Chapter 7: A Tale of Two Teenagers

"Marco."

He heard it in the distance. Over the sound of the purple flames roaring all around him. Over the screaming.

"Marco."

He was there again. The field of fire. He could feel the heat from all sides, tearing away at his vulnerable skin. He could taste the filthy smoke wafting aggressively in the air, dangling at the back of his throat. He coughed.

He could smell the burning of flesh.

"Marco."

He slowly opened his eyes, adjusting his vision to the intense shine of purple. There it was again. The purple sun. The dark, purple sky. Everything. Purple.

And it burned.

"Marco."

That voice. A girl's voice, for sure. Where was it coming from? Who was it coming from? He couldn't be sure. He couldn't be sure of anything anymore. Existence was dead and life had been purged from reality.

There was only purple.

And then he heard something different. Something new, and yet something familiar. He heard it echo throughout his mind. The words. Those words. Mere words, vague and meaningless, and yet when he heard them be spoken, they became dangerous, and they became real.

And they sent him insane.

"As it comes together, it falls apart."

Screaming. Oh, the never ending screaming. It was all too real. It was all too painful.

"Marco."

That was him, wasn't it? He couldn't even remember anymore. But that was the only part of the new reality that didn't burn, that didn't hurt. A name. An identity.

He clung to it. To the name, to the voice, whatever you want to call it. But it was more than that. He clung to hope. And hope spoke back to him, panicked and afraid.

"Marco."

"Marco? Marco?!" yelled Jackie, shaking the lifeless boy on the burnt grass of the garden. He didn't respond. He just laid there, doing nothing. Being nothing.

The skater girl was not one to ever lose her cool, but this was something else. This was something surreal, out of the ordinary. She gulped, fighting back tears of fear as she arched her hand backwards, and brought it down on Marco's cheek in an almighty slap.

"Marco, wake up! Please, you have to wake up!" she shouted, continuously shaking the boy. Don't be dead, oh please lord, don't be dead! What could she do if he didn't wake up? How would she help her friends? She was just Jackie Lynn Thomas, skater to the stars. She didn't know anything about all of this inter-dimensional nonsense.

It had been several minutes since Jackie had emerged from the bushes, bruised and concussed. She had been at a complete loss for words upon seeing the aftermath of the battle with … whoever that little monster was. It was like a war torn no-man's land. A pit of destruction. All the decorations were ripped and tattered. The table had somehow been snapped clean in half. The chairs weren't even anywhere in sight.

It had taken Jackie a minute or so to process the scene before her, as she nursed her sore head and pulled up her ripped t-shirt. Her mind was fuzzy, but the last thing she could remember was getting a faceful of feathers before being launched into something very hard. She had no idea how long she must have been out. But judging by how much darker it was now than it had been before, she guessed perhaps an hour or so.

Then she saw him. Slumped up against a charred tree. His smart-looking shirt burnt and scorched. Dried blood covering the bottom of his face, just below his mouth. Marco was laid there, unconscious. She hoped, at least.

She had rushed over to him, as fast as she could move with her bruised leg and swimming mind. Jackie had knelt down, had tried to wake him up, to get any sort of reaction out of him, to no avail. And with each shake, with each slap, with each tear, she was getting far more frightened that he just wasn't going to wake up.

But it wasn't just that that scared her. A few smacks into her attempts at waking Marco up, she had realised something. If Marco is here, then … then where are the others? Janna, Alfonso and Ferguson? Jackie had felt the colour drain from her face as all the gruesome possibilities made their way into her mind. She shook them off, shuddering at the thought.

And so, here she was. Kneeling on the floor, hands grasping at Marco's ruined checkered shirt, trying to breathe some life into the motionless boy. Jackie screamed in frustration, banging her hand on the ground fiercely.

"Damn it, Marco, fight! I need your help! I need you!" Jackie shouted, her voice warbling from the lump at the back of her throat. She slapped him again. Once. Twice. Three times. Four.

Nothing. All he did was lay there, unmoving, not a care in the world. Jackie fell backwards onto her behind, allowing the tears the fall now. They streamed down her dirty face as she brought her knees to her chest and cuddled them, burying her face in them. It was hopeless.

