41

Chapter 41Chapter Text

Bonus Chapter: Lisa and the Grand Army of the Empire

This is set a few years after the events of the main Princess storyline. It's also hideously non-canon.

***

Alelarre looked at the device with a critical eye. All the golden arches and strange, bulbous metal... things seemed alien. They probably weren't, but something about the design, the curves and almost organic shape of them gave her the impression that whomever built the machine wasn't used to the more squarish and utilitarian design of... of just about everything else.

"So, how does it work?" she asked, tilting her head to one side to inspect the machine properly. The main archway, surrounded as it was by golden poles, was still big enough for some of her larger Grimmsects to squeeze through.

Salem raised one imperious eyebrow towards her daughter and then gave the device a rather pointed look. "Well, daughter mine, the mysteries of magic are deep and horribly complex. If, perhaps a certain young woman that lives under my roof would spend more time at home studying with her dear mother instead of off gallivanting who knows where with strange women she would have begun to dip into the deeper secrets."

Akelarre rolled her eyes, the very image of a teenager that had been enduring too much mothering for the day. "Just because you're jealous that I spend time with my friends doesn't mean you should be so... queen-y."

Salem pointedly failed to huff. "I am Salem, Queen of the Grimm."

"You're Salem, jealous Queen of the Grimm," Akelarre shot back. She felt a little bad when her mom looked away from her and crossed her arms. Sighing, Akelarre walked away from the archway and up to Salem's side. "Sorry?" she tried.

"I'm terribly sorry, in my old age it seems as though my hearing is failing me. What was that?" Salem asked.

Akelarre pulled Salem's arms apart and positioned herself well within Salem's bubble before lowering her mom's arms back down around her shoulders. She tucked her head in the crook of Salem's neck. "Sorry."

Salem didn't hold back the huff this time. "Did you think some half-hearted hug would be enough for me to start spilling my secrets?" she asked.

Akelarre looked up, her eyes as wide as they would go and wet with unshed tears. They glowed a faint, warm red, like the setting sun seen through stained glass. Her lower lip wobbled and her arms tightened around Salem's waist.

"Curses," Salem whispered. "Very well."

Akelarre giggled as she stepped away from Salem. "Do it!" she said.

Taking a deep breath, Salem set her mind onto the old ways, then paused. "Who, exactly are we searching for, daughter mine?"

"Tattletale. Her name is Tattletale."

***

Lisa was leaning with one shoulder against her desk, papers strewn across it with disparate titles, printouts of recent news articles and reports from across the city. The work of a leader laid out in not-so-neat bureaucratic papers.

Then the world twisted, and with a sucking that pulled at her from somewhere behind her navel, she was no longer at her desk.

"She's here!" a voice, a voice that tickled her with its familiarity, shouted from off to her side a half second before she was unceremoniously grabbed in a tight hug.

"Well, seeing as things went well, I will be in my study," another voice said, this was a low, sibilant murmur that was at once the sexiest voice Lisa had ever heard, and had the kind of smooth authority behind it she at once associated with someone powerful. Like Alexandria or one of the better presidents.

"Aww, but mom, don't you want to meet Tattletale?" the one crushing Lisa into her chest said.

"Perhaps later, dear. Do stop by."

Lisa was just reaching for the gun tucked up under her coat, the kind of gun that any self-respecting not-a-warlord carried, when both hands were grabbed and raised. Brute, her mind instantly informed her, or if not a Brute someone exceptionally strong. "Oh, it's so good to see you again, Lisa."

Lisa's heart skipped a beat.

"Taylor?" she whispered.

The hands let go of her wrists only for Lisa to find herself engulfed in a bear hug, head pressed up against the nook of the girl's neck. "You remember me!"

Lisa felt her arms going limp by her side. It wasn't possible, part of her said. Another part wished it were true, but years of cynicism, cynicism that was usually right, told her to verify before trusting. "Can, can you let go of me?" she asked.

She was instantly freed, the girl that might have been Taylor taking a long steps back, but kept one hand on Lisa's shoulder, as if she was afraid of letting go completely.

Lisa looked into eyes that were almost familiar, then she let her gaze wander. The face's structure was right. The same wide eyes, the same large mouth with thin lips. The hair was as she remembered it, though perhaps a little longer now than the way Taylor had kept it. It was the skin and the colour of the eyes that was all wrong.

