Salt on the breeze. Air so fresh it burned her lungs. She gazed out at the rolling waves, at the distant horizon, where the sun was just barely waking from its sleep. Oranges and yellows, even a tint of purple filtered up into dark sky above her, where millions of twinkling stars were fixated. It was like a water color painting, so gentle was the transition of vibrant colors. She felt like she was in another world for a moment, some ethereal, alien plain of existence.

Freezing wavelets lapped at her ankles, churning the sand between her toes. All along her beach the waves meandered in, caressing the bleached white sand, before it danced lazily away again. Shells and drift wood fell victim to the mischievous waters, tumbling about in the current until they settled too far up for the water to reclaim. She bent down to retrieve one such shell, drawing the delicate gauzy material of her dress up away from the water with her other hand. Pale, speckled green fingers curled around the spiraling shell, feeling the bumps and rough edges scratch against her skin as she lifted it from the sand. Deep orange eyes, half lidded in complete relaxation, scanned the little shell lazily before she dusted the wet sand from it and tucked it away with the pile she already had gathered against her stomach. She held her treasures close to her, taking a moment to arrange them around each other so none would break, before closing her dresses fabric around them. Her eyes rose again to the lightening skyline, and she turned away with a soft sigh.

Night was her day... while others around the world rose with the sun, she turned in. Night was cool, and calm. No bright lights, or gawking eyes to disturb her... not that she had a problem with that sort of thing anyway. The move from the overpopulated cesspool of New York had been an easy one. She left everything behind her a few year prior to return home, to the open skies of Rhodes... empty of concrete monstrosities and filthy humans. She had been welcomed by familiar hills and the pleasant scent of Olive and Cyprus trees mixing with ocean air. It hadn't taken her long to... settle in.

White sand vanished from under her feet, replaced by the dirt of the path she took home every single morning. Half of a tune rolled off her tongue, uttered in her language... the old language that had died before she had managed to learn most of it. She passed by a row of battered surf boards, trophies she had collected as the years passed, and reached out to touched one gently, dragging her fingers along its length before it was out of reach. She didn't know how to use them, though she had watched their owners slipping gracefully along the waves. Perhaps one day she would learn. The sights and smells of her beach were left behind her as she climbed up the gradual hill to her home, which was perched neatly at the top. She could already see her windows glittering in the distance, sparkling with orange and yellow as the sun rose ever higher. As she reached the top of the hill, the Greek paused before a large iron gate, reaching out to grasp the bars, before she pushed one side open and stepped into her garden.

It always felt so good to come home...

Shadows danced from the light of the coming dawn, she smiled at their antics, shivering as a cold wind blew in off the water and rustled her loose hair. Ivy had more or less overtaken her garden, looking like squirming serpents as the breeze rolled over it Most of the garden was still dark, even a little gloomy in the weakening twilight, but during they day her flowers came to life. Lily's and tiny white ivy blooms would spread their petals wide to embrace the sun. An ocean of burgundy poppies, their think green stems lifting them higher toward the light, would unfold and sway with the wind. During the day her garden was beautiful by any standard... Blooms galore and enough decorative statues and trees scattered about to give it a whimsical air.
...But at night her dark sanctuary took on a whole new life, and a monstrous truth. With the mother moon glowing vibrantly overhead, her garden became an eerie, isolated graveyard. The same elegant statues cast in shadow, covered in sleeping flora. Everything looked old and dead... A sight she honestly didn't mind. Beauty wasn't something she hated, not really anyway... but there was something calming about absolute stillness and muted colors. Stepping into her refuge, her private temple, she shut the heavy gate behind her, making sure not to jostle her precious cargo. "Hello, my friends.... Sorry I was gone so long." Silence greeted her, and she began the short, winding walk to her house.

She turned a soft smile toward every statue as she padded by, reaching out to gently touch some in passing. Each wore the face of someone dear to her. Each had a special place in her heart. She passes an old rusted bench, over grown with weeds and ivy. The pale gray figure of a girl sat there, half consumed in foliage. Water had run in tiny rivers over the statues cheeks, leaving dirty stains... like black tears. She smiled at it, her eyed lingering upon it's features for a moment longer than normal. It had been a long, lonely while since she had looked into that girls terrified green eyes. In a way, those eyes had been more honest to her in their final moments, than they had all the times before. She could remember when she had first met her... in the park. They had run around like children, with paper hats. Her heart had been... lighter... back then. Silly, and naive. But... this one had also made her realize what true friendship was. It was she, the girl who had looked past her appearance to form a bond, who had made her realize that she could not live without those she loved close to her.

