Chapter Text
In an unknown location in the dense and dangerous forests of Amphibia, creatures live beneath it. Giant birds hunted smaller animals, insects large and small roamed in search of shelter or food, and unlucky amphibians tried to survive it all.
In this same forest, a strange and slender creature walked through the place for the tenth time that day.
Marcy grunted as she leapt from rock to rock, leaping onto solid ground and rolling to break her fall, before continuing to run. Try as she might, the pain in her muscles did nothing to distract her from the pain in her brain. Her head throbbed as she desperately tried to stay focused on the race.
A world full of people like her, even though they don't know who they are. The only faces she recognizes are a girl with fluffy brown hair and another with wavy yellow hair. Anne and Sasha. Her forever friends.
Marcy jumped toward a branch, grunting with effort as she tried to propel herself upward using only her arms.
A strong glow envelops her and her friends, separating them and sending them into an unknown and dangerous world.
Arriving at the top, Marcy started jumping from branch to branch until she reached a vine and went down there. She was about to let go of the vine and continue her run when an armored insect appeared, roared and attacked her.
Captured by the frogs and being treated like an animal. They discovered that she was smart when trying to save herself from a heron attack. Forced to work for the frogs and being treated like a slave.
As the insect advanced, Marcy growled and attacked as well, still holding onto the vine. Just as they were about to collide, she slipped under the insect, narrowly avoiding its horn, and launched herself onto a rock, jumping over the insect.
Hearing about the frogs who found a blonde human and wanted to capture her too. She tried to stop them and ended up being locked in a cell.
The movement of the vine hit the insect's legs, destabilizing it and causing it to fall on its back. That done, Marcy let go of the vine and pulled out her trusty weapon: a primitive-looking dagger with a petrified wood handle and blade, a large, strong, sharp piece of greenish exoskeleton.
Sasha practically ripped the doors off the cell she was in. She appeared with tears and a bright smile on her face, hugging her as if she didn't want them to be separated again.
The insect desperately tried to turn around, but Marcy quickly climbed onto it, her expression furious and not hesitating to look in her direction as she raised her dagger and brought it down with a war cry against the insect's body.
Sasha with a gloomy expression on her face, tightly holding a large personalized scythe in her hands. She barely had time to react before Sasha straightened her stance and lunged at her, scythe ready to cut her in half.
The insect gave one last roar, this time in pain, before going still, the blow having been coldly calculated to hit her vital organ and kill him quickly.
Marcy stood over the creature for a moment, breathing heavily and watching its bloodthirsty hands tighten around the dagger's hilt before slowly relaxing. She dropped the dagger and let out a rueful sigh as she lifted her gaze to the sky, a lost look on her face as she watched the clouds pass.
“Hey Marcy! Are you already better? Because I think we're going to…need…help…"
Marcy blinked, slowly turning to the male voice that had spoken to her. Percy had a half frightened look on his face, alternating between looking at the human, a blank expression with blood on her hands and armor, and the corpse of the large insect she was on top of.
Wordlessly, she retrieved her dagger, cleaned her weapon on the sheath, and stowed it away before stepping off the body. Unconsciously, Percy took a step back, more than intimidated by the actual presence the human was exuding as she slowly took a step toward her.
Luckily this didn't last long, as in the next step she accidentally ends up stepping on her cape, causing her to trip and fall on her face in the process.
That made Percy give a little laugh, relaxing as the other soldier approached, muttering something about her cloak. These strange spacings and changes in the creature's attitudes have become much more frequent since the fall of the Toad Tower, and he's still not sure if this was normal for his species or if something was up with the human. Still, it was a relief to him to know that she still had the bumbling side that had brought them together in the first place.
"...I'm sure the cloaks and the floor have something against me." She finished mumbling with a small irritated huff, turning to Percy with a small smile afterwards. “Anyway, yes, I'm fine! What did you say before, Percy? I don't hear right.”
"Oh yeah! We’re going to need your help with the captain!” He handed her a slightly crumpled paper, but it was impossible not to recognize Grime's face on that wanted pole.
"...Wait, is there a bounty on the captain's head?!" She screamed in disbelief, her gaze darting to the poster and Percy. “Does this have to do with the Toad Tower fall?” The toad nodded, Marcy felt her left eye twitch. “B-But why? If they don't want him in charge anymore, just get him out of office! Why give an order to eliminate him?!”
