Chapter 4: Bro to bro

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Vs The Forces Of Evil

Marco tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword as he stared at the pillar of flames. It has been quite a few years since the last time someone had attempted a sneak attack on him. The legends and stories that spread about him in Hekapoo's dimension have scared off even the toughest of beasts from attacking him which meant that there were only two options on what could be attacking him right now. It was ether someone who hadn't heard the stories about him or someone who's stupid enough to think he can take him.

Marco looked at the flame which was erupting from the ground. There was seemingly no source to it so it had to be magic.

'Hmmm, could it be a pyromancer? If so he really needs to work on his aim. I wasn't even fully on guard and he still missed.' Marco thought to himself.

Three pink fingers slowly emerged from the flame and bent in a way where it almost looked like they were gripping the flames. Then another three emerged just below the first.

'Looks like it's some kind of beast. Weird. How come I didn't pick up on its scent?' Marco prepared to strike at the strange beast that had managed to sneak up on him. Suddenly the hands parted and with them so did the flames, revealing the smiling face of Tom who had his eyes closed.

"T-Tom?" Marco asked as he registered the presence of his demon friend.

"Hey Mar-" Tom froze mid word as he opened his eyes and saw the sight before him- a thirty something year old man with a smoking hot bod that awfully resembled Marco. It took him a couple seconds of gawking before he noticed the mole under the man's right eye, proving his suspicions. Tom looked Marco up and down a couple of times then rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving him. "Marco? What the hell happened to you?"

"It's a really long story. Like, a sixteen years kind of long." Answered Marco with a shrug. "First things first. How did you get here? This is Hekapoo's dimension. No one should be able to get here without her permission." Marco calmly explained. To be honest he was kind of glad to see a familiar face after all this time, but he needed some answers.

Tom stiffened up. A cold bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He was a bit apprehensive about admitting this long kept secret now that Marco was like twice his height and three times his weight but then he remembered that this was Marco he was talking to. Still, Marco was quite intimidating.

Tom closed his eyes and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "He he, funny story. You remember when I placed that Naysaya curse on you?" He asked with a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah. It's kind of hard to forget. The little bugger ended up staying for three extra days, embarrassing me at every opportunity he got."

Tom was even less sure about admitting this after hearing Marcos slightly irritated tone. "Yeah well, that wasn't the only curse that I cast on you. I may have cast a location curse on you just in case I needed to intervene in any romantic advances you might try to pull on Star." Tom admitted.

Hearing the words 'Star' and 'romance' etched a small frown on Marcos face. "Ok then. Are there any more curses I should know about?" Marco asked. He didn't sound angry which surprised Tom a bit.

"Well, there were, but I already removed them. I thought I'd keep this one if I ever needed to find you in a pinch."

Marco relaxed and shrunk his sword back down to its scissor state. "Well ok then. What brings you here?"

"It was the end of the day so I thought I'd check up on you. Judging by the fact that I found you… wherever this is, I'm guessing she forgot, didn't she?" Tom asked with sympathy.

Marco looked away, not wanting to show the hurt on his face. "I'm fine Tom. No need to worry about me." He lied. He was still quite shaken up about what had happened, even a month later.

Tom looked up at Marco. He was a terrible liar. Tom wasn't just gonna stand by and watch as his friend mentally suffers. "C'mon dude. I can tell that you're not telling the truth. I'm here for you man. I'll lend you an ear." Tom tried to comfort him by putting his hand on Marcos shoulder, but he quickly realized that that wasn't going to work with their height difference.

Marco wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, he didn't want to bother Tom with his problems. There was no reason for him to worry. But on the other hand, he really wanted to get this off his chest. Maybe ranting his frustrations to someone would help alleviate some of the pain.

Marco sighed. "Okay Tom." Marco relented.

"Do you mind if we go to my place to talk? It… would be kind of weird to console you while you're… you know… like this." Tom gestured to his adult body.

Marco looked down and let out a small chuckle. "Ha ha! Yeah sure."

He followed Tom through the portal and ended up in Tom's bedroom. There were a few love sentence posters hanging off of the dark obsidian walls. A giant skull was hanging on one of the walls with a fountain of lava coming out of its mouth. Marco looked around the room and other than the strange torture devices it looked like any other teenagers room would.

Tom sat down on his couch that looked like two demon hands sticking out of the ground. He patted the seat next to him, motioning Marco to sit down beside him.

"So… uh… how you holding up pal?" Tom asked.

For a moment Marco considered just lying to him but quickly threw that idea out. Tom would be able to tell, and he was already here so he might as well tell him.