She began to cry silently, not even having the energy to wail like a baby. The girl gritted her teeth, the futility of her current situation sinking in all around her. What now? she thought in despair. What can I possibly do now?

Jackie sniffed, still covering her face in her legs. "Please …" she managed to whimper. "Marco …"

There was a groan. She was sure of it. She had definitely heard a groan. Her head shooting up from her knees with a look of shock, Jackie stared at Marco's form. He was now slightly stirring, his mouth moving slightly and she strained to hear what he said. He opened his eyes, both slowly and very slightly, squinting at Jackie.

"Urgh … Star?"

She didn't care. She didn't care that he had called her that. He was alive and they were not totally screwed. That was all that mattered. She rushed back over to him and engulfed him in a hug, letting out huge breaths of relief as she did so.

"Marco! Thank goodness you're okay! I thought … I th-thought …" she trailed off, not able to picture that whole scenario again. She felt his body tense up under her touch, and she remembered that he must be pretty hurt.

"Jackie?" came Marco's voice, the obvious confusion thick in it. That was enough to bring Jackie back to reality. All of a sudden, she remembered that she barely even knew Marco, and yet here she was sobbing onto him while clinging onto him for dear life. A little red and embarrassed, she quickly released him, looking off to the side awkwardly.

Marco felt a little weird too. At one point, a big hug from his former crush would have been enough to heal all of his wounds and send him into a spluttering frenzy. At one point.

"Are you okay?" he asked, with genuine concern in his voice. Jackie looked back at him, and almost laughed in hysterics.

"Me? Am I alright? Have you seen yourself, Marco?"

Marco carefully crooked his neck downwards, and saw what she meant. He was rather battle damaged, with a fair amount of bruises and scars gracing his fragile body, He even spotted some blood spatter ingrained into this shirt.

The Latino boy's eyes were drawn to his shoulder, where his most severe wound resided. Any material from his shirt that covered that section of his body had been vapourized, and what was left was a rather large burn mark. Marco could feel it ache. That was where Ludo hit me with his magic, Marco thought, biting down from the sting. Then his eyes slightly widened. Ludo …

"He has our friends," Marco stated abruptly, every word he spoke harming his insides even more. "Ludo took them. Ferguson, Janna and Alfonso."

Jackie opened her mouth slowly, the shock and fear evident on her face. She stuttered slightly when she spoke. "What are w-we gonna d-do, Marco?"

Marco looked away from Jackie and glared at all the devastation behind her. His back garden had been completely demolished in all of the fighting. He then looked back down at himself. At his broken body.

"It's obvious I can't take on Ludo by myself." Marco said, and Jackie thought she detected a bit of shame in his voice. "I need to … I need to find Star."

The boy tried to lift himself up, groaning as he did so. He felt any strength he possessed seep out of his body as he slumped back down to the ground. If Jackie hadn't caught him and softened the blow, he would have been facing another injury.

"You're hurt, dude. Like, really badly." Jackie said with worry, glancing at Marco's shoulder. "You can't just go wandering off by yourself into some other dimension."

Marco looked at Jackie, and the skater girl saw something she had never seen before. Marco snarled.

"What do you expect me to do, Jackie?" he said in a low, brooding voice which caught Jackie completely off guard. "Just sit about here and wait for Star to randomly show up? She comes and goes as she pleases, as you probably saw with our date."

Jackie could hear the contempt thick in Marco's voice. He continued. "Point is, Ludo said if we don't bring Star's wand to him within 24 hours, he is gonna …"

Marco trailed off, losing the disgusted look that graced his face earlier. He seemed to calm down as his face contorted into a look of anxiety. "I just need to get to Star as soon as possible." he said finally.

Jackie still had Marco's arm draped around her shoulder. She thought on his words carefully, and came to her decision. Slowly, she lifted Marco more upright, so that he was able to stand on his own two feet. At a steady rate, she began to guide Marco through the garden and in the direction of the house. Marco turned to look at Jackie in perplexity.

"Jackie?" he began, "What are you-?"

