When you get older, you get m ore responsibilities. Thus you have less time to do things you actually want, like writing. But this new semester has yielded a schedule I can easily find time to write around and return to my fic-rotation that I planned at the end of the summer.

Here's a nice, 7,500 word chapter to welcome y'all back. If you'd like a refresher of important bits just shoot me a PM and I'll gladly refresh you, just in case you don't want to read through the whole story again.

Last Time...

But that was before he met Star, and she made his life so great and scary and big and... Just complicated - and Marco didn't know what to believe anymore. Now do I believe myself? ceaselessly encircled his thoughts all the while.

"I'm just a liability to Star."

He could have declined playing Flags - it was in his power to say no, and deep inside he didn't want to play... the last thing he wanted to do now was upset his best friend.

Now do I believe myself?

He knew what happened just by the look on her face. From that look, he knew who she'd spoken to, what it was about, and a notion of what was said. And it was yet another reminder of the question which plagued his every waking hour.

*0*0*0*0*0*

There was just so much now: Marco's nightmares, Marco almost dying, Marco actually dying, and what her mother had screamed at her to tie it all in an ugly ribbon.

Star could not help what happened next, even if she were in the right mind to do so, the relief knowing that Marco was alive was so overwhelming that her lips crashed into his.

She just kissed him. Oh my gosh, I kissed Marco... The Blood Moon... I was relieved, that's all. The Moon of Lovers... But she just kissed her best friend.

All the while, Mom's words plagued the back of her mind: "He is NOT a 'liability,' Star! That is NOT what I am SAYING!"

*0*0*0*0*0*

Earth-sky is blue, Mewni-sky is pink. Rainbows are beautiful. And Marco's dreams had gotten worse.

These, too, felt real. Startlingly, achingly real.

It was hard, keeping up with these nightmares, especially since they came every night now. It was two in succession before Flags, and then nothing the night of the accident...

The coppery tang of blood some nights, the musk of a mewman in heat on another; the gravel crunching beneath her feet, the tremors that shook her arms whenever a spell was fired off, the warmth of Marco Diaz every time she hugged him, his body quake in her arms, and the tears that always soaked her through her dress and gave an idea as to why Marco hated wet socks...

"You have my back," she said with finality, "and I have your's. No matter what."

.

.

.

"...Marco..."

"...You cannot run away from yourself, Marco..."

"Yeah!? Why don't you finally come here and show me what you're made of, demon?!" She threateningly beat her wand against her breast, a confident smirk on her face.

"...We will meet again..."

"Whoever this creep is, I'm not gonna let one night pass while you're his victim. I won't rest until you're safe. Marco!" He had wrenched his gaze away from her - he couldn't help but feel humiliated, having Star fight his battles for him because he was so helpless inside his own head.

"Hey," he asked, "in the other times, was I given a key?"

"Don't worry, Little Marco! We'll talk about this next time! Sweet dreams and junk!"

Marco breathed in. His chest expanded to its limits before the grip on his lungs was released with a controlled, system-cleansing sigh.

"This is nice."

Behind him, Star giggled. "What makes you say that?"

He shrugged, smirking. "I dunno. It just is."

"I know what you mean," Star agreed.

It was a dream come true, really. Although he loved weird adventures and fighting monsters, Marco scarcely remembered the last time he and Star were so calm and content in each other's presence.

That was a lie, of course. Marco knew exactly when the last time was - the day before going after that stupid sandwich filled his memory. But it didn't matter, because it just didn't. The past is the past, and moving forward was all that mattered. Things had become just too complicated, and it seemed in Marco's mind they would be a lot easier if like this all the time.

Just him and Star, enjoying the warmth of one another's presence, currently upon a flat-topped rock. He didn't need to see her to know she was there - she was always there, having his back just as he had her's.

Marco's eyes traveled upward, absorbing the rich, blue sky expanding before him until his neck bent, and his head bopped the back of Star's - implying she was doing the same - and together their eyes stared into the heavens above them.

The blue he'd grown so accustomed to stopped abruptly, changing to a deep pinkish-purple.

But that isn't what made Marco gape, and coo in harmony with his best friend behind him.

Sitting upon the heavens' divide, directly above their heads, was a blood-red moon. Upon its rocky surface, a huge, cartoon-y keyhole gazed upon them - a featureless, unfathomably deep abyss eyeing them with its secrets.

"What do you think it means?" wondered Marco. He's seen a lot - emphasis on A LOT - of weird stuff on his adventures with Star Butterfly, but nothing quite like a lunar body that required a key, or anything of worth that had to be 'unlocked.' Once upon a time, Marco would assume this was a metaphorical lock, but his days dimension-hopping taught the young boy how to expand his mind, and accept the unexpected.

