Title: Panta Rhei
Author: owlet
Rating: M
Disclaimer: The film "Hercules" belongs to Disney ™. I'm only having fun and make no money with this.
Notes: You can have lots of fun watching Disney's "Hercules" - if you have absolutely no knowledge of Greek mythology. Or if you're able to switch off that nagging voice in your head that will run a constant indignant commentary of corrections. I managed to do that the second time I've watched the film – and found that I liked it.
Two things kept nagging me, though.
First: Hercules made a deal with Hades that if he stays, Megara can go (if he can reach her). Now, I think that deal is no longer valid, since Herc didn't stay – Hades would be completely within his rights to take her back. The only thing that keeps him from doing that is his fear of getting his ass kicked by Herc again. So what would happen if that protection would be withdrawn?
Because Second: a few years into the blissful marriage (in the original myth) Herc goes ballistic (because Hera is a vindictive bitch again who takes out her frustrations on people unable to defend themselves instead of getting even with Zeus – she makes Herc mad for a short time) and kills his children (and according to later authors Meg too) and then starts the twelve labours. Hm. In those versions where Meg survives, she's given to Iolaos in marriage (what she had to say about that no one knows), but in the Disney-verse?
And suddenly, there was a little plot-bunny with lavender eyes and a mouth full of fangs sitting in my lap; it grinned at me and said, "Going once, going twice..."
No Persephone in my story; Quantum Witch did that better than I ever could. Go and read "Hope Springs Eternal", it's one of the best I've ever read.
The title is an Ancient Greek phrase that means "Everything is flowing/ in a state of flux." As in: you can never swim in the same river twice.
I hate Greek/Roman mix-ups. Gods will be called by their Greek names, only Hercules will be Hercules because that's (unfortunately) the title of the film. I was shortly thinking about the option of Romanising everyone – but then Hades would be Pluto and that just creates major WRONGNESS in the Disney-verse :)
Oh yeah, not betaed yet and I'm not a native speaker, so I guess I really need someone to go over this. Any takers?
Panta Rhei
by owlet
Chapter 1 – Three Little Mounds
Megara felt numb. There were no tears any more that she could shed, so the heavens cried in her stead as she knelt beside the graves of her children. She was the only one left, as the other mourners had gone home after the burial. Some had tried to get her to leave with them, but she had screamed and lashed out against anyone who tried to take her away from her children.
They didn't understand, nobody could, except maybe Hercules, and he was the one who had killed their little ones in a fit of madness.
Her two sons, aged seven and five – Andrastos with her nut brown hair and his father's sunny disposition and Aristaeus with daddies golden locks, her quick wit and sly sense of humour. Her little daughter Chloe who had been the last to join the family one year later. She was a bright little child who'd had her father firmly wrapped around her little finger – until he had thrust his sword between her ribs, crushing delicate bone, driving her gentle little soul from this world.
And Megara knew the place very well, the place her children were now. She had spent years there after all, serving it's master because of a very foolish deal she'd once made with him. Hades, the name of both the realm and the lord. He was maybe not the mightiest of gods, but easily the most feared. His name was rarely uttered for fear of summoning him; he was the one nobody could escape, except the gods, who were immortal. But he'd turned one into a human once already – who knew if he wouldn't do it again. So yes, even the gods feared him.
And the underworld itself? A dismal place, dank and spooky in eternal twilight, with demons and monsters and who knew what else (she had never felt the need to explore the place herself) – she shuddered at the thought of her children trapped there without somebody to watch over them, to comfort them in the dark. It shouldn't be that way, Megara thought, it just wasn't natural that children had to die before their parents. Hercules had flown off on his winged horse in horror and self loathing, so she was now alone, only his parents offered her the support they could at their advanced ages. Amphitryon and Alkmene had been fading fast since the death of their grandchildren. It simply broke their hearts that their beloved son had been capable of such a deed; Meg had overheard them more than once muttering to each other that they wished they hadn't lived to see this tragedy.
And she? She knelt in the dirt, clawing at the soft soil covering her daughters grave and cursed whoever was responsible for her husbands madness.
Was he even her husband any longer? He'd left without saying anything, unable to face her.
Suddenly there was a smell in the air that she knew very well. She opened her eyes and saw tendrils of smoke sliding languorously across the earth in a movement that had nothing to do with the wind.
Meg sat back on her heels and turned her head to the right, staring in terror at the fanged grin of the lord of the dead himself, who was hunched in a crouch next to her.
"Hello, my little Nut-Meg. How have you been?"
He looked like he always had, a dark Chiton that fell to his feet unbelted and an even darker Himation held by a death-head pin on his right shoulder. His skin was ashen and the blue flame that was his hair was a little diminished in the persistent drizzle of this miserable day. Meg forced herself to meet his bright yellow eyes.
"What do you want?"
"Aw, Meg. I'm hurt; can't an old friend come by and say hello from time to time?"
A spark of her old belligerent nature returned at that comment.
"An old friend? Sure. But though you may be old, you're certainly no friend," she growled at him.
Hades wagged his finger at her.
"Careful, careful, little Nut-Meg – you might offend me if you continue like that," he singsonged.
"And I would care because?"
"Oh, let's see... because Wonder-breath broke the deal, didn't stay behind... so you, my flower, are still mine. Well, as things were 'till now I couldn't come to collect you, but with your loving husband out of the picture, I'm free to take what's rightfully mine," he said with a grin, slipping his arm around her shoulders, pulling her with him as he stood.
Meg felt as if the bottom had dropped out of her stomach.
"What?"
"Oh yes, and then there's the little ones to think of, no? Thanks to your beloved Hercules I have them too, whatever shall I do with the little tykes? Hm, the vortex of fire comes to mind..."
