AN: Well, for those of you awaiting the sequel to TBAtP...you'll be waiting a little longer. I mentioned wanting to do this one-shot prequel back in the last chapter of TBAtP, and I've finally gotten around to writing it.
For those of you who haven't read the original work, Time Brings All to Pass, but want to give this a shot, then go right ahead, I did try to write it with the idea that people might read it first in mind, so it won't spoil anything beyond the first 3 chapters of TBAtP (though the Author's note at the bottom absolutely will go into some spoilery stuff, so you might want to avoid that).
Also, this will be my first fic that is uploaded simultaneously to both AO3 and at the same time. Which I think is neat.
As well, a quick clarification that when you see a characters italicized thoughts underlined, like this, the means that character is trying to push those thoughts down (since doesn't allow me to use the much more natural strike through for that effect). Those of you who read TBAtP should remember that, but for those that didn't, I should clear that up.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this, and I'll see you down below.
"Soldiers of Netopia, put down your arms this instant or the next thing I smash will be your Kings head!"
Grimes's booming voice allowed his words to carry throughout the city as he stood atop the fallen King Andrias. In the second that followed his threat, Sasha heard the newts response: the sound of weapons being dropped, echoing throughout the city.
Yes, we totally rule!
Sasha had known that her plan would work, but that did nothing to deter the feeling of Pride and accomplishment in this. After all, she'd just led a successful and bloodless coup of a kingdom, how many other 13-year-olds can say that?
The blond gave a brief glance over to where her friends stood. Marcy looked shocked, which Sasha could understand given how close she seemed to be to the King. Anne, meanwhile, looked a fair bit angrier than the former cheerleader had expected. That did worry her a little, especially since the last time she got angry at Sasha, things got so out of hand that they had an actual sword fight. She'd been hoping that once she and Grime took control of the city and had gotten their new regime off the ground, she could finally get around to admitting to Anne that she was in love with her. Doing that would be much more difficult if she was mad at the blond.
…Well, I'm sure it'll be fine, it's not like I did anything to her stupid frog family this time. Sasha's eyes rolled as her thoughts continued. I should be able to cool things over with pretty quickly.
Yes, outside of this minor setback with Anne's reaction, everything had gone perfectly. The newts were surrendering, the king was captured, and her friends were…well, they weren't quite on board with it all yet, but they would be. Sasha knew that nothing could screw this up for her.
"Excellent." Grime said as he surveyed the surrender of the city's soldiers from his giant newt-shaped perch. "Open the-"
Grime was supposed to order the toads in the city to open Newtopia's gates so that the rest of the army would be able to walk in and occupy the place, securing their takeover. However, this didn't happen. Instead, he was cut off in the middle of the declaration by a foot hitting his face.
A Newt soldier had come out of nowhere, Sasha would guess that they had climbed up the palace's walls but she wasn't sure, and leaped towards Grime and struck him with a flying kick, sending him toppling to the balcony's floor. As Grime began to pick himself up, Sasha began to draw her sword to go after the attacker…and then to her immense frustration, realized that it the attacker wasn't a soldier.
"You will not be taking down our king today, not with me around!" Declared the attacker, standing proudly in her armour adorned with metals. "For I, am General Yunan! Scourge of the Sand Wars! Defeater of-"
"Seriously?!" Sasha yelled out, far too annoyed to let Yunan indulge in her overly indulgent introductory speech. "Of all the newts that could be here to screw this up, it's you?!"
"Well sorry for ruining your coup." The general replied sarcastically, clearly ticked off at the situation, though whether that situation was the coup or her speech getting interrupted Sasha couldn't tell.
Still, the reason Yunan was ticked off didn't matter. What mattered was that she was facing towards Sasha now, and completely oblivious to Grime lunging at her, ready to swing his hammer. Or rather, it would have mattered if the King's giant tail didn't hit Grim and knock him back into the throne room before he could actually hit her.
"You know it's funny," The booming and deep voice of Andrias began as he stood up. "Somehow I don't think that my best General showing up and saving the day was part of your plan."
As he spoke, Andrias reached his giant hand out at Sasha. The blond cursed herself for getting into a fighting stance when Yunan arrived, her immediate reaction should have been to take the music box that was now tucked under her arm and once again hold it over the edge of the balcony, try and force Andrias to order the psychotic newt to stand down. It was rather unfortunate that she didn't, as with Andrias reaching out to grab her, there was little chance that she could move her arm over the balcony's edge without him grabbing her, rendering her threat pointless as he could just pull her away. Knowing that her only option was to try and fight her way through this, the former cheerleader rolled beneath the newt king's giant hand. As she exited the roll and began to stand up, she quickly raised her sword to block an incoming strike from Yunan's claws before ducking under her next strike and moving forward into the throne room to ensure that she wasn't caught between the King and the General.
