Diaz Plan Chapter 25

A long time ago, there had been a peaceful forest dimension, a world of lush green, fields of vibrant flowers, and endless shady paths. A paradise, some would call it. The most intelligent inhabitants of this dimension were a race of fae that were bound closely to nature, so much so that they seemed part plant. Beautiful, tall, thin, graceful men and women, with flowers blooming in their hair, or wound around with vines, or legs and hands that ended in rough bark. And these fae took care of the forests, and most importantly, tended to the Tree of Life, the massive, ancient tree that, legend told, held their world together.

It was to this world that the current Queen Butterfly came, as a child (PRINCESS Butterfly, at the time), to learn magic, from these very magically inclined fae. She was placed under the tutelage of one of their royalty, Prince Maedoc. From the moment she had stepped foot in their dimension, Maedoc had been wary of her. "Pleased to meet you, Prince Mydick," had been her first words to him.

The Princess soon proved to be a destructive terror. No matter the tutelage Maedoc had given her, her spells had wreaked havoc - forest fires, plagues of leaf-eating beetles, root rot. And the power of the wand she held meant that these disasters only got worse as time wore on. But no matter the pain she caused, she would simply laugh at him. "Get over it, Prince MadDork."

It wasn't long before Maedoc had put in a request that she be taken back to her dimension. The day she left, she had insisted on trying a particularly difficult and complex spell. Maedoc had wanted to forbid it. But he figured, she would be leaving that afternoon. Might as well not fight her on it. Just give her what she wants until she's gone. He had given her the go-ahead.

Moments later, Prince Maedoc was on his knees, watching in shock and horror as the Tree of Life burned down, as the fae tried, in vain, to combat the inferno. The Princess had approached him, honest remorse written all over her face, for once. "I am so, so sorry, Prince Michael," she had said, giving him a hug. "I'll have my parents send a new tree or something."

Prince Maedoc had just looked at her, dumbfounded, as a portal opened, and she slipped through, leaving his dimension.

That day, the Tree of Life had burned down. And deep in the ground beneath it, where its roots had dug deep, something awful had been living. The forests of Maedoc's world grew sickly, weak, began to die. He watched as his people withered, fell ill, and died off. All calls to the Butterfly royal family went unanswered.

In their desperation, the mages of Maedoc's court turned to Machine Magic, a long-scorned practice on his world. The horror that had lain beneath the Tree of Life was contained within a massive, mechanical dome. But still that did not stop the forests of his world from dying, and the fae with them. Finally, the mad mage Cessyl had come up with a plan to keep his people alive: implant the remaining fae within magical mechanical bodies.

Maedoc had given the reluctant order that had seen the forests of his world replaced with massive factories for the creation of these mechanical bodies, had seen his beloved trees chopped down for fuel. He had personally resisted the conversion for as long as possible, but in the end it was inevitable, as the flowers in his hair began to dry up and his vines turned black, he had been, himself, placed within one of these mechanical bodies, the most intricate, grand one the mad mage Cessyl could design.

But even this was not a real solution. Their entire world now a smoky haze of factories, concrete and steel, and all they had purchased was a temporary reprieve. For they still could not reproduce. Without the forests, without the tree of life, these fae could have no new children. They still lived long lives, well over a thousand years. But after the current generation died off, there would be no more fae. And their world would be an empty, dead one.

So Maedoc had begun his travels across the dimensions, looking for solutions to save his people. At first, he had thought that perhaps if his people could bond to plant life on a new world, that would save them. And for some of his people, it worked. They could bind to new plant life, on new worlds. But they still could not reproduce. Without the restoration of the Tree of Life on their original world, they were still barren. And many others could not forget the memory of the beautiful forests of their home, and could not bind to these new plants. And more troubling still, many others simply had lost the desire to leave their machine bodies.

Maedoc traveled for years, looking for a way to restore the Tree of Life. But nothing had seemed to have the power.

