Sasha lay in her bed, looking at the ceiling.

It felt weird to wear her pajamas again, she had gotten so used to wearing her armor all the time, the idea of a threat coming at any moment was something she had grown so accustomed to.

The only noise she could hear was the faint hum of the air conditioner and Molly Jo's light snores.

Whenever she got close to sleeping something in the back of her head kept whispering to keep alert at all times.

It was kind of pathetic really. A month ago she was stuck in a cave with hundreds of Amphibians snoring constantly. Now she was sharing a room with a girl whose snores were basically adorable

Chalk this up to another case of being unable to deal with being back home.

After going to her room she changed out of her armor into her casual clothes, she had most stayed in her room trying to catch up on news, her phone had received tons of email messages, she read through them all, then watched a few videos

Anything to get her mind off Amphibia.

During dinner her mother and Kevin tried to get her caught up on everything that happened while she was missing. She tried to pay attention, but she was too busy thinking of what Grime was doing at the moment.

Afterwards, she went upstairs to bed, hoping to get to sleep, maybe in her dreams she could see that world again.

Five hours later she still lying in bed looking at the patterns in the ceiling.

Starting feeling thirsty she got out of bed, she moved without making a sound, a skill Grime had drilled into her during her first days out of the cage.

"Making any noise will alert your enemies, they notice you, and you're dead," Grime used to say

She opened the door and snuck down the stairs, as she neared the kitchen, she could just her a voice.

"I don't know what's wrong with her, she barely spoke at dinner."

It was her mother, and she was talking to someone.

"Yes, I know but…"

Her mother stopped talking again. She must be on her phone.

"I know, I know, but maybe we should send her to therapy?"

Sasha froze. Therapy, she wasn't crazy, she was fine.

She was about to burst in and talk to her mother, but decided not to, her mother would just use it as proof that she was crazy, and then she'd be sent off to some doctor.

"Okay, Sorry to call you this last, I know you'e got stuff to do."

Her mother then laughed, "I know it's weird, but it's nice to be on the same team for once."

Another laugh then, "Goodnight."

She heard her mother put the phone down, Sasha moved upstairs and entered her room, closing the door silently. She took a breath and looked around the room, everything seemed normal, and yet it was quiet.

"Just because it is quiet doesn't mean you're safe."

Sasha's looked around the room trying to spot anything dangerous, anything that could be hidden, there was nothing.

Not even snoring.

Sasha turned to Molly-Jo's bed, it was empty.

The window was open

She ran to the window trying to see anything, That's when she heard a noise she was so familiar with.

The familiar sound of something metallic scraping.

They should be gone, All destroyed.

Sasha ran to her bed and rummaged through her discarded armor. She picked up her swords and ran to the window.

She dived out of it, landing on her feet, she looked around for something, trying to hear anything.

There was noting.

There was a "SHRIIIEEEKKK" noise from behind her.

She turned around to see something crawling into the window.

Sasha jumped at the wooden scaffolding the flowers were growing on, she climbed it in seconds, slipping into the window she held her swords out and looked around.

Nothing.

Just Molly Jo's light snores.

Sasha walked towards the girl to make sure she was okay, she was covered by her blanket, Sasha was about to wake her, then shook her head.

She needed to rest, she needed to sleep, she entered her bed and resmused her watch of the ceiling.

She didn't get to sleep that night.

…

Sasha kept an eye on the young boy as he drove the snail, it was hard to believe that this giant thing was that small snail that she held in her arms ten years ago.

"So when did you start learning to drive?"

Max smiled, "yesterday."

This was not a comforting answer, "Really? Are you sure you can do this?"

"Hey, remember a few days ago when you also got rear ended?"

"Okay two things, one I didn't know you were there and two you snuck in the truck, you have no reason to complain."

Max laughed, and Sasha joined in, she had to admit the kid did have an answer for everything.

"By the way Max I have to ask something?"

"What?"

"Remember what I told you during our last appointment? I need to talk to your parents"

Max demeanor changed, a mask seemed to cover him, "Oh, yeah that, um no sorry, they're busy."

Sasha looked at him concerned, "Okay Max I know you say they're busy, but you promised me three sessions ago I could talk to them and-"

"I told you," Max snapped, "They're busy okay!"

Sasha backed away slightly from him, the boy was quiet for a second before sighing, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay Max, but I do need to talk to them. But my office has tried calling them sere veal times. We've had no response, and to be honest hearing about you being left alone…"

"I'm fine." Said Max defensively.

