Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been hyped up as long as you could remember, and now with just a few weeks to go, Prom was all anyone could talk about.

Your parents were asking you about it.

“Do you have a date yet?”

Your friends have been making plans all month for it.

“It’s senior year! We have to go all out!” Sasha had told you.

Teachers were reminiscing about when they had gone.

“My prom date ended up being the woman I married; it was one of the best night of my life…”

You clutched the note in your hands in a little tighter and took a shaky breath. Giving your crush a note was supposed to be the easy way to do this, you had always sounded better on paper anyway. At least that’s what you told yourself, knowing full well the teacher who ran the creative writing club would disagree.

Maybe you should go join the chess club instead. He had huffed, scratching at the corner of the eye as he handed back the first and last story you would ever submit to him.

“Found them!” Marcy called, your friend’s voice pulling your gaze up from the ground to see her rounding the corner of a Star Wars themed arcade cabinet, followed by one of your best friends in the world: Anne Boonchuy.

“There you are! We’ve been looking all over for you. Morgan is here, Sasha just saw them walk through the front door.” She said walking over and leaning against the pinball machine you were standing in front of. “You ready to do this?”

“Nope.” You squeaked, making Marcy frown.

“Nervous?” The raven-haired girl asked.

You nod wordlessly and Anne is quick to put both hands on your shoulders.

“Y/N, look at me.”

You force yourself to meet her gaze, clutching the note in your hand even tighter to try and stifle the flood of nervousness that was threatening to overwhelm you.

“You got this. You and Morgan have been hitting off in Algebra all semester. I’ve been there.”

“Were you though? You’ve been playing games in class for most of the semester.” You teased, earning a playful scowl from your friend.

“Well what else was I supposed to do while you two were making goo-goo eyes at one another for the past six months!” She fired back, your cheeks feeling hot as Marcy snickered at shook her head.

“They like you Y/N, trust me.” She said firmly.

“Are you sure? I mean…it’s me we’re talking about.” You asked making her eyebrows scrunch up.

“Y/N.” She said sadly. “You’re smart, funny and so so sweet. You check all the boxes. Anyone would be lucky to go to Prom with you.”

“You really think so?” You wondered.

“I know so.” She replied warmly.

“Yeah! Plus you’re a cutie!” Marcy added making you blush even more.

“Y-yeah, what Mar-Mar said.” Anne said quickly with a nod. “We all know you’re great. You just have to let yourself believe that, ok?”

You took another deep breath and nodded.

“Ok.” You say, sounding more confident already.

“You got this!” Anne said forcefully, but lovingly.

“I got this!” You repeated.

“Yeah you do!” Your friend exclaimed before spinning you around gently shoving you forward. “Go get em tiger!”

“Yeah! You go Y/N!” Marcy echoed.

You walked through the maze of arcade cabinets and pinball machines, heading down to the stairs to the main floor, where you passed Sasha as she came up the stairs.

“They are in the bowling alley.” She told you, quickly plucking a piece of lint from your hair and flicking it away without even stopping. “We’ll meet you by the roller rink when you’re done, good luck!”

“Thanks Sash!” You replied before hustling down the stairs, hoping this surge of bravery didn’t leave you too soon.

Once you got to the bowling alley, it didn’t take long for you to find Morgan. After crushing on the redhead for almost a year and taking every opportunity to talk to them in-between classes, you knew how to pick them out in a crowd.

They were leaving their group of friends to have the staff start up their game.

This was your chance.

Their green eyes locked with yours and they waved happily, a gesture you were sure to return as you walked over to them, your heart pounding in your ears.

“Hey Morgan.” You said timidly.

“Hey Y/N, what’s up?” They asked.

“I just wanted to show you something really quick.” You said quickly before quickly extending your arm and offering them the slightly crumpled up piece of paper.

They gently took it from you unfolded it, eyes scanning from left to right as they read through the poem that you had spent your study hall period writing. Once they were done, they folded it back up and held it close to their chest, smiling at you.

“Y/N, this is really sweet.” They began. “…but I think its best we stay friends.”

The words that you had heard all too often in these matters like these made your heart sink.

“…Oh.” Was all you could manage as they offered you the note back.

“I’m really sorry.” They said with a frown, weight shifting side to side.

You quickly realized this was just as awkward for them as it was for you.

“No no its ok. You don’t have to be sorry.” You said quickly. “I’ll see you around.”

You turned on your heel and marched out of the bowling alley as quickly as you could, shoving your poem into your pocket and blinking frantically to keep the tears away as you made your way to the roller rink.

…

After finding an empty booth to park yourself in, you set about tearing into the pretzel sticks and the massive cherry slushie you had bought yourself from the snack bar, more than content to drown your sorrows in salt, beer cheese and high fructose corn syrup for the rest of the night.

With a sigh you pulled your poem out of your pocket and opened it up, reading it over as you sipped on your slushy.

The rhyme scheme was awful, as was pacing, and the whole thing was so horribly cheesy you could melt it down and dip your pretzels in it if you ran out of beer cheese.

You scowled and tore the poem up into several pieces before chucking into the nearby trash can before you went back to eating your pretzels as Sasha skated over.

“Y/N!” She called, making you look over to her.

When she saw your stony expression, her smile faded.

“You ok?” She mouthed as she came to a stop at the edge of the rink.

Before you could answer, Marcy came flying in.

“Incoming!” She yelped, forcing the blonde to pivot and take her into her arms to keep her from taking them both out.

“Careful Marcy!” She chided as your clumsy friend grabbed onto the wall at the edge of the rink to root herself to one spot before finally noticing you.

“Oh hey Y/N!” She said cheerfully. “How’d it go?”

“Not great.” You replied flatly.

“Nooooo.” She said in a tiny voice. “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.” You told her, watching as Sasha shot Anne a serious look as she arrived, smoothly transitioning from the roller rink to the carpet as she came to sit down next to you.

“Didn’t go well?” She asked.

You shook your head, not looking up from your comfort food.

“Anything we can do?” She offered.

“I think I just need time, I’ll get over it.” You began before your voice broke. “I just…really thought it’d work out this time.”

Anne frowned and ran a hand through her thick brown hair.

“Well, I was gonna say, if Morgan won’t go with you…you could always go with me.” She offered.

You looked up at her in surprise.

“If that wouldn’t be too weird or anything.” She added quickly.

“Anne you don’t have to do this for me, I’ll be fine.” You assure her.

“Y/N I want to do this. Promise.” She told you.

“Really?” You asked incredulously.

“Of course! I meant what I said earlier.” She reminded you, quickly pulling you into a hug. You sat their stunned for a moment before you hugged her back, noting that when you returned the gesture, she squeezed you a little tighter.

When she pulled away, there was a  little smirk on her face that suddenly made you self-conscious.

“Besides no one makes me do anything I don’t want to, not anymore.” She reminded you.

“She’s right.” Sasha said with a nod as the lights dimmed and the PA crackled to life.

“Alright everyone, it’s one hour till close, so you all know what that means!” The DJ exclaimed as a disco ball dropped from the ceiling.

“It’s Disco Ball Derby time! The team with the best moves gets a voucher for a free Nacho Supreme Platter! If you think you have what it takes, come on down to the roller rink!”

Anne’s stomach audibly grumbled, making you chuckle.

“Guys we gotta get that voucher, I’m starving!” She exclaimed, quickly standing up.

“You can have some of my pretzel sticks.” You offered.

Your friend shook her head.

“I have a need, a MIGHTY NEED…for nachos.” She replied.

“Suit yourself.” You said with shrug, picking up a pretzel stick and dipping it in beer cheese.

“Well before we get out there, I guess we have to make it official.” Anne declared, turning to face you, rubbing the back of her calf with the toe of her shoe as she put her hands behind her back.

“Y/N, will you go to prom with me?”

“I’d love to.” You reply with a smile as you stood up.

“Cool.” She said with a nod before quickly turning around to look at Sasha and Marcy who just exchanged a quick wordless glance.

“Well if this is what we’re doing.” Sasha began, turning to face Marcy and putting one hand behind her back.

“Master Marcy, would you be willing to accompany me to Prom this year?” She asked with the most forced British accent you’ve ever heard.

“Oh Commander Sasha, it would be my honor.” Marcy replied, doing her best to curtsey, and almost falling over because of it.

“Y/N go get your skates! The song could start any minute and there are nachos on the line!” Anne exclaimed, grabbing your arm and pulling you to your feet so you could run to the service counter.

After rushing to put your skates on while your friends playfully heckled you, you made your way onto the rink to find Anne waiting for you by the entrance, skating casually in a circle as a familiar song started to play and the both of you couldn’t help but sing along, trying not to burst out laughing as you did so,

We're no strangers to love

You know the rules and so do I

A full commitment's what I'm thinking of

You wouldn't get this from any other guy

As you sang you both skated towards Sasha and Marcy who were too busy laughing at you both serenading them to join in

I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling

Gotta make you understand

You and Anne finally broke as the chorus started up, letting Sasha and Marcy sing to you, the pair both incorporating dramatic and sweeping gestures fused with their best imitation of disco dancing as the cherry on top.

Never gonna give you up

Never gonna let you down

Never gonna run around and desert you

You and Anne managed to compose yourselves long enough to link arms before joining up with your friends and linking arms with them to finish out the chorus, loud and proud.

Never gonna make you cry!

Never gonna say goodbye!

Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!

Your face and stomach hurt from laughing, and you could hardly see where you were going because you were crying from laughing so hard, but in the end, you four ended up winning the nacho voucher.

Chapter Text

It was as if the universe was conspiring against you.

For the past several months you and your friends had all been making plans to celebrate Marcy’s birthday with her as she came back to LA for the first time in years.

Sasha had completed an entire week’s worth of homework ahead of time to keep her schedule clear while Anne worked several hours of overtime at Thai-Go to make up for the fact she would be gone for a whole week, even though her parents told her she didn’t have to.

Then there was you, who had to beg and plead with your coworkers at your crappy call center job to cover some of your shifts for you as almost all of your days off had been used on doctor appointments, sick days, and a final exam for school that literally couldn’t be taken on any other day.  

Now, just days before Marcy was set to arrive, you received the worst possible news in the group chat.

Marbles: I’m gonna have to cancel the trip, you guys…

Anna-Banana: WHAT?!

Sashimi: Is everything ok??

Marbles: Kinda? Basically, something came up with a project my dad is overseeing in Virginia, so he had to take my flight to LA and cancel it so he could get the frequent flyer points back to get himself on the next flight to Norfolk.

 Sashimi: Ok, so they couldn’t get you a ticket to LA just by paying for it normally?

Marbles: No, since it's last-minute it's crazy expensive and with this new company my dad is a part of, things got off to a rough start, so money is tighter than it normally is. That’s why he had to cancel my flight just to get to VA. The company can’t even afford to cover his travel expenses right now.

Anna-Banana: That sucks! Could we all pitch in to get you here?

Marbles: I couldn’t ask you guys to do that, I mean look at this!

A screenshot of an airline booking website appeared, and you swallowed hard when you saw the cost of the ticket. Even split four ways that would hurt, no way around it. Which also ruled out the three of you flying to Marcy.

Sashimi: Y/N, doesn’t your dad work for the airlines? Could he get Marcy a free seat or something?

You frowned as you typed out your answer.

You: Well yeah, but she’d basically have to go on the standby list, which means if they have a free seat, they’d let her on, assuming no one else on the list is in front of her. It’s a huge maybe, and I don’t think Marcy wants to be stuck at the airport on her birthday for a maybe

Marbles: Yeah that’d be kind of a bummer…I honestly don’t wanna get my hopes too much right now

Anna-Banana: Hey don’t give up, we’ll think of something ok?

Sashimi: Anne is right, we’ll brainstorm and get back to you. Maybe there is a way for us to get to you we just haven’t thought of. Worst case scenario we do what we did last year and play a game with you online, your choice. Kay?

Marbles: Oki.

With a sigh, you set the phone down and looked over to the corkboard that was hanging over your desk. It was decorated with pictures from your various adventures with your friends over the years, but the one that your eye was drawn to right now was the picture of Marcy leaping toward you, the both of you standing next to a small single-engine airplane at the Long Beach Airport.

It had been a hot summer day, one you had been preparing for all week, flying circuit after circuit in the traffic pattern with your instructor to make extra sure you were ready to fly solo for the first time.

When the time finally came, your phone was filled with messages of encouragement from the girls.

Anna-Banana: Good luck on your solo flight today! Wish I was there to cheer you on!

Sashimi: You got this Y/N, pool party at my place later for your solobration!

There was one you missed though, one that came in after you had turned your phone off and started your engine.

Marbles: I’m on my way!

In the years that followed, Marcy had told you how her parents let her take a break from packing up their house in preparation for the big move to Washington and how she took the family car and raced to the Long Beach Airport, only to get bogged down in the afternoon rush hour, she ended up craning her neck to watch the planes that were flying overhead on the chance that one of them was yours, leading to her almost rear-ending a police car.

When she arrived at the airport, she rushed out to the ramp, saying hi to your parents as you were pulling up to your parking spot and shutting down your engine, yet she was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet with excitement like you were about to take off again.

“Did they do it? Did they pass?” She asked your flight instructor who just smiled and nodded.

“Three landings, the smoothest ones they’ve had yet as far as I could tell.” He replied as the canopy flipped open and the young woman bolted forward, narrowly avoiding being hit by a passing fuel truck.

“Sorry!” She yelped, barely breaking her stride as the driver shouted at her.

“Marcy?!” You asked as you climbed out of your plane.

“Y/N!” She exclaimed, almost tackling you to the ground with a bear hug. “I’m so proud of you!”

“Thanks, Marbles.” You said warmly, hugging her tightly as you saw your father lowering his camera, having just taken the picture that was now the centerpiece of your corkboard flanked by a few selfies from the pool party that happened later that day.

One picture showed Sasha with her arm around you, the both of you sitting on the edge of her pool wearing your aviator sunglasses while another showed you and Anne jumping into the pool, striking dramatic poses that wouldn’t have been out of place in an anime.

Underneath all the pictures was a sky-blue card with a silver sharpie that read:

Way to go Y/N!

You did it!

We’re sooo proud of you!

♥ The Boonchuys

Although you were the newest member of the friend group, the girls had quickly embraced you as one of their own, supporting you through thick and thin over the past few years. You had all come a long way since that summer, and your heart felt a little heavier as you realized how long it had been since you were all together in one place.

You got up off your bed as an idea started to form in your head, pulling your flight bag out from its place by the door and emptying its contents onto your desk as you sat down and turned on your computer when your phone buzzed, showing you had a new message.

Sashimi: What are you up to?

What do you mean? You asked.

You were awfully quiet earlier. Now I bet you’re sitting at your desk with that look on your face.

What look? You wondered, tilting your head as you typed.

Seriously? You have this look when you’re planning something. I can’t be the only one who noticed it.

You raised an eyebrow and took a selfie before sending it to your friend with the caption.

What look??

That look! Your friend said almost instantly before adding.

You have an idea of how to save Marcy’s trip, don’t you?

You smirked.

Kind of, have lots to do. Will explain more later.

You can’t give me a hint?

Nope.

Whyyyy?

1. I have to make sure is feasible before I get everyone’s hopes up
2. You’re not gonna like it.

Ok well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous now.

Just trust me.

There was a brief delay in her response like she was debating whether to press you for answers before finally relenting.

Alright alright, just don’t stay up too late! I swear you’re just as bad as Marcy sometimes.

You rolled your eyes as you typed out your response.

Fine fine.

Then a message from Marcy came in on Steam with a screenshot of a virtual X-Wing’s Miniatures game attached to it.

The picture showed a Droid Tri Fighter behind a Jedi Starfighter, your only ship left in the game that had been going on for the past hour. The caption was simple, but it made you smile.

NewtopianRanger: Your move Ace! ;D

…

The following evening, Sasha called for an emergency meeting at Thai Go to discuss how you all might be able to go see Marcy for her birthday. Your friends typed away on their laptops, sipping on their soda and muttering to themselves as you typed away on your phone, still putting the finishing touches on your own proposal.

“Eighteen hours?” Anne grumbled slowly lowering her head onto the table.

“That’s a long drive,” Sasha muttered. “Between the three of us, that’s what? One six-hour shift each?”

You and Anne nodded in agreement.

“What about Amtrak?” Mr. Boonchuy asked as he wiped down a nearby table.  

“We already looked. It would take 34 hours to get from here to Seattle and Marcy lives in Everett so that wouldn’t even be the whole trip.” Sasha replied with a sigh as Mrs. Boonchuy walked over with a tray of food in hand.

“Oh Y/N what are you up to?” She asked as she set down your plate.

“What makes you think I’m planning something Mrs. Boonchuy?” You wondered, looking up from your phone.

“I can see it in your eyes. You’ve just got that look.” She said with a shrug as she walked off.

“She’s right!” Her husband said with a nod.

“See! Told you!” Sasha exclaimed.

“Alright Y/N, spill it,” Anne said leaning forward.

