Chapter Text
Water rippled beneath the bridge just beyond the villa property line, in a clearing the garden hedge maze unveiled if one managed to reach its end. Perched on the side overlooking the rushing river, a sceptre with a long silver handle glinted under the streetlights, being waved idly back and forth by a scaled clawed hand, smoke swirling in the air as it emitted from the fractured half of a large broken green jewel. Not a single word needed to pass from Toffee’s lips as he waited for his honored guest to arrive. The mist floating away from him into the hedges did all the work for him.
“What’s taking her so long?” Ludo muttered, pacing at his general’s feet. He squawked as Toffee’s tail whipped him aside, slamming him into the stone facing of the bridge.
“Quiet,” Toffee grumbled, giving the wand a flourishing twirl in the air as he peered down at his subordinate, who rubbed the tender spot on the back of his head. “You’d be surprised what little effort is required on my part, Ludo. I am the Wand’s wielder, and yet it can sense that its true heir is near.”
“Star Butterfly…” the smoke exhaled, and Ludo squinted up at it, cocking his head to the side.
“I only needed to give it a voice,” Toffee explained, running his nail up and down the slender handle. “With a little help from dark magic, to make sure she can’t get away.” A sharp rustling of branches from several yards ahead confirmed that Star had passed another one of his markers. Her faint shriek of surprise made his lips curl upward. “She’s almost here. Subconsciously drawn to the calling of her inheritance.”
“Sir, I know you hate when people question your motives--”
“You’re right, I do,” Toffee responded shortly, his previously lightened yellow eyes dimming in annoyance.
“--but did it ever occur to you that this might backfire horribly?” Ludo finally exclaimed, throwing his arms over his head. “What if she gets the best of you?”
“She won’t.” The general’s whisper became more like a growl, closing his fingers tighter around wand handle. “As long as this remains out of her hands, the power still rests with me. It has for ten years despite hibernation. It would take more than just the girl’s presence to shift its allegiance.” He whipped his glowing-eyed, razor-toothed head back down to Ludo, looking slightly crazed. “Now go. She’s coming.”
“What?! But you said I could come with you to--!”
“I said you could watch.” Raising a single finger, he levitated the tiny creature over to the outermost hedge and pinned him against it, branches and brambles attaching to his wrists and ankles like suction cups. “Just in case you get any ideas to interfere without my orders.”
Ludo sighed defeatedly. “Same routine, different location, eh?”
Even though she was outside under a vast sky that stretched endlessly into the universe, Star felt as if she were being suffocated. Covering her mouth to stifle a scream, she saw that her way out had been blocked directly behind her, the hedge wall growing several feet above her head with no way to climb over it. She regretted even coming out here in the first place, but she couldn’t stay there and give up, letting the smothering walls consume her. She had to keep moving the only direction she could: Forward.
Another whisper of her name seemed to grab her by the hand and tug her down the path, and she panted from both exertion and the sense of panic that had gripped her. She had grown so used to the sensation of her heels sinking into the grass softened by dew that once she hit cobblestone road again, it threw her off-balance. Her foot turning on its side, she toppled forward onto the pavement, flinging her arms out to break her fall. Hissing in pain as they scraped the ground roughly, Star yanked the multitudinous layers of skirt aside as she stood, eyes darting here and there at her surroundings.
She had never gone past the hedge garden before, nor had she known that there was a bridge arched over a vast river lined with streetlamps. With a snap, the lamps on either side of her blew out. Two by two, they slowly plunged her into darkness, and Star began to breathe rapidly and heavily, as she had the day she entered the passageway into the abandoned Mewni palace. She had thought those days of cold dread brought on by shadowed memories were behind her now. But there was something about this bridge...there had also been one in the castle courtyard...a bottomless river...someone sank beneath the surface.
“Princess Star Butterfly.” Only one lamp remained lit, illuminating the figure beneath it who called her name not in a whisper, but in a deep persuasive voice as smooth as velvet. The smoke surrounding him dissipated, and Star saw a half-lizard, half-crocodile hybrid standing halfway down the bridge, his dark hair slicked to his shoulders and his grey scales nearly all covered by a suit of armor. A red cape fluttered in the breeze behind him as he moved towards her, one hand held behind his back as he gestured with the other.
“Your most esteemed Highness,” the creature drawled, sweeping into a low courtly bow. “Look at what ten years has done to us.” He waved his arm in her direction and Star felt her body lurch around as she spun in place, enveloped by sickly green smoke. “You, the exact image of your mother at that age. And me, nothing but the revived corpse of a fallen monster.”
