Sitting atop the roof of the castle, he finds himself staring at the sunset with nothing in his mind as the wind blows against him. Giving his hair and the cape that Star made for him a bit of a sway as it danced with the breeze. The sunset was unlike the one on Earth, this one was brighter, warmer. Perhaps Mewni was placed a little closer to its sun compared to Earth? Maybe it had a different kind of orbit. Maybe the planet had a different shape?
Him and Star had just returned from their trip to the underworld and their interaction with the severing stone. He feels nothing, and therefore, has nothing to think about. He then realized that his loitering on the rooftop alone was quite silly and pointless. He gets up, dusting himself off. Perhaps he just wanted to see the beautiful sunset, or perhaps he was hoping to recover something he had lost. He isn't sure, but what he IS sure of is that he's hungry and that he wants a snack.
The mewls and cries of an infant could be heard from a distance as Marco approaches the kitchen area of the castle. He enters the door and sees Eclipsa, the infamous Queen of Darkness, feeding her baby Meteora with baby corn porridge. Marco walks over to the vending machine to grab himself a Snookers bar, and Eclipsa starts to notice the red-hooded kitchen invader. "Oh, Marco. What brings you to the kitchen?" She smiles warmly as she sets the spoon down, Meteora then begins to hiss at Marco, but he's gotten so accustomed to the fact that the baby of the Queen of Darkness will always dislike him, so he pays the hissing no heed and dismisses it as just another normal thing.
"I thought I could use a snack, so I'm just gonna grab a Snookers bar and be on my way to... stare off into space for no reason again." Marco spoke with nonchalance, all the while dropping his money into the vending machine and claiming the candy bar of his choosing. Eclipsa raised a brow. "Well that's just silly, you can't stare off into space for no reason, dear. That warrants you a visit to the strict old mage who lives down the foot of the northeast mountain, or worse, someone on Earth called a 'dentist'." She says as she wipes her daughter's mouth with a bib.
"You mean the psychiatrist? Do we even have those on Mewni?" Marco opens the candy bar and takes a bite as he ponders. Eclipsa ponders this as well. "No, I don't think we do. And I only knew about it because Star mentioned them to me once. She said all doctors were frightening on Earth." Marco chuckles. "That's probably from that one time Star had a toothache from eating too many sugar burritoes that we had to bring her to the dentist. And dentists solve teeth problems, Queen. Not deal with mental issues." Eclipsa raised her brows, it seems she learns something new everyday.
Marco sat down next to Eclipsa and Meteora, slowly munching on his Snookers bar while he tried once more to remember why he was sitting on the rooftop. Did it have something to do with the severing stone? He rests his elbow on the table and places his cheek on his palm.
"All done! Who's ready for playtiiime?" Eclipsa cooed to her baby, and the baby reaches her baby hands out to cup her mother's cheeks. She gets up to leave, but notices Marco's hundred yard stare. She wonders what the young man is thinking about. "Marco, accompany me to Meteora's room. You seem like you have a lot on your mind, I think talking about it will help. Come." She gestures, and Marco gets up to follow her.
"So, what's on your mind, dearie?" Eclipsa asks with a smile as she watches Meteora play with her toys.
On the ceiling.
"Well, the funny thing is that there's absolutely nothing in my mind." Marco slumps down on his spot on the couch next to Eclipsa. "It's like there's something that I'm supposed to know, something I'm supposed to be thinking about, but it just won't come to mind. As if it's been forcefully erased. I guess the severing stone does more than get rid of unwanted feelings." Eclipsa went wide-eyed at this, she turns her head to look at Marco.
"Janna mentioned it, but I didn't think you two were actually going to go through with it." She asked, remorse clear in her tone.
"One good thing is that my gut doesn't go... 'euuuergghh' anymore. I have that going for me, which is nice." Marco smiles as he stares off into the ceiling, Meteora now chewing her toys and destroying each one with every bite. Eclipsa just stares at the poor boy, not realizing what he's lost and what kind of regrets he'd be faced with in the future.
Marco sighs and looks back to Eclipsa. "So how about you? How are you doing as the current 'Queen of Mewni'?" He places what he calls "pizaz" on the last part, and Eclipsa chuckles a bit at that. "Well I'm a tad bit rusty, dear. I wasn't Queen for very long back when I got coronated. It wasn't even a formal coronation. So just like the next person, I'm clueless on what to do here. My people still don't entirely accept me, but I'm doing my best to deliver to my citizens. And I've received word of an 'Anti-Eclipsa Movement' going around." She whispered the last bit with worry in her tone, not for her or her baby, but for them. She truly did not want to hurt anyone.
