Chapter Text
"How are you holding up? You're quiet."
There had been nothing but ice and snow for god knows how long. The only landscapes to note were the flat fields giving way to a maze of jagged ice spikes and cliffs with sheer drops that were barely visible through the thick fog until you were practically over the edge already. Mountains bordered the land, effectively isolating the area from the rest of the dimension unless you knew how to navigate it like Brunzetta.
They called it the Neverzone. Or, at least, that's what Brunzetta had been calling it.
It was a stark difference from the humid swamplands that housed Hekapoo's forge, the very place that Marco had become far too familiar with over the past five years. God, five years. That was too long, and it would likely be even longer if things went as poorly as last year's attempt to return home.
He didn't have much hope for this plan working out. It seemed like Hekapoo was always five steps ahead of him.
Aurora let out a grumble as Marco gripped her fur a little tighter. She was a strange giant-horned polar bear that Brunzetta had hauled him onto when she'd come to pick him up. He was sitting in the front, near Aurora's shoulders, mostly to avoid having to wrap his arms around Brunzetta. She seemed to be doing an impressive job at staying on Aurora without holding onto him either. He was thankful that she was humouring him with the awkward seating arrangement at all; he just… didn't enjoy being touched.
"What's got you stuck in that head of yours?" The voice cut through his thoughts like an echo through his mind, the kind that quickly faded out like a small bell. It was familiar at this point, comfortingly so.
"I'm thinking about how this isn't going to work," He answered, unable to keep the exhaustion from his tone. Brunzetta let out a disapproving hum behind him.
"Have a little faith."
"Yeah. Sure." Marco slumped forward to rest his head on Aurora's neck. They'd been riding for over three hours now and all he really wanted to do was get out of this cold and sleep. This arrangement meant his legs hurt, and his back wasn't feeling much better.
"Whatever Toffee's telling you, he's probably right," Brunzetta chimed in.
It was moments like these when Marco felt particularly mournful of the fact he always had to answer Toffee aloud. If that overgrown lizard could beam thoughts directly into his head, why couldn't he just return the favour?
When he’d first started hearing his voice he'd thought he was going insane—especially since Toffee only bothered to speak up after he’d been dragged into this hellscape of a dimension. Sometimes he still worried that was true. Maybe he’d even prefer insanity to the far more likely explanation: that half of Star’s wand had embedded itself in his body like shrapnel after the explosion caused by the whispering spell.
It sounded sort of badass in theory, but he had—very regretfully— not gained a single real power from the experience. Unless you counted having a Septarian General spectating your life as a power. That is to say, if this wand was in there somewhere, he still couldn't cast a spell to save his life.
"Don't raise his ego," Marco grumbled. "Trust me, it's already huge."
"My ego is not huge."
"Yeah, agree to disagree buddy."
He could hear Brunzetta snickering behind him. "We're almost there now, right on time too." Her tone was light and amused. He was glad to be providing the entertainment for this journey, he supposed.
"I'd planned not to cut it so close, but it took longer than I'd hoped for you to make it to our rendezvous point."
"I'm sorry," Marco murmured. He felt compelled to apologise more out of habit than anything else. The portal they were hoping to catch only opened once a year— always at the exact same time and place, and never for more than a few minutes. It was the only way out without dimensional scissors. Last year, he'd never even made it to Brunzetta, let alone the portal.
"Don't apologise," Both Brunzetta and Toffee spoke in sync, but while her tone was more sympathetic, Toffee's was stern, almost scolding.
Marco only deflated further, face flushed from embarrassment. He felt so pathetic sometimes.
"It's just hard to slip away from her when she knows just as much about this portal as you do. She's not stupid. She knows that if there was ever a risk of me running away, it would be today of all days."
He’d spent the whole day buttering up Hekapoo, doing everything he could to lower her guard. It had worked better than he’d dared hope—she'd trusted him enough to leave him alone while she cooked and he'd immediately jumped at the chance to slip outside.
"She knows more than I do about this portal," Brunzetta corrected. "I've been here long enough to know how to reach it but, at the end of the day, I'm no portal expert. I have no clue where this thing goes— aside from the fact it takes you far away from here."