Star couldn’t run. She couldn’t even step backward. She was frozen, completely rooted to the spot. Just like when she met him--Wait. When she met him the first time?
“I know you…” she muttered hushedly, holding her scraped arm out in front of her as if it would prevent him from coming any closer.
Toffee gave her a slow, almost patient nod. “You do. Last seen at a party like this one. It was your very first ball. Remember?”
“The smoke,” Star recalled, her eyes widening. “It was everywhere, all over the floor.” She saw her mother brandishing the wand before being flung aside, a crowd of gasping adults and crying children…
...“If you touch my daughter, you won’t live to tell about it”...
...“I will not rest until every last trace of your bloodline is wiped from the face of the universe!”...
…“How dare you show your face here again!”...
“Toffee!” The name spat from her lips as if she had finally diagnosed a long-term ailment, a cross between relief and underlying rage. “The monster general.”
“Very good,” Toffee congratulated her. He had stopped walking, far enough away that he could not physically grab her, yet still too close for comfort. Star balled her fists at her sides, standing her ground. “And you’re the sole heir to a barbaric legacy. Land that was rightfully ours was conquered by your ancestors. Century after century, war after war, and the Butterfly dynasty always managed to come out on top. Why, Princess, do you think that is?”
Before Star could open her mouth to respond, she was knocked off her feet in an instant. Green light burst in front of her face as she was flung to the ground, all the air knocked out of her lungs when her back hit the pavement.
“This paralyzing jinx is temporary, so I’ll make it quick.” Star grunted as she struggled against the invisible bonds holding her in place, Toffee bearing down on her with a giant silver sceptre pointed at her chest. A numbing sensation spread across her body as if she had plunged her arms and legs into icy water, and real fear gripped Star for the first time. “The royal family had the advantage of magic on their side, leaving the monster realm at its mercy. I merely sought to even the score.”
“You wanted to overpower us,” Star seethed, sitting up as far as she could. “You threatened my family. Did you really believe killing us was gonna solve everything?”
“I would have been more than satisfied silencing that innocent little scream of yours once and for all.” Star squeezed her eyes shut, twisting her head away as the general swiped his hand at her, halting just before his claws clamped around her slender neck. “Hearing your mother’s mournful cry before I finished her as well. Showing all of Mewni that at the end of the day, there was nothing exceptional about the royals after all. That they’re nothing but a handful of ordinary Mewmans who happened to get lucky.”
“Congratulations, you got your wish.” Star snapped her glare back around at him, despite his nails being inches from her skin and the smoking sceptre poised to strike. “Our reign is over, so why are you still after me?”
“As long as you’re alive, you are a threat. As long as your heart beats, magic will never belong to the Mewnian race who deserves it.”
Star looked from the sharp-featured reptile’s face to the weapon in his hand. Attached to the silver handle, sparks spewed from the head with a fractured half missing. It seemed off. Why would he wield a cleaved sceptre?
In his hunger to destroy her, Toffee didn’t realize his aim had shifted, pointing directly at the golden shard nestled in her collarbone. His calm gaze betrayed a flicker of concern when the smoke stopped its incessant swirling and changed direction, as if being siphoned out of the head into this piece of crystal...
The realization dawned on them both at the same time, in a moment that seemed to last eons. The bridge around her fell away, and Star was lost to her mind’s eye: This same creature howling in pain, blood from his hand dribbling onto the snow...she had scrambled away so she wouldn’t fall into....the frozen pond where Toffee had drowned.
After they had struggled over…the Wand.
A hot burst of energy shot through Star, tearing an inhuman roar through her throat. “That’s mine! ”
Toffee had less than a second to react, but luckily her reflexes were poor due to the numbing jinx. Swinging his wand arm around, he lifted Star off her feet until she hovered in the air before him several feet off the ground. The green aura surrounded her, snapping her arms at her sides and binding her legs together. “Spoiled little princess. Can’t share her toys.”
“You stole it--you disarmed my mother!” Star shrieked, writhing under the spell.
“And your magic stole Mewni from my people!” Toffee snarled back. “I’m taking back what rightfully belongs to the monster race!”
“Not to monsters like you,” Star stated coldly, “Who murder and torture, fueled by vengeance alone.”
“You have no idea what your family did to me, you ignorant stupid child.” He flicked the wand with his wrist and Star felt the spell’s hold on her tighten. “Nor do you seem to grasp who has the upper hand here. Now I’m going to finish what I should have taken care of myself that night. And once I’m done with you, I’ll dump your corpse at your mother’s feet before taking care of her.” Advancing closer, the green light reflecting in Toffee’s yellow eyes, he pointed the wand at various parts of her immobile form. “Now, Butterfly, how should we clip your wings?”
