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Chapter Text

If there was a constant to immortality, it was stasis. Lack of change. Boredom.

For a thousand years, King Andrias Leviathan, First of his Name, saw everything around him change and everything around him remain the same. Wars and revolutions came and went, always different and always the same.

Perhaps it was his punishment, as chosen by the Core. He who caused everything to change, forced to see everything stay the same and to ensure all would remain as it was. Ironic, fitting.

However, that all changed one fateful day, the day that Andrias and the Core had waited for for a thousand years.

The day when Wit, brought back by the Stones, by the Music Box Leif had stolen, arrived in Newtopia.

And promptly fell down a flight of stairs.

Honestly, Andrias could only thank frog that Marcy, as he learned the champion of the Prophecy was named, hadn’t died or hit her head, but had merely broken her leg.

He kept watching on her from afar for a few days, without ever truly meeting her, as if fearing the power she brought. Weirdly, the Core didn’t reprimand him for that. Perhaps, they too feared their demise? Andrias dared not even think about it.

However, meeting her could not be avoided. It was her that came to him, in the end. A shining morning of summer, she entered his throne room, her broken leg still in a cast, accompanied by Lady Olivia (dozens of newts like her had come and gone in his court, their mortal lives a blink of his eye, but Andrias had forced himself to memorise the name of every and each one of them, as if that would give their lives any meaning), hobbling around with her crutches and a glint of wonder in her eye.

She was not like he had expected her to be. She was too much like… Leif. It didn’t help that he was still holding the glasses she had given him or that the nickname those he had thought friends had called him by found its place on her lips, by sheer chance. Though, he would have asked himself if his every thought was not possibly scrutinised by the Core, was anything chance when a prophecy was involved?

Even discounting that, the blatant disrespect, the lack of boundaries, the playfulness of her behaviour, her goofishness,  everything about young Marcy Wu… it would have put a sad smile on his face nonetheless. They reminded him of simpler times, better times, where no Core or Prophecy was involved.

That of course only meant that, when the Core ordered him in whispers to kill her, his long gone heart was gripped by an icy cold grip of despair. 

So, he begged for her life. He thought on his feet, as quickly as he could and, for once, his wit did not fail him. The idea was solid, even the Core had to agree, surely!

When it did, when his father came out from the collective mind to compliment him in person, Andrias genuinely felt like smiling. He had done it. He had saved a young child and helped further the long plan that would redeem his mistake and bring back his civilisation’s glory!

Most of all, he allowed himself to think as he softly passed his hand over the small trinket Marcy had affixed upon his pyjamas, maybe… maybe he could have a second chance. A second chance to have her back.

A few days passed. Marcy Wu proved to be a menace as his old best friend had been. Even with a broken leg she somehow was able to constantly outrun Lady Olivia and reach every nook and cranny of the castle, much to Andrias’ amusement. A notebook always in hand, she jotted down everything she set her eyes on, always so full of amazement and joy.

So, when one late evening she, not followed by Lady Olivia (who had presumably decided to head to the kitchen for some ‘juice’), entered once again his throne room, Andrias could not help himself from greeting her with a warm smile and a hearty laugh “Little Master Marcy! What brings you here?”

She enthusiastically waved at him, which caused her to lose her balance and faceplant on the floor. Andrias chuckled. He had been worried the first few times he had seen her tumble to the ground through the many eyes the Core had all over the castle, but by now he had understood that the girl was apparently as impervious to damage from her little falls as she was clumsy, which was surely fortunate.

He rose from his throne and picked her up by her hood bringing her embarrassed face at eye level

“You know” he teased her “by now I think I understand how you got that cast”

Marcy rubbed the back of her head “Sorry! I just, uhm, kinda lost my balance! Happens all the time, even back home! Sasha used to say that if Anne hadn’t been looking out for me all the time, I’d have died years ago!”

Andrias could not help but let himself grow a bit sad as she mentioned her friends, perhaps even just because it reminded him of his own ‘friends’, the ones that had left him years before.

He masked him it with a smile “I’ll have to thank this Anne personally, when we meet! If I hadn’t met you my life would be far more dull!”

Marcy blushed a little at that “Aw, thank you, King Andrias!”

“Please, just call me Andrias. I leave most of the King stuff to Lady Olivia, anyway” He put Marcy in the pocket of his pyjamas as he walked back towards his throne and settled down “What brings you here anyways? You are young, and it is late, you need to sleep”

Marcy stuttered a bit “W-well, the fact is… I miss a bit home. Well, more than that, I miss my friends”

Don’t we all? Asked himself Andrias. “Don’t worry Marcy. Amphibia is a big place. Just because we haven’t found them yet, doesn’t mean they are not there. We’ll keep looking, I promise you”

Marcy smiled “Thank you, Andrias. But… no, don’t mind that, it’s stupid”

The giant newt gave her an encouraging grin “Don’t worry, Master Marcy. I had plenty of stupid ideas and look where I am! Sometimes, something that sounds dumb in your head is really not, when you talk about it!”

“Like pineapple on pizza?”

“…I have no idea what that is, but I have a nagging feeling that is, indeed, stupid. But no matter, go on, say this idea of yours! You got this old newt curious!”

“…well, we used to do many things, Sasha, Anne and I. We’d give each other makeovers, we’d talk gossip… so I thought maybe we could do something you and I? I mean, I already asked Lady Olivia and she said no and you are the only other one I know here except the nurses-” realising she’d been rambling, Marcy stopped dead in her tracks, red in the face, before shaking her head and trying to save face “A-as I told you, it’s stupid, you are probably very busy and I need to go to sleep and you need to go to sleep, after all you’re elderly, just look at that beard, but not old in a bad way, old as wise and-” 

A gigantic finger silenced the muttering teen, who looked up to see Andrias’ face, that had been conquered by a warm smile. “Calm down, Little Master”

Once Marcy’s breathing had slowed down, the titan spoke “That was a lot to take in, I’ll say. You sure do talk fast. Just a couple of pointers. First thing, I am quite possibly the least wise person in this castle. Try and say I am wise around Olivia and she’ll probably have an aneurism. Second, I may be old, but I’m a youngster at heart, as the kids say”

“That is not ‘what the kids say’” Said Marcy with a little laugh.

“Duly noted. Third, as I said, I am not too busy. The good thing about being King? You can just order others to do your work! And finally, I would love to spend some time with you”

Marcy’s eyes filled with stars and sparkles “R-really!?!?”

The King nodded “Of course!”

Marcy began to clap her hands in excitement “This. Is. Awesome! I’m about to have a sleepover with a King!”

Andrias gave a little laugh. Her enthusiasm was refreshing, like a warm bath for his old bones, if he still had bones or could feel a warm bath.

“So” the ruler asked his little Master “What do you want to do?”

Marcy opened her mouth, then closed it, opened it again only to close it once more “I don’t know” She muttered, embarrassment evident on her face “I… didn’t think I’d get this far” She was silent for a second, before asking “W-what would you like to do, Andrias?”

“Ah, don’t worry, Master Marcy” the king answered with a dismissive wave. “I’m down with anything. Seriously, I’m pretty bored. I guess I like singing? But if Lady Olivia hears me singing, she has promised to go on strike, so that is not an option.”

“Bummer. I guess you have a wonderful voice!”

“Shush, you flatterer!” Andrias said, playfully “But really. Feel free to suggest” As he said that, the King could see that Marcy had an idea, but was perhaps too shy to say it out loud “Oh? You have an idea? Come on, shoot!”

“Well, I guess we could watch… a movie?”

“Awesome!” Exclaimed King Andrias “Just a question, what’s a movie?”

“Oh. Right. You wouldn’t know” Marcy playfully facepalmed, chuckling “Well, it’s like… a play? Do you have those?”

The King nodded 

“Well, it’s basically a recorded play. Except not really, because there are a number of differences in acting style, props and- sorry, rambling again”

“Don’t worry, little one. I do not mind, not really” Andrias reassured her “Do you have a ‘movie’ you’d like to watch?”

“Well, there is one” She suggested quietly, just a bit hesitantly

“Let’s watch that, then! I am curious to learn about your human entertainment!”

At that, Marcy crawled out of the pocket, leaving Andrias irrationally disappointed. He liked having the tiny creature in there, he liked her in general. Perhaps she could be preserved, when he and the Core would wipe out the human race? It was not preposterous, after all, the Mossmen and the Shadowfish had been preserved. He guessed her friends could be added to the castle’s collection as well as everyone necessary to keep Marcy content.

Marcy sat on her knee and whipped out a tiny rectangular contraption with a blue cover sporting a cartoony representation of one of those foul beasts that ate frogs, known as ducks. Human society might value military prowess a lot more than they expected, if they thought of such bloodthirsty beasts as cute things.

Andrias leant in, trying to get a better view on the small screen, that was even smaller when compared with his great stature.

“This movie is my favourite!” Marcy beamed as she put on the recorded movie “It’s called ‘War of the Warlocks’! It’s fantastic, a milestone in fantasy movies! The special effects are something out of this world! And the plot is so good! I won’t spoil you anything, just watch!”

He had to admit, the movie was not bad. The story was a little out there, resembling very much the farfetched stories Barrel would tell him and Leif, but it was a solid movie, with good characters and plot. More than the movie, though, what he enjoyed the most was Marcy’s enthusiasm.

The movie was three hours long and throughout every minute of its runtime, the human girl would be gushing over any small detail, talking about her favourite scenes with an all too familiar passion, her hands flapping all the while, her eyes shining as she spoke.

His heart, had Andrias still got one, would have been filled with warmth at the kid’s enthusiasm. Was it fate or was the universe finally giving him something positive that this human, for whom Andrias had waited a thousand years, was so much like her?

Finally, after the best three hours of his life in a thousand years, the movie ended, on a wholesome scene of the two protagonists finally kissing, which even Andrias thought was cute. Marcy shed a tear and got up, turning towards him, a big goofy grin on her face “Soooo? What do you think?”

“I think you’ll need to lend me that magic box of yours, Master Marcy!” He proclaimed with a laugh “I do want to watch it at least once more! Of course, if you would watch it again with me it would be all the better!”

Stars formed in Marcy’s eyes, before fading away. She settled down, her grin becoming a melancholic half-smile.

Andrias gave her a puzzled look “Marcy? Did I say something wrong?” He didn’t want to upset her, both because of his agreement with the Core and because he felt something, an almost painful sensation at the bottom of his soul, when Marcy was not her usual happy self, for some reason.

Marcy chuckled sombrely and faced away from the giant newt “It’s just… this is the first time I get to show anyone this movie to anyone without them falling asleep”

Andrias’ confusion subsided slightly, but an awful familiar feeling crept in. “But what about your friends? By how you speak of them, you must love them very much. They must love you just as much”

“…I love them. I love them so much.” Marcy whispered, her back turned to Andrias, her head hanging a bit to the side. “I… wouldn’t know what to do if they were gone”

Andrias’ gaze went to the side, as if ashamed. He knew that feeling all too well. When Leif left… when he barred Barrel from ever returning… it hurt more than anything. He kept silent, the shame, both for how he felt and for how he had treated his friends, too strong for Andrias to open his mouth.

Not knowing about the King’s inner turmoil, Marcy went on “I’ve never had many friends. Heck, sometimes I think the only reason Sasha’s friends with me is because she’s Anne’s friend.” Her left hand went to her face, while her right kept her balanced on Andrias’ knee. “The only real friend I’ve ever made on my own… is Anne. We were friends since we were four. It was just us two. Well, Anne had a lot of friends, how could she not?, but I had only her. Her and I against the world. Then, Sasha came along. I love her too. She is awesome!” Marcy exclaimed, her voice beginning to tremble “She always stands up for me and Anne and-and she has always the best and funniest ideas for things to do!” Marcy’s voice who had gotten a bit more bombastic, yet just a bit deranged, got a bit more melancholic. “Sometimes, though… it’s nothing, I’m-I’m just being selfish again”

The newt King felt like there was definitely something there. Softly he spoke “Go on, little Marcy. Sometimes, letting it all out is the best way to make it better”

Suddenly, Andrias felt something on his leg. His cybernetics had very much dampened some sensations, such as temperature, but heightened others. So he felt it perfectly well when a droplet of liquid hit his leg. He stretched his neck to look Marcy in the face and his suspicions were confirmed. The girl was crying.

Hesitantly, he moved his hand and passed it on her back, delicately, as if she was made of porcelain. He briefly stopped when she leant into his enormous hand, but quickly continued, still silent, waiting for Marcy to speak, to interrupt the silence that was now only broken by poorly conceived sobs.

“It’s…” She began after a while, her speech soft, whispered and occasionally broken by sniffles  “It’s just… well, Sasha always leads and Anne always follows her, but they are never interested in anything I’m interested in. Do you know how many times I’ve tried to make them watch this movie?” The chuckle returned “I’ve lost count myself. Sometimes I feel… redundant. Like they would be better off without me. Maybe… maybe Anne likes Sasha more than me… maybe I am selfish for wanting to impose myself on them. Maybe I should just… disappear” the last part was just a wisp of breath, almost inaudible but for Andrias’ enhanced senses.

And Andrias saw past something. Until now, he had seen this girl as a new coming of Leif, his new chance to be with his old friend. Now, now he saw something of a young newt that had died in spirit a long time ago, betrayed by someone that he had held dear.

He picked up the girl, who curled up on herself in his cupped hand. She looked so fragile, almost shaking

“Hey, hey.” He said, in a soothing tone “None of that. You hear me? Little one, you are one wonderful kid, that I can tell. Anyone would be happy with having you as a friend. If they cannot see that, well, the problem is not with you”

Andrias genuinely couldn’t tell if he was speaking to Marcy or to his younger self, but, by some miracle, it worked. The young girl’s breathing stabilised and she was no longer sobbing. She laid down, resting her face against the base of his thumb, her feet dangling down his palm.

“T’ank you, ‘Drias” she muttered, evidently tired, her previous energy probably sapped away by the late hour and the disappearance of her previous adrenaline. 

As he heard the nickname, even if only produced by the tiredness in Marcy’s voice, King Andrias’ lips twirled in a smile born of melancholy.

In no time, the girl’s eyelids, that had grown heavier by the second, completely shut down. The third Hero of the Prophecy, one of the only three that could hope to stop the plan that had been set in motion a millennium before, was softly snoring in the hand of the champion of the Core. It would have been so easy to just crush her like that. Her neck was a twig, in comparison to his powerful hands and she would have never felt anything. 

Instead, Andrias’ other hand reached in his pocket and pulled out an unused tissue, before using the giant piece of fabric to envelop Marcy’s sleeping form in a cocoon, that was then placed in his front pocket. 

Perhaps it was only fitting, Andrias could not help but think as he began to doze off on his throne, that, on the way to redeem his greatest mistake, he could help someone that was just like him.

Chapter Text

Andrias’ eyes scanned through another report. It had been quite a while since he had taken a direct approach to what should, technically, be his job. Lady Olivia had been quite surprised when the giant newt had picked up the pile of papers from her hand and ordered to have a day off.

“What do you think Olivia is up to?” Asked Marcy, who hung from an oversized baby carrier secured on Andrias’ chest. 

Lady Olivia had forced Andrias to keep Marcy on himself, since, apparently, the smaller newt already had small trust in the King’s good behaviour if he was left alone and did not trust Marcy not to further hurt herself if left to her own devices. Andrias could scarcely blame her to be fair. Marcy had managed to break her leg after less than a minute in a new world and there was that time he had set the sea around Newtopia on fire while Lady Olivia was on holiday.

Uh. He only noticed now, but he didn’t remember the small newt taking any holiday after that time.

“Well, considering I gave her a day off the same day General Yunan is scheduled to return to the capital, I am quite sure she is spending her day with her. At least, judging by the fact that she was preparing to go on a walk in the public park and Yunan asked me which plants Lady Olivia favours before departing” Those two were cute together, Andrias had to admit. Gals being pals, am I right? Andrias told himself. They surely were a good couple of friends. Sometimes, he thought melancholically, they reminded him of what was no more.

Marcy hands went to her cheek as she began to squeal, making the King seriously worry about her. Were humans supposed to make those sounds? Andrias could hear them thanks to his augmentations, but they would be nearly inaudible to any newt, frog or toad.

Finally, the human stopped “You didn’t tell me you shipped someone with Lady Olivia! Come on, tell me about her! Oh my gosh, can I meet her? Wait, I should probably ask Lady Olivia…”

Andrias didn’t know whether to chuckle at Marcy’s rambling or be confused “I’m sorry, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Yunan has simply returned from” What was it this time? Rebellion, bounty hunting, monster hunting… the Sand Wars? No those, had ended years before, right, “deployment.” He said. He settled for deployment, in the end, yeah, that worked. “I assure you I did not send her and Lady Olivia away via postage. I don’t think Lady Olivia would let me do that, anyways”

Marcy looked confused for a second, then she apparently understood something. She promptly planted her palm on her face. She shook her head and sighed “Never mind. I’ll simply speak to Lady Olivia. One day, I’ll explain it to you”

Andrias shrugged. Sometimes, he struggled to understand the child. Was this because she was from a different world or were all children like this? He guessed his father had felt like this with him, before everything.

The subconscious association went unheeded by the newt, as he flipped another page. 

Ugh. He grimaced, seeing the rather long report. That was why he delegated things to Olivia. Well, that and the fact that these documents were almost too small for his hands, making the writing annoyingly tiny.

“Uhm, Andrias?” The young girl called for his attention from the pocket “Actually, could I try? I’ve actually been practicing Amphibian script for a while now, so maybe… forget it, it’s stupid, aha”

Andrias smiled at her. “Oh? You’ve been practicing? Let’s see, you got this old newt curious!”

He passed the document to her. She gave it a couple of reads, then looked up to him 

“Okay, I’m ready! I’ll give you a shortened version, since we’ve got… a lot of them.”

Andrias nodded, before she continued

“Well, it’s a report. From a… Captain Grime? From Frog Valley”

The newt grimaced slightly, which thankfully went unnoticed by Marcy. Frog Valley… he had never gotten the place searched. If he had done it, maybe he would have found her. And if he had found her… the Core would have her killed.

He hated Leif. She had betrayed him, but he still missed her. Deep, deep down, in his cold, cybernetic heart, old sentiments festered, despite all of the Core’s and his best attempts.

He was scared. Scared, because if he had her at his mercy… he genuinely wouldn’t know what he’d do.

“A-Andrias?” Marcy squeaked, trying to gain his attention 

“Ah, yes, go on, Little Master.” 

“You… kind of looked out of it. I-If you’d like, we can do something else!” 

Seeing the genuine worry in her voice, Andrias couldn’t help but smile. He gently petted the girl, roughing up a bit her black hair “Don’t worry, Marcy. It’s just… bad memories. It’s all in the past though. You’re doing very good, for someone that has begun studying the language a few weeks ago”

Marcy blushed, wether because of the praise or the head pat he didn’t know “T-thank, Andrias! B-but actually, I began only last week”

That caught the Core’s attention, as Andrias could tell from the voices inside his head.

‘How very… intriguing. She seems more interesting than we thought’, the Core commented.

‘My Lord?’ Andrias thought back.

‘Continue interacting with her. Perhaps she could be even more of use…’ the Core answered his question before disappearing from his mind, or, more likely, simply returning to silence and continuing to observe from the shadows.

Banishing the disturbing implications of his Lord’s words, Andrias returned his attention to the human child, who thankfully had not noticed his lapse in attention 

“…-ain Grime, creepy name if I can say, says that more and more frogs are refusing to pay the yearly tributes, basically. He goes in a long rant, with many, many descriptive expletives. I may have learned a couple, if I can say.”

That stimulated Andrias’ interest, even if barely. Normally frogs were content and submissive, accepting the tributes with just a bit of grumbling. Sure, sometimes there was the odd anti conformist, his thoughts ran to his old treacherous friend, but they tended to not be able to stir the rest of the villagers into defiance. 

“Does it says something about an instigator?” Andrias asked

“Hold on, let me check” Marcy said, before reading again through the document “This can’t be right…” She muttered “I think they are being instigated by… music?”

“Music?”

“Yeah, it says they’ve been inspired by… Hip Hop? It’s the name of a genre of music, back home.”

“Let me check” the documents were brought close to his glasses, before Andrias let out a chuckle “Oh, it’s a nickname. ‘Hop Pop’, a certain Hopediah Plantar.”

Andrias saw Marcy chuckle as well, even if the newt could see it was somewhat forced “Aha, yes, of course, stupid me! I should have guessed it was my mistake…”

He smiled sympathetically. This girl surely had some high standards, if she blamed herself for something this harmless “Don’t beat yourself up for it, Master Marcy. It’s a common mistake, mistaking the o for an i and the p for an h. Used to do it all the time, when I was a small tadpole.”

Marcy eyes filled with sparkles “I need pictures, now!”

Andrias laughed heartily “All in due time, my dear. Now, I believe we have to read more documents?”

“What about Frog Valley?” 

The King made a dismissive gesture with his hand “The Toads can handle it. This Captain Grime didn’t ask for help or reinforcements, didn’t he?”

Marcy shook her head, which Andrias interpreted as a no. “Then he can probably handle it. Being a good King means also knowing when to act and when not to. Onto the next one!”

Wit began to read once more and Andrias allowed himself to close his eyes and lose himself, chiming in from time to time when Marcy had difficulty with a word or asked him a question.

The work went on for another couple of hours, Marcy and Andrias taking turns with reading. Sometimes the human would ask the newt for more info on the places the documents had been sent from. It was with great pleasure that Andrias told her of his Kingdom, a thousand years of his life flowing from his lips for the amazement of an extra dimensional child.

Eventually, though, the work took its toll. Marcy groaned and threw back her head, as much as being strapped to the chest of a gigantic salamander allowed her to. 

“Getting tired there, Little Master?” Andrias asked playfully “I get that my life tales are boring, but to that extent?”

“It’s not that, King Andrias!” Marcy assured him “It’s just… I’ve always dreamed of visiting another world and now that I’m here, for real, I am strapped to you, doing paperwork! Again, no offence”

“None taken, Master Marcy. You are right, paperwork is getting rather tedious” agreed Andrias as he put down the half read report. He’d finish it and the rest later or give them to Lady Olivia the day after. “What do you say we explore a bit the castle?”

Marcy sighed “But I’ve already seen it all! I wanted to explore the city, but Lady Olivia says I cannot until the cast is off. Stupid clumsiness, stupid stairs…”

“You’ve seen it all?” Andrias asked, twirling his beard around one of his fingers, an idea forming in his head “What if I told you there was a place you haven’t seen yet? Something truly marvellous, more than anything you’ve ever seen” 

At that, Marcy perked up immediately, her fists closed and shaking because of the sudden excitation “Really?”

“Really. But, it’s a secret. So you can’t tell anyone, understood?” To emphasise his point Andrias brought his index to his mouth and winked, Marcy quickly mimicking his gesture with a little snicker.

“‘Kay, my King! None shall hear a peep!”

“Good, good. Let’s go, then!” He got up, then hesitated. “One thing. It’s better to make this a surprise, isn’t it? So, better to put this on” He pulled out a cloth tissue  and ripped a bit of it off. He knew he was going to get scolded for it, but he had tons of the bedsheet sized things. Seriously, one wouldn’t believe the size of those tissues.

Marcy got it on the spot and used the piece of cloth as a makeshift blindfold, before whipping out her hand and pointing a thumb upwards.

Andrias was interdicted for a second, watching Marcy’s gesture in puzzlement.

“It means everything’s good” Marcy clarified.

“Oh, a thumb of approval? Very well then, Master Marcy! Here we go!”

With the blindfolded human strapped on his chest like the world’s most developed baby and shaking her fists in excitement, Andrias directed himself to the secret entrance to the basement, hidden beneath’s his father statue. He could almost feel the eyes of the Core, of his father, boring on his neck, but carried on regardless. He descended, but instead of going all the way down to the hidden chamber where the Core slept, he stopped before, in a place he had not visited in almost a thousand years.

Leif’s garden.

It was unchanged, save for the fact that no pink frog roamed it and no green toad observed the marvellous place. He was the only one left.

“Marcy” He called out “You may undo the blindfold now. We’re here”

Not waiting even another second, the girl practically ripped off the piece of cloth from her face, only to squeal in amusement.

Andrias had to recognise, he had been confused initially by the human’s tendency to express her joy in high frequencies, but he was beginning to grow fond of them.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He asked

“It’s so great!” Marcy answered, bouncing up and down in her harness “An underground garden! This is awesome! How does it work? How is the light created? I don’t see any special lights, so that can’t be it…” She perked up “Is it magic? Please tell me it’s magic!”

Andrias laughed “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Master Marcy, but I don’t exactly know myself how any of this was created. The one that started and tended to this garden was… an old friend of mine” His tone got melancholic, as he reminisced of the long days he and Leif, most of the times joined by Barrel, spent on the artificial hill of her precious garden.

The Core had urged him to burn it, to do away with the last vestige of her, but he had refused. For all that he may hate her and her betrayal, somewhere, deep, deep, the feelings that had stopped him from obeying his father’s command all those years ago still lived and still held the reins to his heart.

“…We did not leave on the best of terms” he ended, the giant’s voice uncharacteristically quiet. “She has most probably passed away, by now” A single sad chuckle escaped the king “The things living a thousands years do to you…”

Suddenly, he felt a slight pressure around his chest. He looked down.

Marcy had twisted herself as much as she could and tried hugging him, though her small and feeble arms couldn’t quite get around the newt, nor hold him as strongly as he well remembered Barrel could.

For a second he was taken aback, then he smiled and ruffled the hair of his human “You are one good kid, I seriously hope you do know that” 

At that Marcy simply nuzzled in with her face, which Andrias didn’t need to see to know it was sporting a big goofish grin. His gigantic arm encircled the girl and returned her gesture of affection.

They stayed like that for a while, just like that, in silence.

Then, they arrived.

Andrias was initially a bit surprised to see a couple of Mossmen approaching him. Generally, they were wary of him, ever since he had chased Leif in here. But now, they approached him and Marcy, one being as brave as to touch the human, even if still cautiously avoiding Andrias.

That, to Andrias’ displeasure, broke that little moment between them, as Marcy turned and once again was awestruck at her new discovery.

“Oh my gosh! What are these!!” She gushed, while scratching the ancient extradimensional creature under the chin. They did not seem to mind, starved for affection ever since the tender of this garden left.

“These” Andrias explained “are Mossmen. My ancestor brought them here from distant lands. My… old friend cared for them, very much”

“Can I go with them? Pretty please?”

Andrias was about to sigh and remind Marcy of the threats Lady Olivia had made about what she would do if he allowed Marcy out of the baby harness, since, in her words, it was ‘a two way baby harness, to keep under control Amphibia’s most destructive children’. But then, Marcy unleashed on him a weapon even more powerful than the superlaser on the top of the castle: puppy eyes.

With a soft smile, Andrias undid the harness and gently put Marcy on the ground “Go. We will attempt to hide it from Lady Olivia, for all it’s worth” He already knew that the smaller salamander would know as soon as she returned, but as of now, the kingdom could burn, as long as Marcy was happy. “Just try to take it easy, okay? You do wish that your leg heals as soon as possible, don’t you?”

Marcy hugged rapidly his leg, shooting out at breakneck speed a multitude of “Don’t worry” and “Thank you”

She then went up to the one that had approached her, who gently let the injured human ride on its back.

As the two rode off, Marcy filled with awe at every new facet of the garden that the creature showed her or at the simple fact that she was riding something that seemed straight out of the her beloved fantasy worlds, Andrias sat down with a dull thud, happy to see her have fun.

The other Mossman, much to Andrias’ surprise, remained by his side, watching their companion and the girl as the newt did.

Absentmindedly, Andrias stretched out his hand towards it. The Mossman initially retreated from the touch, but, seeing Andrias didn’t seemingly have hostile intentions, complied and let the King pet them.

“It’s like old times, isn’t it?” The King asked to the creature, who, even if silent, seemed to agree. Andrias sighed “It was simpler, back then. It was us three, against the world”

A sad smile appeared on the monarch’s face “Looks like the world won, doesn’t it, Leif?” He spoke to the Mossman, probably the only living thing, outside of Andrias himself and the Core, that remembered the small pink frog, probably the only one that still loved her without second thoughts, as if they were his old friend.

His gaze returned on the human girl, who was still riding the other Mossman “You’d have loved her. I see a bit of you in her, you know?” His eyes closed as he recalled every good moment he’d ever spent with his old friends “She’s curious, she’s kind… she has your same interest for plants, your same joy at discovering something new. Her energy is just like Barrel’s, I’ll say. He too would have loved her”

Once more, the newt sighed “And… she’s just like me. Fearful of losing those she holds dear, yet perhaps doomed.”

“I just wish that what happened to us will not happen to her as well…”

Then, a scream.

Andrias eyes opened instantly and the newt shot up, his fire sword ready in his hand, dashing towards the direction of the sound.

What had happened? Had Leif trained the Mossmen to attack him when his guard was down and they had attacked Marcy? Did she find the Shadowfish? Did the Core decide to take matter in their hands and kill the girl?

He finally arrived on the outskirts of the indoors garden and found Marcy lying on the ground, the Mossman with their head above the girl’s neck.

Andrias raised his sword, ready to strike, but it was too late. The Mossman’s head went down.

And picked up Marcy by her hoodie, carefully picking her up and lifting her to her feet.

Marcy put her weight on her good leg and pat the green creature

“Marcy?” Andrias asked, his fire sword’s blade still on, just in case.

The girl noticed him “Oh, Andrias! Nothing, I just wanted to get down to investigate that painting, but I slipped and screamed and-” Her eyes were drawn to the newt’s weapon”Woah! Is that a sword made of fire!?!? It’s just like in my favourite JRPG, Vagabondia Chronicles! Man, this place just gets cooler and cooler! Can I see it? Can I use it? Please, please, please!”

The King shut the fire blade down and put it away, seeing there was nothing to worry about, just Marcy being Marcy, as usual. “I’m sorry, Little Master, but I think it’s a bit too big for you”

The human visibly deflated at that “Oh man, bummer!”

The newt chuckled and winked “But perhaps I could find a you-sized weapon. Just, don’t tell Lady Olivia. I doubt she’ll approve”

Marcy bobbed her head and joined hands up and down as much as her cast allowed her “Thank you, thank you! You’re the best, Andrias!”

Andrias made a dismissive gesture “Oh, it’s nothing kiddo. After all, Amphibia’s a dangerous place! Gotta keep yourself safe!”

Marcy nodded and turned towards what had got her attention earlier.

Andrias’ heart stopped as he realised just what it was. The painting.

Before he could do anything to stop her, Marcy had already limped to the ruined piece of artwork and got a good look.

“Woah, Andrias, is that you?”

Seeing no point in denying it, Andrias nodded “That is me, a thousand years younger and a lot more foolish”

“Who are the other two?”

“Those who I thought my closest friends. That’s the thing about friends. The more you love them, the more it hurts when they go.”

Marcy put a hand on Andrias’ leg, in sympathy. “T-trust me, I know how it is…”

Andrias smiled “You do miss your friends a lot, don’t you? Don’t worry, Master Marcy. We’ll find them in no time! Then you can all go home” 

Marcy made an obviously forced chuckle “Y-yeah! Home! Thanks, Andrias!”

That got both the King and the Core’s attention

‘She doesn’t wish to go home? Or perhaps her relationship with her friends is not as perfect as she portrays it? This could weaken their bond. All three are required for the prophecy. Investigate, Andrias.’ The Core ordered.

The newt nodded, both to Marcy and to his Lord, knowing that the hive mind must have been watching them. 

“F-forgive me if I’m too intrusive, but… how were they?”

The King faltered for a second and Marcy flushed with embarrassment.

“Forget that I said anything, it’s dumb, I’m dumb, ahah…”

“Calm down, Little Master. It’s fine, really. Just, I haven’t spoken about my friends in a long time, if I have to be honest.” He made a little pause, then resumed “But, considering that is you… I suppose I could talk a little”

And so they stayed there, Marcy sitting on the back of her Mossman and Andrias lying on the side of the hill, while the old newt spoke at length of the daring escapades of an unbreakable trio of friends, of Barrel’s courage and strength, but also of his kindness and of Leif’s intelligence and curiosity, but also of how much she cared for anything, be they plant, animal or amphibian.

Meanwhile, a couple of floors under them, something that did not sleep or die observed the newt and human and saw something they had seen a thousand years before, something that had caused them to lose Amphibia’s greatest treasure.

Their minion, their Andrias, their puppet seemed to care for someone. And this someone was one of the heroes of the Prophecy, the Gem of Wit, destined to cast out the Night with the Gem of Strength and Heart.

The minds of the Core had to discuss.

“We cannot be sure he cares about her” An orange hooded salamander said “Andrias did say that he wanted to lure in her friends. Perhaps this is part of the ruse. It would be best to confront him”

“If he did care” Another newt argued “he would not reveal it to us. If we lose Andrias, it is over, since we lack a body. We need to do away with her and fast. I say we force Andrias to kill her”

“Fool!” An axolotl bellowed “For too much fear of losing control, you would relinquish it! If he does care for this human, forcing him to kill her would make him disloyal!”

A diminutive green newt stroked their long white beard “The other two heroes of the Prophecy are to be considered as well. If they were to discover their friend was killed by our order, they could awaken the power within them and lay waste to all we have worked for”

The bickering went on for a while, only to be broken by a gentle cough. Twelve minds of the Core, kings and queens of a bygone age, and many more of Amphibia’s greatest minds turned to see the thirteenth, who towered over all of them. King Aldrich, the last addition to the Core, the one who retained the most individuality, the one who knew more than all of them how to control the current King to fulfil their desires.

He spoke with a calm voice, like always, but no one dared to interrupt him “Fellow minds of the Core. Your points are all indeed valid. For now, I propose to leave Andrias to his own devices, let him attempt to win over the Gem of Wit”

One large newt had something to say at that. She scoffed “You think too much of Andrias, perhaps because he’s your son. Aren’t you aware of the fact that he nearly cost us everything, one millennium ago?”

With a smile and an accommodating, but ice cold voice, Aldrich answered “Oh, trust me, General Crablaw, I am well aware of the fact my son can’t be relied on. Are you aware of the fact that you were almost refused access into the Core because of your frankly average intellect and only assimilated because the Core needed military experience? You are a glorified encyclopaedia and only continue to exist because of that. Keep that in mind the next time you want to voice your thoughts.”

The other newt being silenced, Aldrich went on, his tone unchanged “Let that be clear. My son is a sentimental oaf, who has messed everything up for us. If he was not the rightful king, I very much doubt I would allow him assimilation in the Core.” He shrugged, a smile still on his face. “He’s sharp, no doubt, and smart, plus an accomplished fighter and general. But he’s sentimental. He gets attached.” The word was pronounced as if it was a foul thing “He has to be reigned in, because he’s not strong enough to make the right choices, even if he knows they are the most logical ones.”

“But he’s somewhat good at forming attachments with people. The Newtopians love him. His friends did too. I think there is a good chance that he is able to get the girl to love him. We just need to see if he gets attached to her in the process.”

“B-but how would we do that?” One axolotl questioned

The smile on Aldrich’s face got slightly wider “Perhaps a test is in order. Let us see what are his priorities, once the chips are down”

Chapter Text

Some time passed. King Andrias was quite busy, the paperwork Olivia had forced him to do as a punishment for letting Marcy out of the harness almost overwhelmed the giant newt. At least, the King could console himself as he read another report, she hadn’t gone through with her original threat of going on strike. Newtopia would probably go up in flames in a couple of days or hours, if he decided to hand the work to General Yunnan. 

Marcy’s leg began to improve, to the point that the cast was replaced with a smaller one, that let her wiggle her foot, albeit with some difficulty. She still needed a crutch, but the doctors remarked that the healing was going better than they hoped for. It could have been because of her alien biology which the doctors did not know (the fact that apparently she was able to maintain her own body temperature just like larger creatures such as birds caused no small amount of amazement in the medical world of Newtopia, Andrias had been told), but somehow Andrias suspected the Mossmen had something to do with it.

Seeing how the human was becoming ever more mobile and after Andrias had remarked how she felt caged being restricted to the castle, Olivia had scheduled a visit to the city’s market for the following week, with the King surprising both Marcy and Olivia announcing that he would join them. After all, he hadn’t left the castle in a decade or so and what better occasion to see how all had changed than Olivia explaining everything to Marcy?

He remembered Marcy being quite excited about it, to the point where Olivia had to be shipped to the infirmary due to a couple of cracked ribs after Marcy picked her up and hugged her with force proportioned to said excitement. At least someone else understood his struggle, Andrias couldn’t help himself from thinking as he watched Marcy apologise profusely to the newtopian aristocrat. Being larger and stronger than anyone around you wasn’t completely positive.

Point is, Marcy had been truly ecstatic, since then.

Which made her later behaviour… questionable. 

Lady Olivia had reported to him that, for once, the girl had slept in and, when she did get up, she was acting in a sort off gloomy way, with none or little of her usual joy. While Andrias was skeptical of this claim (because, really, a Marcy Wu without a little bounce in her step and a glimmer in her eye was unthinkable), he was forced to reconsider when he went to check on her and found her reading a book in the library, a couple of empty cups of bugaccinos discarded on the table.

She had greeted him with a mumble and had not ranted about whatever she was reading. She had not stepped up from her seat to hug him with joy as she would usually do (ever since the Olivia incident they had discovered the girl had a particular fondness for physical affection, leaving Andrias as the principal target of her hugs, since he could actually sustain them without lasting physical damage)

It was… unnatural.

That had happened a couple of hours before. Andrias had thought about what to do and it had brought him standing outside of Marcy’s room.

In case the human girl was there, he knocked, gently “Marcy?”

No response.

“Marcy, I am respecting your privacy by knocking, but asserting my authority as King of Newtopia  by coming in anyways!”

He gave a small push to the door, which was ripped off its hinges. What did he say earlier about being stronger than anyone else around himself? Seriously, it seemed everything was made of cardboard, with how strong his cybernetics and sheer size made him.

He hesitantly stepped in, giving a look at the room, which was, apparently, deserted. It seemed Marcy was still in the library or roaming the halls of the castle.

Well, that just gave him the best opportunity to snoop around!

He was doing it for Marcy, after all. It was not a ‘bad’ thing. 

So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Her journal was missing, but she probably had it on herself, to take notes on anything interesting she came across, as she always did. Her plants had been watered dutifully, possibly by Lady Olivia, and her bed had been made. Both Andrias and Olivia had tried to explain to the human that there was no need for her to do that, that the castle had plenty of servants that were payed to cater to their every need, but there had been nothing they could say that could sway Marcy.

His gaze fell to the desk, where Marcy’s ‘phone’ (as she had called the device) rested. He’d never been too interested by the small machine, having seen much more impressive technology in Newtopia’s glory days, but as he looked upon the piece of machinery, it buzzed lightly, displaying a notification.

As he read it astonishment was painted on the newt’s face.

Oh.

Oh, this was worse than he had feared.

If you asked anyone in Newtopia’s Royal Palace, Lady Olivia was elegant. She always followed proper etiquette, which made the King’s disregard for it all that much more grating for her. She moved with grace, never too slow but also not too fast. She was the very picture of elegance.

Which made the fact that she was now running to the halls ever more shocking. She ran past the guards, her arms keeping her gown from making her trip, apparently uncaring for decorum or anything of the sort.

Finally, she reached her destination: a room in the inner castle, the war room, where Newtopia’s best and brightest convened in times of emergency. It had not been opened in eighty years.

She entered, finding General Yunan already sitting at the meeting table.

The orange salamander turned and saluted her “Lady Olivia. You’ve also been called? It must be serious, then”

Olivia nodded. Some minutes earlier, a letter had been delivered to her by one of the Royal Guards, summoning her to the war room with ‘extreme urgency’ in the name of the King. Considering how carefree Andrias was, the matter was going to be either of life-threatening importance or something so trivial that it would make Olivia wish to be able to strangle the monarch.

Before she was able to say anything to the orange newt, thunderous footsteps resounded throughout the corridor behind them.

Olivia got in her seat and, as soon as her back got into contact with the chair’s, the doors opened once more, revealing the titanic ruler of Newtopia, Andrias Leviathan, First of His Name, Peacekeeper of a thousand years, who, for once wore a serious almost grim expression.

Yunan rose, her left arm going to her forehead in a salute “My Lord.”

Lady Olivia did not rise, but repeated Yunan’s words “My Lord.”

King Andrias made a curt dismissive gesture “Lady Olivia. General Yunan. I’ve called you here for something the gravity of which can only be discussed in person.”

For once, Olivia noted with some disturbance, Andrias was not acting buffoonish. He was almost serious! Between this and Marcy’s uncharacteristic behaviour, she wouldn’t be surprised if General Yunan became suddenly humble.

Well, she would not be surprised, but she definitely would mind. There was some appeal in her constant boasting, she had to concede. It was almost endear- and that thought was instantly shot down. 

Focus, Olivia, she told herself. For once, Andrias was taking things seriously! It looked like her prayers had finally been answered! She had the occasion of working for, nay, working with a serious and competent ruler! She had to be at her best, who knew what stars had aligned for this to happen!

She nodded “Of course, Sire. What is the matter”

The King paced the ground in front of them, across from the table “You’ve been selected for this task because you’re, quite possibly, the only ones able to do what I ask of you.” He fished something of his pocket “And that… is this” Andrias threw something blue on the table, which slid across it, finding its place in front of the other two newts “Take a look. I won’t blame you if you wish to be exonerated. This mission is of the utmost difficulty and importance”

Both Yunan and Olivia gazed upon what they quickly realised was a strange rectangular box, who Olivia recognised as Master Marcy’s magic box.

As if on cue, the device made a sound, writing appearing on its screen

They read it. 

“Wait, is it-” Began Olivia, disbelieving what her own eyes had just registered, because it dissociated too much from reality, it simply could not be!

“Indeed it is” answered Andrias in a grave tone “I’ve thought about this long and hard, but it is the only possible explanation to the later events.”

“Gentlenewts,” Andrias slammed his opened hands on the table “today…

“Is Marcy Wu’s birthday”

Only years of experience in proper etiquette prevented an expression that was a cocktail of shock, disappointment, annoyance and just a pinch of an aneurism in the making from forming on Olivia’s face, which remained its usual mask of calmness. Underneath the table, though, her hands clenched and unclenched, intensely wishing to latch onto the larger newt’s neck.

General Yunan, though, did not have the same training, and was much more open and impulsive. “…what?” She asked, disbelief clearly painted on her face “Sire, not to sound disrespectful, but seriously? All of this for a birthday? I may get Lady Olivia, since she’s her babysitter” She looked at Olivia “No offence, Liv”

Olivia shrugged “None taken. My job was already to take care of a child, what’s one more?”

Andrias looked like he was about to object before reconsidering and nodding “Alright, fair enough”

“But me?” Yunan continued, ignoring Andrias’ comment “I don’t even know her!”

Andrias nodded “Well, that’s true, but she has said many times that she wishes to meet you. Something about sending you and Lady Olivia via postage”

Once more Yunan was dumbfounded “… excuse me what?”

“That’s what I said!” Exclaimed Andrias “I mentioned you two being friends and she kept talking about ‘shipping’ you two. I supposed it’s a human thing and didn’t question her further. Point is, she wants to meet you, so you’re coming to that party. What’s more, it would be really awkward if it was just me and Lady Olivia”

“Sire, I would like to take on your earlier offer and ask to be exonerated”

“Oh, I was totally lying about that. You are coming, it’s an order”

Yunan facepalmed “Liv, say something!”

Lady Olivia, a static expression on her face which made apparent how much desensitised to King Andrias’ antics she had grown over the years, simply spoke in a deadpan tone “Welcome to the nuthouse” Then, she took something from an hidden pocket, a small glass bottle which had been hastily relabelled as ‘Juice’, filled with a reddish liquid, which she downed in one long sip. 

This would be one long day.

The sun had begun to set upon Newtopia’s sea, painting the ancient city with purple and red light. Marcy had put back in its place the book she’d been studying (a habit which had won her no small amount of sympathy from the school librarian back on Earth) and was returning to her room. She had already had dinner on her own, since Lady Olivia and King Andrias had not sent for her as they usually did, but she had hardly even eaten the sandwich the servants had prepared.

As she arrived in front of the closed door, she stopped and sighed. She opened her diary and took out a photo, quite possibly her most cherished possession. It depicted the three of them, Sasha, Anne and her, BFFs written and underlined with green ink beneath. Her thumb rubbed on the writing. She put it away and opened her door.

Her mind registered immediately the pitch black darkness of her room. Uh, that was weird. She was sure she had left the blinds opened, to allow sunlight for her plants.

However, she did not have time to question this or to worry about her plants because immediately, the blinds were opened and lamps were lighted, blinding her temporarily. After this attack on her vision, one on her hearing followed, as a couple of explosions went off. This was too much for Marcy, who went into sensory overload, falling to the ground with her hands automatically clasped on her ears, her breathing intensified and erratic.

“Yunan!” She could hear the chastising voice of Lady Olivia “I told you that it would be too much!” Soft steps were heard, then gentle hands went to Marcy’s, softly detaching them from her head. “Everything’s fine, Master Marcy” the newt said in a soothing tone “Everything’s fine. We just wanted to give you a surprise, but someone went overboard.”

Marcy hesitantly opened her eyes, her brain still reluctant “A-a surprise?” 

Kneeling beside her stood Lady Olivia, wearing a pristine white dress and a worried smile on her face as her hands shifted to support Marcy, who was now sitting on the floor. In front of the human, an orange newt wearing an elegant white coat with hints of purple smiled sheepishly while holding a used confetti cannon. Next to her, sitting on her bed, was King Andrias, concern evident on her face.

“Are you all right, Master Marcy?” The great newt asked with that thunderous voice of his modulated in a gentle tone, almost if worried that she would shatter like crystal if his tone got any louder or stronger.

Blushing a bit, Marcy got up. ‘Stupid, stupid!’ She told herself. ‘She had just gotten in this world and she was already making a fool of herself! Why couldn’t she just be normal for once?’

“Y-yeah King Andrias” She tried to reassure everyone as she got up and brushed off some of the confetti that had been shot on her, her voice only faltering slightly “I’ve never felt better!” 

Neither the King nor Lady Olivia seemed particularly convinced, so Marcy tried to change the topic “W-why are you here anyways?” Did she do something wrong? Was the King throwing her out?

For a second it seemed like Andrias wished to question her further but, much to Marcy’s relief, he let it slide for the moment “Well, I found out by means that I will not disclose that today is your birthday”

“He broke in your room and stole your magic box” Olivia deadpanned “I had to have the door fixed.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Andrias tried to silence the smaller newt “Anyways, I figured the reason why you’ve been somewhat down today must be because of that. So, I decided to throw together a little party” He said, his index and thumb coming together and almost touching to emphasise.

“By which he means he ordered me and Yunan to do it”

“Oh, shush”

It was only then that Marcy noticed that her room had been furnished with numerous garlands of seashells and that over her bed hung a bedsheet on which “Happy Birthday Marcy” had been written with Lady Olivia’s neat handwriting.

Marcy’s mouth formed an O of stupor, while her eyes glimmered, a sight at which both Olivia and Andrias exchanged a glance and a smile.

“You did this… for me?”

“Well of course, Master Marcy” chuckled Andrias  “Everyone deserves a birthday and you’ve been a wonderful kid!”

Marcy’s eyes filled with tears of happiness “Aw, you guys!” She started furiously wiping at her eyes “You shouldn’t have!”

Lady Olivia put a hand on Marcy’s shoulder “But we did, because we cared about you”

Marcy’s smile began so wide to genuinely hurt her face, but she couldn’t care less in the moment. The teenager spread her arms to hug the light blue newt which immediately got out of the way, shoving a startled Yunan into Marcy’s iron grip.

The veteran of a hundred battles began squirming uselessly against the human’s crushing grip, her ribs slowly being fractured. With what few air remained in her lungs, Yunan tried to plead desperately. “Liv please save me! I’m sorry if I mocked you when she broke your ribs! Please save me!”

This however had the opposite effect that she expected as Marcy finally put two and two together “Wait, you’re the Yunan!?” She asked before squealing and intensifying the pressure on the newt “Oh man! This day gets better and better! I asked Lady Olivia time and time again to meet you, but she denied me because you are ‘a bad influence’ her words not mine, but you’re here now, I want to know everything! Who is Ragnar the Wretched? What happened during the Sand Wars? What are your intentions with Lady Olivia? Gonna propose soon or do you need help?”

Seeing the orange salamander grow redder and redder, perhaps for the embarrassment, perhaps because of the fact that all the oxygen was being squeezed out of her lungs, Lady Olivia decided to take pity on her. After a little polite chortle in her gloved hand, Lady Olivia spoke “You know Marcy, credit where’s due, the whole idea was Andrias’. He was the one that roped us into this”

Marcy let go of General Yunan, who unceremoniously fell to the ground, enjoying the feeling of air entering her lungs more than she ever did before and turned to face the giant salamander, a big grin on her face.

Andrias smiled widely as the human approached him with open arms. “Bring it in you!” He proclaimed as she picked up Marcy, who began to giggle as the King brought her to his chest and began smothering her with his beard.

“It’s so soft!” The teenager said with joy as she hugged back the giant salamander.

“Aha” The King laughed “Look at you! You even walked! The leg must be fully healed, then. You know what that means?”

“Newtopia! Newtopia!” The two both exclaimed, Marcy pumping her fist in the air as Andrias shifted her to be sitting on his shoulder.

Both Olivia and a now recovered Yunan smiled sweetly at seeing the two like that. It was also a shame when Lady Olivia interrupted the moment with a little cough “Sire, Master Marcy, I hate to be the one to break you up, but there are still presents and the cake”

At hearing this, Marcy’s eyes filled with stars “You got me presents!?”

“Why of course!” Laughed Andrias “It would not be a birthday without them” 

He let down the child “Come on, then! Who wants to begin?”

“I’ll go first!” Declared Yunan “I’ve recently got a new flagship assigned to me, but I still need a name. So, if you wish, you can give it one!”

Lady Olivia facepalmed and sighed “Yunan, that’s not how gifts wor-”

She was however interrupted by an excited Marcy “Really!?!? Oh my gosh, it’s so cool! Okay Marcy, this is a big deal, think of a cool name!” 

The girl began muttering possible names, until Andrias butted in “Didn’t you tell me you came up with a ship name for Olivia and Yunan the other day?”

That left Lady Olivia a bit confused. She understood for Yunan, but why for her? She had never owned boats, after all, nor she planned to do so in the future.

Marcy perked up at that, a mischievous grin slowly forming on her face “Oh yeah, I did! Do you want to hear it?”

Yunan shrugged “I mean, I did ask for a ship name”

“Speak away, Master Marcy” 

“Okay, what do you think about… ‘Yulivia’?”

“Yulivia, Yulivia…” Yunan murmured, rolling the strange word on her tongue, as if trying to taste it “I like it! It does sound a lot like Yunan, so I guess it fits! A name that will strike fear in all my enemies! Just a question, what does it mean?”

Marcy smirked “Oh, it’s a secret. I’ll tell you, one day”

“Good enough for me. Just know this: Marcy Wu, you shall forever be welcomed on the S. S. Yulivia, as its second in command. The Yulivia will be your ship, as if you created it!”

At that, Marcy broke down in laughter, confusing slightly everyone “Y-yes, I will, General Yunan! Or should I call you Captain?”

“You shall refer to me by my proper rank, squirt, or so help me Frog-”

Interrupting Yunan before she could make any threat, Olivia pulled out a box, properly wrapped up with white gift paper and a neat lavender bow “Open my gift, Master Marcy”

With a small bow and a chuckle Marcy accepted the present “Of course, Lady Olivia!” The teenager said with an exaggerated formal tone.

She put down the rather heavy thing and gently opened it, being careful not to rip the expensive looking gift paper. As soon as she loosened the bow, however, a figure burst out of the box.

It was a pink newt, dressed in an extravagant white jacket with gold shoulder pads and with a pair of tinted sunglasses “It is me, Bernardo! The best armourer in all of Newtopia! Bernardo asks of his kidnappers that they do not hurt him!”

Marcy smiled brightly at the first part, only to look confused at Lady Olivia at the small newt’s plea.

Lady Olivia evaded her questioning gaze, somewhat embarrassed “Well, the decorating took a lot time and then there was the cake… to save up time I ended up kidnapping him. The idea was having him design you a ‘cool’ outfit” 

“Aw, thank you Lady Olivia! That’s a really cool gift!”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Bernardo interrupted “You knock out Bernardo, stuff him in a box and expect him to design for you? Not. Happening. Consider yourself exiled from my boutique, girly”

Without a word, Lady Olivia simply took out a golden card, the Royal Credit Card.

At that sight, Bernardo reconsidered “Tomorrow at 4 PM. Sharp”

After they had let out the armourer, Marcy gave a (light) hug to both Yunan and Oliva “Thank you so much! Your gifts were the best!”

“Ah, but you have not seen mine, Master Marcy” chuckled Andrias “After all, I believe I did make you a promise”

Marcy gasped in amazement “Really!?!?”

Why did Olivia feel like nothing good was going to come out of this? Ah, yes, it involved Andrias. The probability that what he was about to hand to Marcy would not cause the human’s, Newtopia’s or anyone’s demise were almost zero. For all she knew, he was about to hand the teen a command to make the moon crash into Amphibia. That would definitely be in character.

“Sadly, I was unable to find any fire sword of your size” the King said, dejectedly, much to Marcy’s disappointment.

Any what now?

“But I found this!” With that, the King extracted a staff from his sleeve, from which promptly emerged the crescent moon shaped bright red and orange laser blade of a scythe.

Marcy’s grabby hands were on the weapon before Olivia could stop her and when she tried to say something to her, she ran out of the room swinging the weapon to try it out, her leg’s cast not hindering her and apparently forgotten by the deranged, scythe wielding teen.

Olivia tried looking at Yunan for support, but found her stupefied, in awe of the majestic weapon 

Pinching her nose in frustration, Olivia tried to talk some reason in her liege

“King Andrias, you can’t give her that!”

“Olivia, I thought you were aware this is an absolute monarchy.” The giant salamander proclaimed with a smug smile “I can, in fact, do whatever I want”

“That’s not what I meant!” She protested “It’s not safe!”

“To be fair, it’s a super cool energy scythe, Liv” Butted in Yunan “They are not exactly supposed to be safe”

Olivia levelled her an icy cold death stare, to which Yunan retreated.

“I, uhm, I’ll go bring Marcy here” she said, before making herself scarce

“Ah, don’t worry, Olivia” reassured her the King “I’ve set it to training mode. If she hits anything, it will not slice through it, nor leave any lasting damage. It will only hurt. A lot”

From outside, noises of something being hit and shattered resonated, followed by a deranged cackle and what sounded like “I’m a god of destruction”

“Uh. Apparently it can also knock over vases. The more you know!”

The aristocrat sighed. She supposed it was something at least, and any vase could be replaced, since they had infinite money. “It will do. She does need to be able to defend herself, if the rumours about cult activities in the city are tr-”

“Upupupup” Andrias interrupted her, a hand raised “No work stuff, now. It’s a party, for Frog’s sake! I even got you a gift”

Olivia raised an eyebrow in surprise “You did?”

“Why, yes, I did” Andrias pulled a bottle almost as big as Olivia from under Marcy’s bed “Here you go! Gotta make sure the person who takes care of Marcy and keeps my kingdom from falling apart gets her ‘juice’, after all” The giant newt winked at the last part

“Thank you, King Andrias, but I fear it’s a bit too big for m-”

“Oh, here they come!” Andrias said, before tossing her the newt-sized bottle “Here, catch!”

Marcy and Yunan entered the room, the human sporting a wide grin while she swinged wildly and with no form or technique at the general, who on her end deflected easily the untrained swipes with her blades, that she had apparently brought along to a child’s party. Olivia could have probably said that she almost expected it, if she was not being crushed by King Andrias’ gift.

Luckily for the blue newt, Marcy noticed her and rolled the bottle to free her.

“Thanks Master Marcy” Olivia thanked the child “Looks like someone needs to be reminded that not everyone is twelve feet tall”

Andrias rolled his eyes and huffed “Oh come on! You tell me none of you has ever accidentally almost killed someone by handing them something?” 

“Sire, I am pretty sure no one in this room has ever done that” Olivia deadpanned, a tired expression on her face. She could have been a respected botanist. Why did she think running a kingdom would not have been like this? 

“While we are speaking about accidentally killing people” Yunan butted in “Those were some solid swings Marcy!”

“Really?”

“Well, I could have skewered you a couple dozen times” Yunan offhandedly mentioned “But there was some solid talent, I could tell. Tell me, how would you like taking a couple lessons from the youngest general of the Newtopian army?”

“Oh boy, would I! When do I meet them?”

Yunan went silent for a second, then sighed “It’s… me.” She turned to Olivia “See why I need to do the whole introduction?”

Olivia rolled her eyes, while Marcy chuckled awkwardly rubbing the back of her head “Derp. Sorry, General”

Yunan dismissed her concerns “Nah, it’s fine, kid. You’ve just provided me an argument for when Liv tries to tell me that I should not do the full introduction each time I try and present myself to people”

Olivia took a deep breath “I’m just saying, we go to the Starbugs near the castle pretty regularly. The staff knows us, as well as most of the patrons. There is no need to jump on the counter to shout your accomplishments each and every time they ask for your name to put on the boba tea you’ve ordered.”

“Wait, you guys got boba!?” Marcy exclaimed “Why didn’t you tell me sooner! I love boba tea! Can we got some, sometime?”

Yunan flashed a grin “You like boba tea? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?! Frog, I already like this kid!”

King Andrias laughed at the scene “Alright, I suppose we can all get this ‘boba’ beverage when we go visit Newtopia”

Olivia sighed lightly “I’ll adjust the tour, then”

Yunan smirked “Tour, uh? Must be my lucky day! I can drink boba with an alien and the King, plus I get to listen to Lady Olivia as she gives us a tour of the city? Well count me in!”

Lady Olivia blushed ever so slightly, something that was lost to anyone in the room but Marcy, who struggled not to start bouncing in place

‘It is wrong to write fanfiction about real people, it’s wrong to write fanfiction about real people’, she had to repeat in her head to stop some of the ideas that her ship-addicted mind was concocting.

“Well, anyways” said Lady Olivia “I believe it is time for the cake”

With that, the newt extracted a plate covered by a metallic covering, which she promptly removed, revealing a magnificent green cake, with white frosting in floral shapes on its sides and ‘Happy Birthday, Master Marcy’ written on it with blue frosting, alongside Newtopia’s sigil.

Tears formed in Marcy’s eyes. “T-this is beautiful, thank you thank you thank you!”

Lady Olivia smiled “It’s not much. I made it myself. Yunan came in to help, so I had to make this one after the one I started baking caught fire”

The general scoffed “C’mon, give me a break! As if you never set fire to a cake!”

“One, I never did. Two, you were applying the frosting”

Marcy chuckled “Yeah, happens to me all the time as well, setting things on fire. Once, when Anne was sick I went over there and tried making her some chicken soup. As you can guess, they had to call the fire department”

Yunan nodded “Ah, yes, setting fire to the soup. Did it so many times I lost count myself”

The human shook her head “Actually, I set Anne on fire”

Olivia brought her joined hand to her face before speaking in a dismayed tone “I cannot genuinely tell which is worse.”

As the scene devolved into inane banter, Andrias couldn’t help but smile. 

This… this was good.

The newt king joined in, the betrayal of friends long gone for once temporarily forgotten.

“Speaking of fire” Andrias spoke up “I believe there are some candles to light!”

Olivia nodded and put fourteen candles on the cake, which Andrias lit up with his sword, causing Yunan to almost throw a tantrum as ‘everyone had cooler weapons’.

“Make a wish, Little Master” said Andrias with a whisper.

Marcy closed her eyes and got into position.

A wish, a wish. She racked her brain for an idea. Then finally she decided.

With a single blow, the thirteen little flames were obliterated.

‘Sasha, Anne, I wish you’re alright. I am. I found the most wonderful people ever you two notwithstanding and I hope you two can say the same. I wish we can be together once more. I promise you that no one will separate us.’

Far, far away, in a dark swamp, a blonde teen rested in her newly completed room. Finally, after all this time those toads had completed the repairs on the tower, well enough for her new room to be completed.

“Well, it’s better than the cell, that’s for sure” Sasha commented to no one in particular. 

She let herself fall on her new couch, her cellphone slipping out of her pocket (her armour had pockets, it was one of the things she had insisted on). She picked it up, her eye falling on the current day.

It was Marcy’s birthday.

Were they still on Earth, she’d have organised a great party for her friend. Marcy was always eager to join in. Unlike Anne, who was always almost too much connected with her parents (Sasha could not blame her, Mr. and Mrs. B were great people), Marcy jumped at the chance to spend less time than possible at her home and more with her friends.

Were Marcy here, she’d throw a party all the same. Heck, most probably it would even be better! With the toads at her command, she’d be able to do all sorts of crazy stuff! She was sure she could even swipe some booze from the tower’s reserves. She’s never had any, but the stuff was supposed to be good, wasn’t it?

“Hang on tight, Marcy.” She said, as she pocketed her phone “I’ll fix all of this. I’ll save you and Anne.”

“I can appreciate the sentiment” came the voice of her ex-captor, Captain Grime. “Can you back it up?”

Sasha scoffed “Of course I can. I cared for her and Anne since we were squirts”

“Eh. Camaraderie is good and all” the toad said with a grin “but I was mostly speaking about combat skills. The training grounds have finally been cleared from rubble. Care for a spar? I can show you a thing or two, from what I’ve seen you do with those herons.”

Sasha picked up her new sword and pointed it at the veteran “Bring it on, old timer!”

Somewhere not so distant from the tower, a lone house stood in the middle of cultivated fields. Near it, a broken down wall was the resting spot of a human and a pink frog, who had long fallen asleep.

As her friend shifted in his sleep, Anne pulled out the photograph depicting her two other friends.

It was the first time since she could remember that she wasn’t there for Marcy’s birthday. She hoped she was alright. Since she had discovered that they’d been separated, she’d had feared for her friends’ safety, but Marcy’s most of all.

She knew Sasha would be safe, the girl had the spunk and the strength to beat even the strongest beasts that roamed this place. But Marcy? She could only hope she’d ended up with Sasha.

If not, she wished that someone had taken her in like the Plantars did. Someone that could care for her like they did. Someone that understood the treasure they had found in the smart, sweet, raven haired girl.

But then… Marbles probably would feel at home in this strange place, so similar to all her fantasy worlds. Heck, when (when, not if, remember Anne!) they’d find her, she’d probably want to remain!

She brought the photo to her chest. She missed them both.

The flame of the candle flickered like someone had blown on it.

Anne smiled

“Happy birthday, Mar Mar.”

Chapter Text

A couple of days passed and, much to Marcy’s happiness, the cast was finally removed, ahead of time as well. The doctors had wished to keep the human under observation for some more time, but Lady Olivia’s polite asking and a slightly too strong pat on the back from King Andrias were all they needed to relent and leave the girl go freely.

The minute she was told, the girl starting jumping up and down, eliciting a genuine laugh from Andrias. The two spent the following night on Andrias’ throne with a map of Newtopia and several coloured markers, to look for the most interesting spots for the visit of the city that the King had insisted was to be as soon as Marcy had been acquitted. 

Lady Olivia tried to persuade the two that a good night of sleep was essential for the coming big day but Andrias had never cared much about sleep (the implants took care of that, most of the time) and, according to Marcy, sleep was for the weak.

So, with a map covered with so much marker that Olivia was pretty sure it could be classified more as modern art than as a map, King Andrias, Lady Olivia, General Yunan and Marcy Wu had stepped out of the palace that morning, ready to explore the city.

As he walked in the great streets of his city, Andrias sipped on the barrel full of boba tea, a bent pipe acting as a makeshift straw. Getting himself some of the drink that Marcy spoke so well about had been a problem, due to his size, but he did not regret it in the slightest. 

“I’ll say it again, Master Marcy, this is delicious!” Andrias laughed after drinking another sip of the heavenly beverage “Lady Olivia, we have to get some for the palace! And by we, I mean you. And by some, I mean a lifetime supply.”

As Olivia nodded and wrote down a note, mentally calculating how much the titanic shipment of boba tea was going to cost and silently thanking the Royal Credit Card’s existence as she got to the result, Marcy laughed and sipped some more “Hey, it’s also a bit different from the one we have on Earth.” She said, making a dismissive gesture with her free hand, the other one holding her own paper cup “Ours has… less bugs. It has none actually.” She shrugged “I don’t mind it honestly. They give it a bit of crunchiness.”

“Yeah, talk about it!” Laughed General Yunan “Whoever had the idea of taking a drink and saying ‘Let’s make crunchier’ is a frogging genius!”

“Sire, Master Marcy, what would you like to see, now? We have all day, but Newtopia’s quite large.”

Andrias hummed, in thought, a hand resting on his chin “Well, Marcy and I got to speaking, yesterday. Amphibia is quite large and if she is to find her friends, she might as well get a proper steed!”

“Andrias told me there’s all sort of birds around here! And they’re people-sized, so you can even ride them! It’s so cool, they’re far too small to do that on Earth!”

“Absolutely not” Olivia refused “I will not be left to care for a pet.”

“Oh, please Lady Olivia!” Marcy begged “I love birds, I know all about them and I promise to take care of it! Please!”

Marcy unleashed her cutest face, forcing even Lady Olivia to relent, much to Andrias and Yunan’s amusement “Fine. But I will not take care of it!”

“Ah, don’t worry, Olivia!” Laughed Yunan “I’ve got a bird and I can take care of Lord Deathstroyer the Tenth perfectly! It’s not that hard, even if you’re not as amazing as me!”

“Cool name!” Exclaimed Marcy “What kind of bird is it?”

“Oh, it’s a falcon. If your bird doesn’t eat the skulls of your fallen enemies, are you even birding correctly?” 

“Oh my gosh! It’s so cool! What happened to Lord Deathstroyer First to Ninth?”

Yunan stopped for a second at Marcy’s question “Oh, they died. It was pretty gruesome”

Olivia sighed “I’d have to say I’m disappointed, but at this point I was almost expecting it. But I suppose Master Marcy could be marginally better than you with animals. I hope.”

“It’s decided, then!” Announced Andrias, before pointing with his finger, striking a pose, almost cool if not for the teen on his other shoulder, currently sucking her boba tea through a straw “To the Beast Market!”

“It’s the other way, Sire”

Andrias turned on his heels “To the Beast Market!”

Andrias had to say, this was impressive. He’d never been to one of these markets (why would he? He doubted anything short of a heron could carry him and even Leif wouldn’t have been able to tame one) so its sheer size and variety took him aback.

Who even knew that so many animals were bought and sold in Newtopia? He could see birds, bugs, snails, mollusks, tanks of fishes and more, tamed beasts and wild animals in cages.

And more than that, the people.

Andrias had already noticed how people reacted to seeing him when he had entered the Starbugs, but with the enormous crowd, the real beast of this market, it was ever more evident. People pointed at him, exchanged flabbergasted glances and whispered. 

The monarch chuckled to himself. It only seemed fair that he gave this place a surprise equal to the one it had given to him. And what a surprise! He supposed that not everyone knew that their King was a giant salamander.

‘If they knew even a tenth of what I know about myself and the city…’ Andrias could not help but think, but rapidly dismissed the thought. Today was not a day for thinking about the past, today it was a day dedicated to Marcy!

And if he was surprised of the place, the human’s surprise was ten times his and then some. She pointed at everything and everyone, her face permanently morphed in an expression of wonder that alone made the visit worth it. Her excitement was shown evidently by her hands, that moved up and down, left and right, clapping and shaking, flapping so much that at one point they were  stopped by an elderly newt, who claimed that Marcy had been insulting his long deceased mother in sign language, clearly unwarranted since apparently the woman was a saint.

Still, the human was so taken by the bizarre new world around her that this encounter was not nearly enough to deter her. It was not long before she climbed down her gigantic steed and started darting towards every booth asking questions to every newt and frog.

Soon, Olivia and Yunan had gone their own way, since apparently Yunan wanted to get Lady Olivia a bird herself. Marcy had given the two an odd look as they got away, but Andrias chalked it up as the human’s weirdness. Which mainly manifested around the two newts. When they were together. Perhaps they reminded Marcy of her friends?  

Andrias and Marcy had stopped at one albino newt’s open air shop, who sold mostly sparrows and a couple cardinals. Marcy was in the process of petting one of the red birds when the owner approached them 

“Ah, you like little Flapjack?” Asked the white amphibian, apparently not having noticed the girl’s guides, one eye a pale red, practically pink, the other missing, covered by a black eyepatch and sporting black gelled hair “Good choice! He’s a loyal one! Would return to his owner even after four hundred years, that one.”

Marcy ruffled the feathers of the bird, who happily chirped “His name’s Flapjack? Aw, it’s so cute! Fitting, since he’s a cutie!” 

“Young… uh, I wanna say creature. Is creature okay?” As Marcy nodded, the newt went on with a bright smile “Maybe you can ask your parents if they can buy it for you! It’s only 9999 snails!”

Andrias cleared his voice, causing the newt to turn. The amphibian froze as he saw the giant amphibian, his pink eye going over the giant, fixating on the crown “Woah!” He exclaimed “The King? Here? In my humble homemade storefront? I’m sorry I didn’t notice you before your majesty!” The newt did a small bow, before going on “I take the creature is one of your pets? I had heard rumours of a horrible monster in the bowels of your castle. If you’re looking for buyers, I think I’m interested”

“Little Master Marcy is not a pet” Answered Andrias “But she is looking for one. It seems like she’s interested in your birds”

“The King as a customer? Why, that would be simply FANTASTIC!” Exclaimed the white newt, his voice growing extremely loud from a second to the other “It sure looks like little ol’ Samson’s luck is turning around! Why, tonight I might even buy real food and sleep in a bed!”

Ignoring Samson’s comment, Andrias continued “Well then, let’s see about buying it. Money is not an issue, not for-”

Something that was a mixture between a cry of pain and a choked cough interrupted Andrias. While both the king and the human were puzzled by this, Samson simply rolled his eye and walked to the back of his open air shop, to a cage covered by a curtain.

The newt moved it, revealing a sickly looking sparrow, with a couple of bald spots and a couple of beady eyes. “Hey, none of it, you little slimeball!” Said rather angrily the seller to the bird “You’ve already cost me enough money! If you lose me the King as a customer, I just might sell you to a local butcher, ya know?”

So immersed with reprimanding the bird, the seller did not notice the human teen that out of curiosity had followed him. 

Marcy, upon seeing the poor volatile, could not help but sadden a little at its state. She reached through the bars, both the bird and the seller noticing her.

The sparrow leant in her hand, probably a bit touch starved, earning himself a coo from the human. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, creature.” Warned her the salesman “He’s sick. From what I don’t know, nor could the doctors I paid hundreds of snails. Bunch of slimeballs, those.”

Marcy did not seem to listen and ran her hand through the bird’s feathers, causing an happy chirp from him. She seemed almost entranced from the creature “What’s his name?”

The newt sighed and entertained the girl, since apparently she did not care of any illness the sparrow could pass on to her “Joe Sparrow. He was my best bird, strong, smart and curious, thought I’d made a bucketload of money selling it to some rich shmuck here in Newtopia! But he’s been like this since we arrived”

“Could… could you take it outside? I don’t think he likes being in the dark”

The newt gave her a weird look, before turning towards the King with a questioning gaze

Andrias simply flashed the Royal Credit Card

“Fine by me” Samson proclaimed, shrugging “he doesn’t have much time, I think, so some fresh air could at least make him a bit happier. If he gets any other bird sick, though, you’re paying”

Marcy nodded energetically and the salesman opened a door, before leading the sparrow into an enclosure.

The girl approached the bird, who once more revelled in her affection. The girl laughed and hugged him.

“Master Marcy” intervened the King at this point “are you sure it is wise? He’s sick and you just got out of the hospital”

“Hmmm” mused the girl “see, that’s the weird thing. He doesn’t seem to be sick! No swollen eyes, no ruffled feathers nothing! I had a couple of birds, back at home and I know how a sick bird looks. This isn’t it, King Andrias”

Samson shrugged “What can I tell ya, kid? That’s the same the doctors said, but he-”

As if on cue, the bird coughed, evidently in pain.

“See? It’s a damn mystery.”

“Hmmm…” the girl brought her hand to her chin “I wonder if…”

The girl put out her arm, pointing it towards the bird’s beak. The avian turned his head twice, observing the limb with each eye, before lunging and swallowing the arm whole. 

Immediately Andrias sprinted towards the two, fist raised, while the salesman pulled out a crossbow from Frog-knows-where.

Marcy was quick to reassure them, raising her other hand “Don’t worry, he’s not eating me! I was just seeing if… aha!” She extracted her saliva coated arm (causing Andrias to grimace in anticipation of the scolding by Lady Olivia), triumphantly holding what looked like a yellow glass orb.

“He wasn’t sick!” Explained Marcy “He had simply gotten something stuck in his throat! You did tell me he was curious and it was something that had already happened with one of my birds, back home, so I thought, since he apparently was curious, he could have eaten something that had gotten stuck!”

While Andrias gave Marcy an approving nod, Samson looked at the thing that Marcy had pulled out “Can I see that?” The salesman asked 

Marcy shrugged and handed him the glass orb “Sure, why not?” 

The amphibian examined it for a second, before exclaiming “So that’s where it ended up!”, discarding the eye patch and popping it in the empty eye socket, prompting a gagging sound from Marcy.

“You found my glass eye!” Thanked her the white black haired newt, now with mismatching yellow and pink eyes “As a reward, here’s a coupon! It’s for a glass eye artisan. If you buy two, the third is free! You’re gonna need it, dealing with birds is dangerous, those beaks are mighty sharp!”

Still a bit revulsed, Marcy took the small ticket, just before someone else decided to show their gratitude.

The bird happily rubbed her face against Marcy’s head, way more vital than before, prompting a chuckle and subsequent cuddles from said teenager.

Andrias chuckled at the scene. “Well, looks like someone found themselves a new friend! I think you’ve made your choice, then, Master Marcy?” 

Marcy, currently with her head buried  in the soft plumage of Joe’s chest, turned 180 degrees and looked at the king with starry eyes “Really? I can keep him?”

“I did promise you a bird and it’s evident you like this one, rugged as he is”

The salesman chuckled “Yeah, I’ll even give you a discount, since he seems to like you, creature!”

“Really?” Questioned Andrias “There’s no need, we quite literally have infinit-”

“Of course, we have to account for inflation. So, the price of the bird was 10000 snails, which cause of inflation while we spoke went to 1 million snails, minus a 5% discount… 950000 snails! Card or cash?”

King Andrias sighed. This was a scam, everyone could have seen it. But Marcy’s happiness over the sparrow was worth it. Plus, he did have infinite money, so.

“Oh and I was joking, I only take cash”

“Oh, you son of a-” Andrias stopped in time, picked up Marcy with his right hand and put his left thumb and index on her ears “This is a frogging scam! And there’s no way a bird can cost that much!”

The newt shrugged, a shit eating grin painted on his face “What can I say? You don’t become a big shot like me by not overcharging a few shmucks!”

“What’s happening?” Asked Marcy, a bit confused “I can’t hear a thing!”

Andrias growled a bit, intimidating a bit the salesman, but then sighed. “Fine.” He put Marcy down “We’ll come back later with the money. Can you keep the sparrow for us?”

“But of course!” Said the newt “I doubt I’ll get any better buyer than the King of Amphibia!”

“Oh, can you keep him outside?” Asked Marcy “Some light and open air would really do good for him”

“Surely, creature! For a small fee, that is”

Forcing himself not to bare his teeth at the scammer Andrias relented and Joe was tied down to a small picket in the ground. The animal was visibly sad as Marcy left, but after a few minute of hugging and reassurances that she would be coming back, he let her go.

“Fine” said Andrias as they walked away, Marcy once more on his shoulder “Now all we have to do is find Lady Olivia and General Yunan, go to a bank and leave that… kind salesman his money.”

As if on cue, General Yunan arrived, tailed (quite literally, as the blue newt was clinging on the pink newt’s tail) by Lady Olivia 

“Your Majesty! Marcy! You’ve gotta see this!” Announced Yunan, a bit out of breath

 “General Yunan? Lady Olivia? How did you find us so easily?” Asked Marcy

Lady Olivia attempted to answer, but she was a bit more than out of breath, the usually dignified newt with her hands resting on her knees as she almost threw up her soul and her bugaccino from earlier.

“Well, Sire” Answered Yunan for her “You’re like twelve feet tall and sport a never before seen creature on your shoulder, kind of hard to not spot you in a crowd”

“Hm, fair enough” Andrias shrugged “What did you want us to see?”

Yunan’s eyes lit up “Oh yes! Follow me!” 

She grabbed Olivia’s hand, who could only squeal out the words “Oh Frog not again” before she was once more dragged by Yunan’s crazy run.

Andrias struggled a bit to keep her pace, both because of her speed and to not accidentally squash anyone in the crowd.

Finally they caught up with Yunan, who had stopped a few meters away from a truly gigantic bird cage.

Both Marcy and Andrias paused a second when they saw its content.

Marcy was the first to speak “Is that…” 

“A heron?” Andrias finished her sentence.

The frog eating beast was currently occupied with trying to break out of the steel cage, its mighty beak chewing uselessly against the metal of the bars.

“What sort of idiot would bring a frogging heron in Newtopia?” Rhetorically asked Andrias, eliciting a feeble “Language!” From a still oxygen-deprived Lady Olivia.

“Here she is!” Exclaimed Yunan, now leading by her arm a much taller and broader, but similarly coloured newt, covered with a frankly almost ridiculous amount of scars “The badass who brought a frogging heron in Newtopia! Priscilla, my sister!”

Andrias was about to say something, but then stopped “Yeah, that about explains it”

“You.. tell… me`…” said, panting, Lady Olivia.

“Aw, come on, you spoilsports!” Protested Yunan “You gotta admit it, it’s cool as frog!”

“Damn right it is!” Priscilla exclaimed “Punched him down while he was in mid flight! Sometimes I oughta take you, Yu. It’s Frog darn good fun, I tell you!”

The tall amphibian look up at King Andrias, something the monarch could tell she didn’t have to do very often, much to his internal and childish satisfaction. The perks of being a titanic creature! “And don’t worry, Your Majesty. That cage would hold not only one, but a dozen of herons! Made it myself! As long as nobody gets too near or, Frog forbid, enters it, they should be fine”

Andrias nodded, satisfied. At least no one would get eaten. He was sure this woman was breaking a couple dozen laws, but who was he to enforce them and ruin her fun? Okay, yes, he was the King, but… meh. Didn’t wanna. He had guardsmen for a reason, didn’t he? 

 The big newt crouched down to look at Olivia “You must be Liv! My little sister had told me a lot about you! And by a lot, I mean a lot! When are you two going to tie the knot?” The newt wiggled her eyebrows, teasing the aristocrat.

Both Olivia and Yunan blushed deeply, their colours becoming a deep blue and burgundy, respectively. Yunan was quick to reprimand her sister “Pri! It-it’s not like that! Liv and I are good friends! Ahahahah!” She laughed awkwardly

That left Andrias a bit confused. Of course they were, what else could this Priscilla imply? He also didn’t understand what ‘tying the knot’ could mean. Was it some sort of slang? He’d have to ask Marcy. 

As he turned towards the oddly silent kid he noticed something.

“Not to alarm anyone, but has any of you seen Master Marcy?” Andrias asked, gesturing to the empty space on his left shoulder pad where Marcy should have been

Both Olivia and Yunan perked up at that. The light blue newt, secretly grateful that she had been saved from a rather embarrassing situation, facepalmed “One day. Can that girl not get in danger or you be responsible for one day?”

Priscilla looked at Andrias oddly “Marcy? Your Majesty, have you gotten yourself a newtling?”

“Well, ye- no- it’s kind of complicated.” Andrias explained “What matters now is finding her.”

“Right.” Nodded Yunan. “Liv, you come with me. We’ll go that way. Priscilla, you go the other. Don’t worry if you don’t know how she looks, if you find her, you’ll know. Sire?”

Andrias nodded back at the general. It was in time like this when he could see that the pink newtt was a competent leader. “I’ll stay here. I’m tall, as you said, so if Marcy looks for us or turns back, she’ll definitely notice me.”

As the other newts walked away, Andrias scanned the crowd. Where could have Little Master Marcy gone? It was uncharacteristic for her to desert something she was invested in and she had looked pretty much interested in the heron. 

In fact the problem was very much the opposite, Andrias reflected as he turned to scan the other side of the crowd, the one behind the cage. She tended to be so invested to disregard everything els-

His gaze fell to something inside the cage. It was the familiar form of a black haired teen, almost nose deep into her journal, scribbling furiously and (probably) mumbling her every thought.

Ah, goody. There she was, Marcy was inside the heron’s cage.

Marcy was inside the heron’s cage.

“Oh Frog!” Andrias yelled out as he sprinted towards the steel contraption. His hand went to his belt for his sword, only to find nothing. Of course, he had decided to leave the ancient weapon back at the castle. This day just got better and better.

As he arrived to the cage he realised that while the gaps between its bars had been enough large to let Marcy slip through, they far too small for him to do the same. He began trying to curve them, rip the out, anything, but they were far too strong, even his cybernetic enhanced body managing to only slightly deform the metal.

He looked up from the bar he was pulling at and felt his heart sink. The large bird had stopped trying to break out of its cage and was now looking with curiosity and perhaps hunger at the strange creature that was approaching him.

“Master Marcy, look out!” Andrias screamed, causing the teen to look up from her book and turn towards him. Of course, executing this somewhat complex manoeuvre while walking caused the clumsy teen to trip, a good thing, since just a second later the mighty beak of the heron struck where her head had been.

Marcy, broken out of her Zone, realised fully just was happening and rolled, dodging narrowly a stomp from the heron. She quickly got up and started running towards the nearest gap in the cage, but the heron was far too fast. It kept putting itself between the girl and safety, occasionally lunging with its beak or claws for her, the teenager managing to dodge, each time by less of a margin.

“Help!” She screamed, fear gaining control of her brain “Help!”

At that Andrias pulled more and more at the bar, ordering in his mind for the steel to budge, for anything to happen! Where were Olivia and Yunan?

Her scream, though, was heard by another creature. Somewhat distant, but still able to her the faint voice of the kind creature that had helped him, Joe Sparrow perched up.

‘She’s in danger!’ The bird thought and, without thinking for even one more second, took flight, spooking the salesman that was taking a nap in a chair near to his enclosure.

His escape, though, was stopped in midair, as the cord tying Joe’s leg to a picket in the ground tensed and yanked on him.

Samson pulled himself up and smirked “Ah! Dumb animal! You can’t break the rope! Now, just wait here.”

Joe, however, was not the kind of bird that surrendered, oh no sir. He flapped his wings with all the strength he could manage. Then once more. Again. Again. Again. Each time his flight was stopped by the rope, but he continued.

The salesman scoffed “You ain’t listening! Bah, whatever. Tire yourself out. See if that helps.”

What the newt had not realised, however, was that each time Joe flapped his wings, the stake was loosened just a bit more, until, with a final flap of his wings followed by a triumphant chirp of freedom, it was pulled out completely, allowing the sparrow to fly towards the direction of the scream.

In the meantime, Marcy was getting more and more tired, while Andrias hole did not appear to get wider. Frustrated, the King looked for another potential point of entry, noticing a him-sized hole at the top. The salamander began to climb, but he was too late. Before he had made it even a third of his way to the top, he heard another scream. He looked down and saw what he had dreaded would happen. Marcy had finally tripped.

The heron went in for the kill, the murder machine not hesitating even for a second.

What happened next was a blur. Andrias heard a cry of pain, no two, but far too animalistic to be coming from the human. Did Marcy awaken her Calamity powers?

As the dust that had been raised settled, Andrias could see it was not the case. The heron had a small bruise on the side of its head, while Marcy was still safe, now looking at her saviour, a brown and white bird that sported a bleeding wound over his left eye.

Was that-

“Joe Sparrow!” Cried out Marcy as she rushed up to the bird. She rapidly checked his wound and, seeing that it was only superficial, drew out a sigh of relief and hugged him “You saved my life! Who's a good boy? You are!”

Joe chirped happily and leant in, before being remind of his and Marcy’s current situation by the heron’s roar. He moved the teenager on his back with his wing, before making a resolute verse.

“You’re right!” Marcy said “This is far from over! Let’s get out of this, Joe Sparrow!” Her gaze fell on rope that was still tied to Joe’s foot, stake and all “And I’ve just got the idea how!”

With a confident chirp, Joe Sparrow spread his wings and took flight, flying vertically towards the large gap in the bars at the top of the cage, the very same Andrias was rapidly approaching.

It became apparent pretty quickly, though, that both Andrias’ plan of dropping down and striking the beast and Marcy’s apparent escape plan were doomed endeavours. The heron was taller, bigger, stronger and already up in the air, if Andrias struck it it was very likely it’d have fallen on Marcy and Joe Sparrow couldn’t hope of getting to the gap before the beast.

Good thing that wasn’t Marcy’s plan.

