Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The bell rang as everyone in the halls of Saint James Middle School walked through the halls towards the various exit doors to leave for home.

Amongst the crowds, was Anne Boonchuy, who was keeping her head down as she went.

The students all talked around her, while not a single peep left her mouth. She simply just kept quiet and continued to walk, even ignoring a couple of the students’ attempts to start a conversation with her.

The last few months hadn’t been the best for her to say the least.

She’d kept a lot of her emotions about everything that had happened to her mostly bottled up, and she planned on keeping it that way... Even though things just seemed to keep going downhill for the young teen.

After returning from Amphibia (for the last time), she and her friends split off to return to their respective homes. The long walk back to her house gave Anne the time to reflect on a few things... Mostly the ‘never getting to see her friends and frog family in Amphibia ever again’ thing.

Needless to say, it put a pretty big dampener on her mood as she made her way home to her waiting parents.

Anne was nearly smothered by the both of them when she finally had trudged her way through the front door.

Of course, the two instantly had questions on how everything went and if she was okay.

Anne gave a trimmed down version of the events that occurred in Amphibia over the last few hours. She purposefully left out the rather large detail of her “death”. God, they really didn’t need to know about that right now... And she didn’t want to think about it much herself either.

When she finally reached the part of the story where she had to leave Amphibia behind for good, Anne had to wipe a couple tears from her eyes and hold back a sniffle.

She didn’t want to break down. Not now. Not after she had been able to keep herself together for so long.

They didn’t dwell much on it, but Anne could tell her parents weren’t happy to hear the last part. They had gotten attached to the Plantar family pretty quickly, and hearing that they were now separated from them for quite possibly forever had to be almost as devastating to them as it was for her.

After a while more of talking about the details, Anne decided to take her leave, and spend some time alone upstairs.

Once Anne had entered her room, she spent the first week just sleeping. All the work and fights she had done and gone through had finally caught up with her, and she just let her body collapse onto her bed.

Every time she woke up during said week, Anne expected to be hounded by Sprig to get out of bed like she had gotten used to for many nights before...

But would always be hit with the hard and cruel reminder that he was never going to do that again. Because he was worlds apart from her. In a world she would never see again.

But despite the sadness Anne felt every time she woke up, she managed to catch up on her sleep and at least felt a little bit better. She felt better enough to begin spending time with Sasha and Marcy again at least. But of course, not even that would last long.

Marcy finally moved a couple weeks after recovering from everything that happened. Anne and Sasha had both gone to see her off. There was a very long goodbye at the airport... And then that was it. Marcy was gone.

Apart from the occasional video call, it was now just her and Sasha. Which surprisingly, wasn’t so bad considering how much she had changed.

The blonde teen had gone through some MAJOR changes throughout the last year or so, and god was Anne happy to see them occur. Sasha had become a much better friend to hang out with, and just a better person in general.

They had much more friendly conversations than they used to, and it was a nice distraction for Anne... While it lasted.

She and Sasha had begun to slowly but surely drift apart. It was clear even after all they had been through across the last year, they both had their own lives that they needed to sort out and continue with.

Granted, Anne’s life was currently just being sad and being constantly stressed out at the moment, but to each their own.

But even when Sasha was off doing her own thing, Anne was never really “alone”. No, she had eyes on her and people around her at pretty much all times now. But not the kind of people she wanted.

After she was broadcasted on live TV taking down Andrias in that giant robot suit he had, hundreds if not thousands of people witnessed her beating up a large robotic menace using her (now gone) powers.

Needless to say, this put a LOT of attention on her from her fellow students, and news outlets around town. Attention that she didn’t really want. Which was ironic, due to her once wanting fame and to be hailed as a hero...

But now, it just seemed like another nuisance in her life that she was forced to live with.

She knew none of them were interested in talking to Anne Boonchuy... They were only interested in talking to the hero that saved LA with her amazing powers.

And man, did it suck hard for her.

So despite all the popularity and people praising her for what she did... Anne had never felt more lonely and empty in her life.

