CHAPTER VI: CHANGE
"You go on kids, I'll help your parents with the dishes." Hop Pop said as he jumped down his stool.
"Y-you really don't have to, Mr. Plantar." Malai waved her hands, while Kiet simply looked surprised by the offer.
"Nonsense, these youngsters may be excused but I still want to do something to repay you for this wonderful and very frankly amazing dinner. At least let me help with the dishes."
"Okay…" Malai replied, not knowing what else to say.
An extra pair of hands would have certainly helped… the woman guessed. Perhaps these frogs could be trusted. Perhaps they were exactly like them… just… more froggish. As soon as Anne, Sprig and Polly left the kitchen, Hop Pop and the brown-haired girl's parents began clearing away the table. The old frog brought a chair near the sink and jumped on it as Kiet began to bring both him and Malai plates, forks, knives, spoons and glasses to clean. The woman watched curiously as the frog began scrubbing the dishes in the sink. Hop Pop looked up and chuckled at Malai's expression.
"Hehe, been doin' this for a long time."
"I didn't mean to stare." Anne's mom muttered in embarrassment.
"Nothin' to worry about, Ms. Boonchuy. When you gotta raise two tadpoles, chores like this become the easiest part." Hop Pop chuckled.
"So, they're yours?" Malai raised a brow.
"Well, they're my grandkids." Hop Pop explained.
"Where are their parents?"
Malai regretted asking the question as soon as she saw Hop Pop's smile vanish, replaced by a deep frown. The old frog turned his attention to the dishes, eyes downcast.
"They're not with us anymore."
"I'm… sorry… I-I shouldn't have-" Malai began to talk but fell silent as Hop Pop raised a hand, a small, sad smile replacing his previous frown.
"You couldn't have known. It was… hard… sometimes, raising them… they're little rascals you know? Always gettin' in trouble, goofin' off…" Hop Pop chuckled.
"I can relate with that…" Malai said, a small grin spreading on her lips.
"But still, I love them just as much as I loved my son… and during these last few months, I began to love Anne in the same way."
Malai remained silent for a few moments before turning towards him.
"Thank you, for protecting her… for having given her a home while she was away… you saved my daughter's life didn't you? I-I guess I… I guess I'm just starting to realize that I could have lost her for good… but you saved her… so… thank you." She said, holding out her hand.
"He… she has saved us too, many times…" Hop Pop replied with an embarrassed chuckle, shaking Malai's hand.
"But…" The woman's voice suddenly grew concerned.
"But?" Hop Pop asked.
"I know she's lying about Marcy and Sasha."
"A-ah…" The old frog stuttered as he began to sweat.
Malai regarded him with an inquisitive glare before letting go of the plate she was washing and crossing her arms.
"You know what happened to them, don't you?"
"Malai…" Kiet put a hand on his wife's shoulder, giving her a warning glare, although not unkindly.
"No," Malai batted away her husband's hand before turning towards Hop Pop once again, "Do you know how it felt? To just… have your daughter disappear and not knowing where she went? For six months… six months, I prayed every day for her to come back and for not even one night, one single night, I slept peacefully. And you think Marcy and Sasha's parents aren't feeling the same?!"
"I know how it feels to lose someone you love, Ms. Boonchuy, and in my case, I wasn't so lucky so see them come back." Hop Pop answered, holding his ground.
Hearing that, Malai's expression softened.
"I'm sure that Marcy and Sasha's parents are suffering, but everything that has happened in Amphibia, everything Anne went through… she'll tell when she's ready. I consider her family, and I've already broken the trust she had in me once, I'm not going to do that again."
Hop Pop jumped down the stool and began to walk away.
"Excuse me." He said, as he left the kitchen.
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"Really? Wartwood?" Sasha grumbled, her arms crossed as she stared at the small frog town.
"Andrias won't find us here." Grime answered, signaling the army to stop its march.
The toad army had just arrived, and all of the town's people were already at the town entrance, brandishing forks and torches.
"If ya dingy, smelly toads think you can conquer our town, well think twice!" Mrs. Croaker yelled in anger as she threw a tomato at the large group of toads.
The fruit flew through the air and found its target a second after, hitting Sasha in the face. The blonde wiped away the red pulp a few moments after, her expression livid. She brought her hand to the hilt of her sword but stopped as another hand grasped her wrist. She looked to her side and saw Grime shaking his head.
"The hell are you doing?" Sasha growled.
"We're not here to fight." Grime warned her.
Another tomato was flung towards the group of toads and this time it landed right on the captain's head. Sasha crossed her arms and watched in amusement as the composure Grime had shown a moment before started to crumble. To her surprise however, after the toad wiped away the red goo, he sighed heavily and turned towards Wartwood's people.
"You won't take my money! You'll have to go through Toadie first!" Mayor Toadstool yelled, waving his fist in the air.
"Yeah! Wait… what?" Toadie turned towards him, clearly confused.
"People of Wartwood! We're not here to fight!" Grime exclaimed, holding up his hands.
Another tomato flew towards them, but this time the toad captain caught it with his tongue, eyeing warily the old axolotl who had thrown it.
"Sorry." Leopold muttered, head hanging low.
"If you're not here to fight, then why are you here?" Ivy crossed her arms, looking at the toad without a single hint of trust in her eyes.
"King Andrias has betrayed us." Grime explained, a sour expression on his face.
"Serves you well." The young frog muttered under her breath.