"You said you need to find Star," Jackie interrupted, her eyes glued to the house as she managed to support Marco's body. "But in your state, dude, you won't make it five yards without collapsing. I'll bring you to her, and we can fill her in on what went down together."

Marco widened his eyes slightly, surprised at Jackie's willingness to help. "Are you sure, Jackie? I mean, it might be dangerous." He paused. "Scratch that, it will definitely be dangerous."

"Don't you worry about me, Marco." said Jackie, and she flashed him a grin that reminded him ever so slightly of Star. "Just tell me where to go, and we'll go there."

Marco nodded, returning the smile she had given him. "Thank you, Jackie." he said with sincerity. He then turned his head to face the house. Moreso the giant tower protruding out of the side of the house. "We'll need to get to Star's room. We can call her on her mirror."

Jackie gave him a little thumbs up with her free hand, and the two battle scarred kids slowly made their way into the house, leaving the battlefield of a garden behind them. Determined looks never left their faces as they walked lamely to the bedroom of Star Butterfly.

The council chambers of Castle Butterfly had always had intimidating undertones for Star, although she rarely went in there as a child. Like a lot of rooms in the castle, it was strictly off limits to her. Her mother had made sure of that.

But as she walked into the room with Rhombulus at her side, she couldn't help but experience a chill running down her spine. She gazed around at the all of the portraits of previous queens of Mewni, all staring lifelessly back at her through the paint, almost as if they were judging her. Star sighed slightly. That will be me some day …

The countless swords and shields that decorated the walls didn't look too inviting, either. Her father always used to tell her that every blade in this room told a story, each more heroic than the last. At the time she had been intrigued, but as she matured, she fully grasped the meaning of his words. These were the weapons that had, at one time or another, been coated in monster blood.

In the centre of the room was a rather large round table, hand crafted from the finest Mewnian trees from the Forest of Certain Death. And sat all around it was her mother, her father, and the rest of the Magic High Commission. They all looked up at the two late arrivals, sporting looks of mild concern.

"You're late," said Queen Moon, looking sternly at Star, who giggled nervously in response. Her gaze then shifted to Rhombulus. "Both of you."

Rhombulus shifted around on the spot awkwardly. "Sorry about that, Your Highness. I kinda got held up with work."

Moon sighed and shook her head in exhaustion, pinching the bridge of her nose as she did so. "Never mind, you're here now. Star, Rhombulus, take a seat."

They both complied. As she walked over, the princess reached behind her and took the bobble out of her slightly wet ponytail, letting her long golden hair fall down freely.

Slipping into their chairs at the table, Star took this moment to look around her. There was, of course, her dad, King River, who smiled and gave a little wave to his daughter. Even though Star returned the greeting, she found this rather odd, as her dad usually said hello with a crushing bear hug or some other exuberant form of affection. Star frowned. Just what exactly is going on here?

The other three seats were taken up by none other than the three remaining members of the Magic High Commission. Rhombulus took his seat next to High Chancellor Lekmet, a very old and very wise man who just happened to have the appearance of a goat. While no one but Rhombulus could ever understand what he was saying, or so Rhombulus claimed, he definitely had an aura of authority and power about him. He sat there quietly, his eyes looking more tired than usual.

Beside him was, of course, Hekapoo, the Scissors Enforcer and forger of the dimensional scissors. She was folding her arms and looked to be in a foul mood. Star had always admired Hekapoo's laid back attitude and overzealous confidence, and thought that if she had been Star's age, the two would have made the best of friends. She had also heard some horrific stories about the trials Hekapoo enforces upon people who think themselves worthy of wielding a pair of dimensional scissors. The princess gulped, subtly shoving her own scissors deeper into her bag. She still had no idea how Pony Head managed to get a hold of the scissors, which is what scared her.

Omnitraxus Prime was not in a chair, unlike the others. He resided in his magical-looking orb which was resting peacefully on a little table with wheels. The Master of Space-Time was both a mysterious and powerful entity, one that could probably change the whole fabric reality in a heartbeat. For Star, it was hard to tell what emotions he was conveying, as his face wasn't one that gave off much expression. All she could see was a tiny skull floating around inside a weird looking glass sphere.