“Gener--!”
“Talk again and you’re a goner.”
Both the reptile and princess were yanked back to reality at the sound of two more voices. Toffee scowled, looking away from Star to reprimand his irritating subordinate--until he took in the sight before him. Ludo was still bound to the hedge, his eyes wide as he squawked in horror. And brandishing a knife at his neck was--
“Marco!” Star cried, seeing him out the corner of her eye, as she could only turn her head so far.
“Drop her, or I slit his throat,” the boy sneered as he stepped out of the shadows, his shoulders heaving up and down as if he’d just run ten miles. Star glanced briefly down at the distance between her feet and the cobblestone. ‘Drop her’? Not the best choice of words, Marco.
Toffee looked between Marco and Ludo, captor and captive, before he burst into laughter. It was by far the most eerie uncomfortable sound Star had heard thus far--hoarse, dry and rasping as if he hadn’t exerted his lungs in years, yet robust enough to send a chill down her spine. “Fine, kill him!” he chortled. “He’s been useless to me for ages!”
Marco’s fierce expression faltered. “Wait, you--you don’t care--?”
“I couldn’t care less.” The laughter died in his throat as he leered directly at Ludo, raising an eyebrow at him, and the birdlike man relaxed slightly. The boy was just as much a child as Star. He didn’t have such bloodlust in him, and they both knew it.
“But you,” the general went on, nodding in Marco’s direction as he watched him lower the knife. “You do care. You’d care very much if I hurt her.”
“Don’t!” Marco shouted, reaching towards them as Toffee flicked the wand again, causing Star to inhale sharply from an invisible pain.
“Get outta here, Marco,” Star panted, straining over her shoulder to look at him. “I’m serious, he’s just gonna kill you too.”
“Well, first thing’s first...” Toffee aimed the wand at her head, “Yes, we’ll go for the neck. Snap it around and watch you fall.” He grinned madly at Star whimpering like a fly trapped in a spiderweb. “Pathetic. At least King River didn’t snivel when I did it to him.”
Everything around Star fell still, as if time itself had stopped at his words. The sound of the wand’s magic crackling faded and grew muffled as blood pounded in her ears. The hot rage-filled bubble inside her finally burst, and she saw Toffee’s jaw drop when she wrenched her arms free.
“You…” she growled, feeling her cheeks grow hot, “disgusting...piece of meat! ”
“How is she doing that?!” Ludo shrieked, gaping as the princess kicked her legs through the green aura flickering around her. Her blue eyes and rosy hearts seemed to glow in the dark as she spread her arms wide, the shimmering bonds holding her in place falling away.
“No...she's awakened,” Toffee breathed, backing away shaking his head. “She’s ignited her inner power. But h--?”
Star yelped and flailed once the aura disappeared, unable to sustain the sudden magical abilities she had discovered. As a result, she landed hard and crumpled onto the pavement.
“Star!” Marco abandoned his threat to Ludo and sprinted to where she hit the ground.
“No you don't,” Toffee said calmly, relief washing over him at Star’s obvious inexperience. He swept the wand almost lazily and Marco was blasted backwards, sliding along the ground on his back.
“Marco!” Star tried to get up but Toffee shoved his boot into her stomach, pinning her down.
“You’re not moving either.”
“I’m not scared of you anymore, you coward! ” Knowing that this creature had killed her father, had destroyed the family and the life that she would never know again, filled her with a fury that overruled any fright. And fury gave her strength to fight back, even though the odds were severely stacked against her.
“That was your parents’ problem,” he hissed down at her. “They also weren't scared of me.” His eyes flashed dangerously. “You can't fly, so let's see if you can swim.”
With a strangled cry, Star felt herself being hoisted off the ground via magic once more, only this time she traveled. With a grand sweep of his wand arm, Toffee flung her over the edge of the bridge. The aura appeared to be weaker than before--Star was uncertain whether it was her doing or not--which allowed her to grab onto the stone barrier to keep from falling into the river.
Toffee growled at her resilience and shot the scepter in her direction again. The smoke swirled larger and higher above their heads before careening down on the princess like the gusting winds of a storm at sea. Star clung to the railing like a lifeline as the sickly green wind rushed at her, stones and branches striking her face and tearing at her dress as they blew past, the current trying its damndest to force her off the bridge to her death.
“Long live Mewni!” the reptilian general cackled over the gusts as Star lost the grip on her right hand, dangling only by her left. So focused was he on waiting for her to plummet that he failed to see Marco charging at him until he tackled him to the ground. The wand flew out of Toffee’s claw and clattered away from him, causing the cursed winds to dwindle and vanish.
