The Devil's Toys - Chapter I: The Devil You Know

The Devil's Toys
Chapter I: The Devil You Know

Gone.

Star was gone. Her room was gone. Every last trace of her was gone. The only thing that remained of her was a hole in Marco's roof, and in his heart. He had shut himself in the dark, in the room that she had once made her own. As Marco sat in utter silence, he could hardly form coherent thoughts over the storm raging inside him.

Marco heard a knock at the door, a soft female voice coming from the other side. "Marco?" Jackie didn't bother to wait for a reply. The door slowly swung open with a creak as she poked her head in, peering into the room. "Do you need some more time?"

Marco didn't even have it in him to look up at her. He just shook his head, scooting over on the bed to make room for Jackie before returning to staring at the ground. He had no idea how long had passed since he'd taken shelter in the room. It could have been minutes or hours. Still, despite his battered mental state, he didn't feel like he could turn Jackie away.

Jackie open the door further and stepped in, closing it quietly behind her. She took a seat next to Marco on the bed, looking him over. As bad as he looked, she knew he must have felt far worse. Jackie carefully wrapped an arm around Marco, nuzzling into him. It was a token gesture, but she wasn't sure what more she could do under the circumstances. While she knew Marco had the worst of it, Jackie understood something of how he felt. Though she would miss Star too, she was still furious for what her friend had done to her, and to Marco. Jackie knew that Star had played a part in getting Marco together with her, so why all this? Why now? And why leave like this? Jackie wanted those answers, but more than anything else, she wanted to be there for Marco. "You've kinda been up here a while. Your parents sent everybody else home. They thought you might want to be alone after... after what happened."

Marco had no idea what he wanted. He wanted Star back, he knew that much. But after everything that had been said, he knew things could never go back to the way they used to be. "Jackie, about what Star said... I mean, about me-"

Jackie reached a hand up to Marco's head, stroking her fingers gently through his hair. "Shhhhhhh..." She didn't want that answer yet. A part of her was terrified of what it might be. Jackie didn't think she could handle getting so close to Marco in such a short time, only to have him ripped away from her by the one who helped bring them together in the first place.

The two sat in deep silence for what felt like an eternity, barely able to hear the sounds of their own breathing as they fought to keep their heads above the emotional flood waters, neither daring to speak their mind.

Suddenly, a glow appeared in the middle of the room. Marco knew the sight and sound immediately, jumping to his feet as a pair of scissors tore a rift between dimensions and into his house. He hoped against hope as he began to approach the portal, Jackie following close behind. "Star?" Instead, a small green figure stepped through, clothed only in what appeared to be a bag of corn chips. "Wha... Ludo?"

"Guess again." The voice that came from Ludo's beak was not his own. As his eyes opened, they swirled with a dark eldritch energy, one that Marco found disturbingly familiar.

"TOFFEE!?" Marco staggered back, nearly tumbling into Jackie behind him.

The portal sealed itself behind the Ludo puppet, strings pulled by Toffee, speaking in the voice of The Lizard. "Well, third time's the charm. I was afraid you wouldn't recognize me after my makeover."

Marco put a protective arm out in front of Jackie, stepping between her and Toffee. "Jackie, stay behind me." Marco wasn't sure if this was a fight he could win, but if it came down to it, he thought he could at least buy her enough time to escape with his parents.

Toffee raised Ludo's hand, waving it dismissively at Marco. "Relax... I'm not here to fight." Toffee leaned Ludo's head around to get a better look at Jackie, regarding her with a vague familiarity. "I see you have company. I'd offer to come back another time, but I'm afraid time isn't something we have."

Jackie examined the strange creature curiously. She remembered the name Ludo from the night she and Marco had their first date, and the strange events that followed. "Marco, isn't that the guy who attacked us in a graveyard?" She knew he looked familiar, yet different from how he was that night...

"Jackie, was it? No, I'm afraid you're thinking of Ludo, and Ludo's not here right now." Ludo's body took a polite bow and smiled at Jackie. "Toffee. Just Toffee. Pleasure to meet you. I'd shake hands, but I think Marco would try to break mine."

