Fanfic / A Witch in Wartwood

art by jimmymmtz

A Witch in Wartwood is the first part/season one of the Amphibia fanfic series The Arcanist Marcy Wu by Discet, where the calamity trio ended up in swapped starting locations in Amphibia, primarily following Marcy and her adapting to life in Wartwood.

The fic can be read on Archive of Our Own here. You can find the series here.

The sequel to the fanfic, An Alchemist Abroad, has its own trope page.

All spoilers for the original show will be unmarked. You have been warned.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • It's hinted that Ivy and Maddie's father and mother (respectively) were killed in the same heron attack that took Sprig and Polly's parents.
  • Marcy's parents are revealed to have been emotionally distant and neglectful of her.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: As she is the main character now, Marcy naturally appears far earlier than she did in the original show.
  • In the original show, General Yunan, Lady Olivia, and King Andrias don't appear until the second season. Here, they're all introduced in chapter 8; essentially the first season.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: Chapter 9 reveals Maddie to be transgender with her deadname possibly being Sage, with her having used magic to transition.
• Adaptational Karma:Unlike in canon, Marnie (the frog who stole Anne's backpack at the Bizarre Bazaar), goes through a lot of Offscreen Karma at Anne's hands and gets some Laser-Guided Karma in chapter 14.
• Adaptational Sexuality: While in canon her orientation was pretty vague, here Marcy is stated to be a lesbian. This applies to Anne, too.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: The parent work shows that, while Sprig was close with Ivy, he didn't spend any time with Maddie until Anne arrived. Here, the three of them were Childhood Friends until Ivy and Maddie had a fallout over Ivy outing Maddie as Sage. Thanks to Marcy, all three of them become friends again.
• Aerosol Flamethrower: In chapter 1, Marcy uses a can of hairspray and one of the villagers' torches to fend off the giant mantis.
• Aesop Amnesia: Downplayed and played for laughs. In chapter 7, which covers the courtship ritual for Sprig and Ivy, Hop Pop learns not to meddle with other's relationships. He literally states he can't remember this lesson in chapter 19, when Polly asks him and Sprig for help getting Marcy and Anne together.
• All There in the Manual: The Lost Grimoire is a collection of cut scenes and shorts that take place during the series. It's not needed to understand the main story.
• An Arm and a Leg: Grime ended up losing a leg while trying to capture Anne.
• And I Must Scream:
  • In chapter 3, when Marcy gets possessed by a beast spirit, she describes the experience as being completely aware of what's happening, but having no way to communicate or control her body.
  • During their infiltration of Toad Tower in chapter 12, Maddie turns a toad into a wooden figurine, telling Sprig and Ivy that he's still (technically) alive and that she can turn him back - if she feels like it.
  • Sasha is on the receiving end of this in the final chapter. This time, the reader gets a first-hand account of the experience, since the whole thing is narrated from her perspective, including her thoughts. It's as bad as you think it is.
• Apologetic Attacker: Marcy in chapter 12.
  I'm sorry for what's about to happen.
  • Marcy, again, in the final chapter. This time, though, it's to Sasha, just before she blows mind-control dust on her.
• Awesome by Analysis: Marcy, 'natch. There have been numerous occasions where her analytical, observational, and research skills were instrumental in saving the day in one way or another.
  • This is one way Marcy's calamity powers manifest, as revealed in chapter 12. From her perspective, the world is essentially put on pause, allowing her to formulate ideas and plans with the help of a magical green-eyed copy of herself she dubbed Ram.
  • Later, Marcy "unlocks" a kind of wire-frame style aura vision that identifies enemies and allies while also suppressing her emotions, allowing her to make coldly logical decisions and actions. This is what helps her hit the giant weasel with a ballista bolt in chapter 17 and subdue General Yunan in chapter 21. The sequel reveals Marcy dubbed this ability trajectory.
• Big Damn Kiss: In chapter 20, Marcy and Anne share one on the lips under the shade of an oak tree during the Frog of the Year party.
• Break the Cutie: Between getting assaulted, unjustly imprisoned, forced to kill so many at a young age, and losing one friend to a fight and the other to a confession - thereby ruining the friendship she was trying to save - it can be argued this fic does as much to Marcy as canon did.
• But Now I Must Go: After learning that Marcy is the reason the girls were sent to Amphibia in the final chapter, Anne splits up from her and the Plantars and goes back to traveling with Valeriana.
• Call-Back:
  • A downplayed example. In the journal entry for chapter 5, Marcy mentions talking to Maddie about making noodles; in chapter 17, Anne brings up noodles to Maddie's father and convinces him to make a batch.
