star said defiantly.
The Dream Eater looked on curiously, "What?"
Star turned to him her eyes glowing brightly.
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The water was splashing against Hekapoo as she struggled to stay above the water and try to block the blows from Jackie. Jackie didn't seem to realize that the water was reacting to her emotions as she just tried to wildly beat her.
As the water continued to rise, Jackie grabbed her and pushed her down. Hekapoo grabbed her arms trying to get a grip on her. Hekapoo's flame went out as the water flooded over her.
Hekapoo called upon all the strength she could muster and pushed herself above the water and looked at Jackie. She barely managed to push Jackie back a little to get above the water.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! You never deserved any of this! Marco spent years just trying to work up the courage to talk to you! You know what Marco told me? Some of the happiest memories were when he was with you." The waves slowed down, "Marco feels horrible about cheating on you. I feel horrible that I hurt you. Neither one of us ever wanted to hurt you. I am so sorry, I'll regret this for the rest of my life." Soaking wet, Hekapoo made her way to Jackie. "You can do whatever you want to me, I deserve it. I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I don't deserve it, but I do have to help you. I've been around a long time, and I know you can't keep this rage inside you, it will tear you up from inside! Drown me! Smash me! Do whatever you need to do!"
The water rose again, above Hekapoo head. Jackie was there, her arms deep into the water holding Hekapoo down.
Jackie blinked and saw Hekapoo struggling before her under the water. The water had risen up to Jackie's torso, Hekapoo was flailing beneath her as bubbles escaped her mouth. Jackie just watched her for a moment. Jackie looked at her. She looked pathetic and scared, she wasn't some horrible fiend trying to hurt her. With a breath, something snapped in Jackie, and she saw what she was doing.
"Oh god." Jackie pulled back letting Hekapoo go.
Hekapoo jumped up gasping for breath.
Jackie was trembling, the rage leaving her and letting her think clearly. The dreams amplified what was deep down in her and brought out; she was surprised to find she had such rage in her. She felt sick. Jackie never thought there was something so dark in her. She knew she was angry, but not that angry. The water drained away and back into the ocean.
Jackie just looked at this drenched Hekapoo, "Why? Why would you do that? Why would you say that?" Jackie's mind was racing trying to make sense of what happened, why she did that.
"Seraph only talks about how cool and amazing you are. My daughter looks up to you. You are calm and collected all the time. If your anger is going to screw you up, I'll do whatever I have to do to get you back. It's the least I could do."
Jackie was stunned, Hekapoo was trying to stop her from doing something she'd regret. She was trying to save her. It was a dream, it couldn't actually kill Hekapoo but it would feel like it. It could make her wish to really die, but she knew she wouldn't die. What could happen was truly scar Jackie and Hekapoo decided not to let it happen.
The clouds started to part and the rain stopped as the sun began to shine. Jackie saw what Marco and Seraph saw in Hekapoo. Jackie felt worse knowing what she almost did to Seraph's mother and Marco's… Hekapoo.
Jackie buried her face in her hand before working the courage to look at Hekapoo.
"You look like a drowned rat."
"I do."
They laughed the stupid joke, letting the tension slip away.
Jackie rubbed her temples and brushed some tears away, "I-I-" she took a deep breath letting all the anger and jealousy bubble up inside fade away, she had to let it go.
She didn't want to blame Marco. They had talked, and she knew he was at fault as much as Hekapoo. Maybe she pushed all the blame to Hekapoo, made her the symbol and focus to everything that went wrong. But she was right; it was right to hold onto that rage, "I don't know if I can ever really forgive you, but I can try."
Hekapoo wasn't some horrible woman who tried to break up her relationship or wreck her life. She was just a girl who had a moment with Marco, and they both got carried away.
"I was serious," Hekapoo began, "I understand if you never forgive me. I can accept that, but just let me save is a dream, you're trapped here. All you have to do is reject this reality."
"That's a little hard to buy."
"You don't trust me. I get it. You have all the reasons not to trust me-"
"Mom?"
They turned to find Janna standing and holding the hands of a fiery being.
"Seraph?!"
The young hybrid ran to her mother and hugged her.
"Why are you made of fire?" Hekapoo questioned.
"I don't know." Seraph told her honestly, "I just did the spell and got sent into the dreams."
"What are you even doing here? You're supposed to be with Rhombulus and Lekmet?"
"I snuck out, I wanted to help."
"We have to get you out before he finds you."
BOOOM!
In a blast of fire, smoke, and shattered glass, Marco and Star tumbled onto the boardwalk, both now back into their teen forms.
"Ha!" Star cheered with a fist in the air. "It worked last time too!"
"Did you have to blow us out? Last time you blew the box from the outside." Marco groaned.
"Dad?" Seraph asked.
"Huh?" Star blinked confused, "Why are you on fire? You weren't on fire before, right?"
"Heh hehe"
The group looked up to a strange voice moved closer to them.
"Naughty Marco, you brought me to your friends. How many dreams did you do everything to lead me away? How many dreams did you fail and watch them torn apart? How many times can you watch it happen to their real selves?"
The group were shocked to see those words come from a double of Marco. A dark grin spread across his face. "Oh, Marco, how many times can you endure watching your daughter die?"
Author's Notes: TV Tropes page for this fic has been growing, there is a characters page. So anyone up for adding more pages to it? I would like to see if anyone picked up fringe stuff.
Sorry for the delay. A lot of stuff came up and well, personally I had a rough time too. I'm going to be gone a few days as I go to Anime Expo, sunday I will be cosplaying as marco so there is that. Either way I hope you guys enjoy this chapter me and my beta put a lot of work and thought into it. So leave a review telling me what you guys think.