Marco felt the oddest sense of deja vu. It wasn't so much that he couldn't recall the last time he had been here, but rather, that he wished he'd never see it again. All around him, there was the same, familiar void he had become all too accustomed to. His lack of senses quickly made itself present, but that wasn't what he found his attention directed at. Not ten feet in front of him, floating in much the same way, was himself.
But it was far unlike any reflection he'd ever seen, with even mirrors at a funhouse paling by comparison to the twisted, deformed figure before him. Its arms and legs were contorted in many different and painful ways, with its skin not faring any better in the dim glow of its own teal light. Marco could have stared at the mess of his own reflection for hours, but with no warning, it began to shift and stir, it's appendaged cracking back into place, and it's skin slowly revitalizing itself with a healthy new gleam. The only inflicted damage to it that had remained unchanged, was a long wound running down its chest that seemed to pour with more light than before.
After a few moments of agonizing crackling, and some less than attractive grinning on its part, the odd reflection of Marco Diaz was standing before him, grinning silently like a proud child.
"What the heck are you?" the reflection finally asked, stirring Marco from his stupor. He blinked hard several times and shook his head to be sure he was really seeing this before he answered, his voice still jagged from yesterday's scuffle in the cave. "I'm Marco...Marco Diaz. And what are you supposed to be?" he asked in return. The real Marco did take short notice of the surprising lucidity of what he could only assume was a dream, rationalizing that this had magic written all over it, before his reflection spoke.
"I'm you," it returned, his smile never fading, "I've always been you, ever since I was made."
"Made?" Marco asked, tilting his head, "Who made you?"
This time the reflection of himself let it's smile wither at that question, the atmosphere of the dark setting around them finally sinking in. "Vartek made me out of you, and then Star went and broke me. Now, Vartek has all my magic, and I'm stuck up here in your dome." Marco pursed his lips at the admission, thinking hard to the story Star had regaled him with yesterday evening. "So," he began, tilting his head once more, "What does that make you now? A puppet with cut strings?"
The reflection didn't answer immediately. Rather, it just stared at Marco with those equally voidful eyes, before donning its usual smirk. "No, I'm more like you than I ever was before: A puppet with fewer strings." Marco scoffed at that as he felt a warmth building in his chest and throbbing pain everywhere else. "I don't have any strings. Unlike you, I'm free to make my own choices."
As the void began shifting to a lighter shade of black, and both Marcos could feel gravity beginning to take hold, 'Darco Diaz' gave one last smile to his counterpart, folding his arms over his chest with satisfaction before stating: "You aren't free yet. We've always been a puppet, I was just someone else pulling your strings."
Before Marco could ask what he meant, his entire body seemed to erupt with throbbing, stinging, and grinding pain. The void suddenly lit up with blinding light, forcing his eyes shut and cutting off his view of...himself. After a moment of seething pain, he began to get more accustomed to his aching body, daring to open his eyes and look around.
The dimly lit room he was currently occupying was thankfully his own, a wondrous improvement from the last time he awoke from 'the void', as he called it. Without wasting any time, Marco took a hesitant glance down at his upper body, the sight making him shiver as his blood ran cold. His entire upper torso was covered in bandages, likely to ensure the massive, healing scar on his chest would hold, and his right arm was in a stiff sling. There was, of course, a wide variety of other dressings adorning his body, but thankfully they were all small patches of gauze or little band-aides with crying kittens on them.
"That looks more like Stars handiwork," he mused aloud, the memory of 'nurse Star' coming back to him in full. No sooner had he spoken than he heard a slight stir to his right, just out of his field of view. Tilting his head to get a better look, he saw Star, perched in his desk chair and seated at the edge of his bed, fast asleep and drooling on her forearm. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep down a laugh for fear that it would wake her, and for fear that his aching ribs wouldn't be able to handle the stress.
She had probably been up all night after they had gotten home, which had understandably already been well into the afternoon. After hours of his parents' medical care, an emergency room, and Stars own...personal touches, she finally settled him down in bed and began filling him in on her fight with- "The other Marco!" he gasped before clamping his unbroken hand over his mouth. He winced, looking over at Star and not surprisingly seeing her stir. After a couple of deep breaths, she slowly opened her eyes and glanced around, taking in her surroundings.
