39. The Fourth Temple

As the group arrived at the mountain location, Joe Sparrow practically collapsed on the ground. Considering he was carrying the combined weight of the Plantars, the humans, and Frobo it wasn't that much of a surprise. As Joe Sparrow lay on the ground panting heavily Anne pulled out the box to point the group in the group in the right direction.

"And whapam!" she exclaimed as she held up the music box at the side of a mountain, causing an arch to appear on it.

"The entrance to the fourth temple," said Anne, causing the Plantars to gasp.

Sprig ran up to Marcy eagerly wanting to know what the writing on the archway said, "What's it say Marcy what's it say?"

Marcy stared at the archway before looking in her book, "well this can't be right, lift to enter brawh?"

Deciding that it was worth a shot Frobo marched forward and simply lifted up the door. The Plantars and the humans all applauding his effort.

"Wow way to go Frobo!" cheered Hop-pop.

"You guys think we should take him in there with us?" asked Luz.

Marcy looked between Joe and Frobo before replying, "we've been handling the temples by ourselves so far. Let's leave him out here to look after Joe Sparrow." With that Marcy motioned for Frobo to go and look after the Sparrow who was still collapsed on the ground.

"Sounds like a good idea," agreed Anne, "now let's go crush this temple!" she raised her fist and charged straight into the entryway.

As the group entered the temple and Frobo went to look after Joe, two other figures entered the temple behind them. Niether Joe nor Frobo noticed them follow the group in.

As soon as they entered the first chamber they immediately noticed how hot it was, Anne wiping some sweat off her forehead.

"Whooo it's hot in here," she declared, "hey Luz you have anything for this?"

"I do actually," said Luz reaching into her belt and pulling out a sky blue potion, "this potion is meant to help keep you cool in hot environments just like this one."

"You should probably give it to them," said Marcy pointing at the Plantars. Luz glanced over to where they were and almost gasped at how they looked.

The Plantars were all parched, their skin had shriveled and made them all look thin and sickly.

"Whoa are you guys okay?" asked Anne.

"Just a little dehydrated from the heat," said Hop-pop his voice sounding incredibly dry.

"Here let me help you," said Luz coming over to the Plantars, "I've only got one of these so you'll have to share, but it should help.

Luz handed the bottle to Hop-pop who took a small drink from it before passing it to Sprig. Sprig took a drink then passed it to Polly. After a few seconds their skin returned to it's normal consistency and Sprig let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh that feels so much better," he said speaking in his normal voice.

"Thank you Luz!" said Hop-pop also in his normal voice, "I feel great!

"We should probably keep moving," advised Polly, "we had to share that potion so it probably won't last long."

"Right, there should be three challenges just like the other temples," said Marcy pointing forward, "let's get going!"

As the group moved ahead Anne hung back to talk to Luz.

"Hey thanks for that," she said, "I really appreciate how you and Marcy have been so friendly and kind to the Plantars."

"Aww it's nothing," replied Luz.

"No it's not nothing," said Anne firmly, "you really have no idea how much it means to me, especially after that whole incident with Sasha." Anne paused before continuing, "after what happened with Sasha I was worried how the Plantars might react to my other friends. I was worried that if Sasha was willing to hurt them, maybe you and Marcy had changed too. I was more worried about you because…because of how we parted, but again thank you for being nice to the Plantars." Anne reached down to grab Luz's hands as she said this.

"Your welcome Anne, I'm glad you found a family to look after you, just like I did," said Luz.

For a moment the two looked into each other's faces, only to both quickly turn away as they realized just how close they were, and as they turned away both of their faces turned bright red.

"We uh, should probably get going," said Anne rather quickly.

"Yeah for sure!" agreed Luz also rather quickly as she hurried to rejoin the group. Anne following behind her.

As they entered the next room they could see a narrow pathway leading across, lava on both sides of it. A pink glow lit up from one side of the room above a chest, Marcy read the words that had formed above the chest.

"Whoa there boss, think you're strong enough to get across?"

"I have a distinct feeling this temple is about strength," said Anne flatly. As she finished speaking the chest under the words opened up revealing a set of heavy looking hammers.

"Wonder what those are for?" asked Sprig.

