Chapter 5: Of Following Your Heartlines

"This fantasy, this fallacy, this tumbling stone
Echoes of a city that's long overgrown
Your heart is the only place that I call home
Can I be returned, you can
You can, we can

Just keep following
The heartlines on your hand
Keep it up, I know you can
Just keep following
The heartlines on your hand

What a thing to do
Oh-woah-oh what a thing to choose
But know, in some way I'm there with you
Up against the wall on a Wednesday afternoon."

- Heartlines by Florence + The Machine

That day, Hercules and Meg had made plans to make their way to Arcadia, to visit Herc's mortal parents there. The evening before, they had finally visited the market to buy new chitons for Meg (who had been having her share of fun at teasing poor Herc who had to to voice his opinions concerning which new outfits she should get). They finally had their things packed and Pegasus was already waiting for them when suddenly… A divine intervention happened.

"Athena, what a… Surprise," Hercules lamely commented when he saw the Goddess of the wisdom in his vestibule. He knew that she would reappear eventually, but he really did not look forward at being pulled into disputes between his godly relatives.

"Indeed. Hercules, I have a favor to ask of you," Athena cut straight to the chase. Hercules shared a look with Meg. This did not sound good.

"Yeah, what does it concern?" Hercules was already fearing that what ever she would ask, it wouldn't be pleasant.

"Your father, Zeus. After the incident with Hades, Zeus has been planning some kind of… An organization renewal," Athena explained.

"An organization renewal? On mount Olympus?" Meg asked with, looking sceptical.

"What does that even mean?" Hercules then asked.

"We are… Not entirely sure. It seems that he doesn't trust that we, Gods, aren't doing our work as well as we should. It seems he doesn't trust our judgement and from now on, we are required to report either to Hermes or Zeus himself if we are planning to do something which has not been recently discussed at the council of the Gods," Athena then elaborated.

"And that is bad because…?" Hercules was struggling to follow her train of thought.

"Because we are Gods! We should be omnipotent and not to be reduced into reporting every minor deviation to the plans for someone!" Athena exclaimed, uncharacteristically tense.

"Well, you did fail to notice that one of your fellow Gods was planning to take over the Cosmos for several decades," Meg drily pointed out. Meg was not completely sure if it really would be such a bad thing that sphere of action allowed to the Gods would be more limited: it was obvious that some of them (if not all of them) had the habit of rushing into things and doing unreasonable things at the expense of the mortals.

"Please, don't start that: Zeus has been raving about that far enough. Besides, Hades is been supervised," Athena dismissed the topic and Meg shrugged: all this talk about cosmic changes was making her head ache.

"And what is my role in all this? What would you prefer me to do?" Hercules asked with a sigh. He knew that Athena was telling this for a reason.

"Please, reason with your father. If he listens to anyone, it would be his own son!" Athena pleaded.

"You know father's opinion is not easily changed," Hercules pointed out, already fearing that all his efforts would go to waste.

"Just try, that's all I ask," Athena reasoned and Hercules sighed again.

"Fine, I'll do my best," Hercules shook his head, already dreading this new challenge.

"Thank you Hercules, and Megara. Have a lovely day," Athena slightly nodded her head and disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Meg pointed out the obvious.

"Yeah, me too," Hercules confessed, wrapping his arm around her.

"You think you can talk him over?" Meg glanced at him as she pushed herself closer to him.

"My father? I doubt it, his the most stubborn person, besides you, I've met. But I'll try, I made a promise after all," Hercules confided at her.

"Yeah, that plan seems a bit… Far-fetched," Meg gave him an apologetic smile and Hercules sighed, once again.

"Well, these grand cosmic matters must wait, I'll talk to father on our way back from Arcadia. Who knows, maybe the situation has been resolved before that," Hercules, ever the optimistic, proposed.

"It's good that one of us has the faith in things working out," Meg huffed a small laugh.

"I know they will, as long as we are together," Hercules told her, brushing her cheek lightly.

"Awww, my romantic hero," Meg teased him, before giving him a small kiss.

"Let's get going, Pegasus is already waiting for us," she then told him, taking his hand and starting to make her way towards the stables.

