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Izuku stumbled over a fallen branch and sucked in a breath in surprise. He barely had time to grab the outstretched hand to avoid the fate of dirt splattering his face like the freckles he was told he had.
“Thanks.” Izuku whispered to himself as the stone-cold hand helped him to get his feet back under himself. He felt along the arm and confirmed it was the village butcher that stood before him. Recognizable from his muscled arms. Izuku pushed on past the man entering the village center.
His ears perked slightly at the smallest creak of rope in the wind. The well at the center of the town still had its bucket suspended in the air and it sometimes tilted back and forth with the breeze that passed through. He counted his steps as he turned when he felt the wall of the well. It was 24 steps straight to the left of the well.
He carefully took his steps and before long his foot brushed the leg of another villager. Turn right from there and take ten steps. His hands met the familiar worn wood of the doorframe and he let out a breath of relief to finally be home.
“I’m home Mom.” Izuku called out as he stepped more confidently into the space. He moved without fear within the small abode and went straight to the fireplace. He reached a hand out to the left of it and his fingers brushed over finely carved hair. He sank to his knees beside the statue and gently ran down its face. Feeling his mother’s fearful expression frozen in time.
He hated that that was how she was frozen. She had been a beautiful woman. Even a blind boy like Izuku could see that. He gently brushed fingers along her cheek and followed her neck to her shoulder to her arms. They were somewhat crossed in front of her and the forearms were missing. Izuku paused to feel along the cracks and broken remnants, analyzing it by touch the best he could.
He still remembered how warm they had felt when she was still able to move. How protective they felt the day they had frozen, embracing him into her chest as if she could have shielded him from the monster. Izuku felt along the floor until he found the pile of sharp stones that he assumed were the missing pieces of his mother’s arms. He kept one hand on the broken arm and the other on the pile of shards as he searched for a piece that might fit back into place.
As he did so, the unwelcome memories of that day bubbled to the surface.
-=-
He remembered it being summer. The warm rays that brushed his skin had felt nice as he sat out front of their home. He had been helping his mother with chores that day. Shaking out a floor rug as he listened to his mother’s humming. It was a habit she had had since he had been a baby. The sound never failed to assure Izuku that she was nearby.
As he finished with the rug he had just stood up to bring it back inside when a horrible scream ripped out into the air. It startled Izuku so much he accidentally dropped the rug back into the dirt. At first, he thought someone was playing a prank somewhere in the village.
But he was horribly mistaken and had foolishly crouched once again to feel for the fallen rug. His mother’s humming had stopped and he heard her approach the front of their home, likely peering out to see what was going on. More shouts rang out to the village and Izuku heard someone running down the road.
“Monster!” the man had shouted making Izuku flinch and stand up, the rug now forgotten. Suddenly the sound of the man’s footsteps stopped a few feet in front of Izuku before the sound of a heavy thud happened. The man must have fallen! Izuku shuffled forward reaching out to try and assist the man to stand back up only for his other arm to be grabbed in a tight grip and Izuku was pulled backwards.
“Hurry and get inside!” his mother had said not letting go of Izuku as she pulled him along. Izuku stumbled after her, unused to the urgency of it all and having a hard time getting his footing.
“But that man-” Izuku started to say only for Inko to shush him. She pulled him into the heart of their home before crouching and dragging him down with her.
“Be quiet,” Inko said her voice trembling as she wrapped her arms around him. “The monster isn’t far. We have to hide.”
Izuku hugged his mother back and as they sat there, Izuku noticed how other shouts from their neighbors got cut off. Voices quickly fell silent. And before long the village was quiet again. His mother shook as she held him and Izuku could hear something faintly.
It sounded like dragging. He often heard that sound when a hunter was bringing back game that was too big to carry in their arms. Or if a child was too lazy to properly hold their laundry bag and would drag it behind them on their way to the river. But he didn’t hear any footsteps or grunts of effort from whatever it was. The sound got closer until it came to the doorway of their home. He felt his mother stiffen and hug him harder before the sound entered.
