Chapter 1: Scars
"Well well well… what do we have here?" A familiar voice asked.
Marcy's eyes suddenly darted around, trying to find the source of the voice.
Eventually, she saw it… or rather… her…
Quite literally in fact!
Marcy's eyes went wide when she saw that the source of the voice was, in fact, herself…
However, the helmet on her doppelgänger made her blood go ice cold.
The Core.
"Did you really think that a silly little kiss would help?" Darcy asked.
"Who's she…"
Before Marcy could finish the thought, she got her answer.
Anne.
Anne was on the ground, clutching her arm…
Or at least, what used to be her arm.
Where her arm used to be, there was nothing. Just a bloody stump.
Anne screamed in pain as she clutched the stump with her remaining hand.
"YOU!" Marcy suddenly heard Sasha scream before suddenly coming into view and lunging her sword at Darcy.
Darcy casually dodged this, before thrusting her hand towards Sasha's face.
It hit it's mark, going straight into Sasha's left eye.
At this point, Marcy started breathing heavily.
"This is where your stories end…" Darcy said as she pushed Sasha to the ground.
Then, her hand began to glow orange.
And, a very wicked grin appeared on her face.
"Die."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Marcy screamed.
—
"AH!" Marcy shouted as her head shot upwards.
Looking around she was thankful that she was back in the guest bedroom in the Boonchuy's house… though she supposed that this was now her room.
After Luz and Amity returned home the other day, it had been agreed on that this room would be Marcy's until a more permanent arrangement could be made…
Or at least, until Marcy could work up the courage to talk to her parents.
THAT was a whole other issue.
For now though, Marcy was happy to just live with the Boonchuy's.
Marcy quickly got out of bed, and snuck her way to the nearby bathroom.
Turning on the cold water, she quickly splashed it onto her face, before forming a cup with her hands and taking a quick drink.
Breathing heavily, she looked at herself in the mirror.
She then clutched her shirt… her chest was burning.
Lowering the collar a bit, she saw just a bit of it…
The constant reminder of what she had done, one that will stay with her for the rest of her life.
That dang scar from when Andrias impaled her.
Sure, Luz's healing potion managed to heal most of the damage that the king had done, but it wasn't perfect.
And now, because of her foolish actions, she had a scar that went down the entirety of her chest and back.
Sighing, she turned off the water and began to exit the room.
"Are you alright?"
Marcy practically jumped out of her skin and looked to the source of the voice, to see Ms. Boonchuy's concerned face.
"Don't scare me like that!" Marcy pleaded.
"Sorry…"
After taking a moment to collect herself, she took a deep breath.
"It's fine, you didn't mean to." Marcy said as she leaned up against the wall.
Ms. Boonchuy gave her a moment to collect herself before talking again.
"So… everything alright?" Ms. Boonchuy asked.
"Yeah, just another nightmare…" Marcy admitted.
Ms. Boonchuy sighed.
It had been three days since Luz and Amity went home, and every single night since, Marcy had woken up in the middle of the night from a nightmare.
"Come on, let's go sit down."
The two then walked towards the living room together, and sat down on the couch.
Ms. Boonchuy walked away for a bit, before returning and offering Marcy a glass of water.
"Thanks…" Marcy said before taking a drink.
"So, what was this one about? Andrias or my daughter?" Ms. Boonchuy asked.
"… Anne and Sasha…" Marcy admitted.
"Ok… so tell me what happened."
And so, Marcy went into detail about her dream, about Anne losing her arm, and Sasha losing her eye.
While it hurt to hear about a dream involving her own daughter losing an arm, Ms. Boonchuy just sat there and listened. And when Marcy finished, she began hugging the poor girl.
"I am so sorry you had to go through that."
"It's all my fault anyways… shouldn't of done something so stupid." Marcy said.
"Hey, you're still young, and you felt desperate." Ms. Boonchuy said. "We've all done things we aren't proud of. What matters is that you survived, and you learned from it."
Marcy didn't say anything, and just hugged Ms. Boonchuy closer.
"Listen here Marcy, if you ever are having trouble dealing with what happened, always remember that you have me, Anne, her father… all of us to talk to." Ms. Boonchuy said. "So please, if you ever need to get something off your chest, come talk to us."
Marcy physically cringed at her word choice.
"You alright?" Ms. Boonchuy asked, worried about how Marcy suddenly tensed up.
"O-oh yeah! I'm fine, just still a little shaken up! That's all!" Marcy said with a very unconvincing smile.
Ms. Boonchuy just raised an eyebrow.
After a moment, Marcy's shoulders went slack, and she sighed.
"… Promise me you won't tell Anne?" Marcy requested.
