4
WONDER BOY, whose true name she did not even know, stood watching her. In his armor and cape, he looked every bit the hero he was attempting to be, yet his face was so terrified and sullen that it sent a chill down Meg's spine, for reasons she did not understand. Behind her, Thebes lay in a smoldering ruin, the faint silhouette of a distant creature, a huge behemoth, a vicious monster, laying waste to the city.
His pale blue eyes pleaded with Meg. He mouthed her name, but Meg could not hear Wonder Boy's voice. She wanted to reach for him and stretched her trembling hand to try to touch him.
Suddenly, he began to fade from her view, and she saw nothing but darkness as she felt something hard collapse on top of her. She saw or heard nothing else as her world went black and she slipped into darkness. But even in the embrace of black, Hades' laughter rang in her eardrums, following her into the Underworld as she faded from this realm to the next.
Meg bolted upright from her sleep, her lungs burning. Her forehead was damp with perspiration and strands of her bangs clung to her forehead. Tears were streaming down her cheeks without her realizing it until she felt one of the droplets fall onto her lap.
Meg blinked with disbelief, not able to recall a time in her life when her dreams had been so…so vivid.
She rose to her feet shakily, the sudden rush of blood to her brain as she forced herself to stand on legs that had turned to mush beneath her made her head start to spin.
Dizzy and staring into the darkness of whatever forest Wonder Boy had seen fit to bring her to for reasons that were unknown to her, Meg was half awake, but still half in her nightmare.
After a few moments, the shock wore off and the realization came to her that she was alive.
The dream of her death of being crushed and buried underneath a falling pillar was just that, a dream and nothing more, Meg let herself relax. The only light was that which was cast by the now dying fire. Meg was secretly grateful. Somehow, she thought it made her embarrassment that much more tolerable, that she had been dreaming of Wonder Boy was a secret she wished for no one to know.
But there was still a part of her brain that felt as though the forest had eyes and ears, and that with just a look at her, all of Greece would know of her private thoughts. He'd know.
"He won't. It was just a dream," Meg huffed, irritated with herself as she shook her head.
She did not know why she had dreamt of Wonder Boy, but Meg quickly worked to rationalize his appearance as her imagination was playing tricks on her. She had been thinking about him before falling asleep and had been wondering why he had brought her here before she had fallen asleep.
Meg turned wrathfully away from the dying campfire and took a moment to redo her ponytail, raking her slender fingers through her long dark hair and re-doing it nice and neat as she liked it.
She felt more than foolish and powerless against her thoughts as her curiosity about this Wonder Boy was becoming nearly impossible to bear. This would not happen again. It could not.
She would not allow it, and more to the point, Hades would not allow it.
Meg scowled and furrowed her brows into a frown as she forced herself to shove her emotions down to the pit of her stomach and strode toward the edge of the woods.
Meg held her head tall and high as she walked with authority toward the woods.
But she did not expect to find Wonder Boy there with his winged beast of a horse. A grizzled and disgruntled old Satyr was leaning against a tree stump nearby. It was obvious the two of them had been talking and most probably about her since their conversation went quiet as she halted in her tracks.
"Glad to see you finally decided to get up, sweet cheeks, I was beginnin' to think that centaur gave you a beating you'd not wake from," the Satyr grunted, his voice a smooth buttery purr that immediately set Meg on edge.
She clenched her teeth behind straight lips. He didn't sound sincere. The cantankerous old goat was looking as though she downright repulsed him, as though she had sprouted antlers or grown an extra head. Meg furrowed her brows but didn't have time to ponder it as her attention was quickly pulled away.
"Uh, e-excuse me, miss?" Wonder Boy's tenor-like voice pulled Meg's drifting mind back down to Earth.
Her eyes soon landed on him and her eyes went wide and she looked as though she had been punched in the gut by Wonder Boy himself as slowly, his head turned downward and his eyes made a quick scan of her form and she tried to convince herself that she neither looked nor smelled funny.
