Chapter Text

(picks up from the SDCC Season 4 sneak peek if you haven't seen it)

“Fine!”

As Star stormed away, she could vaguely hear the prison guard quipping back at her, but she was beyond the point of caring about that. Her mom was still missing, she couldn’t afford to waste any more time dealing with that guy! The restlessness only got worse with each failed attempt to find her; Star was nearing her wits’ end, but her drive kept her going. It had to, it just had to, because it was all her fault that Moon slipped away from her in the Realm of Magic. Her legs maintained their solemn march forward into the forest even as her thoughts began to unravel.

“...Star? Star!” Her mind wasn’t processing the worried cries of her name until a pair of hands gripped her shoulders from behind, stopping her in her tracks. “Star, slow down. You don’t even know where you’re going!”

“I do too know where I’m going, Marco!” Star huffed out, glancing just far enough over her shoulder to see Marco’s look of concern. She swatted Marco’s hands away and turned forward to keep walking again… before promptly running face-first into a large pine tree, knocking her down onto her bottom. “Urgh, I hate wood!”

Marco ran up behind her, offering a hand of support which Star reluctantly took. “Are you alright? Please, just… take a minute to breathe. You don’t need to put yourself through this.”

“Yes, I do! I gave Eclipsa the wand, I lost my mom, all the monsters left Mewni, and…” She became increasingly aware of the weight of her purse on her shoulder as she spoke. Her voice trailed off before it could betray her by revealing the other big thing on her mind. At this moment, Star realized that she hadn’t yet released her grip on Marco’s hand; she pulled away as quickly as she could without making it obviously intentional. At least, she hoped it wasn’t obvious - the last thing she wanted right now was to make things any weirder with him than they already were.

“Star, I know you’re worried about all of those things. I am too, but I’m also worried about you. I know you want to help but… maybe this isn’t the best way to do it?” He tentatively offered with a shrug and lopsided smile. A part of Star’s mind roared at her to fight back, to keep up this determination to throw herself at her problems until they went away, but for the first time in a while that didn’t win out. She sighed and gave a slight nod, meeting his gaze. “As your squire and best friend, I’m asking you to just take some time to step back and figure out the plan, OK?” He sliced open a portal back to the castle, which Star followed.

The pair looked around as they silently wandered through the corridors, glancing at the many sites that still had yet to be repaired from Meteora’s attack. Progress was being made, but it was… slow, to say the least, especially with Eclipsa very scarcely appearing within the castle walls herself. Just one more problem to add to the list. But without the wand, she didn’t trust her magic to be stable enough to do the job delicately. And like every other problem, I can’t seem to solve it.

When they arrived at her room, she opened the door and began to step inside until Marco’s voice pulled her out of her dejected train of thought. “Hey, do you, uh, want me to make nachos or anything? I know it’s been a long day and-”

“No, it’s fine, I’m… not hungry right now,” she lied. Star knew Marco well enough to pick up on the subtle difference in his visage before she turned away from him - a slight crestfallen look that indicated he knew something was up, because he knew her well enough to see through her, too.

“Alright. Well, I have squire stuff all day tomorrow so… I should get going…”

“Good night, Marco,” she murmured, not even looking behind her when he shut the door. Great, you Starred that one up, too. Plopping herself on the bed, she buried her face in the pillow and screamed, pounding the bed to let out some of her nerves. Was there anything in her life right now that wasn’t screwed up? That she didn’t screw up? Her final assault on the mattress sent her purse flying up her body, smacking her in the face before landing next to her, the faulty zipper opening up once more. Star grabbed the picture from inside and let herself curl up into a ball, the nervous energy from before giving way to both physical and mental exhaustion.

