Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Anne Boonchuy looked at what they were doing, Maggie, with a broken spine, trembling in terror, muffled plea behind the gag in her mouth as the 3 girls surrounded her. 

Anne looked at the knife in her hand

"we don't have to do this." Anne muttered 

"pardon?" Sasha questioned

"Call it here.  She's a total wuss, she'll go along with whatever we tell her to say.  She's in a wheelchair, she learns her lesson, we ... go home.  We don't need to go any f--"

Sasha put a finger on her mouth.

"Shhhh," she said.  "It's already too late."  She stroked Anne's cheek, and Anne hated how much she enjoyed the sensation.  "We're committed to this thing we're here to do.  The plan is in motion.  It doesn't stop until it's done."

"We can change the plan..." Anne said, and Marcy's face fell.

"We can?" Marcy said, almost whimpering.  "Nobody said we might change the plan."

"see Marcy too wants to see the plan through." Sasha countered 

"Think of how much she hurt you," Sasha continued into her ear.  "she was always a brat that knows nothing but being a jerk towards you for your tastes."

Anne tried to summon that anger she felt but all she could think of was how limp Maggie's legs were, how awful those screams.

"We were on God's doorstep, where he teaches his children, and nobody.  Did.  Anything.  To help you.  There's no authority we can trust in this stupid fucking world except ourselves.  Everything is wrong, and nobody does anything to stop it, except us.  Do you understand?"

Anne looked down at the knife, then at Sasha, then at Maggie, Maggie insulted her, pushed her, made fun of her, yet... She couldn't... 

"I... I understand..." Anne reluctantly replied , "But I don't want to do it myself." Anne continued

"that's ok." Marcy interrupted

"I Always wanted to vivisect something more then frogs anyway..." she followed in delight. 

With a sadistic smile Marcy grabbed the knife from Anne's hand and walked towards Maggie, the redhead struggling and crying, trying to move, her efforts being however futile, Sasha pinned Maggie's left arm on the floor and ordered Anne to do the same for the right, the 2 pinned the girl down, Marcy then came closer and closer until finally... 

Anne grimaced as Maggie's muffled scream and cries of pain and anguish began to follow Marcy's slow cutting, her torso and stomach being opened just like the frogs in biology class, then opening the skin up showing the organs and bones inside of her, Maggie was still crying even as the insides were visible, the girl was still alive, finally Marcy stabbed the heart with a precise strike between 2 ribs, the blood covering all 3 of them, Maggie's crying finally coming to a halt. 

Marcy made a terrific squeal of joy, her legs trembling, her eyes wide, blinking only hesitantly as she wore her share of Maggie's blood.

 When Maggie's remains stopped twitching Anne let go of the arm, knowing that it was done, and felt her mind detach from her body.

Flowers, she thought. We could just have flowers.

"See?" Sasha said, planting a kiss on Anne's cheek, taking a patch of Maggie's blood away with her when it ended; a reverse lipstick-print. "This is good. And we are God."

Anne giggled, because she wanted to cry, and the machine they were making would not let her; the machine of blood and stainless steel, this machine of murder in desolate places.

Flowers, she thought, watching Marcy and Sasha root around in Maggie's insides and trowing her organs at eachother. We could just have flowers.

Neither Sasha nor Marcy knew about the note Maggie left for her parents, saying that she was out with some friends and to not call, but it was the killer app that made the plan just that much more perfect. For on Saturday morning, Maggie's mom saw the note, and reasoned that her daughter was likely just staying with a friend unannounced. She could manage herself, after all. She was... tweeeeeelve, she wanted to say. 

When the next day came and Maggie's cell phone went directly to messages, her parents began to worry, and Maggie's body parts were finishing their journey through the Los Angeles trash management system, anonymously integrated into separate loads of garbage between three different dumps.

All but a few select pieces.

The three best friends in the whole world returned to Marcy's place under cover of dark, sneaking in through Marcy's window. Her parents were asleep by then at the thunderously late hour of 10 pm; they had no problem letting their daughter and her friends enjoy a nice, calm board game or whatever it was, and they took care of themselves without making a mess.

That Marcy took the effort to record their sessions of DnD and play the audio back while they were out was almost unnecessary. They returned from their outing unnoticed, undisturbed, and with a plastic baggie of treasures wrapped tight around a brick of that keep-cold stuff Anne never knew the name of, and then further wrapped in layers of newspaper.

Marcy turned off the recording as Anne shoved the parcel under Marcy's bed as far as her arm could

"So, what's the plan with those?" Sasha said.

"We have some leftover sulfuric acid from when dad cleaned the chimney," Marcy said.

"...you have a chimney? In LA?"

"It gets cold sometimes!" Marcy said, defensively. "...But anyway, we have like half a gallon left, and I got some of the other stuff to make it, so I'm gonna make piranha solution. That'll be super fun!"

"'Piranha solution,'" Sasha said, raising an eyebrow. "That sounds fun."

"Oh yeah," Marcy said. "It'll be like the Neverending Story 2, except way funner than just a feather."

"The what-what 2?" Sasha said.

"You've never..." Marcy gasped. "We should super watch it! That movie's super scary, except for the acid, but maybe I'll be braver with you around..." She went digging around her old crate of VHS tapes.

"Can I use your shower?" Anne muttered, after doing a lot of staring at the patch of wall opposite the bed.

"Didn't you already..." Marcy said.

(There was a chemical shower, still hooked up and active, which made cleaning up after a lot easier. Bless whoever inspected that building last.)

"Somewhere with warm water," Anne said, louder than she meant. "Please?"

"You have used it every other time you've stayed here," Marcy said, "so... su-u-u-re?"

"thanks" Anne muttered, and grabbed her duffel bag full of clothes and made a beeline for the shower.

Sasha took a seat at Marcy's work table and dug around for snacks. "She'll toughen up."

"Yeah," Marcy said, pulling out the right tape. There was a nagging question, but she knew better than to second-guess Sasha. Not only would it probably get her murdered--and that'd just be inconvenient--Sasha just knew things. There were things she understood that evaded Marcy's senses, things that worked out when her ideas were put into action. In turn, Marcy had a grasp of mathematics and useful science facts and a total willingness to study anything and everything for protracted periods of time which helped bring those ideas to life. They completed each other.

 And Anne... oh, Anne.

"I'm gonna take a seat real quick," Marcy said, and fluttered onto her bed, sighing contently as she hugged the tape to her chest.

"You do that," Sasha said, getting her phone and checking her messages.

Sasha thought about today, man it was so fun, Maggie's guts and blood were exposed and visible for everyone to see, then they played with her insides, much more fun than any toys, well Anne never joined, she was a bit of a bore and a wuss today, still she follows orders and helps hide the evidence, she can still train that boring little guilt out of her.

Anne was curled in the shower, hugging her knees and sobbing under the water... She didn't want to do this, she didn't want to end lives, to "be a God" as Sasha put it, she just wanted to play with her only friends. Just kids... They could just be kids... 

Chapter Text

a week after, Sister Amelia gave a truly tasteless speech to her Modern History class about the degenerate state of modern society and how surely Maggie had fallen prey to its excesses.

Sister Ada was fired within a month's time, in part because it turned out she was not a nun and Sister was her first name (full name: Sister Ada Mitchell), and in part because she lit up a spliff during an art history test and watched Vine compilations on her phone. Her replacement was a lot less interesting.

 Nobody investigated the soap factory, or even suspected it. It stood inviolate; ghost stories about screams coming from the factory late at night were dismissed as, well, ghost stories.

One year from that Monday, with no clues to her whereabouts and her undisturbed bones pitted and cracked under tons of L.A. garbage, Maggie was declared dead. In that year, Anne, Sasha, and Marcy worked on their musical chops, doodled costumes for their inevitable band, binged each others' favorite movies, placed on the school's archery team (that was Marcy), was discretely promoted to "chief animal cleaner" at home (that was Anne), fell irrevocably in love with each other (even Sasha felt the cruel stirrings of that fated emotion, she who prided herself on having killed the last human part of herself long ago), at least Marcy and Sasha did, and killed four more people, three alone in the soap factory.

