She sits on the edge of her cell, knees bent facing the outside. As if she was ready to stand up and leave this place for good.
But her cell is merely an opening in the wall. She can rise and walk out of it if she likes. The beast won't be angered if she takes a few steps around. But she stays down. She doesn't remember when the last time was that she did leave her sitting position.
She wasn't always like this. She used to think of herself as courageous, bold, standing her ground and everyone listening to her, asking for her advice. She never took pride in it but she was happy, being who she was. For her short life, she was someone she was proud of.
And then she died.
Or rather, the beast appeared and took everything from her, before taking her life as well. For a short while, she was trying to justify her actions to herself. She had seen her parents butchered by that monster, one could go in a shock after that - she still shivers whenever that picture enters her mind. She truly believed it, at some point.
But as years went by and she stopped standing up and trying to escape, as she listened to more and more souls screaming in eternal agony, she kept blaming herself for it all; for not saving her parents, for letting that young man take the fall for her in vain. He was courageous, way more than she ever was, than she ever could be.
She wasn't always this way, and the memory of what she used to be will forever haunt her in this underground prison.
And so she stays. By now she has learnt to ignore her fellow prisoners' screams and pleas for help. She just makes a list of what she can make out of them. This one has dark hair. The other has half his head burnt off. The other keeps singing so loud she started spitting blood. It helps her keep what's left of her sanity.
The man lying in the opposite cage is no exception to her scrutiny. He's bleeding, or at least he was bleeding for some time. He misses his left hand, on its place is a hook, and she wonders if he died like this or if Hades did that to him.
He hasn't woken up in the few hours he spent lying there. Is it hours? He starts trembling at some point, his head rocking to and fro, as if he's having a nightmare upon the nightmare he's already in. He mutters something then, but she doesn't make that out. She thinks it's a name. She looks away as he stops trembling and doesn't look at him again.
Suddenly, he wakes up. He groans in pain and looks around. His one eye won't open. He sits up with a groan, leaning on the wall. He looks at his side.
"Is this a bloody trick?" he rasps, voice broken. And then he does what she hasn't seen anyone do in a long time.
He rises.
In obvious agony, and supporting himself on the wall, but he rises. He moves his foot to step off his cell.
She can't help herself.
"Stop!" she says and the sound of her own voice surprises her. But he does stop. Foot mid-air, he freezes and looks at her, almost surprised to see her there. "That's exactly what it is, a trick. Don't move," she adds. She looks up at him. His head is still raised, but one arm is around his torso, hand holding his aching ribs. "He wants you to think you can escape, but you can't. No one can."
"Aye," he says in a low voice, "we'll see about that." He takes one step down.
"Don't!" she says. He hasn't been here long, he has no idea how that kind of defiance is punished here. "He'll hunt you down."
He groans, whether from pain or annoyance, she doesn't know. "Hades has already done his worst to me."
"I don't mean Hades." She's seen worse, way worse. She's heard of people's helpless cries and agonized breaths. And Hades wasn't to blame for those. He has no idea.
"Who then?" he insists, still leaning on the wall, his face contorted in pain.
She shivers again and pulls her knees closer, closing her eyes, willing the image away. "N-no, just… don't."
"Look, this isn't my first cell. I don't just sit around and rot." She opens her eyes and looks at him again. Ragged, seemingly painful breaths or not, he says it with passion, certainty. "Somebody's come down here to save me, and I need to make her job easier." His voice breaks at the last word and he drops his head.
Definitely a first one for her. She hasn't seen this kind of determination in ages. Probably she used to be the same too, once? But here it's hopeless, vain.
But who would come to save anyone from the Underworld? "How do you know she's here?" she asks.
"She got me a message."
Uh. Sure. And he believes that. "How do you know that wasn't one of Hades' tricks?"
"Because I know!" he shouts. He looks at her, and if she could feel anything for him, she would feel pity for how pointless his hopes are.
