A Lost Owl

by Marzek

AU: Luz was not able to save Eda from petrification. Or King. Or Lilith. During her fight with Belos, she was ripped from the Boiling Isles by an unknown force and brought to Amphibia, where she crashes Anne and Sasha's reunion party. Toad Tower later fails to be destroyed. The events following that, now unfold differently than previously anticipated... TW: Death, Violence & Trauma

29. Short Stories - Titan, Couple, and Toad

[The Titan]

"And keep taking good care of Owlbert. Would you do that for me?"

"But of course, Gwen."

"Thank you, dear. Take good care of yourself and your friend. I'll see you in a few days for the meeting"

"You bet. And I'm looking forward to it"

Luz and Gwen say goodbye at the front door of the Owl House for the evening. Gwen has several of Eda's smaller belongings in a brown shoulder bag hanging off the end of her Staff, which is already hovering behind her, ready to take off. Gwen climbs onto her staff and flies away before Luz closes the door again. She turns around, just as Amity comes out of the kitchen with some snacks for their sleepover.

"Gwen already left?", she asks.

"Mhm", Luz nods in confirmation, "Just took off. Why? Did you want to say goodbye too?"

"Huh? Oh... No.", Amity replies softly as she sets the prepared snacks down on the living room table, "Just been curious."

Luz claps with her hands once, which immediately catches Amity's attention.

"So, you have to make a choice now: We could tell each other stories. Or write stories. I have lots of experience in writing Azura-fanfictions", Luz suggests enthusiastically. Amity, on the other hand, ponders for a moment.

"Or, how about we connect the two things with each other."

"What do you mean?"

"We'll think of a setting from 'The Good Witch Azura' and improvise our own story to play out.", Luz's eyes light up more and more with every word that Amity speaks.

"W-wait here!", Luz said before running out of the living room, up the stairs and probably into her own room.

About a minute later, she comes back down.

"Wow…", Amity is astonished to see Luz standing proudly before her, in what appears to be an elaborate, homemade Azura cosplay.

"Cool, right?", Luz asked. However, 'Cool' wasn't necessarily the first word that popped into Amity's mind when she caught sight of her, "I've been working on this forever. I luckily finished just before I went to Amphibia. The only difference from the original is that I turned the dress into pants."

Amity stands there with her mouth open in amazement.

"How long did you work on this? The material... The stitching... That quality... It's amazing", Amity admires Luz's work up close.

"Well, I had started when you agreed to us found an 'Azura Book Club' at the knee back then. I was originally going to surprise you with a Hectate outfit too, but we both know why that didn't work out in time…"

"Oh Luz... That's so sweet of you", Luz blushes slightly at the compliment, "But I don't need a costume necessarily. But what do you say we add another character to our story?"

"Who?", Luz asks honestly curious.

"Hooty.", Amity replies.

"Hooty?"

"HOOTY!", Hooty yells as the front door swings open inward.

"You know what? You're right. The more the merrier", Luz agrees with Amity's idea, "Hooty, would you like to join our story? You could... hmm... be the Gildersnake from the first book. Like the good version of it."

Hooty sniffs. "You... really want me included?"

"Yes of course.", Amity assures him, whereupon he expands from the door, nearly smothering both girls in an extremely grateful and tight hug.

"No... problem... ... But please let us go. We can't... breathe...", Luz tries to catch some air, as she and Amity are nearly strangled and squished by him.

"CAN DO. HOOOOT!"

With this little incident with Hooty quickly forgotten, the three of them only began to tell Hooty who and what the Gildersnake is. This proved to be useless rather quick, when they remembered that Hooty's attention span is only a few seconds at max. Instead, they saved the explanations and simply started acting out a new story, based on Amity's favorite scene from the third book.

And all three of them had a blast doing it. For hours and hours, until well after sunset, the Owl House was filled with tension, laughter, but also tears and disappointment. The latter occurred when Amity reminded them that she and Luz must return to Hexside in the morning.

"Nooo... I don't want to stop yet...", Hooty whines.

"I know", Amity begins to comfort him, "I don't want to stop yet either. But Luz and I have to go to school."

Sadly, Hooty looks at the ground.

"Sorry, Hooty", Luz adds. Despite his disappointment, Hooty accepts this decision.

The living room is quite a mess, filled with quite a few homemade props, and no one present at the time wanted to bother cleaning any of it up. The three of them had agreed to take care of it the next day, once Luz and Amity would be back there together, before they would start Luz' training.

Now, however, a new problem gets in the way: the question of who sleeps where.

"I could sleep down here on the couch-", Amity begins to suggest, before she gets quickly interrupted by Luz.

"Not a chance. You're sleeping with me in my room", Luz almost orders.

"Okay", Amity instantly gives in, with absolutely no resistance, but slightly blushing, to which Luz grins triumphantly.

Amity was worried she'd push Luz too hard if she suggested it herself. Besides, this is a plus because she would be anything but keen to sleep in the completely trashed living room.

It was fairly quickly that the two girls got ready to go to bed. Luz took a quick shower before going to bed and fetched a second sleeping bag for Amity from one of the many storage rooms in the house.

While Luz was showering, Amity merely sat in Luz's room, along with Owlbert and Ghost, fidgeting with her hands. She was so incredibly nervous for sleeping in the same room as Luz. And she knew she had to calm down. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to sleep for the whole night.

Eventually, for a while, that's exactly what occurred. It was around midnight where Amity finally got tired enough to fall asleep. Before that, she was merely lying in her sleeping bag, just a hand's length away from Luz's face. Time flew by while Amity merely observed Luz. Her peaceful, calm and relaxed sleep. She wondered if she had any dreams. Amity smiles dreamily.

The next morning arrived fast. Too fast. Both girls woke up abruptly when Hooty suddenly came screaming in, right through Luz's bedroom window.

"GOOD MORNING, HOOT-HOUSE!", he yelled.

"HOOTY!", Luz yells back, tired and annoyed, "Don't yell soo loud".

"Sorry", Hooty retorts without a single regret, "But I guess you didn't hear your alarm and you wouldn't want to be late for school"

Suddenly Amity shoots upright, her eyes wide as she summons her scroll.

"He's right. We overslept", Amity mutters, "We OVERSLEPT!"

Luz merely groans in response as she gets out of her bed, still in her pajamas.

"Well, there's no time to shower or eat breakfast. We'll just have to go like this", Luz says as she starts to leave the room.

"Wait", Amity says as she stops Luz, "I-I can't go to school like this. I don't have any shoes here."

"Don't worry about it", Luz responds, "Just wear a pair of mine. I'm sure it'll be fine... Though you might need a few pairs of socks since I have slightly bigger feet than you."

Amity runs down from Luz's room into the mess they left the living room in, looking for her spare uniform. Luz, on the other hand, takes all the time in the world to put on her colorful school uniform as well, until Amity comes storming back into Luz's room, now in her purple uniform. Luz hands her a pair of her shoes, along with three pairs of thick socks, and shortly thereafter the two girls jerkily leave the house.

"Okay, there's not enough time to run. We have to fly if we want to be on time", Amity states.

"Wanna make it a race, Blight?", Luz challenges Amity.

"You're on", Amity replies with a smirk.

The two girls take off flying towards the woods. Luz is in the lead, but Amity is quickly catching up. They fly through the woods, dodging trees and branches. They emerge from the woods and can see the school in the distance. Luz starts to pull ahead, but Amity gives it one final push and is the first one to land directly in front of the stairs.

"I won!", Amity exclaims triumphantly.

"Pure luck", Luz huffs, but is secretly proud of her, as she lands next to Amity, "I'll get you next time."

The girls walk up the stairs and into the school, directly into their first class for the day: 'Abomination 101'. The first class goes over the first two periods, which gives both girls plenty of time to roughly create their training schedule for after school.

They start off by writing down what she has already been able to learn about herself.

"Well, we know you have two hearts...", Amity recalls.

"Right. And presumably my blood has been altered as well", Luz adds in a whisper, "Do you think the same blood runs through your veins and mine? Or do I have the same blood as the Titan? Or do you have the same as the Titan?"

"I don't know. Don't wanna hurt you to find out", Amity confesses.

"Fair point."

"Okay, what else?", Amity asks, at which point Luz falls into a thoughtful pose.

"Yesterday, I was able to run like super-fast. Maybe that's something?", Luz asks with clear uncertainty.

"I'll write it down... Were you able to perform any spells before, unintentional or not?"

"The Brawl...", Luz answers hesitantly.

"... ... Oh... yeah... right. I totally forgot... Thanks again-"

"D-Don't..."

"Okay..."

"When I went to the healer yesterday, she said I had natural spell immunity now. Or something along those lines.", Luz tells evasively. Amity, fortunately, doesn't mind.

"What do you mean?", Amity asks, confused.

"I don't seem to take damage anymore when someone attacks me with spells or otherwise tries to analyze me in some way. Liwin said that was a common trait with blood sheep..."

"Hm... Makes sense," Amity says.

"Really, how?"

"Well, all life in the Isles comes from Titan, blood sheep included. Since you are now part Titan as well, it makes perfect sense that you took such traits from him."

"I see... That makes a lot of sense, actually."

"So, what else?"

"I don't know. That's all I got for now", Luz says with a shrug.

And that was already the moment when the class ended. The two girls had not listened for a single second to Professor Hermonculus' lecture, but only made plans for later. It was nice though.

After 'Abominations 101' with Amity, Luz' 'Oracle'-class follows, unfortunately without any of her friends. In class, she sits quite far back, right by the window, next to a girl named Celine. Her appearance is quite eye-catching, as her head is shaped like a pale, crescent moon with only one eye. For some reason, her uniform is oversized, as it permanently hides her hands. She is quite friendly and helpful towards Luz. Especially today Luz will need her help, because the assignment for today's class, is to conduct an interview with someone from the ghost world. All the students have crystal balls in front of them, which are supposed to allow them to make contact.

"Ghost world?", Luz asks Celine, who looks at Luz a little confused.

"You've never heard of that before? You usually learn about that in... I don't know, preschool", Celine states, to which Luz shakes her head.

"In the human realm, people don't believe in the existence of ghosts. If one does, they're quickly labeled as crazy... Admittedly, until recently I had doubts myself", Luz tries to explain herself.

"Okay, then I'll give you the short version: The Ghost World is another dimension, like the human realm, only with the difference that only the ghosts and-or spirits of deceased beings have access to it and can survive there. 'Survive' in quotation marks. We would not be able to exist there."

"Why not?"

"That dimension doesn't follow any of the laws of nature that we know. Time and space as we know them simply don't exist there. Someone who dies now, would be there at the same time as someone who died thousands of years ago", Celine continues her explanation.

Luz is not really any smarter after that. Though she is grateful to her seatmate for trying to explain. Celine had also taken the liberty of aligning Luz's crystal ball with the ghost world, since Luz had always had problems using it in earlier lessons.

And now the question of all questions: Who does Luz want to interview?

Unfortunately, Luz knows more than enough people who have already passed away, and she probably wouldn't be willing to talk to even one of them. Eda... King... Her father...

'Lilith,' Luz suddenly thinks to herself, 'I could tell her that I met her mom.'

"Uhm... Hello? Lilith Clawthorne, please...", Luz starts, a little insecure.

"Is anyone there?", she asks after a few seconds, but there is no answer.

"Maybe I didn't do this right?", Luz wonders, but Celine is quick to correct her.

"No, you're doing it right. It just takes a little while for the ghosts to show up. Just be patient", Celine reassures Luz in a soft voice.

And so, Luz waits. And waits. And waits. But nothing happens. Lilith Clawthorne does not show up.

"Maybe... Maybe she's not in the Ghost World yet?", Luz suggests, but Celine quickly shakes her head.

"No, that's not possible. All ghosts go to the Ghost World right after they die. After that, some are able to travel to other dimensions for a variety of reasons.", Celine tries to explain.

"So... where is she, then?", Luz asks, now more confused than ever.

"I don't know. Maybe she's just not interested in talking to you", Celine suggests, but Luz quickly shakes her head.

"No, that's not it. I know she would want to talk to me. I'm sure of it", Luz says with confidence.

She keeps waiting and trying and while the others from her class had already completed their respective interviews, Luz had not even been able to make contact.

"I'm sorry, Luz, but I think it's time to give up. Maybe you can try again next time?", Celine suggests, but before Luz is able to reply, the bell signals for the end of the class.

The next class is 'Plants', along with Willow in Hexside's greenhouse. So far, plant class has always been a kind of free period for Luz. Though there was a teacher present, the students mostly just took care of their own projects and plants. The teacher usually just serves as a supervisor that the students don't screw up.

Willow's first question right after she spots Luz is, "How was your weekend?", to which Luz sighs.

"Do you mind if we don't talk about me?"

"That bad, then? Okay."