“She’s not the only one who suffered because of you,” Marco snarled into Toffee’s face, pressing him against the ground with his whole body. He knew the general outmatched him in muscle and height, but he had to delay any more magic being used to Star’s disadvantage. Sinking one fist into the reptile’s stomach, he grabbed his throat with the other and squeezed hard. “The likes of you took me out once when I was a kid. But I’m a lot stronger now, I know how to fight. And I won’t let you hurt me or Star again!”
He bellowed in pain as his head was snapped back by a set of claws digging into his scalp, dragging him backwards with surprising strength. But they did not belong to Toffee.
“Ludo!” the general wheezed. “I ordered you not to--!”
“It’s you!” The tiny lieutenant completely ignored Toffee’s reprimand as he tightened his hold on Marco’s head, spewing anger-fueled spit into his face. “You’re that little boy! The one I found in the Queen’s chambers! I should have finished you when I had the chance!”
“What are you on about?!” Toffee roared, his left eye twitching. He didn’t seem to have noticed Star grunting as she fought to climb back up onto the bridge.
“He helped them escape!” Ludo shrieked hysterically, yanking Marco’s head around by his hair.
“It’s true,” Marco panted and hissed from the searing pain in his scalp, fixating on Toffee’s enraged visage with a sense of satisfaction. “Your lackey here failed to kill all of the royal family because of me.”
“He’s the reason they slipped from my grasp! He saved the Princess’ life back then and he’s going to do it again now! ”
As soon as Star regained her footing, she nearly slipped again as a wave of shock left her breathless. She had pulled herself up far enough that she could see Marco in Ludo’s clutches when she overheard what they were saying.
Was...was it really…? Shutting her eyes, she blocked out the world around her, focusing her rekindled inherent magic that had helped her regain her memories with her mother. She tried to bring up that horrible night: The wall panel was open...her mother urged her to follow her inside...banging and shouting...she was weeping desperately...hugging someone as small as she was, not wanting to let go…
...“I’ll find you later! Go!”...
She had been forcibly pulled away from the embrace...and his face burst clearly through the fog.
It was him. Marco Diaz, the little servant boy, her best friend, was her savior that night.
“Well then.” All traces of attempted cordiality were gone, Toffee’s breath rattling in his throat as his rotting stench filled Marco’s nostrils. “I guess fate gave you a second chance, Ludo. Looks like I’ll have two bodies to deliver to the Queen.”
“No!” Star screamed, throwing herself back over the barrier with newfound agility and diving for the wand. But Toffee rolled over easily and snapped it up before she could, blasting her back over the side. She hooked her hands around one of the lamp posts, but this time Toffee hovered above her as she dangled over the water.
“We’ve played this game long enough.” Seizing her by the hair, he yanked her up until her face was level with his, watching her writhe in agony. “Rest in peace, Your Highness.” Opening his claw, she fell away from him with a shrill screech, and for good measure he blasted the railing so it crumbled apart.
“No--Star, no! ” Marco threw Ludo off his back, several hairs parting from his head in the process, and lunged at Toffee again.
“Hold this!” the general commanded, hurling the sceptre at Ludo and out of Marco’s reach.
“I got it, I got it!” But it soared high over the petite subordinate’s head and rolled away over the cobblestone. “Gah, curse my short arms!”
“I hate those things,” Toffee deadpanned. As Ludo raced after the wand, huffing and puffing all the way, Marco wrenched himself from the foul-smelling lizard to take off behind him.
“Marco!”
He skidded to a stop when he heard her voice, strained and desperately calling out to him.
“She’s alive?” Toffee croaked with another rattling breath.
“Marco! ”
The general whirled around in a flash of red, calling upon the dark arts once more to stop Marco from aiding her, but missed as he hurtled past him. Sliding onto his stomach, Marco leaned over the dilapidated side of the bridge. Star was clinging to a piece of debris, looking just as shocked as he was that she wasn’t fish food by now, and he threw both of his hands out to grab hers.
“You’re okay,” Star breathed out.
“I’m okay?!” Marco gaped at her, gripping her hands with every ounce of strength he possessed. Aside from overlooking a few hundred foot drop, her dress was also tattered and she bled in several places on her face, head and arms. “How--how are you not--?!”
“I don’t know!” she cried, hoisting herself up to grab the surface still intact--and it was then Marco noticed the glow receding from her hearts. “I was falling, but then I just stopped in mid-air and floated for a second. So I grabbed onto the--” She gasped as her sweaty fingers began to slip.
“I got you!” Marco reinforced his hold on her wrists, “I’m not letting go, I promise!”
