Chapter 1
Sasha’s Pov:
It all happened so quickly…
I was fighting against Andrias and not even a second later I’m flashed with the bone chilling image of…
Marcy.
My Marcy.
Impaled by Andrais’ sword…
I screamed her name and tried to rush over to her limp body but Grime caught me before I was able to do anything. I felt tears forming at the corners of my eyes as me and Grime fell down the newtopian castle, which was weird because just half an hour ago I was so mad at her.
I was so furious, she tricked us and Marcy was the reason we had been trapped in this place. I was so blinded by rage that I started thinking I wished she were dead.
Honestly, I wish I never formed that thought. For how much I felt betrayed… I still didn’t want her dead. She was still Marcy. My Marcy.
But Marcy isn’t dead. I refuse to believe that. I know she’s alive… somehow. I can feel it.
I was so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn’t realized Grime had taken us in the middle of the woods, with Marcy’s bird. What was his name again? Anyways, how long had I been dozing off for?
Grime was starting up a fire and he looked like he had something to say, but before he could speak his mind I interrupted him bluntly.
“We need to go back.”
I spoke firmly, trying to imply I wasn’t going to change my mind easily.
“Have you gone insane? Going back there would be suicidal!”
As I expected, Grime was ready to protest. But I didn’t care. I wanted to get Marcy back, to make sure she was alive.
“So? I can’t just leave Marcy there with that bastard!”
I stood up and started walking off angrily, then I heard Grime sigh a few feet behind me.
“Lieutenant, stop being irrational. I understand that you might want to save your friend but you know better than to just barge in unprepared. You should at least come up with a plan if you want to succeed.”
I stopped walking. Damn it. Grime was right.
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So that’s what we did. Me and Grime came up with a plan to get Marcy back. Kind of. In the meantime, a few days had passed and we were travelling through Amphibia for a safe place to stay, afterall, Marcy shouldn’t be exposed to danger since she was probably still going to need rest… In the hopes she’s still alive. But I shook that thought aside. She had to be alive.
Thanks to Marcy’s bird we were able to get through the woods rather quickly, even if it was fairly risky at times because of those stupid frog robots. We still hadn’t come across much in our journey and I was getting quite frustrated by that.
Until we stumbled upon Wartwood.
The town that had given Anne hospitality for all these months in Amphibia. The town we tried to imprison and kill.
Crap.
Me and Grime decided to have a look around, the town seemed deserted. The houses, the streets, the stands, were all empty. Well, they must’ve found a more secure place to stay.
It wasn’t until we came up to the Plantars’ house that I started hearing weird noises and I instantly became aware. But nothing happened. It was probably just some weird animal.
But as soon as I let my guard down, we were ambushed by a bunch of town frogs. Obviously.
The two of us were tied up and brought to a room in the Plantars’ house for questioning. Reasonable. I mean, we did try to imprison them. The room was probably the basement and from what I could tell it was also Anne’s room… I was instantly hit by a wave of guilt, for all the things I had done. I was reminded of all the times I manipulated them, Anne, for my own selfish benefit. Of all the times I’ve been an awful friend to them. The times I betrayed them. But I quickly regained my composure.
A frog with strange glasses and a mustache started to approach me and got really close to my personal space, too much for my liking, with a really bright mushroom, making my eyes squint. He looked at me like he was analyzing a strange animal.
“Aren’t they the ones that held us hostage at the toad tower and tried to kill Hopidiah?”
Other frogs appeared from the shadows. One was a really old lady that had a blind eye, another was a small blue frog with white hair covering half of her face, she looked to be around the same age as Sprig, and lastly there was a bigger one that had both of his hands missing, replaced by culinary utensils and wore a chef hat. I could recognize each one of them and they didn’t seem happy to see us here. I knew I needed to make things right. For Anne and Marcy and also because these poor frogs probably deserved an apology.
“Yes, it’s us.”
I spoke up before any other frog could reply, which caused them to all turn to look at me with hostile glares. I sighed, trying to come up with a decent apology on the spot, but I was never great with those.
“Okay, listen… I know I’m probably the last person you’d want to see right now and I think it’s totally understandable if you guys hate our guts now-”
“Great, because we definitely do.”
The small frog interrupted me and my eye twitched slightly. Trying my best to contain my anger and frustration, I continued my speech.
“-As I was saying… I’m… I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all I’ve done. To you, to your people and… to Anne. I was hoping we could settle here… because we have nowhere to go…”
Grime who had been silent until now joined in into the conversation
“Yes… We promise we’ll behave. No strings attached this time.”
The frogs looked at each other like they were having a silent conversation then they all nodded simultaneously, which made me think we had won them over. The frog with the mustache finally spoke up on behalf of the others.
“Of course you… can’t stay.”
“What?! Oh come on! I apologized! What more do you people want?!”
I groaned, finally losing it and letting out all my pent up annoyance at once.
“We’re sorry but an apology isn’t enough, at times like this we can’t risk letting a possible traitor in.”
The handless one added. I couldn’t help but feel a strange feeling in my chest as I heard that word. Traitor. I sighed again and decided to let my vulnerable side out, even if it wasn’t usually something I’d do, I needed to. Grime was ready to protest but I stopped him, speaking first in a lower tone than usual.
“Look.. I’m definitely not worthy of your trust but… I don’t know if you've heard, now Anne and the Plantars are stuck on earth with the music box and I… wanted to get Marcy back. Andrias has her and she was stabbed in the back by him… literally. I want to know if she’s still alive and- and I wanted to have a place sheltered enough to keep her safe. Even if you don’t want me here, I was hoping you would at least be open to letting Marcy stay.”
I looked aside feeling vulnerable and a little embarrassed. A few more silent words were passed between the four frogs before the old one spoke with an understanding smile on her face.
“Fine… You can all stay here. But don’t think we won’t keep an eye on you two! And if we see something even remotely suspicious… we won’t hesitate to kick you out with a beating.”
The way the frog said that last part made my bones chill… But I guess they’re just trying to get their point straight.
“Yes ma’am. Understood.”
Me and Grime responded at once.
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Turns out the town's hideout was under the Plantars’ house. In the past few days me and Grime tried settling in, needless to say most people were untrusting of us and were very cautious of our every movement.
But that wasn’t bothering me because all I could think of was Marcy. I had gotten enough time to think of an elaborate plan to get her back here safely and I was ready to leave tonight.
I quietly left my room and Grime was already in front of my door… with the same four frogs as last time, which left me confused and speechless behind the door frame.
“What? You thought you were going there all alone?”
Grime said as all the amphibians smiled confidently. I was definitely surprised but glad I had some extra help on this mission.
Marcy, hold on a little longer…