 Have to keep the legends alive, after all.

Lisa Meredith: but her name may as well have been Karen, caught their eye by raising holy hell at Anne's family restaurant. She had gone in alone, and a little investigation by Marcy revealed that she was, in fact, a single woman, other than all the cats. The cats were basically outdoor cats, and so they killed her. with the same routine they did with the supposed Domino I killer. Anne felt a little better about this one, even as Meredith simply gave up--not screaming, not fighting back, just letting her death happen when she realized it was inevitable. Not that Sasha made it any quicker.

Drifter (unknown): Old guy that Sasha pegged for a budding problem. Him they lured to the soap factory. Marcy took a beautiful shot right through his chest, and Sasha finished him off, Anne watching. It wasn't until she was home, trying to sleep, that Anne realized that Sasha had never elaborated on exactly how the old guy (Randolph Higgins, 1954-2015, RIP) might have been a problem.

 Robert O'Houlihan: Older teenage guy on a bike who hit on Sasha. Sasha found out he was a runaway, out to strike it rich in Hollywood, and invited him to her secret parlor in an abandoned factory. That one Anne had no qualms with killing. Took a little pleasure in, in fact, as Sasha explained his attempt to hit on her, a 11 years old. (Robert was a runaway from an abusive household who was looking for a job, and Sasha implied her dad owned the soap factory and would be interested in giving him an interview during the off-hours. He was very confused at how empty the place was, and shortly after he wasn't anything at all.) 

 And then there was...

 Tyler Anderson wasn't the best premed, no. But he had two things in his favor: he had no morals whatsoever, and plenty of extra alprazolam ordered under his boss's noses, the better to sell on the side. His choice was by an abandoned factory in Compton, one that the other dealers pointedly avoided. It was supposed to be haunted, scaring people away and only an idiot tries to sell drugs where there was nobody to buy them.

 Tyler was not the sharpest tool in the proverbial shed.

On this balmy spring night, he glimpsed out into the night, looking for passers-by who he gauged were unlikely to be cops. To his surprise, a blonde girl in an I-have-a-cold facemask and anti-glare sunglasses crept closer to him

 "Hey there," he said. "What the hell's a kid like you doing out here at this time of night?"

 "Buying drugs, idiot," the girl said, pulling out a small wad of bills. (A twenty wrapped around some toy money, but in the sodium lights of after-dark LA, convincing from a short distance.) "What you got?"

 "If you need to chill out," Tyler said, jiggling a baggie of 'nax, "I got some Xans right here."

 "That's the stuff that killed XXXTentation, yeah?" the blonde said, tilting her head.

 "Well, I-I-R-C it was contaminated by trace amounts of fentanyl, which is gonna kill you stone dead if you don't take it in the exact right form in the exact right way. Trust me, though, this stuff?" He tapped the bag. "Sourced from someplace reliable. Absolutely will not kill you instantly."

 "Bummer," the blonde said, sighing. "That would've made this easier for you."

 "Huh?" Tyler sad, and an arrow went through his neck.

 He stumbled back through the doorway, dropping the pills. He grabbed the arrow, trying to yank it out--it had just missed his spine, and the barbed arrowhead caught on the bone--and someone smacked him in the back of his knees with a sturdy tree branch.

 He reached out, trying to beg for help. Alas, his last word was "Huh?", for Anne was upon him,  and he soon left this world in intense agony, this was the lowest of the low, Anne didn't feel that much guilt afterwards.

there was an attempted fifth kill, however it went nowhere, Clarisse Higgins, Avid outdoors enthusiast going on a lengthy winter hike in the off-season when California was less prone to bursting into flames, Anne, Marcy, and Sasha were having a little hiking vacation of their own, and one late night Sasha dragged her friends out and into the hills, looking for something exciting (someone to kill), so they split up to look for easy targets, Anne spotted Clarisse and began talking to her, she was happy and so kind, she invited Anne to stargaze together, however Anne kindly rejected the offer with an excuse and going away she told Sasha and Marcy that she didn't find anyone else. 

Anne and Marcy were playing video games at Marcy's house, Sasha was on the sofa, watching violent videos on her phone, these were the moments Anne enjoyed, normal stuff, no killing, no playing with organs, just being kids, of course, other then videogames there wasn't much that Marcy talked about, other than murder methods and ways to get rid of the evidence, Sasha always participated in those discussions and made Anne participate, still, better talking about murder then committing it... 

One day, Anne's mom was having a potluck brunch with her friends--a little past noon thanks to Anne having a cute school play thing that day, but brunch was a state of mind. The food was amazing, the conversation scintillating, and the subject of children came up.

"Oh, my baby Anne," Anne's mom said. "You know, she has her--sticking points--but she's so good at school. Really just knuckles down and studies. And so good at sports! And really taking to cooking. And she listens so well--look at this."

She shouted down the lightless hallway leading to Anne's room, "Anne, can you please come here?"

Moments later, Anne rushed into view "yes mom?"

 "Could you fill Domino II's bowl, please? He's got that look in his eyes." Indeed, Domino II was licking his paw passive-aggressively while staring at his only half-filled bowl.

"sure mom," Anne said, stepping out into the kitchen. She pulled a long knife free of its block in passing, opened the refrigerator, pulled out a leftover Cornish hen from a theme night they had for dinner earlier a few days ago. She carved it into fine mince in a few seconds, positioned the small mound of birdmeat on her knife blade, then gingerly tapped out the flesh into Domino II's bowl.

The cat purred, less appreciatively and more to acknowledge that its needs were presently being met. As he dug in, Anne stroke his back with one finger. "at least you're happy little kitty..."

Chapter Text

Anne heard her mom calling from the kitchen, when Anne walked in her parents were with 3 other people, two adults and a child a bit older then her, maybe 13 or so, with light skin, dark brown hair and green eyes, when the child turned towards her, Anne's heart skipped a beat, and her eyes widened, why was she here? Then her mother continued

"Anne, these are the Higgins, they just moved here."

Clarisse turned and looked at Anne, she waved at the younger girl with, ironically, more childlike entusiasm that Anne ever seen in someone, she hugged Anne a bit too tightly.

"H-Help too tight."

Clarisse released and giggled, Anne couldn't help but giggle back

"sorry, but is such a incredible coincidence to meet you here!"

The parents looked at the 2 children interact with warm smiles on their faces, Anne's dad seemed particularly pleased

"well they seem to like eachother."

The parents continued their adult talk as the 2 girls went in Anne's room

The 2 marathon dumb TV shows, talk about their interests, tell each other life stories (Anne leaving out the murder parts) while drinking boba tea until they feel sick, it was the classic dumb fun Anne only sometimes got to have, but never like this, not without any murder talk, she liked it, really really liked it, before they knew it it was dinner time and Anne giggles as Clarisse was panicking over the spice of the food before her parents gave her a non-spicy version, after dinner they both laid down on Anne's bed, then Clarisse looked at the sky

"I'm probably gonna miss the stars, but I think I'll find myself well here, maybe we can stargaze when our families hike together again."

Anne smiled as she watched her neighbor

"you seem to like the night sky, why? It just makes me feel so small compared to the cosmos."

Clarisse sighed and gave her a sad smile 

"well it's beautiful and... My grandpa used to stargaze with me but... He died... In a pretty bad way... And... Looking at it makes me feel like... Like he's still here." 

Anne gave Clarisse a emphatic look and hugged her, looking sad when she had to leave, hoping to have another play-date soon.

"Where were you?! I tried to call you so many fucking times! We had to kill the guy alone!" Sasha exclaimed with clenched fists ready to strike if Anne didn't give a good excuse

"wait! there was a lot of work at the restaurant and my phone was off!"

