(6) Monsters

A peaceful mid-morning calm in the Diaz household was abruptly broken by a shrill cacophony as Marco Diaz's alarm clock buzzed to life, protesting the silence before its' owner's fist slammed down onto the snooze button and cut it short. The boy opened his eyes and groaned as he felt Star's head shift away from his chest slightly, the girl mumbling incoherently as she found consciousness. Her tail unwound itself from his left leg and sluggishly peeled off the blankets over them, and both of them shuddered as the warm surface left them, exposed to the stale air of the bedroom. Star finally opened her eyes and let out a low noise in her throat as she rose up off of Marco and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good morning," she softly spoke, smiling despite the rude awakening. Marco chuckled at the sight of her disheveled hair and reddened eyes and tousled her bedhead playfully, Star pouting in response and curling beside him, her back propped against the headboard.

"Your turn to make breakfast," Marco muttered out, grabbing the blanket back and pulling it over his lap. Star scoffed at his smug expression and got up from the bed, trying to get her hair into some kind of order as she headed for the shower. Marco laid back in bed, watching her go, eyes locked on the lavender silk of her nightgown as it swung around her knees.

Three and a half months. Three and a half months of questions and risks as an inter-dimensional lizard princess started crashing at his place, and shortly became, of all things, his girlfriend. Marco let himself slip into contemplation as he let the absurdity of his life sink into his mind, his front cortex throbbing as he delved through the myriad of experiences he'd shared with her. Eight weeks of having a bed partner for the first time in his life, garnished with countless moments of physical touch, long wandering conversations and silent, intimate time together.

'And only maybe three or so actual "dates," he mused. Hearing the bathroom door open down the hall, he threw off the covers and gathered up a fresh outfit for the day.

Star heard Marco close the bathroom door behind her as she stepped down into the kitchen, her hair pulled back in a messy bun as a plain black pair of shorts and a white tee loosely hung on her body. She pulled out a skillet from beneath the stove and set the burner on, grabbing a pack of eggs out of the fridge and waiting for the electric eye to heat up. Her mind began to wander, moving back to memories of the clothing booth in the mall from not more than a week prior. Crimson began to creep into her face as she remembered the feeling of his hands on her thighs, holding her up against the wall of the room as they let themselves sink into each other, feverishly clashing mouths together, her arms draped around his shoulders as she felt a foreign, almost painful need inside of her. She'd wanted to give herself in to that need, explore it as much as she could.

Star's borderline fantasy was broken by the sound of crackling oil in the skillet. She swore and swiped the pan from the burner, turning down the dial and sighing in relief whem she saw that the oil had not yet begun smoking. Placing the skillet back down, she hurriedly cracked two eggs on the side and started frying as she heard the shower above her turn off.

She was too busy to notice as a lone, purple heart rose to the surface of the skin of her neck.

---

Marco let himself savor the tang of egg and ketchup against his tongue as he greedily dove into his breakfast, the cavalcade of onion, beans and sauce blending with the soft saltiness of the eggs themselves. Star mimicked his actions near perfectly as she wolfed down her own bowl, with the mild difference of adding a dash of, surprisingly, peas to hers. The two stopped themselves to swallow and take a drink of the semi-flat cola Marco had found in the back of the fridge and looked to each other. They both giggled at the sight of ketchup and stray egg adorning the other's lips and cheek.

Marco grabbed a napkin from the holster and gently began wiping the residue from his face, before then turning it to Star's, who felt herself move almost instinctively into his hand as she felt it gliding across her cheek through the napkin. Star took the napkin from his hand and wiped a stray bit of onion from Marco's chin, her eyes staring into his as she let her fingers move subconsciously. The two scooted their chairs closer to each other, and Star giggled as she put her spoon back into her bowl.

