The evening air was cool and crisp, a surefire sign that the ending of the year was drawing closer. The many, many stars that littered the night sky all seemed to twinkle and shine for a fleeting moment that would last forever, and the half-moon was ablaze with a peaceful glow that bathed the land beneath it in silver light. As it ruled over the night sky, the world below was slow to turn, every moment captured by its light seemingly lasting a lifetime.

But some moments pass us by, drifting through our lives as little more than a memory. And as Star Butterfly found herself walking aimlessly on her first day on Earth, she fell. Fell into the life of a young man standing at the center of a bridge spanning over the city moat, with only the moonlight to keep him company.

He wore a red hoodie, and as Star approached, he pulled it over his head after meeting her eyes for only a fleeting second. He leaned against the railing that separated him from the empty space below, and did his best not to meet her gaze again. Star, noticing the young man's shyness, took it not as an act of isolation, but as a challenge. A challenge that she couldn't share a moment under the moon with him, and find some company in her otherwise vanishing evening.

She stopped beside him and looked out over the moat, noticing how the city skyline seemed to reflect the sea of stars above like a calm body of water. Leaning against the railing herself, she managed a soft smile and nudged his shoulder. "It's a beautiful night for stargazing, isn't it? Kinda makes you wonder how much is really out there, ya know?"

He didn't answer, instead opting to scoot a few feet further away from her. Star let her smile wilt, but decided to press just a bit more. "My names Star, my mom had a thing for cosmic stuff. How about you?" she asked, inching closer.

"Look, I'd rather be alone right now, if you don' mind," he mumbled back, again distancing himself from her. Star opened her mouth to speak, but found no words ready to be given. She cupped her hands and blew into them, rubbing them together for warmth as she turned back to face the skyline.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you or anything, I was just thinking maybe-" she began, but he cut her off.

"Well, you are. Bothering me, I mean. I just wanna be alone right now. So, can you go?" His voice was a little hoarse, like he had been shouting, or singing at the top of his lungs for hours. Star pressed her lips together and nodded, stepping back from the rail. She didn't like bothering people, but sometimes, in a moment like this, some people just prefer their own company.

"Sorry, then. I'll...leave you to it, whatever it is you're out here doing," she answered, not bothering to hide the defeated tone of her voice. The man nodded, not turning to look at her. As she stepped around him however, she noticed a piece of paper in his hand, held against the top rung of the rail. His knuckles calloused, so she figured the guy must be a fighter, but she chose not to address it.

However, when she was little more than a few feet away, he turned, abruptly facing her and showing his glistening face, still wet with tears. "My names Marco...Marco Diaz, by the way. I'm sorry, if I-… that I offended you. I just," he stopped, wringing the piece of paper in his hands. Even with Stars tenacity to read people, she couldn't tell if he was scared, sad, or angry. Just that he had more than this conversation on his mind. "I just wasn't expecting anyone to wanna talk to me. I don't… have a lot of friends."

Star managed a weak smile and nodded to him, gesturing to herself. "Well, Marco. I can be your friend, I happen to be really great at making new ones!" She expected him to at least smile at that, but he only turned back to face the calm waters below them. Leaning against the railing, he bit his lip and shook his head.

"We can't be friends, Star," he muttered under his breath, "I don't want to do that to you. But thanks for stopping to talk."

Star frowned and tilted her head towards him, mirroring his position several feet away. "Why not? Do what to me? I don't bite, I promise." She again expected him to laugh, or at least smile, but he held steadfast to his stoic expression, not meeting her gaze.

"You don't want to be friends with me. I'm not gonna be around long enough for you to remember anyway." He let out a sigh, and pressed himself against the railing some.. Star deepened her inquisitive frown and scootched a foot closer, trying to read his expression, but Marco again distanced himself from her, holding his single piece of paper aloft.

"Are you moving or something? Because I have this pretty crazy way of getting to really far places to-"

"I'm not moving," he answered quickly, his tone sounding more and more strained as he spoke, "I'm not going anywhere. Ever. I'm just going away." Star made to ask about how he planned on going somewhere without going somewhere, when it struck her. It hit like a forty-ton hammer what was happening, why he was alone, why he was distancing himself, why he didn't want to be friends, and why he had a single note in his left hand.

"Oh... you're… you mean you're gonna-"

"Jump. Tonight, yeah. I'm going away, and I can't take my friends with me," he answered, letting out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. Star simply stared at him, too shocked to find the words that could match what she was thinking. Marco jerked his head towards the other end of the bridge and muttered "You should go. You've been nice, so I don't want you to see this. Please."