“We don't know, but honestly? Newtopia has always eliminated every possible weakness and flaw that your realm may have as far as I've heard..."
“Even if their own system is flawed?!” Marcy growled with a cruel gleam in her eyes. Percy didn't answer, just stepped back slightly, which made Marcy sigh and put the poster in her pocket. "Okay, sorry for blowing up... I guess I'm not as stable as I thought..."
"We can leave you alone for a little while longer if you want." The toad tried to calm the other soldier, but she just shook her head.
"No, it's ok... I think I can still help anyway."
Still worried, but trusting the tall soldier's words, Percy led the two through the forest. When they arrived at the place where they had decided to stay, an abandoned cabin in the middle of a clearing, Marcy noticed some things were a little different than before. Braddock was tending to some freshly planted flowers, the water wheel was fixed and some holes in the roof had been plugged. It still looked pretty old and abandoned, but not that it was going to fall apart like the first time they walked in.
How long had she been isolated in that forest? It didn't feel like more than a few days had passed, but she didn't think she could rely purely on her memory now.
A strong and warm hug. Arms gripping her so tightly it was impossible for her to run away even if she wanted to, which she didn't.
Those same arms were used to lift a curved, sharp blade against her, which she barely managed to dodge.
"Give up Marcy, you lost."
“Oh Marcy! Glad you arrived!” Braddock stood up and gave Marcy a little hug, which made Marcy shudder almost violently. “And you got stronger! You still look like a talking stick, but at least your arms are a little more defined!”
"You think? I still feel like I have weak nerdy arms…" Marcy whispered as she blushed, trying to see any difference in her arms as she approached the stream to wash up.
"You look great! I'm sure when the captain sees how Marcy turned out after her self-imposed training, he'll get back on the line and be the grumpy captain we love!" Percy yelled excitedly, Marcy grimaced at that comment and approached the cabin.
"We don't really need him to go back to who he was, you know?" Braddock told Percy, causing Marcy to stare at her curiously, opening the door. “We just need him to be active enough for us to get out of here and try to find a safe place.”
“What do you mean by… OH MY GOSH!!!”
Marcy can't help but take a step back in shock at the sight. The fearsome Captain Grime, the one who'd captured her and forced her to work for him, the one who'd managed to single-handedly beat a heron… Was currently slumped in a makeshift armchair watching something on her cell phone. His clothes were all dirty and ragged, a gangly gray beard was growing on his face, and a bunch of salty snacks were all over his big belly. He stuck out his tongue to catch the snacks of his belly, making a very weak attempt to reach for a can of dink before giving up, his good eye never straying from the tiny screen propped up in front of him.
Marcy blinked, then frantically rubbed her eyes before blinking again. That vision hadn't changed.
Slowly, she turned to the other two soldiers, who looked worried and upset, but not surprised.
OK.
Now she understood the problem.
"Percy, Braddock, did you bring my snacks?" Grime asked lazily, still not taking his eyes off her cell phone. He only shifted his gaze when a hand paused the video, coming across a disappointed-looking Marcy. “Oh, hello creature. Are you taller or is it just me?”
"What exactly are you doing, captain?" She turned off her cell phone and put it away, turning back to Grime, who only sprawled further in his place.
“Uh, watching before you take my fun? Which was pretty rude, by the way.” He held up his salty hands in a grabbing gesture, obviously asking for her cell phone back. Marcy completely ignored him as she tried to get some sense into his head.
“We should pack our bags, find a new, remote location. After that, I can let you watch it again.”
“Why should I leave here? I say this is a great place to stay, and the mountains make any trespassers difficult.”
“…Do you know that there is a reward named after you?”
“Yes, so what?”
"So what?! Isn't it obvious that it won't be long before people start hunting you? For all we know, someone might be on the way right now, and in a forest like this, you're going to be vulnerable! A skilled assassin or bounty hunter will have no trouble coming to such an open place!”
"OK. Let they come.”
"... OK?"
"Yes, OK."
“Captain, did you hear something I said?”
“Everything, unfortunately.”
"And you're REALLY just gonna sit here when you've got a bounty on your head??"
"Yeah."
"WHY????"
"Seems cool." The calm way Grime said that made the tall soldier look at him disapprovingly.
"...Okay, I give up..." Marcy turned around, with every intention of heading back into the woods and continuing what she was doing, which was anything that would distract her mind. However, both of her legs were suddenly caught, causing her to fall to the ground again.
