Archive of Our Own ^beta

Marcy was standing in the control room. The preparations had gone well so far, as long as Anne and Sasha didn’t get in the way the rest of the invasion it would be just fine. Ah, who was she kidding? They’re Anne and Sasha! Those two are stubborn as hell! 

Marcy had let The Core join with her body after she realized her “friends” weren’t coming for her. Who needs that stupid helmet when The Core is just a few external eyes?

Well… technically speaking, would she be Darcy or just Marcy? She was still part core part Marcy but now she had more control. That, was a question for later.

In the control room she was currently making sure that the shields were in place and secure before hearing a slight shuffling in the hallway to her right. Great, just what she needed.

The steps kept a steady pace, slowly approaching the control room. Just one, and judging by how this person was lighter on their feet it was probably Sasha.

Anne’s steps were always heavier, and more frequent. Being the second tallest, at about 5’2”, Anne was always in the middle of group photos. Sasha was somewhere around 5’4”, maybe 5’5”, making her the tallest of the trio. Sasha was always just quieter when it came to how she walked.

Marcy jumped back barely dodging Sasha’s blade. Shit, she forgot about her. She grabbed her scythe from her back and got into a battle ready position, letting the blade extend from its resting position.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh you know, just a casual Tuesday. Preparing to take over an entire civilization, you get it.”

Sasha swung her swords again, Marcy barely dodged but she wasn’t quite fast enough resulting in a cut on her left cheek.

She wiped the blood off, ugh that was probably going to scar. 

Marcy spun her scythe around with ease, Sasha blocking her attacks and Marcy blocking Sasha’s.

She dodged another swipe made by one of Sasha’s swords, but it wasn’t supposed to be so easy to dodge lethal weapons like that.

“What, afraid of hurting me?” 

Sasha clenched her jaw but continued to swing her swords around with Marcy blocking her hits like some sort of messed up dance. Sasha would spin to the left and Marcy would block her swords. Marcy would push forward with her scythe and Sasha would either dodge or block.

In other words, they were both starting to get a little tired. 

Finally, Marcy managed to knock Sasha down by slashing her across her back.

“What have you done with Marcy?” Sasha hissed, letting all of her anger and frustration seep into her voice as she laid there, fighting for air.

“Oh Marcy? She’s right here, you’re looking right at her.” She said, crouching down.

“No, you’re not Marcy. You’ve done something to her. Give me back my friend you sicko.”

“Your friend !? Your FRIEND !?-“ She laughed- “Why didn’t you treat me like one then! If I was supposed to be your friend you would’ve cared about my interests, you would’ve paid more attention to my declining mental health, hell! You might’ve even came for me sooner! No, you aren’t my friend, and it’s doubtful you ever were.”

Sasha was silent.

“You neglected me as a friend, the only times you actually paid attention to the fact that I existed was when you wanted to boss me around. You brushed me to the side when I was clearly struggling. Maybe if you had come sooner I might have forgiven you, but not anymore. It’s been four months since I was stabbed and two and a half months since I joined The Core. A whole goddamn month of thinking you left me and one and a half months of being in CONTROL for the first time in my life, and you haven’t even tried to ‘save’ me until now. We are not friends. I was hardly your acquaintance .”

“But I’m here for you n-“

“Save it. You may be here now but how many times do I have to repeat myself, you weren’t there when I needed it. Up.” She said, standing up and looking down on Sasha.

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. She let the orange eyes that now covered most of the left side of her face open and focus on Sasha.

“What the fuck are those?” 

“Oh, just a little gift from The Core that came with the whole body and tech fusing shit. It’s more of a gift than you ever got me on any of my birthdays.”

“Okay I’ll admit it, I wasn’t the greatest person back then but I’m different now! We can still be friends!”

“No. You’ve already used up all of your chances, there is no redemption for you. Anne trusted you, you tried to kill her found family. Anne and I trusted you and you indirectly got me stabbed through the spinal cord.”

“But-“

“Sorry, but you’re just one of those people that no matter how hard you try you won’t ever be able to get the redemption arc you believe you deserve. Because after all, does someone like you ever truly deserve it?”

“I’ve changed! I promise!”

“Funny… That’s what they all say.”

Marcy lowered the scythe finally back into its smaller form.

Sasha started to slowly inch away before Marcy stopped her.

“You didn’t think I was done with you did you?”

Sasha stared up at the disturbing smile Marcy was wearing.

“Haven’t I given enough to you? Haven’t I done enough for you?” Marcy started circling her like a vulture. 

“I think it’s time you do something for me, then we can be together, forever. But we need to collect Anne, do you think you can do that for me?”

“No! Why would I help you! You’re not the same Marcy-“ She let out a small sob and raised her hand to her face, wiping away a few tears- “You’re not the same Marcy that I cared about!”

“Oh her? She’s dead, and will never be seen again.”

“Then who the fuck are you, you bastard !”

