Her bedroom was empty. Devoid of life, save for her and the snoring piglet at her feet. Her breathing was shallow and quick. Sharp intakes of breath between winces. She could hear everything... every squeak of the walls and floorboards, the whooshing of winds outside swaying nearby garden trees. Somewhere, she could hear faint talking. Whispering. She winced again, and raised her face from the darkness her arms provided. Sleep wouldn't come. It hadn't come for nearly a week. She had been forced to seclude herself from people so they wouldn't notice how sick she looked... how dark the shadows under her eyes had gotten. She didn't want anyone to worry. The warmth on her feet moved as her pig wriggled and turned over, and Andrea removed her unshielded gaze from the animal before it could squint up at her sleepily. It snorted softly, whined a little in a caring, worried sort of way, then flopped over onto its back and resumed snoring softly. The action forced a timid smile onto the Gorgons lips. "Such a good girl..." She mumbled quietly, her voice strained and hoarse. One gloved hand reached out to stroke the pigs soft belly slowly, before she turned her head, and pulled herself up off the bed.

Her temples throbbed, the room spun and tilted, and she reached out to stabilize herself with a hand on her dresser. Her stomach churned, though empty, and she headed for the bathroom on wobbly legs. The journey there seemed so much longer than it should have... her vision was fuzzy and slow, and small dark shadows raced through her field of vision- things she had been seeing for days. Part of her realized that it was probably because she was dehydrated, not drinking anything for a few days will do that to you... but the rest of her mind was too clouded and fuzzy to think about many of the things seen in the past few weeks. Andrea stumbled into her dark bathroom, picked up the sunglasses she had left on the bathroom sink, and flicked the light on with a shaking hand. A gaunt, pale face greeted her. She touched her cheek carefully, wincing as her head throbbed painfully once more, and tilted her head down to glance at the seeping mess still leaking from her hair. It had been a few weeks since she had first noticed small bumps forming on top of her head. They had grown since there, and just in the last few days they had started seeping a clear yellowish liquid. It made hiding herself from the rest of the school all the more important.

Her vision swam again for a moment and she braced herself against the sink. She hissed, and squeezed her eyes shut. She could still hear people talking... and the wind- and somewhere someones shower started up... and she could hear a soft laughing. It seemed closer that the people chatting out in the hall...soft like someone was doing it under their breath... but close- almost like it was in her own head. She snorted, wavering for a moment on her feet, and shook her head. Only crazy people heard voices in their heads... crazy people and some unlucky mutants. Tipping her chin up, the Greek focused her eyes on the bathroom lights above her, and for a moment the pain receded. That soft laughing got just a little but louder, enough so that she shook her head and frowned. Her gaze dropped back to her reflection in the mirror, and she screamed...

The hallway was empty. Devoid of life save for a single figure. Saphirus stood in front of a certain door, staring at it with a nervous look on his face. He reached up to knock, chickened out, dropped his hand, paced a little bit, stopped in front of the door again, reached up to knock, chickened out, and repeated the process once more.

He hadn't talked to Andrea in weeks... She had been avoiding him. He didn't know why. Was it something he'd said? Something he'd done? He'd really thought they had something; was he just fooling himself? Maybe this was just her way of breaking it off with him. He frowned. It was late; too late to be here right now, but he didn't know if he could wait any longer.

If it was over, he could take it. He was a grown man, he could take jsut about anything. But not knowing what was going on was driving him up the freakin wall! He clenched his fist, stopped in front of the door again, and gritted his teeth. No... No more waiting... He was going to knock; late hour and nerves be damned.

He reached up to knock on the door, pulling his fist back, and moving it forward slowly.

It was then that he heard a piercing scream. It had come from the room. It was Andrea.

His first thought was that she was being kidnapped again! The would-be hero wouldn't let that happen again. Before he even knew what he was doing he had kicked in the door, and was on his way into the bathroom; the source of the scream. What he saw when he walked in made his heart sink to his feet.

The face... the face in the mirror. She screamed again, but it was just short when her voice gave way. She stared mutely at the reflection, her reflection, with wide panicked eyes. Green skin, orange eyes, the long canine teeth grinning back at her from the mirror... These things she recognized- but the rest...

