Chapter Text
Day 89
This is the last page of my journal.
I suppose I could continue it in another one, but I'm not sure if I'll need it anymore. I didn't really have a set goal in mind when I started writing here, but I guess I found myself. Or whatever. I have goals to strive for. A support system to keep me on the right path. And the willpower to see all this through.
Later today, we're testing out the laser Loggle revealed to me. He claims he's tested it before now, but I'm pretty sure our outing is the test. There's been some centipede creatures wreaking havoc up in the ruins of Wartwood that we're trying to hunt down to remove their collars. If this mission is a success, Loggle thinks he'll be able to make more if we can keep salvaging robot parts.
I miss Marcy and Anne a little more each day, not that I ever thought it possible to do so. I think we're gearing up to finally take Andrias head on soon, so I'll focus on getting Marcy back first. Once we're able to, we'll bring Anne and the Plantars back too.
I won't let any more opportunities pass me by going forward. I'm going to tell Anne everything once we're reunited. I just hope that she'll accept my apology and maybe there's a chance for us going forward. At least I still have some time to work myself up to it.
Sasha closed her journal and let out a heavy sigh. It had become a comfort to write down everything even if it was just mindlessly ramblings of all her thoughts and feelings. She had come to learn that the best way for her to process things was looking back on it after it had already happened. But the book was full now so perhaps it was time to try dealing with things differently.
Although Grime had teased her about it mercilessly in the beginning, he had come to accept that it helped her cope with the current state of their world. She thought she had lost it in the barn fire, but was pleasantly surprised to find it had been tucked under Bessie's shell for safe keeping. She couldn’t remember if that was something she had done or if the snails had done it for her.
She loved those snails more than anything.
Her parents had never let her have a pet, having said that animals were disgusting and they didn't want to ruin any of the furniture in their big sparsely furnished houses. Sasha had wanted a dog for so long, but she gave up on that dream quickly. While she had spent a lot of time at the Boonchuys' house with Domino, the cat seemed to have it out for her.
Maybe this is what it was like to care about a pet. She made a mental note to do something special for the snails soon. Perhaps Stumpy knew of a good recipe that was safe for them to eat.
Sasha couldn’t put off getting ready for the day any longer. She rose from the table in the center of her room and moved to tuck the finished journal under her bed, next to the item which she did her best to not think about (and most days, she almost succeeded in forgetting it was even there). She shook her head to try to rid herself of any more negative thoughts and resumed her morning routine.
Today was supposed to be the first day they would be going out while wearing the goods they acquired from Beatrix’s escort mission. Croaker insisted that if they were expected to go out wearing the new helmets, then Sasha would have to suffer along with them. Reluctantly, she grabbed the Helmet of Authority and moved to pull her hair up so it would sit comfortably under the helmet.
And then her last hair tie snapped when she stretched it out.
"Son of a slug," she grumbled as she tossed the useless broken band on the table. Guess she was going to be rocking her hair down for the foreseeable future until she found something else to use to tie her hair up.
It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to leave her hair down, but she knew it would look a wreck every time she had to take the helmet off again.
Perhaps the helmet would even fit better with her hair down to take up more space.
The helmet was not any snugger with her hair down.
"Didn’t you say that you already tested this thing, Loggle?" Sasha asked while she readjusted the loose helmet for the umpteenth time since they had left the comfort of the underground base. Their four man group wandered through the remains of Wartwood, hunting for any signs of their intended targets.
Despite the complaints they leveled her way before setting out, Sasha had insisted all of them wear a full set of the new armor. She regretted that choice immediately as they noisily clattered through the town, like a marching band celebrating their arrival wherever they walked.
Loggle was leading their merry little band with his latest creation held steady over his shoulder. Sasha followed close behind him with Croaker and Wally flanking her sides, all three of them ready to get the mission over with so they could turn in for the night.
"Course I tested it! This is just the perfect opportunity to see if it works on the collars!"
"Oi, what does that mean? You tested it, but not on the collars?" Wally cried out. Loggle didn’t offer him an answer as they continued past the buildings that lay in disrepair.
None of them even batted an eye at the destruction that surrounded them anymore. She tried to imagine how she'd feel if she had been the one wandering through the remains of her neighborhood back home, but found the idea so repulsive that she stopped her train of thought there.
“I can understand why you never wanted to wear your helmet now,” Croaker mumbled from behind her visor as it slammed shut over her face. Loggle came to a sudden front in front of them and they all braced themselves to engage in battle.
One of the centipedes that they were hunting for sat in the distance, grazing upon some rubble in the ruins of the town square. Loggle cursed under his breath, but his voice was muffled by his visor as he tried to line up the shot.
“I thought you said it had that lock-on thingy?” Wally asked as they watched the axolotl struggle.
“I thought I did! This dang helmet keeps getting in my way,” he snapped back. Sasha stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She could feel his muscles relax under her touch.
“Take your time with the shot. If you miss, the rest of us can just run in and do our thing like we normally would. Try not to sweat it, just relax,” she said, voice soft and assuring. Loggle nodded and pulled up his visor to get rid of the obstacle in his way. After a few more seconds of adjusting, he got the shot lined up and fired. The blast knocked a shingle off a nearby roof, alerting the creature that it was in danger.
“Oh frog,” Loggle cursed, lowering the weapon as the others dove forward to engage the centipede. Minutes later they regrouped.
“Great blaster, Loggle. Made this so much easier,” Croaker muttered sarcastically which earned her an elbow in the side from Sasha.
“Go easy on him. He’s trying,” she defended, but Loggle hunched his shoulders in defeat.
“No, she’s right. So much for this thing,” he said as he tossed it on the ground. Sasha rushed over to scoop it up and with a grunt, hefted it up onto her shoulder.
“Don’t give up now. You worked so hard on building this thing. Let me give it a shot, maybe it just needs some recalibrating or something.” Loggle only shrugged in response as they continued on their hunt for the remaining two centipedes. Not too long after they had taken care of the first centipede, they stumbled upon the second rolling around in the remains of the town hall building.
“I’m wondering if these were the creatures Toadie and I heard making noises down in the bunker while we were there,” Sasha said, mostly to herself, but Wally commented from her side as she got into position.
“Might o’been.” Sasha took a moment to brace the blaster against her shoulder to line up the shot. Once she felt comfortable she had a clear shot, she fired the blaster. She grunted against the recoil of the lumbering weapon as it dug into her shoulder.
It missed the collar by a hair, so Sasha immediately readjusted her positioning and fired off another shot before the creature could react properly, teeth gritted as the recoil hit her a second time. The shot connected with the collar, breaking it apart upon impact. The creature seemed dazed for a second before taking off into the treeline.
“Well I’ll be damned, the blaster does work,” Croaker said in awe. Loggle’s sour mood turned celebratory as he pumped a fist in the air.
“You’re damn right it does!” he cheered. Sasha lowered the gun and chuckled at his enthusiasm.
“Never doubted you, Loggs,” she assured him. His heroic air punch morphed into a victory dance which earned groans from the other two members of their group.
“I did,” they said in unison, but it didn’t dissuade him.
There was a loud crashing noise from the distance that startled them out of their playful banter.
