Marco was in his bedroom, gathering the various necessities needed for a trip to a beach in the Underworld on his bed. He packed towels followed by a bottle of SPF-50, a second bottle of SPF-50, a bottle of aloe vera lotion and some big spray since the Underworld had a serious mosquito problem. Having placed all the items, along with several bottles of water, into his bag and zipped it shut, he heard a timid knock knock at his door. He turned around to see Star poking her head into the room, hiding everything below her neck from view.
"Hey, Marco," she said in a timid manner that matched her knock. "Can I tell you something without you judging me?"
"We talked about this last night," he replied as he attempted to lift the bag from his bed. "You can tell me anything."
"All right, cool, cool, cool," she said, "I...um...I really miss magic."
"Wow," Marco said as he opened the bag and began rearranging its contents. "I'm not the least bit surprised, you used magic for everything."
"Okay, I said no judging," she retorted defensively.
"Sorry, couldn't help it," he said turning to face her with that smile that tugged at her heart strings.
"It's just," she began to explain, "You know how the Underworld is really warm?"
"Really warm?" asked Marco, puzzled by where the conversation was headed. "It's like, boiling down there."
"Right," confirmed Star, "Which is why I wanted to wear shorts today. So, this morning, I tried to shave my legs..." Star finally stepped into the room revealing that she was indeed wearing shorts, and that both of her bare legs were covered in bandages.
"Whoa," a stunned Marco let out, "What happened?"
"I used to shave my legs with magic," she replied, looking away from him shamefully. "I've never done it the normal way and I kind of...messed up."
"It's okay, Star," he tried to reassure her.
"Maybe I shouldn't go," she said deflated, "I don't want to have to wear leggings today, I'll be all hot and uncomfortable."
"No one is going to care about the bandages, Star."
"I care!" she snapped back, "Sorry, sorry, but I don't want to look like a weirdo...who can't take care of herself."
Marco stared at her as he thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. "Wait right here, I'm just gonna go grab something."
He exited the room past Star leaving her to sit next to the overfilled bag on his bed. She took one of the bottles from it and looked at the label. "Sunscreen? There's no sun in the Underworld."
Marco returned, holding a folded up piece of magenta colored clothing. "I borrowed this from my mom, she wears it to the beach all the time." He handed it to her and she unwrapped it to reveal an ankle length skirt made of light acrylic material. "It's a cover-up, kind of like a dress for the beach," he explained.
Star ran out of the room, causing Marco to briefly panic until she called back to him, "I'll be right back!" He waited uneasily for a minute before she came back through the door wearing the cover-up paired with a t-shirt that matched it well.
"This is perfect!" she squealed, "No one can see that I shredded my legs and I won't die from heat exhaustion." She threw her arms around him and squeezed tightly. "You're so good at taking care of me."
"Well, I sort of have to," he told her, hugging her back. "You never formally relieved me from being your squire."
She pulled back and stared at his face. "Ah well, I'm not a princess anymore, so I can't do anything about that now!"
Angie was sitting in the living room browsing a magazine when the doorbell rang. She placed the magazine on the coffee table and made her way to the door, opening it to reveal Jackie and Chloe, both bundled up from the cold but wearing typical beachwear underneath.
"Hey, Ange," greeted Jackie, "How are you doing today?"
"I'm doing great, Jackie, thank you for asking," she replied, "Bonjour Chloe, glad to see you again."
"Bonjour, Madame Diaz, ca va?" greeted Chloe in her native tongue.
"Bien, Chloe, merci," said a smiling Angie, "I'm so happy you two were able to go with them today."
"Well, I'm excited to get back to a beach," explained Jackie, "Really aren't any good options above ground except for the one that smells like garbage."
"And it's difficult to swim in water where people live," added Chloe, referring to the Waterfolk.
It was then Star and Marco made their way down the stairs, Marco dragging the overfilled bag behind him as it tumbled from stair to stair. "Hey Jackie!" Star said excitedly, "And Chloe...Hi, I'm so happy you're here." The smile she had went from genuine to awkwardly forced.
"Bonjour, Star," said a nonplussed Chloe, "It is good to see you as well."
"Hey girl!" exclaimed Jackie as Marco grunted the bag down the final step, "Marco, why such a big bag?"
"Umm, have you met me before?" He responded with a little bite to his voice.
"Ignore him," teased Star, "He thinks we need sunscreen where there isn't any sun."
Marco thought for a moment as his eyes darted between Star and the bag on the floor. "Argh," he said quietly to himself, "How can I be so stupid?" He fell onto his knees and rooting around in the bag, pulling out bottle after bottle. "The good news is, we can bring more water now."
