Work Text:
Snarls echoed in her eardrums, hair and teeth clouded her vision, putrid breath filled her nostrils, but the Queen of Mewni had not lost this fight yet. Pinned to the ground on her back, she flung her head upright, colliding it with the beast’s forehead who roared in pain. Now able to extract one leg, she kicked him in the chest, sending him reeling backwards across the gravel littering the battlefield.
“It’s over, Thanatos,” the seething monarch growled. She felt the ground for her wand, only to come up empty. And after hours of combat, she was far too exhausted to channel her full golden butterfly form. No big deal, she could take him on without all of that. She’d made it this far after all.
“It’s only just started, Queen Star.” The creature, a cross between a bull and a lion, covered in black and grey fur stumbled back to his feet to face her. “You forced your way into a conflict that was never yours.”
“You launched an unsolicited attack on the Lucitor kingdom — they were completely blindsided,” Star panted, her blue eyes flashing so dangerously it was as if lasers were about to shoot from them. “Three hundred men, women and children are dead! And you took King and Queen Lucitor and their princess prisoner!”
Finally closing her fingers around the familiar grip, an electric blue spell flew from her wand’s crest and streaked across to blast Thanatos in the stomach, paralyzing him from the waist down. He grunted and groaned, vainly trying to free his legs from their rooted spot on the ground. But Star showed no pity, advancing towards him in a flash and seizing him by the scruff.
“My score has finally been settled with Wrathmelior now that her son and his queen have fallen,” the beast chuckled. “Now they’ll know the sting of banishment I’ve endured for four long decades.”
“You knew they were two of my closest friends,” Star hissed in his face, listening to him gurgle under her grasp with satisfaction. “You made this my conflict when you seized their kingdom.” A smile unfurled slowly across her dirt and blood smeared face, “Now we broke through your defenses and your army’s surrendering to mine. It’s over.”
She suddenly shrieked as her legs flew out underneath her, slamming to the ground on her back once more as three pairs of arms held her down. A fist struck her hard across the mouth twice, leaving her winded as she succumbed to the ambush, feeling the wand being pried out of her hand. The handful of troops that were left had converged, ready to carry out their general’s orders as soon as he gave the word. But as they glanced to him expectantly, he merely let out a hard laugh.
“Indeed, it is over. How could such a reckless stupid child be the one to lead Mewni to its glory days?” Thanatos taunted, kneeling to her level as Star kicked and screamed, struggling to free herself. “Or rather, former glory days, as you leave me no choice.” He leaned close to her face, seizing her chin in his clawed finger. “I’ll take the Butterfly lineage down with me as well. Once you’ve been disposed of, your king and darling child will be next.”
She let out a roar of her own, spitting saliva and blood in his face, which twisted his smug grin into a leer. “Tighten her restraints,” he snapped at his troops, withdrawing what looked like a hybrid spear and poker from the back of his armor. “Let’s see what happens when we clip the Butterfly’s wings.”
In an instant, the whole of Mewni shook with its queen’s bloodcurdling scream.
“Your Majesty, there have been dire developments,” a Mewman lieutenant stammered out, removing his helmet with two shaking hands once he entered his captain’s quarters.
King Marco instantly dropped his blueprints of the battlefront, rising to his feet anxiously. “The Lucitors...they’re not...they can’t be—”
“We have yet to uncover the royal family’s prison location.”
“Then what are you doing here?!” Marco shot at him impatiently, having been at this for weeks and getting nowhere. Tom, Janna and their daughter Lily could be in torturous conditions for all they knew. Or worse.
“Sire please, it’s the Queen!” the lieutenant tried again, quivering in his boots before him. “She was ambushed by Thanatos’ most skilled assassins, and there...there have been the most horrifying screams. My troops are all occupied reclaiming Lucitor castle from his creatures. I cannot make them change course now that we’re so close to victory!”
His words faded into white noise in Marco’s ears, but “Queen”, “ambushed” and “screams” registered loud and clear. Star was in serious trouble.
“Geoffery.” The command flowed from his lips naturally, low and rumbling from deep within his core, a product of his many years as a knight of Mewni. The chamberlain scurried into the room in moments.
“My King?”
Stepping out from around his desk, Marco removed a pair of purple and gold scissors from his thick leather belt. In one swift motion, he whipped them through the air across his body, and the blades extended into a gleaming white hot sword lined with tiny gold flames.
“Get me my dragon cycle.”
