What If... Anne only wanted to be Friends?
Alternate take on: "Reconciliation"
"Months ago a young girl named Luz had a crush on another girl named Anne. In a fit of nervousness Luz kissed her trying to find a way to express her feelings. That didn't quite work out. Later, these two girls along with two others obtained the Calamity Box and inadvertently activated its powers transferring them to Amphibia. The four girls were all separated and had their own adventures. Months later Anne and Luz would finally reunite under a starry sky in Wartwood. In the story you know they make up and Anne promises to talk about their feelings once they get back to Earth, but that's not the only way it could have ended..."
— The Guardian
When Anne chooses to remain Just Friends with her, Luz accepts Anne's decision and moves on. A year after their adventure in Amphibia ends, the two find themselves stuck in another world where Luz may have found a new love.
Tropes That Appear In This Chapter:
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In canon, Anne, Sasha and Marcy stay close friends even after Marcy moved away for ten years. Here, it's implied that their relationship has taken a heavy toll because of their experiences in Amphibia and they're not as close as they used to be after one year.
- Alternate Universe:
- In this timeline, Anne tells Luz that she wants to start over as friends as she doesn't want to ruin their friendship again should their feelings for each other change, and Luz accepts her decision. Nevertheless, Anne thanks Luz for helping her learn that she may like girls.
- A year after leaving Amphibia behind them, Luz and Anne (remaining friends even after drifting apart from Sasha and Marcy) end up on the Boiling Isles together where Anne supports Amity's feelings for Luz and hopes they get together while feeling regret over never telling Marcy how she felt about her before she moved away.
- Bittersweet Ending: After having to move on from her crush on Anne, Luz finds a Second Love in Amity. Luz and Anne are content with how things turned out between them, but Anne feels regret over both not telling Marcy how she feels before she moved but not inviting her and Sasha to stay at camp with her and Luz before they stumbled upon the Demon Realm. And then there's the fact that as of the end of the chapter, Luz and Anne are still stuck on the Boiling Isles trying to find a way home, but Luz is certain things will work out, especially for Anne.
- Crush Blush: Luz and Amity towards each other. The Time Skip begins just after Amity saved her friends from her parents' Abomaton, so Luz (who just developed her crush) turns bright red when she wishes Amity good night before going home. Amity on the other hand gets a full face blush when Anne tells her she'll have to find out if Luz is a good kisser for herself.
- Everyone Can See It: After Amity pulls Anne aside to talk following the factory incident with her parents asking if she and Luz are an item, Anne says no and asks if this is coming from the fact that Amity "so obviously has a crush on Luz".
- In Spite of a Nail: As Anne ended up rejecting her, Luz eventually ends up together with Amity. Luz's adventures seem to occur the same way, the only difference being Anne's a part of them.
- Internal Reveal: Eda, King, and Hooty not only know about Luz and Anne's adventures in Amphibia, they know about Luz crushing on Anne, their being each other's First Kiss and their decision to remain friends. Anne informs Amity about what happened between them to assure her Anne's no obstacle to Amity for Luz's heart.
- Just Friends: The outcome of Anne wanting to start over with Luz, as things in Amphibia were complicated enough and she didn't want to risk souring their feeling for each other should they start dating. Luz agrees with Anne's words, although Anne knows she's crushed and assures her she still cares about Luz, thanking her for helping her come out.
- Locked Out of the Loop: After a year following the end of the girls' time in Amphibia, Anne never told anybody about her crush on Marcy, not even Luz.
- Love Epiphany: Anne realized she has feelings for Marcy before she moved away.
- Point of Divergence: The timeline occurs from Anne's choice of starting over as friends with Luz and staying Just Friends so as to not make things between them even more complicated.
- Time Skip: After Luz and Anne's talk, the Guardian takes us a year forward in time, when the girls' adventures in Amphibia ended and Luz & Anne exploits on the Boiling Isles have long since begun. Specifically, it picks up near the ending events of "Escaping Expulsion".
- We Used to Be Friends: Once the Calamity Quartet returned home from Amphibia, Marcy ended up moving away. When the other girls got to high school, Luz and Anne remained close but Sasha fell into a different friend group, effectively becoming distant from them.