"To be honest, not so great." Marco confessed in a somber tone. He hung his head low and locked his gaze onto the floor. "Things have been… pretty rough lately." Marco admitted.

A deathly silence set in the room. Tom studied Marco- how he hung his head low, how he twiddled with his thumbs, how his usual smile was replaced with a deep frown. It was unsettling. Something was really bothering Marco.

"I'm guessing this is about more than just her forgetting." Tom inquired.

"...Yeah. I just… feel like nothing has been going my way lately… and it's all my fault." Marco said in a low voice.

Tom raised an eyebrow. 'What is he talking about?'

"I've just been… messing up a lot. Just one mess up after another. Damn, I've been messing up so much that I… don't even know where to start."

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Tom suggested with a small comforting smile.

Marco just sighed. "I guess… it all started with that dreaded end of the year party… when Star confessed that she had feelings for me…"

Tom's eyes widened a bit. 'Wait! What? She confessed to him? How come I never heard about this? She told me that there was nothing going on between them!' Tom decided to refrain from commenting, instead opting to listen to get a better picture.

"...in front of everyone… including my girlfriend who was in the same room."

'Oh! So that's it! She had feelings for him, but he didn't reciprocate.'

"After Star confessed... she said that she had to leave Earth… forever. Then she ran away and disappeared without giving me as much as explanation. When she left, I was just… stunned. My best friend had just admitted that she has feelings for me and that she had to leave Earth for good. I- I didn't know what to do, I was in shock. I didn't instantly run after her like I should have, I didn't try to find out what's going on that would cause such a reaction. Instead I just moped around the house, hopelessly hoping that she'd come back. It took me THREE DAYS to finally muster up the courage to try and meet up with her and find out what's going on. What if Toffee had been quicker, what if Star was in danger and had needed my help!? What then!? God, I don't know what came over me."

Now Tom realized what this was about. Everyone knew about how Toffee had invaded the castle and taken control. Marco was beating himself up over nothing. "Listen Marco, you shouldn't beat yourself up about this so much. There was nothing you could have done to stop Toffee. He would have invaded the castle even if you were there to help. There's nothing you could have done." Tom tried to reassure him that it wasn't his fault.

"No Tom! You don't get it. This is not about the castle. I was there when it got invaded." Marco explained.

Tom was very confused. "Then what is it about?"

"It's… it's about Star." Marco's voice cracked at the mention of Star's name. "I- I lost her there for a moment. She… she was just… gone…" Marco said as tears welled up in his eyes.

"What do you mean 'gone'?" Tom asked.

"She…" Marco choked back a sob, refusing to cry in front of his friend. "She died… for a solid minute there, she… she was gone from this world." Marco said in a shaky voice, barely able to hold back the tears.

Tom was shocked at hearing this. "What are you talking about? She's… she's perfectly fine."

"Toffee… Toffee took her. He… trapped her inside the wand and… killed her. I- I was so… useless. All I could do was just sit there as I watched my best friend die! I was so- angry! I punched that damned lizard through his heart, but that did little more than tickle him. He simply picked me up and threw me away like I was a piece of trash and… at that moment… that's exactly how I felt." Marco couldn't stop the tears any longer as they freely ran down his cheeks.

Tom didn't know how to respond. This was the first time that he had heard of this. He decided to just let him continue. This story had to have a happy ending since Toffee was defeated and Star is alive and well. "So what happened next?"

"Luckily, by some miracle, Star came back in this awesome new golden butterfly form!" A faint smile spread across Marcos lips as he said that. "She blasted Toffee with this giant magic blast that literally melted him!"

Tom studied Marco's face. He had a small smile and a slight twinkle in his eyes as he told this part. That wasn't just a regular Marco smile, it was different, but Tom couldn't quite figure out in what way. "Well, that's cool. How come I've never heard this version of the story?" Tom asked. In the version that he heard, Star had just showed up, transformed into her butterfly form and destroyed Toffee. There was nothing about her dying.

"We were told to keep it a secret. The kingdom had already been destroyed and morale was low. There was no need to worry the people any further with the small details. They needed an uplifting story of their future queen, not one where the kingdom had almost gotten destroyed." Marco clarified.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

"I can trust you to keep this a secret, right?" Marco asked.

"My lips are sealed!" He said as he made a gesture of zipping up his lips. Tom soon took on a more serious expression. "You… you really shouldn't blame yourself for this Marco. There's… there's no way you could have known what was going on and even if you did, Toffee was a literal immortal, or so we thought, I don't think there would have been much you could do." Tom felt a bit bad about saying that, but it was the truth and sometimes the truth can hurt.

