When Sprig opened his eyes, he instantly looked at the empty spot where Anne had slept, only to see a small puddle of water

She insisted on taking that spot when they moved into the caves, Sprig wondered if she felt guilty about returning them to this newly devastated Amphibia.

It had been a month now since she had left for earth.

The ride back to Wartwood had been a bittersweet one for the town; they had lost three of their own. As soon as they had arrived, work on the town's reconstruction had begun, many of the inhabitants just trying to forget the war and the people they lost.

Since then, they had made good progress, Wartwood was almost completely rebuilt.

However, many of the homes surrounding the town were yet unfinished, including his family's farm.

Sprig looked around, briefly wondering where Hop-Pop and Polly were.

He stood up and walked towards the tunnel entrance, and took a look at what was the former rebellion H.Q.

Many of the weapons and training equipment had been removed. However, the tunnels were still full of Amphibians. Refugees who were waiting to go back home, businessmen willing to start a new business down here, strangest of all were a group of olms, some of whom talked about staying in this place, to start a settlement outside of Proteus.

There was a sense of fear, yet also optimism for the future, and for many it meant a new home.

Sprig however couldn't share their optimism.

It wouldn't be home without her.

For the second time in five years, he'd be going to a new place he had to call home, again without the people he loved.

Soon he reached the tunnel leading to the surface. Walking up the slope, he quickly arrived at the top.

He pushed on the front door, it wouldn't budge.

Great, it was stuck.

He walked away from the door, then ran towards it.

At the very last second, the door opened.

Sprig ran through the open passage and tripped on a wooden beam, slamming into the floor.

Picking himself up, he looked around the room, which was in the middle of being rebuilt.

He could hear the sounds of workmen talking, wooden beams being sawed, the smell of sawdust filled the air. Standing in front of Sprig was a toad wearing a hardhat and an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry about that kid, I was just leaning against it. Then something knocked, and I thought there was a ghost, I didn't know you were behind there."

"No worries," said Sprig, his own encounters with the supernatural fresh in his mind. "Why are you here?"

"Oh, we're rebuilding the farm, free of charge by order of Lady Olivia of the temporary parliament."

"Really?"

"Yeah, your grandfather wants us to restore it to exactly how it was."

"Woah," said Sprig, smiling. At least they'd have a proper place to live again. "Um, where is he?"

"Downstairs in the basement, said something about cleaning it up."

Sprig nodded, that didn't sound so-

It suddenly dawned on him what was happening, he turned around and ran towards the basement door, flinging it open and jumping down the hole.

He landed on his feet and looked around the basement to see it had been stripped of almost anything that belonged to Anne. Her posters, her diary which everyone had read, her trashy magazines, they were gone.

The only thing that remained was her bed, on it were placed two sacks, and in front of them stood an old frog, with a melancholic look in his eyes.

"Well that's all-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Hop-Pop turned to see Sprig, shock was in his eyes. "Sprig, Um, I was…."

"Were you getting rid of Anne's stuff?"

Hop-Pop looked at his grandson then the bag then sighed, he slowly turned to look at Sprig, a sad look in his eye.

"Yes. It's been a month Sprig, we need to move on."

The frog boy just stood there confused for a second, not believing what his Hop-Pop had just said.

"We can't," muttered the frog boy.

"She's-"

"She's coming back," interrupted Sprig.

Hop-Pop just stood there and looked at him for a second before sighing. "Do you remember what happened the first day I brought you here?"

"You mean when I was a polliwog?"

"No, I mean after that night, the first day you came to live here with me."

Sprig stood there. "You mean when Mom and Dad died?"

The older frog nodded. "For days you stayed out near the post, waiting for them to come back. You said that they'd never be eaten by herons."

He took a step forward towards his grandson. "Day after day you sat outside the wall waiting for them to show up, hoping they would be there to great you, and night after night I carried you inside."

Placing his hands on Sprig shoulder, the older frog sighed. "Then came the night of the storm. I forbade you from going outside, but you snuck out anyway, stayed there almost all night, and you got sick. I was so scared, you lay there day after day, murmuring."

Hop-Pop's eyes started to water. "At one point I heard you call for your parents, I thought…" he trailed off.