Beach Day. With Marco. It felt like so long ago - now that Star thought about it, it was probably over a year ago at this point. So many things had changed since those simpler times, but at least he was still here. Her mind wandered back to a week before, when she sent him on a dangerous mission to fight Meteora and he came back soul-sucked. Even after the dust had settled, the memories still haunted her with a paralyzing fear. What if he hadn’t come back? Her stomach, already wracked with hunger pangs, twisted itself into even more uncomfortable knots at the very thought of not having Marco Diaz by her side. This feeling had been creeping up on her for a while, almost since the day climbed into her window and she smacked him with a burrito, but for the longest time she just thought it was wanting her bestie around like the old days! That silly crush was just a phase, right? It was totally, totally, totally fine - or at least, she genuinely thought it was, until… that. She rolled over and reached under her bed until her hands met the smooth, glossy strip of photo paper she was looking for.

The booth. The confession. The kiss.

Even now it all still made Star’s head spin. She never expected any of it; it was weird, it was complicated, it was different. But while she still couldn’t totally think straight about it, and despite her feeble attempts to push it out of her brain to focus on other things, a simple fact cut through the haze and made itself evident: she reciprocated the kiss. It was the one conclusion that Star always arrived at no matter how many times her restless mind tried looking at it in a different light, and that had to mean something. When they first met, she was thrilled to have such a great friend. It had grown into something more during her stay on Earth, but the heartbreak and loneliness managed to smother most of the happiness those feelings could’ve brought her, even in reminiscence. And when he returned to her side, she’d grown to depend on him even more, but any ideas that things were totally fine again with Marco as her squire and bestie and Tom as her boyfriend were just delusions.

Oh corn, Tom. Star pinched her nose in frustration and let out a feeble groan upon realizing she’d just now even bothered to consider his role in this. It was so unsettlingly common for the demon prince to be an afterthought in her life lately, and she knew that had to mean something too, but whatever it was struggled to coalesce into a coherent thought in the mire of her guilty conscience. He had improved himself, he was genuinely fun to spend time with, their relationship was stronger than it ever was the first time! But it was so comforting and normal to put all her trust and attention into Marco that he managed to take center stage in her life mere hours after his return. She knew Tom had struggled with feeling one-upped by Marco - he made it quite clear during their search for Buff Frog - but once again her own naiveté let it all slip by her. The worst part of all: she couldn’t find it in her to regret having Marco as her most trusted companion the whole time, and what kind of girlfriend did that make her to Tom? Doing nothing but thinking about this was making her guts grumble in agony more and more. The past few weeks might have been the most stressful time of her life, but even to Star’s muddled brain that justification for putting this aside was starting to wear thin.

Even if she didn’t use his advice the way he intended, Marco was right earlier: taking a break to reassess the situation was the right call. It didn’t lead to the concoction of a complete, premeditated plan - that was the exact opposite of the signature Star Butterfly style, after all - but she was now sure of the next step she needed to take.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall… Call Tom.”

“Calling Tom…”

Tap, tap, tap. Fingers drummed on the table with no particular rhyme nor rhythm. He supposed he shouldn’t be feeling impatient; it was his idea to come here right away, despite knowing it would be another twenty minutes until....

“Excuse me, Prince Lucitor, are you ready to order?” Tom turned his three eyes towards his usual server, sporting a blazer embroidered with the restaurant’s name: Cornferno. Did everything in the Underworld have to reference fire or lava or death? That kind of edge wasn’t his thing; a small smile came to his face as he pondered the idea that when he eventually took the throne, he could change it.

“No, I’m waiting for… someone,” he responded with a faltering uncertainty. The waiter smiled politely and left Tom to his anxious brooding, despite the fact that with Tom being a regular customer here, he almost certainly could guess who that someone was. One advantage to being a demon with anger issues: almost everyone privy to that fact took extra caution not to poke that particular bear. Point Lucitor, he mused sardonically.

He’d now taken to bouncing a small fireball back and forth between his hands, following the flames with his eyes to try and clear his head (and to make sure he wouldn’t get so distracted as to cause property damage). A talk between him and Star had been due since the Meteora incident over a week ago - if he was being honest with himself, maybe a while earlier than that - but he knew her life had been turned upside-down and tried his best to be sympathetic to that. It still wasn’t easy, but he was handling it far better than his past self would have. Marco kissed Star. Tom was upset, hurt, and maybe even a little bit angry... but he knew there had to be more to it. Marco was his best friend and genuinely cared about him, and so did Star; he wasn’t new to messing things up, it was only right to give them a chance.