Sasha punches Anne in the stomach before berating

"you always answer to my messages, UNDERSTAND?"

Anne weakly nodded as she holds her tummy in pain, Marcy putting some ice on it, after Sasha went to drink something Marcy began whispering to Anne 

"look Anne I don't agree with Sasha's methods but she's right, killing people without you is still fun but a lot less, you're more important than you think, tomorrow is my birthday and there's nothing more that I want then for you to be there."

On Marcy's birthday, they were out in the night, they told their parents they were going to the arcade, a believable excuse seeing Marcy's love of videogame, however there was something else Marcy loved and wanted far more... 

The homeless kid whose name they never learned gasping, whimpering in the plastic box. [Her name was Rosalina Gutierrez. Her mom was in the county jail, her dad had died of diabetes complications the last year. She had run rather than go into the "system," which she only vaguely understood but wanted no part of, and she came to regret this decision every day of her life, (especially her last.) Sasha had paralyzed her with a sledgehammer smash to the spine while Anne held her down. She begged for help, she cried to God and her mother--who are one and the same to a child her age--and Marcy, so excited she was practically bursting out of her shoes, squealed with joy when Sasha cut her head open, then Marcy went to the corpse, opening her head up, arranging the girl's brains like a flower, Anne wanted to puke, Sasha wanted to do far more, Anne wanted to cry because this time there was no reason whatsoever, and yet she couldn't stop or leave them, maybe she was a coward, maybe she cared for them in a twisted way, she didn't know, but it can't happen again, she can't kill an innocent person again.

Chapter Text

"Ladies and gentlemen of Saint James," Sasha said into the mic, "we are Sasha and the Sharps and we are here to bring you the gift of this song! Hit it, girls!"

It was the Saint James Fall Into Fall Talent Show, one part of the school's initiative to avoid any and all mention of Halloween in favor of assorted aggressively un-seasonal school events and, of course, All Saints' Day (with a dash of Dia de los Muertos, which they would have preferred to avoid but didn't due the large community of Hispanic students). Sasha figured it was a good time to roll out the band.

Marcy had won the coin flip this time, and so their song was "Dreams We Dream." It was the best kind of in-joke: the kind that had started with Marcy's obsession with an obscure bad sequel and that had ended with Anne dumping out a plastic tub of denatured acid and liquefied human remains down a drainage grate in the soap factory's floor. Marcy hit "play" on her keyboard and, because it was a synthy 80s thing anyway, played gently on the electronic drum kit.

Sasha and Anne traded off vocals for the verses and harmonized with Marcy on the chorus. Sasha really put in the work to coach Anne during rehearsal; she sounded like she was feeling the lyrics, like she sincerely thought she had the courage to do the impossible, and that she could hope for a better world.

 When Marcy imagined a better world, she imagined one that had its affairs in order, that prioritized science over every other single pursuit other than the art and science of video and roleplaying games and extremely accurate movie and cartoon adaptations thereof. Where Anne was invincible--or, better, would pop back up just fine, no matter what happened to her. And she and Marcy would be in love forever, and they could play and learn and discover together forever, with Sasha's firm and knowing hand guiding them along.

When Sasha imagined a better world, she imagined striding the earth unchallenged, unnoticed until she desired to be, steel in her hands and her servitors at her side, beautiful, brilliant and blood-soaked. Unstoppable, uncontestable and able to kill whoever, whenever with no consequences, she would be loved and worshiped. And she would endure eternally.

When Anne imagined a better world, she thought that would be an impossible question to answer but no, she knew exactly what a better world was, one where she and Marcy didn't meet Sasha, one where maybe, just maybe she could just be a kid, Maybe Clarisse would be there too, she just didn't want Sasha in her life... But she couldn't just get rid of her, if she cut her off she'll be killed, if she exposed her, she'll be arrested and everyone will know... She didn't want to be part of this, but she was, all she can do is participate less and less in the murders, just watching and helping get rid of the evidence.

"Dreams we dream to-ge-heeeehhh-ther!" Anne sang in harmony with Sasha and Marcy.

They placed third but Sasha was content, music was fine, but her true passions lay elsewhere.

Anne was walking away when she gets cornered by Clarisse, the slightly older teen smiling with her usual sunny demeanor 

"that was amazing! I'm sorry you didn't win, but for me yours was the best song." 

Anne found herself relax at seeing her kindest friend 

"thanks, but really it was Marcy's idea."

Clarisse giggles and leans closer 

"yes but your voice really carried the song, you have a lovely singing voice you know?"

Anne smiled slightly as her cheeks reddened, the thai began walking with Clarisse to go get some ice cream as they talked about what they wanna dress up as for Halloween, Anne grabs her phone and sent a message to Sasha, telling her that her mom called her home and couldn't hang out today. 

Sasha grumbled as she read Anne's message, her headphones were on, listening to Spotify, browsing the fruit selection at Trader Joe's. At best she was a step removed from the universe, calmly directing her body from a position of security outside conventional space time, carried aloft by music. She could be, as the poet said, wide awake and physical, but only when the universe acted in a way deserving of her full attention.

The voice that pulled her back into reality was that of her old art history teacher.

"Hey there," Sister Ada said, and a rush of warm memories tethered Sasha to the world again. "Sasha, right? I'm not forgetting your name?"

"No, m'am!" Sasha said, pulling off her headphones and turning to see Sister Ada in her natural habitat, which evidently included a lot more piercings. That actually took her by surprise. Not that she had ever sat that close to Sister Ada, but she imagined some of those gauges would've left a visible mark when taken out.

"Heh, it's a different look, isn't it?" Ada said.

"Just a little," Sasha said, fixated on a particularly pretty ruby (or faux-ruby, she couldn't tell) glinting on Ada's eyebrow."Not sure if that looks more or less comfortable than a habit."

"Mm, even trade, I think. Easier to move in, way harder to keep clean. But a lot more fun. ... So! What've you been up to?"

"Ah, keeping it real," Sasha said. "Keeping my girls in line."

"That'd be... Marcy, and I wanna say, Anne?"

"The very same, however Anne has been hanging out with us less and less, she always says that her parents need her for one reason or another, but I know something is up, she's doing that far too many times."

"Well, maybe she just doesn't feel like hanging out and is trying to be polite about it or maybe she got some problems at home, really the answers can be many."

"maybe you're right..." Sasha grumbled, whatever the answer, she'll have to take Anne with her in secret. 

"oh Damn it, I'm already running late... Maybe see you around sometime, Sasha."

"Where do you work now?" Sasha questioned, stepping out of her way as she reached for some kiwis. "I'll catch you there sometime."

"Grocery delivery, it's the way of the future." Ada grabbed a few apples that looked pretty okay. "I been lyin' my head down in Compton."

"Compton?"

"Yeah. Damn sight better than Skid Row, huh?" Ada shrugged. "Got a roof over my head and good company, I'm doing better than most of the poor bastards stuck there."

"Can't argue with that," Sasha said.

"See you later, a'ight?" Ada said, and departed, not moving toward a checkout line. There was a short-lived alarm about a minute later. While it went off, Sasha pretended to continue browsing for fruit, and in quiet contemplation made plans.

Mary's stack of books about Halloween teetered in her grasp; she could barely see over them. "I got it, Mar-Mar!" she said; she picked up that nickname from Anne, which Marcy found too cute for words.

Marcy was reading a book about anomalous finds by a certain "S. Pines."

"The Calamity Box, huh?" Marcy said. "This looks neat..."

She read and reread the pages, memorizing the look of the box. It felt familiar somehow; had she seen it somewhere in town? She almost turned the page, but Mary called out, asking for help carrying her books, so she didn't know about a certain triangle dream demon.

