Chapter 1

Medusa's Death

Stheno was sleeping peacefully in her bed on the Shapeless Isle. Or, she was, before Euryale roused her.

"What, other me?" the lazy older sister muttered drowsily.

"Medusa is fighting another so-called 'hero', other me," the more excitable younger sister responded, "and he seems to be giving her a rather difficult time." Euryale giggled. "Let's go watch."

Stheno smiled, getting up. "'Meduseless' is having trouble, huh? And I thought her giant body was only good for fighting."

Stheno followed her younger sister with a serene grace as Euryale lead her to where the youngest gorgon sister was fighting, Euryale almost seemed to float as she walked. It wasn't long until Stheno could hear the commotion. The two entered the room where the fight was taking place, and they were surprised by what they saw.

"You weren't kidding when you said she was having trouble," Stheno mused. Medusa, who had suffered from the Athena's curse the most after Poseidon "had his way" with her, usually preferred to stay as her original self. Now, she was using the transformation from the curse to help her fight.

Brown and black snake scales covered Medusa's limbs, her fingers and toes ending in bronze claws. Large, gold-colored wings sprouted from her back, helping to keep her steady as she kept herself aloft with her snake tail. The ends of her pink-purple hair had transformed into snakes, which were firing violet, toxic plasma from their mouths.

In her "Gorgon" form, Medusa couldn't use her normal weapons, a pair of chains that end in spikes and a bow, but she didn't need to. The Gorgon's increased strength, combined with Medusa's usual skill and cunning, was all she had ever needed.

And it showed. The person she was fighting, a man, or perhaps "boy" would be a better word, with a shield so polished one could see their reflection in it, a sword with a scythe like blade, a helm with an eerie aura, and sandals with wings on them, was scrambling to hide from one of the snake's blasts. If he was giving Medusa trouble before, he wasn't now. Medusa was thoroughly crushing him, despite her wounds.

Euryale and Stheno smiled as their younger sister smashed the pillar the boy hid behind into rubble. "What do you think, other me?" Stheno asked nonchalantly. "Will this fool be eaten, petrified, trapped within his own mind, drained of or into blood, end up our plaything, or vaporized by her snake's vomit beams?"

Euryale smiled as Medusa cornered the boy, with her snake hair blocking any avenue of escape. "Eaten, other me. You know how hungry she gets when she uses the curse to make her already gigantic body even bigger."

A cloth appeared around Medusa's forehead as her violet eyes began to glow, with her pupils becoming square. "Mix of petrification and trapped within his mind it is," Stheno stated.

"Please allow me to kindly crush you," Medusa hissed as her foe cowered behind his mirror-like shield. Then Medusa suddenly reeled back, her face contorted in shock as parts of her body turned to stone. Moments later, Medusa reverted to normal, in a daze as her body de-petrified due to no longer being affected by her own mystic eyes.

Her older sisters were surprised by this, as Medusa had never been affected by her own mystic eyes before. "What just happened?" Euryale asked softly.

"I don't know, other me," Stheno whispered back, "but I'm certain that Medusa will still win."

Medusa's opponent peeked out from behind his shield. Seeing her weakened, he grabbed his sword and rushed her, his winged sandals giving him a boost. Medusa snapped out of her daze, grabbed her spiked chains and narrowly blocked a fatal blow aimed at her neck. Shockingly, the chains were knocked out of her hands. Whatever happened to her seemed to have sapped her strength since she had been able to deflect stronger hits without losing her grip in the past.

Medusa kicked her opponent, launching him back as she turned to grab her bow, hissing in pain as her movements aggravated her wounds. With the gold-colored weapon in hand, Medusa backed up to the wall and began firing arrow after arrow, each arrow appearing as she put her hand on the bowstring. But the magical bronze arrow tips did not pierce the shield as expected. Noticing this, the boy began to advance, slowly at first, but then began to speed up as he got closer.

Medusa's barrage began to slow down as her injuries started to catch up with her. As the boy sped his approach even further, Medusa noticed her sisters. She gave them a smile that was warm, resigned, and apologetic all at the same time a moment before her head was separated from her shoulders.

Euryale and Stheno stood there, stunned as their sister fell to the ground. Red blood, not gold like theirs, showing her mortality, poured slowly from her various wounds. The boy, who had done something they thought was impossible, sighed in relief, muttering under his breath. He grabbed Medusa's head and carefully placed it in a small bag he had with him.

As he tied the bag shut, Euryale overcame her shock.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she cried out in anguish.

The boy started, then turned to them, apparently having not noticed them their earlier.

"YOU MONSTER!" Euryale screamed in rage. "YOU KILLED HER!"

"You killed her," Stheno murmured numbly, looking at her feet. "You killed Medusa." She looked up, hatred evident on her face. "You murdered her."

Medusa's murderer stepped back. While his face was hidden behind his helm, it was clear that he was afraid. "I-I'm sorry, I just-"

"Sorry? You're SORRY?!" Euryale screeched in burning fury.

"You murdered our baby sister, and now you have the nerve to apologize, as if that would change anything?" Stheno asked coldly, her voice filled with icy hate.

