Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This is the best. Flying through the open air with her girlfriend sleeping on her back. She holds their arms close to make sure she doesn't fall. Everything is almost perfect, it's too bad Anne couldn't make it. Though if she could, they probably wouldn't be here. She's training for state and can't have her girlfriends distracting her with 'cutely factual information' and 'endurance contest' or something. After getting kicked to Amphibia, Marcy thought it would be a good idea for Sasha to practice flying. And flying is the best! Man, does she love it! The wind in her hair, Joe Sparrow following her every move, just the right amount of control, and, best of all, the loose grip her sleepy girlfriend has on the reins(She loves that, 'Girlfriend'.) Said Girlfriend seems to be waking up from her nap.

"Good morning, princess." Marcy mumbles something, probably about actually being a princess if she had to guess. "Comfy?"

"Very," They snuggle into the crook of her neck and hums,"What time is it?" She looks at her wrist.

"Marcy, is that a sundial?"

A blush appears on their face, " W-Well, O thought it was cool OK! It's normally very accurate." 

"Uh huh, hold tight and we'll see just how accurate your sundial is."

"What do you meAAAAAAAAAANNN!" Sasha whips the bird around to fly left, right, up, down, any direction she pleases in fast, quick motions. It's like an intense roller coaster, without the safety.

"Hey, Marmar, what time is it?"

"3:3-Wah! 3:37!"

Sasha stops Joe Sparrow and checks her phone. "Dang it! How are you right?!"

They put on a goofy smolder "I'm just that good" Both girls burst out laughing.

"Ah, you never cease to amaze me, Marbles." Her praise is unceremoniously cut off.

"Shhh, Do you hear that?"

Screaming. "TAKE THE REINS!" Sasha dive bombs to the noise and jumps off to a tree. She stabs the side of it and slides down to the danger. She scopes out the situation. Love doves, one frog, injured, young, Marcy will look them later. "Hey Bird brains!" The love doves turn to the warrior. She brandishes her swords, "Come and get me!" They charge. She runs to the right, causing their beaks to get stuck in the tree, perfect. One clean cut and the doves will go toppling down.

"Sasha!" Marcy lands and picks up the pink frog- SPRIG?! Oh frog damn it that makes everything 10 times harder! She can't just slit their throats in front of Sprig! Anne would never forgive her! She runs over to Marcy before the love doves can be freed.

"What's the plan?"

"You defend Sprig, I'll scare them away with love-me-rots." She nods as Marcy places the frog down. Sasha gets a good look at him. His arm has a really bad cut, red pouring down his arm. He's not gonna be able to use it, is he? 

She crouches low and positions her swords around him. "Don't touch anything." He doesn't respond, which seems off. Isn't he normally talkative? Whatever, it's not important right now, what is important is the love doves. They circle around, trying to find the best angle to attack. Sasha keeps her eyes trained on them, and they know. They're waiting, waiting for a moment of weakness. It won't happen, it can't. He's too important to Anne. One of them finally attacks while the other circles around. She deflects the first one and throws a dagger at the second, blocking its path. A quick scan tells her that their position is basically compromised. She grabs Sprig as the dove dives at them, trying not to hurt the kids arm. She rolls out of the way and guns it to Marcy. "Where are those flowers?!"

"They're right here- WOAH!" The love doves clash as Sasha weaves under a log. Marcy drops the flowers and dodges. She takes Marcy's hand and runs ahead.

"Where's the flower field?"

"We can't go into the flower field! Love-me-rots will ROT OUR SKIN OFF!"

"What?!" How did they pick them? She doesn't get to ask because the love doves charge at the group. She ask again, "Where's the field?" Marcy is silent, but she can see her footprints. That's where the grove is. Sasha looks at the doves, then at Sprig. She looks Marcy in the eyes and blots for the grove.

"Sasha, what are you doing?!" Marcy quickly starts running after her.

"Call Joe Sparrow!"

"What?!"

"JUST CALL HIM!" She grunts, "I have a plan!" Marcy looks reluctant but does so anyway. A sharp whistle calls out as Sasha runs up to a hill above the flower field. Joe is in place, now all she has to do is wait.

