January 2, 2017
Dear Diary:
Happy New Year!!! 2017! Wow, can you believe it? Everything bleeds into one for us immortals but still, it's like wasn't it just January of 2016? I hope all of you had a happy, fun, and safe New Year. Ours was fun as we had a party here in Alaska. Emmett even shot off fireworks that were larger than most capitals of nations. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if we melted some glaciers. We still had Ronan with us and though he kept to himself for most of it, during the fireworks, he did come out and look at them with awe.
The last week with us here, the only one of us that had gotten even the smallest measure of closeness to him was Jasper. We were amazed by that but as Jasper explained it, they bonded over military procedures. Even though Ronan's were light years ahead of Jasper's, the basic knowledge was the same. So it was Jasper who challenged Ronan to some hand to hand combat just to see how his strength stood up in our earthly dimension. Emmett assisted as he was the same as Ronan strength-wise. The rest of us minus the kids—as they still made Ronan uncomfortable—stood by and watched. I was as usual scribbling in my journals even though Ronan wasn't going to be part of our world for much longer. I was always fascinated by things that happened everywhere.
Besides, the other side was in a way a second home to us as well as the Watchers. We were known there by the Gods and respected and we had friends thanks to Rogue and the others. So anything we learned new especially in the field of medicine, was highly exciting to me. Ronan lost to Jasper just from lack of speed alone. But he and Emmett called it a tie after going at it for a long time. It was very interesting to see Ronan in combat. He had his own training and he put it to good use. Every time, he hit Emmett, it was like he punched solid rock and the noise it made was like a mudslide was starting. Thank heavens we're in the middle of nowhere!
It was after that exciting fight that Emmett went and set up the fireworks at exactly midnight. Ronan was compelled to join as he felt more accustomed to us now. That and the insanity that Emmett created with the fireworks were very worth watching. I think they were seen as far away as the continental US. Now we were into the New Year and it was time to head back to the other side and figure out this whole thing with Ronan and Medusa. Again we broke up into groups of who was going and who wasn't. Rogue made the decision to leave Corin and Keith behind. Two Watchers were mandatory at home; Corin though third in command, had just given birth and Rogue was uber protective and wanted to leave mother with child.
Instead, she called upon a Watcher we've only seen once and not since. Her name was Elmira and she was from Egypt. It turned out that she was 4th in command or an alternative if Corin couldn't be there. She was a beautiful girl in her early 20s even though she was chosen about 30 years before. She had jet black hair, dark brown eyes, and light olive skin. She was a bit shier then the other Watchers we met but Rogue trusted her so we didn't worry. So the group going through the by now very familiar rabbit hole were Rogue, Alexander, Amy, Elmira, Kim, Michelle, Ronan, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Rose, Edward, Bella, and I. None of the wolves as they had human traits came just from the view of safety and it didn't hurt to have a protective home front.
Before we left, Nessie tugged at my sleeve and whispered something in my ear. She had me promise to do something for her before we left because no one knew how long we would be there; even with the time quirk. I gathered those required together and did the procedure. Then I told Keith and Corin to watch over everyone. The Watchers going, changed into their fairy clothing and Rogue was wearing her royal headpiece. With hugs and kisses, Rogue opened the portal and without looking back we walked through it and were soon spit out near Cupid's castle. He and the rest of the Gods minus Michael were already waiting for us. It was time to get down to business.
"Welcome back!" Cupid said grandly as we all shook hands and hugged. Ronan just nodded until Aries walked up to him and they shook hands.
"Thank you. We need to get this thing going." Rogue responded as we all nodded in agreement.
As she took out a map of Ancient Greece proper, a jagged lightning bolt came down from a bright blue sky and a figure appeared at the end of it. It was a man who we've never seen before but I saw all of the other Gods bow to him though the Watchers didn't. Rogue did step forward with her poker face on.
"Greetings Zeus. To what do we owe the pleasure?" She asked cautiously.
Zeus?!? Like THE Zeus? We stared mutely at him. I never knew what to expect him to look like but I guess grander should have been the word. This man was silver haired, with piercing light blue nearly white eyes, bare chested, had just a cover on his lower torso and boots that reached up to his knees. His body was outlined with white lightning bolts. He wasn't very tall either or muscular.
