Chapter Text
In the previous chapter…
“I know you were wondering where I’ve been for the last several months.” Marcy said. “I’m going to tell you. And it has something to do with the invasion last week.”
—
Marcy didn’t know much about the town they were moving to, and she didn’t care.
—
“You disappeared for almost a year, you had me worried sick. I’m glad you told me what happened, but that doesn’t change that you went missing.” Her mom said.
Marcy just nodded, not feeling the need to say anything.
“So, Marcy Wu, you are grounded.”
“What?!”
—
“I-I’m so sorry.” Marcy said.
“Sorry doesn’t mean a thing.” Sasha replied. “I said sorry and I turned on you. But unlike you, I actually atoned.”
Marcy woke up with a gasp, looking around the unfamiliar room.
She needed to talk with her friends. She needed them to reassure her that she didn’t mess everything up, that she wasn’t the reason everything went wrong.
Marcy spotted her mom’s phone on the dining room table. Perfect.
She dialed Sasha’s number and held the phone to her ear, waiting for her friend to reply.
“Sasha, it’s me, Marcy.”
“Actually, I, uh, I had a nightmare.” Marcy said. “It’s just… I feel like it’s all my fault. I’m the one who got us stuck in Amphibia! I separated you and Anne from your friends and family for my own selfish desires!”
“Marce, I staged a coup .” Sasha said. “I was about to become Amphibia’s youngest dictator because I couldn’t handle not being in control. And you forgave me once I realized my mistakes.”
“Thanks, Sash. You’re a good friend.”
“You really mean that?”
Marcy heard footsteps in the hall. Oh no. Her mom.
“Anyway, was nice talking to you. but I gotta go!” Marcy hung up quickly, but by then, her mother had already opened the door.
“Marcy Regina Wu.” Her mother said. “What are you doing with my phone, when you’re supposed to be grounded?”
End of recap
“Um, I-” Marcy wasn’t sure what to say.
“Answer the question.”
“I just- I wanted to call my friends.”
“Oh.” Her mom said. “I- I didn’t even think of that.”
“Well, I guess you’re gonna stop leaving your phone out then.” Marcy said dejectedly. “So I don’t take it again.” Marcy held out the phone to her mom, who took it back.
“Marcy, there’s something I need you to understand.” Her mom gently grabbed her arm, guiding her to the bed and gesturing for her to sit down.
“I don’t wanna hear it. I know I’m a disappointment to you.”
“I didn’t ground you to punish you.”
“What?” Marcy looked back up at her mom, surprised.
“I did it to keep you safe. I didn’t want you getting lost again. You got stabbed and possessed, Marcy. I don’t want anything like that to happen to you again.”
“Oh.” Marcy said.
“But I didn’t realize how important talking to your friends is. So, let’s make a deal. I take you to the store and we can get you a phone, but you stay within the house.”
“I guess that works.” Marcy said. The truth was, it was perfect. How could she have gotten such a good deal? Her parents had never been like this before.
“Marcy, just one last thing.” Mom got up from the bed. “I’m on your side, not trying to fight you. You can ask me for help if you need it.”
“Thanks, mom.” Marcy said. Mom closed the door, leaving Marcy sitting on her War of the Warlocks bedsheet.
Marcy had changed in her time in Amphibia. She’d never thought to consider that her mom changed in that time as well.
It was still so new, having a parental figure who was willing to support her. The only other time she thought she had that, she got stabbed in the back.
Marcy took off her hoodie and curled up in bed. Her mom wouldn’t stab her, but Marcy still wasn’t sure if she was trustworthy. It felt too good to be true, so she had to be on guard.
But for now, she could lay in bed, letting the words her mom said to her comfort her: I’m not trying to fight you. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.
—
Marcy finally had a way to communicate with her friends.
She immediately texted Anne and Sasha:
i got a new phone, now i can talk to you!
Anne: That’s great!
Sasha: finaly, i missfe your nerdy rambling
Marcy smiled at the typos in Sasha’s text. It was part of Sasha’s texting style at this point, and the more typos she had, the faster she typed it.