As the King got to the hole, Marcy reached for the rope tied to Joe’s leg.

“Andrias, hit the stake!” She yelled as she threw the still tied picket towards the newt.

An idea of what the human was attempting to do blooming in his mind, Andrias smirked “I like your style, kid!”

He jumped, with his right leg extended, hitting the wooden object in mid-air and driving it into the ground with his landing.

At this, Marcy changed Joe’s trajectory. The sparrow was perhaps not as fast as the heron, but he was far more manoeuvrable. The bird and the human flew circles around the beast, who uselessly tried to catch them with his beak. All the while, the rope that joined Joe’s foot with the stake at the ground ensnared the titanic bird.

Finally, Marcy made Joe Sparrow dived towards the ground, the rope tightening around the heron’s wings, making the bird unable to fly. 

Marcy and her steed landed, just as the heron fell to the ground. The teenager chuckled “The bigger they are…” she stepped off the sparrow to conclude the catchphrase, but tripped and fell.

Andrias rapidly went to help her up “Are you all right, Master Marcy? Please don’t ever do that again”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Andrias” Marcy answered, before sheepishly rubbing the back of her head “Got kind of distracted back there. Thanks for the heads up!”

“It was nothing” Andrias rejected her praise “The one that saved your life is that sparrow, after all. I only… helped.” The newt pet the bird, smiling a bit when he leant in his touch “Definitely glad I got you him. And your plan?” Andrias brought his hand to his mouth and blew a chef’s kiss “Wonderful! It seems like your brains are not only good for book smarts, after all”

“Too kind!” It was Marcy’s turn to reject praise “I copied it from a movie. Anne is definitely not going to believe it that I pulled an Astral Conflicts V! And you were perfect! You drove that stake into the ground just right!”

Andrias shrugged “Ah, I’m good at acting under pressure and you could say that one was a…” the monarch grinned smugly “high stakes situation”

Marcy let out a choked chuckle “Okay, I kinda walked into that, Dad”

A millisecond of silence passed, before the both of them realised what had escaped from Marcy’s lips. As they did, they both recoiled.

Andrias’ brain went haywire and he could swear somewhere in his metallic cranium something shortcircuited. Did… did Marcy just say what he thought she said? 

Before he could fully process that, the now beet red Marcy stuttered out a nervous chuckle “Ahahah, I-I meant I walked into that dad joke! T-that’s w-what we call bad puns on E-Earth! Yup, it’s that! I don’t think of you as a parental figure, that’d be crazy!”

Before any of the two could go on, they were interrupted by Priscilla’s booming voice “Woah! That was borderline badass!”

Glad to have a distraction, Marcy turned to face the pink newt. “Aha, it was nothing! I just had an idea and it worked!”

The big amphibian scoffed “Yeah, right, talk of an understatement! You dropped a frogging heron while locked in an enclosed space! That’s something in my book”

“How exactly did you get in?” Asked Andrias “The gaps are not exactly me or you sized”

“Oh, there’s a door there”

The King facepalmed.

“Anyhow, just wanted to say that you were a pro with that bird!” Priscilla went on “Have you ever ridden a bird before?”

“Well… actually, not really?”

“You kidding me? Well, either you’re a natural or that bird and you must have a serious bond, I’ll tell you what!”

“There it is!” Another known voice interrupted them. It was the salesman “That’s my bird!”

Marcy looked like she was about to say something, while Joe Sparrow chirped aggressively towards the white newt, but Andrias put himself between the two and the salesman. “Well, actually, not anymore. I take that the bird escaped, right?”

“Well, obviously! Your weird creature must have charmed him to steal him!”

Andrias chuckled “I’d advise you not to interrupt me or make up outlandish claims. After all, I am the King and insulting the King is a very serious offence, you know?”

Samson looked ready to say something, but instead opted to keep silent and nodded 

“Goody. As I was saying, your bird escaped. Luckily for you, someone caught it for you! That someone is Master Marcy and I”

“Oh, so lucky am I” Sarcastically commented the salesman “Can I have my bird back?”

“Upupup” Spoke Andrias, raising his finger before smirking “Amphibia’s laws speak clear. Article 348, comma 19, paragraph 4B: If any property is lost by its owner or escapes and is retrieved by someone else, that someone is entitled to a reward equal to a tenth of the property’s value to return it to its rightful owner, or else they shall be named the rightful owner of said property.”

The albino newt growled, but then relented “Fine by me. I’ll pay you 100 thousand snails, then simply raise the price. After all, your little creature wants the bird”

Andrias’ smirk got more mischievous “Ah, but you have not accounted for inflation. Based on your rates I believe what you owe me and Master Marcy should be… a hundred trillion snails? Give or take a zero or two”

“W-what?” Squealed out the newt “I don’t have that kind of money!”

“Oh, and we should also account for the expenses for how we retrieved it, of course. Comma 4C: if the retriever has undertaken serious risks, the judge shall award them additional pay from the rightful owner. As I am the King, I am also the highest judge in the land, so I can determine the payment myself. Let’s see… I had to climb the cage. Pretty risky, I’ll say. That is another hundred trillion snails, there. Then I had to drop down, a couple hundred trillion snails, Master Marcy had to tame the savage sparrow, another couple hundred, not to mention the fight with the heron! That alone is probably a good six hundred trillion snails” He looked at Marcy with a grin “What do you say, Master Marcy? Anything I missed?”

Marcy looked pensive for a split second, then grinned evilly “You also had to handle a wooden stake. You could have gotten a splinter!”

Andrias brought a hand to his chest in mock outrage “Good Frog! I had not thought about that! After all, I’m very old, a splinter could have become infected and killed me! Good thinking, Master Marcy. I’d say, a quadrillion snails? So, to churn out the numbers, plus accounting inflation while we were speaking… a good ten quadrillions snails?” As Andrias saw the white newt become blue with rage, he grinned the most shit eating grin to have ever been grinned “Cash only”

The salesman stomped in rage “Fine! Take the bird! Whatever!” He exclaimed, before walking away muttering about ‘stupid Kings and creatures’

Marcy, Andrias and even Priscilla shared a good hearty laugh.

“Oh, Master Marcy, the splinter?” Andrias complimented the human “The touch of a true master. Bravo, bravo”

“Please, what about that legal citation? I thought you did not care for that sort of stuff!”

The monarch chuckled “I am lazy, Marcy, not stupid. Normally, I wouldn’t care enough to remember it, but to settle a petty grudge? Oh, I could recite to you the whole Amphibian legal system!” That, and also the fact that he had Amphibia’s entire compendium of laws memorised in the cybernetic addendum to his brain.

“Oh, I wish Lady Olivia and General Yunan were here to see us” Marcy commented, wiping away at one of her tears. 

“Yeah, now that you say it, it’s weird that my sister didn’t come here sooner. She’s way faster than me” pointed out Priscilla

“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing” Said Andrias.

However, it must have been Amphibia’s National Interruption Day, since a guardsman, an orange newt with a scar under his mouth approached them and spoke “Ehm, Sire?”

Andrias looked at the small newt “What is it, soldier?”

“It’s uhm General Yunan and Lady Olivia, Sire. During the commotion generated during your and…”

“It’s Marcy” the human girl introduced herself 

“During your and Marcy’s brawl with the heron, it appears that they, alongside others bystanders in the crowd, were kidnapped. Witnesses report the culprits wore the robes and masks associated with a cult that has been causing problems within the city”

It appeared this was definitely not Andrias’ day.

“Excuse me, what!?”

Chapter Text

Well, it seemed like Andrias was right. It had been naught but a couple of hours since Lady Olivia had been kidnapped, alongside General Yunan, and already the Kingdom was starting to fall apart. Who knew that, apparently, running a kingdom without a loyal to the end robot army and endless resources from plundered worlds was kind of difficult? 

Seriously, he’d have to double Lady Olivia’s pay. The fact that he did not, in fact, pay her was not enough to deter him.

As the last newt that had come to him for the King’s justice left, King Andrias thanked Frog this was another task that Lady Olivia had taken care of before being kidnapped. It was just marginally less tiresome than the towers of paperwork he had had to comb through after his him-sized-desk had been cleaned from a hundred years of cobwebs.

Sighing, he sank in his throne.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. He could jape all he wanted about Lady Olivia and General Yunan, but the truth was evident even to him. He was worried.

He let his mind wander, just for a bit, his thoughts returning to events that had transpired years before.

The sun shone brightly in the throne room, the cold blooded salamander basking in the late summer sun while sitting on his throne. Much of him had already been replaced for a long time now, but letting the sun warm him up still felt good. 

It had been a quiet afternoon, time flowing like molasses in a hourglass, repeating itself just like it had for nearly a thousand years now.

King Andrias sighed and set his crown aside, not wanting the Core to speak to him. A useless precaution, really. The minds of his ancestor had retreated into themselves after his father’s ruse had been set in action, until the Box returned once more and the prophecy was set in motion. Not sleeping, no, the creation of his ancestors did not have time for that, even if it had to wait for hundred of years. Planning. Plotting. Scheming. For conquest, for ruling, for revenge.

Sometimes, Andrias envied almost everyone around himself. His father, the Core, Leif, all of them were so sure of what they were doing, willing to doom species, planets and friendships to do what they so certainly believed was right.

What did Andrias believe was right?

He did not know.

Was invading other worlds and razing them for their resources right?

The Core believed it was. It was necessary for their way of living, for Newtopia’s and Amphibia’s greatness. Deep down, though, something Andrias tried every day to squash felt horror and dread at the idea of a barren world, littered of the bones of its former habitants.

Was Leif stealing the box right?

Leif believed it was. She had seen no other choice, against his father not listening to her plea and Andrias refusing to stopping the use of the box. The newt, however, could not help but wonder if perhaps all of this could have been avoided, if either of them listened to the other, if Leif trusted him to do the right thing or if he had not blown off the frog’s proposal.

Was doing all of this right?

His father believed it was. He had to right his wrongs, to atone for his sin, to fix his mistake. But with the centuries going by, each day the same question repeated itself in whispers in Andrias’ head.

Why was he doing this?

For Newtopia’s greatness? He had never been one for nationalistic zeal, one of those that, in his father’s court, loved nothing more than to mock and ridicule the customs of ‘lesser species’ from the conquered worlds.

For power, for wealth? Andrias already was the King and there was nothing he felt for the power and wealth he wielded.

To correct his wrongdoings? He had been a kid, a kid who had been betrayed and robbed. Was his mistake so grievous to warrant a centuries long crusade?

As once more thoughts like these ate at the old King, the great door to the throne room squeaked.

King Andrias’ gaze rose and found a familiar figure, a well dressed light blue newt, her long hay blonde hair tied in a small and elegant braid on the back of her head, while two spiral shaped shells decorated the sides of her head. 

“Ah, Lady Lissa!” Andrias greeted his helper, the newt that held his realm for him. “I thought you had requested a couple of days of vacation?” Luckily, this summer was quiet. Yes, some reports suggested malcontent was brewing in the east, in the desert regions, but it was small, for now.

“I was” answered the newt, in a soft tone, a sweet smile forming on her lips. That was unusual, Andrias noted. The woman was usually very much stern, totally dedicated to her duty and her vow, one of the people that Andrias would envy for their decisiveness. “The matter that makes me come her has nothing to do with work, though, Sire. I wanted to show you… her” Andrias followed the newt’s shifting gaze, that fell on the small bundle that only now he noticed Lady Lissa had been holding in her arms all along.

Andrias’ breath caught in his throat. “Is…” the large newt whispered as he got up quietly and approached the smaller one “Is that…”

Lady Lissa nodded, moving gently the bundle so that the King could better see the small larva, currently asleep. She was light blue, just like Lady Lissa, her tail a deeper shade of blue. Currently, she was asleep, with the placid and calm expression only a newborn may have, one not worried by redemptions carried for hundreds of years and doubts that wracked the mind of immortal kings.

“I took a few days off of work to watch over my eggs, since they were close to hatching” the aristocrat whispered, careful to not wake up the small newtling.

Andrias observed with wonder the child. He had never had children of his own, but had always liked children, larvae or pollywogs. His gigantic hand moved slowly, almost fearfully, his smallest finger easily twice the size of the larva, grazing her without touching her. Still entranced, the usually boastful and energetic newt turned meek and gentle asked “What’s her name?”

“Olivia” The sweet smile formed once more on the features of the newt “After my dear mother”

Andrias matched the expression “I remember her. A caring and graceful woman. May she grow to resemble her grandmother”

Silence fell upon them for a second, as both King and courtesan looked to the sleeping babe. Andrias was the one to break it “You spoke of eggs. What happened to her siblings?”

At that, the smile of the aristocrat turned melancholic, sad, mournful “They… did not make it. They passed one by one, before they were even born. There was a reason I did not tell you of my latest batch of eggs, Your Majesty. I did not wish to get your hopes up. Olivia managed to hold on, but it would not have been the first time an entire batch of my eggs died”

Respectfully, Andrias nodded. 

It had been an unfortunate side effect of the disappearance of their technology. Newt eggs were delicate things and tended to dry up far more quickly and more easily than the smaller eggs of their primordial ancestors, leading to terrible mortality rates. Of course, in the days of old rejuvenation tanks had been created to remedy to this, but the technology had long been hidden.

‘This is all your fault isn’t it?’ His mind whispered ‘This would not have happened, if not for you’

“I… I am so sorry, my Lady” His words were barely audible, but seemingly consoled somewhat the small newt, who reached out with one hand to caress her king’s arm, balancing Olivia on her other arm.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, Sire. There is one reason I named her Olivia, specifically. When my mother told me of the oath our family makes, to preserve the land of Amphibia, she told me something”

Lissa sighed before continuing “She told me the reason it was necessary: we need to preserve the world, to make it better for those that come after us. It was something that always gave me hope, through all these years of serving you, Sire. That I was making a better world for my family and all who come after me”

With that, the mother pressed a small kiss on the forehead of her child, who began to wake up, two black eyes looking curiously to the wide world that they found. 

As the larva saw the gigantic newt that was almost crouching before her, she let out a squeal of joy and reached out with her tiny arms. Andrias smiled and extended his index finger, letting the newtling attempt to grasp it.

Yes, Andrias thought, perhaps it was this that he was fighting for. A better world, for his Kingdom, for his subjects, for his people. Maybe, one day, even for his children.

Fifteen years had passed from that day. Well, fifteen years, two months and five days, but who was counting?

Summer had left Newtopia and the autumn settled in, bringing the falling of leaves, the first gusts of chilly wind and, this time, war.

Once more, the toads rallied for war and once more Andrias wished he had his friend to his side, his Barrel, to counsel him. But Barrel was long gone. Barrel had died alone, rejected by all his friends and sometimes Andrias could not tell himself from him. Was it life his? Or was Barrel, in his death, more alive than the ghost of the past that forced himself to rule a kingdom that had cost him what he had held dearest?

General Ragnar, the commander of the Desert Tower, had rallied thousands of toads under his command and scorned Newtopia, proclaiming himself the ruler of Amphibia. The other Towers, however, stood silent, not answering either Ragnar’s nor Newtopia’s summons, most likely waiting to see whether the crown or the rebels were stronger.

Andrias had rallied his newts, just like he had done many times in the past. This time, however, the renegade Toad Lord sent ambassadors, unlikely as that was.

A now wizened Lady Lissa, her blonde hair turned now as white as snow, helped by her daughter, announced the ambassadors.

“Your Majesty, the toad envoys” the old newt announced “Commander Brag, sergeants Trun and Kol, King Andrias, First of His name, Peacekeep-” 

One of the toads, the biggest one and presumably the one that Lissa had introduced as ‘Commander Brag’ interrupted the aristocrat “Ye, ye, ‘e’s the top banana, we get it, no need for all t’e fancy titles. Let’s get straight to t’e point, will ya?”

Lady Lissa slightly lifted her eyebrow at that, her experience and service under Andrias allowing her to hide well the irritation she must have felt at the total lack of respect for proper etiquette the toads displayed. Olivia, on the other hand, lacked said experience and let out a scoff. 

‘Let her work a couple of years for me’ Andrias thought with a twinge of amusement ‘she’s either going to try and slit my throat or become like her mother’. He genuinely hoped the latter was the case. He’d seen the newtling grow (at a distance) and he had become rather fond of her.

On his part, Andrias was not at all surprised by the ambassador’s straightforwardness. It seemed to be something that most, if not all, toads shared. Surely, Barrel had been straightforward, of that there was no doubt. His once friend always said whatever passed for his mind, something that had landed him (and Leif and Andrias by association) into no small amount of troubles.

The thought made Andrias smile subconsciously. With a jolly tone, he nodded and welcomed the envoys “I agree. The toads are a spartan people, they care not for such frivolities. Am I correct?”

The commander matched his smile, even if Andrias could swear there was something… off with it “T’e big guy is correct, old woman. Can’t keep up with all t’e ‘m’lords’ and ‘pleases’ and ‘t’ank yous’ while you’re fig’ting, can ya?”

Ah, yes, fighting. Something Andrias knew far too well. After all, didn’t he force all of Barrel’s people into fighting, into war just because his old friend had not fought for him once? Was it any wonder if they periodically arose and fought against Newtopia’s armies?

It was Andrias who had begun to grow tired of the fighting. It had happened too many times for him to count. Some toad or another would rise up, he would be forced to rally an army and keep the peace with war. At the end, it would always end the same. With him, standing alone in a scarred field, filled with the dead and dying, asking himself one question.

Was it worth it?

The Toad Lords that rose against him always had different reasons for doing so, yet always the same.

Some would fight for glory, some for greed, some for freedom.

In the end, all were given the same reward.

Death.

Realising that he had been silent for a while too much, Andrias nodded “Yes, it is true. I too have witnessed my fair share of battles. All the more reason why I can respect your choice to try and avoid the conflict. I shall hear the terms for peace”

He could afford to negotiate, as long as he stayed in power. After all, no treaty would matter after he got his hands on the music box. With the Frobots activated and his mistake cleansed, there would be no need for an army or for farming. The caste system could be erased and all could be returned to its previous state, the utopia of old restored. 

The leader of the ambassadors smirked and gave a look to his companions “Fer sure, big guy. First, Ragnar wishes for ya to disband yer army right now. Then, ye and the city’s leadership will come with us ta surrender. Per’aps later Ragnar will even letcha free!” He shrugged “Even if it’s more likely that ‘e’ll chop yer head off, to be ‘onest. Can’t have an ex king going around while ya try to run a new kingdom, after all.”

Andrias lifted an eyebrow in confusion. What kind of terms were these? “Are you jesting?” He asked, genuinely perplexed. “There is no way I can agree to such terms!”

The toad seemed to not particularly care that the negotiations had seemingly went south so fast. He grinned far too widely, which made Andrias reach for his sword on his belt, but it was too late.

“Well, t’was worth a shot I say” The toad chuckled, then spoke with an ice cold tone “Now”

Before Andrias cold react or pull out his weapon, something struck the side of his head, making his side collide with the throne’s armrest, the rebound sending him tumbling down the stairs.

Andrias was about to get up when something grey and shiny was pointed in his face. 

It was the tip of a spear. Holding it, one of his royal guard.

Their helm was down, so Andrias could not see the newt’s face as they brandished their weapon towards him, in a clearly threatening way “Your majesty. Stay down” Spoke the salamander, with a steel cold tone.

A quick glance around confirmed his worst fears. Of the dozen or so guards that were present at all times in the throne room, two now were on the ground, a reddish liquid spreading from where one had fallen. The other ten, including the one before him and the one that had knocked him over, were now around him, their spears pointed at him, unreadable behind their steel armour.

“Sire!” Cried out Lady Lissa, rushing towards him, but one of the toad envoys pushed her to the ground

“Stay there, you hag” growled the toad

“How dare you!” Protested Olivia as she helped her mother rise up 

“I’d watch t’e tone, were I you” commented Brag, with some amusement and not even looking at the two newts “Or per’aps next time Trun could do a lot more t’an just s’ove t’e crone”

The younger newt seethed at that, but stayed silent. Andrias was at least grateful that her mother’s wisdom was seemingly stronger than her instincts

That having been dealt with, the toad leader advanced towards Andrias “Mig’ty fine soldiers you got ’ere, yer Majesty. Shame they like coin much as everyone else” He looked towards the two guards lying motionless on the ground. “Well, most of t’em”

The doors opened and a trio of guards came through, two of them immediately closing the great entrance and crossing their spears to block it. The third continued advancing towards the king and the toad.

Their armour was far more decorated than the ones of the other guards, black and gold. Once they arrived by the king, they took off their helmet, revealing none other than the captain of Andrias’ royal guards. An older newt, his hair mostly grey with only a couple of hints of black. One of his eyes was lost, covered by a eyepatch, but the other was fixated on Andrias, its pitch black iris small and devoid of any mercy.

“The castle is secure. The guards still loyal to King Andrias have been dealt with. The army has caught wind of what is happening, but my newts hold all the gates. The palace is a fortress, they’d need battering rams to enter. We should have a couple of hours, at least.”

“Ah, goody. Ye weren’t saying no lies, old fart. Ye’re a professional. Lucky fer us, we need just a couple minutes to chop t’e ‘ead off big guy. Ye got me stuff?”

The newt nodded and whipped out a greataxe and a couple of hammers. The toad Commander took the axe, while his underlings the hammers

“Ah, almost felt like a cripple wit’out m’lady” Brag commented while making a couple of swings with the bladed weapon “I think I won’t need no more t’an a couple swings to take t’e ‘ead off big guy”

“And afterwards?” The Captain questioned

“Don’t worry, w’ile I’d gladly would ’ave ‘ad your ‘ead as soon as t’is was over, Ragnar is a toad of ‘is word. We’ll leave Newtopia alone, ‘s long as you grant us safe exit from t’e city”

Andrias growled, still lying on all fours, the spears of his guards pointed at him “Why?” He asked

The other newt gave the King a dark look “Why? I’ll tell you why. I had a sister, once. We were young and hungry for adventure. When the last Toad Lord put up his banners and you called up the army, we joined in. Many of our friends joined us and more friends we met. Then, after the first battle, after so many of ours died, my sister ran. She had seen friends, old and new, die before her eyes and she had always had a soft heart. She couldn’t take it, so she ran. She hurt no one, she just did not want to die like her friends.” A tear came out of the newt’s eye, quickly wiped away. “She was strung up, as a deserter.”

“I refuse” The soldier snarled “to let more foolish young newts die for nothing. The toads have promised peace, in exchange for your head.”

The toad commander rolled his eyes “Yeah, yeah, all nice. Axe time!” The weapon rose into the air and for Andrias, time seemed to slow down.

This was hardly a problem, he knew it. He could simply activate his shield and block the axe or even catch it in midair, if necessary. The spears would do nothing against his reinforced skin and one swipe of his tail would knock out every guard around him or he could just vaporise them with his sword, if he felt a bit over the top. Dealing with the toads and the captain would not be much of a problem, after that.

Yes, he could do that.

Would he?

Andrias feared that answer.

He knew what his duty was. He knew he had to stay strong, keep the kingdom together, even by war, until he could restore it, but he was tired.

He was tired of his immortality, tired of an eternity of solitude, tired of everything.

If he let that blade fall down, he would finally be free.

Next time the Core woke up, he simply wouldn’t be there.

Who knew? Perhaps his father would even be pleased to see his disappointment of a son was no more.

Andrias closed his eyes.

However, the axe never fell. Tentatively, the King opened his eyes, only to see the toad with a confused expression

“Does anyone ‘ear somet’ing in t’e distance?”

“aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” The sound became ever louder, from a faint noise to a full blown yell, until something, nay, someone crashed through the  stained glass window behind Andrias’ throne, did three somersaults in the air and landed straight on the toad commander’s face, sending him to the ground and his great axe tumbling away in a different direction. They bounced off and landed on their feet, striking a pose, their black cape billowing covering their features.

“What the-” exclaimed the captain, his hand going for his sword “How in Frog’s name… the castle is 200 metres tall! Who are you?”

The figure laughed “Who am I? Good question” the figure pirouetted, sending the cape in the air. 

Now no longer concealed by the piece of cloth, the figure revealed herself to be a pink tall and slim newt, a breastplate and shoulder pads as her only armour. On each one of her arms she sported two swords held together and onto the arm by something that looked very much like tape.

 “I am Private Yunan!” She loudly declared “Soldier of the Great Newtopian Army!” With a cocky smirk, she added “And, your doom”

“I don’t care” growled Brag, nursing the blow Yunan had dealt to his face “Kol, Trun. Kill t’e fool!”

The other two toads smiled creepy smiles and sprinted towards the newt, hammers raised. She stayed still till the last second. Then, just as the toads attacked simultaneously each from one side, she jumped straight up to the ceiling. The hammers continued their trajectory, each striking at full force the faces of the two toads, knocking them out cold.

“Idiots!” Shouted the captain “Guards! Get her! Show everyone why you don’t send a toad to do a newt’s job”

The twelve guards spread out, looking for the soldier that was currently hiding in the rafters.

“She is nothing!” Said at one point a guard, sprinting towards Andrias with his spear raised “Let’s just kill the King and it’s all done!”

Just as he approached, however, Yunan dropped on the isolated newt, catching his head between her thighs, before leaning in and whispering “Bad idea” to his ear. Then, she twisted his neck with her legs, sending his limp body to the floor.

“Who’s next?” 

The next, apparently, were the two closest guards, who rushed towards the soldier screaming, their spears extended. Yunan caught the first one by his spear and threw him out the window she had come through, before decking the second in the face, the two swords fixed to her arm piercing the unlucky newt’s face.

One particularly cocky guardsman whipped out a sword “You don’t scare me!” She yelled out “Come at me!”

Yunan smirked “As you wish” The second after, she was no more

“Uh?” Asked the confused guard “Where did she g-” Before she was able to complete the sentence, she felt a chill wind on her neck

“Right behind you” whispered Yunan as the guard was bisected at her waist.

Four more guards surrounded her, keeping her at a distance with their spears 

“You’re pinned!” One exclaimed

 “Wrong.” She twirled around, cutting the spears in two with her armblades, the falling pieces of wood and metal making half a spin before the madnewt kicked them in midair and sent them through the unlucky four guardsmen, pinning them to the floor. “You are”

Two guardsmen let their weapons fall and threw themselves at Yunan, managing to restrain her by her arms.

A gauntlet-wielding guardsman went at her, capitalising on this occasion to deck her in the face the reinforced metal fist, only for Yunan to snap out and sink her teeth into his arm, before pulling and ripping it straight out of its socket.

The now disarmed newt fell to the ground screaming, while the other two let go of Yunan’s arms in horror

“Holy Frog, she ripped out Barry’s arm!” one of them exclaimed, before Yunan disemboweled them both with her swords.

The last guardsman left squeaked something unintelligible in fear, raising his trembling spear towards the approaching newt, covered in warm newt blood.

She leant in.

“Boo”

The guard simply clutched his chest and fell over.

Yunan pointed her finger at the captain. “Looks like it’s-”

The door slammed open, revealing a guard “Captain! It sounded like there was-” the newt stopped and looked at the absolute mess of corpses and dying guards on the ground, before slowly stepping back and closing the door.

Yunan cleared her throat “Where was I?”

“Ye were going to say that it looked like it was only you and him” suggested Brag from the sidelines

The pink newt snapped his fingers “Oh, yeah, that was it. Thank you! I was going to kill you and I will still do that, but thank you!”

The captain growled “Is this a joke to you?”

“Well, this attempt at rebellion surely is. Selling out to the toads? Newt of your talents?”

The old newt dashed towards the young, his sword meeting Yunan’s four blades “You know nothing, newtling”

Rapidly, they twirled around one another, the captain’s surprising intensity managing to keep Yunan on the defensive, forced to block each of his accurate blows with all her swords, rendering the advantage of having more weapons null.

“Have they told you stories of glory? Of honour? On the battlefield there is none”

The captain’s blade shifted during one of his endless attacks and hit her left arm, managing to cut away one of Yunan’s swords and leaving a long but shallow gash on her forearm. 

“There is only death.”

As their blades met once again, the captain kicked at her chest, sending her flying through the air against Andrias

“I just want to prevent that. I just want for no one to die needlessly, for no one to throw away their life”

Andrias grimaced at that. He knew what he was doing, restoring Newtopia, giving everyone a brighter future, was the right thing. But was it still the right thing when people died for it?

However, someone still had something to say. Staggering slightly, Yunan rose to her feet.

“No honour you say.” The newt spoke, wiping away a trickle of blood from her mouth’s corner “No glory. You could not be more wrong”

The captain growled “Did you not listen to a word I said?”

“Oh trust me, I listened to your bullshit more than enough. There is honour in fighting, even in dying. The honour of doing what’s right. The honour of saying that you shall defend what’s right even with your life, if necessary. To put your whole self on the line, for what you believe is right!”

With that, Yunan threw herself at the traitor, now on the offensive, her three blades putting the older captain on the ropes.

Andrias looked at the young newt with a questioning gaze. Was it… that simple?

“And not only that!” Yunan yelled as one of her blades grazed the captain’s cheek, leaving a small cut “Honour is fighting for the ones that cannot fight themselves! To make sure that what is right is respected for everyone, not trampled by the first bully that winds up! ”

Yes. Andrias rose to his feet. He knew what was right. He knew what he had to do to help his kingdom, his subjects, his people. He was willing to do it.

“You speak of avoiding a war. What you speak of is choosing what is easy, instead of what is right”

“Private Yunan!” Andrias bellowed, causing the pink newt to cease her attack and look back at him. They exchanged but a glance, but as soon as Yunan saw the outstretched hand, she knew what the King planned “Aw, yes!”

She jumped back with a two somersaults and a half, allowing Andrias to catch her by the legs and spin her around, before throwing her like a knife.

Yunan’s outstretched arms, one sporting two blades and the other one, pierced the captain’s stomach.

She pulled out her blades and looked at the dying newt “All amphibians must die, in the end. We can only choose the how and the why”

As the last light left the captain’s eyes, Yunan turned towards King Andrias and shot him two finger guns “That throw was frogging lit, bossman!”

A bit weirded out by the cheeriness of a woman that had just killed a good dozen of people and severely injured a good three more, Andrias replicated the gesture “Uhm, thank you? Your entrance was also well illuminated”

Ignoring the King misinterpretation of slang, Yunan boasted “Well, thank you. Shot myself out of a catapult. The guy in charge of it threatened me with martial court, but I had four swords taped to my arms and he did not, so he had to shut up”

Andrias laughed “Don’t worry, I’m pretty much sure what you did there is enough for a pardon. And why not? Even a promotion. How would you feel about becoming general?”

Yunan’s eyes lit up “General? Oh boy, would I?”

“Aren’t ye two forgetting someth’ng?”

“Oh, yeah!” Yunan realised “I’d be the youngest newt to ever achieve the title of general in the Great Newtopian Army! Boy would that sound well in my opening introduction. Only saying my name rank and that, it felt a bit barebones. Had to wing that “And your doom”. Ended up pretty good regardless”

“I was talking ‘bout me, ya idiots” Exclaimed the toad commander, who had pulled a knife at Lady Lissa’s throat 

“Let her go immediately, you fiend!” Yelled Yunan, while Andrias simply reached for his fire sword

“Like ‘ell I will!” Barked back the toad “Now, ye’re going to grant me safe exit from t’e city and nobody’s gonna get hur-”

His speech was cut short as Olivia delivered a flying kick to his face, who made him drop the knife

“Ow, what the-”

“That” Olivia said in a cold monotone voice that dripped contempt “was for having my mother pushed to the ground.” then, the newt delivered a knee into his groin, sending the larger amphibian to the ground whimpering in pain “That was for threatening her life”

Yunan’s face became a bit redder at that “Uh. That is new”

The light blue newt checked up on her mother, who reassured her everything was fine, then walked up the the newly appointed general “General Yunan. I have to thank you for helping me and my mother”

The blush still partly on, Yunan scoffed “Ah, that was nothing m’lady. Liked your flying kick, by the way”

Olivia smiled at the praise “Thank you. I take a self defence class. Perhaps you could show me a couple of things?”

“Oh, do you also tape swords to your arms?”

“…no?”

Yunan snapped her fingers in disappointment “I’m already out of ideas”

Lady Lissa chuckled “Olivia, dear, why don’t you escort General Yunan to get a proper uniform?”

Oliva bowed “As you wish, mother”

Yunan, on the other hand, perked up excitedly “New uniform? Now we’re talking! Is there a cape? I will need a cape, I hope you understand it. Frog it, I’m gonna get a cape!” With that she sprinted out of the room

“W-wait!” Olivia exclaimed, lifting the front of her skirt to be able to try and keep up with Yunan.

As the two left, Lissa looked at Andrias “I don’t know about you, Sire, but I feel like something is going to bloom between those two”

Andrias nodded “Agreed” Yes, he could see a beautiful friendship in the making, that was for sure.

Even more than that, he felt like, perhaps, he was less alone than before.

Andrias rose up, his trip on memory lane concluded. They had helped him when he had needed it. Let none say that King Andrias Leviathan was a lesser newt!

“Sire?” One of his guards called to him “The Marcy wishes to speak to you.”

The King nodded “Let her through”

Not just for himself. For his little family.

Chapter Text

Marcy Wu stood in front of the great doors of the throne room. She shifted her weight from one foot to another while waiting.

‘What are you even doing?’ Marcy couldn’t help but think ‘He’s not going to say yes to you’

She rapidly shook off the thoughts, like Anne had told her to. She had to do this! After all, it was her fault Olivia and Yunan had been kidnapped.

‘If only you weren’t such a clueless clutz…’

Her gaze fell on her left hand, which had started to flap around, like it always did when she was stressed. She clasped it with her right, grasping it so strongly that it almost hurt. She couldn’t do that, normal people did not do that. It was bad enough when she started ranting, since she could mask it as gesticulating, even if her father always grumbled about her picking up bad habits, but flapping her hand like this was not something good, it was not normal.

“Master Wu?” A guard’s voice woke her from her reflecting “The King can hear you”

Marcy smiled a bit at the guard and nodded, prompting the cloak wearing newt to give her a pat on the back as he returned to his post “Hey, don’t sweat it, kid. His Majesty loves you to bits, even we have noticed that!”

The teen muttered a little thanks, but the guard was already gone, leaving only her in front of the door.

Yeah, the guard was right, after all. The King had shown her kindness, affection and even tolerated her rambles and rants! If there was anyone in this weird new world that she could trust, it was him.

‘That’s because neither he nor Olivia nor Yunan have seen the real you. Once they do, they’ll drop you, just like that. Then, you’ll be alone. Or do you plan to kidnap them to a different dimension as well?’

Marcy took a deep breath and dispelled the voice inside her head. She had to be strong, like Sasha always said!

She straightened her clothes and passed a hand through her hair, to get rid of any tangles. C’mon, she could do this!

She pushed open the door, peeking out her head like she had done many times before, whenever she wanted to speak to the King.

The giant newt welcomed her immediately, with that wide smile and jolly attitude of his, which never failed to make her feel fuzzy and warm and to dispel all negative thoughts “Master Marcy!” He beckoned her “Come in, come in!”

Matching the King’s smile, Marcy walked up to him, climbing up his leg and sitting on his knee, her legs dangling off the amphibian’s, rocking back and forth “I didn’t interrupt you, right, Andrias?”

He simply chuckled “Don’t worry about it, kiddo. I can always make time for you! Plus, I was simply reminiscing a bit, since I’ve just finished holding court.” He playfully scoffed “I remembered why I deferred it to Lady Olivia. Such a hassle.”

Marcy looked away, her mood visibly saddened by the mention of Lady Olivia, something that apparently was not overlooked by Andrias.

The teenager felt one of the King’s gigantic hands lightly stroking her back. Her gaze returned upon Andrias’ face and its smile, that had become sympathetic “Hey, don’t worry, Little Master” he reassured her with a soft tone “We’ll get those two back. I’ve already set the Night Guard on it. I believe Yunan has already told you how cool they are.” Andrias’ other hand found her little one and held it gently between thumb and index. “Lady Olivia and General Yunan will be back in no time.”

Marcy could not help but smiling back. Frog, what had she been worried for? This was Andrias! He easily featured in the top 3 of most kind people she knew. 

She gathered her courage. It was now or never! C’mon Mar Mar!

“Actually, Andrias… this was what I wanted to talk you about”

The King raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but nodded, indicating her to go on.

“I… wanted to help with searching for Lady Olivia and General Yunan” she blurted out

Andrias expression became confused “What?”

Feeling suddenly self conscious, Marcy tried to explain herself “I-I mean, I was just thinking that I saw this exact same situation many times! Books, movies, video games, you name it, ahaha! And perhaps I could help, that’s all, after all I should help, shouldn’t I? It’s my fault and all and you all have been so nice to me and I just want to help and-”

Andrias’ hand, the one that had been stroking her back, rested gently on her shoulder. Marcy snapped out of it, realising that she’d been rambling, her rapidly beating heart threatening to jump out of her chest.

‘You can’t just let any occasion to make a fool of yourself pass, can you?’ The voice in her head returned, cold as ice.

“Breathe, Master Marcy, breathe” spoke warmly King Andrias, the human girl obeying to his command without even thinking, her lungs filling and emptying slowly, calming her down. The sympathetic smile returned to Andrias’ features, though even Marcy could see the remnants of concern “Good, that’s good. Now, why don’t you explain everything calmly? I think I got that you believe you have to help because ‘it’s all your fault’, yes? Now, where would you fish up such a silly concept?”

Marcy swallowed and brought her hands together, to avoid flapping. She had to focus! 

“Well, they were separated from us only because they were searching for me, since I had to get distracted as always and mess everything up… then, since I could just screw up in one way, I not only got lost, but also ended up in the heron’s cage and nearly got myself and Joe Sparrow killed and caused a commotion that helped those cult guys kidnap Lady Olivia and Yunan…”

Andrias gave her a weird look “Is that it? Master Marcy, nothing of that is worth blaming yourself for. Well, apart from wandering inside the heron’s cage and nearly getting yourself killed. If you could refrain from doing that again, I would be very pleased. Nearly gave me a heart attack”

The small chuckle at that comment ended, Andrias resumed “The other stuff though? You couldn’t have known.”

“I-I should have!” Protested feebly Marcy 

“But you didn’t” Sentenced Andrias in a tone that allowed no replies. “It’s useless to blame yourself for something you couldn’t know or control”

Marcy sighed and relented, shoulders slumping “I s’pose”

Andrias raised a finger, chiding the child playfully “An ‘I suppose’ is not enough, Master Marcy.” He enunciated in his best Olivia impression “As an order from the King, you must give me something more than that. It is protocol.”

Marcy chuckled inside her hand, before answering in a tone that matched Andrias’ fake formality “Very well. I shall follow your orders to the best of my capabilities, then, Your Majesty”

“I expected nothing less from you, Master Wu” continued Andrias, his chin high and his attitude regal.

The two exchanged a single glance before breaking into laughter.

Andrias wiped away a tear. “You’re good at this, kiddo. Haven’t laughed like this in quite some time, I’ll tell you!”

Marcy made a dismissive gesture with her hand “Oh, it’s nothing. Anne and Sasha are way funnier than me!”

The King gave her a look, then smiled “Hm. I don’t know about this. I think I’d rather have my funny Master Marcy, if I had the option”

The teenager beamed at that “Aw, thank you ‘Drias!” 

Suddenly, Marcy remembered her first meeting with the newt King and how he had answered when she’d asked to call him that. “S-sorry, King Andrias, I-I didn’t-”

Andrias interrupted her once more “Don’t worry, Master Marcy. It’s nothing, really. That name was simply how one of my old friends called me” He chuckled, the usually jolly laughter somewhat sombre “It simply brings some bad memories back, that’s it” With a small grin, he moved his hand on top of Marcy’s head and roughed up a bit her hair “But I don’t think I’d really mind if you used it, some times. Just, not in front of Lady Olivia. She’s such a stickler for rules that she’d probably have an heart attack”

Marcy chuckled at the joke, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, Lady Olivia still in her thoughts.

Andrias definitely noticed this, since he smiled at her once more, a smile that reminded her of the wise mentor figure from many of her video games, books and movies. “You still want to help them, don’t you, Master Marcy?”

Marcy blushed a bit “I-I do, yes. I know you said that I shouldn’t feel guilty and that it’s not my fault, but I still want to help them”

The King gave a hearty chortle “That’s because you’re a good kid, Master Marcy”

‘He only says that because he knows nothing of you’ the voice whispered once more, somehow fainter, as if weakened by the mere presence of the big newt. ‘After all, you’re just a selfish teen that kidnapped the only two people that cared about her’

“I… just want to help when I can” Marcy answered Andrias’ praise, dismissing it like always. After all, she could to better, had to do better, she couldn’t afford to rest on her laurels.

Andrias’ smile got once more wide and warm “And that’s enough. Once… I had a friend. Two actually. My father used to tell me that I needed to let go of them. That one day, they’d be a burden on me, once I became King. That they’d start asking favours, using me.”

Marcy cringed slightly at that, shifting slightly on her seat. She could definitely relate, couldn’t she?

‘Are you still friends with that Boonchuy kid? With those grades she’s probably friends with you just to get you to do her work for her’

‘Do you really have to hang out with that… Sasha, was it? Her family situation is… distasteful’

The King continued “I told him that they’d never do something like that. We were true friends. They’d never use me.” He sighed deeply “In the end, I was wrong. Leif betrayed me and the whole kingdom, while Barrel let her escape.”

Andrias looked at Marcy, smiling sincerely “That’s why I say you’re a good kid, Marcy. Once the chips are down, you want to help those you care about. Your friends are very lucky to have a friend like you”

Marcy was about to throw up. She wanted to be happy. She wanted to hug Andrias, to cry and thank him again and again, to have the big newt cheer her up with a tone so soft that you wouldn’t expect it out of a giant like him.

Inside her though, the voice hissed, lashing at her mind with every word and reminding her of what she had done, of her lies, of her selfishness, of everything.

Gulping, she managed a smile, even if slightly shaky. 

“T-thank you Andrias…” She whispered, drying a tear that had crawled out of her eye with a wrist.

“Anytime, kiddo” Andrias shifted in his seat, before going on “However, there’s not much we can do. The Night Guard has found out that the cult probably uses the sewers to hide. Problem is, the bloody things are thousands of years old and enormous, plus a maze, to top it off. Don’t worry, I’m having every newt available search them”

Marcy, while a bit downcast by her uselessness, smiled at the King. “Thanks, Andrias”

“No worries, Master Marcy. Do you want to go get your magic box so we can watch that ‘movie’ again? To take your mind off things, you know”

The teenager put on her best smile “I’d like that. I’ll go and take it”

Jumping from Andrias’ leg, Marcy landed on the ground, managing, for once to stay on her two feet.

“Seems like your balance is balancing out, Master Marcy” commented Andrias, prompting a fond smile and an eye roll from the teenager, who proceeded to do a simple step and fall over apparently nothing, the floor claiming its rightful encounter with her face “Never mind”

The teenager jutted out a hand and stuck her thumb up “I’m okay!” She assured the King, before getting up and walking away. “Be back in a minute!”

She came out the throne room and passed in front of the guard, tossing him a candied fly she had bought earlier that day.

“Thanks, Master Marcy!” The newt called out, Marcy replying with a couple of finger guns.

She took the spiral staircase that went up to her room and in no time she was there. She opened the door and went towards the place where she had left her phone.

Much to her surprise, though, the device was missing.

In its place, a note, scribbled with the worst handwriting Marcy had ever seen in what looked like… she brought it to her mouth and gave it a tentative lick. No, it wasn’t blood, just red ink, luckily.

‘Master Marcy, Andrias has disclosed to me that you have recordings of human violence on this thing. I have temporarily taken your magic box. For research. General Yunan, Scourge of the Sand Wars, defeater of Ragnar the Wretched and youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of general in the Great Newtopian Army’, it read.

Marcy let out a small chuckle at the fact that her signature and titles took up more than half the message, before realising something. If Yunan had taken her phone, it meant she probably had it on herself. Which meant…

She darted under her desk, pulling out some materials. A couple of copper wires, her power bank, a small green lightbulb and some other junk, part of which she’d had taken with her from Earth, part acquired in Newtopia.

Thanking internally that electronic workshop class she had taken just the week prior to her arrival in Newtopia, she rapidly assembled her hand sized contraption and turned it on. It should be able to locate her phone, since there were no other Bluetooth devices in the area, the lighting blinking on and off more often the closer she got.

With this, Olivia and Yunan could be found in no time! She had to go and show it to Andrias!

Or… she could do it herself. After all, who better than her knew how her phone’s technology worked? Andrias would most likely give it to the Night Guard and have them search for Olivia and Yunan, but what if they broke it? It was a possibility.

They’d never let her go, she knew it. After all, she was bookish Marcy Wu, who tripped on her own two feet. Andrias would look her in the eye and repeat her the simple truth that was repeated to her like a mantra

You’re not good enough.

Well, she could do it! It was like in her video games and anime, after all.

How hard could it be?

Turns out, pretty frogging hard. 

Marcy had donned the cloak and armour Bernardo had outfit her with and entered the sewers from the bowels of the castle after telling a servant to tell the King that she had a sudden headache and couldn’t make it. She felt bad about lying to the old newt, but it was for the greater good, wasn’t it?

Three hours later, she was still cluelessly wandering the tunnels, with as many ideas as to where the cult’s hideout was as when she’s first entered. Only, now her feet hurt from all the walking around (how she dearly wished that she’d taken up Sasha’s offer to jog together sometimes), she was drenched from all the times she’d slipped and fallen into water and her cloak was charred at the edge since apparently her cloak was able to combust spontaneously even when soaked in sewage. 

The device’s light blinked on and off as she walked a tunnel she swore she had come through before. The blinking was now faster than when she was in her room, but other than that it was of no help.

She sighed and got down in a somewhat dry and clean spot to take a small break. 

What was she thinking? She was just a girl, whose only good part was her genius stupid brain, who didn’t work properly half of the time, too preoccupied to chase after fantasies to focus on what was real, on what was important. 

Did she really hope to save someone? She couldn’t even save herself, half of the time. She always had someone there to save her, be it Sasha, Anne or King Andrias.

As she thought about the newt, his words from earlier came to mind. He’d talked about how she wanted to help people, how she was a good person, but that was just because she had lied to him, about everything. He’d hate her, if he knew the truth.

She wanted him to be right, desperately so, she realised. Her slip up, in the heron cage, was perhaps more than that. She had to show him and herself that she was just like she seemed.

Marcy pulled herself up. She was Marcy Wu, head of the chess club, master RTS player, straight A student, except for gym, but only because she was reading in class, which only proved her point! 

The teenager let out a chuckle, realising she’d been taking a page from Yunan’s book. Well, not that Yunan probably read books, but you got the-

“What was that noise?” Came a voice, echoing in the tunnels.

Marcy froze for a second. Could it be the Night Guard? If so she should show herself, they could help her.

But what if they were members of the cult?

Deciding that it was best not to take risks, Marcy darted for a dark tunnel nearby and pressed herself against the wall, trying her hardest to disappear.

“It was probably a beetle” Another voice answered the first “Place’s full of ‘em. Lets keep moving, shall we?”

Steps echoed in the tunnels, coming closer and closer, until the two passed from the tunnel Marcy’d been in and came in her view.

They were a couple of newts, one green and burly and the other orange and small, both dressed in the uniforms of the Night Guard. Marcy was about to step out and introduce herself when the green one scoffed and spoke to the orange one.

“I still don’t get why we still gotta work while the others prepare for the sacrifice.”

The orange one rolled her eyes and groaned “This is the third time I explain it to you! We’re only pretending to patrol our area of the sewers because the secret entrance is there! We’re gonna go there, get changed in our robes and attend the Dark Lord’s summoning”

“Ooooh, yeah, that makes sense.”

The two went on, their footsteps getting further and further.

When she was sure they’d gone beyond the corner, Marcy peeked out.

So there were traitors in the Night Guard that were hiding a secret entrance to the cult’s underground temple! And they were going to actually sacrifice people to summon a ‘Dark Lord’?

Marcy began vibrating with excitement. This was exactly the plot of the second act of Vagabondia Chronicles II! The original was far better and the sequel had been a bit overhyped, but it still was a solid game with an emotional ending, she had to say.

Focus! She reminded herself. People were going to die if she didn’t do something! 

Calling the Night Guard was out of the question. It would take too long and if there were two traitors there could be others. 

She decided to do just what the main character did in her game: follow the traitors to the secret evil lair (she still could not believe it was an actual thing that she was doing! Man, all the wandering was worth it!). And she did a great job at tailing the two, not accounting the two or three times she fell on her face.

She had them! And the light was going on and off way faster now!

Which was why she was surprised when, after turning a corner she had seen the two turn as well, there was no one in sight. 

Thinking that they could have just sped up, she continued, but to her dismay the light started to slow down. So, she returned to where she’d lost them.

“Where did they go…” she wondered aloud.

They couldn’t have just disappeared, right? She’d read that magic apparently was a thing in Amphibia, but she doubted that it was involved. From what she’d read, magic was rare and the practitioners of the dark arts few and far in between. Plus, if they could disappear, it was unlikely that they’d walk all the way here.

A lightbulb went on over her head. What if… there was a secret passage?

It could not be voice activated, since she’d not heard a sound from the two newts and there were no statues or books nearby that could act as hidden levers, so the only plausible explanation, given her experience of secret passages from her Cynthia Coven and Good Witch Azura books, was that one of the bricks could be pushed to open a secret door.

Problem was, the brick wall in front of her had too many bricks to push them all individually. Unless…

She pulled out her trusty drumsticks and cleared her throat 

“Ladies and gentlemen… I give you Marcy Wu from Sasha and the Sharps!”

She tapped the two pieces of wood together, before performing a solo on the bricks, filling the sewers with her music, tapping each and every one of them until one of them gave in and slid backwards.

The teenager twirled her drumsticks a couple of times, before blowing on each of them and putting them back in her pocket. She gave a chuckle “Nailed it!”

Then, the ground opened under her and she fell, shrieking all the way down, until, finally, she landed on the floor, right on her face, as always.

“Well, could’ve handled the landing better” Marcy mumbled as she got up and dusted herself off “But all in all, I think I did great”

“Are you sure about that?” A voice asked her as a spear was pointed at her face. It was then that she noticed that in front of her was the green newt from before, who was holding the weapon he was currently menacing her with. A quick look behind herself confirmed that the blue one was also there.

“See?” The green one asked the blue one “I told you that someone or something was following us!”

“I gotta admit that for once you’re right, moss for brains” grumbled the blue one as she pulled out a knife with a squiggly blade “Now put your hands in the air!”

Marcy gave a good look at the knife “Oooh, very cult-like and ominous! Of course, those kind of blades are very unpractical in an actual fight, since it makes cutting kind of hard and trusting somewhat more difficult, but it is very in touch with the vibe! As a cosplayer, I can appreciate that sort of commitment.”

The blue newt gave her a weirded out look “Okay. Thanks, I guess? Stick your hands up in the air or I will stab you”

“Oh, of course! Sorry, did some extensive research on daggers for a cosplay a while ago and went down a weird rabbit hole” Marcy put her hands up, triggering by mistake the wrist mounted crossbow, which sent the dart flying upwards.

The small dart ricocheted off the walls a couple of times, before finding its place in a crack on the roof. The crack enlarged, causing a big piece of the stone roof to fall down on the big newt.

The blue newt took a step back, then two, then ran away screaming for backup.

Marcy didn’t hesitate and bolted for the nearest door, opening and closing it rapidly.

Oh Frog, now they knew she was here! She couldn’t possibly hope to sneak around, the hallways would be bustling with newts! What to do, what to do, what-

Her gaze fell on a vent. 

A smile formed on Marcy’s face as a plan did the same in her mind.

It looked like it was time to get suspicious.

It went without saying, this had not been the most pleasant of days for General Yunan, scourge of the Sand Wars, defeater of Ragnar the Wretched and youngest newt to ever achieve the title of general in the Great Newtopian Army.

It had started out so well too! She had got boba, always something nice, and got to have a stroll through the city with Newtopia’s hottest piece of ass Lady Olivia. Then, as soon as they were alone for a second, she’d been conked on the head and now she was in a damp dark room along with a dozen or so newts and Olivia, every limb tied in some of the strongest rope she’d ever seen (she could swear that they’d even tied her fingers) and a gag on her mouth.

Luckily it seemed like Lady Olivia had not come to her senses yet. Yunan’s pride could take being rendered helpless, but to have Lady Olivia of all people witness her like that was not something she could exactly come back from.

Just as she was musing on her not ideal situation, the doors opened and two newts with torches went in and lit up the torches on the walls.

Then, someone came in, a blue newt. He wore a more refined robe than the others, with a black mask on his face. One of the robe’s sleeves was rolled up, since apparently the newt lacked an arm.

He walked up to her and chuckled “Not so cocky now, are we, General?”

Yunan simply glared at him.

The chuckle returned as the other newt ripped out the gag from her mouth “I suppose you recognise me, don’t you?”

The pink newt simply continued with her icy glare, bared her teeth and growled “You”

The chuckle turned into full blown laughter, then the newt smirked “Indeed. Me. I bet you didn’t expect to find me here, did you?”

Yunan’s glare remained for a second, before she scoffed “Nope, doesn’t remind me of anything.”

The blue newt gave her a confused look “What?”

The general shrugged “I was hoping you would introduce yourself and that I’d remember you, but nothing. I’ve got a lot of enemies, you’re going to want to be more specific. Who are you exactly?”

The other stumbled on his words for a moment, clearly flustered, his cheeks now a deep blue “I-I am Barry!”

Yunan stared at him quizzically, her eyes tightening as she tried to remember the newt before her “Nope, not ringing any bells”

“You ripped my arm off!” Barry gestured wildly at his missing arm to demonstrate.

Yunan sighed “Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?”

“The day when we tried to coup Andrias? You came in through the window and massacred everyone?!”

“Ooooh” Yunan exclaimed “I do remember ripping someone’s arm off, that day. Sorry about that whole thing about not remembering you, it’s just that I’ve made much more fearsome enemies in my days as General Yunan, scourge of the Sand Wars, defeater of Rag-”

“I know, I know!” Barry interrupted her “I just thought… what we had was special”

“Oh, sorry” Yunan apologised “Do you want to come in again so you can introduce yourself properly?”

Barry waved her off “No, it’s all ruined, the moment’s passed”

Another robe wearing newt spoke “Uhm, Your Obscurity? Weren’t we supposed to interrogate her?”

“I KNOW!” Barry barked at the other newt. He took a deep breath and resumed talking “I know, Jacob. I’m just… a bit disappointed. I’ll get to questioning her”

“Ah!” Yunan laughed “Good luck with that! I’ve had every torture technique performed on myself just for an occasion like this! The rack, waterboarding, small talk” The newt shuddered at the last one “Frog, that was the worst one”

Barry chuckled “Oh, we’ll do nothing to you.” He pulled up Lady Olivia, who’d apparently just come to her senses, and pressed a knife to her throat “What about little missy? Would you talk if her life was on the line?”

Yunan went slightly pale, then sighed “Fine.” She relented “I’ll talk”

Barry smiled and let Olivia fall on the ground, making the aristocrat grunt in pain. “Very well.”

“What do you want to know?”

“It seems like King Andrias wants you two back. He’s dispatched the whole Night Guard. It doesn’t trouble us, since we’ve got a couple of associates in it that will cover us. What does trouble us is the fact that, apparently, something distinctly not amphibian has found our base”

“Not amphibian?” Yunan asked and Lady Olivia also seemed to perk up at that. Were they talking about Marcy? Had the girl decided to come look for them and apparently succeeded? 

“Tall, black air, hideous face bump and long spindly limbs. You evidently know this thing, so speak.”

Yunan looked at him for one second, then chortled. That chortle turned into laughter and that laughter into unhinged cackling.

“What’s so funny?” Barry growled 

“Oh, nothing” Yunan answered “But. Won’t you allow a dead newt a last laugh?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just that, if Andrias truly freed that creature, you, I, the hostages, the cult and probably everyone in the city are frogged. I presume that your mothers read to you the stories of the metal toads?”

Barry rolled his eyes “Yeah, six feet tall metal toads that shoot laser and eat misbehaving newtlings. Nothing more than a fairytale to keep children in line”

Yunan laughed “Oh, I assure you. They’re not fairy tales. There’s things under the sand, in the desert. Things that have been buried and lost for hundreds of years and that were not meant to be discovered again. Half mad creatures of iron that can kill a newt or a toad likewise with ease”

“So what, we’re dealing with one of those? Last time I checked, metal toads are supposed to, you know, be made of metal. This creature, whatever it is, is not metal”

“Ah, but you don’t see something. The metal toads had to be created, by the newts of old, most likely. Countless of them. Why? Because there was something far more frightening, hiding in the shadows. Something that haunted the nightmares even of herons, if they do dream. That creature is…” Yunan made a poignant pause, leaving the two now shivering lesser member of the cult and the still skeptical Barry hanging “the Marsiwough”

“W-what is a Marsiwough?” Asked one of the cultists

“The Marsiwough. As far as it is known, only one exists and has ever existed. There are rumours of a beast that does not sleep yet slumbers, that does not eat yet hungers, that does not die yet kills in the castle’s dungeons. That creature, is the Marsiwough.”

The General looked in the distance, her gaze lost “I’ve seen it once and only once. I don’t think I could ever forget it, even if I tried. It is not properly a beast, I’ll say. It hunts like one, but it does not consume its prey. It has no need for food. It simply enjoys the thrill of the hunt. The fear on its prey’s face. The soul fading from the dead creature’s corpse.”

“I bet you’ve heard of the great battle of the Copper Fields, when we broke Ragnar the Wretched’s armies for the first time and sent him on the run?” She chuckled “I’ll admit, we’ve kind of stolen the creature’s credit, there. The King had it freed and released on the traitor’s army. It danced across the battlefield, like a painter who only uses red.”

“What a bunch of baloney” scoffed Barry “I knew people who died in that battle and people that came back and talked of it. None mentioned a monster”

“Oh, that’s because the Marsiwough did not take kindly to being put into its cage once more. All those casualties we took were simply us trying to capture it. The horrors we saw that day… most of the soldiers’ psyche just broke. They rationalised it, chose to forget what they’d seen that day, because how could one live knowing such a thing exist?”

“W-w-what can we do to stop it?”

Yunan laughed, once more cackled like a mad newt. “‘Stop it?’ You want to ‘stop it?’ You can’t. You couldn’t if you were ten times your number. I’ve seen grown newts, veterans, ripped apart with but one thought of the abomination. There was a General, alongside me, General Astley. A fighter so powerful that he was able to defeat me with both arms tied. Determined too. He never gave up and never let down.”

“I’ve never heard of a General Astley” commented Barry.

“That’s because the Marsiwough stared at him in his eyes. He screamed like he saw reality itself crumble before his eyes and the next second he simply was not there and had never been. It had erased him from existence”

With a last laugh Yunan continued her little speech “Oh, and it just loves to toy with its food. See them struggle. See them squirm in fear. See them know that it is coming, yet not knowing when or how. You have described it, but that’s merely her favourite form”

“W-what do y-you mean ‘favourite form’?!”

“One of the many powers of the Marsiwough is the ability to change shapes. It can become whatever it wills. Your biggest fear. Your loved ones. A passerby, ignored until it can sink its fangs inside your flesh. And worst of all? It could be any one of us. It could be in this very room! It could be you. It could be me. It could even be…”

“Right behind you”

As Yunan said those words, all three of the cultist newts slowly turned backwards, shaking, only to see nothing.

Barry took a breath of relief, before smirking confidently “See? A bunch of baloney, as I s-” 

As he said those words, a crash could be heard and something fell on the newt with a bloodcurdling scream.

Something definitely not amphibian, with dark hair, a horrid face bump and long, spindly limbs.

“I-I-IT’S THE BEAST!” screeched one of the other two newts, before jumping in the arms of their partner, who hightailed it out of the room immediately.

Marcy got up and patted some dust off her clothes. “Uh” she commented “That’s weird. I don’t think I’ve ever been called a beast before…” upon seeing the two newts she’d been searching for she immediately beamed with happiness “Lady Olivia! General Yunan! You’re safe! Oh my gosh, I’m so happy! Let me hug you!”

“Erm, maybe later? When we’re not tied up, possibly.” Pointed out Yunan who did not want to experience another one of Marcy’s bone crushing hugs.

The teenager facepalmed “Derp! Yeah, yeah, that’d be better. Let me cut you out” With a flourish, Marcy whipped out her scythe and twirled it in the air, flipping the safety off “Okay, let’s do it!”

“Waitwaitwa-” Yunan cried out, but Marcy had already swung towards her. She closed her eyes tightly for a second, then opened them when she did not felt anything.

The ropes had fallen to the ground and, as a quick series of pats all over her body revealed, she’d not been wounded by the laser blade “Uh. Definitely thought I was a goner there”

“Hey, give me some credit! I did go to a couple of lessons with the youngest newt to ever achieve the title of general in the Great Newtopian Army.” Marcy commented with a cheeky grin.

Yunan brought her hand over her heart in pride “Kid, if possible, I’d sign the adoption papers right here and now”

A muffled mumble from the still tied up Olivia prompted the two’s attention.

“Oh, right, let me free you!” Marcy exclaimed readying up the scythe once more, only to be stopped both by a concerned mumble from Olivia and a hand on her wrist by Yunan 

“Actually, why don’t you go and untie the others? Without the laser scythe. I’ll take care of Lady Olivia”

Marcy was interdicted for a second, then nodded energetically and went towards the closest newt.

Yunan went to the still unconscious form of the cultist newt, Bernard if she remembered correctly.

He seemed to have somewhat of a one sided rivalry with her, so quite possibly he could have- bingo! She fished out her blade gauntlets out of the deep pockets of his robe. The fool had probably wanted to take them as trophies.

Quickly donning them, she used them to cut Lady Olivia out of her bondages.

“Thank you, Yunan.” The blue newt thanked her “I’m not exactly the biggest fan of being tied up”

Yunan snapped her fingers in mock disappointment “And now you’ve disappointed me, Liv. I’ll need to seriously reconsider my fantasies with you”

The smaller newt practically became midnight blue from her blush “General Yunan! That was utterly inappropriate! And with Marcy in the room!”

Yunan waved her off “Kidding, kidding. You’re really too easy to fluster, milady” Though the mental image of a tied up Lady Olivia, just- nope, in a serious situation here, get your excitement from battle lust and not the regular thing, Yunan! There’s time for that later.

Marcy reported to her, making a military salute like she’d taught her “General! Captives freed!”

Yunan nodded “Good job, private! Now, if everyone’s here, we can-”

“M-My husband” spoke up a newt from the captives “They’ve taken my husband as well and he’s not here”

“W-what do we do?” Asked Marcy “This place is probably enormous! There’s no time to search all of it, they’ll be on us in no time!”

“Don’t worry, Master Marcy” Yunan assured the human “I’ll shake down my sources”

She picked up the cultist newt, who was starting to come to his senses and shook him “Where’s the last hostage, Barnacle?!”

“It’s Barry” the one armed newt spat out with spite “And you’ll never get it out of me”

“You know, Brett, being kidnapped makes me hungry” Yunan bared her pointed teeth “Want a repeat of last time? I can finish the job”

The cultist paled and relented “Fine. The High Priest brought him to the inner sanctum to practice for the ritual. It’s all the way down, you can’t miss it.”

“Wait, they’re going to actually kill a newt just to practice a ritual?” Asked a baffled Lady Olivia.

Barry shrugged “What can I say? They’re dedicated guys”

“Shut up, Trevor, you’re no longer needed” Yunan said.

“Oh, come on, that sounded nothing like my name! You’re not even trying! It seems like I’m the only one putting actual emotion in this rivalry!”

Yunan took a deep breath “Alright, I feel you.” She lifted a finger “Counterpoint: you’re a terrorist”

“Oh, so that justifies you forgetting my name?”

“In every conceivable way.” With that, Yunan yeeted the newt into the ceiling, knocking him out cold once more “Boring conversation anyways”

“What are we going to do?” Lady Olivia asked “We can’t possibly just barge in! They’re going to kill the hostage!”

“I have a plan” Marcy said “Lady Olivia, do you think you can lead the other captives out? We’re in the sewers. Andrias is having them searched by the Night Guard. You should be able to find them and get out”

“If that oaf has not managed to set the water around the city on fire. Again” Olivia muttered under her breath “What about you, Master Marcy?” She asked, concerned

“I told you, I have a plan. Me and General Yunan are going to rescue the last hostage and take down the cult”

“Frog yeah!” The pink newt exclaimed “I get to kill people!”

“Yunan!” Olivia reprimanded the general, before turning towards Marcy “Are you sure, Master Marcy? It sounds… awfully dangerous”

Marcy took the newt’s hand in her own and looked her in the eyes “Lady Olivia. I can do this. Please, let me do this”

Olivia sustained the teenager’d determined look for almost a minute, then finally sighed and surrendered “Fine. But you better return alive and unharmed, you hear me? Otherwise, I’ll sic Yunan on you. After I murder her for letting something happen to you, that goes unsaid”

Marcy smiled at her “Thank you, Lady Olivia.” She turned towards Yunan “Are you ready, General?”

Yunan stuck out her claws and struck a pose “Let’s go take down a cult!”

Who could have guessed? Her day was getting better, after all.

The inner sanctum. At the very bottom of the ancient underground complex that the cult had claimed as its base. The air vents did not arrive all the way there, Marcy had discovered, so she had to improvise. Luckily, the supply closet she’d come out in had some rope and a few cleaning products, which were perfect for what she had in mind. And Anne said it was totally unrealistic for a dungeon to just have inside all the items necessary to defeat all its challenges. Suck on that!

Armed with that confidence she snuck through the corridors, almost getting caught a couple of times by roving patrols. They probably still thought she was in the upper levels and had not yet thought about the air conducts. Keyword being yet. Sooner or later they were going to realise it.

Finally, she had made it to the inner sanctum. The room was quite large, church sized at least, so she managed to enter without having any of the five cultist newts gathered there notice her. Using a small spiral staircase that was probably there for maintenance, she managed to climb on the ceiling’s understructure. 

She had theorised that, since the inner sanctum was probably large (like it was) and since it was at the very bottom, it would need to have a understructure large enough for her to be able to hide in and, most importantly, perform the most epic and dangerous part of her plan, the part that she had not dared tell Lady Olivia, fearing that the newt could forbid her from performing it or simply have a cardiac attack.

She pulled out a goniometer and ran a few calculations, very thankful for those extra lessons of trigonometry her parents had made her take. If her measures were accurate (and she hoped they were, her face was used to meeting the floor, but from this height it would most likely be fatal or at least not pretty), she needed to aim a bit further than the congregation, but also to make sure that the radius of her descending trajectory did not intersect with the floor… okay, just a bit closer, a bit to the left… yes, that should be good.

She mentally checked her calculations a last time, then pulled out her wrist crossbow and tied the rope to the back of the dart. As she aimed at the chosen spot she prayed to Frog that her shaky aim did not fail her and that she had valued correctly the effect of the rope’s weight on the dart’s trajectory.

She shot and there was most likely someone that had answered her prayers, since the dart hit the rafter she had chosen in the right spot, or close enough. She corrected slightly the length of the rope, then tied it around her wrist, gripping it with her right hand as hard as she could.

Marcy took a deep breath, while her left hand started to flap for the tension. Alright, this was it. It was time to either save a man (newt, but same thing, really) from certain death, be a hero and earn Andrias’, Olivia’s, Yunan’s and everyone else’s respect and kindness or mess everything up like she always did, leave someone to die, die herself and disappoint everyone.

No pressure at all, eh Mar Mar? She chuckled to herself. She needed to do this. How would she face Andrias or Olivia if she did not? She needed to show them she was good enough!

The green newt who was most likely the Head Priest that Brad guy had talked about raised his arms and gripped one of those squiggly daggers, Marcy suddenly noticed, and the tied up pink newt on the altar got very tense. Oops, it looked like she was short on time!

She jumped off the rafter she was standing on, holding the rope that allowed her to swing while with the other she threw the four smoke bombs she had had made earlier with the cleaning equipment she had found.

By some miracle, she managed to catch the would be sacrifice victim and swing away. She let out a cheer of triumph “Just as planned!” 

Unfortunately for her, just as she spoke those words, the rope snapped, sending her face first into the ground

“Aw, come on!” She protested as she picked herself up “Can I not fall down for once!” It looked like Newtopian rope was not quite strong enough to support a human girl. Perhaps it was the additional strain from the swinging or the rope was worn out, though. “I’ll need to test it out later” She muttered out loud as she pulled out her diary and wrote it down.

“Uhm, creature?” The newt she’d rescued broke her out of her trance “Thank you for saving me, but could you please untie me?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, kinda got into the zone!” She pulled out one of those squiggly daggers she had stolen off Buford and tried to cut through the ropes, to no avail. She groaned in frustration “I told them that this knife can’t cut for-”

The cultist leader, who’d now recovered from the surprise of seeing a foreign creature swing and throw smoke bombs, pointed at her with both a finger and his tail-held knife “Seize the unbeliever!”

“Bah, it was no good anyways” Marcy said as she threw away the dagger and pulled out her scythe, lighting it up “We’re not savages after all. We have technology!” She quickly cut the newt’s restraints and urged him to run away and hide, a suggestion that was immediately picked up by the amphibian.

Marcy turned towards the five cultists, her scythe against their five knives.

“Surrender now creature and you too can witness the wrath of the Dark Lord! You’re hopelessly outmatched, it’s five against one”

The teenage girl chuckled “Man, I knew you had to be a fool to get in a cult, but I thought you could at least count to two”

At that, something metal and pink dropped from the ceiling, stomping on one of the cultists and bouncing off him to skewer another with her gauntlet blades.

Marcy wasted no time to toss her cape at another one of the robed newts. The piece of cloth had, as always, caught on fire and the robe of the cultist followed immediately.

“Why did we make these things extremely flammable!” Cried out the now flaming newt.

The last of the regular cultists raised his knife to block Marcy’s scythe swing, but the teenage girl switched it off at the last second, the staff missing completely the piece of metal and crashing on the newt’s head, knocking him out on the spot.

“That” Marcy proclaimed “was a ‘dirty Yunan’, a little trick the world’s best fencing teacher showed me”

“Frog darn I love this kid” Yunan muttered under her breath before pointing her blades at the cult leader’s throat “This is over, your Dumbness!”

The High Priest seemed not extremely bothered “Oh, I’m afraid this has just begun. Guards!”

Several cultists flowed out of the inner sanctum’s doors, each wielding a weapon. 

“I figured someone would try and ruin the ritual, so I had guards prepared to storm in. Now, let me tell you in great detail the history and purpose of our cult, starting with our name. After all, I think introductions are due. We call ourselves the-” 

Suddenly, the room shook. Several blue explosions in the ceiling left holes from which ropes came down, each soon bringing in numerous Night Guards, who rapidly overwhelmed the cultists that rushed towards them, the others simply throwing their weapons on the ground as soon as they realised resistance was futile. Last of all came Lady Olivia, carried on her shoulders by a bulky Night Guard. “I brought backup” She commented plainly.

“Thank Frog, Olivia” Yunan replied, with a relieved smile “This guy was about to go on a villain monologue. Don’t think I could have restrained myself from charging into him if he spoke for another second” Her smirk got gloating as she pointed her blades at the cult leader once more. “As I said. Over”

The High Priest simply fell on his knees and started crying “I just started this to avoid paying taxes…”

 “-and how you pointed your blades at the leader’s throat at the end?” Marcy commented, gushing over Yunan’s badassery while she, the general and Lady Olivia walked up the sewers back to the palace. She made her best impression of a tough face and lowered her tone of a couple of octaves “As I said. Over” She dropped the expression and clapped her hands together rapidly while she squealed “That. Was. So. Cool! Oh my gosh, I have to introduce you to my friend Sasha when we find her, she’d love you! She’s also very cool and tough, so you two are a perfect fit for each other!”

Yunan laughed “Well, if she’s tough enough to be considered cool by you, Marcy, she’s definitely tough enough to be called cool by me as well. Can’t wait to meet her!” She smirked at the teenager, pride in her eyes “You were also pretty cool yourself, I’ll say. I suppose you can’t help it, since you’ve me as your teacher. That dirty Yunan was very well applied and I loved how you made that cultist take fire. How did you make your cloak catch on fire?”

Marcy blushed and rubbed the back of her head “T-thank you General. And I didn’t do anything, actually. That cloak has a tendency to just… floom!” She made a gesture with her hands as to indicate the act of spontaneously combusting “when I wear it”

Lady Olivia politely chuckled at that “I might be spending a bit too much time around you, Master Marcy, because honestly that doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.”

As the light blue newt spoke those words, the trio finally came up to the entrance to the castle’s sewers.

Yunan stepped out, stretched out her hands, breathed in deeply and exclaimed “Ah, air from the not-sewers how I’ve-”

Suddenly, all the three noticed a presence in the room. King Andrias, standing completely still, his arms crossed and a stern expression that radiated disappointment in the place of his usual warm smile.

“-missed you?” Spoke a genuinely confused General Yunan.

Marcy’s heart sunk. She had not considered this part.

‘Idiot, idiot, idiot!’ The voice hissed into her head ‘Of course he’s disappointed! You lied to him, you tricked him! But that’s just who you are, are you? You don’t care about anyone else, do you? You selfish, little-’

“Sire?” Lady Olivia asked “Is something the matter?”

“Marcy.” Andrias ignored the two newts and focused on the human child, who shrunk in herself, trying her damn hardest to just disappear. Instinctively and without realising, both Olivia and Yunan shifted slightly to put themselves between her and the King.

“I came to check on you. You can imagine my surprise when I found out you were not in your room.”

Olivia turned towards the human, who flinched slightly “Marcy?”

The teenager tried to swallow, but found her throat dry “I-I just figured out a way to try and find you two and I wanted to help, really, and…” Marcy found that she couldn’t keep speaking, the buzz of her thoughts and of the ever blaming voice in her head too overwhelming.

“Olivia, Yunan, leave us” Andrias ordered “I will take care of it”

Yunan gave a worried look both to Marcy and the King, before nodding and walking away, visibly downtrodden.

Olivia on the other hand seemed much more hesitant to leave the child. “Sire, if I may-”

“I will take care of it, Olivia” Andrias interrupted her.

Silent and clearly unhappy about it, Olivia also left, leaving only the child and the thousand years old newt in the room.

Panic was scratching at the walls of Marcy’s brain, the teenager just seconds away from bolting away.

Andrias sighed “I’m not angry, Marcy. I’m just…” the King looked like he was genuinely struggling to find the words.

Before he could have the occasion, Marcy fell to her knees, taking Andrias aback 

“Please, please, King Andrias, I am so sorry, I should have asked you, but I was so worried and I just wanted to help, I just wanted to help and you said that it was good right? please, Andrias, please don’t kick me out, I didn’t want to disappoint you I’ll do anything, I just wanted to make you and everyone else proud, please Andrias” By now Marcy big brown eyes were full of tears, her hands looking like they were having a seizure by all the flapping.

‘This is all your fault. You just can’t keep anything, you’re even worse than worthless’ The whispers cut deep like blades ‘No, if you were worthless you wouldn’t disappoint everyone. Your parents, your friends and now Andrias. Everything you touch turns to ash. You deserve this’

However, much to her surprise, Andrias, instead of berating her like he was supposed to do, knelt, worry evident on his face. He picked her up like one would a small dog and carefully put her on his shoulder.

He let her bawl her eyes out, one of his fingers lightly tapping her back and speaking with her with a soothing voice  “Calm down, kiddo, calm down. Everything is fine, everything is all right. I’m not mad at you, Master Marcy”

“Y-you’re not?” Marcy asked, her voice strained from her crying and full of confusion.

Andrias let out a small chuckle, that jolly sound that told Marcy subconsciously that everything was good, the storm had passed and the sun had returned. “I never could be mad at you, Master Marcy”

Andrias lifted her from his shoulder and brought her at face level, the teenage girl resting in his great palm. “I was simply-”

“Disappointed?” She asked, her eyes averting his. He had every right to be. He’d been so nice to her, he’d given her a roof, food and his friendship and how had she repaid him? She’d lied to him.

“What?” The voice full of disbelief of the newt prompted Marcy to return her eyes to his face. Andrias’ face currently looked like she had just sprouted a second head. “Disappointed? Marcy, why would I ever be disappointed in you?” He asked

“B-because I’m not as good as you thought…” Marcy answered “Because I lied to you and went in by myself when you told me that you had it already under control…”

“Master Marcy, you just almost singlehandedly took down a cult and saved more than a dozen newts from dying and you’re just a child! If someone was disappointed in you, I’d seriously question their standards”

Marcy sniffed slightly and wiped away at one of her eyes. “R-really?”

Andrias smiled “Really. Marcy, you’re one amazing kid, everyone can agree on that. You took down a heron and a cult in a couple of days! That’s got to count for something, you must agree!”

“T-then why were you upset?” Marcy asked, her voice just above a whisper, irrationally fearful of upsetting this situation, of angering Andrias and making him drop the nice tone and snap at her.

The King sighed “I was worried. When I didn’t find you in your room, I feared something had happened to you.” He passed his finger on her hair, slightly ruffling it 

“…I’m sorry” Marcy apologised

“Don’t be, little Master. Everything worked out, in the end, didn’t it? Nothing bad happened.”

“But it could have!”

“But it didn’t” Andrias put a end to Marcy’s protest with a tone that allowed no replies “No need to beat ourselves up on something that didn’t happen, now is there?” He chuckled “Just, next time could you please take me along or at least warn me? My poor old heart can only take a few of these scares”

Marcy nodded, tears still in her eyes and smiled faintly “I will, Andrias. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Andrias smiled back “No worries, Master Marcy. Now, when I heard that everything went well I did not just made a few guards fall to the ground with my breath of relief. I organised a small party. It seems my skills at organising fun things are on par with my skills at petty revenge, because there’s a party in just an hour. In your honour, I must say.”

“Really?”

“Really. You deserve it, little Master. I had a dress arranged for you as well. I hope you like purple glitter.”

Stars filled Marcy’s eyes “I love glitter!”

A chuckle escaped Andrias’ lips “Of course you do. It’s just like you: fabulous”

Marcy blew off Andrias’ compliment with a wave of her hand “Aw, you flatterer!”

“I’m only saying the truth, Master Marcy.” Suddenly, Andrias remembered something “Oh, and since there’s going to be music at the party and, judging by the whole birthday accident, you’re apparently not the number one fan of loud noises, I had a couple of custom earplugs delivered to your room. They’re cute, they have this little green ‘M’s in a fancy font.”

“Wait, really?” Marcy asked “You shouldn’t have, Andrias, I-”

“Oh, wait, one second, what’s this?” The King on Newtopia reached for Marcy’s ear, his index and thumb pinching together behind it, before pulling out a small golden card “Ah, yes, it’s the infinite money card that means I can definitely afford to shower with gifts a kid that has just saved numerous lives.”

Marcy chuckled at the King’s silliness, followed by Andrias. “They should be able to drown out most of the loud music, but still make you able to hear it at a more acceptable volume and talk to people”

“A-and I can wear them?”

“Of course you can wear them! Why would I have them made, if I didn’t want you to use them?”

Marcy smiled at the King and hugged the base of his neck, drowning herself once more into his beard. “Thank you Andrias”

“Anytime, kid. Anytime”

An hour later, Marcy stood in front of the doors of the throne room once more. She was slightly nervous. That, however was the only similarity with how she had stood in front of those same doors some hours before.

Marcy was now clad in an elegant purple shimmering dress, confident in the glamorous outfit. She’d never thought that Andrias could get her style just right, but here she was.

Yunan and Olivia were not in the hands of some creepy cult, but safe and happy on the other side, probably having the time of their lives and establishing memories they would cherish once they got together- okay, she was getting off track there.

Most important of all, for once the voice was silent. Each time it reared its ugly head, each time the whispers resumed at the edge of her mind, the warm voice of King Andrias drowned it out.

With a confident smile, Marcy walked in. Immediately, she was almost overtaken by the sheer sensory overload of the party, the music performed by the live orchestra, the lights, the decorations, the sounds of people chattering. She was suddenly very grateful for the small earplugs in her ears (which, she had to agree with Andrias, were very fancy.

“Appetisers, Master Marcy?” One waiter asked her, as he offered her a plate with something that distinctly looked like bugs. The teenager shrugged. She was feeling confident this evening, might as well try some of the local food, after all. “Sure, why not?” She picked one up and popped it in her mouth, savouring it. Immediately, she loved it and began shovelling more into her mouth, uncaring of manners if it meant more godly flavour in her mouth.

She only stopped when she saw someone familiar from the corner of her eye, though it was difficult to miss the titanic King of Amphibia, who had apparently noticed her as well and was excitedly waving at her.

A big smile bloomed on her lips as she waved back and started walking towards King Andrias. 

So excited she was that she almost didn’t notice the newt making a beeline for her. She didn’t recognise them, perhaps they wanted to thank her- 

Something metallic and shiny flashed.

Suddenly Marcy felt cold in her stomach, before feeling some kind of hot liquid on her dress. Had the newt spilled punch on her?

She looked down and saw her dress stained with something red. Yep, probably punch. Why was she feeling lightheaded then?

The music suddenly came to halt, as well as the guests’ chatter. 

Hey, was that newt holding one of those squiggly daggers? Frog, those things… were unpractical. It looked… stained too…

Thinking was becoming more difficult by the second as black started creeping in at the edge of her vision. 

Hm… she felt… sleepy… perhaps she should… close her eyes… just for a second?

As she felt herself succumb to sleep, Marcy could swear she heard Andrias scream. Why was he screaming? She had made it back just fine. She had…

Everything went dark.

Chapter Text

For one second, Andrias failed to understand what had just happened before his eyes.

No, that was a lie. He did understand it. The computers connected to his brain registered and analysed what had transpired perfectly: a short blue newt had just approached Marcy Wu, the Gem of Wit, and stabbed her in her stomach.

Yes, he understood it perfectly. For a second, though, he simply refused to. It couldn’t have happened, it couldn’t! Not now, not now that Marcy was just so happy, it just couldn’t be.

When the undeniable reality sunk in, Andrias suddenly felt weak in all his limbs, even as the self diagnostic registered all of his cybernetic limbs working within regular standards. He… was about to lose her. Like he had lost the box, like he had lost his friends.

Seeing a loved one in the situation Marcy was now in, most people would simply drop on the ground. But Andrias was not most people. 

The girl he cherished falling to the ground after standing for a couple of seconds before being stabbed broke him out of his trance. The King bared his teeth and roared. He’d lost far too much already, he would not allow this!

“NO!” Cried out Andrias and he sprinted towards the downed teenager, nearly trampling General Yunan who was attempting to do the same. The crowd opened a corridor to allow their king through and not get crushed, but Andrias barely noticed.

The assassin raised their weapon at the King’s arrival and opened their mouth, presumably to say something, but they never had the chance to do so, as Andrias’ fire sword, its blade as wide as the small newt, was instantly in the King’s hand and with but a swing the dagger wielder was rendered into ash. 

Andrias did not care, he immediately knelt by the fallen teenager’s body, blood staining the dress she’d been so happy about and rapidly soaking the fabric, the crimson stain growing larger and larger every second.

He picked up the unconscious human, in his hand, the absence of her smile as he did so like a punch to Andrias’ gut. She looked like she was sleeping…

Lady Olivia, whom Andrias had not noticed had also arrived gasped at her condition. “A doctor! Please, a doctor!”

“It’s no use” Yunan’s horrified voice stabbed at Andrias’ mind like the dagger had to Marcy “That blow… it pierced the stomach. The gastric fluids… there’s nothing we can do.”

Andrias rapidly turned towards the pink newt, terrified of what she’d just said. No, this just couldn’t be! But Yunan’s expression was deathly serious, her eyes glazed over in a thousand years stare and tears forming in their corners.

Olivia brought her hands over her mouth in horror. “No…” she whispered, tears in her eyes.

Andrias heart sank. It… was happening again.

An idea came to him. Yes, there was probably no newt alive who could save Marcy.

But he knew thirteen dead ones who just might.

For a split second, it seemed unacceptable. This could compromise the plan, ruin everything. Was he about to jeopardise his family’s legacy and one thousand years of waiting for a girl he’d just met?

Yes, his brain answered that question. Yes, he frogging was, he realised.

The King arose, deaf to Yunan’s and Olivia’s protests and questions, clutching Marcy in his hands like one may hold the body of a baby pigeon who’d failed to fly and had fell to the ground.

He rushed down the hallways, not caring what others might think, what others might assume, what others might see, the only thought on his mind saving the kid’s whose life was fading fast before his eyes, whose warm blood oozed lazily onto his hand, Andrias’ nostrils filling with its coppery smell. 

Andrias reached a familiar statue and pulled the arm of the smaller statue next to it, with so much strength that the piece of stone actually broke, remaining in his hand as the secret passage to the secret level in the dungeons opened.

The newt ran down the spiral staircase, the Shadowfishes parting hastily to avoid him, even if a few looked at him wonderingly with their unblinking eyes, probably asking themselves the reason of his rush.

Finally, his ears were filled with the soft buzzing and chittering of advanced machinery, the sound of the Cores chamber.

