Hey everyone, I didn't get to do this in the first chapter because basically I forgot but here I am, back from the dead to bring you a fic about one of the best shows ever made. I really struggled on whether to make this romance or not since I simply love the fact that Star and Marco are portrayed as a pair whose friendship simply transcends any need for a romantic relationship, they're already above something like that. Having said that I'm also a huge shipper of the two so I did it anyway. I'm hoping to make this an epic but that will depend on your reviews and favorites, so please do as it's the only reason to keep writing. Also if at any point the concepts Cole presents get too confusing or you find a flaw with one feel free to message me and either ask or explain your point and I'll be more than happy to make corrections, thank you.
-Ginn
They had decided to start packing the moment they returned to their home. Marco and Star bolted to their rooms and began filling their bags with anything they thought they would need. Star filled hers with whimsical spells and creatures, completely ignoring her clothes and instead picking between which strange creation of hers that dwelled within her room would be brought to Mewni. Marco meanwhile was packing a very organized suitcase with clothes for all times of the year as well as hygienic essentials and several pictures of his family.
His family, he had forgotten to tell his family.
Slapping his face Marco snatched his bag and closed the door behind him, exiting at the same time that Star did. The two exchanged wide grins and headed downstairs where the Diaz parents were cuddling on the couch, whispering in a language that only Marco could understand. He flushed as Star stared at them, trying to figure out what it was they were talking about from the little Spanish she had learned.
"Uh, Mom, Dad? We gotta talk to you about something." the pair hopped down the stairs and stood tall and nervous before the older couple.
"Oh kids, mother and I were just deciding on what mountain we would hike this summer, so far it's looking like we'll be hitting up the Rockies!" Mr. Diaz shouted excitedly, his rolled 'R' dragging out the word. Mrs. Diaz giggled and looked at the kids, giving them her full attention.
"Okay kids, now what is it?" the two shifted uncomfortably at the thought of telling the Diaz's that they would be leaving for an unknown amount of time, even more so when what they would be doing would shape the entire multiverse.
"Oh no, it is 'the look' darling! Star, are you with a, a baby!" Mr. Diaz sank to his knees cursing God for his son's foolishness and greed, Star flushed a deep red and buried her face in her palms while Marco just slapped his face.
"Dad please get up, it has nothing to do with that." Marco pleaded with the man as he pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Finally, Mrs. Diaz seemed to get him under control and the two resumed their position on the couch, large smiles once more in place.
"Mom, Dad, me and Star have to go to Mewni for a while, and by awhile I mean I don't know when we'll be back." his parents paled at the news, looking at each other fretfully, Star chewed on her lower lip as he delivered the news.
"But why son?" Mr. Diaz's voice was little more than a fearful whisper, his large eyes drooping from the news.
"You see it all started when this dude Cole claimed-" however Marco cut off the would have been six hour long explanation with a firm shake of his head, Star blinked in surprise but clamped her mouth shut.
"We can't tell you guys, I'm sorry." Now the Diaz's looked angry, his mother stood up and walked towards them, as if preparing to scold them.
"What do you mean you can't tell us? Marco Diaz we are your parents and you will tell us what we want to know? Is this some kind of dangerous monster fighting mission?" he had never seen his mother this worked up before, even when he had been kidnapped Star had told him she had kept a remarkably cool head.
"We can't tell you that either Mom, all we can tell you guys is that it's something only we can do" Marco turned up his face to stare at his mom, pleading with her to understand.
He was met with a firm slap across his face.
The room went silent, a stutter of disbelief left Mr. Diaz and Marcos mother was gnawing her lip as sobs escaped her. And then with a cry she fled the living room, Mr. Diaz chasing after her and calling her name. Star was with him in an instant, tenderly patting his face and whispering words of comfort and worry, but all Marco could hear was white noise.
He had never been hit by his parents before, he couldn't even remember the last time they yelled at him. Slowly he came back to reality, the white noise and the stinging on his cheek quickly fading as Star's voice came into focus. He met her worried gaze and gave the tiniest smile to let her know he was fine.
"Marco, why didn't you just tell them what we were doing? I'm sure they would have understood!" Star lightly caressed his face and despite everything he leaned in and felt his body relax.