A scalp full of twisting, hissing snakes.. that- that was something sh didn't expect to see. Green black eyed vipers, fangs bared, forked tongues... Andre stumbled back, one gloved hand flying to cover her mouth. She bumped into the wall behind her, sucked in a ragged breath, and bared her teeth in another silent cry. Her reflection didn't move, didn't blink, simply grinned. A face covered in dark black and green scales with wide eyes.. eyes that had an empty, dark look in them. The laughing grew louder, and the pounding in her skull tripled. She saw someone swoop into the doorway of her bathroom, and squinted though her glasses at whoever it was, just as a small pink blur darted in around his feet.

"Saphirus..?" Her voice was soft... she wobbled, and the laughing grew louder once more. She wanted it to stop... the pain to stop... the laughing.. She squeezed her eyes shut, her chin tucking into her collar bone, and shrieked again as her hands curled into her hair. The oozing bumps throbbed once, twice, then popped one by one like tiny volcanoes.

Yellow goo splattered onto the walls next to her, even across the room on that horrible monstrous reflection and the door, and she shrieked again. Small squirming green bodies flopped out from the darkness of her hair, uncoiling like blood soaked miniature garden hoses around her shoulders. Blood dribbled down her forehead, dotting the floor around her feet, and she screamed again as a new pain bubbles to the surface on her skin.

Saph stood wide eyed in shock as he watched the scene play out in front of him. Andrea definitely wasn't being kidnapped. Not at all. Something was happening to her...

My god, she looked horrible! She had been thin before; enough to where he was a little bit concerned, but now she was dangerously frail, like she hadn't eaten in weeks. The bags under her eyes were proof that she hadn't been sleeping either... What had happened to her? These details were nothing, though, compared to what was on her head.

He heard her say his name, his jaw just flapped uselessly as he tried and failed to find words, and then she grabbed her scalp, and he saw the sores on her head split open. spewing forth pus and what looked like something scaly... something fleshy. Something alive. "Andrea!" he stepped forward as blood peppered the floor, nearly slipping on a line of goo on the floor. He stopped short, not sure what to do. The little pig came out of nowhere, running past his feet and to it's owner; maybe it sensed something was wrong.

"Oh my god... W... We gotta get you some help!"

She couldn't think... the pain was too overwhelming. She cracked her eyes open enough see the blood on the floor, her blood on the floor, before dark colors began to dance at the corners of her vision. She felt woozy, a little tired, and kind of light headed... with all of the pain on top of it. Her knees buckled and she slipped to her hands and knees, groaning despite her beaten throat. The freshly birthed creatures attached to her scalp hung limply for a few moments, before they sprang to life as if jolted with electricity.

Small fanged mouths snapped open and shut, many small orange eyes took in the room for the very first time, and forked tongues graced the quiet, panicked air. Andrea shook, adrenalin and agony forcing her frail body to twitch and jolt about while she struggled to keep herself conscious. Her eyes slipped over to the sounds of soft snorting... a small pink nose came into focus, and a few seconds later she felt a warm tongue cleaning her arm.

Her pig, as worried as a pig could get, was doing its best to calm her down. It could sense her pain, the tension in the air, and the smell of blood was enough to sent it squealing from the room.... but it wouldn't leave its friend, and more importantly its feeder, alone. The Greek winced, wanting to reach her hands out and wrap them around her comforting friend, but she knew if she moved even an inch, her elbows would give and she would wind up face first on the floor. Instead, she moved her gaze past her softly snorting pet, to the feet in the doorway and then up.

"...Ss...aph...." Her vision darkened a little more. She could feel the serpents on her head beginning to squirm... they were fully awakening. Something tugged at the back of her neck... something bigger than the others. "..help..."
She toppled forward, slumping into the small splattered puddle below her, and her pig scuttled back quickly, before edging back to sniff at her again. A soft hissing sound started up from within her mass of hair and not long after a pair of orange eyes peeked out from under the dark mass. A forked tongue slipped out to taste the air, and its head fully protruded out from its hiding place. The pig sniffed and sniffed, edging ever closer- until the snake lashed out at it with its fangs bared...

Snakes... They were snakes. Snakes were hatching out of her head! That didn't seem physically possible! He moved forward a bit more, but froze in place again as she asked for help... How the hell did you help someone in this situation?! She fell to the ground, and her pig stepped back, startled. As it closed in again, Saph heard a harsh hissing. The largest of the snake had the pig in it's sights! He had to save it. He didn't have enough time for be gentle about it, Saph reared back his leg, and sent a heavy kick the pigs way, knocking it off to the side, where it fell limp.

