𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 - jason grace

06. MAIA? YOU MEAN KIM POSSIBLE

IF YOU ASKED MAIA how she got her hands on the hair dye, she wouldn't know what to tell you. It was a thing she did, you see, whenever she had a major breakdown. Some people liked to punch things. Others would yell for hours. Then there were those like Maia, who would take it out on their hair.

She'd never put a scissor and mental breakdown together, though–that was a horrible mistake she would not be repeating again. Instead, she tended to dye her hair. She'd done it so often she was practically a pro. It was the reason she'd had blonde hair in the first place. And why she'd had black hair. And blue hair. And pink. And purple. The list goes on.

It wasn't her first choice–she didn't even know she owned the color, but, as she looked in the mirror, she couldn't help but admire her new look. She looked good as a ginger. Like, really good.

Maia was a pretty self conscious person. She hated the feeling of people looking at her—years of being treated like an outsider did that to you. But, right now, she felt like she wouldn't mind the stares. After hours of feeling miserable, she wanted nothing more than to feel beautiful and confident, even if she had to fake it. But, she wasn't faking it. Not completely, at least.

Maia genuinely felt pretty. Sure, her cheeks were slightly puffy from crying all night, but her hair gave her a sort of confidence boost. If fighting with Jason made her miserable, the last thing she would do was let that show. She was going to walk out of that room looking good. She just hoped the rest of her friends would agree with her.

After her fight with Jason, she'd taken to crying it out for around an hour. She'd tried sleeping after that, but her mind wouldn't stop replaying their argument. After that, she'd decided to take a look at the journals Reyna had given her. Big mistake. She'd learned of the biggest failures and terrible deaths caused by her past relatives, all because of their anger towards the gods. Some of the biggest things in Camp Jupiter history had been their fault. It was no wonder people like Octavian were so wary of Maia.

At first, Maia was invested. There were so many layers to this... whatever it was. It was genuinely interesting, finding out about her past. Sure, it was kind of depressing, learning just how much people despised her, and would continue to do unless she managed to prove everyone who ever doubted her wrong, but, she had to do it.

Then, she got to the part about Michael Varus and his little quest to Alaska. The very quest Maia and her friends had gone on, or, an attempt to it, at least. As it turns out, there was a legacy of Fortuna on that quest. She didn't finish reading after finding that out.

It's safe to say she didn't get much rest after that. And, when she did, she'd had an awful nightmare starring, you guessed it, everybody's favorite Queen Dirtface, taunting her. Telling her she'd never be loved. That she'd never fit in. She knew the worst was yet to come, but that seriously did not help with her mood.

Maia had always doubted herself. It was something that had followed her all her life, stemming from her problems at home, and eventually transforming into a constant throughout her stay at Camp Jupiter. She'd always been unlucky, but this? It was like she was cursed. Like, every time she'd reach something new, something that could be the changing point in her life, it would all go downhill. Like the universe was telling her she didn't deserve to be happy at all. Like she was a fool for even thinking that way.

Being the daughter of Fortuna made sense, in a way, because the goddess of luck didn't always bless people with good luck, and, sometimes, Maia felt like she deserved what she got. Growing up the way she did, practically alone, with little to no actual love for her father had helped shape her. It had started preparing her for everything she'd eventually face. Maia never felt truly alone, though. At least, not until Reyna and Hylla left.