"Sasha, why are we stopping?!" Marcy sounds out of breath and panicked. She hands Sprig to her before picking them up and throwing them onto the sparrow. "Sasha!!!"

"When I give the signal I want you to pull up as fast as possible." Marcy reluctantly nods. Sasha can hear the love doves begin their charge. She takes a vine and flips onto their backs, wrapping it around their beaks and tying it into a knot. "NOW!" She jumps onto the side of Joe Sparrow, her hands griped on the edge of the harness. They launch into the sky with the love doves quickly following. Sasha holds on tight and kicks one of the doves. The other rushes to save their mate and they both crash into the Love-me-rots. Sasha pulls herself up as the love doves feathers start to fall of in the rot, unable to scream due to the vine. She takes a deep breath. Marcy is looking at Sprig's wounds. "So," She huffs, "How bad is it?"

"Not too bad, it's nothing I can't fix, but he shouldn't walk for a few days, his ankle has a real bad twist."

"And his arm?"

"Already on it." Marcy pulls out the first aid kit. They lean over to Sasha and start whispering, "Could you distract him for a bit? I'll numb his arm but I don't want him looking at it." She nods.

Sprig give's them a weak smile, "Thank you for saving me."

"Can it bud, where's the rest of your frog family?" Sprig tenses. It was just a question, does he have something to hide? Marcy gives her a 'tone it down' signal. She must be pretty intimidating. She sighs but takes a more relaxed approach. "Were they with you?" Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead.

"No, Polly and Frobo are playing with the Flour's, and Hop Pop's out for the weekend with Sylvia." Oh thank Frog they're not dead.

Marcy chimes in, forgetting that she's sewing his arm close, "Then what were you doing all the way out here?" 

"Oh I...I," He looks down, "I was going to visit Anne, but that was a dumb idea. She probably busy anyway."

"Were you going to walk?!" Marcy exclaims. The idea is preposterous.

"No I had a bird, but it was Wally's bird."

"Wally has a bird?" Sasha asks.

"Yeah, but she doesn't fly inside the valley. It's a Wally thing. She flew away when the doves showed up." Sprig waits for them to respond, "Anyway, thanks again for saving me, I don't know what I've would have done without you guy. You can drop me off, I'll walk home." He pulls his knees to his chest, seeming small.

Sasha gives Marcy a look and they scoot closer, keeping Sprig out of ear shot.

"Something's wrong. We can't take him home."

"What? Sashi, you're over reacting."

"Look at him! He's sad!"

"So? We all have are down days."

"Yes but-" She sighs, "Have you ever seen him sad before?"

Marcy takes a moment to think, "Well, no, now that you've mentioned it..."

"Exactly! It's unnatural! We have to fix this." 

Marcy nods. They both turn back to Sprig. "Great news Sprig! You're gonna hang out with us today!"

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly crash your date."

Sasha speaks, "You didn't crash anything," He did crash their date but Sasha and Marcy's fly time is a small price to pay for Anne's friendship and love, so it only slightly frustrated her. "We were just bored anyway. Now that you've joined the party we can start having some fun!"

"Oh, well okay, I guess."

Marcy wraps an arm around Sprig's shoulder, "Woo! That's the spirit! Alright, where are we gonna go first?"

Sasha looks around the Valley. "How about... Lily Paddingten! It has some of the best ponds in the valley. You guys cool with that?" Marcy chants 'yes! yes! yes!'  while Sprig give a small thumbs up. He's so off, she has to fix this ASAP.

Chapter Text

"Wow, it's really loud, isn't it?" The streets of Lily Paddingten are packed with market vendors. Frog hussle and bussle about with no regard for each other, only focused on the touristy goodness. 

Sprig forces a smile, "I guess all you need for a successful town is a silly name, heh heh."

Sasha squeezes her girlfriends hand, "Hey, are you doing alright?"

Marcy turns to her, "Yeah, I'll be alright."

"You sure?" Marcy nods, " Just say the word, and we'll be flying out of here, OK?"

"OK, thanks Sasha." They smile at each other as they traverse the market place. Sprig is uncharacteristically quiet, looking past all the frogs into the distance. She follows his gaze to the food stands. 

"Hey guys, let's go get some grub and wait out the crowd."