"So, what are we doing today?", Luz asks, trying to change the subject.

"Well, we were supposed to start propagating some plants today, but I think we can do that tomorrow. I don't think you're in the mood for that today. How about we take a look at your project?", Willow suggests.

Luz had almost forgotten about her project. She had been so busy with other things lately that she hadn't even worked on it for a while.

"Oh, right. My project...", Luz says, a little lost in thought.

"Is everything okay?", Willow asks, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just a little distracted, that's all", Luz quickly reassures Willow, who nods in understanding.

"Okay, then let's take a look at your project", Willow says as she leads Luz over to her workstation.

At the beginning of the school year, all students were assigned a project to complete within the semester. Since Luz was gone for more than a month, one might think that her project was behind schedule, but Willow had kindly taken care of it, and made sure that Luz' plants don't die and wither. She had been working on a kind of natural remedy for nightmares, which has been Willow's idea. She had been collecting different kinds of plants that were known to have calming properties and was in the process of mixing them together to create a tea.

"How's it coming along?", Willow asks as she looks at the different plants Luz has collected so far.

"It's going... I guess. I'm still not sure if it's actually going to work, though", Luz admits.

"Well, there's only one way to find out. Let's finish it up and then we can test it out", Willow suggests.

Willow had taken good care of Luz's plants and they are now fully grown. A total of seven different plants standing in front of Luz in small pots.

"So, what now?", Luz asks, not really sure what to do next.

"Now we have to dry them", Willow says as she takes the plants and starts to hang them upside down from the ceiling.

"After that, we can grind them into smaller pieces and mix them together. Then we'll be done", Willow explains.

"Sounds easy enough", Luz says, but she knows that it won't be that easy. She has never been good at following recipes.

But surprisingly, everything goes according to plan. Willow does most of the work, but Luz manages to not screw up too much. In the end, they have a small bag of powder, which Willow carefully stores away.

"So, when can we test it out?", Luz asks, eager to see if her remedy actually works.

"As soon as you can find someone who's having nightmares", Willow replies, "But I think that won't be too hard. I'm sure there's someone in this school who could use a good night's sleep."

"I could give it to Amity as a gift. I know she had trouble sleeping for a while"

"That sounds like a good idea", Willow says with a smile, "I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

And with that, this class was already over too. Luz had put the mixture in a small leather bag, which is usually used to store seeds or other plant material.

As every day, the lunch break takes place between the fourth and fifth period. Amity had told Luz that she wouldn't be heading straight to the Owl House after school because she wanted to get something from Blight Manor first.

"You guys have plans?", Gus asks curiously.

"Oh, yeah. Amity and I are trying to figure out how to control my powers later," Luz explains. Gus merely blinks a few times at that before replying.

"I'm sorry what now?", Gus asks, now looking very confused.

"Yeah, as it turns out, I have the ability to do magic now.", Luz explains, glancing sadly at Amity for a second, "For kinda obvious reasons that's not something I'm exactly comfortable with and Amity offered to help me with that. Wanna come too, Gus?"

"That's really cool!", Gus exclaims, his eyes lighting up with excitement, "But I can't. My dad offered me to help him at work later. Apparently, his assistant has the fire flu"

"That's sounds bad.", Luz replies, trying to hide her disappointment.

"Sorry Luz"

"Maybe Willow wants to come along later", Luz suggests, "I'll have to ask her at the next class"

But like every Monday, Willow didn't show up for lunch. She had used the extra time of the lunch break to clean up the school greenhouse, since she had volunteered a while ago to take on more responsibilities there.

The next class of the day is 'Isle History', together with Willow and Gus. However, Celine is also there, at the table next to them, as well as Skara, who normally sits with Bo and Boscha in the row right behind them. As the class begins, Luz turns to Skara, looking slightly confused.

"Is Boscha not here today?", Luz asks Skara, who in turn just shrugs her shoulders indifferently.

"Don't really care anymore. She was acting pretty out of line over the weekend and I got tired of letting her get away with everything", Skara explains. Willow and Gus are now listening up as well.

"You dropped Boscha? Wow... Call me impressed", Willow admits.

And as much as Skara especially appreciates Willow's compliment, she can't help but feel a little bad.

"May I... ask what she did?", Luz asks trying hard not to cross any lines.

"She made me choose. Either her or... Well, someone else I care about... She had done that before and I had regretted it like forever. This time, however, I stood up for myself and she didn't like that at all. When I left, she threw a full-on toddler tantrum. It was pathetic."

"I'm sorry to hear that…", Willow says, genuinely meaning it.

"… Why?", Skara asks, eyeing her with a raised eyebrow, "I thought you of all people would be happy about this, the way she has treated you all these years... Just as I have treated you all these years..."

Skara's voice is filled with more than just regret for not standing up earlier to Boscha for her own beliefs. It is also filled with the pain of all the years of bullying that she herself has inflicted on Willow.

"I guess I just... I don't know. I guess I see a little of myself in you, Skara. I know what it's like to be afraid, to feel like you can't stand up for yourself. But I also know what it's like to finally find the strength to do it. And for that, I'm proud of you."

Skara is surprised by Willow's words, but she can see the sincerity in her eyes. For the first time, she feels like she has somebody who understands her.

"Thank you, Willow", she says quietly.

Willow nods, and the two girls share a smile. It is a small moment of understanding and solidarity, before both of them turn back to pay attention to the class. But unlike all the previous classes, where time flew by like a storm, this one drags like old chewing gum.

But even this eventually ended and Luz said goodbye to her friends for the day, as they would not meet again until tomorrow.

Luz last class for the day is 'Beast Keeping' in the school's stables. It is a fairly small class and since there is usually no teacher present, most students take the opportunity to skip the class.

Viney had once told Luz that the teacher was supposedly ill, but in all the time she has been attending Hexside, she has never caught sight of her. And despite that, perfectly fair grades are given to everyone at the end of the semester. A real mystery.

When classes ended for the day and most students had already left the school grounds, Luz was still standing outside the school gates by now. She doesn't know why she is doing this. Though she is a bit lost in the emptiness of her own head, just until she hears a chirping sound coming from her backpack, which reminds her that she is supposed to go home.

She brings her backpack to her front and pulls out Owlbert, who spent Luz' school day in there in his wooden form. He expands into his full staff form, Luz climbs on and they take off back towards the Owl House. She flies slower than she did in the morning, but the closer she gets to her destination, the more excited she gets and speeds up.

When she arrives, she can barely sit still on the staff.

She lands not far from the house and sprints toward Hooty to share her anticipation with him, but sees that he appears to be sound asleep. She smiles slightly and sneaks around the house to enter it through the kitchen, so as not to wake Hooty, even if it would be unavoidable in the long run.

Luz has barely opened the kitchen door, when Owlbert flies in and up the stairs to the upper floor.

'Ou-kay... Looks like someone has plans of his own...', Luz thinks to herself. She puts her backpack down next to the door before continuing towards the living room. As she arrives there, she leans against the doorframe, sighing.

'I really should at least tidy up a little bit before Amity arrives'.

And immediately Luz starts tidying up her props from yesterday's sleepover, while fond flashes of memories keep popping into her mind: Hooty choking on Amity's sandwiches once, which was soo comical to Amity that she couldn't contain herself from laughing, while Luz performed the Heimlich on him. Luz isn't sure she's ever seen Amity laugh so heartily.

'I always like it when she laughs. Even if the reason wasn't particularly funny... Heh, she said Hooty had a habit of stealing her food when she was here alone, keeping him company.'

Several household items had to serve as props, some of which Luz spontaneously no longer knows, what comes from where and what belongs where.

In the end, there are still a dozen and a half objects on the living room table, of which Luz does not know what goes where. Right next to it, though, are three things that belong in Luz's room: Her Azura hat, the golden, crescent moon-shaped tiara Luz had made for Amity, that originally belongs to Hectate, and, of course, one of her Azura books.

Luz ascends the stairs, keeping an eye out for Owlbert, since he didn't come back down during the time Luz was busy cleaning up. Not seeing him in the hallway outside her room, Luz cautiously opens the door, expecting to find him asleep in her room, only to find that he is not there either. However, the two sleeping bags lying close together in the middle of the room jump into her eyes, accurately reflecting how quickly she and Amity woke up in a hurry and left for Hexside earlier. This, however, is not the memory that jumps into Luz's mind.

In the middle of the night, a few hours after the two girls went to sleep, Luz woke up and lay awake for a while in her sleeping bag, staring at her ceiling. After a while, Luz turned to the side and her gaze fell on the sleeping Amity.

'She looked so peaceful... so without any worries... and even more beautiful than... I don't even know'

Luz's heart jumped when Amity, asleep, grabbed Luz's arm and hugged it tightly. Luz couldn't help but smile, while Amity visibly relaxed, having held her arm tightly. And exactly the same feeling fills Luz' mind right now, at this very moment, as she looks at the two sleeping bags, as if Amity's still here, holding her tightly.

Luz is snapped out of her reverie by a voice from downstairs.

"Luz! Are you here?"

Luz rushes downstairs to find Amity standing in the living room, looking around.

"Heey… I thought, we would clean up together...", Amity sounds slightly disappointed.

"Yeah, umm...", Luz is searching for a suitable explanation, "I had to pass the time somehow, and... Well, I was just kind of pretty efficient."

"Apparently…"

"I just haven't been able to put those few things away yet", Luz says, pointing to the items on the living room table.

"Don't worry, I'll help you with that. But first I have something for you.", Amity says teasingly, as she pulls out a small purple cloth bag that hangs loosely from her shoulder.

"Uhh, a present? For me?", Amity giggles at Luz's reaction.

"Not quite. I did bring your shoes you lent me, though.", Amity pulls out the shoes and the three pairs of socks from the bag. Luz briefly looks down at Amity when she's not looking, and notices that Amity is wearing her own shoes again.

In addition to Luz's clothes, Amity pulls out her school uniform and hides it under one of the cleaner seat cushions on the couch. Luz looks at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What? I'd still like to have a spare uniform here. This time even including shoes... Any objections?"

"N-no. No objections", Luz responds quickly, "Oh by the way, I really like your outfit".

"Oh, it's nothing special. Besides, I wore exactly the same thing yesterday...", Amity accepts Luz' compliment only hesitantly.

"That's just it. It makes you look a little... I don't know, more chaotic maybe? No, umm… it highlights your rebellious tendencies."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?", Amity asks in curiosity.

"Oh, it's definitely a good thing. You know how much I like chaos.", Luz replied with a wink, causing Amity to blush slightly.

"Okay, do you want me to clean up the rest of this place before we get started? You could go change in the meantime."

"Go change? Why that?", Luz inquires.

"Well, I mean you're welcome to go practicing in your uniform...", Amity explains, causing Luz to look down at herself, only now noticing that she's still wearing her colorful school uniform.

"Oops, didn't notice... We'll go with your plan then.", Luz decides and heads to her room upstairs to change into her favorite outfit: Her white and blue hoddie with the cat ears below Eda's Grudgby jacket, and the gray shorts over the slightly darker leggings.

After Luz changes, she comes back downstairs to find that Amity has already finished cleaning up.

"Wow, you're fast.", Luz remarks.

"Well, I am working pretty efficient as well", Amity replies with a grin, "So, should we get started?"

"Not yet", Luz says sheepishly, seemingly hiding something behind her back.

"Why not?", Amity asks mildly confused, "And why are you holding your hand behind your back?"

Luz begins to grin slightly in anticipation as Amity is still talking. Shortly after, Luz pulls a small leather pouch from behind her back, knotted shut at the top with a string and a nice bow hanging from it.

"A little something for you... A gift.", Luz explains. Amity takes the bag and opens it curiously but carefully, "These are tea herbs to help you get better sleep. Made them in plant class. Willow helped. A lot."

"Wow... That's really thoughtful of you. Thank you", Amity says before closing the pouch again. Luz just grins to herself with pride. "But you didn't just do that since you got back, did you?"

"Mmm... no.", Luz admits firmly, "When the semester started, everyone in plant class had to come up with a project that would run throughout the semester. I just made something to help with sleep."

"Aha okay... You know, it just so happens that I have something for you too", she teases.

Curious, Luz now looks at Amity, who in turn rummages in the bag in which she previously carried her spare uniform, as well as Luz's clothes.

"Here, this is for you. Had just bought before I came here", Amity explains calmly. Luz, on the other hand, drops her jaw to the floor.

"You- you... bought me a scroll? Really? Just like that?", Luz stutters to herself with sudden tears of joy. Amity sheepishly rubs her back.

"Well... Your phune...- phone, sorry, is still in Amphibia, after all, right? And this would give us a way to keep in touch more often, even when we don't see each other", Amity explains, holding out the scroll to Luz, who immediately accepts and hugs it tightly to her chest.

