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Christmas was supposed to be spent with the people you cared about.
If anyone knew this, it was Sasha. Ever since she was little, she’d spent every Christmas with her friends, even though none of them were all that religious. They’d drink hot cocoa and play pranks and start snowball fights and fall asleep on the couch and have to be driven home in the morning.
And yet here she was, sitting in a place she didn’t belong, in a world that wasn’t hers, hugging her knees and never feeling more alone.
Anne was in another dimension. She was probably warm and safe at home with her parents. Marcy was… no, she was not going to think about Marcy right now. Sasha gritted her teeth and climbed to her feet, her hands balling into fists. She headed outside, where the town of Wartwood was dusted with snow. This was real snow, too - the kind that went up to your knees and froze you to the core if you weren’t wearing thick enough clothes.
Most of the frogs were bundled up in an insane amount of layers, warming themselves by a bonfire someone had set up and watching as One-Eyed Wally did an Irish jig. Apparently it was some kind of Amphibian holiday called “Swamp Hallows Eve,” which as far as Sasha could tell was just a cheap, frog-ified version of Christmas with the added ritual sacrifices.
As she walked to join the Wartwoodians by the fire, a couple inched away from her or gave her distrusting glares. Even after the battle against Andrias’ robots, many of the citizens of this little backwater town hadn’t warmed up to her, and frankly she couldn’t be mad at them for that - she had lied to them all on multiple occasions and attempted to kill some of them also on multiple occasions. The guilt felt like a massive boulder she had to balance on her shoulders as she sat down in the awkward gap that the Amphibians had formed around her and held out her hands to warm them in the heat of the fire.
She was currently wearing a thick cloak that was much more comfortable than her usual cape. It had black fur on the shoulders and along the bottom, and it was possibly the softest thing she’d ever worn since arriving in Amphibia. Pulling it around herself a little tighter, the blonde glanced over at a large pine tree the frogs were raising in the town square.
Even during the newt king apocalypse, these idiots still have enough time to decorate a massive tree, she mused. Immediately the girl winced at the familiar train of thought - these frogs were her allies now, and she was trying to be better for Anne and Marcy’s sakes, and it should be considered honorable that they managed to keep up their spirits even during these difficult, dangerous times.
Sasha was about to stand up to go and find Grime (the only one here she truly trusted) when a hand tugged on her cloak. The girl whirled around as her fighting instincts kicked in, and looked down. A short yellow frog with a turquoise hat and thick, dark blue coat was standing in front of her.
The blonde’s shoulders immediately relaxed, and as she exhaled her warm breath steamed through the frigid air. It was just some frog kid.
“Yeah?”
The yellow frog blinked. “You’re strong, right?”
Well, that was a dumb question. Sasha scooped up the frog girl and balanced her on her arm. The Amphibian let out a yelp of surprise and astonishment.
“How’s that for strong?” the human asked, lifting an eyebrow.
The frog jumped down, beaming. Sasha tried to remember her name… Vine? Flytrap..? “Great!” the frog who’s name probably wasn’t Vine exclaimed. “So you can come and help us with the tree!”
Sasha’s grin dropped. “What?”
“Well, it’d be nice if we had some help…” the frog girl trailed off. “I-I mean, you don’t have to, but-”
Sasha sighed. I’m only doing this because it’s what Anne would want me to do, she convinced herself, though that didn’t make her feel any better. “No, I’ll help.” After a moment, she added, “What was your name again?”
The yellow frog was already bouncing away towards the tree. “Ivy!” she replied back. Ivy. Right. Sasha wouldn’t forget this time.
The human ran to catch up with the Amphibian, who was surprisingly fast. Ivy grabbed a rope and motioned for Sasha to do the same with the other end. “Easy peasy.” The girl obliged and tugged as hard as she could, her vision flashing pink for a second.
Beside her, she heard an “ah!” sound and turned around just in time to see the rest of the frogs grabbing for the other end of the rope. A pang of surprise startled Sasha - did she just yank it out of all of their hands?
Thinking quick, she leapt for the rope before the tree could fall over again and pulled hard on both sides, straining her muscles. To everyone’s astonishment, it worked, and the massive tree rose to its full height. A few frogs rushed to stabilize the base, and as soon as they were finished Sasha released her grip on the rope. Suddenly pain shot through her, starting in her stomach and spreading up her throat. It lasted for less than a second, but when Sasha opened her eyes again, she was laying in the snow.