His question was soon answered as a worm of some kind emerged from the lake behind him. Anne saw Sprig was in trouble and immediately grabbed a hammer to use on the worm, though it was so heavy she had to drag it along the ground before she got close enough to hit the worm with it. She manged to knock it back into the lava, but the effort of wielding the hammer had left her tired.

"Man this thing weighs a ton!" exclaimed Anne, feeling tired after only one swing. As she looked across the path she saw several more of the armored worms in the lava, and realized just how difficult it would be for her and the Plantars to cross.

The group let out a scream as they also seemed to realize just how hard this first trial would be. Marcy tried to regroup as she looked at the hammers.

"Alright guys it's hammer time," she said as she reached in to grab a hammer. Marcy tried passing a hammer to Polly who couldn't even lift it.

"Yeah this ain't happening," she said.

Luz tried picking up a hammer herself but struggled to get it out of the box.

"Ugggh if only I had a strength potion with me right now," she said in vain.

"I'll defend you guys, don't sweat it!" said Anne picking up her hammer and rushing forward across the path. Anne found another armored worm and managed to knock it back into the lava, but as she did the rest of the group struggled to cross the pathway and were besieged by another worm. Marcy and Luz struggled in vain to lift their hammers to defend themselves, but it was obvious they wouldn't' make it.

"Luz!" yelled Anne reaching out her hand in a futile attempt to save her other friends. The worm reared up and opened its mouth ready to attack!

But before it could it was suddenly sliced in half!

From behind the worm the figure of Sasha her red sword drawn leapt over the carcass of the worm landing in front of the group.

"It can't be," said Anne in disbelief

"Sash! Oh my gosh I can't believe-" began Marcy only to be interrupted as Sasha rushed forward,

"There's no time, follow me," said Sasha as she effortlessly grabbed Marcy's hammer before leading the group into the next room. The group followed Sasha all except Luz who stood there in shock, unable to say anything or even move.

"Luz come on!" called Anne trying to get Luz's attention. Luz still didn't move, so Anne came up to her grabbing her hand and pulling her along. Sasha stayed ahead of them using both her sword and hammer to attack the remaining worms. Once they had crossed the pathway and made it to the next room they were able to take a small break and catch their breath. Everyone was still confused as to what was happening, none more than Anne and Luz.

"Sasha…." said Anne slowly looking at her old friend.

Sasha didn't respond right away, eventually she did turn around and make a very sweet face as she said, "hey girlfriend good to see you!"

Anne was very confused, "you too?" she replied unsure of what to say. As this was happening Marcy ran up to Sasha.

"Ahh! Sasha, Sasha, Sasha, Sasha!" screamed Marcy as she came up to her and gave her a hug.

"Hey Mar-Mar!" said Sasha accepting the hug, "whoa check out your new threads."

"Speak for yourself," replied Marcy, "look at that armor! How did you even find us?"

"Simple," began Sasha, "we heard you three were traveling together and tracked you both here."

"Did you say we?" asked Anne, wondering who else was with Sasha. A moment later she got her answer as the door to the room opened and a familiar toad came through it laughing.

"Even in this state those things were no match for me," declared Grime proudly, "say why aren't you three dried out?" he asked noticing the Plantars.

The Plantars didn't reply instead they all got in a fighting stance with Anne behind them. Sasha came up to where Grime was.

"Whoa-ho seriously cancel the Red Alert, we're not here to fight!" said Sasha.

"Oh no," said Sprig in an accusing manner.

"No, the whole reason we were stalking you was…" began Sasha, pausing before continuing, "so I could tell Anne that everything that happened at Toad Tower was my fault."

Anne lowered her guard upon hearing that, "really?" she said in surprise.

"Yep," said Sasha coming up to Anne, "it was wrong of me to put your frog friends in danger, and doubly wrong of me to push you around." Anne didn't reply right away instead absorbing what Sasha had told her.

"And Luz," began Sasha finally coming over to her, "I wanted to apologize to you for what happened at Tadpole Pond. I am so sorry for what happened to Uodeela, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Luz didn't respond instead she turned around so that she wasn't facing Sasha, she stayed that way for a long time, feeling many different feeling inside her, finally after what seemed like forever she spoke, though she still faced away from Sasha, when she did.