"Maybe, if I would have just followed her, I could have prevented that whole ordeal." Marco said as he looked back down to the floor. In his heart he knew that it wasn't true, but the fact that it wasn't just hurt even more.

"There's no point on dwelling on the 'what if's'. All you can do is move forward and learn from your mistakes. You were in shock, understandably so. There's no need to beat yourself up about it."

"That still doesn't change the fact that I was completely useless and unable to help. I don't deserve to stand by her side, all I can do is get in the way. She deserves someone better to stand by her side. Someone like you." Marco said with his voice slightly trembling.

Tom raised an eyebrow. He was starting to suspect that this was about more than just feeling inadequate. "You're kidding right?" Tom asked in a disbelieving tone. "I've seen you two fight! You're like an unstoppable duo! You always have each other's backs and can match up your moves perfectly!"

"When we're fighting against Ludo maybe, but what about when there's magic involved or an enemy that my weak punches and kicks do nothing against? Then I'm just dead weight!" Marco retorted.

"So improve! Now you have a demon hex and an awesome looking sword! I saw you back there a few minutes ago. You looked like you could beat a dragon with one hand tied behind your back! If you feel like you're not worthy of standing by her side then you just make yourself worthy! Work towards it! I'm sure you could do it, no problem!" Tom happily exclaimed as he playfully smacked Marcos shoulder. "And even though you may not be able to help her fight an enemy like that directly, I'm sure you would still find a way to help even if it's just cheering her on. You're a smart guy! You'd come up with something!"

Marco looked up at him with a small smile. "Thanks dude! I… I really appreciate it!"

"No sweat! I've always got your back pal!" Tom said as he sank back into the couch. "So, what happened next?"

Marcos small smirk quickly faded, replaced by the now familiar frown although this time it seemed smaller than before.

"Things between me and Star didn't really get any better after that. There was this awkward tension between us. I made a deal with my parents to stay on Mewnie for half the summer to help rebuild it, but that was only a half truth. Moon was able to fix the castle in two days with Star's help. The real reason I stayed was to try and fix things up with Star. I wanted to talk about the confession, but she had already been through so much, and I didn't really want to push this on her so I decided to wait. When she would be ready we would talk about it but… we never did. I patiently waited but things just seemed to be getting worse between us. I tried to get us to talk one on one, but she always made up some excuse to why she couldn't. When my time ran up, I was just about ready to initiate the conversation myself but I… chickened out. I asked her if she wanted to come back to Earth with me, but she said that she was going to focus on becoming a better princess, and for that she needed to stay on Mewnie. I offered to visit, but she told me not to bother since she would probably be too busy to hang out anyways. Back then I felt like the whole 'becoming a better princess' thing was just to avoid me." Marco said with a disheartened tone.

"Hey! Don't think that! She really has been trying to become a better princess dude! I think you actually inspired her to improve if anything!" Tom shot back. In all honesty, it was inspiring to see someone like Star change but also a little disheartening. He missed the rebellious and adventurous side of Star.

"Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say I inspired her, but now that I'm here I can see that she really has been trying to improve, and she's done wonderfully so far." Marco said with a small smirk which quickly disappeared. "After I returned to Earth I… didn't know what to do. Everything was so… boring without her. No magical adventures, no monster fights. I had to re-adjust to living a normal life again but I… couldn't. Instead I just constantly lived in the past, replaying all those adventures with Star over and over again in my head. I just couldn't give it up!"

'Or maybe… you couldn't give her up.' Tom thought to himself. He was starting to slowly piece everything together.

"God, I became such a cwossant girl when I got back!" Marco exclaimed in frustration as he ran his hand down his face.

"You became a what now?" Tom asked perplexed.

Marco quickly waived his question off. "Not important. Anyways, when I got back, I became a self-absorbed jerk. I was constantly gloting about the cape I was given, which turned out to just be a meat blanket, but that's not important, and I was constantly annoying all of my friends by telling the same stories of Mewnie over and over again. They got sick of it pretty quickly and I can't say that I blame them. I even made them play The Adventuring Zone with me just so I could get the tiniest taste of adventure again. I'm pretty sure Janna made all the campaigns as similar to my adventure on purpose just to annoy my friends even further, but that's besides the point. Slowly I ruined all of my friendships on Earth and made everyone hate me.