The blond came to a halt next to Grime, who had recovered from being batted out of the air and was now in a fighting stance. Around the room, the few newt guards present had taken up the weapons they had thrown down and looked prepared to approach and surround the two rebel leaders.
Thankfully, at that moment, the doors to the throne room burst open, revealing the group of toads who were supposed to be taking the kings and guards into custody. A confident smile appeared on Sasha's face as she saw that they now had reinforcements…though admittedly, their reinforcements looked confused at finding that an actual fight had broken out.
"…Is this a bad time?" The toad at the head of the group asked awkwardly. Grime face palmed in response.
"Oh, for Frog's sake, just fight you idiots!" the former captain shouted. It was falling back a little on his old habits of insulting his subordinates, a habit that Sasha thought she had helped Grime fix…but given the frustrating circumstances and the general stupidity that a lot of the toad army seemed to show, she could understand him slipping up now and again.
Still, at the very least it didn't seem to have any effect on these toads' morale, as they immediately charged into the fight. Sasha was thankful that they made sure that the number of toads coming to arrest the king and his guards would be greater than the number of guards, just to make sure that they had the numbers advantage in case something went wrong. Which it did.
As the toads and newts began to charge at each other near the entrance of the room, Yunan dashed towards Sasha and Grime from the balcony's entrance. The former cheerleader and the former captain shared an understanding look before Grime charged at Yunan, with Sasha following right behind him, tossing the box over to the throne so she could have both hands free for the fight. Just before the toad and newt would have collied, Grime jumped over Yunan to move towards his real target, King Andrias. This little feint of Grimes kept Yunan's focus on him and away from Sasha, who timed her own leap to begin at the same time as Grimes, only her leap would take her forward, towards Yunan, not above her. The blond swung her pink sword as she approached Yunan in mid-air, only for the General to block the strike with her claws, before pushing Sasha away.
The blond landed on her feet and glared at Yunan, a glare that Yunan returned. Sasha knew that this fight wouldn't be easy. She had managed to keep up with Yunan during their last encounter, and with the extra training she'd done since then Sasha was certain that she could beat her…but she also knew it wouldn't be easy. The General may be an egomaniac, but it was easy to see that her combat abilities justified that ego. Still, as she sized her opponent up, Sasha was confident that she could win this rematch, though Yunan's face showed that she thought the opposite.
Guess there's only one way to know who's right.
However, they wouldn't get to find out who was right.
"Out of the way!" Anne yelled as she pushed past Yunan, running right at Sasha with her sword drawn. Sasha was stunned to see Anne charging at her and only just barely managed to block a swing from the Thai girl.
"Anne, what are you doing?" The blond asked. She knew that it would take a little convincing to get Anne on her side of the coup and that the brown-haired girl was angrier than Sasha had anticipated, but actually trying to fight her over this was not something that she expected.
"What does it look like we're doing, we're stopping you." The Thai girl answered as she made another swing that Sasha blocked.
"We're"?
Sasha's eye shifted to the right, allowing her to just barely see that Anne's frog family had joined the newts in fighting off the toads, as had their robot and even that noble that had accompanied them into the palace. Even worse, however, she could also see that Marcy had sided against her and was fighting the toads as well.
OK, maybe both of them are fighting against me on this, but…there's got to be a way to fix this, right?
"Anne, just give me a minute to talk, OK?" Sasha asked as she stepped back to dodge another of the girls swings.
"Why? So you can lie to me again?" Anne asked, fury ringing through her voice.
"Anne, that isn't really-"
""Isn't really" what Sash?" Anne said, forcing the other girl back as she took another swing. "Isn't really what you were doing? Isn't really that bad? Isn't really a lie because I didn't ask if you were going to use me and Marcy to stage a freaking coup?!"
Each of Anne's sarcastic jabs was punctuated with another slash of her sword that forced Sasha closer and closer to the throne. However, on the last swing, Sasha would block Anne's blade with her own, and then use her strength to push Anne backwards. Sasha may not want to hurt Anne, but just dodging her attacks and being pushed back away from Grime and the toads wasn't going to help them win.
Sasha advanced on Anne and made a swing with her own bald, aiming for the girl's armoured torso. While she'd do less damage if her attack landed there, she was aiming to knock Anne around enough to restrain her so she could talk to her later. Any serious injury would make talking to her impossible. Plus, Sasha knew that she couldn't ever bring herself to cause a serious injury to Anne. However, whatever Sasha's intentions were for that blow were rendered moot as Anne blocked the swing with her blade. Their blades locked together, both girls using all of their strength to push against the other, all while staring at the other. Sasha's stare was one of determination to see her plan through to the end, while Anne's was filled with an anger that slightly unnerved the former cheerleader.
"Ahem!"
The sound of a throat being cleared caused both girls to turn away from each other in confusion, their gazes now fixed on an indignant Yunan.
"You know," The General began, "this was really supposed to be my fight with-"
"Will you butt out!" the two humans shouted together, before turning their attention away from the now flabbergasted newt and back to each other.