"Well, you kidnapped me and broke Star's wand, so that still wouldn't make us even." He was sure that whatever the reason Star left, it had something to do with Toffee. Marco started to approach Ludo's form and took a combat stance, attempting to intimidate the small figure. Maybe Toffee didn't want a fight, but Marco suddenly found himself rather in the mood for one. "What did you do to Star?"

Ludo's face looked genuinely surprised as it looked back up at Marco. "Me? Why? What did she say?"

The realization hit Marco like lightning out of a clear blue sky. He had been so distracted by Star's confession and departure, he hadn't even noticed that she never offered any kind of explanation as to why she was leaving. When Toffee showed up, Marco assumed he must be responsible. Now though, he had to admit, he didn't actually know that for sure. He backed away from Toffee, the fire gone from his voice, replaced with a deep sadness. "Nothing. She... she just left."

Toffee paused momentarily, seemingly taken aback by Marco's claim as he stroked Ludo's beard. "Did she? Probably trying to stop you from running to your death alongside her. Pushing you away to spare you from what's coming."

Marco could swear he heard a tinge of fear in Toffee's voice. "What are you talking about? What's coming? If you didn't do anything... then why did she leave?"

"Do you know how I got into this body?" Marco opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by Toffee. "Rhetorical. You know how, and that's the reason you haven't asked. You've felt her touch."

Her. If Marco hadn't already been sure of what he had sensed from Toffee, he was now. There was no question in his mind who he meant. "So what?"

Toffee turned his back and walked away from Marco, clasping Ludo's together hands in front of him, waiting for a few seconds before giving a response. "So she's coming back."

Marco tilted his head skeptically, not sure what to make of Toffee's strange claim. "What do you mean 'coming back'? Hasn't she been dead since... forever ago?"

Toffee turned Ludo back toward Marco, approaching him slowly as he spoke. "You want to know what really happened to Star? Haven't you noticed how magic has been on the fritz lately? Maybe Star's wand has been unstable? SHE is the reason. Centuries ago, she was locked in a stasis crystal by Rhombulus and the rest of the Magical High Commission. Somehow, from inside her prison, she's been breaking down the power of magic itself. I can only assume the Commission is busy trying to stop her, but the fritz is getting worse. The seal is nearly gone. Eclipsa, Queen of Darkness, is about to be free."

Eclipsa. If it was true, Marco knew it would definitely be reason enough for Star to leave. Now that he thought of it, he had noticed Star's magic behaving more strangely than usual in recent weeks. He had a thousand questions, but one thing in particular about Toffee's story was nagging in the back of his mind. "So what do you care?"

Toffee gave Marco a low, frustrated growl from Ludo's throat. "Do I have to spell it out for you? If Eclipsa returns, she'll usher in an age of strife that will make the Great Monster Massacre look like a Sunday picnic. Mewmans and so-called monsters alike will be ground to dust under her heel."

Marco narrowed his eyes, still unconvinced. He had no doubt about the danger Eclipsa would pose, but what did that have to do with Toffee, and why did Toffee want to involve him? "So, in your noble quest to save Mewni from the rise of evil, you thought of me, your best friend in the whole universe."

"And I'm starting to question that decision. But the fact is, you and I can help each other. I know how to find Moon, and I have business with her. The way I see it, when Eclipsa finishes with the Mewmans, my people will be next. Her alleged monster love isn't all it's cracked up to be. So as nauseating as it is for me to consider working with the Butterflies..." Ludo's body gave a disgusted shudder. "...we're in this together now. This is about to become a battle for survival."

Marco didn't believe that Toffee would even get out of bed to help anyone else. He knew he had to be up to something. "Uh-huh. I'm supposed to believe you're doing this because you're just such a nice guy? You'd never look out for any monster besides yourself. What's in it for you?"

Ludo's face glared back at Marco, looking almost offended, until Toffee gave a heavy sigh. "If you must know... I do have a personal stake in finding Moon. She has something of mine." Toffee raised Ludo's right hand, making a fist except for extending a single, empty stump. "Think of it as... a finder's fee. You could say I used to be rather attached to it. More importantly, I can use it to regenerate and have my own body back. If you want something in return for it, you can have this." Toffee turned the hand around, palm outward, showing Marco the broken, corrupted half of Star's wand.