"What? An Anti-Eclipsa Movement? That sounds terrible. We should increase our security here in the castle to prevent an assassination or a coup! But we should set qualifications for the personnel that we're going to be hiring, I wouldn't want any spies slipping in past our defenses and listening to our every word." Marco suggested with determination, and Eclipsa is impressed at this. "That's quite an excellent idea. Where do you get these ideas, Marco?" He smiles and places his hands in his hoodie pockets. "Well, I used to read a lot of things on the internet back on Earth." And with that, the mention of a foreign term catches Eclipsa's attention.
"Forgive me for asking something like this, but what is an 'internet', my dear?" Curiosity fills her, and Marco gladly responded. "Well, the internet or 'World Wide Web', is a globally connected network that lets people from all around the planet communicate even though they're far away from each other, and it also serves as a storage for an absolutely massive amount of information that people can share with one another."
Eclipsa is astounded, she's never heard of such a concept. "Like Mirrors, correct?" Marco nods. "Exactly, like mirrors. But we only use mirrors to look at our appearances on Earth, there's no magic there. Instead we access the internet using computers or phones."
The Queen of Darkness is even more astounded by what she's hearing. No magic? Computers? Phones? Such foreign concepts that intrigues her with every passing second. "Do you have a computer phone thingy, Marco?" She asks, and Marco reaches into his pocket to bring out his smartphone. "This is a smart phone. Kind of looks like one of the compacts here on Mewni, right? But check this out." Marco opens his phone and opens his gallery filled with photos of him, Star, him and Star, the laser puppies, and a thousand or more selfies of Janna. "Ugh, Janna. Seriously? This is filling up my storage space."
He begins to delete the abundance of Janna selfies in his gallery, and Eclipsa just watches him operate the foreign technology in awe. "Marco, you're very adept in a lot of things. Technology, combat, intellect. You'd make an excellent King someday!" Marco is flattered at the compliment and laughs a little. "Aw well, maybe not a King, but a King's personal assistant maybe?" He humbles himself, and Eclipsa is struck with an idea.
"Might I suggest that you be MY personal assistant? Some help around leading this kingdom would be of great help to me and the citizens of Mewni. I wouldn't want your talents and abilities to go to waste." Marco is silent, his eyes wide. "Wow, Queen Eclipsa, you really think that highly of me? I mean, I'm just some teenager from another dimension, you sure you want to entrust me with that position?"
Eclipsa nods, "Who else better to entrust this position to if not you?" and Marco scratches the back of his head with a bashful expression.
"I dunno. Star, maybe? I thought she was already your personal assistant?" Eclipsa shrugs a bit to this.
"Star still finds herself responsible for everything that happens around the kingdom. That is understandable, the young lady has lived here all her life, and it wasn't that long ago that she was queen and a royal official. The title was handed to me when the truth was revealed, but I don't think she easily let go of the responsibility that came with the title. And honestly, that's very admirable of her. But I recognize that the little lady has a life of her own, that's why I want to actually do my part in leading this kingdom as its rightful Queen so as to take off the burden that Star carries with her, let her enjoy her youth more, you know?" Marco was listening intently to the Queen as she spoke, how could he not? Her voice was easy on his ears like music.
And he smiled, he discovered a new side to the Queen of Darkness. She cares for her citizens and considers the feelings of those around her. Back when they first met, Marco was willing to subdue this woman with his karate skills to defend Star and maybe the entirety of Mewni, but now he realized that she isn't actually as bad as everyone made her out to be. But he supposes that it's too early to assume that she's a completely nice person, Marco is aware that Eclipsa has her dark moments too. But he has a good feeling that she doesn't have any ill intentions. You know what they say, "hate the sin, love the sinner."
"Well, Queen. That's very considerate of you. I admire that." He says sincerely. He thought about it for a moment before finally deciding, and stands up to place himself in front of Eclipsa, he gets down on one knee and takes a deep breath.
"Alright, I'll do it." Marco says with resolve as he looks up at the Queen. Eclipsa smiles wide. "Very well", She calls her wand to her hand and clears her throat.
"Marco Ubaldo Diaz, I now dub thee... As my Royal Assistant." She taps her wand on both of his shoulders and top of his head. Eclipsa moves her wand away, and Marco looks into her eyes with determination.
Whatever it was that was bothering Marco earlier was now just an after-thought. His mind was focused on one thing now, and that is to serve the Queen and to better the Kingdom of Mewni with his knowledge. He feels hopeful for the future and is excited about the changes that'll come about to this kingdom under his and Eclipsa's guidance. He smiles and with a gentle tone he says:
"Thank you, my Queen."