Work Text:
For those of you who follow my Moth Guardian series, this is partially canon in that fic. (little details are subject to change) So you can consider this a sneak peak.
Anne couldn’t help but stare wildly at the figures in front of her. The toads faded into the background as all she could see were two girls. Two humans. And for just a second Anne is full of sadness. These were the girls that she had been hoping to find and praying to save her for weeks, months, maybe even a year, she had no grasp of time anymore. It didn't feel like a year.
Anne shook her head, looking down as the sadness faded to anger. The blood on the ground made Anne sick. The way the body was bent in an unnatural position was proof enough without the blood that seemed to be pooling toward her, and for just a second Anne could believe that it was the body’s last attempt at seeking comfort.
This is what happens, when you trust the beings that rule this world.
Shut up.
They are selfish creatures.
Stop.
They did this. You cared about something, but that didn't stop them.
They didn’t know.
Sasha took a step forward. “Anne?”
Anne took a step back, arms wrapping around herself taking comfort in the furs she was wrapped in.
Marcy’s voice was quiet trying her best not to spook her. “You're safe now.” She reached out her hand.
It hurts.
I know.
Make it stop.
Do you trust them?
I don’t know.
He’s dead because of them, and they don’t even feel bad! Do You Trust Them.
No.
Do you trust me?
NO.
So, you’re just going to let them kill someone you swore to protect? And here I thought you were a heart. Turns out you just don’t care.
I care!
And yet look at what you’re capable of.
I didn’t do this! They did! You saw them!
You didn’t act. You didn’t protect. You ran like a coward. I told you that sometimes violence is necessary. It’s necessary to protect the things you love. It’s necessary to survive and it’s necessary for the change we want.
I don’t know.
If you are willing to kill to survive in this forest, but not to protect the animals that live in it? You sound more and more like the amphibians we hate.
I- you were right. They can’t be trusted. Not near the nest. Not even in the forest.
I trust you, just… don’t kill them.
Sasha and Marcy didn’t know what to do. There was no time to talk. If they spoke it was quite possible the shell of a girl in front of them would take off.
Marcy’s heart broke as she took Anne in. She was wearing a thick fur coat likely from one of the many monsters she’d had to fight off while living here. It was way too hot to be wearing anything remotely that thick. She was already sweating in her Night Guard armor. Even Sasha considered changing out her typical leggings and trekking it out in just her skirt.
The only reason for such thick cloth had to be protection. Marcy couldn’t stop the sniffle and tears, she had done this. She tried to hold back the tears to avoid scaring the girl anymore. At least Sasha was okay, together they could save Anne. Together they could ensure she got the proper medical care and safety she needed.
Sasha saw Anne for the battle hardened warrior she was. The way she had run barefoot through the forest, not once slowing down or wincing as she ran through the foliage, she had clearly done it many times over.
But there was something more, the way she retreated into her own head, it wasn’t natural. Sasha’s hand twitched for her sword the way it typically did when she sensed danger. Sasha had seen enough movies and read those weird books about how torture and isolation could make someone retreat into themselves, and in extremely rare cases loose the ability to speak, but that took years and years of isolation. She’d had to have been living in the forest longer than in society.
Yet, Anne hadn’t spoken a word to them. She had to know for sure. Sasha took a step forward. "Anne?"
She saw Anne retreat into her head once more and this time when her hand twitched, she actually grabbed her sword. Confused, Sasha looked at her hand and let the hilt go. She looked up just in time to feel the fist connect to her face.
Marcy stared in horror as Sasha grabbed her sword then was promptly sent tumbling back into Marcy.
Anne stood before them, several things setting off alarm bells in her head. The way she was hunched over, knees bent, and her right hand pulled back to her chest, still clenched into a fist. Her left hand, on the floor supporting the rest of her body. Her mouth was pulled into a smile, but the way her eyebrows pulled her face into a scowl, it was more like she was baring her teeth at them like a wild animal.
What set her off was the eyes. Anne had deep brown eyes. She remembered many conversations on how Anne wished her eyes were lighter so she too could be compared to caramel, but no she was more like dark chocolate. This Anne, this feral creature, that stood protectively in front of the moth she had just shot down and Sasha had finished off. It had bright yellow eyes.
No. Not yellow. Or at least not just yellow. The analyst in Marcy wanted to get closer, grab Anne’s face and twist it this way and that as she tried to understand what she was looking at. But Sasha’s hand held her back protectively as her hand finally wrapped tightly around the hilt of her sword.
“I don’t know what the fuck that was for. But if you wanna fight, I won’t hesitate to knock you out. We’re here to help you!”
Marcy might not have been close enough to see Anne’s eyes, but Sasha definitely was.
Her eyes were green, or at least the rims of her eyes were, the green bled into yellow and finally darkened into Anne’s traditional brown, the whites of her eye disappeared in the blink of an eye.
She didn’t know what happened to Anne, but this wasn’t the same person they had dragged to Amphibia.