Star vs the Forces of Evil: The Ballad of Earth-Mewni

Episode 2: Raw Retribution (Part 1)

5:15 AM. Nowhere close to an acceptable wake-up time for Star. And she had no intention of it if she could help it. Unfortunately, her brain had other plans, as she found herself engaged in another crippling nightmare. Tossing and turning endlessly for several minutes, sweating profusely from her forehead, audible groans coming from her that slowly morphed into pained crying & screaming. Tears started forming in her tightly shut eyes. Eventually it finally became too much, and she shot herself up with a loud scream, eyes wide open, panting like she had just run a 10K. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and gave herself a moment to cool down, her head spinning & her vision blurry from the sudden awakening.

"You too?"

The meek voice right beside her caught her completely off guard. It was Marco, also completely awake, lying right beside her. He looked like he hadn't been asleep for a while either. "...Marco?" Immediately her head jumped to concern for her love, and she wasted no time returning to a laying position and embracing him.

"Bad dream, huh?"

She nodded. "...You too?"

He nodded back. "Yeah. Happened an hour ago, I...haven't really slept since."

"I'm sorry." She answered with a kiss on his lips. "Do you...want to talk about it?"

He gave it some thought before shrugging. "I don't really even remember everything that happened. Just...just that I was crying a-and we were fighting..." Just that was enough to make her tighten her embrace on him and smother him with more kisses. The idea of her ever having a fight with Marco on anything - even if it was incredibly trivial - horrified her. They both tried so damn hard to treat the other like royalty every chance they got.

"I'm sorry, Marco."

"Sorry? For what?"

"Whatever I did in your dream to make us start fighting."

"Don't say that. I don't remember anything about what it was or what started it. It might've been me. It doesn't matter, anyway. I don't like to think about us fighting or not getting along or crying or...I'm already scared enough of hurting you by accident. I could never imagine hurting you on purpose."

"Me neither. But that's not going to happen, ever. I know it. You treat me like the queen I don't deserve to be and I'm doing my damnedest to get over these humps that keep getting in my way. Nothing is going to happen to us. I love you too much to hurt you."

"I know you do, Star. I love you too." They kissed once more. "Do you want to talk about your dream?"

"...maybe later? I'd really just like to go back to sleep for a while." She snuggled in close to him, resting her head against his chest and allowing the sound of his heartbeat to sooth her frayed nerves. Her deep relaxing breaths surrounded the two of them. "This is nice..."

"Hey Star...can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"...why my heartbeat?"

She raised an eyebrow and looked up at him. "Hmm?"

"Why does my heartbeat calm you down so much? It worked on Mewni when we were fighting Mina, and now almost every time we cuddle you have to have your ear over my heart. I'm not judging, I'm just curious."

Star calmly shrugged. "I guess it's just my reminder that you're still here with me...I've almost lost you so many times and I'm just terrified of it happening again."

"But you're not going to lose me."

"I don't just mean like 'You'll be hurt or worse' either. I mean that you'll..." She sighed, unwilling to commit to speaking the next part.