[i]"She was most peculiar. Two faces, one grim and one human, and her entire being was filled with joy and laughter. A spirit of mischief, we believe her to be, but sadly, she didn't stay long enough for us to ask."[/i] Tristan of the Vermillion Haven Temple.

Amal considered herself the most faithful of all of Skitter's followers. The young goddess and spirit had become the focus of all attention in Elamia since her arrival, and any devout person would feel honored to be in her presence.

But she wasn't blind. She could see that not everything was alright. Skitter had been worried that she wouldn't meet her friends again, at least as much as Amal herself worried about what would happen [i]if[/i] she found them.

Even seated next to her, Amal knew that Skitter's attention was fully on the spirit Imp who was now seated on her left side. The dark-skinned girl seemed to never tire of smiling, strangely happy and nonchalant at the same time. The priests and priestesses listened while seated on the white marble table in the middle of the temple halls. The statues of Eshmun and Elamia watched over them as the spirit Imp, as Skitter had named her, shrugged.

Shrugs were the most Skitter got as a response while the spirit Imp enjoyed her food. What exactly her powers were, Amal didn't know, but she deducted it was some kind of invisibility from the previous conversation.

"Besides Regent, you haven't heard of anyone else?" Skitter asked. Imp swallowed, her mouth too full, before answering.

"I didn't really get around, and I didn't want to take any chances. Shit's strange here."

"Strange?" Skitter asked.

"Yeah, like, when I use my power, it's like everyone is speaking another language, even you," Imp said. Skitter froze for a moment, and Amal could see her goddess' brow furrowing. Skitter turned to the food with a grimace.

"Nyvum..." Skitter muttered. "I had a strange dream too, I can barely remember it. Say, can we talk in private for a bit?"

Amal felt her heart sink slightly when Imp nodded and both of them stepped away from the table. Skitter's robes reflected the sunlight that came through the window, giving them a strange shine, while Imp's mask on the back of her head seemed to stare directly at them. Amal moved to stand up, but Skitter looked at her and shook her head slightly.

Amal settled down again.

She was the most devout. The high priestess. Skitter herself had said that she was the most trusted among mortals.. Amal was [i]special[/i] in the eyes of a spirit.

But she could not match this. She could never be a spirit like her. She couldn't stand by her side, not like this. Imp could. And despite knowing how irrational it seemed, how childish and how needy it was, she was jealous of Imp.

The small fire near the wall that was set there to keep the interior of the dining hall warm crackled slightly, and Amal lost herself in the yellow and orange flame while she waited for Skitter to return.

###

Taylor shook her head, clearing her thoughts as she and Imp moved down the decorated halls and into a room where she could be sure of their privacy.

Imp also stopped smiling, her face a bit more serious.

"Aisha," she whispered, making sure nobody was nearby. The insects crawled along the walls and behind statues and wall decorations, giving her the knowledge about any nook and cranny of the temple. "I have a bad feeling. About this place, about the priests."

"It's... not bad," Aisha said. "Around here, I mean, it seems pretty fun."

"I admit, it's not the worst place we could have landed in, but it's not our home. Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"You're worried," Aisha said. "I get that, I really do, but I'm sure that bro is alright."

"That's not it either!" Taylor said, a bit too quickly. "I've had strange dreams, and there's something ridiculous going on with my body. I healed much faster after fighting some cape and-"

"You fought a cape!?" Aisha interrupted. "Was it someone we knew?"

"No, it was some kind of mole-man, like a case, and- that's not even the important part, listen, I think... I don't think this place is real. I think we're trapped." Taylor said.

"You mean this is some kind of crazy Matrix world?"

Taylor stared at her for a moment.

"Never watched it? One of the more popular Aleph movies." Aisha grinned. Taylor's grimace took the humour out of the situation. "Okay, so this... is not real, so what?"

"Your power," Taylor said. "Regent's power stops working when you use it, nobody even knows you exist anymore, it's great to hide from people and only cameras can pick you up."

"So what?"

"It's the only reason I'm sure that you're real," Taylor said, chewing on her lower lip. "But this world, it's so strange. I healed faster, everyone is too friendly, I'm... I'm not used to anything here."

"Taylor," Aisha said, putting a hand on the taller girl's shoulder. "Calm down. It'll be alright, we're safe. I imagine the others heard about you if the guy's on their knees are anything to go by."

