Chapter Text
Grime threw open the door of the room in a panic.
“Help!” he called out, “We need help!”
The yellow frog whose house he and Sasha were staying in, came up the stairs upon hearing his cries.
“What’s going on?” She asked.
“It’s Sasha!” Grime started to explain, fear and concern mixing together in his voice. “This…light appeared in the room and now she’s suddenly gone-“
Just as he was trying to explain to Felicia about the mysterious light pulled Sasha into it before disappearing with the girl, that very same light appeared in their room once more. Grim threw up his arm to try and shield his eyes from the blinding light as he looked back into the room, though as he knew from just a few seconds ago, it would do little to help the light from blinding his eyes. As quickly as the light appeared, however, it then disappeared…with Sasha now left floating where the light had just been. Well, she floated there for about half a second until gravity caught up to her again, and pulled her down to the ground, causing the blond to let out an “oof” sound.
Grime blinked for a second trying to process what exactly just happened, before turning back to Felicia.
“Ummmm…Never mind.” He said, quickly slamming the door shut. As Felicia began walking away, Grime could practically hear her rolling her eye’s over being disturbed for what seemed to be nothing. Frankly, her being annoyed was the least of Grime’s concerns right now. His main concern was making sure that Sasha was alright and figuring out just what the hell happened here.
Sasha groaned as she began to pick herself up.
Probably should have told Marcy the portal needed to open a few feet lower.
As Sasha’s vision began returning to her with the time portal and its blinding light gone, she heard a voice calling her name.
“Sasha!” the voice called out worriedly at the same time that a pair of hands wrapped around her arm and began trying to help her up. “Are you alright? What happened? Wha-what was that?!”
As Sasha turned to look at the voice that was trying to help her up, Sasha saw a very familiar face, one that she had been wanting to see for days now.
“Grime?” She asked aloud, hesitant to just believe that she really was seeing her captain alive and well. After everything she had just been through over the past few days, it almost seemed more believable to think that this was some sort of dream.
“Yes lieutenant, it’s me. Now what happe-“ As Grim tried to again tried to get some sort of understanding of the situation, he was interrupted by Sasha leaping at him and wrapping him in a hug.
“Grime!” she shouted in utter joy and relief, “You’re alive!”
That gruff voice, the wart-covered skin…or scales or whatever amphibians had, all indicated to Sasha that this wasn’t some dream. This was the real Grime, and he was alive.
“Y-yes I am lieutenant. Why wouldn’t I be?” Grime asked as he, very awkwardly, returned the hug. The awkward response to physical affection also helped to assure Sasha that this was the real Grime.
“Wait.” Sasha said aloud to herself as her eyes widened in realization, “If you’re alive, then…Grime, what day is it?”
Grime just blinked at Sasha in utter bewilderment.
“I-it’s the same day as it was a few seconds when that light first appeared and made you disappear, why in the world would you think it wasn’t?”
“Then that means….” Sasha trailed off as she ended the hug and ran to the window, leaving behind a Grime who was growing more and more bewildered by the second.
As Sasha got to the window, she threw it open and poked her head outside. She could see buildings and homes, undamaged and not destroyed by an army. She could see frogs walking about, setting up some gathering it looked like, almost as if the there wasn’t supposed to have been some big battle that forced them underground. She could even see a one-eyed vagrant, still alive and kicking.
“I…I did it. I’m back.” Sasha could only smile at the realization. After all that she had gone through, all that she had seen in that horrid future…she finally made it back. The joy and relief she felt from being back in her own time, from being back before she caused everything to go to hell, was enough to make her start to cry. She quickly wiped her tears away though; she had done enough crying for one day.
“OK Sasha, what is going on!” Grime all but demanded. “You suddenly disappear in a weird light then show back up again seconds later not knowing what day it is, scuffed up like you’ve been in a fight, looking like you just cried not long ago, and…is that your friend’s crossbow on your arm?”
Sasha left the window and went over to the couch in the room, still smiling as she looked at Grime. He might be a bit gruff in demanding answers, but anyone listening to him speak could tell that while he might be frustrated about not getting answers to such a confusing situation, he was far more concerned about what had happened to the girl.
He really is a big old softy.
