Hiya folks. I decided to give it a chance and write something for Sasharcy week. I took a bit of liberty with the theme, which was 'memories'
Hope you guys like it.
Sasha parked the car on the side of the road, near the edge of the woods, and rushed to get out. Marcy, who already knew the routine, waited for her to turn around the car and open the door.
"My lady," said Sasha, serious as ever.
Marcy laughed it off. "You're so sappy. Anne's rubbing out on you." She squirmed to get out of the car; her backpack filled to the brim with her astronomy equipment. She took a glance at the sky and marveled. "Wo-oh-oh, look at all the stars you can see from here! You were right, Sash. This spot's PERFECT for stargazing."
"Yeah, it's pretty sweet. This isn't what I wanted to show you tho'."
Sasha tried to held hands. Marcy slapped Sasha's hand and said in a defiant tone. "I can walk by myself, Sash. Now, lead on!" she merrily added.
Sasha turned her head to hide her blush. She guided Marcy through the heart of the woods, dodging tree branches and steeping over bushes. After five minutes of walking, they reached an open field.
The clearing was mostly the same as Sasha remembered, and indeed some of their old stuff still littered the place. The old tire they changed from Marcy's bike, and the make-shift 'volley court' they'd made with two wooden stakes and a fishing net. Everything was decayed and half-hidden under the tall grass. More importantly, the sturdy oak was still there, as was the even sturdier treehouse on top of it.
As soon as she saw it, Marcy beamed. "Woah, a treehouse? Soo cool!" She tilted her head and pulled her notebook and a pencil. "Very structurally solid, too. See those pillars? They hold the whole structure together. Whoever designed it sure knew what they were doing."
Marcy stuck her tongue out as she started to drabble. Sasha smiled sadly. It was too much to ask.
"She sure did, Marce. It was you."
Marcy lifted her head from the notebook. "Wait, what?"
Sasha made her way towards the tree, stomping on the grass to flatten it out. Marcy walked on the trail Sasha was making.
"Anne found this spot and you immediately decided this tree was perfect for a treehouse," Sasha laughed. "Man, it was a pain to build. We'd to bring all the wooden planks and tools by bus, and it took us months. But it was worth it. This was your first big construction project. We goofed around here every minute of the summer."
"That's amazing," said Marcy, still in a daze. "I see many unfinished projects. Why did we ever stop coming?"
"I turned twelve and decided treehouses were 'cringe'," Sasha explained.
"That's… um…" Marcy tried to smile, but it fell off. "That's dumb."
Sasha hummed. "It was."
They stopped at the base of the tree. Sasha tested the planks that served as stairs. Solid enough. She climbed up to the top and banged the hatch open. Marcy followed through —as best as she could. She was nowhere as clumsy now as she once was, but her backpack still got stuck on a loose nail and she lost her footing. For a brief moment, she was hanging freely from the tree, stuck in place by the precarious, rusty nail.
Sasha covered her face and fought the urge to help her out. A minute of struggling later, Marcy dropped herself on the house's floor and lifted a victorious fist.
"Succeed!" she breathed.
Sasha patted her head and congratulate her. Marcy pouted, but didn't complain. Then Sasha lit up her phone's lantern and shined clarity in the dark house.
It's funny. Sasha thought it would make her sad, seeing this place again. Memories of happier times she couldn't go back to, brushing against her grey present. Instead, joy grew in her chest as the object's shapes became clear.
Sasha laughed giddy. "Oh, man. Look at all this junk." She stood up and hunch over, and even then her head touched the ceiling. Fifteen-year-old Sasha was way taller than her eleven-year-old self. "Take a look. This one was Anne's corner. See those teen magazines? Anne hates them now, but she was super into them back in the day. And this cooler box is mine. Well, my dad's, but he was gonna throw it off anyway, so whatever. It kept my snacks and candies away from messy squirrels. Hey, there're still some unopened chips! We… shouldn't eat them, tho'.
"Now, this," she showed Marcy a dusty chest on the farthest wall. "Anne found it in a flea market, really cheap too. She… we bought it for you. To 'save your inventory'. Get it? Because it looks like a chest from one of your video games."
Sasha's laugh didn't get any reaction. It took a moment, but Marcy came out of her stun and crawled to the chest. She opened it. A dust cloud rose and the girls shielded their faces with their arms. Inside, the chest was full of papers and notebooks. Notes, blueprints, and drawings. All of it was Marcy's; she knew it from the handwriting.
By this point, Sasha had expected some reaction. Amazement would be nice— and a hug would've been welcomed—, but she would've settled with simple surprise. Anything. Marcy was blank, and it was starting to freak Sasha out.
"B-but you haven't seen the best part yet!" Sasha stuttered, in words and motions, as she stood up and searched for the chain hanging from the roof.
She found it and pulled it. The chain slid with a painful shriek; the ceiling creaked. Sasha kept pulling until the dual metal plates that made the ceiling were separated. The painted sky shone above them. Sasha lifted her hands in a grandiose gesture.
"Heh? Heh?! Isn't this awesome? You can map the whole night sky from here! Pretty cool, eh? Mar-mar? Marcy…?
