Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Star Butterfly groaned dramatically as she flopped against a shade offering pine. Her bright, prisoner-orange vest snagged on a piece of bark and snapped it as she slid down. Her hand extended toward her fellow volunteer expectantly. “Water me, Diaz.”

Her request was fulfilled by her reliable, equally if not sweatier boyfriend with a toss. Star twisted open the cap and wasted no time to down three greedy gulps.

“Don’t drink all of it. I need some too.” Marco reminded her as she wiped her lips. He wasn’t wearing his signature hoodie for once. The LA summer heat mixed with strenuous volunteer work made it nearly impossible to even think about having an extra unnecessary layer on.

Star let out a sound of protest as Marco grabbed it back to drink his own share. Marco paid little mind to her pout. As he lowered the bottle from his own mouth, he looked at her. “You know we wouldn’t have to share if you didn’t forget yours.” He said.

“But when it’s from yours it tastes way better!” Star insisted, leaning forward while making grabby hands at Marco’s bottle. Marco moved it a little more away from her and she flopped to the ground. “Besides, I like sharing with you.” She whined with no effort to get up.

“It’s the same tap water that would be in yours, Star.” Marco said, setting his water bottle down by his side. “But if you want, I could get you a similar one.”

Star turned so her back rested on the warm, green grass. “But it wouldn’t be the same.” She complained, looking up and meeting skeptical eyes. She held her hands above her as she imagined it. With a pinch of her fingers, she said. “Yours has that adorable little dent from when it flew out of Oskar’s car window that one time.”

“You mean back when we chased you on a rogue bicycle?” Marco tried to clarify with a raised eyebrow.

She sighed with a reminiscent smile. Her arms folded back behind her head. “Ah, memories.”

Marco gave her a look, confused as to why such an event deserved a nostalgic grin. A beat passed. “You.. You almost died.”

“But compared to the other times I almost died, that one was nice!” Star said, rolling again on the grass to be on her stomach. “You have to admit it was better than those other times.”

“When did you chase Star on a bicycle?” Tom Lucitor asked. He had been sitting off to the side, struggling to unwrap some mediocre looking earth takeout sub. He too wore a vest similar to Star and Marco’s, but he seemed significantly less exhausted.

“Uhh..” Marco thought, trailing off as he tried to remember. “Like a year ago?”

Star nodded, confirming it. “Yeah, it was sometime after the blood moon ball and sometime before you and Marco became friends.”

“Oh.” Tom responded, taking a hesitant bit out of his sub. Not enough corn, he thought. Through muffled words as he chewed, he asked “How’d that happen?” At once, the two answered.

“I was teaching her and I let go of the bike.” Marco said.

“He was teaching me and I couldn’t figure out the breaks.” Star said.

They paused and looked at each other with adoring smiles. “Aww, Jinx.” They both said, again in unison. Tom smiled at that too. Ever since Marco and Star had begun to date, they would often have moments where they would be in perfect sync. While some people, like Janna, found it weird, other people, like Tom, found it endearing.

Star finally decided to sit up after her hair began to get tangled from all the repetitive turning and rolling. She started to finger comb her hair and that was when she noticed Tom’s sub. “Wait, Tom, when did you get food?” She asked.

“This?” Tom asked, holding the sandwich up. “I’ve had it with me all day.”

“Wait. you’ve had it with you, while we’ve been building a house, the entire time?” Star repeats, surprised. “It’s been, like, five hours at least.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t it be warm by now?” Marco asked.

Tom shrugged and paused before a second bite. “Warm by your standards, I guess,” he answered. Seeing Star’s eyes follow it, he was quick to pick up on subtext. “It’s not bad though. You want some?”

Star contemplated the offer with a hum, before she shook her head. “Nah, I’m good. I wanna be hungry for dinner. Eclipsa’s having us over to discuss boring treaty stuff with earth government guys and Globgor said he’s gonna make this really yummy corn-free, dairy free Ice cream. He always makes way too much but it is so good.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks, recalling the sweet, unique taste. “I’m drooling just thinking about it. You really have to try it sometime, Tom.”

“Sounds delicious.” The demon said.

“Oh, it’s the best!” Marco insisted with an enthusiastic grin. Star rested her head on his shoulder as he continued to praise the treat. “Last time Star made me cover for her while she snatched a bowl to send me home with.”

Star shushed her boyfriend before he even finished the sentence. “You can’t just tell people about our heist!” She scolded with a giggle. Her arms wrapped around his waist, squeezing him before relaxing into it. “You’re the worst accomplice, Marco.”

