A/N: So this was supposed to be out a week ago as my entry for our little Christmas writing event, but I've been locked out of my google account since then due to some chicanery of the hacking kind. HOWEVER! I just got my account back today and finally wrapped up editing it, as I was rudely interrupted earlier. I hope everyone enjoys this thrilling tale!
Ghosts of Stump Days Past
Tom drummed his fingers in annoyance as he stared out at the glittering sea of cars sitting nearly motionless before him. He'd been sitting in traffic for over thirty minutes now, the victim of the California freeway that now had him crawling at a snail's pace. 'If this was six years ago, I'd just fucking take a portal…" he thought, just as the car next to him blared its horn, the long grating peal making him grit his teeth.
"Incoming call from, Star Butterfly," chirped the vaguely European-sounding female voice that was his high-end BMW's driving assistant.
"Tom here," he answered distractedly, eyeing a developing gap in the traffic and tensing to pounce.
"Heyyyy buddy!"
"Hey Starship," he grinned to himself. As usual, her indomitable cheerfulness never failed to lift his mood, and he chuckled as he gave the throaty V8 some gas and slipped into the gap he'd spied. And while it was difficult for anyone to ever truly forget someone as charismatic and bubbly as Star Butterfly, she'd been away at college with Marco since late August and opportunities to visit had been very limited with the two of them so busy.
"How close are you? I told Marco you'd be there by two, but traffic is probably worse than the royal mile this close to Stump Day, so I can always text him that you'll be a bit later."
"Well considering I am currently screaming along the I-5 attttttt-" he squinted at the digital speedo that was reporting a dismal five miles per hour, "a brisk walk, I'll probably make it there in time for dinner if this traffic doesn't let up."
"Well don't fill up too much, apparently this place has a phenomenal buffet with a 40-topping ice cream bar! Besides," and Tom heard Star lower her voice conspiratorially, "Pony Head is being extra…Pony Head-ish for the last two days, it's been a lot."
"Girl, if by that you completely fabulous,then yes; I am being extra Pony Head-ish today and I appreciate the compliment."
"Hiii, Pony Head." Tom rolled his eyes as he pressed on over whatever his ex and the equine were laughing about, "And Star, I have personally witnessed the monstrosities you call dessert, you're to sweets what your dad is to buffets. Also, why do you still sound so nervous about all this? You've faced down how many villains and crazy extra-dimensional beings? Do you honestly think Marco is going to say no?" There was a pause on the line as the silence spiraled and he worried he'd said the wrong thing before her strained sounding voice came back.
"Yes? No? I don't know…" she sighed heavily, "It's just Marco worked his butt off to help me get into Berkeley with him so we wouldn't have to be apart while he got his degree. And now that we're graduating in the spring, I'll be going to work for Eclipsa in Echo Creek and if he doesn't get into UCLA…"
Tom snorted. "I'm sorry Starship, but really? Even back when we were dating, you two were inseparable. Do you think that after six years, four of which were in college surrounded by literally hundreds of gorgeous girls, and him not so much as even GLANCING at another woman, he'd ever cheat on you? Please…" He waited as she let out a nervous laugh over the phone before pressing on. "Look, don't worry, I know the plan. I'll pick up Marco, and we'll be at the resort by 9 or 10 tops. You hit him with the romantic day tomorrow and boom, we're in the clear. Besides, he's a huge dork, he's gonna love your pro-"
"Incoming call from Dad," interrupted his car.
"Shit-look, I gotta go. My dad's pissed I sprung this vacation on him two weeks before the Brimstone Ball, to which, I still haven't received you and Marco's RSVP for by the way. You know our deal, Star…Janna and I go to all your boring Eclipsa junk, so you and Marco have to come to all my annoying Underworld functions."
"Dealing with one crisis at a time here, Tom!"
"Alright, well I really gotta go but don't let Pony Head make tomorrow all about her, fabulous or not. Marco and I will be there soon."
Star blinked to herself for a moment as she gazed down at her now disconnected phone while her pulse thundered in her ear. Tom was right of course; she had no rational reason to worry. But still, it filled her head to toe with equal parts nerve-wracking tension and dizzying elation to know that tomorrow she was going to do it. Finally going to do the thing she'd dreamed about at least once a month for the last year and a half.
"So you're really going through with it? Gonna make an honest man out of Diaz?" asked Janna as she stretched out luxuriously on the hotel bed. She peered out over her boots to where Star was sitting, her cheeks a burning pink despite the distinct lack of her old heart-shaped cheek marks. "Though I will give you props for being the proposer."
"Awww, that's so sweet Jannabanana!" beamed Star, though her smile died rather quickly as she took a sip of her hot chocolate. "But this is mostly about tradition. On Mewni, it's the women who did the proposing, and I've just felt like we've all been on this crazy journey since it and Earth fused. Monsters, mewmans, and humans are all living together now, and it finally feels like we're all making some headway toward harmony. So much has changed since the magic was destroyed…" She took a moment to indulge in a few happy memories of the last six years before looking up at her two friends. "I just wanna make sure that some traditions, the ones worth keeping, don't disappear."
"Star, you are princessing so damn HARD right now," added Pony Head, floating lower and nodding enthusiastically. "Besides, you both know how much I hate gossip, so I'm only sharing this because I love you both like sisters, but…" Pony head took a deep breath, "You gotta lock that boy down, girl! You do not hang out with the other Menwi royalty like I do! They. Are. Animals!"
"C'mon Pony, it can't be that ba-"
"No, she's absolutely right," interrupted Janna, and Star was surprised to see her Earth-friend looking particularly shell-shocked. "A ton of the royalty from Mewni are old enough to start getting married, so it's a total meat market at literally every royal function. Last week we got dragged to a 'luncheon'," Janna paused to pull a face like she was trying to swallow a cactus. "Tom and I were sat with Pony Head and a bunch of other nobles and a literal fistfight broke out over who could ask Prince Kelpbottom to dance next."
"Girl, we are talking thirsty with a capital T," agreed Pony Head. "And you know how much it pains me to say this since he is your man and all, but Earth Turd is a hottie now. You gotta lock it down with that boy before the rest of the vultures catch on. You know how popular his Princess Turdina merch still is!"
"Ugh, don't remind me…" Janna rolled her eyes before quickly clarifying herself at the scandalized looks of her two friends, "Don't get me wrong, I love the message and the empowerment. Plus, fighting the patriarchy is always a worthwhile goal, but if one more little girl asks for Marco's autograph while we're at Britta's I'm gonna hurl."
