Ugh I am way too slow at updating… reasons why I have no reviewers left. And don't worry, I have plans for Hades I haven't forgotten him. Oh, by the way, epiblema is a type of shawl, common for women to wear. I do have to do one major deviation from Greek mythology due to the butchering of mythology Disney committed. The Titans in the movie are Hydros (water/ice), Lythos (lava/fire), Pryros (wind), Stratos (rock). But Hydros was the force of water at creation. The mud hardened into the earth (Gaia) alongside the water, (Hydros). However, according to the Disney mythology each Titan was based off of one or two actual Titans, but not taking their names. So I will do my best to remain accurate to canon and incorporating mythology. In terms of the Titans that is #$%ing hard, and taking a bit of research. I have to take some creative license to make it fit.
Before the final dredges of sleep left, Meg was aware of the biting cold. She pulled the linens tighter around her shoulders and found they felt heavier than usual. She pried her eyes open, and saw a large bearskin was draped across her. Thin wisps of mist filtered out of her nose with each exhale as tight shivers coursed through her body. Any remaining grogginess fled as she became aware of the damp between her legs. She let out a short whimper, knitting her brow as she touched her thigh and drew her hand back to find her fingertips slick with blood.
She let out a short sigh, tears brimming on her eyes. She remembered her conversation with Cassandra the night before, and questioned herself on whether she was telling the truth. Why was she crying? She bit her lip to regain her composure as she found herself daydreaming about the child that wouldn't be. She shook her head to stop the thoughts before they could overwhelm her.
She threw the linens back, and saw she had bled during the night. The midwife had warned her of this, but the knowledge did little to ebb the rising anxiety. She sat up to move to the edge of the bed and felt her vision about to close in as waves of dizziness spread across her head followed quickly by shards of pain.
"Ah, Gods!' She gasped, clutching at the side of her head, "Why did I drink so much…" She scooted to the edge of the bed, letting the dizziness pass before placing her feet on the floor. The stone floor was achingly cold, and felt as if it were drawing the very heat from her body. She felt the impulse to curl back under the warm linen, but the thought of lying in blood revolted her.
With exaggerated effort she pushed herself standing, feeling the dizziness once again and her stomach threatened to empty its contents. She pushed the back of her wrist to her mouth, again pausing until she felt remotely normal. She walked to the bathroom, the cold against her feet causing them to cramp, and her toes curled uncomfortably. It shouldn't be this cold, she pondered. Even winter never felt his cold before. She could hear the wind howling outside the window as she made her way to the lavatory and hoped she was merely being dramatic.
She had forgotten to empty the water from her bath a few nights before, and hoped that the water would still be there. She was unconcerned with the fact the water was used, she was desperate to cleanse herself of the blood before Hercules could see. She looked, and was startled to find the water had frozen. "Gods dammit" she cursed, and slammed her fist against the icy surface, breaking through the thick layer and plunging her hand into the frigid water. She drew back sharply, tucking her hand under her arm startled by the icy knives of the frigid liquid. "This is going to be extremely unpleasant…" the cloth she had used was frozen to the side of the tub, and she fumbled around the lavatory until she found another one.
She reluctantly plunged her hand into the frigid water to soak the cloth, lifting the hem of her clothing and scrubbing vehemently at her thighs to get the blood that had dried during the night. It was several minutes before she felt remotely clean, but the violent shivering ended her task before she felt fully cleansed. She tore off her soiled clothing, and sprinted over to the wardrobe. She felt exhausted already from this activity, her legs trembling beneath her and chest burning for air as if she had run across all of Thebes. She grabbed the closest thing to a warm chiton she had, and a wool epiblema that she tugged around her shoulders and grabbed the linens used for her moon cycle in case of any further bleeding.