“Marcy, just the part of her that you never saw. I killed the kind loving Marcy that you knew, I accepted The Core, and now I’m more powerful than ever. The only reason you never saw me was that you never decided to check on my mental health. I am the output of your input. You neglected me, betrayed me, left me , and in return you indirectly killed the Marcy that you loved.”

“I- You BITCH ! I AM NOT THAT PERSON ANYMORE!”

“But you were .”

At that Sasha went silent for a moment before saying, “We can still save you!”

Marcy laughed. “Well now, what if I don’t want to be saved, hm?”

“But… this isn’t you! You wouldn’t threaten your friends!”

“I already told you, the old Marcy is dead and I am standing in her place. Also, I have told you many times now that you were not my friend, if you were you would’ve acted like one.”

“Now, I need to consult The Core about something, if you move I will not hesitate to tie you to that chair over there.” Marcy said, closing her eyes.

Now, to ask The Core what she should do with Sasha.

What should I do about my “friend” Sasha. She cannot be trusted to be released but I don’t wish to kill her.

KILL HER.

NO, SHE MAY BE USEFUL TO US.

I VOTE THAT WE JUST KILL HER AS WELL.

HOW WOULD SHE BE USEFUL TO US?

She’s the one blessed with strength, we could use her. I just need to figure out a way to make her believe she’s doing something good, but that might be quite the challenge. Or we could try and get her to “see the error of her ways” or something corny like that. Honestly, I’m voting for the first one.

I STILL VOTE WE KILL HER.

WHOEVER THINKS WE SHOULD KILL THE GIRL SAY I AND WHOEVER THINKS WE SHOULDN'T SAY NAY.

I

NAY

NAY

NAY

I

I

NAY

I

NAY

NAY

I

NAY

Nay

THE NUMBER OF NAY’S HAS OUTNUMBERED THE NUMBER OF I’S. WE DO NOT KILL THE GIRL.

Marcy heard Sasha start to slowly shimmie towards the door.

Hold on, I think I need to tie her down. She sounds like she’s trying to escape.

Marcy opened her eyes and commanded one of her metal beam arms to grab onto Sasha.

She heard Sasha shriek as the metal collided with skin, most likely leaving a few small but deep cuts.

“Let me go!”

“Oh don’t worry, I don’t plan to kill you.”

“Then what are you gonna do to me?”

“Oh you’ll know when the time comes Sasha.”

She commanded the beam to bring Sasha closer to her.

Marcy giggled and turned, walking away from Sasha.

“Oh you’re so fun to tease with your short temper!”

“Hey, I do NOT have a short temper!”

“She said as she proceeded to have a short temper.” Marcy said, still giggling maniacally.

Something dinged in the distance.

“Oh, sounds like my red velvet cupcakes with ube frosting are done, I’ll be back soon.”

At that more metal arms slithered into the room and formed a cage around Sasha.

“This isn’t how this was supposed to go… This wasn’t supposed to happen… What have I done..?” Sasha whispered to herself, letting the hot tears roll down her face into her hands that were now inches away from her face.

• ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Anne was getting worried. It’s been hours since Sasha entered the castle to deactivate the shields and hadn’t returned. She knew it was a bad idea to only send one person in! But it’s not like they had any other soldiers to spare.

Something was definitely wrong. Was she killed? Taken prisoner? Was she okay? Ah shit, what if Darcy got her? Oh no oh no oh no if Darcy got to Sasha, which she probably would have by now, who knows what could be happening to Sasha right now.

She could be getting tortured for fucks sake and the resistance was just- just sitting around!

She had called a meeting four minutes ago. Anne looked around the room, good, everyone had arrived.

“Alright, do you know why I gathered you all here today?”

A chorus of no’s emerged from the crowd of frogs gathered around her.

“It has come to my attention that Sasha is believed to be currently held captive by the King’s forces and Darcy. We need to get her back, any ideas?”

The group stayed silent.

“Okay… Grime. For now you’ve been promoted to combat strategist.” Anne turned the page on the board next to her, showing a crude drawing of the palace mapped out.

“So, if we send a small group of two to three frogs, and me of course, and enter the castle on Joe Sparrow again we could possibly sift through the castle searching for Sasha and the control room. Now, the two might be in the same place and we might have to fight to get her back, who wants to volunteer?”

At first frogs were hesitant to raise their hands but in total two frogs raised their hands besides the Planters.

“Everyone who hasn’t volunteered, you’re dismissed.” She waited for the frogs who weren’t going to be in the plan to leave to state her forming plan. 

“So here’s the plan…” She said after most of the frogs had left.

• ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Marcy had dragged Sasha into the throne room now, still in the metal cage Marcy had trapped her in.

She was sitting on the throne, holding the music box in her right hand.

“You know, that plan was never going to work. I would recognize that scheme from War of The Warlocks any day, very clever. Using Anne as a distraction so you could take credit for the victory.”

“Anne’s the one who came up with the plan! Don’t blame me for her not noticing that you would have assumed we would’ve followed that plan.”

