Ch 3 drop the Ballroom

As Star was dancing with Tom on the ballroom floor, Star's perspective on the lack of tension of the room told her things were going extraordinarily well. Looking around the ballroom she saw no one arguing, complaining, threatening someone else's life or even being a party-pooper. Everyone was enjoying themselves as they danced or talked with each other. She even saw Princess Spiderbite dancing with the slime monster she had met before in the monster temple. Her cousin Rock Johansen was off in corner of the room talking to some of the other monster kids that were attending the party. She couldn't tell what they were talking about, but it looked like they were having fun.

So far everything she saw right now was all going according to plan. However, she couldn't stop but feel something was out of place. Like something was missing, but for the life of her she couldn't place her finger on it and that was really stressing her out big time as it stopped her from enjoying the ball.

However, this didn't go unnoticed by her boyfriend Tom. Ever since the ball had started, Tom had noticed Star was not really paying any attention to him when they were dancing. Instead, she had been very preoccupied with looking out for any signs of trouble that may be afoot. But these were very minor, as Star would just look off in some random direction to see how the guests interacted with each other. At first he was just fine with it as he knew that Star just really wanted things to go just right, but after a few hours of this continued behavior something was off with Star. That and Tom felt a little bit belittled with the small amount of attention he was getting from Star.

"Uh, Star are you okay?" Tom asked but got no response as Star was still in her own little world.

Now, this was very worrying to Tom so much, he stopped dancing in the middle of the ball floor and still Star didn't even notice this.

"Star are you there? Hello~"

"Yes, yes Tom you're… a very good dancer," Star finally responded to him, but she didn't even look him in the eye when she said it or into his face.

Star was still too busy looking side to side as if she was trying to find something or someone that was not there. Unable to take any more of this Tom cups Star's face gently and makes her look at him.

"Star. Are. You. Okay?" he slowly and very clearly said to Star to get her to pay attention to him for a moment.

This was the push Star needed for her to break out of her self-imposed trance.

"Yes Tom," she said take a deep breath. "I'm good now, thanks."

"Are you sure you're okay, Star? I know things have been very stressful for you and I just want you to know I'm here for you."

"Aw that's so sweet," Star pulled Tom in close as to give him a few kisses on his cheek. "But I am just fine, I think I just need to rest for a bit."

"That's nice to hear Star, come on let's go grab a drink maybe that'll help you clear your mind."

"Yeah, that does sound like something I really do need," Star agreed.

As they were making their way off the dance floor, Star couldn't help but look all over the room again for any signs of things that may go wrong. Luckily for Star, Tom snapped her out of it again before she could get all stressed and overworked again.

"Star," Tom called out her name as he snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Yes! I'm back, I'm back."

"Star I'm worried about you. You keep stressing out about this ball over every little thing and it's not healthy for you."

"I know that, but Tom this is really, like really, my last chance to make fix relations between Monsters and Mewmans. If one little thing goes wrong that's it, and everything I worked for will be for nothing!"

"Star, look around you everyone is having a good time. Mewmans and Monster are socializing and dancing with each other. There is nothing wrong going on, everything is fine and even if there was a problem you have your castle guards around to stop intruders, the Mewman Order of Knights with their squires and even if they all fail you have me." As to prove his point, Tom raised his hand and conjured a fireball to show off his power.

After hearing and seeing Tom's point Star feel her mind clear up a bit. Just enough to calm down a bit but not anywhere near enough to fully enjoy the ball with her boyfriend.

"You're right, Tom. I do really need to relax a little and start to actually start to enjoy the ball."

"That's the spirit Star, you and Marco spent a lot of time and effort getting the ball ready. You two really need to learn to enjoy the fruits of your labor."

"Yeah, Marco and I did put a lot of effort into getting all this setup. It is a shame if we didn't have some fun."

"That's good to hear. Speaking of which, I haven't seen Marco at all since the ball started, I wonder where he went off to."

"I don't know?" Star just got very worried as her eyes widened at the fact that she didn't notice Marco's absence for this long.

Tom, on the other hand, noticed that Star's usually bright and cheerful demeanor suddenly just crashed and burned! At the notion that Marco hasn't been seen in at the ball. He could already see her freaking out over this and he needed to defuse this situation before it went too far.

"I'm sure Marcos just around here somewhere…?" Tom tried thinking of an explanation to keep Star from exploding in a fit of panic. "He might just be uh…"

Tom paused as he was thinking of an excuse. 'Think Tom, think! What would Marco be doing? THE LIST!' Tom just vaguely remembered Marco going on about some list of things he had to do.