The cramping in her feet was becoming intolerable, and she staggered back into the bed to hide under the linens to warm her feet and stop the muscle spasms that were forcing her toes to curl and her calves to tighten. But she was dismayed to find there was a small amount of blood on the bed linens as well. She scoffed, already exhausted by her short burst of activity. There was no possible way for her to remove the soiled linens, and replace them with clean ones so Herc wouldn't notice. She accepted defeat and hoped the boy wouldn't have a panic attack. As if on cue she could hear him clumsily making his way down the upstairs hallway,
"Oh, hey sleepy," He stumbled unceremoniously into the bedroom, bundled up in his winter gear, and dropped the crate on the floor near the end of the bed. "I got our winter stuff from storage. We have a fire roaring in the den, you should join us," He dropped the crate near the foot of the bed and pulled out a pair of rabbit skin boots; a type of clothing he had adopted from one of his many travels. She happily pulled the foreign garb onto her feet, relishing in the warmth it brought almost immediately. Hercules also pulled a thick woolen cloak from the crate, draping it around her shoulders.
"Thank you, it's freezing…" She could see his breath in the air as clearly as her own. Her toes uncurled as the cramping in her legs began to relax with the new warmth.
"It's snowing out like I've never seen. Come on, I have some food heating up, some warm drinks; we now have plenty of warm clothing and blankets. In this storm Cass and Ick aren't going anywhere so we can all spend some time together." Meg couldn't help but smirk in response to his abundance of optimistic enthusiasm.
"As long as it's warmer than this bedroom," She took Hercules's extended hand to stand, and winced when she saw his smile fade.
"Meg…" She knew what he was looking at and sighed,
"Herc, the midwife said this might happen for a few days. It was only a little bit; I feel no worse for the wear. I promise," She squeezed his hands reassuringly, but he didn't return her smile. "Hon… I'm okay. Really," she stood on her toes and kissed him softly, relishing in the warmth of him,
"Why didn't you tell me hon, I could have helped you,"
"I only just woke up. And I managed okay. We just need to change that linen. Now come on, this room is frigid! Let's get down there," She let go of his hands and headed to the den to try and end the conversation before the tension could rise. Hercules lagged behind to pull the soiled linen off the bed, placing them in a basket stored in the lavatory for later washing. He paused, seeing the soiled cloth that Meg had used to cleanse, and bit his lip at the site of so much crimson. The biting cold was finally enough to drive him from the upper floor, and into the warmth of the den where a fire was roaring.
Hades squinted through the storm, even the eyes of a God failed to pierce through the milky air. The snow bit at his skin like millions of insects, and he tugged the fur cloak tighter around himself. His ebony chariot coursed through the air, to the mountains that overlooked the sea. If the Fates told true Hydros would be found in his old roost. Only the great primordial being of water and ice could conjure such an unnatural storm, and a smirk drew across his features.
The flight from the underworld took near an hour, and was a welcome relief to feel his great stallions landing, rather precariously, on what must have been the only flat spot they could find in the storm. It was a surprise they were able to fly at all. Even his own powers had their limits.
"Hydros!" He bellowed, his voice carrying poorly through the howling wind, the churning air brining snow from the sky and ground alike. "Hydros!" he cried again, scanning the blurry air for any sign of the beast. He pulled his hood back, letting the wind snuff the flames atop his head to try and aid his vision to find it no better, and restored what little warmth he could. His head turned sharply, squinting as he scanned for the hiss he thought he heard over the wind. "Hydros?"
"Hades," the wispy hiss of his voice was hardly discernable over the screaming storm.
"Ah! Hydros! Brother!" Hades laughed, extending his arms in a gesture. It was true, the Titans have returned. The Cosmos decided to side with him once again. He couldn't find the source of the voice, but his hopes were confirmed. Perhaps his dreams were not folly after all.
"You are no brother to us," A face differentiated itself from the surrounding white, a vague blur of blue hardly more than a mirage.
"Of course I am! I released you from your prison-"
"And we were quickly murdered by your nephew, as we were murdered by your brother; the same who murdered his own father. Our great leader Cronos, who led us into the Golden Age, lost forever to Tartarus because of Zeus. We will not side with the Gods."