Marcy was proud of Lil' Mary. She was almost as voracious a reader as her and she was way better at interacting with other kids, but Marcy had Anne and Sasha, so who needed anybody else? Still. It was nice to have someone to share video games with, to talk about cartoons with, talk about favorite animals and rocks with... part of why she didn't have many other friends her age. That and the murders. When she accidentally told Mary that she killed people, Mary laughed it off, and so she turned her confessions into a running gag just between them, mom and dad don't ever need to know.

Of course Marcy was too cool an older sister to secretly have killed people. Look at her, carrying most of her kid sister's books, chatting excitedly about what they'd each found however Marcy didn't mention the Calamity Box.

It's day was coming, of course. All too soon.

Chapter Text

 It was Halloween.

 Anne called home--

 "Yeah, I'll be back later," she said. "Gonna go to Marcy's!"

 And that was it. They had never gotten in trouble, even once. And Anne was crushing her schoolwork; the worst thing she had gotten up to in the last couple of months was getting too aggressive during tennis practice. (Because the night before she had to keep a homeless man firm while Sasha bashed his skull and... Nevermind...) So she and Marcy and Sasha biked from school to Marcy's place, the 80-degree sun pounding on her back, the costumes secured on Marcy's bike.

 Once they were there, Marcy hiked upstairs to her room to start changing; being the person that she was it could take a hot minute. Downstairs, Sasha and Anne took turns changing in the downstairs bathroom, Sasha making small talk with Marcy's parents while Anne messaged Clarisse, telling her that she'll meet up with her soon, only after sending it she began dressing up while thinking of an excuse for when she will slip out

"You know the neighborhood?" Marcy's mom said, looking up from her cup of green tea.

"Oh, yeah, I do a lot of walking around town," Anne said, toe a-tapping. She sewed the outfits to be as breezy as possible, and they were moslty white, so at least they had that going for them. At least Mary would only have a couple of hours to trick-or-treat, sundown being at 6. "And biking, and, you know, all that good stuff. I'm pretty fit..." She flexed. While still rangy, between all the sports she threw her entire body into and participating in the murder of people twice her size, she was shockingly buff for her age.

Sasha sashayed out of the bathroom, twirling so that her long white skirt flared. "Ta da," she said.

If pressed, the trio could say, truthfully, that they were dressed in a style of traditional Swiss (it was Swiss, right?), and that it was probably Sasha's ancestry or something. In truth, they'd watched Midsommar, and there was no question what they'd be dressing like (at least for Sasha): long white dresses covered in colorful embroidery, accentuated with flowers. For effect, not that Anne discussed this ahead of time, she made simpler crowns for herself and Marcy, but went a little bit harder for Sasha

Because in the end the cult perfectly represented her, pretty on the outside, fucked up on the inside

Mary came downstairs first in a puffy pirate costume, with a transparent sunglasses-material eyepatch (for safety, Mom Wu said). She waved a foam sword. "I'm a pirate!" she said, cheerily.

"You sure are," Sasha said, giving her some finger-guns. "Lookin' dashing! Gonna make anybody walk the plank?"

 "Naaah," Mary said. "Unless they give out, like..."

"Those horrible little Chick tracts?" Anne said.

"Those are plank-worthy," Dad Wu said darkly.

It was agreed.

Sasha's dress was just a little longer (Anne's little attempt to sabotage Sasha's chasing abilities just in case she wanted to murder someone); the embroidery more spare, but also more tactically deployed across her shoulders and chest. Her wreathe of flowers, her crown, framed her face in autumn glory, giving the feel of the season LA should be in the grip of, refuting the heat and sun. 

Marcy finally finished changing and came down the stairs

"You look amazing!" Mom Wu Said

"Thanks! But Sasha's is the best" Marcy said, "but mine has pockets!!" She shoved her hands in the well-concealed pockets, but knew better than to pull them back out; that's where they kept their knives. (Marcy's were for throwing; Sasha and Anne had their favorites at the ready. In case.)

"You made this?" Dad Wu said, impressed.

"I did, sir," Anne said, with a little curtsey.

 "You're really going somewhere, kid," Mom Wu said.

 "Yeah, trick-or-treating!" Mary said. "I'm gonna be set for candy like a year!!"

 "She really does ration our treats," Marcy said, with a small laugh. "You know, for health purposes."

"Responsible," Sasha said, holding out her hands. Both hands, one for Anne, one for Marcy, Anne taking it reluctantly. "Come on, kittens, time to go paddin'. Mary, will you do us the honors of leading our merry band?"

 "Arrr!" Mary said, with a hop and a wave of her sword. "To the streets!"

 The sun was hot, the breeze tempering the heat just a little; but there was shade to walk in, there were kids out, laughing, running. Doorbells to ring, compliments for the costumes, Mary chatting about the quality of candy between houses--

 "Obviously a Crunch mini is worth three Smarties wraps, easy," Mary said.

 "Hrrrm," Marcy said. "A Smarties wrap is a whole candy bar, if you think about it, but a Crunch mini has 'mini' right in the name. So if you think about it even though one has chocolate and the other is some kind of edible chalk... though really chalk is edible in general, they just don't like to advertise the fact."

"It is?!" Mary said.

 Sasha cackled. "That's on you, Marshmallow!"

 "I'm not gonna eat chalk!" Mary said. "Just 'cause it's there!"

 "You promise?" Marcy said. "Because Smarties taste better than chalk."

"Marginally," Anne said.

"Marginally," Marcy said. "But still!"

Nobody asked who the trio were. Adults who commented either didn't get the reference and simply said they were cute--or that Sasha was beautiful, which she was, so Marcy would state proudly. 

No trouble. Hardly even any traffic. Things were easy.

Anne felt an invisible burden lighten, just barely. A sense of... ease.

It felt like a trap.

As the sun grew low and the team rested at a playground, Sister Ada showed up. She had a small crowd of kids in tow, all chattering excitedly, running about, digging into their candy early--but they followed her commands and got to playing while she took a smoke break.

 She was dressed like a witch--some specific kind of witch with a red headband tied around her pointy hat and a red sash around her waist. She wasn't smoking tobacco, Anne noticed, as she took a seat next to her on the bench. Sasha and Marcy were busy pushing Mary on the swing; and so she had privacy.

 "Hey, kid," Sister Ada said, almost holding out the hand-rolled cigarette before remembering the whole... everything. She discretely extinguished the joint on the arm of the bench. "How's tricks?"

 "It's good," Anne said. And she meant it. "Just having a nice little trick-or-treat thing with my pals."

 "Cool outfit," Ada said. "That's 'Midsommar,' yeah?"

 Anne nodded.

 "Loved that movie, great pick." She tilted her witch-hat. "You look tired."

 "Been sleeping real weird lately," Anne said. "You know how it is."

 "Yep..." Ada chuckled. "Anything in specific worrying you? Don't worry, I keep lots of secrets. You won't be weird at all."

"it's not like that... I'm just having very awkward moments with my friends..." 

"I understand" she said with a smile "Gotta be a handful with those two. Bossyboots and Hyper-Fixation: The Person."

"Like you wouldn't believe..." red crept into her thoughts.

"Listen," Ada said. "You're good kids. If you're good to them, they'll be good to you. And if they stop being good to you... give 'em one last chance to shape up and fly right, or cut 'em out entirely. Life's too short to waste on that, and there's a lot of people whose lives will be enriched by having you in them, and who'll enrich yours once they're in. Got it?"

 "...yeah," Anne said.

 It's better to rip the bandaid off... 

"Yeah!" Anne said. "Thanks, Sister Ada."

"Anytime."

Anne received a message, it was Clarisse, asking her where she was, Anne answered that she was coming, as such, she gave a quick excuse and went to Clarisse's house, when the girl opened the door Clarisse was dressed in a Darth Vader costume, Clarisse looked at the white dress 

"your costume looks pretty."

Anne blushes a bit as the little smile on her face widens

"thanks, yours looks cool."

Clarisse suddenly put her mask on and began speaking 

"Now join me and we'll dominate the galaxy as forever friends!" 