"Ooh! Sounds great! What about you Sprig?"

He snaps out of his staring, "Yeah that's fine." Sasha hates how small he sounds, it's not normal. The group heads over to the 'food court' section. The place is jam packed with frogs, toads, and maybe some newts. All the tables are taken, judging on the people standing around. Sasha catches one guy leaving his table and bolts, cutting off a frog and a toad in the process. 

"Aw man, I've been waiting for days." The frog sadly walks away.

The toad is not as accepting, "Hey that was mine! Do you know who I am?"

"No." She sits Sprig down on one of the benches.

"I'm Jackson, the greatest toad entertainer-"

"Yeah, yeah don't care." She turns to the crowds,"HEY MARMAR, GOT US A SPOT!"

He gives an offended gasp, "You'll regret this!" Sasha waves a hand at the toad as he storms off. 

Marcy runs up to the two, "Geez Sash, you moved so fast." They take a moment to catch her breath, "So what's the plan?"

Sasha thinks for a moment, "Why don't we look around while Sprig watches the table?" She turns to the frog, "If that's OK with you."

"It's fine. You two go have fun."

Marcy lets out a nervous chuckle, "If you're sure. What do you want?"

He thinks for a moment, "I'm fine with anything, really. You don't have to get me something." He mumbles something under his breath.

"Ok, call if you need anything." Sasha takes Marcy's hand and they walk along the food stands.

Sasha gets a sharp elbow right to her side. "Ow, what the heck was that for?"

"He's already sad. Did you really have to isolate him?" Sasha looks downwards.

"Look, I just want to hang out with you ok? I get he's sad but I still want some us time. And besides," She picks up a menu for pancakes, hopefully they'll have Chocopede. "This will give you some time to think of another activity, he's clearly not liking this place."

Marcy grimaces, letting out a distressed hum, "Do I have too? I don't know many places outside the city."

"You know the rules, I can't pick twice in a row. You'll be fine, just find somewhere." Marcy gives Sasha a sweet smile. It immediately falls and she places her hands over her ears. "Woah, are you ok?"

"Yeah, it's just some idiot playing really loud obnoxious music in this crowd!" Sasha places a pair of noise canceling earphones on her girlfriend's head.

"Don't worry about it. You stay in line, I'll take care of it." Marcy nods as Sasha runs off towards the noise. She pulls out her sword and cuts the main instrument in half.

"Hey, what's your problem?!" Jackson's tuba lies cleanly cut on the floor. Sasha looks around to find that she's at her table. "What's yours? We took this table fair and square and now you're bothering us!" Sasha is very upset. Not only did he hurt Marcy but he's bothering Sprig too! This will not stand!

"I'm not bothering you, just doing some light music." She turns to Sprig for a witness and- woah, he's not looking too good. He's shaking and has his hat over his ears. 

"Light music, huh?" She gestures to Sprig, "Does this look like a reaction to light music?"

The toad just shrugs, "Not my fault he can't take it." Ok, that's it, Sasha's gonna make him wish he was never hatched.

But first, she's gonna have some fun with him. "I don't blame him really, seems like a 'required taste'."

"Required taste?" 

"Yeah you know, like maybe a dung beetle would like it." Jackson's face scrunches up, perfect. "Probably not I mean, it's music only a mother could tolerate, but I'm sure your other routines are much better. What's your clown one? It seems more your style." His face is reddening, "Plus I would love to see a circus reject’s clown routine."

He snaps, "I-I was too good for the circus!"

"Aww," she pats his head, "Sure sure, anything is possible if you just dream hard enough, now go run along and get some snacks ok? I'll call you when it's nap time." 

"I'm not a tadpole!"

"Then why are you acting like one?" She pauses, "You're freaking out over a table. It's pathetic really."

"Oh yeah, you- you!"

"It's okay, take your time." 

He snarls. "THAT'S IT! Hey everyone," The crowd turns to Jackson and Sasha, "for my next act I'm gonna snap this twig in half!" The crowd reacts with a mix of cheers, confusion, fear, and disgust. The toad throws the first punch. It's really predictable, Sasha dodges it easily. 