"Meh-huh? Wassat now?" She mumbled, wiping her chin and glancing around the room before her eyes fell on her mangled counterpart. She gasped and flung her arms around him before quickly reeling back when he hissed in pain, her eyes wide and unsure, but an ever-present smile on her face. "You're awake," she said as she leaned forward to get a better look at him in the early morning light, "you really scared me when you passed out earlier. How do you feel?"
Marco shifted uncomfortably, wincing as he sat up. His obvious pain betrayed the weak smile he gave her as he spoke. "I feel a lot better, actually. Gimme like, a week, and I'll be good as new," he wheezed. He punctuated that with a more lighthearted grin, but Star didn't seem to share his optimistic sentiment.
"I didn't really get the chance to apologize earlier, but… I'm sorry for messing you up so bad. I-" she began with obvious discomfort, but Marco cut her off. "Star, don't put yourself through that... please. You weren't yourself, and you did what you had to do. Honestly, I can't thank you enough." He once again finished his sentiment with a warm smile, something that he knew usually melted her bones, but this time she didn't react. Star just let her gaze wander over his healing body, and let her expression drop.
"I was me, Marco. I knew what was happening, I was still Star Butterfly. But you… you weren't Marco anymore. I should have held back, or made sure that Vartek never got you in the first place." Marco could tell by her dejected expression that this had been eating at her for longer than a few hours, and he could swear the scar on his chest was giving a goading throb in agreement.
"You got me back didn't you?" he asked as he met her gaze. Her eyes were still boiling blue pools of doubt and guilt, but she returned with a slow nod anyway. "You came and rescued me, Star. Even when I was fighting you, and making it hard for you to think. What happened in New Mexico, I would never blame you for that," he began, reaching out and holding her chin carefully. She reached up and held his hand to her face as he continued, "But I'm more grateful that you found and rescued me than you could ever imagine. You saved my life, Star."
He watched as her expression lifted somewhat, but a halfhearted smile on her part told him plenty more. "Well, of course, I'd come after you, dummy. But don't worry, Marco. I promise I won't let you get hurt like that ever again."
Marco nodded, not truly satisfied with her response, but decided to leave it be for now. The two sat in silence for a moment before Marco sat abruptly upright, agitating every single wound on his body. "How are my parents? You didn't tell them it was Vartek, did you?" he asked, his raspy breathing getting quicker as he spoke. Star shook her head and carefully laid him back on the bed, doing her best to avoid noticing his seething winces.
"No, I figured you'd want me to come up with something better so they don't think I'm gonna get you killed," she answered with a small frown. Marco cocked an eyebrow at her and donned a deadpan expression, daring her to tell what frivolous lie she came up with.
The two remained in a quiet standoff for half a minute before Star broke. "I told 'em you got hit by a bus, alright?!" she finally caved, tossing her arms up in exasperation. Marco snorted and once again winced as his ribs reminded him to avoid doing so, shooting Star an amused grin. She glared at him and poked his side, making him yelp in surprise before he wilted back into the bed like a burnt leaf.
"Sorry, sorry," he chuckled, rubbing his side as he stifled another set of laughter. Star wasn't laughing, but she was at least grinning again so he was off the hook for now. Marco held out his hand, which she gingerly took, and pulled her in for a soft kiss, the first they'd had after his near death experience. When they separated, he noticed the soft redness of her cheeks and gave her another amused grin. "What?" She asked.
"You're adorable, Star. Especially when you're embarrassed," Marco whispered to her, earning himself a deeper blush from his girlfriend, and another quick kiss in the morning light.
The two sat in silence for a moment, both unsure of what to say next, until Marco finally put his words together. "You know, this whole thing is just baloney," he began as he laid back, his ribs throbbing madly, "I'm sorry we have to go through this, Star. Things were a lot easier in the other timeline."