"Only if it doesn't put her in danger." Ms. Boonchuy reasoned.
"That's fair…" Marcy said as she put her hand to her collar.
She lowered it a bit again, to reveal the top of the scar, causing Ms. Boonchuy to gasp.
"Oh… my… Is that from…?" Ms. Boonchuy asked.
"Yeah, from the king…" Marcy admitted.
Ms. Boonchuy quickly pulled Marcy in for another hug.
"I'm so sorry…"
"Don't be, it wasn't your fault…" Marcy said as she looked away.
"Why… don't you want Anne to know about this though?" Ms. Boonchuy asked.
Marcy just sighed at this.
"She already has so much to worry about because of me… I just… don't want to add on to it." Marcy explained.
"Marcy… that's ridiculous." Ms. Boonchuy said bluntly.
"Huh?"
"Anne… she loves you so much, so naturally she is going to worry about you… but that also means she is going to notice that something is wrong really easily." Ms. Boonchuy explained.
"… Does she…"
Ms. Boonchuy sighed at this.
"She mentioned that there was something bothering you before you went to fight Andrias… something you said you would talk with her about afterwards." Ms. Boonchuy explained.
"… Of course she would remember that." Marcy said with a sad laugh.
"I can't tell you that she won't be worried or upset about the scars… but what I can tell you is that the worry will never go away if you don't tell her." Ms. Boonchuy explained.
"… Yeah, you're probably right…" Marcy said with a sigh.
"We'll all be here for you, don't forget that." Ms. Boonchuy said with a smile.
Marcy smiled back.
"Thank you Ms. Boonchuy…"
"Please… call me Oum."
The next morning, Marcy was already up and eating breakfast when Anne walked into the kitchen.
"Morning Mar-Mar!" Anne said with a smile.
Then, she saw how tired Marcy looked.
"… Another one?"
"… Yeah…" Marcy said with a frown.
Anne then went over and gave Marcy a hug.
"Why didn't you wake me up? I would of helped calm you down until you could go back to sleep." Anne asked.
"Like you have been for the past two days?" Marcy asked, to which Anne nodded. "Cause you need your sleep… besides, I already had some help."
Marcy then shot a smile towards Anne's mom.
"… Thanks mom." Anne said with a sad smile.
"No problem sweetie… now then, I believe Marcy wanted to do something with you today?" Oum said.
"Oh? What's that?" Anne asked.
"Well… I thought we could give the Plantars a visit… check in on how Hop Pop is doing." Marcy said.
"Right… hopefully his back is feeling a bit better…" Anne said. "Maybe we should give Luz a call… ask her about any healing potions."
"We could, let's just see if he's better first." Marcy said.
"Ok… but first!" Anne said as she sat down. "Some food without bugs please!"
This caused her mother to laugh. "Of course sweetie."
After eating breakfast, the two girls were standing in the back yard, with Anne holding the portal key, colored green to signify that it was the one to Amphibia, Wartwood specifically.
"So uh… how do we get this thing to work again?" Anne asked, examining the key.
Marcy just laughed at this and took the key.
She then pressed down on the eye, causing the portal door to magically appear before opening.
"Oh…"
"Come on, I'm sure they would love to see you!" Marcy said as she stepped through the door.
"You too!" Anne scolded. "They will be happy to see you too!"
"Right! Right, sorry." Marcy said.
The two took each other's hands and went through the portal, which closed behind them, landing them right outside of the Plantar's home.
They saw Sprig and Polly in the fields, working on the farm with Frobo.
"Yo Sprig! Polly!" Anne shouted with a wave.
Sprig and Polly looked up and smiled widely, before running over to the two of them.
"Anne! Marcy!" Sprig shouted before leaping up and giving the two girls a hug.
"Hey Sprig, missed ya!" Anne said.
"It's only been a day since they made that second portal though…" Polly pointed out.
"Yeah, but we hardly saw you two when we tested it!" Anne explained.
"That's because Luz spent the entire time explaining how this whole portal system is gonna work… I'm still confused…" Sprig pointed out.
"Oh it's simple! There are four groups, yeah? One in Amphibia, one in the Demon Realm, one in California and one in Connecticut!" Marcy began explaining. "Each group has two or three portals, the humans get a portal to Amphibia and one to The Boiling Isles. Meanwhile, you guys get one to California, Connecticut and the Boiling Isles, and the guys in the Boiling Isles get one to California, Connecticut and Amphibia!"
"… So basically, we each have a portal to visit anyone whenever." Anne explained much more quickly and simply.
"But wait, why don't you guys get one to Connecticut?" Polly asked.
"The portals only work to travel between worlds apparently, so it's impossible to make portals to different parts of Earth." Marcy explained. "So… we have to use a bit of a roundabout way of doing it."