The doors exiting the school were swung open as the crowd of students flocked through it. Anne was one of the last people to leave out the doors, purposefully trying to lag behind to avoid anymore interaction with the others.

She swore she saw Sasha in the crowd of students for a split second, but waved it off. It just wasn’t worth going through the students to get to talk to her for only a few minutes. Heck, Anne could easily just call her if she really wanted to-

Ah wait, she still didn’t have a phone. Anne hadn’t bothered to replace her old one yet. After she gave her old one to... Sprig.

She shook off the impending depressing thoughts, and instead tried to put her mind on something more positive: The weather.

Anne managed a small smile as she glanced at the cloudy sky. At least the weather was decent enough today for the walk home.

That was when it almost immediately started to rain from out of nowhere.

It took all of Anne’s energy to keep herself from snapping there and then. She simply exhaled, and trudged forward through the rain as she scowled in annoyance.

Her mind wandered back to her friends, wondering if they had gone through any of this same mental pain she had been suffering through for months. Anne knew Sasha was probably at least still feeling the sting of leaving Amphibia for good just like she was, but she had no clue about Marcy.

Anne shrugged the thought off. At least Marcy couldn’t possibly be doing worse than her right now.

***

Marcy knew the first couple months would be hard on her after the move, but she didn’t expect it to be this painful.

She hadn’t made many connections at her new school in Hopkinton. Course, she had managed to join a few clubs at school, but nobody in them seemed too interested in getting to know her better.

So most of her evenings and weekends consisted of the same old thing: Staying home and doing her own stuff... Alone. Like usual these days.

Right now Marcy was at her desk, having only gotten home from school about an hour ago. She was currently writing/drawing various things in her journal.

Marcy had almost forgotten all about it after they moved here. But thankfully, she found it by chance in a box she never got around to unpacking before. So she decided to take it out and use it again... For nostalgia’s sake in a way.

It hurt seeing her past entries in the journal. It hurt even more seeing the extra past entires that Anne had written in it while Marcy was...

No. No, she didn’t want to even think about that part of the past right now. It was far too soon to reopen that old wound. It had barely even began to heal as of yet anyways.

As Marcy leaned forward, she was reminded of another wound as she felt a faint pain in her back. She winced, quickly fixing her posture on instinct. Her upper back still hurt from... The whole getting stabbed in the back thing, literally.

The Taiwanese-American girl exhaled, closing up the book soon after, and switching off her lamp. She felt as if that was enough reminiscing for one day... And yet, she didn’t want to stop.

Marcy missed Amphibia. Even after everything that happened (mostly because of her), she wanted to go back. But that was the cruelest thing of all: There was no way to go back. They were cut off from the amphibian world forever due to the stones being gone.

Everyone she cared about in that world, she would never see again. It still hurt. If only she had seen through Andrias’ lies sooner, maybe there could have been an outcome that allowed them to stay connected to Amphibia... But alas, that didn’t happen.

It was all because of one mistake she made, and that was one wound gained that she felt would never heal.

Marcy didn’t even manage to solve her own mistakes by herself. Her friends had to bail her out for her to even begin to make up for them. Like, after Anne and the Plantars had made it back to Amphibia somehow-

“Wait a second...” Marcy murmured in faint realization, her self-deprecating thoughts trailing off, being replaced with curiosity.

She quickly reopened her journal, and switched back on the lamp nearby. Marcy wasted no time in turning the pages to find a specific set of entries.

It took a minute or two, but eventually she found a set of entries that peaked her interest greatly: Anne’s descriptions of her finding a way back to Amphibia.

Marcy read through the various writings. There were mentions of portals, powering said portals, and actually managing to make it to Amphibia... Without the power of the music box.

It was like her soul had been recharged from reading the words on the pages alone. A twinge of hope was brought back into her. There was actually a chance they didn’t have to say goodbye to Amphibia for good after all!

She glanced outside the window at the sunset in the distance. It was a nice one too, the sky was bathed in various warm colors. To Marcy, it was just another sign that maybe there was hope for the future after all.

But she knew it would take a couple risks and leaps in order to even begin the plan that was forming in her head. Firstly, she needed to get the help necessary. Fortunately, she knew exactly who she was going to get to help her with this.