Star returned with a puzzled look, her face deadly serious. "Why are you apologizing for what's different? You don't have anything to do with that," she explained, but Marco kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling, his cold gaze unmoving.
"If they never sent me here, you would have been better off," he mumbled, "Things wouldn't have been peachy, but they'd at least be better than this."
He heard nothing from her, and after a short moment of silence, turned his head to see her expression. It wasn't a happy one, but the annoyance on her face wasn't what he expected. She leaned back in her chair and spoke coldly at the very idea she'd have been better off without this Maro.
"You and I both know that's not true, Diaz. You may have been thrown here against your will, but Vartek wasn't. He would've still come here and tossed everyone's pancakes with or without you." Star gave him a somewhat reassuring smile, but let it waver along with her confidence. "If anything, though, I feel like the other me would have done things better. She probably would have handled him the first time."
Marco made to argue, but his body just wasn't in the fight this time. He leaned back against his pillow and sighed deeply, giving Star another deadpan expression. "You do realize you're the same person, right?" he asked, earning an eye roll from Star.
"A-doy, Marco, but the other me defeated Toffee without even trying. And-"
"And you beat Vartek with a smile on your face, just like her," Marco pointed out. Star frowned at him but nodded in agreement as he continued. "You made your way to the cave, just like her. You completely devastated any enemies in your way, just like her. You might not believe it, Star, but you and her are the same person, and despite everything, you're doing things the same way she did."
Star made to protest, but before she could say a word, the ground beneath her chair shook violently, throwing her and Marco to the floor. Marco grit his teeth in pain but steadied himself as best he could, looking over to Star with wide eyes.
"It's an Earthquake! We need to get downstairs and hide!" He yelled. Star nodded quickly and helped him up, the two slowly and carefully making their way out of the room and down the stairs. As they trudged along, paintings fell from the walls, a china cabinet toppled into their way, and the lights flickered as they swung from their chords.
But just as they made it to the first floor, everything jumped to black. There was no sound or light and neither of the two could feel anything aside from the other pressed against them. Then like a flipped switch, they found themselves back in Marco's room, Star sitting by his bed, and Marco lying down as if nothing had happened.
"-adorable, Star. Especially when you're embarrassed."
Star blinked twice, turning around the room to see nothing had changed at all. "Wait what?" She asked quickly, looking at Marco intensely. He returned her thorough gaze with a small smile and sat up slightly. "I said you're ador-"
"No no, I know what you said, but why are you saying it again? How are we back here, what about the earthquake?" Star asked. Marco let his smile falter as her tone indicated a sense of alarm. "Star...what earthquake? Are you having visions or something?"
"No, I know what I saw. It was real, and it happened," She answered, standing quickly to look around the room. Marco tried to follow suit, but winced loudly and slumped back into bed before he could get very far.
Star, upon hearing his struggle, stopped for a moment and made her way back to his bedside, gently pushing him down to rest. "I think something's up, Marco. This isn't like a vision with Merina or the Blood Moon. It actually happened, and-"
Marco grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, his brown eyes locking with her sapphire blue ones. "I believe you, Star. I'm here if you need me, but don't let it freak you out okay?" There were a few seconds of tense silence before Star nodded in affirmation.
"Okay, well, do you think it could be Vartek?" Star asked quietly, the worry in her voice shifting towards anger by the second. "He took something out of you, maybe he's-"
Without warning, once again the ground began to shake more violently than before, throwing Marcos things from their shelves and rearranging the room in its entirety. Star immediately kicked her chair away and braced herself against the wall as she helped Marco from his bed and to his feet.
"Star?! Is this what you saw?" He asked frantically as the two tried moving to the door. Star shook her head, ignoring the creaking walls of the house threatening to crumble. "This is worse, it's like ...like…" she didn't finish.
Marco was struggling to keep himself upright, but Star seemed to freeze in place as her mind raced a million miles per hour. "Star? What's-" he began before she cut him off by gripping his shoulders and pulling him closer. "We're gonna be okay, Marco. Just hang on, and I'll fill you in when we reset, okay?"
