Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 Anne

"Give. Him. Back." Light blinded Anne's eyes. But almost as quickly as it had come, it had begun to fade as she started to stumble on her feet. All her energy had been zapped away, just like that. Like she had been hit at a moving truck going at full speed.

Sprig, sprig had fallen... he had been dropped out of the window, by Andrias. That's why she had gotten mad, that's why she had attacked him.

"Heh, looks like she can't control it." Andrias, this was his fault, it was all his fault.

Her limbs gave out, and she fell back, barely being caught by the familial hands of hop pop. Her vision was starting to unblur, the red spots disappearing.

"Anne!?"

That voice, she knew that voice. Sprig, who had been dropped out of the window, who she would never see again. Wait, sprig?

Using what felt like all of her remaining energy, she turned her head, seeing sprig running straight towards her arms. And seeing him, seeing him felt like seeing him for the first time again, when she had caught him in that trap.

Sprig collided with Anne, hugging her tightly, and she returned the gesture with even more ferocity.

"Sprig? You're, alive? Oh thank goodness..."

"Marcy caught me just in time!" Marcy. Sweet, lovable clumsy Marcy. Hurt, desperate, sobbing Marcy. The girl, who through it all, had been hiding the fact the she was the reason she, Anne, and Sasha ended up in amphibia in the first place. Marcy, who was scared of moving away. Who had got them trapped on purpose. Yet despite knowing all this, it felt like Anne had just meet her again, too.

"Marcy?" She said the name like a question, like she never knew who Marcy was in the first place.

"I'm surprised."The kings booming voice broke through the air of the throne room, snapping Anne out of the fog that had been flooding her brain. "Somehow, you still got the gift kid." Gift? What was Andria's talking about? Was that what had happened just now? "Which means, I can't let you live."

He was ready, ready to charge at Anne. His sword of massive, raging flames gleaming in the dim light of dusk that show through the now half shattered windows. When suddenly, the castle, that had been flying, suddenly began to dip down. Like when an elevator abruptly stops.

"Please work please work please work..."The soft pleas of Marcy reached Anne's ears, looking up, she saw the girl tampering with the music box, trying everything in her power to get a portal to start. And just when it seemed like she had finally got it, the portal flickered in and out of view, like a glitching computer, before disappearing completely. And no matter what Marcy did, the unstable version of the portal wouldn't return "No, no..."

Andrias turned around with wide eyes, just in time to see the end of the scene. Before a determined and almost menacing look crossed her face as he began running towards Marcy. His large footsteps shaking the throne room.

"Marcy!!" Sasha's panicked voice, that was her voice. Calling out to warn her of the threat that was coming up behind marcy. Anne could only watch as Sasha ran towards the king to block him from the black haired girl. Grime following along behind her.

Grimes hammer made contact with Andrias' foot just in time, causing him to trip right before he reached Marcy.

'I should be helping' Anne realized, 'I shouldn't be letting him do this...' ignoring the pain in her legs and the lightheadedness that plagued her, Anne pulled herself to her feet, sword clutched in her hand. Her eyes locked on king Andrias, who was fight Sasha and Grime.

"Anne, wait-!" Anne could hear the desperate voice of sprig behind her, but she didn't care, these were her friends, they needed her help.

She charged, running the mad tyrant just in time to see him throw Sasha towards Marcy. Her body hit the floor, bouncing off of it once before hitting it again as her body began to slide back across the floor, scrapes forming on her arms and knees.

Marcy didn't move in time before Sasha fell into her, both of them crashing into the wall. Apparently the king had thrown Sasha so hard that it cause the wall to crack when she and Marcy hit it, the pieces of concrete flying and cutting up their faces, one large, sharp fragment lodging into Marcy arm.

Rage burned in Anne's chest as the king turned to face her. He was throwing her friends around like rag dolls. Whatever had ignited the furry in her when he had dropped sprig out of the window, began to return, the feeling pounding through her veins.

Anne charged, lifting her sword in preparation for her attack.

Andrias lifted his own sword made of devilish flames, the sword placed in a way that seemed like he was trying to block Anne's and melt it into a pile of useless metal. But instead Anne's sword wasn't blocked by his, nor did it make contact with his body. No, instead, he swung his sword at her, the flames burning her skin.

