Megara had yet to get her secrets out of Hercules, and it was entirely her own fault. Her freedom was within reach. All she had to do was stab Hercules in the back. It would be so simple. He'd probably roll over and show her where to stick the knife. But she needed something. Anything that would convince Hades, she tried. Leaving the theater with her hero in tow, she racked her brain.

Once they were on the backstreets between the theater and the sculpture garden did not present many opportunities to hide. Every chance they found, Megara pushed Hercules into the shadows to wait. "Shh," she whispered to him. "They'll be listening for us, too."

"Yeah…" Hercules whispered. He wound his arms around her so he could make them as small as possible together. "This reminds me of the last time we hid together in a small, shadowy place."

Megara fitted herself into the arch of his torso. "Fond memories?" she cooed softly.

"I've dreamed of it a few times…" he admitted. One hand went tracing through her hair.

Another arrow in her quiver. "We still have all night if Phil doesn't catch us… do you think we should pick somewhere more secluded? Phil could spot us from the sky if we're out in the open."

His knees trembled. "They'll be sweeping the city in a flight pattern to find me," Hercules whispered back.

"They do this often?"

"No, but it's how Phil taught me to look for damsels, so I'm pretty sure he only has one set of tactics."

"Phil's really got you on a tight leash…" She swallowed her guilt and asked as innocently as possible, "Is he afraid you'll get into an Achilles situation if he leaves you alone?"

"Nah. He hates it when I slack off. Plus, I got between him and some Amazons, which only bothers him because he never met any."

Megara snickered. "You can be bad when you want to."

"Yeah, but it's only because I know you'll laugh. One of my friends in high school was an Amazon. I thought she was attractive at first, but she was always so nasty I couldn't stay interested."

"Then I'm surprised you haven't gotten rid of me yet. Everyone tells me what a heinous bitch I am before they cut me off forever."

"Heinous–!" Hercules grunted in disapproval. He grabbed her hand and marched her down the alley now that Phil had moved on. He spoke again when they saw the signs for the Gardens of Harmonia. Then he pulled her into the starlight and gave her a stern look. "People are wrong. That doesn't describe you, at all. Sometimes, you're blunt, but it's because you're smarter and funnier than most people. You're almost always right, but people don't want to hear what you're saying. That's not your fault. There were people in your life before you met me who didn't deserve you. That's not your fault. It won't happen again."

She wanted to make a snippy comeback about her rate of accuracy, but his voice softened the harshness out of her tongue. "What makes you say almost?"

"The way you talk about yourself is like you have a nemesis I've never met before, but she won't leave you alone. I don't even think these are your own words, Meg. I think you're wrong because you're letting someone else speak for you." He had a glow about him that she couldn't justify as anything but the force of his righteous indignation.

"Someone else…" she repeated.

"Yeah. Someone who hates you, and has convinced you that you should hate yourself. That's who you should curse. Not yourself. You're doing that person's work, and what do you get out of it? You don't even get to enjoy being gorgeous and brilliant like you deserve to."

Megara felt herself wither under the spotlight of his scrutiny, only to realize that his passion drew from heartache on her behalf. She didn't deserve it.

Hercules set a hand on the gate into the garden. "I want to know who hurt you so I can make them feel what you're feeling right now."

"You're not nearly cruel or vicious enough."

"I can be." Hercules smiled, but there was a hint of the flinty resolve she recalled from some of their previous encounters. "Just because I'm nice around people doesn't mean I can't be vicious around monsters. Did you ever hear about what I did to that Minotaur?"

Megara shivered. "This isn't something you can cut into pieces and mount on a wall, Wonder Boy. Most of the people who did anything to me are already dead."

"And who's left?" Hercules gripped the gate with enough force to bend a few bars. He didn't bother to straighten them, only kept his gaze fixed on her.

The sensation of smoke at the back of her throat prevented her from answering honestly, so she hung her head. "It doesn't matter." If he was a normal man, she'd have distracted him and disappeared into the garden, but there was no way around Hercules.

Hercules took a step closer to her. "Is it something to do with why you're always around monsters?"

"Yes," she admitted, but she covered her mouth after that. She'd gone an awfully long time without checking for her handlers. A pair of birds, one purplish blue, one pinkish red, flying around and twittering adorably.

Hercules followed the direction of her eyes. "If you wanted to leave, someone would find you."

The smoke continued to choke her. "All I want is to be free, but I'll never have the chance."

"You have the chance right now." Hercules set a hand on her waist and brought her closer to the gate. "I'm your chance. Take it."

With Pain and Panic watching, she knew she didn't have much choice but to act for Hades. If Hercules wanted to be part of this show, she'd have to hope he was good at improvising.

"You really want to be taken?" she purred at him while unlocking the gate in one hand and scratching his jawline with the other. "I know you said you wouldn't mind some corruption, but this is different… Are you sure you know what you're asking?"

"Not at all when you say it like that…" Hercules gulped and turned his face away. He was definitely not ready. If she pushed a little more, she'd get him past that response, but it wouldn't be right of her.

"Then let's remember what it's like to have fun." Megara swung the gate open and stepped into the gardens ahead of him.

Hercules lingered at the gate a moment longer to straighten the bars and lock it behind them, but then he jogged ahead to take the lead down the stairs. "Before we go down there, will you tell me one thing? Are you sure we'll be alone?"

Not with Pain and Panic flying about.

"Just us and the wildlife. The gardens are sacred to Aphrodite and the Muses. Most people know better than to loiter in here. They'd probably get cursed into something ridiculous."

"Like a songbird?" Hercules suggested.