But Marcy was quiet. She inspected the notes with deep focus, then looked at Sasha with a piercing gaze. "Is this why you brought me here?" she said flatly. "To see if any of this stuff stirred my memory?"
It was like a sucker punch to Sasha's heart. "NO! Of course not. I'd never… You wanted to see the stars. Here are the stars! I…"
Anger boiled inside Sasha, like a kettle about to burst, but it was nothing to Marcy's passive stance. How's the saying? 'Unstoppable force, immovable object'? Well, the immovable object won today.
Sasha sat down and braced herself for the heart-to-heart. She hated the heart-to-heart. But everything in life has a price. Beating the Core had cost Marcy her memories. By comparison, showing her softer side was a small price to pay if it meant Sasha could keep her friends.
"Yes, but it's not what you think," Sasha said truthfully.
"So you weren't trying to see if the old Marcy was still here somewhere?" Marcy pointed at her head.
"No. I know you don't remember anything." Sasha said and was surprised by her own acceptance. "I'm fine with that. But you… you never want to know anything about… before. Before the Core, before Amphibia. I figured if I showed you how much fun we had here, well… you might want to learn more."
Sasha crossed her arms and made herself a ball. "It was stupid."
Marcy listened through the explanation, then nodded to herself; her mind made up. She scooted closer to Sasha. Marcy's body was unnaturally warm; and her eyes, usually a deep brown at day, seemed to shine an emerald green in the dark of the night.
"Sasha, do you know how equations work?" Marcy asked.
Sasha snorted. "You double-check my math homework. You tell me."
"You don't," said Marcy bluntly and Sasha repressed a laugh. "Anyway. In an equation, you have two mathematical different expressions which are presumed to be equal. To 'solve' an equation is to make sure that equivalence is met and to do that you have to cut values from each side until only one variable remains.
"My point with this," Mary hastily said, sensing Sasha's boredom, "is that I was like an equation. On one side of the equal sign, there was the Core. On the other side, the old Marcy. And to make sure the Core was no more, we had to cut it all out. Its memories, its minds. Erase everything out."
"But when you cut something from one side, you have to cut it from the other side too."
Marcy smirked. "See? You do know equations. And the result is the Core is no more, and Marcy equals zero."
"How do you know?" Sasha snapped. "I thought you didn't remember anything before waking up."
"I don't. I'm just basing this hypothesis on what you and Anne, and Olivia told me. And what I think —and feel— is that if the Core is gone, so is Marcy." Marcy snorted. "I mean, if you haven't told me, I won't even remember my name. That alone should tell you my memories are goners."
They didn't speak for a while, but that didn't mean there was silence. Even as Sasha hid her face away, her tiny whimpers revealed her state.
Sasha showed Marcy her bloodshot eyes. "You're not a zero."
Marcy brushed Sasha's knee with her hand and shushed her. "I know! And I don't feel like a zero. Maybe this…" she signaled the whole treehouse. "This old life doesn't mean anything to me, but this one does!" Marcy scooted a bit closer, and Sasha felt she might melt into her —and she was alright with that demise. "Because my first memory ever was of you, carrying me out of harm's way, and smiling at me. I didn't know what a Core was, or Amphibia, or even Marcy Wu, but I knew you were happy to see me. And that… that meant everything to me."
In an unusual turn of events, Sasha was speechless. 'Unusual', of course, was increasingly common these days. Opening her heart usually left her too weak for witty retorts. And Marcy? Marcy was glowing. Literally, because she always had this faint green aura around her, but also metaphorically. This New Marcy was… different. Strong and hardened. Clumsy, yes, but also more decisive in each step. She could be blunt, but mostly she was direct and no-nonsense. She was more open with her emotions, and she encouraged Sasha and Anne to be as well. Was this something she learned in Amphibia that stuck with her somehow? Or was it the effect of being clueless about her old self? Whatever the case, Sasha liked her. But even if she didn't, it wouldn't matter. She'd made an oath, to Marcy, herself, and the Universe, to never let Marcy go, no matter who or what the girl might turn into.
"You've grown up. Like, a lot," said Sasha, and both of them knew it was a huge compliment.
Now that everything was calmer, and in a particularly ballsy move, Marcy brushed her lips against Sasha's cheek. It was enough to turn her nuclear red.
Keep it cool, Sash, she told herself. "So… uh... want to stargaze now, or something."
As an answer, Marcy slid an arm around Sasha's hip and rested her head against the taller girl's shoulder. After a few seconds, Sasha rested her head on top of Marcy's.
It was a moonless night, and the stars were beautiful. It was alright if Marcy memories never came back. They were making new memories for themselves right now.
There it is.
Theme aside, I also had two objectives in mind when I was writing this:
1-To write a short story, something a thousand words long at best.
2-To write it fast, in a day or so.
This is 2000 or so words and it took me two days, so I failed at both tasks XD
Still, I like how it turned out. Like I said, I took some liberties with the theme. This was based in the theory that Marcy might loose her memories to defeat the Core.
As usual, you can find me on my Tumblr (wolfinshipclothing), where i crosspost my fics and post theories and other stuff.
Don't forget to like and comment if you enjoyed it!