Star vs The Forces of Evil: When Dimensions Cleave

Part 8: Burdens Lifted

In the hospital wing of the Butterfly Castle, Angie had just finished wrapping Star's hands and arms with bandages. She was successfully able to remove the broken pieces of glass from her hands & arms, spray peroxide on the wounds, and wrap them in tight-fitting bandages that still allowed her use of her fingers. An exhausted Star was lying on her side on one of the beds. Her eyes were bloodshoot and sunken with dark bags under both of them, her skin had gone pale, her breathing was shallow, and her vision was blurred beyond comprehension. At this point in time, it was only a couple of hours if that until sunrise, which means it would be close to the time for Glossaryck to be able to finish the all encompassing healing spell.

"And...done." Angie said softly. "You did quite a number on your hands and arms, but I think I got all of it." She helped Star sit up. The poor girl was exhausted and struggled mightily to help herself. She looked at Angie and waited until her vision aligned to speak up.

"Thanks, Mrs. Diaz." She said hoarsely. She tried putting on a fake smile but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Angie placed a comforting hand on Star's shoulder and smiled.

"Call me Angie."

Those three words were plenty to get Star to smile, as with whatever strength she had left she lunged in to hug her tightly. Angie didn't hesitate to reciprocate. "Thank you...Angie...mom." She whispered that last word quietly, hoping Angie wouldn't hear it. She was so out of it she didn't even notice Angie smiling with pride as she said that.

"You rest now, hun." Angie kissed Star's forehead, stood up, and walked out of the hospital room, meeting everyone else waiting outside.

"How does it look?" Marco asked, fighting to not cry.

"I cleaned up her wounds, pulled out all the glass, and bandaged her hands and arms, so she'll be fine physically. But...I'm worried about her. She's so...fractured, emotionally. And that's on top of everything else she's already going through..."

"I have never seen her get so angry before. I thought I was going to lose her." Marco wiped a tear from his eye as his mother embraced him.

"I know, sweetie, I know."

"Can we go see her?"

"Of course, but I don't want to stress her out any further. Let's keep it to one or two at a time."

The group all turned to each other exchanging looks, unable to decide who should go first. Eventually they decided to just put Tom up first essentially by default.

Tom knocked quietly on the door three times before opening it himself and tiptoeing in. "Hey, guess who...?" He said softly, which drew a faint smile from Star.

"Tom..." Star put her arms out for a hug, which Tom happily obliged. But when he tried to let go, she resisted. Hard. "Stay..."

"Oh, sure..." He kept his grip on her. Star started to have tears fall from her eyes, refusing to even fight the urge to cry anymore. When he felt them falling on his shirt, he pulled back. "Star, are you okay?"

Star looked at the ground, and then back at Tom. Once her vision straightened, she shook her head lightly.

"What's wrong?"

A long moment passed with no response. It wasn't as if Star didn't hear him. She did. She just didn't have an answer, until she did. "...everything..."

He hugged her again, stroking her hair. "Talk to me. What happened?"

Star adjusted her seat and screamed in pain doing so, clutching her chest again. "What happened?" She started gritting her teeth, rage building inside her. "I'll tell you what happened. I'm a screw-up, that's what happened."