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OKAY, LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN-

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Random thought, but I think people would've been a lot happier with Steven Universe's ending if the Diamonds (or even just White Diamond) had a fate similar to that of King Andrias from Amphibia. Like, sure, he was redeemed too, but he also got at least SOME kind of punishment for his crimes, as opposed to getting away with them completely scot-free.

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A Poisoned Heart - Chapter 3

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Several hours later...

Never in her life did Anne think she'd feel tired after doing nothing other than sit on a chair all day. Yet that was exactly how she was feeling right now, as Marcy pushed her wheelchair through the Newtopia Castle's seemingly endless hallways, the Plantars right beside them. In her defense, she was far from the only one who felt that way, as proven by the loud yawn that escaped Sprig's mouth.

Even if Anne was tired for a completely different reason.

"So much for us having a normal day, huh?" She began, hoping to stave off those feelings and hide them from her companions.

"Tell me about it!" Sprig replied, his voice laced with exhaustion. "I mean, what are the odds of us walking straight into a parade?"

Ah yes, that. Long story short, Anne & co stumbled on a parade honoring a long deceased axolotl named Igor the Brave, and the usual shenanigans ensued. What began as a misunderstanding almost escalated into a full blown riot, after Sprig accidentally destroyed a paper dragon that represented the amphibian in question. Despite everything, however, the affair did give Anne a welcome respite from the whole 'Marcy is awesome' routine that began almost immediately after they left the castle.

And then the ravenette single-handedly fixed the parade goers' dragon with some weird concoction she came up with on the fly, because of course she did. Well, at least the beetle burgers they had afterwards were tasty, so there was that.

"We're here," Marcy's voice snapped Anne out of her thoughts, and the Thai realized she was now in front of a door. "I'll ask again, are you sure you want to move to your bedroom already?" Marcy continued, looking at her bestie with a worried expression. "It'd be easier for me, uh, us to check in on you if you stayed in your hospital room, at least for a few more days."

"I get what you mean, Marbles," Anne countered her friend's gaze with a smile only slightly forced. "But I can't wait to sleep in a real bed again."

Marcy smiled back, a tired and defeated thing, while Hop Pop opened the door. It gave way with a low creak, giving Anne the chance to look into her new bedroom, the one place where she wouldn't need to hide her feelings, for the first time.

She loved it. Between the bed (which was an actual bed, not just some mattress on the floor of a basement like in the Plantar home at first), a shelf where she could put her belongings (and already had most of them), and the fact the room wasn't small enough to feel cramped also but not big enough to feel empty, Anne didn't know which detail she liked the most. There was even a closet too, one big enough to store more than clothes.

"Lady Olivia helped us pick the room," Hop Pop explained. "Somethin' about not overwhelming ya."

"I still think we should've picked the one with the big gold chandelier." Polly quipped.

"It's perfect," Anne replied, voice laced with wonder. "It actually reminds me of..." Her voice trailed off as her mind wandered to better times, but the Thai shook those memories of home out of her head before they overwhelmed her. "I mean, I love it."

"Glad to hear it." Hop Pop smiled, and if he had something on his mind, he didn't say it.

The exchange, however brief it was, was more than enough to Marcy's insides into a knot yet again, for she knew exactly what Anne was about to say. She was right, too: the bedroom was eerily similar to Anne's own room back in Earth, the place where she, Sasha and Marcy had so many sleepovers together.

Pull yourself together, girl. Marcy reminded herself. She had other things to do at the moment, like pushing Anne's wheelchair until she was close enough to the bed.

Alas, Anne had a plan of her own. "Hang on," she spoke before Marcy could push her any closer to her bed. "I wanna try something. Can someone get that crutch over there for me?" The Thai asked, pointing to the object in question, which was leaning on a wall. Sprig retrieved it, and soon enough Anne was gripping the crutch tightly with her left hand.

"Alright..." She took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing." Summoning all the strength she could muster, Anne got up at an Earth snail's pace, putting her weight on her right leg before shifting some of it to her crutch. Consciously or not, no one else dared to make a sound, as if even something as basic as too loud a breath could ruin everything.

"You did it," Sprig finally spoke up, his eyes glistening with tears. "You did it!"

"I did?" Even Anne had a hard time believing she was standing up. "Heck yeah, I did it!" She raised her right arm in triumph, but the sudden movement disrupted her balance. She wobbled a bit, a startled "whoa!" escaping her lips.

"Careful!" Marcy exclaimed while she, Sprig and Hop Pop moved in to intercept what looked like an imminent fall, but Anne recovered her footing before that could happen.

"Phew..." She let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, guys." Her gaze shifted from her friends to her future bed, and she took another deep breath. "And now..." Steeling her resolve and muscles, Anne took a step with her good leg. She followed it up by moving her crutch, which made a barely audible thud upon making contact with the stone floor.

Rinse and repeat for what felt like an eternity, every step closely followed by her companions, until Anne was practically next to the bed. She was so close she could almost hear it calling to her, and so the Thai allowed herself to fall.

"Aaah..." Anne tried, and failed, to hide her delight after her body made contact with the fabrics of the mattress, blanket and pillow. She felt like she was on top of a cloud right now, like she could just...

"Um, hello?" A familiar voice snapped Anne out of her reverie, and her heart almost jumped inside her chest after her eyes registered Marcy looming above her. The Plantars were still there, but their diminutive stature meant most of Anne's attention was directed to her fellow human.

"... Sorry, I almost forgot about you guys." Anne's tone was sheepish, and a part of her wanted to sink into the bed until she was invisible.

"It's okay." Marcy gave a reassuring smile, one so sweet she almost didn't look like someone who was hiding a terrible secret. "Do you need anything?" She asked again, trying her hardest to maintain eye contact with her bestie.

"Well, I'm planning to go to sleep right now, so..." Anne snapped her fingers, her eyes widening as she remembered something very important. "Actually, I do! Did any of you guys bring my journal?"

"Ah," Hop Pop perked up at the question. "So you do have one of those things!"

"Well, it's not like Marcy's." Anne shrugged, but the simple act of thinking about that journal left an ugly taste in her mouth. "It's more of a diary, anyway."

"Does it look like a purple notebook?" Sprig asked.

"Yeah, that's the one!" Anne replied excitedly before she considered the implications of her friend's question. "Wait, you didn't read it, did you?"

"What? Of course not!" Sprig bristled, but his angry facade was quickly supplanted by a far more awkward expression. "I was tempted though, and I thought it had..." Realizing he was about to go on a tangent, he shook his head to stop that train of thought, hopped towards the closet and opened one of its drawers.

After a few moments of turning some objects over and tossing others out of the drawer (good thing Lady Olivia wasn't there to see that!), Sprig finally found what he was looking for, and held the purple journal above his head with a triumphant "aha!".

"Thanks dude," Anne spoke once Sprig handed her her journal, along with a pen. "And, um, sorry for doubting you." She finished, her previous apprehension replaced by shame.

"Eh, no problem," Sprig just smiled back. "I did say I was tempted, right?"

"Now, I'm really not one to talk about this," Marcy joined the conversation unexpectedly. "But Anne, don't spend too much time writing on that journal, okay? You need every hour of sleep for your leg to heal properly."

"Don't worry about it, Mar-Mar." Despite everything the Thai knew about her friend now, she could see her concern was genuine. Thus, she had no trouble smiling at her. "I won't be up for long, I'm pretty tired already."

"Right. One last thing, you remember where the bathroom is, don't you? And how to call us if you need any help?"

"Marcy..." It took Anne all she had not to groan.

"Sorry," Marcy could do little except laugh awkwardly at her newfound protectiveness. "Good night, Anna-Banana."

"Good night, Marbles," Anne replied, then turned her attention to the Plantars. "And good night to you guys too. I can't wait to see you all again tomorrow."

The three frogs all replied in their own way, and soon enough they and Marcy were at the door. Sprig was the last one to leave, closing the door behind him after looking at Anne one last time, waving a final goodbye before closing the door.

Anne was finally alone, and the realization of that was all it took for her to collapse on her bed. No longer encumbered by the need to hide her feelings, she let out a long, utterly exhausted sigh. Why, just why was she feeling this way? Sure, Marcy got her stuck here, but it was clear she regretted it. And yeah, the Plantars fawning over the nerdette every five minutes was more than a little annoying, but could she blame them for it? She was freaking awesome!

Why couldn't Anne just be happy for them?

Oh well. At least she had a journal to confide her feelings to, instead of having to bottle it all up. Now, how could she best put her feelings about everything that happened in the last few days into words?

Welp, Anne shrugged to herself, I might as well start from the beginning.

------------------

Turns out Marcy wasn't the only one who could get into the Zone.

Anne's writing was lethargic at first, since the Thai girl faced two arduous tasks from the moment her pen made contact with the journal's paper: not only did she need to put the maelstrom of thoughts within her head in order, which turned out to be pretty dang difficult, but she also had to remember the chain of events that led to her current situation. This meant Anne had to recall her initial joy at seeing Marcy, the foray into the barbariants' nest and, finally, the moment her life was turned upside down.

It made the deluge that came after Anne wrote her first couple of paragraphs all the more astonishing. Like an old assembly line roaring back to life after years of disuse, Anne's body gained a will of its own, and she found herself unable to stop her hands from scribbling line after line after line. Her brain was just as feverish as her body, minor details she overlooked or forgot during the last few days suddenly materializing in front of her eyes, as if she had visited the various places she saw mere hours ago.

Anne's urge to write about her experiences was akin to a hunger, one that, paradoxically, deepened the more she tried to satisfy it. Writing alone was no longer enough to satisfy her mind's desperate need to rid itself of all the information within it, so she tried her luck at drawing some of the things she saw - she was nowhere near as good an artist as Marcy, of course, but she knew a thing or two about drawing.

Her experience in this front was not too different from writing: small, timid sketches at first, followed by increasingly complex depictions of what she saw, memories pouring from the recesses of her mind like water from a fountain. What started as a few smiley and frowny faces here and there escalated into fully blown miniatures of the murals Andrias showed her yesterday.

And then, as suddenly as it began, Anne's energy ran out. The toll of her body's exertion hit the Thai like a ton of bricks, and she, now aching all over, slumped forward, gasping for air. She feared she was about to black out, her vision blurry as her mind hurriedly snapped back to reality.

"Ugh..." Anne groaned and a hand on her head, feeling what seemed to be the early stages of a headache. She could barely hear her own voice, since it was drowned out by the sound of her heart desperately pumping blood to her weary, sore arms.

It took a few seconds (or minutes, she couldn't tell), but her body eventually calmed down. Even then, it still took a few blinks for reality to set in for good: Anne wasn't sitting on the palm of a giant newt, surrounded by murals that stretched for as far as she could see, but in the bedroom Marcy and the Plantars left her in.

"Holy crud..." She thought aloud. "What was that?" She looked down, towards the journal that was now sitting on her lap, and picked it up.

Anne's mouth opened so wide a part of her was afraid her jaw would fall off. She wanted to write only a couple of pages or so and then go to sleep, yet she had written far, far, far more than that. And there were so many drawings, too!

"So much for me not spending too much time writing..." Anne thought aloud once more as she remembered Marcy's warning. "Speaking of, what time is it?" She picked up her phone, wondering if she had come close to pulling an all-nighter or...

Wait.

What?!

"IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN AN HOUR?!"

What the heck is this?! Since when did Anne write an essay's worth of words, plus all the drawings, in less than an hour?! That sort of stuff was Marcy's department, not hers! Also, how on Earth could she dissociate from the real world this much? Did she seriously need to get those words off her chest that badly? Good Lord, if every future entry is like this, she'll need to-

*knock knock*

...

Oh great. Of course her yell woke someone up. Who could it be on the other side of that door? Were they worried? Did they think she needed help? What was she supposed to say? 'Oh sorry for the ruckus, I was just-'

*knock knock*

... Welp, here goes nothing.

"Come in," Anne says, dreading the possibility of seeing Marcy or, worse still, Sprig rushing into the bedroom, fearing the worst.

The knob turns ever so slowly, as if the person on the other side was scared of making too much noise. The door opens with a creak... but no one walks through it. Huh?

"I said come in," Anne repeated, her dread giving way to confusion.

"I'd love to, kiddo, but I don't think I can fit through the door."

Anne's heart skipped a beat, and a gasp escaped her lips - she knew exactly who that voice belonged to.

"King Andrias!" She called his name with joy, and how could she not since he was the one person she could be completely honest with? "Hang on, just give me a minute!" She continued excitedly, reaching for her crutch and starting the long trek to the bedroom's door. Her efforts were rewarded with the now familiar sight of a gigantic blue newt waiting for her, an appropriately large smile adorning his bearded face.

"I see you don't need a wheelchair anymore," the elderly monarch began. "I have to admit, I'm surprised. I thought you'd need at least a few more days." His smile made it clear this surprise was a very welcome one.

"I'm still a bit wobbly, to be honest," Anne replied. "But man does it feels great to walk again."

"I can imagine." Andrias' expression changed from a happy to an inquisitive one. "So, what was your first day out in the city like? Did you see anything?"

"Oh." Anne felt her heart sink the moment she was reminded of what she went through hours earlier. "We stuck to the streets for the now, mingled with the locals and all that. It was... great."

Andrias didn't buy it, of course. He didn't reply right away, but instead looked pensive for a few seconds. "Great for whom?" He asked with a tone halfway between worried and protective.

"Hey, don't get me wrong now!" Anne replied with an alarmed voice, raising her free hand to emphasize her point. "I did enjoy it, just... not as much as I thought I would."

