-Chapter 14-

It was a really stupid mistake to leave at night. Her plan wasn't as well thought through as she originally was sure of. That whole day had been spent still being ignored by Marco. She casually talked to his parents to try to compensate for the lack of companionship. And as much as she wanted to say a final farewell in person, it was for the best if she didn't. They would try to stop her and waste time thinking of another solution but there was no more time left…not with her parents sending search parties in various places, most likely a covert operation to prevent the information of her escape from reaching Thagerie's king.

Now she was alone and vulnerable, still weakened from the poison. She had the choice to either spend the rest of the night wandering outside and go to a friend in the morning, or go to a friend now and wake them. Nobody liked having their sleep being interrupted and it did affect them the next day. In order to boost her chances of someone letting her stay with them for a while, even though it probably wasn't the best idea for her as an individual, she decided to roam in the dark.

It was a very long rest of the night. No food, no water, no sleep, just a tiring journey to Ferguson's neighborhood. Even there she couldn't afford to sleep. It was safer on Earth than Mewni for obvious reasons, but danger still lurked about. Kidnappings did happen here and she honestly didn't have the energy to defend herself. So instead of resting she kept herself as alert as she could, always looking around, always paying attention to the smallest details. Nothing suspicious happened that night but she wasn't about to chance letting her guard down. It was only when the sun rose that she diverted her focus from her surroundings to finishing the walk to her friend's house.

The night had granted her time to think and the thought struck her that Marco may check her contacts first…when and if he discovered she was gone. In order to avoid a renewed wrath in him, she decided it was for the better that he really didn't know where she was. Things had been stressful enough, after all, and she wasn't going to get any better by drawing attention to herself or her whereabouts. Perhaps the princess of an entire nation would be better off staying low key, at least for now.

She knocked on Ferguson's door and a sense of dread washed over her—he was and had always been closer to Marco rather than her. If Marco came to him for answers, who was to say he wouldn't tell? But Ferguson might also keep quiet. It was something she was willing to chance.

The door clicked and slowly opened, revealing Ferguson's sleepy face. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Star?" he mumbled. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Sorry but I have a really important favor to ask."

"Sure."

She fidgeted with her thumbs for a minute.

"I…I need a place to stay. Just for a little while."

A look of concern grew and he stared at her as though she'd just done something unthinkable.

"Of course you can stay here but…well… You can't go to Marco's?"

"No. It's a little complicated right now."

He scratched his head in confusion but opened the door wider and gestured for her to come inside.

"Thanks, Ferguson."

"Did you guys have a fight…?" Ferguson wondered.

In her mind it wasn't a fight so much as a very loud and angry conversation in which no retaliation was made on her end. But perhaps in Marco's mind, it was an unsettling fight that hurt him enough to be unable to calm down even to this day—enough to hold her in such raw contempt that it was perceived as hatred.

"Something like that," she answered. "I would really appreciate it if he didn't know I was here."

"Wait, did you, like, run away?"

"I guess you could call it that."

She changed the subject before Ferguson could press on.

"I need to start sleeping more than usual, it's a whole mewman thing. Is that alright?"

He laughed lightheartedly and replied, "I do that anyway."

(A/N: Eyyyyy! So, I've received numerous PMs and a couple of reviews asking a chapter from Marco's POV. At the time, I wasn't even on the fence—it was a no. But it's been, uh…*ahem* a WHILE…and I figure I should make a special chapter. So here we go folks, let's see what that cinnamon roll is thinking. Also, small time skip.)

MARCO'S POV

Star used to shove a few letters a day under his door, but the petty apologies inside them were more than likely nothing but hollow words. Why bother looking? Why bother reading? Despite pushing every letter back out, where she would take them all back up and throw them out, she just crammed more new ones under the door.

Sometimes he thought that, perhaps, he was overreacting to the whole situation. But then the events just replayed again and again in his head, and just seeing her was painful. He could barely deal with all the fury, sorrow, confusion, and frustration. It was always so overwhelming that he knew having any kind of discussion with her would make him erupt. In a last attempt to keep the atmosphere calm, for everyone's sake, he tried to remove himself from the picture.

He could've handled her being so in love with another man more easily if she wasn't pregnant with his own baby. At first he wanted to believe she was lying, and even tried to convince himself that she was, but what did she have to gain by lying? She knew saying that would make things even worse, she knew she was just dropping another anvil on him which in turn, increased the heat on her.

It probably would've been better for her to have waited to tell him that. It wouldn't have given him nightmares of her getting married to someone else and having another man raise his child. It just infuriated him even more because honestly, that was probably her plan all along. If she'd been too nervous to tell him immediately, alright, that was understandable and he could've accepted that. But to never tell him at all, ever?

And worse, she nearly killed both herself and the baby when all she had to do was contact him. He would've come sooner, wedding or not. Baby or not. She had a mirror in her room, he found her right in front of it.

He rolled over in his bed, onto his stomach, and looked at the bottom of his door. Five days now without a letter. No knocks. No attempts to start up a conversation he wasn't ready for. He imagined that when she finally stopped and let him be totally alone to sort his thoughts and feelings out, he would be relieved. Instead he just felt uneasy. There was no "less and less" scenario, the letters randomly stopped coming. He hadn't even heard her voice since they stopped. And now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard footsteps either. No snacking at night like he used to hear.

Maybe it was for the best. It would help him stop thinking about her more than he already was.

Suddenly there was a knock on his door and he groaned.

"No," he said.

"Marco, honey?" It was his mother's voice on the other side. Most likely Star had asked her to talk to him.

"What?"

He heard a quick rapping on a piece of wood right down the hall from his room.

"Have you heard from Star lately?" Mrs. Diaz asked.

"No, why?"

The only reply he got was footsteps fading in the distance.

"Angie!" his dad called.

He sounded worried…

Marco got out of the bed and opened his door just in time to find his mom dialing a number on the landline downstairs. His dad was unseen but Marco could hear rustling in Star's room, door wide open.

"Star!" his dad yelled.

Marco broke out into a full sprint, expecting to see her passed out or something. Or maybe it was time for the baby to come—she looked thin but the one and only time they'd ever done anything was six months ago, and she was mewman so he had no idea how long it could be before she went into labor.

But the room was empty aside from his dad.

"Marco!" Mr. Diaz exclaimed, extending a piece of paper to him.

He snatched it and began reading. It was long. Probably an explanation. He wouldn't have continued beyond the first sentence if his father didn't look so concerned. As he kept reading, his own concern for her began to grow, and the previous assumptions he had were slowly washed into a pool of understanding.

A/N

This is the best my dimwit brain is capable of right now. I have no excuses. All I have to offer is a crappy update and an apology.

*The next chapter returns to Star's POV.