Ever After

Chapter 4 - 10,000 Sit-ups

Chapter 4 - 10,000 Sit-ups

Another long day for the young couple. The young man did not remember going to bed that night but he was sure he had been dreaming for awhile.

"Star. Staaaar. You there Star?" Marco in his standard red hoodie wandered a series of dark damp tunnels calling out whenever he reached an intersection. Dripping water was all he could hear.

Finally from far away he thought it might be Star's voice. "...over here...getting ready..."

Marco entered a fog-filled room, the only furniture being a simple room divider behind which Star was getting changed. "Star, I've been looking for you for hours. I was beginning to think that we would not have another dream together."

"It HAS been hours! Tell me Marco, was it smart to try to fit a six month abs program into a single afternoon? You were asleep before sunset. You knooow, before we went to bed I had a plan I wanted to TALK to you about!" With that the room divider turned to smoke, Star was ready.

"You look...wait...is that mud?" Marco's face flipped from a warm smile to a grossed out frown.

"This is Dreamy-Boyfriend-Eyes protection Diaz. Tonight we are going to figure out this whole dream situation! I decided to gross up so YOU stay focused." Star's final sentence was accompanied by an accusatory finger wave.

Marco sighed and rubbed his stomach. "Fine. So what's the plan mud-girl?"

Star snapped her fingers and a giant blackboard appeared next to her. "I'm thinking we start with a list of what we know about these dreams."

Marco attempted to get within arm's reach of Star and the blackboard but no matter how far he moved he got no closer. "Ah Star, this is new. Are you moving away from me?"

"No. That is weeeeird." Star reached over to boop his nose but he was always out of reach. "HEY! You are in the bed tonight and I'm on the floor. The other nights when we could touch we were both in the bed. Maybe we are not close enough to dream-touch each other?"

Marco looked surprised. "I took the bed? You should have taken the bed."

"Marco! 10,000 sit-ups and then you passed out! Your mom and I put you on the bed and I'm fine on the floor. I even made an extra pillow from your hoodie to keep me company."

He gave a disappointed in himself but understanding nod while at the same time rubbing his sides as if they were sore.

"Back to the plan! Marco, what do you think is going on here? Give it to me!"

Putting on his thinking face Marco pondered for a minute before speaking. "We've confirmed that we are dreaming together and remember the same dream when we wake up. It started the first night we slept after the dimensions merged and it has been happening every night when we are asleep in the same bedroom."

"Remember we slept outside in a field the first night of the cleave." Star interjected.

"Right, so in the same place. Also we have some control over what we are dreaming. I wonder if that is why you still have your magic heart cheeks here but when you are awake, no magic and no hearts."

"Good start Marco. I was thinking about this all afternoon while you were busy doing planks. We know we can travel around easily. Based on the other night we can see each other's memories. And..." Star looked at the chalkboard where all these words were appearing as she spoke them.

Without realizing it her old wand had appeared in her hand and she was taping it against her lips while focusing on her thoughts. "AND last night when you slept on the downstairs sofa everything was just normal, no dreams. Oh, AND when you woke up first the other night I stayed in this dream world for a bit until I woke. AND tonight you got to the dream world first. Sooooo we can be here alone as long as we are going to be together at some point. I guess that means our dreams see the future maybe."

Star now tapped her teeth with her wand. "Hey, we need a name for this. Dream world seems kind of lame."

"Dream Diving?"

"Lame"

"Friendship Dreaming?"

"Super Lame"

"Ah...Starco Land?"

Star smiled at that one. "Maybe. How about Super Awesome Starco Time for now until we come up with something better."

Marco gave a slight nod. "Works for me. You know, I didn't like when Tom was calling us Starco at first but it has grown on me. So what's next for Starco Time?" This was followed by a frown as he rubbed his abs.

Star however did not see this. Her focus was still on the blackboard. "Now why is this all happening? Did the last of the magic do this to us? Is this an after effect from one of our adventures? Maybe some new enemy is the cause?"

"Next time we should do one of those who, what, where, when, why, and how exercises like we did in school. But...but right now I don't feel so good." With this Marco slowly sat on the stone floor holding his stomach with both arms, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Marco? What's going on?" Star knelt next to him as closely as she could get. Her muddy form was gone, replaced by her normal self wearing one of her standard comfortable green dresses.

"I'm such an idiot. I totally overdid it today...just hurts a lot suddenly." With that he pulled the front of his hoodie up revealing a viscous puncture wound. Seeping from the opening in this abdomen was a black ichor that clung to his skin.

Star panicked. "MARCO! MARCO! AH...TURBO SUPER BUTTERFLY BANDAGES!" The magic flowed from her wand taking the form of a stream of butterflies rushing to the open wound. However, instead of closing the wound the butterflies turned to smoke when they touched the ichor.

Marco took a deep breath. "It's the dark unicorn wound. I...I thought it was all healed."

Star was barely controlling herself. "You said you got hurt when saving Tom but you didn't say it was like this!"

"Star...add to your list that..."

"Forget the list Marco, we need to fix this!"

Marco was now laying on the cold stone floor trying to force a smile for Star's benefit. "When...when it happened I felt the horn going all the way through. It hurt really bad but within a minute I didn't notice it anymore. Remember how I flipped that corrupted unicorn after? I figured the magic fixed this."

"Marco focus! Start dreaming about an apothecary, or a doctor, or...ARRAG!" Star fell over onto the floor in the same position as Marco. Her clothing now matched Marco's signature look, red hoodie and black skinny jeans. Star pulled up the red top with one hand revealing that she was suffering from the exact same wound. The black ichor stuck to her fingers as she touched it.

Now Marco panicked. "STAR! It's just a dream, just a dream...we...we have to wake up...we have to..." With that Marco yelled in agony as he twisted his torso. The pain was nearly unbearable but he did not stop. Undaunted, he rolled on the stone floor toward Star.

Just before reaching her, Marco disappeared. Star was then pushed flat on the ground as if her boyfriend had rolled off the bed and landed on top of her. Both were now awake, the dream turned nightmare had ended.