“Honestly Grime, I-I don’t even know where to begin explaining it all.” Sasha said as she sat down on the couch, taking off the wrist-mounted crossbow that she had accidentally brought back from the future.
Sasha fully meant what she said as the events of the past week replayed in her mind. So much happened in these past days, how could she choose a place to start? She was going to need time to figure out some way to tell him about what happened. Tell him what was supposed to happen. Not to mention some way to convince him she isn’t crazy when she says “I travelled a year into the future.” Honestly, that was probably going to be the hardest part of any explanation she gave.
Grime sighed.
“All right then, I guess we’re staying in for the night while you figure out a way to explain this all. I suppose one of us will need to let the Plantars know that the dinner’s off tonight.”
“Huh? Oh right, the dinner.” With everything going on, Sasha had almost forgotten what they were supposed to be doing tonight before the time portal opened up. They were supposed to be having dinner with Anne, Marcy and Anne’s frog family to try and better gain their trust for the rebellion…a rebellion which, of course, wouldn’t be happening anymore.
I’ve still got to tell Grime about that as well.
Sasha supposed she’d just need to add that to the list of things she would need to do in the next few days. She still needed to find a way to tell Grime about the future, then after that, she could tell him that the rebellion was off. And then after that, they would…they would…
The smile that had been on Sasha’s face since she realized she was back in her time fell as a horrible realization set in.
…I don’t know how to stop the rebellion.
Sasha had put off thinking about how she was going to stop the rebellion, always prioritizing finding a way to get back to the past first since that was the more immediate concern. But now that she was actually back in the past…stopping the rebellion was the immediate concern. And she had no idea how they could possibly do it.
She couldn’t just call it off, they had gotten the toads ready for a big fight for more power and to fix their own crappy lot in life. They weren’t just going to stop because the people who came up with the plan told them to, not even if one of them was holding Barrel’s Hammer. If she and Grime did back out now, especially when their infiltration was so central to the plan…well, they’d probably be considered traitors. And frankly, they would be right to do so. They’d be turning their backs on this group that they were supposed to lead, supposed to help. Even if the Tower Lords didn’t just pick up where Sasha and Grime left off with leading the rebellion, she and Grime would probably be hunted down and executed if caught. Sure, Sasha knew that she would probably be back on earth by the time something like that happened, but even if she could bring herself to stomach betraying the toads she was supposed to help lead, she could not just leave Grime to fend for himself here.
Even if she tried to get Marcy to talk to Andrias about trying to improve things for the toads, there was no guarantee that he would agree to enough in time to stop things. Worse, if the King learned that a rebellion was planned, he might dismiss the idea of negotiating and just labels the toad's traitors, since that is what they technically were. All she might be doing by trying to get something out of Andrias is setting up the toads to be arrested or executed.
Sasha…couldn’t think of a solution to all of this. And she only had a few days to think of something.
How...how am I supposed to do that?
How was she supposed to stop that horrible future from happening if she couldn’t stop the rebellion? And if she couldn’t stop that horrible future, then she would…
…I…I really can’t change, can I?
“Sasha what’s wrong?” Grime asked as he placed a hand on Sasha’s shoulder.
It was only now that Sasha realized that she had begun crying again.
“I…I have to go.” Sasha stated as she stood up and ran towards the door.
“Sasha, where are you going?” Grime asked, concerned.
“I just-I need some air OK!” Sasha yelled as she ran out of the room.
She could hear Grime calling after her and trying to follow her, but her longer legs let her move much faster than him, and she was soon out of his earshot as she ran out of the house they were using. And she continued to run after that.
Once again, Sasha found herself running into the woods surrounding Wartwood, with tears streaming down her face.
Anne couldn’t help but be nervous as her adopted family and Marcy finished getting the house ready for the dinner party. And really, how couldn’t she be nervous? It felt like everything with Sasha had become so…complicated since coming to Amphibia. Although, maybe that’s not right. It’s not that things have become complicated with Sasha, but rather that they have become more complicated since coming to Amphibia.
Really, things with Sasha started getting complicated around the time that her parents started going through their divorce. Ever since then, it had felt like her outgoing and aggressive personality had started to get more and more toxic as she became more and more controlling. As she started to become more and more of a bully.
