Star and Marco vs Evil Book 3

XV

Queen Star stood in a clearing, in the middle of a forest bereft of anything but plant life. She did not know whether other life had never evolved there, or something had wiped it out as had happened on her own Mewni; truth be told, she didn't really care. Most planets evolved carnivorous plants, but they would only be a danger to her if they were ambulatory; so far, she'd found none. She was certain as she could be that she was safe.

The race against time to catch Hekapoo had been lost. Star nearly caught her, reducing the gap between them to mere seconds ... when, naturally, the infusion of magic had run out. Without the ability to see the residual strands left in the ether by dimensional travel, she had no way to know where Hekapoo had gone. She knew Hekapoo would turn up eventually ... she always did ... so installed alarms in a few of Hekapoo's known haunts, including her forge. Star then turned her attention to other things; this day it was training.

Star completely disrobed. Overcome by vanity, she conjured a mirror, in front of which she slowly twirled, checking herself out. She had new, large, scars on her back and chest, joining other scars acquired through the years. She was a little thinner, but still showed the definition of hard muscle; despite seven months under the healing spell, she had lost little muscle mass. She noted the inevitable wrinkles and sagging of certain body parts that came with age, but overall was still pleased with the way she looked.

Mewmans from Queen Star's universe were far sturdier than those in most of the Mewnis she had visited, including the one on which she received her latest serious injury. Because of their robustness, the magic wielders of her AU never evolved a Monster form, as they could naturally withstand channeling massive amounts of magic without it. That additional fortitude had helped her survive in those rare cases when some being on some Mewni successfully landed a lucky shot. It also resulted in a longer life span and longer middle age ... though only by a couple decades.

Don't look a day over sixty, Star thought. I may be getting on in years, but I can still beat most beings to death with my bare hands. Star didn't know her actual age. She had stopped keeping track many years before, once the electronics that could tell her the passage of time in her own universe had stopped functioning. Without them, the trips to alternate universes with different sequences of events, and sometimes different orbital mechanics, made it difficult and time consuming to keep track of relative time; she didn't bother to try. The state of her body could not give her any idea, either, as her frequent use of the dark healing spell, which contributed to the purple veins spiderwebbing her Magic-Pips, had drastically slowed her natural aging.

Star's best guess was that she was somewhere north of 155 years old.

After disapparating the mirror, Star dressed for her workout, donning a black dobok with a white belt. As she began her warmup, practicing the Tang Soo Do forms, she allowed her mind to wander.

- OoOoO - 🦋 - OoOoO -

"... because I love you, Star."

"What'd you just say?"

Marco giggled, then said, "What?"

Star smiled. He loves me! She had longed to hear those words for so, well, long. He loves me! A little bit of doubt crept into her heart. Oh, but the realm of magic has made him loopy; maybe he's not really talking about "love love." She felt a resolve she had never felt before. I won't ignore this or pretend it didn't happen. I'll make certain one way or another, I just have to find the right time.

To this day, Star wasn't certain what happened after that. She had a few flashes as the realm of magic didn't erase memories, it interfered with accessing them, but in all the years since, she had never been able to dredge up those events.