***PLEASE READ THE A/N AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CHAPTER***

-Chapter 13-

As a few days passed, Star finally admitted to herself that no matter how hard she fought it, the truth was that she really did love Marco. It wasn't puppy love. It wasn't mere infatuation. This was real. It was real because it hurt. It hurt because he hurt. And he hurt…because of her.

And he was sending her that message in every obvious way. The only time he ever came out of his room was when she was either in hers or showering. Only once had he been caught eating downstairs, in plain view of her. He didn't even have it in him to spare her a passing glance as he got up and brought his food to his room, walking past her as though she didn't exist. His parents kept telling her that he would get over this but he seemed just as angry as ever.

So all week she slipped envelopes under his door, an apology letter in each one. But every single time she did, sooner or later that envelope was pushed back out…unopened. It crushed her to see a few piled up right in front of his door every day. She could've asked his mother to talk to him, to tell him why she had run off in the first place, but she didn't want to risk any pity from him. She wanted to be genuinely forgiven for everything. For scaring him. For keeping secrets. For everything. So she specifically told Mrs. Diaz not to tell anyone what happened, despite what was happening now.

But all this time later without him being able to look at her or even stand to be around her, she hardly felt welcome in the Diaz household anymore. They weren't even her family… She was just some girl who lived with them… She knew she would have to leave eventually and the way things were going, it looked like a sign that her days with Diaz's were coming to an end.

But if she went back to Mewni she would be killed. She did have a lot of connections on Earth and she wouldn't be killed here. The obvious choice was to stay in this dimension, but to do so would mean having to find somewhere else to live. She could stay with friends…for now at least.

She resolved to pack up and leave with a condition she'd set for herself—she would not allow herself to stay for more than one week. Normally she would try to find a job. But with a weak body trying to support a weaker—if not dead—baby, she had to conserve as much energy as she could. She would need it to give birth, and even if the baby hadn't survived, she still had to restore her own body. The gas destroyed a mewman's body from the inside out, so while it couldn't be seen to the naked eye, she had a long road of recovery ahead.

Besides, it was common knowledge that during pregnancy, mewmans needed to eat a lot to sustain two bodies. In the last few months, sleep was essential. Earth would accuse the required eating and sleeping cycle as laziness, an excuse to not work. Mewmans, however, rarely disrupted it. It was crucial, giving the weak baby a small chance at survival by channeling energy stored by the mother into the baby.

And she'd barely had the energy for herself, let alone a baby. She'd lost weight and sleep. But if the baby somehow did manage to survive with all odds against it, and if the wizard had been accurate when he called her "heavy" with child, then there was still the slimmest of chances that she could fix this. If she was far enough along then this was the stage that food and sleep were needed most. If she could scrape by with whatever time she had left, perhaps luck would favor her.

As for Marco… She didn't know what he thought of her anymore. She didn't know if he still had any feelings for her now. Worse, she still didn't know if he wanted a baby.

Then there was her parents to consider. It had probably been enough time to stop the gas. They could come get her at any moment and drag her back to Mewni. Perhaps, because of this exact reason, the Diaz household was no longer a safe haven for her. If anything it would be the very first place her parents would check. Until she knew what had happened or would happen to the baby, it was all she could do to sneak off and hide.

But where…? Her friends? The answer depended on whether or not she was willing to risk involving them in harboring her—a crime at this point and most likely punishable by death. But if she was carrying a live baby, staying outside where danger was a constant threat would be rash and probably costly in the end. After all that poison there was no way any baby could withstand much more harsh environments or conditions. And if cold or danger didn't kill it then the stress of living alone would.

It was a tough decision… No matter what she thought about, there was always a huge risk at hand that she didn't want to take. Living alone? Cold, sickness, danger, stress. Staying with the Diaz's? An immediate find for her parents. Staying with friends? A highly likely death sentence for them. It wasn't something she could decide on easily but it had to be done quickly now that her parents were a threat.

It could be gauged on Marco's reaction to this news; the news that his baby—their baby—may be alive, but definitely not thriving if it was. The lack of movement all this time, even while out of the gas and eating properly again, was a very strong signal to her that this baby just…hadn't been able to make it… She wanted to blame herself for that, and almost did, but instead tried to accuse anyone but herself for this…

So Marco was the one she had to discuss this with. If she had to go back to Mewni, she wanted to know if Marco would take care of the probably dead, but maybe alive and just terribly weak, baby first. If not then she would have no other alternative than to bestow this precious life unto another human…and hope it could survive the next few critical months outside her body. She could then return to Mewni. She wouldn't be killed as long as she wasn't pregnant. She would be married. She would never see any familiar faces again. Everything would be as it should.

