[Athena]

The Godess of wisdom watched the blind girl through the projection that Apollo cast before the gathered congregation of deities. Each sitting in an ornate throne arrayed in a circle.

"This is the great oracle?" Asked Poseidon with a scoff, "This is what will turn the tied of the mortal conflict?" His laughter bubbled like an underwater volcano, spewing from him in waves of spite.

"Yes, she is," answered Apollo, and he strummed a finger across the lyer he seemed to always carry with him, "scared she'll predict your dear cohorts losing? You can't switch bets now."

Athena rolled her eyes, to think that the gods were so starved of entertainment that they were invested in human wars like games of chess.

"Quite a curious case, you'd think her abilities would have manifested..... but she seems so lost," hermes murmured with a mischievous giggle. He fluttered around the room, whispering jokes into ears around the circle, eliciting an amused chuckle from Aphrodite.

"Of course Caelus scared her off, he's a borish man. He would have been a great leader of He had even the slightest hint of charm. Guess that trait didn't pass on from you, huh?" She cast a glance at Zeus, with the slightest hit of scorn.

Hera's eyes flashed with rage, a plume of peacock feathers opening across her back, vibrating with anger, "Zeus! Do not tell me.... again! Is the little bastard yours?!"

Aphrodite snickered as Zeus ground his teeth together in rage, "Oh, was that meant to be a secret? That Caelus was a spawn of our dear kings thunderbolt?"

Hera stood from her throne and growled, leaving the room in a huff of rage and sadness. Hestia, ever the comforter, stood to follow her.

Athena rolled her eyes yet again, that certainly explained Zeus favoriteitism for the warlord. She thought the man was a brute and a fool, relying on his strength to suppress those weaker then him, never fighting someone his own size.

"I hope that this oracle finds her way into the possession of some who fully understands her strategic value, a warrior of the mind instead of a child with the power of a king. She...," Athena suddenly stopped in her tracks as recognition flashed through her mind.

"WAIT! where is she going!?" Athena yelled, slaming her hands into the table as she watched the projection, "that temple... that cave! She's in the gorgons lair!"

The assembled gods all fell silent as they focused upon the wisdom Godess as she looked almost panicked.

"No.... that stupid girl! She has one purpose for being born, and this is what she does!?" Zues was on the verge of losing his temper, electricity cracking in his beard.

The assembled gods began to murmured, each worrying not for the girl's safety, but for how this would effect the war game that the girl was meant to predict and shape.

The only God that said nothing was poseidon, he simply grinned as he watched. Athena wondered if he was reminiscing of the temple he had desecrated, of Medusa. She shook the thought away, I was a moment she never liked to think about, but the memories would not be ignored this time.

-Centuries earlier-

Athena looked down upon the beautiful girl at her feet, a priestess that Athena had adored before her betrayal of Athenas honor. The woman's tan skin was exposed through her torn clothing. Tears streaking down her face as she pleaded at Athenas feet.

"M-my goddess! Please I didn't want to... I couldn't stop him," the woman's once beautiful skin was tinged with bruises, around her neck, her wrists.... her legs.

But Athena didn't seem to notice, her rage pushing even the most wise God into a place of darkness that blinded her to the truth. The stink of Poseidon's presence assaulted her nose and mind, "you would foul my temple with the form of another God? Beytray my charity and ...... my love."

She turned her eyes away from the poor girl, weeping on the floor of Athenas temple. Trying her best to cover herself and retain any amount of her dignity. She was barely a woman, on the cusp of abandoning her adolescence.

"My l-lady, please, I didn't want this! I didn't want him..... I want you!" The girl was a mess of tears, she reached out to Athena. She craved the comfort that the goddess could give. She wanted to be forgiven for something that wasn't her fault.

Athena didn't seem to care or didn't understand. Her anger was more important to her than the truth of the moment.

"Even in this state, you are beautiful, a beauty that I underestimated. I should have known that it was a weapon. That you were a lying snake I allowed into my home, and serpents must have their fangs removed!" Her hand flashed out and grabbed the girl by her dark hair, lifting her up painfully by her scalp.

