Updated 8/3/15: fixed a few misspellings.

Hello everyone, it's acw28 with chapter 3 of The Runaway!

For once I really don't have anything to say/rant about, so I guess this is going to be a short author's note. All I really have to say is that based on what's in my head, this will probably be a short chapter, but as I said in the last chapter, I will try to have at least three pages before I post anything. Just a bit of warning, this chapter is going to have some light cursing. Also, thanks to everyone who has contributed to this story reaching over 600 views in less than two weeks.

One last thing before we start this chapter, be on the look out for a special announcement next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star vs. the Forces of Evil, a company lead by a mouse uses it to gain profit.

"Bye kids!" Mr. Diaz called from the car. "Have fun with you "Monster Day" while me and Marco's father are at work." Mrs. Diaz finished for her husband.

"Bye Mr. and Mrs. Diaz!" Star yelled as she furiously waved at the couple. Marco said a more subdued, "Bye Mom, bye Dad." as he gave a small wave goodbye. Once the car was out of sight, Marco asked, "How did the Science Club manage to bring the mystery meat to life anyway, I thought they were one of the most underfunded school activities."

"Oh they wanted to know how I could make things appear with my wand." Star began as the two walked inside. "I tried telling them it was just magic, but they insisted my wand was some sort of matter converter or something like that. Anyway they kept bugging me all day and I ended up agreeing to some test to prove them wrong during lunch."

Marco gave Star a deadpanned look before he continued walking toward her room to hang out for the day, then said, "And I'm guessing you said a spell wrong and accidently caused the lunch meat to become sentient."

"No, actually I meant to do that."

The room was silent for a moment until Marco said, "I don't know which of those scenarios is scarier. Oh well at least you're getting a better handle on your wand." Sliding onto the rolling chair, Marco said, "Well we got the day free, so what do you want to do? Get Ferguson and Alfonzo over here for a surprise pranks war, go to another dimension, or do you want do something normal like go hang out at the mall all day?"

Star belly flopped onto her bed as she said, "You know what I want to do."

Marco sighed as he asked, "Do we have to?"

Star rolled onto her back as she said, "I told you yesterday Diaz that we were going to talk about this, so spill. What happened that day you went to the beach?"

"You saw the video, you know what happened."

"No," Star began, her voice lacking her usual cheerfulness and carrying a small amount of authority, "I saw what your parents saw, but I don't know what made you decided to grind the boardwalk and why you didn't have a helmet or what happened after you fell into the water."

The room was silent for a minute as both teens stared each other in the eye, neither wanting to back down from the unspoken challenge. Finally it was Marco who sighed and looked away. Closing his eyes as he recalled the long buried memory he began, "It was a little after lunch, I hadn't gotten to check out the skate park yet so I asked Mom and Dad if I could. My Mom wanted to enjoy the beach a little more and didn't want to leave me alone, but my Dad told her it would be a crowded area and if someone were to try something I would yell my head off. Surprisingly that worked, and my Mom let me go off after she got some footage of me skateboarding. Since it took my Dad's convincing my Mom to let me go off, he probably blames himself for what happened."

"What did happen Marco?"

"I'm getting to that, but if I just tell you it wouldn't make sense, you need the back story. Anyway," Marco continued his tale as he leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceiling, "I got to the skate park a few minutes later and enjoyed myself. Did a few grinds, did a few grabs, a few 180's. I think there may have been a couple of people recording me, all in all, a good time. Then I saw some of the older kids picking on some younger kids."

"Oh, oh, oh, let me guess!" Star yelled as she jumped on her bed. "You tried fighting the bullies but they called in this super tall meanie and you had to skate away."

"What?" Marco asked as he laughed. "No, nothing like that. I was still only a brown belt so I knew I probably couldn't fight them, so I asked them to stop and when they wouldn't I challenged them to a game of Simon Says. I did pretty well, knocked out three of the four bullies but then the last one did a trick over the canal."

"Right, wasn't there something about you needed to be 14 to do that jump?" Star asked.

"Yeah, so obviously I couldn't do it and asked for an alternate option. Of course, the jerk said I needed to jump or I forfeited like a chicken. I got angry and said that he took a cheap shot because he knew I could beat him if he played fair."

"So then he started chasing you around and you went to the board walk, right?"

"Stop interrupting Star, I thought you wanted to hear this story." Marco jokingly lectured his friend. "Of course the guy wasn't happy, but by now a crowd had gathered and had watched the entire thing, so he really didn't have much of a choice. In place of the jump, he said I had to grind the rails at the boardwalk for at least 30 seconds."

As he reached the last part of his story, Marco got up and started pacing around the room. "When I got over there, I noticed that there were signs saying, "NO SKATEBOARDING" and there was a security guard that was watching anyone with a helmet. Then I noticed there were a multitude of people without helmets just carrying their boards around. So I had one of the kids hold onto my helmet as I walked to the far side of the boardwalk. I tried to make sure I was far away from the security guards, put my board down, got some speed, and started grinding. I don't know how long I lasted, but I saw a guard running toward me. I saw he tried to grab me off my board, and not thinking I leaned away from him. You know the rest."

