Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everyone seemed to be shaking with relief, hugging Anne, who wasn’t dead, against all the odds, tight.

“So…” Sasha muttered, her voice wavering from crying “How are we going to get home?”

“Wait!” Sprig exclaimed “Anne, why is your pocket glowing?”

“It is?” Anne looked down, pulling a note out of her skirt pocket

She unfolded it and gasped at the 3 shards of the calamity stones hidden within the paper.

“If you wish to return home, all you need is to rejoin with the power of the stones, hold them close to your heart, and ask them to once again be a part of you. However, the stones are weak now, and therefore too much power can overwhelm you, weaken you, so be careful with your usage of them. TTYL, The Guardian” Anne read aloud

“So, if we rejoin with the calamity stones, we can open a portal between here and earth, like, anytime we want to?” Marcy exclaimed

“Yeah, but it sounds like it could hurt us if we do it too often.” Sasha muttered 

“I believe the stones don’t hold enough power for you all to open a portal separately, but if you all work together, you should be able to make a portal to return to your home.” Mother Olm spoke

Anne smiled, “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem, right girls?” 

Sasha and Marcy both smiled at her and nodded as Anne distributed the pink and green stones to them.

The three girls cupped the gems in their hands and held them close to their hearts, the wind picking up around them. There was a white flash, and the stone shards were gone. Each of the three girls had a mark on their right arms too, Anne’s being a blue leaf, Sasha’s a pink sword, and Marcy’s a green flipwart. 

“So, are you three feeling any different?” Hop Pop asked

“No, not really.” Anne shrugged

“That’s likely because the power in the stones is so minimal to what it was before.” Mother Olm said

“You guys ready to go home?” Sasha asked

Anne and Marcy nodded, turning along with Sasha towards the group of frogs, newts, and toads they had met and befriended over the months they’d spent in Amphibia. Some of them, close enough to be considered family. 

“Thank you all so much for taking us in, for fighting by our sides to save Amphibia and Earth. We are so happy to have met you, befriended you, rebelled with you.” Anne said loudly. Her voice cracked a little “I will never forget the time I spent here.”

After that, they naturally moved on to personal goodbyes. 

Marcy spoke with Yunan and Olivia, smiling when they told her they had gotten together. She looked at the broken form of King Andrias.

“I’m so sorry for everything I did to hurt you, Marcy” he glanced down “I don’t expect you to forgive me for any of it, after all, I spent a thousand years not forgiving old friends over one simple action.”

“I will never be able to forget everything that happened, but I’ve been inside The Core’s head. I know they were manipulating you, using you, just like they used me. And if I can’t forgive you for all that, how could I forgive myself?” Marcy said softly

Olivia and Yunan hugged each other closer, proud of the young girl. She’d grown so much.

Meanwhile Sasha and Grime faced each other, expressions stern and serious

“It was an honor to serve by your side, Commander.” Sasha saluted Grime

“Same to you, Lieutenant.” Grime said, but his mouth began to quiver. He broke out in sobs “I’m going to miss you so much!”

“Me too!” Sasha cried “You’re like, a dad to me or something and even though I’ve gone months without seeing my real dad I don’t think I could go a week without you!”

“Probably because your real dad never got his arm cut off defending you in battle.” Grime said, tears running down his face

“Oh my frog, Grimesy, too soon! Too soon!” Sasha grabbed him in a hug

Anne knelt down next to the Plantars.

“Thank you so much for taking me in. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you guys, and I’m so glad you let me be a part of your family.” Anne told them

“You’re a true Plantar, Anne.” Hop Pop said, tears in his eyes

“Polly, you’re like the little sister I’ve never had, and the strongest and most capable kid I’ve ever known, keep being awesome.” Anne continued

Tears soaked Polly’s face “You got it, sis.”

“You’ll come back to visit, right?” Sprig cried 

Anne’s voice was choked with sobs “Of course I will, I just don’t know how long it’ll be before Sasha, Marcy and I will be able to open the portal again. You’re my best friend Sprig, I’d never leave you behind.”