“Ah, blaming Anne now? And I thought you two had made up.” Marcy got up from her throne.

“What do you want with me anyway?”

“Well, your first use is going to be Anne bait, your second… Well, best not to tell you until it's time.”

“Time for what?”

“Oh you’ll see.” She walked closer to Sasha.

Sasha frowned, not knowing what was going to happen to her was objectively worse than knowing and dreading.

Marcy finished her approach towards Sasha and leaned closer. Then, she laughed. It was a morbid sound, because it was coming from Marcy. Marcy, who had been a sweet, short, girl. A girl that Sasha cared about more than she was willing to admit. Marcy, who had trapped her and cut her. Marcy, a girl whose mind had been plagued with so much betrayal and pain she turned to the side of The Core willingly.

Marcy, a girl she cared about. A girl she regretted neglecting. Someone who didn’t deserve what had happened. Someone who deserved more.

“Hey, no zoning out here.” Marcy said, snapping her back to reality.

“I hate you-” Sasha started, slightly shaking- “you aren’t Marcy and you deserve nothing she did. You… aren’t her. You’re just some horrid replacement.”

Marcy sighed. “I am no replacement, I have been here for years. I am her, but better.”

“But you’re not.”

“…What?”

“You’re not better than her. She was kind and caring. All of this happened because she didn’t want to leave us. She had emotions, feelings unlike you. You don’t feel anything. You just exist, and destroy.”

Marcy blinked at her with amusement in her eyes. “Seems your ability to talk back has returned, good, that means your energy is returning.”

Sasha tried to stand but the horrible pain in her back just grew to be unbearable so she sat back down. “Was this your plan? Give me a big ass scar on my back so I can’t move anywhere or do anything?”

Marcy said with a curious tilt of her head, “Not necessarily.”

“Then what is it?” She spat back in return.

“I’m not telling you, but I need to get someone or some thing to look at that so it doesn’t infect and kill you.”

Sasha scoffed, like that was true to any extent. Although, now that she had thought about it more it did seem to make sense. If she died before Marcy did whatever to her she would be no use, so Marcy would have to fetch someone to help patch up her back so she would stop bleeding but not enough to let her walk. Shit, that was actually really smart. She tuned out everything else Marcy was saying.

Marcy was the nerd of the group. She was always the one watching that dumb movie at every sleepover. She and Anne had always fallen asleep before it ended, but somehow they would always find themselves in blankets that weren’t there before. Marcy was always looking out for them, even if they weren’t looking out for her.

She could feel tears pricking at her eyes, but she was too tired to cry. Sasha slowly and subtlety reached down to pull her hidden dagger out of her boot. As soon as she had a grip on it she threw it at Marcy. 

Marcy barely dodged.

Suddenly the metal snakes forming her cell slithered away, shit. Marcy grabbed Sasha by her shirt collar and pushed her against the wall, her back flaring in pain.

“Oh. You think this is a game, don’t you?” Marcy said, 

“No, but you probably do.” She replied, cocking her head to the side in attempt to imitate Marcy’s disturbing state with a smirk.

Sasha took the opportunity to kick Marcy in the gut giving her a period of escape. She took it and ran, or, tried to run. It was a struggle, a painful one. But it would be worth it to get away from the monster that had replaced her friend.

She turned back to look at Marcy for possibly the last time, silently hoping to still see her on the floor, but she was sprinting straight at Sasha.

She took that as a sign to get moving, and fast.

Sasha felt something, some one , yanking her back pinning her to the floor. She cried out in pain as her wounds flared up.

“You will try no such thing again, and you will show me any and all other hidden daggers you have on you.”

This time, Sasha was crying from pain.

“No.” She managed out.

“No? Oh that just won’t do.” Marcy lifted Sasha up off of the ground and held her arms length away.

“You can’t say no. Look at the situation you're stuck in! I could always change my mind and kill you. For the last time, if you have any more hidden daggers you will dispose of all of them.”

She lifted a dagger up to Sasha’s neck that she got off of her belt.

“Alright, fine. But I’ll just tell you now that I don’t have any more concealed daggers.” Sasha lied, hoping her, mostly, poker face could make Marcy believe her.

“Back to your cell, I need to fetch first-aid supplies.” Marcy said as she dragged Sasha back into the spot she was at before, letting the metal arms slither into a cell shape once again.

It was now that Sasha noticed that she was bleeding. How fun.

And now she was stuck with her own mind, alone, for an undetermined amount of time. Lovely.

After waiting for about ten minutes, if Sasha’s internal clock was still working correctly, Marcy walked back into the room, first-aid kit in hand.

“Hm, you’re still alive. Good. Reopening your wounds was not supposed to happen, but it did.” She sighed, “Mistakes must be fixed or reversed. Mistakes must not stay in existence for any longer than necessary.”

“And what do you consider a mistake?”

A long period of silence.

Marcy walked up to Sasha and leaned forward. “You.” She said,

Sasha stared at her in disbelief. Marcy stared back, unblinking.

