It's Been a Long Time [Maeve]

Habana blinked a few times in surprise as Maeve spoke up drawing her attention to the demoness, there were quite a few changes that Maeve had undergone that took her off guard, the least of which was her power and that was most certainly a pleasant surprise. It felt good to know that the woman Habana considered just as much a rival as a friend was still reasonably close to her in terms of power despite her pregnancy.

What really surprised Habana was all the physical changes her friend had undergone, her scales were now a bright gold that reminded Habana just a bit of the gold of a super saiyan. Perhaps that meant that Maeve was just holding back for the moment and actually possessed power enough for a proper fight? Then of course there were the arms, Maeve now, for some reason, had six arms. She’d seen the other hybrid Kaula perform a technique to do such a thing but by all indications this was normal for Maeve now considering her relaxed state.

“I hope dropping in unannounced isn’t a problem” Habana said with a grin as Maeve remarked about her arrival being a startling sight though by all indications Maeve did not seem bothered “I do my best to push myself, though even with a child you’ve certainly not been slacking off Maeve. I wouldn't expect anything less from you though.” Habana said with a grin, if this was how strong Maeve had gotten while restrained by pregnancy she could hardly imagine how strong the demoness would be otherwise, almost certainly they would be far closer to an even base level.

At Maeve’s behest Habana would follow her inside briefly taking a few moments as they walked to look over the strange building they were entering. “What IS this place Maeve. My ship had a hard time actually picking it up, it took me actively searching out your power to even get me here.”

“It’s just as much my fault, I have a scouter and a few ships at my disposal more than capable of making a call to Earth… things have just likewise been moving a bit fast for me as well.” and certainly in INCREDIBLY unexpected ways such as Zucc deciding to proclaim that she would be stepping down and proclaimed Habana Queen. Without any call ahead of time. Of course, Habana had taken up the responsibility without paying it much mind.

Assuming constantly internalized panic relieved only by the distraction of punching some combination of Jala, Mayze, Raca, and Shemha in the training facility.

Technically speaking she had not properly taken the throne yet, it was perhaps that fact alone that kept the panic that definitely did not exist from boiling over. It was in some ways less real that she would have the whole Empire on her shoulders if she had not yet returned him and made it official.

Her trip to Earth was definitely not a means of delaying it by doing a couple of things that she’d wanted to do but hadn’t had time beforehand. She simply wanted to offer her friend and a few others a chance to join her on Vegeta for the event and as well discuss some of her future plans.

The strange temple-type building they had entered was apparently the entrance to Maeve’s home, once they delved deeper into it quickly revealed something that more readily resembled a true home. It reminded her just a bit of her Mother’s home back on Vegeta at least in terms of how it ‘felt’ it felt like a real home, the rooms Habana had commandeered back in the Palace had started to feel a bit like that but it still paled in comparison to her mother’s house.

“Oh is that the little one’s name?” Habana inquired though unless Maeve had some sort of pet there was really only one answer to the question. With Maeve retrieving the child Habana took a few moments to idly stroll around the room briefly looking it over, her eyes briefly lingering on the armor from their first battle, impressively repaired and put on display. Habana wished now that she had started wearing armor back then as well, even if Saiyan armor was a bit tougher to repair having even the tattered remnants would have been nice.

Habana took note as she looked around that while there was quite a lot of what Habana assumed to be Maeve’s belongings there were some things that seemed… off as if Maeve and her child were not alone here. The most curious were the gaming devices and games, it seemed odd that someone with as much difficulty in dealing with technology would have what appeared to be a modern earth gaming device, perhaps an older more simple one but not something like this.

Whatever confusion and concern Habana had over how things were set up in the apartment was quickly pushed to the side as Maeve returned holding her half-asleep child, Habana made her way over to them quickly and a wide grin spread across her face as Maeve pulled back the blanket to reveal the infant.

It took a few moments before it registered with Habana that Ember lacked the draconic features of her mother, in fact it was mostly just the hair that pointed towards Ember being Maeve’s, even if Ember lacked much of Maeve physical characteristics Habana had to assume this was something either normal to a union between a human and a demon or that the little one would simply grow into those changes.

Questioning it would likewise be rather silly as if anyone was to be certain this child was Maeve’s it was Maeve. “Well since she’s only half I’d wager she won’t get quite as large as them, might be big for a human but that’ll just make her unique” Habana said not quite taking her attention off the young hybrid.

“I’d love to” Habana said immediately as Maeve offered her a chance to hold the little one, she took the young hybrid from Maeve without much difficulty “I used to watch my younger cousins pretty often when I was young. She’d quite a lot easier to handle compared to a Saiyan infant” Habana said with a grin as she adjusted Ember in her arms so both of them would be comfortable.