"I don't know what to say... "

"You don't have to say anything. But instead, what do you think about the idea that we start your training now? And after that, we'll set up your scroll together over a nice cup of that tea, what do you say?"

"YES!", Luz exclaims with all the anticipation and excitement that has accumulated over the day and the two girls leave the house towards the front yard, after they have safely stowed their respective gifts. Using magic inside seemed a bit dangerous, considering how much potential power Luz has, and how much destruction she could cause unintentionally. At least that was Amity's reasoning for it, which Luz totally agreed to, not bothering to argue that at all.

"So, how do we want to start?", Luz asks energetically. Instead of answering, however, Amity sits down on the dry and dusty ground.

"Please, sit next to me.", Amity says softly, patting the ground to her left. Luz sits down cross-legged, right next to Amity.

"I know we made a rough plan this morning on how we were going to approach this, but I'm not so sure it's going to work out that way anymore", Amity states.

"Ou-kay...", Luz says hesitantly, "So no training staff? No help from magical relics? No highly-experimental and possibly dangerous potions?"

"I don't remember us mentioning anything about potions...", Amity states in confusion.

"I know. I just made that up", Luz admits regretlessly at which Amity merely sighs.

"But no, we won't need any of that. Well, probably at least. If what I came up with doesn't work out, I'd still have the stuff with me."

"Don't keep waiting then. What have you thought of?", Luz asks impatiently.

"I'll start with a question for you: Has anyone ever told you, when and how witches discover their magical abilities?"

Luz shakes her head, "Well, although... Willow had mentioned once that she was a late bloomer, but that was it. Hadn't inquired further."

"Okay, so I'll tell you how it was with me-", Amity was about to start sharing her own story, but was interrupted by a joyful gasp from Luz.

"A backstory?"

"Just for you.", Amity replied playfully.

Luz wiggles her clenched hands in front of her to express her joy. Amity can't help but grin at the sight. Moments later Luz catches herself and makes herself comfortable, giving Amity her full attention and gazing at her with bright eyes.

"If I remember correctly, I was about four or five years old, several years before my friendship with Willow fell apart. I was alone at home with Emira at that time. My parents had taken Edric... somewhere, no idea where exactly. Anyway, Emira was supposed to babysit me and Dad had left a bucket full of abomination fluid for me to poke around in with a toy shovel. Might not sound too exciting, but-"

"No no, it sounds nice. I actually imagine it quite adorable", Luz comments.

"Anyway... I can still remember very well, how such an electrifying and tickling feeling had flooded through my whole body. On my hands, this feeling lasted especially long. I wanted to tell Em about it, but she was... otherwise occupied. So, then I held my hand over the bucket and the liquid began to move and bubble like the water in the Boiling Sea. A little later, I drew my first magic circle in the air and began to shape the liquid. Didn't really even thought about it. It just happened. I quickly got bored of simple shapes, so I 'built' a mini version of Blight Manor. I wanted to show it to Em, but she was still... busy."

"Busy? Or disinterested?", Luz asks critically.

"Probably both. Can't judge anymore nowadays. However, the story doesn't end here... Over time, I got bored with the bucket altogether and wanted to experiment in other ways. Instead of shapes and objects, I now wanted to try to recreate people. Emira, to be more precise. Not only because she was the only other person nearby, I truly admired her. Somehow, I had managed to create and form abomination liquid other than from the bucket. Directly onto the living room floor."

"Let me guess: That was the moment Emira paid attention to you..."

"Yes. I remember very clearly how proud I was of myself. I made quite a few little busts of Em, each one with more details than the last one…"

"I can already see where this is going."

"Mhm. When she realized what I did, she got angry. She yelled at me, was as furious as I had ever seen her before... I just ran to my room crying..."

"Did she run after you? Had she apologized? I mean, you didn't have bad intentions..."

"I actually don't remember. My memory ends where I ran away. I don't know what happened after that..."

Luz is silent for a few moments, lost in thought. "That's... actually a really sad backstory", she finally says. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

"It's fine. I'm over it now, I think. But yeah, that's the story about how I discovered my magic... My point with this story is, however, that you don't need any artifacts, potions or training wands. I mean, you discovered your magic just two days ago-"

"Please don't remind me.", Luz pleads.

"But we can build on top of that. It... might be necessary if you want to discover your abilities. Your magic…"

"I don't wanna think about you dying every time I'm trying do a spell or something like that."

"You won't.", Amity tries to assure her, "We just need to figure out what triggers your abilities. Is it tied to your emotions? Physical contact? Something else?"

"I don't know... I don't wanna think about it."

"Luz, we need to. If we don't, we'll never be able to help you control your magic.", Amity pleads.

"Fine", Luz sighs in defeat. She simply can't deny her anything for too long.

"And remember, that I'll be by your side. I'm here and I'm not in danger...", Amity tries to comfort her. Luz nods, though she still looks unconvinced.

"Okay", she finally says. "Let's try this then." Amity nods and they begin their experiment.

Luz closes her eyes and tries to remember their evening at the Bonesborough Brawl at the time where Amity was in the finale and about to face Warden Wrath.

Amity looks directly at Luz' face. She immediately notices that she's growing more and more uncomfortable as time passes.

"I- I can't to this... It's too painful to remember... I'm sorry, I can't...", Luz says, on the verge of tears.

"It's okay, you don't have to force yourself. We can try something else… … Do you think it might help, if I'll talk you through it? Like, describe the events as they happened?", Amity suggests, hoping it might help Luz. But already while Amity was expressing this suggestion, the thought occurred to her that since that time, she herself has not yet dealt with the evening at all. Well, apart from the lecture she received by her siblings.

"I… Maybe… I think it's worth a try", Luz agrees, though being somewhat hesitantly. She wipes a few single tears from her cheeks.

"Okay. Close your eyes then", Amity says and Luz does as she's told. This time, however, Amity takes Luz' hand into her own.

"Thank you.", Luz says thankfully and softly presses Amity's hand a few times.

"Remember, our goal now is not for you to do any particular spell. We just want some kind of reaction, from which, we expand on.", Amity clarifies, to which Luz nods slightly.

"I'm ready", Luz says after taking a few deep breaths.

"Okay, here we go...", Amity begins to recount the events from a few days ago, "We're both at the Brawl. The final fight is coming up. I just left the healer's tent, walking towards the stage. You followed shortly after."

"I was so scared for you... I tried to talk you out of it…"

"I know. And I'm infinitely sorry...", Amity says, to which Luz doesn't respond, "I'm facing Wrath. We talk briefly, and before the announcer starts the round, I turn to look at you. I had seen how worried and scared you were... ...", Amity watches as Luz' face contorts in discomfort.

"Wrath attacks you immediately", Luz recalls.

"Yes. And I was able to dodge and hit him hard in his stomach."

"Yeah, but without any effect on him. Then, he had thrown you into the air without any effort..."

Amity notices a slight tingling sensation in the hand interlocked with Luz's.

"Yes, he did. I was able to control the fall, though. I was, quite literally, surfing through the air...", Amity recalls with amusement. Luz also smiles.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool. But only until your... your landing.", And Luz' smile disappears again.

"I hit Wrath on the head and he went down", Amity continues, "At least for a little while. Shortly after, he got back up and-"

"Hit you on your head. Hard. He told you to stay down, but you got back up anyway. I was hoping so much that you would have listened to him..."

"... ... I had blasted my Abomination fluid onto his face..."

"And with his fire breath, he had burned everything away almost instantly... And then, the hammer hit your leg..."

Amity gradually realizes, that she herself is also finding it increasingly difficult to recapture these events, since this is the first time that she thinks about it explicitly.

However, it seems to have at least one positive effect, because the tingling of Luz' hand becomes stronger. They are almost there. Luz softly squeezes Amity's hand. Amity squeezes back.

"My gaze wandered down to my... completely shattered leg... I could see bone fragments poking out of my skin... my blood, everywhere... the pain… I looked up at Wrath. He lifted his hammer again... He was ready to kill me"

Amity abruptly lets go of Luz' hand as she notices small bolts of lightning moving through, across and above her arms, like snakes. The air around the two girls is completely electrified.

"Oh, my, titan...", Amity stammers, whereupon Luz snaps her eyes open.

"What's happening?", Luz asks in a daze, to which Amity can only reply with an excitedly shaken voice, "I don't know. But I think... I think we did it. H- Hold on to that feeling. Memorize it."

As if in a trance, the two girls look at the lightning bolts on Luz's arms. After a while, however, they fade away once again.

"Ugh… That. Was. Horrible.", Luz finally speaks up.

"Yes.", Amity agrees with watery eyes, "But we did it. And I promise you'll never have to go through that ever again. Neither of us will."

"What now?", Luz asks after a short pause.

"You- you still want to continue? Are you sure?"

"I think that I have the worst behind me. So yes, let's move on while that feeling is still fresh in my mind...", Luz says with pain-filled determination.

"Okay. Good point," Amity agrees.

"Thanks"

"Okay, so, now you've isolated the essence that allows you to access the magic that exists within your body. Now you have to try to harness it and control it-"

"Magic circles?", Luz interrupts Amity with wide eyes. The fear and grief she just had to relive is as if it never existed. Amity rolls her eyes, giggling.

"Yes. But you're better standing up for that. Depending on what exactly you're doing, we may have to dodge quickly."

"Don't you trust me?!", Luz asks with a feigned hurt tone.

"Of course I trust you. I trust you completely and without any doubts whatsoever. I just don't want any of us to get hurt in case something does go wrong, that's beyond your control...", Amity replies and the two girls get up from the dusty ground. Luz is still slightly agitated, but tries to keep it together. Amity, on the other hand, is just happy to be able to spend time with Luz and help her as best she can.

Luz gets into a steady position and shakes her hands a few more times to relax. Amity stands next to her, her gaze fixed steadily on Luz's face.

"Are you ready?", Amity asks. Luz nods. "Okay. Close your eyes and raise your hand. You need to concentrate"

Luz does as she is instructed.

"Good. Now bring back the feeling from earlier...", Amity watches as Luz's face starts to contort her face.

For just under a minute, nothing but silence envelops the two girls, Luz still contorts her face but nothing happens at her arm and hand.

Suddenly Luz's features relax again and the first few lightning bolts flash across Luz's outstretched arm.

"Very good. You're doing great", Amity compliments her and the lightning bolts increase in size, length and intensity.

"What now?", Luz asks in uncertainty. Amity ponders for a second.

"Your first glyph, the light glyph. Try summoning a light orb", Amity suggests, "Imagine drawing the circle and having a light orb appear in the center of it..."

Luz opens her eyes and looks at her outstretched index finger, the image of the light orb crystal clear in her mind. Slowly, she moves her finger in front of her in a circle...

But nothing happens.

She tries again. The lightning bolts, moving along Luz's arm, have not diminished or changed in any other way.

Again, nothing. No magic circle. No light orb.

"Why isn't this working?", Luz asks in frustration as she continues to try to draw circles in the air. And another one. And one more. And then another. Amity sees the frustration continue to rise in Luz.

"Hey, hey...", Amity calmly puts a hand on Luz' shoulder, "I have another idea."

"Huh?", Luz puts her arm down and listens up.

Amity moves to stand directly behind Luz, so close that she is entirely taken in by Luz's lovely scent. She puts her right arm on Luz's and lifts it up.

"We'll do it together.", Luz smiles at her while Amity's small hand now rests on Luz's slightly bigger one.

"Admittedly, I was slightly worried that the lightning bolts would somehow spread to or hurt me...", Amity admits.

"Yeah, it's interesting, though. It's like they're deliberately avoiding your skin", Luz observes.

"Yeah, and that's good. Now: Focus!", Amity orders.

Luz and Amity break eye contact and Luz now focuses on the spell again. The image of the light orb is clearly visible in front of her inner eye.

Luz moves her and Amity's index finger in a circle, but once again, nothing happens.

Slightly disappointed, Luz lowers her arm again and the lightning bolts phase out of existence. Amity looks at Luz sympathetically and wants to say something encouraging, but Luz speaks up first.

"You know, I think we're going about this all wrong...", Luz speculates.

"What do you mean?", Amity asks, now standing right in front of Luz, her hand comfortingly resting in her own.

"Well, so far, we've been working out the way you've learned to control your magic. However, I am not... not a witch.", Amity says nothing and just keeps listening intently, "My point is that I learned magic using glyphs. Glyphs that the Titan had called his 'language'..."

"I think I know what you're getting at."

"So? What do you think?", Luz asks.

"It's worth a try," Amity says with conviction in her voice. She moves a step back to standing next to Luz, who lifts her arm once again.

This time it doesn't take quite as long for Luz to manage to summon the lightning again.