"The Taylor that I remember didn't have black veins," Lisa pointed out.

"Well, I died a little. But I got better." She laughed, and it was just right, the same self-deprecating chuckle that she had heard so many times around Taylor. "I've got a whole lot to show you."

"Where am I?" she asked. If this was Taylor, she would be free with information, probably. It had been... had it been years? Lisa felt her heart straining. She had always wished, hopped, that Taylor was out there somewhere.

"We're in the Spire, in the Grimmlands, on a planet called Remnant," Taylor explained. "I'm sorry if I took you away from your work, I could send you back later, or, or right now, if you really don't want to be here."

Lisa shook her head. "Taylor, what happened?"

"Ah, that's a bit of a story," Taylor said. She gestured deeper into the room. "Come on, this room's drafty. There's a sitting room or two the next floor up."

Lisa followed, still wary, but curious. Her damned curiosity was going to end with her in deep trouble one day, she knew. She followed Taylor out of the room and found herself in a long, winding corridor that curved slightly on both ends. Probably to circle around something, she figured.

With the same easy grace Taylor had developed as she grew into her power, this Taylor led her down the corridor, then up a spiralling stairwell made entirely of black stone. The corridor the next floor up was the same, only this one had huge stained glass windows allowing colourful light to spill into the room. She paused by one of them and fold a piece of glass that was transparent enough to see through.

The world outside was a blasted hellscape of crystalline towers and rocky craters that had started to erode a long time ago. Pools of black water dotted the stony ground, hidden in the shadows cast by a stormy sky. And there were monsters. Creatures that walked and skittered in the shadows or stood brazenly in the few spots of light piercing through the clouds.

She sure as hell wasn't in Kansas anymore.

"It's this one," Taylor called back. She was gesturing to an opened door with both arms, a rather dopey smile on. Lisa couldn't quite tell if she was just excited and reverting back to the energetic girl she had been before life shat on her, a girl Lisa had seen very little of, or if Taylor was putting on an act to make Lisa more comfortable.

The room was the sort of opulent that Lisa had seen so many would be kingpins and villains try to emulate. Dark purple drapes next to oil paintings, soft light coming from candles held in silver sconces and a pair of couches set one before the other with only a gilded table between them.

She sank into one of the couches, the fluffy material giving under her weight. Taylor sat across from her, adjusting the legs of her cargo pants to make herself more comfortable. "So," Taylor began.

"Yeah," Lisa said. She realized that she was in a bit of shock, but the realization didn't help all that much. "How?" she asked. It was probably a good place to start.

"Right, so, you remember Scion?" Taylor asked.

"I would be hardpressed to forget," she deadpanned right back.

Taylor nodded. "So, I kinda killed him, but I wasn't in the best shape after that. I don't remember what happened right after. My memories have been... fuzzy, for a while. I couldn't remember my name for a long time. But anyway. I was found next to a place called the Pools of Darkness." Lisa could hear the capitalization in the name.

"Found by who?"

"Mom," Taylor said. "Well, I call her that. Her name is Salem, queen of the Grimm, ruler of Remnant and so on."

"Remnant is the... country we're in?" Lisa asked.

Taylor shook her head. "The planet."

Lisa blinked. That was something. "Okay. So... she adopted you?"

"Yeah, actually," Taylor said. "She controls the Grimm, who control the world. I can control them too, and I can make them. It goes with the whole, black veins, red eyes thing."

Lisa reached out across the divide between them as if to touch Taylor's cheeks, but stopped. Taylor grabbed her hand gently by the wrist and guided it over to her cheek. She ran her thumb over one of the veins, feeling the lumpy skin beneath. "You're cold."

"A bit," Taylor said before she smiled and let go of Lisa's hand. "Um, our snacks are here," she said.

The door slid open soundlessly and a beetle walked in. It was tall enough to reach Lisa's shin and carried a silver tray balanced on its back. Smaller insects, though still far larger than anyone sane would be comfortable with, helped drag the tray from the beetles back to the table.

Taylor hummed as she leaned forwards and poured two cups of tea.

"You really are Taylor," Lisa said. The appearance could be faked, the bugs less so.

"Obviously," Taylor said. "Didn't your power tell you as much?"

