Vestiges

28.

A Prelude to Lives

Launder: Star Literally DELETES a Scene to Fix it in Post

Angie noticed that Marco looked like he very badly wanted to fight the girl, but cautioned him not to. "Mom, no offense, but Star isn't who you think she is."

"Maybe I'm the one who doesn't even know her own son anymore." Not even given a chance to recover from such a low-blow to his psyche, she went on. "I know about what you've been doing."

Marco faltered; this was the last conversation he wanted to have. "Do you understand why I've been doing it?"

"Sienna said that you are trying to save the multiverse," Raf groaned out. "And if it is true and that there is no other way to fix it, I still don't believe I would support you."

"Could we NOT have this conversation right now?"

"Are we going to have it when you're going to kill us of old age? Or are you coming before that?"

"Everyone's talking about me being Death, but you're missing out on the more important part. God of Death is my title, not my job." All of a sudden, he felt like the brunt of some world-level joke. "I see what's been going on. There's one TITLE and one JOB. Star told you our titles. That's not my job. She just picked her 'good' title, and it's the same title that makes me look like the devil or something."

"She's the Goddess of Life," Angie said simply, "and she saved Raphael."

"I bet she was the one who endangered it in the first place. Probably wrecked the house, too. But no, I'm evil, because I'm the God of Death." No one said anything in response, though there were whisperings in the crowd. "My JOB is Order. I'm the God of Order. Guess what that makes the person standing next to you?"

"That's the God of Disorder, right?" A catcaller guessed. Everyone grew more uneasy.

"Goddess of Chaos," Star reaffirmed to everyone's surprise and horror. "But don't worry, I'm not here to fight. Glossaryck said that the only way to stop the apocalypse was to curb overpopulation."

"The fuck?" A teenager cried out from somewhere in the crowds, wresting everyone's attention. "What happened to my dog? Is it dead? Oh my God, what am I gonna tell Sam's owner?!" Interestingly enough, both Marco and Star found wanting to look in the crier's direction, something that didn't get past Angela's attention.

"So… you want me to massacre a big fraction of the multiverse?" Marco asked stupidly yet seriously as he pulled out his sword. Everyone was still recoiling from what the girl had said, and some thought it sounded eerily reminiscent of a movie they'd watched recently.

"I guess that's what he meant. You see, he was singing this super-weird song, and he's saying that if we don't work together and if we keep trying to save everything working separately, everything's just gonna end anyway. We have to thin the numbers. You just… um… be the God of Death for a while, and I'll be blessing everyone else."

"Blessing? Higgs said she thought that you were using soul power or something of the sort for your magic."

"I do. Best way to put it. Magic is life. The strongest comes from babies, born and developing. I use theirs." Star looked ashamed to some extent, but not as much as one would expect from her or anyone else, for that matter. Boos were rising from the gathered passersby, 'baby-killer' and 'murderer' and other such names that more befitted Marco than anything else, but Star didn't even blink. "Yeah, everyone's eating food, but no one wants to think about where it comes from. Animals have to die, plants have to stop growing, and seeds that don't get to sprout, just to fill plates. Don't even get me started on conflicts, murders and wars, and everything else that comes with it. Doesn't matter what anyone thinks and does — but everyone ends up praying at some point. I'm stuck with this for eternity, just like you, Marco. That's why I don't hold anything against you at all. Truth is, I've killed more than you, and children at that, when you were killing men who were fighting and willing to die."

"You're ruining us in front of my parents," Marco grumbled angrily.

"I can try justifying you," Star insisted before she turned to the Diazes. "I've killed roughly… it could round up to a hundred. That was since late last night. You're the lucky one. People die at some point, and they don't need your help for that. But still, a lot of dimensions are like Earth. The multiverse is huge, and the magic can't support the land or the drain of lives."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Oh, my bad. Didn't you know that Hekapoo's doing that right now? She's going to destroy Earth so that she can use their lives as magic to get to the Wellspring. Omnitraxus is doing it too. I could stop them, but I decided that you should make peace with your parents before that happens. Or if you want… I could wipe out everything they know about what you've done and who you've become from their minds. Your choice."

Marco looked lost. Star shrugged.

"Shouldn't knowing something like this be our choice?" Raphael asked aloud and posed as a general question. "Are we better knowing, or better off not any of this?"

"I didn't want to bring any of this back to you," his son morosely, regret plastered all over his face.

"Because you're ashamed?" Angie had a sad smile on her face. "It's not in us to be so selfish, but I don't like knowing what you two have become. My prayers are going to Star? I'll be killed by my son when my time comes? Star snuffs out children in their mother's wombs, and Marco's the God of Death? I'd rather live in ignorance." Star looked at the woman with a measure of pity, but not knowing how to comfort her.

"Being responsible for everything in the multiverse is going to be very heavy. Knowing that Star and Marco have to live and deal with that—" Raphael stopped suddenly. "There was nothing in the child-raising books about this."

"I won't come for you," Marco remarked. "I just want to find the source, destroy it, and then after that… I don't know. I'm just trying to save everyone. But I made up my mind not to come back home. I can't come back like this!"

"Is exile going to make you feel better?" Star asked in disbelief.

"It would," Marco replied, straight-faced, poised to fight. Star stared at her best friend and wondered where she had gone wrong. If only she could have a second chance to make this go the way she needed it to — then an idea struck her. Neither Marco nor his parents wanted to find out about them ascending to godhood of such dubious roles. A large tree wavered into existence behind her, massive in the trunk and laden with an abundance of leaves of all kinds. Many of said leaves began to fall off, and Star mustered a smile but Marco thought she looked distressed. Beyond her, he scowled at the tree that had now been declared the Tree of Life, the very thing that Star used to wield unimaginable magic.

"What are you doing?!"

Star's misery deepened, knowing that she couldn't bring herself to do what she was about to attempt multiple times. She had to get it right when they met again.

"I don't want to fight, so let's have a do-over."