Marco then lifted some of his hair along the right side of his head, showing Star part of a large scar. "It took about 58 stiches to put my head back together, not to mention I was in a coma for three days."

Star was stunned into silence, but managed to ask, "So the reason your parents don't want you skateboarding…"

"Is because they're afraid something like that will happen again." Marco finished for her. "Should have been there when I first got up, after making sure everything was okay, my Dad, while not exactly yelling, made it very clear that I was never to touch a skateboard in my life. He took my board and helmet and locked them up in the shed. Doesn't really matter, after what happened I get motion sickness if I ride in anything besides the car or school bus."

Star was silent as she hugged her pillow until she finally asked, "Is that all that happened Marco?"

"Of course it is, I was knocked out for a large portion of it, remember?"

"Marco," Star began, "if there's something else, no matter how crazy it sounds, you can tell me."

Marco sighed for the millionth time that day. Could he tell Star? Through all the years he had kept one detail to himself, he knew if he shared it he'd be called crazy or they would say he imagined it when he hit his head. But Star was from another dimension and he had been fighting monster's with her on a weekly basis. Not seeing what else he had to lose, Marco said, "I don't know if it was when I was in the water or if it was in the cove, but I remember a girl looking worried about me. I can't exactly remember what she looked like, only that I thought she looked beautiful." Marco admitted with a blush.

When she heard this, Star suddenly jumped to her feet and pointed at Marco while she yelled, "I knew it!"

Marco was confused, but only more so when Star started pushing him out of her room. "Knew what, and why are you trying to get me out of your room?"

"Just an idea I had after watching the video yesterday, and I'm pushing you out of my room because I need to practice a special spell."

Marco recognized the twinkle in Star's eyes and told her, "Not everything has some interdimensional solution you know." Star waved off his words as she said, "Haven't you spent enough time with me by now to know that's not true?" Before she pushed him out of her room and shut the door, only to reopen it a second later to say, "And be ready for a trip to another dimension after your parents go to work tomorrow."

Marco only shook his head as he walked back to his room. Walking into his room and laying on his bed, the boy began to debate what to do with his day. He could go online and crush some beginners along with Fergusson and Alfonzo, but then he'd just be sitting in his room all day and he'd rather do something productive. With that in mind, Marco grabbed a duffel bag and some spare cloths, then called to Star as he walked out of the house, "I'm going to the gym, be back in a while. If Ludo comes I've got my phone."

It was about an hour long walk from the Diaz home to the local gym. Marco expected an uneventful day as he walked past a small hill, but was proven wrong when a voice called out, "Heads up!"

It was only due to Marco's fast reflexes that he was able to drop to the ground as somebody sailed overhead. Getting up, Marco saw that Jackie had jumped over him. "Wow, that's two times in the same week that you've run into me. Are you stalking me?"

"Please," Jackie began, "I spend too much time skateboarding and struggling to stay awake in Skullnick's class to even think about stalking someone. Besides," the girl continued, "between the two of us I'm the one more likely to be stalked."

"Oh really?" Marco challenged.

"Duh," Jackie said, "I'm a single skateboarding chick who can pull off bad ass moves. I wouldn't be surprised if I did have a stalker."

"I'll give you that, but I do live in the same house as an interdimensional princess whose enemies might try to use our friendship against her." Marco countered, amazed at how easy conversation between the two had become recently.

Jackie huffed as she crossed her arms and said, "Fine I guess we'll call it even, what's with the duffel bag?"

"I figured since school is cancelled I might as well do something productive and decided to go to the gym."

"This town has a gym?"

"How could you not know that, you've been living here since when, Seventh Grade so three years?"

Jackie shrugged as she answered, "Besides school and skating I didn't really see anything interesting in this town. So where is this gym anyway?"

"Not too far from here actually. Come on, I'll show you the way."

"Sure, let's just swing by my house real quick so I can stash my board."

Marco raised an eyebrow as he asked, "You're going right now, with me?"

"Sure why not, I don't see the point in going to a gym and not working out."

It was a short walk to Jackie's house. When the two teens arrived Marco was surprised to see Janna open the door. Before he could say anything, Janna saw him and said, "Oh, I see how it is Marco, you don't want to make magic with me but when Jackie asks you follow her home."

This caused both teens to blush, Marco was the first to find his voice and said, "It's not like that Janna. Why are you in Jackie's house anyway?"

Janna leaned against the doorframe as she said, "I live here genius."

Seeing the look of confusion on Marco's face, Jackie spoke up saying, "Janna's my annoying cousin who is constantly playing pranks on me. In fact I'm sure she had a hand in the Bro Code yesterday." Janna only looked at the two and smiled. "Anyway just ignore her, it's what I do most of the time. I'll just grab my stuff real quick and we can go."

Once Jackie was inside, Janna turned to Marco and gave him a knowing look. Getting annoyed, the boy asked "What?"

"I'm surprised, most guys tend to not date a girl when they know that it'll lead to a blood thirsty mob chasing after them."

"Jackie and I aren't dating, I'm just showing her where the gym is at."

