shoutouts to Christalm for solving the puzzle thingy :)

a king gone missing

A few minutes after... that, Marco made it back to the kingdom. He was still wondering about the events that just transpired. What were they doing? Why didn't he pull away sooner? What was he going to do? What would she think of him now?

Marco was so stunned by his last thought that he had stopped his walk. Since when did he care about what she thought of him? Why would he care about what she thought of him?

Marco shook his head to clear his thoughts. The sun was setting, and he was tired and drenched in sweat. He probably smelled really bad. Once he got to the castle, he would take a nice, hot shower and go straight to bed.

Which he did, but not before being stopped by Star in the barely lit hallway outside his room.

"Hey, Marco- ugh," She pinched her nose immediately after breathing in the horrible smell coming off of him, "Wow, no offense, but you kinda stink."

'Yup, I do smell bad.'

"Sorry, I forgot to shower." He shrugged as if it was a normal occurence, which sometimes is.

Star still pinched her nose, "Yeah, where were you? I haven't seen you all day."

Marco's face turned a little red when his mind went back through the events of the entire day. "Y-yeah, um... I had to... run errands... for Sir Lavabo." He stuttered. He hoped that Star would buy his excuse.

But her face told him that she hadn't. She furrowed her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes, "But Sir Lavabo never gives you errands."

"Yeah, well, he does now." He chuckled nervously. Star was still suspicious, her expression still unchanged. Marco's palms were starting to sweat, and he was shuffling his feet uncomfortably under her scrutinizing gaze.

Fortunately, her expression finally softened, "Okay. Well, are you free this weekend? 'Cause I was thinking of going dimension-hopping. Ya know, kick bad guy butt and stuff."

"Oh, um... Yeah, I think I am. Who's going with?" He asked. He was secretly hoping that it would just him and her. But he was really doubting it. Unlike back in Echo Creek, when it was just the two of them, she had started inviting her other friends on their adventures ever since he got back. It was rare enough for them to even go on an adventure, much less just the two of them.

"Oh, it's just gonna be you, me, and Tom." Tom. Out of all the people she could have invited, she had to pick Tom. Don't get him wrong, him and Tom are cool - they're nearing the level of best friends even. But just hearing his name made him dislike Tom a bit. It was petty, he knew it, but he couldn't help it.

It also stung him a bit. If he would go on with this, he probably would have to watch Star and Tom get all lovey dovey at one point - smooching too, if he was patient enough to not snap and run away.

But still, this is an oppurtunity to hang out with Star, and he wouldn't miss it. Even if it would secretly hurt his feelings a bit or possibly make him angry and attack a certain three-eyed demon.

"Oh, okay. So, this weekend, right?" Marco said. His expression became saddened a bit, but it was barely noticable under the near darkness.

"Mhmm." They both went silent for a bit. When Star squinted her eyes to see his face better, she caught the unintentional frown on his face.

"Hey, you alright?" Star asked in concern. She had been noticing Marco getting all sad whenever he was near her. She couldn't figure why, and she had been trying for a while now. They had been best friends for a whole year, and yet she still had a hard time reading him.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."

Star was not buying it, "Seriously, Marco. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Star. I'm just tired, is all."

"Marco, come on. If there's something wrong, you can tell me."

"Star, for the last time, there's nothing wrong. I'm fine." Marco was getting a bit more annoyed.

"Marco-"

"Star!" Marco snapped. Star jumped at his sudden outrage. He was panting, and his fists were clenched. If she looked a little closer, she could see some wetness in his eyes. For the first time, Star was actually scared of Marco. She had never seen him snap like that, especially at her. She stood there while he calmed down, afraid that if she moved an inch, he would do something much worse than momentarily snap.

A few minutes later, Marco's fists started to loosen, and his expression started to soften, but there was still some hint of anger on his face, especially in his eyes.

Marco sighed exasperatedly, "Look Star, I'm fine, alright? I just want to take a shower and go to sleep."

Not a second later, he was inside his room, his door slamming shut echoing through the now quiet halls. That was it. No sorry, no goodbye, just 'stomp, stomp, slam'. Star stood there motionless, still scared. When the echoes finally died down, she realized that she had been standing there for too long. And in any moment, he could come out, notice her, and either snap at her again for why she was still there or give her one of the coldest stares she had ever seen.