"See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" He swings again, "It's fine if you're slow, I'll help you out." He goes for a leg sweep. Sasha jumps up and kicks him in the face, "You just need a little practice." She lands as the crowd goes 'oof'. Jackson, seeing as his current plan isn't working despite his rage (or maybe because of it), goes for a different approach. He shoots out his tongue. She dodges it only to find it isn't aimed at her. It's heading for Sprig. The young frog barely hops out of the way. She catches him in a slide, careful not to touch his injuries. The bench Sprig was on breaks at the force of the tongue. Sasha can feel her 'strength' flowing. This toad goes out of his way to hurt a child? Not just any child, but a clearly injured one? He saw her place him down there's no way he didn't know. This was not gonna fly.

She hears Marcy run up behind her and hands them Sprig, "Hey Sashi, maybe you should-"

"HEY! WISE GUY!" She stomps over to Jackson. 

"Oh, well look who we have here! Ready for round-" She grabs his arm and throws him over her head. He doesn't even have time to react before she jumps on him, elbowing him in the stomach. He tries to recover but gets a knee in the face. She picks him up and throws him across the food court into a stone wall. Her calamity charged speed allows her to be in his face before he can fall off the wall. She slams him to the ground as the crowd gasps. He gets up, spewing apologies, like they'd save him. She starts her slow walk to her victim, reveling in the fear she's created. Honestly it's his fault. He should have known better, shouldn't have messed with her friends. Now he's paying the price. And nothing was going to stop her from collecting her debts.

Except Marcy, apparently, because she comes charging in on Joe Sparrow and scoops her up no problem. They fly high into the sky before Joe tosses her up onto the saddle. "Marcy, What the heck!"

"What were you doing?!" Marcy's voice is full of concern, "I saw him attack Sprig but you- you just snapped. What happened?!"

It genuinely takes her by surprise, "I was..." She trails off, "I don't know Mars, I just lost control."

They pull her into a tight hug. "Never do that again, ok? You scared the heck out of me." Sasha starts tearing up, letting out a weak 'ok'. "We'll talk to Anne about this later." Sasha gives an affirmative hum as she tightens the hug, burying her face in Marcy's shoulder. She listens as Marcy rummages through her bags and throws something to Sprig. The noise is soothing, or maybe that's just Marcy. Either way she's so tired and this is so cozy that she just falls asleep in her girlfriend's arms.

Chapter Text

Sash and Sprig have almost finished their food which is perfect because Marcy knows exactly what they're gonna do next.

...

Ok she has no clue, but that's fine! They're gonna figure it out! The demi girl looks out at the towns below. They're outside of the valley, flying over The Dry Swamp. It appears to be mostly empty, not a good sign. She takes a bite of her pill bug crepe. There has to be something, they sigh, looking down at the theater carts below. Wait, theater carts?

"GUYS!" Her companions jump at the outburst, "There's theater carts! Do you guys want to go see the theater carts? I want to go see the theater carts, let's go to the theater carts!" Joe Sparrow to dive bomb the carts at Marcy's command. They land next to the carts. "Hello everyone!" Marcy is leaning out, waving to the people. Unfortunately she misplaces her hand and leans too far, falling face first off the bird. "I'm ok." Sasha grabs their arm and hoists them up.

"Hello, hello there!" A purple newt with a comb overcomes up to the couple. They has a European accent and is wearing fake armor, probably a general. It appears to be based off of the Bogwater Wars, specifically the carton bog battle, which-

Sasha whispers to her, "Marmar, they're talking to you."

"Oh yes, hi, I'm Marcy, great to meet you, what type of sediment do you have? Wait, don't tell me, I want to figure it out myself." 

"Woah," The newt says as they push Marcy away from them. Wow, she didn't realize how close she was. 

"Oh, sorry there, I'm Marcy! Wait, I said that twice, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes you did." They dramatically bow, "I am Romeo, the new director of this acting troupe."

"Ooo! Wait, what happened to the old director?" 

"There was an... Incident... with the old director."

Marcy squeals excitedly, "Is there a company conspiracy? Did you usurp the old owner? Sashi we HAVE to go here." Sasha looks…distressed. She knows how Marcy gets when she’s excited, and normally that wouldn’t be a problem but… Sprig doesn’t seem all that comfortable here. 

