Our Marks

by SpartenX

Anne had known from the moment she met Sasha that they were destined to be soulmates. And as the years went by and Sasha grew to be worse as a person, Anne still truly believed that they were meant for each other, because there was simply no possible way that they weren't meant for each other...right?

AN: Another re-upload from AO3, this time with a fic that I had actually been thinking of writing before Time Brings All to Pass, though I obviously I went with that one first.

---

Everyone had a soulmate.

It was a simple fact of life.

Everyone had one person who, by some unknown power, was picked out as the one person whom they would love more than anyone else. Whom they would spend their life with. Whom they would never feel complete without meeting.

It would certainly take some time to find your soulmate, but there was a surefire way to know who they were; the Mark. Everyone was born with a Mark on their right arm that took the outline of a rectangle, then, exactly 1 month after your 13th birthday, that rectangle would fill up with a color. Then, once you met your soulmate for the first time after your Mark had filled with color, it would warp into your soulmate's name. And of course, your soulmate's Mark would do the same.

For someone like Anne Boonchuy, Marks were one of the greatest things ever. Not only was the idea of a single person who you were destined to be with super romantic, but the presence of Marks meant that she didn't have to worry about finding that perfect soulmate for herself. She didn't have to make that choice for herself of who to be with and could just follow whatever path was set out by whatever force picked out a person's soulmate.

Of course, there was another reason that Anne didn't need to worry about that; she was certain that she had already met her soulmate. It happened 8 years ago when this little blond girl showed up out of nowhere to help defend Anne and Marcy from some bullies. That girl, Sasha Waybright, would go on to become Anne's best friend (tied with Marcy of course), and as the years passed, Anne would realize that those simple feelings of friendship were…a fair bit more.

She had fallen head over heels for Sasha, and Anne felt that was pretty understandable. Sasha was absolutely gorgeous, had this infectious charm, was smart, athletic, super outgoing, really brave, and was just the coolest person ever. Really, it was kind of weird to Anne that more people weren't madly in love with someone so amazing.

Sure, as the years went by, Sasha became a bit more…bossy, but that wasn't too bad all things considered. Being led around by Sasha made things easier for Anne, and that was worth Sasha convincing her to go along with ideas she didn't like. Yeah, it often made her feel uncomfortable, and her parents had started to tell her lately that she shouldn't be hanging out with Sasha anymore because of this type of behavior, but it really wasn't that bad. Every couple (even if they weren't actually a couple yet) had some sort of issue between them. Anne's seen her parents fight before, Marcys complained about fights her parents have had, and neither of those compares to the situation with Sasha's parents. Frankly, it's a wonder how Sasha's parents are soul mates at all given how much they seem to dislike each other. Really, compared to how bad things were between Sasha's parents, the problems between Sasha and Anne caused by the blonde's bossiness were nothing to worry about. It was just how things were with Sasha, and Anne was fine with dealing with that.

And even now, as Sasha convinced her to sneak out of class to enjoy her 13th birthday, Anne was still fine with dealing with Sasha's bossiness. All the uncomfortable feelings she had when Sasha convinced her to break rules and do something illegal would be worth it in a month when her Mark's color filled in and they were confirmed to be soulmates. Even now, as Sasha convinced her to skip out on the party her parents were throwing for her, all Anne needed to do was look at the empty mark on her arm to assure herself that everything would be all right in the end.

---

Things had not gone to plan on Anne's birthday.

That weird music box that Marcy found somehow took them to another world. At least, it took Anne to another world. One second, she was in the park with her two closest friends, and the next, she was in some sort of alien swamp.

Alone.

Sasha and Marcy were nowhere in sight, and even after spending a month in this world, she still hadn't seen any sign of them. A part of her hoped that the reason for that was that she was the only one of them brought to Amphibia considering that the place seemed to try and find a new way to put her life in danger at least twice a week.

Still, despite all the danger, Anne could at least say that she was enjoying her time in Amphibia, even if that was pretty much solely because of the Plantar's. They had taken her in when she had nowhere else to go in this strange new world, and she was already starting to feel like a part of the family. She had especially grown close to Sprig, the little brother she never had who had quickly worked his way up to being her best friend right alongside Sasha and Marcy.

And so of course, when after a month in Amphibia her Mark finally filled in with color, Sprig was the first person she wanted to share the good news with.

"Sprig!" Anne shouted excitedly as she came up from her room in the Plantar's basement.

"Hey, Anne, what's up?" Sprig asked from the living room's couch.

"Take a look at what I just woke up with." Anne said as she proudly showed off the Mark on her right arm, now filled in with a light blue color.

"Oooh" Sprig said in wonder, before his face turned into one of confusion. "What is that?"

Given how important soulmate Marks were on Earth, it could be easy for Anne to forget that they didn't exist on Amphibia. Sure, the idea of a soulmate was still around, but there were no Marks to tell anyone that they had actually found the person they were meant to be with for the rest of their lives.

"It's my Soulmate Mark Sprig, remember I told you that we have these back on Earth?"

"Oh right. So…this means that now you'll know your soulmate when you meet them, right?" Sprig asked, his tone making it clear that he wasn't sure if he'd remembered what Anne told him correctly.

"Yup, and even better, it means that I know that Sasha's OK."

While normally the color of a soulmate Mark meant little, there were two instances where it did matter. If a mark was grey, that meant that your soulmate's Mark hadn't filled in with color yet. Once their Mark did fill, then yours would change to a proper color and could then change into their names when you next met them. The other instance was if a Mark was black. That would mean that your soulmate was dead. With Anne's certainty of who her soulmate was and the fact that her Mark wasn't black, she could take a lot of comfort in knowing that Sasha was OK. Sure she didn't know where Sasha was, and she still didn't have any idea of what Marcy's condition was, but this was the first bit of good news she had gotten about either of her friends, and she wasn't going to get upset over it not telling her everything she wanted to know.

"Wait, I thought you didn't know who your soulmate was until after you met them when your Mark had its color?" Sprig asked, confused by Anne's confidence in who her soulmate was.

"Well yeah, I don't know that Sasha is my soulmate yet." Anne admitted. "But she's totally going to be my soulmate. We've been friends for years and I…I've just always really liked her. She's this totally amazing person, she's brave, determined, super pretty, and always goes out of her way to protect me and Marcy."

"Wow, she sounds super cool." Sprig replied. "Well, I'm glad she's going to be your soulmate and not that friend who you thought you had to get that pencil case for or they wouldn't like you anymore."

An awkward silence fell on the pair for a moment.

"That…that friend actually was Sasha." Anne admitted.

"Oh…well at least she's not the one who made you give her your new shoes."

"…That was also Sasha."

"…Was she also the one that made you steal that music box?" Sprig asked, worry starting to appear in his voice.

"…Look, Sasha's not perfect, but she really is a great person…even if sometimes she can act a bit…bossy."

Sprig looked at Anne, worry still on his face.

"Are you happy when you're around her?" he asked.

"Yes." Anne answered, feeling it best not to end her answer with 'most of the time' given how worried Sprig was getting about how the blond treated her.

"Well…I guess that's really all that should matter." Sprig said, hesitantly accepting Anne's answer. "I hope you two get to meet soon."

"Me too." Anne answered wistfully.

---

And it would turn out that they would meet soon. Well, soonish anyway.

It had been nearly another two months since her Mark got its color that the frog of the year party was held, and while the night started out like an absolute disaster, mostly due to Anne going overboard with trying to make the party the best it could be to the point that she had nearly ruined everyone's night, the party still turned out to be a success once they toned everything down and Anne stopped trying to push things too far.

And then Toadie let Anne know that someone was waiting for her outside town. And when Anne saw who it was, her heart skipped a beat, several actually.

Waiting for her on the bridge just outside of town, was Sasha Waybright.

Their reunion involved a lot more excited, happy screaming than Anne had thought it would, though it did involve the exact amount of hugging she expected.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe you're here, I woke up all alone! I had no idea if you or Marcy were here too! I'm so glad you're OK" Anne exclaimed, her mouth running a mile a minute. "Where have you been? Is Marcy with you?"

"I'll fill you in on everything later," Sasha said, waving off Anne's questions as the blond's eyes drifted to her right arm. "But first, I think you should take a look at this."

Sasha held out her right arm for Anne to look at, and what she saw made the smile on her face grow even bigger. Written on Sasha's arm, where there was one a grey soulmate Mark, was now the name 'Anne Boonchuy' written in pink.

Anne had been right all along; they really were soulmates.

Anne let out another scream of excitement as she hugged Sasha tighter than before.

"Yes! I totally knew we would be soulmates!"

