Disclaimer: I do not own Star vs the Forces of Evil.

Sorry for the long wait, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2

Four months had passed since that night with Marco and Hekapoo. Queen Moon had been successfully found after about a week and the castle had been fully restored a few weeks later. Shortly after they had found Moon, Eclipsa brought the wand back to Star after she had used it to free her husband from his crystal prison. She said that she no longer needed it and left with her monster husband to raise their child in a secluded forest on Mewni in peace. Glossaryck went with them saying that he 'needed a vacation', but everyone just saw it as a blessing in disguise. It was business as usual in the castle. Moon had fully recovered from her battle with Meteora and she no longer had memory loss. She and River tried to be better rulers than they had been until now and the town reflected that. What was once a poor looking village surrounding the castle, now looked like a completely different place. The town, while still medieval looking, looked brand new and much cleaner. The townsfolk seemed to be happier as well and looked much more clean and healthy.

Marco was now well known through the town for all the good deeds he had done for Mewni up to this point. The knights and the servants at the castle were particularly fond of him. He would help around the castle whenever he could with small tasks, helping cook in the royal kitchen, or even patrol duty. His patrol duty partner happened to be Higgs most of the time, much to her annoyance.

Marco and Tom had become even closer over these past few months. They hung out a lot whenever Star was too busy or didn't feel like hanging out. Marco was also still close with Kelly, going on adventures with her or just casually hanging out. The biggest change would probably be the frequency of Janna's visits to the castle. She had stolen Marco's dimensional scissors a while back and used them to go back and forth between Mewni and Earth. Marco was pissed at first that she stole his scissors, but got over it quickly, as he liked having Janna around. Not that he would ever tell her that. He had known Janna practically his whole life and he enjoyed getting to spend more time with her to get to know her better, which Janna also seemed to enjoy, as she continued to tease Marco to no end. It also seemed like Janna's teasing was getting a little more… risqué. What started off as the normal verbal teasing, quickly turned into more 'adult' teasing. A passing wink here, a blown kiss there. She even went as far as trying to surprise him with what she called, "playful biting" which was basically just her biting his ear or neck when he wasn't paying attention, which of course would cause him to blush like a madman after squealing like a girl. Marco being as dense as he is, wasn't sure what to make of all this attention from Janna, so he just saw it as her being her normal self with teasing.

Marco also almost missed the birth of his little sister. Luckily his parents called Janna when his mom went into labor. She used Marco's scissors to jump over to Mewni and grab him and Star just in time for him to see his new baby sister being born. Much to his and everyone else's surprise, the baby turned out to be a girl instead of a boy. Marco's parents settled on the name Mariposa for the new baby. Everything seemed to have wrapped up nicely enough for everyone, so Marco took this as a sign that it was time for him to leave on his journey.

As he was walking down the castle halls on day he noticed Star walking a bit slower than usual, she seemed to be lost in thought. Unbeknownst to Marco, Star and Tom had just broken up a few day ago and she had been deliberating on the right time to tell Marco about it and about how she feels for him. It wasn't a bad breakup, they both decided that their relationship just wasn't working and that they should just stay friends. Tom could tell Star was still in love with Marco and he told her that he wanted to see her happy and that she is always at her happiest when she's with Marco, so she should be with him. They both shed a few tears and hugged it out before agreeing to stay good friends.

Marco called out to Star from down the castle hall, but she just kept walking, still lost in thought. He decided to just slowly jog to catch up to her. When he did catch up he quietly said her name and lightly touched her shoulder. She turned around to see Marco looking at her a little worried and she had an unreadable expression on her face. "H-Hey Marco, what… uh… what's up?" she said as she felt a little sweat roll down the side of her brow.

"Nothing much, I just have something important to tell you… well… to tell everyone. Do you think you could help me get everyone together in the meeting hall?"

"Uh… Sure… Is everything ok, Marco?" Star said, her face showing a bit of worry now.

"Yep, never better!" he said with a big phony grin.

