The young frog trails up a gravel path leading to his family's estate. There was some trepidation in each step he took toward the massive cage he called a home. His family may have lived in that manor for generations, but the juvenile could not stand the sight of the lumbering monstrosity most days.
That's part of the reason he was out, moving amongst the night wind and elegantly dragging his feet along the gravel path. He enjoyed getting away from his upper-crust lifestyle to experience the world beyond lavish walls and servants that would serve him hand and foot.
He was Sir Sprig Plantar, heir to the Plantar family name which mostly exists as a brand more than anything. What started out as a simple family farm, sprouted into more than just that anymore. The farm had turned into two, which turned into five which turned into factories, plantations, and mines over the centuries.
His family was a prime example of Amphibian aristocracy. The ones everyone aspired to be like. They owned homes all over the continent but their pride and joy was right here in Newtopia. A more than generous gift given to his great-grandmother by the king.
He hated it with all his being, hated everything his family stood for really. The Plantar family were the heads of industry and led the charge in Amphibia's industrialization. Every now and then he would flaunt his status as the prince of the Plantar lineage to some of his more egregious alumni if only to get a rise out of them.
Other than using the power of his name for admittedly petty reasons, the juvenile loved to get away from the manor. Most of his time was spent in the city and his grandfather deplored the use of his time greatly. Though it does give the young heir too much joy knowing his grandfather disapproved. The old man was always such a stick in the mud. Any chance Sprig could get to irritate him he'd take it with little ambivalence.
But alas, all good things could not last forever more, otherwise, they would become stale, and the heir was never one to fall into complacency. Eventually, he would have to make his way back to the manor anyhow.
His grandfather had been throwing an extravagant party that evening. Sprig was there for a time earlier but had slipped away as more guests had begun to crowd into the courtyard. So many bluebloods in one place was just too nauseating a thought for the young scion.
He moseys up to the gate leading to his family home. It stood like a missive golden eye sore, ceaselessly gouging at his vision. A large P had been engraved into the heavy gold. The initial of his family name and their insignia as well, placed on everything they owned and produced just in case someone had forgotten what it meant.
The juvenile hops over the tall gate and lands on the other side, hitting the ground roughly though the feeling doesn't resonate throughout his body strangely enough. He treks up the wooded path for a time until he reaches his home, beaming brightly in the night and bustling with the sounds of the insufferable.
"Ahem." Stepping past the front gates and into the courtyard, the heir is assailed by the harshest display of condescendence he has yet to experience in his short life. The worst part was it didn't even come from a member of his affluent family. "And where have you been?" A beige-tented frog with immaculately done up light blonde hair questions with folded arms. It was one of his many servants and one of his favorites at that.
"Oh, you know Francois. I had to slip away a bit for..."
"For...?" The young man repeats with a brow arched high on his head and the scowl of a scorned wife over his usually soft expression.
"This and that. No need to worry yourself over." The young heir shines a charismatic smile that hardly any living soul could resist. Sprig's charm is how he got most things he wanted in life. There wasn't a frog or newt or toad on Amphibia who'd say no to him.
"I'm sorry, but I must allow myself to worry, if only for a little." The servant keeps his arms crossed though his appalled frown has softened up considerably. "I am to be your advisor once you've taken your grandfather's place after all."
The juvenile groans at his servant. "Don't remind me." His family title constantly looms over his head like a swinging pendulum. Try as he might to get away from it, the heir couldn't stay gone for long. His time was about to catch with him, and he couldn't be more crestfallen of the entire ordeal.
"Well, as your adviser I suggest you pull your act together master Sprig. You can't stay stuck in immaturity forever." The servant up-turns his nose to the juvenile.
Sprig giggles at the frog suddenly. "What? Do you really presume me immature for my age?" He questions but the servant refuses to endeavor an answer.
"Hey, come now. None of that." The young scion shines another smile at Francois, walking up to him and circling behind the slightly shorter young man. "Do you really intend to ignore me? He whispers, wrapping his arms around the waist of his future adviser and pulling him in close. Another pleasure the young hir liked to partake in was that of the flesh. He had been with many of his own servants but as said before this one was his favorite. If his grandfather ever found out that the heir to their name had been involved with so many common newts, frogs, and toads the old man would surely fall over dead.
"That's not fair." Francois objects with a contained grimace. The servant might have called the heir's strategy a curl one, but Sprig only saw it as a means to get the other frog to open back up to him. "Besides I doubt you'll want to be with me tonight."
"Ways that?" The juvenile raises a baffled brow at his servant.
"Because... she's here." He replies, leaving the young heir even more perplexed. "The wonder from Wartwood."
"Wait..." The hire breathes out a sudden gasp as he separates from Francois. "She's here?" He repeats to confirm that he has heard the servant correctly. The frog all but does so with a slow nod. "Where is she?"
