-Chapter 12-

This time it had to be a full week that had passed by. "Decline" did not cover this. She couldn't comprehend anything anymore, her vision was blurred to extremes, and even if she could move, she'd lost the will to. It was as if life hardly mattered anymore. And the baby? It had stopped moving, making one part of her—the one that held any hope—think it was simply her imagination, and the other part—the one that actually paid attention to reality—think it had died. It was difficult to tell with mewmans… When human babies died in the womb, the mother still gave birth but not to a fully developed or living baby. But because that happened so often to mewmans, the mother's body absorbed the baby, saving energy and resources. It was gross to humans, which was why she'd never brought it up to them, but on Mewni, that was just how things worked and it was considered normal. So if the baby had died she wouldn't know for sure until maybe a month or two later, depending on how far along she was.

But in this poison… The baby might be human, sure, but it was also still half mewman. And it used to move, almost like it might've been reacting to the poison, but now it didn't. And she was already on death's doorstep. She had given herself maybe one more day maximum before she finally gave in. If by lucky chance the baby wasn't dead yet, it would be soon. She wanted to apologize for not being able to fight longer, for practically killing it herself, but her body grew too exhausted.

She'd tried her best to stay near the mirror at all times, still attempting to contact her parents, and only leaving to eat and drink—one thing they made sure of was that she always had something to eat and drink. Clearly they wanted her to gain weight. They wanted her to be strong enough to survive this. But…she wasn't…and she had no way of telling them that. At first she hoped that after seeing she was no longer trying to contact them, they would wonder what happened and check on her, but then she realized that she'd been trying so hard all the time that they probably assumed she'd simply given up on trying. If the roles were reversed, she would be thinking the same thing…

And no sooner than that last thought passed, a light flickered on followed by a small breeze, like someone was opening a door. She highly doubted it though. It hadn't been two weeks yet, that much she knew. Her parents wouldn't allow entrance until the gas had been cleared first—and it was not clear. If anything it had thickened, increasing its toxicity. But her parents knew that would happen. Probably why they shortened it to two weeks instead of the normal three or four it would take to kill someone.

She lay still on her back, wondering if maybe this "light" was the one she was headed towards. But then a dark, grayish, fuzzy silhouette appeared and got closer, like it was bending down. When it spoke, she couldn't understand it. It was like listening to someone while underwater.

She felt something push on her shoulder several times and heard more mumbling. It was saying what she assumed to be something similar to, "Can you hear me?" But beyond that, she really couldn't make out anything else. The only thing she could think of was that her parents sent someone to…check on her? Help clear out the gas? See if the baby was dead yet? Something… She didn't really know.

The silhouette sat her up and held her chest and back to keep her up. It started talking again, and when she shut her eyes to try to sleep, it violently shook her and started yelling a bunch of whatevers. So maybe it was someone like…

…Like an angry Thagerian… Hopefully not a single individual of Thagerie had discovered any of this mess. But why not… She was literally sacrificing everything but still couldn't win. And since she would be killed either way, it was probably best if she didn't die by the hands of her own family. Maybe it was better if Thagerie killed her instead. All of Mewni would hate Thagerie rather than the king and queen.

The person positioned her legs and picked her up bridal style. It moved and in mere minutes she felt the blast of clean, non-poisonous air. It wasn't thick and didn't weigh down her lungs. With each breath she took less of the toxic fumes inhabited her lungs, replaced by pure, precious oxygen—a hundred times lighter and a million times more refreshing than what she'd been nearly suffocating in for the past week. And the wind felt so wonderful against her skin, like it was blowing off all the gas residue.

But she had to remind herself that this pleasure wasn't freedom. It felt good for now but...later the clean air would be tainted with the scent of blood.

But…after a few minutes she had to wonder why she wasn't feeling the familiar rocking of a carriage or even the bumping of a horse. She was being delivered on foot and looking around, there were no other fuzzy, dark people to welcome or accompany the one carrying her. Thagerians were brutes but they were loyal to each other and always traveled in packs. So this…this just didn't make much sense. If by chance it wasn't a Thagerian, then who was it? Who was stupid enough to disrupt the only hope left to secure Mewni's future? Only citizens of Mewni, Thagerie, neighboring kingdoms, and trade partners knew about this wedding. And none of them wanted to stop it. To have no princess would invoke an outrage and a definite war. So honestly…who was trying to steal the one hope Mewni and possibly its neighbors had left? Who was trying to sabotage one of the most important events to go down in history?!