Star moved her mouth to speak, but no words would form as she stammered a response. He was serious. "M-Marco, y-you don't have to do something like that, why don't you just-" she made to step closer to him, but when she was within three feet of the boy in the red hoodie, he pressed himself against the railing again, looking at her with dangerous eyes.

"Don't… don't come any closer. I mean it. Just walk away, and you can tell people you tried to stop me," he warned, but Star wasn't having it. "No, I'm not leaving you alone. Why don't we just talk for a little while, it's such a pretty night, why waste it?"

To her surprise, he actually laughed at that, shaking his head with a smile before meeting her eyes for the second time that night. "Anything you could say to me won't stop me from doing this, I already made up my mind, so don't bother trying to-"

"That's alright, I won't try to tell you no, just- just talk to me." An idea popped into her head as she gave him another foot of space. "Why don't you tell me about yourself? What do you do for fun?"

Marco let his sarcastic grin fall into a frown as he glared out across the moat at the city. He hated it for shining, even on a night like this. "I practiced Karate. And I did some ballet. I thought it would make me seem cool like that actor, Mackie Hand, and that the girls would like that I could dance. I know that's stupid...but-"

"No no!" Star cried out a little too loudly. She noticed his shocked expression and decided to play it differently. "I mean, that's really cool that you can fight like that, and still be man enough to do something as elegant as ballet." He didn't seem to buy it, so she went on. "I tried learning how to dance when I was a little girl. But my dad always said I was built for fighting, so I gave it up."

"Why'd you do that? Didn't you want to dance?" Marco asked, expressing interest in her for the first time. Star wanted to barret him with whatever he wanted to hear, but she steeled her nerves and shook her head. "I did, at the time, but I let what other people wanted from me, control what I wanted from me. So I learned how to fight like my dad wanted."

She bit her lip and tapped the railing a couple of times, unsure of where to go on. "Maybe you and I can tussle a little bit sometime?" she offered. Marco only shook his head. "I don't think so. I'm not planning on… sticking around, you know. But I appreciate it."

Star felt her heart skip a beat when he moved his foot, fearing the worst, but he only kicked a pebble off the bridge. Biding her time, she nodded to him and simply asked: "Why?" He turned to face her, clearly confused by the question. "Why what?"

"Why are you...leaving? I'm not trying to talk you down, mostly. But...I'm curious. Tell me a little more about the guy who won't be my friend." Star stared at him, unable to see his eyes clearly, but to her relief, he gave in and let out another sigh. "It's stupid. I don't want-"

"I don't care. If you won't let me stop you, at least tell me why, even if you think it's stupid. I'm curious." Star was unrelenting, hoping upon hope that he could just give in and trust the stranger on the bridge. To her immediate relief, he finally caved.

"I'm alone, it's just me," he began, stopping himself only to hold up a hand, "I know you're here, but in general, in life. I'm alone. My parents don't even care who I am, I don't have any friends, and…" he met Stars gaze. "No one understands me. I know that sounds lame-"

"It doesn't, really," Star affirmed, holding his gaze, "I know what you mean. I feel the same way."

"Do you now," Marco asked, cocking an eyebrow at her and shaking his head. But Star held true. "I do. My family sent me here because they couldn't understand the real me. The real Star Butterfly. Rather than accept me, they sent me away because I wasn't what they wanted. What they could control. I know how it feels to be pushed away because you're different."

Marco let that sink in for a moment, once again finding himself captured by the luminescent semicircle of silver above their heads. "Maybe you do. But you have friends. I don't. I'm all alone, and no one cares enough to know the real me."

"I care," Star offered quietly, shifting a few inches closer. Marco scoffed at the idea and folded his arms against the railing. "You care because I picked the wrong, beautiful night to finally be free. You care because you have to."

He thought he was right, knew she was just another mask trying to make him happy, but she proved him wrong once again. "I cared before I knew what you were doing. I wanted to be friends before you said a word. You looked like you needed one, and I need one too."

"Really," he asked sarcastically, but Star nodded. "I'm all alone too, Marco. When I got sent away, I couldn't take my friends with me. I'm in a whole new world that I don't understand, and I have nobody to show me all the things it has to offer. That's why I talked to you. You seem to have a knack for picking cool places...for less than ideal reasons, but still. I don't have anyone either. And yeah, your parents might not get you, but you have a home. That's more than I can say about me."