The signature fwoosh of his winged demon chauffeur outside caught Tom’s attention, his fireball dissipating as he looked toward the door. He sat up in his seat, straightening his jacket and smoothing out his tie; he initially hadn’t been sure what to wear, but when Star entered the restaurant in one of her nicer blue dresses, he knew he had made the right call. Star sat down across from him and gave a smile, but it looked like even the rest of her face wasn’t buying it. “Hey, Tom, how’s it, uh, going?” Star said in an overly chipper tone.

“Alright, I guess… just been taking it easy since the whole Meteora thing. Demons are tough... but man does my back still hurt after that fight.”

“Sorry I haven’t been able to visit, I really wanted to! It’s just with Eclipsa, and Mom still being gone…”

“Hey, I totally get it. You’ve got a lot of stuff going on! So have you, uh, made any progress on finding your mom yet?”

“No…” She groaned despondently, resting her head in one hand. “Pegasus feathers, where do I begin? Well, I looked all over the castle, for starters. I went through the Forest of Certain Death yesterday, checked out all of our prisons today… where would a stupid magic unicorn thing even want to send a person? It doesn’t make sense, rrrgh! I want to go back to the Realm of Magic at some point, but jeez is it creepy in there. Everything goes all sparkly and stuff and you get really happy and never want to leave. I only got out the first time because Marco called my name and that broke the trance and then I figured out how to use my butterfly form and-” Her rambling had been gradually speeding up to a fever pitch as she delivered what Tom knew must have been a much-needed vent session, but she abruptly froze in place.

Tom simply returned her wide-eyed stare - partially to give her time to finish her thought, but mostly because he was still processing all of the information she just dumped that he hadn’t known before. Guess that explains the whole “yellow with six arms” thing.

After a seemingly eternal handful of seconds, she closed her eyes, clenched her jaw, and swallowed before putting her hands back on the table.

“Tom, we need to… I want… I have to tell you something.” He was fairly certain that he knew what she was going to say, but he figured it was best to let her speak; he didn’t exactly have the best track record with comforting words, a fact he lamented now more than ever. Star gulped once more before meeting his eyes…

...until her stomach let out a hollow rumble loud enough for Tom to hear.

A sheepish grin blossomed on her visage. “Um… if we could get some cornshakes first, though, heh… I haven’t eaten all day.” He looked at the waiter - who had been nervously paying attention to the palpable tension at their table, lest another grand Butterfly/Lucitor argument erupt - and motioned for two cornshakes. The tall glasses were delivered blazingly fast, and Tom sipped his idly while Star practically inhaled hers. A part of Tom - more specifically, a group of whiny little demon-things inside of him - was getting irritated at further delays to the talk that had been on his mind for a while. Oddly enough, though, the sensation that overpowered it was one of calmness. Star’s genuine embarrassment, the ambient music the restaurant was playing, the antics of Star snorting as she slurped way too quickly… it was comfortable and familiar enough to cut through the worst of the anxiety gnawing away at his mind.

“Oooooh yeah, that hit the spot,” Star purred, sliding down in the seat a bit with a content glow before clearing her throat and sitting back up straight. She took a deep breath before looking Tom right in the eyes - well, his lower two, anyway. “Marco and I kissed.” Tom knew the words were coming, he’d played this scene out over and over again in his head, but he still visibly flinched when her voice connected with his ears. He caught the tiniest bit of demon fire flaring from his closed eyes and suppressed it as quickly as he could. “It… it was an accident, I screwed everything up…” Her voice trembled dejectedly.