The pain started in the base of the left side of her neck, beginning to stretch over her shoulder, down her chest, the pain tugging like it was trying to pull her organs out with the large gash that caused the pain. It kept going, the burning sensation stretching across her body in a diagonal, and it felt like every breath she took was only half completed. Like the fire had burned through one lung and left the other untouched. The pain continued and plagued her whole existence before finally ending in her right hip.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air as Anne fell to her knees, her sword clattering to the floor. Her body shook, something clawing it way up her throat, and it felt like it had been lit with that damn fire. Like the liquid boiling up in her throat was gasoline, that had been lit aflame to burn her from the inside out. Only when the taste hit the back of her neck did she realize it was her own blood, bleeding into her lungs and stomach from where the wound started at her neck.

It began to drip down her chin, the metallic liquid clogging her air way, forcing her to cough it up. more and more blood came out of her mouth as she began to kneel over, hoping gravity would help dislodge the blood, her body desperately trying to clear her lungs.

There were already clots of blood in the pile of blood forming on the floor, like her body was already desperately trying to heal.

Her hands clutched at the wound that now went all the way across her body, blood seeping through the old middle school uniform she hadn't changed out of. The fire lit liquid burning her fingers as spots began to fill her vision.

She heard screaming, some of her name, the rest she couldn't make out. A blob formed in her darkening vision, but she couldn't tell who it was as they desperately try to hold her up.

She felt like she was suffocating, burning, and being stabbed over and over all at the same time. The different pains mixing to make the worst sensation she had ever felt.

She could only faintly make out the scene, Andrias' sword going clean through someone's stomach, and the smell of burning flesh seemed to double.

"MARCY!!!" The desperate scream of her friend's name was the last thing Anne heard before she collapsed, the world going black.

----

Anne was falling, she had been falling for quite some time now. Two things she had learned. This world seemed to be an infinite dark pit where all she could do was fall, and that she was broken, split in a diagonal from her shoulder to her hip. Like she was a doll that someone had given up on and cut down the middle.

No matter what she tried she couldn't get her pieces to go together, nor could she stop the fall. She couldn't stitch herself back together, and could only try to make sense of this dark reality.

Something suddenly gripped at the back of her throat, spilling out of her mouth in a red flood of copper. The tangy taste flooding her senses.

As she desperately tried to clear her throat of blood, she suddenly made contact with hard, solid ground. The bones of her top half shifting and contorting with the impact, while that half that had been cut away seemed unaffected.

"I knew she wouldn't last long." A cruel voice taunted, ringing out through the darkness. Faces formed in front of her. She recognized them, Marcy and Sasha. But their faces were covered in scars, the wounds bleeding a gooey black liquid that pattered against the ground like rain fall. Their eyes black pits that seemed to lead to nowhere.

"Not like she did anything for us, good riddance." Sasha's voice crawled into her ears as she forced out another mouthful of blood, this one seeping with the same black liquid that dripped from her friends.

The faces began to fade, making fear flood through Anne, a desperation flooding through her that both her bottom and top half seemed to share. "N-no, wait-!" She was cut off by her own blood, or what used to resemble her blood and was now a black tar that plagued her mouth.

She tried to chase the fading faces of her friends, dragging herself across the floor with her hands, leaving her bottom half behind in the void of space.

She only made it so far when more goo spewed out of her mouth, and this time, it didn't stop. Clogging up her airways. It was spreading, beginning to drip out of the corners of her eyes, making her vision slowly start to go black.

She grasped desperately for breath, but when she did she only ended up swallowing liquid ash, the foul liquid gurgling in the back of her throat. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't see. The tar was even beginning to drip from her nose and ears now, cutting off all of her senses as it continued to spew out of her mouth.

Breathe, she couldn't breathe, she needed to breathe.

----

Her lungs were no longer denied of air, the oxygen filling her lungs, tasting better than it ever had before.

She wasn't in the black void of hell anymore, she was in a bed, upright with sunlight seeping into her eyes. She knew where she was, she was in the fwagon. The wagon hop pop had bought for the journey to Newtopia and gave a nickname.

A hand suddenly pushed her back down onto the bed. Touching only the right shoulder and not the left, where pain stung like a thousand bees.

"Woah, careful, you're still healing." It was Sasha's voice, but it wasn't sinister and taunting and dripping with tar, it was soft and concerned.

"Anne's awake!?" The words came from someone who sounded exhausted, but extremely relieved. Marcy.

"Careful! You'll open the wound again!" Sasha's voice was panicked, like a mother who was trying to keep kids from playing with kitchen knives. There was the sound of shuffling, then a creak. It sounded like someone had gotten into the other bed.

Finally, Anne's vision began to clear, the fuzz the had lurked at the corners of her eyes fading away. Sasha was standing over her, one hand still holding Anne down by the right shoulder. But her head was facing Marcy, who was in the bed across from the one Anne was in. Her shirt was cut halfway down to make room for the bandage that was wrapped around her waist, a small spot of blood seeping through one side of it.

