Unbroken Bonds

by FlameyTheSnowman

"Cleaved? Now that's a funny word. You can cleave something apart, or you can cleave something together." (Glossaryck) After the cleaving of Earth and Mewni, Marco and Star are tasked with navigating the rough road ahead. Under the watchful eye of a dangerous government, the rebellious Mewman public, and an unnamed shadow, how will the two persevere? - Post-Cleaved.

6. The Ball - Part One

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A/N: Howdy y'all, Flamey here. So, ya' remember how the last chapter was around 15,000 words long? Welp, you might just wanna split this chapter into two reading sessions, if you catch ma drift.

So, before we get to the good stuff, I have a confession to make. When I'm writing these chapters, I have a tendency to place in a lot of new, unexplained material that, at the moment, makes absolutely no sense. And sometimes, when I write these things in, I make the mistake of thinking I already put in an explanation for it. Oops! Needless to say, there's a good amount of context still needed over my interpretation of how magic works in the SVTFOE universe, and I promise you, by the end of this chapter, it'll all make a whole lot more sense.

Oh, and before I forget. Readers, be warned! There's some spicy ongoings in this here chapter, so for all of you who aren't all that into that kind of stuff, you can just skip ahead.

Anyway, here's Wonderwall

Unbroken Bonds

Chapter 6 Part 1

Noble Reasons

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Tamales! Tamales! Tasty, tasty Tamales!" Staring at the glamorous pile of freshly cooked Tamales, Star couldn't help but vocalize her excitement through a pre-meal song. Having gone through her life in the pinnacle of luxury, a gourmet meal wasn't all that capable of rocking her world. But there was just something about Mr. and Mrs. Diaz's cooking that awakened something inside of her, a primal urge to grab the nearest plate of food and consume every molecule of sustenance available to her. And after only a handful of seconds, her patience caved in as she bolted out of her seat to lean across the table and slide a pile of Tamales onto her awaiting plate.

"Starr," groaned Marco, who was trying his best to push the blonde girl's hair away from his own dinner plate. "Com'on, manners much?"

"Oh, ease up, Marco. She is our guest after all," beamed Angie as she set a down plate of refried beans, noticing how Star's eyes lit up even further at the addition of her second favorite food.

"Guest? She's lived here for like, a year."

"Whaya tawkin about, Marko? I dwon't live here," Star touted with a mouthful of food, "Mhhh, fhanks fer tha food, Ms. Diaz." Waving her hand in a kind dismissal, Angie turned on her heels and marched back to the kitchen. She didn't mind Star's meal-time manners in the slightest, finding the young girl's obsession over her food somewhat flattering. After all, she and Rafael had slaved away in the kitchen for the better part of an hour fixing the meal for the two; why not let them enjoy themselves?

"Jeez, Star. You're gonna get verde sauce all over your dress," Marco nagged as he snatched a nearby serviette and wiped her face free of any blots of green.

"Marco, we haven't eaten all daaaayyy. Let a girl enjoy herself," she winked, leaning over the gap between their seats to plant a messy kiss on his cheek. Giggling as the boy scrambled to wipe his face clean of her sloppy sign of affection, she went back to enjoying her meal.

"You're almost as bad as Mariposa," he mouthed, looking between his bibbed little sister and his girlfriend as the two ladies slovenly dug into their plates.

"Maybve shwe's juss got tha wright idea," retorted Star, who didn't bother waiting to reply until after finishing what was already in her mouth.

Having opted to wait for his parents to join the table, he tried his best to temper his urge to join the two feasting girls. The long wait gave him the time to decide just exactly how he would break the news to his already concerned parents. Magic, monster attacks, sleep-overs, duels. Everything that could possibly have been done to upset his parents, he had taken the liberty to indulge in. And now, he would have to face the consequences at the hands of a long, drawn out dinner clouded in a sheet of awkwardness and painful silence.

"Mijo! A hand please?" bellowed his father, the sounds of crackling oil accompanying his cry for assistance.

"Yeah, one second!" he replied, hopping out of his seat to rush to the rescue of his parents.

"I could watch that tush all day, Diaz," she sighed under her breath as Marco's backside came into view, his loose slacks just tight enough to depict his toned body.

Get a' hold of yourself, girl! Her mind berated, shaming her for indulging in the viewing of her handsome boyfriend. Although, she had to admit that she was, for the sake of the argument, fully off her rocker. The entire day her thoughts had been occupied by the sensation of their morning shenanigans, the feel of his hand against her, the electricity that danced along her skin as he dragged his finger around her thighs. She shivered in delight at the thought of how he felt near her womanhood, taking a respite from eating to stare absentmindedly at the wall while reliving the moment. Her cheeks shined with a vibrant rose as her mouth hung open, a small pool of drool accumulating at one end as her eyes fell half-lidded.

Her thoughts hopped between their time in the bathroom, to their sleepover, and even their make out session the day before. Corn, is he a good kisser, her recollection teasing her with the thought of her mouth on his. She couldn't leave out just how amazing he was at snuggling either. The way their bodies fit together while spooning was far past sinful, fitting together like puzzle pieces no matter what orientation they took. And even though the chances of reliving that experience in the near future was slim to none, the memory of how incredible it felt was sufficient to keep her going.

Her trance was cruelly broken however as Mariposa let out a loud raspberry, slamming her hands into her refried beans as she kicked her legs feverishly in her highchair. Her focus promptly switched from Diaz to Diaz as she gawked at the adorable infant, finding the baby's actions unbelievably cute. "You are just the cutest little itty-bitty baby around, aren't you," she cooed, leaning over the table to gently boop her cheek as she babbled to herself. Seeing Marco rush back to his seat, she leaned back and whispered in his ear, "I want one,"

"Huh?" he said, having missed her whisper while placing down a cup of sparkling cider next to her dish. "You want what?"

"Oh, nothing," she replied, leaning over to plant a loving kiss on his cheek, "BT-dubs, your sister is super cute."

"Yeah, she is pretty adorable, isn't she," he remarked, watching as she desperately tried to stuff a wad of refried beans into her mouth.

"Just like another Diaz I know," she purred, leaning over to wrap her arms around his to try and pull him closer to her. Her fatal flaw came in the fact that there wasn't much for Marco to sit on between their chairs, and instead of sitting closer to her, he simply fell off his seat with a loud *thump*.

"Marco! Are you alright?" she cringed, sitting up to watch as the poor boy recuperated from his fall.

"Yeah, yeah. Gonna take a bit more than gravity to slow this guy down," he joked, rubbing the back of his head where it hit the side of Star's chair.

"If you don't wanna hug, you could have just told me," she teased, raising herself out of her seat to kiss him gently. Despite being directly in view of his preoccupied parents, Marco couldn't deny that the feeling of her lips on his was divine. Electricity danced across his lips as he leaned into the kiss, raising a hand to lightly cup her alabaster cheek while his eyes inched shut. Feeling Star deepen the kiss by tilting her head and running her tongue along his slightly parted lips, he spent a moment in indecision before granting her oral muscle entry. Knowing what she wanted, he let his tongue slip loose to battle hers at the bulkhead of the kiss, playfully wrestling with her as she let out a stifled moan. Feeling the need for sweet oxygen-rich air overtake the stimulus of the kiss, he retracted his tongue and pulled back, panting slightly as he whipped a small line of drool from the corner of his mouth.

Star sent him a sultry smile before running a hand over his leg, tracing up his back before entwining with his hair and pulling him in to lean forehead-to-forehead. "Although, I wouldn't take no for an answer."

Leaning in, she was never able to reach her mark as a muffled giggle ran through the room, freezing the two in place just millimeters apart from each other. Turning their heads slowly, their eyes jumped from half-lidded to wide open as the image of Marco's parents came into view. Rafael wore a massive ear-to-ear grin, with his hands bunched up near his head like an excited schoolgirl. Moreover, Angie had an open hand guarding her smile while her other hand held up a small phone, with its camera lit up with a small beeping red light. The realization that he was being taped hit Marco too late, forcing him to freeze up like a deer in headlights. Star, on the other hand, shared a knowing glance with the two elated adults before leaning over and planting a long smooch on Marco's flustered cheek. The flash of the phone's camera lit up the room, capturing the idealistic view of the two teens permanently in Angie's phone.