Initially, Anne herself hadn’t really thought too much about that shift. In some ways it benefitted her, following along with whatever Sasha wanted was pretty easy…except for those times that Sasha would pressure her to do things that she didn’t want to. Things she felt uncomfortable with. But she still followed along because…that’s just how things worked. Sasha led, and she and Marcy followed.
It was only after coming to Amphibia, and forming her much healthier friendship with Sprig that she started to realize just how toxic her friendship with Sasha had really gotten. And of course, that realization came in the middle of Sasha helping to kidnap the town so she and the toads could execute Hop Pop, which really made everything complicated. And then there was Sasha nearly killing Sprig, the sword fight, the tower collapsing, Sasha letting herself fall, what she said before she let go of Anne’s hand…things were in general a giant mess between the two of them and Anne was left with no idea of whether to trust Sasha or not or if their friendship could ever be repaired.
Then yesterday happened. She finally met up with Sasha again at the Third Temple and, while things were rocky at first, Sasha seemed to be making a genuine effort to be better. They even got a rare apology out of Sasha…well, OK, a rare admittance of wrongdoing from Sasha, but Anne and Marcy had accepted years ago that that was the closest thing to an apology that they would ever get from the blond. And it wasn’t even just for the stuff at Toad Tower, she actually admitted to how much of a jerk she’d been to Anne even back on Earth! She really believed that Sasha was making a genuine attempt to turn things around and change, much like Anne herself had done.
Anne now hoped that she could help her new adoptive family see that as well, despite what had happened at the Tower. With no weird political plots about, and Sasha making a genuine effort to change, Anne hoped that she could smooth things over between Sasha and the Plantars. She hoped she could show them that the manipulative, lying Sasha was gone, and that they could see all the parts of Sasha that made Anne look up to her over the years. They could see that she was super cool, smart, brave, strong, charming, beautiful, fun to talk to, gorgeous, super outgoing….
Anne realized that a light blush was creeping on her cheeks as she thought about all the things that made Sasha amazing, and decided maybe it was best to switch her thoughts away from the blond. Thinking about her too much tended to lead Anne to thinking about…well about the crush she’d had on Sasha for the past few years, and that crush reallllly just made all of this feel even more complicated than it already was.
Thankfully, Anne didn’t end up needing to find something to distract herself as a loud knocking came from the door.
“OK, here they are.” Anne said as she turned to face everyone in the room, bringing her hands up into a pleading gesture. “Now please be cool? Remember, this isn’t the same Sasha who tried to kill you and take over Amphibia.”
“Plantars don’t hold grudges” Hop Pop said, literally waving off Anne’s concerns.
“Not a problem.” Sprig answered from the other side of the couch.
“Have a little faith, Anne.” Polly said, imitating Hop Pop’s own gesture.
With reassurances from her adoptive family, Anne felt confident in the night going well as she turned to open the door. That confidence gave way to confusion when she saw only a single toad at the door with no blond human in sight. A toad with a rather worried expression.
“Hi Grime, where’s Sasha?” Anne asked, trying to keep any concern from showing up in her voice. Sasha was probably just…trying to be fashionably late. Or something. There probably wasn’t a need to worry. Even if Grime did look worried.
Grime let out a sigh.
“That’s the thing actually, I don’t know where Sasha is right now.”
“Sasha’s gone missing?” Anne asked, concern now very present in her voice.
“Wait what?” Marcy asked as she came to join Anne at the door. “How can she be missing?”
“I…Look I’m not entirely sure what did happen.” Grime said, a weird amount of hesitation in his voice. “But just a little bit ago something happened and it made Sasha run out into the woods , crying. I don’t know where she is and…I don’t what’s really happened to her. I’ve never seen her like this at all.”
Anne was pretty sure that she’d never seen Sasha the way Grime described either. Running from something? Crying? That really wasn’t normal for Sasha at all.
OK, now I’m really worried.
“I thought that since you two have known her longer than me,” Grime continued, “and that you’re both more familiar with the area, that you’d be able to help find her.”
Anne nodded her head.
“Of course, we’ll all help find her.”
“Does it have to be all of us?” Sprig asked from within the house.
Anne turned around and looked at the apprehensive Plantars.