As Andrias stepped foot inside the chamber, the great mechanical beast slowly awoke from its slumber, its eyes opening one by one and looking at the King, possibly befuddled by the reason of his visit, Andrias couldn’t know for sure. Finally, the conglomerate of Amphibia’s greatest minds seemed to take notice of the girl dying in Andrias’ hands. The eye on the crown jutted open and thirteen voices spoke in his head, first a jumbled chaos of questions, then finally coming together and forming a cohesive sentence.

‘Andrias… what have you done? Did you do this?’

“No!” Andrias shouted, the very idea making him want to retch. He would never do something like that! “No, I didn’t! She was ambushed, she needs help! You’re the only one that can help her!”

‘That doesn’t excuse your lack of care. It would mean catastrophe if we were to be discovered by anyone, from one of the wielder of the stones even more! Do-’

“I DON’T CARE!” Andrias yelled out, tears spilling out of not-yet removed tear ducts. He knelt and slowly, gently put the limp body of the bleeding out child on the pristine marble floor. “Please, father… save her… please…”

The monstrous machine staggered and actually stepped a bit back at Andrias’ outburst, the bright orange eyes growing large with surprise. As he collapsed on the ground, it once more approached. It looked briefly at the dying girl, then at Andrias, then shut its eyes. It remained like that for a second, the minds that composed the Core probably squabbling amongst themselves on the best course of action.

When the eyes opened, only one actually did, the topmost one. At the same time, a single voice, the voice of his Father, spoke in Andrias’ mind, alone.

‘Don’t you worry, son. Everything will be all right’

Andrias sat on the marble floor, his back against the wall. His internal clock told him that one hour, thirty-three minutes and thirteen seconds had passed since the Core had taken Marcy to a sterile room to fix her up. To him, however, it seemed like eons had passed, like the thousand years he had spent waiting had just passed again and again while he sat in the chittering room.

What if she was too far gone? What if even the Core was unable to do anything? The question came unprompted into Andrias’ mind.

It was impossible, he reassured himself. The Core had allowed him to live for a thousand years, the idea that something so trivial as a dagger in the gut would trouble them was laughable.

Absentmindedly, Andrias rubbed his fingers together against the fabric of Marcy’s dress. A few minutes after the great machine and the human had departed for the surgery room one of the Core’s tendrils had brought him the piece of cloth. 

Understandably, Andrias had panicked. Was it his father telling him in the most dry and offhanded way that the human had perished under the blade? No, he had reassured himself. No, the dress simply needed to be removed to operate. Yes, that was it, he told himself as he held the ruined dress in his fist.

The time passed since then had only further confirmed his theory (or desperate hope). The Core would never leave him to wait for nothing, if Marcy really was dead, they would have told him. He still held on to that thought like a dying man to a floating piece of wood after a shipwreck.

He sighed and brought the piece of cloth to his eyes, observing it once more, just to take his mind off the nerve-wracking waiting.

It was completely destroyed, that was evident. A long cut went all along the back, where Andrias assumed the Core had cut it to take it off from the girl. His eyes almost averted the other damaged area. The shiny and glittery purple was stained a dark red by the dried blood and a small cut stood like a black pupil in the middle of the red iris of the blood stain.

It was not larger than one of Marcy’s small hands, yet something that small had her on death’s door.

He could well remember the warm smile and starry eyes that radiated pure joy the teenager displayed once he had shown her the garment. There had been several ‘thank yous’, each of which caused a warm wave to wash over the old newt’s heart.

Only once there had been someone which could cause him to be happy just by being happy themselves. His friends… he’d let his guard down for Marcy the same way he had done for them.

He could well remember feeling like this once before, when he had accidentally fallen down on Leif while climbing a tree. He had almost crushed to death the little frog.

He had ran to his father with his dying friend in his arms and warm tears streaming down his cheeks, begging him to save her. He could not remember just why he had brought her to his father, of all people, instead of a surgeon or a doctor or anyone else, just the faintest recollection that, when push came to shove, when all had seemed about to fall over and end, only the basic instinct of a child wanting his parent remained.

His father had simply smiled slightly and ruffled his hair as he ordered two robots to bring Leif to the surgery room. “Don’t you worry, son. Everything will be alright” his father had said to him with such a calm tone. He had always spoken with that calm, even years later when the music box, the future of the glorious civilisation his family had tended to for thousands of years, had been lost because of him. His father had never been angry, not with him. He simply was… disappointed. Because he just wanted the best for him.

Leif… looking back, it probably happened while he nursed her back to help. What he’d give to have been in Barrel’s shoes back then! The sight of the heir to the greatest and only Kingdom of the multiverse blushing and stumbling on his words as he tended to a small gardener must have been really something.

The same feeling of dread when she had been hurt, the same joy at each smile… it was useless denying it. He had opened his heart once more, even if slightly, even if he knew it was he this time that would stab the other in the back.

It was obvious that it was different, he was not smitten for Marcy, not like he’d been for Leif before her betrayal. He did not fantasise of kneeling before her and asking her the question he knew his father would never agree to, but he knew he loved his small child all the same. 

When he thought of Marcy, that old memory of when he was nothing but a newtling and his father had carried him on his shoulders in the verdant forests of the home world of the Mossmen came to his mind immediately, the low chuckle of his father becoming his own and his child self’s laughter and screams of wonder Marcy’s.

Did that mean… did that mean that he saw Marcy as a daughter? He looked back at their small heart to heart moments, from when they watched that ‘movie’ together to when Marcy had broken down in his arms a few hours before (was it only a few hours? It felt like a lifetime ago). He remembered how his heart sunk each time Marcy sobbed, how he had felt a deep need to comfort her, to make her feel better, how she’d seemed just like him each and every time.

As the realisation sunk in, the whirring of machinery filled the air. Andrias looked up and saw the hulking presence of the Core, walking with all but two of its tendrils, who held the still form of (he hoped) a sleeping human child in a hospital gown.

Andrias shot up to his feet immediately and rushed up to his Lord, uncaring that they could see his worry as excessive attachment. As of now, he only cared for one thing and it was Marcy Wu.

“Is she fine? Is everything alright?” The questions flew from his mouth as he looked at Marcy, looking for anything wrong with the teenage girl. Relief flooded his mind and heart as he noticed the slight but steady rising and falling of her chest, a little cute noise being produced each time by the girl’s mouth.  

The Core stopped in its tracks, seemingly taken aback from the King’s quick approach. 

‘Her vitals are optimal. We think’ The thirteen voices of the Core spoke into Andrias’ mind 

“We think?” Andrias asked, confused.

The Core narrowed their eyes ‘We know next to nothing about human biology. Her temperature is off the charts for an amphibian and, by our medical knowledge about amphibians, should be lethal for one.’ As they went on, one voice become clearer, the others almost fading in the background. Andrias assumed that it was a newt competent in the medical field, seeing as he somewhat remembered the same voice when he had been operated on for his cybernetics.

‘She had lost quite a lot of blood and we did not have any compatible, since her blood type is quite rare. We are synthesising some in case it’s needed, but the iron supplements we have given her and some sleep should take care of that.’

‘We have fixed any damage to her organs and replaced the ones that we deemed unsalvageable for amphibian standards. We may have went a bit overboard, but we preferred to replace a functioning organ than to risk leaving a faulty one in.’

Andrias nodded. It seemed that he and Marcy would share something else “Which… which organs, exactly?”

‘The stomach, large portions of it have been replaced by an adequate cybernetic tissue. A hole had been put in it, that General was correct with her assessment. It could have been lethal, if proper care was not administered posthaste.’ The voice shifted into his father’s ‘So your hurry was actually justified, son. Good job’

Andrias smiled. He had saved Marcy. He had! “Thank you, father”

His words went unheeded as the other voice went on ‘As I was saying. The liver had been damaged beyond repair by the gastric fluids and I was forced to replace it. The good news is, she will be capable to sort out any and all poisons, including alcohol. This means that, since our cybernetics are much more efficient than her crude mammal organs, she will need much more alcohol to actually get drunk and she will need to fear no liver failure from alcohol consumption.’

‘Her right kidney was damaged by the acid as well. We genuinely hope that her kind can survive with only one kidney at least for a bit, since we need to design a cybernetic one.’

Andrias, who had not paid much mind to the previous exposition (he kind of didn’t care for Marcy’s new drinking capabilities, not when until a few minutes before he was fearing for her very life), perked up immediately. “What? Why?”

The voice sighed ‘I see you have not paid proper attention in biology class. Since our major and only cybernetic project is you, we only have schematics for male newt kidneys’

“There’s a difference?”

‘Obviously. Newt kidneys secrete important fluids for the male reproductive functions, which were carried over in the cybernetics even if you lack a reproductive system.’

Andrias nodded in understanding “I get it. I wouldn’t want to see if that could have any adverse effects on a human girl”

A scoff could be heard in his mind ‘Speak for yourself. It would have been an unprecedented opportunity, especially in one as young as her. I was forced by the other minds to reconsider, unfortunately’

The King almost snapped at the doctor who wanted to make Marcy a test subject, but he bit his tongue. It was not the time, nor the place.

‘Other than that, she’s completely fine. We think. Again, different species and all’

“Thank you.” 

‘No need for that, son.’ Whispered the voice of his Father ‘We’ll need to speak of something, later. For now, you shall need to go and bring the human with you. We can see that the two newts which company you seem to enjoy are getting restless. I’d rather have you stop them before they start bringing down walls, please.’

Andrias was handed the sleeping Marcy and bowed a bit, slightly hindered by the teenager in his arms, then headed up the stairs the way he had come in.

Calmly, to avoid moving Marcy too much and rupture anything in her (he knew it was extremely luckily, but he was not willing to risk anything).

Finally, he reached the secret passage and pulled the lever that opened it. As soon as he did so, he heard a shout.

“CHARGE!” The voice of Yunan filled the hallway as she did just what she had declared with a broken column two times larger than her used like a makeshift battering ram. When she noticed that the stone wall had been replaced by her liege, it was too late to stop her own momentum and her charge met Andrias’ shin.

The titanic newt only blinked as the piece of stone crumbled against his leg. “Ow” he commented with a deadpan voice “I will have to detract the cost of that from your pay check, General. Then again, by royal decree Lady Olivia is the one supposed to take care that you don’t do anything reckless, so I should probably detract it from hers”

“Wait, she is?” Yunan asked, momentarily dumbfounded. Then she nodded “Yeah, that makes sense. The other day Newtopia University called me in to pose for a portrait. Apparently, they are going to publish a new dictionary and wanted an illustration for ‘reckless’.” She shook her head “But we weren’t talking about that!”

Olivia nodded, her gaze locked on Andrias “Indeed. Normally, I would berate Yunan for her behaviour and she will be severely scolded for her vandalism later-”

“Aw man, really?”

A death stare from Olivia shut Yunan up, then the aristocrat’s gaze returned to Andrias, who shifted slightly under it “But this? This is more important. I will ask this only once, Andrias. Where. Is. The. Child?”

Andrias smiled. He could appreciate the worry in her voice, in her attitude. He squatted down so that the two could see the teenager in his arms, soundly sleeping and unharmed, like the stabbing had been just a dream, a nightmare.

Both of the two newts in front of him gasped audibly, Olivia’s eyes filling with tears as she trailed Marcy’s face with a hand, almost disbelieving what she was seeing. 

“How?” She asked whispering.

Andrias smirked, blinked and shot her a finger gun, a mannerism he’d picked up from Marcy. “You don’t live a thousand years without picking up a few tricks.”

Olivia looked like she was about to question it more, but relented.

“Can we do something? For Marcy, I mean” Yunan asked, the steely determination of a soldier in her eyes.

Andrias nodded “She needs rest. Olivia, go and ready a bed in the Castle’s infirmary. They should still have Marcy’s. She will also need something to eat, something someone who just had their stomach punctured can eat. I have no idea what that could be, so now I’m making it your job to figure it out”

The light blue newt rolled slightly her eyes, the subtle mannerism only noticeable by Andrias because he had seen the newt grow up. She might be annoyed at him, but being annoyed at the foolish King was something familiar, unlike what had just happened. “I will perform as bid, Sire”

“Good as always, Lady Olivia” Andrias turned towards Yunan and his expression got deathly serious. “General Yunan. I want any surviving members of the cult to not be when Marcy wakes up. Someone must have helped that scum infiltrate the party. You will look for them. You will find them. And you will kill them”

Yunan smirked and extracted her blades, striking a pose “Oh Frog, I thought you’d never ask, Your Majesty.” With that, she jumped towards the ceiling, disappearing in the shadows and probably crawling towards any newt unfortunate enough to be suspected to be affiliated with the one that had nearly killed the kid the General had grown fond of.

Olivia also ran out of the room, to have everything Marcy needed to be there for when she would need it.

Andrias waited a bit, enjoying the warmth of the teenager asleep in his arms, slightly rocking her.

Then, he started to walk. There was still something he needed to do, after all. The Core was anything but a lenient master.

Somewhere, far away, a clock struck midnight. Others followed, the twelve dull rings of ancient bells filling the silent night. Normally filled with activity even in the night, it seemed the capital a dark and heavy veil had fallen on the capital after the stabbing of the human Marcy Wu.

In the castle at the centre of the city, the throne room was empty. Its occupant, the King that had held Newtopia for a thousand years, had chosen a far humbler, but still him-sized, chair, in the infirmary room of the poor unconscious human that had faced death just a few hours before.

Andrias Leviathan genuinely could not remember the last time he’d seen his bed, much less slept in it, even if he was sure there was not a speck of dust on it. His cybernetics made it possible for him to live on little to no sleep, so he usually sat on his throne and brooded in the darkness over his mistakes, something he found came to him naturally as he watched over the sleeping girl.

As soon as the last clock had beat the last of its twelve chimes, Andrias sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened him, pitch blackness had enveloped him.

He knelt. “My Lord. I was waiting for you”

For a second, nothing happened. Then, a jolt of pain went through him, making his limbs twitch. He stood still, a sound of pain smothered in his throat and his eyes clenched shut. He knew it would be worse if he protested, it was righteous punishment.

As the pain washed over him and vanished, Andrias allowed himself to open his eyes. In front of him was the figure of his Father.

“We’ve been watching you, Andrias.” The simulacrum of the long dead newt spoke with thirteen voices, thirteen orange and beastly eyes where only two were supposed to be. 

The King nodded. “You always are, My Lord. I am sorry for what happened, but it was a spur of the moment decisi-” another jolt of pain though his body forced his muscles to contract and shut his mouth.

The core chuckled in their dissonant voices “Oh Andrias. We are not talking about that. Well, we are. But, like always, you are not seeing the bigger picture”

“M-My Lord?” Andrias asked, confusion in his voice.

“We have been watching you interact with the human.” The Core stated, matter-of-factly, as dozens of screens appeared around the two, each on them focused on the same raven-haired, thirteen year old girl “How you laughed with her. How you comforted her. How you cared for her”

Andrias opened his mouth, but as he did so, the look the thirteen flaming eyes on his Father face gave him made him wisely decide to not even attempt to deny the Core’s claim.

“Oh, yes, you did. You still do, or that shameful display of carelessness for our plan would not have happened. You did not only risk to expose us to the world and to Wit far before it was time, but also squandered an opportunity to undo the prophecy”

“What?”

“No one would have blamed you for something like that. The others could be roped into giving us the Box with the added security of one of them being missing. Yet you ruined it all.”

“But why would we be surprised?” Aldrich asked, disdain hidden in his tone.

The screens of Marcy disappeared, replaced by screens showing images of two others, the two he’d once considered his friends. Andrias heart sank as he averted his gaze from them, choosing instead to look at the void under his feet. Not them, he could not bear to look at them, not now, not now…

“You caring has always ruined everything. You caring was what nearly destroyed our glorious civilisation, our legacy! You caring doomed countless to die in these thousand years.”

Tendrils from the darkness bound and lifted Andrias, who let out a rather unkingly squeak of surprise. One of the mechanical appendages snaked across Andrias neck and forced him to look up in the thirteen burning eyes of the Core. “We will not allow you to fail us once again.” 

The tendrils retracted and Andrias fell to the ground, gasping for breath. He knew all of this was just an illusion, a projection of his mind, but nonetheless he felt everything.

Something cold touched Andrias’ shoulder. He glanced at it, finding that it was his father’s hand. Then, the other hand found its place under Andrias’ chin, gently lifting his hand once more. This time though, instead of the angry face of the Core, it was just his Father, without the thirteen eyes of the Core and sporting his kind smile Andrias knew he did not deserve. 

“Because we know what’s best for you” The gentle voice of his father, like he hadn’t heard it since Leif’s vision, filled his ears and brain like warm molasses, soothing him. “Because you’re my son and I want nothing but the best for you.”

A small tear formed in the corner of Andrias’ eye. His father smiled sympathetically and helped him to his feet. 

“Now Andrias. You may have made a mistake, but if the Core is anything, it’s lenient. We will offer you the same offer we did a thousand years ago. Fix your mistake. Right your wrong. Do what’s necessary and all will be forgiven”

Andrias eagerly nodded “Thank you, Father, thank you. Let me make up for my mistake, I beg of you.”

Aldrich chuckled and smiled proudly “Wonderful. We knew our Andrias would not disappoint us.”

“What is it you require of me, Father?” 

Without missing an heartbeat and still with the same expression of a father who is seeing his child ride a bicycle on its own for the first time, Aldrich spoke “Kill the child”

Andrias recoiled, evidently shocked at his Father’s words “W-what?”

“Kill her, Andrias” Aldrich repeated, a bit of steel showing in its velvet tone. “Kill her and all can be forgiven”

“W-what about the plan? What will the other two think?”

“Don’t worry, son. We’ve thought about it. Alongside her new liver and stomach tissue, we’ve also installed a small kill switch. A packet of a powerful and virtually untraceable neurotoxin, right in this Marcy’s spine. It will be quick and painless. No one will ever know it was you. Come on, son. We’ve also linked it to your cybernetics. You can activate it whenever you want.” Aldrich smile got more saccharine “And if you do want to make your Father proud, you want to do it now.”

For what seemed to him like eons, Andrias could not speak. His voice was stuck in his throat, not by pain, this time, but by the absolute state of turmoil his mind was in.

He could not do this!

But he had to.

But he couldn’t.

But he had to.

His breath got erratic, his pupils shot left and right as if reading an invisible writing, as if somehow somewhere in the pitch black darkness there was an easy answer, a way out his brain could not see.

But in front of him there was only the black void, his Father and a line in glowing orange font in the corner of his vision.

‘Activate kill switch: Yes/No’

Andrias sank to his knees, his hands on the floor to support him and not let himself fall. “I… can’t” He whispered, hot tears of shame burning on his face as he slowly shook his head “I’m sorry, Father, I’m sorry, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t…”

Aldrich sighed and assumed the expression of someone who has just seen something particularly disgusting “Pity” the long dead newt spoke, the simple word hurting Andrias far more than any weapon could. “I guess we will have to do this ourselves.”

The hand of the Core’s herald rose, but as he did so, Andrias yelled “NO!”

“No?” Aldrich asked, his head tilting slightly. “Andrias, it seems like you have forgotten your place.”

“No, my Lord, please, I have not. I just want to make my case, please”

The long dead monarch rolled his eyes just slightly. “Seriously? You really hope to convince us like you did last time? You must have not listened well, then. It is a question of principle. You caring makes you weak. That can’t be allowed”

“You do care about me, don’t you Father?” Andrias spat out.

Silence enveloped Aldrich and Andrias, as the former looked long and hard at the latter, as if trying to deduce where his son was trying to go with that question. “Yes, that is one way of putting it” Aldrich reluctantly relented at the end.

“I care in the same way about Marcy.”

That shocked Aldrich, who lifted his eyebrows to show his two orange eyes, full of stupor. “You… you cannot mean that. She is nothing more than a pet, at best a sad imitation of your ‘friends’.”

“But she is” Said Andrias once more. “Father, one day I will need to join the Core. As much as the cybernetics might lengthen my life, one day I’ll have to. Marcy is an optimal heir. She is smart, she is loved by anyone she meets. With one of the Gems on our side, we shall not need to fear the Prophecy any longer.”

Aldrich brought a hand to his chin, still dubious, but apparently considering the concept, much to Andrias’ joy. “Hm. Perhaps there is value in what you say, son. So, you wish for this girl, this human to be the one to succeed you? Is this correct?”

Andrias gulped. He knew this was unprecedented at best and heresy at worst.

But this was the only way for Marcy to survive. And damn Frog, he was not going to let it go to waste.

The King nodded “Correct. I wish for Marcy Wu to become the heir to the Newtopian throne.”

Without a word, his Father closed his eyes, staying completely still for a second. When he opened his eyes again, eleven more followed.

“Very well.” Spoke the thirteen voices of the Core “However, we hope you understand that she has to be with us on everything, including our conquests. You know how they say: with us or…” The hive mind let the phrase hanging, but both them and Andrias knew what went unsaid.

“Let me take care of that.” Andrias spoke gravely “She will be with us, my Lord. I assure you of this. I won’t fail you”

“We hope this is the case, Andrias” the Core answered as tendrils appeared to drag Aldrich’s simulacrum back into the darkness “Since that seems like a habit of yours”

Without further ado, the darkness disappeared and Andrias found himself once more in Marcy’s hospital room. A quick glance at the clock mounted on the wall confirmed that he had been in his mind for an hour.

Andrias got up, to stretch muscles that no longer existed. He carefully stepped towards Marcy’s bed, eventually standing just at her side.

He let out a long held sigh. 

For sure, everything would have been better if he had not got Leif medical care, if she had been left to die and perhaps everything would be better if he just agreed to the question that still lingered in orange text at the corner of his vision.

But as much as his feelings for Leif had filled his heart and made it flutter, so was the case for Marcy. 

He softly caressed the face of the sleeping human with his finger. 

“Don’t you worry, Little Master.” Andrias whispered soothingly “Everything will be all right”

Marcy Wu was not a sound sleeper. She was prone to nightmares and when she slept she tossed and turned, which created way too many awkward situations to count at sleepovers. The sleeping habits of a energy-drink-and-caffeine-addicted gamer and straight A student did nothing but create a vicious cycle where she would sleep badly, get even more tired, drink more of her stay awake juice and start all over again until Anne or Sasha forced her to have all of her eight hours of sleep.

Which made how she woke up way more strange. She felt… well rested. Like for once she had slept a straight eight hours. She couldn’t even remember a single nightmare or a moment where she had woken up in a cold sweat with her breath hitched and her heart pounding in her chest and she was laying flat on her back, for once, her bedsheets uncrumpled and not wrapped around her like some sort of cocoon.

She noticed that she was definitely not in her room, but rather… was this her old infirmary room? She surely didn’t think she’d find herself here so soon. 

The human tried to put herself in a sitting position to give a look at the room and eventually get the attention of a nurse, but when she pushed herself up, she felt her head spin and fell down again. Man, what was up with her? She felt well rested enough, she shouldn’t feel all this sleepy.

Her musing was abandoned when she heard a whispered question from her left.

“Marcy?”

She turned to face the familiar voice’s owner.

“Andrias?” She mumbled, her mouth still not answering correctly to her commands.

Said newt was sitting in a comically large chair, his crown removed and resting on an also gigantic table. His mouth was curled in a O of surprise, which morphed into a smile as soon as Marcy answered. 

With tears, which even Marcy could read as born of happiness, blooming from his eyes Andrias rushed to her bedside and picked her up. 

“You’re all right” the big newt cried and chuckled “You’re all right, Master Marcy”

With her head spinning, Marcy chuckled back “Yeah, I am. I’m only feeling a bit doozy, that’s all. What time is it, by the way?”

Andrias put her down sitting on her bead and nodded “Yeah, the nurses told me that. It could be a side effect of the blood loss. It’s midday, according to the clock.”

Midday? Had she slept in? That was weird, she never- Andrias’ first sentence fully registered in her still somewhat foggy brain. “Blood loss? What do you mean?”

Andrias tilted his head slightly “You don’t remember?”

“I don’t remember wha-” The memories hit her like a freight train.

She gagged and she would have puked if her stomach had not been empty. The teenager began hyperventilating and her hands went for her stomach, moving the hospital gown that she noticed had replaced her dress. She felt around where she’d been stabbed, finding only the faint outline of a scar. 

“Is everything alright, Master Marcy?” Andrias asked, evidently worried. “Do you want me to call a nurse? Do you feel any pain?”

Marcy shook her head, her breathing beginning to quiet down. It was fine, everything was fine, she was no longer bleeding, there wasn’t any pain, Andrias was there, everything was fine.

“A bit rude to put that knife in me chest, innit bruv?” She whispered, with a little sombre chuckle.

“What?” Andrias asked, confused.

Marcy waved away the question “Oh, just a stupid joke. I-it helps me cope with… things, I found. You know, can’t cry about things if you’re laughing.” To demonstrate, she laughed a bit, but it was lacking emotion, it was obvious it was forced.

For a second Andrias stared at her, then he sighed slightly “Want a hug?”

The girl sniffled a bit, then smiled “Y-yeah” she said hesitantly, before nodding and speaking more confidently “Yeah, I’d love it”

The newt mimicked the human’s expression and lifted her once more, bringing her to his chest and drowning her in his beard. Marcy noticed distinctly how he was handling her carefully, to not hurt her or anything.

Normally, that level of concern over her would make her feel her more inadequate, a testament that she was not good enough and she needed to be taken care of. But this was Andrias and the care he put in hugging her without squeezing the life from her made her smile more stable and fond.

After a full five minutes of having her to his chest, Andrias put her down and sat beside her, the bed squeaking under his massive weight. He brought a hand to his face and dried a tear. “Listen, Marcy. I have to tell you something.” Before her brain could even start to worry and overthink, he lifted a finger and spoke “And no, it’s nothing bad, nor it is your fault, though it’s related to you.”

Marcy blushed a bit and rubbed the back of her head, a bit embarrassed that the King knew her so well. “Well, spit it out, Andrias!”

Andrias took a deep breath, then breathed out. “Alright, Andrias, now or never. No pressure” He whispered to himself. Marcy chuckled a bit. She noticed that Andrias spoke to himself a lot, not that she was anyone to judge. 

“Marcy” Andrias said with determination “When you… got stabbed I felt like the floor had disappeared under my feet. I almost started spiralling and I definitely would have if I had not needed to get you to someone that could help.”

Marcy smiled, a fuzzy feeling in her chest. “Aw, Andrias. You’re too good.”

Andrias matched her grin, then took her hands into his. “Marcy… what I’m trying to say is that… as I thought you were going to die, I realised something. About me. Marcy… what I have been trying to say… is that I love you like you were family. Like you were the kid I never had.”

Marcy’s eyes became the size of frying pans “W-what?” She squealed out, completely gobsmacked by the revelation. 

Andrias was quick to try and explain himself “W-what I mean to say… well, Marcy you’re a great kid. You’re smart, you’re fun, you’re brave, you’re kind.”

The teenager blushed and dismissed the praise with a wave “Pfft. I-I’m not that great…” she whispered.

“Master Marcy, I will hug you until you appreciate your great qualities. That is not a threat, it’s a promise”

As he saw Marcy blush a little more but nod, Andrias resumed “I’ve never had children, Master Marcy. I would have loved to, but I’ve only ever loved someone once and she is long gone…” He paused his eyes closed as he presumably reminisced of older times. Then he opened his eyes and looked at her, with the fond expression that someone that is looking at the most important thing in their life may have. “When I think of how I’d want my child to be, only you come to mind, Master Marcy” His smile strained a bit “Now, I get that you may not feel the same, Little Master, and I won’t force you or anything! You don’t need to call me dad or anythin-”

He was interrupted when Marcy barrelled into him, shaking like a leaf, but with a smile so wide that it hurt her face “I-I-I f-feel the s-same” She spoke through little hiccups

Andrias’ face got shocked “You do?” He asked, stupor and fascination in his voice

Marcy nodded “M-my p-parents… the-they’re good, I l-love t-them, they j-just want to h-help me b-because I’m n-not good enough and they want me to be and so they’re d-disappointed all the time and want more and more…” She calmed down as she felt Andrias’ hand on her back. “But you get me.” She said, calmer “You’re always there even when I’m bad, when I’d deserve to be scolded, to be punished, but you don’t care. You’re always kind and nice, you always know what to say, you always praise me even if I do not deserve it…” She paused a bit, then whispered, as if she was ashamed of what she was saying “I’d l-love for you to b-be my dad.”

Andrias smiled and put his arm around the girl, who hugged even harder.

“You know, Andrias” She spoke after a long silence. “For once, I’m actually the one who says something emotional first. After all, I did call you dad, the other day, didn’t I?” She asked with a small chuckle.

Andrias chuckled back “You sure did, kiddo” The salamander smirked “But I’ll have to disappoint you. Since, you know, it’s not a competition. It never was, because I’ve actually won it a long time ago.”

“What?” Asked Marcy, befuddled “When?”

“Well, it was actually on our first meeting, when I gave you your title. I never listened when my royal teacher taught me titles, so when I had to give you one, I simply called you Master because I thought it sounded good with Marcy.”

“It does, I’ll admit”

“Yeah, but apparently that is one of the titles that the heir to the throne or any title may go by”

“What?”

“Yeah, everyone has been calling you Princess Marcy, basically” Andrias admitted with a chuckle “Only discovered it myself` later when Lady Olivia asked me why I had adopted you on the spot. You can imagine how that conversation went”

“Yikes, that awkward?”

The Kind laughed and nodded “Oh, that and more, Master Marcy. Apparently she wanted to adopt you, so she was upset to be beat. A sore loser, she is”

Marcy blushed and chuckled “Gee, how many great people want to adopt me?”

“Well. I’d say Yunan, but I don’t think she’s parent material, to be honest.”

The girl laughed “Yeah, she’s more like a cool aunt, I’ll say”

“I wouldn’t surprised if there was anyone else that wanted to adopt you, honestly. After all, who wouldn’t want to have a kid as cool as you?”

“Aw, stop it!”

But Andrias continued “Well, tough luck for them! Because Master Marcy is my adopted kid and nobody else’s!” He brought his hand to his chin in reflection “Well, Olivia’s too, I guess.”

Marcy smiled, tears of happiness in her eyes. This was probably one of the happiest moments of her life. 

So happy she was, that she took no notice of the faint orange glow in the corner of her vision.

Through the eyes of the human, King Aldrich and the other minds of the Core observed King Andrias laugh and joke with his new ‘daughter’. But while Aldrich smiled his usual smile, the other minds were not of the same mood

One large newt growled “Aldrich. This is supposed to be our herald? The King of Newtopia? The one destined to rebuild our glorious civilisation? Pathetic.”

An axolotl wearing a white lab coat and thick glasses joined in “Yes, this less than optimal. We were wary of allowing the human to live, even if it allowed me to record interesting medical data, but this? We should have released the neurotoxin, not only to observe how well it works for eventual deployment in our conquest, but also to put Andrias in check. Do you really buy his idea? I seriously doubt that he can convince her to help with any invasion.”

The first newt spoke once more “We are a collective, Aldrich. We speak as one, but no one has allowed you to speak for us, stealing our voices. Have you caught the same kind of sentimentality that plagues your son?”

Aldrich seemed unfazed by the two’s words “They really care for each other…” He commented under his breath, his smile of mild amusement still on his face.

“ALDRICH!” The first newt barked “Do not believe yourself better than us. You are not our leader and this behaviour cannot be tolerated”

Aldrich seemed to take notice of the other minds for the first time. “Ah. Father, Doctor. Are you upset?”

“If you do not wish to be sent to a void for a century, you better explain yourself, Aldrich”

The newest mind of the Core sighed “As always, just like the one you berate, you lack a wider vision.”

The eyebrow of Aldrich’s father was lifted in confusion “Explain”

“With pleasure. Look at them. They care about each other, oh so much. Probably even more than he does for me”

An axolotl scoffed “We already knew that. After all, wasn’t the point of allowing that cultist into the party exactly that? To observe what Andrias would do when the chips went down? He’s gone beyond even our wildest dreams with that little stunt of his”

“Yes, surely.” Aldrich nodded, conceding the point to the other member of the Core. “Which reminds me.” The newt raised his hand and the doctor fell convulsing in pain “Doctor, that little remark about General Yunan almost revealed to Andrias what we have done. If he was to find out… let’s just say that his loyalty to us is not absolute. Make sure it doesn’t happen once more.” Not missing a beat, Aldrich continued the conversation “and yes, I must admit that it is a threat, but it is also an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?”

“Yes, exactly. Andrias is an emotional creature. At some point down the road, he’s bound to become smitten with some other creature or feel remorse for his friends and might even rebel against us.” Aldrich’s placid smile became a malevolent smirk. “But now? Now we have something he cares for. Something that we can use to keep him on the right path. And that something happens to be an emotionally fragile young girl. He’s handing us his reins and what reins are they.”

Another newt nodded “That… makes sense. It sounds like a good idea.”

Aldrich chuckled “This Marcy Wu, if groomed properly, could also be an interesting pawn and, why not, a good ruler too. We just need to give her the right… push.”

A gravely voice spoke, slightly spooking each and everyone of the minds of the Core. It was a gigantic newt, clad in dark armour, with a black crown that stood atop his long white hair. His eyes were orange and red, full of flames that threatened to burn each that dared to sustain his kingly gaze for too long. Everyone knew who he was.

He whose Name was lost to time, First King of Amphibia, the First Conqueror, the King of Doom, First Mind of the Core.

“That is not all, I assume, Thirteenth?”

Aldrich gulped, slightly nervous, but not showing it in front of his glorious ancestor “Of course not, First. Following the appearance of the Third Star, I have researched the true capabilities of the Gems. We all know that from the Box, the Gems can easily power our armies and allow us to travel between realities. But what I have found… the power that this child could wield… the idea of having such a powerhouse on the throne of Newtopia… assuring our glorious civilisation it rightful place in the multiverse… but why discuss it with words, when I can show you?”

The pitch blackness they’d been discussing in disappeared, leaving place to a reddish light. It was a world in ruins, its cities destroyed and its nature burning, its nations broken and its people slaughtered, its resources freed from the savages that squandered them and offered to a far nobler cause, their cause.

Above it all, surrounded by flying armies of Frobots and in front of the flying castle from whence they would rule all worlds was a goddess. Glowing green with pure power, raven hair defying gravity and a crown on her head, Marcy Wu smiled fiendishly over the Great Empire of Amphibia.

As quick as it appeared, the vision disappeared.

“This” Aldrich spoke “Is my vision. This is what will make us truly great. All worlds shall fall under our power, if even one of the Stars is one of us.”

The First brought his hand to his chin “It is a great vision. Can you make it happen?”

Aldrich’s smirk got devilish as the footage from the young girl’s eyes returned to attention, showing her totally trusting of their puppet.

“Don’t you worry. She will join us. And then…”

“None shall stand against us, evermore”

Chapter Text

Honestly, Marcy could have remained like that forever.

Andrias’ arm around her in a parental gesture as she rambled on and on on nothing important, the only other noises him commenting and the infirmary’s bed protesting the giant newt’s gargantuan weight.

She was happy, seeing the world through rose tinted glasses (well, more like orange. Seriously, was it her impression or everything had a slight orange hue at times?), not a care in the world, no sir. For once, she was not even thinking of Anne or Sasha, nor she was ashamed of that. She wasn’t even thinking about the fact that she had kidnapped her only two friends in the whole wide world and brought them to a strange world and that she was sitting here enjoying herself while they were probably getting slaughtered by a giant mantis or a giant water snake or a giant stick insect or giant river lampreys and oh Frog what had she done- nope, not thinking of that at all! After all, Andrias (her self proclaimed adoptive dad oh my gosh it was the found family trope how much did she love the found family trope) was doing something nice for her, to cheer her up! The least she could do was being happy.

And she was. She loved Anne and Sasha and all, but with Andrias… she felt something else. Anne would forever be her Anna Banana and Sasha her Sashy, but Andrias scratched a completely different itch. She’d wanted to just sit down and ramble to someone for ages, to have someone who laughed at her stupid jokes and said some of their own terrible ones and who looked at her with that look of pride that made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. Anne and Sasha were her bestest friends, but Andrias was her… d-dad. Woah, she was stuttering even in her mind, wasn’t she?

Her father should have that title, she thought with some guilt. Her parents were supposed to be her parents, not some newts from another dimension she had known for a month! Sure, compliments at the Wu household were as rarer as mistakes on her schoolwork, any of which was met with disappointment, but it didn’t matter! Her parents had raised her, fed her, housed her, met her every need and they cared for her. They did. She was sure. They were just hard on her because they wanted her to grow into her best self, because they loved her. They told her countless times, it was her fault that they needed to sometimes treat her badly.

All these thoughts, however painful they were, only lasted half a second, ice daggers that were melted by King Andrias’ mere presence, leaving her to bask in his comforting warmth.

Because Andrias loved her like a daughter. He’d said it himself, that was irrefutable, but looking back Marcy could see it plain as day. Only someone as clueless as her couldn’t see it. 

As Andrias spoke on, commenting on the general tropes, genres and tones he liked in a story (she fully believed he’d be head over heels for the Cynthia Coven books and wanted to see if her feeling was right), Marcy leant in, resting her head on the great newt’s side.

The King stopped, confused for a split second, then looked down at her, at his child, with a warm smile on his lips, not simply his jolly smile that always made Marcy feel safe and happy, but a proud and loving little smile that made Marcy’s heart leap with joy and made her want to smile so much that her cheeks would hurt.

“Thank you” Marcy whispered, not in the usual heartbroken and teary tone she’d whisper to him when she was upset, but almost overflowing with emotion, only whispered to not break the spell, out of an irrational fear that it’d all be a lie, that it’d all be a fantasy, that it’d all be a dream.

But it was not, Marcy realised when she saw the smile on Andrias’ face spread even more, the newt evidently flattered by the human’s words. Not even in her wildest fantasies she’d dream something like this, she knew right away.

“There’s no need to thank me, Master Marcy.” Andrias answered, dismissing her words with a hand wave (had he picked it up from her? He quite possibly did, Marcy realised). He let out a small chuckle “If anything, I should be the one thanking you. Life would be quite dull if you weren’t around”

Normally, Marcy would play along to King Andrias attempt to laugh it off, but now? Now she was determined. She shook her head. “I’m s-serious. You’ve just… you've just been so nice and I know you say that I deserve it and all, but I just wish there was some way to make it up to you.”

‘To not be a burden’ went unsaid, since Marcy knew Andrias would not approve of that line of thinking. She knew he said she wasn’t and never would be, but she still felt like that.

One of Andrias’ fingers ruffled a bit Marcy’s hair, shaking the girl out of her somewhat gloomy mood and eliciting a giggle out of her.

“Why, I am honoured, Master Marcy!” Andrias spoke, playfulness in his tone, but the look in his eyes still enough to let Marcy know that he was not simply going to laugh it off. Slowly, his smile withered as his expression got more serious and the old newt closed his eyes for a second, seemingly reflecting.

Marcy tensed a bit up, but for once she did not have a single inkling of fear in her. For all the guilt she may have in her, for all the doubt and regret on her actions, she instinctively knew that Andrias would never hurt her, that she needed to fear nothing from him. Heck, he probably was only faking being serious to pull a prank on her or as a setup of an elaborate joke. 

Finally, he resumed speaking. “Master Marcy… there is actually something I need to tell you. Something I’ll need your… help with”

Marcy’s eyes widened with anticipation and she smiled. Her, helping the frogging King of Amphibia/her father figure/possibly her adoptive father (note to self, look up Amphibia’s adoption laws. Can the King just adopt people on the spot?)? Oh gosh, right now Andrias could reveal to her that he needed her help to invade Earth and she’d most likely agree!

With her hands flapping slightly, she nodded energetically, too excited to speak but still wanting to convey to Andrias that she wanted him to go on.

The monarch chuckle slightly at Marcy’s excitement, before taking in a long breath. “Alright. Just, hear me out, before saying anything, alright? It may seem crazy, but I assure you, it’s for your own good. What I wanted to tell yo-”

“Master Marcy?” A familiar voice interrupted the King alongside a sound of smashing ceramic and clanging metal, making both the newt and the human turn their heads towards the door.

On the doorway, standing with both hands over her mouth in stupor, was Lady Olivia, the tray she’d been carrying fallen on the ground and the teapot and teacups full of steaming liquid shattered from the impact with the floor. While normally the uptight newt would be making a fuss over it and getting a servant to clean the mess, this was far from normal and her attention was focused totally on the young human sitting on the infirmary bed.

General Yunan had come in with her, the small dark red spots on her armour suggesting she’d come straight here after performing the task Andrias had assigned her. She looked particularly surprised as well, though, uncharacteristically, she had not spoke a single word yet.

Marcy smiled brightly, made a peace sign with her right hand and shot a wink at the two newts “Master Marcy present, Lady Olivia!”

Yunan smirked “That’s my girl! Ain’t no way something like a little stab is going to take you down!”

Olivia’s eyes started watering and the aristocrat rushed towards the girl with a speed Marcy genuinely hadn’t thought her capable of, jumping at her neck and hugging it.

Marcy recoiled a bit for the sudden impact, before chuckling happily and hugging back, a few happy tears matching Lady Olivia’s. For once Olivia didn’t complain about the slightly bone crushing show of affection. 

Andrias gave a hearty laugh “Well, it seems like today everyone is getting their supplies of Marcy’s hugs! Want to join in, General Yunan?”

As Marcy’s head raised to look at the pink newt, Yunan’s fight-or-flight instinct kicked in, the general’s blades extracted and her every muscle tense. “You’ll never take me alive, fiend!” She exclaimed.

Both Andrias and Olivia chuckled at that, well acquainted with the soldier’s inclination for exaggeration. Marcy pouted at her “My hugs are not that bad…”

“Kiddo, last time you hugged me, you bruised three of my ribs.”

“Okay, point taken. Sorry, I did not want to hurt you” 

Yunan laughed and dismissed the girl’s apologies “Ah! No need for an apology! It takes way more than that to put me down! But I’d rather not have to endure that again, if you will”

Marcy shot Yunan a military salute “Aye aye, General!”

Olivia smiled at her girls’ silliness and looked up at Andrias, the old king looking amused by the exchange too. “Thank you” 

Andrias met Olivia’s gaze, a bit startled by the lack of titles and etiquette in those two words, as simple and direct as they were sincere. The old king smiled warmly at his underling, reminding her why she still served him. Yes, Andrias was a bit of an oaf, at times, buffoonish, childish, disruptive,  an absolute pain in the ass… but he was also a good person. He might not take seriously his job, but Olivia remembers well when, as her mother laid sick on her deathbed, he’d spent most of his waking hours at her bedside, taking care of the wizened newt and talking kindly with her, to ease her suffering.

“Don’t worry about it, Olivia” Andrias answered her thanks “It’s not like I would let my Little Master  just die, now won’t I?”

Olivia smiled at him “Thank you, Andrias.” She reiterated, in a gentle tone that however did not admit for deflection. 

The big newt simply chuckled “Alrighty, then! Since everyone seems to be thanking me, do you want to do the same, Yunan? Anything you feel thankful for?”

The pink newt shrugged “Nah, not really”

Andrias squinted at the other newt, before smirking like the little titanic shit he was and turning to Lady Olivia “Say, Lady Olivia” He asked with a mischievous tone “Didn’t we have to discuss Newtopia’s next year’s budget? I think we could slash the military funding, use it for something nice, like canceling student debt or a new gold statue of me”

With eyes the size of dinner plates, Yunan froze on the spot, before chuckling awkwardly “W-woah let’s… not do something drastic! Ahaha! Why, I am thankful for a lot of things!”

Probably enjoying it a tad too much, Andrias lifted an eyebrow and asked “Such as?”

“…you not slashing the military’s budget?”

Andrias’ grin got more cheeky, the king clearly loving it, the Frog-darn- “Aw, come on, you can do better than that, Yunan.” 

As she saw the usually confident and boastful general squirm under Andrias’ thumb, Lady Olivia grinned amusedly, hiding her smirk behind a hand. Marcy, on the other hand, was decidedly less sneaky about it, snickering plainly.

“C’mon, Marcy” Andrias playfully chided her “Let’s not be childish, shall we?”

Marcy grinned in a smug way that she most definitely picked up from Andrias, Olivia realised in horror. “I’m a child” She rebutted the King “What’s your excuse?”

The big blue newt smiled back, the two trolls very much playing off each other. He pulled back his head and laughed loudly “Why,” He said after he was done with laughing “I’m the King! I can do whatever I want!”

Olivia pinched her nose in annoyance, though her smile remained fixed on her features. “Your Majesty, I believe that’s why you have a rebellion every twenty years or so”

Andrias brought his hand to his chin and squinted “Oh, yeah, I had never realised it before, yeah, the two things could be related.”

As Andrias came to this realisation, a nurse popped in “Could you keep it down?” She asked, annoyance clear on her features. “This is a hospital, for goodness’ sake.”

Andrias pointed at her with his colossal index finger “DANCE! Your King orders it!”

The purple newt, evidently used to her ruler’s general childishness, sighed and began dancing in place, an absolutely done expression on her face.

The newt King, on his hand, put his fists on his sides and began to cackle wildly “I’ve learnt absolutely nothing!” Finally he stopped and, drying a tear with one hand, used the other to gesture the newt to go away “It’s good to be King!” He proclaimed, before turning again towards Lady Olivia once more “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

With no emotion on her face and a look in her eyes that revealed her intention to try and drown herself in juice later, Olivia spoke with a deadpan tone “We were saying that the reason that you’re facing rebellions quite often it’s probably related to your abuse of your powers for your amusement”

Andrias scoffed “Pish posh, I have an army! I can do whatever I want!”

“The army you’re currently thinking of defunding?” Olivia asked, a slightly raised corner of her mouth revealing how glad she was of being able to one up her aggravating boss.

“Oof.” Andrias cringed “I had totally forgot about that.” He shrugged “Well, that does it. I guess I’ll have to keep the budget as it is”

Yunan brightened up immediately “Really?” She asked, her tone hopeful.

Andrias grinned like a maniac, causing dread to sink in her chest for a second as she realised what was about to happen.

“SIKE!!!” Andrias bellowed, before succumbing to laughter, quickly joined by Marcy.

Yunan sighed and looked to the ground “Frog damn it”

The nurse from before popped in once more, not deterring Andrias in the slightest from his laughing fit. “Lady Olivia, I will need to take a bottle from the castle’s uhm… you know”

“Please, take me some ‘juice’ too.” Olivia said, making air quotes as she spoke the word juice. “I think we’ll both need it”

“Ah, that was a good laugh” Andrias commented, apparently not noticing Olivia’s alcoholism. “Let’s get down to business, shall we? Lady Olivia, bring me the paperwork. And with bring, I mean do most of it. And with most of it, I mean all of it”

The aristocrat nodded “The usual, then?”

Andrias shot her a finger gun “As always! C’mon, let’s have those kids no longer have to work dead end jobs for years in order to afford a piece of paper that will allow them to have slightly better jobs!”

That seemed to be enough to motivate Yunan “NO!” She bellowed “I… uh, well, I… I suppose I got to kill people today? Can I thank you for that?”

Andrias thought about it for a second, then shrugged “Yeah, sure. Never mind, Olivia, the kids are going to have to keep wasting years to pay off loans they were never going to be able to actually pay off. Well, that or join the army.”

Yunan nodded, satisfied “Just as Frog intended”

“We’re going to have to talk about that, Yunan. Andrias was about to actually do something good.” 

“It’s in the oath I had to swear when I became head of Newtopia’s army, Liv! The previous head of the army made me do it.”

“Yeah, for one, you’re not head of the army. There’s no ‘Head of Newtopia’s Army’, because I am the head of Newtopia’s army.” Andrias pointed out “Second, there’s no such oath.”

Yunan opened her mouth to answer, before realising something and stopping in her tracks. “Frogdamnit, that old geezer tricked me! I knew that that plate looked way too much like tin to be official!”

After Yunan realised she’d been presumably scammed by a random newt years prior, the three decided to move from the infirmary, mostly because the nurse had taken a chair, sat down in the doorway and had begun to chug a bottle of dark liquid, maintaining eye contact all the time. They’d quickly agreed to leave, after that.

As they arrived in the throne room, they realised that outside was raining heavily. While the newts did not have problems with it, even Andrias and Yunan realised that bringing Marcy outside during what looked like a genuine rainstorm could be a bad idea, particularly while she was still recovering. The four had decided to spend the rest of the day together in one of the many living rooms of the castle. Yunan and Andrias had volunteered to retrieve some wood for the fireplace while Lady Olivia tended to the teen. 

As the two walked through the halls, Andrias spoke “Marcy and I have talked”

“Oh, Frog please, don’t tell me that you’re putting her in charge of the army. I’m sorry I didn’t thank you, I am!”

Andrias gave her a confused look, before realisation hit him “Oh, not about that. Honestly, I didn’t care about that. I had forgot about it about half of the way in our little banter. I just like to have some fun. No, it’s not about you, Yunan”

“And you lost my attention”

“Yunan!” Andrias reprimanded her, causing her to stand straight

“Alright, alright I’m listening”

Andrias sighed “While there’s something that I’d like to talk about later… I can tell you this. It doesn’t look like her parents treat her too well.”

Yunan bared slightly her teeth, growling lightly, but staying otherwise silent.

Andrias nodded “I agree with the sentiment. Point is, she’s happy now. I want you to do whatever necessary to keep that smile on her face or so help me Frog…”

“Hey, give me some credit!” Yunan protested “No need to order me to do that! I’d have done it regardless! Olivia loves that girl to bits and I too think she’s a damn cool kid. And I’m me, I have high standards! Plus, I’ve already killed all those cultists. In for a copper, in for a-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it” Andrias interrupted her, before smiling sweetly, not his usual amused expression, but the kind of smile someone truly happy does “It’s nice that Marcy has that many people that care about her.”

“It’s three people, Sire, I can count them on one hand and still have a finger left over.”

“You know what I mean, General. Plus, she’s got her friends. She does speak fondly of them…”

A few seconds of silence followed and even Yunan could see that thoughts were running through Andrias’ head, not necessarily fond memories. Eventually, he snapped out of it. “You talked about those cultists. Are you sure you got all of them? I don’t want another one of them to jump in front of Marcy and stab her. Again. Or ever.”

Yunan nodded “Yeah, I’ve got all of them”

Far, far away, in the cold lands of the Amphibian Arctic, a large tent stood in the middle of nowhere, flapping in the blizzard that raged. Inside, there was a newt hooded in black and with a parrot-like creature that had temporarily found its perch the shoulder above her missing arm. She was reading when someone moved the piece of cloth that closed the entrance of the tent, chilly winds and snowflakes entering the warm space.

“I was expecting you” Valeriana spoke, closing her book and getting up, while Leander, offended by the the cold flew away to find a warmer spot. 

The newcomer stepped in, the heavy cloth that he had lifted to come in falling down once more, muffling the sound of the storm’s rage. They were completely clad in a hooded cloth, their face obscured, one sleeve closed much like Valeriana’s. They spoke in a masculine voice, growling impatiently “Do you have what I asked you for?”

Valeriana smiled creepily “I do. But remember what I warned you of last time. Some things, you do not pay with money…”

The hooded figure threw a heavy sack of coins on the ground in front of Valeriana. “It’s fifty thousand coppers”

Valeriana blinked once, then twice “Alright, this you can pay with money”

She seemingly pulled out of thin air a case, wooden and finely decorated, and passed it to the figure.

He took it and opened it. Inside was a metal arm, made of a bronze-gold metal, two similarly coloured gems on it, one on the shoulder and one on the hand’s back.

The grin in the figure’s voice could practically be heard as he spoke “Magnificent. Just what I need. I only wonder why you don’t keep it yourself, old woman.”

The other newt smiled crookedly and a bit sadly “Believe me. It would be better if some did not have arms to destroy or to create.”

The figure shrugged “As you wish.” He turned around, taking the arm out of its case and tossing the container on the floor, before stepping out and in the storm.

As the blizzard surrounded him, he ripped out the sleeve of his missing arm, before jamming the arm in his empty arm socket.

The pain was excruciating and he fell on his knees, his howls of pain losing themselves in the storm.

Finally, the pain subsided and the figure breathed deeply, before pulling himself up. He moved his new arm in front of his face and opened and closed his fist. Then, he pointed it forwards, power flowing through it as a bronze lightning bolt shot from his opened palm and destroyed a boulder not too far from him.

He began chuckling. “Now I just need to wait for a bit. Then, they’ll see. They’ll all see…”

The wind forced his hood down, revealing the face of a blue newt, and he raised his arm to the skies.

“The wrath of…”

Lighting crashed all around him as the winds howled in his ears 

“BARRY”

“Nope, no enemies seeking revenge, definitely not. Frog, I’d remember them if there were. Not like there are any one armed newts that I’d just forget about!” 

“…that sounds weirdly specific, but good enough! Now, come on, that wood ain’t gonna prepare itself!”

“Yeah! Cutting stuff up! It’s almost as good as killing people!”

“Yunan, we seriously need to get you help for that.”

“Never! I ate the last psychiatrist you sent me to and now they all refuse to see me! I am playing the long game here!”

Lady Olivia sat in her favourite reclining chair, an unopened romance novel resting on her legs. She had brought it to read it a little, take her mind off… well, things. Since Marcy’d been stabbed, her brain had been running on overdrive, to the point that she’d smelled burnt toast at least a couple of times and she’d been unsure if it had been the symptom of a impending stress fueled stroke, as usual, or her brain smoking from overworking. In the end she had discovered it had been actual toast burning. Apparently Yunan liked buttered toast as a mid-slaughter snack, but had the memory of a goldfish.

However, every time she decided to start reading, signals fired in her brain, panicking and asking frantically were was Marcy and if she was safe. Apparently having a child you cared much about almost die left some lingering effects. So, for the time being, she kept her focus on the young girl, who was resting on the great fluffy carpet, not a thought running through her head as she laid there with her eyes closed, a lazy smile on her face. 

Olivia smiled at the happy teen, before a cold jolt went through her body, making her shiver slightly. Marcy evidently noticed that, since she opened her eyes and turned towards her.

“Lady Olivia? Are you all right?” She asked, concern clearly in her voice.

Olivia couldn’t help but smile. Here Marcy was, just recovered from being stabbed in the stomach and somewhat living, yet she was the one concerned for someone else. “Don’t worry, Master Marcy. I’m just a bit cold, that’s all. It will be easily fixed once Andrias and Yunan come back with the firewood.” 

Almost if to deny her previous statement, her own body rebelled against her and sent another shover through itself.

Marcy crooked her head slightly, in that ‘Are you sure?’ look, before getting up.

“Master Marcy, wh-” Olivia tried to question the girl, but before she could end the sentence, she was interrupted by Marcy picking her up.

“And scoop!” Marcy proclaimed “Man, you’re cold!”

Currently held like a baby, a position she had thought she would not be in since she’d gotten her legs, Olivia attempted to protest “M-Master Marcy! This is hardly appropriate!”

“Eh, etiquette, shmetiquette.”

Olivia pinched her nose in annoyance “You’re spending way too much time with Andrias. Master Marcy, there’s no need for you to carry me, seriously. I am perfectly content with waiting a few minutes.”

“Nah, it’s the responsibility of us warm blooded people to keep you poor cold blooded ones warm!” Marcy proclaimed triumphantly “Buuuut my arms are getting kind of tired and your chair looks a bit small for me.”

“I suppose there’s no chance you could put me down?”

Marcy smiled widely and held her tighter, giving her a squeeze like she was a stuffed animal “Nopers!” She gingerly proclaimed, giggling slightly.

Lady Olivia sighed deeply. She had three people in her close social circle and they were all idiot children. To add injury to insult, the actual child was the most mature of the three, somehow. “Fine. We could always use Andrias’ fancy chair.”

Marcy’s eyes filled with sparkles as she turned towards the shed-sized piece of furniture. “Man that’s huge! And it looks super comfy, too!”

Olivia chuckled. At least she’d get to enjoy the luxury item for a bit “It’s the one thing he’s adamant I cannot use, but he’ll surely make an exception for you. He does seem to have a soft spot to you, after all”

Marcy blushed a bit at that “Y-yeah, I suppose that’s true.”

Olivia was a bit puzzled at the child’s words. What had Andrias said to the human before Yunan and her had arrived? “Marcy, w-”

The newt, however, did not have the chance to end that sentence, since, for the second time today, Marcy interrupted her brusquely by throwing her atop the King’s chair.

“Yeet!” The girl proclaimed with a small laugh, before climbing up the piece of furniture. “Sorry, Lady Olivia, but I couldn’t climb with you in my arms”

“I could have got up by myself, Master Marcy” Lady Olivia pointed out while picking herself up, getting rid of any wrinkles from her clothes.

Marcy pursed her lips and brought her left hand on her chin, while the other got on her elbow, clearly thinking about. “Yeah, it was funnier this way”

Olivia rolled her eyes, but she had a big smile on her face. This was nice. 

In the end, even if the gigantic seat was spacious enough to host the both of them, Marcy practically forced her to sit between her legs, Olivia’s back resting on Marcy’s stomach and one of the human’s arms around her. The human was warm, Olivia had to concede her that, and the fireless room was growing cold. So yes, maybe she liked snuggling in against her, even if she would deny it vehemently to frog, toad and newt. And humans, she supposed. 

She realised she had left her book on her chair and turned her head towards the human to ask her to let her go fetch it. When she saw Marcy, however, she couldn’t help but stop herself from disturbing her as a smile spread across her features.

Marcy was leaning against the cozy and soft backrest, which caved in significantly, practically absorbing her. Once more her eyes were closed and a pleased grin much similar to the one that Lady Olivia was sporting at the moment. At her side, her left hand flapped slowly, shifting and moving calmly. She’d been around her long enough to learn that it was the signal that Marcy felt safe and at ease, which surely put Olivia quite at ease herself.

At the beginning, when Marcy had just arrived in Newtopia, she flapped sparingly around her, constantly grasping one hand with each other and apologising when she was caught in the act, no matter how many times she had told her that it was nothing and she didn’t need to apologise. It wasn’t limited to her, she’d been told by the nurse and Yunan. Apparently she had acted like that with everyone else.

‘Well, almost everyone else’ Olivia thought, with a twinge of jealousy that just couldn’t be helped. Somehow, Andrias did not elicit the same answer from the child, who flapped liberally around the monarch. Of course, over time Marcy had begun to stop stifling herself around Yunan and herself, making Olivia’s heart swell slightly the first time she had noticed, but she still felt the occasional jolt of enviousness over it. She couldn’t fault the child (nor that she’d ever do it regardless. She was a child, for Frog’s sake!), though. Andrias had always had that fatherly ‘vibe’, as Marcy would put it. Not that Olivia would actually trust him with a child. There was a reason why she had to constantly remind both him and Marcy that humans were supposed to eat and sleep. Seriously, sometimes she wondered how could someone live for as long as Andrias and not develop an ounce of responsibility. It was not that he was an airhead or… enthusiastic, like Marcy. He had those random moments of thoughtfulness that made Olivia seriously wonder whether he was faking it or not.

Regardless, even with his lack of responsibility, she’d often asked her parents and herself why had Andrias never had children. The newt loved children, that much had already been clear the moment she’d been introduced to him the first time, a tale that she would die and/or kill to never be told to anyone, particularly Yunan or Marcy. Her mother had mostly evaded her questions, which did prompt (very short-lived) conspiracy theories on her true parentage during her rebellious teenage phase, but she’d since figured that the most likely reason was that the King simply did not have anyone else, or at least not anymore. After all, he had lived for a thousand years and none of the biology texts she’d read mentioned anything about any other millenary newt, which was weird on its own. Even the most long-lived newts did not live that long, but Olivia did not give it much thought. She simply assumed the universe had decided he needed to live forever to annoy her and specifically her.

Even if she was a bit jealous over how fast Marcy and Andrias had bonded, she couldn’t deny that it was a good thing. Marcy practically beamed when she was around the old newt and it was evident that Andrias dearly loved the human.

“Erhm, Lady Olivia?” Marcy’s voice brought her out of her reflecting “Are you okay? You’ve been doing nothing but staring at me for the last ten minutes. Honestly, it’s starting to creep me out.”

“I- well, I was just- I am okay, Master Marcy.” Lady Olivia stammered out, as if her brain, after too much thinking, had run out of fuel for trivial things such as answering coherently.

“You sure?”

Olivia chuckled “Yes, Master Marcy. I was just thinking about how much joy you have brought to Andrias, Yunan and me just by being here. I hope that you know just how we three all love you.” 

With that, Olivia extended an arm and, being unable to reach the top of the human’s head, she settled to ruffle a bit her hair on the side.

Marcy blushed at that, assuming a coloration much similar to Yunan’s. “W-well- if we- about that…”

Both carrying as much wood as they could feasibly carry, Andrias and Yunan made their way towards the living room they’d left Olivia and Marcy in.

Andrias did not struggle at all, of course, since his cybernetics could lift several tons with ease. As he glanced to his side, however, he could tell that this was not the case for Yunan. The pink newt, when she saw the massive amount of logs that Andrias had picked up without even breaking a sweat, had insisted that she could do the same. So, now she staggered through the corridors while carrying what looked like several times her body weight, all while in full armour. Andrias could have said that he was impressed, if he didn’t worry that every second now she would collapse under the load she was carrying.

“Are you alright, Yunan?” The King asked, rightly worried.

Yunan, though, continued walking, the massive burden in her arms and her trying to keep up with Andrias’ pace forcing her to test her limits and not exactly leaving her much space to try and respond to her liege. “Need- ugh! To! Give wood! Argh! To Olivia!” She managed to stutter out, almost falling down while her focus faltered.

“I’m sure Lady Olivia doesn’t need you specifically to give her wood.” Andrias tried to convince his subject “She doesn’t even like wood!”

“Wait! Oof! Really?” Yunan spat out, reddening a bit, out of fatigue Andrias assumed “You! Sur-aaaarghhhh!” The last word transmuted into pained yelling as Yunan’s knees buckled under the weight.

Andrias rolled his eyes and picked up the wood that had fallen on the floor and the collapsed pink newt, making her rest over the mountain of limber in his arms. “Of course” He resumed speaking like nothing had happened, knowing better than to mock Yunan after such a wound to her pride “She doesn’t not care for big pieces of wood and I don’t think she would particularly appreciate for someone delivering a huge load to her”

Yunan, even if still flushed for the effort she had put in carrying the wood, seemed to perk up at that information, something that made little sense to Andrias. He didn’t think anyone cared particularly for firewood. But then again, few things made sense about the newt who had twice catapulted herself into her throne room with swords duct taped to her arms during a coup. When it happened the second time he had almost expected it, to be fair. In the end it turned out that the coup had been started by Yunan herself, because she had wanted to prove that she had stopped a coup in that way to a couple of newts in a bar. After that, he was willing to accept just about anything about the pink newt.

He supposed that since Yunan was not a noble, she had different customs than Lady Olivia and himself. Commoners were bizarre, after all. He had recently discovered that a ‘hot spiders’ were somehow a plate popular enough in Newtopia. Why had the people resorted to eating spiders was beyond him, but he supposed they must have a good reason for eating their pets.

“Well, that…” Yunan spoke, breaking Andrias out of his reflecting upon the commoners’ weird customs “That is surely good to hear. I have a chance, then!”

Was Yunan so insecure to think that her friendship with Olivia would be at stake just because she didn’t bring her enough limber? He’d have to send out Marcy to investigate the common newts’ social customs. Perhaps they could do it together? It could be a fun… father and daughter activity? Yeah, felt weird even to think about. Not that he had much experience about this sort of things. His father was far too busy most of the times to do something with him. Not that he blamed him! The glory of Newtopia was far more important than his childish whims after all!

Well, right now he did not have much to do, or anything really, so he could and would definitely do something with Marcy!

“Uhm” Once more Yunan spoke over his thoughts, this time seemingly a bit embarrassed, which was definitely out of character for her “Just because we’re already talking about this… what’s your preference? About this, I mean”

Andrias gave her a confused look. Well, he did not have ‘talking about limber with General Yunan’ on his ‘things that are going to happen after my protege/adoptive daughter gets stabbed’ bingo card, but he guessed he could indulge the other newt’s curiosity. “I… I suppose I don’t dislike wood? I like a nice load in a normal way. I mean, I’m not obsessed by it, but I don’t dislike it.”

Yunan gave him a surprised look “Really? Ah, Olivia owes me fifty snails! I knew I had you pinned! I mean, it’s kinda weird, since you’re very old and normally old people are… you know.”

What was all this obsession for wood about? Being a thousand years old, Andrias had seen trends come and go, but this was the first time he’d heard about this woodsession (Ah! He made a dad joke, as Marcy had said! He was nailing it!). 

“I’ll have you know” He replied “that I’ve been like I am all of my life even if it was not particularly appreciated when I was a child.” Mostly because in those days they had centralised heating and did not need to burn limber. There had even been laws banning the burning wood needlessly, mostly to avoid polluting, which he had had to remove, of course. “But ever since I took the throne, it’s become more accepted and widespread, I made sure of that.”

Yunan raised her hands in a gesture of surrender “Woah, Sire, I did not mean anything! Everyone appreciates that, well everyone who is not an asshole! And Frog those guys, seriously!”

Andrias chuckled at that. The frogs did live in an environment that was too wet to properly burn wood. It was funny because it was true.

“Have we arrived, anyways?” Yunan asked “I definitely remember the living room being closer”

“Oh, we arrived about ten minutes ago. I was just standing here waiting for you to notice, but you never did”

“Wha- and you just stood there and continued talking?” Yunan said in disbelief

“It is rude to interrupt people and you seemed particularly interested in my enjoying of-”

“Yeah, yeah” Yunan interrupted him “I know”

Andrias squinted at the general “Did you listen to a word I said?”

The other newt did not seem to be particularly bothered and just shrugged “The way I see it? I’m already perfect. What’s the point in listening to other people’s suggestions, if I cannot become more awesome?”

“That’s not how- why would-” Andrias took a deep breath “You know what? Never mind. I won’t even attempt to talk about it, nor I will listen to anything”

“See? You get it!”

“Shut up”

With that Andrias kicked open the door, since his hands were occupied “Hello everybody! We’re back! And if anyone even attempts to talk about wood I’ll throw myself out of the window!”

Much to his surprise, neither Olivia nor Marcy were immediately visible, not on the fluffy carpet, not near the cold fireplace and not on Olivia’s favourite armchair, though the last one was fairly  understandable, for the human at least. He was pretty sure that if the child tried to use the piece of furniture she would destroy it.

His blooming worries on the location of the newt and the human, however, were washed away when Marcy’s head peeked out from his own armchair, a confused expression of her own on her face. “What?” The teenager asked.

“Long story” Yunan waved the question off as she jumped down from Andrias’ arms with a double somersault and final pirouette. “What matters now is that Andrias and I got the firewood, we didn’t talk about anything embarrassing or personal, we’re here, we’re quee-”

Yunan, for once, was cut off, something that Andrias would have rejoiced for, if he too was not taken aback by the same thing that had interrupted the general’s words.

Said event was Olivia jumping down from his tall armchair, bracing for the impact caused by her meeting the ground with an opened hand, her tail rising behind her to balance her out.

‘Damn’ Andrias couldn’t help but think ‘I’m definitely stealing that’

Yunan also seemed to like what she was seeing. Though no one but herself was privy to the thoughts running through the empty void that was normally her brain, anyone could guess what she was thinking from her rapidly rigid tail. Well, anyone who was not a thousand-years-old cyborg amphibian monarch.

“Olivia?” Finally Andrias brought himself to speak “I thought I had made it clear that my chair is off limits” It was the one thing he was adamant on. A newt needed to draw a line in the sand, somewhere, after all. Of course, he would not hold it against Marcy, but that wa-

His thoughts froze when Olivia’s head snapped towards him, with a cold steel glare that bore a hole in his soul, if there was any left.

“Andrias.” She spat out in a dark tone, causing, in rapid succession, Marcy to grow skittish, Yunan to move to Andrias’ side, since she needed to be alive to experience this rather enticing side of Olivia, and Andrias to grow incredibly concerned, making him take a small step backwards and drop the supply of timber he was carrying, almost killing Yunan in the process.

Olivia began to walk towards him, step after step. 

Andrias nervously swallowed “Oliv- Lady Olivia! Can I call you Liv? I’ve heard Yunan call you Liv and we’ve known each other for most of our lives, I think I could call you Liv, right?”

No reply from Olivia, who was slowly getting closer, her expression unreadable.

“Alright, Lady Olivia, I am sure we can resolve this like adults, can’t we?”

No reply.

“Let’s make a deal shall we? I won’t… uhm, order people to dance around? For a whole week. Actually, make it five days.”

No reply.

“I’ll… grant you a vacation! What about cashing in your vacation days? You could go to a nice resort, you could even bring Yunan with you! Make it a… girls’ vacation? Do those things exist? I once read about it in one of your trash- incredible and fascinating pieces of romantic literature totally fit for a newt of your stature!”

Yunan tried to speak about Andrias’ idea, but was immediately shut up by Olivia’s death stare.

“I’ll do my paperwork! Half of it!”

Finally Olivia made it to the King, stopping for a second there.

Then, she jumped up, grabbing Andrias by his beard. The titan was taken by surprise by this, which allowed her puny pull to throw him off balance, making him fall on a knee.

Her liege prostrated, Olivia raised her hand and delivered the mother of all slaps upon Andrias’ cheek.

A slap that did absolutely nothing, of course. Andrias stood there for a second, confused, then spoke “Uh. I don’t know what I was expecting.”

“Andrias.” Once more Olivia spoke, causing the King to tense up again. 

“Yes ma’am”

“Master Marcy told me of your little conversation.”

Oh Frog.

Olivia rested her fists on her sides. “I thought we had that settled! And yet I find you trying to one up me at every turn! I didn’t even get to tell her how I felt!”

Yunan squinted, confused by what she was seeing and hearing “Whaaaaaat?” She asked, confused as heck “Liv, Andrias, aren’t you two… you know… a bit too old for Marcy?”

Both Andrias and Olivia were brought out of their confrontation by Yunan’s words. The two newts stared absolutely gobsmacked at the third.

“What the Frog do you…” Andrias asked, stopping when he realised what Yunan had meant. He immediately gagged. “Ew. Ew ew ew ew.”

“WHAT THE FROG IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” Olivia squealed, her cheeks a deep blue “OF COURSE THAT IS NOT THE CASE!”

“I DON’T KNOW, IT JUST SOUNDED THAT WAY!” Yunan tried to justify herself, while Olivia glared at her and Andrias seriously contemplated asking the Core to surgically remove that memory from his brain.

“Uhm, I’m confused.” Marcy said, her head crooked to the side “What did she mean?”

The three newts exchanged glances. “Nothing” Lady Olivia spoke in the end, already conscious of her role as the responsible unofficial parent. “It was just Yunan being Yunan”

“Hey!”

“Shut up”

Marcy gave them a focused look, before shrugging “Alright! Who wants to help me light a fire? I am pretty sure I know how to do that! From books and stuff!”

“I’ve never read a book, but I’ll help too! I’m the champ at fire arrows, so it should work!” Yunan said, immediately darting after Marcy with logs of various sizes under her arms.

“And I suppose that I’ll go ensure they do not get themselves or the castle on fire. Again” Olivia said, her tone tired, but a corner of her mouth slightly up.

Andrias looked at the trio and smiled, his brain bringing up by association some of his best memories. Almost all of them seemed to be of his old friends, with some being newer ones, with Marcy.

“Wait for me!” He yelled after them “I’ve got the best fire starter there is!”

“Oh, Frog no!”

After Olivia had forced Andrias to sheathe his fire sword, much to Yunan’s and Marcy’s disappointment, the general and the human had somehow figured out how to light a fire. If you could call Olivia slipping a match in the human’s pockets figuring it out, that is. 

The four had settled for a lazy rainy afternoon, with Andrias declaring this day to be a national holiday. Olivia could have pointed out that it didn’t work like that, but she conveniently forgot.

Olivia had sunk in her armchair and Andrias in his, Marcy laying on the King’s legs with her head against an armrest, while Yunan had chosen to lay on the carpet, her back to the warm fire.

Marcy had initially raced the rain droplets on the big window with Yunan and Andrias. Olivia had glanced up from her trashy romance novel to join in a couple times, winning each one and getting a lifetime ban from a disgruntled Andrias in response. After Yunan had almost shattered the window panel because Marcy’s droplet overtook hers at the last possible moment, the three had decided to stop the game before anyone got hurt.

As of now, they were just lounging, the three newts just letting Marcy ramble on and on about everything that came to her mind, something that that human was very prone to. Some times they chimed in, like when Andrias had asked Marcy about Earth’s general level of military technology. That had escalated quickly, with Yunan rapidly deciding she needed to acquire a tank, with any means necessary.

Marcy was speaking about a novel that she wanted Andrias to try out, when it happened. A sudden noise came from Lady Olivia, a raucous sound that was unlike her.

All the other three turned towards the light blue newt, who seemingly was the only one to not have noticed, a lazy smile on her face as she kept reading the same line over and over, clearly focused on something else. She only looked up from her lecture once she realised that Marcy’s voice had stopped and seemed to be surprised once she saw everyone focusing on her.

“…what?” She asked, a bit confused “Do I have something on my face?”

Marcy was the first one to speak “…Lady Olivia did you just croak?”

Olivia’s pupils became the size of pinpricks, while her cheeks became blue from embarrassment. “N-no? I did not!” She tried to refuse the human’s claim, but she was unable to convince the other two newts, who both smirked deviously.

“Well, well, well” Yunan teased Olivia, her tone smug. “Looks like someone isn’t all so high and mighty, aren’t you, Liv?”

“S-shut up, you fool!” Olivia shot back, her face a nice deep shade of blue.

“Okay, I’m confused” Marcy asked “What’s going on here? Isn’t croaking something that amphibians just do?”

“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that” Andrias attempted to explain to his protege, only to be interrupted by Yunan.

“Ain’t nothing complicated kid. Only, ‘proper protocol’ says that ‘croaking in public’ is, in Lady Olivia’s own words,” Yunan whipped out a small notebook and proceeded to list things off of it “‘inappropriate’ and ‘unrefined’ and ‘Yunan, you can’t bring a severed head inside the castle, the blood’s going to stain the carpets’. The pink newt stopped in her tracks and reflected for a moment “No, wait, that was something she said last time I tried to bring a trophy home. Well, whatever,” With that, she whipped the notebook shut, before continuing “point is, she did something she chides me for when we hang out! It’s not my fault I like being in your company, Olivia!”

The last point shifted the room’s point of interest to Yunan, who blushed slightly before pointing to Yunan and yelling “She did something embarrassing! Mock her for it!” and jumping out the window, which shattered on impact, somehow successfully restoring everyone’s focus on Olivia.

“Should we worry?” Marcy asked “We are on the twentieth floor”

Andrias shrugged “Yunan jumping out of windows? Seen that, boring. Lady Olivia croaking? Now, that’s interesting!”

“Sire, I will leave you on your own with paperwork” Olivia tried threatening Andrias

Her words, however, did not seem to be able to make the big salamander desist. “Oh, it’d be worth it. Plus, I can simply not do it. When society starts falling apart, you’ll come back”

The small newt looked at the floor dejectedly. “Frog” she whispered in defeat.

“I still don’t get it” Marcy said “I mean, yeah it’s embarrassing, I get that, but why would Lady Olivia do it, then?”

“Well, General Yunan forgot to mention that newts croak only when they are really happy. It’s bas-”

Once more Andrias was interrupted, this time by Marcy’s squeal of joy, as he had begun to call it. The human did seem to do it a lot around him, a fact that never failed to make a smile appear on his face.

Marcy, still squeaking, was flapping hard, as she often did when excited, practically jumping in place, a far cry from the air of befuddlement she had sported until now. Finally she managed to talk coherently “You’re telling me you guys can purr! Oh my gosh, that’s so cute! No, Marcy you’re not supposed to call people cute just like that! But that’s so adorable, oh my gosh!”

“Master Marcy” Andrias managed to cut through her conversation with herself “What exactly is ‘purr’?”

The human looked confused for half a second, before she lightly slapped her forehead “Oh, right, you guys don’t have cats here. You don’t right?”

“What’s a cat?”

“As I thought. Basically, cats are pets we have in the human realm. They’re small, cute fluffy animals”

“That does sound like a Killamoth caterpillar” Andrias pointed out.

“…I’m going to go out a limb there and assume they’re not friendly critters”

“Let me just say that taking one as a pet would most likely result in you going out a limb”

“Yikes. That’s bound to cause problems down the line. Anyhow, our cats, when really happy and comfortable make a humming noise, which we call purring. And apparently you guys do that!”

“I take offence at being likened to a house pet” Olivia argued

“Nah” Andrias shrugged “You and Olivia basically are my pets”

Olivia sighed deeply and didn’t even try to talk back to the childish monarch.

“Oh! Lady Olivia, can you do it again? I just want to record it, please, Lady Olivia, please?”

Olivia’s blush, which had begun to die down, was slightly revamped “Master Marcy, I cannot do it on command.” Her expression darkened and her tone got more sombre “In fact, I have not croaked since… my mother died.” Her gaze went to the ground, her mind returning to bittersweet memories. 

Andrias felt a jolt of pain at that, his gaze shifting to the side. 

“Woah! Drias, have you just croaked?”

“N-no, I didn’t?”

“Aw, Barrel, he’s denying it! Our little prince, cannot afford to look not prim and proper even with his friends?”

He dispelled those memories. He had to forget them. He had Marcy now, he couldn’t afford to dwell on his backstabbing friends.

Marcy. The thought hit him all of a sudden. That insecure girl, so prone to blaming herself, she would be absolutely destroyed over th-

Marcy dashed towards Lady Olivia and picked her up, holding her tightly between her arms, but not hugging with too much force, careful not to hurt the newt. 

For a second, both Lady Olivia and Andrias were too taken aback to do or say anything. Then, both newts smiled.

Olivia draped her arms around the human’s neck, giving her a hug. Words were not needed.

Yunan climbed in from the shattered window and began dusting herself off. “Woah, I didn’t realise we were so high up! I almost died!” Then, she saw Marcy and Lady Olivia hugging and decided almost certain death was preferable to the human’s death grip.

Her dive from the window, however, was stopped when Andrias grabbed her in midair.

“Unhand me, fiend!” Yunan protested, before being dragged in a group hug by Andrias, who grabbed Marcy and Olivia. “AAAH- Wait, this is actually quite nice.”

The four stood there for quite a while, Marcy’s arms around Olivia and Yunan as Andrias held them in midair with his own arms.

Finally, Marcy spoke, the tears on her cheeks audible in her strained, but happy tone “I love you guys”

All the newts, even Yunan, couldn’t help but smile, even if the General’s was more like a smirk. After all, she had a reputation to maintain!

Olivia tightened a bit the hug she was giving the human “So do we, Master Marcy. So do we”

Yunan, still smirking, raised an arm to ruffle the kid’s hair, eliciting a giggle from her “You’re a cool kid, after all! We’d be fools not to! And General Yunan is no fool! I may be illiterate, impulsive and a fool, but I’m no… wait, what was the point I was trying to make?”

“We love you, Master Marcy” Andrias said, almost whispering in his powerful voice. “Now and always”

Marcy’s eyes, who’d grown shinier and more full of happy tears with each word were almost producing their own light by the end. “You guys…” was all she managed to say in a tremulous voice, her spasming hands on their back telling Olivia and Yunan all they needed to know about how much happiness the girl was feeling.

A sound pierced the silence. A croak, a powerful sound clearly coming from King Andrias.

At that, Marcy looked up and met Andrias’ gaze, the joy in her eyes unfathomable “Thank you, Drias”

For once, the newt did not lose a beat as the girl he considered like his daughter called him by his nickname of old “Anytime, kiddo”

A heartbeat passed.

Marcy spoke again “I did record that one though”

“Aw, Frog”

Chapter Text

The day had passed, even if none of the weird newt ‘family’ and their unofficially (for now) adopted human child were particularly happy about it. Marcy would have probably given up what little she hadn’t given up already to not lose her friends to make the day last just a bit longer and she guessed Andrias, Olivia and Yunan would have said the same. Except for the kidnapping their friends part. You know, because they didn’t have parents that forced them to do things they didn’t want to. 

They’d had a good dinner, Lady Olivia had even allowed General Yunan to bring in two Andrias-sized jugs of boba tea, one for the King and the other for Yunan and Marcy, though Lady Olivia was forced, in the end, to drink some.

Their table conversation was dominated by Marcy, as usual, the girl rambling on and on, talking about everything and nothing. She had noticed, at one point, just how much she was talking. Normally, when that would happen, she would feel a wave of shame wash over her. After all, her parents had taught her better. It was not right. She was not supposed to rant on and on when with other people and especially not if they were adults!

This time however, even though she did fall silent for a second, she felt none of that shame. She felt… safe.

That night, Marcy Wu went to sleep with a big smile on her face.

And it was with a big smile she awoke!

Uncaring of the fact that she had just recovered from life-threatening injuries, she rolled out of her bed full of energy and rapidly put on her cloak and armour, in such a hurry that she actually somehow put on her cloak backwards, something she did not notice until she sprinted out of the room and tripped on it, falling on her face, nearly falling on a small newt servant that was walking in the corridor.

If it had been one of the first twenty times, the orange newt would have probably been spooked by the sudden appearance and her equally sudden fall or at least concerned for her, but instead he simply stopped and helped her up after a small sigh.

“A regular Monday, I suppose, Master Marcy?” He asked, his tone a bit ironic

“A Marcy Monday, if you will!” She replied jokingly.

The newt chuckled “Typical Master Marcy. The castle staff did miss you. We were all particularly worried about well… you know”

“Yeah, yeah” She waved her hand dismissively “Being stabbed and stuff. Don’t worry, Bernard, I’m fine!”

“That is surely good, Master Marcy” The servant commented, before going on his way “The castle was perhaps just a bit too quiet with you gone.”

Marcy chuckled a bit, before briefly disappearing into her room and coming out with her cloak properly put on. It was her armour that was put backwards, this time.

“Uh. I have no idea how that happened” She commented before going in her room and back, this time wearing her outfit perfectly by the time she when came out. “Nice!”

It took all of Marcy’s self control not to cartwheel down the castle’s stairs on her way down to the castle’s dining room. On the other hand, when there she did use a particularly loud tone, which would have most likely than not put her in trouble back home, to announce her presence to the three newts there “Good morning, everybody!”

The human’s greeting put a smile on everyone’s face.

Andrias, still in his night robe and wearing his funky glasses, took a sip from his tea while reading distractedly the newspaper and help his cup higher to welcome her “Good morning, Master Marcy! You seem to have woken up in good spirits!”

Marcy giggled a bit, for no particular reason. “I s’pose I did!” She answered Andrias as she climbed up the leg of the Andrias sized table, which had a smaller table with a bountiful breakfast buffet and similarly-sized chairs, on which Lady Olivia and General Yunan were already sitting.

The light blue newt had her normally well composed hair sticking up everywhere and only acknowledged Marcy’s arrival with a small ‘Hm’ as she sipped on coffee so dark that it was completely black from her ‘Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee’ mug. Marcy had wisely decided to heed the advice the first morning she had had breakfast with the newt and it had yet to fail her

One would never guess that the prim and proper Lady Olivia was like this in the morning, Marcy thought to herself. Not that Marcy was likely to make that information public. She had seen Lady Olivia angry and she had no wish to find herself on the Andrias end of her rage.

“Good morning, Master Marcy!” Greeted her General Yunan, already wearing her armour, though with a big white napkin tied on her neck. “Want a piece of this?” She asked the human while pointing to the roasted fly the size of a chicken on her plate.

Marcy made a disgusted face “Ew…”

Yunan did not seem offended and simply shrugged “Eh. More for me! Let’s dig in, shall we!” She took a big bite out of one the insect’s legs she ripped out “Hmm. Proteins.”

“I still don’t get how can you eat that in the morning” Andrias commented offhandedly.

Yunan simply laughed “Ah! Morning! I’ve been awake for almost three hours!” She jumped on the table and flexed her muscles “After all, I need to maintain these bad boys.”

Lady Olivia’s gaze rose slowly, giving a good look at Yunan’s frankly impressive biceps, buying herself some time by taking a slow long gulp of her coffee, before lightly scolding the other newt. “Yunan. We talked about this.”

The pink newt rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment “Yeah, yeah, no standing on the table. Sorry, babe”

A few seconds went by before Yunan’s and Marcy’s brain registered Yunan’s little slip up. Of course, Andrias did not notice, as always, and it was way too early in the morning for Olivia’s brain to register something like that.

Even more, of course Yunan did not realise any of this in the heat of the moment. As blood rushed to her cheeks, she began stuttering “D-did I say babe? I-I mea-I of course meant baby! Yeah, you big baby!” She proclaimed before throwing herself off the table.

Marcy couldn’t help put coo a little at the sight. They were just so cute together! Of course, there was the small issue that neither of them was willing to make the first move, but that could be solved, as her extensive knowledge of fanfiction assured.

The sound of General Yunan loudly crashing into the ground (and more likely than not cracking the marble floor) echoed throughout the room.

Okay, perhaps Yunan throwing herself out of windows and, in general, from high places could be an issue. Marcy mental note number 435, make her a parachute.

