When Sasha, Marcy, and Anne reunited for the tenth anniversary of their return to Earth, it was like nothing had changed.

The only problem was that everything did change, and Sasha became particularly conscious of that after a few beers and some very obvious blanks in the conversation the girls crafted from basically nothing.

Sasha loved her friends, but maybe love wasn't enough to keep things going.

Marcy was delighted to be here, and Sasha agreed that having her around was a breath of fresh air. She had a couple of lunches with Anne after they finished high school, but they went on with growing apart, and as much as it broke her heart, Sasha couldn't do much about it.

When she peeked at Anne for too long, she could see Amphibia. She was sure Anne could see it when she looked at her too. Marcy surprisingly exorcized this whole adventure in her webcomics, books, and tales. Amphibia was an enrichment for her, but Sasha felt like it was just a void left in her chest.

She tried to embrace everything by tattooing over the scar on her spine, creating stickers, and sewing patches of her swords and gems. She genuinely thought that arranging all of these symbols on her body and around her would help her internalize them. It didn't.

Leaning on the bar counter, waiting for her beers, Sasha looked back at her friends. As Anne listened politely, Marcy explained her webcomics with excessive gesticulation and sounds. Once again, it felt like they were polar opposites, bound by an unspeakable experience. No one could understand them as much as she did, and one could understand her as much as they did. A part of Sasha assumed that without Amphibia, their friendship wouldn't have survived the trial of time, and she sometimes sees why.

Marcy was doing fine, she went through loads of therapy, and this experience was actually fueling her now; she was the human personification of resilience.

Anne was straight-up depressed, engulfed in nostalgia, and nothing seemed to get her out of the bubble she had created at the aquarium. She was all about work and frogs and work about frogs.

Sasha was doing what she did best; running. She solved every single problem in her life — childhood trauma, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and identity questioning — to avoid cracking the one she couldn't.

Amphibia didn't seem to let go of any of them.

"So, guys… Are you seeing anybody right now?"

Sasha snapped out of her thoughts and was brought back to Earth by Marcy's voice. Her friend was eagerly looking at her, and Anne turned a shade of red she had never seen before.

"Uh… Yes, no, yeah? I mean… I see people."

That was true, even if the last "people" Sasha saw ended up dumping her to get together after a threeway five months ago. Being 23 sucked ass.

"That's nice! What about you, Anne?"

"No… Not really. I've been busy with work a lot." Smiled Anne before awkwardly swallowing her beer.

Sasha turned around and waved her eyebrows at Marcy.

"What about you, Marmar?"

To her surprise, Marcy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A wave of worry washed over Sasha, and she exchanged a look with Anne, who appeared as concerned as she was.

"Everything okay?"

Marcy opened her eyes again and peeked at her friends with a small smile.

"I think… I think I'm asexual, actually. Probably even aroace, to be exact."

Anne glanced again at Sasha, and after a second, they both let out a high-pitched squeak of excitement. Sasha threw herself against her friend to hug her as Anne grabbed her hand across the table.

"Thank you for trusting us, Marmar."

"Yeah, for real, when I came out as bisexual to my friends, I was so nervous." Sasha clicked her tongue and gave Marcy her brightest smile before wiping a few tears streaming down her friend's cheeks.

Witnessing Marcy this vulnerable was a rare sight. Sasha secretly vowed to herself long ago to locate everyone who hurt her friend and staple their colons to their noses.

"Wait, you're bisexual?"

Anne gave Sasha a look that had her wondering if she had just gotten struck by lightning.

"Yeah, duh. I had three girlfriends at uni."

And it hit Anne like a truck. During their bachelor years, she sometimes ran into Sasha in the hallways. She always had a girl attached to her arm or was clamped to a boy's bicep — grinning and making them chuckle.

Sasha was popular, but that was not a big deal; she always was and always will be. But she has been in love with those people?

It had never even crossed Anne's mind that this was possible; Sasha was free and untouchable. She was the light in every butterfly's life but burned when they got too close. She had to scorch them, right? There was no way anyone could orbit in Sasha's gravity without instantaneously combusting.

Jealousy sparked in Anne's chest, and she took another sip of her beer to hide the blush creeping on her cheeks.

"Anyways, girls. Let's get this party started. Marcy, we're celebrating you tonight."

And just like that, Anne found herself standing in the middle of a crowd, watching Sasha twirling a laughing Marcy in the jumping mob, wondering if it was possible to be heartbroken over someone you never got to love.

When Anne was sad, her first instinct was to return to Amphibia — or at least, the one in her world. After a bachelor's in biology, she got her master's in herpetology, leading her to leave the local university — where Sasha and she both studied — to go to a private school. It was awful, but it allowed her to be hired by the aquarium after two years. She was rapidly put in charge of the run-down reptile and amphibian section and turned it into her little heaven.

After convincing the head zoologist to adopt a family of pink South American tree frogs, she spent a good part of her free time in a clay studio, sculpting little houses for them to feel at home — or for her to feel at home. She didn't really know and didn't really care. "Get Lost In Amphibia" had a growing visitor population by the day, and she couldn't be prouder.

Despite the distance, she stayed in contact with Marcy more than with Sasha. It was just easier; she didn't have to watch her from afar with her brand new group of friends in her brand new university. Anne didn't feel like she had a right to feel bitter; she was the one who left.

Sasha and her drifted apart, and so did Marcy, but it didn't hurt as much with the latter.

Surprisingly enough, Sasha wanted to stick with her at first; but Anne tried out different groups in high school, university, and life. She was looking for something, and it couldn't be Sasha. Not when she was the only one Anne had left of her adventure in Amphibia. Not when Sasha knew how much she missed it.

After a few months, it became a bit more natural. Sasha took in the fact that they were growing apart — becoming teenagers and young adults — and there was nothing wrong with that, no matter how much it hurt. Plus, it was great seeing Anne grow into a confident but sensitive adult.

She felt like this wouldn't have been possible if they had stayed together.

After Amphibia, the ties that had connected them slowly snapped and healed. It allows them to keep the best of them and create new, much healthier connections representing their grown-up, adult personas. They forgave each other and forgave themselves because as much as Amphibia took away from them, their love for each other never diminished.

Sasha's love for Anne never faded.

Anne's love for Sasha never went away.

So, when she looked up from her Olm tank, only to see Sasha carrying two kids in her arms and very clearly observing her, her heart sank.