But for now she simply went to Marco's door, hesitant to knock despite the importance of what she had to say. After all, he still held her in contempt and his rage and pain still radiated from him. The fury, the heartbreak; nothing had gone away yet. He made it all too clear that while he didn't want to go on a verbal rampage to her, he was doing everything he could to avoid her and push her away. Needless to say she did bring a hefty amount of this on herself, but since he wouldn't even acknowledge her—probably to avoid another explosion—she had to at least try to get him to have a conversation with her. She could explain things properly if he was at all willing to listen.

With the glimmer of hope that he might finally let her talk to him, she rapped on his door. When there was no response, she tried again, this time a little harder.

"Marco," she said, her voice raised a bit so he could hear her clearly through the wood. "We have to talk."

Her words were met with a muffled growl. "No."

"Marco, we really need to talk."

"Go away, Star. I'm not in the mood right now…"

She had so many things she could tell him at the moment he told her to go away—that was her intention. Before she told him, though, she had to get the more important things out of the way. First and foremost being, of course, the baby. The one that no longer moved…as if it was only moving before in some painful reaction to the poison before just…stopping. Ordinarily a live baby would still be moving, even if just a little bit, now that she was taking care of herself again. But if there was any chance—any at all—that it survived every lethal drop of poison that she'd fed it, then the one person she wanted most to leave it in custody of was its father. Marco was right when he said he deserved certain things as the father—things she had intentionally failed to give him. This time she would give Marco the choice to keep the baby should it still live, or pass it on to some other loving family.

Her main concern was that it would be left in good and capable hands whatever he chose. Secondary to this, Marco was still personally her ideal pick. Maybe it was because she loved him. Maybe it was because he met all the requirements. Maybe it was because he was the father. She didn't quite know.

"I can see that, just, this is a little more important. If you could just talk to me, for five minutes—"

She stopped herself when she heard footsteps, shortly followed by a click just on the other side of his door. In a split second her hopes skyrocketed and she grabbed the knob. Her stomach sunk when it would only jiggle. The door hadn't been locked…until now. She could use magic to bust it down if she wanted, but what good would that do? He wasn't going to listen to her. Forcing her way into his room wouldn't make things any better. If anything it would infuriate him more, if that was possible. Right now that was the only thing that seemed possible with him.

"Go away, Star!" he shouted, his voice audibly cracking.

It only meant one thing—it wasn't just anger that was making him do this. He was still in a lot of pain from all the bricks she'd thrown at him in a relatively short period of time. In truth, she had this coming. Certain things weren't her fault, granted, but most of this was.

She took a deep breath to steady her own voice. "Okay."

She'd planned to go away anyway but somehow being told to made an even bigger, very hurtful impact. But before she went, she walked back into her room and sat down on her bed, pulling out a sheet of notebook paper left over from her senior year of high school. Attached to the coil spine of the book itself was a pen held there by the clip on its cap. She pulled off the pen and flattened the paper on the notebook. Last time she left this place she gave not even the slightest hint that she was leaving at all. One of the things that had upset Marco to begin with was the lack of goodbyes.

She decided that, due to the circumstances this time, she would write him a letter telling him goodbye, the reason she was leaving, and that she would be safe. It would be an explanatory letter. It would tell him everything, assuming he would ever want to read it at this point. Even so, it was worth a shot.

Dear Marco,

You have every reason to feel the way you do. You've been acting a lot like you hate me lately and I can't blame you for it, but this time things will be different. If you keep reading, you'll understand everything.

I remember you asking me if there was anything else you needed to know. At the time I didn't think you'd believe me if I really did tell you, so I said no with the intent of telling you later, when you were calm enough to listen. If you're still reading then maybe that means you're calm enough now. Let me explain the whole story.

A kingdom called Thagerie has been trying to take over Mewni for many years. Their soil isn't in good quality to feed such a big kingdom so they seek out smaller kingdoms with rich soil, then they wage war and conquer it. Mewni is one of the very few large kingdoms with rich soil, plenty to feed Thagerie. They refused to wage a war with us. Our soil would've been ruined in the war so Thagerie made a deal with Mewni.

After my first two years on Earth I found out my parents arranged a marriage with the prince of Thagerie. It was supposed to be a diplomatic solution that would benefit both kingdoms. Thagerie would have their food and Mewni would have their funds and military forces. I didn't plan to tell you this because I wanted everyone to stay happy. I knew I would never get to see you again after I left and I didn't want you to be sad. That's why I never said goodbye.

