As dark as A Moth to a Flame is, it is genuinely sad to see the adorable fantasy-lover Marcy we love turn more and more into an obsessive monster due to the Core's corruption and manipulations. It encapsulates the ironic tragedy of a girl wanting to live a life of adventure with her friends forever, only to find her choices and actions driving them away and being played like a fiddle by two devious individuals she sees as her friend and family, respectively.
As a Moments subpage, all of the spoilers are unmarked as per policy. Are you in it alone, or are we all in this together?
- At the beginning of the story, the tinge of jealousy that Marcy feels at Anne leaving with the Plantars to go back to Wartwood instead of staying with her in Newtopia is almost an omen for what is to follow. At first she doesn’t allow it to cloud her judgement, but the feeling is still there, something that King Andrias noticed and his master is going to prey on. When King Andrias introduces Marcy to the Core, Marcy's initial terror turns into disturbing awe and is jarring implying her being Brainwashed is at play, making it questionable if Marcy is truly responsible for her following actions in the story with the heroes none the wiser to it.
- In Chapter 2, Sasha feels heartbroken when she remembers Anne claiming to be done being friends with her, being unable to enjoy the brief success of her coup on Newtopia. When Sasha and Grime find the mural depicting Marcy's ancestors, the Wu Clan, the teenage girl comes to the horrifying realisation that her other childhood friend has been playing her and the heroes for the past month.
- In Chapter 3, Sasha tries to convince Anne during their fight that not only is King Andrias Evil All Along but Marcy is also helping him] with his plans]. Anne is briefly flat-footed by Sasha's claim... [[CassandraTruth and then becomes even angrier once it sinks in finding the idea ridiculous, believing Sasha has sunk so low as to throw their Nice Girl childhood friend under the bus in a desperate attempt to save her own skin. Anne twists the knife by going as far as to throw Sasha's own words, when she attempted a Heroic Sacrifice back at Toad Tower, back at her by claiming that she and Marcy are better off without her. A horrified Sasha only gives a Little "No" at the end after she loses the fight, unable to stop the real threats, King Andrias and Marcy.
- Chapter 5, is The Reveal. Not only does King Andrias reveal that he's Evil All Along and intends to conquer Earth, he all but states that Marcy has been willingly helping him do so for the past month. This is even more of a Gut Punch for Anne as at the beginning she completely dismissed Sasha's words of their childhood friend's potential betrayal and how she would never take Marcy for granted again. As the truth becomes more and more clear to the girl, she goes from being confused about the turn of events unfolding to scared and hoping that Mar-Mar would say it isn't so.Anne: Mar-Mar... what are you guys talking about?Sasha: I told you, Anne! She’s in on it!Grime: Her whole family’s been in on it!
- Marcy admits that she got her, Anne, and Sasha stranded in Amphibia on purpose, a fact that even Sasha didn't know about. She confesses she did it out of desperation, because she was going to be forced to leave her friends behind, as her father had gotten a new job out of state. Not willing to cope with being separated from her friends, Marcy had orchestrated the theft of the Calamity Box. Marcy didn't believe the box would even work, but it did. She only did it all because she wanted to be with her two best friends for all time, and with the Calamity Box, in her mind, was the only chance to do so.
- Like in the show, neither Anne nor Sasha are happy about the revelation that their friend is the reason why they were torn away from their lives and thrown into a Death World filled with dangerous predators and other fatal obstacles, with no way to contact their families, except Marcy tries to dismiss that.
- While in the show, Marcy was desperately trying to justify her actions, here she’s attempting to justify Taking Over The World and is suffers a Sanity Slippage in front of everyone who considered her a friend. This leads Sasha to wish the crazed girl in front them is an Evil Knockoff King Andrias made to to break their spirits and Anne to believe she never knew Marcy at all. Sprig, Sasha and Anne's reaction as Marcy tries to justify her actions in her Motive Rant. They all back away from her, disgusted, disturbed and horrified, as they reject her We Can Rule Together offer calling her insane and evil for selling out their planet.
- Despite being on the same side in the story and allowing Marcy to be the one to reveal the truth herself, King Andrias takes great pleasure in seeing the heroes' pain of their now Evil Former Friend is on his side of the fight. Hell, in this context, he could have planned his reveal to as a Card-Carrying Villain to make so that Marcy's bonds with her friends were severed permanently to prevent the chance of The Dragon going through a Heel–Face Turn at the last minute. His smirk at the end of the chapter as Marcy attacks Anne with Berserker Tears, indicates it was All According to Plan for the giant newt.
- Considering King Andrias's backstory, he may well genuinely believe that he was doing Marcy a favor as not only were her friends never going to be on board on their multiversal conquest he believes They Were Holding You Back from achieving their destiny and make their ancestors proud.
- In chapter 6, King Andrias tries going for Polly, then Frobo grabs King Andrias, using all his might to stop him from crushing his best friend. King Andrias identifies him as a robot prototype, dismissively says that "it" must be defective, and orders Marcy to deal with Frobo. Marcy proceeds to blow up her former robot friend with a Boomshroom attached to an arrow, giving Frobo only enough time to realises what's going to happen to him and say "uh oh". Polly can only give a Big "NO!"! and angrily calls the 2 villains she once called her friends monsters, while in tears.
- Marcy is still run through with King Andrias' fire sword like in the show (although in this case, it was an honest accident on King Andrias' part), giving him a My God, What Have I Done? reaction. Despite her doing a Face–Heel Turn just moments ago, everyone present is shocked and horrified seeing the young teen mortally wounded. In the show, Marcy apologises to Anne for her actions. In this story, however, with what she believes are her Last Words, Marcy tells Anne she hates her, showing how far she's fallen to villainy.