“I actually started wearing my hair like this because of how grabby they were”

Habana then realized she’d missed something when Maeve had been talking “Wait, did you say Bing said that it was because she was a hybrid? Is he alive again?” Habana asked only somewhat surprised by the idea, she knew that death was not a guaranteed end and Bing more than had the power to guarantee that, but instead she was more interested in if Maeve had ever figured out the situation with the maybe-a-robot Bing she had seen.

Habana chuckled as Maeve explained that she had similar issues to those that had required Habana’s change in hairstyle. With any luck for the new mother her child would be a bit less aggressive compared to the average saiyan child, though from what Habana knew her own human blood had done nothing to make a difference as an infant and while Habana knew little about Demons what little she DID know did not paint it as likely that a demon child would be any less like a saiyan one.

Habana froze as Maeve finally answered her question on Bing, she had expected something along the lines of ‘oh yeah hes been back for a little bit now’ and with any hope some indication that he would not necessarily hold ill will toward her for the part she had played in the events leading to his death.

Instead she received an answer that made exactly zero sense. Bing HAD died, she’d felt it and even watched from afar. Perhaps Bing was less inclined to speak of the fact that it was possible to come back from the afterlife and had made up a story of barely surviving?

Then Maeve mentioned that Zucceta HAD killed Bing which only caused MORE confusion, how could Zucceta have killed Bing but -

And then Maeve clarified and Habana froze as she explained it. So the Bing she had mentioned earlier, the cyborg that had briefly appeared on the Lookout had been the real Bing, revived and made a cyborg by Zucceta.

Every part of Habana was trying to rationalize a way around this, as far as Maeve had explained there wasn’t necessarily any indication that it had been Zucceta, whoever really did it could have made him believe it was Zucceta perhaps. Zucc had taken a trophy of war before, the head of Wyntre had been a fixture of the throne room for quite some time but it felt unlikely she’d go THIS far for a trophy.

‘She used him as a tool, to kill our friends’

Habana flinched a bit at that as she remembered what now made sense as perhaps one such event, Reikiko and Kaula’s arrival on Vegeta and the subsequent battle. The undetectable power that had taken down Reikiko could really ONLY be a mechanical Bing, he was one of the few beings that existed that could have and WOULD have done so.

And in understanding that Habana came to the awful realization, even if Zucceta HADN'T done it personally she at the very least knew about it, she’d fought alongside him against them while Habana had been training the others.

“Zucc.. what have you done” Habana muttered to herself, a moment after she said it a crushing realization came to her, THIS had been what she’d foreseen, this was what she’d spent so long trying to avoid. Habana looked entirely at a loss for words, were it not for Ember Habana wasn’t entirely certain she’d have kept herself from moving away from here as quickly as physically possible.

Habana very gladly released Ember back into Maeve’s arms, not having to worry about agitating the surprisingly powerful infant would do a whole lot to help settle her own emotions. Surprisingly as Maeve began singing that too managed to calm Habana a bit just as it did with Ember.

Habana hadn’t expected her friend to be quite so good at singing. It was a pleasant song even if entirely unfamiliar to Habana, now with Ember soothed and sleeping in Maeve’s arms Habana was worried where exactly the conversation would go next.

Habana flinched involuntarily at Maeve’s first comment “I don’t exactly know much of what Zucc has done to try and repair what she has done, but regardless of my feelings I do think you have every right to be angry. I can’t imagine being in your position, even less can I imagine forgiving from that position. I think even just making the effort shows how strong you are, whether or not your anger or willingness to look past it effects your quality as a god” Habana shrugged

“I don't know, Vegeta doesn’t have a patron like you are for Earth. But I’d say we’d be lucky to have a patron that’s even half of what you are”

Habana let out a sigh as it seemed that thankfully she was not in for any more particularly large twists and upheavals in the conversation which would hopefully mean they could veer back into anything resembling a lighter conversation again, though it did feel a bit odd as Maeve listed off the moments that Habana had been there for her, she hadn’t particularly realized she’d made much of an impact short of being a friend and rival to her and it was strangely pleasant hearing how much it meant to her.

“No problem, while I might have a few more now than I’m used to you were, despite our odd start, one of the few friends I had after the invasion. Which, all things considered, the fact we were friends after that remains amusingly strange” Habana said with a grin as Maeve held her hands, trying very quickly to push past mention of friends in relation to the invasion and the anger associated with it and instead focusing on Maeve.

“This has certainly been a bit more serious of a visit than I expected,” Habana said with a laugh to try and show that she didn’t seem to hold anything against Maeve for how things had ended up playing out.