"Yeah," chuckled Star, thinking back to a particular episode earlier that year where they'd spent over two hours at Britta's on an impromptu lunch date, though they'd spent a significant portion of that time answering questions and Marco signing more Princess Turdina merchandise. Still… she thought to herself with a private smile, he was awfully cute telling all those monsters, mewmans, and humans to always be themselves. "And Pony, really?" she added, forcing herself back on topic as she looked at her friend incredulously, "you know he's not like that. Look, it's just an engagement. Marco and I can set a date whenever we're ready." Heat was building, and she felt an ache in her chest as the anxiety she'd secretly felt for the past few months began to rise once more.
"Pegasus feathers…" she muttered to herself before meeting both of her friend's slightly concerned-looking gazes. "I just want him to know that wherever he ends up going to graduate school, even if it's not in L.A. with me… That he knows I'm ready to take the next step with him."
"Damn, Star…that was actually pretty sweet." Janna was looking impressed as she nodded in approval. "Now my proposal? I got it all planned out. Midnight at the Well of Lost Souls on the blackest night in The Underworld: Valentine-" but Janna never finished her sentence as a loud sniffling dragged her attention to where Pony Head was floating, rainbow tears streaming down her face as she sobbed out a choked sounding, "I love you girls so much"
o-O-o-O-o-O-o
Marco stretched in his seat as he fought off the growing waves of fatigue that had been making his eyes steadily more heavy for the last three hours. Finishing his yawn, he gazed out through the windshield at the snow beginning to come down in a disorienting display of fat snowflakes. It had begun as a minor flurry as they began to head east into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but as they climbed into higher altitudes, the snow had intensified to a dense starfield of white specks zipping by at breakneck pace as the wind picked up with the storm. It reminded him of Star Wars, and the way the stars would always stretch as a ship slipped into hyperspace.
As beautiful as the scene was, the drive couldn't help but give him anxiety. They were at a higher elevation now, and the road had narrowed to just two lanes on each side meandering through an alpine paradise. A paradise that just so happens to run along a steep cliff… he noted, looking out over the hood to where the road dropped away not thirty feet away. Deciding he could use a distraction, he pulled his phone out and checked the GPS, glad to see they were less than fifteen miles from the lodge. Firing off a quick, See you soon to Star, he slipped the phone back into his jacket and glanced to his left, noticing Tom concentrating hard on deteriorating road conditions.
His pale lavender knuckles were blanched nearly white with the pressure as he gripped the steering wheel hard with both hands and he was leaning forward in his seat, eyes intently staring forward. Marco was tempted briefly to strike up another conversation and break the silence they'd been comfortably sharing for the last half hour, but decided against it for lack of anything interesting to say. What had begun as a lively conversation full of laughter and jokes when he'd been picked up at Berkeley, had eventually died as they ran out of interesting topics of conversation.
"Road's getting bad…" he finally said, more to himself than Tom.
"Yeah, we're down to fifty, and the road is deserted."
Tom's voice was clipped and short, sounding almost annoyed at Marco's interruption of his concentration. Another glance, and this time he caught Tom nervously pulling his phone out of the sun visor and checking it. "Fucking, piece of shit…" muttered the teen under his breath before angrily shoving the phone back in his pocket. Ooooookay, definitely not fine. The thought had no sooner popped into his head when Tom slammed his fist into the steering wheel, causing the car to slide alarmingly before he could get them back on a straight course.
"Whoa dude, can you please not crash in the last half hour of the trip?"
"Sorry." Tom spared his friend an embarrassed look before straightening in his seat and peering through the rapidly intensifying storm.
"You alright?" Marco arched an eyebrow as he hit the reading light. "You'rrreeee what I would charitably call an…aggressive driver, but I can't remember you ever actively trying to crash us. What's going on? Are you and Janna having a tough spot right now?"
"I don't wanna talk about it," answered Tom, flinching at the question before going very still. For an instant, Marco thought that he'd triggered a classic Lucitor rage festival, something he hadn't personally witnessed in a few years. Nostalgic whisps of anxiety tore at his insides as the uncomfortable silence dragged on. He should change the subject, maybe casually rescue the mood by bringing up how much Call of Duty they were going to be able to squeeze in over the next month. He just didn't want to start this entire Christmas vacation with a prickly and irascible Tom. No, that's bullshit, he reminded himself. Just old baggage resurfacing to make things more complicated than they should be. So instead of meekly bowing out, he charged ahead. "C'mon, what's up? If something's really going on with Janna, I'm here if you wanna talk about it. I could even ask Star to he-"
"Janna isn't the issue," snapped Tom, before quickly correcting himself with a quiet, "sorry." He took a calming breath. "Not pissed at you, just pissed at the situation."
"Well I am just about to graduate with a degree in psychology and I have over 400 hours shadowing clinical psychologists. You'realso one of my best friends, so your problems are my problems." He raised a fist and was happy to see Tom let out a small grin before returning the gesture and bumping it.
"It's my fuckin dad. Well…my mom too, but mostly my dad."
"Wait I thought both your parents loved Janna. She and Wrathmelior are in the same horror book club together! And didn't your dad love that bloodstained copy of The Prince she found in that creepy used bookstore?" Marco was confused as he racked his brain for anything that could explain what he'd just heard. To say that his and Star's relationship was different from Tom and Janna's was similar to the way a housecat was different from a mountain lion. Whereas he and Star had only occasional tiffs, and never over anything serious; Tom and Janna's relationship was significantly more fractious. In the six years since "The Cleave", as the world had come to call the joining of Mewni and Earth, they'd broken up thirteen times for various reasons ranging from petty to serious. However, each of these breakups had lasted less than a month, and every time they'd seemed to go longer and longer between incidents.
Tom let out a bitter-sounding laugh as he spared Marco an exasperated look. "They do, and that's why this is so fucking exasperating." The roar of wind picked up and the SUV slewed across the road as the wheels lost grip again. Cursing, he struggled with the wheel as the car over-corrected until they hit a patch of the relatively clear pavement once more and the car straightened itself with an alarming jolt. "Whoops, sorry, weather's getting really shitty," he said as he slowed down a bit.
"So what, are they pressuring you two to get married? I know Janna isn't super traditional about any of that kind of stuff, but do you think she'd say no? You guys are on a solid two-year streak!"
"I fucking wish it was something that simple…" Reaching into his pocket he grabbed his cell before unlocking it and tossing it into Marco's lap.
With a mounting sense of dread, he turned it over and looked at the screen. It was the same messenger app that he had on his own phone, though this one's contents were much less friendly. Splashed on the screen in his hand were a series of texts between Tom and his father that he could scarcely believe. It seemed that for the last week, his friend had been in a very serious argument about his and Janna's relationship. "What the fuck…" he mouthed to himself as he continued to scroll through the conversation.
"So he wants you to break up with her because she isn't of noble blood?" Marco looked up from the phone and into Tom's pained face, "But we talked about that what? A year ago? Star told me that the Underworld doesn't have any laws against something like that. Hell, isn't that how your Dad got to be king in the first place!"