"How do we know?" Taylor asked. "How do we know we aren't captured and drugged, or hooked up to some computer?"

"We don't," Aisha said. "That's why we need Tattletale, she'll know more. Is that what you're worried about?"

"I haven't seen you guys for so long," Taylor said, her face heating up as tears welled up in her eyes. "It's all coming up. I managed to push it out of my mind for a while, but now that I've actually found you..."

"Taylor," Aisha said. Taylor's breathing became heavier, the younger girl noticed her fellow villainess growing increasingly tense. "Taylor, are you alright?"

"I don't know," Taylor said. She began pacing slightly, moving in tandem with the bugs that crawled along the walls. She began talking again, after a long sigh. "You say I speak another language when you use your power, I remember hearing one in one of my dreams. Why can't I remember more?"

"That's how dreams work," Aisha said calmly. Taylor stumbled slightly, her pacing ending with her foot stuck under a red-tinted carpet. "Taylor?"

Taylor fell backwards, onto her ass and wiped her face, drawing her knees up to her head.

"I'm sorry, it must be the exhaustion, I woke up really early today," Taylor said, calmer. Her vision was swimming.

"It's alright." Aisha sat down next to her. "I hadn't noticed you're so down about this. These two months were over like a flash for me, because I'm used to not being noticed. I can't imagine what it must have been like for you."

Taylor nodded.

"I met a lot of people, did some things, got called a goddess more times than I'm comfortable with."

"But it still wasn't home, hm?"

"Worse," Taylor shook her head. "It started to feel like it. I'm not sure how I should feel about that."

"Must be the fresh air and the people kneeling to you," Aisha said, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's... in part, maybe," Taylor said. "The people here treat us differently, and we don't have to worry about things like the Endbringers, or the Slaughterhouse 9, or the Protectorate."

"Daaaamn boring though, I want to fight a cape too. Is that how you got this awesome sword?"

Imp was holding it, unsheathed and staring at the blade. The hilt looked much older than the steel that mde made up the rest of it.

"How did you- Aisha, give that back," Taylor said, holding her hand up.

"Why? Am I gonna cut myself?" Aisha grinned. Taylor glared at the girl. Aisha shrugged and gave her back the sword and the sheath. "But really, where did you get that one?"

"The prince gave it to me as a gift for helping him," Taylor said. "It's a long story."

"You met a [i]prince[/i]?" Aisha asked. "Like, a real prince? Face of an Adonis, crown on his head, gold in his pockets?"

"Pretty much." Taylor shrugged. "He and his brother. Saved one, threatened the other."

"Yeahhh, spill all the juicy details," Aisha said, standing up. "Bro's gonna be so jealous."

"Why should he be?"

"Ah, his girlfriend being stolen away by prince charming~" Aisha sighed. "Oh, the fairy tale this would make. The villain whose evil heart was freed by-"

Taylor slapped a hand over Aisha's mouth.

"Brian's not gonna hear your version of the story."

Aisha just grinned and licked the glove, before realizing that she was actually just licking spider silk.

###

Taylor and Aisha took their time, and most of the priests had already finished. Out of courtesy and respect, it seemed, they had remained seated on the large chairs and waited for their return. Amal was with them of course.

The young priestess stood up and bowed to them, the priests and priestesses following suit, making Taylor sigh. Aisha seemed to enjoy the attention.

"I'm not hungry," Taylor said. "And we might need to go to... the sacred city was it?"

Amal nodded. "The Spirit's Sacred City, where the eldest priest started out."

"Yeah, there," Taylor said. "And we need to send someone to Massad in case Regent is somewhere on the border."

"Imagine he met a princess," Imp said. "Regent charming the princess and-"

"Shut up!" Taylor stopped her from playing the whole story up again. "I don't think Massad has a princess."

"Party-pooper!" Imp stuck her tongue out at Taylor. Taylor decided to be the adult and ignored her.

"But blessed spirit!" One of the priests stepped out of the small crowd. His hair and beard were long and grey, his robes clinging to a weakened and thin frame. "Can we not ask you to stay for a while longer so the travelers can seek your blessing?"

"I don't bless people," Taylor said. Everyone here was even worse than in Elamia. "Never did, never will."

"Only those who stand for themselves shall receive her approval!" one of the priestesses said. The woman was younger than most of them, but still quite a bit older than Taylor. "The wisdom of the spirits is immeasurable-"

"Let's go."