Her stomach churned and she felt a chill run over her body when Meg came to understand that without the slightest doubt in the world, Wonder Boy here was slowly and openly, without any shame, or perhaps he was not aware of it, ogling her. Her face flushed beet red and Meg sharply turned her head to the side and tried to pretend she didn't notice. She was beautiful, she supposed, or so she'd been told growing up.
She was not too skinny and waifish, her long dark hair and her eyes she had gotten from her mother, and she had been used to men ogling her backside wherever she went back home in the village, but the fact Wonder Boy's appraisal here was occurring after he had saved her life from Nessus gave her the creeps.
What did he want from her in return, a kiss? Meg's eyes widened in anger. Well, if that was the case, then he was going to be sorely disappointed and with a black eye to match if he tried anything funny right now.
Her eyes fluttered for a moment as she watched Wonder Boy's mouth move, but she was so focused on his face that as a result, she didn't hear a word that came out of his mouth now.
She shook her head to herself, her frown deepening as she huffed. "I-I'm sorry, Wonder Boy, I was just…lost in thought for a moment. What did you say?" Meg took a cautious step forward to seem slightly more attentive but also, she wanted a better look at this supposed handsome 'hero' who had saved her.
The man wrung his hands in front of him almost as if he were nervous.
"I-I was asking if you slept well a-and if you are feeling any better? Y-Your head, how is it? A-are you in...any pain at all? Is there anything Phil and I can get for you?" Wonder Boy asked softly. The nervous man stammered over his words, his muscular hands still wringing in front of her.
Meg quirked a brow and tried not to stare from observing his odd behavior, but it was admittedly difficult.
This man was handsome, surely he could see it, and charming, if not in a clumsy sort of way, he surely had no problem wooing women, so why was it he seemed to have difficulties in talking to her? Perhaps he was just shy.
Meg felt something ugly rise within her just then, she did not know where it was coming from, perhaps it was the knowledge that Wonder Boy's eyes were draped all over her, and she could not—would not—open herself up to such rejection and heartbreak a second time as she had with Adonis.
But the venom she flung at Wonder Boy in a moment of self-pity was past her lips before she could even realize what it was she'd said.
"Oh, just peachy, Wonder Boy," she snapped, her tone spiced and offended as she huffed and crossed her arms, wincing at the pain in her ribs. "I usually sleep great after having at least two of my ribs cracked by that brute of a horse's ass the people dare to call a River Guardian," she snorted.
Wonder Boy's smile instantly fell and she watched as he physically winced at the barb.
He lowered his head and looked away, a pink blush of shame speckling along his cheeks. Her face flushed but Meg recovered quickly and turned back to face Wonder Boy and gave the man who had saved her life from Nessus a nervous acknowledgment. She reached up her hand to tuck a curl of her hair behind her ear and paused.
"I'm sorry," Meg sighed as a thick silence hung in the air between them and she saw the Satyr and the horse shoot her a withering look of anger.
Wonder Boy looked up just in time to see her rubbing the neck of her neck gingerly as she rolled it to crack it and ease her neck's stiffness.
"I...I didn't mean to snap at you. That was stupid and uncalled for." Meg rubbed at her brow and her eyes narrowed in thought before she continued her apology sheepishly. "I guess I'm not…not used to having people come to my rescue. I don't... thank you," she admitted, her face pained as she hesitantly lifted her gaze to find Wonder Boy staring at her intensely. His lips parted as if he meant to speak, however, it was taking him a moment to collect his thoughts, and before he could, the Satyr snorted.
"'Bout time you gave the Champ here a proper 'Thank You,' lady. That old horse's ass Nessus has been known to do foul things to pretty maidens like yourself who cross his waters." The goat's eyes narrowed in suspicion and appraisal as he looked Meg up and down from head to toe slowly. "Neither me nor the kid here likes to think what he mighta done to ya if he'd been given the chance, girl." There was a beat. A pause. "He'd have probably kept you and claimed you for himself, an' if that had happened, I don't think even me an' the kid here coulda saved you from him," he grunted, his frown deepening as he glared.
Meg shuddered violently and looked back to Wonder Boy, grateful he'd come. "Well…thank you for making sure that didn't happen, Wonder Boy," Meg said, trying to keep her voice as level-headed as possible.