"I'm sure Marco's just making sure everything on the list he has is done."

"But he's already had everything on that list done, he told me himself before the party."

"Maybe he just wanted to… uh… double check on things. Hell maybe even triple check to… make sure they all go according to plan…?"

"That does sound like Marco," Star's worried face relaxed as a new smile shined through but only a small one.

"Totally right!" Tom was very much relieved that had worked for, but now he had another problem to deal with and that was to find Marco. "So I'm just going to… go get us some refreshments. Be right back before you know it."

Walking away quickly from Star, Tom needed to act quickly before Star got the idea in her head that Marco was missing and spoiled the ball she worked so hard for. As he slipped past the crowd and out of the ballroom, Tom's hands ignited in flame as he chanted a spell. When the last of the words left his lips, a crack in the floor opened up as a dozen skeletons rose from it.

"Alright, you boneheads listen up! I need you four to find Marco Ubaldo Diaz as fast as possible and bring him to the ballroom pronto," Tom ordered.

"What does he look like?" one of the skeletons asked.

"Oh right, silly me you guys don't know him. Here let me show you," with a click of his fingers a picture of Marco and Tom locking their arms around each other's neck as they were shown smiling.

The skeletons looked at the photo and all nodded and then drew their weapons ready to go find Marco and kill him to bring him to their master.

"Unharmed! You idiots!" Tom yelled at the skeletons as fire erupted from his eyes.

Thankfully Tom managed to stop himself from acting too rashly by destroying the skeletons outright. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled as he was now at this moment thinking of happy thoughts. When he opened his eyes, he saw all the skeletons had sheathed their weapons.

"You guys are so lucky! I don't have the time necessary to summon something more competent and have the luxury to let my unyielding hatred out upon you without causing a scene"

The skeletons didn't show even a hint of fear, but they knew he was being very serious about his threats and didn't want to push their luck.

"Just bring Marco to the ball, UNHARMED! I might add so that Star will not have to worry that her friend was kidnapped, hurt, or just plain wondered off somewhere alright?!"

All the skeletons nodded but one didn't instead he raised his hand up to ask a question. Seeing this Tom just rolled his eyes in annoyance as he didn't have time for this.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Haven't you considered that this Marco person could be in like real danger or something? I mean he could have been kidnapped and or is being held hostage somewhere or possibly dead in a ditch somewhere," the skeleton worrier said with a very concerned tone.

"You are overreacting, nothing bad has happened to Marco he's probably gone somewhere around the castle to do stuff that was on his stupid long list that he tried to make me help out with. That or maybe he left the party for one reason or another I don't know for sure. And if worse comes to worse and he was maybe kidnapped and is being held hostage, and that is a very maybe, he'll be fine on his own. He'll most likely talk himself out of it, no problem. I mean I should know, that's exactly what he did with me when I kidnapped him and attempted to kill him."

"Wait, what?" all the skeletons asked in shock all the while giving him strange looks with their bony faces.

"Oh, don't give me that look. That was a long time ago, okay," Tom defended himself. "Marco and I are cool now, hell I'd even say we're friends now so it all worked out for the better in the end."

The skeletons, however, begged to differ on that.

"We good now?" Tom didn't even wait for a reply. "Good, now get searching!" Tom yelled as the skeletons started their search for Marco around the castle. "Good. Now that's taken care of," Tom fixed his tie and hair to make himself look more presentable, "time to show my girlfriend the time of her life."

As the skeletons walked around the castle looking for Marco, one of them just decided to let his thought be heard by his kin.

"Is it just me or is anyone else feeling a tad bit under dressed for the occasion?"

"Oh, thank corn. I thought I was the only one," one skeleton agreed.

"I know right, I mean it wouldn't kill Tom to give us a heads up before summoning us so that we could put on some pants and a tie or something to cover us up with."

"Yeah, that is so true. But the one good thing about being a skeleton is that no one really notices or even cares that you're naked most of the time."

"Say's you," said another random skeleton. "Some of us still have some come decency left."

"Amen to that brother."

As Tom was making his way back to the ballroom he made sure to grab two glasses of wine from a passing waiter, thanking that the drinking age in Mewni was 15 instead of 21 like other dimensions, then proceeded to make his way back to Star. As Tom was reaching Star, he saw she was now surrounded by the many other princesses of the other dimensions that were invited to the ball.