Anne couldn't help but giggle as she went inside, they began watching some scary movies with lights off, Anne being more than happy to hold Clarisse close during the most scary parts, even if Clarisse was 1 year older, Anne saw this stuff all the time... 

The sun was low, the wind beginning to cool; the grass waved around them, the word alive and full of sound but distant, comfortably so. They were together, young, and for the most part, happy.

Tomorrow would be Friday, seven days 'til Anne's birthday and she knew exactly how to send the message that she didn't want to be with Sasha anymore...

Anne only wrote 1 invite. 

Chapter Text

Anne parked her bike, locked it up nice 'n tight, and pulled out the khao niew bing her mom made her for her birthday. She chewed it thoughtfully, uninterrupted

"Today's gonna be a good day," she said. It had been a good week and she was feeling invincible, they didn't even kill anyone.

"'Sup, Anne?" Sasha said, striding up.

"Oh, the usual!" she said. "Got a party lined up at home, startin' at six, but you're probably gonna be bored to death"

"probably yeah" Sasha deadpanned.

"yes, so don't bother coming" Anne muttered the last part, offering Sasha a bite just for show; Sasha took it, her eyebrows raising in appreciation. "Hey, uh, have you seen Marcy?"

"No," Anne said.

"Uh, this is kind of weird, right?" Sasha wondered. "Mary's borrowing her Switch while she's sick, so unless she got stuck on a mobile game again..."

"God, that would be the worst," Anne responded. "Remember when she racked up two hundred dollars just on that one game, what was it called?"

"Fuck if I care," Sasha said, gesturing for Anne to follow, which she did, of course. "It's frog day in biology, though. No way she'd miss out on Frog Day."

"Oh, huh, yeah!" Anne said.

"Dunno if it's gonna be fun or boring. I mean, what are they gonna do, show us something we haven't seen?" Sasha said, smiling wryly while Anne's fist clenched, just one last day and she'll cut Sasha off for good. 

 Anne turned over her frog. Pitying the little guy as she and Sasha opened them up... 

 ...like what Marcy usually did.

 "Lookie here, students!" the chipper biology teacher said.  "See the splendor and magnificence of the frogbody on full display!  A machine hardly changed for millions of yea--"  She cleared her throat.  "Please don't tell the other teachers I used 'millions' and 'years' in the same sentence."

 "You know what'd get my mouth very closed?" Sasha said in a conspiratorial, smiling wryly. "Getting out of class five minutes early. 'Cause we're already masters of frog cuttin' and all."

"Hm!" the teacher said.  "I suppose I can't argue with that...  Pardon, class, these two have been ovecome with... formaldehyde vapors!  They'll be steppin' out a little early..."

"Bet your ass we are," Sasha said, leaning on Anne, who heroically carried her out of the class.  Once the door closed behind them, they made a dash, Sasha pulling ahead and Anne following.

"Wait," Anne said, "where actually are we going?"

"Out," Sasha said, tilting her head in the direction of the nearest exit.  Anne banked with her around the corner even as doubt crept into her thoughts.

"But there's like three more hours of school left!" Anne said.

"And what's missing a few-ass classes gonna do, huh?!" Sasha said, looking over her shoulder as the exit rapidly approached.  "We're all model students and you're turnin' thirteen for the first and only time!  Let's live a little, sucker!"

"I..."

They made it out the exit, puttering to a stop once they reached their bikes. Nobody around, at least nobody that would be interested in snitching.

So Anne cast her die. "fine"  She unlocked her bike.

"Anne, my bitch," Sasha said, slapping her ass, Anne grimaced. "And maybe we can find out what the hell Marcy's been up to.  No texts, not in any of our classes..."

"Maybe she caught what Mary has?" Anne said, mounting her vehicle.

"Ha. Wouldn't that suck!" Sasha said.

In tandem they rode out into LA, ready to face the afternoon and ra ise the proverbial ruckus.

Stupid coffee drinks at Starbucks. A little earlier in the day than they had anticipated, but the vagaries of scheduling were like that.  Plus, they both needed the juice after tagging the still-abandoned gas station.  (They peeked inside to see the tattered bones and rags of their second kill; and Anne felt no guilt, no pangs of remorse, for of all the people they'd killed Anne didn't feel bad for this one. 

"So that's what a unicorn tastes like," Anne mused. "Corn syrup."

"I could believe it," Sasha said, licking her lips.  "Hrrm. I bet Marcy would know how that would work."

"Do we wanna check on her again?" Anne said. "School's almost out, we could say we got out early..."

Anne's phone buzzed. She checked it.

"Oh, Marcy!" she said, cheerily. "Let's see..."

The message was short--an address and a photograph.

Anne crept into the antique store, or whatever it was; she hadn't even bothered to glimpse at the sign. The old lady at the front desk (hey, a Dreamcast!) was dozing; a hefty, bearded man was appreciating the fine make of a used T-shirt; and she took the wildly overpriced music box, tucked it under her arm, and walked straight out. No cameras, no second glances.

Anne presented the box proudly, it's three enormous gemstones glinting in the sun, the inlaid gold artwork painfully shiny, the polished ebony body drinking the light. "Ta-da," she said. She hadn't felt so much as a pang of uncertainty stealing the box; what was a little petty theft, in the grand scheme of things?

 "Fuckin' a!" Sasha said, cackling. "Look at this! Are those real fuckin' gems?!"

"Yeah!" Marcy said, nodding. She looked like microwaved roadkill; she must've caught what Mary had. If they hung out with her, surely they'd catch it too, but whatever, Marcy was cool and necessary for the well-oiled machine that was Sasha and the Sharps. "Yeah. It's real."

"We gonna sell it?" Sasha said. "There's some kind'a thing going on in town..." The conversation took them around the antique store to the same alley where once Sasha and Marcy discussed the necessary business of poisoning Domino I. "Maybe Antiques Roadshow is in. Bet we could get something just for the gold, if it comes down to it."

 "I have an idea," Marcy said. "But, maybe later."

 "After the birthday party?" Anne said.

 "Oh, come on," Sasha said. "It's just a goofy-ass thing your mama's throwing."

 "But I like goofy-ass things..." Anne said "I knew you wouldn't want to come, that's why I didn't gave you an invite." 

 "Hey!" Sasha said. "I'm your girlfriend." She slipped under Anne's arm and planted hers possessively around both their shoulders. "you still should have gave me an invite, you're not cutting me out of the equation, are you?"

"no" Anne lied with a little dismissive gesture. (The best she could with one arm full of music box and the other full of shoulder.)

Marcy blurted, "I wanna kill someone. Is that cool?"

Anne came to a stop. Sasha tugged Marcy back before she walked off too far.

 "Obviously," Sasha said, "it's cool." She flashed a grin at Anne that may as well have been made of razors. "You up for a little spot of the ol' ultraviolence Annie?"

"No."

"What did you say?"

"I. Said. NO! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY I SHOULD DO WHAT I LIKE!"

Sasha's fist clenches "Anne-"

"NO I DON'T FUCKING CARE ANYMORE! I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE, I'M TIRED OF KILLING PEOPLE! I'M TIRED OF YOU FORCING ME TO DO THINGS I DON'T WANT TO!" 

Sasha gave a backhanded slap to Anne in the exact moment Clarisse walked in the scene

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" 

Anne's face paled as Clarisse immediately put herself between the two. 

"mind your business, scram!" Sasha growled in frustration. 

"IT IS MY FUCKING BUSINESS! I WON'T LET YOU HURT MY BEST FRIEND!" Clarisse angrily shouted, Anne briefly flinched, Clarisse NEVER swore before to Anne's knowledge

Sasha's face was mixed between horror and pure homicidal rage "best FRIEND?!"