"Hey, where's Janna?" asked Star.
"I'm right here," Janna replied from the behind the group, startling them as she been unseen by any of them to that point.
"Janna Ordonia," scolded Angie, "How many times do I have to tell you to stop breaking into our house?"
"You left the front door open," a calm Janna stated, pointing to the still open door. "I just let myself in."
"Oh," said Angie as she closed the door. She looked at the group of young women and her son, she noticed Star's outfit. "Wow, where'd you dig that old thing up from, Star?" she asked pointing out her improved beach outfit.
"Oh, uh, Marco gave it to me."
"To borrow," clarified Marco, "Just a little wardrobe emergency." He gave his mom a look of pleading which she fortunately understood.
"It looks really nice on you," said Angie with a smile, "You all look wonderful. I never imagined my son would be the type to take four young ladies to the beach before."
Marco blushed and returned to visually pleading with his mom as Janna got close and put her arm around his shoulders. "Oh yeah, Mrs. Diaz," she said, "Your son is a real stud."
"Please take your arm off me," Marco whispered at Janna while Star approached his other side and mimicked Janna.
"What's the matter, Marco? Feeling a little uncomfortable?" she asked.
"Extremely," he replied in a breaking voice, "Tom and Ponyhead are probably waiting for us, we should head out."
The group of teens exited the house into the back yard, shivering from the cold and the fresh blanket of snow at their feet. "Hurry up and summon the stairway to the Underworld," begged Janna, "Before my feet freeze and snap clean off."
"Okay, hang on," said Star as the group gathered in a spot away from the house, "I just need to remember the right phrase."
Star raised her hands up above her head and loudly chanted a demonic phrase using the deepest voice she could muster. But nothing happened. "Oh corn, I think that's how you ask where the bathroom is, hang on." She attempted another only to produce the same result. "Oh wait, that's asking the waiter for more water."
"Star, you do remember how to do this?" asked Marco as he rubbed his hands together for warmth.
"Yeah, Tom taught me when we were dating," she replied before quickly adding, "The first time we dated." She tried once again with a much longer and more complicated phrase as far as the others could tell. Nothing happened.
"Star..." began Marco.
"Marco!" she snapped at him, "I used to use dimensional scissors when I wanted to go to the Underworld, or Tom's magic burnt toast elevator thing! I never took the stairs!"
"Okay," he replied holding his hands out, "I'll just call Tom and ask him to open it for us." Star folded her arms and glared at him as he pulled a red compact mirror from his pocket, opened it and began poking at its buttons. "Man, I'm still not used to this."
Star unfolded her arms and looked over Marco's shoulder to help him. "Okay, so press that button, yeah, and scroll down to contacts, press that, okay, and scroll down...scrolling...scrolling...aww, is my name 'Starlight' in your compact? That's so cute."
"Thought you'd like that." He confirmed as Janna faked putting a finger down her throat to Jackie and Chloe.
"Okay, select Tom," she continued, "Wow, that is a super unflattering picture of him you're using. Now hit that button. And now it's calling."
Marco held the compact up to his ear. "Hey Tom! We're still on the surface and we can't summon the stairs." The others could hear the faint sound of a response from the other end. "Yeah, Star forgot the phrase."
"Ask him if he can send the burnt toast elevator," quipped Janna as Marco listened to the line once again.
"Yeah, Tom, I know," replied Marco into the compact before once again listening, "I know...I know...she didn't come visit you nearly enough when you were together." He rolled his eyes to the rest of the group. "Hey, we can do a post-mortem on your relationship with Star some other time," he said seeing the scowl his girlfriend's face. "Preferably when she's not standing right here to listen to half of it."
Marco listened to the other end once more. "Post-mortem? It means examination after death, I can't teach you latin right now, Tom. We're freezing up here!"
The four girls sighed loudly as Marco listened.
"Can you just open the stairway for us?" he finally asked before groaning. "Could you please open the stairway for us?" He stopped as he listened yet again. "No, I'm not saying that, just open the stairs!"
"Marco!" cried Jackie as she tried to fight off the cold, "Just say it, whatever it is!"
Marco took a deep breath and exhaled. "Oh, Tom, Lord Prince of the Underworld, the Master of Darkness, please open the gates of the Underworld so that we, your friends, may enter." The sound of laughter from the other end of the call could clearly be heard as the ground below them opened up to reveal a stairway down to the depths.
Marco snapped the compact shut and put it back in his pocket before picking up the bag as the girls made their way down the stairs. "Only other guy on this trip and he's being a pain in my..."
