Does the title scare you?
It should.
enjoy :)
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Valerie's eyes fluttered open to be met with not Marcy's makeshift room, but blue metal walls surrounding her. She suddenly shivered. This felt... wrong.
Where the heck are you? You're supposed to be at the resistance base, fighting with Andrias's forces right now. Your energy signature has disappeared from my map.
It has? I... don't know where I am.
Marcy's has too. Is she with you?
When Gold mentioned her girlfriend, aqua eyes scanned the perimeter of where she was. It was dark, the only thing illuminating the room was a warm white light that was on the ceiling. It really gave a spooky vibe to the room-- one that made the brunette want to run as fast as she could. Away from this place.
either or, she spotted Marcy on the ground next to her, She crawled her way over, grabbing the girl by the shoulders and shaking her awake. She noticed that Marcy's chestplate, cape and boots were somehow magically back on, along with her own varsity jacket and boots being back on her own body. Weird.
she's here. I'll update you when I find out where the fuck we are.
"Sunshine! hey!" Valerie said, watching Marcy's eyes open to meet hers and almost immediately and shifting to confusion.
The noirette groaned, trying to open her eyes properly and adjust to the room around her. "Val...? where... where are we?" she suddenly seemed to shoot up, her tiredness leaving her as soon as she noticed the unusual surroundings. "what the heck? we're not back at camp!"
"I know, I know, just stay calm." Valerie assured in a voice barely above a whisper, moving to press a finger to the shorter teen's lips. "we don't know who's watching us."
Marcy nodded, before prying the brunette's finger off of her and looking around, taking in the surroundings. Her eyes lit up as she gently knocked her clenched fist against a nearby wall, seeming to come for a realization.
"there's no way."
the girl paused, turning back to her lover who was looking at her with expectant eyes. "okay, don't freak out, but I think we're in the Newtopian castle's storage room."
Valerie made a popping sound with her lips. She wasn't at all scared or shocked at the discovery, simply shrugging her shoulders. "well that doesn't explain how we got here, but--" she used one of her hands to gesture behind her. "it does explain the giant pile of shit behind us."
Marcy looked to where was gestured. There was a giant pile of random things, stuffed animals, books, handcuffs, chains-- think anything and everything, it was there.
Alright, Gold, we're in the newtopian castle... I'm pretty sure. Valerie told the entity in her head, who replied quickly.
that darn castle has been off of my radar ever since Andrias betrayed you. I don't know exactly what's happening-- but there's some kind of cloaking spell around it.
"talkin' to your head demon again?" the noirette pulled her out of her thoughts as she slid up next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"she's an entity, get it right." Valerie answered the question indirectly, sighing and wrapping an arm around Marcy as well to lean into her. "But yeah. Apparently the castle has been off her radar since-"
they were cut off by a whirring sound. It was followed metal clanging onto each other, before a giant, blue-skinned newt was revealed coming through the doors.
Andrias.
King Andrias.
Valerie contained the rage that welled up inside of her, but still nudged Marcy behind her and grabbed a knife from the pocket of her jacket, keeping her other hand on the gun that was strapped to her waist.
"ah, so you're awake, I see." Andrias bellowed, looking down on the two girls like they were nothing but ants to him. "I do apologize for suddenly pulling you from your peaceful slumber-- but I needed to talk to the both of you."
"what the fuck do you want." The brunette growled lowly at the King, one of her eyes coating with gold just at his presence, before settling on being normal again. All she could feel was rage and the overwhelming urge to grab out her gun and shoot him.
But she'd unloaded the bullets from her gun the night before, so that she wouldn't sleep on a loaded weapon. Which sadly meant that wasn't possible.
"oh, why so angry? I'm not here to fight, just to talk." He smiled, although it was obviously condescending and meant to induce fear. "You see, I have an... let's say opportunity for the both of you."
He spun on his heel, suddenly pressing on a keypad and lighting up a screen (that neither of the girls had noticed was there) with an image of multiple glowing orange eyes on some kind of circular robot. "you see-- I was never doing this for me. All of this was for my lord, the core, who is a collection of Amphibia's greatest minds! They want to take over the multiverse-- in fact, all of this was their idea."
