Hello everybody! It's Unluckywrites here with another chapter of the Diaz family road trip! Sorry about the extra long wait on this one guys, originally I had planned to release the next chapter about two weeks ago but when I was three quarters the way through writing I stopped and re-read the chapter, it was a hot mess. Plot lines were all over the place, inconsistent dialog throughout and a load of other issues. So instead of fixing it I scraped the whole thing and restarted leading to where we are now!
In other news I think I have an idea for my next story it's still pretty bare bones so don't want to reveal anything just yet but at least you guys know I'm thinking of something!
Here are my responses to a few comments that suggested some ideas:
Re- Anonymous: Hmmm I could do that, it'd be a one shot though and I'd have to listen to the song first :)
Re- Deadshoot12345: Man I'm running out of ideas as is let alone enough for an entire other story on the way back!
Now onto this chapter you might notice this one's is a bit slower than the others but trust me where it lacks in energy it sure makes up for in starco! It's a bit more serious but I tried to keep the light heartedness of the series intact. Anyway I won't tell you guys anything else seeing as the title says all that need be said, so without further delay I will let you read!
Rain poured out in the fields around the cozy farm house, an odd occurrence midsummer. It was dark, disgustingly wet and utterly miserable so naturally our two protagonists were cooped up inside lazily watching the television.
Other then the sounds emanating from the tv the house was quiet, and basically empty to. Star and Marco had opted out of going to the wedding rehearsal as they had no part in the service and, a bit harshly, couldn't be bothered to watch the wedding twice.
Sighing Star flopped over on the couch into an even less strenuous position then sitting upright. Her big blue eyes glued to the screen.
Marco was also fixed upon the electronic object, entranced by its flashing colours and flickering lights.
"Marco..." Star murmured.
A long pause followed.
"Yea Star..." Marco replied mindlessly.
"You... you should make me some nachos..." She said, fumbling out the words with little effort.
Marco's stoic face barley moved, "Ehhh..."
Star pushed herself onto Marcos lap, "Marco you know what'd be great..?"
She paused and Marco looked down at her on his lap curiously.
"...If you made me some nachos." Star said and pocking his nose.
Marco looked back up at the tv and paused for a good thirty seconds, "Yea alright..."
He nudged Star off his lap and wandered over to the kitchen, "Find us something else to watch I'm getting bored of this sitcom marathon, nothing ever changes it's just the same old stuff over and over."
"But I like this show! And stuff does change; remember 16 episodes back when the baby was born?" Star retorted.
"Star... we've only watched 16 episodes... that was the first one."
"Oh yeah..."
Marco quietly chuckled to himself as he spread the cheese onto the tortilla chips.
He carefully placed the nachos into the piping hot oven and shut the door, "Now we wait." He pronounced.
Star patted the seat beside her, motioning for him to sit down. Marco plopped himself onto the couches soft cushions and let Star lean on him, the normal tv setup.
Everything was coming along nicely, the nachos were cooking filling the room with the scent of home and Star had found a mildly entertaining tv show to binge on. But as per usual good luck turned its face on the two teenagers.
"Did you see that?" Marco exclaimed.
"See what?" Star muttered and cozied up to Marco both maybe a little too comfortable.
"The lights, they flickered... there they did it again!"
"I saw it!" Star happily resounded.
The lights faltered once more before finally dying causing the room to plunge into a sea of pitch black shadow.
"Woah what happened?!" Star yelped into the darkness.
"Ugh power outage..." Marco groaned.
He warily got up of the couch and tiptoed his way into the kitchen off memory. He pulled open each drawer he found until he grabbed the black rubber handle of a flashlight.
"It's ok Star problem solved." He said smugly.
*click* Marco pressed the flashlight's button but no light was produced.
"Awww man... the batteries are dead..." Marco placed the flashlight back in the drawer.
"Don't worry I can just use my... oh wait... ya I left it upstairs..." Star called from the darkness.
Marco bumbled onto the couch nearly hitting Star. "No flashlight, no wand, what are we going to do?"
It was quiet, not even the buzzing of electric appliances was left to fill the silence, all that remained was the pitter patter of rain.
"Hmmmm... we could go and get my wand?" Star thought aloud.
"How are we going to do that, I can't even see my hand right in front of my face let alone try and climb a flight of stairs!" Marco exclaimed.
"Come on you just walked into the kitchen, and that was all by yourself!"
Star grabbed Marco's hand and pulled him close, "We can do it no problem!"
"If you say so..."
Star and Marco locked arms and they both slowly stood up, "Alright one step at a- owch!" Star said as she took her first step and bumped into a lamp.
Marco chuckled "Ya no problem whatsoever..."
They slowly edged through the darkness groping into the black abyss so as to not run into anything.
Star's hand grazed the stair railing, "Hey I found the stairs!"
"Ok now what?" Marco asked.
Star paused to think and Marco in his mind could picture the pensive look on her rosy cheeks.
"Alright I think the best way would be to go on our hands and knees..."
They both went down into a crawling position and began the climb, nothing too too difficult.
When they reached the top Marco let out a sigh, "We better find that wand or it's going to be real fun going down those stairs."
"Don't be such a worry wart! Were nearly there anyways our room is down the hall and on the left!"
Star got up off the ground and grabbed Marco, "Let's get a move on!"
They trotted down the straight hall hand in hand with little to no resistance until they came upon the door to their shared room.