Star stared at him with squinted eyes and said, "Hmmm… Something seems… fishy."

"Nothing fishy here! Everything is A-Okay!" he said wearing the same smile as he pulled at his collar.

"Hmm… Alright, if you say so." She said still squinting her eyes.

"So, do you think you'd still be able to gather everyone in the meeting hall?"

"Yeah, no problem!"

"Great, thanks! Oh, and could you ask Janna to bring my parents as well?"

"Uh…Sure."

"Thanks Star, you're the best!" he said as he hugged her tight, causing her to blush lightly before returning the hug.

Marco broke the hug and started to walk away, before stopping and saying, "Oh, and you don't need to find Hekapoo. I already know where she is, so I'll go grab her and we'll meet you in the meeting hall," he said before waving and walking off again.

Star just stared at his back for a second while he walked away as she thought to herself, 'Man, Marco and Hekapoo sure have been getting chummy lately. You don't think… pshhh naaaah, there's no way that would happen right? Hekapoo is like this immortal sometimes mature, sometimes immature lady and Marco is cute, but he's kind of dorky. There's no way they would have a thing for each other, right?'

Star took a deep gulp before shaking the thoughts out of her head, 'I'm sure it's fine. I just need to tell Marco how I feel tonight. As soon as he's done telling everyone what he plans to tell them, I'll tell him that I love him!'

Star clinched her fists as she made her resolve and she headed off to gather everyone for Marco's announcement.

Meeting Hall later that night –

Everyone was gathered together sitting around a large table. The king and queen, Marco's parents and his baby sister, the Magical High Commission, Tom, Star, Janna, Kelly, a few of the higher-ranking knights and even Higgs. They were all sitting there awkwardly in silence until the large doors of the room were slowly pushed open, revealing Marco and Hekapoo. They both walked over to the table and sat down.

"Thanks for coming everyone, I know how valuable your time is," Marco said with a serious expression.

"It's no problem my boy, but what's this all about?" said River with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes honey, is something wrong?" his mother asked, her eyes showing concern.

"Don't worry everything is fine! There's just something I… need to do and I wanted to tell you all before I did," he said before looking to Hekapoo as she just gave him a soft smile.

"Well it must be important for you to gather us all here. What is it you need to do?" asked Queen Moon.

Marco stood up and cleared his throat before saying, "Well… I may have used Star's wand a while back… and since then I can feel the magic flowing in me, but I don't know how to use it… so I was planning to go to another dimension with Hekapoo to learn to use it and I may be gone for… a while."

Everyone just sat there wide-eyed with their mouths wide open before a certain beanie wearing girl broke the silence. "What!? What do you mean 'gone for a while'? Why can't you just learn magic here!?" Janna bellowed across the room as she jumped out of her chair, knocking it to the ground.

Marco's expression stayed calm as he answered, "Trust me Janna, I wouldn't leave unless I had to. It will take me years to get a grasp on how to use magic properly. I wasn't born with it like Star or Queen Moon, so it's gunna take me a lot longer for my body to get used to it, let alone use it properly. Besides, the dimension I'm going to has a different time flow from here, so for you guys I'll only be gone like, a month or two at most."

Janna just huffed and picked her chair back up. She plopped into it and crossed her arms with a pouty look on her face. Star just sat there as she felt her heart sink into her stomach. 'I missed my chance to tell him. It's just like that time when I left earth because of Toffee. Marco is gunna be gone from my life again. What do I do?' Star thought to herself but was soon broken out of her thoughts by Marco's parents.

"Are you sure you have to do this mijo?" asked his father.

"Yeah, won't it be dangerous sweetheart?" asked his mother.

"Don't worry guys, Hekapoo said the dimension we'll be going to is… relatively safe. It's the perfect place for me to train. It has an even more pure flow of magic than Mewni, so it should help my training go even faster!"

His parents just looked at each other with worried expressions before saying, "Just come home safe, Marco."

Marco just smiled softly and nodded.