From what Tom could tell Star was having a good time, which was to him was a good thing as she really did need this. She was chatting and laughing with the other princesses, all in all having a good time.

"No way that happened! Could it happen?" Ram Princess asked in disbelief.

"Oh~ trust me it happened, and it was hilarious," Star told the princesses around her and form her peripheral view saw Tom was returning with drinks in hand. "Oh, Tom! You're back. What took you so long?"

"Sorry about that Starship, had to take care of some things. As I too am royalty and thus have responsibilities as well" Tom dodged the question "But enough about me, what were you girls talking about? And before I forget" Tom raises one of the glasses of wine to Star "your refreshment my love"

"Thanks, Tom. I really needed this," she said taking the glass from Tom before taking a little sip. "Ah~ that's good. I was just talking about the Princess Turdina movie set and all of the things that happened behind the scenes."

"Oh cool, I love that movie. Wait a minute… movie set? Star, were you there during the filming of the movie?"

"Yep," Star grinned as she gave Tom his answer.

"So you've met Princess Turdina in person?"

"Yep," Star's grin grows wider.

"Could you like, introduce her to me? I'd like to get her autograph."

"You could get your chance later," Tom could hear the other princesses start to giggle at something.

"That's so cool, I'd love to get her autograph."

"Oh, I'm sure he, I mean 'she'd' love to give you an autograph later tonight if you're lucky."

"Thanks, Star! You're the best girlfriend a guy could ever as for..." Toms speech trailed off as he had just started to grasp what Star was saying to him. "Wait a minute… is Princess Turdina coming here!?... to this ball!?"

Star couldn't contain herself any longer as she burst into laughter as well as the other princesses at the fact that they all knew Princess Turdina was just Marco in a pink dress and with hair extensions.

As the laughter began to subside and Star gained control over herself she wiped a tear from her face and looked straight up at Tom "Yes, hehe yes 'she' is coming to this ball tonight. In fact, some would say she's already here"

Tom was about to freak out with the thought that a high-level celebrity whom he really admired was here at his girlfriend's ball. Luckily for his self-respect and pride as well as his public image, someone had beaten him to it.

"WHAT?!" a loud voice screamed out from the other side of the ballroom.

It was so loud that everyone in the ballroom stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on the commotion.

"Out of my way losers!" the very same person demanded as she pushed and shoved her way through the crowd towards Star.

As the final person had been pushed aside Star, Tom and the other princesses saw who was causing all the commotion and drawing all the attention of the guests.

"Higgs!?" the distant shout of Sir Stabby caught Star off guard.

"Star!" Higgs shouted as she rushed over to her, grabbing onto her shoulders and squishing tightly. "Is what you said true?!"

"Uh, what?"

"Is Princess Turdina coming to this party!?"

"Y-yes," Star really wasn't sure if she should have said that as right now she was not so sure how Higgs would take the fact that Marco was Princess Turdina as their history wasn't the greatest.

Getting her answer Higgs let go of Star as she started to breathe in and out in quick succession as well as fanning herself off with both her hands. To everyone that was watching it looked like Higgs was hyperventilating. Not long after this Baby Man and Old Guy came rushing out of the crowd along with Sir Stabby. Baby Man and Old Guy went right to Higgs' side to calm her down while for Sir Stabby he made his way to Star.

"I'm so sorry my lady for my squire's very poor behavior," Sir Stabby apologized. "You see, Higgs is a, really and do mean a really big fan of Princess Turdina. She has all the collectibles, merchandise there is to collect and even has a life-size cardboard cutout of her. So, I ask could you find it in your loving and understanding heart to forgive her," Sir Stabby pleaded a little too sincerely for Star's liking.

Star wasn't very sure how to respond to this, "That's alright. I mean who wouldn't get all-star struck when your ah~ Think your ideal may show up in front of you."

"I humbly thank you for your understanding, my princess."

"Don't mention it. Now everyone please continue to mingle and dance."

As the guest were about to do just that princess Pony Head came flying in from the dance floor to see what all the commotion was about, butting in between Star and Tom so that her bestie could give her the lowdown on the situation.

"Hey! Why is like no one paying any attention to me on the dance floor?" She looked over at Higgs "Hey Star, what's with this girl looking like she just had her lungs implode on her? Cause I think she's like dying."

"Oh, she's having a little panic attack right now because she's in the same place as her favorite celebrity."