Until he had met her again.

Princess Butterfly, now Queen Butterfly, with the King at her side. Holding that wand of hers. He had thought it was powerful before. But now that he saw it wielded with more competence, he realized how powerful it truly was. Still, the mad mage Cessyl had told him, it would require the destruction of the wand to restore the Tree of Life. Maedoc had no problem with that. He was quite convinced the Butterfly family did not deserve to be holding a wand of such power, anyway.

But how to take it from her? Maedoc had an army of his machine-people he could use, if he bothered to summon them from his homeworld dimension, but he was loathe to pit their limited numbers against the wand's limitless magic, when he wasn't sure at all if he'd be successful.

So he formed a plan. He was on a necromancer's world at the time. The Queen and King were battling a horde of undead. He had contrived some way to show off his prowess in battle to them - one thing could be said about the mechanical bodies, they were fast and strong - and then he had introduced himself to them. The Queen showed no sign of recognizing him.

He called himself TickTock.

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His original plan had simply been to worm his way into their graces to steal the wand. But it wasn't long before he learned that the Queen was incredibly paranoid about the security of the wand, never letting go of it. It made sense. It was the most powerful wand in the universe. He was not the only one who wanted it.

He had, sometimes, tried to make common cause with other would-be wand thieves. But they were megalomaniacal to a fault, always wanting the wand for themselves. So, ironically, he found himself foiling their plots to steal the wand. His constant evaluation of the wand's safety had made him very good at detecting threats toward it, so he was more likely than most to detect plots to steal it and foil them. This eventually netted him the position of Guard Captain.

Although his primary goal had always been to get the wand, being in close proximity to Queen Butterfly had awakened within him a black hatred that he didn't know existed. Yes, he had always hated her, hated what she had done to his world. But seeing her every day, taking orders from her, this monster who had bought his people to the brink of extinction, had twisted him in ways he hadn't predicted. His plans expanded. He no longer simply wanted the wand. He wanted her to suffer. He wanted her world to suffer like his had. He wanted to see her face as her world died and her wand turned to dust in his hands.

He used his position as Guard Captain to slowly turn the men against her. Yes, it would take a while, but what were a couple of decades to him? He began planting seeds of dissent among the peasants through proxies. They found fertile ground. Slowly, TickTock began maneuvering for a coup. But he had always lacked something that could counter the power of the wand.

When Star was first born, he had originally been filled with dark thoughts of glee at how, one day, he might butcher her in front of her mother, to her endless despair. But it was difficult to watch something grow and not become at least a little attached to it. As a small child, she had been simultaneously fascinated and terrified by the mechanical Guard Captain, staring at him with wide eyes, then hiding behind her mother's skirts.

TickTock had tried his best to keep his distance from her. He didn't need this sort of attachment. But it had been so long since he had seen a child grow. Finally, he had given in, and given her a wooden play sword as a gift. From that moment on she had always greeted him with a smile. He kept a rose garden in the castle that she would help him tend sometimes. He had been the one to show her the secret passages in the castle walls. When she had been going through her troublemaking phase with Flying Princess Pony Head, he had always been awake to greet her with a wink and a nod as she snuck back into castle grounds. When she broke up with Tom, he had sardonically suggested an invasion of Hell, eliciting a small smile from her as she cried. Without any children of his own race, he had found himself treating Star with affection.

When Star had been sent to earth, he had tried to put away some of the darker thoughts of his revenge. His takeover of the Guard and threat of peasant revolution were nearly complete. With the wand away on earth, it would be much easier to overthrow the monarchy. His plan, then, had been to take down the King and Queen, and ransom their lives to Star for the wand. He would banish them from the dimension, confiscate their dimensional scissors, and put away all thoughts of murdering them. He would heal his world and leave the de-powered Butterfly family alone.

But then this business with the warlock had happened, and Queen Butterfly had taken back the wand. He had thought all his plans undone, for a while. The revolution was happening soon - he could not put it off for another five years or so, which is how long he figured it might be before the Queen let Star touch the wand and go to another dimension again.

