Chapter 10

A Day at the Aquarium

Matt, Anne, Marcy, Sprig, and Polly all yawned, having not slept the night before. Today was their audience with King Andrias, so they couldn't get any rest.

Aaron was there too. Matt tried to say hello, but Aaron just slightly grunted and turned away, making it clear he's still upset about the kiss.

Eventually, the group entered the throne room.

"Wonderful to see you all again," Andrias greeted.

The amphibians bowed.

"So, ask me if I know anything about the Music Box," said Andrias.

"Did you…" Anne was about to ask.

"Bingo!" Andrias interrupted loudly. "Take a look at this." He showed them a giant book. "According to this, it's an ancient artifact that's thousands of years old. My ancestors used it to travel to many different worlds. They were peaceful explorers if you will. These four stones are the key to getting it to work again. They need to be recharged."

"How?" asked Matt.

"The book mentions four different temples," said Andrias. "Each channeling a different kind of energy. Once they're recharged…"

"We'll have a way home," Anne finished.

"Steal my thunder, why don't you," said Andrias with a frown, before it instantly turned upside-down. "But yes, BOOM!"

Andrias showed the group a page of the gray, colorless gems, before flipping the page to show them all with different colors. Blue, Purple, Green, and Teal.

"I don't believe it," said Matt. "A real chance to get home."

"I know, right?" said Marcy. "Now let's go out there and conquer those bad boys."

"Hold your snails," said Andrias. "This book only explains how to get to one temple. Besides, you'll need a lot of preparing to do before you set off."

"Good point," said Marcy. "We'll need maps, armor, weapons, and other supplies. It'll take a few days."

"I hate to say it," said Hop-Pop. "But we need to get back to Wartwood. The harvest is coming in a few days."

"We have to go too," said Dareth. "We have to return our snail."

"Okay, Mars," said Anne. "Me and the Plantars will head back to Wartwood, Matt and his group will head back to their town, and we can all meet up when it's go time."

"Whoa, it doesn't make sense for you two to go back," Marcy told Anne and Matt. "It doesn't make sense for us to separate again now that we're close to getting home."

"But, Anne needs to get the Music Box," Matt retorted.

"We can just send a servant to pick it up," said Marcy. "It'll be more efficient."

"But…" Anne was about to say.

"Matt, Anne, you need to follow your heads, not your hearts," Marcy interrupted. "Those guys got you here. It's time to let them go back to their lives. How about you take the day to say goodbye?"

A bit later, Matt, Aaron, Catherine, and Dareth were sitting in their wagon silently.

Eventually, Matt decided to speak up. "I've decided to stay here with Marcy. I'm gonna miss you all. Don't worry, I'll make sure this isn't the last time we see each other."

"You know what?" Catherine told everyone. "He's right. The least we can do is have one last day together. Come on. Let's pick an activity. There's a coliseum, an opera house, an aquarium."

"An aquarium?" said Matt. "That's perfect."

"Good thinking," Catherine complimented.

Dareth turned to Aaron and asked, "You wanna join us?"

Aaron turned towards Matt. He never meant to hurt Matt by just walking off like that. He just needed time to process his feelings. While he still hasn't fully processed them, he decided this was the perfect opportunity.

"Works for me," he said.

The group made it to the aquarium.

The first section they entered was the river section. They saw a couple of eels, and there were definitely a lot of fish.

The second section they went to was this underground tunnel. Behind the glass, there were a lot of extraordinary creatures swimming around… and also some fish.

This place is totally overhyped, Aaron thought to himself, finding all the fish to be annoying.

Once they finished going through the tunnel, they came across Anne and the Plantars leaving the geology section, and it seemed like they were fighting the urge to cry.

Matt and his group entered the coral section and saw nothing but random coral. On the plus side, at least for Aaron, there were no bland fish.

After a while of exploring, the day was coming to an end. The group left the aquarium. They made their way to the hotel so the amphibians could get their stuff.

Aaron, Dareth, and Catherine started loading their wagon. Matt had already said goodbye to his amphibian friends, and was now standing with Marcy as Anne said goodbye to the Plantars.

"No more tears, y'all," said Hop-Pop. "We'll see each other again."

"How do you know?" asked Anne.

"We're family," Hop-Pop replied. "Family always finds each other."

"Spranne against the world," Sprig and Anne said together, before doing their little handshake.

The Plantars got on their wagon and drove towards the city gate.

"I'm sorry, Anne," Marcy apologized. "But this made the most sense."

"I know," Anne replied. "Logical thing to do."

Marcy looked away and started to feel guilty. She realized she was being selfish again by forcing Anne to stay.

"You know," she decided. "Maybe sending a servant to get the box isn't the best idea. We'll need someone looking after it the moment Hop-Pop gets it back. Someone we trust. I'm sure Matt and I can handle the preparations by ourselves. We'll just come pick you up on the way to the first…"

Before Marcy could finish her sentence, Anne hugged her.

"Go, follow your heart," said Marcy.

Anne ran off, looking behind her and waving goodbye to her friends before continuing down the road to the gate.

Meanwhile, Dareth and Catherine were loading the wagon, talking to each other.

"So, remember the plan?" asked Dareth.

"Yes," Catherine replied.

"And remember, not a word to the kids about this," said Dareth.

Catherine nodded.

Aaron came in and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

Dareth and Catherine looked at each other before turning back to Aaron.

"Aaron, we both decided that you need to stay here," Dareth explained.

"What?" Aaron reacted.

Catherine thought about Aaron talking to them the night before, and how he admitted his, complicated feelings about Matt.

"We just feel you need to follow your heart," was all Catherine said.

Aaron instantly pieced together what Catherine meant. Aaron hugged Dareth and Catherine goodbye and then ran towards Matt.

Once Matt saw Aaron, he instantly panicked.

"Aaron, I'm sorry about that kiss," he apologized. "It was very stupid of me and I should've…"

Aaron took Matt's hand to calm him down.

"It's okay," he assured. "I wasn't really the best either. I'm sorry I just stormed off like that. I needed to process it, but it was still wrong for me to do that. I've been thinking for a while, and I… I really like you."

"I really like you, too," Matt admitted.

The two took hands and they walked into the sunset.

Marcy watched as they walked away. She wanted to be happy for her friend, but she couldn't help but feel jealous.

"Always sad to see someone go, isn't it?" a voice asked from behind. Marcy turned to see that Andrias was there talking to her. "I have a proposition for you, Marcy. One that you'll find interesting."

A.N.

So, I'm already done with the first half of Part 3.

I can already say that I overall enjoyed writing this more than I enjoyed writing Part 2, and, to put it lightly, I'm confident what'll come next will be just as good.

There's not much to say.

Maron is starting out strong.

Dareth and Catherine will be out of the picture for a while.

The coral stuff. My personal headcanon is that the coral don't actually "come in such variety", but Anne and the Plantars were just hallucinating the coral taking all those forms because of their nostalgia.

Also, Aaron complaining about there being too much fish is just a joke that I made for fun.

Anyway, I'll be getting back to the Stranger Things rewrite now. See you when I post that chapter.