"Good morning, my friend." She paused to sit beside it, tinkering with the shells in her lap as she lapsed into memory. One of late nights, giggling, and mad dashes though hallways. Feathers and filled the air, and not a room, nor shelf, had been safe from them. It was a memory she was fond of. One she held very dear... A moment later, with a soft sigh, she rose again.

Continuing on, she passed by the figure of a man, standing tall and proud. He held a large basin of water, which dribbled with overflow from a recent rainfall. She was particularly fond of that one... It had taken forever for her to get him to hold the basin just right. She thought it did him justice. When she had known him, he had been a moral rock for her.... he had made her stop and think about the path she had been treading. Back then... he had been right. Always right. He had sat with her through the worst of times, and he had always been strong. She had done nothing to change her role in life, instead just shutting herself away from the truth, and she had suffered because of it.... and though it hadn't been he, who had changed her, she loved him dearly for trying. Her friend, a shining beacon of justice... she was very glad to have him so close by. Always there to watch over her. She dipped her chin in greeting to him, and turned to continue on.

Passing a few dark, crumbling figures, she paused by an embracing couple. Moss had started to creep up their legs, spots had formed on shoulders and in the crooks of arms. She sighed, and set about brushing it off. Her hand lingered on the arm of the woman, who's frozen features were tucked into a tight embrace with her male partner. That piece held strong emotions in it. Every time she looked a it, she remembered what they had once been to her. Role models, family, parents.... The feelings were not always happy ones though. Father... Mother... They were titles which demanded respect.... but they- those still, cold figures- had never deserved the honor. It was easy, when standing before them, for all of the warm feelings in her heart to wash away. These two, they reminded her of what she was. What she always had been, and forever would be... They did not deserve a place in her garden due to earning her admiration, love, or respect. No... They were there to always remind her of where she had come from. They had created her, after all.

Her hand dropped away and she stepped back, orange eyes glowing with the light from the rising sun. It had taken her weeks, to get them posed at they were. And, oddly enough, it was the only time she could recall... that she had ever seen them embrace.Turning away, she left them behind her and moved on. It was growing ever lighter outside, and she didn't want to keep him waiting. She had been gone most of the night...

...he would surely worry.

Her home smelled of dust. Dark and quiet. A musky odor hung heavily in the air. Decay. Her entryway held the same presence as a funeral home... but that was how she loved it. Silence greeted her every-time she entered. The entry way led her past the entrance to the kitchen, where a thick iron scent was always present. She spied a small pool of crimson that had collected on the tiled floor, and made a mental note to clean it up later as she passed by. She had things to do, and could not be bothered by chores at the moment. Halfway down the hall, she came across the still form of a girl. A child who’s back faced the wall, hands cupped before her. There was always a little smile on her face. Andrea smiled back, green lips twisting politely. She dug in her pile of shells, pulling out a small pink spotted cone, and set it gently in the girls waiting hands. A gift if you will, to a child she had always wanted to make happy. Running her hand over the girls marble hair, she continued on. The rest of her prizes were only meant for one man.

The darkness gradually let up as she drew closer to her living room. A bright fire was crackling, waiting to dry her soaked toes. The dancing light illuminated her as she entered the room, casting shadows across her features, as well as the many dust chairs and figures she had scattered about. Of the many statues though... two stood out. Andrea made her way to them, the smile dropping from her lips. One was a woman, thin and unimposing to anyone who had never met her. The other a tall, broad shouldered, predatory man. She bowed her head to both, silently greeting them with every ounce of respect she had contained in her body. Each had altered her life in different ways. One had opened her eyes to the differences between her kind, and the vermin who wandered the earth. Small pink squishy things that were easily frightened by anything their small brains couldn’t understand. That woman had opened her eyes, even if she hadn’t been ready to see. She would always command Andrea’s respect.

The other... the man, he held a special place in her heart as well. The cold place, that she turned to when people stumbled upon her hideaway. When she had met him she had been weak. Frightened of the truth, and unwilling to accept reality. He had shown her the way with tooth and claw, brutal in his ways... but correct. As she gazed up at him, orange eyes glowing in the fires light, her lips split into a twisted grin. His feline features were twisted in a snarl, mouth agape to show off his set of mighty fangs. In the end his methods had worked. She accepted her destiny, and had embraced it with open arms... and bare hands. The two who had changed her, altered her into the creature she had always been destined to be, stood side by side. Each posed in a manner that reflected their power. It had taken her forever to find them... to show them what she had learned. What they had taught her... but it had been well worth it. She knew they were proud... proud of what she had become. And she knew that they watched over her from where ever they were, seated upon the thrones of kings, appeased by the work she continued to do.