“Ok ok, so I am planning something.” You finally admitted.

“Well, that was obvious, but what exactly?” Sasha replied as you set your phone on the table, revealing a very strange map of the western united states, broken into squares that were filled with blue and magenta circles, and lots of tiny blue numbers scattered seemingly at random.

Most notably, there was an electric blue line that sliced through the state of California, starting in Long Beach before going past Bakersfield and up through the central valley before arriving at Redding and cutting through the mountains that separated California from Oregon, carrying on past Medford, Portland, and Seattle before stopping at a location marked Paine Field in Everett, Washington.

The same city Marcy lived in.

“I’m going to fly us to Marcy.” You announced boldly.

Anne and Sasha’s eyes went wide.

“You’re kidding.”

“If we drive we won't make it in time for her birthday, and it cuts into our time with her. If I fly us, it’ll take around six hours, maybe seven for a fuel and food stop.” You reasoned.

“Better than an eighteen-hour drive. Both ways.” Sasha admitted, nerves audible in her voice.

“That’s gonna be rough for you Y/N, are you sure you can fly that long?” Anne wondered.

“Well, most of my cross-country flights tend to be around three hours, so if we split the trip into two three-hour legs with a break in between, I’ll be ok. I wouldn’t even consider it if I thought I’d be putting any of us in danger, but if I’m really worn out, we can always stay overnight in Redding.” You explained.

“This is a great plan and all but there’s one other problem, we need a plane.” Anne reminded you.

“Got it covered, my dad and his other pilot buddies all have partial ownership of a DA62 that’s at the Long Beach Airport, it’s got two engines, plenty of seats for us, and it's fast. I’ve flown it tons with my dad ever since I passed my multi-engine check ride. It’s perfect for this job.”

“Your dad and his friends won’t mind if we take it for a week?” Sasha asked.

“Nope, because this is our week to have it. It just needs to be back by next Monday.” You replied,

A smile crept onto Anne’s face.

“So…we’re really gonna do this?” She asked.

“If you guys want. All I would need help with is gas money. If we split it three ways it shouldn’t be too bad…”

“Four ways will be even easier.” Mr. Boonchuy said, walking over with a wad of cash and setting it down on the table. “Hopefully this helps.”

“Dad are you sure?” Anne asked, looking up at him

“We had a great week, plus you guys have been looking forward to this all year. We wanna help as much as we can.” He said with a smile.

His daughter squealed happily and jumped up and hugged him.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” She shouted before looking at you and Sasha.

“We gotta call Mrs. Wu and let her know we’re coming.”

“I got it.” The blonde-haired girl said, whipping out her cellphone and scrolling to the bottom of the contact list.

“Hopefully Marcy isn’t home, or this is gonna be hard to explain.” She muttered, shooting you a nervous glance as the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey Mrs. Wu, this is Sasha, is Marcy around?”

“Uh no, she went to the comic bookstore a little while ago. Why, is everything ok?”

“Everything’s fine I just wanted to talk to you about something.” She began before explaining your plan to her.

“Y/N is flying you?” She asked, surprise easily detectable in her voice.

“Yeah, we’re leaving tomorrow. We should be there around one in the afternoon, would it be ok if we stay with you guys for the week?”

“Of course, you can! You three are like family to us. Have you told Marcy?” She said excitedly.

“Not yet, we were kind of hoping to surprise her.” Your friend replied.

“Oh ok, I’ll keep this to myself then. Will you need a ride from the airport once you arrive?”

“If you could help us set one up that’d be super helpful. Y/N has done a ton of planning for this already so Anne and I are trying to help however we can.”

“I’ll call the airport and see what I can arrange, shouldn’t be anything too difficult.”

“Ok, thank you, Mrs. Wu!”

“You’re welcome, Sasha. See you soon!” She replied before ending the call.

“So what time do we wanna leave?” Anne wondered.

“I was thinking 7:30-8:00 tomorrow morning?” You offered.

Your friends nodded in determination.

“We’ll be there.”

…

Sasha’s conversation with her father before she left for the airport had highlighted a concern with your grand plan that hadn’t been addressed.

You? In one of those little planes for six hours? Are you sure you don’t have a crush on this girl hun?

DAD!

Sasha Waybright really did not like flying.

Even the mere thought of flying on big jets made her stomach twist itself into knots.

Now she was staring at the tiny little airplane that would be her whole world for the next six hours.

Sure it looked nice and modern with its jet black paint, silver accents, and tan leather seats. It reminded her more of a sports car than the jalopies that were often seen at the bottom smoldering craters on the evening news, but that didn’t exactly make her feel any better about the whole affair.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she was helping weigh everyone’s bags, the small cooler of snacks and drinks the Boonchuy’s had given them, as well as Anne and herself, before loading everything into the plane and clambering into the front seat, watching as the electronic screens in front of her slowly turned on, bombarding her with information she had no clue how to decipher.

As the left engine sputtered to life, she donned the headphones the pilots of the local flight school had let her borrow and pulled the microphone into position before looking to her friend and mouthing:

Is it ok if we talk?

You tilted your head in confusion before nodding.

“Don’t worry, we can talk, and no one will be able to hear us right now. Same for you Anne.”

“Cool!” She replied as she adjusted her seatbelt while the second engine fired up, filling the cabin with a low drone as you talked with the control tower to arrange for your departure before the plane started moving forward, taxing towards the active runway.

Sasha watched you like a hawk as you flipped switches and pushed buttons while doing her best to make sure she didn’t accidentally hit anything herself as she tried to get comfortable.

“Eight-Tango-Sierra. Cleared for takeoff, runway three-zero. Winds two-eight-zero at five.” A voice on the radio said.

“Everybody ready?”  You asked as Sasha took a deep breath and gripped the sides of her seat as you rolled onto the runway.

“Yeah.” She said in a small voice.

“Ready!” Anne said excitedly.

You smiled and slowly pushed throttles forward, holding the brakes and letting the engines reach full power before releasing the brakes.

The aircraft surged forward, and Sasha screwed her eyes shut as the plane accelerated down the runway.

Oh frog oh frog oh frog, this was a bad idea. She thought to herself before feeling the plane slowly lift off the ground before a loud whirring sound filled her ears.

“Y/N, what was that?” She asked quickly.

“Just the landing gear coming up, that’s all.” You replied calmly.

“Marcy here we come!” Anne said happily before leaning forward and placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“You ok Sash?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” She replied through clenched teeth. “Are we high?”

“Sure looks like it, not like, how high we’d normally be in another airplane though.” Your friend replied as the plane was jostled by a bit of turbulence.

“Is it gonna be bumpy like this the whole way?!” The blonde girl yelped, resenting the falling sensation that filled her stomach every time they hit a bump.

“Not likely, once we get out of LA it’ll be pretty smooth.” You assured her.

Sasha took a few deep breaths before opening her eyes and scanning her surroundings. Below was the city she had spent her whole life in, from up here she could see a lot of places she recognized. The Arcade, St. James, Thai Go, the park where you had all opened the music box.

She pushed her face against the canopy and looked down at the freeway, looking at all the cars that were sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, before looking over at you as you fiddled with a knob attached to the big screen in front of you.

Sasha watched the top of the screen in front of her change, displaying the word Marcy in magenta. Next to it was the word ETA and a series of numbers. Sasha quickly put two and two together and did the math before realizing you had essentially prepared a countdown timer for when the three of you would finally get to see your friend again.

The blonde girl looked over at you and smirked.

“That’s cute.” She began, tapping on the screen with her index finger.

Your cheeks turned red.

“Yeah, I just thought it would help keep me motivated.” You said quickly.

“Uh-huh.” Your friend said nod. “So are you gonna finally make a move while we’re up there?”

“What are you talking about?” You asked as you suddenly became very intrigued with a specific spot on your instrument panel.

“Oh, come on you know what she means dude.” Anne scoffed. “We’re not blind.”

“Exactly. Sasha interjected. “We’ve seen the way you two look at each other, it’s so obvious you like each other!”

“Name one time it was obvious.” You challenged.

“How about the way she gets up on her tiptoes to hug you and almost ‘falls’ over every time, forcing you to catch her?” Anne asked.

“Or the time you hijacked one of the school’s STEM Day drones to fly comfort food to her when she had to stay home from school because her cramps were so bad?” Sasha said, poking you in the arm.

“Hijacking is a strong word.” You muttered as Anne leaned forward, her face appearing in the corner of your vision.

“Then there was the time she brought you a pin from The Museum of Flight in a Seattle after going there with her parents while they were house hunting. She text us both four different times worrying if you would like it.”

“This whole trip is an example! You’re flying yourself and her two best friends six hours up the west coast to surprise her on her birthday! There’s no platonic explanation for this!” Sasha exclaimed. “This could literally be the start of one of her steampunk video games!”

“Yeah, the dashing pilot swoops comes to the doorstep of a smart capable young woman and whisks her away to exotic locations filled with intrigue and danger,” Anne began, putting on her best movie trailer narrator voice, “as they work together to defeat an army of flying robots that wanna…corrupt the lifestream…or something I don’t know.”

“Not many exotic locations this thing can get to you guys.” You reminded them.

“Ok, that is not even remotely our point.” Anne deadpanned as you sighed.

“Look Y/N, all we’re saying is that we think you might be Marcy’s person, and after all, she’s been through in her life, she deserves someone as cool and smart as she is.” She explained.

“Yeah, and you’re honestly pretty cool,” Sasha added.

“Ok ok, let’s make a deal, I’ll ask her out…” You relented before looking the blonde-haired girl square in the eye.

“As soon as you ask your crush out.” You finished, eyes shooting over to the back of the plane.

Your friend crossed her arms and looked away from you.

“You know what, we’ll talk about this later. Just keep your eyes on the road, er sky, whatever.”

…

After leaving LA behind and crossing the massive swaths of farmland that made up the core of California, you reached the northern edge of the state and landed at the Redding Municipal Airport to stretch your legs and refuel your plane.

While sitting on a plush leather couch in the pilot’s lounge, Anne’s phone started to ring.

“Whose that?” Sasha wondered as she sipped on her water.

“Marcy.” Her friend replied as she answered the call.

“Hey, Mar Mar! Happy Birthday!”

“Thanks, Anna-Banana, hey do you know why Sasha is in Redding?”

“Wait Sasha’s in Redding? That’s weird.” Anne asked, her eyes shooting over to you both in a panic.

“Where did you hear that?”

“It shows her location on the Snapchat map. I was checking to see if Y/N got back safe from their flight this morning and that’s when I saw her all the way up there.”

SNAPCHAT Anne mouthed, prompting Sasha to spit out a flurry of curses under her breath as she fumbled with the location services on her phone.

“I wonder if it’s a glitch.” Anne proposed. “Wait, how did you know Y/N was going flying this morning?”

“It’s Monday, they always go flying on Monday before work,” Marcy replied simply as if it should have been obvious. “Usually they’re back by now, but I don’t see them on the map. I hope they’re ok…”

“I’m sure they’re fine, the weather was pretty bad this morning they might not have gone up.”

“Oh yeah if they didn’t go flying, they might still be asleep.” Marcy reasoned. “Sorry, I just worry about them sometimes. Especially after the accident with their instructor a few years back.”

Anne’s expression turned somber.

“Yeah…I get that. Tell you what I’ll have them call you as soon as they wake up to wish you a happy birthday.”

“Thanks, Anne.” Her friend said warmly.

“Any big plans for today?”

“Well mom says we’re gonna go out for dinner tonight, but that’s about it. Not sure when I’ll be free for games.”

“That’s ok, we’ll play it by ear,” Anne assured her.

“Sounds good, talk to you later.”

“Love ya girl!” Anne sang, making her friend giggle.

“Love you too.” She replied as she hung up, letting everyone present breathe a sigh of relief.

“That was close,” Anne said, shaking her head.

“Too close.” You echoed.

“Sorry guys,” Sasha muttered, rubbing her arm.

“It’s ok, she doesn’t suspect anything.” The brunette told her before looking at you.

“How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good, I’m ready to go when you guys are.” You told her.

“Sash, you ready to get back out there?”

The blonde nodded, a smirk appearing on her face.

“Let’s fly.”

“I call shotgun!” Anne exclaimed, springing to her feet.

…

'Cause baby, there ain't no mountain high enough

Ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough

To keep me from getting to you, baby

Anne sang softly as your plane rumbled through clouds that had settled over the top of your destination while you stared at the little countdown timer you had set up hours ago, swearing the passage of time itself had been slowed on the last hour of this trip.

You were hungry, you were tired, and you wanted to see your friend more than anything.

You were in the home stretch now, and now all that remained was flying an instrument approach into an unfamiliar airport with your best friends counting on you.

Not a scenario you were entirely unprepared for as the weather briefing you had been given earlier that morning warned you of this possibility, as well as the updated forecast you had received in Redding which led to you reviewing every possible approach that Air Traffic control could ask you to fly as you came into land, but the pressure was on none the less.

Then the call came in.

“Eight-Tango-Sierra, cleared for the RNAV Runway 34-Left Approach into Paine Field.” A voice on the radio told you.

You took a breath and focused on your instruments, reading back your clearance to air traffic control as you dipped into the clouds.

“Might be a little bumpy for these last few minutes Sash.” You warned.

“Ok.” She replied from the back seat, taking a deep breath as downdraft shunted the plane.

“Anything I can do to help?” Anne asked, looking over to you.

“Keep an eye on Sash for me please.” You replied quickly, your eyes scanning the screen in front of you in a T-shape to keep your plane on course.

Right, center, left, center, down, center.

Another downdraft made Sash whimper, prompting Anne to reach back and offer her hand, which her friend was quick to accept as the plane was jostled by another burst of turbulence.

“Almost there,” Anne said softly, rubbing her thumb over the top of the girl’s hand in an attempt to soothe her as you lowered the landing gear.

Right, center, left, center, down, center.

The grey clouds that enveloped you and your friends started to burn away as you descended, before an emerald sea of trees revealed itself to you all as you finally broke through the bottom of the cloud layer, and just ahead, Paine Field.

“Eight-Tango-Sierra, cleared to land, Runway Three-Four left. Wind calm.” The air traffic controller said coolly as you continued to descend, a big smile creeping onto your face as the main wheels kissed the runway and the countdown timer finally reached zero.

“We made it!” Anne cheered as you taxied off the runway and made your way across the airport to your assigned parking spot.

“All things considered that wasn’t too bad,” Sasha admitted, her voice still a little shaky as the plane came to a stop, and once its engines shut down, you opened the canopy, letting the cool damp air of the Pacific Northwest wash over you as the girls started retrieving their luggage while you tied down the plane.

“Should we call Mrs. Wu and let her know we’re here?” Anne wondered as you closed and locked the canopy.

“Marcy is probably back from the comic book store by now.” You reasoned.

“Ah, that’s true. Well, maybe the pilot’s lounge knows where our ride is?” Sasha guessed as a nearby security gate opened and a black SUV drove over to you, its driver-side window lowering as it came to a stop in front of you.

“Ms. Waybright?” He asked.

“Uh, do I know you?” She wondered, looking at you and Anne in confusion.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Wu sent me. I’m the owner of the local FBO.”

“FBO?” Anne asked, eyes flicking over to you.

“He runs the pilot’s lounge.” You explained simply, making her nod in understanding as he got out and opened the car doors for you. He was an older man with blue eyes and wispy white hair who wore an old brown leather jacket and khakis.

“She called a few hours and asked if I could use the courtesy car to give you all a lift to her house. It’s just a few miles away.” He explained as he opened the back of the SUV.

Anne smiled warmly at him as he helped you all load your bags into the trunk.

“Thank you so much, Mr…uh…”

“Ah, you can just call me J.R,” He told her as you all climbed into the car, “and it’s no trouble. Any friends of the Wu’s are friends of mine.”

After a quick U-turn, the SUV was heading back out the security gate and down the bumpy access road that ran along the perimeter of the airfield, which spat you out at an intersection which was the home of what felt like the longest red light you’d ever been forced to sit at in your entire life.

“Bet you kids are hungry after such a long trip.” J.R mused, drumming his thumbs against the steering wheel.

“Starving.” Anne clarified. “We had some snacks when we stopped in Everett but those were mostly just to hold us over till we got here.”

“Ah, If I had the time I would have made you all some of my famous chili. Goes great with hot dogs, at least in my humble opinion.” The old man said with pride.

“That’s ok. You’re already doing us a huge favor by giving us a ride.” Sasha said from the front passenger seat. “Although if you could give us some restaurant recommendations that’d be great!”

“Oh well, there is this place I know Mrs. Wu was planning on taking Marcy tonight. It’s called Mox Boarding House. It’s part restaurant, part board game store. She was telling me she got you all a reservation.”

“Marcy is gonna love that!” Anne exclaimed.

“I know right!” Sasha added, not even looking up from her phone. “I’m looking at this place right now, it looks awesome. Very steampunky.”

Your phone buzzed and as you pulled it out, you saw a message from your friend.

Sashimi: Tonight is gonna be the night to make a move!