"Me! Well I'm flattered," Pony Head gushed. "And yes, I'll pose for a photo, sign your face and stuff like that."

"No, no not you Pony Head. It's Princess Turdina," Star pulls Pony Head in close to her and started to whisper in her ear. "Higgs doesn't seem to know that Princess Turdina is really Marco in a dress."

"Oh! Well, that does make some sense. I mean he did have a very high grossing movie of all time that just came out and the fact that the only people that know Marco is Turdina are all princesses sort of helps a bit with that."

"You mean 'she' had a very high grossing movie," Star corrected Pony Head quietly, not wanting to cause a scene if Higgs manage to realize Turdina and Marco were the same person.

"Whatever Star… wait, that girl over is Higgs?"

"Ah, yes," Star answered but was puzzled by how Pony Head knew about Higgs.

"As in, the Higgs that tried to kill Marco at Quest buy?"

"She didn't really try to kill Marco."

"Star, she tricked Marco in picking up a can of dragon attractant instead of a can of dragon repellent. I mean, I'm not going lie or anything like that, because I'm a good person and such, but I found that to be very hilarious. But for reals girl, he could have been eaten or stepped on or sat on even."

"Wait, how do you even know about that?"

"Marco told me, as like he tells me everything that goes on in his boring and drab life."

"Now that's a complete lie if I've ever heard one. Marco would never tell you anything that you could use to make fun of him."

"Star! Don't you trust your best friend?" Pony Head asked giving Star her puppy eye treatment.

Star, on the other hand, didn't buy what Pony Head was saying for one second. As they've been besties forever Star could almost always tell when Pony Head was lying.

"Okay fine. I overheard Marco complaining to Kelly about it, there you happy now?"

"Very."

"Also FYI Star what I'm about to say is just between you and me," Pony Head looked over at Tom who was right next to her. "Uh do you mind? Me and B-fly are having a girl's only talk here."

Tom just casually smiled as he backed away "Okay, I'll just be over here waiting for you Starship."

Star smiled brightly and gave Tom a small wave "See you soon!"

"So, before I was so rudely interrupted," Pony Head quickly glares over to Tom before facing Star, "when I was eavesdropping on them, I notice that Kelly was rubbing up on Marco pretty hard if you catch my drift.

"What?" Star replied completely oblivious to what she meant.

"Girl~ don't you see, Kelly's trying to get with Marco."

"What?! No way. Kelly isn't trying to get with Marco. I mean if she was she would have told me, or I would have seen it happening."

"Oh Star, beautiful angel, you are too innocent for this world. It's either that or you're in denial girl. Ever since she broke up with Tad she's been pining after Marco. I mean they have been hanging out with each other a lot lately and Marco has not hung out with you as much."

"Pony Head, Marco can hang with whoever he wants to. Also, I've been hanging with Tom more as well, so it only makes sense that Marco would want to hang with Kelly if he wanted to."

Speaking of Kelly, she appeared out of nowhere right beside Star and Pony Head with Jorby by her side.

"Hey Star," Kelly greeted along with Jorby.

"AH! Kelly, hi, didn't see you there."

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh, don't worry about it. So how are you enjoying the ball so far?"

"It's great, but I was wondering if you've seen Marco around? I wanted to ask him if he…" Kelly was about to say she wanted to ask Marco to a dance instead she said, "still want to go sparing with me and Jorby."

Tom, overhearing that Kelly was looking for Marco, started to panic a little.

"See! Boom! Told you!"

"Ah? What is she talking about, Star?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it and no I haven't seen him."

Before the conversation could go any further, Tom intervened in-between them as to buy more time for his skeletons to find Marco.

"Don't worry Kelly, I'm sure Marco is around here somewhere."

"I'm not worried. I just thought since I couldn't find him anywhere here I thought that Star may have sent him somewhere to do something in another dimension or something."

"Hehe that's very funny Kelly," Tom nervously laughed. "Of course, Marco is here he's just not here, here."

"Tom, what are you talking about," Star asked.

"Yeah, what are you talking about, Tom? How could Marco not be here, here," Kelly added.

"Oh, you know he could be outside the ballroom area or he could be in his bedroom changing his tux. And just so you know, Marco and I were talking, and he said he wasn't really feeling the color of his tux and said he may want to swap it out for something better. Hell, he even may have maybe eaten something he shouldn't have had and his in the toilet" Tom constantly made some random excesses for Marco not being at the ball.

At this point, Star was beginning to worry about Tom as he was shaking and sweating profusely.

