Archive of Our Own

Sasha

Ever since she’d woken up, body aching, flat on her back in a Newtopian cell, Sasha had been contemplating the events that had led her here.

She’d been so optimistic when Grime declared his intent to take Newtopia, installing a new, toad order in Amphibia. Gathering an army, making plans, it had given her such a burst of energy at the time. Sure, she still had every intention of dealing with Anne and her little frog friends, but at the moment, she was happy to help out her Captain. Plus, having her friend in charge of Amphibia could only help her in her own goals. Sasha was going to get them all home, no matter what Anne thought about it.

Of course, as Sasha and Grime had been putting the final touches on their plan, Anne had shown up once again to throw a spanner in the works. Not only was she at Newtopia, Marcy was with her as well. It had stung more than Sasha would ever admit that her other friend had also sided against her, but in the end, it only stoked the fire inside her that burned to take back control, and make her erstwhile friends see things her way. She’d known more than ever that the upcoming battle would be critical to her future, and not just in getting her home. She had to make them see reason, even if she had to beat them down to do it.

‘And how did that go?’ Sasha thought to herself sardonically, gazing around her damp, dreary cell. It had been almost a week since the fateful siege of Amphibia’s capital city. First, Grime had sent skirmishing parties to nearby towns in order to draw Newtopian forces away from the city. Once they were sure that the Newts would be too far away to return in time to help, they’d launched their attack.

Breaching the walls had been easy, too easy in fact, though Sasha hadn’t realized it at the time, busy as she was fighting Anne and Marcy. Seeing both of her friends, standing united against her, had filled her with a rage she had never felt before. It drove her to carelessness, abandoning all strategy in favor of an all-out attack. Instead of a careful advance through the streets, her sudden move had resulted in a charge straight into the heart of the city, taking the battle close to the royal palace itself.

Suddenly, as though a switch had been flicked, the battle had turned against the toads. Before she could realize what was happening, they were surrounded on all sides, turning the battle from a glorious charge to a desperate last stand as the Newts pressed in on them. Marcy and Anne had the audacity to demand she surrender, acting like she was the one being unreasonable when they were the ones going against the dynamic their relationship had held for years. Sasha led, and they followed. It had always worked for them, so why did they have to muck it up now?! So angry was she, that she lost herself in the fighting, refusing to give in no matter how hopeless it was. She’d lost track of time as her sword arm grew heavy, until finally a blow from behind knocked her out cold. When she finally awoke, she was in a cell, somewhere within the palace.

In the time since then, Sasha reflected on what had gone wrong. She’d been too angry to notice at the time, but looking back on it, the strategy the Newts had used was remarkably similar to a scenario Marcy had once ranted about, from one of her video games that she loved so much. It had been a total party-wipe, if she was recalling the girl’s words correctly.

‘Of course it was Marcy.’ Sasha had fumed. It was just her luck. Once again, she had been on the cusp of victory, only for her friend to ruin everything. First it had been Anne, and now Marcy. It would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.

And so, Sasha was left to stew in her cell. The only contact she’d had with the outside world in the past week was a single guard, who would wordlessly bring her meals, and leave just as quietly. Aside from that, she never saw anyone. No interrogators, no curious onlookers, and certainly not her so-called friends. At least the food was better than what she’d gotten at Toad Tower. And there were no bugs. Honestly it was pretty nice for a dungeon, not that it made her feel any better about her situation.

The first time that guard had come, she’d yelled herself hoarse. “Where's Captain Grime?!” “Are Percy and Braddock ok?!” “Why won’t you say anything?!” But to no avail. She’d learned to save her breath since then, silently taking her meals, as despair slowly set in. She had no idea what would happen to her, but she doubted it was anything good.

One day, as she sat against the wall of her dim, windowless cell, she heard the door at the end of the hall creak open. 

Frowning, Sasha sat up straight. It wasn’t time for food, and her cell was in it’s own little wing, away from any others, so there was no one else they could be here for… She tensed slightly, wondering if they were finally coming to question her.

