Marco didn't have a ton of time to react. After all, who delivers a truly menacing line, like the one Toffee had just given, and then follows it up with nothing? Marco's right hand flew into his hoodie's pocket and grabbed desperately at whatever he could find. His hand made contact with a soft clump, and he dodged to the right while throwing out the mysterious contents at Toffee's face. Toffee, whose star hand had grown brighter and whose mouth was opening to curse out a spell, put his other hand up to deflect the incoming wad of cash that totaled six hundred and fifty dollars. When the loosely-held-together bundle of assorted twenty and ten dollar notes his Toffee's guard, they exploded into individual bills that flew in random arcs all around Toffee, temporarily blinding him. A bolt of green lightning burst from his hand and missed Marco by inches. The bills didn't cover up the lizards sight for long, maybe a second or two, but it was long enough for Marco to counterattack. He shift his weight beneath his legs and turned his dodge into a leaping side kick into Toffee's neck, screaming incoherently in equal parts fear and adrenaline. Toffee couldn't get his shooting hand pointed at Marco in time, and he wasn't in the best position to get out of the way. While not taking the full blow, he did take at least fifty percent of the full hit in his neck. Toffee fell over to the side, gasping for breath.
Unfortunately for Marco, the laws of conservation of momentum were not working in his favor. Toffee had only taken a portion of his blow, and while it had been enough to down Toffee for the moment, it hadn't slowed Marco down by any significant amount. His body went spinning from the partial contact and his back hit the wall with a loud 'bam' before he fell down onto the bed. There hadn't been enough speed to do any damage to him, but his back felt like it had just fallen five feet, and the air got knocked out of his lungs.
They both lay there, coughing, trying to recover faster than the other. Toffee could regenerate any amount of damage in a surprisingly small amount of time, but Marco hadn't taken nearly as harsh a blow as him. Marco got up first, still wheezing slightly, and tried to deliver a rabbit punch to Toffee's neck, the same spot he'd kicked a moment earlier. Toffee's right hand shot out from under himself and it wrapped around Marco's hand with absolute strength. Toffee twisted on his side, face scrunched up in pain, placed his other hand on Marco's own neck before he could stop him, and pushed/pulled in one swift movement. There was a loud popping sound, a scream of shock and pain from Marco, and the arm went limp. Marco's only useful hand grabbed desperately at the hand Toffee had on his neck, but Toffee's death grip on him seemed to be aided by hydraulic pumps. He doubted that he'd be able to get off any one of Toffee's fingers without both hands in use. Toffee's hand gripped hard on Marco's neck, squeezing every last drop out air out of his throat. Marco made a few gurgling noises in response, but that was about it. He tried hitting Toffee a few times in various places, but Toffee barely flinched. Toffee pointed his star hand at Marco again, green malevolent light shining from it again. Toffee's mouth curved up in a snarl.
"Such a disappointment," he whispered venomously. Then there was a loud noise, a blinding light, and Marco was flown to the side, hitting the wall a second time and falling unconscious. Toffee's head rapped against both the floor and the leg of Marco's bed, dazing him momentarily. He looked over, eyes slowly focusing on a young girl with blonde hair, red heart cheeks, and a fire in her eyes.
"Toffee!" Star's voice slashed out in the sharp tone she used when both serious and angry and seriously angry.
She held up her wand, still glowing with magical power from the blast she'd unleashed upon the room. The knuckles on her hands grew white as she stared down the lizard monster, hate overwhelming her. If there were ever a villain she could hate with all of her being, it was Toffee. The creature had nearly killed her friend and had forced her to destroy her wand. Those events had sent her life spiraling out of control, little by little, until she had become an emotional wreck wearing the mask of who everyone knew her to be. And now Toffee had just tried to kill her best friend. Again. Star's vision went red as her wand's green light grew brighter and brighter, her mouth opened and-
"Star?"
She faltered. Star stole a second's glance at Elizabeth, but it was enough to see the terror, the fear, the horror. Star looked back at Toffee, his body slowly repairing itself in front of her, murderous eyes staring her back from across the room. While he had a hatred equal to that of her own, his eyes were lit with a cold fire, a freezer burn that would make liquid nitrogen look like a cool autumn breeze.
"Go ahead, Star," Toffee's voice sounded a little ragged, but the contempt he held for her still came across smoothly. "Visit your wrath upon me, just like every other Butterfly in your filthy bloodline does to every monster you see."
