I hope you all enjoy the second chapter!
Disclaimer: If it wasn't apparent enough, I don't own Star vs The Forces of Evil.
-G
Chapter 2
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
"Oh God…" Tom cringed, horrified by the thought of such actions. "I thought you meant that Cest was a place. They actually do that where you're from?"
"Yeah, but it's more well known as a southeast thing. And the worst part is when-" Marco suddenly stopped and turned around to face the empty hallway behind the three of them. "Did you guys hear that?"
"Yeah." Star agreed, ears perked.
The trio faced down the hall as the clacking of what seemed to be metallic footsteps got louder. A young girl about fifteen years old, dressed up in blue squire rags trimmed in white with metal plating clacking underneath, came skidding to a stop in front of Marco. She hunched over with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath before she snapped upright into a salute.
"Sir Marco!" She exclaimed, her disheveled light blonde hair covering icy blue eyes which peered from underneath. She quickly moved the hair out of her line of sight. "The squad is ready for today's training and are at attention, waiting on your command!"
Marco looked down at his watch and sighed. "You guys are always so early for training. Honestly I would rather you all be on time than almost an hour early. Give me about 15 minutes to get ready and I'll be out on the field. Dismissed."
"Yes Sir!" She swung her arm down and quickly scampered back down the hall she came from, footsteps becoming muffled in the distance.
"Well." Marco started off with a sigh and a hint of a smile. "I thought I would be able to spend a little more time with you guys, but duty calls."
"No problem Marco." Star smiled. "I actually have to go to some boring meeting with my mom and the generals in a little bit anyhow. Something about 'learning the ropes' or whatever. I know how to take command of a military." She grumbled. "It wouldn't be the first time I've done it, but she keeps saying that the more I practice, the more capable I'll be when I take over as queen. Not that I disagree with her, but I'd like some more time where I didn't have to be acting queen before actually becoming queen, you know?" She huffed and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Yikes. I think I may go with Marco then." Tom pointed his thumb towards Marco, wanting no part of any militia meetings. "I'm not due back at the castle for another few hours anyway, and I really don't feel like going back before I'm expected. Grandpa Relicor invited his friends over for Drabble and you do not want to be there when they play. I almost died last time after he flung the board game like a frisbee at me. I may just watch your training, if that's okay with you, Marco. I don't want to intrude on anything that you might have to do without others around."
"I'm not going to beat them if that's what you're implying." Tom held up his hands defensively in response as Marco continued. "But yeah, that's no problem. You could give them some pointers on how to better their fighting against more supernatural enemies. You know, turn them into regular Winchesters."
"I have no idea what you're talking about. But I can do the pointers thing."
Marco smiled and put his arm around Tom's shoulder. "We have a lot to discuss."
"Greaaat."
"Alright." Star cut in. "You two have fun and I'll catch up with you both, hopefully sooner rather than later." She waved goodbye to the two of them and continued down the hallway, her hair waving like a metronome as she walked.
Marco smiled as he watched her stride down the hall. "Well, let's get a move on." He reluctantly said. "I told them 15 minutes, and I'll be damned if I make a liar out of myself."
"Sounds good, dude." Tom replied as they began walking back down the hallway. "I know it'll come back up soon enough, so I'm just going to get it over with now. What's with the Winchester thing?"
"You said you only had a few hours here right?" Tom nodded. "Well, that won't be nearly enough time. We'll have to have a guy's night and I'll tell you all about it."
"Oh great…" Tom droned as Marco chuckled at his friend.
/..- .-. ... - .- -. -.. .. -. -. / -.- -. .. -. ... -/
"I'll tell you what. In all my years refereeing this game, I can say with complete and utter confidence that the both of you are, without a doubt, the most boring players I've ever encountered. I mean come. On. At least throw some witty banter back and forth. I'd even settle for just talking or even grunts because there's nothing worse than watching two people silently stare at a board while you're made to watch." Glossaryck groaned with more than a slight annoyance in his tone. He summoned up a loaded hot dog, compete with sauerkraut, relish, onions, ketchup, and mustard while he patiently waited for the two players to react to his plea for communication.
"You know," the small creature spoke, moving their bishop in front of the queen "just because we don't talk doesn't mean we aren't having any sort of banter. It's all non-verbal on the board. Not to mention there's too much at stake to be focused on a trivial matter such as banter. You said it yourself, this is a god's game. And being only mortals locked into this takes quite a toll. Not enough to give up on," it looked up to the shadow, "but severe nonetheless."
"He's right" the large shadow agreed. "This dimension drains the life-force from anyone in here. As one of the seven, you must not be familiar with such an experience and how we are more prone to its… Unfortunate effects."
