Red Nightmare

"...Star?"

Where am I? His voice echoed off the walls in the empty space until it dispersed into thin air. There was no answer. Marco's feet didn't touch the ground as he floated around haphazardly in the void, alone.

What's going on? His mind boomed loudly as the empty space started to fill with a red hue that offered some sort of backlight to his surroundings. His eyes grew wide as the shot open, but nothing was in view, not even the impending horizon. That could wait for later. There was only one thing on his mind at the moment.

"Star? Where are you?"

Wearily, the boy put his sneakers on the ground, which rippled and expanded into the liquid surface as if it were made of red-tinted water. His other foot followed suit, making a sloshing sound as he walked, step-by-step. His glance kept switching left and right, scavenging for any sight of the blonde-haired girl.

The breeze picked up, blowing in his face. It was chilly, which caused Marco to shove his hands in his pockets in visible discomfort. A gentle sigh grazed his lips as he let the strands of his hair tickle his forehead. That was until, he saw a yellow speck in the distance.

"Star! Is that you?"

His walking turned into running as the sight of her hair grew closer. His hand reached out in front of him to touch the fabric on her shoulder, which caused her to jump in surprise and shoot around to Marco's relieved eyes. Her eyes glistened as a grin started to appear on her face, in which the terrified boy sighed happily as he pulled her into his arms for a warm, loving embrace.

Literally warm. He felt his stomach grow warmer... and wetter. Star let out a whimper of obvious discomfort which greatly confused him. Startled, he pulled her off of him quickly in concern.

Star's eyes were staring right back at him in horror as she began to cough and sputter. Upon closer inspection, what he saw utterly traumatized him. A knife was lodged deep into her chest where her heart once was, red liquid trickling out of the wound and onto his grey shirt and the redness below. There was something off, however: this so-called "blood" sparkled, speckles of shine covering the meniscus.

Marco felt something in his hand, the knife that was lodged in Star's chest was now in his hand, which was strange, as he didn't remember scrambling to pull it out. He was horrified as she looked at him sadly. Is this my fault? His mind didn't want to believe it.

"Why," she crooned, "I thought you loved me..."

Star shut her eyes as she fell forward into the boy's trembling arms, sobs wracking his body. "I do! Please, I-I didn't mean for this to happen...."

Her lifeless figure slipped through the gaps in his hands as it morphed into a red fine ash and floated up towards a red moon in the sky above, one that was very familiar to the both of them. The Blood Moon? I thought magic was destroyed... please don't tell me this stupid moon will take her away from me!

Hysterical and frantic, Marco sprang to his feet and chased after the trail of red dust that was rapidly wafting away into the sky. "Wait, please come back! Don't leave me..."

Marco fell to his knees, doubling over into a ball. Star was gone. It all happened so fast, seemingly in a matter of seconds. He felt so hopeless and lost. He failed to keep the one thing in life that made him truly happy, and he eliminated her in the most horrifying way possible. "This is all my fault. I-I got her killed... she's gone because of me."

Tears dripped into the red water, and sobs escaped his lips. He was all alone. The room dimmed.

Laughter... Laughter echoed in the near distance, followed by a shadow that loomed near. Marco opened his eyes as a tall dark figure loomed over him. It's tail swished in the silhouette as it grew taller and taller. He was too terrified to move, too distraught over...

~•~

"Marco?... Marco? MARCO!"

His eyes shot open followed by screams. Marco was dripping in cold sweat as light filled his vision, a sharp contrast from the darkness that he lived before. His cheeks felt searing hot as his wild eyes darted back and forth from his Mackie Hand posters, the brown little puppy barking next to the door, and her eyeing him with the utmost concern in her deep blue eyes. He felt her hand cup his cheek tenderly.

"Shhh, it's just me, boo. Are you okay? I heard you screaming in your sleep so I came to check on you."

His heart rate slowed as the feeling of relief washed over him. It's just a dream. Marco half smiled as her hand stroked the searing spot on his right cheek. It was soothing, especially after all the anxiety his recent nightmare caused. "I feel a lot better now that you're here, Star..."

The comment caused a warm smile from Star. She looked at him in concern once more as her hand grazed his cheek again. "Your cheekmark thingies were glowing red hot. That can't be a good sign, especially if it happened while you were having some sort of vivid nightmare. Do you... know what happened?"

"I...well," Marco stammered. "You see..."

Every time he tried to speak, the words caught in his throat as if he was afraid that uttering them would usher in the dark prophecy of the dream. Just recalling it was unbearable, and he desperately wanted his mind to blot out the memory, even if Star wanted to know. But he couldn't. He still felt her blood pool hotly against his chest, soaking through his nightshirt and sticking to his skin. He still felt the coldness of the murderous knife in his shaking hands, glinting with the light of the Blood Moon. Her words still haunted his ears. No, I refuse to let that happen! He defiantly glanced up at the sky, which was still dark in the pre-dawn. No one would take his Star away again.