"Oh cool!" Sprig said. "… Still don't quite understand it all, but I'll just say it works!"
"Good enough I guess." Marcy said with a laugh. "Now, where's Hop Pop? We wanted to check in on him."
"Inside resting. He tried to do some fieldwork, but he didn't last too long." Sprig said sadly.
Marcy could clearly see the worry on the Plantar sibling's faces.
"Hey cheer up, that's an improvement at least!" Marcy said. "Come on, let's all keep him company."
Marcy then began walking ahead with a bit of haste in her step.
"Uh… you good Anne?" Sprig asked, noticing a worried look on Anne's face.
"Marcy… she's nervous about something." Anne said.
"Really? How can you tell?" Polly asked.
"When we were holding hands just now, she seemed really tense…" Anne explained.
"Well… whatever she's nervous about, we'll be there for her, like always!" Sprig said. "Now come on, let's not keep her waiting!"
Her worry not put at ease at all, Anne began to follow Sprig into the house.
"I'm telling you Marcy! In just a couple of days, I will be ready to go!" Hop Pop said with a smile. "So please, don't worry on my behalf."
"Hop Pop, you actually look like you're dying right now…" Marcy said with a sigh.
When Anne got a good look at the old frog, she came to realize that Marcy was right.
He looked like he was in a whole lot of pain, but trying desperately to hide it.
"Hop Pop, please just rest for now." Anne pleaded. "We know you want to join the effort to help Amphibia recover, but you can't do that if you don't get your rest!"
"I… I know Anne…" Hop Pop said. "But you have to understand! Us farmers are playing the biggest role in this! We have to cultivate the land! Plant crops, plant new trees! Provide food to those who need it!"
"I know I know! But if you're collapsing every two minutes, you won't be doing any of that. You'll just be slowing everything down if anything." Anne pointed out rather harshly.
"I… yeah… I guess you're right…" Hop Pop said with a sigh.
"Just be thankful those healing glyphs are speeding things up." Anne said. "You'll be back in farming form in no time!"
Hop Pop just sighed.
"I hope so…"
"We do need some new healing glyphs though." Sprig said. "The ones Luz gave us the other day wore off, and the extras don't seem to be working."
"Oh, yeah, we'll talk to Luz about it then… wonder why the other's aren't working…" Anne said.
"While Anne could work on her wording." Marcy said, earning a "Hey!" in response. "She's right. We just want you to be back to 100% before you go out there and save the world!"
"I guess…" Hop Pop said. "Can we uh… change the subject please?"
"Yeah, might be a good idea." Anne said. "So… we have an entire day! Why don't we go and do something together?… Something that Hop Pop can just relax while we do."
"Oh oh oh! Why don't we go to Newtopia!" Sprig said. "Ivy's been talking about this 'green star shell' that she read about and I figured we could go get one!"
At this, Marcy froze.
"And hey! A day at the Newtopian beach would be-"
"NO!" Marcy suddenly screamed.
Everyone jumped back at this, surprised at Marcy's sudden outburst.
"Uh… you alright?" Sprig asked.
"Oh yeah! Perfectly fine!" Marcy said. "Just uh… not a fan of the beach is all!"
Anne gave her a VERY unconvinced look.
"We went to the beach all the time as kids though, and you were always the one eager to go." Anne pointed out. "You were always so eager to try out new sandcastle designs!"
"Oh! Uh…"
"Marcy, what's wrong?" Anne asked softly. "I know something's been bothering you lately, does this have something to do with that?"
'She loves you so much, so naturally she is going to worry about you… but that also means she is going to notice that something is wrong really easily.' Marcy remembered Anne's mother say the night before.
"… I'm sorry..." Marcy said. "For worrying you guys…"
"Hey it's fine." Anne said. "I worry because I care about you."
"We all do!" Sprig added.
"Yeah!" Polly finished.
Marcy couldn't help but smile at this.
"Alright… I'll tell you guys." Marcy said as she sat down on the couch. "I… honestly wanted to talk to you all about this… that's the big reason I wanted to come here today."
"It's fine… so, what's up?" Anne asked.
"Well…" Marcy said before closing her eyes and grabbing top of her shirt.
Then, she lowered it just enough for everyone to see the scar.
She heard a couple of gasps, shortly followed by a feeling like she was being tackled into a hug.
When she opened her eyes, she saw that it was Anne that was hugging her.
And, she noticed that Anne was crying.
"I'm so sorry… I'm so, so sorry…" Anne said into Marcy's shoulder.
Shortly after, the rest of the Plantars joined in on the hug.