There was a sudden pause and his mother took a quick intake of breath. And then she froze. Izuku felt too scared to move so he copied her and froze to the spot, holding his breath as he felt her do the same.
“What's this?” an unfamiliar deep male voice called from the doorway of the home. Izuku turned his head towards the voice confused about how very human-sounding it was. Had a warrior found them? Izuku didn’t recognize the voice as that of any of the villagers.
His mother remained frozen in place even as Izuku heard the strange dragging sound come closer. He twisted his hands into his mother’s tunic and ducked his head as it sounded impossibly close.
“Boy.” the man called to him. “Look at me. It's rude to ignore a guest. Did your gods not teach you hospitality?”
His mother did not react to the words so Izuku carefully turned his face to the sound of the stranger’s voice. He tilted his head upwards as it sounded like the stranger was tall and hoped that that would satisfy the man. Silence followed. Izuku found it hard to turn in his mother’s arms. She was unrelenting and he wondered just exactly who had barged into their home.
“So that's what it is.” the stranger said tone curious as it regarded him. “You’re a blind child?”
“Y-Yes?” Izuku answered hesitantly still shaken and confused about what was happening. Something sharp brushed lightly at his hair making Izuku flinch. Was this man a bandit? Was he holding a dagger or something? A crash from somewhere outside though made the stranger draw back his blade.
“I’ll deal with you when I return.” the stranger said before the dragging sound quickly fled the home. It had sounded heavy so Izuku was surprised to hear it being dragged so fast. The stranger must have been strong.
“I-I think we need to run, Mom.” Izuku said pulling on her tunic. But it garnered no reaction from her. “Mom?”
Izuku reached for her face only for his hand to brush a hard smooth surface. The warmth was fading from it and for a moment he wondered if he had accidentally reached past her and touched the fireplace. But as his hand brushed further his heart began to sink.
“Mom?!” Izuku called out in fear as he felt the fine texture of stone shaped like his mother’s hairstyle. “Mom please answer me!”
But as he brought his hand back around to her face he could feel her features. The shape of her nose and lips. Both frozen and smooth as the riverside pebbles. He jerked his hand away as if burned, breathing becoming difficult as he realized his mother’s stone arms encased him in the perfect prison to keep him there for the beast to return.
Izuku had heard stories of such beasts. Gorgons. A special sub-class of a naga that could turn onlookers to stone with a simple glance. Although he had only heard of female gorgons it was clear he was mistaken in thinking they were only of one gender.
Izuku twisted in his mother’s arms trying to wriggle free. He needed to go find a hero, someone who could slay the beast. Someone who could come and reverse his mother’s and the village’s curse! Izuku was the only one who could do so!
But no matter how he contorted himself he couldn’t manage to escape the hug his mother had been frozen in. His lips wobbled and tears gathered on his cheeks as he realized how very hopeless it was. The only way he was going to get out of his mother’s arms was if…he broke them.
He wouldn’t do it. Couldn’t. Instead, he put his head down against her stone chest and muffled his sobs into her tunic. He was going to die in her arms. Perhaps it was a fate meant to be. Why should he escape the end of the village when all the others hadn’t?
He wasn’t sure how long it had been that he sat with his mother. Long enough that his tears ran out and exhaustion and resignation took hold. The air began to get a bit of a chill telling Izuku that the sun had likely set outside of the home. Maybe the monster had forgotten about him. Maybe he would die of thirst or starvation instead of by a monster’s hands.
But just as Izuku shut his eyes to try and sleep he startled back up as he heard the dragging sound again. No, not dragging. It was slithering. Gorgons had the lower body of a snake. Izuku found it hard to imagine the sheer size of the gorgon’s snake half as the sound drew to his home.
“Still here then.” the gorgon asked as it entered his home. The tone of voice didn’t question Izuku’s whereabouts. It was obvious the boy was trapped from the moment the gorgon had entered his home that day.
