CHAPTER IV: THE NIGHT

"Maybe if you had been a better daughter he'd still be here."

…

…

…

"No!" Sasha screamed as she sat up straight, breathing hard, her forehead beaded with sweat.

The blonde groaned as she held the back of her head. Why did it hurt so much? Then, after a few moments, it all came back to her. Their battle with Andrias, Marcy's death and… Grime hit her… that old, slimy toad hit her! She began to look around and only then she noticed where she was. She was laying on top of a few sheets, in the back of a toad wagon. By the looks of it, she must have been asleep for a few hours, since it was almost dark. As Sasha kept looking around, she realized that Grime must have caught up with the retreating toad army, since she was surrounded by it. Their destination was unknown to her, but she didn't care, all she wanted was finding Grime and… and…

"Gah! You stupid toad!" Sasha yelled angrily as she passed a hand through her hair.

"Commander Sasha, you're awake." The toad driving the wagon greeted her.

"Where's… captain… Grime?" The blonde asked gritting her teeth.

"H-he's l-leading the army t-to a s-secret place… w-where w-we can organize a n-new strategy to-" The toad stopped talking as Sasha raised her hand.

The blonde simply stood up and jumped out the wagon. She started to make her way through the army of toads, trying to reach its head. It was only after about fifteen minutes of roughly shoving toads aside that the blonde finally managed to spot Grime. He was talking with Bufo and Beatrix, but Sasha couldn't quite hear what they were saying. Not that she cared at the moment. Beside the three captains, a wagon was being towed by a large tarantula, and on it the blonde spotted General Yunnan and a royal looking newt. What the heck were they doing there? In the middle of the toad army? They sure didn't look like prisoners… but no matter, she had a toad to beat up.

"Grime…" Sasha growled as she approached the toad.

"Sasha, you're awa-"

BAM!

The punch sent Grime to the ground, where he began to rub his sore jaw.

"Get up, we're not done yet." Sasha growled as she took a fighting stance.

Immediately, both Bufo and Beatrix got between the two, baring their fangs at the girl. Sasha, however, didn't seem to be intimidated by the two, as she stood her ground.

"Let… me… through…" She hissed through gritted teeth, her tone grave.

"Ha! If you think we're gonna let you hummus hurt lil' Grimothy here, you're stupider than you look." Beatrix chuckled, raising her fists.

"He's the wielder of Barrel's hammer, we swore loyalty to him, not to you, so you better back off." Bufo warned her menacingly.

But before any of them could throw the first punch, Grime got up from the ground and moved his sister aside.

"Settle down, Beatrix, Bufo, this is between me and Sasha." The one-eyed toad spoke calmly.

"You can bet your fat behind this is between us!" Sasha yelled in anger before throwing the toad another punch.

This time though, Grime was ready and managed to dodge the blonde's attack.

"Sasha, please! Stop this!" The toad tried to reason with the girl as he dodged another incoming hit.

"Stop this? Stop this?! Why should I listen to you?! You're just a backstabber!" Sasha screamed in rage as she crouched down and swept Grime's legs, making the toad on the ground.

"Okay, first I didn't stab you, I knocked you out, second, Andrias would have killed you!" Grime replied almost breathlessly as he tried to stand up.

"I could have taken Andrias! I could have taken them all!" The blonde didn't relent as she jumped on him, straddling him.

"No, you couldn't have! Even if we fought him together, he had too many of his robots on his side! We wouldn't have made it out alive!" Grime tried to explain as grasped Sasha's wrists, trying to prevent her from punching him again.

"I had to fight them even if it meant that I'd die! I had to! I was trying to avenge a friend!" Sasha screamed, her voice almost breaking, her eyes starting to get watery.

"And I was trying to save one!" Grime shouted back.

As soon as Sasha heard those words, she immediately stopped struggling. She stared at Grime with wide eyes for what felt like an eternity before a regretful expression appeared on her face.

"Well, congratulations… I'm alive." Sasha spoke in a low voice, not meeting Grime's gaze as she stood up.

The blonde turned on her heels and started to make her way back to the wagon she had woken up in. She couldn't be near Grime, not at that moment. The toad got up and raised a clawed hand towards her. He was on the verge of calling out to her, of saying something, but decided not to, letting only a low grumble escape his mouth. He spent enough time with Sasha to know that trying to speak with the blonde right then and there wouldn't have solved a thing, and it would have probably gotten him hurt… again…

"Should we do something about her?" Beatrix asked as she reached Grime's side.

"No… let's reach our destination first… then… I'll talk to her." The toad held up a hand.

"Pfft… talking won't do any good brother." His sister crossed her arms, scoffing.

Grime watched as Sasha disappeared between the toad army's troops with a small, yet hopeful smile.

"You'd be surprised Bea."

͠

Cold. It's the first thing she felt as she slowly came back to her senses. Cold. A deep, stinging, almost unnatural cold, and as Marcy Wu pushed her hands against the ground in order to get up, that cold only grew as she felt snow engulf her fingers. The girl stood up unsteadily, almost tripping and falling back on the ground as she stumbled. Marcy hugged herself, her whole body trembling violently. Teeth clattering, she looked around, trying to figure out where she was. Amphibia Arctic maybe? No… there weren't any mountains around… there weren't any trees… just… darkness… a snowy ground and… nothing else. Even the sky had no stars. It couldn't be… no clouds… no moon… just…

Nothing…

"Terrifying… isn't it?"