“I just--I couldn’t let Toffee--!”
“Have the Wand?”
“--kill you!” Star finished between strenuous grunts. “I had to save you!”
“So you saved yourself,” Marco realized, completely taken aback. He looked down at their clasped hands. “Wait, do you even need me?”
“Just help me up!” Star groaned in exasperation. She grabbed Marco by the upper arms as he supported her elbows, neither of them taking their eyes off each other. “If we live through this, remind me to thank you.”
“Forget about me--!”
“No! I won’t!” Her voice broke, and not due to her toiling efforts to keep from falling. Marco pulled her closer to drag her back onto the bridge, and saw a deep earnesty glittering in her light blue eyes that told him she meant it from the bottom of her heart.
They both shouted as a shot of green light blinded them, forcing their arms apart. Star slid down the crumbled edge again and hung on with both hands while Marco rolled away from Toffee’s attack.
“Bravo, what a beautiful exchange.” With the sceptre back in his hand, Toffee advanced on him, the weapon pointed at his chest. Marco could see the adrenaline of the fight was taking its toll on the general’s revived body: His eyes were deranged with slitted pupils, open sores oozed on his neck and jaw, his hair tangled and matted, and he panted like a wolf about to pounce on his dinner.
“Yes, yes yes!” Ludo cheered him on from behind. “Annihilate him for his treason!”
“Don’t be stupid, I’m not going to kill him yet,” Toffee said simply as if it were common knowledge. “First, he’s going to watch Star Butterfly die.”
“You can do whatever you want to me, just leave her alone!” Marco yelled up at him defiantly.
“Oh no, you need to see this,” the general shook his head at him like he was scolding a child. “You need to see your efforts to protect the girl who means so much to you fail. You have to break, so you’ll be willing to die by my hand.” He watched with glee as the boy’s face contorted from fear to anguish.
“You’re right,” Marco whispered, “I couldn’t do it...I couldn’t save her again.” His eyes flickered briefly over Toffee’s shoulder before looking back down at the wand. He swallowed hard, “Can I have a last request though?”
“And what’s that?”
“Let me touch the Wand.” He held his hand out gently, pleadingly. “Please. I need something to remember her by.”
Toffee dropped his wand arm, his expression shifting between incredulous and repulsion. “Are you mad? ‘Let you touch it’? Do you honestly think I’m that stupid?”
“Nope.” And with a glint in his eye, Marco sprang up from the ground with lightning quick speed and swiped the sceptre from his slackened grip. “But you did let your guard down.”
“You--!”
“Heads up!” Flinging the wand into the air, it soared high over Toffee’s head towards the bridge railing. But it was intercepted before it plummeted over the side. Standing under the street lamp’s spotlight, hair and frayed gown rippling in the wind, Star grinned from ear to ear as she reached up with one hand and snatched the royal heirloom.
“No--no no no no no! ” Toffee dropped to his knees, pounding the ground with his fists as he shrieked and rasped, rounding his back as he clawed at the stone, saliva dripping from his clenched pointed teeth as he snarled wordlessly.
Star held the wand in front of her as its appearance transformed in the hands of its rightful wielder. The silver handle shortened and bloomed pink, the green jewel rescinded, replaced with a circular head sprouting little white wings, and in the center was half of a golden star.
“Stop! ” Toffee screamed in pure terror, but it was too late. Star ripped off the gold fragment hanging from her neck and placed it inside the head beside its sister half. Sparks flew out from all sides and she quickly withdrew her hand as the two halves mended themselves. All four of them jumped back as a wave of pink magic washed over the area, dousing out any trace of sickly green. The wand glowed good as new once again.
“Don’t come any closer,” Star warned as Toffee made a mad dash for her, and she aimed her new weapon at him. As if at her mental beck and call, a shield grew from the glowing star and brutally shoved the general back against the hedge.
“Whoa!” Marco exclaimed in amazement, whipping his head between her and Toffee. “What else does that thing do?”
“It’s like--it answers my thoughts!” Star stated excitedly as she clutched it with both hands.
“Give it to me!” Ludo’s shout drew out into a long war cry as he leapt at her, but she pointed the wand at him next, sending him sprawling in another burst of pink hearts and butterflies.
“Your spells are kind of...cute,” Marco remarked carefully so as not to offend her, chuckling at the magical winged insects fluttering over Ludo’s head.
“I know,” Star frowned, shaking the wand vigorously. “Hey!” she yelled at it as if it could answer her. “Gimme something useful! Something really powerful!”
“Star, look out!” She heard Marco’s call, but reacted too late. Toffee pounced on her back on all fours, knocking her onto her stomach. She was winded, but her hold on the wand remained steadfast.