"Right? We're totally perfect for each other." Sasha replied back, just as excited as Anne to know that this had finally happened.

Anne truly felt that she couldn't be happier as she held her best friend and soulmate. It was everything she could hope for as she looked towards her own arms wrapped around Sasha to see her Mark.

And that's when Anne's smile fell.

On her arm was not the name 'Sasha Waybright' written in blue, but a simple blue rectangle.

Wh…what?

Anne's brain all but froze at the sight of something that she couldn't believe. It simply didn't make sense to her that this could be happening.

"All right, now that's enough hugging," Sasha said as she pulled away from the Thai girl, "I want to take a look at your Mark too."

Sasha reached for Anne's right arm, only for Anne to pull it away very quickly.

"Anne?" Sasha asked, her eyebrow raised in confusion.

"I-uh, I need to go do something first. I'll-I'll be right back." Anne stuttered out as she quickly ran back into town before Sasha could let out the annoyed protest that she knew was coming.

As she ran back to the Plantar's, not stopping even as frogs tried to ask her what was wrong. All she could do was stare at her Mark.

She knew what this was.

This was a mismatched Mark, a Mark that said your soulmate…was someone who had a different soulmate. A mismatched Mark was considered a great tragedy on Earth, as it meant that someone would forever be taunted with the knowledge that the person who was perfect for them…was meant for someone else. She had heard stories online that some people would go as far as to cut off their own arm just so that they wouldn't have to look at their mismatched Mark anymore.

Yet, even knowing what this was, it still didn't make any sense to Anne. Mismatched Mark's happened to people in movies, or someone posting on Facebook, or a friend of a friend of a friend's cousin. It happened to people in stories or people she didn't really know. It wasn't supposed to happen to her and Sasha.

Anne didn't know how this happened. She didn't know why this happened. All that she knew was that it had happened.

And she couldn't let Sasha know.

At least, not right now. She was just as happy as Anne was about them being soulmates, and the idea of having to tell her that she had a mismatched Mark, and that Anne's soulmate was supposed to be someone else, right after they reunited for the first time in months? No, that would be way too cruel to Sasha. Whatever her Mark said (or rather, didn't say) she still loved Sasha and didn't want to hurt her.

As Anne finally reached the Plantar's house, she went into their washroom, grabbed some bandages, and wrapped them around her right arm. After that, she ran back to the bridge, where a very annoyed Sasha was waiting, impatiently tapping her foot.

"What the heck was that Boonchuy? You can't just run off on me like that right after we-"

Sasha's scolding stopped short as her eyes zeroed in on the bandages on Anne's arm.

"What happened to your arm?!" Sasha asked, worry filling her voice as she grabbed hold of Anne's right arm.

"Oh, I ran into this big Mantis thing just before I got to Wartwood, and it ended up scratching up my arm a bit and left a few scars over my Mark." Anne said, relaying to Sasha the story she came up with to explain the bandages as she ran back to the bridge. "I didn't have them on before because, you know it was just over a rectangle before, but now the scars are over your name, and it just looks awful. Your name shouldn't have a bunch of scars over it."

Sasha, by some miracle, looked like she believed the story.

"Well, I'll have to go out and find that Mantis and kill it later for scratching you up like that." The blond said. "Your arm doesn't still hurt, does it?"

"Nope, it's fine." Anne replied, trying to hide the guilt she felt at hearing Sasha be so concerned over a lie.

"That's a relief to hear." Sasha said as her hands moved toward the bandages. "So if it's healed up enough, maybe I can still take a peek at the Mark even if it is cove-"

"No!" Anne shouted as she pulled her arm away forcefully, shocking Sasha.

"I-I just really don't want you to see it the way it is right now." Anne said, her voice shaking.

"Anne, what's gotten into you, it's just a few scars?" Sasha asked, annoyance seeping into her voice.

"Please…" Anne pleaded.

Sasha stared at Anne for a few seconds and then sighed.

"All right, how about we talk about this later, OK?"

Anne let out the breath she was holding and nodded.

"OK."

"Great." Sasha said as she pulled Anne in for another hug, which felt nice. Even if she and Sasha weren't soulmates and the two of them were going to have to have a very terrible talk about that in the future, Sasha was still one of her best friends, and it felt right being with her again after being apart for so long.

"I'm really happy you're here Sash." Anne said, a little more wistfully than she intended. "Hey, how did you find me anyways?"

"There were some reports that another human was around here, so we came down here to check it out."

"…We?"

---

The rest of the night did not exactly go well. Not only did the toads trick Wartwood into going to their tower so they could execute Hop Pop, but Sasha was the one who came up with the idea. And she seemed proud of it. And then she tried to convince Anne to just stand aside and let them go through with executing her adoptive Grandpa!

And I almost did!

After Sprig stood up for her, Anne finally accepted that Sasha had been a terrible friend for the last while. A terrible friend with a lot of power over Anne too. But she wasn't going to simply accept that anymore, and she even stood up for herself.

If the night had ended there, it really would have ended on a high note.

But then the bottom of the tower blew up.

And then the part of the tower Sasha was standing on collapsed under her.

And then, when Anne was giving it her all to keep Sasha from falling to her death, she let go of Annes hand.

Sasha would be dead if Grime weren't there to catch her.

In the weeks that followed, Anne would have several nightmares of that scene playing out again and again. Except, in those dreams, Grime wasn't there to catch her.

Anne didn't know what to do anymore. Sasha wasn't her soulmate, was a much worse person and friend than she had ever realized, nearly killed people Anne cared about, and then went and nearly killed herself to try and save Anne from dying with her. What was she supposed to think about all of this? What was she supposed to do about being in love with someone like that? Especially when her Mark was telling her that there was someone else out there who was her real soulmate? That last part really should have made this all a bit easier; she could ignore her feelings for Sasha as there was someone else she was supposed to be with out there, meaning she could just focus on their friendship. Except, it somehow made it more difficult. She had been in love with Sasha for so long, had always envisioned her future with her, and now everything she thought about their relationship had been thrown into chaos! Not just from them not being soulmates, but from Sasha's general behavior that Anne was only just now starting to understand was unacceptable.

And then there was the fact that they weren't just not soulmates, but that Sasha had a mismatched Mark. Someone that Anne had been friends with for years, had essentially been sentenced to a life without ever having an other half, or at least an other half that will actually feel that same way about her. Sure, Anne still cared about Sasha, loved her still even, but there was someone else out there that she was supposed to fall in love with even more. It was cruel that Sasha was now in this position, where she would forever have feelings for someone that would go unanswered. It really didn't help that Anne was the person who couldn't answer them.

And it's not exactly like she could really talk to anyone about all of this. The only people around to talk to about it were people that Sasha had just tried to kill. Sure, the Plantar's would probably try put their baggage regarding Sasha aside and help Anne through all of this…but Anne actually working up the nerve to go to them about her confused feelings over the girl who just tried to murder them? That was something she wasn't sure she could do.

And now, here in Newtopia, Anne found herself in front of the only person in this world she thought she could talk to about all of this…and she was still having a hard time doing so.

"You and Sashay are so lucky Anne." Marcy said as she and Anne sat on one of the many fountains in Newtopia "You basically both got to grow up with your soulmates."

"Y-yeah, lucky us." Anne replied nervously.

She had kept her Mark wrapped up in bandages even after what had happened at the Tower. Looking at her Mark would just help to remind her even more about…well, everything. When she got here to Newtopia and found Marcy, the girl naturally asked about the bandages, and Anne ended up giving her the same lie that she gave Sasha. She just hoped that she wasn't being too obvious about something being wrong.

…Which she probably was if Marcy's worried expression was anything to go by.

"Are you all right Anne?" The raven-haired girl asked.

"…Me and Sasha kind of got into a fight."

"Nooo, was it bad?"

"…There were some swords, minor explosions…and I don't know where she is anymore." Anne tilted her head downwards as she said the last words.

And I don't know what we even are anymore.

"…Well, I mean, I'm sure you guys can fix things up when we find her again." Marcy said, with a forced cheerfulness that was meant to lift the mood that had overtaken their conversation.

When Anne kept her head lowered, it was an obvious indication to Marcy that the fight was a bit worse than Anne was letting on.

"Anne?" She asked. "What else happened?"

"…I think I've realized that Sasha hasn't been a great friend." Anne finally answered.

"Well, she is a bit bossy…" Marcy said cautiously.

"And controlling. And manipulative. And she's perfectly fine with bullying us into doing what she wants!" Anne said, having a hard time controlling her words as she finally started to let out some of her confused and frustrated feelings over this mess.