Wonder Boy jumped a bit at hearing her self-given nickname for him and was looking at her as though trying to decide whether or not he liked it or not. He took a step forward towards her hesitantly, while Meg retreated.
"Wh-what did you call me?" he stammered as he raised his brows at her.
Meg stared right back, the hint of a smile tugging at her lips but she barely managed to fight it back. She was amused at how flustered he was becoming, and all over a simple nickname.
"Wonder Boy. Unless they gave you a name that I can call you by along with all of those rippling pectorals," Meg told him, teasing him as she smirked a bit at him.
Wonder Boy's whole demeanor changed.
"I—I just…my name is…uh…" The wringing of Wonder Boy's large hands only worsened.
Meg looked away to spare him what little shred of dignity he still had left, though out of the corner of her eyes, she could see him blushing a deep cherry red. She chuckled under her breath as she toyed with the ends of her long ponytail. She had to have a little fun from time to time. It didn't seem like he was upset.
"Are you always this articulate?" she pried kindly, trying to coax him into finally revealing his name so she could properly thank him for saving her life.
"Hercules," he blurted out, the reveal of his name sounding clumsy and blunt as he gingerly rubbed the back of his neck. "My name is Hercules, miss, uh…miss…?"
"Megara. My friends call me Meg or at least they would if I had any friends," Meg snorted, making an odd noise of dissent through her nose as she kept her face turned to the side, so she did not see the pity flickering to life behind his blue eyes.
The reveal of her name set Hercules faintly smiling.
"It, uh, it suits you, Meg" was all Wonder Boy could think to say to her as he met her gaze.
Meg slowly nodded, her lips slightly parted.
"I should hope so, I'm stuck with it for life," she sighed with a shrug of her shoulders. She turned slightly at the waist to find the young man stepping towards her, fumbling with the clasps of his cloak.
For some strange reason, something came over Meg and she suddenly felt as though her chest was tight, her lungs burning. She did not think she was equipped to deal with the man's kindness.
Wonder Boy's kindness and apparent care and concern for her seemed genuine and in her current state of unease and vulnerability, it felt like a stab to the heart.
Meg inexplicably felt her eyes beginning to tear up and she sniffed, furiously blinking her lids to blink them away and kept her back paraded to him, not letting him see them.
"Don't." She waved a dismissive hand and began to walk away. "That's not necessary, I can't stay, I-I have to be getting back."
She had not even realized it yet, but the sun was already setting behind the trees. She did not know how long she had been knocked unconscious, but it had to have been several hours if it was nightfall.
Suddenly, a cold chill wafted through the air that Meg knew had nothing to do with the chilly evening air as the temperature continued to drop as the sun steadily went down.
Hades was here, waiting for her in the woods.
No, no, no, no, she thought wildly, chewing on her lip. She had been hoping for a little more time than this to compose herself and collect her thoughts, to think over what she would tell her new master, how she had failed him, what she would say to Hades. But Time and Fate, it seemed, were not on her side this evening. The sudden wind and cold chill startled her, her eyes snapping shut. After a moment, Meg managed to regain her composure as she fluttered her watery eyes and looked at Hercules.
"Isn't that just the strangest thing, Herc, not a gust of wind all day, and now this? A storm's coming, Wonder Boy, and you should be ready when it does," she scoffed, her eyes still slightly unfocused as she tore her gaze away from the man's blue eyes and at a distant spot in the forest beyond the tree line.
She thought she saw Hades spying on them both.
"W-wait, do you…do you have a place to go? H-have you any family nearby? I-I would be happy to escort you home," Hercules offered, unable to disguise the note of hope in his voice as he bounded forward. He looked as though he was half of a mind to offer her his arm but hesitated and did not, unsure if Meg would even allow it now.
Meg suddenly felt heavy as her feet remained rooted firmly to the forest floor.
A wave of sympathy and guilt both racked through her body as she looked upon this handsome hero, this Wonder Boy, this...mighty Hercules. This man did not seem a selfish brute like Prince Adonis had.
