Sashanne has taken over my life. Might as well write something. Forgive me.
////Summary (without spoilers!): Anne and Sasha finally discuss their "emotional baggage".
////Type of Writing: Angst, Fluff, Confession
It had been a long time since Anne had last seen Sasha. Even longer since they'd had a quiet, peaceful moment to talk, which the two coincidentally desperately needed.
The opportunity finally presented itself not one, not two, not even three, but four days after Anne and the Plantars showed up. Talk about a late arrival--at least according to Anne, who had really been looking forward to a chance to have a heart-to-heart with her...
What was Sasha to Anne? Friend? Best friend? Maybe even crush?
Anne's confusing feelings were going to have to be a discussion for later. Right now, the one thing they needed to talk about was Sasha.
Anne had seen how Sasha had grown over the past two days or so, their first mission being the best example. The other day had mostly been consisting of Sasha organizing the Rebellion and showing Anne how exactly everything worked, sending out a mission and planning two or three, explaining to Anne how each strategy was designed to be specifically in their favor; every frog chosen specifically because they were the right one for the job.
It was a fine day in the Resistance. Sasha and Anne had just sent out a mission to Wally and Mrs. Croaker, and Grime said he wanted to catch up on the latest season of Suspicion Island. ("Idiot," Sasha had commented, but Anne had spotted the smile on her face, so she knew it wasn't mean-spirited.)
It was just Anne and Sasha in the war room. Anne inhaled deeply, about to say something, when Sasha cut her off.
"Uh, Anne?" she said with one eyebrow raised. "You good? Pretty big intake of breath."
"Wha--" Anne flushed at the realization that breathing was not, in fact, inaudible. "Yeah, I'm fine! Just wanted to have that discussion about the, uh--what was it? Uhm--" Anne searched her memory, praying to whoever it was in Amphibia's starry sky if they existed that Sasha didn't think she looked stupid.
"Ah, yes," Sasha reminded her awkwardly, "the 'emotional baggage'."
"Oh yeah, we definitely have a lot of that," Anne deducted in a lazy attempt to distract her friend from the embarrassing fact that Anne had literally forgotten two simple words.
"I--I saw you in the portal," Sasha blurted, "before you disappeared. I saw you get teleported, I saw Marcy get--Grime and I were holding off Andrias--if I'd gotten there faster--"
"Hey, hey, calm down." Anne whispered softly. "Wanna take this somewhere more private? I know this is weird, but I really feel watched right now."
Sasha's face reddened only slightly, but not enough for Anne to notice. "Yeah," she mumbled, "I--let's go."
Sasha took Anne's hand and Anne hoped the sweat on her palm would go unnoticed. Anne followed the blonde, letting her guide her to her room.
"It's no 5-star hotel, but it's comfy," Sasha muttered, opening the door to reveal a pretty small area, barely big enough for a bed, a closet and a desk. Anne stepped inside after Sasha and made the bold decision to allow herself to sit down on her bed beside her.
"So," the Thai brunette began, putting a hand on Sasha's shoulder, finally free from that ridiculously large shoulder guard and her cool cape. "What is it you need to talk about right now? Feel free to unload."
Sasha took a deep breath and exhaled as though she were holding a 50-foot stone statue on her shoulders. "Back at the castle, when the whole... thing happened, Grime and I were holding off Andrias. We wanted to buy you and Marcy time to get back."
"What about you?" Anne asked, and Sasha blinked in surprise.
"I--I didn't think much of it," she admitted. "All I knew was that you and Marcy had to get back safe, or I'd never forgive myself. I guess I just thought that staying trapped in Amphibia with Andrias would be what I deserved. It probably would've been."
Anne's expression softened in an instant and she got a little crease in between her eyebrows as she frowned. "Don't say that, Sash," she told her friend as gently as she could. "I'm not going to say that what you did wasn't wrong, but nobody deserves to be separated from their home forever, much less die there."
"That's not what it had looked like just a few hours ago."
The devastation in Anne's face multiplied by a million. How could she forget their infamous fight by the gates. Anne remembered the rage she had felt, the sheer black anger towards Sasha, who she wasn't aiming to just hold off there. Back at Toad Tower, it had been Sasha on offense and Anne on defense. The roles had clearly reversed, so drastically that Anne winced just thinking about it.
Sasha's face twisted in a regretful expression almost instantly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything," she babbled, almost comically, but the mood had already shifted.
"No," Anne murmured. "It's worth mentioning. I will admit, my intentions there were kinda sorta maybe murderous."
