Chapter Text
As soon as Anne, Marcy and The Plantars were out of earshot, grime approached Sasha from behind, puffing himself up after his lengthy visit to the volcano.
“I hope you haven’t forgotten our mission, Lieutenant.”
Sasha smiled. “Oh, don’t worry. They fell for it, hook, line and sinker.”
“Good. Because the things we’ve set in place cannot be stopped.”
Satisfied, the toad walked away, rejoining the group, not noticing Sasha’s hesitant look.
Neither of them noticed a certain Thai girl’s glare at them…
———————————————
“I haven’t changed!” Sasha said with a pout on her face.
“Well, your friends need to think you have. If you don't stay chummy with them, our plans are shot,” Grime responded. So please, be on your best behavior tonight.”
“Pfft. I had them eating out of the palm of my hand at the third temple, and this is just a dinner party. And once we rule Amphibia I'll get this friendship back under control.”
After a brief kerfuffle involving Sasha removing her hidden daggers- of which she had many- she approached the door, opening it and expecting the same empty hallway that was there before…
It was not, in fact empty.
Standing there was Anne Savisa Boonchuy.
“I can’t believe you.”
“ANNE!” Sasha shouted, but it was too late. The girl had ran off.
Sasha followed the tracks Anne had made into the forest, finding her sitting on a fallen tree trunk. The forest at this time of evening was surrounded by the chirps of crickets, and the gentle glow of fireflies.
The blonde carefully approached her, trying not to anger her. She didn’t know how much she’d heard. But clearly the girl saw her arriving anyway.
“Go away.”
Sasha winced. Time for damage control. “…how much did you hear?”
“Enough,” the poofy-haired girl said, standing up and poking Sasha in the chest. “I haven’t changed,” she mimicked. “I had them eating out of the palm of my hand at the third temple, and this is just a dinner party,” she added, in that mocking singsong voice. And then she did one more that made her heart sink.
“They fell for it, hook, line and sinker.”
Sasha gulped. “You were listening at the temple…”
“Unfortunately for both of us, yes. I was, Sasha. And I’m glad I did, because now I know that you can’t change, that you won’t change.” She threw her hands up into the air. “I was willing to give you a chance, Sasha! But you fucked it up, like you did back at the tower.”
“Please, Anne, I can explain-“
“Yes, Sasha, you can explain. Explain all you want, but the truth is you kept this from us. I mean, what were you gonna do when you finished taking over the world? Run a dictatorship at thirteen years old? Send us back home? Keep us with you, trapped, like your little pets or something like we always were?”
“You were never pets, you were my friends!”
“What, and friends kill other friends’ grandpas? Friends trick each other, lie, manipulate? No, we were pets to you. This was all a big game. You’d kick me down, run off and then come back later with a treat and kind words, only to turn around and do it again!”
“I-“
“No, Sasha. We’re done. You’re going to stop whatever rebellion is going on here, then we’re going home and we don’t have to speak to each other ever again.”
Sasha couldn’t hold it in anymore. “I CAN’T STOP THIS!”
It was almost like the forest stood still for a few seconds, like it too was waiting for an explanation.
“I can’t stop this. I started it, yeah. But the armies are moving, there’s gonna be an uprising wether I’m part of it or not. Maybe if I’m on top I can make it better.”
Anne let out a short laugh. It was cold- no real humour behind it, not like Anne’s normal belly laughs and giggles. “You seriously believe that you’d make it better?”
Without warning Anne turned around and left her. “We’ll discuss this further after dinner. For Marcy’s sake.”
———————————————
Marcy was sensing some… tension… between Anne and Sasha.
That was to be expected, of course. The friendship was getting back on track but they had a ways to go until all was forgiven. But surely the tower wasn’t that bad!
I mean, they were willing to talk to each other back at the temple…
But as the firefly lanterns died out and their bellies had been filled, the two had both declared that they were ‘pretty tired’ and promptly gone off to bed.
“Uhh… are they okay?” Polly asked. “Anne was fine until she went to pick up Sasha and Grime.”
Marcy, however, was deep in thought.
“MARCY!”
She blinked, suddenly back in her surroundings. “Oh, sorry… was just thinking about Anne and Sasha.”
“Join the club,” Hop-pop said. “I’m worried about them.”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine…” Marcy said dismissively.
They would.
Right?
———————————————
Sasha sat on the sofa at the dead of night, contemplating what was going to happen now.
She hadn’t had any time to process her situation before being thrust into an awkward social dinner, where she had to play nice while she was dying on the inside.
First- her mission, along with the entire rebellion, was possibly compromised. Ever since she reunited with Marcy, Anne was a big suckup to the king, wasn’t she?
But to her, this was lower priority compared to the other issue.
Anne Boonchuy, one of her oldest friends, the one she was doing all this for, had declared that they were no longer friends. And if she told Marcy, she was sure to follow.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
With knees of jelly, Sasha took the suddenly-what-felt-like-years journey to the door. She raised a trembling hand to the brass knob and gently opened the door.