"Uh, one more thing", Amity says shortly after Luz closes her eyes. Amity leans forward a bit and gives Luz a kiss on her cheek. Unsurprisingly, Luz opens her eyes and snaps her head towards her to look at her with wide eyes, "I believe in you".

While the two girls stare deeply into each other's eyes for several seconds, something else must have reacted to the kiss as well.

"Whoa", Amity comments in amazement as her gaze once again moves to Luz's arm. Luz's gaze follows hers.

"Golden lightning bolts...", Luz says to herself before looking back to Amity afterwards, filled with conviction and determination, "If that's not a sign, I don't know what is."

This time Luz doesn't close her eyes. Her gaze travels along her arm, on which dozens of now golden lightning bolts dance, all the way down to her fingertips.

Instead of thinking of the light orb, she envisions the light glyph.

"Something's happening", Amity quietly comments.

Luz watches the lightning bolts begin to much move in one and the same direction, straight towards her fingertips.

Her fingers are spread wide apart at first, before Luz forms her hand into a hollow fist.

The lightning bolts disappear into her hand.

Uncertain, Luz looks at Amity, who responds in exactly the same way.

"Here we go", Luz cautiously says to herself.

Slowly, Luz opens her hand. Amity watches her tensely.

A small light orb hovers over Luz' now open hand.

Speechless, Luz and Amity look at each other and at the orb in quick succession.

"Oh... my... titan... ...", Amity says cautiously, as she really realizes that what she's seeing is actually real, "You did it. Luz, YOU DID IT!"

"I, did it? ... I did it. Amity, I did it, I did magic."

The two girls are now completely freaking out. Luz grabs Amity and the two press tightly together while Luz spins Amity through the air, almost bursting with joy.

"We did it! We did it! Oh my god, we actually did it!", Luz exclaims over and over again.

"I'm soo proud of you. You're amazing", Amity says in between Luz' enthusiastic exclamations.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I couldn't have done it without you", Luz says as she finally puts Amity back on the ground.

"So, what now?", Amity asks as her feet are back on the ground again.

"What a question? I wanna try everything! I wanna try every glyph and glyph-combo I know", Luz exclaims full of ambition.

"That's the spirit! But I think, you should stay with the more simpler glyphs for today", Amity suggests.

"Yeah, you're probably right", Luz agrees, "But I'm telling you, we are gonna have so much fun with this."

At first, Luz had tried to create more light orbs. Fortunately, she got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Not long after, she and Amity tried more spells together, based on the other three base glyphs. The ice glyph was one of the strangest, as an ice bolt simply shot out of Luz's palm. Most fascinating to Luz was her first encounter with the fire spell. Her entire hand was enveloped in a single flame that, from Luz's point of view, was not hot. Nevertheless, it was a real flame, as Amity later confirmed. When Luz first tried the plant spell, she created a single purple rose in her hand, which she presented to Amity with a slight bow. To say that Amity merely blushed would be a massive understatement.

Later, Luz had come up with a little game where the two girls threw light orbs at each other, which Hooty had to 'eat' out of the air. Luz wanted to do this with fireballs at first, but Amity was fortunately able to talk her out of it.

After many hours of exercising and having fun, the two girls are now sitting next to each other on the couch in the living room, both thoroughly exhausted, petting their respective palisman in their laps, neither having any strength to even lift their heads from the headrest.

"I'll be completely honest...", Luz begins, after they've both just been quietly enjoying each other's company so far, "Today was totally awesome."

"I thought so too...", Amity agrees and the two girls lapse into a moment of silence again.

"You know, I've been thinking... A lot, actually... Um... And I think I finally have an answer for you.", Luz says, rolling her head to look at Amity.

"An answer? To what?", Amity asks, honestly unknowing what Luz is alluding to. She slowly turns her head to look Luz in the eyes.

"On the weekend, Saturday night, after the Brawl, you had asked me a question... about our future...", and that was the point where Amity remembers. She rips her eyes open, but still has no strength to lift her head from the back of the couch, "And my answer is yes. I would love to be your girlfriend."

A huge grin spreads across both Luz' and Amity's face.

"That makes me really happy… but your timing is terrible", Amity says in an exhausted voice.

"Why that?", Luz chuckles while Amity is really slightly upset right now.

"You're telling me this now, just like that, completely knowing that we're both out of energy? I really wanna throw myself in your arms right now and twirl you through the air... Tze, unbelievable."

"Wait, maybe this will do...", Luz says and wiggles her head towards Amity, straining bit by bit, until it's resting comfortably on her shoulder. Amity leans her head on Luz', "This is nice".

The two girls spend the next while in silence again, so much so that Amity thinks Luz has fallen asleep on her shoulder.

"We're girlfriends now...", Amity whispers quietly to herself in disbelief.

Luz smiles, experiencing true happiness for the first time in a very long while.

---

[The Couple]

---

Entry 74

It's almost exactly like it used to be, like when Sasha and I had sleepovers at Anne's house. Except we are still in Amphibia instead of on Earth, and Sasha is not here. Not sure if that's a good thing or not... I kinda miss her, and that's despite her actions. Somehow less than Luz though, who I only knew for like a month, while I've known Sasha for most of my life...

Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

I'm lying with Anne right now. In her bed. In the basement of her adoptive frog family, the Plantars. Anne is lying right next to me. She's sleeping on her hair, which she's piled like a pillow under her head. And she's been drooling a little since she fell asleep.

She looks sooo cute that I can't stop looking at her face.

Oh btw, did I ever mention that Anne and I are together now? Like, officially? /s

I know. It's hard to imagine, but the last 5 pages where I completely ranted about how happy I am, that... Um...

I forgot what I was trying to get at. Sorry.

Anne seems to be waking up, I'll continue writing later.

---

"MarMar?", Anne asks, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"I'm here, Anne.", Marcy whispers, putting down her journal. She lies down on her back, but turns so she can look directly at Anne, "Did I wake you up?"

"Why aren't you sleeping?", Anne asks instead of answering. She is still having trouble keeping her eyes open.

"You know I don't need much sleep in general", Marcy replies. Anne, however, has doubts about whether this statement is truthful or not.

"I know you have a habit of pulling an all-nighter once you get your teeth into a new interest of yours.", Marcy lowers her gaze from Anne's face, "But you're laying here. With me. And you're not working on a project right now... What's wrong?"

'It's so sweet how she cares about me. I missed that feeling'

Marcy wraps herself in silence and turns onto her back. Anne does the same after a while.

"Maybe it's the excitement of exploring our powers later... Maybe I'm afraid of what will happen if something goes wrong... Maybe the heart racing because I'm lying next to the most amazing girl I know."

Anne's head immediately snaps to the side and catches sight of Marcy, who looks at her with wide eyes and a big smile.

Anne moves her head forward a bit and gives her girlfriend a little kiss on the nose. Marcy giggles happily.

"I'm afraid I don't know what to do about your first two worries... But I can shower you with all the love you deserve. However, it would still be nice if you tried to get at least a little sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a potentially tiring day and as of now, it's still dark outside..."

"Ugh, Anne... You're a real mood killer", Marcy groans, while Anne merely grins devilishly at her.

"Well, you do know my nicknames: Anne the Breakup Queen, Angel of Death and Mood Killer", Anne proudly announces.

"You made that last one up just now", Marcy states.

"Maybe. But you know it's true", Marcy just grumbles slightly in response, "Come on Marbles, at least try to get some sleep. Please... For me."

"Okay," Marcy relents. She doesn't, however, before snuggling close to Anne and resting her head against her shoulder, "You're going to have to deal with this in return now"

"I think I can handle this", Anne declares calmly with a smile on her face and the two of them try to fall back to sleep.

"AANNNEEE! ARE YOU AWAKE?"

In an instant, Anne shifts from fast asleep to wide awake, shoots upright and instinctively throws the pillow behind her at the source of the voice. That voice quickly turns out to be Hop Pop's, who pokes his head straight through the slightly open basement hatch.

"What do you want?", Anne yells back. The pillow she threw misses him only slightly by a few centimeters.

"First of all, rude. Second, there's someone at the front door who wants to talk to you", he explains, whereupon Anne grunts, annoyed at first, which transitions smoothly into a long, drawn-out yawn. "I can see you need another moment. I'll let him know."

Hop Pop closes the basement hatch and Anne drops backwards onto her mattress. She puts her arm to the side to hug Marcy, however, the spot beside her is empty.

"Marcy?", Anne asks to herself as she looks around her room at all corners in increasing panic. "MARCY?", she screams louder now.

"Yo, I'm in the kitchen.", she hears Marcy yell back through the thin basement ceiling. Anne exhales in relief. That relief doesn't last long, and is replaced by concern that Marcy hasn't slept at all, and that despite what was quite an exhausting multi-hour workout in the southern woods of Frog Valley yesterday.

Extremely slowly and with agonizing sounds, Anne straightens up from her bed.

Now standing upright, she smooths out her plain light gray T-shirt, which she brought along with her loose brown shorts back from Newtopia.

Tired, she struggles up the steps out of the basement and closes the hatch behind her again. Her first glance leads to the kitchen, where Sprig, Polly and Marcy are busily eating breakfast.

"Good morning, Anne.", Sprig greets her, joyful and full of energy as always.

"Gwd mowing Anna-Bawawa," Marcy greets her with mouth full of food. Polly, on the other hand, just looks at Anne and nods briefly in her direction.

"Yo.", she says before returning her attention to her breakfast. After a quick glance at Polly, it bounces back to Marcy and remains there for a suspiciously long time. 'Suspicious' because it isn't until several throat clearings made by Hop Pop, who is standing behind her, that she is brought back from her trance, and only then does she realize that several pairs of eyes are looking at her.

"Is something wrong?", Anne asks no one in particular. One by one she looks at her friends, who shortly after just continue eating again. Only Hop Pop is still standing next to her and they look at each other.

"The door.", he merely says.

"I see. Already on it.", Anne acknowledges. Hop Pop nods in satisfaction and Anne walks to the front door. She opens it and Chuck is standing right in front of it. Again. Just like yesterday.

Anne sighs and leans against the door frame in frustration.

"You're here because of the rebellion again, aren't you?", she asks.

Chuck pulls his straw hat out in confirmation and once again, pulls out an envelope, which he hands to Anne.

As she accepts it, Chuck pulls his hat again, turns around, and leaves.

Anne closes the front door before joining the others in the kitchen for breakfast. She stands in front of the kitchen table and slaps the envelope on the table.

"Probably just another request to talk to that Frellik or whatever his name is...", Anne whines, "I don't wanna talk to him"

"Oh Anne...", Marcy starts, "I thought we agreed that you would talk to him".

"I know. And I'm going to do it. I just wanted to reiterate that I don't want to do that.", Anne affirms. She sits down right next to Marcy at the table.

"You made that perfectly clear.", Sprig notes between bites.

"Anne?", Marcy suddenly asks. She reaches for Anne's hand under the table.

"Huh?"

"You should go meet him. Our training can wait.", Marcy says quietly.

"Training?", Polly suddenly listens up.

"Anne and I were going to explore our powers today."

"YOU HAVE POWERS TOO?", Polly demands to know.

"Probably.", Marcy replies, "But they haven't shown up yet like Anne's. And I think we should talk to Flawrik first, Anne."

"We?", Anne asks.

"I think it's only logical that I go with you. After all, it's my official job to restore peace... Or something like that…", Marcy explains before leaning over to Anne and whispering something teasingly in her ear, "And that way we can spend more time together."

"I heard that.", Polly announces, causing both Anne and Marcy's faces to turn red. And while Polly continues to eat totally unfazed by it, the two human girls stare at her and questioning expressions are forming on the faces of Sprig and Hop Pop.

After a good minute of awkward silence, Anne clears her throat in a distinctly audible manner.

"So... Do you want us to head right out then?", she asks.

"Don't you want breakfast, Anne?", Hop Pop asks before Marcy can answer her. A stomach rumble obviates Anne's need to answer, and she now joins in on breakfast as well. The options are all the provisions left over from the trip home from Newtopia.

During the meal, Anne decides to open the envelope that Chuck gave her.

---

Anne, I hope you have recovered from the long trip back. It is urgent that we talk as soon as possible.

- Ben Flawrik

---

Without reacting to it in any way, Anne merely continues eating her breakfast. A little later, Marcy gets up to go wash and dress up, and Hop Pop relegates Sprig and Polly to light farm work for the day. The discussion about this between Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop is inevitable, but it ends as quickly as Marcy re-enters the kitchen fully dressed. Shortly after, Anne also goes to get dressed before she and Marcy leave the house together.

"Hey Anne", Marcy starts shortly after Anne closes the front door behind her, "Did the letter mention where we can find Flawrik by any chance?"

"Nope. But don't worry, I'll ask some people. Someone will know where he is", Anne confidently replies.