That's when Anne remembered, someone had been stabbed, some had cried out Marcy's name. Marcy had been stabbed. Sasha's panicked voice called out for her.

Anne had a bandage wrapped around her as well. But this bandage stretched from her left shoulder to her right hip. And more blood was leaking through it than Marcy's.

Anne was still trying to figure out how she was able to breathe, how the black gloop didn't haunt her throat, when sasha spoke again.

"It's okay, it was just a dream." A dream, a dream made to make Anne afraid of her own shadows.

"What happened, where is everyone?" She remembered, everyone had been there that day, the plantars, grime, Olivia and Yunan. But now, it was just her, Marcy and Sasha.

It was Marcy that spoke this time, her voice weak and tired, the pain no longer cover by relief. "Sasha said she had to leave them, to take care of us. They wanted to find a base... to build a rebellion.

"You left them?" Anne's voice was tense as her eyes filtered onto Sasha, the blonde haired girl tensing.

Anne felt the same rage she had felt when Andrias dropped sprig out of the window. She felt stronger, the same blue light from earlier filtering into her eyes. "You left them!?"

Sasha stepped back, her body tense, fear flickering in her eyes. "A-Anne, no, I-"

"You left, the only family I've ever had here, the only people I was able to trust!?

"You don't understand! I-I had to!" Sasha's words were fumbled as Anne took another step forward. The blue rage that had taken over her when she had lost sprig burning hotter.

Sasha backed up even more, her voice desperate now. "It was the only way for me to have enough time to save you!"

That stopped Anne dead in her tracks, the blue slowly coming down, the world no longer blurred. She wanted to ask why Sasha wanted to save her, but she didn't. Instead, she turned to Marcy.

"Does Andrias have the box?"

"No... but..." the girl spoke softly, shifting around while wincing in pain? Trying to find something. Eventually, she pulled out the music box.

It was split almost down the middle, some pieces missing with edges of ash being the only thing left.

----

Chapter Text

Marcy

The music box was practically a pile of ash in her hands. There was a crack all the way down the middle, only the bottom keeping it held in one piece. The entire bottom left corner was gone, the edges covered in ash. Marcy could only guess that the chunk had been taken out when Andrias stabbed her. That his sword hit the corner of the box and burnt it off.

it was also possible that it had broken when she and Sasha slammed into the wall. There was a bandage wrapped around her arm, trying to protect the spot where to sharp piece of concrete had pierced her skin.

Even if they rebuilt the music box, the blue and green gem were completely shattered, meaning there was no way to recharge them.

Unlike Anne, Marcy hadn't passed out after suffering her injuries. Sasha had begged her to stay awake. She could still remember her sobbing, desperate voice. Saying that she couldn't lose both of her friends. 

But that didn't get rid of the fact that tensions between the three of them were high. Sasha betrayed Anne and tried to take over Newtopia. And Marcy... she felt so bad. She had betrayed them both, got them trapped in amphibia, just because she was too damn scared to move away and lose them.

Anne and Sasha were the only friends that Marcy ever had, they were the only people who took the time to listen to her, to understand her. And the thought of losing them... it made her do things she wished she never had. Especially now, that she knew the consequences led to her and Anne almost dying, and no way home now.

Anne was staring at the music box in Marcy's hand, her eyes hard. She could she the rage burning in the back of her friend's eyes. Not only had Sasha just told her that she left the Plantars and everyone else behind, but they had just told her that there was no way from them to get home.

----

The day was quiet, and Anne refused to get out of bed. But then again that's how it was while Anne was asleep, Sasha would cook, then leave the fwagon before Marcy would wake up. Usually coming back around midday. Marcy didn't know what she would do, but the area they had settled in had been abandoned. The town had been close too Newtopia, meaning it had been in the ash rain zone when the castle started flying, and it wasn't safe for the residents to stay. Luckily, the ash had stopped falling on the town after a few days, and the residents hadn't returned.

Marcy could only guess that Sasha was looking for resources to survive, like food and water. At one point Marcy remembered that she had went out for more medical supplies, and what was in the first aid kit in the fwagon wasn't enough.

Sasha had tried her best to stitch Anne and Marcy up, it was painful, she had to admit. But she was alive, and she was glad for it.

Today, Anne, like always refused to get out of bed, But Sasha insisted on checking on her injury. Which Marcy didn't want to look at, instead, she stumbled her way to the bathroom.

she hadn't cleaned herself in days, and she wanted to get the grime off of her.

she could hardly walk, her energy had been zapped away. And a shot of pain plagued her chest with every step. But she needed this. She would have to feel better after this, she had to.