“Spranne against the world?” Sprig sniffled

“Spranne against the world forever.” Anne hugged him tight. “This isn’t goodbye forever, it’s just goodbye for now.”

The three girls met up, waved to the crowd, and held hands. Their eyes began to glow, pink, blue, and green, and soon, the portal opened, and they stepped through.

“See you later Amphibia!” Anne shouted

The next thing they knew, the portal was gone, and the three girls stood in the middle of the park, exhausted.

“Hard to believe this is where it all started all those months ago.” Sasha muttered 

“We’re all completely different people now.” Anne added

“OH MY FROG Andrias destroyed that much?!?” Marcy yelled, looking up at the crumbling L.A. skyline 

“Kinda forgot you missed most of it” Sasha said “But yeah, I didn’t really notice it either.”

“How could we, we had bigger things to focus on! Like, having him not conquer earth, and also not dying…” Anne trailed off. Andrias had failed in conquering earth, the core was gone, but she… “I died. But the guardian of the stones brought me back. I… died.”

There was a long pause.

“Hey, do you guys think we need therapy?” Anne asked

“Probably” Sasha answered at the same time Marcy said “Oh, definitely”

Without a word, they went home.

Chapter Text

By home, they all really went to Anne’s house. After all, Sasha knew it would be easier to explain why the three of them have been missing for the past 8 months with allies. In fact, if Sasha had learned anything, it was easier to do literally everything with allies.

Anne rang the doorbell, her face lighting up when her mom answered the door and wrapped all three of them in a big hug.

“Anne, Sasha, Marcy!” she said “I’m so glad you’re all safe and okay.”

“Yeah… Could you or dad call Sasha and Marcy’s parents, tell them to come over so we can explain everything that happened?” Anne asked

“Of course ที่รัก.” Anne’s mom replied

They settled down on the couch, like they’d done a million times, and shared stories with each other that they hadn’t heard yet.

“So anyways, the next thing I know he’s in a commercial ON THE TV.” Anne shouted, causing the girls to burst into laughter “They might still be playing that commercial- or at the very least, I think it was made into a meme, but seriously, the whole idea of laying low was thrown out the window after that!”

“...But just when we had thought we were goners, the townspeople joined us in our fight, and that’s truly where the rebellion started; when we learned they were just as strong as we were.” Sasha finished her story

“So, my story is about how I got Joe Sparrow. Basically he was a-” Marcy started, but was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

Sasha was startled by the sudden noise and unsheathed her sword.

“Sash!” Anne whispered 

“Sorry, sorry.” Sasha said, putting her sword away “I guess I’m just… a little nervous to see my parents again.”

“Same. We’ve all changed so much, what if they don’t love the new us?” Marcy had tears in her eyes “Besides, my family wanted to move away, how are we supposed to go back if we’re not all together?”

“Whatever happens, we’ll get through it.” Anne hugged her two friends

Anne’s dad opened the door, “Hello Anna, Mark.” 

Sasha flinched at the mention of her parents' names, but stayed perfectly still as they discussed, only seeing their shadows on the floor of the hallway.

“Hello, Bee, we were actually just planning to discuss with you, Oum, and the Wus about everything that happened yesterday” Sasha’s dad said “Anna and I were just having coffee at my place, since everywhere around is closed, and I don’t know if you were watching the news but your daughter was there.”

“I could’ve sworn we saw a couple shots of Sasha too, but I’m not getting my hopes up. After all, she looked completely different, like some sword fighting warrior, but I could’ve sworn it was her face, her hair.” Sasha’s mom added, sniffling a little 

She was so focused on fighting that she hadn’t even realized she- or Anne- had been filmed, but she was more surprised that her mom thought it couldn’t have possibly been her. 

“That’s because I am a sword fighting warrior, mom.” Sasha said, smiling, tears in her eyes

All the adults’ gazes in the room snapped over to the girls.

“Sasha!” Sasha’s mom cried “Where have you been?! You disappear for 8 months and all of a sudden I see you slicing up robots on the news with a sword… I- I couldn’t believe it.” 

“Yep… that was me,” Sasha shrugged awkwardly, her face wet “Sasha, head of the cheer team, Lieutenant to Captain Grime and Commander of the rebellion to save the world.”

