Southern India, 345 AD

[mycursedface]

There had been chains. Chanting. A cage, inlaid and veiled with red, red, scarlet red. There had been a girl, beaten and strong. There had been begging, her own, screams and ramblings and whisper, whisper, whisper and cry for the sky and there had been blood, blood, blood all poured out into bowls.

And there had been a fire.

She remembers the fire.

If there hadn't have been a fire, her clothes wouldn't be burnt, would they? Once a sari, costly and beautiful and fit for a goddess, now rags and charcoal showing ash-covered and still-perfect limbs.

She'd been worshiped before, but not like that and Medusa, gold nose-ring still there (give her a mirror and a century to calm down, and she might concede it actually suits her), gold manacles still on her wrists and ankles, gold bangles still jingling, is pacing in the ruins of a temple. She's chewing her bottom lip and fuming, the snakes hissing angry, angry, angry.

(like the sky above her, dark and rumbling with energy and pressure always rising)

If she wasn't certain that the men responsible had been killed, then Medusa, thinking in the clarity that only resurrection can bring, would be making sure that they were begging for it.

Comments

[untiedtheknots]

Artemis has liked India ever since she went there to help Dionysus fight his war. If asked why, her most ready and flippant answer is the food. She also likes the music and colors, the jungle and the sky. Suffice to say, her presence in the country isn't unusual these days.

News of the temple fire doesn't take long to find its way to her. As if that weren't enough to merit a visit, the clouds are moving in a way that means power and family. Artemis steels herself and starts walking.



She stops at the temple entrance, watching the goddess pace in her golden fury, and she knows that sometime is not right.

"Medusa."

[mycursedface]

Medusa smiles, gold and red and ash in the growing dark. It's a nice, serene smile.

"Artemisssss," and her voice is a strange mixture of sibilance and the whisper of the wind.

[untiedtheknots]

"It's good to see you," she says.

And it is, in the way that it's good to see most family members who aren't Hera.

"What brings you here?"

[mycursedface]

"I can't remember." She shrugs. "Time twists and bends and does as it pleases."

[untiedtheknots]

"So it does."

Artemis moves in a little closer.

"How long have you been wandering, Medusa?"

[mycursedface]

Medusa goes still, still, still; her eyes drop and she appears to study the cracked tiles. In her mind, though, she can see Artemis clear as the heat she gives away.

"It doesn't matter."

[untiedtheknots]

"Oh, I think it does."

Another few steps.

"You haven't been home in a long while, cousin. People are worried."

Worried enough for news of wandering Meda to escape beyond her immediate family.

[mycursedface]

She rolls a shoulder back, using the movement to move the rest of her after it. Step away, step back for ever step forward, Olympian, Olympian, Olympian...

"Who?"

[untiedtheknots]

"Your sisters. Your mother. Your father."

She stops walking.

"Cousin Triton. Me."

[mycursedface]

Medusa expression twists, and then almost crumples.

"Can't get hurt. Can't die, I just come back everytime. It's clear for a while." She reahces up to run her fingers through her braids, and stops at the sight of the manacle.

She drops her hand.

"Shouldn't worry. It's all my fault. Use me to punish them and you can tell them I'm fine. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine."

[untiedtheknots]

Artemis' expression saddens.

"You, my dear, are so very far from fine."

She holds out a hand. "What happened to you?"

[mycursedface]

Pressing her fingers to her temples,

"Nemesis."

it's all fucked up taste ssssmell everything see it can't stop turn it of make it better make it better make it stop!

[untiedtheknots]

And that answers questions she hadn't even thought to ask.

I will try I will try but you have to let me close enough and you have to calm down

Artemis takes a step and waits to see if Medusa moves.

[mycursedface]

Her breathing is harsh and ragged, and from somewhere the winds have picked up; the Gorgon herself doesn't move.

[untiedtheknots]

Another few steps and both her hands fold lightly around one of Medusa's.

There is noise noise noise, so much noise and paths turning back on themselves like they should not. Everything is tangled and knotted, but I can lay it straight. I think I can lay it straight

This work is so much more delicate than what she's used to. She is used to sword cuts and arrow wounds and fevers and plague. She is nervous, but not hesitant.

The girl is the snakes and the snakes are the girl, but it should not be girlsnakesgirlsnakes. Two threads--pick them apart. Lay them out. Make it smooth. Make it right.



She stands there for what feels like a long time, her eyes closed and her hands around her cousin's. Eventually, she looks up.

"How do you feel?"

[mycursedface]

Medusa takes a deep breath and

the world dims and softens

she can bear it

straight lines straight curves not shatteredbroken

she can bear it

this is her; medusa gorgos; sisterqueendaughterlover

this is me

and looks up.

"...like I know who I am." Beat. "Also kinda like shit."

[untiedtheknots]

Artemis laughs gently.

"I've done what I can on the mystical healing front. Anything else I can do?"

[mycursedface]

Another deep breath, and then when she speaks, it's through gritted teeth.

"Get the chains off me?"

[untiedtheknots]

"Of course."

The manacles are fastened with a pin; Artemis undoes the ones on Medusa's wrists first, then crouches to deal with the ones on her ankles.

"There," she says when the last one falls free. "Much better."