He was no monster. And he had saved her life from Nessus. Her angry seething that her botched attempt at trying to persuade Nessus to ally himself with Hades had gone so wrong had finally subsided since waking. However, she was unsure what to say to him after the way she had treated him thus far.
She began to think that maybe Wonder Boy was trying, perhaps his best, to help her feel safe and comfortable around him and his goat. Meg lowered her head at the notion, part of her was grateful, and a part of her felt guilty for expecting the worst. He was already proving himself different than Adonis, she realized, and she'd known him but a precious five minutes at best.
Meg's cheeks reddened and she looked away, studying the ground beneath her sandals in far too engrossed a manner, not sure what to say to him.
Finally, she managed to find her voice and when she did, it was small.
"No, thank you, Herc, I-I could take myself, but aren't you sweet to worry about me? But I'm a tough girl, I can handle myself, I tie my own sandals and everything," she told him, teasing.
The Satyr and the horse, however, did not seem convinced, Meg noticed, as she noticed the beasts shot one another an odd look of pure disbelief. The goat was the one to speak since the winged horse couldn't.
"Oh? Did you now? Is that why Nessus nearly killed you? Because you could 'handle yourself? From where the kid an' I were standin', it didn't look like you had it 'handled.' Quite the opposite, in fact, sweet cheeks. The kid deserves more than your thanks if you ask me," he snapped, his tone dripping with contempt for her.
"Phil!" Hercules nearly shouted at him. "What has gotten into you, why are you talking to her this way?" Hercules snapped, condescending. "Don't talk to her like that!" he barked, pursing his lips at him.
Phil furrowed his brow and glowered at his trainee, hating how Hercules' gaze traveled from this Megara's lavender eyes that held a glint he wasn't sure he liked and stayed fixated on her pretty pink lips that looked ripe for kissing.
He was sure Zeus's boy was captivated by the girl, and what man in his right mind wouldn't be? Her face alone was more than enough to call an entire army of men to her side, Phil angrily realized. This girl was going to spell trouble for his Champ, he had a gut feeling, but for the moment, he kept his mouth shut.
It would not do to start pointing a hoof at her with baseless accusations, but he could tell by the way she carried herself, the skittishness in her eyes, how she could not look at the boy, that she was hiding something from him.
From us all, Phil thought. Phil snorted in agitation and hardened his expression, narrowing his eyes in suspicion of the young broad the Champ had taken too quick a liking to, he thought.
It was then as he was ruminating this thought in his mind that his troubled and angry gaze was caught on the gold bangles on her wrists that glittered, shimmering even in the fading light of the sun as it set, and he cursed himself to the Underworld for not having seen this detail about this young woman before.
He spoke slowly, deciding to start slow in the hopes they would finally get answers from her.
"And while we're at it, sweet cheeks, how's about you tell us who your master is, eh? Who's got you at their beck and call? Whose thumb are you workin' under?" he grunted, quirking a thick brow at her wrist.
Meg felt the blood drain from her face as she flicked her gaze down to her wrists.
Hades, damn you, she thought bitterly to herself and grinding her teeth in annoyance. Her bangles.
She had forgotten they had appeared magically on her wrists the moment she had given her word to Hades that her soul was forfeit and his if he would but make her forget Prince Adonis. She flinched as Hercules spoke and pulled a face as she looked up just in time to see the man's eyebrows raise at this.
"Meg, you—you have a master?" he questioned, the shock very much evident in the man's tenor-like tones as he stared at her as though she had sprouted antlers.
Meg reeled back at his tone of voice and instantly looked hurt at his expression.
"I-yes," she blurted out. "Both of you don't understand and I don't know if you ever could understand, my life circumstances are…it's…complicated. My master, he…saved my life." Meg chuckled darkly and looked downcast for a moment. She tucked another curl of her dark brown hair back behind her ear out of habit.
Hercules darted forward, eager to supplicate Meg somewhat as he attempted to diffuse the sense of defeat he sensed within the young woman. He scowled and shot a look of daggers towards Phil, who scuffed a hoof in agitation but was looking at Meg expectantly. He and the horse were waiting for a remark on her master.