It could…potentially be Kovatch… As a way to bring peace to their own land once more, it was possible that they had plans to hold her hostage. Marrying the princess of Mewni would still fulfill the contract, therefore keeping Mewni safe, but by holding her hostage, Kovatch could demand Thagerie to leave their kingdom in return for their future queen. It was an excellent strategy, actually… Thagerie would be put in a difficult situation—either release Kovatch and get Star back, or conquer Mewni and ruin the soil they sought. They would most likely withdraw their forces from Kovatch to get Mewni's land through her. Peace would be restored to Kovatch and secured for Mewni. All three kingdoms would get what they wanted. It was perfect.

And with Kovatch being under the control of Thagerie now, they knew about the wedding—they were perfectly capable of doing something about it. So with a strategy like that, not only did they have no wish to harm her, but Kovatch could still transfer her back after ransom was paid.

But Kovatch was the nice kingdom. They were the respectable "good guys" and only lost their war with Thagerie by succumbing to cheap tactics. Were they truly willing to take any risk whatsoever of killing off another kingdom—and in doing so making their deal void—to take back their own? As far as she knew, Kovatch didn't rely on military strength alone. They were also skilled in espionage and infiltration, which they may have been rusty in during the war. But it was possible that they had snuck out to infiltrate Mewni and kidnap the princess. It would be foolish of anyone to try to infiltrate Thagerie and furthermore, kidnap the prince—especially since the prince was healthy. She was by far an easier target.

So maybe they would do something like this, maybe they had no other option. But although she despised what Thagerie had done, and although she wished Kovatch could be free again, she wasn't willing to risk her kingdom's destruction, no matter how unlikely it was.

She also had to remember that at this point, she was just an item. She had no choice in the matter. If Kovatch wanted to steal her then they could and she had no way of fighting back or bargaining.

So yeah maybe their intentions weren't bad at all but still… Why couldn't things just go smoothly? JUST FOR ONCE?! That didn't sound like too much to ask!

She was shaken from her thoughts when whoever this was dumped her on the ground, as though in a haste. Another thing she noticed was that her vision, hearing, and strength were all starting to return, slowly but surely. She still couldn't make out who exactly this was, but there was definitely no armor on him. He was standing above her with something in his hands. It was only when he tore open what was undoubtedly a portal did she realize those were dimensional scissors. Her family had dimensional scissors but…the colors he sported didn't match that of her family or servants… Red shirt. Dark pants. Thagerie and Kovatch didn't have these colors either, unless she was uninformed about something.

She immediately thought of Marco but then remembered that she had left him no way to get to Mewni. So it was definitely an unwanted reminder but it still begged to question who this was, what dimension he came from, where he was taking her, and why he would dare to so much as touch her.

"Return me," she rasped.

Hearing her own voice sounded strange, almost foreign, after such a long silence.

"I am," he replied.

Now that she was able to comprehend his words, hearing his voice also sounded strange. Strange but…in the slightest of ways, familiar…

"Who are you?"

"Your rescuer."

"I am Princess Star Butterfly, crowned princess of Mewni, and I am to be married."

"Oh, gee, yeah, thanks for that little notice!" he growled.

"How dare you speak to your princess that way!"

"Hah! Well excuse me, your highness."

"I demand that you take me back at once!" she shouted as he lifted her up again.

She fought back the urge to resist him, knowing that she was still too weak. She was out of the gas, yes, but she still had poison throughout her entire body. Whoever this person was, she would personally see to it—assuming her parents didn't first—that he would go straight to the guillotine. She didn't want anyone to die but it was far more important to have this wedding go on, and any interruptions could not be deemed acceptable. If she had to kill one person to spare the rest of her whole kingdom, then so be it.

