Hello again! Just popping by to reassure you that I'm not dead, and that I still have stories to tell.

Life, however, is doing what it does best and making things difficult to finish writing them. Or maybe it's me that's being difficult; hard to tell sometimes...

Anyways! Here is an alternate take on Cleaved. I can't really say more without spoiling the twist I put on it, so please enjoy!

The sky crackled with lightning as the wind howled around them, stirring the dark green liquid into a frothing frenzy.

Glossaryck floated above it all, his laughter heard even over the boom of thunder and the crash of the waves.

"I can't believe you actually did it!" the little blue guy exclaimed, wiping away a tear of mirth. "Well, it looks like the age of magic is coming to a close."

Out of the corner of her eye, Star could see her Mom standing with a tall lavender-haired woman, an expression of pure wonder on her face. Grandma, she realized with a start.

"But for what it's worth..."

Not much farther away, Eclipsa was holding Meteora towards the unmistakable figure of Solaria the Monster Carver... who greeted her hybrid granddaughter with a tender smile.

"...I think you made the right choice," Glossaryck descended in front of Star, his voice softening. "I'm proud of you, kid."

"Glossaryck," she started hesitantly, "what's- what's gonna happen to you?" She was almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Well," he replied evenly, "a good captain always goes down with his ship."

Later, Star would look back on this moment and wonder what he meant. But right then, there was no time to try solving this new riddle.

"Star!" Moon called. "We need to go! The portals are closing!"

Star turned to see the upward waterfalls beginning to fade away, falling to the ground in a spray of dead magic. Her eyes widened. If they didn't hurry, there was a very real chance of getting trapped in the collapsing Realm of Magic.

Splashing footsteps signaled someone approaching. "Star?" Marco... "Okay, what's the plan?"

"Uh..." Star focused on the warmth of his hands to keep her voice from cracking. "You have to go back through the Earth well!"

"Yeah, okay, but what's the plan for seeing each other?" He hesitated, his grip tightening slightly. "There is a plan, right?"

A nearby waterfall collapsed, fueling Star's panic. The last thing she wanted was to see Marco trapped in the dying magic dimension.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah, of course! Of course there's a plan!" She rambled quickly. "But you gotta get going before we get stuck here!"

She could feel the water building up in her eyes, betraying her false confidence.

"Star?"

This was it. Their last moment together- in every sense of the word. The sheer finality of the situation shattered Star's composure entirely, and she lunged for the boy.

Her roommate.

Her knight.

Her lifeline.

Her boyfriend.

Her best friend.

Her Marco.

She threw her arms around him, holding him tightly, searing this moment to her mind. It may be her destiny not to see Marco again, but Star was determined to keep his memories for the rest of her life. She would rather die than forget a single thing.

All too soon, Marco pulled away. Her heart fractured seeing the tears in his eyes.

"Bye, Star," he said, the pain in his voice speaking volumes. i He figured it out...

"...Bye." She had to force the word out of her mouth.

With a stiff jerk, Marco turned and ran for the pile of garbage that marked the bottom of the Earth well.

"Star!" Her mom called again, reminding Star that she needed to hurry too. She wiped away the tears rolling down her face, and made her way to the Mewni well. Doing her best to ignore the stake driving further into her heart with each footfall.

At the top of the well, the Magic Sanctuary was beginning to flood with dead magic. Eclipsa was waiting for them outside the well, clutching Meteora tightly in her arms.

"Star," Moon turned to her daughter, holding her sympathetically. "I'm so sorry."

Star didn't respond. She still couldn't believe they were apart again. This time for good.

The Sanctuary shook, raining dust and debris onto the four Butterflys. But the crumbling crack of the ancient stone told of bigger things to come.

"We need to get out of here!" Eclipsa cried, directing the group toward the exit. In a flash, Moon heaved herself out of the well, landing on the flooded stone with the grace of a seasoned warrior.

But when she grabbed hold of her daughter's hand, intending to help her up as well...

Star didn't budge.

Her heart screamed at her, desperately reaching for its other half. Reaching back down through the magic, to the wonderful boy with a mole and a red hoodie.

There was still a chance, her head told her. Still a chance that the Earth well hadn't closed. Still a chance to be with Marco.

Her head and her heart agreed. So did she.

"Star?"

She looked into her mom's eyes, meeting her confusion with resolve. "I'm going to Earth. I'm sorry, Mom."

Moon paled. "No..."

Now or never. Star let go of her hand, letting herself drop back into the well. The wind rushing past her ears as she fell did nothing to muffle Moon's heartbroken scream.

Take a memo folks: if you ever choose to jump through an empty well into a dying realm of magic, there aren't many good ways to land. Landing horizontally on your face is one of the better options, but you should still avoid it anyways. It will hurt.

