AN:...So it's been a while.
Long story short, lot of stuff has been causing me a bunch of stress in my personal life and kept taking me out of the mood to do any writing. Things are getting a bit better so now, so hopefully it won't take me over half a year to post the next chapter (oh god, the last chapter was posted last year. I cannot believe how long this took).
Also, a rather talented fan of this AU by the name of Amphibianne made some fanart of Queen Sasha, and I'd like to share it with you all. Here is the URL: /Amphibiaaccount/status/1743088769022992647
Honestly, it is beyond amazing to know that someone actually made fanart of something I wrote.
Anyways, I'll see you all down below.
Chapter 4: Planning and Feelings
Anne wasn't quite sure what to expect when she entered the Plantar's house, not after seeing that there were bits of some sort of mush covering different parts of the house. A part of her was hoping that when she opened the door there would be some sort of wacky adventure going on that would delay her from having to actually have the awkward talk with her frog family about how she was in love with someone who tried to murder half of them.
Anne carefully and slowly opened the door to the house, prepared for some misadventure to be going on, only to quietly sigh in disappointment when she looked into the building.
She saw all of the Plantar family in the living room, and if there was any sort of adventure that would delay this talk, it looked like she missed it. Hop Pop was lying on the couch, clearly exhausted and with a bit of that weird mush from outside caught in his eyebrows, Polly seemed to be brushing Frobo down and getting dirt out of his joints and neck, and Sprig…well Sprig was just kind of sitting there looking perfectly normal.
"You guys OK?" Anne asked aloud to the three frogs as she walked into the house.
"I'm doing pretty alright" Sprig answered, before turning his gaze to his grandfather and sister. "as for Hop Pop and Polly, well…"
The old frog and the young pollywig let out a pair of simultaneous, annoyed groans.
"…They've had better days." Sprig finished.
"What happened?" Anne asked.
"A Radish exploded and I spent most of the day cleaning what I could off the house." Hop Pop answered in an annoyed and exhausted tone.
"Frobo got stuck in a hole." Polly answered, her tone matching her grandfather's exactly.
"Wait a radish? Did Polly overwater one again?" Anne asked.
"Hey, I only did that two times." Polly answered defensively.
"No it wasn't her," Hop Pop said as he sat up. "It was actually Sasha."
"Wait, what?" Anne said, very confused. "Why was she watering a radish?"
"She'd offered to help with the farm earlier, and apparently she got lost in thought while doing the first thing I asked her to do."
Hop Pop's answer did little but raise more questions for Anne. Sasha had absolutely zero interest in any sort of gardening. She had no responsibility to help with the farm like Anne did due to living with the Plantar's. She wasn't on good terms with the Plantar's. And frankly, she didn't really go out of her way to help people with chores or anything like that. So why in the world was Sasha offering to help Hop Pop with the farm?
"So how did Frobo get stuck in a hole?" Anne said, abruptly turning from her adopted grandfather to her adopted sister, in the hopes that whatever happened to her would make more sense.
"Sasha." Polly answered bluntly.
OK that one at least makes a little sense.
"How did she do that anyways?" Sprig asked.
"She was helping me figure out some of the cool stuff he could do, and she ended up activating these weird "jet" things that made him fly around and crash into the ground." Polly said. "Now I've got to clean all the dirt out of his parts from being in the ground."
"….Did Sahsa do anything with you today Sprig?" Anne asked.
"Nope. Which is probably for the best. For a few reasons, actually," the pink frog replied.
Given the states Hop Pop and Polly were in and the blonde's animosity with the young frog, Anne couldn't help but agree.
Still, it was odd to hear that the reason these things happened today was that Sasha was trying to help the Plantar's out.
…or maybe it's not that odd.
Anne thought back to a few nights ago, when she and Sasha talked in the forest. The blonde was trying to change. She was trying to be better. Maybe, by trying to help out the people that she had wronged…well maybe that was her way of trying to take another step towards being better.
"So, she spent half the day trying to help you guys then" Anne stated, almost more to herself than the Plantar's, though it was quite clear from their own moment of stunned silence at Anne's words that they did hear them.
"Huh. Yeah, I guess she did." Hop Pop admitted. "I mean, I'm not happy with how it turned out, but I did appreciate that she wanted to help, plus, it was nice to have someone actually offer to help on the farm instead of needing to be told to." His eyes narrowed as he looked at the three children, "Unlike some other people I could mention."
Sprig shrunk back with a rather nervous laugh at his grandfather's words.
Polly averted her eyes and began whistling the most guilty-sounding nonchalant whistle Anne had ever heard.
Anne briefly fell silent, her expression becoming a textbook case of the "deer in the headlights" look, before she composed herself enough to try and shift the topic back to Sasha.
"Polly, what about you?" Anne asked, her words stringing together more quickly than they would have had she not been trying to change the subject, "Frobo having a jetpack is pretty cool, even if he crashed, right?"
"I mean, yeah him flying is pretty neat." Polly admitted, Frobo nodding in agreement. "It is pretty cool that she showed me that. Plus, she showed me that he doesn't just have laser eyes but other weapons too!"
"She showed you what!" Shouted an irate Hop Pop
"It's in the past Hop Pop." Polly replied, waving her arm dismissively.
"So then…maybe she's not as bad as she seemed?" Anne asked aloud to the frogs, hopeful that maybe their opinions of the cheerleader will have changed form these new interactions.
However, the three frogs simply looked at each other before replying to Anne with a collective and noncommittal "Ehhh."
"Really?" Anne asked, not bothering to hide her disappointment.
"I mean, she tried to kill us Anne." Sprig said. "It's going to take more than a couple of nice deeds to make us like her."
Anne let out a sigh.
"Yeah, I guess I can't really argue with that." The Thai girl admitted, feeling defeated. "It's just…I can tell that she really does want to change. I know you guys didn't know the old Sasha for long, but I did, and I know that she really is changing. She really is trying to be better."
"Sorry Anne." Hop Pop, "But us liking Sasha probably isn't going to happen any time soon. But that doesn't mean that you can't still be friends with her, if she really is changing for the better like you said."
"I know but…" Anne trailed off, unsure of how to finish that sentence.
Except that wasn't true. She knew how she wanted to finish that sentence, she just needed a few second to think on if she was sure that she should finish that sentence.
