Whew, it feels good to be back! I'm so glad you all like it. We're just a few chapters away from the end, but stick around, because this is just part one of the saga :)
Read and review, loves!
The days with Tiana were some of the best she had spent in the games. They worked well, ate well, and became even closer than before. The Games had started to feel like an extended hike, but Meg knew this bliss couldn't last long. No one had died since Esmeralda and Simba, almost four days ago, and she was sure the audience was getting bored or impatient or both. Any minute now the Gamemakers could throw in a wrinkle.
Hercules noticed her putting a hand to her stomach and stopped. "Hey, Tiana, we've gotta stop," he said, dropping his stuff. He began searching through the bags for some of their sponsor medicine. Meg sighed. "Herc, I'll be fine. It's just a scratch," she insisted. Hercules ignored her and gently lifted up her shirt, applying medicine to the wound. "How did you get that?" Tiana asked curiously. "Phillip tied me to a tree," Meg explained. She could see Hercules tense up and put her hands on his cheeks. "He's dead, sweetie. It's over, okay? The past hurts, but you can't dwell on it," she told him.
He nodded, but he didn't look happy. "I'm gonna scout ahead," he mumbled, striding into the trees. "He okay?" Tiana asked. Meg nodded as they began to follow him. "He blames himself for what happened with Phillip," she said with a sigh. "He'll be okay." Tiana nodded. "So what's the plan for getting rid of those other careers?"
"Hopefully the Gamemakers will get rid of them for us, but if they don't...we'll have to come up with some way to divide and track, I guess," Meg said. "And who knows where that Merida girl is? She's practically disappeared."
They continued walking for a long time, finally stopping in an area Meg had never seen before. The whole thing had bright red and orange leaves on dark brown trees. Tiana set down their things and stretched. "I'm gonna go get wood for a fire while Hercules scouts. Are you okay here?" Meg asked. Tiana nodded. "I'll figure out what the meal of the day is," she said with a little smile. Meg smiled back and went to go find firewood. There was a lot of it around here, enough for a nice big fire. It would be nice. Her favorite part of the day was sitting around the fire with Tiana and Herc, sharing stories and food.
"HELP! MEG, HELP!" Tiana's voice suddenly cut through the trees. Meg dropped the wood and began sprinting back to the campsite as fast as she could, praying that Tiana was okay. Please, please, let her be okay. She got back to the campsite and saw Hercules race in from the other side. Tiana was dangling upside down, caught in a trap that someone had made to catch people. "Help me, help, please," she said, clearly terrified. Hercules grabbed a sword while Meg took her friend's hands. "It's okay, we're right here," she said soothingly. "Hercules is cutting you down." She fell as Herc swung his sword and Meg caught her. The two hugged tightly. "Thank you," Tiana said tearily. They pulled apart and Tiana opened her mouth to say something when they heard a thud and Tiana jerked.
There was an arrow in her back, hit with so much force that it was sticking out of her chest. Meg screamed. Looking up, she saw a flash of red hair disappear into the red leaves. Hercules raced off after the girl, disappearing after her with a yell of anger. Meanwhile, Tiana had collapsed. Meg fell to her knees next to her friend. "Hey, hey, hey, stay with me, look at my face, I'm right here, okay? Stay with me, Tia, stay with me, you're gonna be okay," she said desperately, holding her friend in her arms.
Tiana's eyes seemed to be very far away. "Meg," she whispered. Meg could hardly focus with the tears in her eyes. "Yeah?" she asked. "You have to win." Meg began sobbing. "I will," she promised. Tiana looked down at the arrow again, shuddering at the pain. "Tell me...you and Hercules...and what love is like," she begged, her breath becoming shallow. Meg nodded, frantically thinking.
"Love is like getting punched in the stomach. But it's like living, really living, and you have another soul that you connect with, and you feel like you're in one piece, and it's beauty, and it's pain, and you can't sum it up in words," Meg said, trying to be poetic. Tiana smiled, her breath coming easier. She looked up at the trees. "I like that," she whispered, her eyes closing. She had a soft smile on her face, despite the pain.
