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“You’re not friends, not anymore. And examining Marcy’s memories… it’s doubtful you ever were.”
“Ah, Strength,” Darcy drawled, lounging on their throne, surrounded by a nest of metal tentacles that slithered and writhed like restless snakes. In one hand, they held a long black staff with an orange eye affixed at the top. “I didn’t expect to see you back here so soon.”
“Yeah, well, I’m full of surprises,” Sasha shot back, her hands drifting down to the twin hilts of her swords as she strode slowly forward.
“Tell us, Sashy,” Darcy continued with a vicious grin, “Why did you come back here? We’ve been discussing it while you were skulking around our castle, and we cannot reach consensus.”
“I came back for Marcy.” Sasha’s grip on her swords tightened, but they remained sheathed.
“For Marcy? Don’t make us laugh,” Darcy mocked. “The Marcy that lied to you, that trapped you in another dimension?” They continued, their smile getting wider and uglier all the while. “The Marcy that you ignored, that you only ever used to do your homework for you? That Marcy?” They laughed, an ugly multi-voiced mocking sound. “Oh, it looks like you made us laugh after all.”
“Shut up,” Sasha snarled, her swords clearing their sheaths with a hiss. “I don’t give a shit what you think. I came to save her, and to stop you.”
“Oh?” Darcy’s head cocked to one side. “Well, we suppose that there’s no talking you out of this. Marcy told us that you always were stubborn.” They stood slowly, cracking their neck and tapping their staff on the ground. “Well then,” Darcy drawled, the eye of the staff igniting into a wicked-looking scythe. “Let’s rumble, girlfriend.” They surged forward with blinding speed, borne on a tentacular wave, swinging the scythe in a vicious horizontal strike that Sasha managed to block just in time, although the force of the swing sent her skidding backwards. She responded with a howl of rage as she dashed low, dropping into a slide as she tried to get behind Darcy and sever the thick cable connecting their helm to the main body of the Core.
“Predictable,” Darcy intoned, as a trio of tentacles wrapped around to block the blow.
“Shut up,” Sasha grunted. Her muscles stood out like whipcords as she kept the swing going, severing the tentacles, but Darcy had bought enough time to reorient themself and the swords passed harmlessly by the cord. Darcy flung themself upward on tentacles and descended with a terrifying swiftness, spinning to increase the force behind their swing. Sasha rolled to one side and the scythe scored a deep gash in the marble floor, taking part of Sasha’s cape with it. She scrambled back to her feet just as Darcy swung again once, twice, three times, forcing Sasha back with each strike.
“You can’t win, Strength,” Darcy said as Sasha ducked another swipe from the scythe. “You will tire, and we will not, and then you will die at the hands of the girl you came to save. The girl who, from everything we’ve seen, you do not particularly care for.”
“Stop saying that,” Sasha growled, eyes briefly flashing pink as she continued to retreat under the relentless assault.
“But you don’t,” Darcy insisted. “You don’t even know Marcy, do you? You didn’t know her well enough to save her from bringing you here, did you? You didn’t know she was in pain. You ignored her, tuned her out, just like always.” They swung again and knocked away one of Sasha’s swords. “But we know. We know everything about her, and you know nothing.” Another swing, and Sasha’s other sword went spinning away, and Darcy moved swiftly to pin Sasha against the wall with a mass of tentacles. “It’s tragic, really.” They twirled the scythe with a flourish and prepared to deliver a killing blow. “Any last words, Strength?”
Sasha was slumped against the wall, arms at her sides, hair covering her face. Her mouth moved as if she were saying something, and Darcy stepped closer. “What was that, Sasha? You’ll have to speak up.”
“I know that her favorite color is green,” Sasha said quietly. “I know that she loves red velvet cupcakes with ube frosting,” she continued, her hands forming into fists. “I know that her favorite game in the whole world is Vagabondia Chronicles.” The vaguest glow began to grow from behind her hair. “I know that she hates crowds and that she loves weird bugs, and that she relates to Midori Asakusa more than any other character in fiction.” Sasha’s voice grew louder. “I know that trolls in Cauldrons and Caverns are weak to fire, I know that Otherside Picnic is based on the novel Roadside Picnic even though it doesn’t really factor into the plot. I know that the end credits for Ergo Proxy used to be Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android,’ but they lost the rights, so they took the song out of the digital release but didn’t change the text in the credits. I know all the words to the opening song of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. I know that the nearest star to our sun is Alpha Centauri, the highest mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons, and the lowest known point on Earth is the Marianas Trench. I know that the Goliath spider lives in the Amazon and has been known to eat birds, and that the average human does not, in fact, eat eight spiders a year while sleeping. I know that Donald Duck is the most powerful mage in the Final Fantasy series, and I know the multiple timeline theory for the Legend of Zelda series.” The glow behind her hair grew stronger, almost as if the hair itself were starting to glow with a magenta light.