Her priestess screamed, but Athena ignored her cries and whimpers. The priestess pleased for her life, apologizing to her, telling Athena that she was still loyal.

"You will take on your true form, a serpent. You will never be allowed to cast your gaze upon the eyes of another ever again. You will be alone.... no one will ever find love in you ever again."

She dropped the girl to the ground, her body writhing in pain and fear, she changed. Athena turned away, walking out of her temple. The lights went out as she passed by, leaving Medusa in darkness.

-present day-

Athena looked back to Apollo's projection, watching Medusa tuck the girl into a sleeping back with surprising gentleness. The gods would need to intervene. Their pride couldn't allow them to leave this war up to chance. It wasn't even an important war to them, it was a game of favorites. Now, their tool was in danger. Athena found herself feeling a bit responsible for this.... her mistake of Medusa, her mistake of not killing the monster when she was just a woman, begging at her feet.

[Medusa]

Medusa watched as the small blind girl stirl, then slowly sat up. She watched as the girl didn't look around but slightly tilted her head in an attempt to catch the sound of her environment. Her eyes were still covered by the bloody cloth. She made a motion to stand but screamed out in pain as she place weight on her broken ankle.

"Ow ow ow," she whimpered in a softly wilting voice. A voice that didn't seemed to be used in anything above a whisper. The blind girl pulled the leg against her chest, tenderly feeling around her injured leg.

Medusa remained as still as the statues her eyes would create, wanting to observe her unwanted guest. She wanted to see if anything might be let slip. If she could find out what this girl was doing here.

The blind girl shakily began to feel the floor around her, searching for something, "where did that stick go," she murmured in a hardly audible whispers. Medusa felt something unfamiliar, bubbling up from her stomach to lodge in her chest, an urge to do something. She realized she wanted to help.

Medusa looked around and saw a spear leaning against the wall where she stashed the weapons of fallen heros. She grabbed it, making sure her movements made no sound. She heald it, forming an idea as she watched the blind girl run her hands across the hard stone floor of the cave. She was just far enough away from any of Medusa's belongings that she might still believe she was in the cave she had lost consciousness in.

The blind girl movements were starting to become more frantic as she continued to find nothing to aid herself. Medusa decided she had seen enough and let a long, low hiss escape her lips, freezing the girls searching dead. Her snakes added their own smaller hisses, enjoying the dramatics.

"Human, you trespass upon my home. I will ask you several questions, and I will know if you lie. If you lie, I will kill you and dump your body for the carrion birds to feast on. Do you understand me?" The blind girl began to tremble, pulling her arms and legs close to herself and nodding. Her terror was almost a palpable force in the room, undeniably real.

"Good, now why are you here?" The question sat in the air as the girl tried to force her mouth to produce a coherent sentence.

"I-i was running.... I was in danger," Her voice was like the squeak of a small mouse, like she had to force the words not to devolve into a quiet whine of terror.

"What were you running from?" Medusa kept her words cold an firm but she knew the girl was already scared enough, she knew the girl wouldn't be able to lie for fear of what Medusa would do to her.

The girl shivered as she seemed to relive a past horror, Medusa caught a glimpse of the bruises around her neck.

"A s-suitor, I didn't want him.... I didn't want any of this," the girls voice became a horse cry as fear gave way to pain.... not physical pain, but Medusa was sure that there was enough of that as well.

Medusa sighed as she started to get the picture.

"Forced marriage?"

The girl nodded slowly, keeping her head downcast in supplication. Medusa let her tense muscles relax a little. The girl wasn't a threat. Medusa glanced back to the spear and suddenly snapped it near where the metal blade met the wooden haft. The blind girl jumped and raised her hands as if to ward off an incoming strike.

Medusa moved towards the girl, watching how the sound of her approach caused the girl to fold in on herself, wanting to disappear into herself and escape whatever the gorgon might do to her. Medusa unceremoniously dropped the spear hilt in front of the girl, letting it clatter loudly onto the stone floor.

"You will stay here only as long as it takes for you to recover, then you will leave. You will tell no one of this place, least you wish to become a statue in my garden!" The threat reverberated off of the walls, echoing loudly to match Medusas seriousness.