“Now, to get you patched up so you don’t bleed out on my floor.” Marcy said with a cheerful tone, tilting her head to the side and clapping her hands together.

Marcy entered Sasha’s cell by moving the metal arms around her.

Sasha tried to shimmie away, after all, this was the person who had just injured her, threatened her, and is using her as bait. Why would she trust her to patch up her wounds?

Marcy approached her and grabbed her leg. Sasha let out a hiss of pain.

“Oh don’t be such a child, just hold still.” Marcy pulled out bandages and started to wrap Sasha’s scratched up legs.

Strange. Odd. Weird. Absurd. Those were all words that described what was happening at that moment. Marcy straight up said that she didn’t care about her anymore, but she’s taking time out of her day to patch up Sasha’s wounds? This was getting confusing. Did she or did she not care?

Marcy finished wrapping the left leg and cut the bandage so it was to length. She moved onto the right leg.

What Sasha didn’t know was that Marcy did still care about her, that’s the true reason why she doesn’t have plans to kill Sasha. The true reason why she was taking care of Sasha.

Sasha had no idea why Marcy was doing this. It was probably some new kind of trick of some sort.

Marcy had finished with the right leg and had moved onto the right arm. Sasha could feel the pink creeping up onto her face, because Marcy was this close to her , and not in a threatening way like before. 

No, this wasn’t Marcy. Sure she looked like Marcy… and maybe the Marcy she knew and loved was in there somewhere, but that doesn’t excuse the obvious cruelty from this Marcy. Still, why was Marcy bandaging Sasha’s wounds? Did she still have a part of her inside that cared about Sasha? She must if she’s doing this.

Right..?

Maybe if Sasha can get out of this alive she can help Marcy, she can care for her, pay attention to her needs, and maybe even… no, she probably won’t get back home. She probably won’t get a chance. She probably won’t survive. Probably. But maybe, just maybe, by sheer luck she might survive.

“Done!” Marcy said, standing up and taking a step back.

Sasha looked up at Marcy, realizing that she zoned out.

“I-“ She started, her throat closing up.

“Hm?”

“Thank you… not for the injuries and scars… but for the bandages… thanks…” She managed to stammer out.

At that Marcy blushed slightly, though obviously not willing to admit it and not allowing Sasha to see it in the dim lighting. “Well, I only did that to keep you from dying.” She looked away and tossed Sasha a roll of bandages, “Here, for your back.”

Marcy left the room and said on her way out, “I’ll leave the room so you can put those on. Just don’t even try to escape or you're going to get another scar to match that one on your cheek.”

Sasha sat there clutching the bandages, confused at what just happened. Was that a bit of red that she saw on Marcy earlier or was she just hallucinating? She was probably hallucinating… she should probably patch up her back while given the opportunity…

• ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Marcy walked back into the room Sasha was being held in about half an hour after she left. She checked that Sasha was still in her cell, good. Everything was as intended.

She went over to sit on her throne and closed her eyes, it had been a long day.

YOU SEEM TO HAVE GONE SOFT ON THE GIRL MARCY.

Shit.

No, I’m just trying to make sure she doesn’t die.

HM, WE DO NOT BELIEVE YOUR LIES.

And guess what, I. Don’t. Care! I just want to prepare for the coming invasion in peace without you BOTHERING ME.

SEEMS WE MAY HAVE TOUCHED A NERVE THERE. SAY, WHAT WAS THE NERVE WE HIT THAT LEFT YOU WITH SUCH AN OUTBURST?

That’s for me to know and for you to never find out.

WHY SO SNAPPY? SO EAGER TO RETURN TO YOUR HOMELAND?

No! My parents were going to force me and my so-called friends apart and my foolish self thought that the best course of action was to transport all three of us to another world for my stupid escapism fantasy. I didn’t even think it would work! But it’s not like I want to go back there! That place is filled to the brim with morons and assholes.

WHAT ABOUT STRENGTH AND HEART? THEY SEEM COMPETENT, ESPECIALLY STRENGTH. SHE HAS FIGHT IN HER.

They aren’t idiots, it’s just a majority of the people from Earth are okay? Now, if you’ll excuse me I have matters to attend to, goodbye.

She opened her eyes, she had forgotten that disadvantage of hosting The Core, she never gets any rest because any time she tries, her rest gets interrupted by The Core’s voices. Anne still had her old journal, oh how she wishes she could work on translating old Amphibian texts and tomes right now. That was always a stress reliever, but now she didn’t have her journal with her, and her journal had the key to deciphering the ancient language.

She could always ask the other minds in The Core but then they would lecture her on having given the journal to Anne. Marcy let out a sigh. She’s never going to get a break, will she?

Marcy heard Sasha shuffling in her cell, right, she wasn’t alone. Now was not the time for insecurities. 

“Awake?” She asked the other.

“Yeah, what do you want?” Sasha replied snarkely.