Taylor grabbed Imp's arm and dragged the now laughing girl out, Amal hurrying after them.

"Hey, no, hahah, wait!" Imp said between the laughters. "I want one of those steaks before we go, you didn't even touch yours!"

"We can eat when we're there."

"But that'll take days!"

"I guess it will."

"You're evil, milady! Eviiiil."

###

Amal was sitting next to a tree, the horses that were prepared for them resting nearby while Skitter was sleeping, the exhaustion from the day setting in. The goddess was twisting and turning in her sleep, and multiple attempts to get her awake had been stopped by the buzzing of bugs.

Imp was sitting just a meter away, looking at the map that Taylor had kept from Sidon. Amal has been sitting in a rather uncomfortable silence for a while now.

"So," Imp began, looking over to her.

"Yes?" Amal asked.

"You went all the way from here..." Imp scuttled closer to Amal, showing her the map that was barely readable in the night and pointing towards Sidon. "To here, and then here?"

The path was roughly the one they followed, yes, so Amal nodded, before shaking her head slightly.

"That's the route Skitter took," Amal explained. "I joined in Heth, north from Sidon."

"What did you do before?" Imp asked. "Like, aren't your parents worried, running off with some girl?"

"My father, he," Amal felt her face heat up again, the cold night wind making her shiver. "He mistook milady for a god, at first, and offered her my hand in marriag-"

It was like a dam broke. Imp let go of the map, starting to giggle like crazy.

"Hahahah-" Imp didn't stop, while Taylor was still sleeping despite the noise. "An-and then? Hahaha, what did she say?"

"She was angry that he'd just give away his daughter, and told him she was a girl, and we talked a bit over the next days," Amal continued, trying to wrap up the story quickly.

"And then she just decided to take you with her?" Imp asked. "Why not the prince or something?"

"I might have hidden myself on a cart," Amal admitted, her face warm. "And didn't want to leave even when they discovered me."

Imp broke into giggles. The nightly chill and the uncomfortable silence were forgotten as the spirit lightened the mood with her joy. Amal's blush made her hide her face in between her knees.

Even the horses made a loud noise, a neigh that made Imp laugh harder.

"This is gold, Regent will love this!" Imp said, wiping her eyes slightly. "Oh, this is too good."

"Regent was... the second one, next to Grue, right?"

"She told you about bro and Regent?"

"She told me about all of you!" Amal smiled. "About Regent, Grue, Tattletale, the Imp and, uh, Bitch."

"Yeah, that's the Undersiders," Imp said. "I tell you, it was really strange when Skitter and bro hooked up, my power's really good for sneaking up on people."

"Hooked up?" Amal asked. "Like...?"

"You know, became a couple, and all that," Imp said. "This must be some really repressed world, huh? You should hear about that one time I walked in on them-"

Amal wasn't really listening anymore. That's a thing Skitter had left out. She and Grue, or 'bro' as Imp called him, were a couple? Of course, yes, that made sense. Only two spirits could live their lives together.

But despite Skitter's admission of trusting her, that wasn't something she could have told her? Amal felt hurt.

"So, so I got this plan, okay?" Imp said. "You totally gonna help with this, I'll make you my second best friend for that."

"Plan?" Amal whispered hoarsely.

"So yeah, when we meet bro, just introduce yourself as her girlfriend or something, and I'll mention something about the princes she left behind for you and-"

"Me and Skitter?!" Amal said, looking away from Imp's inquiring gaze. The spirit was truly honoring her name. "Impossible! Something like that would never work out. She's not interested-"

"Oh, and you are?" Imp grinned.

"I..."

Amal's eyes went to Skitter's sleeping form. Imp choked slightly before breaking out in laughter again. Amal hid her face in between her knees.

###

Taylor was dreaming.

It wasn't a pleasant dream.

She could see her mother, staring down at her. Angry. Anne-Rose was screaming in some tongues she didn't understand, while a noose tightened around Taylor's neck.

She wanted to speak, to apologize for whatever she might have done wrong, but her mouth was bound. She tried to scream, but the noose cut off any supply of air.

And like always in her dreams, she tried to flail. But her arms and legs were bound by chains.

The dream didn't stop there, though. She remembered that this was the point where she should have woken up. She was carried adrift, the chains pulling on her body and sending her into the sky. She remembered this view.

She could see them. She could see the earth that wasn't hers. She could see all life below.