"Yup," growled Tom, "my dad, the fuckin king hypocrite."
"Sooo wait," began Marco, dragging out the word to buy himself time to choose his next words carefully. "Unless you break up with Janna, your dad is going to cut you off?"
"That's the latest threat, yeah. No more royal expense account, no more beach house, no more BMW." Tom squinted into the snow that was becoming harder and harder to see through as the storm's fury intensified.
Marco shook his head. A father blackmailing his own kid because of a stupid, selfish obsession with position and prestige was low, even by the standards of The Underworld. "Any chance we could convince him by getting Eclipsa or Moon involved? I mean both of them had unconventional relationships by the standards of Mewni. Maybe they could help your dad get some perspective."
Tom laughed again and gave him a patronizing smile. "The only person in the multiverse that can get my dad to budge on literally anything once he's made up his mind is my mom. And as you can see from the shining example of parental technique you're holding in your hand, mom agrees with him. She's never stopped getting pushback from her side of the family over her marriage to dad. And as much as I hate to admit it, she's probably just trying to spare me that same pain."
"Wait…" Marco's brain finally clanked into place. "Both of Janna's parents are doctors, right? I'm sure they could help out with expenses."
"Do you know how much the rent is on my place? I could never ask them for that kind of money."
"Wellll there's always plan B," chuckled Marco, throwing his friend a wink.
"Plan B? Is this something Janna and Star cooked up?" It was supposed to be a joke, but there was a heat to Tom's voice that Marco didn't like. "You know what happened last time… We're very lucky Eclipsa found Janna's little 'joke' amusing, otherwise, we'd all have a criminal record."
"Now this might be hard at first, but have you considered that getting a job isn't so bad? Star and I have had part-time jobs during summers as well as the last two years since we moved out of the dorm together. Retail sucks, but there are tons of places hiring and if you and Janna moved in with us we could easily pay the rent. Could be a lot of fun. Besides, once your dad knows what you're willing to do to stay with Janna, he'll have to come around. You two are great together!"
"Marco… And I say this with the full acknowledgment that you are my best friend and I love you like a brother, but I've seen your place. It looks like it's cramped with just the two of you. If we move in? I'd burn the place down in an argument in a month. Not to mention, you may have noticed I have rather expensive tastes. I don't think working at Chipolte and driving Door Dash on the side will pay the lease on this thing," he said, patting the steering wheel affectionately.
"Okay, then what are you going to do?" Now Marco was getting annoyed at his friend's evasive attitude. For someone so upset over his father's ultimatum, Tom seemed oddly resistant to any possible downgrading of his lifestyle.
"Wellll," sighed Tom, still pointedly staring ahead at the road, "I did a lot of soul-searching in the last few days and I'm going to do the only thing that makes any sense."
Marco waited for his friend elaborate, but when Tom made a show of driving, by pretending to peer into the instrument cluster, for over a minute, he cleared his throat. "Uhh, do you wanna mayyyyyybe expand on that? You have an idea to keep your place and be with Janna?"
"I thought it was pretty self-explanatory dude… But if you want me to fucking explain it then sure." Like the flick of a light switch, Tom's voice was throaty and low with barely repressed anger as he turned to Marco. "I'm going to break up with Janna."
"WHAT?!" exploded Marco. Now it all made sense: the cagey deflections about how it would be too much of a burden on Janna's parents, or how he could never live with him and Star to save money while his dad cooled down.
"I don't fucking wanna do it!" Tom roared back, glaring over at his friend, "but I'm not like you and Star; I never had to rough it in the real world. I can't just go from driving an X7 and waking up to an ocean view every day to fucking rolling burritos for some asshole and taking the bus."
"I-" Marco had just begun to say something until Tom's words rocked him back in the seat. Hot, indignant anger flooded into him as he fired back, his own words edged with venom. "Some of us weren't born rich. And for the record, Star chooses to work."
"Yeah–well, while you and Star were off roughing it at college for the last four years, I've been on my father's advisory council. News flash, dude… those aren't exactly paid positions. If my dad cuts me off and kicks me out I have zero fucking marketable skills."
"So you're not even going to fucking try? Just going to say, 'Sorry Janna, I gotta dump you, my parents don't think you have a good enough pedigree' Like she's some kind of participant in a royal dog show… That's so gross." Marco's voice was flat and emotionless as he tried to process exactly what he was hearing. This couldn't be the Tom he knew, it just couldn't. Tom had many faults, but never in a million years would Marco have believed he could be this callous.
"I knew you wouldn't understand even though you fucking should since you've been dating Star for the last six years. For Darkness's sake Marco, for someone so fucking smart, you're incredibly stupid sometimes. It's why I told you I didn't want to talk about this. How many times do we have to tell you… Royals aren't like other people. We don't get a choice in what we do when we grow up. All I get to do is be a good little prince and follow the rules until it's my turn to make them. I have to back up what my parents say and be a shining example of the Lucitor bloodline. Just another pretty ornament in my family's crown. So until the day I take the throne, I can either play by the rules and enjoy my life or scratch out a miserable existence hoping every day Janna doesn't change her mind about being with me so my noble sacrifice for your fucking morales is worth it all."
"Wow…" muttered Marco, shaking his head, "didn't know being a decent boyfriend was so inconvenient for you."
"Oh fuck you du-" But Tom's words caught in his throat as the rear end of the BMW let go again. He'd lost his concentration during the argument, and they'd just entered a sweeping downhill turn when the tires had lost traction in the unbroken snow now laying on the road. Cranking the wheel over, he tried to turn into the slide, fighting the urge to stand on the brakes as the pulsed in a frenzied effort to help him correct the slide: it didn't work.
Marco was shouting as they slewed sideways, struggling to hear himself over the squeal of tires on iced-over asphalt. Whether it was useless instructions to Tom or merely unintelligible jibberish he couldn't tell, but it helped keep his mind clear in the chaos. Ahead of him, he noticed the row of trees on the side of the road they should have been traveling on was curving away from him, and he'd just turned to warn Tom to brace himself when they hit the guard rail with a deafening *Bang*. The jolting impact snapped his wrist, the popping bones making him cry out in pain and shock as his stomach dropped out from underneath him. In its headlong slide down the steep incline, the car had slammed into the stout timber guardrail, bursting through the half-rotted timbers with a spray of snow and splinters before sailing into thin air.
Down they fell, the SUV's nose dragging it in a headlong rush as it arced out into the storm. Inside, Marco watched with horror as the still functional headlights illuminated a field of snow-choked pines that seemed to hurtle up to meet him. "NO!" he shouted, his body tensed as he threw up his hands at the last second, hunching low as the window crazed with the impact of a thick branch before dozens more pummeled them like giants wielding baseball bats.
And that's when his world exploded.