Sasha had cut her shirt in half to be able to stitch up and wrap it. Which made it easier to take off. But the pain that surfaced from her chest when she tried to do so made her stop, she fell forward, catching herself on the sink, the impact making another bolt of pain shot through her like lightning. She tried to push herself back up, still having to hold on to the edge of the sink to stay standing.

She had to be able to do this, she just had to. Maybe, maybe. If she could finally do something for herself and not be useless, her friends would forgive her.

She forced herself to stand straight up again, ignoring the pain that ripped through her like a tidal wave and forcing herself to pull the shirt off, the sound of seams ripping out threads snapping ringing through the bathroom.

Marcy panted desperately, gripping her chest tightly to try and at least ease the pain somewhat. But she wasn't done, she still had to remove the bandage, and, see her scar for the first time.

sure, Sasha had looked at it every once in a while, but Marcy refused to watch as she did, not wanting to see the deep mark in her chest.

She hoped that this process would be less painful, since she only had to move her arms, and it was easier to do without moving her chest.

With a breath in, she began to unwrap the bandage, which proved to be much easier and less painful.

but as she continued unwrapping, there were large spots of blood showing on the part of the bandage that was closer to the wound. Which was concerning, because she had had stitches in for almost a week, everything that she knew told her that the bleeding should have stopped by now, but it hadn't.

Opening the bandage all the way, it wasn't what she expected to see. Sure, a long, red, irritated vertical scar that had resulted from a wound that punctured all the way through her chest was expected. But what she hadn't expected to see were the edges of said scar black and charred from the kings sword. The stitches that Sasha improvised with normal thread instead of what doctors used to stitch wounds had proven to not be strong enough. Because the majority of them had snapped, and blood was dripping out of the scar, which would've been caught by the bandage. But she had removed it, meaning that the blood was now dripping down her chest and pattering against the floor in small drops.

The sight of the blood made her sick, sure she could handle small cuts and even wounds that other people were suffering. But seeing so much of her own blood coming from a massive wound on her body made her stumble on her feet. The movement of her whole body making another stab of pain shoot through her chest. She tried to find her balance, but the pain was proving to make that difficult.

"Marcy!?" It was Sasha panicked voice that called out for her, clearly realizing that she had left her bed while Sasha was checking on Anne's wound.

The blonde haired girl rounded the corner, her eyes widening when she saw that state that Marcy was in.

Marcy could only watch as Sasha quickly came up to her, helping her onto the floor so she wasn't stumbling on her feet anymore.

"okay, you're gonna be okay..." Marcy knew she was trying to seem comforting, but she hardly seemed sure of her own words.

Sasha grabbed a random towel that hand been hung up next to the sink, pressing it into Marcy wound. While using one hand to hold the towel in place, she used the other to help Marcy up, letting her lean against her side as she began to walk her back to the bed. Which luckily wasn't far since the fwagon was so small.

Sasha gently helped Marcy into the bed across from Anne's, making sure the towel stayed in place as she did so.

"okay, okay, just stay there..."

It wasn't like Marcy could move if she wanted to, and she could only watch as Sasha went to grab the medical supplies she had gathered after the past few days.

Marcy could only guess that the stitches had snapped when she was struggling in the bathroom, since it was the only time she had moved on her own since she had been stabbed. At the only time that could've created enough tension for the threads to break.

When Sasha came back, she was holding another role of bandages, tweezers, and a needle and thread. The thread was thicker than the one she had used to stitch up Marcy before.

"Okay, I need to take the old stitches out, just try to stay still." Sasha put everything but the tweezers down on the desk next to the bed.

Marcy tried to breathe, she really did, but the stress of it all, and knowing the pain she would feel when Sasha stitched her up again.

"I know, I know..." Sasha voice was calming, but it didn't hide the slight panic Marcy could hear in it. She closed her eyes tightly, knowing it was better to not look. The first thread came out with relatively no problem. But the second... it was stuck within the skin, meaning Sasha had to rip it out with more force. Causing pain to go shooting up Marcy's spine. Many of the threads were the same, and not all of them had snapped straight in the middle, meaning that Sasha had to dig around in the skin of the scar to pull the shorter pieces of thread out.

Finally, after what felt like ages, Sasha had gotten the last thread out, and Marcy finally opened her eyes again. Sasha took out a small cup of water, pouring it on the wound and cleaning it gently with the towel she had used to stop the blow flow earlier.

Sure, it stung a bit, but it felt nowhere near as bad as when Sasha was taking the stitches out.