"Inside, thought if you'd been here, you'd known that." Francois points toward the manor with a gleeful smile.
The heir takes off quickly. Never before has he been so eager to get into his family manor, but if she were there now, the juvenile would not dally in finding the girl he had fallen so madly in love with over her brief stay with him.
He rushes inside, stopping in the main hall that had been filled to the seams with many important guests from all across the kingdom. Important to his grandfather anyhow. He'd assume it would have taken longer to seek the girl out though he would be wrong.
She stood, surrounded by guests who were just as taken by her looks as he'd been. Her hair was braided with butterfly-shaped pens interlaced into her brunette locks. The dress she wore was bright green with loose flowing parts near the arms and around the waist. The design was inspired by a mix of her people's culture and his own. Even her toenails lie in the prettiest shade of blue.
She was as beautiful and elegant as she's always been in his eyes.
The young heir steps past the crowd of on-lookers and over to her. He shoos them all away until it's just him and her.
"Sprig. It's felt like ages." She said, placing a hand up to the young frog's cheek.
"Must definitely." He responds in a breathless tremble. He remembers when she was first found. He and his family were on a trip to Wartwood. His grandfather and sister could hardly stand the backwater swamp so much, but he on the other hand fell in love with its serene nature.
When she came to them, it had been out of nowhere, the girl particularly falling from the sky. She hadn't been alone, with two more falling along with her though he was indifferent toward the other girls. She was the only one Sprig had truly cared for.
He was scared at first, but as they became more acquainted, he soon realized that the girl was just like him in every way. Much like him she came from a wealthy family in which she was to inherit their business. She never liked any of it and would much rather have preferred living a simple life though always took advantage of her status when she could. She was unreal, like a dream made manifest.
Recently she had been searching for a way back though. The heir had told her time and time again that she was welcome to stay and be a part of his world, but she insisted that she find a way back, for her parent's sake.
"How goes your search for the box that brought you here?" He asked a bit hesitantly.
"Nothing much yet, but Sasha and Marcy think they've stumbled onto something." His heart nearly stops when she says this. He knew how badly she wished to leave but he wanted her to stay. It may have been a selfish thought, but he couldn't help it. "The best thing I can do is cross my fingers that we find something soon."
"Hmmm..." The heir grumbles a low hum in his throat. "Excuse me for changing the subject, but may I possibly ask you for a dance?" He held out a hand to her. "You have been working extremely hard." She giggles at first, taking his outstretched hand, nonetheless.
"You know... it has been a while, hasn't it?" The girl smirks and lightly taps a figure to her chin. "I just might take the chance." She spoke. "But not here. Let's go outside." The girl pulls him along, through ungodly long halls and old portraits of family long since gone by.
She tugs at him, holding on until they reach the backyard of the manor, and she continues to hold on even then. The girl pulls him through gardens they used to tend to, past hedge mazes they would play and get lost in, and past the greenhouse, they would spend some nights inside.
She doesn't properly let go until there by a large marble fountain. A thing his great-grandmother had the thing built in the home a long time ago.
The night was beautiful, made only better by her presence before him. Light mist clung and crept across the ground, slightly cloaking their feet beneath the sea of white haze. She takes his hand in hers and he stares up at her. The girl had been much taller than him, he normally had to reach up whenever he wanted to hold her hand, though doing so never made him feel insecure.
She touches a foot against one of his, startling him a bit when she does. He knew what she was asking. The maneuver was one they used to perform a lot when she had been living with them. He gently places his feet on top of hers as she starts to move. Given that she was the taller one she would almost always take the lead when they danced. It was always easier that way.
She moves slowly for a bit, bringing her feet up and down with him still attached and holding on at arm's length. When she feels that they're settled into a good enough position, she begins to swing him, spinning around and around in a circular motion as they cling to each other's arms.
Being with her then, dancing like they used to was the single greatest feeling. After all these months, his world had finally returned to him and she stays with him until a sudden flash of red, green, and blue invokes an inky black darkness. Then suddenly he had nothing at all.
Sprig sprung up on his bed. He looked around his room for anything, any sign that she had been there, but there was nothing. There was always nothing when he woke up. He was still alone with nothing more than memories of the time they had spent together.
He felt his eyes begin to overflow. His vision clouds up as a fresh stream of tears pours out and flows down his cheeks. He couldn't take it anymore. All of his dreams, the overwhelming feelings, her absence. It was agony.
He'd had enough. He lets the tears flow as his pained whales echo off the walls of his room and throughout his home. Sprig's eyes ball until a knock comes at his door, followed by his grandfather barging inside in a panic.