Hopes.
He takes a few short breaths, and speaks again. "When you love someone, you know." And… is that a smile? She looks away again, letting his words sink in. She loved and was loved once too. But that doesn't matter anymore - years of solitude, torture, hopelessness, they took away everything she had left in her.
Screams echo in the catacombs. She may not remember what love is like, but she knows damn well the power it can have on someone. And that poor man is allowing himself to be blinded by what he had while alive.
"What's keeping us in here?" he insists.
"Something you don't want to face." She barely manages to utter the words. The beast has not come near her in years, but…
"Well, I'll be the judge of that."
She turns. He's so determined it almost frightens her even more. Before she can stop him again, he takes the final steps, groaning again and again. "Time to go," he rasps and pushes himself of the wall.
"Are you mad?" she curls into herself. There's no other explanation. He starts limping towards her.
"Perhaps. But I'm the best chance you have." He takes his blood stained hand off his ribs and… offers it to her.
Truth be told, she never had someone to fight the beast with. Every soul was left here for a reason, as if to remind her that she shouldn't have run from it in the first place. But now she has a chance. Slim, for sure, but the first she's had ever since she ended up here.
"Come," he whispers and motions her to stand, face still pained.
Maybe Hades did do one mistake after all. With only flecks of hope, she takes his hand and tries to stand up. She almost falls, but he keeps her up. She's whimpering and he's moaning, trembling in pain. What chances do they have?
He looks at her. "You ready?"
She dares not look at his face. From up close she can see even more injuries, and she just wonders how he's even standing on his feet. But seeing him, like that, if he wants to get out, she can want the same too, can't she?
She's still shivering as she nods. "Alright, go. Go!" he says and turns towards the corridor.
She tries to run, but she hasn't even stood in years, and he's only limping behind her.
A growl comes off that freezes her muscles and shakes her from her feet, making her lose balance and almost fall down.
No…
They make a turn away from the beast.
"I told you we'll never make it!" she almost shrieks at him.
"We won't!" he cries, grabbing her arm and turning her towards him. "But you will." He looks into her eyes and, behind the pain and fear his eyes - eye, she sees a warmth, a fire. "I'll draw the hell beast away, you run!"
She nods despite her own terror that makes her whole body shake. She's standing on her own now but she doesn't think she can last long.
"And once you're free, find Emma Swan. I'm Captain Killian Jones, Captain Hook. Tell her to find me."
She nods again. Emma Swan, Killian Jones. Emma Swan, Killian Jones.
"Go!" he cries one last time, and she runs without looking back. She trips once, stands up on shaky legs and leans on the wall.
Emma Swan, Killian Jones.
The growling has gone quieter, and not because of the distance she managed to put between them and herself. She takes one step, repeating the names in her thoughts. Another step.
And then she hears the screaming. Wild, ragged, broken screaming. That sets her off and she runs, and runs, without exactly knowing where she's going. She may end up back where she started…
Emma Swan, Killian Jones.
More screaming, weaker now, almost whimpering.
Emma Swan, Killian Jones.
And then the screaming stops.
Emma Swan, Killian Jones.
Killian.
She runs and slowly the air feels lighter and cleaner. She runs. The screaming has stopped. She can't hear the beast running towards her. In the distance, she can see light she's never seen before down here. Killian - he saved her.
At what cost? She trips again.
He's suffering now, that much she knows. She can't run anymore, but she can't stay there either. If she does, and she's found…
Emma Swan, Killian Jones.
She stands up and with her face down, she runs towards the exit.
A/N: Originally posted on Tumblr at 31/01/2017.
I felt like the show didn't delve enough into her character, and made her weak and pathetic just for the sake of it, something OUAT doesn't do that much - what with all its badass women, even new mothers picking up swords trying to defend their children and all. So I couldn't help imagining that something horrible must have happened to Megara to make her this scared of Hades and his hound, something that could've broken even the strongest of souls.