Rewriting our Code

by AnonymousAcrylics

Summary:

“Welcome back heart, we’ve been expecting your return."

After Darcy escapes from The Cores grasp, they start a rebellion against it and Andrias.

Chapter 1: Not Marcy

Notes:

I started this au mostly because BAMF Marcy but I was also thinking that there are so many minds inside of The Core - how many of them were actually willing souls? This story includes my take on The Cores backstory and a lot of hurt/comfort.

Anne screamed as a giant centipede lunged at her, she dodged to the side and took out her sword. The familiar adrenaline filling her as something blue inside of her beat with the rhythm of her heart.

 

“Why do we always have to be attacked by giant bugs!? We just got back for frogs sake!” Anne yelled to the Plantars as she prepared to slash the centipede. She got a good hit on its underbelly before it retaliated with a headbutt, knocking Anne to the floor. Polly kicked the bug in its face and Sprig released a torrent of mud at it through his slingshot, saying something about how Anne should be used to it by now. The centipede was then sliced in half from behind by a giant flaming scythe.

 

“Wally, Croaker, Loggle, take down the other centipede and remember to go for the collar. Olivia is going to be upset if I keep killing these things,” Marcy shook off the centipede goo from her shoe before walking towards Anne. “Welcome back heart, we’ve been expecting your return,” they smiled. 

 

Marcy was alive? Anne stared in shock, while she was home she kept trying to convince herself that Marcy was okay but there was always painful doubt. It ate away at her and even stuck itself into her nightmares. Over and over, Marcy being impaled by Andrias’ sword played in her head while she slept. But now she was staring right into the eyes of her best friend, which she now noticed were bright orange with yellow pupils instead of the warm brown she was used to. 

 

Anne was snapped out of her thoughts when Marcy coughed, she grabbed the extended hand and used it to help herself off the ground before flinging her entire body at Marcy and giving her a tight hug. “Marcy, oh my frog, I thought.. I thought I would never see you again,” tears pricked at the corner of Anne’s eyes. “Are you okay?” Anne stepped back and lifted Marcy’s arm, checking for injuries, “What are you doing in wartwood? And also, are your eyes okay? They’re like.. briiight orange.” Anne stared at her friend in concern.

 

Marcy only stared at her, unblinking, before seeming to snap out of whatever daze she was in. A flicker of guilt and something else flashed across her features before they relaxed. “We have a lot to catch you up on. But we should clarify that we are not Marcy, you can call us Darcy. Marcy says the first step to individuality is choosing a name,” they laughed nervously.

 

“Not Marcy? What do you mean?” Anne stepped back after noticing Darcy looked uncomfortable. Darcy sighed, but before they could speak they were interrupted by a certain pink frog latching onto their head. Darcy stiffened and looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

 

“I'm not buying it,” Sprig looked at Anne, “didn’t she just betray all of us after admitting that she brought you and Sasha to amphibia on purpose.” Darcy grabbed Sprig by the back of his shirt and put him on the ground. Anne looked conflicted, her gaze darting between her two friends.

 

“I can not speak or apologize on Marcy’s behalf but just know that her actions held no ill intent,” Darcy looked away from Spring and towards Anne, “Marcy would not have gone through with it if she had known the outcome.”

 

Hop Pop was about to say something but Darcy interrupted, “I am sure you all have questions, feel free to ask Yunan or Olivia.” Darcy started walking towards the Plantars farm and they all hesitated slightly before following. 

 

Wally walked next to Anne, “welcome back! Y’know I wrote a song on my accordion for the occasion but it got destroyed by the stomach acid of a beetle when I was swallowed alive!” Darcy snorted while Anne just looked slightly concerned. 

 

Loggle and Mrs. Croaker welcomed Anne back and the two rebellion frogs and axolotl told Anne about a few of their missions, Darcy adding in information here and there with Polly commenting about boom shrooms and bloodshed. Darcy noticed Sprig still looking at them with suspicion but tried their best to ignore it.

 

They walked up to the Plantars door before saluting to Chuck, who allowed them inside. “Our house is your hideout?” Hop Pop asked skeptically, looking around at his destroyed home.