"…but for the longest time I…I've wanted to be…more than friends with her."
At Anne's admission, the room fell quiet for what felt like several minutes. Anne really did have no idea what to say at this point, any idea's she had of what she should say to the Plantars after admitting that she liked Sasha had all fallen out of her mind and left her with absolutely no clue where she should go from there. Finally, however, the silence was broken.
"Huh. Well, I guess that does explain the awkward tension this whole conversation had." Hop Pop finally commented.
With the silence broken by the old frogs words, it seemed like the everyone in the room took it as an OK to finally continue to conversation, though it was not Anne who actually did so.
"Seriously? You actually like her, like her?" Sprig questioned.
"Well, yeah." Anne said in response.
"But she's terrible. To everyone. You included!" Sprig stated, the young frog sounding more baffled than Anne had ever heard him sound.
"Look I know your guys first impression of her was…about the worst possible worst impression you could have of anyone." Anne said, feeling the awkwardness of the conversation building as she tried to defend her feelings for a girl who really had been pretty terrible to herself and the people she cared about. "But she really was not always like that. And I know for sure that she's been trying to change lately, she's done stuff that there's no way the Sasha you guys met would ever do."
"We hear what your saying Anne." Hop Pop interjected, "But you gotta understand that we're worried about you. Sprig's right that she's been a bad friend to you, and if you two were to ever be more than friends, well we've seent eh way that she's treated you in the past and that's just gonna get a whole lot worse if you two did get together."
"I know, I know." Anne said, those words had crossed her own mind before. "But you guys don't really need to worry about that right now. I'm not…I really would not be ready to start a relationship with her right now, I just thought…that I should have a talk with you guys about this given everything that's happened. And even if I was ready, it still probably wouldn't happen. I mean, I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me back anyways, so I guess there's no really for you guys to worry about that."
The next few moments were filled with a very awkward silence as the three frogs stared back at Anne, looks of confusion and disbelief on their face.
"What?" Anne asked, confused.
"Anne," Hop Pop began, being the first of the frogs willing to speak, "can you repeat that?"
"uh…I don't think Sasha likes me back?" Anne said, still very confused.
Once again a silence took over the room for several seconds, until all three frogs broke it at once.
"It is not possible that you think that." Sprig said flatly
"You're kidding us right?" Hop Pop asked
"Girl, are you blind?!" Polly all but yelled
"Huh?" Anne asked, still incredibly confused.
"Anne, Sasha very obviously likes you." Sprig said.
"Wait, what?" Anne asked, still very confused, though less over what the Plantars were saying and more over why they were saying it. "Guys, c'mon, there's no way Sasha like me back."
"She so does." Polly said. "She is like, really bad at hiding it."
"I'm pretty sure the entire town knows." Sprig added.
"OK guys, I just poured my heart out to you three over some stuff that's seriously bothering me. Now's really not the time to joke around," Anne said, getting a little annoyed at her adoptive family.
"No they're right Anne." Hop Pop said. "After that night at the Tower, pretty much everyone in town figured out that Sasha is madly in love with you. And that she has an incredibly toxic view on how to act on that love."
"OK guys, seriously stop." Anne said, standing up to try and emphasise how serious she was about this. "If she's as "obvious" about this as you guys say she is, then I would have noticed it by now, but there have been no signs over the years that I've known her that she likes me at all. Sure, I can sort of see why you might interpret some stuff as her liking me, like how she is kind of possessive of me, and how she always tries to be close to me, and how she made an entire heart carriage for us to ride alone in together…"
Anne began to sound much less sure of herself as she spoke, while the Plantars simply stared at her.
"…and how she immediately ran out to get me a new racquet when mine got busted…"
And then she sounded even less sure.
"…and how she always got really aggressive if any guy looked like they were going to ask me out…"
With every new thing Anne said, she sounded so much less sure of herself.
"…and how she's always staring at me with this look like she's totally entranced by me…and how she was more aggressive about standing up for me than Marcy….And how she got me…flowers for… Valentines Day…and…and…"
Anne trailed off as her eyes slowly widened in realization before she raised her hand for a very forceful facepalm.
"Oh, I'm the stupidest person on Earth and Amphibia!" The Thai girl shouted.
"You said it, not us." Polly stated bluntly.
"I-I don't understand." Anne said, "How didn't I notice? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"I just assumed you knew." Sprig stated, shrugging his shoulders.
"I think we all assumed it was impossible for you not to know." Hop Pop said.
Anne facepalmed once again as she let out an embarrassed groan.
"Great, so not only did my secret crush try to kill you guys, but I've apparently been missing her super obvious hints for years." Anne let out a sigh. "Can this whole thing get any more stupid?"
"Honestly, I'm still just trying to wrap my head around how you can actually like her." Sprig said. "I mean, she's, well, kind of evil. And she's been a pretty bad friend to you even before you guys got here."
"I know." Anne said, letting out another sigh. "but she really wasn't always like that. And even when she was, she did have a lot of good moments and she was always really fun to be around. And there were times when she could be surprisingly sweet." As she said that, Anne's mind drifted back to the day that Sasha bought the Thai girl her tennis racquet. "And before she started acting like she does now, she was honestly super awesome."
"I have a hard time believing that." Polly chimed in.
"No really." Anne said, emphatically. "The first time me and Marcy met her, she jumped in to defend us against a pair of bullies. We'd never met her before or anything, she just saw two kids in trouble and wanted to go help."
"Wait, she fought bullies for you guys?" Polly sounded impressed by Anne's story.
"Well, she tried. She actually kept tripping over herself and falling flat on her face." Anne clarified.
"That's a lot more disappointing." Poly bluntly said.
"I don't know, I find it way more interesting now." Sprig noted.
"But, even with her constantly falling down, she kept getting back up to fight for us. It was…honestly it was amazingly cool of her." Anne said, a calming warmth spreading from her heart through her whole body as she remembered that first meeting and how amazing Sasha really did seem to her back then.
"It does sound like the Sasha you first met was mighty different from the Sasha that we first met." Hop Pop said before sighing. "Look, Anne, if you really do like Sasha that way and if she really is turning herself around then…well I guess we can't really stop you from going out with her if that's what you want to do."
"Wait, really?" Anne said hopefully.