Megara pushed him away hard, stumbling backwards since he was immovable.
"Don't you dare to hurt them," she snarled at him, baring her teeth like a wild animal.
"Temper, temper Meg. Well, since I'm feeling very generous at the moment, I've decided to take you back, even though you haven't exactly been trustworthy in the past. I will even let you see your children from time to time."
He drew her near again gripping the back of her neck with one hand and moved his head so his lips slightly brushed her ear as he spoke, "But don't even think of ever crossing me again, my little dove, because the consequences would be dire and there won't be a hero to rescue you – not this time."
Meg stared over his shoulder wide eyed and trembling, her gaze completely unfocussed. He'd always been scary (she'd gotten used to that eventually) and he'd always been touchy-feely (she'd never really gotten used to that), but this was so much worse than anything he'd done before. She had been able to hold her own against him (well, sort of), when the only thing he could threaten her with was harm to her person, because she'd been so dead inside that she hadn't really cared. He had never had the leverage to really make her grovel at his feet like Pain and Panic did.
Oh boy, did he ever have that leverage now. And he was right; nobody would try to save her. Her parents were dead (oh had their shadows berated her when they'd found out what she'd done) her father in law was in no shape to rescue anyone and Phil was back on his island happily chasing Nymphs. Her social life – hell, wives of wealthy men didn't have social lives. It just wasn't done. Besides, she and Hercules had been so wrapped up in each other, that she simply didn't have the time to make friends.
And the gods simply wouldn't care, now that her children were dead. Her only function in their eyes had been bearing heirs for their precious hero. Now that she didn't have that function any more, she was worthless to them. No, the Olympians wouldn't lift a finger.
Hades withdrew a little to look at her face.
"What's the matter, Meg? No protest, no smart reply? I must have really scared you then,"
"Yes," Meg replied, "you really scared me. Satisfied?"
"Very," he purred, "But now it's time to leave this dismal place and go to … an even more dismal place, I'm afraid."
Meg took a deep breath.
"Wait."
"What for?"
"Why? What would I be good for? What do you want with me?"
He looked her over with an indulgent expression on his long face.
"I'm sure I'll think of something."
Meg closed her eyes as he poofed them to his realm; she had found out in the past that the experience wasn't half as nauseating when she didn't look. Only when she felt solid floor beneath her feet again her eyes flew back open.
Everything looked as it always had. The high, vaulted ceiling of the cave vanishing in the darkness, the river that carried lost souls faintly illuminating a boat and its ferryman.
Wordlessly she followed Hades aboard and tried not to think about falling in.
"Why have you decided to, as you put it, take me back," she asked softly, mostly only to get her mind away from that.
Hades looked at her over his shoulder.
"Pure goodness of my heart, my little Nut-Meg, pure goodness of my heart."
Megara frowned at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Think, Meg. What would you have done with your life? No living relatives, no husband – how would you have lived? I really don't think anyone would marry you after the recent debacle, babe, people can be so superstitious... would you have become a Hetaira? Porne even? What else would you have done other to share that lovely body with the world? Speaking of; got a little on the porky side of things, did ya?"
"You try having three babies without gaining a little weight," she muttered, focussing on his last remark. No, she hadn't thought about her future at all in the last few days. Her life had come to a screeching halt, all time seemingly standing still, endless hours filled with agony. She supposed she looked a little worse for the wear – eyes red, face bloated from endless crying, her once glorious hair unkempt and her dress stained with dirt. What would she have done? She hated to admit it and it smarted quite a bit, but he had a point. A woman had only those options: daughter, wife, mother, whore.
She sighed. Hercules had never treated her like an inferior being, but Meg knew that this was the exception to the rule. So did it matter that she was Hades' slave again? If it wasn't him, it would have been someone else sooner or later; and Hades had always liked to tease and torment her, but there was a certain boundary that he had never crossed. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad? She had enjoyed a certain amount of freedom and sometimes she had even joked with him.
And she'd see her children again.
The boat bumped into the little pier at foot of a huge staircase. The lord of the dead disembarked and held out a hand for Meg. She took it and let herself be helped out of the boat. She already knew the way, had walked it many times before. The main hall looked the same too, a throne, the table with the map and the figurines, the skeletal feel of the architecture.
"Well, I hope you remember the way to your room. Clean up, get some sleep, then come back here."
Megara nodded and took the only other exit that led deep into the bowels of the palace. She passed shadows on her way doing this and that – Hades could awaken the usually dormant vestiges of human lives and set them to do tasks for him, washing, cleaning, cooking, whatever came to mind, but only in the boundaries of the underworld itself – it was his job after all to make sure they didn't leave except to be reborn.
Her room was small, dark and seemingly untouched. She had spent many nights asleep in this very bed, had folded her dresses in the trunk that sat in one corner, had washed herself in the ceramic bowl that stood next to a large jug on a little table that also held small containers with oils and make-up in sombre colours that she preferred. A bronze mirror and two combs completed the ensemble. Everything was right as she'd left it.
She smelt the water in the jug and was surprised to find that it was fresh. After filling her washing bowl she hunted around for her sponge. She found a new one in the trunk on top of her Chitons. Proceeding to wash herself from head to toe (she discovered with some embarrassment that she smelled rather rank) she did her hair last, it wasn't easy but she managed to do it – after all she'd had years of practice. She had to ask the shadows to bring out the dirty water four times before she was done.
She dried off on a towel a shadow had brought her and took a Chiton out of her trunk. It was fortunate that these things were pretty much a one size fits all article of clothing – Hades had been right; she had filled out quite a bit. She liked it though, it made her feel like a woman instead of a girl, and it reminded her of being a mother.
With that thought she curled up on the bed and cried herself to sleep.