“You think you can just wave your Wand and instantly defeat me, little girl?” He hissed his putrid rotting breath down her shoulder as she arched her head away from his cold nose brushing her neck. “Cast a few spells and everything will go away? That’s not how it works.” His teeth were practically touching her ear now, “You have to mean it, with your whole body and soul.”
He was interrupted as a pair of hands pried him off the princess and threw him across the stone. As Toffee got his bearings, an arm hooked itself around his neck and pulled tight, slowly cutting off what was left of his circulation.
“I said to leave her alone,” Marco breathed heavily, struggling to hold him down as the slippery reptile twisted like a wild animal against him. Star leapt up from the ground, biting her lip as she readjusted her wand’s aim several times, trying to figure out how to take out Toffee without hurting Marco as well.
“Ludo!”
“You’re on your own, sir,” Ludo declared, backing away from the armed Star warily. “This can only end in tears.”
“Traitorous coward! ” Flinging his arms behind him, Toffee dug his elongated claws into Marco’s back and flipped him over his shoulder, the horrifying sound of tearing flesh accompanying it. Star was so distracted by the dark stain spreading across Marco’s torso that her next spell clumsily misfired, ricocheting off a toppled lamp post and hitting one of the bulbs, sending glass flying everywhere.
She backed away as animal instinct seemed to completely take over the fallen general, hatred and rage so consuming him that he was beyond rational thought or speech. He let out a savage roar as the falling shards of glass pierced his head, rivulets of blood running down his face. For a moment he remained still, panting on the ground, his wild eyes darting aimlessly before focusing on the girl. His claws sprang back into view, and Star readied herself for his attack.
But it didn’t come. At the last second, the beast changed direction and bounded towards Marco, who tried to crawl away. But the loss of blood made his limbs quiver under his weight and he collapsed, fully succumbing as Toffee sliced his skin, one slap after another of nails like razors. Kicking him onto his back, Marco’s head lolled to the side, his breaths ragged and shallow. Toffee wheezed out crazed maniacal laughter once the boy’s neck was exposed. Raising his arm high over his head, he prepared to deliver the final blow to his jugular.
“Don’t touch him!”
An explosion that shook the very ground beneath them lit up the sky, a cloud of bright magenta filling the air as a murderous spell knocked Toffee off his feet, sending him crashing into the stone facing. The impact cracked his armor in several places and shredded his cape, but he remained conscious enough to see the light fade, revealing Star’s face. He didn’t run when he saw how serious, how utterly deadly she appeared before him with her hearts shining once more. No, he could still see her eyes betraying her true emotions while the wand trembled in her hands.
“There it is,” he rasped, pushing himself up from the ground as clumps of metal fell from his body and clattered on the stone, pointing a shaking finger at her. “There’s that fear. I saw it in Moon’s eyes that night, when I endangered you and claimed the Wand as my own. And now…” His dripping smile nearly swallowed his whole bloody face as he limped towards her, his yellow eyes about to bulge from his skull. “It appears I’ve finally found your weakness, Princess.”
As if for emphasis, he whipped Marco’s body aside with his tail, and Star only briefly let her gaze dart to him before concentrating back on Toffee. He was right, she was scared. Terrified in knowing that any moment Marco could breathe his last if she didn’t harness the magic within her to the wand itself.
…“It’s not just for fighting monsters, but for assuming responsibility for the protection of all of Mewni”...
Her Mewni was gone. But that didn’t matter. There was still someone she needed to protect. And she couldn’t fail, not now when he needed her most.
With a covetous cry of triumph, Toffee lunged his hands forward to use the dark arts and rip the wand from Star’s grasp, as he had from her mother all those years before. But it did not budge. Glancing down at his hands, a puzzled sound emitting from the back of his throat, the feral creature tried again.
“No,” the princess declared gravely, the wand’s magic swirling around her hands as if binding itself to her as she drew nearer to Toffee. “Not this time.”
“I don’t understand! How--why won’t it--?!”
“Because I have nothing left to lose,” Star replied stonily. “There’s nothing else you can take away from me. But I’m still here. And that’s the one thing you can’t take.” She stood tall with her chin in the air, raising her voice to a fever pitch. “I am, and I’ll always be, Princess Star Butterfly! The only daughter of King River and Queen Moon Butterfly, and the Royal Wand’s true heir!”
A shockwave of both pink and green shot from her and wrapped around Toffee like a cocoon, rendering him still as a statue. She towered over him, pressing her heeled shoe into his stomach to hold him down.