Tom had been feeling the raging demonic voice threatening to escape his lips, but the meekness in Star’s voice tugged at his heartstrings and calmed the fire within. Once he felt sufficiently steady, he opened his eyes and nodded slowly, more to himself than to her. “I had a feeling that’s what you called about tonight…”

“What?” Star’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“Marco told me already, when we were fighting Meteora. It seemed kinda grim, and he confessed that he kissed you. I didn’t really know what to think, but... I trusted Marco with my life that day and he did the same. He’s my friend - you both are. It definitely hurts a bit, yeah, but I’d be a terrible friend if I didn’t at least hear you out.” Tom met her gaze expectantly; now was the real moment of truth. He knew something had been up in their relationship since Marco came back, but he was too oblivious about what that might be until recently. Still, he couldn’t be sure until he heard her side, so he steeled himself for whatever was to come.

“It was at the wedding a few weeks ago. I just wanted to take some goofy pictures with him in the photobooth like old times, y’know? They kept coming out funky, I dunno, it just didn’t feel right and I didn’t know what was wrong. Finally… Marco told me things were different for him since I left Earth. Different feelings… for me. I thought, ‘Hey, he was honest with me, so maybe stuff will be better now!’ The camera started snapping for the last photo and… it just kinda happened. And now everything is right back to being messed up again - who am I kidding, it hasn’t even been normal since long before I came back to Mewni.” The absent-minded stirring of his cornshake mirrored the whirling thoughts and questions in Tom’s mind, so he stayed silent for a few more seconds until Star resumed speaking. “I don’t really know what else to say. How do you feel right now?”

“Honestly, I’m not totally sure,” he responded truthfully. Tom noticed the uncomfortable, almost pained look in her features, and his own disquietude simmered down. “How do you feel about what happened, though?” It escaped him without thinking, but he realized it was what he, and they, needed to talk about most now. This would never go anywhere if it became all about him - he’d had enough firsthand experience in that to know it always made things worse.

Star stared at the table for a few seconds, only moving to try and slurp out the last few drops from her cup by idle instinct more than desire. She recoiled instantly; the shake had been sitting awhile now and had almost certainly decomposed into an unappetizing warm slurry. “Confused and guilty, but... I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel something… for Marco.” Her hands started playing with her hair, which rapidly became unkempt. “Back on Earth, I did have a crush on him for a bit - that’s what led to Song Day, kinda - I don’t know, it’s not quite that either. Everything’s been blowing up in my face lately and I don’t understand anything anymore.”

Maybe he’d tried to convince himself otherwise, maybe he’d just subconsciously pushed it out of his mind, but the truth finally smacked him in the face. On some level Tom realized he’d known it for a while: that nagging need to prove himself against Marco, the way Star broke down after he returned with the Marco balloon, the way they acted after he came back to life… Star loved Marco, there was no denying that anymore. His demonic rage didn’t even spark up inside of him at all; despite how calm the mellow jazz and light chatter in the largely empty restaurant was, when he grasped for an explanation for his feeling right now, his mind drifted back towards aftermath the big battle with Meteora. Everything had been too jumbled to really process what was happening with Star and Marco then, but when he came to, he had felt an overwhelming sensation of relief that they were all safe and happy that drove out whatever grief and anger might have formed.

Tom closed his eyes and channeled that into as zen a state as possible when he finally spoke. “Starship, I… I think we need to break up.”

“Tom, I-”

He looked her fiercely in the eyes as if pleading with her to not give him any reason to turn back. “Star, we can’t fool ourselves anymore that this can work. You have really strong feelings for Marco, and he has something for you, too, and we’d all suffer more if we kept this up when your heart isn’t in it.” Once more, his eyes sealed shut as his head sagged. “Maybe we should never have even gotten back…”

Her hand gently landed on top of his arm in the center of the table, blue orbs filled with concern staring into his soul when he met them once more. “Hey, don’t say that, Tom… I had fun. You’re a great guy, really. Maybe stuff didn’t work out, but I think we caused a looooot less property damage this break-up.” A grin wormed its way onto Star’s face until she finally couldn’t contain it and burst out in a fit of giggling, and he couldn’t help but join her until it died down a few seconds later. “Friends, this time?”