Slowly, the mystery visitor entered Sasha’s field of view. Matted, dark brown curls, leaves and twigs sticking out like some wild woman, warm, dark skin, and that same school uniform she’d been wearing all those months ago. And most absurdly, still the one shoe, after all this time…

‘Anne…’

Sasha shifted, leaning back on her arm and trying her best to look casual as Anne stepped closer, hand coming up to clutch one of the bars. Her… Friend? Former friend? Enemy? Stared into the cell at Sasha, a strange expression on her face. Sasha prided herself on her ability to read people, but even she couldn’t tell what was going through Anne’s mind at that moment.

Thinking quickly, Sasha decided to play it cool, and she pasted on a smirk. “Well, how nice of you to finally visi-”

“Shut up.”

Cut off, Sasha stared blankly for a moment, unable to comprehend what had just come out of Anne’s mouth. “What did you sa-”

“I said shut up!” Anne spat out, louder than before. Her hand was clenched tightly around the bar now, squeezing, and she appeared to be shaking in place ever so slightly. “You’re always running your mouth, doing all the talking. Well now it’s my turn to talk, and you’re gonna shut your mouth, and deal with it!” She puffed herself up as she spoke, like one of the frogs she loved so much.

Dumbfounded, Sasha was frozen in place. On one hand, something inside her wanted to fight back, to rebel against Anne’s command and restore the balance of their dynamic to its rightful place. On the other hand… It might be interesting to see what had the other girl so worked up, plus she might be able to get some sort of information out of her... Pushing back her natural impulse, Sasha grit her teeth, and nodded slowly, resisting the urge to snarl her anger out.

If Anne was satisfied by that, she didn’t show it. She glared down at the blonde like some vengeful god, and for a moment, Sasha, against all logic, felt a twinge of fear pass through her. “Okay, first of all, what the heck dude?! Attacking Newtopia?! Have you completely lost your mind?! You could’ve gotten hurt! Or killed! What’s your deal?!”

Before Sasha could even try to respond to any of that, Anne continued. “After what happened at the tower, I was so worried about you! Why did you let go?! Why?! I could’ve helped you up! You would’ve been fine!” ‘No, you couldn’t.’ Sasha thought, though, perhaps wisely, she held her tongue.

“Do you have any idea what that felt like? Watching you fall? I thought you were gonna die Sasha! I thought that was it. How could you do something like that?” The anger was bleeding out of her tone now, replaced by sadness. I did it for you! A part of Sasha wanted to scream. Another part just wanted to talk about anything else. 

“Where’s Marcy?” She blurted before she could think better of it. For a moment, Anne looked surprised, seemingly forgetting that Sasha wasn’t supposed to talk. After a short but awkward silence, she found her voice.

“She’s… Around. I wanted to talk to you about some things… Alone.” Sasha looked at the other girl closely. Was she… Blushing?

Anne scratched the back of her neck, her bravado seemingly lost. “I just… It’s…” She stammered for a moment. “I was really worried about you…”

Sasha stared at her in disbelief. ‘Worried? She sure didn’t seem worried when she was fighting against me.’ “I thought you hated me.” Sasha admitted before she could stop herself.

The dark-haired girl stared back at her. ‘Yep, she’s definitely blushing.’ “Ha-hate you? No! I… I…” She stuttered, struggling to get the words out.

Groaning, Sasha rolled her eyes. “Just spit it out already! What’s the big deal?”

At that, Anne seemed to regain the steel in her spine. “ Hey! I’m supposed to be in charge here! You… You just stay quiet!” She said, cheek puffing out in annoyance. Sasha rolled her eyes again, but gestured for Anne to continue.

Taking a deep breath, Anne continued on. “What I was trying to say is that I… Care, about you. A lot. Even though you’ve been a terrible friend, and you tried to kill Hop Pop, and you started a war… Despite all of that … I do.”

Feeling a strange twinge in her stomach, Sasha opened her mouth to respond, to refute the other girl’s words, and defend herself, but Anne beat her to it. “And when I say I care about you… I mean… I care about you as… More than a friend... I know it’s messed up, after what you did, but I can’t lie to myself about it anymore.”