“Well, if Sprig’s ok with it, then I am too. What do you think buddy?”  

He…He’s not looking too hot, clinging to Sash like his life depends on it. But he still nods, he hesitantly nods. Sasha gives Marcy a look, and Marcy reminds herself of how much she’s learned about social cues. The old Marcy would have no idea.

Marcy takes two seconds for interpretation, gives Sasha two thumbs up, and turns to Romeo. “We’ll join in! So when’s the next production?” And audible smack comes from Sasha. Oops, too late now. 

“Well it was going to be tomorrow, but…” The director’s face crinkles in fear, “We might not be ready in time.”

To Marcy’s surprise, Sasha steps up first, “You want us to help otherwise we won’t see your play, fine. What needs to be done?”

The newt smiles widely at the girls’ helpfulness, “Wonderful, thank you both. We have a slight pest problem as well as some bandits and sand worms. How about one of you help inside and one of you help outside?”

“On it.” Marcy doesn’t even get a word in before Sasha marches off, clearly in a bad mood.

The newt quickly catches up to her, “Hold on there darling,” Sasha growls at the name, “You can’t just take a child with you to fight the dangers of the dry swamp!”

“Good thing Sprig isn’t just some child.”

“Maybe, but he’ll be much safer in the kid’s wagon-”

“He’s staying with me.”

Marcy buts in, “Sasha, Romeo does have a point. Why don’t I hold him while you go out.” Sasha gives her a gruff nod and gently hands them the pink frog before violently pulling out a sword. Marcy takes a step back and places Sprig inside her hood. He weakly wraps his arms around her neck. They give Sprig a quick squeeze before waving off to Sasha.

“Alright big guy,” She turns to Romeo, “What do we have to start on first.”

“Woo, fifth one done, anything else you need before the play?” Marcy steps out of the dressing room, stretching her arms. This place was in disrepair like they’ve never seen before ! The stage was crawling with spiders, there were rattlesnakes in the concession stand, and venomous beetles in the roof(Those were a nightmare)! “It’s kinda crazy how many amphibavorse got on this caravan.”

Romeo nervously laughs, “Well yes, we do travel a lot-” 

“Some of these creatures aren’t even dry swamp natives.”

 They look into the demi-girls bright green eyes, something about them made the poor newt break into a nervous sweat.“Yes well, we don’t just do shows in the dry swamp, apologies for the inconvenience.”

“No need, each one was a challenge that we had to conquer,” They pause themselves, taking a moment to blink, “Right Sprig?”

The pink frog almost jumps at his name, keeping a much looser hold on Marcy. “Yeah, um, they sure were fun! Unrelated note; can I borrow your phone?”

In one swift motion Marcy takes the phone out of her bag and into Sprig’s hand, “Of course.”

“So,” They turn back to Romeo, “What’s the next challenge? Birds? Rats? Sharks? Ooo I can feel my brain grow just thinking about it!” That isn’t a lie, each task had her use a piece of her wit powers. She was cautious at first, she has no idea why, they feel great now. 

“Actually, you’ve done everything. If it’s alright with you, we’d like to put on a play for you.”

“Of course, we would love that!” She once again pauses, but comes back quicker. “Lead the way.” 

Romeo leads them to the stage, it’s a beautiful false mahogany that’s meant to appear expensive and well done. Everything looks professional but just too haphazardly placed to be permanent. There are ropes and triggers too far from the stage to be useful. Marcy starts chuckling under her breath while Sprigs tapping increases. 

A brown frog, the same age as Sprig, steps onto the stage. “Greetings, guest. My name is Francois, a long time actor in this troop. My parents met here, laying down their lives for the truth of acting. I was born to be an actor, raised to be one of the best! Until-,” a loud ‘dun dun dun’ rings from the pianos, “An ‘actor’ named Hopediah Planter sabotaged our production of The Dreamer and framed our director for theft. Since then this troop, with the help of our director, Romeo, has thought of nothing but revenge!” Tens of actors and actresses jump out of the shadows, brandishing their weapons, “Starting with Sprig, the least valuable planter!” The made up archery squad takes aim, “Maybe if we send him your head, Hopediah will admit to his crimes and return what is rightfully ours!” The first archer shoots, aiming directly for Sprigs head.

