Meg, Queen of the Nile

Disclaimer: Hercules and Megara are not mine, neither is Phil and Pegasus. I do however, own the plot line that you are reading, the drawings that go along with a few of the chapters, and the Egyptian and Roman characters. So...there's that. Don't steal kids.

To my readers: Uh, yeah so it's been a while since my last update, but this story has taken me actually a few years to complete, and it will be totally completed in the next two or three chapters, most of which is already written. So, sorry about the big lags, but YAY! Cause it's almost done. I know this chapter doesn't have much action, but we gotta wrap up somewhere :) Hope ye like it. ((Oh, and PS, i did this on my lap top 'WordPad' which has no spell check.))

Chapter 11:

The dull thud of the advisor's body hitting the floor was met with a stunned silence from all four of the wittnesses. Antony stood over the body in a tensed stance, his eyes on Cleopatra as she knelt crying beside her dead father. Meg and Herc stayed back, Meg with a hand seemingly perminantly clamped over her mouth in shock.

"Daddy," Cleo whispered, her hands clutching at the bloody wound on his chest as if she were trying to pull it closed herself.

"Cleo..." Antony finally spoke and moved cautiously over to her and pulled her hands away by the wrists. Cleo was trembling, but she turned quickly to Antony and let him embrace her and bring her to her feet. "Cleo, I'm so sorry...this is all my fault."

Meg walked a little closer, her instincts wanting her to comfort her friend, but her mind telling her it might not be a good moment. Hercules had circled around the scene, assessing the bodies of the two dead men.

"He was a rebel, Cleo, I never organized any violence against Egypt, I swear," Antony was saying now.

Cleo shook her head. "No, Antony." She sniffled hard and wiped her tears on the sleeve of her dress. "It's both our faults." She moved a step away from him, standing on her own now. "And we have to make it right."

Meg furrowed her brows as she watched Cleo and saw the change that came over her. If there was anything left of the rebelious child, Meg couldn't find it. Cleopatra bend down to her father again, reaching, at first for what Meg thought was the dagger that lay next to him on the floor, but instead she picked up his crown, the tall white and red symbol of upper and lower Egypt, and set it on her own head. Then she bent to kiss her father's forehead and close his eyes as they all watched in silence.

Footsteps of the persuing guards were trudging down the corridor towards them. "We have to go," Herc offered gently.

"No more running, Hercules. I will take care of all of this."

"But they'll think you did this! We're a couple of fugitives, they'll never believe--"

Cleo put her hand up to silence him. Herc stopped talking, but he pulled Meg over next to him and kept his hand by the hilt of his sword just in case. The guards swarmed in through the open doors, and stopped in their tracks so quickly that the men behind them nearly lost their balance. Before they could ask what happened Cleopatra motioned towards the dead advisor. "This man has murdered my father. He belonged to the rebel forces. I want you to find my father's counsil at once and escort them here. The other half of you will dispose of the body properly and bring my father for mumification."

There was a long silence in which Meg and Herc both thought they would have to make a run for it, but to their surprise the guards began to do exactly what their new queen had bade them.

After they left with the bodies it wasn't long before more entered with the Pharoah's counsil that Cleo had requested and they began a heated discussion of the events of the last two days. Herc took Meg's hand and lead her closer to where Antony and Cleopatra were talking, very diplomatically with the counsil. Herc's grip on Meg's hand felt unnaturally tense. Once all the running had stopped he was just too happy to have found her to let her out of his sight. And Meg, as tired and hurt as she was, could only lean against him nervously and return his grasp. It wasn't until her grip loosened and she put nearly all of her weight on him that he realized he might be holding her too tight.

"You alright?" Herc whispered, looking down at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.

Meg looked up with tired eyes. "My back hurts- I'm just so tired." She whispered back.

Herc nodded. "Come on... it seems our criminal status has been cleared... we might be able to get some help, huh?" He gave her a reassuring smile and took her forward to politely interrupt the counsil. Cleo was in the center with tears in her eyes again as she re-counted what had happened. Antony excused himself and broke away to speak with them.

"I'm sorry, guys...it looks like this mess is going to take a while to sort out."

"What's going to happen?" Meg asked.

Antony sighed and ran a hand through his hair, stopping to rub the back of his neck, and reminding Meg of the gesture that Hercules used when he was nervous. "Well," he continued, "politics really. They've got to crown Cleo as the Queen officially. She's the only heir and right now Egypt is Pharoah-less."

Meg knit her brows and nodded. "And what about you?"

Antony shook his head. "We're hoping to be married within the hour and put alot of this conflict to rest. But these things take time... the counsil has to agree, our story has to be told, announcements must be made. And the quicker we can get to Rome the better. I'm afraid of what the rebels will do while I'm gone. Especially if they discover the Pharoah was assassinated."

Herc nodded. "And what about us?"

Antony gave a pause in which he looked the two of them over, then said, "You two have done more than your share. Especially you, Megara." He knit his eyebrows as he referenced her back. "I'm afraid you can't leave the castle, but I'll have someone escort you to a room. I'd go with you myself, but... I don't think Cleo and I should be separated for a while."

Herc gave Antony a firm pat on the arm. "No, no. Stay with her, of course."

"We'll be fine on our own," Meg added.

Antony hesitated, then nodded and asked someone to escort them. "I'll come for you when this is all over."