"…All right, fine. I'll go fight the normal soldiers." Sasha heard a disappointed Yunan say as she went to join the fight at the other end of the room.
The blond relaxed her attempts to push against Anne and took a step backwards, breaking the lock as Anne fell forward, losing her balance from the unexpected movement. While the Thai girl recovered enough to keep herself from falling, Sasha used the opportunity to wrap her arm around both of Anne's and restrain her.
"Anne, just listen to me on this!" Sasha all but shouted. It was starting to seriously frustrate her over just how much Anne kept fighting against her ever since they came to this ridiculous world. Why couldn't she get that this was all for the better? Why couldn't she get that Sasha being in charge of things was for her own good?
"Listen to you?!" Anne said incredulously "After you lied and manipulated us so you could hurt people we care about again?! You're insane to think I'd do that!"
"Anne, we both know you don't mean-" Sasha's response was cut off as Anne headbutted her, sending her stumbling backwards. As Anne jumped forward and swung her sword downwards at Sasha, the blond only had just enough time to dodge out of the way.
"I do mean it Sash!" Anne shouted as she made another slash from the right that the blond once again just barely dodged.
"I'm done listening to you!" Now she made a slash from the left that Sasha blocked.
"I'm done trusting you!" This time it was a swing from overhead that Sasha pushed back with her blade.
"You're a horrible person!" Another overhead swing, but when Sasha tried to force it back again, she found that Anne had put far more strength into the swing and their blades were once again locked.
"And I am done!"
Anne raised her leg.
"Being!"
her foot began moving towards Sasha's chest.
"Friends with you!"
Her foot landed right in the middle of Sasha's chest, sending the teenager stumbling backwards until she fell onto the hard floor of the throne room, her sword flying from her hands.
Sasha looked at Anne, one of her two oldest and closest friends. She looked at the girl she loved. And she didn't understand. How could Anne do this? How could she hate Sasha this much? Those words she had said…even though she didn't land any hits with her sword, it felt like Sasha's body had been cut a thousand times when she heard those words.
This doesn't make sense. Why? Why would she say that? Did…did I screw up? Am I really a horri- No! I didn't do anything wrong! She's the one who's wrong for not. Just. Listening!
A whirlpool of emotions raged inside Sasha. She felt sadness, and pain, and even guilt, but they were being overpowered and drowned out by anger and rage.
How dare she not see that I'm right! Maybe she'll learn if I separate her from those stupid frogs for goo-
"Aaah!"
As Anne approached the blond, the blond now returning her glare of anger, Sasha was pulled out her thoughts by a pained scream that came from the balcony. A scream that came from Grime. As she turned her head to look at the balcony, Sasha could see that the giant newt had grabbed Grime and held him in his hand. It looked like Grime was struggling to free one of his arms, all the while the King tightened his grip on the toad.
"Well, Ex-Captain Grime," The King said smugly, "I think all you've succeeded in doing here today is proving that I was right to find someone more competent to do your job."
"You might have a point there," Grime said as a grin came upon his face that did not match with his words. "But…"
A pink glow could be seen between Andrias's fingers, a glow that Sasha recognized as being the jet engine attached to Barrel's hammer. As Grime once again moved his armt o struggle free, he did not have to struggle much. The jet-powered hammer dislodged one of Andrais's fingers, just enough for Grime's arm that was holding the hammer to get free, but that was all Grime needed. The hammer swung through the air, its jet engine at full power, aiming for the king's head. The look on Andrias's face told the world that he was too shocked to react, and so he did not attempt to block or dodge the blow as the hammer smashed into the side of his head, with enough force that Grime lost his grip on the weapon and it bounced off the King's head and onto the balcony floor. Even from where she was in the throne room, Sasha could hear what sounded like a part of the King's skull cracking from the impact.
"Counterpoint," Grime said, his own smugness on display, "I'm competent enough to take you down!"
Perhaps Andrias got Grime's comeback, but with the way that he was holding his head and stumbling around, she doubted he even realized where he was right now, let alone what anyone was saying. At seeing the now likely brain-damaged King, and how everyone else in the room could only stare at the sorry state he was now in, Sasha once more felt confident about their chances of winning.
And then she realized something: the King was stumbling towards the balcony's edge. And despite his clear concussion, his grip on Grime hadn't loosened at all. She saw a panicked look replace Grime's Victorius smile as he likely had the same realization.
"Grime!" Sasha yelled as she saw the toad struggling to pry open the giant hand that held him. She took a step forward, and then another, but she knew that she was much too far away to be able to do anything. The giant that held Grime stumbled closer to the edge, until he finally hit the railing, and tripped over it.
As the giant newt began falling over the ledge, the toad still gripped in his hand tried to reach back for the railing, the ledge, or something he might be able to grab a hold of. But he couldn't reach anything.
