Her ivory white hands glided just an inch above his caramel skin, her long black nails grazing his cheek ever so slightly as he slept peacefully. One hand slowly stopped above his forehead, while the other hovered over his stomach in a slow circular motion. Suddenly, the hand above the stomach came falling down, and stopping just above the hoodie, but still sending his upper body hurling forward into a sitting position. Fortunately, he was stopped by a gentle press of a hand to his forehead.

His eyes opened quickly and focused on the white, calm hand on his forehead.
"Cold..."
"Morning, human." The witch snapped him out of it, and quickly moved back, seemingly without even making a step.
"Where? Balrog?...Velvet?" He mumbled as he took in his surroundings, petrified yet numb. He looked down at the fist on his chest, feeling pain even though there was no injury there. The pain was there, just there, at that one point, not moving, not changing.

"Come on, Marco. Don't do that yet. Go eat something." Velvet said after following his gaze, knowing what he felt. The moment the soles of her feet touched the ground, questions fired.
"Why am I here? Why would Balrog bring me here? Don't do what yet? Why did Tom do this? I would never hurt...Her."

Velvet just sighed and put her velvet hair in a low pony tail.
"That's what I would like to know, Marco. I have a few suspicions,  and even less remedies, but it won't work on an empty stomach and full bladder. Go fix yourself before I even start to help you." She said in a cool tone, and left him alone in the wall-less room.

He sighed heavily, all of his thoughts jumbled up with his memories and unrelenting pain. Standing up slowly, he walked over to the table on the far side of the room, where a towel, a bowl with water in it, and a box of chocolates awaited him.
"Chocolates? Why chocolates?" He took a bite out of one, only to feel warmth immediately spreading from his taste buds, down his throat, to his stomach and heart. The chocolate warmed him up, even making the pain less intensive, which he was grateful for.

He hummed in delight as he ate 2 more and washed his face in the water, the refreshing cold waking up his senses and waking him up from his numb-like state. As he dried his face with the fluffy towel, a pleasant smell released itself from it, making him stick his nose into the fluffy fabric. Seconds later, the scent turned into something else; Star's smell.

He threw the towel into the wall and gripped his chest, the pain coming back in rolling waves, making him accidentaly knock the bowl over, but...The water didn't spill. Not a single drop left the bowl. With heavy pants leaving his mouth, he crawled over to the bowl, the water seeming like any other at first, just a small swirl in the middle of it. However, the swirl didn't stop, it sped up and increased in size, until it took up the entire space in the bowl.

He gasped, scared stiff, as the water blurred, slowly. Then, he was greeted by a glowing red crescent moon, its red colour filling the room. His hands trembled as he threw the bowl away, and screamed:
"NO!!!"
"Marco!" Velvet was next to him in seconds, using a basic calming spell to numb him down.
"Marco, it's just water. Nothing was there. Oh Mewni, what did they do to you?"

Not getting a reply, she picked the boy up and started walking. Once she exited the room, and reached the edge of the water, she looked at the willows stretching as far as the eye can see.
"Sister willows, I have here a damaged soul, taken forcefully by jealousy. I ask of you to start the ritual with me, this soul must not stay broken..." she gently plucked a hair off of Marco's head, and let it slowly sink into the cold water.
"...if you know what I mean."

Immediately after that, an unnoticable wind started to move the sagging branches in a rythmic movement, small whirpools breaking the smooth surface underneath them. The whirpools slowly turned a metallic silver shade, revealing a path hidden just beneath the water's surface. Velvet walked on that path, knowing each whirpool, each turn, each foot of it by heart.

All the while, Marco could feel his strength fading. It was so hard to keep track of everything, and he didn't know why. Usually Marco's attentiveness kept him keenly aware of his surroundings, but right now he couldn't distinguish Velvet from a tree.
"It's ok, Marco. We will help you. I need to know what happened to you, because I can only read so much from your soul. If I was a soul witch this would have been much easier." She sighed as she remembered arguing with her witch sisterhood about it. If she could, she would scold her young self for not putting more time into soul studying.

Marco looked up at Velvet weakly, wanting to start a conversation, but the pain in his chest made it difficult to even construct a sentence.
"T-tom L-lucitor..." he replied in a whisper, his head lulling back and forth.

Velvet frowned at the mention of the young prince, and looked ahead.
"Demon magic. Great. But...this strong? Interesting..."

She carried him for a few minutes, before they got to a big willow, standing out from the rest. The willow was symetrical, light pink with a dark velvet bark. The path ended at the foot of the tree, where its roots  intertwined to create a basket in the water, a small pool inside the root system. Strangely enough, two ends of roots stuck out of the basket like daggers, their curved tips pointing at the sky.