"You two are just the cutest!" She squeaked, rushing over to Marco's side to pinch his crimson cheeks.

"I had a feeling you two were una pareja! Why did you not tell us yesterday!" Rafael joined the rest of his family and wrapped Star and Marco in a massive bear hug.

"Whoops, my baaaaaaad," sang Star, raising her arms up and winking in confession.

"I just knew you two were gonna get together someday; you better treat her right, Marco!"

"Si, Mijo. I've raised you to be a gentleman, and nothing but."

Marco for one stayed completely silent as he slowly slinked down into his seat, the embarrassment his parents and girlfriend were giving him proving to be too much for the poor boy. His parents had always been masters in the art of making him flustered. And Star was notorious for her inability to control her own actions and words. Needless to say, he was more than terrified about the prospect of letting the three combine forces.

"Can I get a rain check on the whole embarrassing-your-son event and just move on to the meal?" he begged, running the neck of his shirt over his head to shade himself from his three belligerent loved ones.

"Oh, quit being a sour puss, Marco. We're only doing this because we love you," Angie leaned over and pulled his head out of the confines of his shirt, bringing him and Star into a quick hug before skipping back to the confines of the kitchen. She was gone for less than a blink of an eye before reappearing in the kitchen passageway, arms bustling with an assortment of covered plates and bowls. In one fell swoop, she set the dishes down on the table, plucking their lids off to let their mouthwatering steam fill the room. It was torture for Marco, who was struggling to resist the temptation to dive in before his parents sat down at their spot at the end of the table. Star, on the other hand, had eyes the size of saucepans as she started daydreaming about her inevitable second course.

"Welp, what're you two waiting for? They won't be warm forever," beamed Angie, who had picked up a plate of elotes to plate out between the two. She spared no expense filling Marco's plate, having easily picked up on the look of pure starvation in his eyes. She stifled a chuckle with her free hand as his stomach let out a low growl, which in addition to her made Star let out a giggle through a mouthful of food. She moved on from her son to dish the remaining cobs out on the blonde girl's plate, happy to see the excitement over her food grow across her already elated expression.

Rafael followed suit behind Angie to place two tall cups in front of the teens, both fizzing with a slight carbonation. Marco glanced between his two parents with a knowing gaze, noticing how Star had no hesitation in plucking up her glass and downing a large sip. "Really?"

"Don't worry, yours is cider," chirped Angie, pulling out her chair to sit down adjacent to her husband. The two parents recited a silent prayer before setting their napkins on their laps and shifting to pile the feast before them on their plates.

Ignoring Star's almost unappetizing table manners, Marco took his plate and pushed a couple tamales on its unoccupied portion. A wave of relief rushed over him as he took his first bite of food for the day. The absolute masterpiece of crispiness and spice sent a small shiver down his back, forcing a smile to grow on his lips as he went in for a second bite. It was heaven personified on a plate, and whether or not it was his ravenous hunger or his parents cooking wasn't a concern to him as he downed a mouthful of food with a swig of his sparkling cider. A small part of him was regretting not asking for a duplicate of Star's drink, imagining the combination of a light Riesling with his food to be darn near perfect.

His parents were never ones to shy away from letting him indulge in adult beverages every now and again, but for Star, they really had no hesitation in letting the girl drink till sundown. Mewman culture was pretty big on alcohol, mimicking medieval Europe in how much they drank, and at what ages they did. The memory of Star plopping a bottle of fine wine on the table during her first ever Diaz dinner and uncorking and pouring herself a tall glace to his horror and his parents' glee always brought him a cringey laugh. During his stay on Mewni, his indifference to underage drinking was slowly grated away as he was confronted with all sorts of wines and grain alcohols. He still had his worries, which were pretty reasonable since it was a fact that underage drinking did all sorts of nasties to a kid's liver, but he had grown to enjoy an occasional glass of sweet wine with the Butterflies or at a royal banquet.

He didn't mind his parents letting Star have a cup of wine a few times a week, seeing it as a better alternative than barring her from drinking, which would probably do absolutely nothing to the rebel princess. He was actually pretty satisfied by how perfectly they had handled the contours of Mewman culture. They tamed the more extreme sides of her lifestyle while also letting her live her life just like she did back at home. He had to constantly remind himself just how blessed he was to have such a fantastic family, remembering just how terrible families can really be during the one visit he had at Furguson's house.

"Tasty, eh Mijo?" His father's words pulled him out of his thoughts, realizing just how much food he had consumed while spacing out. I really am hungry, huh, he thought, staring down at the pile of totally barren cobs of corn that were once elotes. He caught Star's smug glance from the corner of his eye before replying to his father, "Yeah, this stuff is great."

"That is just so good to hear, Marco. You know, I tweaked the recipe a little bit today. Added a bit more Basil, Cloves, Cayenne; all that good stuff," Angie said with a motherly smile, having taken a respite from her meal to wipe off the torrent of sauces smeared around Mariposa's face.

Why does all that stuff sound so specific? Marco mulled over his mother's choices of herbs and spices before eventually shrugging it off to take a bite of his refried beans. As the meal progressed, and the atmosphere of the room started opening up to the possibility of conversations, he was forced to plan just how to break the news he had to his parents. Let's see… Well, there was the magic incident, that one's a doozy. Then there's my relationship with Star, which shouldn't be all that hard to talk about… And yeah, the whole part where Star and I fought a massive venus fly trap and I almost had my leg cut off, but then it healed up in a matter of minutes; there's that, too.

"So, Marco, Star. I'm sure you two had a pretty exciting day, huh?" asked Angie.

"Yeah, yeah… I guess you can say that," he lowered his head to avoid staring his smiling parents right in the eyes, finding it too painful to dance around the truth right to their faces.

"You know, just a while before you two got here, your father and I had a very interesting conversation with Edmund…"

Interesting, conversation? I'm already dead, aren't I? Marco quipped internally, all while trying his best to maintain a calm and collected exterior. He had a mental catalog of buzzwords his parents would use whenever he was in any sort of trouble, which, thankfully for him, only ever happened once in a blue moon. And unfortunately for him, 'interesting' was at the very top of that list.

"Oh, really?... ahh, what'd ya talk about?" Marco said as he took another slow bite into his shrinking portion of refried beans.

"Marco, I thought we made this clear back at the portrait fiasco…" Angie set her knife and fork down atop her plate, with Rafael doing the same just a few seconds after. A look of worry manifested on Marco's face as his external shell cracked to reveal his inner thoughts. Star, having never witnessed a negative interaction between Marco and his parents save for the whole Ms. Heinous fiasco, was understandably confused as she glanced between Marco's look of discomfort and his parents' gaze.

"M-made what clear?" he stammered out, throwing on a wobbly smile while holding his hands jovially in the air

"Mijo, when something bad happens to you, or your amigos, you have to tell us: it's not una opción." His father's voice was steady and soft, a sharp contrast from his bodybuilder-like physique. Neither of his parents were ones to don sharp tones or raise their voices whenever they were upset, opting instead to clearly communicate their feelings rather than shout them.

"Ohhh… so, he told you guys everything, huh."

"He told us everything he saw, but I'm guessing that's not all, is it?" Angie leaned closer to the table and fixed Marco with a concerned gaze. He could see the unbridled worry she had in her eyes, her fingers nervously tapping the cloth-draped wood of the dining room table. He glanced over at Star, who was multitasking between enjoying one of his mother's tamales, and nervously glancing between him and his parents.

"It depends. What'd he tell you guys?" Spoke Marco with an almost defeated voice.

"He told us you were using magic, that you fought a horrible monster, that you got… hurt." His father hesitated with his last word, gulping down hard as his eyebrows drooped inward.

"W-well, if it m-makes you feel any better, my leg h-healed up. So, there's that," Joked Marco while raising his leg outward just high enough to be seen over the tabletop, which didn't seem to do anything to cure his parents' looks of concern.

"Marco. You're father and I have always been very… lenient when it came to your little 'adventures'," Angie said as she took her husband's hand in hers while sharing a warm smile with her son. "We didn't want to get in the way of you having fun or making friends, but I guess in retrospect, that made it pretty hard for us to stop you from getting mixed up in some trouble."