"Sasha!" Grime yelled as the fall continued, with Grime unable to grab onto anything. She didn't know why he shouted her name. Did he think she might be able to help? Did he have some last words he wanted to say but couldn't? Did he have some sort of plan to survive that he needed her for? Was he just responding to her own cry of his name?
She didn't know.
She'd never know.
The last she'd ever see of Grime, would be him falling off the balcony, gripped in Andrias's hand.
"GRIME!"
For a few seconds, all was silent, like the entire world was holding its breath.
That silence was shattered with a crash loud enough to be heard through the entire city. A crash that Sasha knew could only come from a giant body slamming onto the streets below. A fall of that height was something that no one could survive. Not Andrias, and certainly not…
…Grime's dead.
The realization hit Sasha like a ton of bricks. This was far more devastating for her than it had any right to be. He was just some toad, one that had kept her prisoner for months at that. She shouldn't feel like her entire world was crumbling down around her…but this wasn't just a toad. It was Grime, the toad who had been more of a parent to her these last few months than her parents had been in what seemed like forever.
As she fell to her knees, tears began to well up in the Blonde's eyes.
He's gone…Why? Why is he gone? He's not supposed to be gone. We're supposed to be ruling this stupid place together, that was our plan…that was my plan.
A horrible realization came across Sasha's mind.
This was my plan…he…he died following my plan. If I hadn't…he died because of me- No! No! Nonononono! This can't be happening!
Sasha's breathing grew heavier and heavier, yet it felt like she wasn't taking in any air.
It's my fau- This isn't happening! This isn't how it's supposed to go!
"Sasha?" came a voice that broke through the thoughts overwhelming Sasha's head.
She turned to look at Anne moving closer to her. The Thai girl's sword was back in its sheathe, and the fury was gone from her voice…and yet, as she approached the blond, Sasha immediately began to step back from her. If Sasha didn't know any better, she'd almost think that she was panicking.
"Sash, just, please just stop, OK?" Anne asked with what almost sounded like concern in her voice.
All that question did was make Sasha run back faster.
This isn't right! This can't be happening! This is all my faultThis can't be my fault! I can't lose! Not now! Grime can't have died for nothing! I can't have killed him for nothing!
Sasha ran towards the only thing in the room that could possibly fix this mess: The Music Box. It could take people to other worlds, so perhaps if she could just send everyone in the throne room away, maybe she could recover from this. She picked up the box, turned around, and pointed it at Anne. The brown-haired girl seemed to realize what Sasha was trying to do and flinched away as Sasha opened the box…only for nothing to happen.
No lights.
No portals.
Nothing.
Sasha's last hope was dashed.
"No. No, no, no no." Sasha whispered as she closed the box, opened it again, and kept repeating that action, constantly hoping for it to work.
The former cheerleader looked up and saw that the toads had all been restrained, those that hadn't run off anyways. Anne, Marcy, and their allies all began to move towards the last enemy in the room: her.
It can't end like this…
Sasha began fiddling with the box, trying to see if there was some hidden switch or button that would make it work. As she did, her hand rested on the pink gem. The strength gem. The gem she helped charge by getting everyone through that temple.
Strength…what a joke. I'm not strong. I'm not strong enough to protect anyone.
The image of Grime falling flashed through her mind.
I'm not strong enough to keep the people I love from dying.
Again and again, that same image.
I'm worthless. I'm useless.
It felt as though she would see that image for the rest of eternity.
I can't even keep Grime's death from meaning nothing!
As Sasha lamented her situation, and everyone else in the throne room began to close in around her, no one noticed that as Sasha's distress became more and more evident, more and more pronounced, the glow from that pink gem began to flicker.
"Sasha, please just stop this." Anne said, almost sounding like she was begging the blond to come to her senses.
"Sash please, I…I don't want to see anyone else get hurt." Marcy said, distraught evident in her voice as her eyes darted to the balcony.
"Kid, just come along quietly." Came the far more aggressive and authoritative voice of Yunan. "It's pretty clear you lost, so just cut your loses and surrender."
However, as the newt spoke, Sasha's focus shifted from the box to her.
…It's you. You ruined my plan.
Her eyes began to narrow at the newt.
If it weren't for you, we would have won!
The devastation she felt gave way to anger and fury.
If it weren't for you, Grime would still be alive!
The blonde's whole body began to shake from the rage that had taken hold of her, a rage so all-consuming that she couldn't even make out what anyone else was saying anymore.
It's your fault!
Those words continued to echo through her head, again and again, drowning out all noise in the room, and any other thoughts in her head.
It's your fault!
A pink glow consumed Sasha's irises.
It's your fault!
Once again, the pink gem on the box flickered, before a stream of pink energy came out of it and moved towards the blond.
It's your fault!
The pink glow surrounded Sasha.
Your fault!
A sensation began to take hold of her.
Your fault!
A feeling of pure power poured into her every muscle.
"Your fault!"
A feeling of pure strength.
"Your fault!"
Sasha looked at the thing that enraged her so.