“Just an experiment, you’re coming with me by the way.”

“What for?”

“You’ll see.”

Marcy stalked out the door with Sasha being taken by the metal beams and said, “You know, you’re the more curious of the two of you, you and Anne. Sure, Anne has the occasional trick up her sleeve and has decent sword fighting skills but she’s not quite as intriguing. You should already know that I need to find a way to extract the gem's power out of Anne without her dying without me needing to tell you, you’re smart. Not as intelligent as me though, obviously. You were gifted brute strength and I was gifted the intelligence to do things many others have tried and failed to accomplish. Things people could only dream of doing.”

“And you're taking advantage of the fact that the gem's power has left me, tying me up in what would normally be a simple escape has become a challenge for me.” Sasha scoffed.

“Maybe I am, but wouldn’t I be a fool to not exploit what I can though?”

“Fair.”

Marcy and Sasha continued through the halls of the palace, Marcy leading the former to the basement.

“Why the fuck are you taking me to your basement?”

“To see how the creatures below react to your presence. After all, I believe you still emit an aura from the gem.”

“So that’s the experiment?”

“Only one of them.”

“Can you tell me the others?”

Marcy considered Sasha for a moment before telling her no.

“Why not? I already know I’m going to die either from you or natural causes.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t kill you Sasha. Believe me, I have other plans for you.” Marcy said with as much confidence as a king, when in reality she had no idea what she was doing.

Sasha let out a small laugh, “Just do your worst.”

“It seems we have arrived at the basement, I would tell you to watch your step but you're not actually walking down these.” Marcy said, stating the obvious.

“Haha, you’re so funny. Oh hold on, do you want an award for that? Because you just have the BEST. HUMOR.” Sasha replied with sarcasm dripping from her every word.

“You know what, I might have to change my mind on the killing part.”

Well, now that Marcy had a chance to see Sasha properly since the “fruity awakening” as she liked to call it, she noticed how pretty Sasha was with her hair down. No. Not the time, not the place. Not right now.

Marcy opened the door to the gardens and led Sasha through, glancing over to see her reaction to the scientifically impossible room.

As soon as Sasha looked through she was stunned, it was a full greenhouse but underground, and without sunlight. Now, she didn’t know much about plants but she was pretty sure that they needed sunlight to survive.

“What the fuck is this? How the hell are these plants growing underground?” According to Anne, Marcy was incredibly interested in Amphibia’s flora, even creating an encyclopedia of it. The old Marcy would’ve stared in awe and taken notes of everything, but she wasn’t here.

Sasha hadn’t realized that she had tuned out what Marcy was saying about the plants kept in this room, so she tried to listen.

“-and so we made sure to slowly transfer them down so they would adjust to having less and less sunlight. A great majority of these though are from planets where their sun is often out of view because of the clouds, resulting in us having to keep this room very humid to match their natural environment. After all, we can’t go back and get more.” She turned to Sasha and Sasha stared back.

Sasha snapped back into reality and said, “Wait what do you mean you can’t get more..?” Marcy stood and smiled. Sasha added, “What did you do to the planets you conquered before..?”

What did Marcy mean when she said that? Was that implying that they fully destroy the ecosystem on the planets they conqueror or do they destroy them all together? Sasha had so many questions running through her head, what had happened to previous planets taken by previous conquests? Where these remains the last, or were the planets in question still out there? What number of civilizations were destroyed to create such a variety of vegetation in the castle's basement?

But one question really stuck in her mind. How many people has The Core killed..? She had no clue, and asking Marcy, if you could even call her Marcy, would result in an answer she wasn’t ready for. Sasha wanted to know, but she didn’t at the same time.

She didn’t realize she was being moved through the room until she noticed that the scenery around her had changed. It’s funny how the metal beams taking her along the hallway were being more gentle around the large gash on her back, almost as if Marcy didn’t want to risk reopening it with one of the metal arms. It’s almost like Marcy cared.

Almost.

The next room that they entered was a flooded room with coffins floating, connected by chains.

“Ah the Shadowfish, what strange creatures. They were originally from the planet Raggnøk, before we conquered it of course. These creatures born of guilt and sorrow were trapped in large coffins by the Raggnøk people to keep their civilizations safe.”

Sasha, completely lost in the info dump she was just given, asked a question to the other girl, “Wait, how would they be protected if they put the Shadowfish in coffins? I heard they were relatively peaceful.”

“Well, the people of Raggnøk were… unique, to say the least. The Shadowfish fed off the people of their home planet making them the top predators, we can’t provide the Shadowfish with their desired food so they often remain in their dormant state, or better known as their physical state. When Anne had awakened them they were obviously hungry, and Anne was the closest target.”

“Wait, weren’t you there too? Anne said that you two found them together.” She questioned, feeling the slightest bit of jealousy. If what Anne said was true… oh how she would’ve loved to go exploring with Marcy.