You looked up at her briefly and shook your head as you sent your reply.

Already told you, I’ll ask my crush out when you ask yours out.

Her response was instantaneous.

Fine >:C

“Tonight is tournament night too!” Sasha exclaimed.

“Oh-oh, for what?” Anne asked excitedly.

“MCU Trivia Night. Two players per team. Only a few spots left.”

“Sign us up! Sign us up!” Anne shouted, practically vibrating in her seat, making J.R chuckle.

“Ok ok done. I got us down. It’s a date.”

Your eyes went wide.

Wow, that was pretty smooth-Oh no, oh no froggin way, she did not just-

Your phone buzzed again, and upon checking your messages, it only confirmed what you suspected.

A deal is a deal.

Your cheeks turned bright red as J.R announced:

“Next stop, The Wu Residence!”

You swallowed hard as Sasha turned around, looking expectantly at you.

Oh, dear frog.

…

A knock at the door drew Marcy’s gaze up from her Switch, which showed the final boss of Vagabondia Chronicles standing before Marcy’s whole party, all of whom were dangerously low on health.

“Marcy, can you get the door? I think that might be the pizza guy.” Her mother called from upstairs.

“Sure thing!” She replied, setting down her switch and walking over to their front door, trying to decide how she was gonna spend the rest of her birthday as she opened the front door to find her three best friends standing on her porch, suitcases in tow.

“SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARCY!” They exclaimed.

Marcy blinked once, then twice as tears welled in her eyes.

“YOU GUYS!” She shouted, springing forward to try and pull the three of you into a group hug.

"You’re here, I can’t believe it! How did you-"

“It was Y/N! They flew us here, we left this morning!” Anne explained, gesturing to you with her head.

Marcy looked at you in disbelief before she let Anne and Sasha go before throwing her arms around you, squeezing you tightly, and getting up on her tiptoes so she could nuzzle you.

“You’re-you’re amazing Y/N.”

“Well, an amazing person like you deserves an amazing birthday.” You said quickly, your cheeks still bright red.

“Aww.” Your friend cooed before releasing you from the hug. “I-I-oh my gosh I need to tell my mom you guys are here!”

“Oh, I already knew they were coming.” A new voice said, making you all turn to see Mrs. Wu standing in the doorway. “That’s why we’re going to Mox tonight.”

“Really?!” Marcy shouted, jumping for joy before rushing over and hugging her mother.

“You’re the best! Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome bǎo bèi, happy birthday.” Her mother replied as she returned the gesture before noticing that her daughter was crying again as she went over and hugged Anne and Sasha again.

“I missed you guys so so so much.” She said quietly.

“We missed you too Mar-Mar,” Sasha replied as your friend pulled away, wiping her eyes.

“Well come in! I’m sure you guys are exhausted from the trip.”

“Anne and I are fine, if anyone is tired it’s Y/N,” Sasha replied, looking at you.

“Oh, I bet!” Marcy said, sliding into position next to you. “If you need a nap or anything, you can use our spare room.”

“I’m ok Marbles, I promise.” You assured her as you all set your luggage by the door before heading to sit down on the couch.  

“Ok.” She said sheepishly before playfully scowling at you.

“Next time you’re gonna surprise me, at least do it on a day you aren’t supposed to be flying. When I didn’t see you on the Snapchat map I started getting worried.”

“Oh sorry.” You replied, scratching the back of your head.

“It’s fine, I’m just teasing.” She replied, gently elbowing you.

“Besides, now that you’re here you can make it up to me by finally letting me teach you to play Stargazer!”

“Stargazer doesn’t have controller support though; I’ll have to use keyboard and mouse!” You complained.

The raven-haired girl titled her head.

“So?”

“I don’t wanna use a mouse and keyboard, it’s so complicated!” You grumbled.

“YOU FLY AIRPLANES?!” She exclaimed, exasperated, drawing chuckles from your friends.

The two of you started laughing at the absurdity of the conversation before Marcy sighed and let her head drop onto your shoulder.

“Oh frog, I missed you.” She said in between bouts of laughter.

Her mother, sensing the mood shift, stood up.

“Well, I better get started on lunch. Sasha, Anne, would you mind helping me in the kitchen?”

“No prob!” Anne said quickly.

“It’s the least we can do,” Sasha added, following Anne and Mrs. Wu out of the living room, shooting you one last look that screamed: CONFESS FOR FROG’S SAKE as she disappeared around the corner.

You took a deep breath and looked over at the girl who was laying on your shoulder, your heart pounding against your ribs as you tried to find the words that had alluded you for years.

“Hey Marbles?” You began.

“Yeah?”

“I have a confession to make.”

“Oh?”

“You…you know how my flight instructor calls me Romeo?”

Marcy giggled.

“Yeah, yeah I do.”

“Well, there’s a story behind that…”

“There is?! Why am I only hearing about it now?” She exclaimed, looking up at you.

“You remember that one year when you were crushing on your lab partner from biology class? Nigel?”

Marcy’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

“Yeah, why?”

“So after I got back from my first solo flight, I made a radio call requesting permission to taxi back to the ramp so I could park. The guy in the control tower was congratulating me on completing my solo and as I was thanking him for his well wishes…” You paused and took a deep breath, eyes darting over to the cute girl who was patiently listening to you ramble.

Here goes…something! You thought as you continued.

“I was thinking about you, and him, and so I just blurted out: let’s see Nigel do that!” You said quickly, “but I didn’t realize I was still talking on the radio when I did it. So the guy in the control tower goes: who the hell is Nigel?!”

“Oh no!” Marcy yelped as you started laughing.

“So now whenever anyone at the airport sees me they always go-“

“Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo!” She finished, throwing her arm in the air like a Shakespearean actor before quickly becoming consumed by a giggling fit.

“I always wondered what that was all about! So you were jealous of Nigel because you thought I was crushing on him?”

You nodded sheepishly, making her laugh even harder.

“Pffft. Y/N you bought that?” She asked, making you tilt your head.

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t remember?” She asked, sitting up and folding her hands in her lap.

“The only reason I ever said I had a crush on that guy was that Sasha and Anne wouldn’t stop asking me who I had a crush on. I said it was him because he was the first person to pop into my head.”

“Oh…” You said quietly, your gaze falling to the floor as your cheeks burned.

“Yeah…ya goob.” Your friend teased, gently bumping you with her shoulder.

“Soooo, who is your crush?” You wondered; your gaze suddenly being transfixed on a very specific spot on the ceiling.

“You might know them, they’re super cool, and smart and they’re the kind of person who would fly themselves almost a thousand miles across the country for someone.” She began, staring at her lap.

“Well…not just anyone.” You corrected.

“No?” She asked, a little hope in her voice.

You shook your head.

“Nope. To me, it sounds like they’d only go that far someone really special.”

“Aw…Y/N…”

At long last, your gazes met.

“Marcy, I’ve liked you for a long long time, and I wanted to ask if-if you would wanna go out with me?”

The girl nodded excitedly, and you extended your arms, letting her fly into your embrace.

You held her tightly as a pang of guilt formed in your chest.

“Well now I feel really bad I wasn’t able to get you anything for your birthday.”

“Y/N, having you here with me is the best present I could ask for.” She told you sweetly, hugging you even tighter.

…

The regulars of Mox Boarding House had crowded around a large table, enthralled by the X-Wing Miniatures match between four players. Fighting to restore the Republic was you and your girlfriend Marcy Wu, opposed by two agents of Emperor Palpatine. One of them was a tall, bearded man who wore a red, black flannel over a black t-shirt that had an Imperial Pilot’s helmet in the center while the other was a short scrawny guy a few years younger than you and Marcy. He wore a grey sweater with the word: Seattle Mariners going across the chest.

“Talk to me Goose.” You said as you stared at the state of the board, trying to ignore the piercing stares of your opponents.

Marcy leaned over, putting both hands on the table and looking down at your remaining ships.

“Well, if he uses the TIE Phantom’s cloak he’s gonna an extra defense die so we gotta- wait a minute doesn’t Goose die in that movie?”

“Well yeah, but it works for this because you’re basically dead. All you have is a B-Wing which is not gonna be able to win in a dogfight with a TIE Phantom since it’s a bomber.”

Your girlfriend frowned at you.

“Ok, first of all, it’s a heavy fighter, and secondly-“

“No, it's not, it’s a bomber!” You countered.

“Says who?” Marcy asked incredulously.

“A legends book…I think.” You replied, sounding unsure.

“Those aren’t even canon anymore!”

“Well, they are to me!” You grumbled before the guy across from you groaned and slammed his hands down on the table.

“Hey!” He shouted.

“What?!” You and Marcy snapped, looking over at him in annoyance.

“You and your girlfriend gonna go or what?” He asked, crossing his arms.

“We’re strategizing, keep your flannel on dude!” Marcy told him before looking back at you.

“So what are you purposing exactly?” You wondered, leaning in.

“If they’re gonna do what I think they’re gonna do, then you need to keep on that TIE Interceptor, and since his buddy will probably come swooping in behind you, I’ll move around him with my B-Wing, flown by fighter pilot Gina Moonsong, and use a Koiogran Turn to get behind the Phantom and blast him up close for an advantage in the attack roll.”

Your eyebrows shot up.

“That’s…actually a really good idea.”

“Of course, it is.” The raven-haired girl replied with a smirk. “It’s me we’re talking about.”

You snickered and shook your head at your girlfriend, who looked at the board and pursed her lips.

“You’ll just need to roll well enough that you shoot down his buddy while also not using all your luck on that roll and saving some for the defense roll, so you don’t get blown to pieces.”

“So it’s essentially gonna come down to me getting stupid lucky.” You realized.

“’ Fraid so bud.” She replied. “Don’t worry, I have something that might help with that.”

“What’s tha-“

Before you could finish, Marcy sprung up on the toes of her shoes and planted a kiss on your cheek before returning to her original position so she could reach under the table and grab your hand.

“Your move Ace.” She said sweetly as Anne and Sasha looked on from across the room.

“She kissed them first. Pay up Sash.” The Thai girl said with a smug grin as her friend fished a twenty-dollar bill out of her pocket.

“You’re lucky I think you’re so damn cute Boonchuy.”

“Oh trust me I know.” She replied, grabbing her hand and resting her head on the blonde’s shoulder.

“You know Y/N is gonna be pissed when they find out we’ve been dating for like two months right?”

Her girlfriend shrugged.

“Eh, they’ll thank us later.”

Chapter Text

Sasha Waybright massaged the bruised knuckles of her right hand, tapping her foot as she stared at the stale white walls of the school councilor’s office, surprised St. James wasn’t able to give them a nicer room to work in.

The fan above creaked and groaned as it spun round and round, wobbling in place as it did so. Sasha had half the mind to move to another seat just so it wouldn’t crush her when it finally decided to fall.

She sighed a blinked the sleep out of her eyes, still groggy from the previous night’s mission as the councilor finally entered the room with a clipboard in hand. They wore a white dress shirt and simple marron tie that bore the school insignia. The pair exchanged pleasantries as he sat down and turned on his aging computer, which took several minutes to boot up.

As they waited, the man’s grey eyes darted over to her foot, which was still tapping against the floor in a rhythmic pattern she had selected almost on instinct, which considering the circumstances, made sense.

“What’s that song?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

One of the mustering songs of Captain Grime’s Toad army, it is played when the soldiers are preparing for battle against a foe who wronged them or a close ally. It’s a call for retribution. Would have been the truth, as crazy as it sounded, so instead, she decided to tell a half-truth.

“Sorry, it’s an old fight song. Just cheerleading habit.” She explained, finally stopping her subconscious call for revenge.

“That’s quite alright.” The counselor assured her as he plucked a pen from a coffee mug that said: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, but that light bulb has to WANT to change. The two sentences were separated by a cartoonish picture of a lightbulb laying on the stereotypical therapy couch.

“So Ms. Waybright, how did we get here?”

“Principal Murphy said I had to come.” The blonde replied flatly, making the councilor sigh.

“Well yes but, in the grander sense.”

One of Sasha’s eyebrows shot up.

“Is this the part where I pour my heart out about my parent’s divorce or something?”

“Ah no…” The counselor said, looking to their computer and pulling up a word document.

“Let’s instead start with what happened a few nights ago…” He began.

…

“HE WHAT?!” Sasha snapped; her voice so harsh it made Anne jump.

“H-he told me that no one would ever want to date me unless they were trying to get with you.” You repeated, sniffling.

 “He was telling me ‘You know how cheerleaders are, they’ll lift their s-skirts for anyone who is getting more attention them. I guess he thought that by dating me-“

“I know what he was implying Y/N,” Sasha said quickly.

“Sorry…” You mumbled, making the blonde’s heart break.

“Hey you don’t have to apologize, I’m not mad at you or anything. The only person I’m mad at is him. Promise.”

“I k-know.” You replied, worry making its way into Sasha’s voice.  

“Are you shivering? Where are you Y/N?”

“Somewhere in the canals. Austin and his friends threw me a little while ago after asking me why I didn’t bring you along.”

“They threw you in the canal?” Sasha asked in disbelief.

“Yeah…I-I told them I couldn’t swim, but I don’t think they cared…” You whimpered.

“Could you guys come get me?”

“Of course, we’ll come get you. Do you have an address by chance?”

“No, I don’t. I could go find someone to ask though. Might take me a minute though, everything is spinning right now…I think they put something in my drink Sash…”

Shit. Sasha thought, the image of your drunken self stumbling back into the canals or worse a busy street suddenly invading her mind.

“That’s ok! Just stay where you’re at. If you wander off, it’ll be harder for us to find you.” She said quickly.

“Ok…please hurry, I wanna go home.”

“We’ll be right there. Just stay put, ok?” Sasha stood up, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

“I will I promise.” You assured her.

“Cross your heart?” She asked, her voice cracking.

“Cross my heart.” You repeated.

“Good, I’m going to hang up now. I’ll call you when we’re closer ok?

“Ok.” You said sadly.

Sasha swallowed hard and ended the call before inhaling sharply through her nose and balling up her fists as she tried to push the image of you falling back into the water out of her mind.

“What’s going on?” Marcy asked, nervously playing with her hairclip.

“It’s Y/N, they’re in trouble. I’ll explain on the way over.” Her friend said quickly before motioning for her friends to follow as she ran downstairs.

“Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy, can we borrow your car? It’s an emergency.”

…

The cruel words of your former crush echoed in your head as you sat on the sidewalk, staring at the still waters of the Venice canals.

Ugh look, I only invited you because of a dare, I don’t actually like you!

The whole night had been too good to be true, being invited out by the popular kids on their boat, spending the night partying before coming back to their super fancy house right next to Venice Beach. Something in the back of your mind told you something was off, but you refused to listen to it.

So when the truth was revealed, it hurt even more.

But the poem you left on my locker- You said, tears welling up.

Was a fake! I pulled it off the internet. Austin had told you.

Why would you think anyone would ever wanna date you anyway?!

Defiance filled your being as you stomped your foot and glared at your tormentors.

I can’t believe I ever wanted to date you! Now I get why Sasha only put up with you just to make sure I was happy. She must have seen right through your bullshit!

Well, someone is getting rather heated. Come on guys, let's help them cool down. One of Austin’s cronies snickered before they all picked you up and carried you out of the house.

PUT ME DOWN, I DON’T KNOW HOW TO SWIM!

Well, guess it’s time to learn huh? Austin sneered before you were sent flying through the air, landing in the canal with a splash, followed by your bag being thrown in next.

What happened next was a blur, a jogger jumped into the water and got you to safety. They tried asking what happened, but your only response was to turn and run in the opposite direction, crying your eyes out before tripping, and falling onto the sidewalk before puking your guts out.

Sometime after you fished your phone out of the waterproof bag your parents had let you borrow and called your friend, telling her what had happened.

Roughly half an hour later, you heard her voice calling out your name and turned to see five figures jogging towards you.

Sasha dropped to her knees as she reached you and pulled you into a hug. All you could do was sob into her shoulder, asking her why Austin had done this. Why were people like this? Why would they spike your drink? Why would they throw someone who can’t swim into the canal?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Anne and Marcy joined in on the hug, but much like Sasha, they had no answers for you. Then Mr. Boonchuy promised they would take care of you and gathered you up in his arms before carrying you back to the family car in silence.

During the drive home Marcy was crying with you and Anne was trying to console you both, but Sasha, Sasha was deadly quiet.

The gears in her head were turning.

The steady beat of a Toad war drum filled her ears until it was all she could hear.

…

The rest of the weekend passed without incident, but by Monday morning, Sasha Waybright was on the warpath, although only those closest to her knew it.

Her time leading the Wartwood Resistance Cell had taught her that the key to any successful wartime operation was actionable intelligence.

She walked past some of Austin’s friends on the way to her first class of the day, casually mentioning how you had told her the party was great and how she was so bummed she missed it.

This made its way to the varsity tennis team, letting Anne report back to her on how Kenzie and Lisbeth, two of Austin’s friends, reacted to the news.

