The Haze Between Realities

"Mom!" Luz cried as she was pulled away by the rope around her waist, tears falling from her eyes and her hands still outstretched. The floating cubes around her all displayed the image of Camila Noceda's face as Luz kept calling out for her. After making a promise that will surely only end with heartbreak, Luz's time with her mother has ended, but it wasn't enough. Luz needed more time to reassure her mother that her choosing to stay in the isles had nothing to do with what her mother did, that her daughter didn't hate living with her own mother. That she never meant to hurt her mother like this, but it was no use.

Luz was dragged into the inky abyss.

Then everything stopped.

Luz found herself standing in a grayscale room. No windows, no door, no furniture. It was circular, constructed with stone and decorated in strange symbols. It reminded her of a dungeon.

In the center of the room, with metal chains clasped around wrists and ankles to deadbolts in the floor, was a girl her age. Maybe younger, dressed in what Luz could only describe as a combination of a roughed-up school uniform and chief ranger attire. She had her head bowed, dark hair obscuring her face.

Wiping away the last of her tears, Luz cautiously approached the girl. "Hello?" Luz kneeled down, a hand stretched out to the girl but not making contact.

The girl lifted her head up, meeting Luz's eyes with her tired and terrified ones. She stared at Luz like she was afraid she would turn into a monster.

"Hey, it's ok," Luz spoke with a gentleness one would use for a wounded rabbit, "I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Luz Noceda. What's yours?"

"M-m-Marcy," she answered, voice hoarse from either disuse or overuse, like she was crying or even screaming too much. "You're from Earth, right?"

Luz nodded, eyes soft. "Yes."

Luz's answer seemed to spark some life back into Marcy's eyes. She leaned in closer to Luz, reaching her hands out to her but only made it halfway when the chains became taut. "Listen, you have to warn my friends. Andrias is coming. His army is huge. The Core possessed me-"

Luz interrupted her. "Wait, Andrias? Who's Andrias?"

"The king of Amphibia, a world of talking frogs," Marcy hurriedly explained.

"I guess that's not in the Demon Realm then," Luz murmured after a moment.

Marcy continued. "Andrias is coming for Anne Boonchuy, my friend. He wants to kill her. He wants to take over Earth and all the other worlds."

Luz was stunned. So not only was Belos trying to get to Earth, but this Andrias guy was too. Clearly intending to invade.

As if this day wasn't too much already.

"You have to go," Marcy urged, snapping Luz out of her thoughts, "Go before they show up."

Luz's face hardened in resolve. She already let her mother down, but maybe she can help Marcy. She took out a fire glyph from her pocket. "I will, but I'm taking you with me."

Marcy shook her head frantically. "You can't-"

"Don't worry," Luz reassured, reaching for Marcy's hand, "Maybe I can burn through the metal-"

Her words were cut short when her hand passed right through Marcy's. Just like when she tried to touch her mother's hand.

Luz's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

Then a distorted laugh came from behind her, eliciting a surprise gasp from the witch apprentice. Luz whirled around, up on her feet as a cluster of red eyes glowed from a shadowy corner that wasn't that dark before. "How interesting," a voice mused, weirdly sounding like Marcy with extra voices to it, deeper and older. "A human that has managed to travel into the realms in-between. The Calamity Box never could do that."

Luz stood protectively in front of Marcy, who's eyes were wide with terror. "Who are you?" Luz demanded, "Are you the one imprisoning Marcy? Let her go or-"

"Or what?" It mocked, stepping into the light. It was Marcy, only not Marcy. They wore a suit of dark armor with a red eye in the middle of their chest. On their head was a helmet that held all those red eyes, axolotl antennas sticking from the top. Heck, they even had a red, flowing cape to complete their villainous look. "Your magic is no good here."

"We'll see about that!" Luz challenged, aiming her glyph at them. She tapped it and expected a fireball, but the paper evaporated instead. "Oh come on."

"How pathetic," Dark Marcy said, smirking unsettlingly. "You think by now you would have learned it only works on the Boiling Isles."

Luz couldn't stop the sharp intake of breath from her lips.

Dark Marcy chuckled darkly. "That's right. I know about the Demon Realm. It's one of the worlds we were going to conquer before Andrias's friends stole the Box. A thousand years we had to wait. Now," Dark Marcy gestured an open palm to Real Marcy, "Thanks to Marcy and her friends, we can pick up right where we left off."

"Please," Marcy begged, straining against her restraints, "please, don't do this!"

Suddenly, Dark Marcy (you know what? Luz is just going to call her Darcy) vanished and reappeared behind Marcy, making Luz jump. "Now, now," Darcy cooed, stroking Marcy's hair much to her discomfort. "You should be honored. We wanted you because you were the best and the brightest. You will rise to glory with us, immortal, never fearing to be alone again. Afterall, we both know those childhood friends of yours will never forgive you, will never accept you back."

"No, no, no," Marcy whimpered, tears streaming down her face as her body trembled.

Luz gritted her teeth and clenched her hands into fists. "Get away from her!" Luz launched herself at Darcy, but they held up a hand and suddenly Luz was crashing back into the stone wall.

"Luz!" Marcy cried out.

Luz pushed herself into a sitting position, just as Darcy stood over her. "I could destroy your mind," Darcy threatened, "Make you relive all your fears and regrets over and over again."

Luz braced herself against the wall, staring up into those red eyes in defiance.

Darcy briefly examined their nails as if bored with the whole idea. "However, I'll need someone to keep that pesky Emperor preoccupied. I can't let his plans succeed. I'll just wipe your mind of this encounter." Darcy folded their arms behind their back. "You can't stop us if you don't remember."

"Even if I don't remember, you'll never get away with this!" Luz declared, "Someone will stop you!"

"Such stupid, false hope," Darcy mocked, shaking their head. They took a step back. "Besides, you should be more worried about ever seeing your dear mother again. The one you ran away from without a second thought, and who's heart you've broken."

Darcy's words hit Luz to her core like burning ice. Before she could say anything, a rope dropped from the endlessly dark ceiling and coiled around her waist. Once secured, it yanked her up, away from Darcy and Marcy, one smug while the other was scared.

"Luz!"

"Marcy!"

Luz reached out her arms, trying to hold onto her memories as they started to fade away. As hard as she tried to, once Eda and the others pulled her out of the collapsing portal, all Luz could remember was her mother crying and the promise she didn't know if she could keep.

This might be the most dark and angsty thing I've ever written. And I wrote this after watching 'A Froggy Little Christmas'. Or second angstest. There's that Pain and Fears fic I did as well. I'm referring to Darcy as a 'they' since the Core is a hive of minds so it's a group and not a singular person. Bottom line, Darcy/The Core just scares the heck out of me. These poor girls are going through a lot and I wish Luz could save Marcy, but the plot prohibits me from doing so. I do believe Marcy and Luz would have been best friends if they got a chance to meet. But it is what it is. I do hope these girls are safe in the end, cause I worry about their futures. Both shows aren't done yet. Who knows what will happen. Please share your thoughts in the review section.