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

38. Saying Goodbye is Never Easy

TW: Verbal Abuse. Skip from \&&&/ to /&&&\

(Reading on AO3 recommended)

---

"You know, this is definitely not what I had in mind when you told me that we were going to visit the place where you grew up at..."

"Disgusting, isn't it?"

"No, it's actually beautiful. And way nicer than the cave we hid in yesterday."

"Same thing."

Immediately after Sasha and Grime got rid of his sister, both of them had set out to find shelter for the night, and maybe even something good to eat.

They had made it to Stonygulch Lake after several hours of walking. Together they caught a few fish using spears they had quickly sharpened from tree branches, roasting them over a campfire they had set up in front of a small, dry, but moss-covered cave.

After a night's restful sleep, they packed up camp, covered their tracks, and set off toward Epi-Tome. They made it about three-quarters of the way until Grime suggested they take a slight detour.

This 'slight' detour ultimately consisted of marching through a lot of sand, past what looked like an abandoned Barbari-Ant colony, and a few small hills before they ultimately found themselves at a huge grain farm.

"Touch any of these plants and you die.", Grime warns Sasha as they enter a path in between all the plants.

"WHAT?", she exclaims terrified as Grime shuts her up.

"Keep. Your voice. Down!", he orders her quietly, to which she nods. "Every single one of these plants contains a poison that causes symptoms of poisoning even at the slightest touch, and very quickly leads to an agonizing death..."

"Why would anyone do such a thing?", Sasha asks disgustedly.

"Because she wants to be left alone at all costs."

"She? Who?"

"You will see soon..."

"Okay, let me recap: You and I are walking onto a farm owned by a woman who wants to be left alone so badly, that she grows plants that will kill you on contact?"

"Well, look at it this way: frogs and newts usually know that these plants contain deadly poison. Frogs from being farmers, and Newts because they're all nerds. For Toads, this area is too ugly to ever have a reason to enter. And the rest, like hostile creatures, or people who are just too stupid, just die."

Sasha doesn't know how to react appropriately to this information, and merely walks alongside Grime, though now particularly keen on not getting too close to the plants under any circumstances.

The path goes straight for about a hundred meters before a slight bend reveals a very cozy-looking cottage. A foundation of smooth white sandstone, softly transitioning into large, almost rectangular stones that form the outer walls, and a roof of compacted thatch with protruding wooden planks.

Next to the door, which is incongruous with the rest of the house and consists only of wooden boards held together with iron clips, is a window under which some wild flowers have been planted.

As they approach the door, Grime speaks up.

"Take a step to the side, don't stand right in front of the door!", he whispers. Sasha does as she's told when suddenly an axe bursts through the wooden door and hits the ground about eight meters away, stuck upright.

"WHO IS THERE?", a very rough, female voice comes from inside the house.

"It's me!", Grime yells back. Sasha gives him a confused look. For a moment, there is silence.

"Beatrix?", the voice asks.

"It's Grime."

"Who?", the voice asks, at which Grime sighs in annoyance.

"Grimothy.", he admits embarrassedly after some hesitation. The door suddenly flies out of its holders, landing a similar distance as the axe. Both Grime and Sasha look after it in surprise, when suddenly an old toad steps out of the house. An old toad with swamp green, leathery, and wart-covered skin. She has an eye patch covering one eye that is screwed directly onto her skull, while her other dull yellow eye appears to be intact. Her gray, knee-length hair is held together with a tied braid, as she's wearing a faded, reddish-brown leather jacket, what appears to be an old version of the Toad Army crest embroidered on it. She emerges from the house, with another oversized axe casually leaning over her shoulder, immediately turning to Grime, really not happy to see him.

"WHAT are you doing here?", she pulls her axe around, holding its head threateningly against his throat, almost hitting Sasha in the progress.

"Hey, watch it!", Sasha shouts. The old toad merely catches glimpses of her as she looks over her shoulder, before turning back to Grime.

"And what is THAT thing? Looks like a pale, deformed newt...", she's still threatening him with her axe. And Sasha tries her best not to be offended.

"This is Sasha, my second-in-command.", Grime explains, "She's from another world."

"Still looks like a damn newt to me... So, what are you doing here? Why did you leave your post?", she questions him in a very dismissive tone.

"The Toad Council has ordered us to check on you, since Beatrix is currently rather... occupied. They are concerned that you have not accepted the invitation to the anniversary celebration of King Andrias' reign.", she just scoffs at that.

"Just because I've done my service for almost seventy years doesn't mean I have to attend every frog-damned social event. I'm eighty-nine, and I left the Army for a reason. Why do you think I'm stuck in this disgusting shithole?", Sasha eyed this conversation with interest, "Feel free to tell the council that I'm fine, and they can take their invitations and shove them in their corrupt throats. ... You can leave now."

"You know, the council is really interested in wanting us to making sure you're okay. Why don't you let us stay the night, and you'll get rid of us first thing in the morning. What do you say, Mother?"

"MOTHER?", Sasha suddenly exclaims in total shock. The toad turns around with a smirk on her face.

"You don't have any idea who I am, do you, Newt?", she asks her, to which Sasha just shakes her head. "I am Zadarinth, winner over the Frog Rebellion of '48, Slayer of the Arena of Caecilian, former leader of the Frog Council-, and Captain of the North Tower. I was the first toad to ever circumnavigate Amphibia in a boat. I was the first toad to ever climb Amphibia's highest mountain, Mount Mutu, and also return to talk about it. And I was the first toad to defeat King Andrias in Flipwart. You can call me Zada."

Grime remains uncharacteristically silent, while Sasha is visibly impressed.

"Well, I'm honored...", Sasha bows slightly.

"So, mother, what do you say? May we spend the night here before returning back to the council to report?", Grime asks. His mother is silent for a moment while her gaze lingers on Sasha.

"I guess I would have a room available that I'm not currently using. Come on in."

Zadarinth walks past the two to retrieve her axe and the door, when Grime suddenly pulls Sasha down to him.

"Do not believe anything she tells you."

At that, Zada also comes back with her two axes in one arm, and the door under the other.

"What are you waiting for? Get in there!", she commands, "I had made soup before you showed up. Sit down, and I can tell you a few more stories about me."

\&&&/

Immediately behind the front door is a small joint cooking and dining area, which already looks hugely different from the exterior of the building. While everything is bright and surprisingly colorful outside, the walls inside are covered in the same way Sasha remembers from Toad Tower: Dark stone walls, dark wooden doors, and weapons lying around everywhere.

Zada sits down at a small table made of solid black oak, with two chairs standing by it, made of sawed-off tree trunks. On the table is a single bowl of soup. She invites Sasha to sit across from her, and orders Grime to do the dishes while Zada sits down, continuing to eat her soup, and beginning to tell Sasha stories about her life.

"Tell me, Newt, how old are you? Thirty? Forty?", Zada asks her.

"Wut?", she quietly asks herself, "I'm thirteen... And still not a newt."

"Whatever, Newt.", Sasha gives her death glares, but says nothing. After all, she is sitting across Grime's mother. "Thirteen it is, hmm... Well then, let me tell you the story of the Frog Rebellion of '48.", she eats a bit of her soup before continuing, "It was in the dead of winter. My whole unit was on a training exercise, when we heard that there was an uprising in Frog Valley. The unit consisted of five hundred Toads, and I was their leader. We had struggled all the way down into this cursed valley, where there is only one way in- and out.", Sasha suspiciously eyes Grime, who is still washing up. He seems as if he is deliberately ignoring her, but she herself continues to listen, "The frogs had somehow managed to overrun and loot the tower in the valley. We were outnumbered a hundred to one. We knew it was a good day to die, so we fought like there was no tomorrow... It was truly glorious."

"And how did end?", Sasha asks.

"Out of my five hundred soldiers, I was the only one who survived. I beheaded the last armed frog myself before the rest of them whimpered and surrendered to me." Suddenly, a glassy shattering sound is heard. Both Sasha and Zada turn their heads before Zada begins to scream.

"GRIMOTHY, YOU USELESS WASTE OF A BRAIN!", she yells at the top of her lungs, making even Sasha flinch. She throws her chair backwards and stomps towards Grime with heavy steps, "I LET YOU IN MY HOUSE, AND THIS IS HOW YOU THANK ME? BY DESTROYING MY STUFF?", Grime merely looks at her in silence, along with an almost bored look on his face. Sasha, on the other hand, holds her breath in shock, as the toad she looks up to is being put down like this, and she herself doesn't know what to do, but still is getting angrier at every single word out of the old toad's mouth. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID HERE! BEA WOULD NEVER HAVE DONE SOMETHING LIKE THIS, AND IT'S ONLY BECAUSE OF YOUR OWN SHEER STUPIDITY THAT I HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT NOW! ... BUT FIRST I WILL DEAL WITH YOU!", Zada cracks her fists and lunges to strike at her son, who continues to just stand there. Her fist almost hits him in the face when suddenly something grabs her, throwing her at once, straight across the room. She clutches at the floor and rips meter-long furrows in it before looking back up, noticing a reddish-pink burning Sasha.

"ENOUGH!", Sasha yells towards her, who has moved to stand in front of Grime, "I don't give a shit who you are, or what kind of tales you've made up about your past... No one, and I mean no one, attacks my commander!"