Worst of all, I ruined my relationship with my girlfriend- Jackie. I- I spent so much time chasing after her, she was the girl I had been crushing on since kindergarten, and what did I do when I finally got the girl of my dreams? I ignored her. I spent the first month and a half of our three month relationship in another dimension. Jackie was so cool and understanding. She knew how important my friendship with Star was so she was cool with it even though she knew about Star's feelings. I should have at least found the time to visit her. It's not like I was doing much on Mewnie.

Jackie wasn't spared from my ramblings about Mewnie ether. That was all I could talk about it seemed. I was such a horrible boyfriend! I mean, I didn't even taken her out on a proper date when I got back! I never even bothered to ask how her summer went! Then, when she managed to talked some sense into me, we finally went on a real date after I promised to stop wearing the cape and talking about Mewnie. It was fun! We went to the pier, played some carnival games, freed a lobster! It was a blast… at first. But, in typical Marco fashion, I had to go and screw it all up. I don't know why, but I just couldn't part with that blasted cape. I had secretly worn it under my hoodie on our date. When she found out, she wasn't mad or upset, which I still can't figure out how! How can a person be so chill!? She should have been furious with me... but she wasn't. I guess that's one of the things I loved so much about her. Instead of berating me like I deserved, she sat me down, and we talked. She… she could tell that I really wanted to go back, that I wasn't really happy here. She could tell that the only reason I came back… was for her… and she didn't want that. She didn't want me to sacrifice my happiness just for her… so… she gave me an out… and broke up with me…"

"... Damn dude. That's… that's rough."

"It was. I really wanted to make things works between us, but… I knew she was telling the truth. She deserved better anyways, someone who would be there for her and love her. Someone… who would want to know the real her." Marco said with a disappointed tone. He had made a statement during the 'Truth or Punishment' game that he was that person, but it turned out to be nothing but an empty promise.

'So he got dumped by the girl of his dreams? Strange, he didn't really seem that bummed out about it when he returned to Mewnie.' Tom thought.

"Since I didn't really have anything keeping me on Earth anymore, I decided to come back to Mewnie to try and patch things up with Star and become a knight. I- I met up with my friends one final time before I left. They had come to see me off. They… they forgave me for how I had been acting, but… I never felt like I deserved their forgiveness.

When I arrived, I expected to be greeted with open arms, but… that's not exactly how it went down. When I first saw Star, she seemed very surprised which should have been expected, but she also seemed a bit… uncomfortable. I get that we didn't exactly part on the best of terms, but I still thought of her as one of my closest friends. Well… evidently… she didn't.

You know what? It's funny, you were probably the only person who was happy to see me back.

Instead of being treated as a friend I was treated like… a trespasser. When the guards brought me to the King and Queen, they didn't seem too pleased ether. It turned out that Rivers offer of becoming a knight… wasn't exactly a lie… just something he never thought I would take him up on.

When one of the guards mentioned that I hadn't even been a squire, I asked them if I could be that then. Luckily, they agreed to let me become a squire, which meant that I could stay. I thought that Star would be thrilled, but she seemed… worried. It was like she… didn't want me there. When we got a chance to talk, she acted so… distant… disinterested. It felt so awkward. She ended up putting me in the sub-basement to squire for Sir Lavabo, the knight of the wash. It felt like she was trying to put as much distance between us as possible. I felt so… hurt. I mean no offense to Sir Lavabo, but I didn't come back just to become a laundry knight, but since I was already there I thought I'd at least give it a shot. It… didn't really work out so great. It turns out that being a laundry knight was a lot more dangerous than I thought. Star ended up saving me and making me her personal squire, which you would think was great news, but… it felt like she was doing it out of pity." Marco finished with a raspy voice. He was struggling to hold back his tears. He took a deep breath to calm down before letting out a massive sigh.

"It was stupid of me to think that I could just stroll back into her life and pretend like nothing ever happened. I… I really messed up man. I should have just stayed on Mewnie and tried harder to get through to her! My biggest regret is ever going back to Earth! All that did was ruin every relationship I had! Maybe, if I'd have just stayed… maybe me and Star… maybe we would still be friends." Marco finished as a tear of frustration ran down his cheek.

"That's it! I'm not just gonna sit here and listen to you constantly belittling yourself!" Tom yelled as he stood up from his seat. He walked over to Marco and placed both hands on the boy's shoulders. "Stop acting like everything was your fault! Stop thinking ill of yourself because you're not perfect! Nobody is perfect Marco! We all make mistakes! Stop… stop pretending that you're a bad guy, Marco, because you're not. I know from first-hand experience that you're one of the nicest guys if not THE nicest guy I know! You're my best friend and anyone who can call you a friend is lucky!

