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The largest eye was in the middle, while the two on either side of it were slightly smaller. They were a firey-orange in color with golden pupils, though nothing about these warm hues was comforting to Marcy as they stared into her soul through the reflection of the mirror. She could hear faint whispering in her ears, but she couldn't make out any of what it was saying.
Stumbling back a little, all Marcy could do was scream, absolutely horrified and sick to her stomach. She only knew as much about "Darcy" as Sasha and Anne told her, but she'd recognize these eyes anywhere; she knew they belonged to The Core. But how? Didn't Anne destroy it?!
Hearing her daughter's scream, Mrs. Wu quickly ran over. "Marcy?! Are you okay?!" She called out worriedly. Marcy unintentionally slammed the bathroom door shut before her mother could come in, making sure to lock it as well.
"S-Sorry, Mom! Yes, I'm fine; there's... there's just a huge spider in the sink!" She replied breathlessly, her feeble voice suggesting that she was on the verge of tears. "Just... go away, please! I-I'll be fine!"
Skeptical and extremely worried about Marcy, Mrs. Wu tried opening the door. "Are you sure, honey?"
"Mhm! Positive!"
"Okay..." Marcy's mother finally gave in with a sigh. "Let me know if you need anything." The way her voice faded indicated to Marcy that she had left and gone back into the kitchen.
Letting go of a heavy breath of relief, Marcy finally looked in the mirror again. Looking at those eyes made her sick. Gripping onto the sides of the sink, her arms trembled as she tried to keep her composure. She felt so warm yet so cold at the same time. She attempted to steady her heavy breathing, but before long she started feeling super dizzy and lightheaded again, and the pain in her head grew worse and worse.
Then, everything went black.
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When Marcy awoke, she was surrounded by a chilling darkness that extended in every direction and seemed to have no end. She was standing in cold, very shallow water. Other than the waters' light rippling, it was completely silent. She also noticed that her headache was gone.
She knew what was happening here, she wasn't stupid; she was in The Core, specifically in that mindscape it made for her. What is she didn't understand is how this was possible, though, considering her connection to The Core had been cut off, and not to mention she literally watched it get destroyed to bits.
"Hello?" She called out, her voice reverberating through the emptiness. "Is anybody there?"
Furrowing her eyebrows as she was left with no answer, Marcy looked around, clenching her teeth. "I know what this is! You can't scare me; I know you're there!" She called again, impatience and anger laced in her voice, but still, no answer.
"Aldrich? Anybody?!"
No answer.
Groaning, Marcy finally gave up. She was too tired for this. Hugging herself, the girl bit down on her bottom lip to stop it from trembling, tears of frustration welling up in her eyes. Was this going to be her life now?! Was she just going to be stuck in this empty hell for the rest of her life, just trapped in this eternal darkness with absolutely nothing and no-one and no control over her physical body?! She couldn't believe this. The Core was supposed to be gone.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity (but was really only a few minutes), a collection of glowing, orange eyes revealed themselves from the darkness. With a small gasp Marcy looked up at them, relieved to see any sign of life in this vast nothingness. However, the being who these eyes belonged to wasn't comforting to be in the presence of in the slightest.
"So we meet again, Marcy Wu."
Marcy would recognize that voice anywhere: Aldrich.
"You." Marcy growled, glaring up at the large old newt.
Aldrich let out an unsettling chuckle. "Well, it's nice to see you again, too." He replied, his voice echoing ominously through the darkness.
Marcy wasn't going to fall for any of The Core's tricks; Not this time. "Oh, don't talk to me like I'm your friend." She scoffed, turning her back to Aldrich, "I haven't forgotten what you did to me. The way you tricked me. The way you hurt my friends." Marcy's voice was filled with pure bitterness and resentment. "I'll never forget."
"Oh, Marcy, we aren't friends. Not after that friend of yours destroyed our physical form! Good thing we've still got this silly mindscape we created for you, huh?" The newt's body suddenly morphed into what seemed to be a trillion large red eyes, extending in every direction of the endless darkness, all staring at her. The one directly ahead of her was the largest of them all. Gasping, Marcy cowered in fear, unsettled by all of these vengeful eyes on her.
"How...-" Her eyes were wide with terror, glistening with tears. "h-how are you still alive? Anne destroyed you, I-I saw her do it!" She glared at the large eye in front of her, unsure of where else to look.
"Admittedly, we thought that at first, too," The Core replied, still speaking in Aldrich's voice. "but it turns out that for as long as you're still alive, The Core shall live on as well. All thanks to this little sanctum we've created in your head."
Marcy's jaw dropped in shock. She was frozen in place for a few seconds before she looked down at her hands in utter disgust. Her very existence was a vessel for The Core to continue living. It never died, and it will never die for as long as she continued to live.
Holy crap.
Without waiting for a response from Marcy, The Core continued on, "You may think we are powerless now because all we've got is this little space in your subconscious, but that is where you'd be grossly wrong. The calamity stones may be gone, but now, thanks to an old ally of ours, we've got something even better."
Marcy watched as a small, gray gem emerged from the ground, levitating in front of the large eye. The eye's pupil dilated at the sight of it.
Marcy already knew the intentions of The Core, so it didn't bother to sugarcoat anything. "This, Marcy, is the Ultra Stone. It was created by the Cosmic Guardian thousands of years ago using the power of the original Calamity Stones for reasons we aren't sure of, but presumably as a back up, and it can only be charged by the energy of said gems. The amount of power this stone holds when fully charged is indescribable—it can do everything the original stones could, and more—, so the Guardian kept it hidden from the mortal world, and it wasn't included in the Olm prophecy because, quite frankly, it wasn't needed with all three of the original stones present. Anyways, after our physical form was demolished, we suppose the Guardian thought it'd be safe to share this power with the world, but sadly, it ended up in the wrong hands, and eventually made it's way to us. And we plan to use it to finally restore our legacy! Unfortunately, though, it still needs to be charged."
