Star shut the door to her room and plopped onto her bed. "Why do I feel this way?" she said as she threw her face into her pillow. "It's not like I like him, he is just kind of cute. But I think a lot of things are cute," she quietly said. "Whatever I just need sleep."

She drifted off to sleep with the day's events replaying in her head.

[One hour later]

Star was fast asleep. Her mouth was gaped open drool dripping on her pillow. "She looks cute as ever. Soon you will be mine," a voice said from her bedside. It reached out to wake up the sleeping princess.

Star woke up groggily seeing a shadowed figure at her side. "Marco...?" Her eyes widened when she realized it wasn't Marco at her side.

"Hello, Starship..."

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Marco came back from hanging out with Jackie. He loves hanging out with her, but throughout the whole time, he felt kind of bad leaving the princess behind. So he told Jackie a lie about his mom needing him for something as an excuse to leave early to check on Star. He didn't know why he wanted to. He didn't care about her...right?

She was cute but she was all preppy and he already had a girlfriend. But he still felt bad. "Might as well say sorry," he said heading upstairs. Marco made it to her door and was about to knock when I heard voices on the other side of the door.

"NO! I'll never go with you," he heard Star yell from the other side of the door.

Oh no she's in trouble. Might be the little bird dude again he thought to himself. He got a running start and busted open the door. "You stay away from her," Marco said getting in a fighting stance. He froze when he looked inside...

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[Couple minutes earlier]

"Hello Starship," Star heard next to her bed.

Star shot up out of my bed immediately. "TOM!," she yelled then changing to a whisper, "what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay away from me." She crossed her arms in anger. "But Starship tonight is the Blood Moon Ball it only comes every couple hundred years," Tom said trying to convince her.

"Tom we broke up I don't want to deal with you anymore," Star said turning her head away. "So take you and your weird flying demon carriage and go home."

I'm not leaving till you say yes," Tom said smirking. "NO! I'll never go with you," she yelled at him. Star turned her head towards the door as it came crashing down. "You stay away from her," Marco yelled.

Star looked at Marco with slightly sad eyes but stopped when she felt it get warm in the room. "Who do you think you are interrupting Starship and my conversation," Tom roared fire surrounding him. "Oh you think you are so tough just because you have a fire we'll bring it on," Marco yelled running at him.

Star saw the events about to unfold. "BOTH OF YOU STOP," she yelled at the top of her lungs. Both of the boys froze. "Whatever Tom I'll go with you," she said pointing at him," but this isn't a date."

Tom dropped down from his fire pillar bringing his hands together. "Wonderful. The ball is at 9 just ring this bell for when you are ready," he said as he handed me a bell and hammer. Marco glared the entire time. "See you there... Starship," Tom said as he descended below.

"Who the heck was that princess?" Marco questioned me immediately. She stared him down with annoyance. "That doesn't matter. What do you think just barging in my room like that and trying to fight," Star snapped at him.

Marco stepped back a bit but quickly got his composure. "Well I'm sorry I heard yelling and thought you were in trouble," he snapped back. "Well I didn't need your help it was just my stupid ex-boyfriend asking to some ball," she said. "Then why did you say yes? He clearly is a jerk" Marco said.

Why did she say yes? She didn't like Tom. No, She hated him. But when she saw Marco she felt hurt. He didn't need her, he had Jackie. She needed to take my mind off of him. "Uh.. because I wanted to. It's not your choice," she finally spits out. "Well I feel like you are making a big mistake," Marco said to her.

"Well it's my choice and I don't care. So if you don't mind I need to get ready," Star said as she pushed Marco into the hall and closing the door behind him. Marco went to his room and sat in his chair.

Marco sat down in his chair angry at that preppy princess. Why does he even care? It's not like he cares about what she thinks of him or of what he thinks of her. No, it has to be something else. It's just he doesn't want to get yelled at by his parents. That's the reason.

"To make sure that demon jerk doesn't do anything I'll just follow her," he said to himself. Yeah, it's a bit creepy but he didn't want to be yelled at. "I'll just wait for her to leave," he said as he threw open his closet to look for something. He needed to get ready to party.