Grime's brow furrowed in anger as he heard Ivy's comment but before he could anything, Sasha stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder.
"He hasn't just betrayed the toads, he betrayed each and every one of us. He betrayed Anne too." The blonde explained.
"What?"
"He stole her music box and… and…" Sasha hesitated.
It was as if she hadn't still realized that… her friend… the moment Marcy confessed that she actually knew that the music box would have brought them away from Earth, Sasha hated her. It was only for a moment, but she had truly hated her and not because Marcy had taken them away from their homes, Sasha had never really considered the house she lived in with her parents her "home", but because she had lied to them, Marcy had lied to the people she called her best friends, and without asking anything, without considering what they wanted, she had just taken them away.
That is why Sasha hated her in that moment. But as she began to explain to the frogs of Wartwood what had happened in Newtopia… flashes of what happened to Marcy began to appear before her eyes. She saw her open the portal to Earth, she saw her hesitate, she saw Andrias' flaming sword pierce her chest… she saw Marcy die.
And in that moment the hatred she felt vanished in an instant, replaced by a deep shame. She had hated one of her best friends just before she died. She didn't die of old age, maybe in a hospital bed beside her and Anne while the three of them shared one good last laugh… she died on a cold floor… probably knowing that she got Sasha to hate her…
"He killed Marcy." The blonde continued, gritting her teeth, shutting her eyes, as a tear streamed down her cheek.
Gasps of horror could be heard coming from each of Wartwood's inhabitants. After a few moments, they started muttering.
"Oh no…"
"That poor girl…"
"How could he?!"
But one question was spoken louder than any other.
"What happened to Anne?" Mrs. Croaker asked.
"What about the Plantars? Are they okay? Is Sprig okay?" Ivy took off her hat and began fiddling with it nervously as she asked the question.
"They got through the portal with Anne… they're together, so they're fine. I know it." Sasha did her best to put up a hopeful smile.
Luckily, it seemed to do the job, and Ivy looked more at ease.
"So… what's your plan now? I hope you're going to make that old geezer pay for what he's done!" Mrs Croaker angrily waved her cane in the air.
"That's the plan…" Sasha's smile vanished in an instant as a grim expression took its place.
"But we can't simply attack Andrias. In his flying fortress, protected by his robots and that laser cannon… he's untouchable… we have to come up with a plan." Yunnan explained as she emerged from the toad army, reaching Sasha's side, followed by Lady Olivia.
"And we'll need all the help we can get…" Grime said as he looked towards the group of frogs in front of him, determination written all over his face.
"Well, we frogs never really liked you, but if teaming up with you is going to give all of us a winning chance against that stupid lizard, then we'll do it!" Ivy pumped her fists in the air.
Cheers and war cries echoed through the forest as Wartwood joined the rebellion. For Sasha, it felt strange, first she became one of the oppressors, and aimed to control that strange, new world she got thrown in… and now… she had become one of the heroes that was trying to save it and… it didn't feel bad… it didn't feel bad at all.
…
…
…
Although the frogs of Wartwood revealed themselves to be more hospitable towards the toads than Sasha would have initially thought, the entire toad army couldn't fit inside the small town, so the soldiers began to settle tents around it. As for Sasha… the girl thought that sleep would have just brought more nightmares to her that night, and so decided to take a walk outside the town.
By chance, as she kept wandering around, she found herself in front of the Plantars' house. The ghost of a smile appeared on her face as she recalled her and Grime's dinner with Anne and the frog family, and their "games night"… which ended… quite well all things considered. She pushed the front door open, and her gaze immediately went to the hatch that led to the basement.
Sasha hesitated for a moment… it was as if she knew that there was something down there that she had to face, she just didn't know if she had the courage to do it. After takin a long, deep breath, she descended the small ladder and found herself in Anne's bedroom. She looked at the messy-haired girl's bed and found herself smiling.
They could have had some wicked slumber parties down there, her, Anne and Marcy. It was then that she noticed that something was under Anne's pillow. She stepped closer and reached for it. It was her diary. Before she could think about it, she opened it, and began reading.
"Today was awesome! I still can't believe that in the end Sasha joined us on the stage! It was so good to just… do something together, just the three of us, after all this time. After everything that happened, I didn't really know if things would have gone back to normal… and maybe they won't, not completely. I'm different, Marcy's different… I just hope that Sasha will acknowledge that, will accept that, but… still… I'm so happy she came… I'm so happy I trusted her. I'm happy I gave her another chance."
Sasha began to chuckle, and soon enough her chuckles turned into laughter. Her laugh only subsided when she noticed droplets starting to wet the diary page. She was crying. In one night, she had lost two friends. Her best friends. Marcy was dead… Anne hated her.
She had told her herself, she was done being friends with her, and only now Sasha realized her mistake. She had wanted to win, to conquer, to control, but if these were the consequences? She didn't want those things anymore, she just wanted Anne back… she just wanted Marcy back… she just wanted her friends back.
A hand was placed upon her shoulder. Sasha whipped her head around only to find Grime standing beside her, a sad smile on his face. She turned around and hugged him fiercely… and then she cried… she kept crying until she fell into a dreamless sleep.
Hi guys! I hope you liked this chapter and also, I have good news! Another one is coming out in two days! So stay tuned for "Chapter 7: trouble at the amusement park"! As always, thank you for all your kind comments, your support means a lot to me. Tell me in the comments if you liked this chapter and what you hope to see next and as always, I'll see you in the next chapter! Bye!