"Obviously." Glossaryck answered, taking a bite of his hot dog. "However, I've seen plenty of creatures come and go from here. More than I'd care to admit. They each want to change the past and were willing to do anything to achieve that. But each one of them left in such bad shape that even I had the urge to change what they did. I pitied them, and the short time that they had left. They all gambled everything in their disposal to get here, and left with nothing. Even after winning. Why do you think that I pushed so heavily against the beginning of this match? But nooo. Nobody ever listens to Glossaryck. I'm only one of the fabled seven! What do I know?" He threw his one arm in the air, finishing the hot dog with the other. He pulled out a book from his robe and began reading. "I hope you two have an exit strategy. You're going to need one."
/.- . - ... . .-. / -.-. ... .- - .../
"Alright squires!" Marco called out as he and Tom entered the training grounds. Marco was fully decked out in sleek red training armor finished with black trim and his helmet latched onto the back of his belt. The armor was covered in various symbols and dotted different hues of color in various positions around the suit. His sheathed sword swayed and clanked on his back while he walked.
"Today I have a special plan before we begin with your routine training. As you all know, we're starting strategies against creatures that control natural elements. Your typical air, water, fire, ground deal. That encompasses anything from mages and warlocks to dragons and demons. Now you may be wondering 'Sir Marco, what's this special plan you have?' Well, I'm going to personally show you how to defend yourself against a high-level demon attack with the help of my friend here, Prince Tom." Marco gestured to Tom who raised an open hand at the group of squires.
"Now, I want you all to watch how I move against Tom's attacks and how I go to attack him. Make sure to watch all of me. Not just where I move or when I swing my sword, but how I swing my sword, my reaction to his attacks, my foot movements during the sparring match, and the few special surprises that I have in store which could be lifesaving. That being said, you might want to backup a little. This could get out of hand very fast. But don't worry, we're professionals." Marco put his helmet on and drew El Choppo out of its sheath on his back, giving it a spin and grasping the hilt with both hands. He bent down a bit and raised his sword towards Tom.
"You know, I didn't think that our sparring match would happen so soon, let alone have it be the center of attention for one of your teaching lessons. What'll happen when all of those squires see you on the ground with a mouth full of dirt in the next ten seconds?" Tom toyed at Marco, while he placed his suit jacket on a nearby fence post with his tie on top.
"I'll just have to explain to them what I did wrong and how they should go about learning from my mistakes. But first thing's first, you'll have to land a hit on me." Marco smirked.
"Oh, this'll be fun."
Tom straightened his arms down to his sides and slightly curled his fingers in and out. He ignited two large balls of fire in each palm and launched them at Marco who stood at the ready.
Marco jumped backwards to avoid the first fireball, which scorched the ground where he just standing. He tightened his grip and turned El Choppo sideways, batting the second fireball away where it landed a few feet away from him. Marco held his sword beside him and charged Tom, taking a powerful upward swipe at him.
Tom jumped backwards, dodging the attack, and ignited two small fire daggers from the bottom of his fists and began a slew of attacks on Marco. Marco consistently deflected the dagger attacks with grace, each hit producing sparks between the fire and metal on contact. Following the short onslaught, Tom jumped back to give himself some room and catch his breath.
"You've gotten pretty good at this whole swordsman thing, huh?" Tom spoke. "So, I guess I'll just have to up my game."
Tom's arms began to glow a dark blue hue. Marco could feel the tension rising as the demon stared him down, arms out, daring him to make the next move. He readied his stance, pulling the sword up in front of him, expecting a long-range attack. But instead all he got was just more of the same. Tom wasn't going to make the first move.
Marco figured the only way to find out what he was up to was to meet him head on and drag it out of him. He adjusted the grip on his blade and began a full sprint towards Tom. Drawing his blade back, Marco lashed out a side swipe only a few feet from Tom. There was a flash of white light and suddenly Marco's attack stopped cold. He couldn't push forward anymore.
What? He thought.
Marco become increasingly overwhelmed with distraught. Did he actually cut into Tom? Did he in the heat of the moment take their fight too far and cut straight into his torso? No, he couldn't have. The sword would have sliced straight through him if that was the case. When the blinding light let up, Tom was holding up his arm which was now fully covered in thick blue flames, and El Choppo was trapped in his grip, quickly turning red. Marco quickly pulled back, looking at his little glowing friend and the smiling demon in the background. His sword would have melted if it stayed there any longer.
Tom slowly ignited his other arm to where it was covered in the same menacing blue fire that the first was coated in. He began walking towards Marco who was still mentally recovering from almost losing his most valuable piece of gear. Tom took a downward swing at Marco who was able to narrowly escape having only light claw marks on the shoulder of his armor.
Marco returned the blade to its casing on his back, which let out a hiss as steam rose from around the hilt. He reached towards a blade outline on his outer right thigh and a blue dot on the top of his right forearm. He manifested two blue daggers out of the outline. By holding one in each hand, he prepared to defend an onslaught. An onslaught that he couldn't have ever prepared for.