While Andrias did not seem to care particularly, Olivia perked up, startled by the sudden noise “What happened? Did Yunan break something?”

The human giggled and reassured the newt “It was nothing, don’t worry”

Lady Olivia did not seem to believe her particularly (which Marcy could definitely understand. While she was helping Andrias out, she had seen a pie chart of the castle’s expenses. A good half was under the name ‘Repairing Yunan’s damages’), but settled down nonetheless, probably judging it wiser to not waste her energies now and instead chase after the other newt later.

Andrias butted in, his head getting close to the human “What will you have this morning, Master Marcy?”

The girl reflected for a moment, then spoke “Coffee, please! As black as my soul!”

The gigantic salamander chuckled “Warm milk, coming straight up!” He pulled out from the side of his armchair a long golden thingamajig, looking like a pair of scissors with no blades, replaced by two long arms that ended with small flat surfaces that helped him grab normal-people-sized objects. Patented invention of the great and loveable Marcy Wu, of course.

With it, he grabbed a pot of warm milk he had put on earlier and filled a cup that Marcy held in her hands “Here you go!”

“You serious?” Marcy asked, her head a bit crooked.

“Ah, of course” Andrias exclaimed, playfully slapping his forehead. He picked up the sugar bowl and poured a generous amount of its contents into Marcy’s beverage. “I forgot how sweet you are, Master Marcy!”

The two locked gaze for a moment, then laughed.

“You know it doesn’t get funnier if you repeat it every morning, right?” Yunan asked, having just climbed up the table “Plus, even with all the sugar the girl’s getting with her milk, I think it’s Olivia and me that are the ones who are going to get the most cavities.”

Andrias blew her off “Oh, give me a break. I am the King! I’ll order those pesky bacteria to stop attacking the royal heir’s teeth!”

“Aw…” Marcy commented “That’s so nice, Andrias! That’s not how it works, though”

“Marcy is right” Olivia said, apparently having consumed enough caffeine for her brain to function properly. “Though I disagree with Yunan’s last comment. Please, continue. I need this in the morning.”

Marcy chuckled at that and drank her very sweet morning beverage all in one go, practically vibrating as she felt the liquid ooze warmth from her stomach. She slammed down the mug and stretched.

“I see you’re excited!” Andrias commented “Any plans?”

“You betcha!” Marcy exclaimed “I’ve been cooped up in this castle long enough!” She rapidly corrected herself, a bit of shyness returning in her tone “I mean, it’s fantastic in here and it’s been so great with you guys, but I just want to go out! See things! For example, I read about this old folks’ tale about frog-eating monsters living in Frog Valley, the Mudmen! So I was thinking to grab Joe Sparrow and go there to see if it’s true!”

Lady Olivia spattered out her coffee “Absolutely not!” 

Marcy was taken a bit aback by Olivia’s sudden outburst. “W-what? Why not?”

“Master Marcy, you just almost died!”

“Pff!” Marcy blew Lady Olivia off “Yeah, I did, but it was a totally different thing! I mean, I wasn’t even on a mission! Let my guard down and stuff!”

“Yeah, lay her off, Liv!” General Yunan backed the girl up “I mean, I didn’t see that one coming and I’m me!”

“Yunan, the other day Andrias sneaked up on you”

“I didn’t hear him coming! He’s somehow extremely sneaky!”

“Yu, he’s literally twenty feet tall and wears armour as part of his daily outfit”

“No, no, she’s got a point there, I am particularly sneaky” Andrias commented “Plus, the armour is magnificent”

“That’s not- We weren’t- That’s not the point! Point is, Marcy, you can’t go. Final. Not so soon!”

“Aw, come onnnn!” Marcy whined “Andrias, please! Tell Lady Olivia I can go! Think of how mad it’ll make her!”

“Hey!” The light blue newt protested, but she was ignored.

The King took a deep breath and put down his newspaper. “Marcy, I’m afraid I cannot let you. I’m sorry”

“Ye- what the what?” Marcy had begun to exclaim before Andrias reply had been registered 

“Sire, I must pro- wait, did you actually agree with me and did the responsible thing?”

“I can be responsible, Olivia” Andrias answered the other newt’s question “I did rule for a thousand years before you”

“Sire, I saw the paperwork of the last two hundred years and you were delegating even back then”

“Yeah, that’s true, but I can be responsible.” Andrias stood his ground, before turning his attention back to Marcy “Lady Olivia is right, Marcy. Give it a week or two, alright?”

Marcy did seem let down by King Andrias sudden stroke of responsible behaviour, but nodded.

“Hey, it’s not all that bad!” The big newt tried cheering her up “I mean, you still have freedom of the castle and a full library. We can read together later, why not? A fun father-daughter activity! I mean I think it is. Never had siblings and Father was always busy… Anyhow, would you like that?”

Marcy smiled at that “I… yeah, I’d like that”

Marcy threw herself on her bed, just staying there for a second and letting the soft mattress absorb her body. She had not stepped a foot outside the castle for the entire day, yet somehow she still felt exhausted.

She had spent the majority the day in the castle’s library, that to be fair was immense and full of interesting books, and which had kept her occupied, so she definitely didn’t get bored.

She had not spent a second of her day alone, either. Andrias and her had read together for most of the morning and a good part of the afternoon, Olivia and Yunan taking turns to keep her company when the King was occupied, so she definitely didn’t feel neglected.

In fact, she would have definitely got in bed with a big smile, if the circumstances were different. She should have. Everyone had been so nice and had taken time from their day to mind her. They deserved her happiness, at least.

Yet, as always, she was selfish. Yet, as always, a voice whispered into her ear. 

‘You’re not good enough’ it whispered ‘They figured it out. They know that you’ll just get yoursself hurt or worse. And who’s going to suffer because of your recklessness? They are. Because they for some reason care about you.’

Marcy sighed and as she got under her sheets. It was true, she knew. She was just a normal middle school girl, she couldn’t expect to be allowed to go and risk her life. As always, she was just being selfish.

As she chided herself, however, another voice whispered at her ear, so similar to the one of self doubt that so often tore her down in the tone of her parents, yet completely different. As much as that was chilly, this was warm, as much as the that cut into her, this was soft, as much as that was harsh, this was mellifluous, reminding her of molasses being poured into her ears.

‘But you’re good enough’ The voice argued. ‘Hasn’t Andrias already told you that? You are strong, you are smart, he knows that, deep down, they all do. You just need to remind them, to show them all’

Before Marcy could even reflect on the words her subconscious (or so she assumed) whispered to her, three light knocks pierced the silence of her room. 

“Master Marcy?” Andrias’ voice came, a bit muffled from the door “May I come in?”

The human shook her head bit to clear her thoughts. Seriously, two voices, soon her head would not have space for herself! “Y-yeah, Andrias, come in, come in!”

The door opened and in came the giant salamander. “I came to wish you goodnight! I know Lady Olivia is the one who normally does this, but I figured that my new role as your… you know, father figure does come with certain responsibilities.”

Marcy chuckled “Responsibilities? Who are you and what have you done to King Andrias?”

Andrias laughed back as he walked up to the teen’s bed “I know, I know. Who’d have guessed? Apparently, some responsibilities are fine. Plus, Lady Olivia has passed out at her desk”

“Typical Lady Olivia. Thank you for coming, da- Andrias” She tried to say ‘dad’, but the word still did not manage to roll on her tongue just fine, the girl chickening back at the second letter and addressing him by his name.

Andrias did not seem to be offended by that and chuckled “Still not quite getting the hang of that, are you?”

Marcy blushed slightly “S-sorry Andrias…”

The newt shrugged and sat down on the human’s bed “Don’t worry, kiddo. There’s no hurry, take all the time you need.”

“But I want to!” Marcy pouted “You have been just so nice! Everyone’s been! I should be able to say a little dumb word. You deserve it!”

“Hey” Andrias spoke, extending an hand, which Marcy quickly grabbed with one of hers, something that never failed to calm her down. “That’s better” The big newt commented. “Master Marcy, I am nice to you because I want to. Olivia and Yunan are nice to you because they want to. You don’t owe us anything and if you want to call me… d-dad, it should because of that, not because you feel like you owe us something. Got that?”

Marcy teared up a bit at that and leant in with her head, nuzzling it into Andrias’s hand.

Andrias tucked her in and started to walk away, when Marcy spoke, calling him “Andrias, wait!”

The salamander stopped in his tracks and turned around “Master Marcy?”

‘I am good enough’ She wanted to say, but the words just did not form on her tongue.

“Love you” She said instead.

 A big warm smile formed on Andrias’ face, causing Marcy’s heart to sink in shame “Love you too, Marcy. Goodnight and sweet dreams”

With that, Andrias made his exit and closed the door, darkness quickly falling onto the room at that.

‘Coward.’ The harsh voice whispered in her ear.

‘Coward.’ The gentler voice whispered in the other.

“Coward” Marcy whispered to herself.

In another room, a newt couldn’t sleep. Clad in her armoured pajamas (she had learnt early on that night did not spare you from being attacked), Yunan paced up and down her room, mumbling to herself, her two brain cells begging to be let to rest.

But Yunan simply could not be at ease. She needed to figure this out! As of now, she was at an impasse. 

She could definitely understand Olivia and Andrias being worried for Marcy (and if she was being parental, she could only imagine how much Andrias and, even more so, Olivia would be worried about losing the girl that had somehow slithered her way into all of their hearts), but on the other hand she knew that if she was in Marcy’s shoes, young and in a new and exciting world, she would be going insane if she was forced to remain in the castle.

She needed to broker out a compromise between the two parts. Until now, however, she was coming up with nothing.

“Ah, this is useless!” She snarled, kicking a piece of furniture.

As if to seek revenge for the offence dealt to it, a book fell off the top of the piece of furniture, hitting the newt on the head and then bouncing off of it and on the floor.

Yunan did not seem bothered, however. “AH!” She laughed, pointing mockingly at the unmoving wood construct “You thought that something as pathetic as a book could harm me! Tough luck!” She knocked on her head causing a metallic sound “I had metal plates installed on my head! Who’s laughing now? I AM!”

The piece of furniture did not answer. Since, you know, it was a piece of furniture. 

That did not deter Yunan from extracting her blades and piecing it with them “Let that be a lesson, to not trifle with General Yunan, Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched and young- wait a second, I do not own books.”

She bent down to investigate and picked the tome up. It was thick and big and Yunan remembered it as a gift from Olivia. 

‘How to solve problems diplomatically’ Was the title , while the subtitle read ‘Why sitting down and talking can solve most of your problems, particularly to make two parts see the situation from the other’s point of view’.

Yunan’s mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ as the gears in her head shifted.

“This…” She whispered “This is so insane that it just might work!”

It was a bit after midnight when Marcy woke up. She thought she heard something rustling, a sound of sorts.

She looked around for whatever that could be out of place and she noticed that the door, which she distinctly remembered Andrias had shut was now slightly ajar, a blade of light shining into the dark room.

“Hey is anyone there?” Marcy asked, not spooked in the slightest, nope.

No one answered.

“Andrias is that-” 

The last thing she saw before passing out was something rectangular speeding and hitting her in the face. Then, blackness.

Yunan chuckled to herself and looked at the book she had used to knock out the human with a proud smirk. 

“Yup, just what I needed!” She proclaimed as she slung the teenager over her shoulder, staggering a bit for her weight, but managing to stay up.

“Alright, Marcy! TO ADVENTURE!”

When Marcy awoke, it was with a throbbing headache. Not something too unusual, she had to admit, particularly after a night of hardcore gaming. She brought her hands on her head and grumbled, still half-asleep and drowsy.

She looked around herself and did not recognise what she saw. She seemed to be in what looked like a somewhat spacious room, with the wooden walls barely visible with the amount of gold, gems and assorted trinkets and artefacts scattered around. As she registered that this was probably not her room, she noticed that it wasn’t just her, the room was slightly rocking.

What ha-

She remembered being knocked out.

She let out a whine. Good, Andrias and Olivia already did not trust her to leave the castle, what would they do after they discovered she’d been kidnapped even inside?

The girl got up, though her brain apparently did not like that, as shown by the jolt of pain that it shot her.

By some miracle, the teenager managed not to fall flat on her face and arrived at the room’s door, which, to her surprise, was unlocked.

She opened it and was immediately blasted with the familiar smell of saltwater, taking her mind way back, to long Sunday afternoons spent in the sea playing with Anne and Sasha, to observing her two best friends play beach games while she ogled their athletic bodies (totally because she wanted references for her drawing, yup) and oh Frog what if the box teleported them into the sea and they drowned and they died and it’s all her fault and-.

She was shaken out of her already spiralling thoughts by a voice of General Yunan “Oh, Marcy! You’re finally awake!”

Marcy looked up and saw General Yunan in an hammock hanging from the ship’s mast, for once non donning her signature armour, but wearing high black leather boots, brown pants, a lavender shirt fastened by a belt and opened on her chest (which almost made Marcy look away, before realising that newts, not being mammals, had actually nothing there) and, to top it off, a large black gold rimmed hat with a huge flamboyant multicoloured feather.

“Woah!” She exclaimed, stars in her eyes, making Yunan smirk proudly and strike a pose “General Yunan! You looks so…”

“Awesome? Yeah, I know it kid. Look closely because this is going to be even more awesome!” She jumped out of her hammock and extracted her blades, using their curved side to zipline off one of the ropes, only to twirl around it and get yeeted out of the ship.

Kind of worried, Marcy looked down, finding the newt had used her blades to cling on the ship’s side. With an agile move, Yunan threw herself back on the ship “We do not speak of this. Ever”

Marcy nodded and saluted her “Aye Aye, General!”

Yunan chuckled “Stand down, soldier. You can call me Captain Yunan”

“Didn’t you threaten me with death last time I called you that?”

The newt shrugged “Eh, we’re at sea. I’m a Captain at sea and General on land”

Marcy cocked her head slightly “How does that work?”

“Frankly, I have no idea. I had Lady Olivia explain me thrice and didn’t get it even the third time. So I pretended to have got it. I still fear she’s going to quiz me, to be honest”

Marcy chuckled, then paused “Wait a second, did you knock me out?”

“Darn right I did, kid!”

“Isn’t that kidnapping? And where are we?”

“You were the one sleeping! And I’m an adult! I have my elementary diploma to prove it!” Yunan protested. “We are on my ship, anyways”

“No, that’s not wha-” Marcy tried to explain before she realised the last part of what Yunan had said. “Wait, we’re on your ship? That means…”

She sprinted to the prow and gazed to the ship side. There, in purple paint, the name ‘YULIVIA’ was written in big characters.

“No way” Marcy whispered

“Yes way!” Yunan exclaimed “I did say to you my one and only ship would be ‘Yulivia’!”

Marcy snickered slightly, before asking the newt a question “Wait does this mean that Lady Olivia and King Andrias agreed to letting me go?”

Yunan’s expression got shiftier “Well…”

Miles away, Lady Olivia awoke with a very similar headache her (not officially) adopted daughter had. “What happened…” She asked to no one in particular.

“You seemingly slept on the hall’s floor, Lady Olivia” King Andrias, who was squatting in front of her, answered “Is this something you normally do? No wonder you’re so intractable in the morning”

Olivia recoiled upon seeing her liege so unexpectedly “Your Majesty! Did you watch me sleeping?”

Andrias shrugged “Didn’t have anything better to do. I’d ask Master Marcy to borrow her magic box, but she’s still sleeping. It’s kinda late, but she does need the sleep”

Master Marcy. She was going to check on her, but in the hall she had met someon-

Did Yunan knock her out with a book?

Did Yunan even own books?

And why was she carrying on her shoulder what looked very much like Master Mar-

She immediately got up and sprinted towards Master Marcy’s room, surprising King Andrias and making him fall on his butt.

The normally calm and composed newt almost ripped the door from its hinges and, as she feared, she did not find the human girl in her bed, but in her place a scribbled on piece of paper.

‘Taking Marcy for a little adventure on my ship!’ It read, in Yunan’s terrible calligraphy ‘Won’t be back for dinner!’

Olivia crushed the piece of paper in her hands.

“YUNAAAAAN!”

“You took me without asking them, didn’t you?”

“…I may have done that, yes” Yunan admitted a bit shyly, a look that didn’t look natural on the newt. However, she rapidly regained her confidence and boastfulness with the oldest trick in her (metaphorical, she would say if she knew what the word meant) book: ignoring the consequences of her actions “BUT!” She proclaimed “We’re here! In the open sea, on my extremely awesome ship, about to go on an adventure! Aren’t you excited, Master Marcy!?”

Marcy smiled at that. She’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t. The teenager nodded.

“See? Come on, you worrywart! You sound just like those two! You need to do just like me, don’t think and just do! Come on, do you want it this adventure?” 

Marcy really wanted to accept. She wanted to go a awesome adventure with the most awesome of newts (Yunan won the title hands down). A part of her, though, was worried about what Olivia and Andrias would think. Wouldn’t they be worried? Wouldn’t they be disappointed in her because she went against their rules?

‘But isn’t this just what you need?’ The same voice that had appeared first the evening before whispered in her ear, breaking the flow of thoughts. ‘They think you’re weak, but they’re wrong.’ The words were slithering in her brain, caressing it and easing it of all tension as she could feel herself relax in their tone. ‘This is your chance! Once you show them how you can fend for yourself, they’ll respect you! They will think you’re strong!  They will know you’re strong!’

The voice left her feeling… strong. Able to do anything. Was this how self confidence felt like? It was… amazing! Was this how Sasha felt at all times?

She grinned widely and nodded, practically vibrating with excitement.

Yunan grinned back and jumped up to take the girl in a headlock, nuzzling her head with her fist “Ah, I knew it! I knew that the girl who helped me take down a cult would not back down!”

Marcy snorted as the newt put her hair in disorder “Stoooop!” She mock-protested until Yunan let go of her. Then, the teen smirked “Plus, I did most of the taking down, if I remember well.” She teased Yunan “Or don’t I, General Yu-were-tied-up-nan?

Yunan gasped in mock-outrage “Why, you fiend! And here I was, about to give you a gift!”

The girl let out a squeal of excitement “A gift!?”

“Well, you might have noticed my awesome outfit” Yunan said as she struck a pose which Marcy thought made her look even cooler. Frog, she needed to get her to read Jiji’s Peculiar Quest, even if the resulting coolness (particularly if Yunan got into cosplay, oh Frog, Yunan cosplaying!) would probably cause a singularity to appear.

“I did! It’s sooo cool!” Marcy exclaimed.

“Well, that’s what it supposed to be like” Yunan boasted “And, after all, I’m wearing it. How could it be uncool? Point is, you need your own bling! You cannot go on an adventure in pajamas. Well, I could, but that’s a different thing”

“Oh, I could get my armour! It’s got a cape!”

Yunan shook her head “No can do!”

Marcy was interdicted for a second, then snapped her fingers “Of course! If I wore armour at sea, I could drown! Smart!”

“I was about to say that it was because I forgot to take it, but your thing works too, yeah.” She cartwheeled away, majestic as always, in Marcy’s opinion, all the way to the cabin Marcy had emerged from, only to exit a second later with something in her hands “Here it is, Master Marcy!” She proclaimed as she tossed it over to her “The very first piece of your bling!”

Marcy, surprising even herself, managed to catch the object Yunan had thrown her. It was a burgundy, gold-rimmed tricorne sporting a small pin in the shape of a toad’s skull with butterfly wings.

Wordless, Marcy immediately put it on and looked at her reflection in the sea.

“Oh Frog”

“Oh Frog”

“OH. MY. FROG!” She proclaimed with her hands squeezing her cheeks and an inhumane squeak of joy coming from her mouth.

“Sweet, right?” Yunan asked with a smirk “Suits you, I’ll say. Just need to get a matching outfit now and then-”

“I”VE GOT THE DRIP!” Marcy yelled.

“I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS, BUT YOU GOT IT GIRL!” Yunan yelled back, not understanding neither the word neither why Marcy was yelling, but wanting to support her all the same

Marcy managed to calm down, still giggling a bit for the excitement “Thank you so much Captain! I love it!”

Yunan laughed “Don’t sweat it kid, you deserve it! Let’s call it a bribe for never pointing out you saved me”

“Saved you?” Marcy asked “Why, I don't remember ever doing something like that”

“Attagirl”

“But, seriously, where did you take this? It’s awesome!”

“I actually got it on a mission very much like this! Best thing about fighting pirates? You get to keep all of their loot!”

“Oh man, we’re going up against PIRATES?!” Marcy asked “This day just get cooler and cooler! So that’s why the cabin was full of treasure!”

“Yup!” Yunan confirmed “Got all the booty I could ever want! Well, almost all.”

“Is there some specific piece of booty you’re still searching for, Captain?” Marcy questioned innocently

Yunan almost answered her truthfully, but then reconsidered “I’ll tell you when you’re older.” 

Marcy shrugged “Aight”

“Now, enough dilly-dallying!” Yunan proclaimed loudly “We got a ship to handle and pirates to battle!”

“Do they have a name?” Marcy asked, curious

“Indeed they do! The Singing Pirates of Penzace! They’ve been infesting these waters for far too long! It’s time they learn of the wrath of Captain Yunan and her trusted first officer Marcy Wu!”

Marcy began jumping in place “This is all too cool! I’m too excited!”

“I actually have something for that!” Yunan said, taking out from her jacket a brownish glass bottle and ripping out the corkscrew with her teeth “Here, drink this!”

Marcy took the container from the newt and took a sip, recoiling slightly immediately after “Woah! What is this?”

“Rum!” Yunan exclaimed “A true sailor’s drink!”

Marcy took another swig, longer this time “You know” She said “This is actually very good!” 

The newt was excited that the kid enjoyed it. Though, she felt like something was wrong, as if she was forgetting something…

“Yunan”Lady Olivia warned a cornered General Yunan “Marcy is child. We cannot have her see us drink alcohol or, Frog forbid, give her any. Do you get it, Yunan? This is very serious. Do. Not. Give. The. Actual. Child. Alcohol.”

“Hmmm…” Yunan mused as she watched Marcy down even more rum. Then she shrugged. “Eh, it’s probably nothing. After all, what could possibly go wrong?”

Hi. Author here. I know, I know, fourth walls breaks are something big, not really something you bring in without reason, it doesn’t fit with the source material, it’s going to become dated in time and it’s hard to pull them off without sounding presumptuous. I won’t even touch the controversial She-Hulk finale (I haven’t watched it. Why? I don’t have Disney Plus. To stay in touch with the chapter’s themes, like good old Dana Terrace, the pirate’s life is for me. I’d pirate it, but I’m trying to juggle university, writing a long-term fanfiction, watching other series and you know, having a life, even if I have the social life of an hermit crab. Where was I? Ah, yes). My beta reader is definitely going to scold me, both for the fourth wall break and for the long thoughts between parenthesis. (I sure did. Sincerely, the beta reader)

Point is, allow me, just for this once, to speak directly to you. It will not happen again. And I know, I am literally planning the fic. Everything, apart from the ending, which is still blurred, is pretty much defined.

Now. When you read Yunan’s last line you definitely thought “Ah, she said it. She said ‘What could possibly go wrong?’! Now, like always, it’s going to rain!”

Dear reader, you hurt me! I’d never use such tired cliches! I thought that if you read this far, (50 thousands words in! That is something, both for you and for me!) you’d award me far more trust.

So, no, it did not start raining. It did not. No rain. Seriously, if you wanted rain, if you opened this chapter or this fic saying to yourself “Oh, sweet! I’m going to see Marcy and Yunan in rain!” (Why would you do that?) turn around now. 

There was no rain. Here, happy now?

Instead, there was a storm. 

The Yulivia shook with each wave, its sails barely resisting the wind’s assault. Water swept the bridge, making the wooden planks slippery, when the waves did not impact them with the same force Marcy imagined the bullies back at school punched. She’d never been hit, of course, so it was only speculation. Apparently, she was really intimidating when Anne and Sasha were standing behind her.

Speaking of Marcy, the poor girl was being thrown around by the wind and by the ship’s dropping and rising, soaked to the bone with cold water and having swallowed a good mouthful of seawater. Her whole body was shivering, her mouth and throat felt raw for the salt and every rational part of her brain was telling her to go wait the storm out in the cabin.

Yet, she held on.

‘Fight!’ The newer voice egged her on ‘Show them all!’ 

And she’d show them! Yunan trusted her, she couldn’t let her down! 

She rushed at her side, helping the newt pull a rope that she had secured to the mast to keep it stable.

“Woah, Master Marcy!” The general exclaimed, her voice barely a whisper over the roar of the storm, yet so powerful in Marcy’s mind “I knew you were made of stronger stuff!”

Marcy grinned back confidently “Come on, this storm isn’t going to stop the Scourge of the Sand Wars and her apprentice!”

Yunan was taken aback for a second, then smirked “Oh Frog do I love this kid! Come on Marcy, lets go tie down the cargo!” The newt exclaimed after having tied down the rope with Marcy’s help

Marcy did a salute and sprinted after her, towards the barrels of food. However, as they did so, a strong wave impacted with the ship, making it rattle and sending the barrels rolling towards then.

Yunan of course managed to jump over them with the agility of an olympian and Marcy attempted to do the same, but as she did so, she slipped.

Of course she did. Why did she even think she could be better?

By some miracle, the first barrel missed her and slipped off the edge. She was not so lucky with the second one, with hit her straight in the chest and sent her straight to the ground, hugging the barrel like a giant wooden cylindrical teddy bear.

“Master Marcy!” Yunan screamed over the storm, not out of concern for what Olivia or Andrias would say or do or think, but genuinely distraught over the bizarre child. She knelt down near the fallen teenager, taking her hand in hers and checking her over, the tempest raging suddenly forgotten “Are you alright?”

Marcy rose slightly, a weak smile on her face. L-look, c-Cap-Captain Yuhoo! I-I ca-caught one barrel!”

Yunan just looked at her for a second, before she realised what she was seeing. She noticed for the first time just how much her clothes were soaked, just how much the child was shivering. Had… had she been pushing her too much? Nonsense, she wanted to say. She needed to strengthen herself, to be better! But, for once, Yunan did not want for the being in front of her to become stronger or perish.

“Master Marcy, I can handle this, you go in the cabin” Yunan said, somehow her words eliciting more response from the kid than the actual barrel hitting her in the chest.

Marcy’s eyes grew wide “W-what?” She squealed. She had gone and done it. The only one that thought she was strong enough, she had been stupid and lost her.

She tried pulling herself up, hissing in pain when she tried to put weight on her left hand.

“Marcy!” Yunan exclaimed, taking the wrist in her hands in an uncharacteristically gentle way “Frog damn, it’s definitely sprained.”

‘Not only that’ Marcy almost said. She had definitely broken a rib or two, she could feel it with every breath. Honestly, it was a miracle she had not thrown up already. She always felt carsick back at home and the drink Yunan gave her did make her feel dizzy for a minute or two, when she had downed the full bottle. It was like something in Newtopia had made her stomach stronger!

“Captain, it’s nothing! I-I can do it!” She pleaded, her voice only slightly breaking. 

Stupid voice stupid Marcy stupid stupid!

“ARE YOU INSANE!?” Yunan yelled, the storm sounding like a scared kitten in comparison “Master Marcy, you will get in that cabin or so help me Frog!”

Marcy’s heart sank as she started to hyperventilate. That was it. She would get thrown in the cabin, she would return to the castle and Yunan would be punished because of her and she would hate her and she would always be weak and she would always-

‘Calm, child, calm’ The voice lulled her, warm orange honey over her shivering body. ‘You just need to show her. Show. Her. Now.’

As if it was the divine showing her the way, the mast wobbled, its base creaking in protest. Marcy big brain for once worked right as she realised that the sail had to be taken down if they hoped to keep the mast intact.

She suddenly started running towards it, but Yunan caught her by an arm “MASTER MARCY!” The newt yelled, baffled by the human’s behaviour. She was hurt! Why didn’t she settle down? “WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!”

Marcy’s brain by now was running on fumes

She just needed to do that and show them all.

She just needed to show them all.

“I NEED TO DO THIS! I CAN DO THIS!” She yelled back as she tried to squirm out of Yunan’s grip, but failing

“What?” Asked Yunan completely gobsmacked.

In that moment of confusion, Marcy’s head shot towards the newt’s arm, her mouth snapping and biting Yunan.

Shocked by what had just happened, Yunan let Marcy go, grasping her arm with her other hand.

Marcy did not waste time. She started climbing the rope stairs that led up the mast, holding her knife in her mouth like she’d seen in movies and read about in books. Every time she pulled herself up with her left hand she winced, but she pushed through. She. Needed. To. Do. This.

Yunan was about to follow her, when she noticed the mast’s base beginning to splinter.

It was time for her heart to sink in fear. “MASTER MARCY!” She manage to cry out, her tone distraught for the first time since Frog-knows-when.

But it was too late. One gale hit the sails and the mast broke, falling overboard.

Taking Marcy with it.

Before she even realised it, she was in the water, the mast she’d been trying to save dragging her down.

Everything started to become dark, darker, yet darker as she sank in the depths. In the distance, she could see a spot of pink and lavender enter the water, growing closer and closer, until it didn’t, until it went away, swept away by the sea.

Her vision was now mostly black, yet, somehow that black became a shade of orange.

She… just… needed… to…

Chapter Text

After the storm, came the calm. Dead calm. The sea was flat and unmoving, the air was dry and hot, wind was inexistent and the sun shone down with passive rage, terrible and uncaring. 

One ship wallowed in the desert plain of water. Normally, any crew would worry for such dead calm, but General Yunan, captain and only occupant of the Yulivia could not bring herself to care.

For one, even a good wind would have done little good to the sail-less ship, for the mast had brought them with it when it fell in the sea alongside Yunan’s only companion. 

But that was the lesser part of it.

She had… lost Marcy. 

Yunan was not a smart newt, that she knew. She knew that she knew little. She was arrogant yes, but she knew also what to be arrogant about. One other thing that she had always known was what to feel, what to do. 

When she came of age, she knew she wanted to go in the army, to become the strongest of them all, even being the smallest of her sisters.

When she caught wind that something was going on in the King’s palace, she knew that she had to tape swords to her arms and launch herself with a catapult in the throne room.

When she had seen Lady Olivia dropkick and knee in the groin a hardened toad veteran, she knew that she had fallen for her. The fact that, to this day, she’d still been unable to confess to her did not matter!

When she and Marcy had busted out a frogging cult together, she knew that she liked the kid far more than a badass sword teacher likes their promising student. 

She had always been a newt of certainties. She thought. At least, Olivia had definitely used that word. Or was it ‘illiterate’? Whatever.

What mattered was that, right now, was, for perhaps the first time in her life, she did not know what to do. There wasn’t anyone to fight, kill or protect.

She would have worried about starving or dying of thirst, but she had packed provisions for two. Since she was alone, now, that would not be a problem.

So, now, she was simply lying on the ship’s deck, the storm having long since disappeared, but its events replaying in her mind. Marcy helping her, Marcy hurt, Marcy snapping out and Marcy falling to her-

No. She was alive. She was General Yunan, Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched and youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of General in the Great Newtopian Army and she would not allow it!

For quite possibly the first time, though, not even her full introduction managed to cheer her up and, somehow, she felt that even proclaiming it at full volume wouldn’t help. Perhaps it was because there was no excitable child nearby, with stars in her eyes as Yunan boasted about her actions.

Even more bothering than the loss of the girl that she loved far more than she had ever thought she’d love a child, was the few words Marcy had screamed while in that weird frenzy that had overtaken her. For all that she thought (which, admittedly, was not much), she couldn’t make head or tails of it. She’d been increasingly more obsessed with helping her, even when it was clear as day she was hurt. 

Did Yunan motivate her too much? No, if overzealousness had been the case, she would have obeyed her order to go get some rest. 

Yunan sighed and got up, resting against the rail on the side of the ship. Her gaze wandered hopelessly through the sea, as if she was looking for Marcy.

“Please be okay…” Yunan whispered. No thought of Andrias’ and Olivia’s wrath came as she spoke those words, the newt simply concerned for the child that she should have cared for.

Her eye caught something in the distance, just under the water’s level. Her heart soared for an instant before she realised that, as far as whatever that was, it was simply too large for it to be Marcy Wu.  Most likely it was a big fish. 

It was moving awfully fast for a fish, thou-

Wait, was it moving towards her?

The something leapt from the water and landed on the deck, the shockwave sending Yunan tumbling.

Beard wet and full of algae, dressed in his armour and with a determined look Yunan did not recall ever seeing on him, King Andrias stood on her ship, the wood beneath him slightly caving in because of the impact, and glared at her.

“General Yunan” The monarch said, his voice lacking all of its usual humour.

Oh Frog.

“S-sire!” Yunan squealed out (did she just squeal?). Alright, Yunan, scrape together your two brain cells! You are not yet done! You can use your words! “You’re, uhm, taking a little swim?”

‘Smooth, Yunan. Real smooth ’ Yunan could hear her internal Lady Olivia comment. Only a mental Lady Olivia. I mean, Yunan thought, if Lady Olivia was here I’d be-

“I’m not here to punish you, General.” Andrias continued, his tone icy, but his words possibly relaying a spark of hope for Yunan.

“Oh really?” She asked, slightly relieved. “That- that sure is a relief. Thought you were going to-”

Andrias raised his index finger to object. “Upupup. I was not finished”

The big newt took a deep breath, then made a gagging sound, leaving Yunan confused. Did he swallow a fish? That was something that had happened to her once. It had not been fun, but at least it was food.

He continued gagging, until he finally spat out something, covered in gastric fluids and mucus. That something was a very, very pissed off Lady Olivia.

Oh FROG.

The just-spat-out newt looked around, presumably to berate Andrias, when she noticed Yunan, who visibly shrank under Olivia’s gaze. The emotions expressed by said gaze passed from confusion, to realisation, to absolute anger.

“YOU.” Olivia spat out, her eyes blazing and managing to be intimidated even in her mucus coated state.

“I. Uhm, me. Hi” Yunan spoke, her voice definitely a squeal “Hi, Liv! How have you been! Did you get my note?”

Olivia took an extremely deep breath, closing her eyes as if to calm down. “General Yunan.” She spoke, evidently working very hard not to rage. “I have just spent the last twelve hours in Andrias’ stomach. It was not pleasant. I had to fight off a fish that entered his mouth while he was swimming. I then ate that fish, because, again, I spent twelve hours in the King’s stomach. But you know something?”

“Y-you’re going to be angry at Andrias instead of-”

“The rage I feel in this moment for Andrias is but a candle in confrontation to the blazing inferno of absolute fury that you have caused” Olivia whispered, her tone far scarier than any screaming could be and her eyes fiery. “Really, Yunan, I thought we agreed in wanting to keep Marcy safe! Do you not have an ounce of responsibility in your whole body?”

“L-Liv, I know what I did was reckless, but you’ve seen Marcy! The poor kid just wanted to go out and have an adventure! She’s a kid, I was like that as well!”

Olivia pinched her nose in frustration “I know she’s a kid! That’s precisely why I didn’t want her to go!”

“Why not? She’s more than proved herself! She has brought down a cult, she has saved both of our asses! She’s more than capable of handling herself!”

Olivia looked like she wanted to speak further, but was stopped by Andrias, who stepped forward. “Because she shouldn’t have to.” The King simply spoke, his tone a bit sad.

“What?” Yunan asked, confused.

“We wanted for her to be happy without her needing to put her life in danger. We know that she could handle herself. We just thought that she shouldn’t have to. We simply were worried for her”

Yunan genuinely had no way to reply. “Oh” was all that she managed to put together.

Olivia sighed “Seriously Yunan. This was particularly reckless, even for you. But nothing has gone horribly wrong, at least.”

As Olivia said those words, Yunan audibly gulped. Oh. She had forgot about… that.

“I agree” Andrias said “Now, where’s Marcy? We’ll have to speak to her as well”

“Well…” Yunan answered reluctantly. She was dead. She was so dead. And somehow she couldn’t even fight it because this was entirely her responsibility. Yunan had always thought she’d die fighting, but she supposed that her death being caused by the consequences of her actions fit. “There could be a problem with that…”

Both Olivia and Andrias seemed to grow concerned at that.

“Yunan, what do you mean?” Worriedly asked Olivia

“How can I put this…” Yunan struggled to find the words “In terms of Marcy… we have no Marcy”

“Explain.” Andrias ordered, his tone less kingly and more like ‘obey or die’.

“Well, there was a storm and Marcy tried to help. She got hurt and I told her to get in the cabin, I did!”

The other two newts seemingly understood where Yunan was going. “Yunan” Lady Olivia spoke, fear in her tone “You aren’t saying what I think you’re going to say, are you?”

Andrias, on the other hand, was for once silent, an expression of absolute dread on his face. No. No, he had saved her! He could not lose her!

Her voice full of shame and her head bowed, Yunan continued “She was on the mast when it fell in the sea, trying to untie the sails. I threw myself after her, but the storm was too strong. I didn’t manage to get to her.”

For a second there was silence, as none of the three newts was able to even think of something to say. No apology was going to be enough, no explanation able to justify what had happened.

Then, Andrias began to growl, first lowly but quickly devolving into a full grown roar. He joined his hands and they rose up in the air, his whole body tensing to deliver a blow, aimed at Yunan.

The newt was frozen in place, like a deer in headlights, unable to do anything to dodge the blow.

In the end, however, Andrias changed its trajectory ever so slightly, shattering the wooden deck and putting a hole in it. The king launched a scream of frustration, anger and pain.

With ragged breath, Andrias looked up at Yunan, who made a step back in fear of the King’s stare, a stare which pierced her very soul.

“I-I’m sorry” Yunan stammered out, the only thing her brain manage to scrape together, however idiotic it was.

“Sorry just isn’t going to cut it.” Olivia spoke, broken out of the stupor Yunan’s revelation and Andrias’ outburst had sent her in. “Not after this, not now that Marcy could-”

“Don’t.” Andrias ordered and Lady Olivia felt compelled to shut up immediately. “Don’t say it. Marcy is a survivor and she went down with the mast, which should probably be floating. We’re not sure she really is…” He blatantly couldn’t bring himself to say those words, so he didn’t. He started walking towards the stairs leading under the deck. “Tomorrow we shall begin searching. You two need to sleep.” He stopped for an instant, took out a blanket-sized from Frog-knows-where and tossed it on the ground. “You’ll probably want to clean yourself up, Lady Olivia.” 

With that, he disappeared under the deck.

Lady Olivia went to pick up the giant tissue, putting it on like a cape to bring it with her. 

Yunan mustered enough courage to try and speak to the other newt “Liv, wait!”

Lady Olivia stopped in her tracks, but did not turn around and did not speak a word. 

Yunan did not let herself be discouraged. “Liv, I know I was reckless, but please! There’s no need to get mad over it! And that’s coming from me.” She put a hand on the other newt’s shoulder “Can we please just go to my cabin? We can… talk it over”

For a second there was silence.

Then, Lady Olivia moved her shoulder somewhat brusquely, managing to make Yunan’s hand slip from her shoulder. “I was serious before, Yunan.” Olivia spoke, the mask over her feelings evident to the General who had known her for a long time “This is not something that can just be solved with an excuse. Not if… either way, I think I’ll be forced to take some time off from what’s between us”

Yunan felt the ground give way from under her feet “…what?” Their weird relationship, something that dated back to the day she’d been promoted to General, something strange that was more than just a friendship but that neither could call with the big L-word, was not something Yunan thought about very often, just like she never thought about the air she breathed. It was only fitting, then, that those words sucked out all the air from her lungs.

“I’ll be taking the cabin” Olivia stated matter-of-factly, without even facing Yunan, her voice forcibly devoid of emotion.

As Olivia started to walk again, Yunan gripped once more her shoulder “Liv, please!” She pleaded. Her tone was desperate, but she couldn’t care less.

Lady Olivia stopped for a second. “Yunan. Perhaps it would be better if you didn’t call me by that name. For a while, at least”

With that, she left, Yunan finding herself unable to say anything, to follow her.

Suddenly she felt something on her cheek. Her hand went upwards to check what it was, finding something damp.

She wiped the tears from her eyes “I-I’ll stand watch t-then” She said, her voice wavering slightly as she forced herself to do something, to take her mind off everything.

That night was dark. The moon did not shine in the sky, its comforting vermillion light not reflecting in the placid sea, black as tar.

That night was quiet. No wind had come and the air was still and silent, the only presence on the ship that alone stood in the water plain that stretched all the way to the horizon.

Something, however, perturbed that placid sea, small waves forming in its wake.

Something, however, lightly broke that absolute silence, the light sounds of water hitting the side of a small boat and the low mutterings of someone manoeuvring it.

General Yunan was at the wheel, standing sentry there since the mast was no more, but she noticed nothing in the dark of the night.

Finally, the boat reached the larger vessel. A grappling hook was thrown onboard and climbing on the rope several newts came, moving carefully so as not to cause any sound. It was evident by how they dressed that they were pirates. With them, they lifted various tubes of brass, which were promptly taken by a few that knew how to best use them.

As they came on board, one of the newts hit his foot on a corner, letting out a barely hearable whimper of pain.

Yunan perked up at that and began looking from her position for any intruder, while the newt which looked like the leader gripped the pirate who had made the noise and hissed “Be quiet!” under his breath.

After a minute or two of looking, Yunan shrugged. “Must have been my imagination” she muttered to herself.

At that, the pirate leader nodded to the ones carrying the brass tubes. With solemnity and concentration the newts brought the bizarre instruments to their lips.

Triumphant sounds of trumpets resounded in the silent night, a thump coming from the cabin, Lady Olivia jumping out of bed like a loaded spring and hitting her head on the cabin’s roof.

The pirates began to sing along to the tune, while they began taking and throwing in their boat everything that was not nailed down.

“With Newt-Like Tread

Upon our prey we steal

In silence dread

Our cautious way we feel

No sound at all

We never speak a word

A fly's foot-fall

Would be distinctly heard”

Slamming the door open, Olivia ran out of the cabin her hair sticking up in all directions. She saw the pirates and immediately ran to Yunan, who was still at her post “General!” She yelled, befuddled as to why Yunan was not kicking off the ship the still-singing assailers.

“So stealthily the pirate creeps

While all the crew soundly sleeps”

“Li- Uhm, Lady Olivia.” Yunan greeted her “What is the matter? Is it the mattress? I know, it’s too soft, but I plundered it and it is bad luck to throw away loot”

“…it is quite literally a board of wood”

“Yup, mahogany. Not my first choice, I usually do pine. Or, you know, sleep on the ground”

Olivia was not even too much confused by this “Whatever! General, we’ve been boarded by pirates!”

Yunan gave the other newt a weirded out look, then gave a very throughout look to the ship’s deck.

On said deck, the pirates were currently performing an elaborate musical performance as they sang, hauling various stolen treasures they had taken from under the deck on their boat.

“Come friends, who plough the sea

Truce to navigation

Take another station

Let's vary piracy

With a little burglary!”

Yunan gave herself a light slap on her forehead “Oh, dang! I see it now”

Olivia sighed “The fact you didn’t see anything until now is mildly concerning but I’m glad you saw it. Now, we need to stop them from-” she squinted slightly “Uh. They have taken Andrias’ crown. That is mildly concerning”

Yunan put a hand on her shoulder. “M’lady,     I think you had a nightmare. There are no pirates here, you are simply hallucinating things because… you know.”

Olivia’s expression got disbelieving. “So you’re telling me you don’t see any of this?” She asked, pointing at the deck, where the pirates were dancing the polka and cartwheeling around, all the while singing.

“With Newt-Like Tread

Upon our prey we steal

In silence dread

Our cautious way we feel

No sound at all

We never speak a word

A fly's foot-fall

Would be distinctly heard”

“What there is to see?” Yunan asked “I’d advise you to go to sleep, M’lady. We have a long day ahead”

Olivia was about to protest, when she yelped as a pirate lifted her up on his shoulder and began carrying her away. “General! Help!” 

Fireworks set off, lighting the night sky as the music reached a crescendo, all and every pirate playing an instrument or singing as they put the last of the stolen loot in the boat

“Come friends, who plough the sea

Truce to navigation

Take another station

Let's vary piracy

With a little burglary!”

As the pirates triumphantly ended their chorus, Yunan, still apparently oblivious did a little wave, directed at Olivia “Sleep well Li-Lady Olivia.”

Olivia facepalmed hard at this. “For the love of Frog…”

However, one of the pirates who were carrying the last treasures of the ship let a small statue fall by accident, the artefact making a little clink as it impacted the wooden deck.

Immediately Yunan jumped to attention “INTRUDERS!”

“ARE YOU FROGGING KIDDING ME?” Olivia yelled “AT THIS POINT I WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY PREFERRED IF YOU DIDN’T NOTICE!”

Andrias came out from under the deck “What’s happening? I heard a sound!”

“Damnit Gary, we were supposed to be stealthy and silent!” The pirate leader snapped at the careless newt that had let the statue fall “Now they’ve noticed!”

“I HATE YOU ALL!”

Seemingly undeterred by Lady Olivia’s words Yunan jumped down the stairs that led to the steering wheel, blades at the ready “I don’t know how you managed to sneak past me, but you’ve picked the wrong ship, fools!”

“Leg it, boys!” Shouted the pirate captain, a command quickly followed by his pirates.

“Don’t you even dare!” Yunan shouted, chasing after them, but they were too fast. Before she could do anything the were back in their boat, sails spread and the newts onboard working the paddles madly.

“FROG!” Yunan swore, in rage “We’re never going to catch them!”

Andrias sighed and cracked his knuckles “General. You might want hold on to something.”

Yunan just looked at him as her tail whipped out and latched at the broken remains of the mast.

Andrias punched with both hands the deck, pulling out two long sections of wood. He took one in each hand and began to paddle, his great strength sending the ship racing at a ludicrous speed. 

Yunan was almost thrown away, but her tail managed to hold. She gritted her teeth and put a hand over her eyes to see better. They were gaining on the pirates!

She allowed herself to smirk. Finally, something she could do! They were going to save Olivia and then they were going to find Marcy!

For hours they chased the pirates. They did paddle reasonably fast and they had the wind on their side, so they were pretty fast, after all. Somehow, though, Andrias was faster.

Yunan was thoroughly impressed with the newt, she had to say that. He continued paddling for hours, seemingly unfatigued. At one point the pirates had shot an harpoon at them, which had lodged itself into Andrias’ shoulder. The king had barely made a sound and had simply opted to pull the weapon out of his shoulder with his teeth, spitting it out with force and hatred towards the escaping pirates. Yunan was pretty sure he had killed a guy.

Point is, he was freakishly durable and determined. She would say that he was more machine than newt, like one of those half-human, half-machine people in Marcy’s movies, if that wasn’t insane.

At the start, Yunan just thought that Andrias was going all in to get this done quickly, recover Olivia and get back to searching for Marcy. At some point, though, she realised that this was personal. He really did care for Olivia. Perhaps he always did, perhaps he had only realised after  Marcy, but he did. He wanted to save his loyal right-hand newt. He wanted to save his newfound child.

What about herself? Yunan found herself asking. Yes, she had tried helping Marcy, but she had done it carelessly. She had put her in danger, the newt realised with a twinge of guilt. 

As she wallowed, she was broken out of her thoughts by Andrias’ voice.

“General!” The big newt warned her “We’ve almost got them!”

Yunan shook her head and looked at the boat they were chasing. She smirked as she saw that they were at jumping distance. “It’s Yunan time”

Without even a thought, she ran off the deck, jumping off the edge and doing a couple of backflips in the air (only a couple, since this was a serious situation) before landing in the middle of the overloaded boat, her blades unsheathed.

“Alright,” She declared at the surprised pirates. “Who wants to die first?”

They launched themselves at her, but to Yunan’s trained eye the fighting was already decided. They were only outnumbering her fifteen to one (something she would have been offended for, she had to admit, were the circumstances different), they were tired from their paddling and the space was cramped. That already would have been enough of a curb stomp to make Yunan seriously consider leaving the poor pirates alone (though she ultimately would definitely do it. She liked beating up people too much and they had kidnapped Lady Olivia, after all). But Yunan had been feeling cramped for far too long, unable to solve things like she preferred (violence). So, she was craving this fight, putting all of her repressed stress and emotion into it.

The first pirate was kicked in his chest, his ribs caving in and his body shooting right through the small boat’s mast. Her blades were sheathed and unsheathed rapidly, the newt punching and slashing with anger and frustration. She was angry that this was not working, that the senseless violence did nothing to take her mind off things, frustrated at everything she had screwed up, at herself.

Before she even realised it, she was holding the pirates’ leader by his neck, the crew knocked out, thrown overboard, injured or dead- oh, no, wait, that was the guy Andrias impaled earlier. The King was good at stabbing people through the chest, that was for sure.

“I believe I said something to you before, something about advising you not to try and flee” She smirked, not her best, but it would do “Should have probably listened, ya know?”

The pirate did not quiver in fear, instead chuckling amusedly. “Nah, I don’t think so.”

Yunan was about to snarl a question or to skewer the annoying pirate (the second one was the most likely option, honestly. She hated when they revealed they had an ace in their sleeve all along), but was cut off by a loud foghorn piercing the hair.

Instantly, she looked up and what she saw made her jaw practically fall on the floor. From a cloud, a ship had emerged. Held aloft in the air by a cigar shaped balloon that sported a jolly roger with a toad’s skull and moved by two crude turbines strapped to its sides.

“What the fu-” she asked before hatches opened in the flying vessel and shot nets on her. Her reflexes saved her from the first, managing to make a backflip over it. The second and third she managed to slice a hole in, but then came the fourth, the fifth and the ones after that, pinning her to the small boat’s deck. From the roar she heard from the Yulivia, she assumed Andrias had been captured as well.

The leader of the small group of pirate climbed back in the ship, throughly soaked since Yunan had carelessly dropped in the sea, something that had not apparently affected the smug grin on his face “Ah ah” he laughed mockingly “No one can outsmart the Singing Pirates of Penzace! Not now that we finally have a new Pirate King among us!”

Yunan simply growled. Wonderful. Things had somehow gotten worse.

In the end, the pirates had decided to lock Yunan, Olivia and Andrias under the deck of the Yulivia, since Andrias was too large to be hauled on the airship, until this ‘Pirate King’ decided what to do with them. They had even commented about taking the ship for their own and starting their own pirate fleet! The nerve!

They unceremoniously threw under the deck Olivia and Yunan, Andrias having already been brought in. Yunan quickly sliced off her bondages, free to use her blades now that the nets had been taken off and quickly scampered off to free Lady Olivia, who’d been restrained more carefully.

“W-we do seem to end up in these sorts of situations quite often, don’t we, Li-Milady?”

Olivia almost answered, but decided otherwise and turned her head sideways, ignoring the pink salamander, Yunan’s feeling a twinge of pain in her chest as she did so.

Yunan sighed and bowed her head low in shame. “Look, Olivia, I’m… I’m sorry.”

The other newt looked like she was ready to answer, but Yunan interrupted her “I know it’s not enough. Frog knows I do.”

“What I meant to say is… I care for Marcy. I really do. I do not know her a lot and generally I want to punt kids when I see them, but with her…” Yunan stumbled for a second, the words not coming to her mouth “It’s… it’s different.”

Olivia was initially a bit taken aback by this sudden heart to heart, from Yunan of all newts! Sure, she was brazen in everything, but she normally locked down her feelings behind an iron curtain, for some reason. As Yunan went on though, the shock receded, leaving a place on her face to a small smile. Olivia spoke softly, still upset at Yunan’s actions, but willing to hear her oldest friend out “She is, yes. That kid has a way to worm her way into people's hearts.”

Yunan smiled back fondly “She does.” Her shoulders sank in shame, joining her head and putting together a look the arrogant newt did not sport too often. “I… I didn’t want to put her in danger. I just wanted to cheer her up and for her to be happy. Instead, I frogged everything up.”

Olivia put her hand on her shoulder and spoke, her tone sympathetic. “Your heart was in the right place.”

Yunan shied away from the touch, something that was unlike the extremely outgoing newt Olivia had grown to know in those years. “That is not the point! Marcy could be dead now and it’s all my fault! Because I’m reckless and-”

The pink newt stopped as Olivia took her hand in hers “Yun. Look at me”

Yunan instantly obeyed, for the other amphibian’s gesture or for the pet name she had called her by, she didn’t know.

The small newt went on “When I found your note and Andrias and I went to hunt you down, I was mad. Beyond mad, actually”

“Yeah, you made that pretty clear”

Olivia chuckled at the other newt’s comment “I guess I did, didn’t I? You should know that you’re not the only one who’s grown fond of that girl. As I was saying, though, I was mad at you because I thought you had simply taken Marcy for a joyride with no concern for her safety”

It was time for Yunan’s head to turn away from Olivia, in shame this time though “As I did…”

“Yun. I said look at me.” Olivia said, her hand finding its place on Yunan’s cheek and turning her head back so that their gazes met “You’re wrong. I was wrong. You didn’t thoughtlessly take her on an adventure because you wanted to have fun, you did it because you care for her!”

“Why does it even matter?” Yunan asked,  bitterly. Why wasn’t Olivia angry with her? She had put Olivia’s and Andrias’ kid in danger! “I put her in danger, with no concern!”

“Yu, you were talking about how you regretted your every action but a second ago.” Olivia reassured the other newt “People sometimes make mistakes. The important is what we do to right those mistakes. And knowing you?” She smiled fondly, eliciting a somewhat hesitant, but similar smile in Yunan “You’re not going to rest a single second until you’ve set everything straight”

Yunan smirked proudly and puffed up her chest “Damn right you are!”

A small chuckle reminded the two newts of the other occupant of the room, who’d been until now ignoring King Andrias still tied up “Marcy’s lucky to have people who care for her like you two do.” The giant newt grin got a bit melancholic “I do know something about those who only pretend to…”

Yunan walked to the big salamander and gave him a playful punch to the shin “Don’t go mushy on me, bossman! We also care about you! Ain’t that right, milady?”

Olivia chuckled in her hand “I suppose we do. After all, he’d done a wonderful job with Marcy. And you can call me Liv again, darling”

Yunan’s face became burgundy “Y-yes, Lady- Liv!”

Once more Andrias chuckled “Aw, you two are cute. As Marcy would say, I ship it” His expression got more pensive “Wait, we’re on a ship… was that why Marcy said she ‘shipped’ you two?”

Yunan rubbed her chin “Yeah, and, now that I think about it, Yulivia does sound kind of like Yunan and Olivia. Could that be related?”

“Whatever that is the case” Olivia said, by the side of Yunan now, one hand on her shoulder “I’m glad we had this talk”

“Yeah, me as well. As said before, you two are very cute” He paused for a second “Now, could anyone free me? I didn’t ask to not ruin the moment but I do have a spot I need to scratch”

“Oh of course” Yunan stated before cutting the sturdy rope that was holding Andrias in place.

The King got up and stretched before scratching under his beard “Finally” he sighed in relief “That was driving me crazy. Now, back to business, shall we?”

Yunan smirked “Of course, Sire!”

“What’s the plan, your highness?” Olivia asked

“Glad you asked!” Andrias prepared before winding a punch “I’m going to punch a hole in this wall!”

“Frog yeah!” Yunan exclaimed

“Wait!” Olivia yelled, causing Andrias to stop “You’re going to sink the boat!”

“Yeah, but it’s going to be AAAAWESOME !” Yunan argued, emphasizing the last word with a trill.

“…we can’t stay afloat without the ship”

Yunan squinted, reflecting about the matter “Hm. You do raise a strong point. Very well, let’s not punch a hole in the ship. For now”

“Then what are we going to do?” Andrias asked “We still need to rescue Marcy and we can’t afford to waste a single second”

Olivia sighed “We’re going to need to wait and see if there’s any escape option. Let’s just hope they don’t take lon-”

“Oi, prisoners!” Olivia was interrupted by a pirate toad dressed in blue and gold that had entered the under-deck, the tackiest golden trinkets any of them had ever seen hanging from his neck and a peg leg making a clunking sound each time it hit the ground “Enough sulking in here! There’s someone you need to meet”

“Uh, that’s convenient” Yunan commented.

Before following the pirate, Yunan leant in towards Olivia and whispered “Alright. When we’re up there, cause a distraction. Andrias and I can beat these clowns easily, then we’re stealing their airship”

Olivia nodded “Sounds like a plan”

“Oi!” The toad yelled “No talking!”

Yunan, Olivia and Andrias exchanged a nod and followed their captor.

As they came out in the sunlight, Yunan smirked “Olivia, n-”

But before she could say anything else, she and the other two newts noticed something, no, someone which sent their three brains screeching to a halt.

Before them, standing clad in a burgundy coat with golden hedges and shoulder pads that matched her hat and grinning cockily, was Marcy Wu.

Chapter Text

For half a second you could have heard a pin drop, until one pirate awkwardly coughed in his hand.

“…Marcy?” Andrias finally asked, in absolute disbelief.

The human smirked and blew a finger gun at the King “In the flesh, big guy”

Tears flowed instantly from Olivia’s eyes, as if they’d been stockpiled and were only now allowed to flow liberally. She dashed towards the girl and jumped up at her, hugging her tightly. 

Some pirates put their hands on their swords, eliciting a growl and a death stare from Yunan. At that, several of them took a step back, one even falling off the ship as he did so.

“It’s all right guys, I know them” Marcy reassured the pirates, who nodded and put their swords back in their hilts. After Olivia had let go of her and with a little smirk, she added “Plus, I don’t think any of you want to take on Yunan”

Yunan smirked straight back with a little laugh “Darn right! How the heck did you end up here? What happened? Dig the look, by the way!”

The human chuckled “Yeah, it is pretty good. About how I ended here… well, after I fell into the sea, I luckily managed to hold onto the mast. When it returned to the surface, they found me” Marcy’s expression lit up, as if she had remembered something “Oh, and the hat!” She pointed at her hat “Turns out, it’s actually the hat the previous Pirate King had! And the one before him. And the one before him. And so on for at least a couple of times more”

“Darn, that’s an old hat” Yunan commented 

“Nope” Marcy answered “Just a lot of murders”

“Oh”

“Yeah, turns out, pirate life is pretty dangerous. Who’d have guessed?” Marcy shrugged “Anyhoo, since I’m wearing the hat, I’m basically the Pirate King? Which is good, since you can’t have a Pirate King without the hat.”

“…That cannot be a good system of government” Olivia deadpanned.

“Yarr, it be true, though, lass!” The toad who had brought them up spoke up “It’s in the pirate code!”

“And you are?”

“Me name be Edward Toach, but most call me Captain Croakbeard!” The toad proudly introduced himself. “The Terror of the Seven Seas! Slayer of the Kraken! The longest-lived captain in the history of the Singing Pirates of Penzace!”

“Ugh” Yunan whispered to Olivia “Please tell me I don’t sound like that”

Olivia smiled slightly at the pink newt and whispered back “I find your titles quite endearing, Yun”

“Aw, Liv…”

“It is quite annoying at times, though”

“Nope, you don’t get to back down from that. I will be using it as an excuse to introduce myself every time.”

Olivia rolled her eyes slightly, her display of annoyance betrayed by the small smile on her face.

“Yeah” Marcy confirmed, luckily for everyone’s eardrums having missed Yunan and Olivia’s exchange “He was the top guy around these parts, since he was the Captain when Yunan killed the last Pirate King and stole the hat and apparently only the Pirate King gets to name and/or overthrow the captain.”

The toad nodded “What the lass says be true. It was that she-devil” He said, pointing at Yunan with his sword “that took me leg”

Yunan squinted slightly “Hm… don’t remember that, but I’ll assume that is true. After all, I do rip away too many people’s limbs to remember them all”

A lone mountain stood in the midst of the great Dogobogo jungle.

A lone figure made their way through the foliage, a machete in his hand to clear out the plants in their way. They wore a heavy fur lined cloak, more fit for the polar environment they had come from, but they did not seem to particularly suffer the heat.

The air was wet and heavy in the tropical heat, the figure noted. Good. It meant he was getting closer.

Finally, they got to the base of the mountain, right to the entrance of the great tunnels that marked its face. Before they could enter it, though, the ground shook. Out of it, two caecilians came out, the blind snake-like wild frog-eating amphibians protecting the entrance to their nest.

They both roared and one launched itself at the intruder, jaws open wide.

Under the cloak, the figure smirked. Time to see what their new toy could do. With but a thought, one of the cloak’s sleeves exploded, revealing a bronze metallic arm ablaze with yellow fire.

Raising his fist the figure threw themself right inside a caecilian’s mouth, speeding through its insides and coming out of the back, blasting a hole through the creature.

The other creature stood there, terrified.

“You.” The mysterious stranger said, pointing his still ablaze index finger at the caecilian “You understand my tongue, don’t you?”

Hesitantly, it nodded.

“Good. Take me to your leader. I wish to… speak to them”

The blind amphibian nodded and led the way in the tunnel, with the cloaked stranger following on its lack of heels.

Barry smiled to himself. Everything was going according to plan.

Yunan was standing silent, everyone still looking at her. She shook her head “Yeah, can’t remember everyone, you know?”

“Anyway, now I am the Pirate King! Isn’t that cool?” Marcy asked, excitement evident in her eyes

“Pirate King?” Asked Olivia, a bit weirded out.

“Yeah, wanted it to change to Pirate Queen, but ‘King’ rhymes better in the song”

“What song- Wait, they just accepted you?” Andrias said

Marcy rubbed the back of her head “Well, a couple of them tried to take the place from me. Let’s just say that I put Yunan’s training to use”

The pink newt smirked “Attagirl!”

Olivia nodded “I must say, Master Marcy, that is most impressive!”

Marcy gloated slightly “Yeah, I know! Turns out, I make for a good leader as well! Turned their ship into a frigging airship! It’s like straight out of an anime!”

Andrias smiled at her and put his hand on her head, slightly crooking her pirate hat as he pet her “You continue to amaze all of us, Master Marcy”

The girl beamed at the praise, heat building in her cheeks “T-thank you Drias”

The King picked her up and hugged her for a moment, the girl nuzzling in.

As he let go on the floor she spoke “Anyways, why are you guys here? Did Yunan invite you two as well?”

Olivia shot a look at Yunan who looked away in embarrassment. The light blue newt sighed “Let’s say she… left us an invite. Andrias swallowed me up and swam all the way to Yunan’s ship to come and get you back. There we learned that she had lost you”

“Again, sorry for that” Yunan butted in

Lady Olivia went on “We exchanged some… hard words”

“Oh no!” Marcy paled “I-I didn’t cause you two to… you know…”

“Our relationship is safe and sound” Olivia reassured the girl “Yunan and I managed to… talk it over and solve everything”

“Phew!” Marcy let out a sigh of relief “So it’s all good now? I’m going to literally throw myself overboard if I caused you two to break up.”

“Well, your pirate friends did kidnap Olivia” Yunan pointed out “and then captured all of us, but apart from that…”

“We found you, Master Marcy. And that is more than enough. We found you safe and sound and happy” Andrias said, then correcting himself with a smile “Then again, with you the last one is a given”

Marcy blushed slightly at that. “Yeah and I even had the crew fix up your ship, so I guess you can go home!”

The tone immediately shifted. Olivia, Yunan and Andrias went quiet as they processed what Marcy had just said. In the end it was Olivia who spoke first “Marcy, what do you mean with ‘you’?”

“Oh, I’m going to stay a bit more with the pirates!” Marcy cheerily informed the light blue newt “You can stay, if you want!” The girl joined her hands together and began clapping rapidly in excitement “Frog, it’d be so much fun!”

“What?” Andrias asked, genuinely confused. They had found Marcy, everything was going just fine! “Why?”

Oblivious to her three guardians’ worry, Marcy just grinned from ear to ear with her usual cheeriness. “Oh, I was hoping you’d ask that!” She turned towards the pirates “Alright, guys! Just like we practiced!”

The crew, evidently knowing what Marcy was talking about, collectively grinned, various members pulling out various instruments.

“You ask why?” Marcy asked, clearly trying and failing to hide the joy in her voice. Under her voice, she whispered “And one, two, and one, two, three!”

“For…” She began to sing, before gripping a rope one of the pirates up on the ship’s restored mast had let down.

“ I am a Pirate King! ” She sang with glee as the rope pulled her up in the air, swinging around the mast a couple of times before landing on its top.

“ And it is, it is a glorious thing

To be a Pirate King ” 

She jumped off the tall mast, making a couple of twirls in the air and making Olivia’s heart skip a beat, before she managed to miraculously land on her feet among the pirates

“ I am a Pirate King! ” She proudly declared, leading to the entire crew to cheer on her

“ You are!

Hurrah for the Pirate King! ”

Marcy spread her arms and opened her hands, showing numerous gem encrusted rings and bracelets that Andrias, Olivia and Yunan were sure were not there before. “ And it is, it is a glorious thing

To be a Pirate King ”

With a pirouette, she threw the jewels at the pirates, who scrambled to pick them up for themselves. The teenager smirked cheekily

“ It is! ” She proclaimed with a hearty laugh as the toad captain drew his sword and pointed at the sky  

“ Hurrah for the Pirate King! ” He shouted, quickly joined by the others, who drew their scimitars as well.

“ Hurrah for the Pirate King! ” At that, they ran over to Marcy, weapons drawn, Yunan almost rushing to her side.

“ For she is a Pirate King! ” Proclaimed a random pirate before throwing himself at Marcy, who, still smiling with pure joy, blocked his sword with hers and sent it flying away.

“ She is! ” Echoed the other pirates, all being blocked by Marcy, her cloak billowing as she twirled to defend herself and answer, playfully.

“ Hurrah for the Pirate King! ” Shouted five big toads as they swung their blades together at her, only for a quick twirl of Marcy’s sword sent all of them flying into the mast, where they remained infixed like darts.

“ And it is, it is a glorious thing

To be a Pirate King ” Proclaimed Marcy as she put her sword back into its hilt, to the rumorous acclamation of the crew

“ It is!

Hurrah for the Pirate King! ” They hollered, before being joined by Marcy as well.

“ Hurrah for the Piraaaa… ” All the pirates sang, trailing off as once more the human girl took a rope that brought her aloft.

Her singing quickly turned into a laugh, proud and boasting “ Ah ah aha ha ha! ” She laughed in tune to the music, before taking a big breath to end the song and slipping from the rope, landing face first on the deck. 

The music stopped and the pirates looked concerned at their leader, before she simply stuck her thumb in the air, still on the ground.

“ -rate King! ” The crew concluded the song with a final cheer.

Marcy picked herself up and patted her cloak a couple of times, a small pout on her face “Oh man, I can’t believe I screwed it up!” She complained to no one in particular.

One pirate patted her on the back “Don’t worry boss! Yer been amazing!” She assured her.

Marcy smiled at the newt “You think so?”

“Yer kidding? Best Pirate King song we’ve had in the last ten years, easily!”

“…I thought you didn’t have a Pirate King the last ten years?” 

“Ah, details, lass! Don’t ye worry! Here” The pirate handed the girl a mug of water “Drink up! We don’t want yer voice to be damaged!”

“Thanks, Irma!” Marcy said before taking a long gulp. Then, she turned towards her three still taken aback guardians, smiling wide and once more rapidly clapping her hands in excitement. “Sooooo?” She asked “Whatcha think? Pretty cool, uh? I mean, the music and the lyrics are not mine, of course, I simply adjusted them, but the choreography?” She pointed at herself with her thumb “All my idea, baby. We practiced a couple of times while I was fixing the ship, but this was the first time we actually performed it! Saved it for you!” At this point the girl was almost hopping in place, shifting rapidly her weight from one foot to another, a sight that, in different circumstances, Andrias, Olivia and even Yunan would have found immensely cute “C’mon, don’t leave me hanging!” She exclaimed, getting up close to the three newts.

Andrias managed to muster the ability to talk “It was… definitely impressive”

“Heck yeah it was!” Yunan raised her voice “Now, I don’t particularly care about that stuff, but that? Oh man, I gotta get myself a song about myself!” An idea went through the newt’s mind “Oh, wait! Maybe I’ve got something!” She cleared her voice 

“ I am the very model of a modern Newtopian Gener- ” She began to sing before Olivia elbowed her in the ribs.

“Not the moment, dear” The small newt remarked, causing Marcy to vibrate enough that Andrias legitimately feared she was about to clip through the floor.

Yunan blushed a bit at that and rubbed the back of her head “S-sorry Liv. Got carried away a bit there.”

“I liked that!” Yelled a newt pirate.

“Thank you, stranger!” Yunan answered.

“You killed my brother!”

“I don’t care!”

The pirate shrugged “Eh, me neither.”

“Weird guy” Yunan remarked before shifting her attention back on Marcy, quickly sneaking behind her and putting her arm around her chest to lower her head enough to ruffle her hair with her fist.

As she did so, however, Marcy shifted away, hissing slightly in pain as she did so. 

This made a switch go off in all of the three newts’ heads.

Olivia was the first to act on it, closing instantly the distance that separated her from the girl while Yunan stepped away “Master Marcy” Olivia asked “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really Lady Olivia” Marcy tried to blow her off “I just… bruised a couple of ribs during the storm? I think?”

“WHAT?” The small newt exclaimed, horrified, while Yunan mouthed a swear.

“Master Marcy, you’re hurt?” Andrias asked, concern plain in his voice. “Why wouldn’t you tell us?”

“Oh, it’s nothing serious!” Marcy tried to reassure the three newts “It’s not like they’re broken ! I’m more than able to just walk it off! Plus, they only hurt when I breathe. Or move. Or live.”

Olivia shook her head “Master Marcy, you need medical attention!”

“I patched myself up, don’t worry! I put on some bandages, there’s no need to worry! There’s no need to end this adventure!”

“…you can’t be serious” Andrias plainly stated, confused “Master Marcy, we’ve come to take you home. You’re hurt, please”

Marcy shook her head before scoffing “Andrias, I can handle myself!” She tried reassuring the newt king, but for once the old salamander did not bend.

“Marcy” He spoke in a soft tone “We can talk about this at home, can’t we? After we’ve given you some proper care”

The girl took a step back, as if she physically recoiled from the giant newt’s words. Her gaze wandered on Olivia, who simply nodded in approval, and then on Yunan.

The pink newt felt guilty as Marcy’s eyes fixed on her. She knew she was supposed to be on her side, but Olivia and Andrias just wanted what was best for her, didn’t they? In the end, she sighed in resignation “I’m sorry kiddo, but they’re right. Perhaps it’d be better if we returned home? We can always come and have me rip that guy’s other leg another time”

“The name be Captain Croakbeard!”

“I don’t care. Nobody does” Yunan deadpanned, before speaking again at her human “Marcy, please. You had a couple of long days, perhaps it’d be better if we went on an adventure another time.”

Marcy’s betrayed expression broke the three newts’ hearts, even if it lasted but a second. 

“A-Andrias, Yunan, Olivia, I-I can handle myself, please let me stay…” Marcy begged, her voice wavering in a way that made Andrias, Yunan and Olivia feel guilty. But they had to do this, Marcy needed their help!

Olivia tried to plea “Marcy, we care about you, we want what’s best for you, you know that. We just want to help you.”

Marcy shifted uncomfortably, a hand gripping her other arm and her gaze falling to the floor in shame “I know…”

“Then please” The small newt took Marcy’s hand in hers, detaching it from the arm it had gripped, and smiled at the teen “Come with us”

Marcy sighed in surrender, smiled back at Lady Olivia with watery eyes and opened her mouth to speak. Before she was able to make a peep, however, she froze in place, eyes slightly glazed over, as if something else had caught her attention, something none of them could see, something whispering in her ear.

Olivia and Yunan looked at her, confused. Was their kid fine? What was going on? They had no clue.

Andrias perhaps had one.

“Is it…” He half whispered to himself, his tone disbelieving “No, it can’t be. They wouldn’t…” He spoke slightly louder, as if to reassure himself, intensely wishing to have his crown back to question his Father.

Olivia noticed and looked up at him “Who’s th-”

Before she could finish her question, she was interrupted by a swishing sound. She immediately turned around and saw that Marcy had drawn her sword.

“I’m staying here” Marcy stated matter of factly, her voice steeled with determination. To underline her words, she stabbed the drawn weapon in the ground. “And if I have to force you to accept it, I-I’ll do it” She proclaimed, her voice only faltering for but a second

The three newts were instantly taken aback. Marcy wanting to keep adventuring, that was to be expected, but threatening them over it? That was something profoundly wrong about this.

“Marcy-” Andrias started, still hoping this could be talked out, but he was quickly cut off by the teenager.

“No! I don’t want to hear it.” She stated, harshly, before turning towards the toad “Captain! Prepare the crew to leave for the Queen Anne’s Revenge ! We’re leaving this ship to King Andrias”

The toad nodded “Alright, ye good-for-nothing sea roaches ye heard the Kin-” He did a double take “Wait a frog-darned second, did ye just say that be the frog-forsaken King of Amphibia?”

Marcy hesitated for a second, before letting out a tiny “…yes?”

“We could make eight coppers by ransoming him! And that be the biggest number!” The toad exclaimed

Another pirate leant in and whispered something in the Captain’s ear “Bigger numbers? What witchery ye be talking about?”

More whispering followed, which led to more disbelief from the amphibian “Hundreds? THOUSANDS?!” He yelled “Why didn’t nobody tell me before? A’ight, there be no way in hell-”

“Language!” Barked Lady Olivia. “There’s a CHILD!”

The toad reddened in shame “Sorry ma’am. Where was I?”

“Oh, you were telling there was no fucking way you’d let the King leave” Yunan helped him.

The toad captain snapped his fingers “Yeah, that was it! Thank you, she-devil!” He cleared his voice “As I was saying, there be no way in heck we’re letting the King leave!”

The three newts and Marcy gasped.

“I-I told you to let them go!” Marcy said, her voice slightly wavering “I’m the Pirate King, you have to obey me! It’s in the code, you told me!”

The toad chuckled and shrugged “That be true lass, but here we be talking about loot! Gold! Booty!” He laughed obnoxiously “And where booty be the case, well, the code’s more like guidelines than actual rules. My dear King, consider yerself mutinied!”

“Oh, we’re doing a mutiny?” One pirate spoke up

“Heck yeah, I love mutinies!”

“Alright boys, ready up the Mutiny song!”

A cough interrupted the pirates’ excitement.

It came from the titanic blue salamander.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Andrias spoke up, loosening up his shoulders. “You might have taken my crown and my sword, but I remain the King of Amphibia!” The big newt stood up, his mighty stature intimidating. “And I shall show you how I held this title for a thousand years!”

His foot rose up, preparing to stomp on the ground. All pirates braced for impact.

And then it finally fell, shattering the deck and sending Andrias falling down.

Everyone forgot about what was going on for a second and looked down the new pit that had formed in the ship’s deck. Down, lodged up to the shoulders into a hole he had made with his fall, was Andrias, trying and failing to get out.

“Oh man!” Whined Yunan “I had just finished paying this thing off! I ain’t ever going to be able to repay another loan!”

“Don’t worry lass, ye should be fine” The captain reassured her with a pat on the back “We’ve actually set up a small deal with Newtopia’s Bank. Ye tell them it was us that sank your ship and they get you twenty percent off your next ship. In exchange, we give them a share of the prey. We get more ships to plunder, they get some money, everybody wins”

“Really?” Yunan asked “I mean, I always thought those guys were thieves, but I thought that was more of a figure of speech”

“Nah, those guys are the real pros of the thieving business. Me old First Mate? The one you kicked eighteen feet in the air when you boarded us years ago? She’s now the CEO”

“Damn, really? Good for her, good for her”

“Yeah, yeah. Actually, if ye make yer way back to Newtopia, could ye say hello to her for me? Haven’t seen her in some time”

“Oh, for sure. We getting back to murdering each other?”

The toad nodded “Can’t forget ‘bout work! Alright, the big one be nice and tucked away! Toss the lil’ ones into the sea!”

Yunan smiled madly and cracked her neck. “Oh, you shouldn’t have said that. I’m very insecure about my size. Olivia! Get Andrias out. I’ll take out the trash”

Olivia gave a look at Yunan, then down at the still struggling monarch, then back at Yunan. She gave her a nod “Don’t let Marcy get hurt” She asked Yunan and then jumped down the pit.

Yunan nodded back, a serious expression on her face. “I won’t let anybody hurt my kid.” She turned, the mad smile back as she looked menacingly at the pirates “Alright, I’ve had no sleep in two days and got no time. Two reasons to get this done quick, yes?”

She was about to jump in amongst their ranks, when somebody got between her and the pirates, burgundy cloak billowing and sword drawn.

“Marcy?” She asked in disbelief “What are you doing? Let me take care of this!”

The girl turned to face the pink newt “I can do this.” She simply said, before facing the pirates again “I won’t let you hurt those I care about.”

“Well lads, looks like we going to stand down, then” The toad captain announced, before yelling out “NOT!”  

“Oh really?” One lone pirate asked as he sheathed his sword back “Phew! Didn’t really feel like fighting the King! She’s so nice!”

The captain groaned “I was joking Carl! Seriously, this is why nobody likes you!”

“The King likes me…”

“Yeah, and now we’re going to kill her. C’mon, take out your sword”

“Fine…”

“That’s more like it! Now boys, who feels like becoming the new Pirate King?”

With that the pirates threw themselves at Marcy.

For a second, it looked like she could actually hold them. Humans were generally stronger than an amphibian, given their great size, and their long limbs gave them an advantage in reach. Plus, she had held off those pirates before, during the song, Yunan told herself, she’d be fine.

The illusion shattered pretty quickly. While Yunan was certain her protege could have taken any pirate one on one, the bookish and unathletic girl was quickly overwhelmed by the numerous attackers.

However, even as she was surrounded, she did not retreat and did not quit, her determination stunning even to Yunan.

Marcy parried and struck out, managing to block most attacks and evade the rest, her teeth grit in determination.

It did not last.

One lucky blow left her open for an instant and one toad punched her right in the chest, sending her on the ground, one hand still holding the sword, while the other clutched her hurt ribs.

That managed to break Yunan out of her stupor, the newt jumping to the kid’s aid. She twirled on herself, her drawn blades forcing the pirates to retreat and her tail sending flying in the water anyone foolish enough to try and close in anyways.

“Marcy! Get to Andrias and Olivia! I’ll deal with the rabble!” Yunan grunted as she blocked a toad’s sword with her blades.

The girl managed to stand up, wobbling slightly, but, instead of going for the opening in the ship’s deck, she ran straight towards the pirates, swinging her sword.

“What the Frog-” Yunan exclaimed before kicking the toad between his legs and dashing after Marcy as her opponent fell to his knees.

“Marcy!” She called out as she caught up to her, punching in the face a newt that had snuck up on the kid. “What are you doing?”

“I can take care of this!” Marcy yelled back, her sword lashing out at a pirate like a baseball bat and sending him overboard. “I-I can!”

“Are you INSANE?!” Yunan asked, rapidly moving around the human to defend her from the pirates that came from all sides and protecting her blind spots. “You’re going to get yourself KILLED!”

“No. I. WON’T” Marcy snarled out as she shoved Yunan away.

The pink newt rolled on the deck, now on all fours. As she looked up, her heart skipped a beat. A big toad wielding a bigger mallet was about to crush her kid.

She instantly leapt at Marcy, sending them both out of the ship.

As they fell, Yunan’s blades managed to catch on the ship’s side, preventing the two of them from falling into the water.

Marcy squirmed in her grip “Let. Me. Go!” She protested

“What the FROG are you doing?” Yunan asked, her tone angered and confused. She was trying to save Marcy, to help her! “Why are you doing this?”

“B-Because you don’t think I’m strong enough! And I have to show you that I am! I am!”

Yunan was taken aback for a second. Then, in something that was was almost unheard of, the newt was able to piece together the pieces of the puzzle of Marcy’s behavior.

“Marcy, you think that Andrias and Olivia didn’t want to let you go because they thought you’re weak?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Marcy asked back “I’m the girl that always falls on her face, that can’t keep herself focused for more than two seconds.”

“You’re also the girl that took down a cult.” Yunan deadpanned. “Almost single handedly, might I add. And that was just after you took down an heron, which I didn’t see, but my sister assured me was extremely badass ”

Marcy blushed slightly “Y-yeah, I guess that’s true… but why would they not let me adventure if they thought I could handle it?”

Yunan sighed “Because they care about you and didn’t want you to get hurt.”

Marcy evidently struggled with the concept for a second, before understanding the meaning of the newt’s work.

“Oh…” She let out, more a whisper than a word “O-of course. Of course. Of course of course.” The teenager whimpered out, her voice trembling with some kind of hollow laughter. “Of course they would” She finally managed to put together a coherent sentence “B-because they’re nice people. Which just means I’m an idiot that thought they were wrong and I put them in danger and-”

“Marcy” The girl stopped her rambling as Yunan spoke, muttering a little ‘Sorry’ under her breath “I know exactly how you felt.”

The girl looked at her in disbelief “Y-you do? B-but, you, well, I-I mean, you’re not exactly the smartest person I know, no offense”

Yunan shrugged, or as much as she could in her current position. “Eh, fair enough. You do know Andrias and Olivia. No offense taken there”

“B-But!” Marcy continued “Y-you’re, like, the coolest person I know! Even cooler that Sasha ! I mean, she’s my best friend alongside Anne and I love her, but she is a highschool girl and you are a super-badass-general who lives in a land of magic and monsters, no fault on her part, but you’re way cooler!”

“Aw, thanks, kid”

“You’re just so awesome, how could you ever feel like I do? I-I mean, you’re so cool and I’m me! How would you ever feel like that?”

Yunan smiled, not her usual proud smirk, but a more contained one. “Kiddo, don’t tell anybody, but I wasn’t always like I am today. As totally badass as the story of how I burst from my egg already armored and slayed fifty toads before the sun had set is, that’s not exactly how things went”

“…honestly I had my doubts it was true, but it was way too cool to question. Plus, it does sound like something you’d do.”

“It does, doesn’t it? Anyways, I used to be a small newt. Smallest of my clutch, actually. Have you seen my sister? I was the runt, believe it or not. It was the reason I signed up for the army, I wanted to prove myself.” She sighed “Which was kinda difficult when my sisters could pick me up and throw me on our house’s roof”

Marcy grimaced at that “I’m sorry”

Yunan chuckled “Don’t be. Priscilla used to back me and, when I came back from the war I… cleaned house. Still have one of my sisters’ arms over my mantelpiece. Fun times for all, we still laugh about it. Well, I do and they look at me in anger. Point is, everybody thought I was weak, so do you know what I did? I became General Yunan!”

Marcy, with a tentative smile continued her introduction “Scourge of the Sand Wars!”

“Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched! And…”

The two of them finished at the same time “The youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of general in the Great Newtopian Army!”

They both laughed slightly. 

Seeing that Marcy was now in higher spirits Yunan spoke again “So, when I say that I know how you felt like, feeling like you have to prove yourself, the whole Pirate King stuff, trust me, I mean it.”

“But you became strong” Marcy pointed out “You proved yourself and no one could tell you you’re not strong enough! I… didn’t. I just put everyone in danger.”

“Hey, hey kid. Tell me something. Do you think Lady Olivia would like me any less if I wasn’t able to bench press Andrias?”

“Uhm, I think… no?” Marcy tentatively answered, before shaking her head “Wait, you can do that?”

“You can bet on it!” Yunan boasted, a cocky grin on her face. “On both things.” She clarified “And the same thing applies to you! Heck, Andrias and Olivia swam a frogging ocean to come and get you! Not because they thought you were weak, but because they love you, whether you’re strong or weak. And, to put it frankly, kiddo…”

Marcy looked up at Yunan, who was smiling kindly “…I do too.”

The girl teared up slightly, before burying her face in Yunan’s chest, hugging the newt tightly.

Yunan chuckled “Now, Marcy, time to teach those pirates that no one mutinies against my favorite kid! You feeling up to it or do you want to sit this one out?”

Marcy's face got determined again, her expression confident “I think I can do this, Captain. Got a plan?”

“It mainly consists of punching everyone in the face until they let us go, but there’s a part for you too.”

“I like that plan”

“I know, it’s the best plan! That’s why it’s the only one I ever use! There’s one more part though. They thought they could just steal my ship, did they? Well, we’re going to steal theirs! Pharma!”

“...you mean karma?”

“That thing! Point is, they wanted to steal my ship and I’m stealing theirs! Plus, you turned it into a very cool flying ship and its name does sound like one of your friends’, I’ll give it to you as a late birthday present!”

Marcy blushed slightly at the mention of the ship’s name “It’s not like that!” She exclaimed with a nervous chuckle “It’s, like, the name of an old pirate ship back on Earth! I chose it because of that!”

Yunan chuckled back “Sure, kiddo, sure. Point is, I can steer a ship, but there’s no way I can fly that thing. I figured you could do it? You would miss most of the fighting, which would be good, since you’re hurt, but I don’t want to force you or anything, I-” Yunan stopped in her tracks “I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

Marcy let out a giggle “Sounds like I’m rubbing off on you, General”

“But of course! Why wouldn’t I learn something from the second coolest person in Amphibia?” She took a deep breath “What I was trying to say is that… if you want, you can come and fight with me. Just remember, whatever you choose, I’ll stand by it and nobody, not Olivia, not Andrias, not me, no one will judge you for it. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone.”