"Your mother and I have seen you change so much, Mijo. You were once so nervous, and shy. But now, it is like you are a whole new person!" Rafeal touted with his usual vigor, using his turn as the speaker to tie up his wife's opening statement.

"But, with all things, there are always consequences…" Angie said while looking down at her plate, watching as small lines of steam radiated off the enticing food.

"Dangerous consequences," Rafael rephrased, holding his hands up to aid in his speech.

"Marco, your father and I couldn't be more proud of the person you've become. But, things are changing, and they're only going to keep changing as time goes on. Your father and I need to know that you'll be safe, that you can survive out there when we're not with you. I know this seems a little weird, seeing as we've let you run off to another dimension… alone." The young mother felt a tinge of regret shoot through her, her eyes beginning to burn with a familiar heat. At the time, she had felt zero hesitation in sending her only child away into a far-off dimension with no way of reaching him in the event that anything went terribly wrong. She trusted Star, and the rest of the Mewmans, and she still did. But the feeling she was struck with the first night he was away tore her to shreds, as did it to her husband. She looked over at Rafael to finish where she left off, worried her shaky voice wouldn't be up to the challenge of continuing her train of thought.

"And even then, you had King and Queen Butterfly to care for you. But, we do not have that luxury anymore, Mijo."

"All we're trying to say, Marco, is that we're worried that, someday, something terrible is going to happen. And on that day, you'll have to look after yourself," Angie wiped a tear from her eye as she shined a warm smile at Marco.

"Are you mad?" Marco said in a small voice.

"No, Marco, we're not mad, just…"

"Concerned," The two parents slid closer to each other as they fixed the teenagers with a parental gaze, a mixture of loving affection and seriousness.

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, if it makes you feel any better, Marco once spent 16 years in the most dangerous dimension known to Mewman," Star said as leaned up from her seat with a wide smile, shining down on her second family with a joyful gaze before eventually realizing what exactly she just said. The sound of Marco slapping his forehead rang out as she slinked back into her seat, nervously smiling as wide as she could as she pulled her knees up against her chest.

"Hehe, yeah, maybe… maybe I shouldn't have said that,"

With a sigh, Angie lowered her head into her hand and closed her eyes, trying to regain her inner peace before carrying on with her verdict. "Could you two just promise us you'll be more cautious? For an old mother's sake?"

"Of course, mom, one hundred percent."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Slowly making his way down the packed hallway, Edmund kept his eyes peeled for his exit. He had spent the past twenty two hours vigorously toiling away at anything related to 'The Merge': Preobrazhensky's laws, webular sequences, topographic images of Echo Creek. Any and all information relevant to the situation at hand. To say he looked like a wreck would be the understatement of the month. His hair was a tangle of dried sweat and knots, his eyes clearly fatigued from the hours he spent reading through all manners of data. The only thing that had kept his motivation in check was the sparse visits he got from Jess, that, and the endless K-cups of his office.

Rounding a corner as quickly and carefully as he could so as to not collide with anyone, his eyes narrowed down on his conference room door. He carefully weaved his way through the crowd of workers before skidding to a halt before it, stopping to catch his breath after having sprinted from one end of the facility to the other. He pulled out his phone and flipped open the camera app, aiming it at his face to use it as a mirror as he corrected his messy hairline. After finding his look satisfactory, he took a deep breath and pushed open the double doors of the conference room.

Standing before the large glass window that overlooked the campus was none other than his director, clad in his iconic immaculate blazer with his hair combed up and to the side. His back was facing the rest of the room, blocking his and his coworker's view of his face. His hands were neatly held behind his back, his posture straight with relaxed shoulders. He was a typical run-of-the-mill boss, save for the fact that he commanded some of the most extraordinary people around the globe.

Realizing the attention of his coworkers was fitted on him, he swiftly pulled out a chair from the long center table and plopped down in it, fixing his dirtied lab jacket so it wouldn't rub up against his neck. Scanning around the room, he was relieved to see he wasn't the only one in complete shambles. The looks of fatigue on his partners' faces were evident, the signs of their equally long work days. Fuming cups littered the table's surface, save for Dr. Woods' spot, who preferred iced over hot. The sharp clicking of a pen was the only noise that occupied the room, backed by the faint gails of the wind hitting the large glass window.

"You go to Barbados to enjoy a lovely weekend and celebrate your 50th with your wife, and you come home to find your neat and tidy operation, completely and utterly fucked up." The man turned around to face his disheveled team, his name badge shimmering in the LED office light. Andrew Haverford it read, the immaculately polished bronze of the badge glimmering in perfect parallel with his suit's lapel. He paced away from the window with his hands held behind his back, holding his chin high with a perfect posture. He stopped in place when he saw a smug Edmund kick his feet up on the waxed marble surface of the center table, winking at him with a tired eye as Haverford brushed him off.

"You're saying it like it's our fault," Edmund smiled up at Haverford, who despite his best efforts, gave in to his young employee and chuckled to himself.

"No, it's not; doesn't mean I can't heckle you for it." Haverford scanned the faces of his executive team, watching as they slowly relaxed and got accustomed to their calm environment. He snatched up his black coffee and took a long, slow sip, holding it with his right hand while he dug through his suit pocket with the other. Pulling out a small notepad and pen, he clicked the pen open and cleared his voice.

"*Ahem*. Listen, I've been outta the loop for a while now. Fill me in on any 'new occurrences', time stamps included. Edmund!"

Edmund shifted slightly in his seat, letting out an exaggerated yawn before reciting his boss's request from his memory. "At 20:13 EST, Saturday, June thirteenth, we detected a minor schism in the primary webular continuum; a string from our subspace, X AE A-XII, and a string from the Mewman subspace, F DM C-IV, locked telomeres."

"At 20:14, the schism escalated into an anomaly as a subspacial portal opened up over Site 83, partition C-77. Measuring 7.28 meters in diameter and bearing an orientation of twenty-four terajoules." He took a respite from reading off his memory to take in the vexed faces of his coworkers. It always gave him a good laugh at how obviously they hated his natural talent, probably envious of the fact he never had the need to carry around any hefty journals or encyclopedias. Anything and everything that came in through his eyes and ears was permanently stamped in his memory, perfectly encapsulated and ready to be read off at a moment's notice.

"At 20:15, even after manually attempting to disperse the anomaly through webular resequencing, the anomaly imploded and exported, as well as imported, an immeasurable quantity of material to and from the Mewman subspace."

"And at 01:42, today, June Fourteenth, we detected a major surge in the primary webular continuum from site 83, partition AA-32. It lasted 7.14 seconds and exerted a force of just under 43 kilojoules."

"Don't tell me…" Haverford glanced up from his miniature notepad, sharing a quick glance with Edmund.

"It was him, sir. No doubt about it." Edmund felt a slight chill run down his spine; talking about the kid always made him feel pretty uncomfortable.

"Have you even called the kid in for a medical eval?" Haverford paused from writing in his notepad to point his pen incriminatingly at Edmund from across the table.

"Nah, no need. He's come into contact with enough quote-on-quote 'magic' that his capillaries are probably used to this much energy."

Haverford nodded slightly as he stowed away his notepad, holding his hands behind his back as he paced down the length of the table. "... The barrier, any updates?" he finally said, looking back at Edmund for an answer.

"Barriers going strong, sir. It stopped the transfusion before it could get its grip on the entire subspace. Although… there's a bit of an… interference from the radiation put off by the Mewman soil. Only way of communication is through the four comms pipes we had set up, that, and Marco's phone." Edmund said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his messy hair.

"Good, good. As long as you can get it fixed," Haverford nodded again, continuing his walk around the table with his hands crossed behind his back.

"Woods!" He shouted, shocking the poor girl from her semi-conscious state. She had been blissfully resting her head on her hand throughout the bulk of the meeting, taking advantage of her first actual rest in nearly a day. Raising herself off her hand, the young Greek adjusted her glasses before squinting up at her patient boss, finding the glare of the room's LEDs to be too much for her fatigued eyes. "What's the word surrounding our new 'visitors'."

"We finished tallying the Mewman refugee population, we're looking at over fifty thousand displaced. That's not even getting into the ones we haven't found yet. And let's not even start on the monster population…" Her voice fell silent as she combed through a messy pile of paperwork at her seat, scanning the very fine print of each document for any more relevant information.

