A nice juicy chapter for you this time, revealing a lot more about the plot and setting it up to be a true epic, again if you have any questions feel free to ask. Also there is a slight lemon, no actual intercourse or petting but it gets kinda heavy, skip it if you want but know that it will happen at some point, review, favorite, follow, thank you.
-Ginn
Dinner was about as awkward as either of them had expected. They had been guided to the grand hall by the large guardsmen who Marco had seen Star talking to when they first arrived. Once again he could feel the large mans eyes at him, leering, inspecting, judging. The boy silently wished with all his heart that the man would either speak to his mind or leave them in peace.
Their meal was held in the grand hall of the luxurious castle, which was even larger than the oversized kitchen. The table stretched in every which way, clearly made to accommodate as many people as possible rather than simply go from side of the room to the other. On it was an endlessly vast amount of interdimensional cuisine, ranging from a deep fried creature of which there were only six left to the ever famous sports arena nachos.
The king and queen had pulled out all the stops.
Surprisingly, rather than sit on opposites end of the table, Star's parents positioned themselves on either side of the pair. The king on Marcos and the queen on Stars, the two shared an uneasy look but exchanged smiles with their respective neighbors, neither of which were returned.
Star dug in immediately, trying as usual to fill the void of sound with her loud ravenous eating habits. Marco gingerly spooned soup into his mouth, maintaining eye contact with the perplexing look of the king the entire time. He darted his gaze over to Star, hoping she would save him, however she was fighting her own manner battle with her mother.
"So, Marco my boy, not only are you my daughter's 'bestie' as she would put it, but you've also mustered the gall to openly declare yourself as one of her many, many, many marriage candidates is that right?" Marco winced at every 'many' that the king decided to include but nodded none the less, putting down his spoon and turning to the shorter man in an attempt to at least appear respectful.
"That's right King-"
"River, just River is quite enough my boy"
"Oh, alright River then, yes I um, that is with all the humbleness that I can give unto you I would, too, like to enter my hat into the contenders ring." he slapped his face the moment he finished, lamenting over his poor combination of strange modern slang and poorly worded old English.
River however seemed unperturbed and instead stroked his beard as he considered the boy's words. The queen's eyes remained closed, face placid and neutral, Star ceased eating and gave him a smile sloppily filled with food which Marco weakly returned. Finally the king seemed to be finished with his musings and snatched a nacho from in front of him, chewing on it slowly.
"Wonderful thing, Earth junk food, even though it isn't the wonderfully rich and well raised meat that is destined for greatness from the moment it's born we still love it just as much. It may just be an ordinary dish, something you can find anywhere you go, but it's always a little different every time I try it. Sometimes Marco my boy, I'd prefer to enjoy a simple and easy to understand bit of Earth junk food than some well off manicured pig, do you understand?" Marco stared mesmerized at the king as he pondered the words and the analogy, but after a moment he nodded, his grin a bit more confident than before.
"Wait so does that mean I'm-"
"Let's leave it at that Marco dear, my husband doesn't often successfully complete an analogy, let's take the moment to savor it and move on." Even the queen seemed to be smiling now, elegant mouth nibbling on the tiniest piece of meat.
In fact it was only Star who seemed to be lost.
"Psst Marco," the girl whispered, grabbing him roughly by the hood and pulling him to her lips so she could speak. "What the heck are they talking about, and since when does my dad even eat junk food?"
Marco smiled warmly at the girl and simply pat her on the leg, resisting the urge to kiss her. With her parents watchful eyes on them not only would it be disrespectful, but he wasn't even sure it would be legal. Star had always been vague on what kind of dating she was allowed to do, as well as how far her relationships were even allowed to go. From what he assumed, there wasn't even dating on Mewni, just courting and marriage, anything else was most likely going to earn him a one way ticket to prison for defiling the future queen of the dimension.
"Well then, you'll have to excuse your mother and I, urgent business and what not, Star, show your friend to his room, on the opposite side of the tower." River spoke, emphasizing the word 'opposite', Star nodded, giggling and grabbed Marco by the hand, pulling them from the main hall and towards the stairs.
As they dashed back up the tall tower to grab his bag Marcos mind wandered to his brief conversation. From the way the king spoke, it almost seemed like he would have preferred that Marco marry Star. Or maybe he simply thought of him as a token of some sorts, an amusement that he could talk to other kingdoms about. He had, after all, described Marco as 'junk food', did that mean he was thought of as trash of some sorts.