After Star pushed Marco out of her room she just stood there. She didn't want to go to this dumb ball. She just needed to get Tom out of my room. "Well, I already said yes so might as well get ready," Star said heading for her closet.

Star pulled out a dress from her closet and threw it on. She was feeling lazy to take time to do he hair. So she grabbed her wand and cast a spell on her face. After the spell went through her hair was all done. Not gonna lie it looked really good but one thing is for sure she is never doing magic on her face again.

Star felt kind of bad for snapping at Marco so she decided to at least ask his opinion. Star walked over to his room and knocked. "Marco I know you might be mad but can I get your opinion on this?" She asked through his door. "Yeah whatever comes in," she heard him say as the door unlocked.

She walked in and the room was as clean as she thought it would be. There were clothes all over the place but she saw one set of clothing on his punching bag. A suit with a big circle hat. Ignoring it she asked, "My outfit what do you think?" He turned around in his chair and froze. Marco stared for a minute or so. She stood there starting to get embarrassed. "It looks bad doesn't it," Star said a bit sadly.

"No, no you look um..." he coughed "good." She stood there blushing. "Thank you, Marco," she said smiling. He turned back around "w-whatever," he said facing away from her. "We'll see you later tonight," she said turning around.

As Star left the room she could've sworn she saw him blush when he turned back around. Weird. Star head back to her room to head to the Ball.

She picked up the bell and rang it. It made a loud gong noise for a little bell. It made her laugh a bit at the thought. A fire pillar came out near her balcony and a carriage being carried by a flying demon came up. The door opened and she stepped in.

"What floor mortal?" She heard the demon say above me. "I guess the bottom?" Star said confused. "Very well," he said as they started making their descent. Star had a feeling like tonight is going to be eventful but she wasn't sure why.

-a few min prior-

Marco was sitting there waiting for the princess to leave. He had his clothes and mask set up already. He knew that if she saw him she would be angry and also the demon jerk might not be so glad either. But he didn't care. As he was sitting there in thought he heard a knock at his door. "Marco I know you might be mad but can I get your opinion on this?" He heard the princess say on the other side of the door. He was kind of curious. "Yeah whatever comes in," Marco said as he unlocked the door and sitting back down in his chair.

Marco heard her open the door and was silent for a couple of seconds. "My outfit what do you think?" He heard her ask. He turned around and froze. She was gorgeous. "But I can't just say that she will think I'm weird," he thought to himself.

"It looks bad doesn't it" he heard her say with sadness breaking him out of his trance. "Ugh, I was staring," he thought as he facepalmed himself mentally. "No, no you look um..." He coughed "good." Smooth Diaz smooth as he mentally facepalmed again. "Thank you, Marco," she said smiling. Marco turned around so she wouldn't see his blush. "w-whatever," he said trying to keep his cool. "Well, see you later tonight," he heard her say as she closed the door behind her.

Marco let out the breath that he didn't know he was holding. She was just cute before but ... Wow. That dress caught him off. He needed to get focused and listen for when she leaves. He threw on the suit he had prepared but left the mask and sombrero off he would put them on when he got there.

Marco snuck out of his room and went to Star's door and put his ear to it to listen closely. He knew it was kind of creepy but it was what needed to be done. As he stood there waiting for his queue praying she wouldn't open the door he heard a gong. He knew this was it.

He slowly cracked the door open to see a carriage with some sort of demon going down. That had to be her leaving. Marco opened the door all the way and saw the bell and hammer sitting on a table. Now he just needed to wait a bit to not cause suspicion.

After 10 minutes he thought it was long enough. Marco went up to the bell and rung it waiting for his ride. Once he got in Marco told him where to go and he was on his way to the Blood Moon Ball.

-Underworld-

Tom was waiting for my Starship to arrive. She hated him from their breakup but after tonight she will never want to leave him. Ahahahah

"Master Tom Princess Star has arrived."

Star stepped out of the carriage and said her thanks to the demon lift operator. As he started to go back up...Strange. The underworld was just as she remembered red and on fire. She started to regret coming. "Starship you have arrived. You look beautiful by the way," she heard Tom say as he tried to embrace her in a hug.

She shrugged him off. "Uh, thanks I guess. Look just call me Star this is just a friendly hang out remember," Star said to him. "Let's go have some fun." She turned around but before she did she swore she saw a look of anger on his face.