"Well, you did steal his girlfriend!" Janna called up interrupting his thought.
"B-Fly!" shouted Ponyhead as she spotted her friend and the others come through the gates of the beach. "Over here! Lucitor managed to score us a primo spot!" The four girls approached Pony and Tom who were relaxing under a beach umbrella with a picturesque view of the Lava Lake in front of them. Tom was wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves stylishly removed and board shorts while Pony wore a pair of sunglasses that could have served as the windshield to a small aircraft.
"Whoa," breathed Jackie, "Look at that surf, if it wouldn't burn my skin off, I would be out there already."
"Not to worry," said Tom confidently, "Let me take you to the lava suit rental place. They'll set you up."
Star gave Pony a hug before plopping herself down on the the sand under the umbrella while Janna took a seat next to her. "Girl, it's been a minute. What happened after the cops busted up your wild party?" At that moment, Marco finally arrived, dragging the heavy bag behind him, and collapsed onto the sand next to Star. "Wow, what did he bring? A anvil?"
"I...just...brought...essentials..." he managed to cough out as he tried to regain his breath.
"He brought everything we could possible need. I think there might be a bathroom in there," Star told Pony with a smile before seeing the annoyed look Marco had formed. "Because, he takes such good care of me!" she quickly amended.
Marco lifted himself up and grabbed a bottle of water from the bag, opened it and began drinking. "Crud, it's already warm."
"Yeah, yeah," said a suddenly bored Pony, "Earth Turd is amazing, we know. But yo, that Chloe girl came with you all? I thought she..."
"I thought so too," interrupted Star, "But maybe something's changed?"
"Oh," continued Pony looking down at Star's cover-up, "What's with the grandma outfit?" Star turned deep crimson and attempted to burrow her legs into the sand at Pony's comment.
"Star Butterfly?" came a heavily accented voice from behind them. They turned around to see a girl, approximately their age, with such pale skin it almost appeared to be white and black hair cascading down to her hips. Despite her initially odd appearance, she was wearing a tank top and shorts, she seemed to be another normal teenager.
"Look out, Marco!" Star screamed as she dived to put herself between the stranger and him, "Vampire!"
The stranger laughed, "Who is this? A human? He's very cute. My name is Mia," she giggled.
"Stay away from my boyfriend, Mia!" yelled Star as she pushed herself away from Mia and against Marco.
"Wait, vampire?" asked a confused Marco. Mia flashed a smile revealing her long pointy canine teeth.
Star didn't respond as she busily dug through her long hair and produced a braid of garlic cloves and placed them around her neck. "I only have one thing of garlic," she said panicking, "But, you can hold on to these!" She freed a pair of wooden stakes from her hair and handed them to Marco.
"Why do you have these?!" pleaded a now shocked Marco.
"For vampires, Marco, duh!"
"This really isn't necessary," said an amused Mia, "I only came over to say hi."
"Keep back, vampire!" yelled Star to which Mia held her hands out.
"Okay, Okay," she relented as she turned to leave, "Look, my brothers and I are over in the cove. We're looking for someone to play volleyball with. But, I guess some things don't ever change." She smiled before adding, "But it was nice to see you, say hi to Thomas for me."
Marco continued to stare at the situation dumbfounded as Mia left, "What was that about?" he asked a softly growling Star.
"Marco!" she exclaimed, now facing him, "That was a vampire! You got to be careful around them! They're blood sucking monsters!"
"So wait, Mewni has vampires?" asked Janna who had been weirdly quiet during the exchange. "Awesome."
"No, not awesome, Janna!" retorted Star, "And of course there's vampires, we have monsters and mermaids and whatever the heck Ludo is..."
"Also, why did you think the grocery stores here sell pig goat's blood in bottles?" added Pony, "I ain't drinking that stuff."
Star began ruffling about with her hair again. "I think I have a few more stakes, everyone should take one!"
"Here it comes!" called out Tom from his surfboard as a wave of lava barreled down towards them. Jackie and Chloe, adorned in lava suits on their own boards, got ready to ride the wave. They each positioned themselves as they were pushed back towards the beach, pulling their bodies onto their feet. The thick molten rock took some getting used to for the two Earth girls, as did the heavy cumbersome lava suits. However, after weeks of being confined to the indoors on the wintery surface, they were having the time of their lives.
As the wave finally crashed over them, they regained control of their boards and sat in the middle of the now calm lake. "This is amazing!" cried out an ecstatic Jackie.
