This is just in case I write a shitty summary for the story. This will be a Marcapoo story and it will be a dark and heavy story that explores my take on what exactly happened during the 16 years Marco was gone and the after effects. Obviously, this story has been rated M for the content it will cover. Lemons are a possibility but not a guarantee. Anyways, enjoy.

Chapter 1

"Where did you get these scissors?"

"It could take days, weeks, months, years, decades, even lifetimes."

"Just give up now."

"Marco?"

"Run kid, RUN!"

"Why do you keep this up?"

"I love you."

"General, what would you have us do?"

"Thalia!"

"Teach me, please."

"Took you long enough Marco, I was starting to think you had forgotten about me."

"See ya soon."

Suddenly, a pair of brown eyes opened in fear and scanned the immediate surroundings. It was pitch black but he could still make out where he was. And he wasn't sure what was worse; the fact that he had been waking so abruptly for the past few days, or, that he kept waking up back on Earth, in his old body. Deciding to distract himself from answering that question, the boy got up from the bed dressed in his signature red hoodie and running shorts, and exited the house silently.

It was still very early in the morning, the sun had yet to appear and the neighborhood seemed dead to anyone watching. This did not deter the boy, if anything, it seemed to calm him. He just ran straight down the street, not making any turns, knowing if he did, he was not likely to find his way back. He had only been back for a few days so it was hard for him to remember exactly where his house was.

After an hour or so of running, the boy took a break and sat down on the sidewalk to catch his breath and analyze his surroundings. Its what he was trained to do, at least what he was trained to do in the other timeline. Heckapoo's timeline. His timeline. With that final thought he got back up and headed back in the direction he came. Luckily for him, as he was approaching the house, the sun had risen enough for him to make out more distinct features of each home. He recognized the Diaz household by the small tower sticking out from the left side of the house.

Star's room. It still looks the same after….a few days. Remember Marco, its only been a few days for them. You were only gone for 8 minutes in their time. But, was it for the best? With a shake of his head, he headed back inside of the house and decided to finish his workout in the backyard. Might as well. Not like I'm going back to sleep anytime soon.

2 hours later

Star was waking up in her room and stretched her arms out before getting out of bed deciding to go check on Marco. I wonder if he's up yet? I got up a little early so I might have caught him asleep. She walked into his room with these thoughts in her head, yet rather than being greeted by the sight of her friend asleep in his room, she saw he was just exiting the bathroom, apparently already ready for the day.

"Hey Marco! How long have you been up for?" she asked with a goofy smile on her face as she sat on his bed.

"Oh hey Star. I've been up for a few hours now. Couldn't really sleep that well so I decided to go out for a run and do some light exercises in the back yard." He said nonchalantly, acting as if it was a normal thing for him to be doing.

"Umm…..Are you ok, Marco?" Star asked, this time with a slightly worried look on her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Now come on, lets get something to eat!" He said with a fake smile on his face, and Star could tell but she decided to leave it, trusting in his judgement. With that they both went downstairs and were greeted by the sight of his parents preparing some food for breakfast.

"Hola mijo! Hola Star! How did the both of you sleep?" asked Mr. Diaz as he finished cooking some pancakes for the four of them to eat. Marco sat down and Star sat next to him, sending the occasional glance his way.

"We both slept well, thanks for asking dad." Marco said, just staring off into the distance as he played with a butter knife with his right hand. It was due to this that he didn't notice someone sneaking up behind him . However, he felt a hand go into his left hand pocket and he immediately reacted on instinct.

Within the blink of an eye he had grabbed the arm turned around, kicked the assailants legs from under them and pressed the knife to their neck. He narrowed his eyes and began to press the knife harder against their neck.

"MARCO STOP!" Immediately Marco's eyes widened and he realized who he had just attacked. Star had shown him a photo of her to help him try and remember everything from before the trial. It was Janna, except instead of arrogance in her eyes, there was nothing but fear, pure fear. The boy she had known since childhood, the Safe Kid, was pressing a knife to her neck and looked as though he was about to kill her.

He removed the knife from her neck and stepped away from her, his hands were shaking and he seemed as though he was about to hyperventilate. I nearly killed her! I nearly killed a child who I knew for a good portion of my life before the trial.

"Marco Ubaldo Diaz! What possessed you to do that?! Where did you even learn to do that?!" yelled his mother as she went over to comfort Janna and make sure she was alright. Janna was just holding her neck staring at him with tears in her eyes as she tried to understand what had just happened.

"I…..I….I didn't mean to. It was just…..a reflex." Marco tried to say as he dropped the knife and stared at his hands. Why….why is this happening? I'm trying to be normal again….normal for them but the real me is still here. This isn't me. These puny hands aren't mine. This body isn't mine. This life isn't mine!

Star began to cautiously walk towards him, now extremely worried about him and his state of mind. She assumed he was fine but maybe, the trial hit him harder than she thought. If only she knew that she could never truly understand how much that trial had changed him. Just what hell he had gone through.