"Wait you remember that? I thought the Fates explained that this was some kinda' crazy time hiccup or sneeze, seizure. Whatever. But you remember before-"
"We recall everything. We are the Titans. We are older than the Gods, as old as the Cosmos itself."
"Then you know that Hercules hurt me just as much as he hurt you! We can get our revenge on that overenthusiastic naïve supernova of ignorance, we can get revenge for everything he did!" he threw his hands up, feeling his self-control begin to crumble. This meeting was not going the way he had imagined.
"You don't know our pain! I lost my wife, my children because of Zeus! You have no power over Zeus, no power over us. He may have imprisoned us, but he did not erase us from memory, or from the sky. My ram stands strong, the stars themselves proclaiming my name for the Cosmos to see. Know my true name, one who calls me brother. I am Krios. I laid out the constellations, commanded how the length of a year. My sons' stars still shine bright. If Zeus himself cannot stop us, even with us locked away, what could you possibly have to offer us?" The Titan drew back; diverting his attention back to the storm he was carefully nursing with the same devotion a craftsman provides his goods. His eyes cast upward, piercing through his wintery gale and staring longingly at the sky. He recalled his youthful appearance, a beauty beyond measure. His ram-like features distinguishing him for who he was. He was Krios, he was the ram.
"I rule all of the Underworld! Everyone one day comes to me! Zeus rules them for mere decades while I rule them for Eons! I was able to break the prison Zeus put you in! We took over Olympus! If we just dispose of that brat Hercules we-"
"Enough. You have no power over us, and we have decided. We will not side with the Gods. I will remain on my mountain, my brothers Pyros and Lythos will return to Thera. Stratos has always been a wanderer, and Bright Eye wishes to return to his island. We will reclaim our territory, and once again claim the Cosmos taken from Cronos, the Cosmos of my mother Gaia and that vile bastard Ouranos. We will bring back the Golden Age. You have no power. You are as pathetic and blind as the other Gods, and we were foolish to ever side with you. Now, be gone. Enjoy your tentative hold on this world. My brothers will not be quiet for long."
Hades felt the coils of fire writhe around his body, coiling around his limbs and crawling down his back. The cloak crumbled to ashes around his feet.
"You ungrateful pathetic little bastard! You're only free because of me; if I never released you, then you would still be in that dank prison!"
"And we are grateful. But you must leave. Realize this gift of mercy and part before I change my mind."'
"Grateful?! This is how you express gratitude? This is how you reward me the most powerful of the Gods! Ruler of the Underworld! I freed you! You owe me!"
"It is that debt that is the only reason I have not crushed you in my fist. Now leave, get off my mountain before I change my mind, before we decide you are deserving of the fate of Ouranos. Never forget our wrath, or you may be reminded of how powerful it is."
I tried, and I really hope this is satisfactory. Trying to work out the Titans to fit better with mythology was not easy. I used the disneyvillans wiki to find which Titans were the inspirations for the Titans of the movie, and Theoi for the information about the actual mythology Titans which cite a lot of good sources and literature. Pyros is based of Prometheus in the sense that they made him an element of fire, but he may be based off of Persus, the Titan god of destruction. Stratos does not appear to be based off anyone, but there is a possibility of inspiration from Coeus. And Lythos seems to be based primarily off of Atlas.
To explain the Ouranos reference, Gaia felt remorse that the birth of her sons (the Titans) was "sinful" and the result of the very lust-filled Ouranos. So they tricked Ouranos and castrated him, with Kronos leading the assault and Gaia willingly used as bait to trap him.
There are so many variations of the myth keep in mind this is ONE version. The castration of Ouranos on its own has about 3 or more versions of it. I did so much editing, rewriting, reading, editing some more that there may be more errors than usual in this chapter and I kindly request they be pointed out.
I hope you liked this, and considering there was almost NO dialogue for the Titans in the movie I can have some fun with their personalities.