"Just so long as your careful to not let her treat you the way she has in the past." Hop Pop said, nodding his head. "Plus, you guys are going to be back on Earth pretty soon. Can't really force you two apart when you only come to Amphibia for visits."
"But if she does treat you badly again, just let us know." Polly said, a sinister grin appearing on her face. "I'll totally make her regret showing me Frobo's other lasers."
"I'll…keep that mind." Anne said before turning towards the only Plantar who remained silent. "Sprig?"
The young frog had an apprehensive look on his face. Anne could hardly blame him for that, and it wasn't just because Sasha tried to kill him and Hop Pop. Out of all the Plantar's, Sprig had the best idea of how bad a friend Sasha could be before Amphibia. How Sasha's friendship had warped Anne's own views of friendship and almost made her a bad friend to Sprig. He understood how much Anne could get hurt by Sasha.
Finally, after a moment of silence, the pink frog spoke.
"…Just promise you'll be careful not to let her hurt you, Anne. Please?"
The brown-haired girl smiled and walked over to her best friend, and pulled him into a tight hug.
"I promise. And thank you."
Anne still had no plans to start going out with Sasha anytime soon. She still had to sort out some of the hurt that she felt from the blonde's past actions and she really had no idea when she'd actually be comfortable with going out with her. But still, the fact that her family was willing to support her on this was something that brought a smile to Anne's face.
Something didn't feel quite right to Sasha.
She sat on the throne in Newtopia's palace, crown on her head, looking out into the dimly lit room. Though even with the dim lighting, she could see that she was alone in the throne room. She knew that this was unusual, that there were always at least some guards in the throne room, so it made no sense to her that there wouldn't be anyone else there.
But that wasn't why Sasah didn't feel right.
No, it was sitting on the throne itself that didn't feel right. It was wearing the crown that didn't feel right. She couldn't quite put her finger on why that was though. Just the idea of them, the throne and the crown made Sasha feel…uncomfortable. Anxious even.
The blonde stood up and descended the small staircase from the throne to the floor, intent on looking around to try and find out why she was alone. It was also an excuse to get away from the throne.
As she began to walk the length of the room, however, she noticed something. She noticed the armor on her arm. It didn't look right. Her armor was still supposed to be toad armor, yet for some reason the armor on her arm looked more like the kind that Andrais had worn…
Sasha's eyes widened in horror at what she was wearing.
"No that…"
The blond looked down and saw that it was not just her arm. She was wearing what looked like a human sized version of Andrias's armor. She was wearing the Queen's armor.
"No, no this isn't…"
Sasha's breathing became laboured. She looked back across the room to it's entrance, wanting to run away and try to find out what had happened.
But the door out of the room was gone. The spot where it should have been had nothing but empty wall.
Sasha's head snapped left and right around the room as she saw its many windows had also disappeared. She was trapped.
"OK, OK, Sasha, calm down…" the blond said aloud as she tried to control her breathing. This is all probably just a dream… I'll wake up in a little bit, and then I can…I can…"
Sasha brought her hand up to her head as she spoke, and as she did so her finger brushed up against something on her head.
Sasha screamed as she tore the crown from her head and threw it across the room, backing herself up to be as far away from the item as she could. All the while, she never took her eyes away from the crown. She never stopped looking at it with anything other than horror. As she looked on that horrid crown, she began to hear a whispering in her head. A repeated whispering of those 8 words she said at the Tower.
"I'm not…I don't want to be…"
Sasha soon turned around, hoping that with the metal gauntlets on the armour, she might be able to somehow punch her way out of the now-enclosed throne room.
But when she turned around, she did not see the blank wall that should have been there. All she saw was the throne room.
"What?" Sasha whispered.
It was exactly the view that she had just turned away from, like she hadn't turned around at all. Except that wasn't entirely true. There was a difference. Across the room, where that crown should have been she saw a body. One she recognized. It was a Newt. One she had seen at the Cerulean River. The one she had seen her future self-
Quickly Sasha turned herself around, expecting to now see the blank wall, but all she was confronted with was the full throne room yet again. But now there wasn't a crown or a body. There was a little girl with a scar on her face crying out for her mom.
Sasha turned around again, and this time, instead of the little girl or the body or the crown, she saw Marcy. The raven-haired girl looked at her, tears streaming down her face, which had a look of terror plastered on it. She looked like she thought Sasha might kill-
Sasha shut her hers and turned around, unable to continue looking at an expression like that being directed at her. When she opened her eyes, she wished she hadn't. This time, she didn't see a crown, or a body, or a little girl or Marcy. Instead, she saw a little bloody, mangled thing. A thing that used to be a hand.
Sasha shut her eye's tight as a horrible feeling of pain appeared in her left eye. She collapsed to the ground, her hands covering her ears in a foolish attempt to stop from hearing those eight words repeated in her own voice again and again.
Hey Anne? Maybe you're better off without me.
"I don't…"
Tears started leaking out of Sasha's shut eyes.
"I don't want to be like this anymore."
Through the sobs, and the pain, and the words repeating in her head, Sasha kept speaking that same phrase out loud.
"I don't want to be like this anymore. I don't want to be like this anymore. I don't want to be like this anymore."
Finally, she did not speak that phrase. She yelled it.
"I DON'T WANT TO BE LIKE THIS ANYMORE!"
As she did so, Sasha felt something change. Almost like she could feel a very faint wind. As Sasha dared to open her eyes, she saw that she wasn't in the throne room anymore. Now, she was atop Toad Tower. As Sasha took in her new surroundings, she noticed that a large shadow covered the top of the tower. A shadow, that wore a crown.
Her body shaking, Sasha hesitantly turned around. As she did, she saw that the thing casting such a shadow was Queen Sasha, her eyes and hair aglow in the strength gems power, and standing far taller than the tower.
"I-I don't want to be like this anymore." Sasha whispered to herself as looked upon her horrible future.
The Queen smiled a cruel smile and, with her giant hand, picked up the shaking blond.
"I don't want to be like this anymore."
The giant moved her thumb to hover over the diminutive Sasha's head.
"I don't want to be like this anymore." For all the fear she felt, Sasha could do nothing but keep repeating those words. Keep repeating them in the hopes that it could change something. Even as the giant's thumb began to lower over her head, all Sasha could do was repeat that phrase.