But this truly was something else - something way over his head (literally and metaphorically, the little Star in his thoughts joked).

And before he could hypothesize its meaning, the princess at his back shifted away from him, voluntarily disrupting this fragile divide between them. Marco really didn't care. He turned and met her part of the way, not halfway, instead - turning slightly toward the girl kneeling upon the rock, leering at him with a grin.

"I know what it means," Star sang vaguely, in a mischievous, low voice to match. Her nacho-scented breath wafted in his face, and though Marco wanted to gag he had nowhere to go. And besides, he accepted Star for all her faults (though she really should do something about fixing a few of them).

He smirked, playing along. "Oh yeah? Well, mind giving me a clue?"

Star leaned a tad closer. Her eyes lowered to half-mast. "I think you do, too."

"Guh... Star? You do know Kingdom Hearts isn't a real story, right? I'm pretty sure we're not gonna find a - "

"Not a blade - but we've got a key! Except you don't need this key Marco. You can unlock it yourself, whenever you want, wherever!" Star frowned. "But, you don't want to. This mental block in your brain, wrapped in chains forged in rationale like steel. They'll never come undone, unless you let them! Or someone does it for you."

Marco blinked. "Star, have you been getting into the fun dip again?"

The princess glowered. "I'm being serious here, Marco. Do you know what'll happen when you break the lock?"

He played with the collar of his white undershirt. "Um, no? W-What will that do?"

"Oh, awful stuff! Terrible things. You don't know what, and yet you do! You deny their existence yet tuck 'em all away in a big fancy box! ...Your heart, I mean." She pointed upwards.

Marco's mouth gaped in confusion. Just what was Star trying to tell him? She's never been so... mysterious, before. Like, ever.

"I want to do something, Marco," Star said, suddenly. "But you gotta just trust me, and promise not to freak out. Just let it happen, and then give me your honest opinion like always."

The boy gulped as a million horrible things formed from his fantasies. "Star... if this is just going to be like that time you burped in my ear..."

"Nonono, this is different! I swear. Now, just..." she leaned close, murmuring, "shut your eyes, for like, five seconds."

He did as he was told. The achingly familiar rise of anxiety suffocated him, made it hard to breathe. "O-Ok, eyes'r shut. Now wha-mmf!"

And she kissed him.

"Now... did that feel wrong?" Star teased.

Her eyes were at half-mast and as deep and beautiful as the bluest lake Marco'd ever seen. "N-No."

"But...?"

He felt shame. "But it was wrong." Her hand was suddenly on his cheek, to which Marco resisted shivering at the contact. There was a lot of unexpected things that were happening these last few weeks.

But he never anticipated Star glaring at him with such disappointment. "Marco," she said sincerely, "I thought you were honest, and smarter than me, besides!"

"S-Star, I like Jackie..." He cursed himself for sounding so uncertain, or at least as much as he truly felt.

"No one cares this much about someone unless it's love, Marco. And you know what Mister Diaz always says..." She lifted a finger, ready to recite, while Marco did the same and ignored how, exactly, Star knew it at all: "'The things we do for love.'"

The two teens laughed, but it was all they could do before silence crept back in. Marco dropped his gaze, swallowing hard. "It still feels wrong though, Star. I just... I guess, I shouldn't be feeling like this. And... And neither should you! AGH!" Marco gripped his head. "This is so... much, Star! Too much! You, you're not supposed to like me this way. You're a princess, and I'm-!"

Her arms ensnared him. "My best friend, whom I love very very much," she recited, grinding her cheek hard against his.

Marco grimaced, not at her usual 'enthusiastic' display of affection. "Don't say that word, Star," he muttered. The boy's chest ached so bad, it was impossible not to speak. "You can't feel that way about me. It's impossible for this to have a happy ending, and even if it could we shouldn't-"

With a sharp long, long gasp... and a beat of silence, Star held her friend out in front of her. "Did you just tell me that something is impossible?"

Panic filled his eyes. "Star, wait, let me explain-"

"Marco, you've no idea what I'm willing to do for you! I'd end lives if it meant saving your's! I would break a million laws if it meant I could be with you!"

"NO!" Marco roared, just as Star was thrown aside, suddenly gone. He would have thought his own voice did that had a trail of posies not hovered before him for a moment before dissipating. The flowery scent gagged Marco as he forgot all anger, drained by a spear driven into his heart. He tore from his spot across the meadow, stumbling in his rush with a cry of, "STAR!" Clawing through the terrain he maintained balance and ignored the dirt caked underneath his fingernails. "STAR!" The girl lay motionless, thrown half a football field away.

But as Marco neared, darker, earthier smears of green streaked her dress and stained her milky skin. Tears welled his eyes and made it blessedly hard to see. This is a nightmare.

