(Happy 3 years of Amphibia!)
Maddie, Wally, and Tritonio practically fell off Domino Two once they landed back at the Plantar Home, which was now their Resistance Base.
Maddie still had tears streaming down and she got up. No curse had ever hurt this much. No magic spell could make this better.
Anne was turned against them. Marcy was the host of someone even more evil than Andrias.
And this dark force? An evil and emotionless robot being called The Core.
Tritonio looked sick to his stomach as he shakily rose to his feet. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Anne's purple eyes. And The Core's one eye glaring at him.
"It... it knew that we were there," Tritonio choked out, clutching his stomach.
Wally slowly stood up. "A...And it sent Anne after us...! Anne is...is..."
Maddie looked at the two. "H-How are we gonna tell everyone? Tell Sasha?" She then went quiet. "Tell The Plantars...?"
Tritonio shut his eyes, taking a deep breath. He was quiet for the longest time, before he opened his eyes again.
"There is no way to soften the blow. We just... we just have to tell them."
Wally nodded slowly, taking off his hat as they went into the Resistance Base.
And much to their dismay? Nearly the entire Resistance, even a few frogs and toads who knew Anne were waiting for them. Sasha and Sprig were in front of them all.
Sprig's anxious face only grew when he saw the looks on their faces and the fact that they didn't come back with Anne. He wasn't expecting them to, but deep down, he was hoping for it.
Sasha stepped forward. "Status."
Maddie was dead silent, as if too afraid to say it. Wally couldn't muster the courage either. He just clutched his hat.
Tritonio stepped forward, and he couldn't look at Sprig, clutching his fists as he took another deep breath, and then looked up at Sasha.
"...It's worse than we thought, Commander. So much worse. Andrias... he isn't the mastermind behind all of this."
Sasha's eyes widened. "W...What? It's...it's the dark force that Mother Olm talked about. What is it? What do you know about it?"
Wally then finally got the guts to say it. "H-He calls it The Core...it...it used to be a robot, but...it's possessing Marcy."
Sprig's eyes widened. "W-What?!"
Sasha was dead silent. She tried to look for any kind of look in their eyes that said this was a lie...but no. They were telling the truth.
Marcy was alive. Just in the worst possible way.
She trembled, clutching her fist. She hadn't completely forgiven Marcy for everything. Marcy was the one that brought them there in the first place...but she'd be a hypocrite if she blamed Marcy for everything.
Their friendship was anything but completely healthy.
"That... that isn't all..." Tritonio suddenly said, looking sick. He then locked eyes with Sasha. "Commander... did Anne... ever have feelings for Marcy...?"
Sasha's eyes widened and she tried not to think back to past times, the times she craved. At least not too much. "Y...Yeah. Anne's had the biggest crush on her since we were kids..."
Maddie felt the tears build up a little and she looked away.
Sasha then looked at Tritonio. "...where are you going with this? What happened to Anne?"
Tritonio shut his eyes for a moment. He then opened them, and Sasha was startled to find tears in the older newt's eyes.
"...That demon has put one of its mind control collars on Anne. Not only that... but it's manipulating her. It's weaponizing Anne's feelings for Marcy, and it wants to use her as a biological weapon against us."
The entire room went silent. It was deathly quiet as every frog, newt, and toad took in this information.
The hero of Wartwood. The girl that had come from another world and put her life on the line constantly to protect them...was now a puppet at the hands of an evil being.
And that wasn't all Anne was. Especially to The Plantars. She was a granddaughter. A sibling. A friend.
She was family to The Plantars.
Sprig's gaze was stone cold at first...before he fell to his knees and lifted his head to reveal the crying and broken face he had. His best friend...gone.
Death would've been mercy, but...this...
"...What?"
Tritonio froze, his eyes widening. Everyone moved out of the way like they'd all been burned, only to reveal Hopediah Plantar standing there, his eyes wide with horror. Polly was next to him, and her eyes were quickly filling with tears.
Sprig slowly turned his crying face to his grandfather, unable to form words as his shattered heart just shattered even more.
Hop Pop looked at the wall. It was as if he'd gone catatonic, staring at the wall, but not actually seeing it. He felt... numb. As if his aging body finally shut down on him.
Then, he felt a wetness on his cheeks. He didn't have the courage to check if it was tears.
Then, caught in a daze, Hop Pop turned and walked off, wanting- no, needing- to go to Anne's room.
Sasha was breaking down just as much as Sprig was. She felt like the most useless and weak thing ever to learn that the one person she wanted to make up for all of her terrible actions was now gone.
Sprig hugged Polly tightly, quickly beginning to sob. The sobs didn't even stop when Ivy joined in on the hug to comfort her other half.
Then, Sasha caught Grime's eye. The toad looked as torn as Sasha was. He nodded at her, and then looked at the path where Hop Pop walked off. The signal was clear.
Go to him. I'll handle things down here.
Sasha took a few seconds just to stand up as she forced herself to walk over to where Hop Pop was. Her armor felt...heavy.
She felt so weak...so useless.
The Commander even fell down to her knees once she was away from the others. She ripped off her Heron Crown, cloak, and shoulder pad just to make things lighter on her as she got back up.
The tears still streamed down her face and she even smashed the wall beside her. She punched the hole she made again and again in anger. She couldn't force herself to stop, but only for a few seconds as she began walking after Hop Pop.
She nearly tripped, but forced herself to keep going. And then finally, she made it to Anne's room where the door was open.
Hop Pop was there.
He sat on Anne's bed, holding the homemade, raggedy plushie of Domino that was made for Anne when missing her precious cat became too much.
