CHAPTER XI: I NEVER STOPPED LOVING YOU
Marcy slowly came to her senses. She didn't recognize the room she woke up into, but by the looks of it, she couldn't be in Newtopia. It was all too… rustic. She couldn't remember much of what happened. She recalled Andrias betraying her, revealing her secret to Anne and Sasha. She remembered seeing with how much disgust Sasha had looked at her, but what hurt the most was the look on Anne's face when she realized that she had betrayed them… her best friends… and the words she told her afterwards. Marcy remembered Andrias' sword impaling her, it hurt more than anything she had ever felt before. She recalled the sensation of life flowing out of her, and a deep cold settling in her chest as darkness overcame her.
And then…
She remembered the creature… the Night… finding her in the cold, in the dark, offering her a chance to go back, to find Anne and Sasha… to fix things. She accepted, and she became the monster's pawn. After that, all Marcy managed to recall were fragments. As she closed her eyes, an image of herself towering menacingly over Anne flashed in her mind.
"No… no… I'm sorry… I didn't-" Marcy covered her eyes with her hands, clawing at her own face in an attempt to make those horrible memories go away.
Suddenly, she felt someone stir beside her.
"Marcy?"
Marcy immediately fell silent, she slowly uncovered her eyes and turned her head only to see Anne, sitting on a stool next to her bed, staring at her. The two kept staring at each other for what felt like an eternity and then… Anne's eyes filled with tears, and a moment after she launched herself towards Marcy, enveloping her in a tight hug. After a few seconds of pure shock, Marcy hugged her back, holding her as if her life depended on it.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Marcy kept repeating the same words over and over.
Anne pulled away from the hug for a brief moment before crushing her lips against Marcy's, and an eternity seemed to pass before the messy-haired girl pulled back.
"I'm the one who's sorry, those things I said to you… you don't know how much I've wanted to take them back… I'm so sorry Mar-Mar." Anne said tearfully as she cupped the girl's cheeks.
"Y-you're the one who's sorry?! Anne, I took you here! I took you and Sash away from home just to… just to… I'm so pathetic…" Marcy whispered as she grasped Anne's hands.
"Hey." The messy-haired girl's tone became serious, and Marcy found herself staring back at her. "You're not pathetic? Got it? Your parents were gonna leave and take you with them… you thought it'd mean the end of our friendship and you made a rash decision. We've… we've all done bad things Marcy… me, you, Sasha… but we've become better people, that's what counts, okay?"
"I promise… I promise I'll be better… I'll b-be better…" Marcy hiccupped as Anne kept stroking her cheeks.
Anne leaned in a gave Marcy another kiss, softer this time, less desperate, and the black-haired girl immediately reciprocated.
"D-does this mean that… that…" Marcy muttered before casting her gaze downward, unable to continue.
"I never stopped loving you Mar-Mar… never…"
Marcy raised her gaze and found Anne's loving one. A trembling smile appeared on her face before a slight chuckle escaped her lips. Tears began to flow freely, and Anne began to kiss Marcy's cheeks, trying to wipe them all away. After a while, the two simply fell asleep in each other's arms.
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The morning came quickly, and Marcy was the first one to wake up. She stood from the bed, trying to do her best not to wake Anne up. She looked to peaceful to be disturbed. Quietly, she made her way towards the bedroom's door and went out into the corridor. She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw someone standing against a door not far from the one of her and Anne's bedroom. Blonde hair… a patch covering her right eye…
"Sash…" Marcy whispered, taking a step forward. "Sasha I'm so-"
The blonde girl raised a hand and Marcy fell silent. She began to walk towards her, and when she raised a hand, Marcy thought that Sasha was going to hit her. She closed her eyes, not bothering to protect herself, she still believed she'd deserve it after everything she had put Anne and Sasha through. But the hit never came, instead, she felt a warm grip on her shoulder.
"You're gonna talk to us next time something bad happens?" Sasha said, a small smile growing on her lips.
After a few moments, Marcy let out a teary chuckle.
"Yes… I promise."
"Okay then." Sasha said before enveloping the girl in front of her in a tight hug. "Missed you Mar-Mar."
"I missed you too Sasha…" Marcy whispered, hugging the blonde back.
Suddenly, the door behind Marcy opened, revealing a groggy looking Anne. The messy-haired girl took a step forward before noticing Marcy standing in the corridor. Immediately, her lips curled into a warm smile.