He looked down at her with a playful and teasing smirk. “Well, you’re not exactly a sneaky criminal, yourself.”

From that point on Marco and Star fell into their expected habit of forgetting the conversation in favor of flirtatious jests, leaving Tom to proceed to eat in front of them. Over the two months that earth and Mewni have been fused, its saviors had adjusted within the constant comfort of each other. It had been expected for the two of them, especially Star, to struggle with the adaptation of regular life after the danger had come to an end, but it was clear to Tom that carefree teenage life came just as easy to them as before.

Tom was happy that they were able to find comfort in each other this way. Whenever he felt a twinge of bitter grief in reference to his relationship with Star, seeing her smile brightly at Marco eased it like cold water to a burn. Tom looked back over at the site they had all come from, and through a golden pinkish untimely sunset glow he noticed other volunteer workers beginning to dissipate.

Construction had been a common sight to see in their new hybrid realm. Roads in the Mewnian terrain needed paving, Monster sized adjustments needed to be made downtown, it had become a common community activity to volunteer, and Tom needed a regular activity to immerse himself in.

But it seemed clear to him that work was done for the day, so after finishing his sub, he looked back at the happy couple and stood. He cleared his throat to remind them of his less than significant presence. “Hate to interrupt you guys, but I just wanted to say it looks like they’re wrapping up, so I’m gonna head back.”

“Oh, okay!” Star said, bidding farewell with a chummy wave. “See ya, Tom!”

Marco began his goodbye but cut himself off when he remembered something. “Oh, wait, Tom. Could you check to see if Janna stole my diary again? I can’t find it, and you know how she loves to snatch my stuff so..” He trailed off, needing not to explain.

Tom nodded. “Yeah, I can try.” He answered.

“Thanks, See you tomorrow, Tom.” Marco said, giving a wave that matched Star’s own.

“Byeeee!” She said again with a pitch high and happy.

Tom smiled, uttered a simple ‘See ya’, and walked away. Before everything, he wouldn’t need to walk on the sidewalk to get home. All getting home required was a burst of flame and a swift teleportation to the depths of the universe. However, given the fact pyrokinesis and general teleportation were now obsolete, Tom’s way of getting home was much more average. He didn’t need fancy demonic rituals and horrific entrances, he just needed to remember which street he lived on and which sidewalk to follow. After the past few months, it came just as naturally.

The walk home was quick. One of the undeniable perks of earth cities were the well-developed and organized suburban mazes with helpful street names. He could allow himself to zone out in thought and in his perspective, only blink to see he’d already made it back with a hand already turning the knob.

Tom hadn’t even gotten two steps in before an unseen object struck him in the shoulder.

“Ow, Janna, what the heck?” He asked, looking down to pick up what he identified as a cheap foam bullet.

His assailant snickered, a bright green bulky plastic weapon still aimed in his direction. “Check it out, I found my old Berf gun.” She said with a second shot, this time at his leg.

“Berf gun??” Tom repeated, his eyebrow raised as he stood out of the way.

Janna nodded and rotated the toy to show it off, thumb wiping away a smear on the shining faux golden logo planted on the side. “This baby takes me way back. I got my first detention thanks to her.”

Tom knelt to pick up the two bullets from the ground. He should have known looking away was a mistake because the moment his head angled down, a third hit him on the head right between the horns. “Okay, you know what? If you do that one more time-”

“Try me, demon.” She dared, with a challenging look. “I’ll even make it easy for you.” She then tossed the gun itself to Tom, who caught it. He looked back at her, and saw she was already loading up and readying a second, smaller dart gun. “Come on, let's do this. If you win, I’ll give you my soul.”

Tom smiled at the playful proposal, but instead of playing into her taunt, he set his gun down on the nearest surface he could locate. “Actually, I’m just gonna go to my room.” He said. “I had a long day.”

Janna's smile fell in disappointment, but she tossed her smaller toy aside without a second thought. “Yeah, I’m sure you did.” She replied with an uncomforting, well aware tone like she knew something he didn’t. “By the way, did Marco ask about his diary?” She asked.

Tom paused at that. “How did you know?” He asked.

She shrugged. “Well I borrowed it like two days ago, I just figured he’d notice by now.” She answered.

“No, I meant how did you know he was there?”

Janna addressed the question via simple, casual vagueness. “I have my ways. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t keep tabs on my buds?”

Her demon roommate seemed tempted to pry, but the day’s exhaustion was creeping up to him and he knew better than to try and understand her blatant weirdness. He headed up the stairs without a response. Their conversations weren’t always fluid. Abrupt stops were often a normal end to them. Having to be in each other's presence on the daily had inflicted a casualness that Tom hadn’t really had before with anyone besides immediate family.

