Chapter 8: Of Saying Goodbyes and Hellos

"Heart, don't fail me now.
Courage, don't desert me.
Don't turn back now that we're here.
People always say
Life is full of choices.
No one ever mentions fear!
Or how the world can seem so vast
On a journey to the past."

- Journey To The Past in Anastasia

The next morning, Meg, Hercules & Pegasus had went to escort Phil to the docks. Hercules had offered a ride with Pegasus to Phil's island, but as Phil pointed out, traveling by a ship was much easier with all his luggage. He had taken a cart-lift to the docks of Chalcis as Hercules and Meg had traveled there with Pegasus.

The cargo had already been loaded to the ship and by the frantic calling of the sailors, Meg could tell that the time to bid farewell was at hand. She stayed a bit back in order to give more space to Hercules and his old coach.

"Come here, kid," Phil motioned to Hercules, who knelt before his trainer and his friend.

"I'm gonna miss you, Phil," Hercules genuinely told him.

"Likewise, kid, likewise. Just don't go all sappy on me, okay?" Phil told him, his eyes suspiciously moist and shiny. Then he went to pat on Pegasus, who nudged him back with his snout.

"Okay, your turn missy, c´mere," Phil invited Meg closer with his hand.

Meg knelt down, hugging the goat-man.

"Just don't get him any trouble, okay, miss?" Phil patted her shoulder.

"Hey, you guys got yourselves in plenty of trouble even before I was around!" Meg objected.

"True, that we did," for a moment, Phil shared a smile and an eye-contact with Hercules.

"Don't make your fur turn grey because of worry, I'm sure Wonderboy and I can handle," Meg got up, glancing at her boyfriend who came to stand next to her, placing his arms around her.

"I'm counting more on you than him on that matter," Phil muttered and Hercules injected: "Hey!"

"You are talking about me, the girl who sold her soul to Hades?" Meg gave Phil an incredulous look.

"Good point. I guess that means I should worry, after all," Phil grunted with frustration.

"I was just kidding, just get going, we'll be fine!" Meg fondly shook her head.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going, princess," Phil snickered back at her.

Meg looked at Hercules who had suspiciously innocent look on his face.

"You told him? When did have time?" Meg asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Erm, this morning?" Hercules scratched his head sheepishly.

"He's never gonna forget that new nickname, won't he?" Meg sighed as they watched as Phil boarded the ship.

"Most likely not," Hercules agreed.

They watched silently as the ship started moving, Phil waving at them from the deck with his handkerchief. Hercules had his arms still wrapped around her and Meg placed her own has on his, trying to offer him some comfort.

"I'm gonna miss him," Hercules sighed.

"I know. I would have never believed that I would say this, but so will I," Meg replied to him.

After another moment of silence, Hercules timidly asked:

"So, have you thought about… You know… Going to meet your family?"

For a moment, Meg remained silent. Then she sighed.

"Yes, I have thought about it. For many times. I'm just not sure if I'm ready, if I'll ever be ready. We have our own issues and especially my father is a handful," Meg then told him.

"I know. It's just… That they're your family. I mean, if you're not sure if you'll ever feel any more ready, than shouldn't you… Just give it a try?" Hercules tried to reason with her.

Meg sighed again: she too had not so long ago shared a similar piece of advice with him. And he was right: waiting for the right moment wouldn't help in the end, it would just keep her procrastinating on what she would eventually had to face.

"I mean, I don't want to force you…" Hercules stammered, but Meg interrupted.

"No, you're right. Let's just go now, before I come into my senses and change my mind," Meg told him sternly, anxiousness already creeping up from the pit of her stomach.

"I'll be right here with you, hon," Hercules placed a kiss on her forehead.

After giving it a lot of thought, Meg had decided that it was the time for her to finally face her family. Hercules, always encouraging her, had decided to come with her for a moral support. Without his presence, Meg wasn't sure if she would be able to pass the gates of the royal palace.