Janna only shook her head as she said, "Keep telling yourself that Diaz, see where that'll take you." As the girl went back into the house, Jackie stepped out, carrying her own duffel bag. "Okay, all set. So where's this gym?"

Marco smiled as he said, "Its right this way."

The two teens where walking for perhaps fifteen minutes while making small talk when an annoying voice said, "Hey Diaz, shouldn't you be in school?" Said voice belonged to a seven year old buck toothed boy wearing a blue shirt with a white sweater tied around his neck. Marco groaned as he said, "It go cancelled today Jeremy, shouldn't you be in class or did your parent's bribe the principle, again?"

"If you have the money, why not use it?" Jeremy then noticed Jackie for the first time and asked, "What is someone like you doing with a loser like Marco?"

Marco was getting irritated as he stated, "You can't just leave me alone for one day, can you, you little troll."

Jeremy only laughed as he said, "What's the matter Marco, upset when someone says the truth?" Having enough of the twerp, Marco reached into his duffel bag for his secret weapon.

Meanwhile Jackie was also becoming irritated by Jeremy's comments. The brat seem to know what Marco was capable of, yet still continued to mouth off. 'Does he even realize the difference between him and Marco?' She wondered. 'If it was any other fourteen year old, the brat would be flattened by now.' As Jeremy continued speaking, Jackie debated doing something drastic just to shut the kid up. 'I could kiss Marco, but that would just make things awkward. I could use that, but then I would have to do a lot of explaining.' When Jeremy made his last comment, Jackie was about to go through with her plan, when Marco threw a small, sticky toy octopus onto the younger boy's head and said, "Look out Jeremy, they want to eat your bowels!"

The reaction was immediate, Jeremy began running away while screaming. Marco was bent over from laughing so hard, while Jackie was chuckling as well. When he recovered and started walking toward the gym again, Marco turned to Jackie and said, "Yeah I know, totally immature and childish, but in my defense we would have been here forever if I just let him keep talking."

"It's no problem, I probably would have thought of a way to get him to leave in a few minutes anyway."

"Really, any ideas?"

"Oh I don't know." Jackie said, then added in a slightly flirty voice, "He didn't think you could go out with a girl like me so I might have kissed you just to send him into shock."

When Marco heard this he blushed then wished he had waited with the toy octopus. Before any more could be said, the two teens arrived at the gym.

'Come on, what is taking her so long?' Marco mentally questioned. The two had arrived at the gym about 15 minutes ago. Getting checked in and changing had taken the boy around five minutes. Currently he was waiting by the water fountains as he promised he would show the girl around. 'Why do I have to be such a nice guy all the time?'

"Hey, sorry that took a while. Hope you weren't waiting long."

Marco turned around and had to fight to keep his jaw off the ground. For her first trip to the gym, Jackie had chosen to wear a dark green sports bra, which showed off her toned stomach, and a pair of white and green shorts that made her legs seem to go on forever. After seeing this, the only thought in Marco's head was, 'Good things come to those who wait.' When he was able to speak Marco said, "It wasn't too long, so what do you want to do first?"

Jackie crossed one arm under her chest while she grabbed her elbow with one hand and tapped the other one against her chin. This simple act, either purposely or inadvertently, caused her chest to look bigger and also gave Marco the perfect view. After remaining like this a few short moments, Jackie said, "Well I've never been here before, so I'll just follow your lead."

Marco shrugged as he said, "Alright then, follow me, the yoga class should be beginning soon."

As the two walked towards the yoga room, Jackie took note of what Marco was wearing. The simple red tank top left his arms on display, which although they weren't overly muscular were quite large, while the black basket ball shorts showed Marco's muscular calves. "You know if you wore short sleeves more often you'd probably be a bit more popular."

"Yeah, but then the question becomes do I want popularity if it means I have to hang out with Brittany."

Jackie nodded her head as she said, "You make a good point. I don't think anyone is actually friends with that girl, more so just afraid of her ruining their life."

Marco raised an eyebrow as he asked, "Then how come you were at her last party?"

"Again, she could just about ruin anyone's life, and I might have been hoping to meet someone there," Marco felt his self-confidence, and his chances of asking out his crush, lessen, "besides how are you one to talk, you went to the party to."

"Okay I was only at the party because Star convinced me to crash it, I didn't have any fun anyway since I ended up getting motion sickness." By now both teens had arrived at the yoga studio. "Remember, if you feel a pose is too difficult, just sit down and relax." Marco then held the door open as he said, "After you."

45 minutes later

"Wow, I'm impressed." Jackie said as the two teens exited out of the yoga studio along with a multitude of other people. "I would think that most guys would only come to yoga to look at the woman in all the different poses, but you actually knew what you were doing."

"It's a good way to stretch before a workout and it helps keep me flexible for karate." Looking at the clock, Marco said, "I've still got awhile before my parents get home, what else you want to do?"

Jackie pointed over her shoulder as she said, "Looks like two treadmills opened up. You up for it?"

Marco smirked as he replied, "I can, question is can you keep up?"

The two started the treadmills at a moderate pace to warm up. After a few moments of silence, Jackie asked, "So what was with the brat, the toy octopus, and his bowels?"