Chloe attempted to concur, Jackie and Tom could see her mouth moving with no audible sounds coming out. "Hang on," said Tom as he paddled over to her and flipped a switch on the side of her helmet.
"Ah, merci, Tom," they now heard Chloe say, "I was saying this reminds me of the trip Jackie and I took to Brittany last year."
"Oh man," reminisced Jackie, "That water was freezing."
"Oui, I don't think that is a problem here though, non?"
Jackie laughed at the memory of their surfing trip in France. "I thought those wet suits were constricting, but nothing compared to these," she gestured to the lava suit she was wearing. "Tom over there is the lucky one, not having to wear one."
"Just one of the advantages of being a demon," he boasted, "Well, half demon."
Jakie giggled, "I still can't believe Star dated a demon." She paused for a moment, "Hey, is it weird hanging out with her now?"
Tom was surprised at the weirdly frank question. "Sometimes," he admitted, "Is it weird hanging out with Marco now?"
"Oh, uh," Jackie wasn't prepared for the question, she hadn't really even considered why she asked hers of Tom in the first place. "I mean, he isn't dating my ex, which kind of makes it easier."
"Ouch," laughed Tom, "Fair enough."
Chloe groaned at the continued mentions of Star. "Can we talk about anything else?" she asked.
"Sorry, babe," apologized Jackie as Chloe turned her board around in the direction of the next wave.
"Another wave is coming, I'm going to get ready. Are you coming?" she directed at Jackie.
"Yeah, right behind you!" Jackie replied as Chloe began paddling out.
"What was that about?" asked Tom.
"Oh, Star is kind of a touchy subject with her."
"Really?" Tom asked wide-eyed, "How is that possible? I watched her make friends with a rattlesnake once."
"It's a complicated situation," replied Jackie as she began paddling out to join her girlfriend. "You coming?"
"I'm going to head in," he said, "Check on the others, but you guys have fun!"
After the dust had settled over Mia's surprise visit, Marco sat below the umbrella and watched as Star, Janna and Ponyhead attempted to build a sand castle replica of Butterfly Castle. "No girl, that tower was definitely taller," said Pony as Star finished the final touches on one of the onion domes.
"Pony, I lived there for thirteen years. I think I know how tall the towers were," she replied as Janna dumped another bottle of water from Marco's bag into the sand.
"We're all out of water!" Janna called out, "Better send Marco to get some more."
"Stupid lava sand," grumbled Marco to himself, "Every other beach has water, but not this one." At that moment, Tom walked up as he put his t-shirt back on, having been out on the lake for the past hour, and set next to his friend.
"She seems happy," he told Marco as he observed the scene.
"Yeah," said Marco softly, "There was this weird thing though after you left. A vampire, named Mia, came up to us to say hi and Star totally freaked out. Said they're blood sucking..."
"Are you kidding me?!" snapped Tom, "Is she still on that?!"
With the topic of vampires once again eliciting a strong reaction, Marco asked, "What do you mean?"
"She doesn't hate Mia because she's a vampire," he explained angrily, "She hates Mia because when we were dating, the first time," he clarified, "Mia hit on me and made her jealous."
"What?!" shouted Marco as he stood up, "Star? Can I please speak to you?"
"What's up?" she called out as she ran over to him.
"Tom told me an interesting story just now...about why you really hate vampires."
"Corn, I forgot you guys talk," she said, arching her eyebrows as she looked at Marco's feet.
"Star..."
"Hey! I don't think I like you being friends with my ex..."
"Star!"
"Okay, okay," she took a deep breath and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You're right...I should be mature and make nice with the Vespas."
"Thank you," he replied, "Wait, their last name is Vespa?"
"Yeah, why?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"No reason," he said, shaking his head. "Maybe we should take them up on that volleyball game?"
Star gave him a nervous look before agreeing. "Yeah, okay."
"Great! I'll go over to the cove and invite them."
"Okay, just please take one stake with you?"
"No, Star," he said as he walked down the beach in the direction Mia had gone in earlier.
As Marco walked dow the beach, searching for the vampires, he saw all manner of various residents of the Underworld who were enjoying their time. But no vampire to be found. "Hey there," he asked a passing skeleton, "Could you tell me where the cove is?"
"Over that sand dune," the skeleton replied point out a tall dune that had wisps of grass growing on it with a single trail cutting through the middle. "But you don't want to go there, I saw some vampires head back there not long ago."
"That's who I'm looking for," said Marco as he started in that direction, "Thank you!"