“Alright guys, guess we found the last one. Let’s wrap this up so we can get back,” Sasha commanded, lowering her visor back into position. The other three followed her lead, lowering their own and they took off in the direction the sound came from, back towards the entrance to the town.
Her helmet continued to sway from side to side at the imperfect fit, noisily slapping against the top of her pauldron. Not for the first time, she cursed herself for going down to that stupid bunker and getting it in the first place. Maybe they had some kind of Bandana of Leadership she could swap it out for.
They approached the front gate where all the commotion was coming from to see a group of travelers. From their distance, Sasha couldn’t get a good look at any party members, but she was able to see the centipede rearing back to strike.
Wordlessly, she propped herself up the same way she had just minutes before and automatically made the same correction as last time before firing the shot. The blast rang out before perfectly connecting with the collar. The centipede returned to its senses and fled the area as the pieces of the collar crumbled to the ground.
“Nice shot, Commander,” Wally said as she rose back to her feet, the weight of the blaster heavy in her hands.
“Thank you. We should be thanking this guy for this thing, though,” she said, gesturing towards Loggle over her shoulder.
“Shall we go greet our newest arrivals?” the axolotl asked. They all agreed before hopping down from their perch atop a house. As they approached the group, Sasha felt her breath catch in her throat.
Before them stood the Plantar family plus their adopted human member. Anne.
The others rushed forward to greet them once they realized who they had stumbled upon, but Sasha hung back, unable to process what she was seeing. Was she dreaming? Was this another one of her warped nightmares?
"Hey, thanks, whoever you are." It sounded like her, it moved like her. But it was still so hard to believe after all this time she would just show up out of the blue. The others approached her and pulled off their helmets to reveal their identities.
"Well, salt my slugs!" Croaker exclaimed as she stared at the group with her own disbelief. "It's you four!"
Sasha watched Archie crawl out of Croaker's helmet and perch himself on his owner's head. She hadn't even realized Archie was there the whole time. This helmet situation had gotten out of hand real quick.
“Croaker? Wally? LOGGLE? Is that you?" It was easy to imagine how startling the sight of the three of them could be, especially Loggle who was nearly unrecognizable from three months ago. If she hadn't been there to witness the transformation herself, she might not have believed it if someone told her.
"Yep. I've been lifting weights every single day since you've been gone. Who knew I had these kind of gains in me all along?"
I did, Sasha thought to herself proudly. The Plantars rushed forward to shower the group in questions as Anne's eyes darted up to look at Sasha, finally noting the lone member who hadn't joined them.
Sasha couldn't put it off their reunion forever, as much as she wanted to. Part of her was overjoyed to see her again while the other wanted to run. It was time she faced the music and atoned for her sins. She approached her former best friend and tossed Loggle's blaster to the side, probably with more force than necessary, but it was easy to blame her actions on her nerves.
"I don't believe it," she said, moving to pull her helmet off to get a better look at Anne. She tried to shake her hair out, but she could feel parts of it standing up awkwardly. Damn helmet hair. "You're… you're back.”
"Sasha!" Anne exclaimed before throwing herself at the blonde. Sasha's arms were frozen at her sides, unable to process the new weight that had settled over her body. She felt her breath catch in her throat as Anne's face buried in her neck and she paled, trying to think back to the last time she had actually bathed.
The entire situation was so confusing and she sincerely doubted she would be able to process the events completely in enough time to properly respond to Anne.
Why was she hugging her?
"You're alive! And in Wartwood?" Anne asked, pulling back to get a good look at Sasha. She hoped the blush on her face from the attention came across looking more like sunburn than anything else. "What's going on? What happened?"
"Follow me and I'll explain," she said, spinning on her heel to lead the group back to base. If all this was a dream, she was hoping the strike to her back would be quick. She couldn’t bear to look at Anne’s face as she twisted the blade into her flesh.
If it had been her dream, Anne's reaction to seeing her would have been filled with screaming and fists. The only thing she would be able to taste is her own blood and the last thing she'd see before the swelling in her eyes completely sealed them shut would be Anne's furious face glaring down at her.
No, it wasn't a dream. The knuckles of this Anne weren't stained with her blood. It had to be real. She had never allowed herself to even dream of this kind of thing happening and she wasn’t sure how to continue on.
They followed behind her silently and she desperately wished they would make some kind of sound, even if it was bickering among themselves. Croaker, Loggle, and Wally remained silent as well, which would make it the first time they bothered to spare her from their own bickering.
They arrived back at the Plantar farm and she could hear multiple intakes of air at the sight of their former farmland. What was once lavish fields of well kept farmland had become pitted from aerial attacks and all the crops had withered and died.
They approached Chuck who was on lookout duty today and she decided to play up the situation a bit more for the new arrivals. It’d been a long time since she’d had the opportunity to show off a little and while she was trying to be a better person, it wasn’t going to hurt to just have a little fun.
"Chuck," she said, offering the frog a salute. The farmer had also been outfitted in the new armor, but he had forgone his helmet for a simple straw hat.
"Tulips," he greeted back with a tip of his hat. She could hear a snort from behind her and choose not to call Croaker out on it. She was sure the old frog would give her some chin music later when they had some privacy.
She pushed the door open to the Plantar's house and motioned for the group to enter first. Their eyes went wide as they took in the damage that had been done to the house, most of which had occurred over two months ago.
"Wait," the senior member of the Plantar family said as he turned around to face her. “Our house is your secret hideout?"
Sasha could tell from the skeptical looks they were giving her that her history of lying to them was catching up to her in this situation. She moved towards the fireplace and tried to offer them a confident grin.
"Only the basement." Their mouths fell open as she hit the secret switch to open the door to the underground tunnels.
"No way! The Plantar family tunnels!" Sprig exclaimed as the staircase down was revealed to them. It confirmed to her earlier assessment that they had to be aware of its existence.
"Come on," she urged, moving in first to hopefully show the family that there wasn't any kind of trap on the other end waiting for them.
Honestly, she couldn't blame them for not trusting her. There were some days she still didn't trust herself. She knew part of her apology to Anne was going to have to be making nice with her frog family. Besides, if not for their house, Wartwood would have been destroyed when the bombs fell.
And if not for their snails, Sasha might have let herself be destroyed along with it.
They followed her down the winding staircase as she led them out to the main cavern. Collectively, they gasped in shock. If their eyes could get any wider and their mouths gap open anymore more, they certainly did at the new sight that lay before them.
"Welcome to the Resistance," she proclaimed as she stepped back to allow them to get a better view. She moved back towards the steps as the rest of her team followed them in.
“Bet this is a bit of a shock,” Croaker commented as she gestured towards them with her chin.
"Can you go get the twerp? I think she'll be happy her other half is back," she said back at her. Croaker turned and leveled her with a glare.
"I'm not your own personal messenger," she grumbled, but nodded and took off to find Ivy. Sasha returned her attention to the Plantar family as she shoved the helmet back on her head to free up her hands.
"Alright, let's get you up to speed," she said as she motioned for the group to follow along behind her again. Their eyes traveled everywhere as they tried to take in the sight before them, but she couldn't blame them. There had been a lot of changes made to the tunnels since they had moved to live down there full time.
