Just before the chapters starts, one thing I want to bring up is if you have questions for me about the story, leave a review with it and I'm planning to answer any that there are in it, anyways enjoy!
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After finding out all they can about the music box, Marcy and Andrias propose for Leo and Anne to stay in Newtopia, before making their decision the two spend the rest of the day with the plantars, reminiscing.
...
...
It was cold, he'd almost gotten accustomed to the swelling numbness that would layer his body every night, as if he'd been swallowed in an empty ocean.
Leo felt his eyes shining in the dark, yet again the same fragment piece of his memory would replay in his head, he was getting nowhere, despite the travels he'd made across Amphibia, his anxiety in the castle, it had meant nothing.
He'd been hoping even silently that there'd be some breakthrough, but no matter the nightmare it all felt like his thoughts were just repeating themselves.
As his mind began to reshape reality around him, a memory he'd envisioned so many times beforehand, it was as if a fog doused the disassembled parts of his mind, making it even harder to make out the story supposed to be unfolding.
Yet, for some reason it was different, parts of the conversation weren't cut off or muffled entirely. No, for once it was clear, the voice still seemed completely unrecognizable, but he could hear every word they were saying.
"These creatures are the very foundation of what we are, we must keep them safe, you're already aware of what dangers threaten that?"
"Understood.." They nodded, he shoved aside the mossy creature softly nuzzling against him, stepping over its chain to force it back, there was no sympathy in his eyes, there was nothing but malice.
"Watch yourself, these creatures are our way of life, the remaining embers of what once was..." The voice seemed disheartened.
Just as he began to understand what the two masses were saying, a sweltering darkness bubbled up around them, as a thicker line continued to fester around them before it finally reached him dragging him back into the watery depths.
This time however, it was clear, the darkness had become ink, splodging like paint above him, but he could see beyond the depths, a layer of green caped the room, or was that just the tint of the water? Leo's red eyes couldn't make any of it.
His curiosity got the better of him, leaning his hand forward, hoping to reach out for it- it was a dream after all, it had to be possible.
A wall of glass stopped that, however, seeming to bend all the way up the darkness, it was a true encasement, an underwater cage he was trapped in, or possibly resting within. This was the clearest his dreams had been as if they were actually able to tell a cohesive story.
Just as he managed to push through the glass, beginning to pour through it just as he had with the water, a hand thrust him back, pulling him through the surface.
"-eo.."
Leo clutched onto it, seeming to remember its warmth, looking further towards the distilled water, nearing the top.
"Leo..."
Just like that, he was finally reeled out from the sunken shadows, spilling out from the tubes and glass below.
"LEO!"
Finally, Leo groggily arose, nuzzling himself a little into whatever his head was resting on, staring slightly into the sunlit room.
That was right, they were spending the night sleepover at the castle, awaiting what news Marcy and Andrias had to tell them about the music box, "I fell asleep?" Leo danced his eyes around the room, Polly and Sprig had the same smug look on their faces, whilst Marcy only looked intrigued.
Not seeing Anne, Leo glanced upwards where his head had been resting. There the Thai girl was, propping him up with her shoulder, a satisfied grin across her face as well as a blush that had expanded entirely over, brushing up to her ears.
He quickly flinched back, his own blush dusting his cheeks slightly, "Sorry.." He stated plainly, attempting to mask his own embarrassment.
Seeming to have rebooted, Anne turned to him, now more self-conscious than ever, "...N-No don't worry about it!" She exclaimed awkwardly, rushing to cover her face, "I was just surprised you even managed to fall asleep in the first place, given everything that happened last night.."
Leo thought back on it for a moment, shivering as he did, he was honestly a bit surprised it hadn't managed to creep its way into his dream.
"I guess I just like sleep more," Leo murmured, earning a slight giggle from Anne, easing his mood just slightly, he usually found himself groggy whenever he awoke, or it would at least take a minute for his body to wake up.