Meg couldn't bear it. "Tia," she said, looking for the rise and fall of breath but seeing nothing. She listened for a heartbeat but heard nothing. "Tia, please," she begged. But the far off cannon blast confirmed her worst fears. She burst into tears, crying for what felt like a year and a day. Finally she knew what she had to do. She pulled the filthy arrow out of her friend's body.
She went through the woods quickly, gathering up anything she could find. She focused intently on her task, knowing that if she stopped, she would think, and if she thought, she would cry. She made her friend a crown of rosemary, a bouquet of daisies that she placed in her friend's cold hands. She surrounded her body with flowers, things that she knew Tia would have loved. Tia looked like a sleeping princess now, her face soft and untroubled, crowned and as beautiful in death as she was in life. Meg knew the hovercraft would come to take her body, but she had to do one last thing. She kissed her friend's forehead, then kissed the two fingers on her left hand and lifted them high in the air. It was the best way she knew how to say goodbye, to honor this person whose life meant so much.
Then she heard a cry of pain that sounded like Hercules. She raced towards where she thought she had seen him disappear. Her heart pounded. She couldn't lose him too, not both of them, not today. She looked everywhere, listening for something to tell her where he might be. She didn't hear a cannon blast, so she knew he was still alive for now.
She burst through a curtain of leaves to find him on the ground. He had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, and he moaned in pain. The redhead was circling him with an arrow loaded and pointing at his head. Meg's heart filled with hatred for this girl. She took a knife and threw it, but the girl was too fast and jumped aside. It caught her in the face as it went by, knocking her to the ground temporarily. She ran off, seeing Meg ready another knife.
Meg ran to Hercules and knelt by his side. "Oh, my God, Hercules," she said, looking at his wound. "I'll be fine," he said as he grimaced in pain. Meg helped him stand and supported him with her small frame. "Come on," she said, her eyes red but determined. "We've got to get you somewhere safe." They stumbled towards the bags and weapons, which Meg took up herself and began to walk. Hercules saw Tiana, resting on a bed of flowers, but couldn't bring himself to say anything. They simply continued to stumble along. Meg was nearly doubled over with the weight of her husband and their supplies, but Tiana's last words had given her some resolve. She had to win now. For Tia.
After they had gotten safely away from Merida's territory, Meg laid Hercules down and looked more carefully at his wound. "It doesn't look too bad," she said. "I have to take the arrow out, though." Hercules nodded, his face clenched in pain. "Okay, do it, do it now," he encouraged her. She braced herself, putting one hand on his shoulder and another on the arrow. He screamed when it came out and his face contorted with pain. Meg stroked his hair as she ripped off a piece of her shirt and pressed it to the gaping hole to stop the blood flow. "I know, I know," she said soothingly.
Once the bleeding had stopped, Meg put medicine on it and wrapped the wound with her shirt scraps. "You should be okay," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. He kissed the top of her head. "Thank you," he said softly. "You saved my life." She smiled as she began to collect firewood. "You saved mine a while ago. About time I repaid the favor," she called over her shoulder. He laughed.
Tiana's name appeared in the sky that night. Meg felt tears well up on her eyes again. It just wasn't fair. Hercules held her with his good arm. "It's okay, honey," he soothed her. She let her tears fall into his jacket. "I almost lost you today too, Herc," she said softly. "I don't want to lose anyone else." He sighed. "There's only four other people left," he said. "Eventually it's going to be just us, and you can't get soft, okay? You have to do it." Meg nodded. She knew it was the deal they had discussed, but it still felt so unfair that by winning these games, she would raise her daughter for the rest of her life without a father. How was that winning at all? There weren't really winners, Meg realized, just survivors.
Almost done now! Four left! In case you needed a refresher, those four are:
Merida
Mulan
Shang
Pocahontas
And of course, our lovely couple. See you next time!