Marco's eyes went wide with shock, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. He had seen Ludo with the other half of Star's wand, but it hadn't been grafted to his hand like that. "How... why do you have that?"

Toffee turned the wand back around toward himself, staring at it along with his stump of a finger. "It came as part of the package. But the wand itself means nothing to me. Unfortunately, when it was cleaved... I drew the short straw. All I'm asking for is my finger from the other half." He looked up at Marco, forcing Ludo's face into a neutral expression. "A small price to pay, don't you think?"

Marco couldn't help but think there was more significance to Toffee's finger than he was letting on. He had watched Toffee regenerate a missing arm even without it. Star had told him of how she found it locked inside her wand, hidden away from prying eyes. If it wasn't important, he thought, why would Moon work so hard to protect it? Still... to have Star's wand back together. Whatever power the finger held, Marco didn't think it could be more dangerous than leaving Toffee with half of Star's magic. He briefly considered trying to fight Toffee for the wand, but even if he won... what then? Marco had no way to get it out of his hand, or any idea how to use it. To his great concern, Toffee's offer was starting to look increasingly attractive. "So I help you find Moon, you give us the other half of the wand, and we give you the finger."

Toffe raised Ludo's eyebrow, suppressing a smile. "Clever. Learned a thing or two from Glossaryck after all?"

Marco wasn't sure how Toffee knew about Glossaryck, though somehow he wasn't suprised about it. He still trusted Glossaryck more than Toffee, but not by much. At least until today he had known which side Toffee was on, but Glossaryck? "Speaking of which..."

Toffee shrugged Ludo's shoulders. "I have no idea where the old man is, or the book for that matter. I've been trapped inside the wand since the explosion, half comatose, watching the Beaked Wonder here trying to bumble his way to power. But I had nothing to do with that. I only caught break and took control when Eclipsa's power left him vulnerable. Somehow he found a way into her chapter, and Glossaryck took the book from him and left before he could cause any more damage."

Marco remembered Star telling him that Glossaryck had forbidden her to read Eclipsa's chapter, but he couldn't remember any time her teacher had physically taken the entire book away. "Huh... can Glossaryck do that?"

Toffee rolled Ludo's eyes, then nodded. "Don't let his act fool you. He has far more freedom than he lets on. Glossaryck does nothing except by his own choice."

That was the first thing Toffee had said that Marco didn't have any trouble believing. Still, there was no doubt in his mind that Toffee had ulterior motives. On the other hand, if Eclipsa really was about to return... he was seriously starting to wonder which was the lesser evil. He couldn't believe he was actually considering it, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to at least get to the bottom of what Toffee was asking for. "If I help you... what then? You help us fight Eclipsa?"

Toffee paused, seemingly considering the question before nodding Ludo's head. "That's the plan. Well, depending how things play out. Moon and I aren't exactly on speaking terms, you know."

Marco snorted derisively at Toffee. "Yeah, well, you and I aren't exactly on speaking terms either."

"And yet here we are." Ludo's face formed into an unnerving smile. "Because deep down, in your heart of hearts, you know that Eclipsa is the one being in Mewni more dangerous than I am, and you can't do this on your own."

Marco hated to admit it, but he couldn't argue with Toffee on either point. Still, one question loomed large over the converstion, holding him back from an alliance. "And just how do I know I can trust you? I smell a rat."

Toffee lifted Ludo's arm up to his face, sniffing it and recoiling in disgust. "Ugh, yes... sorry about that. Haven't been able to wash the stench of Ludo's minions off."

Marco shook his head in disbelief. "You know what I-"

"Of course I do. So turn me away then. Risk letting an entire kingdom, an entire world fall because you're too stubborn and paranoid to accept help." Toffee paused, letting the thought sink in before he continued. "Not to mention what Eclipsa would do to the current rulers of Mewni... including Star."