Sasha walked over, the tears still coming down her face. She was just silent. Her armor didn't clank to alert her presence since, well, most of her armor had been ripped off.
Hop Pop's face was stained with tears. He stared at the Domino plushie for a long time, looking the most broken Sasha had ever seen him thus far.
Sasha stepped a little closer. She tried to force the words out of her mouth, but she couldn't.
"...When I first met Anne," Hop Pop said, quietly. "I didn't know what to make of her, at first. I hadn't seen any creature like her. I thought that... that she'd get up in the middle of the night and eat us, or kill us, I don't know, something. But... but then, on her third night staying with us, I heard her cryin'."
Sasha sat down, still entirely silent as she nodded.
"She was curled up on her bed, sobbing her eyes out like a tadpole that just hatched. I was hesitant to comfort her, 'cause I didn't know what her deal was, still," he chuckled weakly, shaking his head, as if calling his past self a fool for being afraid of Anne. "I asked her what was wrong. And she told me that she missed home. Missed her family, her friends- you and Marcy... she missed everything about Earth."
Sasha's heart broke even more about that, and sure enough, the tears began streaming down her face.
"Then... she showed me a picture of Domino. Told me that Domino was her pet, said that she wished that she could cuddle with her again, even if for just one night... so I asked her if I could borrow her 'picture rectangular box,' and, at first, she was hesitant, but I promised her I'd take care of it. So, I took it... and went looking for my wife, Bella's old sewing kit and fabrics, and bought stuffing from the store."
Sasha nodded again, facing him to show she was listening. She just couldn't force herself to speak right now.
"So, I- I made her this," Hop Pop told her, holding the Domino plushie close. "Took all night, and I just about bled myself out with how many times I stabbed my fingers..." A shaky, but genuine smile grew on his face. "I gave it to her the next morning... and, frog, I will never forget the way her eyes lit up when she saw it. I saw the tears in her eyes, and... and that was the first time Anne hugged me."
Sasha then reached in...and hugged Hop Pop. "I...I'm sorry..."
Hop Pop's body shook, and then he began sobbing. "...Y'all are just kids. You- you shouldn't have to deal with this... y'all are just babies. It- it ain't fair, I... I friggin' lost my son and daughter-in-law to a Heron... and now one of my grandbabies is brainwashed by a demon, and- and I can't help her..."
Sasha hugged him a little tighter, sniffling and already beginning to sob. She couldn't answer back.
Because now...she had no idea what to do.
Meanwhile...
He bolted across the track, breathing heavily as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. Apparently, being trained by the FBI also included learning to run a 1.5 mile, push-ups, a 300 meter sprint, and a whole lot of sit-ups.
But, for his daughter, Thomas Waybright was willing to do anything.
Eventually, he stopped at where he'd begun running, where Mr. X was waiting, breathing heavily as he leaned his hands on his knees.
Mr. X hummed. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
"Thanks," Thomas wheezed. For the past couple of weeks, he and the others have been training nonstop. It was protocol for any new 'rookies' to go through basic training before getting into the real stuff, as X himself had put it.
Mr. X then checked his watch for a moment, but likely not to just check the time. He tapped it before looking back at him. "Enough energy to beat your time?"
"Sure. For... for my little girl, I'd do anything," Thomas said with a nod, determination crossing his eyes. Deep down, he was getting a little sick of basic training, but for Sasha, he'd suck it up.
He began running again, despite the burning exhaustion in his calves, and, to Thomas's surprise, he saw Bee Boonchuy after a few miles.
Bee looked rather energized, just nowhere near as fast. Thomas knew he had Anne and his wife to train for, especially against what was essentially an alien invasion.
Thomas decided to slow down a bit, chuckling. "Pretty crazy, ain't it? Never thought I'd be training for an alien invasion, of all things."
Bee laughed a bit. "Yeah! Guess all those movies were right!"
"Yeah, I guess so." Thomas then looked thoughtful for a moment, and then, he sighed. "...Bee, I'm sorry, if Sasha hurt Anne."
Bee's eyes widened a bit. "I...I honestly don't know how to feel about it. To hear my daughter could've been hurt in some way makes me furious, but...Sasha's been through a lot and Anne doesn't hate her. Even if their friendship isn't the same as it used to be, Anne still cares a great deal for her. I can't be mad at Sasha if she just needs someone to listen and talk to her. She's not a villain."
"Of course she isn't, but... I haven't been the father she needed me to be, after Emma and I divorced. I won't excuse Sasha's behavior for how she treated Anne, and, possibly, Marcy, too, but it's too likely that Emma and I have a significant part in how she'd acted in the past. Emma and I have been so caught up in our own problems that we forgot about how everything would affect our little girl."
Bee sighed. "No parent is perfect, Thomas. I can't exactly excuse your behavior, but at least you're trying." His eyes then softened. "But...don't expect Sasha to be too happy. If Anne's changed this much from that Amphibia place? Sasha likely has too."
Thomas chuckled, although it sounded more pained than joyful. "Trust me, I don't expect her to come up running to give me a hug or anything. I'll do whatever she needs me to do, even if it'll hurt like a bitch. But, from what you and Oum told me what Anne said about this 'Grom' guy Sasha's friends with-"
"Grime." Bee corrected. "I think his name is Grime."
"Right, right. Grime. Anyways... it sounds like Grime has been taking care of Sasha during her time in Amphibia. I'm sure that he's protecting her while I'm not there."
"You know? I think so too."
Thomas smiled as he kept running, and as he looked at the sky, he prayed. 'Be safe, Sasha... I know I must have not shown it lately... but I love you, baby girl, and I promise, I'll try to make it all up to you.'