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Chapter Text

Marco wander through the forest with his flannel bag, and a shovel. The wind breeze echoes through the long wrinkly tree branches. Only occupied by the sound of birds chirping and creatures howling.

"This sucks...can't believe she sent me to this retrieve this thing all on myself" Marco murmured to himself. Yeah sure, being a squire means doing some job to the princess but sending a 17 year old boy to a forest was really bad a idea after all.

His boots were the only ones that made tinkering metal sounds as he walked slowly.

Suddenly, the feeling of somone or something watching him from his back, he tried to walk quicker now, his ears were sharp as a cat, he could hear the shallow footsteps walking behind him.

He started to sprint, and the shallow footsteps become louder.
"Shit shit " he cursed under his breath as he ran through the forest, the sharp branches cutting the fabric of his clothes. He had his scissors in his pocket as he hid behind one of the tree.
The creature looked almost all black, with white glowing eyes, it sniff through the air, possibly for him. He kept his breath steady, holding his scissor to his chest. He turned and peek from behind the tree, his bad luck rises as the black long limbed creature was making direct eye contact with him. His brain send a signal through his entire body to start running and he did. The creature roared as it swatted it's hand through the tree that he was hiding, the claws barely missed him as he started to sprinted, without knowing the direction, he just had hoped he might get away from this creature.
"AHH PLEASE PLEASE I DIDNT DO ANYTHING AHG FUCK"

He cursed as his metal boots made him slipped through the mud, falling into a pool of swamp. He held his breath inside the water, as the creature looking around, before walking away. He gasped for air as he jumped out of water, swimming onto the shore of the swamp. God he felt like a wreck, he was all damp and wet now. He felt a throbbing pain shooting from his ankle, probably had sprained from slipping in the mud.

"Ah..shit..not now..please.." he steadied his breath, to make it be quiet as possible, as he was still unsure if the creature is near or have left completely. His body felt so tired, overworked from getting needed things for the person he so call best friend? Now serving her as a squire. Weren't they suppose to adventure to go, watch out each other's backs.

He sighed, all of that was nonsense he guessed, his eyes felt heavy, what crazy guy would just close his eyes for a minute.. apparently himself.

5 HOURS LATER

His body never felt this light while asleep, even his own bed doesn't give this affect to him. His brain forced himself to wake up, no forest swamps give him the most best nap ever. Except, he wasn't in the swamp shore anymore, but on an actual bed, the room itself lit on a blue lamp, the comforter blanket underneath him was made out of lush grass and cotton maybe?. His clothes were different too, he had his shorts but wrapped over by a big scarf. He tried to calm his brain down, possibly something or somone might have either safe him or preparing him as their dinner today. He could just run but, his legs were just unable to work, still sprained from the chase scene earlier.

"Welp..this is it..either I go home or..get eaten..ugh..fuck.." he murmured to himself.

"I'm not proned to eating Mewman meat.." a voice could be heard from other side of the curtain. It revealed to be a some kind of monster, a female kobold.
"You should be thanking me I safe you from getting eaten by Septarians"

His mind mentally smacked him and properly thanked the kobold.
"Ah-t thank you for saving me..uhm..where's my..clothes.."

The kobold walked inside, holding a glass of concoction.
"It was too dirty..my husband gotten the new clothes for you..also..drink this..helps with ur sprained ankle"

He took the cup slowly from her hand and took a sniff, it smelt..bitter.
"What, you think I'm gonna give you poison, the only thing that's stopping me is your stubby ears, indicating you are not Mewman..so drink up"

Her voice and way of tone reminded him of his mother back at earth that he missed so dearly.
He drank the cup of concoction and made a bitterly face.
"Ugh..taste just like medicine..bleh.." sticking his tongue out. He placed the cup on the table beside the bed.  
"Uh..thanks..what's your..name..?"
Marco asked.
The lady took some bandages again, sitting on the edge of the bed as she opened the old bandage.
"My name is Eloira..I'm a kobold..you might know yeah..but I'm curious about you..what..are you..?..I've never seen stubby eared Mewmans before.."