Haverford let the figures wash over him as he turned to face the room's large window, walking up to it with his back facing the rest of his team. It was just too many, and way, way too quick for them to respond correctly."Fifty thousand, Christ… What's Echo Creek's population again?"

"Twenty four thousand, eight hundred and nineteen," Woods said monotony, holding a small note sheet with one hand as she took a sip of her iced latte with her other.

"Hell… Clancy, how's the national guard holding up? They've finished their ration deliveries yet?" Haverford turned away from the large window, peering across the conference room's table at the man wearing a navy blue military uniform.

"Yeah, just a few hours ago. Stocked the rec center and the park as well; 'nuff food to last 'em till Thursday," Clancy responded sharply, his grizzly voice betraying the dark bags under his eyes.

"Bernard."

"Yes sir?" came a shrill voice from the corner of the table. Bernard peaked his head over his laptop and stared his boss down with a menacing look, sipping his coffee audibly from the corner of his mouth. Out of all of them, he was easily the most perturbed from having to have worked through the past day and a half. Despite this, his hair was still neatly combed, and his shirt and bowtie were fixed immaculately.

"The twins, what've they got to say about all this?" Haverford said in a calm voice, like a father speaking to his son.

"The twins? Boss, the twins left a few days ago: right after their school year ended. They're at site 13 as we speak," Bernard said while scrolling through a lengthy text on his laptop.

"Both sets?" Clarified Haverford as he cocked his head.

"Yeah, both," Bernard rephrased, "Whole family reunion goin' on over there. Big year for the smart one; the kid just got his fancy theory thingy published or whatever."

A long silence followed Bernard's answer as Haverford's questions ran dry. He started pacing across the short dimension of the room again as he mulled over the information he had just received. Edmund took the respite to glance over at Woods, who had neatly organized her papers in two distinct piles. He silently chuckled to himself at her obvious need for organization, which somehow seemed to grab her attention. The girl looked up and frowned at the other young scientist, scoffing at him before swiftly stowing the two piles in her small suitcase. In the time it took for him to embarrass the Greek woman, Haverford had finally made up his mind over what to say next. "Edmund."

"Yeah boss?" Edmund spun his head around to face his boss, who was standing still ahead of the table, his hands still crossed behind his back.

"For all the laymen among us who don't have doctorates in theoretical physics, would you mind explaining this whole 'magic' mumbo jumbo." Haverford moved his hand and tossed Edmund a thin dry-erase marker, signaling with his head to draw out his explanation on the room's whiteboard.

Raising himself from his seat, he stretched out his arms and paced over to the board, snatching up a napkin from Wood's partition of the table to use as an eraser, much to her visible displeasure. "Well, to start, magic isn't what changes reality, strings are. Strings, or webular structures as we like to call 'em, are the way particles define themselves relative to other particles."

He started out by drawing a large circle on the whiteboard, making a dotted line from the center of the circle to the end and marking it with a simple '1'. He then went on to draw an oval around the first circle, much to the confusion of his coworkers. Then, on another clear section of a board, he mapped out what appeared to be a sheet of paper, but with a large dip in the center. Everything he was drawing made practically zero sense to the rest of his team, with only Haverford nodding along with the young man's depictions. "Now, this may sound a little corny, but it all boils down to Einstein's Theory Of Relativity. Looking at his interpretation of the space-time continuum, in order to depict a particle in three dimensions on a two dimensional grid, you not only have to have a point that serves as a location of mass, but also as a depiction of relative distance from the origin height of zero, measured in Plancks. Since there's no absolute zero when it comes to the universe, with all the subspaces - which some people mistakenly call 'dimensions' - the only way you can quantify the location of a particle is by comparing it to other particles. This is what's called a string. A string serves as a measure of distance between two separate particles. Now, every particle has a string connected to every other particle in the entire subspace; this is what we call a 'Webular Continuum'."

He drew what looked like an asymmetric spider web just below the circle drawing and captioned it with the text 'WEBULAR CONTINUUM'. The confused looks of his colleagues began slowly fading away as he continued explaining, going from totally confused to just slightly confused.

"What we call magic is simply a technique used to change the values of a string. Primary magic, or as the Mewmans call it 'Volatile Magic' - not to be confused with Dark Glossaryian magic - is the way to change and reorientate the strings of the primary Webular Continuum. Now, when I say 'primary' webular continuum, you have to keep in mind that there are multiple continuums, each with their own strings and whatnot. And when a user decides to change the strings of multiple particles all at once, it's called a sequence, I.E. 'spell'. Magic users also possess the ability to change the energy level of a particle, leading to the distinction between 'Energy Manipulation' and 'Matter Manipulation'." Edmund continued his explanation while adding more details to the whiteboard.

Moving on to the last clear section of the board, he started writing out various words, all connected with downward-facing arrows. With his work done, he stepped away from the list for the rest of the room to see before carrying on with his narration. "Now, there's a whole bunch of different kinds of magic, since there are multiple webular continuums. Each level of subsequent magic is derived from on other, like a tree. At the very top -" He capped the marker and loudly slapped the board where the first word was written, with just enough ferocity to stir his half-conscious audience.

"-Is universal magic, the stuff we use down at CalTech. Next comes primary magic, then secondary magic, and finally, custom magics."

He moved back in front of the list to draw out a large bubble connected with yet another downward-facing arrow, finishing his addition by writing 'CUSTOM MAGICS' inside the large bubble. "Custom magics are specially designed webs that are based on inter-subspacial continuums. The only example we had of custom magics, or at least the one that we did have, was Glossaryian magic."

"And that's the magic that was reduced, right?" Haverford remarked, having yet again pulled out his small notepad to write in.

"Precisely."

"But our sample: the one down at Cal-Tech. It's still there, right?"

"Yep. There's still enough webular matter to keep its strings going, but not enough to actively adjust any of 'em." Edmund finished his drawings and placed the marker on the small aluminum ledge of the whiteboard, sauntering back proudly to his seat while reassuring Haverford of the safety of their sample.

"All right, y'all got that?" Haverford asked, leaning over the table to stare at his team members one by one. They all gave a collective nod, causing a small grin to spread across his face.

"Good. I don't have Preobrazhensky on the phone, but I have a feeling he's up to date. Now!" He yelled, recapturing the attention of his tired staff. "What's our plan? If my memory serves me right, Mewni operated under the rule of a few major monarchies, and a conglomerate of different nobilities. If we're gonna figure out what to do with our guests, our best bet is getting in touch with them."

"One step ahead of you, boss," Edmund said as he reached into his lab coat and pulled out a rolled-up blueprint. He got up from out of his seat and walked over to the front of the room, stopping beside Haverford and unfurling the sheet of paper on the sleek marble table top. He looked over at the rest of his squad, who had raised themselves up just enough to catch a glimpse of the writing on the sheet. "We've started construction on a large venue just off of Juan Tabo Blvd. We haven't talked to 'The Big Guy' yet, but I'm sure he'd agree with the idea of a noble get-together."

"A ball?" Asked Woods, raising an eyebrow as the young scientist said 'Noble get-together'.

"Yeah, why not call up Cinderella and put her name down while we're at it," squeaked Bernard from behind his laptop, to which everyone let out a short chuckle.

"Guys, guys, come on, we're professionals." Haverford asserted as he scanned the invigorated faces of his team. "Now, what kind of pumpkin am I gonna get picked up in?"

"Harr harr. Listen, it's that, or whatever else is floating around in those empty heads of yours." Edmund stared down his grinning colleagues with a smug grin, catching the faux dirty look Woods threw at him.

"When's it going to be ready: the venue, that is?" Haverford asked, looking over the simplistic details of the venue on the blueprint before him.

"Tomorrow morning, you should see the thing -", Edmund paused to hold up two 'Okay' symbols with his hands as he made a clicking noise with his tongue, "- Absolute work of art."

"So if that's settled, then," Haverford nodded along as he mulled over the plan in his head. Looking up, he watched as the jovial looks on his team's face solidified into meaningful stares, ready for their new assignment. "Bernard, call up the nobles, get them in the loop. Edmund, run it by Diaz, take any suggestions you can while you're at it."