Far away was exactly what he needed. He just had to get out of this dimension and he could figure out how to contact Star from there. She'd get him home, back to his parents and his friends. It was almost daunting to think about— according to Hekapoo, barely a few minutes had passed outside of this dimension, which meant he was still fourteen out there. Still in school, living a relatively normal life.
How was anything supposed to feel normal after what she'd done to him?
"You'll be home soon," Toffee acknowledged, as though reading his mind. Which, despite Marco's suspicions, Toffee was very insistent was not an ability he possessed.
"We'll see." He wasn't naive. He knew exactly who would be waiting for them at the portal. Brunzetta had assured him she had a plan for getting past her, but he wasn't nearly as confident. He didn't want to get his hopes up just to be trapped in his own personal hell for another year.
That's all this dimension was to him— a prison.
Aurora slowed to a stop, promoted by a gentle tap of the heels from Brunzetta. They'd stopped on the precipice of a deep valley, surrounded on all sides by mountains covered in a heavy layers of snow. Those same ice spikes jutted out everywhere you looked, reflecting the moonlight towards the centre.
Marco might have found it beautiful if it weren't for the woman currently striding across the valley, headed for a strange, vibrant ball of light. It flickered and expanded— feeding off of the concentrated moonlight as it began to take shape.
Hekapoo was here, just as they'd expected.
If he wasn't feeling confident before, he certainly wasn't now. Hekapoo wasn't to be underestimated, especially not in her own dimension. She ran the game here— they were playing by her rules. He took a deep, shaky breath, gripping Aurora so hard his knuckles were turning white.
"I can't do it." His voice came out small, frightened. Despite his best efforts to seem whole in front of Brunzetta, the sad fact of the matter was that he wasn't and he hadn't been for a long long time. He suspected she already knew his nonchalance towards the entire situation was fabricated.
"I've got you covered down there, just breathe." Brunzetta reached out toward him, her hand freezing in place the moment he flinched away. She grimaced, mumbling a small apology.
"You're letting your fear control you, Marco. You'll make it to the portal. You have to try."
Toffee always spoke with such authority that even his words of comfort could easily be mistaken for criticism. Back in the early days of their friendship, they often were. With no one else to talk to but Hekapoo, the two had grown quite well acquainted over the years. Marco had learned to recognise the subtle shifts in Toffee’s tone. So, as blunt as the reassurance was, it still felt comforting to hear.
If you had of told him all those years ago he'd be so buddy-buddy with a man who'd tried to crush him in a box, he'd probably have laughed in your face. And yet, here they were.
Toffee was right of course, he had to try. If he valued himself, he really had to, but acknowledging it as the better option and finding the courage to actually carry out their plan were two very different things.
The orb of light had grown substantially now, the colours all swirling together into a bright blue hue as, finally, it started to look a lot more like the portals Marco was familiar with. Only it didn't remain blue, the next second it was more of turquoise, then yellow, then pink, then red. It was shifting colours so rapidly it was difficult to keep track.
Hekapoo had been watching it with an unreadable, calm expression and, once the portal had finished forming, she finally took a step closer. She reached out to hook a finger around the edge like it was something physical rather than pure magic and energy.
"I know you're watching." Her gaze flicked to Marco, catching his eyes for a brief second. His breath hitched and he quickly tore his gaze away, fixing it on his hands instead.
He could vaguely make out Brunzetta cursing behind him through the fog that had quickly settled over his mind, then suddenly he was falling. That was sure as hell enough of a fright to pull him out of his own head. He realised Aurora had jumped from the ledge, and he would have been tossed right off her back if he hadn't throw his arms around her neck at the very last moment.
Aurora landed on the ground at the bottom of valley with such force it knocked the air out of Marco's lungs, leaving him gasping to catch his breath.
Brunzetta, however, seemed almost entirely unfazed. She leapt from Aurora’s flank the instant they touched down, yanking her battle-axe from its sheath. And it was only when Marco found the courage to lift his gaze back to Hekapoo that he realised why she was treating the situation with so much urgency.
Hekapoo was pulling the portal closed. It wasn't a smooth and effortless process like it was whenever she closed one of her own— she was struggling, visibly straining to make any process. But that didn't mean she was failing at the task either. The portal was giving way, slowly but surely.