As he went into his room, bare of sentimentals, he hooked his vest on the door handle and let out a tired sigh. Days like this were normal days. They weren’t bad, but they were far from ideal. He had grown used to living on Earth-Mewni and he couldn’t deny it was nice. Especially when he grew up in a fire and nightmare fueled underworld. He laid on his back, lips pressing into a fine line as he stared up at a pentagram scratched into the ceiling, courtesy of Janna.

He liked this new life. That was an undeniable fact for certain. But sometimes his mind would wander, like in this moment. He wondered if his dad felt this way when he left Mewni to become king. He wondered if his mother would enjoy living in this new dimension. On top of all the wondering, he wished he could ask them.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried. Janna had been more than enthused to try and contact the literal royalties of Hell, and she had tried dozens of different rituals. But, sometime near the end of the first month, she got bored of it and Tom forced himself to drop it as well. Magic didn’t exist, and that included supernatural contact.

Tom glanced over at a simple ticking clock on the wall. It told him the time was nearing four PM. From the looks of the now darkened sky, he wouldn’t have guessed it. It felt much later. He contemplated fighting the urge to curl up in the guest bed he had grown to call his own before he decided such resistance hardly mattered. He got up only to close the curtains before returning to his bed, already exhausted and willing to sleep.

The evening came swiftly in the next few hours. These days, night and day were concepts held together by nothing besides time itself, the sun and its new sister almost always refused to be in sync so once the Earth sun set, darkness only lasted a few short hours before the Mewnian star sped through its day’s light.

Star flopped on her one in existence bed in her one in existence bedroom that resided on the eastern side of the monster temple. She would have much preferred to have it located in the Diaz house, but it seemed that the copy in that location had disappeared without a trace before the merge.

“I still can’t believe you said that to the president.” Marco’s voice emitted from Star's new, completely magic-free smartphone. In the rectangular screen that she stared into she could see him standing in the hallway.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you didn’t fill me in on what to call him.” Star defended, her feet raising to kick the air as she talked. “I’m an ex-princess. What did you expect?”

“Okay you’re right. That might have been my bad,” Marco laughed admittedly, “ I just thought you learned it in school.”

“I thought Mr. President was just a cute nickname. Like Queenie or something. Could you imagine calling a Queen nothing but ‘Miss Queen’ all the time?” She asked, faux seriousness faltering with a giggle at the idea. “Who would do that?”

“Democrats, Star.” Marco answered. His face froze in place every few moments as she watched him walk more toward the direction of his room. “I kno- s, but i-” He seemed to have something else to say, but his voice began to cut in and out in a weird way that Star still wasn’t used to. How she missed her Mirror.

“Marco, sweetie, you’re cutting out again. What are you saying?” She pulled her phone a little closer to her face and tapped the screen, knowing it would do nothing.

“Hold on.” She could make out, before her phone made a small sound and the imperfect frame of Marco disappeared, replaced with a circle with the letter M in the center of a black screen. “This better?” He asked.

Star nodded, forgetting he could also no longer see her either. “Oh, yeah, way better. Go on?”

“I was just saying that it probably wasn’t a big deal. I think we just say that because stuff like your majesty makes them feel more.. Elite? I don’t know.”

“You guys and your weird little government.” Star responded. “Okay, so no addressing the president like a king. Got it.” She heard a door creak come from Marco’s end. One she had familiarized herself with. His bedroom door. “Are you gonna go to bed soon?” She asked him.
Marco, from his side of the world, put his phone on speaker as he set it down on his dresser. “Eh, probably not for a little bit.” He answered, looking into his mirror, noticing for once how he really has to wipe it clean someday.

“Okay, great!” Star’s voice echoed from his phone. “Then let's keep talking. In fact, if you wanted to, I just learned about this really cute thing where you just fall asleep on the phone together..” She loved to pitch cute couples' things like this to him. More than not, Marco would oblige happily.

However, Marco scrunched his nose in the mirror at this idea, not out of disgust but more so as he analyzed his face in his reflection. “You know, that is a really cute idea, and I totally wanna try it, but I didn’t actually pay for that many minutes when I bought your phone.”

“Ohh, right. Minutes. Because these phones.. Have limits and stuff.” Star looked down at it with a disappointed frown. The quality of her own, a drugstore phone Marco had called it, was cheap and dinky. The audio was often scratchy, the videos were hardly clear. “I miss my mirror.” She admitted. “Even though I love this little thing I wish I could just transform it into something better, ya know?”

