Chapter 3: Museum Madness

Today, was a terrible day…

A day where the girls would be put the the test, where their bonds will surely be strained, and their limits broken…

Today, the girls had to write a report for school.

Granted, Marcy didn't have to, seeing as how she hasn't been confirmed to be RETURNING to school quite yet, since they needed her parents to approve of it and well, that was currently an issue.

Regardless of this though, she was tagging along to help, and was eager to write a report herself, just in case.

And so, accompanied by the Plantars, who happened to be visiting (Hop Pop was feeling a lot better, courtesy of a healing potion from Luz), the group was ready.

Anne looked to her sides, and saw her allies look back at her, ready for anything.

Marcy, Sasha, the Plantars and…

"Wait, why are you here Luz?" Sasha suddenly asked.

Indeed, Luz, along with Amity, were tagging along as well, the former looking very upset.

"Her school caught on to the fact that Vee took Luz's place at school, and they are making her write a report too." Amity explained.

"I was so cloooooose…" Luz cried out.

"Can't you write a report on the demon realm or something? Why do you have to come here?" Anne asked.

"They want me to do a report on HUMAN history…" Luz explained. "Demon realm doesn't count, unless there are historical records of Philip Wittebane's time there…"

"I'm sorry, who?" Anne asked.

"The first human to go there, his diary is what we used to help us make the portal door." Amity explained.

"Ah, gotcha." Anne said, then she noticed Marcy deep in thought. "Marcy? You good?"

"Yeah, just thinking…" Marcy said.

"Well, spill it!" Anne said. "You know I'm always interested in what you're thinking!"

Marcy turned slightly red for a brief moment, before she turned to the group.

"Well… what if this Philip guy is the one who brought that second Calamity Box to the Demon Realm?" Marcy asked.

That, got everyone's attention.

"I… never really thought about that…" Luz pointed out. "I mean, there's nothing about the box in his diary so far, and I think that'd be important…"

"Hmm… maybe it was one of his attempts at build a portal?" Amity guessed.

"No way, that doesn't explain how it looks almost exactly the same as the first box." Marcy pointed out.

"Hmmm… well, if you remember, that Night thing we fought knew the Titan when it was controlling Luz, right?" Amity asked.

Luz shuddered at this.

"Don't remind me…"

"Sorry, but still… does that mean that the Night was in the Boiling Isles a long time ago?" Amity asked.

"Or maybe the other way around…" Luz asked. "Maybe that Collector kid knows something…"

That got everyone's attention.

"I'm sorry… collector?" Anne asked.

"Oh yeah! So get this, Belos was working with someone!" Luz revealed.

"WHAT?!" Everyone in the group, minus Amity, shouted.

"Honestly, I completely forgot about him, since he wasn't there at all during the Day of Unity…" Luz said. "Honestly, I still have a lot of questions about that day…"

"Huh? Like what?" Polly asked. "I mean, what's left to ask about?"

"Well for starters, it happened a good month before it was supposed to… at least, according to Belos." Luz pointed out.

"It was supposed to happen during an eclipse, but it happened a good month beforehand…" Amity asked.

"Then there's the matter of who Belos even was…" Luz said. "He… never opened up to me, and when Hunter and I went into his mind well…"

"I'm sorry, YOU CAN DO THAT?!" Marcy asked, stars in her eyes.

"Oh yeah, it was kinda an accident though…" Luz said as she scratched her head. "Some prankster took off with some Pseudo blood I had, we chased him, and they dropped the potion for the spell with the Pseudo Blood when Hunter tackled him."

"Good thing Hunter happened to be in the area on patrol, we can't let that stuff get into the wrong hands." Amity pointed out.

"Right, anyways… that's actually where we learned about the Collector, and exactly WHO Hunter is." Luz explained.

"And… who is Hunter exactly?" Sprig asked.

Luz… just looked down sadly.

"Sorry, it's not my place to say." Luz said. "If you want to know, you'd have to ask Hunter… but I doubt he'll tell you."

"Ah, gotcha…"

"That being said though… this all brings up one more question… and I am surprised that I didn't think of it til now…" Luz said.

"Wait really? What is it?" Amity asked.

"Uh… The Day of Unity… was completely different from what Belos described." Luz said, surprising everyone.

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, from what I heard, it was supposed to use a draining spell to, well… kill all the witches in The Boiling Isles." Luz explained.

That, got everyone to look at her in shock.

"That's… the first I've heard of this…" Amity said, fear evident in her eyes.

"Sorry! Everything started happening the day after all of this, and it slipped my mind!" Luz said defensively. "Besides, Belos is dead! There's no way he'll be able to do that now!"

"But… that Collector is still out there, isn't he?" Amity asked. "What if he does anything?"

"Well, from what I saw, they couldn't really do much on their own." Luz explained. "Said something about being trapped…"

"So… we're safe?" Amity asked.

"Unless someone is dumb enough to find and free him, then yeah!" Luz said. "That being said, I'll tell Hunter to keep an eye out."

"Yeah, probably a good idea." Hop Pop said. "Anyways, don't we have a job to do?"

