Vestiges
Been a while. In any case, I'm pushing a large number of updates to all my fics in a week-long spree, including posting a couple more stories to celebrate my Mega-Versary, for writing a MILLION words. It's been three years since I started, and I've never regretted coming to write fics on this site, not for a second. Thank you for your support, and enjoy.
~ M. Ray 4 The Win.
14.
If it's one thing that Marco did not expect, it was for Eclipsa-… the queen of 'Darkness'…- to call him her King.
Marco almost did a double-take when he glanced aside, as if he were checking his surroundings for a person, for anyone else she could've been referring to. "Huh? " He pointed at himself. "You talking to me?"
To this, the queen had a strange smile on her face as she continued to look at the teen. "Well… you're the only one here, aren't you?"
Marco, to say the least, was a bit flummoxed. He was expecting someone more serious, someone with a bit more presence so to speak. If he'd had a list of things he wanted to do today, engaging in mystic riddles with Eclipsa would be at the very bottom. "You know what? Forget it. I'm here on borrowed time, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm an insurgent. Everything's going to go off the rails and we needed to be somewhere else five minutes ago. So let's go-"
The queen interrupted him before he could continue. "Ah, hmm. I'm well aware that you're here about the business of the Wellspring, correct? How can I help you with that? What is it that you need of me?"
Marco raised an eyebrow. Finally, now he was getting somewhere. He didn't feel like questioning her seeming willingness to help as time was already of the essence; who knew how long the death of Baby Man would draw attention from Eclipsa's room. Besides, maybe she was allied with Appendaxuz from the start, hence why she welcomed him so easily. "For starters, you can help me by coming along with me to help me get to the Wellspring. We need to leave, so get whatever it is that you need to carry with you. We don't have any time to waste." He was roving around her room as he said this, picking up any piece of clothing he came across and throwing them into a nearby conveniently empty suitcase. "Well? Do I have to literally toss you over my shoulder and carry you or something?" Marco asked sarcastically. His thin patience was already well past its limits, and if he was sure of one thing, he hadn't done all that he had only to be set back by an obstinate queen. 'Appendaxuz, are you sure about her? She hasn't even gotten up from her chair. Is she even taking me seriously?!'
Before his internal iniquity could answer, Eclipsa spoke. "I'm afraid leaving won't be possible at this time. If I have to be honest, actually… this is terrible timing. I have to stay." Then, like she was completely unconcerned with what he had to say, she resumed playing with the pawns on the chessboard idly. "I'm not sure if you keep up with Mewni's current affairs, but I have never abdicated my throne and in case you haven't noticed, I'm not dead either. I'm still technically queen of Mewni and I must say, I'm enjoying Moon's attempts at sucking up to me, especially given the fact that she's not from my direct lineage. It's what I deserve, after all."
"Just listen to her, Marco. We're very familiar with one another," Appendaxuz encouraged, although he himself was worrying that the woman might say something that she shouldn't. "Besides, if you don't have the time, we'll just have to make the time for her regardless." Marco nodded absently in response jadedly, before he gazed around the room, trying to bring his frustrations under control.
'All right. Guess I'm playing ball.' He returned his attention to Eclipsa and gave her his response. "No, I'm not keeping track of Mewni's current affairs. But now that I think about it, back when I used to be Star's squire, I remember her telling me that your room was a complete pigsty. If that's true, then this looks... queen-like now."
Eclipsa smirked. "And what would you know about the room looking like a queen's room?"
Marco ignored this particular question in favor of thinking about his previous line. "At least this would explain why the guards are so thick around here. But… are you actually the queen of Mewni right now?!" Marco whispered loudly in amazement.
Meanwhile, on the inside, Appendaxuz's low simmering anger was quelled as Marco slipped off topic as to why Eclipsa called him 'her king'. Never minding that, he still had no idea why Eclipsa was being so stubborn. He asked Marco to insist that she come along with them but after Marco did just that, Eclipsa still refused.
"As of now, Queen Moon is looking for a way to put me back in a position of authority while still retaining some sort of power for herself. Not that I ever got off of my throne in the first place because I'm still Queen of Mewni, albeit unofficially seeing as it hasn't been formally announced." Eclipsa tapped her cheek once as she gathered her thoughts so that she could say what she needed to. "But I'm going to skip to the heart of the matter. I think it would be better served for me to stay here to run the kingdom properly or to run it into the ground at your behest. I believe I'll be of much more use like this, especially given the circumstances. It's what I came to think while I was waiting for your arrival."