Star looked around the table once more, before turning her eyes on her mother again. Raising an eyebrow, Star asked the question she had been wanting to ask since Moon had called her.

"Alright, Mom. Just what is this little meeting all about?"

Moon opened her mouth to speak, but was immediately interrupted by another familiar face. One that appeared in the centre of the table in a poof of blue smoke.

"I think I can answer that, Princess." announced Glossaryck, giving a courteous little bow to Star as he appeared. His sudden appearance made Star recoil slightly in shock, but seeing that her magic tutor was alive and well made her sigh a little in relief.

"Glossaryck, where have you been?" Star asked, bewilderment evident in her tone. "I've been looking for you all day."

"I'm afraid Glossaryck has some troubling news, Star." Moon said gravely, and all eyes turned to her. "It seems he has located the other cleaved half of your wand."

Star's eyes widened. "My wand? How is that bad news?"

She heard a scoff, and turned her attention to Hekapoo, who was sporting a sour look. "Just wait until you hear where he found it, Princess."

Glossaryck cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yes, well, erm, about that." Star stared at him impatiently, awaiting this revelation. Glossaryck sighed. "Okay, Star. Ludo has it."

"Ludo?" The first thought that zoomed through Star's mind was utter confusion. Ludo? My wand? How did that happen? That doesn't make any-

"Wait a second," said Star slowly, the memory of her most recent fight with Ludo creeping back into her head. "Ludo's new wand is my wand?"

Glossaryck pointed a finger gun at Star. "Bingo, kid. Ludo somehow managed to get his hands on half of the most powerful object in the multiverse. Ain't that a kicker?"

Star slunked back into her chair, processing this new information in her mind. Then something popped into her head. She dug around in her satchel bag, carefully remembering not to let her scissors fall to the ground or anything.

"Do you think that it has anything to do with this?" Star placed her wand on the table, which had begun glowing purple again. All eyes shifted to the intense dark shine of the crystal, and even Lekmet gave out a shrill little 'Baaaa!'

"Yes, pumpkin, Glossaryck told us about this strange glowing nonsense." piped up River, staring accusingly at the wand. "He said that the other half of the wand is doing it as well. The cold hard truth is … we don't know what it means."

Star frowned, looking over to her mother, who just shook her head sadly. "For all we know, it could be connected. And I get the feeling that someone," she stared irritatedly at Glossaryck, "isn't telling us the full story here."

Glossaryck whistled idly, checking his fingernails for dirt. "If I told you everything I knew, Moon, then it would really devalue the whole experience. Just let it all unfold."

Moon groaned with annoyance, and she wasn't the only one. Rhombulus began to angrily eye up the little blue man. "I'm getting really sick and tired of all this cryptic garbage, Glossaryck. Why can't you just be helpful, for once?"

While Rhombulus looked like he may pop a blood vessel, Glossaryck looked completely uninterested. He gave the crystal man a bored look. "Do you really need another time out again, Rhomby?"

At this, Hekapoo couldn't contain herself, and despite the serious situation and her mood, let out a little snicker. Rhombulus looked like he was about to take Glossaryck's bait, before Moon stood up abruptly.

"Silence!" she commanded in annoyance, and the room fell deathly quiet. Moon sat back down again, and cleared her throat. "We need to get back to the matter at hand. Ludo and this odd business with the wand."

"May I see the wand, Princess?" asked Omnitraxus politely. Star nodded, and slid the wand across the table in his direction. It came to a slow halt just in front of his orb.

Omintraxus spent a good few moments studying the purple glare intently, watching the glowing half-star with intense interest. After a while, he just merely looked up and sighed.

"I'm afraid I can only give half an answer as to what this is." he said regrettably, and Star leant forward in her seat, eager to hear what the Master of Space-Time had deduced.

Omnitraxus cleared his throat. "Your wand is harboring quite the intense build up of … magical energy. Where this magic came from, or what its purpose is, I cannot say. But what I can tell you is that this energy is extremely unstable and, by the looks of it, dangerous. If it were to be released … I can't say whether it would be a good thing or a bad thing, but my money's on bad. The fact that the wand isn't whole as of now seems to be the only thing stopping that from happening."