Just as he was about to reach her, a strong, familiar voice cracked against the emptiness in the distance behind him: "Marco, NO."

The boy whirled around, panting with the horror suffocating him plastered upon his face. He gawked at what he saw. Marco attempted three times before succeeding in choking out a strangled, "S-Star!?"

The girl Marco thought was seriously hurt now jogged up to him. Not only did she have her wand out - solving one mystery he was too terrified to consider beforehand - she was in her blue nightie with socks to match.

"OW!" she winced, gasping as she slowed to a stop. "I should really start wearing boots before coming in here. I think I stepped on a rock."

Marco clenched his eyes, bewildered. "STAR! What is going on!? Who-!? I-I...!" The head of a wand pressed to his lips. He batted it away while this Star shushed him. "Don't do that, it's been in your mouth."

The princess hugged the royal Butterfly heirloom defensively. "It's not my fault it tastes like kettle corn!" A beat of thought. "Kinda... Okay it definitely tastes like that because of me."

She's more like Star than the other one was.

Marco sighed into his hands raggedly... steadily morphing it into disbelieving laughter. Lightness he hadn't felt all day, as familiar as an old friend, filled his breast and made him lighter than air. To Star's concerned look he explained, "I should be used to mood whiplash at this point."

As Star eased a shy grin to her face, she asked, "Are... Are you okay?"

"That remains to be seen. Like, why are there two of you? I know you must be the 'real' one. At least..." Marco's gut sank, "...I hope-"

"That's a monster."

She spoke so low, and so fast, that Marco had to be sure he didn't mishear. "W-What?" he squeaked. It didn't sit well with him. The implications concerned him if this Star was right, and the one she attacked turned out to be an impostor trying to fool him. To what ends, he could not begin to fathom. Do I not recognize my own Star?

Star strolled past him, her expression suddenly cold and controlled and driving a cold claw into Marco's spine. She hasn't been this serious since...

Bright, pink flames flashed before him.

They vanished quick as they came, replaced by Star Butterfly standing above Star Butterfly, her back towards him. The cleaved wand was clutched in both hands, pointed at the unconscious being at her socked feet.

"I know you're not asleep." She swung a foot into her side. "Get up!" Star snapped. "Either face me now, or crawl back under your rock like always."

Either his best friend was totally right, and being really scary, or she had officially lost her mind and was talking like a crazy person to someone that wasn't there. "Um, Star? Whoever you think that is, I don't think she's ever gonna-"

"hEe-HyAh-HyAh-HyAh-HyAh-HYAH!" The sun shone warmly upon them, and a gentle breeze rolled by. The Star Butterfly strewn across the grass jerked her limbs as she howled, her elbows bent at impossible angles as her slim chest arced upwards. Black oil pooled in her eyes and wept down her heart-stamped cheeks; carnivorous chompers clacked in time with the unholy laughter spilling from her throat.

His heart racing, Marco was prepared to adopt a fighting stance before his best friend stood between them. What on Earth...? What is this? Nothing he ever heard in his life produced such a bloodcurdling sound.

But the real princess merely glowered. Of course Star was used to this kind of thing. "Stop laughing and face me, you coward."

Bones crackled as the creature's disturbingly familiar face twitched in their direction, lips pulled back to reveal a shark-like smile. "tHe PiEcEs ArE iN pLaCe, AnD nOw ThE rEsT wIlL fOlLoW." An oily teardrop drooped from her cheek, a rivulet crawled across her upper lip to join it.

"Then I'll just come back and beat you," Star coolly answered. "And ya know what? You're gonna lose every time, demon. I'm never gonna stop until you're destroyed."

'Star' sighed with pleasure. "tHiS iS tOo EaSy." Her entire figure dissipated in a cloud of black smoke - briefly Star-shaped, it promptly lost form as it curled toward the divided blue-purple sky, and faded away like a ghost.

Marco silently released a breath he'd been holding.

A beat passed - whistling in his ear, a breeze carrying the sent of posies stirred Star Butterfly's curtain of blonde hair. As her entire being abruptly slouched with a heaving sigh, Marco stepped around to stand before her, asking, "What... was that?"

Star picked her face up. Marco's shock, albeit still gnawing at his gut like a starved dog, had tainted with concern: she was exhausted. Bags hung half an inch underneath her eyes, purple as a bruise and equally as painful-looking. "Jeez, Star, when was the last time you-"

"A dream demon," she quickly answered. "None of this is real, Marco. It's just a dream." He opened his mouth. "Dream Walker's Incantation." It promptly closed.

Despite appearances, Star's gaze was as lively and alert as ever, absorbing their beautiful surroundings as if they held something more than green grass and a flat-wide boulder. She murmured in a breath, "Tha's weird, you're usually up by now..."