"Okay so dad said opposite side of the tower but ob-vious-ly we're not gonna do that because, well, then how am I supposed to get my snuggles, so what I'm thinking-" Marco was only half paying attention however, his primary focus on the image of the wonderfully glowing girl that bounced around her room, lighting it up with spells and whimsical hues each time a word left her mouth.
"Marco, are you listen-" her words however were cut off as Marco suddenly moved in on her, lips moving to hers and stealing her breath.
She giggled into him and complied, molding her lips to his more aggressive ones. He had just a few inches over her and lorded it over her, using his height to make her tip her head up to meet him. She sighed against his mouth, breathing out words of adoration and love that only she could say so freely. He felt his face heat up but was unwilling to back down into his embarrassment as he had so many times before.
Instead he pushed more against her, pressing his body flush against her own. She squeaked and let out a breathless whisper of his name before twisting her body into his, her leg slipping between his leg. He was always surprised by how much she seemed to know about these forms of intimacy, how she always knew exactly what small move it took to change his blissful love into molten lust.
And sometimes, when no one was watching, he wondered to himself who else had experienced her.
The thought was quickly shoved aside however as her nimble fingers maneuvered beneath his sweatshirt and onto his sculpted chest. Her fingers, hardened from battle and hard work, traced scars that he had received while fighting for and with her. She traced down his still forming chest and abs, and down lower still to the dip in his waistline. He sucked in a nervous breath and her hands retreated, resting tamely on his hips.
Their kisses had become deeper, tongues intertwined with each other within one of their mouths. Somehow the girl seemed to not only achieve this, but also lightly gnaw on his lower lip, causing it to swell. Finally however, Marco lost his breath and Star immediately switched to his neck, panting against his pulse and lapping up the small beads of sweat that had formed. He shivered at the feeling, hands going into her hair and to her shoulders, pulling her closer while nervously pulling them apart.
"Marco," she breathed into his ear, licking at its shell. "My Marco, mi bronceado gran dios."
A violent blush erupted from his collar, traveling like a virus up his neck and to his ears and face, even his eyes felt red. The girls laugh was much breathier now, lower, huskier, she nibbled on the skin behind his ear and he whimpered as she twisted the sensitive flesh in her teeth. The aggressive girl was pushing herself further into him than usual, at this point one of them always backed off, frightened of their own arousal and worried about where it would lead.
And yet here, in her parents castle, in an alternate dimension with guards down the hall just waiting for an excuse to take him away, they were proceeding farther and deeper into their sexualities than they had ever gone with each other, with anyone. Stars hands moved again, tracing past his tightened dip into his pants and down onto his inner thighs.
If even a finger of hers twitched she would be in uncharted territory.
"S-Star, um c-can we, maybe, should we?" the girl was no longer laughing, and when she pulled back to look at him her eyes were burning embers, there was no look of delightful insanity, no glee, no unearthly joy, just smoldering blue with his name written in lust.
With a leap and careful turn they were on her bed, Star straddling his waist and Marcos vision beginning to blur as the unfamiliar sensations reached a peak. The princess looked down at him, searching his expression for any doubt, any fear, any mistrust. But despite the nerves and the embarrassment, all that she found was herself reflected in his eyes and her love reflected in his smile.
She bucked her hips against him, and it took a moment for Marco to even register what she had done.
When he did however, a previously unheard of gasp left his body, racking him with spasms and forcing his hands to her hips. She smiled in surprise at his sudden boldness and complied with yet another quick grind against him. Marcos mind had switched to autopilot almost as soon their lower bodies has touched. His hesitance, his innocence, his worry of getting caught evaporated into the pleasant haze that the girl was creating within him.
One that threatened to leak out of she continued.
"What do you feel Marco," it was the first time either of them had spoken since Marcos bold decision to kiss her.
It wasn't so much of a question as rhetorical statement. Looking at her, he could tell that she knew exactly what he felt, her head lolled to the side as her movements became painfully slow. He wasn't even really sure what parts of them were touching through her dress and his pants but it didn't matter, nothing did anymore. Her breaths came out in spasms and though she was clearly trying to keep her cool Marco could tell it was becoming hard for her to remain quiet.