Zada grins at her as she picks up a sword from the ground.

"Oh, you'll regret this, Newt!"

"I. AM. NOT. A. NEWT!", she yells before Zada jumps up from the ground full force, aiming her sword directly at Sasha's head.

Mid-swing, Sasha grabs the blade with her bare hand. Stunned, Zada looks at her, trying to free herself from her grip.

"Impossible...", Zada is stunned.

"You know, it wasn't too long ago that another toad had similarly challenged me. You may know her. Her name is Beatrix-"

"Bea… WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER?", Zada screams, but this time not in anger, but in worry.

"She got what she deserved.", Sasha explains coldly, still holding the steel blade, "And you deserve this!"

Sasha tightens her fist, her fingers forming cracks in the steel of the sword, until it suddenly shatters into a thousand shards. Completely stunned, Zada, as well as Grime, though less so, watches as the individual splinters fall to the ground.

"Grime, we're leaving!", Sasha grabs Grime and drags him out of the house, where his mother is still crying after the sword. And Grime, now more talkative again, walks alongside the still furious Sasha.

/&&&\

"Huh, that went better than expected. If you keep this up, you're going to make my whole family your enemy-"

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?", Sasha yells. She realizes her mistake immediately and lets her powers fade away again, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell."

"Already forgiven."

"So, what was that? Why were you acting so weird? Why is your mother so... urgh.", Grime actually laughs at that.

"She's always been like that. I had learned at some point that she was beyond help.", he explains, "And in case you're wondering if any of what she told you was true: No. Well, almost."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she was part of a unit of five hundred, but she wasn't the leader of anything. It's also true that her unit was part of the Toads who lost their lives during the Rebellion of '48. She was also the only survivor because she ran away. She told the council that she defeated the rebellion, which is why they gave her command of the North Tower. About twenty years ago, another survivor came up and told the council the truth. For her cowardice, the Council sent the Toad Army after her, but she went into hiding, right here. If she would ever set foot in Toad territory again, she would be executed immediately."

"But you know her hideout?!"

"As I said earlier, I grew up here. Mother never had any friends, never left this place- it makes sense that she hid here."

"And you never told anyone?"

"I never bothered to care about her...", he tells her, "I've known from Beatrix for a few years that she was hiding here, but I myself haven't seen her since I joined the Toad Army in my youth."

"Wait a second...", Sasha stops both herself and Grime, "So you only took this 'detour' so that I could meet your mother, so that I feel obliged tell you about my parents afterwards, didn't you? It was never about us being able to get rest there, was it?"

Grime hesitates briefly, "Umm... Yes, fine, alright. You got me."

"If I do tell you about my parents, will you stop bugging me then?"

"But of course."

"Ughh... Fine.", Sasha grunts before taking one deep breath, "About ten years before I was born, my parents founded a company: 'Waybright and Waldschmidt', or WWS for short. It was a finance company. My father had taken care of business transactions and generally more of the behind-the-scenes stuff, while my mother was the face of the company. At the time of my birth, WWS had twenty-seven locations in seventeen countries worldwide. Back then, it was one of the fifty richest companies in the world, and even managed to hold that for a long time. In short: I had a good start in life. My parents were always working, but still had time to take me everywhere when they traveled somewhere. Until I was about four or five, everything was great, generally speaking.", but at that, Sasha sighs, "Around that time, however, my parents found out that they were both cheating on each other. What followed were months of fighting and yelling at home. While they were getting divorced, and getting legal advice from their divorce lawyers, there was some sort of marital war going on between them, and they were trying to take each other out as hard as they could, with no regard for anything. Including me. They had fought about how to divide their assets, they had tried to manipulate each other out of their company, and as an result, they completely forgot about me."

"You can remember back that far?", Grime wonders.

"It's part of my earliest memories. Of course, I didn't know the details of what it was about at the time. I only found out several years later."

"What happened next?"

"Well, it was a nasty and hateful divorce. The company was forced to split up, and both of them lost a lot of money. And from that point on, they had their minds set on getting their money back, while I myself was only ever number two or even three on their priority-list. My father remarried a few years ago, and I have lived with him continuously since the divorce. And while he had never told me himself, I do know I was never an issue in the divorce talks... I know that my mother is currently dating a guy who has children of his own. I only met them once though on the funeral of my grandpa, my mom's father."

"And how is your relationship with them today?", Grime asks, "Your parents I mean. Do you think they miss you?"

"Doubt it.", she replies coldly, "Admittedly, I don't even think they noticed I'm gone. As I said, they stopped caring about me after their divorce. They did the bare minimum: They provided food, housing, they enrolled me in schools... If I wanted to go somewhere, their chauffeurs drove me. If I wanted to go on vacation, they paid for it, but never came with me because they were always working..."

"To be honest, it does sound to me like you had it pretty good.", Grime comments, "While they may not have been there for you emotionally or physically, you didn't lack for anything else, did you?"

"You sound just like my child therapist from back then right now.", Sasha comments, "But yeah, guess you're not necessarily wrong about that. And especially when- … when Marcy and- … and Anne came into my life... Well, I was doing okay...", she sniffs, "Is that all you wanted to know?"

"You don't have to continue. It's getting late. Let's find a place to sleep."

It was already dark, the red moon already far up in the sky, and eventually they were both too tired to search any longer, so they hid somewhere away in a small forest to sleep for a few hours.

When they woke up later, reasonably rested, they went straight back on their way towards Epi-Tome.

The way there not only was extremely uneventful, but also quite boring. The only somewhat interesting thing was the backdrop, which consisted of Newtopia to their left near the horizon, and Death's Eye Mountain to their immediate right, billowing smoke from its maw.

It is around noon when both of them gradually approach the outer limits of Epi-Tome. The town, or rather village, consists only of a few dilapidated-looking huts, surrounded in all directions by nothing but red sand. The two of them approach a sign.

---

EPI-TOME

Population: 0

- It's not pronounced the way you think it is -

---

"A ghost town... Great.", Sasha comments, observing the sign, Grime standing next to her.

"We should be cautious in case whatever ruined this village like this is still around.", Grime tries to warn her, though Sasha shrugs it off.

"Well, since someone was probably here before to work on this sign, it probably doesn't seem too bad.", Sasha notes, "Also, I think the people here just left because there's just sand here. And nothing else."

"Just... keep your eyes open.", Grime proposes.

At that, both of them leave the sign behind, and enter the ruined village. Sasha is rather calm about it, while Grime permanently peers around over his shoulder, somewhat tense the whole time.

"Stop that!", Sasha calls out to him in a whisper, "You're going to drive me crazy with that..."

Sasha, however, quickly feels compelled to retract her last statement as they both suddenly hear various unidentifiable voices voicing from an indiscernible source. Both of them have a very strong suspicion about who it could be, but since they are both unarmed, they can't afford to be uncertain at the moment.

They brace themselves against the nearest wall of the house, sneaking along to the next corner. When Sasha looks around the corner and still cannot see anyone, they both sprint forward to the next house, and continue to approach the voices, which are still unintelligible. However, she has been able to make out a total of five different voices so far.

They continue to inch their way along the wall until they come to a half-shattered door. Sasha looks through it and finds that a large part of the opposite wall has also been destroyed, allowing a view of a plaza beyond. She enters the house, indicating to Grime to follow her.

Grime follows her crouching and crawling into the building, and they both squat crouched in front of a gap over the half wall. Sasha listens to two voices talking.

"Oh, come ooonn... We've only been here twenty minutes-"

"Right. Twenty minutes with no sign of them."

"Give them a little more time... I had written that they should meet us here at noon. And- and we don't even know how far they have to travel... I mean, we have Joe, and they... don't."

"Marcy, I'm not going to wait all day for Sasha to show up."

At that, Sasha stands up, immediately catching the attention of both Anne and Marcy.

"Hi Anne.", Sasha waves at Anne in an almost shy gesture, who is wearing part of the armor she saw her last time in, who in turn just stares at her. Marcy, on the other hand, is beaming with such joy that it's almost blinding as she runs towards Sasha with her arms wide open.

"SSAAAAASSSSHHHAAAAA!", she shouts running, just before she manages to hit her boot on a stone sticking out of the ground, falling right down. Fortunately, she gets back up immediately. "I'm okay."

Sasha climbs over half the wall of the house, at which point Grime also reveals himself, and runs to Marcy, but stops short of her. Without hesitation, Marcy pulls Sasha up into a tight hug.

"I missed you soo, so, so much... I'm soo sorry Beatrix had to take you away- I should have never allowed it-"

"Marc- Ma- Marcy.", Sasha breaks the hug, trying to get her to stop apologizing and instead listen to her, as she's holding her by her shoulders. "Marcy, you really don't need to apologize, it's alright."

"But-"

"And I'm really glad to see you too.", Sasha hugs Marcy again before turning to Anne, who is keeping a rather low profile. The two girls face each other wordlessly.

"How much did you overhear?", Anne asks at one point as Marcy weirdly observes her two friends.

"Twenty minutes.", Sasha repeats what she had heard. The expression on Anne's face remains unchanged.

"Alright.", Anne says before taking a deep breath, "This is how it's going to go now: On the way to- and also inside the temple, you will not approach the Plantars under any circumstances. Do you understand? Two meters distance minimum!"