At lunch, she chatted with the principal’s secretary, who was a big fan of Suspicion Island and swapped fan theories with her, eventually getting invited back into the records room to continue their conversation, which just happened to let her get a glance at Austin’s file which contained his home address.

After school, Marcy was able to cross reference this information with images she pulled from google street view and Austin’s public Instagram which showed him posing with his pride and joy, the early graduation present his Hollywood B-Movie director dad has managed to buy for him: a heavily modified white Nissan GTR with a massive spoiler, custom rims and for some reason, neon blue underglow lights.

From there all that was needed was a few days, learning Austin’s routine and what measures he would take to protect his most prized possession, and then, and only then, would it be time to take a page from Captain Grime’s playbook:

STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE HARD, SHOW NO MEEEERCY!!!

She frowned a little when she realized how much she missed the old toad and wondered what additions he would be trying to make to her vast battleplan, aside from the offhand remark that they should just go for the direct approach and challenge Austin to single combat, gut him like a scarlet skinned hagfish and be done with the whole affair.

A counter-proposal she seriously considered as she rounded the corner in the hallway leading to the cafeteria, where she saw you briskly walking away from Austin and his pack of cronies, tears in your eyes.

“Leave me alone Austin.” You said, your voice filled with anger and sadness.

“He’s just asking why you didn’t come back to the party the other night. You know what prank is right?” One of the girls chided.

“Yeah, Tracy is right. It was just a prank. We honestly didn’t know you couldn’t swim.” Austin added.

“I said leave me alone!” You snapped, wheeling around to face your tormentors, locking eyes with Austin who jumped backward as if you had just taken a swing at him.

“Chill!” One of his guy friends exclaimed as Sasha started walking towards the commotion, grimacing as a crowd started to gather.

“Come on, let’s talk about this.” Austin pleaded, grabbing your wrist and pulling you back towards him and his group who were starting to encircle you as you tried to escape his grasp.

Sasha started walking faster, blowing past the spot by the trophy case where’d she’d wait for Anne and Marcy with you during lunch.

“Hey!” She snapped, stopping her hands from going for the swords she no longer carried.

The crowd was getting louder, asking what was going on, asking where a teacher was, but all Sasha could focus on was your shouting as you berated your former crush while his friends tried to defend him.

“Hey!” Sasha shouted again, shoving Austin’s friends out of the way and putting herself between you and him.

“What are you doing to them?!” She demanded.

“We’re just talking, calm down,” Austin said, putting his hands up.

“About what? How you only invited them to your stupid party on a dare?” The blonde accused.

The boy’s eyes went wide for a fraction of a second and Sasha took a step forward.

“That’s right I know.” She continued, seeing Anne push her way into the crowd in the corner of her vision while Marcy looked on nervously from your guy’s spot by the trophy case.

“You also spiked their drink! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“We thought they’d be more fun if they loosened up.” He said with a nervous smile, trying to act cute.

“What happened to you Waybright, you used to be cool?” One of his friends, another cheerleader, asked.

“I grew up! Something you all still haven’t managed to do apparently!”

Austin rolled his eyes, making Sasha’s blood boil as Anne arrived to act as another barrier between you and brewing confrontation.

“Ok real talk, the only reason you keep these weird friends of yours around is that you love the attention they give you. Not like they’d be good for much else.” Austin purposed.

“Come to think of it, you all are just a bunch of attention seekers. Going missing for months and then coming back to all that fanfare, I bet you were loving it.” Another one of his friends sneered.

“Yeah,” Austin said with a nod, stepping forward to be within a foot of Sasha. “Although I gotta say, it's really unhealthy to go around acting like that.”

His eyes shot over to you.

“Did you see the bandages on their arm?”

Sasha’s eyes went wide when she realized what he was saying.

“Oh, they didn’t tell you? I thought they did it so you’d throw them a pity party.  How weird, with you four being the best of friends and all I would have thought-“

The first punch was sloppy in almost every way, Grime would have been incredibly disappointed in her had he been here, but it had shut up Austin up and sent him stumbling backward. Shouts filled the air as the crowd scrambled backward. Sasha sprang forward and threw a second punch which sent her opponent sprawling to the floor, she prepared to press the attack when she felt arms wrap around her waist, trying to pull her backward.

“Sasha! Sasha, calm down!” Anne pleaded.

You made them start cutting again! You did! They were doing so well, you piece of shit! She wanted to scream, holding her tongue only because she knew how few people were aware that you cut yourself.

“What’s wrong with you!?” She asked instead, tears streaking down her face.

“Me?!” Austin shouted, blood pouring from his nose.

“Yes, you! You can’t treat people like this!” She fired back as he shook his head and stood back up before looking at you.

“I’m glad this stupid dare didn’t work out the way I was hoping; she is one crazy bitch.”   

Sasha snarled and still trying to pull herself from Anne’s grasp and get back into striking distance.

“You little-I’m gonna-“

“Break it up! Break it up!” A teacher shouted stepping between Sasha and Austin and forcing them apart as Principal Murphy arrived on the scene.

“Waybright! Sampson! My office! Now!”

…

“So you admit that you punched him?” The school counselor asked, surprise detectable in his voice.

“Oh yeah. There were almost a dozen witnesses I’m not gonna even try and lie about that one.” Sasha replied, massaging her hand.

“-Which brings us to where we are now, with what happened to Mr. Sampson’s car.”

“What happened to his car?” The blonde asked earnestly.

“Sasha.” The councilor said, incredulously.

“What? I’m curious. I’ve only heard rumors.” She replied with a shrug as the man at the desk sighed and pulled up a document on his computer.

“Well, according to the police report from last night-“

…

You arrived at Sasha’s front porch just after 9:30 and knocked on the front door, dressed in all black with a strange collection of items that she had requested you bring. A large container of baloney, a carton of eggs, and a two-liter bottle of coke all shoved into your backpack.

As the door swung open, you saw your friend was wearing similar attire, a black hoodie and cargo pants, paired with a black ball cap with a logo you didn’t recognize on the front.

“Hey Y/N, mind if we stay out here? Dad has some friends over and the house reeks of cigar smoke right now.”

You nodded wordlessly and sat down on the steps of the porch next to your friend who pulled out her phone and typed out a quick message before pocketing it.

“Marcy and Anne are on their way, but traffic is bad so they might be a few minutes behind.”

“Ok.” You answered, staring out over the little stretch of suburbia that you had both known for as long as you could remember. Your house was just two blocks away, whenever there was a sleepover, you would come to grab Sasha and then head to Marcy’s or Anne’s place, both of whom lived fifteen minutes away.

Planes could be heard overhead, along with distant honks of traffic snarled up on the freeway, dogs barked at seemingly noting, in particular, you could hear the occasional fits of hearty laughter from Sasha’s dad and his friends in the backyard as they chatted about their work week.

It was an overwhelming but somehow comforting soundscape, the heartbeat of the massive city the four of you called home. No matter how bad things got, LA kept trucking on.

“I’m sorry…” You finally muttered, the words almost getting caught in your throat.

Sasha looked over at you, her expression suddenly softening.

“You don’t have to apologize…do you remember, back in middle school, I always had to save you from getting shoved into lockers, and when you started driving last year, you would always offer to come pick me up so I could get away from my parents when they were fighting, or another creepy date, or a big breakup.”

“Yeah.”

“Then, no matter what was going on, we’d drive up to the Griffith Observatory while blasting that night core remix of U+Ur Hand by Pink.”

“The one that Marcy showed us?” You asked excitedly.

“Yeah!” Your friend replied with an enthusiastic nod.

“So you don’t need to apologize, we’ve always protected each other and I know we always will.” She continued, reaching over, and resting her hand on yours.

“That wasn’t what I was apologizing for though.” You replied sadly, taking a shaky breath and pulling up your sleeve, revealing the bandages that covered your forearms.

“I was apologizing for breaking my promise.”

Sasha visibly winced at that, silently cursing her older self.

“Y/N I should have never made your promise that, and I’m sorry I ever thought it was a good idea.”

“I mean you were trying to help.” You offered, only for your friend to quickly shake her head.

“No no, that’s not an excuse. I didn’t do it to help you, believe it or not. I asked you to promise that because I didn’t want to deal with it, because I didn’t know how to deal with it, because just like with my parent’s divorce, it made me feel powerless. It wasn’t something I knew how to control, and I hated that.” She told you, blinking back tears as her old words came back to haunt her, just as they had during those quiet nights in Wartwood.

“I need you to promise me never to cut again because I don’t know if I can be friends with you if you keep doing this to yourself.”

“So, if anyone should be apologizing right now it's me because I was being a horrible friend when I asked you to do that.” She continued, quickly wiping away the tears in her eyes.

“I don’t want you to stop cutting for me, or Anne, or Marcy. Not even your parents.  I want you to stop cutting for yourself because you deserve to feel better because you’re my friend, and I-I-“

She inhaled sharply, barely containing a sob as a dozen forgotten nightmares resurfaced all at once.

“I don’t wanna wake up one day to a world without you in it.”

 You threw your arms around your friend as the dam finally burst, and she clung to you, whimpering as she apologized over and over again for past mistakes, while you tried to assure her that all was forgiven, gently rubbing her back.

After a few minutes, she gave you a quick but firm squeeze, pulling away and wiping away the last of her tears.

“Frog, I’m supposed to be helping you feel better, not the other way around.”

“It’s ok.” You assured her. “We’re supposed to protect each other remember?

Sasha smiled softly at you and nodded when a car ripped around the corner and screeched to a halt.

“Get in losers! We’re going adventuring!” Anne shouted from the driver’s seat of the old beat-up jeep that was now sitting on the curb as a familiar song started to play.

As you and Sasha hopped in, you both shot each other an excited look before asking Marcy to crank the volume and belting out the lyrics as Anne put the pedal to the metal, tapping your feet to the beat as you flew down the suburban streets, your voices filled with fiery passion as you both sang

I'm not here for your entertainment!

You don't really want to mess with me tonight!

Just stop and take a second,

I was fine before you walked into my life!

Cause you know it's over before it began!

…

“Guys part of me is wondering if this is really a good idea,” Marcy whispered, staring at the white car that sat in the driveway of Austin’s house.

“Why?” Anne wondered, swatting a bug that was trying to land on her face.

“Pouring soda into the gas tank will destroy the engine.” She muttered, earning an odd glance from Sasha.

“Wasn’t that the point?”

Marcy sighed.

“Well yeah but the repairs are gonna be so expensive, I just feel a little-“

“Down!” You yelped as the garage door slowly opened up, and a candy red Porsche flew out onto the road, the blinding white beams of its headlights easily cutting through the bushes the four of you were hiding in, temporarily blinding you all and earning a flurry of curses from Sasha.

“Son of a slug.” Anne hissed as she rubbed at her eyes.

“Was that a Porsche?” Marcy wondered.

“Yup. That was a Porsche.” You confirmed, trying to blink away the spots in your vision.

“…Ok I feel less bad now, let’s do this!” Marcy said quickly, springing to her feet.

The four of you emerged from the brush and crept over to the Nissan.

“Alright everyone, let's make this quick. We may not have long.” Sasha whispered as you distributed the supplies to your friends.

Marcy began pouring the soda into the gas tank, using a paper funnel she had brought from home to make her work a little easier while Anne started placing baloney slices on every bit of free space she could find on the car, adding in an egg or two now and then to fill in the spaces between the slices of meat.

“Oh man, he’s gonna be pissed,” Sasha said with a snicker as she pulled out a bobby pin and made her way over to the driver’s side door before dropping to one knee and going to work. “I wish we could stick around to see the look on Austin’s face when he sees all this.”

“Not gonna lie, it’s kind of weird seeing you act like the old Sasha,” Marcy said with a sly grin as she walked over.

“Well old habits die hard, now pass me the chicken, Anne.” She replied curtly as the car’s lock clicked to the unlocked position before extending an arm towards your friend who was now out of baloney and eggs.

“Sure thing-hrk-oh that is foul.” Anne gagged as she pulled out a whole chicken that had spoiled after one of the workers at Thai Go forgot to put it in the fridge.

“That’s the idea,” Sasha replied, taking the poultry from your friend, and setting it down on the ground before doing a quick scan of their surroundings.

“Heheh fowl,” Marcy muttered as your friend handed you a pocketknife while she put a hand on the door handle.

“Ok, everyone ready?” You asked.

Your friends nodded and Anne checked the surroundings one more time.

“Three, two, one…now!”

Marcy quickly opened up the car door as you stabbed the first two sets of tires on the driver’s side of the car several times, while Sasha chucked the rotting chicken into the car like a grenade as the alarm blared and you circled around, stabbing the other two tires before dashing across the street and back into the bushes alongside the girls, racing towards Anne’s jeep as dogs barked and shouts from Austin’s neighbors could be heard from all around you.

Within seconds you were heading for home, and much like the many raids you and Sasha had conducted against Andrias’ factories in and around Frog Valley, you all disappeared into the night just as quickly as you had arrived.

…

“That’s crazy!” Sasha exclaimed, earning another annoyed stare from the councilor.

“What?” She asked. “I just said it was crazy. Do the police know who did it?”

“As a matter of fact, they don’t, although they do have their suspicions, they have no proof. An internet outage in the area took down the Sampson’s security camera feeds. Their provider says it was a local outage that affected their entire neighborhood. Very odd, don’t you think?”

“I guess? My dad always said the best home security system is a dog. Guess he was right.”

The councilor sighed again before looking up at the clock, his eyebrows shooting up in alarm.

“Ah I’m afraid that’s time.”

“Same time next week?” Sasha asked as she stood up and shouldered her backpack.

The man scoffed.

“You say that as if you had a choice.”

The blonde shrugged as she turned to leave.

“Just trying to keep it light, since we’re stuck together.”

“Quite.” The councilor chuckled before standing up. “Sasha, your friend, are they still cutting?”

“No, they’re doing a lot better now. I gave them this pack of old Silly Bandz I won at the arcade a while back. Now if they ever start feeling the need to self-harm, they start plucking at that until me, Anne or Marcy can get to them. It’s not perfect because they are still hurting themselves by flicking it against their skin but at least there’s no chance it’ll put them in the hospital you know?” She explained, pride creeping into her voice.

The counselor nodded in understanding before looking down at the file on his desk and then back up at her.

“Sasha, you’re a very intelligent young woman, and it’s clear you excel at getting people to open up to you.”

The teen shifted awkwardly in place, unsure where the conversation was heading.

“Uh, thanks?”

“Sorry, I promise there’s a point to this. I was just curious…have you ever considered a career in psychology?”

Sasha snorted.

“Me? A shrink? Maybe when grubhogs fly.”

The councilor tilted his head like a confused puppy.

“Grub…hogs?”

Sasha’s gaze turned wistful.

“Sorry, just a saying I picked up from an old friend.”  She said opening the door to the office.

“Ah, I see. Well, I won't take up any more of your time. Have a good day.”

“You too!” The blonde chirped as she exited the room to find you waiting outside for her.

“Hey Y/N!” She said with a smile.

“Hey Sash, how was it?” You wondered as you both started walking towards the main entrance.

“Eh fine. I think he was trying to figure out if I knew what happened to Austin’s car.” She explained.

“Wait what happened to Austin’s car?” You asked with a lopsided grin.

“I’ll tell you all about it later. How about you, tell me about your day.”

You shrugged.

“Eh it was another day, but I never got the urge to cut today. Not even a little.”

Your friend smiled and put her arm around you.

“That’s great! I’m so proud of you, couple more days and you’ll have made it a whole week.”

“Yeah, one day at a time, right?”

“One day at a time.” She replied.

Chapter Text

The lunch rush at Thai Go seemed to have no end in sight. For every table Anne cleared, another two filled up. Both were parties of six. Not to mention there was a party of ten that was twenty minutes late and had already called in three times to make sure their table was being held, only for her father to assure them that yes, it was still theirs when they got there.

All of this made her mother’s call from the kitchen so strange.

She shouted at her in Thai, asking for Anne to come to the back area, quickly.

At first, she just assumed there was probably something up with one of the other servers. Probably her classmate Rico, who had a bad habit of calling out on Fridays. Anne quickly tried to jot down the order of the table she was attending to when one of her co-workers jogged over.

“I got this. Go talk to your mom. It’s urgent.” She said quickly.

The young woman raised an eyebrow and turned to leave as her mother called out to her again, stress audible in her voice.

Anne walked to the back area as fast as she could, a pit forming in her stomach as she slid past the kitchen staff and into the back room where she found both of her parents staring up at the TV that was mounted to the wall.

“What’s going on?” She asked, as her father looked at her.

“What was the name of your friend’s flight school again?” He wondered as Anne looked up at the TV to see an overhead view of a twisted heap of metal in the middle of a city park with a headline that was scrolling across the bottom of the screen:

PLANE CRASH IN LONG BEACH

“Turn it up.” Anne’s mom said, prompting her father to pick up the remote and adjust the volume as her daughter hurriedly took out her phone, opening her messenger app to see she already had a message from you.

