Afterglow

Time

Marco stood at the balcony of the castle, thinking to himself as he'd done so many times before.

He was the reflective type, after all. Even more so today, after what had happened...

When it all came so close to ending.

Life always seemed to be an adventure, especially when Star crashed into his world.

Whether it was with the countless dimensions they'd traveled, or the nights they'd spent huddled together as they'd watch movies through the dark, any time with Star was memorable and fun. The days had passed and the year's end drew near, and not once had Marco felt bored or tired. Each time a new world, each time a new experience to endure. A never-ending cycle of being full of novelty and wonder he'd never thought possible.

He'd grown accustomed to Star's presence, to her contagious excitement and imagination, and never wanted it to end. He couldn't imagine his world without her in it anymore.

It seemed their days would never end. That they'd always be together and always be exploring the unknown. That everything would be perfect and that time would never catch up with them.

A childish dream in which they could keep doing whatever it was they were doing.

But today served as a stark reminder that this wasn't true, a slap in the face to rouse him from his facade.

When Meteora came within a hair's breadth of crushing the Butterfly Kingdom, sniffing the light of the candle of the Butterfly Family once and for all, absorbing every single soul in Mewni, and beginning an era of terror and injustice, it made his world fall down.

With everything that had happened, it was clear.

This was no longer an adventure.

These were real battles, real fights with real risks.

He'd nearly lost his own life.

She'd nearly lost her own kingdom.

They'd narrowly dodged a bullet only by chance, by Eclipsa's intervention.

It really brought everything into perspective. No longer were they waltzing around doing whatever their hearts desired. Now they were treading dangerous territory and fighting strong and challenging enemies.

What had once become a way to vent the days frustrations and have fun had become a serious affair with severe implications.

Now, within an instant, they could lose their lives to a foe.

Now, within an instant, the tides of their battles could shift within an instant, and everything left unspoken would be unsaid and left to turn into regret and remorse.

They could lose each other without having said what they'd wanted to or without ending on the best of terms.

And he'd only realized all this after all that had nearly happened. He'd only realized how he could've lost it all after he'd nearly lost it all.

It was funny, in a way.

You only know how little time you have when you go through the hardest challenges and have everything on the line.

You only appreciate the small things in life when you realize how short it all is.

That understanding only comes through an experience to the likes of now.

And with that understanding of the reality of their new adventures, today served as a reminder of something else.

A reminder of what he wasn't doing.

A reminder of what he wasn't saying.

If time truly was limited, what was he waiting for? Why wasn't he pushing himself more? Why wasn't he saying what he wanted to say?

Delaying would only increase the chances that he'd regret not doing, not saying whatever. Especially with what he was hiding from her, with what was eating at his soul every day as he still couldn't bring himself to ask her.

The realization that his time was limited urged him to do it now.

To stop waiting before it would be too late.

To stop excusing before it would be impossible.

Because if he didn't speak up now, he might never get the chance to speak up at all ever again.

No longer could he just live in some fever dream of endless and relentless ecstasy, just like he no longer could just bottle up his feelings or his secrets and hope for them to fade off in his mind, because otherwise, he'd live in a world of pain and sorrow for what he'd never willed up to say when he still could.

So today.

He had to ask her today.