Marcy catches the arrow without even looking.

“Aww, we almost feel bad for you.” 

They dodges all the arrows, taking one and throwing it back at the sender. People come charging at them with long swords, the fools. They grab one and slice easily at their opponents. Their movements are slick and effortless, bending themselves in somewhat unnatural positions. The blood shed is exhilarating. They don’t know where Sprig is, they don’t care where Sprig is! A soft red glow fades into their vision but it feels so right! How could this be bad? The rush, the guilt, the blame, they’re addicted to it. Most of the made up traps have been sprung, holding up wounded frogs that thought pretend could substitute for practice. They finally stop laughing (They didn’t even know they were laughing), looking up at their prey.

“Hello!” They giggle. “What to do with- GAHH!” A boomerang smacks them right on the backside of the head. “Hey!”

Strength stands at the entrance, “Alright bitch, ready for round three?” She charges at the hero, barely slicing their arm. They have the advantage here, Strength doesn't want to hurt them. If they could just-

“Marcy!” The pink frog?! “Snap out of it!”

The blonde strikes her swords against the long sword, “Marbles, come back! I know this isn’t you! You wouldn’t have done this!”

“Shut up! You don’t know anything about us-” us, saying it felt foreign on her lips. But, why? Sprig’s still- no, no he’s not. She lost Sprig, why?-

It hits them like a bag of trucks. They deflect Sasha before dropping her sword, barely keeping themself upright, “It-It happened again, didn’t it?” Her breathing quickens, their nails are clawing at skin. Who’s, only frog know. She can’t breathe, she can’t BREATHE!

“Marmar, look at me, look at me! Breathe, follow my lead ok, in, out, in out.”

“I-I can’t- It happened again I can’t-I can’t breathe!” How could this happen again! It’s the third time! She had control SHE HAD CONTROL!

“Marcy! LOOK AT ME!” They can’t, she can’t, they can’t. Black spots cover her vision, and they only grow. 

“Sash, I can’t-” She doesn’t finish her sentence. It’s- it’s too hard to think right now. It’s too… hard…

“MARCY!”

Why did you stop us?

You don’t control me, you don’t deserve to.

And you do?

I’m trying-

Are you?

(Don’t listen to it Don’t listen to it don’t listen to it-)

What do you mean? (No,nononononoo)

Oh, please, you didn’t notice?

(Don’t ask-) Notice what?

No one else wanted to be there, it was just you. You projected your interest onto your friends just like old times.

No I’ve- I’ve changed. Nonono

Hehehehheheh,

Stop it, I changed!

Ahahahahaahahahahahaha

Shut up!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

STOP LAUGHING!

“Leave her alone you multi minded loser!” Marcy looks around. They’re on Joe Sparrow, Sprig’s in his corner, Sasha’s driving, and Marcy's head is lying comfortably in her lap.

“Thanks Sash.” Their girlfriends always know what to do. "When did I wake up?"

"About haft an hour ago, I had to carry you two off the stage before they could regroup." Marcy gives a silent nod, trying to calm down despite it's noise. “Hey, are you good? Ready to keep going?”

“No," They answer honestly, "I need some time to quiet them down. If you could just, I don’t know, hold me? I’ll be mumbling something, so just try not to listen.”

Sasha pulls out some earbuds, “Say no more, I need to think of a new activity anyway.” Marcy gets comfortable on Sasha's lap, mumbling words to the voice in her head.

“Hey Sprig!” Sasha whisper-yells. The pink frog scotches closer. “Come’ere buddy.” He waddles next to Sasha, “If you need anything, tap twice ok? Marcy needs some quiet time.” He nods, still in his depressed mood. She slings an arm around him, holding him close. “I’m glad you’re ok,” She softly whispers. He has no idea what he's prevented, or how much danger he was in. He gives her a weak smile (It’s still weak, nothing has helped) before unhooking her arm and curling in on himself. Well as long as he’s close. 

She takes one last sigh and looks at her demi-girlfriend. Constantly stuck in this inner turmoil, all she wants to do is crawl in there and rip that motherfucker to shreds. Blackpink hops on as a warrior watches the smartest girl she knows fight the toughest battles imaginable.