Receiving another, much more robust collective nod, Haverford smiled and paced past the rest of his group, stopping at the door to give them their final instruction. "Dismissed."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Mi familia, you must hear me. This party… ends tonight!" A gasp ran through the crowd, shocking the partygoers as the room came down with silent anticipation. The dance floor opened up to reveal a well-dressed man, wearing a slightly unbuttoned dress shirt with a scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Ohh, ooh! Here it comes," Star whispered as she lightly elbowed Marco, her voice just barely heard over the heavy orchestra of the show. With her eyes still glued to the screen, she slid out from under their blanket and grabbed a fresh nacho from the looming pile before them, placing it between her lips and savoring its precious flavor. They had made a sizable dent in the plate since they sat down, but it would take a dedicated effort to put them down for good.

"But Rodriguez, mi amour, why must you stop this!" A young Latina wearing a colorful sundress approached the man, moving to take his hand in hers, only for the man to shift away with a perturbed look. He turned his back to the woman, wearing a look of dismay as she again tried to hold his arm.

"Sofia, I have heard from su padre that you… Married my step-chihuahua!" A second, even louder gasp ran through the crowd, followed by hushed murmurs and stifled sorrowful cries. The young woman looked around the shocked crowd, taking in the angered voices of her friends, only to fall to her knees and cry out to the club's skylight.

"Is it me, or does this show just keep getting weirder every season," Marco scoffed as he fished another nacho off the plate. To him, the current state of the show was an utter insult to what it was just a year before. Some of his favorite family moments were of him and his parents crowding around the living room TV to catch up on a new episode of their beloved show. But now, all the plot consisted of was cheap gags and unrealistic plot twists. Almost like the writers were purposely trying to make the show as unbelievable as possible.

"The effects are still pretty cool," Star said as she licked her fingers clean of queso. She was always a sucker for colorful props and exotic settings, and this was no exception.

Taking a glance at his bedside clock, he was surprised to find it was well past midnight, with only a handful of hours left until the sun rose. He could feel his fatigue pulling him further into the comforts of his twin bed, the loud TV being the only thing keeping his consciousness from slipping away. The day had been agonizingly long, and the way Star hugged his side and nuzzled her head into his shoulder made it difficult to resist the sweet temptation of closing his eyes.

His original plan for the night hadn't involved him staying up past a reasonable hour and binging TV with Star; in fact, Star wasn't even part of the original plan. It was only after wrapping up dinner did she point out just how dark it had gotten outside. The lack of street lamps or lit windows painted the town in total darkness. And, taking in the events of the day, there was a unanimous decision that no one at all should be walking around outside in the dark, especially without any way of protecting yourself, or more importantly, seeing what's in front of you. Whatever monsters were lurking around the woods in the daylight would surely be scouring the midnight streets for something to sink their teeth into, and after their scare with the venus-fly trap monster, no one was in the mood to take any chances.

The sound of shifting sheets brought him back to reality as he felt something warm press against his neck. Looking over at his side, a smile flourished across his lips at the sight of Star snuggled up against his side, with her face buried into the start of his shoulder. He leaned down and placed a quick peck on her golden hair, all while slowly running his hand through the rest of her mane. "Getting comfortable down there?" He asked with a grin, eliciting a slow nod in response from Star.

"Welp, sorry to break it to you, Star. But I think it's time for you to head back to the guest room," he motioned over to his bedside clock, only for her to ignore his request and deepen their embrace by slinking her arms around his torso. After realizing she would have to stay the night, his parents phoned the Butterflies while he helped set up the guest room for her to stay in. It wasn't much compared to her usual three-story bedroom, but what it lacked in body, Star sure made up for in enthusiasm. She was more than happy at the turn of events, much to the clear concern of his parents.

"Uuh, Earth to Star?" He said facetiously while slowly backing away from her on his bed.

"Marcooo," she groaned, frustrated by his resistance. She reluctantly sat up in bed and fixed him with a dejected look, which by itself was almost enough to make Marco regret his decision. "Why do you have to make this stuff so complicated?"

"Complicated?" He reverberated, puzzled by her choice of words. "What's it I'm making complicated?"

"I mean, it's practically morning already. What's so bad about the idea of me spending just a bit more time in your room?" She asked while crawling over to cuddle up against his arm. "And by 'a bit more time', I mean till the sun comes up… and maybe a little longer."

The chorus of noises coming from the Spanish infomercials died down as Marco caved into Star's request. Really doesn't take that much to change your mind, does it Diaz? He thought to himself, smirking at the look on Star's face as he slipped his arms around her and pulled her close. She looked up and fixed him with a gleeful smile, happy to have received her unspoken approval before whipping him around to lie flat on his back atop his mattress. He was given a small respite before Star inched closer and slid up against his side, slinking her arms around his loathe torso and blissfully lying her head on his chest with a gentle sigh.

He reciprocated her affection instantly, drawing his hands around the low of her back to pull her close against him. He tried his darndest to dismiss the worrisome thoughts swirling around his head: what if we're caught like this, what would my parents think, what would her parents think! Thankfully, his concerns were silenced as Star moved to nuzzle her head into the crook of his neck, curing him of his ailments without even knowing they were there. She let out a low purr as she delicately slid her leg over top of his, resting more so on him rather than the bed itself.

The electricity that danced along his skin wherever they touched coaxed a warm tightness in his abdomen, the feel of her warm breath on his nape driving him to pull her tighter against him. Everything about the situation felt right to him, like he was dreaming. He thought back to the delightful kisses they shared on her bed just the night before, how perfect she felt on his lips, and how incredible she made him feel. Any hesitation he had over letting Star stay the night waned away as all he could think about was how perfect she felt in his arms. With a content smile, he trailed a hand from around her back to slip into her beautiful hair to gently massage her scalp there.

"Mhmhhmhh," she mewled into his neck, her hot breath making his skin tingle. "I like that…"

"I can tell," he whispered back, leaning down again to plant a loving kiss on her forehead.

Feeling a boldness course through her, she slipped a hand from around his back to lay on his stomach, slowly tracing outlines around the small, yet defined muscles of his abdominals. Every once in a while, she would let her hand dip just below his stomach to brush by the waistband of his jam-jams. She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes as she felt his heartbeat quicken, knowing just how much of an impact she was having on the poor boy's mind. As if she wasn't already doing enough, she shifted her head to press her lips against the side of his neck, sucking in his pulse as her boy groaned in satisfaction.

"Feels nice?" she asked sultry, fully moving her leg across his form to almost straddle him beneath her.

Marco didn't respond, fearful his frail voice would ruin the increasingly intimate moment between them. Instead, he summoned all the courage he had and trailed his free hand from around her back to lay on the inside of her thigh, pulling her leg even further over him as his other hand slowly retreated from her hair. Now seeing eye-to-eye, with Star fully on top of him, they took a moment to stare blankly at each other before closing the gap between their awaiting lips. Star immediately took the initiative, fully giving in to the moment and opening her mouth to allow her tongue to let loose between them. Marco followed her lead and parted his lips to grant her entry, advancing his tongue to tangle with hers at the bulkhead of where they met.

The two stayed intertwined in ecstasy as their tongues wrestled each other for dominance, communicating solely through their bodies now. He willed his hands to slide around the low of her back, carefully repositioning them to hold her modest hips as she pressed against him. A part of him was aching for her to have chosen her nightwear from the day before, even though her pale blue nightgown that she wore tonight was more than sufficient to drive him crazy. Lost in her embrace, he let his hand fall down her rear, squeezing it gently which made her moan through his mouth in response.

Star could feel the warmth in her chest tighten as Marco made contact with her backside, and despite still only being through the cloth of her night gown, it brought her endless euphoria. She shifted her hands from the sheets of his bed to prop herself up on his chest, using his strong pectorals to steady herself atop him. She could feel the want in her rise as a certain protrusion grabbed her focus. Leaning back from the kiss and panting hard, Star stared Marco down with a mischievous grin, pressing against his growing hardness to make him aware of what she was focused on. His eyes lit up as his mind flew about with worries, convinced he had ruined the moment with his excitement.

He threw on a nervous smile as he tried slithering out from beneath her, only for her to grip his shoulders and pin him against the mattress. He looked back up with a shaky expression, entranced by her beauty illuminated by the bright moonlight coursing through his window. Her flowing blonde hair caught the light perfectly, shading him and a good portion of his bed in golden light. It was like an angel was standing just before him, her perfectly sculpted body only something a divine entity could craft. The look she fixed him with was one of pure want, almost venomous with how potent it was. "And where do you think you're going?" she said slyly, pressing her core harder against his length.