Star slowly nodded along to his explanation. Her head was swimming slightly from all of this new information, and she felt she had more questions than she had begun with. "So why is this happening now? Why is my wand all of a sudden glowing purple at completely random moments?"

Omnitraxus shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know that either, Princess. But something has definitely triggered all of this."

Hekapoo scoffed. "That isn't important right now. What is important is making sure Ludo doesn't get his hands on this half of the wand. While he is a little creep at best, who knows what all of that unadulterated magical energy will do for him."

Moon nodded. "Hekapoo is right. That is why I called you here, Star. Not only do we need to keep the wand safe and with us, but we need to know more about Ludo. From what I've come to understand, he is somewhat of a foe to you."

It was Star's turn to scoff. "That's putting it mildly, Mom."

"At any rate," Moon continued, looking at Star sternly, "We don't know a whole lot about Ludo. We're going to need you to tell us all you know about him before we decide to do anything rash. When you have concluded and the Commission has reached a decision, we shall go and deal with him."

Star looked up at her mother, frowning in confusion. "Wait, what about me?"

The Queen sighed, and River looked at his daughter solemnly. "We need to keep the wand as far away from Ludo as we can, Star. We simply cannot risk him getting his hands on it. You will have to stay behind."

The princess took this as a personal insult, and was ready to express her outrage. "But-"

"Enough, Star!" Moon yelled, and the seriousness of her tone made Star stop in her tracks. "We are dealing with something that none of us truly understand here. We need to deal with this very delicately, and right now the best way you can be of any help is by telling us more about Ludo." The Queen coughed, intertwining her fingers and looking sternly at Star. "So tell."

"I'm sorry, but it seems you are out of minutes. If you wish you top up your credit, please visit our office in Pixtopia during opening hours."

Marco groaned, scowling at the pixie on Star's magical mirror. He had regained some of his strength, and was able to at least stand and move around by himself now. But that didn't mean the pain and discomfort was any less prevalent.

"For goodness sake," he grumbled, while Jackie watched nervously from behind him. Marco had slipped on one of his hoodies over his tattered shirt, both to cover up his ruined clothes and his wounds.

Jackie bit her fingernails. "No success?"

Marco shook his head, looking severely frustrated. "Seems like Star has forgotten to top up her minutes. We have no way of contacting her." Marco moved slowly over to Star's bed, sitting himself down The Latino boy looked down at the floor in defeat.

Jackie's facial expression saddened. She did not like seeing Marco so downtrodden. "Hey, don't give up so easily, dude." She walked over to the bed and sat down next to Marco. "You're like, the smartest kid in school. You'll figure something out."

Marco couldn't help but smile a bit at Jackie's attempt to cheer him up. "Thanks, Jackie." he said, looking up at her somberly. "But our friends really need our help, and there is literally no way we can help them. No dimensional scissors or anything. No Glossaryck, either. We're stuck here on Earth." He gave out a sigh.

Jackie looked down at her feet, trying to think of a solution to their problem. She tugged on her ripped shirt a little bit, the torn material rough against her bruised skin. Marco noticed this.

"Here," she heard him say, and when she turned around, he was presenting her a neatly folded hoodie. She looked at it and then back up at him in confusion.

"It feels a lot better with one of these babies on. Trust me." Marco said kindly. Jackie blushed ever so slightly, but graciously accepted the hoodie anyway, slipping it on over her head.

It was back to the chopping board, with the two teens trying with all of their brainpower to figure something out. The skater girl tried again, this time with a little desperation in her voice. "But … but Star can use magic and all that stuff! Surely isn't there a way for her to … I dunno, contact you telepathically or something. Maybe appear out of thin air back here to help us?"

If the situation hadn't have been so dire, Marco would have laughed. Instead he gave Jackie a small smile. "That's not really how it works, Jackie. Nice try though." She returned his smile, before the two looked away from each other and back down at their feet. "Besides, Star's magic isn't always for the best."

Jackie looked over at him curiously. "How so?"

"Oh boy, where to begin." Marco thought with slight amusement. He was a little ashamed to admit that this little distraction from their totally screwed situation was actually welcome. "Well, there was this one time Star accidentally turned my entire arm into this monster tentacle thing."