"Star," his words were a whisper of awe towards the girl who, at hearing him, had once more begun to speed up her movements, until she was almost bouncing on him. He rose a hand to caress her face, savoring the feeling of soft flesh and heat that radiated from her, she turned and kissed his fingers, eyes never leaving his own.
"I want you Marco," she lowered herself so their chests were touching, her words nearly making his heart stop. "I need you Marco, I crave you Marco, every moment this churning in my heart gets worse and you're the only one who can make it stop."
She had never been one to mince words after all.
He had never thought of Star as a particularly erotic person, he didn't even think to wonder what she did with past boyfriends when the two of them began dating. However, after several late night make out sessions that had nearly led to something else it became clear that at the very least she was not inexperienced. As if sensing his jealousy Star had explained, Marco may not have been her first kiss, but everything else was just as new to her as it was to him. However, unlike him, she refused to let any emotion other than love and instinct guide her, hence her ability to know him like no other.
And currently it felt as though her body knew him too well.
"Please," he hated to hear her sound so desperate, so lost within herself, yet his heart was filled to the brim with her love and his body was at its limit in terms of patience.
Her progression towards his zipper was anything but slow and in an instant she had taken a hold of the metal. The sheer intensity of the moment twisted his stomach to the point where he felt like stopping just to make the feeling cease, instead he raised his head, the two of them watching each other in a trance as the sound of metal sliding downwards crashed in their ears.
A click went off in Marcos head, an instinct of fight or flight, and without warning he snatched Star and pulled the two of them to the head of the bed. From outside the two watched as a pillar of blue light burst around the castle, shaking the walls and causing a slight amount of debris to fall around the two. Exchanging looks of understanding the two bolted down the stairs, heading to the throne room where Stars parents would, hopefully, be calmly sitting, waiting to explain to the two what had happened.
However as they came towards the room, they slowed, not only were the large wooden doors partially closed, but there were already voices coming from within. Marco made a stealth gesture from an old spy movie that he and Star had watched and the two pressed their backs to the space next to the doors opening. They moved as close as possible without obscuring the light and casting a shadow and leaned forward, hoping to catch whatever conversation was being had.
"Quite an entrance don't you think?" the queens crystal voice bounced against the walls, Star nervously shook Marcos arm but he shook his head, gesturing that they should continue listening rather than interfere.
"She's quite right my boy, what is the reason for your return?" Marco leaned a bit more, Star clinging to his back with him to catch sight of the third person.
"What, can't an all powerful omnipotent being come in and say hey to his favorite dynasty every once in awhile? Oh and queeny, honey? Ya gotta stop with the pork tenders, three months, fourteen days, six hours, that's all the time you've got left with that waistline babe."
Cole stood in the center of the room, face split into a smile, shadow stretching ominously across the wall. Marco and Star covered their mouths to hide their gasps, pulling away from the door they exchanged looks of shock and silently mouthed their disbelief to the other before quickly returning to their secret show. The new arrival had begun to walk the length of the room, murmuring silently to himself as if counting the steps.
"And what of our agreement Time Walker? The one that specifically states you cease in your observations of the eighth dimension that houses Mewni and all of her provinces?" Cole stopped pacing at that, his smile was still there but from the dip in his brows it was clearly meant as a frown.
"The agreement is conditional, it only applies as long as Mewni has nothing with her boundaries that could have anything to do with the shaping of the infinite arch of timelines, and unfortunately for you, some thing, or should I say, someone, has popped up." The king rose angrily at this, he marched up to Cole and snatched him by his tie, pulling him down to eye level.
"Now see here you blasphemic monster, what lies are you spewing in my court? To my wife? Why, the dimension of Mewni has been free from influencing the arch since our founder, the original Queen Butterfly, separated us from the natural flow of the universe!" the man flicked Rivers hand away, his smile finally failing him, resulting in an impassive and unamused glare.
"Believe me, I am aware of your ancestors blatant disregard for the natural order. However, that was then, and this is now, and now, a member of this dimension holds half of a key to shape the multiverse, and as the Observer it is my job and my right to be where they are." The king stared at him incredulously, clearly not believing a word of his.
"Impossible, all born and raised within the dimension of Mewni and her provinces are free from interference, that was the rules and the basis of her spell." At this Cole's smile returned, and with a snap of his fingers Marco and Star went from hiding outside to standing front and center, much to everyone's surprise.
