Chapter Text
Well, that was one day in Wartwood done… and Sasha hoped she wouldn’t have to be in such a gross swamp for long, but she had a bad feeling that wouldn’t be the case. It was worse that Anne and Marcy weren’t around… at least with them, they could try to find a way home together rather, now they would have to find one another first and then figure out a way home. Not to mention, she was just bored being by herself like this.
While she didn’t see any tactics to finding the girls right now, maybe Sasha could at least find some way to cure her boredom… spending time with one of the Plantars could help with that.
“Let’s see…” Sasha began to ponder the three in her head as she stared at the ceiling, “Definitely not the old one, he’d probably want to do something equally as boring. Polly… I get the feeling she would hit me over the head with that rolling pin if I so much as approach her. Guess that leaves Sprig, at least he trusts me…”
Sasha got up off her bed, which was more just a mattress on the floor, and made her way out of the basement to find Sprig in the living room.
“Hey, Sprig, what kind of stuff do you usually do for fun around here?” Sasha asked, although… could’ve definitely been nicer with how she said it. She was lucky Sprig wasn’t the type to immediately return that negative attitude.
“Oh! All sorts of things!” Sprig grinned as he hopped off the couch, “Shoot my slingshot at little targets in my room—“
”Boring.” Sasha chimed in for a moment.
”Have mudball fights—“
”Definitely not.”
”Find bugs in the forest to eat—“
“Never even suggest that again.”
“Swimming in lakes—“
“Well, now you’re speaking my language!” Sasha grinned, finally having taken an interest to something after giving some rather harsh critiques to all the other things Sprig found fun, “What do you say, wanna go for a swim?”
”Yeah, totally!” Sprig cheered, again not pointing out any of Sasha’s rudeness for now, “We could even have a mudball fight before, then wash it off in the—!”
”Like I said, not happening.” She cut him off, walking back towards the basement, “Just give me a sec to change, and we can get going. Luckily, I brought some swimwear with me.”
After a quick change and finding Sprig again, the two were ready to head out to the lake!
“Sprig and I are going to the lake! We’ll be back later!” Sasha called, opening the door… only for it to abruptly slammed closed.
“Sorry, kids, but we can’t have you running around doing whatever you want, Sasha.” Hop Pop states, putting a rather comically large lock on the door and putting the key in his pocket, “So until the town gets more accustomed to you living here, you’ll only be able to go outside with the whole family accompanying you.”
“What?! That is so not fair!” Sasha complained as she looked at Hop Pop, “Is the whole town breathing down my neck every time I sneeze or something?!”
“…Just about, yes.” Hop Pop answered bluntly, “Your human germs could be deadly to us, so now that you mention it, try to sneeze as little as possible.”
“That’s not what—!” Realizing she couldn’t really argue with this, she grumbled and grabbed Sprig’s arm, “Fine, we’ll find something to do inside…”
“We’ll be over here, with Sasha squeezing my arm really hard!” Sprig calls, waving to Hop Pop with his free hand.
Once out of hearing range of Hop Pop, Sasha pulled Sprig behind a wall and checked quickly to ensure Hop Pop turned his attention to something else.
“So, what are we gonna do? I can show you my room and we can find something to do there!” Sprig suggested.
“No, we’re going to the lake.” Sasha said, a small grin starting to form on her face.
“The lake? But Hop Pop said we can’t go out! And we’d need the key anyway…”
“I know. That’s why you’re gonna take the key from him so we can sneak out.”
“Me?!” Sprig looks at her in surprise, “Why should I have to? I’d be fine staying inside anyway!”
“Oh, come on, Sprig.” Sasha rolled her eyes, looking down at him, “Are you really gonna be a stickler for rules your whole life? Rebelling is what makes things fun! And besides, you’re smaller, so Hop Pop would have way less of a chance noticing you taking the key.”
“I-I’m not a stickler for rules!” He said defensively, “I just don’t want to get in trouble for sneaking out!”
