So in this chapter I make a reference to chapter 2 of "Pespective" The original Reopened Wounds told the end of the movie through Meg's eyes,but in this remake I skipped that because I already did that with RW and with Perspective.

Demi: thank you dear for your continued and loyal support :) Yeah I loose my oomp for proof reading... I also read so fast that I miss typos pretty easily.

Kayleighcroz2003: Glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy what's to come!

I opened my eyes to a dark room, looking around for familiar surroundings. The crude holes in the walls where I would stash my scrolls, the wooden box where I kept my few meager belongings. I waited for my nose to adapt to conciousness and welcome me with brimstone, mold, and wet obsidian and granite. I waited for familiar echoes of wailing, the barking of Cerberus, and even the occasional spashing of Charon's staff against the water. It took only a few seconds for my eyes to begin to adjust to the dark and I came to realize my true surroundings. The air was still hot, the humidity so thick I could smell it. I shifted, my body protesting with aches and loud crackles in my joints.

"Did I sleep all day?" I mumbled aloud, turning to the empty bed beside me. I rubbed my eyes and the dried saliva from my cheek, "Ugh… I even drooled," I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the small end table to find a piece of parchment weighted down by a small decorative object. I lifted it aside and took the small parchment,

Meg,

I had to leave early for a few interviews. They want to know all the details about my "heroic deeds" to stop Hades and the Titans. Then the king wants my help downtown to clear some of the heavier debris and help bring up some water for the fires. If you get hungry Jason woul d be happy to make you something, and I'm sure one of the girls would be more than happy to draw a bath for you, make yourself at home.

Love,

Hercules

There were a few marks on the parchment that showed he was struggling with how to end his letter and I cuckled at the innocence of it. Despite the heat a warm bath sounded tempting, my skin was still coated in a fine layer of dust and dirt, and my tired muscles were protesting against any movement. I stood, and a powerful throb took hold, and a wave of nausea curled in my stomach. Why'd I drink so much? I was thankful for the dark, the light may have only made my hangover worse.

I placed the parchment back on the table before venturing out in to the hall. The stone floor was a welcome cool from the heat, I wasn't sure where I had left my sandals but I had removed the dusty mud caked things shortly after Wonderboy had brought me back to the villa. I parted the curtain that separated the hall from the central room; and I was surprised to see it so clean. I had last seen it brimming with people, the walls lined with tables of food and drink, furnishing everywhere to accommodate the guests. But looking at this room now, I almost questioned if I had imagined the entire thing.

I began to wander, my original intentions forgotten as I looked around this room. I saw the curtains against the back wall and smiled, remembering Wonderboy hiding sheepishly behind them as Phil ushered a herd of squealing girls through the door. The divan was where I remebered it, against a wooden series of shelves containing memoribilia, toys, scrolls, and other little trinkets that were a piece of this city's undying love for the hero. The small doll of Phil was back in its place, someone having replaced it after I had tossed it aside trying to convice the devoled hero to 'play hookie'. I sighed heavily,struggling to wrap my mind around the last twenty-four hours. Or was it longer now? I wasn't sure of the time.

"Feeling nostolgic?" I recognized that voice and turned quickly, stepping back and falling down against the divan.

"Hades?!" I quickly got to my feet, side-stepping to avoid tripping again.

"Surprised to see me?" He asked, "Wasn't very nice of your boy-toy to throw me into my own river. Really think that would work, I mean… it is my domain!" he burst into familiar blue flames, and I sheilded my face from the heat it felt as if the hair on my arm had burned away.

"It wasn't very nice of you to push me into said river," I replied, and he reached out clutching my arm before I could react and pull away. He pulled me close to his chest, his nails digging painfully into my skin.

"It wasn't very nice of blunderboy to stop me from finally teaching my arrogant brother a lesson! Him and I… we had a deal you see? Oh, right, you were there! You remember, right? All the crying and the begging… who could forget! But I made a deal, he gives up his strength, I let you go, I finish taking care of some real estate you two watch the world burn, get over it, everyone is happy, see? But no. You had to go kill yourself like the noble little princess that you are,"

"Don't call me that," I snapped.

"What? Princess? Still have daddy issues I see."

"What is your point?" I shouted incredulously, straining as I tried to pull away from Hades.

"My point is, you broke my deal with beef jerky here,"

"Actually-"

"It is rude to interupt!" He burst into flames again, and I let out a pained gasp as the hands clamped tightly against me ignited, and he roughly threw me to the ground. I began to quickly rub at the red and irriated skin, looking up at the venegeful God.