"This is incredible," Anne said as she stepped up to walk next to Sasha. The helmet was bouncing around uncomfortably as they walked, but she hoped it kept the blush on her face out of sight from the other girl
"Marcy has been taken prisoner, but we have reason to believe that she's still alive," Sasha explained, earning a sigh of relief from Anne. There was a twinge of jealousy at the display, but she pushed it away. Now was not the time to be getting possessive. That was exactly the type of bad friend behavior she needed to work on.
"Oh, thank goodness." They continued to walk in step as Anne seemingly tried to process everything happening around them. "So what happened to the town?"
"What do you think? Andrias destroyed it," she snapped without thinking. "Sorry, that came out harsher than I wanted it to."
Anne nodded, but didn't say anything else. Her eyes had narrowed slightly at the slip up and Sasha turned her head away in shame.
"Now, let's get you settled," she said instead, trying to change the subject. There were still plenty of rooms untouched the family could claim. The tunnels themselves turned out to be a massive maze. The unexplored parts were roped off so no one got lost in them, but they had some people who went out exploring a little more each day. They were pretty confident there wasn’t any other exit in the tunnels, but there was still a possibility.
Sasha led them to the base of the statue that had been relocated underground from the town square and turned back to face them. All four faces stopped their investigation and gave her their full attention.
"Everyone is going to be excited to see you guys again. Are you okay with me getting everyone’s attention and having you pop out as a surprise?" she asked. They didn't even try to hide the shock on their faces at being asked for their permission.
"Yeah, that's fine with us. I think?" Anne said as she turned to look at the others. They nodded in agreement.
"Alright cool, just wait here. I'm going to summon everyone and then you guys can pop out," she said as she picked up a bugle horn laying at the base of the statue's feet. It had been a suggestion from Toadie when he’d stumbled across it in one of their storage areas. She figured now was a good enough time as any to put it into action for the first time.
She took a deep breath and forced all of it into the mouthpiece of the horn, letting out a loud blast of sound that echoed in the large space of the room. Every pair of eyes in the room turned to their commander and they flocked over to the statue with worried faces. Sasha frowned for a moment, realizing that most of the other times she called them together it was for bad news. Today was going to mark the first time she had good news to share with all of them.
"Attention Wartwood. I'd like to introduce some new recruits!" she called out to them, gesturing towards her side. Seconds later, the Plantars popped up around the statue's base and offered the group smiles while they waved.
"IT'S ANNE AND THE PLANTARS!" The crowd cheered. There was applause and shouts as the group was swarmed with attention. Sasha stepped back and allowed the group to settle back down again.
She jumped slightly as something bumped into her hip and sped right past her. The blur was running full speed at the group. Sprig looked up just in time to see Ivy tackling him to the ground.
"IVY!" he cried out, wrapping her in a tight hug. There were tears streaming down her face and she couldn't even form words to say anything back to him. Everyone watched the reunion awkwardly and Sasha cleared her throat to get the attention off of their reunion.
"The Plantars here came back to Amphibia just in time to help us kick Andrias right in the big old tail!" she exclaimed, earning more cheers from the crowd and giving the young couple a moment to themselves.
Once the cheering had settled down, Toadie approached the Commander with some prepared bags of supplies that they normally passed out to new arrivals. She took the items and gave the frog a small thank you before turning back to the Plantar family.
"Here. You guys can go find yourselves a nice cave to inhabit," she said, passing the bags out to each of them. Hop Pop reached into the bag and produced one of their crudely made toothbrushes. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it got the job done.
"I sure am gonna miss the electric toothbrush," he said sadly as he turned the stick around in his hands to examine it. Compared to the modern electronics from Earth, it was shoddy at best, but still better than nothing.
"Cheer up, Hop Pop," Sprig offered as he interlocked his hands with Ivy's. For the first time in months, Sasha could see a carefree smile spread across Ivy's face and she was glad the frog had been reunited with her boyfriend. Even if said boyfriend was also a best friend stealer. "Maybe we can find a cave with some soft lichen to sleep on."
"Oh, I know the perfect cave for you guys!" Ivy said, pulling Sprig along by the hand. "There's one that's not too far from our cave and it doesn't get nearly as cold at night as some of the others.”
Sasha watched Ivy lead the group away and then noticed that Anne followed them, leaving the two of them alone. Anne turned back to look at her and awkwardly coughed into her hand. Oh, Sasha hated this.
The last time the two of them had been alone together was when they had fought atop the gates of Newtopia. Sasha's attempts at disarming her friend to get her to listen were met with Anne’s unbridled rage which could only be soothed with blood. Her blood. If she asked her for it now, Sasha would gladly split open a vein as an apology.
"So, about what happened before we got zapped to Earth…" Anne trailed off and Sasha brought up a hand to cut her off. She thought she would have had more time to practice this speech before she would have to use it, but she was ready.
"Listen, my days of toxic manipulation are over. And with Amphibia on fire and Marcy in trouble, I thought we could be on the same side for a change." She stopped and looked over at Anne who nodded along.
"Totally. We'll work at our own baggage later," she replied, offering a hand out to shake on it. Sasha reached forward to grab her hand and the damn helmet visor snapped shut, blinding her once again. She groaned in annoyance as she pulled back her hand out of Anne’s to remove the offending object.
"What's with the hat?" Anne asked, giggling at her misfortune. Sasha chuckled nervously as she pried the helmet back off her head.
"The Helmet of Authority," she explained. "Apparently, Wartwood busts this out during war times, so everyone knows who's in charge."
It was an extremely simplified version of events on how she got it, why she was wearing it, and it didn't even begin to cover her hatred for the stupid thing. An idea struck her as she looked back at Anne.
"Which reminds me…" It wasn't something she had considered before this moment, but with the early return of her friend, it might just be in their best interests. She pushed the helmet towards her friend as an offering.
"Huh?" Anne asked as she regarded the helmet in front of her.
"Wartwood has only been able to hold out this long because they were waiting for you, Anne. You stood up for them. You protected them. It's time for you to lead them," she said, pushing the helmet into the other girl's hands. Anne stared down at it with uncertainty.
"Uhhh I don't know," she said as she turned the helmet over in her hands. "Amphibia's changed a lot since I've been gone. Should I really be the one doing this?"
"All in favor of Anne Boonchuy as your new leader?" she called out, addressing the group of frogs who were still meandering around the base of the statue. It had been a quick decision to offer Anne the helmet, but it wasn't one that she regretted.
The crowd cheered, her name echoing out around the room as they showered her with their support. Anne still seemed unsure.
"Oh, wow! This is a huge honor, and also, a lot of pressure!" Anne's words only seemed to pump the crowd up harder and Sasha stood back to enjoy the show. She knew in her heart that this would be the best decision.
If Anne was running the show, then perhaps there was a chance for them to save their friendship. Sasha knew her controlling nature had been one of the biggest downfalls to their friendship and she was determined not to make the same mistake twice. Not that their friendship had been repaired yet. This compromise was more of a truce to work together than anything else.
But it was still a start and she could use this as an opportunity to prove herself.
Sasha gave the group some time to settle in and reunite with their friends before she approached them again and asked them to follow to the war room to go over some plans. So much had changed during their absence and there was a lot to catch them up on.
Sprig was reluctant to leave Ivy's side, but she gave him an excuse that she had to finish her chores for the day anyway. Sasha knew it was a lie, but she appreciated her attempt to get Sprig to go. It was a reminder that if she wanted this truce to work out between Anne and herself, she had burned bridges with Plantars that needed to be repaired as well, especially with Sprig.