"You're interfering with a royal wedding!" she snapped as he jumped through the portal.

"And gladly doing so," he returned.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"

"Saving your life, unless you want me to take you back to Mewni so your precious groom can marry a corpse."

Well…when he put it like that… Maybe she wouldn't sentence him to death… But definitely a dungeon. Not Thagerie's dungeon though. She'd heard many a tale about their prisoners…and all were abominable. Death was mercy compared to their dungeons…

She blinked several times trying to get a clearer view of his face.

"Where have you taken me?"

"What, did you already forget Earth? The thing you said you love?"

Earth…? But why, and who…and…noooo that wasn't possible, that was not possible.

"M…Marco…?"

"No. The tooth fairy. We're going home, Star, whether you like it or not."

"Marco…" she breathed, more to herself than him. "How did you…?"

"Doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I am not sitting back while you die."

…He was another dream-Marco. The dream just happened to feel real, or maybe the gas was just getting to her and making her even worse than she already was.

It wasn't easy but she bucked out of his arms and managed to stand by herself, her vision finally clearing completely with the movement. She began looking around for anything that might be her mirror—it was usually the portal out of these dreams, realistic or not. She tried to ignore dream-Marco to focus on that task.

She looked at walls, the ground, rooftops, the sky, bushes and trees, doors… But each one was a nope. Everywhere she looked, nothing at all seemed off—nothing was a different color or even a different shade of a color, nothing was doubled or out of shape, everything was exactly how she remembered it. This was in fact Echo Creek. Nothing had changed.

She followed a confused dream-Marco to his house, still having no luck searching for anything different from everything else.

But walking through that door, something just screamed "reality", and dream-Marco became real-life Marco. The real thing, Marco, in the flesh, real… But how had he gotten into Mewni and more so her castle and then going even further on the matter, her room? All that toxic air—

…Might not affect humans. Maybe to her it was deadly but maybe to him it wasn't anything. Then again, he wasn't there very long. So maybe it did affect humans, and he simply wasn't exposed long enough for the gas to work. That sounded like the more realistic answer to her.

"So mind telling me why you had everyone worried sick?"

She looked at him, slightly in a daze over everything that had happened—and everything that hadn't happened—and replied, "I didn't mean to."

He stopped midway up the stairs and turned around. There was something way beyond fury in his eyes. It was what she had been trying to avoid for three years…

"You 'didn't mean to'? You left all of a sudden without telling anyone, you didn't even leave a note! We send out a search party thinking you're in trouble. We have no idea what happened to you or where you are. Then I think, maybe you went back to Mewni. But that can't be it because you said you were going to college. So maybe Star broke another police car and ran off again. That would explain why the search party can't find her. Day after day I think of all the things that might have happened to her and get more and more worried even though my mom keeps saying not to. I get frustrated with myself because if anything bad happened, why wasn't I there to protect her? And then…Pony Head drops by. I'm wondering what she's doing in my house, and if it has anything to do with Star. Then my prayers are answered in the worst way. Pony Head is here thinking Star would be here one more day before the wedding. 'What wedding?' I ask. And whadya know, it's Star's wedding. By some lucky little chance, Pony Head got the dates confused, and that's why she's at my house."

"Marco—"

"Of course, I don't believe one word she says because Star never mentioned anything about a wedding, especially not her own wedding. And the Star I know would never keep that a secret. But apparently, this confuses Pony Head. She agrees to take me to Mewni, and I still think she's lying about it all. But when I get into Star's castle I wonder where all the guards and maids are, and what this putrid, pink, fog stuff is that covers the entire floor. I look in room after room and they're all empty and that's really weird. And then one room is locked. I roundhouse the knob off and this extra thick pink stuff blasts me like a gas explosion. And right after that this girl is passed out in front of her mirror—wearing a white dress."

"Marc—"

"I walk over to her and it just so happens to be Star. Her eyes are open but she isn't responsive. I assume the pink fog is actually poison gas. I pick her up and sneak her out of the castle praying I'm not too late. I realize I'm not too late when she starts talking. I'm pretty relieved until she orders me to take her back so she can die."