Marco looked at her with wide, confused brown eyes as the floor began crumbling into the void, but nodded slowly. Star gave him a small grin and took a step back, and then everything snapped back into silence.
"-adorable, Star. Especially when you're-"
"Marco!" Star interjected, grabbing his shoulders gently but firmly, and pulling him out of bed. "We need to go, I'll explain later, but this is one of those weird things that happened last time. Trust me."
She wasted no time waiting for him to respond, pulling his scissors from his nightstand and cutting a swirling purple portal in the center of the room. Marco slowly hobbled his way through with some difficulty, Star following closely behind.
When the two emerged from the other side, they found themselves in the midst of an expansive plain littered with clocks. The two immediately recognized it as the Plains of Time from their previous freeze day antics, with Star immediately walking towards the horizon.
"Star, what are we doing here?" Marco asked, leaning over her shoulder to steady himself. "What happened last time?" Star only kept her gaze locked forward as the two made their way across a low field, ever closer to the mountain in the distance.
"Last time," She finally began, though not for a second turning away from the horizon, "I kinda broke reality by not doing a math problem in class. So I had to explain myself to the keeper of Spacetime, Omnitraxus Prime. He said that mine was the only dimension where I didn't do the math problem, sooo, I had to at least try, and everything got better."
"So what are we doing?" Marco returned, arching an eyebrow at his counterpart. In truth, he remembered Star giving him a far more convoluted explanation last time, but now he was really confused. Star finally stopped at the base of the hill leading up to the mountain and helped Marco to sit down on a log, careful to avoid pushing her boyfriend too hard.
"Imma find out what I'm doing wrong," she answered, turning about and facing the mountain with determination. Marco was about to ask what that meant, but Star had already cupped her hands over her mouth and called out loudly "YOOO, OMNITRAXUS! WHAT'S A PRINCESS GOTTA DO TO GET SOME ATTENTION AROUND HERE!"
Her voice echoed over the hills for what seemed like a full minute, with only the ever-present ticking of clocks to accompany it. Ticks and tocks rolled by one after the other, and Star was about to try again when to Marcos amazement, the entire horizon seemed to lift up from behind the hill.
The mountain steadily rose, revealing an entire galactic system inside a monstrous being that seemed to stretch on forever. It slowly turned around, facing the two teens with its cold, empty eye sockets inside a skull crowned with swords. Marco had seen Omnitraxus several times in the past, but to see him in his true form? It was truly something to behold.
The spacetime being stood to full height and loomed over the two, not revealing anything through its blank expression before it spoke, its voice booming all around them. "Princess Star butterfly. Just the young lady I was hoping to see," Omni began. Marco gave star an uneasy look but found her to be fully invested in staring down the Magical High Commission member before them.
"Ya know, you could save me a lot of trouble by just calling me," Star chided before gesturing to Marco, "I was kind of in the middle of something."
"Yes, I saw that, as I can see everything," Omni returned casually, folding his arms, "But if I'm being honest, I've been seeing an awful lot of the both of you. You two have been making big waves in space-time, and I'm surprised you're only just now coming to see me."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Marco asked, trying to stand but finding Stars hands on his shoulders, holding him down. "What exactly is going on?"
Omni gave the two a short moment of pause before snapping his fingers and displaying what they could only assume was a smile. "You two really don't know what's been going on, do you?" He asked. Star and Marco both exchanged a quick shrug and turned back to the galactic being before them, their faces blank. Omni rubbed the bridge of his skull as he thought for a moment, before shaking his head and extending a six-fingered hand impatiently.
"Alright, I'm just going to cut to the chase on this one, since you, Star, aren't receptive to long-winded speeches." Star made to defend herself at that, but both teens were quickly scooped up and shoved into the permeable stomach of the goliath, and found themselves shortly deposited on a small floating asteroid amidst a field of purple crystals.
"What is this place?" Marco whispered to Star.
She didn't answer right away, instead opting to just stare blankly ahead at the crystalline windows that were on full display. She could vaguely remember the crystals showing her something when she was here last, perhaps something cute, but that was about it. "I'm not a hundred percent sure," she whispered back, "But I know it has something to do with the earthquakes."