Andrias' expression softened, to his little listener's immense relief - the last thing she wanted was for him to get angry at someone who didn't deserve it. "What happened?"

"I want to talk about it, I really do, but..." Anne felt her throat tighten before she could finish. "Dang it, why is this so complicated?" She complained, mostly to herself. Her eyes darted to the floor, as if compelled to do so by the weight of her nervousness and gravity itself.

"Do you want us to go somewhere else?" Andrias intervened. "I know a place that's just perfect for you to calm your nerves."

"Are you serious?!" The girl's head snapped upward, her eyes now sparkling with curiosity. "What are we waiting for, let's go!"

Once again, much like when he first met her, Andrias felt his chest warm up upon seeing Anne's smile. It was quite odd, to be honest, how protective he was becoming of the little human, to the point he had to be reminded by the Core of what his true mission was.

He lowered his hand for Anne to climb on, and felt how much stronger she was compared to yesterday when she did. After that, Andrias raised his hand until she was level with his eyes, the gaze emanating from them asking a question he did not need to voice.

"I'm all set, big guy!" Anne answered eagerly. "Let's go!"

Andrias let out a giggle, and although it still rattled Anne to her bones, she found the sensation far less overwhelming than before - indeed, she actually felt her muscles relax, as if her body unconsciously knew she was safe. The king began to walk towards who knows where, and Anne didnt feel an ounce of unease: all she could think about was what he had in store for her tonight.

"Hey dude," she spoke up after Andrias turned a corner and entered a hallway better lit than the others before it. "Do you think I could-"

"Shhh!" The giant monarch interrupted her by putting a finger to his lips. He then pointed that same finger downward, and Anne saw none other than Lady Olivia slumped against an armchair, snoring lightly. One of her hands was holding a book, the other an incredibly suspicious-looking glass bottle.

"... That's not juice, is it?" Anne whispered, and Andrias responded by shaking his head. Truly, no words were necessary.

After tiptoeing his way past the sleeping aristocrat, Andrias entered a room that looked like a very spacious wine cellar. There was a wooden hatch on the floor, and after the dust cloud created by Andrias' opening of it subsided, Anne saw the beginning of a long, dark stairway.

What ancient secret did the king want to reveal this time? Also, couldn't he go down these stairs any faster? This place was creepy...

"So, um, as I was about to ask you," Anne spoke up, hoping to break the eerie monotony of Andrias' footsteps echoing through the darkness. "Do you think I could travel on your shoulder sometime, instead of on your hand? I think that'd be pretty cool."

"Hahahahaha!" Andrias gave a hearty laugh, which was exactly what Anne needed to keep her unease at bay. "You are right, my dear, it would be 'very cool'. We should save it for when you're out of that cast, though - best not to take any risks."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

The stairway finally came to an end, but that didn't mean an end to the ominous ambience, to Anne's dismay. She and Andrias were now in a hallway whose walls were lined up with mirrors of many sizes, which reflected the light from her phone's flashlight in all sorts of unnerving ways.

"Ooookay, what's with all the mirrors?" She couldn't not ask.

"They keep the shadowfish at bay." Came the explanation.

"Shadow what now?"

"Shadowfish," Andrias' tone was calm and didactic. "The creatures you saw yesterday. They can phase through walls and floors with no problem, but as soon as they see a mirror..." He made a 'poof' gesture with his free hand before continuing. "They're powerless. Our scientists learned much from studying them, back in the old days." He finished with a proud smile.

Ah yes, the old days. The golden age Amphibia lived under before the Music Box was stolen, and which Anne had promised to help Andrias restore. The fiery resolve she felt when she made that promise was long dead now, drowned by the steady, painful realization that fulfilling it was a task well beyond her competence. No, this was a job for that adorable, klutzy, brilliant, almost infuriatingly perfect ball of sunshine named Marcy Regina Wu.

Not someone like her.

"Hey," Andrias noticed the change in the Thai's mood almost immediately. "Everything okay there, kiddo?"

No answer.

He frowned. "Don't worry." He tried to reassure the little human, who now looked like a withered flower on his enormous palm. "We're almost there."

Once again, no response. She was so excited a few minutes ago, what was going on? Andrias had no idea, and that distressed him to an unreasonable degree. Or maybe it wasn't that unreasonable, given the stakes involved. Not that it made his master any less annoyed - he was always too emotional for their taste.

An old, wooden door covered in boards, chains and huge red letters stopped the giant king in his tracks. The change in momentum stirred Anne out of her stupor, and she finally spoke.

"What does that say?" She asked with a voice that sounded far too weary for Andrias' liking. It was better than nothing, at least.

"It should be fairly obvious." He explained, his neutral, teacherly expression giving way to a grin that could only be described as smugness given a physical form. "Doesn't apply to me, though." He finished with a mischievous giggle.

Anne smiled back in a way that made Andrias' insides - those the Core didn't replace with cybernetics long ago, at least - roil with anguish. This was not the reaction he wanted, not at all. Well, maybe seeing what was on the other side of the door would change the girl's mood. The door gave way with a creak as he pulled it open, revealing...

"WHAT THE HECK, DUDE?!" Anne yelled once her eyes fully registered the sight in front of her: a flooded room full of floating coffins. "Dark hallways and ominous secret passages are one thing, but what is this even supposed to be?! Some creepy crypt?"

"Hm, more or less." Andrias answered awkwardly. Beneath that façade, however, he was breathing a sigh of relief at seeing Anne not looking so... lost, anymore.

He waded his way through the crypt, the muddy water reaching up to his ankles in some spots. Said water began to glow purple, and Anne gasped in a mix of fear and amazement as she saw shadowfish of all shapes and sizes emerging from it, their ghostly, floating bodies emanating an eerie light. The ghostly animals watched the human and giant amphibian intently, but otherwise kept their distance from the pair.

Another hallway full of mirrors came up, and Anne let out a sigh of relief upon exiting the crypt. She barely had time to recover from that experience before Andrias turned a corner and entered a place so radically different from the one she just visited it took a few seconds for her to realize she wasn't dreaming.

She and Andrias were in a garden that stretched as far as her eyes could see. A huge, underground garden full of plants that didn't need any sunlight to grow.

Andrias took a few steps, each stride covering a vast distance thanks to his size, before sitting down.

"This is it," the king began, beaming with pride and an all too familiar hint of sadness. "The place I go to whenever I need some time for myself. Wonderful, isn't it?"

Once again, just like when Andrias showed her those murals, Anne was speechless. The more her eyes scanned her new surroundings, the more she recognized the word 'wonderful' didn't cut it. It didn't matter where her vision landed, there was always some plant for her to admire, each more beautiful than the last. Some weren't that different from those she'd see back home, with easily distinguishable leaves and branches. Others had a variety of strange, unquestionably alien shapes: some were slender, others bulbous, and some didn't look like plants at all.

And then there were the flowers, which took on a multitude of colors, from recognizable ones like red, yellow and purple to others she didn't know. Some emmitted a dim, low glow, not unlike lampshades in a bedroom.

Even the air itself felt like something out of a dream. It carried a variety of scents Anne had never smelled before, and every breath she took elicited some new reaction from her nose. It was also cold and humid, albeit not excessively so: the Thai was sure she could sleep here, as long as she had a pillow and a blanket.

This garden, full of plants that didn't need sunlight to survive, didn't feel like a part of the real world at all. The word 'wonderful' didn't even begin to describe it.

No, this place was a piece of paradise that somehow found itself in the wrong plane of existence.

Marcy would love it.

Marcy...

There was a time when thinking of the nerdette filled Anne's mind with many years' worth of pleasant memories, from sleepovers to drinking boba until they got sick, playing C&C campaigns Marcy spent all day planning (even if Anne herself wasn't really into that) to saving her from her own clumsiness. Now though, just thinking of her name made Anne's chest ache, like a set of poisonous thorns digging into her heart.

It made her tongue taste a trace of bile, and her eyes well up with tears desperate to be shed.

It stoked a fire within her, wild and furious and eager to-

"So, kiddo, what do you think?" Andrias' voice snapped the Thai out of her thoughts. "Makes you feel like you're dreaming, doesn't it?"

Anne craned her head up in response, and felt an overwhelming urge to scream once she saw how he was looking at her. Here was the mightiest amphibian in the world, looking at a messy-haired girl one tenth of his size with expectant eyes and a fatherly smile.

She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve the trust he was placing upon her.

"Yeah," Anne wiped her eyes and forced down a sob before it escaped her throat. "It's great."

"Anne..." Andrias spoke up again, and hearing him say her name instead of a more distant word like 'kiddo' made her shiver for some reason. "Look, I won't pretend I know what's going on, but if you have anything to say..." He trailed off, giving his listener a chance to put two and two together.

"It's nothing," Anne looked at Andrias again, and how dare he look so worried for her. "I'm fine."

"We both know you're not." The king replied with a tone that made it clear he wasn't having any of it. He let a moment of silence go by before continuing, his features softening. "Before I brought you here, you told me you didn't enjoy your day as much as you thought you would. Why?"

Anne wanted to do nothing more than explode right then and there, to tell Andrias to save his concern to someone who actually mattered. He deserved better than that, of course, so she didn't act on those feelings. Still, she had to tell him the truth. After everything he entrusted her with, despite knowing her for less than a day, he deserved nothing less.

She took a deep breath to steel herself, and balled her hands into fists in the hopes of getting a semblance of a grip on her tumultuous emotions. Here goes nothing.

"Look, dude," Anne began, using every bit of her strength to keep it together. "You don't really think I can help you, do you? Be honest."

"What kind of question is that?" Andrias replied as if the girl had said something preposterous instead of a simple truth. "I'm sure you can-"

"WILL YOU DROP THE ACT ALREADY?!" Anne roared so suddenly Andrias backed away a little. "You don't need to sugarcoat things for me, I know I can't do it! And I know you know it too!" She pointed a finger at him accusingly.

No audible response came from the giant king, whose face remained frozen in an expression of utter disbelief. For Anne, the lack of a counterpoint was a sign for her to continue.

"You don't need me!" She shouted again, her voice straining. "Why would you, when Marcy's right here?! She's already got a whole freaking list of all the super awesome things she's done, and she can't walk five feet without someone thanking her for them!" Her vocal chords were already at their limit, but she didn't stop - she couldn't. "Even the Plantars can't spend five minutes without kissing the ground she walks on! And what about me?!"

Anne, finally out of energy for the time being, collapsed on Andrias' palm like a house of cards. The myriad of sensors and computers within the king's body were working overtime to make sense of what he just heard, and the more he processed that information, the more horrified he became. He knew Anne was in a bad spot the moment he laid eyes on her, but this was completely beyond what he expected.

And then he heard a whimper.

"What about me?"

He felt something wet on his palm.

Anne was crying.

...

That does it - enough was enough.

"Anne," Andrias spoke as calmly as he could, not wanting the girl to know of his own emotional state. "Please-"

"Don't!" The Thai quickly cut him off, her fire from before reignited, even as tears fell from her eyes. "I can barely do ANYTHING right! Do you have any idea how trouble I caused back in Wartwood?! How long it took the for people there to accept me?!" Anne's lungs were desperate for air, but that was nothing compared to the weight of the words still lodged in her throat. "I can barely hold a sword! I can't even get these stupid leaves out of my STUPID hair!"

"Then how are you still alive?!" Andrias finally found his voice, and it came out like a thunderclap at point blank range.

Anne fell on her backside, her self-directed anger completely gone. Her tears stopped falling, and she stared at the king with wide, terrified eyes, akin to a deer in the headlights. Her instincts were yelling at her to run away, consequences be damned, but her body didn't budge. All she could think about was how the king's voice shook the very air around her, and how completely vulnerable she was right now. She was a broken girl lost in the darkness once again, alone with a stranger who could crush her the moment he felt like it.

"How, Anne?! How?!" Andrias pressed on, and the more Anne stared at him the more she realized what was going on. The king wasn't angry or about to hurt her, not at all. She looked into his eyes and saw only sadness, anguish even.

All for her.

"If you're really as weak and stupid as you say you are, how did you make it here?" The questions continued, each hammering Andrias' point further and further. "How did you hold out against those cannibals, monsters and everything else you told me about? How did you survive for a whole month in the wilderness, all by yourself?"

The king at last stopped, and the silence that settled into the garden afterward was beyond deafening. The sound of the wind, the rustling of the leaves, they all paled in comparison to Andrias' words echoing over and over inside Anne's head.

She had no answer to them.

"I... I..." She tried to come up with something, anything, to say. "I-I thought-- I didn't... I... I never..."

Anne's world suddenly shifted upwards, and before long she was right next to Andrias' face. At this distance she could see the true extent of the giant newt's inner turmoil: how his eyes were laden with tears ready to be shed, the sweat dripping from his forehead, how tightly his jaw muscles were clenched.

Andrias needed a hug just as badly as she did right now, so Anne acted accordingly. She wrapped her arms around his right cheek as best as she could, and felt him lean into her touch as gently as he could. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she felt Andrias' welcoming warmth seep into her body, but she squeezed them shut. She couldn't ruin this moment.

Anne lost track of how long the cuddle session lasted, but she felt like a completely different person after it ended. A huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders, which relaxed accordingly, and her determination to fulfill her promise was rekindled.

"I don't know what to say, except... well, thanks I guess." Anne said tentatively. It didn't express the full extent of her gratitude, but she at least managed to string a sentence together.

Andrias didn't reply immediately. Instead, he took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, his features softening as he did so.