"I don't want to be like this anymore."
Just before the thumb touched the top of Sasha's head, the giant smirked.
"Now we both know that's impossible, don't we?" The Queen said.
The thumb came down on Sasha's head. As it did, Sasha could finally do something other than repeat that phrase over and over again.
She could scream.
"Sasha are you all right?!" an excited and concerned voice asked Sasha.
The blonde's eyes opened to a dark room, lit only by the moonlight.
The shaking girl turned to her right to see the face that voice had come from. When she did, she saw a slimy, ugly face with a horrible scar running down it's eye. A few months ago, this probably would have made her scream more than anything. Now however, looking on Grime's face brought a feeling of safety over Sasha. Even if she still couldn't quite stop shaking.
"H-hi Grime." Sasha said, her voice shaking.
"What happened? It sounded like you were having some sort of a nightmare?" Grime asked, his voice filled with concern.
"Tha-that's all it was." Sasha said, turning her head downwards. "Just a nightmare."
"Given that you're very clearly shacking over it, I don't think it was just any old nightmare." Grime's face softened as he continued speaking. "The only other time I've seen you shaken up this badly was last night when you came back through that portal. Was this about the future?"
Sasha did not answer Grime's questions and instead turned to face the wall and lay back down in bed.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Sasha you can't be serious?" Grime said incredulously. "I know this might be hard to talk about, but you can't just-"
"Grime!" Sasha said forcefully, cutting the old toad off. "I said that I don't want to talk about it."
Sasha heard the one-eyed toad let out a heavy sigh.
"Fine." Grime said as Sasha heard him walking back to his own bed. "But you can't just hold whatever this is in forever. If it's causing you this many issues, you will need to talk to someone about it."
I know.
Sasha had discovered that talking about the things bothering her could actually be helpful. She saw it that night in the forest with Future Marcy. She saw it when she got back and first met with Anne that night. She knew that at some point, she needed to talk about everything that was bothering her, and everything that she saw in that future.
But that wouldn't be tonight.
It turns out, that it wouldn't be the next day either.
Grime had spent part of the morning trying to get Sasha to talk about the nightmare and what was bothering her, but the blonde refused every time. For all Sasha knew that she should talk to someone about everything she was feeling, but she just could not bring herself to do so. Maybe after all of this was over and she was back home she'd finally find the right time to talk to someone. Maybe Anne if she didn't hate Sasha's guts after talked with her about what she did in the future and rebellion she had been planning, or Marcy if their friendship could survive the whole "she knew what the box would do" thing.
But right now, she was not ready to talk to anyone about what was bothering her and so she and Grime spent the rest of the morning holed up in the Sundew's guest room, trying to figure out a plan to stop their own rebellion.
Still, Sasha could tell that Grime was bothered by Sasha holding everything in and that did make her feel guilty since she knew he just wanted to help. But then again, what was one more thing for her to feel guilty over?
Of course, it wasn't just Grime whose help she was refusing.
"She's still refusing to come out?"
Sitting next to the window, Sasha could hear Anne's words from the front door as she talked to the house's owner.
"Sorry Anne." Felicia said. "I even asked her if it was OK for you to just talk to her through the door but she was…pretty against that."
Sasha cringed as she listened in on the conversation. When she gave her response to Felicia about talking to Anne the blonde was probably more forceful than necessary.
…No, no, I was definitely more forceful than necessary.
"Well, maybe you can let me in and I at least ask her myself? Please?" Sasha could hear Anne practically begging at this point to be allowed to try and help. It felt like torture to hear that.
Thankfully, she was saved from any further torture by Marcy's voice.
"Maybe we should leave her alone, Anne. If she's not ready to talk to us, maybe pressuring her will just make things worse."
"But-But…" Anne's voice went silent for moment, during which Sasha could swear she heard the brunette sigh. "OK, you're probably right, Marcy. Thanks anyways Falicia."
"I'm sure she'll come around at some point Anne. People just need their space sometimes." the yellow frog said.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Anne said in a defeated tone.
The voices died out after that, leaving Sasha to assume that they had finally left.
A sigh escaped Sasha's mouth as the guilt continued to weigh on her. All Anne wanted to do was help her, and that was after Sasha screwed up with the Plantars again and had that freak-out at dinner. Meanwhile, the blonde couldn't even say to Anne's face that she didn't want to talk, let alone actually talk to her.
"Sooooo," Grime's voice drew Sasha back from her thoughts. "Should we get back to brainstorming now that they're gone?" he asked.
"Right. Yeah." Sasha responded, the lack of enthusiasm in her voice broadcasting to anyone that could hear her that she was still too distracted by her own thoughts.
"…You know Lieutenant, you seem a bit distracted." Grime commented.
"Huh?" Sasha said as her brain needed an extra second to process Grimes's words. "I'm not…well, maybe I am. I don't know."
It feels like there's a lot I don't know nowadays.
"You know, maybe if there is something on your mind…you could-"
"I'm not talking about it Grime!" the former cheerleader snapped. "Now let's just get back to planning."
"Sasha, you realize that you've been distracted all morning, right?"
"Look, it's nothing to worry about." Sasha insisted.
"If it's distracting you from planning to stop the rebellion, then it pretty clearly is something to worry about and the best way to deal with that is to talk about it." Grime said firmly.
"Maybe I'm just bothered by how we keep failing to come up with anything workable, and the best way to deal with that is to come up with something workable!" Sasha exclaimed, hoping her tone left no room for argument.
"Is that what's bothering you or is it the consequences of us failing that's bothering you?"
Grime's question cut right to Sasha's core. If they couldn't come up with something soon then the rebellion would go ahead as planned. And if the rebellion went ahead as planned, then Sasha would…
"I have to go." Sasha said, standing up quickly and heading to the door.
"Lieutenant wait, you shouldn't-"
"Just leave me alone Grime!" Sasha said as she slammed the door closed behind her.
When she heard no footsteps coming towards the door, Sasha walked down the hallway and let out a deep sigh before sitting down, her back against the wall.
Now we both know that's impossible, don't we?