He was just in time, too; the snake had already lunged, and it's teeth sank into his pants, barely missing his own flesh. He pulled his leg away, looking down at his pant leg, which was slowly turning to stone... Uh oh... These thing's had powers like Andrea?! The snake reared back to strike again, and Saph realized that they didn't just have powers like hers... they were part of her! The snake lunged again, and Saph moved back, just out of it's range. It tried to get closer, but it was firmly anchored to it's mother's scalp. Saph took the opportunity to sucker punch the head with all of his might, splitting open it's face, and knocking the little animal out cold.

He took a few freaked out breaths before letting reason flood back in... He had to get Andrea to the med lab, she was losing blood! Saph quickly closed in to pick up her limp body, too worried to care about getting goo on him. He heard the piggy stirring in the corner as he lifted her... My god she was so light... The pig eyed him from the corner, not daring to come near... Great, he'd made a new enemy; awesome.

He didn't have time to worry about that, though, her safety was the priority; He sprinted with the girl in his arms, calling for anyone to help on his way to the mansions medical facilities.

Piggy flew out of harms way with a shrill Squeeee~, and the snake had little time to react as its fangs sank not into supple pink flesh, but into rough, worn out jeans. It jerked its head back, assuming the coiled and ready to strike position, and sent one angry hiss the intruders way before its muscles tensed and it launched itself forward again, intent on causing damage.

The other snakes, who were watching cautiously from within Andrea's tangled hair, licked the air in anticipation. One of their brothers was taking on the tall threat- how would he fair? As the snakes mouth gaped open wide, fangs bared, and it rushed towards Saph, the man's fist was already on its way to connect with the serpents head. The blow was powerful, and as a result the snake lost consciousness immediately, flopping limply to the ground just as blood from its newly acquired gash was hitting the floor. The others watched their great Albino brother fall, and hissed quietly from their hair hideout. They may have just been snakes, but they were smart enough to realize this was not a foe they wanted to mess with.

Andrea felt herself lifted up from within herself. She couldn't feel pain any longer, nor could she feel any of the usual stresses on her body that she had grown used to. Instead she felt... light. An unusual lack of gravity, and a kind of grogginess that she had never really felt before. She could hear very faintly someone saying something, but it was far to distant for her to understand. All of that didn't really matter to her though, she was far too comfortable to wonder about such things. Her muscles didn't ache, her head wasn't throbbing, and she could think clearly for once. All of the things that had happened to her in the past seemed distant, foggy like a dream. She sighed, content with her current situation, and let the lightness consume her.

On the outside though, things were not quite so blissful. Her newly hatched snakes were jostled to and fro in Saphirus's mad dash to the infirmary. They peeked out with now clear orange eyes to spy on the bright, intriguing world around them. The largest of the snakes were far more adventurous than their smaller brethren, and instead of simply spying, they took it upon themselves to curl around the arm of the man holding their mother.

It was too late; no one was awake. Not a single person heard his calls as he rocketed down the hallways. His heart beat fast in tune with his feet as he made his way; he ran for what felt like hours, but was really seconds.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was standing in the med bay, a wide-eyed doc prof headed his way. The doctor lead him to the table, where he was told to set her down. He obeyed roboticly; he felt numb, as if he weren't really him, but rather someone outside of him who happened to be able to tell his body what to do. The doctor spoke to him, but he couldn't comprehend it. He was sat down, looking about the room as if he'd never seen a room before. Before he knew it he was looking at himself. He was covered in blood and goop; his fingers wandered up to his shirt, where he probed a blood splotch curiously, and then looked at it on the tip of his finger... His eyes went blank for a moment.

And then reality flooded back. He looked up to see Doc Prof standing in front of him. "You alright, son?"

"Will... Will she be alright?" Oh god, please don't let her die...

"Yes... I hooked her up to some fluids, she needs rest, though... It's not as bad as it looks" A sigh of relief escaped him, but he quickly looked up again... he had to know.

"What's happening to her?" Saph stared into the man's eyes, seeing the reflection of fear in his own. He was in shock; he knew the feeling, he had felt it before.

"As far as I can tell, nothing that isn't supposed to happen. It seems that this process is completely natural... You can wait here for her if you want, but I don't believe she will wake up any time soon. You may want to... clean up."

Saph looked down at himself once more... yeah... he needed to clean up...

The trip to his room felt alien and hazy, and he was back in the med lab before he knew what hit him. He took a seat next to Andrea, and waited... What else could he do?