Star didn't get the memo, and- "OOF!"- landed horizontally on her face. As reported earlier, it hurt.

Groaning and a little dazed from the impact, Star got up slowly.

"You're just in time!" the familiar voice of Glossaryck rang out. "The Earth well hasn't closed yet."

Star looked up to see the trash-marked waterfall still roaring majestically into the sky- the only one left, in fact. Her spirits soared. She could still be with Marco!

"But the kid's still here anyways."

Star's celebration ground to a screeching halt as she followed Glossaryck's finger. Next to a large cracked rock sat Marco, staring at her in shock as he clutched his stomach.

"Star?"

"Marco?!" Star raced towards the boy, utterly confounded. "W-what are you doing here?!"

"Well," Marco chuckled softly, "I guess the same thing as you. But the Mewni well closed before I could make it."

"But the Earth well is still open!" Star exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling him up. "C'mon Marco! We gotta get you back home!"

"Wait, Star!" Marco let a surprised yelp as he was almost dragged through the turbulent liquid, forcing him to run. "What about you? The Mewni well-"

Star cut him off. "Doesn't matter! I'm going to Earth too!"

"What?" She didn't answer, just kept pulling Marco along at her breakneck pace. She couldn't afford to be slow; the well could close at any second and leave them trapped.

Finally, they reached the garbage heap surrounding the portal to Earth.

"We're almost there, Marco!" She declared, preparing to climb the pile of trash-

"Star, wait." Marco gripped her arm, holding her back from the pile.

"Wha- Marco, come on! The well's gonna close!"

"Are you sure about this?" At first Star thought he was talking about the Earth well closing, which was ridiculous. The others already had, so why wouldn't it? She realized what Marco actually meant right before he elaborated. "About going to Earth?"

"Of course," Star replied immediately, her expression softening. "I'd go anywhere if it meant being with you."

Marco blinked. "Oh. Wow," he scratched his neck awkwardly. "I guess when you put it like that..."

"It's not much of a choice, right?" Star finished, giving him a cheeky grin.

Glossaryck's voice called from above. "Any time now, kids!" Was it just her, or did his voice sound... strained?

A massive bolt of lightning split the sky, followed by a thunderous boom. Violent tremors shook the Realm of Magic, causing the trash heap in front of them to collapse.

"Okay, that's our cue to leave!" Marco shouted over the noise, and the two launched themselves into the Earth well.

When they reached the top of the waterfall, Star was confused to find them in a cave. Then she caught a whiff of aged meat and remembered: Earth's magic well was in the basement of Britta's Tacos.

Which, just like the Magic Sanctuary on Mewni, was flooded with dead liquid magic.

Unlike on Mewni, the surface of the watery liquid was rising much faster.

"Eugh!" Marco groaned, pinching his nose. "I forgot how awful this stink was."

"You can complain about the smell later, Marco," Star replied bluntly, pulling herself out of the well. "We gotta move!"

After she helped Marco up, the two quickly made their way to the other end of the cave. A rusty, decrepit ladder awaited them.

Marco frowned at their escape route's poor condition, but started the climb anyway. There wasn't enough time to find another exit- the dark green liquid was already shin-high, and was almost to Star's knees by the time there was enough space left for her on the ladder.

A few minutes of climbing later, Star noticed Marco had paused. "Marco?"

"Do you hear that?"

Star tilted her head. There was a faint gurgling rumble from farther back in the cavern, but that was nothing to worry about.

Until the rumble suddenly grew louder, and a torrent of dark liquid surged from underneath, turning everything to black.

"Star? STAR!"

"Uuuuugh..." Star groaned, twisting her eyes away from the bright light. "Five more minutes, Marco..."

If the sun was shining into her room that strongly, she needed better curtains. And Marco wasn't usually that loud when he woke her up. Or that frantic.

"Star, sweetie, are you okay?"

Or sound like his mom.

Suddenly, everything came rushing back: leaving Mewni behind for Marco, escaping the Realm of Magic with Marco, the sudden deluge under Britta's Tacos with-

"MARCO!" She bolted upright, her eyes shooting open. Where is he?! Is he okay?! Is he hurt?!

A hand gently closed around her own, and Star swiveled to find it belonged to a startled but very relieved Angie Diaz. Rafael stood close behind, carrying little Mariposa in a jumper. Star herself was laying on some kind of raised bed with wheels.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Angie exclaimed, visibly relaxing.

Don't get her wrong, Star was happy to see them. But she had some very pressing matters on her mind. "Mrs Diaz, where's Marco?!"

"He's right over here," Mr Diaz answered, pointing. Star spun around (causing the bed to spin slightly as well) to see Marco a ways behind her, Janna next to him. Both of them were sitting on beds just like hers.