Tom cracked a bittersweet pointy-toothed smile. “Yeah, Star, of course. I, uh... I might need a bit of time, though.”

“Totally, totally, totally… well, I guess I should get home. Thanks for the cornshake, and, uh, sorry. Again.” Star returned his expression, looking a hundred times lighter than she did earlier.

“Don’t worry about me so much, you’ve got enough on your plate. Let’s get that carriage for you.”

The pair stood up and made their way towards the doors and outside the restaurant. Tom wasn’t sure if the restaurant kept a tab with his family or not - they just never asked him to pay and he never questioned it.

Tom looked over to see Star gazing at the night sky; it wasn’t an actual sky, but the various minerals in the vast ceiling of the Underworld sparkled all the same.

“No matter what, I am really glad we reconnected, Tom. We had our ups and downs, but you’re a good friend. We’ve both changed a lot over the years, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess we have.” The winged demon finally arrived, tugging the carriage to return Star home. “One last thing, Star: please talk to Marco. Like, soon. He’s probably feeling as weird about this as you were. Plus I’d kinda feel like an idiot if we broke up for nothing.”

“I will, I promise.”

“Which floor, mortal?” the demon rumbled impatiently.

“The ‘Butterfly Castle’ floor, I guess?” Star responded unsurely. She hopped up into the vehicle and turned around at the entryway, giving him one more lopsided grin. “Bye, Tom. And thanks, for everything, I really mean it.” With that, she was taken off into the sky in a puff of flame.

“See ya, Starship,” he said, but no one was left to hear it besides himself. Normally he’d open a gate to the Lucitor castle, but tonight felt like a good night to walk home instead. Even with a heavy heart, there seemed to be less weighing him down overall. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and held his head high as he traveled down the memory-filled boardwalk;Tom felt a comfort that they’d done the right thing, that it would all be OK. As Tom began the long trek home, he was finally ready to start putting it behind him.

Marco leaped back to dodge the latest in a seemingly unending onslaught of slashes. The last of Kelly’s strikes lodged the tip of her blade into the soil; Marco took the opportunity to dash back toward his opponent, but she got her defenses back up to parry his blow. She was deft even with such a heavy broadsword, and despite wielding a much more nimble sabre he consistently found himself even or outmatched.

She charged again and Marco managed to block her, but the momentum of her swing knocked him to the ground. He instinctively went into a defensive position, but she didn’t follow up with another offensive.

“Is that the best you’ve got, Marco? I think some of my fights with Tad were tougher than this!” Kelly’s shout was vibrant and energetic, but this was just their usual repartee - she was breathing a little bit harder, swinging a little bit slower, and her hair was getting frazzled at the edges, all telltale signs that this was exhausting her just as much as it was him.

One deep breath later and Marco was back on his feet, circling slowly as the two sparring partners locked eyes. Kelly let out a battle cry as the two charged forward at each other, but Marco had an ace up his sleeve. At the last second he switched his grip on El Choppo and dove down, attacking with a kick instead and dodging Kelly’s high swing. The low blow made her stumble and Marco took advantage of the situation by karate chopping her arm with his free hand, causing her to drop the sword. Kelly spun around and thrashed out, but Marco deflected her tackle attempt and sent her reeling to the ground. He sauntered over and stood above her, dangling his blade near her head as she rolled over to face him.

“Do you accept defeat?” Marco asked smugly, but Kelly just glared at him in silence. A rush of satisfaction was coursing through his entire being; both of them knew he’d been swiftly improving in recent weeks, and this was the first time he’d actually found himself on the winning end of the duel with his green-haired friend. “No surrender, Kelly? So dishonorable,” he continued, his voice thick with sarcasm. “I expected better from yoOOOOF-” A sudden slam to his back caught him completely off-guard as he toppled over. Marco tried to stand up one last time, but couldn’t muster the strength to continue the fight and tapped himself out. He rolled over and saw Kelly and Jorby both looming over him. “Not cool, guys,” he huffed out as Kelly pulled him to his feet.

