Till Death Do Us Part

True Intentions

"Marco!" Star turned to and fro, trying to search for her partner-in-crime, but he was nowhere to be seen through the thick white fog that surrounded her. It was everywhere, and it seemed to be creeping towards her ever-so-slowly. She cupped her hands over her mouth and called again, "Marco!" Still nothing.

"Well, well, well...", said a familiar voice that made Star's heart stop. She spun around to see her worst fear come alive—Toffee, standing before her, not the least bit dead. He whipped forward a jagged knife, like the ones used by soldiers in the monster army. "Surprise!" He grabbed Star firmly by the shoulder and thrust his other arm back to strike.

"NO!"

"Star! Star, wake up!" Star gasped for air at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder. She quickly looked to see not the hand of Toffee, but of her own mother, covered in a long glove and touching her with love. She quickly looked at her surroundings, relieved to see that she was in her bedroom, which was completely fog-less. She fell back onto her pillows. "It was just a dream..."

Moon stroked her daughter's forehead lovingly. "Star, are you alright? I came in, and you were tossing and turning and mumbling in your sleep. You gave me quite a fright!" "I'm fine, Mom.", Star sighed. "I was just having a bad dream." "I remember I had a few nightmares before my wedding day.", Moon said. "Its just a case of cold feet."

Wedding day...Star bit her lip as it hit her. Today was her wedding day. AKA the day when her life as she knew it came to an end. "Right...I'm getting married today." "Yes, you are.", her mom said, pulling her into a sitting position. "That's why I came in to wake you." She motioned to the herd of ladies' maids standing in the doorway. "The girls and I are here to help you get groomed and dressed for the ceremony."

Star rolled her eyes and grunted. She already hated dressing up, but if the ladies' maids were involved, it meant trouble for her. They only helped prepare royal women for special occasions, and for special occasions, they included the whole package—a bath, fancy hairstyling, lots of makeup, and the dreaded princess ballgown, complete with a corset, a hoop skirt, and lots of uncomfortable undergarments.

But, seeing no way out of it, Star got out of bed and walked towards the awaiting army of lady servants. Standing in the center of the circle that they formed, she raised her hands over her head and sighed, "Let's get this over with." She closed her eyes as the maids began to undress her.
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Janna snorted as she awoke to the sound of clunking chains. Her heaving eyelids dragged upwards to see Marco trying to yank his chains out of the wall. She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Dude! You're still at it?!" "We have to stop the wedding!" "Why?", Janna asked sarcastically. "Because he's the kid of a guy who—" "No!", Marco cut in, staring at her intensely. "Well, partly. But its also because I realized Jackie was right!" Janna blinked twice. "She was?"

Marco sighed heavily. "Last night, I was thinking about what she said, and then I looked at the moon, and it reminded me of when Star and I danced together at the Blood Moon Ball...and it got me thinking about just Star, and all the moments we've shared, and...it made me realize...I do love Star. I don't know when it happened, or even how, but it did. And because I love her, I can't just sit around and let her marry a monster like Coffee!"

"But Marco,", Janna pointed out. "If she doesn't, there'll be no peace treaty. I overheard the guards talking about it. If Star doesn't go through with this marriage, there'll be another war between the monsters and the people of Mewni." Marco paused. Another monster-Mewnian war? But that would mean that innocent ones, like Buff Frog and his tadpoles, and Ludo, who had reformed and helped defeat Toffee, would suffer for something they had no part of. And if Star chose to do her royal duty and protect them, what sort of person would he be if he tried to stop her from doing so?

Marco leaned against the wall, sighing heavily. "Than I guess...I have no choice. She has to marry Coffee. And I have to let her." Janna frowned. In the past few years, she had grown close to Marco and Star, in ways she never thought she could to anyone. And now, one of them was being forced to marry the son of their worst foe, while the other had to sit idle and let them. To see them hurting emotionally hurt her as well.

"Hey, maybe it won't be so bad.", she said, trying to cheer up Marco. "Maybe he won't turn out to be such a bad guy." Marco held up his arms, reminding her of their situation, and who had put them into it. "Okay, so he did lock us away, but it was probably because he really wanted this marriage so he can save his fellow monsters. He said so himself that the marriage were important to him." Marco thought for a moment. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll be a good husband to her..."

All of the sudden, there was the heavy ker-chunk of an iron door opening and closing. "Coffee! Mah man!" Marco craned his neck to see out the little window in the iron door. Luckily, it was lit outside the cell, so he could see outside crystal-clear. It was Coffee, wearing a fancy uniform that looked straight out of a fashion catalogue from the seventeen-hundreds.

One of the other monsters gave him a small glass of what looked like scotch or whiskey. "A toast! To your union! May your life together be full of bliss!" They clinked glasses. "Bottoms up!" Coffe smirked as they tipped their drinks. "Yes, it will be full of bliss...until the incident." "Oh, of course." His radar going off, Marco listened closely on their conversation.

"Yes, such a beautiful, lively woman.", Coffee said, looking at his liquor. "It will be a shame when a rogue guard murders her in cold blood. And only a few weeks after the wedding, too!" Marco and Janna gasped. They looked around and reached for their friends, shaking them awake to hear the monsters' words.

"I feel sorry for Queen Moon.", Coffee continued, not sounding sorry at all. "She'll be so devastated over losing her daughter, she won't be able to stop the violent tensions between us and the people of Mewni. Of course, with the whole kingdom mourning their beloved princess, they won't be prepared for the monster attack on their land soon after." He shook his head, grinning cruelly with a wicked glint in his eye. "Such a shame.", he said, a tone so sinister and fiendish, that it sent chills up and down the spines of the humans imprisoned in the next room.

Coffee checked his watch. "Well, its almost time. I better get going if I want to be at the altar by the time my bride arrives." He set his drink down and walked away, humming the Wedding March as he went. Marco felt as if the world around him had frozen in time.