[mycursedface]

"Thank you."

[untiedtheknots]

"You're welcome."

Artemis is a protector of women. She does not like to think about what it would mean if she could not protect the women in her own family.

[mycursedface]

"And, Artemis? Before I, um. Collapse into a screaming heap...how long has it been?"

[untiedtheknots]

Artemis takes a deep breath before answering.

"Sixteen hundred years. Give or take."

[mycursedface]

Medusa pulls away, sharply. Another deep breath, and another, and she has her head down and hands braced against her legs.

Breathe in, breath out. Breathe in, breathe out.

"My sons are dead. Aren't they."

[untiedtheknots]

"Yes."

Because that is the answer to her question, but there's more she should know, so Artemis keeps talking.

"Chrysaor was a great king of men. Pegasus served heroes and Eos, later on. Dad gave him a constellation after he died."

It is a sparse description of vast lives, but it's the best she can offer. She never followed either of the boys that closely. Now she wishes she had.

[mycursedface]

Slowly, Medusa sinks to her knees (the pressure rises) she presses her hands against the stones (the pressure rises) and unfurls her great golden wings (the pressure rises).
my boys
Chrysaor would be the boy who cried and cried with great dark eyes and soft black hair.
are not our sons beautiful?
(a great king of men)
they are dead to me
Pegasus would be the foal who nudged her body and stared with great dark eyes and whom she slapped.
dead to me
(served heroes and Eos)
traitor.
traitor.

traitor

Medusa screams.
mysonsmysonsmysons
It is her youngest sister who is famous for it; a scream to shatter glass and cause grown men to drop their weapons and cower. A scream as piercing as a flute and just as humane. But they all can scream like that, and as Medusa screams, the skies seem to crack and the lightning turns everything white and black and grey. Just for a moment.
MY SONS
And audible even over that earth-shattering, glass-breaking thunder is Medusa's scream.

[untiedtheknots]

It is so loud, so loud until Artemis can't hear anything anymore, just a roaring somewhere beyond and between her ears and



(this is her grief)

it is, after all, a not unfamiliar sound.

[mycursedface]

Eventually, she draws breath. Eventually, the scream turns into sobbing. Heart-broken, defeated sobbing with her foreheard resting against the cracked stone and her body shaking with it.

[untiedtheknots]

Artemis kneels beside her, draping an arm around her cousin's shoulders while being careful of her wings.

She murmurs a low string of comforting nonsense, unsure of how much is getting through but knowing that she cannot just stay silent.

[mycursedface]

It takes a while for the Gorgon to cry herself out, but not as long as you might expect.

Medusa pushes herself up, wiping tears away with ash-covered hands until her face is streaked with it. Wipe her nose with the back of her hand, push her braids out of the way and she's a mess.

Still beautiful, though. Beauty does not fade, in their world. It is there and fact and you are either blessed with it or cursed, depending on your point of view.

Medusa would say cursed, right about now.

She hiccups with the aftermath of her grief and doesn't even flinch as it starts to rain. She waits for the latest roll of thunder to fade and then just shakes her head.

"Thank you, cousin mine."

[untiedtheknots]

It's a good rain; Artemis tips her head back and closes her eyes.

"You are always welcome, cousin dear."

[mycursedface]

She'd mourned for her sons once. Once is...is enough. So she can smile. Sadly, crookedly, but it's a smile.

"I'm a mess, aren't I?"

[untiedtheknots]

Artemis cracks an eye to take a look at her; she smiles softly back.

"Nothing that can't be fixed."

[mycursedface]

She sniffs.

"Flatterer."

[untiedtheknots]

The smile widens.

"If you want flattery, I could always try and pry 'Dite away from Rome."

[mycursedface]

"Ahahah...no."

Beat.

"Rome. Oh, Sea and Earth...I've missed a lot, haven't I?"

[untiedtheknots]

"Eh, I bet you'll be caught up in no time," Artemis says.

"Suffice to say that Rome is the new power back home. Oh, and for some reason, they decided most of us needed new names. Except for my brother."

She's never quite forgiven him for escaping that.

[mycursedface]

"...do I get a new name?"

[untiedtheknots]

Artemis thinks about that one for a moment.

"No, you too escaped the 'I have to learn to answer to a whole new name' trend. Still Medusa."

[mycursedface]

"Oh, good."

She lets out a deep breath, and then her snakes swear. "Damnit, you'd think I'd be cried out, wouldn't you."

[untiedtheknots]

Artemis shrugs.

"Being cried out always seemed like a silly idea to me. Far as I'm concerned, you can take as long as you want."

[mycursedface]

The Gorgon is mostly silent for a moment, barring the odd sniff and caught breath.

"I don't suppose I could throw all dignity to the winds and ask for a hug, could I?"

[untiedtheknots]

"You don't even need to ask."

And Medusa gets a hug--not a rib-crushingly desperate one like Apollo has received a time or two, but a firm hug all the same. A reassuring one.

[mycursedface]

Medusa, soaked through and covered in mud from the ash, clings back. She shifts across into Artemis' lap, all fragile bones and cold skin, and just clings to the goddess as if Artemis is the only thing currently proping her up.

Which, in a lot of ways, she is.