"Sprig, Sprig what's wrong?" He looks over at the boy sitting and crying on his bed. He tries to wipe away the tears, but they come endlessly. The old man rushes over and holds his distressed grandson in his arms. A while later Sylvia and Polly would come do the same.
They all crowd around him as he empties everything that had built up within and they stay with him as the tears continue to fall. The family gives him reassurance and enough attention to soothe his heavy soul.
Sprig doesn't think it works fully, but them being there with him gets the tears to stop eventually. After some more time passes, his family would slowly start to leave his room. They decide that today would be a family day out in town, away from the stuffy house.
Sprig thinks that could have been what he needed. That the reason he was feeling so devastated was that he was cramped up in that old house most days. Getting out with his family could do him some good.
The day was as nice as ever, but most days in spring were with the occasional thunderstorm thrown in to shake things up. Spring was always his favorite season, but the young teen couldn't pinpoint why exactly.
Something about it all, the blooming of flowers, the sprouting of tree leaves, and the animals returning to retake their original habitats corresponds with him. Seeing the world come back to life after a long winter was a sight, he found too satisfying.
He was beginning to feel better though during the ride into town, every now and again his thoughts would shift around. To her, of her, and how he wished she was there with him to enjoy the spring breeze.
Sprig wishes for a way to see her again, secretly hoping that there was someone out there who would give him that chance. He looks toward the sky. He'd always hoped she would come careening back down onto him most days, but it would never happen.
He gazes up at the clouds and past them to the vast blue ocean of the sky and thinks of that person he was hoping could help him. His eyes fall away from the big blue once he finds the idea to absurd. No one was coming to help him, to give him what he wanted most out of life. He's sure of that.
He was sure for a while anyway, though the more he thought about finding someone, the more the thought became more feasible in his mind. Sprig was never the religious kind. The concept of a higher power, waiting and always watching above everything, was a concept he couldn't fully grasp.
It didn't matter how much Hop Pop tried to drive it into him and his sister. Even in childhood, the boy found it hard to understand. When he thinks about it now though, it could be worth a shot. Maybe if he had a little more information from someone, he knew could have answers, Sprig would feel more comfortable with trying.
As soon as they reach town, Sprig was already off their snail and on his way to the market. She'd have to know something. She's always been into stuff like that, so Sprig thinks she was a surefire bid.
He comes to a stop at her potion stand and waits for the girl to finish up with a current customer. "Hey, Maddie." Sprig walks up, waving a hand to the grey frog girl. She was looking particularly unforthcoming today if he could say so. Her hair drooped over one eye as per usual and her black tunic clung to her body like a wet rage.
Sprig always found the girl to be on the creepy side of things. He was adamantly afraid of her and what she might do to him if he ever got on her bad side, though he would never admit his fear to her face. He's sure nobody would.
"Sprig." She replies to him without much fanfare. "I actually wasn't expecting to see you today." She drones on with a deep raspy tone. "Haven't seen you hanging with Ivy either. What's going on with that?" She leans an elbow over the countertop of her potion stand as she bares one visible eye down at the young teen.
"Uhhh... I mean..." Sprig giggles out nervous rambling. "You know how she is. Wants to hang out one day and the next she's inside and couped up in her bed."
"Hmm, no... that sounds more like you." She gives him a condescending shrug. "I should know. She's been complaining to me about it. Are you okay Sprig?" The creepy girl softens up her tone though her expression was still fairly lifeless.
Sprig dawns his best smile and aims it toward the aspiring witch. "I'm fine... I was just busy helping around the farm. You know how it is with family." Her dead expression becomes even more apathetic when he brings up the topic of family. "I mean..."
"Sprig." Her face suddenly changes to something with more life to it surprisingly. "Are you okay? You can tell me; you can always talk to me. If something's been bothering, you-"
"Maddie, Maddie, Maddie." He rapidly waves his hands out in front of him, getting her to pipe down a bit. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm fine... I just got in a bit of trouble and had to stay around the farm for a bit that's all."
She narrows her visible eye. "What kind of trouble?"
"I..." He halts. "I may have gotten a bit drunk and went back home at three a.m. two weeks..." Sprig winces. When he spoke about his little incident out loud it sounded kind of bad. The same could be said for anything though. That doesn't mean it was actually that bad, right? He thinks so.
"Sprig." She goes to speak but he puts another hand up to quiet her down.
"It's fine though. Me and Hop pop made up, he's letting me back out again."
Maddie looks at him with some skepticism laced into her one visible eye. "How long ago did you make up?" She asked and he froze up.
"... A week ago..."
Maddie doesn't give him much other than a long sigh. "So, you've been able to leave the house for a week now?" He nods. "Okay, you getting in trouble and not being able to leave the farm I get. What I don't get is that you could leave starting a week ago, yet you chose not to."
