Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everyone seemed to be shaking with relief, hugging Anne, who wasn’t dead, against all the odds, tight.

“So…” Sasha muttered, her voice wavering from crying “How are we going to get home?”

“Wait!” Sprig exclaimed “Anne, why is your pocket glowing?”

“It is?” Anne looked down, pulling a note out of her skirt pocket

She unfolded it and gasped at the 3 shards of the calamity stones hidden within the paper.

“If you wish to return home, all you need is to rejoin with the power of the stones, hold them close to your heart, and ask them to once again be a part of you. However, the stones are weak now, and therefore too much power can overwhelm you, weaken you, so be careful with your usage of them. TTYL, The Guardian” Anne read aloud

“So, if we rejoin with the calamity stones, we can open a portal between here and earth, like, anytime we want to?” Marcy exclaimed

“Yeah, but it sounds like it could hurt us if we do it too often.” Sasha muttered 

“I believe the stones don’t hold enough power for you all to open a portal separately, but if you all work together, you should be able to make a portal to return to your home.” Mother Olm spoke

Anne smiled, “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem, right girls?” 

Sasha and Marcy both smiled at her and nodded as Anne distributed the pink and green stones to them.

The three girls cupped the gems in their hands and held them close to their hearts, the wind picking up around them. There was a white flash, and the stone shards were gone. Each of the three girls had a mark on their right arms too, Anne’s being a blue leaf, Sasha’s a pink sword, and Marcy’s a green flipwart. 

“So, are you three feeling any different?” Hop Pop asked

“No, not really.” Anne shrugged

“That’s likely because the power in the stones is so minimal to what it was before.” Mother Olm said

“You guys ready to go home?” Sasha asked

Anne and Marcy nodded, turning along with Sasha towards the group of frogs, newts, and toads they had met and befriended over the months they’d spent in Amphibia. Some of them, close enough to be considered family. 

“Thank you all so much for taking us in, for fighting by our sides to save Amphibia and Earth. We are so happy to have met you, befriended you, rebelled with you.” Anne said loudly. Her voice cracked a little “I will never forget the time I spent here.”

After that, they naturally moved on to personal goodbyes. 

Marcy spoke with Yunan and Olivia, smiling when they told her they had gotten together. She looked at the broken form of King Andrias.

“I’m so sorry for everything I did to hurt you, Marcy” he glanced down “I don’t expect you to forgive me for any of it, after all, I spent a thousand years not forgiving old friends over one simple action.”

“I will never be able to forget everything that happened, but I’ve been inside The Core’s head. I know they were manipulating you, using you, just like they used me. And if I can’t forgive you for all that, how could I forgive myself?” Marcy said softly

Olivia and Yunan hugged each other closer, proud of the young girl. She’d grown so much.

Meanwhile Sasha and Grime faced each other, expressions stern and serious

“It was an honor to serve by your side, Commander.” Sasha saluted Grime

“Same to you, Lieutenant.” Grime said, but his mouth began to quiver. He broke out in sobs “I’m going to miss you so much!”

“Me too!” Sasha cried “You’re like, a dad to me or something and even though I’ve gone months without seeing my real dad I don’t think I could go a week without you!”

“Probably because your real dad never got his arm cut off defending you in battle.” Grime said, tears running down his face

“Oh my frog, Grimesy, too soon! Too soon!” Sasha grabbed him in a hug

Anne knelt down next to the Plantars.

“Thank you so much for taking me in. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you guys, and I’m so glad you let me be a part of your family.” Anne told them

“You’re a true Plantar, Anne.” Hop Pop said, tears in his eyes

“Polly, you’re like the little sister I’ve never had, and the strongest and most capable kid I’ve ever known, keep being awesome.” Anne continued

Tears soaked Polly’s face “You got it, sis.”

“You’ll come back to visit, right?” Sprig cried 

Anne’s voice was choked with sobs “Of course I will, I just don’t know how long it’ll be before Sasha, Marcy and I will be able to open the portal again. You’re my best friend Sprig, I’d never leave you behind.”

“Spranne against the world?” Sprig sniffled

“Spranne against the world forever.” Anne hugged him tight. “This isn’t goodbye forever, it’s just goodbye for now.”

The three girls met up, waved to the crowd, and held hands. Their eyes began to glow, pink, blue, and green, and soon, the portal opened, and they stepped through.

“See you later Amphibia!” Anne shouted

The next thing they knew, the portal was gone, and the three girls stood in the middle of the park, exhausted.

“Hard to believe this is where it all started all those months ago.” Sasha muttered 

“We’re all completely different people now.” Anne added

“OH MY FROG Andrias destroyed that much?!?” Marcy yelled, looking up at the crumbling L.A. skyline 

“Kinda forgot you missed most of it” Sasha said “But yeah, I didn’t really notice it either.”

“How could we, we had bigger things to focus on! Like, having him not conquer earth, and also not dying…” Anne trailed off. Andrias had failed in conquering earth, the core was gone, but she… “I died. But the guardian of the stones brought me back. I… died.”

There was a long pause.

“Hey, do you guys think we need therapy?” Anne asked

“Probably” Sasha answered at the same time Marcy said “Oh, definitely”

Without a word, they went home.

Chapter Text

By home, they all really went to Anne’s house. After all, Sasha knew it would be easier to explain why the three of them have been missing for the past 8 months with allies. In fact, if Sasha had learned anything, it was easier to do literally everything with allies.

Anne rang the doorbell, her face lighting up when her mom answered the door and wrapped all three of them in a big hug.

“Anne, Sasha, Marcy!” she said “I’m so glad you’re all safe and okay.”

“Yeah… Could you or dad call Sasha and Marcy’s parents, tell them to come over so we can explain everything that happened?” Anne asked

“Of course ที่รัก.” Anne’s mom replied

They settled down on the couch, like they’d done a million times, and shared stories with each other that they hadn’t heard yet.

“So anyways, the next thing I know he’s in a commercial ON THE TV.” Anne shouted, causing the girls to burst into laughter “They might still be playing that commercial- or at the very least, I think it was made into a meme, but seriously, the whole idea of laying low was thrown out the window after that!”

“...But just when we had thought we were goners, the townspeople joined us in our fight, and that’s truly where the rebellion started; when we learned they were just as strong as we were.” Sasha finished her story

“So, my story is about how I got Joe Sparrow. Basically he was a-” Marcy started, but was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

Sasha was startled by the sudden noise and unsheathed her sword.

“Sash!” Anne whispered 

“Sorry, sorry.” Sasha said, putting her sword away “I guess I’m just… a little nervous to see my parents again.”

“Same. We’ve all changed so much, what if they don’t love the new us?” Marcy had tears in her eyes “Besides, my family wanted to move away, how are we supposed to go back if we’re not all together?”

“Whatever happens, we’ll get through it.” Anne hugged her two friends

Anne’s dad opened the door, “Hello Anna, Mark.” 

Sasha flinched at the mention of her parents' names, but stayed perfectly still as they discussed, only seeing their shadows on the floor of the hallway.

“Hello, Bee, we were actually just planning to discuss with you, Oum, and the Wus about everything that happened yesterday” Sasha’s dad said “Anna and I were just having coffee at my place, since everywhere around is closed, and I don’t know if you were watching the news but your daughter was there.”

“I could’ve sworn we saw a couple shots of Sasha too, but I’m not getting my hopes up. After all, she looked completely different, like some sword fighting warrior, but I could’ve sworn it was her face, her hair.” Sasha’s mom added, sniffling a little 

She was so focused on fighting that she hadn’t even realized she- or Anne- had been filmed, but she was more surprised that her mom thought it couldn’t have possibly been her. 

“That’s because I am a sword fighting warrior, mom.” Sasha said, smiling, tears in her eyes

All the adults’ gazes in the room snapped over to the girls.

“Sasha!” Sasha’s mom cried “Where have you been?! You disappear for 8 months and all of a sudden I see you slicing up robots on the news with a sword… I- I couldn’t believe it.” 

“Yep… that was me,” Sasha shrugged awkwardly, her face wet “Sasha, head of the cheer team, Lieutenant to Captain Grime and Commander of the rebellion to save the world.”

“Not to mention a super badass, literal warlord.” Anne added

Sasha grinned a silent thanks to Anne for the compliment.

“We were so worried about you, where have you been that you came back looking like a barbarian?” Sasha’s dad hugged her, feeling the stiffness “And what are you wearing?”

“About 30 pounds of armor.” Sasha muttered, standing up casually and hugging her mom. She was also carrying 7 hidden knives and 2 swords on her, but she wasn’t about to admit that “I don’t know if you’ll believe me if I tell you where we’ve been, but it has a lot to do with everything that happened yesterday.”

“With the Frogvasion?” Sasha’s mom asked

Anne burst into laughter “Dear frog, is that what people have been calling it?”

“Yeah, so basically we’ve been stuck in another world called Amphibia, that’s where the warships were from… it’s a long story, we should probably wait until Marcy’s parents get here before we start.” Sasha said

“So… the prank letters we got on Christmas were real?” Sasha’s dad asked

“Prank letters?” Marcy looked confused

“We each received a letter on Christmas saying that it was hard to spend the holidays with family missing, but you girls were safe and trapped in another world, from someone claiming they were a friend. It seemed so unbelievable, we thought it was a cruel prank.” Sasha’s dad explained

“Okay… that was my fault.” Anne muttered “I should’ve been more clear, I sent those letters.”

“How?” Sasha’s mom asked

The three girls sighed

“Long story” they all said at once

Just then the door opened.

Chapter Text

“Hey Oum.” A tired voice muttered “Sorry it took us so long, we came over as soon as we could, but turns out even an alien invasion doesn’t mean you can take a day off, even if we got to work at home.”

“You said it was urgent though, what is it?” the second, more familiar voice said

Even though their voices were filled with exhaustion, Marcy recognized the figures the moment they stepped through the doorway

“Mama! Baba!” she cried, running towards them before her legs fell in on her and she collapsed into her father’s arms

“Marcy!” Anne and Sasha shouted in unison before Anne added “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it just seems like my legs don’t really want to work right now.” Marcy muttered, tears soaking her face 

“Where have you been?” Marcy’s mom asked, sobbing “We were so scared, we didn’t move, we couldn’t leave, and your dad got a better job offer closer by, we’re not leaving, please don’t run away again Marcy.”

“I’m sorry!” Marcy sobbed

“We’re so sorry as well” Marcy’s dad hugged her, crying

“So… you’re all probably looking for answers, so I guess we should tell you how everything happened.” Anne said “It all started with a music box…”

The three girls told their stories, each of them waking up in Amphibia and how they all played out different roles. They’d talked about leaving a lot of it out on the way to Anne’s house, mostly just stuff that was still too hard to discuss… like the matching scars on Marcy’s chest and back. As they reached the end, a lot of it was news Marcy hadn’t even heard, things that had happened when her body was under control of the Core.

“And then we said our goodbyes, went through the portal, and walked here from the park.” Anne finished

It had taken them hours to tell the whole story, even when leaving details out. By the end, all 3 sets of parents were holding their daughters close and crying.

“I can’t believe you all went through that.” Mrs. Waybright was the first to speak “We’re so glad you're safe at home now.”

“How do you feel?” Anne’s dad asked the girls

“Tired.” the three girls replied 

“It took a lot of our energy to open the portal home.” Marcy continued “And so much has happened, we all want to go back soon, visit everyone we left behind, but for now, I just want to rest.”

Anne and Sasha nodded in agreement. They’d all been through so much, in the last 8 months, but especially the last few days. And now, everything was over, they were safe, surely a rest was deserved.

That evening Marcy settled into her room for the first time in what felt like forever. All her stuff was there, and it felt like a dream.

Was it a dream?

Could she still be stuck in a trap of the Core’s creation?

She did the best thing she could think of, taking off her armor and looking at the scar in her chest, running her finger along it. It stung like the fiery sword was eating her up from the inside all over again.

She remembered what it was like being in the fantasy world the Core created for her, feeling full of joy and wonder, no pain at all, just like when she’d first arrived in Newtopia. At least, until she’d figured out that it was a lie. But that pain came from knowing she could never have exactly what she wanted, because a perfect world would always be a lie, not from her scars.

“珍贵, dinner is ready!” her mom’s voice rung from the doorway

Marcy pulled her shirt down, covering up the scars, but seemingly not soon enough.

“Marcy, what’s that mark on your back?” Mom asked, voice filled with concern

“It- it’s really nothing. You heard how we all got attacked by monsters a couple times and stuff, we’ve all got little scars and stuff from times we-” Marcy stuttered

“Show me now.” she demanded sternly, but her eyes, in the quick moment Marcy felt able to glance at them, were filled with fear .

Marcy showed her mom the scar on her back, and heard her breath in a sharp gasp.

“亲爱的, where did you get this one? Do you have any mo-” Mom paced around Marcy, spotted the matching scar in the front, immediately freezing and face going pale “Tell me what happened.”

Marcy broke down in tears as she recounted a part they’d left out of the story, one she’d rather forget. Sasha and the toads taking control of Newtopia, escaping, freeing Andrias and giving the box to them, the sky castle, Andrias throwing Sprig out the window, jumping out the window to save Sprig, stealing the music box, opening the portal and ushering Anne and the Plantars through, before the worst part.