“Yeah, I know, Star.” Marco said. Despite the practically universal agreement that magic did significant harm, and Star’s deep claim to hate it, there was no denying the complete absence of its perks went without being missed. He could hear her whisper unserious commands and could imagine her holding her hand out expecting nothing.

“Sparkle mirror phone transform..! Glitter improve quality bomb..! Let-me-see-my-boyfriend blast..” She trailed off each one, throwing the last one out there in an attempt at humor. “Ugh. This is another reason to hate magic. It totally spoiled me.”

Marco chuckled as he reached for a small package of wipes, peeling back the plastic opening before pulling one out. “Yeah, I get what you mean. It’d be nice if we could’ve kept the good parts.”

Star was quick to disagree. “Actually, no. I’m glad those parts are gone too. Because then someone would try and use it to pick a fight, then there’d be villains, then I’d have to fix everything. I’m done with that.”

Marco listened attentively as he wiped the last of his cheek with a wipe.

“Seriously, Marco, I’m glad magic is extinct. Now we never have to deal with it again. It can’t ruin our lives.” The words flowed out of Marco’s speaker and into his ears. He smiled bitterly to answer, but his eyes didn’t match it. He lowered the wipe, now stained with layered concealer and looked at his face, grateful that Star didn’t have to see what he saw at that moment.

“Yeah, so am I.” He answered. “Good riddance.”

Chapter Text

“Isn’t this beautiful?” Star exclaimed, twirling in the orange morning sunlight as she gestured around herself. She and Marco were standing near the clearest border of their blended realms. In one direction, mountains and fantastic forests. In the other, a downtown area with a closed off street marked with neon cones.

Marco was still tired, to say the least. He held onto his cheap, medium quality coffee and took a sip, not eager yet to match his girlfriend’s early bird enthusiasm. “It’s not even time yet. We still have at least an hour to kill.” He reminded her with a squint.

Star sighed as she continued to look around at the several sellers setting up tables and hauling carts. “I know, but I just want to make sure everything goes smoothly, you know? This is a very important moment for our people. It’s the first time we’ve ever combined earth’s flea markets with Mewni’s open air markets.”

“Uh-huh.” Marco only half listened to her explanation. She had emphasized the importance of this pop up market more than a dozen times in the past upcoming week. He didn’t mind her passion for community and harmony, in fact he admired it, but waking up at the crack of dawn to only watch people set up for something that wouldn’t start until eight in the morning seemed rather excessive.

He noticed when her smile widened as she began to bounce on her toes. She pointed at a stand where a chicken-like monster was busy pouring a batter into a skillet. “Besides, some people are already selling stuff. Look, see that? There’s even someone making fresh pancakes here! Come on, let’s go get some!”

Marco looked over at the direction of the sign which happened to not just advertise pancakes, but their dauntingly high prices as well. “Why do I get the feeling we’re gonna pay for them with-“

“Your money!” Star finished, hand reaching into Marco’s front pocket to snatch his wallet. He, still being too tired to react in time, couldn’t stop her. It was times like this Marco truly felt grateful she gave him that Quest Buy gift card.

As Star started turning the dial of numbers belonging to one of the wallet’s padlocks, Marco interrupted her. “Star..” He scolded, snatching it back. “It’s not open yet. And even if it is, for once I’d love to not spend my entire Turdina check in one place.”

Star pouted but made no effort to snatch back the wallet. “Aw, okay then. But can we at least get one order?? I mean thirty-five dollars is only ten percent of 650 or something, right?”

“Actually, it’s more like five.” Marco corrected her.

“Five percent! See? That’s practically nothing!”

Marco couldn’t help but smile at her persistence. He glanced at his watch and read its metal hands. With a sigh and another glance at Star’s puppy dog smile, he appeared to consider.

“I‘ll buy lunch.” She bribed.

Marco then looked back at the stand. The pancakes did seem to be of a generous size. He said nothing, but a thumb pressed to the sensor of the wallet gave her his answer.

Star pumped her fist and grabbed his hand with an excited squeal, eagerly leading him to the stand.

“Hi! Are you serving customers yet?” She asked, hands resting on the table between them and the monster. Marco again smiled at her enthusiasm.

The chicken monster smiled and looked away from his work. With a sharp toothy smile he responded. “Sure am! Thirty-five a piece.”

“A piece!?” Marco repeated, bewildered. He wanted to speak up again about the insanity of the price, but at this point he knew it’d be pointless. Earth economy and Mewni economy were so vastly different. He would know, he had once purchased a mediocre pie for six-hundred and fifty dollars.

