Chapter 1
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Marco closed his eyes as he sunk more and more into his bed. It was a long day of battling monsters, namely Ludo and his cronies. It left Marco sore all over, plus trauma to the head and an ankle brace. It was moments like this he enjoyed and took in the silence, precious and rare as they were. He loved Star and thought the world of her, but her insistent rambling and energy would, he was sorry to even think it, put him on edge at the moment.
Speaking of which, where was Star anyway?
All he could remember prior to his blackout were clobberings of monsters, Star calling out his name, and the sensation of his breath being knocked out of him. He remembered waking up in the hospital, his parents pouring in and smothering him in hugs, kisses, and needs of reassurances that he was fine. Curiously enough, Star wasn't there. When he asked, it was met with a simple, "She's waiting for you at home."
Turning onto his side in present time, Marco didn't know else to think of Star's absence. She could be reckless and oblivious, but in this instance, he thought her out of anyone would be bothering him, making sure he was okay, like his parents did. With these confused thoughts, Marco slipped into a silent slumber.
It was pitch black outside, where stillness only remained for a short period before windows rattled, gusts of wind increased its strength, howling against the Diaz home. A burst of flames rose out of the ground, a black carriage engulfed by them. It's grotesque decor of red, maroon, and skulls were identifiable as it rose to Marco's window. The elements outside were strong enough to open the windows, the winds howled through Marco's room, making Marco wake with a start, looking into the direction of the carriage. A familiar face floated out of the transport, through the window and by Marco's bedside.
"T-Tom?!" Marco exclaimed as he brought the bedsheets under his chin, in attempt to shield himself from the cold. "What are you-?!"
The demon Prince cut him short with a wave of his hand.
"There's no time to explain. You need to come with me." Tom reached out, grabbed Marco's shoulder, roughly pulling the other to follow him. The human teen writhed in pain, turned away, shouted bewilderingly at his demon friend.
"St-Stop Tom! You're hurting me!"
It wasn't until Tom grabbed both shoulders, stared right into Marco's baffled gaze and saw the bruises and black eyes that accented the boy's face. Furrowed brows rose to his hairline in an expression compromised with surprise and resign. Marco still struggled to get out of the demon's grasp, pushing and shoving him away, only to be held firmly in place by the physically stronger male.
"You're going to hurt more if you keep resisting! Just look at me! I'll explain everything when we get into the Underworld. Right now, you need to trust me to get you out of here safely. I can't do that if you keep fighting back. Can you trust me to keep you safe?"
Tom's blunt urgency sprinkled into the question, which hung over Marco's head like a tree branch looming over. He stared back into Tom's red gaze, tension slowly diminished, dark brown gaze softened into something more concerned and uncertain.
"I..." Marco trailed off, only to be responded with more howls, clashing, and snaps of telephone lines breaking apart.
Not wanting to be here any more than he had to, Tom started swung an arm around Marco's shoulders, and started to pick him up, with some surprised sounds from Marco, but did not oppose as Tom swept him off the ground, with Marco wrapping his arms around Tom's neck. Floating out of the premises, both teenagers enter the carriage, the doors shut, and in an engulfing of flames, the mode of transportation disappeared from view.