 

“Only the basement, all the secret rooms were so fascinating but unfortunately we had to destroy a lot of it to have enough room for all the rebellion members.” Darcy waved to Olivia who was talking to Yunan and she walked over.

 

“Welcome back Anne, Plantars. Here are some supplies, you can look around for a nice uninhabited cave to stay in.” Olivia’s words sounded pained as she handed the Plantar family a few bags, high ranking noble to rebellion peasant must have been a harsh transition. 

 

“Follow me, I think I owe you a deeper explanation.” Darcy led Anne down the stairs and down a hallway before opening a door filled with tech and broken frobots, “these are our quarters, we spend a lot of our time researching here. If you ever need to find us, feel free to come in, we do not sleep much.” Anne felt concerned over the last point but she didn’t argue, after all, she didn’t know Darcy.

 

“So… what happened after I was zapped to Earth, and what happened to Sasha?” Anne and Darcy sat together on a surprisingly soft bed.

 

“Strength escaped the castle after being injured by Andrias and we lost track of her.”

 

“Okay what’s up with you calling us strength and heart?”

 

“Strength is Sasha, she wields the power of the pink gem. Marcy is Wit, she wields the power of the green gem. Anne, you are Heart, you have already discovered your abilities, have you not?”

 

Anne’s eyes widened, “so you’re saying all three of us have powers?”

 

“Indeed, I would have thought you found out about the prophecy by now, but that does not currently matter. What is important is that we get Wit and Strength back so we can defeat Andrias and The Core,” Darcy sounded determined.

 

“The Core?” Darcy flinched as if just realizing what they said.

 

“I suppose we should start from the beginning,” they paused and took a breath, searching for the right words to describe their past, “the shadowfish was an unnatural thing that did not sleep and would not die. It was created from the excess energy produced by the gems when Andrias’ ancestors used them to conquer worlds. The shadowfish had a unique ability, it could absorb other organisms' minds. Andrias’ ancestors found out about this and imprisoned the shadowfish, controlling it and forcing it to absorb the smartest, most intelligent newt minds. Eventually the shadowfish no longer fought them, it accepted its fate and became so intertwined with the minds it had absorbed that it became a conqueror like the ones that controlled it. Soon, it became their lord and god, Andrias’ ancestors followed its orders and never once questioned it because of its intelligence. It renamed itself as The Core after Aldrich was assimilated.”

 

“That's… a lot. But what about you and Marcy, were you guys trapped in it or something?”

 

Darcy paused, “something like that. For all The Cores intelligence and power, it longed for pleasure and experiences it could no longer have. For it to do all the things it wanted, it would need a body.”

 

“Marcy,” Anne shivered, thinking of Marcy’s body being controlled and used as a puppet by that thing made her feel sick.

Darcy nodded, “The Core wanted the best host possible, and who better than the embodiment of wit? Marcy was possessed by The Core after it created a high tech helmet that allowed them to use their powers to not absorb her mind but control her body. So The Core would be connected but have an escape route if anything bad happened. But some minds saw it as a way to escape from The Core's grasp, after all, not all of us were willing participants in getting our minds taken away.” Darcy laughed bitterly and Anne looked at them with a sympathy that made their heart ache, feeling emotions were so new to them. 

 

“We connected with Marcy and instead of us being taken with The Core after Yunan severed their connection, we remained tethered to her mind. I have to admit this is an improvement,” Darcy tried and failed to lighten the mood.

 

“Wait so.. You were a part of the core and got away using Marcy’s brain? That’s kinda messed up.” Darcy laughed, “does that mean you were once a person with their own body?”

 

“We are a collection of super connected minds, practically one at this point. We do not recall a time before all of this but we know there was at some point.”

 

There was that sympathy in Anne's eyes again, Darcy had to look away. “Wit- Marcy is still with us, a separate mind. We are more like a parasite, attached to her brain rather than merged with it. But we have lost contact with her after our connection with The Core was severed. It did a lot of damage to her mentally and physically, currently we are the only ones keeping her body functioning.”

 

“What! How- how do you know she's even still there?” In a smaller voice, “can we get her back?”