"Got it.", Grime replies.

"Sure.", Sasha so agrees.

"Second: We'll just do this temple, and then we'll fly back to Wartwood. Nothing more.", Anne adds, at which Sasha, Marcy, and Grime look at each other questioningly.

"With... us, right?", Sasha asks hesitantly. Anne doesn't answer that directly.

"Let's get going.", she says, turning around, and walking away. After that, Sasha turns to Marcy.

"She must really hate me..."

"No, she doesn't hate you. She just... umm...", Marcy trails off, unable to find the right words.

"... hates me?", Sasha continues Marcy's sentence, at which she just shakes her head in response.

"Anne hasn't really been well since... well, I'd almost say since Luz disappeared-"

"Luz?", Sasha ponders for a moment, "Oh, yeah, right... the other girl. I barely met her. What happened?"

"Umm... I think she got possessed by some kind of ghost-wolf while we were in Newtopia, and it kinda sent her into another world.", Marcy explains, whereupon Sasha contorts her face at the idea of being possessed by something.

"Well, anyway-", she continues, "I'm quite sure she started blaming herself for that. Or more accurately, not just because of that, but also because of what she did to you after that dinner back then. I mean, she-"

"You don't need to remind me.", Sasha cuts her off, at which Marcy nods at her, acknowledging.

"My point is, she's been blaming herself for everything she's done ever since. Your injuries, the war... She's afraid of hurting the people she loves, even when she doesn't mean to. She's been a little better since the last temple, but she's still scared."

"That still doesn't explain why she's so hostile towards you, Sasha.", Grime interjects.

"I think, I can already imagine...", Sasha counters in a soft voice, "I mean, as much as she's hurt me, I've hurt her, and the people she cares about. She has every reason not to trust me."

"I really hope that you two can get along again someday, and the three of us can be friends again...", Marcy says wishfully, "She needs you, even if she won't admit it. She needs all the support she can get. And I think you do too."

"Wha-"

"SASHA!", Sasha's question is interrupted by a loud scream from Anne, which actually caused her to flinch, "Hurry up!"

The three of them immediately take their legs in their hands and hurry to the open plaza, where Anne, the Plantars, Marcy's bird, and a big robot are already waiting for them.

"Whoa...", Sasha comments in surprise when she sees the robot with the youngest frog perched on its shoulder. She notices this, turning herself and the robot around, facing her and Grime.

"That's right. I have my own robot. If you make even one single wrong move, Frobo will tear you apart!"

And if that threat itself isn't reason enough to be cautious, the robot lifts a large rock from the ground, and squeezes it between his massive, metal hands, leaving only dust falling back down. The other young frog stands next to Anne, who like herself, has his arms crossed, and the oldest one hides ever so slightly behind Anne's legs.

"Alright.", Grime speaks up, clapping his hands, getting everybody's attention, "Where exactly do we actually have to go for this... temple?"

"Oh, yeah, right.", Marcy heads to Anne's backpack, pulling out the music box. She pushes a few buttons, and the blue, charged gem, emerges. Marcy removes it from its holder, and an equally blue focused beam of light points toward the base of the volcano. "That way."

"Death's Eye Mountain, you're as good as ours!", the youngest frog celebrates herself, already running ahead on Frobo. The other two frogs, Marcy, and her bird as well. After another warning look, Anne follows them, and Sasha and Grime trail behind by a bit.

"Say, why are we helping them again?", Grime asks Sasha in a whisper.

A twenty-minute walk takes them out of the ruins of Epi-Tome, through another sandy area that gradually gives way to rocky ground, toward the base of the volcano, where the beam of light has led them.

On what appears to be a gate-shaped cliff face, pink drawings of pillars have appeared, along with text in Amphibian Runes. Sasha and Grime are among the last to catch up.

"Okay... What does it say?", Grime wonders, breathing heavily.

"Whoa man...", Anne speaks up, "You good? I thought you army guys were all in top shape..."

"In my defense: It's been a while since I've been exercising.", he says.

"Or had some real food.", Sasha adds.

"Oh oh oh.", Marcy speaks up and returns to Anne's backpack. "I figured you guys would be a quite under-supplied... so I brought you a little something. Tadaa!", After a short rummage, she pulls out a small can containing two sandwiches, which she hands to the two of them.

"Oh Marcy, you are a lifesaver.", Sasha takes a hearty bite out of the apparently more than delicious sandwich, and Marcy is only too happy to accept the praise.

"When did you make those?", Anne questions her. Not so much as an accusation, though, but more out of honest curiosity mixed with mild disapproval.

"Last night.", Marcy explains, "I was too excited and couldn't sleep... I made something for everyone, and I also packed water for everyone."

"Oh, so that's why my backpack is heavier than usual..."

"Well... back to topic...", Grime speaks between bites, "What does the runes say?"

Marcy takes out her notebook, and looks back and forth between the runes on the rock wall and the notes in her notebook with a questioning expression.

"Well, this can't be right... 'Lift to enter, brah?'", she translates.

The whole group exchanges questioning glances, and as Sasha was about to volunteer, the robot steps forward, lifting the massive rock like it's nothing.

"Wow."

"Way to go, Frobo.", the oldest frog praises him. At that, Anne steps forward.

"Alright guys, let's crush this temple!", she shouts enthusiastically, and everyone runs into the temple. Well, almost everyone. Marcy's bird has lain down and is taking a nap, and Sasha and Grime are still looking in amazement at the robot, who has been ordered to watch the bird.

"Seriously now: Why are we helping them?", Grime asks again before he and Sasha make their way into the mountain entrance as well.

As soon as they step into the rather dark corridor, a wall of heat blows past them, the air around them instantly rising by at least fifteen degrees.

"Yup.", Grime begins, immediately beginning to dry up, "We're definitely entering a volcano."

Sasha merely rolls her eyes at his remark, as she also already notices herself beginning to sweat.

Both of them are in no particular hurry to catch up to the others who are somewhere ahead of them. Eventually, however, they arrive at a large chamber with nothing but molten, bubbling lava covering the floor, and a narrow rock trail running through the middle of the chamber. On all sides, lava falls are pouring even more of that molten rock into the chamber.

Speaking of rocks, both on the ceiling and occasionally peeking out from the lava, are knife-edged rocks, while the walls look as if they have already completely melted once, before hardening again sometime since.

Opposite the exit from which Sasha and Grime emerge is an eighteen-meter-tall statue depicting an overweight, squatting Toad, between whose legs is another door, already opened. Immediately in front of the Toad statue, are two extremely muscular Newt statues, about half the size of the Toad, made of glowing crimson stone, both of which have assumed very athletic poses. And a little further to the right and left of them, stands another statue each, this time of muscular toads, towering high up to the cave ceiling, seeming to hold it aloft.

"Wow...", Sasha marvels at the statues in awe, "Didn't know toads and newts could get so muscular."

"They can't.", Grime counters, at which Sasha turns to him and, only to find him completely dehydrated. His skin is no longer swamp green, but paler by several shades, his neck has lost nearly a third of its girth, and his arms are no longer as thick as tree limbs, but only as thick as twigs.

"Holy shit.", she comments on his appearance. He himself, however, doesn't want to know about it.

"Let's just keep going, okay?"

The two of them make their way down the narrow rocky path, with waves of heat coming at them from the lava on either side. As they approach the door, already looking forward to the minimal cooling inside, they hear a deep, bloodcurdling roar, followed by screams that can only come from Anne, Marcy, and the frogs.

Without hesitation, Sasha starts running as worry and panic are flooding into her mind. With giant leaps, she runs as fast as she can while internally going over her options.

'Okay... Weapons? None. Situation? Don't know... Ugh, fuck it'

Sasha activates her powers at the exact second, she enters the chamber, where Anne, Marcy, and the Plantars are on the rocky path and surrounded by lava on both sides, encircled by two lava worms, ready to tear them to pieces.

Acting completely without a plan and totally on instinct, Sasha runs out of the tunnel, missing the ledge that leads down to the bubbling lava and falling barely a meter downwards.

"SASHA!", Anne screams in panic, "Huh?"

Sasha lands on the lava, and just keeps running, not realizing that her metal boots are blazing, and her pants have already fallen to the flames up to her knees. With a powerful leap, she pushes herself off the lava, and with the most powerful shoulder thrust since Hercules, she hits the first worm, which instantly darts once across the whole chamber, crushing its skull on impact.

The others stand with mouths wide open as Sasha lands back on the lava, now focusing on the second worm.

She forcefully pushes herself off the lava again, jumping off the middle path, grabbing the worm with both arms, and in one fluid motion, she yanks the worm completely over her head and out of the lava, slamming it into one of the pointy rocks peeking out of the lava, before jumping off the now impaled worm, and with a backflip, landing back on the middle path.

"GO GO GO!", Sasha rushes the others as she herself runs again into the tunnel where she just came from, grabbing Grime, and only now with him on her shoulders follows the others into the next tunnel. She's just now finally able to take a breath.

"Um, Sasha...", the younger frog-boy begins, "your pants are on fire."

Hastily, Sasha bends down and knocks out the fires, but not before practically ripping her metal boots off her feet, as they too are not only glowing, but almost melting around her feet.