"Oh cus I'm not?..I'm a human..I'm friends with the butterfly family..well..I don't know anymore with how they treat me right now.." Marco explained.

Eloira's eyes widened a bit
"Oh..humans..at this era?..now that's surprising."
Marco heard doors were opening, a bunch of small kobolds running towards Eloira..possibly her children.
There were total of 6 and all looking at Marco interestingly.
"Mom he's awake." "Mom he has no fur", "Mama he gonna attack us??"

Eloira just chuckled, while patting their head "haha no..he's nice..see? If he attacked us I would had made dinner by now"
Marco just chuckled awkwardly, not really a nice way to reassure the children but yeah.

"These are my children..Momo, Frelkren, Groky, Sophie, Rasha and Lil Qinqi" Eloira said, carrying Lil Qinqi and putting on top of the bed where he was.  His head twitching side a bit, watching Marco intently, the little kobold didn't dare yet to go close to the human.

Marco just waved his hand, smiling at the little kobold, she seemed scared, it was valid honestly.
"So uhm...you healed...my ankle?.." Marco questioned as he caressed his leg, feeling the bandage wrapping around his ankle.

"Well, my husband was the one who saw you passed out on the swamp, he thought you were a Mewman but the ears gave it away...and he brought you here...speak of the devil.."

He heard chimes dingling as a very large pure black kobold come through the curtain. He put down a bag, possibly his weapon bag. His children flocking around him,

"Your awake"
The kobold said, his voice was deep, probably too wisdomy. Marco didn't really felt afraid that he was gonna get eaten by a bunch of monsters, to be honest, he'd always had a good view of them, unlikely some rich brats, pardon to his language.

" Yes..uhm..thank you for saving me.." Marco thanked him, he really was glad that he's out from that God forsaken forest.
His eyes wander to the male kobold, he couldn't really make eye contact with this man, his look was so unnerving, like he was gonna prepare him for dinner course.

The lady kobold, possibly that it's his wife, left the room with the kids running along with her, leaving Marco and the male kobold.

The male kobold sat at the edge of the bed,
My god he is..huge. Marco learnt about kobolds before but never actually seen one, they are these canine looking creatures that seem intelligent enough to act like a Mewman. Sometimes live in packs or solitary, and very territorial.

"You,..why were you in that forest human, didn't the Mewman folks teach you anything about safety.." he spoke.

Marco had his grip on the comforter.
"I had to go look for this..fruit, for the princess and well, didn't really got it."

The kobold lifted his sprained ankle, unwrapping the old bandaid.
"Don't be afraid, I'm just changing your bandaid, you seemed to have sprained your ankle really bad...and I'm doing this because you seemed..helpless. The princess has magic, she should had retrieved the fruit by herself, not using humans."

"Get that in your dumb head Marco" , he winced at the kobolds words, god does he really look helpless.

"Sorry if I..disturbed you or something, I'll just go back to the castle once my ankle heals"

The kobold looked at him
"I have 6 children of my own, when they get hurt, they seem helpless, that's what I meant, getting hurt is normal, but purposely, not so"

His ankle did look pretty bad, his tan skin couldn't really cover up the bruised area that was in blue black. The kobold applied some grinded paste on the bruised area, which sting a bit, and he wrapped back his leg with a new bandaid.

"This is help for now, but most probably it will take a few days for it to heal fully, I suggest no long walks or running, you are here to stay fully under our protection until you heal"

Marco eyes widened, few days? He felt like he was being a nuisance to them at this point, the last thing he needed was somone taking refugee of him.

"Oh no no, I'll just, walk back slowly, I think I reach by night back to the castle"
He got up from the bed, even tho his left leg was sprained, both of his legs were just unable to work, he almost fell
"WOAH!-

The kobold catched him in his arms, putting him back on the bed,
"See? It's useless to walk when you are injured, like I suggest, stay here for a couple of days before continue your journey back to the castle, besides, you don't seem harmful to my children like those wasteful Mewmans..",

The kobold said. Well, at least they gave a nice bed, unlike the bed back at the castle, he seriously needs to change the bed, the thing is half as a rock. The kobold handed some stretches,but it was carved out from wooden and sticks.