"Hehe… Sorry, I'm not all that great with the whole 'reading minds' thing," he choked out, relieved he hadn't ruined the moment, but still concerned over just how bad he was at picking up on her signals.

"So I've heard," she whispered, leaning closer to Marco with just a hair's length separating their lips. "So I've heard…"

She wasted no time in taking his lips in hers again, pressing down against his excitement with her hips as she slowly trailed her body across his length. Marco melted in her embrace like butter as his hands subconsciously found her hips to offer her more support. The two reentered their oral battle as their bodies worked at each other, with Marco's hands guiding her core across his member while she used hers to slip into her dark brown hair, using the leverage to press his lips harder against hers.

She could feel her core blossom with warmth as she continued working his length, begging her to increase in speed and ferocity. She pulled her cumbersome nightgown up above her hips to press her humid panties against his pajama bottoms, purring deeply at the increased sensitivity between them. She could feel her moisture stain his pant bottoms as she pressed harder against him, happy to find Marco's grip on her waist tighten, forcing out a cute little moan from her as she clenched her eyes shut from ecstasy.

"Jeez *pant*, Star," breathed Marco, taking a respite from kissing before again entwining his lips with hers.

"So *pant*, good," she panted hard as she sucked in a deep breath. Instead of returning to his pleasing lips, she led a trail of kisses down his jawline, panting hard between each kiss as she savored the feeling of his excitement between her legs. She trailed down his neck and bit softly at his jugular, grinning to herself at how jumpy he was at contact.

Feeling her control begin to slip, Star broke her kiss and arched her back up, pressing down as hard as she could on his excitement. An even deeper heat started taking hold in her core as she worked his length with vigor. She tried desperately to keep her voice down as the sensation she was caught up in grew exponentially. She convulsed atop him as her climax racked her body, forcing her to arch her back even further and let her mouth open to the heavens in a silent scream.

The rush of moisture staining his pants and the knowledge of Star's orgasm was enough to push Marco into his own, gripping down hard on her hips as he pushed his excitement against her with all his might. The two bore down on each other as they rode out the remainder of their climaxes, with Star falling down atop Marco to smother his face with kiss after kiss. The minutes dragged on as the couple stayed intertwined, Marco holding on to Star for dear life while she peppered him with kisses.

"Marco… I, *pant*," mouthed Star, leaning back just slightly to look him straight in the eyes.

"That was… incredible, Star," whispered Marco as he shifted his hands up to hold her shoulders. "Was I… Good?"

"You were fantastic, Marco," she fell against his chest to snuggle up against him, grinning to herself at just how perfectly she fit in his embrace. "This is my first time ever doing that with… someone else… Thank you for making it as great as it was."

"Yeah," he said between breaths as his heart rate fell back to a normal rhythm, "This stuff is all new to me, Star…"

"And I can't imagine anyone better to share it with," she finished his sentence for him, using the remainder of her strength to push herself up and plant a kiss on the tip of his nose. "Hold me?"

"Of course," he spoke, and for what felt like the hundredth time that night, wrapped his arms around her lithe torso, holding her tight as the two slowly drifted off to sleep.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Folding up his last shirt, Stephen let out a long sigh as he placed his last article of clothing in the large, gray suitcase. It took an effort to find the right place to lay the shirt, seeing as how the suitcase was already filled to the brim with clothing and other necessities. After finding a fitting place for the garment, he spent a moment shifting through the suitcase to double-check check he had packed everything he desired. With his wares packed away, he flipped closed the suitcase and zipped it shut, letting it fall off the side of his bed with a loud *clunk*.

Sitting on the edge of his mattress, he lowered his head into his hands and let out a lengthy breath. He had spent the bulk of the morning packing for his trip. And having packed his last piece of luggage, he felt an all too familiar dread run through his body. Glancing up, he took one last look at the walls around him, admiring their small dents and scrapes, nail holes, and outlines of once hung picture frames. He fought the urge to weep as his mind raced with memories of the old abode and the fond remembrances he had with his family there. Choking down his emotions, he slowly rose to his feet and picked up his suitcase by its handle before marching off to the door.

Gazing into his bedroom one last time, he morosely closed the door and started down the second-story stairwell. Stepping off the last stair, he dropped his luggage down next to the house's entrance, stopping for a brief moment to gaze into his reflection in the stained glass of the front door. His lower lip trembled as he stared at the figure looking back at him, his eyes again threatening to well up with tears. He had changed so much over the years. He was no longer the gleeful little boy with eyes full of wonder, but a harsh and grim young man with a face sterner than stone. Despite his grim yet attractive appearance, his inner thoughts were nowhere near as gelid as he looked.

Raising his sleeve to check his wristwatch, he noted he had five minutes before his ride arrived. He resisted the urge to take a final walkthrough of his house, knowing the pain of reliving his memories would surely be too much for him to cope with. However, being overcome with a strange desire to do exactly that, he turned on his heel and walked down the front hallway. As he passed between the entrance of the cellar and the pantry, he raised his hand to slide against the old drywall, taking in the comforting sound of his skin against it. As he approached the family room, now mostly empty of its furniture, his sight flourished with visions of his childhood: his younger sister playing with her modest doll house, his father reclining in the living room watching their favorite soccer team, his mother telling stories nearby their once frequently used fireplace.

He stopped dead in the center of the carpeted room, gazing down at the small indents left by their small yet adequate furniture. The room had once consisted of a dilapidated couch from their old home back in Ireland, a small coffee table bought second-hand when they first moved in, and a short table used to hold their twelve-inch tube TV. It wasn't much, yet he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by just how joyous his younger days were, by just how much he missed the time he spent with the ones he loved.

Making his way out of the family room and into the adjourning kitchen, he slid his hand across the polished kitchen countertop, lifting up a thin layer of dust that had settled there. Stopping in the center of the small room, he flipped open the faucet of their sole sink, closing his eyes to listen to it spur away as the water flowed from the spigot into the bowl of the sink and down the old drain. Memories of his mother's cooking and family dinners flooded his mind as a shaky smile encompassed his lips. Finally forcing his eyes open to shut off the running sink faucet, his eyes landed on the kitchen window. One of the only sources of light in the old room, it bore four glass partitions with a peeling wood separating them. Staring out of it at their small yard behind the house, his face fell expressionless as his eyes fixated on three small wooden crosses out back, each lined up in parallel with each other and bearing wood of the same age.

He stood with a bare expression in the kitchen, standing completely still with the exception of his rhythmic breathing. It was only when his phone buzzed in his pocket did he stir from where he stood. Reaching into his pocket and swiping open his phone, he read the notification on the screen. "Waiting out front, are you ready?"

Instead of responding, he stashed the phone away in his pocket and breathed in a deep breath, letting it sit in his lungs before he spoke. "Mum, Pa, Sis… See you on the flip side."

And with that, he exited the kitchen, grabbed his suitcase waiting for him in the foyer, and walked out the door of his house, locking his deadbolt one last time before letting the screen door close behind him. Trudging down his front yard's small cobblestone walkway, his eyes landed on his ride. Expecting it to be nothing fancier than a run-down cab, he was pleasantly surprised to find a jet-black limousine parked right at the end of his driveway. After taking a double take of the sight, he approached the passenger door. Just as he was about to touch the handle, his phone buzzed a second time.

"Forgetting something?" He read the text under his breath before being startled by the opening of the limo's trunk. Surprised by Edmund's omniscient behavior, he went around the back of the vehicle and stowed his suitcase. Hearing the trunk lock as it closed, he approached the passenger door again and entered the car, surprised to see a familiar co-worker inside.

"Uhh, hello," he said, seeing Sarah perk up in her seat at the sight of her boss.

"M-Mr. Hobbs? G-Good morning!" she stammered, quickly setting her cup of tea down in a nearby cup holder while quelling the unnoticed imperfections of her outfit.

"H-How are you?" Sarah asked.