"That’s enough,” Thanatos stated gruffly, “Release her.” With murmurs of vindication, his lackeys dropped the queen’s body back to the ground, where she remained motionless. “We may have lost Lucitor castle, but the Mewnian army will lose morale with the news that their Queen is no more.”
Striding forward, he threw out his sharply spurred boot and kicked Star over, where she rolled limply like a ragdoll. The fierce warrior queen had completely blacked out from the excruciating pain, blood trailing freely in the dirt beneath her. Looming over her barely breathing form, Thanatos ran a claw over the heart emblem on her left cheek, leaving a deep red cut behind.
“Long live the Butterflys…”
“Look out!” one of the assassins shrieked, pointing frantically towards the blood red sky above. Sailing towards them on a stream of fire and smoke was what looked like a dragon attached to a motorcycle, and the troops scattered as it loomed larger and closer into view.
“Where are you going?!” Thanatos roared at his retreating men, but his only response was the screeching of tires kicking up a cloud of dust. Coughing dryly, he saw a hooded figure dismount the contraption.
“Easy, girl,” came a low firm male voice from under the dark blue cape, his gloved hand rubbing the head of the dragon gnashing its teeth in Thanatos’ direction. Letting out a roar, the Lucitors’ enemy roughly removed two massive glinting blades from the back of his armor.
“Another Lucitor ally challenging me?!” As he began to swing at the mysterious arrival in a blind rage, the man whipped out a blindingly golden blade of his own and deflected his attacks easily. Back and forth they went, the limber man slipping around and under the hulking beast to avoid him. Until they found themselves at a stalemate, their weapons locked together as their arms trembled under the weight of the other’s threat to overpower them.
And then Thanatos’ seering ruby eyes darted to the blade in his opponent’s grip, the remains of sunlight catching on the letters etched into the gold metal: MARCO.
“So, Your Majesty, you’ve come to avenge her.”
Throwing the hood off of his head, Marco held the creature’s gaze unflinchingly, which took Thanatos aback. He had heard of Mewni’s king from Earth: a skilled hand-to-hand combat fighter, a calculating strategist, a war hero at the tender age of fourteen against Toffee of Septarsis, certainly not one to be crossed. But he was also sensitive, weakened instantly by his loved ones in danger — his ultimate Achilles’ heel being the woman in a heap on the ground behind him. Thanatos expected tears and trembling threats from the dying queen’s husband, but none were to be found. The eyes beneath the thick brown bangs were blank, emotionless and dry, unfocused and unafraid before the fearsome beast.
“Let’s finish this.”
“Excellent...the Lucitors will crumble at learning I disposed of both of their dearest comrades.” Thanatos wrenched his blades away from Marco’s sword, gasping as he looked down at them: They were warped and melted along the edges, and he growled. “That sword—!”
“Forged by Hekapoo herself,” Marco stated, flourishing it in the air before shoving it back in the beast’s face. “I owe her my life for this one — doesn’t look like you’re any match for it.”
“Silence!” With a single continuous howl, Thanatos swung furiously at the flaming blade that blocked his every advance, each contact distorting his silver blades further until they were nothing but tangled pieces of shrapnel.
“Had enough?” came the infuriatingly calm inquiry of the king, his face remaining impassive.
“You—you stand beside that meddlesome girl Mewni calls their queen — reckless, rebellious monarchs who do more harm than good!” Thanatos spat out incoherently, throwing his ruined weapons aside. In a final ditch effort, he sprang forward with his claws outstretched to latch onto the boy’s tan neck…
Shing!
With a sickening squelch, Marco severed the clawed hands from the creature’s wrists in a single swift motion. Tumbling forward to the ground, Thanatos writhed in pain, holding his bloody stumps to his chest. But Marco advanced towards him and kicked him into the ground, nothing short of bloodlust in his flashing brown eyes.
“As long as I live, I’ll stand beside her,” he hissed the promise he made as a child at the heaving enemy, who raised his eyes to him, grinning madly amidst his panic.
“See to burying your pathetic wife. She’s done for.”
“Then I’ll sleep tonight knowing you went down with her.” And with a final thrust of his sword, Marco watched the bloody tip slice clean through Thanatos’ back, gripping the hilt that protruded from his chest. As the light left the deadly opponent’s eyes, Marco nodded in satisfaction that he had died knowing the king of Mewni had been greatly underestimated.
“Listen!” he shouted to the cowering assassins, extracting his sword to swing dripping blood and fire in their direction. “Tell the rest of your army that your leader’s dead! You’ll restore Lucitor castle and release the royal family! And then you’ll get out and never show your faces here again! Got it?!”