"Right! Let's get goi-"

"Later." Sasha said as she walked past the group.

The group just looked at her in shock, wondering where the heck she was going.

"Uh, where are you going Sash?" Anne asked.

"Home, I already figured out the topic of my report, and I'm gonna research it on my own." Sasha said, gesturing towards the notebook in her hand.

"When did you do that?" Luz asked.

"While you guys were taking forever talking about whatever." Sasha said. "I have stuff to do today, so I decided to just get a head start, sorry."

"Oh, yeah, that's fine. See ya Sash!" Anne said. "Ok gang! Let's do this!"

And with that, the group finally began making their way inside…

Although, Marcy lagged behind, staring at Sasha as she walked away.

Sighing to herself, Marcy quickly made her way back to the group.

As the group began to explore the museum, Marcy couldn't help but marvel at the fact that the Plantars were enamored in everything around them.

Of course, they had been there before, but they didn't get that good of a look at everything last time.

"Man, good to be here and able to relax this time." Anne said suddenly.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Marcy asked.

Anne looked nervous, unsure if she should tell Marcy.

One look at her girlfriend's face told her that if she didn't say anything, it might actually make things worse.

"I… had a bit of a breakdown last time I was here." Anne admitted, to Marcy's shock. "I… I was already having nightmares about what happened and…"

Suddenly, Marcy began hugging her.

"I'm so sorry…"

Anne sighed at this.

"Marcy, I keep telling you it wasn't your fault…"

"No I… I'm trying Anne… trying to not blame myself for everything…" Marcy said, chin resting on Anne's shoulder. "I'm… I'm just sorry you had to go though all of that, and I couldn't do anything to help you…"

This got Anne to smile, as she hugged back.

"You have no idea how proud you just made me by saying that…" Anne said.

"I… It's still hard… but I'm trying…"

"I know, and I am so proud." Anne said with a smile.

"Ugh for frogs sake!" Polly said as she walked by. "Can't you stop being clingy for ten seconds?!"

The two girls just stared at Polly as she walked into the space exhibit, before laughing.

"Come on, let's get your report done." Marcy said with a smile.

And so, they went into the Space exhibit.

...

...

…

"HOLD ON! YOU PEOPLE THINK THE WORLD IS ROUND?!" Hop Pop suddenly asked.

And everyone, Luz in particular, looked really annoyed by this.

"Oh gosh, I know someone who you'd have a field day with…" Luz said with a hand covering her face.

"So, you think of a good topic Anne?" Marcy asked as the group began to make their way out of the museum.

Anne had decided to follow Sasha's lead, and just figure out the topic for the report for now, and write it at home.

"Yeah, I think so… I don't know anything about it though…"

"Well, I'll be happy to help!" Marcy said with a smile.

"Thanks Marcemallow…" Anne said with a smile back. "A shame we can't write a report on…"

But then, something caught her eye.

"Amphibia…"

"I mean, yeah, duh." Marcy said. "Why would we be allowed to…"

"No… look!" Anne said, pointing behind Marcy.

The entire group looked at where Anne was pointing, and they were amazed at what they saw.

A pot, but with a design on it that felt like it was impossible…

"No way… is that a frog?!" Marcy asked.

"I think so… and it looks a lot like…" Luz started.

"Like US!" Sprig finished.

"What in the world… what could this mean?!" Anne asked.

Suddenly, a hand landed on Anne's shoulder, startling her.

"Didn't expect to see frogs in here huh?"

Anne jumped, and quickly turned around to see a woman in red glasses.

"What? Frogs? HUH?!" Anne asked in rapid fire.

The woman just blinked.

"Oh… you're talking about the pot."

The woman though… didn't respond, but just stared at Anne with wide eyes.

"Uh… you good?" Anne asked.

"It's you…" The woman said softly.

Anne just looked to the others, before pointing to herself questioningly.

Suddenly, the women ran towards Anne, got down on her knees and put her hands on her shoulders.

"Are you alright young lady?! Oh my gosh I was so worried about you!"

"Huh?! What?! What are you talking about?!" Anne asked.

"I… I saw your little episode a while back and… well, I wanted to help you so bad and… I'm sorry I couldn't find you and help you." The woman said with a sad smile. "Is everything alright now?"

That… caught Anne off guard.

This complete stranger was really THAT worried about her?

After a moment, Anne smiled. This woman really did seem kind.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine now." Anne said as she pulled Marcy in close. "Better than fine, really."

This caused Marcy to go slightly red.

"Oh my… that is so cute!" The woman said.

"Oh uh… thanks Dr. Jan!" Marcy said with a smile.

"Oh! You already know my name?" Dr. Jan said.

"Yeah well… I like to come here to the museum often… you give great tours by the way! Super energetic!" Marcy said happily.

"That's the idea! Can't get other's excited about the exhibit if you're not excited yourself!" Dr. Jan said with a bit of pride in her voice. "Now, let's talk about this here vase…"

"Well, from the looks of things, this bad boy seems to depict the vikings meeting with some kinda… frog deity?" Marcy said, adding a bit of confusion to her voice to make it sound convincing.