He missed that, 'It's just a dream' overpowering his brain. The phantom warmth of the princess's lips were still upon his as he heard them, where shame flooded his breast. He understood completely, yet not at all, as Marco blinked and stuttered, "Wait, what?"

Star threw her head back with a groan. "Come on, Marco! I've done this a dozen times. Can't you just remember, for once?"

A dozen times... "W-Wait," he gripped his temple as it ached sharp and suddenly, "you've done this how many times?"

She gave a hapless shrug. "Oh, I can't remember exactly. We've been doing this for so long, it's kinda become a nightly ritual for me."

"'Nightly!?'" Marco squeaked. If this was a dream, it wasn't bad - not at all - until the real Star entered the fray and ruined... stopped it. "Just how bad does this affect me..." his head nodded aside, in some vague direction, "...out there?"

The princess's feeble smile crumbled, and her milky complexion curdled. "Worse than you could possibly imagine," she murmured. The utter fear in her voice was enough to worry Marco - Star never looked so disturbed, ever. "Bloody things," she continued. "Disguised as Ludo, he made you watch as your friends died, laughing as you screamed. A lot of the time he would look like me, doing messed-up stuff like treating you as some kinda slave. Once, she almost forced you to..."

Star's thousand-yard stare had filled with a gradual buildup of tears. "I..." she choked, clear drops rolling down her rounded cheeks. Looking into her haunted eyes, Marco saw the weight of things he never wanted his sweetheart of a friend to see. Although Star was far from helpless, or innocent, a stranger could tell the things she saw likely plagued her every waking hour.

And she's doing this all for... for me?

Ludo's castle erupting in pink flame flashed before his eyes.

A million thoughts encircled Marco's mind, but he couldn't bring himself to voice a single one. Not even consolation for Star, as she wiped her eyes with a drag of the forearm.

"It's always been the dream demon," she stiffly concluded. "Every time we cross paths, he just disappears."

Marco gawked, still reeling from realizing what his friend must be suffering to do all this.

Star continued, her eyes glued aside, to the rock. "I dunno where he goes. Don't even know what to do to beat him, except help you. It's cuz no one's ever dealt with one before."

Everything was forgotten as panic struck Marco like a punch to the face - except that would have been far easier to take than this. "What!?" he shrieked. "Star, if dream demons are a thing then someone must have encountered one before!"

"But they aren't a thing! They aren't anything, Marco Diaz! Until now, anyway - I didn't even know they could exist until you got one caught up in your cute little head." She scruffed his brown hair, to which Marco twisted away and snapped his gaze on her, wide and wild.

Star reeled, looking more annoyed than upset. It was more aggressive than he intended, but Marco forgave himself: he went from fulfilling a dark, impossible fantasy, only to find it wasn't even real, to realizing he was the victim of some malevolent entity Star didn't appear to be treating as seriously as she should. "Star, this is serious! If the same thing's just been happening over and over again, why not get some extra help? Like your parents, or-"

"NO!"

Her voice rolled out across the wide-open planes around them. Star's face was struck with terror, promptly smothered with a knowing, clearly-forced grin. "You think I'm gonna bring her into this now, Marco? She'd..." Star looked aside, considering, before meeting gazes once again with a cool, steady stare. "She wouldn't understand. She'd see this as an excuse to send me back to Mewni. I ain't gonna risk that, Marco. And I know you wouldn't want me to either..."

The weight of everything settled like a steel ball against Marco's chest, making it hard to breathe. "This is serious, Star. Part of me doesn't wanna lose you, but... if things are bad as you say they are..."

"Don't," she cut in, silencing him with the tips of her fingers. "Don't finish that Marco. Please. I can do this," her hands slid to his cheeks, "I can help you. You just gotta trust me."

Marco stood there, his cheeks flushing as the girl he loved dearly held his face, her blue eyes full of fear and concern. Whether or not she felt the way he secretly wanted her to, Marco took comfort in the fact that she didn't seem to - it made both their lives just so much easier and less painful.

"Okay," he murmured, then louder, more clearly, "Okay Star, I trust you. I believe in you, always."

His heart swelled in reaction to her relief - it was palpable. "I know Marco, I know."

"I mean, if the real me trusts you rooting around in his head-"

"Um." Bashfulness stretched Star's grin wide. She gnawed on her finger, looked away, twisted her socked foot into the grass in a way that made Marco stretch her name out into a question. "Well..." she answered.

"What are you hiding?" he cautiously asked.

"Welp, funny thing, actually! Ya see, you don't actually... know... that I'm doing this. You never remember your dreams, so I just haven't told."