Marcy appeared taken aback from Anne's outburst, and Anne understood why she would be. The three of them had never had any sort of serious fight before, and for one of them to say that kind of stuff about another was…well, its wasn't something that had ever happened. Even if what Anne said was absolutely true.

"…This was a really bad fight, huh?" Marcy said when she finally found her words again.

Anne took a deep breath to steady herself before answering. She didn't want to go too much into what had happened, partially because she didn't want Marcy to know that one of her best friends tried to murder people, and partially because she herself was still trying to figure out all of this.

"Yeah, it was bad. I kind of got forced to relook at how things have been in the past and…and Sasha's has been a pretty bad friend a lot of the time."

"…She has been a good friend at other times though, right?" Marcy asked.

"…Yeah." Anne admitted. However terrible Sasha's behavior had been didn't change the fact that she was still fun to hang out with, and how she would go out of her way to help and protect both Anne and Marcy…even if she wasn't too keen on protecting them from herself.

"Look," Marcy said as she scooted closer to Anne, "you're right, there have been a lot of times when Sasha has been a terrible friend to us, but she does care about us. You especially if those Marks are anything to go by."

A sense of shame filled Anne at that last remark.

"And I'm sure," Marcy continued, "that she'd be willing to work on changing herself and start being a better friend if you talk to her about all of this."

A small smile appeared on Anne's face at Marcy's words. However bad things were, Marcy was right that Sasha cared about both of them. Maybe if they did talk, they could at least fix their friendship? Change wasn't really Sasha's thing, but a month ago murder wasn't her thing either, so…maybe she could change?

"All right Marcy, I'll give it a try." Anne said, nodding.

"Awesome!" Marcy exclaimed. "I can't imagine life without the three of us being together."

Anne raised an eyebrow.

"You do remember that you're eventually going to run into your soulmate too, right?"

"Yeah," Marcy said as she raised her right arm, showing the green rectangle that her Mark currently was, "but whoever they are will have to be good with you guys too."

Anne forced a smile at that. She was going to have to come clean about the situation with her and Sasha's Mark's, but that was something that they could deal with later. And maybe, she and Sasha can still be in each other's lives forever, as friends.

---

It wasn't too long until Anne was forced to confront Sasha again, though it didn't happen quite as she had expected. The blond and Grime had shown up out of nowhere in the Third Temple just in time to save Anne, Marcy and the Plantar's. While things were…definitely tense, it was a good thing that She had shown up, as they otherwise might never have made it through the temple and the last of the music box's gems would never have gotten charged.

The best part of it all though was that Sasha genuinely seems to have changed. She admitted that what happened at the Tower was her fault, and she even admitted to how much of a jerk she'd been even before all of that. While Anne had hoped that Marcy was right about Sasha changing, she figured that it would take way more time and a much longer conversation, but it almost seemed like she had already changed while she was off with Grime.

Of course, just because Sasha had changed, didn't mean that they didn't have a few things to sort out still…and as they exited the Third Temple, it seemed to Anne like a good time to start sorting out some of those things.

"Thanks for all that stuff back there," Sasha began as she followed behind Anne, "believing in me and junk."

"Oh, hey, no biggie." Anne replied, stopping in her tracks as she knew that this conversation would need to take a few minutes. "I'm sorry for not trusting you earlier."

Sasha smiled at hearing Anne's apology, which just made Anne feel more awkward about what she was going to say next.

"Sasha, do you think that maybe we could start over? Do things right this time?"

Sasha's face fell at Anne's words, her eyes briefly darting to her own Mark.

"Start Over?" She asked, trying to hide how upset she obviously was over the idea.

"Sasha, I…I really want to get back to where we were, but after everything that's happened, I'm going to need some more time." Anne said, trying to keep a tone that was more comforting. "I know that you've changed, but after what happened before…I'm only just starting to trust you again. I just need some time, OK?"

Of course, what Anne did not say was that she needed time not just to build up her trust in Sasha again, but to figure out how to talk to her about the situation with their Mark's. Sasha's reaction to Anne even just suggesting that they start over told her that that conversation may be even harder than she had already thought it would be.

For a few seconds, Sasha's only response to Anne's words was silence, but then a small and sad smile appeared on her face.

"I…I understand." Sasha said. "I'd really like us to get back to where we were, and if you need a bit of time for that, then…well, OK."

Anne smiled at that.

"Thanks' for understanding Sash."

"Hey no biggie," Sasha said as she raised her right arm, showing off her Mark, "we are soulmates after all. I know things will turn out right between eventually."

"R-right." Anne said, a pang of guilt running through her heart.

I really need to figure out how to tell her, I can't keep this lying to her like this.

Anne then awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Well uh, I'm gonna walk away before things get more awkward." The Thai girl said as she began walking over to her family.

Behind her, she heard Sasha chuckle.

"Not possible." the Blond responded.

While this encounter may have been unexpected and awkward, Anne was still very happy that it happened. Now, she was certain that she could work things out between her and Sasha.

---

And then Sasha betrayed them.

She had played all of them for fools, and had just been using them to get into Newtopia so she and the toads could stage a rebellion.

When the truth finally came out, all Anne could do was yell at Sasha and finally tell her that she never wanted anything to do with her again. She was thankful that Sasha's attempt to send them all to the dungeons was foiled so easily by Yunan. It meant that Anne was now free to throw a wrench into Sasha's plans personally.

And that's how Anne now found herself standing atop the walls of Newtopia, trying to close the gates that would allow the toad army in. And how she once again found herself in a sword fight with the girl she had one been certain was her soulmate.

Sasha had jumped onto the wall and tried giving Anne some fake story about how Andrias was secretly evil or something. Frankly, Anne didn't think it was worth wasting the brain power bothering to listen to whatever Sasha had to say at this point. But when she made it clear that she was going to use force to keep Anne from ruining her little takeover, Anne decided to strike first, drawing her sword, lunging at the blond, and daring Sasha to try and stop her.

Anne was pretty sure that she had never been as angry as she was in that moment. Every time she swung her sword, it felt like all she could see was red.

Admittedly, her angry swinging might be why Sasha was able to grab a hold of Anne's arm's so easily.

But instead of pressing the attack, Sasha actually tried to keep talking her into believing her insane lies.

"Anne, please!" The blond said in a tone that almost sounded like she was actually pleading with her over something important.

Not that Anne was going to believe she actually was.

"Too late Sasha!" The Thai girl yelled as she kicked Sasha in the stomach, breaking her hold on Anne and sending the former cheerleader stumbling back. She seemed so stunned by Anne's attack that she only just barely dodged the Thai girl's follow-up swing.

Anne used the momentum of her swing to transition into an overhead swing, but Sasha was able to get both of her swords up to block the hit. Anne kept trying to put more and more strength into her arms to try and force her way through Sasha's block, but the blond held firm.

"Look Anne," Sasha began, still thinking that there was some way to convince Anne to listen to her, "even if you don't want to listen to anything as your friend, can't you listen to me as your soulmate? That has to count for something right?"

Anne stepped back from Sasha and lowered her sword. Sasha lowered her own as well and let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Anne, I know that-what are you doing?" the blonde asked as Anne's hand went to the bandages on her right arm.

Anne was silent as she removed the bandages on her arm.

"Anne?" Sasha asked, a concerned look appearing on her face. Though that look turned to one of shock when Anne finished unwrapping the bandages, and she saw the blue rectangle on Anne's arm.

"We aren't soulmates Sasha." Anne said coldly. "You have a mismatched mark. When I first realized that, I was confused and sad, but after today I'm actually happy that we aren't soulmates. You're a terrible person, maybe one of the worst people I've ever met and I can't imagine how horrible it would be to get stuck with you as a soul-"

Anne's words died as Sasha's swords fell to the ground with a clanking sound. She looked at Sasha's face a bit more closely and was disturbed by what she saw.

Sasha didn't look shocked or confused or even sad.

She looked like her world was shattered.

She looked like she was in the deepest pits of despair.

She looked…broken.

Anne had never seen Sasha look like this, never seen her look anything close to this.

It…it scared her.

"Sasha?" The Thai girl asked cautiously.

The blond didn't answer. She only silently fell to her knees. She then fell further forward, catching herself with her hands. Her face was to the ground leaving Anne unable to see that broken look on her face. But it she could hear the sobbing.

Anne felt frozen. It was like she couldn't do anything but look at Sasha. At the girl she broke.

Finally, a scream from a toad soldier down below broke Anne out of her trance and reminded her that she had something she needed to do. She quickly gathered herself together and ran to the lever, and pushed on it, closing the gates and keeping the army from getting through.

