Till Death Do Us Part

A Dangerous Deal

Marco wasn't sure what had happened.  One minute, he had been chasing Jackie to explain the so-called "scene" she had caught him and Star at.  The next, he had somebody pull a burlap sack over his head and wrap him up in coarse ropes. Then everything went black.

When he finally came to, the first thing he saw was darkness.  Complete and total darkness.  He tried to move, but noticed that his hands and feet had somehow suddenly gained a thousand pounds.  Not only that, but he had also obtained a splitting headache.  "What's going on?", he moaned.  "Where in the name of karate am I?"

He heard some familiar groans.  "Jackie?  Janna?"  "Marco?  Is that you?"  "Where the hell are we?"  "That's what I was wondering!", Marco said.  "Anyone else feel like they're being weighed down?"  "I can't lift my arms!", Janna cried.  "It feels like something's pushing them down!"  "What's going on?!", Jackie exclaimed, the panic in her voice as clear as day.  "Why are we here?"

All of the sudden, a door flew open, and Marco was temporarily blinded by a great white light filling the room.  When he regained his sight, he saw that Jackie, Janna, Oskar, StarFan13, Ferguson and Alfonzo were all chained to the stone walls by their hands and feet.  Looking down, he saw that he had been put in shackles as well, which would explain the sudden weight gain in his limbs.

"Marco!"  He looked up to see Star barge into the room, gripping her wand, her eyes wide with frantic emotions.  "Star!"  "Don't worry!", she said, pointing her wand towards his bound wrists.  "I'm gonna get you out of here!"  The wand glow hot pink.  "Chain-breaking glitter blast!"  At her command, a great burst of sparkly pink energy emitted from her wand and struck the chains that held Marco prisoner.

But when the dust cleared, they saw that the shackles had not broken under the pressure of the magic.  They hadn't even left a dent behind.  "What?!  That should have worked!"  "Star, I—"  "Not now, Marco!  I have to get you guys out of here before anyone—"  Before she could utter another word, a tall, dark, looming shadow fell upon the pair of friends.  "Hello, princess.  I've been expecting you."

Star got into fighting position and aimed her wand, bubbling with dangerous magic, towards her opponent, her eyes narrowed into slits.  "Who are you?!  Come out and fight like a man!"  The shadow started to take, slow, smooth steps towards her as he spoke.  "Oh, of course.  How...rude of me."  He stepped into the light, and there were gasps.

Standing before them was a lizard man, just like Toffee.  It wasn't Toffee himself, though.  His scaly skin was a few shades darker, and his hair was more wavy.  His head shape was a bit different, too, a little more square and busty.  But as for the rest of him, he looked exactly like the legendary monster leader.

He approached Star in a gentlemanlike manner, taking one of her hands and kissing it, earning him a frown from Marco.  "Allow me to introduce myself.", he said in a calm, dignified tone, locking his eyes directly with the blond princess before him.  "I am Coffee...your future husband."

"Her WHAT?!", Janna screamed, gaping like a fish.  The rest of them were gaping, too, at the beast who had claimed such a thing.  Out of all of them, Marco was the most shocked.  His eyes were stretched out to their limit as he looked up at Star, who seemed to have been paralyzed at this monster's announcement.  "You...You're the son of Toffee?"

"Indeed I am.", he replied.  His brow furrowed.  "Well, at least I was...until you and Hoodie Boy here destroyed my father for good."  "Well, technically, Ludo helped Star take him out.", Ferguson reminded everyone.  "Marco didn't really do anything.  I mean, sure, he did punch Toffee in the chest, but it just grew back, so—"  Coffee whipped his head towards Ferguson and shot him a dirty look.  "We get it."  The boy clamped his mouth shut.