Marco turned the cold metal knob and swung the door open. The small room was just as dark as the hallway.
"So where did you leave it exactly?" Marco asked Star.
"I think I left it on my bed..." Star wandered into the room and Marco followed in hand.
"Ahah!" Star exclaimed holding the wand up high.
A magical blue glow filled the room. It wasn't very bright, rather dim actually, but in the pitch blackness it shone like the brilliant mid day sun.
Marco let out a sigh of relief, "Much better... but we can't just use this, we should go and find some candles."
"What... oh ya sure whatever." Star said distracted by her wand.
Marco tugged her out of the room, "Let's go we don't got al-... wait we do actually have all night, huh."
They spent the next half an hour looking for those blasted candles but for some reason they just couldn't seem to come across any and Star was getting tiered of searching. She sat down on the kitchen counter and sighed.
"Marco we checked everywhere can we just stop looking and like go to sleep or something..." Star whined while twirling her glowing wand.
"Ahhh come on Star where's the fun in that? Besides we still haven't checked the attic!"
Star giggled, "Since when were you ever concerned with fun?"
Marco shot her a playful glare, "Come on let's go..."
The old attic door creaked open into the dusty den. The room was filled with an assortment of objects, an old wardrobe, a couple chests and many many boxes, who knew what delights lay hidden under the mat of dust and cobwebs!
The two stepped inside, "Watch your step, you never know what could be lying on the ground..." Marco cautioned.
They began to search the attics contents, checking in untouched drawers and boxes buried under boxes until at last Marco came across the prize they had been searching for.
"I found some!" He shouted.
"Found what?" Star asked.
"Some candles, you know, what we've been looking for this whole time?"
"We were looking for candles?"
Marco laughed, "Yes Star..."
He struck a match and lit the cream coloured candle, illuminating the room in a yellow-orange light.
"See much better!"
"Hey I want to light some candles to!"
Star pulled out her wand, "Cataclysmic Candle Lite!"
A puff of fire shot from the wand and ignited the candle. Together they placed candles all around the small attic and soon enough the small room was alight with a warm glow that shone through the dancing dust.
Outside rain still poured onto the roof, making itself quite audible in the attic.
When the two had finished lighting the candles Star caught a glimpse of something in the corner of her eye.
"Hey Marco what's that?" She said pointing at an archaic device.
"Sweet, it's a gramophone! What's that doing here?"
"Grammar what?" Star said confuzzled.
"Gramophone, maybe if we can find a record I'll show you how it works... Hmmmm, oh here we are." Marco picked up the ancient record, its label too worn down to be legible.
He placed it on the turn table, plunged it in and turned it on. The old machine puttered into life, crackling before beginning to play a soft slow tune on piano.
"See it plays music!"
"Woah cool!" Star exclaimed.
"I guess you don't have these on Mewni do you?"
"Yeah, every time we want to listen to music on Mewni we have to actually go to a concert or have a whole band play for us."
Marco sat down on a rickety wooden chair and closed his eyes listening to the swirling piano notes that the gramophone turned out.
Star looking back on this moment wasn't sure what had come over her. Maybe it was the candle light or the sound of the rain or maybe or was just her weird teen mood swings but whatever had caused to do what she was about to she was glad it was there.
Star nibbled on the end of her wand, "Hey Marco..."
"Mmmm Hmmm." Marco nodded.
"Do... do you maybe what t-to dance?" She asked shyly, the hearts on her cheeks a vivid red.
Marco stuttered to answer, "Ummm s-sure I guess." He said, the boys face turned pink.
Star pulled him off his chair and took his hand. Marco placed his other hand on her side and they began to dance. As the music played each step became a little less shy and a little more confident. Soon enough they were smoothly waltzing back and forth to the tumbling piano keys from ages ago.
Marco gave Star a twirl and the candles turned into a streak of whirling colour. She fell into his arms and Marco flashed her a shy smile. The song played on and before they knew it the two were laughing and giggling as they both moved to the rhythm.
But as much as Marco was a good dancer it didn't stop Star from tripping and taking them both out. Laying on the old wooden floorboards they couldn't help but laugh and the time worn gramophone crackled to a halt as the tune ended leaving the quiet of rain.
Marco looked over to Star, "Thanks for tripping me by the way." He said between chuckles.
Star giggled, "You're very much welcome good sir!"
Marco finished laughing and turned to look at Star who looked back as well and soon they found themselves lost in each other's eyes. Star could not lie; in a beautiful bit of irony Marco gave her the butterflies.
Suddenly a loud buzz rang out in the house, and the sound of many things rebooting. The attic lights flickered into life and shone in a bright white, the power was back on.
"Hey the powers back!" Marco exclaimed.
"Yea..." Star said a little disappointed that the moment was broken, she was honestly hoping for another dance.
Marco got up and began to blow out the candles, one by one their fiery hearts extinguished. Star watched him tentatively from the floor with an odd feeling in her stomach.
Later on Star realized something that night as they were watching TV and munching on Marco's super awesome nachos, she had a crush on Marco, and she had no idea what to do about.
Thanks for reading and I hope you all liked the chapter! Also I want to say I'm going to add a short epilogue right after the main last chapter just to tie up loose ends and say thanks to all you guys, and also use a pun I've been waiting to unleash since I first started writing this story... see you in the next one!