Izuku said nothing in return. He remained with his head resting against his mother, uncaring at this point of the end coming closer to him.
“Now, how about I get a better look at you?” the gorgon said a hand brushing Izuku’s cheek in an attempt to get him to turn. Izuku jerked his head out of the monster’s grip, gasping when sharp claws cut into his cheek from the action. It hadn’t been a blade that had brushed through his hair earlier. “You truly can’t see danger can you?” the gorgon hummed in interest.
Izuku curled further into his mother. His body began to shake, betraying the fear that was slowly starting to climb up his spine. He didn’t want to know how this creature planned to kill him.
To his shock, the gorgon’s hands clipped onto his mother’s arms, and before he could comprehend why there was a thunderous cracking sound as Izuku felt a release of pressure around him. His mother’s arms were gone. Thrown away as if they were simple stones on the road.
Izuku had barely registered this before another clawed hand grabbed one of his arms and dragged him off of his mother. At this, Izuku yelped and reached out to grab onto the statue, as if his mother would draw him back to her. Instead, the gorgon’s other hand pried him off the statue and withdrew him from it. Turning Izuku around to presumably face the creature head-on.
A clawed hand grasped his chin and forced his head up, again confirming to Izuku the height the gorgon had. Its clawed thumb brushed over the raw cuts that the gorgon had previously inflicted. Izuku’s knees knocked into a cold texture where legs should have been. Feeling like a wall of smooth pebbles, it confirmed that this was a gorgon. Scales took up the monster’s lower half.
The creature seemed to suck in a breath as it settled a hand against Izuku’s cheek.
“So warm…” the creature whispered in awe.
As Izuku stood shaking, his tears renewed. And somewhere within him had found the courage to make a request.
“I-If you’re going to k-kill me.” Izuku barely got out as his throat seemed to want to close and not want to let him speak. “Let me be with my mom.”
That made the creature pause. Even if Izuku couldn’t see, he could feel the way its eyes must have regarded him. There was a long silence in which Izuku wondered if the creature was debating how to end him.
“My how the gods seemed to have blessed you, child.” the creature spoke pulling Izuku closer. Izuku stumbled slightly, bracing himself self against a muscled torso. It felt as if this creature was more than capable of killing even without its gaze. “Fear not, as the fates have decided to spare you this night.”
Izuku didn’t get the chance to ask what the creature meant before an arm wrapped under him and he was swept off his feet and into the air. He instinctually reached out and clutched at the solid being to keep from falling as he was balanced on an arm.
“Mysterious how the fates work to bring me such company.” the creature muttered uncaring of Izuku’s disorientation as it began to move.
“W-Wait! My Mom!” Izuku said but the creature ignored him as Izuku felt the night air envelope them.
“Mom!”
-=-
“Mom…” Izuku muttered nuzzling into whatever he rested on.
“You’ve already visited her, child.”
Izuku tensed at the voice of the gorgon as he came out of the nightmare of a memory. He felt the slight sway of himself and the gorgon telling him they were moving. The gorgon’s arms supported him on his back where Izuku’s forehead brushed against the nape of the gorgon’s neck and short hair.
“I fell asleep with her?” Izuku asked raising a hand to brush along the gorgon’s shoulder. He felt one of many familiar scars under his fingers. The gorgon’s back was littered with wounds from the attempts of heroes to kill him. After all, no one could attack him from the front.
“Yes. It’s already nighttime.” the gorgon said. Far past the time, Izuku was allowed to be out. Izuku let his head thump onto the gorgon’s back. He still had a long way to go before his mother’s arms were restored. “You had me worried.”
Izuku swallowed thickly as he didn’t acknowledge the gorgon. They had been together for five years now. It had become clear to Izuku over that time that despite the gorgon always saying it was the gods that had spared him, it was a lie. The gorgon had spared him while killing everyone else.
Because even the stone-cold heart of a monster could beat with loneliness.