Its almost 1am and I just want the update up so I apologize for not posting my normal replies to my reviews. Hope you enjoy!
Lost in a storm of thought Herc struggled to hold Meg's writhing form down, hearing such a slurry of curses and insults flying from Meg's mouth was enough to make him feel ill. He could hardly grasp the reality of the situation, and the only apparent solution was something Herc would never do, had promised never to do. His hands were trembling at the thought alone,
"Even if she manages to get back in this broken excuse of a body she can always fall back out again. You can't change that!" Hades felt triumphant, more confident than when he released the titans or when tricked Hercules into giving up his strength.
"I'm not letting anything happen to her."
"Oh, wonderboy is trying to go noble!" That laugh, that manic laugh, Meg's voice but Hades' sardonic tone. As her form thrashed in an attempt to writhe out of Herc's grip he realized the more he delayed, the more time Meg was forced to spend in the underworld, but he was tortured by the thought of having to hurt her. Shutting his eyes he brought a trembling hand up, tears building in his eyes, knowing that he had to bring her back from that destitute realm,
"Forgive me Megara."
"You promised to never hurt her, and look what you are doing!" Hades sneered, and was silenced as Herc brought his fist down, but halted, trembling worse. He fought with himself, all of his inner daemons from childhood surging to the surface, all the destruction brought by his strength. Tears brimmed over, clinging to his eyelashes for a few hopeless moments before trailing his cheek. With one shoulder free Hades saw his chance and rolled out of Herc's grip, leaping up and standing before a trembling Herc,
"Some hero." He sneered, clucking his tongue, "Can't even beat me in a mortal body." Herc jolted to his feet and lunged in a moment of blind fury, stumbling. But Hades was too quick, dodging Herc's advances. His blue eyes flickered to Meg's, their brilliant violet void of any trace of his beloved.
"Let her go!" Herc leapt at Hades with surprising speed, and as the diety tried to dodge his advance Herc's fingertips snagged the hem of Meg's dress and her form crashed to the floor and Herc scrambled to grab her arm, holding her down again as he advanced and once more had her pinned beneath him.
"I will never let you win Hades!" He bit his lip, looking into Meg's eyes finding it near impossible to believe that she was not inside her own body. He knew what he had to do, and once again brought his fist up high above her head, "Forgive me… Oh Gods forgive me…" He fought with himself, Hades' angry words wafted by his deaf ears as he consoled himself by reminding himself that she was stuck in the underworld until he did this. With that, he brought his fist down, and watched her immediately fall into unconsciousness. He wept, burying his face in her hair, praying that this worked, that it would bring her back and that he hadn't been forced to hurt her in vain. Minutes passed before he collected himself, lifting her limp form and carrying her to the bedroom, laying her down tenderly. Brushing some hair back affectionately he felt as if his chest was going to collapse. Tearing himself away from her he sprinted to the kitchen and went into the ice box, scraping some ice into a cloth before carrying it upstairs to place it on the now swollen bump where Herc struck her. He placed the cloth carefully on her head, sighing deeply as he leaned forward and placed a tender kiss.
It was only a matter of minutes before Meg came to, and Herc looked at her with tense anticipation. "Meg?" the hesitation in his voice was obvious,
"Ugh…" Her eyes fluttered around the room, settling on Herc's looming form and a grin pursed her lips, "didn't think ya had the guts to do it" and clucked her tongue. Caught too deeply in his vain hope he seemed oblivious,
"Meg?" He repeated again, and Meg shifted up in bed, letting the ice slip to the floor and slipped a hand to the bump, "I dunno what she sees in you."
"Hades! Get out of her!"
"Wait wait, hear me out," he help up her hands, running one smoothly through her long auburn hair. "Ya see, she's not meant to come back. The link between her body and soul yadda yadda, its too weak. And I'm the lord of the dead, seein' as your little Meggie-Poo is dead," He clucked her tongue again, "I, once again, own her." Enraged, Hercules grabbed her shoulders, pushing her tiny frame up against the wall,
"You do not own her Hades. I won her freedom. From you, from the underworld, from every torture you are trying to put her through."
"You see Jerkules, you're so caught up in what you want you fail to see the obvious truth. Meg has always belonged to me. 'take me in Meg's place' does that sound familiar to ya? Am I movin to fast for ya kiddo?" He laughed, "You never lived up to your end of the bargain. And you're such a pain I think I'll take back my end of the deal since you never provided yours. This is fair." He laughed. But Herc shook his head stubbornly.
"I will stop you" Hercules vowed. Meg's eyes began to flutter, and Hades brought Meg's trembling hands to her head, squinting the violet of her eyes closed, he felt as if his grip on Meg's body may beginning to shake.
