Healing Medusa

Back in the general area they first started at, away from the Cobra Gorgons, Theoric released Medusa's eyes so she could help guide them out.

Theoric- "I know you aren't yet convinced of our good intentions and you still have your doubts, but I would like you to please remember what I can do for you should you choose to put your faith in me."

Medusa who was thinking about making a possible escape was reminded of the hand he cured as she looked down at the smooth skin of her human hand.- "Your right, I'll do anything you ask if you can turn me back." she softly said while looking at her hand.

Theoric- "All I ask is for you to keep an open mind and think before you act." He then proceeded to tell Sigyn through the rings telepathy that he was on his way back.

Following Medusa out as best they could while blind, they began heading back the way they came and out the cave entrance.

Once Theoric smelled fresh air again. stepping back out, he turned towards Medusa- "Thank you for showing us the way out, now I think it would be best if you let me cover your eyes again so we can find our way back to the boat and you don't accidentally kill our friends."

Medusa- "Are you sure? there could still be roaming Gorgons who, while nowhere near as strong as me, could still kill with a glance if you happen to lock eyes with them."

"I was afraid of that, but we'll be careful," he said while contacting Sigyn again to make sure she was okay and not to go using her eyes to look for anything that might be heading her way and just use her powers to defend herself.

Then with her permission, he covered her eyes and started heading to the coast while keeping his eyes down, passing the many statues once again on their way back.

When they neared the end however, Medusa froze when she heard the crashing waves, she never ventured anywhere near the edges of the island before, always too afraid that he would see her and come.

Theoric halted- "Medusa? You don't have to be afraid, he'll be far too scared to come for you now that you've been cursed."

Medusa shook as tears poured down her cheeks- "Am I that ugly now?"

Theoric couldn't help but laugh before he got an elbow from Anna making him cough as he explained- "Sorry for laughing, but even as a snake your quite beautiful my dear, I can only imagine what you looked like as a human, to answer your question no, no your not ugly, but you are powerful, so powerful in fact, the gods will likely die from your gaze."

Medusa mouth hung open in shock- "What!? Are you joking? Why would the gods give me power strong enough to kill themselves?"

Theoric rubbed his chin as he thought back to the carving at the front entrance to her lair- "Why indeed? I have my suspicions though, and no my dear this is not a joke, in the end, it could simply be a mistake on their part or something more, all I know is that your gaze is extremely deadly to just about everything and the gods will not risk coming down and finding out whether or not they can survive it."

Anna not wishing to be outdone when it came to knowing things added matter of factly- "You know he might be on to something, you were likely placed on this island for a reason and like Theoric I can guess a thing or two, but the main point is, I don't think you were simply punished, I'm sure my mother had something else in mind, she even gave you a bow to defend yourself with that provides you with a never-ending supply of magically produced arrows every time you pull the string after all, and your fear of the sea was also likely calculated to prevent you from running, I don't know the reason why it had to be you, but it all does seem to click into place when you think about it." she said thinking about everything that happened, already figuring out what the bow was with a simple glance and the knowledge on how she always had an arrow ready despite being on an island devoid of anything.

Medusa who was quietly listening didn't miss the word mother and was now seething with rage as she asked through gritted teeth- "You said mother? Are you Athena's Daughter? I knew your scent seemed familiar, your presence, to think I almost forgot it... I WILL KILL YOU!" she said lunging in the direction of Anna only to be frozen in place by Theoric.

Medusa then broke down into tears- "Why, why did your mother betray me? I gave her my everything."

Anna who received a small shock from her unrestrained anger grew sad seeing her break down- "I don't know why she did it, and while I can't comment on whether she was right or not, I do know she did wrong by you, and I'm sorry."

Theoric sent some soothing healing aura towards Medusa to help calm her- "I know this is a touchy subject, but remember what I asked of you, keep an open mind and think before you act, Anna is here to help you just like me, she isn't here to cause you any more pain, we only wish to help and fix the mistakes of the past while looking for better solutions for the future."

After calming down they continued the rest of the way in silence, Medusa far too spent to give in to her fear of the ocean as Theoric placed them on the boat and quickly sailed far away until he felt safe enough to finally drop his guard and relax taking a much-needed rest.

Sigyn and the others greeted them fondly and looked curiously upon their new guest who they tried to interact with only to get the cold shoulder as she quietly sat curled up in a corner moping.

Theoric who was grabbing a bite with the girls stopped Sigyn from taking food to Medusa- "Sigyn hold off on that, in just a bit you and me are going to try and heal her, and it would probably be best if she doesn't have anything extra in her system when we do it."

Once Theoric was done resting he guided Sigyn out onto the deck where Medusa was waiting still blindfolded.

He then formed a square energy room around them so they were completely cut off from the sounds of the outside world so as not to be disturbed and better relax Medusa who was barely getting by while on the boat as she concentrated on all the good things to help push her past the fear of the ocean.