"I have to stitch you up again, okay?" Sasha's voice was soft, but seeping with half hidden worry. Even Anne, who had only glared at Sasha and Marcy since she woke up, only saying a few words every once in a while, was looking at Marcy with a look of concern and pity.

Marcy only nodded, knowing that she had to do this, no matter how painful it would be.

Marcy didn't watch as Sasha threaded the needle, only trying to mentally prepare herself for the pain. The first stitch made Marcy cry out in pain. The needle wasn't one of those small ones made to give you shots that you could hardly feel. It was much thicker than that, even a bit thicker than the average sewing needle. And it very easily got stuck on the skin, not being made to push through such a thick and dense material. The pain was so intense that Marcy had to bite down on her pillow to even begin to be able to bear it. 

Marcy and Anne's beds were close enough, due to the fwagon being so small, for Anne to grab Marcy's hand. Which was the last thing she expected from the girl who had been cold and distant for the last two or three days.

Each stitch hurt more than the last, each little puncture made in her skin to close the larger one making more and more tears fall down her face.

About halfway through, Sasha decided to give Marcy a break, but it didn't do much, since the pain from the stitches that had already been finished still buzzed through her body, and the thought of having to do it all again only seemed to make that left over pain even worse. On top of that, the wound was still bleeding in a steady stream, which had definitely gotten slower from when it started, but was no where near stopping.

When Sasha started up again, it hurt even worse than the first half of stitches. Especially when the middle section of the scar was the most sensitive, meaning the stitches there hurt the most.

It didn't help that she could feel the squelch each time the needle stabbed into her skin again, and how each little puncture made to close the larger wound created a smaller wound of its own, some of the deeper stitches even having small blood streams of their own.

By the time they were around 3/4 of the way done, Marcy whole body felt like it was in a choke hold of the pain that each stitch brought upon her. She was gripping Anne's hand so hard that her own was shaking, her knuckles turning white. The force she was using the bite down on the pillow made her jaw throb with pain in a steady rhythm. And the tears that continued to fall made the corners of her eyes sting.

At one point a hand started running through her hair. Anne's free hand, she had to assume. Since both of Sasha's were busy.

Her eyes were closed, knowing that if she knew when the pain was coming, it would only make it worse.

But finally, she heard the sound of Sasha cutting the thread. It was done. She didn't have to do it any more. And the best part was that the stitches on her back hadn't snapped, so she didn't have to go through even more pain

Marcy knew she had to get the stitches removed again when the wound closed, but now, that felt like a mosquito bite compared to what she had just went through. And if she stayed still and didn't move too much, she wouldn't open the stitches again, and she wouldn't have to go through this again.

Sasha sat her up to wrap the fresh bandage around her, her touch was gentle and careful, like she was trying to make sure Marcy was okay after all that.

Then she was laid back down, and all she had the energy to do was stare up at the roof of the fwagon.

She couldn't hear anything that was being said, but she knew Anne and Sasha were talking, which was a miracle. Because after Anne had woken up and they had that initial conversation, they usually only exchanged a few words.

Suddenly, Marcy heard the sound of walking, and she looked over to she Sasha helping Anne to her bed. Immediately, Marcy tried to move carefully and slowly out of the way, so Anne could fit in the bed with her. It was a twin bed, only meant to fit one person. But Anne, Sasha, and Marcy had slept side by side, squished together many times during sleepovers. They were used to physical contact between the three of them, and it was something they shied away from. And the last thing Marcy was going to do right now was deny comfort.

Sasha settled Anne into the bed beside Marcy, being careful not to move either of them too much. She gave them both one last worried glance, before walking off.

Marcy didn't want to move onto her side to be closer to Anne out of fear of snapping the stitches again. But she didn't stop Anne when she wrapped an arm around Marcy shoulder, and  she ending up carefully resting her head against her.

"thanks..." Marcy muttered softly. She knew Anne was probably only doing this out of pity for all the pain that Marcy just went through. She knew she hated her in reality, hated her for getting them stuck in amphibia in the first place, especially now that they had no way home. She probably blamed Marcy for her own wound, the one that went all the way from her should to her opposite hip. And she was right to blame Marcy, it was all her fault, anyway.

Neither of them said anything for a long while, both of them too tense against each other. Then finally, Anne let out a sigh, her voice soft.

"You know how mad I am at you and Sasha, for the things you did." Marcy was expecting it, and she was expecting Anne to say something like she was leaving as soon as she had healed enough, but she didn't.

"But it doesn't matter right know. Being mad at you both won't stop Andrias, nor will it change the fact that we can't go home." Her voice was soft, her eyes off to the side. "I know Sasha trying hard, to take care of us, to make sure our wounds heal, to make sure we're fed and not found by Andrias."