"Kid," he began, his voice and expression serious, but still carrying a fatherly undertone. "Never say those things about yourself again, understand? Never." Visibly satisfied at seeing his little listener nod without hesitation, he continued. "You're strong in your own way, brave and willing to do anything for those you love. You just need someone to teach you how to use that strength." Then, a smile. "And I know just the right person for that."

"Who?" Anne couldn't contain the urge to ask. "C'mon, tell me!"

"Sorry kiddo, but I'd rather keep it a surprise." Andrias' smile took on a mischievous edge, while Anne pouted and crossed her arms. "The one thing I'll say is that she's one of my best generals, even if she's a little... eccentric."

"Eh, I'll be fine." Anne dismissed the king's 'warning' with a carefree wave. "You should've seen some of the people I met back in Wartwood. There's this old lady, Mrs. Croaker, who I'm pretty sure is older then Hop Pop, but man can she fight!"

"Oh!" Andrias squealed like an excited child. "You have to tell me more about her!"

"I don't know..." Anne flashed a mischievous, almost impish smirk. "I'd rather not spoil the surprise."

Andrias could only gasp at the girl's audacity - here she was, trying to beat him in his own game. Unacceptable!

"Oh, come on now!" He protested in a way that sounded far too young for his age, to say the least. "It's not like I'll ever know her in person! Probably..."

Anne put a hand on her chin and weighed her options. "Hm, I guess you're right." She at last gave a verbal answer, one that oozed with the smugness of knowing she had the king eating from the palm of her hand. "Now, where do I start? Guess I'll begin with that one time me, Sprig and Polly broke into her home and learned she used to be super hot."

"... Excuse me?"

"I swear it makes sense in context!"

------------------

Several increasingly ridiculous stories later...

"I have to admit, I'm impressed." Andrias began, his eyes full of surprise and admiration. "For a place that's supposed to be in the middle of nowhere, this town you made yourself at home in is full of colorful characters."

"They sure are, and I wouldn't have it any other way." Anne replied, her lips curled into a fond smile. "But enough about me. Do you have any crazy stories to tell?"

"Hahahahaha!" Andrias' response came in the form of a loud, bellowing laugh. "You better sit tight kiddo, because--"

He suddenly registered something in the corner of his eye, and his train of thought ground to a screeching halt.

"Huh? What's happening?" Anne looked at the general direction Andrias' gaze focused on. She got her answer soon enough: there was something in the garden with them, and whatever it was it was big enough to rustle the various plants along its path. The intruder came closer and closer to where the pair was, and while Anne wasn't afraid (how could she, with someone like Andrias on her side?), she still felt a bit nervous.

The distance between the stranger and the human-newt duo decreased with each passing second, until the mystery creature finally came close enough for Anne to figure out whatever it was supposed to be from her vantage point. It was a fairly large, quadruped animal, with green, almost plant-like fur and glowing eyes.

Indeed, it looked almost like... wait a second.

There was no way. No freaking way!

Anne gasped once her brain connected the dots.

"Ah," Andrias, unaware of the Thai's past experience with a creature exactly like this one, smiled and began to talk in his usual manner whenever he showed Anne something new. "That, my dear, is-"

"A MOSS MAN?!" He was cut off by a squeal so loud his ears rang for a moment.

"Wait, wha-"

"I can't believe it!" Anne continued, her brain and mouth firing on all cylinders. "A moss man, here?! I know you've shown me a lot of super secret stuff so far, but holy crud I did NOT think I'd see this! What is it even doing down here?"

"Um..."

"Can you get me closer, pleasepleaseplease?" Anne pleaded, using every bit of her willpower to make the best possible expression to tug at the king's heartstrings.

"Hm..." Andrias wondered what the in the absolute heck was happening right now, but decided to save that for later. "Yes, of course. But be careful, okay?" He slowly lowered his hand.

"Heck yeah! Thanks a lot, big guy!" Anne couldn't make her gratitude more obvious if she tried. "And don't worry, I will be!"

Climbing down from Andrias' hand proved to be more awkward a task than Anne anticipated, since, besides having one of her legs in a cast, she had only one free hand - the other was holding her crutch. Still, she accomplished it, and so she made her way to where the moss man was, one step at a time.

The strange animal watched her intently, seemingly ready to bolt at the first sign of danger.

"Shh," Anne spoke with a gentle voice and slowly extended her arm. "It's okay, see? I won't hurt you."

The moss man took a few, cautious steps towards the girl before extending its own hand to her. Anne gasped, her jaw threatening to hit the floor, as a flower sprouted and began to bloom on that very same hand in a matter of seconds.

"Um, Andrias?" She glanced at the giant newt, unsure of what to do. No response came from the amphibian, who was clearly lost in thought.

"Everything okay there, big guy?" Anne asked again, to no avail. She considered raising her voice to get Andrias' attention, but concluded doing so would likely scare the moss man away.

Speaking of, the animal in question gave Anne a gentle nudge with its outstretched arm to get her attention. It also let out a noise similar to a growl, likely a request for the girl to accept its floral offering.

"Soooo, I take it you want me to take this?" Anne asked, the moss man letting out a noise she swore was an annoyed 'what do you think?' in its language. "Yeah yeah, sorry." She replied sheepishly before considering her options. On one hand, she didn't want to get so close to an animal she didn't know without Andrias' approval, and it was clear he wouldn't snap out of whatever was going on inside that big noggin of his any time soon. On the other, she had already encountered a moss man in the wild, and it wasn't dangerous at all - this one was no different.

So Anne steeled herself, extended her arm and plucked the flower from the moss man's hand. Not only did it not show any sign of pain, Anne was sure it was actually smiling at her beneath all that moss it had instead of fur. She looked at the flower on her hand one more time, placed it on her ear and smiled back.

Meanwhile, Andrias was busy connecting the dots in the most plausible way. He had already gathered a lot of interesting information over the last few days, but the revelation that Anne already knew what a moss man was was nothing short of a bombshell, since there was only one way she could've learned that. Add in the fact that 'Sprig' frog she was so fond of was a spitting image of Leif, and, well...

"Ah!" A startled yelp snapped the king out of his thoughts. He knew that voice.

"Anne!" Andrias shot upright in less than a second, his left hand going straight for the secret compartment in his armor that housed his fire sword. His eyes darted in so many directions so quickly they barely had time to process what they were seeing. His brain, meanwhile, was coming up with a million different scenarios for what might've happened. Did Anne trip somewhere? Did a predatory animal from the outside world enter the garden somehow? Did the moss man attack her?

Another sound, this one far more pleasant, reached Andrias' ears, right as he was about to ignite his sword. It was... a laugh?

The king looked down, and at last saw what was going on with clear eyes. Far from being in danger, Anne was having the time of her life: she had begun to pet the moss man's belly, and the delighted animal returned her affection in the form of a hug. A very big hug, appropriate for a creature which was almost three meters tall when standing upright.

"Noooo!" Anne 'protested' in between her laughs. "You goofball, you'll get me all dirty!

Andrias could barely fathom the scale of the discrepancy between his fears and the scene unfolding in front of him. Here he stood, ready to vaporize a foe that only existed in his mind, while the only thing the girl who he had become so attached to in less than two days was in danger of was getting too dirty.

What else could he do but join in on the laughter? What started as half-muted chuckles gave way to guffaws that reverberated throughout the garden so loudly that Anne and the moss man stopped what they were doing.

The latter actually backed away a little, but a few pets from its new friend were enough of a reassurance not to flee.

"Hey, big guy!" Anne called once the king's laughs subsided. "You were kinda spacing out there, everything okay?"

"Ah yes," Andrias scratched the back of his head. "I'm fine. I was just... thinking, that's all."

"About what?"

The king felt his body tense up in the milliseconds that it took him to answer that question. His words and tone had to be perfect - this was the conversation that would make or break his plans.

"A lot of things, actually." He began. "Such as, how did you know what a moss man is before I told you?"

"Oh, that?" Anne replied with a casual tone, unaware of the importance of the information she was about to give. "Believe it or not, I actually bumped into one not far from Wartwood. Nobody believed me when I told them though, except for One-Eyed Wally." She smiled as she remembered her adventure with the frog in question, and the lesson he taught her. "He's cool."

"Near Wartwood, you say?" Something in Andrias' expression changed, and it sent chills down Anne's spine. It looked just like when he told her the story of how the Music Box was stolen, and, consciously or not, revealed a part of the deep seated resentment that still resided within him.

"Y-Yeah," she stammered a little. "What about it?"

"Hmm..." The king looked pensive for a few seconds, stroking his beard in the meantime. He was, Anne could see, no less nervous than she was - in fact, he seemed almost afraid to ask whatever question was dwelling in his mind at the moment, fearing what the answer could be.

Finally, he took a deep breath before taking the plunge. "Anne," Andrias began, his voice betraying his unease. "The Plantars, do they have a dance? Something that mesmerizes any animal that watches?"

The question caught the Thai by surprise, to the point she had to ponder it for a few seconds.

"As a matter of fact, they do!" Anne replied, more than a little curious about where the giant newt intended to go with this. "And it works, too - I actually pulled it off myself, once."

"Oh." Andrias' face lost almost all of its color in the blink of an eye. "Oh no."

"... Andrias?" Anne asked, her chills worsening as she saw the king's pupils shrink to the size of pinpricks.

Andrias didn't answer right away. Instead he averted his gaze from the girl and grit his teeth, as if not wanting to share his discovery with her. He truly didn't, less for her and more for himself - a part of him refused to believe that the person who ruined his life was still around in any shape or form.

Still, he had to say it. Anne had to know, and he had to admit it.

"The Plantars," Andrias began, his tone and expression laying bare the true extent of his horror. "They're... they're Leif's descendants."

...

"What?" Anne could barely comprehend what she just heard. "What?!"

"When Leif stole the Music Box, she fled Newtopia on the back of a moss man." The king explained. "And that dance? She invented it."

"You can't be serious!" Anne protested. "This has got to be a coincidence!" She felt the floor crumble beneath her feet, much like when she read Marcy's journal.

"I had hoped so too," Andrias replied, his voice laden with sadness. "But it can't be. There are just too many things for me to ignore."

"S-S-So what?" Anne spoke up again. "Even if they're related to her, that doesn't mean anything! They aren't her!"

"Wait a minute." If Andrias' ears registered what she said, he gave no sign of it. "Where did you say the Box was, again?" He asked, fear written all over his face.

A lump formed in Anne's throat, and she forced it out of the way with difficulty. "I-I said Hop Pop left it with some contacts back in Wartwood."

"No..." If Andrias looked afraid before, now he seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack.

"Hey!" And Anne was having none of it. "I know exactly what you're thinking, and you better stop right there!"

The king's eyes snapped towards her. They were still full of fear, and that only made the Thai angrier.

"You don't know the Plantars!" She shouted, her own eyes as sharp as daggers. "And you do NOT know Hop Pop! For starters, he took me in when everyone thought I was a monster! Sure, we didn't always get along, but I don't know where I'd be without him!" She stopped to take a breath, though her gaze remained unrelenting. "Even when he made mistakes, he always did his best to make up for them! And he knows I need the Music Box to get home, so I swear to God, if you even suggest he's gonna betray me, I swear I'll--!"

Anne gritted her teeth and shut her eyes before she said something stupid. As angry as she was, she knew she was in no position to threaten someone ten times her size.

By the time she reopened them, Andrias' body language was completely different. His shoulders were slumped, his head low, and his eyes pinned to the floor. There was no panic within him anymore, only shame.

"I understand." The king spoke with a heavy voice. "You're right, I don't know the Plantars. I shouldn't have doubted them like that, and I'm sorry. It's just..." He lifted his gaze and let out a long, tired sigh. "I'm scared, Anne. The Box has been gone for a thousand years, and to think it's now so close I can almost..." His voice trailed off.

"That must be a lot of pressure, huh?" Anne replied, now feeling a little guilty for lashing out the way she did.

You have no idea, Andrias wanted to say. "It is."

A silence settled between the human and amphibian for the time being, both of them opting to enjoy the peace and tranquility the garden offered for a while. It was during this lull that the moss man returned, accompanied by two others of its kind. They sat not far from where the duo was, the newcomers watching them with curiosity.

Anne waved at them, and the first moss man she interacted with returned the gesture - albeit in a slow, childlike manner, as if it didn't fully understand what it meant but knew it was important somehow. It was at that moment that she noticed something rather unnerving about the moss men: they all had chains around their necks.

She'd have to ask Andrias about that later - he had a good reason for it, of that she was sure of.

First things first, though. "So," Anne began, her voice low but still reaching the king's ears due to the silence reigning over the garden. "Did you figure out how to recharge the Music Box yet?"

Andrias let out a long sigh, and put a hand on his head. "Not gonna lie kiddo, I forgot how big our archives were. I must've read a hundred books today, and I barely touched the, um..." His hand moved to his chin. "What do you humans call that again? The 'tip of the iceberg'?"

"Yep."

"Anyway," the king put an end to that little detour. "What I mean to say is, I'll need help if I'm to find anything about the Music Box within the next days instead of a whole year." He really didn't, but he had to keep up appearances.

"Marcy's help, right?" Anne quickly guessed. "I mean, it's not like I can read those ancient runes you told me about." She felt the thorns digging into her heart once more, while the seed of envy continued to spread its foul roots deep within.

Andrias looked on sadly, knowing there was no way he could downplay the nerdette's superiority on this field - for now.

"Look, kid," Anne felt a light tap on her back, and looked up to see a reassuring smile on the king's face. "I promise I'll teach you how to read them one day, okay? I'd love to learn more about that Thai language of yours, too."