"EEK!", she shrieks through gritted teeth as she slaps the melted remains of her boots against the wall, and they slowly slide towards the floor. Only now does she let her powers fade away again, and Marcy begins to scream.

"SASHA! That was soo cool!", she yells in amazement and excitement, "I had no idea you were lava-proof..."

"Yeah, me neither..."

And that's where the frogs all began to thank Sasha profusely. Even the oldest one surprisingly reached out to her after some hesitation, staying more than a sufficient distance away.

And then there was Anne. One can see that Anne has quite conflicting feelings for Sasha right now. On the one hand, there is most likely her dislike of Sasha, and on the other the proof that she is actually capable of helping people. Even those she previously considered enemies. Quite visibly, her mind tries to fit these two facts in.

"Sasha...", Anne speaks up, but doesn't look at her as she speaks, after Sasha looks at her expectantly for a while, "T-Thank you. F-For saving them... For saving us, I mean.", A soft smile spreads on Sasha's face. "I... don't have any spare shoes with me, otherwise I would give them to you..."

Sasha's gaze wanders past Anne to the one shoe she's wearing, before looking at her again with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, don't mention it.", Anne merely says, "Come on. Let's keep moving."

This time, though, it's not Anne and the frogs leading the way, but Sasha, Grime, and Marcy, with the others behind them. Sasha keeps hearing the others whispering about something, but she chooses to ignore it.

A stone door automatically slides open to reveal the next chamber as they approach it, which is surprisingly a lot smaller than the previous one, but also completely free of any lava. In the chamber itself, there are only three other things besides the entrance: the exit, on which an image of one of the Gems has been engraved in, surrounded by eight amphibian runes. A pedestal over which a long barbell has been placed. And something that looks like an empty, stone, picture frame.

"'Strength'...", Marcy reads the runes on the door. Immediately after, more runes begin to light up on the stony frame. Marcy continues to read aloud. "'Sup, bro'seph. Do you even lift?'"

"It's not even trying anymore...", Anne comments dismissively.

"The whole thing looks pretty obvious to me. Don't worry, I'll take care of it-", Sasha explains, but before she can move to the barbell, Anne stops her.

"Wait. Marcy and I have done these temples before, and there's always some catch. Let's search the room first before we try anything.", Anne suggests, at which Sasha eyes her for a few moments.

"It all seems pretty upfront to me so far... But sure, if you want to search the room first, I won't stop you."

"Thanks.", Anne replies, "Come on guys..."

Sasha and Grime relax and lean their backs against one of the walls, while the others are all completely meticulous about turning over every single stone, trying to figure out if the text in the frame is some kind of riddle, and the frog boy licks the barbell weights. The two of them wait for about five minutes, until Sasha decides for herself that they have waited long enough. While the others are not paying attention, she lies down on the pedestal, and with ease she pushes the barbell off the handle, and the door opens. The others notice this immediately.

"Sasha?", Anne is about to scold her for not waiting, when Sasha beat her to it.

"Oh, come on Anne, you know as well as I do that you wouldn't have found anything.", she says, "Now, come on, nerds.", and sprints out of the chamber.

"By 'nerds', she means you guys.", Grime clarifies without being asked. Ignoring him, the oldest frog speaks up.

"You've got to admit Anne, she's not wrong."

"Urgh, now you're too stabbing me in the ba- … Never mind. Let's just follow her."

As the group steps through the massive double doors of the third and final chamber, with Grime as the last to enter, the massive doors are slammed shut just behind him.

Startled, everyone turns toward the door as pink glowing runes suddenly appear on it. Marcy translates again.

"'You've definitely got skill, no doubt. But it's time you learn what strength is all about.'"

As soon as Marcy finishes reading aloud, the floor beneath their feet begins to shake, and from a notch in the chamber ceiling, a seventeen-meter-tall golem, wearing nothing but a stretchy black bodysuit, drops down and is flexing its muscles very hard right now, before challenging the group to a fight.

"Stay back everyone!", Sasha bursts with confidence, "I got this!", but Anne holds her back.

"You're going to fight this thing completely unarmed? Are you insane?"

"Oh what's the big deal? I'll just power up and...", Sasha tries to focus as the ground starts to glow pink. After a few moments, Sasha is visibly struggling while the golem laughs loudly. "What the-? I can't activate my powers..."

Now also increasingly worried, Anne and Marcy try as well.

"Neither can I.", Anne cries out. "Marcy?"

"No chance. This pink glow seems to suppress our powers…"

Shortly after, the glow of the ground grows stronger, and all of them notice their legs begin to slack. The frogs immediately fall to the ground, and Grime can't hold on either.

"Great grasshopper guts! It's like an elephant tick is standing on my back!", he gives in. Anne and Marcy look at each other with concern before nodding to each other.

"Sasha-", Anne begins, bringing her backpack forward. She opens it and pulling from wrapped paper, she pulls out a bloodstained dagger. Sasha recognizes it immediately. "Here. Take it."

"Is that-"

"Yes. Take it. And do something good with it.", Anne hands her the dagger. She reaches into her backpack again and pulls out her tennis racket and Marcy's crossbow.

'She's kept it all this time...', Sasha holds the dagger, before Anne nods at her confidently. "Let's take this sucker down!"

"You go girls!", the youngest frog calls from behind as the three girls stand up, slowly making their way to the golem.

The golem laughs imperiously as it rips two massive chunks of stone out of the ground, hurling them at Anne and Marcy. Anne dodges the first chunk in time with a diving leap, while Marcy remains frozen in place.

'MARCY!', Sasha immediately sprints towards her, pushing both her and herself to the ground to safety.

"Thanks Sasha."

"No problem."

"I-", Marcy has trouble withstanding the increased gravitational force that's pulling her down, "The gravity is too high. I can't move."

"Don't worry, Marbles.", Sasha tells her, "Anne and I will handle it."

Anne and Sasha stand up, and with small, strenuous steps, they continue walking towards the golem.

"You know-", Sasha begins, "I didn't think we'd ever be working together again. You know, after everything that happened."

"Neither did I.", Anne replies, heavily struggling, "And... I'm very glad you showed me I was wrong."

"Huh? Wrong about what?"

The golem jumps high into the air, shaking the entire chamber as it lands, and causing boulders to detach from the ceiling, now falling down on the two girls, as well as everywhere around them. One boulder falls straight at them, causing both girls to dodge to the side and roll off.

"I was worried that you hadn't changed. That you were still the exact same, selfish, manipulative person you were back on Earth."

"What do you mean selfish and manipulative? Back there I was your best friend. I- I did everything with you."

"No.", Anne shakes her head, dodging more falling rocks, "Everything always had to go exactly the way you wanted it every time. What I wanted, or even Marcy, never mattered to you.", Sasha is surprisingly quiet at that, "But you changed. For the better."

"You've changed too.", Sasha replies, though much more somberly, "But not for the better." Anne's face goes blank. Sasha continues, "There are more moments than I want to remember, where I was deathly scared of you. I remember moments, where I've felt nothing but hate for you, for what you've done to me."

Before anyone can say anything else, however, the golem lets out a bloodcurdling roar, at which the pink glowing platform glows even brighter, causing Anne and Sasha to instantly drop to the ground, barely able to move.

"It... feels like my lungs are about to explode...", Anne struggles to speak. Sasha tries to get up.

"It's over. We're not going to make it here. We can't do this."

The golem approaches them, unaffected by the increased gravity, and rips off a rock protruding from the wall, swinging it over their heads like a club.

"You're right. We can't do this.", Anne agrees with her, "But you can."

"What?"

"I believe in you. You're fierce, brave, relentless, and you never give up. If there's anyone who can get us all out of this, it's you."

Sasha looks at her former enemy with wet eyes for a few moments, as newfound determination and strength fills her body.

"You're right.", With great effort she gets up on all fours, "I never give up!", she stands up straight, the dagger in her hand, "Not today! Not ever!"

Sasha rips her cape off her shoulder and casually tosses it backwards. As it hits the ground, however, it forms a sizable crater. The others gasp in shock and surprise, and even the golem looks surprised, holding the club over its shoulder.

The golem lunges to attack, and Sasha runs off towards him. The club hits the ground, causing chunks of rock to fly in all directions. With a powerful leap, Sasha launches herself at the golem's club. He swings it upward, and as Sasha drops on top of him, she launches an attack. With both hands she grips the dagger handle as tight as a rock, thrusting the blade into his head, sliding all the way to the ground, cutting through the rock like its butter. Before she hits the ground, she pushes herself off of his knees, and with a skillful backflip, she lands several meters in front of him, observing the glowing cracks forming along her cut. The golem gives her a thumbs up before exploding with a bright bang, the increased gravity field immediately disappearing with him.

A light shockwave caused by the explosion sweeps across the room, and a round pedestal rises from the floor in the center of the chamber, though Sasha is only mildly bothered by both. Her gaze remains on the dagger in her hand.

Suddenly, she notices someone running at her from behind.

"Sasha! You did it!", Anne cheers, hugging her from behind, though immediately pulling back. "Sorry."

"I don't mind.", she turns around, "But... the dagger didn't make it."

The two girls look down at the dagger, watching as the blade breaks apart and crumbles to the ground, piece by piece, until all that's left is the handle in her hand.

"Are you sad about it?", Anne wonders.