The words her future self said in her dream last night rang through Sasha's head. It really felt to the blond like they might be true. She and Grime had gone through well over a dozen plans at this point on how to stop the rebellion, yet it still felt like they were no closer to having that plan figured out. And if they couldn't figure out a way to stop the rebellion…then everything Sasha saw in that future would just come to pass. The rebellion would go ahead, Anne and Marcy would stand against her and Sasha would probably go mad from it all and become Queen Sasha. And with every passing moment, it felt like that was more and more inevitable.
With every passing moment, it felt more and more like changing was hopeless.
With every passing moment, it felt more and more like Sasha may as well just give up now.
Sasha let out a mirthless chuckle at that thought. A week ago, they had been in the strength temple, where the only reason they made it past its final test was because Sasha refused to give up. Because Sasha never gave up.
The blonde wondered exactly what had happened to that Sasha? What happened to the Sasah that was so determined? The Sasha that would continue to push forward no matter how bad the odds were stacked against her? The Sasha who never gave-up no matter who or what stood in her way?
…maybe she's waiting for me on the other side of the rebellion, wearing a crown.
"You OK?"
Sasha was once again startled out of her thoughts, but this time, it was not by the words of an old toad but a young frog.
"Oh, hi Ivy." Sasha greeted the yellow frog with little enthusiasm. "What are you doing here?"
"…I live here". The younger girl said flatly.
"Right, duh." Sasah said, remembering where she was.
"So…you OK?" Ivy asked again. "Because I'm pretty sure that sitting in a hallway with a look on your face like your pet just died probably means that you aren't."
"I don't want to talk about it." It was starting to feel like that phrase was becoming the defining phrase of her life. That, and of course the phrase that she said when she fell from Toad Tower.
"Do you want to talk about something else?" Ivy offered.
Sasha just shook her head no.
"…Do you want to just listen while I talk about stuff?" The young frog asked.
Sasha looked at her quizzically.
"Huh?"
"Well," Ivy began, "I figured that if you didn't want to talk, but you clearly should not be left alone right now, so maybe just listening to someone else would help."
A moment of silence passed as Sasha turned Ivy's words over in her head, trying to make sense of the "why" of it all. Eventually, after her brain couldn't come up with anything, she just decided to ask her.
"OK kid, why are you trying to help me?" The blond asked.
Ivy shrugged her shoulder.
"Honestly, I'd feel kind of bad not trying to help someone who's just sitting in my hallway clearly going through some stuff."
Sasha let out a sigh.
"Sure, why not? What do you want to talk about?"
"Uhhhh, hmm…" Ivy took on a thoughtful expression as she sat down next to Sasha. "Honestly, not too sure; I guess I kind of put myself on the spot here." After a further moment of thought, Ivy turned to Sasha and asked a question, "So, are you ever planning to actually ask Anne out?"
Sasha stared forward for what like minutes before finally face palming.
"Even the 5-year-old who's spoken to me for less than 5 minutes figured it out," the blonde lamented.
"I'm 9 actually." Ivy corrected.
"I'm not answering that question, or any other questions about my love life." Sasha stated bluntly. "And besides, aren't you supposed to be talking to me about stuff, not getting me to talk to you?"
"Right, sorry." The young frog went silent momentarily as she tried to think of something to say. Finally, she re-opened her mouth as an excited look came on her face "Oh, I know, I just found this really great looking pond just a bit north of town. It's actually super big, has this great big rock for jumping off of, and it always seems to be just the right temperature."
"Huh, neat." Sasha said, not quite showing the same enthusiasm as Ivy over this pond. Or any enthusiasm at all really.
"Yeah, it really is." Ivy said, not quite noticing that Sasha seemed a bit bored by the chosen topic. "I'm thinking of taking Sprig there the next time we hang out."
"Oh, you're friends with him?" Sasha asked.
"Well," A bashful look took over Ivy's face. "We're kind of…more than that."
Sasha's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Wait, wait, wait, you and Sprig?" Sasha asked.
"Yeah." Ivy responded.
"Sprig Plantar?"
"Yes?" Ivy said, clearly not quite sure where Sasha was going with this.
"The little pink frog that follows Anne around?"
"Yes, why do you keep asking?" Ivy said, annoyance appearing in her voice.
"Oh, no reason." Sasha said. "Just…maybe questioning your taste in guys."
Ivy frowned.
"Well at least I asked my crush out." Ivy replied.
Sasha's face went red as a tomato at that response. Frankly, Sasha wasn't sure which part of that response was worse: that she had never gotten up the courage to ask Anne out or that a 9-year-old was able to do so with her own crush.
"T-tha-that's not, I mean you-you can't just-I-Ughh." Sasha stuttered, the embarrassment she felt so overwhelmed her brain that it prevented her from forming a coherent response.
"Oooh, good come back." Ivy teased.
Sasha frowned at the response, her face still remaining the same tomato red as she contemplated how she could have possibly lost a battle of words with someone who wasn't even 10 years old.
Even as Sasha continued to frown, the yellow frog looked up at her quizzically.
"So…do you not like Sprig?" Ivy asked.
"Let's just say me and him aren't each other's biggest fans," Sasha answered, a slight bitterness in her voice.
"Why?" Ivy asked, though only a second later, her eyes widened in realization. "Oh, right, the Tower. That…yeah that all makes sense."
Another silence passed between the two girls as they sat there, the conversation seemingly dying out until Ivy asked another question.
"So, what did happen to you guys after the Tower fell?"
"Didn't we already establish that you're supposed to be the one talking about stuff?" Sasha asked in exasperation.
"Yeah, that might have been a mistake on my part. I'm 9, I don't really have anything going on in my life that I haven't already told you." Ivy admitted.
Sasha let out an annoyed groan. Part of her considered just getting up and walking somewhere else to be alone rather than try to continue this conversation…but, Ivy had taken the time to try and be there for her that day. And after having already either ignored or walked out on everyone else that had tried to help her today when things got too hard, she could at least keep this ridiculous thing up for another couple of minutes before leaving.
"Grime ended up getting fired after the Tower fell, and we were basically left to fend for ourselves." Sasha said, not quite admitting to the whole truth. She didn't know Ivy that well, and while the kid struck Sasha as someone who might think that her and Grime being wanted criminals was cool, she wasn't going to risk actually telling her that.
"Oh, that's super rough." Ivy said, seemingly cringing at the thought of what Sasha and Grime would have gone through. "But at least you guys had all those other toads from the Tower to help, right?