But then he had figured out how powerful the warlock was, and decided it was still a good time to roll the dice. A powerful magic ally, and as an added bonus, he could order all the guards that were still loyal to the Queen directly into death at the warlock's hands. The only problem was getting the warlock and the Queen to actually fight each other. He had given Star the means to escape her room and rescue Mrs. Diaz, even drugging the guards that had been guarding the warlock's wife, figuring that once her hostage and her daughter were gone, the Queen would NEED to attack. But her husband had convinced her of the possibility of a diplomatic solution.

So TickTock thought of something that would preclude any possibility of diplomatic resolution: Convince the Queen that the warlock had killed her daughter.

TickTock, when he went out hunting for Star, had never actually intended to kill her. If he wanted to do that, he could have cut her down the minute he saw her in the farmhouse, or spiked her head like a lolipop when he threw the pitchfork at her. He wanted to capture her, keep her somewhere in the woods, and tell her mother she was dead. Unfortunately, the warlock's son had unexpectedly shown up. Although that had been turned to his advantage, too. There was no way the Queen and the Warlock would find a peaceful solution when they BOTH thought the other had killed their child. Sure, Star had escaped, but even if she showed up, it wouldn't stop the Warlock's blind rage.

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And now, all his plans had come to fruition. TickTock stood, holding the wand, feeling its power.

"TICKTOCK! YOU IDIOT ROBOT, PUT DOWN MY WAND!" screamed the Queen, her voice hoarse, panicky.

Her husband, who had fought like a madman through the throng of enemies to come to her side when he saw her fall from the sky, rushed to her side as the air around TickTock began to hum with power, lifting pebbles from the ground. "My love!" he cried, cradling her, then peered at TickTock. "What's the robot doing with the wand?"

TickTock smiled, then raised the wand, pointing it at the King and Queen. When he used its magic, he could almost smell the sweet forest breeze of his home on the air. Oh god, it had been so long.

Thick rose vines burst forth from the rubble beneath the King and Queen, curling around their wrists, lifting them into the air, bringing them face-to-face with TickTock. "Your Highnesses," he said, "As I have told you countless times before. I. AM. NOT. A. ROBOT." With each word, the rose vines constricting around the King and Queen tightened, thorns digging into their skin. With a whirring of gears and a hiss of steam, TickTock's faceplate fell back, revealing the handsome, but sickly, face of the fae beneath it. "Do you recognize me, my Queen?"

Queen Butterfly winced, squinted down at the Guard Captain. "Prince M...M...Meghan?" she said, incredulously.

Maedoc stared at her, impassive. Finally, the faceplate clicked back into place, hiding his true form again. "It's okay, Queen Butterfly," he hissed, "Once I'm done here, there won't be anyone left to remember your name either. This world belongs to me and my people, now. You don't deserve it. You certainly don't deserve an all-powerful wand to go along with it."

"Who's that?" asked the King. The Queen responded with a groan and a roll of her eyes.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over them. Mr. Diaz was there, a towering darkness. The crowd of peasants and guards that had gathered around screamed and fled. "I'M GOING TO BE THE ONE TO KILL HER, ROBOT," he said, in a voice that seemed like it could turn bones to dust.

"Sir," said TickTock, not even bothering to brandish his wand, "Your son is not dead. He's safe and sound, and will be returned to you once I'm done here."

"Marco...he's alive?" And just like that, the shadows fled; Mr. Diaz was just a man again. The sky turned from pitch black to merely dusk, and the burning eye taking up most of the sky shrunk to a much more reasonable size. Mr. Diaz himself was battered and bruised, but otherwise not much worse for wear. "But...I thought you had executed him," he said, to the Queen.

"No," the Queen said, wincing as the vines holding her constricted ever tighter. "Though I should have, after you killed...my...." She trailed off, and then groaned again, glaring at TickTock. "My daughter was never dead, was she?"