"It's your funeral, dude," he heard from behind as he made his way up the trail. Upon reaching the crest, he found a secluded piece of beach hidden away from the high trafficked area he had left his friends at. Below him, he could see Mia, who was tossing a ball between two others, both appearing to be boys and both sharing her pale skin tone and dark hair. Until now, he was rather relaxed about the situation, but a pang of anxiety set in.
"All right...vampires," he muttered to himself, "Fought monsters, pixies, the patriarchy...survived a ping pong game with a demon...well, half demon...I can do this."
As he started cautiously walking down the slope towards them, Mia noticed his approach and gave a smile and a wave. "Oh, it's the cute human!" she exclaimed as they paused their casual play, "Did Star send you to finish me off?"
"No, no, nothing like that," responded Marco as he landed on the leveled out sand at the foot of the dune. "I just came down to see if you were still looking for a volleyball game?"
"I am only teasing," smiled Mia as the other two vampires came up behind her to observe Marco. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name earlier?"
"Oh, I'm Marco," he sputtered, "Star's boyfriend."
"Ahh," replied Mia, "Do you always introduce yourself as such? Surely, there is more to you than dating the former princess."
"Wait, Star is here?" asked the shorter of the male vampires. If Marco had to guess, he was a couple of years younger than himself. "Did she do the garlic thing?"
"Of course she did," Mia told him, "Some things don't ever change."
"Someone should really tell her garlic doesn't repel us," the other male vampire, who appeared a few years older than Marco, said. "I'm sure it makes her hair smell terrible."
"Wait, so garlic doesn't work?" queried Marco.
"Of course not," the older vampire said, "That's just some silly myth, like us turning into bats or sleeping in coffins."
"I'm sorry, I'm being rude," said Mia, "Marco, this is my older brother, Dominic." She gestured to the older vampire who offered Marco a hand which he shook, unable to help shivering a little at how cold it felt, even in the heat of their environment.
"And my younger brother, Dante," Mia concluded as Marco shook the other vampires hand.
"You are a human?" the curious Dante asked, "Like from Earth?"
"Yeah, that would be the place," confirmed Marco, "So...what else have I heard about vampires that isn't true?"
"You mean the wooden stakes?" Responded Mia with a smirk, "If someone drove a stake through your heart, would you survive?"
"Fair enough," chuckled Marco feeling himself come at ease, finding this group of monsters to be no different than any other he had met. "So, what do you guys say? Volleyball?"
"Yes, that sounds great," came Dominic's response as Dante began sprinting towards the dune trail. "Dante! Slow down!" he called as he began pursuit. Mia gave Marco a knowing look as she began walking towards the trail as well, leaving him to briefly sprint to catch up with her.
The two teens, one human boy and one vampire girl, made their way down the other side of dune in time to see Dominic playfully tackle his younger brother into the sand in a fit of laughter. They both got up and brushed the sand from themselves before they continued down the beach with Marco and Mia following behind them.
"So," began Marco nervously, "Do you guys live in the Underworld or are you visiting from the surface?"
"We live here," replied Mia, "We avoid the surface for the most part. Need to stay out of the sun."
"So vampires can't go in the sun? That's true?"
"No, we just get really bad sunburn," she giggled, "I mean, look at our skin! You can almost see through it." Marco chuckled at her light-heartedness. "The only things you've probably heard that are true are that we drink blood and we are immortal. I mean, so long as no one tries to kill us."
"Interesting," Marco said flatly as they continued walking. He couldn't help but notice all the other beach goers around who were staring at them as they walked past. "Is that why everyone seems so...afraid of you? They think you'll drink their blood?"
"I assume," she gave with a shrug, "Although it has been several hundred years since a vampire last took blood from a living creature on Mewni. Much easier to buy from the store, no?"
"I guess," he said. They walked in silence for a dozen yards or so more before Mia broke it.
"So, you and the princess? How did you two meet?"
"Oh, Star came to live with me and my family on Earth two years ago and we became friends...and then more than friends."
"I see, that means Thomas is single now?" she slyly inquired.
Marco got uncomfortable as he recalled what Tom had told him earlier, and his personal feelings towards Janna. "He is, but he has his eye on someone else," he told the vampire.
"Oh well, he always only has eyes for one person. It's one of his qualities that makes him so attractive."
"He has other qualities?" Marco cracked. "He's actually with us today, you didn't see him earlier, did you?"
It was then they had come up to the spot Marco had left his friends earlier to see Tom erecting a volleyball net with the help of Janna as Ponyhead bossily directed. "We want that net tight, you guys!" Pony yelled, "Lucitor! Put your back into it!"
