The Devil Meets The Damsel

"Who tied my hands to the wheel?
The zodiac turns over me
(Come to me)
Somewhere there my fate revealed
I hear but how will I see."

- Siren by Nightwish

The next few days, king Creon was able to busy himself with preparations for the wedding. King Aedes had sent him a word that he had received Creon's letter and by the time Creon would receive his response, he would have started his journey to Thebes. Creon was glad of these news as the palace was still frequently being visited by that certain young hero, who demanded to see his daughter. Creon had assured himself, time and time again, that he had only done what was necessary to prevent the situation of getting out of his hands.

But at the same time, he also felt anxious: he had seen the way the palace staff, his subjects and even the members of his own family were looking at him. Was he really going insane? Sometimes he wasn't sure even himself.

Autolycus, his loyal advisor, had reassured him time after time that he was only doing what was necessary. But was he? Was it really necessary for him to lock away his daughter, his own daughter, before giving her away for some man he had only briefly met before; Megara herself had never met him, which she had been more than happy to point out to him time after time.

During his busy days he was able to bury these thoughts to the back of his mind, but when the night-time fell, he wasn't as lucky.

Creon had been pacing around his private bedroom, but as the pacing offered him no consolation, he finally stopped his pacing and sat down to his bed with a sigh. He buried his face to his hands and muttered to himself:

"Oh Gods, how I wish you were here to guide me Eurydiche, my love."

But his wishes stayed ungranted and he stayed just as lonely and disoriented as before.

Meg had lost the track of time for how long she had been locked away in her cell. The only way of tracking time was watching sun go down and appearing once again the next morning as Apollo started his day's work from the small sliver of the so-called window. Of course there were meals delivered to her cell punctually, but that was all to help her keep some sort track of time.

She had thought, over and over, what her grandmother and her sister Henioche had told her. And she had come to a realization that they had been right to scold her: she had been selfish and rash.

Maybe they had been right: maybe she had deserved to be treated like this. If her father ever forgave her, she had to change the way she acted. To become more unselfish, putting her people's needs before her own.

As she thought about these things, she sat in the corner of the room, hunched into a small ball.

She was taken aback when suddenly an unfamiliar figure appeared in her cell, with another person, who was unfortunately familiar to her.

"Meg, babe! Can I call you Meg? Name's Hades, Lord of the Dead, hi, how you're doing?" the taller figure babbled on and offered his hand like she should shake it. Meg gave him an unamused and incredulous look.

"Uh-huh. Right. Lord of Dead? I'm not doing that great, but as far as I know, I'm not dying either. So what the heck are you doing here and with him?" Meg got up to her feet and nudged her head into the direction of Autolycus.

"Ha! That's really cute. You sure are self-assured for someone locked in a prison. You're a smart cookie, aren't you? You could say we're working together, Autolycus and moí, well, he's working for me, that would be more accurate," Hades paced around her enthusiastically.

"We can give you your freedom, princess Megara," Autolycus added silkily, his voice soundy almost oily to Meg's ears.

"Does my father know that you serve another master?" Meg gave Autolycus an icy looked, who shrugged in return.

"Your father may the king, but there's no need for him to know about all things," Autolycus gave her a smile, which she guessed was meant to be charming, but which Meg interpreted as calculated and predatory.

"We might disagree on that one. But nothing comes freely, so what's your price?" Meg crossed her hands on her chest, giving them another hard look.

"Weeeell, let's just say I'm in the middle of removal. Moving to a bigger apartment, you see. Cosmic removals are a real drag, just take my word for it, okay? Don't you just hate burocracy? So here's the deal: you have been awfully close with this certain hunky son of Zeus. Unfortunately, he's been a constant fly in my baclava, to speak metaphorically. So as a fair God, I'm just asking you to do teeny, tiny favor for me: help me bring that nuisance down. So you help me with that problem, and boom! You're free, as free as humming-bird!" Hades quickly summed up and Meg gave an unbelieving laugh.

"You're kidding, right? I'll never help you to hurt Hercules!" Meg shook her head furiously turning away from her.

"Sweetheart, I would never play games with you," Hades gave her suggestive smile which made her skin crawl.

"You might as well, I'm not gonna help you," she told him defiantly.