At once any hint of intelligent thought left Sasha’s head, her mind going blank at the words coming out of Anne’s mouth. By now, Anne’s blush was readily apparent, and, judging by the heat rushing to her cheeks, Sasha was certain that they matched. ‘Wh-what? She… huuuhhh!?’

That last noise must’ve been out loud, or maybe the shock was just obvious on her face, because Anne smiled slightly, her own embarrassment seemingly forgotten for a moment. “Yeah, you heard me.” She said smugly, the absolute brat. Sasha continued to make strangled noises, for once unable to articulate herself properly as she struggled with the bomb Anne had just dropped on her.

After a moment, Anne grew serious again, and Sasha struggled to focus on her words. “This doesn’t mean things are cool between us though. You still have a lot to make up for. I love you, but I’m not gonna put up with you being awful to everyone anymore. You’re gonna have to really work on getting better but… I’m gonna help you, okay? You don’t have to be alone through this, even if you were a jerk. Like, a huge jerk. I’m really serious about this. I want to be with you, but things can’t be like how they used to be. So… Yeah.” She finished, like what she’d said was no big deal.

With that, the Thai-American girl stepped away from the bars, seemingly satisfied with her little speech. “Alright… I guess I’ll be going now. Don’t worry, we’re working on getting you outta here, but you need to behave , okay? I’ll be back to see you as soon as I can.”

As she trailed off, the weight of what she’d just said seemed to finally dawn on her, and she trembled slightly, a weak giggle escaping her lips as she curled a lock of hair around her finger. 

Before Sasha could even begin to formulate a response, the other girl fled down the hallway with a quick “Okay bye!” Slamming the door behind her, and leaving Sasha alone with her thoughts once more…

For the next few minutes, Sasha was left in a stupor as she tried to process everything that had just happened. She just couldn’t wrap her head around Anne’s words. Part of her wanted to stay angry at the other girl, but another part couldn’t help but admit that the thought of being more-than-friends with Anne made her stomach tingle pleasantly.

‘Ho-how could she be in love with me? She should hate me!’

‘She can’t love me! She betrayed me!

“Bu-but she tried to save me!’

‘She turned against me! If she’d just done what I wanted…’

‘Maybe I could’ve been nicer about it…’

Various conflicting thoughts bounced around in Sasha’s head, and she tugged at her hair in frustration, unable to reconcile the various emotions she felt. She was still so angry at Anne for turning against her, and yet the idea of holding hands and kissing her and doing girlfriend things with her made Sasha want to smile like a total dope. She groaned out loud. ‘Why does my life have to be so complicated!’

Suddenly, she was torn from her inner conflict by the sound of the door swinging open again. Snarling under her breath, she readied herself to yell at whoever it was who dared to interrupt her in her mental strife, only for her eyes to widen as she took in the sight of Marcy through the cell bars.

With her sleek, black hair, fluttering cloak, and chest plate, Marcy looked every bit the warrior she had been during their battle. She was still the same girl Sasha had known for years, but it was clear her time in Amphibia had changed her, just like it changed all of them. It had left a bitter taste in her mouth to see Marcy standing next to Anne, against her. She’d looked so sad, like it was Sasha’s fault that they were on opposite sides. Sasha ignored the treacherous voice in her head suggesting that maybe it was her fault. 

Marcy looked nervous about something, shifting on her feet and swaying side to side as she stared at Sasha, nibbling at her lip. After a few moments of this, Sasha sighed, thoroughly out of patience at this point.

“What do you want?” She questioned, with perhaps more venom than was strictly necessary. “I’ve got a lot on my mind right now, so either start talking or leave me alone.”

For a moment, a flash of steel appeared in Marcy’s eyes, and she crossed her arms, watching Sasha intently. “I’ve got some… Things that I wanted to talk to you about. Like what you’ve been doing in Amphibia… And us.”

Sasha raised an eyebrow even as she screamed internally. After what just happened with Anne, the last thing she wanted to deal with was another personal conversation, especially if it was going to involve her getting chided again for trying to get them home. ‘You know exactly why they’re really upset with you.’ Some deeply buried part of her mind reminded her, but she ground her teeth and ignored it.