Before Marco could ask what that was supposed to mean, Omni stepped through the barrier and approached the small floating asteroid. With a gentle poke, the rock housing the two nervous teens began floating towards the crystal structures, though they remained dormant. "Like I was saying," Omni began, "You two have been making waves. In all my years, I have never seen such a disturbed space-time continuum. And believe me, I have seen plenty."
With a snap of his fingers, Omni directed their attention to the crystals, which immediately began displaying images of events come to pass. In many, other Stars and Marcos were recovering from a lost glossaryck, and seeking him out, albeit in different stylized versions of themselves. There was a demon pair, an anthropomorphic dog and cat version, a pair of regal and well-dressed versions of themselves, and even a pair where both Star and Marco had assumed a mewberty form, purple and deep red, respectively. And while there were so many different versions of themselves, they all were doing the same thing: looking for Glossaryck.
"You see, kids, in every other version of reality, you both are pursuing the same actions, and I pride myself in not having to run surveillance on you," Omni stated matter of factly, pointing to multiple realities as he spoke. "But, for some reason, this particular reality is so far off track, that spacetime itself has decided it must fix what has been broken."
Star and Marco both exchanged an uneasy glance before turning back to Omnitraxus Prime with the princess speaking first. "So, what does that mean exactly? Are we going to be erased from existence? Is reality gonna force everything back to normal?"
"Not quite," Omni answered quickly, "You two have to fix the many changes you've made, or the universe will begin doing it for you."
"Well, what do you want us to do? It's not like we had a choice, you know," Marco followed, both teens looking up at the expressionless skull on the mountain. Omni brought up both hands defensively and gestured back at the two as he maneuvered around them. "Look, nothing too serious is going to happen to either of you. So long as you fix your timeline."
Both Star and Marco made to protest the idea, but Omni quickly held up a hand for silence. "I know that seems hard, but you have two options. Allow space and time to slowly correct the damage for you, presumably in a very forceful and threatening way, or, you can take steps to correct things little by little, so things don't stray any further than they already have. Like, I don't know, one of you dying, or the two of you being a collective century old."
"It's not like we asked Hekapoo to kidnap us," Marco protested, "You can blame her for that. And we never asked Vartek to step in and try to kill us."
"I'm sorry, who exactly is that?" Omni asked, raising one brow of his skull. Star was about to go on a tirade in regards to their assailant, but Marco took an unsteady step forward and spoke before her. "Someone we fought. They were working for Toffee, but we haven't seen them since."
Star gave him a confused look, but the one he returned to her was one that seemed to whisper 'tell you later.'
"Very well then, I can look into that," Omnitraxus stated, floating down closer to the two. "Look, between what's happening with magic lately, and what I envision you two will be going through soon enough, you have enough on your plate as it is. The Magical High Commission has begun taking steps to study and prepare for the future, but for some reason -Glossaryck only knows why- this timeline isn't following the usual train of events, and it's all stemming from you two."
Star and Marco exchanged an unsure glance and made to defend themselves, but Omnitraxus continued, pacing around their asteroid as he spoke. "We noticed the deviations some time ago after Glossaryck failed to predict our future, in regards to a spread of corrupted magic. And after some digging, we discovered that the two of you were at the center of them, and in danger of being...well…corrected. So I need to know what exactly you two have been up to."
For a moment, no one spoke, and the air became as tense as a trigger. Marco could swear he could feel a hole being stared into his forehead, but thankfully, Star broke the silence.
"Glossaryck, uhmm, yeah Glossaryck showed us what our future was going to be," she dared a glance at Marco, who seemed almost as stunned as Omnitraxus, "I guess if his future predictions are on the fuzz, maybe we've been doing things wrong or something."
Omni could only stare at them as seconds rolled by. Even Stars energetic smile was beginning to waver as a bead of sweat rolled down her temple. But by some graceful will of the universe, Omni shook his head as he rubbed his chin.
"Yup, that explains it, I swear if it's not one thing with him, it's another," he grumbled as he pushed the small asteroid along, "You know, he's almost as bad as Rhombulous sometimes. I suppose I have no choice... but to fix this myself."