What else could she do but smile back? Plus, she could use a break from having Marcy around all the time.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

[vinization]

I have to say, Marcy cutting her hair gives me serious Azula vibes. I love it!

Princess!Marcy sketches (studies?) of diverse quality as I try to figure out a process and a style that actually looks good. Tbh I hate half of these but they were part of the learning experience. You can clearly see the progress as I begin to get the hang of it lol. Check out Marcy's little haircut sequence below - now a bit easier to see!

AU lore below:

So in this AU, the three girls ended up in Amphibia as very little kids, and Marcy was adopted by Andrias, effectively becoming a princess. She had this very sinister and toxic relationship with her father, in which she was constantly torn between love and fear. He really did a number on her confidence - he's just great at manipulation, and Marcy is his favorite subject. Marcy's mental state is even more shaken by the fact that, out of the three girls, she's the only one who doesn't remember anything from her life pre-Amphibia, and in part due to Andrias' manipulation, she's come to believe she's a (very deformed) newt and Andrias' biological daughter.

She used to wear her hair long because her father liked it that way. He never forced her to keep it long, but she felt it was imperative to do so. One night, during a mental breakdown, she snaps and cuts it all on her own. Maybe that's her nervous system's way to react and try to take control. Her father, by the way, didn't comment much - both styles suited her - and that almost made Marcy feel worse, because that meant keeping it long had been pointless.

Regardless, she has to admit she likes it a lot better now. It's more practical, lighter, and it feels wonderful whenever Anne runs her fingers through it, when she's visiting Newtopia and she meets her in the balcony at night.

[vinization]

A Poisoned Heart - Chapter 2

AO3 link

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Marcy almost forgot what a good night's sleep felt like. Truth is, sleep had always been elusive to her, even back home: the idea of staying still on a bed for hours on end instead of learning, playing videogames or planning a Creatures and Caverns campaign never sat right with the nerdette.

Thus, it was rare for Marcy to get more than four hours of sleep every day, and she unconsciously trained her body to make do with power naps and caffeine whenever necessary. She had long become accustomed to the stinging sensation in her eyes, and the steady stream of excellent grades she received ensured her parents were none the wiser.

Naturally, this routine of hers became even more strenuous after she landed in Newtopia. It didn't matter how many times King Andrias, Lady Olivia and General Yunan (Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched and the youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of general in the great Newtopian Army) told Marcy she was burning herself out, she stayed awake deep into the night, reading report after report on various matters. They all treated her with such love and kindness even though she was a complete stranger, it was only fair for the girl to return the favor.

Things worked out well enough for Marcy in the last few months: she brought down a cult, became a fully fledged member of the Newtopian military, made several improvements to her new home's infrastructure, and carried out mission after mission without flaw. It was tiring, to be sure, but at least it distracted her from the guilt that began to claw at her insides once it became clear she wouldn't see either of her best friends anytime soon.

And then the incident with Anne happened... yet it somehow didn't hurt Marcy as much as she thought it would, at least at first.

Her mind went into 'work mode' the moment her bestie's leg broke: she knew exactly what to do to in order to save her, and that was what mattered - she'd cry later. She applied a tourniquet on Anne's leg, carried her to the finest hospital in all of Amphibia (which was also the safest, since it was inside the Newtopia Castle), and stayed by her side for three days straight.

Three days of watching the doctors treat Anne's mangled leg as best as they could with the technology at their disposal.

Three days of seeing the first person she called a friend thrashing and screaming.

Three days of never letting go of her hand unless it was absolutely necessary.

Marcy powered through it all. No matter how much her lower lip quivered, how much her eyes stung, how utterly and viscerally painful it was to witness the Plantars' reactions whenever Anne lapsed in and out of reality, she didn't let a single sob escape her throat. She had to stay strong, no matter what.

And then Anne woke up for real, and had the audacity to smile at her despite everything that happened. A single, almost imperceptible smile, yet it was all it took for three days' worth of unshed tears to pour out of her eyes all at once.

The next few hours were a blur, and, as much as she protested at the time, Marcy couldn't thank Anne and Lady Olivia enough for convincing her to get some sleep. She barely had enough time to take off her cloak and armor before she straight up blacked out on her bed.

When Marcy finally woke up who knows how many hours later, she felt like she had been born again. Her muscles were reinvigorated, her shoulders light, her vision clear. She hadn't felt this good in quite some time - perhaps sleeping more than four hours wasn't so bad after all.

Marcy got up, washed her face, put on her outfit and gave one last look at herself in the mirror before she started her day.

Rise and shine, baby!

------------------

Marcy didn't know it yet, but she wasn't the only person in the castle with a guilty conscience.

There were plenty of things Sprig Plantar regretted doing over the course of his young life. From nearly running the family farm into the ground after beating Hop Pop in a wrestling match to accidentally trapping his family inside an archive, the pink frog's record was far from flawless.

Still, even though he felt bad for all the mistakes he made, and how they endangered the people he loved, he never really felt haunted by them - the misadventures he, Anne, Polly and Hop Pop got themselves into whenever he did something dumb always ended before someone got seriously hurt. Sure, they were nearly eaten by some giant monster once or twice, but that's life in Amphibia for you.

And then he met Marcy. Sprig was suspicious of her from the get go, and who could blame him? The only other human he met, besides Anne of course, literally tried to execute his grandfather, and would've killed him as well were it not for Anne's intervention.

So no matter how much Polly and Hop Pop chastised him for it, Sprig's eyes watched Marcy like a hawk. Every step, action and expression was closely scrutinized, so the ten year old frog could deliver his relatives the 'I told you so' of the century once the nerdette inevitably revealed her true colors.

Alas, Marcy did reveal her true colors. First, she saved the Plantars from being eaten by the barbariant queen after Anne's leg was broken. Then, she personally carried the Thai to safety, but not before doing everything in her power to keep her wound from worsening. Finally, she stayed at Anne's bedside through thick and thin for three days straight.

Despite his attachment to the girl he now saw as an older sister, Sprig couldn't bear to watch Anne kicking and screaming whenever it looked like she'd wake up, no matter how much he tried. Marcy, though? She didn't just stay at her side, but was adamant about holding her hand through the whole process.

Sprig's suspicions of the ravenette were thoroughly broken - now all he had was guilt for harboring them in the first place, and it twisted his insides in all sorts of uncomfortable ways.

But his half-asleep staring contest with the ceiling wouldn't last much longer, nor would his relatives' slumber. Both were interrupted by the sound of their room's door practically flying open.

"Morning everyone!" A voice the Plantars were too drowsy to identify called out.

"WAH!" Sprig jumped out of his bed and landed on the floor with a loud thud. "Ow..."

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it!" Polly shouted from her bucket.

"Five more minutes..." Hop Pop drowled at first, before snapping awake. "Huh? What's goin' on?"

It took a few moments, but the trio's eyes eventually recognized the person who walked into their bedroom.

"Marcy?" Hop Pop was the first to speak up. "What are ya doin' here?"

All the girl did was smile, and a lightbulb lit up inside Sprig's head.

"Hang on," he began. "If you're here, then does that mean--" His eyes widened, and he found himself unable to finish his sentence.

"Yep!" Marcy replied immediately. She was grinning from ear to ear, her eyes sparkling with the same joy the Plantars saw when they first met her. "Anne woke up!"

"Oh Frog," Sprig had been waiting to hear these exact words for the last three days, yet even then he still had a hard time believing them. "Oh. My. FROG!"

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Polly shouted enthusiastically.

"Hang on," Marcy tried to calm the frogs down, despite her own mounting excitement. "I don't know if she's awake *right now*, but, she talked to me yesterday. I actually wanted to tell you guys about it at that time, but Lady Olivia was one second away from dragging me to my bedroom." She let out an awkward giggle. "Can't say I blame her."

"I can't either," Polly replied without missing a beat. "No offense, girl, but you looked awful." The tadpole's lack of tact earned a disapproving look from Hop Pop, but she paid him no mind.

It took only a few minutes for the Plantars and their new human friend to start walking through the castle's hallways, towards the hospital section. It was a path the frogs had long since memorized, but now their faces were brimming with hope, rather than anguish like in the last times they took it.

And, whether by chance or fate, they encountered someone who was more than eager to reward their optimism.

"Greetings, Plantars and Marcy." Lady Olivia began, a small but warm smile on her face. "You will be more than happy to know Anne is awake."

"Yeah!" Sprig jumped in joy, while the others celebrated the news in their own way.

"Unfortunately," the newt continued, her smile vanishing. "You may find it... difficult to speak with her at the moment."

"Why?" Marcy asked before her companions could. "Did something happen?"

"She already has a visitor," Olivia answered. "A very... exasperating one, to say the least." She sighed and pinched the bridge of her snout.

The Plantars were confused, but Marcy knew exactly who Olivia was talking about. Not that it made her revelation any less earth-shattering, to say the least.

"Wait," the ravenette began, trying to imagine how Anne was able to meet the person her mother figure was referring to. "You don't mean--"

"Indeed I do, Master Marcy." Olivia answered before the girl could finish her question. "King Andrias thought it was a good idea to just waltz in unannounced." She let out another sigh. "At least they're getting along."

"I can't believe it!" Sprig beamed. "So not only do we get to talk with Anne, but also with the king of Amphibia?!"

"I won't stop you from reuniting with your friend," Olivia spoke once more. "But please, please keep it down." Her exasperation gave way to outright despair. "We're getting enough noise complaints already."

"We'll do our best, milady." Marcy bowed. Before she and the Plantars could go on their way, however, Olivia presented her with something that made her freeze, if only for the briefest of moments.

Her journal.

"The king says he found this at Anne's bedside," the Newtopian noble explained. "He asked me to return it to you."

"Th-Thanks, milady." Marcy did her best to maintain her composure, grabbing her journal and putting it safely in her bag. Her keen mind calculated the odds of Anne reading it - Olivia did say she left it at her bedside, after all. While slim, they were, to her despair, not zero.

She was, at least for the time being, able to push her unease aside. The fact the Plantars were themselves becoming increasingly anxious kept them from noticing the subtle change in their new friend's demeanor.

Hop Pop was the most nervous of them all. "Am I dressed okay?" He was visibly sweating, and checked his outfit for any possible flaw more than once. "Should I be wearing my silk ascot? I'll go back and get it--"

Marcy put a hand on the elderly frog's shoulder before he could run off. "Relax, it's okay." Her words were aimed more at herself than her listener. "Don't stress, this is no big deal."

As the group approached their destination, their ears picked up the sound of a deep, rumbling and unquestionably masculine voice.

"So, just to be clear," the owner of the voice began. "You're fluent in two languages that are nothing alike, and have been since your childhood?" It was clear he was doing his best to whisper, but his voice was still more than enough to turn the Plantars' insides into jelly. "That's amazing!"

Even then, it was nothing compared to the voice that followed.

"Well, my Thai isn't that great, but I do understand it, yeah."

Sprig knew exactly who that reply - and the giggle that followed - came from, and concluded he could wait no longer. He raced ahead of the group and barged into the hospital room Anne was in without thinking.

So hellbent he was on finding his best friend, his vision didn't even register the gargantuan blue newt in the room at first. The moment Sprig laid his eyes on the person said newt was talking to, a curly haired girl sitting on her bed, talking and smiling and laughing in a way he had seen a thousand times before, nothing else mattered in the world.

"Anne!" He shouted before leaping straight into her arms.

"Sprig!" And Anne was more than eager to welcome him. Her arms wrapped around Sprig's torso, and his did the same to her own. She felt tears falling on her shoulder, a sensation which prompted the Thai to tighten her hug.

"Y-You're okay!" Sprig said in between sobs. "I-I mean, I knew you'd get better, sure, but oh Frog I was so scared--"

"Shhh," Anne patted the pink frog in the back. "I missed you too, dude." She thought about saying more, but figured that was enough for now.

"I thought I'd never talk to you again..."

Wow, was all Anne could think when she heard those words. First Marcy yesterday, and now Sprig - these people sure knew how to make her cry. She tightened her grip on him even further, and the pair lost themselves in each other's embrace for what could've been hours, minutes or mere seconds.

"So," Sprig began after he calmed down. "I've got a lot of questions right now. First, did you sleep well? How's your leg doing, does it hurt? Do you even feel anything under that cast? Did you eat anything yet? Are you hungry? Last but not least, how did you become friends with the freaking king?"

"Um, guys?" Polly's voice, which Sprig realized was only a few steps away, snapped him out of his barrage of questions. "Far from me to interrupt, but uh..."

It was at that moment, at long last, that Sprig noticed the immense, towering form of King Andrias. He couldn't help but back away a little, bumping into Hop Pop in the process, yet the old frog didn't react. The Plantars' attention was completely focused on the titanic newt standing before them, who, as far as they knew, could crush them all with one blow if he desired.

"So," Andrias began, his tone almost unnervingly calm. "I assume you three are the frogs who took this wonderful girl in?" And, just like that, the intimidating façade was gone.

"We sure are, your highness!" Hop Pop replied, puffing out his chest in pride. He and his grandchildren had no time to react before Andrias wrapped his enormous arms around them, squishing the hapless frogs against his thick, white beard.

"I'm so happy to meet you!" The old monarch said before letting go of the trio. Sprig and Hop Pop stayed motionless on the floor for a few moments, their brains struggling to comprehend what in the ever living Frog just happened.

"I love this guy!" While Polly savored every second of it.

"Hahahahaha!" Andrias let out a loud, bellowing laugh before sitting down. "Anne told me a lot about you guys. How you saved her from an angry mob, your epic quest to charge her phone, how you were almost eaten by cannibals..."