“...I think I’ll take control of the airship.” Marcy spoke “I think I had enough action for today. Maybe we’ll take down some pirates together some other day?”

“I’m holding you to that, kid.”

“I know, I know. Plus, my chest hurts like heck. Hey, I know you can throw us back on the deck whenever, but can you throw me all the way on the airship? I have a couple of tricks I think I can play”

“Marcy, I’ve been doing one-handed pull-ups all the time we’ve been talking. I could yeet you on the moon if I wanted to.”

“…you know, some times I forget how awesome you are”

“But you don’t love me any less, do you? Plus, that’s what the introduction is for! To remind everybody just how cool I am!”

“I thought the introduction was so that you could boast about it.”

“Precisely!”

“But then-”

“YEET!”

With one fluid movement Yunan both launched Marcy up in the air before she could question the selflessness of her boasting and twirled herself into the air, landing gracefully on the ship’s deck, where the pirates were gathered around the captain, who was holding a piece of parchment and a quill.

“-and I’m telling you, Steve ,” The captain was remarking “‘Ransom’ be written with 2 Qs, not 3. Have ye ever set foot inside a school?”

“Have ye ?” The red newt that apparently went by Steven questioned back

“Of course! Raided one last month, while you were on paternity leave. How be the kids anyways?”

“Oh, they be lovely, thank you, Captain.”

“Tell the wife I send her my regards next time you see her. But, as I was saying, there be no words that have 3 Qs in it!”

One of the pirates in the back turned his head for a split second, saw Yunan and turned around. Then, he realised what he had seen and did a double take, confirming that yup, it was General Yunan.

Still too terrified to speak, he tugged another big pirate on the arm, who turned around, saw Yunan and, with no hesitation, threw himself overboard. 

Smart fella, Yunan had to concede.

“S-s-sh-devil!” The pirate managed to squeal out, pointing at the pink newt.

The captain, without turning around, simply sighed “No, Carl, that one has four Qs in it, it doesn’t count.”

Yunan cleared her voice and all of the pirates turned around.

“Oh” the Captain let out, surprised, before lashing out at the newt that had called Yunan out “Carl, you were supposed to be on the lookout! And you even ask why nobody likes you!?”

“Aww…” the small newt sighed dejectedly.

“Don’t worry, Barry, I’m going to give you a reason to be sad.”

“…my name is Carl”

“Oh, right. Sorry, I associated ‘pathetic newt who’s about to get a beatdown’ with the name Barry.” Yunan rubbed her chin “Though I can’t exactly remember why…”

“Alright, enough chit chat.” The Captain growled, pointing his sword at Yunan “We outnumber you 60 to one. Just who do you think you are?”

Yunan chuckled to herself “Who am I? Well, I am General Yunan”

With no warning, she jumped forward legsfirst, kicking one big toad right through the mast, shattering again and sending the unfortunate pirate in the sea.

She got up and saw that she was surrounded by pirates, all with their weapons drawn.

“Scourge of the S-”

“We know!” The Captain interrupted her “The question was rhetorical, for Frog’s sake!”

Yunan bared her teeth and her tail lashed out, grabbing the small newt from before and throwing him at the captain, nailing the toad in the face “This was literal though” she remarked before extracting her blades “Anybody wants to die? This too is literal”

The other pirates charged at her, just as she wanted. She twirled around, deflecting their swords and slashing at them, holding her own against them.

With a swipe of her tail Yunan forced the lot of them to back off. As she did so, the deck below their feet trembled and cracked, a large section of it being jettisoned in the sky alongside the pirates on top of it as an enormous light blue fist punched it out.

King Andrias finished climbing out of the new hole he opened in the deck, Lady Olivia on his shoulder. “General Yunan” he greeted the pink newt “Where’s Marcy?”

“Your Majesty” Yunan answered “Marcy’s safe. I managed to talk things over”

Lady Olivia slid off of Andrias’ tail, launching herself into the air and punching a pirate in the throat. “See, Your Majesty?” She nonchalantly said “I told you Yunan could handle things”

“Thanks for having my back, Liv!” Yunan thanked her “I see that those lessons are having an effect!”

Olivia chuckled, “Well, it’s all about the teacher, isn’t it?”

Yunan was about to speak, when someone interrupted her 

“That be it, she-devil! I’m going to end ye!” Growled the toad captain, his sword out and rapidly approaching Yunan, even if most of his crew was now in the water.

Yunan gave a look at Andrias “Get yourself and Olivia on the airship! I’ll take care of this buffoon!”

Andrias nodded and grabbed Olivia in one of his hands, before jumping straight in the air, the deck below him shattering.

Yunan turned just in time to stop the captain’s blade with hers. The two rapidly exchanged blows, the toad twirling his scimitar in the air and impacting Yunan’s blades. 

The locked blades, the hooked ends of Yunan’s weapons trapping the captain’s in place, but the toad’s superior strength forcing her to lower herself, until she was looking upwards.

Yunan smirked. 

She dropped and rolled, the toad coming back to attack her in no time.

Slowly, Yunan began to give ground to the toad, inching towards the bow of the ship, until she was standing on the edge.

“End of the line” Laughed the toad.

“Indeed” Yunan agreed.

Before the toad could speak, a harpoon flew over Yunan’s head, the newt managing to catch it in midair. 

“Say hi to the fishes for me, captain!” Yunan gave her goodbyes as the harpoon was reeled back to the flying ship above them, managing to kick the toad in his face as she flew upwards.

The captain was thrown to the ground, where he too looked up.

Marcy, from the airship, waved the toad her goodbyes with her hat. “Hail to the King, baby!” She yelled as she pulled a lever.

As the captain’s eyes became the size of dinner plates, the flying ship’s hull opened, releasing an ungodly amount of gold and jewels, which dropped on the ship below like a bomb.

“Aw Frog” the toad whispered as the great amount of riches split the ship in two and made a column of water erupt.

A couple of hours later, having evaded the column of water Marcy’s little trick, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, which Marcy continued to embarrassedly remark was simply a neat historical reference, was steadily making its way back towards Newtopia, while the three newts and one human lounged on its deck. 

“…and that’s why I wanted to remain as the Pirate King.” Marcy explained.

Andrias hummed and nodded as he sipped some tea from a barrel (the pirates didn’t, unfortunately, have any him-sized mugs) “I understand. Only one issue, you stayed silent for two hours and then simply said ‘and that’s why I wanted to remain as the Pirate King.’”

“…I swear this works in anime” Marcy commented, a bit red in the face “Point is, when you didn’t want me to go on adventure, I feared you thought I was… weak and that’s why you didn’t let me.”

“Oh, Master Marcy…” Olivia commented, putting her hand on the child’s shoulder “I’m sorry you thought that way… that wasn’t our intention!”

“We just didn’t want you to get hurt.” Andrias confirmed.

“I-I know…” Marcy said, rubbing the back of her head “Yunan explained everything to me. I should be the one apologizing, really”

“Nonsense” Andrias shook his head “While we may have been justified, we should have thought about how it affected you and your feelings.”

The girl teared up a bit “Aw, Andrias…”

Olivia nodded “For once, Andrias has said something reasonable. Perhaps we could loosen up a little about you going on adventures?”

The small newt was immediately hugged by the girl and gladly returned the physical attention.

“It’s… nice seeing everybody like this.” Yunan commented to Andrias.

“Nice indeed” Andrias agreed “Perhaps you did good with what you did. Though, next time I’d prefer you’d talk things over, since apparently you have been so good at doing it with Marcy”

Yunan shrugged “Eh, it was more being able to relate to her than any talking skill on my part. I’d still prefer punching people than talking to them.”

Andrias chuckled “I suppose it is easier, yes. You still did good.” He sighed “We still have to talk about punishment, though. Isn’t that right, Lady Olivia?”

The small newt freed herself from Marcy’s hug and turned to face the giant. “Indeed. Though everything went well, things could have gone very badly. That needs addressing.”

Yunan rose up “My Lord, Liv! Marcy did nothing wrong! It’s not her fault!”

Marcy reassured Yunan with a smile “Don’t worry, General, I can take it.”

“No, she’s right” Andrias agreed “That’s why we’re punishing you Yunan”

“Oh, you agr- oh.” Yunan was beginning to be relieved, when the last words sank in “Oh. Well, I should have expected that.”

“Andrias, Lady Olivia!” It was Marcy’s turn to protest “Yunan was just trying to help! Please, don’t punish her!”

Olivia sighed “She still put you in danger though. Which is why we’re tasking her to protect you, henceforth. Yunan, consider yourself Marcy’s bodyguard.”

Both Yunan and Marcy were surprised at this “R-really?” Marcy exclaimed 

“You can bet on it kiddo!” Andrias laughed, shooting finger guns at the human “If what I’ve seen is any indicator, Yunan isn’t going to let anything happen to you. Plus, I believe you didn’t get to share much time together, yes? This way you can make up for lost time!”

Marcy dashed for Andrias’ leg and hugged it “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Don’t mention it, kid”

“Now that it’s all settled” Olivia spoke “Your Majesty, may I speak with you, in private?”

Andrias looked at Olivia and hesitated a second, wondering what she may want. Finally, he nodded.

The two went under, in the now empty deck. Andrias was very grateful that his crown and sword, as well as most of Yunan’s treasures had still been above deck and weren’t dumped with Marcy’s little trick.

“What happened, back there?” Olivia immediately asked “Back on the ship, when Marcy froze, you said something about ‘them’ being involved. Who are ‘they’?”

Andrias gulped. This was… not optimal. He couldn’t risk anyone knowing about the Core, but he knew that Olivia would continue digging until she found out something. He also knew that the Core would not allow it and the ancient hive mind was far less concerned with the life of the small newt than him.

“…I cannot tell you, Olivia.” He finally spoke.

As he predicted, the other newt was not content with that answer “Why?”

He sighed “Lady Olivia. We’ve known each other for all of your life. Please, trust me when I tell you that I cannot tell you. Please, do not ask further”

That seemed to mitigate her curiosity a bit “…are ‘they’ related to Marcy’s miraculous recovery?” She asked.

Andrias nodded.

She sighed as well. “I do not like this one bit. If ‘they’, whoever they are, truly are messing with Marcy’s head, I cannot not be worried. But I’ve also seen how much you care for her. If you can assure me she won’t be hurt, I guess I can trust you, even if I don’t like it.”

“Trust me, Lady Olivia, I won’t allow anything to happen to Marcy. I’ll do everything for Marcy’s good”

That seemed good enough for the small newt.

Just as they began to come out, Yunan’s head poked in “Hey, you two, we’re back in Newtopia!”

The ship landed at the pier where the Yulivia usually rested. The three newts went down and looked at the city while Marcy remained on the ship, saying that she needed to turn off the engine.

“Well, Lady Olivia” Andrias commented “It looks like the city has fared well even in our absence, yes?”

Just as he said those last words, the entire city caught on fire.

Lady Olivia simply pulled out a tea kettle and poured herself a nice cup to calm her nerves, while Andrias stared at the city, gobsmacked.

“…well, at least we can sleep on the ship.” Yunan commented.

And, as before, as soon as those words were spoken, the ship exploded, sending Marcy flying on the pier, bruised but unharmed.

“Oops” she said, still a bit dazed “I guess I shouldn’t have crossed those wires”

The three newts exchanged looks, then shrugged 

“Yeah, don’t know what I was expecting”

“Classic Master Marcy move.”

“I’m not even surprised”

It took the rest of the day to get the flames under control. By the time the last fire was extinguished, darkness had fallen over the city. They had decided to have dinner together, but had a change of plans when Marcy collapsed face first into her soup.

The day had taken a toll on all of them, mostly on Marcy, but even Olivia and Yunan looked worse for wear, so they headed to their rooms to sleep.

Of course, all of them but one.

Without a sound, Andrias lurked in the castle’s deserted halls.

He took the stairs, ascending to the tower Marcy’s room was in, not out of worry for Marcy’s safety or for another of Yunan’s rash decisions, but simply to check on her. As he arrived at the girl’s door, he could hardly suppress a smile at seeing General Yunan asleep on a chair in front of the girl’s room, dressed in that weird contraption of metal and fabric that only the nightcap helped identify as heavily armoured pajamas. He supposed the newt had decided to stand guard, but the day’s events had caught up to her as well. Andrias did not blame her. The day had been intense and even he himself would have happily collapsed in his throne for some rare sleep, if he didn’t need to do something first.

He silently walked past the sleeping general, knowing that even if Yunan was currently sleeping she could spring up at every noise. Marcy was well protected from every physical harm, at least for this night.

It was the mental one he was fearful about.

He made his way down the stairway, returning once more in front of the statue that hid the secret passage down to the castle’s basement, once more pulling the lever that opened it and descending the steps to the Core’s resting place. 

As he walked into the dark room, however, he did not kneel, opting to stay upright. It was perhaps because of this unusual change and the King’s silence that it waited for a second more than usual to make its entrance.

At the end though, the Core descended, its thirteen eyes opened and gazing at Andrias questioningly. 

The great newt blinked and the darkness of the room vanished, replaced by the darkness of his mindscape. So did the metal beast, its place taken by the form of King Aldrich.

What did not change were those thirteen burning eyes.

The ancient conclave waited for a second more for Andrias to speak, then took initiative.

“Andrias” Thirteen voices said, mixing together in a familiar cacophony “We did notice you had left the city. Might we ask what happened?”

Andrias balled his hands into fists “What have you done with her.” He asked, his voice as hard as stone.

One of Aldrich's eyebrows, lent to the Core along with his body to interact with Andrias, lifted. After a small moment of silence, the Core decided to play along with Andrias “We’re afraid we do not know what you are referring to. Could you-”

“Do not play dumb with me!” Andrias cut off his master with anger “Marcy. You messed with her head. It was you that pushed her, you that put her in danger, you that put her against the people she loves, against me! You will stop immediately. That is an order”

The Core laughed, its thirteen voices creepily chuckling, giggling and cackling independently. “Oh Andrias.  You are assuming something that is simply not true”

The blue newt growled “Not true? NOT TRUE? I saw her stopping in place, listening to voices that were just in her head. Do not even attempt to deny it or, by Frog, I swear I-”

“No, no, not that” The Core cut off the King, a hand raised to deny his claims “We did give your… daughter some advice. No, what you assume to be true which just isn’t is that you have any authority on us”

“I AM THE KING OF AMPHIBIA!” Andrias roared, stomping his foot down “You were created as an advisor, something to help the rulers of Amphibia rule, no matter how you style yourself as a Lord! You answer to the King, to me!”

The Core did not seem to be particularly impressed and simply folded Aldrich’s arms behind its back “Are you finished with your temper tantrum?” It asked, boredly, “Seriously, you are one of the longest lived rulers in our history, yet we have not met a more childish King in the many centuries of our existence.” It sighed “And, as before, you are wrong. We do not serve the King. We serve the Kingdom. The difference is great. We are not like your servant, that small newt who styles herself as a mother to that human. We do not follow your wishes and whims. All we do is for the good of the realm. That is our purpose. Do you know what the realm needs, as of now?”

Andrias waited a moment to answer, taken aback by the Core’s apparent lack of care “The Music Box?” He answered tentatively, only for his Father’s head to shake slowly 

“We had the Music Box, one millennium ago. What good did it do to us when it was stolen because of you?” The Core’s voice grew bitter as they reminded Andrias of his still uncleansed sin “No, what we need is something that ensures that what happened back then no longer has a chance to do so again. A strong leader.”

Aldrich’s body walked up to Andrias and put a hand on his shoulder. A smile formed on the long dead newt’s face “We know you are strong. We know that you wish to erase your mistake, to uphold your duty. But remember how you were. You were just like Marcy is now. Weak.” The grip the mental projection of his Father exercised on Andrias’ shoulder tightened enough to hurt. “Do you wish for her to suffer like you did? To be betrayed because she is weak?”

Andrias’ hand rose on his shoulder, trying to pry away his Father’s, but found it unable to do so. The mindscape was the Core’s domain and the Core decided its rules.

With its other hand, the Core cupped Andrias’ cheek, in a paternal gesture that felt alien coming from the machine that was wearing his Father’s likeness, forcing Andrias to look in their eyes.

But, instead of the thirteen blazing eyes he was expecting, he met his Father’s, full of parental love he had scarcely seen from the newt in life or undeath “Wouldn’t you wish for yourself to have become stronger earlier, for your young self to not suffer what you had to suffer to become what you are today? We are simply trying to that for the human, for Marcy, for your daughter ”

Andrias backed away slightly, shying away from the touch “She‘s young, too young for this.” he weakly tried to protest

“So were you.” Aldrich stated, matter-of-factly. “Did it stop your old friends from betraying you?”

“But she’s a child!” His voice was raised slightly, as his conscience tried to rally to fight off his Father’s words, to not allow them to touch his human, his Marcy, his daughter. “Shouldn’t she be spared this?”

“She’s also heir to Newtopia” The dead King answered, not budged in the slightest by his son’s words “More is expected of her, I thought you knew that. We did not force her into that role. We gave you a way out for her, if you wished for her to not be involved. The neurotoxin is still in her spine, waiting for that command that you or we could give at any moment.”

That remark was a mistake on the dead newt’s part. “A way out?” Andrias asked in anger and outrage, practically growling “Death? Is that the way out you give her?”

Aldrich shrugged “It is a way out, yes.” The dead newt saw the dark expression on his son’s face and scoffed “Oh, do not think of us as cruel, please. We know you are smarter than that. We care not for whoever the box chose. Our choice would have been the same if one of her friends had been stranded here, or if the Gems had chosen anyone else, be they human, frog, toad or newt. Even if it was you.” More eyes opened on Aldrich’s face and thirteen voices spoke “Such is the price of our eternal Kingdom.”

After that, Andrias fell silent. Then, he spoke, in a dark and menacing, yet wavering, faltering tone “What if I gave you your way out? The same you offered her?”

The Core, its thirteen eyes back on Aldrich’s face, smiled and chuckled amusedly “Are you threatening us, Andrias?” They asked with a twinge of laughter, as the King had just told them a particularly funny joke “We’re not Newtopia’s legacy, you cannot destroy us.”

“But I can.” Andrias continued, the fire of determination in his eyes and voice, which managed not to break under the sheer enormity of what he was saying “I could destroy every last trace of you, with sword and fire.”

The grin on Aldrich’s face grew dimented “But you will not. We know you Andrias. We’ve seen the real you. We’ve seen how you clung to a prophecy for a thousand years, for a spark of hope that you could right your wrongs.” The council of dead amphibians let out a small chuckle, before shrugging “Yes, perhaps you could kill us. Stomp us out, slice us, burn us until nothing of us was left. Then what?” 

Andrias dared not answer, his head turning to the side to avoid the sight of the Core.

“As we thought. What could you do? You’ve sacrificed everything to save this Kingdom, to save Newtopia, you left behind your friends, everything you ever knew. If you killed us, you would have nothing . Do you really think that Olivia, Yunan or Marcy would stick around after they discovered what you meant to do? But you are welcome to try. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time you threw everything away for your feelings. Though, after last time, you might have learned what that leads to.”

For a second, Andrias’ mind was undeterred. He pictured himself dropping out of this simulated world, unsheathing his blade of fire and planting it in the Core’s greatest eye, before destroying every last bit of his ancestors’ work. Then, everything would be over.

But his limbs felt leaden, stuck in place by the dread the Cores’s words caused.

Finally, he managed to move a foot, stepping forward, towards the Core, his master, his jailer. 

For a second his hand moved towards the fire sword, hidden on him, but ready to be wielded. 

For a second, everything was nearly over.

Then, his knee bent.

The Core smiled.

His other knee fell on the ground and the King knelt. 

“Good, good” The Core proclaimed smugly “Now, you can leave us. We promise Marcy’s life will not be excessively endangered anymore. She’s to be the next ruler of Amphibia, after all, and we do have great expectations for her.”

Aldrich’s form turned its back to Andrias, to indicate this meeting was over, but it hesitated, lingering instead of being absorbed into the darkness again.

Slowly, the projection of the long dead newt went to his son and helped him get up. When Andrias mustered the courage to look at its face, it was once more Aldrich that stared back. 

“I was not lying, son” Aldrich spoke in a soft tone, none of the resentment and petty anger the hive mind usually directed towards the King present. “A thousand years ago, I tried to help you, to warn you of your friends’ treachery, to make you strong enough to properly rule the Kingdom which is your birthright.”

Aldrich sighed “Now, we both know how that went. But that need not be the case for this daughter of yours as well, son. We can help her. We can make sure she succeeds where you failed. She shall be strong. She shall be happy. And, one day, she shall be Queen.”

Andrias looked at his Father, surprised by the kind and heartfelt words of the other newt, not believing them, but desperately wanting to “You… you mean that?” He asked.

“But of course.” Aldrich chuckled. “She is also my granddaughter, after all. I promise I’ll look after her. Make sure the other minds don’t put her too much in danger and don’t intervene too often and unnecessarily. How does that sound?”

Andrias allowed himself a smile, his previous homicidal intentions and righteous fury forgotten, too entranced with the possibility of his Father wanting to help him to disbelieve what the other newt was saying “It… does sound good.” He incredulously answered. 

Aldrich matched his son’s expression “Wonderful. Wonderful indeed. I do look forward to the day we’ll get to properly meet her. The young one does show promise, I say.”

“She does. She’ll be a magnificent ruler, one day” Andrias agreed 

“I’m sure she will, son.” Aldrich aknowledged Andrias’ words, before speaking again “Now, I think it is time for you to depart. The Core has much to plan, much to discuss and I cannot deprive them of my presence any longer.”

“Of course, Father.” Andrias nodded. But he waited for just a second, prompting a raised eyebrow from Aldrich. At the end, Andrias spoke “Thank you, Father.”

The other newt smiled, “Do not mention it, son.” Aldrich reassured Andrias. “I’ll gladly do whatever’s necessary for your daughter’s good. I trust you shall do the same?”

Andrias did not hesitate for a second before nodding “For Marcy’s good.”

With that, Andrias left him. Just like his son had done, Aldrich lingered for a second more “Yes.” He spoke to no one in particular, his tone darkly amused “For Marcy’s good. Which, of course, lies with Newtopia’s.”

Voices whispered in the darkness, the cacophony that was the Core’s voice. Aldrich nodded. “Indeed. Everything is going according to plan. And with Andrias on board…”

He chuckled once more, joined by whispered cackles of the other minds of the ancient conclave of newts. 

“We’ll mold her into the perfect Queen to lead the rebirth of our empire.”

Chapter Text

After returning to the palace, Marcy proceeded to, once more, baffle the entire Newtopian medical community when her bruised ribs healed in record time. This had upsides, like when she was subsequently informed that a good portion of the faculties of Medicine and Biology at Newtopia University had dedicated themselves nearly full time to the study of her physiology, and downsides, like when members of said faculties tried to kidnap her to study her in detail. To be fair, they hadn’t even managed to make it out of the palace when Yunan had found them.

She hadn’t been too bothered by the amount of blood and gore, since she had also scarcely noticed the kidnapping attempt in itself. This first experience with the Zone had baffled all of her newt found family, but Marcy just couldn’t help it! Most of her attention had been spent towards making theories about this new healing factor of hers as well. In the end, she didn’t make any progress, much like the professors who had not taken part in her attempted kidnapping and those that survived Yunan’s rampage. Though she could hardly blame the latter. It was hard to do research with several missing limbs. 

She did have something , though, a bizarre dream of being carried down a long spiral staircase by a colossal figure who couldn’t be anyone but Andrias, but it wasn’t exactly a lot to work off. And, when Olivia and Andrias had strictly forbidden her from throwing herself down the stairs (again, though on purpose this time) to test out her healing factor, she decided not to question it further and just reap the rewards of being able to shrug off damage like she was the protagonist of an anime.

So, now, with not exactly a lot to do, she lounged along the castle’s main hall. She had just realized she hadn’t properly sketched the bizarre architecture and had to rectify that immediately.

While she looked up at one of the chiseled columns and outlined it in her journal, fully immersed in her Zone, though, she stumbled. She initially assumed that she hadn’t seen a piece of furniture that had been oddly placed in the middle of the hall, for some reason. When she looked back, though, she realized with a twinge of horror that she had stumbled on none other than Lady Olivia, who, judging by the amount of papers she had likely been carrying and that had now been scattered across the floor, had not seen her as well. 

Immediately she rushed to her feet and helped the small newt up, apologizing profusely all the while.

“There is no need for that, Master Marcy” Olivia reassured the girl “If a cadre of academics kidnapping you is not enough to get you out of your head, I doubt you’re going to see someone who is barely half your height.”

Marcy chuckled at that “Yeah, I do get somehow distracted, at times…”

Olivia shrugged “I can hardly blame you. I suppose I’d be in awe as well if I found myself in a different world.”

“Perhaps I’ll give you all a tour of Earth, when Andrias manages to find a way back!” Marcy suggested, stars in her eyes “Man, can you imagine, you, Yunan, Andrias, Anne Sasha and I, back in LA! It’d be awesome!”

‘It would surely be’ A voice whispered in her ear ‘If you still were to remain in Los Angeles. But look on the bright side. Perhaps when you get back, your parents will have dumped you, like they always said they should have done’.

Before Marcy could even process the cutting words in her mind, Lady Olivia answered, covering her mouth with an end as she chuckled “I would certainly love to, Master Marcy. It could even be a chance to rest slightly.”

It was then that Marcy noticed the dark rings under Olivia’s eyes, a sign that most likely she was lacking hours of sleep, something Marcy was well accustomed to. “Uh, Lady Olivia, are you all right?” 

The newt sighed “These last few days have been… somewhat more stressful than usual. From Yunan kidnapping you-”

“Sorry again for that Liv!” Yunan called out from the ceiling.

“Don’t worry, Yun” Olivia answered without missing a beat before going on “to the city burning down, I scarcely had a chance to sleep. And then, right when I had everything working properly and had arranged a sorely needed power nap before Andrias inevitably causes more trouble, the old bridge decided to come down, because why not?” She closed her eyes and massaged her temples “I’ve been telling Andrias for ages that it had to be replaced, but who am I to know that a bridge that’s been falling to pieces since before I was born could fall? We’re just lucky nobody died or got seriously hurt, but now I have to arrange the building of a new bridge and no time to even pass by my bed.” Olivia took a deep breath, bottling all her anger in “But I’m fine. Really.”

“…you know, I think I could- perhaps I could maybe- it-it’s just an idea, but I could help!” Marcy tentatively said, before her moment of confidence immediately crumbled as Lady Olivia looked at her.

“Really?” The newt asked, brightening up immediately.

“I- uhm- I could…” What was she thinking! She was a thirteen years old girl, she couldn’t do this! Did she really think she could do something as good as Lady Olivia or any of the newts working for her? Was she really that arrogant?

Marcy continued to stumble on her words, until, once more, soothing words were whispered in her ears. 

‘Why do you doubt yourself?’ The voice, vaguely disappointed, asked her ‘You are not simply a thirteen years old, you’re Marcy Wu! You built a flying ship, can you not handle a bridge?’

Overtaken by a burst of confidence at the voice’s encouragement, Marcy Wu nodded energetically “I mean, I was always good at math and I have tried some engineering, with that flying ship I made” She paused for a second “Well, it exploded, but that wasn’t an issue with its construction. I think. I’m like 70% sure.”

Olivia looked like she was about to object, but decided against that “You know what?” She asked Marcy, “70% is good enough. I need my sleep or I am going to voice my thoughts to Andrias unfiltered. I know His Majesty is lenient, but I’d prefer not to risk treason.”

Marcy began to vibrate in excitement “Yes!” She yelled out, pumping her fist in the air “I won’t disappoint you, Lady Olivia!”

“I am sure you won’t, darling. Now, Yunan, I think my legs have ceased to answer. Could you please assist me?”

Yunan threw herself down from the ceiling, twirling in the air multiple times as she did so. She bowed at Marcy, as the girl clapped and extracted a piece of paper with “9.5” written on it, before slinging Olivia on her shoulder.

“Now Marcy” Yunan said to the girl who saluted her like a good soldier “If anyone tries to kidnap you again, you do know what to do?”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” Marcy answered before whipping out her scythe and putting on a pose, the laser blade crackling. “Go for the legs!”

“Yes, correct” Yunan nodded, before feeling Olivia’s glare “B-but more importantly call me! Got it?” As Marcy nodded, reluctantly putting away the scythe, Yunan winked at the girl “You can still rough them up a bit while you’re waiting for me. Just don’t get too much into trouble and save some for me, alright?”

“Yes, General!” Marcy exclaimed and Olivia, whether out of exhaustion or having decided to let it slide, did not display her disapproval.

“Good! Now, Yunan…” The pink newt said as she prepared for a sprint “AWAY!” She yelled out as rocketed down the halls, almost running over a servant and a couple of guards.

“Hm, I wonder if she knows that’s the wrong direction…” Marcy thought aloud “But I’m sure Yunan knows her way to Olivia’s bedroom…” She chuckled under her breath, before shaking her head “Oh, I gotta save that line for one of my fanfictions. I just know GoodWitchLuzura would love it. But enough about that! Let’s figure out how to build a bridge!”

Before she could begin to make her way towards the castle’s library, however, her nose caught on a strange smell “Wait, is that burning I smell?” She asked as flames spread from her cape to the tapestry behind her.

Lady Olivia awoke in her bed, her hair sticking up in every direction. She did not exactly remember how she had ended up there, her latest memory being Yunan breaking the sound barrier once she had realized that she had taken the wrong direction. She assumed she had passed out.

“I’ll have to thank General Yunan for tucking me in, I guess” Olivia mused out loud as she got up. Though, she would have preferred if she had found the other newt with her as she awoke- “Enough of that” She chastised herself, a blue coloring spreading across her cheeks in embarrassment at her own thoughts. It was hardly appropriate to think of a coworker that way! They were close, yes, but there was absolutely no sign from Yunan’s part that she even thought of her that way. She did not want to ruin her oldest friendship for inklings of romantic attraction!

“It’s good that I had some amount of sleep” She once more thought aloud “I wouldn’t want to slip up around her.” She looked at the clock, still speaking “And a couple of hours of sleep will work wond-”

Olivia stopped in her tracks as her brain registered the position of the hands on the clock in front of her, a massive thing that had been a gift from Andrias, pretty plain to see given how it dwarfed the newt and took up the entirety of a wall. 

“This is… bizarre.” Lady Olivia whispered. It seemed like it was a solid four hours earlier than when she had last seen a clock, approximately ten minutes before meeting Master Marcy in the hall.

Finally, her still groggy brain put two and two together. It was not four hours earlier, she had not time traveled. It was twenty hours later, her ‘little nap’ having taken a good portion of a day.

“OH FROG!” She yelled out, sprinting for her bathroom. She rapidly discarded the dress she had apparently fallen asleep in, the fact that Yunan had not disrobed her something she would have been thankful yet mildly disappointed for, if her brain had registered it. She got her bed head under control with a couple of energic strokes with a comb and got dressed as quickly as she could, cursing the court ceremonial. 

Of course she was fully aware that no one would object to her going around in a less formal outfit and, even if they did, they’d be taking their complaints to the only person more important that her (Andrias), who’d proceed to laugh his night vest off (because he was Andrias), so she was fully free to lounge around the castle in sweatpants and a comfy sweater, if she wished to, but a newt had to draw a line in the sand, somewhere! Of course, Olivia’s line in the sand was drawn practically on the shoreline and it was constantly erased by the tidal waves that were Yunan and Andrias, but it was the principle of it.

Finally presentable, she got out and, as fast as protocol allowed, she went up the stairs, arriving at Marcy’s room’s door. She knocked lightly, but got no response. She knocked once again, just a smidgeon more harsh, to the same result.

“Master Marcy, are you in there?” Olivia asked and, when she got no response, she went in, finding no one.

“You won’t find Master Marcy in there” A voice came from behind her. Lady Olivia turned and saw a small gray newt, wearing a servant’s uniform and standing in the doorway.

“And you are?”

“Master Marcy’s personal servant. Name’s Griso. And if you’re searching for Master Marcy, she’s in the library. She was still taking care of that bridge thing last time I saw her” He fished out a brown paper bag and handed it over to Olivia “Actually, if you’re going there, could you get her this? It’s her lunch”

Before Olivia could get a word in, the slippery gray newt had already gotten out of there, leaving her to mumble at the servant’s distinct lack of protocol. She could have hardly expected anything different though. She didn’t remember issuing a personal servant to the girl, so the only other one who could have done it was Andrias and the King’s pick of personnel was… in character. She could hardly complain though. After all, Yunan was one of those questionable picks and-

Nope, time to go find Marcy! She chided herself. At least the gray newt had left her with a precise location, she ought to be thankful for that, at least.

With the bag in her hand (because the servant might have been unpleasant to be around, but Master Marcy did need to eat three meals a day, the human was practically a toothpick), Olivia descended the steps and walked towards the palace’s library. In hindsight, it was really the first place she should have looked for Marcy in. The girl was extremely bookish and the library was enormous and filled with ancient tomes about pretty much everything. Olivia had to confess that she too had spent quite a lot of time in it, as a girl.

She walked into the room and, sure enough, Marcy was at her usual seat, her back turned to the entrance and surrounded by towers of books and loose parchment, currently occupied with scribbling something.

“General Yunan” Olivia immediately greeted the pink salamander, who was up in the library’s ceiling, observing her charge like a hawk. Yunan was extremely good at sneaking and hiding (something you wouldn’t expect from the boastful newt, to be honest) but Lady Olivia had never had any difficulties at figuring out the other newt’s hiding spots. 

“Lady Olivia!” Yunan greeted her back “You had us all quite worried!”

The blue newt blushed slightly “It appears I needed more sleep than I thought. But now I am awake and well rested. Now Master Marcy, let’s see what you’ve done.”

A few seconds of near silence passed, only disturbed by the sound of Marcy’s quill still scratching the paper, the human continuing her scribbling without sign of intending to stop.

“Uhm, Master Marcy?”

More scribbling, still no sign the human had even noticed her.

Hesitantly, Olivia poked Marcy on the elbow. 

“…just a second…” came the mumbled response from Marcy “and… Done!” She exclaimed, standing up and sending the chair several meters away “Whoops. I’ll put that back. Oh, hi Lady Olivia. When did you get here?”

“…about a minute ag-”

Marcy’s nose picked up on something, namely the contents of paper bag Olivia was holding, and her stomach growled loudly “Wait, is that food?” She asked the blue newt.

“It is, y-”

The girl snatched the bag from Olivia’s hands “Yoink!” She opened it and immediately began to wolf down its contents, as if she hadn’t eaten in a day.

But that was impossible, right? Marcy wouldn’t starve herself jus- and Olivia noticed the dark bags under Marcy’s bloodshot eyes and the red signs on her fingers that evidenced a prolonged use of the quill.

“Yunan, has she-”

“She’s been at that desk since I tucked you into bed” Yunan answered her question before she could even ask it. 

Olivia facepalmed and sighed deeply. Since Marcy had picked up Andrias’ mischievousness and Yunan’s carelessness (though one could argue that someone who’s first act upon finding themselves in a brand new world was to not pay attention and fall down a flight of stairs was not exactly the most careful person around), it should have not come to her as a surprise the fact that the girl had picked up from her her worst trait. That being, of course, her tendency to overly dedicate herself to something.

She had to admit, it was kind of heartwarming, seeing Marcy take up after her, but she was supposed to be the responsible one and not let Marcy hurt herself. 

Olivia shook her head, both to clear her head of her thoughts and to show Marcy her disapproval.

The girl, having finished her lunch, smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head “I… well, I kinda lost track of time? Yeah, that’s what happened”

“It is good that you are this dedicated” Lady Olivia conceded “but after this I’ll have you phisically dragged into bed by Yunan, if necessary”

“Yeah, you can’t train properly if you don’t get enough sleep!” Yunan echoed “Plus, by this time, I’ve got experience bedding people”

Marcy stifled a bout of laughter, while Olivia blushed wildly “General Yunan!” She squealed, outraged.

Yunan, up in the rafters, was confused for a second, then understood and blushed herself, the embarrassment briefly frying her brain and making her lose her grasp. The pink newt fell on her face, immediately getting up afterwards “I-I didn’t mean it like that! A-aha, why would I?”

Olivia sighed, in disappointment, both because of the pink newt’s antics and because, as always, Yunan’s lack of interest in her made itself evident.

“The less is said about this, the better” Olivia commented, before turning towards the human “Now, Marcy. Let us see what you’ve been working on, shall we?”

The girl perked up immediately, a big smile on her face “Oh! Sure, let me show it!” She took up several papers, clearing the desk and freeing space for a few carefully arranged drawings that together formed a well drawn artist rendition of a bridge.

Oh, Marcy had designed the bridge, Olivia thought. It was not bad, no, it was even better than the rendition the few newts she had contacted had provided, modern yet blending in quite well with the ancient city, artistic yet not too complex to realize. A great job, Olivia had to say, and one that would help a lot with the reconstruction of the bridge, a fine base for the engineers and contractors to build on.

It was as she was preparing to voice these considerations to the human that she noticed the calculations on the sides of the pieces of parchment. Olivia was not an engineer, but a few days of arranging the rebuilding of a bridge had made her able to recognise what were complex calculations, very much similar to the ones she had seen in the offices of the engineers she had visited, but for the fact the bridge's size was even greater than the maximum they had estimated. 

“M-Marcy is… is this…”

“A fully designed bridge?” Marcy interrupted “Yup! You told me to work it out, after all”

“Yes, but I didn’t expect… this” She said pointing vaguely at the papers.

Marcy was taken aback for a second “O-oh, w-were you expecting… better?” She asked, the last said with a nervous smile “B-because I’m pretty sure I can! Give me, like, eight more hours and another fifty bugaccinos and I should do it!”

Olivia raised an eyebrow “Another?”

A comically large bead of sweat rolled down Marcy’s forehead as she raised her hand to speak. In the end, she had no chance to, as she was interrupted by a veritable tower of empty paper cups that fell from behind a stack of books that had hidden them from view. 

“That… can’t be healthy” Olivia noted with a sigh “But. Better? Master Marcy, I had expected the contractors we had contacted to make a project in eight weeks. And you have done it in one night! I am not sure it is physically possible to make this better. Right now, I’ll just have to arrange the materials and a budget, figure out the necessary workforce-”

With a small chuckle, Marcy interrupted Lady Olivia and handed her a stack of papers “Uh, actually…”

Olivia’s eyes ran over the writing on the piece of parchment, her mouth opening more and more in disbelief the longer she read it….

Finally she managed to tear her eyes from the paper and look at the teenager in front of her. “Master Marcy” She asked “did you just estimate the cost and time of building the bridge and figure out the logistics of it? And both are half what we were expecting?”

With a twinge of green light in her eyes that Olivia was almost sure she had not simply imagined, Marcy smirked proudly and shrugged “Eh, it wasn’t too hard. After all I’m…”

“Marcy no” Olivia pleaded.

“Marcy yes!” Yunan yelled out.

“Marcy Wu! Head of the chess club!” Marcy proclaimed, before being rapidly joined by General Yunan

“Master RTS player!” The pink newt joined in.

“Straight A student, except for gym, but only because I was reading in class, which only proves my point!”

“And…” Yunan lead on, before the two spoke in unison

“Bane of cults and still technically Pirate King!” The newt and the teenager high fived.

“Frog, I got chills! Literal chills!” Marcy exclaimed “I get why you do the whole introduction so often! It’s exhilarating”

“I do not know what that word means, but it does feel good and I’ll assume you meant that!” Yunan answered

Olivia cleared her voice, gaining the two’s attention.

“Oops. Sorry, Olivia. Just helping the kid come up with her own introduction, ya know? Figure out the rough spots and all. I had to do it myself, but-”

With a curt gesture of her hand and a small smile, Olivia interrupted Yunan. “I understand the concept, Yun. And, while I am certain this will cause several headaches in the near future, I think it’s a good thing.”

The pink newt got pinker around the cheeks, no doubt because of the pet name Olivia had addressed her by. Olivia could hardly understand the reason for it. For quite some years Yunan had addressed her by Liv, something friends did, as she understood. But it was Yunan after all, little regarding her could be called reasonable.

“Thanks, Liv! I will return to my post now!” Yunan spoke, before bending her legs, preparing for a jump “Yunan… AWAY!” She leaped towards the ceiling, fast as a catapult projectile, the force of her legs cracking the marble beneath her.

Making a mental note to have that fixed, Olivia turned towards Marcy.

“Master Marcy, what you did was… impressive, to say the least.” The newt shook her head and chuckled “But I suppose I should have expected it. After all, I did ask you to do it and you are, as Andrias would put it ‘pretty amazing’. Please don’t tell him I said that. It is true, but he would find a way to rub it in, somehow.”

Marcy blushed lightly and rubbed the back of her head “Aw, shucks, Lady Olivia! Stop!”

“If that means not recognising your talents, I most definitely will not, Master Marcy” Olivia sternly proclaimed, an unusual twinge of humor finding its way into her voice. “Now, even if you already undertook a titanic effort, could you help me gather all the necessary papers?”

“Of course, Lady Olivia!” Marcy announced, her hand going rapidly to her forehead in a military salute. 

Olivia muffled with her hand a small chuckle at Marcy’s overzealousness. It did seem like herself and the human were very much similar, in some things.

“Here you go, Lady Olivia!” Marcy proclaimed, a neat stack of papers in her hands extended towards the small newt.

“Thank you dear.” Olivia took the pieces of parchment in her hands and gave them a cursory read, more out of habit than anything. Her eyes, though, fell on something.

“Master Marcy, dear, it seems like you haven’t carried the one here” She said, finger pointed towards one of the many passages in Marcy’s calculations.

Though neither deers or highlights existed in Amphibia, Olivia could swear that Marcy looked very much like one of the former in the latter.

“W-what?” Marcy whisper-asked, rapidly snatching the paper Olivia offered back to her. 

Her eyes rapidly scanned the passage Olivia had called her attention to, the gears in her head visibly working. Then, after a full five seconds of holding her breath, Marcy let out a small strained breath of relief and a small awkward laugh. “Aha, it’s because you don’t actually have to carry the one there! Because of… math stuff.”

Olivia raised an eyebrow.

“C-complex math stuff. Like, design-a-bridge level of complex. You know.” Marcy tried to explain.

Olivia sighed and relented “Very well.” After all, Marcy seemed to know what she was doing. Her previous feats of engineering had been quite impressive after all. And heck, she was trusting Andrias to be responsible, trusting a thirteen years old’s blueprints was not that much more of a stretch.

Olivia took back the paper she had handed to Marcy and slammed gently the stack on the table before putting it under her arm. “I shall take my leave, then.”

“Bye Liv!” Yunan called out from the ceiling, waving with her tail.

Olivia smiled back at her and turned towards the doors, when Marcy spoke up as well “Lady Olivia, wait!”

The small newt looked back with a questioning gaze at the girl. Said girl was now standing, her own gaze darting between Lady Olivia and her own feet. “I- Uhm- well… bye as well, Lady Olivia!” She mumbled only to blurt out a farewell.

Olivia’s smile got sweeter at the teen stumbling over her own words. She could bring down a cult and become a Pirate King, but she remained a really cute, even if alien, shy kid. One that, Olivia could really not deny it, she had grown to love, very much like Andrias had. 

“You can simply call me just Olivia, dear. You have more than deserved it.”

Marcy looked like she had just been gifted with the greatest treasure in all of Amphibia, yet there was something off in the way she shifted as Olivia told her those words. “R-really?”

“Indeed, Master Marcy. After all, you do the same with Andrias and he’s higher ranking than me. Yes, he also is Andrias and his attempts at, and I quote, ‘cool kidz slang’ have sent the former Master of Ceremonies in an early grave, but I feel like you and I are close enough that you may forgo the title.”

“… do I get to give you a cool nickname?” Marcy asked timidly, visibly containing the excitement.

“Let's stick with Olivia for now” The blue newt stoically answered.

“But Yunan gets to!” The human complained.

“General Yunan is…” Olivia struggled to find the right word for a second “different”

“Fine…” Marcy sighed, causing Olivia to arch an eyebrow ever so slightly. It wasn’t like Marcy to surrender so swiftly. She had expected a plethora of creative nicknames to be listed off at the speed of sound to try and win her out, but Marcy had relented almost instantly, with what was, for one of the three resident children in the Palace, a token amount of resistance. Could there be something that was troubling her?

She rapidly dismissed the thought, chalking it up to tiredness from the girl’s part. After all, she had just worked for twenty hours straight.

As she exited the room, after wishing everyone farewell, of course, she let her mouth shift into a lazy smile. Incredible as it sounded, a week's worth of work had been taken care of while she slept, leaving her, incredible as it sounded, relatively free. 

Why, she could just invite Yunan over to spend some time together, maybe take her and Marcy to the park and have a ni-

“Ah, there she is, the newt I was looking for! Lady Olivia, Liv, Lady V, LO, the big O!” Bellowed Andrias, just emerged from behind a corner, crown slightly crooked and beard suspiciously singed, shooting finger guns as he tried nickname after nickname. “I was feeling the pang of hunger and as it turns out, a gas stove is slightly more complex to handle than I thought it’d be.” He raised his hands and opened them in a gesture of innocence “Now, long story short, it’s nobody’s fault but half of the city is on fire. Again. Not my fault. Definitely.”

Lady Olivia breathed in as deeply as she could, her eyes closing as she did so. Then, slowly, she breathed out, strangling her desire to strangle the newt before her. 

At least this couldn’t get worse.

Two weeks and two times the city almost burnt down later (something that would have made her consider giving a gold star to Andrias, if she hadn’t made the same mistake ages before. As it turns out, gold stars are extremely flammable), it was the big day. Construction was already underway and it was time to inaugurate the building site. Gathering everything had been surprisingly easy, with Marcy’s work. Lady Olivia had silently vowed to treat the girl to a lifetime supply of ice cream, health risks be damned. 

And so they were, Andrias and Marcy amiably whispering to each other, chattering about some book Marcy had given Andrias and the latter was apparently very much enjoying, while Olivia droned on with her trusty all-purposes speech she used at each of these things, finding herself focusing more on the two’s conversation.

“-that all being said, let us open this site.” She finished her speech, turning towards Andrias for his part “King Andrias”

“I have to say Marcy, I really didn’t expect Cynthia to actually kill Professor Predator. It was a bit brutal, for a ten years old”

“King Andrias?”

“Yeah, but he was possessed by the Dark Lord Svolazzestort. It’s actually a theory of mine that he was already dead and just an undead maneuvered by the Dark Lord’s spirit”

Olivia coughed in her hand “Sire?”

“Oh, that is sad, but at least he wasn’t actually forced to just look as he betrayed all of his friends as the host body of the Dark Lord”

The light blue newt sighed and pulled out the air horn. The loud hoot of the device managed to break the big newt out of his nerding session with Marcy, but, unfortunately, he reacted out of panic and, after grabbing the bottle of champagne he was supposed to use to inaugurate, he smashed it over Yunan’s head, K.O.ing the pink newt.

For a second everyone looked at Andrias in silence.

“Uhm, hooray?” Tentatively asked the King of Amphibia.

The crowd cheered wildly, a couple of newts even pulling out champagne bottles and smashing them on people’s heads.

“Uh. I feel like I’ve just started a trend. Did I start a trend?” Andrias asked Lady Olivia.

“Just…” Olivia sighed in defeat “Just take Yunan to the hospital, Sire, I’ll handle this. And since you are passing by, tell my therapist I’ll need to schedule a few more sessions.”

“As long as you discharge your stress on smashing things instead of doing that on me, I got ya!” The titanic newt picked up the catatonic Yunan like she was a doll and put her under his arm, before jumping off with enough force to crack the pavement. A loud crash in the distance after a few seconds made Olivia suppose that Andrias had landed on something that surely now was no more.

Her hand shaking, she poured herself an abundant glass of ‘juice’.

“Thirty-four more years, Olivia. Just thirty-four more frog-darn years.” She whispered to herself. 

“Sorry about, uhm, distracting the King, Lady Olivia” Marcy apologized with an awkward smile, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment “General Yunan is going to be okay, right?”

“Don’t worry, Master Marcy” Olivia reassured the teenager. It was weird like she persevered to refer to her by Lady Olivia when she had granted her permission to call her by her first name, but she preferred not to pry about the reason. “Andrias would have been distracted anyways and Yunan’s cranium is way too tough to be damaged by something like that”

“Yeah, if Yunan’s anything is tough” Marcy agreed “But I still do feel bad. Could we, uhm, go visit her? And maybe get her something?”

The small newt smiled “You are a good kid, Master Marcy. I was already going to get Yunan a “Get Well” gift basket and bring it to her, so you can come along, if you want to. For now don’t worry though. Today is your big day, Master Marcy!”

Marcy smiled, though Olivia thought the expression was slightly strained, but blew off the newt’s claim “Oh, it was nothing! I barely did anything, aha”

“Don’t downplay yourself, Master Marcy. You are the one responsible for all of this”

“I suppose you’re the one responsible for all of this, creature?” A foreign voice, with the barest hint of an accent, interrupted the conversation between the human and the amphibian. 

Both Marcy and Olivia turned to face the stranger. The one who had interrupted was a well dressed yellowish newt with a feathered hat, his face sporting a well trimmed mustache and goatee, both black. 

“Yes, I literally just said that” Olivia answered the stranger’s question “I am sorry, but who are you exactly?”

The yellowish newt scoffed “Why, Lady Olivia, you offend me! I was a great acquaintance of your late mother! It is I, Don Rodrigo!”

“Oh, yes, I believe she had mentioned you. The, and I quote, “greatest pain in my ass” and “that moronic newt that makes my life impossible”, was it not?”

Rodrigo nodded “Precisely! Those were… affectionate nicknames. We were great friends!”

With a deadpan expression on her face that materialized all of her scarce belief in the noblenewt’s claim, Olivia nodded “Hm.”

“But, more than that, I was also the newt she always turned to for projects such as this!” He exclaimed, pointing to the building site with his extremely tacky gold plated cane, while Olivia came to the dreadful realization that no, this wasn’t excitement, this was the newt’s normal talking voice. “Your mother always entrusted me with commissions such as this! This has made me extremely rich, but also the best person to turn to for these matters!”

“Because of your experience?” Marcy tentatively asked while she scribbled notes on her journal, an half finished sketch of the newt before them on the side

“What?” Don Rodrigo asked, clearly baffled “No, because of my obscene wealth! Everyone knows that rich people are rich because they’re the smartest! It is surely true, a rich person said it, and rich people are the smartest!”

“Isn’t that circular logic?” Marcy objected, only to be silenced by a scoff from the rich newt.

“Are you daft, creature? That was a phrase, phrases cannot be circles! Lady Olivia, is this really the one you have entrusted with this? If this is her level, people are going to get injured! And worse, I won’t get to embezzl- I mean, I won’t be able to build the city a splendid and secure bridge named after me at only ten times the price!”

“Now that’s enough” Olivia sternly silenced the newt, her voice cold “I won’t tolerate slander about young Master Marcy. The King trusts her and so do I. Her work has been impeccable and far superior to whatever you have put forward. If you dare to spew any further insult toward her, I will personally report it to King Andrias, something you’d best avoid, if you wish to ever work for him again.”

The yellowish newt’s expression morphed into a scowl for a second, before scoffing. “Very well” he relented “But this is far from over. Mark my words” With that he stormed out.

Olivia turned to face Marcy, who had wilted, her shoulders slumped and her expression downcast. “Don’t worry, Master Marcy” Olivia reassured the girl, taking her hand into hers “He was severely wrong. About a lot of things. I will have to review a lot of things if that sort of people are those we trusted to build important infrastructure and use public funds”

Marcy smiled at her, though it was small and forced in a way that made Olivia slightly sad “Thanks, Lady Olivia. Can we go back to the castle and then go check on Yunan?”

“Of course, dear” Olivia agreed and for a moment she thought that, despite the obnoxious newt’s words, everything related to this was indeed over.

The first report she almost ignored. A part of the bridge’s understructure had collapsed overnight, seemingly by accident. Since nobody had died and work had continued as usual, Olivia had dismissed it as bad luck. A careless worker, bad quality material, these sort of things happened.

Then, it happened a second time, in a different part of the building site. A few days later, a third time followed. No one died, though the third time it was avoided by the width of a hair.

While the first time she had thought it had been simply an accident. No sign of manumission had been found and no one had reported explosion or similar events that could have caused the collapses. Each accident after that, however, made the theory that they were all just fatalities more and more unlikely and, in the end Olivia decided to check out what exactly was happening.

Of course, though, her work did not stop just because she wished to and, by the time all of the paperwork had been taken care of, it was practically night. This of course meant that the building site was deserted, its gate locked and that she had made a useless trip.

Lady Olivia let out a deep sigh of resignation as she prepared to turn around and go back to the castle. As she turned around, though, she thought that she noticed something off. She checked out the big lock that blocked the gate and, sure enough, it was dangling uselessly, opened and left there.

A chill ran down Olivia’s spine. No signs of sabotage could mean two things, Yunan had once said to her. One, there had been no sabotage. Two, the saboteur was good at their job.

Without thinking, she slipped past the gates, her gaze darting to the sides beforehand to make sure no one was around.

As she walked through the deserted building site, she ardently wished she had brought a torch or anything able to produce light within her, the skeletons of half-built structures and what little light came from the streetlamps outside projectingly ghastly shades that made her almost jump more than once. 

She calmed herself. There were no monsters here, just like her mother used to tell her when she was but a newtling. And, most likely there was no one else, either. Most likely a worker had left the padlock open, which was still bad but not-

That entire line of thought went out of the window as she heard a clanging sound off in the distance.

“WHO’S THERE?” Olivia yelled out, moving towards the source of the sound, instantly reprimanding herself. ‘Who’s there?’? Yeah, they are definitely going to answer, great job Olivia.

She managed to see parts of a silhouette moving in the shadows, extremely slippery and almost impossible to recognise in the darkness of the night. It turned around a corner and Olivia followed it, just a second later, only to stumble into something, something who squealed out in surprise.

The newt and the misterious stranger wrestled for a moment, until Olivia’s eyes were almost burned off by a sudden flash of light and she had to shield them with her hands.

“Oops” a very familiar voice that Olivia recognised immediately spoke as the cone of light produced by a rectangular device was lowered away from the newt’s face “Sorry Lady Olivia!”

“Master Marcy?” Olivia asked, gobsmacked by the presence of the teenager in the building site. Wasn’t she supposed to be sleeping? She’d had to contact that servant of hers, even if he had seemingly disappeared since the day she had met him. “What are you doing here?”

“I, well, I, uhm, I heard some commotion and rushed here, but I kinda tripped and fell on you. Again. Sorry, by the way”

“No need to” Olivia reassured the teen “But I meant, why are you here, in a building site in the middle of the night?”

“Oh. That. Yes. I… well, I heard of the… the accidents” The girl’s voice became almost a whisper at the end, but before Olivia could say anything about it, she went on “So, I decided to come check this place out! But, I think I may have misread the times of opening and closing. By, like, a lot. I did find the padlock opened though, so I decided to go and have a peek. I’m coming right now from the shed where the blueprints are kept” She pointed backwards with her thumb, to a smallish squat building right next to a gigantic pillar. “What about you?” Marcy asked

“Similar reason, Master Marcy. I began to think that the accidents were too frequent to be just that and came to check out. Apparently, they are not ‘accidents’, but sabotage.”

Marcy’s eyes widened in surprise “W-what? That’s- that’s impossible! Are you sure?”

“I wasn’t, until I saw someone lurking in the shadows right here. I was following them, when I… found you.” The idea of joking about Marcy being the mystery figure almost passed through Olivia’s mind, but the girl was evidently upset about this debacle and she wouldn’t want to upset her more. “Anyways, I think it is safe to say that I have lost them” Olivia sighed.

“That’s… insane” Marcy said, slowly shaking her head “Why would someone do that? And how? I mean, no signs of sabotage were found! How could someone make a bridge fall without explosives or excavating or magic?” She rubbed her chin “I mean, it could always be magic. Maybe magic is the answer?”

“No, there’s no magicians in Newtopia” An idea struck Lady Olivia “But… what if someone was changing the blueprints?”

Marcy froze for a second “W-what?”

“Yes, if someone changed the blueprints and put mistakes in them to make the bridge collapse mid-construction? You just said the blueprints are kept here, right? You made them, you should see if they’ve been modified, let’s go check them out!”

The girl seemed on edge, for some reason, but she nodded “O-okay, let’s go!”

The two walked inside the shed and Olivia immediately saw the blueprints, on the big table that took up most of the room. Marcy immediately got to scrutinizing them and Olivia decided to give a look around while the girl worked. There wasn’t much in the room, just some woodworking supplies and a bottle of pills.

“I’m sorry, Lady Olivia” Marcy spoke after tearing her eyes off the papers “but they don’t look like they’ve been tampered with. Everything looks in order.”

Lady Olivia walked over and gave a look as well, but all the writing was clearly written in Marcy’s handwriting, pretty much ruling out any possibilities that modifications in the plans were the reason for the accidents. To add insult to injury, one of her gloves was marked with a big stain of ink. It seemed like this was not her night. Olivia sighed “It was a long shot anyways. Our only trail then is to find the saboteur, then”

“Uhm, didn’t you kind of lose them?” Pointed out Marcy, a finger raised in objection “I don’t think they’ll be so careless to be caught twice and you don’t even know who they are”

“I don’t know who the saboteur is, yes” Lady Olivia conceded “but I’ve got a hunch about who might have sent them”

Don Rodrigo’s mansion was exactly like Lady Olivia had pictured it in her mind, from the tacky golden plated roof to the proliferation of different types of windows and decorations that must have been chosen by someone that, after looking at the catalog, had simply replied “Yes”. Not that the inside was any better, filled with all kinds of tasteless junk who’s only common factor was their mind-boggling price.

The bodyguard that had escorted Marcy and her inside finally stopped in front of a door, opening it and letting them in. The room was in line with the rest of the obscene monument to absurd wealth and mausoleum of good taste, from the wooly mantis carpet so high to arrive at Olivia's waist to the many, many portraits of the yellowish newt that owned the place.

“Well, well, well” Greeted them Don Rodrigo, a complacent grin on his face. He was currently sitting at a table filled with every kind of delicacy, another green newt at his side smiling at them similarly. “Look at who comes. I hear your bridge has had some… problems? If you want, my men are ready to take on the building. It’s gonna cost you twice as much as my previous price though. You know, for offending me, threatening me and, honestly? Because I can. It’s a limited time offer, though. Tomorrow it’s gonna cost ya thrice as much”

“Cut the crap, you” Olivia covered Marcy’s ears “you silly person! Your mother was a spider and your father smells of elderberries!”

Don Rodrigo squinted his eyes and his expression got more serious “I’d be careful were I you, Lady Olivia. I am the only one in Newtopia with the means to build that bridge” His smile turned mocking “The only one whose work ain’t going to crumble on itself, anyways”

“Oh, I am more than careful enough” Olivia took her hands off of Marcy. “You sabotaged the building site, admit it! It was you that caused those accidents!”

The yellowish newt chortled “Fuhuhuh, now that is a funny one. You are funny. Well, you’d be if you weren’t so sad. Unluckily for you, these past few days I’ve been cooped up in my delightful mansion. Every newt in my employ can swear that that is the case. Isn’t that right, Attilio?”

“That is correct, Don Rodrigo” The green newt agreed “And I may be an engineer, but I am quite sure that throwing around baseless accusations like that cannot be legal. I think you shall hear from our lawyers quite soon”

“And I think you should save your lawyers for when you’ll be thrown in prison” Lady Olivia answered “Master Marcy and I have found someone sneaking around the building site at night. You’re the only one with interest in stopping the bridge’s construction, the connection is quite easy”

“Oh, I wasn’t aware that proof of sabotage had been found” The green newt sneered “Was it?”

“Well, it wasn’t, but-”

“Oh, but then how did this phantomatic ‘saboteur’ cause those accidents? Are talking about someone able to make buildings fall with their mind? Because if so, we might have a problem a bit greater than we thought of”

“No, we-”

“Did you even catch anyone? Or got a good look at them? Or are you basing your whole accusations on shadows and smoke?” The sneer on the green newt got even crueler “But after all, what more can be expected from-”

“That is enough, Attilio” Don Rodrigo, his complacent grin still on his face raised a hand and the green newt silenced himself immediately. “Now, I generally agree with what Attilio said. He is my best engineer after all. None of his bridges have collapsed, which is more than I can say for yours at least”

Marcy shifted slightly at that indirect attack and Olivia was about to turn towards her and comfort her, but the yellowish newt was not done, not nearly.

“I do not think there was sabotage” Rodrigo said as he got up from his chair and leisurely marched towards the light blue newt and the human “Do you know what I think happened?”

“I think this one” he used his cane to poke Marcy in the chest, which made the teen recoil slightly “messed up. She got in over her head and decided to play engineer. Then, her rich mommy decided to entertain her fantasy because of her abandonment issues due to the fact that her own mommy kicked the bucket too early.”

By this point tears were rolling down on Marcy’s face, the girl trembling slightly, while Olivia was having a nearly out of body experience, as if on a snail that was going to crash, seeing and hearing but unable to move or speak.

“Now, when things went wrong and someone nearly died, mommy is seeing ghosts to justify her precious girl, all because”

He poked Marcy in the chest once more with his cane, stronger now, in a way that was most likely going to hurt “This little girl”

Again, he hit her “Just is in”

Once more, by now almost stabbing the girl, who let out a wheeze as the impact forced the air out of her lungs “Over her head!”

The yellowish newt delivered a last lunge with his cane, putting quite a good amount of force in it, enough to send Marcy to the ground.

Don Rodrigo’s mask of placid complacency shattered and the newt let a sneer form on his face as he looked down on the kid. “Ain’t I right, kiddo?”

By now Marcy looked downright terrified, her face streaked with tears as she shook her head, mouth silently moving as she was trying to speak but found herself to do so. Finally, she picked herself up, only to dart away at the speed of sound.

Olivia arrived on top of the stairs that led to Marcy’s room. She had not seen the girl since the debacle at the mansion, earlier in the day, and, uncharacteristically, the human had even skipped dinner. It had been a silent affair, the lack of Marcy’s omnipresent rambling heaving harder than any of the three newts had ever thought it would. She was lucky enough that Andrias hadn’t pried. She wouldn’t exactly be opposed to Andrias and Yunan laying waste to the horrible place and slaughtering the newt inside, but it wouldn’t be the right thing to do.

Once more she knocked, receiving no response.

Without asking further, she opened the door, finding, to her surprise, that the room was empty. Where could Marcy be?

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this” A somewhat familiar voice came from behind her and, sure enough, when she turned, Marcy’s elusive servant was there, smirking slightly and leaning on the side of the door  “Master Marcy is not here, if you were wondering. She has left. Got me pretty worried, too, she’s been doing it for a week now, it’s the fourth time. But I figure, hey, she’s a kid, I got out of my room at night pretty often when I was her age, cut her some slack. She doesn’t get any sleep when she goes out too, so I don’t gotta make her bed like I usually do.”

Olivia hummed in thought at that. It sounded like Marcy was more worried than she had thought, if she had gone out before, presumably at the building site each time. The newt, however, couldn’t help but feel like there was something that didn’t make sense in what Griso had told her, a piece that didn’t fit the puzzle.

She went to the girl’s desk, finding it full of papers of complex math, many of which had fallen to the ground. As she picked up one of them, a roach ran from under it, eluding Olivia’s attempts to stomp it out and promptly disappearing under Marcy’s bed. The newt gave a hard look at the servant, who raised his hands in a gesture of innocence.

“Hey, don’t blame me!” He protested “Master Marcy’s orders. She forbade anyone from handling her papers. Something about a mistake, I don’t know, I failed math three times.”

Olivia sighed. It seemed like Don Rodrigo’s words had only unearthed what Marcy’s self-doubt must have been whispering for quite a while. She growled as she thought about the foul newt.

Suddenly, something caught her eye. Marcy’s journal. Gears in her head shifted. Marcy wrote down everything in that book, if something was troubling her, it’d be written in those pages. Her hand reached for it, but stopped halfway.

That… wasn’t right. Marcy wrote everything down there because she felt like no one would judge her for it, no one would read it and use it against her. She had even taken to keeping on her every second, even sleeping with it, or hiding it when she couldn’t take it with her. It was after she had forgotten it in Olivia’s chamber and she had returned it without opening it that she had begun to leave it around.

Olivia didn’t want to break her trust. Sure, it’d be the easiest way to help Marcy, but it wouldn’t be the right one. Even if her instincts urged her to open the booklet and read it, she resisted them. 

She put down the diary where she had found it, on top of a pile of papers of newly written math. Perhaps too newly written, she thought, as she noticed her glove was once more stained with ink. This one was the second ruined glove, she mused in annoyance, after the one at the buil-

It clicked.

The accidents with no hints of any sabotage, the intruder who had disappeared into thin air, the lack of any visible tampering with the blueprints. 

Sure, maybe the saboteur was a magician, maybe they were able to disappear into thin air or perfectly mimic Marcy’s handwriting. Or maybe, just like her mother had said to her when she had exposed her crackpot theory on Andrias being her true father, the most likely answer was the one that required the least assumptions.

“I have to go. Tell the King I won’t be available tonight” She told the servant as she bolted out of the room, not bothering to wait for an answer from the gray newt.

Everything made sense now! She knew who the saboteur was, unlikely as that was. Her brain worked in reverse, reconstestualising all her interactions with the saboteur since she had commissioned the building of the bridge to Marcy. As it arrived to now, her mind even understood what had sounded wrong with Griso’s sentence, which meant she had to do one stop, before heading to where the saboteur was headed.

The building site.

The night was brightly illuminated by the red moon, shining so clearly that, hundreds of miles away from the capital, a girl and a frog scarcely needed the light of their candle to read.

In Newtopia, under this crimson light, a hooded figure sneaked through a building site, careful of their surroundings but seeming almost distracted. Nevertheless, they found their way through the equipment and half built structures and finally arrived at their destination: the squat building the bridge’s blueprints were kept in, the large pilon it was built at the base of slightly crooked and casting its long shadow over the intruder.

The hooded figure let out a long sigh. With all luck, this would be the last time, they thought, shoving down the remembrance of the fact the same thought had come to them every time now.

Silently, they slipped in the building, the windowless room completely dark. They reached for their light source, but before they were able to pull it out of their pocket, a sharp and rasp sound interrupted them, rapidly followed by the soft light of a candle.

“I was expecting you” Spoke Lady Olivia, sitting in a chair and facing the now frozen hooded figure, while she extinguished the match she had used to light up the candle “Master Marcy”

For a second the figure did not move, then she pulled down her hood. It was undeniably Newtopia’s resident human, even if she had seen better days. Her hair was unkempt and had undeniably been messed with, her cheeks were marked by dried up tears and her eyes bloodshot in a way that made Olivia’s heart ache.

“S-so you figured it out” Marcy said, her voice wavering slightly. “How?”

Lady Olivia pulled out a glove from her pocket “The ink. When I touched the blueprints, I got stained with ink. I didn’t pay attention to it when it happened, but that meant that it had just been written on. I thought the blueprints couldn’t have been tampered with because the only handwriting on them was yours, but there was one person who could have modified them and that was you.”

Marcy nodded and even smiled a little “I-I guess I should have let the ink dry up before running away. I suppose you know why?”

Olivia’s expression betrayed her concern. She nodded “I think I do, but I’d prefer to hear it from you”

“Don Rodrigo was wrong about you” Marcy whispered, her eyes beginning to get wet at the mention of the yellowish newt. Nevertheless, she powered through and went on, her voice low and only audible in the still and silent air of the night, yet full of emotion “You are one of the best, smartest and nicest people I ever met. You didn’t give me the job because you wanted to favor me or because you didn’t care, but because you genuinely thought I was capable of doing it. Because you are just that nice.”

“On the rest” Her smile got bittersweet and Marcy let out a pained laugh that made Olivia’s heart tighten “He was absolutely right. You entrusted me and I did what I do best: I messed things up. I made a mistake” She chuckled, but there was none of her childish joy in that sound, none of that genuine excitement that had never failed to make Olivia smile “A dumb mistake. A stupid, basic, foolish, idiotic mistake.”

Marcy breathed deeply “And I couldn’t just admit it. You trusted me, I couldn’t disappoint you! So I… waited. I lied to myself. I told myself it was fine, it was such a small mistake nothing would happen! Maybe for once, just for once , I’d be lucky, the world would throw me a bone and help me.” Her smile faded and she looked sadly at Lady Olivia “Of course, that didn’t happen. So, I thought I could fix it. Sneak in, correct the calculations. Nobody would even notice, everything would be fine! Then, the second accident happened”

Marcy’s hand went to her hair, twisting it, messing it up and even pulling it as the girl’s hand movements got more and more erratic “I-I didn’t know why! I checked my notes again and-and I found I had made another mistake!” Marcy laughed hysterically as her mouth twisted into a smile that did not reach her eyes “I screwed up again! I fixed my calculations again, I checked, I double checked and triple checked until I had memorized every number and tried to fix everything again.” Marcy’s eyes found Olivia’s and she saw them full of shame, of sadness, of terror, Olivia realized with dread. “Then, the third accident happened. I checked again and, sure enough, there was another mistake.”

Marcy laughed again, a deranged cackle “Don’t you get it, Lady Olivia? I am so worthless that I screwed up three times! I almost got people killed because I got careless!” The teenager fell to the ground and buried her head in her knees, doing her best to cover up the rest of it with her hands.

Olivia got up and rushed over to the teen. As she got closer, she was able to hear choked down sobs. She put her hand on Marcy’s shoulder, the girl’s form freezing for a second before leaning into the touch. 

“Marcy, why didn’t you just tell me?”

“Because you trusted me!” Marcy whimpered “You trusted me and I let you down because I couldn’t just check my damn work! A-and I know that you aren’t going to hate me just because I failed or think I’m a burden, but… I wanted to impress you. You are all so nice and good and I just want to pay you back for all you’ve done for me! And when I saw how much you were impressed by my bridge… I couldn’t. But I guess I just was too careless to be able to impress anyone…”

Olivia smiled sympathetically “I… think I can understand, Master Marcy. But you are not careless, far from it. If what your servant told me is true, you went out time and time again, to try and fix your mistake. That is not something a careless person would do, don’t you think so?”

Marcy looked up to Lady Olivia, her eyes still red “…I guess not.” Suddenly, though, Marcy’s brain, still brilliant as usual even if burdened by the emotional state of the teenager, picked up something bizarre “Wait, my servant? I don’t have a servant”

“What do you mean?” Olivia asked, confused “Yes you do? Gray newt, goes by Griso?”

“Oh, I’m afraid she’s quite right, Lady Olivia” Both the human and the newt turned their heads towards the now opened door, where a gray newt stood, a hood over his servant clothes and a loaded crossbow in his hands “I might have lied in my resume. Will I get fired for that?”

Olivia was about to get up and go towards him, when he pointed his crossbow at her “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He pointed the weapon at Marcy “Same goes for you creature. It was hard work getting you both here, but Don Rodrigo pays well enough.”

“Don Rodrigo?” Olivia asked “You work for him?”

“Isn’t that clear? Been doing that for quite a while. It ain’t honest work, but it’s much. Could probably afford a nice villa for myself when I retire. Put a couple of zeroes in rival companies' prices and, suddenly, Don Rodrigo’s outrageous prices become much, much more reasonable. Give it a couple of years and it’s a good ol’ monopoly, nobody else that could build more than a sandcastle ‘round. At least, until little stilt legs here got involved. It was a lot of work figuring how to make this whole operation fail, ya know? But I managed, with some help”

At that, a very familiar-looking cockroach crawled out of the hood and perched itself on Griso’s shoulder. “Wait,” Lady Olivia asked “Is that…”

“The roach that you saw back at the castle? The very same. I must say, ya got me a good scare when you found it. Been training roaches since I was a newtling. They are the best at discovering hidden places. Turns out, there’s a whole network of tunnels in the castle. In one of ‘em, I found this” From his pocket, the newt pulled out a small metal object, completely smooth if not for what looked like a small closed eye. “An amazing thingamajig. You just put it somewhere and you can hear everything happening ‘round. Discreet too. Could put it in, say, a lunch bag and no one would be wiser.”

“The lunch bag…” Olivia whispered.

“Exactly. I have to thank ya, Lady Olivia. Without your help, I never would have been able to discover that little miss genius had screwed up. And, as luck would have it, there’s a tunnel that goes straight into her room. From there, putting a mistake or two in her work was tadpole’s play.”

Marcy perked up at that “It was…”

“Yup.” The gray newt chuckled and petted the insect on his shoulder “All Roachie had to do was let me in from the inside. Bolted it down pretty tight before coming here, though, since, you know” Griso grabbed the roach and ate it in one bite “this is the end of our little game. Four accidents are more than enough. All Rodrigo needed was someone to, you know, kick the bucket. So, last time I put a mistake in your work, I had Attilio’s help. In approximately ten minutes that pilon is going to fall over this building, giving us a tragedy to redo the bridge from scratch and ridding Don Rodrigo of competition in one fell swoop. In origin only the creature was supposed to die, but, after yesterday” The crossbow returned on Lady Olivia “the boss insisted that I put you there as well. I tried to hint that by saying that she had gone out four times and even before the first crash, but you figured it out by yourself” He shrugged “Whatever, I get paid the same. With that, I must give my goodbyes. I have no intention of becoming a pancake, ya know?”

With that he whipped around, slamming the door shut. Olivia ran towards it, but before her shoulder slammed into it, the sound of something being placed against it could be heard and all Olivia achieved was an aching shoulder.

“Uhm, Lady Olivia” Marcy asked as the newt nursed her hurting shoulder “what did he mean by ‘after yesterday’? What happened?”

Lady Olivia turned towards Marcy, a light blush on her cheeks. “Well, Master Marcy, the last day, after you left…”

“Eh” Don Rodrigo let out a single chuckle, his crooked smirk oozing the superiority and complacency that could only be shown by a full grown newt that had made a child cry “Just like I thought. You need though skin to be in the game and she clearly didn-”

The newt’s sentence was cut short as Olivia delivered a brutal punch in his mouth, sending him crashing against the table.

The green newt got up with an outraged expression “How dare y-” He immediately stopped when Olivia shot him a death stare and got seated once more, suddenly incredibly interested in his plate.

“How dare you ?” Olivia spat at the now groaning yellowish newt “I won’t even consider what you said about me and my mother. But about what you said about Master Marcy? That girl has been nothing but kind to anyone she has ever met since she had arrived here. Everything she has done, she has done it to help others. And you dare say that filth to her? That girl is a better person than you are, ever have been or ever will be.”

The yellowish newt picked himself up, spitting out a bloodied tooth in his hand, looking at it in disbelief before snarling at Lady Olivia “YOU DARE TO HIT ME !?”

Olivia was not intimidated “I do. And I will again. Your words, your actions, particularly directed at someone such as Master Marcy are unforgivable. And you know what? She is such a nice person that she will probably forgive you. She will find a fault within herself and accept your lies, your slander as truth before realizing you are just a disgusting, evil, poor excuse for a person.”

“Now, wait a second” protested Don Rodrigo “I may be evil and disgusting, but I definitely ain’t po-”

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t manage to finish his sentence, as Lady Olivia hit a second time straight in the face, sending him crashing straight into the wall this time. Olivia continued speaking as before, disregarding Rodrigo’s comment “Unfortunately for you, I am far less forgiving.”

Once more, Don Rodrigo got up, gritting his teeth “A word of warning.” He hissed, looking at Olivia with death in his eyes. “I am a powerful newt. You wouldn’t want t-”

Once more, Don Rodrigo’s sentence got cut off as Olivia smashed a chair on his head, sending the newt sprawling on the floor. “Let me give you a word of warning myself. Stay the Frog away from my kid.”

“…so I guess that may have some kind of relation to why he could want me dead” Olivia concluded.

There was a moment of silence between the two, then Marcy spoke.

“Thanks.” She whispered, her voice so low that Olivia almost missed it.

“Do not worry, Mas- Marcy.” Olivia reassured the girl “I only said the truth”

“…even the part about me? Do you still think that is true? E-even after… all I did?”

Olivia smiled “Even after all you did. Marcy, did I ever tell you about the first time Newtopia nearly burnt down under my watch?”

The girl shook her head a couple of times.

“I thought so.” Olivia chuckled slightly “It is not a tale I tell often. Still, could you guess whose fault it was that the fire got started?”

“…Andrias?”

“Funnily enough, no. He did cause the second fire and the third and he gets partial credit for the fourth, but the first time, he wasn’t involved at all. He was out of the city, actually. He and my mother had taken a trip to an old forest to observe the wonders of nature. For the first time in my life it was me that held the reins to the whole city. It was also me who caused the fire.”

Marcy was visibly taken aback by this revelation “What?” She exclaimed in disbelief “You are joking, right?”

“I promise, Marcy, I am not. It was even a dumb mistake which I can’t even remember, something related to fireworks if my memory does not betray me. Ask Andrias later, he loves telling that story. Do you know what I remember, though?” She asked, chuckling “I was terrified . I was scared of my mother, quite possibly the nicest newt I have ever met in all my life. I feared that she would be disappointed in me, of course, but I forced myself to go and greet her”

“…what did she say?”

“Well, at first she was silent. I told her of my mistake and apologized again and again and again. After a while, she simply put a hand on my shoulder and asked me one simple question: what did you do?” Olivia laughed in her hand “At first I didn’t understand. I had just told her about my mistake, quite at length. She asked again, adding a word at the end this time: what did you do, afterwards ? After I had panicked, I told her, I had organized the Night Guard to fight the fire and rescue any and all newts trapped in the burning buildings. I had organized tents for those who had lost their houses and brought in drinkable water and food for all of them”

Olivia smiled fondly and breathed deeply “She just nodded and smiled proudly. Then, she told me something: everyone can make mistakes. You don’t have to be stupid or smart, strong or weak, good or evil to make a mistake. Your mistakes are not a judge of your character, what you do to fix them is.” Olivia got close to Marcy and pulled out a handkerchief, which she used to clean Marcy’s cheeks “Marcy, you’ve made a mistake, that is correct. What did you do afterwards? You did all you could to fix it” With one of her hands, Olivia cupped Marcy’s cheek and smiled widely and happily “And what did you do when that did not work out? Did you despair? No, you put in twice as much work to fix it.”

“But I lied to you! If I had just told you or Andrias or anyone else!” 

“And why did you do that?” Olivia asked “Because you didn’t want to be blamed? No, you did it because you didn’t want to disappoint me, because you didn’t want to break someone else’s trust.” Marcy looked like she was about to try and object, but Olivia stopped her “But yes. Not telling me was a mistake. Master Marcy, I would not be disappointed in you, not for something like that, not for anything. Tell me, though, Marcy. What are you going to do afterwards?”

A ghost of a smile formed on Marcy’s lips “I’m… going to do my hardest to fix my mistake”

Olivia draped her arms around the girl, who did the same in return. For a moment they just stood there.

“And the first thing I’m going to do to fix it” Marcy finally whispered, as she got up and stood upright, pointing her index finger in the air “is breaking us out of here!”

Olivia couldn't see her own expression, but she imagined it wasn’t too much different from the one her mother had worn all those years ago. “And I’ll help you” She proclaimed as she stood up as well and went to the table to see if there was anything useful. “Let’s see… we have… woodworking supplies and…” she sorted through the various bottles of wood polish and picked up the bottle of pills she had seen the day before to read the label “…constipation pills. Yikes” she put the pills down instantly “There doesn’t look to be anything us-” She was interrupted as Marcy zoomed to the table rifling through the various items, picking out a small bottle full of a yellow liquid and the pills, mumbling to herself as she did so.

“Nitric acid… glycerin… I could… but maybe… no, it’s too…” Marcy mumbled, only stopped by Olivia grabbing on her arm

“You can do this, Master Marcy. I believe in you”

The girl was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and got to work, crushing the pills before pouring the dust in the small bottle.

“Okay, this should work. Or kill us both. Fifty fifty, I’d say. Duck”

“Wha-”

“DUCK!” 

Olivia barely had time to throw herself on the ground before Marcy tossed the bottle on the door, causing a deafening explosion and a fireball that utterly erased the door and whatever had been blocking it.

“That” Marcy announced “was a little bit of human magic!”

“Can… can you do that in the castle?”

“Well, with the right material-”

“Please, please never do that in the castle”

Marcy shot finger guns at the blue newt “Can do! Now, let’s get out of here! Maybe we can even get that Griso guy”

Olivia smirked “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about him. Let us say I had a… surprise waiting for him”

As the two got out of the building, they were greeted by the sight of General Yunan, the pink newt sitting on a bound gray one, the very same that had trapped them inside.

“Was that explosion you kiddo?” Yunan asked.

“Yup!” Marcy confirmed, much to Yunan’s delight.

“Frog, that’s why you’re so cool! You gotta show me how you did that!”

Marcy was about to speak, but she was silenced by a glare from Lady Olivia “Uhm… unfortunately it was… a one time use thing. Yeah, definitely can’t do that again, yup”

“Oh, snap. Well, it was worth a shot.”

Griso stirred in his restraints “How the Frog were you here? You’re supposed to be back at the castle!”

“She was” Olivia answered “but I made a small stop on the way here and got Yunan to come as well, to catch you”

“BUT WHY?” Asked the gray newt “You couldn’t suspect me, I had covered all my tracks!”

“You had” Olivia conceded “But you betrayed yourself. You said you didn’t have to make Marcy’s bed since she didn’t sleep, but Master Marcy always insists on making her own bed.”

“Yeah” Marcy confirmed “overbearing Asian parents!”

“I have no idea what those are, but there was no way you were Marcy’s servant and did not know that. So, just to be safe, I had Yunan follow me in the shadows”

“I am extremely sneaky!”

“You sure are Yun.”

“Oh, uhm, thank you Liv”

Griso rolled his eyes “Oh, just get a room you two”

Both Yunan and Olivia blushed at that “W-What!” Squealed out Yunan.

“It’s not like that!” Olivia swore.

“Yeah, not like that.” Yunan agreed.

“We’re… friends.”

“Just friends.”

“Close friends.”

“Very close friends.”

“Definitely.”

“Just friends.”

“Nothing against that, of course, but we’re just friends.”

“What she said.”

“Lady Olivia, you knew that he would do this? Why didn’t you do anything?” Marcy asked, too baffled to appreciate the idiots-in-love trope unfolding before her eyes.

Olivia sighed “I… knew you had to believe in yourself. So I figured out that putting you to the test like this was our best option”

“Yeah,” Yunan agreed “besides, I was here all along! You were never in any danger, kid”

Just as she said that, the pilon fell on top of the building, crushing it.

“…okay, yeah, I forgot about that. Still, I could’ve probably stopped that. I didn’t because I didn’t want to.”

Marcy hugged both Olivia and Yunan “Thank you. Thank you both so much, for everything”

“Don’t worry, Master Marcy. We’ll always be there for you”

“Yeah, you can count on us. Now, though” Yunan freed herself from the hug and picked up Griso to have him at eye level “I heard your boss had some choice words for my favorite kid. Now, I’d answer in kind, but I’m more a newt of…” she grinned wide, exposing her pointy teeth and cocked her head to one side and then the other, her neck making a loud pop each time “action.”

The gray newt swallowed. For once, he definitely did not want to be in his employers’ shoes.

A couple of weeks passed. The construction of the bridge lagged a bit for the damage and the need to make some new blueprints and adjust to those, but the newts arrested for their role in the whole affair and put to work there helped speed the process enough to finish it in a reasonable time. Finally, the day of the inauguration came and Marcy, alongside Andrias, Yunan and Olivia went to the ceremony. For once, the King did not doze off and managed to make his part, though Yunan did grab a bottle of champagne and smashed it on the head of the newt.

“What?” She justified herself “It’s a new fad! I’m not exactly sure where it came from, but it’s cool!”

Marcy, though, had noticed a large something covered by an equally large drape on the bridge, but she did not think much of it. Andrias had asked her to account for something really heavy there, so she assumed it was going to be one of those statues of him that were relatively common in the city.

“Master Marcy, would you do the honors of unveiling the surprise?” Andrias asked her, handing the human one end of a rope. 

Marcy shrugged “Sure, why not?”

She pulled it, activating a complex system of ropes and pulleys that dragged the drape off, revealing a giant golden statue of none other than Marcy Wu.

“Wha…” she pronounced, so utterly gobsmacked that she could not finish the question, her eyes wandering to Andrias for answers.

“That Rodrigo guy had a lot of money” Andrias explained “More than enough to build the bridge. He also had a lot of gold, so we thought about using it for something less ugly than he was using it for”

“We?” Marcy asked

“Okay, I’ll admit it, it was mostly Olivia’s idea”

The teen turned to look at the small newt, who looked back at her with a proud smile “None deserved it more than you, Master Marcy”

The girl’s eyes turned slightly wet “Frog, I do nothing but thank you…Thank you so much, Lady Liv!”

Olivia let out a single fond chuckle “Lady Liv? I am not too fond of nicknames but… I guess it will do”

Chapter Text

Andrias hummed to himself as he put down the small scalpel and reached for the sandpaper. He had picked up woodworking about a hundred years after his rise to the throne. In those days, he was far more involved in the day-to-day governing than he was today, the weight of having almost doomed his civilization heavy on his mind. It had gotten to the point where the Core had warned him that the wear on his cybernetic parts was excessive and that, even if he could do without for long amounts of time, sleep was still necessary. 

