Starco vs Parenthood Introduction - All of these chapters can be read separately but they are connected. It's always the same Star & Marco, same kids, same world.
It's been two years since the final episode and about a year since I finished watching the series for the first time. Yeah. This story starts about 1 week after the magic was destroyed. Don't worry about Star and Marco for now, we'll get to them eventually.
Favs, reviews, and constructive feedback are all really helpful. Thanks!
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Chapter 24 - Cleaved
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Two hundred folding chairs have been set up inside of a large Mewni styled building. In the room crowds of creatures are milling about as they prepare to take their seats. Stepping up to the microphone is an adult narwhal with a patch over his right eye.
"Hello everyone. If you could, please take your seats. I think Spider With a Top Hat is just about ready and he has some big-big announcements for you. Thank you."
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Walking behind the makeshift stage Richard the Narwhal approaches a worried tiny black spider.
"There's a big crowd out there spider. I even saw all of Skywind's spells and they never show up for anything. They don't even attend when we have those Friendship Thursday spell mixers."
"Skywind's? Well we did say it was a big announcement. I'm guessing everyone has heard the rumors."
"You sure that you're ready for this?"
"Ready as I'll ever be friend, ready as I'll ever be. Please, stay back here with our surprise. I want to make sure I've prepared everyone before they come out. They're not a pretty sight and I don't want to scare anyone."
"No problem buddy, you just give the word."
"Alright, wish me luck."
"You don't need luck. You're the best spider I know. You'll do great!"
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As Spider With a Top Hat climbs up the podium the last of the spells take a seat. Soon after a hush blankets the crowd followed by an eerie silence.
"Hello...hello. Is this thing on? 1-2-1-2. Alright there we go, I couldn't find the little button on the side.
Thank you everyone for taking time out of your busy day to gather like this. Looking good there Low Self-Esteem Nightmare Dream. I noticed you changed your shade of gray, I like it. Glitter Whale! Always bringing it!
Eh hem. Sorry, I just had to clear my throat. So, as you might have already noticed there have been some changes in the neighborhood. To start off I'd like to introduce everyone to the Kitten Bombs. They are all brothers and sisters. I've talked to them a few times now and they seem like a good cat family. Also if you haven't met Mixed Martial Arts Rainbow Thing yet you should introduce yourself. Great guy! Always with the arms in the air. If you haven't seen them yet, they are all living in Marco's new rooms just to the right of Star's area. We are actually building a few extra hallways between the rooms since Team Star has overwhelmingly voted to let the Marco spells come over and visit anytime they want. Watch out rainbow guy! We've all noticed how Makeup Blast has taken a liking to you.
So, enough of the small talk. Time to get to the business at hand, the serious business." Spider pauses to take a deep breath while looking over the crowd. "As many of you know for the past week Richard the Narwhal and I have been leading an investigation into what caused all the spell portals to close. I'm afraid we have some...some bad news. We believe...we believe that all of the queens...they..." He let out a sigh. "...all of the queens have passed on to that great queen farm in the sky."
The room suddenly fills with loud gasps, whispers full of concern, and to everyone's surprise the sound of a fainting warnicorn.
"Could someone please get him a glass of water? I'm sure he'll be okay in a minute.
You might be asking how we came to this conclusion. It's true that there was another time when the portals closed but this time is different. For one, the last time only lasted a few minutes. This time it's been a week and there is no end in sight. Second, the Spell With No Name escaped from his bottle and was summoned. We haven't seen him since. We don't know exactly when he left but we believe it was just a few hours before the portals closed. That's about the amount of time we think it would have take for him to destroy a world. Third, Narwhal and I traveled to the edge of our happy little dimension and instead of the glowing golden magic that we expected, we...we found nothing. It is a void with not even a single connection back to the dimension of the queens. We believe that their world was destroyed shortly after the Spell With No Name got loose.
We know this is sad news for everyone and I'd like to honor all of the queens that we've served with a moment of silence. Oh, and for Marco too."
Across the great hall tears filled the eyes of every creature that had anything resembling a set of eyeholes. Muffled cries could be heard echoing in the hall as well as the sounds of an occasional nose being blown into a handkerchief.