"Oh, oh!" Sprig raised his hand. "Did she tell you about the time we destroyed a super ancient factory on accident?"

"Huh?" Andrias blinked in surprise.

"Excuse me what?!" Marcy gasped.

"... Nope, I didn't." And Anne finished sheepishly.

"Anyway," Andrias continued after shaking his head. "I'd love to hear your side of the story. Especially yours, uh..." His gaze fixed on Sprig for a moment, before trailing off to Anne. "What's his name again? Sprig?" He asked, smiling after the girl gave him a thumbs up in response.

Sprig didn't know why, but he felt a surge of raw, ice cold terror run down his spine when Andrias first laid eyes on him. The feeling went away quickly though, so he paid it no mind - he was probably just feeling intimidated anyway, which was no surprise considering the Amphibian monarch's size.

"Sure, I'd love to!" Sprig said with enthusiasm.

"Excellent!" Andrias exclaimed happily. "Now, let's--"

"Ahem." A voice no one recognized suddenly cut into the conversation, prompting humans and amphibians alike to turn their heads to its source. It was a newt, covered from head to toe in garments which betrayed their identity as not only a doctor, but a surgeon at that. The only part of their body which wasn't covered was the area around the eyes, and the gaze that came from them was almost murderous.

It was also completely focused on Andrias, who understood the message right away.

"So, did you folks have breakfast yet?" The colossal monarch whispered as best as he could. A succession of 'no's' and 'nopes' followed, prompting him to speak up once more. "I'll have the cooks make something for you, then we can talk later. Okay? Okay."

With that, Andrias got up and left. It was almost amusing, really, how intimidated he seemed to be by a person a fraction of his size.

"Finally..." The doctor let out a sigh of exhaustion and relief, their 'dangerous' aura vanishing in the blink of an eye. They too left the room not long after, and so the Plantars, Anne and Marcy were alone with one another for the first time today.

It was more awkward than any of them expected - they all had so, so many words to say earlier, but Andrias' antics soaked up all their attention. Now that he wasn't there anymore, the group was at a loss on what to say or do.

The task of breaking the ice fell to Hop Pop. "So," he began. "Who's up to see what grub the king has in store for us?"

"Yes please!" Anne exclaimed immediately after. "You guys know if the doctors fed me anything while I was out? I'm starving."

"They did what they could." Naturally, it was Marcy who answered. "I helped them inject some nutrients and water directly into your blood vessels, but, well, obviously that's not the same as eating."

"Where would I be without you, Marbles?" Anne smiled, and although Marcy managed to smile back, deep down those words pierced her chest like a sword made of fire.

You'd be safe, a part of the nerdette wanted to say.

------------------

The question of how to bring Anne to the breakfast Andrias had in mind for her and her friends proved to be trickier to solve than anyone expected. At first the Thai tried to use a crutch, much like how Marcy did during her first days in Newtopia, but her muscles were still too weak for her to stand properly yet, much to her frustration.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for them to find a wheelchair big and sturdy enough to support her weight. With the issue of locomotion dealt with, the group made a beeline for the castle's dining room, with Marcy simultaneously leading the way and pushing Anne's wheelchair.

"So, let me get this straight," Sprig began, his gaze focused on Anne. "You were trying to sleep, and the king just so happened walk in on you while you were having a nightmare?"

"Yep." The brunette replied, a small smile on her face.

"That's crazy!" Sprig exclaimed, his eyes wide and full of sparkles. "I mean, what are the odds?"

"I know, right?" Anne would be lying to herself if she said she didn't feel bad for not telling the whole truth to her real best friend, but it wasn't like she was 100% lying to him either. She did have a nightmare last night, a nightmare come true - God alone knows how she'd be behaving right now had Andrias not showed up and comforted her.

But that was okay. Anne and the Plantars would stay in Newtopia for at least a couple of weeks, so there was plenty of time for Marcy to come clean, and for the Thai to forgive her. How could she not, considering everything the nerdette did for her?

After a few minutes of walking, the group's path was blocked by a set of gigantic double doors made of solid, high quality wood.

"Alright guys," Marcy walked forward and put her hands on the doorknobs. "I know I already said this once, but remember, this is no big deal." With that, she pushed the door open.

And so Anne and the Plantars were greeted with the sight of...

Wait, was that a table or a freaking skyscraper?

"There you are!" Andrias exclaimed happily. "Come in, come in!" It was a scene that wouldn't look out of place in, say, Alice in Wonderland: the king was seated on the only chair capable of supporting him, and the others had legs so tall they had ladders attached, so that normal sized guests could reach their seats.

"Um..." Anne shot an awkward glare at the Newtopian monarch, and her companions followed suit. Marcy and the Plantars could climb to their seats easily enough, but what about her?

"Right..." Andrias responded just as awkwardly. "Not to worry, though!" He got up, picked Anne with two fingers (getting a startled 'whoa!' out of her in the process), and placed her on a chair as carefully as possible. The Plantars followed suit, as did Marcy, and the group finally got a good look at the meal waiting for them.

To call it a feast wouldn't do it justice. There were gold and silver plates full of more food items than anyone could bother to count, from cakes and several other pastries, salty and sweet, to sandwiches with various fillings. Plus a whole bunch of stuff the newcomers had no idea existed until they laid their eyes on them.

There were even some omelettes!

"Whoa..." Was all Anne and Sprig could say, their eyes wide with disbelief. Hop Pop, meanwhile, was at a loss for words.

"I want everything!" And Polly was Polly.

"What are you all waiting for?" Andrias asked with his signature jovial manner. "Dig in, everyone!"

The guests complied, and so several minutes of surprisingly noisy and messy eating ensued, Polly and Sprig being the main culprits. They were interrupted by one of Andrias' trademark belly laughs every now and then, while Olivia pinched the bridge of her snout on more than one occasion in response to the younger Plantars' utter disregard of any proper etiquette.

Her annoyance was a sentiment shared by the nearby servants and royal guards, who whispered to each other about the 'dirty peasants' and their lack of manners.

Anne grabbed a sandwich stuffed with what looked like ham, cheese and other ingredients she didn't recognize - she didn't dare wonder what they might be, considering the... peculiarities of Amphibian cuisine. After that, she turned her head in Marcy's direction. "Are your breakfasts always this fancy?"

"Not always, but you get used to it." Came the answer, followed by an awkward giggle. "Eventually."

Anne took a bite out of her sandwich, and was unable to suppress a moan when the meal made contact with her tastebuds. Man, this stuff was good! It was way better than the 'food' Hop Pop used to serve her before she introduced the old frog to better cuisine, and what little she managed to scrounge for herself back when the closest thing the Thai had to a home was a cold, damp cave.

And Marcy ate like a queen from the get go.

Ugh... Anne grumbled to herself. Try as she might, she couldn't stop a tiny seed of envy from planting itself within her heart.

Marcy couldn't come clean soon enough.

------------------

An hour or so later...

It felt so, so weird to step into the outside world. Marcy and the Plantars stayed in the castle for 'only' three days, but the circumstances surrounding their stay meant that time period felt one heck of a lot longer for them.

Needless to say, it felt even longer for someone who spent most of those three days stuck in a bed. To Anne, the scenario before her looked straight out of a fairytale: the city of Newtopia was everything Hop Pop told her and more, with its tall, elegant, mushroom-shaped towers surrounded by a veritable sea of houses and other buildings.

She couldn't wait to see it all. Indeed, it was hard to believe this place used to be even grander in the past.

Right now though, Anne was busy processing the fact there was actually a world beyond the castle's walls. She felt the wind blowing through her hair, the variety of scents it carried, the gentle warmth of the sun bearing down on her skin.

"It's a beauty, ain't it?" Hop Pop's voice snapped Anne out of her reverie. "I always hoped you kids would come here someday." He finished, a proud smile on his face as his gaze shifted from Newtopia's cityscape to his three grandchildren.

"Oh man, where do we even start?" Sprig was almost vibrating from all the excitement coursing through his body. "I mean, the king gave us a whole list of places to visit, plus that credit card with infinite money!"

"Which we will only use if it's absolutely necessary." Hop Pop added before crossing his arms, much to Sprig and Polly's chagrin - Andrias said wars were waged for less, and the old farmer wasn't about to take any chances. With that line established, he turned his attention to Anne and Marcy. "What about you girls, any ideas?"

"Well..." Anne made eye contact with Marcy for a moment, as if looking for reassurance, before continuing. "I'd like to just walk around for a bit. Mingle with the locals, you know? We can check the big places later."

Nobody raised any objections, and so the group ventured deep into the bowels of Newtopia. Their surroundings changed appropriately, shifting from wide streets and fancy buildings to labyrinthine alleyways. These contained a myriad of small stores and street vendors selling a mishmash of products, from local dishes to souvenirs. Many delicious smells wafted through the air, and had the group not had the breakfast of their lives before they left the castle, their mouths would've been watering.

And yet, as diverse as the salespeople and customers were, Anne noticed a huge common element between all of them: they were, save for a few exceptions here and there, almost all newts. It was a far cry from the Newtopia she saw in the murals, in which members of all species of amphibians lived side by side.

She had to get the Box back, no matter what.

There was another fact Anne noticed, one which became ever more irritating to her as time went by: Marcy wasn't just a favorite of the Newtopian court, but a public hero as well. Anne wanted to be happy for her, she really did. But every time the brunette heard someone praise and thank her friend for something she did, she was reminded of her own flaws.

It didn't help that the Plantars often joined in on the praising, their eyes wide and full of sparkles every time they learned of some amazing feat Marcy pulled off.

Marcy was so, so smart, and Anne just... wasn't. She wasn't good at math, didn't bring down a cult, improve Newtopia's sewage system or redesign a bridge. Heck, if it weren't for Sprig Sasha would still be pushing her around.

Anne almost let out a sigh of relief when she and the rest of the group returned to a normal street, one with enough space for people to not bump into each other nonstop. Maybe now she wouldn't be constantly reminded of how awesome Marcy was.

Alas, it was just her luck that the path the group took led them straight to the bridge Marcy worked on. As if that weren't enough, said bridge was adorned with a huge statue of the nerdette made of solid gold. It shone brightly in the sunlight, the confident smile its face possessed almost taunting in a way.

Taunting enough for the seed of envy to start taking root in the deepest, darkest corners of Anne's heart.

Polly and Hop Pop were enraptured, and moved in closer to get a better look. This left Anne alone with Sprig and Marcy, and she began to devise a plan to distract the latter so she could confide some thoughts to her true best friend. Yes, maybe she could tell Marcy to explain some of the statue's finer details to Polly and Hop Pop, leaving the Thai free to--

Oh nevermind, they were already coming back.

"Hey Marcy," Sprig spoke once his relatives returned. "Could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, what is it?" Came the ravenette's reply.

"Actually..." Sprig continued, his tone nervous and hesitant. "I'd like to, um, talk with you in private." He glanced at Polly and Hop Pop, and they immediately understood what he wanted to talk about.

"Right now?" Marcy made eye contact with Anne for a moment, her question clear even if she didn't voice it.

"I'll be fine," the brunette gave a smile she hoped wasn't too forced. "You can go."

------------------

Marcy couldn't help but feel a twinge of unease within her as Sprig led her away from the group, not stopping until they were out of earshot. What could he possibly be planning to tell her, and her alone?

"So, um, Marcy," the pink frog fiddled with his fingers nervously. "Did Anne tell you we met Sasha?"

The mention of her other bestie's name made Marcy's heart skip a beat. "She did, yeah." She replied, doing her best to keep her anxiety under control. "And that they had a fight."

"Did she tell you why?" Sprig asked, trying and failing to look at the human in the eye.

"N-No..." Marcy felt her pulse quicken. Anne didn't tell her any details other than the fact they fought with swords, but she knew full well how... difficult Sasha could be at times. What in Frog's name did she try to do?

"She tried to execute Hop Pop." Sprig answered, as if knowing what was inside Marcy's mind. "She nearly killed me."

Of all the reasons Marcy came up with to explain why Anne and Sasha fought, she did not think of that. Her eyes widened, her throat muscles tightened and blood drained from her face as the severity of what Sprig just told her set in. Her first instinct was to deny it, to say the pink frog was just exaggerating, but the nerdette needed only one look into his eyes to see he was telling the truth.

The guilt Marcy staved off until now returned in full force, cutting its way through her insides like a warm knife through butter. As much of a bully as the Sasha she knew could be, she'd never, ever think of killing someone. How could she have become capable of not only considering that as an option, but carrying it out?

What kind of monster did Marcy hand her to on a silver platter?

Tears formed in the corners of Marcy's eyes, and her heart beat so fast it almost hurt. The world began to swim around her, colors and shadows dancing before her eyes, while her lungs kicked into overdrive.

"Hey, Marcy!" Sprig called, and when that didn't snap the nerdette out of her spiral, he squeezed her hand. "C'mon, snap out of it!"

"Huh?" The girl blinked, the world suddenly returning to normal. She shook her head and looked down, meeting Sprig's worried gaze.

"Are you okay?"

Marcy wanted to lie, to say she was fine and get this whole thing over with, but she couldn't.

She let out a sigh. "... No, I'm not."

A pause ensued, and Sprig's body language made it clear he still had something to say. He rubbed his hands together to calm himself down, but if the way his eyes darted left and right was any indication, it wasn't working. Marcy grabbed one of his hands, hoping the gesture would help in some way.

It did, because Sprig closed his eyes, balled his hands into fists and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" Marcy asked, her mouth faster than her mind. Of course Sprig would feel sorry for her, considering she nearly broke down in front of him. Anne's the one he should be worried about, not the person who--

"For doubting you."