"Thought what?"

"Thought I was going to lose you."

Sprig remembered days of laying in bed, feeling warm, feverish, he remembered someone feeding him, and wishing him to get better.

"Hop-Pop I…"

"Listen, I know it hurts, but you're going to have to accept that she's gone. In time, it'll fade."

Sprig looked at his grandfather, he didn't want to forget, he-

"Besides. I can only really deal with one grandkid with issues at the moment."

"What do you mea-"

"YOU'RE DEAD, OLD MAN!"

From the trap door dropped a frog with long red hair, and she was glaring at Hop-Pop with murderous intent. Sprig looked at the stranger confused, though the voice sounded familiar.

However, the thing she was wearing shocked Sprig: A pink frilly dress. It was the girliest thing Sprig had ever seen.

Slowly it dawned on him who she was.

"POLLY?"

Polly turned to Sprig and grabbed him by his jacket. "You tell anyone about this and I will kill you, got that?"

"Y..Yes" whimpered Sprig.

The frog girl dropped him, then turned back to Hop-Pop.

"What is this," she said, gesturing towards her dress.

"It's a dress, it belonged to your mother and-"

"I hate it," said Polly, her voice full of venom.

Hop-Pop sighed. "It's only for a few days until your day of dress, then you can get your own clothes."

Polly stood there, looking at the Plantar patriarch. "Fine," she muttered.

She started to walk back to the door, then turned to see her male relatives. "But if I hear a world of this to anyone-" she narrowed her eyes.

"I will murder you in your sleep," she whispered.

The next thing they knew, she jumped out of the door and was walking away.

Hop-Pop turned to Sprig. "So yeah, I've got two things to deal with now."

Sprig picked himself up. "Okay, fair, but do we have to get rid of it all now? I mean-"

"No time like the present," said the older frog, walking towards the bags.

"Can I look through them to find something to keep?"

Hop-Pop paused. For a moment, Sprig thought he'd argue with him, however the old frog just nodded. "Okay. Don't take too long."

With that, the old frog walked climbed up the stairs.

Sprig stood there and turned to the bags.

Opening the first one, he saw that these were Anne's old clothes. A part of him wanted to keep them, however he'd be the first to admit that they smelled, that bag would have to go.

The second bag constrained a treasure trove of memories for Sprig, he reached in and pulled out a magazine he looked at one of the blurbs, "Test for True love."

It was the same magazine she had read when she tried to force him and Ivy together.

He let out a small laugh. It was funny, they had gotten into trouble over that, however instead of being angry, he felt nostalgic.

There was more, a post card from Newtopia, a leaflet from Dandy Lion inn, a graduation from Tritanio's school. (Which they had forged.)

So many memories.

Sprig sighed. He couldn't just pick one, so he stood up and walked towards the ladder. He needed to walk, clear his head.

Accept that she was gone.

…

Sprig watched the batter fall into the pan. He walked towards the cupboard and pulled out some chocobugs, pouring a few into it. Too many, and the chocolate-to-fluffiness ratio would be upset.

He didn't really cook breakfast, but today was an exception.

"How's the eggs doing, Frobo?"

There was the sound of fire being blown. "Fine," said the robot. Sprig turned to see his mechanical brother roasting a large egg with his flamethrowers.

"Remember, it needs to be runny, Polly and Hop-Pop love theirs like that."

"What about Anne?"

"Scrambled, I'll do that later."

Sprig turned back to the pancake and flipped it. The batter landed successfully on its other side.

Smiling, the frog boy looked at the pile of finished pancakes next to him, around a dozen already.

"Yeah, they'll love this."

After a few more seconds, Sprig slipped the pancake onto the plate with the rest of its delicious brothers.

He picked up the pancake plate, and the one next to it full of bacon and sausages, and took them to the table.

"Sprig, that you?" said an elderly voice from the other room. Before Sprig could respond, he saw his Grandfather walk in, only to stop and look at the kitchen in surprise. "Did you make breakfast?"

Sprig nodded. "Yeah, my little surprise."

Hop-Pop looked at him for a second, then shrugged and walked towards the chair. He sat down at his place and took a pancake, and after taking a bite, he let out a sigh of delight: "Boy, you got the ratio right."

