"Marriage is for life, right?" Maya spoke up. She hoped her advice would make Ellen snap out of her despair and start thinking clearly. "Do you really think you can run away from the truth and still be truly happy with him?"

Ellen only wailed in response, tears pouring from her eyes. Poor Nick looked helpless.

"You're not married," she finally sniffled out with a pout, "so how can you possibly understand?!"

Maya turned her head slightly. She wasn't sure if she heard Ellen correctly, and her emotions were preventing her from hearing the young woman any further. Her brain then replayed the words in her mind.

"You're not married, so how can you possibly understand?!"

Yep. She hadn't misheard her.

Maya hadn't a clue what face she was making currently. However, the first thought that came to mind was, 'Excuse you?'

She then turned to Nick. His eyes were wide, focused on her. Her head drooped slightly.

Maya knew she had to play it cool. She had to play it classy.

The spirit medium rose from her seat.

"Nick…you talk to her," she said carefully. She took a few steps away from them as Nick gave her another helpless look.

"H-Hey! Don't dump this on me!" he cried.

Maya felt bad, but staying in this situation would only try her temper.

"I'll be outside, just…" she pressed her lips together, grasping for words. She heard Ellen calling out for Phoenix.

"Talk to your client."

She then excused herself, not giving anyone a chance to call her back. She hoped Nick wouldn't call out to her. She hoped he would be professional and deal with Bridezilla.

There were a whirlwind of doors and faces as she rushed to the outside of the detention center; then, sunlight and the smell of outdoor air. Maya took a deep breath.

'How dare she!' Maya ranted in her head. 'Here I am, trying to calm her down, and she says the most petty, immature, thoughtless-'

"Ugh!" Maya grunted aloud. She tapped her sandals on the concrete to make a loud clicking sound. Now she understood why Ema carried a bag of Snackoos at all times. A bag of the crunchy sweets would be great right now.

'She has no idea, Maya. None at all,' she thought trying to calm herself. Then, images of the past came to her mind: her sister dead on the floor of the office, spending the night in jail after being accused of that crime, being accused of another murder because her aunt wanted her dead, getting kidnapped, being possessed and thinking that she'd killed her own mother…

All these years she had to be strong throughout. She had to become the backbone of her culture; the face of her culture. Maya had to become the Master of Kurain.

'I don't regret becoming Master, it's just…'

She tried to remember what she'd said to Ellen to elicit such a response. Considering the situation, had she brought this upon herself?

"Maya! I was worried you'd left without me."

Maya turned to the voice that was no doubt Nick's. She put a smirk on her face.

"You know I wouldn't leave you unless there was food involved."

Nick rolled his eyes. A smile pulls at his worried face.

"I'm fine Nick. Just needed some fresh air," Maya assured. Her eyes moved to the passing traffic. They were both silent for a moment. Nick was no doubt running some inner dialog in his mind.

"Maya, you gave her good advice. She's just young, in love…" he explained while scratching his spikey hair.

"I know," Maya whined. "I'm really trying my best, you know, to be more mature…to be someone I'd want to look up to."

Phoenix nodded, listening.

"But in that moment…" Maya stalled. Her fists clenched. "I just wanted to punch her in the face!"

"Huh?!" Nick blurted.

"It was really, really hard not to snap at her, like I would have done in the past."

Phoenix made a goofy face.

"Doesn't stop you from doing that to me now!" he argued.

"'Cause it's you Nick. We don't have to act professional around each other," she chided, lightly slapping his arm.

"Yeah. Well…" he trailed off a thoughtful look appearing on his face. "As professional as you were back there, you know I'd rather have your help."

He wore an honest expression, and his dark eyes twinkled. Maya gave him a watery smile in return.

"Thanks, I needed to hear that."

"Anytime!"

The two started their walk away from the detention center to the car.

"Maya, you should have seen how hare-brained I was the years you weren't here," Phoenix professed.

"Oh, I can imagine," she replied with an impish grin. His eyebrow rose at her smile.

"Oh geez…what have I done," he thought aloud.

"I heard you started wearing a beanie!" she chuckled.

"It was for surveillance! I was dealing with some pretty dangerous people."

"You always wanted to pull of the 'Skater Boy' look. Didn't you Nick?"

"No."

"Kinda reminds me of a song that used to play on the radio…"

"No. I forbid you…"

"How'd it go again?"

Maya then noticed Phoenix was at least 20 steps ahead of her.

"Nick! Wait up! What happened to needing me at your side!" she shouted.

He sped up. The spirit medium rushed at him, her shoes clacking loudly against the sidewalk.

"I'll catch up eventually! Then, I'll sing it in the car!" she chirped.

Nick finally turned around with that constipated face. The one he normally had when he was about to yell,

"OBJECTION!"

Hey! Nyanora here! I deviated a bit from the source material, but are times when I feel like Maya would have a different reaction than she shows. This was one of the times where I was like, "Maya would be like...Excuse you girl!" But I digress. For anyone still keeping up with ol' inconsistent me, I love ya. Thanks for reading!

~Nyanora