“We’ll take them all!” Star enthused jokingly. Marco sensed the monster seemed to be greedily interested in the unserious offer. Star laughed off her own humor and ended it with a sigh. “No, I’m kidding. We’ll just take two.”

“Only two?” The chicken monster replied. “You sure you don’t want to double that? Growing teens need to eat hearty, you know.” He paused and scratched at his head. “You are teens, right? I haven’t interacted with many mewmans.”

Marco pulled out seventy dollars from his wallet and placed it on the table. “Yes, we’re teens. But we’re only getting two pancakes and that’s it.”

The monster snatched the money, stuffed it into his apron pocket and shrugged. “Oh well, a customer is a customer. I’ll have those right out for you.”

As he got back to work on making the pancakes, Star and Marco waited. Marco took another sip of his coffee, and observed how other early shoppers were beginning to make their first purchases as well. He saw a girl he recognized from his freshman year science class walking with her friends while holding a small cloth pouch. It had the letter M embroidered on it, and as she reached in, she pulled out a small berry which she handed to her friend.

Then, Marco noticed a slime monster with his own pouch, identical to the other girl’s. He watched the stranger empty all of the berries into his mouth with a gluttonous smile.

By the time their pancakes were finished, Marco had finished his coffee and had seen at least a dozen customers holding a pouch with these ‘M’ berries.

After thanking the chicken, he and Star sat down on a nearby bench. It seemed the more people that arrived, the more of these pouches he saw. Whatever they were, they must be popular.

“What are you looking at?” Star asked, shoveling a large bite into her mouth.

Marco shrugged it off. “Nothing important.” He said before taking a bite of his own pancake. He paused after the first few chews and looked over at Star who had yet to swallow her bite. They both had matching looks of unexpected distaste. Marco grabbed a napkin and released the chewed mush into it. Star did the same.

“Marco, I appreciate you buying these super expensive, super huge pancakes but they’re kind of..”

“Gross?” Marco finished.

“Yeah.”

“These were a mistake.” He said, placing the napkin and his plastic fork on the plate.

Star hummed in agreement. She stood up and tossed her place in a nearby trash can. “So not worth seventy dollars.” She critiqued.

“I don’t think any pancakes could be worth that much.” Marco agreed. As he tossed his pancake after her, he groaned. “Which sucks, because now I’m actually hungry.”

“Let’s just find something else to eat.” Star suggested. She looked around, and spotted a lizard monster walking with one of those pouches that Marco noticed earlier. She tapped on his shoulder. “Hey, excuse me. Can I ask you a question?”

The monster turned around. “Yeah?” He replied.

With a point to his pouch, she said “You seem to be eating something that looks pretty tasty. Where’d you buy it?”

The lizard smiled and gestured in a direction where a small crowd had been forming. “There’s a booth over there. Merchant’s not too friendly, but she does grow one heck of a berry.” He said as he reached into the pouch. He lifted it to his mouth, but Star suddenly swatted at it, making the Lizard drop it.

“Hey! That was very rude.” The lizard said. Star paid no mind and snatched the pouch from the lizard’s hand. “You could have just asked for one.”

Again, Star ignored the lizard monster’s protests. She had a look on her face that invoked a concern in Marco.“Star, what are you doing?” He asked.

“I know these berries anywhere.” She said, pulling one out needing not to inspect it but only show it to Marco. “They’re Yadda Yadda berries.”

“Wait, what?” Marco asked, surprised. He knew what they looked like and couldn’t deny them by appearance, but he was hesitant to believe they were being sold as a harmless snack. As Star handed him the berry, he spoke up. “But that’s impossible! I’ve been seeing people eat these all day. If they were eating them wouldn’t they be-”

“Oh, for goodness sake.” The lizard said, snatching the pouch back from them. “If you have a problem with them, bring it up with the merchant. I spent good money on these.” Before Star could protest, the monster was walking away, grumbling something under his breath about disrespectful teens.

“Why would anyone in the right mind think of selling Yadda Yaddas to innocent, unsuspecting..” Marco asked, tossing the berry to the ground.

“I think there’s only one person who would do this.” She responded.

Star and Marco didn’t need to exchange another word. They only looked at each other and rushed in the direction the monster had pointed them towards. Star shoved her way through the crowd of eager humans and monsters, ignoring their complaints as she pushed past. Marco on the other hand tried to apologize as he followed her.

“Mina.” Star hissed once she saw the merchant, sitting innocently in a chair, with hundred of berry pouches surrounding her. She looked much different than when she had disappeared in the woods three months ago. Her hair was tangled, chopped and wild. Her clothes were unchanged and tattered, but her smile was still the same.