Marco shook his head; that just couldn't be the full story. He knew Star better than that. "Come on, Star, don't lie to me. You're totally doing this because you asked me already, and I said no."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Star..." he sighed into his hands, "I said that for a reason. And now you're doing all of this behind my back!"

Her arms waved crazily. "Only until I beat the dream demon! Ugh, look." She slung an arm around him. "You're being unreasonable out there, Marco Diaz. This is the only way I can help you. He doesn't even know the things I've seen, what this dream demon has done to ya."

He was glad he remembered nothing outside of this meadow they now stood in - just feelings, facts of life. Those were real though, and Marco had faith in them. They were what drove a sense of unease burrowing into his gut - black and aching.

"I trust you, Star..." Marco shut his eyes, and even then he still had to turn away from the princess before telling her, "But I'm starting to wonder if that's a good idea."

Regret shot him in the heart before even hearing the sharp, shocked gasp. "Marco!"

He immediately snapped his gaze wide and wild at Star, a hand slapped over his mouth. Wh-Where did that come from? He didn't even know where that came from, he didn't think it. That just came out.

She sounded so hurt, but Marco steeled his heart against it; this needed to be said, he felt, even if he didn't know what he was saying: "I just can't tell what's the truth and what's a lie, Star! This is what happens when you break someone's trust." He looked away, groaning through gritted teeth. "I'm just gonna forget anyway." His hands found his hoodie pockets. "So I can see why you're comfortable telling me this."

A beat passed. "No," Star breathed, then rapidly, loudly, "Nononononono, Marco, Marco!" Star ran before him, gripping his upper arms tight - her bared knees bent inward as she lowered herself to look at his fallen face. "Marco. Don't think that way, please? Don't you ever think that way!" Her voice cracked with passion. "That's never been my mission... alright? This," slowly, reassuringly, lovingly, Star's right hand caressed Marco's arm, "this's always been about you, bestie." Her smile was as soft as her voice. "I've never lied to you - I told you what's happened every-single-time. And every single time, I told you that I wouldn't stop until you're safe. And when you're safe, I promised before even starting that I would tell."

Yeah, but did I ever know you've been doing this behind my back? Star's reaction told him this was a first.

He didn't realize he was looking away, the ache behind his eyes too raw. W-Why am I reacting like this? I don't know why I'm taking this so personally. Yet his heart ached all the fiercer, as if it knew better.

A hand tenderly cupped his cheek, the feeling of one's small thumb brushing over his mole. Marco cracked his eyes open, then fully, to completely take in Star's pained expression. "You... don't you believe me? Trust me - like always?"

His hands gripped her wrists, squeezing them tight enough to convey the war raging inside of him. "I don't know what to believe, Star... All's I know, is that you're my best friend."

That was enough. Whatever that precisely meant, inside Marco knew it to be true. Despite his doubts, despite his bitterness towards Star Butterfly's deception, the intelligent part of his brain was aware she only ever acted with his well-being at heart.

It should have been enough, but Star seemed to only hear the first part of his confession.

With a darker pink in her cheeks, she squeezed his cheeks hard, as if the boy even wanted to escape. She gripped his face in her hand's embrace, and pulled it closer as she leaned her's. "Here," she faintly murmured, before bringing their lips together. Her lips soft and warm, staying for half a second before pulling away swiftly. Fireworks went off in Marco's brain as a lance drilled into his gut and scrambled them into mush, unable to comprehend the taste of strawberries that lingered on his lips as he pursed them.

He almost missed the bashful smile, the shakiness of Star's confidence, as she told him, "Do you believe in that?"

Marco twitched to life, not realizing right away that this wasn't rhetorical. Any of his usual eloquence was forgotten as Marco continued reeling from what that meant. "S-Star," he managed, but that was all.

This is a dream. It has to be a dream, no way does Star feel this way about me. That's just...

He couldn't call it too good to be true, even though it was. But it was something far, far worse. Marco's brain was too mushy and high on dopamine to ascertain why, however. It must have shown in his face - Star, whose hands fell from his cheeks to his shoulders after kissing him, clamped one over her mouth to titter deeply.

"I know this won't be remembered," she told him. "But I want you to know why I'm doing this, Dream-Marco. If that, makes, sense..."

Dear God did Star have no clue as to what that meant to him. Marco couldn't help but wonder if she saw the dream demon kissing him, and what she thought of it. Butterflies swarmed furiously at the notion that she was jealous. If he was a bolder man, like his father, Marco would enact a sudden fantasy of returning the favor. But he just stood there, gaping like a fool, red as his hoodie, and making Star laugh.

It couldn't have been that funny - something about her light, fluttery giggles suggested this was a first for the princess as well, and she was riding a pony into Nirvana.