"It appears so… what really strikes me as odd is this weird object here." Dr. Jan said, pointing to what was very clearly the music box. "What even is this?"

Anne watched their back and forth with a smile on her face.

Yeah, this was the Marcy she loved.

She was one adorable nerd, that's for sure.

"Hmmm… well, judging from that handle, it seems to be some kinda… music box?" Marcy said. "Maybe there's more to it than that…"

"Perhaps. Guess we'll never know for sure." Dr. Jan said.

"I'd love to research it some more." Marcy said.

"Sad to say, but I searched this thing from top to bottom." Dr. Jan said. "There really isn't anything else to find."

Anne suddenly raised her hand.

"Did you try a black light like in the movies?" Anne suggested.

"Psh, no? Why would I do that?" Dr. Jan said with a slight laugh.

They all just looked at her.

"What?"

"… Might be a good idea to try. Just saying." Marcy said. "You know, to explore every avenue."

"… Fair enough!" Dr. Jan said, before using her phone to turn off the security for the vase and taking it out of it's case.

"Technology nowadays!" Luz said happily.

"Come on kids!" Dr. Jan said as she began leading the group.

After a bit of walking, they entered Dr. Jan's office.

She placed the vase on her desk, and pulled out a black light flashlight, before pointing it at the vase.

And sure enough, a hidden message appeared!

Everyone gasped, especially Dr. Jan and Marcy.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Dr. Jan said. "Hmm… seems to be some kinda alien language… I wonder what it could possibly mean!"

"Seek the mother of Olms… she will guide you to your destiny." Marcy said.

The group just stared at her in shock… well, Dr. Jan as shocked, the others were horrified.

"… I got carried away, didn't I?" Marcy asked.

"Just a bit, yeah." Anne said.

"I… how… what?" Dr. Jan stammered out.

"Uh… just a guess?" Marcy said.

Dr. Jan looked very unconvinced.

"… Anne?"

Anne sighed at this, they really didn't have a choice now.

"Can you keep a secret for us?" Anne asked.

"Oh uh… yeah, sure." Dr. Jan said. "Why? What's going on?"

"Well…" Anne said before turning to the Plantars, who took off their disguises. "You probably should know our story."

Dr. Jan didn't say anything, and nodded her head with a shocked look on her face.

"And yeah! That pretty much sums it up!" Anne said, finishing her story.

"… So let me get this straight, you girls went and saved another world of talking amphibians?" Dr. Jan said.

"Yeah, pretty much." Anne said. "The frog on that vase is probably who brought the music box to Earth in the first place."

"I see… gosh kids, I can't imagine what that must of been like." Dr. Jan said. "Listen, whether it's researching this vase, or you just want to talk, I'm here."

The group smiled at that.

"Thanks Dr. Jan." Anne said.

"And you young lady." Dr. Jan said, looking straight at Marcy. "When this whole thing with your family is straightened out, please seek therapy…"

"I… yeah…. ok. I will." Marcy said.

"Ok, we better get going. Thanks Dr. Jan." Anne said.

"Hold on, I just have one last request." Dr. Jan said.

"Uh… sure?"

"Can I visit Amphibia one day?! This is like a dream come true for me!" Dr. Jan said.

"I know right?! I always wanted to get isekai'd!" Marcy said happily.

"Yeah! And we don't even need to get hit by a truck too!" Dr. Jan said.

"Please don't tempt fate like that." Anne said. "Knowing Marcy, it could happen."

"Noted!"

"And to answer your question, yeah sure!" Anne said. "Just… I think you should wait until they finish rebuilding. You know, to get the full experience… or something?"

"Right, of course." Dr. Jan said. "Please keep me updated!"

"Of course! See you soon!" Marcy said.

And so, the group left.

"She was nice." Luz pointed out.

"Yeah, most people in the demon realm would of sold us out for a quick buck." Amity pointed out.

"Sorry I kinda blew our cover though…" Marcy said sadly.

"It's fine, it worked out in the end." Anne said. "Now, how's about we all go home and watch a movie?"

"…Anne?" Marcy asked.

"Yeah?"

"We still need to write your report."

…

"…Dang..." Anne said, snapping her fingers.

Resigning to her fate, the girls hopped onto their bikes and began riding home.

End of Chapter 3

Behold! The hardest chapter I have ever written! I started writing this chapter pretty much when Amphibia ended, and just finished it early February… yeah… I had trouble with this one.

Figuring out what to do with Dr. Jan was tough. Most of the conflict has been resolved, so I really couldn't think of much of a role for her… we will be reuniting with her later, but for something just fun.

Sorry about the week delay btw, like I said, writing this chapter was rough, and I was still not happy with it… I made some minor improvements in the time, but I'm still not sure.

Also yeah! Exposition! The Day of Unity wasn't actually what Belos said it would be… why did all of that happen the way it did then? A mystery…

And finally: Sasha. Yup, there is something up with her, isn't there? We will be exploring that later.

Anywho, I am hoping to have one more chapter in this batch, so see you next time!