"Hi." Anne said.
"Hi." Marcy replied, a slight red tint adorning her cheeks.
"Morning sunshine, slept well?" Sasha asked, crossing her arms, looking between the two girls in front of her as a devilish smirk grew on her lips.
"A-ah! N-no! I mean yes! But it… uhm… it wasn't because… you see-"
"You two are together." Sasha concluded.
Color drained from both Anne and Marcy's faces.
"Relax girls… I'm happy for you, okay?" Sasha said, before adding "Of course, expect an endless amount of teasing from now on."
"There she is." Anne chuckled.
Marcy took a step towards Sasha, raising a hand towards the patch covering the blonde's eye before retracting it.
"Sash… I'm so sorry… if… if I hand't-" Marcy began to speak but stopped as the blonde put her hands on her shoulders.
"Hey, no more of that, okay? I got this from protecting one of my best friends, I'll never regret getting it, okay? Plus, the patch makes me look even more cool, if that's possible."
"Yeah, it does look very cool." Marcy giggled before Anne stepped forwards, bringing them both into a hug.
"Look at us, the three heroines of Amphibia, back together."
"Oh, and that title was given to us byyyyy…?" Sasha teased as she put her arms around the two girl's shoulders.
"Ourselves, obviously. I think it suits us." Anne spoke with a hint of smugness in her voice.
"It does! Oh! We're like the trio of heroes of second favorite videogame-"
Marcy began to gush about how the three of them were exactly like these magical warriors from one of her games, and as she kept speaking, Anne and Sasha looked at each other smiling, knowing that her friend was truly back. The moment came to an end when the Plantars appeared at the top of the stairs that lead to the ground floor.
"Guys, you all right?" Sprig asked, fidgeting with his hat.
"Yeah, we're good." Anne declared as the three girls made their way towards the frog family.
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"So… how's the situation?" Sasha asked as she, Anne and Marcy sat down at a round table alongside the Plantars, Grime, Yunnan and Olivia.
"My soldiers managed to destroy a few of the factories, others were sabotaged by Frobo… but a good half of them kept producing units and just after Andrias fell from the castle…" Grime stopped, grunting as he massaged his temples.
"Portals appeared everywhere near the remaining factories, and all the robots we haven't destroyed went through." Yunnan concluded.
"They must have followed that monster…" Anne said, clenching her fists as the memory of those terrible, thirteen orange eyes came to her mind.
"Monster?" Sasha asked, slightly cocking her head to the side.
"It is called… The Night…" Marcy swallowed audibly before continuing, "It came from another world… and now wants to take over all the others."
Everyone fell silent for a few moments before Sasha spoke up.
"How are we going to stop him?"
It was in that moment that a spark of determination ignited in Anne's eyes. The three of them, Marcy, Sasha and herself had always been able to get through anything that life threw at them. And this time? It wasn't going to be different.
"Together… we'll do it together." Anne said, a determined smile adorning her face.
"Still… that monster has the music box… how are we going to reach him?" Grime asked, scratching his chin.
"That won't be a problem." Polly intervened, crossing her arms. "Frobo!"
Just as she called it, the frog robot made its way towards the small group, carrying something.
"Is that…" Anne said, recognizing the object held between Frobo's metal claws.
"That's the head of the robot that attacked us back on Earth!" Sprig said, pointing a finger towards the robot's head.
"Exactly…" Polly said proudly. "And Frobo has just managed to hack it."
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It was warm… everything around The Night felt warm. The streets it was walking on, the air around it, the fires… much different from the world he was born into. This planet would have made a fine new addiction to its collection. The humans fought with everything they had, and although their weapons managed to take down a few robots, they barely scratched the gigantic creature's skin.
"This is going to be easier than I had expected…"
"You sure of that?"
The monster had just the time to turn around before the vision from one of its eyes became completely black, hit by something with such an incredible force that it had to stumble back. The remaining twelve, orange eyes finally set upon a small figure. It was glowing, a light blue aura surrounding it.
"Ah… Anne Boonchuy… you are going to pay for this."
Behind her, The Night noticed that numerous portals had begun to open. Marcy and Sasha emerged from one of them, alongside Grime, Yunnan and Olivia. The remaining toads from the toad army emerged from another portal, followed by a large group of newts and frogs from Wartwood who began to join the small group of warriors. Anne turned towards them, while Sasha and Marcy joined her side.