"Ah, just as you said, born and raised, however, a certain starry eyed princess was not fully raised in Mewni, she broke a rule of the Queen's spell, and because of that the Universe was able to grab the strongest manipulator of Magic in all nine dimensions to assure its continuation." the queen covered her mouth, exchanging a forlorn look with her husband and daughter.
"You expect me to believe that such a poor and obvious flaunting of an ancient and powerful spell can actually be used?" the king's voice had cracked however, revealing that his anger was giving way to desperation.
"That's right old man, all moments everywhere are finally reaching their impasse for the first and last time ever. Did you really think that you, ruler of a dimension separated from all others, could continue your peaceful march through non-time? This is your retribution Butterfly, at last the hand of fate has selected an heir of the Butterfly to be one of the two who will either do or don't and it was your pride in her that led to this being able to occur." Marco and Star looked at each other in confusion, not fully grasping why exactly it seemed like such a horrific situation and why Cole's speech pattern had gone from casual to Shakespearean themed dialogue.
"Um, Cole?" Marco called, interrupting the seemingly sinister rant of the man.
"Yeah what's up dude?" and just like that the Cole that they had met twice before was back, grinning as if nothing had happened.
"What's the big deal here? I mean why does River care so much that Star and I are gonna shape the multiverse? And how come Mewni is separated from the flow of the universe or whatever? And why do you seem so happy about all this?" The king and queen shook their heads at him, as if begging him to stop talking.
"Oh well that's easy, see this dick over here's one one thousand times grandmother was a real hag ya know? Not only that but she really liked messing with me by screwing with time and making my job a heck of lot harder. And so one day I go up to her and I'm like 'hey lady, you know if you keep messing with time and everything the universe is gonna correct itself and use something of yours to do it.' But she was all like 'nuh uh, I'm just gonna seperate my dimension and kingdom from the casualty continuum so that the infinite arch of timelines will never be able to catch up to us and that means you'll never be able to come here.' And I was all like 'do it jerkwad and I'll make sure that some day your descendant will play a huge roll in the shaping of the multiverse and when that happens I'll be back!'" Marco and Star stared at the man inquisitively as he took a deep breath from telling the story without pauses or stops.
"Wait but why didn't my ancestor wanna be a part of the flow of the arches anyway? Don't you have to be to exist?" Cole began to float upward, twisting in mid air and bouncing off the walls.
"See, your talking like a normal thinking logical person, but your great granny, she wasn't. See, she thought that by not being a part of the continuum her dimension and future generations were guaranteed a prosperous and forever rule that would be, like, free of outside interference and chance. Thing is, she was right, and that's the reason there hasn't been any natural disasters, any war, any plague, any anything in Mewni ever! Cuz technically this place doesn't exist and does exist at the same time. It's a freaking paradox, a pain in my rear and a stress on the universe all at the same time and dear old mom and dad over there are uber stressed cuz now that I'm finally here and you're one half of the key that means that the non inclusiveness of the Mewni dimension in the infinite arch is at an end, and so too is the Butterfly reign." Star and Marco's eyes widened at that, looking at her parents for confirmation and receiving it with a defeated nod.
"Wait, so does that mean Star won't be queen or something?" Marco asked as Cole ran his hands through the boy's hair.
"Well maybe, basically what it means is that Mewni and this dimension will once more begin to follow a natural flow just like everything else, rather than the perfect Butterfly one that that wicked women set up to keep everything kosher. People will begin to once again question their place in the world, the universe, the multiverse, basic inquisition and primal nature sealed away will start back up again. They'll rise up and war will appear here for the first time ever, just as nature intended." Marco swatted away the floating man, much to his annoyance, and wrapped his arm around the slightly fearful looking Star.
"I get it, by the end of the Butterfly reign you don't mean their rule over the dimension necessarily, you mean the influence of the original Butterfly." Cole nodded gleefully as Marco comforted the girl in his arms.
"Exact-a-mundo!"
"I've got a question though," Marco began, turning to him, the time walker made a gesture to let the boy know he was all ears. "From your story it's clear you have a grudge against the Butterflys, you even mocked her saying that the universe would take something of hers as retribution and you would return one day. Does that mean it didn't have to be me and Star? That you're doing this out of spite?"
The room took on a tense silence, even Cole looked surprised by the complex line of questioning.
