In the corrupted magic, Star died and was reborn.

The golden syrup oozing through her fingers, she banished the fog from her head, the burning from her lungs, and tore through the fragile wall between dimensions like a butterfly tears through its cocoon, emerging above the ruins of Butterfly castle alive but Changed.

Eyes blown wide and glowing, smile dissonantly serene, she surveyed the earth below until she saw Marco, and Buff Frog, and Queen Moon.

"Hi Mom!" she greeted; her voice full of manic cheer.

Moon, her voice wavering, raised a hand in return, giving Star a stiff, uncertain wave. "Hi, sweety"

Star's voice didn't lose its tone, per say, but something dark crept into it. "Where's Toffee?"

Wordlessly, Moon pointed.

"Thank you!" said Star, chipper as anything.

She raised a hand.

One minute Toffee was walking away.

The next, he was staring down a powerful blast of raw magic, jaw parted for a scream he wouldn't have time to make.

The beam hit, and Toffee was consumed by the light. Star smiled eerily, keeping it on him until her energy ran out and she collapsed, her wings fluttering weakly and then disintegrating as she fell.

"Star!" Moon and Marco cried as one, rushing to her side as she reached the ground.

"Are you okay, sweety?" Moon asked, cradling her daughter like she was a little girl again.

Star groaned, blinking into awareness, "I- I think so" she said, shakily getting to her feet. Marco moved to help, and she graciously accepted.

River swooped down on an eagle, and Moon and Star rushed to check on him.

Marco, meanwhile, let his gaze drift to the crumpled suit where Toffee once stood

He grabbed Star's sleeve, "Look" he said, pointing to the sad pile of fabric.

Star winced, "oooh, man, I disintegrated him"

"I think it's moving"

Star did a double take, and then stared at it intensely.

"You're right, Marco, it is moving!" she said.

The two ran over to it, leaning over the pile of empty cloth just in time for something to emerge from the collar.

A tiny grey reptile shook itself free from the fabric, and then ducked back in when it saw them.

It stared at them from the shadows with vibrant yellow eyes.

"Is that...?" asked Star, reaching down to scoop up the protesting hatchling.

"You... turned him into a baby?!" said Marco, shocked.

Star got to her feet, staring at the tiny creature in her cupped hands.

Toffee stared back, chirping uncertainly.

Star giggled, "Heh, he's actually kinda cute this way" she said, smiling down at the creature.

Toffee, for his part, stood stock still.

"Ha, you're right" said Marco, reaching down to poke at him, "and hey, at least he can't hurt anyone like this-OW!"

Toffee sunk needle teeth into Marco's finger, and Marco pulled back his hand.

He scowled down at the hatchling in Star's hands.

"Little monster" he grumbled, sucking on his wound.

Toffee hissed up at him.

"Whatever, man"

Moon and River ran over, "What's going on? Have you found something?" demanded River.

"It's Toffee" said Star, showing her mother.

"Really?" Moon asked, leaning in for a better look.

Toffee stared up at her, fitting easily in the palm of her daughter's small hands. He flinched when he saw her, cowering against Star's calloused skin-she'd have to talk to her about THAT-and Moon was struck by just how small he was. How vulnerable he now looked.

She shook her head.

"Star, we have got to kill it"

"No!" Star yelped, cupping her hands around the panicking septarian, "Mom, are you crazy? He's a baby!"

"He's Toffee, and we don't know what you did to him! We don't know how long this will last; he could come back tomorrow!"

"What is going on?" demanded Yvgeny, who'd just arrived on scene.

Wordlessly, Star uncupped her hands.

Yvgeny's eyes widened. "oh" he said.

"We've got to get rid of it, Star!" Moon reiterated.

Yvgeny grabbed her shoulder, "Now, let's not be so hasty, yes, Toffee was dangerous, but he is baby now. Babies need to be protected. He deserves a second chance"

A moment of silence.

"Well, the castle is trashed, anyway" said Moon, "How'd we even take care of him?

Marco raised a hand, "I could take him in for a bit"


Star and Marco stood in front of the display, an array of glass enclosures in the "pet supplies" section of Quest Buy.

While Star was distracted by the fish tank decorations, carefully read the labels.