Marco raised an eyebrow in astonishment. He had come to believe that she was now feeling some sort of patriotism for Mewni, but now she seemed as if she didn't care about it one way or another; if one thing could be said, it was that the woman was completely unpredictable, and it made him cautious. However, for the first time since entering the room, he thought that he had finally gotten the general gist of the situation. Eclipsa was on his side, or at the very least, on Appendaxuz's side-… they did have a history together after all. "So you always expected me to come here?"
"But of course. Besides…" She gestured carelessly at the black queen on her chessboard. "You certainly can't do very much when you don't have a Queen on your side, now can you? But I have to ask… have you done something about getting a Bishop, a Rook, and a Knight?"
All of a sudden, as soon as she said 'Knight', Marco felt strange as he thought about Sienna. She had just declared that she was his Knight, and all of this talk in chess-like terms was starting to make him feel put-off. "Quit talking as if this is a game. This is serious!"
Eclipsa narrowed her eyes dangerously, as the vibe around her dropped to frigid temperatures, if only for a second. "Chess isn't merely a game. And if you used your brain more than your muscles, you'd grasp that you need to start alluding your situation to it so that you could think more strategically. All of us higher-ups know that you're capable of many things. Dangerous things. Unpleasant things. The Queen and the others of the M.H.C.… even I myself have been observing you… watching you… Hekapoo, every now and again, used her standing to make sure that no one actually came to Earth just to pick you off in your sleep-… such was the threat that many already saw you as. Now that you're here, I can only assume that you need my help to get navigate the dimensions to get to the Wellspring. The problem is that you act just like a… how do you say… a newbie…?" Eclipsa chuckled to herself before her usually good-natured expression died as she glared at Marco. "You've only been trying to accomplish the objective without thinking about how to get to the objective. It's rather upsetting. For example, if I were to follow you now and try to help you to get through the dimensions to get to the Wellspring, what would happen after I've left? Do you think that the M.H.C. would merely stand by while you cruise through the dimensions and threaten their very way of life, with the Queen they still believe is 'evil'? That Rhombulus won't crystallize you? That Omnitraxus won't kill you? That even Hekapoo herself would ALLOW her created scissors to portal their way to destroy where she was born? Stop and think for a minute, if you're even capable of it."
Marco narrowed his eyes. "I didn't come here to be insulted."
"That's the Queen, for you. Their emotions go in every direction and are about as diverse and varied as the elements of nature itself. It's not really her fault."
"I don't care," Marco said out loud, "she's dissing me for no good reason. I still don't see why we can't just go to the Wellspring right now."
"I think you don't like hearing the truth. You came to Mewni, fully expecting that you could achieve what you need to do, without ever pausing to consider that you could be stopped very easily."
With all things considered, is it actually safe to say that you are on my side? Would it KILL you to be more positive? I can handle whatever they can throw at me."
"Make no mistake, I am on your side and you can be sure that they'll throw everything they have at you including the kitchen sink. I merely wish for the King to use his head more than his muscles if he's going to be the one who leads us. After all, it wouldn't bode well failing and knowing that you could have done it better. Don't you know the saying 'I wish I knew then what I know now'?"
"Right now, I only wish that I understood everything that you're trying to tell me. I'm not thick, but it's coming across to me and feels like you have access to very confidential information, play both sides of the fence, and the worst part-… I can't tell if you're trying to warn me or delay me from doing what I need to do. Furthermore…" Marco's fists clenched. "My friend and I have done a lot just to get here, and if you don't come with us now, it's going to be next to Impossible to get to you again, much less get you the hell away from Mewni!"
Eclipsa sighed. She could see that he was going to hardheaded-… no, stubborn and ill-willed were more suitable descriptions. She could explain everything later. "All right. If you can answer a single question the way I want you to, I will leave with you right this minute with no misgivings."
The Diaz, for sure, and not like or this was going and was actually tempted to just portal Eclipsa away by force. Of course, it would have had its ramifications later but he would've rather have her to be an amiable ally rather than a reluctant one. Yet, in his better judgment, he decided to answer the question after all. "Alright, let's hear it."