The blind girl was practically groveling, her body bent double with her forhead against the ground. Her small body was wracked with poorly suppressed sobs.

Medusa let her anger flow from her as her breathing became normal once more. She felt a tinge of guilt creep into her as she towered over the pathetic form of the girl. She knew the girl was already terrified, all she would be doing was worsening her fear.

"Silence girl, let me see your leg," She let some of the harsh edge lessen from her voice, keeping her words firm but not angry.

The girl winced as she rearranged herself, stretching her right leg out in front of her. The angel, as well as Medusa's towering form, made it impossible for her to see anything clearly.

"Sit on that ledge, now," she ordered, pointing towards a small alcove where she might be able to get a better look.

The girl still trembled, but didn't move as she tilted her head awkwardly.

"W-what l-ledge?" She asked in a very small voice, her confusion scrawled across the visible section of her face.

Medusa was about to ask if the girl was stupid before her brain finally caught up to her mouth and killed the retort before it left her lips. The damn girl was blind, she reminded herself.

"Stand girl," the girl began to rise slowly, her face a grimace of pain as she used the spear haft to help her stand. Medusa gripped the girl by the shoulder and quickly spun her in the right direction.

"Walk forward," she watched the girl make great effort to obey, limping across the floor. The girl barely made it a few steps before she almost fell to the ground, using the spear haft to gain balance. The girl cried out in pain once more but moved forward regardless until she was able to feel the edge of the alcove with her hand. She sat there, and Medusa approached, lowering herself until she had a good view of the ankle.

Medusa hissed, her snakes adding their own hisses to the sound. It wasn't a pretty sight, the girls foot sat at an unnatural angle. It had twisted to hang limply sideways, a dark purple and yellow bruise marking the soft pale flesh. This was far worse than Medusa had originally thought, it was a wonder the girl had made it anywhere on this.

The blind girl was holding her breath, her chest hardly moving. It was as if she feared that even the slightest movements may lead to even more pain. Medusa sighed and lifted herself back to her full hight.

"Stay hear," she growled as she moved again to the nook of supplies that she had looted. She searched through them until she found a roll of bandages, she also grabbed a rope, a few old bets and an old broken bow.

Returning with her odd arrangement of supplies, Medusa placed them all around the girl, ready for use.

"Stay still human, this will hurt a lot," with no more warning, Medusa grabbed the girls foot, sharply twisting it back into its proper place. The girl understandably released a pained cry. Sobbing as the shock of the action blurred her mind, her heart pumping blood and adrenaline all through her body in an attempt to heal the pain. Medusa worked quickly, snapping the bow in two and aligning he recurved arms of the weapon to either side of tge girls leg. The curve of the bow would act like a sort of support to both sides of the girls leg while keeping her joint in place. She wrapped the rope around near her ankle before tightly securing the bow arms with the belts wrapped tightly around the girls calf.

The mousy girl breathed in gasped through gritted teeth as the gorgon worked, her jaw muscles threatening to shatter her teeth with how tight she forced them shut. She let out a sigh of relief when Medusa's touch retreated front her and her injured leg was allowed to sit untouched.

The girls cries slowly became dry sobs, her breath catching in an involuntary hiccup. Her quite whimpering occasionally obstructed by the soft sqeaky noise.

"T-thank y-*hic* you," she finally whispered to Medusa's surprise.

She was silent for a moment, considering the girl before her. She was like a broken porcelain doll that had been wrecked by some unruly child. She looked so small, almost like a child.

Medusa shook the thoughts away, bringing her walls back up in her mind, "don't thank me, I'm simply ensuring that you will leave my home sooner than later."

She turned away from the girl and slithered towards her nest, putting the girl out of sight as she lay upon the large gathered mass of comfort that she had built for herself, he serpentine hair curling comfortable about her head as they too readied for sleep.

Soon she would be alone once more.

[Hello hello, I promise we will get to the cute slice of life stuff but just let me do my hurt so we can get to the comfort. I love this story so much that I churned out this chapter a lot quicker then I meant to, I hope you enjoy. Please please please, give myme your feedback, thoughtsand ideas, it really helps out]