"Meg, I—I understand, you-you don't have to tell us anymore if it's going to upset you, b-but are you sure I can't walk you back? It's already dark out. I don't like the thought of you walking home alone," he asked, smiling at her warmly, making Meg almost blush at the intensity of his kind smile.
"No thanks, Wonder Boy. I can handle a short walk through the woods. That horse's ass might have cracked a rib or two, but it's nothing I can't handle," Meg murmured, shooting Hercules a pained look as she shifted her leg from one foot to the other, and just a slight twist to the waist sent an explosion of pain spiraling up and down her side.
She flinched and did her best to move past the pain, though she could tell by the worried look on Wonder Boy's face that he had seen everything, despite her best efforts to keep just how much she was hurting from him now.
"I...I should be going. Something tells me this isn't a permanent goodbye, I'll see you again. I must touch base, I wasn't, er, expecting to be gone all day, but from the looks of things, I was," she muttered, tearing her gaze away from Hercules to look up at the night sky. "My master must be worried about me…I hope," she sighed, defeated, wringing her hands together. She was suddenly too timid to look him in the eyes.
"H-how did he come to save your life, Meg, i-if you don't mind me asking?" Hercules asked Meg, smiling.
He had not meant his question as an insult or to bring up bad memories she would rather not remember now, but it was merely a question he wanted an answer to, stemming from his desire in his mind to want more time to linger. Hercules gave Meg a nervous smile that told Meg he was trying his best.
Meg at that moment realized that she had no reason not to trust Wonder Boy. He had saved her from that horse's ass, Nessus, after all, when he could have easily just looked the other direction and not intervened. It was he who had brought her here away from the River Guardian and had made sure she was safe and warm as she slept. She did not want to seem at all ungrateful. Meg supposed it could not harm to enlighten him as to the reason for her enslavement, or at least a partial truth, she could divulge.
"I lost everyone I cared about not long ago…a-a few years ago," Meg started slowly, staring off into the distance at a tree behind Wonder Boy's head, not seeing anything in particular, but it was better than looking into Hercules' eyes and seeing the pain there. Or even worse, the man's pity for her.
She did not want his pity, or anyone else's.
"My master found me when I...when I wasn't in a good place….I would have been lost without him. Without him, I would be dead." She shuddered at the thought, cringing to think that she had almost been cowardly enough to try to take her own life, just for a fool's hope of numbing the pain. Aware she still owed Hercules and Shorty the Goat here an answer, Meg continued, hoping to supplicate both of their curiosities and they would drop the matter entirely. "But he…saved me. He took me in when I had nowhere else to go, and no prospects, no hope for a future for myself. I had nothing. But he…he gave my life back. Something else to live for." She swallowed hard and continued, hating that she was lying through her teeth. Her gaze grew distant as if lost in the past. "Everything I am, I owe to my master."
Hercules said nothing but listened intently to Meg's every word.
She closed her eyes, the images and memories of Adonis leaving her, and then her parents passing away within weeks of her bargaining with the devil himself to save her lover's life, were too much to handle now. She closed her eyes, the thoughts too disturbing to face. She wanted nothing more than to seal them away in a box and lock it away somewhere safe.
Seeing her pain, Hercules took a cautious step forward. He wanted to ease Meg's hurt somehow. Hercules thought it was odd for him to make a connection with another person so fast, but he did not want to deny it, either. That he thought Meg was someone he could like as a friend.
And maybe, perhaps even something a bit more.
Meg did not see his movement as she shook the images of the too-recent trauma from her mind. She was pulled back to the present by the sound of Hercules's voice, surprised at how soft his voice was. Timid, even, as though he feared her reaction now.
"I'm sorry, Meg," was all he said quietly to her.
Meg sniffed as she furiously blinked away stifled tears and finally lifted her gaze to meet his, only to find the same sorrow at her torment glittering within those haunting blue eyes of Wonder Boy's.
Meg stared, aware she was gawking, but she couldn't help it.
A part of her felt more than a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of empathy Hercules seemed to be feeling for her, that all she wanted to do was lose herself in the deep blue pools of his eyes.