"... Fine, thank you," he cautiously answered as he slipped into the back row of the limo. As soon as he closed his tinted door, the vehicle gently jerked to life, rolling slowly away from the end of his driveway to intertwine with the sparse traffic of the road. An awkward silence filled the rear cabin as neither coworker said a word to one other. Sarah shifted uncomfortably in her seat, feeling the pressure of the atmosphere turn against her as they sat in quietude. Stephen, on the other hand, sat staring out the window of the cab, captivated by his childhood neighborhood as the thin row homes gave way to small businesses and restaurants.

"So…" started Sarah, feeling uneasy as Stephen didn't turn his head in response. "They got you too, huh?"

"Yeah," he answered out of the corner of his mouth, keeping his eyes pinned on the outside world around them. Another silence filled the cab, swirling around the two as Stephen kept his face hidden from her view, afraid his stray tears would reveal themselves to his associate.

"I'm sorry, sir…" she finally uttered, holding her arm weakly as she curled up in her seat. "This is all my fault, I… I'm sorry."

"Sarah, it's…" he started, still keeping his eyes fixed on the tinted window before him. Feeling his cheeks run fallow of saturation, he at last turned to face Sarah, disheartened slightly by just how frail she looked across from him. He hadn't realized up until this point just how much of an effect he was having on her, how delicate she looked under his gaze, and how sad she looked after her confession. "Sarah, what you did was exactly what you were told to do. You followed your orders, and did as you were instructed to the tee. It's not your fault we're in this mess: not even close."

"Thank you," she mouthed, releasing her elbow from her clutches and extending her legs back down the curve of her seat. He could tell she was still beating herself down for her involvement in their whole debacle, which he knew was something he couldn't fix. But yet, seeing her slightly less remorse after his response made him feel slightly better about the situation as a whole. Still, he knew that whatever it was they had stumbled upon, or unknowingly unearthed under false pretenses, was just barely getting started. He knew that what was in store for them would be anything but pleasant, and he knew he was nowhere near ready for it.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

An empty void surrounded him in every direction, like a black lake with looming mountains of purple and magenta towering in the distance. Staggering in place, he fell to the ground atop the smooth surface of the void, watching ripples form from where his hands and knees made contact with it. His body felt heavy and cumbrous like gravity forced him to hold himself on all fours. Eventually, he willed his body to fall backward to sit down on the solid lake of darkness below him, watching as a series of waves warped the flimsy body he sat on. His head turned to gaze in every direction, seeing nothing but crescent structures of dark violet on his horizon at the place where the void stopped and the constructs formed.

"Hello?" he called out, listening to his voice echo endlessly as it traveled throughout the void. He received a response of silence as the seconds dragged on, an ever-encroaching coldness grasping at his fingers and toes as he awaited a reply from the nothingness.

"Hello, Marco," a sly feminine voice replied, sounding off from behind him. His eyes went wide with realization as he whipped his head around to stare at the empty space behind him, surprised at the absence of a certain long-lost friend before him.

"H-Hekapoo?" he called out into the void, forcing himself to stand up shakily under the intense will of gravity. A faint whooshing noise caught his attention as he turned in circles, trying to keep up with the distant sound as all his vision was met with was the same visage of the dark void.

"Hahahahah," she laughed aloud, still hiding from Marco's gaze. "You think you're real smart, don't you? Hiding like you are."

"Hiding? I, uhh, I don't follow," he replied, choosing to stand still now instead of tracking her circling voice.

"You think that, just because you're here now, you can ignore your past, boy?" Her voice retained its usual smugness despite its growing distastefulness. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a harsh wind knocked the poor teen back to his knees, forcing his head to stare down at his tinted reflection in the solid lake. Instead of seeing his usual body, he saw his much older Neverzone form, with the scar crossing his eye and his piercings adorning his ears. Shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, he reopened them to find nothing staring back at him as if his reflection had disappeared without a trace.

"You believe that, just because you've become this 'better person', you can go and galivant around your realm with no consequences for what you've done?" Her voice turned more and more sinister as her words dripped with complacency.

"What are you even talking about, Hekapoo? I… I don't understand."

"Heeheeheehee… You really think you can lie to me?" her physical form grinned before him while still remaining hidden from his downward-facing gaze. Hearing her voice just inches ahead of him, his head careened upwards to look at her, only for his eyes to be met with nothing as she evanesced back into the void.

"I know what you've done, Marco. And so. Do. You."

Abruptly, he was launched into a freefall as the purple void around him transformed into a mirage of colors and symbols. Screaming at the top of his lungs, Marco soon found the floor with a sharp impact, splashing dirt and debris atop his prone form. Raising himself up against a much weaker force of gravity, he scanned his surroundings vigilantly. It took him a second to realize where he was, his eyes again going wide with shock as the environment sparked a stampede of memories that flooded his mind. The savage wilderness of the Neverzone met his eyes, causing him to slip into a short front stance out of instinct. "Seems familiar, doesn't it?" called Hekapoo's spectral voice as Marco stood up straight.

"Why'd you bring me here, what are you even doing?" he called out angrily, his patience starting to run thin.

"You've been running for far too long, boy. It's time for you to face the consequences of your actions!" Again, he was torn away from where he stood, this time his surroundings molding around him as severe dizziness took hold in his head. Taking a second to collect himself, he took in his new surroundings. He had been spat out at the foot of a gleaming golden throne, adorned with edges of pearly alabaster and furnished with red carpeting. Recognizing it instantaneously, he staggered backward from the throne, walking away into the center of the court as his head swiveled around atop his neck.

"You remember this place, don't you?" Called the magical enforcer behind him, causing Marco to swiftly turn on his heel to face her, only for her to have again dissipated into her surroundings.

"You remember what you did here, don't you?" She whispered in his ear from behind him, making him tremble at her words.

"No, nonononono!" he cried, stepping forward and away from where Hekapoo once stood. "Hekapoo! Whatever you're trying to get at, stop it! Right now!"

"And let you go on living a lie? As if," she grimaced, striding towards his back as she grinned to herself. "No matter how far you run, no matter how much you try to deny it, there's one undeniable truth you will never escape."

Feeling the ground leave from his feet for the second time, Marco went tumbling into another freefall, spinning uncontrollably in circles before he crashed into the damp, wooden ground below. Unlike his previous destinations, this one was nearly pitch black. He could only see the decaying floorboards underneath him before a flash of lightning briefly illuminated his surroundings. In the split second he could see, he immediately recognized where he was. A constricting tightness grew in his chest while the hair on the back of his neck stuck up at an obtuse angle. His heartbeat quickened as his breathing became staggered; Hekapoo was right, he remembered exactly what he did there.

"And that is," she started again, her smug tone stinging at his ears, "You. Cannot. Change."

A second flash of lighting from outside the old wooden cabin illuminated the interior once again. Following the flash, a dim light started shining through the cracks of the house's walls, casting rays of light across the old hut and brightening its insides just to the point where Marco could see clearly. And just a few feet in front of him, right in his line of sight, was something that made his heart skip a beat. Before him was a decaying trap door, fitted with rusty hinges and a moss-ridden wooden handle. His breathing became more erratic as he tried crawling backward away from the door, only to find that, despite his efforts, he was staying perfectly stationary relative to the rest of the cabin.

"We both know what you really are, don't we," sounded off Hekapoo's eerie voice, making Marco's blood run cold with fright. He could only watch as the old trapdoor slowly started to open, a flash of lightning brightening the small cabin as a roar of thunder shook the old floorboards.

"You.. will always be… a mo-"

Ripping his eyes open, Marco stared blankly at the ceiling above him. His slow and rhythmic beating was a sharp contrast with his bulging eyes, unable to close them as his dream replayed over and over in his mind. He wasn't panting hard or sweating profusely like in his last nightmare, instead, he was completely still, lying in his bed peacefully as his steady breathing went on. However, as more of his dream started coming back to him, he felt a certain tightness begin to manifest just below his collarbone. His fingers started shaking to a degree as a cold rush shot up his arms and down his legs. He started shivering as the cold spread to every corner of his body, his heart rate finally making that jump to start pumping vigorously. A new feeling started to take hold in the back of his mind. Something he hadn't felt in a while, an emotion that was almost unfamiliar at this point. But as soon as he started feeling it, its identity was unmistakable.

Fear. He was consumed by fear.