Marcy took one last deep breath, before getting up from her desk, and heading downstairs, journal in hand. She had made her decision, but for once... She didn’t know if it was a good one or not.

***

To Anne, the weekend finally arriving was a godsend. She could finally be alone with her thoughts for a while, and maybe try to think of something else besides her own misery.

She was currently in her room trying to relax. A Lo-Fi playlist was playing in the background as she laid on her bed. The music was somewhat drowned out by the rain outside, which hadn’t gone away for days now.

At least it gave Anne an excuse to avoid going outside, letting her stay isolated like she wanted at the moment.

As much as she had been trying to think of things besides Amphibia, the memories she had of the place kept pushing their way back into her head.

The people she had met, the enemies she had made, the adventures she had, and the things Anne had left behind (she still really needed to get a new phone soon).

It was painful for her to reminisce about it all, but at the same time it was nice to remember the good times... Granted, the bad sometimes came with the good.

Just as she was remembering the exploration of the temples while trying to reactivate the music box, Anne smacked her lips. She was actually pretty thirsty. Which was probably a result of her not drinking a drop of anything for the entire day.

Anne sighed as she reluctantly got up. She couldn’t be sad while being thirsty at the same time after all. Thus, Anne found herself walking down the stairs towards the kitchen to find something to drink.

She soon made it to the kitchen, and opened the fridge to scan for any drink options. Maybe she had some Blam Berry Blitz left in the fridge she could sip on. That’d give her a decent positive emotion rush-

Suddenly, the sound of knocking on the front door interrupted the Thai girl’s thoughts. Anne turned to glance at the door, and after a few moments, the knocking continued. She sighed heavily, beginning to walk over.

“I’m coming! I’m coming...” Anne called out to the door, annoyed by the repeated knocking (mixed with the constantly ringing doorbell).

She swung it open once she made it over. Out of all things she was expecting at the door... It was not a familiar drenched Taiwanese-American girl, with two luggage bags sitting next to her. Anne’s jaw nearly hit the floor.

“Hey Anna-Banana!” Marcy grinned, doing jazz hands as she did. “Surprise!”

Anne was silent as she stood at the door, jaw still agape while she did.

“...Should I have called first?” Marcy sheepishly asked.

Chapter Text

Anne wasn’t sure how to feel about all this.

On one hand, Marcy was back in town and staying with her for the time being. After a bit of convincing her parents (who she hadn’t really been talking to much outside of small talk), Oum and Bee had agreed Marcy could stick around for a while. They had plenty of space in the house after all.

The last few hours had mostly consisted of Marcy moving herself into Anne’s room. Her various things had been scattered around, being mixed with Anne’s own things that she had.

Anne probably would have helped if she hadn’t been standing in shock for those hours, still taking in the fact Marcy was suddenly here without so much as a phone call in advance.

Instead, she had used her time to glance around the room at Marcy’s things curiously. She did tend to carry around the most random things in her bags from what Anne could remember. Her eyes soon landed on Marcy’s backpack, that had been tossed on the bed absentmindedly.

From what Anne had been able to notice from a small glance, said backpack had been dedicated to being filled with various gear, which included binoculars, dark clothes and even what looked like... Bolt cutters?

Okay, that was something she was definitely questioning Mar-Mar about later...

Speaking of Marcy, It had been about 30 minutes since she had first set up a bunch of maps and pinned documents on a wall nearby, and was now pacing as she seemed to be marking things down while ranting to herself.

Marcy had probably drank double her body weight in energy drinks by now. With many empty cans littering the floor around them both.

After a bit of time was spent processing everything that was going on, Anne finally decided to speak up with the obvious question:

“Marcy, what is all this? And why is it all over my wall?” She spoke up, getting Marcy’s attention.

The teen girl turned to look at Anne, with almost owl-like reflex in doing so.

“These are the plans I’ve made! Alongside the research I’ve managed to do in a short amount of time!” Marcy explained.

“Plans and research...?” Anne blinked, “For what?! Oh god, don’t tell me you came all this way for a Creatures and Caverns one-shot.”