After a short ride on Pegasus (Meg felt as if it went by way too quickly, even if she still didn't enjoy the heights too much), they reached the royal palace. There were guards on the gates who immediately stopped them as they landed.

"Halt! Who wishes to enter the gates?" the guard seemed quite young, someone who hadn't been working there when Meg was still living in the palace.

"Stop it Perocles, don't you know who this is? It is her royal highness, princess Megara. It is so good to see you, Your Highness," the other guard bowed before her and even with the helmet on, Meg knew who it was.

"Pittheus, you don't need to kneel before me," Meg then told the giant for a man.

"Your Highness, the Gods are finally smiling upon us if they have returned you," the guard now removed his helmet and placed a kiss on her hand. Pittheus was feared for his size and gruesome appearance, but Meg knew he had a kind and loyal heart. Pittheus had always been looking after her when she was growing up and she knew the old warrior had a soft spot for her in his heart.

"It is good to see you too, Pittheus," Meg placed her hand on top of his.

"This is my fiancé, Hercules. We wish to see my father," Meg introduced her hero to the elderly guard, who obviously was measuring him with his eyes. Even Hercules was shorter than Pittheus, who was said to be a decedent of the great giants. After few agonizing moments, Pittheus nodded his head.

"I would normally say that nobody is good enough for our princess, but I have heard great deal of you, son of Zeus," he then acknowledged. Hercules sighed inwardly: somehow he had the feeling that he didn't want to be on the bad side of this man.

"His Highness the king is in the throne room, you may go there," Pittheus told them.

After entering the gates, Meg and Hercules arrived to the courtyard filled with greenery. Meg breathed in the air filled with scent of thyme and honeysuckle: even if she hadn't really missed living in the palace, she had missed the gardens and smelling this scent.

"It's beautiful in here," Hercules remarked, taking his surroundings in. He had visited the palace before, but he hadn't really paid attention to its details back then. Now that he knew that this was where Meg had grown up, he saw things in a different perspective.

"It is. I have missed the gardens. It's a shame that this place isn't open to public any more," Meg remarked as she studied the place. The area itself seemed rather quiet, only few people passing through the courtyard: most people would avoid moving around in the scorching hot mid-day sun, but as these people were obviously working for the palace, they didn't really have a choice.

"What happened?" Hercules asked, furrowing his brows.

"Well, during the days of king Oedipus, the courtyard and the gardens of the palace were open to the common people of Thebes. But after he died, there was unrest. An uprising, really, which lead to bloody battles. Two of my brothers were killed during those battles, as well as both sons of king Oedipus himself. That's how my father came to rule and he made the decision to close off all the areas of the palace from the common people 'for our protection', or so he said. Well, it felt more like a prison. Nowadays you get only access to the palace if you either belong to the court, work for the palace or you have to have direct business with the king himself," Meg recounted the facts, her eyes distant and sad.

"That sounds terribly lonely," Hercules frowned.

"Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Come on, let's move on," Meg pressed on, taking his hand to hers.

After passing the gardens, Meg and Hercules finally reached the palace and entered there. Nobody tried to stop them and Meg wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed: she wasn't still sure if she was ready to meet her father.

Meg lead them to the direction of the throne room, but quite a few times they were stopped by the servants of the royal palace who obviously recognized Meg. They were enthusiastic to greet their long-lost princess, overjoyed to see her once again. Their joyous faces and body-language told Hercules more than thousand words: whatever had happened between Meg and her family members, the servants of the royal palace still held her dear.

After trekking their way to the entrance of the throne room, Meg felt her courage faltering. Hercules took her hand on his own and squeezed it gently.

"I'm right here with you, okay?" He then told her gently.

"Okay," Meg replied and breathed in deeply before opening the doors.

The throne room was dimly lit, but Meg could still see how much her father had aged in these past few years. There was more gray then black in his hair now and his face was much more wrinkly than before.

The king rose his gaze at the two of them and was taken aback when he saw who had entered the throne room.

"Eurydice, my love, is it really you? Have you returned back to me?" the king descended from his throne and with a few hasty steps, he rushed to Meg, raising his trembling hand at her cheek.