- Despite her being a Fallen Hero now, you can't help but feel some sympathy for Marcy as she breaks down crying over her failure to bring her former friends to her side. With them cutting ties with her, she falls deeper into Core's hands as they comfort her. At the end of the day, she just wanted to make something of herself the best way she knew how.The Core: I know, Marcy.Marcy: I hate them. I hate them all.
- The PTSD that Anne and Sprig both suffer from after making it to Earth as a result of Marcy's betrayal. Anne suffers hallucinations of Marcy attacking her and is driven to destroy every gift Marcy ever gave her as a coping mechanism, while Sprig is haunted by nightmares from his near-death experience and is left deeply paranoid of every human on Earth, including his best friend.
- Anne's parents, Oum and Bee, parents aren't safe from heartbreak either. They had to cope with their daughter being gone for 5 months starting on her going missing on her birthday, which is heart-breaking to read about with Oum who had turned to drinking and had to see a therapist after having a mental breakdown from the stress. Anne is moved to tears when she hears her mother open up about her new smothering attitude and hugs her, apologising for her previous insensitivity towards her.
- In chapter 13, Sasha’s first mission doesn't go well and we see how her trauma gets in the way of that. Sasha has grown to despise Marcy and is mad at herself for not realizing the ruse the whole time. She even gives up at first when she and her squad get captured because she doesn’t feel like a good leader. It reminds you despite all her accomplishments and skills, Sasha is still a high-schooler.
- When Sasha accidentally reveals Marcy's betrayal in her outburst, the Wartwoodians are shocked and hurt by the Awful Truth that someone they considered their friend and ally had turned on them.
Ivy: Marcy's... evil.- After Sasha and her squad escape, she admits to Grime that Marcy's friendship meant a lot to her and deeply hurt by her betrayal, wondering if her being a bad friend to Marcy contributed to her Face–Heel Turn.
- In chapter 14, Marcy goes into Mirthless Laughter after waking up upon finding out Andrias and the Core planned for her to be the latter's host since the beginning... regardless of whether or not they were able to convince her to go along with it. Despite that she's so brainwashed that she's still eager to go through it.
- Lady Olivia tries to plead for Marcy to pull a Heel–Face Turn, Marcy notes she could easily slap the Newt's hand away, but Subverts this by gently brushing her hand off out of remaining fondness for her Newt friend... Then she spitefully tells her and Yunan that the Marcy they knew is dead, rendering her rescue attempt which put their lives on the line All for Nothing. General Yunan considers the teen to be Beyond Redemption after hearing this.
Marcy: Oh, Olivia. (Quizzical Tilt) Don’t you get it? (A malicious scowl forms) The Marcy you knew... is dead. - n chapter 16, when the Portal starts to work, Anne cheers she can save her friends soon.. only to stop her herself and wonder why she still included Marcy as a friend on reflex.
- One has to feel sympathy for Marcus Wu. Not only does he have to deal with his daughter going missing right after a huge argument about moving away, but he has to spend the next year watching his wife drowning her grief to the point of regularly getting sick while being unable to cope with his own, except throwing himself into his work in such a way that it just drives the two of them further apart. Then, just when they get a Hope Spot about their daughter's whereabouts, it not only taints their relationship with his close friends but causes his wife to completely lose her grip and go berserk in a way he just can't handle.
- Despite being an antagonist to the heroes, you can feel a bit of pity for Grace Wu, Marcy's mother. Her daughter's disappearance has broken her to become The Alcoholic and believes her marriage is on its last legs as she feels ever growing resentment towards her husband, blaming him for their daughter running away. Grace also feels betrayed by the Boonchuys for having known where Marcy is for months and kept it to themselves. Oum and Bee have no counter-argument for this and can only look away in shame.
- By the end of the chapter, the Boonchuys are arrested and the Plantars are handed over to the FBI. Things look bleaker here than it was in canon.
- At one point, Mrs. Boonchuy laments they could have avoided the events in Chapter 16, if she had worked up the courage to call the Wus or Waybrights on their daughters' whereabouts and explain the situation to them, during the months she knew the truth. It's likely thanks to this violent incident that the trio will be broken up forever for this.
- The Wus' reactions in Chapter 17 to reading Marcy's journal and realizing just how far their daughter has fallen into villainous insanity, breaking down into tears in horror and disbelief.Anne: I don’t know what it was that Marcy saw in the castle basement, but whatever it was… it changed her.
- Marcus Wu at one point is quite hurt to read that his daughter was saying how unhappy she was with the life he provided for her.
- In the journal, its revealed the girl greatly resented and despised the Plantars and the people of Wartwood for not only "stealing" Anne from her for their (initial) disrespect towards her for being an outsider respectively, believing they should be worshipping her for her heritage alone. Its higher likely she was a False Friend to Maddie and her little sisters in this story and didn't actually care about them.
- While reading about Marcy praising Anne, said girl is in emotional turmoil that her Evil Former Friend once spoke highly of her.
- When Grace asks Anne if Marcy can be saved from the Core and Andrias's brainwashing, the girl is left stunned and unable to answer. While Anne doesn't want to kill Marcy, despite everything she's done, she can't rule out the possibility that her Evil Former Friend may have to be put down for good for the sake of The Multiverse due the serious threat she poses. She believes Mar-Mar is beyond saving.
- Just reading through Marcy's notes we see through her eyes show she was Slowly Slipping Into Evil without her even realizing it.
- After the interrogation, Amanda asks Anne is alright, to which the girl responds she definitely isn't after the events of today and breaks down crying to her parents.
