Eyes | Amphibia

Chapter 16

TW: This chapter contains violence, fighting, and mentions of death. Proceed at your own risk.

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When Marcy awoke, she was inside of the mindscape. Inside of her castle, sitting atop her throne, just like how she'd left it. However, everything felt different now. The sky had gone dark with red hues. The air was cold, in an unsettling way. This place didn't feel like an escape anymore. It didn't feel like the safe haven she'd created it to be. It felt like a prison. It felt like hell.
She tightly closed her eyes and thought about being back in her bedroom with her friends. She thought so hard, but it didn't work. "What?..." She mumbled to herself in confusion. That usually brought her back to reality, why wasn't it working? She started to panic. She tried again. It didn't work. Nothing was working. She began pacing around the castle. She was hyperventilating.
She couldn't leave. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get control of her body back. Something was keeping her here. Something had trapped her here, stripping away the freedom she once had to come and go from this place as she pleased. Tears of frustration started to stream down her cheeks.
"ALDRICH!! SOMEONE!! LET ME GO!!" She cried out. "PLEASE, SOMEONE! I CAN'T LET THEM GET HURT!! LET ME GO!!"
She cried and screamed and begged for what felt like forever, but it was to no avail. No one was listening to her— and if they were, they didn't care. She couldn't save her friends, not like this. Marcy had been tricked by The Core again. She had been used, again. Sasha and Anne were going to die because of her. It was all her fault.
Marcy couldn't even look at the Anne and Sasha lookalikes beside her throne without wanting to vomit. With tightly clenched jaws, she went back to her throne and curled into herself, bawling her eyes out until she physically couldn't anymore.
After what felt like hours (but was really only a few minutes), her tears had dried and her sobs had ceased, too exhausted to continue. Her trembling body was curled up into a ball on her throne, and she was staring vacantly ahead of herself at nothing particular.

"We're sorry, Marcy, but this is just how things have to be." A voice suddenly appeared. Marcy looked over to find Aldrich's gigantic frame standing in the doorway of her castle.
"How... could you do this to me?" Marcy asked, weakly, however even through her feeble voice her feelings of betrayal were very clear. "How could you trap me here?... You promised I'd be rewarded for bringing them to you... this doesn't feel like a reward..."
"Well, if you had just cooperated like you promised, we wouldn't have to trap you here. We did warn you that we'd take things into our own hands if we felt you couldn't do it yourself, didn't we?"
Marcy's blood boiled with anger. She slowly sat up, her bloodshot eyes narrowed on Aldrich. "I hate you— all of you. You're pure evil. I wish I could've died so you didn't have the chance to get this far."
Aldrich furrowed his fluffy brows, as if offended. "You hate us? Oh, we can't have that..." His voice trailed away as he looked down at his hands, and then he smiled. That smile took away every last ounce of security and authenticity in his words. "We really didn't want to have to do this, Marcy, but I believe it's for the best."
Marcy's eyes suddenly widened with fear, her body anxiously tensing up. "...What do you mean? What are you going to do?!"
Aldrich held his hand out of in front of him with his palm towards Marcy, a malicious smirk across his lips. He provided no answer to Marcy's question, only responding with, "This will only hurt for a moment, child. All of your pain will soon end."
Before Marcy could react, a red beam shot out of Aldrich's hand, extending all the way to her forehead. It sent a quick shock through her body, and then it was over. She fell limp, melting into the soft cushion of her throne. Everything went dark.

It took only a minute or so for her to regain consciousness, and when she did, she looked around with an utterly confused expression upon her face.
She was inside of a large castle. The sky was ablaze with beautiful orange and red hues. Two other people were here— she sort of recognized their faces, but she couldn't remember their names. There was also a humongous elderly lizard person standing before her. He was smiling down at her, a genuine smile. She found comfort in that smile.
"Oh... hi." She smiled back, rather awkwardly. "Sorry, but... where am I? Did I just... wake up here? I'm so confused..."
The lizard man let out a soft laugh. "No need to apologize, child. You've been out for awhile, but everything's okay now. You are home."