CHAPTER III: HOME
"Anne? Do you need a minute?" Sprig asked the messy haired girl, giving her hand a small squeeze.
"Nah… I just… I just wanted this for so long that… now I don't really know what to tell them. They must have been so worried…" Anne murmured, eyes downcast.
"Hey, what happened wasn't your fault." The young frog tried to reassure her.
Anne knew it wasn't her fault she had been missing for months… she already knew who was at fault for that… the thought only brought back the same feeling of desperation and helplessness she felt when… when Andrias…
"Yeah… I know." Anne replied curtly, trying her best to show off a reassuring smile.
"Good, ready?" Sprig asked.
"Yeah, I think I am." The girl replied, "Just hide in the trash cans until I give you the signal, okay? And don't mention anything to my parents regarding Sasha or… Marcy… or Andrias… or my powers…"
"Anything else?" Polly asked, emerging from one of the trash cans.
"Well… just don't tell them about any life-threatening situations we've been in in the last few months, okay?"
"You got it Anne." Hop Pop gave the girl a thumb up before disappearing into one of the trash cans.
"We'll wait for your signal!" Sprig exclaimed before bouncing away.
Anne took a deep breath before turning towards the wooden door in front of her. This was it, the moment she had dreamt for a long time. She was finally back home… of course, the conditions of her return weren't the best… okay, everything had gone terribly wrong… but she was about to see her parents again. She was about to hear her mother's singing again. The thought made Anne shed a few tears. She took a deep breath and finally knocked on the door.
A few moments passed before it swung open, but to Anne, those moments lasted an eternity. Still, the door opened, and the messy haired girl found herself standing in front of her mother. The tall woman stood still, her brown eyes started to water as she kept her gaze fixed on her daughter. The cake mix she had been working on was immediately dropped to the ground as the woman threw her arms around the young girl, holding her tight.
"Anne…" The woman murmured, face buried into her daughter's hair.
"Hi mom…" Anne hugged her back as tightly as she could.
"Y-you're really here, aren't you? This isn't another dream, isn't it?" Anne's mom asked in a trembling voice as she slightly drew back before gently taking the young girl's face between her hands.
Anne felt tears streaming down her own cheeks. Her mother had suffered greatly because of her disappearance. She always knew that she would have been hurt… but seeing it with her own eyes, hearing her mother's voice breaking as she spoke, seeing her tears as she cradled her cheeks… it was as if only in that moment she truly realized how much her mom had suffered during these last few months.
"M-mom, it's me… it's really me!" Anne laughed tearfully as she held her mother's hands.
"Oh, my baby… my sweet, sweet baby girl." Her mother hugged her again, keeping her as close as she could, making sure that this time, Anne was real and not a dream.
"Malai? I heard a noise, is everything-" A tall man with brown hair appeared from the living room.
"Kiet! It's Anne! S-she's back!" Anne's mother pulled back from the hug she had been giving to her daughter and smiled tearfully to her husband.
"Dad!" Anne cried.
"Anne!" The girl's father broke into a sprint, embracing her as soon as he reached her.
Anne's mother joined the hug before both her and Kiet began to bombard the teen with questions while they checked her thoroughly for injuries.
"W-where have you been?"
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Are you hungry?"
"Are you hurt?"
Anne laughed. God, how much she had missed them. She had dreamt of this moment for months, imagining all the ways her reunion with her parents could have gone, what she would have said, what they would have done once they saw her again. She was happy that in the end, at least this reunion went well.
"I'm… fine… I'm fine mom, dad. So much has happened, I don't know where to start."
It was in that moment that a bird flew over the Boonchuy house's front yard, letting out a loud chirp. Anne turned around only to see a garbage can bouncing towards her and her parents. As it fell to the ground, both Hop Pop and Polly came out from it.
"And we're the Plantars! The lovable frog family Anne told you all about!" Hop Pop exclaimed jovially.
"Hop Pop! That was not the signal!" Polly scolded the old frog.
"Well, it sure sounded like the signal!"
Suddenly, Sprig decided to make his entrance and jumped on the house's porch.
"Hi, Mr and Mrs Anne's parents! The name's Sprig Plantar, Anne's best friend and walking, talking frog!" Sprig introduced himself.
An instant later, Anne's dad fell on the floor, unconscious, while her mom simply stared at the three talking frogs, her eyes wide as dinner plates and her mouth agape. Anne facepalmed. She had a loooooot of explaining to do.
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"Sasha…" Grime muttered.
Sasha didn't reply, she couldn't speak, she couldn't think, she couldn't do anything but stare at the corpse of one of her best friends. She could never understand Marcy's weird fascination with videogames or boardgames, she couldn't understand a lot of things about her, but… Marcy had always been there, just like Anne… and now she was dead. Sasha's breathing became uneven, ragged, as her hold tightened around both of her swords' handles.
"I'm going to skin you alive…" Sasha seethed in fury as she turned towards the gargantuan king of Amphibia.
"I'd like to see you try." Andrias chuckled as he raised his flaming sword towards the blonde.
Sasha let out a powerful war cry, she was going to make him pay, make him pay for what he had done to Marcy, make him pay for all the lies he fed to Anne, make him pay for not letting Grime's dream become reality… but just before she could break into a sprint towards the tyrant, a hand gripped her arm tightly. She spun around only to find out that Grime had stopped her.
