All in all, it had been a generally good birthday for the herpetologist, she had met up with her best friends, even more so considering how rare it was for her to see them nowadays, Sasha had insisted they visit a nightclub, partly because she knew that Anne still loved to dance and also because she had heard a few of her older patients were planning to sneak in that night and Sasha decided to give her the fright of their lives.

Marcy then took them out to the movies, Love choice six was showing, It was pretty bad (the new love interest was just another cyborg, Anne was hoping for a Gilla monster man,) but despite that what they saw was fun to riff on.

The evening was to end at Thai-Go where the elder Boonchuys had already cooked the trio's favorite foods.

Anne stood there watching as her parents talked with her best friends. Eventually, The two elder Boonchuys headed to their home in the suburbs handing the three women the keys to the restaurant.

Before too long the trio was engaged in conversation about their lives, Marcy was discussing her latest Webcomic and how everything in it was not related to anything that happen in Amphibia, (Amber, Sandra, and Melody were unrelated characters, and that even if they weren't they were different enough that she couldn't be sued for it.) Sasha talked about her personal life, and then it was Anne's turn.

"So any other plans for tomorrow?" said Sasha currently, finishing off a can of beer.

"Taking the day, off hanging with you girls if you want, Oh and I have to see Terri about something."

"I supposed you're seeing Jan then?" said Marcy, eating some Pad thai.

Anne smiled, it had been a discussion with Jan which had inspired her decision to go into her field, it was during a discussion at Jan and Terri's wedding that made her choose that field, after that Jan had become a sort of mentor to Anne Boonchuy, She had helped her made connections that would be useful in the field.

Anne shrugged, "Probably."

"What do you mean "probably," Why are you interested in seeing your mentor's wife, instead of her?"

Anne looked at both of her friends for a second and then shrugged, It couldn't hurt to tell them the truth.

"Terri might have finished a new portal."

Sasha and Marcy stopped their respective eating and drinking and looked at Anne shocked.

"What?" said Marcy confused.

"You've been trying to go back?" said Sasha in shock which quickly turned to anger, "And you didn't tell us."

Anne let out a nervous giggle. "Ha, Yeah, Listen let me explain."

"Please do so," said Sasha glaring at her.

Anne looked at Marcy, there was a look of hurt on her face.

"Okay, so I told you I gave my phone to Sprig right?"

The two women nodded at her, they still remembered everything that happened that day.

"Well, around five years ago Terri came to me and suggested that maybe we should send out a signal, we'll just open a portal big enough to send a message through, We have some telecommunications equipment and Mr.X is going to be there and… " Anne sighed, "Listen, I know it's dumb but It's probably not even going to work, It's kind of pointless really, I didn't want to get your hopes up.

The two women looked at Anne with smiles on their faces, "It's not pointless, maybe it'll work," Said Marcy.

Sasha was quiet but slowly a small appeared on her face, "Okay, but next time please tell us."

Anne smiled a little, "Thanks guys." she picked up her glass and started to drink

"Don't worry, you can show us tomorrow," said Sasha.

Anne spat out the contents of her mouth on the table. She'd clean it later, "What?"

"We're coming with," said Marcy, "It will be nice to see amphibia again, or at least a little of it."

Anne looked at both of them worried, "Oh."

Sasha and Marcy picked up on their friends' hesitation, even years apart they could tell she needed help.

Anne rubbed her shoulder, Sasha reached over to take her hand, "Are you going to be okay?"

A quick smile from Anne relieved Sasha, "I'm fine. Just don't get too excited, we've never really opened that big of a portal or even seen an Amphibian, it might not work."

"I've got a few days off saved up, would be fun to see," said Sasha.

"And I don't have to fly back for another week, we've got more to catch up on."

Anne smiled, "Great, So Sasha how's your girlfriend?" The moan from Sasha was a sign that they were going to talk about this for a while."

Three hours later near midnight the restaurant was locked for the evening, they drove back to Anne's apartment, by this point the three women were too tired and they decided to stay at Anne's for the night.

Sasha and Marcy said they'd sleep on the couch, Marcy changed into her pajamas, and Anne lent Sasha a pair of her own, after saying goodnight she went to her room.

Her room was...mostly clean, she might have aged ten years, but one thing that remained the same for the awkward teenage girl was the state of her room discarded clothes lay about, a gossip magazine lay amongst Zoology papers, on visits from her mother she still got complaints, she walked to her bed and sat down. And she did her usual yearly ritual.

she started to cry.

The memories flooded her, Wartwood, her family, The friends she made, all of it.

Anne would be the first to admit that she was happy she only did this once a year.

Ten years ago, she spent the first week crying, but she soon remembered that the Plantars wouldn't want her to just cry over them, it hurt The first week her parents had taken shifts to spend the night with her.

However, eventually, it felt better. She started to hate just staying in her room, the first shift she worked at the restaurant after returning had been hard with several people asking questions about what happened, After that things went back to normal, She spent time with Sasha and Marcy before the latter moved, which had been hard, all three of them cried that day, Even the Wu's had joined in the goodbye hug.

Life just continued and the pain faded, Sometimes she'd think about them and cry, but she just moved on remembering that they'd want her to live.

Just one day was fine.

"You too huh," said a voice from the door.

Anne looked up to see Sasha and Marcy standing there smiling at her, tears also in their eyes,

Anne smiled a sad smile.

She nodded, "Yeah, sorry to bring the mood down."

Sasha and Marcy sat down, Marcy to her right, Sasha to her left.

" I cry around this time as well." Said Marcy.

"You want company?" asked Sasha.