"The Magic High Commission consists of demigods, a demigoddess and the Queen of Mewni. Essentially, when you think about them, you can't help but liken them to Rooks."
"Rooks? Marco asked in mild confusion." 'Oh damn, more chess.'
"Yes, Rooks. With their powers, they can just march right over anyone who stands in their way with barely any technicalities or hesitation. They're like a steamroller, so to speak."
Marco fumed to himself quietly. "What's the question?" he asked edgily.
"Rhombulus is a twit with a rock for a brain and most of Omnitraxus' powers revolve around spatial manipulation. Queen Moon herself, while only a queen because she was born of the wand, still has extensive magical capabilities. But I have to ask…"
In sudden realization that there was a name that Eclipsa had yet to call, Marco's body went taut.
"The last member of the M.H.C. is the one that concerns me the most. She's capable of creating a doppelganger army of herself, tracking and able to block the usage of any dimensional scissors in the entire Multiverse and being able to warp to any person of interest. In addition, if you really need more details, she has pyrokinesis and ties to bounty hunters who are willing to do anything for her if it means getting a pair of dimensional scissors for themselves. In short, she could stop us in our tracks whenever she pleased. So my question is… have you dealt with her?"
He didn't answer, at least, not out loud. Eclipsa didn't even need his verbal response. She could see the answer all over his face. He hadn't.
"I'm sure that you have not gotten this far simply by 'winging' it. You must have considered her talents and skills and how they could be either helpful or entirely damning to our endeavor."
"I have… but I'm prepared to hear any ideas you have pertaining to her."
"Ideas?" Eclipsa commented goofily as she beamed one of her trademark smiles. "My King, there are only two streets from here. That particular rook had better be eliminated, either from having her flame permanently quenched or convincing her to become our ally seeing that she's obviously fond of you. I'm sure you're capable of doing either one of the two."
Marco covered his face with his hands. "I couldn't persuade her."
"You mean that she refused to be persuaded. She's a stubborn sort, like a certain boy I know," she commented easily while pointing at him. "But in any case, the 'gods' will have to be killed, or at the very least… her."
Marco somewhat shivered at the thought of having to kill Hekapoo. It was a wild vision of his imagination and strangely enough, he could see himself accomplishing it and he abhorred it. It was rather strange. He could see himself disposing of anyone in his way except for that particular soul. He himself had no idea why he was so attached to her. It couldn't be because of the trial she put him through, because he disliked that particular phase of his life, although she had insinuated that he continued to chase her because he had come to like her instead of just being the bitch who screwed him over for more than a decade. If that was true, then that obviously meant he was a masochist and he was sure that he wasn't.
Was it because she had defended him at his trial? Was it now because he had to learn from Eclipsa that she has been responsible for the fact that he had been left alone on Earth instead of being persecuted by the M.H.C. while he was training? If it was because of a sense of obligation, then it should be an easy enough problem to get over and then deal with Hekapoo 'properly'. Wasn't it?
"Why?" Marco asked at last, trying to glean some sort of useful response from the queen, "Why does she in particular have to be eliminated? Furthermore, why can't we just demolish the Wellspring now and be done with it, then deal with the M.H.C. after that if they're still a problem?"
"Simple. Because, dearie, given the fact that we're going to Wellspring the long way, each portal would be difficult to create with a pair of common dimensional scissors when we get to No Man's land. It's not a simple snip-snip-… it would be the equivalent of carving your way through a solid wall, and that's certainly a place I wouldn't want to be cornered in when the M.H.C. comes after us. Each portal would take a lengthy amount of time to create, and we'd be caught with our hands in the proverbial jar. During that time, any one of them could simply detect that we're trying to go through doors that, according to them, should remain closed."
"…" Marco looked down in disappointment. "I see. How long would it take to make a portal in each of the dimensions in No Man's Land?"
"A day. You'd be at it for ten days total, and that's if you worked at it non-stop. Obviously undoable, especially given the fact that those dimensions are a wretched place filled with dangers."
Marco sighed. "So I'm gonna have to kill Hekapoo at the very least to make sure that they don't detect us and stop us, huh?" Eclipsa merely nodded in agreement, though she noticed that the teen had become crestfallen. Silently, she reached for the kettle nearby on its table and poured a cup of tea and handed it to him. After instructing him to drink to help calm his nerves, they sat in the silence for a while before she broke it.