Sasha was quiet for a second, "Okay, but I've been "fine" myself."

Max was about to say something when all of a sudden something shot past Micro-Angelo, the snail gave a Yelp and jumped, it wasn't much, but it caused Sasha to fall off.

She landed in a puddle of mud, ruining her jacket.

Sasha could see the thing that passed them was a spider, it was attached to a wagon, being ridden by three toads.

"HEY WATCH IT YOU JERKS!" shouted Max.

The Spider suddenly stopped. And three toads got off, Sasha could just make them out, one of they wore a helmet, the only women had green hair and a headband and finally the leader was a red toad.

They stopped just in front of Micro Angelo.

"What did you just call us?" said the red toad.

"He called you tower reject's Jerk, and he's right."

The red toad shot her a look, and then smiled, "Well what have we got here, Former lieutenant Waybright."

"Bog, Still picking on anything smaller than you?"

"Yeah, he is." said the female toad, "And he's not covered in mud."

"And here I was hoping that Fen would eventually stop being a little suck up." said Sasha.

She turned to the helmeted toad, "Hey Mire, how's things?" she said in a friendly tone.

Mire gave a thumbs up.

"Well Waybright you're back, and it looks like you've brought more humans this time, How are they going to ruin toads this time?"

Sasha put on a piteous smile, "You still upset that I stole your job after ten years?"

Bog glared at her, "You listen here, Waybright, Because of you, we toads lost a lot of power, instead of warriors we have to get new jobs."

"So you're upset that we helped save the world," Sasha said sarcastically, "Hey remember how the tower was taken over by robots, I still remember you crying."

All of a sudden there was a sword in Sasha's face.

She didn't flinch, she had dealt with worse tantrums from eleven-year-olds.

"I'm sorry," said a worried voice behind her.

That voice was like a cold bucket of water of responsibility being thrown over her,

She was trying to get into a fight, what was she thirteen again? If that happened Max could get hurt.

Sometimes it could be hard remembering that she was an adult.

Taking a step back she put on a polite smile, "I'm sorry, Bog, I made a mistake."

"Is that so?" said Bog bitterly.

"Yes, I was rude to you two for no reason, Please forgive me and my friend, we're both very sorry.

Bog and Fen looked at each other for a second and then smiled, "Well, It's nice to see that you see yourself in your correct place, I guess we can let you off with a warning."

"Thanks," said Sasha, fighting back the urge to punch him in the stomach.

"Just make sure that you don't bother us again."

The toads returned to the spider, Sasha sighed, things were fine.

All of a sudden something hit her in the back with a wet slap.

She turned to see Fern standing there, her hand covered in mud, "Take that Waybright," she ran cackling to the spider.

Sasha heard two of the toads laughing as they drove off, she looked at the back of her jacket, even more covered in mud.

She sighed and walked back to the snail, Max was petting the snail trying to keep Micro Angelo calm.

"It's okay, they're going." he whispered

Sasha sat down next to the boy, "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," he said, ashamed.

"Don't be, you were right the first time."

As Micro Angelo started to slither again, they both claimed down a little, "So who were those guys?"

"That was Bog, he used to be at the tower, he was a jerk who liked to bully people… I guess I wasn't that different from him back then."

Max looked at her and nodded, "Yeah, your character was like that in Anne-Phibia."

"Yeah, but even so Bog always liked to pick on the weak."

"He seemed to really have it out for you."

That's because I took the job he wanted, Grime's second in command, suffice to say when certain things happened he left, though It was totally because he held a grudge against me and Grime.

"Really?"

"Yeah, Heck after the tower fell, he suggested that the toad army leave me behind…or worse."

"That takes him beyond a jerk to… Will I be in trouble if I swear?"

"Yes," laughed Sasha, "the majority of the tower agreed, they only followed him because well I kind of got it destroyed."

"So you were on your own?"

"Well no, Lucian's parents stayed with me…and Grime did as well."

She tried to ignore her emotions, but she remembered just how happy she was when Grime stood up for her, sure he had a breakdown but still, the fact that he betrayed her still hurt.

"Hey, we're almost into town," said Max.

"Yeah," replied Sasha, "You can drop me off here, I'll find their house, Just need to ask around."

Max nodded, she stopped Micro Angelo and let her get off,

She waved goodbye to Max, now she needed to find two toads and apologize to them.

…

Max drove Micro Angelo to the parking spot, the poor thing was shaken up after that speeding Spider.

"It's okay boy, we'll get you parked and…"

That's when Max saw a small shape run past him, the familiar shape of a small toad boy.