"I remember that!" said Jackie, pointing at Marco's arm as she spoke. "You came to school a few times with that thing. I remember thinking it looked pretty rad."

Marco gave a small chuckle, remembering himself how excited he had been when the one and only Jackie Lynn Thomas had thought his new appendage was cool.

"Yep," he said quietly, running his hand over his right arm softly, thinking back to what a crazy experience that had been. "I mean, in the end the Monster Arm did try and murder me, along with like, several other people. Wasn't the most fun."

Jackie laughed, looking at the now normal arm. "Wow. Can't say I've ever had a disagreement with one of my limbs before, except when choking on skate moves of course. That must have been hell."

The Latino boy smiled. "Oh yeah, it really was. I remember when-"

Marco paused suddenly, a small frown forming on his face. Jackie looked at him expectantly, waiting to hear the rest of the story. Before she could prompt him, however, he spoke.

"Jackie," Marco said slowly, looking as if to be in deep thought. "What did you just say?"

Jackie blinked, looking at Marco with a confused expression. "What, about disagreeing with my limbs?"

Marco shook his head rapidly. "No no, after that."

"Choking on skate moves?"

"After that, Jackie!"

Jackie paused for a second, trying to rack her memory. The answer soon came to her. "Oh! You mean when I said that that Monster Arm thing must have put you through hell?"

Marco shot up all of a sudden, startling an unexpecting Jackie. The boy, however, looked about as excitable as possible. He was almost jumping for joy, which was a significant change in his demeanour.

"That's it! Jackie, you're a genius!" he yelled in triumph, smiling widely at a perplexed Jackie.

"I don't follow, dude." she said plainly.

Marco looked her straight in the eyes and grinned. "You said it yourself! Hell! Well, not Hell exactly, but close enough."

And with that, Marco bolted across the room, all the way over to Star's secrets closet. Jackie stared at him as he swung the door open and dove inside, still having no idea what he was on about.

Inside the closet, Marco was fumbling around frantically, digging through the piles of Star's many assorted objects and treasures. One by one he fished out some random weapon or pulsating magical item, throwing it behind him as he kept on searching.

"C'mon. Where is it, where is it ..." he mumbled in annoyance, flinging Star's unicycle across the room in his haste. As the boy continued to dig at an alarming rate, something in the pile caught his eye. Marco frowned, as he cleared away a few objects before getting a better look.

It was a book. A familiar looking book, at that. Carefully, Marco picked it up and brought it to eye level, squinting at the text on the front cover.

"Star's journal?" he said quietly, to no one in particular. He just held the book in his hands, studying every inch of the fine craftsmanship.

He didn't know what it was. Curiosity, insecurity, or something else. But he felt himself really wanting to read his girlfriend's diary. He knew he shouldn't. This is Star's private journal, he thought carefully. I can't just invade her privacy and read it. What sort of boyfriend would I be then?

But even so, something deep inside Marco was urging him to open up the journal and read it. The boy couldn't explain it, but he felt as if he truly needed to see what was kept inside. Slowly and shamefully, Marco found himself opening up Star's journal, against his better judgement. He began to read.

After reading through the most recent entry for a while, Marco's roaming eyes stopped dead in their tracks. Then they widened. Then they blinked. His mouth began to hang slightly agape, and a small frown formed itself on his face.

"No …" Marco said slowly, rereading what he had just read. And again. And again. "She can't … she hasn't …"

It was no use. No matter how many times he read the same few lines, the words didn't change. He just stood there in silence for a while, the book in his hands and a shocked and hurt expression on his face.

Then, abruptly, he slammed the book shut. Marco brought the small diary to his chest, and tucked it carefully inside his hoodie. A bitter scowl never left his face the whole time. He sighed, closing his eyes and looking down.

When his eyes finally reopened, he saw what he had been looking for. There it was, sitting peacefully on the floor, surrounded by Star's various trinkets. Bending his knees and crouching down slowly, he carefully picked up the object, or rather objects, that were going to help him on his mission to rescue his friends.

A tiny little black and red bell, along with a tiny little black and red hammer.