Tom slashed up at Marco, who quickly pulled back, feeling the heat from the demon's burning arms. Marco then lunged forward, dagger aimed at Tom's abdomen. Tom jumped back and kicked the dagger from Marco's hand high into the air and began a fury of attacks trying to hit Marco in the chest, arm, head and neck. Tom gritted his teeth in frustration from the consistent misses, but finally managed to land a punch directly below Marco's sternum, sending him skidding back a few yards.
Marco threw one arm over the point of impact and used the other to grasp the ground, knocking up dust from the ground below before he tumbled over. A loud "Ooo…" swept over from the squires backing away from the fighting ground as Marco tried to steady his breathing. He pushed himself upward, swaying only slightly. He looked up at the sky and held out his weaponless hand, as the dagger that was knocked earlier dropped safely into his hand.
"Call me impressed, Marco." Tom called from across the field, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "The last guy that took that punch from me was coughing up blood for a month. He was pretty weak compared to you, so I figured you could take it with that fancy armor. Speaking of, I didn't know Star was that good with enchantments and reinforcement. Cause that definitely should have broke or burned if it was only metal. I should ask her to reinforce my armor."
"Heh. I've been here for a while now, and I've made some pretty good friends. Well, kind of. Anyway, it wasn't Star that made it." He paused to catch some more of his slowly recuperating breath. "It was the upcoming head mage. She's really good at this kind of enchantment. Not to mention all kinds of psychological and black magic too. She practices on me a lot and felt bad one day for some reason. Can't remember why exactly. So, she made me this. And it was the best thing a knight could have asked for."
"Well whoever she is, I'm totally asking her if she could do the same thing for me. Just, with more style than yours." Tom gestured to Marco's armor.
Marco looked down at his armor and frowned. "I'm unappreciated in my time."
Tom smirked and launched a stream of blue fire towards Marco who hastily rolled out of its path, landing on his back. The fire struck the warnicorn stables behind the field, blowing a hole in the side of it and letting loose a stampede of frightened, neighing warnicorns.
"Round them up!" Marco yelled to the squires as he propped himself on his elbow. They looked towards the stables and promptly returned their gaze to the fight and pointed behind Marco.
Tom stood above him, his heel careening down towards Marco's chest. Marco caught the bottom of his foot right before impact in an attempt to prevent being stomped on. Tom's foot began to glow orange and Marco flung it to the side as fire jettisoned from the sole of his boot.
Tom tumbled to the ground and looked up to see Marco lunging at him, dagger in hand. He rolled out of the way and sprung back onto his feet to see Marco with his arm raised, dagger in hand. Tom extended his arms and caught Marco's arm as the dagger dropped close to his head. Tom twisted Marco's arm and kicked him in the abdomen, sending him skidding back a few feet.
Tom winced and looked down at his arms. A shallow cut began dripping blood from where the blade must have drug across his arm. He looked over at Marco who was standing back up, head held high. Tom furrowed his brow and began concentrating on his arms. He gritted his teeth and did his best to hold back the screams of pain which were becoming too overwhelming to bear.
"Dude. You need a quick bathroom break, or…?" Marco asked hesitantly.
"I haven't been cut in years." Tom spoke quietly through the slowly dulling pain which radiated throughout his body. "I guess I should give you more credit."
Tom grunted in pain as his whole body became covered in flickering light blue flames. The fire stuck closely to his skin and was dense enough that the only thing able to be seen was his outline. His blue hue head turned to look towards Marco, who was staring at him in disbelief. Tom grinned as the flames covering him dissipated, and he began sprinting towards Marco at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye. He appeared directly in front of Marco, who was taken completely by surprise. He only had time to cross his arms in a dire attempt to protect his face from Tom.
Tom let loose a powerful punch, striking Marco in the abdomen. A loud thud reverberated throughout the area. Before Marco could react, Tom pulled him by the arm and threw another strike directly at his cheek. Marco was propelled sideways, spinning and tumbling on the ground until he came directly into contact with the large shed which served as a weapons cache, breaking through the side and into the building.
Marco sat there on the ground trying to figure out what just happened as spears and swords dropped down onto him and clattered against the ground. He is supposed to be one of the best fighters in Mewni, and he was just tossed around like a rag doll in a dryer. Pushing through the aches and pain, Marco concentrated and reached up towards where he was hit on the cheek as the armor atop began restructuring itself to its original, pristine form. He pushed himself onto his knee and began tapping the other armored areas which were misshapen due the barrage of punches he just received. Just as the helmet had done, the other damaged areas began reforming to his body.
He forced himself to stand upright and touched a cross on his back near his right kidney. He began glowing green as the armor let off steam from all over the previously damaged areas. Marco rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck as he walked out of the cache. He reached down to his thigh and over to his arm again, touching a light blue dot and pulling out another set of daggers. He spun them between his fingers as he walked into the open, with an array of shocked faces to greet him.