"Eyes on me, bub," Star placed a hand on his, her touch cooling the fever burning his body. At last, he calmed down enough for his cheek marks to fade, returning the room to darkness. For now, all was well. She was safe, albeit concerned over his outburst.

He sighed, "It's hard to explain. We were in the Realm of Magic, although it was different, I guess. And...something happened, and you died in my arms. I—" He paused, unable to say the word stab or kill. "—I was responsible."

"Oh," Star said simply, nervously playing with her frizzled hair.

What kind of boyfriend dreams of murdering his girlfriend? He anxiously studied her reaction. What if she called the police or his parents? Would she run away or hate him? Honestly, maybe she should. "Look, Star, I love you, and I don't know why I had this dream. I would never—"

His ramblings were cut short by her lips pressing against his. As he melted into her arms. He almost forgot his name and how to breathe, but Marco didn't care. "Easy, boy," Star murmured when he got too into it. "We need to sort out this dream business first."

"Right," he blushed, pulling away.

Star smoothed down her hair and leaned back against the headrest while she thought deeply about the matter, hopefully remembering that Marco usually wasn't crazy or emotionally disturbed. Or she's thinking of a way to find a safe place and have me arrested, Marco thought that half-jokingly now. After a moment, she spoke, "I think you're having another stress dream, like those stuck-in-life ones you used to have. And yeah, the dream sounded creepy, but I wouldn't worry about it."

"Wouldn't worry about it?" he echoed. "Star, that's ridiculous. I can't do that if it means your life is at risk."

"Is it at risk? Earth-ni's kinda tame without magic."

"That's the thing," Marco's voice grew louder. "I don't think magic is gone. I saw the Blood Moon and the Realm of Magic. It has to mean something...just like our cheekmarks." I think they're all related, he didn't know how he knew, but something in his soul prickled at the thought of the three elements together.

"It's a dream, Marco."

"No, it's not. It's an omen or something that we need to look into."

"Marco..."

"When will you take things seriously for once? You're not an invincible, magical princess anymore!"

Marco regretted snapping at her instantly. He didn't mean it. Fighting the girl he loved hurt him almost as much as the dream, especially when he had to gaze into her pained eyes. I've hurt her, he recoiled, feeling awful. Maybe he was capable of doing bad things to her despite how much he worshipped her presence. Maybe he was a bad boyfriend.... "Star, I—" He tried to reach for her, but she pulled away. The pain in her eyes blazed into anger. "Star," Marco tried to talk to her. "I didn't mean to. I just love you so much, and I couldn't live with myself if something took you away from me."

Despite his pleas, Star said nothing, wordlessly reaching for her robe as she stormed out of their room and into the Monster Temple.

__
Play Date

"I'll get it!"

A blonde mass of hair raced down the stairs and made a mad dash to the door. Star Butterfly was at the Diazes' today with Marco, as they were commissioned to watch eight month-year-old Mariposa while Mr. and Mrs. Diaz had a date night on the town in downtown Earth-ni. Tensions were rising between monsters, mewmans, and humans, and the White Lotus was fresh out of food since Star and Marco went, but they figured they wouldn't tell them and let them find out for themselves.

Star reached for the door handle and the door creaked open, revealing Eclipsa standing at the door with her half-monster child. The girl's face grew wide with a bright smile. "Eclipsa!" Meteora babbled as she jumped out of her mother's arms and crawled up the blonde's leg and into her arms.

"Good morning, Star," Eclipsa said cheerily, "I am here to drop off Meteora. I was wondering if you could watch her while Globgor and I have a day to ourselves. We haven't had one of those for who knows how long."

"Of course Eclipsa," Star nodded in delight, Meteora reaching up to play with her bangs, "I am so happy for you and Globgor! You both deserve a day to yourselves."

"Thanks dearie," the woman replied. She raised an eyebrow. "Where's Marco? This is his house, after all."

Star felt her face tense up. After the night before, she and her boyfriend were not on the best of terms. Despite this, she agreed to come over to help with Mariposa. She figured that the little tot shouldn't have to suffer because of Marco's foolish comments and delusions. Also, Mrs. and Mr. Diaz were like second parents to her.

"Oh yeah, him... He's probably upstairs with Mariposa or something." Meteora growled at the mention of Marco's name. Eclipsa's facial expression softened as Star walked towards the stairs to see where Marco was hiding off to. They walked up to the nursery. "Marco, Eclipsa is here to drop off Meteora," Star repeated with the slightest bit of spite in her voice.

"Oh, great," Marco groaned. Star walked closer and set the monster child next to her boyfriend. Meteora huffed and crossed her arms at the sight of the boy.

