Vestiges

I'm not regurgitating canon. Nope.

Also, the rating will soon change by the next update. (Or the one after). I'm not going to turn Marco into Eminem II in every other sentence, but sometimes, saying the words 'crap' and 'damn' just won't cut it anymore in times of extreme adversity. Violence will be sure to spike too, from merely implied to being detailed. Just a heads-up. I'm thinking about the story's future; I've been threatened to be reported to the admins before.

4.

Marco opened his eyes and saw the nighttime sky.

"Urrggghhh… my… back…!" Marco groaned as he tried to lean up. An audible crack rang out when his spine 'realigned' into place after he sat up, making him flinch. "Agghh… Wait a minute…" Seeing the semi-hidden form of the moon through the thick clouds in the sky, the teen hastily rose to his feet, trying to ignore his body's aches and inner chills whenever he moved; the weather wasn't quite as bad before, but Marco still had no idea how long since he'd lost consciousness. In all these things, however, his goal, (the sandwich), remained intact as the Diaz had clutched it to his chest and still continued to do so when he came to.

"Crap, I'm late! But…" He started looking around wildly for his teleportation tool. "… Where're the scissors?" Without even stopping to count his concurrent blessings, even that he was still alive after his ordeal, Marco quickly began to backtrack. Walking through the extensive trench in the snow he had dug with his own body, he searched with his eyes and hands to look for his scissors and finally found them lying not too far from where he'd exited the portal. Quickly closing it with the warp-tool, he then used them to warp home via a new magic threshold, hoping that he wasn't too tardy.

...

"Haappyyy Biiirrthdaaayyy!"

The chorus of voices was loud in the reception room, nearly forcing Janna to cover her ears on reflex. It ceased as quickly as its abrupt start, however, giving the punk teen a feeling reminiscent of New Year's parties when the highlight was, of course, to bring in the new year. Wasn't that why they kept up a vigil all night until now? Picking up her stump again, she was about to take another draught when it suddenly struck her as to the origins of the viscous liquid inside.

"Ahh, geez. This is tree-sap, ain't it? Cripes." She opened a nearby window and dashed the contents outside. "Why didn't I realize it before?" she mumbled to herself as she re-closed the window. "I've been drinking that crap for most of today!" She quietly exited the room in search of a source of tea (or coffee, the difference mattered little at this point), only to bump into the guy from whom she garnered pleasure by teasing. "Hmm? Who are… Marco? Is that… you?"

She could hardly recognize him. The lights in the hallways beyond were too dim to make out finer details, but as he stepped past her into the well-lit reception area, she grasped that she still could not distinguish him as the person she'd known for most of her life. As he purposefully walked towards Star who stood at the center of the room, he walked past quite a few of the party guests and they all saw what Janna had noticed: tears and wears in his clothes, a dim Ziploc bag in one hand and his dimensional scissors in the other. Last but not least, a corn-sickle on his belt that had been worn down nearly to the dullness of a butter-knife, yet remained heavily bloodstained. In as much, there was also contact-blood from the sickle on his muddied jeans, showing that whosever's or whatever's blood he'd shed, there had been a copious amount of it. That is if it wasn't his.

Marco paid no mind to the stares he received. Frankly, he was too much in pain, shock, and resentment to care. On silent tongues, they all asked themselves about what he was up to and Star was no different when she glanced aside to see the Diaz for the first time all day.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… Marco? Wha' happened to-" the princess looked him over from head to foot, and act that didn't miss his perception. Looking down at himself, it was as if he'd finally realized that he was an utter mess. "You look like you were just in a brawl or something… and lost." That was as far as she was willing to remark and she wasn't about to even bring up what she thought of the sickle.

A really depressing factor on what should have been a joyous occasion. Was it actually blood? She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but it was rather feeble. Corns did not bleed.

Marco looked down at himself, feeling his cheeks heat a little in embarrassment at his social faux pas. "Sorry about the clothes. I was in a scrap but I wanted to come here as soon as possible. Before your birthday party ended?"