Everything turned a warm shade of rose around her. She could feel something soft, but supporting at her back, and she breathed out in a soft sigh. Such... peace.. was foreign to her. Where was that nagging in the back of her mind? The doubt, the shame... fear. All gone. She imagined that this must be what it was like to live a normal life. Warm and pleasant. Then, all at once a cold air washed over her and the lightness vanished. The warm rose colors darkened and she was acutely away of pain again.

'...no...' She wrinkled her nose and twisted in her bed, jerking her arm from her side hard enough to jolt the IV hooked up to her fluids. 'I do not want to leave...'

She felt pain in her arm from her harsh movements, and hissed quietly though her teeth. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she shook her head slightly as she awoke fully, before her eyes fluttered open. What greeted her was dampened light filtering through a few layers of gauze. She shut them again quickly, and wriggled a little more under her sheets. She could hear a soft hissing, and there were things wriggling around in her hair... With a groan, she pushed herself up on one elbow, and reached out to feel what was stuck into her arm. When her fingers brushed across the IV needle, her heart jumped into her throat.

She was in a hospital!? No.. nonono! The Greek struggled to pull the sheets from her legs, and when she failed at that she turned to trying to pull the needle from her arm. 'I cannot be here.. who could have brought me here?...' Verdy popped to mind, as well as Saphirus.. but.. he knew why she couldn't be in a place like this, why would he- A sudden noise caused her to pause, and turn her head. All of the small orange eyes, and big ones, turned as well. She wasn't alone... Someone was in the room with her. She squinted through her gauze at what she figured was a human shape, and gulped.

Saph had been awake for hours longer than anyone should, and it was definitely apparent to anyone who could see him. His eyes were bloodshot, he swore to god his facial hair had grown out more in one night than any other week of his life, and his hair was a mess.

The second the bed stirred, though, he shot to attention. She was awake?! He looked her up and down franticly; the doc had covered her eyes, knowing what her powers would do to anyone she who saw them. He smiled with relief as she moved, touching her IV first. She really was going to be okay... He opened his mouth to say something, but then she suddenly freaked out. Her snakes had awoken as well, and something must have been bothering her, because she was trying to pull out the IV. He moved to stop her, but before he could, she paused and looked at him, the many snakes on her head following suit.

"...You're okay... It's me, Saph... I... I brought you here." He didn't realize that she didn't know where she was; he wasn't good at thinking in other people's shoes. "You're Safe..." He smiled warmly, even though she couldn't see it. The older mutant felt something stir within him... He was so glad she was alright. He felt like holding her; petting her hair, snakes and all, and telling her everything was going to be alright. This was odd; he wasn't usually like this... He hadn't felt a feeling like this in a long time... a very long time...

"I... I was worried about you..." Too touchy um... change the subject! "The doc said you need as much rest as you can get... Your new friends really took a lot outa you..." He looked to the snakes... they hadn't acted up at all since he gave the big one a beating... He'd really hit it hard, too... it still wasn't awake...

Saph... it was Saph. He told her she was safe... she felt herself relax a little, but remained upright and with one hand on her arm. "...Where... am-... are we?"

She couldn't see much of him... not with the bandages over her eyes. The urge to pull them off was pretty strong, but she didn't want to risk Saph's safety- or her own- just so she could see a familiar face. More importantly... " What happened to me?.. Why does it feel like there are... things... on my head?"

She removed her hand from her arm to reach up and touch whatever it was that were slithering around up there. One snake took offense to the sudden intrusion of its privacy and lashed out with a small fanged nip to her fingers. As she jumped and snatched her hand back, she was struck with an inkling as to what has happened. Tears welled up in her eyes, but were absorbed by the gauze before they could run down her cheeks.

Fear, as well as shame, took hold of her chest. She shuddered and held her finger in her lap. "Nevermind... you do not need to tell me..." Images of the face she had seen in the mirror came to mind, and she took a few shallow breaths in. She understood now what was happening, or at least she thought she did. Her devious actions had finally caught up to her. "God has punished me..."

"We're in the infirmary. I took you here after... well..."
He looked at the snakes as they eyed him. It was strange, for sure... They had her eyes. His eyes followed her hand as she went to touch the snakes. "They just came out... Apparently they are a part of you. I've never seen anything like it before..."

Saph frowned as one of the snakes nipped at her. Wow... It really must be hard to be her... She couldn't touch anyone with her fingers, couldn't look at anyone with her eyes, and now she wouldn't be able to hug anyone for fear of them being bitten... It was as if she was cursed to push away those near her... He was willing to try, though... He didn't think she knew that, though.