For the second time that evening, she was met with the sundew’s hallway, hosting the piercing gaze of her best friend into her soul. Former best friend? Enemy? She wasn’t aware of her social standing with the girl.
“…Hey, Anne…”
“I’m not here for small talk. We’re here to discuss our options.” She snorted in that unhumorous, so-unlike-Anne way, still lacking a smile. “Frog, I sound like our principal.”
Sasha ushered her in with those still trembling hands. After she had silently declined a seat, both her and Sasha stood facing each other, Grime noticing the tension and excusing himself.
Anne broke the silence.
“So, what’s gonna happen now? What’s your big plan? I wanna know.”
“Why?”
“Call me curious. I want to know if I need to stop you, if you apparently can’t stop it yourself.”
Sasha took a deep breath.
“…I managed to convince all the toad armies to unite. When we got to the throne room, I was going to steal the box and blackmail the king by threatening to destroy it.”
“What, and strand us all here?”
“It’s an empty bluff.”
“And you were assuming he wouldn’t know that?”
“Shut up. When that was done, force used or not, we were going to lock the king up, let the armies in and try make up with you two, but that’s out of the question I guess.”
“And where were you going to keep the king?”
…strange question, Sasha thought. But I’ll indulge.
“I… don’t really know. I guess we were just gonna see what facilities we had and choose the most secure one.”
“Try the royal deep chambers, nobody’s ever escaped them. Marcy told me about it when we were at the castle.”
Sasha paused. Anne was giving her advice? Was this some kind of trick, or was she trying to help?
“…wh…what?”
Anne’s face turned to a sneer. “Did you not understand what I said or is there really nothing in that head of yours unless it’s for manipulation? I’m giving you advice. Use it.”
“No, I- why are you helping?”
“Because I need the king to be out of power.”
“Hang on, suddenly you’re on our side?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Sasha tried to understand what she was saying, but Anne continued her explanation.
“I don’t want the toads in charge. Considering how they act when they’re in control of a single valley, I shudder to think of the society we’d leave this world in if they were in control of everything. But I need them to take control because… because I know something bad will happen if they don’t.”
Sasha had never seen Anne this worried before.
“Anne.” She looked the girl dead in the eyes. “What do you mean?”
The silence in the air was incredibly loud.
And by comparison, the truth that came after was more deafening than anything heard by the mortal ear.
“The night before I left newtopia… I found something. Me, Marcy, Sprig and Polly were having a sleepover-“ Sasha would normally ask about that, but she could tell this was important. Not to mention the atmosphere wasn’t casual enough for her usual quips. “And we were messing around like we usually would. And when we were chasing each other around I found something… something I didn’t like. It was… how would I describe it? A mural? It was covered by a tapestry, but I accidentally brushed it to the side and found a horrifying image.
“I only had, like, a second to look at it before others saw, so I panicked. Ran away from it. But when the others were in bed, I snuck away and checked it out again. And… the image was horrible. I don’t wanna talk about it. But, if we give the box to Andrias, he’s gonna do horrible things. To Amphibia, to Earth, to… I don’t know how many other places.”
Anne sat down and buried her face in her hands. She was stressed and Sasha could tell.
The Blonde asked the big question:
“Who else knows?”
“If you mean did anybody else see it? No. And I didn’t tell anyone either. I can assume Andrias knows, though, considering… everything. I didn’t want to tell Marcy because she’s so attached to the king, I didn’t know if she’d tell on me. And if Andrias knows I know, he might kill me, he might-“
“Calm down. It’s gonna be okay. Now, are you 100% sure?”
“Are you saying I’m lying? Yes! I’m sure! Plus, the next day he was preaching about how his ancestors were peaceful explorers, so that tells me enough about how he’s been manipulating Marcy.”
“Okay.” Sasha took a deep breath. “So, you’re not gonna turn us in?”
In the fraction of a second it took for Anne to process what was just said her face morphed into one of anger.
“are you FUCKING KIDDING ME, Sasha? All this! All this horrible stuff! Our home might be destroyed, Marcy’s been living with a madman, and THAT’S your priority? I don’t know how I didn’t notice what you really are sooner.”
“I’m sorry, it was a fair question-“
“You don’t get the right to speak to me like a friend anymore. So listen to me and listen to me well, Sasha. Here’s what’s going to happen.
“You’re going to fulfill your cute pathetic little dream of taking over the world with your toad friends or whatever. You’re going to send Marcy home because god knows she doesn’t deserve what we and that king are putting her through.
“And then, I’m going to join you.”
…what?
Sasha must’ve spoken aloud, because Anne responded. “I said. I’m joining you. I don’t trust you to turn the world I’ve grown to love into a despotic wasteland, so I’m going to help you stay in power. No genocide, no speciesism. I’m going to make sure your promised society is better than what they have. I hope you’re happy, because I could be going back to my parents, my life. But no, I have to stick around and do damage control for you because I have a fucking moral compass.
“But know this, Sasha Waybright- you and me? We are no longer friends.”