In Defense Against Despair

The Tragic Fate of Umber Blaze

  Star awoke to find herself on a plateau close to a cliff. She oscillated her body counterclockwise to see a certain demon prince facing away from her, tall and foreboding to oncoming passersby. She yawned loudly to alert him to her consciousness. "Hey, handsome. How long was I out?"

  Tom turned and looked at Star. "Long enough for me to sneak a few kisses to your forehead without you noticing," he said in a soft tone as Star giggled in embarrassment. "Well, princess, your knight in shining armor is ready to move on." Star hopped on Tom's back and he took to the sky. The two re began their search but again, no luck finding them.

  "Tom!" Star shouted over the wind rushing in their faces. " Maybe we should look to the north!"

  Tom screeched to a halt nearly sending Star flying outwards. "What did you say, honey?" He asked a dizzied Star who took a minute to regain her bearings.

  "Tom," Star began dazedly as she returned to reality, "we should try moving to the north. They might've tried to hide in Helheim Heights." She finished, pointing to the apartment buildings ahead of them.

  Nodding in return to her statement, Tom bolted towards Helheim Heights.

***WITH KELLY AND MARCO***

    After their long talk Kelly walked with Marco the rest of the way to their destination.

  Marco was desperate to start a passive conversation with Kelly that wouldn't bring up past wounds. The boy finally decided to break the veiling silence. "So if you're only supposed to show these caverns to one person why are you bringing me here?"

  Kelly took sudden possession of a deep red face and mile-wide eyes. It wasn't like that between them. "What am I doing?"  She thought to herself. "This is supposed to be for someone special."  Kelly refused to think about it further than that for fear of what she might tell herself. "Well, maybe Wrathmelior will make an exception for two kids trying to get privacy and just accidentally happen to stumble upon the place."

  Although he greatly doubted the truth in the statement,  Marco nodded and left it at that. Kelly didn't think about him like that, right? It wouldn't matter anyway. Dancing with her was just a one-time thing. His true feelings lied with... nobody. Oh, who was he kidding? Star had him wrapped around her finger. So, why did it feel so comforting to be close to Kelly?

  "Alright," Kelly said while climbing over a ridge. "We're... here." Her mouth turned into a frown and her eyes were horrified. Wrathmelior Lucitor was standing in front of a boarded off entrance of the Umber Blaze Caverns while a few other demons worked at continuously boarding it up. "Madame Lucitor, what's going on?" Kelly asked.

  Wrathmelior turned and looked down at her son's friends. "Oh, dear. Kelly I know what you're thinking. I had no choice in the matter. Umber Blaze... collapsed a few hours ago. The Soulrise rumbled the ground enough that the caverns came to an abrupt destruction." Wrathmelior couldn't ignore the pain in her young eyes. Kelly was malignantly demolished.

  Marco knew how this made Kelly feel. Seven years of keeping a secret of kingdom-wide importance only to see it destroyed when it could have been revealed. Star had been sad like this before but he hadn't felt quite this obligated to comfort her. "What is wrong with me? Why is my heart crying with her?" Marco couldn't help it any longer. He gently reached up and wrapped his arms around Kelly's small shoulders and allowed her to put her face into his hoodie. 

  Wrathmelior apologized again before departing with her workmen. Kelly buried her tear-drowned face deeper into Marco's chest eventually getting comfortable enough to sit on his lap. It was then that Marco had an idea that might cheer Kelly up. "Hey, Kelly. We might not be able to go into the caverns, but what if we sat above them?" Kelly somewhat brightened at this.

  "On one condition."

  "What?"

  "I get to sit on your lap again."

  Marco rolled his eyes but nodded. The two then began climbing up the side of the hills to the top.

        ***WITH TOM AND STAR***

  Star dismounted her boyfriend's back and immediately looked around the apartment complexes. Helheim Heights wasn't much to look at. Not that it was crappy or run down. "Where are they? They couldn't have disappeared."

  Tom brushed the dirt off of him and shrugged in response. "Maybe they went farther on. There are places beyond Helheim Heights that have beautiful sights."

  "Are they as beautiful as me?" Star asked jokingly.

  "Almost." Tom said with a wink from his middle eye. Star proceeded to giggle at this in almost silent pleasure.

  Fifteen minutes of searching and looking brought them no luck of finding Marco or Kelly. Star became increasingly worried for her friends who had gone missing almost five hours ago at midnight. She was tired and they must have been too. Maybe they overshot their friends and missed them earlier.

  "Star, I'm tired. We should go back. For all we know Marco and Kelly circled back and went to my family's castle." Tom tried all he could yo convince Star to forget about the idly hopeless search.

  "Oh, Tom. You can go back to Castle Lucitor. I'll find Marco and Kelly and have him use his dimentional scissors to help us get back. I won't be too long. If you go to bed though, try not to think about me too much, ok?"

  Tom was immediately covered in a deep shade of red. "Is she reading my mind?" He thought silently. After getting a grip, he replied cooly. "Hahaha. We both know who has had problems holding back her urges and it sure isn't me."

  Star pursed her lips and broke eye contact with Tom at once. "Shut up and go home, you naughty little devil."

  Tom bowed to his flustered girlfriend and bid her farewell. Star then turned and realized how difficult this search would be on her lonesome.