Eyes | Amphibia

Chapter 27

TW: This chapter contains violence and fighting. Proceed at your own risk.

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Anise, Sasha, and Anne all readied their weapons and got into defensive positions at the sight of Darcy, while Marcy remained stationary, transfixed by her guilt and shame.
Darcy sauntered up to Marcy with that awful, degrading smile on its face that made her want to vomit. "Well, Marcy, we must say, we are very dissapointed in you. We sort of figured that these clowns would persuade you to go with them eventually, but we didn't expect you to forsake us so promptly. What a shame... we thought you were better than that."
Marcy clenched her fists and tensed up. "You tricked me, and then you wiped my memory to hide it," She muttered bitterly, "Why the hell would I ever willingly follow you, especially after that?!"
Darcy's smile fell, replaced by cold, heartless scowl. "We did what we had to in order to get you to cooperate, Marcy. You didn't exactly hold up your end of the deal, so we did what was necessary."
"I never wanted any of this!" Marcy suddenly shouted, glaring directly into Darcy's main set of eyes. "You forced me into this against my will, and you've done nothing but hurt me and my friends since this all started! I may not have been strong enough to fight you before, but I am now, and I'm going to kill you!"
Marcy then reached out and grabbed Darcy's neck, causing everyone in the surrounding area to gasp. She forced the automaton-like being down to the ground and began swinging wild punches at it, keeping a tight grip while she did so.
Darcy struggled against Marcy's grasp, closing its many eyes to protect them from the impact of her fists. "Let go of us!" It snarled as it lifted its feet up to Marcy stomach and kicked her back.
Marcy landed a good distance away, far enough for her friends to be able to catch her. After catching her breath, Marcy tried to stand up again, but the three held her back.
"Marcy, you don't have to do this alone," Anne told her with concern in her eyes. "We're here to help you!"
"Yeah," Sasha added, "That thing is way too strong for you to take on by yourself!"
As much as Marcy felt it was her job and her job only to take down The Core, she had to admit that her friends were right. "Alright," She responded with a small nod, "Let's do this, then."
As Marcy stood up and shifted her focus back to Darcy, she noticed that it had summoned a fiery dagger. "Calling for backup already?" It snickered as it twirled the weapon around in its grasp. "How pathetic. When will you learn to fight your own battles?"
Marcy's face went red with humiliation, but before she could do anything, Sasha came out from behind her and aggressively swung her sword at Darcy. "She'll fight her own battles when you make them fair, you piece of shit!" She shouted as her sword clashed against Darcy's armor.
Darcy's eyes widened at the impact, but thankfully their armor was strong enough to limit the damage to just some momentary shock.
"Pfft," Darcy chuckled, looking at Sasha with scornful eyes. "Now that was just embarrassing."
Sasha grunted as he readied her weapon again, but Anise got to Darcy first: While it was focused on Sasha, they snuck up behind it and swung their bat right at its head.
"Augh!" Darcy shrieked as it fell forward. While it was down, Sasha shot an appreciative glance at Anise, who returned it with a nod. Darcy was quick to pick itself back up, however, and when it did, it seemed to quickly check that all of its eyes were still intact. It was becoming increasingly obviously that it was oddly paranoid about them getting damaged.
"What?" Anise raised a brow at Darcy. "Worried that we'll shatter your eyes like we shattered that stone of yours?"
This seemed to enrage Darcy further, as it prompted the being to jump up and tackle Anise to the ground like some sort of feral animal. Sasha did his best to help Anise free herself, but the task was proving itself to be rather difficult with only one workable hand.
Upon hearing that the Ultra Stone had been shattered, Marcy looked at Anne, who was still standing beside her, with wide eyes. "You guys... destroyed the Ultra Stone?"
"Yeah," Anne replied, "Anise did. You were right about them: They're a good friend."
Marcy couldn't help but smile. Anise, who she had met just weeks prior to this whole ordeal; Anise, who Marcy has kept in the dark about pretty much everything regarding Amphibia; Anise, who had every right to hate her and abandon her and think she was crazy after everything she lied about, was the one who took out The Core's external power. That meant a lot to Marcy, and knowing that the stone was no more relieved her immensely.
"Yeah, they are," Marcy sighed as she turned her attention back onto the battle, where her eyes widened at the sight of Sasha and Anise struggling against Darcy.
"Come on, we'd better go help them." Marcy said to Anne, who nodded in agreement. And with that, the two ran into the battle together.

