This is my first Atlantis fic...I'm usually more of a Tudors girl, but this was just screaming to be written...Because I thought Pythagoras and Hercules were really stupid in the last episode, this is how I think it should have gone...it will eventually veer into GOT-inspired M-Rated territory, but for now, it's pure fluff...enjoy!
Children of the Storm-Tossed Seas
"We can't kill her whilst she's at prayer," Pythagoras hissed, grabbing at Hercules's arm as he made to raise his sword over Pasiphae's head, "We must let her finish or risk angering Poseidon."
Hercules grunted and acquiesced, but only reluctantly. Privately, he felt the sins Pasiphae had committed were so much greater than the one he would commit by killing her during her act of prayer that surely, the God of the Sea would overlook his. Just this once. Yet, with Medusa lost to him forever, having been driven to taking her own life by the guilt the Gods had burdened her with because she'd allowed Pasiphae to trick her into murdering the Oracle, he dared not defy Pythagoras's words. Not quite.
Until Pythagoras inhaled sharply.
"She's praying for resurrection."
The two friends looked at each other in horror. Pasiphae, resurrected and free to wreak even more havoc on Atlantis and Jason and Ariadne than she already had?
Hercules didn't know when he made the conscious decision to act; in fact, he doubted he made one at all. Whatever went through his mind however, the next thing he knew, his sword was stuck in the base of Pasiphae's throat and her fervent prayers had been choked off by the sickening gurgle of her life's blood filing her mouth and her lungs.
The seconds seemed to go on forever, but at last she was still and silent, her once olive complexion deathly pale. Pythagoras leaned forward and brusquely closed her eyes, weighing them down with the last of the copper coins he had in his pocket.
"She doesn't deserve that," Hercules said gruffly, shocked by his own actions as much as the younger man's.
"Say what you like about her, she was our Queen. A Princess of Colchis and a Priestess of Hecate. She deserves to be able to pay Charon at least. Besides, we're going back to Atlantis. Ariadne and Jason will be King and Queen within a fortnight. We'll hardly miss two little copper coins now."
There was a note in Pythagoras's voice that Hercules didn't dare argue with. The two of them walked back to camp in silence.
Jason looked up as they pushed through the branches into sight. Lifting their chins, they met his eye and nodded, steely resolve flashing between the three of them. He nodded and then went over to Ariadne, slipping his arms around her from behind.
"It's over, love," he whispered, brushing an errant curl away from her ear as he crooned into it, "It's over. We're going home. We're going home and Pasiphae will never hurt you again."
The strength of her embrace as she spun round and buried her face in his shoulder and the way she exhaled slowly into his chest was all the weakness she allowed herself. It was all she needed to express her relief to him.
He hugged her close, giving her that extra few seconds to release everything. After all, once they went home, she'd be Queen again. Her every move would be watched, her every emotion used as a barometer to measure the mood of the country. She deserved a little longer without that pressure weighing her down.
The sun was glorious, the waves lapping rhythmically at the walls of the city and the gulls wheeling overhead were calling joyously, as though they too were celebrating, as Jason and Ariadne, both clad in various shades of royal blue, white and gold, followed Melas and Cassandra across the courtyard of the temple, the chanting of the priests and priestesses ringing in their ears.
Reaching the altar, they knelt, hand in hand, for Melas to make his offering to Poseidon in their name and then turn to them.
"The gods are pleased to smile upon your union," he informed them genially, "Look upon one another and say the words."
"High and Mighty Poseidon, King of the Seas and Father of this blessed country, hear our words and our vow. She/he is mine and I am hers/his, from this day until my last, to be cherished, honoured and trusted above all other, and never to be forsaken. From this day until my last."
Their voices melded into one, slipping and sliding over each other and echoing with love and honesty until the temple walls, those very ones that had seen so much deceit and treachery, rang with them. As they finished, Jason took Ariadne's left hand in his and slipped an emerald and diamond ring on to her third finger, "You are my wife and Queen. The Queen of my heart. Forever." He promised her in husky tones so low that no one else could hear.
Without a word, she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him fiercely, responding to his promise in the only way her overflowing emotions would let her.
Then they linked arms and turned back towards the temple entrance, preparing to be showered in flowers by the cheering crowds that thronged the sides of the streets for every inch of their route back to the palace for their wedding banquet.
The bonfires were crackling in the lower town below and the moon and stars gleaming above as Jason walked into the suite of rooms he now shared with his wife – his wife! - and found her leaning out over the window sill.
"We've got it all now, haven't we?" he murmured, wrapping his arms round her from her behind in the same way he had done that day in the forest, when Pasiphae had been killed and they had known at last that it was over for good, that she would never torment them or jeopardise their happiness again.
To his surprise, Ariadne laughed breathlessly, as though he'd stunned her, "How do you know that? I made my maids and the physicians swear not to tell you until I'd had a chance to."
Now it was Jason's turn to look at her in shock. "What on earth are you talking about? All I meant was: my mother's dead, we've reclaimed Atlantis and tied the dynasties together with our marriage. What on earth have the maids and the physicians got to do with it?"
Ariadne turned to him, trailing her hand over his bare chest, "We've tied the dynasties together with more than that, Jason. We really have got everything."
When he still stared at her blankly, trying his hardest to decipher her cryptic comment and failing miserably, she laughed again and pushed herself off his chest, letting her now free hands wander down to rest on her midriff in the sign common to all women, no matter the era or the country.
Jason's mouth dropped open, "You mean...You're...You're pregnant? Already?!"
Ariadne nodded eagerly, "From those nights in the forest. The physicians confirmed it this morning."
With a great bellow of joy, Jason swept her up and off her feet. He twirled her round and round, too delighted even to consider getting tired or dizzy. His lips crashed down on hers with more passion than they ever had before, but in the instant before they did, their eyes met and locked. A single thought flew between them.
"Surely, if ever we needed a sign that the Gods are smiling on us now, this must be it? Surely?"