"Aaah~," she moaned out, her mouth open in expectation. Marco took the hint and brought Star's spoon to her mouth, letting the girl close her lips just past the food. She blushed with half-lidded eyes up at Marco, who felt a bead of sweat roll down his neck at her expression. Taking the spoon out of her mouth and setting it down, she grabbed Marco's spoon out of his bowl and tapped it against his cheek, smearing egg against it. Marco opened his mouth to protest, but no words came forth as Star leaned into his face and let her long tongue come out, traversing the few inches between them and lapping the mess softly from his cheek. Marco managed to let out a stutter before Star closed her lips against his, her tongue gently caressing his as he felt her throw her arms around him. Both their breaths stunk of onion and egg, but neither cared as they slipped into an increasingly familiar intimacy, their eyes closed, taking in the other with the rest of their senses, as soft moans and the scent of their shampoos mixed into a heady fog that transfixed them.
Marco pulled away for air, his gasp in time with Star's as they opened their eyes again, Marco's vision filled with a panting, blushing Star, her tongue hanging out on her chin.

That's when he noticed the hearts on her forehead.

"Uh, Star?" he said as he pointed. "What are those?"

Star eyes him quizzically as she reached up and peeled one of the hearts off, the tough, slightly flexible fiber twisting around her fingers. Her eyes went wide as she looked down and saw several dozen others around her feet, a few dropping off of her legs even as she let out a sharp exhale.

"Marco, I need to go get Glossaryck. He knows what to do with Mewberty," Star spat out, getting up from the table and briskly walking towards the stairwell, hearts rapidly forming and popping off of her skin as she moved. Marco ran behind her, grabbing her by the arm as she took her first few steps up the stairs.

"Wait a minute, what's Mewberty?" he asked, a horrible gut feeling emerging within him as he spoke.

He never received an answer as Star grunted loudly before falling to her knees, the hearts now cascading from her by the dozens. Marco felt himself being pushed back as they built around her, a mound of the pieces forming around her, growing at a rate of inches.

"Star?" he echoed, the cold coil of dread in his stomach winding ever tighter as the pile eclipsed him in height. He pushed apart a bit of the cluster and saw Star's face through it.

"Marco, run!"

Only those two words managed to escape the cocoon of hearts before Marco was blasted back with a scream as the hearts wrapped around her, glowing with a harsh intensity as a humming drone came forth from inside. He scrambled to his feet, frantically running up the stairs towards his room as an intense heat pressed against his back, the air around him becoming suffused with the smell of sulfur. He burst into his room as he heard a low bellow echo up the stairway behind him, the blood in his veins freezing in fear at the vibration he felt under his feet.

'Come on, where did she put the book now?' he thought as he combed over his dresser and desk briskly, searching for the arcane tome. Finding no trace, he moved back to his door to check Star's room.

He was almost blindsided as his door was sent flying off of its hinges, crashing behind him violently as he barely sidestepped out of the way. Before him stood a six-armed, reptilian beast clad in a stretched-out tee and shorts, its hair shocked up into two drill-esque buns behind it.

"S-Star?" Marco sputtered out past his heartbeat spiking. The creature let out another roar unlike the one he had heard previously, with a noticeably more feminine pitch, and lunged at him. Marco ducked out of the way and let what he now had to accept was Star crash into his bed, the mattress groaning in protest at the sudden weight. Marco threw himself forward, sprinting down the hall towards Star's room, only to be stopped by a cascading torrent of hearts that flew past him, sticking to the walls around the door in a thick coating. Marco turned around to see Star glaring down the hallway at him, blank white eyes transfixed as more hearts leaked from her open mouth, her fangs sharp and imposing.

"Booooooooy," she crooned out, her low voice carrying hints of the original as Marco felt a horrid chill fire across his spine. He barely jumped out of they way as a second blast of hearts rocketed down the hallway, splattering against the floor in a sticky mound. He got up from the floor just in time to meet Star's shoulder as it collided with him and sent him flying back into the wall. The beast's face was mere inches away from his, the smell of egg and ozone wafting from her mouth. Marco reached up with both hands and jammed his thumbs against her eyelids, eliciting a shriek from Star as she reared up, two of her arms covering her face. Marco slid out from underneath her and shot down the staircase, sweating in terror as he heard another bellow above him. Horror struck him as he saw the entirety of the living room had been coated in the same heart substance Star had fired at him, with only the open doorways to the bathroom, kitchen and home office left as routes.