"Now this is how it was supposed to work, he gives up strength I fight Zeus, I win, I get the Cosmos, we all live happily ever after. But Wonderboy made sure that didn't happen. So I settled for my consolation prize. You." He clucked his tongue at me, "Now you see, this is where things get really funny," He laughed, running a hand through the fire atop his head. "Now your stalwart hero," he clapped his hands together, resting them against his tiled head as he batted his eyes and mocked a soprano tone, "came to me to save the day. He offered himself for you,"

"Not telling me anything I don't know," I replied, getting to my feet drying to ignore the pain in my arms.

"Well isn't that just adorable,tell eachother everything now? No, just him right? Never give up your secrets little Nutmeg. Well here's the thing. If you know about that deal then you know I haven't received my end of the bargain," He tapped his finger against his chin, "now let me think. The terms were, his soul for your soul. No fine print, no loopholes, no if-ands-buts. Well, with him gaining his immortality that obnoxious immature little day-dreamer I could just… no, I'm fine. I'm good I'm okay with this," He took a deep breath, settling the blue flames that had begun to grow red, "Hercules's soul is back off the bookie's table. That leaves, you"

"No. I held up my end of the bargain, his weakness for my soul. I didn't like it but I held up my damn end of the bargain Hades,"

"But then you went and got yourself killed, didn't you?"

"And I had passage! I had my obolos for Charon!"

"Hey, lord of the dead babe. And hate to break it to you, but you were dead. That makes me lord of you, so in a roundabout way, yeah. I owned your soul again. Hercules tried to get it back, but didn't hold up his end of the bargain."

"You lost Hades, get over it," He approached me, placing a hand on my cheek. I turned away and took a step back but he was quick to match it,

"Admit it, you miss it. This life, isn't for you. You liked being down there with me,"

"Never!" he smiled at my response,

"Denying it won't change your fate, you're mine"

"We've been through this Hades, you. Lost. Get. Over. It." I anunciated my words carefully, locking my gaze with his.

"Oh don't worry I'm not going to drag you back to the Underworld with a flair and a puff of smoke. Your hero would fix that. But if you were to incur… an accident even he can't save you once you come back to me. I won't fall for his deal twice." And he vanished, leaving me alone in the dark room with his words and my thoughts for company. He's right. I knew he was right. But why tell me? To taunt me? Or did he have alterior motives? I found my hands trembling, and my attempts to still them were unsuccessful. Wether it was from fear or pain, I wasn't sure. Loath as I would be to admit it, fear seemed more likely, Hades words were ringing clear in my head. Hades still owns me, after everything I did to earn my freedom. All my selfish mistakes. For nothing. But at least right now, he's not trying to claim me. Focus on that.

I sat down on the divan, looking at the deep red marks on my arms. The skin was already blistering, a clear yellow fluid building up in the areas where some skin was already starting to lift.

"Damnit…" I muttered, gingerly touching the burn with my fingertips. "How am I gonna explain this away," I grumbled. I wished I had some cold water to splash against the seething burns, tightening my fists against the pain. I contemplated searching for an article of clothing that would cover my arms, but the summer heat and the thought of the fabric rubbing against the tender burns put me off from that idea. Why am I trying to find a way to hide it?

Regardless of my desire to hide the burns, I still had to treat them; I had been burned by Hades enough times to have learned how to tend to them myself. I bit my lip as I thought about it, there might be pig fat in the kitchen but wasn't enthralled by the idea of smelling like pork. I wasn't sure where I could obtain resin or bitumen, and realized my choice had been made for me. Before searching for the kitchen I returned to the bedroom and found some linen in a box that appeared to have been placed for just such a purpose. There were several that appeared to have been used at one point, old dark brown staines that could have only once been blood. I tried to find linens that weren't stained, and took my makeshift bandages back to the central room.

"Now where would the kitchen be…" My head was throbbing, my stomach threateing to evacuate its contents, my arms burning as large orange blisters began to form on the agitated skin, leaving me in no mood for an extensive search. By dumb luck the first of the adjourning hallways I chose led me to the kitchen down at the end. This hall, like the first, was lined with medals, carvings, parchments preserved in beeswax, tapestries, small marble columns that held painted vases and carves busts. "Damn Wonderboy… your home is like a monument," I chuckled. I parted the large curtain to separate the kitchen and gasped at the enormity of the room. Like the bedroom it put everything I had ever seen to shame. There was a young man tending to a fire with a large clay pot suspended over the burning embers. "Umm… hello?" I called, my voice echoing off the stones of the cavernous room. The young man looked up, apparently startled.

