"Mar-Mar, why do you keep getting so many surprises for me?" Anne laughed, with Darcy covering her eyes as they walked towards the Throne Room.
Darcy smiled softly. "They're for my girlfriend, so? I don't mind one bit." She then stopped walking and slowly uncovered Anne's eyes.
Anne's violet and glowing eyes looked around before they widened when she saw what waited for her. Instead of Andrias' gigantic throne...there were two thrones sitting beside each other. One black and orange and the other black and blue.
"I know you have a thing for yellow, but after that whole 'Blue Power' thing, I thought you'd like it!" Darcy smiled. "Whaddya think?"
Anne stepped forward. "A...a throne?"
Darcy smirked and her orange eyes glowed, partially activating the collar's conditioning feature. "For the both of us, Anne. This castle is ours...we must show it."
Anne's violet eyes glowed and she nodded. "Y...Yes. This castle is ours. I beat Andrias!"
Darcy walked closer, grinning wide. "Yes. Yes, you did!"
"So, that throne is MINE!" Anne said, running over and hopping on the throne, kicking back like it was a recliner of some kind.
Darcy giggled at that, sitting on the throne next to her. "You know, Andrias is essentially your servant now."
Anne smirked a bit. "I guess he is. I'll make him do everything around here! Because of what he did to you!"
Darcy placed a hand on her chest. "Awwww, Anna-Banana."
Anne giggled before humming. "Sooo, since I'm your queen now...do I get cool armor like you, Mar-Mar?"
Darcy giggled to herself. "You don't even have to ask." She said before clapping. There was silence for a moment before sure enough? Andrias walked into the room.
Anne looked at Andrias, crossing her arms and a small amount of blue energy coming from her hand.
Andrias gulped. "Y...You called, my lord?" He asked, bowing.
Darcy stood up. "Anne would like armor similar to mine. Fashion up some, won't you?"
Andrias nodded, standing up. "Y-Yes, my lord."
Anne then stood from her throne. "I'll be coming with you. So, you don't mess up." She threatened, her hands glowing a bright blue for a minute. "Someone like you might get my size wrong..."
Darcy sat back in her throne, the other minds of The Core finding it...very amusing that Anne was treating Andrias like a servant. That collar did wonders.
Andrias gave a small bow again before leaving with Anne. Although, he felt a tad bit sick to his stomach. It hadn't even been a week, and yet his master was already turning Anne into something the real Anne would've been horrified by. It wasn't that bad now, but Andrias knew better than anyone it would just become worse and worse as time moved on.
He thought back to his own crimes. How he, in a way, started the feud with frogs, toads, and newts. All because his best friend, Leif, betrayed him all those years ago. And whenever he thought of Leif, he'd feel hurt...but he'd also think of Marcy.
He wasn't lying to her about liking when she was around. Marcy reminded him of Leif in so, so many ways. He truly didn't want Marcy to become the host of The Core, nor did he want to resort to stabbing her.
Andrias' eyes closed as he and Anne stopped walking. He still remembered practically pleading with The Core to not kill Marcy and to use a different host.
"What are you thinking about, Leviathan?" Anne snapped, clenching her fists a little bit, glowering at the monster who hurt her girlfriend, trying her best to keep herself under control. It was unnerving to listen to a child act this way.
Children. All of them were children.
It reminded him of a memory... a memory of his dear friend, Barrel.
Andrias stood with Barrel, who looked incredibly unnerved as new soldiers marched into the castle. Toads, frogs, and newts who looked all only to be sixteen or eighteen, wearing armor and brandishing weapons. Barrel just watched with uneasy eyes, clenching his fists and unclenching them, looking rather... anxious, for once.
Barrel just watched, completely silent. He was usually very talkative, but not right now. He was deathly silent.
Andrias lifted a hand. "B...Barrel...? Is everything okay...?"
"...They're just kids..." Barrel murmured, unable to look his best friend in the eye. "Look at them, Andrias... some of them can't be any older than sixteen..."
Andrias sighed. "Father's requested that people be drafted from-" He then quickly went silent when he saw that only seemed to make Barrel even angrier.
