Locked Away From the Sun
"For my dreams I hold my life
For wishes I behold my night
The truth at the end of time
Losing faith makes a crime.
- Sleeping Sun by Nightwish
Meg had gotten use to the darkness: the company of her own thoughts, though, were harder to get used to.
She had lost the track of time, when something unusual stopped her routines: she heard voices, outside of her sell.
As she listened more intently, she did recognize the voice speaking: her grandmother.
"My son wishes me to talk with my grand-daughter. Are you refusing the king's commands?" she heard her grandmother arguing, obviously lecturing the guards.
"I'm sorry Your Highness, we received no word of you or princess Henioche coming to see the prisoner," one of the guards uncertainly explained.
"Well, this is unheard of! I'll go get the king myself and I'm sure he'll give you a piece of his mind…" Meg heard how her grandmother was starting to lose her nerve.
"Alright, no need for that, we'll let you in," the other guard replied, obviously not ready to face the wrath of the king.
The cell's door creaked open and two familiar figures hurried in.
"My dear!" the queen-mother pulled Meg into her arms and Meg felt tears filling her eyes.
"Oh look at you darling, the state you're in! My poor dear," she cooed at her granddaughter.
Meg fought against sobbing, trying to stay calm.
"I'm quite alright grandma. The situation isn't quite ideal, though," Meg forced out a smile.
"Meg! We were so worried!" Her younger sister, Henioche, pulled her into a frenzied hug after Meg had been freed from Harmonia's grip.
"It's okay, no need to worry," Meg patted her sister's back, trying to calm her down.
"I can't believe father did this to you!" Henioche shook fiercely her head, as if trying to get the image out of her head.
"Is there any truth to your father told us, that you were engaged with someone even though you are promised to king Aedes?" her grandmother seemed troubled and wave of uneasiness ran through Meg.
"Well, it's not like that. Exactly," Meg uneasily replied.
"Well, how is it then?" Harmonia pressed on, crossing her arms on her chest.
"We just… Talked, mostly. I really liked him, I felt that for once, someone understood me and saw me for the person I was, not just as my father's daughter or as my title or position," Meg tried to explain: oh badly she wanted them to understand. It was not like she had done anything bad, right?
"Oh Meg. I understand that, I do: but did you think of the consequences of your actions when you did all that? Did you think of the best of our people?" Harmonia run her hand through Meg's hair as she spoke.
"Or did you just think of your own self?" Henioche quietly whispered, but loud enough for Meg to hear. Meg felt regret hitting her as she realized the answer to their questions.
"I… I didn't. I didn't think of anybody else, but myself," Meg quietly admitted, the tears filling her eyes once again. Father was right: she had been acting like a selfish little girl.
"You should, Meg. No matter what you do, you should put your people first, not your own selfish wishes or desires," Harmonia sternly told her.
"Look dear, we do not agree with Creon's decision to put you here, he has been too stern on you: but you have to admit, he had his reasons," Harmonia carried on.
"We really don't like seeing you like this Meg. But you should use this time wisely: you should think of what is expected of you, what is your duty. You're not a little girl any more, so stop acting like a selfish little brat," Henioche chimed in.
"So what should I do then?" Meg whispered, the guilt gnawing inside of her.
"Start acting like a princess and do your duty," Harmonia quietly replied to her.
"You mean accepting my position as king Aedes' fiancée?" Meg made sure.
"Yes, that and turning down that boy you have been seeing. It's better to end things before neither of you get more deeply involved. Remember: whatever you do, put the best of our city-state always as your first priority. That is the way you have been brought up," Harmonia emphasized the last part, taking Meg's hands into her own.
"We only say this because we love you and care about your well-being," Henioche echoed on.
"You are both right. I… I will think about it," Meg quietly replied.
"That's my good girl," Harmonia murmured as she placed a kiss on Meg's forehead, before the two of them retrieved away from the room.
Meg wasn't able to see that after her 'grandmother' and 'sister' slipped out of the room, they also slipped into their real forms: the ones of henchmen of the Underworld, Pain and Panic. The two small daimons scurried back to Underworld without anyone seeing them, to tell their master that they had done his bidding.
When the morning came, Hercules received a formal scroll from the king Creon, telling him that his duties were no longer needed. Hercules feared worst; had something happened to Meg. Had king Creon figured out what was going on between them?
