The night in Amphibia always seemed cozy, even in their own weird and extreme version of winter, the temperature wasn't unbearable and the climate, in general, had a, quite literally, otherworldly feeling attached to it.

All things considered, it was nice…it was nice staying in the outside reading a book or just looking at the moon (even in you may want to stay alert for gigantic insects). The noises from the otherworldly critters added to the "charm". Still, during these dark times, one girl could use the night to reflect on her life, worries, and …

Past friendships

Sitting on one of the still somewhat intact protruding roots of the plantar farm, Anne let her thoughts wander into the night.

It was past midnight, and the moon was bright and red as that night when she had fought Sasha. Certainty that didn't help to quell her worries, nor to make her concentrate in her job.

Anne was supposed to be on the lookout for possible signs of further attacks of Andrias's army, but she just couldn't help it. There was no doubt that her friend… ex-friend…

Uh… partner! Yeah, partner, that was it

There was no doubt that Sasha had changed, the fact that she had been keeping the town safe was one sign of that, But the biggest change was her new attitude towards Anne and towards herself.

It's so weird imagining old Sash just not in charge of something… God knows that that was one of the reasons for her joining the cheerleader team… But now… She tried to hand the power to me the second we met.

The fact that she was willing to leave the power to Anne was a big statement towards betterment and a big sign of change.

Commander Anne huh

The young girl went through those words for a while, her thoughts swiftly shifted to the big old helmet, it was heavy, but not because of the iron of what it was made of. It was because of the responsibility that came with it.

With an almost unconscious movement of her hands, Anne put her palms as if she was holding into the helm as if the weight still hadn't left her.

No wonder how Sash had gotten so much… buff, I mean not as much as Loggle but…

The sudden image of the body of the amphibian with the head of the blonde crossed the mind of the troubled girl.

"Hehehe"

What was that dumb laugh Boonchuy?

Still…

Anne was amazed by both how much she sucked at commanding (even a small army of frogs resulted in too much for her), and by how in contrast how great Sasha was at doing the very same thing.

I guess I'm more like a soldier type of person? Though I'm not good at following orders exactly…

Anne couldn't even begin to count the times she hadn't followed what Hop-Pop had told her to do… or, not to do.

Well since I have these anime-like powers, I guess I go by that… Anne the anime prota… oh my frog that is so cringe.

A little smile formed in the girl's mouth, but it disappeared as soon as it came. And so appeared Sasha once more in her train of thought. There were other changes in Sasha's attitude and behavior.

Other, more "subtle" changes.

Is not like I miss the old Sash but…

Anne gazed into the night, looking towards what was left of the farm's field, looking for someone who could give her an answer.

The girl only found a scarecrow in the field, that was surprisingly still intact despite the destruction around the place.

"There are just some things that make me worry about her" Anne said to the silly scarecrow

The wind shook the scarecrow's head in approval. As if the straw figure understood the girl's concern.

"Maybe I'm just weirded out by this "nontoxic" way of friendship, you know? Or maybe I'm not used to abrupt changes in my life… tho, I should be an expert on those by now, I mean look at this place… look at me…"

The destruction of Wartwood was evident even from the farm. Anne could still sense the smell of burning wood, of ashes… that same ashes reflected her own relation with her friends, just dust…

Perhaps Sasha could be different, maybe there was still hope. But as Anne contemplated her surroundings, she just couldn't think positively. The silly little frog town was no longer that funny place where she landed, it had changed…

No, it was changed by force through war… just like Sasha

"The frogs really look up to her, you know? … she keeps them safe and inspired" Anne's voice was filled with pride and hope, but the words didn't match her true feelings.

"There is nothing bad with being a hero… or being a leader but… I think that at the same time … that that is destroying her, destroying her old toxic self yeah… but also destroying the whole Sasha… do you get what I'm telling ya?"

The air around Anne carried ashes and dust. It didn't carry a reply for the girl thought.

"Like for example, yesterday… she decided to assault and steal a convoy just by herself … she didn't even took Grime with her…"

After waiting for an answer that she knew that she wasn't getting, Anne continued.

"I know what you are thinking about, yeah she is capable of that and more, but … she could use help?"

Anne changed posture, she reclined forward as if she had entered a more serious part of her imaginary debate.

"Is not like she doesn't hurt herself; I mean she is alive but… her body is covered in scars… I know I shouldn't pry, but… I saw her… I saw her body the other day… her back, her whole torso… it isn't healthy right? I don't want that for her… but maybe that is part of the job, right? Getting herself almost killed on every mission you know for the cause… for… me?"

Once again, no answer

"Uhg! What I'm doing…"

Anne hugged her legs and buried her head in them, and a single tear crossed down her cheek.

Even if she could bury her face, that doesn't mean that she could bury her thoughts, and they swiftly went to the image of Sasha arriving with the stolen supplies. It was truly the image of a hero arriving to her town, but that was only for "the show".

As soon as she went back to her "room" (more like a hole-cave-HQ) Sasha went face down to her bead.

"She had literally dropped unconscious in her own bead. Can you believe that?"

When Anne went to find her to discuss something (that now she couldn't remember) she found her like that. Anne thought that she was dead, she noticed small drops of blood around her, not much, but it made her panic and immediately went to remove the armor. It was then when she looked beneath the "hero disguise" of her friend.

"It was…"

Cuts, bruises, burn marks lots of them, some still fresh even, she didn't know how Sasha hadn't caught an infection yet. The cuts weren't deep, but they didn't look like they were treated properly. Anne knew that Wartwood (specially now) didn't had state of the art medical technology, but there wasn't even a bandage on most of the injuries.

She panicked.