A set of whispers from the group of squires could be heard. Plenty of disbelief, some in shock, others calling the whole fight a well-planned sham since Marco looked as though he just walked out in a Lavabo approved suit of armor.
Tom stood there, arms crossed, with an impressed grin on his face. Marco knew that Tom could toy with him as much as he wanted to. He had the raw strength to do it. So logically, the only way he would be able to beat him would be to get into his head and pry at his emotions. Marco gripped his daggers and smiled.
"You know," Marco started "you're a pretty good fighter, Tom. You're able to keep calm, cool, and collected in the heat of battle, which I know was a pretty big problem for you before. Especially when facing someone like me."
Tom cocked his head. "Like you? You mean like you being my rival, or my friend?"
"Exactly." Marco continued "I think that you and I have come far from the first time we met. We may have been at each other's throats back then, but now I'd like to think of us as friends. More like best friends, actually. You know, I was really surprised when we were younger and you didn't try to kill me after I kissed Star. I thought I was a dead man walking, but you proved me wrong and let it go. Not for terribly long, though." Marco closed his eyes and shrugged. "The whole thing kind of took a back seat for a while there and we moved on. And that wasn't the only time either. But I'm just surprised you let me off the hook so easily the second time. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that we stayed on Kahakai."
"You both told me nothing happened." Tom spoke sternly. "What're you trying to tell me, Marco?" His voice becoming louder with each sentence.
"Well… I guess since you asked so nicely, the way Star and I worked together on so many adventures, the way we were always so in sync. It was like experiencing her magic for the first time over and over again. Everything about it was just so-" Marco took a prolonged, deep breath and smiled deviously. "Intense."
Tom's eyes flashed an intense, deep red. The wind began to howl and the ground beneath them began to shake more intensely with each passing second. The squires huddled together and moved backwards as large pillars of fire ten feet in diameter erupted around Tom, surrounding him in an impenetrable shield. The wind was almost as unbearable as the extreme heat emanating from the developing inferno. Marco hunched down and grabbed at the ground, trying to steady himself against the ground as he kept watch on the plume in front of him. The gusting winds began to blow in all directions, rocking Marco off balance. Just as he thought he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, the columns abruptly disappeared, and a new demon was standing in Tom's place. A large eight-foot creature with four blood red eyes, six arms, spiral horns, and a look of murderous intent stood looming over the battlefield.
"Woah. I signed up to fight Tom. Not The Mountain meets Hellboy." Marco let out a nervous chuckle as he started backing up.
The demon spoke in a two pitch tone of Tom with a demonic underlay. "Oh, you want to make jokes now? I guess the joke's on me, really. Thinking that you two would actually be telling me the truth, and not stabbing me in the back like petty high schoolers!" His voice rose intensely as he strode towards Marco who was still nervously backing up. The ground shook with each step Tom took. "That'll be the last time I make that mistake." He sneered, disgust dripping off every word.
In the blink of an eye Tom was in front of Marco. Barely able to gasp, Marco was sent flying into the air by an uppercut to the abdomen. Tom crouched down and leaped into the sky, leaving a small crater in his wake. He quickly approached Marco's curled body with a ball of intense fire which circulated in his palm like an atom. Tom brought his hand out in front of him and let loose a monstrous vortex of fire, which fully engulfed Marco's half-conscious body. Tom smirked at the wake of smoke before him and began his descent to the battle ground when he was hit with what felt like the force of the entire magic high commission to the vertex of his skull.
Tom was sent plummeting into the ground like a meteor, causing a massive quake on impact. The shockwave created caused all loose objects around the battlefield to fly away from the point of impact. All the equipment sheds in the surrounding area were toppled and the young fighters watching the heated battle were thrown off their feet tumbling backwards. Some were thrown against walls and some into crevices spidering out from the impact, while others who were able to barely stand their ground became completely encompassed in dust and small debris.
Marco dropped next to Tom's crash site, purple veins popping out of his neck, and frowning unhappily at the display of power which caused the terrestrial implosion. He moved in closer to where Tom was sent, and while brooding over the point of impact, his demeanor began changing to horror. His eyes widened, and he gasped as he quickly jumped in the hole in front of him.
"Tom!" Marco yelled as he landed in the dark, debris filled pit. "Can you hear me?! Where are you?! Tom!"
Marco heard a small groan not too far away and began running towards it. He found Tom laying on his back, unconscious and covered in rubble. He looked at the limp prince in front of him who had reverted to his normal self, though he was covered in gashes and bruises. Marco hastily pushed the debris off Tom. He saw a long, but not too deep, opening in Tom's abdomen and knew he needed immediate medical attention. Marco touched one of the crosses on his armor with one hand, and Tom with the other. The gash began to close slightly, but not enough to properly heal even if he were to be wearing the armor. But there was no time for that anyway. Tom would be much better off in the medical ward. So Marco picked him up bridal style and began making his way out of the deep hole they were trapped in.