“Please Marcy, you have to help us cheer up the captain!” Braddock pleaded, holding one of the tall soldier's legs with a worried expression. Percy was holding her other leg, looking like he was going to cry at any moment.
“Why me? I don't understand anything about social interactions!" Marcy screamed in exasperation, holding her sore nose with one hand, shaking slightly. "As far as I know, if someone doesn't want to do anything, then let them do nothing!"
"Doing nothing? Hello, I am growing a beard.” Grime complained as he pointed at said sloppy gray beard. Again, none of his soldiers seemed to hear or pay any attention to what he said.
“Then you don't need to talk to him. Just keep an eye on him and make sure nothing bad happens! Just until we bought enough groceries for the four of us! After that, you can go back to training and we'll try to have a pep talk with him! We just need it!” Braddock held Marcy's leg a little tighter, at which point she couldn't feel her legs anymore. "You are the best soldier we have right now, and I don't know if I can rely purely on the captain's current strength to protect him from any surprise attack."
"Hey, I may be a little out of shape, but I can still lick whoever Newtopia sends after me." Grime said with pride and arrogance. He tried to sit up and stretch to get the drink from his side again, but he gave up halfway and went back to lie down, lazily eating his snack. “Can someone give me that can? This snacks is really salty.”
Silence.
"...I won't leave his side, I promise." It was the tall soldier's reply to the other soldiers, who breathed a sigh of relief.
***
“Captain, you really should at least trim that beard. It's ridiculous.”
"Ridiculous? I want you to know, creature, that all great legendary warriors once had a great beard like this and created fear in the hearts of their enemies!”
"Yes... But I don't think that giant belly will help with the 'scare the enemies' part."
"Why, you... Wait, did you hear that?"
Marcy stopped, tilting her head slightly to the side, a whistle echoing, getting closer and closer. She dropped her incomplete wooden carving and turned her dagger in her hand, opening the cabin door slightly. In the distance, she saw someone approaching, a red newt with platinum blonde hair and armor with a red cape.
"Oh, crap... This doesn't look good..."
"And it's not." Grime nodded, having also moved towards the crack in the door. "That armor... She's a Newtopian military for sure."
“Great, and just when you're…like this.” The soldier said the last part with some contempt, causing Grime to turn to her with a pissed off expression. “Okay, I'll try to distract her, you'll go out the back doors in the meantime. If I'm lucky, as she's probably here for your head, she won't attack me unless she knows I'm helping you.”
Completely ignoring whatever the captain might say to her, she climbed out of the head and closed the door, stowing her dagger so it would be easy to take it out again. If she wanted to convince that newt that she wasn't a threat, it'll be easier if she's unarmed. She took a few steps forward before stopping, looking suspiciously at the intruder, who stopped whistling and watched her with a curious expression.
“Hello…Who exactly are you? And what are you doing here?” Marcy asked, trying for a slightly friendlier approach. The newt blinked and crossed her arms.
“All right, third time today. Let's do it!" The newt took a deep breath before introducing herself, “My name is 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 said all this as she made increasingly dramatic poses, ending up doing a backflip and landing in the same spot. Which Marcy had to admit was impressive.
For a moment, Marcy didn't know how to react. While something like instinct told her to perform as excitedly as newt, the rest of her just thought all that drama was kind of unnecessary. So the only thing she did was blink, trying to process it all.
“And the reason I'm here, creature, is that I hear reports that my target is here. Grime, the most fiercest fighter in the colosseum! And I shall bring his head to Newtopia!” Yunan said with a fierce smile as she whipped out the blades of her glove and easily cut a tree, knocking it down and causing Marcy to swallow hard. To her surprise, shortly after this, Yunan stops making possessions and formally turns to the soldier, showing her the poster. “So, young creature, have you ever seen a toad like him?”
Again Marcy can only blink. From a cruel and fierce hunter to an extremely courteous warrior to a being probably strange to her. She had no idea who this Yunan was, but she hopes that this apparent instability is just a thing of pride she likes to flaunt and not a real mental issue.
Of mental instability, Marcy is enough.
As Marcy opened her mouth to deny it, the sound of someone falling caught their attention. They turned just in time to see Grime getting to his feet, grunting something about wanting more snacks later as he wiped his pants, apparently having jumped out the window. He stopped when he noticed the other two people staring at him.
"Uh... Hi?"