“…OK, anyone Sasha’s tried to kill is excused.” She said flatly.
Sprig and Hop Pop let out sighs of relief, while Polly let out an annoyed groan.
“That’s so not fair.” The pollywig complained.
“Well maybe when you guys find her, you can ask her to try and kill you so have an excuse not to help next time.” Sprig replied.
A thoughtful look came across Polly’s face.
“Do you think that would work?”
Sprig’s face morphed into a combination of incredulity and concern that she was actually taking him seriously.
“Guys, enough joking around.” Anne said, a little frustration evident in her voice. “All right, we’ll all split up and look for Sasha. Grime, you take the east part of woods, Marcy the west, and then Polly and Frobo can check south. I’ll look north.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, and with that the group split up into different directions to try and find the blond.
Please be OK
I’m such an idiot
That was all Sasha could think as she sat in a small clearing in the woods, sniffling as her tears continued to trickle down her face, though at a much slower rate now than when she first ran into the woods. It was almost funny actually, the idea that she’d run out of town crying and then spend who’s knows how long sitting in a clearing berating herself wasn’t something Sasha would ever think she’d do. Now she’s done it twice in less than a week. Heck, if it weren’t for the log she was sitting on, Sasha would think that she was in the same clearing she had ended up running to a few days ago.
But maybe this was all just a sign. A sign that everything she saw in that horrible future was still going to repeat itself. That she couldn’t change anything. That the struggle to fight into her future-self’s palace and get the time machine working was all for nothing. That in the end, she’s just going to end up turning into Queen Sasha anyways, no matter how much she doesn’t want to.
I know I’m stuck being the screwed-up person I am, but I thought I could at least keep that screwed future from happening. Now…
She had no way to stop the rebellion. It was going to happen one way or the other. Even the few ways she could think to stop it would probably result in Grime being hunted down as a traitor to his own people for the rest of his life, or even result in the very toads she was supposed to lead being arrested as traitors to the crown.
What good am I if I can’t stop this? What good was anything that we did to get me back here!? Did…did Anne really lose her hand just so I could go and turn into the Queen anyways?
Marcy had even said this could happen, a predestination paradox she’d called it. She’d said it probably wasn’t something that could happen…which meant that there was still a chance that it could. And now, Sasha believed that that chance had come true. She was going to end up being that psycho Queen no matter what. The rebellion was going to happen no matter what. Grime was going to die no matter what. She was going to ruin the planet no matter what. She was going to try and kill her two oldest friends no matter what. She was going to crush the hand of the girl she loved no matter what-
“Sasha?”
Sasha looked over to the edge of the clearing at the voice that called her name. People generally didn’t go out into the woods at night, so there shouldn’t have been anyone else out there with her. And yet someone else was there as well.
Except it wasn’t just “someone else”. Standing at the edge of the clearing was a 13-year-old Thai girl, the girl she loved, Anne.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” Sasha asked, turning her face away so Anne wouldn’t see the blond trying to wipe away her tears.
“Grime told us that you ran off into the woods crying so we came to look for you.” Anne said as she ran over to the blond.
“Are you OK?” Anne asked as she sat down next to Sasha on the log, but the blond inched away from her when she did so.
She shouldn’t be so close to me, not with everything I’m going to do…
“Sash?” Anne asked, concern growing more present in her voice.
“I-I’m fine, OK. Nothing happened I just…I just needed some air.”
Anne looked annoyed at hearing that.
“Sasha come on, you and I both know you wouldn’t run into the woods to cry just cause you “needed some air.”” The look on Anne’s face softened again. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, OK!” Sasha shouted as she began to stand up. “I just need to be alo-“
Sasha’s mouth stopped working as she felt Anne grab onto her hand with her own. With both of her own.
“Please Sasha?” The Thai girl once again pleaded.
Sasha turned her head back to face Anne. Saw how worried her friend was. How scarred she was for her. When she saw that look on Anne’s face, it suddenly felt like it was 3 years ago, and Anne had found her alone on the playground. It was almost unfair. How could she possibly refuse to talk to Anne when she was that worried and scarred for her.
And so, Sasha sat back down.