"YOUR FAULT!"
She shot across forward, not jumping toward the thing but flying towards it. She grabbed it by its neck and kept flying forward until she slammed it into the wall across the room. She then turned around and threw the creature onto the ground. She thought she heard some sort of screaming in the room, but she ignored it. All she wanted to do was make that thing that angered her so much pay. Make it hurt. The only scream she wanted to hear was from that thing.
As the thing tried to get itself to its knees, Sasha flew down towards it and punched it further across the room. It landed next to some group of blurry shadows. For a moment, Sasha thought she saw a look of utter horror and on the shadow's faces, but she paid it no mind. After all, they didn't matter.
Sasha picked up the thing on the floor and then slammed it back into the floor, making a crater where it impacted and causing blood to spew from the thing. As Sasha gazed downwards at the creature she wanted to hurt, something caught her eye. A weapon, sitting unused, just outside the room. A hammer. She couldn't remember why, but she knew that the hammer was important. She knew what she wanted to do with it. She flew over to it and grabbed the hammer. She stood in place for a brief moment, staring at the hammer, and then flew back to the creature, pulling back her arms as she prepared to swing her new weapon.
"IT'S YOUR FAULT!"
Sasha once again shouted those words as she slammed the hammer into what was left of that thing and sent it flying into the wall across from her. The broken creature shattered through the wall with such force that it took half of the wall with it, stone flying everywhere as the structure was destroyed.
Sasha began to hear more screaming. She looked back at the blurred shadows. They were yelling at her. They were screaming at her. They were horrified of her. She hated that. She wanted those shadows to stop screaming, to stop looking at her like she was a monster. She wanted them to go away.
Sasha flew up into the air and then let loose a mighty roar as she flew down to the ground in front of the shadows, bringing the hammer down on the floor with all of her might. The floor began to crack. Sasha heard the shadows scream again as the floor fell out beneath them.
Sasha stood on the ground, the room silent. All the things that she hated were gone. All the things that were horrified of her were gone. She had won. She stood triumphant.
And then, she lost that feeling of strength. That feeling of power poured out of her muscles. That sensation left her as she collapsed onto the ground, the hammer falling next to her.
She let out a groan of pure exhaustion. She barely understood what had just happened. Somehow it managed to both feel like a blur in her memory and as though every detail was burned into her mind at the same time.
She looked around the throne room at the destruction she caused. Practically the entirety of the wall that held that tacky mural was gone. There were cracks in other walls and on the floor. And a giant chunk of the floor was missing, the chunk that those shadows…
A horrifying realization came over Sasha as she remembered that before those shadows were standing there…Anne and Marcy were.
Whatever that power was, it had overtaken her. It felt like all she could focus on was her rage. She could barely even remember why she was angry, or the name of the person she was angry at, that was how utterly focused on her rage she'd been. She didn't even recognize Anne anymore. Sasha used what little remained of her drained strength to bring herself to her feet and begin slowly making her way to the hole in the floor. She had to look into it. She had to see what had become of Anne and Marcy.
However, she didn't need to get to the hole to see what had happened. As she approached the hole, Sasha realized she could hear the faint flapping of bird wings. As she looked to her right, she could see through the door to the balcony that Marcy's bird was flying through the air, away from the city. Sasha could just barely make out that Anne and Marcy were both on the bird. They were alive. A feeling of relief came over Sasha that she hadn't killed them…
Sasha's head slowly turned to the left, where the wall had been all but entirely demolished. The image of Yunan's broken and half-dead body slamming into it entered her mind. Sasha fell to her knees as a sense of Nausea came over her.
I…I wasn't supposed to…no one was supposed to die.
It wasn't just Yunan that wasn't supposed to die though. Grime was gone too. This wasn't supposed to happen like this.
"M-Miss Sasha, sir?"
A shaky and scared voice broke Sasha out of her thoughts. She turned her head to see the toads that had been restrained, still sitting exactly where they were.
"Um, what should we do now?" one of the toads asked.
And what was Sasha supposed to say to that? She had no idea how the fighting outside had gone. She had no idea if continuing fighting after everything that had happened was even worth it.
What's the point? Even if we win…I lost control of this whole thing. I was supposed to lead us in this big bloodless coup, but now I'm a murderer! Now you're all fighting and dying when there wasn't supposed to be any fighting! Grime's dead, and it's all because my stupid plan failed! I screwed up! All of this is because of me! I lost control of everything, and I can't get it bac-NO!
That last word practically exploded through Sasha's mind.
I can't just let this end. I…I can still win this for them. For us!
Sasha looked towards the discarded hammer.
It…it doesn't matter that Grimes…gone. Losing people is something that happens during this sort of thing. Who cares if he was basically my Dad? What am I saying to myself, I can't really believe this, can I? Sacrifices are sad, but…they happen.
She began to approach the hammer.
