Author's Notes: It's been a while since I've written an Amphibia fanfic, but I felt like I had to write one after watching "All In". Like many Amphibia fans, I've been feeling a bit emotional as we draw closer to Amphibia's series finale. This is just my take on how things could play out after the finale. Some mild spoilers, but no direct references to the events of "All In" or "The Hardest Thing".
In all the time since coming to Amphibia, Sasha couldn't once recall ever having a day off.
She'd spent the first few weeks of her time in this world of talking frogs locked in a prison cell, at the mercy of Captain Grime. Even after winning her freedom through her manipulative nature, Sasha committed all of her time and energy into training the toads to be more effective fighters, and giving Grime a few pointers on leadership.
It never ended, even after her clash with Anne atop Toad Tower. No, she kept on training, burying her feelings of frustration and betrayal after Anne stood up to her through a regime of rigorous exercises before she was finally able to motivate Grime and begin planning the Toad Rebellion... and when that failed, she went straight to leading the resistance against Andrias. Never once did Sasha take a moment for herself to relax. She simply wasn't given the chance as her time in Amphibia took her from one crisis to the next.
But now that was all over. Andrias had fallen. The Core was destroyed. Sasha's adventure with Anne and Marcy had come to a close a fortnight ago, and for the first time since she'd set foot in Amphibia, Sasha was free.
And today, she was going to the lake.
Sasha got up that morning, leaving her armor and cloak behind in favor of a blood-red one-piece bathing suit, a beach towel, and flip-flops. She still carried her dual heron swords wherever she went (Amphibia was still a dangerous place, after all) though it was unlikely that she'd need them today.
Sprig offered to show her the way to the lake. The little pink frog and Sasha were on much better terms now after everything that'd happened. Sasha had to admit, it was good to have him along for the ride; and she was glad to see him out and about again... better than sulking in his room, as he had for the last two weeks.
"How far is it to the lake?" Sasha asked after stepping out the town gate after Sprig.
"Not far," Sprig assured her, producing Anne's phone from his pocket. "But before we get there, I thought maybe we could take a selfie?"
Sasha chuckled. "Yeah... sure. That sounds great..."
Sasha knelt down beside Sprig, holding up two fingers in a peace sign as Sprig took a snapshot. He handed the phone to Sasha to check and see if it was alright. Sasha smiled back at the tiny reflection of herself and her new friend in the screen before handing the phone back to Sprig.
Once at the lake, Sasha unfastened her swords, leaving them at the shoreline before kicking off her flip-flops and diving in after Sprig. The sun hung high overhead amid cloudless blue skies as they swam through the crystalline waters, playing games, goofing around, and taking snapshots on their phones. An outside observer might think them lifelong friends, doing as they had done dozens of times before. There was a beautiful irony in the friendship between Sasha Waybright and Sprig Plantar, looking back on where they began, and seeing where they ended up.
Sasha breached the surface of the lake, throwing her long blonde hair back over her shoulder, her rose-colored heron tiara glinting in the sunlight. Sprig followed suite, and the two of them climbed onto an oversized lily pad to relax.
Sasha lay back, propping herself up on her elbows as she took in the view. The crystal blue waters stretched towards the horizon to meet the sky, the two seemingly blending together at the edge of her vision. A few wispy white clouds drifted across otherwise clear skies, leaving the sun unimpeded as it warmed the bare skin of Sasha's arms, legs, and back. Her chest heaved from mild exhaustion, having swum several laps around the lake, and she sucked in a lungful of the fresh swamp air. It was heavenly.
"Frog, it feels like forever since I just... sat down," Sasha thought aloud.
"I'll bet," Sprig observed as he casually flipped through Anne's phone. "You always seemed a little... uptight before. No offense..."
"None taken," Sasha assured him. "You know... I never realized just how beautiful this place is."
There was a pregnant pause. All was quiet save for the sounds of crickets in the underbrush beyond the lakeshore, and the tiny "bloops" of Sprig scrolling through Anne's phone. Sasha thought to herself that it was a good thing Amphibia didn't have wifi; Anne had told her all about how the Plantars and all of Wartwood had just about lost their minds after watching Suspicion Island and Love Choice on her phone... Frog forbid if these humble country folk were ever exposed to the unforgiving and soulless cyberscape of social media.
"You okay there, little guy?" Sasha asked of Sprig after not saying anything for a while.
"I'm fine, it's just..." Sprig trailed off. "I, uh... I was just thinking of when Anne and I came down to the lake together, when she first moved in with us."
"Oh..." Sasha replied. "Uh, didn't you almost get eaten by a giant water snake?"
"Ha-ha, yeah..." said Sprig. "Anne told you about that?"
"Yup," Sasha affirmed. "How exactly did you manage to get out of that? Anne didn't say."
"I fed it some of Hop-Pop's pain peppers," Sprig told her proudly. "So hot they'll make you wish you were dead!"