But she didn’t speak right away. Here was this girl who’s trust and faith she had used and abused for years, and she was looking at Sasha with nothing but completely genuine concern. Anne was worried about her, the girl who manipulated and bullied her into doing things she hated or was uncomfortable with. The girl who used her trust to kidnap away an entire town. The girl who nearly killed the first person to stand up to her on Anne’s behalf. Sasha almost didn’t feel like she deserved to talk to Anne, after all she did. Really, what could she even say to her?
“I’m sorry.” Sasha finally said.
Anne blinked a few times as she tried to process what the blond just said.
“You just-what did you just say?” She finally asked in surprise and confusion.
Sasha took in a deep breath as she felt tears starting up again.
“I said I’m sorry. For everything I’ve done, all of the manipulation and bullying. Both here and on Earth. I know back at the temple I said I was wrong for how I acted but…but I never apologized to you for it. And I should have. You…you deserve to hear an apology.”
Anne’s face seemed to show more and more concern with each word out of Sasha’s mouth.
“OK seriously, Sasha what’s wrong? You don’t…you don’t apologize. You haven’t said sorry to anyone for years.”
“I know, and I’m sorry for-“
“Sasha.” Anne said, cutting the blond off. “Please just tell me what’s wrong.”
“I…” Sasha wanted to say something to Anne, to explain to her what was wrong. But just because she wanted to tell her, that didn’t mean that she knew what to actually say. She didn’t even know what to say to Grime about all of this and telling him about it all would be a cakewalk compared to telling Anne.
She knew that she was going to have to tell Anne about it at some point but…but she couldn’t do it right now. There was so much to figure out. She was still trying to process some of it. How was she supposed to tell anyone about what she saw, what she went through, and what she watched so many others go through? How was she supposed to tell them that she was going to be a psychotic tyrant? How was she supposed to tell them that she was going to wreck the planet trying to stamp out any opposition to her rule? How was she going to tell them tell them that she nearly killed Anne and Marcy? How was she supposed to tell Anne about the last fight their future-selves had and what they did to each other?
What in the world could she possibly tell Anne right now? …And then it hit her. There was one thing that she could talk about with Anne, even if it was something she hated admitting.
“I’m afraid.” Sasha finally admitted, turning her head to face the ground.
If Anne was shocked or surprised, she chose not to vocalise it.
“Afraid of what?”
“I…” while this was easier to explain than what happened in the future, it was still something difficult for Sasha to talk about, something that was difficult for her to find the right words for. “I don’t…I don’t like the person I’ve been for the last while. I don’t like that I’ve been so controlling and manipulative. I don’t like that I’ve been a bully to you and Marcy and…and so many other people really. I don’t like how I’ve gotten so much worse since coming here to Amphibia. I…I don’t like the path where all that’s taking me down either.”
Sasha took a deep breath.
“But…but even with how much I don’t like who I’ve become…I don’t know if I can change. I’m…afraid that I can’t change, and of what I’ll do if I can’t change. And-and I want to change, I really do, but…I…I don’t think I can. I don’t think I’m capable of changing. And that…that scares me.”
It felt surprisingly good to finally tell all of this to someone. Of course, whatever relief she felt form telling someone about this was buried underneath all of the other horrible emotions she was feeling at the moment, but there was still that small bit of relief nevertheless.
“Sasha, can you please look at me?” Anne asked gently.
Sasha obeyed Anne’s request and looked back up at her, a comforting and reassuring smile on the girl’s face.
“It’s going to be OK.” Anne told her.
“No, it’s not.” Sasha replied, her voice shaking. “If-If I can’t change then-“
“Sasha, you already have changed.” Anne said. While her voice was gentle, it still carried this tone like Anne was saying something she felt was obvious.
And of course, to her it would be obvious. She still thought Sasha had changed from what she saw in the temple. She didn’t understand that all of that was just another manipulation. Sure, Sasha might have admitted to having done wrong to Anne, but that was the only honest thing she had said. Anne didn’t get it, not now anyways. A year from now though, she’d understand. She’d understand just how impossible it was for Sasha to ever change-
“I mean, just look at how you’ve acted tonight.”
Sasha blinked.
“Tonight?” she repeated, confused. “I don’t-what?”
“Sasha, think about what I said earlier, about how you haven’t apologized to anyone for years? Well, what did you just do earlier?”