"Fish tank, fish tank... Ah! Here we are, reptile enclosure!" his eyes went lower, "rated for... Pygmy dragons?" he frowned, "huh"

He raised his voice, "Hey, Star!" he called.

"Yes?" Star asked, coming over with what appeared to be a human skull in her hands, although on closer inspection it was clearly cheap plastic. It wouldn't do to give your pet a taste for human bone, after all.

"I think I've found it!" he said.

"Great!" said Star, "I've got... This!" she said, holding up the skull.

"... Right" said Marco, "Well... That's everything, I think." he glanced at the cheap decoration, "so, do you actually want to buy that?"

"Of course, he'll love it!" said Star, grinning.

Marco winced, "That, that's what I'm afraid of, Star"


He snipped through time and space to land directly in his bedroom, so they could get to setting up right away.

Star shoved the junk off his desk and placed the enclosure while Marco plugged in the heat lamp.

"Hey, Star" he said, getting on to his feet, "do you have the substrate?"

Star was about to answer, when the door creaked open behind them.

"Marco! You're back!" said his dad, and then his demeanor dropped "What are you doing?"

"Oh, uhhh... Just setting things up" said Marco, not even looking up.

Mr. Diaz pointed, "That looks like it's for a pet, Marco. We never talked about getting a pet"

"Oh, ha, that's my fault" said Star, "You see, my grandma was killed by the general of this rogue monster army, but then my mom cut off his finger, and so he came back for revenge, and then he killed me, but I came back and turned him into a baby lizard, so now we have to keep him in the royal menagerie"

"And, why are you setting up a fish tank?"

Star shrugged, "Castle's destroyed." After a moment, she added, "and... I still have to talk Mom into letting me keep him."

"Oh yeah" Marco cut in, "Star blew up the castle, so... Now there's no menagerie- Don't worry, it's not permanent, it's just until the castle's rebuilt." he paused, "It's a reptile enclosure, by the way"

Mr. Diaz frowned, "I will have to talk with your mother" he said.

"It shouldn't take more than a few months" Star cut in.

"Yeah, and I'll feed him" added Marco, "You know me" he said, pointing to himself with his thumbs, "responsible"

"If you say so, Marco" said Mr. Diaz with a sigh, "But, if your mother says no, Star has to find somewhere else to put this..."

"General of a rogue monster army?" Star supplied helpfully.

"riiight" said Mr. Diaz. "I'll go talk to your mom"

He left.

"Soooo... I got his enclosure ready" said Star, "I think it's time to put him in"

"Yeah" Marco agreed. He went over to his bed, opening up a cardboard box and reaching in, "c'mon lil' guy, time to get you out of that box- OW!"

Star popped up behind him, frowning, "Are you okay, Marco?"

"Yeah- he just bit me again!"

"You're moving too fast! Here, let me-" She reached in, scooping him up with no issue and carrying him to the enclosure, "aaand there you go lil' buddy, here's your new home!"

"Aaand he immediately goes in the water bowl" sighed Marco, "great"


Mrs. Diaz wasn't much happier, but Star, ever the charmer, talked her into it

Marco came into his room that evening to find Toffee-or, the thing that used to be Toffee-staring at him from inside his barren enclosure.

"Hey, Toffee" said Marco, laughing nervously to break the silence.

Toffee didn't respond. Marco wasn't sure why he expected him too.

Trying to shake off his nameless unease, Marco sat at his desk, trying to get his homework done, but he couldn't focus.

Toffee's tank took up half of it, and the damn thing had decided to shove itself against the glass, liquid gold eyes just visible from where Marco sat, boring into him, unblinking. Something about it almost felt accusatory.

Marco shuddered despite himself, and suddenly, a wave of cold apprehension washed over him.

However small and harmless he looked now, this was Toffee watching him from behind the glass, and Marco was struck with the realization of what he'd gotten himself into.

He dropped his head to the desk, muttering "Can't believe I agreed to this"

Stubbornly ignoring the monster's stare, Marco tried to go back to his studies... But before long, he became aware of a strange noise, a bit like the firing of a laser in some cheesy sci-fi show.

