Maybe it was strange for her to watch her friends from afar. To wish she was there to give them a listening ear, or a great big hug; it was sorely needed.
Her favorite thing just happened to be the rarest moments. When Anne's friends would get distracted. When Marcy would get absorbed into Vagabonia Chronicles like old times. When Sasha would yowl at the cheerleaders, getting so competitive that she even scared the coaches. When Ivy, Sprig and even Maddie would get so caught up in a random adventure they'd fall down laughing, completely forgetting about the crippling sadness that hung over them.
But it never lasted. Eventually they would think of all that was lost and their light would die, hiding under that biblical bushel.
------
Maddie loved to whip up some sort of magical potion with her siblings. Sure, all they did was mess it up and cause her to start over repeatedly but they were her siblings, and she had to deal with them.
It was different from her short time with Marcy, her siblings weren't really interested in magic, they were a little traumatized by the first... Mishap.
And they never color in the lines. The thought made Maddie shiver violently and let out a little laugh.
Inside joke.
It made her long for th trio to return, she enjoyed it when there was a fellow magic lover to work with.
She loved it when her sisters would be stuck with Grime while learning how to properly stab or with her dad making food for the rebellion.
She loved it when they would try to guess what adventure the Plantar's would get stuck on next.
All of those where activities they did when she was peacefully alone.
------
Sprig didn't want to leave Wartwood. He could see Anne every day when he was here, he could chat with his older sister when he really needed it. Out there, in the new continent, who knows what waited for them. Not Anne, that's for sure.
He sat next to the large base she stood on, studying the small cracks littering the ground by his feet. "Hey Anne"? Sprig asked. The only thing that answered him was the unnatural silence that seemed to follow him everywhere; it seemed like everything was holding its breath, waiting.
Stealing another breath he continues. "Me, Ivy, and Maddie were going to go to the new continent." He stops before correcting himself, "We are going to go to the new continent. But I don't want to leave you, ya know? That's not what family's supposed to do. Adventures are our thing. It just-it won't be the same without you." He turns to face Anne, the sun's rays illuminating her face with a lively glow he'll never get to see again. Sprig settles on staring towards the east, watching the sun climbing its way above the horizon. It was the view Anne got from her stone form. The fact that he could see the looming statue from his position made him feel like instead of her towering over him she was sitting next to him. Just like old times.
He waited for a few minutes thinking to himself before he sighed. "You're right." He looked into Anne's granite eyes, "You wouldn't want me clinging to a memory. In movies, people move on and movies are never wrong." except for War of the Warlocks. The young frog thought to himself as he searched himself for the motivation to get up.
"Nope!" Sprig announced to the world, yet no one in particular, "I can't get up." He turned to face his first friend, his eyes all starry in his classic 'kicked-puppy-plantar' look. "But you don't mind that?" he paused and in her stone silence he grinned, "All right!! More time for goodbyes!!" the pink frog stopped, realizing how weird that sounds, in and out of context.
------
Maddie Flour had been double checking her packing list when Ivy came to the witch's room. "Hey Maddie?" the yellow frog asks curiously, "Do you know where Sprig is? I promised I'd help him pick out a slingshot for the trip but nobody's seen him all day." She spares a glance at the tadpoles bouncing on the bed before continuing in a hushed whisper, "He's going to miss the bucket." Maddie froze.
"He's going to kick the bucket?" Lavender asked, alerting the duo that Ginger, Rosemary, and Lander, the trio of horrid mishap, were indeed listening.
Ivy hesitated, the gears in her head screeching to a halt. She glanced at the blue frog as said frog shrugged. "It wouldn't matter, even if he did." Ivy stared at Maddie, her shock and confusion evident on her yellow face.
Maddie barely looked up to notice the yellow frog's dismay. "What?" She asked, as if her early statement was not at all confusing, "I could just resurrect him." the witch fished out a vial and lifted it up to the light to study before continuing, "I've resurrected a flea and Artie, Sprig wouldn't be very different." she turned to Ivy as she started to argue. "Cause they all bug me." Maddie stared at the Sundew blankly.
The tadpoles stop bouncing.
Ivy blinked.
She blinked again, "Did," the yellow frogs a bit hesitant to question the frog in front of her, as of she'd be taunting death itself, which she promptly is, "Did you just," She attempted to swallow her fear, and maybe her pride, as she continued, "Did you just make a joke?" she eyed the witch, feeling as if she had put her life on the line, which, again, she had.