Star bit her lip, ever so tempted by his offer. But instead of pulverizing Toffee with a blast of magic straight to his shit-grinning face, she closed her eyes. She remembered what Jackie had taught her about breathing, and took ten seconds to calm herself down. Her wand's light dimmed and eventually went out, and it fell to her side. In place of the rage and damnation she had felt towards Toffee, logic and reason flowed into her mind. Toffee's probably trying to set me up, just like at Ludo's castle, she thought, still breathing slowly. I should try to get some info out of him, maybe figure out what he's up to… or something. Star wasn't exactly a master strategist, even when her mind wasn't filled with thoughts of revenge and murder. She opened her eyes to find Toffee looking like he'd just been told that the brown stuff he'd just eaten wasn't chocolate.
"Why are you here?" Star demanded, voice still sharp. Her hand still gripped the wand tightly, ready to blast him if he moved an inch.
Toffee stared hard at her for a long time, and then recomposed himself. His abnormally venomous behavior was replaced with the cool, professional, detached mask that everyone was used to. It had seemed to take some effort for him to do that, Star mused. Despite the sudden change, Star was pretty sure that Toffee wasn't in as much control as he had been at Ludo's castle.
"Why should I tell you-" Toffee stopped talking and frowned, looking at something behind Star. "Whose that?"
"I'm asking the questions here, Toffee," Star stated, voice hard. Her wand hand tilted it's wrist so that the wand was pointing at the lizards face. "Answer me or you'll get exactly what you asked for."
Toffee raised his hands in a slow, sarcastic variant of complacency. "Is that so?" He asked, mock surprise in his voice. Then there was a flash of light, a spell from Star's wand, and then nothing. Star looked to the spot where Toffee had been laying. It was empty.
"Damn," Star muttered. "Should have blasted his lizard ass."
"Jeez, Star," Elizabeth said, real surprise in her words. "That was… you nearly killed him."
Star winced at the tone and truth of Elizabeth's words, and her shoulders slumped. "Nah, he can't die. It just would've hurt him a bit." Her words were defensive, and she realized that she wasn't just lying to Elizabeth. She was lying to herself. But rather than linger on that train of thought, Star shook her head and made her way over to Marco.
"Marco!" She whispered sharply, though this time in worry rather than anger. Marco made a small, weak noise. Star winced. She knew that she hadn't done the majority of the damage that he had just taken, and that if she hadn't blasted Toffee that Marco would be dead, but she could have aimed a lot better. "Uh, sorry," She apologized quietly. She tried to touch his shoulder but upon contact he gave a loud, pained grunt. Star backed away and closed her eyes. "Oops."
She turned her head and found Elizabeth staring her in the eyes, clearly waiting for something. Star bit her lip again but held her ground. "Toffee's evil, Elizabeth. Pure evil."
Elizabeth kept staring her in the eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped. Her eyes fell down to the ground. "That's not what yo- that's not what my mother taught me." She said quickly.
Star felt as though someone had just punched her in the guts. She clenched up her right hand and spoke without inflection, "I guess your mom has a bad memory." They both shivered in the seventy four degree room. Silence.
"Well, that blows," Star eventually said with a sigh. She looked up, but not at Elizabeth. "But we can't deal with Toffee while were this tired. Time to sleep. I guess I'll…" she looked down at Marco and frowned for a moment. She thought about trying to get the blanket over him, but it was beneath him, and she didn't want to cause him anymore pain by moving him in any way. No more pain for her best friend. Not again.
"Uh, well, I- I'll see you tomorrow," she finished awkwardly, daring to glance up at Elizabeth's face, then back down. "You can stay in my room, I guess, or, you know, where ever."
Elizabeth nodded quickly and said, "Yeah, thanks, but I think I'll just stay here. You know, in case Toffee comes back."
Star couldn't figure how she had thought to leave Marco alone in his current state and danger. Long day, she guessed. Even more reason to leave the uncomfortable situation and deal with everything tomorrow. "Right. Good plan. I'll just- go."
Star left the room, still not looking at Elizabeth, and was closing it behind her when she heard, "Goodnight, mom."
Click. The door closed. Star froze just outside of the door for a long three-count. Then her head fell into her hands and she moaned softly into them. What was she doing with her life?
Ha, I got the fic out only two days late. That's pretty good considering my abysmal track record. I'm sure when you all saw "next chapter in two weeks" you figured "Two years". Not today, baby. However, I do have to skip next week, due to vacation, so it might be two to three weeks for the next update. Sorry.