Paradise Lost (JSAB)

Barracuda

Mount Clearwater, 1325 Hours

It was Fresh's idea.

He had always wondered to himself why Barracuda chose to go out of her way to rigidly cover her right eye with her snakes instead of letting all of them float around her head, so he asked her about it. She then revealed that she was born blind in her right eye, unable to see. That's why for the great majority of her life she's always covered it with her hair.

Fresh thought this was impractical. You see, his own right eye had been damaged beyond repair, but once he broke out of his cave he used the power from the Tree of Life to restore sight to his eye, explaining the different colour it was from his left. What kind of king would he be if he didn't let Barracuda have the same surgical method he used to restore his own right eye? He would've stopped there, but then he came up with a brilliant idea that both of them couldn't just pass up.

"Hey, Barracuda, have you ever heard of the story of Medusa?"

"Medusa? Once or twice. Apparently she has snakes for hair like me."

"She can turn people to stone with just a simple gaze. I can do that, I can modify your eye with corruption so that you can petrify anyone you wish."

"Wh- Really?"

"Well, not into stone, of course, but to something similar. And while they're turned into that stone-like state, they're still alive but their mind is not with them. They would have no perception of the outside world."

"Huh... Okay... I guess I can have that. I'll be able to see out of it?"

"Yep. And you can control who you petrify as well, so you wouldn't accidentally petrify yourself in the mirror."

"That's good. How long would it take?"

"Two and a half days, but it's not like we're short on time or anything. Best thing is, only you alone can turn your victims back. And also, well, a pure leaf, but, heh, where're you gonna find one of those these days?"

Barracuda agreed, liking the idea.

And frankly right now, she was glad that she accepted his offer.

Since her victims are technically frozen in time, not even aware that they had been petrified in the first place... She looked at Tetra, wondering to herself just why Fresh wanted to warn her about separating them away from the rest. But oh well, whatever that little brat was capable of - they wouldn't be able to do anything. If they could, then something would've happened by now.

Now back to the sole survivor...

Lumina was now alone, screaming her vocal cords raw with anguish and despair. There were only two prospects she could see with how this was going - and that was either sinking to the bottom of the bottom of the ocean like a lead anchor or ending up petrified. Possibly both?

"Are you still screaming?" Barracuda sighed, feeling almost pitiful for her. "Seriously? Is it because you want them to protect you or is it because you genuinely care about them? I don't think I believe the latter to be true."

Lumina sank to her knees, hyperventilating. Also - Does Barracuda really think so little of her?

She was going to die. She didn't want to die. Dear Tree of Life, she didn't want to die, in fact she would actually rather literally sacrifice her own sibling's lives for her own.

But like, there weren't any siblings to kill right now, were there? They couldn't help her. She was all, all alone.

Not to mention the venom coursing through her veins, this time not in the figurative sense.