Maddie simply turned to her siblings, "This," she gestures to Ivy, "is why I don't make jokes." Her slitted yellow eyes are filled with annoyance, making them uneasy.
"Please don't make us clean the cauldron!" Yelled Ginger
Lavender was the one to cry out next "Don't vivisect us!"
Rosemary simply had a traumatized look on her froggy face, "Don't use us as test subjects." all of the other tadpoles nodded in agreement.
"We'll clean the Cauldron!" yelled Lavender as she sped out the room.
Ginger's eyes widened in alarm, "No we won't!"
Rosemary carried the remaining tadpole out of the room, "Yes we will!" she amended.
The door slammed shut behind them.
Maddie's scowl was almost fond. "Siblings."
Ivy studied the witch as they were enveloped in the unworldly silence once again. "I'd kill to have siblings like that. A hoard of loyal minions following me everywhere!" She adopted one of Yunan's signature poses, "We Sundew would be a force to be reckoned with!" She flashed a grin
towards Maddie who had gone back to packing.
The yellow frog's excitement seemed to die a little.
"You Sundew's already are." Maddie mumbled, glancing around the room to make sure she had everything.
Ivy blinked, startled by Maddie's complement.
The witch marched towards the door and yelled behind her shoulder to her friend, "Let's go find Sprig!"
It took Ivy a little while to finally process what Maddie had stated and she bolted out of the room, yelling, "He's probably at the Statue, you know how he gets!"
------
The room was left empty as the silence gave way to the gentle russell of the curtains in the wind and the occasional chirp of a frog eating songbird and the far away roar of a mantis; followed by the cry of a foolish amphibian.
------
They found Sprig at the Statue. They honestly lost count of times they's find him there, sometimes he'd be talking quietly to himself, sometimes he'd be asleep, at the base, on the music box, on Anne's granite head, once or twice he was on the sword, so close to falling off it'd give Hop Pop a heart attack.
That is if Hop Pop saw it.
This time Sprig was sitting lazily at the base, eyes staring at the sunrise, or what would have been the sunrise; if the sun wasn't high in the sky.
Maddie hung back while Ivy went to do the 'emotional checkup,' as they've grown to call it, with Sprig.
Ivy walked around the base of the pedestal and stood by Sprig, looking down at him. He was taller than she was now so she enjoyed the moments that he'd have to angle his head up to him.
"Hey, Sprig." Ivy greeted studying him curiously. There were no signs that he was crying like there usually was. "You good?"
Sprig jumped out of his daze. "Hmm?" he grunted while blinking rapidly, trying to get the tiredness out of his eyes.
Ivy patiently repeated her question, "You good?"
"Oh," Sprig whispered before finding his voice, "I'm actually doing great! Why do you ask?" He looks at Ivy, his big eyes filled with curiosity and slight confusion. For once Ivy couldn't find a single hint of his never ending sadness.
Ivy stared a little longer than she attended to. "Um, well you know..." She intended to lie about everyone worrying about him but she couldn't, not to his face. "Nobody could find you so we figured you were here, but every time you're here you're sad and we have to leave today, so," She pauses to catch her breath. SHe hadn't realized she was talking so fast. "You get it?" Ivy asked.
"Yeppers." Sprig replied, getting up from the ground. "I should get packing." he hurried past her as the words got processed in her brain.
She spun around, "You haven't started packing yet?!" She yelled after him, the words successfully loaded.
Her boyfriend laughed sheepishly, "I didn't want to leave Anne!" he called back to her.
The yellow frog sighed and turned to the statue, "How am I supposed to compete with you?" she questioned. She could almost hear the human's familiar laugh with a playful "you can't compete with a legend," or something along those lines.
But of course, like everytime someone would think of Anne, there would be a bitter after taste. A hint of sadness to the happy memories.
------
Sprig packing quickly, mostly because like every cartoon character he only had one outfit, and because Maddie came along and simply grabbed a random slingshot and told him to pack it. She wasn't going to let him spend hours on picking one slingshot. That was simply
unreasonable.
To everyone but Sprig.
But Maddie wasn't there to hear him complain, she was going to make sure they leave on time.
------
Polly's always been impatient; she's never liked waiting. If you ask her, she couldn't name one thing she was happy to wait for; birthdays, deadlines, surprises, all of the junk that you had to wait for.