"No father, it is me, Megara. Your daughter," Meg carefully explained after seeing how confused her father seemed.

"Oh. Oh. By Gods, Megara, is it really you? You've grown up, you look just so much like your mother, even more so than before," the king breathed out in shock as he scrutinized her.

"Yes father, it is me," Meg quietly told him. The king took his long-lost daughter in his arms. Meg fought back tears: how much had he aged since she had last seen him? She had thought she would never see her father again. After a moment, his father pulled back to inspect her.

"Oh Megara, you are all grown up. I can't believe how much you look like your mother. I have so many regrets about the last time we saw each other, my child," he quietly told her.

"Me too, father," Megara told him with a timid smile.

Now the king finally noticed that his daughter wasn't alone and he did recognize the young man.

"Ah, Hercules! So it is you who found my daughter! How can I repay you this?" the king then asked him.

"Oh, it's not quite like that, your Highness," Hercules replied nervously.

"No father, he didn't 'find' me. I decided to come here on my own, but he did encourage me. You see, he's my fiancé. We're engaged and we want to get married," Megara took Hercules' hand to her own, explaining the situation to her father.

"Engaged? Put you haven't got my permission!" the king seemed perplexed. Meg sighed: she had been fearing for something this.

"Father, I'm a big girl now and all grown up as you said yourself, I don't need a permission to get engaged," Meg told him sternly.

The king sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. Megara had just returned and already she was rebelling against him, once again.

"I know that you, Hercules, are a good man and the son of Zeus himself. But Megara here is my eldest daughter: she's the crown princess, so the future of my house is on her shoulders. I need her to marry an ally of mine, an heir or a king to another throne, to ensure the future generations and right alliances," king Creon started to explain, but Meg stopped him there, feeling her blood boiling.

"I'm not some piece of your personal collection you can sell to the highest bidder! We love each other and we WILL marry, with or without your consent!" Meg placed her hands on her hips, fuming.

"I see that you still don't know your place. We will discuss this later, right now I have a splitting headache and this discussion isn't doing me any good. I shall retire now, but we will talk about this later on, Megara," her father warned her before leaving the room, looking obviously worn out.

For a moment Megara felt bad that she had just met her father and already were they fighting each other. Before she could contemplate more on it, an elderly woman approached her from the corner of the room.

"Oh my love, my goodness how much have you grown! You're a woman now!" The elderly queen-mother who Hercules had previously encountered, hurried to Meg's side and closed her into an embrace.

"Grandma! I've missed you!" Meg's eyes were filled with tears as she hugged the woman tightly.

"I've missed you too, my love. So very much," the queen-mother whispered back, tears filling her eyes as well.

"I'm worried about father: he didn't recognize me. He thought I was mother, even though she passed away many years ago!" Meg confided to her grandmother.

"Your father's situation is worrisome, I agree. But we'll discuss about it later on. So, I see it is the strapping young Hercules who convinced you to return," Harmonia eyed the young hero, who felt more than a little uneasy because of her comment.

"I've heard that you two have already met," Meg also looked back to her fiancé with the mischief she shared with her grandmother in her eyes.

"It is a pleasure to meet again, your Highness…" Hercules begun, but the queen-mother shrugged it off.

"Oh nonsense, boy! As Megara's betrothed, you are basically part of the family now!" She told him and then nudged Meg: "He really is a sight for a sore eye! You did catch the most handsome man out there for yourself, didn't you?" Hercules felt the hotness spreading on his cheeks: he was not sure how he was supposed to take in the fact that Meg's grandmother (the queen-mother) was complimenting his looks?

"Oh stop it, grandma! You're making him blush!" Meg laughed back.

"Alright, alright dear, if you say so. So you're wishing to marry my granddaughter?" Harmonia's gaze seemed to pierce right through him. He had nothing to hide so he let her evaluate him.

"Yes, madam," he solemnly replied.

Harmonia seemed to come in to some sort of conclusion as she nodded to herself.