The other girls patiently waited outside the structure with Anna wishing she could do more to help and thinking about whether or not her mother would be happy with what she was doing. She knew Athena likely had her reasons, but she was also confident with her own thinking and knew in her heart that what happened to Medusa was wrong and just hopped that her mother didn't have a good enough reason to do what she did.

Inside the square room, Theoric grabbed Medusa's hand- "Okay now, this will not be easy Sigyn, this was created by an Olympian and will take some time to deal with, I'm not even sure with your help we'll be able to fully get rid of it, but I am confident that we can at least shed her snake form and give her looks back with your help."

"Mn, I'm ready," said Sigyn with a serious look.

"I'm also ready," Medusa quietly said as she nervously curled up her snake body.

"Alright, let's do this, we'll start off slow for now, Sigyn, come over here and watch what I do, try and work in tandem with me to help take care of her hand before we move on to more important parts," he said taking Medusa snake hand with Sigyn placing her's right next to his so she could use her healing to help, following his lead.

His hand lit up with white light, then hers as she focused harder than she ever has before, trying her best to sense exactly what he was doing and how he was doing it. Healing the human portion to such a degree that it overcame the snake portion, healing the human antibodies that laid dormant to fight off the snake part like it would any disease. Speeding up the process as they also healed the damage it was doing to the body as it began the process of destroying the snake and regenerating the human side.

The only reason it wasn't painful for Medusa was that the constant healing taking place was more than just putting her at ease as it took care of anything that would have been painful pretty much instantly.

A few minutes later and Theoric let the hand go as he grinned to Sigyn who also let her go smiling back.

Sigyn happily exclaimed- "It worked! I was able to follow along and learn how you did it, I was starting to think I would never get the chance to utilize my healing abilities, I'm glad I can use them to help out now."

Theoric- "Yes, but this is one portion and if you look at her other hand... (Bringing the other hand up.) if we don't do this right it could come back."

"What! Is my hand turning back?" Asked a very mortified Medusa who was happy just a second ago after hearing he healed the other one.- "Please, you have to, you just have to be able to do it." pleaded Medusa while squeezing his hands with tears welling up just behind her blindfold.

Sigyn also grew emotional hearing her pleas- "Theo, can we do nothing to stop it from coming back?"

Theoric- "Just give me a minute to think, I knew this wasn't going to be easy, we aren't just curing you from being a snake, there is a magical curse woven into it that isn't easy to deal with, but I'm still confident I can do something, worst case is we'll have to provide you with healing every so often."

latching onto the words he could do something, Medusa embraced him not worrying about anything else he said - "Oh, thank you, thank you, I just want to be able to walk again on my own two legs and not slither around like some kind of worm, and my skin, Oh, how I missed my skin, it feels so much nicer." she said rubbing her hands together with only a slight frown whenever she felt the few scales that popped back up on the previous healed one.

Theoric- "I'll give it my best shot, even if we can't do it now, I'm confident that we can in the future."

Sigyn nodded- "Yes, we'll definitely help you out."

Medusa lowered her head whispering- "Thanks." Feeling a little shy under their heartfelt promises and good intentions.

Theoric grinned- "We're not even done yet, you can thank us later, come on Sigyn, let's do this."

Sigyn- "Mn!"

He then had Medusa turn and lie down as he went for the hardest part next, the snake body, where the legs should be. He debated whether or not to cut it off and then heal her, but he thought better of it as he and Sigyn bent down on either side placing both hands down.

Theoric- "Okay Sigyn, you saw the way I did it, we'll repeat the process, but this time it might get a little painful, so prepare yourself Medusa."

"I'm ready for any amount of pain to get out of that body," she said through a gritted smile.

Theoric took a deep breath- "Here we go."

It didn't go nearly as well as everyone hoped, and they eventually decided to cut off the body like Theoric originally thought as Medusa screamed- "GET RID OF IT!" as she lost patience and later passing out from the pain.

Theoric cut it off clean with a sharpened barrier wall which he held in place to keep her from bleeding as he kept her completely still with his power. Sigyn was a great deal more helpful than he could have ever thought, in some ways her healing was even more potent as the plant-like magic lingered far longer, keeping the regeneration going even when her attention moved elsewhere.

By the end of it, through some miracle, they managed to pull it off and have a naked human girl passed out in front of them lying on her stomach. She still had a bit of scaling here and there that they could do nothing about, and the magical curse was still interwoven inside her core, but they managed to get her human side back out on top, and for now, it seemed she didn't have anything to worry about in the immediate future about the snake part coming back, though Theoric and Sigyn would keep an eye on it and help out whenever necessary.

Theoric was still worried that there would be an ongoing battle inside her, human vs snake, with it potentially being painful. He was working on a way to help seal off some of the curse behind barriers, but having never done it before inside anyone, he was a bit nervous about messing something up. Luckily with his newfound knowledge about the human body, he was able to fashion together a few areas of protection without worry, only time would tell how well everything worked and how much more work they needed to do. They would now have to wait until she woke up and let them know how she felt.