(See the end of the chapter for notes .)

Chapter Text

Queen Moon stepped inside the ice cream shop and walked to the nearest table. She gently sat down on a chair with all the grace you’d expect from a queen and looked at Marco expectantly. Several people were sneaking glances at her from across the shop, but she didn’t pay them any mind.

“Why don’t you take a seat? I won’t bite,” Moon said, tapping on the chair next to her.

“You might not, but your husband sure does.”

Moon frowned but kept eye contact with Marco.

Marco looked back at her apprehensively. 'I don’t think my family or Star were able to convince her, Kar. Seems like she just wants to sit me down and lecture me about respecting adults,’ he thought.

'Well, you kind of need that lecture,’ Kar thought. 'But I don't think that's the case. Just talk to her.’

Marco sat down on the seat that was across from Moon. He could tell the conversation was going to be awkward and gruelling.

“Are you hungry?” Moon asked, reaching into her dress for something, supposedly money. “I could buy you something.”

Marco put up his hand. “No thanks, I already had ice cream.”

“It’s kind of why we were here to begin with.”

“Ah, I see,” Moon said. “Alright then.”

There was a short moment where everyone was silent, as if Moon was busy trying to figure out how to call someone a filthy liar without offending them, and then Julie walked up to the table out of nowhere, her eyes fixated on Moon.

“Oh, wow! Are you Star’s mom?” Julie asked, barely containing her excitement.

“I, um. Yes,” Moon said, clearly caught off guard by the intrusion. “Who-”

“Oh my god! You’re Moon the Undaunted, Conqueror of the Eternal Monster, Queen of Mewni!” she said, like she was meeting a celebrity. Moon blinked a few times, once again completely caught off guard.

“How do you know about all of that?” Moon asked.

“Oh, I’ve read Star’s Mewman history books like ten times! I wanted to learn everything about Star’s lore, so I borrowed them! I know all about your epic quest for vengeance after-”

“Excuse me,” Moon said. “ Who are you again?”

“Oh, right! Duh! I forgot to introduce myself again! I keep doing that today!” she said. “I’m StarFan13! I’m like Star’s best friend!”

Moon shot a look at Marco, and he just shrugged at her. He found it a little odd that Julie was giving Moon another name than the one she’d given him, but it might have been her formal title instead. She was in front of royalty, after all.

‘Did Star run a cult or something?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Marco thought. But it was pretty insane that there were at least twelve other people obsessed with her.

“That’s odd. Star has never mentioned you before,” Moon said.

“I mean, how often do you actually talk to your daughter?” Marco asked.

Moon turned back to Marco with a look, and Julie said, “Marco! Don’t be rude to her majesty! The woman has an entire kingdom to run, so of course she doesn’t have time for Star!”

Kar burst out laughing and Moon pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. Julie seemed mildly confused at everyone's reactions. She apparently didn’t realize that she made Moon look worse.

“As much as it was nice to meet one of my daughter’s friends,” Moon said, “I unfortunately have to ask you to leave, Miss Thirteen. I have much to discuss with Marco. Alone .”

For just a moment, it looked like an arrow had shot through Julie’s heart. Her eye twitched ever so slightly, and then a big fake smile was back on her face.

“Right! Got it! It’s about Marco’s quest. I’ll just, go be annoying somewhere else and let the adults talk it out,” she said, pointing her fingers at them and then running to the exit.

“Uh, bye, Julie! Thanks!” Marco said before she was out the door.

Moon waited for Julie to be completely gone and then turned back to Marco and Kar.

“Odd girl,” she said.

“You got that right,” Kar said.

“It’s hard to believe that a human knows more about Butterfly history than its future queen,” Moon said.

“Yeah, well, Star always did prefer living in the present,” Marco said.

“Apparently so.”

There was another bout of awkward silence and Marco was kind of hoping someone else from his past would randomly come over and interrupt them.

‘You’re pathetic, kid.’

‘Well I don’t see you taking the helm of this conversation!’

After a few more seconds, the silence was finally stifling enough that Moon couldn’t take it anymore and sighed, grabbing Marco and Kar’s attention instantly.

“I suppose apologies are in order before we begin,” she said.

Marco took a deep breath. Yeah, she was right. He had to swallow his stupid pride and take responsibility for freaking out like that. Well, here went nothing...