She started to get upset, and said something about god punishing her. He frowned. "What?" She didn't seriously believe that did she? She had to be one of the most innocent, nicest people he had ever met in his life. She wouldn't hurt a fly... well, cept that one time, but that was just because she'd been scared. Getting attacked by a big person tended to rattle your cage a bit. He understood. He just couldn't understand how she could see herself as worthy of any punishment.

Part of her?... well, that made sense. She blinked under her bandages, and shook her head. It made little difference what they were, they were here now... for good. She would have to get used to them. When he questioned her on what she had said, she shook her head once more. She didn't feel the need to lay more of her burden on him.

But... he had stuck by her though so much, maybe he deserved to know? "I..." She paused, turning her her face in his direction. "...I am cursed." It was only obvious, from her perspective, and that of her parents. "What other reason would God have to punish me so?" She could think of nothing else to explain her predicament. "I was never meant to exist... I am an abomination."

She felt her back muscles tense, and her head began to swim again. It was suddenly quite hard to breathe. "This... This happened because of what I did! That man I hurt...." Her snakes felt the rising tension and hissed accordingly, wriggling about as they reacted to their mothers stress. "I should have never come here, Saph! I should have stayed home, where I couldn't hurt anyone!"

She gasped, clutching her hands to her face, and tried to stave off the impending darkness she could see flooding her vision. She was getting dizzy... more and more dizzy. It felt like the room was spinning around her. "I- I am sorry... for any p-pain i caused you... I... I really L-" Everything just kind of melted away all of the sudden. She slumped back into her pillow, breathing shallowly, but slowly, and slipped into unconsciousness again.

He listened intently as she stated she was an abomination, and shook his head. "That's not true... You know that..." She went on, and as she did he got more and more distressed. She was wrong... So wrong. She was so much better than almost everyone else. She wasn't selfish, she wasn't evil, and she didn't deserve anything bad that ever happened to her.
"There was nothing you could have done! That man was an evil man, and he deserved everything you gave him, and more." She was getting too over excited, she needed to calm down.

At this rate she was going to... pass out... he sat there silently as she slowly drifted back into sleep. He let out a long sigh. The bad thing was that she was just about to say something... Something... no... he had just imagined it... The vigilant vigilante nodded slowly to himself, and leaned back in his chair... He would wait here for her to wake up again, and when she did, he would tell her how he felt; he would let get know just how wonderful she was, and then they would live happily... ever... after...

Before he knew it, he was dreaming.

Her eyes fluttered open hours later, silencing vivid dreams of Greece and new York. She breathed in slowly, feeling very much like she had been trampled over by a crowd, and turned her head to squint through her gauzy shield at the dark figure of the man beside her bed. It was really quiet.. She couldn't hear anyone up, not a soul. Even the wind seemed to had stilled outside. Lifting herself up, she sat in her bed for a few moments, steeping in the silence, until the soft slither of snake bodies through hair alerted her to her serpent friends. Tears broke out at the corners of her eyes, and she sniffled quietly. She didn't want to wake Saphirus.

There was so much to think about... too much to think about. What had she become? The very monster that had haunted her dreams for months... Carefully, she peeled away the gauze around her eyes, until she was able to look upon the sleeping face of the man beside her. He seemed so... peaceful. She could remember him saying something before she had passed out... but she hadn't paid very much attention to it. He also looked... tired. Worn down. Ragged. As she turned her gaze away, she knew why.

..Because of her.

What was she to do? She was a walking disaster... mush to dangerous to stay around the school. Andrea sniffled again, and glanced down at the IV still pouring fluids into her system. She couldn't stay... It was too much of a risk to remain here and put her friends in danger. With one swift yank, she pulled away the medical tape and the needle, wincing only slightly at the sting it left behind. Only a small dribble of blood leaked from the tiny wound, tracing down her arm to drip onto the bed sheets. She took only a moment to stare at the dark Grey liquid, before she threw off her sheets and swung her legs over the opposite side of the bed from Saph.

She knew what she had to do, even if she really didn't want to. She had to leave, just as she had done when things had become to dangerous at home. She paused at the end of her bed, bare feet silent on the tile underfoot. She couldn't just leave Saph there... alone, with nothing. But she had nothing to give. Quietly, she padded over to him and placed a gentle kiss upon his forehead, managing to keep tears in the corners of her eyes as she turned and left the room. She only needed to grab a few things... maybe leave a vague note so Verdy wouldn't worry... and then.. well, she didn't know what she would do then. She paused in the doorway, glanced back once, then turned and disappeared down the hallway.