...

After they managed to get Darcy off of Anise, the fight went on for some time. It left Sasha, Anne, Anise, and Marcy bloodied and bruised, while Darcy had yet to take any debilitating damage. This worried Anne, as they only had about twenty minutes left before they'd be transported out of the mindscape.
Darcy was easily outnumbered, but in the mindscape it was capable of doing things that none of the others could do. It could teleport, make itself invisible, change forms, fabricate anything it wished— all things that made it nearly impossible for them to get any powerful hits in.
When Darcy transformed into an endless wall of eyes to avoid a hit, Anne was fed up. "Alright, enough with the games!" She shouted. "Stop being a coward and give us a fair fight!"
"Coward?" The Core snickered. "We're just using our superior abilities to our advantage. Nothing cowardly about that."
"It's no use," Sasha sighed, placing a hand on Anne's shoulder. "It's way too powerful up here. I think we bit off more than we could chew, Anne."
"No! I won't let it get away with this!" Marcy suddenly chimed in, taking a step forward and glaring directly into The Core's largest eye. "I know all your tricks and ruses! You can't fool me— not anymore!"
Then, she swung her fist, slamming it directly against The Core's pupil. The force of the punch was strong enough to leave a small crack.
"AGH!" The Core screamed, immediately closing all of its eyes. "You idiot! How dare you!"
"Wait..." The corners of Marcy's lips flickered upwards into a smile. "Did that... actually hurt you?"
At The Core's lack of a response, Marcy's eyes widened with newfound hope. "Guys! We have to take out its eyes!" She called out to her friends, who nodded and furrowed their brows with determination.
Morphing back into Darcy, The Core glared at the group of teenagers and tightened its grip on its dagger. The crack Marcy had left was still visible on its biggest eye. "You may have figured out our weakness, but we still have the upper hand! And we won't succumb to you stupid children!" It snarled as it ran at Marcy with its dagger. It swung at her, but Marcy blocked it with her own sword, pushing back against The Core's weapon. After a few seconds she veered her sword to the side, causing Darcy to stumble at the sudden change in direction of the force. Marcy used this to her advantage, pushing it down to the ground and placing her foot on its back to keep it down. It wasn't much of a strong hold, however, and Darcy was already squirming to free itself.
"Someone help me hold it down!" Marcy frantically called out.
The other three quickly ran over to help. Sasha helped keep Darcy down, while Anne and Anise grabbed onto its limbs to limit its squirming.
"Let go of us, you imbeciles!" Darcy growled as it writhed in the grip of the teenagers. It turned its head to glare up at Marcy, but doing so was a big mistake on its end.
Marcy was ready to strike. Before Darcy had the chance to react, her fist collided with another one of its eyes.
"UGH!" Darcy screeched, closing its eyes tight again. Marcy couldn't help but smile with satisfaction, as they seemed to be actually getting somewhere; Unfortunately, however, they had failed to take into consideration one of The Core's most useful abilities.
Darcy suddenly disappeared from the group's hold, puzzling all of them. Marcy mentally punched herself, as she realized for a moment she had forgotten Darcy had the power to teleport up here.
As the rest of the group looked around the expanse of darkness, they realized that the being was nowhere to be found.
"Where did it go?" Anne asked as she looked around with narrowed eyes.
"I don't know," Sasha muttered, "but it's probably gonna try to ambush us or something, so everyone be on your guard."
At Sasha's words, everyone readied their weapons and kept their eyes peeled and their senses alert for any sign of The Core. The longer they waited for it to reveal itself, the more anxious they became.

...

Darcy knew that now that the group knew its weakness, it was at great risk of losing everything. However, it also knew that no matter what, it couldn't let them win. Even it meant destroying itself.
After a few minutes of thinking, it knew what it had to do. It reappeared behind the teenagers, keeping a tight hold on its dagger as it silently approached.
"If we're going down, then you are too!" It suddenly roared when it was within striking distance of its desired target. It thrusted its dagger forward, directly into Marcy's lower back.

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A/n - Sorry for the wait on this chapter and sorry if it's not the greatest! Been super busy and struggling with motivation again, but I'm doing my best to get these chapters out as soon as possible! Thank you all for your continuous support!