Mina seemed surprised to see Star, but she didn’t appear caught in any way. “Well if it isn’t my used-to-be mud sister.” She said, crossing her arms. “What do you want?”

“I want you to stop this!” Star exclaimed, anger in her voice where once was glee.

Mina scoffed. “From what I heard, this was an open event where anyone could sell.”

“But you’re selling poison!” Marco butted in. The crowd began to murmur, and a few people stepped away from the stand.

Mina waved her hands. “Noo! No, my dear customers! I’m not selling poison!” She glared at Star. “You can’t just accuse a girl of selling poison. Where's your proof? Where is your legal-schmeegal evidence?”
Star reached for one of the pouches and opened it. “The evidence is self explanatory! These are Yadda Yadda berries.”

“We know that already. That’s why we’re here!” A bystander called out.

Mina snatched the pouch back from Star and emptied them into her hand. “Oh, please. Yadda Yadda berries haven’t been dangerous since you and your fellow traitors destroyed magic.” She explained before stuffing all of them at once into her mouth. She chewed messily and as she talked, berry juice began to stain around her mouth. “Now, they’re just normal berries and I have a stockpile of them.”

Star blinked, and for a moment wondered if Mina was really just here to sell like a regular old vendor. “But.. you’re selling them to monsters.”

“Well they’re customers, aren’t they?”

“You’re Mina Loveberry.” Star stammered. “You hate monsters.”

“I don’t need these berries now that they don’t turn people into stone. I’m just getting rid of them and I could care less who buys them. So unless you’re wanting to buy some of Mina Love’s Berries, I suggest the two of you make like crows and skedaddle.”

Star looked over at Marco, wanting to say something but hesitant. She loathed Mina, and a feeling in her gut wanted her to believe there was something more dastardly behind this. Marco’s hand found its way to her shoulder, as if to also communicate they should hold back.

Star’s glare met with Mina’s eyes, and she uttered a single threat. “If I find out you did anything to these monsters, I swear I will find you myself and trust me when I say it won’t be pretty.”

Mina simply raised her shoulders with a Hmph. “I don’t need to do that. Knocking off these cretins one by one would just be amateur and shame upon the name of a solarian warrior. I’ve got a better plan, but it’ll take a while. So you don’t need to worry, I’m not gonna do anything to your precious little monsters today, but I’ve also already decided I’m not going to sell to you even if you beg, so get the heck away from my stand and let me work!”

Star grumbled, but reluctantly stepped aside to let an eager customer purchase her own berries. Marco walked with her in the direction they came until they were easily out of earshot from Mina and most of the shoppers.

“What do we do?” Star asked him in a harsh whisper yell.

“I don’t know. Why are you asking me?” Marco replied in a matched volume.

“I don’t know.” Star exclaimed, volume raising to her normal voice. She turned on her heel and paced in a small circle. “I wanted this Open Air flea market to go off without a hitch but Mina’s here and she’s acting like the biggest hitch ever! And she’s selling Yadda Yaddas publicly like that? What kind of criminal sells openly at a market? Who would do that!? And that threat she made? What is she gonna do!?”

Marco grabbed her shoulders to stop her from walking anxiously. “Calm down. Breathe. Maybe she won’t be a hitch.”

Star’s arms flew into the air, almost whacking Marco in the face in the process. “Of course she’ll be a hitch, Marco! Mina Loveberry is a wanted criminal that attempted one of the biggest revolutions in Mewni history! We have to report her.”

“Okay then just call Eclipsa and have her take care of it.” Marco’s grasp moved from Star’s shoulders to her hands. “Guards will come, arrest her, and we can continue enjoying the market.”

“But that might make it worse!” Star argues. “Mina’s stronger than ten guards combined. She’d kill them before they could even put handcuffs on her. And if she felt threatened she could attempt to harm any nearby monster and then-”

“Breathe.” Marco commanded a second time. He could feel a shake in Star’s hands as he held them which made him squeeze them tighter. “If Mina’s harmlessly selling today, she might continue to. So just call Eclipsa, tell her that you saw her here, explain your concerns, and let her take care of it.”

Star let out a held breath and nodded, collecting herself. “Okay. you’re right.” She gave Marco a quick hug to reassure herself, and pulled away. She glanced for the nearest private area and gestured to a vacant porta potty. “I’ll just go in there, make the call and then we can just- continue the day as if nothing happened.” She said with a forced smile.

“Yeah we will. Now go ahead, I’ll just be waiting here.” Marco said.

“Great, thanks Marco.” Star said before heading toward the porta potty.