And sure, maybe I've killed someone…but that's what happens in this type of thing. Even though it was never supposed to happen here and that's why I wanted this to be bloodless!
She arrived at the hammer, and stared down at it.
This… is all OK. I'll show everyone that everything's OK. I'll show myself that everything's OK! I'll show everyone just how good it is for me to be in charge! I'll show them all that this was worth it! I'll show myself that this was worth it! Because it has to be worth it!
Sasha used her little remaining strength to grab the hammer's handle and pulled it up. It didn't lift off the ground, and Sasha didn't mean it to, she merely rotated it up so that it was standing on it's head. She knew that she could lift it with tremendous effort, and she knew that she would spend a lot of time making sure that it didn't require much effort for her to lift it in the coming months.
Grime…I'm sorry that I got you killed. I really wish you were here. I wish I hadn't done any of this. I will make sure that this was all worth it.
"What do we do now?" Sasha asked, repeating the toad's question, "First, I get you all free. Then, we're going to figure out how the fighting's going. We've still got a city to conquer, remember?"
When Beatrix saw Newtopia, it was obvious to her that something had gone wrong with the plan. Even from a distance, the missing wall of the throne room was plain as day. That and the small number of plumes of smoke rising from the city were enough to tell her that the bloodless coup that Sasha had planned didn't end up being as bloodless as they'd hoped.
Still, as she and Bufo led their armies closer to the City, ready to find that a battle was still going on, or that the newts had already won the battle, she had found that her worries had been for not. She and Bufo's armies were met not by a fierce battle, or hostile newts, but by toads manning the city gates, welcoming them in with jovial cheers.
When Beatrix walked through the gates and saw notable signs of street fighting, it only confirmed to her that something had gone wrong with the plan. Still, it didn't worry her since it was clear that they had still won. Really, she saw this as a sign that whatever went wrong would be excellent material for her to use to tease her brother over in the future.
And then a toad met her and Bufo in the middle of the street, saying that the humus, or whatever that girl's species was called, had told him to meet with the two Lords and update them on what happened. Only then did she learn just how badly this had all gone.
King Andrias dying was a bit inconvenient. He was rather beloved and so it was hoped they could keep him alive to use as a hostage to try and quell any dissent. That obviously couldn't happen with him dead, but having their army march out to stamp out any resistance to the new toad regime would still accomplish the same thing. Given that his death seemed to have heavily demoralized the newts in the city and made beating them much easier, she wasn't sure that his death could even be called an inconvenience.
Grimothy's death wasn't quite so easy to brush off. Being the toad who used Barrel's Hammer brought an amount of respect and reverence that helped him to lead this rebellion in the first place and would have resulted in him being the one in charge of the new toad regime…with the Tower Lords acting as a very big check against his power of course. With him dead, they would lose the unifying symbol of their rebellion. Plus, they no longer had someone to take Andrias's place as ruler.
Still…The Tower Lords could simply rule without some sort of King being present, and with what they could offer the toads with the power they'd have by being in charge of Amphibia, they probably wouldn't need a unifying force like the hammer. But even above all of that, the biggest reason it wasn't quite so easy for her to brush off was that, despite how much she and her brother got on each other's nerves, they were still siblings. Knowing that he was dead…it was difficult for her to take in.
However, she knew that dealing with his death was something that she'd have to do later. She knew that she had to prioritize keeping their victory over everything else. And as she and Buffo walked towards the throne room to meet Sasha, being escorted there by that same messenger, keeping their victory secured was the only thing on her mind. Well, that and one other thing that the toad sent to meet them had said; 'you are to meet her in the throne room'. It was phrased like he was relaying an order to them, like Sasha had thought she was in charge. If the girl was planning to try and prop herself up as the one in charge with her brother gone…well, she just hoped the kid wouldn't be too big of a problem.
Unfortunately, that hope quickly went away when she and Buffo entered the Throne Room.
The damage to the place looked even worse now that she was inside of it, one of the walls almost completely missing and a large chunk of the floor destroyed. Most people would probably wonder why someone would even want to be in the room when it was in such bad shape. At least, they would wonder until they looked at the throne. Sitting on the clearly oversized throne was none other than Sasha herself, Barrel's hammer resting on the empty space next to her and a Music Box on the other.
"Oh great, you two are finally here." Sasha said, her tone very casual and cheerful. It was certainly not the type of greeting that Beatrix expected. She could tell how close Grimothy had gotten with the girl and so had expected that she'd be more broken up about what had happened, yet she showed no signs of that. Beatrix could easily chalk that up to Sasha putting on a fake smile to pretend that everything was fine, Beatrix herself was doing the exact same thing, but what was more worrying was how casually she greeted them. It was obvious from how the girl had essentially ordered them to meet her, her sitting on the throne, and having Barrel's Hammer with her, that she was going to be making a play to take Grime's place and rule Amphibia with the help of the toads, something that she was certainly smart enough to know that the Tower Lords would oppose. And yet…she greeted them as though she had already won whatever confrontation was about to take place.
