A Bit Crazy

Chapter 9: Hubris

[little cursing but cursing nonetheless. Chapters might start having it, I'm not sure yet]

My eyes shot open as I gasp for air. I sit up and grab my heart in anticipation of pain. But none came and my breathing steadies. I'm in my room, some how, and the window's open letting sunlight poor in. I sit and dangle my legs over the side of my bed and let the longest breath ever.
"Thank god." I say with a smile. "It was all a dream." I get up and I feel the sweat drip down my back.
Eh... Gross.
I open my door to see Star's shut tight. Smiling, I sluggishly reach her door and silently reach for the doorknob. Couldn't tell you how early it was but when Star's door is closed its usually because she's asleep.
But my hand jump away from the metal knob as soon as the doorbell cries loudly. My attention is grabbed and I soon find myself opening the door to a familiar childish face.
"Hey Marco!" Fredrick cheers and waves a little.
"Oh." I raise my eyebrow. "Hey?"
"Hm?" He slips by me and welcomes himself in. "Why so confused?"
"It's just..." I look down to see my white button down and black shorts still on. Wrinkly but there nonetheless. "It wasn't a dream?"
"Huh?" Fredrick calls to me from the couch.
"It's..." My stomach churns. So did the thing that happen this morning happen and then I fell asleep again? Did I even go to school? Did I even wake up?
"Wanna watch some TV?" Fredrick tosses me the remote. I fumble with it until it lands safely in my arms and I let out a cheesy smile. He flashes one back. I sit down next to him, the heat poring through the house making the slight touch we had kinda awkward. But anyways, I begin to flip through the channels.
"Hey dude?" I ask as we speed through the guide.
"Yeah?" He asks and shouts me to stop when we land on a TV show.
"How can you tell if you're awake?" I say casually as I hit play.
"Pinch yourself?" He shrugs. "Oh also try to read words and a clock I guess. Maybe count your fingers? Although I think those are just myths."
I nod and the show begins to play. Nonchalantly, I count my fingers and check the clock a lot and pinch my arm a few times. I think he noticed but didn't say anything.
"Hey," he interrupts but waits for me to hit pause to continues, "Is Toffee around?"
I literally look around and shrug, "Not that I can tell?"
"Okay." He turns back to the TV.
"Hey uh..." I run the back of my neck and look at my hand. "You wouldn't have happened to uh..."
"Seen your wand?" He finishes.
My heart stops beating. Causing my blood to freeze over. My lungs stopped. Everything was perfectly still for far too long. My wand. I completely forgot about it. How did I? How could I? It was like me ripping out my spleen and not noticing.
"I'll be right back." I get up, pins and needles covering my body so my steps feel awkward. My mind sloshes around uselessly and I ascend the stairs sloppily. I make it to Star's room and grab the door nob, not feeling the cold metal. I felt like someone had ripped me from inside me and tossed my essence uselessly to the side like a scrap piece of paper. I was an empty shell of a person right now, so how could I have not noticed it was gone before!?
Star's room was empty except for her spell book which was wide open and on the floor. I pace over to it and see her wand and my wand both glowing intensely and shaking.
The book was open to a page about 'entering the wand' or something. 'Find the thing that doesn't belong' and 'don't look away from Glosseryk' were just scribbles around the edge of the page.
I grab my wand and the shaking and light die down a little. Star's wand does too, like it's being suffocated. I leave the room and march down the stairs to see Fredrick and Toffee chilling on opposite sides of the couch and watching the show.
"So they all have to be in their lions to form the giant-sword-guy?" Toffee asks, fully but a tad interested.
Fredrick cackles. "Yeah." I don't even make it all the way down the steps. I end up sitting on the forth one from the bottom, I'm really tired.
"I like the big purple guy." Toffee continues.
"I thought you would you freaking sociopath."
"Earth TV is bizarre."
"Tell me about it."
"I mean at least-"
"MARCO!"
That got all of our attention. It was Star. And if I wasn't dreaming that meant I really did blast her at school. I mean I did win the fight but I doubt that would even help my argument when she rips out my throat for having the wand.
I climb back up the states as Toffee and Fredrick exchange argumentative whispers. I grip my wand tighter than normal, I think my nails were digging into my blood steam. Star was going to demand the wand back. Even though I'm great with it and I saved lives. But no. She's going to want it when I need it so she doesn't leave and forget me.