 

Darcy looked at Anne again, the desperation was clear, It was strange how much intelligent creatures cared for one another. It made them feel weird.

 

“We consider Marcy a friend too,” Darcy said, not looking away from Anne this time, “she was the one who allowed us our individuality, we did not think about who we were before Marcy asked. Then she showed us that we can be our own person, a new person, away from The Core. We are forever grateful to her, and we want her back as much as you do. We know she is alive because we feel her, but damage is damage and we can not force her back until she heals. So for now, I will take care of her body and the rebellion. At least until she is strong enough to take control again.”

 

“You really care about her, huh?” Anne smiled.

 

“Of course, our freedom is because of her and we will do anything to repay that kindness.” Darcy thought about the first time they interacted with Marcy, comforting her in the void after The Core made horrible recreations of her best friends.

 

Anne turned and hugged Darcy tight.

 

“I’m sorry about what happened to you, you didn’t deserve it. Neither did Marcy.”

 

Darcy sniffled, feeling a wet substance falling from their eyes. “What?” Their voice cracked and they reached their hand up to touch their face, “what is this?” 

 

“It’s called crying, Darcy, and it’s okay, it’ll make you feel better.”

 

Anne held them as they sobbed.

 

---

 

Darcy stood outside of the Plantars house waiting for Joe Sparrow to return. He has been out doing scouting missions while Darcy showed Anne around and taught her about how the rebellion worked. A figure soon blocked the sun and Darcy looked up to find Joe descending with something in his mouth. 

 

“Hello, Joe,” Darcy patted the bird on his head and took the thing from his mouth. “Where did you find this?” They asked between giggles, it was Anne’s other shoe. Joe responded with a high pitched chirp and gestured with his wing somewhere behind him. “Alright, what's the report, find anything good out there?” 

 

Joe raised his head and fixed his posture as if he were responding to a commander, he let out a series of chirps that Darcy translated. Sasha was at the west toad tower with Grime and Beatrix. Darcy assumed Grime took her there to heal her wounds, a smart decision as the west tower is one of the most protected against an invasion like this. 

 

“Thanks Joe, you did good today,” Darcy took out a worm and tossed it to Joe, he caught it and swallowed it whole. Darcy smiled fondly at the bird and pet him again on the head before taking off his armor. He normally slept in the makeshift underground stables with Bessie but once snuck into Darcy’s room, they were not entirely sure how he fit inside but he was good company. 

 

He headbutted them affectionately before a large opening in the floor appeared and let him inside, one of the first things Darcy added to the tunnels was an extra entry to the stables so that the larger animals could get inside. Darcy glanced at the stable tunnels again before walking back to the main entrance, they guessed they should give Anne her shoe back. And tell her about Sasha’s whereabouts.

Notes:

Just note that this story is not beta read, it's mostly just me writing because I can't stop thinking about this au. Next chapter is gonna be a little of Sasha's POV.

Chapter 2: Redemption

Notes:

Mopey Sasha my beloved. This chapter is not edited btw, so if there's something wrong, just ignore it.

Darcy and Anne were on the back of Joe Sparrow, flying above the clouds towards the West Toad Tower to not alert any of Andrias’ bots. Anne sits silently, stirring in her thoughts. She wonders if Sasha is the same as the last time they saw each other. She was on her side when fighting the king but what if she really is just a manipulative person at her core and can’t be forgiven. The thought hurts, she wants to forgive Sasha so much but she also can’t go back to the way things were before.

 

She thinks of the prophecy, if all three of them were meant to be together to save the world then Sasha couldn’t be evil. She remembers all the good times where Sasha protected her and Marcy from the bullies at school, and all the times she took them out and they had so much fun together. She couldn’t be all bad, right?

 

“Having doubts about joining me on this mission?” Darcy asks, “I know you and Sasha did not exactly leave on the best of terms.”

 

Anne huffed out a breath “you can say that.”

 

Darcy looked at her with concern, not knowing what to do to help. Marcy would know. Darcy closed their eyes and looked briefly through Marcy’s memories, it wasn’t hard to find what they were looking for as most of Marcy’s memories were with Anne and Sasha. 

