It was late in the afternoon when Marco found himself outside of Star's old bedroom in the Diaz household. He paused at the door, his fingers resting lightly on the metal knob as his eyes reflexively slid to read the slightly faded writing all over the door. He smiled as he reached the sign at the bottom that used to read, "Boys Allowed" but had long ago been scratched out and changed to, "Marco Allowed." The sight was a drop of nostalgia that quickly grew into a flood of memories that washed over him. 'How many times did I walk in here over the years, and how many times did we have to replace this door due to some calamity or another that Star had caused' he thought, finally dredging up the will to grasp the knob and turn it, pushing it open slowly as it creaked on disused hinges.

He'd been putting this off for months, the idea of going into this room where so many of his younger teen years had been spent. Even after the cleave, when Star had destroyed the magic, many of her creations had persisted. The laser puppies had survived and had all grown up to be happy and fat old dogs that spent their twilight years lounging in sun puddles in the living room. While the seemingly physics-defying tower she had recreated when she came back to earth after Eclipsa's coronation still stood as solidly as it ever had.

Blowing out a breath, he stepped into the room and looked around, seeing nothing but more reminders of the past. On the wall, a creased and tattered looking Love Sentence poster hung at a crazy angle, more than 40 poorly hammered nails holding it to the wall. "Star never did get the hang of that hammer," he chuckled, dropping the single large cardboard box he'd brought in with him on the floor.

He was just about to begin the sad task of picking and choosing the things he needed to keep when a glint of golden sunlight caught his eye. Walking over to the source of the flash, he smiled sadly when he saw it was Star's old magic mirror. 'Well more like a regular mirror now,' he thought as he ran a finger down its dusty face, his reflection blurry from the dirt caking the glass. "Call, Star," he announced to the mirror, surprising even himself at his indulgence, though he only felt a tinge of wistful nostalgia when the mirror stubbornly refused to do anything but show him his reflection. 'All of that is gone now, why am I doing this to myself…' he thought, turning away from the mirror before he wasted any more time there.

The next half an hour was spent picking slowly through Star's old things. He found some of her old jewelry in a box pushed deep under her bed, and gasped when he opened the lid to find a gold tiara with five, pink cut diamonds capping each of its golden rays. It was beautiful, and though he knew why she'd likely shoved it under her bed to be forgotten, he couldn't bear to let it sit abandoned, so he carefully put it back into its velvet case and placed it with a few other items in his cardboard box labeled: "to keep."

"Honey?" came the voice of his mother from the still open door.

"Yeah, Mom?" Marco answered, turning to see his mother leaning in the doorway. He didn't know if it was just the nostalgic theme of the afternoon; but seeing her now in the light of the setting sun, he could tell the last nine years had been very kind to Angie Diaz. She didn't have a single grey hair to mar her auburn hair, and except for some laugh lines, she looked as youthful and beautiful as she always did.

"Just wanted to come and see if you'd like a cup of tea," she said, holding a steaming mug out to him.

"Thanks, Mom," he answered, smiling as he took the hot mug from her and taking a ginger sip.

"How's the clean out coming? Feeling nostalgic for the old days?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at her son.

"Heh," he chuckled into his tea, "you have no idea, Mom. I didn't think it would hit me this hard to be back in here, but there's a lot of history in this room."

"You'd think with all the antics you and Star used to get up too, I'd have more than a couple grey hairs by now," she laughed, sipping her tea.

"I can't see a single one, Mom," smiled Marco, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek.

"You miss those days, don't you?" asked Angie, seeing some of the sadness in her son's eyes as he stepped back into the half shadowed room.

"In a way… Yeah. I mean I know magic had to be destroyed to save everyone. And nobody can say that merging Earth and Mewni hasn't led to a whole host of other adventures and opportunities. But, in a weird way… I miss magic." Marco sighed, sipping his tea once more.

They stood there for several long seconds, mother and son sharing an unspoken understanding as they both remembered what things were like before the realm of magic was destroyed and their dimensions were forever cleaved together. "Well, I'll let you get back to it. Corn knows you've been putting this off for months. Just…try not to get too wrapped up in the past, honey. You have your whole future in front of you."

"Thanks, Mom. Love you," he said, giving his Mother a gentle one armed hug.

"Love you too," she answered before turning and heading back the hallway.

"Alright, Diaz, let's get this done," he muttered to himself as he picked up the box and stepped into the last place he wanted to be right now; Star's old closet of secrets. It was still piled to the rafters with all manner of detritus. Old magical items that were now inert lumps of junk, a giant pile of brown hair, 'my face was itchy for two weeks' he thought with a shudder. There was even a set of potted plants with skeletal arms sticking out of them, the sight of which made him instinctively grasp his right arm, thinking of those very unpleasant two days when he'd had a sentient tentacle where his right arm should have been.

Ten minutes later, he'd found the items he was looking for and he held them both in his hand like a long long treasure unearthed after months of hard-fought digging. They were both books, the first being a simple lavender spiral-bound notebook with some dull gold lettering on the front that spelled out Star's Notebook of Spells. He smiled as he flipped open the cover and saw her curly handwriting instructing the reader how to perform a "Narwhal Blast." The second was something that he felt like he shouldn't be holding even now, it's locked cover plastered in cute stickers that belied the secret writings within.

Having secured his prizes, he stepped out of the closet, and closed the door with a snap as a heavy sense of finality settled over him. 'I'll probably never be in that closet again,' he thought sadly as he carefully placed the two books inside the cardboard box along with the other treasures he had rescued. In fact, it might be the last time he ever went in this room now that he'd retrieved what he'd come for. Grabbing the box and hefting it into his arms, he stood there, looking around the old old room, mostly bare except for the large items and let out a long sigh.

"Marco? Everything alright?"

Smiling at the sound of her voice, he turned and saw the love of his life, Star Butterfly gazing at him from the doorway. She was even more beautiful now than when they were 15, having grown a few inches and developed a set of curves in the intervening years that got his heart pumping whenever she wanted it to. Quickly he crossed the room and planted a long, loving kiss on her pink lips. "Never better," he said after he'd pulled away from her, laughing when he noticed her lips following his.

"Looks like you found the stuff," she said, blushing at having been caught going back for seconds. "Good, cause I wanna drop this stuff off at the new place before we meet my parents for dinner. Papa found an all you can eat buffet that hasn't banned him yet."

"Oof, they're in for a rude awakening," cringed Marco, knowing exactly what he was likely to witness tonight from River "Buffet-Crusher" Butterfly.

"Did you find everything, okay? I remember that closet of secrets being realllllly tricky last time I was in there."

"I got the stuff you asked me to find, Starlight," he nodded, tilting the box so she could see the contents.

"That's my squire," she giggled, throwing her arms around him and pulling him in for another, much more heated kiss until they both pulled away, breathless and laughing.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," smirked Marco as they walked down the hall together, "because in two days I'll be your husband and I'm prettyyy sure that title outranks squire."

"Mr and Mrs Diaz-Butterfly," giggled Star, laying her head on his shoulder as they walked, "I like the sound of that."

"Me too, Star. Me Too."