Marcy knew she was right, Sasha had way more on her shoulders than she should for a thirteen year old girl. And she knew Sasha felt bad for everything she had done, and her only goal was to stop Andrias and take care of her and Anne.

"I wish I never found that box..." Marcy muttered, looking away from Anne, unable to hide the guilt in her voice. "It's my fault you almost died, it's my fault we're stuck here for ever... and I'm too useless to do anything about it."

She hated it all, everything she had done, she wished none of it had ever happened.

"it's not your fault." Anne's voice was firm now, and Marcy could feel her gaze burning into the back of her neck. "Sure, you're the reason we're here in the first place. And I'm so mad at your for it. But you couldn't have known that Andrias was an evil tyrant that is planning to take over the universe."

Marcy finally returned her gaze to Anne. "And this," Anne said, gesturing to the massive bandaged wound she had. "Isn't your fault either. I was the one who jumped into the battle, I was just going to let Andria's throw you and Sasha around like toys."

Marcy watched her carefully, her eyes falling to the bandaged wound. "Are... you okay? I bet that hurts..." probably a lot worse than her own wound, she mentally noted to herself.

"Yeah, it hurts, but all be fine. At least we can be pain buddies together." Anne added, which made Marcy let out a small laugh.

"I'll try to do everything I can, to make up for what I did." Marcy had to, she just had too.

"I know."

Chapter Text

Sasha

Sasha shoved the crowbar under the stuck door, letting out a grunt as she tried to force it open. It was stuck from all the dirt and decay growing in the cracks. When she finally got it open, a cloud of dust surrounded her, making it cough as she stepped into the abandoned house.

It was when of the houses that had been left when the townsfolk fled during the ash rain. Looking around, she could spot a first aid kit, which would be good for treating Anne and Marcy.

Anne and Marcy. Her two friends who were laying in the fwagon right now. Both severely injured and Sasha having know idea wether or not they both would live. She had watched both injuries happen. Anne, almost being cut in half at a diagonal. Marcy, being stabbed straight through the chest. Both horrid wounds inflected by Andria's, god, as soon as she got her hands on that motherfucker.

There was a small kitchen too, but it had been too long for any of the fast expiring foods to last. She managed to salvage a few fruits and vegetables, but most of them were covered in mold or shriveling up. There was some salt, which wasn't an necessity but it wouldn't soil so she would take it anyway.

But other than that, the only other food she found was one bag of beetle jerky that could still be good for a few more days, and dead bugs. Which the citizens of this world consider to be food, but Sasha didn't. Bugs wouldn't sustain her dying friends.

She was getting worried, she was running out of houses to ransack, and the ones she had were mostly only filled with spoiled food. She would have to start growing things for herself, or maybe even trying to hunt something. But She knew they only had enough food in the fwagon to last a few days.

Many of the other houses were the same, dusty and filled with spoiled food. Her work was definitely going to start to get harder.

Eventually, she was too tried to go on any more, grabbing the bag she had poorly made where all the food and other supplies, before beginning to trudge her way back to the fwagon that was partially hidden under the tree cover.

She forced the door open with her elbow, setting the back down. She didn't have to pass Anne and Marcy to get to the bathroom. Where she saw she was covered in dirt, which was almost always the case after she collected supplies. She grabbed a rag made of her old school uniform, dipping it in a bucket of water that was already turning murky. She couldn't waist extra water on cleaning herself.

She wiped the dirt of her elbows and face, not caring about getting her armory before throwing the rag into the bucket of water. Running a hand down her face.

Was this what her parents felt like every day? Going out and scouring for things to kept her alive, only to do it all over again the next day? No, it wasn't. Why? Because her parents had been more focused on fighting with each other than looking after her. They would rather yell at each other till three AM than tuck her in at night. That wasn't who she was going to be. Not that she had anyone to fight with besides Marcy and Anne. But she couldn't fight them. Not that she didn't want. She was pissed at Marcy, and wanted to shake Anne back and forth for throwing herself into danger. But she had more important things to do. She had to keep them alive, make sure their wounds healed, keep them feed, make sure they were warm. Make them happy.

She understood adults even more than before. Now she understood how they felt when she didn't listen to them. When she would run about the school hall and skip whole days. Only she didn't feel the frustration she knew the actually adults felt. She felt concerned. Panicked. The worry that had flooded her when Marcy tried to go to the bathroom on her own, to only end up ripping the front half of her stitches.