Taking her silence as permission, Marcy continued on. “What you did, attacking Newtopia… That wasn’t okay. I don’t know exactly what happened between you and Anne at the tower, but I know it wasn’t good. That wasn’t okay either.”

Marcy locked eyes with her, and Sasha was stunned by the emotion she saw there. In all the time she’d know the black-haired girl, she’d never seen her this upset about anything. At that moment, Sasha wished she could be anywhere else than there, that she could just melt into the surrounding stone and disappear rather than deal with Marcy at that moment. Unfortunately, that seemed rather unlikely, and so she was stuck here.

“You really scared me Sash. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that angry before. Why did you have to join such an obviously evil army?! You could’ve come with us! It would’ve been fine!” Marcy was getting fired up now, but Sasha wasn’t about to back down.

“I was working on getting us home Marcy. Why’s that so hard to understand?” She said dismissively.

“ We’re working on it too Sasha! We have the king on our side! What you did just made us waste time having to fight you! Do you have any idea how lucky it is that I’m your friend? I’m the reason you haven’t been interrogated yet! Or worse!”

“If it wasn’t for you , I wouldn’t be in a cell in the first place!” Sasha retorted, remembering the strategy that had led to her failure.

Marcy pinched the bridge of her nose, and took a deep breath. “Listen… I didn’t come here to fight with you. I just… I just want us to all get along again, but… There’s gonna have to be some changes…”

She started to count with her fingers. “First of all, you need to apologize for everything you did, and I’m not just talking about here in Amphibia. You’ve been mistreating me and Anne for years, and that needs to stop. This isn’t negotiable.” She said when Sasha opened her mouth to argue. “Secondly, we have to know that you’ll be on our side. I think I can get king Andrias to release you, but we need to know that you won’t try and break out Grime and his men.” ‘So they did capture everyone…’

“I won’t betray Captain Grime.” Sasha said firmly. He was the only friend to stick by her, and she wouldn’t sully that, even if it meant freedom.

“Sasha …” Marcy whined, like she was trying to convince her to play a new video game. She sighed. “Fine, we’ll come back to that… Redemption arcs usually take time anyways… ‘What is she talking about?’ 

Sasha gave an exaggerated sigh. “Alright, so… Is there anything else, or is that it? I was kinda in the middle of a mental breakdown.”

The other girl bit her lip, looking at anything but Sasha, who was getting increasingly nervous about whatever it was that Marcy had to say. Finally, she focused on Sasha, a blush blooming in her cheeks. “IthinkI’minlovewithyou!” She said quickly.

Sasha blinked. “What?” She said dumbly. There was no way Marcy said what she thought she said…

Marcy took a deep breath. “I…” She started slowly. “Really, really like you. As more than a friend. I know it’s wrong!” She said dramatically, turning her head to stare at nothing in particular. “But I can’t help the way I feel. I know we can’t be together yet. You need to make up for what you did first, but… Someday, I really want us to be together!” Her face was bright red by this point, while Sasha had officially ceased to function, mind overloaded by everything that was happening to her.

“I need to go now.” Marcy said, already inching towards the door, clearly mortified by what she’d just said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back when I can! You just think about what I said. I know you’ll make the right choice!” And with that, she rushed out of sight, a thud indicating that she’d ran into the door before it creaked open and she was gone.

Once again Sasha was left alone with her thoughts, thoroughly broken by all she had been through in the last 20 minutes. First Anne, and now Marcy? There was only one coherent thought left running through her mind…

‘What the hell just happened?’

Anne

In one of the palaces many courtyards, complete with a beautiful pond full of brightly coloured fish, and a veritable rainbow of flowers scattered across the yard, and bisected by a stone pathway that wound through it all, Anne sat on a bench, replaying what she’d just done in her head, over and over again.

She giggled as she thought of her confession, and then cringed at the realization that she’d confessed, and probably ruined everything between her and Sasha. Not that things were going all that well between them before, what with the sword fights and the almost-falling-to-death and the rebellion but, this was different. Her only solace was that at least Sasha hadn’t seemed completely negative about it, though it wasn’t like Anne had given her much time to react before she’d ran away like a chicken. What do I even do now? Tell someone? I should probably tell someone. Bottling this up is killing me! But who do I tell…?’