Brunzetta stalked towards her like a woman on a mission. And the thick grey storm clouds that always seemed to loom in the sky above her suddenly came alive, lightning flashed— Hekapoo abandoning the portal to jump aside before it struck her— it was followed by thunder so loud it echoed throughout the valley.
"That's enough, Hekapoo!"
The axe in her grip crackled with energy like it was just as ready to burst as the storm clouds. She swung at Hekapoo with such force that a bolt of lightning burst from the axe's blade and struck the ground behind them. Hekapoo dodged it with ease, her body splitting into two perfect clones—then it happened again, and again—until there were more Hekapoos than Marco had time to count.
She had Brunzetta, and more importantly the portal, surrounded.
"You shouldn't have stuck your nose into my business, Zetta." Only one of the clones spoke— no, the original— her head held high and eyes narrowed. The look she was giving Brunzetta was practically venomous and Brunzetta was well and truly matching the energy in her own expression.
"Your business?" Brunzetta spun to lodge the axe in the neck of the nearest Hekapoo. This time the axe hit its target— one of them anyway. The clone who hadn't managed to slip out of the way exploded in a puff of smoke the moment she was struck. She stumbled once the clone disappeared, the force of the swing having thrown her off balance.
Marco had seen Brunzetta fight before, usually against some animal that figured her an easy snack. She wasn't usually so sloppy, so uncoordinated. She was practically seething.
"It stopped being your business the moment you decided to kidnap a kid," She practically snarled. There was another swing of the axe, and another clone burst into smoke. Yet Hekapoo wasn't fighting back. Evading, sure, but not attacking. "He isn't Yammy! Yammy wouldn't be able to so much as look you in the eye if he knew how you handled everything after he left!"
The expression of Hekapoo and every one of her clones expression twisted into something pained. She let out a cry that was something between a frustrated scream and a wail, the original throwing herself at Brunzetta with enough force to topple even a woman of her size to the ground. A handful of the clones quickly followed suit, and soon enough Brunzetta had been entirely dog-piled— although, even then, she was putting up one hell of a fight.
"Marco?"
Marco flinched, head whipping around as though there'd be someone standing beside him. It took a second for it to settle in just who was speaking. He'd been so hypnotised by the quickly escalating fight that he'd entirely forgotten where he was and what he was supposed to be doing.
"Hm?"
"It's time to go."
He didn't protest, slipping off of Aurora— who was surprisingly unbothered by the fact her owner was currently fighting more than a dozen angry clones. Though, to be fair, she did seem like she might be winning. Or maybe Hekapoo wasn't really trying in the first place. He'd seen what she could do, Brunzetta would be in a lot more trouble if Hekapoo really wanted her dead.
They were friends once, at least that's what he had gathered from the way they spoke about each other. He wouldn't be surprised if Hekapoo was still feeling sentimental.
The portal seemed so close, yet at the same time so impossibly far. The clones that weren't currently attempting to yank Brunzetta's axe from her grip as they wrestled on the ground stood guard, spectating, waiting. He knew they were already anticipating him to run. The one silver lining, he figured, was that only the original had the ability to actually close the portal prematurely, and she was pretty preoccupied right now.
"I don't— How am I supposed to get to it?" He whispered, taking a few nervous steps before fear rooted him in place. He could just run and hope, but that felt like a quick way to get grabbed.
"We've practised this, the evading and basic self defence. You know how to get away from her if she grabs you. You just have to find the best opening and run."
Okay, so they were doing the run and hope route. Great.
He shuffled his feet uncertainly. What exactly did a good opening even look like when there were so many clones? "Didn't Brunzetta tell us she had a plan? What happened to the plan?"
"I have a feeling the plan was vetoed in favour of a more… emotionally charged approach."
His heart hammered so loudly it had begun to drown out any rational thoughts. He was never going to make it, was he? Hekapoo was going to be furious once she rounded him up. If lasts year's attempt to escape the house had left her in a sour mood for weeks, he could only imagine how she'd react to something like this.
"This was a bad idea," He stammered. "I-I never should have agreed. I—"
"Don't start talking like that." Toffee cut off what would have devolved into a frantic ramble and, if he could see him, Marco was sure he'd be shaking his head. "What did I say about fear? It's playing tricks with your rational thinking. You have to do this. What you'd gain from succeeding is far greater than what you'd lose from failing."