"I learned from the best," he said, looking at his grandfather.

"Ha, thanks, but truth is I learned it from your mom."

"Really?" said Sprig, shocked.

"Yeah. She was one of the smartest women in town. And the one with the biggest temper."

Sprig stood there, his grandfather never really talked about his mom like that. "Am I like her?"

The old frog took a bite of his pancake, he nodded, then swallowed. "More like your father, he did things without thinking and could be enthusiastic, but you both got his energy."

Sprig sat down at the table, and lifted a pancake from the plate. "Huh."

"Yeah, so why did you make this then?" asked his grandfather.

"Oh, because I felt like it."

"Really, did you get some good news yesterday?"

The frog looked at his grandfather, on the old frog's face was a wide smile and eyes.

"No."

"Oh, well, what then?"

"I mean, Anne's back, I've got the best girlfriend in all of Amphibia, what else could a guy want?"

"A better face," said Polly as she walked into the kitchen, "Morning everyone."

"Morning Polly," said Hop-Pop, "how was last night?"

Polly pulled the chair out with her foot and sat down, "It was fine, Pearl and I danced all night long."

"Oh good, I'll talk to her about merging our businesses together, I was thinking about going into the delivery business."

Polly sighed, "Hey, Sprig, how was Ivy last night."

"Pretty cool, When she came back, we spend all night dancing like crazy, eating almost everything and drinking Grime underneath the table, It's like she wanted to have one last night of freedom before going to jail."

"That was a pretty odd metaphor," said Polly.

"No it isn't," said Sprig, "It's a pretty odd simile."

Polly sat there, surprised. Her brother knew what a simile was?

Frobo then entered and placed the egg on the table, the top of the egg had been removed. Polly then picked up a slice of bread and dunked it in the yellow goo.

"Thanks, Frobo," she said as she took a bite. She then turned to the two empty spots at the table. "Anne and Max aren't home yet?"

"Nope," said Sprig, "hope they show up soon, I want to hang out today."

"With Max?"

"No, I meant Anne, she's been busy hanging out with others, so I want today to be ours." said Sprig.

"Just be careful you two," said Hop-Pop, "as it is, I don't want to spend any more money on fixing the town."

The family then laughed. "No, seriously. The damage the town has taken over the last few days has cut into our savings."

…

Lucian jumped off the kart and waved to his friends. "See you later guys, I have to check in with my parents."

"Tell your parents I need to see them," said Sasha, calmly. "It's kind of important."

Lucian nodded and walked towards his house.

His parents were probably going to ask how he was, and dote on him. It was embarrassing, but what could he do.

He opened the door.

Confetti flew towards him, blinding him.

A cowardly scream escaped his mouth, he picked up a nearby tableware knife and pointed in the direction of his attackers.

As the confetti faded he saw his parents standing there with embarrassed looks on their faces, above them hung a banner saying 'congratulations' in pink letters.

"Mom? Dad? Are you trying to attack me?"

"No," said his mother who ran to and forced his arm down, "We were just trying to welcome you home, we've got some big news for you."

Lucian gasped and placed his hands on his cheeks. "You're getting me a pet spider?"

"Even better," said his father, "today's the day you get to choose what you want to do for the rest of your life."

The toad boy stood there, confused. "What?"

"Well, we've been thinking that recently…you've been getting into a lot of danger lately."

"Name five times," said Lucian defiantly, knowing that they wouldn't be able to reach that high.

"The cannibals, the monster attack in the center of town, the robots, being kidnapped, what happened last night."

Lucian stood there and nodded. "Okay, that's exactly five but…"

"No buts, Lucian," said his mother, "I know it sounds harsh, but this is for your own good."

"Okay, then I choose to be a warrior."

From the looks of his parents this was not the reaction they wanted. They had a look of fright that Lucian had, when he was about to be thrown into the cannibals' pot.

"That's… That's a little too dangerous," his mother stuttered, "maybe something else like, gardener."

"Ooh yeah, I could grow carnivorous plants, like Venus fly traps, Tomatoes and cauliflowers."