"For the first like, week or two." Sasha said, once again frowning. "After that, that stupid Bog convinced most of them to go play bandit and leave the rest of us in the dust."
"Oh, you mean that jerk tax collector?" Ivy asked aloud. "Ugh, he's the worst."
"The absolute worst." Sasha added.
"Did you know that he and those other toads that went bandit with him attacked this place last month?" Ivy complained. "And then that stupid lady from Newtopia decided that that made him a good fit to run the Tower their rebuilding."
That's why he's the new Tower Lord?! Cause he led a bandit raid on this place with the toads he convinced to desert Grime!
"I really hate that jerk." Sasha said.
"You know what you guys should have done?" Ivy began "Blame him for the Tower blowing up. That totally would have kept him out of everyone's hair."
"Oh wow, I really hate that I never thought of that." Sasha said, imagining just how different things would have been if Bog hadn't been around. Frankly, things may never have gotten to the point of her and Grime planning a rebellion. Sasha was seriously kicking herself over not…
…wait…
"And oh man, that whole bandit thing was bad, but even when he was a tax collector, he was…" Ivy continued to talk, but Sasha could barely hear her, far too lost in her own thoughts.
Maybe we…but no that wouldn't…unless…if we…that's it!
"That's perfect!" Sasha exclaimed as she stood up suddenly.
"Huh? What's perfect?" Ivy asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about." Sasha said as she moved back towards her and Grimes room, stopping just outside the door to turn back to Ivy. "Thanks a lot by the way, you really helped me out today kid."
"Sure thing." Ivy said, a smile on her face as she spoke. Though that smile was quickly replaced by a frown. "And don't call me kid."
"Sure, sure, whatever you say kid." Sasha said, a teasing grin on her face. The former cheerleader then turned back to the door and opened it before slamming it shut as she re-entered hers and Grimes's shared room, an almost giddy energy about her.
"I've got it!" She exclaimed.
A surprised grime stared at Sasha for a brief moment of silence, more than likely caught off guard at the stark change in her mood from only moments ago.
"…You…mean you've got a plan?" Grime asked.
"One that I'm pretty sure is perfect," Sasha said, her voice ringing with a confidence that had been missing for several days.
"Well, let's hear it then," Grime said as he sat down on the couch.
"It's actually pretty simple," Sasha said. "We tell the king that there's a toad rebellion."
Grime blinked and then opened his mouth, but was cut off before he could say something.
"No, this has nothing to do with me hitting my head when I fell from the portal." Sasha said bluntly, anticipating the question that was about to come from Grime's mouth.
"Well, then I have absolutely no idea how you could come up with something that sounds that insane!" Grime replied with his own blunt tone.
"Look, just, let me finish before you object to anything, OK?" Sasha asked, a small amount of frustration leaking into her voice.
The old toad let out a sigh.
"Very well, continue on." He said.
"Right, so to clear things up first, we aren't telling him about our rebellion." Sasha began, her words causing Grime to raise one of his brows in curiosity.
"What we do," Sasha said, continuing her explanation, "Is tell him that there is a toad rebellion being planned by someone, and they've tried to get the tower lords on board. Of course, you and the tower lords hear of this, and being oh so extremely loyal to the king, tell him that there is a traitor in his midst plotting against him. Before any of that, we tell the Tower Lords that Andreas has gotten word of a toad rebellion and that he'll already be preparing for ours, so we need to shift to this new plan to make him think that we are all actually working to stop the rebellion in the first place."
"OK, but-"
"I said let me finish before you object to anything!" Sasha said, cutting off Grime before he could even begin his question.
Grime rolled his one good eye and waived for Sasha to continue.
"So, now that the King sees you guys as such loyal subjects that you would even rat out one of your own for trying to raise a rebellion against him and help save his rule, the toads will suddenly have a lot more sway with him. We can then use that sway to get you pardoned for the stupid crimes they've saddled you with, get you re-instated as tower lord, and get all of you guys more independence to determine toad business. Maybe through some sort of counsel of tower lords or something, more of your own sort of political body that's still under the king, but gets more power over what happens with the toads."
A brief silence passed between the two before Sasha spoke up again.
"Now, you can ask questions."
"How do you know that we'll be able to convince Andreas to give the toads any further political autonomy? Toads have served him for years, and we're still stuck with our current lot?" Grime asked, his tone suggesting that while he was intrigued by Sasha's plan, he wasn't yet convinced.
"One," Sasha said, holding up her index finger, "this isn't just serving him, this is a major show of loyalty on your part, something he can't just ignore. And two," her middle finger now raised to join her already raised finger, "we also have an in with someone that the king is personal friends with and has already had a major influence on Newtopia."
"Right, your friend Mar…um…" Grime trailed off, appearing lost in thought. "I want to say Marsha but I feel like I'm getting that wrong."
"It's Marcy" Sasha replied.
"Whatever her name is," Grime said, waiving off Sasha's correction "Her being friends with the king might actually give us the in we need here if all the stories of how she's restructured the capital are true. We'd need to convince her to talk him into it, but with you being such good friends with her, that shouldn't be a problem!"
"Yeah, probably not, do you have any other questions about the plan?" Sasha asked, speaking her words hurriedly to try and move the subject away from her friendship with Marcy.
"Well…You haven't exactly said who's going to take the fall here. That seems like a pretty important point."
"Well, I kind of figured that would be the part you'd be the most excited to hear." Sasha said, a devious grin on her face. "I figure that the guy who takes the fall would have to be one of the tower lords, but one that's still new enough that the other 3 won't really care about him, so they'll be happy to go along with framing him as well."
"And the newest tower lord." Grime began, his own breaking out on his face as he realized the implication of what Sasha said, "happens to be our old friend Bog."
"Yup." Sasha replied confirming that the two of them were on the same page.
"This is perfect!" Grime exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. "I've been wanting a chance to get back at that little jerk since he took most of our forces to go play bandit.
"I thought you'd like that part." Sasha said, her voice sounding a fair bit smug.
"Oh I don't like it, I love it!" Grime said. "I get to take one of my personal enemies and frame him for a crime he didn't commit, and then get to benefit from doing so. Really, Sasha, you should have led with that."