So she ran away, away from that door like it was the plague. While her shoes click-clacked on the floor at a fast rate, she wondered what happened to him. She wondered what happened to the Marco she knew. What happened that made him do something that she never even thought he would do.

She's will to get to the bottom of this. She will find out what happened to her year-long bestie, and she will fix it - unlike her other problems.

Oh, but if only she knew.

This time, there were no tears. Instead, there was fire. He was angry, and he showed it to the numerous innocent objects in his room. He was so angry that he passed out right in the middle of his now trashed room, his much needed shower long forgotten.

Not only was the anger from last night still lingered a bit when he woke up the next morning, he was also smelly and tired. It was like he had never slept at all. He glanced around his still trashed room, and groaned. His anger got to him, and not only will he have to clean up his room - which would take an hour or two - Star would likely pester him more about his current behavior.

Star.

He hadn't meant to snap at her. But he was so blinded by his current relationship with Star that he just let himself. From what he could remember, Star looked so scared. It's reasonable, he never snapped at her. He should probably apologize. No, he should apologize. He's going to be mature about this. He's going to confront her, and say sorry. He's going to say sorry, and try not to think of Tom, or the upcoming weekend, or how she treats him like a servant and not as a best friend ever since he returned to Mewni.

Marco sighed. This is going to be harder than he thought.

He got up from the floor that became his temporary bed for last night and staggered towards his wardrobe. He grabbed one of his many red hoodies, a plain gray t-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and a pair of sneakers and socks. He tiredly walked out of his room, grabbing a towel from a rack on the way, and to where the showers were.

He staggered through the halls like a mindless zombie. He tuned out everything around him, just focusing on getting to the showers and taking a nice, warm, much needed shower.

Unfortunately, being a mindless zombie isn't the best thing to be right now, as like yesterday, he bumped into familiar mewman - one he had been bumping into more in a day than he would in a week.

"Are you seriously going bump into me everytime we meet now?" Once he heard that annoyed voice, his mind sirens went blaring. The events that happened yesterday were still fresh in his mind, and once he remembered, his face went red as as his hoodie.

"Oh... um- uh..." He stuttered. He couldn't get the usual retort out of his mouth; he was embarassed as heck.

Higgs raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, waiting for him to say something beyond those stutters. She saw how red his face was, and she knew what was on his mind. She still felt a bit awkward after that, but unlike him, she was able to forget that whole thing and act like a normal mewman being.

She sighed exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Look," She started, "Just... forget about it, alright? I did, you should too."

For some reason, Marco started to calm down. "Oh, um... okay." He replied.

They stood there for a few seconds in complete silence. The silence was unusual. Marco was used to the noise of the several servants and inhabitants running around the halls to do whatever they do in the morning, but the silence made it seem like he was in a completely different castle.

Neither of the two still have yet to say anything. Marco started getting awkward, and he started things he would do when he is. A little bit of finger tapping here, a little bit of lip smacking there. Apparently, his awkwardness was infectious, as Higgs started doing what he was doing as well.

Thankfully, after a few more torturing minutes, Higgs managed to break the silence, "So... where the heck are you going?"

Marco raised an eyebrow, "To the showers. Why you ask?" He honestly didn't know why she would bother knowing his destination. She never even asked where he was going or what he was doing before... all of this.

"Showers?" Once he said the word, Higgs had a faint blush on her face. Inappropriate thoughts of her rival were flooding her mind. She shouldn't be thinking of him like that - he's her rival, for Mewni sakes.

But her thoughts got the best of her. She started getting... curious of what he would be like without that hoodie. She started askinf if he's scrawny or fit, if his body is scar-ridden or not, if he has muscles or not, and even how long his-

"NO!" She shouted, and immediately clasped her hands over her mouth. What was going on in her mind? She just lost control of it for a second. It's like it had a mind of it's own (heh).

She glanced over at Marco, who now had an eyebrow raised. It was her turn to get embarassed.

"Um... what?" Marco asked. That was her que to get the heck out of there. She whipped around and ran as far away from him as he could, boots click-clacking on the marble floor. Marco just watched her run down the halls while still having her hands over her mouth, more confused than ever.

Instead of pondering what just happened, he shrugged it off and continued his way to the shower.

The shower was what he needed. It soothed his aching muscle and warmed him up. After a few minutes in, he turned the knob, stopping the flow of water on his body. He stepped out and grabbed a towel, drying himself. Once he was fully dried, he started changing into his new set of clothes.