Marco chuckled slightly as he asked, "Remember when I had that tentacle arm awhile back?" Jackie nodded. "I ended up convincing Star to let me keep it until my karate tournament against Jeremy. Only problem is that it turned out to have a mind of its own and was evil. I defeated Jeremy, but then my arm wanted to eat his bowels."

"Whoa, that's pretty heavy, good thing the arm is gone." Marco smiled nervously and decided not to mention how the arm compared itself to a virus and claimed it would be back.

After a while, Marco noticed it was starting to get late. "Looks like we have enough time to do one more thing. How about a little competition?"

Jackie smirked as she asked, "What do you have in mind?"

"How about fifteen more minutes of running, whoever runs farther chooses how we spend our last 45 minutes here."

"Sounds like you have a bet. I hope you're ready to lose." Jackie declared.

15 minutes later

As both Marco and Jackie were slowing down, Marco asked, "So how far did you run?"

Jackie smiled, believing she'd won, when she proudly said, "10 miles."

"Pretty good, but I think I have you beat." Marco stepped aside so that Jackie could see how far he ran. The girl only stared in disbelief.

"How did you manage to run 15 miles?"

"Well I do regularly fight monsters, so I need a fair amount of endurance." Marco smirked in victory as he said, "All I really did was set the speed about .05 mph faster than what you had yours on."

"Well played Diaz, well played." Jackie said with a small pout. "Well you won, so what do you want to do?"

There was a glint in Marco's eye as he said, "Come on I'll show you."

After putting on getting a set of MMA gloves, Marco started practicing some basic punch combinations on a heavy bag, with a reluctant Jackie barely able to keep the bag somewhat centered. Once the boy stopped to take a break, Jackie asked, "How can you be this strong. I mean I know you take karate and fight monsters, but come on! I'm barely able to stand after you hit this thing!"

As he was grabbing his water, Marco said, "Physical strength and training are factors, but it's also about technique." Seeing Jackie raise her eyebrow, Marco began taking off his gloves as he said, "Here, I'll show you."

After Jackie had put the gloves on, Marco had her punch the bag, which barely moved. Jackie noticed Marco trying to hold in his laughter and glared at him. "Shut up, not all of us make a hobby of fighting monsters."

"Sorry, but it's obvious you've never been in a real fight before, you're only using your arm."

"What do you mean Marco?"

"If you want to punch harder, you need to put your weight behind it."

Jackie's eyes narrowed as she said, "Here's a little tip for you Marco, you should never call a woman fat."

Waving his hands in front of himself, and hoping to avoid womanly rage, Marco quickly said, "I never said you were, just that you don't have a technique."

"Okay then, tell me how to do this."

"Fine, first start with a solid base with you feet, now move your weight forward, then bring all that force into your fist." When he saw he was getting a confused look from his crush, Marco said, "Here, let me help you."

Stepping behind Jackie, Marco used his own feet to help adjust her stance, putting her right foot behind her and angling her body. Next he grabbed her right writs and brought he arm up and back so that it bent at the elbow. Finally he had her quickly step forward, bring the right side of her body forward, and guided her fist to the heavy bag. Although it wasn't sent as far back as one of Marco's punches, it was still a marked improvement over her first attempt. The girl looked at her fist and said, "Whoa."

"Right, so just do something similar for the left side right after and you'll be in business." Marco said as he got behind the heavy bag. "Now why don't you try it by yourself this time?"

After getting a quick shower, Marco and Jackie started heading home, the sky already dark. After walking in a comfortable silence for around five minutes, Jackie's house came into view. Turning to Marco, the girl said, "Well that was fun, we should do it again sometime."

"Sure, next time Star causes the school lunch to go on a rampage we can just go hide out at the gym, see ya Jackie."

"Night Marco."

Marco watched as Jackie walked up to the door and went inside before he continued towards his own house. What he didn't see was Jackie lean against the door and release a content sigh. 'That was actually fun, would have been better if he…' she stopped herself form continuing that thought. 'I have to tell him now, after having such a good time, that secret will just ruin everything.'

Hoping to get her mind off of her troubles, Jackie decided to check out what her friends had recently been posting, not having checked her phone while she was at the gym. 'Weird,' she thought, 'why do I have so many notifications?'

Marco arrived home not long afterwards, walking in right before dinner. "Well I can tell someone had a good day." Mrs. Diaz said.

"Just glad there wasn't any craziness today. I managed to run into a friend and we ended up going to the gym."

"Yep, you definitely ran into a very good friend didn't you Marco?" Star asked, a large smile present on her face. Marco didn't get what the princess was saying, but figured she would share after dinner.

Since it was the parents' turn to do the dishes, Star literally dragged Marco into her room. Before Marco could ask what she was doing, Star had quickly turned on her computer and had pulled up her profile, after scrolling down, she turned around to show Marco what had her in such a good mood. On the monitor was a picture of him and Jackie at the gym, taken when he was teaching her how to punch. Marco quickly noted that it was Janna who posted the photo, and added a caption reading, "Are we sure these two aren't secret lovebirds?" A quick scroll through the comments revealed a mix of reactions, from some saying they looked cute together to others mentioning plans for another Bro Code.

