Chapter Text
Coming to terms with the past
When Andrias finally realized his father and the core lied to him all his life, and it was fear and ignorance what made him push away the people who really loved him for who he was, he felt broken.
Leif’s letter destroyed him, and Marcy’s forgiveness encouraged him to put his pieces back together.
Everyone changed. Everything changes.
But the love remains. Or at least his love for them.
Leif's betrayal always felt personal for him. Because she left him. Left them.
She changed, right in front of his eyes, and he couldn't help the anger, the anguish, and never knowing her destiny only helped him excuse the decisions he made from them on, to hide the pain he truly felt.
Barrel, on the other hand, was a different story.
He was the one to push him away out of spite, and the toad, the loving, loyal, beautiful toad, took it and accepted it.
Andrias was mad at him for months. He Blamed him for everything.
Because on his mind, had Barrel stopped Leif, they could have stayed together.
One night, months later, the rage he felt towards him dissipated when he dreamed about the day they met, and he made a thousand excuses to his father just to arrange a meeting with him.
But he wasn't the same.
The fun wrestling and teasingly bickering they used to partake in as teenagers felt so far away when he saw nothing but a perfect captain training his soldiers, leading them with diligence and demonstrating them his skills
The cold bow and firm "Your highness" he greeted him with almost made him cry on the spot.
And the news of his death hunted him for years.
But he never allowed himself to regreat anything.
Now, however, it's his chance. To show both of them that, in the end, he had changed as well.
That he is sorry. That they mattered to him. That he loves them.
He plants the seed on the ground, and looks up to the sky.
He smiles, imagining them smiling at him.
And the sacrifice he is making to restore what the loves of his life cared for, doesn't feel like a sacrifice at all.
It feels right.
Bystandar.
Anne loves them. She thinks she always has. She's sure she always Will.
The last day they spent together, she looked at them talk, and joke around. Dreaming together about the future, about Marcy moving back when they grow up, about Sasha starting a fencing club.
She looked at them stealing glances at each other, exchanging soft smiles that reached their eyes and hands that twitched yearning to be held together.
Anne knows they love each other.
And she knows they love her, too.
Those looks, those smiles, and those hands, they were all for her as well. Still are, whenever Marcy visits, whenever she spends time with Sash.
But she can't allow herself to be with them like that. She can’t.
Knowing that eventually she will live for eons, long after they are gone, forever after they are gone... She just can't let herself be ripped away from those who she loves once again.
The god might think he made her a favor. She now believes it’s a curse.
So now, after starting high school and with Sasha in a different class, she decides that drifting away will hurt less (It won't).
To yearn over something that never was is better than a life that will never be again.
A worthy heir
– You could have died! –Her dad screams– It's always the same with you. Why are you so airheaded and impulsive? Quit disregarding your own life!
– The problem – Her mom intervenes, looking at her dad as if he's the culprit of her behaiviour – Is that she's too soft! You have too much faith on others, kid. That was obviously a trap!
They keep nagging and ranting, lecturing her out of fear, really, because this one was actually too close to getting herself killed, but she just rolls her eyes and zones out until her mom is holding the table so hard it breaks.
– Are you not going to tell her anything? – Her dad demands an answer from the guy at the other end of the desk with a high-pitched voicefull of frustration.
Grime stares at her, for a few seconds. He doesn't say anything and his eyes bore into hers looking for something. What, she's not sure, but she definitely won’t back down.
– You had a small army under your command, and yet, you decided to order them to protect the traitors and face the herons alone. Why?
She glares at him, before leaning on the desk and growling out her answer.
- I handled the beasts, as you asked me to. And now, I ask for those toads to be granted a chance to prove they can change. That’s all what needs to be discussed.
The older toad nods. His face is unreadable, but suddenly, he puts his paw on her head and laughs.
- You definitely live up to your name, Sasha - Uncle Grime smiles
Hearing it makes her her smile, even if she doesn't really know what he means