"You may wonder what this is, Marco. This willow is my core. I possess a lot of magic, but with that magic comes a price: a hideous exterior. Some end up looking like fairytale witches, while others like old women. Some even look like old men! But I found a way to still look young, even though I am 567 years old. By using a tree as my magic guardian, it protects my magic core while I lend a little magic to it so it can protect itself. I can come and use it whenever I want. Let's call it a bank account for magic, I think that's what you humans have on Earth, right?"

Marco just nodded, strength slowly returning to him.

"Right. Well, I don't have enough magic on me right now to help you, so I will use my core to see how to help. Is that ok with you?"
Marco didn't answer, hesitant to trust a witch. Velvet just rolled her eyes and said:
" I'm going to help you because whatever is affecting you is so strong it could damage the magic realm, which means all of this around us..." she quickly turns around so he could look at the marshes before she walked to the basket again.
"...could be gone. And so much more. Mewni, Pixie realm, even the Underworld. So it's best to fix it before I lose my home and friends, ok?"
"Ok." he replied quietly as she slowly lowered him into the basket pool, the chilling water making him shiver uncontrollably.

She kneeled right in between the two root tips jutting out, and closed her eyes.
"Ribbon of the Northern Star- magic flow!"
The two long pieces of black fabric that went from the back of her dress to her ankles suddenly sprang to life and wrapped their ends tightly around the tips of the roots. She undid her ponytail and pressed her palms against the roots, white vines sprouting from them and the ends of the black fabric.

Velvet and the willow now became one, her feet set in place by small roots sprouting. In the meantime, the basket of roots tightened around Marco, holding him in place while fine hair-like structures sprouted from the tree and dug into Marco's skin, causing grunts and hisses of pain to come out of his mouth.

Velvet's facial expressions changed almost every second, from emotionless, to confused, to angry, to sad and back. Marco got a throbbing sensation in his head, from having a second presence in there, more specifically, Velvet.

"Oh my stars!" Velvet shrieked as she opened her eyes, the experience causing fear to appear in her gaze, quickly followed by anger.
"That wretched prince! How could he do that?!" She spat on the floor as she detached herself from the tree.

Marco turned his head to look at her, while she avoided eye contact, thinking of how to proceed with this newfound information.

Finally, she stopped after about a minute, and looked at him with a serious look.
"Marco, what I'm about to do to you now is not going to be pleasant or easy, so please don't take it to heart. Remember, this is all for the good of everyone we know and love." She bent down to him, her velvet hair casting a shadow on her face. Marco gulped and nodded.
"Do what you must. I don't want to put everyone in danger." He looked up at the branches of the tree, pain and emptiness occupying his mind.

The biggest mystery to him right now is his atitude. He got taken away by force, clubbed until unconscious, then traumatized to unconsciousness, drugged to sleep by magic, traumatized by a bowl filed with water, and is now being "healed" by an unknown witch and a tree. And yet, he is completely calm. What a life, huh?

Velvet looked at him once more, as if making sure he is ok with that, before she clasped her hands above her head.
"I break your locks tonight, that keep the sacred safe, your mind, your soul, your heart. Feel what ignorance has been hiding from you, and embrace the truth of pain!"
She slammed her clasped hands on the roots hard, a black shockwave emmanating from the impact.

MARCO DIAZ!

Marco's eyes widened as roots held his body tight.

You have left! You broke your promise!

"No!" He fought against his restrains immediately.

She counted on you!

He closed his eyes as he felt the pain shoot through his body, engulfing it whole.

Remember! Remember her golden locks! Remember her glistening skin! Remember her gorgeous eyes! Remember her smile, her laugh! How she made you feel better! Remember what she did for you! What you did for her!

He took shallow breaths as his salty tears mixed with the frosty water.

Remember her lips! Remember them well! They belong to him now! You lost! Her attention, affection, the one you craved for so dearly belongs to another.

"No, no, no no NO!" He screamed and fought, but in vain. The voices and guilt kept coming back in angry, foaming waves. He messed up everything.

Remember that you lost her!

"I didn't!!!"

YOU LOST HER FOREVER! SHE IS YOUR SOULMATE AND YOU LOST! MARCO DIAZ, SAY GOOD BYE TO STAR BUTTERFLY!!!

"NOOOOO!!! NO MORE, NO MORE!" The pain was too much, simply too much. He couldn't do this, he couldn't lose her.

"No more...No...Star...Star..."

Velvet could do nothing but stare as his bloody tears dripped into the water.

"Star...Please...Star..."

"STAAAAAR!!!"

Ocean Fury