"I don't care what your father requested," Barrel snarled. "These children should be with their families, not going on these conquests when these foreign creatures could kill them!"
Andrias was silent at that, almost as silent as Barrel was before. He couldn't help but feel terrible for all of these soldiers. Barrel was right, and even he preferred if these people were all with their families instead.
"...I'm sorry, Barrel. I-I wish I could-"
"That's the thing, isn't it?" his friend snapped, glaring at him. "You keep wishing, wishing, wishing. But this isn't a fairytale. You can do something, Drias, but you don't do anything."
Andrias was snapped out of his flashback by a sudden punch to the gut, causing him to crash against the wall. He groaned, looking at Anne. Her fist was engulfed in a blue flame and her purple eyes were bright...but something was a tad bit different.
The once white pupils were now orange.
"What did I say, Leviathan?" Anne growled, stomping over to Andrias, her fists clenched by her sides.
"I...I'm sorry." Andrias said. But he wasn't saying 'sorry' for ignoring her. What he actually was apologizing for would be obvious to anyone.
Anne blinked, and then stared at him, her expression becoming unreadable for a moment.
"...She trusted you. She trusted you, and now look what happened to her," she whispered, her voice cracking around her words. "She can't even come back home because of you."
Andrias looked down, trying to keep in the tears. But then again, did it really matter? Even with an apology or even with Anne being in the right mind, he was far beyond forgiveness. From Anne. From Marcy...and from Leif.
Especially Barrel.
"I...I know I'm a monster." Andrias mumbled. "I...I took everything from a child just for my father." He then stood up, forgetting he was supposed to act 'normal' around Anne, even if it didn't matter with the collar. "I...It wasn't supposed to go this way...she wasn't supposed to be the one."
Anne's eyes widened, and for a moment, she stepped forward, suddenly looking... lucid. "Y... your father?" she asked.
Darcy's collar must have made her forget the last part. Perhaps that was for the best... at least for now.
Andrias sighed a bit. "...I've seen how your father acts around you. He really does care for you...please...be grateful for the time you had with him." He said solemnly before going to a console of some kind, pressing a button.
Then, devices started to surround Anne, using nano technology to craft an armored suit that looked exactly like the one Darcy wore, forming it around Anne's body. And once it was done, an orange eye formed on the chestplate, looking at Andrias.
Andrias looked away.
Anne then stepped forward, her purple eyes burning into Andrias, while she looked over her suit. Andrias didn't know what she was looking for in him, but she seemed to find it.
"Your father hurt you," she accused, actually looking... sympathetic.
Andrias, of course, was shocked and surprised. He felt undeserving of this sympathy, but that didn't matter at the moment. "Not all fathers are like yours...yes...he hurt me."
Anne stared at him, as if psychoanalyzing him, and Andrias wondered what was going on in that head of hers, especially when she was being conditioned into being a biological weapon.
"I... I know what it's like," she suddenly revealed. "Being hurt and manipulated by someone you cared about."
Andrias' eyes widened, and he automatically knew it was Sasha Waybright. He could gather the type of person she was when she attempted to overthrow him...emphasis on 'was'. She was commanding The Resistance now.
"...I guess we have more in common than we thought-" Andrias was then silenced with an orange eye forming along his crown. He then stood up straight. "A-Anyway, The Co- I mean, Marcy awaits you. I'm sure she'll be eager to see you in your armor."
Anne shook her head, as if awakening from a trance, and then, as if the conversation never happened, she turned around to leave. "I... I like the suit."
Andrias followed her out of the room, with the orange eye disappearing. He was silent. 'I preferred it when none of this was happening to you, child...Barrel...I'm sorry.'
The next morning, he awoke in his cell, and saw a steaming bowl of vegetable soup on the floor, waiting for him.
Andrias sighed, not liking the fact that he had to sit in a cell just to keep up the act. But, the more he thought about it, his actual room was a lot like a prison, too...but who put the soup there?
He shrugged it off and took the soup, sipping on it while struggling to hold the spoon due to being 10 times bigger than most people.
It wasn't much, especially when he was alone and stuck in a terrible situation... but the warmth reminded him of when his friends would make him smile.