So you made a few mistakes? Big whoop! Everyone makes mistakes, it's just a part of life! And guess what? Mistakes can be forgiven. Just look at me! I'm the demon prince with massive anger issues and have probably made more mistakes in my life than the whole of Mewnie in its lifetime, but I was still forgiven!

And you know what else? It was all because of you! Even when we were sworn enemies at each other's throats, you still gave me a chance! And even after I betrayed your trust, you gave me another one! You made me realize that I actually needed to change. When I hired Brian, I wasn't actually trying to get over my anger issues. I was just pretending so that Star would give me another shot, but you made me realize that what I was doing… just wasn't right. You made me realize that if I changed that my life would be so much better and it is! You're an awesome person Marco! Making a few mistakes doesn't change that." Tom finished his rant with a soft smile.

Marco just looked up at him with wide eyes. His expressionless face slowly shifted to one of happiness. "Th- Thanks Tom!" Marco said in a soft tone. "You're right. I… I just have to make amends and hope… that my friends can forgive me. Guess I've got a lot of work ahead of me!" Marco said with a light chuckle.

Tom slowly removed both of his hands from Marco's shoulders and sat back down. "No problem pal! You'd do the same for me."

A short silence broke out between the friends but it wasn't an awkward one. It felt… peaceful.

"Hey, Marco. Do you know why I gave you that hex?" Tom asked in a calm voice, breaking the comfortable silence.

Marco looked up at him and slowly shook his head.

Tom looked into his soft brown eyes and smiled. "I gave it to you because you were my first real friend, Marco. I know it may be hard to believe, but I wasn't always the most likable guy." Tom said with a soft chuckle. "As you know, I'm only a half demon. This made my life a lot more challenging while growing up. My subjects didn't respect me and said that I was a mistake, a stain on the Lucitor lineage. Because of that I didn't really have any friends back then. Even though I was royalty I was mocked and ridiculed by the other nobles. My parents did their best to stop it but when you're already dead you don't really have much to fear so all my parents could do was issue empty threats.

One day I just couldn't handle the ridicule anymore and I… snapped. I almost burned half the castle down and it's made out of obsidian! After that though, no one was picking on me anymore. They were all... scared. They didn't fear death, but if I was to burn them with the Lucitor flame, they would have to live the rest of eternity in agony. My parents were too kind hearted to punish someone like this, but I wasn't.

That's when my anger issues started. All I had to do was get angry and show them my flame and they would do anything I wanted. I thought that their obedience meant that they finally respected me but… I was wrong. They didn't respect me, they… feared me.

I went on for a long time without realizing that. Everyone was too scared to tell me… but not you. You hated me, but you were not afraid to show it even though you knew that I could burn you to a crisp. You were real with me and made me realize that I... needed to change.

Back when I was trying to get back together with Star, I wasn't really trying to change. I just wanted some sort of symbol or in this case badge that I could wave around and pretend that I had become a better person. On that day you gave me a chance to prove myself… and I betrayed you. When I was hanging out with you that day I felt… genuine happiness. I finally knew what it felt like to have a true friend… and then I lost it. When I saw the pain and hurt on your face I realized that you… that you actually believed in me… you believed that someone like me… could actually change. At that moment, I understood that no badge nor symbol could change me. The only thing that could… was myself. I had to prove it to myself that I could change, not to Brian or anyone else.

And I realized the first thing that I had to do on my new path. I had to make things right so I did everything in my power to show you that I actually wanted to improve as a person and even though you had no reason to believe me, you still gave me another chance, and I will forever be thankful for it." Tom took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "That is why I gave you my demon hex. A hex is a very special thing. Only a Lucitor can bestow someone with its power and only once in a demon's lifetime. It gives you access to the sacred Lucitor flame that burns in the depths of the Underworld. The flame hot enough to melt the dimensional barrier. As you train and learn to use it the hex will become stronger, enforcing the link between you and the flame and unlocking new abilities. Who knows, perhaps one day you'll be powerful enough to open your own fire portals.

I'm entrusting you with this great power because I know that you will use it wisely. You're a great guy, Marco! You've helped me more than anyone else in this universe. Remember that the next time you feel down. My door will always be open if you ever need to talk." Tom finished and lightly patted Marco on the shoulder.

