Notes:

AchingHeart2011 - Glad to hear it :)

Marco The Keyblade Master - I don't know how a prophecy would work in this story, given the fact that it's meant to be a little more realistic, but in this chapter you'll (hopefully) be happy to hear that I included a bit more depth into the 'why' Star was held captive after holding parallels to Eclipsa. More will come in the future, thanks for the advice though :)

imhere4svtfoe - I did set out to create something darker, that dealt with more serious issues and the premise is completely different from the show. It makes it more interesting since you don't know who will betray who, what dark secrets some people hold, the demons that live with others. Oooooo It's exciting!

Other than that, this chapter was a little easier than 7 to write. Still a little pain though, hope you enjoy

Star
'No…'
It's not what it looks like!
'Why…'

A glance of looks exchanged between the two, no words were uttered but a conversation had taken place. Star stood at the doorway, her arms had given up strength now and the watch slipped out of her grasp, it hit the floor with a loud clink. Marco couldn't do anything but stare at her, a pleading face was all he could form. He knew how it'd end, she'd run off. He'd run after her, Ophelia would win. There was nothing he could do.

"I - erm… I'm sorry." Star collected herself and left the room.

"Star! Wait." Marco cried but he was still caught in Ophelia's arms, "let go." He commanded, she wouldn't move though.

"Why would I move when I just got everything I wanted?" A smile formed on her face as she looked back into Marco's eyes. The pearls that were drowning in lust had been replaced by venomous, cold marbles that swallowed up any light.

"You sick, twisted bitch." He was furious, she had played him and Star as fools. He felt used, all she wanted was for Star to see them like this, to destroy any hopes she had. He broke free now, about to leave the room but turned back, "How the hell did you even set this up?"

"But Marco honey," she had reverted to her girly voice once more. "How could I have set all this up when I wasn't even in the hall to take your watch off, leave it for Star and bring you up here?"

"Matthew." Marco noted.

"Bingo! You got it." He looked at her with fire in his eyes.

"You and him set it up."

"Oh you're on a roll now aren't you?" The two never broke eye contact, she was pacing herself all around his room by now. He hadn't moved from the doorway, stood like a mountain, bounding her to this room to answer all his questions.

"How did you know I'd even be coming here?" There wasn't a chance in hell that she'd be able to predict his movement to the room.

"Oh ho, wouldn't you like to know?" He didn't reply, just stared at her until she gave in. "Fine, fine I'll tell you. Honestly, I didn't know, me and Matty had an entire plan to concede to. He was meant to find you and tell you to go to your room, but obviously the plan changed. I wanted to be here prepared, so I arrived a little early. I had intended to be in a much more… Revealing outfit, once you arrived but, evidently, I didn't have the time." Maybe Marco should be a little grateful that he arrived early, had she been in whatever slutty outfit she had picked then who knows how Star may have reacted.

"I'll make you pay." He turned for the exit now, about to chase after Star who he heard run off to the stairs, probably to her room. As he was a few feet out the door, he heard Ophelia call from behind him.

"No you won't!" She shouted, a small giggle ensued.

He ignored her and jogged up the stairs, through the hallway and to the dark mahogany door which held Star captive by herself. "Star?" He called, there wasn't an answer. "Please Star come on out, you need to know that it wasn't my choice! It was all Ophelia…" Still no reply. "I'm coming in!" He yelled out, hoping to force her into an answer: It didn't work.

He opened the door and reared his head in, the curtains were let loose, and the entire room laid in a peaceful darkness. A shadow was curled up on the bed, slight sobs were escaping the mound of black. "Hey." He called, slowly making his way over to the bed. "I'm sorry for that. It was all her, you know that, right? I was trying to get her out but –"

"But what?" Star cried, "But you just had to have her arms around your neck to say 'Get out'?" Her voice was hoarse, obviously pained by what she saw. Marco let Star take a minute to breathe, "I know… I know that it was all her, but I…"

Another pause, this time Marco was the first to speak up. "I understand. I'm sorry for letting that continue as long as it did, you know that I'd never do that on purpose to hurt you." That was when she uncurled herself and sat up, glaring at Marco – it was still dark, but he could make out that her eyes were red with soreness, cheeks burning up in a flourish of red and a few strands of her hair were stuck to her face from where the tears dried.