 

“It seems your friend values control over situations. Marcy knew that well enough and did not argue, but you were always more against Sasha's ideas. It was incorrect how they treated you, but I can see that you really care for one another.”

 

Anne just stared at them “have I ever mentioned how weird this situation feels.”

 

“A couple times, yes.” After Anne and Darcy’s talk, Anne opened up about how weird it felt that Darcy was ‘Marcy but not Marcy’ in her words. Of course Darcy had Marcy’s memories, her body, her voice, okay yeah they could see how it was weird.

 

“So, do you think Sasha is a good person?” Anne’s question was simple enough but it made Darcy think, they thought of The Core and how it manipulated people through force and power. Torturing minds to submission through harsh words, illusions, and fake promises of paradise. Sasha could hardly compare, but she did still manipulate her friends. The main difference was that Sasha cared about Anne and Marcy enough to know how far she could push them, The Core would stop at nothing to get what it wanted.

 

“No,” Darcy answered honestly, “but I believe she can be.” The Core would never change from its evil ways, but Sasha is only thirteen with an ever changing body and mind. Sasha was strong, and had an admirable determination, time would only tell if her love for her friends was stronger than her thirst for control.

 

“Well I guess we’ll just have to see.”

 

Joe started to descend.

 

---

 

“That all you got?” Sasha taunted, bringing up her swords to block another blow from Beatrix’s axes.

 

“Are all you hummus’ this talkative during a fight?” Beatrix jumped to the right to dodge a blow from Sasha’s sword. 

 

“I feel like you’re doing that on purpose, for the last time, we are called huma-” Sasha was knocked off her feet as Beatrix kicked her leg.

 

“Rule 35 of fighting, don’t get distracted by talking,” Beatrix said, dropping her axes haphazardly on the floor of the ring to signal taking a break.

 

“Are we really on 35 or do you just make up random numbers?” Beatrix just laughed.

 

“Well, Sasha, for what it’s worth, I think you’re improving. Just don’t know why you still prefer Grimothy’s rag tag team over my army,” the toad huffed before sitting on one of the benches in the arena.

 

“Is everything a competition between you two?”

 

“Of course! He’s my little brother, I gotta compete with him.” Beatrix didn’t explain further, Sasha briefly wondered if it was a sibling thing or a toad thing. Beatrix looked up when some toads called her and walked over, leaving Sasha on her own.

 

Sasha sighed and picked up a stone to sharpen her blades. The sentries informed her that they found a bird flying over the tower yesterday, Marcys bird. Sasha knew hope would get her nowhere but she stayed put in case Marcy somehow was alive and came for her. It sounded a bit stupid, even in her head. Marcy was stabbed by a giant sword right through the center of her chest, people don’t just walk away from that. 

 

She stared at her reflection in the sword, the pink surface seemed to mock her. She probably was still the same Sasha that manipulated her friends and betrayed them on multiple occasions despite them giving her so many chances to improve herself. Why would any of them come back for her? She flopped on her back and groaned, digging at the dirt with her fingers. She looked up at the sky and watched the clouds go by. 

 

She sat back up when she heard the pounding of multiple toads walking towards her, “Lieutenant Sasha!” A female toad stood in front of two others and they all saluted her, “Beatrix wants you at the gate, says two other humans are here to see you.”

 

Wait, humans? Anne and Marcy are okay? And back in Amphibia? Sasha jumped up from the floor, giving a brief thanks to the toads before rushing off to the main gate of the tower. Nerves filled her stomach as she got closer, but she pushed them away. She would have to apologize to Anne, and Marcy… she wasn’t sure what to think.

 

Sasha approached the open gate, staring at her two friends, Anne was waving awkwardly and Marcy was fixing Joe’s armor. Sasha took a deep breath, in for four, hold, out for eight. She waved back at Anne as she walked over and gave a hesitant smile.

 

“Look, Anne, I know what I've been doing is super wrong, and I shouldn’t have pushed you around like that,” Sasha started, I just wanted control… and look where that got me. I hope you know that we’re on the same side… And that I’m sorry, for everything.” Sasha let out a breath, she told herself that it would be fine if Anne didn’t forgive her. She didn’t deserve it after everything she did.