The men scattered like rats in a flood to the outskirts of the field, leaving Marco alone with Star’s body. He heard voices of the Mewnian troops surrounding him, knew they were shouting frantically about the critical state of the queen, but it was all distant and muddled in his ears. The expert swordsman was also a triple black belt, and his karate-trained mind had yet to leave the zenlike state he had entered this battle with.
His eyes were only on Star, crouching beside her to gather her close. Without a word, a flinch, even barely a thought, he swept her up from the ground and held her princess style in his arms, her head lolling to the side at an alarming angle, like a wounded angel fallen from heaven.
Clutching her as tightly against him as he dared, Marco let his feet carry him back up to the castle as fast as they were able.
She had woken up screaming in pain, crushing his hand in her dangerously strong grip before they were able to sedate her. The diagnosis was grim, to say the least: While Thanatos’ blades stood no chance against the flames of Hekapoo, they were fatal in piercing the flesh of Mewmans, the likes of which the palace doctors had rarely seen before.
All hands were on deck, but it appeared Star was not healing in the ways they normally expected of her. Procedures would have to be done, and it would take hours before her fate would be finalized. He was numb, unable to do anything except kiss her hand and whisper his love for her before being ushered out into the hall, her body disappearing behind the dozen or so royal surgeons milling about her bed.
Marco shut the door behind him and pressed his back to it, drowning out the frantic whispers and Star’s labored breathing, rattling and gurgling in her chest. He couldn’t panic. There was no use in panicking, it wouldn’t make the situation turn around any faster. Plus, what would the people of Mewni think if they saw their king in such a state?
What would River do? Well, his father-in-law was on his way there, but he would be far too worried about Star to give him the time of day. He already lost his wife — losing his daughter as well within two years would shatter him.
Besides, Marco was getting tired of always asking for help, at even the slightest hiccup. Granted this was way more severe than any of that mounting paperwork, but regardless, he still felt the same. As long as Star was incapacitated, it fell to him to lead. He needed to keep taking charge, not only of the kingdom but of his own emotions. He couldn’t let what was happening in that infirmary destroy his equanimity.
Wandering back out into the corridor, he heard gentler whispers and little hitched breaths grow louder once he rounded the corner. Star’s handmaidens were sitting on the loveseat against the window with Pandora, who clung to Aurora with her face buried in her chest as Astra stroked her hair.
“It’ll be alright, Princess…”
“Your mother is so strong, I know she’ll pull through…”
The young king cleared his throat, and the girls instantly sat up from their curled positions in comforting the toddler. Both identical sets of emerald eyes were red-rimmed and damp, but he commended them for keeping a stiff upper lip for his daughter’s sake. His daughter, who raised her head and blinked her swollen eyes up at him, wiping her runny nose on the back of her hand.
“Sire,” the twins inclined their heads slightly in solemn respect, but Pandora jumped out of Aurora’s lap and ran as fast as she could across the carpeted floor to where Marco stood, her face crumpled in such fear and anguish that should never be felt by a child so young.
“Papa!” she wailed, blinded by the fat tears that poured down her spade-emblemed cheeks, and Marco felt his heart break all over again.
“Shh,” he breathed once he scooped her up and cradled her against his chest, which she howled into unrestrainedly, shaking like a leaf clinging to a branch in the wind.
“I want M-Mama!” Pandora sobbed, less like a demand when she threw a tantrum and far more desperate and terrified — the same way Marco felt, but knew he couldn’t show in front of his daughter and the servants. “I w-want Mama!”
“I know, sweetie,” Marco soothed, rocking her in place as he felt his own tears leak out of his eyes and trail down into his little girl’s hair. “I know — we’re all so worried about her.” He was beyond thankful that Pandora had not witnessed the awful battle that struck his wife down, that the images of her weakened and bleeding out on the ground would at least not haunt his innocent child. Carrying her over to the seat the handmaidens had abandoned when they departed the familial scene, Marco hung onto Pandora as if she were the only thing keeping him from collapsing.
“Did you know they found Lily?” he asked softly, trying to switch gears to a lighter subject. “She’s safe, and so are Uncle Tom and Aunt Janna.” Holding her little face in his calloused hands, still stained with Star’s blood, Marco tried to get Pandora to meet his gaze as her wracking sobs dwindled into silence. “Mama and her army fought so hard to get them back, and now they’ll be okay. She’s a hero.”
“But...I wanna see her,” she tried again, in a tone of much more calm once she could speak again. “Pwease?”