His mother looked at him worried. "Okay, I'm against the first two, but what's wrong with Cauliflowers?"

"It's gross and bumpy," replied Lucian.

"Fair. But I was thinking pretty flowers, arranging them in nice shapes."

"That sounds lame."

His father piped up. "There's always comedy, that's mostly safe."

"Unless you die on stage," Lucian replied with enough snark that some teenagers could only hope to rival.

"Oh please, they don't murder you on stage anymore, they banned that last year."

Lucian rolled his eyes. "Do you have any other suggestions?"

"Sure," said his mother. "You could be groundskeeper, land keeper, seeds man."

"A clown," said his father, interrupting her. "A gagster, a humorist?"

"I'm noticing that my options are limited," he muttered

His parents looked at each other and then at him, they looked worried.

"Lucian, listen. We need you to stay safe, that's why we need you to do this." said his father.

The toad boy stood there. He couldn't believe they were acting like this, trying to control his future. He was about to say something, when he noticed the tears in his parents' eyes.

It was that point he knew he couldn't win this argument, They'd only cry harder. He sighed, this was his life now.

"Can I have a few hours to choose, please?"

His parents were quiet for a few moments, then they smiled. "Of course."

Lucian turned to the door.

"Oh and Lucian."

He turned to see his parents smiling at him.

"We love you. Just remember, this is for the best."

He left the room, wondering what his future was going to be now.

…

As Nicole jumped off the wagon, she took a second to wave back to her friends. They'd promised to meet up later, but she knew she needed to check in at the orphanage.

Wartwood orphanage was supposed to be a large building which could take in dozens of children, a warm and inviting place that would tell those that had lost their loved ones: "You will be safe."

There was only one problem with that.

Mayor Toadstool.

Now to his credit, since his change of heart ten years ago he had suggested that they rebuild it, and this time it wasn't at the suggestion of those ghosts that haunted him.

However, despite the war, there weren't that many orphans in town. Most children had been adopted by loving families, including a few interspecies adoptions, Marcy being the first of many.

So that meant that the orphanage was still a small building, with around one common room, a small kitchen and two bedrooms.

Nicole had spent her life there, seeing others get adopted. Not that she stayed in the building all day, from an early age she had started sneaking out to explore the town.

One day she saw that Loggle needed help carrying stuff. The axolotl had been reluctant to let her, at first, but by the end of the day she had graduated to carving a chair.

After that, Nicole had become a presence in Wartwood, she was the eft amphibians went to when they needed an extra pair of hands for their business.

It was a strange life, but one Nicole loved.

As she entered the orphanage, she saw the matron sleeping in a rocking chair. Galdes was a nice enough frog, nearly thirty, with purple skin. She had taken the job at first willing to help children who had lost their parents, however over the years she had realized that maybe her job wasn't as fulfilling as she would have liked. Nicole liked her because she didn't really raise any questions about a young newt working for half the town.

"Good morning Galdes."

The frog jumped and looked around the room before landing on Nicole, a smile appeared on her face. "Oh, good morning Nicole, how was your evening?"

"It was fine, We went out into the graveyard and almost died."

"That's…good," said the matron worried.

"Welp, I'm going to my room, I need to start helping Wally with his music today and-"

Galdes coughed. "Actually, I told Wally you've canceled for today."

Nicole stood there, confused. "What?"

The frog woman sighed. "Nicole, I have bad news. The orphanage is out of money."

For some orphans this might be a bad thing, their only place of shelter shutting down, Nicole would laugh at them.

"Okay then, We save the orphanage, I can make one hundred gold in a week, and we can get the other orphans to work and…"

"There are no other orphans, Nicole."

"What?" asked Nicole, "there have to be, what about Tina?"

"Adopted by a toad couple."

"Jacob?"

"Biological parents returned."

"Mina?"

"Consumption."

"Oh, Mr and Mrs Consumption finally adopted her?"

"Yes, about time."

Nicole pushed down the pity she felt for Mina over her new name, and returned to her argument. "Oh, well then, I guess I can stay here then?"

"We can't just have a young Newt stay on her own…even if you are over qualified for the position."

"Okay then you can adopt me, I like you, and you like me, let's just be family?" said Nicole trying to sound cute.