"Lucian," he called.

The toad turned around and saw the human, "Max, I need your help."

"With what?"

"I'm running away."

Max just sat there for a second then shrugged, "Okay"

Lucian was taken aback by what he said "What, really?"

"Yeah man, we can leave this town and start somewhere else, I just need to park, and then we can make our plan.

A few minutes later the snail was parked and Max was walking down the street with his toad friend.

"So what happened to make you want to run away?"

"My parents, they knew Sasha."

"Yeah she mentioned that," said Max casually.

"Well that's not all they did, they abandoned her."

"Really?" Said Max, holding his tongue that didn't really fit in with what Sasha said earlier.

Lucian nodded, "They were cowards, I can grow up to be like them."

Max liked the toad, on one hand he knew that Sasha seemed to harbor some guilt towards what happened with the two, it might have been better to tell him the truth. However on the other hand it would be nice to have someone who knew this world more than him, and it might be useful.

"Okay, so where do we go then?"

Lucian scratched his chin, "Maybe Newtopia? Two runaways could blend in there."

"Runaways?" Said a voice behind them.

Max stopped and rolled his eyes, Lucian's eyes widened, they turned to see a somewhat snooty frog girl standing there, Marcy Yunnan.

"Marcy," said Max, barely hiding his contempt.

"We're running away to New Newtopia to prove we're brave," said Lucian happily.

The frog girl looked confused, "and doing something that stupid proves that how?"

"It's only the start, when we get to Newtopia we'll think of something, besides I can't back out now, I'd be a coward, like my parents.

Marcy stood there patiently, she would have called his plan stupid a few days ago but well since then she had realized that maybe she shouldn't be too quick to judge, yes running away was stupid, but maybe she could convince him not to. If they did her mom visited Newtopia weekly, they'd find him.

"Lucian, why do you think your parents are cowards?"

"They deserted Sasha, they left the hero and didn't tell me anything."

Marcy looked at him oddly, She didn't really believe him of course, he was probably over reacting, she was used to this of course, his near fanatical worship of the heroes of Amphibia had proven that, however she knew she had to stay by his side.

"Okay that sounds kind of bad, but maybe you should take your time, you might be making a mistake."

"No, this is the only way I can-"

"I'll buy you some cakes?"

Lucian was quiet for a second, "three cakes."

Marcy smiled, knowing she had one way to control her best friend, and the fact that Max was shooting her daggers was just icing on the cake.

…

As Sasha walked through town she started to do her best to try and ignore the stares she was getting from the town, a small part of her thought that they knew she had gotten into a fight with Grime, after all many of them had been their leader for a while.

The other part of her knew that it was because she was covered in mud.

Without Max or anyone else around she was stuck with her own thoughts thinking about how Grime had betrayed her, after all they did together, she would never hurt him, heck she was willing to lie for him after…

She stopped walking for a second, that was kind of awkward. It's true that she had lied to him about being a general, but he had looked so hopeful when she told him, she shouldn't have bothered.

Eventually after asking her way through town Wally pointed her in the right direction, it was particularly annoying because at the end of the conversation he said "You're not going out like that are you?"

That was the final straw. As soon as this was done she was going back to get something else to wear, she'd have to take the bus though, she wasn't going to ruin her car with mud on the seats.

When she saw the house, she knew that they had to be there. The house was decorated with flowers all over, each window had a flower box, it looked wonderful, in a way it reminded of her mother's house.

She started to walk towards the door, she was finally going to do this.

"Sasha" said a voice behind her, she turned, standing there was Grime, his beard was a little bit more unkempt today, his armor somehow looked a little bit shabby, he had a guilty look on his face.

"Grime." said Sasha trying to keep her emotions out of this, "What do you want?"

"Sasha, listen to me, I had a good reason for not telling you about them."

That got to Sasha, she turned to him, still only barely controlling her anger.

"Really, Grime, I spent months, No, Years of fearing they could be dead, and you still lied to me, Why?"

The large toad sighed, "Truth is, when I found them… They didn't want to hear it."

Her anger lessened, "What?"

"I found them in a small village, it was still rebuilding from a war, Braddock was working as a nurse, Percy was in a tavern as entertainment, I found them and told them, They said no, Lucian had just been born, and I suggested they come to Wartwood, they agreed and came here, I've been trying to help them, I was hoping it could protect you from the truth."

Sasha stood there a bit of her anger had subsided, but she was still angry at hm,

"Well, whatever I can finally go and apologize."