He directed their attention to the various floating crystals, each now displaying a key point or decision in their multidimensional future. Most of them, they were already at least somewhat aware of, but there were some in the far future that were completely foreign to them both. A hulking, hundred-foot tall suit of armor terrorizing a village, for example, a massive clover-cheeked villain fighting Star in Castle Butterfly, Star and Marco locked in each other's arms amidst a sea of drained magic, and a blurred image of a strangely familiar land coming into existence.
These were just some of the things they saw, with other sights blinking by before their eyes, and with each set of predictions donned by different versions of themselves. Acts of war, death, hope, love, betrayal, and pain all blurred by faster and faster by the second, showing them the years of events they'd have to face. It was terrifying and inspiring at the same time.
After a few minutes of mesmerizing sights, the crystals all suddenly turned blank, and the two teens were left staring blankly into the shimmering void before them.
The silence between them was hard to read. Whether it was fear, awe, excitement, relief, or some off-color culmination of all of these, no one could say. But when the two finally shook themselves free of their drunken stupor, they collided almost immediately into a loving embrace.
"We...all of that…" was all Star could manage.
"I...you...how did we…" Marco answered softly. The two stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, both too scared to let go.
"Ahem," Omnitraxus interrupted, silently pulling their rock closer to himself, "Nothing is set in stone, but...that was what was meant to happen. There are gaps, and even I can't see everything, but try to minimize your changes. Otherwise, the universe will do it for you."
Star nodded and looked back at Marco, the brown-haired boy being just as awestruck as herself. They were brought here due to their own mistakes in the timeline, and as punishment? They were shown their real future. "We'll uhm, we'll do our best to avoid changing anything else," she commented, giving Marco an uneasy glance, "Are we gonna be okay...together? I-"
"We can't give each other up. Not for a minute," Marco finished for her, trying his best to stand proudly despite his injuries, "I'll fight the universe itself before I give up Star."
Omni scratched his boney chin before folding his arms and staring the two down. "I think you'll be fine, kid. Just use what I showed you to keep things on track, and let's try to keep this between us. Mortals aren't exactly supposed to know the future."
"Yeeeeaaaaah," Star grinned nervously, "Don't you worry, Omnitraxus, our lips are sealed."
"Excellent. In that case, I bid the two of you a good day, and you know where to find me if things get crazy."
With that, Omnitraxus clasped his hands together with a loud boom, and everything faded to black. When Star and Marco opened their eyes, they found themselves back in marcos room, exactly as they had been before the earthquakes.
"-adorable, Star, especially," Marco began, but stopped himself mid-sentence, both of them simply staring at one another until they broke out into hushed laughter. After a shared giggle between the two, Star wiped an imaginary tear from her eye and chuckled. "Did we just...like, did we actually just get away with that?"
"If you mean me dying, breaking the universe, getting stuck in a time loop, lying to an interdimensional demigod, the coverup of the century, AND getting shown our future as an added bonus, then yes. Yes, we did."
Star beamed him a wholehearted smile and gently hugged the boy of her dreams, letting the memories of what they'd seen wash over her. "So uhm… you really suck at confessing your feelings for me, You know that?"
Marco couldn't help but smile from bruised cheek to cheek. "You're one to talk, Butterbutt. I don't need Omnitraxus to know about the horror that was Song Day."
Stars' cheeks burned brilliant red at the mere suggestion of one of the worst days of her life. "Stupid Ruberiot, that was literally the woooooorst," she groaned, burying her face in her hands. Marco grinned and decided some more fun was in order, whispering "You're adorable Star. Especially when-"
He never got to finish. All he was met with was a creme frown between two red hearts that quickly shifted in a loving smooch. "See, no pig-goat audience this time, Diaz," she cooed.
Marco blushed and carefully pulled her closer, maneuvering to avoid any injury or discomfort for the sake of a good cuddle. When the two were nicely situated to share some early morning warmth, he asked quietly, "Star?"
"Yeah?"
"What are we gonna do about Eclipsa?"