Pony Head floated over Star's shoulder and looked down at the Diaz, clicking her tongue in displeasure. "Your disgraceful fashion aside, you're not late for anything, Earth Turd. We just started."

"You started a birthday party late at night?"

"Nope!" the floating head retorted with a smirk. "It's super early… in the morning~!" The last came out in a singsong, making the Diaz wondered why she sounded so pleased with herself. But if it was now early morning, then…

Marco glanced at the clock high on the wall behind Star, seeing that it had a readout of a quarter past midnight. Groaning, the boy cursed to himself; Star heard something about 'blacking out' 'dimensional time differences' and tried to make sense of what it could have meant. Was it like the time he'd been in Hekapoo's dimension?

Star's eyes fell to his white-knuckle-gripped dimensional scissors. "So you're just coming in from another dimension? Then it's cool, right? You're early and everything."

"Why are you celebrating your birthday now?Your birthday's on Stump Day!" Marco argued. "That's why I went out this morning to try and get this as fresh as possible! I just didn't know that I'd be this late!"

"It's okay, Marco!" Tom called with a grin from where he stood before walking over with a swagger in his gait. "I planned the party for the day after Stump Day. Star doesn't celebrate it on her so-called important holiday."

Star would've called him out on the sanctity of Stump Day, but chose to let it be. The holiday wouldn't matter for another year, not to mention that something much more important was presented to her. In that same note, she gestured to the item in the boy's hand. "Oooh… So you got me a gift? What is it?"

Marco remembered himself. It was unfortunate that he pushed himself so hard for something that had a longer deadline than previously, although there was a glimmer at the end. His efforts had been fruitful and notwithstanding his horrible state of attire, he had something to show to his best friend. "Remember the sandwich that you nearly got us killed over? Since you were raving about how good it would taste, I thought that I'd get one for you." He was about to hand over the victual but was barred by Tom's hand, who then further proceeded to half-step into the way.

"A sandwich, Marco? Really?" Tom asked in disbelief before pointing to the table to the side, laden with food of all kinds. "I've got all of Star's favorite foods here. A sandwich isn't gonna cut it when it comes to her palate."

"It's hers to decide if she wants it or not, Tom."

"Well, I want what's best for her. She only has one birthday a year, Marco. You didn't even bother to wrap it something to make it look more presentable-"

"Cut me some slack, I was just trying to make it here before her birthday ended. I just came straight out of a fight with the monster that made this thing and defied the laws of gravity just to get here! I wouldn't have known that she celebrated it on the day after. Then again, it's not like anyone gave me an invitation to come the day after." Marco retorted bitingly, throwing out his accusation freely. He'd gone through enough crap to get the fare and wasn't about to be blocked by the princess's boyfriend. He was about to retry giving Star the food, but was interrupted again-… this time, it was the Butterfly when she spoke her piece.

"Actually, Marco, he's kind of right. I don't want it."

"What?" If everyone had been only pretending to listen in, now they had no qualms in making it obvious.

"Burn!" Pony Head screeched.

"Star?" Marco was astonished about her stance in the situation; he had been counting on her to defend him or to at least accept the sandwich out of courtesy. "I was only-"

"It's not about what Tom said, Marco. I know how hard it probably was just to get and I'm grateful that you went so far to do it. But I already knew how the sandwiches taste and the reason why I was trying to get one back then with you was that you could get to experience it for yourself."

The Diaz held out the sandwich weakly. "So you're saying that you don't want it because I've never had one?" Star nodded her head, but all Marco saw was the smug look on Tom's face; it was the exact expression that Marco wanted to smash with a brick. "You don't want the sandwich?" Marco insisted lamely, "I got this for you! If it's about the bag and the presentation and everything, it's fresh, I swear-"

"Marco. It would make me happy to see the sandwich make you happy."

"It would make me happy," Marco parroted, "to see you accept the gift. But if it's as you say, then fine." No later than it'd been said had Janna snatched the sandwich from his hand.