"Thank you everyone. Sadly as much as that was, there is still more to go over. Something you might not all be aware of...Star and Marco had a special connection to each other. If you were ever summoned by her you could see it. They were always supporting and protecting each other like a perfect little team. Well it seems..."
Spider scanned the crowd, trying to sense if they were ready for what he was about to reveal.
"...it seems they might have known that the end was coming."
Startled by the statement, the room's occupants again all became absolutely silent.
"Narwhal and I discovered a new room off of the main hall. On it's door is an overlapping heart and moon. It's smaller inside than the other spell halls but it's still big enough for a kitchen, bathroom, and living quarters. What is strange however was that we found it unoccupied. Narwhal had the idea that we should do a full search of our dimension so that is what we did. After checking every hallway, every closet, and even several unused storage rooms we reached the third sub-basement. There we found them-it...ah...them. We've had a hard time communicating but after a few days we believe that we've pieced the puzzle together. Star and Marco were together as the Spell With No Name was collapsing their dimension. In a final attempt to save themselves they used the last of their magic to try to be together forever. If you have any small children with you, I recommend covering their eyes. What you are about to see may shock you. Narwhal, please send it-err I mean them out!"
From behind a curtain an unusual creature floats up onto the stage. It is a collection of limbs, eyes, and mouths. The hair that pops out randomly alternates, in some places it is long & blonde while it is short & brown in others. In two spots a cute purple spiked boot pokes out. In other another place a hand makes the motion of a karate chop. Worn by the creature is an outfit that combines a aqua-blue dress, a red hoodie, and black pants. All of this was woven into one as if Star and Marco had been literally cleaved together.
"NaChos...wEt soCks...I lOve puPpiEs."
Across the crowd mouths fell open, Cloudy yelled, "OH MY CORN!", and the warnicorn who had recovered from his first faint, fainted again.
"Everyone, this is our new neighbor Cleaved. Please try to welcome them to our family. They're a bit confused so they might need a little help getting around these next few days."
"HUgZ!"
"We believe Cleaved here was Star and Marco's last spell. An attempt to be together forever before the world around them was destroyed. Things might not have worked out as planned but I for one welcome their spell, not just as a new friend but as a representation of what true love can attempt even in the worst of times."
"YoU're mY beST FrEiNd. BeeesT FRienDz!"
"That's right Cleaved. Best friends. We can all try to be best friends."
The mass of body parts hovers over to Spider before leaning in for a hug. Slowly spells from all over the hall walk to the podium and joined in.
"i WAnt YoU To loVE Me."
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Years later the random limbed spell floats on a roof looking out onto the abyss. Spider With a Top Hat, who's carrying a stick with a tiny bag at the end is surprised when he see someone else at the dimension's edge.
"Oh! Hi Cleaved. I-I didn't expect to see you out here. You-you don't know why I'm out here do you?"
"StAR."
The tiny spider sighed. "Yeah, I've been thinking about Star. I keep thinking, what if we were wrong and she survived? You see, I-I keep having this dream."
"slEep-portALinG."
"Exactly. In this dream I just jump out into the nothingness and I'm able to find a portal that leads me to her. Then we work together to reopen the spell portals and I end up being a hero to all the spells. I used to feel like a hero when I'd helped Star but now...now…"
"I dOn'T wanT a hERo, i WanT a frienD."
"You're right, I should stay and keep being everyone's friend here but...but I have to do SOMETHING! If my dreams are right and Star is still alive she might need my help! Is there a chance my dream is right? Could she even be alive after facing the Spell With No Name? Even if she survived, can she still exist without the magic that connects together our worlds?"
"YeAH. MAgIc's WeIrd."
"I'm glad you think so. I-I was ready to try tonight. Just follow my dream by jumping off to see where I go. Several times now I've gotten up on the edge but stopped. I guess I'm too scared to go it alone. I wish I could find someone to jump with me but I can't ask anyone else to risk their life just for a spider's silly dream."
Cleaved's heads moved a bit as if nodding and then it floated to the very edge of the roof.
"YOU are awESome! We dOn't NEed to gET caugHt UP in WhO saVeS Who. ALL thAt maTTErs is tHat we hAve EAch otHer's baCK."