"Babe, when I said you would be free, I meant literally free: no forced marriages or anything of that sort, you would decide what to do for yourself. Wouldn't that be great, to once decide for yourself what to do?" Hades wrapped a meaty arm around Meg, vividly painting a picture with his other hand.

"But I thought…" Autolycus interjected, but only a menacing look from Hades was enough to shut him up.

"Let me do the thinking here, you ain't exactly Archimedes himself," Hades spat at him.

"Look, I don't care what you offer to me, I'm not gonna let you hurt him!" Meg pulled herself free from his grip and Hades' face grew dark.

"Yeah, well, dallying with him has really paid off to you, hasn't it? Here you are, locked up and where is your hero? Certainly not here, is he?" Hades pointed out.

"I'm no damsel in distress needing someone to save me!" Meg snapped back and Hades huffed out a dry laugh.

"You've really got some attitude for somebody locked up good and tight by her own father. Think of what these people have done to you: what do you own to any of them!" Hades was starting to lose his cool.

"Don't waste you breath: I told you my final decision and nothing you will say can change my mind," Meg told him, once again turning her back on him. Her deliberate ignorance of him irked him off. Oh how Hades hated when mortals thought they above him: he was a God, lord of the Dead himself!

"I gave you a chance to cooperate with us and you refused! Hey, I'm a patient guy, but I can't force you to work with us! Well, doesn't matter: you're gonna come with us anyway. If you won't work with us voluntarily, I could always use a hostage. You know, a leverage," Hades snapped his fingers and Meg was restrained with bonds made of smoke. She tried to scream, but her mouth was gagged as well.

"Hey, nobody said life was fair, little princess!" Hades smiled at her mockingly after receiving a furious look from her.

"And after all this is over, she'll be mine as you promised, right master?" Autolycus made sure, twirling around her like a dog would prance around its bone. Meg felt her blood boil. This creep had betrayed her father, her family, her people and why? Because he wanted to have his way with her? She had always known he was a creep, but she had no idea that he was a creep of this level. Disgusting.

Her face must have betrayed her thoughts as Autolycus pulled her closer and whispered to her ear: "I'll change your mind, my sweet. You'll see, eventually. I'll make you see."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's get this caravan moving," Hades was already bored with the scene unraveling before him: he had more important things to attend to. As he snapped his fingers again, all three of them had disappeared and the cell was left empty.

It was only during the next morning when the guards noticed that the cell was empty and the princess was nowhere to be seen.

That same morning, the Spartan king Aedes had arrived to Thebes in his all grandeur, only to find out that his bride was missing.

Creon felt his temper running short: he really needed to discipline his guards when this mess was over. How could anyone lose a person from a locked room? Those incompetent idiots! And where was Autolycus when he most needed his aid?

"How is this possible? You insult me, king Creon: inviting me here when you don't even know about my bride's whereabouts!" King Aedes paced the throne-room from one side to another.

"I come here, only to find out that my bride has gone missing! This is humiliating!" He raved on and on.

"My most sincere apologies, king Aedes. We had her under our supervision, we have no idea what could have happened!" King Creon tried to reason with the furious monarch.

"Maybe you could consider marrying one of my other daughters, hmph? Henioche has reached the age as well," Creon gestured towards his daughters, seated on the other side of the room. Henioche had a hopeful expression in her face: she didn't care who she would marry, she wanted to become a married woman and a real lady!

"Hmph," king Aedes stopped his pacing for a moment, studying the princess before him.

"Megara is the most beautiful one, is she not? In that case, I want her," king Aedes told him bluntly, unresolving as he had made up his mind.

King Creon sighed. He knew only one possible person could help him in this situation, in case he would be willing to help.

Most likely Creon himself had already burnt that bridge down and even if he did not like the idea of asking for his help, did he really have any options in this matter?

With a deep sigh, Creon summoned his messenger and sent his messenger to pass him his word.

Now he could only hope.

-A/N: Yes, another update: plot thickens! And Meg and Hades finally met! I know that Hades isn't technically a devil, but I liked that title so much that I decided to just run with it.

Good news is that I finally figured the most of the plot-line out (yes, I had some parts I wasn't quite sure of) and if I would have to guess, I would guess we have from four to six chapters left before the end. Yikes!

As always, thank you for reading and reviewing!