“With that said, I’m sorry for attacking you earlier,” Moon said to Kar’Margorach.

Uh, what?

“Uh, what?” Kar said.

“It was wrong of River and I to attack you based on your appearance alone, without knowing the full story. It was rather ignorant of us. I hope we can move past this so we can work together on fixing Star’s spell.”

“I, uh, yeah. Definitely,” Kar said.

Alright, Marco was not expecting that. He wasn't even thinking about Kar when Moon had mentioned apologies. Was this something Star told her to do or...

“Would you introduce yourself so I can refer to you properly for now on?” Moon asked.

“Sure thing. My name is Kar’Margorach, Twelve Demon Prince of the Forgotten Domain. My friends just call me Kar though.”

Moon stared at Kar in disbelief. “You’re... royalty?”

Kar faced her solemnly. “Used to be. It was centuries ago, but I remember it vividly. I was forced into an arranged marriage with a woman I didn't love. To escape that fate, I destroyed my body and converted my soul into a curse, which somehow ended up in your book.”

Moon covered her mouth in shock. “I’m… so sorry. I had no idea. That must have been so difficult for you.”

“Yeah, you know what, after saying it out loud, that does seem really tragic. Thank God I didn't actually go through that. Could you imagine?”

“Wait, you made that all up? You lied to me?” Moon said.

What in the world was Kar thinking?

Then Moon chuckled and it grew into a laugh. “You really had me going there. I can't believe I fell for it. But, to give credit where credit is due, 'The Forgotten Domain’ did sound archaic enough to seem genuine.”

“Yeah, I figured I had to really ham that part up to convince you. Glad it worked, though,” Kar said, not missing a beat. Then, he reached out to shake her hand. “The name is actually Kar’Margorach, and I’m probably not royalty, but if I ever was, I’d get overthrown by the peasants.”

“Oh, yeah, they’d hate you,” Marco said.

Moon chuckled again. “You two seem to be very close.”

“Well, we are literally attached to each other. You could say we’re inseparable.”

Moon snorted. “I suppose so.” She reached over and shook the tip of Kar’s tentacle, trying to hide her disgust. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kar’Margorach.”

‘How the hell did you get her to laugh like that?’ Marco thought.

‘I’m a funny guy. That’s how. Now come on. I loosened the stick up her ass a little. Now it’s your turn to pull the rest out.’

Marco barely held in his laugh. ‘Yeah, okay. Maybe she’ll be easier to talk to now.’ He sure hoped so.

“Could you two stop telepathically communicating in front of me?” Moon said, raising her eyebrow at them. “It’s kind of rude when you’re already in conversation.”

Shit. Were they that obvious?

“How could you tell?” Marco asked.

“You broke eye contact, started making visual reactions to speech I couldn’t hear, and you kept glancing at Kar’Margorach. All while remaining silent for about fifteen seconds. I know a telepathic interaction when I see one. Diplomats with such gifts are usually more subtle about it, though.”

Oh God. She probably thought they were shit-talking her.

‘I mean, we kind of were.’

‘Shut up, Kar.’

“I’m sure you’re used to it, but if Kar’Margorach is going to be out more often, you should probably break the habit. You might upset someone unintentionally.”

Holy crap she was perceptive. “Oh, uh, thanks. That’s pretty good advice, actually.”

“It’s no problem. Have you two always been able to communicate that way?” Moon asked.

“Not at first, no. It’s something we figured out along the way.”

“During your quest?” Moon asked.

“Yes. Our quest. The quest that definitely happened.”

“Yes,” Moon said. “That one. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you earlier.”

Marco deflated a little. Thank fucking God. “I don’t blame you. I mean, look at me.” Marco gestured to his chest. “I don’t exactly scream ‘epic hero’. How did they even convince you?”

“It was Star,” Moon said. “She gave me solid evidence that you went through it all.”

“Evidence?” Marco said. He hadn’t brought any artifacts back with him, and the scissors weren't enough to convince her.

“Your journal,” Moon said. “Three hundred pages of glyphs, runes, and ruminations.” Marco would probably say it was closer to two hundred, but he wasn’t about to contradict her. “The language was too foreign for me to translate, but I could see the immediate difference between the wobbly, carefully written pages in the beginning compared to the quick, skinny shorthands in the last pages. You cannot just fake that. Not in the same way you could buy a pair of counterfeit scissors.”