Sasha and Sprig both laughed at this. It almost made Sasha feel a little bit jealous, knowing how close Anne and Sprig were... it was hard to believe that she'd once tried to kill this little frog. He was just about the sweetest thing Sasha ever laid eyes on. Privately, she wondered what might've happened if things had been different, if Sasha had ended up in Wartwood with Anne instead of Toad Tower. Maybe this town could've humbled her in the way it did Anne. And then maybe she wouldn't have messed things up so badly...
Sasha heard a tiny sniffle beside her, and turned just in time to see a solitary tear slip down Sprig's cheek. He was looking at a picture of himself and Anne.
"Hey..." Sasha said, reaching out tenderly and putting her arms around Sprig. "Hey, Sprig... it's alright."
"I'm sorry," Sprig choked out.
"Don't be," Sasha insisted. "I miss her too."
Two weeks Anne had been gone. Two weeks since they'd laid her to rest at her and Sprig's favorite spot, on the hill overlooking the Plantar's farm.
A few people from Earth had come to Amphibia to attend Anne's funeral, including Sasha's parents. Some, including Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy, Dr. Jan, Terri, Jess, and Ally had elected to stay.
Marcy, much to everyone's surprise, had chosen to go back home with her parents. Sasha had pleaded with her to stay, but Marcy's mind was made up. She blamed herself for Anne's death, and nothing that Sasha, her parents, or the Boonchuys said could convince her otherwise. Marcy had left Sasha with instructions on where to find the three temples so that she could return the Calamity Stones to where they belonged, urging her to destroy the music box before departing so that no one could misuse it again.
Sasha had done as she asked (though she kept the music box in a safe place, just in case) but before confronting her own parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Waybright pleaded with their daughter to come home, but she refused. Sasha hadn't wanted to see them again, no matter how bad they felt about how they'd treated her in the past. She definitely didn't want to go back to Earth, not after everything she'd been through. Amphibia was her home now, and she made sure her parents knew it.
"I can't go back to the way things were," Sasha had told her mother and father back on Earth. "I'm going back to Amphibia where I can be close to Anne. I'm going to build my own house in Wartwood, and I'm going to protect the people there, people I care about, until the day I die. If you want to come along, I won't stop you... but I'm not going to live in this dirty old city anymore."
As it turned out, Mr. and Mrs. Waybright were not so concerned for their daughter as to follow her back to Amphibia. Or maybe they just thought they needed to give her space until she decided to come back on her own... but this wasn't just a phase. Sasha wasn't a traumatized and confused child. Psychologically, Sasha was an adult now... and she had no intention of returning to Earth. Not now, not ever.
She was living in the Plantar's basement for the time being. Mayor Toadstool was paying her to protect Wartwood. One day, Sasha would have enough saved up enough coppers to buy a small plot of land in town and build her own house... with a little help from Chuck. In the meantime, she would keep the promise she'd made to her parents and to herself to protect Wartwood.
A few days after her parents left, Sasha returned to Anne's grave on the hill to visit her fallen friend. That's when she found Sprig all by himself by the low rock wall, reading a book in solitude. At first, Sasha thought to leave him to his grief... but something compelled her to return to the hill with a book in hand, and ask Sprig if she could join him.
He said yes. For a while, they just sat there, reading quietly by candlelight.
After a few minutes, Sprig, completely out of nowhere, decided to start a game of "would you rather" with Sasha.
And now, here they were. Two weeks after Anne had sacrificed herself to save this world, and her two best friends were now themselves the best of friends.
Sasha thought to herself as she held Sprig in her arms, sitting on the edge of the lily pad as they dried their tears, that it was enough.
"It'll be okay, buddy," Sasha assured him. "Wherever she is now, I know that Anne would be happy to see you and me together."
"Yeah..." Sprig agreed, wiping the last of the tears from his eyes. "Sprasha against the world?"
Sasha smiled, a warm feeling growing in her heart at these words.
"Ha-ha," she chuckled. "Sprasha against the world..."
Author's Notes: Some people have speculated that Anne could die in the series finale. Matt Braly has tried to kill both Sasha and Marcy in previous seasons, so maybe the third time's the charm.
If Anne were to die, I'd like to think that Sasha could stay in Amphibia and become friends with Sprig just like Anne did. Truth be told, I don't want any of the girls to return to Earth at the end; that would just be too cliché and predictable. I'm hoping that some or all of the main characters (especially Anne and her parents, whether Anne lives or dies) will choose to stay in Amphibia along with their families.
The worst thing would be if Amphibia was destroyed and everyone had to escape to Earth. That would be as bad, if not worse, than the ending to Star Vs. The Forces of Evil since it would mean throwing out all of the worldbuilding from the past 3 seasons. I really hope they don't go that route, especially since "All In" was such an amazing episode... and Amphibia has been consistently good for the most part up to this point. Not like Star Vs. The Forces of Evil, where we could see major problems with the narrative long before the disaster that was the finale episode "Cleaved".