Even with cancelled plans, Maze had still been out late, seeing no reason to let a perfectly good evening go to waste. It had been well after sunrise before she'd made it back home and crawled into bed, and she'd intended on sleeping well past eleven, but apparently the universe had other plans.
Her namesake sat up alert at the foot of her bed, and then barked, not in warning but Maze reacted as if she had anyway. The dog had bounded out of the room, as Maze dressed quickly and armed herself, slowly making her way toward the main throne room of Pandemonium, blade in each hand and more at the ready.
She stopped when she saw Sabrina, quickly sheathing her knives and crossing her arms, observing as Mazikeen the hound had found her first and was lapping up attention.
"Sabrina," she said, both in disappointment and relief. This was technically the teenager's place, she had every right to be there. Though Maze couldn't promise that showing up at random wouldn't keep her from walking into something she probably didn't want to see.
"What brings you here?"
Sabrina ran her hands through Maze’s fur, giving her the same greeting she’d given the other two hounds when she’d arrived. Salem was unimpressed from where he sat perched on the throne, staring the hound down while the fire salamander scurried around, wanting his turn at cuddles as well. She let the tiny creature crawl up her arm and settle on her shoulder, ignoring Salem’s indignant wine at that. It was his spot.
Why was she there?
To look for any further demons that were trapped in odd places--no doubt as some brand of punishment from the Dark Lord or Lilith. But her nightmare had affected Sabrina more than she was willing to admit. Seeing the others had as well, leaving behind Roz so she could keep searching for Dan had left her feeling awful, and she wouldn’t blame her friend if she decided to hold that against her for a while.
“Puppy cuddles.”
"The dogs run with you all the time," Maze said, arms still crossed. Which she knew, because she'd been curious each time the hounds had run off so one time she went to see why. "But whatever, it's your business as to why you're creeping around this place you seem to hate."
Sabrina wasn't necessarily creeping, but Maze hadn't been expecting company, either. "If you're not going to tell me why you're really here, I'm going to go back to bed. Just maybe a warning next time, if you're going to let me keep staying here? Lucifer would be upset if I accidentally killed you."
Sabrina shrugged. “I resurrect.” Besides running was not at all the same as cuddles. Those were two very different things to do with dogs. Case in point Maze’s namesake rolling onto its belly for some much needed belly rubs. Plus she had no intention of going to where the bedrooms were in this place. The one that was meant for her would have been Sabrina Morningstars, but this version wasn’t. Plucked long before that version of herself had actually existed. Which honestly hurt her brain to try and comprehend.
“We were attacked by a sleep demon from my world. I just want to make sure there aren’t any like...trapped in paintings or something here.” Though… “I think I have an angel trapped at another place though.” She should probably see what Ambrose and Nick wanted to do about that.
"A sleep demon, huh?" Maze said, suddenly intrigued. "How'd that go?" She watched as Sabrina wrote something out on her phone. "I'll help you look." It was only fair, after all. She was getting to live in this majestic, if not still gaudy place. That would change soon enough but it would be helpful if no otherworldly demons showed up. Maze wasn't the type to share.
Sabrina looked up from her phone. “She won’t be a problem anymore.” Was that cold? Maybe, but Batibat had haunted her dad for centuries and had screwed with her family and friends. So Sabrina was okay with her rotting away into nothingness in one of Dan’s boxes.
“But yeah, thanks. That’d be helpful. This might not be the whole city but the palace is big enough on its own.”
No details then. Fine. Maze could still appreciate the ferocity in Sabrina's voice. "If you find anything, get me." She looked down at Mazikeen the dog, wordlessly telling the pup to find her. "I'd give you one of my hell-forged blades, but since I don't know exactly what you are as Queen of Hell, I don't want you accidentally hurting yourself. Besides, I only have three."
“It means I trump Lucifer with this version of it.” Which was a really hard concept to swallow. “If I want the decor to suddenly be Hello Kitty inspired it would do that.” Sabrina arched a brow as the room did just that for a second--the throne turning into a giant Hello Kitty stuffed animal and the decor an obnoxious amount of pink--before she waved her hand, letting it go back to normal.
The room really would make a nice dance floor. If it weren’t for all of the terrible memories associated with the place.
"Wait, you can redecorate this place without a chainsaw?" Maze asked, staring at Sabrina and trying to ignore the fact that the room had just looked like it had been doused in Pepto Bismol.
Sabrina shrugged. “The chainsaw method is more therapeutic.” Plus Sabrina didn’t care if the place ever looked nice. A new coat of paint wouldn’t change what it actually was or had been. Or what had happened there.
Maze shrugged, couldn't really argue with that. "Am I gonna redo this place to come home one day and find you've changed your mind?" Sure, that was selfish when there were demons to be looking for and clearly whatever unresolved issues Sabrina had with this place. But Maze was Maze.
"Stay close, alright? This place is like home to me, it's clearly not to you."
It wasn’t home to Sabrina and if she had the choice it never would be. No matter how badly the place wanted to be or continued to call out to her. “I can’t guarantee it won’t undo whatever you do to it but I won’t be the one changing it on you.”
Sabrina rose though, giving Salem a look as she set the salamander down next to him on the throne. Be nice. Her familiar simply turned over, intent on taking a nap. “But alright, let’s do this.”
"Your version of hell is the worst," Maze pointed out. "But it's better than nothing." And she wasn't ready to give it up.