“And I don’t like to think about that day because the last thing I remember before months of not having control over my own body, was his flaming sword through my chest, hearing Anne and Sasha distantly shout my name, only being able to, to say sorry before everything went dark. I was sure I was going to die, but I didn’t, I was put in a tank until I was well enough to suffer more.” Mom read aloud, tears dripping onto the already soaked paper.

In the middle of the conversation Marcy had to switch to paper, her voice stopped working, but her mom understood. After all, some things were left out because they were hard to talk about.

“I’m so sorry, does it still hurt?” Mom asked, hugging her tight

Marcy nodded. The betrayal, the anger and sadness hurt more than the wound, but at least she finally had the space to let a little bit of that out.

Chapter Text

Sasha was having a hard time readjusting to her home with mom, because everything was so frogdamn impractical! The clothes she would’ve called cute a couple months ago were completely useless, as most of them didn’t have any pockets for hidden weapons or other practical items and exposed vital organs, or worse, the huge wound on her back that she hadn't even told Anne and Marcy about. How in hell was she supposed to feel safe in a pocketless mini skirt and crop top?!

Sasha knew she’d changed, and she’d considered it a good thing. She wasn’t a control freak, not anymore. But she hadn’t realized how exposed she felt without at least 10 pounds of armor, 3 hidden knives, and 1 sword on her. She knew her hands, the things that could wield these weapons, were the most dangerous thing of all, but she still felt weak when her mom told her to go “take a shower and change into something that is clean”

She ended up digging down to the bottom of her drawers to find an old shirt and leggings she could easily slide her armor over. 

There were also a lot of things in her room that were impractical. Her canopy bed for example, was too risky, she could get tangled up in the fabric during battle and trip, or it could be easily lit, setting the whole room aflame. On top of that, she had basically nowhere to set her swords for easy access, and the walls were a mess, covered in posters and mirrors, fairy lights and other trinkets. How was she supposed to be able to make an escape if necessary if her dresser blocked half the window?

She started to rip things down and move things around until her dad came in.

“Sasha, what are you doing?” he asked

“Moving stuff.” Sasha muttered, easily pushing the dresser to the other side of the room with one hand “I’m going to need some new clothes. Wait, what are you doing here, dad?”

“You disappeared for 8 months, kid, even if I didn’t get to see you often before I’m glad you’re back now.” Dad replied, his eyes looking a little wet “So… about the whole sword thing…”

Sasha stared him down, pulling one of the two swords out of its sheath. “What about it?”

“I just don’t know if they’re safe to keep around, I mean, they could be dangerous?” Dad said nervously

“Oh, they are dangerous, to anyone who gets on my bad side.” Sasha smiled “But I see what you’re implying, and trust me, I know what I’m doing with ALL my weapons.”

“You really are some sort of warlord, huh?” Dad gave her a half smile

“I mean, I guess so.” Sasha shrugged “We all did what we had to, leading an army, kicking robot ass, fighting to survive.”

“Well, Marcy’s mother, Mrs. Wu, sent something in the parental group chat, a thing about Marcy that you girls… neglected to tell us.” Dad said

Sasha’s blood ran cold, knowing what came next.

“Apparently Marcy was impaled with a sword.” Dad muttered

“King Andrias did it. Grime and I tried to fight him off, but he slammed us against the wall and when I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was him thrusting the sword through her chest.” Sasha reported, voice cracking “And then we had to run, and I didn’t know what happened to her for months afterwards.”

“Do you have any scars your mother and I don’t know about?” He questioned

“No” Sasha lied, ignoring the pain from the wound that ran up her back. It had only been a day since Darcy had practically sliced her back open after all, but she didn’t need her parents to worry. After all, the one good thing about the injury was that it was made with another flaming weapon, which means it was immediately cauterized and she’d barely lost any blood. “Well, only the one on my face and a couple minor cuts on my arms and legs. I’m too strong of a warrior to get injured!”

“Even the strongest warriors can get injured though. You’re not invincible, honey” Mom said from the doorway

Sasha thought back to how Grime had saved her life by getting his arm cut off. Frog, to believe that was only yesterday.

She sighed “You’re right, I just got lucky.”

Both of her parents looked at each other in surprise, probably at how easily she had given up the argument. Heck, old Sasha probably would’ve argued that she was, in fact, invincible. But after all she’s seen and been through, she knew the truth was far from that.

“Look, I’m a different person now, and if there’s one thing I’m not anymore, it’s a control freak.” Sasha muttered

Her parents nodded.

“Although Anne and Marcy did mention we probably all need like- therapy and stuff.” Sasha shrugged

“Okay, we’ll leave you to redecorate your room while we discuss that, and Sasha, please take off the cape, it smells like a swamp.” Mom said, leaving the room

Sasha wrinkled her nose at her. If anything the cape smelled comforting in a place that felt too strange, too sterile. Plus, it came with the certain benefit of further covering the gash on her back. She set both swords on the shelf above her bed, clearing away cheer trophies. There was no way in any dimension she was taking off the cape yet.

Chapter Text

It was two weeks before school was open again.

Therefore it was two weeks before Anne was forced to go back to school.

“Mooom! I saved the world, don’t you think I deserve to have a little more time before heading back to school?” Anne complained as she ate breakfast

“You already missed half of 8th grade, you can’t afford to miss any more school if you can help it. You seriously need to focus hard and catch up, Anne. Besides, Marcy and Sasha are going to be there.” Mom replied

Anne groaned “I can see Sasha and Marcy outside of school”

“You’re going, ไม่มีข้ออ้าง” Mom said sternly

The truth was, the impending workload wasn’t even the thing worrying Anne, it was the impending gossip. After all, it’s not every day that the fate of the world rests on your shoulders and you use super saiyan powers to fight a giant newt on live tv. Anne was pretty sure she could never live any of that down. But it’s not like she had any choice. She put on her SJMS uniform, a different one than what she’d worn for the past 8 months, she’d framed them and hung them up on the wall along in a collage of other various memories from her time in Amphibia. After all, those clothes were way too worn to ever wear again. And technically they weren’t the same clothes, just copies of them, but Anne refused to think about that.

Her new backpack was dark green with a blue frog keychain hanging off of it. All three of their families had taken the girls on a shopping spree for new school stuff further away from L.A. where the invasion hadn’t impacted anything around. Normally they would just send one of the parents to supervise or even drop the girls off by themselves, but they all seemed to insist to never let the trio out of their sights ever again. Anne supposed she couldn’t exactly blame them, the last time they were all left unsupervised they’d disappeared for 8 months. 

She remembered the shopping spree fondly, after all, it had been a long time since they’d done anything as normal as hanging out at the mall. Sasha seemed to be looking for anything that had a multitude of pockets. That had been a fun conversation.

“Sash, why is everything you’re getting covered in pockets?” Anne had asked

“Where else am I supposed to put the hidden knives?” Sasha replied casually

Anne was a little surprised Sasha still carried the knives. Old habits die hard though.

Marcy was the one who found the matching frog keychains, one in blue, pinkish red, and green for each of them, and they were perfect. For most of the mall trip, she was a little behind, even though Anne and Sasha slowed down a considerable amount for her. She had gotten bright green leg braces with matching crutches, and was still getting used to them. Apparently her legs had weakened a considerable amount, and she now needed the braces to walk. But it was still the same old Marcy, not letting anything get her down, cooing over a bird plushie that looked just like Joe Sparrow and insisting they all have another sleepover sometime soon. 

“Have a good day, Anne!” Dad said his goodbyes as dropped her off in front of the school.

Anne met up with Sasha, who was waiting for her, and could practically feel the other students’ stares. 

“Nice backpack.” Anne commented to Sasha, her maroon bag sitting on her lap. It was decorated with the frog keychain that matched hers, as well as a miniature replica keychain of her swords and the painted on mark that she'd seen on Sasha’s, as well as Grime’s armor.

“Thanks.” Sasha shrugged “Hey, do you want to wait out here for Mar-Mar?” 

“Yes!” Anne practically shouted “Of course we're waiting for Marcy, if we're going in, we're going in together.”

“Are you feeling a little nervous about going in?” Sasha asked genuinely 

“Yeah, kinda. I don't really want to be bombarded with attention and questions now that I'm famous for fighting Andrias.” Anne muttered 

“Yeah. It's kinda crazy how we've spent the last 8 months fighting off giant bugs that want to eat us, but going back to middle school is scary.” Sasha laughed “Maybe it's because I don't have my swords.”

“Aww Sash, I’m sure it’ll be fine!” Anne hugged her friend, surprised when she felt stiffness “Are you wearing armor under your uniform?”

“Yeah. Makes me feel a little better, you know?” Sasha said 

Anne nodded, thinking about the little printed photo she had in her pocket of her and the Plantars. 

Just then Marcy stumbled out of her car, barely regaining her balance.

“Hi guys!” She said cheerfully “What are you still doing out here?”

“Waiting for you, Marbles.” Sasha smiled

“Oh, thanks, but you really didn't have to.” Marcy looked at the ground “I'm still getting used to the braces and I don't want you guys to be late because of me.”

“No, it’s okay, we just figured after everything that happened we should all be there to support each other.” Anne said

“Thanks.” Marcy said softly

“Besides, I don’t think they’re blaming anyone for being late today, especially the three of us. We’re heroes.” Sasha shrugged “Also Mar-Mar, you’ve got to teach me how to sew some time.”

“You know how to sew?” Anne asked as they made their way into the school, ignoring the stares

“Yeah! Lady Olivia taught me when I got a rip in my skirt back in Newtopia!” Marcy smiled, as though thinking back to a good memory “I kept messing up but she was very patient, and yeah, I can teach you, Sasha!”

“Hey! Anne! Anne! Can you show us your super cool anime powers?” Some kid shouted

“Umm… no, I don’t have them anymore.” Anne lied

“What do you mean you don’t have them anymore, we all have them!” Marcy whispered

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna go around showing them off! If we want to get enough power to return to Amphibia we’ve got to save them!” Anne whispered back

Kids began to crowd them, asking questions all at once. Marcy looked overwhelmed so Anne covered her ears for her, since Marcy’s hands were supporting her in the crutches. 

“Everyone back off or else!” Sasha shouted “No more questions for now, I know how to kick ass and I won’t hesitate to do so if you all keep bothering us!”

Slowly but surely the crowd dispersed, the whispers persisting, but now more fearful of Sasha than anything else.

“Thanks Sash.” Anne smiled

“Don’t thank me, blame the sorry excuses of everyone who made me do that in the first place.” Sasha replied in a grunt “Marcy, you good?”

“I’m okay.” Marcy said softly, “Let’s go to class.”

Anne sat down next to Sasha and Marcy in English. In some senses, it felt almost… normal. But for the most part, it was like living a dream.

Chapter Text

Marcy walked nervously from class to class, feeling bad that everyone was staring at her, Anne, and Sasha. It was all her fault they were, after all. She felt bad that Sasha and Anne were next to her, as though trying to protect her… but also a little selfish in the way that she secretly enjoyed it.

She ended up sketching a picture of her with Yunan and Olivia at lunch while the whispers from surrounding students were a bit too loud.

“I saw the other two on the news, but where was she?” 

“I don’t know. Where did they even go for those 8 months?”

“I was surprised when that robot king wanted to fight Anne, like she was someone important, but not as surprised as when she started flying 50 feet in the air and getting knocked into buildings.” 

Anne and Sasha didn’t seem to hear… or at least, they were pretending not to.

“I’m gonna go get a drink of water.” Marcy said, getting up quickly

Anne automatically got up too.

“I don’t need either of you to come with me” She added

Anne seemed to pause, before silently nodding and sitting back down to discuss with Sasha when the next time they would spar.

As Marcy walked over to the water fountain, crutches clicking against the floor, she couldn’t help but feel awful about everything. The world almost ended. People DIED. Her closest friends, as well as herself, had a ton of trauma, and she could hardly even walk anymore on her own. And all of it was her own fault, because she couldn’t handle moving away.

She stepped wrong and crumbled to the ground, her left cane slipping from her wrist, right in front of the popular girls’ table.

“What was that thing that Sasha always said? Oh right.” one of the girls whispered, before laughing and loudly saying “One of these days she’s going to get herself killed!”

In a split second Sasha practically materialized in front of her, holding a knife. 

“You shut up and never say that again or I will end you.” she muttered, dramatically making a motion in front of her throat with the hand holding the knife

“Shit, okay I won’t, I swear!” the girl said, hands raised in the air

“You good, Mar-Mar?” Sasha tucked the knife under her shirt and Marcy caught a glimpse of the armor she was wearing underneath. 

She nodded silently and let Sasha help her up.

She felt so embarrassed. Marcy didn’t know why she was not able to walk properly, the only thing the doctors her parents had taken her to had said was the bones were weak but they might heal eventually. The lack of clear answers was really what made her upset about the whole situation. So many unknowns and mights and maybes made her head spin. The doctors had recommended a type of physical therapy that took place in a pool because swimming could make her legs stronger… maybe, but being in the water felt like being in the tank and she couldn’t handle that.

She was, however grateful that Sasha didn’t follow Marcy to the water fountain, because she collapsed in a ball on the floor, rocking back and forth and sobbing because in her mind there were a thousand glowing orange eyes telling her it was her fault everyone got hurt and she’d never recover.