Marcy hummed for a moment before answering, “Yes, I was. What of it? Certainly it shouldn’t have made a difference to the story. Unless…” She trailed off, turning away from Sasha mumbling to herself.

“Anyway,” Marcy started, “This wasn’t why we came down here. To the other rooms.” She finished, commanding the arms around Sasha to bring her along to wherever Marcy was going.

As the two traveled down the dank hallways Sasha examined her surroundings. What even was this place? One room was full of mirrors, another was a whole greenhouse, while another one had these creatures called “shadowfish” living in coffins floating in murky water. It was all so strange, after all, most of these things weren’t even supposed to be possible! Sasha could see that she and Marcy were approaching an old door at the end of a stairwell. Shit. Nothing good could be at the bottom of those stairs.

Marcy stopped at the door before saying, “Welcome, to your new home.” She opened the door. Huh, that was weird. It was really fucking dark in there. Were there any lights at all in that musty ass room? Just as she finished internally complaining, Marcy did something and the room lit up with an orange hue.

Wait… Was that light coming from eyeballs..? On the wall..? Why was there a glowing green tube on the far end of the room? Marcy said she was bringing Sasha down for some experiments… Was Marcy going to stick her in that green fucking tube!? First thought, ew. Second thought, how the fuck would she BREATHE? Huh… The equipment around the tube was suggesting that it’s been used before. But by who? Okay, question for later.

Marcy led her into the center of the room, closing (and probably locking) the door behind her. She released the metal arms around Sasha. Perfect chance to fuck up some shit.

Sasha swiftly kicked Marcy right in the chest, quickly reaching for the dagger hidden in her hair.

“Seriously? I told you to get rid of all your daggers!” Marcy shouted, grabbing her own flame dagger off her belt, blocking Sasha’s next attack.

“I would’ve thought you knew me well enough to know that I always keep a trick up my sleeve!” She shouted back, grabbing her other concealed dagger from her boot.

Dual wielding once again, Sasha slashed and stabbed with her daggers, Marcy dodging some attacks and parrying others. It was like their first fight a few days before, a morbid dance with the occasional injury.

Sasha was standing a few feet away from Marcy, she could see that the other girl was just as exhausted as her. This was the perfect opportunity. As Marcy stood trying to catch her breath and put pressure on a new wound so it wouldn’t become fatal, Sasha snuck up on her.

“Take THIS you BITCH !” Sasha practically screamed as she reached forwards, grabbing one of the mechanical eyes on the side of Marcy’s face and pulling pulling pulling . She heard Marcy scream as Sasha stumbled back, but she could hardly hear it over the sound of her own heartbeat.

Oh god . She just ripped an eyeball out of Marcy’s face . Holy shit… She thought to herself, still gripping the eye that was dripping with blood and wires.

“What have you DONE ! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DIFFICULT THAT WAS TO INSTALL?” Marcy shouted, clutching her now bloodied face with her hand, holding onto the flame blade tightly with her other. Marcy cried, she screamed, she… didn’t deserve that kind of pain. “Oh you are so getting killed for that.” She added between short breaths in almost a whisper, wires sliding out of the side of her face, soaked in blood. She was dripping blood everywhere.

Sasha let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and ran towards the only door out of the horrid room. It was a little difficult to run considering the fact that the floor was a little slick with blood but she could manage.

She reached the door and tried to turn the handle. Yup, it was locked. This didn’t look like any lock she’d ever seen before… Oh well… I wonder what she’ll do to me? Sasha wondered.

The blonde could hear footsteps behind her, okay, she needed to act fast. She tried everything. Using her dagger on the lock, trying to cut the wood, banging on the door, but none of it worked.

Sasha turned around just in time to see Marcy hitting her on the top of her head with the hilt of her flame dagger, knocking Sasha out. She thought she could make out something Marcy was saying as she fell unconscious, falling to the floor.

“Good luck, because you're going to need it where you're going.”

• ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Something nagged Marcy from the back of her mind, and she couldn’t tell what. Maybe this was wrong. Maybe she should get rid of The Core, dispose of it, and… and… no. Not going there. She glanced at the unconscious Sasha by her feet. What to do with the blond? When she was threatening the other earlier it had mainly been for the theatrics… she didn’t actually know what to do with Sasha.

Marcy looked over at the giant tube she was placed in not too many months ago. She subconsciously reached towards her back where the massive scar was and grazed over it with her fingers. She sighed. Should Sasha go in there? It would help heal the scar on her back (Marcy tried not to think about how they were matching now) but she’d be unconscious the entire time. Sasha would be no use to her in that state, plus, who would she banter with? Andrias ? Hell no. Definitely not The Core. It didn’t even have a sense of humor.

Okay… so what was the second best option? Marcy tried to think. She could use the library and have some kind of barrier on all the exits… she’d feel bad if she locked Sasha in a basement. Library it is.