The car burst through the last of the branches, one headlight still blazing definitely before plowing into the rocky embankment with a scream of rending metal and shattering plastic. Sharp stones the size of basketballs ripped and tore away at the sheet metal, standing the SUV up on its end before its own momentum ripped it off the rocks to continue tumbling. Once, twice, three times the vehicle flipped, shedding pieces of itself with each impact as it meandered a chaotic and destructive rampage down the slope.
The first thing Marco noticed when he came back to consciousness was the taste of blood. The heavy, sweet copper flavor made him want to gag despite his head feeling like someone had used it for sparring practice all day at the dojo and it was enough to force him to open his eyes. He was hanging upside down, still belted into his seat inside the utterly destroyed interior. A blood-stained airbag lay deflated in front of him and he could see the roof had partially caved in during the crash. Sucking in a pained breath as his muscles reminded him he'd just been in a major car accident, he half-turned, half-shuffled his body in the seat to check on his friend. "Tom, hey, Tom!" he rasped out.
He didn't look good. Even in the dim light remaining in the cabin from the few unbroken lights, he could see that the horn on the left side of his head was snapped at the root and blood was drizzling down the same side, staining his pink hair an ugly streaked crimson. Marco could also clearly see his left arm was badly broken, most likely a compound fracture from the angle it hung at and the blood he saw dripping off his limp arm. "Tom, TOM!" he shouted again, trying to wake his friend who still didn't respond. Fearing the worst, he reached up to awkwardly slap at the seatbelt release with blood-slick fingers, whimpering as fractured bones in his wrist screamed at the sudden motion. Finally, after four tries, the overstrained mechanism released to dump him onto the ceiling of the inverted vehicle. It creaked ominously, and for the first time, Marco became aware of the distinct scent of oil and other automotive fluids. Even if the risk of fire was low, he had to get Tom out of the vehicle. Even if… but the idea was too terrible to even think. Instead, he got to his knees painfully, and gingerly climbed over the torn and jagged roof, careful not to slice open a hand.
Marco's heart was in his throat as he reached out and pressed two fingers into the side of his friend's neck. Please don't be dead. The words were on repeat in his mind as he searched for any sign of life. Did he even have the right spot on a half-demon's neck, and if not where should- There! His mind roared in triumph as the gentle tremor of a pulse hit his fingers: it was slow, but steady. "Oh thank Mewni you're alive," breathed Marco, crawling forward directly under to where he could reach up and support Tom as he unbuckled him from his seat.
Gently, he let him down, lifting the limp body up and over the mangled roof as he worked the two towards the passenger side window. Marco felt his stomach go queasy when they'd finally gotten out of the wreck, only then noticing that Tom's left leg was also broken just above the knee. Making him as comfortable as he could, Marco spent several minutes checking him for any other significant injuries and was not encouraged by what he found: namely, that Tom had a shitload of small cuts that were still bleeding and a headwound that he didn't like the look of.
Standing stiffly, he took a second to examine himself and their surroundings. He was surprised to find that despite having a badly broken wrist and a nosebleed still freely running from both nostrils, he'd escaped the crash with mostly just small cuts and a shit load of bruises. He'd been extremely lucky to survive with such minor injuries, even luckier still when he noticed where they'd stopped. The wreck of the SUV had wedged itself up against the base of a huge pine tree not thirty feet away from where the hillside simply dropped away into another sheer cliff, a cliff he was sure they would not have survived going over. Lucky or not, Marco knew that Tom needed more medical assistance than he had the ability to give. It was time to call 911. Reaching into his jacket, he felt his heart stop as his fingers found the pocket empty. Shit… it must have fallen out in the crash.
Back into the wreck, he crawled, using the low light to look for the missing phone more by feel than sight. The search was slow and deliberate, Marco taking his time to make sure he didn't miss it in the gloom as well as to not shred his hands on the multiple spots where torn sheet metal threatened to slice him open like a razor. He didn't find it in the front, nor the second row where a misplaced foot opened up an inch-long gash in his shin. It wasn't until he'd ducked under the narrow gap between the second row and the partially collapsed roof did his fingers collided with something that could have been a cell phone.
Marco's heart soared even as he cursed himself for knocking it away as he scrambled to find it again. Pushing further into the narrow gap, he reached and scrabbled until a fingernail caught and dragged it into his hand. He rolled back, snatching his prize out with him and hugging it to his chest like a drowning man clutching a life ring. They were saved; he'd simply call 911 to report their rough position, and an ambulance would be here in less than an hour at the very worst. All he had to do was unlock the phone and– The elation in his chest crumbled to ash as his finger slid along the edge to press the unlock button only to curl over on the sharp, jagged edge of torn and shattered iPhone. Squinting, he saw the top third of the phone had simply snapped off in the crash. "Of course…" he growled to himself, fighting against the rising panic in his chest.
Letting the useless phone remnant go, Marco lay there for a moment as he talked to himself, "Alright think, Diaz, think. Your phone's useless, Tom's out of commission and needs to go to the hospital, plus you're stranded in a blizzard with almost nothing to help. You've been in tighter spots than this in the Neverzone." Though not many… he admitted to himself as he searched his brain for any stray thought or memory of his time there that might help him keep them alive until someone found them. The adrenaline of the crash and its immediate aftermath was beginning to fade, and along with the pain of his injuries, he was starting to notice just how cold he was beginning to feel.
If he'd just had his suitcase… But he hadn't felt any of their luggage in the back during the search for his phone, a fact that was unsurprising considering the entire rear liftgate had been torn off sometime during the crash. It was likely that their luggage was scattered somewhere back up the mountainside, already buried under an inch of snow. Probably explains why I didn't find Tom's phone in here… he mused darkly. In fact, something would have had to be strapped in to not be thrown out of the vehicle.
And that's when he remembered it.
"Thank you Tom for bragging about your brand new car!" exulted Marco, almost punching the seat over him as he remembered the day, He and Star had spent over an hour with Tom as he showed off his new prize possession. Star had been excited, of course, especially loving the "magical" features like the massaging heated seats and self-dimming mirrors, while he'd merely been dutifully impressed. Back in the present, he wiggled back out of the smashed BMW before circling around to the mangled rear end. Reaching up, he felt almost giddy when his fingers found the plastic cover still in place and he tore at the fasteners, frantic to get to his prize.
It was there, still neatly velcroed to the twisted floor pan and he could read the embossed label as he ran his trembling fingers over its surface: BMW Emergency Kit. Working with hands already becoming clumsy with cold, he hurriedly unfastened it before carrying it like a Faberge egg over to where Tom still lay unresponsive.