After I left we began preparations for the wedding. I fell sick on that day. A group of bakers took me to my room and a medical wizard came in to examine me. My parents were also there. That was when we all learned I was pregnant. We couldn't let the prince know this or he would have me killed, so my parents told the king I was sick and the wedding would have to be postponed. The king accepted it.

There was still a problem. Nobody knew how much longer it would be before I would give birth, and Thagerie would get suspicious sooner or later. I begged them to just let me give birth and give the baby to someone else but my parents were too worried about Mewni. If I didn't marry the prince, Thagerie would take Mewni by force and many citizens would die for no reason. Instead of risking time, my parents decided it was best if we got rid of the baby altogether. One of the death sentences on Mewni involves a poisonous gas that takes a few weeks to kill someone. Mewni never has abortions. The only way to hurt an unborn baby on Mewni is to hurt the mother. My parents told the castle staff to lock me in my room and gas me just enough for the baby to die, but for me to survive.

They didn't take into account that I was already weak. I knew I could've used my mirror to contact you and tell you what was going on but the idea seemed horrible. So I stayed in my room and tried to make myself live through the poison. By the time you found me I was almost dead. I couldn't move, see, hear, speak, or even think right. The only reason I told you to take me back was because Mewni needed me.

It's about time for my parents to stop the gassing. They'll come looking for me. This house will be the first place they'll look. I have to go away again, but at least this time I'm saying goodbye, and this time you know what's going on. You shouldn't be worried about the baby, just leave that one to me. I can almost guarantee you it's been dead for at least a couple of weeks now. I'm only running to see if there's any possible chance it could still be alive. If it is (fingers crossed), I'll give birth to it and then return to Mewni. It's not something I want to do, it's something I have to do.

Goodbye.

Love,

Star

(P.S. I never used you. I wasn't lying when I said I love you.)

She wiped a few tears off her cheeks and folded up the paper. She grabbed an envelope and shoved it in, sealing it after. It was probably for the best if this one wasn't slipped under Marco's door like all the previous ones. This was her goodbye note. This was the important one. He needed to read this and if it was just pushed back out like all the rest, the chances of him reading anything were slim to none. It would just be another pathetic attempt to talk to him…and she couldn't afford to let this one be another failure. A personal conversation face-to-face wasn't getting her anywhere with him. This letter was in every way the best she could do.

So, instead of the usual routine of sliding it under his door hoping there was any probability he would even open it, let alone read it, she taped it to the inside of her door. Sooner or later someone would notice her absence and check her room. She honestly did hope it was Marco. The baby had been mentioned in the letter and to her knowledge his parents had no clue about that. If they did know, they'd never confronted her about it. And it wasn't like her size was giving off any hints either. It was easier to assume they didn't know.

She took a deep breath and resolved to leave at night, after everyone had gone to sleep, just as she had done before. This time, though, it was for a different reason. If there was one thing she wanted more than to avoid her parents, it was to talk to Marco for at least a few short minutes. She really was leaving for good this time and the likelihood of Pony Head popping up twice? Yeah. That wasn't happening again.

A/N (PLEASE READ)

Contrary to understandably popular belief, this story is NOT named after the classic Starco baby. I named this because of the literal meaning of the word. A star that blows up. Star's life just kinda blew up but she's still a princess, not a queen, so instead of "Supernova" (as was the initial decision for the title), I toned it down to "Nova". That is where this title is derived from, it has nothing to do with any Starco babies. I apologize for that misleading.

In more news one of the reasons I've taken such a horribly long, and honestly a little embarrassing, break from Nova is because I've been devising both a sequel to it and a side story that explores a "what if" area of both Nova and its sequel. I had a name for it and it was such a perfect name but...I lost it...

Anyway I obviously can't tell you about the sequel but the side story will not be in Star's third-person POV like Nova. Many of you ask me, "What about Marco?" Good question, but I can only answer it through his dialogue and occasionally his actions since Nova is seen through Star's eyes. In the side story, however, Marco (set after the sequel) attempts to create an alternate timeline for Star by using a portal to communicate with his past self. That story will be told through the eyes of past Marco. Needless to say these two stories took a LOT of time to think about and I need to make sure Nova's ending will properly lead to the sequel and help explain some things better, so I had to pause for a while.

If you bothered to read the A/N, thanks for your time! (And hopefully forgiveness.)