It had been his advisor that had suggested to him the idea of picking up a hobby. He still remembered the newt fondly. She had been born after his civilisation had gone into hiding, so he didn’t feel the same look of disappointment that some of his father’s advisors had given him boring on his skull when he turned his back to her. It was perhaps because of this that he eagerly accepted the suggestion. 

At first he had considered gardening, tending to Leif’s life’s work, but each time he saw one of the Mossmen or each time a memory of her and Barrel came to his mind, red hot rage followed. After he had nearly killed the greatest tree of the hidden garden in a bout of anger, he decided to give up the idea.

Flipwart had followed. He was a good player, after all, but perhaps too good. None of his advisors proved to be much of a challenge and he eventually gave up on the idea.

He didn’t even remember why exactly he had chosen woodworking in particular, but it had proven to be a good decision. It summoned no bad memories and allowed him to relax. 

Though he no longer strictly needed that time to unwind, he continued his peculiar hobby. As of today a great deal of the castle furniture had been made by him and about a hundred sets of Flipwart pieces were scattered throughout the castle. 

It would be sad when he’d have to go back to full-time King after the Music Box was retrieved and he presumably would have little time for his hobby. Perhaps he could teach Marcy, though, he mused. They could spend time together woodworking and he could justify it to the Core as time forming a valuable asset.

As soon as he thought that, his heightened senses picked up a familiar pit-pat of steps, immediately recognised. He put down the small figurine and turned towards the door with a genuine jolly smile.

Sure enough, the door opened slightly and Marcy's head popped in. “Uhm, Andrias?”

“Ah, Master Marcy!” Andrias loudly greeted the girl “Come in, come in! What brings you here?”

“Nothing much” the girl admitted as she entered, shrugging “I was a bit bored and decided to see what you were doing. What are you doing, by the way?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just a bit of woodworking, the usual” q 

“Woodworking?” Marcy asked gasping “Man, that’s so cool! Can I see what you’re making?”

“Sure, Master Marcy” Andrias picked the girl up by her cape, lifting her in the air and putting her on the him-sized work table, right next to the smaller table that held the small miniature he had been working on. It was a hooded figure, its face obscured but for the small face bump Marcy had informed him humans called ‘nose’.

“Wow!” Marcy exclaimed “This is neat! What’s it, exactly?”

“It’s, uhm, supposed to be you. I like making Flipwart pieces of people. I have one of Lady Olivia and Yunan, as well. I suppose I could make it more resembling you, though.”

“Ooh, very ominous and villainous! I love it! I suppose Flipwart is your version of chess?”

Andrias raised a eyebrow “You… haven’t heard of Flipwart?”

“…should I have?”

Andrias shook his head. No wonder his father had identified Earth as a primitive planet. They didn’t even have Flipwart! “Master Marcy, Flipwart is the greatest of games! The battleground for great minds!”

“Okay, now you’ve got me curious.”

“Don’t know Flipwart” Andrias mumbled in disbelief “Master Marcy, I must right this wrong immediately! Remain here, I’ll be right back!”

He immediately went to one of the giant boxes he used to store in a corner and opened it. Inside was a literal sea of boxes, ranging from him-sized to Marcy-sized, each containing a full set of Flipwart pieces. He picked out one of the latter and got back to the giant table, dusting off his work table and putting down the board and the small pile of pieces.

“Alright, let’s get to explaining the pieces” Andrias said “This” he said as he set down on his side a black bulky crowned toad “is the Wart. As the name of the game implies, the goal is to flip it. It is not very mobile, so you’ll need to protect it with the other pieces”

Marcy quickly mirrored Andrias’ movements and put down her white Wart. “It’s similar to the King in chess, then. Just a warning, I’m kinda good at chess”

The great newt chuckled lowly “Oh, Master Marcy. This is not ‘chess’. This is Flipwart, much superior to other games! When you’ve tried it, ‘chess’ will seem to you like Bogjump!”

“…I have no idea what that is either”

“Inconsequential.” Andrias put down a new piece, right next to the Wart “This is the Powerhouse, the most powerful piece in the game.”

“Is that…”

“Yes, it is where the name came from” Andrias dismissed Marcy’s question before she could ask it “Flipwart is not exactly known for its original names. But let me explain it, for it is one of the most interesting pieces!”

“Then explain away, Grandmaster!”

Andrias laughed as he caressed his beard “That, I shall. The Powerhouse is able to move as much as you want, both in straight lines and diagonal ones.” Marcy looked like she wanted to object, but Andrias put that to rest “That, though, is only half of the Powerhouse’s abilities.” Andrias raised his fist and closed it as he smiled wickedly “For, you see, the Powerhouse is also INVINCIBLE!”

Marcy’s eyes widened “What?”

“Yes, there are only two pieces that can flip the Powerhouse, that being the other’s Powerhouse and the Wart. This makes most games an elegant dance led by the two Powerhouses, who try to maneuver each other in a position where the other can be struck down, all the other pieces moved around them to try and get the opponent to expose their Wart”

“That. Sounds. AWESOME !” Marcy exclaimed, prompting a giggle from Andrias.

“I know, right?” He chuckled “But wait. There is one more thing. When the Powerhouse flips another Powerhouse, it shuts for one turn. That means that you cannot flip pieces with it for your next turn, though you can still move it, but also that your opponent cannot flip it with any of his pieces. On the turn after that, though, the Powerhouse becomes Awakened ”

Marcy’s jaw went slack “What kind of nerds created this game…” she whispered in disbelief.

“The coolest of nerds!” 

“I. Absolutely. Agree! What does ‘awakened’ mean?”

Andrias wagged his finger “Nuh uh. Not ‘awakened’. Awakened .”

“…that’s what I said”

“Master Marcy, I love you, but you said ‘awakened’. Like it just woke up. You gotta say like this” Andrias cleared his voice “ Awakened . It’s in the rules.”

“There is no way that is in the rules”

Without missing a beat, Andrias pulled out a massive rulebook and slammed it on the table, missing Marcy by an inch. He opened it at a specific page and pointed at one of the rules.

‘Rule 69.n Thou shall pronounce it “ Awakened” and “ Awakened” only. Thou shalt not pronounce it “Awakened”, nor shall thee pronounce it “ awakened” . “awakened” is straight out.’

“…these are the most dorky rules I have ever read” Marcy commented in deadpan.

Andrias chuckled “Funny enough, Lady Olivia said the same thing when I introduced her to the rules, a good fifteen years ago. As I said to her that day, though, refer to rule 23.d.e comma 5”

He flipped open the exact rule, again, showing that he had likely practiced it (he had, in fact, practiced it).

‘Rule 23.d.e comma 5: Flipwart is not dorky. Frog you if you say it is dorky. It is a serious game. Really. For serious people.”

“…still extremely dorky”

Andrias paused for a second, then nodded “Oh, yeah, it is. The dorkiest.”

“AND I’M ~ LOVING IT!~ ” Marcy exclaimed in a singsong voice, prompting a big smile from Andrias.

“Ah, I knew you would, Master Marcy!”

“Yeah, it’s nice to share nerdy hobbies with someone!” She giggled before scoffing “My dad never had time for doing anything like this, he’s always working and Anne and Sa-” Marcy froze as she realized what she had said. “Oh I’m- I didn’t mean to- it’s just I called him that my entire life- I don’t want you to feel l-”

Andrias interrupted her by raising a hand, a placid and understanding expression on his face. ‘Don’t worry, Master Marcy” He reassured her “I totally get it. Like I told you before, take your time! It’s not like I want to replace your parents or something! Now, do you want to get back to this ‘nerd hobby’?”

Marcy smiled back and nodded “Yeah. Yeah! C’mon, what does” Marcy pauses, coughed in her hand to clear her voice and then spoke “ Awakened mean?”

“Now you get it!” Andrias cheered “When a piece is Awakened , it means that it cannot be eaten, period. It acquires the same moving ability as the Powerhouse and it can move to any free space on the board! Even, say, behind the enemy’s Wart!”

Marcy’s eyes were wide with amazement “Woah. That’s like in an anime!”

Andrias nodded. “It is very anime indeed”

The human did a double take “Wait, you guys have anime?”

“Of course we have it” Andrias said “Everyone in Amphibia knows what an anime is and so every reference to it by any person from Amphibia would not be out of place and only made for comedic effect”

“…why did you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

Marcy sighed “Nevermind. Now I definitely have to watch Amphibia anime. Well, later, cause now it’s time for the other pieces! C’mon Andrias, I want to trash noobs all day!”

“Well, there is a rule relative to the Powerhouse and the Wart…” Andrias mused before shrugging “but it hardly ever comes up! Let's get to other pieces, alright! There is the Heron Rider” He placed down the frog riding the heron “It is a fast piece that can move long distances and go over other pieces, but only flip pieces in a radius of two squares. Like a true heron, however, it is also wild though, as you can remember by your encounter with one”

“Oh, yeah, I remember it! I almost died!”

“Since it is so wild” Andrias went on “If it can eat any piece, it needs to do so. This makes it very easy to make the opponent’s Heron Rider fall in a trap, even if, to make things more even, the Heron Rider cannot be flipped by Pawns.”

“Wow Andrias, you weren’t kidding when you said this game is better than anything else! It’s like chess 2.0, but even nerdier!”

“Yeah, it must have been a real hassle to come up with all the rules. The greatest thing we can do is pay respect to whoever invented it. Anyway, that covers the most complicated pieces. There is also the Bishop, who cannot flip other pieces, moves in diagonal and gives out immunity to being flipped by anything but the Powerhouse to all pieces near it. Then, of course, the Toads. They have a powerful jump that can go over other pieces like the Heron Rider and flips pieces it lands on or near it and the Archers who move in straight or diagonal lines and can flip pieces from the distance after moving. Finally, there’s the pawns, the weakest pieces in the game, but the most plentiful. They can move one tile forward, but not back and eat other pieces in diagonal.”

By now, Andrias’ side of the board was full and so was Marcy’s, who had copied his movements and prepared her pieces.

“And that should be all!” Andrias announced with a pleased voice “Congratulations on having reached the end of ‘Fundamentals of Flipwart’! That’ll be a thousand coppers. Healthcare may be free, but education sure isn’t!” He jokingly said, before winking at Marcy “I do accept payments in hugs, though”

Marcy chuckled and gave a playful punch to the big newt’s arm “Come on, ya big goof! You know if you want a hug you just have to ask!” She wrapped her arms around Andrias’ hand, squeezing it against her cheek before pulling away and rubbing her hands together, a grin on her face and a very familiar spark of excitement gleaming in her eyes “Now, what about a game? I bet I can crush ya!”

Andrias chuckled “Oh, no, no, no. Better you get some experience first” He smirked before pointing at himself with a thumb “Don’t wanna brag, but I’m a bit of a pro player”

“That was bragging” Marcy pointed out.

Andrias shrugged “Eh, when you have my skill, you can afford yourself some bragging”

“Aw, now you gotta play against me!” Marcy whined.

Andrias didn’t budge “Wouldn’t want your first game to be a curbstomp, Master Marcy. You gotta leave the Javelin Jacinths time to grow before fighting them, something… an old friend taught me” His tone grew more hesitant as he spoke of Leif, blindsided by his own mind summoning old memories of the frog, even if only for a moment. “Why don’t you try Lady Olivia? She has grown tired of being soundly defeated by me, she must be eager to finally get a victory” He suggested with a chuckle. The sight of the normally composed newt being frustrated over her inability to defeat him was always something he found amusing.

Marcy considered the proposition, then nodded “Yeah, I gotta grind before I fight the boss, after all! Thanks King Andrias and be on your guard, because I’m coming for you!” With that, she jumped off the table and got out of the door.

“Uh, impressive, she didn’-”

A muffled thump came from the other side of the room, followed by a quick “I’m fine!”

“Nevermind”

Andrias returned to his work. Seeing Marcy’s enthusiasm for Flipwart, perhaps he could make a set for her as a gift? Marcy could be the Wart, while he, obviously, would be the Powerhouse. Olivia would make for a fine Bishop and Yunan was a Heron Rider through and through, even if he could always use her friends. He would have to ask her to describe them. It was odd, for how highly she spoke of them, she hardly ever talked in detail about them. 

He didn’t think too much about that, perhaps it was because she missed them very much and didn’t want to remember that she had no idea where they were or if they were even alive. 

The fact she was interested in Flipwart also meant that perhaps he would be faced with a challenge at last. She was the gem of Wit, after all. He wondered if she would be any good at the game.

Some hours passed. King Andrias had made some progress with the set, making a beautiful board with the white tiles marked with the symbol of Newtopia and the black ones with the insignia on Marcy’s sweatshirt. He had originally thought it was Earth’s flag, back when the girl had first arrived, before Marcy explained to him that, unlike Amphibia, Earth did not exactly have a single government. 

Anyways, after a long afternoon of work and quite a quantity of sawdust getting in his throat, Andrias was feeling a bit parched. He went down in the kitchen and was drinking a generous him-sized glass of juice (apple juice, to not be confused with Olivia’s ‘juice’), when his cybernetic implants picked up a very familiar sound: Olivia’s groan of annoyance.

Immediately, he downed his beverage in one go and smashed the glass on the ground, before sprinting towards the origin of the sound, finding Olivia in one of the many rooms of the castle, standing before a Flipwart board that, to Andrias’ trained eye, looked like it was the aftermath of an absolute massacre.

To the either side of the board stood the likely massacrer, her arms crossed and her face smirking proudly in victory, none other than the castle’s resident human, Marcy Wu.

“I heard Olivia being frustrated by something.” He said while entering, gaining both Olivia’s and Marcy’s attention “And for once I am not the cause. That is unacceptable. I demand to know the reason of her annoyance and to be made part of it.”

“Hello to you as well, Sire” Olivia sighed “What happened is that-”

“The kid totally SMASHED Olivia!” Exclaimed Yunan, who Andrias had not noticed while coming in, perched on a bookshelf. “I mean, sorry Liv, but it was so onesided it was almost not funny!”

“Thanks Yunan” Olivia said while she rubbed her temples “Could you please not make fun of me?”

“I said it was almost not funny!”

Andrias chuckled at the banter between the other two newts and stepped towards Marcy, ruffling her hair with a finger “Good job kiddo. I see you’re following in my footsteps!”

Marcy chuckled back ‘Yup! I checked up a couple of books about strategy in the library and defeated Olivia like, fifteen times!”

“Seventeen out of seventeen!” Yunan pointed out.

“Since when are you good with numbers?” Protested Olivia, before turning towards Marcy and Andrias “However, it is true. Master Marcy is… surprisingly good.”

“Aw, come on, Lady Olivia!” Andrias laughed “Do we know the same Master Marcy? I just knew this little genius over here was going to be a prodigy!”

“I do know, Sire. I am well aware of the talent young Master Marcy possessess. However, she still managed to outdo herself” Olivia smirked provocatorially “Why, she could probably take you on, Sire”

A heartbeat of silence passed, finally broken by Yunan “OOOOOH SNAP! Olivia’s dropping the challenge!” She yelled, pumping her fists in the air “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Andrias chuckled darkly, his face obscured and menacing “So you say, Lady Olivia.”

The light blue newt was slightly taken aback, but nodded with conviction, prompting a further chuckle from the titanic newt.

The King turned towards the human, who had yet to speak “What about you, Marcy? Do you think you can take me on?”

A bead of sweat rolled down on Marcy’s forehead. Challenging Andrias was one thing, answering positively on whether she could defeat him at a game she had just learnt was another.

The grandfather clock in the corner ticked, the massive piece of furniture’s sound ominous in the silence of the room.

Finally, Marcy regained a bit of confidence, an orange glint that perhaps was just a trick of the light crossing her eyes for but a second. She nodded energetically.

Andrias laughed slowly, then launched himself in the air with his tail and spread his arms, causing everything in the room to tremble when he came down. “Delightful!” He exclaimed “Master Marcy, I have not had a proper opponent in centuries!”

“Sire, we must have played a hundred times the last year alone.” Olivia pointed out.

“I stand by my previous statement” Andrias deadpanned, before turning his attention towards Marcy once more “Let us see if you can truly say to be a Flipwart Master!”

Quickly, the pieces were put back on their places on the board and the game could begin. Andrias took Olivia’s place as the white, sitting crosslegged on the floor and handling the pieces with surprising care as he took the initiative.

Andrias soon was able to tell just why Marcy had been able to consistently defeat Olivia. The girl was cunning, using her Powerhouse to force his own Powerhouse to stay clear of her Wart, but also brutal, her other pieces moving around to harass his.

He managed to take one of her Archers, only for her Heron Rider to immediately take the Toad he had used.

His Powerhouse managed to corner her Wart, but a sudden strike of her Powerhouse forced him to retreat it.

It went back and forth like that for a while, his every move countered by Marcy. Olivia was watching intently, silently observing the duel of minds. Yunan had pulled out from Frog-knows-where a bucket of fried crickets and was munching on them, barely understanding what she was seeing but impressed nonetheless.

It was probably the hardest match he had had in a hundred years, Andrias reasoned as he wiped away a bead of sweat from his forehead, his Bishop in his hand as he moved it to defend his left flank from the onslaught of one of Marcy’s Toads and her remaining Archer. With enough experience, Marcy could perhaps hope to one day beat him. But, he couldn’t help but think as he smiled internally, that day was not today.

She might have mastered the tactics of Flipwart, but he was a master of strategy. Slowly, over all the match, he maneuvered his and her pieces, overly and subtly, using misdirection and brute force to open her center, until, finally, he managed to  threaten Marcy’s Wart directly with his Archer, leaving her with no choice but to move it behind her own Powerhouse for protection.

As she set down her Wart, Andrias allowed his poker face to break, showing a triumphant grin and causing Olivia to quietly swear under her breath.

“I’m sorry to rain on your parade, Lady Olivia” He gloated “but this is not the day I get defeated!” He picked up his Powerhouse and used it to flip Marcy’s Powerhouse.

“You surely were a worthy opponent, Marcy” He conceded before chuckling “But you still have a long way to go. Consider my Powerhouse Awakened !”

The girl remained silent, her hand joined together in front of her mouth, her expression unreadable as her eyes ran over the board, presumably trying to keep her cool while she tried to find a way out.

Finally, she spoke “I read a lot of books about Flipwart, King Andrias. I checked the fundamentals and even the rule you didn’t tell me about” She sighed “You were right, it is something that does not come up often. I read about openings and tactics and used every last one of them against you. You were right, though, you are good! You were always ahead!”

Andrias continued grinning. Well, it seemed Marcy didn’t hold grudges for being defeated. It was logical after all. He was a master, the only one that had ever defeated him was-

“Ever heard of the Aldrich Gambit?”

The smile on the old newt’s face fell. “What did you say?”

“It was a strategy I read about.” Marcy explained “One of your ancestors wrote a book about Flipwart and catalogued a whole lot of different long term strategic moves, one of which he created. It consists of three parts. First, let your opponent flip your Powerhouse in front of your Wart with their Powerhouse”

She picked up one of her Toads, placing it right in front of Andrias’ Wart, threatening it. “Then, threaten their Wart, forcing them to waste their turn. Your move, Andrias.”

Andrias was too dumbfounded to answer, his body acting on instinct like it had done countless times before in his matches against his Father.

“Finally, now that the Powerhouse has Awakened, exploit one of the lesser known rules of Flipwart.” Marcy grinned widely as she picked up her Wart and flipped Andrias’ Powerhouse “If a Wart flips the opponents Awakened Powerhouse, it too becomes Awakened. Instantly. Your move”

Andrias’ hand went for his Wart, his mind running wildly thinking of just how he could try to flip Marcy’s Awakened Wart, warnings from his cybernetic implants at the edge of his vision informing him that he had not breathed in a full minute. It was then that he noticed with horror that his own Wart was trapped between Marcy’s Toad and her surviving Archer, unable to move.

He looked up at Marcy’s only to find her smiling the same pleased and malicious grin his Father used to have when he defeated him, a glint of green in her eyes “Noticed something, Andrias?” 

Her mouth hanging open he moved another one of his pieces, too shocked to even take notice of what it was or what he did with it.

Marcy chuckled and picked up her Awakened Wart, setting it down behind Andrias’ Wart, just out of its range.

“Checkmate” She proudly declared.

Andrias could only stare in complete astonishment at the girl for a moment, then everything went dark.

“Very impressive” His Father’s voice came from his side. Andrias looked at the origin of the sound and found Aldrich sitting in a chair. “She has masterfully implemented the gambit of my creation.” The dead newt chuckled “You never did manage to defeat it, did you?”

“Father?” Andrias asked “Did you assist her?”

“You think too low of me, son. We did guide her towards the book, but the victory was all hers. Impressive, even more so for someone who has just picked up the game.” He looked at Andrias with a smirk that made Andrias shiver “Such an astounding mind… she’d make for a perfect host.”

“A perfect- no, you can’t do it!” Andrias protested “Leave Marcy out of whatever you’re planning! Our deal-”

“Our deal still stands.” Aldrich interrupted Andrias. “We have no intention of using Marcy as our host” He reassured Andrias “It was simply a consideration. We would never rob you of your precious daughter. Now go, we think your little human is beginning to grow concerned”

With that, the darkness dropped and his Father disappeared, replaced by a very concerned Marcy Wu.

“-drias? King Andrias? A-are you mad?” Marcy asked, her voice wavering slightly.

Andrias shook his head to clear his mind. His Father had only meant to compliment Marcy. He was just a bit tactless, he definitely didn’t mean no threat with his words. Not out of any kindness, mind you, he knew full well Aldrich Leviathan was the perfect King, pragmatic to the bone and willing to do anything, but because his Father was also a newt of his word, first and foremost. At least, he hadn’t tricked him yet.

“Mad? Me? At you?” Andrias asked, his tone jolly enough to reassure the girl “Marcy, I thought you knew me! I’d never be mad at you!”

Marcy sighed in relief and her mouth curved upwards in a small smile that Andrias couldn’t help but find extremely cute “I thought you were mad I beat you. Not everyone likes to be beat by a thirteen year old girl I’ve found out, aha.”

“Nonsense!” Andrias scoffed “I was merely surprised! Master Marcy, the last person that ever beat me was my Father, a thousand of years ago! Since he… passed away, no one has ever done something like this! I would say I was impressed, but I was already impressed before just by how well you were able to hold your own. After” He used one of his gigantic hands to point to the Flipwart board before laughing heartily “this? I’m nothing short of blown away! Your age only plays in your favor, I must say! Anyone who got mad at you would be nothing but-”

“Ehm ehm” Andrias was interrupted by Olivia coughing in her hand. “Sire, if I may interrupt”

The King raised an eyebrow “For sure, Lady Olivia. I was about to use words that I would rather not use in front of Marcy anyways”

“Aww, I wanted to learn new fantasy swears!”

“Ask General Yunan, she will happily tell you some”

Yunan looked at Andrias with a surprised face “Really? I can swear around the kid now?” She turned towards Lady Olivia in search of validation “Liv, you’re the responsible one”

Olivia exhaled in frustration before relenting “I will make a list of child-appropriate swears for you to use.”

“Frick yeah!”

“Returning on topic.” Olivia said “King Andrias, I ask for permission for confidentiality and abandoning protocol temporarily”

“Olivia, you’ve worked for me long enough to know that it is not necessary”

“Still, it feels better with autorisation. May I?”

The giant newt shrugged “Sure, whatever, go on”

She nodded and took a deep breath. Then Olivia instantly abandoned all composure and started smiling wildly while pointing to Andrias “IN YOUR FACE!” She yelled out before releasing a bout of liberating laughter “Do you know how long I’ve waited for someone to finally defeat you? Not so unbeatable now, are you?”

Andrias, once more was taken aback, though without the Core pulling him away for a quick chat he recovered far quicker “…you’re really enjoying rubbing it in, are you?”

“You can bet your crown I am!” Olivia shook her fist in the air “VINDICATION!” She yelled out. Then, she composed herself and turned towards Marcy “Master Marcy, you can have whatever you wish for. I know I’m going to regret it, but I do not care.”

“Really?” Master Marcy asked, wide eyed “Uh, magic books! No, a magic teacher! A ballista! A set of power armour, magic power armour! Another ballista!”

Andrias chuckled as Lady Olivia was overwhelmed by Marcy enthusiastically listing what Andrias was pretty sure was her letter to Sandy Claws from when she was five (Marcy had explained to him the human celebration of ‘Christmas’ and he had found it very much endearing, though he was confused as to why humans allowed a magic lobster to break into their houses). Finally, he took pity on the small newt which, to her credit, was still taking notes and, Andrias just knew it, would certainly do her best to give Marcy what she had promised her. 

“Now, Master Marcy, judging from what you’ve told me, you have partaken in ‘chess’ tournaments, right?”

Marcy ceased her barrage and turned towards Andrias, much to Olivia evident relief “Yes?” She asked, slightly confused “I thought you weren’t interested in playing chess, bu-” her brain caught up with what Andrias was about to ask. “Wait, you aren’t saying that-”

“Indeed I am, Master Marcy. You are very perceptive aren’t you?” Andrias complimented the human, who blushed slightly.

“I am not ‘perceptive’, whatever that means, what was he saying?” Yunan asked.

“Tomorrow the annual Newtopian Great Flipwart Tournament begins” Olivia explained “Amphibians from all over Amphibia will come to compete in it, the chance for the world’s greatset minds to duel eachother on the most prestigious battlefield in existance” She gestured towards Andrias while keeping a deadpan expression “Or, in His Majesty’s words ‘a bunch of talentless hacks and blowhards that wouldn’t know Flipwart if it hit them in the face with a warhammer’.”

Andrias rolled his eyes with a smile on his face “Oh, c’mon, Lady Olivia, is it really an insult if it’s true?”

“Sire, you set off fireworks to celebrate when you defeat me. Each time.” The light blue newt took a deep breath in “And the less we talk about your ‘Celebration Dance’, the better”

Andrias snapped his fingers “Oh yeah, the dance! Shame I couldn’t show it to you, Master Marcy. Knowing how to gloat and rub victory in your opponent’s face is almost as important as actually knowing how to win!”

“Sire, if you make Master Marcy as annoying as you I will throw myself out of a window”

“Point taken. Returning to the topic, anyhow, there’s a difference between me and those ego-stroking fools” Andrias smirked proudly “I actually have the skill to back it up. And, judging by how Master Marcy soundly defeated me, she does as well! Crushing any and all opposition would be a swell chance for her to show her mettle.” The King chuckled “It would also be funny to see all those ‘Flipwart Masters’ crushed by a child”

Marcy hummed in consideration, her hand over her mouth and squinting “You know, it could work! Yeah, it will be fun! May I go, Lady Olivia?”

“Well, as Andrias said you do have the skills to hold your own, possibly even win. Plus, friends and family of the participants get free tickets for all of the games. Those things are unfindable, honestly.”

“You guys would actually come to see me?” Marcy asked, smiling.

“OF COURSE!” Yunan yelled out.

Olivia glared at her “Yun, inside voice, please.”

“Oops, sorry Liv” The general apologized, lightly blushing “As I was saying, kiddo, of course we’ll come! I’m the best cheerleader! The secret is hitting the rival cheerleaders in the knees!”

“We will not hit anyone’s knees” Olivia clarified, to Yunan evident disappointment “but I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that we will definitely come to cheer you on.”

Marcy looked up at Andrias, questioning the big newt with her eyes. The King chuckled and shrugged “I guess I can come, for once. Wouldn’t want to miss my pupil trashing the competition, after all!”

The girl rushed Andrias and hugged his leg.

Both Olivia and Yunan smiled at that.

“Now” Olivia said, gaining the attention of the giant newt and human “I am remiss to interrupt this moment, but I believe that, since the tournament is tomorrow, we should make haste if Master Marcy is to sign up.”

“No need, Lady Oliva!” Andrias announced, producing a piece of parchment “As usual, they have sent me an invite to attend. As the highest authority of the land, I believe I have the authority to make this in Master Marcy’s name”

“Of course, Sire.” Olivia agreed, smiling slightly. Since Marcy was a minor, she’d have to have the agreement of a parent or a tutor. She didn’t mention it though, confident that Andrias already knew that. She was also confident about just who would appear in the documents as the girl’s legal guardian.

True enough to Andrias’ prediction, Marcy absolutely slew the competition. The tournament had begun in the great plaza of Newtopia, where Marcy, to speed up the whole affair, decided to face her first three opponents at the same time.

The fact that all three of them were accomplished champions did not seem to bother her much and, in the end, did not make much difference either, as she defeated them without breaking a sweat.

If, at the beginning, people had been watching the girl play mainly because of curiosity for the weird creature that was being cheered on by an excessively loud Yunan that had no idea how the game even worked and the King of Amphibia, as soon as her skill became apparent, the crowd became larger and larger, every newt, frog and toad in absolute awe of the talent of the young girl.

Opponent after opponent fell before the girl, until finally it was the semifinal.

Marcy's opponent was a young prodigy, a tall green newt that had actually stumbled over Marcy and almost knocked her out before the match even started. 

Even if she was almost as clumsy as Marcy, she proved a good opponent, the one that lasted the longest so far, barring Andrias, and one that would have had a good shot of winning the tournament. That would have been, if Marcy had not taken part in it. 

“Checkmate” Marcy announced, landing her black Heron Rider near her opponent’s white Wart.

The green newt’s eyes scanned the board thoroughly before sighing “Frog, you completely trashed me…”

The human smiled sympathetically “Oh, don’t say that! You were incredibly good! Would you like to have a match later?”

A bittersweet smile appeared on the newt’s face “T-thank you… but this was my last day here.” Her head dropped a little. “My family is… moving away.” The newt’s head turned and Marcy followed her gaze all the way to a couple of other newts, one blue and the other red, who had evidently been cheering for her, if the sign with “Flip that Wart, Nancy!” written in big bold letters in green ink was of any indication. 

“I… haven’t told them yet” The newt whispered, her words heavy and sad. “It was so sudden, I just wanted to spend the day with them, but they insisted I participate”

She smiled at Marcy, whose face at this point had formed a horrified expression “At least I still have the rest of the day to spend with them…” The smile did not last and as she got up from the table and towards her friends, Marcy could swear that she had heard her whisper, in a tone that she knew all too well “If only there was something I could do…”

The girl simply stood there, seated in her place, torn between staying there and running after the newt. In the end she did not have to make the decision as Yunan barrelled into her, knocking her to the ground.

“YOU GOT INTO THE FINALS!” The pink newt exclaimed, visibly excited “I mean, I had no doubts, I know you kiddo. But man, I'm so excited!” Smiling like a madman, Yunan nuzzled Marcy's head with her fist, messing up her hair.

“Stop, stoooop” Marcy playfully protested between giggling.

“Sorry, can’t help it! I’m just so happy for you, kiddo!”

“You are correct, Yunan, we’re all very happy for Master Marcy” Said Olivia, who had only arrived now since she had remained behind with Andrias while he signed autographs (apparently he was well known in the Flipwart community). “Nevertheless, I think Master Marcy would prefer not getting a concussion”

“A what?”

“Oh for Frog- bonk on head bad.”

“Oooh!” Yunan exclaimed, nodding and letting go of Marcy “Why didn’t you say it sooner?”

Olivia rolled her eyes and arrived at Marcy, smiling fondly at the girl “Congratulations, Master Marcy. You must be quite happy with your results.”

Marcy turned, finding in the crowd her opponent and her two friends. She was giving her back to her, her shoulders slumped in defeat as she faced the other two newts, who Marcy could clearly see were tearing up, the truth having evidently come out.

The human shook her head “I’m- I’m happy, yes. But let’s not get over ourselves! I still have the final to go!”

“Pfft!” Yunan scoffed “You made mincemeat of all your opponents! I can see why Andrias thought they were all schmucks!”

“Yunan, I’d suggest not to directly insult the ones here or we could very well be kicked out. And no, you’re not allowed to use maximum violence if they do. Only the bare minimum necessary to let us see Marcy’s big moment” Olivia chastised the pink newt before turning to Olivia “But she is right. Looks like this competition really will be a cup of tea for you, Master Marcy.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Lady Olivia” Andrias interrupted, speaking up for the first time “The next opponent… I fear they will be the mightiest one you have faced so far, Master Marcy.”

The human looked in confusion at the big newt, just like the other two newts. “Andrias?” She asked “Are you /j or /srs?”

“I’m afraid I’m quite /srs, Master Marcy” Andrias announced in a solemn tone “Your next opponent-”

“WELL WELL WELL!” A voice thundered throughout the plaza, startling everyone. The crowd looked upon the source, which seemed to be on top of the great amphitheater of checkered white and black marble. On a great balcony, stood a black newt in a white and purple robe, a white and black domino mask on his face and a crown of golden laurel on his head, a seashell that he used as a makeshift megaphone in his hand.

“Anewtoly Karpova” Andrias whispered under his breath. “The current Flipwart champion.”

“IT SEEMS LIKE THIS YEAR WE HAVE A NEW CHALLENGER TO MY TITLE! THE ONE THAT CALLS HERSELF MARCY WU, WHERE IS SHE? PRESENT THYSELF!”

At the words of the champion the crowd parted, isolating Marcy and her newt family. 

“VERY WELL!” The newt laughed “I SHALL WAIT FOR YOU IN THE ARENA! LET US SEE YOUR WORTH, CHALLENGER!”

With that, he turned on his heels and disappeared from sight, retreating into the arena.

“Woah, that was very cool.” Marcy commented.

“I can see why you think these guys are show-offs” Olivia told Andrias.

The giant newt nodded “They do like their theatrical entrances. I could do better, of course.”

“What are we waiting for!?” Yelled out Yunan “That nerd challenged you, Marcy! Let’s go kick his butt!”

Marcy grinned “Heck yeah! C’mon guys, just one match and I’ll be the champion!”

The girl and the two small newts started following the crowd to the arena’s entrance, but Marcy noticed that Andrias was remaining behind “Uhm, King Andrias? Aren’t you coming?”

“Oh, uhm, I need to go to… the bathroom. At the palace. I doubt they have me-sized appliances here” He shrugged and chuckled “The downsides of being this big! But don’t worry, Master Marcy.” 

The King smiled “I’ll be there”

It was late in the afternoon. The great Newtopian Colosseum, that usually housed bloody matches between gladiators, was incredibly packed. At the center of the arena, on an elevated platform, was Marcy, seated before an elegant Flipwart board.

Olivia and Yunan were amongst the audience, looking at Marcy with theater binoculars. Olivia looked for a moment at the great empty seat at her side. “Where is he? The big oaf is going to miss Marcy’s big moment!”

Before she could speak more, however, the noise of machinery roared through the Colosseum. The crowd looked up and saw great pieces of fabric on wooden structures closing the top of the great structure, blocking the sun and obscuring everything.

The darkness lasted for but a moment, then two cones of light, created by tied down fireflies, centered on a figure that had just entered the arena.

Anewtoly Karpova, still clad in his toga and checkered mask, the laurel crown of champion on his head, walked slowly towards his opponent on an unraveling red carpet, the cones of light following him.

“Damn, he knows how to make an entrance!” Yunan commented “I definitely have to get myself fireflies now!”

Finally, he arrived at Marcy and sat down, putting his elbows on the edges of the Flipwart board, his fingers intertwined and in front of the mask’s mouth.

“Uhm, hi?” Marcy tentatively asked, evidently a bit in awe “Love your mask! What’s it made of?”

“Marcy Wu. I have observed you” The champion said, ignoring Marcy’s question.

“You… have?”

“Indeed. And I have to apologize to you.”

Marcy was evidently taken aback by this and so was the crowd, who began whispering amongst themselves.

“W-what do you mean?” Marcy asked.

“I have seen you play and you are frankly amazing” The masked newt chuckled “In confront to you, I cannot play Flipwart!”

“If we were to play” he continued “I would be defeated. But this” the newt rose up and pointed with his outstretched arms at the whole assembly on the Colosseum’s seats “is nothing, without entertainment! A match this one-sided would not be fun, it would not be fit for this tournament. That is why I have found you a strong rival for you”

“I invite to this competition”

Music began to play, music Marcy actually recognised- was that boss music from Obscure Spirits? Why was boss music playing?

“13th Amphibian Champion”

Anewtoly began waving his arms wildly, the cones of light that had followed him to the platform following his movements.

“ Interspecies Grandmaster ”

The music got louder, more rhythmic and Marcy could swear that she heard her heart beat in sync with the drums.

“ MERITED MASTER OF SPORTS OF THE KINGDOM OF NEWTOPIA ”

The newt calmed down, pointing with his arms towards the top of a great flight of stairs, where stood a figure of titanic proportions, their silhouette the only thing anyone could make out. 

“ KING ANDRIAS LEVIATHAN! ”

The figure put their foot down the first step, with enough force to shatter the marble, a long crack running through all the staircase, the aftershock sweeping throughout the Colosseum and sending many off their seats. By now the music had reached its apex and King Andrias walked down the many steps and quickly, too quickly for someone that large, arrived on the platform.

For the first time since she had arrived in Newtopia and met the King, Marcy was intimidated by his great size. The amphibian towered over her and his face was obscured, leaving his eyes in darkness, making her feel tiny and powerless.

“Greetings, Master Marcy” 

Then he smiled, the darkness that obscured half his face simply disappearing “What about that entrance, uh? Told you I had style !”

Thankful that the tension had disappeared, Marcy chuckled “You certainly do! How did you get the music?”

“Oh, they have a full orchestra for these things. I got the music from your phone and copied down the sheets. Guess you weren’t expecting me here, were you?”

“Honestly no! You ’re the champion?”

Andrias pointed at himself with his thumbs “You can betcha! Undefeated. At one point, ‘bout five hundred years ago, I stopped competing to let others have their fun, but since I was never defeated, I still am the champion!”

“Indeed he is!” Anewtoly announced “Who shall win? The new, alien creature and rising Flipwart star or the undefeated millenary champ-”

“Or at least, I was undefeated”

For a second silence overtook the stadium.

“Excuse me what the what?” The masked newt asked 

“Master Marcy here defeated me just yesterday. A beautiful game, I must say, she totally kicked my ass”

“Then that would make her…”

“The champion?” Andrias chuckled “I suppose. Well, I could always challenge her to win my title back. A revenge match, wouldn’t that be interesting?” The big newt’s smile got malicious “But I have a better idea”

Andrias’ fist rose and quickly fell, obliterating half of the Flipwart board, leaving only the other half, with the Wart, the Heron Rider, a Toad, an Archer and their pawns.

“I invoke Hard Mode .”

Once more the Colosseum fell silent, until Anewtoly began cackling derangedly. “What are we waiting for!?” He yelled out, still laughing “ HARD MODE IT SHALL BE!”

The guards that ringed the arena began striking the ground with their spear, a rhythm that shook the earth. Ancient machinery began to activate and a pillar of stone rose under Marcy and Andrias, elevating them and the board up in the air.

“Uhm, Liv?” Yunan turned towards Olivia and asked “What’s Hard Mode?” 

“Andrias created it. Half of the board and the relative pieces are destroyed. It is the most harsh and difficult version of Flipwart. It hasn’t been attempted in hundreds of years! The last opponent Andrias challenged to Hard Mode Flipwart died !”

“ WHAT ?!”

Olivia shrugged “She was also, like, a hundred years old, so I’m not sure it was related to Flipwart. But still… this will not be easy for Marcy.”

Meanwhile, on top of the pillar, Marcy was practically vibrating with excitement

“Oh man, oh MAN!” She squealed “That was epic! Your entrance, the Hard Mode” She paused and smiled slyly “Or should I say Hard Mode ?”

Andrias matched the grin “I see you are a quick learner, Master Marcy! Let us see if you are as quick to learn Hard Mode as you are to learn epic pronunciation!”

With that, Andrias moved his first piece and it began.

The crowd followed breathlessly with various binoculars as the two dueled on the Flipwart board, a true battle of the Gods.

To the newt and the human, however, it was like nothing but the other and the game existed.

Marcy moved her Toad and took one of Andrias’ Pawns, chuckling “This is fun! With so few pieces, every single one is vital!”

“I knew you would like it” Andrias answered, taking a Pawn that Marcy’s move had left exposed “I… wasn’t the perfect child. I know my Father never was particularly proud of me. But I am proud of you, Marcy. Know that.”

The girl blushed at that. “T-thanks Andrias…” she said as she moved one of her pieces again.

Andrias raised an eyebrow at the move and took another of Marcy’s Pawns. It had been left exposed, an error that, from what he had seen, Marcy was not prone to make. He had done all of this to provide her with the ultimate opportunity to prove herself and enjoy something he had seen she liked and she had seemed so invested, what was going on?

“Master Marcy, are you all right?” Andrias asked “You can talk to me, if you want. We’re way up in the air, whatever you say will remain between us. As an old friend told to me, there’s no better place to pour your heart out than over Flipwart.”

Marcy stopped mid-move, her piece hanging in the air as the girl was seemingly stuck in thought. It lasted but a moment, then the girl put it down and simply slowly shook her head “It’s… nothing. Yeah, I was just a bit distracted. Sorry, it was just a silly mistake, I will take this epic fight more seriously! Check, by the way.”

Andrias was not fully convinced, but decided not to pry. It didn’t seem particularly serious and if Marcy preferred he didn’t ask, he would rather abide by her wishes. It was her big day, after all! He moved his Wart to evade the check and the match resumed.

Admittedly, Marcy’s focus seemed to return to the game, the girl being able to put Andrias on the ropes several times. It was evident now more than ever that the girl was his equal.

Was this how his Father had felt? He couldn’t help but think. He remembered those long days he had spent in the palace with him, when he had been but an eft. Outside of the few trips on other worlds, the days he had spent learning Flipwart with his Father were the only occasions he interacted with him as his child and not as Crown Prince. His only other company back then, before accidentally meeting Leif, had been his work to prepare him for ruling and, occasionally, the young toad that was tasked to guard him, Barrell. 

So, naturally, he had treasured those moments with his Father. Funnily enough, he had been the total opposite of Marcy in regards to Flipwart. He could well remember his Father ending early many of their days together muttering about how he was ‘hopeless’. Each time it had taken quite some convincing to get his Father to give him another chance, a difficult task, to be honest, since he would be reprimanded if he asked too much since ‘a King does not beg’.

Eventually, he managed to improve enough to be ‘passable’, in the eyes of his Father, though he never managed to defeat him. It had taken a lot of work and many, many hard lessons that he was happy Marcy could be spared. 

As he dueled his own young charge, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was how his Father had felt like when he had finally improved. He felt proud of the intelligent girl before him and happy of how she was turning out.

Though, as he once more noticed something that had already caught his eye before, there still was work to be done about her Flipwart skill. Taking a page out of his Father’s book, he decided to try and help Marcy.

“Watching your previous matches, I had noticed you using the Heron-Wart-Archer bloc. Did you read about it in the book?”

Marcy had been deep within her thoughts and shook her head in surprise at the sudden question “Uh?” She confusedly asked, before her brain registered the question “Uhm, no. Well, yes. But no.”

Andrias chuckled at the human’s silliness, something that he had grown to expect from her and, even more, he found endearing in her. “Clear as always, Master Marcy” He jokingly teased her, making her blush.

“Oh, shut up” She grumbled as she made her move and answered “I had… actually thought about it before reading the book. It just made sense!”

“Oh, it does.” Andrias agreed, nodding “The defensive power of the Heron Rider protects Wart and Archer, giving the latter the opportunity to lash out with full safety. I also used to use it, quite extensively. My Father did not like it very much, though, so I… unlearned it.” It had been the subject of more than one of his Father’s annoyed remarks, so eventually Andrias had judged it not worth the berating

Marcy sighed “Yeah, the author of the book didn’t like it very much either. Listed it as a ‘subpar strategy favored by naive efts, foolish novices and people who care too much about their pieces’.” She scoffed, “I mean, the book was good and the strategies brilliant, but the guy writing it… kind of arrogant, you know?”

The King laughed “That’s the impression, yes. On most things, though, he was right. For example, said block. Here, let me show you” Andrias moved his Archer to threaten Marcy’s three grouped pieces “See, here you should really separate your block. The Heron Rider and Archer could do much more without being forced to protect the Wart. Now, the Heron Rider is threatened by my Archer, but if you’d advance it to threaten the Archer, it’d allow you to advance your own Archer as well and take the fight to your oppon-”

Without letting him finish, Marcy moved one of her Pawns to threaten his Archer, completely disregarding what he had just said. 

Andrias gave a good look at the board, confused by Marcy’s move. He even ‘cheated’ by activating the tactical computers in his brains to check if it was all an elaborate move, but they confirmed what Andrias had already seen. The move was leaving Marcy open on her left flank and, even if it did force him to retreat his Archer to save it, it was a strategic victory overall, something he knew Marcy could see as well.

So why had she done it? That puzzled him to a great degree.

Once it was his turn again, Andrias maneuvered his Toad to threaten Marcy’s open flank. Maybe it was just a mistake in the heat of the moment, something that she did because she didn’t want to follow his instructions and try another move. Which was fine, really, he too was an hothead at her age, just think of that time with the vulture, the jar of honey, Barrel in a Mantis costume an-

And then Marcy exposed her Toad to counter his move.

If the previous move had confused Andrias, this outright baffled him. His move had been something simple, since he hadn’t wanted to penalize Marcy too much for her mistake, that could have been solved with simply moving the Archer to check his Wart.

He picked up his Toad and moved it, leaving Marcy’s Toad sitting out in the open and threatening Marcy’s Heron Rider. The move everyone with a bit of sense would make now was to move the Heron Rider, developing and threatening his Wart to put him on the defensive, a move that would put Andrias in difficulty. But a move he was by now sure Marcy wouldn’t make.

Sure enough, she simply moved her Heron Rider to her left, out of danger and still protecting the Archer and the Wart.

“Marcy, you have to split them up. Keeping them together is hurting their chances.”

“No…” He could hear the girl whisper “They don’t… don’t have to…”

By now, it was personal. He knew that it would be better to let it go and simply use this to win the game, but this wasn’t just a game. It was Marcy’s big chance! He had to discover just why she seemed so single minded on keeping a subpar strategy.

He continued to threaten the block and Marcy did everything she could to keep it like it was. She was good, even if she stubbornly refused to do the most logical move, but before long she began to lose the position advantage that she had built up during the previous parts of their match. Then, she began losing her Pawns, until all that she had left were the three pieces she continued to keep together and her Toad, striking out hopelessly to buy more time.

All throughout, after his every move, after every bit of advantage he gained and every piece he took, Andrias continued to repeat the same phrase, even if in different forms.

“Split them up.”

“Split them up, Marcy.”

“Master Marcy, split them up”

“Master Marcy, you have to split them up.”

Each time, memories of his Father’s voice echoed in his mind, tearing him down, pointing out his every mistake on the board. This was what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to help her, why couldn’t he help her?

Finally, Andrias managed to take Marcy’s Toad and checked her Wart. 

“You have to separate them now, Master Marcy” He sighed “I know that you like that strategy, but you must recognise it is not viable. Those three have to be split up. Th-”

Andrias’ speech, however, was interrupted by the sound of wood dragging on stone. He looked up from the board and saw that Marcy had gotten up. The more she had been put into a corner, the more she had bent over the board, her hair obscuring her face, but now Andrias’ heart sank in horror as he saw that the girl’s eyes were full of tears.

He tried to speak up, but all the air had escaped his lungs. 

“I…” Marcy whispered in a hoarse and teary voice “concede. Good… good game. Could we… go home now?”

The tourney had simmered down like a wet firework after that. The former champion had actually tried to challenge Andrias to a rematch to, in his words ‘try and salvage a not so satisfying conclusion’, but had been shot down with a single stare from Olivia. The three newts and the human had retreated to the palace, where both Andrias and Marcy had gone to their respective bedrooms almost immediately, officially because they both felt tired.

Even if she had told Olivia that she simply needed sleep, Marcy had not slept a wink since returning to her room and locking the door. She had simply gone to bed, ignoring Lady Olivia when she had come to check up on her and bring her dinner.

She had no clear idea of what time it was, nor did she particularly care for it. Technically, she did have scythe training with Yunan early in the morning, but she could bet that the pink newt would let it slide if she didn’t present herself to the training field.

She was just nice like that. Everyone was. Particularly him. She knew he hadn’t meant to make her cry. She knew that. It was just… 

While she was laying on her bed in her pajamas, wallowing in her thoughts, the floor rumbled. It shook once, then shook once more, until, finally, with one final blow, a heavy carpet flew off and revealed a gigantic trapdoor, from which came out none else, but King Andrias Leviathan.

He briefly looked around, then, upon seeing Marcy, struck an uneasy smile that tried, and failed, to imitate his usual jolly smile and revealed his nervousness and shot the human finger guns “Soup?” He greeted her

Even with all that had happened, even if she feared what Andrias had come here for, at the sheer absurdity of what was happening before her eyes, Marcy couldn’t help but let out a bout of low laughter.

Andrias’ smile got a bit more genuine at seeing Marcy laugh and let out a chuckle of his own “I… suppose I did not nail your human greeting?”

For a second, Marcy’s brain simply couldn’t compute, then, when it finally realized what had happened, her laughter became slightly louder “Oh my gosh, did you mean to say ‘Sup’?”

“Sup, sup, sup…” Andrias repeated the word, rolling it on his tongue “Yeah, it does sound better! Thank you, Master Marcy.”

“It was nothing” Marcy’s tone lowered slightly “Are… are you here because of what happened before? At the tourney?”

Andrias sighed and nodded “May I sit on your bed?”

The girl nodded back and the giant salamander sat down, much to the vocal displeasure of the piece of furniture, as Marcy rose up, resting her back against the bedrest.

“Now, Master Marcy, I meant to-”

“I’m sorry”

That took the newt aback “Marcy? What do you mean?”

“The final, everything, it was supposed to be set up for me. And I threw it away, I’m-”

“Marcy,, I couldn’t give a damn about the Frog-darned Flipwart Tournament. Never did, never will and most certainly I am not going to care if a couple hundred dorks got denied their entertainment, especially if there is something much more important that demands my attention.” The giant salamander took a deep breath “Master Marcy, It’s me that should be sorry. I… got carried away. I saw that something was bothering you, that there was something that troubled you, but all that I cared about was frogging Flipwart !”

“…it is a good game” Marcy commented under her breath.

A single bittersweet chuckle escaped Andrias “Not better than you, Marcy. I was doing what I was doing because, after the whole debacle with the pirate ship and then the bridge, I saw how you wanted to make us feel… proud. Once I saw how genuinely good you were at Flipwart, I thought you could ace the Tournament with no difficulty and even beat me at Hard Mode Flipwart.”

“My father…” Andrias continued, the word for the first time not capitalized in his mind “He was never happy with me. Sometimes, I felt like the only times I managed to make him proud was when I managed to put up a good fight in Flipwart. It felt… good. I just wanted for you to be able to feel like that. But I pushed you too far. I’m… sorry.”

Andrias closed his eyes “I… have something for you. If you want it, that is.”

There was a moment of hesitation “I’d… like to see it, yes.”

The giant nodded gravely and took something out of his pocket, putting it on his great fingertip and offering it to Marcy. It was a white circlet, of a bone-like substance the same as Andrias’ crown, in the shape of two twin snakes circling each other.

“It’s… an old thing of mine.” Andrias explained “It’s technically a hair tie, though with your size it’d fit as a small crown. You don’t need to make me, or anyone for that measure, proud. You are Master Marcy, my Master Marcy, and I will always be proud of you and I will always love you, no matter what. I hope this little thing can mean that for you.”

Marcy looked at the white circlet for long, then took it in her hands. When she had it in her hands, though, she simply put it on her legs. “I… can’t take it.”

Andrias shoulders began to slump in sadness, but Marcy quickly put out her hands “No- not because of you!” She smiled a little smile “What you said… I can’t say how happy I would be if…” She trailed off, unable to say more.

“Is… is it because of what was upsetting you back at the Tournament?” Andrias tentatively asked.

Marcy nodded.

“I understand.” The newt took a deep breath “I won’t pry, if you do not want to. If you want to tell me, I’ll listen. If you want me to wait until you’re ready, I’ll wait. This is something that is important for you and I’ll do whatever you need or you want. Your happiness is what matters.” The King took off his crown and put it in his lap, mirroring Marcy. “I am here for you.”

After Andrias had finished speaking, silence followed. No one talked and no noise came from the world outside the room.

Finally, Marcy broke the silence “I knew about the box”

Silence fell once more as Andrias slowly understood just what Marcy had meant by those words. As their meaning sank in, shock followed. His eyes expanded and his mouth slightly dropped in surprise “…what?” He asked, dumbfounded, hoping that what he had misunderstood, that she was not saying what he thought she was saying.

Marcy quickly proceeded to dash those hopes. “On the day of Anne’s birthday, the day we were transported here” She hurriedly explained, as if she feared that waiting would only worsen the situation. “I found a book. It was an old book, with all kinds of weird stuff cataloged inside. One of those was the box. The author wrote that it could make you travel to other worlds, but I didn’t think much about it. Figured it was just a fantasy book, if a cool one.”

“Then…” She sniffled slightly and Andrias noticed that once more tears had begun to flow down the teenager’s cheeks and once more he was frozen in shock, unable to help her. “Then the call came. My parents told me to come home, there was something that they had to tell me. I did as they wanted, I always did, I always did whatever they wanted! A-and when I arrived I could barely sit down before they dumped it on me.”

A bout of sad, hysterical laughter escaped the teenager “Apparently, we were moving! In a week, we would be moving hundreds, thousands of miles away! I’d never see Anne or Sasha, ever again!” The weird, hysterical energy that had possessed Marcy faded, replaced by sombreness “The only two friends I ever had, the two people I… cared for, gone, forever. We had known each other since we were babies, cared for each other since then and I would barely have enough time to say goodbye.” Marcy didn’t speak for a bit, drained by the emotional stress.

Finally, she resumed speaking “What was I supposed to do?” She whispered, her tone hurt and heartbroken “How was I expected to act? Everything had crumbled around me. Without Anne and Sasha… I would have had no one. I would have had nothing. It was like the floor had disappeared from under my feet.”

“I ran. They yelled after me, I yelled back, I don’t even remember what we said. Possibly the last words I had with my parents, the people who raised me and cared for me and I don’t even remember them. I didn’t even care.”

“I ran and I ran, until I had lost myself.”

She began to smile a sad smile that with her watery eyes made Andrias feel a void in his heart “Then I began crying. I put my head against a storefront and began bawling my eyes out like a baby, but I didn’t care if anyone saw me or if my parents scolded me. I had lost everything.”

“When the tears stopped, I opened my eyes and… I saw it. The box. The same one I had read about. Would I have trusted the words of a random book normally? Probably not, but what else was there to try? I had nothing to lose.”

“I texted Anne and Sasha, told them I had the perfect gift for Anne. They came over, Anne stole the box and… you know the rest.”

“Back at the tournament, when you told me I had to separate those three pieces… I just couldn’t. My mind just kept returning on us three and how they were going to split us apart and… what I did.”

“I love them. They were the two closest people I had before coming here, the only two friends I ever had. To keep us together, I would have done everything.”

“I… didn’t tell them what I knew about the box. I didn’t tell them it could take us to a whole different world. Maybe because it probably shouldn't have even worked, I mean, what were the chances of finding an ancient magic artifact of infinite power in a thrift store ?” She breathed deeply “But that wasn’t the case. I knew it would work. I convinced myself it would, I didn’t have the smallest doubt. Because if I had… I would have broken down as soon as I had seen them.”

“I know what I did was wrong, I know I should have told them, but I had no choice, they were going to tear us apart! ” By now Marcy had grown frantic, her voice broken, her hands pulling at her hair enough to hurt “I know they would have done the same if they had been in my shoes, it was simply what was necessary to keep us together, because if I’d lost them I would have no one and- and- and-” 

The girl began hyperventilating, her hands leaving her hair and beginning to dig with their fingernails into her forehead “And I can’t lose them” She whimpered “I… I can’t…”

Andrias, while Marcy had her little breakdown, had remained as still as a statue, his cybernetics locking in their current position in a way that would have been impossible for flesh and bone. If he was motionless outside, inside was a completely different question, a whirlwind of emotions rocking the newt’s mind.

He could feel the Core’s raging on the edges of his mind, roaring that he put the crown on, that this was the perfect moment if they wanted to make Marcy join their cause, but he ignored the ancient conclave.

Andrias was aghast. He had never thought Marcy would do any of this! He had no idea what to do! 

Confusion and surprise had left him witless, his schemes and abilities forgotten upon Marcy’s reveal.

Those emotions weren’t alone either. For a thousand years he had been mostly alone and Marcy had been the person he had let closest to his heart since them . He genuinely cared for the girl, so weak, so frail, like the eft he’d never had. To see her like this, broken, crying, destroyed, it was… heartbreaking. He wanted to take her into his arms and whisper to her that everything would be fine, that he could fix it, to trust him until she’d fallen asleep and if that had been the emotion that held the reins of Andrias’ mind, he would have done it in the blink of an eye..

That wasn’t however the feeling that most of all held sway over him, much to Andrias’ detached feeling of horror.

No, the strongest emotion that raged in Andrias’ heart was hate . A wave of bile that he could feel in his mouth and directed at the person Andrias cared the most for, in a way that reminded him of that saying his father used to repeat to him while he was studying: ‘Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it’.

Since the first time he had seen her, Marcy had reminded him of Leif. Of course, later he had also seen how she was also similar to himself, but the likeness with his old friend had always been something just on the edge of his thoughts all this time, as he laughed and bonded with the girl like he had done with his friend of old.

All this time, he thought that she had only shared Leif’s good traits, how she had been full of joy, energy and curiosity. He only now realised his foolishness. Leif had been one and only, there wasn’t a good Leif, the one that had been his friend and coulld have been much more, and an evil Leif, the one that backstabbed and took everything from him. They had been the same person. Father had told him that, hadn’t he? He had warned him how his friends would have betrayed him and here he was, making the same mistake again.

Marcy was just like Leif. She had tricked her friends, she had lied to them and sent them to an unknown dimension, where they could have very much died. She was just like Leif. 

He should kill her.

The thought came unbidden, but hardly out of left field. She had tricked the friends she had known since she was a toddler, what would take for her to betray him? As soon as she felt like he might come between her and her friends, she would take the box and kidnap her friends once more. The prophecy had been a last saving grace, not something that could be relied on to once more. If the box was to leave Amphibia and his grasp once more, it was likely it would be it. His legacy would be squandered, Newtopia would never return to its former grace, he would fail his ancestors and Marcy would leave him with nothing, once more broken like he had been after Leif.

This time, though, he wasn’t a child. He wasn’t his young self, foolish and blinded with idiotic notions of friendship, seeing the world with the rose-tinted glasses that he used to read Leif’s messages. He was old, the oldest any of his race had been. He was full of scars, most of his body replaced by metal. Most importantly, he had seen what friendship truly was like when Leif stole the box. He had his experience, he knew what had to be done. 

Strike her down. Strike her down before she could betray him like Leif had.

His hand inched towards the hilt of his sword. One swing, one thrust through her chest, that was all it would take and no one would ever betray him again.

He didn’t care for what Lady Olivia or Yunan would think, scream or do. He didn’t care about the two other humans that were needed for the plan or any consequence this act would have on the Core’s schemes. He needed to do this, he couldn’t be betrayed again ! Not from Marcy, not from someone he cared for as much as he cared for her. And if that meant killing her, to ensure she never had the chance to, to preserve their friendship and their bond from being tainted by betrayal he would do it.

It would also be the right thing for her friends, wouldn’t it? This way, Marcy would have never betrayed them, she would always be their friend, nothing about their friendship would change. They would be spared his pain.

During the time while he was thinking, Marcy had done little more than whispering to herself and sniffling. As his mind won over his muscles and prepared to put into action his horrifying fleeting plan, however, Marcy managed to speak coherently, her voice barely audible and hoarse, but enough to stop Andrias in his tracks “I… almost told you, back at the tournament. When you asked me if something was bothering me, I thought about telling you everything, spill the beans there and then.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Andrias whispered back.

“I… was scared. Scared that you’d… that you would…” Marcy’s eyes filled with tears as she whimpered the next few words, as if they physically hurt “that you would hate me for what I did”

Andrias felt a pit of dread form into his chest at Marcy’s words, all his mental constructions falling to the ground like castles of cards in a hurricane, the intrusive thought that had seized control of his mind for a second disappearing and revealing the horror of what he was about to do.

She… she was just a kid. A dumb kid that had felt everything fall down around herself, just like he himself when Leif had betrayed him. She had done the only thing she could think of to not lose her friends and could he really blame her?  

If, all those years before, Leif had simply asked him to steal the box with her and Barrell or even if he had caught her on the breach and she had asked him to come with her, would he have refused? He liked to tell himself yes, that he wouldn’t have abandoned everything for a traitor such as Leif, but what truly made him hate Leif as much as he used to love her? Her betrayal or her leaving him behind?

“A-Andrias?” Marcy whimpered, having now crawled out of her covers, on her knees by Andrias’ side and tugging at his sleeve “You don’t… hate me, right?”

Wordlessly, Andrias picked up the human and hugged her to his shoulder, his head laying into her. He shut his eyes with force, tears flowing down his cheeks into his beard. He was quickly joined by Marcy, her arms outstretched to try and hug him as best as she could.

The two sobbed into each other for the longest time, Marcy crying in relief and Andrias crying at what he had almost done.

Once he had calmed down and he could feel Marcy’s cries had also mostly subsided, Andrias put Marcy down, making her sit on his leg.

She looked horrible, to be honest, eyes red, cheeks stained by dried tears and hair messed up, but she was alive and she was smiling at him, making his heart twinge in pain.

“Master Marcy, what you did… was wrong” He spoke, the human’s shoulder slumping as he did.

“I… know. If you want me to… go-”

“But I understand where you’re coming from, why you did it.” A tired smile formed on Andrias’ face “I believe I did tell you about my… friends.”

Marcy nodded, hesitantly, not sure of where Andrias was going with this.

“My father used to repeat to me that I needed to let my friends go, that they would slow me down or demand things from me when I became King. I refused. Up until the last second, I refused with all my force to let my friends go, because I cared about them. And… I thought they did as well” He sighed “What I am trying to say is… I can understand you wanting to hold on to your friends. I do not hate you Marcy, I never will. Remember it.”

“R-really?” Marcy asked, her voice but a whisper.

Andrias looked into Marcy’s eyes. She was not Leif. She had not betrayed her friends, she had just tried to save their friendship, what Leif should have done. He could not hate her, would not hate her.

“Really.” He confirmed “I will help you find your friends and I will help you three to stay together.” He winked “After all, a King’s word should hold some sway even on Earth, shouldn’t it?”

“You’d do it for me?”

Andrias smiled “Of course I will. I care for you Marcy. I’ll even keep this secret of yours, from Lady Olivia, Yunan and your friends, should I meet them. There is something you must promise me first, though.”

The girl hesitated for an instant, then nodded.

“Very good. There is something you should know, about one thousand years ago, when I was but a newtling. As I told you, there were two I thought of as friends. We were inseparable, true friends. Or so I thought.”

“One of my friends, Leif… she betrayed me. She stole something from my family, something of incredible importance. My other friend, Barrell, helped her escape. Despite our friendship and Leif’s betrayal, he chose her. I banished him.”

“One night. It was all that it took for treachery to destroy our friendship, that I thought was true.”

“Master Marcy, I understand why you did what you did. But please, promise me this: do not lie to them. Take your time, even if the later the reveal comes, the more it will hurt, but tell them” Andrias looked down, reminiscing of times long past and of friends that friends were not. “No one more than me can tell you how much lies and betrayal may hurt. That is how friends work, I suppose. The more you love them…”

A single tear escaped Andrias’ eye. He wiped at his face. He couldn’t allow himself to grieve for traitors long dead as much as he couldn’t punish Marcy for their sins.

Marcy scooted closer to him and grabbed one of the fingers of his hand, gripping hard at it. “I… will tell them the truth. They deserve as much.”

Andrias allowed himself to smile. They wouldn’t end up like them. Marcy would not commit Leif’s mistakes, she would not abandon him nor would she betray her friends. She could be a better version of Leif, of himself. He could ensure this.

“They do, Master Marcy. And, if they love you as much as you love them, I can say that they will understand.”

It was Marcy’s turn to smile sadly “…maybe they will…”

“You miss them, don’t you?” Andrias almost didn’t need to wait for Marcy’s little nod to confirm his suspicion “Why don’t you talk to me about them? I have only heard compliments about them, but little of substance, after all”

That cheered Marcy up and the teenager talked to the newt for hours about her friends, until she eventually drifted to sleep.

The morning after, Marcy woke up pretty late, tucked up into bed even if she didn’t remember going back under her blanket, though she didn’t need much thinking to figure out who had carefully put her back under it.

She dressed herself, put on Andrias’ gift and went out of the room, hoping that Andrias had saved her something for breakfast. Outside, though, her attention was drawn to a small box, almost obscured by a gigantic note with “X Master Marcy” scribbled in Andrias’ calligraphy.

She took the box inside and opened it, finding it was a Flipwart board filled with Flipwart pieces, still smelling like they had just been made, refined and lacquered. She began to set it up, almost on autopilot.

The black pieces were conventional, if very finely made. The white pieces, however… a tiny Marcy, cross legged on a tiny pillar and wearing the crownlet he had given her the night before, was the Wart while a smiling Andrias with his sword out the Powerhouse.

Lady Olivia, elegant in her dress and with her hands folded together, wore the part of Bishop, while Yunan with her blades out couldn’t be anyone else but a Toad, which Marcy wisely put right next to the Bishop.

A tiny frog wearing a cloak and a horned toad wielding a warhammer were quickly set up as well, as an Archer and the other Toad, though Marcy could only hazard a guess about their identities.

The pawns were various guards she had briefly met before, but it was the last two pieces, the ones at the bottom of the box together with a small note and who looked like the last one which had been made, that caught her attention.

They were both humans, both wearing school uniforms with a very familiar symbol. One was riding a heron, with a proud grin on her face, the other had bushy hair and wielded a tennis racket with a wooden tennis ball in the process of bouncing off of it.

Those, she didn’t set down, but simply clutched in her hand while the other opened the note, also written in Andrias’ writing.

‘I hope these will keep you company while we search for the real ones.

P.S. Since you technically lost the last match and we are even, what about a rematch today? No crowd, this time’

Marcy chuckled at Andrias’ proposition, then sighed, looking out of her window to the vast continent of Amphibia, where her girls were, lost somewhere. All she had done, she had done to preserve their friendship, to let no one separate them. Her future on Earth, her parents, she had gladly given all of that for just a chance to stay with them.

Even if what Andrias said was true, even if they really forgave them for tricking them and stranding them in another world, she couldn’t help but wonder how would their friendship change. She had changed in Newtopia and perhaps Anne and Sasha had changed too, wherever they had ended up.

While her change had been good, she couldn’t help but be scared at the prospect.

Would they even still want to be friends with her?

“Anne… Sasha… I will make this right. I promise”

Sasha raged against the mannequins she had prepared, tearing apart the old man they had been supposed to capture, kicking away the pollywog and ripping off the head of the squeaky toy that had ruined everything. 

She stabbed the ground with her sword, the blade remaining in place in the dirt. Usually Grime would have told her that she was supposed to pay respect to her weapon, but after losing all their army but for two toads, he did nothing but wallow in self pity.

The girl looked at the only mannequin that she had not touched in her rampage. A scarecrow with familiar bushy hair, wielding a sword that looked vaguely defying.

She tightened her punch. After everything that had happened, after whatever had changed Anne… no, she would win. She would make everything right, she would find Marcy, get things back to how they were, with no squeaky toys to sabotage her.

“Anne… Marcy… I will make everything right again. I promise.”

The Fwagon went on in the night, Hop Pop sipping on his Gourd Tea to keep the vehicle going even in the night. In the meantime, Anne rested on top of the Fwagon, having come out to look at the stars since she couldn’t sleep. 

With one hand she kept the photography that depicted Marcy, Sasha and herself. She couldn’t help but think about what had happened back at Toad Tower, when she had stood up to Sasha for the first time and she had… she preferred not to think about it.

Things had changed, it was undeniable, and they would never go back to the way things were. Perhaps it was a good thing, she thought as she remembered how Sprig had reacted when she had told him what friends were ‘supposed’ to do for each other.

And what about Marcy? Would things change with her oldest friend as well? She supposed she couldn’t do anything but see what would happen.

“Sasha… Marcy… I don’t know if I can make everything right, but I will try. I promise”

Perhaps change wouldn’t even be all that bad.

Chapter Text

The next few days had been… nice. They hadn’t been calm by any means, that was a constant that she accepted was part of living in Amphibia. If she ever returned to live on Earth, she would probably find it very dull that no giant bird would break in while she was having breakfast and try to eat her. It had not been exactly what she would have called fun before, but watching Yunan dropkick it to death had been cool.

Giant bird, she discovered, was also very tasty.

Attacks from the local megafauna aside, she had kinda slipped in a routine. Her days were spent adventuring around the city and near it with General Yunan (for the moment the Yulivia was still wrecked, but Marcy was working on restoring it), helping Lady Olivia with paperwork and spending long afternoons battling Andrias in Flipwart.

She had never expected to be this happy without her friends. She had really grown into her own in Newtopia, hadn’t she?

It was different than back home, but it wasn’t… bad. Frog, she could hardly think of just how surprised Sasha and Anne would be at seeing her! Turns out, when your teacher is so awesome that training is more interesting than books, she could actually pay attention and, even if Anne and Sasha would probably have her beat in strength, stamina and all that stuff, she still buffed up a bit.

All in all, Amphibia had been treating her well, she could only hope that her girls could say the same. Maybe, if that was the case, it would even be easier to hold up the promise she had made to Andrias.

It was with this mindset that, fully clad in her armor and cape, she casually strode on the walls of the city, enjoying the afternoon’s sunlight. She stopped and faced the big ball of fire in the sky, closing her eyelids and just letting its light warm her up, a low hum escaping her lips. 

The girl took a deep breath “This is nice” She said, exhaling.

“Yeah, it is” Yunan agreed.

Marcy opened her eyes and saw the pink newt, resting against the parapet of the great wall, a mug with the words “#1 Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched and Youngest Newt to ever achieve the rank of General in the Great Newtopian Army” written in blood red ink on the front in her hand. Honestly, Marcy didn’t know that they made mugs so big to have the space for that.

“You know you don’t have to sneak up on me, right?” Marcy asked, completely unfazed by Yunan’s sudden appearance. The fact that she had done the same trick twelve times in the last two hours did help.

Yunan shrugged and sipped on whatever concoction was in her mug, revealing further writing added in sharpie on the bottom “and Responsible Bodyguard”.

“Eh, where’s the fun in that? Plus, I get to hone my stealth skills. Not that there’s much to do anyways. Today’s been pretty chill, actually.”

“…a newt was almost eaten to death by a me-sized rat”

“By Newtopian standards. Want some coffee, by the way? I can’t give you rum, since Olivia told me I’m apparently not supposed to give alcohol to kids.”

Marcy mused for a second “Hm, does it hav-”

“It’s got bugs in it.” Yunan deadpanned before Marcy could even end her sentence. 

“I knew it. No then, thank you. I do like bugs, but I’ve just eaten. But you talked about Lady Olivia. How are things going?”

Yunan smiled at the question, brightening up subconsciously as the other newt was mentioned “Oh, pretty well, actually! Yeah, after we got over our… rough spot, things have been better than ever! We were actually meaning to hang out, tomorrow, just her and I. It’s a small tradition of ours, once a year. I haven’t asked the King for the time off, since it’s something we do all the time, is it alright with you if I take the time off? Not the whole day, just a couple of hours.”

“General Yunan!” Marcy exclaimed, her expression outraged “Don’t you even think about it! Just a few hours? You ask me for just a few hours? If it’s for you and Lady Olivia, I’ll gladly give you the full day off!”

Yunan grinned “Really? Thanks, kid! My old commanding officer never let me do anything”

“I thought you became General just after recruitment when you single handedly stopped a coup?” Marcy asked, confused.

“Well, to be honest he only denied me one thing, but I really wanted to shoot myself out of that-”

Screams interrupted the two’s discussion, the newt and the human immediately running towards where the sound had come from. 

Out of the gates, just a sprint and a couple of falls (on the Marcy’s part) from where Marcy and Yunan had stopped to talk, was the biggest and meanest snake Marcy had ever seen, currently facing some Newtopian city guards.

The human looked at the newt, who simply gave her a thumbs up “You got this, kiddo! Break a leg! Actually, don’t, but you got the message”

Marcy smiled at her bodyguard and made a military salute before confidently jumping from the wall.

It was only when she was in midair that she remembered one thing. Humans don’t fly. And Joe Sparrow was currently enjoying a handpicked mix of seeds and small bugs back at the castle.

The thing that did not allow Marcy to hit the ground, in the end, was the snake. As it was about to plunge on a guard, Marcy landed straight on its head, dazzling it for long enough for the newt to scramble out of the way. As for Marcy, she slid down the creature’s back, landing at its tail on her feet, for once.

“You good down there?” Came the slightly worried voice of General Yunan from up the wall.

“Yeah, I can handle this!” She looked back at the fighting, finding out that the snake had broken out of the daze being bonked on the head by her had sent it in and was about to eat another guardsman. Guardsnewt. She’d have to check a Newtopian dictionary. 

“That won’t do!” She yelled out as she dashed to put herself between the newt and the beast, her scythe slipping out of her sleeve and expanding in her hand, but not lighting up yet.

She stuck it vertically in the reptile’s mouth, the metal staff bending slightly as it stopped the snake’s mouth to close, but managing to hold.

“Amazing!” She exclaimed, pulling out her notebook and jotting down data “Given how strong the jaw of a snake of this size would be, especially accounting for the square-cube law, the metal of the staff is much stronger than Earth’s modern steel, not to talk about Amphibia’s more medieval one! I really need to ask Andrias where he got this, this material could revolutionize engineering and like a million other fields! Unless this is an ancient relic!” She paused and gasped “Oh my gosh, did Andrias give me a frigging ancient royal family heirloom for my birthday ? Is it magic? I gotta ask Andrias if it’s magic! I mean, it doesn’t really fit with Amphibia’s magic system, but Andrias is so old and if it’s an ancient artifact, the technique could have been lost, making it more or less one of a kind! It would work, since there’s so few records of one thousand years ago, and it would also relate to the legend of ancient iron golems! Marcy mental note number 493: research possible magic-metal-using ancient amphibian civilisat-” 

“Uhm, ma’am?” The guard, a orange newt with a scar under his mouth still laying on the flooded ground, interrupted Marcy’s rant “That snake still looks pretty pissed off and I’d really, really like to live”

For a second Marcy looked at the newt confusedly, as if he’d said something baffling to the point of heresy, like ‘Vagabondia Chronicles is an overrated game’ or ‘Markoth is one of the easiest bosses in Holler Knight, the absolute absence of a floor does not bother me’. She looked at him, speechless, while the gears in her head spun, the newt being too much burdened by social anxiety to answer. Then, Marcy looked back at the open maws of the snake that still tried to eat them both. Back to the guard, her gaze went.

“Ohhh, yeah!” She exclaimed, as she put her notebook away and lightly slapped her forehead with the hand that was not holding the staff that was currently all that stood between them and being eaten “I forgot about that. Sorry, I can get caught up.”

“N-no worries kid,” The guard reassured Marcy, his voice only wavering slightly at the sight of the giant snake still struggling “My niece sometimes gets like that. It can be stronger than you, no one blames ya”

Marcy smiled at the supportive newt “Aw, thanks! Now, could you roll on your side real quick?”

“Roll on my- OH FROG!” The guard exclaimed as Marcy whipped her staff out of the snake’s mouth, the reptile continuing on its trajectory and the orange amphibian only managing to get out of its way by pure instinct.

The human picked the newt up under her arm and began running away from the snake, capitalizing on the distance its missed lunge had put between them.

“Okay, not to sound hypocritical as the girl that jumped down a wall to attack a gigantic snake, but you do have a plan to deal with that thing, right? Because with its size you ain't gonna cut it with spears and swords, you’d need something big, like a cannon, a ballista or a-”

“CATAPULT’S COMING!” A group of guards screamed as they pushed a big catapult out of the gate, a boulder already loaded.

“Hm, yeah, I’m more of a trebuchet girl, but that’ll work” Marcy commented as she joined the newts in pulling the rope that charged the siege weapon.

“This rope system is inefficient…” Marcy muttered under her breath, voicing her ever-active brain “I’ll have to install more modern mechanisms, or introduce amphibians to gunpowder! But that could cause problems with-”

“Ma’am?” The orange newt she had saved “You’re doing it again”

Marcy blushed in embarrassment “Oops. Sorry”

The guard shrugged “No worries. As I said before, completely fine. But the snake is almost on us”

The girl took her eyes off the amphibian to look forward and, sure enough, the snake was lunging at the group, having already closed the distance. 

The surprise made her hands slip, freeing the rope, the catapult’s arm rising and carrying with it the rope and the newts who still held on to it. They slammed in Marcy’s back, making her fall and dropping their hold over the rope.

The boulder shot out of the catapult, its arc readily interrupted by the snake’s cheek, the creature getting knocked out cold almost instantly.

One of the guards who were piled on top of Marcy looked up. He saw the unconscious snake and rapidly patted himself down, eyes wide in disbelief.

“…I’m alive?” He whispered, as if frightened by the answer. Then, as he realized that the answer was ‘Yes’, cheer quickly exploded into exclamation “I’m alive!”

“Wait, we are?” One newt said as she looked up “Damn, I thought that was it. I guess those student loans won’t allow me to just die”

“Eh, should have expected it when I saw Steve. No chance that he’s going to the religiously ambiguous good afterlife”

“THE FROG IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?”

“Steve, we all know you were the one to take the last donuts and then put the box back. When you die, you’re going down.”

Before the green newt answering to the name of Steve could argue his innocence for this heinous crime, the quarreling guards were thrown to the ground as the girl they were standing on rose to her feet.

For a second they were all silent. The human, towering over them, gave a good look at the K.O.ed snake, then at them. One guard coughed in their hand.

“WE DID IT!” Marcy yelled out, quickly joined by the guards.

Still full of excitement and adrenaline, she turned towards the orange newt she’d rescued and lifted her hand.

“High five!” She yelled and the newt’s hand subconsciously rose to mimic the human’s. Their palms connected with a satisfying ‘clap’.

The guard looked in amazement to his hand “That felt… amazing! Hey you!” He pointed at another guard “High five!”

Before long the entire group of guards were high-fiving each other, alternating between laughing and screaming in excitement.

Marcy turned as she heard the sound of something impacting the shallow water. It was General Yunan, which, after a perfect and cinematic landing which Marcy was definitely going to sketch in her journal later, strode with a proud smile towards Marcy.

“That was some good work there, Master Mar-”

“High five!” One of the guards interrupted Yunan, his hand already coming for her. With no hesitation, Yunan grabbed him by the arm and effortlessly threw him over the city wall.

“General!” Marcy called her out. 

Yunan just shrugged “Aw, come on! He’s not dead !”

“Five copper that he is” One guard whispered to another. “Oh, you’re on” The other whispered back.

“But that’s not important!” Yunan waved away the fact that she’d possibly just killed someone, something that Marcy had to admit happened fairly often. “Point is, you did great ! That was the coolest thing I have ever seen someone do with a catapult!”

“Even cooler than when you threw yourself into Andrias’ throne room with swords taped to your arms to stop a coup?”

“That actually was a trebuchet”

Marcy closed her hand into a fist and closed her eyes “Man, trebuchets are too cool”

“They are” Yunan agreed, nodding, before smirking “But do you know who’s cooler than trebuchets?”

Marcy gasped “Who?”

Yunan laughed and pointed at herself with a thumb “Me, of course!”

Marcy chuckled along “Yeah, I should have guessed…”

“And you know who is just slightly less cool than me, but still extremely cool?” Yunan asked, a sly grin on her face “YOU!” She said, pointing towards the human.

“R-Really?” Marcy’s eyes got wide with amazement as she practically squealed.

“Of course!” Yunan proclaimed “If I had to make a list of the coolest people/things I know, I would be at number one. Then me at number two and still me at third, because I’m too cool to not be at every spot on the podium.”

Marcy nodded and shrugged “I mean, I can’t object to that”

“Then there’d be you, Olivia when she gets scary, Andrias, my sister, those ‘tanks’ things you talked about and trebuchets.” She concluded, having finished fingers and tail to count on. “I guess that’s it. Man, I managed to count a lot of stuff! That’s why newts are the smartest amphibians, I guess! We can count up to eight and one!”

“…I’m fairly sure that’s nine”

Yunan ruffled Marcy’s hair “Aw, you’re cute when you make up words. Now, let’s claim our piece of your prey! You can actually make some sweet accessories to your armor and weapons with snake fangs and scales, I found out. I should still have a snake scale suit of armor, back at the castle.”

“Really?” Marcy asked, mouth agape “That’s so cool! Where did you find the scales?”

“Well, we’d been marching towards the toad city of Cartoadge and we needed to cross a river, when me and my fellow lower-ranked-General, General Regulus, were attacked by a mighty bea-”

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t General Yunan” 

Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned towards the gates, where the Scottish-sounding voice had come from. Dressed in armor and cloak much similar to Marcy’s and escorted on both sides by two identically dressed newts carrying halberds, a black and green newt stepped forward. His hair was black, most likely the same color his now-graying goatee had once been, and each of his steps was followed by the sound of his sword swinging slightly from where it was holstered.

“Lord Commander Luther of the Night Guard.” Yunan lowly growled, before chuckling “Don’t you clowns have a night? To guard?”

The black newt rolled his eyes. “That joke was not remotely funny the first time you made it and I must inform you it did not improve the following seventeen. Why do you insist on making it I wonder?” He smirked “But I forget you’re not exactly the brightest newt around, after all. Must be hard to grasp the concept for someone who’d probably be more at home amongst toads than newts”

Marcy was about to reply and to defend her bodyguard/mentor/possibly parental figure, when Yunan stopped her with a gesture of her hand. The pink newt chuckled again. “Well, you lost in our first duel and did not improve the following seventeen times too, Loser , so if I’m dumb that makes you dumb and weak. What are you, a frog?”

The guards all began to scream and throw their arms around for the burn, as Yunan simply spread her arms with a shit-eating grin that would put Andrias at his most childish to shame.

“It’s. Luther .” The black and green newt hissed through gritted teeth “Get it through your thick skull, you pillock”

“Oh, no need to, Loser. I remember perfectly the names of all my esteemed foes. No need to remember wankers’, don’t you think?”

Luther’s hand tightened in anger, but in the end he just sighed. “Very well. We were notified of the appearance of a dangerous snake near the city.”

Yunan pointed towards the still unconscious snake with her thumb “That snake?”

“I presume”

“The one that was defeated without the help of… how do you put it? Ah, yes, the best of Newtopia’s best? Since you’re the best of them and you got clowned on by me, what does it say about your whole circus?”

“Yes, yes” The black and green newt dismissed Yunan, clearly aggravated by the other soldier’s words, though he tried to mask it. “You were able to defeat another menace all by yourself. Is there another campaign whose command you wish to steal from me?”

Yunan rolled her eyes and folded her arms, in annoyance. “Seriously?” She scoffed, “Are you still bitter about that?”

“ I should have been the one in command during the Sand Wars!” Luther declared “I was the most experienced soldier in the whole of Newtopia, I still am! I was chosen as the best amongst the Night Guard, the elite of the elite!”

“Yeah, and who sat on his ass while a traitor and a couple of toads almost killed the King?” Yunan asked, smirking “Because I’d know, but I was too preoccupied single handedly bringing down a coup with my sheer awesomeness. Plus, best of the Night Guard? Surely not the best fighter. How’s the tail? I still have the one I cut off after I used it to swing you around. I had it stuffed and I hung it in my bathroom, so I can look at it when I go to the toilet”

“Didn’t you also have one of your sisters’ arms on your mantelpiece?” Marcy asked, half interested, half horrified.

Yunan shrugged “Eh, hanging pieces of people is my style of house decor. Plus, it is badass. I have to show you the stuffed head of Ragnar the Wretched. The guy who did it was a champ, really managed to get the expression of terror.” 

“I… really would prefer not to”

“Suit yourself” Having settled the issue with Marcy, Yunan turned her attention back on her colleague/rival/general annoyance “And, as I meant to say before you threw a hissy fit, I wasn’t even the one to beat the beast! Let me introduce you to Master Marcy!” She said, smirking proudly and pointing at the child.

The human waved a bit embarrassed by the attention suddenly shifting on her “Uhm, hi?”

Luther scoffed. “Another child. How wonderful.” He whispered under his breath.

“Hey!” Yunan protested “Master Marcy is not just a child! She’s the best child! I'll let you know that she also took down that cult your newts failed to find. So I guess there’s another one that had you beat, Loser .”

The two newts began squabbling, exchanging petty insults and trying to roast each other, much to the interest of the city guards, the other Night Guards and Marcy, who began writing down some of the sickest parts. 

The girl’s attention, however, was drawn by someone tugging on her cape. Marcy looked back and, standing right behind her, found a short bright green newt dressed in a Night Guard uniform. “Uhm” she asked “Is what the General said true? Did you really bring down that cult?”

