Of Relief Short-lived

"I see you here in the darkness
Blinding light right where your heart is
If you're ready, heart is open
I'll be waiting, come find me."

- Find Me by Sigma

The situation was getting more and more hopeless by each passing second and even an optimist like Hercules himself could see that. The Thebans were scattered all over the lowlands, their formation long-gone now and it was obvious that the army of Undeads were on the winning side.

Even Hercules was barely keep it together, when something unexpected happened. Well, more like someone unexpected.

He was surrounded by the Trojan soldiers, when he witnessed a sudden flash of light and just like that, Hecate suddenly appeared on the battlefield. She was standing before the ghostly army of the Dead and Hercules could her voice booming loudly around them, bringing their movements to a sudden stop.

"You are dead and dead you shall remain. Go back to depths of the Underworld as I command. The Gateway is now open and it will be sealed once all of you enter. Now go, as I say!" she shouted and suddenly, the ghostly figures started to evaporate into the air like evaporating smoke.

Hercules fought the urge to fall down on his knees as he realized it was finally over. Instead many other still living Theban soldiers fell to the ground, shouting their prayers and commendations to the Gods.

Hercules, however, was doubtful that this sudden change was due to a divine intervention, especially since Hecate was the one to aid them.

What exactly was going on?

Meanwhile, Meg had already left the tunnels, hardly noticing both Icarus and Cassandra calling after her. She sprinted, quickly and swiftly making her way through the eerily empty city-streets.

The only thing echoing inside her head was that she needed to know. She needed to know the situation. She needed to know that she had acted before it was too late. She needed to know he was alright.

She simply needed to know. Meg made her way to the city-gates and passed them, not heeding the shout from the guards watching over the entrance. She sighed from relief as she saw there was no ghostly army to see anymore. Her relief didn't last long when she realized the amount of the wounded and fallen soldiers, all their own. Even though it was quieter now, the air was still heavy with the cries of the wounded soldiers and their exhausted comrades. And yet, she still wasn't sure and she needed affirmation. She needed to know he was fine.

Before she even knew, she was running to the outskirts of the city, still ignoring the calls summoning after her. She was running towards where the soldiers had been fighting. She ran, passing gruesome sights of badly wounded soldiers and some fallen. She felt her heart twisting for each of them, but she needed to find her fiancé and know that he was alright.

After searching for what felt like an eternity, she reached what had previously been the front-line. There she finally found Hercules, who had a nasty-looking wound in his left shoulder, the side which he usually used to shield himself with. Hercules had been talking to the general, but as he noticed her, he pulled her into his arms. Meg flew to him, not caring the grime and the sweat covering him from the fight.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Meg breathed out, tears filling her eyes.

Hercules simply sighed, weary from the fight, yet enjoying having her in his arms. For a moment, he had not been sure if he could ever again hold her in his arms.

"What happened?" Meg nodded her head to the direction of his wounded arm as she pulled back from their embrace.

"My shield broke. I had a little encounter with Hector. The Dead really did keep on coming. It's nothing though," he told her, giving her a reassuring smile.

"You should get it checked out," Meg reminded and Hercules gave a small chuckle. For him, it was a mere scratch and yet she was still worried.

At this point, Cassandra and Icarus had also reached the pair.

"How is the city?" Hercules asked after greeting warmly his friends.

"The city will stand. The followers of Cybele have retreated as well, so we have one problem less," Cassandra offered and Meg felt her shoulders slightly relaxing.

"Oh, that's good. Really good. What happened, why did the army of the Dead just disappear all of the sudden? And why would Hecate out of all deities help us?" Hercules asked, perplexed by sudden turn of events.

"Meg summoned Hecate as she can open any gateway. After some persuasion, she finally agreed to help," Cassandra recounted.

"Oh. Oh. Well, good thinking, hon," Hercules seemed more than little perplexed, but then complemented his beloved, placing a kiss on her head.

"Let's get you cleaned up. We should help with the wounded as well," Cassandra pointed out and Meg nodded.

"I'm so glad you're okay, buddy!" Icarus wailed as he hugged Hercules' torso.

"Yeah, good to see you in one piece," Cassandra awkwardly patted his shoulder, giving him a rare, genuine smile.

"Thanks, guys," Hercules smiled back at them, also thankful for being able to see them all.

An invader, however, cut their reunion short.

"You think you're out in the clear now, huh? Well think again!" a sudden, familiar figure appeared before them.

"Hades," Hercules growled at his all too familiar enemy.

"You may have won this round, but I will get back to you. Eventually," Hades spat, studying the man before him with contempt.

Then he turned his attention to the woman standing beside him.

"Meg, babe," he leered as he studied her figure with hungry eyes. Meg crossed her arms, glowering back at him.

"Once again you come in ruining my plans," Hades continued, obviously irked.

"The pleasure was mine, as always," Meg bit back, crossing her arms at her chest.

"You will be mine, you know? Eventually, you will. As I said before, you're no hero: you're one of us. A villain. All will know that eventually. Just wait and watch," he smirked at her.

Meg furrowed her brows, unconsciously moving closer to Hercules, who pulled a protective arm around her. Hades' face grew even darker as he noticed how they were searching comfort from each other.

"You know you're a sore loser, Hades? Just scurry back to the Underworld, making more of those impossible plans," Cassandra quipped at him.

"Well, if it isn't my old seer? You never know, dear Cassandra, one day they just might work out," Hades told her darkly before he disappeared.

"Okay… That was a bit… Unsettling," Icarus concluded.

"He's got a serious obsession going on there. Are you okay?" Cassandra agreed as she studied Meg with a worried look.

"Unfortunately, nothing new there," Meg huffed out a dry laugh. She was getting used to having an obsessed God of Death tailing after her. Not that it was pleasant in any manner.

"I'll never let him do anything to you, honey," Hercules, still covered in the grime of the battle, announced with a deadly serious face.

"You're even more convincing than usually, all covered in that dirt. I believe you," Meg smiled at him, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. He rewarded her with a small smile.

"Let's get back to the villa, I think we all are in the dire need of a hot bath and some shut-eye," Meg concluded, taking Herc's hand to her own.

-A/N: Wow, look at that! I managed to post a chapter! *throws some confetti around* Well, actually I already tried to do that earlier on, but the website wasn't functioning back then. Of course.

So anyway, sorry for the long hiatus: I wasn't planning on staying away from the fic for this long, but life kinda happened. My son is now almost 9 months old and currently sleeping, so mom has some time for herself. While I was vacant, my husband had to switch between jobs and for a moment it looked like we would have to move across the country for his job. Luckily we managed to avoid that. And remember that 'work project' I've mentioned earlier on? Well, I also got PhD thesis done, so it is finally done for! So, yeah. Lots of stuff.

Thank you so, so much for sticking with this fic and sticking with me, I appreciate your support to the moon and back!

Shout-out to my reviewers:

-Disneylove12: Thank you for the well-wishes! Yep, I think that deal might come biting back at Meg's behind. Ouch! We will have to wait and see.

- Sol99: Thank you and very interesting ideas indeed! Yes, Hecate will surely have an important role to play, we will have to see what she'll bring to this mess, lol.

- Nutmeg: Thank you, I'm very glad to hear that!

- Zakura: Thank you so much for your support, as always!

- Puck627: Thank you very much! And thank you for you suggestion, although I have to say that that kind of fanfiction isn't really my forte.