But, now was an exception, he felt refreshed.
Despite what others might find horrific for a dream's standards, Leo felt as if he'd mind some kind of breakthrough, after so long of traveling and having nothing but blurred images running through his mind.
Part of that was mainly due to all of his built-up frustration of coming up with nothing, all he'd wanted since making his way to Wartwood was to recover his memory in whatever way he could, he wasn't even sure what he wanted after that.
All he wanted was for his memory to help him become a better person, better than who he was now.
Sprig couldn't help but smirk as the two stared at one another for a little longer than usual, any further teasing was quickly interrupted as Lady Olivia burst into the room, disheveled and covered in various doodles.
One that stood out was under her eyelids, reading 'Polly wuz here' in crude writing.
Turning to the pollywog, shocked and honestly somewhat impressed, "How did you..? When did you?"
"You shouldn't underestimate me, Leo."
Having none of the conversation they were having, the newt slammed the bedroom doors behind her, "Get ready for your audience with the king, NOW!"
Upon entering the throne room, Leo met eyes with an incredibly disgruntled Olivia, who was snatching a cloth from one of the guards and wiping her face with it.
Andrias seemed just as giddy as ever, all but ready to spill everything he knew about the box, clearly holding a giant book behind him, "I'd take it you found something out?" Leo questioned.
"You don't waste any time, do you? Way to reign on my parade.." The king slouched slightly, recovering quickly, brandishing out the giant book in front of them, there was an open page displayed for them to read, "Take a gander!"
With what was obviously shown on the page, it seemed to be an information page of sorts on the music box, "What with all the symbols? And all of this weird text?" Sprig asked aloud.
"You guys can't read it? Aren't you from here?" Anne pondered.
Marcy answered before any of the Plantars could, "It's like back home Anne, there are multiple languages that we don't know, Newtopian is just one of the many I've been looking into," After she'd finished, Marcy puffed her chest out with pride.
Leo kept quiet, glancing at the pages and back to the others. He didn't want to say it out loud, much like he had done the night before, but he could read the newtopian inscriptions throughout the page.
"We're getting off-topic here. What's important is that this box is an artifact of sorts, one that's been around for thousands of years, longer than I have! In fact, it seems my ancestors used it to travel to many worlds and collect whatever knowledge they could, they were scientists of sorts.."
Before he could get a further look at what the text inscribed around the depiction of the music box, Andrias brought his finger atop it, "It seems that we need to get those stones recharged, that's our best way of getting it working again."
"Recharged?" Anne said, raising an eyebrow as she stared more intently at the page, Leo could only hum dryly in response.
"Yes, in order to do so however it seems we need to visit three temples, each one is connected to one of the three stones.."
Continuing to read what he could, Leo matched the words under the three images, a fist, a heart, and a brain, each one correlating to their respective words.
Strength. Heart. Mind.
As Andrias flicked between the pages, one showing a rejuvenated music box and the other its dull grey form that it now represented, Leo couldn't help but feel as if the secondary page was being obscured from the long-written text alongside it.
He knew it wasn't right to feel so uneasy, but something about the whole situation, despite how much they'd learned, it felt like they were only scratching the surface of what the book was actually telling them.
Earning a small tug from Anne, Leo gestured back to Andrias and Marcy, "What's going on?" He murmured lowly.
"I didn't realize it when we first met, but your fairly spacy aren't you? We were discussing our journey to the temple located on this map," Andrias explained.
"Yep! This means we'll have to prepare, weapons, armor, and maps! We'll need it all for an epic quest like this, it'll take at least a couple of days to prepare.."
Hop Pop frowned at that, "Few days huh? I hate to say it, but we're gonna have to head back to Wartwood soon, especially with the harvest starting up."
"Right, guess me and Leo'll head back with the plantars and wait for Marcy whenever she's ready," Anne spoke nonchalantly, not noticing the hesitance wiped across her best friend's face.