“He won’t even notice we’re gone, it’ll be fun! Think about how good of friends we’ll be after such a good time at the lake!” Sasha pointed out, using a tactic she had plenty of experience with now, “So if you wanna be friends, you’re gonna go take that key from Hop Pop. End of Discussion.”
There it was, practically the nail in the coffin whenever Sasha wanted someone to do what she wanted.
“B-But…” And fortunately for Sasha, Sprig didn’t seem to want to argue against her over the matter, “Well, if it’s for the lake…”
Stealing the key… was surprisingly easier than expected. It turns out that Hop Pop had fallen asleep, so Sprig just had to be gentle when taking the key from his pocket, and with that they were good to go.
“Look what I got!” Sprig showed off the key pridefully as he returned, getting an approving nod from Sasha.
“See? Already putting our friendship off to a great start.” She complimented, despite Sprig internally doubting that being forced to steal was a good start to any friendship.
But with the key in their possession, they could unlock the door and now make their way out of the house! They made sure to be quiet with it of course, not wanting to accidentally wake Hop Pop and throw their whole plan astray before they even got to the lake. And with no issues arising, it was a quick walk to the lake.
“Wow, a lake this clean looking is empty? If only public pools back home were like this.” Sasha jokes, even if Sprig didn’t really get what it meant. Though, that was when another problem rose.
“Uh, I think I know why this lake is empty.” Sprig points to a nearby sign, with the words DO NOT SWIM written in a rather suspicious red…ink?
“You’re really gonna believe that? Some shmuck probably just put that there to have a lake like this all to themselves!” The blonde began to set her things down, “If there was a reason not to swim here, I think we’d be able to see it already. Now c’mon!”
“Sasha, I really think we should trust this sign, there’s all sorts of weird stuff here like you wouldn’t believe…” Sprig warns.
“Oh my gosh, again with you following the rules!” She groaned, looking at him, “Don’t go to the lake, don’t SWIM in the lake, you gotta learn to have fun sometime!”
“I can have fun and go against rules, but I don’t do so when it may be dangerous!” Sprig argues back, getting increasingly worried.
“Sprig.” Sasha glares at him, having enough of his ‘disobedience’ and arguing against her, “We are going to swim in this lake, and not listen to some stupid sign. End of Discussion.”
Well, that was that, as Sasha now turned away from Sprig to get ready to climb in the lake—
“…No.”
“…What?”
That was new.
“I said no.” Sprig repeated himself, “I’m not going in that lake with you.”
Sasha stared with a mix of astonishment and confusion, before giving a small chuckle and shaking her head, “I don’t think you understand the situation. Do you want do be friends or not?”
“If you’re gonna treat me like this? No.” Sprig narrowed his eyes at her.
“Is this really because you want to follow some stupid sign—?”
“It’s not just about the sign!” Sprig cut her off this time, “You insulted multiple of the things I do for fun, made me steal from Hop Pop, and now you’re making me do dangerous things I don’t want to do!”
Again surprised, Sasha quickly tried to recover from it, “Sprig, I-I don’t think you get how friendship—“
“Oh, I know plenty about friendships.” He said coldly, before turning and starting to walk off, “And if this is how you treat other people? I’m surprised you ever had any friends in the first place.”
Before she could reply, Sprig was already gone, leaving Sasha alone and to think about the things Sprig had said. And despite him being gone, Sasha still yelled after him.
“Fine! Don’t be my friend, see if I care! I’ll be more than fine without you!” She said with a huff, and promptly adding, “Just don’t be mad when I’m the one having fun at the lake with my friends!”
With that, Sasha tried to get her mind off of that argument with some time in the lake, ignoring the sign like before and enjoying the relaxing feeling of being in the water.
Well, at least at first.
Like Sprig warned, Sasha had no clue about the types of things that lived in the waters of Amphibia… and she was going to be learning that the hard way, as she soon found something brush against her leg.
