Winning Yet Still Losing
"Within there's every little memory resting calm with me
Resting in a dream
Smiling back at me
The faces of the past keep calling me to come back home
Rest calm and remember me."
- Rest Calm by Nightwish
Autolycus had lost Meg to the masses of people, escaping from the attacking monster in a frenzied panic.
For someone who had lived her whole life in the palace, she did have swift feet.
As the worst commotion wore out, Autolycus figured out that the Cyclops had been beaten: had Hades' plan failed after all? Had Hercules still defeated the monster, even though lacking his strength? Autolycus had hard time believing all that, but found no other explanation for the sudden eerie serenity.
After stopping a few by-passers, he found out that Hercules had indeed defeated the Cyclops and they pointed him to the direction where the fight had taken place.
For where was Hercules, there most likely would be his princess.
When Autolycus approached the given location, he witnessed an alarming sight: he saw her, Megara, laid to the stony ground, awfully pale and still as if she was placed as a human sacrifice to appease some relentless God. The grotesque sight greeted him before he had even time to understand what had happened.
"Princess!" Autolycus exclaimed, rushing to her side.
"Stay off, pal: she's badly hurt," the small figure beside Megara growled at him. Autolycus recognized him as a satyr and after remaining bemused for a moment, as he recalled that this satyr was indeed Philoctetes, the trainer of Hercules: he had seen the small goat-man fleetingly at the palace, but had never really paid any attention to him.
"I need to take her to the palace, to her family," Autolycus tried to reason, but the satyr shook his head.
"She's not going anywhere, not at the state that she's in. I promised to the kid that I will take care of her and that is exactly what I'm going to do," he snapped at him.
"Princess," Autolycus pleaded to Megara and she momentarily opened her eyes, looking straight at him.
"Leave," Meg quietly whispered out, loathing apparent in her otherwise weak voice.
Autolycus sighed for it was obvious that it was only question of moments when the princess would pass away. There was nothing him or anyone else could do to save her.
Hades' plan had failed as well, that much was obvious and as much as he despised the thought of leaving her to her apparent fate, he himself had still a chance, though. He could hurry to the palace and prove his importance to Creon by telling him exactly what had happened to his city and to his daughter. How Hercules had failed him, putting his daughter at risk. Yes. That he would do.
"Don't say I didn't warn you, the king will not be pleased," Autolycus noted, before pulling away
"Well, I couldn't care less about that, buddy!" Phil barked at him, before taking the girl's hand on his own, trying to give whatever little solace he could.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that. I'm sorry if I've been too harsh on you: I told the kid that you were bad news. I judged you too harshly," Phil confessed, caressing her delicate hand.
"Well, you weren't entirely wrong, were you?" a small smile appeared on her face, before her face broke into another grimace of pain. Phil gave her a sad smile: he finally saw why the kid had been so into her, she was much more than her pretty, her title or her royal position.
"Just save your breath, okay? The kid will come back soon and we will find a way to fix things," Phil tried to reassure her, but she slowly shook her head.
"You don't have to say that to make me feel better. We both know that's not true," Meg pointed out quietly.
Phil tried to disagree, but she continued talking:
"I'm just… Happy that I met him. That my city and Greece itself are saved. He did the right thing. Please tell him that," she whispered before shutting her eyes as another wave of pain it her.
Phil felt tears rising to his own eyes and he found himself unable to respond, he only quietly nodded.
He saw her body tensing and than… Nothing. She became awfully still and limp: her suffering had finally come to an end.
Phil tried to stifle his sob as he placed her small her above her abdomen as he realized there would be no fixing this.
Phil had been keeping his solitary deathwatch for an unknown time as he heard a familiar whinny from the sky. Pegasus. He did not know what he could possible say or do to ease the kid's pain.
Probably nothing would, the kid would be inconsolable.
Hades' mocking words were playing on his head as Hercules hurried Pegasus to go faster, even faster than it had ever flown before.
'A friend of yours, who's dying to see me.'
No. No. It couldn't be: she would be alright, she had to be! Otherwise all he had worked for had been for nothing. Nothing would matter if she – No, he wouldn't even think about it.
Finally they had reached the familiar-looking cliff and before Pegasus had even landed, Hercules jumped down, ready to rush to Meg's side. But he came to a sudden stop: she was still, too still, her form motionless and pale.
"Meg…" Hercules hadn't even realized he had been holding his breath. Phil looked at him, slowly shaking his head with defeat.
"Meg, no," Hercules breathed out as he collapsed to the ground, taking the lifeless body of the woman he loved to his arms.
Only now that she had already passed away, was he able to hold her in his arms the way he had always dreamed of. He shook with silent sobs as he held her: no pain he had experienced ever before matched with this. To know love and beloved, yet that all to be taken away in the matter of a few moments.
He lowered her down to the ground before burying his head to his hands, the stream of the tears burning his eyes.
The regret came soon after his endless sorrow: why hadn't he replied to her when she had told him that she loved him? Why hadn't he been there for her? He had failed the person that had mattered to him the most and there was no going back in time. No matter his efforts, he had still failed her.
"I'm sorry kid, there are just some things you cannot change," Phil patted his shoulder, desperately trying to comfort him before his own voice broke with a sob.
"She wanted me to tell you that you did the right thing, that she was happy to meet you. That saving Greece and the Cosmos was the right choice," Phil told him, his voice cracking as he spoke.
So she had realized her fate: well, she was the smartest person he had met, she had probably realized and accepted her fate long before him. She knew what was coming for her and she still embraced his choice. The level of her unselfishness amazed him.
Anger followed after regret. Hades was the one scheming behind all of this and he had used Meg, putting her in danger.
Hercules would be damned if he would let Hades use Meg as his consolation prize. No, he wouldn't let that happen to her.
Maybe he wouldn't be able to change the course of time, but he might still have the chance to change her fate.
And he would do anything in his power to make sure that Meg would get what she deserved: a chance, a life.
A life she deserved to live.
"Yes, I can," the sudden determination was filling Hercules' quiet voice as he looked up, gritting his teeth together.
- A/N: Okay, that was rather emotional. And pretty improper, considering today's Valentine's Day. And this chapter was rather short, but this felt as the most natural way to divide the chapters.
So, sorry for that. But I did want to put something out for you guys just because it's Valentine's Day. We're quickly moving towards the end, I would say we only have two more chapters to go! Wow.
So I'm wishing you guys a pleasant day, no matter what you are doing.
Reviewer shout-out to Sakura: Don't worry, your long wait is now over, the chapter is now up!