"Y-yeah," Sasha said, the grin disappearing from her face. "I-I guess I should have."
A rather uncomfortable feeling started to form in the pit of Sasha's stomach. She knew that her plan involved some lies and deception, but when Grime laid out what she was doing like that…it really sounded like a plan that she would have come up with before her trip to the future. Before she decided to change.
Sure, Sasha had always seen Bog as an unpleasant jerk, and she'd grown to hate him as he led Grime's troops to abandon him and go be bandits after the Tower fell, and then hate him even more after she learned about him breaking Anne's arm, but…throwing him under the bus like this when he's probably the tower lord least involved in the rebellion, not even being present for the meeting where she and Grime convinced the other 3 lords, felt wrong. Yeah, he was a contemptible jerk, who's never faced any sort of punishment for the terrible things he's done and has even gotten rewarded with his promotion to the new South Tower Lord but framing him as the leader of something he's barely involved with, pinning many of her own actions on him…it wasn't the sort of thing she should be doing anymore.
But…it's not like I can actually stop this now, right?
It had taken days for either of them to come up with a workable plan, and Sasha knew that even with this one there were still some details to work out. That really meant that there was only one day left to actually implement the plan before the rebellion. With such little time left, Sasha didn't really have a choice in the matter.
…No, that's not right.
Sasha knew that she did have a choice. She could tell Grime that she no longer wanted to do this plan and they needed to think of something else. She could take further time to come up with a plan that would fit her new outlook…but there was the risk that she might not be able to think of a better plan in time. She could choose the riskier path that would be more moral, or she could choose to stick with the plan that was immoral. She did have a choice, just like she always did when the option to do something wrong was in front of her.
When framed like that…Sasha knew what choice she would make.
She would stick with the plan she had just proposed to Grime. She felt ashamed doing so when she was supposed to be trying to change, but she saw it as the best opportunity to avoid the worst possible outcome, and however much she might want to change, keeping the rebellion from going forward had to be her top priority right now.
At the very least, Sasha could take solace in that she recognized that she had a choice in the matter, and that she knew what she was doing was wrong instead of trying to convince herself that she had no choice or was completely in the right. At the very least, she had made some progress.
…That is some kind of progress, right?
Now we both know that's impossible, don't we?
The words from that nightmare once again repeated themselves in her mind, and the fear that she couldn't change once again gripped her heart.
"There is still one thing that we need to think about." Grime said, his words snapping Sasha back to the real world.
"What's that?" the former cheerleader asked.
"Beatrix, Bufo and Aldo might just decide that even if Andreas knows about the rebellion, they should just launch an attack anyways instead of hoping that he'll give them more power and independence for stopping some other fake rebellion. How do we make sure that they decide it's best to go along with your new plan instead of just waging an attack?"
"I…I don't know." Sasha said with a sigh. "Maybe this plan won't work after all."
Great, so not only am I still willing to make plans like the old me would have, but the plan that made me realize that isn't even going to work.
Before Sasha's self-loathing thoughts could proceed any further, she heard a loud thud outside.
"What was that?" Grime asked aloud.
The lieutenant and ex-captain both approached the window to look outside and see what the thud was. Not far down the street, they could see Polly and Frobo, the mechanical frog standing in a small crater in the ground, while young pollywag was on top of a nearby roof, hopping up and down in excitement. Sasha could only guess that Polly was probably trying to test some of the frobots features, probably how far he could jump or something like that.
"Guess it was nothing." Sasha said as she turned away to walk back into the room. She then stopped and turned back around when she realized Grime was still at the window.
"Grime?" she asked.
The old toad turned back to her, a smile on his face.
"I think I've just gotten an idea."
It took the rest of the day for Sasha and Grime to work out the rest of the details of the plan and how they were going to present it to the Tower Lords, but it was time well spent. By the end of the day, Sasha was so exhausted that she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the mattress, no nightmares appearing in her sleep.
Despite doubts she may have had about herself after coming up with this plan, for the first time since she got back to her time Sasha finally felt like she knew what she was going to do about the future.
As such, she was far more relaxed that morning as she and Grime walked through Wartwood's town square. She didn't even particularly notice the glares they got from some of the frogs that were in the square waiting for some sort of announcement the mayor was supposed to make that day. Had she and Grime still been going through with the rebellion, they probably would have been part of that crowd, trying to blend in and keep looking like they were just trying to fit in with the rest of the town. But they weren't going ahead with the rebellion, and so they were simply passing through on their way to the Plantar's to ask Marcy to lend them Joe Sparrow for the day.
However, they wouldn't end up needing to get all the way to the farm, as they saw Marcy right there the tow square. Along with Anne and the Plantar's.
A part of Sasha wanted to immediately turn around and run in the opposite direction when she saw Anne there. She had been hoping that when they got to the Plantar's, she could sneak into that wagon Marcy was staying in and quickly talk to her about borrowing Joe and avoid having to see Anne before she was ready to actually talk about everything that's been going on.
Unfortunately for the part of Sasha that wanted to run, Anne had also spotted her.
"Sasha." Anne called out as she saw the blonde, jogging ahead of the rest of the group to see the girl. "Are you doing OK? We haven't seen you since that night at Stumpy's."
"Yeah, I know," Sasha said. "And I wanted to apologise for how I acted that night. And for turning you away when you came to see me after."
"It's all right Sasha." Anne said, her appreciative smile at the apology fading into a look of concern. "Do you want to talk about what's been bothering you?"
"No, I don't want to talk about it." Sasha said, repeating what must now be her new catchphrase. "But, maybe just give me a couple of days, and we can talk then."
"All right, if you think you'll be ready then." Anne said, her sentence finishing as the Plantar's and Marcy finally caught up to her.
"Hey Sash-" Marcy began to greet the blond, but anything else she wanted to say was cut off by the Mayor's voice.
"Simmer down everyone, simmer down." He called out to the crowd before clearing his throat. "Now, I know we've all been a little on edge since Sasha and Captain Grime came to stay in Wartwood."
Sasha frowned at the words. A part of her wanted to give some sort of retort, but she knew that the frogs had every reason to distrust her and Grime. Really, how could she give a retort when she knew that they had every right to be on edge?
