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Anne awoke lying on soft, green grass under a big tree. She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she tried to figure out just where she was. The sky looked about midday, small clouds covering parts of the sky. All she could see in front of her was a giant field, neither buildings nor structures in sight. There were no other trees besides the one she was under and another one about twenty feet away.
Her mind was fuzzy, and she couldn’t remember anything she’d done that day. Except.. where were the Plantars? Surely they had to be somewhere, right? She wouldn’t leave them as long as they were on Earth.
Earth. That’s right. But where on Earth was she?
Suddenly, she saw a figure standing right beside the other tree, back turned towards her. Anne rubbed her eyes again just to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. They looked human, about her height, not like any of the Amphibians she’d seen before. The figure still stood there, removing their cloak from their head, revealing dark, short hair. Could that be…
“Marcy?” Anne took a few steps closer. She’d barely spoken the name since they’d left Amphibia. The figure turned around, eyes meeting Anne’s, an expressionless look on their face. A few feet away from her stood the same Marcy that Anne’s known her entire life, her light brown eyes
looking straight into hers.
“Marcy..” Anne breathed as she was now running towards her as fast as her legs would take her, she didn’t care that none of this seemed real, given the circumstances that happened the last time she’d seen her, all that mattered was Marcy was here.
Before she could reach out and pull her into her arms, though, Marcy disappeared right then and there into thin air right before Anne. She lost her footing to the surprise, falling to the ground and hugging herself tight, squeezing her eyes shut. Of course this isn’t real.
She felt cold air rush around her, shivering and slightly opening her eyes to see that she now, somehow, was at the park she and Marcy used to play at all the time when they were younger. She looked towards the two swings that were next to each other, sighing as she got up and sat down on one.
She shut her eyes again, trying to fight the tears that tried to make their way out. Why did this all have to happen?.. Why can’t she just be next to me right now and tell me everything will be okay? She has to be alive still.. she has to be.
She turned to look at the empty swing next to her, recounting memories of them together right here. But when she looked over, Marcy was right there, swinging slowly, and the expressionless look was still on her face as she stared blankly into space.
“Marcy..” Anne froze, staring at her for a moment. When she received no reply at all, Anne leaned closer and tried to take her hand, but Marcy disappeared again. She looked at the empty seat, tears threatening to spill over again. Why couldn’t she just be close to her, even if it was possibly just a dream?
The air got cold again. Now she was sitting at the water fountain her and Marcy had sat at, catching up, in Newtopia when Anne had just arrived. She looked around. No sight of Marcy. She ran her hand through the chill water, only looking up to see Marcy sitting right across from her, head in her knees as she hugged herself.
“Marcy?” Anne reached out hesitantly. She didn’t want to see her disappear again, ever. “Marcy it’s okay.. I’m here. Please, talk to me..”
She didn’t receive any reply again. All Anne wanted to do was hug her, to hold her hand again, to just.. be close to her, one way or another. She smacked the water with her hand in frustration. Why was it, that even though how hard they tried, there was something that made them separate? She never wanted to lose her, but in reality, they were dimensions apart. She’d never felt so far away from Marcy before.
“You left me, Anne.. for the Plantars.”
Lost in her thought, the cold air that suddenly appeared again jerked her back to where she was. This time, she stood, but as she looked around, she wished she could run away. ANYWHERE but here.
“No, no no no..” Anne said under her breath. Her heart started racing as she looked around the castle. Her eyes caught a dark corner, the same one that Marcy had tried to open the portal again. The same one that..
Anne shut her eyes as tight as she could, refusing to open them. She could hear the swords clashing, the arguing she had with Sasha. In her head, all she could see was Andrias’ smiling face, the same one he had used to get them to trust him. He seemed so friendly..
She couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t stand seeing his face. As she opened her eyes which now had tears pouring out, she saw him running towards Marcy. Her Marcy. She ran as fast as she could, hoping that somehow, her powers would come back so she could save her.
“MARCY!” Anne yelled, desperately trying to alarm her so she could move out of the way, but Marcy didn’t hear her. She couldn’t reach her in time.
Her heart dropped as she witnessed that one familiar memory again.
The cold air came around again, making her even more cold then she already was. This time, there was nothing around her. Nothing but complete darkness. She let herself collapse and buried her head in her hands as she shook and sobbed. She’d been trying so hard to keep it all in, to seem like she knew everything was okay. But she didn’t know.
She woke up in her bed, tears streaming down her face. She looked over to see the Plantars sleeping peacefully right next to her. She didn’t have the strength to wake any of them up, and she didn’t want to sleep anymore. After all, what was the point if she couldn’t even be close to Marcy in her dreams?
She grabbed Marcy’s journal on the way out of her bedroom, quietly going down the stairs and into the backyard. She didn’t know where else to go.
She found a corner and sat down, clutching the journal tight before opening it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop crying. Maybe it was a good thing, to let it all out. She’d had the nightmare before, every night since she got back, time and time again. It still didn’t mean it got less painful the more she dreamt it, though. She looked through the journal, stopping as she found a page with doodles of herself that Marcy had drawn. There were some of just her, but what really made her heart ache was the one of them holding hands. She buried her face in the journal, holding it as tight as she could as if her life depended on it.