And then, her task finished, all Anne could do was turn her face to Sasha again. The blond didn't seem to realize that the army had been stopped, though it's possible she did know and just didn't care. Sasha just stayed in that same position, silent except for her sobs.

Anne slowly walked toward her former friend. She reached a hand out, to try and place it on her shoulder or do something to try and offer comfort to her, but her hand stopped short.

She didn't dare touch her.

All she could do was stare at her.

Sprig, Polly, Frobo and Yunan soon appeared on top of the wall to take the defeated Sasha into custody. They all started excitedly talking about…something, but Anne wasn't really paying attention. She was too focused on Sasha.

She was paying enough attention to notice how the others awkwardly went silent. It seemed they understood that something more than a simple fight happened between the girls. Yunan pulled Sasha to her feet and put her in cuffs, and they all began moving towards the throne room.

As they approached the doors to the throne room, Sasha turned her head to face Anne.

"Why…" Sasha began, breaking the silence that had taken over the group. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? About the Mark?"

"…I didn't want to hurt you." Anne answered back.

Upon getting her answer, Sasha turned her head to face forward again, and the group continued on in silence once more.

I didn't want to hurt you.

That was the reason that Anne had for why she kept the truth of her Mark hidden from Sasha.

She didn't want to think about what that implied was the reason she did finally decide to show her…

---

And then Andrias betrayed them.

And then it turned out that Marcy had betrayed them all long before even Sasha betrayed them.

And now, Anne found herself the only one of their trio back on Earth. She had seen Marcy get stabbed through the chest and could only hope that, against all odds, she was somehow still alive.

As for Sasha…Anne really had no idea what might have happened to her. The last thing she saw of the blond was her and Grime trying to hold off Andrias and give everyone else the chance to escape to Earth.

In the days that followed her return to Earth, Anne did what she could to try and keep her mind off what happened to Sasha and Marcy. She tried to focus on getting the Plantar's acclimated to Earth life. She tried to focus on making sure her parents didn't learn just how dangerous the situation actually was. She tried to focus on finding some way back to Amphibia.

But she could only distract herself so much.

There were times when she simply could not get rid of her thoughts on how her friends were doing. Usually, it would happen at night, when there was nothing left to distract herself with. A thought would enter her head, one that she couldn't get rid of, and Anne would spend most of the night sitting on the couch wrestling with that thought in her head, hoping that no one would notice that she was up.

Some nights, her thoughts would turn to Mary, and she would spend the night trying to convince herself that Marcy was still alive.

Other nights, like tonight, she would simply stare at the Blue Rectangle on her arm, and wonder just what became of Sasha after the portal closed.

Was the blond alive? Was she dead? Was she captured? Did she get away? Was she alright? Did she hate Anne because of what happened on Newtopia's walls? Did she still think that Anne wanted nothing to do with her? Could things ever be OK between them again?

So many questions ran through Anne's mind, and she didn't have the answer to any them.

"You OK there Anne?" asked a voice from the hallway.

Anne turned her head to see Hop Pop standing there, a concerned look on his face.

"Oh, hey HP." Anne said as she lowered her arm and tried to force a cheerful tone into her voice. "What are you doing up?"

"I came to get a midnight snack, but then I saw my granddaughter sitting up and staring at that Mark on her arm." The old frog replied.

"Oh, you saw that part." Anne said, letting go of her attempt to force a cheerful tone.

Hop Pop sighed as he walked over to the couch, hopped up on it, and sat down next to Anne.

"Is this about Sasha?" Hop Pop asked, in a tone that told Anne he already knew the answer.

Anne let out a long sigh.

"Everything with her is just so complicated now…" The Thai girl lamented "It's like every time I think I finally see just how bad she is, then she does something amazing to make me question it all. She tries to execute you and kill Sprig, then she lets herself fall off a tower to save us. She uses me and Marcy to stage a coup, then she fights alongside me and tries to hold off a giant Newt with a fire sword to let us escape. I just-I just wish she was one thing, bad friend or caring friend not…not both."

"…But it's not just being friends with her that's on your mind, is it?"

Anne looked at her Mark for a moment.

"No. Ever since I was little, I thought for sure that me and Sasha were going to end up as soulmates. I thought we were destined for each other. I could never imagine my life without her. And now…now I know we can't be together. We're not meant for each other. But…"

Anne hung her head, almost ashamed about what she was going to say next.

"…But I think I still love her. Even after everything. And I feel guilty for wanting to be more than friends when we aren't soulmates. For wanting to be together when I don't have a Mark for her, like if we did get together that there would always be the chance that I could just choose to leave her at anytime to go find my one true love and it wouldn't be any sort of problem for me. And that's not even getting into how guilty I feel for wanting to date someone who tried to kill you and Sprig."

Hop Pop looked at Anne a moment and considered his words before letting out a sigh.

"Look Anne, I do not like Sasha. She's bullied and used you, kidnapped the entire town, and tried to kill me and Sprig." Hop Pop began "But...she has helped you before, and even risked her life to do so. She clearly cares about you, even if she treats you terribly. And I know you care about her a lot too."

Anne looked at Hop Pop with curiosity, not quite sure where he was going with all of this.

"And much as it pains me to say this," Hop Pop continued "If you two care about each other that much, then maybe there is a way that the two of you can work this out."

"You really think so?" Anne asked, a little skeptical that Hop Pop really meant that, given that he's mostly seen Sasha at her worst.

"Believe it or not." Hop Pop answered. "Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot of work that she's going to need to do to be someone who deserves to be your friend, but if she's willing to die for you, I've got to imagine that some part of her is willing to try and be a good friend for you too."

Anne went silent for a moment.

"…I had a conversation with…with someone about this while Sasha was still out there on her own with Grime. She said that Sasha might be willing to change too, but then…then Newtopia happened. What if I do give her another chance and just get hurt again?"

"Well, if you're afraid of her hurting you, then maybe it is time to let go of her."

Anne snapped her head towards Hop Pop.

"But you just said-"

"Yes, I know what I just said Anne, but the only way that you guys could have this friendship again is if you're willing to trust that she's changed. She could change and do everything in her power to show you that she's changed, but if after everything you aren't willing to trust her, well then, it's better for the both of you to just go your separate ways."

Anne hung her head again.

"I don't know if I would be able to trust her again."

"Well, what does your heart tell you?"

…What does my heart tell me?

All the conflicting emotions in Anne made what should be a simple question almost impossible to figure out. Could she trust Sasha again? She had already put her trust in the blonde before, and she just used her to stage a coup.

…and yet, after Andrias revealed his true colors, one of the first things she did was free Sasha and stand united with her. And then they fought alongside each other in perfect harmony, their movements partially synchronized with each other. It was like they both instinctively knew what the other was going to do. For something like that to happen…wouldn't there have to be some sort of trust? Not just Sasha trusting Anne, but Anne trusting her back.

"I think," Anne finally said. "that maybe I am still willing to trust her. Thanks HP."

As Anne and her Grandfather shared a smile, the Thai girls eyes darted down to her right arm, down to her Mark. When the blue rectangle came into her view, Anne's smile faded.

"Do you…have any advice for that other thing?" She asked.

"I'm not really sure if I'm the best person to ask about that kind of stuff Anne." Hop Pop admitted. "We don't have these soulmate Mark's in Amphibia. I never had anything telling me to go marry Sprig and Polly's grandma or to try and start a relationship with Silvia, I just chose to do so. So, I think I might be out of my depth when it comes to this type of thing."

"…How do you guys know who to marry and stuff without Marks? How do you go and just…choose someone to be with?" Anne asked.

Hop Pop simply shrugged.

"It just comes down to what I said before, following your heart."

"Is your heart ever wrong?"

"Well sure." Hop Pop said matter of factly. "Sometimes you fall hard for someone and break up with them a few months later. Yes, it can hurt, but that's the risk we take to find the person we want to spend the rest of our lives with. And you can take it from someone who's fallen in love with two of the best women that Amphibia's ever seen that risk is absolutely worth it."

A small frown came across Hop Pop's face.

"Honestly Anne, I really don't get how humans can put so much faith in these Mark things. I mean, what if ends up being wrong and you spend the rest of your life with someone you don't end up caring for, just because something on your arms says your supposed to be with them?"

Anne rolled her eyes at that.

"Well duh HP, it's cause their never wrong."

"…Then how come Sasha has this "mismatched Mark" thing? Shouldn't her Mark have someone's name who's supposed to have a matching Mark?"