"Anne, don't be sorry." Marcy said. "I mean, yeah, I have a constant reminder on my chest and back of everything that's happened… but honestly, I de-"
"NO!"
Marcy looked at Anne in shock at her sudden outburst.
"Do NOT say that you deserve this! Do NOT say that you deserved to be impaled! Do NOT say that you deserve to have a constant reminder of what that… that… that JERK did to you!" Anne said.
"Anne… I…"
"You don't deserve ANY of this! You made a mistake, frog knows I've made plenty! That does not mean that you deserve to have almost been killed!" Anne scolded.
"Anne… why do you…?"
"Why do I think this way? Why do I care about this so much? BECAUSE I LOVE YOU DANG IT!"
This, stunned Marcy into silence.
"You're so smart, you're so kind, you're so beautiful! I love everything about you!" Anne pointed out. "I don't care if it takes me the rest of my life! I am not going to give up until you realize just how amazing of a person you really are!"
And now, Marcy was beginning to cry.
"Anne… Thank you…" Marcy said as she pulled Anne in tighter. "I… I still feel bad about everything… but having you here? Makes it all feel a little better."
"One step at a time Mar-Mar… we'll help you one step at a time…" Anne said as they continued to hug.
After a moment, they separated, and Marcy managed to collect herself.
"Ok… now that that's been addressed… how's about I call Joe and we go get Sprig that shell, and we have a nice, relaxing day at the beach?" Marcy asked.
"You sure? You don't have to if you don't want to." Anne pointed out.
"I'll be fine. I mean, I don't HAVE to go in the water! I can have fun just relaxing." Marcy explained. "Also, the aquatic life around the Newtopia coast is incredibly deadly, so probably not a good idea to go swimming there."
"… Alrighty then! A fun day exploring the Newtopia coast and NOT swimming it is!" Anne said with a cheer, Sprig and Polly joining in on it.
And so, with a smile, the group, with Hop Pop riding on Anne's back, went outside to call Joe Sparrow, for a nice, fun, relaxing day.
That Night
After a long day at the Newtopia coast, the group had finally found the Green Star Shell that Sprig was looking for. The search had lasted the entire day, and by the time they were back in Wartwood, the sun had begun to set.
And so, bidding farewell for the day, Anne and Marcy went back through the portal, and returned home.
"So… are you feeling a bit better?" Anne asked.
"Yeah… a bit." Marcy said with a yawn.
"Good… alright, let's get some sleep." Anne said as they entered the house. "And please, if you have another nightmare, wake me up."
"…Uh… actually." Marcy said shyly. "Is it alright if I… stayed with you tonight?"
"Huh?" Anne asked.
"The nightmare last night… it was really bad…" Marcy explained. "I… I don't want to be alone tonight, that's all."
"Oh… well, I'm ok with it but uh…" Anne said before turning to her left…
To see her dad standing there with his arms crossed.
"Please?" Marcy asked.
"Hmph!" Mr. Boonchuy grunted out, turning his head defiantly.
"Oh come on Bee, let them have this." Oum said.
"Just for tonight, please?" Marcy pleaded.
The two girls then put on their saddest looking begging faces, and Bee knew he was sunk.
"Ugh, FINE!" Bee said. "But just for tonight!"
Anne and Marcy both smiled at this.
"Thank you!" Anne said.
And with that, the two girls went up, and got ready for bed.
And the next morning, when Bee went to check on them, they were cuddled together, enjoying a good night's sleep.
End of Chapter 1
And so here we are! At the beginning!
So, this chapter really should give an idea of how the structure of this story will go. Every chapter is basically going to be it's own story. Some of these stories will be continued into future chapters, most not.
Now of course, this story will be featuring The Owl House characters! I don't think I mentioned this, but there actually will be several chapters addressing events from Season 2B of that show, between this story and what is next for this series! As such, I think it is finally time to bring this up: We will be discussing exactly when The Day of Unity happened in this universe. Yes, it is different… a lot of things happened differently, and it all led to a very different day of Unity, as you saw in the last story. All of this will be addressed and explained later.
OK! So, now that that is all out of the way, let's talk about this chapter! We dove right in and addressed Marcy's scars! I figured that this would be better than her skirting around the subject… it just would be more difficult to write in my opinion.
Another thing is that Hop Pop is actually not doing too great himself. Sure, he's a bit better, but he's still in rough shape from what happened in the previous story.
The reason that this story is called "Recovery" is not just because of Marcy. Hop Pop needs to recover from what happened to him, Amphibia is recovering from the war, really, there is a lot of recovery happening with a lot of different people.
Don't expect these chapters to be super long btw. Just wanted to put that out there.
And yeah, that just about covers it!
See you all next time for Chapter 2!