Marcy didn't hesitate to push Yunan away before running towards Grime, pulling him into the forest.
“I told you to take the back door! Why didn't you go through the back door?!" Marcy screamed as they both ran, trying desperately to get away from the General.
“What back door?! There's no back door in that place! Only windows on the front and side!” Grime yelled angrily, belching mid-sentence and struggling to keep up with the taller soldier in his current physique.
“And you thought jumping out the front window would be sneakier than the side window?!”
A few trees fell behind them, the sound of the blade and a half-manic laugh making it very clear who they were. The two looked at each other, sweating cold, before using everything they had in their legs to run faster. They found a small hill in front of them and Marcy didn't hesitate to jump, easily managing to climb with that momentum.
"Um... I think Braddock is right after all." she muttered. She heard grunts coming from below and came across Grime, looking like he was dying of exhaustion as he tried to climb.
"Just...Give me a minute..."
"...I still can't believe I'm doing this." She grabbed a nearby vine and tied it to a rock, giving the other end for Grime to hold before pushing the rock, bringing him up. She soon resumed running, much to Grime's dismay.
"Couldn't... Couldn't we take an easier route?" He complained, still panting. Marcy just rolled her eyes as they continued to run.
"Well, maybe if someone hadn't decided to stay locked in a place eating junk food, knowing his head had a price, you'd be in better shape!" She commented sarcastically. "Yikes! I started training after Toad Tower! Why didn't the 'almighty Captain Grime' do the same?" She said in a mocking tone as she spoke one of Grime's titles, pushing a branch out of the way, which made it hit the frog in the face.
"Grrr... ENOUGH!" he yelled, stopping running and pointing at the soldier in front of her, her back to him. "If you're going to scream about how I'm reacting to what happened, at least be honest about why you suddenly train so hard!"
"..." Marcy didn't say anything, a haunting look crossing her face. Her body began to tense and her head began to ache as fragments of a life passed unwillingly before her eyes.
A world with people like her. Earth, is the name. Blurred faces on everyone she'd ever seen, except for two girls.
“You think I don't know what you're doing? Do you think I haven't noticed that your sudden urge to train is just to distract you from the truth?”
Anne and Sasha. Her friends since forever. Her whole world is them. No matter where she is, as long as she's with them, she's home. But now she is in another world, not knowing how she got there or where they are. She lost her home.
“You're not upset because you were weak in a duel! You're upset because you snapped at your friend! You snapped, attack your friend, and lost! And now things between you will never be the same again!”
Captured by the toads and living in hell. Trying to defend Sasha from suffering the same fate as her and paid the price.
"Go ahead! Tell me I'm wrong! Tell me the 'real reason' for you to suddenly start training if before the mere thought of doing something physical made you nauseous! Tell me, creature!”
Sasha hugging her tightly with tears and a bright smile on her face. So warm, so safe. Marcy would give anything for them to stay like this forever.
“Or rather, tell me why! Why are you training so much? Why don't you go back to your friend?! Why do you insist so much on staying and protecting me when you obviously hate doing it?! ”
Sasha with a grim expression on her face, straightened her posture and advanced against her, scythe ready to cut her in half.
"Give up Marcy, you lost."
"WHY?!"
“BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!!!!”
The force of her scream startled Grime, starting to feel a little apprehensive as Marcy turned around with a furious expression, tears threatening to spill into her eyes as she glared at him.
“You really want to know why!? I tell you why!” She took a step forward, and Grime unconsciously took a step back. “I have no idea who I am or where I came from! I don't even remember my original world! All I remember is a light that sent me to a strange and dangerous place, this world!” She swung her arms around, taking another step forward, causing Grime to step back again. “And I have no idea what happened or why it happened, and the only people who could possibly give me answers are two girls who are supposed to be my best friends! But one of them I don't remember anything other than looks, and the other I have such contradictory memories that I have no idea whether or not I can trust her!!!” By this point, her face was already wet, tears of pure frustration streaming from her eyes. "So yes! You are right! I am upset! I'm upset because I don't remember almost anything, I don't know what to do, and you, someone that I know will start treating me like dirt again, is the only person I know I CAN TRUST!!!!”
The last shriek of her speech made all the animals close by scared away. Marcy collapsed, panting as she tried desperately to hold back the tears that streamed down her face, feeling strangely lighter than before. Grime was momentarily frozen, still trying to process everything he'd heard.