A blast of hearts struck him square in the back in the second he took to ponder his routes, throwing him to the floor. He pried himself from the mild adhesive of the bed of purple and clawed into the kitchen as Star's lumbering form threw itself down the stairway, knocking down family photos and leaving dents in the drywall. He grabbed the cast-iron skillet she had made their breakfast in off the stove and turned to face Star, his exit to the garage blocked off. The girl rushed at him, moving from two feet to her legs and four of her arms, scuttling across the floor. Marco raised and lowered his foot just in time to stomp on her head as it came within biting distance, pinning her to the floor. He swung the pan down into her wings and was promptly thrown into the air in response as Star screamed and bucked underneath him, removing his feet from the floor. No sooner than he had landed on his back did he groan in pain as he felt two of Star's left arms slam into his chest and seal him against her coating of hearts. Star quickly put herself over the boy, staring with hollow whites into his eyes with predatory intent. Marco brought the pan up again and smashed it against the side of her head, gasping for breath as her arms left his torso.

His reprieve was short, as Star lashed back and bit deeply into his upper left arm, Marco screaming with every ounce of air in him as he felt and heard something in his arm break under the enormous pressure. He fell back to the ground, tears of pain leaking freely as Star let forth a flurry of hearts from her maw, sealing his lower half against the floor. A second and third shorter blast found his forearms bound as well. Marco could only scream again as her fangs buried themselves in his right shoulder, displacing bone with ease as they cleaved through his flesh. He felt liquid heat flow from both sides of him as Star hung over him, her outstretched tongue gliding menacingly along his cheek.

"Miiiiiinnneee," she hissed, her mouth taking on a warped, almost perverted mockery of the smile he had come to enjoy seeing so much. Marco's vision was dark, as he felt his own breathing slow as his blood kept seeping forth, the ground around him a deep red. Star's hand closed itself around his throat, and he felt the last tether of consciousness leave him, his last thoughts filled with fear as a monstrosity held his life in her hands.

---

Above the fracas in the kitchen, a disgruntled Glossaryck rose out of the spellbook that lay tucked into Star's schoolbag, rubbing the crust out of his eyes and looking around the room.

"What's all the noise?" he muttered, phasing through the door of her room into the hallway, slumped over in lethargy as he floated. His grogginess left him in a flash as his eyes widened, taking in the sight of the coating of purple hearts the hall was coated in. He heard a scream come from downstairs and felt the hair on his neck stand up straight.

"Oh no," he spoke faintly. He blasted down the stairwell, his dread mounting as he saw the damage the walls had suffered, and forced himself to a hasty halt as he entered the kitchen and saw Star, her draconian form towering over Marco, who lay in a pool of his own blood, having freshly faded into unconsciousness. Slamming his hands together, Glossaryck became surrounded in white energy as his eyes rolled back into his head, ancient words of power flowing from his lips as he unleashed a powerful magical tendril that seized Star by the head, the girl roaring in protest before her face softened, her cry of rage giving way to a soft whimper as she crumpled to the ground, with only a faint sound of breathing remaining as she lay asleep by his magic. A pink hand came forth from the gem on his forehead, alighting upon Marco's broken body and tracing a pattern in the shape of the grievous bite Star had given him. What was once freshly bleeding tissue was closed up in the wake of the hands'a trails, faint scars remaining upon the skin. Sweat poured down Glossaryck's face as he shifted the hand's focus to be boy's arm, the digits wrapping around and sinking ethereally into the muscle, taking ahold of snapped bone and ligament and bonding them back into their natural state.

Finished, the pixie dropped onto the table, procuring a small handkerchief from his robes and wiping the sweat from his forehead as he observed the sticky coating of hearts around both the kitchen and the rest of the house.

"Great, leave the mess to me. Not like she couldn't warned me or anything," he grumbled, flying into the bathroom and grabbing the electric trimmer from the vanity. A few quick words and waves of his finger was all he needed as magic filled the trimmer, its motorized blade springing to life with an alien intensity. Glossaryck's ethereal hand took ahold of the razor and began guiding it along the walls, the hearts vaporizing under the magical touch of the device. He sighed.