"Why do you hesitate so much as to where Hekapoo is concerned?" Staring at the boy in a brief study, her eyes narrowed in interest. "Oh. I see."
Marco's head snapped to her. "See what?"
"Perhaps those particular feelings aren't blown out of proportions as yet, as they are still in realization. But I believe that, no matter how small the feeling still is, you are smitten with her."
Marco nearly spat his tea when he heard the queen's theory. "W-What?"
"It's true, that it would properly explain your hesitancy. You've probably had the feeling for a long time, even while you had fully-realized feelings for someone else. Regardless, I was starting to wonder why you were so much less anxious to please the princess to instead give more and more attention to someone else. At least now I know who this 'someone else' is… and why you're like this."
Marco began to laugh, a strange merry. "I am not in love with Hekapoo."
"And I'm not wearing a cravat with a crescent moon on it. Anyone can say something but that does not make it true. Regardless, that doesn't change the matter at hand. Bring down the M.H.C., or I don't move. One doesn't send a Queen into a den of Rooks. It's simply not done." She motioned the black queen on the chessboard which disposed of the white queen on the other side, but it became obvious that the black queen fell into unavoidable check by the rooks on either side. The symbolic meaning wasn't lost on Marco, and he fumed silently to himself.
"Again with the chess talk," Marco grumbled with a sigh. "But at least I see your point. Goddamnit, I'm gonna be set back again? I just need to do one thing so I can move on with my life!"
"Sadly, that's no longer the case as all of our fates are intertwined-"
Marco had already started to tune out the Queen, but a jolt of realization suddenly struck him. "Wait a minute. You just said that using the dimensional scissors was the 'long way'. What's the short way?"
Eclipsa gave a shrug while tapping her cheek in thought. "Getting yourself blown to oblivion with the Butterfly Wand. It's particularly risky, as your physical body would have to utterly destroyed, and even then, you wouldn't necessarily have the items you need to bring down the Wellspring, seeing as those are physical things. Being Immortal raises your chances of getting into the Wellspring, however, but not your chances of success overall. Sadly, we're both fresh out of immortality so obviously, that's out of the question."
Something was odd about this all. There was a horrible logic, and Marco was sure that he could see the sense of it. He could see the answer, yet he didn't want to believe it. The more and more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The more sense it made, the more he started to doubt himself.
You think you've won? HA! You don't make the plans… I DO! ME! Only I know how this all turns out…!
Marco's jaw dropped as he thought about the Lizard's last words rolling around in his mind. "Oh, bloody hell. You're talking about TOFFEE, aren't you?" Marco asked calmly, not betraying the internal storm he was feeling inside.
"About Bishop? That's precisely who I meant. He accomplished quite a lot given his capabilities, but being a Bishop, he's always had a roundabout nature when it came to fighting his own battles. He got so close to the main objective, although he still managed to accomplish his task, despite being tardy for almost as long as I've been crystallized. That was all that was required of him, and he did it willingly."
Marco's trust flew south for the winter as soon as he heard how the woman said 'willingly', but he was still more focused on 'objective'. His mind instantly began to rerun the conversation back up to what she had said about alluding what they were doing was like chess. "Hmm… wait a minute. He's 'Bishop'? I'm the 'King', Higgs is the 'Knight' and you're the 'Queen'… Not was… IS. Chess… crap… think, Marco, think!" Finally, he recalled seeing the Toffee piece on Appendaxuz's chess board so long ago, and everything came together in his mind.
Eclipsa grinned when she saw the look of realization on the boy's face. "Why, I do believe that you're starting to get it."
Marco frowned deeply. "I haven't started to get it. I already DO get it. Pawn promotion to Queen once they cross the board. Toffee was working with you and Appendaxuz. Toffee got himself killed on purpose so that the Queen could be 'set free' from the crystal!"
"Appendaxuz and I prefer to think of it as 'combatant replacement'," Eclipsa explained, "Toffee died so that I could return. Perhaps if he had only concerned himself with allowing himself to die, things wouldn't have devolved to such a mess and the M.H.C. becoming so retentive about their rules concerning magic. I suppose Toffee gave them a trying time, didn't he? He actually thought about his actions and made contingencies before committing to them, unlike a certain someone I know," she said coolly, looking at Marco intently to say that she was talking specifically about him.