Anne was panicking internally, she knew what Sasha was about to do, she knew what would happen to Clarisse, she was innocent in this, she was a good person unlike her... She knew she won't stop Sasha, what she can do is redirect her rage towards herself and hopefully buy enough time for Clarisse to run and call the police as she's being dismembered

Anne gently moved past Clarisse

"yes, she IS because unlike you she didn't force me to do things I didn't want to! And now I finally realized why you're doing all this, because you are a nobody you want to control the life of everything around you because you're so pathetic and SMALL! you don't have anything special, you're just a pathetic NARCISSIST! AND I NEVER LOVED YOU! I HATED YOU FOR YEARS AND I WAS JUST WAITING FOR THE CHANCE TO CUT YOU OFF FROM MY LIFE! 

Everyone was speechless, Marcy looked like she was about to cry but Clarisse looked proud, Sasha was fuming, she jumped with the knife towards Anne, Marcy and Clarisse both shouted something before suddenly a bright light engulfed the 4 of them

Chapter Text

The room in the back of the police station was cold, stark, seemingly hewn from a block of natural concrete. Mrs. Boonchuy held a small cup of foul-smelling black coffee, more for warmth than with any intent to drink. Her husband sat next to her, tapping his toe intently. The last 3 days had been a blur: nothing but breathless horror, sleepless nights turning into nightmare-wracked days. The grief and terror were exhausting, physically, spiritually.

They could see it in the eyes of Sasha's parents sitting across from them. There was a noticeable gap between the male and female halves of the pair, a distance of body that told plainly of distance of spirit. They avoided looking at each other. If they had, they would see mirrors of exhaustion, of heart-deep weakness and just at their left they could see the desperation in Clarisse's father's eyes. 

Into this awful tableau skated Mr. X. They all hated him at once.

"Good evening, friends," he said, clapping once and disengaging his heelies. "You can call me Mr. X."

"The FBI," Sasha's father said. "Put you in charge of investigating our child's kidnapping. You."

Clarisse's father glared at him

"I'm sensing a hint of judgment in that tone," Mr. X said with annoyance. "whatever, we've got more important things to discuss

"Now!" He pulled out a remote and hit a button. A projector hanging overhead played light on a blank slab of wall: the crime scene photo, Marcy's parents and little sister dead. 

"let's see what we have here."

The photo switched to the soap factory 

"The set of footprints belonged to Sasha Waybright, Anne Boonchuy and Marcy Wu," Mr. X said, tapping the blue outlines. 'We know for damn sure Marcy killed her parents and her kid sister. Fingerprints everywhere, plenty of DNA evidence, tracked up quite a bit of blood to her room. She took a lot of things with her--some of her journals, some books out of a series, her bow and arrows. But... she missed something."

 He held up the remote.

"I'm sorry, for what you're about to see" he said, and hit the little "next" button.

It was a scan of a photograph. Anne and Sasha were looking up; Anne's face was almost blank, stained by a dawning horror. Sasha was sticking her tongue out, flipping off the camera.

They were standing over a plastic tub set in a shallow concrete depression--not unlike this room, in fact, but for the industrial charcoal color of the poured stone. The plastic tub was full of foaming pink liquid; dissolving in it was the body of a child. Anne had safety goggles pushed over her head, and thick safety gloves.

Mrs. Boonchuy sank into her chair, pushed it aside, sunk to the ground; her husband leaned into her as much as she leaned into him.

Mrs. Waybright made a little sound.

"Now," Mr. X said, "we enjoyed a stroke of good fortune here."

He hit the "next" button.

A short video played; two peppy college-aged girls preparing to film in an allegedly haunted soap factory in Compton. They snooped around, looking for good places to take a shot, talking contently among themselves. And they came to the drainage grate. They peered down, the light of their camera catching a flash of something in the dark.

They lowered a wire; and with patience, the two fished up a section of human jawbone, discolored by acid.

Advance one: the jawbone matched against the visible jawbone of the acid-eaten child.

"Compton Local Soap Company," Mr. X said, "had plenty of your daughters' fingerprints. The occasional strand of hair. Signs of usage, especially the chemical shower. Lots of candlewax. We checked for blood residue..."

A hi-res photograph of the floor of the soap factory, the angle matching that of the photograph. The ground was glowing with residual blood. It was everywhere. Red and green and blue footprints were highlighted sporadically across the mess.

"It's not absolutely perfect evidence" Mr X said "But it strongly suggests that your daughters have killed quite a few people in and around Compton and poured more than a few of them into the LA county wastewater. Count yourselves lucky that they disappeared before you four got on the menu."

"what about my daughter? Was she part in this madness?" Mr Higgins pleaded to the man in front of him

Mr X smiled a little "luckily we don't think so, there are no fingerprints or hair or anything in the crime scenes that would suggest Clarisse is involved."

Mr Higgins breathed a sigh of relief while Mr. Waybright stumbled over to a sole, sad trash can and, perhaps reasonably, hurled his guts into it.

"Where..." Mrs. Boonchuy said, on the verge of tears. "where is..."

"and that's... Where the problem is..." Mr X responded before clicking "play" on a recording 

A video is shown, Marcy standing as Anne and Sasha have a screaming match:

"NO I DON'T FUCKING CARE ANYMORE! I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE, I'M TIRED OF KILLING PEOPLE! I'M TIRED OF YOU FORCING ME TO DO THINGS I DON'T WANT TO!" 

Sasha gave a backhanded slap to Anne in the exact moment Clarisse walked in the scene

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" 

Clarisse immediately put herself between the two. 

"mind your business, scram!" Sasha growled in frustration. 

"IT IS MY FUCKING BUSINESS! I WON'T LET YOU HURT MY BEST FRIEND!" Clarisse angrily shouted

Sasha's face was mixed between horror and pure homicidal rage "best FRIEND?!"

Then Anne gently moved past Clarisse

"yes, she IS because unlike you she didn't force me to do things I didn't want to! And now I finally realized why you're doing all this, because you are a nobody you want to control the life of everything around you because you're so pathetic and SMALL! you don't have anything special, you're just a pathetic NARCISSIST! AND I NEVER LOVED YOU! I HATED YOU FOR YEARS AND I WAS JUST WAITING FOR THE CHANCE TO CUT YOU OFF FROM MY LIFE!"

After that Marcy looked like she was about to cry but Clarisse looked proud, Sasha was fuming, she jumped with the knife towards Anne, Marcy and Clarisse both shouted something before suddenly a bright light engulfed the 4 of them and the second the light disappeared they were nowhere to be seen after that the video ended 

"Oh Clarisse... Always too kind for her own good... What kind of situation she got herself in?" Mr Higgins cried a little 

Mr boonchuy seemed... Slightly... Relieved, while Mrs Boonchuy was even more furious, she screamed at the Waybrights 

"YOUR DAUGHTER FORCED MINE TO DO ALL OF THIS! YOUR LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT TURNED MY LITTLE ANGEL INTO A MURDERER!" 

The Waybrights looked at eachother in horror, realizing that it was what happened, the video was clear, their daughter was the cause of this... 

"Ma'am I'll have to ask you to calm down, I know it's hard to learn the truth, but you have to keep calm, screaming at eachother won't solve this" Mr X said with a saddened tone

They walked out of the police station, Mr Higgins stayed with the Boonchuys, the parents trying to confort eachother about what they've seen, Clarisse and Anne are missing and Anne is a murderer... 

Chapter Text

Grime sighed as he looks at the sight before him. "So these are the finest Toad Tower has to offer me, eh?"

Five hardass toads stood before him, bristling with highly themed weapons and outfits. They seemed quite peeved at being dismissed so, bu they didn't want to get kicked out of the Mammal Hunting Squad for insubordination. They at least had that over the rest of Toad Tower.

"Bunch'a slack-jawed maggots, they don't look tough, so what's your name?" Grime asked looking at a cool toad in a hat that covered his eyes and like a boatload of machetes (not on his hat, all across his broad, ample toadish person) 

"Vladimir Sharps" the toad said, tipping his hat. "Ain't never had a blade in hand I couldn't put in somebody who needed it." Grime pointed at his chest; he looked down to track his finger, only for Grime to rush his finger up and thwip the guy above his lip and not quite between his eyes. "Ow, hey!"