 

“Alright Sash, thanks for the apology. I can’t say that I'll forgive you right away but… I’m really glad to have you back,” Sasha felt her heart ache, but she understood. The two stood facing each other and fidgeting before Marcy walked over and cleared her throat. Sasha looked at her and, woah, when did her eyes get bright orange?

 

“Okay, you probably have questions, firstly, we’re not Marcy. Secondly, we go by Darcy. Nice to officially meet you, strength,” Marcy Darcy said, offering a hand to shake. Sasha took it and shook hands with them, she glanced at Anne who just mouthed ‘we’ll explain later.’ 

 

“Uh, nice to meet you too, Darcy,” this was super weird.

 

“Alright, now we have all the gem holders together! This means all we have to do is wait for Marcy to get back, take the music box to reconnect you all to the stones, and fulfill the prophecy to defeat Andrias and The Core!”

 

Prophecy? Sasha figured it fell into the ‘it’ll be explained later’ category.

 

“Alright, let's head back to Wartwood!” Anne said, starting to walk back to Joe.

 

“Wartwood?” Sasha couldn’t just leave, she was lieutenant to Grime and practically took on half the responsibilities of the West Tower to distract herself from everything that happened. And she actually started to care about these toads.

 

“Uh, yeah. That’s where we made camp when Andrias took over, it's pretty safe being underground away from the robots too,” Anne replied.

 

Darcy seemed to sense Sasha’s reluctance, “plus, it’s only until we fulfill the prophecy. You can always come back after the war, Sash.” Sasha stepped back, glancing over her shoulder at the tower. Could she really just leave? Sasha felt at home with the toads more than she felt at home back when they were on Earth. They understood her, taught her how to fight and protect herself. She would never admit it but Grime even started to feel like a second dad to her.

 

“I-” Sasha heard footsteps and turned around to see Grime. 

 

“I heard you were probably leaving with your friends, Beatrix said she supports you and the tower will always back you up if you need help with this rebellion.”

 

“Oooo, allies!” Darcy’s eyes twinkled similarly to Marcy when defeating a new boss in Vagabondia Chronicles.’ Sasha looked back at Grime and noticed he was carrying his warhammer.

 

“You’re coming with us?” She asks him, disbelief evident in her voice. Grime always told her safety in numbers and there was no place safer than Beatrix’s army.

 

“Beatrix may have a better army with more soldiers, but she doesn’t have you, lieutenant.”

 

“Aww, Grimsey! You big softy!” Sasha hugged him and this time he actually hugged her back.

 

Anne stared at the two, who knew she wasn’t the only one with a found family.

 

“Alright everyone, let's go!” Darcy hopped up onto the back of Joe Sparrow and motioned for the others to join them.

 

Anne and Sasha both tried to get on at the same time.

 

“No, it's alright, you get on first,” Anne insisted.

 

“No, you go ahead, no worries, really,” Sasha backed up.

 

Anne sighed and got on the bird, quickly followed by Sasha and Grime.

 

“So… what have you two been up to after the battle,” Anne asked.

 

“Well, I was on a lot of bedrest at first. Battling a giant newt king as a small human did not have the best outcome,” Sasha ended up with multiple bruised ribs and tons of smaller injuries, Grime even had a few bruises despite his thicker toad skin. “After Marcy was… we jumped out of the window and Joe caught us and brought us to the ground before going back up.”

 

Grime took over Sasha’s explanation, “Sasha was a bit out of it during our journey but I took her to the West Tower where we were able to heal and train for the upcoming battle. Unfortunately Sasha kept trying to escape the medical center before she was fully healed and ended up re-injuring herself.” Sasha scoffed and Anne glared at her.

 

“What? I wasn’t just going to sit in bed all day while Andrias was out there subjugating villagers.” Anne didn’t point out the fact that she literally did that to Wartwood when they first reunited.

 

Grime cleared his throat, “after Sasha fully healed she became a valuable member to Beatrix’s army and Beatrix maybe sort of tried to force her to join her military,” Sasha blew a raspberry while Anne and Darcy just stared at Grime with newfound interest.

 

“Yeah, they kinda were all like,” she coughed and mimicked a bad high pitched voice “Sasha please join us, we love you and need you with us forever.”