"Cute rhyme but I can't look after you, starting tomorrow, I'm joining a commune."

Nicole stood there. "What?"

"Tomorrow, I'm going to join the Fungi collective."

"Oh, you mean that town that's a part of Gary?"

"Yes… thanks for not calling it a cult, by the way."

"You're welcome; so what's going to happen to me?"

"Well, there's a nice little orphanage in Newtopia."

Nicole gasped: "I can't just move away from Wartwood. It's my home!"

Galdes looked at the small newt and sighed. "Listen, I know it's a big thing to spring on you, but it's for the best. Think of it as the start of a new adventure."

The small newt felt helpless, there was no way out of this.

"The carriage taking you to Newtopia leaves tonight, I think you should start packing."

Nicole stood there and turned. "Can I tell my friends first?"

Galdes nodded, "Okay, but don't take too long."

Nicole trudged towards the door, not knowing what to do next.

…

The lack of conversation was the thing that tipped Max off that there was something wrong.

Anne was driving Bessie, just keeping her eyes on the road, she responded when Max had talked to her, but she didn't say anything to Sasha. Doctor Waybright just looked at the passing scenes of the town as they drove off.

That's when he spoke up, "Did you guys break up or something?"

The two women turned to him, shocked.

"What? No." said Anne

"What are you talking about? We've never dated."

Max shrugged, "Really because that Marcy's comic suggests…"

Sasha and Anne groaned, "You know not every relationship is romantic, right? Some can just be friendships?"

"Yeah, choosing to give up your life for a friend, the cute nicknames, that amount of passion. True friendship."

Anne and Sasha smiled at each other for a second, then Sasha smiled, "Oh, so like you and your friends?"

Max raised his eyebrow, "No, not at all."

"Yeah, You just had to go and rescue them, dive off of a cliff to save a girl. Is that just friendship, or is it a little bit more?"

"No," said Max, pouting, annoyed that his logic was being used on him, "I'm just an awesome friend."

"Ah," said Sasha with a wide grin, "But that's how it starts."

"You get older and start developing feelings, and then it becomes more."

"So, who do you think he'll marry?" asked Sasha.

"My money is on Marcy, she seems nice."

"Nah, Lucian, he's really loyal."

Max groaned, "You're both bullies."

A few seconds later, the kart stopped in front of a house. Max recognized it as Grime's House, Lucian had pointed it out to him recently.

Sasha jumped out of the kart and looked at Anne. To Max, she looked upset again.

"I'll see you back at the portal, just… It might be a while."

"Okay," said Anne gently.

Doctor Waybright walked away, and with that, Bessie started to move again. Max climbed to the front of the kart and looked at Anne.

"What's wrong?"

Anne sighed. "Max, we have to leave."

Max froze. Leave now? Why, "Why, is it about last night? We didn't get hurt and-"

"No," said Anne gently. "Max, you're not in trouble, it's… we have to leave Amphibia today."

"Why?"

Anne looked at him sadly. "Max, since we've been here the town's been attacked several times, by monsters… and by amphibians who hold a grudge against us."

Max sat there, looking at her. "But… that means we have to say goodbye to everyone."

The snail slithered along in silence for a few minutes, Anne kept quiet, Max could see that she was just as upset as he was.

"Do you want to say goodbye."

"No," said Anne, "but I don't have a choice in this, we have to go for the sake of Amphibia."

The snail kept riding, Max felt a tear well up in his eyes. He was going to have to say goodbye to his friends only a few days after realizing they were his friends. He pulled his legs up to his chin and looked away from Anne.

The time he spent here might have been short, but it had meant so much to him. Sure, his original plans had fallen apart, but there was still a chance he could have stayed there.

The snail stopped. Confused, Max turned to Anne, as she sat there with a sad smile on her face.

"Go."

"What?" said Max, confused about what Anne was asking. Was she giving him permission to run away?

"Go and find your friends, Have one last great day."

Max sat there looking at her for a second. She was giving him one last day. He hugged her, muttering a quiet thank you, jumped off the snail and ran towards the town.

He would make this day count.

-TeamSashaWaybright: Huh intresting.