He was shaking so hard couldn't will himself to take a step even if he wanted to. And now, he wasn’t sure he did; he'd rather head home with his tail between his legs and hope looking remorseful spared him. He'd been so confident in the idea of escaping when Hekapoo was out of sight, he hated how much her presence drained him.
There was nothing but silence from Toffee now, but Marco knew it would be short lived. A break in conversation like this almost always meant the Septarian was formulating some kind of plan, weighing their options.
"—scaring Marco! Look at him!"
He grimaced, attention shifting back to the fight the second his name left Hekapoo's mouth. The clones that weren't too preoccupied with Brunzetta all had their heads turned his way— he couldn't meet a single one of their gazes.
Marco braced himself, squeezing his eyes closed to try and ignore what was inevitably coming next. This was the end of his attempt to run— of any future attempts too, he was certain. One of them would break away to drag him back home while the rest held Brunzetta off and finished the fight.
Whatever plan Toffee was cooking up would be useless at this point— more trouble than it was worth to even attempt. He opened his mouth to say as much, but the words were caught in his throat. Quite literally in fact.
He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Adrenaline and raw, unfiltered panic were the only thing keeping him from dropping to his knees, the kind that surged through your body when it thought it was dying.
Hands gripped at his arms, and he opened his eyes to find Hekapoo staring back at him. She almost looked frightened. He could see her lips moving, but he couldn't hear her. He couldn't hear anything, not the hum of the portal or the wind blowing through the valley and certainly not her voice.
He didn't feel comforted by the heat of her touch, not at all. If he had to die, why couldn't it have been somewhere she'd never find him? Why did it have to here in the snow and the cold? With her hands on him?
There was something rising at the back of his throat like bile, yet it felt so foreign, more like drowning than choking. His entire body felt so heavy, felt wrong. He vaguely registered the fact his skin was secreting some kind of… he didn't know what it was, but it didn't matter. He didn't have to know what it was to know it was bad.
His vision began to fade, and Hekapoo’s touch slipped away. He braced himself for what was coming, fear closing around him like a vice. Yet… nothing happened. No switch flipped to snuff out his consciousness, no sudden shift into some great beyond. Only emptiness. He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear—none of his senses remained. And still, he was here in a void of nothingness. Just existing.
"Don't panic."
Marco would have jumped at Toffee's voice if he wasn't a floating, bodiless conscience in that moment. Needless to say, it startled him. He hadn't expected whatever let them communicate would follow him even here. Wherever here was.
Telling him not to panic seemed too little too late at this point. The panicking had already started— in fact, it was currently in progress. He wasn't sure how exactly he was expected to respond, so he settled on just thinking his answer as hard as he could.
Too late for that.
"It won't be for long, hopefully. Hold tight."
His voice sounded so much more present here, like he could reach out and touch Toffee if he only knew which direction to reach.
Hopefully? Why do you always add something horribly concerning at the end of any reassurance you try to hand out?
"I don't—" Toffee cut himself off with a sigh, "I'm rather preoccupied right now."
Preoccupied? When was he ever preoccupied?
The most confusing part of being revoked of all your senses was the fact his mind couldn't decide if it wanted to relax into the silence or have a complete meltdown. It was disorienting, but it was oddly… calm. Safe. No one could ever reach him here.
And then, just as quickly as it had begun, it ended.
The feeling in his fingers returned before anything else, and he immediately wished he could go back to the blissful nothing he had going on before. There was an ache that spread down his fingers and through his hand, so deep it felt as though it was radiating from his bones.
And, as the rest of his body slowly returned to him, he realised it wasn't just his hands— his entire body was alight with an almost blinding pain. His knees buckled, and he counted himself lucky that his fall was cushioned by what he assumed to be grass.
"—re alright. Breathe—nee—cough."
Toffee voice cut in and out like a radio with a bad connection. Marco couldn’t tell whether something was wrong with whatever connected them, or if his head was simply spinning too badly for him to focus on what he was saying.
His vision faded in blurry and discoloured. He was definitely outside, that much was for sure. He could make out the grass now, hear the chirping of birds up above. It was sunny here, warm too. He wasn't in the Neverzone anymore.