"It would make me happy," the girl mocked, "to find out what's the big deal about this sandwich." Opening the bag to take a bite of the thickly layered sandwich, she couldn't stop herself from making a nearly-obscene moan about 'how good it was'. Marco fumed to himself when he saw Janna virtually demolish the fruits of his labor with sacrilege and questioned himself if she was in his life purely to make him miserable.

"Couldn't you have just bought something like everyone else?" Pony Head asked. "Bringing a sandwich was kinda cheesy, Marco." She began to chuckle at her own joke but Marco shook his head.

"I put some real thought into this, Pony Head. Star can afford or make nearly anything she wants."

"You're a closet party-pooper, aren't you Marco?" Tom insinuated snidely. Marco ignored the Lucitor in favor of the magical princess, stepping past him to get closer to her.

"Star, I'm your best friend… and I'm also your squire. I can't afford to buy or make things like you and what's more, a squire is basically a frontman for his superior. It means that you also have my life at your disposal."

Jaws fell all around but it was only in that vein did everyone's similarity ended. More than just a few thought it was over the top while the others considered it to be an elaborated romantic declaration. Marco didn't care as he fell to one knee, akin to the stance of being called to service or being knighted. "Dimensional scissors have an exorbitant cost and production time, so much so that your family can only have one. They can only be made by Hekapoo, so you can't transmutate them. Although I lost the original pair of dimensional scissors that Pony Head gave you, they weren't hers to give you in the first place. I spend sixteen years earning these, and they're all I have that you don't already own." He held up the scissors royally in both hands to the princess, who was flabbergasted beyond speech. "They're yours."

No one had dared or even been able to interrupt the teen's monologue and it took a few minutes of dead silence for the Star, the first, to react.

"Marco, I'm… sorry." She backpedaled away from him while holding up both of her arms. "I can't take your scissors. If they're all you have, I don't want to leave you with nothing! Coming back out of Hekapoo's dimension showed me how much you got messed up so if anything, you earned them at least twice. Not to mention-" She lapsed into her potent Butterfly state, complete with six arms and wings with golden garb. "I can make my own portals!" She created one just to prove a point, flew through it and re-emerged from another portal across the room. "See?"

Marco did not see. His head was still down to look at the ground, but he could well imagine the princess portaling about the room. It was true; he recalled when she used to sleep-portal at night, not to mention willingly teleport home when he contacted her through her wand. How could he have been so stupid? Of course… he still had nothing to offer. He felt the embarrassment of his blunder starting to tempt him to warp out of the room with the scissors he still had… but chose not to. Besides the scissors, at least, his dignity was all he had left.

What remained of it, that is.

Shaking his head, he got back on his feet slowly. "Okay Star. Thanks, I guess. For letting me keep them."

Pony Head gathered her bearings and snorted in disbelief. "Oh c'mon, B-fly! Can't you just take the scissors as a gift and then give it to me? I'm tired of having to borrow my Old Man's scissors." Before Star could even reply to the floating head, the doors at the far end of the room slammed shut.

Marco was gone.

"Yo, Marco?" Kelly called, knocking at the door repeatedly, each rap becoming quicker than the last. "You in there?"

The door opened to reveal the Diaz; he was dressed only in his nightwear, his hair was sticking every which way and his eyes were bloodshot. "Yeah. I'm in here. What is it, Kelly?"

"Oh... you were sleeping?"

"…" Marco looked down at the girl with the light green body-hair, trying to decide whether she was trying to ask the obvious to try settling him into a conversation or because she completely missed all the hints. "Yeah. I was."

She giggled nervously, berating herself in the privacy of her own mind. "Sorry about that. I was just dropping by to give you some cake since you left the party. It just ended, and I managed to save you a piece before they ate it all."

"Hmm?" The boy's eyes fell to the plate she held atop which rested a thick slice of cake. In actuality, he didn't want it but unlike Star, he could accept a gift to be polite. "Cake? Thanks." He took the cake from her and was about to bid her goodnight, but she remained there, leading him to believe that she had an ulterior motive for seeing him. "If that's all…"

"No! No-no-no." Kelly answered hastily. "I also came to check up on you. You came in kinda torn-up, you know?"