"Hello Sasha, I must congratulate you on the success of your plan." Bufo answered, apparently less caught off guard by the girl's behaviour than Beatrix was. The Tower Lord then paused his speech, and very noticeably looked at the damage done to the room. "…though it does appear there were some complications with your plan."
"Yeah, things didn't quite go to plan," Sasha said rather dismissively, "but hey, the toad's rule Newtopia now, so we still won in the end."
"Right…"Beatrix began, "but from what we understand there were definitely more casualties than there were supposed to be. Some more important than others."
Sasha's cheerful and prideful grin turned into an angry glare in less than a second at hearing Beatrix's words.
"What exactly are you implying Beatrix?" Sasha asked, her angry tone indicating that she knew very well what Beatrix was implying.
"Well, it's just that I can't help but notice that your plan got more toads killed than we'd expected, as well as the guy who was supposed to be our main hostage…" Beatrix's eyes narrowed as she looked at the blond girl, "Oh, and it also got the guy who was supposed to be the actual leader of this whole thing killed."
It was hardly the most diplomatic thing that Beatrix could have said, especially given how close Grimothy and Sasha seemed to be…but Beatrix didn't particularly care. The girl was being ridiculously arrogant over a plan that quite clearly went off track and got Beatrix's brother killed. Right now, what Beatrix wanted to do more than anything was to remind the little humus where her place really was. And if the look of pure rage that came over Sasha's face was any indication, Beatrix was on the right track with how to deal with her. But then…then the girl's face shifts to a more neutral and stoic expression.
"For the sake of keeping the peace, I'll let that little comment slide." Sasha said, her voice taking on an authoritative tone that was just barely holding back the rage the girl seemed to be still feeling.
"What do you mean you'll "let that slide""? Beatrix asked, her eyebrow raised in suspicion.
"I mean," Sasha answered back, maintaining her authoritative tone, "that I won't have you dragged away over your little outburst against your new leader."
Beatrix let out an internal sigh. The girl was much too ambitious for her own good. Everyone in the room knew that this little confrontation was about who would be ruling Amphibia now that Andrias was overthrown, but to come right out and make the declaration that she was the one in charge…it was just asking for this whole thing to escalate into something that she could not possibly win.
I really thought she was smarter than this.
"You? Our new leader?" Buffo said, a mocking chuckle escaping his mouth. "What exactly makes you think that you can lead us?"
"Well," Sasha said, her voice returning the more casual tone from when the Tower Lords first walked in, "Last I checked, the plan was for Grime to take over since he was leading this thing and had the Hammer. But with him gone, and me being his second in command and the new person with the hammer…well, you can see where I'm going with this, right?"
"Look kid," Beatrix began to say, "the plan was that Grimothy would get to run this place since he had the hammer, but now that it's in the hands of a humus…well, it just doesn't make sense to let you rule the toads."
Sasha levelled a glare at Beatrix's defiance, but she was not going to back down.
"Beatrix is right." Bufo said, "Whatever respect you might have gotten from us and the toads under our command, they won't just decide to start listening to a human over of us, just because you have the hammer. The Tower Lords should be in charge."
A smirk came on Beatrix's face as Bufo backed her up. With both of them ready to stand up to Sasha's ridiculous idea, there was no way that the blonde would try to keep pushing for it. And yet…Beatrix couldn't see any sign on the girl's face that she was ready to back down. In fact, she didn't even seem to be particularly troubled by this. As she continued to level that glare on them, and as she began to tap her fingers on the arm of the throne, she simply seemed…annoyed at them.
"Given all that you've done, we would certainly look to have you replace that Bog guy as the South Tower Lord, so you'd still be getting to rule, just not by yourself." Beatrix hoped this little compromise would get Sasha to back down. She and Bufo may have an army that would easily outnumber however many toads were loyal to Sasha, but she also knew that they should probably avoid having some sort of civil war immediately after overthrowing the King. Besides, even if things didn't go exactly to plan, Sasha did a genuinely good job overthrowing Andrias and probably deserved something like a position as Tower Lord.
A smile appeared on Sasha's face at hearing Beatrix's offer. But…it wasn't a smile that showed satisfaction with the offer. Rather, it seemed more like it amused her. Like she thought it was funny that they were trying to offer her the position of Tower Lord.
"I think I'm going to have to pass on that." Sasha said, her smile turning into a mocking smirk, "Tower Lords just not quite good enough for me."
Beatrix's mouth fell open in shock. The sheer audacity of this girl was getting utterly ridiculous now.
"Look kid," Beatrix began, her voice showing her annoyance at Sasha's ridiculous attitude, "I don't care if you're holding the hammer, or that you came up with this plan to overthrow Andrias, you are not getting to lead us all by yourself, so stand down or else."
"Or else what?" Sasha asked, that amused smirk never leaving her face.
