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

Episode 3: Raw Retribution (Part 2)

A few moments of awkward silence passed, with only the sounds of Star's soft, shallow, uneven breathing filling the air. The girl had her head nearly buried into her arms and legs, trying desperately to regain her composure and not give in to hysterical sobbing. Marco was once again giving her a foot rub, which, while she greatly appreciated the gesture & the effort he put into it, made her uncomfortable, moreso with the attention it garnered and not with the act itself. Of course, she really didn't have the mindset at the moment to deal with that, not after being dealt a blow by therapist Cassandra Cher, who listed off several psychological she believed Star was suffering from, such as extreme fatigue, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, mother issues, a highly erratic sleep schedule, extreme sleep deprivation, etc. Considering the track record of hell she's had to go through in the past year and change, it felt like a mostly accurate diagnosis. And the session wasn't even over yet!

Marco, still rubbing her feet, finally broke the silence. "...you okay, Star?"

She lifted her head out from her arms & legs and glanced over at Marco, meekly shrugging. Her eyes were tired & red, and her posture was poor. "I'm sorry..." To fend off the incoming self-loathing, Marco kissed her, bringing her in close to him for maximum impact. "Man you're a good kisser." She snuggled up closely against him, squishing her face against his while turning her vision back to Cassandra. "This is my boyfriend, Marco. You couldn't ask for a sweeter guy. He's pretty much the poster boy for everything you should want in a lover."

"How so?"

Unconsciously she rested her head on Marco's shoulder; he responded in kind with a shoulder rub. "Ever since we became friends he's been a rock for me. Whenever I need a pick-me-up or a shoulder to lean on, he's the guy. Even when I was dating Tom and kinda screwing things up for all of us there, he was still there to lean on. I just...I fell for him so hard, but when I had to go back to Mewni, I thought I'd never see him again, so I...told him how I felt. And then he came back to Mewni and I was trying to focus on being a good princess and everything just got really messy after that, and I didn't handle any of it very well. He could've gotten up and left at any time to go back to his old life and I wouldn't have had any standing to be mad, but he didn't. He stayed through all of it." Allowing the dark clouds in her mind to start winning again, she turned away from Marco and Cassandra, completely ashamed of what she was spilling. "We were in the park one time a-and I overheard Tom and Marco talking, and Tom said he wouldn't be mad if Marco wanted to date me, and Marco tried to play it off like there wasn't anything there, that all of our feelings for each were entirely from the stupid Blood Moon curse." The waterworks were coming again. "I never said anything at the time, but the truth is...that hurt me."

In one fell swoop one could see the life in Marco's face almost evaporating. Her words shook him, much like she described how his words that fateful day shook her. Star continued, "Thanks to my Mewni duties I pretty much had to stuff my feelings down for a long time, including...the way I felt about Marco. And I imagine he felt he had to do the same about me with everything going on. So...when I heard him say that he thought all of that stuff was just the Blood Moon's fault, I felt devastated. I know he didn't mean it, and I-I know he was just trying to spare Tom's feelings and mine, but...that was the first time that I realized just how badly I blew it..." She had to fight hard now not to start sobbing. "I had to focus on the invasion happening on Mewni and getting back to help everyone, but I really don't know how I held it all together..."

Marco instinctively ceased the shoulder rub and went full bear hug on her. "I was trying to move on...because I thought you moved on..."

"And the only reason you thought that was because I was completely crap at talking things out. And I screwed up a lot of things between all of us because of that!"