They had a chance.
o-O-o-O-o-O-o
Star was anxious. No, scratch that…she was downright worried. "Hey this is Marco, I'm not here right now so leave a message and I'll call you right back." Huffing in annoyance, she hung up. It was the fifteenth call in as many minutes, the only break she took from standing sentry by her phone in case he texted. She looked up to where Janna and Pony Head were sitting looking equally as uneasy. "No word from Tom?" she asked, giving her phone a squeeze as she fought the urge to simply stare at it until she heard something. "And you're sure he hasn't texted you?" she pressed, frowning as she willed the stupid thing in her hand to give her the reassurance she so desperately needed, "they should have been here an hour ago."
"No, nothing…" Janna answered back in a half-mutter, too distracted and worried herself to even give her best friend a hard time over asking such a painfully obvious question.
"Well, it's been over three hours! Pegasus feathers, Marco texted they were less than fifteen miles away, where are they?!" She looked out the pretty mullioned window to where the snow was coming down as hard as she could ever remember. It had been serene before, putting her in a holiday mood ready to spend a fun night with her friends and the love of her life. But now that comfort was gone, replaced by a landscape that looked cold and hostile, a silent threat of imminent tragedy.
But rather than feel defeated, she felt a familiar burning need for action filling her. It was the same feeling she'd had when she'd stood up to Toffee after he'd kidnapped Marco, the same feeling when she fought Meteora, heck…even the same she'd felt when she went toe-to-toe with Mina in her crazy Solarian battle suit. Marco…Her, Marco, could be in serious trouble. Tom could be in serious trouble. And wilting from adversity was not something Star Butterfly, a strong independent woman with fists like hammers did. She needed to do something; a need that would settle for no less than a personal rescue mission.
"We can't just sit here and worry like my Aunt Etheria, we need to do something," she said as she got to her feet and smacked a fist into her palm. "Janna, and I'm only asking this because we're in a crisis, but do you still have a tracking bug on Marco? We could really use some of those Jannanigans right about now."
"Noooo," she groaned, "he served me with a cease and desist about a year ago. I guess he's finally serious about not wanting to have his personal whereabouts known to me at all times. I honestly expected the papers to be served years ago."
"You don't air tag Earth Turd? Dang, you two are serious!" Pony chimed in rather unhelpfully.
"Pony, no-ugh…" Star shook her head as she rubbed her temple. "I'm literally proposing to him tomorrow, of course we're serious."
"Well, I apologize then," sniffed Pony Head, looking distinctly unapologetic. "For some people, chiefly my fabulous sister Khrysthalle among them, marriage is merely another tool in a fabulous woman's arsenal. She just got married for citizenship Dubai."
"Ooooh, that one's immigration fraud; I wouldn't recommend it. High risk, low reward," answered Janna, before turning her attention back to Star. "I'm worried too, though. The fact that Tom's not picking up and Marco's phone is going straight to voicemail definitely isn't normal. I still think Tom is too intimidated by me to not pick up without a good reason."
A blood-curdling scream rang out like someone was being stabbed, making everyone but Janna jump. Instead, she scrambled to answer, frowning when she saw "King Dave" on the screen. Holding up her finger for silence, she answered the phone before putting it on speaker.
"Janna," came a cold voice from out of the speaker, "are you able to speak in private?" There was no greeting, no wasting of time on useless pleasantries, just straight to business with the king of The Underworld.
"I'm alone," and once more Janna held her finger to her lips, taking extra care to stare at Pony Head.
"I take it my son is still overdue?"
The question startled her with its prescience, and she almost dropped the phone in her shock. "H-How did you know?" she stammered out as all three of them shared a shocked look.
"Janna, I pay for every aspect of my son's…independence. Part of that is the upkeep on that shiny new automobile he is so fond of. As such, I was the emergency contact for the service that alerted the police, who subsequently got ahold of me. I've just been off the phone with the local law enforcement in your area, and they have informed me that his vehicle was involved in a crash earlier this evening. A…" and she was shocked to hear something in his voice she'd never heard before: uncertainty. "A severe one," he finished and Janna's eyes met Star's over the phone where she saw her own pain reflected in them.
"Do-ah, do they know the location? Have they gotten there to make sure they're ok?" she asked, her heart hammering in her chest as she waited on Tom's father to either break her heart or deliver her from an uncertain hell.
"That…that is why I am calling. It seems they were most of the way to the resort before… The police–" and once more Dave trailed off as his voice seemed to gutter and dim as he struggled to get the words out. "The police can't get access to the site. The entire stretch of road from the state police barracks to the resort is shut due to the blizzard. Apparently, there's a risk of something called an avalanche."
"Yeah, those are pretty bad," she said without listening. The wheels in her mind were screaming as she fought off a growing horror in her stomach that both Tom and Marco may already be dead, something that even the normally unflappable Janna Ordonia couldn't entertain without feeling the pressure of tears welling up behind her eyes. "What about the ski patrol? If he's that close, couldn't they just get snowmobiles and go back down the mountain?"
"I have already made that inquiry, and while they assured me they would do everything possible, the uncertain location of the crash and the weather are currently making rescue impossible. I'm rushing assistance to the area using every resource at my disposal, but may I impose upon you as Tom's father?" Dave's words dragged her back to the conversation and she managed to choke out a weak-sounding "sure" before he pressed on, his voice sounding thick. "If you hear anything, anything at all. Or if Tom and Marco make their way to the resort…"
"I'll call you, of course." Janna's hand shook as Star stood up and began to pace back and forth.
"Thank you." Another voice spoke on the line, unintelligible, but insistent and Janna waited impatiently as the silence stretched on. "Janna…" Dave's voice broke halfway through the word, "I must go. Wrathmelior and I are about to start our emergency council meeting. Please remember to call if you hear anything." The line went dead, her phone dimming automatically as the call ended.
It felt like the chair was falling away underneath her as stayed perfectly still, frozen as the dark phone seemed to press into her palm like it weighed a hundred pounds. She curled her fingers around it, lost in feelings raging inside of her as she struggled to center herself. She could feel the cold void of worry and grief threatening to yawn wide open to swallow her.
"Janna." Star's words made her look up to where the mewman girl was staring at her, hard-edged defiance burning in eyes brimming with unshed tears. "We need to go rescue Tom and Marco. I didn't accidentally fuse two dimensions together just to have him die in some stupid car accident."
"And I've put in way too much time turning Tom into a reasonably thoughtful and respectful boyfriend to start over. Plus…" she felt the faintest tug of a smirk on her lips at Star's nonplussed face, "I kinda love the hot head."
"BOOM, YES GIRL! This rescue mission is fully on!" shouted Pony Head, flying up and doing a full somersault.
Fifteen minutes later and with plan in hand, Star nodded to Pony Head from her hiding spot behind a nearby shed. Originally they'd been frustrated by their efforts to think of something feasible given the difficulties they faced. Their cars were useless, snowbound in the two feet that had already come down in the last day, and walking was nearly impossible in snow that deep. It wasn't until Star remembered Pony Head's story of earlier that morning where she'd recounted how hard the ski patrol had flirted with her that inspiration struck.