“…Am I the only person you can trust?” Marcy nodded, sniffling a little. Grime ran a hand over the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. "Wow... No wonder you seem to have so much pent up anger..."
"No kidding..."
“AHA!” They both jumped, turning to General, who had easily caught up with the two of them in the midst of the soldier's outburst. “I see you decided to submit to Great General Yunan! Scourge of the Sand Wars! Defeater of Ragnar, the...!”
“Um…Miss Yunan? Could you not do this now?” Marcy politely interrupted, finishing wiping her tears. "I'm in the midst of an existential crisis, and I doubt I can memorize something that long right now."
“Oh! Sure! I'm sorry." Yunan cleared her throat, looking embarrassed. She straightened her back and took a deep breath. “All right, you washed-up slob, time to go! Let's go to Newtopia for your execution. And you too human! I must formally introduce you to the king before he places you under his protection.”
“...” Marcy blinked, slowly rising to her feet with her face turned towards Yunan, a suspicious gaze and a clenched fist. "... Sorry, what did you call me?"
“Uh, ‘Human’? That’s the name of your species, isn’t it?” Yunan asked confused, causing Marcy to take a step back.
"... You know what I am... Which means... That you know them..."
Sasha? No, it cannot be. She doesn't remember much about that day, but she knows that Sasha was with the frogs, probably living with them. Unless she's been to Newtopia these past few days, which is not unlikely, the general would only know about her from someone else. Anne. Was she Newtopia? From the way Yunan so casually and correctly spoke the name 'human', they must be close, which means Anne is probably high up there.
Does she happen to know about what happened at Toad Tower? Does she know that Marcy, or at least some creature similar to her, has been in that place as a prisoner? If she knows, does she think Marcy died when Toad Tower was destroyed?
... Does she even care?
A big smile with tears streaming down in relief.
"Come on, Mar-Mar... Let's go home."
“…What are they going to do to me?”
"What?"
“If I go, what are they going to do to me?” the human asked, her entire body tensing with each passing second.
A cold look in a grim expression.
"Give up Marcy, you lost."
“We'll take you to the king, of course! And over there..."
“Will they help me? Take care of me? Are they going to 'send us home'? Is that what you were going to say?!” With each word, Marcy takes a step forward, looking increasingly unsteady, her fist still tightly clenched. Both the General and Grime took a step back as the human took a deep breath, eyes fixed on the floor, her mind racing wildly on whatever shred of memory was available.
A warm embrace.
"...No...I can't do that again..."
A scythe raised against her.
"...I can't trust you."
Marcy suddenly threw sand at Yunan, having caught it as she stood up. Surprised, Yunan didn't have time to react and some sand fell into her eyes, blinding her long enough for Marcy to pull out her dagger and attack.
The human lunged at Yunan, who easily dodged and extended her claws, wanting to destroy the human's weapon and immobilize her as quickly as possible. Before she could, however, a battle cry came out of Grime's mouth and he too attacked, with a thick branch, striking the general's tail. Yunan grunted and attacked Grime, who narrowly parried with his makeshift weapon, but the branch was easily severed by the general's claw.
Yunan gave Grime a fierce smile that was quickly transformed into a frightened expression as she felt the human leap on top of her, locking her arms around her neck and blocking her airway. The general let out a soundless scream as she tried to pull it out, using her tail and hands to get free from that blow. But the human refused to let go, growling fiercely and squeezing as much as she could on the general's neck, whose vision was starting to blacken. In one last desperate attempt, she threw herself onto her back, finally causing Marcy to loosen her grip and free herself. She barely had to catch her breath, however, as Grime took the opportunity to pounce on her with a new branch he grabbed.
Marcy grunted in pain as she got to her feet, seeing Grime forcing the general to nearly the edge of the precipice. She looked around, finding her dagger a few feet away, next to a slender fallen branch. She stretched, ready to grab her dagger and get it over with...
Sasha's eyes widened before her expression darkened, advancing against her without any hesitation.
Marcy shivered, vision of her getting slightly hazy. Not. Not now.
Air being forced out of her lungs, gravity suddenly pulling her down, Sasha's hand inches from her face.
She closed her eyes in an attempt to stop the images in her head and ease her headache.
“...Hold on, please!”
... What?
A terrified expression was present on the blonde's face. Her hands desperately gripped her arm, the only thing keeping her from falling off the collapsing tower.
... What is it?
"I can't lose you again!"