“It’s called Riradesh, and it is so needlessly difficult to learn,” Marco said. “So much so that I had to practically beat written English out of my head to learn it.”

“Honestly, fuck that language. Especially when you have to learn it with a horrible pen grip and no eyes.”

“Ah yes, Star mentioned that you couldn’t read English anymore. It was the reason she cast the memory spell in the first place, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. As you can see, it’s worked wonders for us,” Kar said.

“Star already feels bad enough about it already,” Marco said. “She kind of blames herself for everything bad that happened in those sixteen years. I’m trying to get her to realize it isn’t that simple.”

Moon’s eyes went wide. “Sixteen years?”

Marco frowned. “Wait. Did no one mention how long it took?”

“They neglected to inform me of that, no,” Moon said. “Everyone was too busy berating me to give me the details.” She frowned and took a longer look at Marco. “That’s just such a long time for one of her quests, even considering you were a teenager...”

“Uh, how long do the quests normally take?” Marco asked.

“A few years, usually. Never past a decade, and certainly never that long,” Moon said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but what were you doing? Wandering aimlessly for years at a time?”

Marco shrugged. “I mean, I was living a life in-between hunting Heckapoo clones. There were definitely some stretches of time where I wasn’t even looking for them. I was preoccupied with saving lives and shit.”

“What, do people on quests usually say fuck you to the civilians and spend all their time hunting those clones?”

“Yes, actually,” Moon said, as if it was obvious. “If you knew centuries would pass in the hours after, then why would you focus on the small details?”

“Well, I didn’t know about that, so, to me, they were the big details,” Marco said.

Moon frowned. “You… you didn’t know you were in a time-dilated dimension?”

“What? No. Of course I didn’t!” Marco said. “Wait, was I supposed to know?”

“Of course. All officially sanctioned questers are told about the time dilation effects, to prevent distraction and even the playing fields. But, your quest was far from official. Heckapoo wasn’t even supposed to offer a quest to you. So I suppose she was just breaking all of the rules with this incident.”

Wait, ‘officially sanctioned’? What the hell did that mean?

“So she was just fucking with us for fun?”

“Who knows? Perhaps it was an experiment,” Moon said. “Maybe she expected you to give up immediately, and ended up painfully wrong. You are a human after all. She probably never expected you to succeed.”

Yeah. If there was anything he had learned from the quest, it was persistence. But Marco still had some questions for her. “What did you mean, she ‘wasn’t supposed to offer a quest’ to me?” he asked.

“Are you aware of the Magical High Commission, Marco?” Moon asked in response.

“Yeah,” Marco said. “Heckapoo mentioned it a few times over drinks, and Star told me all about it when I got back. I get that they’re the ones who could probably tell Heckapoo who she can and can’t give a quest to. What I don’t get is why they would give a fuck if she gave one to me.”

Moon quirked her eyebrow and then gave him an odd look. “You are aware of the purpose of the quests, yes?”

“I mean, I beat the quest,” Marco said, holding the scissors up for her to see better. “This is it, right?”

“If it were that simple, no one would go on quests. There are countless counterfeits and stray scissors lying around the multiverse. If all you wanted was interdimensional travel, you could buy a hand-me-down from Quest Buy.”

“Well, when you put it that way, we really got gypped,” Kar said.

Marco looked down at his scissors. Did they really go through all that just for something they could buy at a pawn shop?

Was it all for nothing?

“What the hell were we supposed to get, then?” Kar asked.

Right. If people still went on quests, there had to be something that made it worth it.

“Completing one of Heckapoo’s quests has a far greater meaning than personal scissors. It’s the invitation of a world into the multiverse, a trial that proves the dimension worthy of integration into society and into the cultures of the multiverse.”

“What does any of that even mean?” Marco asked.

Moon took a moment to collect her thoughts and then said, “When you first met Star, did you find it shocking that magic was real and that there were other dimensions?”

“Well, naturally.” While his family and friends took it all with a grain of salt, Marco was completely overwhelmed when Star first came. It took him weeks to get used to it.

“Did you ever stop to think about why you hadn’t known about anything your whole life? You’ve visited other dimensions with Star, and many of those worlds traded with each other and had magic. None of the inhabitants of those worlds would be surprised to see a Mewman princess traveling with dimensional scissors.”