Ahead of her, she watched Pony take a moment to psych herself up before gritting her teeth and taking off full speed. She hurtled through the snow, a blue streak until she bounced off the side of the ski patrol cabin with a *Thud*that made Star wince. A moment later, the front door cracked open and a head popped out before the rest a man rushed outside and knelt next to a motionless Pony Head. "Bill, grab the first aid kit, we got an emergency out here!" shouted the man, and another ski patrol member appeared seconds later with a large red duffle bag.
Behind where the two men were working to assess and communicate with a very woozy-sounding Pony Head, Janna edged around the corner of the cabin, crossing the gap to the still-open door in several silent strides. She slipped through, keeping low in case anyone was still inside. Getting caught now could be explained away by just wanting to duck inside for warmth, but if she was caught any deeper in the office, it would raise their guard. Thankfully the room was empty, as with the ski slopes closed due to the weather, there wasn't as much of a need for people.
Well-practiced from years of lifting things off Marco and various other marks, Janna wound her way through the office, sharp eyes searching for any obvious location for keys. She found it within twenty seconds. "I love trusting people…" she snickered to herself before slipping open the small metal door and plucking the three keys she wanted off the hooks. She was back outside in less than five seconds, smiling to herself when she heard Pony's slightly slurred, "Do you think I could have just a little mouth-to-mouth?" as she hustled over to where Star was still crouched behind another building.
"Okay, follow me the shed's right over here. I saw it while I scoped out the ski patrol lodge on the way here. Sidling up to the door, Janna unlocked it to let them slip inside. "Swanky…" she murmured, not at all expecting the near surgically clean garage. Five gleaming red snowmobiles were parked next to each other in numbered bays, each festooned with first aid kits and all manner of rescue equipment. Turning to Star, who was just finishing putting on a second pair of bubblegum pink gloves, she asked, "Remember how to drive these things?"
"Please," she blew a raspberry as she snapped her ski goggles over her eyes, "I beat all of you when we were racing across that meadow. Still prefer warnicorns though…"
They took a moment to finish getting dressed before Janna dropped the keys in Star's hand and jogged over to a spot on the wall where a big red button labeled "Emergency Garage Door" was sitting under a light. "Get both of them started. I think when I press this, all the doors will open and a whole lot of lights are gonna start flashing. We're going to jump on these and ride back down the road. If Marco and Tom were where they said they were, we should find them relatively quickly. Got it?"
Star's answer was to turn the key on the snowmobile, happy when it caught almost immediately. Scrambling over to the other one, she got it started, fumbling with the controls for a second until she was confident she could get it moving. Throwing her friend a thumbs up, she braced as Janna slapped the button, emergency lights flaring to life as a siren sounded. As one, all five bay doors for the snowmobiles opened and she gunned the throttle, letting out a triumphant whoop as they flashed past two ski patrol members that had come running at the commotion. A quick check behind her showed Janna hot on her tail and she hunched low over the windscreen, staring ahead as they turned out towards the main road and hopefully, a rescue.
o-O-o-O-o-O-o
Marco groaned laboriously as he knelt down next to where Tom was still laying unconscious. Tugging off his glove with his teeth, he leaned in and began the familiar ritual of checking on his friend's injuries. It had been over three hours since they crashed, and by now he flew through the motions with a practiced hand. As usual, it began with a check of his pulse, and he watched the stump of his broken second-hand sweep around the face of his shattered wristwatch. A beat lower than ten minutes ago… he noted, frowning to himself as he counted one more time just to be sure. Moving on, he was relieved to see Tom's headwound had stopped bleeding as well as the compound fracture he'd done his best to bandage from the limited first aid kit he'd pulled from the wreck. Still, despite him using every iota of first aid knowledge he could dredge up to stem any bleeding, he had a much more deadly enemy now.
Exposure.
He'd done his best to wrap his friend in the thin foil space blanket he'd pulled from the emergency kit, but Marco was pretty sure he was losing the battle to keep his friend alive to hypothermia. "Hang on, buddy…" he whispered, shifting his position to shield Tom from the still-whipping wind. He'd spent a teeth-chattering twenty minutes packing snow against the wreck of Tom's car in an attempt to better shield them from the blizzard's biting cold and it had worked…for a while. Now it seemed the storm had shifted and part of the wind was getting around the edge of the wrecked vehicle. Soon, he'd have to get up and pack some snow in a pile to extend the wind break and keep them as protected as possible.
Checking his meager supplies which included the remnants of the first aid kid, three road flares, a tire iron, and a dead flashlight, his eyes landed on the shiny tire pressure gauge. It made him laugh as he looked up to where the twisted and mangled remnant of a tire was hanging by a single bolt. But it had been the flashlight that had been the real gut punch. Marco had almost cried in elation when he'd found it and had actually cried when he'd clicked the button and nothing happened. That's it… he decided, grabbing the tire iron and one of the precious flares. Tom wouldn't make it to morning at the rate his hypothermia was setting in and he couldn't afford to wait any longer, so it was once again time for plan B.
Plan B was his hastily thrown-together plan to make sure they were spotted when the time came. As plans went it wasn't his best, or anywhere even the top of even a "best ideas" list, but it had the benefit of being nearly foolproof and involved one of Tom's favorite things: fire. He winced when he jammed the flat end of the tire iron in the small panel gap around the fuel filler door, pressing against it as the locked cover flexed under the strain. His broken wrist screamed at him as he choked up on the tire iron, pulling back for more leverage as the sheet metal popped and buckled, finally letting go with a muted *bang* that almost sent him sprawling back into the snow.
Working nimbly, he readied a strip of torn t-shirt as he clawed at the filler cap, cursing to himself when it let go unexpectedly and the force of the gasoline glugging knocked the cloth out of his hand. Quickly, he stooped to retrieve it, stuffing the wad of cloth into the filler tube to stem the torrent. Breathing a sigh of relief when he saw the stream had become a slow drip, he stepped back to pull out the flare. The car would burn for hours and provide ample warmth for the two of them as well as act as a convenient beacon for rescu–He froze as his eyes landed on a spot fifteen feet away where two sets of large eyes were staring at him through the snow. A hellish scream ripped through the night and Marco felt a chill of fear as he recognized the low silhouettes of a pair of mountain lions.
His fist automatically tightened around the tire iron as he slowly got to his feet. The two cats were staring at him, their yellow eyes flicking to where Tom lay motionless and vulnerable. "Get! Go!" he shouted, taking a step forward and spreading his arms to look bigger. He remembered reading somewhere that mountain lions rarely attacked humans and that they could usually be driven off with a display of intimidation. Of course, those people weren't covered in blood… he noted with another run of icy fear up his spine. Treating his and Tom's injuries had left both of them sticky with half-dried blood, and it must have smelled like an appetizing feast to two hungry cougars.