"Marco?...Are you….are you ok?" She spoke loud enough for everyone in the room to hear her but Marco didn't register a thing she said. He was covering his eyes with his hands and his body was shaking as though he were in serious pain. She reached out for his shoulder with her right hand but mere inches away from touching him, he finally reacted.

Meanwhile with Heckapoo in 3 minutes

Currently, Lady Heckapoo was at a Magic High Council meeting with the other members to discuss any current threats to the realms and the like. She was listening to Rhombulus justifying the 27 'evil' threats he had crystallized the week before, despite the fact that it was very clear that at least half of them were simply take out employees that delivered food to him. Just as she was dozing off, she could feel her mark burn on the back of her neck. And with that burn she could feel a certain earth boy's emotions. She could feel his pain and fear and she knew she had to go to him. She knew he needed her.

Quickly and subtly, she created a clone to take her place while she opened a portal and headed towards Earth to find her and hopefully stop her idiot from doing something he would undoubtedly regret.

Hold on Marco! I'm coming for ya! Just hang in there, please, hang in there. She said through her mark as she pushed her thoughts and emotions through it to reach him in an effort to comfort and stop him.

Back on Earth 3 minutes ago

Just before Star could touch his shoulder, Marco quickly ducked under her arm, picked up the knife and jumped up onto the table nearby before sprinting out to the back of the house. Everyone quickly regained their bearings and chased after him, with Janna falling behind both of Marco's parents with hesitation heavy in her stride.

When they reached the backyard, they saw Marco just standing there facing them with the butter knife in one hand and his dimension scissors in the other. His eyes showed clear confusion and hostility towards them as he slid into a defensive stance.

"Marco, mijo, what's wrong? Talk to us!" begged his mother as she tried to walk towards him but in seeing him tense further with each step she took towards him, she took a few steps back, hoping some space might calm him. Marco did not respond them, he simply continued to stare at each of them, as though he were expecting to be attacked.

Then, all of a sudden, an orange portal appeared in between Marco and the group, causing an immediate change in facial expression from Marco, one of relief and joy, which served only to confuse everyone present. Heckapoo then stepped out of the portal and turned to face Marco with a sad smile on her face.

"Hey Muscles, need a hand?" she asked in a soft voice as she approached him. She could tell from the emotions he was putting out that he was under severe distress and she couldn't say she was surprised, after all they had predicted this would likely happen.

"H-Poo….is that really you? Please let that really be you." There was such desperation and pain in his voice that it broke his family and friend's hearts hearing him this way. Tears were now openly flowing down his cheeks as he began lowering his weapons.

"Of course its me ya dummy. I know you have your Earth timeline body right now but your mark should still be there telling you I'm right here in front of you." She reached out with her hand and caressed his cheek in an effort to comfort him. It clearly worked since he closed his eyes and moved into her embrace, dropping the knife but keeping a firm grip on his scissors. He cried into her chest as she held him, despite how awkward it felt for him to now be shorter than her again.

"Please….please tell me this is some sort of spell I'm under. Please tell me I'm not actually back on Earth right now. Please tell me I didn't just try to attack my friends and family! Please….tell me I'm not exactly what I feared I would become…." Sobbed out Marco as he tried to search for some justification for what he just did. Trying to find some form of reassurance that he didn't actually try to take out his childhood friend for trying to pickpocket him. All Heckapoo could do was hold him tight and try to calm him with the mark. Luckily for her, he was both emotionally and physically exhausted so he easily accepted the effects of the mark and fell asleep in her embrace.

All the while, Star, Janna, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz were crying at seeing Marco in such a state and wondering what this woman was doing with him and why he felt so at peace around her. Just her presence alone calmed him down from whatever state he was in to the point that he was resting in her arms.

Seeing them staring at the both of them and knowing Marco needed some rest Heckapoo created two more clones and carried Marco through her portal while the two clones stayed behind to try and explain the situation to the 4 people present and give Marco some time to regain his bearings.

"I know you all must have questions and you deserve answers. I promise I'll tell you all I can for now, but there are plenty of things that only Marco has the right to tell you. Now Star, if you would be so kind as to bring out a few chairs, this could take a little while." With that, Star created 6 chairs for them all to sit on, with four chairs facing two chairs which would be where the Heckapoo's would sit.

Once everyone was seated, the Heckapoo's drew a deep breath and sighed.

"From your perspective, this all started a few days ago, now as I said I will tell you what I can but want you all to simply listen until I finish, am I understood?" Four nods were all the answers she needed.

"Alright, it started with a stolen pair of scissors…."

Alright, obviously this chapter is ending on a bit of a cliffhanger but hey, I felt like this was a good place to end it and allows for me to pick off where I want on the next chapter. This my first Svtfoe story I've written and will likely be the only one I write. If you check my profile you'll see I have other stories that I haven't finished or updated in years. Shit happened, I stopped writing and reading for a while but I'm back and I guess this could be just a warm up for me before I continue those other stories. Either way thanks for reading this far and expect the next chapter to be out as soon as the next week and as late as within the next month. It all depends.