During the last few days that Marcy had been in LA before she moved, Anne and Sasha had agreed they owed the girl at least ONE session of that game where they actually paid attention...

...By god, did they both learn quickly how MUCH attention that game required, and for how long.

Marcy shook her head, before looking Anne deeply in the eyes. Their pupils were locked almost in place.

“Anne, what if I told you... That there was a possible way... For us to get back to Amphibia?” Marcy asked, her grin growing with each pause she made in her question.

Anne was silent as the words sunk in. She had barely managed to push Amphibia out of her mind during the shock of Marcy being her temporary roommate... But now the thoughts were back, in probably the most surprising way it could have been brought back up.

“B-But Marcy, the stones are gone... There’s no way back...” Anne replied, hating to have to remind herself of that truth.

“Nah, nah Anne... Because YOU managed to make it to Amphibia without the box before! It’s completely possible we can do it again!” Marcy pointed out, chugging another energy drink as she did.

Anne exhaled, not wanting to repeat herself. “Mar-”

“THEN you can REUNITE with your frog family, and enter a WHOLE NEW stage of found family trope WHOLESOMENESS and FINALLY achieve the happiness your heart NEEDS! That it’s been CRAVING, Anne!” Marcy ranted on, even forcibly poking Anne’s chest a few times for emphasis.

The ranting of her plan was only stopped when she needed to catch her breath, panting as she did. Anne blinked a couple times.

“...Okay, you gotta lay off the energy drinks. They’re changing you.” She remarked with a bit of concern.

“NO! THEY’RE CHARGING ME, ANNA-BANANA!” Marcy refuted, pumping the air with her fists for emphasis, before going right back to catching her breath.

Ignoring her friend’s caffeine-fueled rants, Anne did find the idea worth considering. Maybe there truly was a way back if they found enough power to energize the portal...

But that was just the problem: It was hard enough finding a way to power the portal in the first place back then! The only thing that had been powerful enough to charge the portal, was her Calamity powers... Which were gone alongside the gems.

“But the only way the portal from before was even activated was because of my powers, which just a reminder... ARE GONE.” Anne exhaled, uttering out that last part with a bit of an edge to it.

“Look, I have a plan on how to get around that! You just need to trust me!” Marcy responded, her smile not leaving.

“Oh my god...” Anne moaned, trying her best to take all this in. “How the heck did your parents even let you come if THIS was your plan for your visit?”

In response, Marcy clicked her tongue, and averted her eyes as she sheepishly rubbed her right arm.

“Oh yeah... I uh... Didn’t really tell them the full truth about why I was coming here.” Marcy smiled sheepishly. “Just told them it was for a short visit.”

“WHY...?” Anne nearly stuttered out in exasperation.

“Anne, if I told them the real reason I was coming to visit... They’d never have let me come.” Marcy pointed out, “What would I have even said? “Hey Mom, hey Dad! I know I was trapped in another dimension for six months while you were worried sick about me... But I wanna go visit Anne and find a way back there!”

Anne clicked her tongue. She did make a pretty good point. Marcy’s parents had been so relieved to get their daughter back, it was doubtful they were planning to let her simply disappear like that again.

“Okay fair... But on the other hand, you’re gonna get grounded for 200 years if they find out the real reason you came.” Anne flatly remarked.

“It’ll be worth it if this works out.” Marcy reasoned, “Come on, don’t you want to at least give it a shot...?”

Anne sighed heavily, and was quiet for a few moments as she considered it... Before a familiar look of determination that hadn’t appeared in months formed on her face.

“We need to get Sasha on board.” She commented with a smirk at Marcy, who squealed happily in response.

“Oh heck yeah! The girls are getting back together again!” Marcy grinned, nearly jumping with joy.

***

The last thing Sasha wanted to do right now was get the girls back together again.

If it had been a sluggish life for Anne the last few months, it had pretty much been a small stroll through Hell for Sasha.

Nothing much had really changed for the Waybright daughter. Her parents had been happy that she returned of course, but her living situation didn’t change any.