 

“That is not what happened by the way.”

 

“Shh, Grime, let me tell the story. So I, the amazing leader that I am, helped these poor lost toads find their way without the great and amazing Sasha in their life. And they maybe build a statue of me in the tower.” Anne and Darcy laughed while Grime just looked mildly disgruntled and crossed his arms.

 

“So they build a statue of you and not me, even though I found and currently wield Barrels Warhammer,” Grime huffed.

 

“Grimsey, I did like ninety percent of the work to find that thing.”

 

The two continued to bicker and Anne looked at Darcy, “I wonder if they’re gonna be like this the whole time. Woah, are you okay?” Darcy sat stiffly and looked like they were ready to jump off of Joe’s back into the empty sky. 

 

“Uh, yeah, Marcys brain is sending off some sort of distress signals. I’ve been trying to reach her but I can only see glimpses,” Darcy bit their lip and looked down.

 

“Glimpses? Of what?” By now Sasha and Grime stopped talking and looked at Darcy.

 

“I- I’m not entirely sure. She could be having something similar to a nightmare, or be experiencing an older memory. Both seem bad considering…” They trailed off, looking at the worried faces of Marcys best friends, “but hey, at least I can actually reach her, even if only a little bit.”

 

Joe let out a few chirps, Darcy relaxed slightly. 

 

“Joe says we’re almost there, but there's a scouting bot ahead, just stay quiet.” Sasha wasn’t going to question the fact that Darcy was speaking to a bird.

 

They descended slowly and in silence, Joe landed by the stable entrance and they all went inside with him. The group let out a breath.

 

“Scouting bots are becoming more common, The Core must know we are somewhere in this area,” Darcy informed.

 

The group collapsed, sitting with their backs to the wall of the stables.

 

“What now?” Sasha asked.

 

“Now we come up with a game plan,” Darcy grinned.

Notes:

The plot is finally plotting. Next chapter may be a little longer than these first two.

Chapter 3: A Fragile Mind

Notes:

Okay, Sashanne is growing on me guys. And hoppy Easter to those who celebrate, heh, see what I did there.

Darcy, Sasha, and Anne stood before the frogs of the rebellion. They finally came up with the perfect plan to defeat Andrias and The Core along with getting the box and their powers back. The three of them were filled to the brim with nerves crawling through their bones like centipedes, this was it, no going back now.

 

Sasha stepped forward, “alright guys, we’ve come up with a gameplan!” Cheers could be heard throughout the room, “first, you amphibians along with us and Beatrix’s army are going to take down the frobots guarding the castle. This fighting will hopefully draw Andrias out and onto the battlefield.”

 

Anne took over, “when Andrias is out i’ll be able to use my blue powers to defeat him! While everyone is distracted, Darcy is going to sneak into the castle, take down The Core, and steal back the music box!” More claps and cheers were heard.

 

Darcy stepped closer, “once we have the music box we can…” vertigo overtook them as they stumbled on the stage. Their head hurt as their insides twisted viciously, nausea clawed at their throat and tears threatened to leak out of their eyes. “We can-” Darcy’s glowing eyes dimmed as they fell forward. 

 

“Darcy!” Anne yelled, Sasha caught them as they fell. Yunan and Olivia rushed to their side and Olivia took them from Sasha’s arms. Sasha was frozen, seeing them collapse like that was giving her deja vu of the last fight with Andrias. 

 

“They still have a pulse, but their heart is beating abnormally fast, we must get them to the med bay immediately,” Olivia handed Darcy to Yunan as they both rushed off, worried looks mirrored on their faces.

 

Sasha and Anne stared at each other before snapping out of their dazes and following the two newts, “what’s wrong with them?! They were fine just two seconds ago!” Anne stared at her unconscious friend as she ran next to Yunan.

 

“This is a delicate situation Anne, we’ve never even heard of multiple minds in one, we have no idea how it affects Marcy. We… We also don’t know the extent of damage The Core inflicted on them while Marcy was imprisoned in the castle.”