  • When Polly asks for help getting Marcy and Anne together in chapter 19, Hop Pop mentions learning something from when he and Felicia Sundew set up the courtship ritual back in chapter 7, but states he forgot what it was.
  • In chapter 3, Marcy discovers she grew fangs after she was possessed by a beast spirit. In chapter 20, she accidentally pokes Anne with them during their first kiss.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Anne gives Hop Pop a brutal teardown in chapter 19 over lying to Marcy about his nonexistent contacts to get the music box, trying to steal it in the middle of the night, and fearing Marcy may misuse the box's powers with disastrous results. To be fair, he has some pretty understandable reasons for that last point.
• Captain's Log: Starting with chapter 3, each chapter opens with an excerpt from Marcy's journal.
  • Averted in chapter 6.
  • Averted in chapter 12. Justified, since Marcy was imprisoned in Toad Tower, and couldn't write in her notebook.
  • Averted again with chapter 15, which begins with a flashback instead.
  • Averted a third time in the final chapter - which also begins with a flashback - and justified since it continues where the previous chapter left off.
• Central Theme: Communication. A lot of the problems Marcy and the others face come about due to a misunderstanding or people just not talking or listening to each other.
• Chase Scene: The latter half of chapter 8 features Sasha trying to escape Newtopia while being chased by the city guard and General Yunan. She almost makes it.
• Chekhov's Gun: Oh, so many, but the best example is the magically enhanced tomato seeds from chapter 4: Marcy uses them to escape Toad Tower with Sprig, Ivy, and Maddie in chapter 12.
  • The mind-control spores Marcy got in chapter 18 come back in the final chapter: Marcy uses a modified version of them to pacify and control Sasha.
  • The boom-shroom powder Marcy made in chapter 20 is used to neutralize Yunnan in the finale.
• Cool Big Sis: Marcy becomes this to Sprig and Polly, especially when she's adopted by the Plantar family in chapter 10.
• Cosmic Motifs: See Names to Run From Really Fast.
• Crush Blush: Marcy starts getting these when she and Anne reunite. Anne's cluelessness does not help. As of chapter 18, it becomes mutual as Anne gets them too.
• Cute Little Fangs: Due to her possession, Marcy's canines become sharper.
• Deal with the Devil: Played for laughs in the early chapters where Polly, believing Marcy to be an evil spirit, keeps trying to sell her soul to Marcy.
• Demonic Possession: In chapter 3, as a result of Sprig interrupting a magic ritual, Marcy ends up getting possessed by a beast spirit.
• Downer Ending:
  • In chapter 11, the toads take Marcy prisoner, after she's been beaten up and framed by Toadstool for stealing the town's tax money.
  • In the final chapter, Marcy and her frog-family have to flee the valley when Sasha and Yunan come looking to execute Hop Pop for treason; Marcy and Anne leave Sasha in a (temporary) mind-controlled state after beating her and Yunan in a fight; and Anne leaves Marcy after the latter confesses she had deliberately kidnapped and stranded her and Sasha in Amphibia.
• The Dreaded: In early chapters, Marcy is this to citizens of Wartwood who all believe that the human is some sort of evil, soul-stealing spirit.
  • Marcy is this to any survivors from Toad Tower. Honestly, you can't blame them.
• Emotion Suppression: A side effect of Marcy's second ability. It doesn't just keep her from feeling emotions, it also suppress her sympathy, empathy, and emotional connection to others. She only identifies what's an ally, an enemy, or neutral party; she does not recognize friends, family, or even living creatures as such. It's no wonder that, when confronting her in this state, Sasha becomes terrified.
• Entertainingly Wrong: In Chapter 5, Marcy believes Polly hates her and is only tolerating her until she leaves to find her friends and promises to stay out of her way until then. In reality, Polly thought Marcy was cool and wanted to hang out with her, but felt that Marcy wouldn't keep spending time with her if she said she liked her inventions.
• Family of Choice: What Marcy's relationship with the Plantar family grows into. Made official with Hop Pop adding her portrait to the Plantar Family Shrub in chapter 10; he even calls her his adopted granddaughter in chapter 13.
• Fireworks of Love: In the penultimate scene of chapter 20, Marcy and Anne enjoy a fireworks display the former set up, as official girlfriends. This leads to their first real kiss.
• First Kiss: Anne reveals in Chapter 19 that she got hers from Marcy when they were in kindergarten while playing a fantasy game.
• Five-Finger Discount: In chapter 15, Anne uses her powers to steal ice honey from a bigoted vendor who refused to sell to Marcy. She also admits doing this to help customers who were swindled at the Bizarre Bazaar get their stuff back.