Marco’s smile trembled as it spread, hearing her ask like a polite young lady just like he and Star had taught her in order to get what she wanted. But unfortunately… “I’m sorry, Pandi. They won’t let us in there right now.”
“Who?”
“The doctors. They’re trying to help Mama after she got hurt.”
“Can I kiss her boo-boo and make it better?” the little princess asked as if struck with a brilliant idea.
“No honey, that won’t work this time.” Seeing the hope in her eyes nearly made him believe everything was going to be alright. She was just like a beaming ray of sunshine. She was just like Star.
“So—so Mama will get better later? And then I can see her?”
Marco closed his eyes and hung his head. She was trying to piece it together; this poor three-year-old girl was trying to grasp the severity of the situation before her. None of this was fair to her — to any of them. He couldn’t lie to her and say “yes” with complete certainty, he couldn’t say that he knew Star would live like Aurora and Astra had.
Perhaps she would. Perhaps all these tears were for nothing. But given that Star’s ordinarily speedy Mewman bodily defenses had not closed the wounds yet, that hours had passed and she was still in such critical condition, he just couldn’t get his hopes up, let alone Pandora’s. He’d never be able to live with himself if he did, only for the unthinkable to occur.
“I don’t know, Pandi,” her father sighed, using his thumbs to wipe away her still rolling tears. “Mama is very very hurt. She—she did more than just fall. She was attacked by some bad people who hate her. Who hate all of us.” He swallowed hard: “They wanted her dead, sweetheart.”
Pandora’s eyes got wide, pooling with fresh tears that streamed over Marco’s hands cupping her cheeks. “I won’t see Mama again? Forever?”
A white hot stab pierced Marco’s heart. “I-I didn’t say that—”
“Mama said you save her,” the princess started to cry once more. “You always save her! But you didn’t this time! Why not, Papa?!”
“I tried!” he exclaimed in a broken voice over her screams, amidst the tiny fists beating on his chest. “I tried, but I was too late! Pandi, please—” But the toddler was too far gone to listen, screaming her lungs out for Star, blubbering that echoed in the empty chambers as Marco continued to hold her, completely helpless to ease her.
“You’re bad! You’re bad just like the bad monsters!”
His jaw dropped, at a loss for words as his daughter wrenched herself back from his chest and wailed to the ceiling. “N-no...no I’m not,” he attempted feebly. “Pandi, don’t you know how much I love Mama? And I would do anything for her, even if it doesn’t turn out right.” The tears threatening to fall from his eyes nearly betrayed him as he stroked his baby’s hair. “Don’t you know how much I want what you want right now—to go in there and see her? Talk to her, and give her a big hug and kiss?”
She continued to shake her head, whipping her hair over her face as she fought to avert her gaze from his, squirming in his lap as she tried to break free and run to her mother’s side.
“Pandi...Pandi, look at me.”
“No!”
“You have to believe me, sweetie, and this is the only way. Look into my eyes.”
The princess suddenly sat very still, feeling her father pull her closer. She breathed hard through her mouth, as her nose was too stuffed up, the front of her nightgown soaked in tears. Her jewellike blue eyes slowly met Marco’s deep brown ones, as watery and weary as hers. And her little furrowed brow finally softened at the raw sincerity within them, her mouth untwisting and her angry fists unravelling. The child did not understand many things at such a tender age. But she knew when her father, who was nothing short of kind, nurturing and loving, was telling her the truth.
“I’m scared, just like you,” he whispered, afraid if he spoke any louder he would lose his composure completely. “I know you’ve never seen Mama like this, but I have. We’ve been battling together for a really long time, we’ve both done our fair share of getting scary injuries. And she always pulled through before.” He bit his quivering lip as Pandora’s little hand reached up to touch his cheek. “Even so, I still worry about her. ‘Cause...she’s my whole heart, just like you are. And if I lost the two biggest parts of my heart, I’d have nothing left.”
Marco didn’t know what he said that finally got through to his little girl, but suddenly Pandora was in his arms once more, latched around his neck as whines escaped her throat.
“I’m s-sorry, Papa...I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Marco breathed into her hair. “I know you didn’t mean it, you were just angry.” She sat quietly with her head on his shoulder as he rocked her again, humming a lullaby his Abuela had sung to him when he was very small. It felt like a lifetime ago — everything from his life on Earth felt like it belonged in another reality. His reality now was ironically the stuff of fairy tales: Married to a beautiful queen, the father of a sweet baby princess, and a decorated interdimensional war hero. This was the life he had chosen so many years ago. But any moment now, he realized, that life could shatter.