"Looks like I'm gonna be here awhile."

---

Glossaryck put down the trimmer with a sigh of exhaustion as he surveyed his handiwork. With the exception of the pile surrounding Marco himself, he'd managed to remove all of Star's residue from the house and repair any structural damage. The boy lay there not two meters from Star, his weak breath coming forth in wheezes as his body struggled with its anemic state. Glossaryck pondered to himself as he observed the two. He had no idea how receptive humans were to magical blood, and didn't want to take the risk.

He was broken from weighing his options as a light began emanating from Star's body, the girl becoming engulfed in radiant energy. He let out a breath of relief as the light faded after a minute, revealing the girl in her normal state, her stretched clothes loosely covering her, drenched in blood. She stirred, a pounding sensation at the front of her mind as she set herself up, her back propped against the kitchen wall. Her eyes opened, red and bloodshot as they looked around. Glossaryck flung himself in front of her vision, a Chesire smile on his face.

"Oh hey, Star! Have a good nap?" he spat out, a bead of sweat running down his neck.

Star blinked and stood up, the pixie shooting up alongside as she stretched herself. "What's with you, Glossaryck?" she muttered, scratching her head.

"Oh, nothing much!" he replied, doing his best to block her view of Marco. Star pouted and raised an eye, crossing her arms in suspicion.

It was then that she felt the crust of dried blood coating her shirt. She looked down in panic and screamed as she took in the sight of her covered in blood, the susbstance soaked into her clothing and sticking to her arms. Glossaryck attempted to calm the girl down, but got nowhere as Star began rubbing her arms, flaking the blood off, her eyes alight with fear as a single, burning question came forth.

"W-Where's Marco?" she said, tears beginning to well up in the corners of her eyes. Glossaryck sighed, a pained expression on his face as he knew he couldn't lie to her. He descended from her sight, and winced as he heard her gasp.

Star felt the coil of dread in her heart snap as she saw Marco lying in a pile of hearts, his clothes and neck coated in blood as he weakly pulled for air, his pale face gaunt and haunting. She fell to her knees, her tears silently rolling down her cheeks as she clawed at the hearts holding him down, freeing his waist and legs. She saw the scar on his shoulder and swallowed, the truth she had hoped didn't exist crashing through her consciousness, blotting out all other thought.

"Glossaryck... I did this, didn't I?" she spoke, her voice heavy and choked with grief as her tears came faster.

Glossaryck turned his eyes downward.

"I went through Mewberty and hurt him, didn't I?"

The pixie's silence told her everything as she broke down and ran, her cries echoing farther and farther as she ran for her room, her mind a horrid chorus of doubt and hatred as she slammed the door behind her. Every bit of her trembled as she collapsed onto her bed, staring down at the floor through her tears as she heaved and convulsed, emotion pouring forth freely. Glossaryck sighed and levitated Marco out of the pile of hearts, removing his bloodied shirt and laying him down on the living room couch. He looked to the stairwell, his head heavy in thought.

'Give her time,' he pondered to himself. 'They've both been shaken by this.'

---

The soft brown of the living room coffee table was the first thing to greet Marco as his eyes opened. The boy moved only slightly before grimacing as a persistent pain shot through his shoulder, clutching it with his arm as he forced himself upright. Taking a moment to survey his surroundings, the boy found himself shirtless, his torso being covered by a thin blanket. Glossaryck hovered into the room, telekinetically carrying a glass of orange juice.

"Before you say anything, you might want to drink up," the pixie said. Marco opened his mouth and found him to be right, as a dry, burning thirst raked at his throat. He greedily took the glass in his hands and drank, pouring the juice into himself with a fervor. After only mere seconds, Marco sat the empty glass down on the table, exhaling as he felt the liquid moving down his throat.

"What happened?" Marco finally spoke. "Where's Star?"

"She's in her room," Glossaryck replied. "More importantly, how are you? Even after the magic I used, you still looked pretty rough, kid. You've been on that couch for a few hours now."