"He isn't anywhere here," Jorby added. "I can't smell him anywhere in the castle so that means he must have gone somewhere."

Hearing this Star looked intensely at Jorby with great concern. Tom was as of now screaming internally, if what Jorby said was true then his skeletons will not find Marco anytime soon. His belief that Marco had just gone somewhere and would return from wherever he's gone to, so Star won't freak out was a complete failure. His new plan was to buy some time for Marco to escape from where ever he was.

And if wherever he is anything like when he kidnapped him Marco will be back mostly unscathed by what he went through with him he thought, hoped, prayed, wished. All these thoughts raging in his mind all at the same time.

Able to somehow gain a grip on this thoughts Tom was about to speak and make up an excuse for why Jorby couldn't smell Marco, but sadly his skeletons had ruined any chance for him to salvage the situation by walking in right up beside him.

"Um, Master Tom, I'm sorry to say that we couldn't find Marco anywhere in or around the castle grounds. So, like he may have left or had been kidnapped or something along those lines"

"Tom, why did they tell you that Marco wasn't here?"

"Who told me what, Starship?" Tom quickly clicked his fingers and in a burst of flames, all the skeletons were burnt away leaving no trace that they were here.

"You knew Marco was missing?!" Kelly yelled at Tom accusingly.

"Tom, is this true?"

"Well, you see… no well… more like he was misplaced. Come on this is Marco we're talking about who would want to kidnap him. It's not like he can't defend himself."

"He has been kidnaped before Tom! And he was almost crushed to death in a glass cube!" Star exclaimed remembering the time that Toffee had nearly got Marco killed.

"Oh," Tom had no idea that had happen.

"Guards!" Star shouted as loud as she could in order to gain the attention of everyone again.

Not only did the guards come rushing to Star's side, but also the knights followed by Moon and River.

"Star, what's wrong?" Moon asked Star with concern on her face.

"Marco is missing, Mpm and I don't know where he is. Nobody does!"

"Are you sure Marco is missing, dear?"

Looking over to Tom Star narrowed her eyes at him "I'm sure"

"Star I…"

"Don't!" Star cut him off. "Don't you even think of speaking to me right now Tom, not after what you kept from me!"

Seeing the seriousness of the situation Moon needed to take control of this and quickly before Star made an unwise decision. As she was more driven by emotion rather by logic right now.

"Star, calm down. I'll deal with this," Star was about to argue but was stopped by her father.

"Star, your mother knows what she is doing," River assured.

"But Marco is my friend and squire, therefore he is my responsibility."

"I understand Star, but this requires some care and proper planning along with a keen sense of coordination," River consoled Star.

Looked back at Moon, Star saw her mom take charge like a true queen should.

"Guards, search the castle and report back to me if you find Marco or anything that might help us find out what happened to him but if you don't check again until you do or until you receive further orders." The guards nodded and went out looking for Marco. "Honorable knights, you will be charged with looking outside the confines of the castle to see if he may have been dragged outside." The knights nodded and went out to find Marco.

Star was in awe and admiration of her mother as if she was being in charge right now she might of. Oh, who was she kidding she would have just ran around frantically pointing at random directions for to look for Marco as well as blast all the doors down with her wand in the vain hopes of finding Marco.

"Well looks like I was missing quite the party, what did I miss?"

"Oh, Marco is missing and we're trying to find him, and Mom is… wait, Eclipsa?!"

"The one and the same, dear."

Hearing Eclipsa's name being shouted Moon turned to face her daughter to indeed find Eclipsa standing right next to her.

"Eclipsa! What are you doing outside of your tower, as of a matter of fact how did you get out of your tower? I had five of the best knights posted right out of your room?"

"Moon, my darling, I've been around the block a lot and to think that five little boys and girls could keep me locked up then think again," Eclipsa saw the worry in Moon's eyes as she said that. "Oh don't worry about the knights dear. They are completely fine. I just merely snuck out of my room without them noticing me. That is all I did I swear."

"Whatever I don't have time for this. I deal with you later but right now we have to find Marco and…"

"I could help with that if you let me," Eclipsa politely said.

"NO!" Moon imminently replied.

"But mum, if Eclipsa can help maybe we should-"

"No Star," Moon cut her off. "We should not. It's too risky to trust her."

"But she is family mom," Star argued.

"She abandoned her family Star," Moon countered.

"Don't I get a say in this little dissociation here?" Eclipsa asked with a raised hand.