 

“What happened when you guys freed them?” Sasha whispered as Yunan placed Darcy on one of the beds in the med bay, Olivia hooking them up to a ton of machinery. Yunan looked at Sasha and just shook her head, eyes becoming unfocused and glassy, stuck in a memory from before.

 

Sasha looked at Anne, she was staring at Darcy with tears flowing freely down her face. Sasha took a deep breath and walked over, hugging Anne tight. “They’ll get out of this, then Marbles will come back and rant about War of the Warlocks or some cool bug she found while she was-”

 

“Sasha, stop,” Anne asked pleadingly. Sasha shut her mouth, rubbing soothing circles on her friend's back. Sasha knew the look Yunan gave her, a few of the toads at the tower had bad experiences, captured, tortured, enslaved. People never come back the same after going through stuff like that. She thinks of Marcy, she thinks that maybe even if they get her back, she’ll be like that too. She doesn’t know if she can handle seeing that.

 

Sasha looked at Darcy again, they were resting still on a thin mattress. Olivia must have taken their armor off because Sasha could clearly see the figure of her friend, she took note of the fact they were underweight. She wondered if it was Darcy's fault or The Cores. The beating of the machine slowed down to a normal level and if Sasha just turned off her thoughts for a moment it could be like they were just sleeping peacefully.

 

Sasha brought Anne over to a small couch resting next to Darcy's bed. The girls sat and Anne immediately buried her head in the crook of Sasha’s neck. She could feel tears soaking into her shirt but she still held Anne anyway. She missed being able to be close to her like this, she just wished it were under better circumstances.

 

“How- how are we going to do this, Sash? We lost our best friend, and- and have to fight an ancient robot empire-” Anne started to hyperventilate, choking on her own tears as she tried to form words.

 

“Hey, shh, we can do this. We may just be kids, but we have super cool anime powers to back us up! We also have the support of your frog friends and half of the toad army,” Sasha pointed out. Anne’s breathing slowed to a more normal pace and she somehow got even closer to Sasha.

 

“I’m just- I’m tired,” Annes defeated tone sounded so unlike her, a stray tear fell from Sasha’s eye and she wiped it away. 

 

“I’m tired too, but we have to do this, for Amphibia, for our home.” Sasha didn’t know if she thought of Earth or Amphibia more as a home but it didn’t matter now. What mattered is the person laying next to her and the girl crying into her shoulder.

 

“We’ll leave you guys, if anything happens with them you can find us in the main room,” Yunan spoke gently as she guided a lost looking Olivia out the door.

 

Sasha and Anne stayed like that for a while, Sasha mostly out of fear to disrupt Anne. It was like when a cat sits on your lap, rules state that you can’t move or they’ll run away. She wondered if Anne was sleeping but Sasha still heard an occasional sniffle. The sound was more of a comfort than concern at this point. Sasha liked knowing that at least one of her best friends was still with her.

 

“Why’d you do it?” Anne whispered, Sasha wouldn’t have been able to hear if Annes mouth wasn’t right next to her ear.

 

Sasha swallowed, “do what?”

 

“Push us around like that,” Anne clarified, moving away from Sasha and looking into her eyes, searching for something in her irises. Sasha stiffened, she wasn’t even sure if she could explain something like that. She wasn’t a therapist, emotions were definitely harder for her than swinging a sword around.

 

“I don’t know,” Sasha whispered back, barely able to get the words out of her throat. Saying she didn’t know was like admitting defeat, she had no excuses for how she treated her best friends and Anne wouldn’t back down from her anymore. 

 

Sasha continued, she knew Anne wanted a deeper explanation than that, “I always wanted control over situations. It’s like… Like when I wasn’t in control I was just weak and vulnerable. I hated feeling that way. Around teachers, around classmates… Around my parents. Maybe that’s why I took it out on you guys. I'm sorry, I know this doesn’t excuse anything.” Sasha looked at the ground as if the dirt trails left by bugs were the most interesting thing in the world.

 

“You’re right, and you should have told us you felt this way. You know we would have helped you,” Anne leaned back against Sasha’s side. Sasha melted against the warmth Anne provided, “man, we really need therapy,” Sasha tried to stifle her laugh but started to giggle, prompting Anne to do the same.

