A flicker of light made Star crack her eyes open.

She hadn't heard Tom approach. He stood a few feet in front of her, a small ball of flames clutched in his hand. They stared at each other for several seconds. Then, without a word, Tom sat down next to Star against the tree and let her warm herself with the fire.

"You can't hide from them forever," he finally whispered.

"Fuck off Tom."

"They need to see you. They want to see you."

"Shut up."

"Star-"

"What?" Star snapped, turning away from him.

"I..." Tom reached out to her, hesitated. Tried again. "I want to talk to you."

No reply, so Tom pressed on.

"I've been thinking about this a lot. I want to know how you got your dark magic out of Marco's system without him ingesting it."

He saw Star freeze.

"I-" she stuttered.

Tom continued, and his voice wasn't unkind or accusatory.

"I'm not stupid, Star," he said quietly. "I know how you feel about Marco. I... always kinda have."

Star kept her back to him, but the stiffness of her stance told Tom she was listening to every word intently.

"I'm sure something happened. I'm not asking you to tell me what. But when the love of your life wakes up from a coma, I'm fairly sure you wouldn't just give them a hand shake. I know if it was me seeing you after you woke up-" Tom gasped and stopped himself. Star slowly turned to him.

"I'm the love of your life?" She whispered. Tom coloured and pressed on.

"I knew something had happened, but I wondered whether it would be enough to heal Marco. And that's when it hit me, Star: You're the only one who can save him. You love him, and your love is so strong it forced all the evil out of his body. And surely you have the power to heal him again. At least... that's what I thought until Doctor Tina gave us the report."

Star closed her eyes.

"So it's over," she muttered.

"Not necessarily..." Tom said feebly.

Star sighed. "He's going to die, isn't he? Why don't you just get with the program and stop giving a shit."

"No, Star. Nothing is over," Tom replied steadily, stealing himself and placing a hand on Star's trembling shoulder. "The two of us are still alive. Now please come inside," Tom said. "Your parents want to see you. I'm sure... his parents do too."

Star's eyes hardened. The avoidance of the use of Marco's name had not gone unnoticed.

"Fine," she eventually muttered, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet by Tom. She didn't let go of his hand as they walked slowly back to the castle again.