"Oh! Domina," He stood tall, head bowed,

"Oh Gods don't call me that… ever. Please." In my father's house the servents and slaves had always called him Dominus, and my mother Domina to show their submission. I was never fond of the term, despite it being the social norm. "Megara, friends call me Meg," If I had any friends. I halted myself from spewing my usual self-depreciating humor . It felt so long ago now that I had intorduced myself to Wonderboy the same way.

"Meg," he clarified, standing strait. He was a tall man, had nearly a full head over me, and his tossled curly hair only made him appear taller. "Your arms!"

"I had an accident, I'm okay. But umm… do you have any pig fat? Works well on burns."

"You need a doctor… those look really bad,"

"Really, I'm okay. I've taken care of a burn before," I held up the strips of cloth I held in my hand, "See, I just need some pig fat to cover them so I can wrap them. And they really hurt, so I would appreciate skipping the argument," I tried not to sound too sharp, but the pain was fouling my mood.

"Yes Dom- Meg. But I still think you should see a doctor. Hercules is friends with one, Hippocrates. Said to work miracles!"

"I appreciate the concern, I do. But right now I just want to get these covered up," He looked about to protest, but turned to gather the requested material. I leaned back against the wall, trying to avoid thinking about my encounter without success. Why would Hades come back? The young man came back, and I realised that I recognized him, "You're that guy who was serving drinks last night, right?"I tried, but could not recall his name.

"Yes, I'm Jason," He replied. He seemed to have settled some and I was grateful for that. "So what do I do with this?" he placed the bundleg package of fat onto the table, and I thanked him.

"Here," I walked him through helping me tend to my burns, wrapping the fat-coated wounds with the linen strips. "It's a good thing Herc just had a box of wound-care stuff in the bedroom. I didn't think Wonderboy ever hurt himself, nevermind often enough to need a box of bandages in the bedroom" I commented,

"Little stuff… you know, cuts, scratches, minor sprains. He heals fast but still needs bandages until they do heal," Jason replied, tying the last bandage.

"Thank you," I replied, gingerly touching the linens.

"What happened?"

"Just a little accident," I dodged, trying to shrug it off to change the subject. "They'll heal quickly,"

"Almost resembles a hand-print," he commented. I shrugged, trying to offer a harmless chuckle to diffuse the tension. I thanked him again for helping me tend to the burns, lying to reassure him that they looked far worse than they felt. In truth, they still felt as if someone were pressing red-hot embers into my skin despite the wrappings.

Despite the rumbling in my stomach, the surprise visit from Hades had turned my appetite. How am I going to explain these burns to Herc? It was simple enough to dismiss the young man's questions, but Wonderboy would be far harder to convince. A sudden and familiar chill stopped my thoughts,

"Hey, we left off on a bad note," I spun around, finding the diety having snuck up behind me once again. This can't be happening,

"This can't be happening," I groaned

"I'm leavin babe, promise," He commented, "Just figured this," he flicked the loose ends of my bandages, "May make that blundernig hero of yours come stumbling back to the underworld, all stalwart and determined to protest his little smoochy-faced damsel in distress. And I'm jus tnot in the mood to deal with him, or another swim in the river. You understand right? Oh wait, no, you betrayed the one friend to go play the hero with him."

"You? My one friend? You have got to be kidding me…"

"We can argue symantics another time. Just wanted to… tie up a few loose ends from our conversation," he placed his hands over my bandaged arms.

"Let go of me damnit!" I shouted, trying to wriggle against his grip causing his hands to rub against the blisters,

"Just bear with me here, okay?" There was a breif flash of pain, then nothing. He let go, "Can take those bandages off now. Now don't go telling that bull of a man of yours, if he comes down to me I swear I'll give em back, with interest of course! I always pay my debts with interest, honest thing to do of course," And as fast as he came he was gone.

"That didn't happen. I'm either still asleep, or this is some trama-induced craziness," I muttered to myself as I pulled at the bandages on my arm and gasped when I saw nothing but the smeared pig fat coating healthy skin. Now why would Hades go and do that for? Maybe he was just being honest, maybe he wanted to keep his little post-apocaolyptic visit a secret and handprint burns on my arms aren't subtle. I pretended to shrug it off, ignoring just how frightened he had made me. I'm a big girl, and the boogyman isn't supposed to scare me anymore.

Okay I KNOW the boogyman didn't really become a story for many many many years later, but the movie is FULL of references to modern things so hey, bear with me. I hope this chapter was up to par… what did you think? I don't like the end of the chapter but I've been working on it for so long I decided to say #$% it and go ahead and post it…