Chapter Text
Marcy’s heart hammered in her chest, dried tears clinging to her face. She didn’t think she’d ever been this scared in her entire life.
She peered over her friend’s shoulder as Anne stared at the box in her lap.
“C’mon, Anne, open it,” Sasha taunted playfully. “Unless you’re too scared?”
“I-I’m not scared, Sash, but don’t you think it might be wrong to-”
“It’s not like they’ll miss it,” the blonde rolled her eyes. “It’s a dumb, dusty old box. Open it.”
Anne hesitated, and for a moment, Marcy was sure her heart was going to short-circuit. But then her bush-haired friend inhaled deeply and reached for the lid of the music box. For a moment, there was nothing. A strange tune filled with off-key notes filled the space between her ears, and then everything slid ever-so-slightly sideways and a bright light exploded around the three girls. Marcy’s vision flashed green, orange, green, orange, purple, pink, but when she tried to close her eyes, the light only got brighter. Finally it turned plainly and blindingly white, and then that faded, too, leaving her sitting alone in a forest with her ears ringing.
There was dirt under her fingernails as the girl pushed herself to her feet, staring around in awe to get a bearing on her surroundings. The trees were barren, dark, and covered in massive thorns. As a matter of fact, it seemed that they weren’t really trees at all, but massive thorn bushes, tangling vines thicker than a tree trunk that wove all around her. The air tasted warm and dry, and the sky (or what was visible of it through the vines above) was dark and filled with clouds even though it seemed like it hadn’t rained in months due to the almost drought-like state of the landscape.
“Can’t believe we’re on patrol duty,” she caught a gruff voice mutter just before she heard footsteps tromping across the dry, cracked earth.
“Yeah, it’s not like there’s anything out here other than herons,” a second voice said, giving an audible shudder. “You only get sent out here if the captain wants you gone.”
Marcy had to think fast. Hide? Introduce herself? Stay where she was? It sounded like the voices were getting closer, but she couldn’t see anything through the thick tangle of brambles.
She decided to hide behind a particularly dense bush and watch. If they seemed dangerous, she could run away. If they didn’t, she could go out and say hello.
She darted into the underbrush just as she could make out their outlines through the forest.
“Did you see that?”
“See what?”
“...Nevermind.”
Marcy let out a small gasp as the two walked past. They had greenish-brown skin, large, bulging eyes, and clawed hands. These weren’t humans - they were giant toads. Giant, sentient, anthropomorphic toads. And they definitely looked dangerous. They had weapons and narrowed eyes and armor marred with battle scars.
She stayed hidden until they went away.
As the girl crawled out of the bush, she nicked herself on one of the thorns.
“Ouch!”
The footsteps stopped.
“Tell me you heard that.”
“Oh, I heard it.”
Marcy was up and running before she knew what was happening.
“Hey, get back here!” one of the toads shouted. Something whizzed by Marcy’s ear - an arrow.
I can’t outrun them, she thought as she nearly tripped over an exposed root, earning herself another scrape, this time on her leg. But I can outthink them.
Marcy darted behind a tree and grabbed the thorns attached to it, scaling it as quickly as she could. Once she reached a stable branch, she pulled on one of the thorns and it came off easily when she twisted it the right way. She grabbed another, and threw it at the shapes of the toads below.
The first toad whirled around. “Something just-”
Then she threw the first thorn as far as she could, which only landed a little ways away. Marcy winced.
Even with her terrible throw, it hit the ground with a soft thunk and the two toads spun around, panic in their eyes.
“There’s something over there!” the second yelped. “They’re everywhere! Let’s get out of here!”
As they ran off, Marcy breathed a sigh of relief.
That was a close one. She climbed down from the “tree” and landed in an awkward heap on the ground. Looking around again at the foreign landscape, she wondered what she’d gotten herself into.
“Well,” she mused to herself, “...What now?”