"It doesn't really make sense for you to go back Anne, same with Leo to be honest..."
Hearing that made the two of them shocked, raising an eyebrow at Marcy's words, "I think what she means is it would best for you to stay...to prepare. And Leo..." Turning to the snow-haired boy, he pointed to the sword held around him.
"Your skills are nothing to be scoffed at, I want to personally invite you to stay in Newtopia castle, Marcy's explained to me how you seem to have no recollection of your past...if you wanted I'd be happy to help any way I can, with our cities extensive knowledge I'm sure we could find some way to help."
Leo held his tongue, unsure of how to respond, if he did stay there was the chance he'd be with Anne, which at least gave him some reassurance.
His first response was to deny the claim, yet he couldn't find any real reason to. Frankly, he'd grown sick and tired of the same dream drifting him into a sea of nothingness. But now that he had some kind of sliver, he wasn't sure if he was willing to throw that away. So, if he had the chance to learn more, even if it was with just staying here, there was a chance he was willing to take that.
Anne seemed to be on the opposite end, trying to come up with an excuse as to why she needed to stay with Plantars, "That's right, the music box. Don't we still need to get that HP?"
"Technically yes," The old frog responded.
Marcy still shook it off, "That's easy, we can just send a servant to go get it, no point in sending you or Leo just to get it. Much more efficient that way.."
Still hesitant, Anne looked back to the plantars, unable to find any argument for it, "Look, Anne. This is just what makes the most sense right now, the plantars got you here. Now it's time to let them get back to their lives."
Andrias decided to chime in, "Still, it's completely up to you, especially Leo, if you choose to stay, I'll be happy to help with whatever I can."
Leo could only nod in response, turning to Anne and the others, who were wearing nothing but sour expressions, admittedly he shared the sentiment.
As far as they'd come throughout their journey from Wartwood all throughout the valley to Newtopia, and as much as he would be sad to see them go, to the uncertainty of when they'd actually see each other again – he couldn't deny his intrigue in staying behind, despite how much it would irk him to do so.
He sank at his constant doubt, that he was so willing to leave the plantars and even Anne behind, just for some answers about himself, it was as if he hadn't changed at all.
Observing the situation, Andrias slid a tissue box over to them, bigger than everyone present, "Sorry, I figured you guys would need them."
Now sat in the f'wagon, Anne, Leo, and the plantars all huddled together, utterly depressed upon the sudden news that had been thrust on them.
"Are we really just gonna spend the day moping?" Leo mumbled; a little tone-deaf. He was more just trying to lighten the mood the best way he could – Anne was quick to jump on his words, questioning his own thoughts on the situation.
"We really need to work on your delivery, it's way too misleading dude..." She sighed, tapping his shoulders sympathetically, "But he's right! Even if this might be our last today together, it's not forever. We can't just waste it!"
Hop Pop agreed, pulling out a map as he did, unraveling it on the table, "Exactly! If we aren't gonna be seeing each other again, then we can at least spend the day together."
Leo took a look at everything displayed on the map, noting the museum and the arcade. He and Anne were banned from the latter so that was less likely as an option.
"Oh, what about the aquarium? Back home, that would always manage to make me feel at ease, no matter how I felt, it would always make it better.."
"Good point.."
"I'm fine with it."
"What an aquarium?" Leo asked bluntly, watching as the group turned to him slightly aghast, "Kidding. Maybe I do need to work on my delivery.."
Now at the aquarium, Leo had to say he was impressed. Overall, he had fairly spacy and somewhat questionable gaps in his memory, but an aquarium surprisingly wasn't one of them – guaranteed he didn't remember all that much about them to begin with.
"At least I know what they are at least..." Leo mumbled to himself, wandering as he glanced at all the attractions surrounding him.
There were fish of all sorts, ones that Leo couldn't help but be fascinated by, even if it didn't seem like it.
Honestly, part of him was upset with how fine he seemed with the situation, despite the constant battle he was having, how attached he'd gotten with everyone, and that they were one of the only people that looked at him like he was everyone else.