The two girlfriends leisurely walk towards the village center, which is already filled with busy people. Despite their advantage in size, neither Anne nor Marcy can recognize familiar faces in the crowd of frogs, newts, and the occasional toad. Countless voices and conversations drown out every other possible sound source in the area. Even when Anne leans toward Marcy trying to tell her something, she can't understand a single word of it. Anne repeats herself several times, whereupon Marcy just shrugs her shoulders incomprehensibly each time.

After a couple tries, Anne gives up, takes Marcy's hand, and leads her through the crowd to a nearby store.

"Leopold Loggle's.", Marcy reads the sign of the store, which is located on the edge of the village center, "Chairs, tables and... limbs?"

"Yeah, Loggle is cool.", Anne states, already standing at the door.

"His store looks like an axolotl head.", Marcy observes, standing a few meters behind Anne. Anne takes several steps back at that.

"You're right... Huh, I never noticed that before. The two round windows above the door are eyes, one of them with an optional eye patch, the sides have these... Things-"

"Gills."

"Gills, thank you. And the canopy looks like a moustache-"

"With a couple of buck teeth underneath."

"Heh... You're right... Come on, let's go inside"

Anne opens the door and a little bell goes off. She holds the door open for Marcy.

"Well, hello hello hello... Anne, good to see you.", Loggle greets her, "And who is this?"

"Loggle, this is Marcy. Marcy, Loggle.", Anne introduces them to each other, "Found her in Newtopia. Works directly for the king."

"Mighty impressive. So, what can old Loggle do for you two?", he asks.

"We're looking for someone. Ben Flawrik. Do you know where we can find him?", Anne asks.

"I sure can...", Loggle replies. Anne looks at him expectantly, as if expecting something, "This doesn't feel right."

"True. So, where can we find him?"

"He's at the City Hollow. Just delivered him a new table yesterday.", he explained, "My arms still hurt."

"Maybe you should start to work out when you have time… Anyway, thanks Loggle.", Anne thanks him. Marcy does the same before both girls leave his store again and head towards the City Hollow.

The building is clearly visible from a distance, for not only is it the largest building in Wartwood, an iron security fence, adorned with Amphibia's emblem, surrounds it completely. The building itself is six to eight meters high, evenly divided over three floors. The exterior walls of the first two floors are made of a surprisingly sturdy mixture of clay and mud. At each of the four corners is a coral-like tree trunk as additional support for the roof, which protrudes significantly on every side.

The entrance door into the building at the front appears to be made of pure gold. Amphibia's emblem is also depicted on it. Immediately in front of the door are two stone statues of frogs holding a piece of parchment, and directly above the door hangs a sign with the words 'City Hollow' written in large letters. Even further above, a small balcony hangs on the edge of the roof and directly above that hangs a stone image of an old frog.

Anne and Marcy walk together through the massive iron gate at the entrance to the property. Before Anne and the Plantars left for Newtopia, this gate was closed to the public for most of the time. Now the entire front yard is packed with tents and frogs. In front of the entrances to both the gate and City Hollow, stand frogs and newts armed with swords and shields.

Brisk foot traffic passes through the doorway into and out of the building, with Anne and Marcy in the middle of it all. As they cross the doorway, however, the inside of the building is surprisingly quiet.

"Wow... Well, I'm used to the opulence in Newtopia, but I didn't think I'd find so much gold and marble here..."

"I can add to it: I used to live here."

"Shut up", Marcy says incredulously.

"No seriously. Okay well, it was only for a few days... I had acne and absolutely everyone here in Wartwood treated me like a celebrity- like a local. That was nice... Mayor Toadstool then wanted to win me over against his declining approval ratings and wanted me to live here.", Anne recounts.

"And you went along with that?"

"I... was a different person then.", Anne says, to which Marcy just glances at her, but doesn't elaborate.

The two girls continue down a brightly lit corridor, past top-quality paintings and busts of Toadstool, standing in front of an ugly yellow tapestry. In the middle of the corridor, two large double doors to their right and left lead into empty rooms.

At the end of the corridor, a splitting staircase leads to the upper floor.

On the second floor, the two girls take a look at the first room, which Anne recognizes as her former sleeping place. The difference is that it is filled with books wherever the eye can see. Amidst all the books, a slightly older, blue-skinned Newt sits at a desk, wearing unusually fancy and elegant clothes and is absorbed in an extremely heavy-looking book.

"Um, excuse me?", Anne asks in an attempt to get his attention. Unsuccessfully.

"Hello?", Marcy now asks. He quickly turns to the two girls.

"Oh... I beg your pardon. I hadn't noticed you...", he apologizes and invites the girls inside, "My name is Andrew Odal, I'm a professor of history and archaeology at the university in Newtopia"

"Odal? As in Iva Odal?", Anne asks in curiosity.

Marcy darts past Anne and shakes his hand energetically.

"I am Marcy Wu, Chief Ranger in the Newtopian Knight Guard and friend of Iva".

"It is an honor to meet you Master Marcy Wu... And you are?", Andrew turns to Anne.

"Oh, I'm Anne. Without fancy title."

"Pleasure to meet you too. My daughter told me about a human she housed for a while... I think, Luz was her name... Well, anyway, it's about time this rebellion finally received its face.", Andrew notes, to which Anne raises an eyebrow inquiringly.

"I'm sorry, what?", she prods.

"Oh, you haven't visited Ben yet?", he asks, to which Anne shakes her head.

"What do you mean 'finally received its face'?", Anne asks.

"That's something, Ben should explain to you.", Andrew answers evasively.

"Alright... Can you at least tell us something about what you're doing here?", Marcy asks as Anne scowls at him a bit, "I didn't expect to see anyone else from Newtopia here. Well, except for Yunan."

"Oh yeah, I ran into the General when she arrested the mayor. Nice woman. Very dutiful... I'm here because I had learned in Newtopia of the rising rebellion here, as well as that the library and archives of Mycroft Newtback, located on the edge of the valley, had been vandalized and the security mechanism therein destroyed.", Anne suddenly blushes, "And I was invited here to rescue the books, categorize them, and eventually take them back to Newtopia. Well, that was before the mayor was arrested. But I'm still holding on to it, and at the same time, helping the rebellion with their goals."

"How?", Marcy asks with interest. Andrew turns briefly and lifts up the thick book he was reading a moment ago.

"This here is a rough listing of every frog rebellion from the last couple of centuries, and the sequence of events is almost identical each time. I'm providing Ben and the council with my knowledge and expertise, in hopes of changing something for the better.", he explains.

"A rough listing?", Anne asks doubtfully with a sarcastic undertone.

"Indeed", he replies with a certain sparkle in his eyes, gesturing wildly around himself, "In all these books is the history of the entire valley. It was a life's work for Newtback and his ancestors to write all this down... See that pile of books back there by the window? I've been studying all the books about the rebellions and their consequences since I arrived here less than a week ago. This book I'm holding in my hands right now is sort of a summary of all that..."

Since Marcy has experience with infodumping herself, she is really enjoying listening to him right now, while Anne's attention seems to be dwindling more and more.

"Then I hope for the best... But tell me, can you tell us where we can find Ben?", Marcy asks as politely as possible, trying not to offend Andrew.

"You can find Ben upstairs, in the former mayor's office.", he explains without a trace of negativity in his voice, "Do you need anything else?"

"No, thanks. You've been a great help," Marcy says, leading Anne out of the room, holding her hand. Andrew sits back down at the desk and continues reading unbothered.

Shortly after leaving the room, Anne's brain seems to reboot and she blinks rapidly and repeatedly.

"You good?", Marcy asks her girlfriend, smiling.

"Oh... yeah... He just has such a voice that my brain is starting to turn to mush... Let's keep moving. I want to get this over with."

The two girls walk up the last flight of stairs to the third floor until they arrive in front of an open set of double doors, with two life-size statues of Toadstool standing in front of them. Anne and Marcy exchange dismissive glances.

"He must have been very into himself...", Marcy observes.

"Yeah...", Anne confirms before knocking on one of the open doors and getting the attention of everyone in the room.

In the middle of the office is the large wooden desk Loggle told them about earlier. Around the table stand four frogs, judging by their clothing, of different villages, two newts and a bullfrog, and all of them turn silently toward the two human girls. The latter speaks up.

"Anne Boonchuy... Howdy.", he says loudly.

"You wrote me that we really needed to talk about something..."

"And you're absolutely right.", he confirms before turning to the others in the room, "Folks, we're going to take a break."

The frogs and newts leave the room one by one, leaving only Anne, Marcy and the bullfrog. He looks at Marcy.

"Who is this?", he asks Anne.

"My name is Marcy Wu. I am a Chief Ranger in the Newtopian Knight Guard and I am here by order of King Andrias to help restore peace."

"King Andrias, ey?!", he repeats, not sure what to think of that, "Okay, why not...? Name's Ben Flawrik. You may call me Ben. I'm like the thread master for this rebellion. I've been doing this for several weeks now, originally at the invitation of former Mayor Toadstool."

"Great. So...", Anne takes a deep breath, "Since we now know who is who: Why am I here?"

"This rebellion needs you as a leader-"

"That's no surprise", Anne interrupts him. He raises a hand to stop her.

"Please let me explain. Since the beginning of this rebellion, according to tradition, it has carried your name at its head. Since you are obviously not from this world, a few adjustments have been made. One, a council of sorts, consisting of several representatives from throughout the valley, who make decisions and put together demands for the Toads."

"That sounds reasonable.", Marcy comments, "I was with the Toads not too long ago in an attempt to make an initial assessment. I had arranged for prisoners to be released and the removal of corrupt rulers."

"That was you?", Ben asks honestly surprised.

"Yup.", Marcy proudly replies.

"What a shame...", he retorts, to which Marcy's facial expression drops dead.

"Why that?", Marcy asks appalled.

"Oh oh oh, don't get me wrong. It's good what you've done. Very good, in fact... We were just hoping that the Toads would have decided this on their own, showing that they were willing to change. The fact that it was only done on orders from Newtopia, is a shame..."

"I see…", Anne speaks up again, "But can we get back to the part about what I'm supposed to do here?"

"Sure. So where was I?... Oh, right. So far, I've been handling representative duties for as long as you've been in Newtopia. I'd like to ask you to take over my position now and lead the rebellion in an official capacity."

"Do I understand this correctly? You want me to put my face out there for this rebellion, smiling nicely and waving, while you and this council make all the decisions behind my back?", Anne asks with a critical eye.

"It sounds like you're accusing us of selfishness... No, as leader you definitely have the authority to make decisions, along with the council. You decide with us where to go and you're right up front with us. Always.", Ben explains to Anne, who ponders about it for a long time. A very long time.

"I think you should accept, Anna-Banana. This way, we might be able to prevent an escalation together... Please...", Marcy tries to reason with Anne, "Maybe that way we can resolve all of this peacefully, and also make peace with Sasha-"

"I'm in!", Anne quickly interrupts Marcy.

"Huh...", Marcy is sounding astonished, "That was easy".

"All right. I'm glad you accept", Ben says, "Okay, listen: There is a meeting scheduled for tomorrow with representatives of the Toad Army. I want you two to be there."

"Of course.", Marcy states.

"Wonderful", Ben retorts before Anne gets a chance to say anything, "And don't worry. You'll get a full briefing on the situation beforehand. Any questions? No? Great. See you tomorrow."

And with that, Ben shoos the two girls out of the room, just as the people he sent away not too long ago are returning. The people scurry past them and slam the double door behind the two girls.

"Rude.", Marcy comments jokingly.

"For real...", Anne agrees with her, whereupon the two girls jointly chuckle at that.

"But seriously now", Marcy speaks up again after a good half minute of incessant snickering, "Was it like you anticipated?"

Sighing with relief, Anne leans back against the corridor wall. A few moments later, Marcy leans next to her and slowly reaches for her hand. She's stroking the back of Anne's hand with her thumb.

"I'm really glad we went to see Iva's dad first. Really helped me with my anxiety", Anne confesses looking more relieved, "And as for Ben... Let's just say, I'm really glad you were there, MarMar."

"Guess you haven't processed that you're a leader now, right?", Marcy asks, to which Anne just shakes her head slightly. "Well lucky for you we had something else planned for today", Marcy reminds Anne teasingly. A smile appears on Anne's face. One that unfortunately disappears as quickly as it appeared.

"Is something wrong?", Marcy wonders, somewhat worried.

"No.", Anne merely replies, "Come on. Let's head back."

And with that, the two girlfriends leave the City Hollow and leisurely make their way back to the Plantars' farm. Right before they reach the house, they notice Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly weeding while kneeling between various plants growing out of the dirt.

"Hey guys", Anne greets them. Sprig pauses briefly, but continues to kneel on the ground immediately in front of a pair of uprooted weeds.

"How'd it go?", he wonders.

"It looks like I'm leading a rebellion now...", Anne tells them with a non-smile on her face.