"I don't know...", Sasha replies as a completely unhinged Marcy runs up to the two girls and hugs them both tightly.

"Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh... Sasha, that was...", she pauses for dramatic effect, "...a-ma-zing."

"Thank you, Marbles. Um... what now?", Sasha wonders at which Anne pulls her backpack forward, pulling the music box out. She pushes a few buttons on the box, causing the only still colorless gem to emerge, and holds it out to Sasha.

"Now you load up the gem. You've earned it."

Sasha accepts the gem, and places it in the socket on the pedestal.

Immediately after she places the gem in the slot, the entire platform they are standing on begins to glow pink, exposing ancient amphibian runes and markings. From the pedestal, a beam of light shoots upward, revealing amphibian text on the ceiling.

"Guys, look.", Marcy directs the others' attention toward the chamber ceiling. "'Congrats, brah. You finally know what it takes to go the distance. For what is true strength without persistence.'"

"Yeah, guess that makes sense.", Sasha says. She takes the now fully loaded gem back out from the pedestal and puts it back in its holder on the box.

"I guess that's that.", Anne speaks up, "Should we open it?"

Marcy immediately jumps to her feet. "Nononono!", she says, "If we open this thing right now, we have no way of knowing where we're going to end up."

"Makes sense."

"Let's stick with the plan that we'll fly to Newtopia tomorrow or so, and give the box to King Andrias.", Marcy continues, "He's the most likely to know how to operate it properly."

"Marcy, do you really think it's a good idea to trust him?", Anne holds her by her shoulders, "I mean, we know he's got a Mossman trapped in the basement of the palace for who knows how long. We know that he lied to us about the origin of the music box, and that he ordered Yunan to kill Luz, just to keep the Source a secret."

"Say what now?", Sasha interjects, standing next to them.

"I'm just saying, do you really think it's a good idea to let him have the box?", Anne asks.

"What would be the alternative then? We barely know anything about the box. We could maybe ask Valeriana, but we have no idea where she is...", Marcy replies, "So yeah, I think he's our only option."

Anne thinks about it for a few seconds before sighing in defeat.

"Okay.", Anne gives up, "Let's go back. The air in here is getting too dry, even for me."

With that, Anne carefully puts the music box back into her backpack. And while the others are already leaving the chamber, she suddenly notices someone pulling at the sleeve of her shirt. She is slightly alarmed when she turns around, noticing Grime.

"Whoa, dude.", she recoils, "Don't ever do that again!"

"Anne Boonchuy, we should talk."

"There's nothing I have to talk to you about.", Anne turns her back on him and walks away.

"It's about Sasha.", Anne immediately stops dead in her tracks, her back still turned to him. "I'm afraid I have a favor to ask of you."

"... Why me? Why not Marcy?"

"Your other friend is less assertive than you, in my opinion.", he argues, "So, would you please listen to my request?"

Sasha, Marcy, and the frogs, who are already looking way healthier, are waiting outside by Marcy's bird. Marcy gives it some food, two of the frogs are already sitting on the bird's back with the youngest one playing with her robot, and Sasha waits impatiently next to Marcy.

"Come on Sashy, the two of them will catch up.", Marcy tries to reassure her. But not even the use of her nickname keeps her from bouncing her foot tensely.

At that exact second, Anne and Grime step out of the tunnel. And while Grime heads over to Sasha, Anne loudly asks for everyone's attention.

"Okay, everyone. I've had an exchange with Grime, and we're going to take these two with us back to Frog Valley.", Anne declares.

"WHAT?", the frog boy exclaims alarmed.

"But why?", the old frog calls out.

Marcy starts to get hugely excited, while things don't seem quite right for Sasha.

"We can't go to Frog Valley. We'd be executed immediately.", she argues.

"Yeah, Grime had pointed that out too. We'll hide you in a remote, abandoned barn until all of us leave for Newtopia later.", Anne explains, "Do you agree? Otherwise, we'll leave you here and you can figure out where to stay by yourselves."

"Alright, alright.", Sasha backs off, "We'll come with you."

The flight back to Frog Valley was anything but comfortable. It was crowded, took forever, and was just uncomfortable for everyone involved, without exception. Anne, Marcy, and two of the three frogs sat squeezed onto the small couch, while Sasha and Grime had to stand for hours right behind the couch. The old frog had made himself comfortable in a small pocket at the bird's chestplate, and the robot was carried in the bird's claws. The bird itself, Joe Sparrow, as Marcy told Sasha, definitely had it the worst. For just as they crossed the mountain range into Frog Valley, Joe basically fell right out of the sky, right into the middle of a huge field of grass. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the crash landing, and after a break, all of them continued walking, in order to unburden Joe. Additionally, Marcy had made him a promise that the robot would not come with them on their next trip to Newtopia.

On their way through Frog Valley towards Wartwood, the group came across 'Point Weatrôj', which evoked unpleasant memories in all those who had already been to that place before. As soon as they left again, however, they left the paths and went west. As they trudged across fields, meadows, and through smalls forests, they noticed how the sun gradually began to disappear on the horizon, and the weather began to change. The cloud cover above them thickened, and as they approached an old barn, it slowly started raining. Anne had quickly left Sasha and Grime with the supplies from her backpack that were left, before she, Marcy, and the frogs hastily left for Wartwood on Joe Sparrow, leaving Sasha and Grime behind in the visibly dilapidated barn. And both of them directly picked out a few places to get some rest. Sasha had made a bed on the upper deck with some hay and an old blanket, while Grime laid down right under the open hole in the roof. Both were equally exhausted and just glad to get some sleep.

And sleeping they did. When Sasha woke up at some point, noon had been over for a while. Grime, who was already awake by then, was looking much healthier and way more hydrated. He informed her that Marcy had come by with extra supplies when she was still asleep, and had told them that they would pick her up the next day in the morning. After a delicious meal, Sasha and Grime had spent the rest of the day talking about everything possible, working out to stay in shape, and making plans for the future once Sasha returned from Earth. The plans were anything but fully developed, and really only consisted of somehow rehabilitating Grime in front of the Toad Council. Later that evening, the two of them went to sleep early to be sufficiently rested for the next day, the big day.

When Sasha wakes up again, surrounded by rotten wooden planks, hay, and straw, the feeling of a lack of motivation overcomes her before she even opens her eyes.

"Uuuurrrggghhh...", groaning loudly, Sasha opens her eyes.

"Was your sleep that boring?", she hears Grime ask from somewhere below.

Sasha curls and rolls out on her homemade bed, all the way to the edge of the wooden planks, where she hangs over them with her upper part of her torso looking down. She dangles her arms as she spots Grime at the barn door, staring off into the distance.

"Is there anything there?", she asks with heavy eyes. He turns to her with a look she can't interpret.

"No. It's just strange not to see the tower on the horizon. It looks so… empty."

Sasha is a little torn between the idea of making fun of his sudden nostalgia, or sharing it. Though actually, she does find the decision quite easy.

"I never asked: how long were you actually in command of the tower?"

"Fifteen, maybe twenty years.", he replies with a hint of sadness in his voice, "And nothing is left but the uniforms we wear."

"Not quite...", Sasha pulls out two items from her belt, "I still have the remains of the dagger, and this strange key that Beatrix hadn't found when she searched us."

She pulls out both the brown double-bitted key with the yellow, eye-shaped button on its bow, and the remains of her dagger, consisting only of the handle, which is woven with leather for better grip, and small, pointed remains of the actual blade. He turns to her.

"The relic of a failed mission and a key for- ... something. Did you ever figure out what it was for?"

"Nope. But I'm keeping it."

"Fair enough.", he turns back around and gazes back at the horizon, lost in thought. Sasha rolls over onto her back and lets her head hang over the wooden planks.

"Do you wanna know what I miss most about Toad Tower?"

"What?"

"The showers. Because I think I'm starting to smell quite a lot...", she replies, to which Grime starts laughing at the top of his lungs. "What's so funny about that?"

"Starting to smell? Every time you've been in the shower, you've been stinking up every room you've entered afterwards with your… 'scents'-", Grime makes air quotes as he's still laughing, slightly pissing off Sasha, "And that every time you smelled halfway acceptable after like a workout or like now, for example."

"Didn't know toads had such a highly sensible nose...", Sasha teases him back, not needing to look at him to know she got him. "You know, I've been thinking-"

"Must have hurt."

Sasha falls silent for a few moments while Grime laughs his ass off. However, Sasha can't suppress her laughter either.

"I hate you so much, you know that?"

"Hehe, always.", he replies, still laughing.

"But seriously now... I've been thinking about Anne and Marcy, and how we're not the same people anymore as we were back on Earth. What do you think?", she asks, her gaze focused on the ceiling.

"Do I look like your therapist?", he asks sarcastically, at which Sasha rolls over again, looking at him thoughtfully for a moment.

"Nah, you're more like my emotional support warlord..."

"Tze.", he chuckles briefly, "I think I can accept that." Grime ponders for a moment. "Yeah, I'd say you've changed. I mean, just a month ago you were commanding an army with me, and now the two of us are hiding out here in a barn. Oh, and you've lost your boots."

"Yea, that's not what I meant.", Grime looks at her questioningly, waiting for her to elaborate, "I meant more like, if I'm still the same person..."