Normal.
He was yet again reminded of such as he hid his appearance from the multiple onlooking newts all hurrying past him, noticing this, Anne called out to him, "Leo, come look at this. I think Polly said they were beaver bugs.."
Leaning against the railing, Leo stared into the water watching the passing creatures drift past and through the depths of the cage, catching his reflection as he did.
All of a sudden, Sprig was on his shoulders jolting him forward slightly, "Pretty relaxing huh, I thought I'd be bored.."
Smiling, Leo brought his attention back to the fish, "It's a nice way to take our mind off things, I guess."
As the pink frog leaned forward, now just a few inches from the water, Leo yanked him back before an eel could reach him, pulling him safely to the ground, "I don't think we should be hovering this close to the water," He stated.
"Oh, but it looks exactly like the eel that attacked us when the basement was flooded," Hop Pop reminisced turning to Anne and Sprig who were doing the same, staring sourly at the picture they'd taken on that day.
Leo blinked, despite the clearly depressing topic – he just felt a tad out of place right now, he was aware of some stories from before he'd stumbled into Wartwood, but that didn't make him feel any less distant.
He hated that he had to feel so cynical about the situation, it wasn't as if he wanted to be included in every memory, Leo could never be that selfish.
Maybe, just slightly. He wanted to think back on the memories he'd made with everyone, the new one's that he'd grown to remember. Because right about now he had none of his previous memories to rely on, anything he could feel connected to was lost for now.
Perhaps that was why he cherished his memories more, because he wasn't sure when he would get his back, or if he'd lose the ones, he had with everyone now.
That wasn't going to deter them, however, with Hop Pop and Anne hurrying them all out of the room and over to whatever exhibit they could find next.
Eventually, they wandered into an underwater tunnel, showered in all kinds of sea creatures swimming overtop of them, jellyfish illuminated the dim hallway as it led up to an open mirror to the tank.
Being the first to stand in front of the mirror, Leo flinched back as he brushed his hand against Anne's, surprised that she hadn't done the same, instead she stood beside him, lightly pressing the back of her palm against his.
"Are you thinking about it?" Anne suddenly questioned, still not looking at him.
Leo wasn't nearly dense enough to ask what she referring to, "I'm...not sure. It's not like I want to leave everyone, but if I can figure out who I was, then it might be worth it. I don't even know...if I belong on Earth or Amphibia."
"I don't know if want to, I love Marcy, and we've only just met up with her. But you, Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly are practically family now, I don't want to leave any of you either," Anne replied, turning to Leo, her eyes looked nothing but conflicted.
"Maybe you should just follow what you want..." Leo murmured.
Anne didn't say anything else to that, instead, she stepped closer to the red-eyed boy as the two of them looked at nothing but the passing fish.
That was until a one-eyed squid, swam past covering most of the glass, "Oh, it's a Kraken!" Sprig pointed out.
"Yeah, kinda like the one Anne made at Stumpy's..." The pollywog's voice died down as she reminisced back to it.
Hop Pop did the same, "Who knew fish sauce and the fear of death went so well together.."
"Doesn't it just leave a bad taste in your mouth?" Leo mentioned, failing to notice the others as they became teary-eyed once again, hugging one another.
Sagging slightly, Leo quickly grabbed a hold of them and ushered them into another room before they could cause a scene, it was only serving to frustrate him even more.
Making their way into the next section of the aquarium, Leo hobbled in with the rest of them, "Coral?" He stated simply.
"It must be an exhibit. I bet there's nothing in here that'll make us any more emotional than we already are!" Anne said relieved.
"You've just set off a flag," said Leo, he'd already expected this much already, given how every other exhibit had turned out so far.
Sure enough, after only a few minutes of wandering through the room they came across an oddly shaped stem of coral, one that resembled Hop Pop's cane almost perfectly.
