The hivemind is conquering for me?

Gabrielle jumped in surprise at being called out to, her mind was elsewhere. Her own thoughts were put to the side however as she turned around and smiled lovingly at Hailey. "Hello girlie, come give me a hug." She said with a motherly love in her tone.

Hailey stared at the woman in front of her for a moment, her heart aflutter with emotions. Hailey took in Gabrielle's unchanged features like she was seeing them for the first time.

Gabrielle stood where she was with a graceful, yet powerful presence. With her black body armour, you could tell from a glance that she was a serious threat. Despite her dangerous presence, Gabrielle had a delicate and refined appearance that was a stark contrast to her strength.

She had piercing purple eyes that made you uncomfortable if she looked at you with hostility and straight eyebrows. She had a thin, straight nose and heart shaped lips. with her sharp jawline and high cheekbones, Gabrielle took casual beauty to another level and looked the spitting image of a warrior queen from the books Hailey would read as a child.

Taking in Gabrielle's appearance, Hailey's excitement built up to the point she could no longer contain herself. Dropping the envelope from under her armpit, Hailey ran and jumped into Gabrielle's embrace, wrapping her legs around the woman and she hugged her tightly.

" What are you doing here!?! I have missed you soo~ much Gabby! Where were you last week? I went home expecting you to be there!" Gabrielle smiled warmly and brought Hailey into a tight hug, stroking the princess' hair in a comforting way as she did so.

"I was fighting the swarm and received serious injuries so I am on medical leave. I was supposed to come back to Olympus right away, but since I knew you went back to the snake den, I thought you might need to see me first." Gabrielle said calmly.

Gabrielle was in nature unstable, but around Hailey, she mellowed out considerably and acted somewhat normal.

Hailey, hearing that her parental figure was injured tensed up for a moment before immediately getting off her. "Oh, I am so sorry Gabby! Did I hurt you?" Gabrielle nodded her head. "Yes, but it is fine. Come, let us have a drink and catch up." She said as she walked over to the couch where a medley of drinks were already waiting for the two of them.

Hailey had already been up quite a while, but she was no stranger to lack of sleep, besides, simply being in Gabrielle's presence invigorated her. "Sure, I could do with a drink. Or seven."

…

"What!" Hailey yelled at the top of her lungs. "The fuck do you mean it looked like a human!" Gabrielle shook her head. "No, it looked human-like. It was a perversion of the human form. It was six meters tall and had eyes all over its head and sharp needle-like teeth in its mouth."

Gabrielle paused for a moment, noticing Hailey trying to picture the monstrosity Shaking her head, not liking what she envisioned, she asked. "How did you manage to beat such a powerful creature that nullified your ability?"

"Barely." Gabrielle replied. " Every single one of us was injured to the brink of death. Beta 8 was so injured that he has been retired from the report I got from Alpha 2. Honestly, I should not be here talking to you today. The creature had me pinned to the ground and I was helpless. It even spoke to me which made my blood run cold."

"It... Spoke to you?" Hailey asked in befuddlement. "What did it say?" Gabrielle went silent for a moment. Hailey does not know about how unstable she actually is. She did not want Hailey, who she considered a daughter, to think less of her.

"It was probably a hallucination due to my injury if I am being honest darling. Forget I said anything. I decapitated the creature, that is all that matters." Gabrielle said, causing a silence to take hold of the room for a moment.

Desperately wanting to change the subject to something less emotionally draining, Gabrielle smirked and poked Hailey's shoulder playfully. "Enough about Orolo, tell me Hailey, who is your new boyfriend? I saw you hugging down in the landing zone?" Hailey spat out her drink in surprise and began coughing as Gabrielle continued. "I have to say, even my heart started to flutter rapidly as I gazed upon him. I felt a desire to go down and join the hug and it was so strong that I paralyzed myself temporarily with indecision."

After finishing her coughing fit, Hailey defended herself. "Apollo is not my boyfriend! He is someone I am close to!" Gabrielle saw through Hailey's emotions like a knife through butter and asked. "Is he the reason you went back home Hailey? Was he at Queen Elaine's party?" Explore more at My Virtual Library Empire

Hailey did not respond, but Gabrielle smiled having gotten her answer. "Soo, tell me about him." Gabrielle said as she sat comfortably on the couch. Hailey seemed reluctant at first. She may have had no scruples about talking with her aunt about such matters, but Gabrielle had a closer bond to her and she felt embarrassed talking about boys with her.

In the end, after Gabrielle's not so inconspicuous stare, Hailey smiled and turned to Gabrielle. "Ok, so his Name is Apollo. He is an Archon and he is amazing!" Hailey began spouting off information about Apollo like she was a fangirl reading off a fandom page.

With the amount of information she had on him on her computer, she could actually start a page, but that's besides the point. She began telling Gabrielle about their first meeting and how he kissed her hand. About Apollo's mercenary work, about how she danced a Carcer with him, which made Gabrielle shocked. She even told Gabrielle about his Psionic decay and asked her.

"Have you ever heard anything like that before? You are miles above me in strength, have you ever had anything like that happen to you?" Gabrielle thought to herself for a moment before she replied. "When my energy output goes through the roof, I create these tendrils of Psionic energy out of my back that seep out any energy my body cannot use into my nullification zone. I suppose if I kept that energy inside of me, I could Psionically decay. Though that sounds incredibly painful. Your friend is lucky he knows how to treat himself as I would not even know where to begin."

Gabrielle then picked up her glass of wine and took a sip before asking. "Oh, by the way, you mentioned your future husband was an Archon, what planet does he rule?" Hailey tapped the side of her head as she recalled something."

"Oh that's right! I have been meaning to ask you this for months and was going to ask you at the party last week, but you were not there. What Planet did you serve on when the swarm attacked you?"

Gabrielle went uncomfortably silent and stared off into the distance, making Hailey feel uneasy. "Why." She replied, not as a question, but as a statement that needed an answer. Hailey gulped nervously, she had only witnessed Gabrielle like this a few times and it freaks her out every time as she is usually so warm and loving.

"Um, well, you see. Apollo is an Archon via Inheritance law from what I have found out being around him. Apparently he and his adoptive sister were the last survivors on a planet called Apollo-minor and I was not sure if that was the planet you were on or if it had a similar name like Apollonia-minor."

Gabrielle gasped, shivered and began to shed tears all at once. "Do-um..." She tried to compose herself to prevent herself from being misled. The odds were slim, she needed proof.

"Do you happen to have a picture of this Apollo?" Gabrielle's hands began shaking at the possibility of what was happening. There were no other children on Apollo-minor when the swarm descended after all, only she was dumb enough to get pregnant in the outer rim while deployed. "No I-" Hailey started, before pausing as she turned to an envelope on the floor.

Standing up, she walked over and picked the envelope up before retrieving the picture on the top, it was the most appropriate after all. Hailey then walked over and handed the picture over to Gabrielle.

It was a simple picture of Apollo wearing a white shirt and a black tie wearing his favourite jacket. It took one glance at the picture and Gabrielle began wailing a cry of pure joy and relief.

Hailey ran over and began to comfort Gabrielle with a hug and stroked her back. Gabrielle collapsed into Hailey and continued wailing as she looked at the picture. He did not look like her nor her ex hunter, he was too handsome to take after that pile of shit.

But her instincts screamed at her, just like they screamed a while ago when she suddenly knew her baby was alive. The man in the picture she was holding tightly in her hands, there was no doubt about it. Holding back her tears for a moment, she stared directly at the picture and rubbed her hands across it before she whispered.

"My Son."