Sorry for my completely unjustified delays...
I had left the interview and started to stalk to where Pegasus was waiting for us. I expected the air to feel fresh compared to the thick acrid smell of body odor and excessive incenses. But I was mistaken. I was hit, again, with various foul odors making me cough several times. I peered through watering eyes to find a large crowd had gathered in the alley behind the building, and Pegasus was nowhere in sight. Oh just perfect. I felt an impact of someone jostling me, and turned to find Hercules has been quick to follow me.
The crowd recognized him almost immediately, and began pushing towards us. They bombarded us with questions, quickly and insistently. Their voices blended together into one roar of sound, near impossible to actually discern one question in the sea of voices. I completely regretting my agreement to join Hercules in this interview he had volunteered me for, and had to bite my lower lip to keep my rising temper in check. I could hear Phil's thick accent join in the obnoxious circus.
"Wonderboy, get us out of here," I insisted, unable to mask the irritation in my tone. I winced as he responded with a shrill whistle, and salvation finally arrived. Pegasus managed to find a place to land in the pressing crowd. Hercules used one arm to hoist Phil onto the winged terror, and the other to pull me up along with himself, waving and apolgizing to the crowd as we took to the sky.
"Sorry about that... I didn't expect it to go like that..." He apologized.
"Don't ever promise someone an interview with me without my consent again," I snapped.
"Sorry..." he apologized again. "The things he was threatening..."
"Are why he runs a sketchy tabloid. People will always read them, some people will believe it, the majority won't. You can't let some random jerk manipulate you like that. And you can't drag me into that with you," I managed to reign in my tone, and keep myself from using much more colorful language.
"I'm sorry," he repeated. I sighed, rolling my eyes. I didn't want to hear another apology.
"Just don't do it again. Please," I replied. I knew he had not intended to make me so uncomfortable, nor had he expected the man to act so unprofessionally. From what I had seen, his experience with the media had only ever been positive. It was a fact that would drive Hades mad with rage. There were more than one unexplained scorched marks in the earth where Hades had a temper tantrum because of that fact.
As Pegasus climbed high into the sky my anger was replaced with panic. I squinted, wishing I could have just walked home. I felt Hercules wrap his arm around me tighter, but it did little to ebb my fear.
"Does horsefeathers really have to go so high?" I complained, failing to hide the tremor in my voice,
"We'll have to work on this fear of yours. A little practice and you'll be fine!"
"Yeah... keep telling yourself that," I quipped, closing my eyes trying to pretend I was closer to the ground. "Can we just fly back to the villa a touch closer to the safety of the ground?" I could feel my racing pulse throbbing in my throat, which was not helping the nausea that was threatening to make me ruin the upholstery.
"Open your eyes, the view is increidble! You don't know what you're missing!" He sounded genuinely excited, but I just could not share his sentiment. I shook my head stubbornly, and gripped his waist tighter. "Okay okay, Pegasus take it down a bit. You've had your fun let's not scare her to death," The hooved pigeon huffed in disagreement, but the sudden shift told me he was listening to his master and we were mercifully coming closer to the ground.
"See, it's possibly to fly home without being suicidal. You don't need to challenge Icarus's altitude records every time you go out," Hercules chuckled, and Pegasus made a noise that I interpreted as annoyance.
"Peg isn't made of wax. I probably could break his altitude records..."
"On your own time, you do that while I'm with you-" I was cut off when he laughed again, and I risked loosening my grip to give him a playful punch to the back of the shoulder. "Not funny!"
"Oh come on, you don't think I'd ever actually let you fall, do you?" He asked, turning to look at me.
"That's not the point!" He smirked at me before turning back to watch where we were going, traveling at a still uncomfortable but much more realistic altitude where a fall would only result in multiple fractures rather than becoming an indistinguishable stain on the cobble road. Once back at the villa I nearly fell off Pegasus in my mad scramble to get to the safety of the ground,
"Easy there," Hercules said, trying to help me back into an upright posture. "All done, the excruciating journey is over," He teased, smiling at me. I squinted, glaring at him in return and lightly slapped his bicep,
"It's not funny!" I tried to defend, but only made his grin broader.
"You can take on the end of the world, but throw in a little bit of height-"
"That was a lot higher than a little bit of height," I replied, doing my best to mock him as I head into the villa. "One of these days I'll figure out your phobia, and then I'll let you have a taste of your own medicine,"
"I'll join you in a few. Just bringing Peg down to the stable," I waved my hand in the air to acknowledge. Once inside, I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I was able to play it off lightly with Hercules, but my fear of heights usually brought me to near-panic levels of anxiety. I rubbed my face, trying to convince myself I was being pathetic. It took a few minutes, but I did manage to calm myself down. Between the interview and the flight I was completely exhausted. The divan in the den was calling to me, and I threw myself onto it dramatically before hugging a throw pillow under my head and closing my eyes.