Omnitraxus Prime just sat in his crystal ball at the end of the table not saying anything. He knew what was going to happen, but he also knew that it had to happen, so he stayed quiet. He ordered Rhombulus to keep quiet as well.

Star finally worked up the courage to speak, "So… um… when are you leaving?" she choked out with a pained expression.

Marco paused, took a deep breath and then exhaled. "Tonight." He said with conviction.

Time seemed to stop in the whole room before it erupted in a shout. "What!?" everyone said in unison, except Higgs, who let out an excitedly loud "Yes!" causing everyone to glare daggers at her. She just grinned and sunk into her chair.

"See, I told you they would freak out." Hekapoo whispered to Marco.

"Ugh." Marco sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "Guys, I've already put this off for a while. If I don't go now, I'll just keep putting it off forever. I gotta rip the band-aid off."

Everyone just looked around the room at each other with mixed expressions, then looked back at Marco. Moon was the first to speak.

"Marco, if you believe you must do this we won't stop you… but, we would like it if you stayed. I can even help you with your magic if you like." She stated with a soft smile.

"Thanks, your majesty… but I have to do this. Not only because I want to help this kingdom… but also for myself. I need to do this." He said as he gripped his hands together looking downward.

"Well I'm not okay with this!" Janna shouted angrily. "Why didn't you tell us sooner! We could have helped you! I could have helped you." She finished softly, staring at him with pained eyes.

"Janna…" Marco said as he started to approach her.

"You know what… Forget it. Have fun on your little trip Marco, I hope it's worth it." She said as she pushed him away and walked out of the room with tears in her eyes.

Marco held back some tears of his own as he watched her leave the room.

Tom and Kelly both wanted to say something but were at a loss for words. They looked at each other trying to decide if they should even speak up at all. Marco slapped them with reality when he asked, "So Tom, Kelly. What do you guys think?"

They sat there frozen for a second before Tom decided to speak first, "Well… it sounds like you already made up your mind. If you really want to do this, then I'm behind you bro." he said while giving a finger gun.

"Thanks, Tom… that really means a lot." Marco said with a smile.

"What about you Kelly?"

Kelly looked down at her twiddling thumbs for a second before asking, "Can I come with you?"

Everyone, including Marco didn't expect that question, which was evident by the looks on their faces.

"You… want to come with me?" he asked.

"Sure! It sounds fun! The adventures around here have been getting a bit boring, so I could use a fresh new experience." Kelly said with a grin.

Marco rubbed his chin in thought, but before he could respond, Hekapoo spoke up. "Sorry, no can do. This is a two person only trip. This isn't a fun adventure, it's a serious training mission. No offense, but your being there would only be a hindrance for Marco. You would be an unneeded distraction, and the more distractions he has, the longer this trip will take." She said with a bit of sting in her tone.

"Oh yeah? Well if he's so easily distracted then why do you get to be the one that goes with him? What makes you so special?" Kelly said in a slightly angry tone.

"Um… I'm the forger of dimensional scissors, expert on dimensions and dimensional travel, expert at survival and I'm pretty strong." She said counting on her fingers. "Besides, if something did go wrong, I'm Marco's best hope at getting back here alive." She added as she stared a hole through Kelly.

Kelly just crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at Hekapoo, causing her to respond with an eye roll.

Star was in a daze. This wasn't happening, it was just a dream. It had to be. She was going to tell Marco how she felt tonight, they would start dating and live happily ever after. This wasn't supposed to happen. She started to feel sick to her stomach as her thoughts were spinning out of control. It was too much to bear. She was calmed down by Marco's voice entering her ears.

"You've been pretty quiet Star… Did you have anything you wanted to say?" Marco asked as he looked over to Star.

She froze.

She didn't know what to say. Should she beg him not to go? Would it even help? The way he spoke made it seem like he couldn't be talked out of it. Marco was about to be out of her reach again. Her Marco was about to be gone. She doubted if she could convince him to stay, so she said something she would come to regret.