She was so damn worried. That was the only thing pushing her on. Not that fact that she needed to keep herself alive, not the fact that Andrias could be hunting them down right now. But because she was so worried about her friends. And because she knew she had to keep pushing for them, if not for herself. But she couldn't show that worry, she had to keep it hidden. For their sakes.

She pushed the bathroom door open, taking her boots ofg at putting them up against the wall of the fwagon. She slept on the floor, past a corner that Anne and Marcy couldn't see. They had taken up the only two beds, and Sasha knew they needed them. She wasn't about to be greedy enough to take one of them. Maybe her old self would, but not now. She wouldn't do it now.

She took off as much of her armor as possible, putting her swords next to her boots against the wall. Of course, she couldn't find new clothes. Any she did find, were either too small or too weird of a shape. They hadn't been made for humans to wear. And she didn't know how to modify them to do so.

So, she spent most of her time that she wasn't out reading houses for supplies wearing her old middle school shirt. It was dirty, and she wanted to throw it out when she was working for Grime. But he had insisted she keep it. Grime, she missed him. But that didn't matter. Even if she could find him, she had no idea how to drive Bessie. Only Anne knew how to do that. It would take her weeks to heal enough to do so, and with no idea on where Grime and the others could possibly be, they would just be driving around aimlessly.

But that wasn't her priority right now. Taking care of Anne and Marcy was. She didn't have time to greet them or check on their wounds. She knew they would both still be asleep anyway. Their bodies needed the rest to help the heal. Instead, she grabbed some of the food she had gathered today. As well as some food that she had found a while back. Was she a professional chef? Hell no. But she could cook decently enough. Usually she just threw fruits and veggies that were almost bad into a salad. If you could even call them salads. A while back she had found a loaf of bread, and she had been giving Marcy and Anne pieces of it before it went bad.

About once every week, she would go out to this clean stream she had found about a mile and a half away from where they had settled down. Filling a large barrel for drinking from. She didn't drink as much water as she did back home, her friends needed it more.

After making a salad with no lettuce that could barely be called a salad, and cutting two slices of bread. She threw the salad on two plates, splitting it in half. Then filled to cups with water, while putting a slice of bread on each plate.

She walked over to where Anne and Marcy had fallen asleep together the night before. And just as she guessed, they were still right where she left them. She set the plates and water on the small stand next to the bed, before taking in a breath.

She did this everyday, yet it hadn't gotten any easier. She felt like she was crossing their boundaries. It had gotten easier with Marcy, since Sasha tried to do it when she was awake. But Anne slept way more. But wether it was easy or not, she had to check on their wounds.

Carefully, she lifted up Marcy shirt enough to see the extent of her wound. It was worse than before she had restitched it. Being red and inflamed around the edges with small blood clot building up. The inner edges still looking burnt and smelling of smoke. Of course Andrias' sword had to be made of fire. But at least none of the stitches had come out again, and the wound wasn't bleeding now.

She set Marcy shirt back down gingerly, not wanting to wake the raven haired girl. She turned her attention to Anne, preparing herself for what she would see. Anne's always looked worse. 

lifting up her shirt, Sasha saw the charred edges of the wound that went all the way from her shoulder to her hip, the edges were even more inflamed than the ones on Marcy's. There were even a few blisters and surely puss lying under the skin. But it wasn't worse than when she had looked at it before. So that was good.

She let out a shaky breath, setting the shirt back down before taking a step back. She know they would both need to have baths. But she didn't want another Marcy incident. So she would wait until they were both awake.

But that meant she needed more water, she had no where near enough for two full baths right now. She had three extra barrels she could use for water, given they were smaller than the one she usually used, but they would have to work.

Pulling her boots back on, and carefully grabbing all three barrels. Before beginning to make the long walk towards that small stream.

----

By the time she even got to the stream, blisters were forming on her feet. And the walk back was even worse, trying to carry all three large barrels full of water without spilling anything, in the sun, while a mad tyrant could potentially be after them, wasn't easy. Especially since she was used to carrying only one barrel. They were so heavy she had to take two as far as she could, set them down from a quick break, then go grab the last barrel and bring it to the other two. But finally she got back to fwagon, still having most of the water, not a lot having spilled out.

When she kicked the door open with her foot, I banged against the wall, making the whole fwagon shake. But she was to damn tired to care. She dragged the barrels into the fwagon, letting out a sigh of relief when they were all inside and slamming the door shut.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Marcy and Anne were already awake, Marcy, didn't look to bothered. Seeing as she had watched Sasha down this a few times before. Anne, however, was looking at her like she had just tried to take on three praying mantises at once. But, Sasha couldn't be wasn't time explaining what she was doing, and she knew Marcy could do easily. So, she went over to the stove, lighting a fire under it with a match and grabbing the biggest pot she could find and putting it atop the flame.