 "you fell for that? I already feel like you're useless."

 The crew fell in line as they progressed into the swamps around Toad Tower. One by one, Grime's squad made themselves known.

"Caitlyn Bloodsnail," said Caitlyn, a toadlady with braided hair and a crossbow with another, smaller crossbow bolted underneath it. "Got a nose like a bloodsnail, hence the name. But, you know, faster."

"Aces High!" a toadm'n said, strumming the string of his bow like a one-string bass. "In my free time I sustain my gambling addiction! I can't be trusted around money!"

"Sling Gunderson," a burly toad said, sporting a massive basket strapped to his back full of stones; as he walked he plucked more from the ground and tossed into the pile. "I sling stones very quickly. This is necessary for me to work. My doctor says I should invest in a cart. I told him I would. Don't tell him I lied, it's not good for his heart."

"if you really are the best, you must prove it!" Grime said. "Though--what about you?"

The last toad in line shot up straight and saluted; the line of toad hardcases ceased their march. The last toad smiled and said, "My name is Gorney!"

Grime smiled. "I like you, kid. You've got the right attitude."

"Thank you, sir--" he said, and the snare he was standing in unawares pulled taut and yanked him into the air, just below the bough. There was a sharp sound, and two enormous logs tied to ropes swung at him. "Remember meeee--!" he said in the moment before the logs smashed into the sides of his armor, squeezing his guts out of his mouth like a grotesque parody of a magician's scarf-swallowing trick.

"GET IN COMBAT POSITION!" Grime ordered as the toads formed a circle protecting each direction

Suddenly a tall, lanky creature with light skin, dark brown hair and green, panicked eyes showed up from the bushes, cut and bruised and looking absolutely terrified

"Take her!" Grime ordered, the toads surrounded her

"wait! I don't want to fight, please let me go!"

Grime snarled with an angrier face, "you should have thought of that before brutally murdering my troops!"

Clarisse looked at the brutal spectacle just above her on the tree, seeing the weird toad fallen into a needlessly over brutal trap that mangled and destroyed the poor soul's body

"I didn't place that trap I swear!"

"And you expect me to believe you?" the reports talk about a creature just like you killing toads"

"wait wasn't the creature in the reports blonde?" Bloodsnail asked

A spear suddenly sailed over Grime's head, just barely missing his good eye; it impaled Aces High through the stomach, the force of it dragging him to the ground. "shit!" he cursed, trying to pull the spear out of him and panicking on the why his legs weren't helping in the effort.

Grime hoisted his crossbow; he saw movement in the trees, a tall, lithe shape flitting behind a trunk. "I see the little beast! Lay waste!" He fired in the other creature's direction, loaded a new bolt, fired again. In seconds every remaining toad, and in fact, even Aces, impaled as he was, began emptying their weapons into the swamp.

Vladimir hurled blade after blade all around him, aiming wherever he saw the creature's subtle movements. Bloodsnail loaded and fired her crossbow with mechanical speed, two bolts at a time. Sling tried firing one stone with Ol' Painless, decided it was inefficient, and traded up to the six-pocketed Yung Hurt to deplete his ammo supply at a riotous pace. Aces High fired off his longbow just sort of everywhere, everyone surrounding the prisoners, not knowing what to do with her

In about twenty seconds, they were completely out of ammo, had reduced the swamp around them to a fine layer of wood chips and fallen leaves, cut down Gorney's body, chewed Gorney's body to mincemeat, and had hit their mammalian assailant zero times. Grime went for his next bolt and found his quiver empty; Vladimir pulled out a bootknife and almost threw it before realizing he needed at least one sharp object; Aces was finding it difficult to stay awake after all that exercise; and Bloodsnail--

"Look out!" the prisoner screamed 

But it was too late, Bloodsnail took a hurled machete to the dome, cleaving her head in half.

"Thanks for the sharp objects, assholes!" the other creature said from the treetops. At last they got a good look at her--or at least as good a look as the late-afternoon shade gave. Her limbs were long, spindly, and drawn with more muscles then the other creature; she wore the head of a driver ant as a mask, concealing her monstrous warm-blooded face from sight, though her dangling blonde hairtail betrayed some of her true appearance. Most of Vladimir's thrown machetes now dangled from a bandolier of vines.

"Shoot her--ah, damn it!" Grime said, hurling his crossbow at her. She hopped from the tree, kicking the thrown crossbow out of the way and hurling one of her new machetes at Vladimir, who attempted to parry it before catching the blade in his forearm instead--not something so trivial as lodging against the bone, but punching between the radius and ulna, severing a bunch of important nerves and veins. By the time Grime closed the distance with the mammal, sword in hand, Vladimir had managed to pull it free, gasping in intense pain; by the time the mammal disengaged, somersalting over Sling in the process, Vladimir was on the ground, bleeding to death.

Sling caught the mammal's machete with Yung Hurt; as she pulled back and moved to pull out another weapon, he flicked out his tongue, snagging her by the shoulder but finding his tongue cut off with a precise strike, his troat immediately followed 

Sling was now, obviously, out of the equation.

Grime stood shock-still, at once impressed, disturbed, and realizing that, in fact, years of gladiatorial combat were not enough to prepare him for such a vicious killer, one that clearly wasn't here for the fight like he was, but for the kill... 

The monster slung a machete at him; unlike Vladimir, who was now dead, he parried the blade expertly, caught it as it spiraled overhead, and gave it a sidelong hurl back at his enemy. The mammal tilted to the side, just barely enough to avoid it; a little too "barely," as the blade bit into her mask on its way past her head, drawing blood.

 Grime raised his sword in both hands, held low to facilitate additional parrying. It was just him and the monster now.

She stood before him, soaked head to toe in toad-blood; silently, she reached for her mask, peeled it from her face, and flung it aside. Her face was the same skin color as her arms and legs, a slightly lighter shade of pink as the first mammal, now standing out in stark relief from the toadblood bath she had just enjoyed. Her eyes were ebony, a matching, delicate black spot posed beneath her left eye, matched now by a long, thin cut drawn across her right cheek. She pouted at him, eyes half-lidded.

"You," Grime said, "are even uglier then your friend here."

 "Guilty as charged," Sasha retorted "and she's not my friend, I'm here to kill her actually." the more vicious mammal corrected, drawing two new weapons. "well too bad, because you messed with the toads, so I'll have your skull!" Grime angrily roared, The two circled each other, blades at the ready; the mammal left bloody footprints in her wake, dripped blood from her powerful limbs. "So, what'll it be? Shall I blind your other eye first? Chop your arms and legs off and leave you for the giant bugs? Maybe I'll open your neck up like your buddy back there." She passed by Aces High, who tried to interrupt her; she lopped his head free from his body with one stroke, kicking his head into the swamp contemptively. "Or maybe I'll just roast you over a campfire and call you dinner."

 "...you're no warrior, you have no honor, you're just a murderer!" Grime snarled

 "I'm no ordinary murderer," the creature said. "Back home... I was a god. Still am, though I only have a church of one here. So far. What will you do, froggy? Fight and die? Or join the winning team."

"You're looking at the winning team right here," Grime said. "If I had the king's best with me, you'd already be dead. As it is, I'll have to execute you myself."

"Slice me," the mammal said, her voice rising from silky and contained to manic and furious, "dice me, I wanna die screaming!" She lunged, and he lunged, and they traded blows, steel sparking on steel, until she connected a headbutt between Grime's eyes; vision sparking, he didn't see the kick that sent him flying to the mud. He raised his sword, and she kicked that from out of his grasp as well, breaking his thumb.

His soon-to-be-killer planted a shod foot on his chest. She pointed her machete at his functioning eye. She purred, a noise he associated with caterpillars, not sophisticated creatures of intellect and skill. "Give my regards to the darkness," she said.