“Marcy?” A soft voice asked

She looked up, her vision blurry with tears. It was Sasha speaking in a tone of voice she’d never heard in their many years of friendship.

“Lunch is over. Do you wanna talk about what’s up, or go to the nurse, or maybe go to gym with us?” Sasha asked

“I- Going to gym class sounds fine.” Marcy said quietly, getting up by herself “I’ll just end up reading anyways.”

“You got it, Marcy.” Anne smiled, giving her a brief hug “Let’s go.”

She ended up sitting in the locker room while everyone changed into gym clothes. Sasha was in fact, wearing her armor underneath her school shirt, but she seemed overly cautious to have her back turned to the wall the entire time. Still, that didn’t stop Marcy from seeing a glimpse of the huge, still healing, pink gash that peeked out from underneath Sasha’s armor, and suddenly it made sense why she was wincing so much. But why hadn’t she said anything about it, at all?

Chapter Text

After helping Marcy up from where she’d fallen, Sasha had stayed behind at the lunch table, because first of all, she wasn’t about to disrespect Marcy’s wishes about not going with her, she wasn't that kind of person anymore, and second, she knew these girls from cheer, and wasn’t about to let them off the hook for what they’d said.

“Megan, I’m serious, don’t ever say that again.” Sasha warned

Megan stared at her “Seriously, what is your problem? You used to say that all the time, why did you threaten me with a fucking knife when I did it?”

“Because it’s not funny.” Sasha said flatly

“It’s always been funny how clumsy Marcy is!” Megan rolled her eyes

Sasha got up right in her face and growled in a low voice only the two of them could hear “It’s not funny after you spend three months not knowing what happened to her after watching her get impaled. So shut the fuck up.”

Megan’s face went pale, but Sasha turned around and walked away before she could say anything. The last thing she needed to hear was a lousy apology from her.

Later, after gym class, Marcy had said something that Sasha hoped she would never find out.

“Hey Sash, where and when did you get that big scar on your back?” she asked

Sasha laughed nervously “What scar?”

Anne’s eyes shot daggers at Sasha “Yeah, what scar?”

“I have to go to the bathroom.” Sasha said quickly, bolting off

Honestly she really shouldn’t have been that surprised when Anne and Marcy showed up 30 seconds later.

“Sash, I don’t understand, we all have scars, why are you keeping this a secret from us?” Anne asked

“Because…” Sasha leaned against the wall, looking at her feet “because I didn’t want Marcy to blame herself for what happened.”

“What?” Marcy breathed, eyes widening

“It-it happened when I was fighting Darcy, with Grime.” Sasha’s voice cracked “They pinned me down and were about to slice me open with their flaming scythe, but Grime pushed me out of the way and his arm got sliced off. After that, I gave him my cape to further cover the wound, and attacked them with all of my rage, the toad way. However, Darcy managed to slice their scythe straight down my back, and they must’ve figured they’d killed me or at least paralyzed me, because they let their guard down and that was when I sliced through the cable and freed Marcy.”

“Oh.” Marcy’s eyes welled with tears “I’m- I’m sorry!” 

“Nothing the Core or Andrias did was your fault Marcy, and we’ve both forgiven you for getting us trapped in Amphibia a long time ago!” Anne blurted 

“How do you know?” Marcy whispered

“Because for the longest time I blamed myself. I thought, maybe if I trusted Sasha, I wouldn’t have given Andrias the music box, and you wouldn’t have gotten stabbed or anything, or even better, we’d have left him down in the prison cell.” Anne muttered

“I blamed myself too.” Sasha said, face wet with tears “Every day, when I wasn’t distracting myself with rebellion stuff, I was blaming myself for everything. If I hadn’t made you guys not trust me, if I hadn’t been so selfish, maybe we could’ve locked Andrias up for good and all the horrible things wouldn’t have happened.”

“But, you know, the more you think about it, the more you realize that none of it would’ve happened if it weren’t for Andrias, and especially the Core.” Anne said “So you’re not at fault, Mar-Mar, and neither is Sasha, and neither am I.”

Sasha looked up and smiled. “Thanks. I probably shouldn’t have kept the scar a secret though cuz it hurts SO BAD.”

“Do you need to go to the nurse and get an ice pack?” Marcy asked, dropping her voice to a mutter “I know when I got hurt with a flaming weapon I was put in a tank of cold water for a month so maybe the cold will help it heal?”

“Dear frog, yes!” Sasha grunted, the burning seemingly getting worse than before by the second

Anne smirked at her reaction, “Let’s go then.”

The nurse did end up giving Sasha an ice pack, because as Anne had jokingly said on the way there, that's all school nurses do. It was a different nurse from the last time she'd been in school, but there was a different one basically every year so that wasn't unusual. The nurse did eye Sasha suspiciously when she took her armor off, sliding it into her backpack, but she didn't say anything. There was no way the cold was going to go through her shirt and armor after all. She also seemed to accept “bad sunburn” as the reason for needing an ice pack. Sasha kinda liked this nurse, she was quiet, and didn't ask questions. An ally, in some sorts. 

And Sasha knew from leading a rebellion that the more allies you had, the better.

As she walked to science, where Anne and Marcy were, she wondered about some old allies. Percy and Braddock. The next time they visited, she had to find them and apologize for everything, that was, if they were still alive. Frog, she hoped they were okay. But she managed to brush that off for now. What mattered in battle after all was being in the moment, and in the moment Sasha was meeting Anne and Marcy in science.

Chapter Text

Anne flopped down on her bed, moaning into her pillow after such a long and exhausting school day. She couldn’t believe it, but she missed pulling weeds on the Plantar farm. 

“Uggh, Hop Pop, can we go inside? We’ve been pulling weeds for 3 hours and I’m so hot!” She’d complained a few months ago

“I’m with Anne, this blows!” Polly had agreed

“Now, you’ve all only got 2 more plots of weeds to pull, then we’ll take a short break before doing the other 7.” Hop Pop had said

Her, Sprig, and Polly had all simultaneously groaned

She wondered what Sprig and Polly would think of the chore that was an 8 hour middle school day, especially when you’re famous.

She let a couple tears slip before she grabbed her phone, and opened the group chat she had with Sasha and Marcy.

Anna_Banana: Hey guys, when do u think we could go back to Amphibia and visit?

The two girls replied within seconds

MarcytheRanger: I don’t know. Spring Break is coming up in 2 weeks, we could go then if you guys don’t already have any plans?

Lieutenant-Sash: Since when have any of us ever had plans 4 spring break

MarcytheRanger: Good point. We could visit Amphibia over Spring Break if you guys feel like it.

Anna_Banana: Ugggghh it'll suck waiting 2 weeks but it should work for me

Lieutenant-Sash: Im down 4 that too

Anna_Banana: We’ll just have to check in with our parents so they don’t freak out over us vanishing again and we should be good 2 go!

The week seemed to stretch on forever, and when the weekend finally came about, Anne had plans to go to the beach with Marcy and Sasha, with all their moms supervising, because of course, they couldn’t be left alone.

Marcy was reading a book about birds and sitting on the beach with her mom when Anne arrived with her mom. 

“Hi Anne! Did you know that hummingbirds can flap their wings up to 80 times per second?” Marcy greeted her

“That’s really fast.” Anne commented “Good thing we never came across any hummingbirds in Amphibia.”

“Oh, that wouldn’t have been a problem. Hummingbirds are pollinators, just like bees and butterflies so they would’ve been much more interested in the surrounding flora than eating you!” Marcy exclaimed, their moms looking a little distraught by that information

“You know what else is fast? The rebuilding of the city.” Anne commented, gazing out on the cranes and scaffolding rebuilding the skyline.

Just then Sasha arrived, dressed in cargo shorts and a red shirt with an open back. Her back scar was on full display. Anne recognized the shirt immediately, as it was one of the things Sasha had gotten on their last mall hangout, only a week before getting sucked into Amphibia.

“Look at this, it’s so cute!” She had said

“Would your parents even let you wear that? I know mine wouldn’t.” Marcy had asked

“If they ask me about it I’ll just say the other one bought it for me, and then they’ll get mad at each other instead of me.” Sasha had replied

“That’s diabolical.” Anne grinned

Sasha had never gotten a chance to wear the shirt until today, and her mom seemed fine enough with it, leaving Anne to wonder when Sasha had told her about the scar. She also had her belt with both her swords tucked in their respective sheaths, and Anne suddenly remembered they were sparring today.

“Sash!” Anne exclaimed, waving her over

That caught Marcy’s attention, and she looked up from her book “Hi Sasha!” 

“Hey girls.” Sasha greeted them, sitting down next to Marcy and Anne. “I get the courage to wear something I can’t wear my armor with and people will not stop staring at me, I swear.”

“I don’t think I could wear anything like that with my scars.” Marcy shrugged, the ruffles on her white shirt bouncing with her shoulders

“I paid like 30 bucks for this shirt if I remember correctly though, so I might as well get some actual use out of it.” Sasha rolled her eyes “To be honest I don’t even know what past me was thinking.”

“Past you didn’t have a giant scar running up her back.” Anne smiled, digging her toes and flip flops in the sand “How did your mom react?”

“She was mostly just glad I was okay after that, but she made me go to the doctor to get a scan.” Sasha’s face went stiff. “The scythe was about 2 centimeters from hitting my spinal cord and paralyzing me.”

“Damn.” Anne breathed “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“Me too. I’m really, really sorry.” Marcy said, looking up from her book

“What matters is that we’re all okay” Sasha grabbed both of them into a hug “Now Anne, you still wanna spar?”

“Heck yeah I do.” Anne grinned

They walked out to a clearing on the beach not too far from where their spot was, Marcy watching with her book set down. Anne was glad it was just a warmer day in late March and the beach wasn’t too crowded, giving them plenty of room. Sasha gave Anne the silver colored sword, keeping the rose gold one for herself, and they spread out.

“Ready?” she asked loudly, as they were about 10 feet apart

“You bet!” Anne shouted back

She clutched the hilt of the sword tightly as Sasha ran at her, deflecting the hit with a loud clank and sliding to Sasha’s left, spraying sand in the air.

Anne raised her sword, getting up as Sasha’s came crashing down.

“If you drop your sword you lose!” Sasha smiled at her

“I’ll make sure you’re the one dropping your sword!” Anne grinned, pressing her sword upwards before bounding a couple feet backward

Sparring with Sasha was a lot more fun this time than the last time she had done it, although Anne guessed that was due to the stress of their squad being potentially captured that was weighing down her shoulders last time.

She ran at Sasha, who deflected the sword with her shoe, doing a backflip in an attempt to kick the sword out of Anne’s hand, though her grip remained steady.

Anne could hear Marcy cheering in the distance, as well as seeing a crowd growing out of the corner of her eye, but she stayed focused on Sasha.

“Is that all you got?” Sasha asked, grinning

They sparred some more, dodging strikes and clashing blades until Anne was exhausted.

Sasha went for her one more time and knocked the hilt out of her sweaty hand.

“Good match.” Sasha shook Anne’s hand

“Good match.” Anne smiled, handing Sasha back her sword “I think I’m going to need to chug some water.”

They began to walk back to the spot where Marcy and their moms sat.

“Oh my frog, Anne, you lost one of your flip flops.” Sasha laughed, “That’s classic.”

“Are you mocking me for how I walked around with only one shoe on for months?” Anne smiled

“Duh.” Sasha grinned back, before glancing over her shoulder “Wow, a lot of people were watching us.”

“Guess it’s not every day you see two teenage girls sparring with actual swords on the beach.” Anne commented

“That was awesome!” Marcy exclaimed as they returned to the spot “I could clearly tell each of you had a strategy, and while I prefer weapons that have more range than the melee aspects of swordfighting, it was so cool!” 

“Yeah, and a lot more fun than last time.” Anne added

“Heh, yeah, but maybe like, in one of our backyards next time, so we don’t draw another crowd.” Sasha shrugged “Let’s go look for your flip flop, Anne. Are you coming Mar-Mar?”

“Yeah. You know I’ve got the sharpest attention to detail!” Marcy grabbed her crutches, slipped her wrists into them, and got up

“That’s debatable.” Anne muttered, getting a snort out of Sasha

They spent the next 15 minutes combing the beach for Anne’s bright yellow flip flop, and even though they never actually ended up finding it, they listened to Marcy describe this wild magical adventure the flip flop was going on.

“...But in all honesty it probably ended up in one of those massive ocean trash piles.” Marcy finished

They laughed. Being there in that moment felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Chapter Text

Marcy packed her bag in excitement. School had just gotten out for spring break, and her parents had allowed her to go back to Amphibia after a long discussion of not getting into danger and being careful.

“Don’t worry mama, I have plenty of friends there to keep me safe. Nobody is going to try and hurt us after we saved everyone from being crushed to death by the moon.” Marcy had told her parents sweetly a couple days before

Apparently with everything else that had happened, Marcy had neglected to remember that they weren’t going to mention the whole moon thing, which led to another long discussion, and some from Anne and Sasha to their parents, based on how they’d complained about it the following day.

It was barely noticeable, but when Marcy thought about it she could feel her calamity powers growing stronger every day. It felt good, one morning she had even felt so strong she thought she could walk without her crutches, even though it ended up being a mistake.

