Within The Dimenscape And Beyond

Chapter 24: True Loves Kiss

No One's POV:

As Tabitha pushes Lila through the beautiful caves of the crystal cavern, a sudden kick from the baby causes her to almost fall to her knees. Hunter was quick to rush to her aid, helping the Queen up back onto her feet.

"Up you go, Tabs." Hunter jokes while holding onto her for physical support. "Are you sure that you want to go through with this plan, Tabitha? There's no shame in calling this mission quits for you. I'll personally take you back to the valley if you believe that you need to go back." He lets her know with a kind smile.

The Queen shakes her head, gently taking his hand off of her shoulder, and continues to walk down the cavern. "No thanks, Hunter, but thanks for your concern. I need to do this. It'll make me feel better than just standing around doing nothing like I did in prison." She admits with a sigh, grunting whilst stepping over a familiar crystal jutting out of the ground, looking up to see that Lila was ahead of them.

Perillia floats over to her friends, ahead of the Queen and the captain, Marinette and Ochaco quickly racing over to catch up. Both of them in their hero outfits for the special mission, although Marinette's ladybug form was practically how she normally looked nowadays, and Ochaco updated her outfit a bit more since the last time she wore it. Blasters were both attached to her wrists and a full-on retractable helmet became part of her hero suit.

"Hey, wait up missy!" Marinette calls out to the so-called ex-villain with a distrusting tone in her voice. "Don't go too far."

Lila looks back to the ladybug themed hero, raising an irritated eyebrow before turning around and proceeding to walk, this time with a slower pace in order to not be ordered around again. She hadn't spoken to them at all during the time she's been with them, other than explaining her reason for doing so which everyone definitely didn't believe. The wanted criminal's only use so far was showing them the way to Noah's home, and not making her usual threats towards them. But overall, it felt unnatural to them. Especially Tabitha.

"Let's try to thin the ice here." Ochaco suggests, happily skipping alongside her companions. "What are you going to name the baby, Tabbi? Any ideas yet?"

Tabitha scoffs lightly at her joyful questions about her future child. "Not yet Uraraka. I haven't really had the time or thought to come up with names for them." She admits with a slight shrug of her shoulders while walking. "Too much drama I guess."

"That's fair." Hunter says as he strolls right next to her. "I know that when Artemis was born, Varin took the chance to choose the name you offered us. You do have a knack for naming things, y'know."

"Do you know the gender yet?" Marinette asks curiously from the front of their group huddle. Every once and a while she would over to check on her nemesis to see if she was doing anything suspicious. "Boy or girl?"

Tabitha shrugs once more. "I don't know officially but my gut is telling me that it's a girl. I kinda hope they are with there being so many boys in the family." The Queen admits merrily. "She also feels pretty light so it should be an easy for her to slip out, I hope."

A small snicker comes from Lila after mentioning the infant entering the world.

"Find something funny, Lila?" Perillia growls from behind the girl. She towered over her with lavender eyes glowing with a calm ferocity that could become a blaze at any moment.

Lila shakes her head as she smiles smugly. "Oh nothing. Just the thought of dear Tabitha having an easy operation sounds silly to me. From what I heard, each and every kid you had gave you a hard time. Even Dollop." The brunette smirks in a mischievous manner. "Don't even get me started with the twins. I heard you screamed bloody murder through the entire operation."