Holy shit. “It means that no human had ever earned a pair of scissors, so Earth was pretty much isolated.”

“Why the hell has no one earned a pair of scissors yet, though? Marco can’t be the first person to ever try, right?”

“Actually, he was the first human to try. Heckapoo wasn’t supposed to give any humans quests,” Moon said. “At all.”

“What?” Marco said. It wasn’t like humans were less sentient or anything. Why didn’t they get a shot at it? What made them special? What the hell was-

“Why?” Kar said.

“Earth serves a different purpose to the High Commission. We’ve restricted its access to the other dimensions and kept it in the dark about magic,” Moon said.

That didn’t make any sense, though. Marco and Star fought monsters on Earth all the time. Not to mention the fact that Star was living there.

“What about Star or the monsters that went to Earth and fought her?”

“The High Commission isn’t all powerful. We made it illegal to travel to Earth, but there will always be some who slip through the cracks.”

Yeah, that made enough sense. The ones who slipped through in the past just became myths and legends, like the gorgons.

But…

“What about Star then?” Marco asked. She wasn’t a slip up, Moon herself sent her there.

“Star was sent here specifically because of what Earth is. It was the only place where no one would attempt to steal her wand. Star is anything but subtle, but the people of Earth would perceive her magic as tricks and effects. Having never seen magic before, humans will just compare it to what they do know, like technology or puppetry or something of that standing.”

“Makes sense.”

It did, but at the same point it didn’t. Something just seemed fishy about it. Why had Earth been kept in the dark about magic? Was it just so that it could be a refuge from the magically knowledged? Was that really worth shutting it out for so long? How long had it even been shut out? When did they even discover it? Was this a million year plan, or a recent thing that Moon herself had come up with? Why would-

“Why did you guys keep Earth in the dark, though?” Kar asked. ‘One question at a time, dude. I can’t keep up.’

Oh. Right. He might’ve been getting a little too deep in his thoughts. ‘Thanks.’

“Research,” Moon said, “Earth was the first dimension the High Commission found that had no trace of magic in it, but had huge, functioning societies. They decided to close it off to see how long it could last before the lack of magic tore the dimension apart. Thousands of years later, and it is still holding strong.”

‘Holy shit, it’s just like Heckapoo’s dimension.’

‘Yeah.’

But if they were using Earth and Heckapoo’s Dimension like that, how many other dimensions were being used?

“So, then, if the experiment was to see how long humans could survive without magic, maybe Heckapoo just decided it was time to end the experiment?” Or maybe start a new one. Seeing how a human reacted to a quest.

“Yeah, I could see that.”

“But it wasn’t an officially sanctioned-”

“That’s the thing! Heckapoo probably knew they wouldn’t let her do it officially, so she took a risk and let me take the quest anyway,” Marco said. “What if this was her plan all along? What if it’s supposed to be my job to introduce magic and interdimensional travel to Earth?”

“We could have a reason to be here,” Kar said.

“Yeah! And imagine the resources that are rare on Earth, but are all over the place in the other dimensions, or vise versa! It would solve so many of society’s problems!”

“Earth could trade ice cream for gold or some shit!”

“Yeah and-”

“I’m afraid you can’t do that, Marco,” Moon said. “You are not officially recognized by the High Commission. If they found out you were trying to bring magic to this dimension, they would stop you.”

Marco frowned. “But I finished the quest. I know I probably didn’t beat any world records or anything, but considering the circumstances-”

“It is because of the circumstances that you cannot do this. I’m not sure what was going through her head when Heckapoo gave you that quest, but at the end of the day, all she did was traumatize a child. She crossed the line, and she will be punished for it.”

Marco stood up. “I’m not some victim! I chose to go on the quest. I should reap the benefits of that quest whether it was official or not!”

“It’s not a prize , Marco. It’s a responsibility,” Moon said. “A responsibility too big for a child to handle.”

Marco slammed his hand on the table. “I’m not a child !”

‘Marco, calm down.’

“Why? Aren’t you pissed that Earth is yet another dimension controlled by self-centered demigods?”

‘Marco, you’re talking out loud-’

“I don’t care ! I finally had a goddamn reason to be on Earth! I would’ve been able to help everyone! I could have a purpose, and it’s all being taken away for no good reason!”

“Marco,” Moon said, standing up in worry.