"Is that all you have to say?" she asked in a cold voice. Marcy and Anne turned to look at Luz a deep pit forming in their stomachs as they could sense that Luz was angry.

"Uh beg pardon?" asked Sasha not understanding.

"I said….is that all you have to say?" repeated Luz in the same cold voice.

"I mean yeah," said Sasha in a rather casual tone, "I want to apologize for what happened and I'd like for us to try and put it behind us."

Luz again didn't respond, she kept her back turned to Sasha before finally speaking in a calm tone that was nevertheless dripping with rage, "I saw you stand there Sasha….you stood there with a smile on your face as the toads beat Uodeela. You did nothing as the Toads beat her to death. You stood there as she screamed in agony…..DO YOU THINK I FORGOT!" yelling that last part.

Anne and Marcy both flinched at hearing this looking at each other then at Luz. Luz finally turned around to face Sasha her face contorted in rage.

"AND YOU!" she said finally looking at Grime! "You cut off her tail! And wanted to slowly cut off her other body parts just to be cruel! I remember what you did to Grime!" Grime didn't respond but he moved closer to Sasha a tinge of fear in his eyes.

"I thought you said she'd forgive you," he whispered to Sasha, "we really don't want to make her mad."

"You hurt Uodeela," said Luz shaking with rage as she took in the site of Sasha and Grime, "and now you want to just come back and pretend as though that didn't happen?"

"I said I was sorry," said Sasha in a tone that didn't indicate remorse.

"Is that all you can say?!" shouted Luz.

"Well In my defense," began Grime, "she did steal taxes from us! Is stealing not a crime in your world?"

That comment was enough to set Luz off as she raised her hand and thrust it forward at Sasha and Grime. The two flinched, bringing up their arms expecting to be hit with some form of magic….

….only for nothing to happen.

"What?!" cried Luz in disbelief, she looked down at her hand, there was no fire in it. Luz thrust forward her arm again at Grime and Sasha only for nothing to happen. She tried it a third time, but again nothing happened.

"What's going on?" said Luz in fear, "why isn't it working?"

Anne and Marcy glanced at each other then at Luz, Marcy came up to Luz and looked into her eyes.

"Are you feeling okay Luz? Maybe it's the heat of this place that's preventing you from using your powers," she observed.

"No, no, no," said Luz starting to get desperate, "what's wrong? Why can't I use my power anymore?"

"Oh so you told them about that?" asked Sasha nonchalantly, "thought for a second you might keep that to yourself."

Luz ignored Sasha and continued to try to activate her magic again. She slammed her hand into the ground trying to bring up some vines, but nothing happened. Luz tried to jump into the air but couldn't use the wind to help her. She tried creating a pillar of ice to help combat the heat in the cave. Each failed attempt at using her powers made her more and more scared. She looked up and saw all eyes on her filled with a mix of confusion and pity. Having everyone look at her became too much to take and Luz finally bolted from the room running back into the previous one trying to hide her face so her friends wouldn't see the tears forming in her eyes.

"Luz!" cried Anne and Marcy at the same time as she ran past them and back into the previous room.

"We have to go after her!" said Anne.

"But what about the temple?" asked Marcy.

"Yeah why exactly are you guys here?" asked Sasha, "what's here at this temple that you need so badly?"

Anne looked between Sasha, Marcy, and the door through which Luz had run back. For a few seconds she was unsure of what to do, after looking at the door one more time though she finally came to a decision.

"Listen Marcy, Sasha, can the two of you finish the temple please?" she asked, "Marcy will explain everything to you. I have to go find Luz, here Marcy hold onto the box!" Anne took off her backpack and handed it to Marcy.

"No prob Anna-banana," said Marcy accepting the backpack, "we got this!"

"Anne we uh…might need your help in the temple," said Sasha, "maybe you should leave Luz alone and come with us."

"No," said Anne firmly, "I'm not going to make the same mistake twice."

With that Anne made her way to the door leading to the previous room, as she did Sprig joined her.

"I'll go with you too Anne," said Sprig, "Luz looked like she was really sad."

"Thanks dude," said Anne smiling at Sprig, Sprig hoped onto Anne's head clinging to it so she could carry him. She turned back to the others, "I'll wait for you outside. See you when you're done."

