Chapter Text
If you had told Anne Savisa Boonchuy just a year ago that she would have to watch her best friend's funeral, she would have laughed it off. She would have thought it would take at least a decade for that, hopefully many decades.
And yet, here she was.
It happened on a day Sasha would have liked; the leaves were orange, the ground mushy after a night of rain, sky dark and cloudy with air that stuck to the inside of your throat. She lay in a coffin, open for her final moments in the light, still in her armor. The funeral workers had to leave her untouched in that way, Anne would have bitten them otherwise. Long, dark eyelashes fell gently over soft cheeks, still pink with life, hair that had just started showing strawberry blonde roots fluttered gently in the breeze, framing her face and training one's eyes to the velvet of the coffin's insides.
Mr. and Ms. Waybright sobbed loudly, clinging to one another despite their dislike; any comfort was welcome, even from an ex-spouse you could hardly stand. Other faceless names and nameless faces did similar things; crying, comforting, attempting to lighten the mood. Even Anne was holding back tears, if only for what her other friend has become.
If you told Anne Savisa Boonchuy that her best friend would become both possessed and a child(?), she would have just nodded, thinking you were into some weird RPG. After all, possession wasn't real, and how could her friend become a child again?
And yet, there it was.
Darcy, she found out their name through gurgles and whimpers, was an incredibly odd case. She couldn't take off their exoskeleton, apparently it was both melded to their skin after so much contact and was the only thing allowing for joint movement, they seemed to fluctuate between the mindset of a toddler and an infant, and they were literally Marcy, but something went terribly wrong. She didn't know how to feel about them; she wanted to like them, she really did, but she just felt numb. This was Marcy, but not Marcy. It was a change.
Anne glanced over at Not-Marcy with dazed eyes, watching it kick its feet in its chair with its tongue poking out just a little bit. Its eyes were glued to Sasha, or as it had dubbed them, "mama," looking like it was thinking. The Boonchuys had all quickly found out that Darcy did not understand the concept of death at all, so they quickly threw together some half-truths.
"They are just putting her in a nice place to rest, honey. She will be okay."
They hadn't taken that as well as they could have hoped, yelling and sobbing that if mama hated cuddling them that much, she should have just told them so. Now, though, they were being especially cooperative, swaying and hugging a little teddy bear close to their chest. Anne wished she could be as oblivious, as unbothered as them. They, in her mind, had it lucky because they couldn't understand.
The speech was being made, and before they could lower Sasha into the pit, Darcy went over and put its bear in the casket with her. It quickly went back to its seat without an explanation, it had been nonverbal all day, and sat down, lip trembling.
The grave was covered, the ceremony over, and Anne felt as empty as before. Sprig was there, with Hop Pop and Polly and Olivia and Yunan and Grime, all in a spot designated for the amphibian guests. It seemed that earth wasn't going to be too fond of the amphibian group, despite them being the ones to help stop the invasion. There were already laws protecting the rag-tag group of frogs, newts and toads, courtesy of the FBI and Mr. X. With the music box at her disposal, she was able to make it so that anyone could travel between worlds at any time. She only knew the tune for Amphibia, which wasn't a big deal at all, after all, she only knew Amphibia in the first place. If the amphibians were traveling regularly, then they would need legal protection.
Everything had come to an end, so why did she feel so empty???
~~~
Anne woke up as usual, under her covers in her room, hugged by something incredibly cold as gently as possible. Soft breaths tickled her neck, drool sticky on her collar, and she shuddered lightly. She was going to need a shower. She opened her eyes and looked down at the dark helmet she had come to recognize over the past three years, usually glowing eyes powered off. This helmet, attached to a whole being, was the source of the drool and breathing that had been plaguing her mornings for around two years now, the only reason it wasn't three was because the poor thing had been terrified before. Now they held no restraint in being as obnoxiously clingy as possible, making living as hard as possible for her.