“Hey, if you had 16 years to train like you said, that basically makes you two teenagers,” Kelly chided back at him.

“That’s not how math works, Kelly. Besides, I didn’t even get my skill back until squire training, anyway! Maybe Hekapoo’s dimension gave me some kind of muscle memory but I still had to train afterwards, same as anyone else. Not fair,” he pouted. He wasn’t mad, but it did sting having his chance at victory stolen right from his grasp.

Jorby reared up on his hind legs, getting the attention of the pair. “All’s fair in love and war, man. And everyone is constantly at war with the crushing weight of life!” Silence lingered for a moment as Marco and Kelly just stared at the four-legged creature, but their stoic facades cracked as they began laughing at the outburst. “What’s so funny, guys? C’mon!” Jorby whined.

Kelly waved dismissively at him. “Don’t worry about it, Jorb. Same time next week?”

“You know it, Kells,” he responded before trotting off.

“You too, Marco?”

Marco let out a deep sigh. “I dunno, Kelly. Stuff is crazy at the castle right now… Today is kind of a day off, not sure when we’ll get another one. Star’s still really freaked out over… well, everything. There’s a lot to do.”

Her hand touched his arm, stopping him from slicing a portal with his scissors. “How are you holding up, though?”

“It’s… it’s been rough on me too, I guess?” His mind reeled trying to come up with a good enough answer - he’d barely given himself much thought lately. Things had just felt more light recently, like every task was just a little bit easier and every stress weighed him down just a little bit less. “I’ve been living on Mewni for a while now, I don’t want to see everything fall apart either, but... it’s not fair that Star has to deal with so much, she’s just a teenager like you or me! I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t try to help her out.”

She smiled and shook her head, letting go of Marco’s arm. “Not quite what I meant, Marco. Well, get back to whatever you need to do. I’m sure you and Star will get through it, you always do. Let me know about next week when you can.”

The telltale sound of spacetime ripping echoed out, and one step forward later Marco found himself back at the Butterfly home. As usual, coming back to the cool castle after an intense day of duties felt refreshing… until his own scent finally registered in his nostrils. Resisting the urge to gag, he made a beeline straight for the nearest shower with a change of clothes and supplies already in his bag - he always came prepared.

After shedding his sweaty fighting gear, he stepped under the cool stream of water and stood there for a minute in reflection. He was touched by Kelly’s concern for him… and she was right, he couldn’t just focus on the kingdom’s issues. But at the same time… he just wasn’t sure how he felt, what he should do, if there was anything he could do there. He’d promised himself he’d be there for the birth of his brother, but that was still about a month away. Squire training was going better than ever; he was still miffed about not getting a win today, sure, but every week was closer than the last. And as for Star… well, she was right that night in the booth. He did feel better after talking about his feelings. Things were still weird and confusing, but in the way that made him want to be around her even more rather than try and hide away from everything. Just being here, doing whatever he could, was more fulfilling than it ever had been.

Once he dried off, he slipped on a pair of jeans and his goblin dog shirt and headed back to his room, making a quick detour to the kitchen for a new box of Sugar Seeds to stash safely in his room away from Star’s prying. Marco spaced out trying to figure out how he might spend the rest of his evening and opened the door, absentmindedly walking over to sit on the bed. He plopped down backwards… and found something not as soft as he was expecting.

“RAINBOW FIST PUNCH!” Marco shrieked and fell off the bed as a large hole was blown in his ceiling. He collected himself to find a wide-eyed Star standing on his bed in a fighting position.

“Star?”

She blinked a few times before looking back and forth between her hands and the roof. “Oh, shoot, Marco… I must’ve dozed off, I’m so sorry, I’ll fix-”

“Don’t worry about it,” he grunted as he got to his feet. “What, uh, were you doing in here anyway?” he asked, more surprised than upset.