"Marco!" Star barely remembered jumping off the raised bed, or dashing towards him at full speed.

"Star? You're awa- OOF!" But the memory of leaping into her bestie's arms and clutching him tightly was clear as day.

"Hey, hey!" A man in a dark blue uniform called to her. "Bup-bup-bup! You're not supposed to be moving!"

Without losing her hold on Marco, Star turned to give him a withering glare. "This has been a long and super stressful day," she began, her voice cold. "I had to go through a crazy magic dimension, fight off a giant super-soldier, and save my home from a crazy lady and her army. I don't know how many times I've almost died today, and Marco and I were nearly separated twice. So, I'm going to hug my boyfriend, and you're going to let me be. Got it?"

Swallowing, the man turned around and stiffly walked away.

"You tell 'em, Star!" Janna cheered.

"Thanks, Janna Banana," Star replied, muffled slightly by her return to Marco's hoodie-clad shoulder. Again, she was happy to see her friend, but Star had more pressing matters.

"Soooo, I have no idea what's going on. What happened? Where's everyone else?"

"I... I had to destroy the magic," Star admitted reluctantly.

"You had to do what?" Janna asked.

"Yeah, here, look." Briefly pulling away from Marco, Star demonstrated her lack of magical powers. "Narwhal Blast!" Her hand was aimed toward the ground, but the iconic narwhals were nowhere in sight. "See? Nothing. No magic."

"Huh," Janna looked stunned by this revelation, but quickly shoved it off. "I guess that explains why your hearts are gone."

Star blinked, making a mental note to check her reflection later. "I guess so. But, when I did it, everyone got sent back home."

"Oh..." Another pause, this one longer. And Janna looked far more troubled. "So, wait, if everyone went home, then how are you still here?"

A deep chill ran through Star, and she pressed herself deeper into the warmth of her lifeline. "I... don't know..."

The dark-blue uniforms ('paramedics', Marco explained, people who rushed to emergency situations to help others) eventually let them leave, and everyone rode home in the Diaz minivan.

Star was happy to be back on Earth with Marco, especially now that they were a couple. But Janna's words kept haunting her, and Star often found herself checking that Marco was still next to her. That she was still there with him.

It only got worse as the excitement from the day wore off, and exhaustion set in. Star was terrified that she would close her eyes one moment and wake up on Mewni the next, Marco suddenly worlds away.

Marco, being the wonderfully considerate person he was, chose to humor her need for constant contact. He made no comment on Star keeping his hand in a death grip the entire trip back to the house. Nor did he complain about her hugging him from behind as he whipped up a batch of his Super Awesome Nachos.

But when Star began slapping herself awake in the middle of their afternoon movie, he declared it was time to talk.

"Marco, I'm really scared," Star murmured, leaning into her boyfriend's side. "I don't want to lose you."

"You won't, Star," Marco replied reassuringly, running a hand through her golden locks.

"How do you know?!" Star snapped, fear turning her voice shrill. "How do you know that the magic won't send me to Mewni?! That I won't just... disappear?"

"Well," he paused, thoughtful. "Janna was still on Mewni when we destroyed the magic, and she was here when we woke up. And I think I saw that weird talking dog on the way home. You know, the one that stole your wand?"

"Willoughby?"

"Yeah. Wasn't she from another dimension?"

"I think so," Star answered quietly, letting Marco's reasoning soak in. "Yeah, I think she was..."

Marco thought for a moment. "Well... then maybe the magic didn't send everyone home. Maybe it just... put them where they belong."

Those words sounded familiar to Star. "I think Glossaryck said something like that. You weren't in my tapestry because you belonged on Earth."

"Then he was wrong." Marco looked directly into her questioning gaze. "I don't belong on Earth unless you're there with me."

"And I don't belong on Mewni without you," Star sleepily agreed. "With or without magic..."

"We belong together..."

And together, they finally drifted off to sleep, happily entangled on the couch. Neither one noticed the bright red and gold glow lighting their cheeks. Or the swirling vortex that now floated in the backyard, heralding the birth of a new world.

This was my entry for the April 2022 Writing Contest, which, to my immense surprise, took first place. FIRST PLACE. I still can't quite get over it.

If you can't tell from this story, I loved the series finale for SVTFOE (and the 4th Season, and the show as a whole... you get the picture). There's very little I would actually want to change.

But I do like to experiment, and the idea of Star making it to Earth really stuck in my head. So I took a chance and wrote it. I'm really proud of how this turned out. Even though this is a alternate ending, I wanted to do the original episode justice.

Special thanks to Wraithdagger12 from the SVTFOE subbreddit for their feedback, but I would like to hear what you all think as well.

Anyways, see you next time!