'Yep, I'm dead.' Marco thought. 'I wonder how Jackie is handling this.'

Janna was currently hoping the lock on her door would hold out against Jackie's rage. Every time the door bowed inward, the teen was able to hear snippets of the other girl's threats.

"Unlock this damn door so I can fucking kill you!" Jackie yelled.

"If you do that my mom will ground you." Janna replied as she hid, er, took a strategic position under her bed. Soon after the house grew quite, Janna poked her head out from her bed, thinking that Jackie went to go grab something to bust down her door.

'Okay, I can use this brief pause to escape out of my window.'

That plan fell apart as Janna heard a sharp crack. Looking to her door, Janna was horrified when she saw a fist burst through the wood right next to the handle, then quickly unlocked her door. The door slowly creaked open to reveal Jackie. "I don't mind when you play your little pranks on me, but when you start causing other people to get hurt than we have a problem." Jackie paused as she punched her palm, "Now, want to learn what Marco taught me today?" she asked with a predator gleam in her eyes.

Janna had two options, stay and take a beating she probably deserved, or make a brake for her open window. Knowing which had a lesser chance of causing her injury, Janna yelled, "I regret nothing!" as she jumped out the two story window.

"Well guess I'm not going to school for a couple more days." Marco stated, not wanting another Bro Code, he'd just wait for some new gossip to occupy everyone's attention. Turning to the still smirking Star, he asked, "Now will you please tell me why you kicked me out of your room today?"

"Okay Marco. Now, what would you say if," Star paused for dramatic effect, "you really did see a girl the day of your incident?"

"Star don't be crazy," Marco waved off his friends words, "I hit my head pretty hard, I just imagined her. If she was real I think I'd remember her face."

"Unless she didn't want you to remember." Star stated.

Marco raised an eyebrow and dropped his jaw as he asked, "Say what?"

"Don't worry about it Marco, all will be explained tomorrow." Star declared as she moved her hands in a circular motion, trying to add a flair of mystery. Marco only rolled his eyes as he went to his room.

Mr. and Mrs. Diaz left early the next morning as they had a conference a few counties over that would last that day and the majority of the next. Once they were home alone, Marco stated, "Okay, the suspense is killing me. Just tell me already."

"Simple Marco." Star put on a pair of sunglasses, "What you saw that day," she then paused to dramatically take off her sunglasses, "was a mermaid!"

Star expected a multitude of reactions from Marco, ranging from crying to acceptance. She did not expect him to double over as he busted out laughing. Once he could control himself, Marco said, "Sorry Star, but mermaids are just myths."

"I'm serious Marco." Star declared as she put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot. "You fight monsters with me all the time, is the existence of mermaids that farfetched?"

"Yes," Marco deadpanned, "the monsters I fight never appeared in any myths before, but mermaids have been mentioned as far back as ancient Greece."

Star let out a growl as she chewed on her wand to stop herself from screaming at Marco's stubbornness. Once she composed herself, she said, "Look Marco, there are multiple underwater dimensions that have mermaid-like life, and I know of one that regularly has portals randomly open." Star then grew serious as she said, "Now do you want to continue believing that you didn't see anything or do you want to take a chance and see if this girl is real?"

The house was silent for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Marco said, "Well you did spend all of yesterday working on that spell, and I've really got nothing left to lose."

Star started jumping up and down as she clapped her hands. Grabbing Marco, she pointed her wand at herself and him as she said, "Dimensional protection bubble!" There was a bright flash, but afterwards Marco didn't notice anything different. Voicing his question, the boy asked, "Star what did you do?"

"Nothing much, just a protection spell so we won't get wet and so we can breath in the other dimension." She then used a pair of red handled scissors to open a portal, grabbed Marco, and jumped in.

The two teens were dumped in a dimension that, as Star claimed, was completely underwater. The buildings seemed to be made of a mix of coral and bricks, some were rounder while some were square. He also noted there were no stairs as everyone swam everywhere. Off in the distance Marco could see what looked like a canyon, in which he saw a portal randomly open and close. While all this was amazing, what truly captured Marco's attention were the people.

The town they arrived in was filled with various people. There were the standard mermaids and mermen, each with a brightly colored fishtail, the mermaids having long hair while the mermen kept theirs' short. The mermaids also wore the typical seashell bra, which caused Marco to blush endlessly. The other inhabitants could only be described as human like sharks of various species. While these people had arms and legs and lacked tails, their entire bodies were streamlined, their mouths full of sharp teeth, and three gills present on each cheek.

"Well come on Marco, let's look around and see if anyone jogs your memory."

Marco only nodded, realizing that Star was right. He had never imagined a girl who he met on the worse day of his life, whose face he couldn't remember, actually existed, and was from another dimension. What was it about his life that invited such strange things?

It was well past lunch. Marco and Star had walked/swam around the entire town and while the duo where subjects of many odd looks, nobody seemed to jog Marco's memory.

"Come on Star," Marco began, "maybe you were right about the whole mermaid thing but she obviously isn't here."