"Congratulations, Anne.", Hop Pop says. Sprig notices in Anne's expression, though, that she's not entirely thrilled with that.

"You don't think you're right for that task, am I right?", Sprig cautiously suspects.

"Of course I'm not right for it", Anne almost shouts, "I mean, look at me. I'm thirteen years old. On Earth, people still see me as a child... I have no idea how to lead all these thousands of people. I have no idea about strategies and tactics-"

"STOP!", Hop Pop audibly interrupts Anne. He stands up, takes a few steps towards Anne and takes her hands in his, all that while she merely looks at him with a startled expression, "Anne, please don't put yourself down like that. Personally, I think no one would be better qualified to lead this rebellion than you. You're kind, you're caring, you're willing to accept the consequences of your actions, you stand by your principles, and most importantly, you give people hope. You don't need to have experience with strategies or develop tactics... There are other people who will do that. Also, you will never be on your own... We will stand behind your back. Always... Say, do you remember when you were elected Frog of the Year?", Anne nods, "Were you elected because you are a frog? No. Were you elected because you did nothing but good deeds? No. You were elected because you are you. Because you are Anne Boonchuy. And that's what the rebellion needs: You."

A smile slowly emerges on Anne's face and a tear rolls down her cheek. Marcy speaks up.

"Besides, you promised me you'd get us home. And I think interdimensional travel sounds slightly more complicated than leading a rebellion like this", Marcy encourages Anne. She chuckles at that.

"Yeah, you're right. You both- you all are.", Anne corrects herself. She notices Polly hopping towards her.

"You promised me I could blow up Toad Tower. If someone other than you is in charge, it might not work out.", Polly says.

"I just remembered something else... HP, where is the music box, by the way? It should have been back here by now. What's taking so long?", Anne asks insistently.

"Right...", Marcy chimes in on Anne's doubt, "You said it was with your contacts, right? If you tell me where they are, I could tell Yunan to pick them up for us."

Hop Pop suddenly experiences an engulfing wave of nervousness. He gulps hard.

"N-No worries...", Hop Pop stutters, "I know with absolute certainty that the box is on a direct route back to Wartwood. As to where exactly my contact is currently, I have no idea. However, I am sure that the box will arrive here when we are ready to leave for the first temple..."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it," Anne replies contently, "Marcy and I will be right out in the back practicing."

Hop Pop nods this off and goes back to work along with Sprig and Polly. Marcy walks ahead to the front door while Anne ponders Hop Pop's words a tiny bit longer.

She shakes her head in disapproval and follows Marcy into the house.

"You know", Anne begins as she follows Marcy through the house to the back door, "I really had doubts for a second about what Hop Pop said about the music box..."

"You mean he doesn't think his contact will be back with the box soon?", Marcy questions.

"I don't know... I kind of had a feeling that something wasn't true...", Anne tries to explain her feeling, "But anyway... It was a stupid thought. I trust him."

"No doubt... So, where should we go?"

Anne and Marcy are now standing behind the house, looking for a neat, quiet place to go experiment with their powers.

"Uh, uh, uh, I know a spot.", Anne announces in anticipation almost instantly, grabbing Marcy's hand and running with her behind her into the cornfields that grow up to two meters high just behind the house.

Anne's path through all the plants seems rather haphazard to Marcy, at first. This quickly changes, when Marcy notices that she and Anne are running up a hill, and the spread of the corn plants diminishes.

The two girls arrive at a grassy hill, where they can overlook the Plantars' entire farm. On this hill is nothing but the stone remains of a wall, that may have served as a property boundary at some point in the distant past. And it is at these very remains of the wall that Marcy now collapses, panting heavily and gasping for air.

"You good?", Anne asks with a tone partly concerned, partly amused. But this is only until she remembers that Marcy is far less physically enduring than Anne is.

"Just... gimme a minute...", Marcy wheezes.

Anne remembers that Marcy has never been particularly athletic. She herself already had a connection to physical exercise through her interest in tennis, and since coming to Amphibia, her strength, endurance, and general athleticism has only improved. She had not considered that the same was not necessarily true for Marcy. While she was never averse to physical activities, she was never on par with Anne or Sasha.

Meanwhile, Marcy sits with her back up against the wall, Anne next to her. Marcy has mostly recovered. She took out her journal and is now working on a sketch of the entire Plantars farm. Anne watches her as she does so.

"You feeling better?", Anne asks, whereupon Marcy closes her journal and sets the pen aside.

"Yeah, thanks. My heart rate is still pretty high, but I'm feeling better. Wouldn't be surprised if I'll wake up with sore muscles tomorrow...", Marcy jokes.

"Tze... From that little bit of running? I don't think so..."

"Say, how did you find this place anyway?", Marcy asks with curiosity, "It's really nice here."

"Sprig showed it to me shortly after the Plantars took me in. Sometimes we would lay out here in the evenings and spend some quiet time together...", Anne recalls.

"That sounds nice... And I'm not taking that away from you two because I'm here now, am I?", Marcy asks, sounding genuinely concerned. Anne doesn't take much time to respond. She changes her posture so that she is now kneeling right in front of her.

"MarMar... You are my girlfriend, and there is nothing I wouldn't want to share with you.", Anne tells her and gives her a kiss on her forehead.

Marcy jumps up and throws herself into Anne's arms, grinning broadly. She turns into a giggling mess and hides her face in Anne's hair.

"You good?", Anne asks under the influence of Marcy's giggling.

Marcy breaks the hug again, but is still grinning to herself.

"Yes", she replies, "And I love you too."

Anne blushes to well past tomato blush and Marcy absolutely loves how flustered she gets every time, Marcy tells her she loves her. However, the fact that Anne has not yet returned these words does not bother Marcy at all. Her actions show what she feels.

"You know, I've been thinking...", Anne starts after a while of silence between both of them, "This thing about us keeping our relationship a secret is far less funny than I had hoped..."

"You want to tell them?", Marcy inquires.

"If you don't mind..."

"No objections. But... let's not do this until later, okay?"

"Yes!", Anne agrees, " First though: Power time".

"YesYesYesYes!", Marcy hypes herself up, just before dropping back down to the floor and sitting cross-legged, pulling out a notebook. From where exactly she pulls it out is not apparent to Anne, as Marcy's stuff is still in the house.

"So... Ever since you first told me about your powers in Newtopia, I had been making notes and theorizing about them."

"Theories? What kind of theories?", Anne asks.

"Well, about origins, causes, triggers, potentials and so on...", Marcy explains.

"And what exactly do we know so far?"

"Well...", Marcy opens her notebook and finds the page she is looking for right away. The page is a spreadsheet, consisting of just three columns. At the top of the first column, it reads 'AnnaBanana', at the top of the second it reads 'Sashy' and the last one Marcy named after herself. "The first time your powers came out was when Sasha killed Hop Pop, right?"

"Yes, and it would be nice if you didn't remind me of that...", Anne notes fiercely.

"But it may be important to figure out controlling your powers...", Marcy explains, which doesn't necessarily make her girlfriend feel any better. Anne growls softly.

"Okay, okay...", Marcy backs off, "I'll try to approach this differently, without addressing the events specifically... From everything you've told me, your powers seem to come out when you feel intense emotions. Sadness, anger, remorse..."

Anne nods in affirmation.

"When your powers appear, there is a light blue theme that runs all the way through you. Your eyes turn bright blue, as well as your hair. You experience vastly improved strength, stamina, but also resistance to injuries."

"Resistance to injuries?", Anne investigates, "What exactly are you referring to?"

"You broke Sasha's sword with just one hand. And from what you've told me, without any wounds on your hand.", Marcy reminds Anne, just before turning her palm upwards for both girls to see.

"Oh yeah... You're right", she recalls, "Anything else?"

"Well, generally speaking, we know that the gems are the source of our powers that were transferred to us when we crossed the interdimensional threshold and according to Maddie, the gems resemble the crystals we saw in that strange cave... But that's all I can think of for you specifically."

"Okay... So, my powers are triggered when I experience intense emotions, I see... But what about you? Nothing happened to you when you felt intense emotions...", Anne just remembers Marcy yesterday's mood in the woods.

"I got a little something about that too... Just before you arrived in Newtopia with the Plantars, Luz and Maddie had helped me run Barbari-Ants out of the city-"

"Say what now?", Anne inquires.

"Barbari-Ants. Like... Bessie-sized...", Marcy explains, "Didn't I tell you about that?"

"Nonono, wait. I remember... Luz had told me about it... Maddie was eaten by their queen and you saved her.", Anne recalls, "Oh, and she said she saw your eyes light up green"

"Exactly. That was the first time anyone noticed that. Well, or at least that someone told me. Perhaps other people thought, that was just a human thing not worth mentioning…", Marcy recounts.

"Okay, so we have that... Then there was yesterday, before you led us out of the forest."

"Enhanced sensory perceptions...", Marcy talks to herself.

"Huh?", Anne utters.

"I remember being able to perceive things much more clearly than usual. My vision became sharper and I could see more details... Like in everything... My hearing improved so I could hear the ocean in the distance and make out the direction it was in... And in general, I felt like I had turned into some kind of supercomputer that could analyze and evaluate tons of scenarios, all at the same time."

"Hmm... Makes sense", Anne remarks.

"Really?"

"You've always been the smartest of us. So, it would be a perfect fit for you.", Anne says with a smile on her face.

"And you've always had an easy time making new connections and meeting people. Makes sense that your powers are based on feelings and empathy.", Marcy returns the compliment.

"But what does that mean in practice now? I don't know how that explains how we can access our powers...", Anne comments.

"Hmm...", Marcy ponders for a while, "Do you think meditating would work?"

"Not sure... Meditating can help with relaxing, but I don't think it will get us anywhere.", Anne muses. They both continue to brainstorm.

"I've got something", Marcy declares, "Tell me a story."

"A story?", Anne asks in perplexity.

"Yes. Something you remember that still triggers strong feelings in you to this day. It doesn't matter if it's positive or negative", Marcy explains to her.

Anne begins to ponder.

And continues.

And on and on, until she eventually gives up and shrugs her shoulders.

"Sorry Marce, but I can't think of anything. Well, except for the Hop Pop and Sasha thing, but I'm not going there…"

"That's understandable... You know, I would have another idea, but it involves a certain risk...", Marcy's voice is suddenly filled with nervousness.

"Okay, I'm in.", Anne says with determination. Marcy, on the other hand, has doubts.

"You... don't want to know what the plan is? You sure?"

"I'm sure. I trust you, Marbles."

And with that, Marcy gets up from the wall. She extends a hand to Anne and helps her up as well. They are now facing each other.

"We're going to start with a breathing exercise. Close your eyes…", Marcy directs Anne. Anne follows her instructions.

"Breathe in..."

They both take a deep breath together. Marcy watches Anne's movements closely. Her own heartbeat increases, her hands get sweaty.

"And breathe out."

They both exhale slowly. Marcy quickly leans forward and before she knows it, her lips are pressed to Anne's.

Their first kiss. Warmth fills both girls equally, butterflies fly in their stomachs.

The kiss doesn't last long, as Anne suddenly tears open her eyes in shock, her vision completely blue. A grinning Marcy glares at her.

"It worked", Marcy can barely contain her joy and excitement like the adorable dork that she is, and frantically jumps around Anne, who hasn't quite figured out what just happened, "We just summoned your powers".

Anne just stands there looking completely dumbstruck.

"You kissed me", she merely says.

"Yessss", Marcy confirms, not quite noticing that Anne is in a bit of a shock, "You know, there are a lot of emotions. You wanted to, understandably, avoid negative ones. And when you couldn't think of any memories where you felt strong emotions, I thought of just creating a new one."

"You... kissed me…", Anne repeated herself. Marcy has since gotten herself back together and is now standing directly in front of Anne again, both looking deeply into each other's eyes. Marcy only now notices Anne's reaction.

"Did I... Did I go too far?", Marcy's mood abruptly shifts from beaming with joy to stiffly worried, "Did I cross a line?"

Anne doesn't answer, but just continues to stare at Marcy.

"I'm sorry if I-", Marcy is abruptly interrupted by Anne putting her hands to Marcy's face, pulling her to her, and melting her lips with her own once again. An overwhelmingly pleasant warmth spreads through their bodies. Marcy puts one hand on the back of Anne's head and the other on her back and presses her against her. Their hearts pound so hard in their chests that their heartbeats almost melt together in synchronicity. While Anne can't concentrate on anything but the softness and gentleness of Marcy's lips, Marcy's knees begin to feel weak.

It is a moment that feels like it lasts an eternity. It is their moment. And only theirs.

As their kiss breaks up, the two girlfriends simply glance at each other, lost for words, but happy as they possibly could be.