"I can't risk that, who knows what will happen if we tell anyone that whatever we do in the future will shape the multiverse and the infinitely arching timelines. I don't really know what the risk is, or if there's any at all, but we shouldn't take the chance and just keep it to ourselves." Star pursed her lips but nodded, squeezing his cheek affectionately before letting him go.
"Let's go," he took the dimensional scissors from her small purse and cut open a rift in space.
Star nodded and with no small amount of effort hurled her massive bag into the vortex. She gave him a cheery smile and a thumbs up as well before diving headfirst into the abyss, disappearing from sight. Marco gave one final look around, as if trying to memorize every small detail about the living room where he had spent so much of his life.
The last thing he heard before he dove through the portal was his mother's muffled cries.
With a slight twist he was in Mewni, standing just outside the castle. Star was several feet away from him, talking excitedly to a very large and intimidating guard. They were laughing as he roughly tousled her hair, she bounced on her heels as she shot butterflies and tigers out of her wand in her apparent joy.
Turning back she noticed Marco and said one more thing to the man before sprinting over to him. Marco smiled warmly as she took his hand and led him towards a secret entrance in the castle where they could get to her room without having to go through her parents. As they made their way through the bushes Marco shivered, his body feeling cold for a moment. He turned and noticed that even from his distance he could feel the heavy glare of the man Star had been talking too just moments ago.
"Hey Star, who was-" but his question was quickly cut off by a hand over his lips, they had entered a small dark hallway and there was quite a bit of noise coming from the light at the end.
"Marco shh! This hallway leads to the kitchen and if we're gonna get to my room unnoticed we need to be as stealthy as the ninja you so enjoy kissing." Marco flushed at the memory and Star flashed him a wide grin, exchanging a quick kiss in apology. "Now, let's go!"
With one rough tug Star pulled him into the light and into the massive kitchen. The room was huge, easily the side of the entire cafeteria. Chefs and servers bustled around, yelling at the top of their lungs as they prepared and traded off food. Marco had to constantly jump from space to space to avoid being crushed by the traffic of the place. Star snatched his hand, weaving the two of them through the crowd and popping out on the other side.
"Wow Star, I never would have thought a kitchen would be that busy," Star however wasn't listening, instead she was surveying the area, making sure there was no one who would rat them out to her parents.
"Alright Marco, here we go, we're gonna sprint down that hallway, then take a left, a right, a straight up, a slight diagonal and then boom we're there you got that?" Marco shrugged helplessly which Star took as an affirmative.
Star's room was located in one of the several towers of the castle and, after some wall to wall jumping and hiding they finally made it. Marco was surprised by the inside, he had expected it to be just as whimsical as her room on earth. However, this place had a true essence of regality about it, everything was so flower and expensive looking, from the drapes to the bed and even the throw pillows. Marco was almost afraid to touch something, worried that he may break a rare collectible.
Star meanwhile was unpacking, tossing her creatures all around and shooting spell after spell at the walls in an attempt to make them brighter, all of which failed. She grumbled to herself, muttering something about anti-magic wallpaper. Marco took a seat at her desk and gazed out the window. The castle was far above the town, piercing the clouds with its sheer size and from the height he could see far into the distance. It looked a lot like Earth, and for a moment he pretended that he could see his house and family, waiting for him to return.
"You okay?" Star's hand landed on his shoulder from behind, with a light push she shoved her head over his own to look upside down in his face, her worried eyes searching his for anger or remorse.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, cheek still stings a bit but I'm sure it's nothing a kiss can't fix." she giggled and obliged, warmly smooching his facial wound before she hopped off and began reformatting her bed, tossing aside pillows and sheets in the process.
"Nice digs," the pair froze, eyes darting to the corner of the room where a shadowed figure stood, however as they squinted to see they noticed that the space where eyes should be was glowing a light blue in the darkness.
Cole walked away from his position, stepping into the natural lighting of the room. He was dressed as he had been last night, his skin still as pale as it had been in the moonlight. Marco twitched, resisting the urge to put himself between the man and Star, the girl however seemed more annoyed than defensive, rolling her eyes and continuing to unpack.
"You know, I had an ex who loved to do the whole dramatic reveal from a dark corner thing, it gets old real quick Cole." he once again let out his strange laugh and took a seat in the air next to Marco.
