Spoilers for preceeding works in the Fourth Light Series will be left unmarked.
Recovery is the fifth story set in 77xfire's Fourth Light Series and the sequel to the Amphibia/The Owl House crossover, The Fourth Light.
Following the Calamity trio's success in saving Marcy and Amphibia from King Andrias and the Core, it seems like the girls can finally go back to their lives on Earth. But while the danger has passed, everybody has a long way to go to move past it.
The story began on February 15, 2023 after several delays which came from the author working on No Matter What, A True Family, and Finding Family. The story can be found here
and here.
Recovery contains the following examples:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Anne gives one when Marcy almost says she deserved being stabbed by Andrias.Anne: Do NOT say that you deserve this! Do NOT say that you deserved to be impaled! Do NOT say that you deserve to have a constant reminder of what that… that… that JERK did to you! You don't deserve ANY of this! You made a mistake, frog knows I've made plenty! That does not mean that you deserve to have almost been killed!" Anne scolded.
Marcy: Anne… why do you…?
Anne: Why do I think this way? Why do I care about this so much? BECAUSE I LOVE YOU DANG IT! (Marcy falls into Stunned Silence.) You're so smart, you're so kind, you're so beautiful! I love everything about you! I don't care if it takes me the rest of my life! I am not going to give up until you realize just how amazing of a person you really are! - Breather Episode: The story as a whole is meant to focus on the cast recovering from what occurred in Amphibia, primarily Marcy.
- Call-Back:
- Marcy gets flustered every time Anne calls her cute and denies that she is. The One Small Change one-shot "Smol" had her do this before, but like in One Year Later, Anne hugs Marcy when calling her cute and her flustered girlfriend begins squirming in her arms.
- Also like she did with Marcy in "Smol", Anne tells someone settling into her hair not to mess it up.
- Anne brings up how Marcy got sick from studying Frobo for a week without sleeping in "Go the FROG to sleep!", and Marcy promises to rest when rebuilding him.
- In Chapter 7, Sprig cowers away from Hooty, still traumatized from when the house demon ate him in the previous story.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': As Chapter 3 shows, the faculty at Gravesfield High learned that Vee was impersonating Luz: as punishment, her teachers make Luz do a report on human history.
- Catapult Nightmare: Marcy has one when her nightmare shows Darcy about to kill Sasha. It's soon revealed she's been experiencing this ever since the girls came back.
- Continuity Nod: To the previous story;
- Marcy is now staying in the Boonchuys' guest bedroom, which Luz and Amity used while staying with them.
- Hop Pop is still recovering from his injuries from his near death.
- Marcy continues to gush over King, and she and Anne are properly introduced to Lilith after spotting her in the final battle against Andrias.
- Cooldown Hug: Anne gives Marcy one every time she panics and/or has a nightmare about her time as Darcy. Oum gives her two after listening to her about her nightmare and after seeing her scar.
- Curse Cut Short: Chapter 5 ends with Marcy learning Mr. X is now hunting Anne and the Plantars, and she proceeds to shout "Motherfro—".
- Didn't Think This Through: In Chapter 2, Anne went over to Sasha's house to plan out a date with Marcy without telling Marcy where she'd be. Since her parents had to go to their restaurant, Anne comes home to find Marcy curled up on the floor.
- Downer Beginning: The story starts off on Marcy having a nightmare in which Darcy cut off Anne's arm and thrusts her hand into Sasha's eye. Right before Darcy kills Sasha, Marcy wakes up.
- Driving Question: If King's father is the Titan of the Boiling Isles, why did he possess Luz?
- First-Name Basis: Oum allows Marcy to call her by name instead of Mrs. Boonchuy in the first chapter.
- First-Person Perspective: Chapter 6 juggles between Marcy and Sasha's perspectives, and switches to Anne's at the end.
- For Want Of A Nail:
- Luz never learned that Emperor Belos and Philip Wittebane were one and the same, even after she and Hunter traveled into his mind (which happened when someone stole Luz's pseudo blood and got caught by Hunter). On top of that, the Day of Unity started a month early on the day after the mindscape excursion, and the Collector has gone missing.
- Once Luz and her friends discovered Belos's plans, Amity's parents sided with them to stop him. But while Amity's relationship with Odalia was soured from learning about her deal with Belos, she hasn't disowned Odalia as her mother.
- Marcy aids Polly in fixing Frobo, and because the I.T. Gals witness Marcy using her Calamity powers, they're brought to Amphibia and told about its technological past.
- Since Marcy joins Luz, King, and Hooty on the excursion to Titan Trapper Island, she meets with Bill while Luz stays with King as he learns the Trappers' ways.
- Marcy gets to journey to Proteus and speak with Mother Olm alongside Anne,Sasha, and the Plantars.
- Freak Out: Marcy curls up into a ball when she finds herself all alone in the Boonchuy house and doesn't come out of it until Anne returns.
- Freudian Slip: While examining the Amphibian pot with Dr. Jan, Marcy deciphers the blacklight message, which is in the Amphibian alphabet. All of her friends react in shock as this means they have to tell Jan about Amphibia.
- Fuzz Therapy: To cheer Marcy up when she's bummed out by her problems with Sasha, Bluebert makes her laugh by perching in Anne's hair like a nest.
- Gender Bender: When Stringbean changes into Bluebert, their gender also changes.