"No, you're not.", he replies without even a hint of hesitation, "You're far less aggressive than you used to be, and in general, you're far more focused on being in control of yourself than of others. You used to be very power hungry, whereas now your priorities are more about reconnecting with your friends.", Sasha blinks at him wordlessly several times, "Not bad for an emotional support warlord, don't you think?"

"Do you think that I have gone soft?"

"I'd rather say you've got your priorities straight."

Sasha lapses into thought for a moment. She was almost ready to respond when approaching wingbeats catch her attention.

"Do you hear that?"

Grime turns his head back outside, and from the right he actually spots something.

"Is it them?", Sasha asks. Grime's gaze lingers in that direction for a while.

"Yup, it's them.", he confirms, at which Sasha is feeling quite excited. She grabs onto the wooden planks next to her head with both hands, pushes her body off the ground in an upright position, and drops backwards over the edge before letting go, casually landing on hay bales directly below her.

Just as she also reaches the barn doors, Joe Sparrow lands directly in front of them, loaded with Anne, Marcy, and the frog family on his back. As both Anne and Marcy drop from Joe's back, Sasha notices that Anne's outfit looks different than it did back at the temple.

Marcy runs straight at Sasha, embracing her in a short, but warm hug, while Anne continues to keep some distance from her, even though her facial expression is far less hostile. Quite the opposite, she actually looks rather glad to see her. As soon as the hug breaks up again, Sasha speaks up.

"Say, Boonchuy, you look different. Is that... glitter on your cheeks?"

Anne grabs her cheeks, only to find some glitter on her hands afterwards.

"Yeah, um... as a farewell, the people at Wartwood wanted to do something special, and they were holding a battle of the bands. Marcy and I had entered, with a song I had written about our time in Amphibia.", Anne explains, at which Sasha feels a slight pain right in her chest.

"Oh...", Sasha says, disheartened as it reminds her of the time when the three of them were known as 'Sasha and the Sharps'. "I... I wish I could have heard it."

"Aaactually...", Marcy speaks up, "I recorded the whole thing. It's audio only, and the quality isn't the best, but you're welcome to listen to it when we get back to Earth and I've been able to charge my phone a little."

"I'd like that.", Sasha says, as her attention falls back onto Anne's outfit. "By the way, Anne, what do you need all that armor for? Are you trying to overthrow the king?", she jokes.

"Yeah, maybe I'm a little overdressed-", she looks down at herself, as she's now not only wearing the golden chestplate, but also the golden knee-length boots, and the elbow-length gauntlets. "-but I hope it helps explain to my parents where I've been all this time."

"And I don't even know if my parents even still live in LA, or if they've already moved away...", Marcy's voice is full of worry.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa.", Sasha cuts her off, more than just a little confused, "What do you mean 'if they haven't already moved away'?"

Anne and Marcy exchange looks of sadness, and as Marcy lowers her head, Anne speaks up.

"On my birthday, just before we found the music box, her father had told her that he had taken a job out of state, and they were moving away...", a tear rolls down Marcy's cheek, as Anne explains.

"I'm sorry Sasha. Everything that happened is my fault."

Anne holds Marcy close as Sasha's heart breaks at the sight.

"You- Is that why you said that without you, that none of us would be here?", she asks Marcy directly, who nods slightly.

"I just didn't want to be alone. I didn't want to lose you guys."

"You wouldn't have been alone. No matter how great the distance between us would have been, nothing would have separated us.", Anne is bursting with conviction before her gaze slides to Sasha and she holds out her hands to her while still hugging Marcy tightly from behind with her other arm, "Right, Sash?"

Immediately she accepts the offer as Anne pulls her into the hug, and for the first time in a very long time it feels like their friendship is whole again. As the three of them hug, Sasha can literally feel the sadness in Marcy being replaced with pure joy. Marcy only hugs the two girls tighter.

"There's nothing that could have possibly taken you away from us.", Sasha agrees with her as the hug breaks again, her gaze now shifting to Anne. "Though... it will probably take a while for the two of us to work things out...", Anne looks guiltily to the floor, "But I'm optimistic."

"Listen-", Anne starts, as she turns Marcy around, holding her by her shoulders, facing her, "Remember what I said to you? Nothing bad will ever happen as long as we're together."

At that, Grime clears his throat, catching the attention of the three girls. "It's nice to watch you repair your friendship, but then, whenever you're ready, I'd like to gradually start leaving."

"Sure.", Anne replies. But before they can climb back on Joe's back, Marcy speaks up.

"Uh, Sasha, before I forget: I have a surprise for you.", she teases before reaching into Anne's backpack and pulling out a pair of padded boots, proudly presenting them to her. "Here. These are for you."

Sasha looks down at Marcy to check that she's not standing in front of her in just socks right now, or even barefoot. But no, she's wearing her full ranger uniform, minus the cloak.

"You brought more than one pair of shoes?", Sasha asks skeptically, not yet accepting the boots.

"I brought several things of everything. Well, in case I lose something, I catch on fire, or it gets eaten by some creatures I might get too close to.", Marcy smiles at her, while Sasha doesn't quite know how to handle it.

"Has that ever happened before?"

"More often than you think, yes.", she replies just before Grime speaks up again via clearing his throat.

"Thank you.", Sasha accepts the boots and puts them on before all of them climb high on Joe's back, finally taking off.

Sasha and Grime are back behind the couch on which Anne, Marcy, and the two frog children are sitting, with the old frog in front in his personal pocket. Sasha leans forward as they glide over the mountains encircling Frog Valley.

"Say Anne, how big is your backpack that it can fit that much stuff?"

"Oh, there's not that much in there... Lemme check real quick...", she opens her backpack, "The boots were in there, the music box, snacks and drinks for the flight, the gift for my mom-"

"Gift for your mom?", Sasha asks.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it's a small butterfly trinket that I got gifted in Newtopia."

"Yeah, I remember how much she loves butterflies.", Sasha recounts nostalgically, "Didn't you guys used to have a terrarium at home?"

"Dude, it wasn't just a terrarium. My mom had a whole room built and equipped just for the butterflies.", Anne smiles slightly, "She was heartbroken when they all got sick."

"You had adopted Domino after that, right?", Marcy chimes in, to which Anne nods.

"Yup. After that, nothing was allowed in the house that was smaller than a cat."

After that, Sasha speaks up again.

"Soo, umm... Do you have anything else with you?", she quickly changes the subject. Anne seems grateful for it as well.

"Let's see... Well, actually just Luz's stuff."

"Luz's stuff?"

"Well, her clothes and her phone. I'll check back home to see if she made it back to Earth, and if possible, send her her stuff."

"Why do you have that?", Sasha asks, uncomprehendingly. Anne and Marcy give each other questioning looks before Anne answers.

"Didn't we ever tell you how she disappeared?", Sasha shakes her head.

"All I know is that she disappeared. And something about be possessed by a wolf…?"

"Okay...", Anne says, thinking for a moment, "The story isn't very long, but there are some things I might have to explain afterwards."

"Well, I'm not planning on going anywhere right now...", Sasha jokes. And Anne and Marcy begin to narrate, just as they leave the mountain range behind them towards Newtopia.

The time it took for them to eventually reach the outskirts of Newtopia just flew by. Literally. The three girls talked the whole time about anything and everything, and also the two frog children joined in at some point, who at the beginning were both still very quiet in Sasha's presence, and only gave her distrustful looks. Unfortunately, these not so bad conversations did not result in Sasha actually remembering their names.

Joe is already gliding over the salt lakes that stretch for many kilometers around Newtopia, when Sasha notices that one very important thing has not yet been mentioned with a single word.

"Um, guys... What's the plan actually for when we get down there?", she inquires, "Do we just march up to the palace like that?"

"Something like that, yeah.", Marcy replies. "And since you and Grime are technically still on the run, I packed some inconspicuous cloaks in my bag for you guys to throw on.", she pulls out a piece of black fabric from her bag for Sasha to look at before shoving it back in.

"Walking around a city this big in broad daylight with a black cloak on wouldn't exactly qualify as inconspicuous, Marcy."

"Well, we'll definitely stand out, per se. It's just important that people don't immediately recognize who you are."

"Okay, let's assume this works and we get through to the palace. Then what?", Sasha continues to ask. At that, Anne speaks up.

"Well, Marcy's authority as Chief Ranger allows us unhindered access to the palace, and we head straight to Andrias, who hopefully can show us how to get home."

"Hopefully?", Sasha asks aghast, "Didn't you mean a few days ago that he was a liar and shouldn't be trusted?"

"Yes, but we also established that he's our only option."

"Okay...", Sasha continues, "Let's say he's evil, we give him the box, and he doesn't help us get home. Then what?"

There is silence for quite a while, which Sasha takes as a sufficient answer. Before she can say anything, though, Marcy then speaks up unexpectedly.

"Well, I trust him. He took me in, he helped me grow beyond myself, and unleash my true potential."

"And you have no doubt about him? None? Really?", Sasha inquires, at which Marcy goes quiet again. "That's what I thought... Okay, let's say that everything is going absolutely flawlessly. Then what?"

"We ask Andrias to keep the portal open, if that's possible. If not, Marcy and I have considered that otherwise we suggest he open it again after a week so we can come back. That will give us enough time to talk to our parents, tell them where we've been, and work out a plan together for how to proceed in the future."