Anne looked at her friends, she wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders and pulled them in, they didn't sleep that night they talked about their other home, the good the bad, and all in-between.

…

L.A. was warm this time of year, she wondered why the Boonchuy's wanted to live in such a place with a dry heart, the crowds of people around him kept bumping into him and he kept bumping into their legs.

He kept trying to find her. She has to be here, "Anne?" He called hoping she would be here.

"Hey Sprig, a voice from behind him."

Sprig froze, he turned around to see her, he needed to see…

She wasn't there, just more of the crowd.

"Sprig, what are you doing? I'm over here."

He turned again trying to spot her, again nothing.

He kept turning trying to look for her, and she kept pleading for him to see her

"Come on Sprig, don't you want to see me again? Don't you love me?"

Sprig kept looking for any sign of his best friend trying to figure out where they possibly could be.

"Sprig, why aren't you looking for me? Don't you love me?"

"I do it's just… it's just"

"You're not even trying, you just don't care,"

" I want to see you, it's just… it's just…"

"You've forgotten her," the voice changed, to the core's It started to laugh, the mocking laughter was coming from everywhere now, taunting him, she was here somewhere he just needed to find her and save her and…,

…

Sprig opened his eyes and shot out of bed, he ran to the door hoping that he could find Anne and rescue her. He burst open the door only to see the open In front of him, he froze, and looked around, he was on a boat, not as large as the ones he had been on when traveling to the other continent but still larger than usual.

It all came back now, he was on a journey back to Wartwood on the lake boat, he took a breath, and rubbed his face, he felt the goatee on his chin, all the women in his life seemed to have made it a goal to convince him to get rid of it, he disagreed and kept it out of rebellion.

It was the dream again.

When Anne had left they had been a constant presence in his life, nightly visits of the voice taunting him, condemning him for not having Anne in his life anymore, he would run to the basement only to find she wasn't there, he spent the night crying in what was her room.

Eventually one night Polly walked down there, she did the same thing once in a while.

They both spent the night holding onto one another, Sprig finding himself in the odd situation of comforting his little sister.

The next day Hop Pop found them, he waited for them to wake, and then they just talked about it, when they should have been farming they were instead holding each other and crying.

Sprig spent time talking to Grime, he had moved near to the Wartwood after the unavailing, in an odd way he had become like a second guardian to him and Ivy, they had spent a long time exploring the lost continent with the paladin, recently though he had decided to stay in Amphibia he said he had to convince two toads of something.

Yunan and Olivia had moved to Wartwood, though as one of the members of the Amphibia Ruling council Olivia was constantly called to New Newtopia to work on some sort of deal, leaving Yunan to look after their daughter, Marcy a small purple frog, she was a shy girl, Sprig however always was able to get her to open up a little, She had a love for the violin and while Sprig didn't play is as regularly anymore he always made her smile when he played.

Over time the nightmares lessened, now he was lucky to have one a year.

So distracted was he by his own thoughts he was shocked to feel a hand on his shoulder, he swatted at it and turned to see who was behind him.

Standing there was a yellow frog woman, she was wearing a vest and shorts, the look on her face told him she was surprised by his action, and shame washed over Sprig instantly.

"Oh Frog, Ivy I'm sorry I…"

Ivy smiled, "Sprig, relax, the amount of times I've tackled you to the ground a simple slap to the hand is nothing."

The smile brought Sprig back his depression slightly, after ten years together and his heart still fluttered when he saw her smile.

"Sorry, bad dream."

"About her?" Said Ivy, concern creeping onto her face.

Sprig swallowed, "Yeah."

They both returned to their room, Sprig walked to his bunk, only to be shocked that Ivy followed.

"Ivy?"

"Come on Sprig, you need someone tonight," a cheeky grin appeared on her face, "Besides, it's not as if we haven't shared a bed before."

Sprig smiled, thinking of a month back "Okay but it's a bit cramped for one."

"I'll just get even closer," Said Ivy, with a purr, Sprig's smile grew wider, did it just get warmer in here.?

They both entered the bed, Ivy put her arm around Spring's stomach.

"Do you still miss her that much?"

"A little."

"Running out crying is a little?"

Sprig laughed, "fair point."

"She wouldn't want you to be sad, you know that right."

Sprig sighed, "Yeah I know but… it felt like a part of me is missing, something that I don't think I'll ever fill."

Ivy winced when she heard those words, she looked at her stomach, she hadn't told him yet, the fear was still there, it was hard fighting against someone she'd never be able to match her, even if he didn't think of Anne like that, it hurt that she couldn't help him, all she could do was comfort him.

"Sprig, I know it hurts but… I'm here and I know that if Anne was here she'd want you to be happy."

"I know."

"Well know this, you have dozens of people who love you in both worlds, one of them sharing a bed with you at this moment, and I know I'll never be her but I promise I'll be here if you need to talk about it.

Ivy couldn't see the look on his face, she feared she had offended him or something, she just wished she knew what to say to make him feel better."

"Ivy, thank you," muttered Sprig.

Ivy smiled, she was going to respond but then heard light snoring from her boyfriend, she snuggled closer.

She was in competition with a memory, but she hoped she could win.

…

None of them, not Frog, nor Human knew they were being watched.

Somewhere in the multiverse, there was a being beyond all of time and space, it had no real form, for when does power need form, their duty was to watch the countless worlds of the multiverse. To make sure they were in harmony.

One thousand years ago, it had made a mistake, and ten years ago it had failed again, it watched trying to figure out how it could make things right again.

Little did they know how big their newest mistake would be.