I realized,given the content of my previous fanfics, I realized I need to offer a warning. This one is going to be a bit darker than my others, and I just don't want anyone to be offended. Not that my other mindless babbles have been all unicorns and rainbows, but I still figured a warning was necessary. Also, I don't want Megara bring the rightful heir to King Creon to really be a party of this story, so... using mythology rather loosely. If at all. Plus... the real story is pretty depressing. Others have written about it, including a wonderful in progress story by Bwaygal. I highly recommend reading it. I'm sticking mostly to the Disney universe, and my own demented brain. And please excuse my overuse of compound sentences... I realize my formatting gets repetitive.

Hercules was sleeping soundly, one arm traped loosely over Meg's slender waist. Despite the cold, he had fallen asleep nude after sharing and intimate interlude with Meg upon their return from their night out. Meg had one arm behind her head, the other lightly resting over Hercules's. She felt goosebumps run up her arms, and carefully moved his arm so she could slip out of bed to gather her discarded clothing. Her mind was still swimming with the news that she was pregnant. As frightened as she was, she was surprised it hadn't happened sooner, but it hadn't made her any less worried. She hadn't been completely honest Hercules regarding her family.

Her father had not walked out on her mother, rather, Megara was the one who left. Her mother had been unable to bear the death of her brother, and taken her own life. Angry at her mother, and never having seen eye to eye with her father, she left. She felt guilty for not disclosing that her father was Creon, iKing/i Creon. She hoped that pretending not to be part of that family would help her escape their curse. Everyone in her family seemed to die prematurely, and never naturally, or easily for that matter. One brother was eaten by the Sphinx when he failed his riddle, her mother's suicide was extremely messy and took the damn woman three days to die. She herself had died horribly as well. At least I had Wonderboy to save me. I Hercules, a man powerful enough to defy her family's curse, defy Hades, defy death itself.

She slipped into the nightdress she had balled in her fists, and slipped back into bed. SHe laid on her side, looking out at the sky through the slit in the curtains that sealed their balcony. On their date Hercules was unable to talk about anything besides the pregnancy, and everyone he wished to tell. She had managed to convince him it was bad luck to inform anyone so early in the pregnancy. While she wasn'tlying, her true motivation was masked by a flurry of excuses and changes in subject. She didn't want him to ask about telling her surviving family members. But now, as she lay in bed with nothing but the darkness to keep her company, she wondered if she had the right to keep her father from ever meeting his grandchildren. She tried to convince herself the baby was still months away, but failed to push these nagging questions from her mind.

Groaning, she slapped her hands over her face and turned to lie on her back. She looked at her husband, and listened to his gentle breathing. She envied his peaceful sleep, and wished she could be sleeping quietly beside him. But his sleep was anything but peaceful.

Hercules staggered, looking at the dead Cyclops tumbling below. He turned quickly, startled by the voice of his screaming wife. He stood, looking in horror as she collapsed to the ground. The silence was so sudden it took him several moments to realize how still she was. He ran to her side, watching her slowly turn to ash. As he ran to her side a great wind picked up, blowing her ashes away. His nose was flooded with a stagnant metallic smell, his world turning black dust spun around him. He covered his stinging eyes, feeling a sticky warmth run down his cheeks.

The wind grew louder, wipping past him with a deafening roar, sand and ash tearing at his skin. He tried to stand but his legs failed him, he tried to scream but had no voice, tried to look but was surrounded by darkness. But the darkness began to fade, the smell of blood now mixed with the acidic smell of sulfur. Using the heels of his calloused hands to rub the burning tears from his eyes he watched as his world grew back into focus once more. The wind stopped. All sound stopped. He spun around, looking for Meg. He found her. Hades stood, a wide grin on his face, holding Meg's form upright. She looked at him, her blank eyes peering strait through him, thin white hands resting over a large pregnant stomach.