Star let her small smile wilt before the question of the century. "We just have to cross that bridge when we get there. But I think once we get Vartek out of the way, we'll be ready to get things back on track."
"Okay. ...Star?" he asked again, this time so quiet, she almost didn't hear him.
"Yeah?"
"You know I trust you, right?"
She shifted over, ever so slightly and looked into his deep brown eyes. "Where did that come from? Of course, I know that," she answered softly, accented with a smooch. She gave him a brimming smile, but his expression remained as serious as it had been when he asked. "Okay, okay, maybe... I don't. I dunno, I feel like I kinda have to earn it back," she answered, exasperated.
He tried to say something for the sake of lifting her spirits, but she continued, a faraway look in her eye. "I let you down, Marco. You died in my arms… you died trusting that I would be there to save you in time... I almost lost you. Maybe right now, I feel like I don't deserve your trust."
She looked over to him, not sure what to expect in the slightest, but still completely unprepared for the look of shock on his face. Without so much as a word, Marco leaned over to her and draped her in a tight, Johansen-level hug, despite his condition.
"Star…" he choked, running his fingers through her hair, "I will always believe in you, and I will always trust you with my life. You saved it, and I died knowing I'd see you again."
Star gave him a half-hearted smile and kissed his cheek lovingly before she spoke up. "Thank you, Marco. Just… give me some time to trust myself half as much as you trust me, okay?"
He smiled warmly at her, and she felt her knees begin to wobble at the sight. "Of course, Star. I'm with you through anything. So long as I get a fair rematch sometime," he added with a steady grin.
"Deal, Darco Diaz," Star whispered back, though the two were completely unaware of the momentary shadow that passed over Marco's face for a split second before dispersing.
0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0
Meanwhile, in the far reaches of Mewni, in the underground of a long-forgotten temple, a diligent pair were working hard to control their latest creation.
Ludo held his wand aloft, his arm having gone sore hours ago from the constant barrage of spells he had been firing. "Why are we even doing this anymore?" he asked with a pant to his breath, "It's not like we're doing anything to it, anyway."
Vartek scowled at the small avian dressed in rags and shook his head, standing up and walking to the intricate stone pedestal that housed the soul stone, the small rock shimmering with teal light. "If we can find a way to crack it open, we might have a chance it… no, we need a transfuser, and a vessel if we have any hopes of succeeding," he mused to himself.
Ludo tossed him an uneasy glance and pittered his hands together nervously. "I don't suppose you might be willing to tell me what it is exactly that we're trying to do?" he asked. Vartek shook his head, still deep in thought as he circled the soul stone. "There's no point in telling you. Aside from your clear lack of worthiness, as displayed yesterday in that cavern, you'd simply be in over your head."
After a short moment of silence, Ludo set down his bony wand, frustrated by the constant resentment from his master. "You know, I might be more useful to you if I know what we were doing, or at least why," he grumbled. Vartek didn't acknowledge that, instead opening a small leather bound book and jotting down some of his observations.
"Vartek," he prompted impatiently, stepping in the septarians way, "I can only do so much with the wand, especially with… you know who, making things difficult. Maybe I can help, or at least be more prepared when you send me on suicide missions."
At that, Vartek finally stopped his observations and turned to face Ludo without any semblance of emotion. "After what happened in that cave, you seriously think I would trust you with that kind of sensitive information," Vartek growled, looming over his minion, "What kind of fool do you take me for?"
Ludo stood his ground, glaring back at Vartek with cold eyes and balled fists. "The kind of fool who's just as much a failure as I am. You want to succeed? Then you need to trust me," he said with conviction. The two remained in a stare down for a moment until at last, Vartek finally broke down and sighed.
"Very well, you pathetic creature." Without another word, he collected the soul stone and pulled Ludos scissors from his pocket, cutting a deep, lime green portal in the air between them. "Step inside, we should make this quick, as I doubt you'd last long once you're there."
Ludo gave him a confused look but did as he was told, stepping through the shimmering gateway closely followed by Vartek. Once they had made their way through, however, the small avian had to do a double take at their new surroundings.