She was glad it had taken a year for it to warm up, otherwise she likely would have resented it. It had stolen her friend's face, her everything, and all it could say for it on a good day was a little sorry. But, over time, she was able to push back the feelings and see it for what it really was-a kid, one that was lost and confused and had, to its knowledge, lost its only parent.
Marcy's parents, after seeing their child's state, immediately rushed out of state. They had delayed the move for months, only to find that their daughter had become some deranged hooligan of a person, one could imagine the disdain on the strict family's faces. It helped that Darcy hadn't recognized them, it was less painful for them all that way.
A soft knock on the door sounded, and Anne called a quiet, "Come in," already knowing who it was.
A pink frog with orange hair poking out from a green piolet's hat with goggles on top opened the door, wearing his usual vest and pants. He stepped in and hopped onto the bed, despite being 14 by now he was still incredibly short by human standards. He was actually pretty tall for a frog, but he barely reached up to Anne's waist when she stood up.
"Anne, แม่ (mom) is making breakfast. She told me to let you know to come down...though I guess it's more to let you both know to come down."
A lighthearted chuckle was shared between the pair, eldest sister and second oldest brother having had a close bond for around four years now. The second youngest sister, Polly, didn't remember much of her home-world due to the fact that she was so young when she left, but she was a delight, nonetheless.
Who was the youngest?
The culprit of the drool and the ridiculously colored walls was, of course. They may look Anne's age, but time and time again they have proven that they will not grow older with time.
"I'll wake the ทารก (baby) up in a second, can you cover for me? I need a shower stat."
"Is the great and infinitely powerful Anne Savisa Boonchuy afraid of a little drool? You used to live in a world where you were constantly covered in it!"
"And now I don't, so ha!"
She stuck out her short tongue at the frog child, taking it upon herself to gently poke the cheek of the sleeping kid. They stirred lightly, nuzzling closer to her neck in a vain attempt to stay asleep just a moment longer. She didn't know just how dependent they would be today, she hoped they were independent enough to not need to be carried around. Because she needs a shower. Badly.
Ten glowing green eyes cracked open, a light gurgle slipping from its lips as it blinked a few times to wake up. Immediately, it started to wriggle around, kicking its legs just a bit and moving its arms a smidge.
It seemed that she was not so lucky this morning.
"Hey, love-bug, I gotta get up, mom's making breakfast."
A low whine escaped the clearly very small child, eyes squeezing shut (or the equivalent that the eye screens did) and grip growing tighter. She gently eased their fingers out of their grip and sat up, getting up as quickly as possible.
"Sprig'll make sure you're safe, okay? I'll be gone just a second."
She quickly went out to the bathroom, pointedly ignoring the exclamation of protest from said Sprig to instead focus on showering as quickly as physically possible so that there were no tears shed. Because that was something Darcy did that Marcy never had, it cried so often that it could get exhausting trying to keep it from dehydrating itself. It was a little understandable, with the one it loved most 'sleeping forever' and being in a new situation. But it had been three whole years, so it was much less distressed overall.
She was done in ten minutes, a new record, and came back into her room in a fresh shirt and pair of shorts, socked feet padding lightly against the wooden floors. However, no matter if she had been tiptoeing or not, she knew that Darcy would hear her. They had grown accustomed to listening for any strange sounds, and when they were coherent enough to say why, they would always mention "Da big rumbol an' fall," so she could assume that they were talking about the day that the castle just fell from the sky so suddenly. They were a kid, after all, and that day was a panicky one for everyone. It was no wonder they felt so apprehensive during the first year here, she assumed that they had been the one to remove the box from the pedestal and cease the castle's function.
Darcy was in mostly the same position as before, except now it was hugging Sprig like he was a slimy stuffed animal. It didn't seem to notice the slime, though, and seemed much more intent on nibbling on his hat, as babies do. Sprig was wearing a deadpan expression, limp in its hold, accepting of his fate. This had happened many times before, it was more hilarious every time.
"ที่รักฉันกลับมาแล้วคุณสามารถปล่อยวัยรุ่นได้หรือไม่? (Baby, I'm back, can you let go of Sprig?)"