• Frame-Up:
  • In chapter 11, "Toad Tax," Mayor Toadstool tries to frame Marcy for stealing the tax money. Bog doesn't quite believe him, but takes Marcy away anyways due to mistaking her for Anne.
  • Towards the end of chapter 13, which covers the election for Mayor, it's revealed that Marcy had forged some ballots with Toadstool's name, with the intent to frame him for election fraud as a last resort. Subverted in that she never gets the chance to use them; she instead ends up exposing Toadstool for committing election fraud.
• Freudian Slip: During an argument with Hop Pop in chapter 10, Marcy, who's been anxious about not overstepping boundaries and causing the Plantars to reject her, blurts out the following line:
  Marcy: You said yourself how important the stand was to our family!
• Genre Savvy: Surprisingly,Anne. In chapter 14, she correctly guesses the grand prix Valeriana wants to set up is actually a test of Anne's moral priorities. Justified, as it's stated that Valeriana had been giving Anne these tests since she found her.
• Groin Attack: Discussed. Anne gave one to the last guy she dated for giving her a Forceful Kiss.
• Guile Hero: Marcy, full stop. What she lacks in diplomatic/social skills and physical strength she more than makes up with her intelligence.
• Healing Potion: Chapter 10 introduces this, developed by Marcy and Maddie. While it can heal superficial injuries completely, it can only partially heal more serious wounds, can't heal old wounds, and can't regrow limbs. Interestingly, it's explicitly stated it can't compensate for blood loss, either.
• Happily Adopted: In the show, Anne's familial relationship with the Plantars was implied. Here, Marcy is explicitly made a Plantar when Hop Pop adds her portrait to the family shrub, accepting her as his grandchild and Sprig and Polly's older sister, the feeling clearly being mutual on Marcy's part.
• Heel Realization: Marcy is by no means a heel, but she still manipulated and effectively kidnapped her friends, stranding them in a death world for her own selfish wishes. In chapter 12, after listening to Hop Pop talk about how unforgivable it is to take family away from someone, Marcy quietly realizes that is exactly what she did to Anne and Sasha.
  • Marcy gets another in chapter 15, where she realizes supporting Sasha at the thrift store reinforced Anne's sense of inadequacy compared to Marcy and Sasha, making her think stealing was the only use she had as their friend.
  • In chapter 16, Anne's conversation with Marcy - and her empathic powers - lead her to realize how neglectful and dismissive she's been toward Marcy and her interests, and how much she had been unwittingly hurting her.
• I Heard That: Chapter 14 has this exchange:
  Sprig: (whispering) Marcy, I think she's missing an arm.
  Marcy: Sprig, don't be rude.
  Valeriana: And I can hear you.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Downplayed and unintentional case. The night after the Bizarre Bazaar, Anne starts taking off her dress to change into her pajamas, flustering Marcy. It's because of this that Marcy is forced to accept her feelings for Anne.
• Innocently Insensitive: In chapter 4, although Marcy is only trying to help the farm by suggesting modern farming techniques he could use, Hop Pop comes to feel that she's insinuating that she knows more about farming than him and snaps at her—though at the end of the chapter, he admits he let his pride get the better of him and apologizes to her.
• In Spite of a Nail: Anne still loses her shoe.
  • Toadstool still increases the rent, leading to the Plantars losing their stand.
  • Hop Pop is still accused of inciting a rebellion and is almost executed.
  • Though the circumstances are vastly different, Anne still fights Sasha to protect Hop Pop.
• Ironic Echo: A downplayed example. In chapter 2, Marcy tells Sprig, "friends don't let friends heroically sacrifice themselves," when he tries to save them from a giant parrot by letting himself get swallowed with some pain-peppers (birds don't feel pain from spiciness). In chapter 4, Sprig repeats this word for word when Marcy tries to behead the tomato plant she accidentally grew in the Plantar's fields.
  • Played painfully straight in the final chapter.
  Hop Pop, (after Marcy confessed knowing about the music box to Anne): It'll be alright kiddo... I'm sure she'll come around.
  Marcy: Will she? It's like you said, how could you forgive someone who took family from you?
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • For commiting election fraud, framing Marcy for stealing the tax money and letting the tax collectors arrest her, Toadstool's kicked out of Wartwood when he's exposed and Hop Pop becomes the new mayor.
  • Marnie is repeatedly paid back for stealing from Bizarre Bazaar participants by Anne, who repeatedly antagonizes him. She then steals the prize money and uses her powers to throw him to the ground.
• Love Epiphany: At the end of chapter 7, Marcy has one about her feelings towards Anne.
  • Anne has one regarding her feelings for Marcy, after the two of them fight off mushroom-possessed townsfolk in chapter 18.
• Named by the Adaptation: Mr. Flour's first name is revealed to be Aldor.