"Wait Marco, we still have one last place to look." Star said as she gestured towards the royal palace. Not seeing anything else to lose, Marco shrugged his shoulder and followed the princess' lead. The two swam a short distance and soon joined a tour group.

"Now on your left is the princess tower. Sadly it has been uninhabited for the past four years after the princess' mysterious disappearance." The tour guide then lead the group into a grand hall, filled with various portraits. Marco tuned out the guide as they went on about one royal ancestor or another. Finally the group came to the largest portrait, "And this is the current royal family, King Mano, Queen Circe, and their missing daughter." Looking at the painting, Marco froze.

The largest person pictured was one of the shark-men, his mouth full of sharp teeth, his back and arms grey while his stomach and chest was white, Marco guessed he would be identified as a Great White. What terrified Marco was the numerous battle scars on the man's body and the predatory look in his eyes. If the King was terrifying, the Queen was equally beautiful, having long, light green hair that matched her tail. The Queen was also well endowed and wore many gold necklaces, bracelets, a gold tiara with numerous diamonds, and her seashell bra looked to have some gold inlay.

While both the King and Queen could hold Marco's attention for different reasons, his eyes settled on the princess. Her hair and her eyes matched her mother's, although she didn't wear any jewelry and what was painted of the tail was a dark blue. Even if she was younger, even with the three gills on each cheek, Marco instantly recognized the face of Jackie Lynn Thomas. He wasn't the only one as he heard Star start to say, "Hey Marco, doesn't she look like…" only to be silenced by Marco's hand over her mouth. However, this small action gained the tour guide's attention.

"Does the young lady have something to say?"

"Nope," Marco answered, his hand still covering Star's mouth, "she just reminded me that we have some things to do at home." Marco quickly used Star's scissors to open a portal before any more questions could be asked.

Seeing such strange behavior, one the castle guards thought, 'I should report this to the King, perhaps they know where the princess is at.'

Marco didn't take his hand away from Star's mouth until they were back in Star's room. When she was able to speak, Star asked, "Marco, do you know what this means?"

"Yeah," he replied as he sighed, "that Jackie was the one to drag me out of the ocean."

"And she's royalty!" Star yelled. Grabbing Marco's wrist, she started dragging her friend to the door as she said, "Come one, let's go tell her what we found!"

"No, Star wait!" Marco was able to free his arm from Star's grip. "Look, I really appreciate what all you've done, but do you think I could do this by myself?"

Star seemed to deflate slightly, but then quickly recovered with a giant grin as she said, "Okay Marco, I'll let you handle this on your own, on one condition."

Dreading what the interdimensional princess would demand, Marco hesitantly asked, "And what would that be?"

If it were possible, Star's smile grew as she said, "You have to tell Jackie you like her."

Marco stood in front of Jackie's and Janna's house, unsure if he had the courage to do what he needed to. Taking a deep breath, the boy walked up to the door. As he thought to himself, 'I just need five minutes of unbelievable courage,' he knocked on the door. After a few seconds, it was opened by Janna, now sporting a black eye.

"What happened to you?"

"You taught your girlfriend too well. Is there anything you need?" Janna asked in a tone that made it clear she wasn't in the mood to tease him like she usually does.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Marco asked, "Is Jackie home?"

In response, Janna moved to the side and said, "She's out back."

When Marco walked out into the back yard, he saw Jackie sitting down on a private beach, looking out into the ocean. Quietly walking behind her, Marco asked, "Is this spot taken?" Jackie jumped slightly, startled, but scooted over some to allow Marco to sit down. Neither knew what to say for a few minutes until Marco asked, "If I were to tell you Star dragged me to a dimension full of mermaids and shark-people, what would you say?"

Jackie was silent for a few moments, long enough for Marco to think that maybe he and Star were wrong and that it was a case of mistaken identity and now Jackie thought he was crazy. Those doubts were shot down when Jackie answered, "I would ask if you saw the royal portrait."

Marco was shocked, true this was the outcome he had expected, but it just didn't seem real. "So, mermaid…" Marco began.

"I know, pretty weird, right?" Jackie asked, still not looking at Marco.

Marco only laughed as he said, "I live with a girl who can make puppies that shoot lasers out of their eyes appear out of thin air, I fight evil monsters almost every other day, my arm was a tentacle briefly, one of my friends almost got married to a pixie, my other friend did get married to a pixie. I don't know about you, but weird seems to be normal to me."

Jackie was silent for a split second before she joined in the laughter. "Yeah, weird things just seem to happen to you."

After the good laugh, Marco grew slightly serious as he asked, "So you were there the day I wiped out?" Jackie answered with a nod of her head, "What all did you see?"

"When I first came to Earth the portal opened in the canal by the skate park. I watched as you first started playing Simon Says," Jackie began, "I saw you wining then I saw the last one pull the cheap trick. I saw your group moving and followed as best I could. Then I saw you fall off the boardwalk." Jackie closed her eyes as she remembered. "I figured you were all right and would start swimming to the surface, but I didn't see you move so I grabbed you and your board, found a cove where no one would see me, and waited until someone found you." She then leaned back, looking at the stars she had never seen in her home dimension. Holding her seashell necklace forward for Marco to see, she continued by saying, "Soon after that Janna's mom found me and since she is a witch made a charm that allows me to hide on Earth and have legs as long as I'm not in salt water. She was nice enough to let me live with her and Janna, homeschooled me for sixth grade to make sure I knew enough not to embarrass myself."