"Grime?! Let me go! I'm gonna kill him!" Sasha cried as she tried to pry her arm away from Grime's grasp.
"You can't! Anne and the Plantars are gone! Marcy's dead! And look around you!" Grime tried to reason with the blonde.
The one-eyed toad pointed at the many windows of Andrias' throne room, where many more robots were getting inside, reaching the king's side and readying their weapons.
"We're outnumbered, we have to go!" Grime shouted, trying to drag Sasha away with him.
"I don't care, I'll destroy them all alone if I have to!" The blonde answered, not budging.
"Grime! Quickly!" A voice called out to the toad.
Suddenly, Lady Olivia and General Yunnan appeared, both of them riding Joe Sparrow just outside one of the throne room's windows. They had to leave now, or they would be all killed. A deep frown grew on Grime's face as he realized what he had to do, he just hoped Sasha would forgive him.
"I'm sorry Sasha." The toad murmured, his voice dripping with remorse.
"Grime? What are talking ab-"
Sasha didn't get to finish that sentence. The handle of Grime's hammer hit the side of her head in a swift motion, and everything went black.
…
…
…
"Oh, look who's back." A familiar voice tittered maliciously.
"Oh no…" Sasha whispered as she opened her eyes.
"What? Thought you could get rid of me that easily? I'm you, remember?"
Sasha stood up, and once again found herself standing in the center of the throne room of Newtopia's castle. Her older self descended the stairs leading up to her throne and began to approach her.
"This isn't real…" Sasha muttered as she took a step back.
"Of course it is, it's your future, I'm your future."
"No! No, you're not!" Sasha yelled back as she drew her sword and pointed it at the older woman's chest.
"We've already done this, haven't we? You can't get rid of me that easily." Sasha's older self took a step forward, the tip of the blonde's sword piercing her skin. "But I won't stop you, go on and kill me again… kill yourself again."
The woman's sick smile made Sasha's stomach churn uncomfortably. She had to get out of there… she had to wake up.
"Stay back… stay b-"
Suddenly, a loud noise interrupted the blonde. As she turned around, her eyes widened. A portal was being opened, and from it, a familiar figure began to emerge.
"Anne…" Sasha whispered.
"Hi Sash…" Anne answered, both her voice and face devoid of any emotion.
"Thank God you're here, y-you've gotta get me out of here!" Sasha pleaded as she took a step towards her.
"Why?" The brown haired girl asked. "Isn't this what you've always wanted?"
"N-no! I-I mean… I…" Sasha stuttered.
She didn't know what she wanted… not anymore…
"Oh, this is definitely what we've always wanted, now scram nerd, we don't need you." The older woman grabbed Sasha from behind, putting an arm around her neck.
"W-what?! No, Anne!" Sasha cried as she saw Anne stepping back into the portal.
"Goodbye Sash, I hope you'll find what you're looking for."
"No!"
Sasha pushed her head back as hard as she could. She heard a cracking noise and finally, the arm around her neck let go of her. She jumped towards the portal but… it was already too late. It had closed.
"You stupid… little… brat! When will you realize that I'm all you have!" Sasha's older self yelled as held her bleeding nose.
"I hate you!" Sasha screamed in fury.
"That says something about us, doesn't it?"
That sick smile grew back on her face. Damn her. She wasn't her… Sasha wasn't that woman. The blonde raised her sword and ran towards her.
The blade came down…
Darkness…
…
…
…
"Maybe if you had been a better daughter he'd still be here."
…
…
…
"No!" Sasha screamed as she sat up straight, breathing hard, her forehead beaded with sweat.
The blonde groaned as she held the back of her head. Why did it hurt so much? Then, after a few moments, it all came back to her. Their battle with Andrias, Marcy's death and… Grime hit her… that old, slimy toad hit her! She began to look around and only then she noticed where she was. She was laying on top of a few sheets, in the back of a toad wagon. By the looks of it, she must have been asleep for a few hours, since it was almost dark. As Sasha kept looking around, she realized that Grime must have caught up with the retreating toad army, since she was surrounded by it. Their destination was unknown to her, but she didn't care, all she wanted was finding Grime and… and…
"Gah! You stupid toad!" Sasha yelled angrily as she passed a hand through her hair.
"Commander Sasha, you're awake." The toad driving the wagon greeted her.
"Where's… captain… Grime?" The blonde asked gritting her teeth.
"H-he's l-leading the army t-to a s-secret place… w-where w-we can organize a n-new strategy to-" The toad stopped talking as Sasha raised her hand.
The blonde simply stood up and jumped out the wagon. She started to make her way through the army of toads, trying to reach its head. It was only after about fifteen minutes of roughly shoving toads aside that the blonde finally managed to spot Grime. He was talking with Bufo and Beatrix, but Sasha couldn't quite hear what they were saying. Not that she cared at the moment. Beside the three captains, a wagon was being towed by a large tarantula, and on it the blonde spotted General Yunnan and a royal looking newt. What the heck were they doing there? In the middle of the toad army? They sure didn't look like prisoners… but no matter, she had a toad to beat up.
Wooo! Here's chapter three! Thank you all for your kind comments, made me decide to keep writing this little story, but I need more kindness! Feed me readers! Feed me with your kind comments! Okay, sorry, got a little excited. Chapter four is in the making, it'll come out soon, enjoy! Sorry it took so long, got caught up in The Owl House, never seen it before aaaand I might have binge-watched the whole thing in a week, hehe.