But no matter what happened, Marcy knew things would work out in Amphibia. After all, it wasn’t the first time she couldn’t walk without crutches there. She’d broken her leg before, and she was taken care of by Lady Olivia. On top of that, she had a whole bunch of other people who would understand, who cared about her just as much as Anne and Sasha and her parents did.

Of course, given more time to prepare to be whisked away to another dimension meant she felt more ready too. She had her backpack this time, filled with her journal, extra clothes, fidgets, and other random trinkets she figured she might need.

Now all there was left to do was wait.

Waiting was incredibly boring, so she sent a few messages, and within minutes rushed as quickly as she could down the stairs. 

“Baba! I’m going over to Anne’s house! We might go get ice cream and I don’t know if Sasha’s coming.” She said

“Okay, just be careful! Stay with Anne and her parents and be back by 5!” Her dad replied

She walked the short distance to Anne’s house, the wind pressing against her black and white striped shirt and bright green skirt, and rang the doorbell. Soon they were both hanging out on Anne’s bed.

“So, what are you bringing?” Marcy kicked her feet

“Well, I have some clothes obviously, no sense of wearing a school uniform for ages if I don’t have to, and then mostly gifts for everyone. I found this shiny fidget spinner at the mall that I got for Sprig, and a new bow for Polly that’s red, like, a dark red so blood won’t show up on it, and then stickers for both of them!” Anne smiled, fidgeting with the strap of the yellow tank top she was wearing

“That’s cool! I didn’t even think about bringing back gifts for anyone! I don’t even know what I’d get for Lady Olivia or General Yunan.” Marcy said “Are you getting anything for Hop Pop?”

“Oh yeah, but I haven’t gotten it yet. I’m getting him avocados.” Anne grinned

“Avocados?” Marcy asked skeptically

“When we were stuck on earth, he discovered avocados and got obsessed with them, and now he wants to try and grow them.” Anne said

“Hmm. That may be possible, although I’d probably have to do an assessment to see if the Amphibian soil has the right nutrients and the air has the right temperatures and humidity to have the proper growing conditions for avocados, along with the risks that come with planting them due to avocados being an foreign species to the area.” Marcy quipped

Anne seemed to freeze “I have no idea what any of that means but I’m sure you and Hop Pop will be able to handle it. How are you feeling about maybe seeing Andrias again?”

Marcy was quiet “Hopefully I won’t. I don’t think I’m ready . I forgave him for the things the Core made him do but I still don’t really want to face him after he… you know.” 

“No, I get it. If you want you can stay with me in the Plantar’s basement, you know, if you don’t want to stay in the palace again” Anne shrugged “I’m sure they’d be okay with it, Hop Pop loves you and your new passion for properly farming avocados.”

Marcy burst into laughter “In that case I might have to take you up on that offer.”

Anne and Marcy’s phones pinged at the same time, but Anne grabbed hers first. “Oh, it’s Sasha! She says she’s here!”

Marcy waited for Anne to come back with Sasha, thinking about a gift for Lady Olivia and Yunan.

“So, did you get anything for Grime?” Anne asked Sasha as they walked in the room

She was wearing her open back shirt again, as well as practically the same outfit she’d worn to the beach, minus the swords. Was Sasha… proud of her scar now? Marcy felt like she could never be comfortable with the scars on her chest and back, but Sasha was a warrior, so maybe. Yunan would always tell her about her scars and the battles in which she got them in, maybe Sasha was the same.

“Oh, I got him a bunch of DVDs and a DVD player. You wouldn’t believe how much he gets into those cheesy movies” Sasha smirked

“Everyone does. Wartwood had a literal civil war after I showed them Love Choice.” Anne said

“Seriously?” Marcy asked

“Ok, now you’ve got to tell us that story.” Sasha added

“Let’s do it on the way to the pier, my mom said she’d take us. We can get ice cream and go on the ferris wheel.” Anne replied

Marcy listened to Anne’s story, grinning, because the entire situation was just ridiculously hilarious, like something that would happen in a kids cartoon.

“I’m going to go to the restaurant to check up on things for a bit, but I’ll be back in two hours. Are you girls going to be okay by yourselves?” Mrs. Boonchuy asked

“Yes!” Marcy replied along with Sasha and Anne

“We’ll be fine, it’s not like there’s killer robots or the government chasing us… anymore.” Anne shrugged

Mrs. Boonchuy laughed, “Well, if anything happens, give me a call, but I'm sure you three are capable of handling plenty by yourselves.”

She drove off.

“No way, this is the first time the adults have left us alone since we got back!” Sasha exclaimed

“Let’s go get some ice cream!” Anne cheered

The pier was loud and overwhelming, as usual, but having Anne and Sasha by her side made her feel a little better, at least. The place seemed exactly the same as the last time they’d come, although Marcy figured that was because the pier was too far out from the city for the invasion to have destroyed it. Soon they were in front of one of the many ice cream booths, which, like all the others, had bright flashing lights and loud music.

“I think I’ll have chocolate cherry, what about you two?” Sasha told the worker, before turning to Anne and Marcy

“Cookies and Cream for sure. Mar-Mar?” Anne added

Marcy tried to speak, but the words felt lodged in her throat. She ended up pointing to the flavor she wanted. This happened every time they went to the pier, she always thought she could handle it but she couldn’t.

“Mint chocolate chip?” Anne asked Marcy, to which she nodded “Yeah, and one mint chocolate chip.”

“That’ll be $15.87.” the worker said, and Anne handed him a $20 dollar bill, before they received the change and the ice cream

“Say, kid, you look familiar from somewhere.” he told Anne

“I get that a lot,” Anne laughed nervously. “It’s always nothing.”

They quickly walked off. 

“Frog, that was a close one.” Anne breathed, taking a bit out of her ice cream “I hate how the whole fight was broadcasted literally everywhere, I never fucking asked to be famous!”

Sasha rolled her eyes “Yeah, we stopped the frogdamn moon from crashing into the planet in another dimension and still get less bothered there, it’s insane.” 

“Humans are just crazy.” Marcy said quietly

“Definitely” Sasha replied

Anne giggled “Agreed.”

As they finished their ice cream, they got in line for the ferris wheel. They always went on the ferris wheel when they came to the pier together, because it was Marcy’s favorite. She liked how inside the little pods it’s quiet and they can relax and look out at the ocean and talk. And that’s what they did, it felt incredibly nice.

After getting off, Anne checked her phone. “Okay, we have about 45 minutes until my mom comes to pick us up, what do you guys want to do?”

“Ooh, let’s check if they reopened the aquarium!” Sasha said

As they walked over towards where the aquarium was, there was a sudden, high pitched whistle, which caused Marcy to freeze. Anne seemed to recognize the struggle immediately and covered Marcy’s ears for her, Marcy reminding herself to thank Anne later.

“Hey baby, hot scar, where did you get it from?” A boy who looked a couple years older asked Sasha, walking up to the three girls with his own group

“Who’s asking?” Sasha said innocently

“I am. Ditch these two losers and come hang out with us.” the boy smirked, brushing his wavy brown hair out of his eyes

Sasha smiled, and started talking in her very familiar honey voice Marcy hadn’t heard her use in a while.

“But like, these two are my besties, and I don’t even know you, and you’re probably like three years older than me, and your crew looks like trash.” Sasha shrugged “So yeah, thanks, but bye”

They began to walk away, when all of a sudden Marcy spotted the boy grab Sasha’s shoulders in the split second before she whipped around and shoved him to the ground.

Marcy and Anne, as well as anyone watching, had their mouths agape, but Sasha seemed content with just walking off after that.

Until one of the boys kicked out one of Marcy’s crutches under her and grabbed it, tossing it around with the rest of the boys. Fortunately, Anne caught Marcy before she fell, and she was able to restabilize herself with just the one crutch.

“Are you okay?” Anne asked

Marcy looked into her eyes. They glowed with the slightest tinge of blue, and Anne herself looked mad.

“Anne, don’t use your powers, we need them to get back to Amphibia.” Marcy whispered

“Right.” The blue in Anne’s eyes faded after she took a deep breath “Thanks Mar-Mar.”

“You’ve made a huge fucking mistake, but I’d still call you lucky, only because I don’t have my swords on me.” Sasha growled, snatching Marcy’s crutch out of the air with ease and handing it back to her. “You said you wanted to know where I got my scar, I got it saving your sorry asses by helping stop the invasion last month. Anne?”

“Yes?” Anne asked

“You wanna show these jerks what we’re made of?” Sasha asked

Anne grinned.

The boys laughed. “What are you going to do? You’re just two little girls, you’re outnumbered.”

Sasha grabbed one of the boys by his arm and flung him to the ground, before whipping out one of her knives because of course she had them.

This soon collapsed into a full on brawl, and one boy even went for Marcy, but she managed to trip him and hit him on the head with one of her crutches. Frog, she wished she had her crossbow about now. Other than that, the fight was such a mess that Marcy could hardly make out what was going on.

It wasn’t too long before they were all escorted off the premises, and Anne had to call her mom.

“Well, that was certainly eventful.” Anne muttered “Are you guys okay?”

“Duh.” Sasha said

“I am, but I don’t think those boys are.” Marcy grinned

They laughed and talked about it until Mrs. Boonchuy came

“We are never discussing any of this with our parents” Sasha said

Anne and Marcy nodded in agreement

“Oh, Anne, thanks for helping me earlier.” Marcy smiled softly

“No problem Mar-Mar!” Anne smiled back

Chapter Text

The next day, Anne had everything she needed packed in her old pink backpack, including the avocados she’d bought for Hop Pop with her dad last night. She said goodbye to her parents and hugged them tight, before heading out to meet up with her friends. The plan was to meet up at Marcy’s house, and when she got there, both Sasha and Marcy were there. Sasha had a small bag, but was otherwise fully decked out in her armor and cape, and had both her swords. Marcy wore her cape as well, with a t-shirt and leggings. Anne had on a t-shirt and shorts as well as her own armor.

“So, where are we doing this portal thing?” Sasha asked

“Well, we have two options, either we go to the same place we went to last time, so the park, or we find a secluded spot and hope for the best.” Marcy explained

“I like the park idea.” Anne muttered “You guys remember the song the music box played? I think that increases our chances.”

“Of course” Sasha said before humming the music box’s distinguishable tune

“Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Marcy exclaimed

They went to the park, and luckily, because it was early enough in the morning, it wasn’t busy. The few people that were there seemed to stare at the girls for their- according to earth standards- strange choice of clothing, but they walked past, finding the same bench hidden among the trees.

“Ready?” Sasha asked

Anne nodded. She was beyond ready to see everyone again. It had only been a month but it felt like forever.

She gripped her friends’ hands, Marcy on her right and Sasha on her left, and they started humming the music and thinking of Amphibia, just like they had when they returned to earth. Soon, Anne could feel the power flowing through her, and opened her eyes that she hadn’t even realized she had closed, to see the portal in front of the three of them. She looked over at Marcy and Sasha, whose arm marks were glowing in their respective colors, green and pink, along with their eyes and a slight tinge to their hair. She assumed the same of herself, especially since she felt like she could do anything. The three of them stepped through the portal, which deposited them all on their faces in the middle of Wartwood.

“Great…” Sasha wiped the mud off her face, and the three of them got up

“Oh my frog! They’re back!” Ivy shouted “Anne and Sasha and Marcy are back!”

The portal had vanished, and everyone was crowded around them.

“Ay, out of the way.” A gruff voice said

Soon Grime pushed his way through the crowd.

“Lieutenant!” he called

“Commander! I missed you so much!” Sasha shouted

They hugged. 

“What are you doing here in Wartwood, Grimesy?” Sasha asked

“I could say the same for you three warriors, but as for me, I was appointed Commander of Defense for Wartwood.” Grime replied

“We’re just visiting.” Anne told Grime, looking down at the wooden arm he had “Nice arm”

“Loggle and Stumpy worked together to make it. It has hidden weapon compartments.” Grime grinned, lowering his voice

“You wanna stay here, Sash? Anne and I are going to go to the Plantars’.” Marcy said

Sasha nodded, “Yeah, I’ll catch you two later”

They walked off.

“So, did you end up getting anything for Lady Olivia and Yunan?” Anne asked Marcy on the way out of the village and to the farm

“Yeah, I got Olivia a necklace, and Yunan a knife sharpener for her retractable metal claws.” Marcy shrugged, “Even though I’m staying with you, I’m hoping to visit Newtopia, even if it’s just for a day, so I can see them.”

“We’ll make that happen.” Anne grinned

The Plantar farm was now within sight, and Anne felt her excitement grow every step she took closer. 

When they got close enough, Anne noticed that they were out pulling weeds again. She whispered a plan to Marcy, who muffled her giggles and waited as Anne crept closer, out of sight.

“Hop Pop!” She said loudly in her complaining voice “We’ve been out here forever, how many more weeds are we going to have to pull?”

“For frog’s sake, we’ve literally only been out here for 15 minutes Anne!” Hop Pop replied, before freezing “Wait a minute, Anne’s not-”

“Anne!” Sprig dropped what he was doing and bounded over to her, knocking her to the ground with a hug “I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too, Sprig.” Anne was laughing and crying

Marcy made her way over, along with Polly and Hop Pop from the other direction.

“Oh, and Marcy is going to stay with me in the basement.” Anne said

“Fine by me” Hop Pop shrugged

Polly seemed to be gazing at Marcy in curiosity. She didn’t say anything though.