"You know that actually explains why Janna keeps trying to steal Star's spell book." Marco said. "But why do you want to stay here, your dimension looked pretty peaceful."

"What you saw was only the surface. I bet you only saw mermaids and shark-people." Jackie stated. When she saw Marco nod his head she continued, "I bet you didn't see any of the Eel people my dad conquered to celebrate my third birthday." Marco could see the anger behind her eyes as she spoke, "Not all monarch are as benevolent as the Butterflys. My dad is nothing but a war monger while my mom is a bitch who doesn't care as long as she gets new jewelry. Do you know why I ran away Marco?" Jackie asked, all her secrets pouring out, "I found out my dad was going to have me marry a hammerhead prince so he could have a big enough army to conquer some Manta ray people that were protecting several other less militaristic towns. I didn't want that, it would serve no purpose except to promote violence, so I went to the portal canyon and swam through the first one I found, I left and I don't regret it!" Jackie yelled as she finished.

As Jackie started panting from her outburst, Marco asked, "Better now?" Seeing her nod, the boy decided to steer the conversation away to a more pleasant topic. "So why is your hair blond with that green stretch? The portrait showed you had your mother's hair."

Jackie didn't seem to mind the mention of her mother, instead she answered, "Something Janna's mom taught me is that a witch's magic always has a price. I was lucky that she didn't ask for much, just the color of my hair save for a few strands to remind me that I'm not human."

"Cool," Marco replied, then asked, "So since you're a mermaid, have any special abilities or can you just swim fast?"

Jackie smirked as she said "Watch this." Marco saw Jackie raise her hand, her palm facing the ocean. A look of concentration crossed her face and to Marco's amazement he saw a small part of the ocean rise upwards and collect into a sphere. He never caught the hint of mischief in his crush's eyes as, with a quick flick of her wrist, Jackie sent the water hurtling toward Marco, hitting the boy straight in the chest. Instead of being angry Marco laughed as he said, "That's pretty good. Star also mentioned something about how you can make where people can't remember your face."

"Yeah, sorry about that Marco." Jackie said as she looked at her feet. "I didn't know I'd be staying in this dimension when I saved you. I thought it would be best that you pass me off as a delusion and just forgot about it."

Marco blushed as he said, "You're not someone that I would want to forget about."

Jackie's head immediately sprang up as she looked wide-eyed at Marco, then blushed as she asked, "Do you mean…?"

Marco nodded his head as he said, "I do."

The next few moments were awkward between the two, but then Jackie smiled and got ready to say something. However, before she could talk a new voice made itself known as it said, "Princess Jackie, your father would like for you to return home." Walking out of the waves was one of King Mano's elite guards. Marco could see that the shark-man had a light blue body with a number of black stripes running horizontally along his back. He wasn't as bulky as what Marco had seen in King Mano's portrait, but he knew this foe was both fast and strong. What really worried Marco was the metal spear strapped to the shark-man's back.

Jackie however was not intimidated. She made this known when she said, "Go back and tell that bastard I'm not coming home."

The shark-man reached for his spear as he said, "It was not a request."

Knowing a fight was about to occur, and not sure how well Jackie could handle herself, he stepped forward and said, "I think she's made it clear she doesn't want to go."

The shark-man glared at Marco as he said, "This doesn't concern you boy."

"It concerns me whenever it involves my friends." With that Marco charged the shark-man, hoping to use the element of surprise to get in a debilitating strike. Marco's plan actually succeeded, his opponent did not expect him to rush head first into a fight, resulting in Marco landing a solid hit on the shark-man's diaphragm. Marco felt some small victory as he caused the shark-man to gasp for breath, but his luck soon turned.

As his opponent gathered his breath, he used the staff of his spear to sweep Marco's legs from underneath him. Marco landed on the ground, only regaining his senses to roll out of the way of a spear strike. Once he was able to stand, he didn't fare much better either. He did manage to dodge or redirect the shark-man's strikes, if just by a hair, but he was constantly on defense never having the time to counterattack.

Marco then saw that his opponent was going to try to hit him with the staff of the spear again. Quickly forming a plan, Marco grabbed on to the wood with both hands. Although he did not have the strength to stop the move, resulting in the two combatants spinning in a circle, he did manage to hang on. When he saw the shark-man start to tire, he made his move. Using all his strength to launch himself forward, Marco landed a head butt on his opponent's nose. As the shark-man let go to rub his injured appendage, Marco broke the spear tip off the weapon, and armed himself with the staff.

Marco fought with renewed vigor, able to land more strikes against his opponent. Throughout the fight, Jackie watched, enthralled with the action. She wished she could do something to help, but she knew that she didn't have the training to go up against one of her father's elites and if she ran to get help there was no guarantee that Marco would be alive when she got back. Finally, she though of one thing she could do. When the shark-man pulled back to launch a punch against Marco, Jackie willed a large amount of water to grab his hand and hold it back. While he was distracted Marco launched a strike that knocked out a few teeth.