"Answer me!"
"Pipe down kiddo, I'm an all knowing being that exists at every time, anytime, you think I've got time to spare on pettiness? Please, it's an unfortunate coincidence at worst, like I said, the universe works automatically to balance itself, and in doing so it created the only link between all infinite timelines and universes that could also act as a counterbalance to the princesses witchy grannies spell. Remember? You two are the only thing that every multiverse has in common, it's gotta be you." Marco nodded, backing down and sucking in a deep breath to calm himself.
"It doesn't matter," the other four looked in shock at the previously silent girl in the room, as if they had forgotten she was even there. "Mom, Dad, I don't know what great granny did to start all this, and I'm not really sure why you guys feel the same way as she did. But if the fate of everything ever anywhere is in me and Marcos hands, then I'm gonna do everything I can to help, whether you want me too or not."
"But Star-"
"It's my duty, as a queen of the people, to make sure they have a home. And if the universe goes under, they won't have one." The king and queen had to back down at that point, having no real reasons to argue with her on that point.
"Besides," she added, turning to Marco now. "This is the very multiverse itself, and that's where Marco is, so I can't just do nothing. Now come on, we're leaving." she snatched him by the hand and pulled him along with her, Cole following and stuck his tongue out at her parents.
"Star wait!" her mother called out, halting the three's progression, Cole and Marco turned but Star remained facing the opposite direction, refusing to acknowledge her.
"Your ancestor did this for her people Star, so that they would never suffer at the terrible hand of fate. She made herself, and by extension us, the Gods of the people so that we could ensure happiness and prosperity among the dimension for all time! If you go with Cole and begin to shape the multiverse, if Mewni does rejoin the arch, then the gears of time will once more flow and we will all be powerless to the consequences. Is that what you want!" her mother's voice had grown hoarse, Marco looked between Star and the queen, worried about what kind of outburst the younger girl would have.
"Some Gods," the princesses voice was calm and level, as if her words were something that had been on her mind for a long time. "By leaving all that power to simple people granny allowed horrible poverty to strike the land, she let monsters be killed and persecuted for no reason other than existing, she let a wand that can rip apart the universe be passed down without anyone having a say in it."
Star turned now, facing her mother boldly, cheeks and eyes glowing like they had the night she faced Toffee.
"If that's the kind of Gods you two want to rule this dimension, then I'd rather take my chances with the hands of fate!" and at her words her wand began to glow, sparks crackling from it.
And then in a flash the wand was enveloped in a pink bubble, coursing and stretching before the room's occupants very eyes. Marco tackled Star to the ground, protecting her body with his own, she could only stare transfixed at the magical device as once again it began to change. With a final release of energy the wand floated towards her, this time covered in a familiar blue glow.
Star snatched it and gasped, examining the new piece in her hands. Where the golden star in the center had once been there was now a spiral shaped galaxy. And where wings and frilly pinks had stood dark royal blues and strange assortment of gears and cogs vaguely resembling wings had appeared. Marco peeped over her shoulder, marveling at the new design.
"And just like that the hands of time have once more begun, allowing the gears of fate to click into place in this world that belongs nowhere. With this new wand, you, Star Butterfly, begin the rule of the Butterfly House anew, guided by the same force that all others are, destiny." Cole waved his hand over the wand, dispersing the blue energy, as it faded the galaxy center began to slowly turn, showing that Mewni was finally moving forward with all other timelines, at least in spirit.
"Guess there's no going back now huh?" Marco asked, grinning as Star gently stroked the new pieces of her wand.
"What, scared that you're gonna fall behind?" she teased him in return, earning a laugh from the boy.
"Nah, I'll chase after you with everything I've got, through this dimension, and any others." and they kissed, not thinking of her parents, or the implications of what their decision meant.
"And what happens if you can't catch up?" she asked, resting her forehead against his own.
"Well, I've got Cole on my side right? I've got all the time in the world to get back to you, I'll manage." she smiled and the two of them let their eyes slip shut, basking in each other's presence and finding a sort of release with the others warm breath.
"I love you, Marco."
"I love you too, Star."
From behind them Cole smiled, he existed at every moment, and in every moment the same result had transpired though in an infinitely different amount of ways. And as his brain took all of time to process the information he let his eyes slip shut, and allowed himself for one moment of his existence, to believe that maybe things would work out from here.
Probably.