Suddenly, there was loud clanking of metal outside, which meant there were knights running, which often meant there was something going on. He hurried up, and ran outside to catch up with the knights.

Marco and the knights ran through the halls, breaking the unusual silence. They ran until they reached what Marco thought was the planning room. They all entered, and Marco saw Queen Moon going over a map on the large table in the middle of the room, hair slightly messy. To her right was Star, who was gripping on her wand tightly and also had messy hair, and to her left were the main knights and their squires, including Sir Lavabo.

Marco approached Sir Lavabo, who was gazing at the map behind the queen. He tapped the knight on the hip, making him jump slightly.

"Marco!" The knight exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Marco asked.

"River went missing," Queen Moon replied, not taking her gaze off the map, "He went to go punch trees in the Forest of Certain Death or whatever he usually does late at night. He usually comes back in the morning, but as you can see, he hasn't. Best case scenario would be he just got lost, worst case would be he got kidnapped or worse."

Marco was half surprised, half worried. He was surprised that King River, a really really tough guy, would get kidnapped. And he was worried that whatever or whoever kidnapped the king would be really dangerous, having kidnapped the tough king and all.

Star butted in, "We searched everywhere! The forest, the other forest, the entire kingdom, the swamps, we even searched through monster territory! But no dad!" She started pacing in small circles, gnawing on her wand.

"Star, calm down." Queen Moon said. Star only quickned her pacing and gnawing. The queen sighed exasperatedly. She turned towards the knights.

"Everyone, let's do one more search around the forest. If you can't find him, I'll have to contact the other kingdoms for a larger search party." The queen commanded.

The knights went for the door along with their squires. Star started to head out as well, but was stopped by her mom.

"Star, I'm going to need you to stay here."

Star whipped around to face her mom, "What? Why?"

"I'm going to need you to help me calm the kingdom down in case everyone goes crazy at the news that we couldn't find him."

Star's frown deepened, "But I wanna help! I wanna help find dad!"

"I know, Star. But the kingdom will likely to collapse if we don't keep them in check."

"But-"

The queen huffed, "No more buts, young lady. Just let the knights handle it."

Star sighed. She pulled out a chair and sat on it with a huff while her mother continued looking at the map for any place where River could possibly be.

It had been three hours since the search had started again. The knights and their squires had inspected every nook and cranny of the forest. Every tree, hole, and cave, but still no River. They even went the distance of pulling on every branch in case one of them was a secret lever to an underground hideout, but none of them were.

Marco was exhausted. They had started double checking areas in case they missed something, and as usual, there was no sign of the king anywhere.

He took a seat on a tree stump a small distance away from the search party. He was sweating furiously and probably smelled again. He unscrewed the cap on the canteen he brought and took a swig on the cold, refreshing water.

Just then, he heard the crunching of leaves behind him. Being near the heart of the Forest of Certain Death, he was on high alert. Heart pumping, he whipped his around so fast that he would've gotten whiplash if it were any faster, while his hand immediately gripped the handle of his sword.

When he found out that who was behind him was none other than Higgs, his grip on his sword loosened, but his face showed a bit of annoyance.

"Jeez, Higgs. You almost scared me half to death." He said, clutching at his chest to try and slow the pace of his heart.

Guilt was shown on her face, which actually surprised Marco, "Oh, um, sorry." And that surprised Marco even more. That was probably the first time he heard her apologize. Saying thank you was one thing, but actually apologizing was a whole other level.

"Um..." Suddenly, there was scream in the distance. Both squires to the direction of the sound. When there was another scream, Marco jumped up from his spot and ran towards the source with Higgs in tow.

They sprinted, jumping over logs and tree stumps. They probably shouldn't be doing this alone, but with screams like that, they were sure that whoever that was would be dead before they get to the search party.

They ran and ran and ran while the screams continued. Once the screams were loud enough, they slowed down and took positions behind some trees. In addition to the louder screams were growls and roars.

Higgs snuck a peek, and saw the faint silhouette of something huge and definitely humanoid amongst the trees. She searched for any detail that could give her a hint of what it could be, but the creature quickly moved deeper into the forest.

Higgs lokked over to Marco and made a gesture to move forward. Marco nodded, and followed Higgs. They slowly travelled through the trees, wary of their surroundings in case of a surprise attack, while the screams and roars continued.