Marcy's eyes widened upon learning all of this new information, shocked. All this time, there was a fourth stone that was capable of everything the Calamity gems were and more?! And now it was in The Core's possession?! Oh no, this was super bad! But surely the Ultra Stone was useless since the Calamity stones were no more, right?
The Core answered this question for Marcy without her even having to verbally ask: "That's where you and those other two chosen heroes come in; According to our extensive research and knowledge of this power, the Ultra Stone can also be charged using the powers the Calamity stones bestowed on you three."
Marcy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Wait, but... but we don't have our powers anymore, so you can't charge it, can you?" A small smile started to form on Marcy's face in relief, believing for a second that everything would be okay. But this short-lived sense of ease was promptly ripped away from her by The Core's response.
"Oh, watching you get so hopeful like that was honestly quite comical. We almost feel bad for you." It mocked her, which caused her to shrink in on herself a little in shame. "Actually, you do still have your powers— a trace of them, at least. Granted, they're dormant and, as far as we know, too weak to be used, but they're still there. And the three of you combined should have just enough energy from the stones left inside of you to to charge the Ultra Stone. Ah, it's truly a shame that you moved so far away from the other two, but we're sure you'll see them again soon, so we aren't very worried."
Marcy glanced down at her hands for a moment. They still had a trace of their powers left from the Calamity stones?... Either way, Marcy knew there was no way they were going to help The Core charge the Ultra Stone and grant it with unlimited power. She wasn't going to make that mistake— not again. With knitted brows, she spoke with determination in her voice, "You're crazy if you think I'm going to help you with this, and you're even crazier if you think I'm going to involve Anne and Sasha! I've..." She closed her eyes, took a small breath, then added in a much softer manner, "...I've already hurt them enough because of you."
All of The Core's pupils shrunk with anger at Marcy's refusal to help it, and suddenly the largest eye grew even larger with intentions to frighten the teen who stood before it. It spoke in a loud, booming voice, "Unfortunately, Mar-Mar, you don't have a choice. This time, we won't let anyone—not you, not those idiotic friends of yours, not anyone—stand in our way of at last restoring our legacy and taking back what's rightfully ours. You're going to help us whether you like it or not, and if you continue to resist," Suddenly, The Core morphed again, this time taking Darcy's shape. It's voice changed to match, too. "we'll just have to take over and do it ourselves."
Marcy's jaw fell open, and her eyes were as wide as can be with terror. "No! I won't let you, I-I won't!" She closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to see herself like that. "I won't help you! I-I won't let you do this!"
"Oh, if only it were up to you." Suddenly, the Ultra Stone disappeared, only for it to reappear in Marcy's hand a second later. Marcy hesitantly opened her eyes, looking down at the gray gem.
"Take the Ultra Stone back to the mortal world with you. Do not show it to anyone. The next time you, Anne, and Sasha are together, hold it in the middle of the three of you, and it should attract the energy from the Calamity stones within your bodies. It'll pull that energy out of you, and with that, it'll be charged. We'll take it from there." The Core transformed back into the trillions of eyes once more.
"Do not disappoint us, Marcy Wu."
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Marcy regained consciousness just in time to hear her mother calling her for dinner. With a groan, she weakly stood up from the ground and looked at herself in the mirror, surprised to find that the eyes on her forehead were no longer there. In her hand, she held the Ultra Stone. Drawing in a shaky breath, she held up the dull-colored gem in her trembling hand and looked at it, her stomach twisting and turning with an intense feeling of fear and guilt. This was bad, very bad. She felt like she was going to be sick. What was she going to do?! What could she even do?! Should she tell Anne and Sasha? No, she didn't want them to even be remotely involved in this. If that meant never seeing them in person again, then so be it; She wasn't the same person she used to be, the person who would do anything to be with their friends even if it could potentially hurt them. She couldn't tell her parents about this either, because the whole "Darcy" thing was the one thing she'd kept them in the dark about regarding her time in Amphibia, and she didn't want to tell them now. Surely, they'd think she was just going crazy.
She couldn't stop herself from starting to cry as she clutched the gray gem tightly. The Core was still alive, still apart of her, and it still wanted to take over the world and destroy life as they knew it. If the Ultra Stone was capable of doing everything the Calamity stones could and more, that meant it could open portals, administer extremely strong powers, and literally destroy entire planets; so even if she wanted to, she couldn't charge this thing. It would make all of their efforts to save the world—Anne's sacrifice—all completely worthless.
"Marcy! Are you coming?" Mrs. Wu called again from the kitchen. Marcy really didn't have an appetite right now, but she didn't want to give her parents any more reasons to question her. "Yes, I-I'm coming!" She replied shakily, quickly wiping her tears and shoving the gray gem in her pocket. Before leaving the bathroom, she took once last glance at herself in the mirror and muttered, "I won't let you hurt my friends. Not again."
Then, she joined her parents at the dinner table.
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A/n - Hi everyone! i just wanted to say thank you all for all the support on this fic so far, it truly means more than you know. I have so much more planned for this book and I hope you all are as excited as I am! For updates on the book and special content like playlists and art, please check out my instagram @ darker.starss !! anyways, remember to vote and let me know what you think of the book so far! thank you for reading! <3
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Eyes | Amphibia
Fanfiction"The more things change, the more they stay the same." After Anne destroyed the moon, it was assumed that The Core had been defeated for good... but what if a little part of it was still left inside of Marcy after the events of Amphibia? TW: Violen...