"Have each other's back? You mean you'll come with me! Really!? Oh, thank you Cleaved! You are truly the best friend a spider could have."
"if ThEre's aNy liFE lonG poSt to ACcEpt...It'S oUr FRiendShip."
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Hand-in-hand-in-hand walks a pregnant Star, her husband Marco, and their brown haired two-year old daughter. At toddler speed the three approach the entrance to the main gallery of the fully restored Butterfly Castle. Before entering Star does her best to bend down and talk to their kiddo at pumpkin level.
"Hey pumpkin. Would you rather come look at art with your dad and I OR learn how to play with swords?"
"S-swwooords!"
"If you run down that hallway you'll meet two guards who are friends of mine. Ask them if you can use one of their swords and make sure to tell them that your mom said it was okay."
It took a few seconds for the little girl to fully process all the words but once she understood a baby tooth filled grin filled her face as she ran off.
"Bye-bye momma! Bye-bye Marcoo!"
"Swords? I thought we talked about waiting until she was older. Also, why did you let Janna convince her to stop calling me daddy?"
"Janna does Janna, you know that. Consider that the price of free babysitting. As for swords, I agreed that WE wouldn't teach her yet. The guards taught me basic sword fighting at that age and they can teach her too. Now before you get all grumpy-Marco on me, they know that she's coming and they have a wooden toy sword all ready for her. Momma Star has totally got this."
"Hmm. She's still too young but I trust you. Maybe I should just be happy that you want to get some alone time with me."
After a long embrace and a few short kisses the couple takes each other's hand again and enters the grand gallery. The room is one of the largest in the rebuilt castle and just a few years before it hosted their wedding reception. Unlike last time, three of the thirty foot tall walls are now filled with the repaired artwork of the once proud Butterfly Kingdom. However, the fourth wall displays new works by monsters, memans, and in the center a twenty by sixty foot painting that was created by a single special human. The huge canvas features all parts of meman, human, and monster life intersecting each other at seemingly random intersections and angles. The order of these visual objects create a symphony of both energy and color. The focus of the piece however is on two giant figures, four times larger than any of the other shapes on the canvas. Not only do the figures resemble Star and Marco, they had been merged together in a way that showed that they are truly one.
"You're dad, I mean, WOW!"
"I've never seen him combine cubism and surrealism in such a playful way. It's like the power or Picasso and Braque are..."
"Marco! Too many words. Can you please just say it looks nice!"
"Star, it looks amazing."
"I like how we're all smooshed into one person. And your parents house and the castle in the corner are merged together, the monsters broken up with a mix of humans and mumans...so many cute little details. There's Janna and Tom. Look Bretta's! Oh, Buff Frog's house!"
"It really is his masterpiece. He told me that he was up on a ladder while working on a sculpture about a year ago when something fell on his head and knocked him out. Next thing he knew he had the idea behind all this."
"Aww! Look, the canvas is ripped right there. Someone took a small piece out."
"Yeah, my dad mentioned that there was already some damage. He said that's the spot where he had painted Spider With a Top Hat. It's small so maybe he'll just leave it like that."
"Funny, it looks like the same type of tear that my tapestry had where Glossaryck tore himself out."
"I guess we'll need to look out for him then. He WAS one of your most powerful spells."
Star just giggled. "It's too bad that the magic was destroyed. I can just image the look that he would have on his cute little face if he saw what our world looks like now. You, me, and our wonderful cleaved world."
From the shadows a tiny spider watches Marco lean over and wrap his arms around his wife while gently kissing her neck. Smiling to himself, the spider knew that when it came to Star's safety, he had nothing to worry about. She had been safe all along. But maybe it was time to take a peek at the next princess. Maybe he should make sure that she was safe instead.
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This idea had been sitting in my 'maybe pile' for awhile now, this figured like a good day to bring it out.
Thank you for all the nice comments here and in other places after the last chapter. Since then I've started working on a new story but I'm caught between making something unique vs repurposing the same SVTFOE AU ideas that have already been done a thousand times by other writers. Until I get that figured out I'll still be dropping stories in here. - Olin