The last thing she wanted to do was give Anne and Marcy freezing cold baths, or risk any bacteria or something from the water getting into their wounds

She grabbed one barrel of water, pouring as much of the liquid as she could into the pot, which only managed to be about a fourth of the barrel.

She watched the water, waiting for it to boil. When it finally did, she let it sit for a few minutes before taking the pot off the stove and moving it to the bathroom, and into the large tub she had found to clean herself in on the days she was extra dirty.

She did this over and over again until the tub was pretty much full. She had grabbed just the right amount of water that she still had a barrel and a half left, enough for both of their baths.

She came back out of the bathroom, looking at Anne and Marcy. Marcy was dirtier, because she had been trying to move around all day yesterday. But Anne's wound was worse. Reluctantly, she decided to bathe Marcy first, because she would probably cooperate much more with her right now than Anne would. After everything she had done.

"Alright, up." She said, grabbing Marcy's hand and pulling her gently. "And don't rip your hand stitches this time."

She said, making sure to help Marcy keep her balance. She put one hand on Anne's chest where her wound didn't reach, making sure she stayed lying down. Anne was not good enough to stand on her own yet.

After she had Marcy steady, she began to walk her to the bathroom, watching her carefully for any signs of pain or stress.

"what... are we doing...?" She asked, her voice soft and somewhat shaky.

"giving you a bath, you need it. But I'm not letting you try to do it on your own this time." Sasha closed the bathroom door behind them, putting her hand in the water in the tub to make sure it was still warm, it was.

"okay, just, hold still." Sasha said, carefully lifting her shirt off her head, trying to not hurt her friend too much in the process. She, grabbed the edge of the bandage, carefully unwrapping it, the harsh, ash smelling wound being revealed.

It didn't get easier the more she did it, it still made her chest tighten and her breath catching in her throat every time she saw what had caused her friend so much pain

After removing the rest of her friends clothes, she carefully lowered her into the water. Guilt twisting in her gut as Marcy winced when the water hit her wound.

It wasn't odd seeing her friend without clothes, they had been by each others sides for as long as she could remember. They had been in plenty of changing rooms together, helped each other pick out clothes.

"okay, you're doing good..." the comforting words came out naturally. Sasha had fallen into her role, the care taker. The only person who could make sure that everyone else was okay.

Grabbing another rag she had made out of discarded clothes, she dipped it in the water. Before grabbing some soap the she had found in one house, also getting it wet before lathering it up. Putting the soap on the rag, beginning to scrub the dirtiest parts of her friend. Making sure to stay way clear of her wound.

She made sure to get every bit of dirt that she could see, anything that could make her feel dirty or bad. It was all over her, her neck, her legs, arms, torso. But she made sure to get all of it.

Finally, when all the dirt was off Marcy skin. She began massaging water into her hair. She didn't have any shampoo or conditioner, but just water would be enough to keep the short hair in check.

"you feeling alright?" Sasha had been checking up on Marcy the entire time, and here she was, doing it again.

"mhm..." Marcy nodded as Sasha scooped up another handful of water into her hair, washing out any of the dirt that could've gotten between the strands. Her hands raking through all the tangles and making sure they were removed.

After what felt like forever, they were done with Marcy's bath. Sasha dried her off, re rapped her wound with dry bandages, poured out the now dirty water into the grass, and began to do it all again for Anne.

She boiled the water again, poured it into the tub, helped Anne to it, removed her clothes, cleaned off the dirt and washed her hair the best she could. The only difference between Anne and Marcy was that Marcy tried to communicate with Sasha, Anne just glared at the wall and stayed silent the entire time. But Sasha didn't care if she talked or not, she wasn't going to force her, she knew that. All she cared about was making sure Anne actually let her take care of her. 

Again, Sasha poured out the dirty water, washed Anne and re wrapped her wound, before getting her back into bed where she had placed Marcy before.

Then she started throwing together dinner. Some cooked mantis meat, again with slices of bread and water. She set the two plates next to Anne and Marcy. Before beginning to settle down and get ready for her bed that awaited her on the floor.

She took off all her armor and boots, making sure to wash any dishes from earlier.

she realized now, that the other bed was totally unused. Anne showed no signs of going back to it since she had moved into Marcy bed. But yet somehow, thinking of sleeping there felt wrong. She would continue to sleep on the floor.

pulling herself onto the rock hard mattress. She stayed awake, simply staring at the ceiling. Getting ready to do it all again.