His head shot up, eyebrow wrinkling, wondering what was making that noise... Until his eyes fell on the little creature watching him from his enclosure.

"Okay, what do you want?" he asked, as if Toffee would be able to answer.

Indeed, Toffee didn't answer, only continuing to stare up at Marco, still making those bizarre chirps.

It was a moment more before Marco slapped his forehead, laughing at how obvious it was.

"Of course, you must be hungry!" he said, "Wait right there, I've got everything a baby Toffee could ask for"

It only took him a couple minutes to grab the food he'd got for him. "Alright, Mars Bar, time for dinner" he said, dumping in some crickets for him to hunt. Lil' Toffee cocked his head at the creatures, little eyes jumping from insect to insect, before seeming to settle on one.

As if by instinct, he got low to the substrate, moving slowly and without sound, before pouncing on his target, crushing its fragile exoskeleton in his teeth and swallowing it all down.

It seemed like a switch flipped in the creature as it picked off the crickets one by one, stalking them like a monster from a horror movie and wriggling joyfully all the while.

Marco gave an uneasy smile; there was something endearing about the creature, but nevertheless, a part of him couldn't help but envision the monster that had almost killed him doing the same to mewmens.


Toffee's life, such as it was now, seemed monotonous. There wasn't much to do in the tank, when he wasn't trying to get Marco's attention, he spent most of his days cycling between his water bowl, his hide and his basking stone.

Today, it was time to clean the enclosure.

"Okay, Mars Bar, time to come out" said Marco, taking the cover off of the tank and reaching in. Fortunately, whatever problem he'd had with Marco a couple months ago seemed to have been forgotten; much to his surprise, Toffee loved being held, climbing right into his hand before staring sweetly up at him with those big, golden eyes.

Unfortunately, he wasn't so good about being put down.

When Marco tried to place him in the cardboard box he'd set up, Toffee chirruped in distress, refusing to hop off.

"Aww, sorry, Mars Bar" said Marco, feeling his heartstrings being tugged in spite of himself-it wasn't his fault Toffee reminded him of a baby Nacho!-"but I can't carry you and clean your enclosure, it isn't safe"

He tilted his hand, trying to dump him off, but Toffee only clung to his sleeve, chirping in destress.

Sighing, Marco reached down and pulled him off with his other hand, putting Toffee in the box and going about his task, trying to ignore the heartbroken chirps.

When the time came to put him back, Marco hesitated.

While he'd started out shy, Toffee had grown to a cautious curiosity, and lately had become almost forceful in his attempts at socialization. Before he'd gotten Nacho Marco had always assumed that reptiles were stupid and unaffectionate, cool to look at, but lacking in much of the way of intelligence or emotion. Nacho couldn't have been further from that description, and Toffee, while very much seeming to fulfill the former as an adult, had never fallen into the latter.

Marco didn't know much about baby septarians, but if they were anything like baby babies, then being stuck in a boring old tank all day couldn't have been good for him.

"You know what?" he said, picking the little guy up and putting him on the floor, "Why don't we play for a bit?"

And they did just that, the baby gator playing a modified version of tag with Marco's hand until he eventually tuckered himself out.

He hardly protested as Marco picked him up, putting him down next to the skull shaped hide Star had gotten him.

Yawning, Toffee crawled into it, quickly drifting off to sleep.

Surveying his barren cage, Marco frowned.

A hide, a water dish, and a basking stone.

Playing with him was all well and good, but Marco couldn't be there for him all day. He had school, and friends, and responsibilities, and certainly not enough time to take care of a BABY.

He sat down, trying not to hyperventilate as the weight of the responsibility of what he'd took on bore down on him, suffocating him.

This wasn't some exotic pet, this was a tiny person, one that he needed to keep fed, and safe, and happy until the day that the Butterfly castle was finished, and Moon could hand him over to whatever servants were best equipped to care for him.

He drew deep breathes. Okay, Marco, calm down. Freaking out will help neither of you. Toffee needs a calm caretaker who can keep him fed and safe until Star can take him to the castle and put him in the hands of experts.

He focused on the thought.

Yeah, in a couple months, the castle would be repaired, the royal experts would be ready to take him, and Toffee would have the best care available provided by people who knew what they were doing.