"Or else we'll bring the power of our armies down on you." Bufo answered. "Even if every toad that snuck into this city is loyal to you, your forces would still be outnumbered by mine or Beatrix's, let alone both of our forces combined."
"I guess that is true," Sasha said as she began to stand up from the throne, her hand gripping Barrel's Hammer, "But there's one thing you two aren't considering."
Before Beatrix or Bufo could even ask what, that thing was, Sasha gave them her answer.
An aura of pink energy began to appear around the girl, surrounding her as she began to float into the air, barrel's hammer rising with her despite its immense weight. Her eyes also turned pink as well, as did her hair, with the ponytail now resembling a trail of pink fire rather than hair.
Beatrix had no idea what she was looking at. What she was looking at should be impossible. A pang of fear began to ring through her mind as she looked at the girl, floating in the air and holding a hammer with one hand when it was heavy enough that most toads would need two hands to lift it properly. To her own shame, she actually took a step back in fear at what she saw. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that her fellow Tower Lord did the same.
The smirk adorning Sasha's face seemed only to grow more mocking at the reaction of the two Tower Lords. Seemingly in another show of strength, the girl tossed the hammer she was wielding up in the air. The hammer soared upwards with an incredible speed and tore a hole right through the ceiling of the throne room. It didn't come down.
In an instant, Sasha appeared in front of them, still floating in the air. It happened so fast that Beatrix would have thought the girl had teleported if she didn't leave a streak of pink energy behind her in the half-second it took for her to fly to them.
"Wh-what is this?" Beatrix stammered out.
"This, is what I used to cause all of this damage to the throne room." Sasha said, her voice almost casual in its tone, like this unknown power and what it could do wasn't that big of a deal to her.
"It's also what I used to turn one of Netopia's best generals into a pile of goop." Sasha continued. While her tone remained casual, there was a subtle change to it, one that turned this casual brag into a threat.
"It's also," Sasha began, her tone now changing completely from casual to threatening and she narrowed a glare at the two toads, "what I'm going to use to turn you two into a pile of goop if you don't back down."
Almost as if in response to her threat, Barrel's Hammer finally came crashing back down, making a new hold in the ceiling as it fell, heading right for Beatrix's head. The only reason that it didn't crush was that Sasha caught it as it was centimetres away from the toad's head. Beatrix felt almost frozen in terror at the situation. It didn't make sense that any of this could have happened, yet…she looked over to Bufo, who appeared to be just as terrified as her. The two Tower Lords locked eyes, and both realized that they only had one option.
That mocking smirk returned to Sasha's face as the two toads both bent down on one knee.
"I…guess we don't have much of a choice but to admit that you win. You get to be in charge." Beatrix said, shame in her voice.
"Perfect." The girl said as she floated back to what was now her throne, a serious look coming over her face. "Now then, the first thing we need to do is make sure that your troops know that I'm in charge, and then spread the word to Aldo and Bog's Towers. You two and Aldo will keep your position as Tower Lords, but I'm going to need to look into if I want Bog to stay as the South Tower Lord. But that can be saved for a later time, right now we need to get Newtopia's citizens organized and round up anyone who worked for Andrias or shows signs of resisting us. We've got most of the army and guards that were stationed here locked up, but there are still reports of pockets of resistance that need cleaning up. Once we've got that done, we'll need to start reaching out to the other cities, towns and villages and making sure they all know that they answer to me now if they know what's good for them."
"We'll…we'll get right on that Sasha." Beatrix said, letting out a sigh at the shame of taking orders from this upstart humus.
"Good." Sasha said in response, that smirk once again appearing on her face. "Oh, and from now on, call me Queen."
AN: Well, I hope you all enjoyed that.
I got to tell you, it was a treat to come back to this series finally, and I was so happy with how a lot of this has turned out. Writing Queen Sasha's origin was pretty fun and I do hope you all liked it.
The title for the story comes from an episode of Star Trek actually, one involving their mirror universe, which is where I got the chapter name for chapter 11 in TBAtP, so I thought it would be fitting to give a bit of a call back to that. Plus, I'm thinking that if I ever write some more stories about the Queen Sasha timeline, that I'd just use this as the place to post them instead of making them all their own separate stories.
Anyways, I was really happy to finally write that scene of Sasha first awakening her calamity powers, it was an absolute treat to write, especially when I happened on the idea of Sasha being so enraged that she doesn't even recognise the people around her as people anymore. It was a blast to write, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Or were horrified of it, I'd be fine with that reaction to.
And of course, I made sure to stuff this baby with various call-forwards and ironic statement relating to TBAtP, because how could I not, right?
Also, I do hope to get the actual sequel to TBAtP, Forging a New Tomorrow, out within the next few weeks. With my current plans, it's going to be at least 25 chapters, so you can understand why I'm taking my time to plan things out, but I hope to have the first chapter out by the end of the month.
And as always, I appreciate any feedback you guys have, and I'll see you next time.