Anne wasn't sure how to answer that. It was odd that mismatched Marks were a thing, but maybe that was just because with so many people in the world, it was something that would just happen now and again. Maybe the Mark's couldn't always keep track of everyone…but then wouldn't that just leave more room for them to make mistakes? …No, they couldn't make mistakes. It just didn't make sense that they could, someone would have noticed by now if they could be mistaken right? Sure there were some people where it seemed like the Marks had made a mistake like with Sasha's parents which was odd…

…Nah, there's no way that Mark's can be wrong.

"I don't know Hop Pop, but there's probably some sort of reason for it."

The eldest Plantar didn't look all that convinced.

"Well, if you say so Anne. I guess all I can say is to…well, to follow your heart."

"…Is that really what you would have said if we didn't have this whole Mark situation? Even if "following my heart" led me to decide to date the girl who tried to execute you?"

"Well, obviously I'd want you to make sure that she wasn't planning to cut our throats in our sleep before you two started dating."

The two shared a small chuckle at Hop Pop dark joke.

"Thanks for talking with me HP."

"No need to thank me Anne, helping each other is what family's for."

In the morning, Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy would find that their daughter had covered up her Mark with bandages. They questioned her about, but all Anne would say is that she didn't want to look at it right now. They pressed the issue further, but stopped when Hop Pop told them that Anne was OK, and just needed some time to sort things out. Anne wasn't quite sure how it happened, but her parents had come to trust the Plantars pretty quickly. Anne might not be able to explain it, but ultimately, she didn't care about the explanation. Her two families trusted each other, and that was what mattered to her.

---

Eventually, after escaping a few Robots, mad scientists, and FBI agents, Anne and the Plantars would find their way back to Amphibia.

But it wasn't the Amphibia that they left. The Amphibia that they returned too had torn apart landscapes, factories, and prison camps everywhere, and mechanical armies marching all across the land. Not even Wartwood was the same, as it had been destroyed and left a smoking a ruin, it's citizens all forced underground in the giant tunnel system beneath the Plantars home.

But the biggest change, or perhaps the one that felt the biggest to Anne, was Sasha.

She had stopped being the bossy and manipulative person that she had become in the past few years. She was more outwardly caring to people outside of her closest friends. She actually cared about and was helping the frogs that she had dismissed only a few months ago. She was even willing to admit that she was scared that if she was in charge when Anne was around, that she'd screw things up and ruin things between them again. The old Sasha would never have done any of this. But this new Sasha…well, she was all the amazing parts of the Old Sasha, only without the negatives.

And Anne truly believed that Sasha had changed. The blond had gone above and beyond what was needed to prove that she was sincere about it this time, to the point that she nearly screwed up an important mission just because of that whole "afraid of being in charge around Anne" thing.

…OK, it's not exactly a good thing that she nearly screwed up a mission because of that, but I still appreciate her commitment to changing for the better.

It was honestly amazing to Anne to see just how much better Sasha had gotten. Better as a person, and better as a friend.

Also, her arms had gotten way bigger.

Sure, that didn't have anything to do with her improving as a person, but it was still a change that Anne appreciated.

And yet…it almost hurt to see how much she had changed.

Anne had told Hop Pop before that she had wished that Sasha could pick between being a bad friend or a caring friend, but now that she had finally picked a side…it somehow made things more complicated. This Sasha, was the Sasha that Anne had always imagined being with. The one who had all her positive qualities, but none of the manipulation or bullying. Except, she was never supposed to be with any Sasha. It felt like she fell more in love with Sasha every time she was around the blonde. But it also felt like her heart hurt more every time she was around her as well.

…And given that the bracer Sasha now wore on her right arm covered up her own Mark, Anne could guess that the blonde was dealing with her own pain as well.

Of course, neither of them actually talked about any of this. Even over a month into being co-commanders of the resistance the two did everything they could to avoid actually addressing anything about their Marks.

But still, every time they were alone together, it felt like the topic hung over their heads. Every moment that there was a pause in their conversation, it felt like one of them might finally say something about it, might finally start the conversation that they had both been avoiding.

But it kept not happening.

And every time it didn't happen, it felt like the tension that was building between them over the issue would just build up even more. And they both knew that eventually, the building tension would burst and they would finally have to have this talk that neither of them wanted. And yet, they still kept trying to avoid the inevitable.

It got to the point that the two started trying to avoid being alone together. Not because they didn't like each other, but because both of them kept on wanting to put this conversation off longer, and it was starting to feel like they wouldn't be able to do so for much longer without the tension finally bursting. At least, not without someone else there to act as a buffer and keep them both distracted with some other topic.

Finally, however, there came a night when the two ended up alone planning a mission together. Grime was supposed to be there, but he was needed to help figure out an issue in another part of the base, and so the two co-commanders were left without a buffer.

They did well enough to distract themselves from the conversation neither wanted to have. It turns out that having actual work to do was a good distraction from their personal issues, something Anne had discovered when she tried to keep herself busy on Earth. But, eventually, they finished their plans for the mission and an awkward silence came over the room. Anne felt the a combination of need to address the building tension, and dread at the idea of actually having that conversation, a combination that she had become very familiar with since returning to Amphibia.

Once again though, it seemed that the dread was going to win out, as Anne opened her mouth to excuse herself for the night.

Except Sasha spoke first.

"Why did you cover it up again?"

Anne blinked. She knew what Sasha was referring to by "it", but she still wasn't quite sure if she was ready to have this conversation.

"Covered what up?" Anne asked, hoping that maybe she was wrong, and Sasha was talking about something else.

"You're…you're Mark."

Anne's heart dropped when she heard the answer she knew was coming. The tension had finally burst through the walls they'd built around it, and now they had no choice but to have this conversation that she knew was going to bring them both nothing but pain.

"I…didn't like looking at it. It just kept reminding me about…about everything. Everything with us." Anne answered.

Sasha let out a sigh.

"Right" she said, obviously trying to force as much emotion out of her voice as possible. "That makes sense. You wouldn't want to remember…"

After a few seconds of silence, it became clear that Sasha wasn't going to actually finish her sentence. Though Anne already had a pretty good guess about what that last word was going to be.

"Sasha, it's not that I didn't want to remember you, it's just that I didn't want to remember all the stuff that happened between us-"

"Because of me." The Blonde interjected.

"Sasha…" Anne began, but was once again cut off.

"Anne don't, I-what I did back then was messed up. I was messed up. I think in a lot of ways I'm still messed up."

Anne got up from her chair and walked over to where Sasha was sitting, and took the blond's hand into her own.

"Sasha, you're right that you did some pretty messed up stuff before, but that was in the past. You've changed so much from who you used to be and it's amazing to see. So please, don't talk about yourself like you're still the same person who tried to kill Hop Pop and Sprig, or who bullied and used me and Marcy."

Sasha looked down at her arm, at where her bracer covered up her own Mark.

"Do you know what finally convinced me to change?" The former cheerleader asked.

"No." Anne answered.

"…When me and Grime got back here after all the stuff that happened in Newtopia, I was kind of a wreck. Everything that happened between you and me, what happened to Marcy…I used to like who I was back then, but after I saw the consequences of everything I did, I started to hate the person I was. But…I don't think I really had it in me to change."

Sasha raised her head, and looked at Anne.

"But then I found that journal you were keeping. And I saw the parts about how happy you were that you decided to trust me again…and I realized even more than I already did how much I hurt you with everything I did. I decided…I decided that I wanted to be better. I wanted to be someone that deserves you."

A small smile came across Anne's face. It was almost inspiring to hear that she was such a major reason for Sasha deciding to change, that it was wanting to stop hurting her that gave Sasha her reason to become better.

But that smile fell when Sasha's eyes once again shifted to her covered up Mark.

"But I guess I decided to change too late, huh?"

Pain ripped through Anne's soul as she heard the heartbreak in Sasha's voice.

"Sasha, it's never too late to change." Anne said in an attempt to comfort the girl, though the words were said more out of reflex. She knew what Sasha was referring to and why those words wouldn't help her much.

"According to these stupid things," Sasha said as she removed her bracer, revealing her Mark for the first time in months, "it can be."

"Maybe our Marks don't match because I wasn't a good enough person to be with you." The Blond continued. "Or maybe I was never going to be a good enough person to be with you. Maybe having a mismatched Mark is some sort of punishment, for hurting someone I love so much. Being alone for the rest of my life sounds like a pretty fitting punishment for what I did-"

Anne pulled Sasha into a tight hug as she went on her self-loathing filled rant, leaving the blond shocked and speechless.

"Please don't talk about yourself like that." Anne pleaded, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. "I don't-I hate seeing you like this. You don't deserve to have a mismatched Mark, no matter what you've done before. You're amazing, and you've always been amazing even when you were being a jerk. You've always been brave and strong and smart and anyone would be super lucky to have you as their soulmate."