Anne: how’s ur new home?
i don’t really like it that much, i miss you guys
Sasha: well, now we can txt
Anne: when are u gonna go back to school?
it’s hopkinton middle school’s spring break, so i’ll be back at school on monday
Sasha: oof
it’s not that bad, i’m excited for a chance to get out of the house
Anne: i don’t see why u need to wait for school to explore ur new town
i’m grounded
Sasha: that sucks dude
eh, it’s not that bad. my mom lets me use my phone, and i’ve had a lot of time to draw
Anne: oh, nice! what’ve u been drawing lately?
Marcy smiled, glad her friends were interested in her hobbies. She grabbed her notebook and took a picture of one of her drawings.
She had such great friends. Now she’d just have to make friends here, too. Couldn’t be that hard, right?
—
Marcy walked onto the school bus, keeping her head down. She didn’t want to get noticed as the weird kid, especially not without Sasha to defend her against bullies. Last night she told herself she was gonna try and make some friends. But now, she just wanted to avoid any interactions whatsoever.
Marcy scanned the seats as she walked down the aisle, looking for an empty one. And that’s when she saw it.
A d20, hanging from a girl’s ears. Marcy paused for a second, but when she was shoved by the kid behind her, she continued past the girl, sitting in an empty seat.
Marcy pictured the girl’s face in her head. Even without photographic memory, she wouldn’t be forgetting it.
The girl had dark skin and box braids, and she wore overalls over a tie-dye T-shirt. And of course, most importantly, the d20 earrings. Looking back at her mental image, Marcy could also see that the book she was holding was Cynthia Coven and the Sorcerer's Step Ladder .
She couldn’t believe it. Finally, someone like her. Someone who shared the same interests as her.
She had to approach her, and ask to be friends. But Marcy didn’t know how to make friends. She’d been friends with Sasha since kindergarten, and she didn’t even remember meeting Anne (and that wasn’t because of the Core). She’d never just approached a person asking to be their friend. What if she embarrassed herself? What if she tripped over her own feet and went toppling into them? It had happened in Amphibia, with Yunan.
Wait a minute.
—
Marcy skipped down the hallway, celebrating her leg finally being healed. She could run, she could dance, and she could explore this new world!
She giggled, running through the castle halls. She was so eager that she didn’t notice herself colliding with a newt and knocking her over until it was too late.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” Marcy said, getting off of the newt. The newt climbed to her feet quickly. “Really, I didn’t mean to bump into you. I’m just so clumsy!”
“No need to worry.” The newt replied. “For I am General Yunan, Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched, and the youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of General in the great Newtopian army!” She gestured dramatically as she recited her speech. “And therefore, I have no reason to be phased by someone simply bumping into me.”
“Oh. Uh, okay.” Marcy chuckled. “My name is Marcy.” Yunan was a general? That was so cool! Imagine what Marcy could learn from her.
“Nice to meet you Marcy.” Yunan held out her hand, and Marcy shook it. “I can imagine you are very honored to be meeting General Yunan, Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of-”
“Okay, that’s enough.” Marcy said. “I love your speech, but you don’t need to recite it everytime you speak.”
“Ah.” Yunan seemed disappointed. “Perhaps, instead of telling you through my dramatic monologue, I could entertain you with the full story of my conquests.”
“Of course!” Marcy said. “I’d love to hear that. And then, when I’m done listening to all your tales, you can teach me how to be cool like you!”
—
She’d made friends with plenty of newts in Amphibia, as well as Anne’s frog family. Surely she could make friends with humans too.
But it still made her nervous, the idea of talking to other teens. When she was in Amphibia, her being nerdy was seen as a good thing. But on Earth, it was just weird.
And back in Newtopia, a lot of the newts assumed it was a human thing when Marcy did something strange. But she didn’t have any of those defenses at school.
It would probably be best to just stick to what she was good at: being smart. If she kept her head down and blended in, nobody would bully her.
And maybe, if she found the right time, she could finally approach the DnD girl.
Throughout the day, Marcy participated in her classes, being easily able to understand the material even though she’d been missing for a year. She’d been two years ahead in math before she entered Amphibia, but now, she was only one year ahead.
Though, that didn’t seem to be a problem, because now, Marcy was like a human calculator. Perhaps the Core’s possession had made her better at math.
Soon, it was lunchtime. Marcy grabbed her lunchbox and headed to the lunchroom, unsure where to sit.
Back at SJMS, she always sat with Anne and Sasha. But now, she wasn’t so sure. The cafeteria was teeming with students, and she didn’t know any of them.