She led them through the winding tunnels towards the war room where she found herself spending more and more time these days. Missions to plan, orders to give, maps to memorize, and scouting reports to sift through. The work of a Commander was never-ending some days.
As with everything they came across in the underground, they took a moment to look over the room as they passed through the red curtain covering the doorway. She could hear a not so subtle snort of laughter as their eyes were trained on the old statue of herself from Toad Tower.
Grime had been right, she should have gotten rid of it. There wasn't any time to dwell on the decision now, however.
After fishing around in her cloak for a second, she produced the remains of the spore collar she had hastily salvaged from their encounter with the first centipede. Maddie had requested for more samples to run tests on, but she planned on using it for demonstrative purposes first.
"I'm sure you've seen the mind-control collars that Andrias has been using to control the local wildlife," she said as she tossed it on the table before them. She turned her attention down to the map she had carefully crafted the previous night in preparation of their upcoming attack. "Well, it turns out he's making them here."
"How do these things even work?" Anne asked, holding the remains of the collar up for further inspection. Sasha wanted to groan at the thought of trying to explain the sciencey stuff behind it by herself, despite having listened to Maddie explain it to her countless times before.
"It utilizes some kind of weird mushroom enzyme," she tried to explain, which earned a scoff out of Sprig. She looked down at him ready to defend herself, but his focus wasn't on her. He leveled at look of disdain towards his grandfather.
"Gee! Wonder where I've heard that before." Three sets of eyes had turned and were glaring at the older frog while Sasha silently watched. Did they have some kind of experience with these mushrooms before? Perhaps they would be able to shed some insight into taking them down.
"I turned you into zombies one time!" he exclaimed. Oh, nevermind. Just normal Plantar family shenanigans.
"The mission is simple: destroy the factory," she said in an attempt to bring their focus back on her, thrusting one of her hidden dangers into the map for emphasis. "If we're successful, it'll make a big dent in Andria's army."
"Alright, let's do it!" Anne exclaimed. Her smile was infectious and Sasha couldn't help returning it, despite the dread that had settled into her stomach over the last few hours.
"Great, I'll call us a taxi app!" Polly exclaimed, pulling Anne's phone out of seemingly nowhere. Which reminded Sasha that she needed to have a conversation with Anne about how she had been charging her phone the entire time she had been stuck here.
"Polly, that's not gonna work," Anne chided which earned her a huff in return.
"Fine! I guess we'll walk!" she exclaimed as she folded her tiny arms in frustration.
"Anyone got any hand sanitizer? I never noticed how dirty Amphibia was," Hop Pop chimed in as he put his hands out for display to show off the accumulated grim covering his palms.
"Don't worry, HP. I got you," Sprig said, pulling a bottle of glittery hand sanitizer out from another unseen pocket. Sasha watched the scene unfold before her in complete awe at their behavior.
"Wow, Earth made you three soft," she said unconsciously before realizing it might have come off as offensive. Anne was giving her another questioning look and she cleared her throat in an attempt to change the topic. "Anyway, get some sleep, everyone. We leave at dawn."
"You got it!"
"See you in the morning!"
"Aye, aye, Captain!" Sasha let herself drop down into her chair as she watched the four exit the room.
Anne still had the helmet cradled under her arm and Sasha watched her go with a small dopey smile on her face. Anne was back. It wasn’t a dream. She had another chance and she hadn’t screwed it up yet.
As Anne was holding up the curtain for the others to pass through, Grime pushed his way through the other side.
"Hey Grime!" Anne greeted awkwardly. Grime seemed shocked to see her, but quickly recovered.
"Welcome Anne!" he said, before catching sight of the helmet in her hands. "I mean, uh, Commander."
"I know. Weird, right?" she replied before following her frog family out. Once she was out of sight, Grime rounded on her.
"You gave Anne the helmet?" Sasha groaned.
Hello consequences of my own impulsive actions, she thought.
"Yeah. If Anne is here, I can't be in charge. It's just too complicated." The answer seemed perfectly logical in her mind and so far, no one except Anne herself seemed to doubt it. Leave it to Grime to try to be a voice of reason.
"But… but she's never led an army. And she has no idea how much Amphibia has changed or what we're up against." Grime wasn't wrong, but she really needed his support right now.
"I said, it's complicated," she snapped, using the commanding voice he hated being on the receiving end of. Grime folded his arms angry, knowing that anything he could have said was going to be either ignored or shot down.
"Fine! It just would've been nice to know that I was demoted…" She groaned as he narrowed his eye at her. "... again!"
He turned around and stormed out of the room and Sasha allowed herself a chance to relax. She would have to have another conversation with Grime later, perhaps after a good night's rest. But there was so much to do and with the Plantars return, she was going to need to adjust all her previous planning to include them.
She moved to sort through her pile of new scouting reports, but the sight of the name on the top reminded her that there was something else of utmost importance that she had to take care of first.
After making a quick trip to her room and checking in with Ivy to make sure she had the right location, she stood outside the cave which was now home to the Plantar family. They hadn't even had enough time to put a curtain up over the entrance for privacy so she was able to stare right into the room while they were preparing for bed.
Anne looked up when she noticed the blonde in the doorway.
"Hey Sash, what's up? Everything alright?" she asked. Sasha nodded and moved to step into the room.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I was actually hoping to have a word with Hop Pop if that's okay." Everyone turned to face the older frog to gauge his reaction. He seemed more shocked than anything else.
"Me? Uhh, yeah. That's fine," he said, crossing the room and following her as she led him away from their cave. Sasha moved through the tunnels with practiced ease and Hop Pop said nothing as he trailed along behind her.
Finally, they stopped outside the entrance to a cave with a wooden gate installed in the doorframe.
"There's someone who I think would really like to see you," she said, pushing the gate open for him to go through. Hop Pop cautiously moved through it and took in the room before him. They were in the snail pens.
"Bessie?" he asked, wildly looking around for his snail. Bessie's familiar chirp sounded out and his search turned more frantic.
"On your left," Sasha said as she followed in behind him. He darted to the first pen on his left just as Bessie's face peaked over the top of the wooden gate. Hop Pop didn't even waste time opening the door as he jumped clean over it to embrace the snail.
"Oh Bessie, I missed you so much," he cried, tears leaking from his face and dripping onto Bessie's shell. Sasha wasn't even aware snails could cry until she saw the tears leaking from Bessie's eyes as she curled herself into Hop Pop's trembling body. She wanted to leave them in peace so they could get reacquainted, but there was another pressing issue she needed to discuss with him.
"I don't want to intrude on your reunion any longer than I have to, but I have something else for you as well," she said as she approached the gate. Hop Pop wiggled down off the shell and turned to give her his complete attention.
"Sasha, thank you for keeping her safe," he said and she felt her cheeks heat up at his praise.
"She kept me safe too. She's a really good snail. You did a great job with her autobiography, by the way." Now it was Hop Pop's turn to go red.
"You read it?"
"I do believe the preface of the book said it was integral to riding her that you know her history," she teased, but sobered up as she reached into her cloak pocket. Hop Pop's eyes followed her movements. She produced a letter and passed it to him.