Hey, wanted to let you know there was an accident this morning with one of our planes, I wasn’t involved but my instructor was.

Anne’s heart sank as she typed out a reply.

“Y/N is fine.” She told her parents, who visibly relaxed when they heard that.

“Thank goodness.” Her mother said, sitting down in one of the nearby office chairs.

I am so so sorry Y/N, were they with a student?

Your response was instant

Yeah, they were.

Are they gonna be, ok? Anne asked, sitting down on the floor of the office space, hoping that the answer would surprise her.

It didn’t.

No…they’re both gone.

Your friend let herself fall back into the wall as she kept typing, slowly lowering herself to the floor.

I’m so sorry Y/N…is there anything I can do?

A few minutes went by as you contemplated the offer, letting Anne fill her parents in on what had happened.

“Tell them they’re welcome to come stay with us for however long they need.” Her father said quickly as you replied.

Can you tell the others? I gotta call my parents and let them know what is going on before they hear about this on the news and freak out. 

Yeah, yeah I’ll let them know. Anne nodded as she responded before opening a group message separate from the normal group chat

Anna-Banana: Guys, I have some bad news.

Marbles: What’s going on?

Anna-Banana: Y/N’s instructor and one of their classmates got in an accident this morning and passed away.

Marbles: Oh my frog, that’s awful…

Anna-Banana: Yeah. They asked me to tell you guys so you wouldn’t worry.

Sashimi: Well of course we’re gonna worry! They’re all alone right now. Can anyone go check on them?

Sashimi: I’m about to take a test, otherwise I would. Will be a couple of hours before I’m free.

Marbles: I could come see them once I’m back from running errands with my dad, we’re about to head out.

Anna-Banana: Once things calm down here, I’m going to ask my parents if I can go home early and invite them over to stay with us since their parents are away on business right now.

Marbles: Sounds like Anne might end up being the one who is available first. When you see Y/N please give them lots of hugs for me!

Sashimi: Yes, keep us posted on how they are doing, please!

Anne quickly assured them that she would before pocketing her phone. 

“I’m gonna get back out there. We still have customers to take care of.” She said with a sigh, getting to her feet.

“You sure you’re feeling up for it?” Her father asked, getting up from his chair as he turned off the TV.

She nodded quickly.

“If I don’t stay busy, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Her parents exchanged a worried glance before nodding in understanding.

As she went back into the dining area, she tried to get back in the flow of things.

She brought food out from the kitchen, refilled drinks, took payments, brought plates to the back to be washed, and gave curious tourists advice on where to go, but for the rest of the afternoon, the whole world seemed to be on a tilt.

They’re fine. She kept telling herself as she weaved around the kitchen staff. It wasn’t them.

Yet no matter how much she tried to suppress these horrible thoughts; they always came crawling back. First, as sinister whispers that she managed to stave off by focusing on the music her mother played through the PA system, then as flashes of terrible daydreams that showed themselves only when her guard was down, like when she was waiting for a dish to be plated before they dove back into the corner of her mind.

It could have been them.

“Can I get some help over here!” One of the cooks called out.

“I got it,” Anne said flatly reaching out towards what he was pointing to before her mother’s voice ripped through the hustle and bustle of the kitchen.

“Anne stop!” She shouted.

Her daughter looked around in confusion before realizing she was about to grab a sizzling hot wok by its bare metal side rather than by the handle. Quickly, she pulled her hand back and shook her head as her mother made her way over to her.

“Well, that would have sucked.” She said with a nervous laugh, her voice cracking as her mother led her out of the kitchen and into the back area.

“Sweetheart…maybe you should go home early today.”

Anne quickly shook her head.

“Mom I’m fine, I just spaced out and-“

“Anne-“ Her mother said sternly, in a way that told her she was not making a request.

“You guys need me, I can’t just go sit at home for the rest of the day!”

“The last thing we need right now is an accident in the kitchen.” Her mother replied. “I know you want to help, but you’re distracted. Trying to work while your head is somewhere else is not safe. I want you to go home.”

Anne’s lip started to tremble.

“Mom I’m sorry I-“

The older woman was quick to embrace her.

“Honey I’m not mad I promise. I just don’t want you to get hurt. We’ll be ok. Your father and I got through almost ten years of lunch rushes with half the staff we have now, we can handle one day without you.” She reassured her, stroking her hair.

“Go home, invite your friend over, and make sure they’re ok. The restaurant will be here tomorrow, work will be here tomorrow, but the people we care about…we never really know how much time we’re going to get with them. So don’t pass up the chances you get to spend time with them, ok?”

Her daughter nodded and took a shaky breath as she pulled away and took her apron off and hung it up on a nearby wall hook.

“Ok, ok, I’m gonna head home then.” She said as her mother gently grabbed her face and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“I love you.”

“Love you too mom.”

…

Anne was still fighting off tears as she walked home, a single thought still tormenting her.

It could have been them.

Anne stopped going up the steps of her porch as a wave of emotion broke over her. The dam bursting as she realized one day one of her best friends could be gone and there would be so many ‘lasts’ stuck in her mind that she would only recognize in hindsight.

Last time I heard them laugh.

Last time I talked to them.

Last time hugged them.

Tears poured down her face as the dominos kept falling in her mind.

What if you had gone flying today?

Would she be mourning their death right now instead of being torn up about the mere thought of it?

If something did ever happen to you, what would she miss most?

The memes you sent her while she was at work to make her day a little better.

The playlists you would make for her when she needed to study, or when she was missing the Plantars, or contemplating knowing the expiration date of her own life at two in the morning?

The crazy stunts you would pull to show your support for your friends, like the time you dressed up in a cheerleader outfit so you could lead Sash and Marcy in cheering her on at a tennis match that would determine whether she would go to the state championship or not.

She half laughed, half sobbed as the memory came flooding back to the forefront of her mind like it had only been yesterday.

Where did you get that? She has asked, running over to the fence that bordered the court.

Sash helped me find it! You replied, jabbing a thumb at the blonde who just nodded.

We’re gonna be your personal cheer squad! You said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of your feet

Yeah! Marcy exclaimed, waving a pair of poms poms as she ran over.

Before Anne could express her appreciation, her coach called her over to start her first match of the day, with the cheers of her friends inspiring her to play her very best, resulting in several aces throughout the day.

The picture that would go on to define that day was a hastily taken selfie at Thai-Go, the four of you were piled into one booth, smiles stretching from ear to ear, arms draped around one another, while Anne held a sign that said: ST JAMES IS GOING TO STATE!!

Anne had been staring at that picture for an unknown amount of time as she lay on the couch when a knock at the door made her spring to her feet and jog to the front of the house.

As she opened the front door, a sense of relief and sadness wash over her.

You were here, dressed in a blue t-shirt and grey shorts, but you looked so tired. So heartbroken, but you were here at the Boonchuy’s, which was basically your second home.

Anne could protect you here. Calamity powers or no.

You were safe.

Before you could even say hi, she had her arms wrapped around you.

…

Despite having learned a lot from her psychology studies, Sasha felt woefully underequipped to tackle the task that was now in front of her.

This was, of course, entirely expected. She was not a licensed therapist or a counselor of any kind. She was still acquiring the knowledge and skills required to help people through their issues. The rational part of her brain knew this and encouraged her to be kind to herself.

The irrational part of her brain was far less forgiving.

If you feel this helpless and overwhelmed by a friend’s problems, then you have no business being in this field! Suck it up, Waybright!

She sighed wearily and pulled out her phone, eyes quickly skimming through the short update Anne had sent to her and Marcy before an older woman’s voice grounded her in the here and now.

“Do you have somewhere else to be Sasha?” Her professor asked.

“Uh no ma’am, my apologies, just some stuff going on outside of class. I was just about to turn my phone off I promise.” She said quickly, holding down the power button and pocketing the device.

“Is everything ok?” Her professor wondered, clearly concerned.

“Uh, well, I’m ok. It’s my friend. There was a plane crash earlier today and someone they were close to was involved.”

The woman nodded slowly in understanding.

“I heard about that before class…how is your friend doing?”

“They’re having a hard time.” She admitted, feeling a pang of guilt in her chest.

The professor pursed her lips as she looked at the stack of exams she was prepared to distribute.

“Was this your friend who came crashing through the doors with Starbucks in one hand and my textbook in the other a few weeks ago?”

Sasha chuckled dryly, as did her classmates.

“Yes ma’am.”

Her professor smiled warmly at her.

“Go be with your friend Sasha.”

The blonde’s eyes went wide.

“But the test-“

“We’ll sort something out with the testing center.” She replied, eyes flicking to the door. “Go on.”

In the blink of an eye, Sasha gathered her things and jogged out of the lecture hall, pulling out her phone as she did so.

On my way to you!

Anna-Banana: Great! Would you be willing to grab some things for us on your way here?

Of course! what were you thinking?

…

“Do they know what happened?” Marcy’s father asked as the car rumbled down the freeway.

“I don’t think so no.” His daughter admitted, picking at a thread on her sleeve. The question itself wasn’t a surprise, her father was an aerospace engineer, so he was naturally curious about the accident. What did surprise her was her father thinking that she could possibly have an answer right now.

Granted her gears were spinning as she considered what could have happened, she had helped you study for the written pilot exam to have retained some basic info about aerodynamics and weather but none of that was helping her at this moment.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and as she took it out, she saw a small flurry of messages fill the group chat.

Anna-Banana: Y/N just got here

Sashimi: Cool, I’m not far away myself. Should be there in five.

Sashimi: How are they doing?

Marcy stared at the screen as the little text bubble appeared and disappeared several times over the next few minutes.

Anna-Banana: I think they’re still processing everything that happened. They seem a little distant.

Sashimi: That makes sense, this was all so sudden.

Marcy frowned and looked up to examine her surroundings. Their car had become ensnared in lunch-hour traffic, the skyscrapers of downtown LA looming over them as they crawled forward.

Their big move to Washington was now just a few days away. Their house was practically empty. Save for the essentials they had elected to keep unpacked until they were ready to leave once and for all.

Despite a long talk with her parents after she returned from Amphibia, the move was still set to go forward. Although her mother had become much more openly sympathetic about the situation after everything that happened, her father was another story.

Throwing a tantrum and running away was incredibly irresponsible of you. He had told her a few weeks after she had gotten back. You’re lucky this stunt of yours didn’t cost me this new position!

Things had cooled between the two since then, at least somewhat, but there was no denying that they were still both walking on eggshells around one another which made long periods of alone time like this especially uncomfortable.

“Definitely won’t miss the traffic around here.” Her father said with a sigh, trying to fill the silence.

“That’s one positive for sure,” Marcy replied flatly as she pulled out her phone again to see that Sasha had arrived at Anne’s place, frustration starting to build.

“What do we have to do again?” She wondered.

Her father took a deep breath and started rattling off items on their to-do list. The longer he went on the more discouraged Marcy became. Their errands would easily keep them out till five, which put them in the crosshairs of the evening commuter traffic. That alone would add another hour and a half to their travel time. Then she would have to convince her parents to drive her out to Anne’s, which puts her there at around seven and that was the best-case scenario.

“Long day then.” Marcy summarized at the end of it all, typing out a quick message to her friends.

I’m gonna be a while guys…

Sashimi: It's ok Mars Bar, just come when you can, and if you can’t that’s fine too. We know there’s a lot going on.

Anna-Banana: Yeah, don’t stress yourself about it ok?

Marcy scoffed and typed out a little late for that before hastily deleting it and pocketing her phone with a frustrated huff.

“What’s wrong?” Her father wondered, looking over at her. “Worried about your friend?”

“Yeah.” She replied, going back to picking at the thread on her sleeve. “I worry about them a lot.”

She paused only to realize her father was glancing expectantly, silently asking her to continue.

“In my brain, I know how safe flying is according to the numbers, but it’s still a little scary when they tell me they’re going to the airport. I end up holding my breath until I hear that they’re back on the ground.”

Marcy chuckled dryly.

“I worry more about them than I do about Sasha, and she rides a motorcycle! I think about how we’re moving, and how this is gonna be the new normal. How this person that I care about so much could be in horrible pain, and all I’ll be able to do is send them texts or facetime them when all I’ll want to do is hold them tight and tell them everything is gonna be ok.”

Her father nodded somberly as his daughter’s gaze went back to her sleeve, picking at the thread she had been seemingly fascinated with for the whole ride.

“It is hard knowing someone you love is in pain, and not being able to comfort them.” He said, drumming his thumbs against the steering wheel.

“You know, I was going to tell you about a surprise your mother and I put together for you tonight, but I think after this morning it would do you some good to hear about it now.”

Marcy looked up at her father quizzically.

“We talked to Anne’s parents a few weeks back, and they agreed to let you stay for a week while your mother and I head up to Everett. That way you can have some quality time with your friends before you leave.”

Marcy’s jaw dropped as her father continued.

“Next Friday, the Boonchuys will take you to the airport and we’ll pick you up in-“

The raven-haired girl squealed and wrapped her arms around him.

“Thank you thank you thank you!”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” He said warmly, putting an arm around her as she looked up at him.

“Are you and mom gonna be ok unpacking without me there to help?”

“We’ll be alright.” He assured her. “This move has been hard on you, and I wanna try and make up for it however I can. I’ll admit, I could have handled things a lot better. So, I want this to be a fresh start, for all of us.”

Marcy tightened her grip around her father, only now realizing how much she missed being this close with him.

“I love you, Dad.” She said warmly.

“Love you too.” He replied, kissing her on the top of her head before she pulled away, wiping her eyes.

“Are you going to tell your friends you’ll be staying with them a little while longer?” Her father asked.

“Anne’s parents haven’t told her already?”

“We agreed to let you decide whether or not it would be a surprise.” He said, shaking his head before snickering at his daughter’s mischievous grin.

…

Sasha arrived at the Boonchuy residence with a massive 7-11 bag on each arm, walk right through the unlocked front door, and took her shoes off without even breaking her stride.

“Hey, you two, where you at?”

“Kitchen!” Anne replied.

The blonde winded her way through the home, finding Anne at the stove, preparing an early dinner while you sat at the table, twiddling your thumbs.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

“I’m ok.” She replied before noticing her friend walking in.

“Hey Sash. You can set the snacks on the counter.”  

The girl nodded before looking at you and putting a hand on her hip, a flash of mischief sparking in her eyes.

“Either you come give me a hug, or I’m going to come over there and get my hug.”

You stood up with an exaggerated sigh that made the blonde roll her eyes before she quickly jogged forward to close the gap between you two, crashing into you and wrapping up in a forceful but loving embrace.

“Don’t pretend you don’t love my hugs jerk.” She teased, squeezing you a little tighter for a moment before releasing you, and moving her hands to your shoulders.

“How are you holding up?”

“Honestly, I feel kind of numb.” You admitted.

Sasha just nodded in understanding.

“What do you need?”

“Good food, good company, and a lot of hugs.”

“We got plenty of all three! Comin in!” Anne said, playfully attacking you from behind before Sasha put her arms around you both and lifted the two of you with an exaggerated grunt.

“How?!” Anne yelped.

“You two weigh practically nothing!” Your friend countered, easily swinging you both from side to side for several seconds.

“Food almost ready Anne?”  

“Yup, just putting on the Boonchuy family touch and we can chow down!” She replied.

“Can’t wait!” A new voice made all of you turn around to see a raven-haired girl with a backpack slung over her shoulder as she stepped into the kitchen.

“Marcy?!” You all exclaimed.

“Surprise!” She said with a big cheesy smile before her gaze met your own.

Without another word, you moved toward one another. Marcy was shorter than you by a few inches so when she reached out to hug you, she had to get up on her tiptoes so she nuzzle into your neck. It was more affectionate than she had ever been with you previously, but after today, there was no desire from either of you to go halfway on showing how much you both cared for the other.

“I’m here.” She whispered. “I got you.”

Your heart swelled and you gently tightened the hug and pulled Marcy closer, making her squeal as she stumbled forward slightly.

“Can I be a little selfish?” She asked quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“I wanna go to Spelljammer’s Sanctum with you before I leave for Washington.” She replied.

“Sure, we can go, how is that selfish though?”

“Because I wanna go with just you.” She explained, her voice cracking, breaking off the hug, and putting her hands on your shoulders.

“Earlier today, I realized that I haven’t spent much quality time with you since we got back from Amphibia. Not like I have with Sash and Anne. I want to fix that.”

You sensed the trepidation in Marcy’s voice and quickly spoke up.

“It’s ok, we’ve both been busy restarting our lives. I don’t resent you or anything for spending time with the others. I know you three have known each other forever.”

“Yeah, but still, you’re just as important to me and I feel like I’ve been neglecting you.”

“It’s ok Marcy, really.”

“Ok.” She said softly, a lopsided grin making its way onto her face.

There was more you wanted to say, and it was clear Marcy was trying to mentally psyche herself up for something, you could tell by the way her eyebrows were scrunching up, but before either of you could continue, Sasha decided to make you both of aware of just how long this tender moment was going on for.