Her door is open and she and Glosseryk are giving me very judgmental looks. I pull back my hair so it's slicked and give a look back. "What do you fucking want, your highness?" I was in no mood to deal with her. I'd rather be downstairs with Fredrick and Toffee. Her face softens, obviously the bad-cop, bad-cop was Glosseryk's idea.
"I just..." She sighs. "Marco what was that today?"
"You mean the fight?" I begin to scratch at my fingers with my thumb on my hand that's gripping my wand.
She brushes her blond hair behind her ear. "Yeah. You totally scared me."
"I... Scared myself." I admit.
"Which is why..." She pauses for an uncomfortably long time, E hanging looks with the little blue man. "... I need the wand back."
"You what?" I growl.
"You wouldn't understand, Marco! It's a lineage item, it goes back to the greatest of all grandmothers! I can't be the one to break it!"
"That's where you're wrong." An idea dances around my head and I just let it out. "Why would you even want to uphold such a stupid and stuffy linage that oppressed both Mewman's and monsters. You hate that shit, why are you even protecting it?"
"It's my family history Marco! I care about my family and... I also like the magic we have."
Something begins to inch under my skin and pull me towards that auto pilot feeling again. "Yeah well I guess it's time for you to get some new perspective on stuff. Just like your mom and her mom and that snotty little queen's mom they all use the wand for personal gain, selfish pricks. Such power and they are all such a disappointment. Well since I'm using mine for good maybe I should be the one demanding your wand."
She was stuck and so was I. Her mind was trying to contemplate what I meant and there was someone else under my skin, trying to chase away all of my own thoughts and replace it with theirs.
Star's eyes stop twitching and her brain settles on something. "What good have you done?" She says it like she's genuinely interested. The person leaves me alone, my thoughts flooding in like a tsunami. I turn around, count my fingers, and processed to leave the room.
"You coming, Princess?" I shout back and I hear her feet pitter-patter until she's right behind me. We reach the door and I shout, "Fredrick! Toff! We're going out!" And I leave without any shoes on.
"Whose Fredrick and Toff?" Star asks as she stands next to me.
I place my arms behind my head and sigh. "My friends, now will you quit it with the chit chat?"
"Dude why?" She snaps back. "We're friends will you stop acting like an arrogant ass?"
"We both have friends, Princess. Even better we both have our own friends. I think having two people with wands so close will make us both claustrophobic." I pick up my pace and she follows.
"Is that what you want!?" She spits as soon as she catches up with me. "For us to drift apart!?"
"If I recall," I growl. "You are leaving earth at some point, never to return. Why shouldn't we start our drifting early so when that nobel lineage you're trying to hard to protect when it tears us apart if it doesn't kill us!?" My voice hits around weirdly in my throat, not even close to my own octave and forget it being my own words. I was just so god damn tired for no reason that I was too weak to even fight against.
We hit the street and walk down until we reach the charred house. It was black and the roof and half of the front paneling was gone. The door was shot of the hinges and all the windows were busted. It looked like something out an apocalypse movie, like no one ever lived here.
"Here we are." I smile proudly. "A house that was smothered in flames, the roof gone by the time I got to the scene. The house was head to toe in brilliant flames and I saved a kid from becoming a human toaster stroodle."
"Smothered? The roof?" Star turns to me,
"Yep."
"But... Marco that house is completely fine."
"What are you taking about!?" I shout back. "It's all back and chatted, the roof and front are basically gone!"
"No..." Star gains tears in her eyes and turned to me. "Marco the house is completely normal. There was never a fire." She says something along the lines of it not being on the news, there was never mention of a fire from my very-up-to-date parents.
"No I'm telling you! It was on fire! I saved a kid for crying out loud!"
"I know but are you sure you did?"
"You think I would make this up!?"
She opens her mouth, closes it again, then opens it again with a timid, "Yes. Im sorry but yes! I think the whole thing was in your head or a dream..."
I look at the charred house that could have been fresh out of Dresden during WWII.
I begin to let out a long, heavy laughter. "God damn it!" I say between my gasps for air as my laughter kinda grows to insanity levels. "You will say just about anything to get this fucking wand back!"

DUN
DUN
DUUUUUNNNNN
IS STAR LYING?
IS MARCO JUST CRAZY!?
WHERES FREDRICK AND TOFFEE!?!?
THESE QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED AND MORE NEXT TIME!
WOLFIE JOHANSON

BTW DRESDEN WAS A REFERENCE TO THE DRESDEN FIRE BOMBING DURING WWII [sorry we're reading Slaughterhouse 5 in English]