"Sir Marco! Are you down there?" Came the voice of the youthful squire who ran into them earlier, Kassandra.
"Yeah!" Marco yelled up, placing Tom against the crater's edge separating them. "Drop a rope down and get some help to hoist us up!"
Less than a minute later, a thick piece of rope was dropped down landing directly on top of Marco. He rubbed his head groaning in annoyance and tied the strand of rope around the underside of his thighs and glutes. He once again picked up Tom, making sure not to move him around too much and cause extra damage. Giving the rope a quick double pull, Marco began to ascend to the top of the crater.
He looked over at Tom and frowned. He never should've taunted him like that. Especially when he made up that part of the story just to get him off focus for a simple sparring match between friends. What kind of friend does that to another anyway? It wasn't fair to Tom, and now he's the one unconscious and covered in bruises and gashes. Marco had to make it up to him, and the first step in doing that was to get out of this hole and over to the medical ward so he can be properly treated.
They reached the top and Marco set Tom down as he climbed out of the hole. "Stay here and try to clean this place up a bit. I'll be back." He commanded the squires, who all gave a unison head nod. Getting on his feet again, Marco once again picked up Tom and began his walk across the field to get him to a healer.
"So who wants to start on the hole?" One squire asked.
"Not it!" The others yelled as they ran off leaving him alone.
"You guys are the worst!"
/... - .- -. -.. .. -. -. / -.- -. .. -. ... -/
Star watched for a moment as Tom and Marco walked away towards the training grounds. She smiled and spun around on her heel, beginning her casual walk towards the war room. She looked up at the walls as she made her way down the hall. All the old portraits of knights, mages, and other important figures throughout the history of the castle made sure there was no free space. It was something she was always acutely aware of, but never took the time to really appreciate. They all had their names and titles on small plaques below their portraits.
Star stopped at one next to the exit of the magic wing and looked up at a painting of Mage Maren. Her shining silver hair, forest green eyes, complemented her regal like pose in her lengthy morning-sun red robe. She held a jet black staff with a glowing light blue orb perched atop it which swirled with white and pink specks. She looked like a beautiful Earthen sunrise.
"Mage Maren, forger of Celacia's Sword. Head mage 503-524." Star spoke quietly to herself as she looked at the small plaque beneath the painting. "I'll put together what was lost of yours and find the right person to carry on its legacy. That's a princess promise." She smiled, turned, and began walking down the hall only to be struck in the face by a door being swung open. "Dammit!" Star yelled as she tightened her eyes and pressed both hands against her nose.
"Oh shit I-" The person began. "Star? Well I guess I'm lucky it wasn't your mom, but, are you alright?"
Star forcefully pried one eye open and saw a blurry woman with shoulder length black hair. She was wearing a long orange robe trimmed in black with a symbol on the left sleeve. Star continued looking up at the person and rubbed her eyes as they began to focus. The girl was smiling and crossing her arms almost amused with what had just occurred.
"You're not even going to apologize?" Star questioned to the person standing before her.
"Well when you get all huffy with me like that, hell no." She paused. "Then again, I guess I should, or otherwise I may lose my position here. And I dig what I do." The woman said coolly.
"Janna?" Star asked.
"In the nose breaking flesh." She exaggerated a bow to Star. "Sorry about that though. I was just headed to find Marco. I had a few questions about the prototype I gave him and I didn't want to continue with the main version until I know if there's anything wrong with it. It's been a few weeks, so he should have at least something for me to go off of. But if it's straight complaining he'd better get used to the idea of never having kids."
Star smiled knowing full well she was bluffing. Probably. "He went off with Tom to the training grounds. The squires were ready early for practice so they drug him off and Tom followed. They'll probably have some sort of sparring match and make the rookies take notes. I just hope it doesn't get out of hand like it did the last time they had a match. Old man Hirsch wasn't too happy about a barn with an extra-large side door." They both laughed in reminiscence of the trouble Tom and Marco got in for unnecessary violence. Having to hand repair the barn and wait on Hirsch hand and foot with all his strange requests, like a bridal gown sized for a raccoon, was more than a proper punishment for the two.
"Oh, I did want to ask you something before you go hunt him down." Star began. "Have you ever heard of the tail of Mage Maren and Lady Celacia?"
"The one with the super powerful sword that could basically do anything except bring back the dead? Which was never actually proven from what I remember hearing about it... But yeah, I remember that. It sounded badass. Something as powerful as that can only be a fantasy though. There's no feasible way to incorporate such a limitless supply of power into a finite container. Especially when that finite source would be a diamond probably no more than six inches in diameter." Janna opened her finger and thumb for reference.
