The Blood Bound Souls

Chapter 1 - Just Friends

Star and Marco sat above the clouds, viewing the expansive rolling hills of Mewni on the tallest spire of the Butterfly castle. The sky was flooded with stars, and Mewni's 3 massive moons cast their pale glows upon the two teens. This was an everyday view to Star, but to Marco, it was the most fantastic thing he ever laid eyes upon.

"Wow, Star!" Marco said as he gazed upon the horizon. "You have such an amazing view from up here, why have you never brought me here before?"

She smiled wistfully, "Oh, yeah... I guess it's pretty beautiful... i guess," replied Star awkwardly, her mind clearly somewhere else. Marco, knowing Star far better than most people, picked up on this immediately.

He bumped her with his arm, getting her attention, "Are you ok? You seem kinda... off. You aren't usually like this. All the stuff that happened must've done a real number on you. It's almost as if you're still bothered by... you know, dying, " Marco said, grimacing at his blunt observation of her blatantly traumatic experience that happened only hours before, " You know what? Nevermind, it's not important." Marco finally concluded, trying to save face.

Star sighed and turned to face Marco, who couldn't help but notice that the moonlight caught her features in just the right way to make her skin and hair glow, almost angelically, in fact, "No, it's not that," she said absentmindedly, "It's just that...," Marco raised a brow as the princess was struggling to get her words out. "It's just that I've been thinking a lot during these past few weeks about... certain things...and I...uh...," she muttered, laughing nervously to try and dispel her awkward conduct. Seeing that Marco was having none of it, she quickly shook her head, turning away from him, her cheeks glowing bright red, "It's nothing, nevermind."

Marco, however, was not to be fooled. He sighed, staring back over towards the horizon, "This is about what happened back at the house, isn't it?" he asked, making her bite her lip as embarrassment coursed through them both.

"Whaaat? No, that's not...," she began, but his steely gaze forced her to confess, "Okay fine! Yes, it's about my crush on you, but that's only part of it!" she snapped, hugging her legs and glaring down at the people of her kingdom, the peons her parents ruled over finally heading home after clearing away most of the rubble from Ludo's antics, "I was... kind of hoping you felt the same about me?" she said, glancing over at him past her knees.

Marco sat in shock as Star's question processed in his mind. Did he.. Could he feel the same? They've been through Hell (literally), and high water together on countless occasions. Whenever she had a mishap with her magic, or a problem in some dimension he barely had time to perceive, he was always the one she turned to for help. Yes, she was responsible for a lot of strange happenings in his life, but up until then he had never considered his life to be interesting, or, more depressingly, fun. No one had known his name before Star came along. Hell, Jackie never gave him the time of day.

More conflicting thoughts bounced through his mind as he rushed to find an answer to her deadly question. "Um... Of course I like you back..." Star's heart skipped a beat. "but... not in that way, but as a friend. A best friend."

She thought she wouldn't be hurt by his answer because she already knew, in the back of her mind, at least, that he would never feel the same way. However, she'd been holding onto a small sliver of hope that maybe he possibly might feel the same after the battle against Toffee. But it was clear that hope was shattered. "I guess that's what we were destined to be all along, right? Just friends." Star croaked as a well of tears flooded from her eyes. In an attempt to save her dignity, she tried to stand up and turn from Marco, but he grabbed her hand, stopping her.

"I'm sorry Star, but you just have to move on, like I had to," he said, but bit his tongue as a confused look crossed her face. For some reason, though, he continued, almost uncontrollably, "We had a chance before, b-but you didn't want a hero. You wanted a friend. Time has passed and I have a girlfriend now, Star, and I love her. You're just... a little too late." Marco explained as he gripped her hand tightly for a moment before he stood up and removed his scissors from his hoodie. He turned them in his hands as he glanced at Star to see how she had reacted.

Star sat there, frozen in grief and anger. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She definitely couldn't believe that he had liked her once and she just flatout denied him.

"Well, it's getting really late. I have to go home now, Star."

Star didn't respond immediately, but a concerned hand poking her on the shoulder snapped her out of her silent rage, "Star?" Marco tested. She snapped towards him, a forced smile crossing her face, "Oh, right... goodbye Marco..." Marco tried to read her face, but this time she was giving nothing away. Seeing no reason to stay, or anything he could say to amend the situation, he cut open a portal back home with his scissors, the unnatural light from the swirling mass of magic washing out the color in his face. In an admittedly stupid attempt at ending the night, he turned around before entering the portal and said, "I'm sorry, Star. No hard feelings, right?" he asked, giving her that winning smile of his. Star barely responded, her eyes locked past him and instead towards the landscape, "Right, no hard feelings," she muttered finally.

Marco gave her one last hesitant look before vanishing through the rip in space-time, and seconds later, there was no evidence at all that he had been on the alien planet except for the markings on the roof from his sneakers and a heartbroken princess.