“Whoa!” Ivy’s head appeared in Sasha’s blurry vision. “You just pulled up the entire tree, that was amazing! …Are you alright?”
“Ugh,” Sasha’s throat felt as though it had been scraped raw. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… had a hot flash, is all.” That was an understatement, but Ivy nodded.
“A human thing, right?”
Something snagged on the back of her mind, a flash of blue-tinted deja-vu.
“Yeah,” she lied through her teeth. “A human thing.”
“Lieutenant,” Grime awkwardly stomped through the deep snow, Barrel’s Warhammer in one hand. “We’ve got a situation.”
“Hmm?” Sasha winced - Note to self: talking is painful now. Great. “What… is it?”
“More of Andrias’ robots,” the toad growled. “We’ve got to-” Before he could finish, a small group of frog robots (frobots?) landed, surrounding Sasha, Ivy, and Grime. Their lasers hummed with electricity, preparing to vaporize the three. Before Sasha could rise back to her feet, Ivy was shouting a battle cry.
“AMBUSH!”
With a loud WHAM, she kicked the closest frobot in the chest. Hard. It staggered slightly as the little yellow frog landed gracefully in the snow, beaming.
“It’s not actually an ambush if you-” Grime began, but Sasha was already unsheathing her swords.
“Later, Grimsey,” she hissed, slicing the frobot in half. It’s two companions raised their lasers, and the electric humming grew louder.
“Oh, no you don’t!”
In a puff of smoke, one of the robots was replaced with a small heron stuffie, which fell to the snow with a harmless squeak. Standing over it was a pale blue frog with light pink hair and a single yellow eye - Maddie. Sasha only remembered her name because of the girl back home, and realized that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to compare the young curse-wielder to the bully who she constantly had to protect Anne and Marcy from.
“Maddie!” Ivy smiled, running to back up the other frog. The two faced the final frobot, which made an alarmed beeping sound. It didn’t stand a chance.
“Whoa,” it was Sasha’s turn to be impressed once the fight was over. “You two make quite the team.”
“Yeah,” Maddie’s cheeks turned red, and the blonde doubted it was from the cold.
“We’d be better if Sprig were here, too,” Ivy piped up, “but yeah! Maddie is actually really cool. Like when you turned into a giant, remember?” She elbowed the curse-wielder in the ribs and giggled.
“I remember,” the blue frog girl rolled her eyes. Well, eye. Sasha assumed she had two of them, but she wasn’t actually sure.
“C’mon, let’s go decorate the tree!” Ivy took Maddie’s hand and the two ran off in the direction of the massive Christmas (or Swamp Hallow’s Eve, or whatever it was) tree as though they hadn’t just been attacked by robots.
“That was… impressive,” Grime admitted. “They’re fine soldiers.”
“They aren’t soldiers, Grime,” Sasha sighed, sitting on a nearby bench to watch the Wartwoodians. Grime joined her. “They’re kids.”
“I could say the same of you, Lieutenant,” the toad captain replied. “I’m sorry to say it, but we’re going to need all the warriors we’ve got. I started my training at an early age - I was battle-ready by the time I was fourteen.”
Sasha exhaled slowly. “I’m not going to risk their lives any more than I have to. Especially since we still don’t have a plan to actually get to Andri-ass and Marcy.”
“We shouldn’t worry about that now,” Grime stood up. “What do you say we try some of those cricket leg cookies Ms. Sundew has been raving about? This is supposed to be a celebration, after all.”
Sasha pushed herself to her feet.
“Sure.”
Enjoy yourself while you can, she thought. This is only the calm before the storm.
As she reached to help get a decoration on the tree, the frog she was assisting smiled at her. Grime and Ivy also shot her a pair of grins.
Maybe she wasn’t so alone here, after all.
In another dimension, on Earth, a girl was sitting over a table, crumpled-up letters surrounding her. She grunted in frustration.
How am I supposed to tell them their daughters are in another dimension? She wondered. How am I suppose to tell them that Marcy-
Anne choked. She was not going to think about that. Marcy was alive. Marcy had to be alive.
Sighing again, the Thai girl went back to writing.
And far above, standing in a floating castle over a land dusted with snow, a caped and armored figure stared out over the balcony almost boredly, tapping out the tune to a song with its fingers.
It’s our special time of year…