Chuckling darkly, the Greek turned and continued on her way. She was close now... he was only a few rooms away. She could already smell him, and feel his skin against her own. “I am home... Love. I brought you a gift...” Her voice carried softly down the hallway, toward the darkness at it’s end, where only a sliver of light from a cracked open door stood to greet her.

Her bedroom was warm. It leaked out through the cracked door, touching her cheeks as she neared. It was her favorite place. Where she could let down her guard... drop the stone walls around her heart and relax. Pressing the door gently open, her spotted fingers lingering on the wood before it was out of reach, a soft smile graced her lips and she let out a long content sigh. She was home... Orange eyes alighted on her bedroom. With pale wall that the paint was flaking off of, and windows covered with dusty red drapes. Over the years, she had decorated nearly every inch of it with little unique rocks, dried wild flowers from her garden, and sea shells she had gotten from the beach.

All for him.

He was the center of her life. The anchor that kept her rooted to reality... Without him, she’d float away into madness. Her bare feet stepped onto the ragged carpet that took up most of her bedroom floor, trailing traces of sand and dirt from her journey home. She clutched the shells nestled in the folds of her dress to her chest, giddy as a school girl, and padded quietly over to him. He said not a word... uttered no sounds at all. But that was his nature... her ever silent guardian. He sat in his chair, facing the closed window curtains. The growing daylight bounced shadows off of his face as she crawled onto his lap, opening her pile of shells on her lap. His arms rested easily on the rests of his chair... a chair she had painstakingly made for him from drift wood and garden ivy. Small twigs and sticks had been used to create branches, that stemmed up from the backrest of the chair. Leaves had been wrapped onto each branch with ivy, and she had even managed to catch a few birds to sit perched in the foliage. Forever a part of the furniture. She could still remember the day that he had seen it...

He hadn’t liked it very much. They had fought about it, about a lot of things.... but he had eventually quieted. She regretted arguments like that. They always left bad tasted in her mouth, and regrets on mind. “Saphirus, my love... look what I brought.” She caressed his cheek softly, then dipped her hand to pick up a shell and show it to him. It had taken her a while to get him to accept such gifts from her. About as long as it had taken her to get him just the way she needed him to be. At first... she had just wanted him to stay. She had realized that without the one she loved, her life was empty and cold. Day to day chores didn’t give her any joy, her art didn’t give her any pleasure. Then he had come along, and she had remembered how it felt to have him around her. He had been mad at first, of course.... about what she was doing, about how she had left. They had fought and fought and fought... but she had won.

She had won, and she had decided that he would stay. She had made him his chair and secured him gently with restraints of ivy. She had tried to take care of him, like a wife would... but he had caused trouble. He broke his bonds and attempted to leave. So she had been forced to make that impossible. With the magic of her hands, she had made him a part of his own chair. His arms and feet became the bonds, anchoring him to the wood better than any rope could have. Unfortunately, it had only caused more fighting. Slowly, as the years passe, she had been forced to turn more and more of him, until the day came when he was quiet. After that day, she found that everything was better. He no longer refused her touch. He no longer turned his eyes from her. Even now, as she sat poised in his lap, his chin was turned her way. Eyes gazing into her’s forever. Some would disagree, but she found that his unblinking stare was quite beautiful.

Setting the shells back down in her lap, she curled into his chest. The hardness didn’t bother her.. in fact, it made her feel safer. Closing her eyes, she smiled softly... and leaned in to place a soft kiss against his rough stone lips. “I love you... Saphir--

~~

Andrea sat bolt upright in bed, sweat dripping down her brow, into wide orange eyes. Her whole body trembled violently. Her hands were clenching her bed sheets so tightly that her fingers had gone numb long ago. Her lips parted, teeth that had just been clenched separating, and she let out a shrill scream that reverberated off the walls. The nightmares images were still clear in her mind. All of the faces of those she loved... what she had done to them. Hot tears welled in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks in small rivers. The Gorgon stopped screaming only when her throat gave up, and someone down the hall pounded on a wall. She felt her stomach flip, and threw her blankets off, fleeing to her bathroom where she lost her dinner into the toilet, and collapsed into a sobbing mess on the floor.