The elder gorgon sisters began to change. Their limbs grew black and brown snake scales, their nails sharpening into bronze claws. They each grew golden wings and snake tails. Their hair, which they both had tied up into pigtails, rose and became snakes. While Medusa suffered from the gorgon curse the most, Euryale and Stheno were still cursed as well. Ironically, it made it so that they were no longer helpless besides their natural charms. Hissing, the two leapt at him, Euryale going high and Stheno going low.

He managed to kill Medusa, though, Stheno thought bitterly as she charged, meaning that he could easily kill us, too.

He didn't seem to realize that, though, as he turned and ran, taking the bag with Medusa's head with him.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!" Euryale called out, grabbing Medusa's bow and trying to shoot at him. "AND BRING HER BACK!"

Stheno was tempted to grab Medusa's chains, but she decided to just chase after Medusa's killer, knowing, unlike Euryale, that it would be easier to just claw him to pieces rather than try to use a weapon she never used before.

Stheno sprinted after the killer as he exited the building, Euryale trying and failing to fire the bow, her bronze claws making it difficult to hold the arrow correctly as she screeched at the monster taking Medusa's head away.

As soon as Medusa's killer was no longer indoors, he took to the air using his winged sandals, turning invisible. Stheno gasped, but quickly steeled herself. "He's heading to the beach!" she called out to Euryale, pointing in the direction he was going.

"ON IT!" her younger sister screamed as she took off, flying after him.

Stheno had to keep going on foot. He's getting away, she thought to herself, I wish I practiced flying more. When she reached the beach, Euryale was already there, and the monster was nowhere to be found.

"COME BACK! GIVE HER BACK!" Euryale was screaming repeatedly, failing to fire arrow after arrow before descending into hysterical sobbing.

Stheno sighed sadly, returning to normal. She looked out into the horizon. There's no catching him now. She sighed again, then turned to her sister. "Other me, we-Euryale stop, Euryale calm down, Euryale relax please you're hurting yourself YOU'RE BLEEDING!"

"Huh?" Euryale squeaked weakly, tears streaming from her eyes and several wounds covering her arms and face. She looked at her panicked older sister, then herself. "Oh." She had started clawing at herself, her bronze talons causing Euryale to lacerate herself in her grief. Golden ichor, a god's blood, seeped from her self-inflicted injuries.

Stheno sighed as Euryale returned to normal, rolling up her sleave then holding her arm out. "Here, drink."

Euryale looked at her older sister's arm for a moment, then bit into it, drinking Stheno's blood. As bloodsuckers, the gorgon sisters could heal and recover energy by drinking the blood of others, with more being restored based on compatibility. And there was no one more compatible with a gorgon sister than another gorgon sister.

As Euryale drank, Stheno realized something strange. Even if Medusa was mortal, she was still divine in a way, meaning that she could heal relatively quickly, even without drinking blood. And yet, her wounds never showed any sign of healing. Was it that weapon?

She was pulled from her thoughts when Euryale pulled away from her. When Stheno turned to her, she saw her younger sister wiping the blood from her body, her wounds healed. While Euryale was calmer than before, tears still streamed from her eyes.

"Euryale?" Stheno asked cautiously.

"Why?" Euyrale asked.

"Huh?"

"Why, Stheno," Euyrale reiterated. "Why did he take her head? Why did she have to die?" Her voice began to break. "Why did Medusa have to die, Stheno?" She turned to the coast. "She didn't deserve it, Stheno. All she did was protect us, so why? What did Medusa do to deserve this? What did we do to deserve having her taken from us?"

Euryale asking that made Stheno come to a horrifying realization. "What did we do…to deserve her at all?"

"What?" Euryale inquired, turning back to Stheno.

Stheno didn't want to answer as she didn't want to upset Euryale further, but she knew that her younger sister wouldn't stop asking until she did. "What did we do to deserve Medusa? It's like you said, Euryale, Medusa protected us. But that's not all. She got us food, did our laundry, cleaned up around the isle, she did everything for us. And we abused her. We made fun of her height, of her mortality, even though it hurt her, and we knew it. We forcefully drank her blood without her consent. We hurt her to the point she became scared of us, and we enjoyed it."

"I-I don't quite understand…" Euryale murmured.

"Think about it," Stheno told her, "Medusa did everything for us. Did we ever thank her?"

Euryale's eyes widened, realization creeping in. "No, we never did…"

"What did we do instead?"

Euryale covered her mouth with her hands, then grasped Stheno in a hug, sobbing again. Stheno embraced her back, weeping quietly. She thought back to all the times they had bullied Medusa, forced her to do all of the chores, insulted her, forcibly drank her blood, among other things. We never deserved a sister like her.

Stheno didn't let herself weep for long, though. With Medusa gone, she and Euryale needed to learn how to defend themselves and do the chores they had Medusa do. Not to mention Medusa's funeral.

She separated herself from her sister. "Come on, Euryale," she said calmly, wiping the tears from her eyes, "we have things to do. We can mourn Medusa later."

Euryale sniffed. "Ok."