Yes, the grand cosmic consequences would have to wait: first, he would have to face his past.

As happy as Hercules was to meet his parents, he also felt… Anxious. His memories of his childhood home wasn't exactly the best. Alcemene and Amphitryon had prepared a warm welcome and a great meal to the young pair: they obviously liked Meg tremendously and wanted to make her feel welcome, which Hercules was grateful for. The conversation flowed quite easily, even if Hercules struggled to follow it.

After the meal, Alcemene suggested, that Meg and Hercules could take Pegasus and visit the agora.

"It was re-build after the… Incident," Amphitryon awkwardly finished. Suddenly Meg understood: she did remember Hercules mentioning this episode before in one of their conversations. Meg glanced at Hercules, who replied: "Are you sure you don't need a hand in the farm work? I could help…"

"Oh nonsense, son! You should show your girlfriend around, even if this isn't anything like Thebes," Amphitryon replied, scratching his neck awkwardly (a nervous habit Hercules had obviously picked up from his adoptive father, Meg deduced).

"It's nice to get away from Thebes every once in a while, there's too much of everything in there. Too much noise, too much people, and way too much traffic," Meg politely told him.

"Yes, I certainly agree with you! Go on, you young people should have your fun, " Amphitryon replied with a kind smile on his face, before heading the direction of his shed.

"We don't have to go the market, if you don't feel like it, you know?" Meg then told Hercules, looking at him compassionately.

"I know, but I have to face my past. If I don't go now, when would I do it? And I have you beside me, it makes things so much easier for me," Hercules told her gently, pulling her hand to his.

"Okay, let's do it then," Meg told him, giving him an encouraging smile.

It felt strange to be back at… He couldn't say that this place ever really was his home, but he did grow up here. And to be back at the agora, where the single most embarrassing moment (and he had had a plenty of those) of his life had taken place. It was… Painful. Meg took his hand to her own and gave him an encouraging squeeze. Meg surely knew more or less what was going on inside his head and Hercules was once again thankful for her support.

"So are we gonna do this or what?" Meg asked him.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm not ever gonna be more ready than this," Hercules sighed as they entered the same market place where he had once wrecked so much havoc. Luckily they had rebuild the marketplace and he had learned to control his strength.

The people immediately recognized him: after all, he was nowadays known throughout the Greek world. The people who had once scorned at him now treated him like… Like a hero, like a god, returning to his home. Hercules wanted to scoff at the idea. Everyone wanted to talk to him, pretending like they knew him.

It was a hot day and the agora was like a boiling pot with all the sand and marble. At one point, when the people simply wouldn't leave him be, Meg nudged his shoulder and told him that she would give poor Pegasus some water. He nodded, not looking forward to be left alone. He knew it was ridiculous, but just Meg's presence made it all easier to tolerate. Meg seemed to notice his uneasiness and she promised to be quick, giving his cheek a quick kiss.

The endless stream of people seemed to be finally coming to its end, but just then Hercules saw them: Thalos and his gang. His old bullies weren't gangly teenagers anymore, but they weren't as tall (and muscular) as him either.

"Hercules! Old pal, how are you? Good to see you again," Thalos greeted him over-enthusiastically. For a moment Hercules thought he had heard things, because they had never been friends of any sorts. Before he had even time to respond, Thalos started to bomb him with endless stream of questions. He wanted to know what it was like to be as famous as Hercules, if he had many fans, how many drakhmas he had earned in his hero business and if he had many women.

When Hercules thought he would finally lose it, Thalos and his friends lost their interest in him. They had a new point of interest: they had seen Meg.

"Holy Hera! Who is that? She's more beautiful than Aphrodite herself!" Thalos' jaw had dropped to the ground. Hercules knew that case to be a fact: Meg really was more beautiful than Aphrodite.

"She's a total babe!" Thalos' friend agreed.

"I'm gonna talk to her, you'll see she'll be like molten wax in my hands," Thalos pulled his hand through his hair and started to approach Meg.

"Hello sweetheart! Need someone to show you around?" Thalos greeted her with a slippery smile.