Anne felt Sasha's own tears begin to dampen her shirt.

"And I hate seeing you like this, and hearing you talk about yourself like that because you totally deserve to have someone that makes you happy in your life and…and I really wish that that person was me. I spent years wishing, and hoping, and praying that we would be soulmates because I've loved you for years."

Anne tightened the hug as she heard Sasha beginning to sob.

"So please, don't say you deserve this. Because you don't. Even at your worst, you never did."

For a few short moments, the only sound in the room was Sasha's sobbing as the two teenagers continued to embrace. Finally, however, the blonde asked a single question.

"You…you love me too?" Sasha's voice was soft, and carried fear in it, fear of the answer that Anne would give.

"Yes." Anne's answer came softly as well, but with no fear in her voice at all.

A moment of silence passed before Sasha let out a small laugh. A chuckle that sounded sad, and broken and bitter.

"That…I think that actually makes this worse." Sasha said between her sad, broken, bitter laughs.

Soon, her laughs turned into sobs, and the two teens pulled each other as close as possible, wanting to find some comfort from the pain they were both in.

Anne wasn't sure how long they stayed like that. It felt like could have been hours, though she knew that it couldn't have been more than 1. Eventually, the tears stopped falling, and the two separated. Sasha made up an excuse to go off to bed, and left before Anne could say or ask anything.

Not even an hour after that, Anne asked Hop Pop to remove the bandages that covered her Mark, look at it, and then tell her whether or not the Mark said Sasha's name.

Sasha was so different now. She still had all the things that Anne originally fell in love with her over, but now she was far more considerate of others, and had stopped being controlling and manipulative. Maybe…maybe that was why her Mark hadn't changed to Sasha's name at first? Sasha had said that she changed because she wanted to become someone deserving of Anne. Maybe that's exactly what she needed to do before the Mark would change into her name. Maybe Sasha needed to be the person she that she was today before she could be Anne's soulmate…at least, that's what Anne hoped.

Anne held her breath as Hop Pop unraveled the bandages, her arm facing downwards so that she wouldn't see if there was another name there.

Anne saw Hop Pop look at the Mark that was hidden from Annes view, and then he turned to look at her.

He shook his head slowly.

"Sorry, Anne." He said as he began to wrap the bandages around the Mark again.

"It's OK HP." Anne said, letting out a heavy sigh. "It's OK."

"Do you…want to talk?" The old Frog offered as he finished rewrapping the bandages.

"No thanks Hop Pop." Anne said, shooting the old frog a small smile that showed his offer was appreciated. "I…I think I just want to go to bed."

Hop Pop nodded at her words.

"If you do want to talk, we're always here for you Anne."

"I know Hop Pop." Anne said, as she hugged her grandpa. "Thank you."

As Anne slept that night, her dreams were filled with images of a life with Sasha. In some of them, her Mark really did say Sasha Waybright. In some of them, neither had Marks and they simply chose to be together. And one, where Anne chose to be with Sasha even without their Marks matching. But whether Marks were present or not, those images showed Anne a life she so desperately wanted to have.

---

After that night, Anne and Sasha didn't really talk about the Mark situation again.

And while tension still remained between the two of them, it didn't feel as overwhelming anymore. Anne felt like she could be alone around Sasha again without the worry of having some conversation about their Marks breaking out, and if Sasha's increased spirits when alone with Anne were any indication, she felt the same way.

But still, that tension never fully went away, not even as the war against Andrias entered its final stages. Not even as the war made its way to Earth. Not even as the war made its way to space.

And the tension still remained, even when the two were saying their last goodbyes to each other. As the power of the gem's secret spell filled her, Anne was left to wonder briefly about what it had meant that she was dying without ever knowing who her soulmate actually was. But that question quickly faded from her mind.

….and was replaced with about a thousand other questions as she met what was effectively God.

He…,er, She? They? They were known as the Guardian, and had appeared to Anne in the form of her cat (so at the very least, the adorableness helped to keep her grounded and from spiralling into an existential crisis). They had apparently created the gems with the intention of testing mortals to find one worthy of taking over its job, and Anne was the first person to have passed. While the idea of having the near-infinite power that the Guardian clearly had was tempting, especially since it could be used to fix the Mark situation, Anne knew that putting a 13-year-old in charge of the multiverse was a horrible idea and was able to convince the Guardian that putting her in charge, as she was now anyways, would be a mistake.

And so the Guardian took on a form that looked much closer to what Anne thought a guardian deity of the multiverse would look like, and sent Anne into a portal meant to take her back to the land of the living.

Moments ago, Annd thought she had said goodbye to the world and those she loved for the last time, and now, here she was, getting a second chance. And all because "God" had decided that a 13-year-old could run the multiverse and needed that same 13-year-old to point out how wrong that was…

…Wait a minute.

"Hang on, Guardian! Don't send me back yet!" Anne yelled out.

And suddenly, Anne was pulled back up through the portal and was once more in that little hut, with the Guardian taking the form of Domino again.

"Did you change your mind?" the god asked, eagerly.

"No I-wait, didn't you just agree with me that it would be a mistake to put me in charge right now?" Anne asked.

"Yes…," The Guardian replied "but I've been doing this job long enough that I'm willing to make this mistake if you are."

"You're really not selling me on how great this job would be." Anne responded flatly.

"What was it you wished to ask?" The Guardian asked quickly, very obviously trying to change the subject.

"You said that you'd made a mistake trying to put me in charge so soon, right?"

"Right." The tiny god said, a quizzical tone to their voice.

"So, it's possible for even someone as powerful and all-knowing as you to make a mistake, right?"

"Yes, and?"

Anne looked at the bandages on her arm. She took in a breath to steel her nerves. What she was about to ask was something that tied so much into what she knew about the world, that practically any answer she got would be overwhelming.

"Well, if that's possible then…I wanted to ask about the soulmate Marks that we have on my world. No one really knows what makes them pick people to be their soulmate. We just know that it does. So…if someone like you can make a mistake, then is it possible for soulmate Marks to be wrong?"

"Of course."

Anne stared blankly at the cat.

"What?" she asked.

"I said that soulmate Marks can be wrong. I'm surprised you didn't know that already, it's fairly obvious."

Anne just sat there for a moment, trying to process the words that the Guardian just said. No, not just the words the…casual, blasé tone that they used to say them. Like the answer they gave Anne was no more world-shattering than if they answered the question 'What's 2 + 2?'

"You..,I…" Anne was stuck trying to find what words to possibly say in response to someone who treats world-shattering revelations so casually and was coming up with nothing.

"This-but…I don't…What do you mean obvious?!" Anne finally said, a combination of confusion, disbelief and annoyance in her voice.

"Well, obviously if there is going to be a soulmate system for an entire species, then over the thousands of years that it exists, there's going to be some mistakes. I mean, your world has a population of 7 billion in its current generation, of course there will be a few mistakes now and again. It's simply the law of averages."

That, surprisingly, didn't quite help Anne deal with the revelation that a major cornerstone of her world's culture was based on a lie.

"B-B-But, that, I mean, how is that obvious? How is anyone supposed to look at this and say "well, the law of averages says there's got to be a mistake somewhere"?"

The cat-shaped god titled its head in confusion.

"Didn't the existence of 'soulmates' like your friend Sasha's parents give you some idea that the Marks aren't always right? Or how some people like Sasha get mismatched Marks? That seems to me like a pretty obvious indicator that the Marks aren't always correct."

Anne…had no response to that. Frankly, both of those things he mentioned were very odd…but that didn't necessarily mean that it was obvious that Marks didn't always pick right. Sure the Waybright's were very obviously miserable with each other and had been for years, and it was unlikely that they were the only soulmates with a relationship like that but that didn't necessarily mean…and sure mismatched Marks were horrible and some kind of mistake but that didn't mean…

"Oh my God, it is obvious!" Anne said as she facepalmed.

"You really didn't realize it?" The Guardian asked.

Anne shot him a look that made it very clear that the answer was no, and then sighed.

"I don't get it, why do they exist then? And how do they work? How is the mistake made?"

"Well, I can tell you that they were originally created as part of an experiment to see if life could be better if people had one person that they were supposed to end up in a relationship with for their entire life. It didn't quite go to plan though, but by the time that was realized, it was too late to remove them."

And now Anne was even more confused.

"Wait, who decided to do this experiment?"

"That is a rather ancient secret of the multiverse, and not something I can simply tell you…but I could if you took over as Guardian."

Anne stared with a look of annoyed disbelief at the god.