Marco realized he was hyperventilating. “I’m just fucking back at square one, and I have to work ten times as hard just to get back to the normal standing of a fucking teenager! At least if I could get something more from the quest than this hunk of fucking garbage,” he threw the scissors onto the ground, “It could be worth it! The shit I went through-”

Her eyes went wide and then she was gone.

Oh god he couldn’t breathe.

Piles of corpses littering the ground. He couldn’t save them.

He was on the ground now.

He screamed Marco’s name, but it cut off with a gurgling sound.

“Marco, breathe…”

He couldn’t.

The walls crashing in. He didn’t know what to do!

“Count down from ten.”

Right, right. He just needed to focus. Ten…

Fire, fire everywhere. He couldn’t…

El…

“I… I love you…” A whisper, coated in blood.

Dek…

A spear through the heart, it took too long…

Nine…

He was hanging from the tree, by the neck.

Eight.

Seven.

Marco took a few deep breaths. It seemed like an eternity since he just breathed.

Six.

Five.

“You okay?”

Marco nodded his head slowly. Four.

Three.

Marco opened his eyes and took in the scene. Two.

One. Moon was watching over him carefully, as if she wanted to help, but felt it wasn’t her place. She would be right in that regard.

‘Marco, it wasn’t just the scissors. There were people you saved, slaves you freed, children who got to grow up because of you.’

‘They’re all long past dead.’ It had been eons since he left. The bones of the people he saved would be dirt by now, if that.

‘That doesn’t make your impact any less important. You completely changed their lives. You made that dimension a better place. Just because the other questers thought they weren’t worth anything, doesn’t mean they aren’t. Besides, Heckapoo could’ve stayed true to her promise.”

Marco wasn’t sure. He went back to that dimension once during the night with Thomifat to retrieve the nectar. He was too worried about Jackie and Star to examine everything, but it looked like the forest hadn’t changed at all. Marco wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

‘I really think she did. How could she not after everything we did?’

Yeah, that was true. Marco took a deep breath. Okay, so it wasn’t absolutely for nothing. He couldn't let the bad define him, and he needed to acknowledge the good he did as well.

Marco grabbed the scissors off the ground and put them in his pocket.

That still didn’t stop the fact that Earth was just another dimension exploited by the High Commission, though.

‘I’m not telling you just sit down and accept it. That was never the type of guy you were. One thing at a time though.’

“Yeah, okay,” Marco said, slowly getting up again. “I’m okay.”

“I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have told you all of this at once. It may have been a bit overwhelming,” Moon said.

“It’s okay,” Marco said. It was better that he knew, anyway.

He looked at Moon, who looked pretty guilty at the whole thing, and sighed. It wasn’t like she had been the one who chose Earth as a experiment. A bunch of immortal assholes decided it, and she got roped into being the messenger.

“I’m sorry for freaking out,” Marco said. It’d been a while since he’d had a panic attack that bad.

“It’s quite alright,” Moon said. “It actually gave us a little privacy.”

Marco looked around and noticed the empty seats littering the shop. The only person still there was the clerk, who was paying rapt attention while pretending to fiddle with a machine.

“Yeah, they all left when you started yelling.”

“I’m still sorry. So far all I’ve been doing is flipping my shit. Not exactly a good first impression,” Marco said.

Moon smiled. “It’s okay, dear. We all have our demons.”

“Yeah,” Marco said.

“I suppose I should go get everyone, then. You know, to let them know you’re okay,” Moon said.

Marco nodded. “Okay, but where do we go from there?”

A raging circle of fire floated above the grassland, a good distance from where Marco sat. Heckapoo stepped out of it and stared at him.

Well, if it wasn’t her fucking majesty here to visit. How many years had it been? Seven?

Finally, after a silence that felt like eternity, she said, “We need to talk.”

Marco didn’t even bother looking back at her. What could she possibly want from him right now? He was not in the mood for her bullshit. But considering who she was, she probably knew that already and wanted to mess with him. Couldn’t he grieve in peace?

Heckapoo sighed. “Right, okay, so I guess I < need to talk to you .”

“There’s only one version of you that I want to talk to, and you’re not her,” Marco said. “Go away.”

“You’re right. I’m not her,” Heckapoo said. She walked through the tall grass, stained with blood. “Not entirely.”