“That was for my kingdom!” She shut her eyes, concentrating as the sparks twisted into a frenzy over her head. Her blue orbs shone with blazing ire when she opened them again. “This is for my father!”
“You devil!” Toffee managed to howl before he was hit square in the chest. He clawed at his own scales frantically as his body began to decompose, unable to handle the repercussions of her spells’ damage. With what was left of his dwindling strength, he grabbed her ankle and hurled her to the ground beside him.
“And this…” Her eyes found the body lying a few feet away, smearing the stone beneath him with blood--and it lit the final fire inside her flaring heart, “is for Marco!”
Swiveling around, Star collided the head of the wand forcefully with Toffee’s forehead. The golden star pressing directly against him, the reptile had no choice but to yield to the full brunt of the princess’ magical dominance. His roar of pain was drowned out only by the deafening eruption of the blast, which flung Star herself backwards. She landed beside Marco’s dangerously still form and threw herself over him to shield him as everything around them quaked destructively. In the wash of light that almost deceived her into thinking it was daytime, she saw the general’s body and skeleton disintegrate, the grey fragments fluttering almost peacefully away in the wind, which died down to a gentle breeze almost as quickly as it had been disrupted.
Another much smaller flash of light ignited across the way as Star heard the familiar swoosh of a dimensional portal being opened. Ludo hurtled into it without a second thought, slashing a small pair of scissors through the air as it shut behind him. She let him go, it didn’t faze her. Enough damage had been done tonight.
As the sky darkened once more to inky midnight blue, Star sat up hastily to turn her attention to Marco. After numbing herself to finish off the vindictive general once and for all, the whirlwind of emotions rushing back at her were more than she could handle.
“Marco?” she called softly, her heart hammering in her chest as she cradled him in her lap. She drew a shuddering breath when her hand passed over the deep gash in the middle of his back. “No...no no no, Marco c’mon, you can fight this. C’mon, look at me.” She patted his cheek gently, but his eyes remained closed. His pale face didn’t even twitch, and she felt a hard cold pit of dread sink into her stomach like a boulder.
Thinking fast, Star reached beside her and took up the wand, holding it under the wound staining her torn dress with blood. You gotta have a healing spell in there somewhere. Come on, you got me this far...don’t give up on me now. A warm glow of blue glistened over the torn flesh, and the bleeding slowed to a stop as it congealed messily. It wasn’t perfect, but it would hold for now.
“Marco…?” Her voice trailed off when she realized he still wasn’t moving. “Wake up, please.” Her hand trembled as it cupped his face, wiping blood from his nose and mouth. His breaths were infrequent, his pulse faint, and Star felt as if the ground was giving out underneath her when she registered what was happening. Despite giving it her all, she may have been too late.
A searing ache shot through her chest as she dissolved into sobs, clutching Marco’s body against her. “I’m sorry! I am so sorry Marco, for everything! I was so h-horrible to you when I found out you lied, and a-all that time I d-didn’t even know that you--!” The little cherub-cheeked boy emerging from the secret passage flashed before her eyes, and Star bawled even harder. “I know it was you, Marco. You got me out of the castle that night. You--you were always looking out for me. And you still did, right up until...until…” She couldn’t say “the end” aloud, it was too much for her to bear.
“I’m--I’m just really sorry,” she repeated, overcome by weeping as she pressed her forehead against his, tears falling from her eyes onto his unmoving face. “You didn’t deserve this. I should’ve tried harder to protect you, too. I should’ve just told you that I--that--”
Marco felt his muddled mind pierce the surface of conscious thought, every part of his body screaming in pain, feeling someone’s shuddering arms holding him close. Drops of water splashed against his cheeks, and he figured it must be raining--until he heard Star sobbing as if her heart was breaking and realized it was her tears. Drawing breath with some difficulty, he managed to exhale one word.
“Star…”
She pulled away from him with a loud gasp as his eyes opened at last. The sight of those deep pools of chocolate brown gazing up at her filled her with such ecstasy that she couldn’t help grabbing him and crushing him in a suffocating embrace.
“Marco!”
“Ow--oww! Loosen up a little, would you?!”
“Oh sorry!” Star released him promptly, but he still hung onto her shoulders as he sat up gingerly.
“I know, ‘boys are babies’,” Marco winced as he slid into a sitting position. His concern shifted to her, seeing that she was also wounded in several places. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine!” she waved off dismissively, “I thought you were--!” She stopped when she met his significant look, and she realized this was their first time speaking since her memories fully returned. The full scope of who he was and what he meant to her crashed down on her at once. “Marco…” She held his face again. “Marco Diaz.”
He nodded. “Told you I’d find you later.”