Their shared joy, the electricity between them, was irrevocably shattered and forgotten as the earth quaked beneath them. While Marco fell into Star's arms with a yelp, the sky above them turned a dark, burning pink - the fragile divide between its two colors prior had been overtaken by one of them. The crimson moon lost its keyhole, and broke off two smaller globes akin to a cell in mitosis, their rocky surfaces darkening to a deep, purple pigmentation, each ringed in an angel's halo. The once blood-red moon was suddenly trapped in a familiar ring of asteroids.

As thick, beige stone walls sprouted from the ground around them, Marco gagged as Star hugged him tight. A glance revealed to him that she wasn't protecting him - she was equally as afraid.

"What's going on?" she cried, the world still thrashing around them. Beneath their feet the grass pushed up, fell aside like thousands of little green dominoes, then vanished into nothing as a floor of tiles sky-blue and beige surfaced. The room they were now enclosed in was long, like a corridor. Cyan tapestries emerged from brick walls looming high, unfurling, flopping heavily down upon them, bearing butterfly images and royal crowns. Suits of armor melted up from the tiled floor as if it were made of glue, thick and unyielding otherwise.

It occurred to Marco, just as the rumbling ceased, that they were in Castle Butterfly.

He was just about to share this when a soft, motherly voice piped up behind them: "Starling... we must talk."

Marco was knocked flat on his butt by a sudden shove from Star as she spun in its direction - Moon Butterfly stood, looking as typically regal as ever, with her gloved hands folded like they always were, resting on her royal gown. Behind her, a vortex of pale, blue light - undoubtedly leading to the Earth Dimension.

"Mo-," Star's voice failed her, "Mom, I... I don't wanna right now." She sounded casual, but the tremulousness in her tone was obvious. "I just... let me be with Marco." Her hands clasped, begging. "Whatever you gotta say, can't it wait for later when we're on the mirror?"

Marco watched the scene before him with wide eyes. His confusion lasted for but a moment: this is what happened when he finally got home after being knocked out during Flags. He never knew why Star looked so shaken after following him through a minute after he entered.

"I think," Moon began sharply, making the princess wince before she continued in a calmer tone of voice, "that we must address this now... Before you continue on with your studies, forgetting everything that happened here, I want to leave you with something."

"Mom, trust me, this is not something I'm ever gonna forget."

Marco looked on, more puzzled with Star than anything else - it was like she was unconsciously reliving this conversation, almost like she was...

He swallowed hard.

...Almost like she's dreaming. The dreamwalking spell Star cast to get in here, it was not her invention. It didn't allow the caster to enter one's dreams, but rather, it melted their's together.

And now Star was the one having the nightmare - except her's was more real.

Towards her daughter's promise, Moon's solemn expression became a grimace. "I know, Star, believe me. Try as I might, I will never forget how you sounded as you embraced that boy's unconscious body." In the corner of his eye, Star swallowed and her eyes blinked away tears. "But it's precisely because of that, that I wish to ensure you walk away from this having actually learned something."

There was a beat of silence.

And then Star Butterfly gasped sharply into her hands, choking on a sob. "I'm sorry," she muttered, head shaking. "I'm so sorry, Mommy, and Marco..." his heart clenched, It's not your fault, Star, "this's all my fault, that he got hurt! I know I should have listened to you, but please don't be mad! All's I wanted was to play Flags with my bestie, and, a-and-"

"Star." Moon held both hands up, and her daughter clasped hard upon her mouth so as to prevent further blubbering. The sight ached Marco, he'd never seen the princess so fragile and broken. She felt really guilty about me getting hurt. The notion made him happy to have such a loyal friend.

"Star..." the queen continued carefully, "I'm not angry with you for that, Heavens no. But it leaves me outrageously concerned, not only for you but for your friend. This sort of lapse in judgement is not a first for you. For the first time since leaving Mewni, you've put lives in jeopardy," in a lighter situation, Marco would have snorted, "not just any, but that of a boy for whom you're very fond of."

"I..." Star looked away, her face twisted with guilt, ruddy, and her upper lip glistening with snot.

A beat of silence. Moon peered at her daughter down the length of her nose. "I told you that Flags was dangerous, and it was for a good reason."

"I know."

"So what possessed you to think that bringing Marco, a Human, into a game of Flags was a sound idea?!"

Star's eyes flashed wetly, hands clutching the crescent upon her nightgown. "I didn't mean to! I, I just wasn't thinking, and-"

"That's just it, Star!" Moon yelled. Her hands clapped together, "You don't think, you never think! You act on your own volition regardless of consequences; you say you're sorry, you give me those sad eyes, you never learn, AND I AM GETTING SICK OF IT, STAR!"

Even Marco shied away in fear, and he wasn't even a player in this dream.