Marcy quickly spun around as she released a loud yelp, startled by the sudden sound of a deep, unhuman, croaking voice. She pointed her arm towards the source of the sound almost automatically, but after a few moments she realized that her trusty crossbow was missing. In fact, her entire ranger outfit was missing. As she looked down, she realized that she was wearing the same clothes she wore when she first appeared in Amphibia.

"W-what? What is happening? Where's my-" Marcy began to speak, wondering what happened to her, where she could be, but then… suddenly… she remembered.

The King… she had trusted him and he just… betrayed her. He betrayed her, Sasha and… Anne. They fought and just as she managed to open a portal to go home, Andrias… he… it hurt so much, but even that pain was nothing compared to what she felt when she heard Anne spoke those horrible… horrible words.

We have nothing, Marcy.

"It must have hurt…"

The voice spoke again.

This time Marcy stepped back, fear flashing in her eyes. The voice had grown heavier, closer, and as it spoke, the girl began to hear the sound of something massive moving on the snowy ground towards her. Then, after what felt like an eternity, it emerged from the darkness.

All color drained from Marcy's face, and suddenly, the girl felt like she couldn't breathe anymore. She just stared as the gargantuan black beast approached her. Their body… it resembled the one of a toad, more similar to the ones Marcy had seen on Earth rather than the ones she met in Amphibia… but it was far more massive. Claws as long and sharp as swords adorned its feet, but what terrified her the most… were their eyes.

Thirteen, orange, glowing eyes.

They opened as soon as the creature emerged from the darkness, slowly dragging itself through the snow and towards the girl. Marcy let out a strangled scream and turned around. She tried to run away, but after a few meters, she simply collapsed to her knees as the deep cold surrounding her became unbearable. She hugged herself in a futile attempt to warm herself, but to no vail. The cold grew stronger and stronger until Marcy believed that she would have died right there and then…

But then…

Suddenly…

The cold went away, replaced by a soothing warmth. As she slowly opened her eyes, Marcy let out a cry of terror as she realized that the beast had reached her. They had already put their arms around her, blocking her escape, and their large, glowing eyes were all gazing down upon her. The black-haired girl raised her trembling arms, covering her face. She expected the monster to eat her, to tear her apart with their massive fangs, but the being… simply stared at her.

"How curious… such a fragile being… to think it was prophesized that your kind would be the one to end me…" The beast spoke.

Marcy didn't really understand what the creature was talking about… but they didn't seem to be interested in hurting her… yet.

"W-who are you?" Marcy asked with a trembling voice.

"Many names have been given to me… Andrias' ancestors called me… The Night…"

"Y-you're… not going to hurt me?" The black-haired girl asked, slightly lowering her arms.

"Oh no, child, quite the contrary. I'm here to offer you a deal."

"A deal?" Marcy asked, her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

The Night didn't respond, they simply raised their head, their gaze now lost into the infinite darkness that surrounded them. It was strange, in that moment, Marcy felt a terrible dread pervading her… but she had no reason to be that afraid in that moment. It was as if she had just felt… what the creature was feeling… it was as if just for a single moment, Marcy had been able to feel what The Night felt in that moment, as if a connection was being created between the two of them.

"Cold… isn't it?" The Night suddenly asked.

Marcy could only nod as the creature's gaze returned to her.

"This was my home, eons ago. I lived in the darkness for so long, until… a portal opened…"

"The music box…" Marcy whispered.

"Yes... Andrias' ancestors had created something incredible… and yet they couldn't understand it, their first portal was a mistake… a crude attempt at controlling the stones through an earlier version of the box. When I came into their world, I guided them, studied the box and perfected it. They couldn't understand its true power, the power of the gems… but I did. You do understand it too now… don't you?"

"Anne's powers…" The girl realized, as the image of Anne fighting King Andrias came back to her mind.

"Not only hers… yours and Sasha's too…"

"N-no… no, w-we never… me and Sasha never got any powers!" Marcy exclaimed.

"You never unlocked it like Anne did… but both you and Sasha became connected to the stones when you came to Amphibia." The Night explained.

"H-how… how do you know all of this?"

"I can see your mind, child… you're scared… lonely… you miss her."

"Y-you don't know anything about me…" Marcy scowled, her hardened gaze meeting the beast's.

"Oh, little human… I know everything about you. I know that your greatest fear is to be alone…"

"S-stop!" The girl protested weakly.

"And I know that you'd do anything to prevent that… even putting in danger those you claim to love…"

"I-I…"

Marcy tried to speak, she wanted so bad for the monster in front of her to be wrong… but the sad truth was… that The Night was right. Because of her fear she had taken both Anne and Sasha away from their homes, their parents… away from their lives. During their time in Amphibia they could have all died multiple times… she had never thought about the consequences of her actions. She wanted that damned box to take them away from their homes… to gift them a new one where they could be together, forever. But Marcy had never thought about what Anne and Sasha wanted. She was…

"Selfish? Egoistical? Not worthy of Anne's love?"

The Night's voice broke her train of thought. Marcy hugged her knees and hid her face between them.

"Please… stop…" She whispered with a broken voice.

"It is fine, little girl. If you weren't those things… then you would have never accepted my offer…"

The girl lifted her head, and her eyes, now filled with tears, met The Night's. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing more than snow and darkness, Marcy struck a deal with the devil.