Star. That word got Marco's attention. It wasn't that he didn't care about the fate of Mewni, but like Toffee had said... Marco too had a personal stake. If there was even a chance Toffee could really help him find Star, he thought, did anything else matter? Marco didn't think he could go back to the way things were before Star entered his life. If it meant having her back, whatever else happened to him was a small price to pay.

Toffee finally spoke again, breaking Marco out of his thoughts. "So what's it going to be, Human? Will you accept the reptile's gift? Or will you take your chances with the fallen angel?"

Marco blinked in surprise. The way he'd heard it, there wasn't much difference between the two. "How do you know about... any of this?"

Toffee chuckled, looking rather proud of himself. "Well, I am a knowledgeable lizard."

It wasn't really an explanation, but Marco was willing to give him that one. Every time he had met Toffee, he had been surprised by the breadth of his knowledge. He figured Toffee must have his sources. Marco still had so many unanswered questions, but he knew it was coming time to make a decision. The only things he knew without a doubt were that Star was in trouble, and that Toffee himself had returned. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that the best use of his time might be to keep an eye on him, even if this was a trick. He wasn't sure that he could keep Toffee in line, much less Eclipsa, but at least he'd fought Toffee before. "Let's pretend I don't think you're going to stab me in the back the first time I turn it... what would I have to do?"

Toffee smiled wide, apparently pleased with Marco's new choice of topic. "Ahh, finally. The question I've been waiting for. First-"

"Marco." Jackie spoke up for the first time after several minutes of quiet observation. She found herself having a hard time keeping up with the exchange. Since her first date with Marco, he had told her a great deal about his involvement with Star's magical adventures, but this was moving too fast for her to follow. Jackie knew she'd never heard about Marco being kidnapped or most of the other things they mentioned. It was obvious to her that Marco didn't trust Toffee, and from her first impression, she definitely agreed. "Forget this... weird body snatcher whatever guy. Aren't you getting some seriously bad vibes from him?" She raised a hand to rest on Marco's shoulder. "Look, I know things are pretty weird with Star right now. For both of us. But if she's in trouble, we can't just leave her, right?"

Marco turned his body away from Toffee, facing Jackie directly with a look of slight surprise. "We?"

Jackie gave Marco a comforting smile. "I'm going with you. We can find her. Why do we need him anyway? What can he do that we can't?"

Marco hesitated for several seconds as he considered the offer. "Jackie, if even half of what Toffee just said is true... there's a chance I won't be coming back from this. I can't ask you to do that."

"Well you don't have to ask me! There's no way I'm letting you go get yourself killed without me!" Jackie laughed warmly as she reached down to take Marco's hands in her own. "Isn't that what it's all about? Always having each other's backs?"

Marco beamed at Jackie, dropping one hand to his side and lacing his fingers into hers with the other. He turned back toward Toffee, with a confident smile on his face and Jackie standing proudly beside him. It seemed crazy, he thought, but maybe she was right. Maybe they could do it. He would a thousand times rather have Jackie at his side than to have to watch for Toffee at his back. "You heard her, Toffee. I might need help, but I don't need YOUR help. Jackie and I are gonna find Star without you. Together."

Toffee paused for a moment, regarding Marco curiously, until Ludo's hands began a slow clap. "Bravo. Bravo! Very touching. And you know what Marco? I believe you."

Marco hesitated, raising an eyebrow, not sure if he'd heard right. "You... you do?"

Ludo's face formed into a sly grin. "I do. I believe that months from now, you'll stride across a smoldering battlefield, goal finally in reach... and find Star as a beaten and battered corpse, crumbling to dust, while Eclipsa's darkness continues to march across Mewni unhindered. Ah, but it would all be worth it just to show that mean old Toffee, wouldn't it?"

Marco had to fight back the urge to vomit at mental image. The thought of Star dying because of him was almost more than he could bear. "That's not-"

Toffee broke off the sentence. "Do you know where she's gone? Do you know how to find her? Do you even have a way to get there?"

Marco realized he had an answer to at least one of those questions, starting to perk up. "Funny you should ask..." He pulled his hands away from Jackie's, retrieving his dimensional scissors from the pocket of his hoodie, raising them toward the ceiling triumphantly. "Practically hot off the forge!"

