becoming ● reyna ramirez arellano

ten: the forgiven

Maia didn't know it was possible for her to be so annoyed by someone she loved so much.

"You are being naive, Little One." Zoë was glowing in her dream state, a shine of golden-white that emulated the stars from which she came. "I hate to see you fret."

"Zoë," Maia said warningly. "You're doing that thing where you treat me like a child again."

Introducing Zoë Nightshade, Maia's former mentor. Frustratingly perceptive and with nothing to do except apparently meddle in Maia's life. It had been a year since Zoë last walked into her dreams. Maia sighed, relief coursing. Oh, how she'd missed her.

But for now, she remained pursed lips and mouth tight. "I am sorry," she said. "But I remain standing by what I said."

"What about in particular?" Maia wringed her hands together in front of her. "Because if you're here to lecture me about him, I told you I'm over E-"

"No," Zoë interrupted, kindly not allowing her to speak his name into existence. "But the two...Reyna and Nico. I foresee this quest ending poorly if you do not confront them."

"I'm not confronting Reyna," Maia said stubbornly, like, well, a child. "She looks like she might stab me if I tried."

"Nico then. You are friends, are you not?"

"W-we were," Maia stuttered, though in all honesty, she hadn't thought about Nico half as much as Reyna. Perhaps that was the issue. "I'm not quite sure anymore."

"Maia." Zoë touched her shoulder. She felt like a wisp of wind, maybe something less. Oh god, Maia couldn't do this again. Every time Zoë left she woke up with tears in her eyes. The dead huntress still wore the silver circlet in her brown hair. Everything about this ached deep in bones, but she wouldn't trade it for the world.

"It is time you grew into the woman I met all those 70 years ago." Her hand moved to her cheek. It felt like nothing. "You do not have time to waste, Little One. Heed my advice. You will achieve nothing without doing."

Maia nodded. She was right, of course, but Maia had never been the type for confrontation. It made her blood pressure rise and she could never fight without crying, which was extremely embarrassing.

"Zo," she started, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. "When...When I die, will I see you again?"

"No," the huntress admitted. "I belong to the stars, not Hades. As much as I hate to leave you, our separation is imminent."

Wonderful.

And then, she woke with tears in her eyes.

    Maia plucked a bagel (with cream cheese of course – her dad always argued that it was sinful to eat a bagel without it, though she suspected the creator of the bagel thought differently) from the kitchen before heading up the stairs.

Will appeared behind her, blearly rubbing sleep from his eyes and wincing when a foghorn sounded for the third time that morning. Maia took one look at her coffee and decided her friend needed it more than she did.

"Why have we stopped?" She asked, seeing the rest of her crew looking at something over the railing. Despite her dream, she very adamantly did not make eye-contact with either Reyna or Nico.

Leo turned to grin at her and then she realized what was happening. She gasped, nearly dropping her breakfast as she rushed forward. The view was breathtaking. She clutched Jason's arm in excitement.

It was nothing like she had ever seen, and she had travelled from the Grand Canyon to Niagara Falls but the Medditeranean was like a whole other planet. Lush and green like she was seeing everything in HD (a concept Will introduced her to a couple of years ago).