 He smirked at her.

 "Any last words?" she said.

"I'm not afraid of death" Grime rebutted with snark

"then you will die braver then most" Sasha laughed in ecstasy 

"GET AWAY FROM US YOU SICK PSYCHO!"

Suddenly Sasha found herself half blinded, blackness taking over the left side of her vision, feeling the blood drip on her cheek, as the killer looks up with her functioning eye and see Clarisse with one of the fallen daggers, the blade dripping with blood and eye liquid, her face teary eyed and her hands trembling, Grime immediately got up and rushed at Sasha, the murderer was prideful, but she knew she couldn't win like this, so as much as she didn't like it, and as much as she wanted to gut out the bitch that stole Anne away from her, she had to flee.

As the mammal bolts away Grime looks at the other creature before him, surprised by her action of risking herself to save him, someone that she barely knew and that tried to capture her

"why did you save me? You could have bolted away when we were fighting."

Clarisse looks thoughtful for a second but then looks back up and gives a smile at the toad warrior 

"because It was the right thing to do."

Chapter Text

Marcy opened her eyes, and her cast was off! The newt with the length of chainsaw chain stretched taut between his hands had not amputated anything! Yes! (Later she would find out that the thing the newt doctor used was, in fact, a chain saw, and that the chainsaws she knew from back home were mechanically augmented chain saws. Educational!)

 "Wow," she said, lifting her leg. "There's no way a leg should heal that--" She coughed. "Okay, yeah, gonna wash that leg real quick..."

"Ut, ut!" King Andrias said, for he was here to watch. "Don't get ahead of yourself, lil' missy. We're not just going to let you walk out of here."

"You're not?" Marcy said. "Oh, no, do I have to pay for all this?"

The king's eyes widened. "Wait. Pay? For this? For... health care? What sort of primitive backwater schmuck forces it's citizens to pay for their own health care? It's the government's job to ensure its citizenry are healthy and well-taken care of!"

"America." Marcy said without elaborating further

"whatever, I'm just saying that we don't know who you are, or what you are."

Anne looks as Sprig grabs some kind of chess board

"what is this Sprig?" Anne asked with a questioning voice 

"Flipwart!" Sprig exclamated in excitement

"what's flipwart?" 

Sprig smiled

"I'll explain it as we play.

"how did you win on your first match?!"

Anne looked at the flipwart board with a smirk on her face

"well, this game is kinda like solving a puzzle, and puzzle games are the only games I'm better than Marcy at." Anne said with a smug face

"who's Marcy?" Sprig questioned, never having heard that name 

"it's... Complicated" Anne vaguely answered but her tone betraying distress 

Sprig put a hand on Anne's back

"are you ok?" 

Anne's mind was racing with thought, Marcy... Her childhood friend, corrupted and turned into a amoral serial killer by Sasha, was it Marcy's fault or Sasha's? It doesn't matter..."

"yes... It's just that me and Marcy stopped being friends already and it hurts to remember her."

Sprig watched his otherworldly friend with a questioning look but didn't say anything.

Anne was on her sleeping bag, trying to get some shut-eye, as she slowly fell asleep, she saw something, she immediately opened her eyes to look around but she found herself unable to move, she was paralyzed, she saw a shady figure standing in the corner, the figure turned around, Anne's breath stiffened, the red haired girl coming closer until she was looking down at the sleeping bag, blood dripping on Anne's face from the open, gaping chest

"I never got a chance at life, I was just a kid!" 

Anne wanted to scream, to cry, to apologize, but found herself unable to do anything, as all the people she, Sasha and Marcy killed,  eyes opened, watching her, judging her, but then everything suddenly stopped. 

Anne was looking at her friend, Clarisse, Anne could see her looking at her, but nothing remained of her cheerful nature, Anne could finally move and talk, Anne crept closer

"Clarisse...? Is that you?" Anne questioned as she touched her shoulder 

"DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME WITH YOUR BLOODIED HANDS!" 

Anne stepped back as Clarisse screamed at her

"Clarisse.. I-"

"No. I don't care, nothing can justify your sins!" 

Anne woke up, finding herself on the sleeping bag, she just curls up and cries. 

Chapter Text

Clarisse and Grime arrive at toad tower, the guards immediately pointing their weapons at the human teenager;

"Calm yourselves! She's not the danger" Grime barked to the 2 toads, the 2 look at eachother confused before letting their commander and the mammal pass, "you risked your life to save mine mammal, I owe you one. You're brave, but you're young and careless, here in Amphibia it's gonna get you killed, judging by your stance, the trembling and the fear in your voice in that moment, you never handled a weapon in your life, am I right?"

Clarisse nodded her head and blushed in embarrassment, "I wasn't much of a fighter back home, but I did keep myself fit by hiking"

Grime sighed, shaking his head, "there's much work to do to make you a proper warrior, mammal."

"My name is Clarisse."

"Well Clarisse, I'll make a toad out of you."

The forest is a dangerous place, But for Sasha it was a beautiful symphony of death, predators stalking the shadows watching for the perfect moment to strike, Sasha knew what it felt like, the stalking, the rush, the chase, in the end she was a predator in a way, however she also wanted something else, in the end, she was a God and any God needed followers, Sasha knew that with the right approach, she could make anyone love and worship her, it was always her dream to have a death cult all for herself, the first step is to do something to be admired. 

Sasha grabbed the meat of the mantis she recently killed and paced towards the giant herons nest, the giant bird smells the treat and wakes up, Sasha hid as the heron followed the pieces of mantis in the path Sasha set for it, it lead to a small frog Village, it was much more rudimentary than others, the houses divided in tiny bumps above the swamp water connected by bridges, less civilized means more gullible and also, judging by the lack of farmland and the very big butcher shop, they were hunters, perfect, Bog Bottom it is, now, Sasha isn't stupid, she had an immaculate plan to make herself look good and heroic, she looks at the heron atop the tallest tree in the clearing, it was just tall enough to reach the heron's back,Sasha waited for the right moment, hood on her head, the townsfolk screamed at the sight of the bird, readying their weapons but clearly knowing they had no shot at winning this, then Sasha made her move, she jumped on it's back from the tree and with a machete stabbed it's neck, it roars in pain, spitting blood, trying to get Sasha off it but failing miserably, it then lays down, motionless. 

The people of Bog Bottom looked at their savior, the hooded figure giving a smirk. 

"Hello people of Bog Bottom, if you let me stay with you, I'll protect you, just like I did today."

They look at eachother, they shrug, it's not like extra hands didn't help. 

Clarisse breathes heavily from fatigue as she takes another swing with her sword at the mannequin, this time giving it a long, gaping gash across it's chest

"Mediocre, this wasn't fatal damage, an enemy could still get up and stab you, you should go for the limb, especially their sword arm, without it they'll be messy using their other one."

"can... Can we take a break? My body isn't used to this much fatigue."

Grime sighs. "OK, here, drink." Clarisse drinks what grime offers, commenting on the flavor, knowing it's bugs but being too thirsty to care.

"A little advice, when you feel cornered or if someone is stronger than you physically, use your rage, channeled it can be your greatest weapon, a source of adrenaline that'll make you do the impossible, think about your most hurtful moments, think about the person you hate the most, imagine their face on the enemy." Clarisse wondered, dug in her memories and emotions, her fist clenched.

6 years ago. 

Little Clarisse was lost in the mall, she was crying, calling for her dad, she runs around in blind panic. 

"Dad? Dad? please, I'm scared, where are you?! 

Suddenly a hand grabs her shoulder. 

"Hey there kid? Are you lost?" a woman asked her

"Y-Yeah, are you going to help me find my dad?"

"Of course!" she answers, "But first I must know your name." The woman playfully states

"I'm... I'm... Clarisse..." the child answers, the woman gave a smirk 

"Rhea, pleasure to meet you."