"Wow...", Marcy says after a while, having found her voice again. They are still holding each other and Marcy watches Anne's hair and eye color change back from bright blue to its natural brown.

About a minute passes, during which they just silently look into each other's eyes, until they suddenly hear Polly's voice.

"HEY!", they hear her shout at the top of her voice. They both turn towards the house and see Polly looking directly in their direction, "I SAW THAT!"

And with that said, Polly hops away, around the Plantars' house, and the two girls start laughing heartily under their breath.

"So much for us telling the others about us", Anne says between laughs, "In half an hour all of Wartwood knows".

They continue to laugh. Wrinkles of laughter are forming and tears escaping their eyes.

"Yeah...", Marcy begins after she has regained her composure, "You know, I think today is the happiest day of my life".

Once Anne has regained her composure too, she reaches for Marcy's hand.

"We can keep going... if you want to, that means...", Anne says teasingly, however Marcy is not exactly sure what Anne is referring to.

"... Exploring our powers, or kissing?", she asks cautiously. Anne smirks, leans forward, gives Marcy a little kiss on the cheek and, walking briskly, pulls her down the hill and walks with her back towards the house.

"Follow me. I have an idea", she merely says.

Anne has led Marcy into the middle of the living room and the two girls are now standing between the fireplace, which has never had anything burning in it, above which hangs a very old painting that looks a lot like a frog version of 'American Gothic', and the low-slung coffee table that sits on an oversized lily pad that serves as a rug. Anne stands with her arms crossed beside the fireplace, while Marcy looks frantically around the room, trying to figure out what Anne is up to.

"Okay, so... What's your plan?", Marcy finally asks after realizing she can't come up with the answer on her own.

"Uhh, you're gonna like this", Anne voices excitedly. She turns to the painting above the fireplace and presses on the face of the two frogs depicted in its center.

"A hidden button?", Marcy observes in amazement.

The painting begins to turn ninety degrees to the right. The floor begins to shake. The stones representing the back of the fireplace begin to expose a passage and even the firewood splits in two.

Marcy gasps heavily.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh," Marcy bursts out, "It's a secret basement..."

Anne smirks at her girlfriend as she observes the door mechanism in awe. She turns her head at Anne.

"You've been down there before, right?!", Marcy asks to which Anne nods. Grinning, she holds out a hand to Marcy, which she immediately accepts. In the other hand, she is holding her phone, on which she has activated the flashlight.

Marcy giggles nonstop as Anne leads her down the dark tunnel deep beneath the Plantars' farm. The entire passage is filled with spider webs, small roots that hang along the walls of the tunnel or directly from the ceiling. The steps the two girls descend, are made of unusually large stone slabs.

"So... how come you know this place?", Marcy asks as they continue to head downwards.

"Well, Sprig accidentally found the button in the painting upstairs, so of course we had to go explore the place. This is where I went down here with him and Polly and we found a couple of rooms. However, we hadn't really explored everything because we ended up just wanting to get out of here because the fireplace gate was closing behind us."

"... Does it do that now as well?", Marcy asks, just before a stony crash shakes both girls to their very core.

"Yup," Anne confirms in a not very surprised tone, "We're trapped now."

"You... you do know how to get out of here though, right?", Marcy asks cautiously.

"Of course... There are two possible ways. We can either go through the whole tunnel system or we can simply go back. There's a button on the inside of the fireplace door.", Anne tells her in a calm manner.

"Good to know"

"Yeah... Just found that by accident when Hop Pop ran blindly down here once we got back upstairs, and we had to rescue him", Anne recalls, to which Marcy chuckles.

More than ten minutes pass before they arrive at the place Anne has identified for herself as their destination. Before that, Anne took Marcy through three different rooms. Well, actually only through two, but a third one was just too interesting for Marcy to just walk by.

On the way to the first room, the two girls came to a fork in the tunnel. As Anne was about to go down the right tunnel, Marcy asked what was on the left. Anne didn't know and Marcy ran into the tunnel, eager to explore. Anne ran after her and they were utterly stunned to find themselves in a cave that was partly rock, partly wood and other soils. Marcy merely commented that she had forgotten that the Plantars' house was merely a stump of a tree that must have been possibly hundreds of meters tall, and that they were now in its root system. In general, it was quite dim, but not totally dark. Only a few very faintly luminescent mushrooms on the roots made the scale of the cave somewhat imaginable. Well, those and small glowing dots on the cave ceiling, they made it seem as if the two girls were standing under a clear night sky with twinkling stars. Anne enjoyed this quiet, night-like atmosphere very much. In Marcy, however, this gloominess triggered a slight anxiety, which she found difficult to explain. She asked Anne to continue back with her, and after some hesitation, she agreed and they returned to the fork in the tunnels, this time taking the right tunnel to the first room known to Anne.

The first room was the research laboratory of the Plantar ancestor Skip Plantar. It was filled with several preservation jars on large shelves, cells sealed with rusted iron bars connecting to the lab, and in one of the cells was still the oversized, four-legged pumpkin monster that Sprig had trapped there when he was first there with Anne and Polly. While Anne was still surprised to find that it was still alive, Marcy began examining all the shelves. She quickly came to the conclusion that this was a gene lab where Ancestor Plantar was trying to create intelligent plants. The mention of intelligent plants brought back a bad memory for Anne of the day she and the Plantars left for Newtopia, where she was responsible for several intelligent plants destroying the Plantars' home. The house was quickly rebuilt later and the Plantars forgave her, but nevertheless the feelings of guilt came up again briefly. Briefly, though, only because Anne was brought back by the fact that Marcy was about to pull on the same lever that Sprig once pulled which released the pumpkin monster. Anne sprinted to Marcy and fortunately was able to stop her from making the same mistake. Shortly after, Anne suggested that they move on. Marcy agreed, but only on the condition that she would return at a later time to document everything.

The two girls gathered at the hole in the floor at the end of the lab, which led into the next room. Although the lab also had another exit, right next to the hole, the two girls wanted to stick with Anne's plan. They carefully climbed down into the room below. Anne first, Marcy after, so Anne could support her. The two girls found themselves in PolliAnna Plantar's armory and training simulator. While Anne summarized her story, Marcy looked around the room in amazement, marveling at all the weapons hanging on the walls. From swords, to daggers, to axes and spears and morning stars, every conceivable type of weapon was there. Anne tells that PolliAnna was a turnip farmer and lived out her warrior life down here, protecting the village and participating in countless battles all over Amphibia. With nothing more for the two girls to do in the room, they scurried through the training simulator and arrived where they are standing right now.

In front of a brown-gray wall. With a toggle switch next to it.

Anne flips the switch and the wall in front of them, moves upwards. In the middle of the room is a rather massive looking rock that also moves upwards, exposing a closed door.

"Welcome to the Emma the Newt-Plantar puzzle and game room", Anne announces and Marcy's eyes widen with excitement.

Marcy runs down the narrow path and stands in the middle of the room to capture everything.

"Oversized chess pieces, a frog version of Tic-Tac-Toe, puzzle boxes and...", she gasps as she spots a self-drawn map on the floor with a thick book next to it, which she picks up and opens, "An ancient Amphibia version of Dungeons and Dragons..."

She hugs the book tightly as Marcy's joy and excitement fills the room. Anne now walks down the narrow path as well.

"Anne, this place is amazing... Now I know why you thought I would like this place. I could probably spend an eternity here."

"Well maybe, but that's not why we're here.", Anne states.

"Huh?", Marcy asks both disappointed and sad at the same time. Like a sad puppy.

"See the door?", Anne asks to which Marcy nods, "It's a puzzle door. The puzzle has to be solved for it to open."

"Okay... And how does that help with my powers?", Marcy asks curiously.

"That's the tricky part: once you start, a large part of the ceiling starts to descend on you, threatening to crush you if you're not fast enough", Anne explains suspiciously calmly.

"So, I would be under time pressure, I see... Isn't that a little too dangerous?", Marcy asks, being somewhat concerned about Anne being so calm about all that.

"It's doable. I did it too, after all. I have full confidence that you, as the puzzle master that you are, will solve this puzzle in time and-or activate your powers.", Anne tries to put her girlfriend at ease, "It's basically like the game 'Slacker Stackers'. Or 'Tetris'…"

"Anne!", Marcy exclaims, "If you remember, this is the only puzzle I've never been able to solve."

"And that's where your powers come in. And don't worry, if it doesn't work out, I'll stand next to you and get us out if things get cramped", Anne states confidently.

"Are you sure you're able to consciously summon your powers?", Marcy asks nervously.

Anne closes her eyes. Seconds later, a blue aura begins to form around Anne, her hair turns bright blue, the leaves and twigs inside spread out, and when Anne opens her eyes again, her glowing blue eyes are back as well. She maintains this state for a while before quickly changing back to her normal form.

"See? I have everything under control", Anne radiates with confidence. Marcy chuckles briefly.

"I guess the training worked well for you".

"Well, I simply know exactly which memory I need to bring up... You can do this, MarMar. I believe in you", Anne tells her. She smiles briefly in response; however, insecurity still floods her brain as she stands in front of the door.

Marcy takes a deep breath and looks at the puzzle on the door.

'Different stones of different sizes... Some with symbols... Two circles, an inverted triangle, a cardinal rose, and two lozenges...', Marcy internally takes stock of what's in front of her.

She looks nervously at Anne, who, standing next to her, smiles confidently. She takes another deep breath.

Marcy touches the first stone and slowly pulls it all the way down, to the bottom row, where there is a suitable gap. After releasing it, her gaze slowly wanders upwards to check if the ceiling is already moving towards her. Luckily, it does not.

She glances at Anne.

"Keep going", she says in a motivating tone.

Feeling marginally relieved, Marcy continues.

'The bottom row is already filled... So far so good'

Marcy moves them next stones to the two rows above. And just as she has moved the last correct stone into the third row, almost proud of herself for thinking she somehow outsmarted the ceiling trap, the floor begins to shake briefly.

Marcy looks up. The ceiling begins to move downwards.

"This is the sudden death round", Anne remarks. Marcy turns to face her.

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM?", she shouts in a slight panic before turning back to the door and noticing various shaped stone groupings moving down from above.

'L-shape, three-straight, two-straight, another L-shape...'

Small rock fragments begin to fall down around Marcy as the ceiling continues to move towards her. She is finding it hard to concentrate.

'Another- no... There's a gap. WHY IS THERE A GAP?'

There is a single one-by-one gap in the second highest row. She has to undo her previous actions while more and more puzzle pieces appear.

The ceiling is now barely one meter above her fingers and steadily getting closer. Time is running out and Marcy becomes increasingly panicky, making more and more mistakes.

"Come on MarMar, you caannnn ddddddoooooo thhhaaaaaaa-"

Confused, Marcy turns to Anne. She is suddenly moving incredibly slow. She looks up at the ceiling and a small rock falls by next to her head as if in slow motion.

'Did... Did I just slow down TIME?'

Marcy pulls out her phone and looks at the reflection of the mirror. Her eyes glow green and her hairline very slowly turns the same color.

'Whoa', she exclaims mentally.

She closes her eyes briefly and takes a deep breath. When she opens them again, it's as if the solution to the door has been projected onto her eyes. She visualizes which of the bits that are visible must go where. She sorts the puzzle pieces one by one into their correct places.

All this while Anne is still in the process of cheering for Marcy and the ceiling has moved barely a few centimeters.

Time resumes at its regular pace and Marcy turns to Anne with pride. From her perspective, Marcy has solved the entire door puzzle in one single smooth motion.

"Wow", Anne exclaims as she sees Marcy standing in front of her. Her eyes glow the most beautiful bright green she has ever. Her hair also grew longer, now equally dyed green swirling through the air as if caught in the wind and with no regard for gravity. Compared to Anne's hair, in which leaves and branches spread when she activates her powers, little shells and corals formed in Marcy's hair.

"I did it Anne. I did it", she throws herself into Annes arms.

"Oh my frog... That was like- Wait. Hold on a second... Why isn't the door opening?", Anne is now anxious as well. Marcy looks up and the ceiling continues to move towards the two girls.

Anne sprints forward to the door and checks Marcy's solution.

"It's all correct. It should open", she says. She begins to push against the door with all her might. Marcy follows and helps her, with her powers still on.

Together they push against the door as hard as they can. It does not move.

"Shoot. I guess my powers don't come with super strength...", Marcy states. A sudden light goes on in Anne's head.

"Strength, that's what it is. You're a genius, Marbles", she says brightly, summoning her powers once again.

Anne pushes against the door with all her strength and it actually seems to move.

Slowly.

Too slowly.

And the ceiling comes closer and closer. It is only half a meter away above their heads now.

As Anne continues to push and the door opens piece by piece, Marcy turns and catches sight of the ceiling in increasing panic, just about to crush them.