As he spoke, different pictures of universes in flames, people losing their families, people losing their lovers, crying and begging for mercy, kept flashing across the screen, before it went black.
Those pictures made Valerie want to puke.
"However there's one small problem." Andrias spoke as he turned around, looking to the teenagers, his face dark. "the core needs a host-- a living being who's body they can use to take over the multiverse, trapping them in their own mind." His face then lit up, and he clapped his hands together excitedly.
"and lucky for you, they couldn't pick between the two of you!" He paused, gesturing to the couple, who both looked horrified at this point. "now, the original plan was for Marcy to be their host, however at the show of your strength, and the fact you were chosen to hold the golden gem's abilities," the king gestured to the brunette. "you were pulled into this equation as well."
"and so we've come to a decision to just let you decide amongst yourselves!" He said with faux cheer in his voice. He really sounded like an evil Santa Claus, sometimes.
"have fun."
the door shut behind him.
Valerie's world seemed to slow. She seemed to be having some kind of long thought process, after all, she'd just had a lot dropped on her so suddenly. That vision that gold had given her-- she said Marcy wouldn't end up like that because of her interference.
But at what cost for herself?
"I gotta do it."
"absolutely not!" Marcy argued, stepping closer to her girlfriend and planting a firm hand on her shoulder as she noticed the brunette was refusing to make eye contact.
"Mars, you're still so innocent, I don't want you to know what extent pain can truly go to." Valerie said, her aqua gaze still lingering on the floor, refusing to look anywhere but there. She would rather have herself suffer than the girl she loved. "Plus, I've been through a lot, so what's one more thing?"
"Which is exactly why I should do it! Bunny, please, you've been through enough. Let me take this one." Marcy replied, taking her girlfriend's face into her free hand and tilting her head so that she could look at her.
The two locked eyes, and before Valerie's own mind could catch up to what she was doing, she leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to the girl's lips. Marcy assumed it to be a goodbye kiss, and that she'd actually just let her do this.
nope.
Valerie was distracting her.
What the noirette failed to notice was that the taller teen's hand had been outstretched behind her, golden light dancing from her fingertips that seemed to form a kind of... portal with the picture of Wartwood behind it? oh yeah, one of the golden gem's original power's was being able to form portals-- as long as it was inside of the same world/realm. So basically, the holder could teleport.
Valerie was the one to pull back from the kiss first, smiling down at the shorter girl in her arms, who returned the grin. Then, giving her no time to react, she grabbed Marcy's shoulders and gave her a firm shove, directly back into the portal.
Marcy let out something similar to squeal from surprise, before she landed back on the familiar terrain of Wartwood. She was quick to get up and brush off the dirt, before trying to reach back for her girlfriend.
"BUN-"
The portal closed.
And right on cue, Andrias walked through the metal doors.
"what a noble sacrifice." he spoke with a wide, fake smile as he looked down on the girl with narrowed eyes.
Valerie turned, looking at him with a deadpan expression. "with no due respect, sir, I value your opinion of me and my actions about as much as a five-year old values a white crayon."
"ah, sass. you have quite the personality, don't you, my dear?"
Being called 'my dear' by an old man gave her flashbacks, but she bit down the bile that rose in the back of her throat.
"Such a shame, it was so easy to get into that glowing demon's files despite that thick skull of yours."
Valerie perked up at that statement. Both her own anger and Gold's seemed to mingle as the brown wolfcut on her head started to glow and flow upwards, as well as her eyes coating with that familiar gold color.
"SO YOU'RE THE ONE THAT'S BEEN MESSING WITH MY PLANS-!!"
"uh-uh, none of that." Andrias placed one of his claws against the brunette's forehead, which she cringed at, feeling her magic fade. For some reason, touching her there just seemed to abruptly stop the magic that flowed through her veins. "we'll need to get rid of that unholy demon in your head if you're to become the Core's host."
Valerie paused for a moment, cringing as she pulled away from the claw, only escaping with a small cut on her forehead. "she's an entity, get it right." she muttered under her breath.