They were now inside a truly massive cathedral, whose spire climbed over two hundred feet into the air. All around them hovered immense, floating, emerald crystals, all glowing softly, and all of them seemingly shattered and cracked beyond repair. "I put this mess together myself," Vartek began, wasting no time in walking towards the center of the church, "it took me some time, and the personal cost was immeasurable, but I managed to collect all of these fragments of the god stones."
"And...those would be..?" Ludo asked quietly, following closely behind as he gawked at the looming minerals. Vartek sighed and stopped, gesturing to the closest piece that hovered nearby. "God stones are the coveted rocks that used to house the forms of powerful beings, from all corners of reality. The Blood Moon, Glossaryck, the matriarchs of a crystal society, Saraswati, a Deal broker from the nightmare realm, and the giver of magic." He stepped forward and tapped the crystal, and from where he touched it, a small ripple of corrupted green magic washed over it before it went back to its dormant state.
"These beings have long since left us, or given up their godhood, leaving their crystals behind. I found as many as I could, and now they reside here, using what remains of their life giving power to keep her alive," he finished, gesturing to the large shrine made of crystal and bone in the center of the cathedral, a heart capped in scissors.
"Is that… your-" Ludo began, but Vartek interjected impatiently. "My Girlfriend, yes. Long ago," he continued, now leading Ludo up to the shrine, "We were a bonded pair. But the Blood Moon erased her soul from existence, leaving me with nothing but my memories of her. But leaving me alive with them was a mistake. I forged a new soul for her out of these memories, sacrificing half of my own to create it, and I housed it inside this structure, fueled by the god stones, and my own...fractured magic."
When the two reached the top of the stairs, the shrine began to hum quietly in the presence of the soul stone, though Vartek paid it no mind. "I intend to use the purified magic, created inside another bonded pair, to finish what I started, and recreate her from the ground up. But I need a device to transfer this raw magical energy, and a vessel to put her in, before I run out of time."
"Out of time?" Ludo asked, turning to face Vartek, "What do you mean out of time?"
Vartek scowled at the shrine before him, absent mindedly rubbing his wrists and forearms as he answered. "The god stones, and my broken magic can only keep her divided soul intact for so long. And giving up half of my own soul… it corrupted us. Her magic, t's incomplete, and volatile; it changes much within me. I need the wand, intact mind you, to transfer the pure magic in this stone, and Merinas soul, to a new vessel in order to finally bring her back."
Ludo looked at Vartek skeptically, but decided it best not to argue. "And, where will that leave me?" he asked. Vartek shrugged and turned to leave, followed closely behind by Ludo. "I don't really care. The wand will be yours to keep, I will have the other half of my soul back, and I will depart this godforsaken timeline with my bondmate to exact my revenge on the future Queen of Mewni."
The two stepped through the portal and back into the underground of the Monster Temple with Vartek placing the soul stone back on its pedestal. "So, now that we have our battery, we need the other half of your wand, and a new body for her spirit to fill, and then you may begin your conquest of Mewni as you see fit. Or...rather, what's left of it, I suppose."
Ludo looked down at his wand, it having not moved since he had set it down, and slowly turned to face Vartek. "And, what about the Butterfly girl and the Karate boy?"
Vartek didn't answer immediately. He simply sat back down and opened his leather bound book, busying himself with writing before he answered, amused by the ideas in his head.
"I doubt they'll last very long under her control."
To be continued in: A most Heinous crime
~As Star and Marco deal with a very disgruntled MHC member, a new villain lurks in the shadows to exact her revenge.
AUTHORS NOTE
Sorry for the delay everyone, I have been moving...again, and doing a bit of job hunting as well. As it turns out, the market for aircraft mechanics where I live now is a bit slimmer than I was hoping, but making due as I go along. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it's a bit on the dialogue heavy side, but nonetheless, stay tuned for more to come! Please leave a review with thoughts, comments, gripes, or suggestions, and I'll respond in kind if I can! Hope you all have an awesome day, and I'll see ya next time! BUH BYYYEEE!
~Mr. Ronald Reagan