Rating: PG-13 for content in later chapters.

Summery: The story of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece from Medea's point of view (remember, the witch who helped him?) She's telling this after everything is all over, and it's a kind of stream of consciousness looking back at what happened to make her end up where she is. This chapter, she meets him for the first time.

Disclaimer: I do not own any myths, Greek or otherwise. I do not own Jason, I do not own Medea, but I do Theokleia.

------- Chapter One -------

I am vilely betrayed. He has betrayed me. He, whom I saved. He, whom I loved. Whom I still love, despite all that has come to pass. He has betrayed me.

I saw him first. When they came in, all I could see was him. He filled my eyes, I could not keep them off him.

My maid, Theokleia, claimed later that as the Greeks came in, she saw a little boy with a cherub's face and an archer's tools slip out past them. Eros. The son of the Goddess of love. Maybe it was so – Theokleia is always claiming to see the Gods or their creatures, but this time, it might be so. Why else would he have affected me so? How else could I have brought myself to do the things I have done? And the men who saw their coming say that there was nothing but a cloud of mist until it reached the city gates, where it suddenly dissolved into this group of men, so the hand of at least one of the Gods is at work in all this. Ah well, I shall never know for certain, and the cause is not what matters now.

They came piling into our main hall, bold heroes all, but not a one of them could match him. I remember so clearly how he looked when he first came in – golden curls flying as he turned to laugh at a joke one of his friends had made, white teeth shining as he laughed, blue eyes sparkling in merriment as he turned back again. And saw me. I still remember that first thrill that ran through my body as he looked at me, remember because I still feel that way. It makes me feel alive, just to know that he is looking at me, and it is but a pale imitation of life when he looks away.

They wanted, or rather he wanted; for it was his idea, he was the Captain, the rest were just his crew, however much of a name they had for themselves; he wanted the Golden Fleece that had been given to my father by Phrixus in gratitude for taking him in and giving him my sister's hand in marriage.

My father did not wish to do this thing. He gave him an impossible task, one that would surely kill him. My father told the Greeks that he would give them the Fleece only if one of them yoked his fire-breathing bulls to plow his fields, then sowed those fields with the teeth of a dragon, which would cause an army to grow from the ground, which that one would then have to defeat. My father lied and said it was only what he had done himself. My father looked right at him the whole time he spoke, and it was obvious who he wanted to do this. After all, he was the only one with any legitimate claim to the Fleece as he was a relation to Phrixus, and if he failed the others would go home in defeat with him.

He said he would do it. Right away, without a pause for thought, he agreed. I almost died in that moment, for he surely would die the next day. No one could come near those two bulls without being cremated. They had to be kept in a stable made of stone, built expressly for them, so that they did not burn down their walls and run away.

When I went to my room that night, I wept for hours. I did not want him to die, although I had only seem him briefly, and I knew he had no idea of who I was, I still could not bear the thought of a world without him in it. I even took out my dagger, and thought of using on myself, so that I could bear him company on the journey to Hades. Theokleia saw, and took it away, along with anything else sharp enough to stab me or strong enough to hang me.

Yes, I thought of killing myself for him, then nothing more than a stranger who had wandered across my path. But I did not. Sometimes I wish now that I had, then I would not have to come to know this agony.

For he has betrayed me, betrayed me most deeply and foully. I gave him everything, and yet he cast me aside when I suited his purpose no longer.

Yet I love him still. If I did not, perhaps I would not hurt so much now. Perhaps I would not care. But I do, and he shall know what it is to be in my place, that so-called "great hero" shall know what it is to fear, to be scorned by one whom you thought cared for you. I shall have my revenge, and then he shall know what it is to be betrayed.

------- ------- -------

A.N: Okay, two style points: yes, I know it's not perfect grammar but I'm trying to get the sense that this is something she's thinking, and people rarely form their thoughts in completely perfect grammar. Secondly, the whole thing italicisation of some "he"s and not others thing. Wherever "he" or "him" is italicised is where you'd normally put "Jason" and where they aren't is where you'd normally just have the pronoun anyway.

The name "Theokleia" is an ancient Greek name meaning "Glory of God", which I figured was appropriate for someone who sees the Gods. The modern version of this name is "Thekla".

So far, I haven't deviated from the myth, and I do not intend to do so, but if I do, I will mention it. For those who don't know, Jason's relationship to Phrixus is that they're cousins. The reason Jason wants the fleece is because another cousin of his named Pelias has usurped the kingdom that belongs to Jason, but has promised to give it back if Jason brings back the Golden Fleece (believing that there's no way Jason will come back from this quest alive).