Toffee eyed the scissors in surprise. "Hm. Let me see those." Marco jerked the scissors away from Ludo's form as it approached. "Oh please. I'm not interested in stealing them, I brought my own. I just want to look at something here." Toffee reached Ludo's hand out toward the scissors, tapping the blade to reveal letters in Hekapoo's strange, runic language. Ludo's face looked genuinely shocked as the markings formed and glowed with warm light. "They really are yours. Interesting. Very interesting. How long?"

Marco continued to be surprised just how much Toffee knew about various worlds. He wondered if the lizard had been through a similar trial. In any case, he understood the question. Marco eyed Jackie nervously, concerned what her reaction might be. He had never seen fit to tell her about his time in Hekapoo's dimension, thinking she might not understand his reasons, or the strange nature of his true age. "Does it matter?"

"Oh, I'm just curious if you made decent time. How long were you away from your friends? Your family? Did the experience leave a mark on you? Just how many years did you spend chasing these? 20? 30? More?" Toffee turned toward Jackie. "Did Marco even tell anyone he had left?"

Jackie looked from Toffee back to Marco, looking at him with concern. "What's he talking about, Marco?"

Toffee tilted Ludo's head in slight surprise. "You didn't? Well, I can't say I blame you. Not everyone would understand that you went away for... how long was it, Marco?"

Marco lowered his head, staring at the ground. He had hoped to never have to explain to Jackie how he got his scissors, but could think of no way out of the conversation. He wasn't willing to lie to her face, even about this. "Sixteen years."

Ludo's face looked mildly impressed. "Really, 16? Longer than you've been naturally alive, if I remember right. I have to admit, 16 years isn't bad... for a human."

Jackie leaned in toward Marco, a look of confusion plastered across her face. "Marco, what took you 16 years? That even doesn't make sense. You're not 16 yet, are you? Did you get held back a grade or something?"

Marco sighed softly, shaking his head. "Jackie, it's kind of a long story, but... you know those scissors Star uses to get between here and places like Mewni? I lost them, and I had to go get them replaced. I mean, I can barely remember most of it, I feel like I'm a kid again. But I spent 16 years in another dimension. Time is sort of different there, but... well..."

Jackie could hardly believe what she was hearing. She was willing to take Marco's word for it that he wasn't any older than she had thought, but learning how long he had gone away without telling her was a shock to her system. "Star... asked you to do that for her?"

"Yes Marco, did she ask you to spend more than a decade risking death and dismemberment, just to replace a pair of scissors you lost? Or did you do that all on your own? That's a long way to go for anyone." Toffee turned Ludo's back toward Marco, rotating his head just far enough to look at Marco out of the corner of his eye. "Even a lover."

Jackie gasped, drawing away from Marco. She had seen his shocked reaction to Star's confession, but she still had to wonder. Jackie knew the pair had been close, at times almost too close for comfort. If he had gone on an interdimensional adventure in secret for 16 years, she thought, what else might he not be telling her? "... lover?"

Marco felt a rush of dread as he watched Jackie pull back from him. "No, Jackie, it's not like that! Star and I aren't... we're not..." Marco could see the doubt in her eyes as they shimmered on the brink of tears. "Jackie, do you really think I feel that away about Star?"

Toffee turned back toward the pair, his gaze settling on Marco, raising one of Ludo's eyebrows incredulously. "Don't you though?"

Marco opened his mouth to respond, but then lowered his gaze in silence, not sure if he could honestly deny Toffee's accusation.

A wicked grin started to slowly stretch across Ludo's features. "Oh. Oh I see! You haven't even realized it yet, have you? Oh my, that is just PRECIOUS!"

Jackie was nearing her emotional limit. It wasn't what Toffee had said, it was Marco's reaction. She grabbed his shoulders, turning his body toward her. "Marco, look at me. Look me in the eyes!" She reached up, taking his face in her hands, forcing him to meet her gaze. "You and Star... are you really just friends?"

