If I Die Before I Wake
is an Amphibia fanfiction written by Chrystellation.
The Three-Stones-Deity is not infallible. In ten thousand years of existence, only once had someone used their stones for good. That lone person had further still proved their thinking flawed upon being offered what was essentially godhood. They had even undershot their corporeal representation by a few decades for Frog’s sake. So it was not exactly a surprise when there was a minor hiccup with returning Anne Boonchuy to Amphibia. As promised, the Three-Stones-Deity did return her to the world she loved so dearly, but then why was it so different than she remembered? Remnants of the Core are not raining down on Amphibia. Her closest friends and frog family are nowhere to be seen when they were surely gathered around her just moments ago. Newtopia has been fully rebuilt… and it’s five years later?!
Or, the Three-Stones-Deity messed up when sending Anne back to Amphibia. Instead of returning her immediately, they accidentally placed her five years into the future.
If I Die Before I Wake contains examples of:
- Clone Angst: Anne occasionally enters bouts of existential dread in regards to whether or not she's even the "real" Anne anymore, or if she's purely a creation of the Three Stone Deity, not even an actual clone due to her physical differences. Marcy has to use the Theseus' Ship Paradox in order to convince her she's actually Anne.
- Despair Event Horizon: Everyone to an extent has this over Anne's temporary death, with Sasha, Marcy, and Sprig being hit the hardest with this.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Blood Knight Grime and Yunan are shocked and reluctant at Sasha's proposal to the council to execute Andrias.
- Famed In-Story: In the five years Anne has been dead, she's become revered as a hero in Amphibia, statues being erected for her Heroic Sacrifice against The Core, and a national holiday being established to honor her.
- It's All My Fault: Marcy blames herself for Anne's death and the guilt combined with her trauma on being the host for the Core stressed her out so much that she developed gray hairs over the past five years.
- Locked into Strangeness: Unlike canon where she was physically identical to her old self, Anne has a few holdovers from her original death. Specifically, several strands of her hair have kept the grey coloration they had, her skin retains some of the cracks it had, and her eyes are permanently half blue.
- Refusal of the Call: While Olivia and Yunan do offer them seats at the new ruling council, Sasha and Marcy refuse due to fearing a relapse into old habits and feeling bad over previous actions respectively.
- Relationship Upgrade: In the five years Anne was temporarily dead, Sasha and Marcy have become girlfriends and settled down in Wartwood together. The tags for the fic indicate that Anne will eventually join their relationship.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Sasha tries to subvert this in chapter 2 by proposing they execute Andrias for all his wrongdoings due to partially blaming Anne's (temporary) death on him though Marcy manages to play it straight by convincing the council to simply have Andrias exiled to help restore Amphibia to its natural self.
- What If?: This shows what would happen if the Three Stones Deity took Anne five years into the future (thankfully Anne still ages five years rather than remaining 13) rather than to the immediate present.
- You Can't Go Home Again: As a result of Anne being dead for five years, Sasha and Marcy have had to live in Amphibia due to lacking the energy of the Calamity Stones. And while Anne did come back to life, the power of the stones didn't return with her, meaning unless someone from Earth like Mr. X or Terri can open a portal to Amphibia, the girls are remaining in Amphibia indefinitely.