"I—"

"And that isn't the best part! Pony Head wasn't lying after all! She doesn't just want to kill herself, she also wants to get married! And now she stands right in front of me, perfectly fine, telling me she never meant to make anyone worry."

"I-I'm…I'm sorry…" was all she could manage.

He probably wouldn't think it, but she was being sincere when she said that.

"Sorry? That's it?! Star, you abandoned Earth, your friends, my family, and me. You left without warning to get married. You were half dead when I found you. And you still wanted to go back anyway. Did I leave anything out?"

She opened her mouth to speak but was abruptly cut off as Marco added to what he said.

"And what was I this whole time? Was I a toy to you, did you just use me?"

"No!"

"Then why did you ever let me kiss you?! Why didn't you stop it?! Why did you keep telling me you loved me when you loved someone else?!"

"Wait, I d—"

"No! No, you know what, I don't even want to hear it, Star!" he snapped. "And you should probably go to your room and rest!"

"But—"

"No!"

"Marco—"

"I said no!"

"I'M PREGNANT!" she shouted.

He immediately paled, but just as quickly looked down at her stomach in confusion.

First thing's first, she had to explain it to him, then explain why it never looked that way, and then finally tell him about the gas. Hopefully that would lead to him listening to her as she told him about what was really going on with that marriage…and that she would never in her wildest dreams use him.

"I-I might still be, anyway…th-the poison could've—" No, no, probably best if she started from the beginning. "Y-You remember the last high school party we went to? I made you come with me?"

"Let's not speak of that—"

"And…we kind of…had sex that night, even though we didn't mean to or know that would happen… I started eating less and less around the time I normally would've gotten bigger and started showing, but I was too nervous and I couldn't eat so I stayed skinny—"

"You were pregnant...and didn't tell me," he interrupted. "And if I'm the father, don't you think I at least deserve to know that much?!"

She bit her lip, knowing that while she didn't know before she left, she did still have a lot of time to tell him through her mirror…and she chose not to. She should've, even if it wouldn't have mattered anyway, because yes, he did deserve to know. It was his baby too… And…looking back…it was awful that she never told him.

He took a deep breath and tried to blink away tears.

"Is there anything else, Star, that I need to know?" he choked out.

This seemed like the perfect chance to tell him everything, but at this point he wouldn't accept any of her "excuses". He was already furious with her. Making him think she might be lying would make it worse… Maybe it would be better if she let him calm down enough to hear her out. If he understood what had really happened, maybe he wouldn't be as hurt as he was right now.

"No," she mumbled.

"Then go rest…"

She nodded and moved past him up the stairway and into her room, closing the door so he could have some space.

She sat on her bed and nervously fiddled with her thumbs, trying to think of how she would feel if the roles were reversed. If he was the princess and she was the Earth boy. But…she couldn't. She only knew her pain, her experiences, not his… She wasn't the one who sent out a search party, she wasn't the one who had no idea where he was and if he was okay, she wasn't the one who…well, who did any of what he did. And yes, she had gone through her own share of pain but so did he.

She could've done several things to change this outcome… Tell him about the marriage. Stopped the kiss. Tell him it had only been an "in the moment" kind of thing. Not told him she loved him. Left a note explaining what happened. Called him with her mirror. She had so many opportunities.

She saw her wand sitting on her dresser, doing nothing but collecting dust. Then she looked down at herself, still wearing the white wedding dress that had been harder on the designer than it should've been.

She decided to change out of the stupid wedding dress and into a nightgown. It wasn't nighttime but Marco was right—she needed to rest. She was also positive that her dress had soaked in a lot of that gas, and having it cling to her was dangerous. It wasn't anywhere near enough to kill her but she did still have enough poison in her system to wear her out. She didn't need to keep inhaling more. Besides…it was a wedding dress. It would be cruel to wear it in front of Marco, despite him having already seen her in it. No need to make him see it twice, to remind him that his girlfriend who said she loved him tried to abandon him so she could "run off" with a stranger. That had to hurt on a number of levels...

She heard his door slam shut and knew that she had finally exited one rough patch in her life only to enter another, this time with Marco seeing her as a sort of antagonist.