Marco shook his head in alarm. "We're fighting for the right thing. If we're all fighting like this, it's not going to be by sacrificing ourselves! What the fuck's going on?!"
"Calm yourself, Marco; you misunderstand. It's a sacrifice that he himself made willingly, as he knew that his talents could only do so much, though he tried to see if he could accomplish it himself. He was willing to do whatever it took in order for magic to be completely abolished. However, I would like to know if our King is of the same inclination."
There was no hesitation, though he was still a bit emotional at this latest discovery. He'd been working at this angle for more than a half-year, training like mad, passing his former limitations. He trained until his muscles tore and his bones cracked… 'till his mind broke and the tears came and went until they were replaced with nothing but a fury.
And even if he didn't realize it, Appendazuz was the same. He'd been set back for too long, and he needed to get to the Wellspring as soon as possible. For all the power he'd given Marco at the expense of his own health and strength, for the mental conditioning he'd done to his vessel to remove Marco's ability to even feel guilt and remorse… the entity hadn't done all of that just to fail.
"I am willing to do whatever it takes." | "I am willing to do whatever it takes."
They spoke in unison. They spoke in accord, with the same endpoint in mind. As Eclipsa gazed at the boy in front of her, she wondered if he would object to some extra 'help' from a certain Septarian Lizard. All she really needed to bring him 'back' was the Butterfly Wand.
Eclipsa had a feeling that it was going to be interesting tomorrow.
It had been two hours. Star had been speaking with her mother for nearly that long, and that wasn't because either of them was talkative. They had been discussing the implications of Marco's actions, as well as her own actions and Star had hated every minute of it. For starters, it was almost like a roundtable discussion where the topic was about how to deal with Marco, specifically (and crudely), how to take him into custody or to simply send out highly trained squads who weren't prepared to handle Marco with kid gloves. That was Moon's proposition. Rhombulus and Omnitraxus wanted to exercise their full authority and powers to take down Marco themselves, and it wasn't pretty. They thought to themselves that they had fought worse than a boy with only an enhanced physicality, and could handle him as such.
But to Star, she was miserable. They essentially wanted to kill her best friend. Of course, she was going to feel peeved by it. The worst part, though, she was hardly able to help the situation in his favor because there was hardly any evidence to support him for the better. As far as everyone was concerned, he had butchered a squire, and there were yet two more knights who were assaulted. The one who had been armored heavily had perished and from the looks of things, he wasn't going to be having any sort of open-viewed casket for his funeral. The other, an elite knight or so to speak, was still alive to give a report that they and Marco met in the hallway. Besides Marco's alarming capacity for violence, what he had yelled before destroying the man's eye was equally unsettling. Apparently, he was dead set on achieving the goal that he sought after from the very beginning and from the looks of things, he was determined to achieve it no matter how many corpses he had to walk over.
He was adamant that he refused to be stopped or delayed by anyone, Star herself included. Obviously, he still had some resentment towards her.
Regardless, that didn't mean that she was going to play the self-loathing card. She had simply looked out for his best interest, and if he couldn't see past that, then that was his business. She wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of being her own enemy. She had to stop beating herself up, so she did what she did best.
She took her own action. She had her friends gathered as well as friends and associates of Marco from Earth. His parents couldn't make it, however, and Star had neglected to inform them of their son's doings and his intentions. They were good people, she thought, but she still had the sense that they couldn't be left in the dark forever. Sooner or later, they'd find out. It was all that she could hope that it wouldn't have to be her who'd have to tell them.
Using her handy Butterfly form, she opened portals here and there to assemble those who could make it. Excluding those relevant in her own life, she was able to pick up Janna and Jackie from Earth but surprisingly, Starfan13 declined due to the fact that she was feeling unwell. Alphonso and Ferguson didn't come as well, but that was purely because they didn't want to.
"Marco hasn't really been a friend to them lately," Janna had said strangely, and that was that. With that in mind, Star finally brought them to her bedroom where the others were waiting. Unsurprisingly, Janna and Tom hailed each other almost as soon as they saw one another; they had a lot in common.
"Alright, so everyone knows each other, right? Except for Jackie?" Star nudged Jackie to introduce herself to her own friends from Mewni before she 'called the meeting to order'.