She remembered Marcy

She couldn't lose Sasha

She screamed

And then…

"Sash woke up in terror, I believe she didn't know where she was… well I can't blame her… who would want to wake up next to a screaming teenager… I know I could have handled the situation better but… she didn't need to scream to me… at least she apologized later…"

The blonde girl was later scolded by the "medic" personnel of the resistance, of course, she just acted as if it was no big deal and played dumb, but she couldn't fool Anne. Anne knew Sasha, she knew that she didn't mind getting hurt sometimes, but this seemed different.

Sasha wasn't a stranger to injuries or minor bruises, but…

Anne's mind went further down the past. When they were kids, Sasha protected Marcy and Anne, and sometimes she got hurt… but never like this.

"It's not like she is indestructible… she could… she could…"

The same thoughts that flooded her back in Sasha's room were coming back, Marcy, injuries… dead.

"She could die" a raspy familiar voice answered from behind, liberating the girl from her thoughts, at least for a moment.

That liberation however came with the intense fear of being discovered. The girl instantly jumped almost 4 feet into the air. If Anne's parents could see her daughter right now, they will probably have laughed due to the similarity between Anne and her cat domino.

"Ho… how long have you been there, dude!"

"Why do you humans keep calling me dude, that's not my name you know? … but regarding the question… a few minutes, I'm here to relieve you…uh… I'm a little lost in the hierarchy… vice commander was it? Well, I'm here to relieve you from your duties, Anne," Said Grimes.

It was really that Late? Anne thought that she had been here for just a couple of hours.

"Oh… really? Don't worry I… I can stay longer, I'm sure you are tired, you could use the sleep"

Anne slowly tacked back her place at the root trying to calm herself.

"I have no need for more sleep I'm trained in the arts of war, which includes sleeping just the necessary, but in contrast… I believe you do need to rest you look beaten up kiddo…"

The toad made a pause as if he was not sure if he should continue with what was on his mind

"But something tells me that that isn't because of the lack of sleep"

Just as the scarecrow a few moments ago, now Anne was silent.

The toad let out loud sight.

"You too have some worries about the commander, right?"

"It was that obvious, uh?"

"Well since you are literally talking about that I believe that yes, it is obvious"

Anne took a mental note to not talk her deepest worries out loud anymore, but for now this was something. The toad was practically Sasha's mentor, if someone knew Sasha around here, it was him. It was the closest thing to a third opinion right now.

"Well… Sash… She is acting… well not like a bitch anymore and that is good but… "

Anne didn't finish the sentence as if she was too scared to continue with her own train of thought, Grimes just looked at the ground, the scary glance of the toad was no longer in his face.

No… there was just sadness and grief.

Despite that, he decided to take the jump.

"I know that I don't know Sasha as long as you do Anne… but I do know a thing or two about her…"

Grimes tried to sit next to the human, but due to his height he couldn't, so he decided to just chill with his back rested in one of the few still standing walls of the house.

"… She really is sorry, you know? Sasha can be manipulative or coercing or horrible, menacing, just a terrible being!…"

The toad's face lighted up for a few seconds as if he remembered another Sasha, one more full of life, full of joy full of toxicity but… that was Sasha right ?

"Holly frog, she manipulated me in the beginning … and then the toad rebellion! That was mostly her, not me!"

Anne was starting to worry a little.

Maybe Grimes only misses the "mean" Sasha

"Don't take me, wrong kid, I'm not saying that that was something good, but I do mean that I would know if this was something fake… if Sasha wanted you to think that she is different she would do it … but not like this… no, this is …"

The toad couldn't finish the sentence.

"Ok yeah, she is being honest, I get it, but that doesn't explain…"

"Her crazy suicide actions? The lack of self-care? … you are thinking it, wrong kid."

The toad contemplated the landscape before him before continuing. All his life, he had thought of the night as his favorite time. No one could see you, the perfect time for an ambush… also it helped to inspire him with the music… but this time… it scared him as if he was just getting notice of an unknown part of the night, and maybe of himself.

"Sasha was… no, she IS a girl full of energy, everything that she does, she does to the 200% she goes further than everyone as if she wants to prove her abilities, she wants everyone to know that she can do anything… but she also wants to prove that to herself"

Wow… right on point

"She still is that Sasha Anne… the difference is…"

She has changed… I know.

"She is now focused on getting your forgiveness … but she doesn't know how to do it. For the first time in her life she sees herself incapable of something, so she takes extremes measures… at first I didn't notice that, I just thought "ok the commander is carrying missions that she knows that she is the only one capable of doing" I mean… you know her, she was like that… invincible, I bet she could kick king Andrias butt on a fair fight, right?

Anne had the impression that Grimes spoke of Sasha as a father would of her Child

"Yes… she could"

"I mean if she could get the same powers that you got she would go paw! Bang!"

Grimes started jumping and kicking the air, just like spring does sometimes.

"… Take that stupid lizard! Hahaha…"

Anne was entertained by the idea of a super Sasha, Grimes really helped "visualize" that with his enthusiasm

"Even without that, I think that Sasha could accomplish everything, she could lead an entire army to anything… I would follow her to the deepest abyss to the thoughtless battle… but now…"

"But now … I think… I think … I still would follow her but… Sasha is fighting another battle… and I can't help her…"

Anne didn't want to look at Grimes… but she knew that a small tear had escaped that one eye

"I think that she doesn't know how to forgive herself… or maybe she decided that she couldn't … "

Anne didn't want to connect the dots, but there were now too obvious to ignore

"you think that she wants to kill herself?"

"… yes…"

They both contemplated the red moon without saying another word, they both grief for the Sasha that seemed lost to them.