Chapter Text
*crack*
Medusa’s head shot up.
“ Who's there?” She snarled.
A figure was walking through the abandoned temple gently feeling her way around a fallen marble pillar. Her long fingers softly tracing the ridges.
“Get out!” Medusa yelled standing up, the snakes around her head awoke hissing.
“Hello” a soft voice said. The woman stepped out from behind the pillar. The sun shone behind her making her skin glow golden.
Medusa paused, her breath hitching. The woman was beautiful. Long golden hair casting down her shoulders, slightly covering her face. Her cream-white chiton was blowing in the small sweet breeze.
“You shouldn’t be here, I’m dangerous,” Medusa said looking down.
She didn’t want to hurt the woman. She didn’t seem to be there in anger like many men had. Their frozen bodies cast in stone strewn about the dilapidated temple. Faces twisted in anger, their swords pointed at her neck. She kept them up as a reminder. She was a monster, she was dangerous, she wasn’t human.
“You don’t seem dangerous to me,” the woman said sweetly. A small smile on her lips.
“I will hurt you,” Medusa said. “You are not safe here, leave now before it’s too late” She was warning her. If Medusa lifted her head the life would be cast out of the woman turning her soft limbs into cold hard stone.
“You cannot hurt me” The woman said walking toward Medusa feeling her way around.
Then Medusa looked up and found the woman right. Her blue eyes glossed over by a milky layer of white.
Medusa turned away. Even if she couldn’t hurt the woman she shouldn't be here. She could not see a reason for this woman to be seeking her out.
“Just leave!” Medusa yelled but the shakes around her head didn’t start hissing like normal. Instead they lifted their heads toward the woman, peeking into the sun while Medusa was still hidden in shadows. Their little tongues poking out tasting the warmth of the day.
“Okay” the woman said. She sounded sad but she followed as Medusa said. Turning away and feeling her way out of the temple. Before she was out of view she turned to look toward Medusa. Their eyes met but she almost looked like she was looking past Medusa, her eyes not focused on anything.
“My name is Xenia, by the way” She said before walking off back though the woods her bare feet cautious tracing a path.
Medusa caught herself smiling after Xenia and quickly corrected herself, returning to her normal solemn gaze. Though as much as she tried to forget the women, her thoughts drifted back to her throughout the day. And As she lay on her makeshift bed of cloths she scavenged, looking up at the stars peeking through the cracks of the abandoned temple. She thought of Xenia. The woman hadn’t seemed scared of her, or just didn’t want to hurt her. A kindness Medusa hadn’t experienced in years.
She huffed turning to her side the sakes around her head moving with her, there cool scales draped around her head. Her mind filled with the image of the smiling woman bathed in sunlight. She felt warmth spreading through her body and she slowly fell asleep. Slipping into a dream filled with entangled libs and lips sweet with figs.