"What, is it a contest? You think just because you have it worse, that I should be grateful?" Marco asked, straightening up and gripping the railing. Star held up her hands defensively and took a step back. "No no no, that's not what I meant, I was just… trying to show you that I know. What you're going through."

She expected Marco to disagree, but all he did was untense his shoulders and rest against the railing. They stayed like that for a few minutes in silence, before he turned his head slightly, just enough to see her in his peripheral. "You really don't have a home?" He asked quietly.

"Nope," she answered in an oddly cheery voice, "I just got here today. My parents enrolled me in school, and left without telling me what to do. So I did what I always do."

Marco turned to look at her more directly, a curious stare on his face. "And what's that?"

"I went for a walk. Hoping I'd find a friend."

"Might get yourself killed doing something like that at midnight."

"And look at me now, trying to save a friend," she shot back, a gentle smile on her face. She expected a witty remark, but Marco just shook his head. "We're not friends. And you're not saving anyone." He expected Star to push again, to try and relate to him a little more, but he didn't hear anything. Looking over at where she had been, he found her leaning against the railing, not an ounce of emotion of her face as she stared at the skyline.

"Look, you're super nice, and I'm sorry you have to go through...whatever you're going through, but-" Marco couldn't find the words, so Star gave them to him. "But you want to be alone. Right?"

Marco opened his mouth, but all that was left was a sigh. "Yes. I'd like to be left alone."

"Are you scared?" She asked quickly. The question caught him off guard.

"Scared of what? Jumping? It's a four-second fall, and then nothing. Why would I be scared?" He tried to meet her gaze, but now it was her turn to avoid his look.

"Not scared of jumping. Of giving up. Doesn't it scare you to leave all of this-," she gestured to the shining stars, her namesake, and the half-moon above them, "-behind? To just take life lying down? To not fight it, like you know you want to?"

He was silent for a moment. The two simply enjoying the cold air around them for nearly a minute before he spoke. "I tried to fight. I fought every day, and no one cared. I fought it at home, I fought it in bed, I fought it at school. Now? I'm done fighting, so I'm not scared to just let go. I've struggled for air long enough to give up trying to swim."

"So let me show you how to swim. Let me help you breathe. Let's fight together," Star suggested. She tried a tentative step closer, and this time, he didn't object. "I need a friend, and so do you. So let's help each other."

"Why do you want to help me so bad? You don't even know me," Marco stated, letting his eyes sting with the formation of fresh, salty tears. Star chanced another half step closer, now only two feet away. "Because I've only known you for ten minutes, and I already don't know what I'd do if I lost you. Don't give up yet, don't give up on me, Marco. I want to fight with you, so don't make me fight alone too. Because you might be used to it, but I'm scared of giving up."

Marco watched her as she took one more step closer, and fought the urge to back away. His knees were shaking, struggling to move and stay out at the same time, like this girl, this random girl that had shown up out of nowhere, had a gravitational pull he couldn't escape.

"I told you, before I knew anything about you, that I wanted to be your friend," she began, reaching out to him for his hand, "so don't leave me. Don't push me away like my parents did. Like your parents did." Marco watched as she slowly reached for his hand, which held his rushed goodbye note to his family, and took it gently. She was warm against the cold air of the night, and without a word, she pulled him into a hug, wrapping him in more warmth than he could have ever imagined.

She held onto him, even as he subconsciously tried to move away. She kept her arms wrapped tight around him, letting him bury his face into her shoulder as he cried hot, wet tears. He wept, and he felt his soul pour out of his body, and into hers. It felt almost alien to lean on another humans shoulder, after so many years of having his own back.

"I got you, Marco Diaz," she whispered into his ear, "I'm not going anywhere, if you'll be my friend."

Marco inhaled a coarse, heavy breath and nodded into her shoulder. "Deal, Star Butterfly," he whispered back. After what felt like an eternity, but was only a simple fleeting moment in the moonlight, the two separated long enough for Marco to take her hand, and begin walking her to the end of the bridge. "Let's go home, Star. And thank you, for being my friend."

To my late brother: I wish you had given me a chance to save you from yourself. To take your hand when you were cold. To hug you when you needed my shoulder. To give you a reason to fight. I wish you had let me help you, instead of picking a lonely place to find peace. Maybe I could have saved you, or maybe I could have delayed your...departure. Or maybe you would have still chosen to leave my life once and for all. I'd give anything, any part of me, to remember your voice, to see you smile, to experience the world with you, and to have fought with you. Now, all I have are my memories of those fleeting moments you left behind. I hope you know what you left behind. A family. A brother. A friend.