- Genre Savvy: Before the girls and the Plantars go see Alador for advice on repairing Frobo, Sprig questions if this will lead to "someone saying something will happen, but then someone else ends up saying the exact opposite". Soon enough:Alador: I do not know how to help him.
Sprig: (groaning) Called it. - The Ghost:
- Andrias is mentioned in the first chapter when Marcy mentions what he did to her.
- Odalia is brought up in "Chapter 4: Frobo" when Hop Pop notes how Amity never talks about her, this being due to her dealings with Belos.
- Hates Being Called Cute: Downplayed. Marcy gets incredibly flustered whenever Anne calls her cute but otherwise doesn't hate when she does.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Luz and Hunter previously entered Belos's mind, learned about the draining spell, and of Hunter being a grimwalker.
- Anne and the Plantars meet Dr. Jan during the trip to the museum and find the Amphibian pot with the blacklight message about the "Mother of Olms".
- Amity's relationship with Odalia took a turn for the worst when she learned about her mother's deal with Belos.
- Polly still repairs Frobo after learning about robotics from the I.T. Gals.
- Luz, King, and Hooty journey to Titan Trapper Island, where they learn that King is the last titan.
- Anne and thr Plantars encounter Mr. X at the movies, and Anne takes Sprig out to celebrate his birthday with him.
- Interdimensional Travel Device: The Calamity trio now have their own portal key to Amphibia, specifically able to take them to Wartwood.
- Internal Reveal:
- Marcy reveals her scar from King Andrias impaling her to Oum in the first chapter, and later plucks up the courage to show Anne and the Plantars.
- In Chapter 3, Luz informs Anne, Marcy, and the Plantars about her trip into Belos' mindscape and tells them and Amity the truth about the Day of Unity. The group later tells Dr. Jan what they've been through.
- In Chapter 4, Ally and Jess are brought into the loop and visit Amphibia for the first time.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- The reveal of Stringbean being Bluebert gets lampshaded by Polly as "retconning Bluebert's entire existence".
- At the end of Chapter 4, Mr. X paused a movie when he gets an assignment and says he hates cliffhangers.note
- In Chapter 7, Polly lampshades the three month hiatus between Chapters 6 and 7 and how it took them way too long to uncover the meaning behind the Amphibian pot.
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- Luz never learned that Belos is human, and until the trip to the museum, she never told Amity about the true purpose of the Day of Unity.
- The Collector has no idea that Belos is dead: far as they know, he just disappeared.
- Mental Health Recovery Arc: The story as a whole is meant to focus on Marcy recovering from what she went through while under the Core's control.
- Mythology Gag: Anne mentions that she and Marcy went to the beach as kids so Marcy could try out sandcastle designs. The girls met at the beach and became friends over Anne being impressed with Marcy's sandcastle, as seen in Marcy's Journal: A Guide to Amphibia.
- Oh, Crap!: Anne thinks and shouts "OH CRUD!!!" at the end of Chapter 6 when she realizes she forgot about her father after she and Sprig flew away in a balloon all across town.
- Only a Flesh Wound: While Luz's Healing Potions are doing their job, Hop Pop initially refuses to rest in favor of working on the farm to help with Amphibia's recovery. It's only after Anne points out how he'd be a hindrance to the progress if he keeps collapsing from pain that he takes it easy.
- Poor Communication Kills: Sasha has been distancing herself from Marcy since the sleepover at the end of the previous story, yet she still talks to Anne. Marcy decides to spend the day with her in Chapter 6 while Anne's celebrating Sprig's birthday and they come to realize that they both feel guilty about their actions and the unintended consequences they had on them, with Sasha realizing she never apologized to Marcy.
- Retcon: Bluebert turns out to be Stringbean taking the form of a blue jay and changing genders along with it because snakeshifters are so rare, people attempt to capture her.
- The Reveal:
- Now that they have a portal key, the Calamity trio are now keeping their gems on hand to use their powers at will.
- All the portals used to travel between worlds cannot be used to travel to different parts of Earth, so the humans in California and Connecticut have to access either Amphibia or the Boiling Isles to reach either state.
- Bluebert is actually Stringbean in her blue jay form. She disguises herself on Earth as a way to blend in and because snakeshifters are so rare, she stays transformed in every realm unless she trusts people enough to show her true self.
- The Calamity Gems can power artifacts such as the magic battery in Frobo's new body or Luz's glyphs.
- The side-chapter between Chapters 4 & 5 reveal that the Collector managed to create an avatar from a sliver of Titan magic left behind by Luz in the In-Between Realm, which they're using to find something in Belos' former castle.
- Shout-Out: While fighting the Titan Trappers, Marcy conjures up a green anime-esque figure resembling Anne to fight for her, which
Word of God confirms is an intentional nod to Amphibia Vol. 2. - Time Skip: When the story begins, it's been three days since Anne, Sasha, and Marcy came back from Amphibia, and Luz & Amity returned home.
- Troubled Fetal Position: Anne finds Marcy this way when she comes back from Sasha's house.
- Wham Line: From Chapter 4, which leads into the truth about Bluebert;Marcy: Say, what's with this weird orb?
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Anne's goal is to get Marcy to understand her self-worth and prove to her that she didn't deserve what Andrias did to her, as her Anguished Declaration of Love demonstrates.