“Not to mention a super badass, literal warlord.” Anne added

Sasha grinned a silent thanks to Anne for the compliment.

“We were so worried about you, where have you been that you came back looking like a barbarian?” Sasha’s dad hugged her, feeling the stiffness “And what are you wearing?”

“About 30 pounds of armor.” Sasha muttered, standing up casually and hugging her mom. She was also carrying 7 hidden knives and 2 swords on her, but she wasn’t about to admit that “I don’t know if you’ll believe me if I tell you where we’ve been, but it has a lot to do with everything that happened yesterday.”

“With the Frogvasion?” Sasha’s mom asked

Anne burst into laughter “Dear frog, is that what people have been calling it?”

“Yeah, so basically we’ve been stuck in another world called Amphibia, that’s where the warships were from… it’s a long story, we should probably wait until Marcy’s parents get here before we start.” Sasha said

“So… the prank letters we got on Christmas were real?” Sasha’s dad asked

“Prank letters?” Marcy looked confused

“We each received a letter on Christmas saying that it was hard to spend the holidays with family missing, but you girls were safe and trapped in another world, from someone claiming they were a friend. It seemed so unbelievable, we thought it was a cruel prank.” Sasha’s dad explained

“Okay… that was my fault.” Anne muttered “I should’ve been more clear, I sent those letters.”

“How?” Sasha’s mom asked

The three girls sighed

“Long story” they all said at once

Just then the door opened.

Chapter Text

“Hey Oum.” A tired voice muttered “Sorry it took us so long, we came over as soon as we could, but turns out even an alien invasion doesn’t mean you can take a day off, even if we got to work at home.”

“You said it was urgent though, what is it?” the second, more familiar voice said

Even though their voices were filled with exhaustion, Marcy recognized the figures the moment they stepped through the doorway

“Mama! Baba!” she cried, running towards them before her legs fell in on her and she collapsed into her father’s arms

“Marcy!” Anne and Sasha shouted in unison before Anne added “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it just seems like my legs don’t really want to work right now.” Marcy muttered, tears soaking her face 

“Where have you been?” Marcy’s mom asked, sobbing “We were so scared, we didn’t move, we couldn’t leave, and your dad got a better job offer closer by, we’re not leaving, please don’t run away again Marcy.”

“I’m sorry!” Marcy sobbed

“We’re so sorry as well” Marcy’s dad hugged her, crying

“So… you’re all probably looking for answers, so I guess we should tell you how everything happened.” Anne said “It all started with a music box…”

The three girls told their stories, each of them waking up in Amphibia and how they all played out different roles. They’d talked about leaving a lot of it out on the way to Anne’s house, mostly just stuff that was still too hard to discuss… like the matching scars on Marcy’s chest and back. As they reached the end, a lot of it was news Marcy hadn’t even heard, things that had happened when her body was under control of the Core.

“And then we said our goodbyes, went through the portal, and walked here from the park.” Anne finished

It had taken them hours to tell the whole story, even when leaving details out. By the end, all 3 sets of parents were holding their daughters close and crying.

“I can’t believe you all went through that.” Mrs. Waybright was the first to speak “We’re so glad you're safe at home now.”

“How do you feel?” Anne’s dad asked the girls

“Tired.” the three girls replied 

“It took a lot of our energy to open the portal home.” Marcy continued “And so much has happened, we all want to go back soon, visit everyone we left behind, but for now, I just want to rest.”

Anne and Sasha nodded in agreement. They’d all been through so much, in the last 8 months, but especially the last few days. And now, everything was over, they were safe, surely a rest was deserved.

That evening Marcy settled into her room for the first time in what felt like forever. All her stuff was there, and it felt like a dream.

Was it a dream?

Could she still be stuck in a trap of the Core’s creation?

She did the best thing she could think of, taking off her armor and looking at the scar in her chest, running her finger along it. It stung like the fiery sword was eating her up from the inside all over again.