When Marco first found her, he could feel a rage building inside him at River, how he could make her hurt like this. But now, he had gone and done the same – not meaning to of course, but the fact remained that the Diaz had made a girl cry. It struck a chord in Marco's heart and his mood became even further dampened. He went to grab her hand, so he could apologise in a sincere way, but once he grabbed a hold of it, there was a slight warm – wet feeling. He only stared into Star's eyes, to which she looked away in depression. "Star… You didn't… Right?"

Silence…

He dove from the bed and hurried to the curtains, at drawing them he looked back towards Star and saw a very substantial pool of crimson stain her bed, there was a small knife laying on the table next to said bed. And then down her arm, four gentle but non-stopping streams of the fluid fell like a waterfall. Only adding to the pond of blood.

"I'm sorry." She said. He only looked on in horror, "for breaking my promise."

It took his brain a few moments to process, once done he regained awareness and decided on the next task. "We're getting you to a nurse now." He said, looking around for anything he could use to bandage the wound up, he eventually found a white handkerchief with a small wand in the corner. That'll do. He moved back to Star and started to apply the bandage, the wound was deeper than he originally thought. "Why." He mumbled under his breath, not even conscious of the fact that he said it.

"It helps me feel alive." She said, eyes still fixated on his fingers moving.

"Yeah? Well after this is all over I promise to show you something else that'll make you feel alive." Both were emotionless at this point; their voices were soft. Another minute passed, a life in poverty gave Marco a great deal of skills, one of which was knot tying. "Right, let's go."

"What if someone says anything?"

"Then they'll deal with me." A lump formed in Star's throat when Marco said this, it wasn't the first time that he had shown an awful lot of consideration for her well-being. But it was the first time that he threatened another human for her, she was slightly happy at it.

Marco lead her out of the room and the two began to walk, her wrist wasn't in good shape. Even though he tied the hanky around it, the blood had no intention of slowing or even stopping. She had lost a lot of blood by now. A soft light glimmered in through the windows, you could see the dust calmly float through the air, until Marco came barging through. "Where's the Nurse's office?" He asked, rearing his head to address her.

"It's on the ground floor, when you get to the dining hall you just keep walking instead of going in and it'll be at the end of the… the uh, corridor." Those were the first signs of Star's body starting to fail. Her mind wasn't receiving enough oxygen from the loss of blood.

"Star hop on." Marco commanded as he lowered his back, inviting her to climb on like a piggy back.

"Marco – I'm not a child! I can walk damn fin-"

"On. Now." There wasn't much point in arguing against him, so with a massive blush and her eyes looking down she picked up her dress and climbed on. Instantly, he set off, moving much quicker than they had been before. It wowed Star at first, she hadn't expected Marco to be able to move so freely given his slender frame, but here he was: Acting like her stallion.

A minute into the expedition, she lost consciousness and became limp on his back. He knew that he had only a few more minutes before things got dangerous.

They passed by Moon on the first floor just a little bit off the dining hall entrance, at first, she was a bit confused as to why Star was on his back but once she saw the blood she knew that the situation was dire. Abandoning any part of her previous mission she joined the two who were heading for the Nurse. "Star?" She called out, her hand was over her mouth, afraid of losing her daughter.

"Don't worry Queen, it's nothing too serious – she's only blacked out. I caught her before it got any worse." It didn't soothe the mother one bit, Marco knew what it was like when his mother lost Rafael. He couldn't imagine what it'd be like to have a threat of losing your daughter. They arrived at the Nurse's office and Moon called out for her, to which she came out – assessing the situation with a computer-like response. She ordered for Star to be laid on a bed and immediately began to take off the improvised bandage, she congratulated Marco on the knot and attempted to comfort Mrs Butterfly while she worked on her daughter's arm. It didn't do much.

The Nurse's name was Annabelle, her hair was red, it was held up in a small bun at the top and her frame was slender, similar to Marco's height but obviously much older than the lad. On looking alone you'd guess her to be in the mid-twenties to early thirties. Her voice was high-pitched, definitely the kind that'd get annoying after a little bit.

Hour Later

Star was resting up on a bed, Moon and Marco sat opposite each other, watching over the Butterfly like two guardian angels. "You really care for her." Marco observed, Moon looked at him disgusted.