Hades opened his mouth as if to scream, silence pouring forth as an inky blackness climbed out of him. Hercules still struggled to stand, he reached for his sword but his arms were lead. The blackness took form of a great lion, with no eyes, no nose, no mouth. It loomed over the great city of Thebes, where thousands began to scream. The noise was so sudden Hercules tried to cup his ears, squinting his eyes as he struggled against the roar. He managed to look up as the great shadow loomed, lifting its paw to show nothing but ash in its wake. It walked forward, everything, everyone it touched melted into blackness. It opened it's great mouth to roar, the Erinyes extending their arms, pointing at Hercules with their boney fingers, the serpents around their waists unwinding and slithering down the great lion's mouth and moved towards him. The serpents stood on end, and began coiling around eachother and grew taller, until Hades once again stood before him. He reached out, his boney fingers stretching unnaturally long. Hercules managed to lift his dead arms, and swung.

Meg let out a loud yelp, a hand flinging to her ribs as Hercules jolted upright in his sleep having heard the scream.

"NO!" His voice echoed off the stone walls, still blind to the world around him. Meg looked next to her with feirce eyes,

"Gods damnit!"She shouted, rubbing her side feircly before she realized Hercules was gripped in a nightmare. "Hercules!"She shouted, ducking just in time as he flailed his arm in her direction again. She leapt backwards out of the bed, falling hard onto the marble floor as her foot caughtin the blankets. The thick sound of her hitting the floor combined with the storm of curses seemed to finally snap him out of his daze. She laid on the floor, helplessly gasping for the breath that had been knocked from her, and for several terrifying moments her muscles failed to respond and expand her chest to allow precious oxygen to fill her lungs. As a wave of dizziness began to flood over, she was finally able to push out her chest, and hungrily gulp a large breath of air, and whimpered with the shooting pain that came with it.

"Meg?!"He looked next to him, watching as Meg lifted herself from the floor after awkwardly falling again once her foot was untangled from the sheets. She sat back on the bed, tempted to ask him what the hell happened when she saw his pallor, and dilated eyes.

"Honey?" He reached for her, his breath catching in his throat for a moment as he swallowed hard. "A-are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah... are you okay?" Her voice was ragged as she struggled for breath, her attempts to hide the extend of her pain were only successful because of Herc's current level of confusion. Herc looked at his hands, and looked back at her.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He lied quickly, something he was quite bad at.

"You don't look okay. Normally I'm the one having nightmares," She tried to chuckle and failed to suppress a painful moan as a hand flew over her injured ribs.

"Are you hurt?" Herc asked, still confused. His eyes were flickering around the room, looking for the shadow.

"I'm fine. Must have hurt it when I fell." She lied quickly, not wanting to make him feel guilty. Hercules didn't seem to believe her, and tugged at her nightdress until he was able to lift it and see the dark bruise already formed on her side.

"Did... did I do this?" He asked, already knowing the answer. A simple fall wouldn't leave a mark that dark. Meg tugged her clothing back down quickly, and grabbed Herc's hands in her own.

"You've got quite an arm there wonderboy." She joked. "Now, why don't we go downstairs. I'll make you some tea." She had normally been the one with the nightmares, and she knew how hard to was to sleep afterwards. She could almost never sleep after one of hers. Hercules would always bring her downstairs, and boil water for tea, and they would sit together until she felt better. It was her turn to return the favor.

"I... I hurt you..." His voice trailed off. Meg sighed, scooting back towards him.

"You didn't do it on purpose. You had a nightmare." Hercules looked at his hands, seemingly deaf to his wife's comforts. He caused damage with his strength, the tool he had finely tuned to his control. He hadn't lost it in two damn years, the tool he promised he would use only to protect. "Hercules look at me." She insisted, pulling him from his thoughts. "Herc, it was a nightmare. How many times have I given you a nice punch in the gut when I'm in the thralls of a nightmare?"

"But..."

"No buts. Answer me." Her stern violet eyes always seemed to look blue when she was staring him down.

"A lot..." He relented, the acid in the back of his throat receding as his heart began to beat at a more sensible rhythm.