"Oh no, she is," replied TickTock, relishing the fresh grief on her face. "I made sure she died screaming."

"MOM! DAD!" cried Star, having just arrived on the scene with Janna and Mrs. Diaz.

"Well that spoiled my fun," TickTock said, as Star jumped off her undead Unicorn and rushed forward to stand between him and her parents. Janna and Mrs. Diaz trotted their mounts over to stand by Mr. Diaz. The young princess glared up at him. So brave of her, he thought.

"Uncle TickTock, what are you doing?" she shouted, stamping her foot. She even had a warhammer in her hand, as if she planned on fighting him. He couldn't help but admire her.

"Well, Queen?" TickTock snapped, glancing over Star's shoulder. "Would you like to tell your daughter how you destroyed my world? Or should I?"

"You....what?" Star looked back at her mother. "Mom? What is he talking about?"

"You'll never get away with this, TickTock," snarled Queen Butterfly, ignoring the question. "My men-"

Captain TickTock roared with laughter. "Your men? You have none left. It's been quite a bloody battle. I bow to you, Sir, for your aid," he said, bowing to Mr. Diaz with a flourish, "And I apologize for the necessity of my deception in leading you to think your son was dead. Without you, I'd never be able to get proper justice."

Mr. Diaz glanced around nervously. "Listen...I don't know what's going on. Just...give me my son."

"Soon enough." Captain TickTock turned to the Queen again. "What few men there are left," he said, as he cast his hand across the small crowd that had been gathering around them again, "Belong to ME."

"Tha's right!" cried out one of the peasants, brave enough to speak up. "Long Live King TickTock! He's gonna help us build a better world!" Others, traitor guards and peasants, took up a tentative cheer.

"Mmm." TickTock gave an odd smile. With a flick of the wand, a small vine reached into the Queen's pockets, retrieving a pair of dimensional scissors, dragging them over so the robot could grasp them. "It's true, I will build a better world." And with a flourish, he opened two dimensional portals, on his left and his right. Marching out of them came rows and rows of steam-powered robots, very similar to himself, though much smaller and somewhat more crude-looking. Each carried a loaded crossbow, each had a sword at its side. "But I wouldn't be much of a monarch if I let a bunch of treasonous guards and peasants who deposed their own King and Queen live. No, I think the world will be better off without you."

The crowd screamed and began fleeing as the robot army marched forward, launching crossbow bolts. Screams of pain and terror filled the night.

Star grabbed onto TickTock's arm, pleading with him. "Uncle TickTock, STOP!" Tears were filling her eyes. "I...I don't know what my mom did, but we can fix it! It doesn't have to be like this, please stop killing people!"

TickTock gently shrugged Star's hands from his arm, casually opening a third portal behind him as he did so. "Princess," he said, "This world belongs to me now. But I am not without mercy. You - and your father, since he had no part in it - can go live with the Diaz's. But your mother will stay here to watch her people die, just as I had to watch mine die. And then she will face justice as well."

"NO!" screamed Star, struggling against his grip. "NO! I'm not going to let you kill my mom!"

"This is not a negotiation, Princess. This is what is happening."

Mrs. Diaz and Janna clung close to Mr.Diaz as they stared in horror at the slaughter taking place. Robots were cutting down battle-worn guards and peasants in the streets. Thick vines were erupting from the earth, tearing apart buildings, rapidly replacing the city with a tangled forest. "Maybe...uh...there could be some sort of trial?" called Mr. Diaz, unsure of what to do.

"No," said TickTock. "No trials. I hold all the power here."

Star set her feet apart in front of him, lifting the warhammer she had picked up. "If you won't stop," she sniffed, "Then I'm going to have to fight you."

TickTock sighed and tucked the dimensional scissors deep within his cloak, then pointed his wand at Star, preparing to disable her.