"Anyways," The Guardian said, trying to get things back on track, "I also can't explain to you exactly how the Marks work either for that same reason."

"Seriously?" the Thai girl asked, "You have to be able to tell me something, right?"

The Guardian looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, I suppose if you took some guesses as to how it worked, I could let you know why those methods would still result in flaws. And hey, maybe you'll actually guess the correct method."

"OK…" Anne answered. "I guess…I guess the ways that I figure it could work is that some sort of force or god picks out the soulmates. Or it could be decided by destiny. Or, maybe our souls just know that our other half is out there and who they are."

"All right, let's break each of those down." The cat-shaped god responded. "First, if some deity or force of the universe were simply choosing your soulmates, then they would be just as capable of making mistakes as me, right?"

"Right, that makes sense." Anne replied.

"All right, next we'll talk about destiny. Now, you just dealt with a prophecy right?" The Guardian asked.

"Well, Mother Olm said it was really more of a humble request for-oh, you're saying that destiny isn't always right."

"More or less." The Guardian answered. "Destiny usually focuses more on what is most likely to happen in the big picture sense and isn't always sure what way things might go. That's why the prophecy said that it would be your and your friend's choice to fight or embrace the fall that would decide everything, it wasn't sure what you and your friends would choose. Plus, sometimes really does just get things wrong."

"Ok, and what about the soul's thing?"

"That can be answered with one question; are you the same person that you were when you got your Mark?"

Anne was taken aback by the question, and the implications of it.

"…No, I've changed…but it's not just me who's changed. People keep growing and changing long after they get their Marks so…so your soul will change too, to the point that whoever it picked out for you originally might not fit with the new you! Or-or other people can change and become a better fit for you than who your soul originally picked out! People can change and so our soul's picking someone when we're still only 13 means that it can only pick out someone based on who we and the other person were at that time!"

"That's exactly it." The Guardian said, almost sounding proud of Anne for figuring this one out.

Anne actually felt a bit prideful herself for managing to figure out a part of how the universe operated…potentially anyways, she still didn't know which of the 3 versions she suggested about how Marks worked were actually true, or even if any of them were. Still, if a god sounded proud of you for figuring something out, it probably meant that it was OK to be a little proud of yourself.

But figuring out how Marks really worked wasn't the reason that she asked the Guardian to hold off on sending her back. It wasn't really that important to Anne. What was important was the original question she asked them.

"So," Anne began as she looked at her bandaged-over arm. "Marks aren't always right."

"Yes, that's correct."

"And…so it's possible that maybe a mismatched Mark…might not actually be mismatched. That maybe the person whose Mark doesn't match with them…maybe their Mark is wrong? Or maybe two people aren't ready to be soulmates until after they go through some changes and become better people?"

"Yes, that's also correct" The Guardian replied with a knowing smile.

Anne continued to look at her bandaged arm for a moment, before looking up at the god.

"I think I'm ready to go back now."

And Anne knew exactly what she was going to do when she got there.

---

Being resurrected ended up being an easier process than Anne was expecting, as was explaining to everyone about the Guardian and what they did (though she did keep the whole 'copy' thing to herself. She was still having trouble wrapping her head around it and had no idea how she was ever going to explain it to anyone).

However, there was another part of her discussion with the Guardian that she didn't tell anyone about right away. It was a part she wanted to save for when she was back on Earth and could have a private conversation with the one person she needed to talk to more than anyone else.

The opportunity for that private conversation came not long afterwards. The three girls had said goodbye to the friends and family they had made in Amphibia and returned to Earth, where they each found their human families waiting for them. They all then ended up going to the Boonchuy's for a big welcome-back celebration.

The celebration lasted a few hours and throughout it all, Anne was happy to see how her two friends interacted with their families. Mary's Dad, who had always acted more distant towards her, was practically glued to her side the whole night. It was the closest that Anne had ever seen them. As for the Waybrights, Sasha's parents were much more attentive to the blond than they had been in years, and they actually seemed to be able to tolerate each other's presence. Anne could only guess what it was like for all of them to have had to deal with their daughters being missing for a year, but it did seem like it had given them the opportunity to re-evaluate how they'd acted as parents in the past.

As the night started to wind down, Anne found an opportunity to grab Sasha, and pull her into the backyard for a much-needed conversation.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Sasha asked Anne as the two sat down on the ground, underneath the open night sky.

"Well, I didn't quite tell you guys everything that me and the Guardian talked about." The Thai girl said.

"What else did you talk about?" Sasha asked, her eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"This." Anne answered, raising her bandaged arm to indicate what 'this' meant.

A look of confusion and concern came across Sasha's face.

"What exactly did they have to say about them?" Sasha asked, obviously not quite sure where this conversation was going.

"Well, it uh…it turns out that Marks can sometimes be wrong," Anne said, hoping that her choice of words wasn't quite as blunt as the Guardians.

Sasha…didn't say anything to that. She just stared at Anne with a blank look on her face.

"Sash?" Anne asked, concerned in her voice.

After another second of silence, Sasha blinked.

"I'm…I'm sorry Anne, can you run that by me again? I don't think I heard you right."

And so, Anne repeated what she said, and then she explained more to Sasha about the conversation she had with the Guardian, even bringing up the possible ways that the Marks could work and why all of them would leave some room for error.

Sasha…seemed to take the revelation that a major pillar of their society was built upon something that could easily be wrong relatively well.

"But that's-I don't under-this can't-then why are they even still-argh!"

Sasha's placed her face in her hands as she continued to process this revelation, though it only remained there for a few seconds before she brought her head back up, with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Actually, I guess this does explain my parents."

"Are you OK?" Anne asked.

Sasha's eyes widened like she was only just remembering that Anne was there with her, a light blush of embarrassment at her freakout having an audience appearing on her face.

"Yeah, just… kind of a big deal, you know?"

"Yeah, I get what you mean." Replied Anne.

The Thai girl took a breath to calm herself before continuing to speak. She knew what she wanted to say next, but that didn't make her any less nervous to actually say it.

"So, if Marks can be wrong," Anne began, "then…maybe it's not your Mark that's really mismatched."

"I'm…not sure I understand what your saying." Sasha said, though Anne thought the blond understood perfectly. Her tone and the look on her face all but screamed that she was almost afraid to believe that Anne had said what she'd said.

"I'm saying that…maybe my Mark is wrong. Maybe we were right all along, and we are supposed to be soulmates. Or maybe it doesn't matter if we were ever meant to be soulmates because whoever is picking our soulmates screwed up or that we weren't ready to be soulmates when our Marks color filled in or…" Anne looked Sasha in the eye, steeling her nerves. "What I'm saying is that even if our Marks don't match, that I love you. And I think of you as my soulmate no matter what these Marks say. You're the soulmate that I've chosen, and I want us to be together even if these dumb Marks say we aren't supposed to be."

"You…you can't be serious." Sasha replied.

"Why can't I be?" Anne asked in confusion.

"Because," Sasha said as she stood up, almost sounding like she was in a panic, "I've done sooo much to hurt you. I'm not-I'm not good enough for you, I don't deserve you, not after everything I've done I-"

"Sasha." Anne said, her voice firm yet soothing, as she stood up and took Sasha's hands into her own. "It's OK, I forgive you for all of that. I've already told you that I forgive you."

"Bu-but-"

"Sash, please. I know you feel guilty about everything, but you've changed sooo much, and you've done everything you can to make up for how you used to act. You're an amazing person, strong, brave, caring, selfless, and protective but willing to put your faith in others. Yeah, you've hurt me before, but I can tell you that this new you is without a doubt the best thing that's ever happened to me."

As Anne stared into Sasha's eyes, she could see that the girl was becoming overwhelmed with emotions and that tears were starting to form in her eyes.

"But what if your Mark is right? Just because it might be wrong doesn't mean it is. What if we get together and things end up going badly? What if we end up like my parents?"

Anne's face took on a thoughtful look at Sasha's question, and her mind went back to a conversation she had not so long ago.

"You know how on Amphibia they don't have soulmate Marks?" Anne asked.

Sasha only nodded in response.

"Well, one time, I asked Hop Pop how they find the people they're supposed to be with without them or how the person they get together with is the person they're supposed to be with. He told me that they just follow their hearts. They don't really know if they're right or wrong, but…it's a risk they take. Maybe they will get hurt, but maybe they won't. Maybe they'll end up together with one of the best people they'll ever know. It's the risk they take to find someone that they love enough to spend their lives with."

Anne looked Sasha directly in the eye, wanting to make sure that her next words got through to the blond.

"And Sasha, I know that you are absolutely worth that risk, even if you still can't see that you are."