Sasha, Marcy, Grime, and the Plantars continued on their way to complete the rest of the temple's challenges, Sasha giving a frown towards Anne as she saw her leave.

I can't believe it, she chose Luz over me again, she thought to herself.

Patience Sasha, said the voice in her head, you won't have to put up with Luz for much longer. Soon she'll be out of your way and you can have Anne all to yourself.

As Anne ran outside the temple she and Sprig looked around for Luz. Eventually they saw that she had run a good distance ahead of them and was still thrusting her arms in the air in vain trying to use her powers.

"Come on work!" she yelled as she once again tried to shoot something out of her hand, when it again failed she let out a growl of frustration, "urrgggh, why isn't it working?"

"Luz!" called Anne as she approached, Luz turned to see Anne and Sprig coming towards her, part of her wanted to run away, but another part of her decided to wait.

"Hey…." she said sheepishly as Anne and Sprig approached.

"Luz….are you alright?" asked Anne, "I know that might sound stupid, given the circumstances, but I'm being serious when I ask."

"I….I….don't know what happened," said Luz, "I can't seem to use my powers anymore." Once again Luz tried using her fist to shoot something out, but couldn't manage to do so.

"What's happened to me?" she said as she sank down to the ground, "I thought maybe it was something in the temple that was preventing me from using them, but then I got outside and got as far away from the temple as I could and I still can't use them."

Sprig and Anne looked at each other then back at Luz not sure what they could say to comfort her. Finally they both came up to Luz and sat beside her, Anne putting her arm around her.

"I don't want to just say that everything will be alright, and I know you probably don't want to hear that right now," began Anne, "but hey I just want you to know I think you're awesome even without your powers!"

"Of course you are!" agreed Sprig, "even when you didn't know you had powers you still stood up to Sasha just like Anne did at Toad Tower. And you helped me and my family overcome our fears in the last temple. You're amazing Luz Noceda!" Sprig jumped up onto Luz's head and wrapped his arms around her, causing Luz to smile.

"Thanks guys," said Luz, "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but…" Luz stopped and let out a sigh looking down at her hands as she did, "it still feels weird to not have them anymore. And I don't even know what happened, it's like suddenly they just stopped working, and I have no idea why!"

"I wish I had an answer for you Luz," said Anne, "I know how much having those powers meant to you, maybe you're just tired or something. Who knows, you could still have them you just can't use them right now."

"Maybe….." said Luz though she sounded unconvinced, "and of course this would happen right when Sasha shows back up." Luz glanced over to the entrance of the temple.

"Well if you ask me she's untrustworthy," chimed in Sprig, "I think she and Grime are up to something."

"I don't think it's that," said Luz, "I think this has to do with them getting kicked out of the Toad Army. Sasha literally has no where else to go, so she crawled back to us claiming to be sorry."

"I don't really know what to feel about her," said Anne, "she sounded sincere in there, and yet I know she hurt you even more than she hurt me."

"It wasn't just me she hurt," said Luz hanging her head and starting to get emotional, "it was Uodeela. If it wasn't for Sasha and Grime, Uodeela would still be here, she could probably tell me why my powers aren't working…." Luz trailed off as she thought of her mentor and began crying. Sprig and Anne looked at each other before wrapping their arms around Luz, hugging her as she continued to cry.

Luz finished crying but Anne and Sprig stayed with her continuing to hug her and try and comfort her. A long time passed but eventually Anne, Luz, and Sprig heard a whistle from near the temple entrance. They turned to see Marcy and the Plantars standing at the entrance, Marcy waving at them. They were soon joined by Grime and Sasha who made their way out of the temple. Anne, Luz, and Sprig stood up and walked back to where the group was gathered. Marcy pulled out the box from Anne's backpack showing them four fully charged gems. Anne and Luz walked up to the group though Luz still wore a frown on her face and didn't say anything as she approached.

"Wow you guys did it!" said Anne, "I knew you could."

"Aww I didn't do much," said Marcy, "that last challenge was all Sasha. You should have seen her Anne, she was so determined. She fought a giant creature without her armor."

"Hey you helped with that Mar-Mar," said Sasha grinning at Marcy, "you reminded me of all the times I've been strong in the past, how I always protected you."