Marco just looked up at her and frowned. Heckapoo kept walking, and then nearly tripped over the dead man with his face down in the dirt.

“Ugh, right. This guy. I forgot you had to deal with him after the fact. Why didn’t you let Kar eat him?”

Marco had needed to be alone, so he threatened Kar and told him to return to his arm for the foreseeable future.

“He’s asleep.”

The fact that she knew about Kar at all sent a glimmer of hope through Marco’s chest, but he quickly squashed it. She wasn’t her . H-Poo was dead. The woman who stood in front of him was a complete stranger by comparison.

“Marco,” Heckapoo said, sitting down on a rock beside him. “It’s not like she’s dead or anything.”

“She’s not?” Marco asked.

“She’s inside me now. I’ve got all her memories, her thoughts and feelings-”

“Then let her out.”

“I can’t. She’s not dead, but I can’t just make her exist again. Every clone I create starts as a blank slate with parts of my personality. Her thoughts and feelings- those built over time. I can’t just recreate her.”

Marco sighed and looked back at the corpse. “Then, she’s dead.”

Heckapoo started to answer, and then stopped herself. “She really loved you, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Marco said, not taking his eyes off the man who murdered her. “Why are you here?”

“To be honest, when I found out everything, I was pissed that you managed to seduce her,” she said. “I came here to personally kick your ass.”

Would’ve been better if she came there to kill him.

“But, then I saw you, and I kind of realized we needed to talk to each other.”

“What’s there to talk about?” Marco said bitterly. “H-Poo’s dead and I killed her killer. If you wanted revenge, you’re too late. If you wanted to save her, you’re too late. If you wanted me to care about your stupid quest, you’re too late. If you-” A sob cut him off and he wiped at one of his eyes, like it would make it look like he got something in it and he wasn’t crying hysterically.

“Marco, I’m just… confused,” Heckapoo said, taking a big breath.

“Makes two of us.”

Heckapoo sighed. “I got all of her memories when she… died, and it kind of screwed up my head a little. She’s a part of me now. And now that part of me has the hots for you.”

Heh. That was always how H-Poo worded it, too. “So… what? You’re saying you’re in love with me?”

Heckapoo rolled her eyes. “Don’t get cocky, kid. I’m not going that far. She’s not, like, half of me or anything. She’s one of the millions of clones I’ve vicariously lived through. She’s right there at the forefront now, but a couple more clones and it won’t even matter anymore.”

Marco kicked up the ground a little. “What are you saying?”

“I have her feelings for you, but they’ll be gone before I know it. More flames will get blown out, and I’ll get more memories and it’ll all mix together. Then everything will be back to normal.”

“So, what you’re telling me… is that H-Poo is fucking dead.”

Heckapoo shrugged. “Maybe there is no better way of saying it than that. I’m sorry. She wasn't the first clone that did this sort of thing. They get into relationships sometimes. It’s just never with the person doing the quest. It kind of complicates things.”

“What, so you’re gonna go easy on me now because she died?” Marco asked. He didn’t want her pity.

“No, probably not,” she said. “But I actually know you. If a clone falls in love with a farmer in the mountains, it’s completely separate from me. But I’ve seen you grow over the years. You’re the one thing that’s in every single clone’s memories when I get them, even if it’s just a passing moment of you catching them off guard. I know you, Marco. That’s what’s making this so weird for me.”

Marco looked up at her. He never considered that. He probably spent a total of fifteen minutes with her, but she’d seen everything her clones saw.

She was with him throughout his time in the forest, every day he spent fighting the first clone, as he got closer and closer to beating her. She was there as he grew in ranks through the guild, as he aimed higher and higher. She was there as he fought hand-in-hand against the Elesh Court. It wasn’t her, not really, but she probably knew him better than he knew himself at this point.

“I guess no one else really spent any time with the clones, huh?” Marco said. “You know, other than trying to kill them.”

“Oh yeah, definitely not. But I don’t ever recall one of my clones spying on the quester on their first date, either,” she said.

Marco frowned. “Wait… Guildmaster Heckapoo spied on my first date with Ally?”

“Yeah. She watched the whole thing, dude.”

“But, why? Didn’t she have anything better to do?”

“Who knows?”

“No, you’re not getting away with it that easy. You have her memories.”

“Yeah, okay. She wanted to mess with you. To be fair, it was kind of her job.”