"I'm not bleeding anywhere, Kelly."

"What about the inside-?"

"I'm not bleeding internally, either," Marco grumbled good-naturedly. He appreciated that she was concerned for him and took a moment to speculate if no one else was. "Only a little battered and bruised, but I'll sleep it off. I'll be fine."

"You sure? I know what those sandwich monsters are like. If you really did come back with all your bones unbroken, you've gotta be made out of strong stuff!" Kelly took a gander at his form and noticed that he wasn't as pudgy as he was the first time she ever met him, and his muscles were coming in. It was obvious, even by silhouette. Playfully fist-bumping his shoulder, she failed to observe him wince in pain in the semi-darkness; she'd hit one of his sorer spots unintentionally. "And what was that all about 'defying gravity'?"

"I jumped off a cliff and portaled out at the last minute sideways into the street. If you go into town tomorrow you should see a long trench I dug out with my back," he deadpanned.

"All of that for a sandwich?"

"All of that for a sandwich she didn't want," Marco reminded. Sighing deeply, he let the girl know that it was okay; the last thing he wanted at the moment was someone's pity.

"Well, alright Marco." Kelly began walking away along the corridor, but not before waving goodbye. "Makes me wonder how you'll one-up yourself next year."

"I've given up. I'll just get her a singing-card." Marco had the pleasure of hearing Kelly's laughter wafting back to him in reception to his off-hand comment. With that, Marco shut the door with finality and returned to bed, leaving the cake on his bedside table.

"I hope Star never finds out about Christmas," Marco mumbled before falling back asleep.


With a sudden gasp, Marco was startled awake again. However, instead of seeing the poster stuck to his ceiling, he saw nothing. In fact, he couldn't even see his own hands in front of his face.

His heart began to race, already hastening out of proportions as the boy started going mad with fright and hyperventilation. "Am I blind? Dead?!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, more than half-believing both theories. There was no answer save for the sound of his own voice fading; the inky black he was in appeared to be not only devoid of light but also an engross. Sound just seemed to fall into it…! Was he in some infinite realm of darkness? He teetered on the edge of insanity and scarcely before he fell over, a new light began to shine before him, far away. The darkness, like a living thing, reacted to the (green?) light that seemingly blazed a path through its obscurity.

"You're not blind, nor dead."

"Who… m… who said that?" Marco asked weakly, wondering as to who was addressing him before he realized that its tone bore a similitude to the voice that spoke from the reaches of his mind. "Voice? Is that you?" Without even stopping to think, Marco got off of his behind and started to run towards the light. He failed, however, as he never seemed to get any closer. "Oh, geez!" Marco huffed after a running for a nearly a minute. His previous respiratory afflictions caught with him after his short toil and he started to lose conviction that he could reach the light. "This is gonna take forever! Wait…" Feeling his pockets for the scissors he usually carried with him, he was horrified when he realized that he was bereft of them. All he had were the clothes on his back! He could already feel his blood pressure spike once more, but the voice spoke again before he gave himself a heart attack.

"You need only to step forward."

"Hmm?" Marco asked in confusion. "Step forward?" He looked down at his feet and could hardly see a thing below. It was as if he was walking on darkness and everywhere else was a deeper shade of it. Nonetheless, he took a step forward, hoping for a teleportation or miracle of some sort to get him where he wanted to go.

Nothing happened. Everything was still the same.

He repeated the act. It was for naught.

"Your own mind prevents your very journey. Calm yourself…"

Marco blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"Calm yourself." The voice repeated itself far more severely than its initial. Thoroughly intimidated, Marco clenched his eyes shut in an effort to still himself. It took him a few minutes and for the voice to hint to him that he needed to be even more serene. After what felt to have been a half-hour and Marco felt as if he would fall asleep while standing, the voice spoke again. "Step… forward."