Not having any attachment to the object, Leo turned his attention to whatever else there was, "Oh, that looks like..."
Standing before him was a giant lump of yellow coral, shaped in a way that made it oddly similar to a woolly mantis, a creature that he and Sprig were forced to fight when his hunting trip had been inexpiably interrupted once the pink frog hadn't tied the needed rope.
"Hah, we almost died," Sprig chuckled dryly.
"Well, at least you know how to tie a rope now...you do right?" Leo turned to the frog, who was refusing to meet him in the eyes, sweating a little as he did, "You did right?"
Polly interrupted before he could answer, "Wait, look over there. Doesn't that look like that mudslide we got trapped in Leo," She trailed off as she peered closer into the coral sculpture, swearing that she could make out two figures trapped inside.
"What the..."
"Move on, let's not question it," Leo said matter-of-factly, hurrying them to the other side of the room.
It didn't do them any good however, wherever that looked just seemed to remind them of any adventure they'd gone on together, even Leo was able to relate to some as they glanced at every area of the exhibit.
As they began to tear up and break down once again, Leo tried to usher them outside, catching all of the strange looks they were getting. Part of him couldn't though it might've seemed stupid, he didn't want to push their feelings aside, at least that's what he felt he was doing.
Maybe it was his own feelings getting in the way, and he was getting emotional over the situation as well.
"Uh, sorry guys. Guess my idea of a sadness-free day was a complete bust," Anne gave out a sigh of defeat, picking herself up.
Eavesdropping their conversation, the guard on duty spoke up, "If you all are really feeling down, the best thing I recommend is the stingray stage show, always manages to cheer me up.."
"Ohh, a stage show could work, they're the best! Wait, we haven't had any encounters with any stingrays, right?" Anne queried, genially wondering if they had.
"Aren't we about to?" Leo droned out, Sprig and Polly answered for him.
"Don't think so.."
"Nope."
"Then let's go!"
Having made their way to the stage show, they wandered into the stadium as it overlooked a large pool of water, with stingrays swimming below the surface.
Leo sat beside Anne and Sprig, watching as a newt rode along the waves tailing beside the stingrays, hopping back onto the platform as she called out to the crowd, "With that done, let's move on to the main event, I'll need a volunteer!"
Sprig quickly retorted, flailing his hand about repeatedly, "Alright then, the pink frog over there!" He quickly hopped down the steps to meet at the front, "Where're you from?"
"Sprig Plantar from Wartwood!"
"Yeah, represent!" Polly cheered.
"Now, all you have to do is hold this out..." As the newt began to speak up, she was interrupted by the frog, "And the stingray will eat it!"
Looking down from the stands, Leo squinted his blood-red eyes into the shadow emerging from the water, its shape was thin and long. Then, emerging from the tank was a giant snake hanging itself above Sprig, lunging for the fish held in his hands.
It would've snatched the meal away before diving back into the water if Sprig hadn't begun wailing, as tears began pouring down his face, Anne was doing the same, staring at a picture on her phone.
"What's wrong now!" Hop Pop said, distressed by both Anne and Sprig's tears.
"That looks like the snake that almost ate me and Sprig!"
"When was that!?"
"That was the day you tried to lock us in the house!"
"Dangnabbit! You two are always disobeying and causing trouble!" Before he could even try to get angry, the orange frog began to break down alongside Anne and Polly, failing to spot Sprig drifting inside the tank, tears pouring down his face as well.
Leo wasn't too sure how he was supposed to respond, Sprig was in possible danger, and he wasn't sure how to get their attention.
"Look, we don't have time for this. I get you're upset, maybe I am too. But we've got to do something, now!" Leo encouraged as best he could, falling a little short as he finished.
It seemed to work well enough, as they all quickly hurried down to the bottom of the stands, "We've got to get Sprig away from that snake!" Anne declared confidently.