Marco was a bit speechless. He never realized what kind of an impact he had on his friend's life. He'd never seen this side of the demon before. "Wow, Tom… I- I don't know what to say. The only thing that comes to mind is… thanks." Marco said with a bright smile. "I feel like you're giving me too much credit though. What about Star? Didn't you guys date before? I somehow refuse to believe that you guys weren't friends back then."

"Yeah, it's true that we dated, but we were going through a bit of a rebellious phase at the time. She was trying to annoy her parents by dating a demon and I was trying to prove to everyone that I could date any girl that I want. Of course, we did actually like each other and I even fell a bit head over heels for her but after a few months my anger issues started to ruin things for us. We weren't really compatible so she decided that we should break up. I didn't really take that very well so we ended things with a huge fight and really bad terms."

"Oh, I see. Well… I'm glad that things worked out for you guys in the end." Marco said with a bit of a strained smile. He really wanted to be happy for Tom right now but his emotions simply refused to cooperate.

Even though it was very faint, Tom still managed to spot the stain in Marco's face. He didn't know what, but there was something very distinctive about Marco's genuine smile and he hadn't seen one of those in a long time. This signaled to Tom that his job was not yet done. He had a theory on what was bothering Marco, now all he had to do was prove it.

"Another reason I didn't give Star the hex is because she's already scary enough as she is with her wand. Could you imagine an angry Star with fire powers!? The whole castle would be up in flames!" Tom joked which got a genuine laugh out of Marco.

"Are you kidding? She did that with her wand alone! That's why they sent her to Earth! If she had fire powers the whole kingdom would be in danger!" Marco shot back.

Tom let out a hefty laugh. "Yeah! You're probably right. She has always been really good at destroying things even when she doesn't mean to."

"True, but she always does her best to fix her mistakes. She would go to the depths of hell and back to fix any wrongdoing." Marco said with a soft smile and a distant look on his face.

"Hey! My home's not that bad! But you're right. She really is a kind hearted spirit, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she really is an amazing girl alright." Marco finished with a blissful sigh.

Tom intently studied Marcos face. He could tell by that caring smile and the longing in Marco's eyes that his suspicions were correct.

'Well… there's no running from this conversation... I have to do it… for him…' Tom thought to himself. He quickly gathered all the courage he had and took a deep breath. "You… you like her… don't you?" Tom asked as he looked at Marcos face.

Marco slowly lowered his gaze to the floor and hung his head low, letting his dark brown hair cover his eyes.

"It's okay… I promise I won't burn you to a crisp. Just be honest." Tom said with a small encouraging smile.

Marco glanced at him through his hair and sighed. "You know I can't lie to you man. I- I do like her… I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about pal. We can't decide who our heart will latch on to, it's out of our control. Just know that I won't be giving her up without a fight!" Tom said lightheartedly with a small punch to Marco's shoulder.

Marco looked up at him and smiled faintly. "Don't worry man. I won't get between you two."

Tom cocked an eyebrow at him. "What? But you just admitted that you…"

"I know but confessing to her isn't going to help anyone right now. Star already has enough on her plate. I don't really want to add on to it. She's been so busy with trying to figure out this monster rights issue, reading about Mewman history and their treatment of monsters, like actually reading and paying attention not just moving her eyes and pretending, and we both know that she would rather shovel warnicorn dung than read! She's been attending her parent's lectures on how to behave like a proper princess and only falling asleep once every lesson. She's also been planning a Monster-Mewman party for the end of next month to try and improve relations between the two.

Star's been really stressed out lately and I feel like confessing would just cause more stress for her and I don't want that. It would just make things really awkward between all of us. What good would that bring? Plus… you make her really happy Tom. I really mean that. I see the little spark in her eyes every time you make a surprise visit. You always manage to cheer her up when she's stressed. You have no idea how much it helps her." Marco said as he put an arm on Tom's shoulder. "As long as she's happy, that's all that matters to me. I really am happy for you two. It just hurts a little at the moment. Don't worry. It will pass. I'll move on eventually, just like Star did."

Tom was completely stunned by Marco's words. How could such a kind and selfless person think so little of himself? Sure he made some mistakes but so does everybody else.

To sacrifice your own happiness just to preserve the happiness of others was mind boggling to him. It just showed Tom that he still had a long ways to go, although this still didn't seem fair.

"Alright, Marco. I won't force you to tell her. That's your choice, but I still think you should. It's not okay for you to suffer just because you want to preserve her happiness. Don't you think Star has a right to know? Remember how she bottled up her feelings for you? From what you just told me, it doesn't sound like it turned out so well in the end." Tom tried to reason with Marco. Although a small part of him was telling him to just drop it and be happy that he gets to keep Star all to himself he didn't listen to that part of his brain since he knew that that was not what a good friend would do.