"A meeting?" Kelly said in disgust. "That's what you're calling this? This is the worst thing that's happened since… ever. I still don't believe that Marco did this! He wouldn't kill anyone! I doubt he's even willing to hurt anyone."
"That's not true!" Pony Head argued. "I heard from B-fly that he choked her last night! About that… Star," she started to apologize, but her best friend cut her off mid-speech.
"It's fine, Pony Head, I wouldn't have believed me either if I were you, 'cause it did sound crazy. Besides me, Kelly, when I went to pick up the girls on Earth, I wasn't really hearing good things."
"I'm holding you accountable to most of that, Star," Jackie deadpanned. "Marco's been acting like a jerk ever since he came back from Mewni. We couldn't even get in contact with you to tell you what's been going on. What's up with that?"
"She's just been busy-" Tom started to say, but got interrupted.
"Busy?" Jackie asked in a way that she thought that the Lucitor was ignorant. "How can she be too busy for her best friend?"
"Obviously not best friends anymore," Pony Head mumbled silently. "Star, haven't you gotten 'em up to speed? Especially about since what happened at your birthday party?"
"Janna told me about that. As far as I see it," Jackie explained, "You don't have to take junk presents from anyone, but it'd at least look gracious if you at least acted like you appreciated what he got for you. It sounded to me like he really put a lot of consideration into it."
"I did appreciate it," Star defended in a meek tone. "But things really went south when Marco started telling everyone that he had a voice in his head, and it was telling him to do things." Jackie and Janna were hearing this for the first time and asked the princess to explain. "He basically heard from the voice that magic was a bad thing, and it was telling him to destroy it."
"Oh?" This part sounded familiar to the girls from Earth. He had indeed said that magic was a 'bad' thing.
"Uh huh. No one was taking that well. Especially since Toffee, another villain, tried to do the same thing."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Kelly's eyes narrowed in anger. "Another villain? Do you even hear yourself, Star? That means that you're calling Marco a villain!"
"Kelly, in case you haven't noticed, there's a guy out there in the hallways who would say the same thing if he could," Tom spat in disgust. "You know why he wouldn't say it right now? He's dead. Most of his insides were out of him all over the place."
"And how do you know that Marco did it? Were you there when it happened?"
"There was an eyewitness, Kelly," Star said quietly. "It was another squire. It was, in fact, one of his friends on Mewni and he ran away when he saw her. That's what she says."
"Maybe Marco found the guy like that, and ran away because he thought he'd be accused-"
"Kelly," Janna spoke to the girl with the body-hair, "just drop it. We're all Marco's friends here, and we want to believe that he wouldn't kill anyone. Bottom line is, he has been getting unstable, at least while he was back on Earth. He had a short temper and he was triggered every time someone so much as mentioned Star's name. He even nearly beat a guy to death when he could've just ran if he didn't want to fight him."
"But why was he triggered?" Jackie asked the million dollar question. "He said that he'd always been putting everything he had into looking out for Star's best interests, and the one time he wanted help, she threw him under the bus." At this point, it was easily noticeable that Star's eyes were wandering in nervousness, and Jackie couldn't help but call her out. "Star…? Spill it."
"Well… ever since Marco started preaching about 'magic's gonna cause the apocalypse', and 'magic's gonna be the death of us', the Commission started to think that Marco was corrupted and becoming evil. I basically… tried to convince everyone that he was crazy. I think that there's a law that says that crazy people can't be judged like a normal person, and it'd be the perfect way to make him look innocent instead of being guilty. So I basically… lied. But I did it to protect him!" she said in a hurry, in order to not blacken herself before her friends too much.
Pony Head snorted as soon as she reminisced to when Star had explained that Marco was messing with her. "Oh, Marco's a petty boy, huh? He turned evil because Star made him look crazy? Earth Turd is turdin' it up, if you ask me."
"So instead of helping him… all you really did was to lie to all of us that he was off his rocker? You lied that he was suffering the side effects of a spell him?" Kelly folded her arms in anger, some of it directed at herself for ever even believing the princess. "What if he's right about magic, Star?"
"What if he's wrong, Kelly?"
"If someone's been keeping track of how many times Marco's been right versus how many time's he's been wrong… I'd say that we're looking pretty bad."
"At least we didn't kill anyone, Kelly," Tom commented coldly.