"... Huh?" Was all Marcy could say.

"When we first met you, I was suspicious from the get go." Sprig began. "I was sure you were just pretending to be nice, that you'd betray us and try to... you know. Like her." Marcy winced at the dread with which he mentioned Sasha. "I didn't care how much Hop Pop and Polly told me otherwise, I was so set on catching you red-handed, and then..."

A pregnant pause filled the air, and Marcy didn't dare to break it at first. Not until Sprig's body shivered from head to toe, an ugly sob escaping his throat.

Once again, Marcy's mind acted faster than her body, and she wrapped her arms around the little frog's torso without hesitation.

"Thank you," Sprig managed to say between his sobs, and he returned the hug. "Seriously, I can't thank you enough for everything you did. I-If you weren't there, if you hadn't saved us, Anne would be--"

Marcy tighened her grip on Sprig before he could continue with that horrible train of thought. The young frog buried his face in her chest, muffling the sound of his cries, and Marcy bit her lip so hard it almost bled. She had cried enough already.

Frog, how would she even begin to tell everyone the truth?

------------------

Anne couldn't believe what she was seeing. Sprig wanting to talk to Marcy in private was odd enough, but this?

How could she even begin to make sense of the scene unfolding in front of her? She couldn't hear what they were talking about, and she honestly didn't care. All Anne cared about was that Sprig Plantar, the first true friend she made in her whole thirteen years of life, was now crying in the chest of that... that--

"Dang," Polly's voice interrupted her thoughts. "I knew he was going to apologize, but I wasn't expecting him to straight up cry."

"Apologize?" Anne grabbed the opportunity for an explanation with both hands. "What for?"

"Didn't you see the way he acted back in the cave?" Polly asked back.

"... No? I was looking out for those ants."

"Long story short, Sprig was sure Marcy was some mini-Sasha." Polly began, a trace of annoyance creeping into her tone as she remembered her older brother's behavior. "He thought she'd betray us, and kept thinking that until, you know, everything went down."

"Oh." Anne replied. He was right, she wanted to add, and it took every ounce of energy she had not to. The more Anne thought, though, the more it made sense that the Plantars would want to bond with Marcy - she did save her life, after all.

Even if she was the reason she was stuck in this predicament in the first place.

Anne let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding. How long would she have to wait for Marcy to tell her the truth?

[vinization]

This art reminds me a lot of the fic "A Newt and a Human, but One Story", though Andrias' and Marcy's dynamic there is far more wholesome. Also, I love the way Andrias' hand appears from the dark - it looks super menacing. I wonder what Olivia and Yunan are like in this AU?

First concept of princess Marcy Leviathan with her dad. Still trying to figure out her look. Dad doesn't like her talking to strangers.

[vinization]

@nathaaaan

i love the "comes back wrong" trope

[vinization]

Stop getting yourself possessed people!!

[vinization]

I like marcanne btw

[vinization]

A Poisoned Heart - Chapter 1

AO3 link

Next chapter

It is truly amazing how much a few lines on a piece of paper can change things. Anne learns this the worst possible way, but fortunately she meets someone who understands her pain. Little does she know said someone has plans for her, plans that will change her life forever.

Or,

Anne reads Marcy's journal and gets a new father figure. Unfortunately for everyone, that father figure is none other than King Andrias.

------------------

Though wackiness and danger were a staple of life in Amphibia, one she had become very used to by now, Anne Boonchuy was sure this was her craziest day here yet. First, she and the Plantars had finally come within sight of Newtopia, after days of traveling on their fwagon (she still couldn't believe they agreed to call it that). Second, they couldn't actually enter the city yet because there were a bunch of giant ants nearby, because what would be a day in this world without some monster to deal with?

And third, Marcy was here.

Marcy was here!

Anne could barely pay attention to the battle plan her bestie came up with to deal with the barbariants - she almost forgot about them entirely, because the only thing her mind could focus on was that MARCY WAS HERE! And she wasn't just surviving here, but thriving! She looked so cool with that armor, crossbow and cloak... which suddenly caught fire for some inexplicable reason.

It was rather endearing, to be honest: despite all the "leveling up" Marcy clearly went through during her time in Amphibia, she was still the adorably clumsy nerd Anne knew since childhood.

Which quickly became a source of stress once they and the Plantars entered the barbariants' nest. As knowledgeable as Marcy was about pretty much everything (including botany, much to Hop Pop's delight), she couldn't stop herself from falling down a hole, or trapping Polly on the wrong side of a wall of insta-vines. And yet she insisted on staying at the front of the group, despite Anne's protests.

This mission couldn't end soon enough.

Finally, they reached the barbariant queen's chamber.

"Okay, here's the plan," Marcy whispered, handing bundles of stinkshrooms to her teammates. "We're going to have to plant these around the room, that way she gets a noseful. They're set to go off in five minutes, so move quickly." She took a breath before continuing. "Also, the queen is nearly blind but hears really well, so be very, very quiet."

Anne and the Plantars grunted in agreement, and so the group split up and began to sneak around the chamber, planting stinkshrooms on the ground as they did so. Everyone except Anne that is, since she chose to continue watching Marcy's back. They were right in the belly of the beast, and so Anne's senses were in overdrive, ready to react to the slightest hint of danger.

While Marcy was busy planting her batch of stinkshrooms, Anne's ears picked up the sound of a huge rock falling from the ceiling. The Thai let out a gasp before shoving her friend out of the way, getting a surprised yelp out of her.

"Anne?!" Marcy began, annoyed. "What are you -" Her train of thought ground to a halt once she saw what was about to happen. She didn't even have time to gasp, or let out any sort of warning.

The world froze, yet all Marcy could do was watch the rock fall squarely on Anne's left leg.

There was a crunching sound, which was soon drowned out by the scream that followed.

The Plantars reacted immediately, Sprig first and foremost.

"Anne!" He shouted. "What - OH FROG!" He immediately rushed to her side, followed by Polly and Hop Pop, but despite their best efforts they couldn't stop Anne from writhing and screaming in pure agony, her hands clutching at her wounded leg.

All they did was catch the barbariants' attention. The queen roared, commanding her hideous children to deal with these intruders once and for all. Her enormous, slimy, pulsating form towered over the group, and she extended her tongue, ready to swallow them all with a single gulp.

And then another scream, this one of pure rage, tore through the air, followed by a crossbow bolt that pierced the barbariant queen's tongue right as it was about to ensnare the frogs and their human family member. The monstrous arthropod shrieked in pain, spilling its repugnant blood and bile everywhere, before the stinkshrooms went off, finally forcing the barbariants to retreat.

Yet Marcy couldn't care less about the pandemonium going on around her - she had to save Anne (whose wails had given way to shaky whimpers), no matter what. The report to the king, the inevitable self reprimand for putting her best friend and her adoptive family in this situation, none of that mattered right now.

"Guys!" She called, ignoring the ugly feeling clawing at her insides. "C'mon, we have to get her out of here!"

------------------

Were Anne not busy being consumed by excruciating pain, she'd likely be amazed at the fact she was still conscious. The world had long stopped making sense to her: shadows of various shapes and colors danced before her eyes, while her comrades' increasingly desperate pleas for her to stay awake were nothing more than jumbled noises to her ears.

It wasn't until her eyes were suddenly flooded by sunlight that she realized she was resting her head on Marcy's shoulder. Marcy Regina Wu, whose performance at gym back home was infamous to say the least, was the one who had carried her out of the cave. When did she become so strong?

"Alright, we're out!" Anne heard Sprig say. "What now?"

"We get her to a hospital!" That voice definitely belonged to Hop Pop.

"Duh!" And that was Polly, more than a little annoyed at the obvious.

"Wait!" Marcy cut in. "Before we do any of that, we need to stem the bleeding first. Help me lay her down!"

Anne felt herself being lowered to the ground, supported by three pairs of hands. She saw Marcy's face take most of her vision, but try as she might she found herself incapable of focusing her eyes on her.

"Anne, I'm going to apply a tourniquet on your leg." Marcy said, concern and anguish written all over her face. "Please be ready..." She looked and sounded like she was talking more to herself than her wounded friend.

Anne felt a piece of cloth wrapping around and then squeezing her leg. The pain became even worse, but by this point she was so exhausted that the sound which came out of her throat was only barely audible.

It was more than enough to get a reaction out of Marcy. "I know, I know..." She looked like she was about to fall apart, and that somehow hurt Anne far more than her wounded leg could ever hope to. She always hated to see Marcy cry, and this time it was even worse, not least because she was directly responsible for causing it: had the Thai been even a tiny bit faster or stronger, she would've been able to avoid that rock and everything that followed.

With the torniquet applied, Anne saw and felt the world shift around her once more. Her increasingly delirious mind concluded, correctly, that she was being carried by Marcy once again. She saw tears falling from the ravenette's eyes, and all she wanted to do was wrap her arms around her and tell her everything would be alright. That she didn't need to cry for something that wasn't her fault.

Anne heard a bell ringing, and wondered if Marcy was actually an angel carrying her to heaven.

She certainly looked like one.

------------------

Anne had no idea how much time went by after she finally fell unconscious - she couldn't tell if she had been out for minutes or days. She didn't even know what place she was in, no matter how much her body and eyes moved against her will.

It was completely unlike all the movies and shows Anne had seen during her young life. Rather than being stuck in some dark void, her eyes and ears were constantly assaulted by images and sounds she couldn't even begin to make the slightest sense of. She felt her body jerking and her throat vibrating every now and then - was she trying to talk, or just screaming? She couldn't know, for her brain would shut down, like a lightbulb being turned off, before it could interpret the messages sent by her senses properly.

It had become a routine: Anne would 'wake up', squirm, make some noises she was incapable of hearing for whatever reason, then black out. Rinse and repeat, over and over and over, until she stopped bothering to count. It didn't matter how many times it happened, though: she never, ever got used to it.

However, there was another thing that remained a constant, together with the lapses in and out of reality. Namely, a warm, soft feeling on her right hand, enveloping it tightly enough to be felt but not enough to hurt. She sometimes felt something similar on her left hand, but it was much colder and... slimier? Weird.

That warmth was the only comfort Anne had during her spasms, and boy was she grateful it never went away. As much as she squirmed and (presumably) screamed whenever she was 'awake', the feeling on her hand was always a beacon of warmth and kindness, a refuge against the storm that plagued her senses.

Until, at long last, Anne opened her eyelids out of her own volition. Everything was blurry and muffled at first, but as the seconds (or minutes, or hours...) went by, her eyes were able to slowly scan the environment around her. She was in a large room (to put it mildly - the ceiling looked so far away!), probably some kind of infirmary, and everything in it was bathed in the warm, orange light of the afternoon sun, which came in from a nearby window.

She knew where she was (to an extent) and what time it was. Now it was time to solve the big question: where, or rather who, was the warmth on her hand coming from? Anne sort of knew the answer all along, but she wanted to see it with her own eyes.

She tried to turn her head, but her neck muscles refused to budge. She kept on trying anyway, letting out an audible groan from the effort, and felt the grip on her hand tighten, followed by something that sounded very much like a sob. She hated it.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of trying, Anne finally turned her head. And was greeted by the sight of the person she had expected since the very beginning.

"Mar..." She croaked, and felt her throat's soreness almost immediately - so she had been screaming, after all. "Mar-Mar?"

Marcy's head snapped a full 90 degrees in her direction, and at long last Anne got a good look at her expression. To say she looked dreadful would be an understatement of monumental proportions.

"A-Anne?" She stammered, her puffy, bloodshot eyes brimming with tears ready to be shed at a moment's notice. "I-is that really you? Are you actually awake this time?" She bit her lip to contain a sob. "Please be awake, please..."

Anne found herself unable to speak, so she held Marcy's hand a little bit tighter and smiled at her. It was a tiny, nigh imperceptible thing, the corners of her lips moving only a few millimeters upward.

It was more than enough for Marcy to fall apart.

"I'm sorry!" She wailed, now grasping Anne's hand with both of her own. "I'm sorry, I'm SO sorry!" Tears poured out from her eyes as if they were waterfalls, glistening on her cheeks. "I went on and on about how I wasn't a klutz anymore, how you didn't need to protect me, and then..."

"Marcy..." Anne managed to utter, her voice low and hoarse.

It wasn't enough to stop Marcy's increasingly broken monologue. "You were just worried about me, because you had every reason to, and I just HAD to get in the Zone! You nearly lost your leg because of me! It's because of me that you're-"

"Marcy!" Anne shouted with all of her might, and her bestie snapped out of it at long last. The two girls kept staring at each other, not making a sound, for what felt like several minutes, but was probably only a few seconds.

Finally, Anne spoke up once more. "Marbles," she began. "How long was I out?"

"Three days."

Another pause.

"You haven't slept yet, have you?" Anne asked.

"I never left your side." Marcy replied, and her tone was completely different from before. It was confident, direct and, above all else, proud.

"Marcy..." Now it was time for Anne's eyes to fill with tears.

"And I'd do it all over again."

This was too much for the Thai, and she finally began to cry. Marcy stayed there holding her hand, just as she had for the last three days, and all Anne could think about was how lucky she was to have her as a friend. Her tears dried up at some point, and the two girls engaged in small talk (Marcy handed Anne her phone, allowing her to show all the photos she took of her past adventures) until the sun began to set, the warm orange which filled the room slowly giving way to darker, colder tones.

"Okay Marcy, I think you can go to sleep now." Anne spoke up, her eyes fixated on her friend's bloodshot counterparts.