"This will help you to walk and accommodate yourself around here, you'd probably feel uncomfortable staying in one place", the kobold advised him. Marco felt like it was his own parents taking care him if he gets injured, except his parents would just stay beside him almost 24/7, especially his mom. He wondered what she would be doing....

Chapter Text

Star woke up, the fresh sunlight peeked through her room, she was fairly excited for today. She's finally having her nice little time with her boyfriend, Tom. The work and classes of being the etiquette queen had worn her off.

Taking a quick shower, putting on light pastel coloured dress today. Before she left the room, she had the sudden thought to check her room again,as if she forgotten something...or somone.

"Meh, could be anyone", she shrugged off, closing her door and hopping off the stairs to the family diner for their morning breakfast.

Reaching down to the table, her mother, Moon Butterfly was already prepared to start their breakfast.

"Star dear, your late. You must be punctual remember?"

"Yes yes I know, I just felt a little tired last night, I overslept." She explained, sitting on the chair right beside her mother. "Where's dad?"

"Your father had gone to a early monster hunting with the troops, surprisingly, it was so..not him."

Star nodded along her mother's words as she dig down with the bite of fresh corn bread.

"Anyway, I assume you are going out? "
"Oh yeah, Tom and I are going on-..uhm this place, town actually, wanted to see the fields and crops. Seeing if it's in prosperity or..whatever" she chuckled awkwardly as she blatantly told her mother the lie. She really needed a break from those classes, it was going to break her apart.

"Oh, by the way, where is Marco dear? Haven't really seen him around, he didn't make it for yesterday's dinner or today's breakfast"

Star stopped chewing on her food, looking back at her mom. Her eyes widened, finally remembered.

"Oh. My. God. That's what I've been forgetting, oh corn Ive send him somewhere to get me something and he hasn't come back"

She said in a worried tone, taking out her compact and dialing his number. Her fingers kept pressing the wrong number, obviously panicking.

"Oh, where did you send him? Is it part of the Squire work?"

Star didn't really had time to answer back. His number rang but he didn't pick up. She kept dialing again but again no luck. Moon saw her daughters eyes flooding with worry about Marco's absence.

"Ive sent him to go like inquire about something and get back the thing I wanted, he said he would be back by night but he's not here"

Star's word flailing with worry. She dialed his number again and if he doesn't pick up his compact she might have to cancel that date with Tom..which Tom is probably going to not like it.

"Star dear.." Her mother put her hand on her shoulder, in reassurance.
"Squirehood is not something that easy, you've sent your squire on his first mission, of course he's going take his time and learn something at the outskirts of Mewni, I've seen the talent on the boy, outstanding fighter I've seen than other Mewni soldiers we have."

Hearing her mother praise about Marco felt a bit relief, always had the back of her mind that allowing Marco here was gonna be a bit hassle.

"If he really wants to become a Squire, truly is honest with his words, I suggest you don't go look for him, he will come back. He'll earn his title as squire."

Her mother said, proudness seemed to have poured in her words.
Well, Star did sent him on a mission as part of his squire. Still, her heart was still worrying. She's seem him fight off monsters, she was sure he would be fine.

"Okay mom, if you say so..but still, if he doesn't come back after 1 more day, I might have to go look for him"

"Sure, it's good to keep your squire safe and intact, I'm sure the boy knows his ways to defend himself against the monsters"

Star went back to finishing her breakfast, well now that was aside, she was really looking forward for her date with Tom today.

FOREST...

Marco woke up to the sounds of children playing, birds chirping outside. It was all so diminished. It's been almost a day since he was welcomed to the kobolds family. Eloira's kids quickly got close with him, he didn't really and issues with monsters. Fiesty kids sure, but no harm. He never felt so relaxed, it was like his brain had been completed shut down. Past weeks since his arrival on Mewni, his head was gibberish, like his brain had finally had a conscious of its own and it backfired him. Now, it was all quiet. He got up from his bed, would be rude to just spend his day inside the room he's been given. He ankle has been healing but slowly.

