Zephyr: A Young Justice OC fanfiction

Chapter 54: Maia

5 months later

I send an air-slice attack at Maia, who deflects it with a air-shield before pushing the shield out and away from her. I shove the attack away and go for a combat attack, flipping forward and aiming a kick at her but she defects by pulling out her dual daggers and putting them side-by-side, in front of her so they catch my leg before throwing it back and putting me off-balance.

I catch my footing and step away, smiling. The test was over: she was ready.

"You've been practicing." I complimented. "You had trouble shielding with your daggers last week."

"Black Canary helped me with that on a day where everyone was at school/work." She explained and I nodded.

"Well, I think you're ready to go on missions now." I smiled and Maia's face changed into one of pure thrill.

"You really think so?" She asked excitedly and I laughed.

"Your thrirteenth birthday in next week, so once you're officially the right age: you can go for it. But I am going to ask that you stay to covert missions-even though those never go well-and go with large squads." I explained and Maia smiled even wider before running to me and engulfing me in a hug.

"Thank you, thanks you, thanks you!" She cried and I smiled before hugging her back, her head reaching just under my chin.

Over the past few months, Maia's been an amazing protege. She takes my advice, trains hard, and has progressed at a speed that made me feel inferior; since I took a full year to get a solid hold on my powers and learn enough to go on mission, while she only took five months.

More and more, I've also seen her and her personality grow with her training. The shy, innocent girl that I helped was beginning to fade away and was being replaced by a much more outspoken and confident young girl. Whether that was puberty, inner strength that came with training, or just too much time around Zatanna, Rocket and Artemis; I wasn't sure, but I was sure that-with my help-Maia was growing, and that made me very proud.

But the thing was: she wasn't the only one benefiting from this. Maia had begun to be like a little sister to me, and I think-unintentionally-she's made me a more confident person. People keep saying that I'm a great teacher, and that's made me feel awesome because I was beginning to feel like dancing and crime-fighting were the only things I was good at.

She's also helped me feel like I was really an adult. Taking her on as a protege has helped me mature a lot, so much so that I was finally able to build up to courage to move out of Dad's apartment and into a small flat that I'm renting out above the dance studio.

"How about you change and then we go get some food?" I ask. "We can go to that pizza place you like.

"Do you promise not to cringe when I order meat-lovers?" She asked, eyebrow raised.

"I don't cringe...intentionally." I muttered, rubbing my neck and Maia laughed before pulling off her belt, which looped around her while also having a built-in thigh holster. Her black, long-sleeved unitard fit great on her and with her combat boots she really looked like a real super hero. She's been asking if she can wear a blindfold for dramatic effect, but I decided to hold back on that.

Maia hummed sarcastically. "Whatever you say Lina." She said laughing.