Follow-up/2nd part to this, continuing The Immortal Marcy Wu. Don’t know how long this’ll be. Lemme know if I should make a master-post for all this, in case I write enough for that.
Also, feel free to ask questions. Questions help brain write idea. :P
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Anne Boonchuy’s days were numbered.
At first, neither she nor her partners had wanted to believe it, thoughts of a cryptic offhanded comment by a cosmic entity unfamiliar with mortal interaction forced to the back of their minds with the apparent revelation of undying life. And yet, with those first grey hairs, they were all forced to confront the obvious.
Being mortal and immortal are two contradictory states of being. It is impossible to possess both at the same time.
Once upon a time, at the end of a war now more than two decades behind them, Anne had made the ultimate sacrifice to end the threat of the Core, rendered into leaves on the wind as she channeled every ounce of energy she could muster. Every sliver of power the Calamity Box had lent her was burnt through in a single moment.
Every last shred, til there was nothing left.
And though she had been returned, whatever power kept Marcy Wu and Sasha Waybright outside of the ability to age held no sway on her, and time now acted upon her, as it did for anyone, denying her the same immortality.
Even the backup body the Guardian had interred her soul into hadn’t remedied this, though it was unclear if they lacked the power to innately bestow such a gift directly, simply hadn’t thought to.
Or had chosen not to. This possibility had sent Sasha into a fit of tearful curses before she’d simply broken down sobbing. For her part, Anne did not dwell on it, and even to her mortal end she was rather hesitant to debate the answer.
For Anne Boonchuy, boundlessly determined and compassionate, it was an eviscerating emotional blow, at first. For so long, despite the other fears it brought forth, she had been sure - so absolutely certain - that she would spend eternity walking worlds with the two brightest lights in her sky, blazing pink and green.
And now, with the evidence of her age before her, it was as if the Guardian was telling her when she was to die all over again. That damned cosmic deadline let slip, the interaction starved “not-Domino” unable to keep their trap shut.
She had deluded herself for so long with denial that maybe, just maybe, they’d been wrong. That their divine perceptions were as fallible as any mortal’s, and that the trio’s mutual immortality was proof of that.
No dice, it seemed.
For a long time, she would be inconsolable, existential dread thought left years in the past rear its ugly head. Some days, it would paralyze her completely, unable to move forward til Marcy and Sasha rested with her, assuring her they were still with her, and that they weren’t going to leave her side. Not then, nor ever.
Even with Anne’s days numbered, all three knew now what awaited her instead.
When she had first met the Guardian in limbo, she’d had 78 years. Now, she had barely more than 50.
And that was almost too much to bear.
Some days even visiting Amphibia and spending time with old friends for continued reunions, or dropping by newer friends from both their own world and others - met over the years - wouldn’t shake Anne from the dark cloud hanging over her head.
Then one day, things changed.
Once, in the space of a decade where Anne’s relationship with the two loves she now called wife had unfortunately drifted for a time, she had made peace with the mortal deadline she’d then known. And here, now, she did so once more.
In a relative moment, some internal revelation - a personal epiphany all her own - broke her from stagnation at the idea of leaving her loves behind. Marcy would personally never quite get Anne to admit what had changed in her view of the inevitable end - perhaps Anne herself didn’t have a full answer to give - but from how things moved from there, she and Sasha could hazard a few guesses.
Anne made peace with the time remaining, as long and winding as it was, content to not waste the time she had left by the side of her loved ones. And in turn, Marcy and Sasha would vow to not waste a single day of the time they all had left together.
50 years was a long time, but none of it would be used frivolously.
As days became weeks, then years, then decades, no-one would ever be able to say Anne Boonchuy’s life was spent unwisely. Be it as a herpetologist, an ambassador between worlds, a caring daughter and spouse, or so many other things, hers’ was a life full of everything a well rounded existence should be.
And in her image, Marcy and Sasha followed suit, living life by their love’s side with the same boundlessness.
Sasha’s career as a child therapist made many leaps and bounds, involving many lives bettered, books and papers published and so much else, becoming a leader in her field.
Marcy’s web-comics, already popular inside their niche circle, blew up with the passion she poured into them from both the good and bad times, and they would see both animated television and live-action film adaptations (though if you asked Marcy or any of her work’s fans, the former was better).
And none of it, not for even a second, held any semblance of regret. For her entire life, right to the end, Anne was happy, calm about all that was to come.
She knew for sure now what awaited her at the end, though what had once been fear now only bore the acceptance that she would still live a full life regardless.
As the years drew on, Amphibia would - as the technology permitted transit between realms grew more advanced, travel becoming easier and easier - once more be the second home to the three that it had always truly been, even more so after Anne’s parents passed on.
Though Hop Pop had himself also long ago gone to rest - Anne having been lucky enough to see her adoptive grandfather several more times before the end - Sprig, Polly and so many others still remained, and where once the tears of reunions long overdue had been shed, now there was only joy and celebration. Contentedness that for their remaining days they need not be separated by boundaries and flimsy and the walls between universes.
Thus it surprised no-one when - years down the line - a much aged Anne chose where she wished to retire to. Amphibia of all places would see her grow old with grace.
True to their vows and their hearts, Marcy and Sasha - still appearing as young as they had for decades - followed her. With years of government aided planning in place to cover the tracks of their apparent eternal youth, it hadn’t been too much of a hassle to get their affairs in order, Sasha Waybright and Marcy Wu vanishing quietly from Earth life after years of being reclusive.
There was nothing on Earth for either of them, anymore. There hadn’t been since Terri’s passing more than 5 years before.
Inseparable as the day they’d reunited, the Calamity Trio - as Sprig had once teasingly dubbed them over a game of Flipwart - stayed together. In her final days, Anne would never once be alone.
Anne Savisa Boonchuy - Heart of Calamity, Hero of Two Worlds, Beloved Wife - passed on in the town of Wartwood, Amphibia in 2098, 78 years to the day since her resurrection. Surrounded by her remaining living family and friends - both amphibian and human alike - she would not soon be forgotten, even as her two spouses - still youthful - clutched her hands in sorrowful tears.
If they could somehow have imparted some aspect of their own eternal life force into her in that moment, they would have. But years of time spent desperately trying in decades long gone to keep Anne’s flame burning had proven fruitless, no matter which friend or ally they had consulted (a collaboration between Luz and Mason had come the closest, but by that time a 45-year old Anne had begged them to let the matter rest, and they’d obliged).
Despite the sadness of the loss and the tears shed, a great calm followed for Marcy and Sasha in their mourning. Though there was now a gaping hole in the hearts of both women - a physical absence that could never be replaced - it was not truly goodbye. It never would be.
At night, resting in each others’ arms under the branches of the Plantar family home, the two would dance still in flows of green, pink and blue, in dreams that were more than dreams.
In waking, they would invite a presence that would surround them everywhere they journeyed, cocooning the two with reassurance and love, speaking promises that they would never be alone. And in time, with practiced listening, these whispers on the wind would coalesce - whenever the stars were right - into full exchanges that only Marcy and Sasha would ever hear the other side of.
Even in whatever passes for afterlife for wielder of immense cosmic power bound by rules meant to keep her mostly separate from the affairs of mortals, Anne Boonchuy would always bend the rules to remain by her lovers’ sides.
Thus, when Sprig and then later Polly passed away only a few years later, Marcy was certain Anne would be there for them, too.
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Debated going further, but this seemed like a good place to stop for now. Nicely melancholy, rather than some sort of angst gut-punch. Lemme know what you think (and if I made any grammar errors), as I have more ideas after this. :P