“Do you think Mama will be okay?”
Marco kissed her forehead; at least now she was asking his opinion and not demanding answers. “Well, I’ve been in this position a couple times before. First time was when we were kids, and that evil lizard from Grandma Moon’s tapestry took her from us. Your grandma...I’d never seen her like that before, screaming and crying over her daughter. And that was when it hit me that your mama...wasn’t invincible. For awhile, it seemed like she could conquer anything, but she can’t. She’s mortal, like all Mewmans and humans are. And every time something like this happens, you think I’d be used to it. That maybe I’d be calmer, less shaky—”
He stopped as Pandora wrapped both of her little hands around his trembling blood-stained one in her lap, and he squeezed hers gently. “But I’m not. I’m always scared for her, every time she steps onto that battlefield with or without me there. But she’s the Queen. She’s Benevolent, and the safety of her kingdom comes first. And because I love and respect your mother, as my Queen and my wife, I’ll always step aside and let her do what she has to. Even if it means she might die.” His voice broke horribly on the last word, and he ran a hand over his face to keep it from crumbling in front of his terrified child.
“Papa?” she asked timidly, pulling Marco’s hand away from his eyes to get his attention. “I wanna help Mama get better.”
“You know what you can do?” He managed his first genuine smile in hours. “Have faith.”
“What’s that?”
“It means believe that Mama will be okay. She’s strong, right?”
“Uh-huh,” Pandora nodded vigorously.
“And she’s a good magic weaver, too.”
“And you do kara-tay!”
“I sure do,” Marco chuckled as his daughter giggled behind her hand. “So if you hold onto that, if you believe so strongly that she’s the most powerful queen in the universe, it might help you and her get through this. It’s—it’s not much. But it can help you feel better.”
“Mama’s the best Queen ever,” the princess declared. “She’s brave and nothing can stop her.”
“Yep. That’s your mother alright.”
“Sire?”
They were both startled by the husky voice of the elderly doctor, who shuffled towards them from the shadowed doorway. Marco’s face hardened, his chest turning to ice. The confident smile on Pandora’s face vanished instantly, and she hid her face in her father’s neck as he stood up.
“What is it?” Marco asked with utter dread, scanning the man’s unreadable face as he clutched Pandora tightly.
The doctor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “The Queen will live.”
It was as if a dam had broken open in his heart, the tears finally overflowing. “Did you hear that, Pandi?” Marco exhaled, peppering her emblemed cheeks with kisses.
“Mama’s okay?” the toddler asked, and the older man gave her a nod.
“She will be, Your Highness. She needs lots of rest and care, but she will eventually be good as new.”
She gasped happily, “Papa, it worked! Mama is strong!”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Marco choked out, shaking his hand as Pandora even leaned forward to give him a thankful bear hug. “Thank you.” He didn’t know what else to say, his head was spinning so fast he felt he might lift off the ground with relief.
“So I can see her now!” Pandora exclaimed, clapping her hands.
“In time,” the doctor explained, taking off his spectacles to rub his tired eyes. “They are cleaning her up now from the numerous operations, so you may see her within the hour.”
“An hour,” Marco repeated, then turned to his daughter. “Well, what do you wanna do until then, Pandi? I’m a little hungry myself.”
“Me too!”
“Okay, how 'bout I whip us up some nachos?”
“Thanks, Papa!” Pandora clung to his neck once more, and Marco gave the doctor a final grateful nod as he carried her towards the kitchens.
Her ivory face was even more pale than usual, as white as the clean linens on the infirmary bed, her rose heart emblems darker and duller. The golden tresses she kept long and shimmering hung loose and limp, fanned underneath her still form as she lay with her head propped up and illuminated by the perfect view of the rising sun from the window. She barely breathed, and from far away it was easy to mistake that Queen Star Butterfly had forever left this world.
But Marco relaxed as he led Pandora by the hand closer to the bed: A very subtle rise and fall of her chest confirmed that the doctor had spoken the truth, and she was alive and well. He didn’t even have to tell his daughter to remain quiet — her eyes were round as saucers, her breaths shaking with trepidation as she stood before Star’s sickly body.
“It’s okay, Pandi,” Marco mouthed, urging her forward. “Let her know you’re here.”
Pandora’s lips trembled, closing her hands over Star’s pale white one lying beside her. “M...Mama? Mama, it’s me.”