She still was living with her father in LA, and hadn’t visited her mother much recently. A visit was planned in a month or two after school let out, but until then, she was staying in LA.

Unlike Anne, Sasha’s social status had plummeted since her return to Earth. While Anne had been praised by the media for her heroic actions... Sasha hadn’t really been brought into the spotlight at all during all of that, neither her or Marcy for that matter.

On one hand, it was nice to finally get some peace after all the chaos that occurred during her time in Amphibia... But on the other, she got little to no recognition for her efforts in helping save LA. Heck, save the entire world!

Her time away from the school and her peers had taken it’s toll. Nobody really paid any attention to her anymore when she walked in the halls of the academy (granted, she had become a much different person than she used to be).

There was only one thing Sasha had to show for her experience in Amphibia now... And it was lined up her back like a faded lightning strike.

She hesitantly had touched it a few times recently, usually whenever she reminisced about the past. It still stung, but it had mostly healed thankfully.

Terri had looked it over soon after they had returned from Amphibia, and from what they had said, it was a miracle Sasha could even walk anymore from how deep the cut had been.

You’d think that besides the scar, Sasha would have at least been able to enjoy her newfound muscles that she had built up during her time leading the Rebellion... But those didn’t last too long after she returned to Earth.

She took ONE cheat day, and her muscles had just decided to completely give up. Sasha just hadn’t been able to resist the temptation to indulge in normal unhealthy human food again after so long...

She had zero idea how the heck Anne and Marcy had managed to get used to eating bugs and such like that during their time in Amphibia.

Sasha wanted to at least try and keep fit despite losing most of her muscles. So she invested in a punching bag that now was hanging from the ceiling on a chain.

She also had zero idea on why the heck she hadn’t invested in a punching bag a lot sooner in life, even before everything involving Amphibia happened.

In fact, she had just been in the middle of one of those punching sessions when her phone began to ring from over on the end table of her bedroom.

She wiped the sweat off her brow, before Sasha walked over and picked it up.

“...Oh god...” Sasha mumbled, seeing the contact picture of Anne instantly.

That was a reminder of another large thing that had changed a lot: Boonchuy.

Ever since Amphibia, she wasn’t really sure where her friendship with Anne would go in the future. But from how the last few months had gone, it was looking more and more like what she once feared it would be... Just not meant to be.

Sasha had been purposefully avoiding Anne for a while now. It just seemed like their interactions had gotten more awkward over time. With one of the few things they really could talk about was their past experiences in Amphibia... Which tended to be a subject that reopened old wounds that hadn’t even healed yet.

She was half-tempted to just let the phone ring, and pretend she hadn’t been able to reach the phone in time... But eventually she found herself being unable to resist pressing the green button to accept the call.

“Sasha? You there?” Anne’s voice rang out from the other end of the phone.

“Yeah, I am...” Sasha responded, trying her best to not sound as dead as possible. “What’s up, Boonchuy?”

It only took a minute for Anne to give a basic explanation on why she called. Sasha, of course, had a rather reasonable response a few moments later.

“The heck you mean Marcy’s back in town and has a way to get back to Amphibia?!” Sasha shrieked in shock from how blunt Anne had put it.

“I mean, you can ask her yourself...! You’re on speakerphone.” Anne remarked, and as soon as she did, another voice piped up on the other end.

“Sash, I LITERALLY just got done selling Anne on this... I really don’t want to do it again.” Marcy flatly replied in the background, “Just trust me, I got a plan.”

”You’ve been saying ‘trust me’ a lot recently.” Anne remarked flatly, noticing a pattern.

“You CANNOT just say you have a plan and not explain more...” Sasha exclaimed, still in shock. “There’s no way you found a possible way back-”

“You just gotta meet up with us! I’ll explain more once we’re all face to face!” Marcy explained.

“...You really think there’s a chance?” Sasha hesitantly asked, wanting confirmation.

“With every brain cell bobbing around in my head.” Marcy confirmed, a twinge of confidence in her tone.

Sasha exhaled, knowing there was the chance she was going to regret this. “Okay fine... Where are we meeting then? Name the time and place.”