A week had passed since Star saw the carnage the monsters wrought on the western village, and she was still having trouble coping with it.
Every time she closed her eyes she saw the scorched skull she'd tripped over, the remnants of skin and hair and clothes and who that person used to be.
There had been several times she'd awoken with a start in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat and trembling, and Marco had rushed in, bleary eyed and half asleep, his dagger clutched in his fingers as he brandished it at the enemies that plagued Star's mind.
She knew she yelled out from time to time, but during the other occurrences she wondered if his senses were so honed and advanced that he was able to hear subtle differences. If he heard unusual movements from her room, heard her sporadic breathing and the creak of her bed when she lurched to sit up.
Sometimes it happened multiple times per night, each vision the same but delivered in different ways. Sometimes it was the person she'd seen, though sometimes the body belonged to her mother or father.
At one point, when she rolled that body over, she saw herself, patches of scorched blonde hair and her skin melted from her bones.
Whenever Marco ran in when she woke up, she felt a mixture of calm and worry. Calm because she knew she was protected, that she had someone there specifically for her safety, but also worry. Not only for herself, but also for…well, for Marco.
She knew her personal bodyguard hadn't been sleeping well either, judging from the bags under his eyes and his slumped posture. He was even moving a little slower than he usually did.
One day she'd escaped out her window to the garden, and it took him a whole seven minutes to locate her. When he finally did, he simply gave her a small bow and collapsed onto his normal spot on the stone bench beside her, leaning back and basking in the light of the sun.
She had mumbled something about him being like a massive house cat when he sprawled out like that in the light of the day. He just shrugged in her direction, mumbling something unintelligible under his breath in response, only a few words even sounding like the Mewnian language.
She rolled her eyes at him and smiled despite herself, relaxing beside him and sprawling out, taking after her knight and letting the sun soak into her body as she closed her eyes.
They'd spent several sunny days in those spots together. Neither of them ever said more than a few words. They simply enjoyed a fellow presence as they relished in the warmth and the light and the soft breeze that gusted through the gardens every now and then.
It made her feel better for a few fleeting moments, until the severity of the danger the kingdom was in would hit her once again. She had so much she wanted to do for her people, but none of it would fix what had already been done.
She had been ready several times to wander into the forest outside their kingdom until she found those monsters and give them everything she had to try and drive them away. Though, when she thought about it for longer than a few minutes, it wouldn't have worked.
Her mind kept going back to that village. Both the dead and missing Mewmans plagued her mind whether she was awake or asleep. The smell of the blood and burnt houses, the smell of burnt flesh…it was something that she would never forget.
After what they had seen and experienced together, Star just wanted to relax a bit. She wandered the grounds of the castle, not even straying from the walls that week. She couldn't. She wouldn't have been able to keep herself away from that village.
One day in particular, it was rainy and dreary outside once again, like it had been that day they'd gone into the western village. The princess busied herself with studying her magic spell book in a seat by her window, watching the rain spatter the panes of glass as she mumbled spells to herself.
Whenever she felt the need, she casted them at a portion of her wall that looked like it'd seen better days, crumbled and stained. There was even the remnants of a target she'd painted a long time ago, though that was several weeks past faded.
She began to grow frustrated, sitting there grumbling under her breath, when the idea hit her. "Marco!" she called out, leaning so far back in her chair that her head lolled over the back. She caught an upside-down view of Marco dashing into the room with one of his daggers gripped in his fingers.
When he saw her laying in her chair, he sighed in relief and returned his knife to its sheath. He bowed to her before he cast her his usual smile, almost fully hidden beyond his lips and mysterious as a smile could be.
"Yes, your majesty?" he asked her, to which she grinned and straightened up, hopping to her feet and walking closer to him.
"Fight me," she said plainly, to which his response was a large step back, his eyebrows inclining slightly toward his hairline.
"What? No! Are you-" he stopped himself short, and Star cocked her own eyebrow at the boy in the red cloak. "Crazy? Quite possibly," she informed him as she treaded closer, pressing the tip of her wand to his chest.
It hummed with energy and light. She knew he could feel it too, because he raised both hands into the air in a surrender to her.
"I want you to spar with me, Sir Diaz. And if you don't, I'll turn you into a pig goat for the rest of the day. Maybe you'll be fine, but if my dad finds you, you might become bacon," she mused, willing the wand to glow a bit brighter. The knight winced and lurched back from her.