I was jolted awake by how cold it was. I looked around, and the bedroom was dark. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust and begin to see the vague outlines of the furniture. Dim light leaked through the curtains that led to the balcony, the fabric billowing gently with the wind. I was surprised how cool it was for a summer night, and hugged my arms as thin gray wisps of breath curled beneath my nose. I turned to the spot in the bed beside me only to find it empty. I assumed Wonderboy had been called away to challenge some monster, or some needy politician begging for help.
I heard my name called, and looked towards the bedroom doorway. It was hard to make out the voice that had called me, but I figured it was Hercules coming home. He usually didn't wake me when coming home late, so I grew concerned. I slid from the bed and made my way towards the hall, calling out his name.
Once in the hall I realized I was in a cave. Familiar smells bombarded me. It smelled wet and stale, and I could hear water running somewhere in the distance. I heard my name again, the voice again too muffled to clearly distinguish. I called out Hercules name again, and this time the voice was much clearer directly behind my head,
"Megara, the oh-so-noble hero," I jumped, spinning quickly and looked at the familiar jagged-toothed smile bearing down on me. "I'm here for my end of the bargain," Startled, I opened my mouth as a silent yelp escaped my throat. I lifted my hand, grasping my throat as I felt a sudden tightness taking my breath away. "Don't worry. This will be quick, I promise. You'll be home soon Nut-Meg," I shook my head, taking in a wheezing breath to rebuke him but choked as if the air itself had become water, "You'll be home soon," He sneered again,
"Meg!" I jolted, and swung out an arm to try and strike Hades in that arrogant smile. He jumped back quickly, "Whoah!" a much softer voice exclaimed, and it took me a moment to realize it was Wonderboy who had been standing over me. "Careful. Almost took my nose off,"
"Wouldn't want to wreck that pretty face," I smiled, trying to joke off the returning anxiety. I placed my hands over my face, trying to rub away the remaining dregs of sleep. "Ugh. Didn't think I'd fall asleep that quickly, figured I would just lie down for a minute," I explained.
"You okay?" He asked, and risked sitting beside me.
"Yeah," I replied quickly.
"Bad dream?" He asked,
"No. Just dreaming I was getting into a fight with a tree," I replied sarcastically, lifting a brow at him. "Where's Phil? You take him home after dropping me off?" I asked, realizing I hadn't seen the frustrating goat since we landed.
"He wanted to do some training with Pegasus, I managed to talk him into making it a solo session,"
"Serves him right for trying to scare the lunch out of me," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. I was actually quite surprised Phil was willing to let Hercules escape a training session of any sort.
"Sorry I put you through that. I've never had a reporter act like that before..." his voice trailed off, as he knit his fingers nervously.
"He's just one random ass. Even if he tries to publish some scathing article, he picked a really bad time to do it. I mean, you literally just saved the world. Not the best time to try and convince Greece you're actually a selfish jerk," I tired to reassure him. "And don't you worry, I will find a way to repay you for that delightful flight," This got a smile from him.
"I'll have to keep eyes on the back of my head,"
"Oh trust me, you won't see it coming," I winked at him and laid back across the divan, resting my head on his lap. "Can we do nothing for the rest of the day?"
"Sounds like fun," He replied, and began to run a hand through my hair. A sigh that felt like a purr hummed in my throat. I wanted to sleep, despite the fact I had done little more than sleep since coming to the villa. I pondered if my body was still just struggling to finish recovering, and I thought about the extensive bruising muraled onto my torso. I pushed the thoughts away as I tried to enjoy the simple affection of Hercules stroking my hair, his thumb playing with my earlobe. Unfortunately, like every other moment we tried to share, we were interrupted as if the muses were using me to write a terrible comedy,
"Kid! Get over here!" We both turned towards the entryway and almost in unisent groaned as Phil came charging into the den,
"Really Phil? Really? This is just growing cliched" I whined, sitting up so Hercules could stand and see what had riled Phil up into such a fuss. "It's like you have a 'nice moment' radar and have to come ruin it,"
"Hey, I don't make these monsters magically appear!" Phil retorted, and I tried to tune out the following conversation but his voice was so loud it was an impossible task. "Now get out there kid, down by tha' watah'"
"You were out back! How did you even know there was a monster?!" I asked, incredulous at yet another interruption. He ignored me, and went back to telling Hercules all about the miraculous appearance of a harpy, or a lion, or a fire-breathing scorpion with a human's ass screaming obscenities at dogs. Whatever sensational threat to the world had appeared, and needed Wonderboy, and only Wonderboy, to once again save the day from this clearly monumental disaster. I nodded at his promises to return home quickly word-jumbled between apologies for having to run off.
"I love you," He finished, and despite Phil's ceaseless protests to leave immediately gave me a quick kiss before dashing off after his screaming coach.
"Love you too," I shouted back, getting an acknowledging hand wave. I chuckled despite my irritation and watched my hero once again dash off to save the day.
Minor formatting edit here, some of my italics came undone... so I fixed them.
