Cora-Maiden in Greek

Cora loved running through the forest. Now, she wasn't running away from anyone, she was running to someone. Her long blond curls got tangled in a tree branch and she's reminded again of her Lady's wishes.

"If you kept back your hair Cora, it wouldn't be filled with twigs and leaves."

True, but she's only a demigod, who has never been claimed or seen the camp. Her Lady says there are men at the camp, so the two of them don't go there. It's been the cause of several tears falling from her grey eyes, but she sucks it up. If her Lady doesn't wish to go, why pester and make her feel guilty for something she still won't do.

After all, her Lady had done so much for her. Cora loved hearing her tell the story of where she found her.

"You were but a babe in a basket floating down a raging river. You kept your mouth closed so water would get into your system. I got you out of there and took you in after that. There was a brief message carved in wood stating "cursed daughter of cora" but I took that as an unmarried maiden, or should have been maiden. You proved me wrong with your talent for knives and the bow at three. I knew you had to be a half blood Cora."

"So why name me Cora?"

"Because you only responded to Cora."

She stops in the clearing where her Lady stands tall with a silver bow at her side and long auburn hair braided down her back. Cora smiles and then hugs the goddess in front of her.

"Where did you go this time my Lady? What monsters did you kill? What other immortals did you meet?"

The goddess chuckles. "Ah Cora, with each passing hunt you grow more curious of the world."

Cora pouts. "You only let me hunt with you in this forest my Lady, but I wish I could partake in more."

"More?"

"I know you get lonely when you're brother cannot hunt by your side and you always seem joyful during our hunts. I just thought, now that I'm twelve and with my bow and knife fighting that I could come with you."

There's a silence and then her Lady smiles. "Yes Cora, you can come with me. Although we might need some more companions."

"Can it be just the two of us first?"

"Yes, just you and me."

Four years, that's how long it takes for her Lady to get approval and settle on the final details of the new additions to their hunting party. She tells her the rules: must be a maiden and forsake the company of men by taking an oath. By taking the oath, you are immortal unless killed in battle and your natural abilities are heightened to match.

Dozens upon dozens come to join, but Cora gets the honor of being the first "Hunter of Artemis" and her second in command.

"Why me? No offense my Lady, but power and leading aren't in my skill set."

"It's symbolic in a way, you were my first female hunting companion so you are my first hunter."

Cora didn't argue after that. Instead the next day, she became the first to say the oath.

"I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt."

Cheers went up and her Lady presented her first silver circlet, given to her by Leto, to Cora. She gladly put it on her head and once everyone else had taken their oaths, Cora led the hunt after a group of hydras.

Many years later, while the rest of the hunt was sleeping and her Lady on Olympus, she heard a noise in the forest. Cora grabbed her bow and loaded it, then silently crept off towards.

Cora thought she would find a monster or some god trying to mess with her. Instead, she found a dark haired girl in a tattered white dress. Cora thought the girl was around fifteen and clearly skilled with a bow, since it was the only weapon she carried.

"Are you okay?"

The girl looks up at her with black eyes that have seen everything yet nothing. "No, I'm not. I'm alone because my family disowned me and this one hero I helped refused help me out in return. I never should have trusted him."

Cora offered her a hand. "Have you ever heard of the Hunters of Artemis?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to join?"

Her black eyes were filled with new energy and she takes Cora's hand. "Yes, I would like that."

Cora pulls her up and starts leading her to camp. "By the way, I'm Cora."

The girl looks up ahead. "I'm Zoe, Zoe Nightshade."

It was the first girl Cora had ever personally recruited, and the second was a girl named Phoebe. The thing is, those two became her favorite little sisters.

There comes a time when death comes to take you to the underworld. Cora knew her time had come, with a poisoned arrowhead sticking out of her stomach. Who knew Orion would be bitter enough to go after her Lady? Cora didn't regret taking the arrow though.

Cora's sight was getting hazy, she could tell Zoe and Phoebe were desperately trying to save her. Her lady standing over was saying something.

"I think ... know... coming."

Cora coughs up strangely colored blood. "I cannot hear you my Lady, but I know. I died defending you, the greatest mother a half blood girl could have." The coughing continued and hears what might be thunder in the distance.

Zoe took her hand. "I wish... see... again."

Phoebe nods. " I know...never...hunter like...again."

Cora felt like her whole body might com-bust at any moment and she grips her hunting knife. What kind of poison is this?

Artemis shed a tear. "Cora, I...place...night sky?"

"What about Elysium my Lady?" Cora could feel herself floating out of her body.

"You...go... anytime."

The last thing Cora does is nod before everything stops. She closes her eyes and feels nothing but weightlessness. She opens them to be greeted my the stars in the sky, not the dead. In a body of light, rather than that of a ghost.

She can hear clearly when her Lady addresses the others. "From now on, Cora is in the stars as a virgin, the virgin, and a self-sufficient girl. Where she will witness us hunt every night."

Nina's eyes opened and she sat up. She felt a harsh pain in her stomach, but she ignored that. She was a hunter, the lieutenant, and a constellation all in one life time. That's one life closer to getting out of Asphodel.

Yet, it was hard to live through her first life's, Cora's, memories without being affected. She had never been claimed or met any of her half siblings. She never found her, their, soul mate because she joined the hunt. But, Cora didn't know what she was sacrificing when she joined, so she never really turned her back on men.

Still, Cora had been brave, kind, determined, and just an over all heroine. It's a shame no one gets to here the tale of her except maybe the hunters.

The pain in her stomach disappeared and Nina felt overwhelmingly dizzy. Her eyes closed and she sat back down to the soft, bed like ground, with the sound of reed pipes as her lullaby.

Hello fanfiction! Before anyone gets on me for this not being the actual story of the Virgo (virgin) constellation, may I remind everyone here this is fanfiction so anything goes.

Second, I looked this up and found several different myths (someone hanging themselves, being hope, Persephone and Demeter, and more from other cultures), so this is what I came up with.

Lastly, does anyone half some ideas for Annabeth's lives? I have like ten, and I need eleven more.