"Fine! Fine! I'll spar with you," he gave in, his eyes still on the wand as the glow and the hum faded. The only glow now was the one on Star's face.
The knight looked up at her, his eyes calculating, flicking to and fro as if he was examining his surroundings, locations of things, ways to move and what to use.
She was so different than him in that way. She usually never thought out that much, never considered other things beforehand. She did whatever came to her mind first.
Their silence was plagued by the crackling of some torches in the room, and the sound of the rain spattering the windows outside.
The noise faded in and out with every sheet of rain that fell down, sometimes slow and methodical, and sometimes quick and intense and hard, as if it was trying to break through the glass.
"What rules are we going by?" he finally asked her, tugging his cloak tighter around him. She grinned and held her hands out, palms up. "Who needs rules?" She saw a muted smile creep across Marco's lips and a chuckle escaped the back of his throat.
"Hey, you have magic. How am I allowed to get at you? Or am I just a moving target?" he questioned, his fingers brushing over the twin daggers at either side of his belt.
She responded with a sly smile, her brows lowering in concentration as she brought her wand up and pointed at him.
With both of their steps and shufflings, they were about fifteen feet away from each other now, in a silent standoff in Star's bedroom.
Star broke the silence first, yelling out "Cupcake blast!" as the iced confections rocketed out of her wand with enough force to put a hole through her wall.
Marco had nothing but his twin daggers, though it didn't matter. He sliced the cupcakes with blinding speed, dodging whatever ones he couldn't slash.
Her brow creased as she shifted around lightly on her feet, watching for some kind of opening. "Supersonic Leech Bomb!" she called as she aimed near his feet, dozens of the creatures splattering the floor around him before beginning to explode.
He made a grunt of surprise and leapt sideways, jumping out of harms way in the nick of time. He landed on a shoulder and rolled to his feet again, lowered close to the ground with his fingers brushed against the floorboards.
The two made eye contact and Marco gave her a smirk she'd seen a handful of times. It made her scowl. "Sparkle Lightning Blast!" she called, an arc of shimmering pink energy escaping her wand. The part that surprised her is that the bolt actually met her target.
Star almost dropped her wand and ran over, panicking. She couldn't have killed her knight, he should have dodged that. How embarrassing would that be for all involved?
But then, with a yell of triumph and effort, the boy redirected the lightning through his daggers, sending it shooting towards a wall.
His hair was slightly singed and standing on end and he had traces of ash on his face, but he was fine. He must have seen the shock on her face, because his response was just to chuckle.
"C'mon princess, keep it coming," he told her with a smile, dashing closer to her, the knives now settled in at his belt, his hands free.
"Rainbow Fist Punch!" she called as he approached her. The fist was sent in his direction, but he slid down onto his knees to dodge it, leaping back up as he neared her.
She began to panic, and rightfully so. She tried to cast a spell to force him back, but one quick movement later and he had swatted the wand out of her hand.
It skidded several yards away, but Marco was already between her and the wand, throwing blows with his hands and elbows.
She could tell he was restraining himself, only focusing on making contact and putting no power behind any strike. But that didn't mean she wasn't trying to land any blows of her own.
She'd never gotten much practice with the hand-to-hand combat, but Marco obviously had. She ducked a punch of his up high and swung her leg around, trying to sweep his feet out from under him while he was distracted.
Though somehow, some way, he saw it coming and dodged it. He vaulted over her leg and skidded to a stop behind her.
Before she knew it, one arm was grappled behind her back and he had her in a tight hold with his other arm around her neck, not allowing her to move.
She scrabbled against it for a few moments, trying to loosen his grip or worm her way out of his arms, but he was unshakable.
His grip was tight enough that she felt it's presence at the blood vessels at her neck, but not tight enough that she felt as if she was going to pass out.
After Star realized that she'd been caught, she sighed and shook her head. "You got me," she squeaked, to which he released her, a restrained smile on his face.
"Good job, your majesty," he told her with a slight bow, his chest still heaving lightly. She felt out of breath herself. She found her way back to her chair and threw herself down, trying to relax her racing heart.
Her knight sat on the floor across from her, wiping sweat off his forehead with the edge of his cloak.
Star found herself looking at the boy, examining him in more detail. Whenever he wasn't wearing armor, his clothes were plain, simple dark colors with his brown boots. But that red cloak was always present.