"Thanks for helping me with Meteora," the blonde said sarcastically, "Oh wait, you didn't help."

"I couldn't leave Mariposa alone," Marco retorted frantically, gesturing to Mariposa crawling over to Meteora, "last time we did that, she went dimension-hopping!"

Star groaned. There he goes being overly cautious again. "Magic is gone, Marco. You can't travel across different dimensions anymore."

"That's not the point, Star," the boy said with frustration, "she could have been kidnapped, stuck someplace, or worse! She was almost eaten by a guy with a stomach for a mouth for heaven's sake!"

"It wouldn't kill you to stop what you're doing for ten seconds to-" She and the boy stopped bickering to draw their attention to Eclipsa clearing her throat loudly. They blinked as the woman looked back and forth between them. Meteora and Mariposa stepped playing with the blocks on the ground to look at the teens as well.

"Well, I think I best be going now," Eclipsa said with a nervous laugh, "Globby is waiting for me."

"Don't worry Eclipsa, I'll walk you out." She shot a glare in Marco's direction. Two can play this game, she thought to herself. His comments last night angered her. It was just a silly dream. Dreams aren't real unless you turn into a huge butterfly in your sleep and a magical unicorn calls you to the realm of magic, which in part didn't exist anymore. Magic was dead, and dreams are normal dreams. There was nothing to worry about, so why was Marco worrying?

"Uh, Star? Aren't you supposed to be helping me babysit?" Meteora babbled and pulled at Marco's ear, causing him to yelp in pain.

"I have more important things to do, like I dunno, watching TV."

"But-"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I thought I wasn't an invincible, magical princess anymore?"

"I-"

"So I'll be leaving now." With a swift movement, Star turned around and walked out the room, Eclipsa following close behind leaving Marco with two curious toddlers to look after.

~•~

Star could feel her face grow hot with anger as she stomped down the stairs and sat on the sofa. She didn't want anything to do with Marco right now. She couldn't put her finger on why his comment the night before angered her so much; she didn't want anything to do with Butterflies or magic anymore. However, the more she pondered, the more she started to realize why it angered her so much. Maybe it was the fact that the Blood Moon was a bunch of baloney, and didn't have anything to do with her and Marco loving each other. Or maybe it was the fact that there were moons on his cheeks as she watched him squirm helplessly in bed, or maybe the two of these things combined concluded then possibility that maybe, just maybe, magic was still out there... and maybe it wanted her dead for even attempting to destroy it. Whatever it was it made the blonde angry at her big doofus boyfriend... and the tiniest sliver of fear pricked her nerves.

The girl looked up from Y.O.U.T.H.S. playing on the TV to see Eclipsa looking at her with a worried expression. "Star, dear? May I have a word with you?"

"Uh, sure." She tried her best to appear as neutral as possible as the woman made herself comfortable on the sofa next to her. She didn't feel like talking about or explaining what was going on between her and her boyfriend. It was too weird, too infuriating, too...

"What has been going on between Marco and yourself?"

Oh, corn... there it was. She twiddled her thumbs nervously. "It's nothing."

"It surely is not just nothing. I have spent enough time around you and Marco that the two of you do not start acting distant towards each other over 'nothing'. Did you two have your first couple's fight?" Eclipsa sounded sympathetic.

Star gave up. Eclipsa was onto her about something, and she looked to her as a motherly figure. She might as well stop trying to convince her there was nothing wrong and just spill the beans. "Sorta. We got into a little argument after Marco freaked out over a dream he had last night. I told him there was nothing to worry about, because it was just a dream, and dreams are not real because magic is gone, but he wouldn't listen."

"You are half right about that," the older lady replied firmly, causing Star to raise an eyebrow.

"Half? Wait a second, are you implying dreams are real?" Star felt her heartbeat loudly in her ears.

"Oh no, they most certainly are not real, but they are not all fiction either. Sometimes dreams can foretell the future in very cryptic ways."

That soothed her nerves a bit. She thought about the past as she leaned back into the sofa. "Ah, gotcha. So a typical lesson from Glossaryck."

"Precisely," Eclipsa replied curtly, "cryptic dreams are rarely straightforward as they typically show you one thing when they mean something else. Sometimes they can even serve as a warning or omen."

'...And something happened, and you died in my arms', she heard Marco's voice say loudly in her head, and she winced. "Warning?"

"Tell me dear, what was the dream that Marco had?"

"W-well," she stammered, "There was me, him, a lot of blood, the Blood Moon, and--"

Eclipsa's eyes grew wide as she cut off Star's explanation. "The Blood Moon? Now, that's something I have not heard in over three hundred years. My father used to be obsessed with the Blood Moon ever since my sweet Globby mentioned the demon ritual back when we first began dating."