'Come on, slow down time again. Come on. For Anne'

Anne pushes and pushes and the gap is wide enough for a single arm to fit through. Marcy closes her eyes and holds one hand forward with her palm down. It's a move she's picked up from endless superhero movies and series.

'Come on... Come on!'

Marcy feels as if she has grabbed something and instinctively pulls it up. The floor cracks open. Some kind of triangular green force field shoots out of the ground and surrounds the two girls protectively.

With a loud bang, the ceiling hits the floor.

Both girls freeze in their position in the expectation of not supposed to be alive anymore.

Several seconds of silence pass before Marcy dares to open her eyes again.

"Wha-", Marcy begins, completely stunned and speechless. Anne opens her eyes as well and slowly turns around.

They both catch sight of green, translucent force fields that have formed in a triangular shape around the two girls all the way up to the door. They look through it and see the rock behind and above them, which nearly crushed them.

"Was- was that you?", Anne asks Marcy with wide eyes.

"I... I think so, yeah.", Marcy says, still somewhat stunned. She turns to Anne.

"You saved us...", Anne leans forward, wrapping Marcy tightly in her arms and pressing her lips to hers again, "I'm soo grateful to have you in my life, you know that?"

Marcy smiles and her powers gradually begin to fade again. The same goes for the force field. Fortunately, the triangular form, molten into the stone, remains in place.

"I think we'd better get out of here now", Marcy notes. Anne agrees, with a giggle. She turns back to the door, finally opening it wide enough for both girls to squeeze through. Once they are through, Anne also lets her powers disappear again.

"Yeah... You know, I think that was my worst best idea ever. I'm sorry that I put you in danger."

---

[The Toad]

Four days ago...

Captain Grime had just accompanied General Yunan to the stables outside the tower and is now back inside and on his way back to the command room. About on the bottom third, the human approaches him. He notices immediately that something has gone wrong. Her eyes are all wet and she looks like she's going to start crying at any moment.

"Captain, General Yunan will be back in a few days. I will try to establish a new dialogue with the rebellion and act as a negotiator. Have you already given the order to release the captured rebels?", she asks him in a broken voice. She avoids his gaze.

"I have just sent the messengers with proper instructions.", he counters, "Um, may I ask-"

"No, you may not. Goodbye, Captain.", she says goodbye and briskly disappears down the stairs.

A little later, he follows her at arm's length. He follows her out the main gate and merely sees her and the General flying away on their Sparrow.

He growls distrustfully, and makes his way back upstairs, where he had left his lieutenant alone with her friend earlier.

He arrives at the top of the stairs in front of the iron door to the command room, and before he even opens it, he can already hear Sasha talking to herself in an angered tone.

"-of course she's going to embarrass me like that; She's always been like that. What's next? That her clumsiness was always just an act- ... Ugh, of course it was always just an act. No one is could be that clumsy- It all makes sense now-"

"LIEUTENANT!", Grime enters the room. But Sasha ignores him, continuing to pace up and down with her blood boiling within her veins.

"Little, clumsy, helpless Marcy- tze... Sure..."

"SASHA!", Grime roars.

"WHAT?", Sasha yells back, with all the power in her voice, "DON'T YOU SEE THAT I'M FUCKING BUSY?"

"What's your frog-damn problem?", Grime demands bewildered, "What did you do?"

"What did I do? I?", Sasha rage only worsens and is now directed at Grime as well, "That bitch Marcy betrayed me and teamed up with Anne! ... Do you wanna join them too now?"

Sasha stomps towards him with her rage out of control. In fact, he thinks he can see her hair has started to catch fire.

"You should think carefully about what you're going to say next...", Grime tries to threaten her. Sasha clenches her fists.

"AND THEN WHAT, GRIME? WHAT? TELL ME!", Sasha thinks he's bluffing. He growls, running head first into Sasha, hitting her in the stomach and throwing her to the ground. With all his body weight, he now holds her arms to the ground.

"Snap out of it, Lieutenant!", and that was the last thing Sasha wanted to hear at that moment. She rips her arms free from him, grabs him and smashes him against the door. Painfully, he straightens up again, his eyes widening in shock as he catches sight of Sasha stomping straight at him: Her previously blonde hair is burning like crimson-pink fire. No, her hair is the fire. Sasha's eyes have changed color, too: They are bright pink. Her presence is as intimidating as ever before. Even for Grime.

Sasha lunges for the punch. Grime stands with his back to the door. He ducks quickly and Sasha hits the door, causing it to break out of its hinges and come crashing down the stairs.

"What the fuck...?", Sasha mumbles uncomprehendingly as she backs up a few steps from the door. Slowly and slightly distraught, she unclenches her fists and looks at her now slightly shaking hands.

As Grime slowly stands back up, Sasha pulls a shiny polished dagger from one of her boots and reluctantly looks at her reflection, then looks at Grime.

"I could have killed you...", she mutters, her voice deeply filled with regret. She stumbles backwards against the large table that stands in the center of the room, but instead of sitting down on it, she falls to the floor next to it. "What have I done?"

Grime takes a few steps up to Sasha, who is now burying her face in her knees, which she has pulled up to her chest. He kneels down next to her.

"Lieutenant- umm, Sasha...", he begins in an unusually caring tone for him, "I don't know... if I'm the most competent person here when it comes to friendships... I never had what you had. I was raised as a fighter, a warrior. All those who were not under my command were competitors or rivals for seats of power... I know you feel betrayed and hurt right now because your friends didn't act the way you wanted them to. But they are not your subjects-"

"But we had always done everything together...", she interrupts him, " We never had any disagreements. They had always gone along with what... what..."

"-what you wanted... Right?", Sasha doesn't reply to Grime's question, "You lost them. But not in the sense that they don't want you in your life anymore, or be your friend anymore, you just no longer have complete control over them."

Grime puts a hand on Sasha's shoulder.

"It's perfectly okay to be hurt and angry about the whole thing. Once. And then you move on."

Sasha snorts briefly in agreement placing her own hand on top of Grime's.

"I think that was some of the best advice I've ever gotten."

"Command skills alone won't get you anywhere in life. Sometimes it just takes a little wisdom and life experience. You'll get there", Grime continues, to which Sasha chuckles slightly.

"Okay, I think that's enough wisdom for now... Captain."

Grime stands back up straight again.

"Very good, Lieutenant. Then maybe now you can tell me what the deal is with all that stuff...", he requests, pointing at Sasha's still crimson-pink, fire-like hair.

---

Today...

Sasha is at the training facility at Toad Tower, along with a few other Toads. For today there are no general plans, so Grime had ordered physical exercise for the day for everyone. A large part of the Toads is busy with endurance training, while Sasha and a few others try their hand at combat training.

The Toads fight each other, wearing full armor and using wooden swords, while Sasha trains her powers, which she discovered a few days ago. At first, she had spent ages staring at herself in front of the mirror in her own room, trying to figure out if she could actually light anything on fire with her crimson-pink fire-like hair. (Un)fortunately, this is not possible. While her hair is warmer than normal, it's not hot enough to burn or even scorch anything.

Training for her powers over the last few days has produced another necessity that she needs to get under control and practice: Self-control and emotional self-regulation. She can only invoke her powers when she is excessively angry and only turn them off when she has calmed down again. Although this is a difficult and, as Sasha herself has recognized, tedious task, she is optimistic about it.

Currently, Sasha is testing her limits in terms of her newfound physical strength, juggling tower stones that normally have to be carried by two strong toads, under great effort.

Suddenly there is a knock at the door to the training facility.

"Um, Sasha?", it's Percy, perking through the door.

"WHAT?", she shouts at him in a rage. He flinches, completely terrified. Sasha, fortunately, quickly realizes her mistake, puts down the stones, and contemplates for the moment until her powers disappear, and she has her normal form and mental state restored. "I'm sorry. What's up Percy?"

He is still trembling slightly.

"Um, there's someone at the main gate who wants to see Grime. And he said he didn't want to be disturbed, so..."

"Good thinking, Percy. I'll be right there", Sasha says.

Sasha's training outfit for the day consists mostly of her regular uniform, minus just a few items. She is wearing her regular rust-brown metallic boots and the light gray leggings underneath the gray skirt. Plus, the studded belt underneath her gray t-shirt. She doesn't wear the cape, the gloves, the brown pauldron and the brown breastplate today, because all that would be too disturbing and would possibly bring restrictions due to the extra weight.

Sasha now makes her way to the main gate of the tower with no time to change. She opens the gate and in front of her stands a single female Toad, looking at her in confusion.

"What type of creature are you?", she asks Sasha. Sasha just rolls her eyes.

"I'm Lieutenant Sasha Waybright, second-in-command under Captain Grime. That's all you need to know.", Sasha explains with an unimpressed, neutral expression, "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Yes, it seems appropriate that I introduce myself as well, creature. I am Captain Beatrix, Lord of the West Tower and one of the three Lords commanding the collected forces of the Toad Army, and I request an audience with Captain Grime immediately. It has come to my attention that he is in need of... help."

With a critical eye, Sasha eyes the toad standing before her.

Like Grime, Beatrix is middle-aged with swamp green skin and a light green underbelly with dark green spots. Her knee-length gray-green hair is braided into a braid at her shoulders, which she lets hang down in front of her shoulder. She has one eye with a green pupil, no iris and green sclera, and one eye with lavender sclera, a light pink iris and no pupil, over which runs a healed but visible scar. Her outfit looks quite official.

A purple uniform with orce buttons on it and a medal on her right side. She has flat shoulder pads decorated with spikes and bristles and a belt whose golden belt buckle is shaped like the deaths'-head moth. Her uniform is rounded off with ochre gloves and brown boots.

"Alright, I'll escort you to his office", Sasha relents and lets Captain Beatrix in. Although still slightly doubtful of the authenticity of her story.

"No need, I know where he is", Beatrix pushes Sasha aside and walks past her towards the stairs upstairs.

"That was not a suggestion", Sasha says with gritted teeth.

"Fine, fine..."

Sasha leads her up the tower, up to the command room. The iron door has not yet been replaced, nor repaired, so a wooden door now stands in its place. Sasha knocks.

"Captain Grime... There's someone here to see you-"

"Out of the way, creature!", Beatrix again pushes Sasha aside once again and kicks in the door. Sasha has to pull herself together pretty hard right now.

Grime is sitting at the table in the middle of the room, his face turned toward the door. Beatrix laughs as she enters the room.

"Grimothy!", she yells and runs toward Grime.

"Beatrix?", he asks, just before she puts him in a headlock.

"You two know each other?", Sasha wonders. Grime was about to answer her first, but Beatrix beats him to it.

"But of course we know each other. He's my younger brother. Ain't that right, lil bro?", Grime merely growls in response.

"What the hell are you doing here, Beatrix?", Grime demands to know after he breaks free from her headlock.

"I heard that you asked the council for help in dealing with a tiny frog rebellion...", she says dismissively.

"And you're offering to help him?", Sasha asks her, to which she starts laughing out loud.

"Oh no, not at all. His begging for help demonstrates his weakness, and such a thing has no business in his position. I am here to witness his downfall".

"Good!", Grime stands up straight and faces Beatrix, "Then you are welcome to join us tomorrow for the negotiations..."

"Negotiations?", Beatrix is honestly shocked as these words left Grime's mouth, "You don't negotiate with frogs, do you? You put them down... Negotiations, tze... Grimothy, you bring shame upon yourself. ... I'm taking a room. I want to see your downfall with my own eyes."

And with that Beatrix leaves the command room again. She looks disappointed before closing the door behind her.

"So, you have a sister?", Sasha asks after a moment of silence. With an annoyed look, he looks at Sasha and growls in confirmation.

"She's my older sister. Remember when I was talking about rivals and competitors? She was the most dominant of them all. She's probably the toughest toad warrior in all of Amphibia. The art of war is natural to her..."

"Sounds like you despise and admire her at the same time...", Sasha observes.

"I would love to kick her out, but as a member of the Council, she outranks me. She gets to take what she wants and do what she wants.", Grime explains.

"And she chose to make fun of you?"

"You don't seem to have any siblings... Making fun of me is the whole point of her life.", he explains, at which point an idea strikes Sasha.

"What would you say if we try to make this as hard as possible for her?", Sasha suggests. Grime is curious.

"I'm listening..."

"Tomorrow is the meeting with the representatives of the rebellion. And the way I estimate these frogs, they will be upset with everything, no matter what we do. So, it will lead to a war"

"A war that we will lose."

"A week ago, I would have agreed with you. But we do have a secret weapon now. Me.", This gets Grime thinking, "You defeat the frogs with my help and by doing so you take away any possibility of her making fun of you ever again. ... And perhaps she'll even stop calling me merely by 'creature'."

Grime snorts in amusement.

"I like this plan.", a slight grin spreads across Grime's face, "So be it. Beatrix will regret coming here"