Marco sighed as he watched her disappear behind the bulky, blue plastic door. He was glad he was able to soothe her easily this time. She had become so dedicated to their happy ending, that the smallest thing could set her off. More so than in the past. He looked back in the direction of Mina’s stand and as expected saw several people enjoying the berries with happy smiles.

“Excuse me.” One of them, a larger gooey monster said. Marco briefly stepped out of the way to let her pass. As he did, he felt his heel hit something rough and solid.

“What the-” Marco turned around to look at what he had bumped into. It was a small, peculiar shaped rock. Which was odd considering he was still standing on a pavement road. Marco then noticed how part of it stretched into a long strand with rhythmic ridges. He felt something in his stomach drop as he kneeled to get a better look at it. He lifted it, and that's when he realized he was looking into the eye of a rat that had a small, round berry in its mouth. Marco gasped, and dropped it. He felt a sensation in his skin again. A feeling he had only felt a few times, but had soon come to recognise. It wasn’t a good feeling. It was a feeling of something foreign. Something supposed to be dead. Something…

“Hey, Marco.”

Marco yelped, and he could feel his soul leave his body for a split second. Ironically, as he turned his head to look at the person that greeted him, he found it to be none other than the soul collection that was the Lucitor prince.

“Tom, hey!” Marco said with a voice crack. “Crazy seeing you here, huh?”

“Yeah, small world.” Tom said as the human began to raise the hood of his hoodie over his head. It brought attention to his face, which then brought Tom’s attention to a certain something that didn’t belong. Assuming it at first to be a type of face paint, Tom gestured to his own cheek. “Oh. You’ve got a little something.” He told him.

“What? I do? Oh, man. Why now?” Marco reacted with confusion and alarm. His hand went to his cheek, and Marco began to dig around in his hoodie pocket for an emergency tube of concealer. It was with the sudden panic that made Tom take a second glance at what he saw. The mark appeared to be more like a glow.

“Wait..” He seemed to hesitate, a sense of logic seeming definitive on an answer, but his eyes challenged it. “Is that..”

“Don’t tell Star.” Was Marco’s quick, immediate interruption. Tom blinked, and Marco could see a reaction of surprise seep into his face as he processed what he had witnessed. Before Tom could say anything, Marco’s voice lowered cautiously and the glow began to dim as an explanation began. “Look, after the cleave, moon cheek marks appeared on my face. Like what Star used to have. I don’t know how, I don’t know why. But I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. I just don’t want to worry Star about it, you know?”

“That’s a pretty huge secret to keep from her.” Tom commented.

“I know it is, but everything’s been great, you know? She’s really happy, dude. Just please pretend like you never saw this.” Marco’s words were more of a plea now. A plea Tom of all people could understand, but was reluctant to accept.

“Uh..”

“Hey, Marco.” Another voice spoke up, making Marco jump. This time, the person came from the opposite direction, and she was eerily close up behind him.

“Janna, What the heck!?” Marco exclaimed, turning to face her.

“What? I wanted to say hi.” She walked around him, her foot kicking aside the stone rat without a thought.

Marco turned to look at Tom. “Why didn’t you tell me she was there?” He asked.

“I didn’t even see her coming.” Tom replied. It took him a second to clearly shake off the secret he had just come into knowledge of. But Marco noticed it, and relaxed a bit at the effort.

“And nobody ever will.” Janna said with a click of her tongue. She glanced at her demon for a roommate. “Speaking of which, I didn’t even see you walk away from me. How come you’re hanging out with Marco near the porta potties?”

After a shrug from Tom, Marco gestured in the direction of one. “Star had to make a phone call. We ran into Mina Loveberry.”

“Wait- really? Mina?” Tom seemed surprised, and Marco couldn’t blame him.

“Mina who?” Janna asked, her question falling on deaf ears.

“She’s one of the merchants here. It doesn’t seem like she’s up to anything right now, but Star’s going to report it to Eclipsa, just in case. As if forgetting Janna was even there, Marco looked directly at Tom and gestured back towards the direction of Mina’s booth. “If I were you, I’d just stay clear of her. She hasn’t seemed to hurt anyone yet, but you know how she can be, so..”

Tom nodded. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Is there anything I could do to help?”

“No, I’m sure we’ve got it under control.”

“Uh, guys?” Janna spoke up again. “Who’s Mina?”

“What do you mean ‘who’s Mina?’” Marco asked, somewhat appalled by her lack of recognition.

“Yeah, weren’t you there?” Tom asked, giving her a raised eyebrow.

“You were! You were totally there? Mina? The leader of those Solarian warriors?”