"What do you think is that thing?" Marco asked quietly.

"I don't know, but we're probably gonna find out soon." She replied. She kept a tight grip on the grip of her sword. She kept a close eye for any sudden movements among the trees.

Suddenly, the noises stopped, and that often means something happened. Higgs put an arm out to her side, stopping Marco from progressing any further. The mewman squire scanned her surroundings, listening for any indication that there's something coming for them. Marco meanwhile had his sword out, ready to strike any foe that tried to attack them.

After a few moments of silence, they both heard the rustling of leaves and stomping in the distance behind them. They turned around and saw something coming straight for them. Trees were being shoved aside and birds were flying away from the path their mystery creature was taking. And ater the last bit of tree was gone, they finally got a look at the creature they were tailing.

It was huge, as huge as the cloth beast Marco had fought yesterday. It had a huge trunk as a body, and branches for arms and legs - all being covered in moss and leaves. It's head was somehow spherical, with only two glowing green holes for eyes and branches made to look like antlers on his head.

It stood a distance away from the two battle-ready squires. The three stood there, waiting for someone to make a move. The standoff was broken when a badly beaten King River emerged from one of the creature's eyes.

"Marco! Higgs! Don't worry, I'm oka-" He was cut off when the creature slapped a hand over his eye. The creature's face started to split in half vertically, showing a mouth full of point wooden teeth and numerous tongue-like vines. It roared loudly, causing the squires to cover their ears lest their eardrums explode.

The creature charged forwards, shaking the ground beneath. It brought its wooden fist up and began bringing it down towards the two squires. Higgs quickly shoved Marco away from the incoming fist while she rolled to the side. The two quickly unsheathed their swords and charged towards the wooden behemoth, yelling out battle cries. The creature tried to kick at the incoming squires, but its kicks were easily dodged. The two kept running until they reached its legs.

"We gotta cut of its legs!" Marco yelled out. Higgs nodded and proceeded to climb the creature's right leg while Marco went for the left. Once the two reached the knee, they started slashing and hacking at it. But as soon as cuts were made, they were filled by moss that quickly turned into wood, quicker than they could swing at the cut to make it deeper. They kept on it though, swinging their swords at fast recovering cuts while the creature tried to grab and shake them off.

Eventually, the creature was able to shake off the tired squires, making them fall to the ground beside their swords. The creature brought its foot up to squash the two, but stopped suddenly. The squires looked at the frozen behemoth above them, confused as to why it stopped. The creature started clutching its neck and make gagging noises. Suddenly, King River came bursting out of the creature's mouth, a bunch of its tongue-like vines in one hand and covered in what seemed to be tree sap, and landed in front of the amazed squires.

River quickly grabbed the squires by the collar, barely making them not grab their swords, and ran away from the still gagging creature and towards the kingdom.

"We have to get out of here! The three of us alone can't defeat that thing!" The king yelled, panting in between words. The two squires were now on their feet just behind River. They jumped over ditches and logs, and dodged branches and boulders. The ground started to shake, and the three glanced behind them to see the creature catching up to them.

"Uh, that thing is following us!" Marco shouted.

"We're gonna lead him to the kindgom, where we have better chance of taking that beast down!" The king shouted back. The three continued running for their lives until they finally reached the kingdom.

"Sorry, your majesty, but we couldn't find the king. We checked everywhere." Sir Lavabo sadly said.

Queen Moon, Star, and the knights were outside the kingdom, the two monarchs eager to hear some good news but were disappointed.

The queen sighed, "Alright. I think it's time to call the other kingdoms."

Everyone was heading back to the kingdom when the ground started to shake. Birds flew up from the nearby trees of the forest. Everyone turned to look at the forest. The ground started to shake more intensely with each second.

"Everyone, defensive positions!" A knight yelled. The knights started preppping bows and arrows and took positions in front of the the monarchs. Everyone waited for whatever monster is charging towards their kingdom.

After a minute or two, King River emerged from the trees with Marco and Higgs behind him. They all had bruises and were sweating profusely. The three of them were waving their arms around and were shouting something.

"tree- mons- Tree- Monste- Tree Monster! Tree Monster! TREE MONSTER!" Marco shouted. As if on que, behind emerged the wooden behemoth from the sea of trees, the glow in its eyes now a deep red. Everyone gasped at the size of the behemoth.

