Following Her

Following Her Part 4

Chapter 4

To many, arriving at the Underworld would be suicidal. It was not much different to anyone's view of hell, hot, fiery and incredibly depressing. Lava jets spouted the occasional tall flames, while the uneven terrain could make professional runners tire. But Marco knew exactly where he wanted to go, transporting himself in Tom Lucitor's house.

Marco and Tom's relationship was a very... weird one, to say the least. Tom was Star's ex and they had broken up when Star caught Tom cheating on her. Marco wasn't a big fan of Tom either, having karate chopped his hand off upon first meeting him. Yet they were somewhat close, sharing a love for Love Sentence and Mackie Hand. They hung out sometimes; playing Ping-Pong and video games, chatting away like normal teenagers.

"Sup Diaz" Tom said casually, keeping on his eyes on the video game. He seemed to be playing a Super Smash Bros like game, except with a lot more gore and violence.

"Uhm, hey Tom," Marco said, cringing at the sight of an enemy's head being decapitated, spouting blood endlessly, "Listen I have a problem, and I was wondering if you could help me." As he said this, Marco unveiled the reptilian finger, still stuck in its cage.

Quicker than lightening, Tom shot up, snatched the cage and aimed a hand of fire straight at Marco. "Where did you get this?!" Tom said, emphasizing each word, his eyes full of something Marco had never seen. Fear. If a fire demon whose parents ran the Underworld feared this, then it truly was something.

"It was in Star's closet, why its just a finger right?" Marco said, not taking his eyes off Tom's flames. Tom hesitantly snuffed out the flame and placed the cage on the table he had been using as a footrest a few moments ago.

"This is indeed a finger, a finger from a very powerful and dangerous monster. One who could wipe out all of Mewni and his name is..." Tom paused. He sounded like a young boy asking his parents if there were such things as monsters, his voice full of fear and...suspicion?

"Toffee" Marco continued. "But Star killed him when she destroyed her wand for me". Marco remembered everything about that day, how hurt he had been when Star questioned their friendship, the fear when he had having been kidnapped and the guiltiness when Star had given up her wand. She had given up her families wand, the most powerful artifact in the universe, all just for an earth turd who couldn't help himself, much less his best friend. Maybe Star had been in love with him then, his parents often told him how love could make people do stupid things.

"I wish Marco, but you cannot simply kill him." Tom said, snapping Marco out of his thoughts. "In fact, I fear he has returned, stronger than ever."

This scared Marco, he had never been a scared kid. He watched horror movies other parents would never have dreamed of showing to their children. But Toffee scared him, very much so. He had never told anyone, not even Star, about the number of sleepless nights he had after that incident. That close call reminded Marco that despite them being invincible battle partners against Ludo, death comes to all. It had been a depressing time for Marco but he had Star, who reminded him of all the good things in life. Friendship, fun, laughter and so much more. She had shown him so many unimaginable magical things and was always there for him, putting his happiness before hers. Heck she had pushed Jackie and him together when she had a crush on him. She was literally his star in an endlessly dark night.

"Toffee will search the ends of the universe, killing anyone in his way to get this," Tom said lifting up the cage with a not so dead finger wriggling around like a caterpillar. "With this, he will have powers that rival the royal wand. And he came very close before. Luckily Star's mother, Queen Moon stopped him."

"B...But I have it" Marco stammered, a lot more unsure of his 'quest' now. "and I have to get to Mewni and warn St... I mean Queen Moon!"

"Ahh so you finally found out huh Marco?" Tom said, a smile creeping onto his face. "And you want to go back to Mewni and win her over by defeating Toffee. Ambitious."

"nn..No! I mean I want to save her but not win her over. And how did you know she liked me?" Marco demanded.

"Oblivious Marco, everyone could see it. Even your Earth friends noticed it." Tom said shrugging his shoulders. How he knew about his friends, Marco had no clue. "And you feel the same don't you?"

The truth was, Marco didn't know how he felt. Star was his best friend, he had never thought of her as anything more. But at the party, Marco realized some people weren't as surprised as he was. But why him? Didn't she like Oskar? Why not someone like Chris or Justin? Marco Diaz? Pshhhhhh. He thought of himself as an average guy. Sure he did karate and he scored well in school. But Marco Diaz suffered from low self-esteem, never being able to see himself as anything but normal. He knew some girls thought he was cute, but he thought his birthmark mole was ugly. He had a hopeless crush on Jackie, the coolest girl in school. And his only friends before Star arrived were Alfonzo and Ferguson who weren't exactly popular.

But Star had changed all that when she arrived. He thought of her as nothing more than a nuisance when they had first met. But Star had changed his normal Earth life into a kid's dream. With monster fighting, rainbows and Star herself. Her baby blue eyes, her infectious smile, bubbly personality and brighter than bright hair. She was pretty, anybody could see that but Marco had never felt drawn to her...Except for that time at the Blood Moon Ball.

At first he felt angry that Star was hanging out with another guy beside himself. Then tongue tied when he saw how...breath taking she had looked with her dress. She seemed to stand out even more, just like a star. What had compiled him to dance with her, he didn't know. He just couldn't bear to see Star look so hurt and for her to be soul mates with Tom for eternity.

"I'm not sure" Marco replied, having stayed silent for a few minutes. "I mean I like Jackie and we are? were? A thing."

"Marco, when I was with Star, I could tell when she would actually look at me with love. You see, Star and I met when her parents tried to hook us up as you say on Earth. I knew she didn't really like me, I didn't make her happy, no matter how hard I tried." Tom confessed, staring into empty space. "But with you, she is happier than she has ever been. As for Jackie, well you've liked her for a decade? You don't really like her, you like the idea of her. Your heart and your mind are telling you two different things."

Marco thought about it. These last few weeks with Jackie had been fun. But not as fun as exploring dimensions with Star, or fighting monsters with Star. Star had made this last year with him the best year of his life. But his feelings for her were purely platonic...weren't they?

"It doesn't matter if I like her or not. I'm her best friend and we have each other's backs" Marco determinedly stated.

"So your plan is to go to Mewni, likely under the control of an immortal monster, with no help to get Star back, who you might or might not like?" Tom said, returning to his video game. "Good luck then, you're going to need it."

Marco sighed; he hadn't slept much in the last 24 hours. A nap and shower before leaving sounded good, he didn't want Star to see him like this. 'Woah, since when did I start caring what I looked like to Star.' Marco thought to himself, his head pounding.

Half awake, Marco cut open a portal back home, crashing face first into his stack of clothes. It was noon so his parents were likely at work, he would just take a 3-hour nap...

As you can probably see, I have writer's block and this chapter is reallllly bad. But thanks so much for reading. This story will likely end soon, BUT I have plans for an even better story. (Also SVTFOE related) I have put much more thought into that and I promise it will be better than this. Anyways, until next time.

<3 THESINGHER