"Fuck—Breathe! I swear I—please. Why can't—"
Marco sucked in sharp breath, only to choke on the liquid that still filled his mouth. Panic flared; his body convulsing in a fit of coughs until the sensation seemed to miraculously fade on its own. It was as if whatever blocked his airways had simply vanished.
He stayed there on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, chest heaving, vision swimming. That deep ache throughout his body didn't help with the disorientation either.
"Are you alright?" Toffee’s voice cut through the haze—steady, demanding, leaving no room to simply ignore him.
A moment ago, Marco could’ve sworn he’d heard fear in that voice. The few words that had reached him had been nearly frantic. Now, though, that fear was gone.
"What the hell just happened?" Marco asked. It was easier to ask his own questions than to try and formulate a response to Toffee's. He didn't know if he was okay, he definitely didn't feel okay. His voice came out hoarse and quiet, his throat dried out from whatever it was that almost choked him.
"I had to take a more… extreme measure to get you through that portal. I did what I had to, and I'm thankful I did. We're out, Marco, we're…" He trailed off for a moment. "Well, I believe we're in Southern Mewni, judging by the foliage."
"Extreme measures?" Marco had thought he'd feel a lot more excitement over the fact they were free, since this was what he'd been dreaming of for years. Yet… something just felt wrong. It wasn't the clean, straightforward return home he'd always imagined.
He reached up to rub at his eyes, hoping to clear his vision. But the instant his hands made contact, he froze. That wasn’t skin— it was too rough, the texture too different. He yanked his hands back, and when he finally dared to look at them, his stomach lurched. Bile genuinely did start to ride up the back of his throat this time, though it didn't quite make it all the way out.
"Now, don't panic."
"Don't panic?!" He would have been yelling if he could, but his throat wasn't in the mood to supply him with anything more than a pathetic rasp. "I have— I don't even know what these are!"
They were quite literally scaled, grey in colour and a slightly different shape than what he was used to. Although nothing unusable. He still had five fingers, still had the same motion, but they most certainly weren't his hands. They were very clearly webbed, and even the nails looked a lot more…lizard-like— claws would be a better word to describe them now. The scales travelled up his arm, but he couldn't get a good look at just how far with the hoodie he was wearing.
"I had to—"
Marco let out a startled yelp when something brushed against his leg— cutting off Toffee in the process. He spun around with his fists raised, ready to fight despite the state he was in. Except there was no stranger or wild animal— it was a tail, long and scaled in exactly the same way as his arms. The realisation hit him like a tonne of bricks.
Oh god. That was his tail.
"I-I have a tail."
"I know. I'm not blind, Marco."
He stumbled onto his feet with a great deal of difficulty, chest heaving. He needed something reflective—water, a mirror, anything. Given the fact he seemed to be standing in a large open field in the middle of nowhere, water seemed like the most reasonable bet.
The field was surrounded by dense forest in all directions, a clearing of sorts. The trees here were huge, bigger than anything he'd ever seen in person back on Earth. It was rather daunting. He couldn't make out much more than that with his eyesight still playing up.
It was like he was wearing a pair of prescription glasses that didn't belong to him; he could still see well enough, things just didn't want the focus the way they should.
He went to take a step, and only then did he realise just how wrong his legs felt. He'd add it to the list of everything suddenly wrong with him, he supposed. He took another far more unsteady step, stumbled, and in the process of trying to catch himself managed to trip over his own tail and and tumble back into the grass.
"Take it easy, Bambi," Toffee warned, his voice laced with amusement. "Give your body a moment before you go running off, that gives me time to figure out which direction we're heading..."
Marco let out a defeated groan where he lay sprawled on the ground. He hated this, hated everything about this. He'd never had much autonomy over his body in the first place, but at the very least it had always remained familiar. Now he didn't even have that.
He wanted to cry, and his throat felt so painfully tight like he was going to, but he wouldn't. He never seemed to be able to anymore, no matter how terribly he needed it.
"I'm… sorry..." The word sounded so awkward coming from Toffee. Apologies weren't exactly his speciality. "I wasn't aware this would happen. I wasn't really even aware what I was doing until it was already too late to change my mind."