Star trembled, holding her shrunken posture with tears in her eyes. Moon released a breath, grievously, her entire posture slacking surprisingly uncouthly for the poised woman. "...Oh, I'm sorry darling," she sighed. "I should control my emotions better than this. But this matter really has me rattled! "

Cautiously, quietly, Star ventured from her curled posture. "Look, M-Mom, Marco may have been hurt a, a little, b-but he's fine now-"

Moon pinched her nose between two fingers. "That isn't the point, Star." From the tiredness in her voice that was seeped in familiarity, Marco realized the queen's stance on the matter: Moon was angry for the same reason he would be in her shoes: Star, despite feeling the gravity of the situation, wasn't understanding it. She was still trying to brush the issue under the rug like always.

Moon Butterfly spelled it out for her, in a calm, trembling voice. "Marco could have died, darling." Said boy felt his blood run cold.

Star's must have as well - even her heart-marks paled to nearly match her milky skin. "But he didn't!" she defended.

"Yes, but he could have."

"So?!" the princess screeched - Marco and Moon flinched at once. "He, He almost did, yeah, but, but I saved him!"

"Star, do you have any idea of what would happen to you if you didn't!? Can you imagine having to approach his parents, and tell him what happened to their little boy?! The guilt would have destroyed you, and then I would feel responsible for allowing my daughter, the future Queen of Mewni, to put him in harm's way! Under my watch, no less!"

Star reeled. Dread instantly filled Marco's belly - it reminded him too well of the princess that night Toffee kidnapped him. "You don't sound like you care about Marco at all," she said. "It sounds to me like you only care about our image. I can't believe you, Mom! You're acting like Marco's just a liability!"

"He's not a liability Star! That is not what I am saying! I'm worried about the both of you, and I don't want to be. But if something terrible befell Marco, would you be able to live with yourself? Knowing you shouldered all the blame for hurting this boy you hold dear?" Moon shook her head. "I don't even wish to imagine that horror."

Terror subtly laid itself across Star's expression throughout the debate. When Moon concluded her point, though, the princess hesitated a beat before slowly, shakily, breathing in through her nose, as deep as her breast could expand, before releasing it all in a sigh.

"Well, you don't gotta worry about that, Mom." Icy, blue eyes flashed open, gazing into Moon's. "Because I will never, ever let anything happen to Marco."

He almost didn't want to see Moon's expression; on the one hand, Star was seemingly missing the point. On the other, Marco knew that she wasn't, not at all, but she wasn't grasping the implications her mother sent her way, instead approaching this in her own, Star-y way.

But Moon held a neutral expression, whatever battle waged inside of her masked behind a practiced, queenly exterior. "And if you fail?" she lightly posed.

"I won't," Star assured her.

"But if... you fail?" Moon repeated louder. Star only glowered. The queen sighed quietly.

"Very well, Star. You adhere to this philosophy the next time you pull a dangerous, stupid stunt. You adhere to it as you yank the Diaz boy along for the ride, disregarding his safety for your self-aggrandizing delusions. Very well, Star. Very well. And if you fail, if something irreversible happens to him..."

She allowed that to hang, tensely in the air.

Star looked away, pouting with her arms folded. "You don't believe in me." Marco didn't need to hear the hurt she masked behind bitterness to know how deeply the notion cut, despite her mother mistakenly coming off that way.

Moon sighed. "Of course I believe in you darling," Like that's enough to convince Star, Marco thought, "but I'm trying to be realistic as well. I want to protect you from making a horrible mistake."

"Well, ya don't need to worry," muttered the princess.

For a long time, Moon gazed at Star, while her daughter glowered at the floor beneath her. Marco watched Moon's face, trying to find a trace of anything beyond her expertly-crafted mask of neutrality.

"Star," she said finally, "when I sent you to Earth, I did so with the intention of protecting our kingdom while you learn to control your magic. I can't speak for the latter, for Glossaryck only knows... But I'm beginning to wonder if Marco really is safe living under the same roof as you." Marco's heart plummeted to his gut. "You've not worked to convince me otherwise this past minute."

Any bitterness Star held was painted in a coat of panic, as she turned back to her mother with both hands waving before her. "No, no, mom! Please, don't send me away! Don't make me leave Earth!"

Moon sighed as she folded her arms. "I would say it saddens me to threaten you like this, sweetie, but you leave me no choice. It's time you wised up and started acting like the queen you'll soon become."

"I will! I will, I will! I'll start practicing perfect posture, and work with Glossaryck more, and, a-and-"

"And actively keep that boy out of harm's way. He gets hurt again, Star, and so help me you'll not only come home, but I will sever our dimension from Earth's until the end of time. Do I make myself clear?"

"I-I... Yes, Mommy." She looked geared up to argue more, but she knew her mother better than Marco - there were forces in this universe even Star Butterfly couldn't beat.