Marco swallowed hard as he thought about the question. He pulled away from Jackie, unable to meet her gaze, turning his back to her. He opened the blades of his dimensional scissors, finding his face in the bottom reflection, and Jackie's in the top. Marco let slip a single sob, choking out what he knew would be a death sentence for his budding relationship. "I... I don't know anymore..."

Jackie felt her heart drop into her stomach. She wanted to ask him to stop all this madness, to forget about Star, to stay with her in Echo Creek so she could have him to herself. But she knew she had already lost him, and anything she said now was too little, too late. "Goodbye Marco."

Jackie's reflection vanished from the mirrored surface of the blade as she backed away. Marco closed his scissors and slid them into his pocket, not even bothering to look up when he heard the door shut behind her.

Ludo's body approached Marco, looking up at him with a blank expression. "It seems you're running out of allies."

Marco collapsed back onto his bed, leaning over and burying his head in his hands, his voice barely a whipser as he spoke. "What do you want from me?"

Ludo's expression shifted to surprise, as though the answer should have been obvious. "Why... you, of course."

Marco wiped the tears from his eyes and looked down at Toffee with confusion, unsure what was being asked of him. "... me?"

Ludo's body backed up slightly, allowing Marco a bit more space. "What I need, Marco, is a new vessel. Ludo is... limited. You, on the other hand, are more suitable for my needs. Let me inhabit you until I get my finger back. Then I can regenerate my old body, and either Moon and I come to an agreement, or we part ways as enemies."

Marco rose to his feet and nodded, starting to put the pieces together. "So you'd do the same thing you did to take over Ludo."

"Something like that. You've already been touched by Eclipsa, so it shouldn't be difficult. Her power leaves a scar like nothing else. No... not a scar. A wound. It looks to me like yours has been closed. Glossaryck's work, I'm guessing." Toffee held out the wand hand, glowing with a sickly green light. "But it can be opened again, and things can enter through that wound."

Marco finally understood why Toffee had approached him, of all people. If Toffee's goal was to find some who had witnessed and survived Eclipsa's magic, Marco couldn't think of anyone else who would fit the bill besides Star herself. "So you'd be hijacking my body. Is that it?"

Toffee stroked Ludo's beard as he searched for the proper phrasing. "Not exactly. Think of it more like having a passenger. It's actually quite difficult for me to hold this level of control, even over a runt like Ludo, and you're far stronger than that. I won't be the one driving."

Marco remained silent for several seconds, turning the proposition over in his mind. Though he was quickly reaching the point where he felt he had very little left to lose, he couldn't help but be unnerved by Toffee's proposal. Helping Toffee at all was bad enough, but allowing him into his own mind and body was almost unthinkable. "That's... that's crazy."

Toffee gave Marco an exasperated sigh. "Why are you making this so difficult? You don't have to like it. But I shouldn't have to tell you what Eclipsa will do when she wakes up, and I don't know how long we have left. A day, a week, a month... She's coming, Marco, and her return will shake Mewni to its foundations. So we can stand here playing 20 questions until she burns the kingdom to the ground, but there's only one left that matters." Ludo's body approached Marco, pointing a single finger inches from his face. "What are you willing to do for Star?"

Marco didn't even have to think about the answer. "Anything."

Ludo's face formed into a wide, sinister smile as he stepped back. "Good. Then... do we have a deal?"

Marco hesitated before responding with a single nod. "Until we find Star. That's it. Your finger... I can't promise to give you something I don't have." It crossed his mind that without the finger, he might be stuck with Toffee, but he quickly cleared his mind of any thoughts beyond finding Star.

Toffee nodded back, apparently satisfied with the terms. He stuck out Ludo's hand, waiting for for Marco to take it and seal their bargain.

Marco slowly reached out his hand to Ludo's, gripping it as tight as he could. As soon as his palm touched the embedded wand, he felt a malevolent power rushing into his body through the point of contact. He recognized a similar feeling from when he had fallen under the influence of Eclipsa's chapter, but this was mixed with something else, and filled with hatred and cold anger. Marco could feel his mind slipping into darkness as ancient, forbidden magic burned in his veins, driving the light from his eyes.

Marco cried out in pain, and the world went black.