The lion on the right made a dash for Tom and Marco rushed forward, throwing a snapping front kick that only partially connected. The big cat yowled and jumped back, spitting and snarling as it swiped at Marco's boot, the impact feeling like someone had swung a small bat into the side of it. Keeping his attention largely focused on the immediate aggressor, he chanced a glance at the other cougar, who was attempting to circle around to his back.
The first cat lunged, swiping a claw that hooked Marco's boot and pulled him off balance. Stumbling, he swung the tire iron just as the second cougar leapt at him in an attempt to catch him in the back. *Tunk*Another yowl as the iron hit home, landing a solid blow that sent the cat flopping off course in another fit of angry spitting. A searing pain dragged his attention to where the first cat, taking advantage of his distraction, had clamped its jaw down on his boot. It thrashed its head, dragging him forward until he toppled over.
It was on him in a flurry of claws and teeth, ripping and tearing at his arms and chest as he desperately fought to keep it from clamping its jaws around his throat and finishing him. Another bite made him cry out, and his hand reflexively opened to drop the tire iron in the snow from the pain screaming over the adrenaline surge. He needed to do something as he only seconds now before that second mountain lion rejoined the fight and finished him off. So, roaring in half-pain, half-fury, Marco threw a short elbow that caught the cougar in the head, tearing its teeth free of his arm with a lance of agony up his arm.
Plunging a tattered and bloodied arm into the snow, Marco had the iron in his hand faster than he'd even thought possible, whipping his arm around in a scything arc that ended with the crack of steel on bone. He barely had time to notice the big cat high-tailing it out of there before the second lion hit him like a small car covered in fur. They rolled together, Marco furiously striking at the spitting and snarling beast desperate to land a good hit, if he could just…
*FWOOOSH*
The harsh roar and orange glare of fire shattered their little shelter under the tree, and Marco felt a rush of hot air pass over him as the mountain lion was blasted off in a shower of embers. He cried out in shock and surprise, shielding his face as hungry flames licked at it, and had to roll in the snow to smother his now burning jacket. He came up swinging, ready for a fight to the finish with two very pissed-off mountain lions, but there was nothing there. The only thing in front of him was a wall of vivid flames as it spread to consume the wrecked SUV. The cougars must have fled, seemingly unwilling to fight any harder for what turned out to be much harder prey than they'd bargained for.
"Figured…you could use a hand…"
Whipping around, Marco's eyes widened as watched Tom let his arm drop back to the ground and give him an exhausted look. "Regenerative powers, remember?" he clarified when the shocked look persisted on his friend's face. "I may not be able to reattach a severed hand anymore like I used to, but I still heal a lot faster than you humans." Grimacing, he held up his still clearly broken arm, "Yep, still broken…"
Marco didn't speak at first, just merely turned laboriously and trudged back before plopping down hard in the snow. Closing his eyes he leaned back on the trunk of the tree and let out a shuddering sob of relief. "I wasn't…" he breathed out, steadying himself, "I wasn't sure you were gonna make it… The head wound, and the c-cold." The pumping adrenaline was making his hands shake as he continued to try and get hold of himself. "You're sure you're going to be okay? I don't really have the strength left for another surprise tonight."
"I mean the broken bones are going to take a couple of weeks," said Tom, shifting painfully as he watched the bright orange flames continue to devour the wreck of his car. He reached up to gingerly touch the spot on the left side of his head where a jagged stump was all that was left of the horn there. "I don't think this is gonna grow back either. Fuckkkkk, Janna was just giving me shit for my driving last week… She's never gonna let me live this down."
"You know she loves you, right?" Marco wasn't going to let this die so easily. Blizzards, car crashes, and serious injury may have all conspired to put an end to the discussion, but he was determined not to let the universe win. When Tom looked at him, his face unreadable in the harsh firelight of the burning car, he pressed on. "I'm serious. It's why even when she's bitching to Star about you, even when you guys have your fights or breakups, she always comes back. Come to mention it…" Marco tapped a bloody finger against his chin, "I seem to remember the last time you and Janna broke up. Remember how I came to spend a bro weekend that we spent half of talking about how much you missed her?"
Tom didn't immediately reply, instead making rather a show of examining his broken horn. Finally, when the awkward tension had spiraled as high as he was prepared to tolerate, he let out a weary sigh and laid his head back against the rough bark. "You're right… And I love her too, it's just…"
"You're scared?" offered Marco.
"I'm going to go ahead and take that in the sentiment I know you meant, rather than the very insulting one it sounded like," chuckled Tom, rolling his eyes as he lifted his unbroken arm to bump bloody fists with his best friend. "It's kinda funny, but nearly dying in a horrible Stump Day Eve car wreck kinda shakes up your perspective."
"I know you'll make it work, buddy. If Janna means as much to you as I think she does, you'll figure out a way to convince your dad, or at the very least you can ask Star if Eclipsa can help. You did put your life on the line two times for Mewni back before the cleave, I'm sure she'd be happy to repay the favor by getting you a job."
"Maybe I could work with Star? She's going to be heading up Eclipsa's new Mewman/Monster unity initiative, right? Back when we were dating," and he and Marco shared an awkward glance away from each other, "I helped her out with a bit of that stuff. Besides, even though I'm half-demon, I might as well be half-monster in a lot of mewman's eyes. Maybe I can bring a unique perspective?"
"Of that, I have no doubt." A tiny ringing down by his hand caught Marco's attention and he winced when he remembered it was the alarm he'd set to remind him exactly when it was Star's birthday. He'd packed a box of Captain Blanche's Sugar Seeds and had planned to have a romantic midnight cereal date, but sadly, that seemed unlikely considering the circumstances. Oh well…at least we both lived through the crash, he thought as he silenced the alarm and let his weary and sore arm drop back into his lap.
"Sorry about your watch. I know it was an anniversary gift from Star… Any chance you can get it fixed?"
Marco winced as his bone-tired and clumsy fingers worked at the clasp, finally opening it with some difficulty before he slipped it off his wrist. Turning it over, he gazed at the small engraving on the back, that still gleamed in the firelight.
To my Mess-up Twin, Best Bestie, Former Royal Squire, and Wild Man.
You are the magic in my life
-Love, S.B.
It had been her fifth-anniversary gift to him and had cost far, far more than he paid for hers. He'd been upset at first that she'd spent so much money on him when they weren't exactly rolling in cash, to begin with, but calmed down once she explained she took a second job for a month to afford it. "Soon enough you're going to start seeing patients, and you'll need a handy way to keep an eye on the time," she'd told him with a loving kiss before throwing him a crooked grin. "Plus, you'll think of me every time you look at it." Now, though it was likely beyond repair; if there was any way he could get it repaired, he would.