"It did but, but I wasn't sure," she admitted. Reaching out, Lisa took her cup of tea and blew across the top to help it cool down. "So, now what?"

"Ah, well," Taylor began. "What I really wanted was to get in touch, see how you were doing, tell you that I was, well, alive. And maybe show you off to my other friends. You're going to love them... like them... you'll like most of them."

"So you opened a portal between dimensions for tea and crumpets?" Lisa asked. She couldn't hide the amusement in her tone. It was so very Taylor to not allow something as small as being in the wrong dimension to stop her from getting what she wanted.

"How was I to know that you weren't in trouble, that you didn't need help?" Taylor asked. "My life here has been nice, really nice. Remnant is a quiet world. It's very green, and very alive. The population, of humans at least, is tiny compared to Earth Bet. No wars or anything like that. Well, not since I got rid of the last rebellion."

"Rebellion?" Lisa asked. Her teacup hovered close to her lips. She had the answer already, her power filling in all the horrible gaps.

"Come on, Lisa, I've been here for years. You didn't think I wouldn't take over the planet, did you?" Taylor was almost chastising.

"Of course not," Lisa deadpanned. It only earned her a smile. "So, this is your retirement? Rule an entire planet, mind your business. Have tea with friends?" She couldn't help but sound a little wistful at the end.

"Ah, well... I was kind of hoping that you still needed me. I've been directionless for a little while. Nothing," she paused, then made a big, expansive gesture. "Nothing huge to do, you know? I just hang out with my hare-- my friends, and we go shopping and go to the beach and have fun, but nothing big."

"I wouldn't say no to a bit of help," Lisa admitted. She decided not to poke at the harem comment, yet. Her shoulders sagged a little. "It's been a mess trying to get everything in order, trying to process the refugees, the new capes, the lack of proper governments. But unless you have an army to lend me, there's only so much I can ask for."

A gleam entered Taylor's red eyes and Lisa felt her stomach plumet. "Come, follow me!" she said as she jumped to her feet.

Dread mounting, Lisa followed Talyor out of the room, then down a corridor and up another staircase. They climbed for some time, Taylor in obviously better shape than Lisa as she took the steps without so much as breathing hard.

By the time they were where Taylor wanted, Lisa was almost panting and she could feel sweat pooling at the base of her back. "Ah, I'm sorry. I'm too used to having friends who have their aura's unlocked," she said.

Lisa's curiosity was piqued, but Taylor didn't leave her time to question it. Instead, she pulled Lisa by the wrist to a balcony jutting out of the side of the Spire.

Lisa's breath caught.

The outside of the castle-like building she had seen was all desolate wasteland and crawling monsters. She realised now that that had only been the one side. The back, or perhaps the front, was a flat expanse of levelled ground as far as the eye could see, only broken up by squarish buildings set at even distances.

That was all well and good. It was what occupied that space that had her swallowing back rising fear.

Bugs. Not normal insects but creatures the size of men, others as big around as cars and more that were bigger still. Some looked like praying mantis, if they had been designed from the nightmares of a psychopath, others were eight-limbed and sleek, others still stood like lumbering brutes, looking unmovable and still like chitinous monoliths.

Beetles, like Taylor's long lost Atlas stood with cannons mounted to their backs, and some of the smaller insects held rifles tucked against their shoulders.

The sea of black bugs stretched out towards the horizon. And above them floated giganting monstrosities of bulbous sacks and too many eyes. She caught something cutting through the gloomy sky and looked up in time to see a flight of dragonflies buzz by with the same speed and grace as fighter planes.

Airships, honest to god airships, stood frozen in neat rows across the sky, painted in pitch black and bristling with weaponry.

"How many?" she asked.

"Here? Well, this is one of our favourite places to be, and I like making more bugs here. Only about half a billion infantry," Taylor said. She eyed Lisa for a bit, then grinned before facing her army. Each bug stood in perfect formation, neat rows that were so straight they fooled the eyes. "About face," Taylor said.

The movement of so many limbs was like rumbling thunder in the night.

"So, if you ever need anything," Taylor said as she turned a brilliant smile upon Lisa. "You just have to ask. I don't forget my friends."

***

Commission token: Spent!

A huge thank-you to my friends and patrons who allow me the time to write this kind of story and who are always there to help bounce ideas and poke fun at my shoddier work. I love you guys!