"Look how good of a job you did, you knocked your beloved unconscious all for nothing! 'Oh, I promise I'll never hurt you!'" Hades mocked, narrowing at him as he collected his senses, "You live in such a delusion to reality. You believe all in fantasy. You think you're entitled to your happy ending, that you somehow 'earned' it. Well Jerkie come here; let me inform you of this little thing called reality. Things don't happen because you want it, or because something bad happened to you."
"Shut up Hades! I did earn my 'happy ending' as you put it, I sacrificed everything for Megara, I earned her freedom from you. The Gods were the ones who granted me immortality! My end of the bargain-"
"Is still valid! It's the rules kiddo."
"So what are you going to do, just stay in her body? The moment you leave she can come back" Hades laughed again at this,
"I did just leave, you oblivious oaf! And what happened, oh, she didn't come back. Looks like your mushy-face isn't as strong as you thought, she can't even get into her own body. Pathetic really," He shrugged Meg's shoulders, clucking his tongue again.
"You're wrong. And I'm going to get her back." Hercules again fought with himself. It seemed as if he was going to have to go into the underworld again, bring her back himself, but what was he going to do with her body? He had to get her back there, but he couldn't bear the thought of her suffering on the banks of the underworld. His heart broke at the thought of how terrified she must be. He had to try again, he had to give her another chance to come back. Closing his eyes he refused to think about it and tried to bring his fist down but couldn't. Meg, I would never… ever, hurt you. His own words stung him like salt in a wound. Burning deeper the already poisonous emotional turmoil he was in. He let her go, watching her slump to the ground Herc's brows furrowed. Hades shuddered, did Jerkules' little plan work? Is Meg trying to come back? He rolled her shoulders again, finding his footing. You're losin' your touch Hades, you're the lord of the dead! Some skinny brat isn't going to beat you. With new confidence Hades began to brush and smooth Meg's dress when he was knocked to the floor and his world went black.
Hercules looked at what he had done, yet again. The shattered remains of a vase lay broken and scattered around Meg's unconscious body. Revolted by his own action Herc stumbled into the bathroom, leaning over the sink and vomited whatever was in his stomach. On the verge of hyperventilation he splashed water on his face and went back to Meg's unconscious form. He was sure this time she would be out for a while, but he needed someone to watch her. Lifting her limp form he realized she was bleeding slightly. Tears brimmed in his eyes and he laid her down for a moment to wipe the blood away. Choking on the lump in his throat he found words,
"Oh Gods Meg I hope you can forgive me." Rushing outside he sprinted to the stables, stumbling in the darkness a bit before reaching the stables. As he kicked in the door Pegasus snored through it, failing to wake up after several shouts from Herc, it finally took him tugging his ears. " Pegasus!" The winged beast leapt to his feet, spinning in several circles as he fanned his wings, whinnying threatening. "Peg! It's just me." He tried to explain and finally he calmed down, giving an embarrassed snort then he noticed Megara, who was bleeding from her head and pulled stitches. "Get to Phil's island." He reared the horse and flew through the night, nearly blind in the darkness of the cloudy night.
The flight had never felt so long, and Herc felt a mingle of sickening relief and self hatred that Meg remained unconscious, but breathing. He didn't know which soul was occupying her body and every moment was watching for that terrifying moment when her breathing would stop as one soul left and another entered. But that failed to happen, and he feared Hades was still residing in the body of his beloved. He was to busy fighting his conscience to think of what he was going to say to Phil, so when they arrived on the island and Hercules burst into his home waking up the grouchy satyr he stared at the looming hero with bleary eyes,
"Kid what in Hades are you-"
"No time to explain, Phil I need you to watch her. If she wakes up she may not be herself. She needs to not leave this island, do you understand?" Hercules explained, but Phil remained confused,
"She looks in rough shape what happened ta her?"
"No time to explain, she does not leave do you understand?" He stated, placing Meg carefully on the dusty cot by the far wall that used to serve as Herc's bed as a teenager. Were he not so distracted he may have been surprised that it was still there. Leaving a stunned Phil and unconscious Megara behind he remounted Pegasus and spurred him to the underworld.
I think this is an appropriate break mostly because I've left you guys without an update for so long and if I were leave it off where I planned to it would have been another several days. I apologize for the long delay but this was an extremely difficult chapter as I had a very difficult time thinking of what I wanted to do, and what would keep it exciting but then I got an idea and wrote it, only to find it was very difficult. SO I hope you all like this chapter because I worked very hard on it and it was the most difficult chapter of this fanfic or Reopened Wounds.