“Oh, I was just in the neighborhood, and thought I’d stop by and… defend your room! In case Meteora comes back!" Marco raised his eyebrow at the obviously false grin plastered on her face. Something was up with her last night too - well, more than usual, anyway - and he didn’t know what. Finally her facade crumbled under his unyielding suspicious gaze. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded once to herself before sitting down on the bed and looking back up at him. “I... there’s something we should talk about.” Marco had seen Star in plenty of grim situations since his arrival on Mewni, but the intensity in her voice spooked him more than most of those had. He sat down next to her, the pair turning to face each other.

“Did something happen? Any new leads on your mom?”

“Nah, nothing with my mom… we need to talk about, uh… us,” she spoke timidly, the last word practically squeaked out.

Marco felt warm, too warm, almost burning as his eyes opted to focus on how interesting a particular piece of the carpet looked right now. “Is this about the booth?” he asked so softly as to not let any excess emotion creep into his voice.

“Nnnnn… kinda. Tom and I… we, uh, broke up last night.”

What? his mind screamed. “What?” his mouth followed a second later. Marco’s stomach instantly somersaulted a few dozen times at a tumultuous onslaught of emotions. Guilt, empathy, some sort of twisted joy, an immediate shame for that joy… “Ugh, this is my faul-”

“No, Marco, it’s not,” she quickly butted in. “It was mutual, we realized it was just… not gonna work. Because of my feelings.”

Tha-thump, tha-thump, tha-thump - the sound of his heart pumping was practically deafening him by now. He opened his mouth to ask more, but words failed him; he at least hoped whatever guttural noise came out sounded inquisitive enough.

Star gave him a bit of a funny look, but it seemed as though she grasped his intention as she continued. “Remember what you said in the booth? About things being different for you? I… I realized they were for me, too. Maybe for longer than I thought, but I didn’t realize it until after… the booth. It just wasn’t right to keep things going like that.”

“By ‘different’, do you mean...” he trailed off, his mouth unwilling to voice his thoughts, his hopes.

“Like… like back how it was on Earth, when I told you about my crush. Except it just feels like so much more than that now. And it’s weird, and it’s been so long, and so much has happened, and… urgh,” she groaned, curling up into a ball on the bed. Marco’s mind raced - she had feelings for him, too! But he couldn’t celebrate, not when the turmoil of Star’s heart was hurting her; he couldn’t bear to see her feel this kind of anxiety because of him again. His arms lifted into the air slightly, hovering over Star as though unsure how to comfort her in her fragile state without making things worse, before dropping back to his sides.

He was once again very aware of the sensation in his stomach, like his insides were constantly flipping themselves over. It reminded him of the booth, and even of the night of the party on Earth. “How are your guts feeling now?”

Star rolled over slightly to look back at him. “Like a long, steady grrrrrrrrr that won’t leave me alone.” A slight smile encroached on her face as their eyes finally met. “But… not a bad one, really.”

“Heh, mine too.” He cast his gaze downwards once more. Why does this still have to be so awkward? She knew he liked her! He knew she liked him! But Star was right: a lot had changed for both of them, between both of them… An overwhelming urge to express, somehow, what he felt for her bubbled up within him. Memories from the past year flooded his mind as he leaned back on his elbows and stared at the starry night sky. “That time you went off to find the weird voice calling you in your sleep… my guts were exploding then. I couldn’t stop freaking out. We couldn’t find you, and I thought that I was really gonna lose you, and...” Any more words he might have said were buried by the weight of the emotion in his voice.

“I know what you mean, Marco.” She finally sat up, joining him in his stargazing. “When you were balloonified by Meteora, I just... fell apart. After you came back, everything just felt right again. I hadn’t realized just how much you mean to me. Or maybe I did, but I was blind to what that feeling was.”

“It took me forever to realize it, too. We both messed it up, huh?” His hand unconsciously shifted over to hers. When he registered what had happened, his eyes widened comically as he froze up.