"Very well." Moon nodded, stepping out of the portal's path. "Now go. And really think about what we discussed here."

Marco's ears perked up. Now that the conversation was over, he felt it was polite to finally rebuttal the High Matriarch of Mewni.

"Um, excuse me? Queen Moon?" Two Butterflys flickered their gazes in his direction. Star's hair swung as she whirled to peer behind her, gaze stunned then dawning with realization as the reality occurred to her. Moon, meanwhile, simply raised a brow at the boy - like he was nothing more than a quiet servant this entire time.

"Listen," he posed, clear and calm in spirit with his relaxed state of mind, "I appreciate that you're concerned about my safety. Believe me, safety is my number one priority!" He laughed breezily. "Honestly, when Star isn't pulling me out of the fire every so often, I'm the one who's keeping her out of trouble!"

In the corner of his eye, the princess donned a teasing smile, as if saying, 'You're really going there?'

Marco smirked to her knowingly before returning to 'Serious Mode' with Queen Butterfly. "I'm not gonna stand here and deny that Star needs improvement, but, she's grown a lot since coming here to Earth! Forcing her to come home would ruin all of that, it'd drive her nuts. Taking her away would just be counterproductive." Moon tilted her head, considering. "But, again, while I'm glad you even consider me, let alone fear for me, could you do us all a favor and just... leave Star alone?"

The Butterflys' mouths dropped open; it was only because this was a dream that Marco felt comfortable brazenly telling the queen to essentially screw off.

Moon's, however, was only a parting of the lips before she recollected herself. "Marco, from what Star tells me you are a very intelligent, kind, amazing, handsome young man-" Marco flushed, as did Star, "-you can't seriously be telling me that Star's recklessness is acceptable."

"I didn't say it was! At least, not unless it's in moderation." Marco glanced, where Star watched him in a self-hug with expectant, baby-blue eyes. "But you don't know me, Queen. You don't know what we do on a near-daily basis. I can handle myself just fine. And if something we did was dangerous, it's because I wanted it to be! We both did. - we love that stuff! ...Look, Flags was a mistake... a big one, I won't argue with that. But I allow myself to be put in danger, and I do so with a smile on my face every time. I Because I know that Star'll be there to catch me, no matter what. With her, I know I'm safe."

"Marco," the princess whispered.

"I trust you, Star." He turned to her, his voice on an autopilot guided by his heart. "I trust you with my life, cuz I know it'll always be safe."

Star bit her lips, snuffling back tears as she knuckled her eyes. As Marco stepped closer with a smile she asked, "Y-You really trust me like that?"

He stuffed his hands into his hoodie pockets. "Why?" He smirked. "When've I ever given you a reason to doubt me otherwise?"

"I dunno, it's just..." Star looked away, gazing at Moon who stood statue-still, wreathed in cyan by the portal's luminescence, "I'm such a screw-up sometimes."

The bitterness in her voice cut new wounds in Marco. Usually she masked her fumblings with lightheartedness, calling her screw-ups "Star-ups." For but a moment, Marco didn't know what to say to her. As he gazed solemnly to the floor, a daring thought struck him in the brain.

Before his courage could finish depleting in record-time, Marco strode to his best friend, put a hand to her right cheek and turned her face swiftly towards him. Before Star's eyes could completely widen, before Marco realized what he was doing, his lips crashed against her before promptly pulling away with a messy POP!

Her hearts turned crimson, and Star's English-dialect was forgotten and replaced with a bumbling of sounds and syllables. The soft skin underneath his palm burned like she had a fever.

With a confident smirk, to hide his screaming inner-dork, Marco Diaz echoed back, "Do you believe in that?"

The heat of her face, and the red upon it, receded, as her smile turned loving. "M-Marco..." Star grinned goofily, lovingly, while cupping the back of his hand with both of hers as she leaned into his touch.

"I know you'll remember this," Marco said. "So even though I won't, you'll know. You'll know that no matter what happens, Star, you will always, always be my best friend in the universe. Remember that, Star - just in case I forget."

And the whole world melted away into white light.

Star's eyes fluttered open, feeling better than she has in weeks, and her arms wrapped in a comfortably warm pillow - one with a grey shirt, and breathing long, slow and softly. In the throes of emerging from a deep slumber, it occurred to Star that her own enclosing warmth came from a blanket wrapped around her that she didn't remember throwing on.

With a grin into his chest, Star slumped back into sleep.

Next Time...

Destroying Your Trust - Star abuses the Dreamwalker's Incantation. Marco learns a great deal about himself. The dream demon's plan comes to fruition.

Hope you all enjoyed. Dream sequences are fun to write - very symbolic.

Next chapter I will go back to doing review responses.