His eyes still shut, Marco fulfilled the obligation and took a small step forward. It wasn't until he was told to open his eyes did he come to see that he was standing before a small wooden table. Floating in midair on the other side was a small blue man in yellow garb. In fact, Marco had only one cognition.

"Glossaryck?"

The being shook his head in disgust, an act that drew Marco's attention to the green crystal that was affixed to its forehead. "No, Marco Diaz. You mistake me for my foolish brother. My name is Appendaxuz."

Marco's eyebrow nearly lifted past his follicle hairline. "'Appendaxuz'? Seriously? What, you got another brother somewhere named after the Table of Contents? Maybe another one for the 'Bibliography' too?" His remark, while rude, was only spoken in unbelieving jest. He had expected no answer, yet he did.

"Unfortunately, all but Glossaryck and I are all deceased. By now, in a sense, Glossaryck already is. I've seen his antics as of late. It's shameful." Appendaxuz's voice did not carry much in the of embarrassment, though Marco could detect hints of resentment. "Reduced to even less than that of a dog…"

Marco was about to consider this but decided not to. "You know what? Never mind. How do I get outta here?" Looking around wherever Appendaxuz's light shone, Marco searched for a way out. "I've got places to be. Anywhere else, as a matter of fact."

"Indeed," the little blue man agreed. It was strange, Marco noted, that his voice commanded such an awing presence; it was unlike Glossaryck's eccentric behavior. "In all honesty, Marco Diaz," Appendaxuz said while intercrossing his fingers, "you're an idiotic pawn. It took you far longer than any other to learn to meditate as a means to calm yourself, as simple as it may be."

"Am I only here for you to insult me?" Marco complained. "'Cause I've got better things to do than getting dissed by an overbearing tiny old man or whatever you are. Like sleeping."

"And like all the others," Appendaxuz continued regardless of the boy's quip, "you fail to even comprehend the dregs of my message that your mind allows to slip through."

Marco took a step backward from the man in sudden apprehension. "Whoa, whoa. My mind? Are we in my head right now?" The apparition ignored his question; it had only a short time to properly inform the boy while his mind was still in a perfect state to allow perfect communication; the grey area just after a normal REM cycle and before being officially comatose. It was a rare opportunity, one he may very well not receive again.

"Yet, unlike everyone else, you've arrived here personally. A remarkable potential…" Appendaxuz tapped his crystal in thought. "You're not in the same class to be calculated like the others… rather, you're a deviant. With room, a googol amount, for improvement. Perhaps even more."

"You keep telling me to destroy the 'Wellspring'!" Marco yelled. "What's up with that, huh?!"

"Simply put..."Appendaxuz began, "It's the siphon that is the so-called 'source' of all magic. Whereas everyone believes that they have the ability to produce magic, utilize it from their tools or simply have a capacity for using it in the same manner as a battery powering a toy…" The statement was rather pointed, and Marco immediately began to think of the Butterfly family, not to mention their wand in particular. "The reality is… they don't. And like any other siphon, it can stopped-up or demolished. This one NEEDS to be."

Marco shook his head, his automatic answer already on his lips. "Destroy the source of magic? Why the hell would I want to do that?! I love portaling, going on adventures and-…" There was no hesitation. Only comprehension. "I'm not listening to this. You're DAFT!"

"Should you will it, certain items will continue to function through a new implementation, namely your scissors that you appear to be fond of. At the very least, you can seal off the Wellspring from being used for folly and mere leisure." The apparition sounded rather stern about this topic as if what Marco had insisted had angered him. "Nowadays, magic is used frivolously. The societal classes are determined by who can misuse it in the largest amounts. Marco Diaz… how was your life before Star Butterfly entered it unannounced? Did you not find it fruitful? You had a good future to look forward to, a goal of becoming a Doctor because you enjoyed helping people… that, and being rather retentive about having order and cleanliness." The being played on all of Marco's strings when making his appeal, not caring if he was manipulating the boy's old feelings or not.

"I'm not retentive. And I'm not about to destroy a source or any sources of magic!"