"I get it," Sasha sighed, her eyes half-lidded with exhaustion, though it was still sunny outside. "I would've probably done worse. If you want to finish, I'll let you."
A gasp escaped from Anne's throat as Sasha realized what she had just said.
"Sasha!" Anne's face was full of concern and nothing else, staring at the blonde with such genuine care it made her want to tear out her own heart and rip it in pieces. "Why the heck would I want that?"
The Thai girl's hand moved subconsciously; from comfortingly massaging Sasha's back to gently turning her head to look at her. Her thumb passed over the blonde's scar and she held back a flinch from the memories. Her other hand grasped Sasha's gloved one and she held onto it tightly, as though she were afraid that she would let go. "Sasha, I need you to know that no matter what you do, no matter how angry I get, I will never genuinely want you dead. It's very clear you've changed for the better and it kills me to see you thinking of yourself like this. Please tell me you know that?"
Sasha's face broke into a mess of guilt and regret. Tears slipped down her face and she started... apologizing.
"I'm sorry, Anne! Sorry for all of the manipulation, all the lies, the backstabbing, the horrible things I made you do! I nearly killed Hop Pop! I fought you in a toad duel and made the selfish decision of letting go and then Grime made the stupid choice of catching me!"
"It wasn't--"
"I plotted behind your back, I got jealous because you and Marcy were having fun without me! I backstabbed you again, literally trying to take over Amphibia, and we didn't even know he was evil then! I gave you every reason to hate me, Anne." She paused and used her free hand to wipe her face dry of tears, flinching when they ran over her scar. Looking back up at her friend, she asked, "Why don't you?"
A moment of silence passed in the room, like a monster feeding on the tension, lingering there like some stalker who wanted nothing more but to remind them that it was there.
"Because you're a good person, Sasha," Anne answered, the honesty in her voice threatening to tear Sasha's heart apart. "You may not have been before, but in the past four days I've been here, I'm already convinced that you've changed."
"How can it be that easy to forgive someone?" Sasha whispered. "Especially someone who's been acting like this for longer than you've even known them?"
"It isn't easy. You saw how I was when you showed up out of nowhere at the Temple of Strength: it took me ages to finally trust you. And your actions since I got back here have been more than enough proof."
Sasha's eyes watered and she wiped them free of tears before pulling her friend in for a tight hug. Anne gasped slightly but seemed to reciprocate the embrace, hugging Sasha even tighter than she was her.
In that moment, all was peaceful, both of them reassuring the other that nothing was wrong; that they were loved; and that it would all be okay. Neither wanted to let go, and neither knew how long they'd stayed that way, until Anne reluctantly pulled away.
"I don't think anything will be able to express these really complicated emotions right now," Sasha admitted with a small smile.
Anne knew she was probably sporting some dopey grin right now, because Excuse me, what? What did that mean--was it a confession? Or just some dumb emotions because of their talk? That didn't even begin to cover it, Anne realized. They still had so much to talk about: what had happened over Anne's time on Earth, the government, Marcy...
So much to do and so little time, she thought sadly. With a long hesitation, she finally plucked up the little courage she had left and took her other hand in hers.
"I also have a lot of feelings that are really hard to explain," Anne confessed.
Sasha's cheeks heated up at the words, a good sign. Anne blinked away her nerves and spat out, "Truth is, I really, really, really, really, really like you, Sash."
The blonde girl's eyes widened in surprise and Anne didn't think she'd ever seen her blush so hard. "So," Anne continued (This is the hard part, Anne! You got this...!), "Uhm...--"
"Do you wanna go out with me?" Sasha blurted suddenly.
It was Anne's turn to mimic roses as all the blood ran to her face. "I--wow--uh--yes!" she stammered, too shocked and happy to care that she stuttered stupidly like some sort of cartoon character in a poorly written fanfiction by someone who had never had a crush on anyone in their entire life and was relying on TV and books to write.
Sasha's face lit up and she extended her hand to Anne, who gladly took it. "I have to sort out some papers and plan the next mission, Anne," she mumbled shamelessly. "Maybe we should do this later?"
Anne understood: they were only thirteen after all, it was natural to want to keep it slow. "See you on the other side," she said happily.
Sasha gave her a warm smile and walked out of the room. Unfortunately, Anne could still hear her as she gave a jump and a "Wo-hoo! I did it! I finally did it!"
A giggle and Anne was already flopped backwards onto Sasha's bed. "Never knew you were still such a cute dork, Sash," she murmured quietly.
For once, it felt as though everything would be okay.
"Oh, shoot! How am I going to explain this to the Plantars!"
////A little short lol. Was it good? I've never written romance before!