Never Cursed

𝔒𝔭𝔥𝔦𝔲𝔠𝔥𝔲𝔰 𝔄𝔩𝔤𝔬𝔰

Names bear a meaning. It is the first and last thing every living being lives and dies with. They shape one's identity. They declare one's belonging to a group, their dependence to a family. They make one strong or weak. Names are the first thing others will judge as they will take it as their truth even if names can be veils hiding one's true nature. They can be changed but never forgotten. Names are like the sun. Everything in one's life spins around them without a chance to get rid of them.

Ophiuchus Algos. A name heavy with meanings. The thirteenth astrological sign; not forgotten but pushed away, hidden by the twelve others. The Serpent Bearer – there is duality in the sign. Its essence is neither good nor bad. Perhaps it is what matters the most: it doesn't claim goodness and benevolence when it cannot offer it. It rings like Truth: needed but sometimes painful. Like a snake's venom. There is no escape from such a name as its shadow reigns over the universe, stirring unbelievable forces.

Ophiuchus Algos. Even her surname is reminiscent of a doomed and harsh life. Algos – suffering. Since the very beginning, she had shared the world's pain, it was rooted in her. She was born with an identity that wasn't hers entirely. She had shared her name with the entity lurking in the corner of her mind.

She had been made for great things her family had said, or they had thought.

Ophie ran a cold finger on the scarred skin of her neck. They were the only evidence of her suffering. Her skin, her entire body, would have soon been torn apart by the curse. Getting rid of it hadn't been a want, but a necessity for her survival. The alien living inside of her had given her family a choice: power against a vessel where to expand. But such force asked for retribution, and nothing was stronger or more important than one's life. So it had been either power or life. And despite her family's common choice, she had chosen the latter option.

Ophie had tried to forget her legacy – her name. But when a glimpse of hope, of a simpler life at Marlene's side had sparked into her soul, she had known Ophiuchus Algos would never disappear as long as the entity would be inside of her. Ophiuchus had always been there, never mind the abode of peace Marlene had brought into her life.

She had followed the Marauders into their investigation, sometimes from a distance (she hadn't been pleased to learn of their wanderings in and out of the secret passage), sometimes at the heart of it (Lily's reflection when she had found the secret sentence had impressed her greatly). She had tried to provide them with false proof (she had brought a bone at Uriah's Heap when they had broken into the shop) as clumsy as it could have been.

She had lost herself at the Rave'N Dance. Arriving at Nevermore had engaged everything. In a weird way, she couldn't be more grateful to the Academy. She had spent so long studying the curse, finding the bones of Rendell's ancestor that when the Bloody Moon had come around, she had forgotten about the danger the Marauders were for her. Marlene had proved to be a pure soul in the end – better than she would ever be.

Then, she had grazed from her fingertips another life, one she could have from now on. But not at Nevermore. Marlene had offered her her liberty and she would not waste it. She had erased all traces of her family – their place at the Academy (all the papers bearing their names were swirling with the wind, reduced to grey ashes), she had emptied her bedroom when she had made sure to not be bothered. But she hadn't found her family's diary in the Nightshades. Maybe, she would live in Marlene's memories (she hoped the witch would keep the journal), perhaps even as a cherished person. For the others, she would only be the treacherous friend, a Juda.

Dawn was coming and she was standing in the cemetery from where she could peer over the Academy's grounds. Spooky sat by her side, whining as if he was sensing she was leaving. Gomez had been stupid thinking he was the only one taking care of the small dog.

Ophiuchus Algos grinned. She was free at last.