But the part of Meg that won, however, was that which wanted to crawl away and hide at any signs of intimacy with another person. Meg hardened her expression and snapped herself back to her usual stoicism, and forced herself to hide her emotions as quickly as she had reluctantly let them surface.
"Well, I…" Meg announced uncomfortably. "I need to be getting back. My master is probably wondering where I've gone off to."
She backed away from the group now gathered around her listening intently to her tale of woe as though the ground around her were on fire. Knowing her new master, she suspected it likely would happen once the truth came out. She turned away but was quick to remember her courtesies.
"Thank you, Wonder Boy, for…for saving my life." Meg bashfully turned her head to eye Wonder Boy from the corner of her lowered gaze. "…and for listening," Meg added, truly grateful but overcome with awkwardness. She was surprised by the change in her personality.
Before Wonder Boy could say a word, Meg turned on her heels in a twist of the skirts of her dress, leaving Hercules watching her go with a look of longing in his eyes.
"Wait, before you go, at least tell me how...H-how did you uh, get mixed up with the—the uh…" Hercules started to ask but trailed off as Meg looked up.
She was surprised to hear his voice held a slight stutter, likely from nervousness, and decided to spare him this one and put the man out of his misery, hating hearing him fumble over his words so horribly.
"Oh, Nessus? The pinhead with hooves? Well, you know how men are. Beasts, the lot of them." Meg crinkled her nose in disgust. "They think "No" means "Yes" and "Get lost!" means "Take me, I'm yours!" Meg cocked her head to the side in a friendly fashion.
She noted how blue his eyes were, like the sky itself. He was too nervous to eye her for long. His round eyes darted from her, confused, to the ground beneath their sandals.
However, the glances that Hercules did see of Meg were…really something.
She was…she was gorgeous. He hesitantly lifted a hand and gingerly rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish expression on his face as he shot her an innocent look.
"I-I don't…I never…" he started to say, but cut himself off as Meg interrupted.
"Don't worry, Wonder Boy, your goat Shorty here can explain it to you later," Meg snorted as she gave a fast wink. She could see him blushing this time, at least. Her heart fluttered unexpectedly as the man's shy smile caught her by surprise. He did look better when he smiled. Meg's eyes widened.
The cantankerous old Satyr scuffed a hoof in agitation and looked like he wanted nothing more than to gouge one of her eyes out with his horns.
Meg stifled a giggle from the goat's behavior as he snapped at her.
"Why you—" he started to say, but cut himself off as Hercules shot him a withering look of warning. Phil looked as though he had a retort he wanted to fling at Meg in a moment of self-pity but stopped himself and stalked back to the camp, muttering a few choice words under his breath loud enough for her to hear.
"Sorry. Hopefully, your goat won't stay mad at you," Meg apologized, realizing she didn't sound sorry at all and didn't care. "Anyways, I need to be going. I'm late."
Hercules felt his heart careen loudly against his chest as she flicked her ponytail and turned her back to leave. But before she left him completely, she twisted at the waist to smile at Wonder Boy one last time.
"Well, then, I guess this is goodbye, for now. Herc, it's been a real slice," she told him, a slightly teasing lilt to her tone as she chuckled. Meg held back a gasp as she watched the endearing handsome young man stumble not only over his words but himself as well. She pressed her cheek into her palm, the beginnings of an affectionate smile snaking its way onto her face as Hercules found his voice again.
"Well, u-uh, th-thank you, Meg, I-I mean, you should be thanking me, I-I did save your life, and oh, gods, I don't… oh, gods, I-I promise, I-I'm not usually like this," he stammered, his face flushing a deep red.
Too embarrassed to speak further, he turned to follow the Satyr back to camp, his winged horse trailing behind him at his heels, behaving more like a dog than a horse, Meg noticed with amusement.
However, her smile faltered somewhat as the horse looked back at her and practically glared at her, whinnying in frustration and bearing its teeth at her. It was a clear warning to stay away from Wonder Boy, or else. Meg frowned. She could have sworn Hercules paused to look back at her, and waved.
Meg lingered for a moment longer, taking one last glance at Wonder Boy, at Hercules, before turning away and disappearing into the mists of the woods.
To Hades.