"Meg, dear, would you mind going to find your sisters? They'll be in the gardens. There's some things I wish to discuss with your fiancé here," Harmonia told Meg, who knew that it was an order and not just a request. She gave Hercules' hand a comforting squeeze before she left the two of them alone.

Harmonia's gaze stayed fixed upon Meg's receding form as she confided to Hercules: "I probably shouldn't say this, but Megara has always been my favorite from all of my grandchildren." She sighed softly.

"What was she like when she was growing up?" Hercules asked, wishing to know more about the woman he loved.

"Stubborn, the most stubborn child I have ever seen," Harmonia replied and they both laughed: that was still her most typical character trait.

"I can imagine that," Hercules chuckled.

"I have often thought that Meg would have been happier if she was born as a man: she never wanted to be a princess and a wallflower. She was always dreaming of a life away from the palace and going for adventures. The palace life was like a curse to her, it was her golden cage," Harmonia sighed.

"I can only imagine," Hercules mumbled, trying to picture the past of his beloved. Harmonia nodded solemnly.

"She and her father were constantly fighting: he couldn't stand her rebelling attitude. She on the other hand couldn't stand the thought that he would decide what her fate should be. Especially since Megara's brothers passed away and her mother killed herself, the things got out of hand. Meg had too much pressure as she was expected to look after her sisters. She herself was the one who found her dead mother's body. A terrible sight it was. Poor Megara, I will never forget the way she cried when they took her away from her mother's body. Besides all that, after her brother's passing, the continuation of our royal house was placed upon Meg's shoulders. Creon was obsessed on getting her married to a good house. Meg didn't want to be part of that, she didn't want to be a pawn in their game of power, but Creon had decided to marry her off. All those candidates were much older than Meg, some were even older than king Creon himself," Harmonia sighed again as she continued with her story. Hercules felt a chill in his spine: even though Meg had told him of her past, he had no idea that things had really been that bad.

"That's… Horrible," he quietly commented.

"Yes, yes it was," Harmonia shook her head.

"That's why she eventually ran away, and I thought I would never see her again. I am so happy to see my grand-daugther again. Thank you for bringing her back," Harmonia's eyes were filled of tears and Hercules' took her hand to his own.

"It was her own decision to make, coming back here. Of course, I'm happy that Meg got to meet you again. And I'm happy to meet you again as well," Hercules told her kindly.

"You are a good man and I know that you will make my dear Meg very happy. I'm sure that my son Creon will find that out eventually as well," Harmonia told him and he could only wish that she would be right.

"Come, let's go to see Meg and her sisters," Harmonia then instructed, making her way to the gardens and Hercules followed her.

As Meg trekked down the path in the gardens, she knew exactly where she would find her sisters: in the shade of the apple trees, it had been their favorite spot while growing up.

As she reached her destination, she found Henioche reading a scroll aloud to her younger sister and Pyrrha was practicing her needlework: deducting from her distressed face, Pyrrha did not enjoy the task in her hand. They both raised their gaze as they heard her footsteps and the awestruck looks on their faces would have been funny, if Meg hadn't been feeling so touched herself to finally see her sisters again.

"Megara? Is it really you?" Henioche rose to meet her.

"Yes, it is really me, sister," Meg replied, moving to embrace her sister.

Her sister embraced her back fiercely.

"Oh how I've missed you," she then told her.

"I've missed you too," Meg replied, embracing her back.

After pulling away, Henioche inspected her looks and furrowed her pretty brows: "You look like a peasant in those clothes."

"That's a nice thing to say to your sister after seeing her first time in years!" Meg laughed back.

Then both of them turned to look at Pyrrha, waiting for her reaction.

"So you're back now, huh?" Pyrrha, the youngest of the sisters, simply asked.

"Yes I am," Meg gently told her, reaching towards her youngest sister with her hand.

"Why now? You abandoned us for years and now you think you can just return and everything is somehow okay because of that?" There were tears in Pyrrha's eyes and she was obviously mad at her older sister.

"Pyrrha, I'm really sorry, I…" Meg started, but her sister furiously shook her head.