His shivering intensified as he wrapped his comforters around his freezing form. With chattering teeth, his gaze bounced off every surface in the dark room, pupils jumping from one side of his eye to the other at an amazing speed. It was only when his hand made contact with an object beside him did his convulsing stopped and his heart rate return to its resting speed. In the low light of his bedroom, he remembered he wasn't the only one sleeping in his bed. Just beside him laid Star, sleeping blissfully while snoring lightly. As his eyes became more adjusted to his environment, he noticed more details of her sleeping form that made his heart begin to flutter.

Her hair was fanned out across the entirety of the bed, covering both of them with a thin, golden blanket. Her mouth was slightly ajar with a small line of drool leading onto his pillow where it formed a small pool, almost as cute as it was slightly unsavory. Feeling the need to be nestled up against her grow inside of him, he closed the short distance between him and his lover and slowly wrapped his arms around her torso. He could swear he heard her whisper a faint 'love you' between snores that made his stomach do flip-flops as he tightened his grip on her. With the morning sun starting to creep through his blinds, he nuzzled his head into the crook of her neck and closed his eyes, basking in the comfort of her body against his.

Regrettably, the perfect moment was interrupted as his phone buzzed on his nightstand. Choosing to ignore it, he continued cuddling against her until a second buzz ran through the room, and a third, and a fourth. Unable to ignore his phone any longer, he loathsomely scooched away from Star to grab his phone, swiping it open to read the most recent notification.

"I know you're up; we gotta talk."

Letting out a long groan, he turned himself to face Star and planted a delicate kiss on her forehead before slowly extracting himself from his bed. He silently crept his way across his bedroom before coming face-to-face with his door. As he moved to open it, he noticed in the corner of his eye a small polaroid picture stuck to the center of the door by a small piece of tape. Removing the tape and narrowing his eyes to look at the picture, a deep blush flourished across his cheeks as he realized what it was a picture of. In it, he and Star were cuddled up against each other, both blissfully sleeping in each other's arms. Just below the picture in dark red ink was written 'Our little secret, heart Mom'.

Stowing the picture in his pajama pant pocket, he slowly turned the door handle and slipped out of the room into the dimly lit hallway. Out of the danger of waking his beautiful girlfriend, he swiped open his phone and navigated his way to Edmund's contact. Pressing the call button and raising the phone to his ear, the electronic let out two long *burrr* before Edmund answered his phone.

"Good morning," Edmund said in a cheery tone, "Sleep well big guy?"

"Pfffft, not really," he sighed, leaning against the hallway wall as he listened to his phone's speaker.

"Welcome to the club, pal," joked Edmund.

"Listen, since you're awake and all, I have some things I gotta run by you."

"Ok, what's up," answered Marco as he shifted his phone to be held up by his shoulder.

"Alright, so, I know it's kinda short notice. But since the clean-up effort's been coming along better than we expected, we're planning on holding a gathering for the Mewman nobility, just to get them all organized and updated on what's gone on in the past forty-eight hours. We're building a large quote-on-quote 'Ballroom' just off Juan Tabo that's set to be finished in just a few hours, so we have a place to hold the thing."

"A ball?" asked Marco, listening intently to Edmund's call while also admiring his mother's picture of him and Star.

"You know what, fine, yes a ball!" replied Edmund in faux frustration. "I'm calling to give you a heads up because you're on the guest list, kid. We still have that list of royals and nobles Moon gave us a while back, and there are also a few locals from Echo Creek who're gonna be turning up, plus, you know, all of us, so don't expect it to be a small crowd."

"Alright, alright… What time?" Marco asked through a yawn, still in the process of waking up.

"We're thinking six or six-thirty. You'll know by noon, so don't worry."

"Today?" Marco clarified with a mix of surprise and suspicion.

"Hey man, things work fast around here. Plus, the longer we wait, the worse things are gonna get for the Mewmans. We're on day three of this whole fiasco and they've still got no idea what in the hell happened."

"I guess that makes sense…" his voice trailed off into nothingness as his mind went blank, unable to think of a question on account of his early morning mental processes. "Uhh… Is that it?"

"For now, at least. I was gonna ask you if you had any recommendations for decorations or music or something along those lines, but I'll just nag Queen Moon about it later."

"Oh, ok. So that's all?" he asked again while standing up off the wall.

"Yep, that's all, man. Oh, that, and one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Just a heads up, we're not sure what kind of nasties Mewmans carry around down there, so just be extra careful with your alien girlfriend over there."

"Fuck you," Marco joked as he ended the call, hearing Edmund laughing hysterically on the other end. Unable to stop himself from chuckling too at the joke, he took a second to collect himself before reentering his bedroom. In the time it took for him to finish the call, the sun had risen to almost fully illuminate his bedroom, casting a fuller array of light across his bedroom. He was stopped again at the sight of Star curled up in bed alone, feeling a slight tinge of remorse at the image of her lonesomely snoring before sliding back under the covers to accompany her in bed. Repositioning his arms around her torso and pulling her gently against him, he was met with a low groan as her eyes slowly batted open. Feeling sorry for having roused her from her beauty rest, he decided to redeem himself with a tender kiss to the lips.

"Morning, Star," he said in a hushed voice, smiling to himself at the sight of his cute sleep-ridden girlfriend.

"Mrning, Mrco," she groaned, stretching slightly before scooting closer to him to nuzzle her head into his warm chest.

"Sleep well?" he asked, now afraid she would reply with the same question.

"Mhhh, the best," she cooed, lifting her head up to place a series of slow kisses on his nape. "You?"

"Uuh, yeah, s-same here," he lied, feeling incredibly awful having lied to her, despite it not mattering all that much.

"Mmmmmm, good," she said before repositioning her head to lie across his chest, letting out a low purr as he moved a hand around her torso to hold her close.

"You're not going to make me head back to the guest room, are you?" she whimpered while fixing him with her 'puppy dog eyes', a sight that made his heart skip a beat.

"No, Star, I'm not," he reassured her as he placed a loving kiss on her silky golden mane, lingering for a moment to take in the strawberry aroma of her perfect hair.

"You're not worried your parents are gonna find us?" she asked as she snuggled up closer against his warm body, loving just how perfectly she fit into his embrace.

"Ahh, I think it's a little too late for that, Star." Procuring the polaroid picture from his pocket, he held it up against his chest for Star to see. She slowly extracted the image from his grip to bring it closer to her eyes, staring into it like a classical masterpiece. She sat there gazing into the image before looking up to face Marco with eyes brimming with tears. With one hand, she held the image close to her chest, and with her other tipped Marco's chin down to face her before she pressed her lips against his. At first, Marco was worried her tears were a sign of despair, but the moment he felt her kiss him, he knew they were tears of joy. He happily reciprocated her affection as he pulled her up against him to lie more in line with him, all the while kissing Star with all the love he could muster.

The two stayed intertwined like that, fondly kissing each other as they lolled in one another's presence. Eventually, due to their rising need of air rather than the yearn to leave each other's lips, they slowly separated with a satisfying *chu*.

"I love you, Marco Diaz," she said shakily, still holding the polaroid close to her chest.

"And I love you, Star Butterfly," he replied, brushing her bangs back behind her ear as he caressed her cheek affectionately.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Re-Re-Review Time!

The Happy Burger - I made sure to add in a whole bunch of details surrounding our government bros, both the Stephen/Sarah subplot and the Butterfly Program subplot. I'm trying to post more frequently, but as school's ramping up, it's getting harder to set aside time for this story. Hopefully, I should be posting one chapter per month now, the keyword being hopefully.

CJWrongHouse - Out of every scene in this chapter, I've gotta admit that Stephen's was definitely my favorite. Even though the government meeting introduced the science aspects of magic (ones that, as a STEM major, I had way too much fun making up), and Marco's dream is a super important build-up, there's no competing with the emotion that was Stephen's last tour of his family home. It'll be fun writing out Stephen's character arc, almost as fun as it'll be writing Marco's! And speaking of Marco, boy, does he have alot to go through.

Sorry folks, bit of a 'short' chapter this time. Although, when part two comes out (probably next year knowing me), it'll send the aggregate word count of chapter two to the moon, so don't fret my friends. To be honest, I had a blast writing this chapter. I know I haven't written many fight scenes, and I promise, I'm working to incorporate more soon. But this chapter is just filled to the brim with details about our favorite characters (Especially Marco and Stephen). I'll be back to finish Chapter 6 very soon, just you wait!