Marcy commanded the metal arms to grab onto Sasha, but not open any wounds, and follow behind her. As she walked to the library she tried to think of some tech she could use for barriers. Of course! She had crafted those barriers a few weeks ago so she could block hallways or not have to deal with Andrias but she could use them as the doors for the library. She could go into the prison because they still hadn’t repaired it from when Andrias broke out and it was too… dank in there. Too dark. 

As she walked through the hallways she glanced at the walls. At the tapestries coating them. She felt like in a different reality, she’d be passing those horrible tapestries after she left The Core. After a great battle. But that would never happen… right? No, but in an alternate reality, maybe. Marcy felt a weird sense of deja vu at the thought. 

She had to get to the library.

• ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Anne had gathered the frogs willing to go and try to rescue Marcy and Sasha with her in preparation. “So, do we all have our equipment?” She asked, looking around at the frogs.

The frogs nodded and mumbled.

“Great, we all know the plan and we need to make a move. We head out in thirty, make sure to gather by Joe Sparrow.” 

• ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Maybe it was the fact that one third of The Core was gone from her body but Marcy started thinking more… clearly? Why the hell did she even capture Sasha? Maybe it was because every time she looked at the girl her mind became more of her own… maybe it was because… nope, not going there today. Maybe… The Core had convinced her to join it and it was subtly controlling her. That would make sense given her behavior. She didn’t even know why she acted like that before in the first place! Oh frog what had she done…

She walked away from the library door. Maybe being away from Sasha would clear her head. Just maybe. Why was her head filled with so many maybes? Why couldn’t she be sure of anything other than the fact that she… no, she wasn’t ready to admit that to herself. Marcy slid down the side of a wall dragging her hands across her face, her left hand catching on the two remaining eyes and the bandage where the third was only a few hours prior. Why did things have to get so complicated ?

Why couldn’t she be normal?

Marcy sighed. She wasn’t normal, she never would be. And she just had to accept that. She found comfort in things often found strange. She had crushes on girls while other girls her age were crushing on guys. She was nerdy. The others weren’t. She never fit in. She always tried to get them to see her for who she was but they never quite got it. They never understood her lack of social skills. Her lack of being able to read other people. Her lack of being able to stand in a loud room and not get overwhelmed. Her hand subconsciously lifted back up to touch one of the remaining eyes embedded in her face. She was never enough was she? She thought for a moment before deciding.

It was time to visit Sasha.

• ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

When Sasha woke up, she had no idea where she was at first. She had thought that Marcy would’ve put her in the test tube in the castle's basement. Huh. She could hear steps outside of her cell so Sasha scrambled to her feet, grabbing a book just in case. What she didn’t but also did expect, was for Marcy to come through the door. Marcy shut the door behind her.

“Hi.” Marcy said. Wow what a great start .

“What do you want?” She asked, hoping that Marcy wouldn’t play any mind games with her. Actually, taking a look at Marcy Sasha could tell that something was different than before. It wasn’t the bandage… it was something else.

Marcy took a few steps towards Sasha before saying, “You’re help.”

“Now why would I help you?”

“Because I think The Core was using me. It’s left me for now to discuss without me in the half destroyed eye that you pulled out of me and… I want you to take out the others. The Core… I think it was manipulating me. Those things I did before… Looking back I don’t feel like myself in those memories, I don’t even sound like myself. I want to be back to normal.” Marcy let out a quick, sharp laugh before continuing, “Well, as close to normal as I’ll ever be. But please. I know this seems like a total one-eighty in my personality right now but… I think it’s because I’m the most clear headed I’ve been in awhile. I’m sorry, I know that won’t make up for it but I need your help. Will you help me?”

Sasha contemplated what Marcy said for a moment. It did feel good to rip that one out of Marcy’s face before, and she was just given a chance to do it twice more. Should she accept? She considered the circumstances. 

“Yes… I accept.” Sasha finally said.

Marcy walked closer to Sasha, stopping a few paces away. Sasha closed the distance by stepping up and pulling on one of the eyes. She pulled and pulled and pulled like before, finally pulling it out. Sasha had realized that during that entire ordeal Marcy was screaming. She hadn’t heard it at the time because of the amount of focus she was putting into pulling the mechanical eyes out of Marcy’s face.

Sasha took a couple steps back, tossing the eye to the side all while staring at Marcy. Marcy was gasping for air and clutching the side of her face as blood dropped out. The hardwood floors of the library would likely be stained for a long time.

“Are you… okay?”

“No… but I’m ready for the second one.”

“Okay.” Sasha said, once again stepping towards Marcy before taking out the other eye as well, discarding it to the side just like the first.

“Did you bring any bandages with you?”

“Yeah,” She said, tossing the roll to Sasha with her free hand. “Here.”

“Thanks. So do you want me to put these on for you..?”

“Yeah, that would be preferable.” Marcy said, staggering over to the chair closest to her. “The Core should be all gone now. Thank you.”

“Oh, um… you’re welcome. Sorry it has to hurt like a bitch.” Sasha finished, chuckling a little.

“It’s the price,” She paused as she winced from the cloth touching her raw skin, “Of being free.”