“Uh, should we leave you two alone for a minute?” She wondered as you two finally broke apart, faces bright red.

“Sash!” Anne chided. “Stop teasing them and help me plate the food.”

“What? I didn’t want to be rude.” She defended as Marcy put her hands behind her back and slid over to stand right at your side.

“What are we gonna tell Anne and Sash about tomorrow?” You asked quietly.

“I’ll think of something.” She replied quickly. “Come on, the faster we eat the faster we can make a blanket fort on Anne’s couch.”

…

After eating half your body weight in Thai food and various snacks from 7-Eleven, you all curled up in blankets and sleeping bags at the foot of the couch for the night after binging some of your favorite shows and movies.

The girls had been your saving grace all evening, keeping you from trapping yourself in your head, telling you to wake one of them should you need anything.

As sleep continued to evade you, you realize you needed them, but you didn’t want to bother them. They had already done so much for you today. Anne had made you food, Sasha had willingly moved her exam date to eight in the morning on a Saturday and Marcy had left her parents shorthanded at the end of the move.

They had done enough.

Despite the guilt that was threatening to eat you alive, you knew you needed help and took a breath before you spoke:

“Hey Sash, you awake?”

Your friend, whose hand was resting on your temple, stirred.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Can we talk?” You asked nervously.

“Of course.” She replied, propping herself up on her elbows. “What’s up?”

“This, what I’m about to say, it might not make sense, but I think I just need to get it out you know?”

“I getcha. Fire away.” She said folding her arms and resting her chin on them.

You took a shaky breath.

“The more I think about the accident, the less sense it makes. No matter which way I think about it, I always end up having the same question: Why do I keep getting so lucky?”

“What do you mean?”

“My classmate was almost done with their training; they had like two months left in our program. Two more months and that would have been it. They had the rest of their life ahead of them.” You began.

“Then there’s my teacher. he was tons of fun to fly with, he could read my mood really well. and he would always tell me that I was doing better than I thought I was, he gave me a ride home when I needed it, and he was always super understanding about my crazy schedule…” You continued, pausing to take a shaky breath.

“He wasn’t just my teacher, he was my friend, my partner. We were a team. We kept each other safe. Part of me wonders if my schedule was different, or if I skipped work to go fly, then maybe he would have been with me this morning and he would still be-

Sasha shook her head as she pushed herself up off the floor.

“Y/N you can’t blame yourself for this.”

“I know I know it’s just-I’ve made so many stupid mistakes and had a handful of close calls. I don’t understand why these things keep happening to better pilots, to better people?”

Sasha’s heart shattered when she heard that.

“Better people?” She asked quietly. “You’re kidding right?”

She scowled but you knew her anger wasn’t directed at you.

“No.” She said quietly. “No, I’m not letting you do this to yourself.”

“Girls, wake up.”

“Sash you don’t have to-“ You protested as she gently shook your friends awake.

Marcy and Anne stirred slowly sitting up and looking at their friend, who still wore her serious expression. This keyed them into the fact that something was wrong, and they seemed to become alert within seconds as Sasha pointed at you.

“Yes I do, you need to hear this, and you better not forget it.” She said, making Marcy and Anne look at you earnestly.

“Tell them what you told me.”

You sighed and slowly recapped what you had told Sasha. By the time you were finished, Marcy and Anne were on the verge of tears.

“You didn’t get to where you are just because of dumb luck,” Anne assured you, her voice filled with a sense of determination and confidence that you hadn’t heard since she fought King Andrias to a standstill.

“You worked so hard to get here.” She continued. “You may not be where you want to be yet, and that’s ok, but it doesn’t mean you deserve for bad things to happen to you. Even if you stumbled and made loads of mistakes getting to where you are now.

“Anne’s right. I’m living proof of that.” Sasha added as Marcy gently took your face in her hands.

“Now you listen to me.” She said with a fierce edge to her voice you rarely heard from her as she blinked back tears.

“You’ve always been there for me, Anne, and Sash, even when we were at our worst. You never let us believe the things the demons in the back of our minds would try to tell us. You would always tell us we deserve more than we think we do. So that’s what I’m going do for you now.”

“You’re smart and brave-“

“Me? Brave?” You snickered, trying to hide the wateriness of your voice.

Marcy frowned.

“You are! Don’t interrupt.” She grumbled squishing your cheeks.

“Sorry.”

“My point is, I’m so happy that you’re in my life because honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without you. So don’t let that voice in the back of your head speak poorly about my favorite person, ok?”

You sighed and nodded before Marcy practically tackled you.

“Bring it in girls!”

Your other two friends joined in the glomp.

“We love you, dude,” Anne said softly.

“Yeah, and like I said don’t forget it either,” Sasha grumbled.

“I have a feeling you’d never let me.”

“Nope.” The blonde replied, popping the p as she ruffled your hair.

“You ready to try and get some sleep?” Marcy asked her face still smushed against yours.

“Dibs on playing with your hair,” Sasha said quickly as she rolled away from the cuddle pile.

“Everyone squeeze in!” Anne said as she pulled the blankets back over you all.

Both of your friends seemed intent to make sure you and Marcy stay snuggled together, not that either of you was complaining.

“Comfy?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too.” She whispered, putting her arms around you as Anne yawned.

As you lay there with Marcy clinging to you, Anne snuggled up against your back and Sasha’s fingers still loosely tangled in your hair, you were pretty sure you were just stupid lucky, but not in the way you had been thinking.

You were lucky that you were so loved by your friends, who were never shy about reminding you of that fact and that was something to be forever thankful for.

Chapter Text

Sasha Waybright had to work on her anniversary, which this year happened to land on a Saturday. This in itself didn’t bother her much, she knew some of her patients had needs that couldn’t always be accommodated by the typical nine-to-five, Monday through Friday schedule that dominated modern life.

That being said, it didn’t make hearing the alarm on her phone go off at seven in the morning on a Saturday morning any better.

As she feebly stabbed at her phone’s screen in an effort to silence the alarm, before she noticed a message that had come in just fifteen minutes ago, making her pout as she typed out a response.

“Crap. Hey babe-“ She began before looking over to see you weren’t in bed.

“Where are they?” She muttered to herself as she finally noticed what was sitting on the nightstand on the other side of the bed.

A little white toad plushie with heart-shaped eyes. Resting delicately on its head was a single pink rose and a little post-it note that read: Happy Anniversary!

The blonde’s heart melted as she scooched across the bed and grabbed the rose before she made her way to the kitchen. The oversized black t-shirt that she used as an improvised nightgown clung loosely to her body.

The shirt had the words 10% of Sunday on the front in jagged pink font, which was the name of Sasha’s favorite band, having been her inspiration when she wrote Heartstomper in her youth and were half the reason she had formed Sasha and The Sharps, to begin with.

When she arrived in the kitchen, she found you muttering to yourself as you cooked breakfast. She smiled as she put her arms around you and nuzzled into your back.

“Morning love!” You chirped.

“Happy Anniversary.” She said softly, kissing you on the neck before peering over your shoulder to look at the French toast you were preparing.

“I knew there had to be a good reason I woke up alone today of all days.”

“I was gonna bring you breakfast in bed, then we could have cuddled before you went to work.” You explained as your girlfriend sighed wistfully.

“That would be nice, but plans have changed. One of my patients needs to move things up by an hour so I need to get ready like now.”

“Uh ok, here.” You said quickly, platting her breakfast so quickly it would have made Anne proud. “Eat up, I’ll get you some coffee and then I can iron your clothes while you go shower.”

“Thanks, hun.” She said, turning around and setting her food down on the counter. “Don’t forget the sugar.”

“Sugar? Since when do you ask for sugar with your coff-“ You asked as you fished her favorite mug out of the cabinet.

Then you realized, and turned to see your girlfriend with a cocky grin on her face, one eyebrow raised as if to say: Figured it out yet?

Your reply was to put an arm around her waist, dip her low and kiss her. It was quick but passionate and fierce and when you pulled her back to her feet and broke apart, she was bright red.

“That enough sugar for you?” You asked.

“Not even close, but I will be collecting on that offer later tonight.” She replied quickly, trying to regain her composure.

“Can’t wait.” You whispered, making her playfully scowl.

“Since when are you the tease in this relationship!” She grumbled, gently shoving you away.

“Well you said I should take the lead more, I’m just trying to follow your advice.” You said innocently as you poured your girlfriend some coffee.

“You’re gonna regret being all cutesy about this later.” The blonde vowed, sitting down at the dining table.

“Eh, something tells me I won’t.” You replied as set her coffee down and give her a pair of kisses, a short one on the top of her head and a second lingering one on her neck that you stopped just as she started leaning into it.

“Ugh, you’re the worst!” She grumbled, making you chuckle. “You’re lucky I love you!”

“Yes, I am.” You replied in a sing-song voice, walking off to go iron her clothes for the day as you took your phone out of your pocket and typed out a quick text to an old friend.

Heya X, my PTO got approved so I wanna make it official and call in a favor you owe me…

…

“I think we had a real breakthrough today, Carly,” Sasha said as she reached out and put a hand on her patient’s shoulder.

The young teen dabbed at her eyes with some tissue and took a shaky breath.

“Thank you, Dr. Waybright.” She said softly as she stood up and made her way to the door.

“Next week remember to bring your gratitude journal. I think after today you’re gonna see a big difference in how those entries sound.”

The red-headed girl nodded and smiled at her.

“Any fun plans for the rest of the weekend?”

“Yeah! Me and my mom are heading to Magic Mountain today.” She explained. “I just realized I don’t think you ever met my mom.”

Sasha shook her head as she opened the door to the lobby.

“No, usually your dad is the one who comes and picks you up. It’ll be nice to finally-”

When she saw the woman sitting in the lobby, her heart stopped as she finished.

“-Meet her.”

She looked just like she did in high school. Long curly red hair, big round glasses, and vibrant green eyes. She wore a cyan turtleneck sweater, black leggings, and white slide-on shoes. Her cheeks were still covered in freckles that she still found unbearably cute.

“…Hi Abby.”

“Hi, Sasha.” Her voice was still a little scratchy, just like it was when they were younger.

“You know Dr. Waybright mom?” Carly asked, making the older woman nod.

“Yeah, we were classmates in high school.” She explained, her gaze lingering on Sasha before she looked over to her daughter.

“Honey you can head to the car, your dad and your brother are waiting for you. I’m just gonna talk to Dr. Waybright real quick.”

“Ok, see you next week Dr. Waybright!” Carly said as she went out the front door.

“Bye Carly,” Sasha said before turning her attention back to her mother. “She’s a great kid.”

“Thank you.” She replied, clearly forcing a smile.

“So, how have you been?” Sasha asked, putting her hands behind her back.

“Good.” Her old flame replied as she crossed her arms. “I’m a manager at a home security company these days. I’d be willing to bet I hear just as many weird confessions as you probably do these days.”

Sasha chuckled, hoping it didn’t sound as forced as it felt.

“I’ll take your word for it.” She replied which made her old classmate chuckle before she continued, wistfulness in her voice.

“You know I’ve wondered…do you remember when you were learning to play guitar in music class, and you played that corny love song in front of the whole class?”

Sasha nodded and waited for her to continue as she took a step forward.

“Do you remember what you told me when I asked who you were playing it for?”

“Whoever was listening.” She recalled, stifling a chuckle and trying not to roll her eyes as she quoted her younger self.

Abby sighed as she looked the blonde up and down.

“Doctor Sasha Elizabeth Waybright. Cheer captain, Honor Society member, and now professional psychiatrist …things just seem to have worked out for you. Just like they always do.” She said, venom creeping into her voice.

“Excuse me?” Sasha asked, her stomach falling through the floor.

“You heard me.” The red-haired woman said coldly. “I know who you are Sasha. You’re the girl who gossiped about everyone behind their backs. You’re the girl who had all the school bullies wrapped around her finger. You’re the girl who asked me out on Monday, and stood me up on Friday before performing Heartstomper at the school talent show on Saturday.”

Abby took a shaky breath.

“Did you ever think about what that did to me?” She asked, her eyes welling with tears. “The nerdy girl who was head of the chess team, getting a date with Sasha Waybright, the cheer captain? It was almost too good to be true…because it was.”

She fixed Sasha with a glare like she was trying to burn a hole through her.

“Now, every weekend I get to listen to my daughter sing your praises. About how she wants to be a psychiatrist when she grows up. About how she wants to be Just. Like. You.”

“It almost sounds like a bad joke.” The woman said with a snort.
 

“She’s thirteen. She doesn’t know how the world works. She doesn’t know how many fake people are out there. People who will pretend to care before they step all over you to get what they want and then turn around and try to tell you they were the ones who were struggling. How much they were hurting. People who had everything in their life handed to them on a silver platter.”

“Abby I…” Sasha said gently, taking a step forward, only to cause the redhead to take a step back as she wiped at the tears that were rolling down her face.

“I’m not looking forward to the day you eventually let her down. To the day when she realizes exactly what kind of person you are. That will be the day the people closest to you realize you’re a shallow, cruel, untrustworthy brat who is going to spend the rest of her life alone because that’s what you deserve.”

Sasha was stunned, she tried to speak but her old classmate just scowled at her.

“Have a good day, Doctor Waybright.” Abby hissed before turning on a heel and heading out the front door leaving Sasha stunned.

“I’m sorry.” She managed, now alone with her thoughts and her tears.

…

You practically jumped off the couch when you heard the door unlocked, launching yourself towards the front door to welcome your girlfriend home, arms extended to pick her up and spin around like you had when she first moved in with you, but when you saw her in the doorway, you heart sunk.

Sasha looked absolutely defeated.

Her eyes were red and puffy, and she dropped her bag practically in the doorway as opposed to what she normally did, which was to carry it over to your room and hang it up on its hook in the closet.

“Hey, you.” She said weakly, her eyes brightening for a second when she saw the rose petals that led from the entryway to the dining room and kitchen.

“Hey, everything ok?” You asked gently, slowly approaching.

Sasha bit her lip, eyes dropping to the floor as she slowly raised her arms. Recognizing what she was asking for, you closed the gap in took her in your arms as she buried her face in your shoulder and started crying.

You hadn’t seen her cry like this since Marcy moved away from LA all those years ago, a night when you and Anne ended up staying up with her as she worked through all her feelings about one of her best friends moving to the other side of the country.

“I’m here.” You told her, just as you had that night, long before you were dating.

“I don’t deserve any of this.” She whispered in between sobs, looking around your home before her gaze fell on you. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Sasha, that’s not-“ You began as she pulled away. What was left of her makeup was clinging to her face while the rest of it was on your shirt, strands of her blonde hair clung to her tear-stained cheeks, masking some of her features.

“I’ve hurt too many people, made too many mistakes…” She continued, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

“Hey hey-“ You said, a little more forcefully, putting your hands on her face and lifting it gently so she was looking you in the eye.

“Where is this coming from?” You asked, using one hand to move some stray hair behind her ear. “Talk to me.”

Your girlfriend took a long ragged breath as she turned and put her back against the wall. You mirrored her movements, putting an arm around her and using your hand to guide her head onto your shoulder.

“Do you remember Abby Foster?”

You nodded quickly, looking at your girlfriend expectantly.

“I never realized, before today, that I was treating her daughter.” She began. “After the session today, Abby confronted me about the time I stood her up after I asked her out…”

“Marcy and Anne finally convinced me to ask her out one day, so I played this cheesy love song on my guitar in music class before I confessed that I had a crush on her. We held hands the rest of class before we both went and had lunch together and made our date plans. We were gonna meet at this coffee shop by the beach on Friday morning before school.” She continued.

“That’s when it started. The other girls on the cheer squad were like Abby? Abby Foster? Seriously? I got really self-conscious. I saw how they treated Abby and her friends and-and I didn’t want that to happen to me.” She said rolling her eyes as she sat back up.

“I can’t believe I cared what they thought of me. Me! Sasha Waybright! Even talking about it now, it doesn’t sound real, but I did. I told Anne and Marcy the whole thing was off at lunch on Friday. Anne looked so disappointed in me. Marcy tried to get me to go apologize and forget what the girls on the cheer squad thought but it was too late. Abby already hated me. The teasing got worse for her and a few weeks later, Anne’s birthday came around and well, you know what happened after that.”

Sasha took a shaky breath her eyes falling to the scar that ran across the top of your hand, the same hand that was resting on hers, a fresh wave of guilt crashing over her as she remembered how she gave you that scar.

“Sasha please, stop!” You had cried out as Anne deflected a slash from Sasha’s sword.

“Stay out of this Y/N!” She snapped, spinning around and kicking you on the chest sending you sprawling out onto the floor.

“This is between me and Anne, so just back off!” She growled.

“No! We’re friends! I won’t let you keep treating us like this! I don’t want to fight you but you have to stop!” You pleaded, drawing your sword.