“Holy shit, was she the reason I threw up on Ally’s lap?”

“Yeah, she may have snuck something into your food. Your fault for not checking it, honestly. You should’ve known better.”

“God, she was such a bitch.”

“Yeah. She was.”

They both chuckled a little and then Marco said, “It’s kind of crazy how different your clones are from each other.”

“Yeah, it gets a little overwhelming inheriting their traits sometimes,” Heckapoo said.

“Well, maybe you’ll inherit some of H-Poo’s charm or wit and that’ll just overshadow the asshole clones.”

Heckapoo laughed. “Oh, please. She had, like, no charm. At all. The only reason you guys got together is because you were a raging maniac who wanted your stupid memories back-”

“If she weren’t so concerned about my ‘safety’, I wouldn’t have lost those memories in the first place!” Marco said, smiling.

For just a moment, it felt like he was talking to her again, but then he looked at Heckapoo, the real Heckapoo, and saw the look in her eye- the grief that her smile wasn’t reaching- and he looked back down at the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Marco said.

“Don’t apologize, dude. You’re the one who lost her.”

Marco frowned. He supposed H-Poo lost him, too. “I’m gonna be honest, Heckapoo, I don’t think I can hunt down these clones anymore. They were just objectives before, but now…” Marco took a deep breath. “If they want to live, I don’t want to take it from them, and honestly, they weren't hurting anyone to begin with.”

As much as the guildmaster Heckapoo was an asshole to Marco, she’d been a good leader that he took away from the rest of the guild when he blew her flame out. No one would argue that he wasn't a shitty replacement.

H-Poo had been helping so many people as a doctor, even if it was at the expense of some cash, before he’d whisked her away to fight a war that didn't concern her.

“If it makes you feel better, she was an anomaly,” Heckapoo said. “None of my clones were ever that concerned with living. They get that from me, an immortal being.”

She paused for a moment.

“But, if she existed, others like her could exist too. You’re not wrong for not wanting to get rid of them. You don’t have to.”

“I don’t know if I can just give up on the quest, though-“

“Oh, nothing about the quest said that you had to blow out every clone’s flame. Just mine,” she said. “Lots of questers skipped most of the clones and just took me out. We could duke it out right now and end the quest one way or another.”

Marco laughed. “Yeah, okay. You’d kick my ass any day of the week. Your clone spent the better part of a year with me. You know all my strengths and weaknesses. If I so much as attempted to fight you here, I’d probably end up dead.”

“Not necessarily,” she said.

“Don’t treat me like a kid,” Marco said. “If I won today, it’d be out of pity. Beating you is something I need to earn.”

Heckapoo shut her mouth and then sighed. “Sorry.”

There was a moment where he stared down at the corpse again, the man who’d blown out her flame with a mediocre wind spell- something he’d planned on using to kick up dirt to distract them.

He kind of regretted not telling Kar to just eat the body, but something felt wrong about getting rid of it, like if it wasn’t there, there was no proof H-Poo was killed, no proof she existed. It was a stupid concept now that he thought about it. She had so much crap in that house, they’d have a hard time disproving her existence. Not to mention all those people who are alive today because of her...

Damn, she really was gone…

“If you aren't formally quitting the quest, then I have to stay here,” Heckapoo said. “But if you aren't ready to face me yet, and you don’t want to blow out anymore flames, where are you going from here?”

Marco had spent the last couple hours figuring out the rest of his life. “I was planning on getting a tattoo, getting wasted like nobody’s business, and then fucking up a cult of psychopathic murderers. I imagine she’d want me to finish what we started.”

“If the murderers can wait, I think I need a drink, too,” she said. “Mind if I join you?”

Marco smiled a little. “Just like old times?”

“Yeah. I think she’d like that.”

“Cool. It’s a date then.” Marco started walking towards the nearest village with a bar.

“How about I take us there?” Heckapoo revealed her scissors and tore open a red portal. She gestured Marco to step through. “Ladies first.”

Marco chuckled. He couldn't believe he was about to go drinking with the woman he swore vengeance on for ruining his life. It was a weird-ass day…

Right before he stepped into the portal, he turned to Heckapoo and smiled at her.

“Thanks for everything, H-Poo.”

Heckapoo smiled back. “Don’t call me that.”

“I wasn't talking to you.”