"I mean when you say it out loud." He begins to argue, stopping himself before his inner thoughts can properly manifest. "Look, that's not what I'm here for right now." The young teen said leaning his chin on the counter. "Maddie, I have something important I have to ask you... about the gods."
A quick snicker escapes from the girl. "What?"
"Come on Maddie." Sprig pleads with the girl to take his inquiry seriously. "It's a quick question. But it's really important to me." Her smirk, which gave off the impression that she was indeed alive, fades and her lips revert back to their default, callous condition.
"Okay." She says a little reluctant but willing to hear him out and answer if she could. "My knowledge is a tad rusty but what did you want to know?"
Sprig stood up straight. His excitement almost gets the better of his already heated emotions. "I guess I want to start with how many there are. Like how many are documented that we know of?"
Maddie rubs her chin as she sinks deep in thought. "Off the top of my head?" She spoke. "Well, there's... Agaly, the spirit of the trees. Kane the fire god, you can pretty much guess what he's about. Krypto, he's the reaper of souls. Ummm." She continues to recall some of the many gods in their pantheon. "Ecto, she guards the sea. Icht, she's a big one with newts, I know that much... Cerato's a bit of a mean one, always has a new scheme cooking. Noto was said to watch over Newtopia. Terrib is one I persnolly like."
"Why's that?" Sprig asked.
"She's the goddess of blight." Sprig recoils a bit. Of course, a god like that would be Maddie's favorite. He doubts he'll be needing anything from her.
"There's a bunch more, but I can't really remember right now."
"Right." Sprig says. His next question was already fresh in his mind and in all honesty, he was afraid to ask. He already felt stupid for wondering, though he would suck up his insecurity and continue on. "So, do you think the gods... ever listen to us? Or our prayers? Say I asked for something... do you think they would give it to me?"
Maddie raises a concerned brow. Her face was less macabre now and more tense for him. "Uhh... well... the gods... are like good friends. They help you navigate life; they've got your back all the time or most of the time depending on who it is. But like friends, they might not be around to help all the time. There might even come a day when you might not see them ever again, but you never forget them. You don't because you'll always have that memory or all the good, they've done for you and as life goes on you meet new ones. Get different perspectives that help you grow as a person. You get me?"
Sprig looks at her. He could feel his eyes begin to water up. "Yeah." He softy said, choking back down whatever bit of emotion was trying to crawl its way out through his eyes. He didn't want to cry in front of Maddie. "I think I understand." He turns away about ready to leave and find his family.
"Sprig, hold up." The teen stops and turns back to Maddie. She had made her way from inside her stand and stepped over to him. "Sprig, I know losing her hurt. I know it hurts to her that you may never see her again, but that's only in person." She gently takes hold of his hands. "That might not be good enough for you, but I can tell you that wanting her back when there's no way to get her is what's really bad. Let her being gone hurt you. Let it make you cry, make you sad. If you don't, you'll never get over it." He brings his eyes to hers hesitantly. "Let her go..."
He brought his glistening orbs back down to their entangled hands. He slowly pulls himself away from her and turns, walking back toward his family.
"Re... Remember to visit your girlfriend!" She shouts and he waves. He doesn't even offer so much as a little glance back.
"Let her go." He whispers to himself. "Let her go..."
That night, Sprig lies in his bed. His eyes gaze up at the ceiling with his mind in a blank. No thoughts come to mind and his body doesn't move an inch. The young teen only lies there and stares at the ceiling in a sort of shell shock.
He hated when night fell. All it ever reminded him of was an end, not just to the days but to everything in life. It was drab and a bit morbid. That's why he was always so eager to sleep, to avoid whatever awful thing night had become.
Maddie wanted him to let her go. How in the world could he do that? Why would he do that? She was the only thing driving him for so long, the only thing that ever-made sense in his life. She was the closest thing he's ever had to a mother, and maybe even something more.
A thought finally speaks a light in his dark mind. A single thought that might as well be a useless dream, but what was the harm in trying anyway.
Sprig swings his legs over the side of the bed, getting out of it and getting down to his knees. He props his elbows up on the mattress and clutches his hands together. Sprig was never religious but what other choice did he have.
He closes his eyes and quits his anxious mind, thinking back to the marketplace. Back to every god Maddie had listed for him. He thinks of Agaly and Kane, of Krypto and Ecto, of Icht, Cerato, Noto, and even Terrib.
He invokes their names in his mind, offers each one his own little hopes, prays, pleads, and waits as silence beats down on him like a hail of heavy rain. He keeps his eyes shut for a few minutes longer before opening them again.
He looks around the room once his eyes adjust to the darkness surrounding him. He doesn't know if it worked, doesn't know if the prying even made him feel better. Just a bit silly and a lot tired. Sprig rises from his knees and drags himself back into bed as one more thought lights up his tired mind.
"Let her go..."