She couldn’t imagine Sprig taking it too well, considering that he didn’t even want her to talk to Sasha at all. Polly wouldn’t even care, while Hop Pop would probably try to give relationship advice or something gross like that. To be honest, there was only one person Anne could think of that really deserved to know…

Suddenly, Anne detected the faint sound of footsteps, and she lifted her head to lay eyes on the very person she was thinking of! Marcy was skipping down the path, practically vibrating. Anne couldn’t help but chuckle. Knowing her, King Andrias had probably given her some puzzle to solve. That would definitely explain her body language. As Marcy caught sight of her, her face split into a big grin, and she bolted over, Anne rising from the bench to greet her.

Before she could even say hi, Marcy was grabbing her by the hands, jumping up and down, forcing Anne to move with her. “Oh, oh Anne! I just did something crazy! It was one of the most exciting and yet terrifying moments of my life! If I don’t tell someone soon I’m gonna explode!”

Anne grinned. “Oh really? Cause I got something I wanted to tell you too! Not to alarm you or nothin’, but it’s like, life-changing.”

Marcy released her hands and took a step back, still shivering in excitement. “Me first! I’m going first, you can’t stop me!”

“You sure? It’s pretty juic-”

“Yes I’m sure!” Marcy said quickly, and Anne held up her hands in mock surrender, laughing at her friend’s antics. The other girl’s excitement was infectious, and she was getting increasingly eager to tell Marcy about Sasha. 

“Hurry up then!” Anne urged. “I wanna tell you my own thing!”

Marcy took a deep breath, and grabbed Anne by the shoulders, fingers digging almost uncomfortably into her skin. “I confessed my love to Sasha.” She breathed, staring directly into Anne’s eyes.

At once, Anne’s blood froze in her veins, thoughts crashing to a halt at the words that had just come out of her friend’s mouth. Her mouth hung open, and she struggled to respond. “I… I… Wha-what did you just say?” She asked, hoping against all that she’d misheard, that Marcy hadn’t said what Anne thought she just said.

“I told Sasha I was in love with her!” Marcy repeated, clearly ecstatic, She giggled at the look on Anne’s face. “I know, I know, it’s crazy, but I can’t change the way I feel! And now she knows, and it feels so good.” She had a big grin on her face, one that only lessened slightly as she took in Anne’s reaction. “Hey uh, you’re not upset right? I know it’s kinda weird, especially after what Sasha did, but-”

“Bu-but, I literally just just confessed my feelings to Sasha!” Anne blurted out, unable to hold it in any longer.

Marcy seemed to freeze in that moment, fingers tightening their grip on Anne’s shoulders. “What?” She said quietly, eyes wide.

“I just told Sasha how I felt about her! I was just about to tell you!” Anne cried, in disbelief at what was happening.

“When?!” Marcy warbled, letting go of her shoulders and taking a step back, clearly stunned.

“Like, 20 minutes ago! When did you talk to her?!”

“I was literally just there! I was looking for you to tell you about it!” Marcy cried

Anne put her hands on her head, fingers sinking into her hair as she struggled to make sense of their situation. ‘Wait, so… We both confessed to loving Sasha? What…? How?! What do we even do now?!’ “Didn’t Sasha say anything?!” She questioned.

“Wha- no! At least, I don’t think so…” Marcy replied, starting to pace back and forth.

Biting her lip, Anne tried to think through their options. “Oh Marsh, what do we even do now?! Does Sasha have to choose? Do we have to have a duel over her?! I don’t wanna fight you! Oh man, did we just destroy our friendship?!”

Suddenly, Marcy paused, looking deep in thought. Slowly, she studied Anne, a strange expression on her face. “Maybe not…” She intoned. “Maybe… Maybe there’s a way we can both get what we want.” As she spoke, a blush grew in her cheeks, leaving a funny feeling growing in Anne’s stomach.

“Uh… Watcha mean Marsh?” Anne questioned, an odd feeling of nervousness building in her chest.