"Having second thoughts, are you? You're going to be a squire, dependent on your 'friend' for the rest of your life? You of all people should understand as even now, you've been reduced to a groveling idiot, humiliated by nearly everyone. Are they still worth the bonds you try to keep, much less your time? In all frankness, in this society that has abused magic, it has seen far more problems than solutions. Whenever magic makes a step in advancement, it is forced to make two steps backward shortly after. Furthermore… are you of the belief that magic is a pure foundation? The very Wellspring is a conduit that extracts the blood flowing from the tomb of my dead brothers. They cast off their immortality as a means of tying all the dimensions and anchoring them together, lest they fall away into the destruction of the Aether. The very siphon itself is a product of Glossaryck's design."

"WHAT?!"

"It is," Appendaxuz casually reaffirmed. He waved his hands over the table and a chess-board appeared, laden with pieces. At second glance, Marco realized that he himself was one of the pieces; in fact, he was in the exact center of the board where the center lines intersected, whereas all the other pieces were standing in squares. A figure likeness of himself was presented and in the same stratum, Marco looked at all the pieces scattered about in different squares. He could identify everyone on it, either from his own relationships or through Star: the princess and her family, Pony Head, Janna, his own parents, even Jackie and Higgs. Tom and Eclipsa were also there, not to mention the members of the Magic High Commission, though a goat-looking figure (Marco guessed that he was the 'Lekmet' that Rhombulus once told him about) lied on its side, as well as one of Toffee. All were situated in seemingly random locations across the board as if a game of chess had already begun and was undergoing, although there was no way of determining sides by color as all the pieces were facing Marco from the side. Even Star herself stood on a dark square while Tom stood on a white one, of all things. It might have been prejudice because Star used magic excessively, but Marco was unsure. Labels mattered little.

"It is unclear at this point who will support you." The little blue man picked up the figure of Higgs to regard it closely before placing it down again, then proceeded to follow through with all the pieces one by one as he continued his address. "Yea, in all these things, they may even be your enemies, especially the ones who continue to use magic… the princess herself…" He picked up the figure and showed it to Marco. It had a large smile on its face, reminding Marco of simpler times, although that spot of reminiscing ended all too soon. "…Star… may be adverse to the charge you are given. Blood may have to be spilled."

"I'm not going to kill my friend!"

"Your friend now could be your enemy later."

"Or still remain a friend!" Marco retorted angrily.

Appendaxuz shook his head, deciding that the boy might be susceptible to an empathetic reasoning. "Your naivety is appalling. Regardless, the use of magic has to be abolished. That is NOT moot. Magic, believe it or not, is a perishable resource. If and when it does, the dimensions go with it."

Marco looked down at the chess board, contemplating all of the pieces in turn. He could very well imagine that everything had a price, even magic. Everything was essentially give and take, not too unlike hierarchy themselves who seemed to purely take what they wanted and were willing to give the dregs to those below them. He still wanted to believe that there were mostly good qualities in the family along with those they had ties with. Perhaps he could still appeal to their better natures; after all, they were the 'good' people, weren't they? "I'm the only one who can hear you, huh? Well, I could be your spokesman. What if I told them what you just told me? Tell them to quit using magic, or at least to stop abusing it every other minute?"

Appendaxuz wasn't convinced. "There is a reason why you rest on the lines." He stated as he pointed at Marco's piece. "You play like a pawn, yet you try to advance in every direction at once whilst being inside your own limits, not unlike a King. Against a Queen, much less a Rook, Bishop or Knight, you'll be subjugated and humbled to the dust. It sets you apart from all else. Furthermore, you have doubt. Your mind lacks focus. Your spirit is injured. Your heart has not healed. Your body is feeble. Your soul lacks drive and focus. Do you really believe that anything can be achieved without action? You are WEAK."

Marco did not make an answer. What could he say? The apparition was right in his diagnosis, and his denouncement rang true. He recalled all of his troubles that he'd gone through, all of the scars both inside and out, his lack of a purpose. He already felt himself slipping and yet continued to willing give himself over to Appendaxuz's discourse. Was there was an alleviation, a cure, for his situation?