"Your father knew about you and Globgor," Star asked in perplexion, "I thought your mother hated monsters and wanted them to suffer?"

The woman chuckled slightly. "Oh heavens, my mother and father were two completely different people. While my mother was greatly against monsters, my father was not. In fact, he was very supportive of our relationship. He wanted us to get bonded by the Blood Moon for some prophecy. The only thing stopping this was the fact that the Blood Moon Ball wasn't for another three hundred or so years."

The blonde tried to mentally piece together Eclipsa's strange talk. The more she spoke about the blood moon, the more confused she became. "Prophecy?"

"My father heard rumors of some old prophecy room. It had a sun and a star on the floor, but we could never locate where the room was. I assume it was an old wise tale."

Sun and a star? Her mind rewinded back to the past. She could have sworn she had seen this room before. A lightbulb went off in her head. "Saint Olga's!"

"Saint Olga's," Eclipsa echoed, "it could not have been there."

"I know because I was there," Star exclaimed, "Marco and I ran through it while running from Mrs. Heinous... who is also your daughter... it's weird, but I know what I saw!"

Before Eclipsa could respond, a loud crash came from upstairs, followed by a scream. Star, determined to find out more about Eclipsa's explanation, raced up the steps to find out about the commotion, the former dark queen not too far behind her.

~•~

"Marco," Star exclaimed, kicking the door open with her boot. The nursery was an absolute disaster zone, with baby toys, clothes, food, and other miscellaneous items scattered throughout the room. In the midst of the mess sat a disgruntled Marco, a baby monster girl on the top of his head, laughing and clapping her hands, and his baby sister in his lap, sucking her thumb innocently.

"What happened," the girl asked as her eyes scanned the room. She looked back at Marco who pulled the baby off of his head, screaming as she took handfuls of his hair out from her grasping with a vice grip.

"Meteora happened," Marco replied as he rubbed his head. "She didn't like the food I gave her so she chased me around and destroyed my stuff." He picked a shred of a Mackie Hand poster out of his hair.

"Classic Meteora," Star giggled, helping the disheveled boy to his feet.

Eclipsa covered her mouth to giggle, and Meteora hopped off the boy's head and jumped into her arms as she innocently looked him groan from his injuries. It was hard for Star to believe that a baby caused a black eye and bruises.  However, this baby had claws, sharp teeth, and a tail.

"I guess I'll postpone my plans with Globgor for next week," the woman said as she stroked Meteora's hair. "Thank you so much for watching my darling blossom, though, Marco! Same time next week?'

"Uh I dunno about-" he was silenced by an elbow jabbing him in the gut. "Ow!"

"You got it, and this time, I'll help watch," Star said with a smile.

"Splendid," she replied. "I'll see you two then. I hope things get better for you two soon."

Eclipsa walked out of the nursery with Meteora in tow, who waved goodbye to Mariposa, who looked sad to see her best friend leaving. Marco scooped her up in his arms and shushed her as she teared up.

"Starrrrr," Marco groaned in annoyance, "why did you agree to next week?"

"Oh come on, it will be fun," she replied, "besides, I have to make up for being a pill earlier. It could give us an excuse to spend time together."

"It's fine, Star, I guess I was being an idiot. I shouldn't have freaked out like that, or said those things. It was just a silly dream." His face turned beet red as a pair of lips gently pecked his cheek.

"No, Marco. It wasn't just a silly dream. It had to have meant something, and I know just the place we can look."

"What are you talking about? I thought you said I shouldn't worry," Marco said in confusion.

"Well you see," she began, "Eclipsa told me more about the Blood Moon. She said her father was obsessed with it, and that it was linked to some weird room in Saint Olgas."

"Weird room? Oh wait... Ohhh, you mean the time when we had to break Pony Head out of prison."

Star nodded as she leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms. "It could have something to do with the creepy dream you had last night."

"Wait a minute... Room? Creepy dreams? Cheek marks?" Marco furrowed his eyebrows and scratched his chin. "Star... I'm not liking this. I thought you destroyed the magic? Why would all of this be happening if magic was one hundred percent gone?"

Star felt a cold chill creep down her spine. She didn't like this either, and the thought of magic still existing, and Eclipsa's cryptic messages filled her with apprehension."I don't know, Marco. I'm confused too. But we have to find out what this means soon. We can't just ignore all of this."

Marco sighed as he went over and sat his baby sister in her crib. "You're right. I... don't want anything to happen to you. You mean too much to me."

I love you too, you dork. She smiled softly at his comment and reached for the door handle. "I guess we can worry about this in the morning. Goodnight Marco, sleep well."

"Goodnight, Star."

The door creaked softly as she gently shut it on him. That weird feeling came back, and for some reason, the dream worried her more and more. What could it possibly mean? Was there more than she realized?