Fresh tears poured down Star’s cheeks as she half laughed, half sobbed, “You didn’t say it was gonna be ten years!” She hugged him around the neck as Marco buried his face in her shoulder, basking in each other’s scents and tears as the two childhood friends were finally reunited.
“I didn’t want to believe it was you,” Marco’s breath hitched, salty streams soaking into her hair. “I was so stubborn. And ‘cause of that, I just treated you like a pawn in my scheme. But it’s you...it really is you. I’m the one who’s sorry, Star.”
Star could only nod, indicating that she forgave him while she clung to his injured form as tightly as she dared. They could have sat there melted in each other’s embrace for hours, but the fact that Star had too many questions for him broke the tranquil mood.
“Wait, I thought you were leaving,” she choked out, helping him to his feet.
“I was, until I saw Toffee trap you.” Marco kept his hands around her waist for support, leaning on his less wounded side. “I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.”
“Mom said you didn’t take the--”
“No, I--I couldn’t.” He smiled, looking down at his feet almost shyly. “Once I saw how happy you were, I just...didn’t care about the reward anymore. Maybe, deep down, I never really did.”
Star placed her finger under his chin and lifted his head, her eyes sparkling. Truth be told, she had never cared for him more than she did at that very moment. “Why did you wanna go? And without telling me? Don’t--don’t you--?”
“I do,” Marco replied sincerely, holding her hand in his as his thumb brushed over her scraped skin. “That’s why. You’re my Princess, and that’s all you’re supposed to be. That hurts too much. I couldn’t be near you and--and love you as much as I do while you...didn’t.” He hung his head, his heart lying bare in her hands, waiting for her to break it.
Star sniffled, her own heart swelling in her chest. “You never asked.”
Marco’s head snapped up, certain that he heard wrong. “What?”
“You never asked me if I did or not.” She saw everything about both of them in his eyes: Her own past, present and future. And while there was still so much uncertainty, so many things she yearned to experience, she had never felt more at home than she did with Marco--whether he was fighting by her side to defeat a monster tyrant, lifting her up in her darkest moments, or standing in front of her with very little space between them as he was now. She didn’t only want him, she needed him.
Star slowly began to close the distance between their lips and Marco caught on, letting his eyes fall closed. As she stepped forward, she accidentally kicked something on the ground aside with her shoe, making a loud rattling sound. Her eyes flying open, she glanced down and saw the wand lying forgotten at her feet.
“Don’t wanna lose this.” Marco bent down with a dry laugh and retrieved the sacred heirloom, handing it gently back to her. “Really, we should probably head back. Your mother has to be worried sick about you.”
Star nodded solemnly. Neither of them took their eyes off the wand.
Dear Mom,
I hate to say you were right, but -- well, you were right. Maybe spending the rest of my life doing what princesses do isn’t for me. So I think I’m going to spend some time seeing more of the world. I mean, I’m only fourteen. I need a little more life experience before I officially make any decisions.
I love you so much, and I’ll be back in Paris to see you soon. Don’t worry, I’m not travelling alone. Tell Rafael and Angie I’ll make sure Marco does his laundry -- haha! Wish us luck, and can’t wait until we see you all again.
Oh, and one more thing I wanted to ask you…
“‘Which do you prefer? Star Butterfly-Diaz, or Star Diaz-Butterfly?’ ” Moon read aloud, making Angie drop her teacup to the floor.
“He proposed?!”
“I know, they do seem a bit young--”
“This is the most wonderful news!” The queen raised her eyebrows as both her handmaiden and Rafael grabbed each other’s arms and jumped up and down like schoolchildren.
“Our families, once divided and now united forever!” Rafael sighed happily, hugging wife with one arm while raising his half-finished champagne glass. “That is something to celebrate.”
Setting the letter down, Moon picked up the Royal Wand that had been returned to her and carefully set it in a velvet lined wooden box before locking it. It would be here for her daughter when she needed it again. Right now, Star wanted to simply be a young woman. And who was she to stop her from living her life to the fullest?
And as for her engagement...well, if she were honest with herself, she couldn’t have picked a better match if she tried. “We will always have each other, my Star. And for you both, this is a perfect beginning,” Moon whispered, blowing a kiss out the window overlooking the river.
Miles away on an ocean liner, Marco lifted his future bride up in his arms and spun her around while she laughed to the stars up above. The Princess of Mewni could have had the world--the entire universe, all at her fingertips. But what she wanted was what she had always had to begin with: A passion to discover herself, and the one person who was with her every step of the way.
And as Star drew Marco closer, kissing his lips so deeply that her hearts lit up the night, she knew the journey she had believed was finally over was really only just getting started.
The End