“So, did we defeat The Core?”

“I think so..?”

And that’s when Anne burst through the door screaming.

• ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Anne looked at the two blushing very obviously gay girls in the library. 

“Oh, I heard screaming so I thought someone was dying. Why was there screaming?”

“Long story, don’t feel like explaining it.” Sasha said, turning back to Marcy.

“What happened to Marcy’s face?”

“Again, long story.” Marcy said from her spot on the chair.

“Stay still, I’m trying to bandage you up over here.” Sasha said, laughing a bit at the end. Her laughter cut off and she said to Anne, “By the way, The Core is defeated so the big bad is finally dead. Yes, we did all the cool stuff without you.”

Marcy looked up at Sasha in awe, she actually remembered a term from her favorite tabletop rpg Creatures and Caverns? Maybe she was underestimating how much Sasha noticed about her.

Anne looked between the two before saying, “I feel like I’m interrupting something here… so I think I’ll just… wait outside the door…” She backed out of the room and closed the door behind her. Unknown to the two very obviously gays in the room Anne was standing right outside the door easedropping.

“So, are you back to normal?”

“I think so? Trivia me just in case.”

Sasha hines for a moment. “Okay. Umm… what’s your favorite movie and what’s the run time?”

“War of The Warlocks, three hours twenty-seven minutes and fifteen seconds.”

“What’s your favorite video game?”

“Vagolvondia Chronicles; Breath Of The Wilderness of course! The gameplay is really fun, you should really play it sometime.”

“What about the snake incident?”

Marcy shivered, “Oh frog I hoped you forgot about that. I was playing that newer game, Inktoon 3, but I got so into it that I didn’t realize I was walking into the zoo that had become overrun with snakes. Anne said she choked on marshmallows when she saw the news.”

“What about the Pan Peter play?”

“Oh no not the play. Anne was hanging on the rope and she needed to be let down but I was playing Pokèmon Cerulean so again, I didn’t notice and she fell into the crowd. You played Captain Cook.”

“And the time in first grade when Anne played the main role?”

“Oh my frog! I forgot about the tooth play! That’s when Anne was singing and ended up setting the stage on fire!”

“Who’s your favorite person?”

Marcy paused at this. “You.” She finally said after what felt like ages. That left Sasha speechless for a while. For a long time it was just the sound of the two breathing and the faint sound of the jets on the bottom of the castle.

“So… You wanna go home?” Sasha finally asked.

“Hell yeah.”

So the two of them left the room slowly, Marcy leaning on Sasha, and grabbed Anne. The trio then discovered that in a last ditch effort Andrias destroyed the box. Well, if they just did a little work then hopefully they could fix Amphibia up enough.

• ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Epilogue - Ten Years Later

Marcy danced through the castle ballroom with Sasha. It had taken years of hard work but they did it. They had somehow, fixed Amphibia. Not everything was perfect, Marcy could still hear the whispers of The Core sometimes and Sasha still had panic attacks but they were becoming less frequent with each passing year. It was all great. It was sad that they couldn’t see their families anymore but… at least they could be together. And Anne could be the third wheel.

Despite all of the events that had happened Andrias decided to become a farmer, using his inventing skills to create small robots to help him grow his crops. The Core had been defeated. Marcy would never have to move. There were bad days, and there were good days. Marcy and Sasha just enjoyed it.

Sasha cut her hair to just above shoulder length, a cut that Marcy and Sasha alike absolutely loved while Marcy grew hers out. They had it all. A kingdom, friends, family, and a whole community that didn’t care that their rulers were gay. Marcy drew comics in her free time and was planning on releasing some to the public under a pen name of “Regina” as almost no one knew her middle name. Sasha tried to learn cooking from the head chef, Anne, before realizing that she just couldn’t cook . So Sasha tried other things. If you could name it, she’s tried it. Sasha finally decided that her hobby was music. She wrote hundreds of songs in her time as Queen, many of which talked about her own trauma.

The duo was dancing in the ballroom as it was their one year anniversary. Olivia and Yunan had finally gotten married as well. Sprig and Ivy were engaged. Polly had started her own mechanics shop, allowing technology to be more accessible to the public.

Overall, Amphibia was better. Sprig and Ivy were off exploring a new continent! It was amazing, and they were happy. They were safe. They were loved. Clair De Lune finished and Marcy pecked Sasha on the cheek.

“Aww thanks Mar-Mar!” Sasha said, pecking Marcy back.

“You ready?”

Sasha nodded, helping Marcy out of her mid-dance stance.

“Never been more excited, this is my favorite album yet. It might be the best one I’ve created.”

“They’re gonna love it, but not as much as I love you.”

Sasha chuckled before saying, “Oi, stop being so cheesy Wu!”

“Oh really Waybright? Does that mean we shouldn’t dance for our first anniversary?”

Sasha laughed. Marcy laughed as well. The two were happy, and that was all that mattered in the moment between them.