Amor Caecus

Epilogue

           

One Year Later.....

Jane plopped down on the couch besides Medusa. "I can't believe you like Real Housewives of Atlanta."

"I find their bonding rituals fascinating."

"Shopping, Meds. They're shopping. And being bitches about it. It's reality television, it's garbage."

"I enjoyed it when we went shopping."

"That's because every guy in a three-mile radius stared at you while we did."

"I think we're both aware of the fact that I'm not interested in any 'guys'." Meds leaned over and kissed her cheek. "But yes, the attention is nice. Especially when it precedes free food."

Jane couldn't help but laugh. She had a point; free food was a nice perk. The world, apparently, was not prepared for an actual Grecian beauty to grace the planet. When Meds stepped out of the building, even the birds stopped for her. But it wasn't only food they could get with her face. Jane had always thought that it was more Menelaus' pride that started the Trojan war, rather then Helen of Troy's face. But with the way men tripped over their feet to give Meds anything she wanted, she started to believe the hype.

After almost forcefully dragging her out into the sun, Jane used her enhanced hearing and sight to find the main road. From there, they hitched a ride into town and began the rather conspicuous walk to Jane's former home. The place was trashed, looted by other Hunter's looking for money, food, and weapons. Thankfully, they had left her clothes alone. What use would a Hunter have for a teenager's clothes? She taught Meds how to use the shower and introduced her to the wonderful world of jeans and t shirts.

After she was done, Jane took her turn. She had never seen herself before, and her father had only ever really focused on keeping them hidden, not giving much attention to the things his daughter might be concerned with. Like, for instance, what she looked like. She was almost scared to go into the bathroom, but she had lived with this face and this body all 18 years she'd been alive. Whatever it was, she stuck with it. It didn't matter.

Turns out, she was okay with how she looked. Or, she was after she took a shower. Her hair was matted, and she was so covered in dirt that she thought her hair was brown. When she had finished washing, though, she could really see herself.  She didn't think she was anywhere near as beautiful as Medusa was, but not terrible either. Her hair was red and curly. Her eyes were cornflower blue, and her face was covered in freckles. Her lips were bow-shaped and a slightly darker shade of pink than Meds. Her nose was small and dainty, almost like Medusa's. Her skin was also pale, having been in a cave for months, but she could see that still had the tiniest bit of a natural tan.

She dressed quickly and stepped out of the bathroom. Meds was out there waiting for her and they both just looked at each other for a while. They were outside of the cave. Jane could see and was free from a life of running. Medusa looked human and was free from a life of imprisonment. They were both just.....free.

They stayed in Jane's house for a few weeks, making a plan for where they could go and how they would get there. Jane also spent some time catching her up on certain things. The last Partial Medusa had known was over 50 years ago. He had stayed with her for a few days, telling her about the world before he had to move on, continuing his hunt for the father that had abandoned him when he was a child. He had never come back to her. She had no clue if he was successful or if he was even alive. Jane decided not to push her for any information. Meds had gotten this far off look on her face, and Jane knew that talking about it was not something she was not capable of doing right now.

They'd decided on California, Medusa excited to experience life in the sun for the first time in over 500 years. They'd hitchhiked the whole way there, but they couldn't exactly travel without giving their names to someone. Jane was fine, as it was a normal and generic name. Medusa, however, was memorable for many reasons. So, when asked for the first time, Jane blurted out the first name that came to mind.

"Madilyn." She'd said. She looked at Meds, who smiled and nodded, giving her approval of the given name.

Once they'd gotten there, Jane had suggested a small city. Somewhere where they could hide out without actually hiding out. But Meds was done with living apart from people. As a result, they hopped a bus straight to LA. They found an apartment building five minutes from the beach.

"We're never going to afford this, Meds."

"Do you know how women got things in my time?"

"Do I want to?"

Medusa turned to look at her, her eyes twinkles and her hair swung perfectly over her shoulder. "They smiled."

It took 20 minutes to get the superintendent of the building to let them into an apartment with no papers, no IDs, and no money. Times had actually changed though, and they only had 6 months to come up with a way to start paying rent. Which he so generously cut to half price.

With neither of them having any qualifications for a job more complicated than bagging groceries, that had to get creative. Jane found that she wanted to record her life, her time with Meds in the cave, everything. She wrote down everything she could remember. When she was done, she let Meds read it.

"Change your name." She had said. "Change your name. Add more fight scenes. Make us kiss more."

Jane laughed but did as she said. Three months later, they were both sitting in a publisher's office and Jane was signing a contract. They used part of the book advance to pay the rent that was due and used the rest to open a gallery for Meds. She was so entranced by the world around her that she wanted to somehow keep everything. She wanted to share it with everyone. So, Jane showed her what a camera was. Part of Jane believed it was also a way for Medusa to make people less afraid of her, though no one had any reason to in the first place. But Jane had never spent centuries as the monster in a scary bedtime story, so she decided how Meds coped with that was up to her.

With Jane recounting her own stories and the stories she had heard from her father's Hunter friends, and with 'Madilyn Kelly' smiling her way into the heart of customers across the city, they made more than enough money to keep their little apartment by the sea.

Life was good. Except when Meds was watching trash TV.

"No, we're not watching this."

"Why not?" She whined.

"Because I'm going to show you something so amazing that you're going to love me forever."

"Already done, but sure."

Jane smiled and leaned over to give her a lingering kiss, pulling away before she got lost in the sensation.

"It's time you learn of another legend. One that takes place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."