“I brought you all things!” Anne added, opening her backpack. “We’ve got 3 avocados for Hop Pop-”

Hop Pop gasped “Precious…”

“I can help you test the growing conditions and the potential environmental impact of planting those.” Marcy told him

“That’ll be very helpful, thank you.” Hop Pop replied, staring at the avocados

“And for Polly, a new bow.” Anne continued

“Why would I need a-” Polly froze when she saw it “Ooh!”

“I figured you’d like it, something about the color being the same as the blood of your enemies or something.” Anne grinned “And for Sprig, a fidget spinner!”

Anne demonstrated how it worked before handing it off to him.

“Ooh, shiny. Thanks Anne!” Sprig seemed mesmerized

“Is Sasha here with you?” Hop Pop asked

“Yeah, but she’s staying with Grime.” Anne replied

“What’s with these weird, shiny canes Marcy has?” Polly poked one

Anne noticed she looked slightly bigger and her tail had fallen off. 

“Oh, those are my crutches. Nobody really knows what happened with my legs but I need these and the braces I have on under my leggings to walk, otherwise I’ll just sorta… fall.” Marcy explained “It kinda sucks because I’m slower.”

“Hmm.” Polly seemed to think “Yeah, that won’t work. I rebuilt Frobo on my own, I’m sure I could figure out how to make you some rocket boots.”

“But would it be worth it? Rocket boots would take a lot of energy, but they need to be powered remotely from an outlet, so therefore we would have to factor in the amount of charge in the batteries to see if they’d be able to work for more than a couple minutes.” Marcy considered

“Not to mention the energy it would take to propel your body weight and the gyroscope to make sure you stay upright and are able to control your movements. You're right.” Polly mused, “I’m sure we can figure out something better.” 

“Marcy wants to go back to Newtopia to see Lady Olivia and General Yunan.” Anne told Hop Pop, lowering her voice “But we don’t want to run into Andrias. Do you know if he’s still there?”

“As far as I’ve heard, he’s become sort of a wandering traveller of sorts. Lady Olivia along with a bunch of other newts, and even some toads and frogs, are on the new Newtopian council.” Hop Pop explained

“Damn, you guys overhauled your government? That’s cool” Anne smiled

“Eh, not much has been happening around here. We rebuilt things, Bessie and Joe Sparrow adopted Micro-Angelo, so far, everything’s back to normal.” Hop Pop said “Other than Wartwood insisting on building a statue of you.”

“THEY WHAT?!?” Anne shouted

“Yeah! You haven't seen it yet?” Sprig asked, “I thought you said you went to Wartwood.”

“I did, but I must’ve missed it!” Anne exclaimed “So anyways, we’re here visiting because we’re on spring break.”

“What? But it’s fall now.” Sprig muttered

“I forgot that the seasons were reversed here.” Anne muttered “Basically, we get off of school for a week.”

“You’ve got to take me to this school sometime.” Sprig said “Because I have no idea what it is.”

“Seems like a good idea.” Anne smirked

They talked for a little while longer, before making it into town. 

“And there it is.” Sprig said

Not too far from the center was a giant statue about 3 times the size of Anne. 

“Dear frog, it’s freaking awesome.” Anne breathed “You know, everyone around here is much better about saving the world than people on earth are. You guys build a statue and leave the actual people alone, but on earth, I get swarmed with questions anytime anyone recognizes me.”

“Wow, that sounds awful.” Sprig said “Like- we also helped save the world and played major roles in the rebellion, but really, life’s been going on like normal. For better or for worse, I have to spend my days pulling weeds instead of being famous. But someday, I’d like to go on adventures with Ivy, that would be really cool.”

“So, do I get to be maid of honor in your wedding?” Anne teased

Sprig blushed, “Probably, although we might have to have two because of Polly.”

“Polly would probably want to be a flower girl for the sake of throwing things at people.” Anne shrugged

“Flower girl?” Sprig asked

“Yeah, you know, walks down the aisle and spreads flowers?” Anne asked

“Never heard of anything like that. We do have the sword spreader, who marks the aisle in special decorative patterns with a special sword that’s like a giant pen, but the markings wash away with water.” Sprig mentioned “Now that I think about it, Polly will definitely want to do that. I still think me and Ivy are too young to get married, but this is still so exciting!”

Anne smiled. She had missed Sprig so much.

Chapter Text

Sasha went over to the Plantars’ house the next day to visit Anne and Marcy with Grime. They had both stayed up late the night before to binge the new season of Suspicion Island on Sasha’s phone, as out of all the things she’d gotten Grime, he’d wanted to watch that. Not that she was complaining, she’d been waiting to watch it as well.

When she got there, Marcy and Hop Pop were sitting in the garden planting avocados for some reason, and Anne, Sprig, and Polly were nowhere to be seen.

“Hi Sash!” Marcy exclaimed, waving

“Why are you planting avocados?” Sasha asked, scrunching her face in confusion

“Because they’re so good!” Hop Pop practically shouted “Haven’t you ever tried one?”

“Uh, yeah.” Sasha muttered. Avocado everything was trending a couple years ago, but even then she’d never seen anyone as enthusiastic over avocados as Hop Pop was.

“And as it turns out, the temperatures here in the valley are perfect for growing avocados and the soil has the right nutrients, so we really lucked out!” Marcy added

“Cool.” Sasha muttered, not knowing anything about farming “Where’s Anne?” 

“She’s inside with Sprig and Polly watching Love Choice 2. Hop Pop and I weren’t really interested, and they feared if they showed it to the entire town another civil war would break out so it’s probably best not to tell anyone.” Marcy said

“Okay, thanks, we were just going to tell them we have plans.” Sasha muttered

 “What sort of plans?” Marcy asked

“Grimesy and I are going to go find some old friends. You wouldn’t know them, but they were part of our small crew between when we lost control of the tower to when we reunited.” Sasha replied, sighing “And I was awful to them, and I need to apologize.”

“I received a tip that they’ve been hanging around one of our old hideouts, so we’re going to pay them a little visit.” Grime smirked

“Yeah, I was just planning to tell Anne about that as well, but frog, Grime, you couldn’t make that sound any less menacing?!” Sasha shouted

“What?” Grime asked

Sasha rolled her eyes and smiled “Oh right, I forgot your default setting is menacing.”

They went inside, and when Anne noticed them, she paused the movie.

“Hey Sash!” Anne greeted her “What’s up?”

Sasha explained to Anne what was going on.

“Oh, do you need any transportation, or protection? I’m sure if you asked Marcy you could take Joe Sparrow or maybe Frobo.” Anne asked

“No, it’s not actually not too far from here.” Sasha replied “And we know how to obliterate anything that happens to get in our way.”

“You know, Sasha’s not actually too bad when she’s not trying to kill us!” Polly exclaimed from the couch “She’s a badass warrior, like me!”

“Thanks, but you’re a child.” Sasha muttered

Polly pulled a spiked flail mace out of literally nowhere “That’s what they all say before I smash their heads in.”

“Polly, you can’t go around threatening people!” Anne shouted 

“I survived the end of the world twice, as well as almost being eaten probably 20 times, I can do whatever the fuck I want!” Polly shouted back

Sasha burst out laughing, Anne looked flabbergasted. “Where did you learn how to swear?!”

“I spent 3 hours alone at a truck stop joint.” Polly shrugged

“Ivy taught me everything I know about swearing.” Sprig commented

“You too?!?” Anne shouted “Wait- where did Ivy learn swears?”

“She says her mom swears like a sailor when she thinks no one is around.” Sprig shrugged, “So when are those two leaving, I want to see what happens.”

“Not soon enough for you, little shit.” Sasha replied

“Sasha!” Anne shouted, practically pushing her out the door

The last thing Sasha saw before the door slammed on her and Grime was Polly grinning.

“Well, I guess we should set off, huh Lieutenant?" Grime muttered

“Yes, Commander.” Sasha saluted Grime

They started their journey north to a different town in the valley which wasn’t too far away, even less so than Sasha had originally thought, as they arrived on foot by the end of the day. The journey had been simple with little to no complications.

“What do you say we stay at an inn tonight and visit them in the morning?” Grime asked

“Sounds like a good plan. We’ll have more time to discuss then.” Sasha replied

Sasha felt exhausted from walking and flopped on the bed. She’d been staying fit enough back home, but walking across the entire valley was way more than she’d usually been able to work out. 

“Growing weak, Lieutenant?" Grime asked with a glimmer of amusement in his eye

“Never.” Sasha moaned “But I don’t have the time to walk entire valley lengths when I have to go to school for 8 hours a day.”

“It sounds like this school of yours isn’t training you for necessary skills in life” Grime said

“It isn’t!” Sasha threw her arms up in the air “But I still have to go and sit there and learn about algebra or whatever.”

“Can’t you just leave?” Grime asked

“Yeah, I have, but I get in trouble for it.” Sasha replied “On top of that, I ended up here in Amphibia for 8 months the last time I ditched school so I’m probably on some sort of no skipping watchlist, not that I’ve tried.”

“That’s kind of like how I’m not really welcome in Newtopia after our little coup.” Grime muttered “I haven’t exactly gone back to know for sure though.”

Sasha sighed “Sometimes I wonder how different things would’ve turned out if we hadn’t done that. Probably for the better, we were really selfish.”

“But we’ve changed for the better. Why don’t you take a rest to prepare for tomorrow, I’ll take first watch.” Grime grunted

“Sure thing Grimesy.” Sasha muttered sleepily

When Sasha got up, the light of sunrise was shining into her eyes, and Grime was asleep on the bed next to her.

“COMMANDER!” Sasha shouted, jolting Grime awake as he immediately pulled a sword out “You said you were going to take first watch, and you don’t wake me up for second?!?”

Grime sighed “You needed the rest, Lieutenant. Besides, we’re at an inn, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“I’ll have you know that Anne told me a story of an inn she visited run by cannibals!” Sasha yelled, steaming

“Since we’re both awake, let’s go out and spar.” Grime muttered

Sasha went out with Grime and soon they were sparring, swords clanking sharply as their shadows grew more visible with the sunrise. But as hard as she tried, as much as she channeled her rage into the fight, she couldn’t defeat her commander. 

“Looks like I’m not the only one who’s been slacking.” Grime grinned after pinning Sasha for the second time

Sasha grinned back “I’ve been trying to keep up my best, but I haven’t had many formidable opponents.”

“I suppose so.” Grime said “From what I’ve seen of earth, most humans are weaklings in need of rescuing. Now, let’s go get something to eat and go visit some old friends, shall we?”

As they walked to get breakfast, Sasha paused “So wait, was that whole thing just to get me to calm down?”

Commander Grime didn’t say anything, but the look in his eye gave her the answer.

“You’re the only person who’d want to fight me when I’m at my worst.” Sasha said

“Correction, I’m the only one brave enough to fight you at your worst.” Grime replied “Don’t sell yourself short, Sasha.”

Sasha smirked. She supposed that was true enough.

Soon enough she stood in front of the crumbling building, which looked more in shambles than when she’d left it. This was the place they’d stayed in when Grime was at his worst, just after losing Toad Tower, just after her fight with Anne, a rough time for sure. 

Sasha knocked on the door, and Braddock’s familiar face peeked through the doorway. She gasped.

“Is Percy here?” Sasha asked.

“Yes.” Braddock said “Percy! We have guests!” 

“Who?” Percy came to the doorway, freezing when he saw the two of them “Grime? Sasha?”

“Hey.” Sasha waved “We heard you were back here and well, I just wanted to say sorry. For everything.”

“Seriously?” Braddock looked at Sasha

“Look, you don’t have to forgive me, but I know what I did, how I treated you both was wrong, and I’ll admit I was a jerk.” Sasha said

“Wow. I never thought I’d hear a genuine apology from you of all people.” Braddock muttered

“Yeah, the Sasha I knew wouldn’t admit mistakes, instead you’d just move on and act like they never happened.” Percy added

“Well that Sasha is dead” Sasha said grimly “She died in the rebellion, when I learned that being a good leader doesn’t mean being in control of everything all the time. It means listening to your team, and I’m sorry I didn’t do that for you.”

Braddock ushered them inside and the four of them sat on a matted rug.

“The rebellion humbled all of us.” Grime muttered

“So you led the rebellion…” Percy muttered “Did you also have something to do with the moon falling out of the sky before exploding?”

“That was mostly Anne…” Sasha grimaced “but partially”

“Frog, that was a terrifying time.” Braddock muttered “The robots were everywhere, the land was a wreck, the castle was floating in the sky… we were lucky to be in such a secluded area that we weren’t bothered.”

“We retreated underground and built up an army to fight back.” Grime muttered “Even made our way to where Sasha’s from and saved it from being invaded.”

“Well, we certainly appreciate your apology, but we’ve honestly made a pretty nice life here for ourselves” Braddock shrugged “Things worked out okay for us, it’s peaceful here.”

“That’s good.” Sasha smiled 

They talked for a couple hours, discussing everything that's happened while they were together, and everything since they've split up. Finally, as the sun reached up to it's highest point in the sky, signifying it was noon, Grime got up.