“None of this seems particularly relevant,” Darcy replied, their tone flat and bored.
“That’s the thing,” Sasha replied, “you might think it’s not, but to Marcy it was important. And I remember all of it, every single fact that she got excited about, every show that she wanted us to watch but thought we never did, every song that she would sing under her breath when she thought I couldn’t hear.” Her hands gripped the tentacles, and now her entire body was glowing. “I remember it because every moment that I spent with her was one of the best moments of my life.” She flexed her arms and the tentacles holding her shredded under the strain of attempting to restrain her.
“That’s enough!” Darcy swung their scythe, aiming to remove Sasha’s head from her shoulders. Sasha didn’t flinch, but the scythe missed its mark, instead scoring a line across Sasha’s chest armor. Darcy seemed shocked at this betrayal of their own body. “What is the meaning of this… this rebellion?”
“All those things are important to me because they were important to her, and I was an idiot for never letting her know that,” Sasha continued, reaching out and gripping Darcy’s scythe, pulling them close to her. “I don’t know why I pretended not to care,” she continued as she snapped the shaft and the blade of the scythe flickered and disappeared. “Maybe I was a bad friend. Maybe I was just stupid and didn’t realize that I was being a bitch.” She reached up, seizing Darcy’s helmet with both hands. Darcy’s eyes were darting about wildly.
“No!” They grasped at Sasha’s wrists and tried to pull her hands off of their head. A tentacle slammed into Sasha’s side, the sharp end scoring a cut across her abdomen.
“Hah,” Sasha said, apparently unconcerned with the new injury, “but that’s a lie. I know why I did it.” She reared back and headbutted the helmet, cracking the larger eyes. “I was scared.” She headbutted Darcy again, pieces of the helmet shattering and falling away, cutting Sasha’s forehead and causing her to bleed, but she continued undaunted. “I was scared because of how much Marcy meant to me; how much she still means to me.” She looked into Darcy’s now-revealed organic eyes, Marcy’s eyes. “Even the other day I was terrified because I realized that I had already forgiven her for trapping me here.” Her hand slid along the helmet, resting on the bundle of cords on the back.
“Shut up,” Darcy screamed in a cacophony of voices as they struggled uselessly against Sasha’s iron grip.
“Hey, Marcy,” Sasha’s voice dropped to a low register. “I know you’re in there, girlfriend.” She brought her head to Darcy’s softly, closing her eyes. “This next part’s important, okay?”
“Fuck you,” the voice of Aldrich thundered, overtaking all other voices of the Core.
“Hey, asshole, I’m having a moment here,” Sasha said. “Marcy Wu,” she continued, her grip on the cords tightening. “My loveable nerd. My best friend. Come back to me, Marcy.” Her eyes snapped open, blazing with the power of Strength. “Come back to me, Marcy, because I’m not scared anymore.” Another tentacle whipped across Sasha’s leg, leaving another jagged cut, but she didn’t flinch. “I’m not scared, Marbles,” she repeated, and then she wrenched the cord out of the back of the helmet, knocking the wreckage of the helm off of Marcy’s head. Marcy went limp in Sasha’s arms, and Sasha sank down to the ground with her. She wrapped Marcy in her arms, supporting her head with one hand as she leaned forward, finally whispering the truth against her best friend’s lips.
“I’m in love with you.” For a terrible moment, nothing happened, and Sasha felt the beginning of panic rise along her spine – had she been too late, had Darcy taken Marcy with them when she’d ripped the cord out of the helmet? But then she felt a hand reach up and tangle itself in her hair, and saw Marcy’s eyes flutter open, saw a blush spread across Marcy’s face. She smiled, the fire of Calamity fading from her as she looked at Marcy’s expression. “Hey, Marbles,” she managed to choke out, feeling the tears run down her face.
“You…” Marcy’s voice was hesitant, “you love me?”
Sasha’s reply was immediate. “You’re such an—” She stopped, shaking her head and smiling. References could wait. She breathed out, looked Marcy in the eye. “Yeah, Marcy. I do.” Marcy smiled, then, a soft, contented smile.
“I love you, too.” And then, just like in one of Marcy’s (and Sasha’s) favorite shows, Sasha pulled Marcy into a kiss. There wasn’t any explosion of rainbow light this time, but neither seemed to mind.