“Let me?” Sasha scoffed as she subjected you to a withering assault both physically and verbally, each strike you deflected making your hands go numb. “Let me?! Y/N, I let you into this friend group because Anne felt sorry for you! I never even wanted you around. If it were up to me, I would have left you in the back of the cafeteria eating lunch by yourself like you always were. Anne and I are friends. Marcy and I are friends! You and me, we aren’t friends!

Sasha disarmed you, sending your sword clattering across the floor, a fresh deep cut across your gloved hand made you gasp and whimper as you tried to stop the bleeding and Anne cried out in alarm at the escalation.

The memory was so vivid and so repulsive Sasha felt a wave of nausea wash over her.

“I’m so sorry.” She whimpered, still staring at your scar.

“I never meant it, any of it, I swear-“

“Sasha, it's ok.” You assured her, but she was already spiraling.

“I’m just gonna end up hurting you again, I know it. I’m not a good person.”

“Sash-“ You pleaded as your girlfriend ran her hands through her hair, her breathing becoming more ragged. She was on the edge of hyperventilating.

“Next time is gonna be even worse because I’m trying to be something I’m not. Abby was right…the rest of our relationship is going to be just you waiting for me letting you down and now that Anne and Marcy are back in my life it's only a matter of time-“

“No.” You said gently but firmly. “Stop this right now. You look at me Sasha.”

You placed your scared hand under her chin and guided her gaze upwards to meet yours.

“Everything good in your life is not just so you can eventually be punished for stuff you did when you were a teenager.” You assured her, your heart breaking as her lower lip started to tremble.

“We aren’t gonna disappear or abandon you because we decided to be angry again all of a sudden, I promise.” You said, pulling her as close to you as you could, gathering up the broken girl that was sitting with you in the hopes you could put her heart back together.

“I know you never meant what you said at the tower. Not really. You were more protective of me than anyone else in the group. Before and after Amphibia.”

“Because you always got into more trouble than any of us.” She defended, her head resting against your chest as a sad smile crept onto her face.

“Exactly.” You continued. “You’re so brave and strong and deep down you are always trying to protect the people who aren’t. It’s why I fell for you in the first place.”

“Honestly if it weren’t for my devilish charm, I’d of never stood a chance. You were always way out of my league” You added, making your girlfriend shake her head in disbelief.

“Oh shush.”

“You know it’s true.” You replied, making her roll her eyes.

“You need to stop using self-deprecating humor. It’s not healthy.” She said dryly, her breathing finally starting to stabilize.

“Yeah and so is Taco Bell at 2 AM and yet, it continues to be delicious.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Sasha said quickly. “I am never gonna stop bugging you about that. I love you too much to let you do that to yourself because, on your bad days, you start believing it.”

“That’s true.” You admitted. “Alright, let’s make a deal then. I’ll seriously start cutting back on the self-deprecating humor.

“Only cutting back?” She asked incredulously.

“I gotta start somewhere babe work with me.”

“Fine fine. I’ll take what I can get.”

“Thank you and in exchange, you need to work on forgiving yourself, because Anne, Marcy, and Me already did.” You continued, idly playing with your girlfriend’s hair.

“Yeah, you did some bad things in your past. There’s no getting around it, but someone once told me that we are better than our worst moments. You know who that was?”

“No idea.” She lied.

“You did Sash.” You told her. “You owned up to what you did and how you acted and granted that doesn’t mean everyone is going to forgive you. Abby might always be angry with you and that’s not something anyone can change, but she only knows the old you. She doesn’t know who you are now, but I do. Same with Anne and Marcy.”

Now you were the one who was crying, and your voice cracked as you held your girlfriend’s face like she was the most precious, beautiful thing in this world or any other, which made her start crying even harder as she leaned into your touch.

“Don’t you ever think for a second that you don’t deserve what you have because you do. Not because of who you were then but because of who you are now. You have to forgive yourself, not for Anne, Marcy, or Abby. Not even for me. For you, because even though you’ve made mistakes. Even though you hurt people, you still deserve to be loved and cherished, and happy. You’ve come so far since we first met and I’m so so proud of you.”

You wiped her tears away and started planting delicate kisses across her face.

“I love you.” You told her, pride, conviction, admiration, and affection all present in your voice.

“I love you too,” Sasha whispered, leaning forward and giving you a chaste kiss and leaning against your chest, looking up at you like you had personally arranged all the stars in the night sky just for her.

She slipped her hand into yours and drew hearts on the back of your hand while listening to your heartbeat for a few minutes before she spoke, her voice still stiff with emotion.

“If you don’t keep up your end of the deal I am gonna challenge you to another impromptu wrestling match. Im warning you now.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.” You teased, which made her laugh, a sound you had come to cherish over the years.

“It won't be the fun kind of wrestling either. I mean it!” She warned, trying to sound mad.

“Oh noooo.” You gasped, trying to sound scared. “What ever am I gonna do? Sasha Waybright is gonna wrap me up in her arms and make sure no one can come save me.”

“Ass.” She snipped as she playfully swatted your leg, not even a hint of venom in her voice.

“Feel better?” You asked as her, your free hand going to rub her back.

“Much. Thank you.” She replied, squeezing your hand one last time as untangled herself from your embrace and stood up.

“Still up for going out to dinner?” You asked gently.

“Definitely.”

…

“Hun, you going with a dress or suit tonight?” You asked as you straightened your tie in the mirror.

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Your girlfriend asked as she emerged from your bathroom.

She was wearing a red backless dress, her hair was down and she had a red headband that resembled the heron crown that she wore in Amphibia during her time as the leader of the Wartwood Resistance Cell.

“What do you think?” She asked as you walked over.

“Stunning as always.” You said, taking her hand and twirling her around like you were ballroom dancing, making her giggle

“You don’t look so bad yourself. We should dress up and go out more often.” She said before looking at the scar on your hand and frowning. Gently she took your hand and lifted it to her face, placing a gentle kiss on the scar.

“I never got a chance to kiss it better, even after all the years we’ve been dating. So I wanted to do it now.” She explained, her cheeks turning red.

You opened your mouth to tell her she didn’t need to apologize again but she was quick to cut you off.

“I know you said you already forgave me, but I need to finish forgiving myself. That was the first step.”

“Ok, ok.” You said before slipping behind her and putting your arms around her waist, kissing her neck as you both swayed from side to side, enjoying one another’s company for a few minutes in blissful silence.

“What’s with that goofy grin on your face?” She wondered, looking back at you.

“I have a surprise for yooouu.” You sang unable to contain your excitement any longer.

“You do?”

“Of course! It’s our anniversary, had to get you a present.” You explained.

“I thought the rose and the plushie were my presents?” Your girlfriend asked, tilting her head.

“Oh no, I just wanted to get those for you just because. Your actual present is way better.”

“Well, what is it then?” She wondered as you pulled out your phone, which showed an email from a travel agency.

Her brain was already putting the pieces together when she saw the dates and the location.

“So in two weeks, we’re gonna be going to New York City-“ You began.

“Shut up.” She said, eyes going wide.

“-Because we’re gonna go see 10% of Sunday at Madison Square Garden.”

“Shut up!” She exclaimed, spinning around to face you.

“Backstages Passes too.” You say proudly. “Thanks to our good friend Mr. X.”

“Babe!”

Sasha wrapped you up in a hug, lifting you and spinning you around, making you squeak in alarm.

“Thank you thank you thank you!”

“Happy anniversary love.” You said as she set you down and straightened your tie for you.

“I definitely don’t deserve you.” She said softly.

“You deserve the world.” You assured her before leaning in and kissing her, silently thanking your lucky stars that the ring in your suit coat pocket hadn’t fallen out when she picked you up.

That surprise would have to wait.

Chapter Text

The machine that you and Polly had spent hours building had fire shooting out of it in several places, none of which were places it should be spitting fire from, but it was technically working.

Metal plates vibrated with alarming fierceness, gauges shattered and sparked, and a deep pulsating warbling noise filled the air, the sound was so intense it felt like someone was hitting you in the chest with a hammer with each passing second.

“It’s coming apart!” Polly shouted.

“We have to shut it down!” Sprig added.

“No!” You insisted, still fiddling with the levers as electricity arced over your head. “I can stabilize it!”

The warbling became more intense as the air in front of you was torn open, showing you the

lights of a city on Earth. The air shimmered and twisted on the other side of the portal like it was forcing you to look at the alien landscape through a kaleidoscope.

“Y/N shut it down! We must have missed something!” Polly pleaded as rivets flew off the machine, riddling the nearby trees with smoking holes.

“Not yet I just need to-“

A cable came loose from the machine, sending hot steam shooting out of its frayed end as it whipped around like a furious Bull Snake.

“Look out!” Sprig shouted as Frobo flew across the clearing and scooped you up as the machine groaned one last time before exploding, sending shrapnel hurtling into every direction. Frobo spun around and activated his particle shield, keeping all of you safe from the hail of razor-sharp metal and the clumps of earth that were falling all around you.

“No…” You groaned, staring at the smoldering crater where the portal weaver used to be.

“No no no! SON OF A SLUG!” You shouted. “We had it! We were so close!”

You screamed in anger and picked up the nearest chunk of debris, one of the levers from the control panel, and ran over to the sparking wreckage and started beating what was left of your hard work with it.

“I saw it! I saw it!” You shouted, delivering a strike to the destroyed contraption with every agonized yell, tears running down your face. “I-I…”

You felt a hand grab one of your wrists, then the other as you wound up another attack. The hands guided your own down as another pair of arms wrapped around you.

“I-I’m sorry guys.” You said as you fell to your knees, dropping your improved weapon, allowing Sprig to move his arms to wrap you up in a hug while Polly snuggled up closer to you.

“It’s ok.” She said quietly.

“I should have listened.” You said weakly, leaning into your older brother’s embrace.

“It wouldn’t have mattered.” He told you. “It was tearing itself apart the second we turned it on.”

“We were just scared you were going to get hurt,” Polly added.

“What are we doing wrong?” You asked them pitifully.

“I don’t know, but we aren’t going to find out just sitting here,” Sprig said looking over to Frobo.

“Gather up what you can, it’s time to go home.”

…

After loading up what could be salvaged into the Fwagon, you and your siblings began making your way back to Wartwood. Leaving behind your improved test grounds outside the Frobot Manufactory behind as you did so.

Sprig had selected the site after scouting all across Amphibia with Ivy for the simple fact that it was familiar territory that they knew was safe and doubled as a repository for spare parts that they could use without having to clear it with Lady Olivia, Grime, or Toadstool who were all studying the other Manufactories for their own reasons these days.

However their repository was running dangerously low on parts, and each fresh failure reminded them they had one less chance to figure this out.

Around the abandoned structures were other craters, broken trees, shattered stone, and mounds of twisted metal that marked your past miscalculations, dangerous assumptions, catastrophic failures, and hopefully one day, triumphant success.

As your sister sifted through the scrap that Frobo had gathered and begun to sort through, you laid back and looked up at the moonless night sky, studying the constellations for the hundredth time to see if you had missed any similarities between Earth’s night skies and Amphibia’s.

Hoping that if you found something your friends wouldn’t feel so impossibly far away.

“Knockin' on the sky and listening for the sound?” Marcy had asked you once, on top of the fwagon, many nights ago after The Core and Andrias had been defeated.

“Huh?” You wondered, sitting up slightly.

“Ah sorry, it's from this movie I saw when I was a kid. Guy got stuck in a computer and his son had to come save him. Whenever he wasn’t sure what to do next he would go sit out by himself and just think.” She explained as she laid down next to you.

“Ah, well I guess in that sense, yeah I am doing…that.” You began.

“When I was little before Hop Pop took me in, I was out on my own a lot and Stargazing helped me clear my head. Still does.”

“I get that. Back on Earth, there was this place called Griffith’s Observatory. They have this big telescope that we used to look at our moon or other planets. Whenever I was having a bad day, I would ask Sasha and Anne if they wanted to go there with me. When I looked up at the sky and thought about what was out there, it made my problems feel so much smaller.”

You nodded in excitement and understanding.

“That’s exactly how I feel!” You explained before looking over at her.

“Tell me about your favorite planet. Aside from Earth.”

Marcy’s face lit up.

“Oh, Saturn! It’s a gas giant way out past the asteroid belt. It’s got this golden glow and has these beautiful white rings around it. One day we’ll go to the observatory and-“

The idea died as she spoke, the truth of your situation rearing its ugly head.

The shards of the calamity stones ensured a one-way trip back to Earth.

No more, no less.

Marcy seemed to notice the sad look on your face.

“I’ll draw it for you before I leave. That way you can find it on your own.”

“Do you think that’s possible?” You wondered.

“I know it is. Back on Earth, we have telescopes that can see across the universe. I bet you if we looked hard enough, we could find you. Just like you can find us. Although you might have an easier time with it. Just remember if you find Saturn, we’re the little blue dot past it.”

“I can remember that.” You said with a nod.

“Just remember as the years go on and we travel around and around the universe, we might just end up looking at each other by pure chance. So don’t forget to wave or say hi or something now and then ok?”

You chuckled softly.

“Ok.”

 “You know it’s nice, now I know that whenever I’m feeling sad, or lonely, I can go outside, look up and I’ll know you’re out there somewhere. Even though we’ll be worlds apart we can still both knock on the sky-“

“And listen for the sound?” You finished.

Your friend smiled at you.

“Exactly.”

A shadow sprung over your head and onto the fwagon, pulling you out of your memories and making you sit up to track the cloaked figure as it landed next to your brother. They pulled down the hood of their cloak to reveal a head of bright orange hair.

“Ambush!” She exclaimed, planting a kiss on Sprig’s cheek.

“How’d it go?” She wondered before noticing you were there and waving hello.

Your brother took a deep breath.

“Well…”

Then Polly emerged from the fwagon interior with a groan.

“These plates would have never held up against a tadpole’s temper tantrum much less the forces of creating a portal to another world! Agh!”

Polly threw the metal plate into the night sky, striking a nearby heron chick in mid-flight and knocking it out of the air.

“I should have caught this!” She shouted before disappearing back into the fwagon with a huff, leaving a tense silence in her wake for a brief moment as the fwagon rumbled down the road into town.

“Not well?” Ivy summarized.

“Not well.” You and Sprig replied.

…

Defeated and sleep deprived, you and your siblings made your way into the living room with Ivy in tow.

Hop Pop's smile disappeared when he saw just how out of it you all looked.

“What happened you three?” He asked you all dropped onto the couch and scrunched up together. Sprig’s head fell onto Ivy’s shoulder while Polly fell into your lap with a huff, stretching her legs so they were hanging off the edge of the couch.

“We technically had a portal.” You began, trying to be optimistic before your gaze fell to the floor.

“Oh? How big was it?” Sylvie asked as she brought in refreshments from the kitchen.

“Barely bigger than me when I was a pollywog.” Your sister grumbled.

“I used inferior materials. It’s my fault.”

“No no, I must have messed up my calculations again. It's my fault.” Sprig countered.

“Your calculations were fine, we had a portal, That never would have happened without the machine being built to the exact specifications. I’m the one who messed up. I pushed the machine too hard.” You explained, looking up from the ground, only you weren’t on the couch at home anymore.

You were in the basement of your home. A crossbow sat in your lap and your forearm was wrapped up in bandages. You watched your friend and commander, Sasha Waybright, pace back and forth at the front of the briefing room, clearly agitated after another botched mission to attack a detachment of Frobots in the valley.

As the newts, toads, and frogs of the strike group began to bicker about who was at fault for the failure, Sasha snapped.

“Who cares whose fault it is!?” She snarled.

“Blaming one another isn’t going to solve anything. You failed, that’s all there is to it. You know what happens now?” She asked.

“We’re going review our strategy, pull ourselves out of this rut, get back out there, and crush Andrias and his forces! Got it?”

 One by one, everyone present withered under her gaze and nodded. This seemed to satisfy Sasha who took a breath.

“That’s all I have to say for now, you’re all dismissed.” She said, waving her hand.

You got up to leave, trying to blend into the crowd of departing resistance fighters when Sasha signaled you out.

“Y/N.” She said pulling a chair up and gesturing towards it.

“Let’s talk.”

“Ok.” You said, walking over and plopping down in the chair, looking defeated.

“How’s your arm?” She asked, removing her clawed gauntlet and examining your bandages.

“Hurts a lot still, but I’ll be ok.” You explained as she examined your wounds before rewrapping them.

“I was really worried when I heard you got hurt, I knew I should have gone with you guys.” She muttered.

“I’m sorry.” You muttered.

“You don’t need to apologize for getting hurt,” Sasha told you quickly.

“No, I mean for messing up the mission.” You explained. “If I had been stronger, or faster, we might have been able to pull it off.”

“Well if any part of you was different, you wouldn’t be you, and I like you for you.” She began. “Sure you probably won't ever be the perfect soldier, but I don’t need you to be. I need you to be what you’ve always been, even when I’ve been a complete jerk. My friend.”

“We need to have another jam session with Toadie.” You added with a smirk.

“That’ll be the first thing we do when this is all over. Well, after I nap for a week.” She muttered, propping her chin up on the palm of her hand.