 

“The traumatized trio,” Sasha got out between fits of laughter. Anne smacked her on her arm gently, the giggling dying down. “I’m glad we talked about it, it feels better somehow.”

 

“No problem, Sash. And for the record, I forgive you. I mean, as long as you treat us right from now on.” Sasha stared at Anne like she hung the stars in the sky and Anne felt heat crawl up her neck. Sasha hugged Anne tight, thanking her again. They both melted into each other, savoring the warmth of the other's skin. After a while of only having contact with cold-blooded amphibians it was a nice change. Anne tore herself out of the hug when she heard a pained groan come from the bed.

 

They both rushed over to Marcys (Darcys?) bedside, “Marcy?” Anne asked, watching her friend's brown eyes flutter open. Her eyes were glazed over and missing their normal sparkle.

 

“Is this real?” Marcy whispered, the fear in her voice causing Anne and Sasha to stiffen.

 

“Yes, Marce, we’re real.” Sasha took Marcys hand in her own and gave it a firm squeeze. Marcy looked around the room as if searching for something. When her gaze shifted down to her friends she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

 

“Heartbeats, let me feel your heartbeats.” Anne and Sasha exchanged a glance before Sasha brought up Marcy’s hand and rested it over the left side of her chest. Admittedly, her heart was beating a little fast, she wasn’t sure if it was from the anxiety over Marcy’s state or if it still hadn’t calmed down from her talk with Anne. Sasha handed Marcy’s hand gently to Anne, who pressed it against her chest similar to what Sasha did. Marcy let out a sigh of relief before tears started streaming down her face.

 

“I- I’m so sorry,” Marcy wailed, “I- I was so scared to lose you guys that I- I didn’t-” Anne and Sasha pulled her into an awkward hug considering their friend was still laying down.

 

“It’s okay Marce, we’ve already forgiven you,” Anne said gently, Marcy only sobbed harder.

 

It took a while of gentle coaxing and sweet words but Marcy eventually fell asleep, Olivia checked her out shortly after and it seemed like she was fine. Well, she was fine physically, except for the large twin scars on the front of her chest and her back. Mentally, Marcy still had a while to go. Sasha and Anne didn’t know the full details, but they knew that whatever Marcy had been through had been bad.

 

Anne and Sasha sat next to Marcy's bed and exchanged worried thoughts about her until Grime came in and forced them out, saying that they needed to get sleep. He was thoughtful enough to promise them that he would wake them up if anything happened with her while they were asleep.

 

---

 

Anne blinked tiredly as she heard the door to Darcy's room open. Darcy offered their bed to her when she joined the rebellion, saying that they really only used the room for tinkering occasionally anyway. She looked up to where Sasha was awkwardly hovering in the doorway. She was dressed down from her normal armor and donned a t-shirt and pair of sweatpants that looked suspiciously like what Marcy wore at their sleepover at the castle.

 

“Those Marcys?” Anne asked, her voice slightly muffled by the pillow. The light from the hall illuminated Sasha enough for Anne to see her blush. 

 

“Sure she won’t mind, I left a lot of my supplies at the tower,” Sasha offered as a weak explanation. Anne hummed in response, scooting over in the bed. Sasha came in and slid under the covers next to Anne. They faced each other, noses not far apart.

 

“Nightmares?” Anne had her fair share, when she first got home to Earth they were practically a constant. She would wake up drenched head to toe in sweat barely remembering what it was about. She wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again that night so she would just pick up her laptop and start researching.

 

“Yeah,” Sasha replied, Anne felt sympathy for her. This Sasha was a far cry from the old, now dubbed, ‘Pre-Amphibia Sasha.’ She was glad Sasha was a better person now but she hated how much she had to go through to get there. How much they all had to go through.

 

“C’mere,” Anne opened her arms. Sasha slotted between them like a puzzle piece. Sasha rested her head under Annes chin, taking comfort in the sound of her breathing. If Anne noticed a few stray tears coming from Sasha’s eyes, she didn’t question it.

Notes:

Okay I was debating expanding more on what happened but I don't feel like it. :p Next chapter is the big confrontation you have all been waiting for *I say, addressing the 3 people reading this fic.*

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Rebellion Darcy AU