"Don't. Just don't," she choked out, before turning away and running to the direction of the palace.

"Give Pyrrha some time, it was really hard for her when you left," Henioche gently placed a comforting hand to her sister's shoulders. Meg sighed and nodded.

At this point, Hercules and queen-mother Harmonia had found their way to the sisters as well.

"Henioche, I want you meet my fiancé, Hercules," Meg was glad to see her beloved there (and her grandmother hadn't obviously been too hard on him, as he still seemed to be in one piece) and pulled him to her side. Henioche's eyes widened in surprise.

"That Hercules, as if the great hero Hercules?" Henioche made sure, eyeing the man before her as if she could not believe her own eyes.

"Yes Henioche, THAT Hercules," Meg rolled her eyes to her sister.

"OH MY GODS," was all Henioche managed to get out before she placed her hands to her face, trying to contain her own excitement.

"Seems like my sister is one of your fans," Meg stated driely and Hercules felt a blush creeping on his neck.

"It is good to meet you, princess Henioche," Hercules gently told her. The princess had a black curly hair and blue eyes, and she was pale, yet strongly built. Even though she and Meg had some resemblance between them, she had obviously taken more after their father.

Henioche silently nodded, still not believing that her idol was standing before her. Harmonia shook her head and placed her hands on Henioche's shoulders.

"All right dear, don't you have some history lessons you need to learn? I know there's still at least one place Megara wants to visit," Harmonia gently smiled at her eldest grand-daugther.

Meg solemnly nodded: she needed to visit the catacombs and the graves of her mother and brothers.

Meg and Hercules had descended down to the royal catacombs and air there was stale, yet a lot cooler than it was outside in the sun. They had passed before each of Meg's brother's graves: Menoceus, Lycomedes, Andreus and Haimon.

Now, they had finally reached the grave of Meg's mother, Eurydice. There was a statue of her graved in the stone and just by judging the statue, Hercules could tell that Meg had most taken after her mother in her looks. Queen Eurydice had been a beautiful woman, looking much like Meg.

Meg was on her knees and her shoulders were trembling. It was obvious that she was crying. After all, it had been a hard day for her. Hercules felt bad for her, facing it all during that one day. Also he felt more than a little guilty: after all, coming to the palace had been his suggestion.

Hercules knelt down next to her, taking her in his arms. Meg kept crying against his chest and he gently stroked her back. Lately, Meg had been crying far too much for her own taste, but on the other hand, meeting her past had been every bit as painful as she had feared. But it needed to be done, if she wished to move forward.

"She hates me, you know?" Meg quietly told Hercules.

"Who does?" Hercules gently asked, still gently stroking her back.

"My youngest sister, Pyrrha. You didn't even meet her, because she ran away from me," Meg sighed sadly.

Harmonia had told Hercules that Henioche was quite mature for a sixteen-year-old girl (well, mostly), but Pyrrha on the other hand was moody and introverted. Though she was younger, only fourteen, but she had mostly closed herself up after Meg had left the palace. Harmonia had also confided to him what had happen to Meg's brothers: how two of them were killed in the battles which took place after the death of king Oedipus, how the sphinx had killed one of them and how the eldest, Haemon, had killed himself after the death of his fiancée Antigone. Their family history was grim: Hercules didn't wonder at all why returning back to palace had been so hard for Meg.

"Give her time. This is a big change for her as well. You are still sisters and she'll come around eventually, okay honey?" Hercules placed a kiss on the top of his fiancée's head.

They still had a lot to work out, as it seemed that king Creon would not come around easily either. It seemed like stubbornness was one of the character traits that was most common in Meg's family. But still, he had faith that they could sort it out somehow. He had found then woman he loved and cherished, and if he wouldn't let even the death tear them apart: dealing with her family would be the easy part.

Or so he hoped.

-A/N: Well, that was way too long for one chapter, but I wanted to include all that to one chapter. That was pretty emotional, wasn't it? Thanks for reading, favorites and comments keep me going! Kudos!