[I will go fast till MC meats Monica]
There was nothing.
No pain. No sound. No body. Just a silence so profound, it felt like the only real thing left.
Maya Reyes drifted in it—not lost, just still. Every detail was clear in her mind. The child in the street. The scream. How her body reacted before her mind caught up. The crash.
She had no regrets. Not even for a second.
Her life had been quiet but intense. A doctor by profession. A hacker by instinct. No fame. No spotlight. Just meaningful work. Healing the sick. Silently dismantling corrupt systems. She wasn't in it for recognition. She just couldn't let others suffer the way she had.
The system had failed her again and again. She learned early on to survive without leaning on anyone. But she'd made herself a promise—never again, not if she could stop it for someone else.
Something shifted in the stillness.
Out of the dark came a woman. No wings. No glow. Just a presence—ancient, grounded, as solid as the roots of the Earth.
Maya knew her at once. "Gaia."
Gaia smiled, slow and warm. "You lived a life of quiet resistance. You gave when you had nothing left. And when it counted—you didn't hesitate."
"I didn't do it for a prize," Maya replied.
"I know," Gaia said. "Which is why you've earned one."
From the shadows emerged a massive, glowing roulette wheel, its panels marked with names of worlds Maya barely recognized.
Westeros. Ghibli. MCU. Blade Runner. Pokémon. Friends.
"You don't get to choose your next life," Gaia explained. "But you've earned the right to live again."
The wheel spun. The air buzzed with energy.
It started to slow over MCU—flashes of battles, capes, destruction.
Then ticked one space further.
Friends.
Maya blinked. "Wait… you mean, that Friends?"
Gaia smiled. "Laughter. Love. The messy, small, beautifully human stuff. Not perfect—but full. The kind of life you never had the chance to live."
Maya felt her throat tighten. "So this is a reward."
Gaia nodded. "A second chance. To live how you were meant to—connected, joyful, loved. Before you rest."
A gentle warmth began to bloom in Maya's chest. She never wanted recognition. Just to belong. To laugh. To feel.
"You also get four wishes," Gaia said. "Most people only get one."
Maya took a breath in the stillness. "Photographic memory. Pattern recognition. Deep empathy. And the ability to learn fast—body and mind."
Gaia acknowledged each with a soft nod.
"I don't want to look like I used to," Maya added quietly. "I want to feel like this life is truly mine. Like I'm new."
"You will," Gaia promised. "And you won't be alone."
Maya looked up.
"You'll be born as Monica Geller's twin. Taken at birth. Raised elsewhere. But your paths will meet. That bond? It stays."
Maya felt her breath catch in the void.
"You will be Emma," Gaia said. "Loved by someone who needed you as much as you needed them. And you'll remember everything—from the very first breath."
Then the light embraced her, like warmth after a long, cold season.
She felt her lungs form. Her heart beat. Tiny fingers. A body wrapped in arms, held close to a chest trembling with quiet sobs.
The woman holding her wasn't crying from fear.
She cried from love.
And deep inside her new, silent world, Emma smiled.
Because she already knew who she was.
And this time, she was finally home.