Marco let out a louder, more exaggerated groan. He was slowly piecing together that whatever was wrong with his body was Toffee's fault and, needless to say, between the pain and his complicated feelings over the matter, he wasn't in the best of moods.
"What did you do?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Toffee admitted. "I'm usually confined here in the realm of magic. I have a connection to the wand piece I believe to be somewhere inside you. I can watch you, speak to you—"
"I already know all this," Marco interrupted. Toffee had a habit of rambling on. He was not in the mood for rambling.
"I'm aware. Now stop interrupting or we'll never get anywhere with this."
Marco huffed, waving his hand for Toffee to continue. At the very least the warmth of the sun was easing his aching body while he basked here, listening to Toffee explain the situation in the most drawn out way he possibly could.
"As I was saying, usually I can't do anything more than be an outside observer. However, at some point during our third or fourth year together, I realised I may be able extend my connection to the wand even further."
It was odd; Marco had never been able to see Toffee when he spoke, yet he could still picture every animated hand gesture he knew he’d be making as he spoke.
"I never risked attempting any experimentation with the theory, of course. As much as I wanted you out of that dimension, it wouldn't have been worth it. We don't know where the shrapnel from the wand lodged itself inside you and I wasn't entirely convinced that bursting out of your body like some horrible parasite wasn't a possible outcome to trying."
Huh. Mewni's sky was a sort of pinky hue, which he'd never noticed before. And that blurry cloud kinda looked like a lizard. Ironic.
"But tonight was a high risk, high reward situation in and of itself. So, in the heat of the moment, I weighed the risks and decided it was worth attempting. My intentions were to try and extend myself through the wand to take control of your body just long enough to fight our way to that portal. And I succeeded, of course. That much is obvious."
"And why did that turn me into lizard, exactly?"
Toffee let out a sigh, the kind he always did when he found a question exasperatingly stupid. Asshole.
"You were encased in magic the entire time I was fighting," He continued. "The same magic I've been polluting for the past five years. I think it was trying to take your body and transform it into something more compatible for me to reside in on a more permanent basis. Of course, I immediately pulled back into the realm of magic the moment we touched that portal. So whatever transformation it was forcing you through came to a halt."
Marco held his hand above his head, watching the way the sunlight reflected off his scales— now that he was really looking for the similarities, the colour did seem to match what he vaguely remembered Toffee's to be. It had just been so long since he'd seen the Septarian, he hadn't really made the correlation at first.
"I'm part you, then?"
"I suppose. Quite frankly, you look a hell of a lot like the few Mewman-Septarian half breeds I've met in my lifetime."
"Great," Marco muttered, his tone dripping with sarcasm. He pushed himself upright so he could get a better look at his legs, slipping his shoes off first, and the relief he felt was near instant. They were probably the source of most of his discomfort when he'd tried walking before, given the fact his feet had grown and reshaped into something that honestly reminded him a little of a dinosaur. They were webbed of course, just like his hands.
Hey, he was probably a great swimmer now. That was one upside to all this.
He chucked the shoes aside given they were useless to him now, moving to get to his feet with a lot more care than his earlier attempt. It wasn't terribly awkward now that he'd abandoned his shoes. He just had to watch out for that tail of his—it seemed to have a mind of its own, constantly flicking in front of his feet.
"You're walking like a hatchling."
"I swear—One more word and I'll figure out how to absorb myself into the wand just to punch you in the face."
"I never said it was a bad thing. I'm certainly enjoying watching you."
Marco exhaled sharply, biting his tongue on the matter. This man annoyed him to no end sometimes. He was lucky Marco could never get his hands on him.
"Where are we going, then? Since you're the expert on everything around here. Pick a direction."
"Thank you. I'm glad we're both acknowledging I know everything," Toffee teased. "Head further south, it's…towards those trees with the orange flowers. We're a few days walk out of New Septarsis. Might as well head there to find you somewhere to rest while we figure things out."
Marco squinted, glancing around the clearing until he spotted a few blurry smudges of orange up in the branches of the trees. A few days walk sounded exhausting without any real supplies. It would probably be exhausting even with them. But he'd have to manage, since he needed to get himself to civilisation so he could contact Star or he was screwed either way.