"No way," the ravenette replied without hesitation. "I can't, what if something happens?"

"Aren't we in the castle?" Anne retorted. "Like, the safest place in not just Newtopia, but all of Amphibia?"

"I know, but-"

"She speaks the truth, Master Marcy." A feminine voice Anne never heard before suddenly barged into the conversation, and she craned her head in its direction. It was a short, long haired and aquamarine skinned newt, wearing what was probably the fanciest dress Anne had ever seen.

"But Lady Olivia," Marcy replied, "I need to at least tell the Plantars about this! I also have to--"

"They fell asleep not long ago, and they've barely had any rest of their own." The newt, whose name Anne now knew was Olivia, stated. "You shall inform them of this tomorrow."

"But--"

"Go to bed, Marcy." Olivia's tone and expression were stern, but she quickly softened. "Please."

Marcy locked eyes with Anne last time, before slumping her shoulders in defeat. "Fine..." She got up, let out a long sigh, and exited the room. Something fell on the floor, but nobody paid attention.

"Thanks for that." Anne gave a small smile to Olivia. "She really needed it."

"I look forward to talking with you in the future, young lady." Olivia replied with a warm smile of her own. "Marcy speaks very highly of you."

Anne let out a giggle, and saw the newt give a short bow before she too left the room. The Thai was completely alone now, and she quickly concluded her best option was to get some sleep of her own in preparation for tomorrow - she couldn't wait to hear the Plantars' voices again.

It didn't take long for her to stumble upon a problem, though: she couldn't. Whether it was because she was too anxious to talk to her adoptive family or because she had slept for too long already, Anne couldn't keep her eyes shut for long.

With nothing else to do, she began to stare at the ceiling... until that too became too boring to do.

"Ugh..." Anne facepalmed. She fiddled with her phone for a while, but the lack of anything resembling the internet here meant her entertainment options were very limited. And she had already binge watched every episode of Suspicion Island with the Plantars, so...

"Dang it..." Anne groaned, an irritated expression on her face, until she suddenly had an idea. If she couldn't get up from her hospital bed, she could at least check out how her body was holding up.

Her left leg was in a cast, as she expected, and said limb was, to her immense relief, still in a recognizable shape. She couldn't feel anything in there yet, which made sense since she probably spent the last three days hooked up on who knows how many anesthetics. Her other limbs were fine, if a bit sore from, well, everything she went through.

It was a shame she wasn't wearing her old school uniform anymore, even if Anne couldn't fault the doctors for getting rid of it. It was a painful loss, since that outfit was one of the last reminders she had of home. Speaking of doctors, she wondered how they treated Marcy after she appeared in Newtopia - according to the nerdette, she was so busy gawking at the scenery she fell down a flight of stairs and broke her own leg in the process.

She hoped they didn't treat her like the Wartwoodians treated Anne at first - Marcy deserved better than that.

Time continued to go by, yet sleep continued to elude Anne despite the darkness surrounding her. The boredom was becoming unbearable for her, and the longer she laid wide awake in her bed the more confident she felt about doing at least something with her body. She wasn't about to attempt to walk around, she wasn't stupid, but maybe she could at least try to sit up.

Anne took a deep breath and, despite her back muscles' protests, rose ever so slowly before finally stopping. The world shifted around her, and from her new position she could see her surroundings in a different angle. The first thing she realized was that the room she was in was, in fact, huge, so much so it seemed almost unnecessary to have so much space, especially when it came to height. She'd have to ask Marcy about this later.

Anne began to look around, using her phone's flashlight in the hopes she'd find anything interesting. After a few minutes, the Thai eventually found an object that caught her attention: a book on the floor, close to where she was. It took some effort, but she managed to extend an arm and grab it.

"Now what's this?" Anne thought aloud as she brought the book closer to her eyes, which grew as wide as saucers once she got a good look at the cover.

------------------

Marcy's Journal

A Guide to Amphibia

------------------

"Whoa..." Was all Anne could say to herself at the moment. She had completely forgotten Marcy had a journal - she kept writing things on it even as she, Anne and the Plantars entered the barbariants' tunnels, eagerly documenting everything she saw - she must've dropped it while leaving the room. Anne wondered, for the briefest of moments, if she could--

NO, she immediately shot that idea down. If Marcy's journal was anything like her own, it was likely full of very personal thoughts she had no business knowing about without her bestie's permission. And yet...

"Grr..." Anne growled, irritated at her growing curiosity. She still wasn't sleepy (this latest discovery didn't help), and she loathed the idea of continuing to stare at the ceiling even a second longer. But she couldn't read the journal behind Marcy's back, that would be beyond awful. She had just gotten her back, after all, and she saved her life.

Yet she also hadn't told Anne about her own adventures besides some vague hints here and there, even as the Thai poured her heart out about all the times she nearly got eaten by some random giant monster, or the time she adopted a freaking kill-a-pillar... the fight she had with Sasha, even if she omitted a few details...

"Urgh..." Anne cradled her head in her hands before letting out a loud sigh. This should've been an easy decision, just keep that journal shut and ask Marcy about it tomorrow! Why was this so difficult?

Finally, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Just a peek," Anne told herself. "Just a teeny tiny little peek..." She slowly opened the journal, her hands shaking like tree branches in the wind.

------------------

WARNING

You can only read this journal if you do one of the following

1. solve my password

2. defeat me in battle

3. get my permission :3

Belongs to:

Marcy Wu

------------------

An ugly feeling settled into Anne's stomach. She didn't meet any of the requirements, and the longer she stared the more chills ran down her spine. She really, really shouldn't be doing this.

She turned the page anyway.

Next came a drawing of the Music Box, so perfect and precise it looked almost like a photo - Marcy had always been an excellent artist, and it showed. Next to the drawing were three questions, each focusing on a different aspect of the Box: what the three gems on it could mean, what was up with the frog drawn on it, and, last but definitely not least, how it worked.

By this point Anne's unease had given way to outright dread. She couldn't stop her eyes from wandering to the next page.

------------------

OMIGOSH

OMIGOSH

OMIGOOOOOOSH!

It worked!

The music box actually worked!

------------------

"... What?" Anne's heart skipped a beat, and she rubbed her eyes in the hopes she'd see something different. When that didn't work, she shook her head. It didn't change anything.

She kept on reading.

------------------

This is unbelievable. I am smack dab in the middle of another flipping world!!! I know the book said... but I didn't actually think it was gonna... but it DID and I'm here and--

------------------

Anne felt like her brain was about to shut down, just like how it did so many times before. This... this couldn't be real. The Marcy she knew would never... and on her birthday?

Her lungs kicked into overdrive, the sound of her breaths deafening. Her heart pounded inside her chest, but it did little to diminish the feeling she was on the verge of blacking out, nor did it fill the gaping chasm in her stomach.

She kept on reading, hoping to find something that would indicate at least a little bit of regret, but all she saw were more 'omigoshes' all over the page, plus some irrelevant information. It wasn't until she saw the very last words that it finally hit her.

------------------

Time to take the first steps of my very own Isekai adventure!!!!

------------------

...

An adventure.

Marcy knowingly tore Anne away from her family so she could go on an adventure.

The pit in Anne's midsection continued to grow. She turned page after page, and all she saw were vivid, utterly delighted descriptions of all the places and people Marcy met during her stay in Newtopia, plus everything else that caught her interest. The more she read the journal, the more she remembered how her first days in Amphibia went.

While Anne landed in the middle of a swamp, Marcy landed in a cozy city.

While Anne had to sleep in a cave, surrounded by giant insects and other monstrous creatures, Marcy was pampered and coddled.

While Anne had to earn the Wartwoodians' respect with blood, sweat and tears, Marcy became besties with the freaking king without even trying.

A sob forced its way out of the Thai's throat.

This wasn't fair. This wasn't fair!

All Anne wanted to do was enjoy her birthday! She didn't want to get transported to a world full of talking frogs who saw her as a monster, all while the wildlife kept trying to eat her or worse! She just wanted to spend some time with her Mom and Dad, was that too much to ask? What did she do to deserve this?

She felt sick, angry, betrayed, enraged. Above all, however, she felt powerless. She had come to terms with the fact Sasha wasn't that good a friend, but this... this was too much.

So Anne sat there in her bed, tears gushing out of her eyes as she did her best to contain her sobs. So focused she was on keeping the storm raging within her under control, she didn't notice how her surroundings were shaking as if an earthquake was going on.

"Um... hello?"

A deep, booming voice 'whispered' from above, snapping Anne out of her little world of pain and tears. She looked at the direction it came from, and her eyes were greeted by the single largest newt she had ever seen. Anne felt her heart threaten to leap out of her mouth the moment she laid eyes on this stranger, for if his gigantic size and white beard weren't enough of a hint, the crown sitting atop his head surely was.

She was looking at none other than king Andrias Leviathan himself.

"H-h-hi..." Anne managed to stammer.

A long paused ensued, and Andrias sat down. It didn't make his size any less intimidating, not least because of how this simple act made the entire room shake.

"So... you're Anne, right?" He asked hesitantly, and the Thai forced herself to nod.

"Lady Olivia told me what happened, so I figured it was time I checked on you in person." The giant newt continued. "I didn't expect you to be up at this hour..."

Anne didn't reply. She just kept staring at Andrias with wide eyes, as if expecting him to crush her at any moment.

"What are you reading?"

The question hit Anne like a ton of bricks, for she immediately remembered she was still holding Marcy's journal.

"N-n-n-nothing!" She stammered, trembling like a leaf, before hiding the journal behind her pillow. "It was nothing, j-just a sad book! Yeah, a really sad book!" She forced a smile, and quickly assumed the worst after seeing how Andrias didn't look a single bit convinced.

"I'm sorry!" Anne tried to shield herself, as if that would make a difference against an attack from someone ten times her size. "I-I know what I did was wrong, I'm sorry! I promise I'll--"

"It's okay."

Anne froze upon hearing those words, before slowly craning her head in Andrias' direction. Rather than the furious frown she expected for daring to peek into his closest advisor's deepest secrets, the Newtopian monarch's expression was full of concern and sympathy.

"Wha-what?" The girl managed to ask.

"Marcy told me of what she did." Andrias looked pensive before continuing. "How she knew about the Box all along."

Anne took a deep breath to regain some of her bearings. "Did she tell you why?" She asked.

"Something about her father getting a new job out of state," Andrias replied. "She said she was afraid of losing you and your other friend, the one called Sasha."

"So she took me away from my parents instead." A laugh escaped Anne's throat, one so bitter even she was surprised. "My home, my life..." Another sound came from her throat, this one a sob.

"I'm sorry." Andrias extended a finger towards the Thai, and she leaned on it for comfort. It was soft and pliable, like a huge cushion. "If it's any consolation, Marcy told me she regretted what she did."

She sure didn't seem like it, Anne wanted to reply at first, before remembering the ravenette's breakdown after she woke up. She recalled how sunken her eyes were, the way her hair was a complete mess, how she never left her side during her coma. "I hope so."

A moment of silence went by, before Anne broke it. "But even then..." She began. "I still can't believe she'd actually do this. I've known her all my life, I never thought she'd be willing to..." A shudder ran through her body before she could finish the sentence.

"I know what that's like."

Anne's head turned so fast she almost got dizzy. "You do?"

"Yes." Andrias repositioned his hand so that it was roughly level with Anne's bed. "Say, there's something I'd like to show you. Care to come along?" He asked, his solemn look giving way to a warm, inviting smile.

"Um, sure!" The girl replied with careful excitement before crawling towards the king's gigantic hand. It took a while longer than she would've liked, but she managed to do it. Her point of view suddenly shifted upwards as Andrias stood up to his full height and brought Anne close to his face. The mysterious, intimidating giant was gone, replaced by a kind old man who was willing to comfort even a complete stranger.

"Ready?" He asked, his smile widening.

"Lead the way, big guy!"

"With pleasure!" Andrias let out a giggle that, although low for someone his size, was more than enough to rattle Anne's entire being.

The Newtopian monarch began to walk through his castle's myriad hallways, all illuminated by the dim light of Amphibia's moon. Anne had a bird's eye view of her surroundings, and it was all so cool! There were tapestries and paintings all over the walls, stained glass windows and columns with sculptures of snakes coiling around them. She couldn't wait to see what this place looked like during the day.

Finally, after a few minutes of walking, Andrias entered his throne room, and Anne couldn't help but gasp at the sight. It was everything she had already seen, yet somehow even more beautiful. The blues, purples and aquamarines of the walls, tapestries, columns and windows combined with the moonlight perfectly.

Topping it all off was a huge coral throne full of intricate designs. Anne could only imagine what it was like to sit on it.

"Wow..." It was all she could say.

"Pfft, this is nothing." Andrias waved his free hand dismissively, an easygoing smile on his lips. "You see this place once, you've seen it a thousand times." His smile changed in an almost imperceptible way. "What I'm planning to show you is way more interesting."

Something about the king's tone and expression sent shivers down Anne's spine. "O-okay..."

Andrias walked away from the throne, in the direction of a seemingly ordinary statue. He pushed a hidden lever, and the sound of stone shifting from its original position filled the duo's ears.

A secret passage.

The dread Anne felt when she read Marcy's journal returned in full force.

"... What's down there?" She managed to ask.

"I could tell you," Andrias replied, his smile so sweet it was almost sickening. "But I'd rather not spoil the surprise." He walked down the spiral staircase, a blue coral torch on his other hand.