"Oh, there's no reason to be afraid of old Wanda, that gal's afraid of her own shadow..." As the other sighed in relief, the newt spoke up once again, "No, it's the rays you should be worried about. Yeah, they love the taste of human flesh."
"Never a dull moment," Leo sagged, somewhat defeated.
Without his katana to rely on, Leo leaped into action with the closest object beside him, grabbing hold of the paddle boards tucked away in the bucket, jumping into action as he hopped across the floating concrete launching one directly at one of the stingrays.
Throwing a few more to Anne and Polly, the Thai girl quickly tossed another to Sprig, "Hey Buddy! You set 'em up.." Interrupting herself as she swept up the other ray, throwing it over to him.
Reacting quickly, Sprig bounded upwards slapping it away, skipping it across the water, "..And I'll knock 'em down!"
Landing in Leo's hands was Polly. Smiling as an unburning fire was flickering in her eyes, "Smack into the water Leo!"
"...Yeah, sure," Lifting his hand back, Leo slapped his hand down onto the tadpole, streaking her into the water as she began to tear into the ray's, the carnage being unseen in the depths below.
Hop Pop wrapped his tongue around Anne's wrist, swinging straight into another ray, punching the final one into a wall, the both of them flailing around in the corner of the open tank.
"That's that," Leo wiped his hands of the metamorphic dirt that had riddled them, "I hope they don't mind that we ruined the show..."
"They did mind."
They'd all been promptly banned from the aquarium after endangering their wildlife.
He couldn't feel too upset though, he yet again had another memory to look back on, despite how life-threatening it may have been it felt oddly comforting with how occasionally they got into such situations.
"Man, that was classic!" Sprig spoke with a smile.
"We totally stung those stingrays!" Polly added.
"Well, we didn't have whatever relaxing day we were hoping for..."
"But we made another memory," Leo finished, his eyes shaking and confused, he was completely uncertain about what else to say.
Hop Pop covered for him, lightly patting his back, "And we'll be sure to cherish like we do all the others.."
Dusk had almost fallen.
Outside of the hotel, Leo and everyone else was working to pack everything they had back into the f'wagon, Leo only had to pack away a small bag that Hop Pop had gifted him, it was more just souvenirs or a variety of whatever Anne had stuffed in there without him looking.
The mood was painfully somber, no one had much to say as they finished packing.
"Have a safe trip Plantars. Just let us know when you get the music box, and we'll send a servant to come and get it," Marcy said.
"Thank you, kindly Marcy," Hop Pop replied, closing an open trunk on the side of the f'wagon.
Leaving them be, Anne pulled Leo into a hug alongside the Plantars, all of them huddling together, "No more tears ya'll, this doesn't mean the end, I'm sure that we'll see each other again."
"Will we though? When will you guys even be coming with us?" Anne queried, trying any kind of excuse she could.
She'd already been separated from her family once; she wasn't sure if she could do it again.
"We have to, right? It's like Hop Pop said, we can make new memories," Leo assured, the rest of them smiling in agreement.
"Exactly, no matter what family always finds each other, so no matter what city or world we're in, we'll meet each other again.."
Leo's face creased, squinting his crimson eyes as he tilted his face upwards. Honestly, up till now, he was exactly sure whether he could cry, not just because he constantly felt as if his emotions were always wrong.
But because he wasn't aware of how much he would really be affected by the situation, they really weren't sure when they would see each other again.
Wiping the few sparse drops that were close to streaming down his face, Leo and Anne could only watch as the f'wagon rode off into the distance, and soon out of view.
"I'm sorry Anne, this just seemed right.."
"Yeah, I know. It's the logical thing to do," Anne could only murmur a reply, her voice was low and distant.
Marcy wanted to say something, anything that could make Anne feel better, to make the situation feel better, but she didn't know what that was.
That was a lie. She did, but her heart couldn't take that, not again, after everything. But at the same time, she couldn't stand there, and watch Anne watch her family be ripped away from her.