"New Septarsis… You did promise to take me one day." He'd heard so much about the place from Toffee over the years, he was quite frankly excited at the prospect of seeing it in person.
"Mm, I did. I suppose I'm making good on my word, then."
He was disappointed to have to step out of the sun and into the shade of the trees, but at least the underbrush wasn’t so thick that it made the path hard to navigate as he left the clearing behind.
"There's running water nearby."
Marco paused to listen and, sure enough, Toffee was right. He could hear some kind of stream flowing not far ahead of them and he was once again reminded of just how parched his throat was feeling. With a soft breath of relief, he hurried forward, almost tripping on his stupid tail all over again.
He came across it nestled at the bottom of a small hill, not wide by any means but it stretched as far in either direction as he could see. He didn't concern himself with wether or not the water was particularly safe to consume as he dropped down beside it. He cupped his hands to collect as much as he could, cool water spilling between his fingers as he raised it to his mouth.
It was reassuring that Toffee didn't pipe up to scold him as he drank. If he didn't mind, it was probably harmless enough. He'd had almost five handfuls before he felt even remotely satisfied.
"Better?" Toffee asked, Marco let out pleased hum in response. If only he had something to collect the water in, he could take it with him. He'd just have to hope there were more streams along the way.
His reflection rippled in the running water, making it a little difficult to make anything out even now that he was really paying attention to it. He leaned in closer, and the first thing that struck him as different were his eyes. One was a bright and very striking yellow, almost gold, its pupil nothing but a slit. The other had remained mostly the same hazel colour it had always been, but he could vaguely make out small flecks of that same yellow within it. Strangely enough, this pupil remained very human in appearance. Which might very well explain why he was having trouble focusing his vision.
He'd just have to figure that whole issue out once he wasn't roughing it in the woods, he supposed.
There were almost no scales on his face aside from a few that travelled up the bridge of his nose before spreading out to his forehead. Honestly, they didn't look terribly out of place. He swore his hair was a lot curlier than he remembered it, too, although it was still cut short, barely reaching mid-way down his neck. At least it was still its usual brown.
He hadn’t changed at all and yet, at the same time, everything about him was different. The thought lead him to another realisation, one that should have slapped him in the face from the very moment he was coherent. He dug his fingers into the dirt beside him, trying to force down the panic that was very quickly returning.
"I'm supposed to be fourteen," He whispered.
"Pardon?"
"I'm supposed to be fourteen! That's how the dimension works, the moment I'm out I get to restart. I get to be fourteen. I get to pretend none of it ever happened." He was shaking, the words spilling out frantic and unorganised. "I-I'm not fourteen. I'm still—I'm…" He trailed off, just how old was he?
"You get the point! This isn't right!"
"Nineteen. You're nineteen, Marco."
"We never left! We're still there…" It was the only explanation, and his worst nightmare.
"No, we aren't. I need you to breathe. You trust me, don't you?"
"I guess… I—Yes. I do." He tried to suck in a deep breath, the way Toffee had taught him. It was always so much harder to remember how he'd explained it when he was in the midst of panicking, no matter how many times he walked him through it.
"Well, I can personally assure you that I stepped through that portal. And I know very well the differences between Mewni and Hekapoo's dimension. We're on Mewni, Marco. I'll bet the portal we took simply functions a little differently to the others. It must have retained your aging."
Marco deflated, exhaustion replacing panic as Toffee's words sunk in. They made sense, everything he said always made sense. That was part of the reason why he trusted him at all. He squeezed his eyes shut, his bottom lip trembling. But no tears came. Now would have been the time to let it out, with no one around for miles, and yet he still couldn't. "It's not fair… I was supposed to start fresh."
"I don't think being fourteen again would do you any good," Toffee admitted, and maybe he was right. But it was difficult to let go of an idea that had kept you sane for the past five years.
"Have more water. Drinking helps trick your body out of fight or flight. Then we should set off, don't you think? We should cover as much ground as we can before the light’s gone."
Marco didn't protest, instead he pulled his hands from the soil, dipping them back into the stream. He felt numb but, then again, numb was normal for him. Familiar. He just had to focus on their end goal: New Septarsis. Make it to New Septarsis and call Star.