"What's this?" he asked, turning the letter over to see his name written in fancy handwriting.
"Sylvia Sundew is currently operating as a scout out in Amphibia. Before she left, she asked me if I could give this to you if we ever encountered you before she got back," she explained. The frog looked up at her.
"She's out there scouting? But-"
"It was her decision. She said she couldn't just sit around while her family was in danger. She told me to tell you that she'll be fine and she can't wait to share another dance with you when she returns."
"Sasha, this is so much. Thank you."
"I know my past behavior was…" she trailed off, searching for her next words. "I was kind of terrible to you and your family. I will do my best to do right by you and maybe someday I can earn the right to your forgiveness."
"Sasha, I won't lie to you. Trusting you is going to take some time. But I do forgive you."
"T-Thank you, Hop Pop. If I receive any other news from Sylvia, I will be sure to share it with you," she promised. He nodded and turned back to Bessie. Sasha decided to bow out and leave him in peace to reconnect with his family.
Back in the war room, Sasha let herself fall into the familiar pattern of work. Checking over supply lists and requests for the townspeople. Updating their maps with newly gathered scout information. Reading through report after report until her eyelids started to droop.
“Hope you’re not burning the candle at both ends.” Sasha looked up as Croaker pulled up a chair across from her. She hadn’t even heard the old frog enter the room.
“Not tired,” Sasha replied, using all of her power to hold back the yawn that desperately wanted to claw itself out of her throat. Croaker gave her a knowing smirk.
“Very well, Commander. How are you holding up otherwise?” After all this time, Sasha knew lying to the old frog was useless.
“I’m waiting to wake up from this dream, honestly,” she admitted. Croaker nodded.
“I definitely didn’t expect them to just show up out of the blue, that’s for sure. Especially with how you explained they left this world in the first place.” Sasha winced at the memory. Between the actual event and her own nightmares, the truth was beginning to get muddled in her mind.
“Anne might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but she’s creative and persistent. I should’ve given her more credit. Of course she would find her own way back,” Sasha said. The more she thought about it, the more it hurt. Anne was smart in her own way, she just never applied herself in school. Had Sasha been holding her back from that as well?
“Traveling between worlds is no easy feat, I don’t blame you for doubting her,” Croaker confirmed. It eased her doubt’s slightly to hear it coming from someone else, but the feeling still nagged at her. Along with countless feelings she had bottled up all day.
“Do you think I made the right choice? Giving Anne the helmet?” she asked. Croaker considered her words for a moment before answering.
“I can’t say for certain, but I do understand why you did it. She’s leading tomorrow’s mission, right?” Sasha nodded. “You know what it takes to lead us, just make sure you support her and everything should be fine.”
“What would I do without you?”
“Did you want the list in chronological or alphabetical order?”
“Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
“Don’t stay up too late, deary. You’re no good to any of us if you pass out,” Croaker said as she exited the room as silently as she’d entered. Sasha relaxed back into her chair and looked back down at her reports, much more awake than before the frog had arrived.
She shoved the reports back into a folder and moved to grab a blank piece of paper. If she wanted Anne to succeed as Commander, then she would make sure the girl would have everything she needed.
The morning bell had rung, dragging their newly arrived group out of bed. Sasha had seen the Plantar family arrive in the mess hall led by the Sundews and offered them a wave. Only Hop Pop returned her wave, but she could easily write that off from the exhaustion that came from their first night sleeping underground.
Stumpy came out of the back room and passed her the drink that she had ordered. She gave him a smile as she took a sip, wincing at the taste.
“I told ya it was too much,” he said, but she shook her head and chanced another sip. It was just as bad as if not worse than the first.
“It’s fine, perfect even! The taste is not what I’m concerned about anyway. Thanks Stumpy!” she said, rising from her seat to dispose of her breakfast trash and make her way back up to the war room. Before she reached the safety of the closed room, Grime was at her side.
“Did you go to bed at all last night?” he asked, eyeing the drink in her hand. She sighed.
“Look, I know you’re worried. It was just a one night thing. I needed to update everything to accommodate four more people,” she explained. He didn’t appear to be backing down.
“Rumor has it that you had Stumpy give you ten shots of espresso in that cup,” he said, gesturing down to the cup.
“The rumor mill needs to find something better to do with its time. I’m fine,” she grunted, picking up her pace to hopefully lose him, but he followed her into the war room.
“Can you blame me for worrying?” he said, his tone turning soft. She dropped down into her chair and looked up at him.
“There’s a lot going on right now. If it looks like I’m slipping again, I’ll say something. Between you and Croaker, I doubt I can get away with anything anyway!” After deciding to not second guess her decision before she did it, she threw her head back and chugged down the remainder of her terribly bitter drink.
“Oh yeah, that’s disgusting,” he remarked. She shook her head and tried to get the taste off her tongue.
“I just need it to get me through today’s mission. We should be back before dark and I’ll pass out early,” she told him, moving to gather her things from the table. Grime looked down.
“Am I seeing double, or are there two copies of the same map?” he asked.
“Well, I didn’t think Anne would have time to memorize it like I did so I made a copy for her to take along with us,” she explained. She was sure after a few weeks, Anne could easily catch up with everything the Commander was responsible for. The look Grime gave her told her he didn’t feel the same.
“Which is why she shouldn’t be the one-“ he started, but she slammed her hand on the table to silence him.
“Enough, Grime! Can you just back me up on this, please?” She was pleading with him now. The lack of sleep plus the return of Anne was making her feel so emotionally raw and vulnerable. The last thing she needed was to fight with Grime, but he stood his ground.
“I will not back you up for something I think is a bad idea,” he stated firmly. There was no winning at this game, she just needed to change the topic.
“Fine, when are you leaving for your mission anyway?” she asked, turning to look over at the black board of notes they had prepared together.
“Trying to get rid of me now?”
“I believe you had orders to have your team prepped and ready to hit up that outpost at first light,” she snapped, her back to him. She barely had time to react as a wooden chair went flying by her head, breaking apart when it made impact with the wall. When she turned to look back at Grime, he was already gone.
She fought off the urge to throw back a chair of her own when another face poked through the curtain.
“Y’all right in here, Commander?” Wally asked. Sasha moved to swipe the extra map up from the table before following him out of the room.
“It’s just Sasha now, Wally. Let’s go get this thing over with.”
The group was fully assembled outside when Anne and Sprig finally appeared to join them.
“I know there’s so much on your plate right now, but if you have any time, we’re going to need a few extra chairs in the war room,” Sasha said to Loggle, offering Anne a small wave as she joined the group.
“Aren't there eight chairs in there?” he asked. He would know better than anyone since he was the one to build them in the first place.
“There were, but Grime’s taken up a new hobby to blow off steam. We’re down to five as of this morning,” she explained. Loggle frowned, but nodded.
“I can get started on it tomorrow morning, should have it done by lunch.” Sasha clapped him on the back as they turned to face their new Commander.
"Okay guys," Anne said as she turned to address their group. At her turn, the visor of the helmet fell down and she let out a grunt of surprise. With a nervous laugh, she continued. "Whoops. Let's go show Andrias what we're made of!"