"Of course I do. She's my daughter, like I said, I did hold her in the castle. But, the girl didn't deserve this. She's far too good for this world."

"So why did you do it?" Marco asked, curious as to what could've persuaded her. She took a large inhale before responding.

"It was River… Mostly, he said that the citizens wouldn't accept her if she resembled the Dark Queen."

"What was so bad about this Dark Queen that makes you have the need to hold a princess hostage?"

"Queen Eclipsa was normal, at the start. Loved by the people, but… She fell in love with a lower class-man, didn't 'keep the bloodline pure'. She was immediately overthrown by the higher class, and then… Killed. Her and her baby." That part of history had been kept a secret from Marco, they lived in a society where they could easily cut out an entire monarch's reign and no questions would be asked. "As Star became more and more like her indirect predecessor. We made the choice that it'd be worse to have an uproar again, so we adopted a new child and named her heir to the throne. I wasn't fair on Star, but it was the best I could do to keep her safe." Marco would need to spill it someday, he knew that. The fact that River abused Star and her self-harm was caused by him. However, she had just been given news that her sweet little baby had just cut itself, he didn't want to cause her more grief right now.

"But. That must've been hundreds of years ago right? The people have changed, they'd accept Star to be the rightful ruler, you could give her the life she deserves."

"You don't know that." Was the only response he got, Marco asked the Queen to look over Star until she wakes up, and bid her farewell. He had a 'loose end' to tie up.

Garden

The garden was much brighter than it appeared in the morning, flowers were bustling with life and the bees were pollinating in a mad hurry. There was a small pond that laid centre as a landmark in the vast green, some pink lotuses were floating in the water, surrounded by lilies. The sun was beaming down on everything, warming all in sight – but not Marco's rage.

Marco found Matthew talking to a couple other candidates, it was a minute before he spotted him. "Hi Marco!" He called out, no response came from Marco – only a bloodlust that ran deeper than the crimson liquid itself. "Marco…" He said once more, the Diaz was only a few metres away now, it had truly started to frighten the high-class boy. "What's going on with y-"

His sentence had been cut short by a mean right hook the side of Matt's face, it buried itself deep within his muscle and sent the traitor flying into a pond. The water made way for the teen as he splashed into its home, before instantly starting to cover itself back up. That's when Matt jumped out, his clothes were dripping wet, the dark blue suit he wore turned into a near black colour – the brown hair became black and flat on his scalp.

"Who the fuck, do you think you are?!" Marco screamed, toxicity burning itself into each and every syllable.

Matthew looked at him shocked, unable to choke many words out except "Wait." Over and over, Marco was about to deliver another blow but stopped before contact.

"What?" The word wasn't Marco's, it had a spite to it which resembled Ophelia.

"Let's talk! Like normal people, forget all the class division! Let's not resort to violence." Marco didn't seem too intrigued in talking right now, but his better angels dominated over his mental mindscape for a little while. He allowed for Matthew to pull up a chair.

"2 Minutes." He demanded.

Matt was still shaking from the water and his shock, once calmed down a little he began to speak.

"Why did you punch me?"

"You betrayed me, and Star."

"How so? I didn't do anything."

"Ophelia sa-… …"

…

The fist that had once been clenched in a fit of rage loosened, Marco looked into the blue void known as 'sky' and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Matthew."

"Finally come to your senses, have you?"

"It was Ophelia, she waited for me in my room and had Star watch as she made a move on me… It broke Star's heart and now she's in the Nurse's room. 'Phelia said that you plotted with her against Star." Matthew understood the situation a little more now, Ophelia had tricked Marco and Star and then told him that she was in cahoots with Matt.

"Okay… I accept your apology, she played us all a little in reality." That man was something else to Marco, here the Diaz was – nearly knocking him out just a few moments ago, and the boy had already forgiven him.

"Thank you, Matt." The pavement underneath where Matthew was sitting had been completely painted in dark patches from the dripping water. "Sorry… About that." Marco added, pointing to the floor.

Matthew just laughed, "Water will dry. Now, how will we get her back?" The Diaz had to admit, he liked this Matthew.

Notes: Like what I did with making Matthew seem like a bad guy but then he's a good guy? I originally intended to make him bad and that be that, but you know how I am with changing my mind :P

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