Sasha cannot believe what she is hearing. The sheer naivete... They didn't give a single thought that anything could go wrong. Or rather, will.

"Your plan is horrible.", Sasha announces, "I wouldn't even know where to start listing all the flaws..."

"You have a better plan?", Anne asks her with a snarky tone.

"Maybe just not giving the likely bad guy the music box? We could just open it ourselves... Or better yet, we could just stay here."

"WHAT?", Anne and Marcy exclaim, aghast.

"No!", Grime chimes in, which not only shocks Anne and Marcy even more, but also unexpectedly strikes Sasha.

"No? What do you mean 'no'?", she asks reproachfully, but rather out of confusion instead of anger. Grime immediately realizes that he spoke too hastily.

"What I mean is: Where exactly do you want to stay? What do you imagine happening?", he asks in a serious voice, not allowing Sasha to interrupt him, "Do you want to hide for the rest of your life and run away? Because if you don't, the Toad Council would eventually find you, charge you, convict you, and at the end, execute you. Is that what you want? ... Do you want that?", he reiterates. Everyone in front of them has their eyes on Sasha, anticipating her reaction.

"And what about you, huh? If I leave for good, you won't have anyone left... Are you going to hole up somewhere in the middle of nowhere just like your mother, and die all alone? Admit it! You need me."

"You don't have to worry about me.", Grime tries to reassure her, as he speaks with utter confidence in his voice, "I know someone in Newtopia who owes me a few favors. Well, actually, I owe him a favor, but I'll just do him two favors."

"Sure, whatever.", Sasha sighs, hurting from his apparent lack of care. After that, the frog boy speaks up.

"Man, I didn't think you guys cared that much about each other...", he observes. No one responds directly. However, Marcy speaks up with an idea that came to her mind.

"Guys, what would you think if, when we get to the palace, I put in a good word with Andrias for you, that he clears you of any charges. I mean, the Toad Army is under his command, after all.", she suggests, "And I need to talk to him about Frog Valley independence, too..."

"Sure, you do you.", Sasha replies, "I don't think it will do any good, but I won't stop you if you wanna try."

"Good enough for me.", Marcy says, as Joe Sparrow slowly descends towards the ground, and right in front of the enormous gates in the even higher walls surrounding Amphibia's capital, they touch down on the ground.

All of them jump down from Joe's back into the shallow water that surrounds them. And Marcy is thrilled with excitement.

"Woo, finally back in Newtopia. Boi did I miss this place."

"Um, Marcy-", Sasha catches her attention, snipping her fingers, "Cloaks?"

"Right.", Marcy opens her bag and pulls out the two black cloaks she packed for Sasha and Grime and casually tosses them to them.

Now sufficiently disguised, they all approach the closed gates, only now noticing that several meters above the ground there are two windows built into them, at one of which a Newt soldier is stationed. Marcy addresses him directly.

"Chief Ranger Marcy Wu and crew, reporting to King Andrias.", she announces. The Newt soldier briefly disappears from view, just before a loud horn plays, and the gates before them open, revealing the view on Newtopia.

As they enter the city, they wander through the town's market district, which consists of several wide alleys with multi-story buildings, the lowest floors of which are filled with all sorts of stores and stalls. The streets are filled with life, commerce, and activity.

And while Sasha is only moderately interested in the things people are selling here, Anne and Marcy are quite taken with it, walking a few meters in front of Sasha and Grime, holding hands.

'Wait... are they-', Sasha's train of thought is interrupted as the youngest of the frogs speaks up, moaning.

"Uh, Polly, what's wrong?", her brother asks as she jumps off of his head, violently scratching her back.

"My butt is sooo itchy!", she yells. He contorts his face in disgust before the old frog pulls out an old cream.

"I've got some ointment with me, that will fix that right up."

"Hop Pop, no!", she screams in panic, jumping away as the old frog follows her, "IT STINKS!"

Sasha, Anne, and Marcy can't help but snicker at that.

"You know Anne, this could be a sign that she's about to grow legs.", Marcy tells her in reference to the young pollywog. And Anne can't believe it.

"Wait, really? Oh, my frog...", Anne turns around to the youngest frog who got caught by the old one, "Yo Polly! Marcy says it's a sign that your legs are coming out soon."

"WHAT?", she calls back in amazement and surprise, just as the old frog finished anointing her behind. "Well, I mean, it's about time."

"I really hope you can wait a week for that.", Anne turns to her, "I want to be there when my little sister finally gets her legs."

"I'm not promising anything.", she retorts, clearly trying to mask her true excitement.

'They really are her family...', Sasha remarks, having witnessed the whole thing.

As they leave the market district and are about to climb the first of countless stairs, Grime speaks up.

"Okay everyone, my contact lives around here. You guys can go ahead, but I need to talk to him and work out an arrangement for me."

"What?", Sasha asks, "I'm coming with you!"

"No, you don't. My contact doesn't know I'm in town, and things would get a lot more complicated if I showed up there other than alone.", he calmly but firmly explains, "Don't worry. It shouldn't take long, and I'll be at the palace in time."

'Something smells fishy...', Sasha thinks to herself, but decides to trust the judgment of her commanding officer. "Fine.", she frowns, "But if you're not on time, the Toad Council will be the least of your worries."

Grime nods a farewell before disappearing into the shadows in an alley perpendicular from her. She didn't notice that the nod wasn't directly at her.

"Everything will be fine, Sash. You'll see.", Marcy put her hand on Sasha's shoulder, who's still looking after him.

"I don't know... Something doesn't fit here."

It took an eternity and three breaks for the six of them to finally reach the top of all those stairs. Sure, they could have alternatively taken the easier paths that run all the way up through the city, up all the way to the palace, but that would have taken a lot more time, according to Marcy.

They arrive at the large gates that lead into the palace, and Marcy approaches one of the soldiers, who's armed with spears, guarding the entrance.

"Hey there.", Marcy greets him in a friendly manner, whereupon the soldier solutes.

"Good day, Master Marcy.", he says, opening one of the two heavy doors, revealing a long corridor with several branches on either side. Marcy is the first to look inside, though something stops her from entering. She leans back toward the soldier again.

"Where is Lady Olivia? She usually welcomes me here when I announce ahead of time that I would be back.", she asks, slightly concerned.

"I am not informed of Lady Olivia's whereabouts. If you wish, I can find out for you, Master Marcy.", he offers. Marcy frowns at that, before turning around to the others.

"I had sent a messenger bird here when we returned from the last temple, announcing that we would be coming to Newtopia with the box. I wanted everyone to be here so I could say goodbye to them properly.", Marcy explains dejectedly. Anne immediately jumps to her side.

"Oh, don't worry MarMar. I'm sure Lady Olivia won't let you leave without saying goodbye... Maybe we were just faster than the messenger bird, or the letter was intercepted...", she tries to reassure her.

"Yeah, maybe.", Marcy agrees, "Anyway, come on. On to the throne room."

Before they all leave, Sasha also addresses the guard.

"Yeah, hi, um... Our group includes someone else, a toad, who's wearing the same cloak as I do. Could you let him join us later?", she asks. The soldier turns to Marcy, who gives him a thumbs-up.

"Yes, of course, ma'am."

And with that, the group makes its way toward the throne room, which is fortunately quite short.

"He called me ma'am...", Sasha speaks to herself, "Am I that old already?"

"Nah...", Marcy, who's walking in between her and Anne, speaks up, "That was a young recruit. Probably his first run-in with humans."

"But he called you by name.", Sasha recounts.

"That's what everybody does here. I mean, there are huge statues of me here all over Newtopia. People here know my face.", she speaks as they stand outside the doors to the throne room. Marcy goes ahead and pushes open the colorfully designed double doors. Immediately, they catch sight of King Andrias sitting on his throne.

'Well, that's a big guy...', is the first thing that comes to Sasha's mind at the sight of him. The group enters the throne room before two soldiers who were positioned inside step outside, closing the doors behind them, leaving them all alone.

"My friends, wonderful to see you.", King Andrias gets up from his throne and walks down the steps to them. "I trust you were successful."

Anne takes her backpack to her front and pulls out the music box.

"Boom, baby!", she presents it to him. His eyes begin to sparkle.

"The charged music box... Well done. Well done!", he exclaims with even more excitement. "Now, let's finally send you girls home."

Andrias holds out his enormous hand to her, and to Sasha's surprise, she hands him the box without even a hint of hesitation. He steps onto a pressure plate a few paces away from his throne, and a very old-looking pedestal rises from the floor.

"Finally... finally the box is back where it belongs!", he exclaims as he places the box directly on the pedestal. The pedestal lights up colorfully, one part green, one part blue, one part red. The gems in the box glow brightly, and a certain electrostatic charge fills the air around them. Even the ground beneath their feet begins to tremble and shake.

It takes a few seconds for everything to settle down again.

"What the frog was that?", Anne asks, aghast.

"Well, the systems weren't active for a very long time. I'm not surprised it reacted that way.", Andrias explains in a calm voice. "So, who wants to go back to Earth?"

Marcy speaks up. "Where are Lady Olivia and General Yunan? I had thought they were here to say goodbye to me..."

"General Yunan just got back from a long mission. It shouldn't be long before she gets here. And I've already sent for Lady Olivia.", he explains.