"You…you really mean that?" Sasha asked, the tears that were pooling in her eyes threatening to fall.

"Yes." Anne said in a soft and loving voice as a warm smile appeared on her face.

"Anne I…" Sasha trailed off as her tears finally began to fall and she pulled Anne into a tight hug. "I love you."

"I know Sash. I love you too."

"Is it…is it OK if we stay like this for a while?" The blond asked as her tears continued to fall.

"Yeah, but there's one thing I want to do first." Anne said as she pulled away from the embrace.

"What's tha-" Sasha's question was cut off as Anne's lips crashed into hers.

Whatever shock Sasha had from Anne kissing her disappeared after only a second and she began to kiss the Thai girl back.

After a few seconds, the two girls pulled apart, light blushes appearing on their faces. Anne could also see that Sasha's tears had dried up.

"That was…that was OK for me to do right?" Anne asked. Kissing Sasha felt right in the moment, but now that the moment had passed worried thoughts began to seep into her head.

"Yes Boonchuy, it absolutely was." Sasha said, sounding like she was suppressing a giggle at Anne suddenly questioning her own spontaneous kiss.

Anne let out a sigh of relief at Sasha's answer, and then smiled at her again.

"You know, I'm actually pretty happy with how this all turned out." Anne mused. "It's nice to…to get to stand here not with the soulmate that someone else decided for me, but with the soulmate that I chose."

"Honestly, that sounds super cheesy," Sasha said as she pulled Anne into another embrace. "But also…really sweet."

Sometime later, the Boonchuy's, the Waybright's and the Wu's would all come outside to look for the girls after they had been missing from the celebration for so long. What they found outside was the new couple, asleep in each other's arms, lying peacefully underneath the stars.

---

After that night, Sasha and Anne were basically inseparable. Sure they were inseparable before in the way that best friends since childhood were inseparable, but now they were inseparable in the way of a young couple that was absolutely in love with each other. Throughout the rest of their time in middle school and their time in high school, they were rarely seen apart. It was either utterly adorable or eye-rollingly annoying, depending on your point of view. They were more or less never apart from each other (with Sasha often spending her nights sleeping over at the Boonchuy's) until Anne left for an out-of-town university. And even then, the two video called with each other and visited as often as possible, already having experience staying in touch with someone important to them over long distances thanks to Marcy's own move.

Of course, their relationship wasn't completely perfect. They had fights every now and again, and there were times when the trauma left over from their adventures in Amphibia made one of them distant from the other, but they always came back to each other in the end. Perhaps the biggest issue that their relationship faced though was Sasha's own issues with herself. Despite becoming a child psychiatrist, Sasha was never able to fully deal with her own issues of self-worth, both as a person and as a partner to Anne. These issues didn't come up that often, but they did come up. And while Anne was usually able to help Sasha through them, oftentimes resolving the crisis they caused fairly quickly, it was still painful for both of them. While some of those self-worth issues came from her remembering the person she used to be, the biggest source of those issues came from the bandages that Anne still wore on her arm.

The couple had agreed that while they may no longer care about whether Anne's Mark matched Sasha's or not, it would be seen as taboo for them to be together without matching Mark's, and that with Anne already having worn the bandages for so long, and that she already had a cover story for them, the same one she told Sasha and Marcy before the truth came out, that it would make more sense for them to simply hide that they didn't have matching Marks. Of course, there was another reason to hide the Mark; neither of them wanted to see if the Mark would eventually change into someone's name, if it hadn't already. Actually, seeing someone else's name on Anne's arm would be, suffice to say, extremely awkward for the couple. And of course, it would likely just make Sasha's self-worth issues worse. Even after they had been together for years, the possibility that Anne's Mark had been right all along and there was someone out there that she would love more and be happier with than Sasha was a thought that hung in the back of the blonde's mind. Usually, she could ignore it, but there were times when the thought would manage to overwhelm her and cause her to break down. And that was while thinking that the Mark was still a simple rectangle. Neither of them had any idea how much worse it would get if the Mark turned into someone's name.

Still, despite all of that, the two had managed to keep their relationship growing strong. And now that Anne had graduated from university and gotten a job at the Aquarium of the Pacific, she was able to move back home. Though she wouldn't actually be moving back to her parent's house as the first thing she and Sasha did after getting the job was to make plans to move in together. The two had only been living together in their newly purchased house for two weeks, but Anne was pretty sure that it was the happiest two weeks of her life.

But as she lay in bed with the person that she knew was her soulmate, even if her Mark didn't, Anne began to feel an odd sensation. Almost like her mind was being pulled away to somewhere…or perhaps something was pushing its way into her mind. Anne wasn't quite sure which of the two to describe it as, all she knew was that it was completely disconcerting-

"Greetings Anne, it's been some time."

Anne blinked and then looked around. Sasha wasn't next to her. She wasn't in bed anymore. She wasn't even in her home anymore. No, she was in a small little cabin, with a particular Cat sitting in front of her.

"Guardian?" She asked, very surprised to be back in this space. "What am I doing here-wait, I didn't like, die in my sleep or something did I?!"

"Oh no, nothing like that." The cat-shaped god assured her.

Anne let out a sigh of relief. She'd hate to die so young, and so soon after moving in with Sasha.

"Then why did you bring me here?" The Thai woman asked.

"Well, I thought that since you and Sasha have moved in together, I should bring you a type of housewarming gift."

"Oh, OK…It's not like, infinite cosmic power or something is it?" Anne asked cautiously.

"Oh don't worry, I think it's something that both you and Sash will enjoy."

Before Anne could ask exactly what the god meant by that, she noticed a blue glow coming from underneath the bandages on her right arm.

"Wh-what is this?" she asked in confusion.

The Guardian gave her a coy smile.

"Why don't you unwrap your present and find out?"

Anne's eyes shot open. As she looked around, she found herself back in her bed, lying next to Sasha. Her eye's darted to her right arm where she still saw that blue glow coming from underneath the bandages, but only for a second before it dissipated.

Anne stared at the bandages in silence, the Guardian's words echoing in her mind.

Did…did they…

Anne got up out of bed and went to the attached bathroom and turned on the lights.

Slowly, she began to unwrap the bandages. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw what was underneath.

"Anne?" came a small, shaky voice from behind her.

Anne looked back to see Sasha standing in the doorway, apparently awoken by Anne coming in here. From where she was, Sasha could see that Anne had removed the bandages from her arm, the bandages covering her Mark, and she looked terrified over what it could mean.

Anne gave a soft and comforting smile to Sasha.

"Hey Sash," Anne said as she turned around to face Sasha "the Guardian stopped by with a housewarming gift."

Anne raised her right arm, and when Sasha saw what was on it, she let out a gasp. Where there was once a blue rectangle, was now the name 'Sasha Waybright' written in blue.

Anne brought her arm closer to herself and gave a loving look to the name that was finally written there.

"I guess the Guardian decided that with everything that's happened, to make this whole thing official. Instead of having to worry about whoever I was supposed to have originally, that who or whatever decides on soulmates, would recognize the soulmate that I-"

"Don't finish saying that."

Anne looked at Sasha worriedly for a second before the blond crashed into her, nearly knocking Anne to the ground as she wrapped her arms around the Thai woman.

"If you finish saying that," Sasha said through her sniffles, "then I'm totally going to start ugly crying, and you know I hate how I look when I ugly cry."

Anne's worry melted away as returned Sasha's embrace and let a soft and loving smile come across her face.

"I think you look adorable when you ugly cry."

That, of course, caused Sasha to begin to ugly cry.

The strength in Sasha's legs gave out as she began to wail, bringing both her and Anne down to the floor, now hugging each other on their knees.

As they stayed there, kneeling on the floor and holding each other, both of them kept repeating the words "I love you". Anne whispered it into Sasha's ear, and Sasha managed to get it out between her loud and over-the-top sobs. Anne didn't know how long they would stay there like that, but it didn't really matter to her. What did matter is that it was a moment, like so many before it and like so many yet to come, that she shared with the soulmate that she chose.

---

AN: So, I hope you all enjoyed that.

This fic was originally inspired by a couple of fics that had the setup of Sasha having a soulmate Mark for Anne, but Anne not having a Mark for her, specifically The Colours are Golden and Bright Again by sashimi_buttons and Time-Out by Reyna_is_epic, both can be found over on AO3. This fic isn't meant to be a response to them or anything, but the basic set-up did get the wheels in my head turning on another way that set-up could go.

And with that, it's time for me to get back to work on a couple of other things, including finalizing the plans for the sequel to Time Brings All to Pass.

And as always, I appreciate any feedback you guys have, and I'll see you next time.