Of Gathering Dark Clouds
"Down in the street they're all singing and shouting
Staying alive though the city is dead
Hiding their shame behind hollow laughter
While you are crying alone on your bed."
- Cassandra by Abba
As the days went by, Meg, Hercules, Cassandra and Icarus tried their best to prepare for the attack of Hades and Cybele, although they still had very little ideas on how to prepare for enemy that could not be defeated by the conventional methods?
During those following days, it felt as if dark clouds were gathering around Thebes. This darkness, however, had nothing to do with the actual weather. The day of confrontation was drawing nearer, even though no-one knew the exact date. But the uneasy feeling was now tangible in the city streets, the level of it rising by each passing day.
Everyone seemed to notice that something was amiss, but the citizens did not really know what was going on, as king Creon had decided not to share the information of the possibly approaching army of the Dead. He officially claimed that he did not want to provoke mass hysteria among the common people, but Meg, Hercules and their friends however knew that he did not yet fully even accept that there was any actual threat as he still seemed to believe that they had fabricated the whole story.
The city of Thebes was now brimming with gossips, all people speculating why soldiers seemed more common on the streets day by day. Meg had witnessed how small confrontations between the soldiers and the followers of Cybele were now an everyday happening, which only agitated the nervous energy. Everyday there were more whispered words, more fantastical ideas of what might be coming passed on by the people. There were rumors, some speculated that maybe Spartans would attack or maybe some tribe was coming from minor Asia and the cultists of Cybele had joined forces with them? Surely king Creon was reacting to some sort of tangible threat and only thinking what was best for his people?
And though there were rumors tossed around, Meg knew that none of them were as incredible as the actual threat Thebes would be facing in matter of days.
But during those days, when people did not know what to expect, the unrest was increasing amidst the citizens. Even if Creon's reasoning had seemed reasonable at first, keeping the people in the dark seemed to only agigate them. Meg wasn't sure which she feared the most: the battle or the restlessness of the citizens. As the nervous energy in the city was brimming, some sort of a chaos started to seem inevitable.
That night, Cassandra and Icarus had already retired for the night, but claustrophobic anxiety Meg felt would not allow her to rest. Hercules had went to confront his birth-father, trying to reason him to help them with the current matter of Thebes. Meg wasn't exactly holding her breath, but still she tried to nurture the small sliver of hope. Restlessly she paced through the bedroom, unable to focus her attention to anything really besides anxiously passing through the room.
As she finally heard the familiar steps on the stairs and the door opening, she braced herself, turning her attention to her incoming beloved. She could already read what was necessary on the slack of his shoulder and the unhappy look on his face.
"So, I guess you had no luck either?" Meg sighed out, reading his face.
"My father doesn't still believe Hades would defy him in this manner," disillusioned Hercules admitted.
"Oh, really? Are we talking about the same person here? Does he even know his own brother?" Meg replied sharply, but then shook her head.
"Sorry. It's not really your fault, is it?" She replied sadly at him.
"I'm disappointed, as well. My father's relations to Hades have always been… Erm, complicated," Hercules momentarily pondered over the correct word and Meg fought the urge to roll her eyes at his chosen expression, letting him carry on.
"No matter what Hades does, my father doesn't want to believe that his own brother would want to harm him," Hercules tried to reason, which only pulled Meg's nerves even more.
"Well, as long as that Olympian family drama keeps going on, more mortals will get hurt as collateral damage," Meg crossed her hands at her chest, giving him a challenging look. Hercules sighed as he too couldn't deny the logic behind her reasoning.
"I agree, that's true. But father told me he needed something to prove our claims, that he would not act only according to some rumors. He promised he will participate, if truly necessary," Hercules offered, but Meg didn't seem too convinced by this.
"Let's just hope it will not be too late by then," Meg muttered darkly as she slumped down to their bed.
"Hey, I know things seem dark at the moment…" Hercules started as he wrapped his arm around her, sitting down next to her.
"Try pitch black, bleak and hopeless," Meg huffed out sardonically.
"Okay, things seem pitch black, bleak and hopeless at the moment," Hercules corrected himself with a small, amused smile on his face.
"But we have faced impossible tasks before, remember?" He gently reminded her. Meg stayed silent, letting him carry on.
"I know you're scared and I'm scared too, but we still have hope. So don't you give up, because I'm not giving up either. We're in this together and we're not alone, we still have our friends with us," Hercules pointed out.
Meg wanted to argue with his logic, to point out how hopeless their situation was, but she decided against it holding her tongue. Her natural pessimism could find darkness in anything really, but at the moment she rather wanted to believe in his honest optimism. Against any logic, she wanted to believe that he was right that somehow they could overcome this together.
"Okay, I'll try. I promise I'll try my best," Meg breathed finally out, offering him a weak smile.
"That's more than I can ask of you, hon," Hercules placed a small kiss on her forhead, wrapping her into his embrace. She closed her eyes, enjoying the moment when she didn't feel terrified by the future. Instead she enjoyed feeling safe, momentarily believing that all was well. At the moment, it was.
"Thanks for the pep-talk. I really needed it. Phil would be proud of you," Meg pointed out after a long, tranquil moment of enjoyable silence.
"Hmph, I did learn from the best," Hercules grinned back boyishly and Meg felt herself smiling back at him.
The moment was gone as he seemed to remember something, a realization dawning on his face.
"Oh yeah, one more thing before I forget," he rubbed the back of his neck as he got up, getting a small object wrapped in a cloth from the nearby drawer.
"In the case you need this and I hope you don't: here," Hercules handed the object to her.
As Meg pulled the wrapping away, she found a small, elegant sword in her hands, light enough for her to handle it easily.
"You know how to use it?" Hercules asked worriedly as he watched her study it.
"Stick them with the pointy end?" Meg quipped back with an arched brow and he burst out laughing.
"Well, that's pretty much it," he huffed out, shaking his head with laughter.
He tried his best to keep his worries to himself, but he too felt the pressure of the up-coming events darkening his mood. Luckily his optimistic outlook on life was guiding him to look at the possibilities rather than threats. And because of that, he truly would be surprised if her biting wit wouldn't be enough to keep her safe.
He surely did hope so.
-A/N: Yes, it is finally me and I did survive the whole ordeal of moving (moving in itself is rather terrible, but I do love our new apartment). So this chapter was rather hard to write as my muses are still MIA, but I tried to bring you guys at least something. And yes, I know this chapter was a filler before the actions starts to heat up (I hope!), but at least there were some interaction between Meg and Herc as I wanted to explore their differences in perspective.
Reviewer shout-outs:
- Nutmeg: Aww, once again thank you very much for reading and reviewing!
- Disneylove12: I'm so happy you enjoyed how Icarus was described. Thanks for reviewing and you too, stay safe out there!