“We best be on our way out. Wartwood’s not going to defend itself.” Grime muttered

“Thank you Sasha, Grime.” Percy smiled, giving Sasha a hug

“No problem. I’m just glad you’re both okay.” Sasha hugged him back

“If you’re ever in need of anything, come down to Wartwood. It’s not too far south of here, and we’ll make sure you’re taken care of.” Grime added

“Thank you.” Braddock smiled

As they walked back to the inn to prepare for the journey back, Sasha smiled. 

“I’m glad we were able to make things right with those two.” She said

“Me too, Lieutenant." Grime said gruffly, “You’ve really grown.”

“Heh, I could say the same about you, Grimesy.” Sasha smirked

Sasha felt good about herself, way better than she had in a long time. She knew that this journey, this trip to Amphibia, everything she’d changed about herself, was completely worth it.

Chapter Text

Marcy couldn’t feel more like a ghost as she stepped through the gates of Newtopia and gazed upon the golden statue of herself, its eyes shimmering with wonder, near the bay. That Marcy was a different person from a different time. A simpler time.

Newtopia looked different, although she supposed it was because they’d had to rebuild, and the castle was off to the side instead of in the center of the city. Where the castle used to be was a giant fountain engraved with a poem about the rebellion, in the center, a single white leaf encased in amber.

“So, Marcy, I just got another idea. We’d have to scour for parts for it, but instead of adding anything, what if we just upgraded your leg braces?” Polly suggested “Make them stronger, easier to walk in, so you wouldn’t need your crutches anymore?”

“That’s actually the best idea yet!” Marcy exclaimed

Over the past few days they’ve been in Amphibia, Polly’s been discussing ideas with her, and while most of them seemed outlandish, like the jetpack, and the rocket boots, she didn’t doubt Polly’s ability to build something like that. After all, Frobo was walking proof of her skill. 

They entered the castle, which had a big banner stating it was no longer home to a king, but instead a council trying to build a brighter future for all of Amphibia.

“Hey, are you nervous about seeing them?” Anne asked Marcy, nudging her lightly

“No.” Marcy replied

The walls seemed to echo with the ghosts of the past, making her uneasy. She knew the basement of the castle had actual ghosts from other dimensions, but that wasn’t what scared her. What scared her was the feeling of dread with every foot she put closer to the old throne room, now renamed the council room.

The place where her life was changed forever with a single action.

The scar in her chest burned, and as the doors to the room opened, she whimpered.

“Master Marcy!” Lady Olivia got up from her seat “It’s wonderful to see you again!”

She opened her mouth to reply, but her gaze flicked over to her right where specks of blood and ash still stained the floor. The remnants of a girl who lost a part of herself months ago. She lost her balance and collapsed.

“Marcy!” Anne cried

Just like she had when the sword was through Marcy’s chest.

She felt like she was burning up from the inside. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move, but her mind screamed at her to GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT. She curled up in a ball and whimpered again.

“I apologize.” Lady Olivia’s voice said distantly, in somewhat of a frantic tone “It was my decision for you all to meet us here, one that was obviously a mistake. Get Marcy to my room, the guards will show you the way.”

“Yes Lady Olivia.” a voice said

She felt someone grab her and throw her over their shoulders, but she didn’t move. She could feel the sensation of movement but didn’t register where she was going, her eyes screwed shut. Was she being taken down to the chamber, to be held in, clinging onto scraps of consciousness for months? Was she being brought to the chair to be possessed by the core again against her will?

Instead of all the fear and pain that ran through her head on a loop, she felt herself being placed on a soft bed. She shut her eyes tighter. Safety felt like something that was too good to be true.

“Mar-Mar.” A voice cut through the ocean of her thoughts and the distant chatter as she felt a hand holding hers “It’s okay, it’s me, Anne. Deep breaths. We’re safe, in Lady Olivia’s room. If you’d like to, you can open your eyes.”

Marcy blinked, taking in her surroundings. The soft blue of the bedsheets, the pearly white of the walls, Anne smiling at her with the leaves that had gotten tangled in her hair again at some point.

“There you go, good job.” Anne said softly “Everything’s going to be okay Marcy.”

Marcy choked out an “I’m sorry” as the tears ran down her face

Anne’s eyes looked hollow for a moment. “You don’t need to be. Deep breaths. We were in the council room, and then Frobo brought you here to Lady Olivia’s room. He’s waiting outside with the Plantars, and probably Lady Olivia. You can let them come in anytime you want, or have them stay out there for as long as you need to.”

It was about 2 more minutes before Marcy was ready to open the door.

“Is Marcy okay?” Hop Pop asked Anne

“Yeah, I am now.” Marcy replied softly

“Yunan, you know that Master Marcy’s wellbeing is of my highest concern and I must check on her!” Lady Olivia shouted from the hallway

“It’s okay, everyone can come in!” Anne said “What was that about?”

“Olivia has been trying to come in here for the past 3 minutes to check on Marcy and deliver her some tea, and I had to hold her off.” Yunan muttered

“You should’ve seen Olivia, Anne, she was savage!” Polly grinned

“Master Marcy, I hope you are feeling better. I have brought you some tea.” Lady Olivia entered the room, glaring at Yunan 

“Yes I am, Lady Olivia, thank you for waiting.” Marcy said quietly

“I told you it was best to wait before entering my room.” Yunan smiled snarkily, “I had to restrain her, Marcy!”

Marcy giggled.

Anne looked confused “Wait- your room? I thought this was Lady Olivia’s room?”

“Actually, we share it.” Lady Olivia said simply

Anne looked at the two of them, and then back at the singular bed in the room, as though she was trying to solve a puzzle. “Oh my frog, you guys are roommates !”

“Yes, I suppose that’s quite clear?” Lady Olivia muttered

Anne looked at Marcy, who was confused. They share the same room, of course they’re roommates! Then it hit her, remembering something Sasha had shown them a couple years back. They had said they were together, but Marcy didn’t think it was anything serious.

“So, when’s the wedding?” Anne asked the two of them, their faces flushing with blush

“I-I- we haven’t really discussed-” Lady Olivia stuttered

“Oh! I have gifts!” Marcy shouted, grabbing her crutches and walking over to where her backpack was, giving the gifts to them

Lady Olivia seemed pleased to move on “Why, this necklace is simply lovely, thank you very much Master Marcy!”

“And this is for making your metal claws sharper!” Marcy told Yunan “Nice and portable!”

“Thanks!” Yunan smiled

“Now that everything’s calmed down, would you all like to head out and see the newer parts of Newtopia?” Lady Olivia asked

“Sure!” Marcy asked

The next thing Marcy knew, they were walking through the city.

“So, how did you get the crutches?” Yunan asked

“Well,” Marcy blushed a bit with embarrassment “After the rebellion and everything that happened, my legs didn’t want to work.”

“Oh, so a war injury.” Yunan replied

“That makes it sound a lot cooler than it actually is.” Marcy shrugged

“Then you just tell everyone who asks that it’s a war injury and bam! You don’t even need to be the scourge of the sand wars, or defeater of Ragnar the Wretched, or the youngest newt to gain the rank of general in the great Newtopian army for respect!” Yunan grinned “Like me.”

“I guess,” Marcy smiled. “Polly said she might be able to build some better leg braces, so I might not need these anymore.”

“How’s she planning to do that? She’s a polliwog.” Yunan muttered

“She rebuilt Frobo all by herself apparently, so I trust her abilities.” Marcy shrugged 

“Damn.” Yunan muttered

Newtopia was like a whole new place to discover, as unlike Wartwood, there were more noticeable changes and differences to the city, new places to explore. It was exciting, everything feeling like a new adventure. Maybe one that would have a happier ending.

Chapter Text

As much as Anne was having fun in Amphibia, spring break was coming to an end. She’d spent the last few days in Wartwood with Sasha and Marcy, but most importantly, the Plantars. It was mostly pretty relaxing, but there were a few bumps in the road. While wandering around outside the town, they’d run into a giant mantis. Fortunately, between Marcy, Sprig, Anne, Polly, and Sasha, they were able to take it down easily, and they even went out to get a treat at Stumpy’s afterwards in celebration.

But before Anne knew it, it was time to go home. She felt strong enough too, unlike the last time they’d opened a portal, and had to take an entire month to recover. Marcy had hypothesized that it was because they were growing more used to the powers, and while that made sense, Anne didn’t want to overwork them. She knew from experience how awful that could feel.

Weak, desperately trying to cling to the last scraps of power looking up at a tyrant on top of a crumbling skyscraper. The whole weight of the world on her shoulders, but not being enough to save it. 

Despite having so much more power back then than she did now, she felt stronger at the moment. And Anne never wanted to feel like she did on the day of the invasion ever again.

“When are you going to come back?” Sprig asked, just as they were preparing to leave

“I don’t know.” Anne said, tears in her eyes. Leaving Amphibia was just as hard as the first time she had done it “My parents really want me to focus on school, since we all missed a lot, so probably not for another two months when summer starts, unless we can figure out how to change enough power to just take a weekend to come.” 

“You three keep talking about this school, but I still have no idea what it is.” Grime grumbled

“That’s because it’s pretty much impossible to explain to someone who’s never gone and keeps complaining about the lack of sword fighting classes, which by the way. I agree with, whenever I try to explain it to you Commander.” Sasha rolled her eyes, smiling

“So, this is kind of sudden, but I was talking with Hop Pop last night, and there just aren’t the materials to build Marcy’s super awesome leg braces here, so if you’d be okay with it Anne,” Polly muttered, raising her voice to an excited shout “SPRIG AND I ARE ALLOWED TO COME BACK TO EARTH WITH YOU!!!”

“REALLY?!?” Anne and Sprig shouted at the same time

“What about Hop Pop?” Sprig asked “Isn’t the fall harvest coming up?”

“I can stay behind and manage the farm by myself, and Chuck has agreed to help out with the harvest.” Hop Pop said

“I grow tulips!” Chuck piped up from the crowd

“Besides, I know Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy, and I trust that they’ll be able to take care of you.” Hop Pop added

“Oh thank you thank you thank you!” Sprig hugged him “I’m going to miss you so much!”

Ivy stepped out from the crowd, grabbing Sprig and hugging him from behind. “I love you, you better bring me back something cool!”

“I love you too.” Sprig hugged her back “And I definitely will.”

“Frog, they're adorable!” Marcy squealed in Anne’s ear

Polly went and hugged goodbye to Frobo, as someone else made their way through the crowd.

“Hold up! One more thing. I am also heading back with Lieutenant Sasha and her friends!” Grime announced

“Commander, you don’t have to-” Sasha said, trying to hide her smile

“I’d like to make sure, even if it’s just for a short while, that you can keep up your training with a formidable opponent.” Grime added

Sasha was grinning now.

“Hey, I’m plenty formidable!” Anne shouted

“Croaker, you’re in charge of defense while I’m gone.” Grime ordered

Mrs. Croaker gave him a sharp nod. “You can count on me, Commander.”

They all waved their final goodbyes, and Anne, Marcy, and Sasha clasped hands and focused their energy on opening the portal. 

Anne grabbed Sprig’s arm, and they smiled as they stepped through the portal into… her backyard?

“I thought we would end up at the park again.” Sasha muttered “But this is ridiculously convenient.” She turned to Grime as the portal closed, as though making sure he was still there. “We are so going out for boba.”

Sprig was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Mom! Dad! We’re home!” Anne called “We sorta accidentally portaled into the backyard, but it’s better than falling out of the sky onto the freeway honestly.” 

Mom entered the kitchen, freezing in surprise when she saw Sprig and Polly next to Anne.

“ ลูก ๆ ของฉัน!” she exclaimed, wrapping all three of them in a hug “Where’s the orange one, Hop Pop?”

“He stayed behind for the harvest.” Sprig said

“ดีใจที่ได้พบคุณอีกครั้ง, Mrs. Boonchuy. ทุกอย่างเป็นอย่างไรบ้าง?” Polly asked

Sasha gaped down at her.

“Is she fluent?” she whispered to Anne

“Yes. When it comes to Polly, it’s better not to ask questions.” Anne whispered back

Mom smiled “ ดีมาก ร้านอาหารทำได้ดี. ดีใจที่ได้พวกคุณกลับมาอีกครั้ง!”

Polly nodded.

“I don’t even understand what they’re talking about.” Anne whispered to Sasha

“Well, I suppose you girls will want to head home and prepare for school tomorrow.” Mom told Sasha and Marcy, pausing again when she saw Grime. “And who’s this?”

“Oh, Mrs. Boonchuy, this is Grime, my Captain and Commander, and he’ll be with me.” Sasha explained 

“I believe we met briefly during the invasion.” Grime muttered

“Yes, we may have. There was a lot going on though, I can’t remember all the details.”  Mom muttered, “He looks tough.”

“I am.” Grime replied gruffly

“Eh, I’ve beaten him in a fight, along with his sister. Good times.” Sprig smiled

Grime grinned at Sprig “He’s a tough little frog as well.”

