Till Death Do Us Part

Realization

Clink! Clank! Clink! Clank! Clink! Clank!

Janna released a long, agonizing groan. "Marco! Give it up already!" Marco ignored her and continued struggling with his chains, trying to wriggle free. "Don't worry, Star! I'm coming for you!" Alfonzo shook his head sadly. "Dude, you've been at this for days. Its no use. Just throw in the towel."

"I can't just give up now!", Marco cried. "Star needs me!" He pulled at his hands, trying to yank them out of the tight shackles strapped to his wrists. "I need to save her from that Coffee guy! His dad tried to kill her and her family! Imagine what his son would do!"

Ferguson shrugged. "Maybe he won't be such a bad husband." Marco stared at him, his face taking on a shade of red. "Dude! He grabbed us and locked us up in here to blackmail her into marrying him!" "He said the marriage was really important to him.", Ferguson said. "Maybe he just really likes her and wants her to be his wife."

Jackie stared at her hands, folded over her lap. "Marco, why are you so upset over this?", she asked meekly. If he had been zapped with a taser, Marco could not have looked more shocked. "Why am I—Star is being forced to marry the son of our greatest enemy! A son, who literally kidnapped us all and put us in chains, then threatened to murder us in cold blood if she didn't agree to marry him! And you're asking why I'm upset?!?!"

Jackie bit her lip. "But you've never reacted this bad before. You've always known that Star could take care of herself, always known how capable she is. So why not? What's different this time around? In fact, the last time ypu were this upset was when Star said she was leaving for Mewni...forever..."

All of the sudden, the expression on Jackie's face slowly changed. Her sea-green eyes grew wider, and her mouth fell open a tiny bit. "Of course.", she whispered. "It...it all makes sense now." "What?", Marco asked, getting confused. "What makes sense now?" Jackie stared at him. "You're in love with Star."

"W-Wh-What?"!", Marco sputtered. He could hardly believe what she had just said. And neither could anyone else. All heads were directed at Jackie, then whipped around to stare at Marco. A couple of whispers were exchanged around. Marco shook his head. "Me?! In love with—Jackie, that's ridiculous!"

"Is it?", Jackie said. "You and Star are so close. You've been through so much together—fighting the forces if evil, having nacho-eating contests at home, listening to Love Sentence music non-stop for hours. When two people are as close to each other as you and Star are, it can cause...feelings to develop. Besides, the only other time you were this distraught was when you thought that you'd lost Star forever, just like now."

Marco sat there, staring at his skater girlfriend. "Jackie, this is insane! I'm not in love with Star!" Jackie didn't seem to be able to process his words. She just looked at him with a hurt look in her eyes, before quickly turning around to face the wall. "Jackie! Jackie!", Marco called.

Janna cut into their conversation. "Its getting late.", she said, trying to end the drama. "We better hit the sack." "Why?", Oskar asked, fiddling with his keyboard guitar. Luckily for him, not even the bulking muscles of Coffee's henchman could pry his beloved instrument from his grasp. "Its not like we have to get up early for anything in the morning. We're stuck here til Star and the lizard guy get hitched."

Marco frowned. "They're not getting 'hitched'! I'm gonna stop it, even if its the last thing I do!" He resumed his battle against the chains that bound him to the walls. "Yeah, you do that.", Janna said nonchalantly, curling herself into a ball. "I'm going to sleep." The rest of them followed her example, while Marco alone tried to break free.
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"Come on....come on...come on..." The bobby pin snapped into two. "Dang it!" He tossed the destroyed item into the pile with all the other broken pins. "That was my last bobby pin!", he groaned. "Now how do I pick the locks?" He fell back against the wall, feeling hopeless and desperate.

He looked around. Even though it was dark, all those endless hours sitting there had gained him a sense to kinda-sorta see through it. His friends were all fast asleep, and so were the monsters who were guarding them. They weren't very good at their job. Marco looked out the single tiny window in the dungeon, blocked by heavy metal bars. Even with the thick steel, he could catch glimpses of the full moon...the full red moon.

The Blood Moon...Marco's thoughts immediately flashed back to the Blood Moon Ball, where he had waltzed with Star under a red spotlight. After that night, he had felt a serious shift in his relationship with her. They were almost always on the same page, like their auras were perfectly in sync with one another. Somehow, reminiscing gave Macro comfort in a time of such despair.

Marco leaned back and closed his eyes, replaying the night of the Ball in his head like a scene from a movie. The scarlet lighting that had filled the ballroom, the melodious piano music they had danced to, the way Star had looked so beautiful in her red dress...wait, what?!

Marco shook his head. "What is wrong with me?! Jackie's right, I shouldn't feel like this! I know Star can do fine on her own! She battles monsters on a daily business! Why can't I think like I normally do?!" He froze for a moment. "Wait a minute...could Jackie be onto something? Could I actually...love Star?"

He thought about it long and hard. He pictured Star sitting next to him right now. Her pretty blue eyes were sparkling like the objects she was named after, and she was beaming at him with that gorgeous smile that could light up all of Echo Creek for days. She took his hand. Their fingers laced together, a perfect fit. It felt so right. Their faces drew closer ever so slowly. Marco found himself lost in her eyes as he gently pursed his lips and leaned towards her...

Suddenly, he snapped out of the fantasy he had been having. What was that?! Did he just imagine himself about to kiss Star?! The funniest part of it all was, that he had liked it. He liked thinking about how pretty Star was. He liked holding her hand and feeling her skin against his own. He liked that he had almost kissed her.

At that moment, the truth hit him like a bunch of the large, thick gray bricks that made up the dungeon walls behind him. "Jackie was right. I am in love with Star."