There was no response. Marco, watching Pandora’s face begin to crumple, instantly swept to the other side of the bed, kneeling before it as he took his wife’s other hand. It was colder than ice, and he pressed it desperately to his forehead.
C’mon, Star...please...please. I love you. I should’ve been there. If I’d had your back in time, you wouldn’t even be in this condition. I’m sorry. Wake up for us. Please, Star…
“Mama wake up, please Mama!”
“P...Pandi?”
Marco’s head shot up. It was nothing like the voice he expected, rather it was haggard, hoarse and weak. But it was hers, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and its sound was music to both of their ears.
“Mama!” Pandora leapt up to crawl into the bed as Star’s eyes fluttered open, still clear baby blue as always. “Mama, you scared me! I thought—”
“Oh baby,” Star sighed, curling her arm around her daughter’s shivering frame, “I’m okay, I promise. It’s gonna take a lot more than that to finish me off.” She winced as a laugh escaped her, the force of air flaring up her sore wounds. “Not too tight, Pandi, please.” Her daughter nodded and loosened her hug, kissing her mother’s cheek as Star pressed her lips to her forehead in turn.
“Don’t leave, Mama…”
“I won’t — I won’t ever. You’re stuck with me.” That seemed to be enough to soothe the shuddering toddler, and within moments she was drifting off to sleep in the crook of Star’s arm. Feeling the pressure of a larger hand squeezing hers, Star turned her head with great effort to face the person on her other side.
“Hey you,” she greeted lightly. The king kept his head down, his bangs hiding his eyes from view, and Star’s wan smile faded. “Marco?”
That gentle songlike whisper of his name was all it took. The barriers he put up the second he was told she was in danger, the numb emotionless zone he entered when he knew he had to step up and be the king Mewni needed, it was all starting to tumble down. Like waking up from a nightmare, gasping and panting just before the impact of the horrible images that swirled in one’s mind hit them.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you through this.” Star sniffled, pulling Pandora closer to her as a few tears slipped from the corners of her eyes into her hairline. “They said...you carried me back up to the castle. And you finished off Thanatos, dispersing the rest of his army. Tom and his family are home safe and sound. Marco...you were a real warrior King. I-I’m so proud of y—”
She gasped, all the air leaving her lungs as a pair of arms seized her, firmly enough to convey intense affection, yet gentle enough to not harm her frail form. Star let out her breath slowly as she found Marco had thrown himself across the bed, his nails digging into her back with his face buried in her chest.
He heard her words, he understood what she meant. But in his heart, he knew he wasn’t the fearless warrior king she or the rest of Mewni envisioned. He was strong for his kingdom. He was strong for his battered wounded wife. And he was strong for his very young child, paralyzed with anguish.
But now, at long, long last, Marco didn’t need to be strong anymore.
“Star…” He barely choked it out, wetting the front of his wife’s nightdress with tears flowing out in waves, melting into her embrace as she extracted her arm from around the slumbering Pandora to hold him close. “Star…”
“I’m here.” Her breath ruffled his dark chestnut hair, planting gentle kisses on his head as his body shook even harder with sobs, letting him crumble to pieces as she bore him up with what little strength she had. “It’s okay now...oh Marco…” Her heart shattered further the longer he wept, seeing him like this too much for her to bear. But still, she knew he needed this time to let it out, along with the assurance of her voice and touch.
“I can’t do this alone...I-I need you. I’ll always need you.”
“I need you, too. You saved my life — again.” She snorted, “I think you’re ahead of me on the scoresheet now.”
“I’ll never beat you,” Marco said brokenly. “You’re too powerful.”
“But you’re my shield,” Star added, “And my rock.” Lifting his head up with her hand under his chin, his eyes and nose still leaking, she pressed her lips to his in a very salty kiss. “You’re the anchor of this kingdom, Marco. And now everyone can see it.”
“I just wanna be your husband...that’s why you can’t leave me…” He trembled in her arms once more as a torrent of fresh tears spilled out onto her chest. “Please, Star…”
“Shh...just stay right here, I’ve got you.” She kept her voice firm even though her pale cheeks were now stained with tears as well. It didn’t matter that they had each other’s backs, fighting battles side by side as teenagers or monarchs, the fact that they were equally matched in combat was irrelevant. And it had never made a difference to her that she was a magical queen while he was a simple Earth human. There was one truth that had always been certain in Star’s heart, from the first day she met him karate-chopping monsters, to now as he lay crying uncontrollably against her.
Marco Diaz was the strongest person she knew.