“ เขาเป็นคนใจดีเมื่อพูดถึง Sasha.” Polly whispered, getting a laugh out of Mom

“Well, I’m going to go home. See you guys tomorrow!” Marcy waved

“We should be heading out too. I have to find some way to explain Grime staying with us to my mom and hope she doesn’t freak out.” Sasha added

“I would also like to find out what this boba is that you mentioned.” Grime muttered as they walked out the front door 

“Oh, it’s gonna change your life forever, Grimesy.” Sasha smiled

“Alright, I’ll start preparing Kai Yat Sai for you all, Anne, go unpack, you have school tomorrow.” Mom said

“Can we come to your school?” Sprig asked, flopping on Anne’s bed

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Besides, it’s pretty boring.” Anne muttered, pulling things out of her bag

“Please???” Sprig asked, giving her puppy dog eyes

“Yeah, it’s gonna be pretty boring around here without you.” Polly muttered

“OKAY, FINE!” Anne groaned “But… we need to come up with a good story for you guys…”

Chapter Text

Marcy sat in class, drawing, when she heard Anne’s voice just outside the doorway.

“Okay,” Anne said quietly “Just act natural, and maybe you can speak a little Thai to sell all of it, okay? I’ll do all the talking for the introductions.”

“Mr. Carson!” Anne walked in the room, Sprig and Polly following behind her in disguise. “I have two exchange students that my family is hosting with me today, if that’s okay.”

“That’s great.” He said, not even looking up “I’ll have you introduce them to the class when it starts.”

Marcy got up and walked over to Anne “What are you doing?!?” She asked

“Oh, hi Marcy!” Sprig waved. “We’re here because staying at Anne’s house would be boring… and honestly I’ve never been to a school before so-”

“Shh!” Anne interrupted in a whisper “Remember, we’re lying!”

As class started, Marcy had to sit back down, and Sasha was late.

“Anne Boonchuy has informed us that we have two exchange students that her family is hosting joining us today!” Mr. Carson said “Why don’t you bring them up to the front of the room and introduce them to the class, Anne?”

As Anne walked up to the front of the room, Sasha came in “Sorry I’m late I-”

She froze, shooting Anne and Marcy a glare that said we’ll talk about this later as Marcy desperately tried to stifle her giggling.

“Um, so, these are the two students my family is hosting from Thailand, Sprig and Polly.” Anne gestured “They can speak English pretty well, and they are both definitely 13, and they’ve definitely gone to school before- question.” 

The boy in the middle row- Carter- who was raising his hand asked “Are you sure they’re 13, they look quite a bit younger than that?”

“Yes.” Polly answered “I am just… how do you say… สั้น?”

“Short” Anne translated, winking at Polly

“Could Sprig and Polly tell the class a little more about themselves?” Mr. Carson asked

“Um, yeah!” Sprig said nervously “My name’s Sprig, I like adventures, sports, slingshots, and hanging out with my girlfriend Ivy!” He looked up at Anne, before proudly proclaiming “And I’m a person from Thailand, definitely not a frog from another dimension.”

Sasha audibly smacked her forehead near the back of the room.

“My name is Polly!” Polly blurted “I like fighting and robots! Sprig is my cousin!”

“Okay…” Mr. Carson said awkwardly “Thank you Anne, but you three can sit down, thank you.”

As Anne passed by Marcy’s seat she was whispering with Sprig.

“Why did you say that?!” Anne ask-whispered

“I thought you said we were lying! I was lying!” Sprig whispered his reply

“You’re a terrible liar!” Anne whispered back

They sat down in the middle of the classroom and Mr. Carson did some announcements and morning prayer before he took attendance. The students chatted in their seats while they did, but Marcy, being seated away from her friends, drew in her notebook while listening to everyone else as usual. 

“Hey Polly, like, are you sure you’re 13, cuz you look the size of my 3 year old cousin.” Carter said

“Yes.” Polly groaned, “I’m just short.”

“You look and talk like a baby.” Carter snickered

“ฉันสามารถดูถูกเขาได้ไหม?” Polly asked Anne

Anne didn’t respond, so either she agreed with, or didn’t understand what Polly said. Knowing the amount of times she ditched Thai school to hang out with her and Sasha though, Marcy assumed it was the latter.

“Go fuck yourself.” Polly told Carter, quite audibly, that everyone in the room looked up at her in silence.

Silence that Sasha broke by bursting out laughing.

“POLLY! You can’t say that!” Anne shouted “I am so sorry, she heard it on a show we were watching she didn’t actually mean it-”

“I meant it!” Polly shouted “He was being a jerk, insulting me for being short, if I had Frobo right now I’d blow his stupid face to pieces and ARGHHHH you have no idea what I’m capable of now that I have my legs you’ll regret the day you ever insulted Polly Plantar!”

Anne was restraining her and Sasha got up. “Polly, let’s go.”

Polly nodded and followed Sasha out of the room.

“Alright, everyone calm down.” Mr. Carson said, ignoring what just happened

Sprig seemed better at ignoring Carter trying to pester him, so the rest of the class went off without another hitch. But Sasha and Polly did not come back. Instead, towards the end of class, her phone buzzed in her bag.

Lieutenant-Sash: Meet up in the robotics room after class

Marcy met up with Sprig and Anne on the way out.

“Seriously, why did you think this was a good idea?! Sprig’s a terrible actor, and while Polly’s a bit better, all of it got thrown out the window the moment someone made her mad!” Marcy whispered to Anne in the halls “You would’ve been better off bringing Hop Pop to school!” 

“I couldn’t resist the faces they were making!” Anne whispered back “Besides, last time I left them alone, Sprig became a freaking masked vigilante and Polly almost got herself killed rebuilding Frobo!”

When they opened the door to the robotics room, Polly was using a very loud drill, her disguise off, and Sasha was sitting on a table.

“Oh! Hey guys!” Polly jumped up on the table with Sasha “I was just pulling together some parts and working on a prototype for Marcy’s leg braces. This place has literally EVERYTHING!”

Anne sighed “Polly, you can’t loudly threaten people like that, especially in school.”

“Yeah, Sasha explained it to me, you have to do it quietly so the teachers don’t hear.” Polly smiled sweetly

“Wha- SASHA!!!” Anne shouted “You shouldn’t be threatening people at all!”

Marcy couldn’t help but let out the laughter she’d been holding in all of class.

“I’m sorry, this whole thing is just so funny!” Marcy said, hiccuping with giggles “I don’t think anyone believed either of them were 13, cuz Sprig’s 11 and Polly’s what, 6?”

“I’m 7.” Polly shrugged, looking over at Sprig, who’d climbed a shelf “DON’T TOUCH THAT!”

Sprig turned on a blowtorch that was fortunately facing away from him, but panicked and dropped it on the floor. Polly was quick to turn it off.

“Yet still more responsible than your brother?” Sasha asked

Polly smirked, “Oh, definitely.”

“Hey!” Sprig glared

A teacher poked his head in “You all shouldn’t be in here, students are only allowed in this shop during robotics class or robotics club!”

“Oh, sorry Mr. D!” Anne said quickly “I was just showing the exchange students my family is hosting all the cool things about our school, and Marcy and Sasha were helping”

The teacher smiled, “Well, the bell is just about to ring, so you all better get to your next class.”

The moment he left, Sasha began to laugh “Never thought I’d see the day you became a model student.”

“Okay, but wasn’t it kind of crazy how he didn’t automatically assume we were getting into trouble?” Marcy asked

“You guys used to get into trouble?” Sprig asked

“Oh yeah.” Sasha smiled

“Way more than we did in Amphibia actually.” Anne muttered

“That’s because the rules in Amphibia make sense!” Marcy exclaimed “Like, in Amphibia it was always, don’t do this or you’ll get eaten by a giant bug and die, but here it’s always been don’t do this because I told you so.”

“Have to admit, I told you so is a pretty lame excuse.” Sprig muttered “When we were stranded here the rules were always to keep a low profile so nobody finds out you’re a frog from another dimension, but that was really all thrown out the window during the invasion, like me on King Andrias’s ship!”

“Oh my frog, Sprig, don't joke about that.” Anne gasped “But still, look at us! We saved the world, twice! We’ve been through all sorts of craziness together and we’ve all grown and-”

“-learned to make inspiring speeches?” Mr. D asked “I honestly had a feeling you girls wouldn’t go to class, and I was correct. Everyone knows that you stopped that evil robot king from taking over the world and we are all very grateful, but you are still students who need to follow the rules and go to class.” 

“Hang on, how long have you been out there?” Polly asked

“The whole time, what were you girls talking abo- hang on, is that a giant tadpole?” Mr. D shouted

“Rude! I’m a polliwog!” Polly glared

Marcy remembered that tadpole was a derogatory term in Amphibia.

“No, you’re supposed to be an exchange student from Thailand!” Anne shouted

Mr. D sighed “All of you, Principal Murphy’s office now.”

The girls collectively groaned. 

Chapter Text

“Frogvasion wasn’t all that long ago, and I know you girls played a large part in what happened that day, especially you Anne, but you have to understand that I cannot have frog aliens attending this school.” Principal Murphy told Anne and everyone else as they sat in the all too familiar hard plastic chairs of the Principal’s office

“We’re not aliens, we’re just from a different dimension! And we’re not evil either, we helped stop the invasion!” Polly shouted

Anne sighed. Polly needed to calm down if they were going to get out of here without trouble.

“Yeah, I don’t think I would’ve been able to defeat Andrias if Sprig hadn’t been there with me.” Anne added

“That’s cool, but the idea of having sentient talking frogs inside the school is unfortunately not feasible.” Principal Murphy sighed

“We’re really sorry ma’am, it’s just that Anne and Sasha and Marcy would always talk about school, and we don’t really have a school where I come from.” Sprig said “We were really curious, and we also wanted to spend more time with Anne rather than just sitting alone in her house all day. Anne is my best friend and basically my big sister, and we really didn’t mean to get in trouble, we just wanted to spend time together. After all, the time you spend with the people you love is the most important thing in the world, especially when you don’t know when they’ll be gone.”

Anne hugged Sprig, and Principal Murphy sniffled “That’s the deepest thing I’ve ever heard a kid say. How old are you again?”

“I’m thirteen- eh, the jig is up. I’m 11!” Sprig’s smile faltered “But I guess I’ve kind of been through a lot. Our parents died suddenly from a heron attack when I was 8. I’ve been dropped out of a falling castle twice, it was scarier the first time because I was alone. We’ve seen the world end twice too. I held Anne as she di-” 

“Alright that’s enough Sprig, I do not want to think about that.” Anne interrupted

“I don’t really do all this sappy talking stuff.” Polly shrugged “I’m fluent in 4 languages, Amphibian, or as you guys call it, English, Thai, robotics, and pain!”

“That was a killer line.” Sasha grinned “We’ve all been through a lot since we disappeared 8 months ago, a lot of stuff that’s hard to talk about, and a lot of change. But I think the people who we met along the way are the most important thing.”

“Andrias- who invaded earth- did a lot of terrible things to me. He’s the reason I have scars, both physical and mental, the reason I have to use these crutches, but-” Marcy’s voice cracked, tears in her eyes

Anne put her hand over Marcy’s. A symbol to tell her she didn’t have to talk about this if she didn’t want to.

“-I trusted him. He was a friend, a mentor, someone I never thought would betray me, stab me in the back. But he did, and it still hurts, even though the time has long gone by.” Marcy finished, tears rolling down her face

“Here, I’ll um… call your parents and let the three of you go home, but remember, the counselor’s door is always open.” Principal Murphy said awkwardly 

“Don’t worry. We’re all on waiting lists for therapy and stuff.” Sasha muttered “In the meantime, we all have the little things we do. I spar with my swords, Marcy draws, and Anne hangs out with us and these two little weirdos.” 

“So… is there any chance I can get out of here and go back to the robotics room now?” Polly asked

“Sorry Polly, we got to wait here for my parents to come pick us up.” Anne told her

“Aww” Polly made a disappointed sound

“How did you even know we had a robotics room?” Principal Murphy asked

“Well, we kinda came in here and hid out during the invasion, sorry about that.” Sasha muttered

“I found the robotics room and used some parts in there and my knowledge to fix up my robot friend, Frobo! He’s pink and he’s got all sorts of things, like a drink dispenser, rocket launchers, jet boots, and even a little minigun for me!” Polly said “I guess I’m sorry I took the parts without asking.”

“You built all of that with what we had in the robotics room?!” Principal Murphy exclaimed  “I’m impressed, if not a little disturbed. Anyways, I’m going to have you sit outside the door while I call your parents, okay?”

As they sat down outside the office, Anne turned to Marcy “Hey, you okay?” 

Marcy nodded.

They waited for a while as Principal Murphy made the phone calls, quietly chatting, until she raised her voice to speak a little louder.

“I’m sorry, can you hear me?” Principal Murphy paused “Yes. No she’s not necessarily in trouble. You still need to pick her up though. We’re on 70th and Harper Street. Thank you.”

She sighed, putting down the phone and they went back to waiting in silence. Until 5 minutes later, when the wall was suddenly smashed in.

Chapter Text

Sasha didn’t have her swords on her, but she whipped out a knife when she heard a crash and the wall crumbled in. The rest of her squad also seemed ready, Sprig with his slingshot, and Polly with her flail mace, which made Sasha wonder if she always carried that and where? Anne just had her fists, and Marcy grabbed a book out of her backpack to throw. 

“Liutenant! I have come to get you out of the trouble you’re in! Where’s the attacker?” Grime shouted, tossing Sasha her sword belt.

“Grimesy! Not that kind of trouble!” Sasha shouted, strapping the sword belt around her in one swoop. 

Polly and Sprig put away their weapons, shrugging.