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Marco gasped, breath ragged, as he ran through the Mewnian castle. It was completely dark, and he tripped and fell over almost everything in his way. The only light there had been in the castle had been coming from the blue and green explosions in the sky, but even those had stopped now.

He reached back to feel at the wound on his shoulder, expecting to feel the cloak wet with blood. He was astonished to find that the cloak seemed dry, and what's more, clean, no dried blood at all. He tugged at the cloak, and it seemed almost stuck to his shoulder. And suddenly he was aware of a sucking sensation. The cloak was sucking the blood from the wound at his shoulder.

"Great," he grumbled to himself. "More blood magic. Thanks, crazy Warlock Dad. A cloak that sucks your blood, that's useful. Why couldn't it be something more pleasant?"

He stumbled through the castle, looking for an exit. Finally, he found one, a large front door that had been left open. He sprinted out into the streets. He had no idea what was happening, but he had to find his father. Maybe even the Queen, to tell her Star wasn't dead.

He sprinted through the streets as fast as he could, muscles burning, lungs burning, heading towards the flames. He figured that would probably be where the battle was, where his father would be.

Suddenly he heard the sound of a crowd screaming, and the ground beneath him erupted into thick, thorny vines. Roses bloomed and showered petals all around him. He leapt over the vines, dodging the thorns as best he could, vaguely aware of people running, screaming past him. He stumbled, fell into the street, and looked up -

And there, maybe forty feet away, was Star, facing down the robot, standing in front of three different dimensional portals, from two of which marched a steady stream of yet more robots. TickTock held the wand, pointing it straight at the Princess. Behind her, the King and Queen were held up, tangled in painful-looking thorn bushes. And there was his dad, off to the side, arms protectively shielding his mother and Janna from the chaos and the slaughter around him.

It was as if time slowed down. Marco watched in horror as the wand the robot held began to crackle with magic, while Star slowly began to swing a warhammer. TickTock's cold, impassive face betrayed no emotion. He was going to kill Star, and there was nothing Marco could do about it. He was too far away to get there in time -

And all of a sudden the cloak was carrying him, flinging him through the darkness on long dark legs that sprouted from the black lining, sending him hurtling toward the robot. Marco had time to be baffled before he crashed into TickTock.

"Marco?!" cried Star, as he slammed into TickTock, a split second before the robot could cast whatever spell he had planned. The cloak Marco was wearing was fluttering, dark claws reaching out from beneath it, scratching at TickTock. The robot was thrown off-balance, stumbled backwards....and fell into the dimensional portal behind him. With a yell, Star grabbed on to Marco, to try to yank him back, and instead found herself dragged into the dimensional portal as well.

Mr. Diaz, seeing his son disappear through the portal, lunged forward with a roar, flames slicing through the robots in his way, but before he could reach it, it disappeared.

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Star and Marco landed in a heap on a cold metal surface, the walls surrounding them full of rattling pipes and pounding pistons. Captain TickTock landed a few feet away.

The wand clattered to the floor between them. Star lunged for it. She saw TickTock's eyes widen with shock, saw his hand move so quick it was nothing but a blur, but by some miracle, she reached it first. In her hand, it transformed from TickTock's cold steel wand into her familiar form.

Captain TickTock gave a shrill, metallic roar, and the next thing she knew his sword was in his hand, raised high above his head, and reacting on pure instinct, she shot a blast of rainbow energy at his chest, sending him slamming through a wall, tearing apart a thick pipe. He disappeared in a cloud of steam.

She panted, dropping the wand. Then she heard Marco groan, and she ran to him, embracing him. "MARCO! I'm so glad you're okay, I thought you were dead, oh my god-"

Marco's hands cradled her face. "I thought YOU were dead! I-"

"Marco why-"

"Star-"

Their reunion was interrupted by a click-clacking sound - TickTock's metal feet on the floor around them - and a hearty chuckle. "Fond of each other, are we?"