"I know you're a good person Sash," said Marcy, "maybe you lost your way out here, but I'm glad to see you again, and I hope now that you're here things can finally go back to normal!"

Sasha was a bit taken aback by that statement, but smiled all the same, "I'd like that."

"Look at this, the gangs back together again," said Marcy excitedly, as she put her arms around Sasha, Anne, and Luz, in an attempt to unite them. It was at this point that Luz finally spoke as she pulled Marcy's arm off her.

"Are you serious right now?!" she asked, causing Marcy to flinch in surprise.

"Luz…I….I just thought…." stammered Marcy.

"You just thought that everything would go back to normal now that Sasha's back?" asked Luz in anger.

"Well she did apologize," said Marcy, "and you should have seen her conquer the final challenge in the temple. It's because of Sasha that we have the box fully charged now!"

"It's because of Sasha that Uodeela is stuck as a giant heron!" countered Luz.

"Hey we didn't force her to drink that potion," said Grime coming to Sasha's defense.

"No you just beat her within an inch of her life and would have killed her if not for me stepping in," said Luz glaring at Grime, "you were going to cut off all her limbs just to make her suffer, maybe I should cut something off of you!" Luz raised her staff pointing it at Grime

"No don't!" yelled Sasha stepping in front of Grime, "Grime and I have grown close, he's like a father to me."

"Uodeela was like a mother to me!" yelled Luz, tear in her eyes, as she continued to try and stab Grime, "AND YOU HURT HER!"

"Whoa hey!" said Anne coming up to Luz, and trying to restore order, "Luz listen to me," Anne put her hands on Luz's shoulders and looked her straight in her eyes.

"Out of my way!" yelled Luz, "I'm going to teach Grime a lesson!"

"Listen I know you're angry right now, and you have every right to be angry," began Anne, "but please don't do something in anger that you'll regret later. Please listen to me Luz." Anne continued looking deep into Luz's eyes trying to calm her down. When she felt she was calmer Anne pulled Luz into a hug. Anne's hug did slowly work its magic and finally succeeded in causing Luz's anger to abate. Luz stepped forward to look at Grime

"I can't forgive what you did to Uodeela Grime, and you don't seem even remotely sorry for it either. But for Sasha's sake I will let you be, but that's it." She turned to face Sasha

"As for you I know the real reason you're here," began Luz causing Sasha to sweat nervously, "you're only here because the Toads kicked you out of the army! Bog tried to attack Wartwood and he told me that what happened. You and Grime are only here because you literally have nowhere else to go!"

Sasha was relived to hear Luz say that and quickly played along, "Uh yes...okay you caught me Luz. Grime and I did get kicked out by the other Toads, but it did give me time to reflect on my actions. I really am sorry for what happened at Tadpole Pond, and I'd like for us to start over as friends."

"I….I don't know if I want to be your friend anymore Sasha," replied Luz coldly, Sasha actually seemed hurt by that statement, she turned to look at Anne.

"What about you Anne? Surely you forgive me for what went down at Toad Tower right?" asked Sasha in the sweetest voice she could muster. Anne looked hard into Sasha's eyes before replying.

"Listen Sash," began Anne in a serious voice, "it's not just Toad Tower, looking back I can see how controlling you were even before that. If you're asking me can I forgive you for what happened at Toad Tower then the answer is yes."

"I knew it, I'm so glad we're friends-" began Sasha before Anne interrupted.

"I can forgive you but…" continued Anne, "in order for us to be friends again, well that's going to take time. Friendship requires trust and rebuilding that is going to be hard. While you did apologize for Toad Tower, I know what you did at Tadpole Pond, and how much your actions there hurt Luz. Also you haven't brought up what you did to me and Luz at the dance."

Sasha was caught off guard by that as she looked between Anne and Luz, she began to get nervous realizing she hadn't thought up something to say for that. Grime nudged her to say something.

"Oh right….so listen obviously I'm sorry about that too," said Sasha, "It's just I thought…." Sasha couldn't finsih her sentence as she realized she didn't want to admit why she had tried to break up Anne and Luz.

"I just thought….well it doesn't matter what I thought," said Sasha, "but you're right Anne it was wrong of me to do that. And Luz I'm sorry for setting you up like that."