"Which way, Commander?" Croaker asked. Sasha glanced down at her friend to see Archie perched on her shoulder, and then proceeded to do a double take when she realized the spider was wearing a helmet of his own. She was going to need to go through their new armor a bit more thorough because she was pretty sure her team was starting to screw with her over these stupid helmets.
"Oh! Uhhhh, no idea," Anne admitted. The eagerness of the group seemed to fade at, but Sprig jumped in to try to save the day.
"Oh! Didn't you take a picture of the map?" he asked. Sasha didn't remember seeing her in the war room again after she'd left the first time, but it was possible Anne had been in and out during one of the brief periods she'd been out.
"Shoot. Dang it! I-I'll go back and grab it." Anne was preparing to head back inside, but Sasha had been ready for this moment. It had only taken her most of the night of painstakingly recreating the map for their mission.
"No need. Here's the map, Anne, with all the important parts labeled." If she ended her sentence in a singsong voice, she'd blame the deliriousness on lack of sleep.
"Oh! Thanks, Sash," Anne said, accepting the offered map. Sasha offered her a smile as she mentally gave herself a pat on the back for a job well done. "But are you sure you shouldn't be leading this?"
"No way. You should be in charge, not me," she said, perhaps a bit more aggressively than she would have normally liked as her smile fell into a frown. She needed to remind herself she wasn't speaking with Grime.
Anne gave her agitated groan as Sprig jumped on her shoulders. He offered Sasha a side eye before comforting his friend.
"Come on, Anne. You can do this! You steered us from Earth back to Amphibia, didn't you? Just follow your Anne-tuition."
"Anne-tuition? Cute. Okay, then. Here goes nothing!" Anne declared, moving forward to lead their group on the mission. Sasha brought up the rear of the group as she wrestled with her feelings.
Her patience was really being tested today. When she tried to help Anne, it was thrown back in her face, but when Sprig did the same, it was appreciated. How were the two things different? Had she really been apart from Anne for so long that she no longer knew how to comfort her?
No, she just had to keep trying. Things were still weird between them. This was fine. She'd just keep trying to assist Anne and keep her frog family safe.
All of her good intentions were quickly falling apart due less to her own actions than to those of the actions of Anne.
Sasha would have made a better Commander and that was a fact, but Anne was the Commander that they needed and she had fully come to believe that fact. This was the kind of support she had done a bad job of offering her in the past.
After watching her drink contaminated water, get stuck in quicksand while saving the Plantars, and accidentally lead them into one of Andrias' roving tank brigades, she was really starting to question her decision. Not to mention her inability to read a simple map.
But they had eventually found the factory producing the spore collars and they could finish the mission without any more issues.
"How do we get across, Anne?" Loggle asked after he peered over the side of the cliff they found themselves on. Sasha narrowed her eyes at him from behind Anne's back and he cleared his throat. "I mean, Commander Anne."
"Yeah, what's your Commander Ander-tuition telling ya?" She was going to strangle both of them. Croaker could make a new team. It was fine.
"Hmmmm…" Anne scratched her chin as she was deep in thought. Sasha had a few suggestions to offer the girl as she pulled her grappling hook out. "Well, how about we build a bridge out of ourselves?
The group stared at their Commander with uncertainty. Even Croaker glanced over at Sasha like, really this is what you want us to follow? Sasha lowered her grappling hook back down as she grappled with how she would best approach the plan.
"I saw it in a movie once. All these tiny mice worked together to steal some oregano from a French restaurant," Anne explained to them excitedly.
Fuck, Sasha thought. I can't break her spirit after all that.
"Uh, you heard the Commander, everyone. Hop to it!" she offered with the biggest fake smile she could muster. Anne looked thrilled at her support and Sasha wanted to throw herself over the edge of the cliff to escape the conflicting feelings in her heart.
The group came together to form the bridge as depicted in Anne's crude drawing (which Sasha did not see her draw prior to that moment, which meant she'd been carrying around with them the whole time for an opportunity to use it). They were determined, but there were still three sets of questioning eyes staring past their Commander at their former Commander.
"All right, everyone. now lean forward into the canyon!" Anne directed. The plan did actually seem like they could pull it off. Anne had a way of thinking outside of the box and it worked most of the time.
"Nice. Did you measure the width of the canyon?" Sasha asked as they watched the group move into position. Anne turned to her with a proud smile.
"No, why?" Their attention moved back to the group as their screams filled the otherwise quiet area. They were not long enough to reach the other side, apparently.
"GUYS!" Sasha cried out, heart hammering in her chest as she sprung into action. She pulled her grappling hook back out, firing across the canyon to get a firm hold. With her free hand, she pulled Anne close against her body and tried to block out the unfamiliar heat coming off her friend. There would be time later to bask in that moment, time when their friends weren't dangling above their potential death. "Hang on."
With trained ease, she leapt across the cliff and allowed the grappling hook to do all the work of pulling her arms. Anne's arms were wrapped firmly around her waist and her head pressed against her chest with her damn helmet pressed against Sasha's face. She was going to destroy that thing.
They reached the other side and Anne collapsed, but Sasha was already moving backwards to help their friends.
"Grab on," she called down to the first frog in the line, wincing when she noticed it was Sprig. He eyed the offered hand for a moment before reluctantly wrapping his tongue around the hand for support. She suppressed a gag at the feeling of his slimy tongue against her skin and tried to pull the group up. Anne was at her side, helping her pull some of the weight up by bracing her with one hand around her waist and the other clenched tightly on her free hand.
With a grunt, they were able to pull all the frogs up the side and they landed in various places along the ground.
"Anyone else thinks this is going poorly?" Loggle asked, not moving from his position staring up at the sky.
"We're usually a bit more coordinated than this," Wally confirmed, pickling his face up out of the dirt.
"Okay. I think it's clear by now I shouldn't be leading this expedition. Sasha, will you please just take command and tell us what to do?" Anne snapped as she jumped back to her feet, staring down at Sasha.
"No! You need to be in charge."
"What? What do you mean? I'm drowning out here, dude. Do you want me to fail?" Anne gasped as the words left her mouth as if making a connection. "Is that what this is? Some kind of new manipulation?"
"NO!" Sasha cried out. This wasn't her intention at all. Everything she'd been trying to achieve felt like it was caving in on itself. How could she possibly explain every thought that had gone into the decision in the first place, despite it having been a spur of the moment decision? "I just… I…"
"We're also usually a lot quieter than this," Wally pointed out. She was going to strange him with his own accordion.
As if on cue, there was an explosion that came from inside the factory. A concentrate of the liquid spores shot out from the top and the front door opened to reveal a serpent wearing not only a mind control collar, but also heavy armor as well.
The group fumbled to get back onto their feet and brace themselves behind a conveniently placed barricade that separated them from the beast.
"Everyone, attack!" Anne cried out, gesturing towards the new enemy.
"What kind of attack?" Loggle asked. Sasha frowned and tried to drown out the thoughts of actually drowning Loggle.
"Just, whatever feels right!" The group charged in to engage the beast, but it managed to stop each one of them with coordinated moves. Anne leapt over the barricade to fight it as well, her tennis held out on the offense.
Why was Sasha in love with this absolute bonehead?
To no one's surprise, the snake blocked her attack and forced her backwards onto her back. Loggle and Croaker rushed in for another attack, but they too were driven back.