For the next thirty minutes Marco and Jackie tag teamed the shark-man as such. While they believed that they were close to victory, in truth they were far from it. True, they had injured the elite far more than he had been in recent fights. True, he was becoming winded. However, he was also getting annoyed and angry at the duo. Deciding that enough is enough, the elite made a play to end the fight. Moving quickly, the shark-man kicked up a large amount of sand Jackie's way, causing the girl to lose her concentration. Once one nuisance was taken care or, he focused on Marco.

Marco tried to land another strike with the end of the staff, however the elite caught the wood and dragged Marco forward faster than he could drop the weapon. With quickness Marco was not expecting, the shark-man hit Marco in the shoulder. The boy instantly felt pain, knowing his shoulder was either dislocated or broken. Before he could process this, he was slammed down onto the beach, a knee pinned his body to the ground, his arms where held above his head.

"Well kid, you gave it a good fight," the elite said as he unsheathed a knife, "but it ends here."

Before the shark-man could bring his blade down he was stopped by a voice yelling out, "WAIT!" After making sure Marco couldn't escape, the elite turned to face Jackie. "If I…if I go back, will you let him go?" she asked.

"That is my mission."

The beach was still for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Jackie, while looking down at her feet, barely whispered, "I'll go."

"No, Jackie don't do this!" Marco yelled. He knew he could think of a way to get out of this, he just needed more time.

"Quiet you." the elite commanded. Turning to Jackie, he motioned with his knife, "Get into the surf, then throw your charm over here." Slowly, Jackie walked into the water, her head held down in defeat. Marco could only watch as Jackie followed the shark-man's demands, he noticed when she seemed to stumble a little, her shorts, socks, and shoes washing up onto the beach a few moments later. When she was waist deep, Jackie slowly took off her seashell necklace, then threw it onto the beach, landing right in front of Marco.

Nodding to himself, the elite got off of Marco and went into the water. Marco tried to get up, to hit the shark-man, to tackle him, to do something, but the adrenaline from the fight had now vanished. Exhaustion caught up to the boy, the pain in his shoulder became even more intense, he weakly kneeled in front of the discarded necklace. "Jackie…"

Jackie cut him off before he could say anything else. She didn't turn back to face him, knowing if she did she wouldn't be able to leave. "Thanks for the past few days, I've had a lot of fun. I wish I could stay longer, goodbye Marco." Marco saw Jackie start to lean forward, then in a flash of blue she was gone. The elite soon followed to ensure his mission was complete.

Marco didn't move for what seemed like a lifetime. Finally, with a shaky hand, he reached out and picked up Jackie's necklace. As he stared at it, his mind brought up memories old and new. He remembered when he was eleven and starting seventh grade, how a girl on a skateboard ran into him, and helped him up but all he could think of was how beautiful she was. He remembered how in eighth grade he walked by the skate park and saw the amazing tricks she could do, how it was the first time he was tempted to sneak into his dad's shed and grab his skateboard so he could join her. But most of all, he remembered the times he would catch a fleeting glimpse of her smiling or laughing and wished that just for once that he was the one to cause such a glorious sight. As the memories came, Marco began to cry at having lost the chance to get to know such an amazing person. This was how Janna found him, not knowing of the fight and wanting to see what was taking so long. When she didn't see Jackie and asked where she was, Marco slowly got up. As he walked away, he gave a simple answer.

"She went home."

Wow, I did not expect the chapter to be this long. I honestly thought that this was going to be 8, maybe 10 pages, but I ended up going to the end of page 18!

An interesting thing about this chapter is that the part at the gym literally came to me as soon as I started typing. I planned on just having Marco tell his story then jumping to the next day, but as I started I figured that would be a little boring for the readers and gave me the opportunity for a little Marco and Jackie bonding time.

What are your thoughts on the fight scene? A little longer than the one in chapter one isn't it? I actually don't have that much confidence for fight scenes, I think my strengths lie more in the dialogue, so let me know if you thought it was okay and if not how I could improve for future projects.

That brings me to another subject, reviews. I won't be an author who demands a specific number of reviews before they start working on the next update but here's the thing, I like knowing what my readers think, even if they have thoughtful critiques and even if they leave a guest review. I appreciate whenever someone leaves a review, and I often let them know as such. At the time I'm writing this, this story is just under 700 views, has 11 followers, and 7 reviews. Let's see if we can get the number of reviews up to 12 before I post the last chapter (which I'll start working on this Friday).

So, with Jackie being a mermaid we answered almost all of the questions from the past few chapters, but more have popped up such as…

What will Marco do now?

Will this story have a happy ending?

How many people cried towards the end of this chapter? (I'll admit I teared up some, and I'm the one writing this!)

All these questions and many more (except the last one, own up to it in the reviews or it will forever be a mystery) will be answered in the conclusion of The Runaway!

Until then, this is acw28 saying, "until next update."