She headed to a picture station. She saw two people waiting to get their pictures taken. It looked kind of fun. Star immediately changed her mind when she saw them get covered in blood as the picture was taken. Yeah, not happening.

"So what do you want to do Starship I mean Star," she heard Tom say beside her. "Well definitely not pictures. Tom, I'm going to go get some punch I'll be right back," she said as she headed towards the snack table.

As she was pouring her cup of what she thought was the punch Star hear someone on a podium starting to talk.

"Ahem. Good evening, ladies and gentlebremen. It is my pleasure that I request you now to turn your heads skyward." A crescent-shaped opening appears in the hand-shaped skylight on the ballroom ceiling. "When the light of the blood moon drubbles down and selects two lucky souls, binding them together for eternity in its hypnotic, ruby brodum," he finished.

"Woah," she whispered to me. Star saw Tom starting to walk to me but stopped when the music started playing. He held up a finger telling me to wait and headed to the musician playing the organ.

She started walking around the room staring up at that red crystal in the ceiling until Star felt someone grab her hand...

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Marco made his way out of the carriage amazed. Who knew that the underworld existed. Janna would love this. But he ignored the amazing sights and got his mind on the task at hand. He needed to find the princess.

He walked around with his mask and sombrero on looking at all the weird creatures around him. "Man, this is some boring ball, he thought. He heard someone talking on a podium but he tuned them out.

Music started playing when he finally found her. He saw Tom walk off in another direction and knew this was his chance. Marco walked over to her and grabbed her hand.

As soon as the mysterious masked person, at least to her, grabbed her hand a spotlight landed on them. He heard music start playing and figured that they had to dance. So he pulled her in and they started dancing. She was mesmerized by his eyes a beautiful brown. She couldn't help but blush. She saw his suit and it looked kind of familiar.

"Princess," Star heard him call to me, but she just kept staring. "Yo princess," she heard him call once again but this time in a tone she heard before. She snapped out of her trance once she felt a flick on her forehead. "Hey, Princess snap out of it." She was just before she was about to say anything but her dance partner had been pushed away from her and his mask fell off.

"THAT DANCE WAS MEANT FOR ME!" Tom roared as he started going full demon. Marco shot back up ready to fight the raging demon. Probably not his best plan. "THIS TIME NOTHING IS GON-" Tom froze, literally. He was in a block of ice.

Marco looked over to see Star with her wand in her hand walking to him. When she was right in front of me she slapped him. "Let's go," anger in her voice. Marco stood there shocked holding his face. He soon followed behind her.

The ride back up was awkward none of them saying a word. When they reached her room she got off thanking the demon dude. "So infuriating," he heard her grunt. "What did I say I told you that he was a jerk," Marco said crossing his arms.

She spun around and threw her shoes at him. Missing entirely. "No you are the jerk," she snapped at him. "What did I do I was just making sure he didn't do anything. I was hoping for thanks or something," Marco said back. She sighed, "Look I don't need you to watch me I have a wand I can handle myself." My face softened. What was he thinking, it was a stupid plan. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to ruin your night. Hey, at least you know I can dance," he said taking off his sombrero and bowing.

She smiled and look at his hair. He looked up at it too. "Heh, hat hair," They said in unison. We froze. "What th-," they said again. Star pointed her wand and Marco got in a fighting stance.

He stared at her and she started laughing and he joined her. When they finally stopped laughing I said, "Well I guess I'll be heading to bed." He started to head to the door until he felt something grab my arm. He turned around.

She was so close our noses almost touching. He felt her breath on his nose. They were both blushing and just staring.

"I'm actually glad you came the ball was pretty boring," Star finally said breaking the silence. "U-uh, yeah no problem," Marco said stuttering. Why was he stuttering why was he so nervous around her?

"Well good night Marco," she said heading to her bed. He headed to the door. "Good night Star," he said closing the door behind me and leaning against it.

"What a good night," he said not knowing this was the same thing Star was saying in her room.

-Unknown location-

"Step 1 of the plan is complete master they are linked," a henchman said.

"Good prepare for Step 2," he said. Things were just getting started.