Star raised her wand, and Marco took her back, but neither of them could see TickTock. He was either hidden in the steam, or somewhere in the labyrinth of machinery around them, the almost endless tangle of gears, pipes, pistons, grating, and vents hissing steam. "Where are we?" Marco said, confused, as they backed down a hallway, warily looking around them.

"This is my world. Or what's left of it." TickTock's voice almost seemed to be coming from above them. Star looked up, but all she could see was ticking gears. "This all used to be lush, beautiful forest. Until your mother ruined it, Star."

"Listen, TickTock...I don't know what my mother did, but I promise you I'll help you fix it. Please." Suddenly, there were tears in her eyes, and a knot in her throat. "I don't want to fight you."

"Then don't. Give me the wand."

"No! Just let me use the wand to HELP you."

"The only thing that would help," said TickTock, his voice now seeming to echo all around them, "Is if your family was relieved of that wand forever. Your mother destroyed the Tree of Life, the very thing holding my world together. To rejuvenate it, the wand is going to need to be completely drained. Its power is immense, but not infinite."

"There has to be another way to help you," said Marco. "Work with us, here."

"Even if there were," hissed TickTock, as the pipes around them rattled and shook, "I would never allow the Butterfly family to hold on to that wand. They are far too irresponsible to hold on to something that could destroy worlds. You should be THANKING me, boy. Does Star seem like she's responsible enough to hold on to that kind of power? What do you think the chances are that she'd eventually destroy YOUR world?"

Marco opened his mouth, then shut it, then opened it, then shut it again. Then he looked at Star sheepishly and shrugged. "Sorry, but you do seem....KINDA irresponsible?"

"Well, I'm not going to give you the wand," said Star, glaring at Marco.

"Then I'll just have to take it." It was almost as if TickTock was whispering right in her ear.

"Oh yeah? How?"

"Like this," and suddenly one of the pipes next to them burst, blinding them with steam, and then TickTock's lantern eyes were looming in the cloud, and Star felt Marco push her back with a shout, and there was the hum of metal swinging through air and slicing through flesh, and then something warm hit her face, oh god was it blood-

Star raised her wand and dispersed the steam with its brilliant light. When it was gone, TickTock was nowhere to be seen. But Marco lay on the ground, gasping, a deep gash in his chest bubbling out bright red blood, and his blood was everywhere, all over her. Star dropped to her knees with a sob.

"Now that is a nasty wound. Little bugger jumped right in front of me." TickTock's voice carried to her through the whirring gears and pistons. "I hope you bothered to study some healing spells, Princess. I've seen men die from wounds like that within seconds."

Marco was gasping for air, staring straight up at the ceiling, blood pouring out of him at an alarming rate. "Oh god, please don't die, please don't die, please don't die," Star whispered, as she cast the only healing spell she knew.

The light from her wand sank into the wound. When it faded, the gash was still there, but it wasn't nearly as deep, and it wasn't spurting blood. Marco stopped gasping for breath, and then looked at her and gave a wan smile. "Thanks, Star-"

She slapped him. "Don't thank me!" she was half-laughing, half-crying. "Don't get yourself killed, you idiot!"

She helped Marco to his feet. He was able to stand, but it was obvious his wound still hurt. He clutched at it with one hand, and could only walk slowly. Star held his hand as they continued walking forward, not wanting to leave him behind.

"You'd do anything for him, wouldn't you?" TickTock's voice wasn't mocking her, simply stating a fact.

"Star always has my back, and I always have hers," Marco said. "Why don't you show yourself?!"

"Because then I would lose," laughed TickTock, invisible, hidden among all the gears, steam and pistons of the walls. "On the other hand, if I do something like this - "

And then he leapt out of the wall next to Marco in a blur, slamming into him, grabbing him, ripping his hand from Star's. Star screamed in panic and blasted rainbow magic all around her, but she was too slow - TickTock had already grabbed Marco, screaming, into the labyrinth of pipes and gears that were the walls.