“Naps in general would be nice right now.” You mused which made Sasha chuckle.

“The last time I saw this tired was right before state finals for the cheer competition. I had almost dropped one of my girls and lost us a bunch of points. I had never been so mad in my whole life. I locked myself in a bathroom stall and refused to come out. I told myself that if I wasn’t, well, me that I would have caught her right. I would have landed this other move better, or got through a cheer without stumbling.”

The blonde sighed wistfully.

“Then I got a text from my two best friends, who drove four hours to see me compete, telling me how awesome I had been doing and how they were so excited to go celebrate with me after the competition. Win or lose. That’s when I realized. We can’t give up because we’re afraid to fail. because the only thing worse than failing is never having tried in the first place. Giving up, that’s just not who I am.”

Her gaze made its way over to you, one eyebrow raised.

“You wanna know what happened next?”

“You reviewed your strategy, pull yourself out of that rut, got back out there, and crushed the enemy?” You guessed, making Sasha smirk.

“See that’s why I like you frogs. You guys just seem to get it.” She said, reaching out and ruffling your hair.

“So now the only real question is, what are you gonna do?” She asked before crossing her arms.

In the present, your answer was wordless.

You carefully moved your sleeping sister off your lap and put a blanket over Hop Pop and Sylvie before doing the same for Ivy and Sprig before you made your way to the kitchen, making yourself a cup of coffee to prepare yourself for the long night ahead.

…

It was well past midnight when you heard your brother crying.

You stood up from your desk and stretched your arms before making your way downstairs to his bedroom, which was now in the basement, where Anne used to sleep when she lived with you all. When you reached the bottom of the stairs, you could see your brother in his girlfriend’s arms, his legs pulled up to his chest.

“I miss her, I miss her so much, it hurts.” He sobbed as Ivy held him close, rubbing his back. 

“It’s ok. It’s ok to miss her and it’s ok that it hurts. Feelings are meant to be felt, so feel whatever it is you are feeling. I’m here to help you through it.” She assured him before they both saw you lingering in the doorway.

Ivy gave you an apologetic smile as your brother sat up and motioned for you to come in, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“Sorry Y/N, I hope we’re not keeping you up.” He said as you came in and sat down next to him on his bed.

“You’re ok. I just wanted to come check on you.” You told him as you put an arm around him.

“You really scared me today. I thought for sure you were going to get hurt when the portal weaver exploded. I’m glad Frobo was there to protect you.”

“This family has lost enough.” He muttered as he took out Anne’s phone and started scrolling through the dozens of photos Anne had taken of you all during her time in Amphibia.

“I’m trying to stay optimistic for you and Polly. I don’t want to give up, I don’t even want to think about giving up, but every time we mess up, every time we miss something, every time we have to start over, it feels like we’re just one step close to having to say goodbye forever.”

“You don’t have to worry about protecting me or Polly. We’re here to help you with this. All of it.” You told him, gently taking Anne’s phone from him as Ivy nodded in agreement.

“I think we can all remember the last time someone in this family tried to take on the universe by themselves.” You continued before holding up a picture that Hop Pop had taken of you all after you returned from your museum escapade on Earth.

Anne was wearing her all-black get-up and had her beanie pulled down over her eyes. Polly was sitting on her head and Sprig was lying on top of her while you were squished between Anne and the couch cushions, head resting on her shoulder with one of Anne’s arms around you.

“Even though I’m exhausted I still can’t sleep.” She muttered, her beanie still over her eyes.

“Need to talk about it?” You asked, reaching up and gently pulling the beanie up to look her in the eye.

“I just-“She sighed, turning her head slightly as she carefully folded the bottom edge of her beanie up so as not to disturb Polly. “There are so many people counting on me right now. Marcy, Sasha, everyone in Wartwood, maybe even Amphibia!”

“I’m just scared. Scared that I’m gonna let them all down. I’m not used to having people depend on me for…well anything really.”

“That’s not true.” You said gently. “We depend on you a lot, more than you realize.”

Anne raised an eyebrow, waiting for you to continue.

“I think in life, you don’t realize what other people do for you until they aren’t around.” You told her.

“If it weren’t for you Hop Pop would probably never take chances on anything. Not acting, or politics…or new recipes.” You explained as Anne chuckled, both of you shuttering at the thought of the old fly-based grool that used to be a breakfast staple around the Plantar home.

“Polly might of never discovered her love for building and technology. She only jumped on all that because you introduced it to her and Sprig, Sprig wouldn’t have his best friend. His first real friend that accepted him for who he was. A friend who can sit out with him under the stars and just talk about life…or Suspicion Island.” You continued with a smirk.

“Don’t act like you don’t love that show too.” Your friend chided.

“I couldn’t even try.” You replied before taking a breath.

“Then there’s me. A stray that got taken in by Hop Pop just like you. I spent a lot of time on my own before I was a Plantar. I wandered all over Amphibia, meeting all kinds of Toads, Frogs, and Newts. Eventually, they ended up letting me down one way or another. They all taught me variations of the same thing. That I was going to end up alone, and that I was never gonna belong anywhere. I started to believe it too.” You looked up at your friend, voice thick with emotion.

“Then I met you. This brave girl from another world who never stopped trying to be my friend. Who always made sure I felt included. Who stood up for me when I was being picked on, someone who managed to figure out what my birthday was so she could get me a present.”

Anne smiled softly at you.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit for that one, Marcy helped a lot.” She explained.

“What I’m saying is that you’re a lot more capable than you realize, and part of that is your connection to others. You lift so many other people up just by being you. You make us braver, smarter, and stronger. The Plantars, Wartwood, and Amphibia are better for having you in it.”

“So don’t think you have to save Marcy and Sasha, and stop Andrias all by yourself because you don’t. You’re a Plantar now just like me, which means you’re stuck with us forever.”

Anne wiped away the tears that were in her eyes and put an arm around you, pulling you in for a hug.

“Thanks.” She said softly as you hugged her back with both your arms, the both of you practically falling asleep in the position that Hop Pop would find you in when he took the picture of you all that was now on Anne’s phone.

“She always put so much pressure on herself,” Sprig said with a sigh.

“Sounds like someone I know,” Ivy said softly, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Maybe it's time we follow Anne’s example one more time and get some sleep yeah?”

Sprig nodded, looking at the picture of his dear friend for a few more seconds before setting the phone on his nightstand and started getting ready for bed.

…

You sat in bed, staring up at the ceiling as you thought about how to get the portal weaver to work. Sifting through memories of trips to Newtopia with Polly sifting through piles of Frobot machine parts until the newts who ran the repository threw you both out, nights with Sprig where you tried theoretical equations until your hands went numb from all the writing.

Hoping to Frog that something, anything would click.

You sighed and rolled over, looking out the window at the rising sun and the fading stars in the sky, and waved weakly at a random star as Marcy’s words ran through your head.

I bet you if we looked hard enough, we could find you. Just like you can find us…just remember as the years go on and we travel around and around the universe, we might just end up looking at each other by pure chance.

“Traveling around the universe.” You muttered.

“The universe is moving, space is moving…”

“If space is moving then so are they!” You realized before jumping out of bed and running down to your brother’s room. “SPRIG!”

As you sprinted down the stairs, you almost crashed into your sister who seemed equally excited about something.

“I just had an idea! I’m a genius!” She declared.

“You too huh?” You asked with a smirk.

“Alright Y/N take it easy there’s only enough room for one genius in this family.” She teased, elbowing you in the ribs as you both arrived at your brother’s door and knocked on it.

“Come-“

Polly threw the door open and walked over to a chest in the corner of the room while you walked over to the massive chalkboard that was set up by your brother’s desk and started erasing an entire block of mathematics work, carefully avoiding the doodles of Anne and Domino as you did so.

“-in.” Sprig finished, exchanging a ‘can you believe these two?’ look with Ivy.

“Sand Skink saliva seals!” Polly shouted, holding up a jar that was filled with long almost braided strips of drool.

“You just keep those around still?” Ivy wondered.

“I never knew if we might need them again,” Sprig said with a shrug.

“Sasha and I found out Andrias used them in his Frobots because they expand and contract with temperature changes. He used them in conjunction with loose-fitting armor plating so that when the robots had steam build-up, the chassis would expand with the seals, they work together to strengthen the entire structure! It’s why their flight time shot up in the back half of the war and we couldn’t figure out why!”

“So instead of trying to build the portal weaver to be indestructible we just need to build it to be flexible and expand with the pressure and heat we’re asking it to handle?” You wondered, making Polly snap her fingers and jab a thumb at you.

“Exactly! They get it!” She said, practically vibrating with excitement before looking at the chalkboard and examining your work.

“So uh, what did you figure out?”

“I know why the portal weaver is struggling so much.” You began. “We’re asking it to look through the entire universe for one place. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. So, we just need to narrow down where it's looking.”

Sprig nodded in understanding.

“Makes sense but where do we even start?”

“Well the universe is in motion around us, and we know the Calamity Box used musical notes in place of coordinates. What we’ve been doing is trying to have the portal weaver try every possible musical note and combination imaginable to find the song that represents Earth.” You continued.

“However the box had to of been pulling this music from somewhere. There’s no way it just assigned one song to Earth. So instead of trying to make the music ourselves, we just need to find the sounds, or the songs, that are moving in space and have it cycle through those until we hear what we need. In other words…” You said, taking a breath as you stepped away from the chalkboard to let Sprig see what you had come up with.

“Knock on the sky, and listen for the sound.” You summarized as your brother’s eyes widened.

“This…this could work. I can fine-tune the calculations based on these new parameters and with Polly’s modifications, we could have a new machine built by tomorrow!” He exclaimed.

“How about you knock a few hours off that estimate,” Ivy said with a grin as she walked over and grabbed her boyfriend’s hand. “I’m helping too.”

“Let’s go!” Polly exclaimed as you all ran off to prepare the Fwagon for departure.

…

After you arrived at the resting ground and unloaded your tools and supplies, Sprig produced Anne’s phone and placed it in a metal pail to create an improvised speaker before hitting play as you all got to work, the random song choice stung more than a little as it seemed to mock you and your siblings’ efforts but the none the less, you pressed on as the sun crested over the horizon and Frobo began clearing an area for construction of the new portal weaver to begin.

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me

I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed

She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb

In the shape of an "L" on her forehead

Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming

Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running

Didn't make sense not to live for fun

Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

Sprig erased hours of work in the blink of an eye and started again, double and triple checking his numbers with your new concepts in mind. As he reached the end of his first set of equations, in record time no less, his singing became more boisterous and spirited, making his girlfriend smile as she joined in.

So much to do, so much to see

So what's wrong with taking the back streets?

You'll never know if you don't go

You'll never shine if you don't glow

Polly hummed quietly as she began to work, adding reinforcements to her reinforcements and a pair of pressure relief valves, warning lights, and pressure gauges to alert you to another potential explosion. Hopefully, this would prevent the senseless destruction of another prototype. She knew you all had to stretch your remaining parts to the absolute limit if you were to succeed.

As she finished her last adjustments, she was singing at the top of her lungs, demanding her brother crank the volume to the max, her hammer strikes in perfect sync with the beat. 

Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play

Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid

And all that glitters is gold

Only shooting stars break the mold

You bounded from workstation to workstation, from helping Sprig and Ivy double-check calculations for wave frequency, power consumption, and more before moving over to help Polly with fastening rivets and tightening screws. Even Frobo couldn’t work alone, especially when it came to applying the new sand skink seals before they dried out as they were removed from their containers.

With each completed task, your determination grew and you all elected to push through the last phases of assembly in favor of breaking for dinner. Your momentum had reached its peak and there was no stopping any of you now, and you all sang in unison, as the last few panels, levers, and anchors were assembled, attached, and secured.

And all that glitters is gold

Only shooting stars break the mold

“It’s done.” Sprig panted.

“I think that was a new record for assembly time too.” Ivy mused as she pulled out her comically large stopwatch that served her well in her time with Sasha’s Angels.

“Are we ready to try it out?” Polly wondered.

An unease filled the air, and for a moment, it seemed as if all your gusto and enthusiasm had abandoned you, just like the sun had over an hour ago.

“Honestly, I’m scared to try.” You admitted. “We’ve had days like these before where we were so sure we had gotten it all right, and we didn’t.”

“I get that.” Sprig said sadly. “There’s a part of me that didn’t want to admit, at least out loud, that one way this ends is with us realizing we don’t have a way to make this work. That we’ll never see our friends again.”

Polly nodded in understanding as crickets chirped and fireflies danced in the air around you.

“I’ve had that thought too, more than a few times.” She replied. “But if that’s the way this ends, I want to know we tried everything we could.”

“Yeah.” You replied. “We can’t give up because we’re afraid to fail because to me the only thing worse than failing is never having tried in the first place. That’s not who we are.”

“You guys got this, I know you do,” Ivy added before walking confidently over to the machine and slapping it on the control console.

“Now what do you say we fire this bad boy up?”

The machine creaked as a cooling tube came loose, shooting steam everywhere as the machine began listing heavily to one side.

“I’m gonna check the rivets and seals one more time,” Polly muttered.

“I’ll do the same with my math,” Sprig added quickly.

…

The machine that you and Polly had spent hours building was shaking like Bessie during a thunderstorm in the middle of summer, and there was a terrible hissing noise as the sand skink seals became superheated, pressed together by expanding metal plates that were groaning from the strain of the forces being placed upon them but despite all this, it was definitely working.

 A deep pulsating warbling noise filled the air, the sound was so intense it felt like someone was hitting you in the chest with a hammer with each passing second as the hole you were ripping into space and time grew larger and larger with each passing second.

“Come on come on, punch through.” You whispered, watching the pressure gauges dance right on the red line, your hand already reaching for the pressure relief valve.

The air shimmered and twisted on the other side of the portal, forcing you to look at the alien landscape through a kaleidoscope, but slowly, the image began to stabilize. You were looking into the home of someone, someone who lived within sight of the Hollywood sign which you could make out in the distance, past the shimmering lights of a city that was most definitely Los Angeles.

“Yes!” You cried out, throwing your arms in the air as your machine howled and continue to expand the portal to the point where the Fwagon could fit through it. Polly shouted with joy and ran over to you, practically tackling you as Sprig cheered and picked up his girlfriend spinning her around as he jumped up and down when a familiar voice cut through the air, silencing everyone present.

“Sprig?” A figure on the other side of the portal asked, peering into the night.

“Anne?” Your brother asked, setting Ivy down before looking at her as if he was trying to make sure he had heard correctly.

“Go.” She urged him. Her boyfriend nodded and ran to the portal to see his dear friend Anne Boonchuy standing before him. She had gotten taller and wore a pink shirt with a white three-toed frog foot that bore a striking resemblance to the Amphibian crest, paired with a white headband and dark grey shorts.

“Anne.” He said, his voice full of emotion as Marcy and Sasha came into view on either side of his friend.

“I can’t believe it, you-you got so big!” Anne managed, her eyes filling with tears.

“You too, although I think you’re the shortest now.” He replied, gesturing to Sasha and Marcy.

“Tell me something I don’t know dude.” She said with a laugh as Marcy took a step forward and touch the portal only to yelp when it shocked her.

“Ow…You guys, how did you-“ She wondered when electricity started to arc off the portal, which was already beginning to shrink rapidly.

“It’s collapsing!” You warned.

“No no, not yet!” Sprig pleaded as Ivy ran over to the control console.

“We have to shut it down, or we’ll lose the machine!” She said, tapping on one of the pressure gauges, which showed the needle had entered the danger zone and was still increasing.

Reluctantly, your hand closed around the handle of the release valve.

A pang of guilt echoed in your chest, you would give anything so that your brother could have a few more minutes with his best friend, but you knew what you had to do. You weren’t about to make the same mistake again.

“Gah son of a SLUG!” You snapped, yanking the lever, and making the machine power down. Superheated steam shot out of the pipes on its top and the portal started to close, making the image of your friends start to become distorted.

“Anne!” Sprig said, reaching out for his friend only for his sister to pull his hand back to keep him from getting hurt.

“Sprig look at me!” She said forcefully, tears running down her face.

 “Whatever you guys did, you can do it again! I know you three, you can do anything you set your minds to!”

“That’s right! So, figure this out so we can see everyone!” Sasha shouted, fighting to hold her own tears back.

“We believe in you!” Marcy added.

“We will, we promise!” Sprig exclaimed.

“Family always finds each other!” Anne said quickly as the portal closed with a thunderous crack, the only other words you all caught being a strained but caring: “I love-“

The night was quiet again, save for the chirping of crickets as Sprig fell to his knees with Polly wrapping him up in a hug as you ran over with Ivy close behind.

“We saw them…” He said quietly, tightening his hands into fists.

“We saw them…we did it!” He cried out, his voice a mixture of relief and joy.

“It’s possible! We can do this!” Polly realized as you all hugged one another and jumped up and down, shouting out in excitement as the full weight of your accomplishments hit you.

For the first time in a long time, your hearts were full, and your hopes were high.

Anne was right.

Family always finds each other.