"You're probably right, but I really don't think this is the right time. To tell you the truth, I only realized my feelings at the soulrise, and it had to literally be spelled out for me to finally get it. Don't worry about me. For all I know this could just be a small crush brought on by my recent breakup. Maybe it will pass in a couple of days." Marco said, trying to sound casual to lighten the mood.

Tom thought back to their recent trip to the lava lake and he frowned inwardly. He had been wearing Marcos hoodie that Star had given him that day. Not only that, but he had also torn the sleeves off. There was no ill intention behind it but he could see how that could convey the wrong idea.

Tom also realized something far worse than that. He remembered how he acted that night. He had paid all of his attention to Star and almost completely ignored his other friends that night. He didn't even bother to stop playing volleyball when Kelly suddenly left. Tom's old bad tendencies were starting to shine through again. 'Oh my corn! What's going on with me? That was so uncool of me! Marco didn't even know Kelly that well and I just left him to deal with her on his own! And for what? Just to finish some stupid volleyball game!?' Tom made a mental note to check on Kelly and that he had to be careful not to slip back into his old tendencies.

That's when another realization hit him like a runaway dump truck. 'Oh no! Did Marco see us kiss? Is that why he left so suddenly? Man I've been a horrible friend! I had no idea that he was going through so much hardship all this time! I need to make things righ-"

"Uhhh, Tom? Are you okay? You sort of spaced out there for a moment." Tom's trail of thought was derailed by Marco snapping his fingers in front his face.

"Huh? Oh yeah! I'm fine! Just wanted you to know that I won't chain you up in a dungeon if you do decide to confess to Star!" Tom quickly replied.

Marco chuckled at Tom's words. "Okay. Even if you did, all I would need is some butter and three weirdos to escape. Anyway, you have nothing to worry about. I want what's best for everyone, and right now that is for your relationship to work out. As long as you two are happy I'm okay with dealing with a bit of sadness for a while."

"Okay, Marco. I'll put in a good word for you in the underworld. Maybe set you up with a cute demon. I can be a great wingman you know!" Tom joked. "I'll try and tone it down with the lovey dovey stuff with Star when we're around you. It's the least I could do."

Marco was going to protest but stopped just as he was about to. As much as didn't want to mess with their relationship, he also didn't know if he could handle seeing them kiss again. "Thanks, Tom! I really appreciate it."

"No problem man! So, what are you gonna do now?" Tom inquired.

Marco thought for a moment. He kind of wanted to tell Tom about Star's sleep portaling problem, but then he remembered that he had promised not to tell a soul, and he had already broken that promise. They were already on unstable ground and she's probably going to get really mad at him for telling Hekapoo. He really didn't want to make things even worse for himself.

"I'm gonna head back. I need to help Hekapoo with something important." Marco said. Technically he wasn't lying but he still felt bad for hiding the full truth.

"Oh okay! Sorry for keeping you so long! I didn't realize that you had something important to do." Tom said as he got up and offered a hand to Marco.

Marco took Tom's hand and was quickly yanked up to his feet. Tom extended his arms out and opened up a portal back to where he picked him up. Marco went up Tom and extended his fist.

"No need to apologize, Tom. I'm sorry that you had to listen to my self-loathing for so long. I promise that I'll try to improve on that. And… thanks… for everything. I really appreciate it" Marco said with a small smile.

Tom bumped Marco's fist with his own and they both drew back their hands and made explosion sounds and gestures. "Hey no problem man! You would have done the same for me. Already have a couple of times! When you get back I want hear an explanation on why you looked like you were in your thirties back there."

"Don't worry, I'll tell you all about my epic adventures in that dimension some other time! See ya Tom!" Marco said as he stuck half of his body through the portal.

"Later, Marco!" Tom shouted after him.

As Marco passed through the portal it closed behind him. He landed in front of the forge where two Hekapoo clones were guarding the entrance.

"Hey H-poos! Sorry to keep you waiting so long!" Marco said as he approached them.

Both the clones looked up with bored expressions. "Oh, it's you muscles. I didn't even realize you were gone. Go on in." The clones motioned him to go inside.

Marco solemnly went inside, a bit disappointed that Hekapoo hadn't even noticed his absence.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Marco was yanked out of his train of thought by an angry Hekapoo stomping towards him. "Where the hell have you been!? You said you needed a month not two centuries!" Hekapoo yelled as she jabbed his chest. "I was looking all over for you! I had two hundred clones searching for you! I thought you had died of old age by now!"