"Everyone! The people of our town need you! The Night may be powerful, but he's alone, while we stand together!"
Everyone cheered and let out powerful battle cries as Anne spoke. The little army of toads, frogs and newts began to storm the streets of the city, joining the humans against The Night's robots while The Plantars, Yunnan, Olivia and Grime joined the three girls standing in front of the black beast.
"How did you reach me?"
"You should have checked more Andrias' new inventions." Anne spoke smugly, as Frobo stepped forwards, holding the head of the new tyrant's assassin robot.
"Once we found it, all we had to do was making it work again. Andrias projected it so that it could communicate with the music box and request to open a portal." Polly explained, jumping on Frobo's shoulder.
"You should have accepted Marcy's offer Anne, just like she accepted mine… I would have truly spared you two… why couldn't you be as weak and pathetic as her?"
"Shut up!"
Anne cried out in rage and jumped towards the gargantuan toad, only to be batted away by its gigantic, clawed hand. The girl flew through the air before crashing into a nearby car.
"For Anne!" Sasha cried as she rushed towards the beast, followed by the small group.
"So be it…"
Grime jumped forwards, dodging the creature's claws before smashing his hammer into its mouth. A victorious smile grew on the toad's face as he noticed that a strange, black, gooey substance had stained Barrel's hammer. A second after another swipe of the black beast's hand sent him flying away. As soon as The Night turned towards the remaining members of the rebellious group, he noticed someone was missing. Two newts and one of the girls… suddenly, he felt two weights on its head. Yunnan had jumped on top of it alongside Olivia, double blades and sword ready to strike. Both shattered against the monster's skin before the newts were shaken off.
"Surrender, you cannot win. You do not possess such power."
"Not yet."
The Night turned around and noticed Sasha rushing towards him… Grime's Warhammer in her hands. The toad was laying unconscious a few meters away from her. When she jumped in the air, avoiding the beast's deadly claws, The Night believed she would aim for its mouth, or maybe its eyes, but the girl hit with every ounce of her strength its hand… the one it hadn't used to attack them… the one it had kept closed during the entire length of their fight… and the beast stumbled back as its hand opened and the music box flew up in the air. Twelve glowing, orange eyes widened as a giant, clawed hand tried to reach for the golden box… but before The Night could get hold of it, a flash of blue skyrocketed through the sky, snatching it away. When the monster turned around, Anne was standing next to Marcy. The carrier of the heart stone's power passed it to black-haired girl. The monster took a step forward.
"You can't use it… not to its full potential… you lack the intelligence to do so…"
"You may be wrong about that." Marcy replied, a green light appearing in her eyes.
"No…"
Suddenly, Marcy became engulfed in a green glow, and her fingers began to move incredibly fast upon the music box's surface. The Night sprung forward as the stone of strength glowed brightly, and just as the beast was going to reach the two girls, it stopped. Someone had grabbed its leg, and as the gargantuan black toad turned its head around, it noticed a girl surrounded by a deep, red aura. A patch was covering one of her eyes, and a determined grin adorned her face. Before it could speak, the monster was pulled back and punched with an unimaginable force.
"Now!" Sasha yelled as the beast shook its head, trying to regain its bearings after the hit.
The Night turned towards Marcy, who had began to press a very familiar set of commands on the music box. For the first time in eons, the Night's eyes widened in terror.
"NO!"
A portal opened behind it, and from it came a deep, dark cold. Nothing could be seen through the glowing gate, only darkness, and from it… an enormous hand appeared, grabbing the black beast by its leg.
"So that's what he feared…" Anne murmured.
Marcy could only nod as a chill ran down her spine.
"If I'm going, you're coming with me!"
The Night's mouth opened to reveal its disgustingly long and barbed tongue. The thick string of flesh coiled itself around Sasha. She could have broken out its hold… but not in time. She trashed against the Night's hold but to no vail. The portal became closer and closer until…
"I got you Sash."
"No! Anne! Get away!"
It all happened in mere seconds.
Anne grasping the beast tongue and pulling with all of her strength, ripping away the horrid muscle between the agonizing screams of its owner. Sasha fell to the ground as the Night's hands closed around Anne…
The two of them disappeared into the portal… and everything went quiet.
"A-Anne?" Marcy stuttered, taking a step towards the portal, as tears started to stream down her cheeks.