"When I get home, I'm telling my parents we need a war with the Cloud Kingdom!" Tom threatened.
"Marco!" yelled Star as she ran up to him and Mia. "Hi, Mia," she added, feigning politeness.
Mia's two brothers, who had been rough housing with each other during the walk down the beach, approached as well. "Hello, Star," Dominic said with a smile, "I'm making some tomato sauce later, could I borrow some garlic?"
"Stupid vampires," Star muttered through gritted teeth.
"Star," chided Marco.
"So!" she quickly changed tone, "Volleyball! This will be fun! What do you say we do vampires versus...everyone else?"
"Sounds fine to me," Mia smiled as she and her brothers went to the opposite side of the net.
"Yes, very fine," Star replied before she grabbed Marco and started intensely examining his neck.
"Ow! What are you doing?" he protested.
"Looking for bite marks, hold still!"
Janna jogged over to the volleyball laying in the sand, bent over and reached down for it only to bump into Dominic. "Ow!" she yelped.
"Oh, my apologies, I didn't see you there," said Dominic as he straightened up with the ball in hand and looked at Janna. "Which is a shame," he continued taking her in, "I always try to take special notice of a beautiful woman."
"Whoa," Janna said to herself softly as she inspected him up and down.
"Here, we will let you serve," he handed the ball to her. She took it from him, not once taking her eyes away, as he trotted off to join his siblings on the other side of the net.
"What was that?" Tom asked from behind her, snapping her from the trance and back into reality.
"Nothing," she said feeling her cheeks turn red. "Nothing happening here, let's just play this game," she rattled off, tossing the ball to him and heading towards the net.
Tom held the ball for a moment before taking a deep breath and turning around to find Mia had been standing directly behind him. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, just stopping his forward movement before plowing into her.
"Thomas! I haven't seen you in a long time. How have you been doing?"
"I've been great, Mia," he replied as if he had to recall each word he said from memory. "Thank you for asking."
"Don't worry about your friend," said Mia pointing her thumb back in the direction Janna had left. "My brother, he has that effect on some people."
"Oh, I'm not worried, do I look worried? I'm not worried," Tom barely took a breath as he prattled.
"Thomas, is that the girl Marco was telling me about?" she asked as she looked over her shoulder at Janna. "She seems very different from your usual," she looked in Star's direction before concluding, "Appetite."
Tom remained silent as his eyes darted between Janna on one side of the net and Dominic, who was engaged in a seemingly unnecessary display of aerobic stretching, on the other.
"I wouldn't worry too much, though," Mia continued, "When she finds out that in order to be with a vampire, you have to become one, she'll change her mind." Mia began walking away to rejoin her brothers adding, "Just like all mortals do."
Tom looked down at the ball in his hands for a moment before looking back up at Janna. She was busy taking in the sight of Dominic as he started doing lunges, something that was too much for him to bear. He felt himself begin to boil over as the pure heat of rage seemed to consume his body. That's when we felt something dripping on his bare feet in the sand.
"Tom! That was the only ball we had!" cried out Pony as Tom looked down to see that he had, accidentally, melted the ball with his bare hands.
"Tom? You okay?" Star concernedly asked as she started jogging towards him, causing her to step on the cover-up she was wearing and fall, face first, into the sand.
"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Pony, "Star, what happened to your legs?"
Star lifted her face out of the sand and flipped herself over to see that her legs had become exposed, bandages and all. "Nothing! It's fine!" She desperately attempted to lift herself up off the ground only to fall back on her butt. Her second attempt was successful but only revealed that everyone, including the vampires, had seen the full state of her.
"Hey! You know what will take the edge off of the hundred plus degree heat?" announced Marco to the whole group, "A beach fire! C'mon, I've got everything we need for s'mores in my bag!"
"Wow, Earth Turd, you got a interesting definition of essentials," quipped Pony as everyone began abandoning the game and gathering around.
As a small fire in a makeshift pit crackled away, the group of teenagers sat around it toasting marshmallows and consuming s'mores. Marco found himself seated between Star, who was sitting with her legs pressed against her chest and her arms wrapped around them in what looked like an attempt to prevent any further exposures, and Mia, who was happily asking him questions about humans and Earth.
"So, you think there is a chance that Mewmans came from Earth?" she asked inquisitively of him, "That they are the same as humans?"
"Um, there's some evidence to suggest that, yeah," he replied.
"Maybe vampires came from Earth too," she suggested.
"Well, there's definitely some folklore that claims vampires were a thing on Earth," mused Marco before reaching into his bag and pulling out a bottle. "Here, I want you guys to have this. It's sunscreen, it will protect you from sunburn."