“I’m sorry, can anyone please tell me what is going on?!?” Principal Murphy yelled

“It’s okay, Mrs. Murphy.” Anne said “Grime is no threat.”

“I am a threat to anyone who dares to attack us!” Grime growled

“Commander, no one is attacking us.” Sasha sighed

“Then why did you all have your weapons out?” Grime asked

“Because you literally smashed the wall in with your warhammer!” Anne shouted “You can’t do that!”

“I could fix it.” Marcy shrugged

“No, you are going to stay here, and you are going to wait for your parents to come.” Principal Murphy muttered “That includes you Sasha.”

“Well, if Grime came here to pick me up, that means my parents are both at work and busy so I’m just gonna go home with him.” Sasha shrugged, walking out the hole in the wall “Let’s go get boba tea.” 

She could hear Principal Murphy audibly sigh from the inside of the building, listening to Marcy’s protests. 

“I could fix that wall in probably 10 minutes, I rebuilt an entire town once over the course of 5 hours, and I’ll admit it was a small town but I’d still say that’s generally considered impressive you-” Marcy’s voice got fainter as she moved away

Sasha went into the boba shop that was 2 blocks away from school with Grime, and she knew that people were staring at the two of them, but she didn’t necessarily care.

“Yeah, I think I’ll have Lychee, what about you, Commander?” Sasha ordered

“Do they have anything with cockroaches in it?” Grime asked her

“Uhh… no, we don’t?” the boy working at the counter said awkwardly, looking nervous 

“Taro tastes similar, he’ll have one of those.” Sasha told the boy

“Okay, your total is $9.97.” The boy squeaked out

Sasha pulled a ten dollar bill out of her bag and smiled “Keep the change. Thank you!” 

“Yes, thank you.” Grime grinned

The boy took two nervous steps back.

When they got their tea, Grime took a sip and smiled. “This is really good. Do you think the worker was scared of me, or you?”

“See, I told you it would change your life. Sasha smiled back “Also, I’d have to say, both of us are pretty terrifying.”

“Let’s go back to your place and watch suspicion island again.” Grime said “Unless you’d rather spar?”

Sasha smirked “Maybe later, suspicion island is sounding pretty good right now. I wish you’d pick me up every time I got in trouble, Commander, my parents are kind of a drag when it comes to me getting in trouble at school.”

“What kind of trouble did you get into anyways, you never told me.” Grime muttered

“I took Polly to the robotics room so she would stop loudly threatening acts of violence to some random kid who called her short.” Sasha shrugged “Got in trouble because apparently we weren’t supposed to be in there.”

“Your earth rules are strange.” Grime grunted

“I KNOW!” Sasha shouted

They sat down in the living room and watched suspicion island on the tv until Sasha’s mom came home, then they went and sparred in the backyard. It was practically one of the best days ever, leaving school early, getting boba tea, hanging out with Grime. It felt like she was living a dream.

Chapter Text

About a week and a half had passed before Marcy was able to team up with Anne and Sasha to open up a portal to Amphibia, and Marcy felt beyond grateful. Grateful that she was here for all of this. Grateful that Mrs. Murphy, despite everything, had allowed Polly to come by after school and build stuff in the robotics room. Grateful that Polly, in less than a week, was able to build 4 prototypes of the leg braces, the 4th of which worked so Marcy could now walk around without her crutches. Grateful that her parents had gotten her into therapy, which she was starting next week, so she could pour her heart out to someone who won’t stab her in the back. Grateful that the powers seemed to be growing stronger, because as Anne put it;

“Sure it’s only a shard of infinite power but it’s still infinite power. We just have to get used to it again.”

They’d done so much in the time they’d spent together, getting Grime a disguise and going all sorts of places, making new memories. Like the time they went to McDonalds and Polly refused to leave the play place, Sasha having to drag her out while Polly screamed “You’ll never take me alive!!!”

Or the time they’d gone to the natural history museum to meet up with an old friend of Anne’s, a scientist named Dr. Jan, and Marcy got to ask and answer so many questions with her, which was amazing.

She’d also got to see Sprig and Grime spar, something that they’d done before but Marcy had never gotten to see. According to Sasha and Anne, during the rebellion they’d gotten the toads to work with them only when Sprig had defeated Grime’s sister in a fight.

Marcy felt kind of bad she’d missed it, that she’d missed 3 whole months of her life. But it was in the past, and while that still didn’t make it any better, she was happy she was here now.

Saying goodbye to Sprig, Polly, and Grime was difficult, especially since the three girls knew they wouldn’t see them again for another 2 months when school got out. But when the portal closed, Anne wiped her eyes and turned to Sasha and Marcy.

“There’s something important I haven’t told you.” Anne muttered

“Anne, if we’ve learned anything, it’s that keeping big secrets from each other is a bad idea.” Marcy replied 

“I know, but it’s just… something that’s really hard to talk about. But it has to be said, now that our powers seem to be growing.” Anne said “When I- when I died, I met the Guardian of the Stones. Like- a literal god.”

“No froggin’ way.” Marcy breathed

“They talked to me through the form of Domino. It was a little ridiculous, but they showed me their true form and… it’s indescribable, but I’ll say it was a mistake, my head’s spinning thinking about it.” Anne continued “And they told me about the stones. Said they had made them to see how mortals would handle unlimited power. As it turns out, throughout the entire existence of the stones, we were the only ones to ever use their power for good.”

“That’s… crazy.” Sasha whispered “We’re all far from being perfect.”

“But that doesn’t matter! What matters is how we use our powers, and I want to continue to use them for good. I hope you two do as well.” Anne replied

“Of course!” Marcy exclaimed 

“Obviously.” Sasha added

“The guardian also said one more thing, or more, they made me an offer. We use our powers for good, and when we die, we become the next guardians. They technically made the offer to me but I’d like to extend it to both of you. You’re both keepers of the calamity stones as well.” Anne replied

Marcy was speechless. It sounded like something out of a fantasy novel, like for once she was the protagonist in her own story and not just someone to be used by others. But she could use that feeling to benefit others, instead of harming them like so many have harmed her.

“I’ll do it. We’ve still got our whole lives ahead of us, and I know not everything will be amazing all the time, but to know that there’s something waiting at the end of it for sure…” Marcy trailed off

“I’m in too. I’m done being controlling, the way I used to be, and I’m ready to make the commitment to prove it.” Sasha agreed

Anne grinned, and pulled the two of them into a hug “No matter what happens, I’m glad you two are true friends.”

Marcy smiled. No matter how many mistakes she’s made, no matter the challenges they’ve faced in the past and whatever they’d face in the future, she’d always have Anne and Sasha. The real Anne and Sasha. And that in itself was amazing.

Chapter Text

Anne woke up feeling weightless, her surroundings dark.

Right, she remembered, it was the middle of the night. They’d sent off Sprig, Polly, and Grime a few hours before and then stayed at Marcy’s for a sleepover, watching her favorite movie all the way through for the first time. They’d failed the staying up all night challenge, but Sasha was fine with it and not playing Truth or Dare, especially after Marcy and Anne told her about the last sleepover they’d had.

But if she had woken up in the middle of the night, where were Sasha and Marcy?

Anne looked beneath her feet, nothing was there.

“Am I dreaming?” Anne wondered aloud

“Yes.” A familiar voice said, as Domino appeared in front of her, lighting up the space with each step they took. But it wasn’t Domino, it was-

“Hi again, Guardian. Why are you here?” Anne asked

“Just checking in on you. I heard your conversation with your friends, Marcy and Sasha earlier.” The Guardian said casually

“Oh, umm… sorry I didn’t check in with you before I asked them if they wanted to join me.” Anne muttered awkwardly, before adding “When we’re ready, of course”

“No need to apologize, I’m actually fairly impressed!” The Guardian smiled “I gave you an offer of unlimited power, and you gave up so much of it to your friends.”

Anne shrugged awkwardly “Well, I can’t be heart, wit, AND strength. Those last two are all Marcy and Sasha.”

The Guardian nodded “All three of you have made many errors in your past, and will continue to in your future. It’s only natural for you mortals to do so. But I’ve chosen you because you get up, learn from your mistakes, and change for the better. There aren’t that many beings out there across the multiverse who consistently do that.”

“Really?” Anne asked, “Wow.”

“And if you’d like, I can show you a vision of your future. But in order to not change anything you won’t remember any of it until it actually happens.” The Guardian said “So, would you like to see it?”

Anne shrugged “I don’t see why not?”

The Guardian nodded, and Anne’s surroundings changed, soon she was back in Wartwood, watching herself come through a portal, alone. She was taller, and her hair was braided messily and glowing with a familiar blue that faded with the portal. She wore a black blouse and jean shorts. She also seemed to be carrying a wrapped gift. She grinned as a slightly taller Sprig with longer, messy hair bounded over to her, not seeming exhausted at all.

“Woah. I guess our theory was right. We really did get used to the power.” Anne breathed

“Hey Sprig!” Older Anne greeted her friend “Where’s Polly?”

“She’s been working at those old factories, trying to modify them to do… I honestly don’t know what, all week. But Hop Pop said she and Marco-Angelo got back late last night, though I haven’t seen her yet today. I had to get up and help Maddie set up for her magic classes, and you do not want to wake Polly up under any circumstances.” Older Sprig explained

“Crazy that Maddie’s teaching magic right now. I know Marcy usually comes by to help her, still can’t believe she’s considered a level 2 witch, but I know she finally had her SAT today.” Older Anne added as they walked off. Anne could feel herself following them, despite not making any effort of motion “She was really sad to miss this though.”

“Sasha and Ivy were getting everything set up, and Hop Pop and Sylvia are distracting Polly by taking her to lunch at Stumpy’s.” Older Sprig continued “But they should be back in about 15 minutes so let’s hurry!”

“Hey guys!” Older Sasha, who had a pixie cut and wore gold armor over a red dress, grinned “We’ve got just about everything set up for her!” 

Older Ivy bounded up the hill in a green jacket “They’re coming! Everyone, hide!” she turned to the pink robot who was just as shiny as usual “That means you too Frobo!”

Anne watched as an Older Polly bounded up the hill, a fully grown frog with messy hair and overalls, wearing her classic yellow bow, chatting with Hop Pop and Sylvia.

“Oh my frog, she’s grown so much!” Anne squealed

“3, 2, 1.” Older Sprig counted down quietly

“SURPRISE! HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY POLLY!” Everyone shouted

Older Sprig handed her her birthday crown made out of sticks and mud, which Older Polly put on her head, giving him a huge hug. 

“Thanks! I’ve actually got a surprise too, something I’ve been working on for a while now. Sasha, Anne, remember how I asked you guys and Marcy to put a little power into one of the things I was building?” Older Polly asked, grinning “Well, I’ve been working on it all week, and I managed to set up a little tower connected to a microscopic portal to your world, so check your phones.”

“No froggin’ way! You managed to get an internet connection here?!?” Sasha shouted

“Yep, it covers the entire valley!” Polly exclaimed

“That’s crazy!” Older Anne laughed, “I swear, you never fail to impress me.”

The group laughed, and Older Sprig began to play music on his fiddle as everyone celebrated. Older Anne seemed to freeze, peering off into the distance, before locking eyes with Anne and smiling, causing Anne to shiver as the scene faded away into light.

She turned to The Guardian, floating alongside her in the now white space “Thanks. I guess this is goodbye for now.”

The Guardian gave Anne another smile, “Goodbye for now, Anne.”

Anne woke up, the morning sunlight peering through the blinds in Marcy’s room and pretty much directly into her eyes. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking around.

Did she just talk to The Guardian again? Her head felt fuzzy. What had happened?

Marcy was sitting on her bed with a pencil and a journal. “Oh, Anne! You’re awake!” She whispered in an excited voice. “Look!”

Marcy turned her notebook around, in it was a picture of what looked like Domino, but with eyes that glowed white with little tints of green, blue, and red, with the heading: The Guardian of the Stones.

“No way. I just had a dream where I was talking to them.” Anne gasped “We were like floating in darkness, and then, it was floating in light.”

“For me it was sitting and chatting in a little cozy room, but I don’t really like floating due to well… everything. Maybe they knew.” Marcy muttered

Sasha groaned as she got up “Guys I just had the craziest dream where I was talking to the Guardian of the Stones, literally just as Anne described them. Go on, tell me that’s crazy.”

Anne looked over to Marcy, then back at Sasha “We can’t, because the exact same thing happened to us.”

Marcy showed Sasha the notebook. “They told me it was okay to make mistakes, but what mattered is that-”

“We learn from them and change for the better” Anne finished 

“Exactly.” Sasha stared into space “Wow. That’s got to be like, the 5th wildest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Marcy laughed, “What are the first four?”

“The fourth is ending up in Amphibia in the first place, then there’s finding out we have calamity powers, saving the world twice, and…” Sasha paused, as though not wanting to say the craziest thing, before lowering her voice “Watching both of you basically die.”

“Aww, Sashy!” Marcy hugged her

Anne hugged her too. “Well, if I learned anything from our time in Amphibia, it’s that no matter how many things change, the important things will stick with you through it.”

“Like a light at the end of a dark tunnel.” Marcy added

“Yeah.” Anne smiled, remembering the light in The Guardian’s soft, kind eyes that reflected into her own. “A light.”