This... This is a new memory...?
“…Hey, Sasha?”
... Or rather... Is that...?
"...I've always needed you..."
... The rest of that day?
""...But maybe you've never needed me."
"MARCY!!!"
Grime landed a blow that Yunan blocked, looking still out of breath but still very capable of fighting on. Grime gave a frustrated growl as a thin branch hit Yunan's legs, knocking her off balance, and the toad took advantage of it to push her, sending her falling over the cliff and straight into the river below.
Grime looked down, just in time to see Yunan leaning on a log that was also being washed away by the river. She shouted something at him, but he barely heard it under the roar of victory he gave. At the same time, Marcy stood up against that thin branch, her eyes unfocused, looking like her mind was elsewhere.
“...Captain?” The toad turned to the human, who had a lost expression. “…What happened that night?”
“Have I not already explained it to you, creature?” Grime crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he spoke. “I went to a village where there was a rebellion going on, and I captured its leader. The other blond creature appeared and demanded that I release him, and I said I would if she won over you. You fight and she won, but the tower started to fall because someone blew up the base. You were falling, she tried to catch you but failed, and Percy and Braddock stopped you from falling hard to the ground. The four of us have been on the run ever since.”
"..." She looked away, letting out a small sigh. As she imagined, this new memory didn't answer anything, it just made the blonde's attitudes even more confused. And the only perspective she had was of two cool but flighty soldiers and a grumpy captain who she was sure, deep down, were just as confused as she was about that day. "... I understand..."
"...Listen crea... Marcy." The human blinked, turning in shock to the captain. After all, this is the first time he's called her by her name. “We are both in an unfavorable situation, you with your memory fuzzy and I being hunted. And that, for some reason, makes us incapable of parting, as much as we hate it… So I want to make a deal with you.”
Grime uncrossed his arms, a smirk all too familiar to Marcy crossing her face.
“I'm tired of this, this whole system, and I want to overthrow the king and make us toads the new leaders of Amphibia. And I want you to help me with that.”
"Me?" She pointed at her own face, lost. “But why me?”
“You were always a very intelligent creature, and now you have shown the ferocity of a toad. I need someone like you as my right-hand man, to help me with the plans of conquest. And I don't trust any of those hollow heads from the other towers to have it.” He shrugged, still the smile on his face. “Of course, such a trip is a long one, and we will probably pass through several villages… where we will probably find your friends, or the way you got here.”
Marcy's eyes widened, as did Grime's smile. Slowly, he extended his hand to the human.
“So here's my deal: You help me dethrone the king and become the new king of Amphibia. In return, I'll help you uncover the truth and find a way to send the three of you back home. What do you think?"
Marcy stared at his hand for a moment. It was tempting, very tempting indeed, to just accept it without a second thought, but she had to be careful. Again, something like an instinct warned in her subconscious, recognizing a manipulative gesture when she saw it.
"...If I help you, will you promise not to hurt Sasha and Anne?"
"Sure, no problem."
"And when you're king, will you make sure you send the three of us to our original world?"
“The castle library is big, there is definitely something there. You can be assured that I will use every resource I receive to ensure this.”
"...Alright." Slowly, she took his hand, squeezing it. "...But I'll only warn you once..." A wild gleam appeared in the human's eyes, and Grime could almost swear that a faint green glow also appeared in the blink of an eye. "...If you betray me, or go back on your words, or even twist mine... I will ensure that the toads' reign becomes the shortest reign Amphibia has ever seen."
"I promise, on my toad honor." Grime didn't seem intimidated by her words, in fact, he seemed even more excited to see the human's ferocity. “Now let’s go back! I still need to finish this series before I get in shape so we can start our world conquest!”
He gave an excited little jump as he walked back to the cabin. Marcy watched him walk before taking something from her pocket, opposite where she kept the dagger. From there, she took a photo, frayed around the edges, with the image of her, Sasha and Anne together, posing for the photo. She gently ran her fingers over the image, closing her eyes in the process, for the first time letting her fragments of memory run wild on purpose.
A strong and warm hug.
A scythe ready to hit her.
"I can't lose you again!"
"...I always needed you...But maybe you never needed me."
"...I'm sorry, girls... I really want to... But I don't know if I can trust you right now."
She turned to the horizon, watching the sun slowly sink into the mountains, creating a mesmerizing effect of light and shadows.
“…But I really hope I can do it one day.”