“What the—?” Sasha’s attention quickly snapped to the water, but the slight fogginess of it meant she unfortunately couldn’t see what it could’ve been. But she was going to find that answer not long after, though that wasn’t as good as it sounded.
All of the sudden, a large serpent-like creature burst from the water, coiling around Sasha’s body with ease!
“Gah! Hey, l-let go!” Sasha grunted while quickly beginning to struggle, acting as if they would listen to her demands in a position like this. To make matters worse, it instead tightened its grip and reeled its head back, preparing to make Sasha its next meal…
Was this really it?
All of the sudden, Sasha began to think about all the wrong choices that led up to this. She should’ve definitely listened to Sprig, that was the first thing that popped in her head. Then again, she wouldn’t even be in this position if she didn’t force Anne into stealing that music box from the thirst store.
That was just making her mind race more, had she really treated Anne and Marcy so badly? Making them do things they didn’t want to, the music box was just one example, she had forced Anne avoid going home and spend time with her and Marcy instead! Not to mention ditching school with her. All of the sudden, she wished she could take all that back and be a better person.
Was this what someone’s life flashing before their eyes was like? So far, Sasha had only been thinking of the things she’s done wrong. Not like it really mattered what it was now, she could only hope Anne and Marcy could forgive her for—
“Yahhh!” Sasha’s bracing for her last moments was quickly cut off by a familiar shout, with Sprig having suddenly leapt onto the water-snake and pulled on the top of his mouth to get him to stop in his tracks! On top of that, as he let go to let his top jaw slam down to the other, it disoriented the serpent enough to loosen its hold on Sasha.
“S-Sprig?!” Sasha blinked, staring at Sprig in bewilderment.
“C’mon, we have to go before he recovers!” Sprig shouted, leaping off of the snake’s head, with him and Sasha frantically going back to shore. Luckily, it seemed this creature wasn’t too fond of going on land, as it gave up on chasing the two rather quickly.
Sasha needed a moment to catch her breath, both from the urgent escape and from her life flashing before her eyes, “Y-You… you saved my life…” She muttered, looking over at him.
“Of course I did!” He replied, pushing himself up, “I may be mad at you, but I’m not gonna let you be eaten by a sea serpent because of it…”
Sasha looked away guiltily, feeling even worse than she did when she thought she was about to be eaten.
“I’m… I’m sorry. I should’ve listened to you better.” She said with a sigh, again meeting his stare, “I should’ve acted better. Not just to you, but to everyone I’ve pushed around like that.”
Sprig was a little wary at first, thinking this was some sort of mind game, but seeing Sasha’s genuine gaze… he was quick to believe her after that. Everyone deserves another chance, after all.
“Well, I’m glad you finally realized.” He lightly joked, trying to help her up to her feet, “What got you to finally come around?”
“I think… almost getting eaten because of my own actions scared me straight.” Sasha admitted, giving a small chuckle, “It helped me realize not only should I be treating you better, but everyone as a whole.”
“Better late than never to learn that, I suppose.” He smiles, handing Sasha her things.
“Trust me, I’m gonna be different from now on, no more manipulative mind games.”
As they began to make their way back to the Plantar’s home, they shared a moment of awkward silence… before Sasha spoke up.
“I am gonna have to lie to Hop Pop about what we were doing though.” She says, “He’d kill us if he knew the truth.”
“Oh yeah, totally.” Sprig agreed immediately, “I’ll go with whatever lie you come up with.”
Fortunately, the lie they conjured up passed as believable, and they even came up with a little excuse about where the key went. So, they went unpunished for their escapade and without anyone having knowledge about where they even went.
Not like a lesson wasn’t learned though, with Sasha learning that a proper friendship wasn’t about fear and control… but rather listening and close bonds. She was grateful that Sprig was able to help her that through to her before it wound her up somewhere bad, and such an experience really helped the two of them grow closer. Now she just had to show Anne and Marcy that she’s changed, they would be so happy to see it!
…Well, wherever Anne and Marcy were, that is.