"Sasha," began Luz seriously, "why did you do that?"

"Does it matter?" asked Sasha nervously.

"I mean if you're really sorry about it, then I'd like to at least know why you did it," said Luz, "setting up your friend like that isn't something that people just do for kicks….unless that is why you did it." Luz putting some venom into that last part.

"Alright, alright, the truth is….I was still mad at you about the otter costume thing," lied Sasha, "I did it to get back at you for embarrassing me with the otter costume."

Anne and Luz looked at each other, then back at Sasha, Luz not sure if she bought that explanation. For awhile no one spoke before Marcy finally came over and tried to break up the tension.

"So listen, I know things aren't exactly chill with everyone right now, but hey we did finally get the box charged! So we should at least be happy about that." Marcy held up the box again to remind them.

"I guess you're right about that," said Anne, "should we go ahead and open it?"

"No, no, no," said Marcy rather quickly, "if we turn that thing on, who knows where we'll end up. We should bring it to King Andrias so he can tell us how to use it correctly so we can get home."

"Yeah that makes sense," agreed Luz, "the last thing we need is to get sent to some new location and get split up again. Good call Marcy!"

Marcy handed both the box and the backpack to Anne who put the box away. After that the group contemplated what to do and how they were going to get everyone home. Sasha revealing that she wanted to join them in Wartwood, but knew that she might not be welcomed there. Anne decided that it would be best if she, Marcy, and Luz went back first to prepare the citizens and see if they could find accommodations for them.

"Here we'll leave Frobo with you," said Marcy, "I promise I'll come back to get you just give us a chance to get things ready for you."

"Yeah that's fine," said Sasha, "Grime and I will wait here. Hey Marcy thanks again for giving me a chance."

"Well to be fair you and I are okay," answered Marcy, "whatever happened out here I know we can move past it. And I think in time Luz and Anne will forgive you too."

As it so happened Anne came up to Sasha to talk to her before getting on Joe Sparrow and heading back to Wartwood.

"So hey Sasha," began Anne, "I meant what I said, I do want to try and be friends with you again, but I think it's going to take time. I am willing to start over with you and see how things go, and I think once we get home and back to our regular lives it will hopefully be easier."

"That's great to hear Anne! I'm glad-" began Sasha.

"But I've also grown closer with Luz too and I know she feels differently, I…I don't want to lose her friendship so I hope that in addition to trying to fix things with me, you'll try and fix things with her too, okay?"

"Yeah okay, I will," said Sasha.

"Great, then I'll see you back at Wartwood," Anne said as she turned to get on Joe Sparrow. After a few minutes the group had boarded Joe and took off into sky flying towards Wartwood. Once they were far enough away Sprig finally spoke up.

"So we are in agreement that we're not coming back for Sasha and Grime right?" he asked.

"Sprig!" chastised Anne, "of course we're coming back for them."

"Do we have to?" asked Sprig.

"Yes of course, listen Sasha has done some bad things, but she seemed genuine when she said she was sorry," said Anne.

"So you really think Sasha isn't up to something?" asked Sprig.

"I don't know," said Luz, "I mean what could she possibly be up to? I think if her and Grime wanted to attack us then they would have done so in the temple."

"You know Sasha did save us from getting killed by those lava worms," said Anne encouragingly.

"I guess she did," admitted Luz begrudgingly.

"How do we know that wasn't part of some big plan to get closer to us?" asked Sprig, "Remember she thinks I stole Anne away from her, for all we know she just wants to get close to us in order to get me alone so she can take me out!"

"That is what Sprig was afraid of in the last temple," agreed Luz, "I can't say I don't disagree entirely with him."

"She did help us recharge the last stone," said Marcy, "I wish you guys could have seen her when she fought that rock monster, she was incredible!" As Marcy finished speaking she turned to Luz, hesitating for a bit before saying, "so uh Luz, what's going on with you and your powers?"

"I don't know," answered Luz looking down at her hands, "they just aren't working anymore for some reason. At first I thought maybe it was something in the temple that was keeping them from working, but even when I got outside and tried to use them they wouldn't work."