Anne really, really wasn't liking this, but she couldn't muster the strength to say she wanted to go back to her bed, assuming the giant newt would even listen to her. She was completely at his mercy, and that terrified her to an extent she hadn't felt since her first night in that cave.

Strange, ghostly creatures appeared, and Anne did not like how they scurried away the moment Andrias approached them.

Finally, the stairway ended, and Andrias entered a large, dark chamber. Try as she might, Anne couldn't see an inch ahead of her.

She shivered nonstop.

"We're here," Andrias began solemnly, before turning his full attention to Anne. "You're about to see something no one in Amphibia knows about, not even Marcy." He paused briefly before continuing. "This is a secret I've guarded for a thousand years, and I'm about to share it with you."

"Why?" Anne asked right away, her dread giving way to a careful excitement. "Why me?"

"I'm tired of lying, Anne." The king replied, and for the first time since the Thai met him he actually sounded his age. "I can't do it anymore, not to you. You deserve better than that." He put the torch on a slot in a nearby wall, and the entire room lit up.

Anne's anticipation gave way to complete and utter astonishment. She blinked several times, struggling to comprehend that what her eyes were registering was in fact real. Her mouth was so wide her jaw looked as if it was about to fall off, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't utter a sound.

"What... what am I looking at?" She asked after what felt like an eternity.

"Our history," Andrias replied without skipping a beat. "Our real history."

Every inch of the room was covered in murals and reliefs, not unlike those one could find in an ancient tomb or monument. Anne couldn't understand a lick of what was written in them, but she didn't need to: there were more than enough images all over the room, all very easy to interpret.

They showed various scenes, depicting workers, merchants, warriors, scholars and nobles, depending on the context. One element Anne found particularly interesting was that they didn't seem to be divided by race: from what little she bothered to learn in between all her adventures, modern Amphibian society was a caste system, with frogs serving as farmers, toads as soldiers and newts as intellectuals.

These murals showed a different story: all three species proudly standing side by side as equals. Anne's eyes wandered, and she saw various other reliefs, some showing seated figures with crowns on their heads. They were undoubtedly Andrias' ancestors, if only because of how big they were compared to everyone else.

Anne's eyes landed on an image depicting a huge, walled metropolis, its magnificent spires dwarfed by a building whose outline looked very familiar. Before she could ask anything about it, however, she saw something else, an image that brought her train of thought to a screeching halt.

"The Music Box..."

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Andrias spoke, sounding proud but also... sad? Forlorn? "It was my ancestors' dearest possession. It was with it that they united Amphibia, and led it into an age of prosperity unlike anything seen before. And nowhere was this clearer than here in Newtopia." He looked like he was about to cry for a second, but kept himself together.

Anne had never been so eager for a history lesson before. "What was Newtopia like back then?" She asked.

Andrias looked pensive for a few moments, as if searching for the right words to say. "I can't put it into words, it wouldn't do it justice." He began, a smile on his face as he recalled memories from a long bygone era. "It was a city where all Amphibians could live in harmony, thanks to the Music Box's power." The king's chest swelled with pride. "We were proud, united, with a future to look forward to. And our technology, oh don't even get me started on it!" The jovial smile Anne was now used to returned to his face, yet it still carried a hint of sadness.

"C'mon, tell me!" Anne was sure that, were her leg not in a cast, she'd be jumping in excitement. "Come on!"

"Well kiddo, I asked Marcy about your world's technology once." Andrias replied, a hint of smugness in his voice. "I know it's not nice to brag, but it doesn't hold a candle to what we used to have. We had factories, airships, robots! Believe it or not, this castle could fly!" The newt smiled upon hearing Anne's amazed gasp. "And since we had the Box, we were free to visit all kinds of different worlds and learn from them."

Anne needed a minute to process all the information she just heard. "Dude... that sounds AWESOME!"

"It really was." Andrias let out a long, exhausted sigh. "And then everything fell apart."

"What happened?" Anne asked before she could rein her curiosity in.

"I happened. Or rather, my 'friends' did." The way Andrias said that one word unsettled his little listener to her core. It was a deep, near animalistic growl, which betrayed the rage that still boiled inside him a thousand years latter.

Anne kept her mouth shut this time.

"Their names were Leif and Barrel." Andrias resumed talking once he got his emotions under control. "We knew each other since we were tadpoles, and got into all sorts of trouble together while growing up." He couldn't help but giggle a little, as he remembered some of the many shenanigans they got themselves into. "We were inseparable."

"And then...?" Anne asked hesitantly.

"They betrayed me. The day before I was meant to become king, Leif stole the Music Box, grabbed a weapon and blasted her way out of Newtopia. And Barrel?" Andrias looked at Anne for a moment, expecting her to try and guess the answer. "He did nothing." The giant newt continued when no such guess came. "Leif ran away, and Barrel let her." He balled his free hand into a fist. "I've had to deal with the consequences ever since."

A pause ensued, giving Anne the time she needed to gather her courage and speak up once more. "So that's why everything here's so... medieval? Because the Box was stolen?"

"That's exactly it, my dear." Andrias, and for the second time that night he sounded his age. "I was forced to watch my civilization, my home, be reduced to a shadow of its former self, all because of me." His voice dripped with venom, all aimed at himself. "Our technology, everything my ancestors worked for, it all went down the drain because I couldn't see that the people I trusted my life with were nothing more than--" A strange force snapped him out of his monologue, and he looked down.

His eyes were greeted by the sight of Anne hugging one of his fingers with all her might. "It wasn't your fault," he managed to hear between what sounded way too much like crying.

"You're a good person, kiddo." Andrias said before patting the girl's head with another finger. The gesture, combined with his words, soothed Anne's cries, and the old newt found himself immensely relieved for a reason he couldn't quite explain.

A few minutes of hugging and patting later, Anne let go of Andrias' finger and turned to face him.

"I'll help you." She said confidently.

"Hm?" The giant raised an eyebrow, as if unsure of what he just heard.

"You heard me right, big guy." Anne repeated, her eyes shining with determination. "I'll need the Music Box to get back home anyway. You can keep it and bring Amphibia back to what it used to be! Everybody wins!"

"I do like what I'm hearing," Andrias replied, doing his best to conceal his mounting excitement. "But do you even have it? It could be anywhere..."

"As a matter of fact, I do!" Anne said enthusiastically, and Andrias' eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Hang on, I don't have it with me right now," she added. "Hop Pop left it with some contacts back at Wartwood. I have a photo though!" The Thai grabbed her phone, searched for the right image, and held it up for Andrias to see.

"Hmm..." The king squinted his eyes and put his free hand on his chin. "That's definitely the Box. The gems are grey, though..."

"Hey, you're right," Anne scratched the back of her head, slightly embarrassed. "I, uh, never actually noticed."

"No matter!" Andrias beamed. "I'll just search through the deepest of our archives, there should be something we can work with in there."

"Great! What can I do to help?"

"Well, can you translate ancient Amphibian runes?"

"Eeeeeh..." Anne couldn't help but look away.

"Hahahahaha!" Andrias bellowed. "Don't worry about it kiddo, I got this. You just enjoy your time here in Newtopia, okay? You deserve it."

"Thanks, I'm sure I will." Anne's lips curled into a warm smile, though it didn't last long. "Um, I've got one last question, if you don't mind."

"Sure, go ahead." Andrias replied. "What is it?"

"Okay, so, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to," Anne began, her body language betraying her unease. "But, why did Leif steal the Box in the first place? I mean, she must've known how important it was to you guys, right?"

Andrias' eyes widened in surprise, and Anne immediately regretted asking. Before she could apologize, though, the king spoke up.

"She did," he began. "As to why she stole it, you saw what the Music Box can do firsthand. It takes a lot of power to open portals to other dimensions, and that power can do a whole lot of damage if it falls in the wrong hands." He felt his little listener shudder at the thought. "Leif didn't trust me with it, so she took that choice away from me."

"Ah," something clicked inside Anne's head, and her eyes narrowed. "So she was that kind of friend."

Andrias raised an eyebrow, prompting her to continue. "The kind of friend who bosses people around. The kind who says they care about you, but don't listen to anything you say." Her hands balled into fists. "The kind who bully and threaten you into doing all kinds of stuff you don't want, and get you in trouble for it." The brunette finished with a snarl.

"I'm sorry you had to know someone like that." Andrias replied with a sympathetic look. Deep down, however, he felt an urge to find out wherever this person lived and then crush them beneath his boots.

"Don't worry about it, I stood up to her." Anne smiled. "She won't push me around anymore."

"That's good to know." Andrias couldn't help but sigh in relief. He thought of asking about this mysterious bully's identity, but concluded his conversation with Anne had gone on long enough. Besides, if his previous talks with Marcy were any indication, he could guess with a reasonable amount of confidence that this person was Sasha Waybright - he'd have to deal with her sooner or later.

First things first, though.

"Say Anne, I think you've learned enough stuff for one night. Want to go back to bed?" Andrias asked. He was answered with a yawn, and so the giant newt exited the room without further ado, climbing the same stairway that led the pair down here.

The walk back to Anne's room was short and uneventful, Andrias' footsteps surprisingly quiet despite his size. It wasn't until he reached his destination that he realized Anne had fallen asleep on his hand.

He couldn't help but stare. Here was one of the three champions of the Prophecy, more vulnerable than ever - she was no longer aware of her surroundings, and even if she was she wouldn't be able to do a thing if Andrias even thought about harming her. It would've been so, so easy to just crush her into a bloody pulp right then and there.

Yet he didn't. He had several opportunities to dispose of her this whole night, but he did not take a single one.

The idea of turning one of the Calamity Gems' bearers against the prophecy they were supposed to uphold was one he had considered since he first met Marcy three months ago. Despite her immense intelligence, however, the Taiwanese girl was way too similar to Leif for Andrias' comfort (she even called him 'Drias' when they first met), and that unease skyrocketed after the confession she made over that game of flipwart. She'd be a pawn and nothing more.

Anne, though? Everything Andrias knew about her indicated she was a person who did right by her friends, even though they clearly didn't deserve her. How could he not comfort the girl when he first saw her, crying her eyes out after discovering Marcy's true colors? She had been failed by one of the people she trusted the most.

Just like him. And he knew that, if he didn't help her, she too would be left to deal with the consequences of that betrayal all by herself.

She deserved better.

Andrias sat down, picked Anne up with as much care as he could and slowly tucked the girl into her bed, making sure she was in a position where her cast wouldn't cause any unnecessary discomfort. Once her head was resting on a pillow and her body covered by a blanket, he got up and prepared to leave. Before he turned around, however, he heard a sound that made him stop in his tracks.

"Mhhhmm..." Anne mumbled before opening her eyes. She sat up, blinked a few times and looked around. "Whoa, I don't remember getting here..."

"You fell asleep on my hand," Andrias explained. "So I put you in your bed myself."

Anne stared at him for a few seconds, as if she didn't understand what he said, before her lips curled into a tired yet happy smile.

"Hey, Andrias?" She began. "Thanks for everything, I needed this."

For the second time that night, Andrias was on the verge of tears. "Anytime, kiddo." He wiped his eyes for good measure.

------------------

I've had this Tumblr blog for years now, yet I never really used it much. So I might as well start posting this Amphibia fanfic I've been working on for the past few months, because why not?

[vinization]

Sprig x Maddie (Spraddie?), maybe? Don't get me wrong, Sprivy is cute and all, but I sometimes wonder how things could've developed if those two ended up together.

Like, imagine Sprig learning how to make curses and then shooting them at people with his slingshot. We'd also get more screentime for Maddie, which is always good.

Reblog with rarepairs that you think deserve more content! Then @ someone else!

For me, I gotta say:

J x Uzi from Murder Drones (Only if extremely OOC, lol)

Lizzy x Uzi from Murder Drones as well

Link x Mipha from BOTW (Maybe not the rarest of pairs, but it's one of the rare straight ships that I just love so much)

Any kind of polyamory to ever be made-

---

@yus-kiwi-art @catsugarao3 @buabble @nathaaaan @mr-souleclectic

Anyone else can join in if they want as well!

[vinization]

There are ships out there that legitimately make my skin crawl, but you won't see me attacking and insulting people over them. I have better things to do with my time than harassing people online because of some pixels on a screen.

What she says: I hate antis

What she really means: I don’t mind people disliking a ship for their own reason but the anti-shipping movement is driven by hate and bandwagon bullying to police what people are “allowed” to enjoy. They use fundamentally abusive and manipulative tactics on real people in the name of protecting survivors from speculative things in fiction. Antis want to act morally superior over ship wars and claim that to ship something problematic you must be a survivor. By doing this antis force survivors who may be uncomfortable with coming out with their status to out themselves and then hold them to impossible standards. Except when it does come to survivors who ship anti-deemed problematic things we are attacked, harassed, and then pushed under the bus anyway. Antis trivialize terms such as abuse, rape, and pedophilia by using them so often and out of place against a group made up of many survivors and minors– the people they claim to be protecting. They have bullied and suicide baited artists and other content creators they dislike in the name of “policing the bad ships uwu.” All antis are at fault for this, even if an anti claims not to send hate themselves they are still influencing this bad behavior because they are part of this hate group. The entire anti-shipper movement is a toxic cesspool that makes me feel sick.

[vinization]

As brilliant as he is, he'd probably be a horrible cook.

[vinization]

im NOT immune to goth peach propaganda

[vinization]

Likewise. That show is a big part of why I'm not a Steven Universe fan anymore (or at least one willing to write fanfiction for it).

every once in a while I remember that Steven Universe Future exists, then I get really angry and then depressed

[vinization]

[vinization]

a lil scene redraw but shes fucked up and mischievous