The King just smile innocently and clapped his hands a couple of times as if summoning someone, and quickly, the teenager felt a sense of weightlessness, and she was lugged along out to the hallway. She looked from side to side, taking in the guards dragging her around. They seemed to be the newts-- what were their names? Yasmin and Olive?
Either way, they both had collars around their necks and glowing purple eyes-- like those millipedes in Wartwood. Just the sight of it made her stomach churn.
She was carried down the hall and down some stairs to what she assumed to be the basement, before she was brutally thrown down to the ground, hitting it with a thud.
"alright, come over here," Andrias ordered sternly, having some kind of book open in one of his hands and ushering Valerie to come over towards him. "we'll need to do a ritual to get Gold out of your head."
The teenager's eyes suddenly lit up with Gold, and her voice became something that wasn't her own.
"Woah, buddy! No need for the ritual! I'll hop out."
Suddenly, a familiar entity seem to pull away from the brunette's frame, landing beside her. The golden streaks in Valerie's wolfcut faded as her eyes went wide. Her vision, hearing, sense of smell and sense of touch had just gotten a lot worse.
"you could- you could do that the whole time?" Valerie asked intently. Gold could've just left her body whenever she pleased? Huh. She needed to take a minute to adjust to her normal senses, but in any other case, she would've asked more questions.
"Yep." Gold replied simply. Woah, it was weird hearing her voice without that echo-y voice effect she usually had while talking in her head.
"huh-" the brunette hummed in acknowledgement, but was quickly stopped when she felt one of the collared newts take her jacket off of her shoulders. She cringed at having her clothes taking off without her permission, but didn't have much time to dwell on it as she was suddenly grabbed by a metal claw and placed in a chair that was held up high.
Several glowing orange eyes opened behind her.
"Good luck in there!" Gold said with a salute, before crossing her arms across her chest. "it's a warzone."
Valerie groaned as she felt herself being strapped tightly to the metal chair, many different claws coming closer and closing armor around the clothes she was already wearing. It was all black with an orange eye on it's chest, that's all she could really take in, anyway, before she looked over to Gold, almost as if silently asking for help.
Gold was watching the helmet close the distance between it and the teen's head, and she knew she couldn't save her. So instead, she whispered loud enough for the brunette to hear.
"I'll get you back. I promise."
Valerie nodded, watching Gold disappear in a flash of color that was her namesake.
That was the last thought she had before pain shot through her.
And she didn't even scream.
-
'Valerie' opened her all ten of her glowing orange eyes with a chuckle, a wide, unnatural smile spreading across her face.
"Why hello there!" Her voice came out with an undeniable robotic undertone to it as the chair lowered from where it was, before the possessed girl stepped off of it.
"Hello Valerie- I mean, the core, I mean, ValCore?" Andrias struggled to find out what to call this girl, who was now inhabiting his boss. He then sighed, giving up. "Alright, what do I call you?"
"Hm, good question, big guy." 'Valerie' cradled her chin between her hands, seeming to take a second to think. "Why don't you call us Dalrie? It's from a memory that this girl had with her little girlfriend. Although- yeesh, looking back any further really makes you wonder how she's alive."
Dalrie shook off the disgust and almost... sympathy? they felt for the girl, simply turning to make their way out of the room.
"Where's our goddamn scythe..?"
-
Meanwhile, with Marcy...
As the portal closed, Marcy looked over where it had just been, collapsing to her knees. She heard voices approach from behind her, one of them being Anne-- that was the most distinct-able anyway.
"Mar-Mar! Where have you be-"
the poofy-haired girl paused as she noticed Marcy's pose, walking over to her and putting a hand on her best friend's shoulder.
"Hey, hey! what's... happened? where's-?"
"Val..." the noirette indirectly answered, still staring where the portal had been barely moments ago. "she-she..."
She couldn't take it anymore.
She burst out into sobs.
That's a lovely note to end on <3
Yes, I wrote this in a day, stfu. I've had this planned out for ages-
and yeah, some of you guessed Val would be the core's host. And you were right.
Dalrie is here! And she's just a silly lil' guy :D (she kills people)
There will be one more og chap before we go into All In! And then....
the hardest thing.
then this book-
it'll be over.
Anyway, I love you all /p <3
byeeeee-