She remembered what it was like being in the fantasy world the Core created for her, feeling full of joy and wonder, no pain at all, just like when she’d first arrived in Newtopia. At least, until she’d figured out that it was a lie. But that pain came from knowing she could never have exactly what she wanted, because a perfect world would always be a lie, not from her scars.

“珍贵, dinner is ready!” her mom’s voice rung from the doorway

Marcy pulled her shirt down, covering up the scars, but seemingly not soon enough.

“Marcy, what’s that mark on your back?” Mom asked, voice filled with concern

“It- it’s really nothing. You heard how we all got attacked by monsters a couple times and stuff, we’ve all got little scars and stuff from times we-” Marcy stuttered

“Show me now.” she demanded sternly, but her eyes, in the quick moment Marcy felt able to glance at them, were filled with fear .

Marcy showed her mom the scar on her back, and heard her breath in a sharp gasp.

“亲爱的, where did you get this one? Do you have any mo-” Mom paced around Marcy, spotted the matching scar in the front, immediately freezing and face going pale “Tell me what happened.”

Marcy broke down in tears as she recounted a part they’d left out of the story, one she’d rather forget. Sasha and the toads taking control of Newtopia, escaping, freeing Andrias and giving the box to them, the sky castle, Andrias throwing Sprig out the window, jumping out the window to save Sprig, stealing the music box, opening the portal and ushering Anne and the Plantars through, before the worst part.

“And I don’t like to think about that day because the last thing I remember before months of not having control over my own body, was his flaming sword through my chest, hearing Anne and Sasha distantly shout my name, only being able to, to say sorry before everything went dark. I was sure I was going to die, but I didn’t, I was put in a tank until I was well enough to suffer more.” Mom read aloud, tears dripping onto the already soaked paper.

In the middle of the conversation Marcy had to switch to paper, her voice stopped working, but her mom understood. After all, some things were left out because they were hard to talk about.

“I’m so sorry, does it still hurt?” Mom asked, hugging her tight

Marcy nodded. The betrayal, the anger and sadness hurt more than the wound, but at least she finally had the space to let a little bit of that out.

Chapter Text

Sasha was having a hard time readjusting to her home with mom, because everything was so frogdamn impractical! The clothes she would’ve called cute a couple months ago were completely useless, as most of them didn’t have any pockets for hidden weapons or other practical items and exposed vital organs, or worse, the huge wound on her back that she hadn't even told Anne and Marcy about. How in hell was she supposed to feel safe in a pocketless mini skirt and crop top?!

Sasha knew she’d changed, and she’d considered it a good thing. She wasn’t a control freak, not anymore. But she hadn’t realized how exposed she felt without at least 10 pounds of armor, 3 hidden knives, and 1 sword on her. She knew her hands, the things that could wield these weapons, were the most dangerous thing of all, but she still felt weak when her mom told her to go “take a shower and change into something that is clean”

She ended up digging down to the bottom of her drawers to find an old shirt and leggings she could easily slide her armor over. 

There were also a lot of things in her room that were impractical. Her canopy bed for example, was too risky, she could get tangled up in the fabric during battle and trip, or it could be easily lit, setting the whole room aflame. On top of that, she had basically nowhere to set her swords for easy access, and the walls were a mess, covered in posters and mirrors, fairy lights and other trinkets. How was she supposed to be able to make an escape if necessary if her dresser blocked half the window?

She started to rip things down and move things around until her dad came in.

“Sasha, what are you doing?” he asked

“Moving stuff.” Sasha muttered, easily pushing the dresser to the other side of the room with one hand “I’m going to need some new clothes. Wait, what are you doing here, dad?”

“You disappeared for 8 months, kid, even if I didn’t get to see you often before I’m glad you’re back now.” Dad replied, his eyes looking a little wet “So… about the whole sword thing…”

Sasha stared him down, pulling one of the two swords out of its sheath. “What about it?”

“I just don’t know if they’re safe to keep around, I mean, they could be dangerous?” Dad said nervously

“Oh, they are dangerous, to anyone who gets on my bad side.” Sasha smiled “But I see what you’re implying, and trust me, I know what I’m doing with ALL my weapons.”