“I… apologized?” Sasha said hesitantly.
“Exactly. You’re apologising now. That…well that’s something about you that’s changed, right?”
Sasha sighed. One tiny change like that didn’t mean that she could change.
“Anne, I don’t think-“
“And you admitted you’re afraid of something. Since when have you ever admitted to being afraid of something? That’s another change.”
Sasha shook her head.
“I’m not really sure that-”
“Plus, how long has it been since you’ve opened up about your emotions like this?”
Sasha paused when Anne said that.
“You always keep anything that’s bugging you inside and refuse to tell anyone. Heck, I’m pretty sure that the last time I’ve ever seen you open up to someone was…I guess it would have been that time I found you on the playground when all the stuff from your parent’s divorce, your Dad’s new marriage and your half-brother was making you feel really crappy and unloved. If you’re being more open about this kind of stuff then…well isn’t that another change.”
Sasha wasn’t sure what stunned her more. That Anne remembered that day on the playground without any prompting from Sasha, or that what Anne was saying was starting to sound right.
“So that’s three changes in one night right? Doesn’t that kind of show that you can change?”
“…You really think I can change?” Sasha asked hesitantly, a drop of hope in her voice.
“I know so Sasha.” Anne said, that reassuring smile still on her face. “I know that change can be hard. Sometimes it can seem like the hardest thing. But, believe me, it’s worth it in the end. I’ve changed a lot since I got here and I’m…I’m a lot happier with myself now. I’m a lot more comfortable with who I am. It’s hard, and it might seem impossible, but it’s worth it. And hey, if me and Marcy can go through it, then you defiantly can.”
“I…I don’t know…” Sasha said, doubt still in her voice.
“Come on Sash, you definitely can. Do I need to remind you about how you stood up in a room with gravity sooo intense everyone else was being crushed into the floor? And then how you cut a giant stone monster in half?! Change is hard and it can take a long time, but if anyone is strong enough and determined enough to tackle it head-on, then it’s you!”
“You…you really believe that?” Sasha asked, a hint of disbelief in her voice.
“Yeah, I do.” Anne replied as she pulled Sasha into a hug. And as she did so, the blond began to cry into Anne’s shoulder. It really did feel like it was 3 years ago.
“Thank you Anne, thank you so much.” Sasha said through her tears.
“Hey, what are friends for.” Anne said, as she placed a hand on Sasha’s back, rubbing it up and down in a soothing motion to try and help calm the blond down.
Sasha still wasn’t sure if she could change or not, it felt like there were so many things standing in her way…but Anne believed she could. Really…both Anne’s believed she could. And if they believed that she could change…well then she’d give it a shot. She owed them that much.
Anne and Sasha simply stayed like that for a long time, or what seemed like a long time anyways. Eventually, Sasha’s breathing steadied and her tears dried, but the two didn’t separate. They simply stayed in each other's embrace. It almost felt like a miracle to Sasha, the idea that she and Anne could ever sit together like this…it seemed like an impossibility after what she saw in the future. She had no idea how long this miracle would last, but she wanted to enjoy it for every second that it did.
But then Anne pulled away from the hug.
A part of Sasha worried that she had done something wrong, or that maybe this all really was just a dream. And then she looked at Anne’s face, and saw an excited smile, and her worry melted away.
“I just thought of a really great idea.” Anne said as she stood up and held her hand out towards Sasha.
Sasha stared at the offered hand for a moment, before grabbing it and pulling herself up.
“What idea?”
“It’s a surprise, but I know it’s something you’re going to love. Trust me.” Anne replied, her tone excited and slightly anxious.
Sasha returned her smile and nodded at the Thai girl before allowing Anne to pull her back toward town. Sasha was expecting Anne to take her to the farm, but she instead led Sasha toward the center of town. And as they got closer and closer to the center of town, Sasha realized that she could hear something; music.
As they finally arrived at their destination, Sasha saw that the center of town had been set up for some sort of dance. There was a stage set up with a small band playing, and a bunch of frogs all dancing in a section of the town square that had been cleared away to make a dance floor. There was even a small area to the side with some concessions and chairs. In the back of her mind, Sasha realise that this was the gathering she saw the frogs setting up when she looked out the window earlier.