“Well, I might have an idea. It’s from a game I played-”

“Ugh, Marcy!” Anne groaned. “I really don’t think this is the time to talk about games!”

“Just let me finish, please! This might just work for us” Marcy pleaded. Unable to think of her own solution, Anne sighed and nodded, hoping that whatever Marcy had in mind would make sense soon.

“It’s a game I played awhile ago. It’s called A Bard’s Journey…”

“A Bard’s Journey?” Anne racked her mind, but came up short. “I don’t remember you ever talking about that one…”

Marcy blushed harder, rubbing the back of her neck, and avoiding eye contact. “Well… There was a reason for that. Basically, it was a pretty standard rpg, one that had romance in it. Only the romance in this one was a bit… Different than usual.”

Still not sure where this was leading, Anne motioned for her to continue. “My character, for most of the game, had been getting close to two others, a warrior, and a ranger. Oh they were so cool, one was-”

“Marcy! Please just keep going…”

“Oh, right! Basically, when I reached a certain point in the game, they both confronted me, and said that I’d have to choose one of them to romance. I’ve played a few games that did this, but this one had a sort of… Third option. Basically, my charisma was so high, that I was able to romance both of them. At once.”

Anne’s stomach did a flip, as she started to get a sense as to where Marcy was going with this… “O-okay.” She stuttered. “Are you saying…”

Marcy nodded, swallowing audibly before continuing. “The reason I never told you about it… Is that it made me think of us. You, and me, and Sasha. I’d never thought about us like that before, and it scared me. I didn’t want you guys to find out about it. I thought you’d think I was gross. Now though… If our friendship is at risk anyway, then why not give it a try?” By now Marcy was red as a fire hydrant, and Anne was sure that she wasn’t much better.

Sweating heavily, Anne contemplated her friend's words, trying not to freak out. ‘I mean, I’ve always kinda thought Marcy was cute… The way she babbles, and looks so happy whenever she talks about something she loves… But that… I mean… That doesn’t… Oh screw it.’

Gathering all her courage, Anne reached out with her hand, offering Marcy a small smile to reassure her. “Okay then… Let’s give it a shot. You, me, and Sasha… Like it’s always been.”

Marcy froze for a moment, then gave a big grin. She grabbed Anne’s hand with her own, and pulled her into a big hug, slotting her chin over Anne’s shoulder as she shuddered slightly, clearly trying to hold back her tears. “Thank you… Just… Thank you. This is so cool!”

Chuckling, Anne pulled back slightly. “Yeah, I guess it i-mmph!” 

She was cut off by Marcy’s lips pressing into her own, causing her mind to go blank as she processed the sensation. It was hard, and unpracticed, and honestly pretty awkward. Anne thought it was perfect.

Pulling away, Marcy studied her carefully. “Wa-was that okay? I’m sorry if I’m going too fast…” She trailed off as Anne curled a hand around the back of her neck, grinning at the look on the gamers face. Without a word, she pulled Marcy into another kiss.

This one was… Better. Still very rough, and unpracticed, but Anne thought it was a good start. Hopefully they’d have lots of time to practice.

Finally, she pulled back. “Wow.” She whispered, in a slight daze.

Marcy giggled weakly, a dopey smile on her face. “Yeah.” She agreed dreamily.

After almost a minute, where they stood just staring at each other, Anne was knocked out of her stupor as she remembered what had started this in the first place. “So…” She started. “Should we go tell Sasha about this, or…”

“Oh, yeah!” Marcy agreed, shaking her head slightly as if to clear her mind. “Think she’ll be surprised?” She questioned, a slight smirk on her face.

Anne smiled back. “Honestly, if getting to date both of us doesn’t make her see reason, I don’t know what will!” They both giggled at that, and, hand in hand, they set off to check up on Sasha in her private cell.

Sasha

In the isolation of her cell, Sasha was just about convinced that she was going crazy.

It was a very nice delusion, she had to admit, but the idea of both of her friends approaching to declare their undying love for her was too good to be anything but a hallucination brought on by the stress of their betrayal.

Just as she was about to resign herself to the fact that none of it had ever happened, Sasha heard the unmistakable creak of the door opening at the end of the hallway. Raising her head from where it rested against the wall opposite from the cell bars, she groaned internally at the thought of dealing with anything else today.