"...Sore," Marco said after a pause, trying to collect his thoughts. "I remember fighting something that looked a lot like Star, and then... nothing." It was a blatant lie, both to himself and Glossaryck, as the burning vision of Star's blank eyes stood fresh in his mind, his arm hair stiff in fear even now. He didn't want to admit to himself that it really was his girlfriend who had attacked him.

Glossaryck sighed. "Kid, what you saw WAS Star. Just not the Star you or I know." Marco's eyes alighted as Glossaryck continued. "What happened was essentially the Mewnian version of puberty. Star became something else as she underwent a change in her physiology."

"Sooo... why did she attack me?" Marco said, one brow raised quizzically. She'd never told him about any transformations before.

"Mewnian women who are in that state seek out a mate, by force if necessary. Star was compulsively driven to try and claim you, and considering the nasty bruise on her head, it looks like she struck you in response to pain," Glossaryck stated. "But don't think that anything done in that state is driven by thought," he added, noting Marco's soured expression. "Every Mewnian who goes through that is essentially an animal until it fades."

"So, is she back to normal now?" Marco asked.

"Yes. The actual state only lasts about 20 minutes or so. She's been her normal self since I found you two," Glossaryck said. "She was really torn up about the whole thing when she came to, ran upstairs crying and sealed off the door with her wand." Marco turned his head towards the staircase, his eyes trailing up the wooden flats in curiosity. With a burst of effort, he stood up from the couch, leaning over and plastering his hands against the table for support as his vision swam, dots of shifting color speckling in front of him as blood displaced itself within him for a moment. Glossaryck followed closely as Marco took tentative steps up the stairs. His pace slowed as the horrid memory of Star's fangs breaking him flashed through his head again, phantom pains echoing throughout his upper body. He shuddered to himself and pressed on.

"Regardless of what she was, she's normal now, and she's alone. I can't be the only one who's shaken after this," he said. Glossaryck nodded silently behind him. Reaching the top of the stairs, Marco looked behind him to see Glossaryck no longer trailing him. He snapped his head back to the side as he heard the faint humming of the pixie's gem as he reached out with an ethereal hand, removing a thin barrier of magic from the door to Star's room.

"Door's open. You sure about this, kid? You seem awfully eager despite being mauled by her," Glossaryck said as Marco approached.

"No, I'm not. But..."

Marco swallowed what felt like a lead bearing of dread in his throat.

"...But I'm her friend. If you're right, I should be fine. But Star's hurting right now, and I can't just sit by, even if I'm afraid." He took ahold of the doorknob and gently turned until he no longer felt resistance. The hallway's light eagerly rushed into the room, and Marco gasped.

Star lay huddled in a ball on her bed, quaking to herself as her room lay trashed, chairs knocked over and shards of glass from her busted vanity mirror littering the floor, the room completely devoid of any light apart from the hall. She was still clad in the shirt and shorts from that morning, his blood soaking the both of them thoroughly. Star turned herself over to face him and immediately recoiled, her body winding tighter as she tried to make herself as small as possible.

"No!" she cried, "Get away from me!"

Marco stepped into the room, tiptoeing around the glass as he approached Star's bed. He reached one hand out tentatively and gently touched the girl on the shoulder, his eyes filled with worry as she turned her face up to meet him. Her eyes were sunken, almost hollow, the streaks of tears on her cheeks shining in the sliver of light, her hair behind her a tangled, wiry mess. Something in Marco's chest ached as she said nothing, the only sound being a fresh, wheezing sob as she let her head slump, tears appearing again. He sat down on the bed beside her, gazing at her as she held herself and shuddered.

"Star, please... look at me," Marco began. "It's okay. Glossaryck fixed me up. Everything is fine."

Star looked up at him, her lower lip shaking as she forced herself to respond.

"No Marco, it's not," she replied, her voice dry and crackling. "I'm a monster. Look at what I did to you, what could've happened. What I...I..."

Marco leaned in and wrapped his arms around her relaxed form as she relented and buried her head in his shoulder, muffling her sobs as she embraced him and let herself go again, Marco grimacing as he felt wetness slip down against his chest. He held her softly, gently rubbing her back as she trembled against him. He let her stay there for several minutes, until she finally pulled away, looking at him with bloodshot eyes.