Sasha watched helplessly as their group began getting swallowed up one by one, starting with the Plantar family who appeared to be arguing over something among themselves.
"No! Sasha, what do we do?" Anne asked. Despite the situation, Sasha forced herself to comply with the new hierarchy she'd established.
"Uh, you're in charge. Whatever you think is best. You've got this!" she offered, the smile on her face twitching as she struggled to maintain her composure. Anne didn't have the same qualms.
"But I don't know what I'm doing! Please, just take over!" she pleaded, shoving the helmet back to Sasha like Sasha had done to her the day before. Sasha closed her eyes and pushed the helmet back.
"I… I can't!"
"Why not?"
"Because the last time I was in charge, I ruined our friendship!" There were tears in her eyes as she struggled to avoid completely breaking down. She kept her eyes close to avoid whatever look Anne was leveling at her right now.
The weight of the helmet disappeared from underneath her hands as Anne spiked the helmet to the ground. Sasha opened her eyes to see Anne rushing the enemy without a weapon in her hands.
"What…. What are you doing?"
"Putting my faith in a real Commander!" In the most dramatic Anne Boonchuy move to that date, Anne jumped forward to be met with the mouth of the serpent. It swallowed her easily and then Sasha was left alone.
"WHAT THE HECK, BOONCHUY!" The serpent turned its attention back to her and she grabbed the helmet off the ground, stubbornly shoving it back down on her head. The serpent charged forward and Sasha mimicked Anne's actions of sprinting at it as well.
It dove towards her with it's mouth open hoping to get another quick meal, but she dodged and spun up over it's head. She clasped her hands together and drove tgen down into one of its eyes, stunning it. It roared in pain and tried to throw her off its head, but she dropped down to the edge of it's mouth and pried it's jaw apart.
"Frogs of the Resistance, execute maneuver three!" she called down to them, arms trembling under the weight of the snake's jaw. It was desperately trying to clench it's mouth closed, but she refused to give in.
She couldn't see into the depths of the serpent's stomach, but after a few moments had passed, she gave the next order.
"NOW INFLATE!" As if on cue, the serpent began gagging and coughed the group back up along with the bile in its stomach. The group found themselves laying out as they had just minutes before they were ambushed.
"Sasha, you did it!" Anne cried out to her as the heard the raspy coughing from the beast in the distance.
"Not yet. Wally, Croaker, Loggle, mirror punch!" In a move that they had only practiced on time before, Loggle sent Croaker and Wally spinning out towards the beast where they hit it with twin punches to disable the collar.
The move was successful and as the serpent returned to its senses, it fled the area.
"What's the plan now?" Croaker asked. Sasha looked at Anne who held her hands up defensively.
"Don't look at me. You're wearing the helmet," she said, though her voice was more playful than anything else.
"Loggle, you're on bridge duty. Croaker and Wally are lookouts. Anne, Plantars, you know what to do with these," she said, passing the group in question their stock of boom-shrooms. The group ran into their assigned positions and Sasha tried not to let herself get lost in the feeling of being in charge again. "All right. Let's mess this place up!"
-------
After the factory had been destroyed and they'd successfully fled from the wreckage, Sasha turned back to Anne.
"Come on, Anne. Take the helmet back," Sasha said, offering the offending object back to her friend. Anne held her hands up defensively.
"No way. You're clearly the better Commander."
"But after everything I did to you, I don't deserve it," she admitted, averting her gaze.
"Sasha, not too long ago you would've fought to keep the helmet. The fact that you don't want it now proves you've changed," Anne said, moving over to grab her hand. Sasha flinched at the touch slightly as she allowed their fingers to intertwine.
"Yeah, maybe," she said, trying to calm herself down at the feeling of Anne's skin in her palm. In a quick motion, Anne had pulled her hand away again and the pressure on her palm was now on her wrist as it was lifted up into the air.
"All in favor of Sasha Waybright as your new leader?"
"Oh yes!" Croaker cried out.
"Oh, frog. Please, Sasha!" Wally added.
"We need you!" Loggle wailed. All the attention forced every available blood cell to congregate in her cheeks and she shoved the helmet back on her head to keep herself from erupting like a volcano.
"Listen, Anne," she said, her voice soft as she tried to gather her courage. There were so many things that wanted to slip out of her mouth. So many truths she wanted to give to her friend. She settled with the easiest. "Even though I'm calling the shots, I want you to know this is a partnership."
She offered Anne her hand, a vow she would honor until her last dying breath. Anne met the shake with a hand of her own, but pulled her into her arms with an excited sequel. Sasha was too shocked to move at first, but allowed herself to go slack in the warm arms wrapped around her.
The hugs from the frogs were nice, but there was nothing better on this planet nor her home planet than the warm toned arms of her best friend. She sunk into the weight and buried her nose against the other girl's shoulder.
If there was no way for them to get back home, Sasha could find herself making one right here.
All too soon, the embrace ended and Sasha pulled out of the hug. In an attempt to do something with her jittery hands, she turned her attention back to the other frogs who were pretending very poorly to not having watched the entire thing.
"All right, you frogs, back to base!" she snapped. She turned back to give one last glance to Anne, but offered her a grin instead. "As much as I appropriate your new duds, you still couldn't resist losing one of your shoes again, huh?"
Anne looked down and sure enough, she was missing her right shoe again.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!"
Sasha rubbed at her temples as she reread the same line for the third time. Scouting reports were so dreadfully tedious to get through sometimes. All hope is lost, more factories, more robots, Andrias' control is spreading, we're all doomed, etc. It was hard to to sift through each to find anything useful in the messages.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the curtain covering the doorway sway. She looked up to see Anne creeping in, looking unsure if the action was allowed.
"Oh hey, good evening," Sasha said, placing the report back down. She'd try giving it a fourth read through after a short break.
"Hey." Anne stood awkwardly by the door until Sasha gestured to the chair across from her and moved some papers out of the way. Once Anne had crossed the room and taken a seat, Sasha addressed her again.
"What brings you around here at this time of night?" she asked, giving the other girl her full attention. Anne couldn't bring to look up at her. Instead, her gaze was locked on her hands intertwined on the table.
"I was hoping we could talk." This was the other shoe that Sasha had been waiting for to drop, which was funny coming from the girl who had already lost one of her shoes again not twenty four hours after arriving back in Amphibia.
"Oh yeah, sure. Whatever you need," she said, voice cracking slightly from her nerves.
She waited, but when Anne didn't continue she cleared her throat. "Was there something specific you wanted to talk about, or just like regular chit chat?"
"I think I need some space," Anne said. Each word was like a punch to the gut and Sasha tried not to double over in pain. Especially after everything they had just gone through earlier in the day.
"Oh... yeah, sure. W-whatever you need."
"Like, I know we're co-Commanders right now. And I'm committed to working with you to keep everyone safe," Anne continued. Sasha nodded and looked down into her own lap, unable to look at her frien- her partner.
"But it's just too much to be friends right now," Sasha finished for her, which earned her a nod from Anne.
"All I could think about when I was back home was getting back to you and Marcy. It was easy to push aside all the other stuff. But now that I'm back, that's all I can think about." It made sense. In a way, Sasha felt the same.