To her surprise, the sources of her internal turmoil had returned. Both of them. At the same time. Immediately Sasha failed to bite down her nervousness. Did they find out about each other? Were they here to tell her it was all some cruel prank, and that they wanted nothing to do with her? Her contemplations were broken as she took in the fact the Anne and Marcy appeared to be holding hands. Before she had time to think about what this could possibly mean, Anne spoke up.

“Hey Sasha!” She said cheerfully.

“There’s something we need to tell you!” Marcy butted in, looking just as happy.

Sasha nodded slowly, stomach twisting uncomfortably. “Uh, hey guys… So… I’m guessing it wasn’t a hallucination?”

Anne frowned at that. “What? No! We’re here to tell you that we’ve come to an agreement.” Next to her, Marcy nodded excitedly, bouncing up and down on her heels.

Marcy took over from there. “We each found out that the other had talked to you about… Certain things, and we decided that we can all date!”

Sasha’s heart skipped a beat at that. “What?” She said. ‘Nice. Real articulate Waybright.’

Nodding, Anne spoke up next. “Yeah! We decided that, since we both like you, and we like each other, we decided, well, why not?” She shrugged as she spoke, like she was talking about checking out a new restaurant, not, not that.

Biting her lip, Sasha’s thoughts were racing. Was this even legal? What would people think of them? Oh god, what would her parents think?! Still though, she couldn’t help but find the idea of having her two friends all to herself rather appealing…

Anne shifted nervously, clearly not expecting Sasha’s response to take this long. “So…” She drawled. “Is that a happy silence, or is that a, I’m gonna kill you silence?”

Finally getting her thoughts under control, Sasha decided to play coy. “So, do I have a choice in this or did you just assume that I’d go along with it?” She questioned, hiding her smirk at the dumbfounded looks on their faces.

Blinking in shock, Marcy started to babble. “Well, I mean, of course you have a choice. It’s just, I just… I figured tha-”

“Yes.”

Sasha laughed at their looks of surprise, that quickly morphed into elation. 

Anne was the first to speak. “Really?!” She asked excitedly. “I mean, yeah, that’s great! I… Wow…” Marcy just nodded along, a huge grin on her face.

Sasha shifted, doing her best to feign disinterest. “Well, I mean, of course you’d both want to be with me. I mean, who wouldn’t. I certainly-”

“Awww!” Anne squeed. “You love us!” She said in a sing-songy tone.

Blinking, Sasha spluttered in denial, only for Marcy to chime in.

“Sasha… It’s ok to say that you care about us. You don’t have to hide it.” Marcy said, smiling softly as Sasha blushed and looked away.

Finally, she sighed, and turned her head back to face them. “I thought you guys wouldn’t want anything to do with me… After everything that happened.”

Anne just smiled sadly. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m still mad about what you did, but… That doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you… That we don’t care about you. We’ll work through this, I promise.”

“Yeah!” Marcy agreed. “No matter what happens, we’re gonna help you get through it. You don’t have to be alone Sash.”

Sasha smiled back at them, feeling a surprising warmth in her chest at their words of encouragement. “Guys…” She said, failing to hide her smile.

Shuffling over, she stuck her hands through the bars, allowing each of them to grab one in their own. For a minute, they stayed there, basking in each others presence. “So…” Sasha began. “Any chance you could let me out of here for a bit, so we can spend time together somewhere that’s not a dungeon.”

They both just smirked at her. “Sorry Sash.” Anne said. “That’s a no-can-do.”

“Yeah.” Marcy continued “We may love you, but we still know better than to let you out of there just yet. Sorry.”

Sasha chuckled. “Eh, it was worth a shot.” They both smiled at that, and before long, they were all laughing together at the absurdity of their situation.

Catching her breath, Sasha sighed contentedly. Things were still very uncertain for all of them. She knew they were with the king, and they knew that she wouldn’t turn against Grime. For all they knew, they’d be on opposite sides again soon enough. For now though, they were content to simply be together, happy in the knowledge that a new chapter of their lives had begun.