Marcy spotted the girl from earlier, the one with DnD earrings, sitting at one of the tables. She walked closer to the table, thinking of sitting there, but something was stopping her. She was too nervous, what if she made a fool of herself?
Marcy instead walked to an empty table at the back of the cafeteria, eating her lunch alone. It was disappointing that she hadn’t been able to approach DnD girl, but at least she wouldn’t have any awkward social interactions.
“Hello!” Somebody sat across from Marcy.
Okay, maybe she would have to deal with awkward social interactions.
“My name is Ami.” They said. They had light skin, short brown hair, and wore a red hoodie. Marcy wasn’t sure if they were a boy, girl, or something else.
“Uh, I’m Marcy.” Marcy replied.
“Cool.” Ami said. “I’m Ami the Among Us kid.”
“What?”
“Do you not know what among us is?” Ami asked.
“I know what it is.” Marcy said. “It’s just… an odd way to introduce yourself.”
“Well, everyone calls me that, because among us is my thing.” They explained. “When other kids are playing soccer, I’m roleplaying as the imposter. When other kids are doing assignments normally, I’m doing the assignment, but incorporating among us into it. When other kids are shopping with friends, I’m drawing my among us webcomic.”
“I get that.” Marcy said. She knew what it was like to be interested in something, to be obsessed, to not want to talk about anything else. But why were they coming up to her? “It’s just… I’m not really that into among us. I’m more of a DnD kid.” Usually, she’d be embarrassed to admit that, but Ami couldn’t be weirder than her.
“Well, the other kids don’t really like me that much. They think I’m weird. But you’re new. And you seem chill.”
“Oh, thanks.” Marcy said. “I mean, you are kinda weird. But I am too. So… I guess we could be friends?” She chuckles awkwardly.
“Sure thing!” Ami said. “I haven’t had a friend since, like, elementary school.”
“Right.” Marcy said. “So, uh...” She found herself unable to think of a question to ask them.
Well, this is getting awkward. Marcy thought, pulling out her phone and checking her messages from Anne and Sasha.
Anne: how are u enjoying ur new school so far?
it’s been okay
Anne: sasha is looking at memes instead of paying attention in class
Sasha: i do all my work AFTER schol, ok?? and these mems are friking hilarous!
She sent an image of a meme saying “me when i try the among us potion at 3 am” with the image of an orange among us with several eyes.
As soon as Marcy saw the orange eyes, she froze up in terror. She couldn’t ever remember what they actually reminded her of. Why couldn’t she remember?
Oh. The Core.
“Whatcha looking at?” Ami asked, snapping Marcy out of her panic.
“Oh, uh,” Marcy turned her phone around, showing the meme to Ami.
“Oh, that is hilarious!” Ami said. “The idea of among us beans having eyes is so weird. Some people theorize that the imposters having more than 2 eyes in their true form, since they’re shapeshifters. And of course, a lot of people think that crewmates have eyes under the visor. But who knows?”
Marcy smiled; Ami talking about among us was helping distract her. She turned off her phone and put it in her pocket.
“Wanna see my among us webcomic?” Ami asked.
“You have a webcomic?” Marcy exclaimed. “So do I!”
“Cool! Is yours among us?”
“No.”
“Aww.” Ami said, disappointed. “Well, I can still look at it! I’m so glad to have a friend.”
—
Once lunch was over, Marcy was back in class, and it was unfortunately PE. She’d bonded with Ami a lot during lunch, but she forgot to ask them their pronouns and they weren’t in this class.
DnD girl, however, was. Marcy watched her take out her earrings in the locker room.
Marcy changed into her PE clothes, avoiding looking at the thin white scar on her chest. PE was her least favorite class, but during her time in Amphibia, she’d spent a decent amount of time doing some sort of exercise and had even played a few games of bugball. If she was decent at that, she probably could also be good at human sports.
Today, they were playing dodgeball. Hopefully Marcy wouldn’t end up with another broken nose. There was a reason SJMS didn’t have that game anymore.
Marcy just hoped her clumsiness wouldn’t mess things up for everyone else.
—
Grade 2, capture the flag
Marcy and Sasha were both on the enemy team’s territory- Sasha running with the flag, Marcy running towards Sasha. Behind Sasha, the players on the other team were pursuing her.