Marcy hesitated for a second, then nodded. As Yunan said, she was cool! She deserved to show off a bit, didn’t she? “Yup!”

The small newt smiled “Woah! That’s so cool! We knew that it had been someone from outside the Guard, but it’s so awesome meeting you. I’m Kettle, by the way.”

Hearing the newt’s praise, Marcy could feel a warmth in her chest. Smiling back proudly she spoke. “Name’s Marcy! And if you thought that was cool, I also brought down a heron! I mean, Andrias helped, but it was like 50/50, you know”

“You defeated a heron?” The newt gasped in disbelief “Oh frog! And you know the King!”

“Yeah, we’re, like, best buds!” Marcy nonchalantly commented, not mentioning the whole father-daughter stuff. “But you’re a member of the Night Guard, right? I bet you get up to all kinds of awesome adventures! You guys are very cool!”

Kettle’s expression fell “I wish… I mean, we are! I’ve been training since I was an eft to get in!” She sighed “But then, last month I became a full-fledged member of the Night Guard and… the Captain General made me a Steward”

Marcy raised an eyebrow. She didn’t really know very much about the Night Guard, apart that they were some sort of super-cool-super-elite fighting force, but Steward didn’t sound exactly like a rank someone adventurous held.

Kettle promptly explained herself “There’s three orders in the Night Guard. There’s the Builders, those that take care of Newtopia’s walls and our various fortresses around Amphibia, the Rangers, those that actually go out and battle monsters and enemies, the ones I wanted to join, and… the Stewards. Those that take care of arming everyone, of providing supplies to the Builders and organize the routes of the Rangers. I mean, they’re necessary and all, but… I hoped to become a Ranger. While all of the Night Guard can fight and, in case of danger, they can be deployed, normally the Rangers are the only ones that actually do fight. I’m good at fighting,  Lord Commander Luther himself mentored me and he even made me his squire! I told him time and time again that I wanted to join the Rangers to help with fighting. But… he made me his Steward. I take care of his meals, I carry his weapons and all of that.”

That definitely rubbed Marcy the wrong way. Who was this guy to behave like this? Yes, he was the guy in charge, yes, that was true, but that wasn’t an excuse to treat Kettle like that! “Why didn’t you tell him?”

The newt grimaced “My parents were members of the Night Guard, both Rangers, and they… died in a mission when I was very little. The Lord Commander took me in, he practically raised me! I can’t just…”

“KETTLE!” The voice of the Lord Commander interrupted the two girls. “Come, we’re done here. There’s reorganizing to be done and it seems my presence here is no longer necessary.”

“Then why would you ever go around?” Yunan asked, smirking “I don’t think you’ve ever been needed, you old fool!”

“I’m barely 65, newtling!” Luther snapped back before turning around and marching away.

Kettle looked at Marcy guiltily “Looks like I gotta go! I’ll, uhm, see you later?”

Before Marcy could so much as reply, the newt sped away to catch up to the Lord Commander.

“You look like it, you old fart!” Yunan yelled after the Night Guards “Sorry for ignoring you, kiddo, but that pompous newt makes me lose my temper.” Yunan excused herself, before winking at Marcy “But you surely didn’t waste any time! Got yourself a new friend?”

“By the way she spoke of her” A guard commented “She sounded more like a fan!”

That certainly picked up Yunan’s interest “Oh, Master Marcy’s got a fan? I mean, not really surprising, since you are amazing, but still.”

“Wait, don’t you dislike the Night Guard?” Marcy asked, puzzled. From the way Yunan spoke of them, she couldn’t like them very much, so she could hardly imagine why she would be happy for her to have a friend/fan that belonged to them.

“It’s, uhm, complicated. I’ll explain on the road back to the Palace, okay? Now say bye to the nice guards.”

Marcy nodded and turned around to the newts she had helped defeat the snake “Bye guys!”

“Bye!” 

“Thanks for not letting us die!”

“Except Steve, you could have let him”

“THEY WERE JUST DONUTS CHERYL, WHY CAN’T YOU LET IT GO?”

Chuckling at the guards’ banter, Marcy joined Yunan and they passed the gates. After a few minutes of walking, Marcy could not contain her curiosity any further. “So, about… you know”

Yunan sighed “Fine. You know how I volunteered for the army, right?”

The teen nodded “The Sand Wars started and you joined it to prove yourself to your family. You proceeded to stop a coup on your first day and become the youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of General in the Great Newtopian Army.”

The newt smirked “Damn right I did! I see you did your homework, kid!”

“I always do!”

“I trained myself to the bone and crushed everyone in my training course! I wasn’t just good, I was the best!” Yunan’s smile got bitter “So much the best that I thought to try and join the Night Guard. I mean, those guys were the elite and I was strong enough to join, right?”

“What happened then?”

“I smashed the exams. Like, literally, I must have destroyed, like, a dozen training dummies!” Yunan laughed at the memory, but it quickly died down. “Luther saw all of it. He was a war hero, probably the strongest newt around. I had a motivational poster of him in my room, for crying out loud! Limited edition and everything! Do you have any idea how cool you need to be to be a role model for me?”

“Woah, that’s very cool!”

“It was.” Yunan agreed “The other main reason I had for joining the Night Guard was to impress that grumpy old son of a frog. And what does he do, after he sees me humiliating every other recruit? He turned me down!” Yunan threw her hands up in the air “It was humiliating! He just turned me down like I was contacting him about his expired snail warranty!” Yunan took a deep breath and looked at the ground as she continued walking. “That… kinda frogged with my head.” The newt admitted “I almost didn’t go to the army’s recruitment tryouts. Of course, things weren’t smoothed over when I was handed control of the war and things got like you saw”

“…that sucks.” Marcy commented, cringing inwardly immediately afterwards. That sucks? Yeah, Yunan’s childhood hero turned her down and became her rival, it’s obvious it’d suck!

The General laughed at that “Oh, it’s not all that bad! Humiliating him is good fun, I have to admit, and he absolutely deserved getting the command taken away. It’s just… he’s the one person I never managed to impress, you know?” She sighed, before shooting a smirk at Marcy “But don’t worry about it, kiddo! Now, the guards will deliver us a good portion of that snake’s skin, so we should think about some good piece of armor for you, and if they save us some meat as well I can make a killer cobra steak!”

“Like, a good cobra steak or a steak made out of a killer cobra?”

“Precisely!”

As the two walked back to the Palace and discussed what to do with Marcy’s prey, the girl’s mind continued to return to Yunan's and Kettle’s issues. Could there be a way to help them both? 

Luckily for her, there was one newt she just might help her.

“Archer to E6” Marcy announced moving her piece.

Andrias finished taking a sip out of a bathtub sized cup of tea and looked at the board “Good move, Master Marcy. Unluckily for you, I saw it coming. Toad to B2, check.”

Marcy nodded “Nice counter, Andrias!” She bit her lower lip and spoke further “Could we put the game on hold, though? I’ve got something to ask you”

“Sure thing, Master Marcy! Hold on a minute, let me…” Andrias put his cup down and carefully lifted the Flipwart board, putting it to the side so that the game could be continued later on. “All done!” He announced, before nonchalantly putting an arm on the big table on which stood the smaller table Master Marcy was seated at. “What do you need? I’m all… what’s that thing that you humans use to listen?”

“Ears?”

Andrias snapped his fingers and pointed a finger gun at Marcy “That!” He chuckled “What a weird saying! Something that was all ‘ears’ would be hideous!”

Marcy chuckled back “Yeah, it’s kinda weird… but about what I wanted to ask you. It’s not about me, it’s just that there’s a… friend of mine” 

The big newt raised an eyebrow “A friend? You didn’t tell me of an-” He stopped mid-sentence, as if he had just realized something “Oh, I get it. So, what does this ‘ friend’ of yours need?”

Marcy hesitated for a second, confused about the weird emphasis and the air quotes Andrias had put on the word ‘friend’ , but decided to pay it no mind. It was probably just Andrias being bizarre, after all, like those times when he creepily whispered to someone who was nowhere to be seen. “Well… this friend… you see, there’s this old newt who has taken her in”

“I’m not that old.” Andrias pouted under his breath, but Marcy ignored it as well and continued.

“And she loves him! Like a… dad. I think. But she feels like he doesn’t trust her enough. She wants to go out and adventure, but he doesn’t let her. If you were me, what would you do to help that friend?”

“Well, if the father figure were her- I mean, if I were you, I’d comfort yo- her and assure her that the old newt, who, by the way, is very youthful for his age, just has her best interests at heart and she should confront him and tell him what she thinks. If he really cares about her, he does, he’ll understand, as long as she tells him clearly.” With that, Andrias smiled gently, obviously waiting for something.

Oblivious to this, Marcy snapped her fingers and slammed her fist in her opened palm “Of course! Honesty is always the best solution! Thanks Andrias, you’re the best! I’ll help Kettle confront the Lord Commander and all-”

“Wait, wait, wait, time out” Andrias interrupted her with his hands opened “The friend  is actually real?”

“…yes?” Marcy asked, confused, to which Andrias slumped in his chair, letting out a big breath of relief.

“Phew! I thought you had gone back to your ‘running away with the pirates’ phase!”

The girl blushed a bit as she remembered that time “To be fair, that was, like, for two and a half chapters?” She made a long pause, after which she added “Of our lives.”

The King shrugged “Yeah, but it still comes to haunt me in my nightmares. Plus I had just read about the ‘friend’ technique” He removed a book, bearing the words ‘Parenting for dummies’, from his beard, before winking “Pretty neat, uh? Upsides of having a gigantic beard, you can store pretty much anything in there. Look, I should have some of those chips you like”

Andrias fished in his beard again, before extracting his closed fist and presenting its contents to Marcy. Instead of a pack of Boomshroom Spicy Beetle Shells, however, Andrias had picked out of his beard a very disheveled looking Lady Olivia.

“W-what day is it?” She asked with a crazed look.

“Uh, I was wondering where I had put her. Did you happen to see any of Master Marcy’s favorite snacks in there?”

“Darkness… there was nothing but darkness and hair!”

“…well, I don’t think Master Marcy eats hair. Or darkness.” Unsure, Andrias turned towards Marcy to confirm his claim “You don’t, don’t you?”

Horrified by what she was seeing, Marcy slowly shook her head

Andrias, still unfazed, snapped his fingers in disappointment “Oh well. Nothing we can do about it, I guess.”

“Should… should we help her?” Marcy finally managed to say, pointing at Lady Olivia, who had by now assumed a fetal position on the table.

Andrias looked down at her, then blew a raspberry and made a dismissing wave with his hand “Oh, it’s fine, she gets traumatized like this every what, couple of years? She’s been through worse. It’s the main way she rests, you know. Back on something that’s actually important, I really thought you were talking about yourself back there. Anyways, since that is not the case, you should disregard what I said and just take this friend of yours on an adventure to prove her father figure wrong.”

“…really?” Marcy asked, confused.

“Hey, the brash solution, when it doesn’t threaten you, is always the right one! Plus, it looks like Lady Olivia won’t be able to berate on you for it” Andrias pointed at the still whimpering newt.

“…I mean, fair point.” Marcy admitted, before her brain made a realization “But wait, how can I do that? I’m not a member of the Night Guard and, even if I was, the Lord Commander can just order Kettle not to come”

“Ah, that’s not an issue” Andrias assured Marcy “Lord Commander Luther is not actually the top banana in the Guard. There’s a guy above him”

Marcy looked up at Andrias with stars in her eyes “Really? Can I meet him?”

The big newt chuckled and used a finger to slightly ruffle Marcy’s hair, causing the teen to smile and pop out her tongue “Sure thing kiddo! Stay there while I go get him”

With that, Andrias got on his knees and under the table’s edge, disappearing from view, before popping up again, a comically small shell pinned to his armor. “Andrias Leviathan here. What can I help you with?”

Marcy facepalmed “…I…”

“Forgot that I am literally in charge of everything around here? Yeah, it can happen”

“It’s kinda hard to remember that I’m actually friends with the guy that is everyone’s boss.”

“Well, not everyone, there’s always the prime minister. Wanna meet him?”

“Is it you with a top hat?”

Andrias’ eyes evaded Marcy’s “…no? Maybe. Yes. Returning to the subject matter, I could always just make you… you wanted to adventure, right?”

Marcy nodded.

“Then, Master Marcy, I pronounce thee… hold on, let me check” Andrias rapidly popped on his reading glasses and pulled out a booklet, giving it a quick read before throwing it away and taking off the small shell he had put on “Chief Ranger of the Night Guard!” He announced as he pinned it to Marcy’s armor.

“Wait, you can just do that?” Marcy asked dumbfounded.

The King smiled and shrugged “Absolute monarch, remember? I can do whatever I want and I definitely want to help you, Master Marcy!”

The teenager blushed a little, but then shook her head “I-I know that Andrias, but I mean, isn’t there already a Chief Ranger?”

“Well, yes, but, you know…” Andrias pulled out the hilt of his fire sword “accidents can happen.”

“ANDRIAS!” Marcy protested.

“Fine, I’ll give the current chief a promotion”

“That’s bet-”

Andrias pulled out the fire sword again “To corpse!”

“NO MURDERS!”

The big newt rolled his eyes and pouted “You are starting to be too much like Lady Olivia, Master Marcy. You’re becoming no fun to hang out with!”

Marcy walked up to the pouting giant and hugged his arm “Aw, c’mon, you big goof! We still can have fun! We just don’t kill people when we do it!”

Andrias smiled “Fine, fine. You’re lucky I like you, Master Marcy. What’s your plan now?”

“Well, I was thinking of getting Yunan and Kettle, Kettle is the name of my new friend, by the way, and going on an adventure, so we can show the Lord Commander that Kettle can go on quests and that Yunan is the coolest!”

As Marcy pronounced the last words, the room’s great window shattered and in came flying General Yunan. “Did someone say ‘Yunan is the coolest’?”

“…this is the 45th floor” Andrias deadpanned, but he was rapidly blown off by Yunan.

“Not important! What’s important is that the answer is yes!”

“It wasn’t a question” Marcy pointed out.

“Also not important! I’m so cool that the answer to my coolness is yes even when it isn’t a question!”

Andrias and Marcy exchanged a look, before they both shrugged.

“I mean, fair.”

“Can’t really argue with that” 

“Heck yeah you can’t!” Yunan proudly declared, her arms crossed. She then noticed Lady Olivia, still curled up on the floor “Oh, Lady Olivia, hi! How are you doing?”

“The abyss… it cannot be escaped, it traps all, it swallows all!”

“It sure does, Liv” Yunan assured her with a small nod “So, anyways, why were you talking about me? I mean, outside of the fact I’m awesome, which already is a good reason to talk about me, by the way.”

“Well, I think I’ve found a way to get you some respect out of a certain Lord Commander…”

The Shadow Tower. The base of the Night Guard and, in Marcy’s opinion, one of the places with the edgiest names around.

In its courtyard some of Amphibia’s strongest and most skilled newts trained. Which meant, of course, that, when the courtyard’s great wooden doors were kicked off their hinges and sent flying, some of Amphibia’s strongest and most skilled newts were almost crushed to death.

Uncaring of the astonished looks some of the newer members of the Night Guard were giving her, Yunan simply grinned triumphally and turned her head to her side “See, Marcy, that was an epic entrance! What do you think?”

“That was so cool!” Marcy exclaimed, pumping her fists frantically in excitement “Oh! Do you think that I could pull it off? I can’t quite kick it down like you, but I did find this very nice explosive potion written down in the palace’s library! And Olivia doesn’t know I found it, yet, so I can use it all I want!”

Yunan laughed “Master Marcy, if there’s anyone that can pull it that is you! Of course, me as well, but that goes unsaid. Do you know why?” She asked with a smile.

Marcy began hopping in place “Oh boy!”

Yunan struck a pose “For I am-”

“General Yunan.” A voice interrupted Yunan’s introduction, a voice coming from the top of the stairway that led from the courtyard into the tower, from a black and green newt. 

Yunan scowled for a second at the interruption, then smirked “Hello Luther. Fancy meeting you here.”

The Lord Commander scoffed “You’ve come here for another duel? Very well. Kettle, my sword!”

From the door to the tower came Kettle, carrying a sword way too large for her “H-here, Lord Commander!”

“Sorry to disappoint you, Luther, but I’m not here to beat you again. I’m actually here to present to you… Master Marcy, Flipwart Champion, Captain of the Pirates of Penzace and new Chief Ranger of the Night Guard!” Yunan exclaimed, pointing with her outstretched arms at Marcy, who tried to strike a pose.

The Lord Commander’s eyes squinted in disapproval as his teeth bared slightly “What?” He hissed.

“That’s right!” Marcy proclaimed, a bit emboldened by Yunan’s introduction “By order of King Andrias, I am the new Chief Ranger! Boom!”

“Of course he’s got his hand in this…” Luther muttered. “I assume you did not ask His Majesty to be promoted to one of the highest ranks in the Great Newtopian Army merely because of your ambition?”

“Nopers!” The girl agreed “I did it to go on adventure! I’ll be taking General Yunan with me, of course, and… Kettle.”

The Lord Commander was evidently taken aback. He turned around to face his steward to ask for confirmation “Kettle? Do you know anything about this?”

The smal newt backed off slightly and raised her hands in a gesture of innocence, letting the sword fall “I-I don’t know-”

“Nevermind that” Luther scoffed as he turned again towards Marcy and began walking down the stairwell, followed by Kettle “I’m the Lord Commander! You can’t do any of that against my will!”

Marcy chuckled “Don’t worry, I have a permit.” She pulled out a piece of parchment and passed it to the Lord Commander. It read ‘Master Marcy does what she wants. Signed, Andrias XOXO’

“…of course he’d do that” Luther sighed as he rubbed his eyes with index and thumb.

“Look” Marcy said, her hands joined together “I kinda get the vibe that you don’t like me having this position”

“I did nothing to hide that.”

“So, I’m offering you a deal!” Marcy exclaimed “Send me, Yunan and Kettle on a mission. If we fail, I resign”

“I like that part” Luther mused “What if you succeed?”

“Then you make Yunan a member of the Night Guard and let Kettle join the Rangers.”

The black and green newt gave a look at his steward, then back at Marcy “Very well.” He said, gravely “Let us shake on it.” He put his hand forward.

Marcy shook it, a confident expression on her face.

Luther nodded “I’ll go and see what we do have for you. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you, though. I dislike losing.” He looked at all the Night Guards who’d been carefully eyeing the whole transaction “And what are you doing?” He yelled out “Back to work!”

With that the Lord Commander left, followed by all of the other newts in the courtyard, leaving Marcy, Yunan and Kettle alone.

“W-what are you doing!?” Kettle asked Marcy once Luther had left “He’s going to give us the nastiest, most difficult mission he can find!”

“Don’t worry, Marcy’s-friend-whose-name-I-can’t-remember!” Yunan reassured the small newt “You’ve got me and Marcy to help you out! You are practically already a Ranger!”

“Yeah, Yunan’s pretty cool, we’ve got this in the bag” Marcy agreed “Plus, that’s what friends do. They help each other, by any way possible.”

Kettle looked confused for a second, then she smiled “T-thanks Marcy… you’re pretty cool as well…”

Those words made Marcy stand just a bit straighter. 

A few seconds later, Luther emerged once again from the tower, a satisfied grin on his face that gave Marcy a very, very bad feeling. 

“I think I’ve found a perfect mission for the three of you. After all, we have General Yunan on this, she can handle anything, can’t she?”

“Aha!” Yunan laughed “Give me your hardest quest, Luther, I can handle it! For I am General Yunan, Scour-”

A quick elbow in the ribs from Marcy interrupted Yunan and made her consider that this wasn’t maybe the best approach. “I mean, I’m fine with a range of missions with difficulties ranging from easy to moderately difficult.”

“Oh, no need to be humble, General. It doesn’t look good on you. Now, let’s look at the perfect mission for you three.” Luther pulled out a roll of parchment “Ah, yes. Reports say a that a barbariant anthill has grown suspiciously restless. If disturbed, they might leave their anthill and come for the city, which we would rather avoid. Your job is to go there, find whatever is disturbing the barbariants and deal with it. Oh, and since time is of the essence, to avoid a barbariant invasion, it should be done before the end of tomorrow”

“WHAT?” Both Yunan and Marcy yelled out.

“This wasn’t in the deal!” Marcy pointed out.

“You told me to give you a mission. I did that. You can always back out, but it will count as a failure.”

Marcy was about to reply, probably something not very kind and that she would have preferred Lady Olivia wouldn’t hear, but she felt a cold, armoured hand on her shoulder. She turned around and was surprised to see that Yunan had a conflicted expression on her face “Marcy… I… tomorrow I’m supposed to spend the day with Olivia… it’s… important to her.”

It felt like the ground was starting to give out under her feet. Her plan hadn’t even started and she had already failed Kettle.

But, instead of the usual resignment she thought she would feel, something different filled her. Determination. She needed to help her friend. That was what friends did. By any ways possible. “Y-Yunan.” She began, her voice faltering on the first word but then becoming more secure. “We need to do this. It’s just barbariants, we can fly in, clear out whatever it’s psyching them and fly out and you’ll be back before lunch!.”

Yunan did not look extremely convinced, clearly not being sure about it.

“Please?” Marcy asked, using all of her emotional leverage over the amphibian general.

Yunan sighed and smiled slightly “Fine. You know I can’t say no to you.”

Marcy smiled back and pirouetted on her feet to face the Lord Commander once more “We’re taking the mission, Luther! And we’re going to ace it!” 

The green and black newt didn’t seemed all that thrilled by Marcy’s enthusiasm, but nodded “Very well. Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

Chapter Text

Two birds pierced the clouds over the giant anthill, a falcon and a sparrow.

“This should be it!” Marcy proclaimed, the map Luther had provided them with in her hands as Kettle held Joe Sparrow’s reins.

“You sure?” Yelled out Yunan from Lord Deathstroyer the Tenth “It’s pretty easy to make an anthill out of a mountain!”

“Yeah!” Marcy confirmed, sticking her thumb down and seizing Joe Sparrow’s reins from Kettle “C’mon Joe, let’s land! There’s no time to waste!”

The birds both landed and then took flight again, waiting for their owners to return in the sky. 

The trio made for the nearest entrance.

“Alright girls, listen up.” Yunan said, her tone serious for once “I may be General Yunan and you two… well, you are pretty strong as well, but barbariants are no slouches! This anthill is going to be well defended. We should be able to get into the tunnels, but as we get further in, we’ll definitely find guards. We don’t have to fight them, but we most likely will be forced to.”

Marcy nodded “Alrighty. We go in, find out what’s disturbing them, take care of it and get out. Should be easy enough.”

Kettle made a pumping motion with her arm, making her hand crossbow open, a bolt already loaded “I’m ready! With you two, we should have no problems!”

Marcy prepared her crossbow in the same way “Frog yeah! We’ll get you into the Rangers and get back in no time!”

“Good plan, kiddo!” Yunan chuckled “Now, enough dilly dallying! If we do everything all right, we should be able to have enough time to gloat to Luther before I have to go with Olivia.”

“In we go, then!” Marcy exclaimed, putting herself ahead of the two newts and striking a pose “There’s no amount of giant insects that can stop us!”

“This is… bizarre.” Kettle commented, her voice piercing the eerie silence of the tunnels.

For half an hour they’d made their ways through the barbariant hive, ready to be attacked by the giant insects or at least to be spotted by one of them, but they’d seen none of the murderous critters. Marcy would have theorized they had really mistaken a mountain for the anthill they were searching for, but there was an abundance of marks of the barbariants, from faint traces of their pheromones to even freshly dug tunnels.

“Yeah…” Marcy agreed, giving a good look around “From what I read about barbariants, their anthills are well protected. This… isn’t normal.”

“This is quiet…” Yunan whispered to herself, her pupils darting from one side to the other, her fighting instincts on overdrive as she felt that something was wrong. “Too quiet. There should be all sorts of underground insects. It’s like if it was an-” Realization formed in the veteran’s eyes “AMBUSH!” She yelled out.

Just as Yunan’s voice filled the tunnels and Marcy turned around to face Yunan something burst out of the ground right before the human, a gaping maw filled with teeth aimed at her.

It was just thanks to Yunan’s well honed skills that she was able to put herself between her charge and the monster and it took all her strength to keep its mouth from closing, her hands finding their place between the razor sharp teeth on each jaw.

Immediately, Kettle pulled out her wrist crossbow and shot a bolt at the enormous creature, which found its mark, but did not seem to affect it.

The last of the three to react, Marcy recoiled slightly before her hand went to her pouch. After the mishap in the building site, she had stacked up on chemical components and, in no time, she was able to assemble a suitable cocktail for the plan that was hatching in her mind.

Just in time, as the creature had fully emerged from its tunnel, revealing itself as a horrible, black worm-like thing with little glassy blind eyes, around twice Marcy’s size. It had wrapped up around Yunan, whose arms were still occupied with keeping its mouth open. The monster started biting down harder and Yunan yelled out in pain as one of her shoulders made a wrong sounding pop.

Marcy racked her brain to try and find a way to get the small pouch in the beast’s mouth before Yunan was reduced to chow and without hitting her. “Kettle!” She screamed at the small newt, who’d been uselessly shooting her weapon against the monster “Shoot the eye!” 

Kettle looked at the human, then nodded and shot another bolt, aimed at the monster’s vestigial eye. The small arrow found its mark, making the beast roar in pain, its maw opening wide as it shouted its hate and rage.

That was her opportunity. Marcy tossed the bag of chemicals into the monster’s gaping maw and, after a few seconds, the bag exploded, filling its mouth with black fumes.

The beast backed off, hacking, coughing and snarling as it retreated into its tunnel.

“What the heck was that thing!” Marcy yelled out, her arms in the air.

“A caecilian” Kettle answered, looking distraught. “I thought they were just tales the old Rangers told to scare young recruits.”

“They’re real, that’s for sure.” Yunan commented as she set back her arm, barely grimacing as she did so “Ragnar the Wretched kept one of those beasts caged and used to feed traitors to it.”

“Aren’t caecilians amphibians? I thought amphibians were more or less intelligent, here.” Marcy asked, slightly confused.

“Oh, they’re intelligent alright. They’re amongst the nastiest foes you’ll find. They’re big, strong, cunning and find amphibians the tastiest of snacks. They’re blind, but that’s the only thing against them and of no use to us now, underground they see better than us. Normally you don’t see them outside their mountains, but sometimes a roving band, one of the weaker ones with no set territory, is driven out by something and they try to find themselves a new nest. That one was likely one of the smaller ones, but each group is ruled by the strongest one amongst them, the warboss. This is a pack of runts, judging by the size of that one we drove back, they’re the only ones that are normally driven out of their jungles. A pack of runts like this is already enough to drive out barbariants out of their nests, but if a full fledged pack ever united under a strong enough warboss…” 

Far away, in another underground network of tunnels, a cloaked newt, who’s only unobscured feature was a metallic arm still buzzing with yellow electricity, stood over the gigantic body of a caecilian, the long and featureless creature easily twenty times his size, its lower jaw tossed far away, ripped apart from the rest of the body with great brutality. 

Other, smaller but still massive caecilians backed away in fear of the one that had slain their leader, hiding in their tunnels.

“I have killed your leader. He was the strongest amongst you. To me, he was nothing. I have crushed him like a fly.” Declared the newt with an unemotional tone, his metallic hand raised in front of his face and tightened in a fist. “Now. You have a choice. Bow to me. Follow me. Or meet his same fate.”

His trained eye saw one of the blind creatures retreating, trusting the shadows to cover its escape. The newt smirked and lifted his metallic arm, an orb of yellow energy forming in his hand before he unleashed a beam of pure light that reduced everything in the escaping caecilian’s tunnel to ash.

One by one, the remaining caecilians slithered into view, laying their heads low at their conqueror’s feet.

The newt’s smirk turned into an unhinged grin. Now that he had his army, his scheme could be set in motion…

“Soon, soon, General Yunan…you shall learn to fear the name Barry!”

“…yeah, good thing that will never happen.” Yunan concluded. “And good thing that one of those will never come for me or my loved ones.”

“Damn…” Kettle whispered “P-Perhaps we should return back home then?”

Marcy whipped around, a shocked expression on her face “W-what? But if we do, you’ll never get to be a Ranger and Yunan will never get her place in the Night Guard!”

“This is dangerous, Marcy!” Kettle pointed out “I know you and General Yunan are strong, but we could seriously get hurt or even… I want to become a Ranger and I’m sure General Yunan wants to be a Night Guard, but I don't want anyone to be put in danger to get me there!”

“Gotta agree with the kid here” Yunan chimed in “I mean, I’m obviously strong enough to deal with them, though it’ll be one hard workout, but I don’t know if I can get you two out of here unscathed. Plus, the barbariants are already gone, there’s no use in fighting these caecilians. If you ask me, we should retreat, tell Luther about it and let him deal with it.”

Marcy took a step back, almost in shock. What was she supposed to do? She had promised to help them both, but they didn’t want the help anymore? Should she… surrender? Let Luther win?

She was supposed to be the ‘cool’ friend here, the one that protected their friends and helped them no matter what. The one that was like… Sasha.

What would Sasha do?

“We have to do this.” Marcy stated. “And we’ll do this.” 

“Marcy, I-” Yunan tried to protest, but Marcy cut her off.

“C’mon General! Don’t you want to show that jerk Lord Commander what you’re made of?” The human asked, grinning wide like she had seen her second oldest friend do half a thousand times, a surge of confidence running through her.

Yunan smiled an awkward smile “I… guess? Plus, since you’re my charge, I kinda have to follow you.”

“That’s the spirit!” Marcy proclaimed, only for Yunan to interject once more. “That’s what friends do, they help each other, by any way possible!”

“Just… I really have to get back to the city quickly. It’s really important for Olivia and me.”

Marcy nodded “I’ll do my best at getting you back to Lady Olivia as soon as possible so you two can smooch all you want.”

Yunan went red in the face at that, sputtering a long series of denials as Marcy turned towards the other newt, which looked somewhat unconvinced “What about you Kettle?” She asked.

The guard hesitated for a moment, then sighed “I guess I’m in? I’ll be way more safe with you and General Yunan anyways.”

Marcy smiled. She had done it! She could just tell that Sasha would be proud of her! “Alright gals, we’ve got caecilians that need to caecileave!”

“That didn’t make any sense!”

“That’s my girl!”

Having decided to go all in, the trio continued their descent into the anthill, reaching its stony bowels.

“Man, this is deep!” Yunan commented “There must have been a lot of barbariants in here!”

“Eh, not really” Marcy answered as she strolled by her side, listening for any tremors in the ground but trying to appear as nonchalant as possible. She had to be strong, after all! “You see, barbariants, when they aren’t migrating, cultivate, which is why many have some type of fungus or similar underground farmable organism on their body”

“Marcy, I love you and you’re smart, but you’re going to have to speak clearly to me” The pink newt pointed out. 

“Ah, uhm, they…” Marcy stumbled a bit on her words before Kettle came to her aid.

“They farm” Kettle explained “which is probably why the caecilians found this place”

The General nodded “That I can understand. I too can be slightly murderous when hungry”

Marcy shot her a finger gun “Gonna get you those french flies next time, gotcha. Anyhow, as I was saying, they usually dig down for fertilizers, which would probably be sulfur in this region, but it seems like the rock here is kinda poor of it, so they had to dig a lot” 

“What’s that?” Yunan asked as she noticed something on the floor and reached down with a finger to scratch it, before rubbing it against her thumb 

“Fascinating!” Marcy exclaimed before pulling out her journal to jot down a couple more notes, observing the substance on Yunan’s hand “Looks like they even brought in additional fertilizer! It seems… saltpeter?”

Yunan turned around with a questioning look at Kettle, which proceeded to explain again “Guano”

“Scusa, no hablas escargot” A still clueless Yunan spelled out slowly, making the small green newt facepalm.

“Bird poop” both Marcy and Kettle explained at the same time.

“Ahhh” Yunan made a noise in understanding.

“Oh.” Yunan said as it registered into her brain.

“EW!” Yunan exclaimed as she fully got it “GENERAL YUNAN’S HANDS ARE TO BE STAINED BY BLOOD, NOT EXCREMENT!”

As the pink newt remained slightly behind to rub her hand against the walls, Kettle and Marcy went on.

“You know, I have to thank you” Kettle said at one point, gaining Marcy’s attention “Not everyone would do what you are doing. I mean, we just met and you brought yourself and a war hero to help me”

Marcy made a raspberry and a dismissive gesture with her hand “Don’t worry! We’re friends, right? And friends help each other, by any way possible.”

Kettle sighed, causing Marcy to lift an eyebrow in puzzlement “Yeah, it’s just that-”

“Did you hear that?” Marcy suddenly stopped in her tracks and interrupted Kettle.

It was Kettle’s turn to be confused “What do you mean?” The green newt asked. The tunnel was silent. “I don’t hear anyth…”

She didn’t hear anything.

Kettle understood the thing that had caught Marcy’s attention or, rather, the lack of said thing “Why can’t I hear General Yunan?” She asked, her crossbow hand slowly raised.

“Crap” Marcy swore under her breath “We made the most basic of mistakes, never split the party!”

“Don’t worry” Kettle tried to reassure her “Maybe she just-”

A loud crash deafened the two for but a second, Marcy covering her ears from the sudden assault to her senses. She and Kettle exchanged a look that told them both what they already knew. That had not been an accidental cave in.

They had been locked in.

Low, but instantly noticed by the newt and the human, the sound of burrowing crept through the tunnel.

“Where does it come from!” Marcy hissed “It must be from behind, that’s where Yunan was, where they collapsed the tunnel! Or they had anticipated that we would think that and so they are attacking us from the front? Or maybe there’s two groups!”

“Calm Marcy!” Kettle said as she grabbed the girl’s hand “We trained for this. Well, I did. From a book. In my spare time.” Seeing that the human was apparently not reassured, Kettle shook her head “Look, what matters is that we can do this! We’re two, they can come from two directions. I guard the rear, you the front, and, back to back, we go further.”

Marcy seemed to settle at this, a pensive expression on her face “Yeah… yeah, there’s supposed to be a large chamber at the end of the tunnel, if what I read about barbariants is accurate.”

“What did I say?” Kettle said with a grin “Let’s do this!”

So, back against back (well, more like Kettle’s back against Marcy’s legs) the two went on, the sound of burrowing growing closer and closer, but still not enough to say if it was from behind them or in front of them.

“Where could it possibly come from?” Kettle angrily whispered at one point. “If they were in front of us, we should have found them by now!”

“But if they were behind us, wouldn’t we have distanced them by now?” Marcy asked.

“I know, it’s like they’re…” Kettle began to say, before something clicked in, her voice going from a snarl to a barely audible whisper “…they’re in the walls.”

Both the newt and the human froze in place as the sound of burrowing stopped.

“THEY’RE IN THE FROG DARN WALLS!” Kettle yelled out as she broke into a run towards the other end of the tunnel, quickly joined by Marcy.

Just in time, since, as the two made their escape, two caecilians, somewhat larger than the first one, emerged from the walls, managing to avoid each other’s maws as they closed around where Marcy and Kettle had been but an heartbeat before.

The two subterrean amphibians quickly realised what had happened and the rapid sound of feet against ground told them the position of the intruders. 

One roared something to the other and quickly burrowed into the cave’s soil, while the second began to give pursuit. It slithered on the floor, but it quickly acquired momentum and began rotating in the circular tunnel, taking to the wall, then the roof, the other wall and the floor again in a helicoidal trajectory of death.

“AMAZING!” Marcy exclaimed as she continued running, pulling out her notebook and beginning to scribble vehemently “It’s using the angular momentum of its rotation to propel itself further! Man, Yunan was right, these things are smart!”

“NOT THE TIME MARCY, IT’S GAINING ON US!” Kettle yelled out as she began to run on all fours to keep up with Marcy’s long steps. 

“Whoops, right, sorry!” The girl excused herself as she blushed “I just love this kinda stuff”

Kettle was about to explain that it was fine and, if they had been in a different context, she would have liked to listen to it, but they were about to be devoured by some of Amphibia’s most terrible beasts, when she realized something was fishy. “Marcy, that other one seemed to be telling this one something with that roar! Can you tell what it was?”

Marcy nodded. “I don’t know the caecilians’ language, but I think I read about something that sounded similar!” She pulled out a book and began to rapidly skim through it until he found the right page “AHA!” Marcy exclaimed in triumph “I knew it! It’s very similar to a word in Ancient Amphibian!”

“What does it mean?!” Kettle asked as she looked back to the ever closer caecilian.

“Well, it’s kinda impossible to properly translate it, but if I had to simplify it, I guess it’d be close to ‘Pincer Attac-” Marcy put two and two together “Uh oh.”

Immediately, Kettle tackled the human, making them fall both on the ground, and just in time, as from the ground before them burst out the missing caecilian. 

“Uh oh indeed” Kettle whispered.

The caecilian stood as tall as it could in the barbariant tunnel, ready to swoop down on the two.

But, before it could even attempt to do so, two set of blades sprouted from its chest, making the monster hesitate for a second before they rended a hole into its chest and it howled in pain.

Coated from head to tail in red blood and just a smidge of gastric fluids, a familiar newt jumped out of the dying creature “YOU CANNOT EAT ME MONSTER, FOR I AM…”

“GENERAL YUNAN!” Both Marcy and Kettle screamed in relief as the newt barrelled over their heads, making a cartwheel in the air.

“INDEED!” The newt answered as she landed and struck a pose. “It is I, General Yunan! Scourge of the Sand Wars, Def- oh frog!” She was interrupted by the other caecilian’s roar of anger over its fallen brethren.

“RUN AWAY!” She yelled as she began running on all fours, joined almost immediately by Marcy and Kettle.

“Do you have a plan, General?” Marcy yelled at Yunan.

“Please tell us you do!” Kettle joined in.

The pink newt looked back and nodded “I took care of a caecilian already, though I don’t think that one will make the mistake of swallowing me again”

“Aren’t you!?” She yelled back at the pursuing caecilian, who lunged forward and tore off a bit of Yunan’s cape before falling back. “Uh, not doing that again.” Yunan commented, before shaking her head “Anyways, we just gotta deal with this-”

Just as Yunan finished her sentence, the tunnel ended after a sharp turn, revealing an enormous chamber. Like Marcy has said, it was filled with small plantations, growing from white and yellowish soil.

And eating the fruits of that plantation, were many, many caecilians, who turned their heads on their intruders, staring at them with their blind eyes.

“…one” Yunan ended her sentence.

“Two, three, four, five, six, seven, EIGHT?” Marcy continued it, sounding increasingly more panicked.

“Welp, we’re dead.”

As to prove Kettle’s statement, the caecilians attacked, slithering towards the two newts and the human with jaws open wide.

Yunan brought herself before the two children “IF YOU WANT THEM, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO GET THROUGH ME FIRST!” She yelled at the approaching hoard. Yunan raised both her fists before slamming them over the head of the first caecilian, forcing him to the ground.

The pink newt turned to the two awestruck teens “Let’s go!” She cheered them on “This is not where we die!”

Marcy and Kettle exchanged a glance and nodded.

“We’re going to die, like, twenty meters from here!”

“Oh”

“Well that’s less inspiring”

Nevertheless, the two joined Yunan in running over the downed caecilian and just in time, as the one that had been pursuing them chose that moment to emerge from the tunnel, slamming into the other caecilians.

Even if that took down some, temporarily, more remained and they tried to eat the three intruders above their fallen comrade. Unluckily for them, though, they would prove to be a rather feisty prey.

Soon Yunan’s blades were joined by Marcy’s scythe and even Kettle pulled out a greataxe from Frog-knows-where and the three managed to keep the monsters at bay, slashing and burning their way to the chamber’s center.

Eventually, though, the knocked out caecilians came to their senses, joining in the fight and forcing the trio to retreat more and more, until they were confined atop a small mound of the underground plantation, surrounded on all sides by caecilians.

“Keep them at bay!” Yunan ordered, slashing at a caecilian useless eyes and making the creature recoil in pain, but another used that time to get under her guard and bit her leg, not enough to break the bone, but enough to make it painful to use.

“Yunan!” Marcy yelled out in distress and swung at the beast, her laser scythe slicing the creature’s hardened hide and leaving a hideous gash, painful enough to make it let go of Yunan. Marcy hesitated a second to check on Yunan, but the General pointed out something with her finger “MARCY! BEHIND YOU!”

Marcy managed to turn around, just to be slammed to the ground by another caecilian, the warning giving the girl the chance to use her scythe to block the monster’s maw from tearing off her face “Get… off!” She grunted out, but the caecilian did not give any sign of wanting to heed the order.

As the two struggled, however, Marcy noticed something. Over their heads, there was a large rock formation, blackish rock with a familiar-looking texture.

Coal, she realized.

Coal, sulfur, saltpeter.

Black powder.

Well, if she had a nickel for each time- it wasn’t the time for references!

As she formulated a plan, Kettle slammed her axe into the caecilian that had Marcy pinned, shattering the handle, but managing to knock it off.

“I hope you have a plan, because we’re running out of options!” The small guard told Marcy before pulling out her crossbow and beginning to shoot at the nearest caecilian.

“I- I do actually!” Marcy answered “I’ll need some firepower, though!”

Kettle pulled out a couple of Boomshrooms out of a pouch and tossed them at Marcy “They’re all I have, you better make good use of them!”

“I will!” Marcy said, holding out a thumb, before looking out for the last piece of the hail mary plan that was forming in her mind “I just need…” Her eyes settled on Yunan and the giant caecilian she was battling, with only one set of blades, as the other had been broken in the monstrous creature “some elevation!”

“HEY, GREAT BLIND AND UGLY!” She yelled out, managing to get its attention “COME TAKE A PIECE OF THIS!”

The monster did not need any further beckoning and it lunged at the human even as Yunan raged at its underlings who had come to protect their leader.

Marcy jumped into the air as well, getting to the monster’s head before slapping a primed Boomshroom on it.

“Boom baby!” She commented right before the explosive went off, sending her towards the cave’s ceiling. Her scythe was rapidly extracted and the teen stabbed its laser blade on the rock, hooking her on the coal formation.

The giant caecilian, barely fazed by the small grenade, didn’t relent and it sprung towards the ceiling and its prey.

Marcy’s scythe cutting into the rock had weakened it, though, the cracks spreading at every small movement. In the few seconds she had, Marcy slammed the last Boomshroom on the rock and jumped off, removing the scythe and using her cape as a makeshift parachute to glide away from the giant caecilian and the large piece of rock that, finally broke over and fell right in the monster’s jaw and onto the mound.

Marcy landed and turned towards Yunan and Kettle “GO, GO, GO!” She yelled out “EVERYTHING’S ABOUT TO BLOW!”

Yunan wasted no time in grabbing Kettle and following Marcy as fast as her legs allowed her to into the nearest tunnel, getting into it just as the Boomshroom exploded, triggering the makeshift gunpowder that had been caused by the large piece of coal falling on top of the sulfur and saltpeter.

The explosion rocked the ground and the cave collapsed, taking with it the caecilians and making the mission officially a success, even if one pulled off by sheer luck.

So why did Marcy have a horrible feeling about what was going to happen?

It took hours to navigate themselves out of the barbariants’ nest, and when the trio returned to the city, charred and exhausted, the sun was low on the horizon, barely touching the sea and coating the sky of scarlet and yellow. The sparrow and the falcon flew over the walls at breakneck speed, almost blowing off the guards patrolling its top, and touched the ground before the palace at the same time.

Immediately, General Yunan, still covered in caecilian bodily fluids, jumped out of her bird, landing on her injured leg and grimacing, letting out a muffled grunt of pain.

“General Yunan!” Marcy called out, in a worried tone. “Are you okay?”

“I’m al-I’m fine, Marcy” Yunan tried to reassure Marcy “I don’t have time to change, I have to go now, I hope Lady Ol-”

“General Yunan.” The voice of Lady Olivia interrupted them. Both Marcy and Yunan turned and found the light blue newt dressed in a very elegant black dress, a black see-through veil covering half of her face and the slightly smudged make up around her eyes. 

“L-Lady Olivia!” Yunan exclaimed, looking more frightened now than she had ever looked in the caecilians’ den “I can- I mean, there’s- I can explain!”

Olivia simply looked at the other newt with a pained expression “I know you can. I’m just… I thought… I need some time.”

With that, Olivia walked past them and into the palace, all the while Yunan tried and failed to muster up any words.

As the doors to the palace closed, Marcy walked up to Yunan, who had the saddest heartbroken face the girl had ever seen on her. “What… what happened?” Marcy whispered, almost scared by the answer.

Yunan sighed “Today’s…today’s the anniversary of when Olivia’s mother died”

A gaping pit formed into Marcy’s stomach as those words sank in. “What?” She asked, her brain trying to refuse to process what she thought had happened.

“At the time, I had just returned from the Sand Wars” Yunan went on “Olivia and I were becoming fast friends and everything seemed fine, but then… her mother got sick. The King took care of her as she died and I… took care of Olivia. She… did not take her death well. So much that… she couldn’t even attend the funeral” Yunan’s voice, usually full of boastful energy and confidence, was wavering and feeble as she told the story “Since that day, I promised her I… would accompany her to her mother’s grave each year, on the day of her death, a promise I kept for…” The newt’s voice finally broke and she shook her head, as if in denial.

“I…” Marcy whispered, one hand over her mouth in horror at what she had done “I didnt… I didn’t know

“I…” Yunan finally managed to speak again as she took a step forward, leaving Marcy behind “I need to speak to her.” The first step was followed by a second one as Yunan followed Olivia into the palace, leaving Marcy right on the entrance and Kettle still on Joe Sparrow.

The teenager made no sign of intending to do anything, frozen in place, until Kettle got down from Joe Sparrow, the sound of her feet impacting the ground shaking Marcy out of her trance. 

The girl turned to face the small newt “O-Okay, we can still solve this! We can- we can…”

“I…” Kettle spoke up, the first words since they had left the caecilians’ nest “I don’t know if I want to be your friend anymore, Marcy”

The girl froze again, a shocked expression on her face “…what?” She squealed out, her voice faint and desperate.

“You’re… you’re not a good friend.” Kettle explained herself. “You said you wanted to help the General and me, but when we both told you we didn’t want your help, you still went on. Because it wasn’t about us, it was about yourself. You wanted to help us and that mattered more than any of us.’

“No, no, I just…” Marcy tried to justify herself, to find an excuse, any excuse, but she came up with nothing.

Without any further words, Kettle left as well, leaving Marcy alone before the palace’s gates.

When, at last, the sun submerged itself under the sea and darkness fell over the city, Marcy found herself at a bench in the city’s park, a spot Lady Olivia had shown her. She didn’t remember at all how she had ended up there, her feet had taken her while her brain was too preoccupied with its inner turmoil to care.

In the half distance, in the light of the gas streetlights that began to spring to life, she could see a deserted swing set, not that different from the one where she and Anne had met Sasha for the first time. Even after all those years, she could still remember the fuzzy feeling that had invaded her chest that time and all the times after.

What was more hazy was exactly when that fuzzy feeling had disappeared. She still loved Sasha, but as her mind recalled those moments, the absence of that feeling of absolute trust and happiness that her second oldest friend had generated in her was ever more so evident in the more recent memories. 

“You’re not a good friend.”

Those had been Kettle’s words. They were true. She… had let herself be caught up. She had been so concerned with helping Yunan and Kettle that… that she had forgotten she was supposed to help them.

She had done exactly what Sasha would have, after all.

Marcy was laying down on an iron bench, focused on her Sonyntendo Swap and the game she was playing on it, the pressing of buttons by now synchronized to the thumping of the basketball Sasha was playing with just a few meters from her.

Click click click thump click click click thump click click click…

When the sound of the ball slamming against the concrete of the deserted schoolyard abruptly stopped and did not show signs of stopping Marcy put her game on pause and turned to see what the issue was. Had that jerk Jake returned? The guy had not taken kindly to Sasha breaking up with him via Anne and took any and all opportunities to come and bother them.

But the basketball field was deserted, save for Sasha and her. Unfortunately, it was Monday and Anne had tennis lessons, so it was just the two of them.

Speaking of Sasha, the girl had left the basketball on the ground and had silently approached Marcy, sitting on the bench next to Marcy’s just as the latter took notice of her.

“How are you doing, Mar Mar?” Sasha asked, a smile on her face.

Marcy shrugged as she sat up “Eh. Game’s good, but hard,” 

“Surely it’s no match for your epic gamer skills!” The blond kid said, smirking confidently.

Marcy smiled right back, putting down her handheld device to shoot a couple of finger guns at her friend “Of course!”

They both laughed a bit at that, then Sasha went on “So, Mar Mar, what do you say we’re going to do tomorrow?”

Marcy was a bit confused for half a second, before her brain remembered. Tomorrow was Anne’s birthday! She usually was pretty bad at remembering dates, but her two best friends’ birthdays were the ones she’d never forget. “Well, I’ve still not found a gift for Anne” She admitted, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, of course, she had spent hours upon hours trying to come up with the right gift, the issue was that she just couldn’t find anything that was good enough for her oldest friend!

‘Seriously, the perfect gift would have to be out of this world!’ She couldn’t help but think. “So I think I’m going to spend to try and find one in the afternoon”

Sasha rolled her eyes “That’s our Mar Mar, always with her head in the clouds. Hey, I am not complaining, it just means more Anne for me!”

The black haired teen raised an eyebrow “Don’t you and Anne have class tomorrow afternoon?”

The other girl blew her off with a hand gesture “Pfft, you think Anne and I are going to waste time in class on her birthday? I’ll just find an excuse to skip it.”

Marcy almost objected to that, Anne for sure did not need to skip more classes, her grades were already bad enough, but she bit her tongue. Sasha knew better, it was Anne’s birthday, after all!

Plus, if Anne needed private lessons, it could give her a valid excuse to have her over. It had been some time since the last time she and Anne had had some time for themselves.

“Say, Mar Mar, if you didn’t come up with a gift, couldn’t you pick up something for me as well?”

“You… didn’t get her a gift too?” Marcy asked, a bit confused. Sasha was usually more considerate, even if this wasn’t exactly out of character for the more chaos-prone teen.

Sasha shrugged “Didn’t have time. These last few weeks I’ve been shuffled between my parents’ houses like a deck of cards.”

The blonde flicked her hair and flashed a grin to her friend “Plus, ain’t I enough of a gift?”

“Anyhow,” She continued “I was thinking, you find her something nice, get it and join Anne and me. We give it as a gift from the both of us and we’re good!” She gave Marcy a wink “Be sure to get something cool, nerd!”

Marcy chuckled a bit at the last remark and nodded “Will do! Should have enough change for something nice…”

“Don’t worry” Sasha reassured her “If you pay for the gift, your boba and everything for the evening will be on me”

“For the evening? What do you mean?”

“Our evening out, duh!” Sasha explained like it was obvious “I mean, it’s Anne’s 13th birthday! You only get one of those, we better party !”

“Well, technically you only turn an age once every time” Marcy pointed out “And Anne’s parents are arranging a party tomorrow evening. They needed some help setting it up and-”

“Wait, what!” The other teen exclaimed “Ugh, frigging un-be-lievable! Parents are the worst!” She loudly protested.

Marcy chuckled at that “Aw, c’mon Sash! It’s not going to be that bad. Mr and Mrs Boonchuy are great and you know it. Plus we still get to spend time with Anne, it can’t be all that bad.”

Marcy’s attempt at convincing her friend did not seem to have the effect she wished for, given how Sasha’s eyes seemed to get that weird glint they had when the blonde was dead set on something. “Mar Mar, we’re Anne’s best friends. We ’re the people who care the most about her. She’s not a kid anymore, she should spend her birthday with us, not at some lame childish party.” She smirked proudly, causing Marcy to gulp discreetly in unease “Luckily for her, I’m a master charmer. I’m gonna finesse her into spending the afternoon with us, then the afternoon will become evening and bam! Best birthday ever!”

Marcy rubbed the back of her head in discomfort “S-Sash, I don’t think that’s… right, you kn-”

Sasha cut off the other teen by putting her hands on Marcy’s shoulders, forcing Marcy to look her in the eyes “Marcy. Sometimes you gotta do these sorts of things, for your friends. She’s going to thank us when we’re done, you know that.”

“B-but-” Marcy tried to weakly protest, but she was cut off once more.

“End. Of. Discussion.” Sasha spelled every word with force, leaving no room for disagreement or negotiation, her eyes narrowing menacingly as shadows were cast on her face.

Marcy nodded and Sasha smiled in satisfaction, giving Marcy space after she had closed in.

Marcy let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding in. “I-I’ll get the gift and join you two, then”

Sasha smiled a tooth-rotting sweet smile as she gave Marcy a pat on the back that made Marcy shyly smile back “That’s the spirit! That’s what friends do. They help each other, by any way possible”

“I’m not done yet! I’ll never give up! No matter what!”

“That’s what friends do. They help each other, by any way possible”

Those two sentences played out in her mind, so similar yet so different, in context, in message, in everything. 

She remembered the fuzzy feeling Sasha had used to create in her and she remembered the cold dread she had begun to stir up ever so often, whenever things weren’t going her way, and the all too saccharine smile she conjured up afterwards, which left an aftertaste of fakeness when compared to the older feeling created by a kid hopelessly trying to defend two other kids she had never met before, without expecting nothing in exchange.

Her questioning of everything she had thought true in her life, however, was interrupted, by a polite cough. Marcy, whose gaze had sunk to the floor as her mind had begun delving ever deeper, looked up and, as she saw the armor of the Night Guard, for a brief second she hoped it was Kettle, who had returned so that she could make amends.

But it was too big, too weathered by years of use to be Kettle’s and her hopes were quickly dashed as the figure before her revealed itself to be Lord Commander Luther.

For a moment neither of them spoke.

Then, the newt coughed once more in his hand “Chief Ranger Marcy.” He saluted her with a curt nod.

Once he realized he was not going to receive a come back, he continued. “I have caught wind of your quest’s success. I had not suspected caecilians to be the disturbance, if that can excuse me. However, you managed to pull out victory out of that hopeless situation” The green and black salamander scoffed “I guess Andrias was once more correct in entrusting everything to a kid, somehow.”

“That being said,” Luther went on, “I will make due on my end of the bargain. General Yunan will be soon added to the Night Guard and Kettle will be free to audition as a Ranger. Honestly, that girl was not subtle with her trying to nudge me into making her one.”

Another moment of silence followed, as the Lord Commander had run out of things to say and Marcy still remained catatonic. None broke it, so Marcy let her head sink once more and, when she heard Luther’s footsteps, she assumed it was him leaving.

It was with surprise and just a bit of annoyance that the newt sitting down beside her was met. 

“Do you want to know why I didn’t put Kettle into the Rangers, even if I knew that she would have flourished there?” He asked and, even if Marcy did not acknowledge him, her posture did get stiffer for a second, which the newt evidently took as an encouragement to go on. “From what I could gather from Kettle and… a few friends in the palace guards, I could say that my reasoning is the same as the one that has you here, having a minor breakdown.”

That did get some more of Marcy’s attention. The girl slightly turned her head, angling it so that she could see Luther.

“I suppose Kettle told you about her parents and their untimely demise, yes?” The newt’s expression got slightly wistful “They were some of my best Rangers. It was not really a great surprise that they had entrusted me with raising their newtling. I raised her as best as I could, but when the time came for her to become a full-fledged member of the Guard… I panicked. I didn’t want her to meet the same end as her parents, so I put her in the Stewards.” The newt let out a chuckle “I can see how that went wrong. The lass has got spunk, I can give her that.”

“The same thing happened with Yunan. She was the best applicant I had ever seen, that much was undeniable. She was also just a teen and we were about to go to war. I didn’t want to send a child on the battlefield and that also backfired.” Luther sighed “Point is… I get it. Sometimes you want to help, but you end up hurting those you wanted to help.”

“…what if she’s really… bad?” Marcy whispered, more talking to herself than to Luther, but still voicing her thoughts so that the newt could hear.

The Lord Commander tilted his head, confused and with the impression of missing crucial context “What do you mean?”

“When I devised the plan to get Kettle in the Rangers and you to respect Yunan, when I convinced them to go along and challenged you and when I strong-armed them into continuing the mission, I always asked myself “What would Sasha do?”. I thought that, if I did what one of the people I looked up to the most, my second oldest friend, would do, I couldn’t go wrong, that I would help them the same way she helped me and Anne, look out for them the same way she looked out for us, be as good of a friend for them as she was for us.”

Because, if that wasn’t true, if Sasha really was a bad friend, if some ways of nelping were off the table… what would that make of Marcy?

She had taken Anne and Sasha away. She had done what was necessary, but 

“…if this Sasha behaves as you did, perhaps she isn’t that good of a friend.” The newt tentatively stated.

“No!” Marcy protested, only to immediately backtrack “I mean, yes! I- I don’t… I don’t know.”

“Sasha’s… great. She’s good, she cares about us, I know she does” She had to. She couldn’t even consider the idea that she didn’t, she wouldn’t! “It’s just… she sometimes goes too far.”

“Then what was that about you being ‘as bad as her’?” Luther asked.

“Because I helped her” Marcy said, the words rolling out of her mouth all at once. “All the times she forced Anne to do things she didn’t want to do, every time she threatened her, I… let her.”

“I went along with it, even when I thought it wouldn’t be the right thing to do. I helped her and, when push came to shove, I did exactly what she did. Doesn’t that mean that I really thought that what she did was… right? That the only reason I wasn’t a bad friend to Anne was because I didn’t have the chance?”

A moment of silence passed, as both the newt and the human thought about what had been said, until, finally, Luther spoke once more “I… understand that this Sasha is a… close friend to you.”

Marcy’s lips curved upwards ever so slightly as a single bittersweet chuckle escaped her lips and her mind replayed many memories of her girls, the two reasons she had abandoned everything she had ever known. “Oh, she’s much more than that.” She whispered. It was true, of course. She could never grow to hate Sasha, not even if she stabbed her in the chest. She had been one of her first friends, one of the only people she could turn to for help when things were bad. “And that’s… scary. Does that make a bad person?”

Something cold found its place on her back and, when the teen looked to see what it had been, she found that Luther had put an arm on her back. “From what I have seen, it does not. General Yunan is many things, but, as much as I can call her that in our squabbles, she is not a fool. I saw how she treated you and, believe me, if you were a bad person, she would not have basically adopted you.”

Marcy smiled at that, before her expression morphed again into a frown “…perhaps it would have been better if she didn’t.”

The Lord Commander’s made an understanding noise. “Because of the whole… Olivia thing?”

“Your informers are thorough, aren’t they?” Marcy asked, a sad laugh accompanying her voice.

“Hey, the job of Lord Commander comes with a few perks. Having some of the best informers around is one” Luther boasted, his posture as he did reminding Marcy of Yunan, for some reason, before he slumped down slightly “Some years of experience is another.” He sighed “I’ve been in your shoes before, kid. I was… not the best kind of person. I hurt someone important to me as well and when I understood what I did… I left her. I’ve regretted it ever since.”

“But what can I do?” Marcy asked, her hands closed into fists and her nails digging into her palms “My friends… they’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And… it’s all a lie. I’ve only ever hurt Anne and I’ve only ever helped Sasha do that to her. Perhaps that’s why I never had other friends before coming to Amphibia. Because I’m a bad friend.” Her fists unclenched and her hands went to her face, her nails finding new prey in her face. “How can I be a good friend to Yunan, to Olivia, to Andrias if I screwed up so much with Anne and Sasha? Will I… just hurt them? Even more?”

“…I don’t have an answer to that” Luther finally admitted “I’m just a soldier, I’m not good with feelings. But I guess just asking your friends here wouldn’t work.”

Marcy shook her head slowly “The King would just reassure me and I don’t deserve that. And Olivia and Yunan…” She wiped her eyes with a hand “I’ve already hurt them too much.”

“I’m the next best thing, then.” Luther sighed “Let’s give it a shot. You told me that you care about this Sasha. Are you sure she feels the same?”

Marcy nodded with no hesitation. Not a second went between the question and her gesture, showing the newt just how certain she was of her second oldest friend. 

Yet… somewhere, deep down, she couldn’t help but harbor doubt. It would be so easy, wouldn’t it? To say that Sasha used her and Anne for her own gain and desire for power and nothing else, to distance herself from Sasha, to say that what Sasha did was wrong but she was different.

It would be so easy. It would absolve her, completely, all it would cost was her friend.

She refused. Even if it meant that she had been a bad friend, she wouldn’t give up on that kid that had thrown herself in the fray for two complete strangers. 

“If this Sasha realized she had wronged you and this ‘Anne’, which I assume is a friend of yours as well, and she ran from you two, to not hurt you anymore, wouldn’t you want her to come back to you? Even after all she did?”

Marcy was many things, many of which were negative. Clumsy, airheaded, sometimes spineless. But she was not stupid. “I… see where you are getting at” She conceded, eliciting a little proud smirk in the Lord Commander. Marcy wiped her last tears with the back of her hand and chuckled “I gotta say, you told you were not good with these sort of things, but you were better than me for sure”

Luther returned the chuckle, though his was tinged with a hint of sadness. “Oh, believe me, I’m useless at this sort of thing, normally. I just… well, let’s just say I had time to think this over.”

Marcy turned around to give a confused look at the newt, but then shook her head “Enough wallowing then.” She declared as she got up “There’s people I care about and I have to help them. For real, this time.” 

The human was about to depart, when she paused and looked back at the newt, still sitting on the bench. “Uhm, could you… not tell anyone about… well, everything?” She made an awkward laugh “I’m pretty sure that Lady Olivia, Yunan and Andrias would not react positively.” Her head turned toward the city wall, the flooded plain that surrounded Newtopia all she could see before the horizon, her friends hidden somewhere beyond it. “And… I should be the one to deal with this” She somberly concluded.

Luther nodded “Don’t worry, kiddo. As long as you don’t tell anyone I helped ya. I have a rivalry with General Yunan to maintain, after all.”

The girl mimicked the newt’s gesture before running away, towards the palace.

Luther decided to remain seated just for a bit longer. He let out a long drawn breath. He had been forging that kind of speech for years now, hadn’t he? What was it now, twenty, thirty? He didn’t remember. All he knew was that those were the words he should have heard, all those years ago.

A hand reached down his armored gorget and pulled out a small medallion, a golden shell with a beautiful blue butterfly on the front. He opened it and looked at the young couple in the small painting, a black and green newt and a blue one, hunched over his poor attempt at pottery.

“I guess I did do something right, after all.” Luther said as he closed the locket and got up. There was still much that the Lord Commander had to do, first of all moving Kettle to the Rangers and adding General Yunan to the records. As he thought about the pink newt, he couldn’t help but sigh. “Let’s just hope she does a better job with helping our daughter than I did.”

“Olivia, I am… I am sorry, really”

The light blue newt sighed and leaned more into the pink one, the smaller amphibian fitting perfectly in the bigger newt’s side “I know, Yun. It’s just… even after all this time, it’s still so hard”

Yunan smiled slightly as the noble newt called her by her pet name and spoke freely. It was not a side she displayed often to newts that were not herself or Andrias “I can’t say I understand” She said softly, still blunt as a cloth-encased sledgehammer even as she tried to be gentle “I… never had people to rely on.” Thoughts of the mother that had died when she was little and the father she had never met were rapidly dispelled. She was General Yunan, she wouldn’t let herself be weak when she was trying to help Olivia! “I can’t know how it feels to have someone to depend on and then suddenly have no one to rely on.” Yunan lifted a hand and put it on Olivia’s arm. When she saw that she didn’t object to that, she continued “But I will help, however I can.”

A small smile formed on Olivia’s lips. “I did have someone to rely on after her.” She whispered as she suppressed a teary chuckle “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but you give yourself too little credit, General Yunan. Even after my mother’s passing, I could always rely on you. Which… made today just that bit worse.”

“Liv… I…”

“For a second, I thought I had no one.” Olivia sighed “And I know that you were simply late, that it was important business and that I’m being as silly as Andrias, but-”

The light blue newt never got the chance to end her sentence, as she was enveloped in a bear hug by Yunan. “Never say anything like that, milady.” She chastised Olivia. “You are the most serious and responsible person I know. You deserve to have someone you can lean on, particularly when you do that for, well, almost everyone. Seriously, I firmly believe either Andrias or I would have burned down the kingdom without you.” Yunan laughed before releasing Olivia “And… I’d be honored if I could be that person.”

“I’d be as well, General.” Olivia answered as she leant once more into her side. “You know, you are getting pretty good at this sort of thing. First with Marcy, now with me. If Andrias ever turns out to be evil, we’ll have to rely on you to talk him down” She brought her hand to her mouth and chuckled into it “Or kick his ass, most likely.”

“Oh, uhm, well, thanks? I guess?” Yunan answered, suddenly flustered at Olivia’s praise, both because she wasn’t unsure if discussing her potential takedown of the King was or wasn’t treason and, of course, because of the newt the praise was coming from. “I guess I’m just good at this.”

The two remained like that for a good minute, before Yunan spoke again, a sly smirk on her face “Actually, I guess there is a reason. Wanna know why?”

Olivia, guessing what the other newt wanted to say, rolled her eyes, but continued smiling as she entertained Yunan’s antics “Why?”

Yunan’s smirk turned into a full blown mad grin as she shot up to her feet, nearly causing Olivia to fall down. The pink newt struck a pose “For I am GENERAL YUNAN! SCOURGE OF THE SAND WA-”

Yunan’s speech, however, was cut short as the door to Olivia’s room was opened and in came Marcy Wu.

“Marcy!” Yunan greeted her almost immediately, realizing at the same time that she probably needed to swiftly deliver a kick to her face. She’d been so concerned with Olivia that she had forgotten about the human. Frog, she was an idiot! The girl put herself in danger because Andrias hadn’t let her adventure, she was lucky Marcy hadn’t started a crusade to hunt down tomes of magic to resurrect Olivia’s mother!

The human hesitated for a moment, then nodded to herself and stepped towards Lady Olivia, a determined expression on her face.

Only to fall on her knees at the foot of the bed the blue newt was sitting on and begin ugly crying while begging incoherently.

“Please Lady Olivia don’t be mad at General Yunan it was my fault don’t break up with her it was all my fault I was trying to help but I only hurt you and Yunan please Lady Olivia please”

The light blue newt had been taken aback, first because of Marcy’s sudden appearance then by the human’s rant, so dense that she could hardly get a word of her own in, drowned by the human’s torrent of words, but she managed to shake herself out of it. “Master Marcy, what are you talking about?” Olivia asked, confused about what Marcy was saying.

That did seem to take Marcy somewhat unprepared “I- well, I wanted to- I caused all of this, because I wanted to help, but I still did and I don’t want you two to have a fallout because of me! They already made too many of them and, frankly? They peaked at-”

“Wait, a fallout?" Olivia said, confused, before realizing what the human was talking about and sighing in relief “Master Marcy, it wasn’t anything like that”

“It… wasn’t?” 

“I was upset, yes, but I wasn’t angry at Yunan” Olivia explained “She’s done much worse, after all. Like, you know, kidnapping you”

“I would like to point out that that worked out, in the end!” Yunan said, only to earn a death stare by Olivia. She rapidly corrected herself “Buuut it was still wrong and I would like to apologize once again?”

Satisfied with Yunan’s answer, Olivia looked once more at Marcy and smiled at the girl. “You haven’t caused anything bad, sweetheart, and I won’t hear any of it.”

“…I still feel bad for making Yunan miss… you know”

Even if Marcy avoided mentioning the fact that had sparked all of it, Olivia’s expression saddened slightly “Well, I suppose that you could make up for it. If next year you’re still here, you could come with me and Yunan. Mother would love meeting you.”

Marcy’s mouth was agape at what Olivia had just suggested “Lady Liv…” She managed to say, tearfully, before bringing the newt in for a hug “I would love to.”

But, as Yunan joined in the hug, something still gnawed away at Marcy’s insides, a question she didn’t know the answer to.

There was only one person, she realized, that could possibly know it.

Andrias sat on his throne. Once more it was the middle of night and he scarcely doubted he was the only one awake in the palace.

After Marcy and Yunan had departed, he had locked himself away, knowing that this day of all days Lady Olivia would not bother him. 

Preparations for the invasion had to be made, after all, and he had put them off for far too long. The energy reserves were growing scarce and many of the factories needed to be checked upon to see if they had lasted a millennium. 

A faint sound of footsteps gained his attention and the newt monarch blinked, dispelling the orange mental screens in his mind, allowing him to see, standing in the doorway with little more than her head peeking out, none other than the champion of Wit, Marcy Wu.

“Master Marcy?” He asked and he checked his internal clock, finding out that, yes, it was an obscenely late hour of the night “What are you doing up?”

“I… couldn’t sleep” Marcy whispered, her expression saddened and her eyes defeated, still on the door, as if she was unsure of whether she was allowed in. “Can we talk?”

Immediately Andrias got up, postponing the preparations. “Certainly, Marcy” He reassured her as he quickly crossed the room and picked up the girl like he had done that night, when they had their little sleepover.

He sat down back on his throne and looked at the girl, who was now perched on his knee “So, what bothers you, Master Marcy?” 

“…you talked about your friends. Your… bad friends.” She slightly winced as she gave the moniker to Barrel and Leif “Did you know they were bad friends?”

A heavy feeling manifested in Andrias’ chest. “I didn’t” He answered truthfully “I thought they were the best friends I could have asked for. The only friends I ever had and the only ones I would have ever wished for” Andrias only realized how hurt he sounded when he finished the sentence.

Marcy did not look any better, somehow even more downcast than when she had come in.

“But they didn’t deserve it.” Andrias stated, with all the certainty he could muster, for Marcy and for himself. They betrayed him, they didn’t deserve mourning and they definitely didn’t deserve to have Marcy hurt over them “I might have thought otherwise, but they were bad friends.”

That didn’t seem to cheer Marcy up, though, leaving Andrias somewhat unsure.

“Is… there a reason you ask me this, Marcy?”

“…what if my friends were like yours?” Marcy asked, after a second of hesitation.

If Andrias still had a heart, it would have briefly stopped beating.

He had considered the possibility, of course. One thousand years of resentment over Leifa and Barrel had made him rather skeptical of any ‘true friendship’. They were lies, more often than not. He had only been confirmed in his suspicion that night, the same night when Marcy had begun to, somehow, find a way into his heart. It had been the catalyst, after all. Seeing how she was so similar to him, so dependent on ‘friends’ that did not care for her, had only confirmed his suspicion.

Yet, after spending time with Marcy, after hearing about how caring Anne was and protective Sasha was and after he had discovered that Marcy was not blameless herself, he had almost forgotten that.

“What makes you think that?” He asked, as calm as he could be.

The human answered to the newt with a question of her own. “If someone says she wants to help a friend, but does it only for herself and hurts a friend because of it, is she a bad friend?”

Memories played in front of Andrias’ eyes, his mind showing him his greatest mistake, bit by bit. How Leif had claimed the box would bring Amphibia’s doom, how she had tried to manipulate him and, when that hadn’t worked, she had taken the box.

Andrias tried not to show any sign of his anger at the memories and at the fact that, if Marcy had asked him that, she too had the same happen to her.  He managed not snarl or to let his righteous indignation taint his voice, but, unnoticed by Marcy, his free hand gripped the armrest of his throne with enough strength to shatter stone.

“She is.” He stated, his voice sure and unwavering masquerading his fury at his treacherous friends and at whoever had hurt his Marcy.

That too did not seem to cheer up the human. “Then…” she whispered, her voice tiny and almost frightened “Am I a bad friend?”

That confused Andrias, but before he got a chance to question what Marcy had meant by that, she explained it, unprompted.

“I kidnapped them. I thought it was for our good, but… does that make me a bad friend?”

“No.” There was no hesitation this time, no reflection, nothing, something that surprised the both of them.

But in the end, was it all that surprising?, Andrias asked himself. He knew that Marcy had betrayed her friends, he knew that she had done to them what Leif had done to him, but in the end, there was something different.

“You are nothing like my fr… like Leif and Barrel” Andrias explained himself. “They betrayed me, tricked me and used me and you have done something similar to your friends. Yes, perhaps they justified it to themselves as ‘the greater good’, even if they hurt someone who loved them dearly, like you have done. But, while they left me there, while they used me and threw me away, you regretted it.” Andrias smiled “I was there, in your room. I saw how you suffered for what you did and, with a bit of help, you agreed to make things right.”

The great newt sighed deeply “I… don’t know if they would have done the same and I don’t think they would have.”

Tears flowed from Marcy’s eyes, too big for a tiny thing like Marcy was. They were, however, different from the ones that Andrias has seen stain her face again and again. He knew right away that they were tears of happiness.

“Thank you Andrias” Marcy whispered, her voice almost overtaken by emotion.

“Oh, it was nothing, kiddo” Andrias answered with a chuckle “Say, you look pretty tired and I’m pretty sure that Lady Olivia would kill me if she discovered I let you stay awake this late. Wanna sleep in my pocket?” He asked, opening the pocket Marcy had climbed in the first time they had met “I had it padded since last time, just for you.”

“Well, how can I say no to that?” Marcy said as she quickly climbed the giant newt and snuggled in the padded pocket “G’night Andrias!” She told the King before rapidly dozing off, no doubt tired by her long day.

Andrias chuckled softly, to avoid waking her up, before returning to his work. Before long, however, one report was brought to his attention by the other being sharing his mind.

It was a report about a fugitive toad, Captain Grime, former commander of the Toad Tower in Frog Valley. It wasn’t him that caught his attention, though. It was the mention of a bizarre creature that had apparently become his second in command, a tall thing with lanky limbs and blonde hair.

‘Another human’ the Core whispered in Andrias’ mind.

“Sasha Waybright” Andrias corrected them. From Marcy’s stories and the description, it couldn’t be anyone else but one of Marcy’s friends.

‘That matters not.’ The voices snarled ‘She is a potential threat, particularly if she associates with a member of that treacherous race. Since you exiled that friend of yours, toads have given us nothing but trouble. This one will be no different, even worse with one of the champions of the stones on his side. What do you want to do about her?’

Andrias knew he could argue for this girl’s life, that, much like Marcy, she was just a child, who hadn’t asked for any of this, and someone Marcy cared about.

But as he looked down to the girl peacefully sleeping in his pocket, as he remembered her earlier words and as thoughts of the human’s blonde hair morphed into Leif’s, he discovered he did not want to do that.

“I will have her taken care of.” Andrias promised “Permanently.”

Chapter Text

Once again, the ancient city of Newtopia was enveloped in darkness. The buzzing metropolis mostly slept, the few that still were awake either working in their houses by the light of a candle or walking in the streets illuminated by the streetlights.

At its center, on a small hill that hid things from another age and other worlds in its bowels, stood the Royal Palace, where no lights shone save for the ones the guards needed and, for once, even King Andrias Leviathan, sitting in his throne, slept a dreamless sleep.

Not that far from the throne room, in one of the Palace’s towers, was the room of one of the first otherworldly beings to visit Amphibia in a thousand years. Its occupant, Marcy Wu of Earth, slept as well, quietly, for once.

So deep was her sleep that she didn’t notice when something opened the door to her room and slinked in.

Unnoticed by the unconscious human, the tiny figure walked sneakily towards the bed, graceful steps on the carpet making no noise, climbed on top of the bed and prepared to make her move.

Marcy was jolted to awareness as the figure put a hand on her shoulder. She immediately opened her eyes and saw, towering over her, the intruder.

Without missing a beat Marcy smiled and gingerly greeted the newt “Oh, hi Lady Olivia”

Lady Olivia, dressed in a light pink nightgown and fuzzy pink slippers, stood atop Marcy’s bed, looking a bit confused by the human’s words and attitude “Uh.” She said “I… expected you to be a bit more surprised, honestly.”

Marcy got up to a sitting position, her gigantic size relative to Lady Olivia meaning that, even if Olivia was standing and she was sitting, they were pretty much on eye level. The human shrugged “Eh. I already had Yunan sneak into my room while I was sleeping before and even Andrias snuck in. I was waiting for you to do it as well, honestly.”

“Andrias?” Olivia asked. She knew about Yunan sneaking in, how could she forget the ‘Pirate King’ incident, but this was new.

The girl let out a small awkward laugh to dismiss Olivia’s concern “It was after the… Flipwart thing. Nothing important. Anyways, what’s the matter Lady Liv? You need Master Marcy’s help at…” Marcy picked up her phone from her nightstand and checked the time “2 AM. Hey, it’s not so bad, I’ve pulled worse all-nighters.”

Olivia noticed instantly Marcy’s blatant attempt to shift the conversation away from her late night talk with the King. She had way too much experience with Andrias using the same strategy ( ‘Your Majesty, why are the throne room tapestries on fire!?’ ‘Oh, Lady Olivia, I was just… trying out some fireworks! By the way, new hairstyle? It suits you!’ ) to fall for Marcy using it. Even if she did, however, she decided not to pry. She had had half a mind to give Andrias a good talk about what had happened at the tournament the morning after the incident, but, when Marcy had woken up the following day, the two had gone back to their usual goofy antics, so she had figured that Andrias had somehow worked it out and that was all that mattered. If Marcy didn’t feel like talking about it, she wouldn’t pry.

“I would advise against going to bed that late.” She took the bait and felt good about it as Marcy’s stance got slightly more relieved. “If human biology is anything like newt biology, and I’m pretty sure it is in this matter, you are still a growing girl and need your sleep.”

Marcy chortled at that “No, I don’t mean going to sleep at 2 AM!” She said, chuckling and waving her hand in a dismissive manner. “My parents would kill me if I did that, on a school night most of all! I simply went to bed, got my good three, four hours of sleep and got all night to read and game!” She bent over and extracted a can of Zap-O-Rade from under the bed “Plus, Andrias showed me you guys have energy drinks as well! These babies can keep me going for days !”

Olivia breathed deeply as she smothered her inner desire to smother a certain 20 feet tall millenary amphibian whose name started with ‘A’ and ended with ‘ndrias’ frogging ‘Leviathan’.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and you’re going to limit energy drinks, okay?” Olivia compromised “That stuff can’t be healthy.”

“Deal!” Marcy agreed “Now, let’s hear what you need!”

Olivia sighed “Alright. General Yunan asked me to come with her to a family reunion. Now, I know how this sounds, but I’m going to need you to not- aaaand you’re already doing it.”

As the light blue newt looked again in the human’s direction, she could hardly repress a sigh when she saw that, as expected, Marcy’s mouth had a toothy grin that was wide enough to probably be painful, her eyes had become cartoonishly large with ecstasy, her hands clenched in two fists right in front of her and she appeared to be vibrating.

“Oh man, oh man, oh MAN!” She squealed out, practically bouncing into place. “A Longclaw family reunion!? That’s going to be so AWESOME!”

“Marcy, darling, I know you’re excited and everything, but could you please use your inside voice? It’s 2 AM and people are trying to sleep.”

“Oh, right right.” Marcy said as she sat down again, still waving her closed fists around like crazy “It’s just… Yunan’s family reunion! She’s the coolest newt around and her sister took down a heron! I bet the rest of her family is super cool as well!” 

Olivia nodded “The General is pretty cool, as you say.”

Marcy looked like she was about to comment on Olivia finally using Andrias style ‘cool kidz lingo’, but then she suddenly stopped “Wait.” She said “Wait wait wait. Lady Olivia, do you think General Yunan’s going to invite me?”

The newt chuckled “Dear, I think that is not even worth questioning. She gushes over her ‘awesome apprentice that makes her an even awesomer mentor’ at each chance she gets. Just pretend to be surprised when she asks you.”

“Oh Frog, I’ll meet General Yunan’s family!” Marcy exclaimed in triumph, still managing to keep her voice hushed. She got up and went towards one of her room’s walls, pulling down a board filled with handwritten notes and small sketches linked together with red yarn “I’ll get to add some new lore to my Yunan board!”

Olivia chuckled in her hand at the human’s silliness “Of course you have one of those”

Marcy turned around with a speed that almost surprised Olivia “How couldn’t I? General Yunan’s so cool! She also shares a lot of her adventures and I jot down everything, I mean like everything!” She began pointing at different parts of her board as she continued ranting “Like, when two months into the war, after taking the stronghold of Macragge that blocked the only way into the desert she discovered that the toads of Ragnar the Wretched were venturing down ancient ruins, possibly to search for the ancient legendary legions of the Metal Toads of Absolute Doom or the Vorpal Laser Blaster of Pittenweem or even the fabled Heron Tiara of the Olm King! So, she chased after them to stop them, leaving her army behind and living in the caverns for months while she chased Ragnar’s scouts, defeating the Sword Lord of the Centipede Horde and ending the centuries long civil war to gain passage into the cave system where-”

“Marcy.” Olivia interrupted the teen “I don’t mind your rants, really, but for starters you still need to breathe.”

Marcy smiled awkwardly and rubbed the backs of her head “Whoops. Yeah, I do tend to forget that, sometimes.”

“No need to worry, dear” Olivia reassured the teen before continuing “And, I still need to tell you why I need your help.”

“Oh. Right, that!” Marcy laughed and lightly slapped herself on her forehead “Sorry, went on a bit of a side rant there. My brain works funny at times!” She rapidly returned to the bed and sat “So, Lady Liv, what do you need my help for?”

The newt shifted a bit, almost awkwardly “I’m not exactly… the most well accustomed person when it comes to… family matters. Frog, I barely have any ‘friendly’ interactions outside Yunan and Andrias. And you of course.”

“Aw, thanks Lady Liv!”

“Point is” the newt continued “I’d really like to make a good impression”

‘Ah, impressing the parents!’ Marcy thought ‘Key shipping material! Well, not exactly the parents, but still something!’

“Lady Olivia” Marcy proclaimed in a solemn tone as she stood up on the bed, her arm extended for added dramaticness “I promise I will do everything necessary to make General Yunan’s family -andalsoGeneralYunanbecauseyoutwowouldbesupercutetogether- absolutely love you!”

“I’m sorry, what was that last part?”

“No time to explain!” Marcy ignored Lady Olivia’s question “You woke me up pretty late, but I think we can still make it!”

“Pretty late?” Lady Olivia asked “It’s 2 AM and we aren’t leaving until late morning” 

“As I said, barely enough time!” Marcy insisted as she jumped down the bed and returned to her Yunan board “Still, if I squeeze the explanation a bit, we should be able to cover all of the Yunan lore I’ve gathered.”

“Master Marcy, I’m a pretty fast learner, I already know much about Yunan and that board is not that big, I’m sure-”

The human, who had looked confused for a second, suddenly began laughing “Oh, this is not the real ‘Yunan board’!” Before Lady Olivia could inquire further, the teen hit the wall with a fist, causing a number of boards, all filled to the brim with complex diagrams, flowcharts, notes and doodles of all kinds, to drop down “ This is the real Yunan lore board! Still missing bits and bobs here and there, but it’s a start!”

It would be a long night, Olivia realized as she began to regret her life decisions.

When morning finally came, Master Marcy happily waltzed down the stairs to the dining room, the crownlet Andrias had given her on her head for the big occasion, a spring in her step and looking perfectly rested. In tow, came Lady Olivia, looking like death personified after a long night of being lectured on everything Yunan.

“C’mon, Lady Olivia!” Marcy beckoned, walking backwards as she turned to face Lady Olivia “We’re almost late for breakfast!”

The newt made a sleepy sound of understanding and continued following the human, carried by the vague memory that Marcy was leading her to coffee.

As Marcy walked backwards, however, she stumbled into something. Before she could hit the ground, however, she was caught by two familiar arms.

“You should really watch where you’re going, Master Marcy!” Yunan warned her pupil as she chuckled, effortlessly picking up the much larger Marcy and putting her back on her feet “Still, you weigh a bit more. Have you been snacking?”

“Nope!” Marcy cheerfully, popping the p, before pulling back one of her sleeves, exposing the bicep, and flexing. “It’s all muscle, baby!” Announced the now less toothpick-armed teen.

“That’s my apprentice!” Yunan cheered her on. 

“‘u’an” Grunted Lady Olivia, who had by now finally arrived.

“AAAH!” General Yunan screamed as she jumped back at least ten meters, extracting her blades on one hand, while she used the other arm to sling Marcy over her shoulder “A Banshee of Lake Tay! You and your kind will never have me!”

“Uhm, General, that’s Lady Olivia” Marcy pointed out.

“Oh.” Yunan said as her brain rebooted for a second “Aha, Liv! I had mistaken you for a Banshee, one of those beautiful, graceful and majestic creatures!” Yunan tried to save herself with a big forced smile.

“Didn’t you say they were horrible creatures that terrified the meek and made the bold tear their own eyes out?”

“Be quiet, pupil” Yunan whispered to Marcy, still with the wide grin on her face.

“Oh my gosh, you called me your pupil!” Marcy exclaimed.

In her sleep-deprived state, Olivia couldn’t exactly tell why, but she took a deep sigh.

“So, Liv!” Yunan went on “You look pretty ba- I mean, not bad, you always look good, but you seem a bit… sleepy?”

“Oh, that’s because she didn’t get any sleep.” Marcy candidly admitted as she was let go from Yunan’s shoulder.

“Really?” Yunan asked, an eyebrow raised “That’s not usual for you, Liv. Particularly because of today.”