"It's actually only about two inches tall." Star responded, opening her fingers to show the gem's actual size.
"What?" Janna paused and raised an eyebrow. "You're saying that it's real? And that you've seen it too?" Janna asked accusatively. "Don't lie to me, Star. You don't want to end up like Ned."
"Who's Ned?"
"Don't ask."
"I'm serious Janna. It's real. At least it was guarded like it was. I haven't actually had any time to test it and see if it's the real deal yet. That's actually where I was hoping you would come in. That is, if you don't mind. I don't really trust any other mage to look at it without trying to run off and tell my mom, or stowing it away and keep it for themselves if it turns out to be real."
"What makes you think I won't keep it?"
"Janna."
"Yeah, okay. I'll take a look at it for ya." Janna said somewhat dismissively. "But if this really is it, what're we even going to do with it? It's not like we have the other parts to the sword and can put it back together again. And if we show that we have the thing, that'll paint a pretty huge target on our backs. Who wouldn't want a source of unlimited power at their disposal? Being able to call typhoons with a simple hand wave, earthquakes with the snap of a finger, volcanic eruptions with a foot tap. Oh man, I think I might keep this thing for myself after all." She said with a sly grin. After a moment both girls broke out laughing, leaning on each other for support.
Star tried taking deep breaths to try and calm herself, but still couldn't suppress every giggle. "Okay, okay. So when do you have the place to yourself so I can bring it down to you?"
"Tomorrow night is my shift to watch over the wing. Tends to be pretty quiet here most of the time unless Shayman has some weird-ass spell or conduit he's working on. But he's been pretty quiet lately, so I'm guessing it'll stay the same for tomorrow too." Janna said, waiving it off.
"Great! I have the thing in my room, so I'll bring it down for you later. Say around 11?" Star asked.
"Yeah. The late workers are usually out by ten. And if not, I'll just kick them out with some Oscar award winning concern. 'You should make time to see your family' or 'Rest is very important, you need to get enough.' You know, something that shows that I'm a very caring and loving person, or whatever." Janna shrugged.
"You know, Janna, you may act like that on the outside, but I know that you're just a big softie." Star smiled while poking her in the stomach.
"Psh. I couldn't care less about what they do. As long as it doesn't interfere with me, they could run straight into the Forest of Certain Death as far as I'm concerned." She crossed her arms and frowned at Star.
"Sure, whatever you say." Star said letting out a small laugh. Despite her best efforts, Janna let a small smile past her lips and turned back towards her friend.
"I- did want to tell you one more thing though," Janna spoke a little hesitantly. She wasn't one to be so cautious with what she said, so Star gave her a small nod and edged her on. "Shayman actually-"
Before Janna could finish, a large crash reverberated through the halls, shaking the ground Star and her were both standing on. They both tried to grab on to each other attempting to keep themselves balanced, but were unable to stay upright for very long and eventually tumbled to the ground. As soon as it started, the ordeal was over. Star and Janna both laid motionless on their stomachs waiting for something else to happen, but to no avail.
Janna began to push herself off Star and into a sitting position to look around the hallways. Most of the portraits were on the ground, some with cracked frames and others which were somehow intact. Tables were sideways on the ground with shattered vases and crystal beside them, but they heard no cries of help. Which was either a good or grave sign.
Star pushed herself to her feet and began taking in the scene as well. "I think that was from the the training grounds." Barely a moment passed before she came to a stark realization. "Marco! Tom!" She yelled as she took off in the direction leading outside.
"Star! Wait up!" Janna yelled as she pushed herself to her feet and began chasing her down.
Star sprinted around the corner to the outside battleground, her wand hissing in preparation to unleash hell's fury. As she broke into the outside light with Janna closely in tow, she came screeching to a halt at the massive crater that was encompassing the entire field.
Star looked around, trying to find what the cause of such destruction could possibly be. She saw that not only was there a gaping hole where the squires and knights sparred, but there was reminance of destruction all over the grounds. Buildings had been ripped from where they once stood and ones which still stood had gaping holes from other objects being propelled into them. There were massive fissures all along the ground which were dispersed in every direction with earth sparcely crumbling inward.
Star looked around and saw a lone group of squires backed away from the immediate area, all sitting the ground. The two friends ran over to where the squires were huddled together, frantically whispering to one another with dread painted all over their faces.
"Hey!" Star shouted, a little louder than she intended to. The squires stopped their chattering and looked at her. "Are you all okay? What happened here? Was there some sort of attack on the castle?" Star shot questions to the scared squires who looked like goldfish with their mouths hanging open trying to find an answer for her. Almost all of them had the utmost difficulty trying to comprehend what had just occurred. "None of you know what happened?" Star asked once again, becoming increasingly short in tone.