“You really are some sort of warlord, huh?” Dad gave her a half smile

“I mean, I guess so.” Sasha shrugged “We all did what we had to, leading an army, kicking robot ass, fighting to survive.”

“Well, Marcy’s mother, Mrs. Wu, sent something in the parental group chat, a thing about Marcy that you girls… neglected to tell us.” Dad said

Sasha’s blood ran cold, knowing what came next.

“Apparently Marcy was impaled with a sword.” Dad muttered

“King Andrias did it. Grime and I tried to fight him off, but he slammed us against the wall and when I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was him thrusting the sword through her chest.” Sasha reported, voice cracking “And then we had to run, and I didn’t know what happened to her for months afterwards.”

“Do you have any scars your mother and I don’t know about?” He questioned

“No” Sasha lied, ignoring the pain from the wound that ran up her back. It had only been a day since Darcy had practically sliced her back open after all, but she didn’t need her parents to worry. After all, the one good thing about the injury was that it was made with another flaming weapon, which means it was immediately cauterized and she’d barely lost any blood. “Well, only the one on my face and a couple minor cuts on my arms and legs. I’m too strong of a warrior to get injured!”

“Even the strongest warriors can get injured though. You’re not invincible, honey” Mom said from the doorway

Sasha thought back to how Grime had saved her life by getting his arm cut off. Frog, to believe that was only yesterday.

She sighed “You’re right, I just got lucky.”

Both of her parents looked at each other in surprise, probably at how easily she had given up the argument. Heck, old Sasha probably would’ve argued that she was, in fact, invincible. But after all she’s seen and been through, she knew the truth was far from that.

“Look, I’m a different person now, and if there’s one thing I’m not anymore, it’s a control freak.” Sasha muttered

Her parents nodded.

“Although Anne and Marcy did mention we probably all need like- therapy and stuff.” Sasha shrugged

“Okay, we’ll leave you to redecorate your room while we discuss that, and Sasha, please take off the cape, it smells like a swamp.” Mom said, leaving the room

Sasha wrinkled her nose at her. If anything the cape smelled comforting in a place that felt too strange, too sterile. Plus, it came with the certain benefit of further covering the gash on her back. She set both swords on the shelf above her bed, clearing away cheer trophies. There was no way in any dimension she was taking off the cape yet.

Chapter Text

It was two weeks before school was open again.

Therefore it was two weeks before Anne was forced to go back to school.

“Mooom! I saved the world, don’t you think I deserve to have a little more time before heading back to school?” Anne complained as she ate breakfast

“You already missed half of 8th grade, you can’t afford to miss any more school if you can help it. You seriously need to focus hard and catch up, Anne. Besides, Marcy and Sasha are going to be there.” Mom replied

Anne groaned “I can see Sasha and Marcy outside of school”

“You’re going, ไม่มีข้ออ้าง” Mom said sternly

The truth was, the impending workload wasn’t even the thing worrying Anne, it was the impending gossip. After all, it’s not every day that the fate of the world rests on your shoulders and you use super saiyan powers to fight a giant newt on live tv. Anne was pretty sure she could never live any of that down. But it’s not like she had any choice. She put on her SJMS uniform, a different one than what she’d worn for the past 8 months, she’d framed them and hung them up on the wall along in a collage of other various memories from her time in Amphibia. After all, those clothes were way too worn to ever wear again. And technically they weren’t the same clothes, just copies of them, but Anne refused to think about that.

Her new backpack was dark green with a blue frog keychain hanging off of it. All three of their families had taken the girls on a shopping spree for new school stuff further away from L.A. where the invasion hadn’t impacted anything around. Normally they would just send one of the parents to supervise or even drop the girls off by themselves, but they all seemed to insist to never let the trio out of their sights ever again. Anne supposed she couldn’t exactly blame them, the last time they were all left unsupervised they’d disappeared for 8 months. 

She remembered the shopping spree fondly, after all, it had been a long time since they’d done anything as normal as hanging out at the mall. Sasha seemed to be looking for anything that had a multitude of pockets. That had been a fun conversation.