"Huh...You know, the more that I think about it. It's silly to send a servant to collect the music box, we need someone we can trust. I'm sure we can handle the preparations here- woah!"
She was quickly cut short as Anne pulled her into a hug, "Thanks, Marcy."
"Don't worry. Follow your heart."
Before she could, Anne met eyes with Leo, "Are you not coming? You're part of my family to Leo."
"I.."
The words just wouldn't come out, he so badly wanted to go with her, but he just didn't know what he wanted, a chance for his memories to come back.
"I can't," It was a short and low response, one Leo wasn't entirely proud of.
Anne's tears threatened to swell again, possibly even more than before, "Leo, I-"
"You should go, before you miss them," Speaking from behind was Andrias, "You'd be surprised how quickly people can leave before you know it."
Anne hesitated, backing up as she did and running towards the city's wall, all Marcy could do was watch – her hand almost reaching out for her.
Sniffling, Leo forbade himself from crying, he couldn't give himself any more reason to go, "It's sad to watch people go. But we're one step closer to getting you girls home! And you for getting your memories back Leo."
"Yeah.."
He turned to Marcy, a little disheveled, "You really care about her, don't you?"
"Yeah, I didn't want to watch her go. But I couldn't just let her stay either. You care about Anne lot too, don't you?" Marcy tilted her head at him.
"I do."
Leo couldn't get the thought out of his mind now, he'd told Anne to follow what she wanted and neglected to do the same, gaining his memories was a goal he needed to believe he could become a better person.
That he used to be a better person.
But ultimately, he knew that couldn't be what he really wanted.
He wanted to make new memories with everyone, make new adventures and struggles that they could overcome together, and help get Anne, Marcy, and Sasha home, he just wanted to be with them...to be with her.
Without warning, Leo practically sprinted from where he stood, racing through the city as fast as he possibly could, he needed to catch up to them.
As he skated through the closing gate, his worn-out shoes met with the wet shore, racing to the f'wagon that was just off the horizon.
Struggling to catch his breath, Leo latched onto the f'wagon clambering atop the moving vehicle, "LEO!?" Anne exclaimed wiping at her swollen eyes.
"I want to come to, to be with you and everyone!" Leo huffed, his voice was weak and trembling, struggling to stay on top.
Before he knew it, Anne had pulled him into a hug, holding on to him tightly, "I want to be with you too."
All too quickly she pulled away, her face drowning in a red hue, Leo was close to the same although he seemed much more spaced out due to the interaction, "I-I-I mean w-we all do. Right guys? Right!"
Sprig did the best he could covering for her, "Yeah, I honestly what I was gonna do, it just would feel complete without you."
"Exactly, you can't forget Leo. You're an honorary Plantar to."
"Thanks, really."
Polly quickly broke it up, "Alright, enough sad talk. We just need to focus on heading back to Wartwood right?"
"I mean, we've still got a while, right?" Leo questioned, wiping his eyes.
"Just another two-week journey back!" Hop Pop shouted aloud.
Leo could only smile, despite a path he could've chosen, he was just fine with how things were right now.
Andrias stared at the setting sun alongside Marcy, "Always sad to see someone go, isn't it? Although I was surprised with Leo's sudden turnaround, I wasn't aware they meant so much to him."
"Yeah, I guess he does. All of them do."
"I suppose you're right. Listen, I've got a proposition for you Marcy, one that I think you find most interesting.."
...
That's the chapter, I hope you enjoyed I really like how the ending turned out. I was originally going to have it focused on Leo not knowing where he belonged, but since I've had a chapter already focused on that I decided to base it around his memories.
I don't mind re-treading character struggles in different episode forms, I love going back to them. I've just been purposely making Leo's memories and his dreams less apparent for the previous chapters for an episode, and this just seemed like the perfect one based on the episode's content.
We'll be moving on to Night Drivers next, but much like Quarrellers Pass, they'll be some character changes for the better dynamic I want.
Until then, see yah!