“Is this some sort of party?” Sasha asked, a little confused to see this setup.
“Sort of. Wartwood holds these dances every few weeks or so, it’s supposed to be like a big event for the town to all hang out together and stuff. We weren’t going to go tonight since I wanted to try and have that whole “get along” dinner ASAP, but…”
As Anne explained all of this, a light blush started to appear on her cheeks.
“Well I remembered that back home, you always really liked dancing and playing Super Dance Fusion at the arcade so…well I thought since you were having a rough night, that…well that the two of us could go dancing.” Anne finished, nervousness in her voice for a reason that Sasha was unsure of.
There was no possible way that Sasha couldn’t be touched by this. Not only had Anne spent so much of the night helping to comfort Sasha, but now she was taking her to do something that she knew Sasha loved, just to cheer her up. Sasha was reminded so much of just why she had fallen in love with this girl as a smile crept onto her face.
“Thank you, Anne, that…that was really sweet of you.”
“So…you’re OK with this?” Anne asked hesitantly.
“Of course I am Boonchuy, I’d love to dance with you.”
It took about a second for Sasha to realize what she had just said, at which point her eyes widened and a blush appeared on her face.
Of Frog, what did I just say? I mean, yeah I’d love to dance with Anne but…but probably not in the way that she means it, and no one would word it that way unless they meant it like how I meant it so Anne is definitely going to figure out that I didn’t mean it the way she meant it cause she defiantly didn’t mean it the way that I meant it. I just…just need to try and play it off. Tell her that I just meant that I thought it would be fun to dance with my best friend…my best friend who I’m only just now realizing has her hair done up and she looks even prettier than usual like this, and oh my Frog she looks amazing in that dress, how am I supposed to dance with her when she looks like that, I am totally going to make myself look like an idiot and ruin the night and…
Sasha’s face turned redder than any tomato in existence as her thoughts went out of control.
“You’re sure?” Anne hesitantly said after a few seconds of Sasha’s silence. Thankfully for Sasha, Anne’s words were enough to pull her out of her spiralling thoughts.
“Yes!” Sasha said, perhaps a little too quickly. “It would be…really fun. Especially with you.”
“Right.” Anne replied, and then she led Sasha out onto the dance floor.
And Sasha was right, it was fun. The two started off dancing next to each other, but very quickly they started actually dancing with each other as the music continued to play. They held onto each other hands as they glided along the dance floor, they spun and twirled each other around, and Sasha even took an opportunity to dip Anne. And throughout it all they barely talked, simply because their smiles and laughter said enough. They were truly enjoying themselves. For the first time in a while, it felt like she and Anne were truly enjoying being around each other without Sasha doing something stupid and selfish that made Anne feel uncomfortable.
And then the music began to slow, and with it their dancing. Now, Sasha wrapped her right hand around Anne’s waist, while Anne wrapped her left hand around Sasha’s shoulder, and they both held on to each other's remaining hand. For a moment, it almost felt like she wasn’t simply hanging out with her best friend, but on a date with her girlfriend.
“Thank you so much for this Anne. You really didn’t have to, especially after how I’ve acted for the past few years”
“Don’t worry about it Sash. I know that…yeah, you’ve been kind of a jerk for the last while. But…I still want things to work out with us.”
“…Thank you for giving me another chance. I promise I won’t waste it.”
And so, the two continued to dance through the night. Even as many of the frogs began to leave, the two stayed there and continued to dance.
Sasha really didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. She still had no idea about how she was actually going to tell anyone about what happened in the future, let alone convince them that she’s telling the truth. More than that, she had no idea how she was going to actually change the future and keep the rebellion from happening. And she was still unsure of how she would go about changing herself…but she was determined to do it anyways. Maybe she did have a tough road ahead of her. Maybe it would seem impossible at times. But she would do it. Because Anne, both future and present, believed that she could change. And if Sasha Waybright could change herself, then changing the future would be a piece of cake in comparison. And even if it all proved more difficult than she imagined…well, she would just do it anyways. Sasha would never stop forging a new tomorrow, not until she was sure that the old tomorrow could never happen.
…But that was something to deal with later. Right now, with the future still so uncertain, Sasha simply wanted to spend a perfect night with the girl she loved.