One squire began moving. She was a relatively tall girl with short blonde hair. She pushed herself up on the shoulder of another squire sitting in front of her and stood up straight, looking Star dead in the eyes. Star recognized her as the same squire who confronted Marco earlier about the rest of the squires being ready for training, which certainly did not look like the case anymore.
"What's your name?" Star asked the young girl.
"Kassandra, princess." The girl answered with a small bow.
"Okay, Kassandra. What happened here that made you all look like you've stared death in the face?" Star demanded.
"It- It was Sir Marco and Prince Tom, princess. Sir Marco was going to show us how to fight off a top tier demon with the help of Prince Tom- and it was really interesting how they fought. But…" She trailed off trying to find the words on what happened afterwards.
"Okay, I want you to take your time, but I need to know what happened between them that caused this. This level of chaos should be beyond them both." Star spoke sternly, trying not to frighten her more than she already seemed to be.
Kassandra took a deep breath before continuing. "It was going great at first. I thought I was learning a lot by how Sir Marco fought Prince Tom. And then it began to escalate. Sir Marco started throwing what I assumed to be friendly verbal jabs at Prince Tom, but the prince got very upset with him. He eventually transformed into this giant beast-demon and kicked Sir Marco into the air. He engulfed him in fire from his hand, and I thought he may have actually killed Sir Marco, but he came out of the cloud of smoke and flip kicked Prince Tom on the head which sent him hurdling into the ground- making the giant crater you can see over there." A small frown escaped the squire's lips as she pointed over to the crater.
"Was there anything else that happened? Any detail at all? There's nothing too small to remember." Star pushed.
"Well, there was the giant fire pillars that engulfed Prince Tom when he transformed." Kassandra answered.
"No." Star said while thinking. She knew that was his normal battle evolution. He must have just kicked it up another notch. "Anything else? Or something about Marco?"
"There was this one weird thing that I saw." Star raised an eyebrow as Kassandra continued. "When he landed his veins were popping out pretty far. They looked dark blue or purple. I don't know. He was really far away and I don't know if that's weird for a human."
"If he was angry, that was probably normal. Human veins are blue and pop out with anger." Star answered. "I'll try and see what I can find out. Thank you so much Kassandra. Now one more question. Where did they go?"
Kassandra pointed in the direction Marco carried Tom. "That way. Sir Marco took Prince Tom to the medical wing for treatment."
"Thank you." Star answered. "Janna, let's go."
"Right behind you, boss." Janna replied coolly as they both took off. "So, do you actually think that they could have done this? I mean Marco's not the most destructive person in the world. Far from it honestly. And I don't know enough about Tom to stick him with the blame."
"Tom can have a bit of a temper on him, but he's not physically strong enough to create a massive crater like that. Not to mention from what Kassandra told us, he should've burned Marco alive in the air. Humans can't take that kind of heat and live to tell the tale, even if he did have his armor on." Star said, still trying to wrap her head around the events which took place.
None of it made any sense. Marco should be crisper than her own first attempt at nachos. Not to mention the size of that crater was absurd. She herself can barely muster up enough strength in her Butterfly form to create such destruction. Neither of them should be able to attain that level of power. Not on their own at least.
"Well that suit of armor I made for him can withstand a fair amount of heat. It's not without limits, but I thought I did a damn good job and giving it a high heat resistance. Honestly, he should even be able to lava surf in that." Janna boasted as they both rounded the corner into the medical wing.
"That still doesn't explain how Marco could've hit Tom with so much force that he caused that level of destruction. Humans are a lot weaker than mewmans, and I don't know any mewman that could have done that. Not even me or my mom." Star and Janna both stopped in front of the desk at the medical wing. Star grabbed a hold of the countertop and looked the man behind the desk dead in the eye. "Where are Sir Marco and Prince Tom?" She questioned him as she leaned over the desk on her tip toes.
"Hold on princess." The man said as he began shuffling through his paperwork. He pulled out a black folder and placed it on top of some others. He opened it up and did a quick scan. "It says here that they're on the fourth floor, room twenty."
Janna snickered, electing a questioning look from Star. "I'm not explaining it to you right now." Janna said as she waved her off. "Let's just go up and see what happened to them."
Star reluctantly nodded and they both took off towards the stairs and up to the fourth floor. As they made their way past a variety of open doors, all with vibrantly individualistic touches, they stopped at the entrance to room twenty and looked in to see Marco with his back towards them. He was sitting on a chair with his head down facing an empty bed, with Tom nowhere in sight. Star knocked on the door as both her and Janna entered the room. "Hey Marco, how're you doing? Where's Tom at?"
Marco glanced over his shoulder and turned back around. He took a deep breath and let his shoulders slump as he continued to stare at the ground. "Tom needed surgery.. He had multiple broken bones, fractures, a multitude of torn muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and to top it off, a severe concussion which the doctors said they weren't sure he'd even wake up from. He's in real bad shape, Star. I didn't even know it was possible for him to be in that sort of severe condition either. It's all just so- heavy."