"You had a nightmare, you don't get them often. You just got a little revenge for all the little love-taps my nightmares have cost. And it's just a bruise, I'll live." She wanted to chuckle, to try and ease the tension, but the pain in her ribs was a lot worse than she was willing to let on. She would have to have Hermes take a look at them. She was afraid to see Hippocrates, she was worried the seasoned doctor would call it domestic abuse. "Now get up, stop moping, and let me have a turn at making you some tea."

"Okay." The couple got up, and when Meg took his hand in hers she could feel him trembling, and his eyes were glazed with rare tears. She waited until they were in the kitchen with a fire on the hearth to try to ask Hercules what his dream had been about. Hercules looked at his hands again, hesitant to meet her piercing gaze.

"I... I don't even know. Everything was dark, and quiet. I was... helpless. I saw you," He paused, swallowing back the acid that was rising again in the back of his throat threaning him with intense nausea. "and Hades, and this black lion... snakes... the Erinyes." At the mention of the Erinyes Megara blanched. Hades had often used them as a threat against her, their name alone was enough to strike fear into most people's minds. But she knew how the Erinyes toyed, she had seen their handiwork, and luckily this did not reek of their foulness. Meg reached out, placing a hand gently over his,

"Hey. It was just a nightmare. Like you always tell me," She managed a smile, and got up to pour the boiling water over the tea leaves, handing Herc his cup carefully, so the trembling wouldn't spill any of the hot liquid.

"I know. But... Gods. This was something else." He drummed his fingers anxiously against the hot clay cup, 'Are you okay though? I mean... in the dream I was swinging at Hades... or what I thought was Hades... with all my strength. If I hit you anywhere near that hard I might have broken your ribs." Meg frowned, hoping he would be oblivious to that fact. But she should have known better. Growing up, unable to control his strength, he knew all too well the unintended consequences.

"What was it about?" Talking about her nightmares always helped her feel better, because as she explained them she could tell herself how illogical it was. Herc furrowed his brow, unsure if he wanted to talk about it. "You always make me tell you, your turn Wonderboy." Herc sighed, she was right. What did he have to be so afraid of anyways? The nightmare made no sense.

"It... well. It's hard to explain. Everything felt wrong. I killed the Cyclops, and saw you. But you fell, and turned into black ash and blew away, but the blackness spun around and I was in the Underworld... Hades had you," Herc paused, leaving out the detail of seeing her in Hades's clutches apparently nine months pregnant, "Then a shadow crawled out of his mouth. It was like I was seeing his scream instead of hearing it. THen the shadow looked like a lion, only all black and when it roared it was silent, the Erinyes were there and turned into snakes, came out of it's mouth, then wound around eachother and turned into Hades again, and I was back in Thebes... Hades reached for me, and I tried to punch him." Meg smiled softly,

"Feel better?" She asked. Hercules pondered for a moment, saying it all outloud did make it all seem silly. A shadow lion spitting snakes? He could admit how far fetched the nightmare was, but he couldn't shake this fear.

"It was more than just what I was seeing. Everything just felt... wrong" Meg moved over to him, giving him a soft kiss,

"I know honey... I get nightmares all the time and I know how hard it is to get rid of the fear even after you convince yourself it was just a silly dream. Come on, drink your tea and we can go for a walk. Maybe the fresh air will clear your head. Hercules finally managed a smile,

"Okay."

"That's better." Meg walked over to the sink and saw a Lily flower laying next to the fruits Hercules had purchased that morning. "Hmm, whats this?"

"Oh... I forgot about that. When I was in the market one of my fans asked where you were. When I told her you weren't feeling good she gave me a flower to give to you. I must have forgotten when you told me your good news," finally managing a full smile.

"It's pretty, what kind of flower is this?"

"Umm. I think its a Lily."

"Pretty. Well come on you big lug, lets get some fresh air." She extended her hand and Herc took it gratefully.

Chapter 3 is up. Cut me some slack I wrote this at 3am...