"Good, good.", Marcy turns to Anne, Sasha, and the frogs, "Okay, I think we're ready."

Andrias turns toward the music box and pushes some buttons as Anne and Marcy turn and say goodbye to the frogs. And Sasha, she stands a good bit off to the side, she's not taking her eyes off Andrias, critically observing every move he makes.

About one, maybe two minutes later, with a soft hiss, a shimmering blue portal vortex appears near a wall. Unfortunately, it's impossible to see what's on the other side.

"And there it is: Your portal back home.", Andrias announces. Anne and Marcy have already said their sufficient goodbyes to the frogs, and they now stand next to Sasha, who eyes the portal rather critically.

"How are we supposed to know that the portal actually leads to Earth? And not to, I don't know, a volcano?", Andrias is taken aback at her accusation. Anne and Marcy, however, do not jump to his defense.

"You're just going to have to trust me.", Andrias says.

"Trust you? Why should I?"

Andrias considers for a moment.

"Your name is Sasha, isn't it? Second-in-command to Captain Grime?", he queries.

"Oh yes, that's me.", she pronounces proudly.

"I had heard what happened... In Frog Valley.", Sasha remains silent, "I also know that the Toad Council is hunting you two down, planning to have you executed. I would have the ability to change that. He wouldn't have to run anymore. I even could give him a new command."

"How do you know that?", Sasha asks him, though she actually already knows the answer to that. Andrias' gaze moves over to Marcy. "Right...", Sasha adds. At that, Marcy speaks up.

"Speaking of Frog Valley... I wanted to talk to you about possibly granting independence to the region. I know you're the king, and regions seceding from the commonwealth has never been particularly-"

"Sure."

"… Wait, what?", Marcy, incredulous, inquires.

"You know, I've been king for over a thousand years. And every single day has always been the same. Such a... 'split-off', as you might call it, might add a little pep to my life."

"REALLY?", Anne and Marcy ask excitedly in unison. The frogs are equally thrilled.

"Really.", Andrias assures them, "You can trust me. But I would suggest that we don't talk about this until you get back. What do you think?"

"Heh... It seems I was wrong again about someone...", Anne mutters, "Luz too."

Sasha, on the other hand, is still skeptical.

"So, you're going to leave the portal open for us?", she asks Andrias.

"I don't think that should be a problem. I'm not planning on going anywhere.", he tries to reassure her, "So, the way home is open to you. You just have to want to go through."

"Not until I've had a proper goodbye from Grime!", she declares, at which point Anne approaches her. She puts her hand on her shoulder.

"Grime... won't be coming."

In an instant, Sasha's face drops. With an ice-cold stare, her eyes move to Anne.

"For your own good, I really hope that you didn't just say what I think you just said!"

Slowly, Anne pulls her hand back. Sasha can tell she's struggling right now, thinking about what she's about to say.

"He's... he's turning himself in right now. It's too late to do anything. I'm sorry."

'No... nonononono...', everything inside of her goes numb, replaced with anger and rage, "FUCK!", she yells, turning away from Anne. With her blood boiling under her skin, she turns to a wall, and starts pounding on it, with visible results, both on the wall, and her now bloody knuckles.

"Sasha-", Anne approaches her, but Sasha immediately throws her away to the floor.

"ANNE!", Marcy and the frogs run to her side, but Anne holds them back as she gets back up.

"He wanted it that way."

"BULLSHIT!", Sasha slams her to the ground again before staring at her own fists. "WHY AREN'T YOU FUCKING WORKING?"

Anne gets back up, and Sasha continues to stomp towards her. Marcy runs at her from behind, trying to hold Sasha back. But Sasha doesn't hold back just then, and pushes Marcy away from her, causing her to stumble backwards and fall to the ground. Sasha doesn't turn to face her.

"WHY DO YOU GET TO DECIDE WHO GETS TO SAY GOODBYE, AND WHO DOESN'T? WHY CAN YOU SAY GOODBYE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU, AND I CAN'T?", a tear rolls down her cheek, her voice is paining.

"It wasn't my decision.", Anne replies to her, "He knew you wouldn't let him turn himself in. He knew that if you didn't go home, that neither of you would have lasted much longer. He didn't want you to just throw your life away for him."

Sasha stopped, but her fists are still clenched.

"When… Wait. The last temple...", Sasha mutters to herself, at which point Anne stands up again.

"He had told me that he was planning to turn himself in to protect you. He knew that if he had told you himself, that you would have done anything to talk him out of it... He cares about you."

"And yet he left me.", she says, pain aching in her heart. As her rage returns, she now turns around facing Marcy, who by now is standing again and rubbing the back of her head. "YOU!", Sasha yells at-, and stomps towards Marcy, "DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT? DID YOU KNOW?"

"SHE DIDN'T KNOW!", Anne shouts at her from behind, only moments before Sasha would have reached Marcy, who is full of fear in her eyes. Sasha stops, turning back to Anne. "He had asked me to keep it to myself. I didn't tell anybody."

Sasha is trembling with anger. "Fuck you, Anne.", she quietly utters to herself.

"What?", Anne, not hearing her, asks.

"I said FUCK YOU, ANNE BOONCHUY!", the walls shake at these words, tears flowing down her cheeks, "YOU ARE THE FUCKING WORST!", her gaze wanders to the frogs who are equally shaking in fear, "I WISH I HADN'T STOPPED AFTER JUST THAT ONE!"

Taking forceful steps, she turns away from everyone, and quickly walks towards the portal before simply disappearing into it.

---

As soon as Sasha disappears into the portal, Anne sprints up to Marcy, hugging her as if her life depended on it. So do the Plantars.

"Marcy, are you hurt? Did she do something to you?", Anne gently holds her by her shoulders as she scans her girlfriend for superficial scars or wounds.

"I'm- I'm okay.", Marcy replies, but still shaken up from what happened.

"Anne, are you okay?", Hop Pop asks her.

"She got to you pretty bad.", Sprig adds.

"I think she hit my ribs. Nothing to worry about.", Anne tries to ease Marcy's worries. Nonetheless, her own gaze constantly shifts between Marcy and the portal.

"You want to go after her, don't you?", Marcy asks.

"Is it that obvious?"

"You care about her.", Marcy takes Anne's hands in hers. "Go after her. As soon as I say goodbye to Yunan and Lady Olivia, I'll follow you. Promise."

Anne's gaze slides over to Andrias, who has been standing off to the side, interestedly observing the entire time.

"The portal stays open all the time, right? Until we get back?", Andrias puts his hand on his chest.

"By the honor of my forefathers.", he swears, and Anne turns back to Marcy.

"I'll wait for you on the other side.", she pulls Marcy in for a kiss. She smiles at her. "Nothing bad will happen as long as we're together."

"I know.", Marcy smiles. Anne kneels down to the Plantars.

"I'll see you guys in a week.", she gives them all a brief but heartfelt hug before standing up, chasing after Sasha through the portal.

"Soo... what now?", Polly asks.

"You don't really have to wait for me here, guys. You can return to Wartwood with Joe.", Marcy offers them.

"Are you sure you're okay, Marcy?", Sprig asks worriedly after what just happened.

"It's going to be okay. That's all that matters.", she replies with a forced smile, but hope in her voice. She kneels down, and also takes the Plantars in her arms. First Sprig, then Hop Pop, and Polly last. The latter she lifts up briefly.

"You know, if I had to bet, I'd say it's less than two days until your legs come out.", she whispers to her. Her eyes light up.

"Bet? How much do you wanna bet?", she inquires, causing the others to chuckle up lightly.

"Listen, if I'm right, I'll give you ten coppers."

"And if you're not?", Polly asks skeptically.

"Then you get to tease me forever that I was wrong."

"Deal!", she chimes in.

Marcy waves after the Plantars with a slightly sad look as they leave the throne room.

"Goodbyes are never easy.", Andrias approaches her, "Speaking of which: Where are Olivia and Yunan?", he asks impatiently.

"Should we go look for them?"

"You know, I have a better idea. A few weeks ago, while you were still out in Frog Valley, I had found something here in the palace. Something I was planning to show you after you got back from Earth: A secret room, as I suspect.", he teases her, whereupon her eyes light up with excitement and surprise. She even gasps in anticipation.

"Really? Where is it? What's in it?"

"Whoa whoa whoa... Calm down...", Andrias holds a hand in front of her face, "I have no idea what's in there. All I had seen was a dark spiral staircase. I didn't want to go on that adventure without you."

"May I see it? Please please please...", Marcy pleads with big, round eyes. Andrias chuckles.

"But only for a minute. We don't know when Olivia and Yunan will finally show up."

Full of excitement, Andrias and Marcy leave his throne room, and enter a secluded part of the palace: the Hall of Ancestors, where every ancestor of the Leviathan family has been immortalized by a giant stone statue. They approach the statue of Andrias' father, King Aldrich Leviathan. Andrias grabs the arm of one of the smaller statues hanging from the supporting columns of the hall and flips it like a switch, revealing a hidden door in the pedestal in front of them.

Andrias takes one of the glowing corals, and together, he and Marcy descend the dark spiral staircase. For several minutes there is complete silence, until a bone-chilling, agony-filled scream of pain echoes back out.

It's Marcy.

---

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