A barrier made of aura - of golden yellow aura. A cave that withstands any attack from the inside and out including the ones made from an aura. And a deathbed as Maia attacked Maddox, one punch after the other.
Her fist never relented as she curled them up and sent them towards Maddox. She hadn't cared if Maddox was defending them with his aura sword. She couldn't care even if the aura was hot to the touch and it burnt her. She didn't care even as she felt the skin on her knuckles regenerate so it wouldn't burn.
She didn't have time to care. Because she had just watched Maddox pierce a sword towards Damian's body.
Watched as Damian fell to the ground before Maddox attacked her once more. The tears that couldn't fall from her eyes earlier were now a stream that blurries her eyesight as she punched and kicked Maddox.
She didn't have time for this. She needed to tend to Damian. To try and heal him up but Maddox wasn't going to let her.
"So you know how to control your aura too. I knew Mom had taught you and you still killed her"
Maia wanted to scream at him, to tell him that he was wrong. That Artemis hadn't taught her a damn thing. But her mouth wouldn't move. Not when Damian was dying almost a foot away from her.
"Kuya Maddox, please let Ate go. Kuya Damian is dying"
But Maddox only gave a chuckle.
"I couldn't care less if he dies. It's not like she could heal him. For all I know, he should die too so that this little shit here can feel what it's like to lose someone dear to her"
And that was all Maia needed to finally burst out. Her whole body quickly being coated by her own aura as she threw another punch at Maddox.
"To feel what it's like to lose someone!!!?"
She screamed as she threw another punch.
"I LOST MY TEENAGE YEARS! I LOST MY MEMORIES! I LOST MY VERY SOUL INSIDE THE ARENA WHEN MOM SENT ME THERE!"
She shouted almost enough to throw everybody off guard including Maddox.
"I LOST MY LIFE IN THAT ARENA TO APPEASE MOM FROM HER VERY SCHEME!! SHE DESIGNED FOR ME TO DIE!!"
Maddox was going to say something, to counter her and tell her she was lying but in that split moment Maia had overpowered him. Her kick in his stomach made him double over before Maia sent a punch in his face knocking him off balance.
He was on the ground now being throttled by Maia as she positioned herself on top pinning his left arm with her feet and his right arm in her hands.
"I LOST MY ESSENCE AS A PERSON AND MY WHOLE LIFE FOR A YEAR WHEN THE GOVERNMENT TOOK ME IN, EXPERIMENTED ON ME AND TURNED ME INTO A MUTANT YOU SO DESPISED AND MOM KNEW ALL OF THAT!!! SHE KNEW I WAS ALIVE AND YET SHE MADE EVERYONE BELIEVE THAT I WAS DEAD!! SHE LET THE GOVERNMENT TURN ME INTO A MUTANT JUST SO I COULD BE HER SPY ON THE INSIDE!!"
"LIES!! YOU'RE LYING"
Maddox shouted back, no longer resisting Maia's strength as his own tears betrayed him.
"I ALMOST KILLED MAKI!! I LOST MY SOUL AND I ALMOST KILLED MAKI AND MOM JUST WATCHED IT!! I Lost Machai"
Maia's sob escaped as she uttered the last words.
"I lost Machai, I lost my twin sister and she would never come back forever"
Damian's wheezing cut through them which made Maia look at him frantically. His eyes were shut close and Maddin's hands were putting pressure on his wound but he was still breathing.
Maia slowly stood up but it only took her a step before she said again.
"I lost my mom too."
Maddox's gaze faltered as he stared at Maia's back.
"I lost the mom who whispered sweet nothings to me every night and hugged me whenever she got the chance to. I lost mom the day I learned about her betrayal. Because she never wanted her daughter. She never wanted me. What she wanted was the indisposable soldier she made out of me."
No one uttered a single word, not even Maddox who slowly sat up.
"And her last words?"
Maia let out a painful chuckle as she threw a glance at Maddox.
"The Zareal project was successful and her oversight? Was that she only thought of me as a vessel"
It was finally then that Maddox's own tears betrayed him as they slipped from his eyes and into his hands that now had marks alike to that of a scorched skin. Because somehow he felt like Maia was telling him the truth.
Maia bent down and knelt towards Damian, taking his upper body and laying it onto her lap before her very own hands moved towards the injury.
"Ate…"
Maki started but Maia already knew what he was gonna say. It might be impossible but she was not letting go of Damian.
"I won't let him die. I'm not losing him again"
They had made a promise to never lose each other again and so she's not gonna let him back out of it.
Her fingers faltered as she pressed them onto his wound. She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to his before she concentrated on Damian.
On his skin, his muscles, his blood and like how she had done it to herself, she did the same for him. She imagined the muscles, nerves and skin stitching itself together. She wielded her gift and not a moment later Damian's very wound was glowing with golden yellow.
"Mom didn't teach her"
Maddox glanced at Magnus who was now standing beside him staring at Maia.
"What?"
Magnus returned the gaze towards Maddox and extended a hand to him.
"Mom didn't teach Maia how to wield aura. Mom killed Maia so Machai can resurface but Machai didn't want to so instead she taught Maia how to wield her aura. That's what Maki told me"
"Mom killed her?"
Maddox muttered before his gaze landed back towards Maia.
To Maia…
…and Damian whose eyes were now wide open with shock as Maia's own tears dropped to his face and her quiet sobs became full blown wails.