“She had that bird, and stole your boot, tried to annihilate all the monsters.” Tom added.

It was then Janna seemed to remember. “Oh, yeah.”

“That was history, Janna! How could you forget that?” Marco asked, surprised.

To that, she only shrugged. “Sorry, I’m bad with names.” She said. Her eyes lingered past Marco. “Anyway, it looks like Star’s back.”

On cue, Star walked up to the now formed group. She appeared a bit disheveled to Tom, but still collected and together nonetheless. “Tom, Janna, you guys are here.” She noted, mild surprise in her tone.

“Hey, Star.” Tom said with a friendly smile.

“Sup.”

Marco leaned a bit closer to Star. “Everything taken care of?” He asked.

Star nodded in confirmation. “Eclipsa’s got it under control.” She told him. “My mom happened to be there too so the situation should be in good hands.”

“Great.”

As Star’s head was turned toward Marco, Tom couldn’t help but glance at her cheek. Still bare of the cute simple hearts she was born with. Whatever cover up tactic Marco was using, Tom had to admire it for its impressive reliability. Along with a mental note on bringing up the cheek marks again when the time was more promising, Tom also felt tempted to ask Marco what brand he was using. Though he doubted, whatever earthly product it was, it came in pale lilac.

After a brief filling-in with Marco, Star looked back at the duo of friends. “It’s so crazy you’re both here!” She said with clearly false positive lightness. “Small world.”

“Hey, I said the same thing.” Tom said with a small smile.

“Oh, you did? That’s funny.” Her sentence rolled away like a sigh. “What brings you two here.”

“Same as you, I guess. You seemed pretty eager about it when we were volunteering the other day.” Tom reached for his and scratched it.

“Yeah, and I wanted to find some cool Mewni stuff.” Janna added. She leaned on her heels, hands reaching in her still empty sweater pockets. “Still haven’t seen anything cool yet though. Just food mostly.”

“Well Marco and I still haven’t explored much of the Market.” Star said, her hand reaching to hold onto Marco’s. “Would you guys want to join us?”

Before Tom could answer, Janna did. “Sorry, no can do. Tom said he’d help me find something cool to decorate my room.”

When Janna grabbed Tom’s arm, Tom stopped her. “Well hold on, Maybe I could just tag along with them?”

Janna didn’t let go of him, but she did pause at his suggestion. As if he were flaking on a matter of importance. “What? Dude, you said you were gonna help me.”

“I know, but to be honest, I don’t even know what kind of stuff you wanna decorate with.”

“Weird stuff, I’m a pretty simple girl.”

“You are anything but simple.”

“Tom, come on, don’t bail on me.”

It was now that Star butted in, hoping to ease the shread of conflict in her suggestion by revoking it entirely. “You know what, it’s okay. This isn’t the only time there’ll be a market like this. You two have fun.”

Tom stammered a bit, before sighing. “Okay, yeah, another time then. But Marco,” At the mention of his name, Marco’s head turned upward, looking at him. As if trying to communicate a need to discuss things with him in a subtle way, Tom setted for a vague. “Let's hang out soon. Like, real soon.”

Getting the message, Marco nodded. If Star wasn’t there, neither would be the friendly casual smile. “Yeah, sounds good.” He said.

“Well, we’ve gotta get going.” Janna insisted, pulling on Tom’s arm. “See you around, guys.”

As Janna pulled a reluctant Tom away, Star waved. “Bye guys!” She said, She looked over at Marco with a thinking smirk. “Those two really have become better friends, haven’t they?”

Marco nodded, watching for a moment as they walk away. “Well that’s what happens when you live with someone for a while.”

With a small singsong, Star grinned. “You know it makes me wonder. They’re roommates, we were roommates..”

A suspicious smile was creeping its way onto Marco’s lips. “What are you suggesting?” He asked.

Star’s eyes rolled to the side innocently. “I’m just saying, I wouldn’t be that surprised if something happened.”

To this, Marco stifled a laugh. “No way that’ll happen. I mean, Janna doesn’t even believe in romance, does she?”

“Not yet.” Star said knowingly. After a second of laughter at the potential, an idea popped in her head. “Wanna bet on it?”

Marco rolled his eyes, but playfully agreed. “You know what? Sure. Seventy bucks sound good?”

As the market continued on, Star and Marco proceeded to do their best to enjoy their morning. Occasionally, Star would glance back in the direction of Mina’s booth, pondering if there was more to do about the situation, but whenever she looked back at Marco, he hit her with a silent wordless reminder that she no longer had to be the one to handle everything, and that was enough for her.