Star's optimistic demeanor faltered. She knew Tom could take a beating, considering that on multiple occasions she was the one doing the beating, but it was never anything close to that. To think that this could have been Marco was not something that she could accept. "Well what about you, Marco? Are you alright?"
He just sat there in silence for a while, unwavering, continuing to stare straight at the ground. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally moved, clasping his hands together and putting his forearms on his knees.
"I don't even remember doing it to him." Marco spoke almost mindlessly. "I was on the verge of blacking out when he sent me flying into the air. I saw him coming up to me with a fireball in hand and right before he shot it off, I blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was standing over a crater and I had this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that Tom was down there- and that I was the one who sent him there. Turns out that I did." Marco clamped his jaw, grabbed the hair on his temples, and let out a stifled scream. He slumped back down into his chair and began picking at the nails on his hand.
"Well," Star began "It's not like you could've done anything about it if you blacked out. Yeah, it's really weird that you could've done something like that without any conscious effort, but if that's the case, it wasn't you who was doing it. At least not on your own terms. It's not your fault, Marco." Star put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft smile.
Marco turned to look at her and puckered his lips. "It just feels like it is. Like I became someone entirely different and did that to him. I may not have been actively doing it, but it was still my body. It's still my responsibility to hold myself accountable for whatever actions my body commits." He spoke regretfully.
To Marco, nothing is worse than putting the life of one of your closest friends in danger, even if it wasn't by choice. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that Tom was was in serious trouble and he was the one who put him there. Marco took in a deep breath and heaved a heavy sigh. He pushed up on the arms of his chair and turned around to face Star and Janna. "I just hope that it was a fluke. There's nothing wrong with me that would cause me to do something like that. At least, not as far as I'm aware of."
"Well there's a possibility that a malicious subconscious presence is propagating the loss of conscious control over your primary motor functionality, resulting in your destructive tendencies and inability to recall your own actions or motives." Janna put forth. Star and Marco looked at her, stupefied. "Or you're just an asshole." She shrugged.
Marco let out an audible groan as Janna stood there smirking at him.
A woman in a long white robe with shoulder length straight red hair and glasses appeared at the door to the room where the three were standing. She knocked on the doorframe as she entered the room, alerting them to her presence. "Are you Marco?" She asked in a get-to-it tone.
"Yes, I am." Marco said, quickly approaching her.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Fyrefly." She extended her arm out and shook Marco's hand. "I was the one heading Prince Tom's surgery, and I'd like to inform you that everything went according to plan. He was a textbook patient and cooperated very well during the procedure. I would like to note however, that he did sustain serious injuries, and even though he is an extraordinarily powerful demon, it will most likely take him a few days recovery. Very impressive from a normal being's perspective, although fairly long from his. He should have been in better condition than he was when your brought him here, but we'll save that inquiry for the time being. I would suggest keeping him stationary as much as possible while he heals. He may feel well enough to get up and move, but that will only hinder his recovery. Make sure he has plenty of water and nutrient rich foods after he leaves, and I'm sure a soul or two wouldn't hurt either. But they'll reiterate that on dispatch with paperwork. Other than that, he should be good to go in a few days. Nothing too strenuous initially, just to be safe, but he should be back to normal. He will be in recovery room 115 when you are ready to see him. If there's anything else I can do for you young knight, please don't hesitate to ask."
"I won't." Marco replied. "Thank you for all of your help, doctor."
"It's my pleasure. Take care of yourselves." She nodded and headed out the door.
"I can't believe he got that hurt." Star muttered. "But I'm just glad he'll be okay."
"Me too." Marco replied, scratching his right arm.
"Well if you're done feeling sorry for him," Janna said to Star "and you're done feeling sorry for yourself," she directed to Marco, "I think that we should actually go see how he's doing. Plus, it'd be a nice change of pace to see a demon downed instead of doing the downing."
"Do you have a thing against demons?" Marco asked her.
"No." Janna shrugged. "But the last time I saw him, he was acting like king of the world, and it'd be nice to knock him down a few pegs. Strip some of that dignity away, ya know?"
"There's something seriously wrong with you." Marco said as he gave her a half disgusted, half amused look. He'd never admit it, but it was nice actually talking to Janna again, instead of just doing business. At least she didn't steal his stuff anymore. Or she just got that good at it that he didn't even realize she'd done anything. Regardless, it was nice to have another human to talk to. The third best person in the castle that he could think of.
"Alright!" Star chirped, throwing her arm over Marco. "Let's go see how the poor guy's doing. And maybe rub his face in the fact that a human beat him." She winked at Marco, who smirked back. She wrapped her other arm around Janna and the three of them walked out the door, headed for room 115.
Thanks to Starco4everr for the review and for everyone who gave this a read!