"Something's wrong. I need to go to the royal palace, I need to see that Meg… The royal family is safe," Hercules quickly corrected as he noticed the look Phil gave him.
"Look kid, I know you're worried, but there's nothing we can do!" Phil objected, but the kid wouldn't listen.
So instead, Phil decided to join the kid to make sure he wouldn't do anything foolish.
As they reached the palace, the guards sternly stopped them from entering.
"The king thanks you for your services, but they are no longer required in the palace," the older one of the guards, the one higher in rank, politely told them, yet his voice was devoid of all emotion.
"But I wish to speak to the king! What about the training of the troops?" Hercules felt agitated.
"As I said, king thanks you for your services, but they are no longer needed," the guard stiffly repeated.
"This is one chilly reception, considering you have saved his city-state from being demolished numerous times," Phil huffed out.
"This is ridiculous!" Hercules was truly getting frustrated.
"If you won't cooperate, we are to remove you with force," the guard told them and the younger guard had started to move restlessly, obviously getting ready to interfere forcefully if the situation demanded it.
Hercules almost wanted to laugh out, if the situation would have been different: did they truly think that they would be able to remove him against his own wish?
Even through all his frustration, his sensible side knew that after these two guards, there would be an endless stream of new guards from the palace and they were only doing their job, the situation wasn't truly their fault. So fighting against them wouldn't do any good, it would only make the situation worse. Especially since they hadn't done anything wrong, they just followed their king's orders, on which Hercules strongly disagreed upon.
"Kid, let's just go. Barging into the palace won't do us any good," Phil pulled the hem of his tunic, urging him to follow him and return to Pegasus.
He wanted to object, to do something, but instead, Hercules sighed, following his trainer back to his loyal steed. Pegasus whinnied sympathetically as he noticed his master's agitation.
"This has something to do with Meg, I'm sure of it," Hercules then told his trainer and his winged companion.
"That seems like a correct answer. I'm sorry about that, I really am, but I warned you that something like this would happen," Phil replied, trying to reason with him.
"Is that suppose to make me feel better?" Hercules snapped angrily as he turned to face Phil.
"Look kid, I know it hurts, but we simply have to wait and see how this situation unravels," Phil tried to comfort his student, but judging by the look on his face, he had failed miserably.
"But if something is wrong, I should help her, I should do something..." Hercules rambled on, trying to wreck his brain with some sort of a plan.
"You don't even know if she's in trouble or not," Phil tried to interfere, but it wasn't much use. He tried to comfort his student, telling him that it was probably for the best that his romance with the princess had come to an end. All they could do was to wait. But wait for what?
Hercules was frustrated: something was going on, something was wrong and he was just supposed to wait and do nothing?
Hades was feeling triumphant as he closely monitored on how the events kept unfolding. He had left the little princess marinating in her own guilt and he had to hand it to them, Pain and Panic had done exceptional job by performing as members of the royal family. The theatre of Epidaurus did not know what it had missed in those two! And the boy-wonder was head over heels with worry for his little sweetheart. When the time would come, he was certain the two of them would play their roles ever so nicely, just as he had expected of them.
Autolycus himself had proven to be even less useful than Hades had originally thought, but he had given the piece of information Hades had needed the most: what to use to bring Wonderbreath down. Even against all odds, Autolycus had turned out to be an essential piece of his masterplan.
Hades rubbed his hands together in an excited manner: only few days to go and the real fun would start. He could hardly wait for it, but then again, why would few days more matter when he had waited for his revenge for eons?
-A/N: Poor Meg, first imprisoned and now quilt-tripping? I'm sorry for longer wait than I originally intended, my work-life has been really stressful and I've been feeling kinda down. I'm still not quite sure with this chapter, but then again, I wanted to put something up. Thanks for all the reviews, you guys make me really happy!
Nutmeg: So glad you're still enjoying this!
Maya: I have to be honest; I haven't really thought about it, and I don't feel that I'm really good with that kind of fiction. But I'll give it some thought!
Guest: Glad you're liking this, the chapter is up now!
A Strawberry: I'm happy that you're liking the parallels and the fic itself! We'll just have to see how Hades interfering with things will affect the outcome!