"Awww, I didn't know that you cared about me that much!" Marco playfully cooed at her.

Hekapoo blushed a tiny bit but quickly recovered. "I didn't! I was worried about how I was going to explain your death to the Queen! She would have my head if I let you die! Anyways, where were you? You look like you haven't aged a bit." Hekapoo asked.

"Well, if you must know, I had a friendly chat with Tom in the Underworld." Marco explained.

"Oh… So that explains why I didn't feel you leave the dimension with your scissors." Hekapoo eyed him up and down a couple of times and noticed that his mood had considerably improved so she couldn't really stay mad at him. "Fine whatever! Come here! I think I've got something."

A/N: Hello everyone! It's been a while, almost a month in fact. Sorry about that. Well, it took me a while, but the chapter is finally out! I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to tell me your thoughts or any questions you may have in the reviews!

Big thanks to Peter Zamuda for beta reading this chapter! Because of him this chapter turned out a lot better with far less mistakes!

I'm ganna be really busy for the next two weeks so the next chapter is also probably going to take a while. Sorry but there's nothing I can do about it.

I don't really have much more to say about this chapter. I'm more interested in your thoughts so on to the reviews!

Gamelover41592: Thanks for the kind words! I know that I'm kind of cruel but I really like cliffhangers although I wouldn't call that one a cliffhanger. I want to make the ending seem interesting and make people speculate on what's gonna happen next.

A unimpressive name: Thanks! More is on the way though it will take a while!

Harem Master123: I always reply to all of my reviews! If someone goes out of their way and finds the time to review my little story then the least that I could do is reply. I'm glad that you liked the Markapoo friendship! I feel like teasing would be a big part of it because of Hekapoo's personality. I really like Tom as a character and I would love to see more of him on the show but TomStar's really getting in the way of that I feel. I'm kind of scared that they will do the same thing to Tom as they did to Jackie and that really worries me. I hope that I'm wrong. He would make such a great friend to both Star and Marco but the writers need their 'Drama'. I feel like the show would be a lot better if they just got the whole relationship stuff out of the way, gave us Starco and finally move on to more interesting and lore related things.

Budman: I'm glad that you liked the chapter! I want to keep the story as close to the cannon as possible. This story is going to be my rendition of how things would progress from this point on. I'm also going to try and tie up as many loose ends and plot holes in the story as possible e.g. Marco not changing at all after "Running with Scissors". The memory thing wasn't an original idea, I've heard about it somewhere before maybe on reddit. It looks like the show is being tough on Marco because this will be the season where he matures kind of like Star in season 2 but it feels like they are going way too hard on him. Since we have to wait for 3B to hopefully see this development I felt like I would take a shot at my own version of how things will go. Don't worry you will get Stars perspective too in chapter 5.

Nexarus: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Allen Vth: I'm glad that your cravings for Marcoapoo interactions were satisfied! It was relly fun to write. I fell like after 16 years he would be really good at taking out Hekapoos. Just look at how easily he took out the two guarding the door in "Running with Scissors". I hope this chapter answered your questions. I did the math and one month was roughly about two seconds in Tom's dimension so enough time to open a portal and go through. He was just waiting to go and check up on Marco in case Star really did forget.

Imhere4svtfoe: I'm glad that you liked the chapter! The story is still going to focus on the events after Lave Lake. I just saw the perfect opportunity to do a flashback and felt like I had to take it since I probably wouldn't get another chance like that. This chapter also explained the Lucitor power a bit more in depth and explains why they are the leaders of the Underworld. Of course Marco would ignore H-Poo's advances. He just discovered his feeling for Star. Plus even if he didn't have feeling for anyone at the moment I feel like the advances would just fly over his head.

Oracle6044: I'm glad you liked it and I feel the same way! I want to see some of those adventures man! When I was writing that reunion scene it just sort of clicked into place that Nachos needs a cool backstory. It wasn't originally planned. And guess what, 10/10 guess. Maybe I'm making this stuff too predictable.

JohnJuanRamboJr35: Thanks man! Hope you liked this chapter!

AchingHeart2011: Yeah, sorry about that but I couldn't pass up the perfect opportunity to write some epic Marco adventures. It's going to be a while until Marco does some epic stuff in this story so I felt like I should give a bit of a preview. I guess this chapter wasn't too much 'MEAT' but it was character development so I hope that can satisfy you for at least a little bit. More on the way!

Saddistic Slayer: Thanks man! Hopefully the story will read even smoother now that I have a beta.