"I have fallen from grace. I've watched my brothers die, and my own life is little more than an illusion, floating on the wind like the ashes of the book I was imprisoned in. Glossaryck was adverse to my charge, as much as Star Butterfly may be to yours. The brother of my own blood had me sacked when I sought to bring to a halt the usage of magic. I was jailed inside the folio and it was only by chance of you viewing it that I was able to bond with your mind… yet, my own time is short."

"Consider a sword… It is sharp… It is strong… It is precise… It severs... It rends asunder… You are weak, Marco Diaz. Alpha maximizes the corporeal mold. Beta furthers the psyche. Theta brings unification. Delta warrants safety. Gamma powers the core and provides conviction. This is what comprises all beings. Magic is merely an additive in the equation. Your dimension… all dimensions… could and WOULD do well without it. Marco Diaz…" Appendaxuz took up the chess piece that looked like himself and knocked it over before picking up the one that looked like Marco. "You have been found lacking. Convey yourself to the forge and become like new." Without further ado, he tossed the chess piece over to Marco, who caught it awkwardly. The likeness of Marco had green crescents emblazoned on its cheeks, with a nearly indiscernible pattern in them. Little did he know that his own cheeks were beginning to radiate the same crescents before a green light overtook him.

Soon, he disappeared in a burst of green radiance from before Appendaxuz, who wore a grim expression. He hadn't been entirely truthful to the boy… in fact, far from it. Nonetheless, in the grand scheme of things, the boy whose mind he resided in had spectacular drive when he believed that he was in the 'right'. His petty influence in the boy's mental state could only achieve so much, and it was becoming crucial that the boy heard all that he 'needed' to hear personally and would set about accomplishing it. Marco would be able to accomplish his 'mission'-… he'd given the teen some faculty and more than enough incentive to carry out his crusade; sound judgment and a dire warning, a form of someone he was familiar with... The boy was unlike his other pawns in the past but Marco was especially interesting.

"That's right…" Appendaxuz muttered to himself as his appearance began to change into something far more menacing and formless, like the very shadows around him. "Forward, Marco Diaz, forward!" Out of the amorphous creature, the green crystal with its luminescent glow shed light onto the chess board, revealing all of the lifeless pieces that all stood across its face.

"I wonder…? Which of them will topple first?" Appendaxuz mused with a serrated grin, a very harbinger that this entire affair was about to enter its season.


-Hammered at this for days, and I can't get the kinks out; the meeting had to happen sooner or later, am I right? I still hope you liked it. It was still speaking about two different topics; I should've chopped it into two again, I reckon, but I decided that I should let it be. It's about time I rotated fics for a bit so I decided to just post the bulk.

-Appendaxuz. Yep. The name of the entity could have been more… imaginative? Or was the discussion not convincing enough? Something just ain't right and I can't tell. Maybe it's all in my head. Regardless, both 'Monster Arm' and 'Page Turner' are episodes from two entirely different seasons. I strongly believe that the spell 'Releaseo Demonius Infestica' is just a fancy way of saying to 'releasing the infesting demon', although it wasn't an entity, but rather a normal person's bad vices. It only spoke and did all the things Marco desired. Impressing people, pummeling… what's that brat's name? Jeremy? Unimportant.

The 'possession' at the end of the other episode though… that just raises a hell of a lot more questions. And as a side-note... no, I'm not going to create an OP Marco. He'll have to become reasonably stronger, though, if he's going against practitioners of magic.

-The Kelly scene was actually unnecessary. I figured that I needed a scene to show that Marco was sleeping, not to mention leave the door open for the shipping to squeeze through. I'm starting to incline to either her, Higgs or Hekapoo; I've got some ideas for her, even though it's a bit of a stretch. Starco could happen too, but it'd probably just end up being one-sided. I bet you already know which side.

Until next time, people.

Valete omnes,

MRAY 4TW.