“Marcy, I’m gonna hand this over to you!” Sasha said.
“On it!” Marcy ran closer to Sasha, reaching out to grab the flag from Sasha’s hand.
Marcy reached for the flag, but instead, she stumbled and knocked over Sasha, sending both of them tumbling over. Before they could react, the enemy players tagged both of them, taking them to jail.
“What the heck was that?” Sasha exclaimed.
“I tried!” Marcy said. “I tried to grab it, I just… miscalculated. We could work on my hand eye coordination so I don’t mess things up again.”
Sasha sighed. “I’ve been trying to teach you sports forever. But you’re clearly just bad at them.”
“Oh…” Marcy said, dejected.
“You know what, Marce? Who needs sports anyway? If you’re not gonna get better, why waste time trying? We could be doing so many more fun things. We should like, read magazines in PE class. Or you could do your schoolwork, which I know you love.”
“Right!” Marcy said. “I’m bad at sports. But who needs em?”
—
Grade 6, dodgeball
Marcy was playing flappy bird while her classmates played dodgeball. She was about to get her highscore, she needed to focus.
“Marcy, you really need to focus!” Marcy barely heard Anne’s words. “You’re gonna get hit!”
Marcy continued to play, she was not gonna stop until she got the high score. She didn’t notice the ball flying towards her face until it hit her, knocking her over and ruining her game.
“My score!” Marcy exclaimed, realizing her voice sounded funny. She reached up to touch her nose, finding it at an odd angle, and that’s when both the pain and realization set in.
—
Marcy was on the same team as DnD girl. She was still too nervous to talk to the kid. What if DnD girl got mad at her for messing up the game?
The PE teacher blew the whistle, and the game started. Immediately, the kids started throwing balls at each other. Marcy was targeted a few times, but she always was able to easily move out of the way.
It made sense that she would be better at dodgeball now, with all the stuff she’d done in Amphibia, but it still felt wrong. Back in Amphibia, when she dodged things and moved around, it was still difficult- sometimes she got it right, sometimes she got it wrong. But now, it was effortless.
How? She couldn’t just magically stop being clumsy, right?
Wait a minute.
She had a photographic memory, was better at math, and was no longer clumsy, due to the Core.
Marcy had always wanted to stop being clumsy. But now she no longer was, it felt wrong. Like she wasn’t herself.
Marcy dodged a few more balls perfectly, not bothering to throw any.
Marcy spotted a ball flying through the air, seeing it was about to hit DnD girl, who seemed to be distracted in her own thoughts.
Marcy quickly ran in front of the ball. She knew she would be able to catch it, but chose not to, instead letting it hit her face. The ball hit her hard, bouncing off her face. Marcy stumbled backwards, not trying to catch herself. She wasn’t going to let the Core control her anymore.
Marcy fell on top of DnD girl, with them both toppling to the floor.
“You took a bullet for me!” DnD girl said.
“That was a dodgeball.” Marcy replied. “Also, I’m out.”
The PE teacher blew the whistle. “Foul play!”
“Ugh.” Marcy said. “Of course.”
“My leg hurts.” DnD girl said. “I think it’s sprained. Mrs. Painter, can I go to the nurse’s office?”
“Sure.” Mrs. Painter said. “Need someone to go with you?”
“Um, her.” DnD girl pointed at Marcy.
“Okay.”
DnD grabbed Marcy’s wrist, pulling her out of the gym.
“Finally!” DnD girl said as they walked down the hallway. “Out of that stupid class. I knew I had to befriend you, hardly anyone at this school likes DnD!”
“Wait, you know I like DnD?” Marcy exclaimed.
“You have a d20 hoodie.”
“Oh. Right.”
They arrived at the office, having to wait a few minutes to see the nurse.
“I’m sorry.” Marcy said.
“Sorry about what? It was a mistake.” DnD girl said.
“It wasn’t.” Marcy said. “I could’ve caught myself and stopped myself from toppling you over.” Marcy covered her mouth, realizing she said too much.
“Seriously?” DnD girl exclaimed. “I thought you were better than the rest of these fools! I’m not even surprised. I should’ve known better than to try to befriend anyone.”
“Nurse is ready.” The receptionist said.
The DnD girl stormed away, leaving Marcy alone with her thoughts.