"FIRE!" A knight shouted. Arrows flew at fast speeds towards the creature. Some stuck at its wooden skin while some just fell to the ground.

"Swords up high, men! CHARGE!" Another knight shouted. A large group of knights with shields and swords charged towards the creature. They gathered up beneath it and started hacking at the legs. With more swords, the cuts made were a lot deeper but were not enough to defeat the fast moss regeneration that quickly replaced the lost wood.

The creature was getting annoyed, and started kicking at the knights, sending groups flying away. Arrows kept flying at the creature, but they were deflected by a swipe of its arm - some being deflected back at them.

Star was still staring in shock at the massive beast. When her mother started attacking the creature with spells, she snapped out of her shocked staye and began firing spells alongside her mother.

"Narwhal Blast!" Narwhals emerged from her wand and struck the creature, but no harm was done - as if she never fired the spell.

"Mom, I think it's magicproof!" Star said to her mother while she continued firing different spells at the creature.

Marco had joined the knights at slashing the legs. He getting tired, and soon enough he was kicked towards Higgs' side who was firing arrows at the creature. He stood up and stared at the slowly approaching creature. It kept kicking the knights away and was swiping at arrows like flies. He was going through his mind for any way to defeat the wooden behemoth. And then, something popped up, something that he probably should have thought of a while ago.

He turned to Higgs, who was still firing arrows, "Fire! We need fire!"

Higgs nodded and turned towards the bow and arrow group, "Everyone! We need fire! Fire!"

"Get the oil barrels and some torches, quick!" A knight said. Half of the group ran towarda the kingdom and came back with oil barrels and torches. Arrows were dipped inside the barrels and were then lit with torches. Everyone took positions, ready to fire at the creature.

A knight commanded the sword groups to run away from the creature. Once it was clear, the same knight commanded everyone to fire. Flickering orange lights flew through the air and landed at the creature. This time, the creature screamed as the fire started to spread throughout it wooden skin. The fire was starting to work, but was still not enough as the creature started patting the fire to extinguish itself.

Arrows were relit and fired at the creature. The creature was starting to burn, but its moss regeneration still kept it standing. Star realized the strategy everyone was going for, and decided to try something.

She pointed the wand at the creature and shouted, "Tid-oil Wave!" Waves of oil emerged from the wand and went for the creature. Once the oil hit the creature, the fire immediately engulfed the entire creature in it. It screamed and tried to pat the fire out, but failed and now fell to its knees. It started to fall over some knights, who all ran away from the burning creature, but Higgs was the last one to notice the falling flames and tried to run away, but it looked she wouldn't make it. Fortunately, Marco was able to run to Higgs and tackled her away from the creature. The creature finally fell to the ground with a large ground-shaking 'boom'.

Cheers now filled the air, as every knight started clapping and celebrating at the defeat of such a massive monster. Marco and Higgs were still on the ground, both having their eyes shut tight and were unintentionally hugging each other as tight as they could. Once the cheers started, they opened their eyes to the sweet relief of being alive. They both sighed in relief, but noticed that they were still holding onto each other. They pushed each other away, both blushing furiously.

King River suddenly appeared behind and both gave them pats on the back. "Ha ha! Well done, you two. If both of you hadn't found me, I would've been tree chow." The king said. He grabbed both of their hands and lifted them up into the air, "Marco and Higgs, everyone!" The cheers were now louder than before, in addition to the cheers of their respective knights.

"Well done, Marco!" Sir Lavabo cheered.

"Good job, Higgs!" Sir Stabby also cheered.

The two squires looked at each other and did something wouldn't have ever done, they smiled at each other.

Meanwhile, behind the cheering knights, was Star. She looked at the two squires who were smiling at each other with narrowed eyes, but she was mostly looking at Higgs. Her eyes had a hint of suspicion to them. She also felt something in her chest, similiar to the feeling when Marco was dating Jackie. Could they be...? No, they couldn't be, they wouldn't. They hate each other... right? Why is she even asking these questions? She has no reason to even think about these questions... does she?

She realized that she had been... looking for too long that it would make anyone suspicious of her. So she joined in the cheering, but with less enthusiasm as opposed to the knights around her.

oof, that was a beast to write, at least 4.5k words

also, if anyone cares enough to see some original work, i have a fictionpress account under the name rayyarray

i only have one story with two chaps up right now, but if you want to see more of that story, let me know

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