She threaded her fingers through his, sending shockwaves through his nervous system and melting his anxiety away, before giving a lopsided smile. “I suppose so, mess-up twin. At least we figured it out.”

“Yeah. So… what now?”

“We’ll just keep moving forward, I think.” Star let go of his hand and stood up, beginning to pace back and forth nervously. “Still gotta find my mom, figure out what’s gonna happen with Eclipsa, the magic realm is still spooking me out a bit, and even Glossaryck is off doing whatever it is that little blue freak does…”

Marco got on his feet and grabbed her shoulders, looking directly into her eyes and giving the most comforting grin he could. “Don’t worry, Star, I’m not going anywhere. I swore a squire’s oath!”

She dove forward and wrapped her arms around his middle, the strength in her grip making him lose his breath. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” After a moment, he followed suit.

“I’ll be here for you. We’ll get through it,” he responded softly, gently rubbing her back. The pair remained intertwined as seconds turned to minutes. Her slow, steady breathing and the faint thumping of her heartbeat lulled Marco into a sense of absolute contentedness. Everything he’d felt for her in recent months that had been a source of heartbreak finally flooded his chest with joy, relief, and… love. Maybe he’d known that but denied it to spare himself, he wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter now; the moment his brain admitted that fact, it felt as though everything clicked into place.

“I love you,” they whispered out simultaneously, as natural as breathing. His heart threatened to leap out of his chest as they both stepped back, still keeping their arms on one another, teary brown orbs meeting glistening blue.

His head moved forward involuntarily until his lips found hers in the middle. One of his arms settled around her waist as he moved the other to cradle her head. He felt her own hand run through his hair as her other arm draped around his neck, pulling him ever closer into her. The fleeting joy of their first kiss in the booth was nothing compared to the unearthly bliss he was experiencing now. Did it last seconds? Hours? Marco couldn’t be sure how long it went on, but it finally came to its end as they separated. Star’s cheekmarks were glowing, an ethereal pink hue lighting the area around their faces. She brought her hands up and cupped his face, and Marco noticed a yellowish glow dancing between her fingers.

“Marco… your face...” she murmured in disbelief as the light from the pairs of hearts and moons finally died down. She poked lightly at where his cheekmarks had just vanished, and Marco giggled at the sensation. Star laughed in response and started to squish his face, and both of them fell into hysterics as he tried to swat her hands away while she kept up the assault. He wiped the tears from his eyes and saw her grinning lovingly at him. She pulled him forward and he didn’t resist as the two melted into another kiss.

And through the hole in the ceiling, the red rays from the moon high above found their way to the pair of bonded souls once more.

“Alright, let’s give this a try.” Magic channeled through her body as her cheekmarks began glowing. Power she hadn’t felt in quite a while coursed down her arms into the wand. Wordless blast after wordless blast fired from the tip of the parasol, creating a series of ear-shattering explosions as they careened off the crystal into the ceiling. A wail erupted from behind her and she sighed, scooping up the infant from her crib and sitting on a nearby rock.

“Don’t worry, my love. I’ll figure this out,” she sighed out as she rocked the child back and forth to calm her. Spell after spell had failed to break the crystal containing the size-shifting monster, but she was far from giving up. Queen Eclipsa Butterfly had gotten back her kingdom and her daughter, but it seemed it would be a bit longer until she had her King back as well. “We’ll free Papa soon, isn’t that right, my little darling Meteora?” she cooed gently to the baby who had finally grown content in her arms. Eclipsa rubbed the infant’s belly, eliciting a happy squeal and tail wag in response. “Grandmama had a spell for it, so we just have to figure out how to cast it! Yes she did! Yes she did!”

“Why, yes, she did.” Eclipsa whipped her head up to the new voice, coming from the direction of the ruptures in the temple roof. She hadn’t recognized it at first, but upon seeing its origin, a wide smile erupted on her face.

“Hello there, Glossaryck.”

“At your service, my queen.”