"Uh, not really. There's not a real chance to get lost in here, is there?" Meg looked cynically around the small marketplace.

"So, you're a clever one! I like that," Thalos made a show of laughing at her comment.

"Well, you obviously aren't: I already told you, your 'help' is not needed," Meg huffed, trying to get pass him but Thalos grapped her hand before she could get away.

"Why such a rush, sweetheart?" He smirked at her, but before Meg could answer, Thalos was pulled away.

"She already told you: do not touch her," Hercules growled at Thalos, who looked truly terrified as he tangled in Hercules' grip.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down big fella! I was just talking to her. Pretty girls like her always play hard to get, you understand?" Thalos babbled on.

"Pretty girls like her know what they mean: no means no," Hercules replied, feeling angrier by the second.

"How would you know that?" Thalos tried his best to squirm his way out of Hercules' iron grip, but his efforts were vain.

"Maybe he just knows more about women in general than you do?" Meg replied sarcastically. She had noticed that Hercules was really getting mad, so she placed her hand on his arm to calm him down. That seemed to work: Hercules came out of his reverie and dropped Thalos down.

"Oh I see how it works, sister: you go for the bigger fish, the great Hercules himself," Thalos huffed, still on the ground. Hercules felt his temper rising again: this guy really didn't know when to stop. Before he could do or say anything, Meg was on the top of the things. She placed her sandal-clad foot on the top of Thalos' hand with force which made Thalos howl with pain.

"Okay, so listen up boys. One: don't call me sister or sweetheart or any other nicknames. Two: I'm actually Hercules' girlfriend. For real. And three: Real men do not need to force women to do anything. Try remembering that the next time a girl tells you 'NO'," Meg told him, the undertone in her voice threatening.

As Meg turned around, Hercules pulled her to him. They were starting to leave as both them heard Thalos whining: "What is wrong with them? I think that bitch broke my hand!" Hercules' shoulders got stiff with anger: nobody had the right to call Meg by those kind of names. Meg placed a soothing hand on his bicep: "Don't. It's not worth it." Hercules sighed: he knew Meg was trying to bring some sense into him.

"I can see why growing up here wasn't exactly a dream come true: those guys were real jackasses. I bet that being different wasn't easiest thing to deal with around these people," Meg huffed as they continued to walk away from the agora, back to the place where Pegasus was waiting for them.

"Yeah, it wasn't. And those guys have always been jerks," Hercules sighed back.

"Well, now on they won't dare coming close to you: they probably think that your girlfriend is a fury or something!" Meg quipped. Hercules burst out laughing: it was just like Meg to see the humor in the situation.

"In that case you have to be the most beautiful fury there is," Hercules stopped walking and pulled Meg to himself. He kissed her deeply, not even caring if people (or those jerks) were watching them. Meg hummed against his mouth, enjoying their contact.

"My beautiful fury. I have to say, there was actually one thing that I agreed with Thalos," Hercules ran a finger on her cheek.

"Really? And that is?" Meg arched one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows in skepticism.

"He said that you have to be more beautiful than Aphrodite herself. I just know that to be true," Hercules replied with a smile. It was Meg's turn to laugh.

"Oh, you big lug, such a charmer!" She bumped her elbow to his arm and she continued giggling as they walked back to Pegasus.

- A/N: So finally an update! I've always wanted to see Hercules meeting his old bullies, am I the only one? I am, okay, I'll deal with that...

Fun fact: Megaera is actually the name of one of the Furies or also known as the Erinyes: I was kinda referring to that in the end.

So I struggled a bit with writing this chapter and was reminded of an important lesson: if you're struggling with things, you might be over complicating things. That at least happened to me.

A quick shout-out to a guest reviewer Sheep who left me a nice, long review: A great, big thank you! I appreciate your review! In my fic Hercules seems more comfortable around Meg and less anxious, because I think that during the movie, you can see a certain shift in their communication: at the end of the movie he seems less awkward around her, especially when she's being herself. (Does that make any sense at all?)

And yes, all these things happening so far are pretty much prelude to the story itself: this is gonna be one loooong fan fic.

So thanks and kudos for all my readers!