"You guys are a day early you know, I said leave tomorrow at five, what happened to that?" Marco and Star exchanged looks and gave a shrug, pretending to be busy with other things, however Cole's watchful eyes would not let up.
"Well it doesn't matter, now that you guys are here the events that must occur can finally kick into gear, I suggest-" his words were quickly cut off by a loud and angry knock on the door, the trio turned alarmed to see the bulging wood as someone tried to gain entrance.
"Star dear are you in there? We heard from some of the chefs that you and a young boy were seen in the castle !" King Butterfly's knocks grew louder as he spoke, Star paled and began to chew on her wand.
"Oops, looks like I'm gone." and in a flash he was, Cole's presence completely disappeared from the room, leaving only the nervous pair to deal with her father's wrath.
Finally the door was kicked down and her short father and his attendants entered the room. His stern gaze already focused on his daughter who was doing her best to shove her pets back into her bag. Marco shrang away from him, his strong regal aura acting almost like a shield against him.
"Ah Star my dear, so you were in your room." he paused and turned to address the other occupant. "Marco."
The two exchanged a gentlemanly nod before the king returned to his daughter.
"Star, you're certainly early on your arrival home, we thought you were at least staying on Earth for the summer, and you even brought your friend with you, what is the meaning of all this?" Star stuttered and tripped over her words as she tried to come up with a decent explanation.
After all, she couldn't tell him the real reason they had returned, nor could she inform her that her 'friend' was no longer just a 'friend'.
"W-Well sir," Marco chimed in and jumped between the king and Star, much to both their surprise. "Star was just telling me that she felt it was time to grow up and start learning the duties of being a Queen of the land, after all, no one's young forever!"
He let out an awkward giggle, which Star quickly matched and agreed with. The king stroked his beard, wise eyes appraising him and his statement. Marco forced himself to maintain eye contact, hoping that the lie wouldn't be seen through.
"And what are you doing here dear boy?" he asked suspiciously, circling around him as if inspecting a piece of art.
"W-Well it's just-" Star shot him a desperate look, steeling himself he took a deep breath and met the king's gaze dead on. "I was interested in becoming a candidate to marry your daughter."
The entire room seemed to get ten degrees colder at Marco's bold declaration. Despite it being a last ditch effort to distract the king from his inquisitions, Star seemed to become instantly enamored with the idea. She cooed and squealed over him, cuddling against him and laying sweet kisses all over him, much to the surprise and distaste of her father.
"My daughter's hand you say? Quite the audacious young man aren't you? Well I'll add your name to the list then" he snapped his fingers and one of his attendants made a note in a journal. "Well then, I'll inform your mother about you and your new husband candidates arrival, join us for dinner later dear!"
And with that he was gone.
"Maaaaarcoooo, marriage I can't believe it! Oh gosh with my favor we can put you on the top of the list oh this is gonna be so fun!" Marco swallowed awkwardly, not having the heart to tell her it had been a spur of the moment distraction.
Besides, it wasn't the worst idea in the world, being married.
"Okay well I'm gonna go find some food, you wanna come?" Marco shook his head, mentioning something about unpacking, she nodded and blew him a kiss before skipping down the hall..
As soon as she was gone Marco's face hardened.
"You're still here huh?" at his words Cole floated down from the ceiling, smile more teasing than it had been.
"Marriage huh? Wow kiddo getting brave aren't ya?" Marco swatted at him but his hand simply phased through the man.
"Why are you even still here? Isn't you even talking to me gonna effect the the future? Or does this count as your moment of interference?" Cole kept his back to Marco as he inquired, focus directed towards various pictures that Star had.
"Technically I'm allowed to talk to you guys as much as I want as long as I don't give away any information or lead you any particular way." Cole snatched a picture of Star and Marco that she had unpacked earlier and in a flash of blue it was gone. "And since you two are the only ones I can talk to in a normal fashion I figured why not right?"
"Is that it?"
"That's it baby."
"Fine then, I'm gonna go get Star, don't take any more weird things dude." Marco made a 'I'm watching you' gesture before exiting the room.
Cole walked to the window overlooking the kingdom and smiled, a wave of nostalgia coursing through him. With a snap of his fingers a pair of dimensional scissors identical to Star's appeared which he exchanged in her purse. From down the hall he heard the approaching sound of Marco and Star and with yet another snap began to dematerialize.
"Let's get this ball a rolling."