"Hmmm," said Marcy scratching her chin, "I mean it could just be temporary, maybe you're tired or need to eat more or something like that. Let's not assume this is a permanent thing. Didn't you say that using them tires you out?"

"Yeah if I use them for long periods of time I get tired, I think using them takes a toll on my body," admitted Luz.

"Maybe you need to recharge them somehow," suggested Marcy, "when we get home let's get you a nice meal and maybe get to bed a bit early and we'll see how you're feeling in the morning."

"Yeah okay," said Luz now a little more hopeful, "I'd like that. Maybe it's like you said, I just need a good night's sleep. Oh and Marcy I'm sorry for snapping at you about Sasha."

"Oh don't worry about that," said Marcy, "I understand how you feel."

"Still it was wrong of me to take out my anger on you," said Luz, "I forget sometimes that you and Sasha have been friends longer than I have, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Marcy thought for a bit her face slowly tuning into a smile before replying, "so Luz have you ever seen The Crystal Crown of Tantamor?"

"Oh I so wanted to see that when it was in theaters! The trailer looked awesome!" said Luz letting out a groan, "but I didn't have any friends to go with, and my mom was too busy to take me. I thought about buying the DVD but there was so much Azura and anime stuff I wanted to get first, Crystal Crown just kind of slipped on my list."

"Oh well good news I happen to have it on my phone," said Marcy in excitement, "maybe we could watch it sometime?"

"Yeah sure why not?" said Luz.

"Great!" said Marcy, "I hope you'll like it!"

As Joe Sparrow took off into the sky and out of sight Grime turned from the fading bird to Sasha, "well that could have gone better."

"I mean yeah I guess so, but it doesn't matter we got Anne to accept us and agree to take us to Newtopia," said Sasha, "that means the plan is on!"

"Still Luz is suspicious of us," said Grime, "we may want to be careful around her."

"I can't believe Luz didn't accept my apology, she's always been so sweet and accepting," said Sasha, "I figured all I needed to do is turn on the charm and she'd welcome me back with open arms."

"Perhaps you don't know your friends as well as you think you do?" suggested Grime.

"Pssh, please Grime, I got this!" replied Sasha, "plus we won't have to keep up this act for long, just until we get into Newtopia."

"Well on the bright side it looks like our plan just got a lot easier," said Grime.

"Huh how do you mean?" asked Sasha.

"I mean Luz seems to not have her powers anymore," said Grime, "that means Beatrix will have no problem subduing her."

As soon as he said this Sasha began to feel something in her stomach, a very uneasy feeling, as she realized that without her powers Luz stood no chance against Beatrix.

"Right….so….uh I guess now that we know Luz doesn't seem to have those powers anymore we don't have to worry about her ruining our plans then," said Sasha, "that means we don't need Beatrix to distract her anymore."

"It's too late for us to change the plan now Sasha," said Grime sternly, "and even if it wasn't how do we know Luz isn't putting on some kind of act. For all we know she's only pretending to not have her powers."

"What?! I mean why would she do that? She looked pretty serious in their when she wanted to attack us after your comment," said Sasha.

"Hey I was trying to make a point," countered Grime.

"In any case it looked like she wanted to attack us, I doubt she was pretending," said Sasha.

"Even so, we can't change the plan," said Grime, "but hey if she really is powerless then Beatrix will probably get bored with her. I know my sister, she likes a good fight, if Luz can't give her one than Beatrix will leave her alone."

"Oh….uh….right, you sure about that?" asked Sasha uneasily.

"Lieutenant," began Grime seriously, "the things we've set into motion cannot be stopped. The plan will proceed as was originally outlined, including getting Luz away from the group to make sure she doesn't interfere."

As Grime spoke Sasha looked out towards the sky then back to Grime, for the first time starting to feel unsure of the plan.

Don't worry Luz will be fine, said her thoughts to her, besides I thought you wanted her out of the way so you could have Anne all to yourself?

….That is what I want, said Sasha to herself, but now I'm not so sure….

Well once you get control of the box and once Beatrix softens her up a bit you can send Luz to another world, said the voice, then she'll be out of your way for good and you'll never have to worry about her trying to steal Anne away from you.

Sasha did perk up a bit upon hearing this, yeah you're right, with Luz gone, Anne and I can finally be together!