"Bring him back," cried Star, as Marco's shouts of panic echoed through the walls.

"Give me the wand," TickTock's voice came echoing back to her. "Or I'll cut your little friend's throat."

Star felt her heart drop into her stomach, then she took a deep, shuddering breath. "I...I don't believe you'd do that, Uncle TickTock."

"Oh no?"

And then Marco was screaming, screaming, and Star was screaming for it to stop, aiming her wand in random directions, blasting everything around her with rainbow magic, and each scream that Marco gave was a knife in her heart, and she was sobbing, begging for it to stop.

And then it did stop. "Your friend's face is going to have quite the nasty scar, now," came TickTock's voice, echoing down the walls. "That's okay, women love scars. Do you believe me now?"

Star wiped the tears from her eyes, clutching her head. She still couldn't get the sounds of Marco's screams out of her mind. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes, I'll give you the wand. Just please don't hurt him anymore."

"Good," said TickTock. "Walk forward. Through the door."

In front of Star was a large, thick steel door, made out of a series of humongous, intricately interlocked gears. As she approached, the gears whirred, the door disappearing with a smooth whispering sound.

The room beyond the door was a humongous, spherical chamber, at least five hundred feet tall, the walls lined with metal sheeting. The door led to a huge ledge that hung, suspended over the center of the sphere. At the end of this ledge stood Captain TickTock, cloak whipping around him in a stiff breeze, holding a limp Marco, whose face was covered with blood. Star gasped as she saw him.

As she approached, she noted that the entire chamber was lit with an unearthly purple glow. She peered over the edge. There, at the bottom of the sphere, bore into the earth, was a gigantic, squirming, purple...SOMETHING...with teeth, so many teeth, and so many bubbling, boiling eyes...

"Don't look too long, Princess," called TickTock. "It's been known to hypnotize people."

"What....what is this?" said Star, tearing her gaze away.

"This," said TickTock, "Is what your mother unleashed when she burned down our Tree of Life. This is what doomed our world. This is what I will banish when I revive our holy Tree. So my people can live again."

"But...what is it though?"

"Princess," Ticktock intoned darkly, "The dimensions hold more horror than you can possibly know. The wand."

Star stood, now, about ten feet from TickTock. She couldn't tear her eyes from Marco, the blood pouring from the gash on his face, the wound on his chest torn open from TickTock handling him roughly. "Is he okay?" she asked, and hated herself for whimpering.

TickTock gave her a sympathetic look. "He'll be fine with a little rest and medical care, Princess. Now, the wand."

"How do I know you won't just kill him as soon as I give you the wand?"

TickTock looked hurt. "You can trust me, Star."

"No," Star said, pointedly, "I can't."

TickTock sighed, then produced the dimensional scissors, opening a portal besides him. "Walk forward," he said, "Holding the wand out. Once it is in my hand, step through the portal, while holding on to your friend here. And...then..." a horrible, terrifying noise was roaring from the portal, a thousand laughing whispers, a gibbering, mewling scream. "Oh no," he whispered.

And then Ferguson, that now-familiar nightmare, burst forth through the portal, squeezing through, snapping teeth and lolling tongues, smoke and horror, squeezing, branching, surging, crashing into TickTock, who screamed, screamed, screamed as they both went careening over the edge, flying down, crashing down towards the purple insanity at the bottom of the chamber, at the humongous creature with the bubbling, boiling eyes.

Star leapt forward and grabbed Marco before he could go flying over the edge with them, tackling him to the ground. She watched in shock as Ferguson coursed endlessly over them, teeth snapping inches from their faces. She dragged Marco's body through the portal, which deposited them into a thicket of thorns. She glanced back at the shrinking portal behind her, only to see her window into TickTock's world disappear with a blast of purple flame.

Laughing, exhausted, still terrified, Star collapsed, crying and laughing at the same time, on top of Marco's prone form.