"I'll get it fixed, don't worry," he finally answered before carefully slipping the watch back on his wrist and securing it. "By the way," he tapped his watch, Happy Stump Day Buddy."
"Happy Stump Day"
o-O-o-O-o-O-o
Chancing a glance behind her as they bored through the driving snow, Star was glad to see Janna right on her tail. Even better were the two headlights several hundred yards back that had been slowly gaining on them for the last ten minutes. Originally Star had been keen to simply ride off like the knights in the storybooks and rescue Marco and Tom themselves, but it had been Janna that had reminded her that she no longer had access to rescue-enabling tools like a functional wand or dimensional scissors. But being the always-lovable scoundrel that she was, Janna had suggested a slight modification to the original plan.
By not merely roaring off into the night at breakneck speed to attempt a difficult mountainside rescue with zero training, and instead lingering long enough so they had ensured that two of the ski patrol gave chase in their own snowmobiles. Tom's gonna have his hands full with her, she grinned to herself as she watched their unwitting volunteer rescuers close the gap slightly more. So far, they'd stayed ahead, leading the surely angry and concerned patrol members on a merry chase. But now Star was certain they were getting close as the clock on the handlebars showed her they'd been riding for almost twenty-five minutes at a good pace.
Ahead of her, she could almost make something out. Perhaps it was the snow letting up, or a stranded car with its lights on–No… She changed her mind once the light in the sky took on a reddish-orange tinge as she approached a sharp curve. Her gut tightened, and she slowed to get a better look, spotting where the guardrail was shattered and broken. She steered over to where something had definitely smashed through, seeing how the road fell away into a steep rocky cliff.
Sliding to a stop, she hopped off the snowmobile, her heart racing as her eyes landed on the bright fire burning through the pine trees down the rocky slope. "THERE!" she shouted to Janna, who was already jumping off her own snowmobile. "Wait here for the ski patrol-y guys, I'm going down there!" she shouted, not even hearing Janna's startled protest as she hopped down to a large bolder, wobbling precariously before she regained balance. She climbed as fast as she thought was safe, constantly fighting her heart screaming that Marco and Tom may be hurt, or worse and that she should get to them immediately.
"Oof," grunted Star, rolling with the impact as she dropped the last 8 feet off the ledge onto less steep terrain. Ahead of her, she could make out more of the fire at the end of a hundred-yard-long trail of destruction and downed tree limbs. "MARCO!" she shouted, taking off toward the flames, dodging boulders and bits of destroyed car as she went. There was a noise, barely audible over the pounding of her own pulse in her ears and she poured on the speed as she got closer. "MARCO!" she roared again, this time distinctly hearing his return call of her name as she got closer.
The car was an inferno. Wedged tight under the tree and surrounded in weird fog from the melting snow dripping onto the hot steel from above. She called his name once again, hearing it clear over the hissing and popping of the flames and she ran around the wreck, cutting wide until she saw them: Marco and Tom, both leaning against a tree fifteen yards behind the car, looking like they just survived one of Janna's horror movie marathons.
"Star!" Marco stumbled as he shot to his feet, half-jogging, half-limping towards her.
She didn't even slow down as she swept him up into a huge, almost knocking both of them into the snow as squeezed her back with his uninjured arm. "I thought I…" But she didn't finish the words. He looked like an absolute wreck, his face half covered in dried blood, and one arm splinted with sticks and tape. She'd also seen a number of wounds that had bled enough to stain his light grey jacket with ugly dark splotches.
"You didn't," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut to keep them from overflowing. They stayed like that for several moments before a loud "Kudos on the reunion guys, but I'm still alive, ya know…" from behind made them break their embrace.
"Tom's…uh, a little more banged up than me. You didn't happen to bring a backboard with you did you?"
"A what now?"
"The plank thing that I got carried out on last summer when your dad insisted on reviving that crazy "Game of Flags" at the park," he explained as they made their way over to Tom.
"I don't, but the two ski patrol members we roped into following us out here do. Janna," she answered when he gave her an incredulous look.
Two hours later, Marco found himself in a hospital bed at the resort's infirmary. After catching up to them, the ski patrol put Tom on their backboard and helped Marco back up to the road. After that, they'd all ridden back to the resort where Tom had spent an hour with the doctor getting his broken bones set. Now they were laying next to each as both of them warmed up under heating blankets. Star and Janna were also there, both refusing to let them spend the overnight in the infirmary alone.
"Soo Marcooo," Janna began almost casually from where she'd been quietly talking with Tom, "Horns, sorry honey, Horn here has been telling me you're still pretty skilled in a crisis."
"I mean I've picked some stuff up here and there in the Neverzone, plus there were the first aid courses I've taken. I just did what I had to, followed the training," he answered, trying not to blush.
"No man, that's not just training." Tom shook his head from his spot on the bed. "You've been a crazy do-gooder hero from literally the first minute I met you. You saved my life tonight, I'm serious."
"Oh, well-"
"You were right, about everything today…" Tom interrupted him, and Marco watched as he turned to Janna and gently took her hand in his bandaged ones. "Janna, I don't know if you know this, but my dad thinks you aren't good enough to be a potential suitor for me. But he couldn't be more wrong: I'm not good enough for you. I don't have a ring handy, but I know you were partial to that one with the blood ruby and bone. Whaddaya say we go pick it out together?"
"Are you?" Comprehension was dawning on Janna as her tired brain put the pieces together. Across from her, Marco was looking shocked and Star was squealing quietly to herself as she positively vibrated with excitement.
"Janna Ordonia," his utterance of her name dragged her attention back to where he was smiling up at her, "will you marry me?"
The silence was only broken up by Star's nearly hypersonic "Eeeeeee" as Janna smiled at her boyfriend. "Yes, you goofball, yes," she leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss, mindful of the numerous spots where vaseline had been applied to the light purple patches of his frostbite.
What followed was a raucous hour of celebration, well at least as much as one could while confined to a hospital bed. Janna and Star excused themselves for a few minutes, only to come back with an armful of snacks and drinks. After they'd had their fill, they wound down the evening with Star putting Fiesta De La Noche as she climbed into Marco's hospital bed to snuggle with him.
"Happy Birthday, Star," he whispered to her as sleep was threatening to take him. He'd wanted to get one last birthday wish in before he dropped off. To his right, both Janna and Tom were out cold.
"Mmm, probably the most eventful Stump Day since that time back on Mewni…" she giggled. "Crazy about Janna and Tom though… I thought she'd have held out for a few more years. Her occult bookshop is doing really well with all the mewmans and monsters looking for supplies."
"Well, Janna is nothing if not unpredictable," he yawned, scrunching down to pull her a little tighter when he thought he heard a muttered, "Hope she didn't steal my thunder…"