"Oh we just invaded the town one time!" Grime said, clearly feeling that he could still give a retort no matter how right the frogs were to be on edge. "Besides, we're the ones who lost our home during that mess, you can cut us a bit of slack!"
Is Sasha didn't know any better, she'd think Grime sounded a bit overly defensive of that, almost like he saw how that comment had upset her and wanted to try to defend her.
Probably my imagination.
"Point is" the Mayor said, moving on from Grime's outburst, "we could use some levity. So, let's consult the wheel of fun."
As he spoke, the little frog that followed the mayor everywhere pushed out a giant game-show style wheel with several differently colored sections, a needle to land on one of those sections and the word "FUN" painted on a wooden board that rested on top of the wheel.
The crowd began to cheer as the Mayor spun the wheel, all the while Sasha looked on confused.
"What is this exactly?" She asked allowed.
"Oh, it's an old Wartwood tradition." Hop Pop explained, "The town uses it to decide on some activity for everyone to do."
As Hop Pop finished his explanation, the wheel stopped spinning, with the needle landing on the section labelled "Battle of the Bands"
"All right everybody," The Mayor exclaimed "everyone get your teams together and start rehearing, Wartwood is having a battle of the bands!"
Sasha was actually a little disappointed at hearing that. She would have loved to get Sasha and the Sharps" back together for this, one last good memory for the three of them before they went back to Earth and she came clean about everything. But that really couldn't happen. They were leaving for Newtopia tomorrow morning, meaning that this was the only day that she and Grime could implement the plan to stop the rebellion. Plus, with how she'd been freaking out around Marcy lately, she would probably just ruin that "last good memory" anyways.
Unfortunately for Sasha, she wasn't the only one who thought reuniting their band would be fun.
"So, you guys think Wartwood is ready for a Sasha and the Sharps reunion?" Anne asked, looking at both Sasha and Marcy
Oh no, why?
As Marcy explained to the Plantars about that being the name of their old garage band, Sasha's mind went into panic mode, something that was happening far, far too often lately. She needed to get her and Grime's plan finished that day, but Anne was very clearly eager for the battle of the bands. Disappointing her after the last few days was something that Sasha wanted to avoid as much as possible.
As Sprig and Hop Pop went to join a couple of other Frogs with their band, Sasah's brain raced to try and find a good reason to say that she didn't want to join in, one that wouldn't leave her crush and best friend disappointed.
"C'mon ladies, we can practice in my room." Anne said aloud to Sasha and Marcy.
"Wait." Sasha said, stopping the other two girls as they were turning around.
"What is it Sash?" Anne asked. "Do you, not want to play together?" Anne asked.
Anne was clearly trying to hide her disappointment. If Sasha had to guess, the honorary Plantar was worried that whatever was bothering Sasha was making her not want to play in a band that day, and she didn't want to pressure Sasha by letting her disappointment show.
Unfortunately, Anne was not nearly as good a liar as Sasha, and so that disappointment was definitely showing.
"Well, uh…"
Sasha had no idea how to respond. Or rather, she knew exactly how to respond, but couldn't actually get the right words out. Especially now as she stared at Anne's hopeful face. Behind the Thai girl, Grime stood, mouthing the word "no" and frantically shaking his head and hands to send a signal to Sasha about the answer that already knew she had to give.
"Actually Anne…" Sasha knew that that was only one answer that she could give. "I can't think of anything else I'd rather do." Unfortunately, she couldn't bring herself to actually give that answer.
"Really!" Anne shouted in excitement, oblivious to the toad facepalming behind her.
"Yeah really." Sasha said, doubling down on what she knew was absolutely the wrong choice.
"That's great Sashy." Marcy said. "We're totally going to rock this place's socks off."
"C'mon, let's get back to my room." Anne said as she and Marcy turned to leave.
"You girls, go ahead; I'll be right behind you." Sasha said, waving at the two girls who returned the wave as they left.
Inwardly cringing, Sasha turned her attention to the only other person left in the square, a very frustrated Grime.
"Soooooo, I know this wasn't exactly part of the plan…" Sash began to say
"Are you out of your mind!" Grime shouted, causing Sasha to jump back a little. "We only have today to implement this plan! You cannot seriously think this ridiculous contest is more important than that!"
"I don't but I…I couldn't let Anne down again." Sasha admitted. "She…After how I acted at Stumpy's and how she's been just trying to see me to try and help me these past two days I-I just couldn't say no to her."
Grime let out a frustrated growl.
"Well, you're going to have to find some way to say no to her. Otherwise, we're going to miss our chance to meet with Buffo and my sister."
"Orrrrr…" Sasha said, taking a step closer to the path to the Plantar's farm "I can just find time to do both."
"How are you going to do that? Do you know how far we have to travel?"
"Yes, but at this point that's going to be easier for me than disappointing Anne." Sasha had taken another step towards the Plantar's farm as she spoke.
"…You're not going to listen to reason on this, are you?" Grime asked in a deadpan tone.
"Thanks for understanding, Grime. I'll see you later." As she spoke, Sasha waved good-bye to the old toad and ran off to the Plantars' farm.
"You know that you're just making things worse for yourself!" Grime called out to her.
"Tell me something I don't know!"
So, I hope you all enjoyed that, especially after how long you to wait (I am so happy this chapter ended up being over 10k words, if it was any less after how long it's been since chapter 3, I would really be kicking myself.)
I'm actually really happy to finally get out that bit with Anne finally realising that Sasha's in love with her, I've been wanting to write that for quite a while, and it was even the first thing I wrote for this chapter, back when I thought that the scene with he Plantars was going to end chapter 3.
And I'm happy to say that Sasha has finally made some progress with stopping the toad rebellion, even if it's not a plan she's totally happy with. Given that Sasha trying to figure out how to stop the rebellion has been something that we've been building up since Time Brings All to Pass, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on what plan she's come up with?
Lastly, I can assure you all that the next chapter will be out much sooner, I'm actually going to begin working on it not long after this chapter gets posted, and with any luck I'll have it out in a couple of weeks. And after chapter 5 gets posted, we should only have 1 chapter left for this first arc (though there might be 2 chapters left, chapter 6 is going to be pretty long and may need to broken up).
And as always, I appreciate any feedback you guys have, and I'll see you next time...and I really promise that next time will be way sooner than 8 months this time.