“Sash, why is everything you’re getting covered in pockets?” Anne had asked

“Where else am I supposed to put the hidden knives?” Sasha replied casually

Anne was a little surprised Sasha still carried the knives. Old habits die hard though.

Marcy was the one who found the matching frog keychains, one in blue, pinkish red, and green for each of them, and they were perfect. For most of the mall trip, she was a little behind, even though Anne and Sasha slowed down a considerable amount for her. She had gotten bright green leg braces with matching crutches, and was still getting used to them. Apparently her legs had weakened a considerable amount, and she now needed the braces to walk. But it was still the same old Marcy, not letting anything get her down, cooing over a bird plushie that looked just like Joe Sparrow and insisting they all have another sleepover sometime soon. 

“Have a good day, Anne!” Dad said his goodbyes as dropped her off in front of the school.

Anne met up with Sasha, who was waiting for her, and could practically feel the other students’ stares. 

“Nice backpack.” Anne commented to Sasha, her maroon bag sitting on her lap. It was decorated with the frog keychain that matched hers, as well as a miniature replica keychain of her swords and the painted on mark that she'd seen on Sasha’s, as well as Grime’s armor.

“Thanks.” Sasha shrugged “Hey, do you want to wait out here for Mar-Mar?” 

“Yes!” Anne practically shouted “Of course we're waiting for Marcy, if we're going in, we're going in together.”

“Are you feeling a little nervous about going in?” Sasha asked genuinely 

“Yeah, kinda. I don't really want to be bombarded with attention and questions now that I'm famous for fighting Andrias.” Anne muttered 

“Yeah. It's kinda crazy how we've spent the last 8 months fighting off giant bugs that want to eat us, but going back to middle school is scary.” Sasha laughed “Maybe it's because I don't have my swords.”

“Aww Sash, I’m sure it’ll be fine!” Anne hugged her friend, surprised when she felt stiffness “Are you wearing armor under your uniform?”

“Yeah. Makes me feel a little better, you know?” Sasha said 

Anne nodded, thinking about the little printed photo she had in her pocket of her and the Plantars. 

Just then Marcy stumbled out of her car, barely regaining her balance.

“Hi guys!” She said cheerfully “What are you still doing out here?”

“Waiting for you, Marbles.” Sasha smiled

“Oh, thanks, but you really didn't have to.” Marcy looked at the ground “I'm still getting used to the braces and I don't want you guys to be late because of me.”

“No, it’s okay, we just figured after everything that happened we should all be there to support each other.” Anne said

“Thanks.” Marcy said softly

“Besides, I don’t think they’re blaming anyone for being late today, especially the three of us. We’re heroes.” Sasha shrugged “Also Mar-Mar, you’ve got to teach me how to sew some time.”

“You know how to sew?” Anne asked as they made their way into the school, ignoring the stares

“Yeah! Lady Olivia taught me when I got a rip in my skirt back in Newtopia!” Marcy smiled, as though thinking back to a good memory “I kept messing up but she was very patient, and yeah, I can teach you, Sasha!”

“Hey! Anne! Anne! Can you show us your super cool anime powers?” Some kid shouted

“Umm… no, I don’t have them anymore.” Anne lied

“What do you mean you don’t have them anymore, we all have them!” Marcy whispered

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna go around showing them off! If we want to get enough power to return to Amphibia we’ve got to save them!” Anne whispered back

Kids began to crowd them, asking questions all at once. Marcy looked overwhelmed so Anne covered her ears for her, since Marcy’s hands were supporting her in the crutches. 

“Everyone back off or else!” Sasha shouted “No more questions for now, I know how to kick ass and I won’t hesitate to do so if you all keep bothering us!”

Slowly but surely the crowd dispersed, the whispers persisting, but now more fearful of Sasha than anything else.

“Thanks Sash.” Anne smiled

“Don’t thank me, blame the sorry excuses of everyone who made me do that in the first place.” Sasha replied in a grunt “Marcy, you good?”

“I’m okay.” Marcy said softly, “Let’s go to class.”

Anne sat down next to Sasha and Marcy in English. In some senses, it felt almost… normal. But for the most part, it was like living a dream.