And now she was the surprise. Fresh out of Newtopia University and ready to take over the world, but she had to wait for her brother to show up. Her brother that she hadn't seen for four years cause she didn't take breaks and he didn't leave Wartwood.
They don't resent each other for it, she knew he was clinging on to the last part of Anne he had. She would be too if she was able to. Sprig knew his little sister was dedicated.
Polly doesn't like clinging onto the past. It made her unable to move forward. Sure, she still missed Anne, but why must she cling onto something she doesn't have? Why must she mourn when she already has? Anne would want to live her life, she wouldn't want to hold them back. She can dream and miss someone and be saddened, but why must she be so desperate to get a sequel to a finished story?
She would love to run these questions past Sprig when he showed up but they were different frogs. Polly was tough and hard headed, Sprig was soft and loving. She liked to talk to Grime when she felt down, for her brother it was Hop Pop.
The purple frog was knocked out of her train of thought when a blur of pink screaming, "Polly!" tackled her to the ground.
------
Ivy and Maddie rushed Sprig to the Snirds, then rushed the hybrids to docks. The pink Plantar thought that they were going to be late because of the rushing, but when he checked the time, farmer style, they were early. Sprig hated being early. Then he'd be stuck with nothing to do and too much energy.
He was yanked out of his thoughd when he saw a frog standing by the large ship in the harbor. There were multiple confusing things about the figure; one, shouldn't the captain be on the ship at this hour? Two why did the frog look so fim-oh frog that Polly.
Wait.
That is Polly!
Sprig dropped his luggage and bolted, not minding the cry of pain from Ivy when it fell on her foot(luckily for Ivy a curtain witch was already ready to assist), "Polly!" he screamed, knocking her down in a Sundew styled tackle. Only for Polly to knock him off her with her legs and bounce to her feet in some weird hybrid of newt and frog fighting styles. Sprig let out a laugh as he hit the floor, "Wow, Polly. Where'd you lean moves like that?" Polly loomed over her brother, an intimidation tactic she had picked up.
"Oh, you know," a grin spread across the youngest Plantar's face, "Newtopia."
Sprig laughed. Whipping the tears away from his eyes, "I could still beatcha though." he eyed his sister.
Polly swelled with pride. "Ha!" she laughed, "I could beat you with my arm tied behind my back!"
Sprig leaned forward. "Really?" the pink frog questioned.
"20 coppers."
------
The rest of the time was filled with wrestling and jokes. Laughed filled the empty air.
Sprig sighed as Polly forced him to the ground for the tenth time. "I missed you." He studied his sisters foace to see if she felt the same.
Polly playful stuck her blue tongue at her brother, "I could never miss you, your much too annoying." she kicked him back to the ground when she swong at her.
She flopped down next to it, using her arms as cushions. "Well," she began, turning to face him. "Lifes kinda uneventful without you. There's no weekly adventure. No big bro to tease; but the teachers are a good replacement. No Bessie to take for a drive, and no Hop Pop to worry." a smile spread across her face, as Polly's began to ego started to shine, "Yunan did say that I gave Olivia gray hairs."
Sprig leaned forward, "What did you do?" his voie gave away his eagerness.
"I dueled Grime and Yunan at the same time, I stole all her juice, I pulled 'too many all nighters,' I burned down the campus twice, trapped Grime with the Shadowfish, and finally, gave her Yunan's stuffed head." She pauses, "It was Yunan's idea, Grime helped with the stuffing and sowing, and Yunan caught Olivia when she fainted."
Sprig stares at the supposed murder in shock and his jaw dropped to the floor.
Polly blinked at her slack jawed brother, "I did say the head was fake, right?" she shrugged when Sprig shook his head.
------
The Foreigner set sail at noon, four young Amphibian's piled at ther stern with the sea spraying their froggy faces. Their supervisor, Ivy's mother, Felica Sundew close by.
------
She watched as they pulled away; as they grew smaller. As they speeded farther away. As they moved on, to the future.
A sad smile grew across her face.
This time she can't chase after them.
Ahh, that took why to long.
I'm going to try to write a lot more frequent now, so if things go to plan there should be a update every two weeks. If I'm lucky I can post Chapter 4 next week. I'm excited to introduce some new characters.
rubbberduckiezzz, thanks for the reminder!! It helped me find some hidden time to write.