They whimpered lightly, putting out one arm and making grabby hands for her to come over. She sighed lightly, going to their side and easing Sprig out of their arms. They whined loudly, instantly gripping on to her clean shirt with their slimy fingers, making her die inside just a little. She put her arms around their back, supporting them before lifting them up, holding them to her hip. She had gotten much, much stronger from her time in Amphibia.
At this point, holding them up one-handed was something she could do, so she did just that, using her other hand to push open the door to her room and hold the handrail while she walked down the stairs.
Breakfast was uneventful, at least as much as it could be. Her mom made khao kai jeow today, and it was as good as always. Darcy remained clinging to her arm the whole time from its chair, cooing now and then and giggling when she gave it a kiss on the forehead (next to the big vertical eye right in the center of their face-helmet thing).
All is well.
They visited Grime later on; he hadn't been doing well the first year Sasha had gone, but he was doing much better now. He had been growing a beard out, and it was definitely a work in progress at the moment. He had been smiling and laughing along with jokes, but she could tell he was thinking about her today. They cried together for a bit, away from the others, reminiscing about her and how she changed their lives. Nobody knew just how Sasha had died in the castle, the gaping wound in her back couldn't have been an accident. Anne wanted to believe that it was something else, but all fingers pointed to the child on the couch, curled up to nap, a green dress over the armor that had remained melded to their skin. Whatever it was that had ended Sasha's life, Anne honestly wanted to never know.
Yunan and Olivia had relocated back to Amphibia. With the former king gone, Lady Olivia, as a daughter of a distant relative of his family, was the only one who remained in the bloodline, and thus was named the new queen. Yunan had followed her back to help rebuild and keep guard over her. Anne had heard about their proposal and knew the day they would be getting married; sometime this June, she remembered. She had been invited to the ceremony, and she was happy to accept.
All was calm.
Thai Go had been doing amazingly, apparently since the castle stayed there for, like, two months in the sky, the media had no way to parrot that it was a hoax. People from around the world came to their restaurant to be served by the girl who stopped the Frogvasion. It was odd, but she grew used to the nagging questions.
She transferred to a biology major in school, specifically in frog anatomy and the like. She grew so interested in the differences of the frogs here and in Amphibia that she wanted to know everything. Polly had been incredibly helpful in her observations of the lifecycle of a common Amphibia Frog.
Everything was great, except the weight in her chest. It was like she swallowed a chip that was in too big a piece, and it scraped down her throat endlessly, aching long after it had gone away. Like she swallowed unexpectedly, and she felt as if her stomach would burst with pressure.
She knew why she felt like this, but she felt bad for feeling like this for it.
She had lost both of her closest friends, one of them to the bony hands of death and the other to...whatever the hell happened to create this outcome. She hadn't been close to anyone else at school, and now she was hardly talkative with her fellow classmates. Even Maggie was worried about her mental state now and then, her insults toning down to maybe five a day as opposed to the original ten. It was almost funny to her, Marcy had said she was amazing at making connections, and yet now she couldn't even open her mouth for anyone but teachers and family. Her only real connections were Sasha and Marcy, the others were just collateral damage.
But now she had something new to live for. She knew it was unhealthy to think of it like that, but it was true.
Darcy: the last remaining bits of her best friend's consciousness, a blank slate, someone who needed help way more than she did. It was keeping her together, knowing she had to make sure it was taken care of. If she hadn't had the constant sobbing, the clinging, the babbling, she might have gone mad by now.
At the end of the day, she lay down in bed as always, gently cradling Darcy in her arms. They cooed up at her, countless eyes gazing with so much dependance that it made her chest ache. She pulled out a children's book, one of a kind that had been from an unknown seller in Connecticut and opened it to its first page.
"Otabin spent his days alone, amongst the many books he'd sewn. With needle and thread, the pages he'd mend, but all the while, he longed for a friend."
She could get used to this.