"I know you are here for the purpose of seeking out Medusa. I am not going to stop you from your journey or task. All I require is that you do not kill Medusa. It is not your charge." He said in relatively loud and instructive voice.
"I am well aware of that. We won't kill her, but if she attacks, we shall defend ourselves justly." Rogue replied evenly.
"Very well. Go about your duties then." With those words, he disappeared. Rogue shook her head and rolled her eyes as she turned to us again.
"There. Now you met him. We can all move on with our lives." She said sarcastically as Amy giggled softly and Elmira shook her head with mild disgust.
"He really is full of himself, isn't he?" Elmira spoke up for the first time and her accented English was very pleasant.
"Absolutely. Never a dull moment there." Alexander answered that one.
"Ok where were we?" I inquired.
"Looking at the map to see our travel route. Eons ago, to get from point A to point B, everyone had to take ships with rowers. Then with the creation of the Watchers, everyone just zips around like they have fancy wings attached to their asses." Aries pointed out not so subtly to some laughter and rolling of the eyes.
"How many of you guys are coming with us?" Amy inquired.
"Aries, Hades, and I are coming. Hydra will be on standby. Cerberus will be taking over watching the Underworld." Death spoke up for the first time then.
"Ok than, Watchers take your passengers and fly this way. Land in this location, stay together, and don't make any noise." Rogue pointed out the flight plan on the map. The island seemed pretty far away.
We all stood by our designated Watcher. Hades and Jasper got a ride with the Hydra while Aries though semi-comfortable was with Death. She also took Ronan. Unlike the Watchers, she could take more than one person. I was with Rogue, Bella with Amy, Edward with Alexander, Emmett with Michelle, Rose with Kim, and Alice with Elmira.
We flew high into the sky; taking different turns to get to our destination unnoticed. The ocean we flew over looked beautiful and sparkly on that sunny day but as we got closer, the sky started to darken. Medusa's island was dead ahead and it looked like a foreboding iceberg on the horizon. As we circled it and came in for a landing on the far side of what looked like the main entrance into the cave, everything looked bare and dank. The sky was a dark gray color I had never seen before; in other words it looked dead. Just like the whole island looked dead. The Hydra didn't land as it was too big but Hades and Jasper jumped off and landed next to the rest of us soundlessly.
We than looked around the whole island, as far as the eye could see it was cold, dead, and gray. We didn't say anything but walked clumped together our eyes peeled for danger towards the front of the cave. What we saw there both stunned many of us and sent a chill down our spines. There were tombstones and men that were turned to stone everywhere, in various positions with horror on their faces. All had come here to vanquish the impossible and much dreaded snake haired demon and instead they themselves were lost for eternity.
Ours was a mission of recovering as opposed to destroying. Ronan looked at the human men with pity and confusion. The rest of us just tried to focus on the task at hand. We slowly crept into the cave with Rogue at the front as always. She had explained to us that because we were all non-human, Medusa's power wouldn't work on us. Another reason to leave any wolves or a hybrid human at home. That didn't however mean that Medusa was completely powerless against us. We could be momentarily stunned if we stared into her eyes and that could be detrimental to us. Only Watchers were totally immune as they were to everything else.
Once we were inside the cave, we had to stay together even if there were passages leading in different directions. We weren't going to split up like everyone always did in the movies. That's just not how it worked in these supernatural locations. Besides, the Watchers' hearing was better than ours and they could tell where any movement was coming from.
Just then, Ronan stopped and we noticed him staring off to the left. His face was one of complete and utter shock. Than we heard:
"R-Ronan? I-Is that you?"
When Ronan couldn't respond other than his eyes going wide and his mouth dropping open, we all looked to where the voice was coming from and saw a woman with long blonde hair and a yellow leather one piece suit standing there. Tears started shimmering in her eyes. Somehow we knew that that woman was Crystal, the inhuman princess Ronan was married to before she disappeared. She walked slowly towards him and when she reached him, she couldn't stop shaking and he was as still as one of Medusa's statues.