• Names to Run From Really Fast: The survivors of Toad Tower - including Grime - call Marcy The Red Moon Witch.
• Official Couple: As of Chapter 19, Marcy and Anne are now a couple.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging: In chapter 12, after unknowingly provoking a Heel Realization in Marcy over stranding her friends in Amphibia, Hop Pop keeps going on and on about how he could never forgive anyone who would separate people from their families until Marcy tells him that she gets it.
• Oblivious to Love: Both Marcy and Anne suffer from this. From chapters 14 to 19, Anne misinterpretes Marcy's flustered responses as either overexertion, modesty, Marcy being Marcy, or she just doesn't notice. Meanwhile, in chapter 19, Anne straight up states she had been flirting with Marcy for a week - something that went right over the latter's head.
• Pajama-Clad Hero: Marcy and Anne spend most of chapter 19 in their pajamas due to their regular outfits being washed at the time.
• Parental Neglect: Marcy's parents were never seen nor discussed in the original show. Here, they're shown to be dismissive and inattentive, if not outright uncaring, only giving her acknowledgement when she gets good grades - and even then it's only her mother, and only a few words. It's heavily implied her relationship with them is at least half the reason Marcy teleported herself, Anne, and Sasha to Amphibia.
• Paranormal Romance: Parodied and Played for Laughs. During their Big Damn Kiss, Anne finds out about Marcy's fangs to which she blushed and assured Marcy that it's okay and that she finds every part of her to be cute. Marcy figures out Anne likes them due to her obsession with paranormal romance last year to which she teased the Thai girl by putting on a fake Transylvanian accent.
  Marcy: Vhat would you have me do to you my paramour.
• Poor Communication Kills: Polly acts dismissive towards Marcy after having to accept she's not an evil spirit, but later wants to hang out with her after seeing her use her intelligence to solve problems. When they hang out for the first time, she refuses to admit the cart Marcy designed was impressive because she fears it'll be the only time they do, causing Marcy to tell her to be straight-forward with her from then on.
• Psychic Powers: This is how Anne's powers manifest. She can: levitate objects in the air; cast illusions, like make herself or other objects invisible and muffle the sounds she makes; "see" people's emotional state; and create a protective barrier around herself.
• Role Swap AU: What if Marcy was transported to Wartwood instead of Anne?
  • Chapter 2 reveals that Anne was transported to Toad Tower, and chapter 8 reveals that Sasha was transported to Newtopia.
• Secret Test of Character: In chapter 14, Valeriana steals Marcy's coinpurse and has it put up as the prize for a grand prix, knowing that the latter would have to take part in the race to get it back. This is all to test whether Anne would prioritize getting information on the music box or her friend's safety.
• Shipper on Deck: Like Anne in the show, Marcy fully supports Sprivy, even referencing the appropriate trope. Unlike Anne, she sabotages the courtship ritual set up by by Hop Pop and Felicia, understanding Sprig and Ivy's relationship shouldn't be forced.
  • Surprisingly, Polly tries to get Marcy and Anne together in chapter 19 - though this is more out of frustration and impatience over Marcy's reluctance to confess.
• Shock and Awe: When the mimic bird from chapter 2 attacks Wartwood, the militia uses the electric system Marcy set up to electrocute it.
• Shoot the Dog: The only plan Marcy and Ram can come up with in chapter 12 which will get her and the World Hoppers out alive comes at the expense of many toads being killed by the Herons and tomato plants. Marcy attempts to brainstorm any other possible option, only for Ram to confirm that they all end with her being killed.
• Shout-Out: The title of the fifth chapter is "Marcio Kart".
• Sleep Cute: Marcy and Anne had a lot of these moments growing up together. The first night they're reunited, Anne cuddles Marcy while she's asleep and Marcy is able to rest soon after.
• Split Personality: Ram, the embodiment of Marcy's Calamity powers, aids her in figuring out solutions to problems but is devoid of emotion.
• Thought They Knew Already: It turns out Marcy accidentally discovered the hidden chambers beneath the Planters' house, but never said anything because she thought it was a family secret. The Planters are very surprised when she reveals this to them.
• Voice Changeling: In chapter 2, Marcy ends up running into a giant parrot that imitates Anne's voice (which it can after briefly encountering the girl sometime earlier).
• What If?: What if the Calamity Trio swapped starting locations?
• Workaholic: One of Marcy's fatal flaws. While it was largely hinted at in canon, here it comes into full force where she nearly works herself to exhaustion in chapters 10 and 18.
• Wretched Hive: Marcy visits the Bizarre Bazaar in chapter 14. Her coinpurse is stolen by Valariana to set up a test for Anne.

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