Sasha turned again and started to walk to the door, she would do this where Grime had failed she would succeed.

"Wait, Sasha"

She stopped again and sighed, "What?"

"You can't go to them dressed that"

She looked down, and groaned, even he knew how bad she looked right now.

"I can help a little," said Grime trying to sound nice, "I may have had something made for you."

"What exactly?" said Sasha, narrowing her eyes."

"Well…"

…

Sitting outside the fountain Max and Marcy watched as Lucian ate his fifth cupcake, hopefully he was in a better mood now.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"No." said Lucian still bitter, "They lied to me like that, about knowing a hero, they know how much I loved the stories of them."

"You're right they're terrible," said Max, "We should head to Newtopia now and start our new lives, I'm thinking we start as chefs, then make our way up to restaurant owners.

"Do not pay attention to him," said Marcy glaring at the human, "I'm sure they had a good reason."

"For being cowards?"

Marcy was about to respond to her, when Max coughed

"Well from the comic she was a bit of a jerk." said Max.

"Is it how your comic said Andrias was a jerk?" said Marcy smugly.

"Hey how did I know he would redeem himself," Max paused for a second, "man it's going to be annoying now I know all the spoilers."

Before Marcy would respond he bumped into Lucian which caused Max to bump into her.

"Lucian why did you-oh." She said bitterly.

In front of them there was a spider with a wagon attached to it, said wagon was full of weapons and traps.

Max noticed the wagon and sneered, "These creeps again?"

"You know Bog?" Asked Marcy.

Met them this morning, not a fan."

"Pity." Said a gruff voice from behind them, the three kids jumped and turned to see Bog and his two cronies standing behind them, Bog was holding a large club, "because I was hoping to get to know you too."

Max felt what little bravery he had vanished, he was about to say something when Lucian spoke up.

"What are the weapons for?"

Bog looked at the boy with a sneer.

"We're going hunting, it's a toad tradition, hunting something dangerous, a sign of toad bravery."

"Can I come with you?" Asked Lucian.

Marcy and Max turned to him shocked, "What?" they both said together, which kind of creeped them out.

"They said this is for brave toads, This could be the way I prove myself to be brave."

Marcy sighed and turned to Bog, "Where are you going hunting?"

"Cannibal creek,"

"You mean the place where the mud cannibals use to be?" said Marcy flatly.

"Yes."

"Of course," Marcy deadpanned, she turned to Lucian, "don't do this."

"Marcy, Come on, I have to do this"

Marcy looked at him worried,"I'm telling your parents," she said before walking away.

She got at least five steps before Lucian called out.

"Hair dye."

Marcy stopped, and turned slowly, "What?" she said terrified.

"I'll tell your moms about the hair dye if you tell my parents."

Marcy blush covered her whole face now, she ran off embarrassed.

Bog and co started to laugh, Max who would have loved to see her humiliated earlier didn't, he looked at Lucian, "Dude blackmail? That's a little cruel."

"It'll keep her out of our way while we go hunting."

"Well looked like the runt has spirit." said Bog.

"Yeah, who knows there may be hope for him yet."

"See Max,", said Lucian smiling, "strangers think I'm cool, This is the first step to proving I'm not like my parents, now come on."

Come on where?" said Max.

"With me and the others, We can prove how brave we are."

Max took one look at the toads and shook his head, "No."

"What?"

"No I'm going with these guys, they're colossal butts."

"We'll kick yours," said Mire.

Lucian walked over to Max.

"Listen," He whispered, "I need this, If we go with them, then we'll prove we're brave."

"Pretty sure if we follow them, We'll be stuck in a creek while they drink beer and make fun of us."

Lucian was starting to look annoyed. He clenched his fists, "Well Maybe you could do this one thing for me, I've done a lot for you these last few days."

Max shrugged, "Okay I admit that's true, but that doesn't mean we need to start hanging out with their creeps."

"Well it's better than being a coward, you have no idea what it's like to live with liars."

Lucian didn't expect Max to look as hurt when he said that, the hurt became a scowl. Before Lucian could say anything Max put his hands in his pockets and walked away.

Lucian was about to follow him when he heard a gruff laugh.

"Forget 'em kid, they'll only hold you back."

Lucian turned to Bog as he boarded onto his wagon, "Are you coming?" Said the older toad

The toad boy stood there for a second and swallowed, he boarded the wagon, only looking back at his friend for a second.

So if you have any questions or want to leave a review please do so, Sorry this has taken a while to go up.

Thanks for reading this far, it means a lot.