"C-C-Crystal?" Was all he was able to mutter out. But she nodded her head and buried it in his chest as his blue arms went around her.
"How dare you invade my land!" Out of the darkness, an alien like voice boomed as we all pivoted around to see Medusa herself come into view. She was as hideous as one could imagine. Her body was completely gray like she herself was made from the very stone she lived in and her hair, well those snakes were hissing and writhing all around her head. She had fully black eyes and fangs with missing teeth.
"Who do you think you are? This is all mine and so is she!" Medusa spoke again as Rogue stepped forward and her eyes locked with the gorgon.
"Crystal doesn't belong to you! I am bringing her back with us!" Rogue said evenly and just as loudly. Medusa's eyes narrowed at her than.
"The Queen of the Watchers comes to my home and is going to tell me what to do? Have you forgotten your place?"
"I think you are the one who has forgotten yours. Even though Zeus had asked for us not to kill you, if you attempt to stop us, I shall end you!" Rogue's eyes were as cold as the snakes on Medusa's head.
"ZEUS? HE IS THE ONE THAT MADE ME THIS WAY!" She screeched as many people winced and covered their ears. So that myth was true as well. Rogue tried to calmly to talk to her.
"And I am sorry about that. That was before my time so I couldn't have stopped him, but that doesn't mean you should take someone's life if they haven't done anything to you. The men on this island tried harming you, and that's understandable. But what did Crystal do? She's not even from this dimension. Why keep her prisoner?"
"Sh-she killed my sister and hid Luna away from me so I wouldn't escape." Crystal spoke almost inaudibly from Ronan's arms.
"What? Why?" By this time Ronan recovered enough to talk and he barked at Medusa.
"An innocent child? Really? And how is someone supposed to feel sorry for your plight if you harm total purity?" Rogue said to Medusa who came closer.
"I was innocent too! I didn't harm the child. She is safe. And I killed her sister because she was everything I wanted to be and she refused to help me! I created her! I was supposed to be her! Crystal is mine! My sister!" Medusa was shrieking by this time, completely out of control.
She kept screaming the same thing over and over and getting louder to the point where her cave starting to slowly crack and collapse. Rogue looked around and had had enough. She reached one arm up over her head and produced a ball of light that shown in the large cavern. Medusa stopped shrieking and backed down, light being an enemy.
"Enough! You are going to show us where Luna is right now! And we're taking both Luna and Crystal. If you try to stop any of this, I will go back on my word with Zeus, I swear it!" Rogue roared loud enough to make a lot of things shatter including Medusa's beloved stone statues of her conquests.
Without saying anything, Medusa's eyes darted to our right or her left and Rogue followed her gaze as did the others. Elmira, Amy, and I darted in that direction and soon found the little girl in a makeshift cell made out of boulders. With a small blast, Amy destroyed the cell and freed Luna who I gathered in my arms and told that I was a doctor who would look her over as we hurried back to the others.
"Mama!" Luna yelled and scurried into Crystal's waiting arms.
As Medusa watched what was happening and the realization came upon her that she was about to be left all alone once again on her island of stone, she glared at all of us and her eyes changed as she began howling.
"Run! Don't look her in the eyes! Go, go, go!" Alexander shouted as we all made for the exit.
Rogue meanwhile, turned towards Medusa one last time and as she was still holding the ball of light in her hand, threw it towards the ceiling where it went completely through towards the sky and then she herself flew out of there behind us. The cavern started to collapse on and around Medusa who shrieked as she covered her head.
"I thought you said you weren't going to kill her!" Amy said breathlessly once we were on the far side of the island where we had originally started.
"I didn't. I just buried her under there long enough for all of us to get out of here. I will seal this island so she will never be able to leave it."
Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light from the heavens above and a large winged figure flew out of the sky and straight for us. Before anyone could see what happened, the figure grabbed Crystal into his arms knocking both Ronan and Luna aside and disappeared again with Crystal into the sky. Ronan screamed.....
"BELOVED!!!"
To be continued.....
~Carlisle Cullen