Looking closer at it, she could see mended tears, stains and marks he must have scrubbed at for long periods of time to try and get out, frayed edges in several places. To say it plainly, it looked well loved.
It was shorter than the ones she often wore, coming down maybe to his lower back. It was bundled with a metallic clasp at the front that was shaped into a pair of paws, as if its claws themselves were holding the fabric together.
It was interesting, since most cloaks were to hide the wearer. But Marco's was a bright angry red, like the tip of a hot flame. It was as if he was saying he didn't care if anyone saw him. And with the way he'd fought her, she knew why. He didn't fear anyone, or anything.
Yet, she had seen fear in his eyes. It was faint, so distinct that those who didn't know him well wouldn't be able to tell. She was only able to distinguish it because of how often she'd been around him.
He didn't have any physical fears. His fears were psychological instead. She could put that much together. And she fully knew it had to do with his past. The past he wouldn't talk about. The past he seemed to avoid at all costs.
He seemed more comfortable in combat than anywhere else. Speaking with people, public affairs, conversations or ceremonies, they all seemed far out of his comfort zone. Those were the only times she'd ever seen him unsure, even if it was in small increments.
She realized how long she'd been staring at him, and when she finally went to look away, his eyes were on her too. She wondered if he'd been thinking about her the way she had about him, debating her thoughts and her motives. She wondered what had been going through his head while his eyes were on her.
They had a moment of lingering eye contact, as if challenging one another to be the one to look away first. The rain once again made itself known, drumming against the roof and the window with a vengeance, as if it didn't want to be forgotten.
Star ended up being the first to break eye contact, a small smile brushing across her lips as she shook her head at him, her eyes flickering to the window, to the grey clouds beyond and the streaks of water racing down the glass.
"Alright Diaz, you have some skills," she admitted with a shrug. "Where'd you learn how to fight like that?"
He shrugged his shoulders very slightly, nothing more than a twitch. He began to pick at a hole in his shirt, just near the lower hem. There he went again, all mysterious and brooding.
She wanted to know why he acted like that, or namely, what had happened to make him act like that. No one at the age of 16 should have that much trauma built up.
"I spent a while training in the Neverzone," he said almost nonchalantly, like he was telling her about a vacation he went on. "That place taught me a lot of what I know now."
Star's eyes had widened at the mention of the Neverzone, a place of myths and legends. She'd heard it a million times prior, she knew full well that he'd spent time there. But the more she thought about it, the more questions she wanted to throw at him.
"I…I don't know, I knew that you went there, but I had no idea it was that insane over there," she admitted, finding herself sitting up straighter in her chair, her interest piqued.
Marco cracked a wry smile as he nodded, the picking at his hem having ceased. His fingers now splayed across the floor. "Yeah, I…it was a lot, that's for sure."
His brow furrowed low over his eyes, and he looked lost in his own thoughts, his pupils focused on something in the distance that didn't exist.
"Why did you go there?" Star found herself asking, leaning forward more. She must have brought him out of his haze, because as her words rung out, his head snapped upward.
He debated her question for only a second before his answer came. "It was just something in my past, something I like to forget about," he admitted, climbing to his feet now.
"Wait, what? You can't just give me that! That's not an answer!" the princess insisted, throwing her arms wide as she watched the knight brush off his pants and cloak.
To her disdain, he had the ghost of a smile on his lips. "Hey, you asked why, and I told you. There's a reason, but I don't need to talk about it," he informed her, approaching the door and bowing to her.
"Thank you, for the match your highness," he began, before she held a hand up and stopped him.
"Star."
"What?"
"My name is Star. You don't…you don't have to keep up with those stupid formalities."
"But I-"
"No, Marco, please. We're the same age, and it always makes me feel old when you say it."
He arched his neck as he looked at her, a small crease between his brows before he nodded his head. "Okay, your, er, Star," he said with a reserved expression, as if he wiped away every emotion he felt. He seemed to do that a lot.
The princess nodded her head in approval with a muted smile on her lips. That's better. I can have conversations with him and not feel like a geriatric. "No problem, Marco." As he turned to leave once more, her voice rang out behind him.
"I want a rematch, Diaz. After you teach me some of those cool moves, of course."
To her surprise, he laughed to himself under his breath. "You got it, Star," he called back before he left, the princess now alone with her spell book once more, nothing further on her mind than the way her name sounded when it left her knight's lips.