"I think you should do it Marco. I support you all the way!" she said with a forced smile.

"Thanks, Star! I knew you would be on my side." He said as he walked over and hugged her.

It was the most painful hug of her life.

Not because Marco was squeezing her particularly hard, but because it took every ounce of strength she had to hold back her feelings.

She returned the hug, holding back her tears. She was gripping the back of his hoody with all her might, but he didn't notice.

After a short time, they broke the hug.

Marco walked over to his parents and hugged them as well, all three of them starting to cry. He then turned to the rest of the room, "Thanks everyone… For everything you've done for me all this time. I think I'm the person I am today thanks to everyone in this room." he said smiling softly as he looked around the room. "Plus a few others." He added with a somber tone thinking of Janna.

Everyone in the room just returned his smile with one of their own.

"Well…"

"I think it's time we head out… are you ready Hekapoo?" he asked looking at her.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She retorted.

"Oh, before we leave you might want to bring this." She said as she opened a portal and Nachos came out carrying a large hiking backpack with his sword El Choppo sticking out of the top of it.

"Nachos!" he said as he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her neck "Can't believe I almost left without you buddy! Well, you and my supplies haha." He chuckled before taking the bag from Nachos while petting her on the head.

"See… what would you do without me?" Hekapoo asked with a smirk as she lightly elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yeah, Yeah. Don't get too full of yourself." He said as he gently nudged her back.

Everyone in the room looked at each other with questioning looks. 'When did those two get so… chummy?' They all thought to themselves.

Marco took one last look around the room before saying, "I'm gunna miss you guys, but I'll be back soon… don't worry."

Hekapoo opened a portal and waited for Marco. He walked over next to her and looked back at Star before giving her a soft smile and a wave, which she returned. After that he turned back to the portal, took a deep breath, then walked through with Nachos.

"Don't worry guys, I'll take real good care of him." Said Hekapoo as she smiled devilishly before walking through the portal as it closed behind her.

There was a short silence.

"Am I the only one a little worried about that last sentence from Hekapoo before she left?" asked Kelly.

Everyone shook their head.

"Okay good. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't being paranoid." She added.

There was a long silence.

"Well… I think that's enough excitement for one day. How about we all turn in for the night?" said Queen Moon as she got up from her seat.

"Splendid idea Moonpie!" said River as he got up as well. "Alright everyone, off to bed!" he ordered as he clapped his hands together.

Everyone started to leave the room slowly, except for Star, who just sat there in a daze. Tom and Kelly noticed this and headed over to Star.

"Are you gunna be ok Star?" asked Tom.

"Yeah, are you sure you're ok?" asked Kelly.

"Oh yeah, totally, totally, totally. I'm just fine." Star said while staring at the spot where the portal had been.

Tom and Kelly just looked at each other with worried looks.

"Alright… well… just call us if you need us." Tom said.

"Will do." Answered Star, not breaking eye contact with the same spot.

Tom and Kelly just decided to let her process stuff on her own for a while and they slowly left the room.

"You should head to bed too Star." Moon commanded before she started to leave the room as well.

Star just gave a weak nod as she got up and headed for her room. She walked down the castle halls like a zombie as she made her way there. When she finally reached her room, she changed into her usual nightgown and got into bed. She laid there for a minute trying to process all that had happened that night, before finally losing her composure. She burst into tears, sobbing loudly into her pillow. It took so much of her strength to hold it in earlier, but now the floodgates were open and she couldn't close them. It took an hour or so, but she finally cried herself to sleep.

A/N: Hey all, so sorry for the long wait. I've been pretty busy irl and I'm kinda slow at writing lol. I just wanted to thank everyone for reading, liking, favoriting, and reviewing my story, it's much appreciated. I took the advice given about how I was writing and changed it up a little in this chapter. I hope I improved a little and it's easier/more interesting to read. I'm about 40% done with the next chapter, so the wait shouldn't be as long this time. Please let me know how ya'll like this chapter and I hope you enjoy the story from here on!