"Star, don't beat yourself up over this. It's just something we couldn't help," Marco softly said.

"Don't say that. Don't act like we can just ignore this," Star replied, her eyes fogged with a fear that pained Marco to see. "What if this happens again? What if there's nobody to save us next time?"

Marco's eyes widened as Star brought up her hands before his face, and he saw the ends of her fingers adorned with sharp claws, the underside of the nails dark red with dried blood.

"These claws, these wings..." Star began, turning her back to let Marco see that she had indeed sprouted two small, leathery wings on her back. "They're the mark of a monster, of something that can only hurt and destroy. Just like what happened this morning."

"Star," Marco began, "I don't care what you look like. I'm with you because I want to be, because you're the kind of positive person I want in my life." A red flash of fear flittered through his mind as he took her hands in his, feeling the soft points of pressure against his palms where her claws came into contact. "You don't have to worry about these claws, or wings, or tail, or anything else. We can prepare for this if it ever happens again, so let it go. I don't want you to hate yourself over what could happen." Star's eyes finally met his again as she faced him once more, her cheeks red.

"It's not just that," Star replied with a choked voice. "I just..."

She took a moment to collect herself.

"When I woke up, I saw you covered in blood on the floor, and I had no idea if you were even alive. All I thought about was what that meant, all of the things that I rely on you for, all the times you've been there to listen, or talk, or just hold me and let me enjoy being with you. It made me think, and..."

Star trailed off as she took Marco's hands in both of hers. "It made me realize what I feel. And I'm not denying it to myself any longer."

She leaned inwards, and Marco felt the red flash in his head again, instinct screaming for him to run.

"I love you, Marco."

She kissed him then, her tears finally drying up as she reached up and took him in her arms again, blushing as she felt his own encircle her, his mouth pressing back softly. The flash turned into a siren in Marco's mind, the boy shaking slightly as he forced it to the back of his mind. The two parted for a brief moment as they took breath and then met again, tongue and lip greeting each other timidly. Star held herself there for as long as she could before breaking away, gasping for air. Marco looked at her, his face bright red as his hand grasped hers tighter. Thoughts and responses flew through his mind, emotion stirring his consciousness into a mess as Star gazed back, an expression of fear and uncertainty on her tired face.

"...I love you too, Star," he finally spoke after a seemingly eternal second.

'I don't know how else to say it, I guess,' he thought. She'd become more important to him than any other person in his life in the passing months. He'd been with her since she came here, and couldn't really remember life before she crashed into his room through that portal. He didn't care about what his gut told him to do anymore.

"I'm so sorry that it took me almost losing you to say it," Star said, her smile finally beginning to return to her face. "I guess I really am bad at this relationship, aren't I?" Marco scoffed and patted her on the shoulder with a smile, matching hers as they looked at each other. He stood up from the bed.

"Let's get you out of those old clothes," he said softly. Star nodded silently and stood, letting her shorts fall to the floor as she threw her shirt off of her, black underwear adorning her frame. She cared little for modesty at this point a she grabbed the nightgown she'd worn the night before and slipped it over her slender form. She flopped back down onto the bed no sooner than the fabric had hung itself around her, pulling Marco with her, the boy yelping slightly in surprise.

"I know I'm being terrible, but.. will you stay with me? Just for a bit?" she said, looking into his eyes. Marco smiled and nodded, pecking her on the nose. He was quite tired himself, despite his crash on the couch.

"I don't deserve you," she said softly as she burrowed into him, her tail wrapping around his leg as her head found purchase under his chin. Marco squeezed her softly in response. He let himself lie still, her presence pushing out the horrible memories of the morning. They were both so very tired, and sought each other's touch, nestling closer still as they slipped into slumber. From outside, Glossaryck chuckled to himself as he gently closed the door. He had much to discuss with Moon about her daughter's transformation and what it could mean, but it could wait. Right now, he was content to let them sleep, even as the sun still shone outside.