"Well, aren't you humans clever?" She took the bottle and scanned the label.
"Maybe this way you guys can come up to the surface," he said before hearing a low grating noise from his other side. He turned around to hear it was Star growling into her chest as she heard the conversation between them. For her sake, he decided to end the interaction but made a mental note to talk to her about it later.
Tom found himself next to Janna, who was next to Dominic, giving him a chance to eavesdrop on their conversation. "Yes, vampires have existed on Mewni for as long as Mewmans have," he was explaining to her, "Possibly even longer."
"But how have I not met one until now?" she asked him, "I spent a lot of the last year on Mewni and no vampire was ever decent enough to introduce themself to me." She gave Dominic a look up and down, drinking his form in. "And I certainly wouldn't have minded."
Tom gritted his teeth as he focused on keeping his cool. Melting the volleyball was the first instance of him losing his temper in many months. But the pseudo-flirting between his crush and the older, handsome vampire was testing every coping technique he had learned in anger management.
"Well, there used to be a lot of us," Dominic explained softly, "But the Solarian Warriors came after us very heavily around 300 years ago. They nearly wiped us all out and would have succeeded had the Lucitors not given my family refuge."
"Stupid ancestors," muttered Tom softly to himself, "Getting in my way."
"Wait, did you say the Solarians almost killed off all the vampires?" asked Star, who happened to catch the last bits of dialog.
"What did you think happened, Star?" Mia chimed in. "We were no one's allies. The Mewmans hated us, the monsters hated us, everyone did. They still do!"
Star thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion. "How could I have been so stupid?"
"Star?" asked Marco before being waved off by Tom.
"Hang on," said Tom, "She's done this before."
"Mia!" declared Star before looking at both Dominic and Dante and realizing she had no clue what their names were. "Mia's brothers! I am going to fix the Mewman, monster and vampire relationships!"
Everyone sat in a somewhat dumbfound silence before Marco finally broke it. "That's...that's great, Star."
"No, it's not, that's crazy," said Ponyhead, earning her a dirty look from Marco.
"It's not crazy," retorted Star, "Eclipsa has been on my case to come help her so something for the kingdom and I have a great relationship with the monsters. I mean, I did save them from a genocide."
"You stopped a genocide?" asked Dante, "That's not what we heard."
Jackie and Chloe walked, hand in hand, down the beach after having returned the lava suits to the rental place. They couldn't help looking at the same manner of creatures Marco had observed on his long walk. While the environment still unnerved them, seeing them enjoying the sandy strip and doing normal activities helped put them at ease.
"This is a really weird place," whispered Chloe.
"Yeah," whispered back Jackie, "I sort of understand Star a little better now that I've seen some of it."
Chloe lowered her eyebrows. "I'm never going to understand her," she coldly replied, "And I don't want to."
"I wish you would just give her a chance," pleaded Jackie, "I know the situation isn't...ideal..."
"Ideal?" Chloe stopped Jackie before she could continue, "No, it's not ideal, It's terrible!"
Jackie had no response to that. She knew that it wasn't hyperbole or an exaggeration. But after not being able to mention her friends around her girlfriend for so many weeks, she was hoping to broker some peace between them. "Thank you for coming with me today," she finally managed, "I appreciate it."
Chloe raised her eyebrows and gave her a side glance. "Of course, mon papillion," she snickered. Jackie laughed a little at the pet name that had become an inside joke between them.
As the the rest of the group, the mysterious pale strangers who had joined them, came into view, they heard excited laughter as Marco was telling everyone a story. "So, after she gave herself a new bad girl look, she performs the spell on me ands gave me the most girly, frilly, pink dress she could possibly imagine."
"Hey," Star objected, "You still have that dress in your closet."
"You're the one who told me pink was my color," he retorted as the rest of the group laughed.
"Hey, look who decided to rejoin the land losers," declared Janna as they walked up. "We've been getting regaled with Star and Marco's greatest hits. No one would blame you of you made a run for it."
Oh yeah, I remember the princess school story," Jackie said with a smile, "Marco told me all about it when we were dating." Jackie looked between the three new strangers seated around the fire. "So, who are these guys?"
"Oh, sorry," said Janna, "Jackie, Chloe, vampires, vampires, Jackie and Chloe."
"Vampires?" came the skeptical response from Jackie to which Dante flashed his teeth at them.
"Merde!" yelped Chloe angrily before grasping Jackie's arm, "You beg me to come on this trip with these crazy people and they are going to feed us to vampires?"
