Chapter Text
It was a peaceful day in Wartwood. As peaceful as you could get, what with the giant, frog-eating bugs, the giant, frog-eating birds, and the not-giant, not-cannibalistic residents of the town. Flies buzzed in the clear blue sky and the sun shone down on the central statue, stone, of a girl who had long since left this world for her own.
So it was really to nobody’s surprise when a blue frog came sprinting out of the woods, yelling his head off about a pile of beasts he had seen while on his forest walk.
“I saw ‘em with, with me own eye, I did! Big creatures, bigger’n almost any newt I ever seen!”
A few townspeople looked over at Wally, but most rolled their eyes and got on with their day.
“They, they ‘ad spindly limbs! And massive heads! One of ‘em with curly brown hair, just like our Anne used to!” Wally doubled over, panting and leaning against the statue. He took a moment to catch his breath, before standing up proper again.
“It’s true, I swear! I’d stake me own accordion on it!” He continued to yell, unaware of the pink frog bounding up to him.
“WALLY! What did you say?” Sprig skidded to a halt next to the older frog, nearly crashing into the base of the statue.
Wally spun to face Sprig, “What, about my accordion? You’ll never take her from me!”
“No, no, no, about the beasts you saw.”
“Oh! The ones in the forest? Long, lanky limbs, they had, all tangled up in one big pile. Horrific face bumps, on a huge head! One of ‘em was making a noise like a broken frobo! An’ they can’t’ve been human, like our Anne was, they were far too big. ‘Sides, there’s no way to get to her world nowadays either.”
Sprig, who’s hopes had until that point been up, looked confused and deep in thought. “You’re sure, completely sure, they weren’t human, you said one of them looked like Anne.”
“Check for yourself! They were just off the road, a ways that way.” Wally pointed back in the direction he’d come from, watching Sprig go hopping off not a moment later, in the direction he’d pointed.
The sunlight stabbed its way into the clearing where Anne lay. It honestly felt like a heavy metal drummer was playing a concert inside her skull. The bright light through her eyelids and loud, droning noise right by her ear did not help. Something uncomfortable was digging into her back, and something else warm and heavy was squishing her. It was hard to breathe. She forced open her eyes and squinted, pushing against whatever was on top of her to free herself, then pulling herself into a sitting position, holding her head in her hands.
After a few moments of adjusting to the brightness and the sheer greenness around her (was she in a forest? What happened, why was it so bright, it can’t be that late in the day), and a closer look at her surroundings, she realised the heavy thing that she’d unceremoniously rolled onto the ground was her girlfriend, one Marcy Wu. Sorry about that, Marcy. Another closer look revealed that what, or rather who, she’d been laying on was her other girlfriend. Sorry Sash, you’re lovely, but your elbow really isn’t comfortable.
Anne blinked blearily, looking around and shielding her eyes from the sun as the world around her span. The three of them were, as she thought, in a forest. What in the frog did they get up to last night? Hell, she was still in her work uniform, she noticed, as her lanyard clacked when she moved.
The events of the previous night eluded her and she was quickly distracted by a pained groan coming from the ground in front of her. She leaned forward slowly, to mitigate the dizziness, and smiled.
“Hey Marbles, how’re you feeling?”
Marcy took a second to consider, before responding with a resounding “Bad.”
Anne chuckled quietly and looked at Marcy, “I don’t blame you, last night ended us in a forest.”
Marcy smiled weakly, and groaned again as she lay on the forest floor, holding her stomach and looking all the worse for wear. Her long hair was a mess, there was mud on her trousers and jacket, and Anne saw that she looked a little green. Hah.
“We should.. probably try to figure out where we are.” Anne pulled her phone from her pocket, making a face when she saw the time and lack of service. “D’you have service, Mars?”
“Mhm, mhm.” Marcy groaned again and shook her head slightly at the question, before hastily getting to her feet.
Anne watched Marcy start running to the treeline, trip over her own feet, get right back up and disappear into the trees. She heard retching shortly after and grimaced.
She staggered to her feet, and started to follow Marcy, but stopped halfway to the treeline and looked back at Sasha, who was still laying on the floor. She glanced back and forth between the trees where her being ill girlfriend was out of sight and her asleep girlfriend in the clearing.
“Anne?”
Anne glanced back towards Sasha, who had finally woken up and was looking at her groggily, and smiled, heading over to her.
“Where’s Marcy?” Sasha sat up and rolled out her arm, the one Anne had been sleeping on.
“She’s,” Anne stopped to consider her words for a moment - the sounds of puking had stopped by now - before being interrupted by a call from the trees.
“GUUUYS?” Both Anne and Sasha winced and covered their ears at Marcy’s croaky yell.
The woman appeared a moment later, carrying a struggling beetle the size of her head. She presented it without comment, and the other two’s faces fell. She let the beetle go with a closed-mouth grimace, watching it buzz away, before looking back at her girlfriends.
“I.. do not think we’re on Earth anymore.”