The husband and the wife seemed to tentatively take good care of
him, never really had any questions why. Maybe it was their good heart.

He used his stretches to walk outside the room,
Their place was clean, it was a nicely built hut, three rooms, one was given to him. The other one was the parents room and the another was for the kids.
The kids were running around, they had noticed Marco is awake. Momo, who was seemed the eldest one out of the sibling. She said

"You know you really shouldn't be walking too much like papa said.." the kobold said.

"I know..I felt weird staying inside the room all day, felt cramped. " He said as he sat down on the floor with her.

"Understandable"

Momo was always limited with her speech despite her young age. He had studied the other siblings too. Flekren didn't trust him that much, it was valid reason. Grocky was loud and energetic, Sophie would always stay beside her mom. Rasha spend his time outside with the other kobolds that are living amongst. Lil Qinqi just...slept.

"You said your not from here eh?"

Momo spoke again, questioning him.

"Yes, I'm not from here..I'm uh..friends with the Mewni princess.

Momo stared at him, like she didn't want to believe his statement.

"How though...all Mewmans hate monsters..you should be hating on them since you have Mewman friends.." she asked with curiosity.

"I have a different perspective on monsters. Because I'm not a Mewman, I'm a Human"

Momo had this look of giving up asking questions, stood up from the floor and just walked backed outside. Did he offend her in someway or...

"Don't pay attention to them, theyre kids, curiosity always filled in their brain trying to figure out life. I'm sorry if they made you uncomfortable.."

Eloira said, she sat down with Marco, had a basket filled with fruits, a knife to peel the fruit off.

"You like Bose?"

"Uhm, what is that?"

Eloira started peeling off the fruit, it kinda looked like a rose, as she peeled off the fruit, it emanate a very strong sweet smell.
She handed out to him, he took a bite of it, it was soft and sweet, a very delicate texture.

"We harvest this fruits, the kids like it..it's for their bone enrichment. Eat up"

"By the way..your kids aren't making me uncomfortable, it's understandable if they ask weird questions.."

Marco said, it's kids being kids, got to accept that.

"How's your ankle by the way?"

"It's okay..kinda feeling numb..but it's not giving that intense pain like I felt yesterday so that's good.."

Eloira smiled sincerely, as she peeled off the fruits, probably preparing for the kids.
Marco wouldn't admit it front in her face but, he suddenly misses home very dearly, his heart felt like he regretted his decision.

"Do you have family Marco?"
He snapped back to reality

"Uh yeah, Mom and Dad back on earth, haven't really called them since my phone doesn't work here, and my compact seemed missing"

"Oh, Vettle found your compact but it was damaged, I can ask him if he can try to fix it?"

It would be good if Vettle fixed his compact, he would at least inform Star that he's gonna be here for a while..and probably call his parents for once. He nodded at her, Eloira handed out another fruit to him as he chewed on it.

"How's your parents like?"
Eloira asked.

"They're funny, in a way. Since I'm their only kid, I felt needed always. Dad's an artist, he loves to draw. Mom stays home, knitting..she loves to try out new dishes and cook. They always worry for me and proud of me"

But he remembered, that look when he was about leave for Earth. His mother smiled, encouraging him but he knew something was off. His mom didn't like it. No mother's would like their children just going somewhere knowing there's dangers.

"I bet she misses you." Eloira spoke.

"Hah..yeah, she... probably does. After school I would go back home so, she and I have always something to talk, I'd helped her cook, clean the counters. Dad would come from his office, we all sit down in the dinner table for dinner."

Was it worth coming here, getting treated like shit?. The guards made fun of him. The king gave him a meat blanket, giving him false hope. She sent him down the wash, almost getting himself killed in the wash.
Wouldn't it be nice to come home after all that, crying in your mother's arm as her hand was stroking your hair, reassuring you tomorrow would be a nice day, and forgetting everything today that had happened.

"You miss your family.."
He didn't realise, his eyes felt watery and blurry.

The moon weeped in sadness yearning for it's creator.