"No thank you, we already ate," responded Mia jokingly, "We just want to hear more about the adventures these two have had," she continued, pointing in Star and Marco's direction.
"We didn't know Star was the one who saved all the monsters on the surface when the Solarians came back," explained Dominic, "I had no idea the weird garlic girl was a bonafide hero."
"Hero?!" came an indignant response from Chloe, "Oh, you mean the girl who ripped a city out of California so she could see her boyfriend?!" The words shattered the previously jubilant atmosphere like a brick through a window. "All before she destroyed the only method there was to go back?!"
"Chloe..." stammered a shocked Star in a low voice, "I...I'm...I'm sorry."
"I will never see France again. My family, my friends," concluded Chloe with more composure, "They're gone now. Basically dead. I hate you, Star Butterfly."
Marco looked at Star to see her wide eyed and trembling. "Are you okay?" he asked her softly as he tried to take her hand only to miss when she lifted herself off the ground. She ran off, holding up the hemline of the outfit to prevent herself from tripping again. "Star! Wait!" Marco got up and ran after her, leaving the rest of the awkwardly silent group behind.
Star had run almost a hundred yards before she collapsed onto the sand in a relatively deserted part of the beach. She began to cry into her folded arms when Marco caught up to her. "Talk to me, Star," he pleaded only to hear quiet sobbing in response. He knelt down in the sand at her side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sure she didn't mean that."
His words didn't help as she continued softly crying to herself. He stayed with her like that for several minutes, allowing the drain of emotion to continue. She finally lifted her head from her arms and looked at him, revealing red, puffy eyes and soaked cheeks that broke his heart to see. "Can we...can we go home?" she asked.
"Yeah, absolutely," Marco said before getting back on his feet. "Let me go tell the others we're leaving, stay right here." Marco saw Tom walking towards them and he jogged up, hoping to be far enough away that Star wouldn't hear them.
"Is she okay?" Tom asked.
Marco paused, looking back at Star who was sitting hunched over in the sand, completely deflated. "She's...not," he looked back at Tom, "I'm going to take her home. Can you make sure Janna and Jackie make it home okay?"
"Yeah...no problem," he replied, "And Chloe too?"
Marco looked down at the sand for a few seconds, feeling a swell of thoughts before turning around, "Throw her in the lava for all I care," he said as he started walking back to Star.
It was the early evening back in Echo Creek as the stairway to the Underworld once again opened from the ground in the Diaz's back yard. Star and Marco emerged from the depths as the steam that was snow only moments before rose around them. They walked to the back door which Marco opened, allowing Star to walk in.
Marco followed her and closed the door behind him to find her staring at the kitchen's tiled floor. He made his way around her towards the fridge which he opened. "Do you want something to eat?" he asked, "Maybe a drink?"
Star continued staring at the tiles, motionless, as she replied, "No, I'm good. I think I'll just go to bed."
"It's not even six..." Marco began before watching her move towards the living room.
"I'm...really beat, Marco," she said as if robbed of all happiness and joy, "Thanks for today, it was really fun."
Marco watched her leave before taking a can of soda from the fridge, opening it and taking a sip. He stood at the kitchen island, listening to the carbonation of the beverage fizz when his mom walked in.
"Oh, hi, honey," said Angie, "I wasn't expecting you home for another few hours. How was it?"
"It was," he trailed off as he considered what to tell her, "Bad, it was really bad."
"What happened?" she asked as she stood on the opposite side of the island from Marco.
"Chloe...dug into her," he replied, "Again."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetheart," she sympathetically gave, "I was really hoping things were getting better there when she turned up this morning."
"I was too," he took another sip from the can, "Mom? Can I ask you a really big favor?"
"Of course."
"Can you," he took another sip to give himself a chance to think of the best way to make his request. "Can you teach Star how to...how to shave her legs?"
Angie's eyes widened at the question. "Marco, I sincerely hope you aren't shaming that girl for..."
"Mom, you know me better than that!" he stated defensively, "She tried to do it herself and...she knicked herself up pretty good. She's covered in bandages." His mom softened her eyes as she listened to him. "I just think...if she...if she can do stuff like that for herself, things might get easier, you know?"
"Oh, Marco," his mom began, "Lets give her a few days to...heal, and I'll talk to her about it."
"Thanks, Mom," came the grateful reply.
"Why don't you relax a little while I make something for dinner?" she segued, "I'm sure you're both hungry." She opened up the pantry cabinets and began looking through them. It was then that Marco smacked his forward in realization.
"Darn it, I left the bag at the beach."