It was easy to imagine all the conversations they would have when they eventually reunited, but they were so far away in Sasha's mind. She still had to save Marcy. She still had to defeat Andrias. She still had to get the music box back. Trying to apologize after all that would have been easy. But here they were, faced with that opportunity and it wasn't so easy anymore.
"I understand. I did... some pretty horrible things." That was putting it mildly, but this was a civil conversation so far. No need to ruin that with the details of her betrayals.
"I promise this won't affect our ability to work together. I'll do whatever it takes to defend Wartwood. But I can't just go back to the way things were before," Anne said, finally looking up. Sasha didn't want to return her gaze, but she forced herself to look up into the pleading eyes of her former friend.
"Of course not. We can't go back. We're not the same people we used to be," she confirmed. Anne let out a sigh as she reached across the table to take one of Sasha's hands on her own. The closest was her gloved hand and Sasha almost recoiled away at the touch.
"So show me. Show me that I can trust you again. That you've changed. I can't promise that we can go back to being friends after this, but I do want to try." The pleading of her voice matched the desperation in her eyes and it broke Sasha's heart to see the way her actions had left Anne.
"Honestly Anne, I understand. I would've understood if you came back and finished what we started while we were still in Newtopia." Teeth gritted, swords clashing, blood pumping, and the only two people in the world that mattered. Anne visibly flinched at the memory as she pulled her hands back into her lap.
"I don't want to fight anymore, Sash. Not with you, at least." Sasha hated the raw emotional honesty in Anne's voice, but forced herself to nod along.
"Understood."
"Thank you."
"Can I say just one thing?" This might be their last serious conversation for a while and Sasha didn't want to let this moment pass her by.
"Of course."
"There isn't... I can't even begin to say how sorry I am for the way I treated you and Marcy in the past. I'm a work in progress in letting that part of myself go. More than anything else though, I swear to you I will do everything in my power to keep everyone here in Wartwood safe, including you and your frog family." It didn't begin to cover everything she wanted to say, but it would be a start. There weren't any kind of magic words she could say to undo her actions and this was part of the long process to prove that she was worthy of being trusted again.
It would have been easy to say the only reason she was trying to make up with the Plantar's was for Anne's sake. In the early hours of the morning when sleep was hard to come by, she thought about Toad Tower. She thought about Newtopia. She remembered how despite everything, the Plantars had trusted her again too and she had let all of them down. She owed it to them to try to rebuild their trust as well.
"I appreciate that," Anne said after a few moments had passed, letting Sasha's words sink in. When it became clear that was all she had to say, Sasha cleared her throat again and tried to offer the other girl a smile.
"Right well, good night then?" It was more of a question than a statement, but Anne rose from her chair and spared the blonde one more look before turning away to leave her in peace.
"Yeah, goodnight.”
To no one’s surprise, Sasha could not sleep that night.
She was still exhausted from not sleeping the previous night and her caffeine fix wore off towards the end of their excursion. Despite the desperate plea from her body to just give into slumber calling her name, she could not relax enough to let it claim her.
Perhaps she should take up journaling again just to get some of her thoughts out. Or maybe she would be able to get a few hours of time alone in the work out room. She could push herself until she collapsed with exhaustion.
It was stupid. So so stupid to let herself get accustomed to Anne’s return only for it seemingly being ripped away from her again. Was this what the great Commander would be known for?
Sasha threw the sheets off her body and she pulled herself up into a sitting position. She was alone and vulnerable, which is usually when the call started. She trained her eyes on the floor next to where she knew comfort was waiting for her under the bed.
She threw herself out of bed and made a beeline towards the weight room. Not tonight.
Grime found her during the morning meal hours eating alone in the war room, pouring over work.
Stumpy had dropped off something to eat for her along with a better tasting drink than she’d had the previous morning. Buggachino, he’d told her. A recommendation from Duckweed. The name wasn’t familiar, but when he’d mentioned it was popular in Newtopia she’d figured out it was the newt who avoided her like the plague. Out of guilt, perhaps? She wasn’t sure, but she was grateful none the less.
“Please tell me you’re not drinking ten espresso shots again.” She didn’t look up at him. He waited for some kind of reply before crossing the room to take the seat across from her.
“You’re not going to throw that one too, are you? I’ve already got Loggle working on replacing the others.” She didn’t look up from her report, but she could see his lips curling into a sneer.
“At least I’m getting my anger out of my system. Heard you were in the gym all night,” he said, gesturing down at her uncovered hand where the knuckles were red and swollen. She moved to grab her cup and take a drink to get them out of view.
“Tell the rumor mill they’ll be on overnight lookout duty if they keep it up,” she snapped. Grime sighed.
“You would really do that to an old frog?” Sasha slammed the cup down on the table.
“Back off, seriously. I’m under enough pressure as it is.” She pushed the report into another pile without looking at him again. “I’ll tell her that myself next time I see her.”
“Is this because she gave you the helmet back?” Grime asked, nodding to the helmet perched next to the blackboard.
“We’re partners now, Co-Commanders. So do me a favor and don’t talk to me about her like that." They both knew she had just given him an order. At this moment, there was no favors between them.
“Fine. What’s the next mission?” he asked, changing the topic. They could still be civil while having this disagreement.
“I’m still working on it.” There was a cough from the other side of the curtain and they both turned to face it. “Come in.”
Toadie swept into the room with a few envelopes clenched in his hands.
“Buck said these got delivered for you, Commander,” he said, offering her the bundle. She accepted them and Toadie scurried back out of the room. She didn’t blame him because she was sure the tension in the air between her and the toad was lightly stifling.
“Should we have them checked?” Grime asked, eyeing the stack uneasily.
“Toadie probably already did. He’s very thorough,” she said, pulling at the twine that secured the letters together.
“Only takes one poisoning attempt to get there,” he mumbled under his breath. “Speaking of, does your fellow Commander know the risks associated with the new job?”
“I can go over it briefly with her today.” The conversation was artificial and stale, which made it easier to not let her emotions get the best of her. There was a lot of unresolved tension between them, but they’d manage. They always did.
The first few letters in the stack appeared to be scouting reports, with one in familiar handwriting getting moved to the top. She would go over Sylvia’s report first. There was a flyer to join a new community that was established outside of the wreckage of Newtopia (which was probably a trap from Andrias) and a warning notification for more frequent Marauder attacks. However, the letter at the bottom of the pile interested her greatly.
Setting down the other letters, she tore open the red envelope being careful to avoid damaging its seal.
“Ribbitvale?” Grime asked, seeing the seal for himself. Sasha nodded as she pulled the letter out and scanned it’s contents.
“Seems Wigbert’s supply caravan is ready to leave. He should be able to meet us at the pass in six days time,” she read out to him.
“Next mission is planned then,” he said. She frowned and set the letter down.
“I’m still working out a plan to get the force field down so he can get through,” she corrected. He crossed his arms and fixed her with a look. He was challenging her.
“Well work harder. Do you need help? Perhaps we should ask for help from your Co-Commander.”
“No, I need you to get the hell out and let me do my job. Don’t you have training with the bitties to get back to?” Grime looked like he was eyeing the chair sitting in between them before ultimately deciding to just get up and leave. She briefly considered throwing the chair for him to alleviate some of the anger bubbling inside of her.
Scouting reports would have to wait, she needed to turn her full attention on the forcefield situation.