I recently started watching a bunch of Disney cartoons I missed out on ever since the Ducktales reboot, and I gotta say I really liked what I saw – that being The Ghost and Molly McGee and Amphibia. Owl House is next on my list, and I will probably write something Molly McGee-related in the future, although I feel like that show's much less serious tone makes it a little harder to write a fanfic for. This Amphibia fic is mostly an attempt to address some slight issues I had with King Andrias' backstory, although I must repeat I still liked him and the show itself a lot.

A gentle sun rose over Amphibia after a night of near-constant rain, and all its cold-blooded residents emerged from their homes to play, work and provide for their loved ones. A Frobot-turned-alarm clock rang out, waking its giant owner from his well-deserved sleep.

"I'm up already! Jeez!" The old newt said to the source of the noise, flicking it with one of his fingers to stop it from disturbing his ears. His somewhat playful behavior still hadn't entirely left him, which was pivotal in making the tedium of solitary farm life much more enjoyable for him.

The mud squelched beneath his boot and walking cane. "You're used to this at this point, right, old friend?" He spoke to Barrel's Warhammer fondly as he carefully walked to his parsnip patch. The Frobot helpers he had left had cleverly laid a tarp over it to prevent the vegetables from drowning in the excessive rain while also letting the leftover water stream into a large trough. They moved to let him inspect his parsnips, and he smiled.

"Now that is purple star quality for sure!" He remarked, to no response. He couldn't stop himself from occasionally referencing the media young Marcy Wu had been obsessed with. Even if he himself only saw a bit of tabletop roleplaying and read Cynthia Coven, he couldn't ever forget all the things from fiction Marcy had compared him and his kingdom to. As he gave all the Frobot helpers a pet on the head, he allowed himself to remember one particular evening.

"I must say, you're doing extremely well learning the Ancient Amphibian alphabet. You must be starving. I wonder what's for dinner?"

Suddenly, Marcy burst out into a loud fit of laughter, almost spilling her pot of ink all over the paper.

"Hm? Did I say something odd?"

"No, no, it's just-" Marcy cleared her throat. "I'm so hungry, I could eat a shadowfish!"

"You are? Then you are in dire shape!"

"Wait, no, I didn't mean literally… See, back on Earth, we had these things called… Oh, wait, I probably shouldn't say that just before eating…"

"What? Tell me! I am always open to hear more about Earth!"

"There were these things called YouTube Poops…"

"Master Marcy! The language on you!" Andrias scolded playfully. "Why, if Lady Olivia were here…"

That was a good evening. He had never gotten the chance to see one of these 'YouTube Poops', but Marcy's laughter would have probably been a more enjoyable experience anyway. Who names a piece of entertainment after excrement?

As he moved to his orchard, all the leaves reminded him of a particularly unpleasant night he had a few days ago. He had been up all night, his mind hyperfixated on one specific question he could never receive a concrete answer to.

Not too long ago (at least, in the eyes of a 1000-year old), his defeat had come at the hands of Anne Boonchuy and her fantastic powers, but only because the boy he had almost killed when he revealed his true colors suddenly revealed his ancestor – Andrias' childhood friend – had written him a letter apologizing for stealing that damned music box and encouraging him to never close his heart off from the world.

"But why did she never send the thing, and why did she write it in invisible ink?" Was what his mind had been debating internally that night. It was almost like The Core, still infecting his thoughts.

Everything could have been prevented. No years of self-pity, self-hatred and loneliness. No duplicitous plots exploiting multiple innocent people, including children. No mechanization process that almost destroyed Amphibia as they knew it.

It couldn't have been that hard to just send the letter. Why didn't she send the letter? Why, why, why?

His thoughts stopped as he realized he had strangled the life out of one of his fruit trees by accident, juices and sap running from the palms of his hand. He sighed. He still couldn't change, at least not fully yet.

With each basked he filled, he practiced some thoughts. Maybe it was his exaggerated fun-loving persona he displayed that convinced Leif he was fine. Maybe the Core would have just convinced him that letter was some kind of lie or manipulation attempt. Maybe his still immature mind couldn't forgive her back then. Heck, his mind was having trouble concentrating at all even now. He couldn't work like this…

Bringing the fruit he picked into his little house, he picked up the tree he strangled earlier and decided to take a walk. One day, he would move past all these questions and obsessions. Maybe visiting his friend-in-farming Hopediah could help? It couldn't hurt. He decided to take a long walk to clear his mind – only thinking of what steps he could take to one day put these thoughts to rest.