"You still believe that he did it? I think we should have a talk with the eye-witness-…"
Jackie sighed tiredly, and for some reason, this ceased all the arguing as everyone focused their attention on her. Without any ado, Thomas spoke what was on her mind. "Marco's been weird his whole life, or at least, he's been weird to me. It took a bizarre amount of freakish incidents to happen before we ended up dating, but as we got to learn about each other, I realized that he was a sweet guy-... don't get me wrong, there's no such thing as a saint, but I guess he's pretty close to it. Maybe I'm biased, but who knows? After he came back from Mewni, me and Janna confronted him for the first time about how he was acting, he started to emanate something. I think it was like his feelings-… we were actually feeling his feelings! It felt like pure anger and hatred and…" Jackie easily remembered the scene and had to take a deep breath to steady herself. "I'm gonna be honest, it scared the crap out of me. It was frightening to see him like that. Not scary overall, but to see that kind of behavior coming from him. But at the very least, I know it's still him. I couldn't reach out to him, and while he was forcing us to leave, the same aura that I was sensing from him changed a little. I know that I felt sorrow and regret in it, and if I have to say anything that's certain, it's that whatever influence he's under, it's controlling him and if he's doing these things, he's not completely aware of it and he's still Marco. Whether or not magic is truly a bad thing, Marco knows better than to try to accomplish things like this. We shouldn't be sitting around and 'discussing things', we shouldn't be forming a lynch mob, and we shouldn't be arguing whether or not Marco's a saint or evil incarnate. He's capable of doing bad things, but 'Marco' is NOT doing these things. You feel me?"
"I feel you," Janna agreed. "And we can hash out judgments later. But right now, we need to find him and stop him from doing anything that he shouldn't. Once we've got him under control, we can figure things out from there."
"Easier said than done," Tom muttered.
"Sounds like you don't even want to say it," Kelly observed. "I know that you're not on the best terms with Marco-"
"I'm not. I think that he's dangerous, and he hurt Star! So help me, if I see him, he's gonna get incinerated…!" Tom wasn't honey-glazing his words; he meant every word he said, true and raw. "Misunderstandings or not, voices or not, magic or not. I've already drawn the line, and I'm gonna make sure he doesn't cross it!"
…
Now by himself in his own dimension, Omnitraxus Prime was busying himself by trying to find Marco in the dimensions by using his seeking abilities but found that he could not. He knew that he existed but could not find him as he could only scrutinize the dimensions by locations, not by specific persons; apparently, Marco was hiding out in places that even Omnitraxus wouldn't think of looking or wasn't familiar with. As a precaution, he looked in on other realities to see if other Marcos were still visible in alternate universes, and it was clear that he was. However, while doing so, he noticed that Marco was still and always was a settled youth, one who had always met Star Butterfly at some point, had never degenerated to a point so low that he'd become villainous. He'd never met Appendaxuz in other universes and timelines. Never.
"So is our Marco a deviant?" the demigod asked himself. "While all of the Marcos vary in some degree, everything follows a general line of events-… why has this Marco become an insurgent?"
He didn't know. But if one thing was certain, he was sure that things were about to take a turn for the worst very soon.
Well, the ending of season three pushed this fic's schedule back by a while. Sorry.
Anyway, after seeing the season finale, 'Code Name – I am NRG' and I realized that Nefcy loves to drink the tears of fanfic writers. Well, we ain't crying. Our fics aren't wrecked because of the presentation of new knowledge, but I do what I do best. I make use of coincidences in the show, and all of their slipups in the storyline.
But regardless, I've figured out my way of amending Meteora into the fic. But I can't have more than two plotlines running at the same time, so she's going on the backburner. Especially since she turned out to be a one-man-army-… no, make that a one-monster-army. I still need to scale up Marco and Higgs more, because I don't want them ending up being weak to Meteora and subservient to her because of her abilities. Furthermore, this also means that I'm going to have to scale up the M.H.C.'s powers too. Such is life.
What I'm really pissed about is Glossaryck. I had plans for that guy in this fic, suspecting that he still had intelligence, but now I guess the surprise is spoilt. Even if I had kept on typing this fic while season three was current, I still wouldn't have gotten to that part of the fic soon enough anyway, so no use bitching about it.
Guess I'll see y'all on Tuesday.
Valete!