Not wanting Yunan to find out why Lady Olivia had stayed up all night, Marcy butted in “Uhm, what happens today?”

“Oh, right, still have to ask you” Yunan mumbled as Marcy rejoiced at having successfully distracted her “Today’s the annual Longclaw family meeting and I would really like for everyone to meet my kid. I mean,my apprentice, who is also a kid.” 

Marcy began hopping in place “Oh Frog, oh Frog, oh FROG!” She exclaimed “I know I knew it already, but hearing it from you is so much cooler!”

Yunan crooked her head slightly “What do you mean you knew it already?”

“Oh, uhm, ah, I, oh, I am really surprised!” Marcy deadpanned “I had no idea that this family reunion existed or that you were going to ask me to come, definitely! I am shocked, surprised and shocked! Did I say I was surprised yet? Because I am! Definitely!”

“Ah, okay” Yunan nodded “So, you gonna come, I assum-”

Marcy slammed her hands on each of the newt’s cheeks “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes yes yes yes, are you kidding me, yes yes yes, don’t you even think about taking this from me.”

“…oookay.” Yunan said, awkwardly sliding out of Marcy’s grip “What about you Lady Olivia?” She asked, turning toward the other newt, who had almost dozed off while standing, but mustered her remaining strength to let out a grunt to demonstrate she was still conscious. “I know I asked you to come, but you look exhausted.”

“Oh, maybe I can help!” Marcy exclaimed, pulling out something almost out of thin air. It was a red plastic bottle, with spikes all around the top part, sporting in bright letters the words ‘Blast Berry Blitz’ “Behold! A human energy drink! It’s Anne’s favorite, I always carry around some, just in case. This baby can give you the energy to go on for days without sleep! I should know, I did it.”

Yunan raised a finger, observing with vague reverence and intimidation the alien object “I know it’s not like me to ask, but are you sure it’s safe?”

Marcy brought a hand to her chin, tapping on it with her index “That’s a… good question. It’s mostly fine and mostly not toxic for humans”

“What do you mean ‘mostly not toxic’?”

“But for amphibians?” Marcy loudly asked, ignoring Yunan’s question. She pulled out her journal and started reading through it “It should affect normal amphibians, like frogs or toads, in a completely different way than humans, but newts have radically different diets, particularly those like Lady Olivia who lived in high society for most of their life…”

“Kid, I don’t want to cut you off” Yunan butted in as Marcy began to mumble “But I believe Liv is starting to doze off again”

“Okay, okay, I should have an answer!” Marcy proclaimed as she slammed the journal shut, snapping Olivia out of her dozing. “Doctor Marcy’s final result is…” She shrugged “Honestly, no idea.”

Yunan sighed “Very well, it’s weird to say, but I think if we don’t know if it’s safe to do it then we shouldn’t do it. Liv, how about you catch some sleep? It’s not the end of the world, I’ll go with Marcy and you can come next ye-” 

With a speed neither Yunan or Marcy expected from a nearly catatonic newt, Olivia lunged out and took the bottle of Blast Berry Blitz from Marcy’s hand, rapidly ripped out the bottle cap and downed its entire contents in one go, with the classic ability of an alc- juice enjoyer.

For a second, as Olivia let the bottle fall to the ground and it tumbled on the floor, her fingers slightly twitching, nothing happened.

“Well, that was anticlimactic” Yunan commented

“Yeah,” Marcy agreed “I expected more of a-”

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” Olivia began screaming as light formed around her and she began to lift off the ground.

“IT’S OVER NINE THOUSAND!!” Marcy screamed.

Yunan whipped out two thumbs up, something she had learnt from Marcy “YOU’RE DOING GREAT LIV!”

As suddenly as it had happened, it stopped and Olivia returned on the ground, seemingly unharmed and better than ever “…uh.” She finally spoke “I feel completely rejuvenated. I haven’t felt this good in years!” Olivia stretched a bit and let out a tiny laugh “What was in that?”

“Oh, just the usual stuff” Marcy answered “Caffeine, other stimulants and you know, radioactive isotopes”

“Radiowhat now?” Yunan asked, slightly concerned.

“Doesn’t matter” Olivia said, waving her hand “The important thing is that I’m going to come to your family reunion, no matter what. Shall we have breakfast?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m starving”

“Still bothered by those rabioadjective isotropes, but yeah, me too”

The three headed inside the dining room, climbed up the Andrias-sized table in the middle and served themselves, Yunan seemingly bothered by something else while they were chattering. 

Marcy almost chalked it up to it being related to the dubious ethics of putting dangerous chemicals into drinks marketed for kids, but she remembered her stumbling into the General earlier. Usually Yunan dodged her even while she was trying to hit her in their spars, it was weird that she just ran into her.

As she mused about this and the end of the breakfast loomed ever closer, however, the last and unusually late occupant of the Palace entered the dining room.

“Good morning, everyone!” Andrias exclaimed as he strode inside.

“Hi Andrias!” Marcy greeted the big newt, excitedly waving with an outstretched hand, while Olivia nodded at him while sipping on her tea (she had opted for tea after her arm had twitched and sent her cup of coffee flying against a wall. After that they had agreed that the Berry Blitz had enough caffeine for the day) and, uncharacteristically, Yunan replied with a simple “Sire”

“I see you’ve started without me. Good, good, was worried I had kept you waiting.” Andrias said before plopping down on his chair “So, any plans for today?”

“Actually, yes, Sire. Yunan, Master Marcy and I are going to Yunan’s family reunion.” Olivia politely answered “I hope it is okay”

“You could come too!” Marcy proposed. It would be fun having Andrias there! It would be a real family reunion, not like those stuffy lunches where her parents would parade her around in uncomfortable itchy clothes.

As she heard that, Yunan stiffened slightly. “Marcy, I th-”

“Sorry, Marcy, can’t do” Andrias cut off Yunan “I’ve got a thing.” He chuckled “You could say it is a ‘family reunion’ of my own, aha” 

“I… don’t get it” Marcy said, slightly confused, both by Andrias’ weird joke and by Yunan’s apparent uneasiness at the idea of inviting the King, which had disappeared when he had declined her invitation.

“Oh, you’ll get it when you’re older”

“Sire” Olivia intervened “I’m what Marcy would call older and I didn’t get it either”

“You’ll get it when you’re a thousand years old, okay?” Andrias pouted “I’m sorry, are you going to a family reunion or to Newtopia’s Comical Critics Convention?”

Before anyone could continue with the banter, they were interrupted by Yunan suddenly getting up “Well, I think it’s time to go! Wouldn’t want to be late!”

“Isn’t that a Longclaw family tradition?” Olivia asked, earning a wink and a thumbs up from Marcy. She had paid attention to her lesson!

“Well, it is, yes, but… you know.” Yunan jumped off the big table on which they were having breakfast. “Let’s go!”

Olivia and Marcy exchanged a look, then they both decided to follow Yunan and got down to ground level. As they were making their way to the door, Andrias spoke up “General, by the way, did you think about what I spoke to you about yesterday?”

Yunan froze in place. “…I am thinking about it.” She answered, earning a nod from Andrias.

“As I said, take your time” The Kind said as he pulled out a newspaper and began reading it.

“Bye, Andrias! Have a fun family reunion or whatever!” Marcy yelled out to Andrias and with that they made their way out of the room.

“Uhm, General, what was that about?” Marcy asked, a bit concerned. It was clear by now that whatever was troubling Yunan was related to Andrias, ridiculous as that may seem. After all, Andrias was a great guy and Yunan adored him! If it was Olivia, Marcy might have understood, but she seriously struggled to see how the Palace's second and third most adorable goofballs (there had been a vote and she had won that title decisively, despite not voting for herself) would come to this.

“It’s…” Yunan seemed to be struggling to find the words to answer Marcy, while Olivia also listened with attention, having noticed the issue perhaps even earlier than Marcy had. “It’s a mission.” The pink newt eventually said “Yeah, I’ve been your bodyguard for a bit and, while I love it, I think some action would do me good, y’know? Was setting it up with Andrias and had a bit of a… disagreement”

While it sounded like there was something Yunan was still not telling her, Marcy was content with the explanation. Phew, she had feared it was something serious! “Okie dokie!” She replied “Let’s go then! We have a reunion to attend!”

As the excited child carried the two adults towards the event, Andrias sat in the dining room alone. 

He let down the newspaper and saw, on the wall right in front of him, an orange eye, observing him with unblinking resilience.

Andrias sighed. He had called it a family reunion, didn’t he? It most definitely was one, but he wasn’t as sure as Marcy was that it would be so fun.

The Longclaw family home was much bigger than Marcy expected it to be. It wasn’t luxurious by any means, but it was big, with additions upon additions that made it look more like an overgrown plant than a house, with several walls that seemed to have been broken down and rebuilt and stubs of turrets sprouting from the upper floors.

It was true that Yunan had told Marcy that she was the exception and her sisters were more similar to Priscilla’s size than hers, but, from what little Yunan had told her of her childhood after their spars, she had understood that they weren’t exactly swimming in gold and her mother had struggled to raise her children on her own.

“Oh, Priscilla actually fixed up the house” Yunan explained when Marcy asked, as they entered the big house “Turns out, being a beast hunter/all around badass pays well. Plus, I live in the Palace, so I don’t really need all the money I’m paid”

“Well, well, well, lookie here!” Boomed a loud voice, before an imposing figure jumped down from the top floor, landing with a thunderous impact right behind the three of them. “Late as usual, uh Yu?” Priscilla asked, smirking “Being in the army hasn’t had any effect or did years of being a big shot made you even more arrogant?” She asked, jokingly

Yunan chuckled “Oh, it ain’t arrogant if it’s the truth, isn’t it?” Yunan walked up to her sister and slapped her hand on the outstretched hand the other newt was offering her, the two pulling each other’s hand and butting heads for a moment, before Priscilla whipped around and gave a good slam on Yunan’s back, causing shockwaves that sent a passerby flying but barely bothering Yunan.

“So, Lady Olivia! We barely met last time, before, you know.” Priscilla said as she walked up to the light blue newt. 

“Yes, the kidnapping, I know. Can we not talk about that?”

“Aha, no way!” Priscilla laughed, as she got Yunan in a playful headlock. “I’m still teasing Yunan about it. The great and powerful General Yunan, bonked in the head by a couple of cultists! It’s hilarious!”

“It was my day off!” Yunan complained, opening Priscilla’s grip on her and getting out “Plus, they got the drop on us and we were looking for Master Marcy.”

“All excuses, sis, I taught you better!” Priscilla shot back before focusing back on Olivia “Anyhow, since Yu invited you, I gotta give you the traditional Longclaw greeting!” Her arm rose up high in the sky before slamming down with tremendous force on Olivia’s back.

The tiny newt, surprisingly, stood her ground, even managing a small smile and an hesitant thumbs up “Barely… felt it” She wheezed out.

“Whoa tiny, I went easier on you than with Yunan, but I totally expected to send you flying, y’know?” She turned towards Yunan, pointing to Lady Olivia with a thumb “Yu, you got a fighter over here! Good catch, gotta say!”

As Yunan blushed slightly, Priscilla turned her attention towards Marcy, giving Olivia the chance to slip out of her dress the metal pan she had put there for this occasion, on Marcy’s advice. The poor thing was unusable, the distinct shape of a big hand impressed on its formerly flat bottom. As Olivia carefully threw it away (hitting the passerby that had been thrown to the ground earlier on the head and knocking him out), she could only thank Marcy for her not needing to go to the hospital.

“And you’re Marcy, right?” Priscilla went on “The one who ended up in the heron’s cage”

Marcy rubbed the back of her head, slightly embarrassed “Sorry, I act a bit… out of it, at times”

“No need to, squirt. Plus, you and the King kicked the frog down that heron. Literally!” The big newt laughed loudly “Most awesome thing I had seen in a while, gotta say. No wonder Yunan talks so much about you!”

“I don’t talk so much about Master Marcy!” Yunan protested “I talk an amount moderate to her awesomeness.”

“Sis, I think this kid is the first person that is not yourself, one of your enemies or your girlfriend there you’ve mentioned two phrases in a row.” Priscilla teased Yunan. “That’s one hell of an achievement!”

Olivia politely coughed in her hand “Language.”

The big burly newt smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head “Whoops, sorry ma’am. I’ve been trying to get better since I had my daughter, but sometimes a word just slips through!” Her behavior instantly shifted towards her earlier Longclaw-brand confidence as she smirked “Hey, how about we get our daughters to know each other, Yunan?”

This time, all three sputtered in embarrassment as they chaotically tried to politely refute Priscilla’s claim.

“Sure, sure” Priscilla laughed “Now, how about we get in? The others are waiting for you”

Happy to get out of the situation, the two newts and the human nodded vigorously and followed Priscilla inside, Yunan taking point after her sister while Olivia and Marcy remained behind for a second, Olivia giving a questioning look to Marcy while the girl just smiled and shot a couple of thumbs up to the newt.

It was going so well! Marcy couldn’t help but think. Olivia and Priscilla had immediately hit it off, which was really good since she was the only sister Yunan had ever named or spoken well of, so presumably her favorite one. As long as things continued to go this well, they were just peachy!

She just hoped Andrias was doing as well as they were!

In the bowels of the Newtopian Palace, King Andrias knelt. “I have come as promised.”

Thirteen eyes opened in the black shadow before him, revealing for a second a large metallic body before everything was enveloped in shadows, leaving only the orange eyes of the Core who, for once, did not take a form.

“So you did, Andrias” One voice whispered, coming from nowhere in particular and yet from everywhere. Andrias paid no mind to it, knowing well from experience that the mindscape the Core used to speak to him had no concern for the rules of reality. “Pardon us for ripping you out of the little family life you so much adore” It sarcastically said “But we figured that, for once, we could be the one to summon you.”

“It is of no matter, my Lord.” Andrias dismissed their concerns nonchalantly, the same uneasiness that had come to him after the Core’s voice had asked for him to come to the dungeons still in his stomach. “What do you wish of me?”

A low chuckle from the hive mind didn’t do much to alleviate that sense of uneasiness “Straight to the point, aren’t you? You really are Aldrich’s son. Very well.” As quick as it had appeared, any trace of humor left the Core’s voice “Our energy storages dwindle, Andrias. Months have passed since the box returned to Amphibia, months have passed since the human has arrived, but you still haven’t found the former or turned the latter. We want results.”

Andrias gulped. He feared this would be the case. He had postponed revealing the truth to Marcy again and again, waiting for the perfect time that never came. It had been only a matter of time before the Core called for him to answer his promise “My Lord, you have to understand.” He tried to justify himself “It is a very delicate matter. The trust I have built with Marcy had to be carefully built, I have merely been-”

“All we hear are excuses!” The voices pushed back, interrupting the King and scaring for a heartbeat. For a single moment, a familiar voice emerged from the cacophony of the Core’s whispers, the vitriolic voice of his father. “You simply fear to ask her because you fear losing her like you did with those ‘friends’ of yours, a millennium ago.” 

Andrias knew that he was supposed to look to the floor and accept the reprimanding. Somehow, though, he managed to overcome that impulse. He looked up to the thirteen eyes of the Core “Perhaps.” He whispered.

The Core was apparently surprised by this mote of defiance “Excuse us?” 

“Perhaps I am. Trusting those two was the worst mistake I ever made and I am opening myself to Marcy in the same way I did to them. That, however, does not discount my concerns. I cannot simply ask Marcy to help invade her homeworld! She would turn against us and her friends are sure to follow her!”

“Then don’t.” This time, the voice was different, gravelly and dark, coming from behind him. Andrias turned and saw a figure he had only seen before in paintings. The First King of Amphibia, a figure that was more myth than history, the founder of his dynasty, the First Mind of the Core stood before him, clad in black armor and a red mantle, a sword on his hip and one single orange eye glowing in the center of his face. “She wishes to become a hero, that much is apparent. Give her that. Offer her to save Earth, forever, grant that miserable rock safety from our invasion for her help. The multiverse is vast and that planet is not that special.”

Andrias sank to his knees. “A-As you wish, my Lord. Thank you.”

“That is settled then. Let us continue.” When he looked up, the ancient monarch had disappeared, replaced by the thirteen eyes of the Core. “You had promised us you would deal with the other human.”

Andrias nodded “I have. I-”

“Let us see, then.”

As quick as it had been cast, the darkness was dispelled. To replace it, in orange tones, Andrias’ throne room appeared. The King found himself sitting on his throne. He felt his body, but found himself in the backseat as a memory from the day before, extracted straight from his brain, played before his eyes.

The doors opened and in came General Yunan “ Your Highness ?” She asked “ You called for me? ” 

Andrias nodded “I have, General.” He turned towards Lady Olivia, who had been in the process of doing paperwork with him. “You can go, my lady, this is… private.”

Lady Olivia bowed her head “As you wish, your Highness. I’ll finish the paperwork on my own.”

As the light blue newt passed her, Yunan addressed her in a hushed tone that Andrias barely heard “Liv, I have to ask you something, later.”

Olivia seemed puzzled for a second, then nodded and went on. 

As the doors shut, Andrias spoke again “I have a task for you, General”

Yunan slapped her hands together in excitement, producing a resounding clap “Alright! I was hoping you would, bossman!”

The King chuckled at Yunan’s blatant lack of protocol, before reminding himself of what he was about to ask of Yunan, his smile turning into a somber expression for a second before he resumed with his jolly facade. “You are so much tired of being Marcy’s bodyguard?” He asked, teasingly.

“No!” Yunan hurriedly justified herself “I mean, I love the kid! She’s awesome! But I think she has more than proved to be able to handle herself.”

Andrias nodded “As long as she doesn’t get herself into any caecilians’ nest, that is.”

“That was one time! And still, she handled herself perfectly.” The pink newt smirked proudly “After all, no one could expect anything less from the pupil of General Yunan! Scourge of the San-”

“And I guess you miss adventure as well, don’t you?” Andrias interrupted Yunan’s spiel. “Got yourself a taste of adventure and you yearn for a good fight?”

“Well, yeah, that too I guess” Yunan deadpanned, blunt as always “So, show me what you got!”

“As you wish.” Andrias agreed. “We have a runaway.”

“Oooh, I like that. A good chase is always a nice warmup before a fight.”

“A toad, former Captain of the Toad Tower of Frog Valley.”

“A commander and a tax-leech? Andrias, you’re spoiling me!”

“Goes by the name of Captain Grime.”

“Wait, that Grime? The Champion of the Colosseum? That is one heck of a mission! Saved it just for me, haven’t you?”

Andrias chuckled “You know it. But there is… another reason.” The big newt took a deep breath. “It’s about his lieutenant.”

Yunan scoffed “They cannot be that tough. And, if they are, it’ll be nice to practice a good ol’ two-on-one!”

“It’s not about her skill. I am sure you will have no problem in overcoming the two of them. It’s her description that worries me.” The King shifted in his position, his elbows resting on the throne’s armrests as his hands intertwined before his mouth. “From what the reports tell us, she’s a bizarre, unknown creature, with long, spindly limbs, blonde hair and a face bump.”

“…a human?” Yunan asked in disbelief “It must be one of Marcy’s friends!”

“Sasha Waybright, by Marcy’s description.”

Yunan seemed pumped up “Frog, that’s awesome! We must tell Marcy immediately, she’ll be so jazzed!” Carried by her emotions, the newt was about to leave the room on the spot, when she was interrupted by the King’s voice.

“General, wait.” Andrias ordered “Marcy must know nothing of it.”

For a second Yunan looked confused, before she snapped her fingers “Oh! A surprise! Smart, Andrias! We bring her here secretly and badabang! Frog, we can even keep her locked up and free her next year for Marcy’s birthday!”

Slowly, Andrias shook his head “That is not what I mean, General.” He said in a grave voice “You’re not to bring Sasha Waybright here. We will never tell Marcy of this.”

This time the confusion on Yunan’s face lasted “…okay, you lost me. Weren’t we having the whole of Amphibia scoured for her friends? And, if we aren’t bringing this Sasha here, what am I going to do with her?”

“You are to kill her, General.”

You could have heard a penny drop in the silence that ensued after Andrias had spoken those words.

“…what?” Yunan whispered, in disbelief.

Andrias sighed “Now, I know that sounds bad, but-”

“No buts.” Yunan growled as she extracted her blades with a single fluid motion “I-is this a test? Are you joking?”

Once more Andrias shook his head. “I am not. If you-”

“Then what the FROG are you saying!” Yunan roared “You are asking me to kill a child, Marcy’s friend! You-”

“General Yunan, let me explain.” Andrias roared back as he got up and stomped his foot, the shockwave and authoritative tone making Yunan falter.

“She’s not Marcy’s friend.” Andrias said, matter-of-factly. “The night after the incident with the caecilians, Marcy came to me, in the middle of the night.” The great newt’s voice got softer “She was distressed. She asked me about… events of my past.” He had evaded exactly what those events were, there was no need to tell Yunan about Leif and Barrel. “Something about that day… it had led her to question herself. To question her friends.” He pronounced the words with some venom in his voice, not enough to growl, but enough to make it apparent what he thought of them.

“I wasn’t able to get much from Master Marcy, it was miraculous enough that she had spoken to me. That girl… she keeps far too much bottled in.”

“One thing was clear, though. Her friends have used her.”

Yunan finally managed to get a word of her own “Sire, I can understand being wary, but this Sasha Waybright is just a kid!”

“Oh, kids are cruel, General, much more than you could ever imagine” Leif hadn’t been much older than Marcy’s friends, that hadn’t stopped her. “Look at how Marcy has improved since she’s come here! She’s so more confident, so more open! If this Sasha returns to Marcy, what do you think will happen?” Andrias walked down the steps to his throne, getting closer to Yunan “You know her. She is too nice for her own good. She will forgive her and, in no time, this Sasha will have her hanging on her every word, back how she used to be.”

“Sire, that is ridiculous.” Yunan scoffed “Marcy’s way better than that! And even if that is the case, we can help her!”

Andrias let out a deep breath, the stern mask of authority that had formed over his face dispelled almost immediately. “Can we, Yunan? Can we?” Andrias asked, his expression somber “We’ve known her only for a handful of months. We’ve cared for her, supported her, helped her, but in the end… she’s only known us for a fraction of the time she’s known her human friends. I know very well how much one can value their friends over those who care for them. If push comes to shove, if she’s forced to choose between us and her friends… I’m scared she won’t make the right decision.”

Yunan did not seem to be able to reply to that, looking conflicted about what to do, understandably so.

“I won’t force you to do this.” Andrias clarified. “If you don’t want to do it, there are plenty of people who could do it, people who don’t know Marcy and wouldn’t care about doing this. Just… think about it, alright?”

Yunan managed to nod. 

Andrias put a hand on her shoulder, the large thing bigger than Yunan “Thank you. And I hope I don’t have to specify that this conversation should remain between us, don’t I?”

“Of… of course.”

“Good. Very good. Now, you can go. Feel free to contact me at any moment if you make up your mind.”

Just like it had come, the memory disappeared and Andrias found himself back in the void, staring at the thirteen glowing eyes of the Core.

“You did handle that… better than we expected you to, Andrias” The Core whispered, their voices sounding pleased “Guess we underestimated you.”

The reluctant compliment from the ancient conclave didn’t affect Andrias as much as he thought it would. 

Everything he had told Yunan was true.

He well remembered how he had scorned his Father’s advice, the Core’s advice for Leif’s manipulation. Both he and Marcy were smart, much smarter than that, but children are fools. He had enough experience to know what could happen, it was his duty to prevent it!

But that wasn’t the true reason why he had chosen to unleash his most lethal warrior on a thirteen year old, wasn’t it?

Marcy was the chosen champion of the Gem of Wit, on that there was no doubt. The other two’s Gems were more nebulous, since they hadn’t met them, but based on Marcy’s descriptions of them, the Core’s algorithms predicted with a 57% accuracy that Anne Boonchuy, with the athletic prowess Marcy lauded so often, was the Gem of Strength and Sasha Waybright, so versed in making everyone love her, popular beyond belief, was the Gem of Heart.

Something, however, told Andrias that it was the other way around, that it was Anne Boonchuy that wielded the power of the Gem of Heart, while Sasha Waybright wielded that of Strength, its color the same Leif had been. It all ended going back to Leif, didn’t it?

Sasha Waybright reminded him way too much of Leif. 

Marcy, as soon as she had arrived and even before he had grown to the point of considering her like a daughter, had become his friend. 

He well remembered what someone like Leif could do to his friends.

“You had a chance to stop her, what happened!?”

“She confused me!”

“I’m having you reassigned. You will travel to the outskirts and defend the villages. Now get out of my sight.”

“…Your Highness.”

“Thank you, my Lord.” Andrias finally spoke, shaking himself out of his thoughts. It wasn’t the time for reminiscing. Marcy was nothing like Barrel or, Frog forbid, Leif. She might be similar, even share some of her worst traits, but she was different where it counted.

“You’re being more cooperative. That is good.” The Core pointed out “Keep it up and we might give you a special reward.”

“I’m just doing what is necessary.” Andrias stood up and looked at the Core’s eyes “May I consider myself dismissed?”

“Our doubts have been dispelled and a strategy to handle two of the Champions has been set. This meeting has been… satisfactory.” The voices conceded. “You may leave, Andrias.”

The shadows dropped and Andrias got a glimpse of the Core’s metallic form before it slinked back into the shadows. It did that a lot, in these last few centuries. Perhaps hundreds of years without activity, without anything concrete to do and without new members with new memories of having a body had left the hive mind dissatisfied with their metallic one, Andrias mused. He archived the thought. It wasn’t important.

“I’m just doing what is necessary” He repeated himself in a low tone as he began to climb up the stairwell. He was, wasn’t he? Some may dislike what he was doing, but someone had to do it. He had to do it.

And, if he did it, Marcy would never leave him, she would never betray him. He would never lose another friend.

Priscilla led them to the dining room. Yunan remembered it well, it was one of the few rooms her sister had barely changed at all. It had been where her mother used to work, but since it was the only room big enough to house the entire family at once it was where they used to eat as well.

There was a bit of clay in most of the food, Yunan did admit, but it only made them stronger, in her opinion. 

As soon as she crossed the doorway, she was assaulted by a speeding light blue blur, who collided with her chest.

“Gotcha, auntie Yunan!” Cheered the small blue newt (and only child aside from Marcy she didn’t want to punt as soon as they began to bother her)

Yunan chuckled “Ya sure did!” She should have been able to catch her, she told herself, but after what Andrias had told her the day before… her instincts were in a fritz, as her stumbling into Marcy had proved earlier. Once was a coincidence, twice was… she didn’t remember the word, honestly, but she got the point.

Forcing herself to not think about it (she was very good at not thinking), she whipped around and proudly displayed the tiny amphibian who was now clinging on her shoulder “Marcy, Liv, this is my niece! Pearl, this is Lady Olivia, the King’s advisor,-”

“Is that the one Mom said you want to smooch?” Pearl whispered to Yunan, causing her to become of a deeper pink “A-and this is Marcy, the human!”

Marcy instantly rushed the small newt “Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen a newtling! How old are you?”

The small newt proudly put up four fingers and began to speak. “I’m…” She looked at her mother for help and Priscilla silently mouthed ‘four’ “Flour!” The kid finished, smiling at her accomplishment.

Marcy began dancing on her tiptoes in place “Oh Frog, that was so cute! I love her!”

Yunan laughed “Yeah, she’s a great toddl-”

“What about us, dear sister? Don’t we get an introduction?” A voice came from the other side of the room.

Yunan turned around to see the group of three newts she had previously not noticed. They sat at the farthest end of the table, one right on the end and the other two on her sides.

The one on the left was the smallest, yet she was still bigger than Yunan, pure black and wearing a hooded tunic even inside, her smart red eyes darting from Yunan, to the more unfamiliar visitors. On the right, stood seated a forest green newt easily bigger than Priscilla, her big suit of armor rusted in places and bearing several marks of battle and her beady black eyes turned towards the newt that was between herself and her smaller sister.

Finally, said central newt. Almost an amalgamation of her two sisters in size, slightly bigger than Priscilla, she was green and black, wearing polished bronze scaled mail and a short cloak draped over her missing left arm. She was the one that had spoken and her eyes were fixed on her ‘dear sister’, while she smirked with a mouth only open barely enough for a golden sharp canine to show.

“Grendel” Yunan spoke, her tone definitely not pleased, but not particularly angry. She had humbled Grendel and her other sisters years ago, fresh from the Sand Wars, she didn’t need to worry about her, at least. “How’s the arm?” Yunan teased her.

The green and black newt simply laughed under her breath “Honestly, no idea. You kept it, after all.”

“I did, didn’t I? It does look great on my wall, gotta say.” Yunan gloated a little. It was good, at least she could allow herself this, to take her mind off of everything. “Anyway, I didn’t know you and the others were coming. Did you invite them, Pri?”

“They-” The big newt tried to answer, before she was cut off.

“Oh, we invited ourselves.” Grendel clarified “After all, we are sisters and this is a family reunion. Of course Priscilla wasn’t all too happy, but we had a talk and she decided to let us have a” She flashed a toothy grin, making Priscilla’s tail (who Yunan noticed only now had a mouth-shaped chunk taken off of it) shiver in reflex “ bite ”

The big green newt let out an obnoxious chuckle “She said the thing! It’s even funnier the second time!”

Before Yunan could do anything, Marcy darted past her, quickly reaching the other end of the table and the three newts there “Hi!” She said cheerfully, extending her arm for a handshake “Are you Yunan’s sisters? What are your names? Why are you a different color than her and Priscilla and Pearl? Is pink like a recessive trait or shouldn’t I give it too much thought? You all look very cool, what do you do for a living? Do you have any baby pictures of Yunan? Or funny stories? Or simply stories? I’m not picky, any story will do! I’m Marcy by the way, Yunan’s apprentice and pupil, nice to meet you!” 

The three newts were taken aback for a second by Marcy’s word barrage. The first one to recover was the black one “Heh” She chuckled in a sniveling voice “An excited fella, just like Yunan, ain’t it, Grendel?”

“Eh!” Joined in the green one “Just like the little one when she was even littler!”

Yunan almost gritted her teeth at that, but Marcy’s smile only got wider “Thank you! General Yunan’s so cool, being like her would be nice!”

Grendel laughed at Marcy’s words “Oh, I guess it would be. You asked a lot of questions, squirt, too many to answer. I’ll only introduce ourselves, since the ‘so cool’ General Yunan is too good to introduce her sisters. The green one next to you is Scylla, my muscle and, literally, left hand, the black one is Charybdis. She’s the best damn archer around”

“Oh!” Marcy perked up at that, whipping out her arm with her wrist mounted crossbow “I also like shooting things! Wanna exchange some pointers later?”

Charybdis rolled her eyes “Sorry kid, I don’t deal with crossbows , baby version of them least of all. I’m not a hack, I’m a professional bownewt.”

Marcy shrunk down a little at the harsh answer and Yunan growled “Oi, say sorry right now or I’ll shove your head up-”

“Now now, dear sister ” Grendel interrupted Yunan “Char is just proud about her work, you can hardly fault her. Let’s try and keep cooler heads, no? After all, this is supposed to be a great occasion, let’s not ruin it with threats and violence.”

“Y-yeah, General” Marcy agreed, her tone just a bit hesitant “It’s my fault, I asked a stupid question”

“Master Mar-” Olivia piped in, only to be cut off by Grendel as well.

“See? Even the kid has no issue with it!” The green and black newt ruffled Marcy’s hair with her remaining arm, almost making the crownlet fall and putting a little bit too much strength into it, judging by how Marcy shuffled uncomfortably “She’s got common sense, unlike you, dear sister. No offense meant, of course” She rapidly added with a saccharine smirk before going on “It’s the thing that makes it really clear that you didn’t end up with an egg by accident like Priscilla”

Priscilla poorly hid a snarl at that, as Pearl, who had found her usual place on her shoulder, shifted herself slightly behind her head, as if to hide herself.

“Well, that and her freakish appearance!” The green one laughed thunderously, grabbing Marcy by an arm all of a sudden “I mean, look at these toothpick arms!”

“H-hey, leave me!” Marcy protested, as she pulled uselessly against the grip around her arm.

“Look!” The green one laughed even louder, the sound making Marcy flinch slightly “So weak! It really reminds me of the runt when she was littler!”

"Unhand . Her.” Yunan growled, her blades extracted.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Grendel spoke with a strong voice “Now, let’s not get violent. Scylla, let the kid go.”

The green newt, who was now looking worriedly between Grendel and Yunan in her ‘starting-to-get-murderous’ mood, obeyed immediately. 

“You gotta forgive her, dear sister.” Grendel apologized “You know how our sister is: she simply states what she sees, with no regard to other people’s feelings. It’s stronger than her, she can’t help it.”

“She better do it!” Olivia joined in, putting a hand on Yunan’s shoulder in support “Speaking like that to a child!”

“Oh, please.” Grendel rolled her eyes “Scylla may have gone a bit too far, but I expected a little better from the pupil of the great General Yunan! She can’t even handle a little bit of criticism? Whatever happened to sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?”

“It’s… fine, Lady Olivia.” Marcy agreed, somewhat reluctantly “It’s like she said, I gotta be stronger, that’s all”

Before anything more could be said, Grendel raised her hands “Even if the kid said it’s fine, I still feel bad about this. We didn’t leave on the best of terms and it was as much our fault as it was yours. When we came here it wasn’t to pick a fight, but there are tensions, that much is evident. Charybdis and Scylla went a bit too far, you overreacted, let’s call it even, alright?”

“Call it even?” Olivia protested “We overreacted? That brute pulled Master Marcy by-”

A touch on the shoulder by Priscilla interrupted the aristocratic newt “Just… let it go. It will only get worse if you don’t.”

“See?” Grendel proclaimed, looking at Scylla and Charybdis for confirmation “We all got our hotheads, let’s not get violent because of them. After all, we all want this reunion to go well, don’t we? Pri, dear sister, why don’t you be a good host and go get the food we brought?” She smiled at Marcy “Top notch stuff, kiddo! Fresh, too! You’re going to love it, I just know it! Brought it all for you, caught it ourselves just for this!”

Priscilla gave a look to Yunan, who simply sighed “Fine, let’s try and make this work.” There was a solution that didn’t include violence, as much as it was unlike herself to search for that, just like there had to be one for Marcy’s friends.

Besides, at best, unlikely as it was, Grendel was telling the truth and it would be a good thing, at worst she would try to come after her. As long as she didn’t give in to her provocations, she would have the upper hand and, if all went to worst, she could kick her ass.

‘She just wants to hurt you’ Yunan told herself ‘You can show her she cannot. You are General Yunan, yada yada’

“Fantastic!” Grendel cheered as Priscilla went to get food from the kitchen “Now let’s all sit down. You’re making me jittery, all standing like that!”

Everyone went for a seat, with Yunan going to the end of the table opposite to Grendel and Priscilla, Pearl and Olivia at her sides, but, as Marcy moved to get closer to Olivia and Yunan, Grendel spoke again “Aw, little Marcy! C’mon, I’ve just got to know you and I’ve even brought some good food for you and you’re just going to be leaving like that?”

Marcy looked conflicted between wanting to get the frog away from the green and black newt and not wanting to look rude and, before anyone could speak up for her, Grendel made her decision for her.

“Scylla, scoot over!” She ordered her sister “The little one is going to be sitting by me.”

The big green newt moved over, the bench creaking as her massive weight changed application point, almost blocking Marcy’s way and leaving her no other choice than sit in the place Scylla was sitting in earlier, Grendel waiting for her with an all too accommodating smile. The girl gulped and sat down, much to the green and black newt’s glee.

“Ah, it is good to have my almost-niece sitting beside me!” Grendel said, to no one in particular. With that victory under her belt, she turned her attention towards Lady Olivia, while Charybdis’ crimson eyes and Scylla’s beady ones were still fixated on Marcy.

“I would like to apologize again for my sisters’ behavior, milady” Grendel began “Our work requires us to spend a lot of time in the wilds and since I handle most of our buyers in Newtopia, they’re less accustomed to other newts.”

Still uncomfortable talking to the silver-tongued newt, Olivia accepted her apology with a nod, then she tried to make conversation. If she drew some attention away from Marcy, it would do good to the distressed teenager “What do you three do?”

“Oh, we’re hunters.” Grendel explained succinctly.

“The best around!” Scylla pointed out.

“If you eat meat in high society, chances are you bought it from us.” Charybdis commented to finish the trio.

“All the more reason to go vegetarian…” Olivia mumbled under her breath and, even if she couldn’t hear what the light blue newt had said, Grendel assumed it was about her.

“Say, Lady Olivia” She spoke, with an almost bored tone as she made her fork spin between the fingers of her only hand, “You don’t have much in the way of family, dontcha?”

Olivia’s heart stopped for a second as Marcy had a coughing fit and Yunan gave a thousand mile stare at the wall. “…I do not, no.” Olivia finally managed to say.

“I figured” Grendel said as she shrugged “It’s no wonder you weren’t all that accustomed to simple sisterly banter.”

“Yeah, teasing is simply normal, in a family” Charybdis backed up her sister “You gotta be thick skinned, the world isn’t sunshine and rainbows”

“Are you even a family without some good ol’ banter?” Laughed Scylla, elbowing Marcy with one of her big arms. “It’s basic family stuff, you can’t say you’re really close without it!”

“Even if she’s somewhat correct, my sister exaggerates, as always” Grendel apologized, though she did join in with Scylla with a small laugh “But what Char says is true. You’re just a bit too much overprotective, milady. Marcy’s a big girl, like Yunan was at her age, she can take a bit of banter” The green and black newt sighed “But I can hardly blame you, can I? It’s as you said, you ain’t got much in the way of family, how could you know how to have one?”

The light blue newt deflated visibly at those words “That’s… it’s not tr-”

“You can try to fit in one, that’s admirable” Grendel continued, cutting Olivia off “But, in the end, it will never be the real thing, won’t it?”

“Grendel, enough.” Yunan growled, staring at her sister with a murderous look.

“Oh, I didn't mean to be offensive, no.” Grendel replied with an innocent look “Everything I said is simply true. I do admire the little motherless aristocrat who wants to get herself a fake family because her real one is gone.” She put her only hand on her chin musingly “Perhaps I was too harsh, though. Forgive me, that really was not my intention, really.”

Before things spiraled further, the door opened and Priscilla returned in, with a big covered plate in her arms.

“Ah, the food, how lovely!” Grendel annouced with a joyful smile as she gestured to Scylla with her only arm “Scylla, help our dear sister and bring it here”

As the green amphibian did as bid and got up, freeing an escape path for Marcy, the human tried to slide away towards Olivia and Yunan, only to be stopped in her tracks by Grendel putting a hand on her shoulder and grasping her hard.

“Now, now, Marcy dear, don’t go yet! I’ll give you the choice cut of meat, so it’s best that you hang around”

“L-let go!” Marcy let out a whimper of pain as she struggled against Grendel’s grasp “You’re hurting me!”

While Olivia was still too shaken by Grendel’s earlier words to react properly, Yunan was about to get up and give her sister a piece of her mind, but Grendel instantly heeded Marcy’s plead.

“Oh, I’m sorry dear, I hadn’t realised I was” She apologized “Even after all these years it’s difficult to adjust to only having one arm, so sometimes I struggle to handle my strength.” Grendel shook her head and chuckled softly, before patting Marcy’s hair “It’s my fault. I’m just a cripple who really should know better.”

Marcy seemed to fold into herself “No, I didn’t- I’m… sorry. I didn’t know, I should have known better.”

Grendel chuckled to herself “Thanks, dear. I forgive you. Here, let us forget about this and celebrate our big, happy family. Scylla?”

The green newt, who had by now made her return, set down the plate and lifted the cover, revealing a bautiful fuming piece of meat.

Grendel took a good sniff, licking her lips and wagging her long tail at the delightful smell “Ah, magnificent. Char, my carving knife.” The black newt passed her a big sharp blade, which Grendel used to carve several slices out of the roasted meat. She then picked out one and put it on Marcy’s plate, before passing out the rest “Here you go, dear.”

Marcy gave a look to Grendel, then to her left, where Scylla blocked every escape route just by sitting there, hiding Olivia and Yunan from view. 

“Well?” Grendel asked, still looking at the child with an expecting smile. “Don’t just stand there, c’mon, taste it!”

Marcy picked up her fork and poked at her food a couple of times, as if she was trying to figure out whether it was still alive. “What’s… what’s this?” She asked tentatively, her fork hovering over it and her other hand about to pick up her knife.

“Sparrow.” Grendel spoke, the single word spelled out definitively.

The human almost winced, as she retracted her hand from her knife and turned away her fork. “…I can’t eat it” She almost squeaked out.

One of Grendel’s eyebrows lifted “Why not?” She asked.

“I… have a sparrow” Marcy attempted to explain “His name is John Sparrow and he’s got a cool scar on his eye he got when he saved me from a heron and his feathers are a beautiful brown, he loves it when I brush them, he’s fast and strong and I love him and I can’t eat this”

Grendel’s eyes narrowed. “Really.” She spat out

Hesitantly, Marcy nodded.

The green and black newt scoffed “Talk about being ungrateful. Scylla, Charybdis and I worked hard to bring you this and this is how you repay us? Do you really believe we hunted down specifically a sparrow just to give it to you? Are you that self-centered?”

As Grendel began to tear into Marcy, Olivia attempted to protest, only to be silenced by Charybdis pulling out a dagger, while Scylla maintained eye contact with Priscilla, occasionally glancing to her daughter. Yunan appeared to be almost frozen in place, but what no one noticed, though, was that her fists had tightened enough for her metal gloves to deform.

“Oh, we didn’t know it was yours” Grendel had said “We just found a random spider and thought it was a stray, which does say something about how you treated it, runt”

“We did all that work, gave you the best cut of meat, while we could have sold it for thousands of coppers to some noble and this is your thanks? Eat it.”

“But-”

“Leave her alone, you-”

“I want to hear no excuses.” Grendel cut off both Marcy and Olivia “That is the food we brought and you will eat it.”

“You will eat it, runt. We already spent the money for food, so you will eat it or you will starve, understood?”

“Don’t you understand the first thing about respect? We did something very nice for you and you spit in our face? Such an ungrateful, disrespectful child!”

“Master Marcy, do not listen to that bi- do not listen to her!” Olivia yelled out, ignoring the menacing look Charybdis gave her, the dagger still in the black newt’s hand.

“No, I am- everything is- it’s fine.” Marcy stammered out, the corners of her eyes beginning to grow wetter by the second “I will… I’ll do it.’’

“She is too nice for her own good. She will forgive her and, in no time, this Sasha will have her hanging on her every word, back how she used to be.”

Grendel smiled in satisfaction. “See? Wasn’t that hard. Now, eat it before it grows cold, ru-”

“ENOUGH!” Yunan roared as she stood up suddenly, smashing a fist on the table with all the strength she could muster in her rage, splitting the table in two lengthwise, a long crack spreading from where Yunan had hit the wooden surface to Grendel like an accusing finger.

The green and black newt seemed slightly concerned, but attempted to blow it off, rolled her eyes and scoffed “Dear sister, it’s just a child fussing over not wanting to eat something, hardly something to get angry over. You wouldn’t want to cause a scene over th-”

“Oh, I absolutely would, Grendel.” Yunan hissed, spitting out the newt’s name like it was a curse “I would and I will. So, I suggest you shut that mouth of yours, since you like using it so much, before I detach the head that houses it from your neck.”

A single bead of sweat formed on Grendel’s head and she did as bid.

Yunan turned her attention towards the other two newts by Grendel’s side “I never expected you two would improve from what you were and still are, but at least I thought you two would have grown a spine and became horrible people by yourselves after I beat Grendel’s ass into submission” She shrugged “I guess I overestimated you, which, considering how little I thought of you to begin with, is impressive.”

After the brief detour on her two sisters, Yunan’s gaze and rage returned on her main target. “And you… at first I thought you just wanted to get back at me, to try to get a rise out of me like you did all those years ago. But you’re too scared for that, aren’tcha?” Yunan laughed mockingly “All those insults to Olivia and Marcy and yet none to me? You’re still having nightmares of little Yunan, pitiful Yunan, the runt, whooping yo ass, don’t you?”

It was time for Grendel to seethe now, as she gritted her teeth enough for them to audibly creak and shook her only remaining hand under the ruined table.

“But you still needed to feel superior to someone, to feel in charge, because if you didn’t you’d realise you’re scum, so you went after those you thought were ‘easy’ targets. Well guess what? They’re not. Olivia’s strong and motivated and Marcy’s is the smartest person I have ever met, she is so full of joy, energy and innocence. They’re the best things to have ever happened to me. They’re family, you are not.”

Yunan turned towards Marcy, her expression instantly changing from one full of anger and contempt to a soft gaze and an encouraging smirk as soon as she shifted her attention towards the human. “What do you say, Marcy? Let’s ditch this joint and go have a proper family reunion somewhere else.”

Marcy wiped away her fledgling tears and nodded vigorously, before getting up and racing towards Yunan.

“Oh, and if anyone touches her” Yunan clarified as she saw Scylla begin to shift “they lose the arm. C’mon, try it, I’d really like to add another arm to my wall”

No one took on Yunan’s offer and Marcy made it back to Yunan unscathed. She instantly hugged the newt like her life depended on it, her body trembling slightly.

Yunan smiled and hugged back, using her long neck to put her head atop the hunched over human’ hair. “It’s alright.” She whispered in a soothing tone “We’re almost done”

“T-thanks…” Marcy whispered back and Yunan chuckled.

“Don’t worry. Now, can you let go and go to Liv?”

Marcy nodded and ran to the light blue newt.

“We’re leaving” Yunan announced. 

As she walked towards the door, however, she stopped as Priscilla put a hand over her shoulder.

“No, you are not” The big pink newt told Yunan, who bared her teeth as she gave her a menacing glare. “This house is mine and yours, Yu, as well as of anyone we consider family. You aren’t leaving.” Priscilla turned towards her other three sisters “They are.”

“Oh yeah?” Grendel growled as she pulled out a sword, quickly followed by Charybdis extracting a bow and Scylla a flail. “And who’s going to make us?”

Yunan laughed as she tilted her head first left, then right, producing two loud popping sounds.

“I am.” She announced proudly as she stepped on the table. “Or I guess the best answer would be General Yunan!”

Charybdis let loose an arrow, but Yunan simply ducked under it as she struck the table with a fist, sending her plate flying “Scourge of the Sand Wars!”

With a kick, she sent her piece of meat straight on Grendel’s face with the force of a bullet, temporarily incapacitating her, then she used her plate as a frisbee, the spinning piece of ceramic hitting Charybdis’ bow like a buzzsaw and cutting it in two. “Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched!”

She ran up the table, jumping down and sliding on her knees to limbo under Scylla’s flail before jumping out like a shark and severing the chain in two with only her teeth “Youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of General in the Great Newtopian Army!”

Charybdis jumped at her, daggers drawn, but Yunan’s arm whipped out like a snake, grabbing her by the neck, making her drop her weapons and using her to block Scylla’s oncoming punch, who knocked out the black newt. “Companion to Lady Olivia!”

Yunan tossed her unconscious sister on Scylla’s face and used the green newt’s momentary confusion to close the gap. She punched her chest, piercing straight through the armor, breaking several ribs and sending the much larger newt flying into a wall. “And Mentor to Marcy the Human!”

Finally Grendel managed to regain her senses. As she pulled the piece of cooked meat off from her face and tried to get off the ground, she found Yunan standing on the edge of the table, one set of blades extracted and right on her throat

The whole thing couldn’t have lasted more than ten seconds and left Marcy gazing starry-eyed at Yunan’s awesomeness, Priscilla nodding approvingly and Olivia with just a bit of a blue blush.

Grendel looked at her sister with an hateful stare, her hand still on her sword “You ain’t got the guts.” She growled at her.

“ Try me ” Yunan replied, venom in her words as she levelled a death glare at the green and black newt, her blades inching ever closer to her throat.

The two’s staredown lasted for another good half minute, then, finally, Grendel left her sword, who plinked uselessly against the floor.

Grendel got up and glared at Yunan “This isn’t over” She hissed.

Yunan gritted her teeth, then smiled a wide grin “Oh, but it is.” She whispered as she leant in to the side of Grendel’s head “Because if you ever come near me, near Olivia, near Marcy, near anyone I love, Frog, if you come near my frogging postnewt, I will kill you. That is not a threat, it’s a promise.” Nonchalantly, Yunan brought her fist to Grendel’s stomach, her blades ready to be extracted and instantly impale the newt. “Frog, I could do it now and save us all a lot of trouble. And you know the best part? You can’t do anything about it. You can’t lie, you can’t manipulate, you can’t strongarm your way past this. You can’t hurt anyone.” She backed down, her fist still on Grendel’s stomach “So tell me, dear sister , is it over?”

Grendel looked at Yunan bewildered “You’re… insane!” She hissed

“Nah, just rightfully angry. Answer the question.”

The green and black newt growled, then backed down, kicking at empty air “Alright, alright! Scylla, Charybdis, let’s go!”

In no time, the three newts had left the house and, if they had any common sense, Newtopia.

Priscilla marched up to Yunan and ruffled her hair “That was a neat takedown, sis! Remember me never to anger you”

“It was impressive indeed, Yun” Olivia admitted as she approached Yunan “I only wish you had left me some of them, honestly.”

Yunan smiled proudly and struck a pose “Don’t worry, milady! I will leave you a piece, next time”

Olivia chuckled into her hand “Still, I believe a thank you is in order” Olivia took Yunan’s hand and gave it a kiss on the back. 

Yunan, from victorious defeater of evil, became a pink blushing mess in a second, beginning to blabber incoherently.

“I… hope that will suffice?” Olivia asked, blushing as well.

By some miracle, Yunan managed to pull together enough neurons to give Olivia a thumbs up.

Priscilla laughed, causing the two to blush even more “Aw, you’re cute” Then, her expression got serious “Listen, Yu, I should have-”

“No need” Yunan interrupted her sister, managing to shake herself off of the kiss-induced stupor “Three against one is hardly fair and you have a kid. I can get why you wouldn’t want to put Pearl in danger.” Yunan looked at Marcy, who had remained at the other end of the room “Plus, this thing has helped me realize… things.”

Priscilla nodded “Very well then. Now, since my dining room is smashed and I don’t want to even touch Grendel’s meat, who’s up for gnatchos?”

“GNATCHOS!” Pearl exclaimed from her mother’s shoulder.

“I too will partake in some choed gnat” Olivia agreed with a nod.

“Sounds good to me!” Yunan chimed in “Can you go ahead? I have some things I wish to say to Marcy, personally”

The other three newts left the room, leaving only Yunan and Marcy. The newt approached the human and adjusted the crownlet on her head “Is everything alright champ?” She asked

Marcy made a small smile “It’s… better.”

Yunan nodded “It’s good enough. Listen, I’m sorry.”

Marcy immediately tried to explain how it wasn’t her fault, but Yunan shook her head and put a hand on Marcy’s shoulder “I should have intervened way earlier. I just had… stuff to figure out. Ugh, I’m not good with thinking stuff like you and Liv.” The General shook her head “But none of it matters now. I got everything figured out. I’m never going to allow anyone else to bully you, belittle you or do anything that will make you feel bad, never again.”

Yunan took a deep breath “I’m going to leave for while, alright? Liv and Andrias will take care of you in the meantime and I’ll be back as quick as I can. When I come back, I won’t be able to tell you or anyone else for that matter what I did, but trust me when I say that thanks to it no one will ever hurt you.”

Marcy, her eyes full of happy tears, nodded and leant in on Yunan’s hand, making the newt chuckled. 

“Now come on! Let us have our last together adventure for a bit!” Yunan announced, striking an epic pose.

Marcy quickly joined her “General Yunan and her pupil Marcy Wu go on a quest for…”

“GNATCHOS!”

It was extremely late, or extremely early. As someone who seldomly slept, Andrias was of the opinion that it was subjective.

He was seated on his throne, still as a statue as he often was. The game was beginning, that was clear, but he was afraid that, as often happened in a game of Flipwart, pieces would be lost or would have to be sacrificed.

Which pieces was he alright with losing to fix his mistake of old?

Before he could inquire more into this haunting question, the doors to the throne room opened and in came General Yunan, wreathed in shadows.

He observed her silently as she strode towards him, equally soundlessly. Finally, when she had gotten to a good distance, she knelt.

“General Yunan” He aknowledged her with a voice not louder than a whisper, but in the silence of the throne room it might as well have been a shout.

“Sire” She greeted him back “I have thought about the mission.”

He raised a single eyebrow in a questioning manner “And?”

“I’ll accept it. For Marcy’s own good.”

Andrias nodded “Very well. You’ve made the right choice, General. For Marcy’s own good”

Chapter Text

During the several months Marcy Wu had spent in Amphibia, she could say that, more often than not, waking up was a particularly wild part of the day.

Back on Earth it had been nothing special: wake up, get dressed (if she didn’t fall asleep already clothed, which was unsurprisingly common), have breakfast, get out and head to school as soon as possible, a spring in her step and a thousand thoughts buzzing in her head.

On Amphibia though? 

First off, it took her several weeks to accept the fact that each morning she woke up in an alien world filled with sentient amphibians, giant monsters and actual magic, then she became closely entangled with said amphibians, monsters and magic! 

It was something out of one of her Creatures and Caverns campaigns! The ones she planned, anyway. Anne and Sasha had not seemed interested in trying it out each and every time she had proposed it to them and it wasn’t like there was anyone else she could have played with back on Earth… but that wasn’t the point!

Point was, most mornings were now a glorious blaze of excitement and promises of adventure, from Yunan taking her on some quest, to Olivia needing help with governing or Andrias… well, it was near impossible to say each time what the King would take her along for, honestly, something that caused no small amount of headaches to Lady Olivia.

Some mornings, though, were far less exciting, mostly because of the two things she had used to actually look forward to back on Earth or their absence at least.

Today was one of those days, Marcy couldn’t help but think as she woke up, her neck incredibly sore. The reason was quickly found out, as her pillow was not under her head and was, instead, held tightly between her arms.

Reluctantly the teen let the fluffy pillow go, getting up and fixing her neck as Yunan had taught her to. She had always been a hugger, Yunan and Olivia’s numerous bruised ribs across the duration of her stay in the palace more than proved it.

She had eventually gotten better at not hurting the two small newts, to the point where Yunan no longer flew the room when she tried to hug her, and Andrias fluffy beard definitely ranked in her top 3 things to hug, yet she couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was simply something missing, something that left her yearning, something she felt wasn’t there, yet couldn’t begin to place.

Well, that was a lie, she had to admit. She may not know what it was, but she definitely knew where she had found it before Amphibia.

With a sigh Marcy walked up to her desk. There, propped up against the vase of one of her plants and held in place by her hair tie, was their photo. She picked it up and rubbed her thumb gently on her friends, as if cleaning it from imaginary dust.

“We’ll find you.” Marcy whispered, more to herself than to the photo. King Andrias had said he would send peop- newts looking, but it was months ago! And she had heard nothing so far… she almost worried that they were…

She rapidly shook her head. She couldn’t even think about something like that! King Andrias had promised her he would find them and she trusted him. Besides, even if some of his scouts had found Anne or Sasha, it was not like they would be able to find out until the current situation was solved.

She slipped the photo in her satchel, put her tie in her hair and got quickly dressed in her Ranger armor, cape and all. Bernardo had said that this one should not be able to spontaneously combust, so she had to try it out! 

Of course she couldn’t forget Andrias’ gift and she took great care that the white crownlet was fixed on her head, then covered it with her hood.

She quickly made her bed, proudly posing over her work once it was done, something her neck didn’t like so much.

“Ow, ow, ow” Marcy whined as she moved her neck. Perhaps she could ask Andrias or Olivia for some plushies? That way she could have something she could hug without killing her neck. Her parents had always said plushies were too childish and she was too old for them, but she hardly doubted Andrias or Olivia would refuse her.

“Seeing how huge Olivia’s clock is, I’ll only have to worry about fitting in my room after Andrias stuffed it with a giant plushie” Marcy joked to herself as she put the parchments on her desk in her bag and ran out off the room, into the corridor and down the stairs.

By the time her face had hit the first step, she realized that might have been a bad idea.

Thankfully, the stairs were not as long as the ones she had fallen down her first minute in Amphibia and she managed to stop herself. The girl stood up and cleaned herself off before continuing at a more cautious pace.

She finally arrived at the dining room and threw open the doors, loudly announcing herself. “Good morning, everybody!”

“Good morning, Master Marcy!” Andrias, sitting in his big chair, greeted her, almost immediately joined by Lady Olivia raising her mug of coffee and repeating Andrias’ words. Conspicuously missing was General Yunan, who had recently departed for her ‘tippity top secret mission’ as Andrias has put it.

“We heard you arriving” Andrias joked. “That was one big thump, you okay?”

Marcy blushed a bit before flashing a thumbs up “I’m ninety-five percent fine!” She answered as she rapidly climbed the big table.

“I can see that” Olivia commented as she picked up a mug of something and handed it to the human “You’re almost as quick as Yunan.”

Marcy accepted the newt’s offering and peered inside the mug, discovering lukewarm tea instead of her usual milk.

“We ran out of caterpillar milk yesterday” Olivia explained “With the city under siege, food is beginning to be scarce”

“Food is for the weak, Lady Olivia!” Andrias proclaimed “Look at me! I haven't eaten in a week and I’m as awesome as ever!” He brought a hand to his chin and rubbed it a bit “Though I do miss a bit my favorite chips… ah, but I trust you got this ‘in the bag’, as you say, Master Marcy!”

Marcy grinned, downed the tea in one gulp and slammed her mug on the table “You betcha!” She exclaimed “In fact, I literally have the solution in my bag!” Marcy proudly displayed the fabric container.

“Ah, I understand!” Andrias said, enthralled “You will bamboozle the Barbariants with your amazing fashion sense and they will have no choice but leave! Clever, Master Marcy, very clever!”

The human snorted in amusement “Don’t be silly! I stayed up late to finish up my map of their tunnels and I’m ready to strike at their Queen! I’ll get her to go and all of the others will follow her, easy peasy!”

The great newt shrugged “Still think the fashion thing could work, Master Marcy, but you do you” He joked.

Olivia chuckled into her hand “What he means is that we trust you, Master Marcy. If there’s a person in this city who can pull off one of your plans and save us by the width of an hair, it’s you”

Marcy smiled at the trust the two newts had in her. She might not know where her friends were, but she still had people who loved her and whom she loved.

“Correct, Lady Olivia!” She proclaimed as she swept up a couple of cookies and jammed them in her mouth. Still chomping on them, she reached for her bag and pulled out a smoke bomb “Chief Ranger Marcy Wu, out!”

The small pellet impacted the table and created a curtain of smoke which hid her escape. Lady Olivia murmured something along the lines of ‘really should tell her not to use those inside’, but she barely heard it over Andrias chuckles.

“To adventure!” She cheered as she strode past the dining room’s doors. Yup, she had new people she cared for and, for the first time in her life, she was the one they depended on. It was… nice.

As Marcy approached Newtopia’s gates, ever more newts came to ask her things. Some were normal citizens, concerned for the siege the city was under, but there were also ordinary guards with reports of activities from the Barbariants and newts from the Night Guard asking for orders.

‘Things that come from being top dog, eh?’ Marcy thought with a bit of pride. ‘Or spider, I suppose they would say around here.’ 

Lord Commander Luther had left the city a few days before the Barbariants (presumably the very same ones that had been displaced by the Caecilians she, Kettle and Yunan had taken care of) had arrived. She supposed it was better that he had judged her ready enough to not need to come along on the training mission he had taken the rest of the new recruits on and also thanked Frog Kettle had been taken along. She would still need to fix everything, but she still felt it was too soon.

Anyways, both Luther and Yunan being gone meant that she was the one everyone around answered to! Well, technically the King was still the one in charge, but she had traded Andrias some Wizardry cards in exchange for doing what he would have most likely done anyways and let her handle it while he sat on his throne.

“Master Marcy” Three voices she recognised as the royal advisors’ called for her attention.

“Bartley! Branson! Blair!” She greeted them “How is everything going?”

“Night Guard scouts report that there should be a group of Barbariants on the prowl, waiting for prey near the main gate” Bartley started.

“Rations are starting to thin and some are beginning to get angry” Branson went on.

“I didn’t sleep very well last night” Blair concluded.

“Well, have more guards stationed near the main gate to warn travelers and send out Rangers on bird to warn incoming ones” Marcy answered to the advisors’ concerns as she continued to walk up to the gates, the three newts listening carefully to the extra-dimensional creature’s every word “Open the emergency reserves and use those to supplement the rations and Blair” Marcy stopped, pulled out a small bottle of pills and tossed the newt one “This should help you catch some Zs”

Blair quickly pocketed the pill “Thank you, Master Marcy. How about you?”

“Yes, how’s that plan coming along?” Branson piped in.

Bartley of course couldn’t be left out and he too had to speak “You told us you were nearly done, right?” 

Marcy nodded, amused by the trio “Yuppity duppity! Finished my study of the Barbariants’ caves and I should have figured out the Queen’s location!”

“That’s wonderful news!”

“Indeed!”

“I also think that is good and want to express it!”

“I should be able to wrap it up by about…” Marcy pulled out her sundial watch, courtesy of Olivia “Midday! Well, that leaves just enough time for a Creature and Caverns session! What do you say, Triple B?”

The three newts suddenly grew very shy, their gazes carefully averting Marcy’s exciting eyes.

“I would, it’s just that I have…” Bartley justified himself “A… funeral… to attend to?”

“Oh, I too would very much like to go…” Branson agreed “But I have to… plan a… funeral, yes, a funeral, me as well”

“Oh, I love Creatures and Caverns, definitely but I… I have to kill myself” Blair blurted out “So that Branson can plan my funeral and Bartley can attend.”

Before Marcy could inquire about the trio's excuses, a guard conveniently interrupted them “Chief Ranger Marcy!” She called out “There’s a group of travelers by the main gate who wants to be let in!”

“By the main gate?” Marcy asked “But isn’t there supposed to be a group of Barbariants by the main gate?”

“Oh no, those convenient travelers are in danger!” Blair said

“You should definitely drop everything and go help them” Branson agreed

“And obviously forget to question our funeral-related activities” Bartley finished up.

“Good thinking, Triple B!” Marcy gave them a thumbs up and immediately began racing towards the main gate, leaving the three advisors to sigh in relief once she was gone.

If she wanted to stop whoever the newcomers were from being mauled by giant ants, Marcy had little time and she knew it. She ducked under one big Night Guard, sliding under her legs, and jumped over two regular guards, then arrived at the stairs leading up to the wall and raced to the top.

When she arrived, it was as she feared. The travelers had most likely driven off a scouting ant, which had triggered the attention of about half a dozen Barbariants. 

Marcy reached in her trusty bag and pulled out a handy mixture of pitch and petra oleum (or oil, if you wanted to suck the fun out of it). Using her vantage point and with the wind to her advantage, she launched several sackets of the chemical mix and created a semicircle around the soon-to-be-ant-food’s wagon. Using her trusty flint and steel, she lit up one of her crossbow bolts and used it to put the flammable material she had tossed earlier aflame, creating a veritable wall of fire.

Marcy could help but grin proudly as the Barbariants ran for their life. As much as Amphibia’s fauna may be different from Earth’s, the ancestral fear of fire was something they seemed to share.

Anyway, if there was anything that General Yunan had ever taught her, it was that once you did something epic (and she pretty much felt like this qualified), you needed to make sure to close up epically.

She quickly tied up her rope to a bolt, shot it at the cart and tied the other end to a solid-looking pilon, then pulled out her hook to slide down and land epically. 

Of course, that was the intent, made a bit more difficult by the rope snapping in two halfway during her descent, making Marcy fall on her face once again.

By this point, after the snake incident, the time Olivia had been sick and she had decided to try out if Leonardo DaVinci’s designs worked in Amphibia (they didn’t) and that time Andrias had decided to give her a pat on the back while watching the sunset on the walls, she had become accustomed to falling from great heights in the shallow waters around Newtopia. She stood down for just a couple seconds before standing out and picking up her journal, beginning to jot down her new findings on her now soaked journal.

She coughed out a bit of water “Okay, so. Newtopian rope can hold an average human girl for about uhhh… 2.3 seconds.” That confirmed what she had found out back in the cult's hideout. It was not optimal, of course. Not just because it would make things more difficult if she wanted to use it in the future, but it seriously undermined a very cool entrance. “Maybe I could reinforce the rope with ironspider silk to increase the tensile strength-”

“Marcy?”

The constant stream of thoughts, ideas, theories and worries in Marcy’s brain immediately came to a halt as she instantly recognised the voice coming from behind her. How could she not? It was-

“Anne?” She asked as she turned, disbelief evident in her voice.

She barely had time to process that it was real, Anne was here, before the other human spoke again, her tone no longer questioning and surprised, but full of joy “MARCY!” She yelled out as she sprinted towards her.

Marcy barely managed to repeat Anne’s name in kind before she was tackled to the ground by her friend’s bear hug. There, still wet from her fall and being in water, she instantly realized just what she had been feeling was missing as Anne’s warm arms wrapped around her. It made sense, of course, once she thought about it, amphibians were cold-blooded creatures and didn’t have the same body warmth a human had, but she still felt like the warmth her best friend’s hug was giving off was way more than it logically should have been.

It wasn’t time to think about that or to think at all because, as it finally registered in Marcy’s brain, Anne was here, she was here, she was safe, she still missed her!

“Anne!” She yelled out, her hands twitching from the sheer excitement “Is that really you?” Marcy asked, more to herself, still not believing Anne was here !

It seemed her feelings were met by the other teen, as she equally excitedly called her name, tears in her eyes “Marcy! I can’t believe it!”

By this point Marcy’s brain was barely working and it took all of her self control to stop herself from jumping in place because Anne was here ! “You? Me? Here?” She asked, her usually loquacious mouth now down to one-word sentences

“I know, I know, I missed you so much!” Anne replied as she went in for another hug, the warmth still spreading out from Anne’s body and into Marcy’s chest. She rapidly began to hug Anne back, confirming that it wasn’t a dream, it wasn’t a mirage, it was real, ANNE WAS HERE! 

“I missed you too!” Marcy repeated Anne’s words, hugging tighter as joy flooded every crevice of her mind because Anne had missed her, Anne still loved her, Anne was still her friend and ANNE WAS HERE!

Anne pulled her up, a big smile on both teen’s faces and they finally gave each other a good look. Anne had barely changed (except for an apparently missing shoe and twigs and leaves in her hair), but Marcy knew her own outfit had very much changed during her stay in Newtopia, as had she and she felt a twinge of fear that Anne wouldn’t like it, that it was too different for her.

That, however, wasn’t the case apparently as Anne’s smile somehow got even bigger “Look at you! You look so cool, you’re like an amazon warrior queen!”

Marcy’s own grin couldn’t help but spread to match her friend’s as her irrational fears were smashed in a way only Anne and more recently Andrias were able to. “I know!” She energetically agreed as she displayed her cape “I know! This is so amazing!” Marcy pulled out her crossbow “This is real!” She couldn’t help but exclaim, so excited that she accidentally triggered, shooting the bolt, which went just above the head and straight through the bow of a pollywog Marcy just realized was there, along with a couple of frogs.

“A bit too real, maybe” Anne pointed out, the comment, which would normally send her in a spiral of apologies and insecurity, managing to not upset her at all in a way only her oldest friend could.

“Whoops!” She said as she rubbed the back of her head “Yeah, maybe. Sorry!”

Not looking as upset as Marcy would have thought a kid which had come to a hair of dying would, the pollywog yelled out “NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR SOMETHING SO COOL!”

Seeing how amazed Anne had been at her outfit, Marcy remembered her training with Yunan and chuckled “You thought that was cool?” She asked, a grin on her face “Well, look at this!” She declared as she whipped out her scythe in all of its glory.

The pollywog’s eyes and mouth enlarged to an extent Marcy would not have expected in a creature so little “NEVERMIND THE CROSSBOW HOP POP, I WANT ONE OF THOSE!”

“Woah Marcy, that is awesome!” Anne agreed.

“Everything is awesome!” Marcy went further “This world is awesome! It’s full of fun, adventures, I’ve really changed here, Anne! Come into my own, leveled up!” She stood proudly and with a movement of her arm to point her palm out into the distance declared triumphantly, her cloak billowing into the convenient wind “No more clumsy klutzy Marcy!” Her power pose interrupted as she closed her hands into fists and excitedly asked Anne “Can you believe it, Anne?”

“Uhu” Anne nodded, agreeing with her before pointing out one small detail “Your cloak is on fire”

“What!?” Marcy exclaimed as she turned to discover that her cloak was apparently on fire for no apparent reason. Or maybe it was the scythe, Marcy would have theorized if she wasn’t slightly preoccupied by the fact her cloak was once more on fire. “NOT AGAIN!” She yelled as she began to run in circles

“Don’t swing it around!” Anne advised her “The water!”

Heeding Anne’s words, Marcy dove headfirst into the water, succeeding in putting off the flames.

“Uh, I was more thinking you could just dip the cloak in water or splash some on it” Anne pointed out “Buuut I guess that works as well”

Marcy sat in the water, realizing that her approach might not have been the best one. “Oh. Yeah” She chuckled as she got up “Derp. I guess some of clumsy Marcy remains”

Anne joined Marcy in her laughter, a sound the Taiwanese girl would readily swear there and then was the most angelic melody she had ever heard. “She better be” Anne teased her with a light punch on her shoulder “I absolutely adore badass Marcy, but I do love that clumsy girl way too much to never see her again”

It was then that Marcy found out that apparently Anne had the power to warm her up even at a distance, as her cheeks became red and her brain melted at Anne’s words.

Luckily for her, Anne’s attention was shifted from her by one of her traveling companions, an elderly orange frog Marcy suddenly felt like she owed her life to. “So, Anne, who’s your friend?” He asked.

Marcy was still mumbling to herself about possible suggestion she could make to Bernardo to make her cloak not flammable (or just sic Yunan on him when she came back, that would be a good motivator) and noting them in her journal, when Anne pointed at her to introduce her “You guys,” She announced almost with pride “meet Marcy!”

That definitely caught Marcy’s attention. She looked up from her journal and took a good look at the three frogs “Oh my gosh, who are these cuties?” She asked Anne, but, before her friend could try and answer her question, she gasped at the revelation her brain came to.

 “Oh. My. FROG! Are they your surrogate frog family? Did they find you and take you in?”

Until now, she had almost assumed that the frogs Anne had come with were just traveling companions, but, after all, Anne had been in Amphibia for months now and, just like her, she must have found someone to live with, just like she had with Andrias.

“Yup” Anne confirmed, chuckling a bit at Marcy’s enthusiasm “Without them I would have been torn apart by an angry mob. Or a giant mantis. Whichever had won, really”

“Oh, I love the found family trope!” Marcy couldn’t help but exclaim “Gosh, this is just like the hero of my favorite game! Vagabondia Chronicles! The GREATEST JRPG of ALL TIME!”

“Have you played it? Do you want to play it? Do you want to borrow it?” The Plantars looked vaguely threatened as Marcy leant in and grabbed them by their shoulders “Just say the word and I’ll lend you my copy, man, it will change your LIVES!”

“Uhm, Anne?” The pink one pleaded for help.

“Don’t worry guys, she gets like this at times. So yeah, ‘found family trope’, I guess. That one you have right there is Hop Pop”

As Anne was busy explaining, Marcy was already at work, measuring tape at the ready to catalog the frogs’ anatomy. She had studied it, of course, but seeing it in person was a whole nother deal! “Uh uh, uh uh” She acknowledged Anne’s explanation as she measured Hop Pop’s cranial circumference “Just as I thought!” She noted “62 centimeters!”

“All brain!” 

“Judging by your coloration, the size of your cranium and the flakes of sediment, you’re from Frog Valley, right?”

“How do you know?” The elderly frog gasped in awe “Just by my head?!”

“That’s right! Anne, I’m so jealous!” Marcy told her friend “I was just reading the other day about Frog Valley and Amphibian history in general and, honestly, I think farming communities are underappreciated. Farming culture is severely underrated and farmers are the backbone of any healthy society!”

Helping Lady Olivia with paperwork had definitely helped form that opinion and the last days of siege had confirmed it thoroughly.

All of Marcy’s praise was apparently too much for the old frog, who nearly collapsed on top of the pollywog. 

“Get off of me!” She yelled and, just as Hop Pop was beginning to thank Marcy, she shoved me aside “I’m Polly! Loved your weapons! Where do I get them?”

“Polly?” Marcy asked “Polly the pollywog?”

The diminutive amphibian sighed and rolled her eyes “Tell me about it, sister. Can’t wait for when I grow my legs so I can shake the name off, honestly”

“Well, that can be helped!” Marcy declared as she picked Polly up and held her before the sun. She whipped out a magnifying lens “Oh, interesting!” She couldn’t help but exclaim.

“What is? WHAT IS?”

“Your legs are almost fully grown!” Marcy explained. “They should be coming in in about… 2 months, give or take.” 

Polly gasped in amazement “Can I get that in writing? I want to humiliate the other pollywogs back home!”

Marcy chuckled, “Sure thing, little buddy!” She let down the pollywog and scribbled her prevision on a sticky note “Schebang!” She yelled out as she slammed the sticky note on the small amphibian’s face.

If Polly minded, she didn’t express it, as she began hugging the piece of paper.

Finally Marcy turned towards the last of the three frogs, who, curiously, seemed to be watching something else.

“Wo-woah!” Marcy exclaimed “I’ve never seen a frog your color before! I didn’t see many frogs, honestly, there aren’t many in Newtopia, but it is still awesome! Oh, is it to signal you’re dangerous? Are you poisonous?”

The pink frog glared at her as he shook her outstretched hand “Maybe I am, maybe I am not. Who knows?”

Marcy stopped in her tracks “Wait, really?” On one hand, she wondered if the antivenom she carried worked also for poisonous creatures and not just venomous ones, on the other if he really was poisonous she could make poison bolts for her crossbow!

“Well, yeah, I actually don’t know.” The pink frog admitted.

Marcy nodded, then fell to the ground.

“Dang it, boy!”

“Marcy!”

“If I don’t get my weapons, it’s on you, Sprig!”

Marcy got up, a seashell in her hands “Don’t worry, just saw this beaut for my collection! Anyways, I will definitely iodine that later.”

“What about you, Marcy?” Anne asked, relieved that Sprig wasn’t suddenly revealed as toxic and Marcy wasn’t dead minutes after finding her “Have you been in Newtopia this whole time?”

“Well, mostly, yes, teleported right inside the city’s walls, actually. I broke my leg a little so had to stay here for the first few weeks while it healed up”

“Broke your what now”

“Then there was the whole being stabbed in the gut”

“Stabbed in the WHAT NOW”

“So, yeah, mostly here, but I also did a lot of adventuring! Became a pirate king, exploded a bunch of caecilians, y’know, typical fantasy adventure stuff!” The girl puffed out her chest a bit “Did some roleplaying as your classical artificer-rogue and became Chief Ranger in no time!” Well, there had been some little help on Andrias’ part, yes (naming her Chief Ranger, to be more precise), but she figured the big newt wouldn’t mind if she didn’t mention that part. 

“…were any of those words?” Polly deadpanned, but Marcy paid her no mind. There would be much time to introduce Anne’s frog family to the wonders of TTRPGs!

“That’s cool Mar Mar!” Anne encouraged Marcy with a smile “So, can you let us in?”

Marcy’s expression got serious “Unfortunately Anne, those doors have to stay closed until the Barbariants are gone. But don’t worry! We’ve got a plan!” With that Marcy pulled out her trusty crossbow.

“Oh, is she gonna shoot them?” Polly wondered, clearly thrilled by the idea “If she is, she can lend me the scythe in the meantime!”

To Polly’s displeasure, however, Marcy shot the crossbow at the wall to give herself a speed boost towards the tent Triple B had had set up in the meantime. “Follow me!” She yelled out as she rocketed through the air.

Once she landed, out of the Plantars’ and Anne’s earshot, she finally failed to contain herself. Marcy began hopping in place, clapping her hands together.

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my GOSH!” She squealed out “She’shereshe’shereANNE’SHERE!”

She had almost stopped hoping (almost, she still triple checked for any reports from Andrias’ scouts every day), but Anne was here! Words could not express how happy she was!

As she saw the Plantars and Anne approaching out of the corner of her eye, she composed herself. “Okay, Marcy, you have this one occasion!” She told her reflection in the water, pointing her finger at her reflection in the water “You gotta channel your inner Yunan and show Anne you can take care of yourself, that you’re better!”

That last word left a bitter taste in her mouth. She had to show her she could be better. Because she hadn’t been before.

It had always been like that, between them. Sasha was the charismatic leader, Marcy the clumsy weird genius and Anne the one that held them together, the one to carry out Sasha’s plans and to selflessly take care of Marcy and assure she didn’t die to oncoming traffic or an uncovered manhole.

Perhaps… if she could show Anne she didn’t have to take care of her, that she could change… maybe there was hope for their friendship. Maybe they could all change.

Her reflections shambled to a halt as two hands wrapped around her chest, their owner’s identity immediately revealed by their warmth and the warmth they caused in Marcy’s chest.

“Whatcha thinking about, Mar Mar?” Anne asked, her head poking from between Marcy’ shoulder and her neck, a goofy expression painted on her face.

Marcy’s cheeks instantly flushed again as her mind crashed and burned. “I- uhm, I was- I was thinking-!” Her brain didn’t help at all as she stumbled over her words,  marched out of Anne’s hug, actually stumbled and faceplanted.

“Marcy!” Anne called out her name, only for her to stand up.

“Totally planned!” She straight up lied, both to mask that weird reaction (what was up with her?! She and Anne hugged all the time back at home, why was she acting so weird?!?!) and to show her she could handle herself, definitely! “I just needed to taste the mud to find out where the Barbariants are coming from!”

“And where are they coming from?” Asked Hop Pop, popping out from behind Anne.

“Uhmmm…” Marcy muttered as she tried to recall the information. She had memorized it the day before, but this was before the universe decided to throw her best friend into the fray alongside weird stuff she didn’t understand! “…there?” She tentatively said, pointing at an obvious Barbariant tunnel entrance.

“Yeah, that makes sense” Polly admitted with a shrug as she bounced past them

“First from my head, then from the mud!?” Hop Pop exclaimed “Anne, your friend is so smart!”

Anne chuckled at Hop Pop’s reaction, then smiled at Marcy “She’s the smartest person I know, aren’t you, Marbles?”

“Almost too smart…” The pink frog Marcy would have realized no one had mentioned the name of if her brainpower wasn’t currently that of a lightbulb hooked to a potato.

“Ahahah, yes I am!” Marcy laughed it off before turning on her heels and walking into the tent “Triple B!” She greeted the three newts inside, who straightened themselves after the little squabble they had apparently just had had.

“Master Marcy!” Bartley greeted her.

“We were just discussing the best approach!” Branson agreed.

“Yes, discussing in a civilized manner and definitely not punching each other in the throats, definitely” Blair clarified before being silenced by a swift punch in the throat by Branson.

“Good, good!” Marcy nodded before stepping aside “I’ve brought friends with me! These” She pointed at the three frogs who had followed her “are the Plantars! They traveled here all the way from Frog Valley!”

As Hop Pop and the pink frog (was it too awkward to ask his name now? Oh Frog it was) removed a couple of flies that had come in with them (very convenient, their buzzing was kinda annoying) and Polly introduced herself with a greeting croak (typical of Frog Valley, from her studies. Could have also been a burp, honestly), Bartley gave the frogs a condescending look “Ah, yes, dirty peasants. Welcome, dirty peasants.”

“Hey, the genius girl here said we farmers are underappreciated!” Hop Pop protested “She can tell where you come from from your head or by eating mud, so she knows what she’s talking about!”

“And this is my friend from Earth!” Marcy said, pointing at the other human “Ann-ow” 

Anne, who’d interrupted her by poking her cheek, backed up a bit and apologized, a smile still on her face “Sorry Mar Mar. Still can’t believe it, honestly”

As the other human began laughing and patting her on the head, Marcy couldn’t help but laugh as well “Anne, stop it!” She half-heartedly protested, only to be slightly disappointed when Anne complied.

“Alright, keep being awesome, Marbles!” Anne cheered on her, giving Marcy a bit of courage.

“Anyways” Bartley said “We have reached an agreement and we will go with m-” The newt’s mouth stopped as Branson held up the fist he had used to punch Blair “I mean, we’re open to suggestions?”

Marcy smiled proudly. “A chance for Marcy, Chief Ranger of Newtopia, to show her quality!” The girl extracted some parchments from her bag “Now, the Barbariants have been forced out of their hive by Caecilians. They’ve come south to search for new lands and King Andrias has tasked me to stop them before they turn Newtopia into a giant anthill!” For effect, she smashed the model of the city with one of an anthill she had commissioned Andrias for the occasion. The big guy was handy with his woodworking, particularly for a nerd like her! Man, just imagine what she could do with Andrias’ help for her TTRPGs!

“Wait, you work directly for the King?” The pink frog asked “Like, the King of Amphibia? That one?”

“You guys have a king?” Anne also questioned.

“Well, duh!” Hop Pop exclaimed “We’re not anarchists, Anne!”

“SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!”

“Aw, I thought you wanted a scythe too?” Marcy joked “He’s the one who gave it to me, after all”

“DEATH TO THE TRAITORS!”

“I like your spirit! The plan is simple and foolproof, we’re gonna sneak in the Barbariants’ tunnels and plant these!” Marcy extracted a bandolier of her secret weapons

“Boomshrooms!”

“Close, but they’re actually stinkshrooms!” Marcy corrected a very disappointed Polly “One whiff of them and the Barbariant Queen will run away. Well, not really, she’s too fat to run and will mostly be carried by workers, but you get the idea. We just gotta clear though the insect hordes and I think Polly here knows just the best way.”

“Incredible violence?”

“Incredible violence.”

“INCREDIBLE VIOLENCE!” Polly let out a battle cry as she whipped out a flail and smashed the table in pieces.

“WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?” Hop Pop asked, alarmed by his flail-wielding infant granddaughter.

“YOU KNOW ME, IT’D BE WEIRDER IF I DIDN’T HAVE A WEAPON!”

Marcy chuckled at the exchange “So I see we have the muscle. It will be difficult, but in my caring hands- whoops, broke the table”

“How?” Branson asked, amazed “The Pollywog already smashed it to bits!”

“Dude, you don’t know Marcy enough if you still have to ask that question” Anne explained before turning towards Marcy “It does sound dangerous, Marbles. Are you sure you don’t want to sit back and let me and the Plantars handle it? We took care of all sorts of things, back at the Valley, we are a pretty solid team that can take care of everything. Aren’t we gang?”

“POLLY, YOU CAN’T SMASH THE CITY WALLS!”

“THE DAM OF VIOLENCE HAS BEEN BROKEN, OLD FROG, THERE IS NO WAY TO RESTRAIN IT NOW!”

“Oh? Yeah, we are, definitely” The pink frog answered, his face literally centimeters from Marcy’s leg, which he was observing intently.

“Yup, battle hardened team.” Anne concluded, crossing her arms.

“This is my mission, Anna Banana” Marcy tried to reassure her friend and put a hand on her shoulder. “As I told you, I’ve done far more dangerous things and only got stabbed, like, once!”

“That still doesn’t reassure me, but…” Anne sighed. “I guess I’ll trust you. Can we still come along? Can keep you safe better if I’m with you, after all”

Marcy smiled and gave Anne a quick hug. “Of course, Anna Banana!” It was perfect! A good ol’ bonding adventure, the perfect Creatures and Caverns experience to bond a party together! Well, she and Anne already had a very close bond, but she could still show her how she could handle herself, maybe even impress her with her skills!

“Your cape’s on fire tho”

“WHAT!? HOW!?!”

So, with Anne and the Plantars in tow, on to adventure Marcy went!

She still couldn’t believe it was happening, let alone think of the possibilities! She had always wanted Anne and Sasha to play Creatures and Caverns with her to go on daring quests with her best friends, but now? She could actually do that, but for real!

A real Team Marcanne adventure!

So enthralled was she with the concept that she failed to realize they had arrived at the entrance to the Barbariants tunnels she had pointed at earlier, stumbled and fell headfirst into it, rolling down the sloped tunnel all the way to the bottom.

Almost instantly she stood up, pointing her finger in the air “Tactical speed rolling! That was planned, totally what I wanted to do! Let’s go!” 

Before she could proceed, however, a couple of human hands found their place on her shoulders “I think it would be better if we go in the front, Mar Mar. This place could be dangerous”

“Pfft” Marcy blew a raspberry “Anne, do you forget I studied Barbariants? This place is definitely dangerous!”

Anne sighed “I just… I just think you’d be safer in the back, okay? Can you do it for me, Marbles?”

For a brief moment, Marcy was conflicted. On one hand, she wanted to show Anne her prowess, but on the other… well, she just couldn’t say no to her best friend, couldn’t she? “Alrighty, Anna Banana” She relented in the end “I’ll do it just for you!”

After all, she thought as she moved towards the back of the line, if they encountered Barbariants she could always swing in on her rope, save the day and show Anne she could totally handle herself!