He knew. She had no idea how long he'd known, but it was clear by now that he had some of the puzzle pieces put together. She ought to have been horrified that she'd been found out, but all Megara could do was laugh. She leaned against the staircase wall, covered her face, and fell headlong into a fit of hysterics.

Uncertain how to respond, Hercules was soon at her side, trying to laugh along.

"How did you…?" She started, but then she shook her head. "They'll summon him if I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do…"

"Hades wants something from me, and you're here to get it from me. What?"

Megara could only wheeze. Tears appeared with seemingly no cause.

Using her new shawl, Hercules wiped her tears away. "He's watching, right? You can't tell me."

"Got a lot of experience with…?" She choked, then coughed. There was a smoky taste at the back of her throat.

"It's ok. Most of my friends have been part of a Hades scheme at some point. He offered them something, and we figured a way around it. At the end of it, they were free. What is it for you?"

She had to choose the words with the utmost care. "I can never take it back. Someone has it, and it's far away. All I have left is someone else's debt."

"So it's transferable." Hercules pulled her along with him, so they both stood. "Let it go."

"What?"

Hercules beamed. "You can pay someone else's debt, right? That sounds like a heroic move to me!"

"But you can't!" She threw herself at him with hands pressed to his chest. "He'd make you tear the cosmos to bits!" She hissed, close enough that only the two of them could hear. "Let's just try to enjoy tonight, please?"

"Because it's the last one, right?" Hercules wrapped her in his arms. "You're expecting Hades to lock you up or worse. He won't ever get you back."

"He's going to show up if his minions tell him we're talking about him. Or I'll disappear. At least let's make it look like we're doing what he wants."

"What he wants is…?"

Megara cupped his face in her hands. "The same as what I want right now. That's never happened before."

His lashes drooped low as Hercules gazed at her. "So if we…" He held her off the ground so she could reach the same height as him.

The birds twittered around in another loop.

Megara laughed again. She leaned her face against his shoulder and felt him laughing under her.

"Maybe we should wait until we're sure we're alone," Hercules whispered to her. He set her down and broke into a far more characteristic grin. "Wow, today's been something, Meg! First, that restaurant by the bay…" he threw a casual glance around the garden, then continued, "Then that play? That… that Oedipus thing? Man! I thought I had problems!"

Megara had to laugh along, no matter how uncomfortable his gregarious fakery made her. He was much better at this than she expected.

The birds glared at her.

She made an equally foul expression right back.

"It's been forever since I had a day off just to be myself. I never would've done this without you. Thanks, Meg." Now, that was heartfelt.

Megara darted her eyes toward the birds, then gave Hercules an uncomfortable smile. He was in on the performance. They just had to hope he could improvise. "Don't thank me just yet…" she warned him. Here goes nothing. Megara suppressed her response to the revulsion roiling in her stomach. "Oh!" she exclaimed dramatically.

Hercules checked over his shoulder, concern, and confusion on his face, just in time to catch her as she dropped from the stairs above him. "Whoa! Careful!" He checked the stairs behind her for something she might have tripped over.

There were worse things to fall into than a set of powerful arms that held her as if she were both delicate and precious. There was no time to get bogged down. It was show time. "Sorry," she whispered and lifted the supposedly offending foot off the ground. "Weak ankles."

"Oh, yeah?" Hercules sounded as if he didn't quite register what she was saying. It wouldn't have been the first time. "Well, maybe you should sit down for a while." He scooped her into his arms before she could say anything, which gave her just enough time to remember how much she liked the way his arms cradled her to him. He set her down on a stone bench and sat beside her. He didn't even look at her, too busy smiling into the distance.

She had to wonder if he saw the birds, too, but at the moment, all she wanted to do was play dirty. She could still get what Hades wanted even if Hercules knew what she was doing, couldn't she? Maybe then… Well, it was her only chance, wasn't it?

"So," she crooned, "do you have any problems with things like this?" She'd have to shatter her way through that blissful daydream haze in his eyes. Megara raised her leg so her ankle could hover an inch from his nose.

Hercules was unprepared. He stared at her foot as if it was an exotic fish that had just smacked him in the face. Well, if he weren't getting it yet, she'd help him.

Megara hooked her foot under his chin and tilted it back so he'd turn his face toward her. As a consequence, her skirt rode up her leg, aided by the way her dress wrapped around her body and left a slit up the side. There was plenty for him to see if Hercules would only look. "Weak ankles, I mean."

All clarity was gone from Hercules's eyes. He seemed drunk or as if someone had punched him hard enough to rattle his brain. They were no longer operating on the same level.

"Oh! Uh, no, not really…" He strained through the haze in his eyes to piece together what she was after. It would have been obvious if he wasn't dealing with her intentional escalation of the chemistry between them. With the utmost care, Hercules guided her leg back down, but she wouldn't be deterred. If Hades was getting reports back from Pain and Panic, something she'd seemingly avoided up until now, it was time to really go for it.

"No… weaknesses… whatsoever?" she cooed at him. She left her shawl behind her and scooted across the bench despite his efforts to retreat. She kept a playful smile on her face. With a teasing flick to his knee, she asked, "No trick knee?"

He jerked his leg just out of reach as if her fingers were knives. There was confusion written all over his face, along with concern. Still, from the uncomfortable yet amused noise he made and the way he kept his legs pressed together, her seduction was working. Maybe he had something to be self-conscious of that he was keeping hidden from her. She'd spent a good few hours sitting in his lap while he cuddled her. He would eventually recover from her flirtation methods. Maybe she'd even teach him how to have a little fun along the way.

"Ruptured disks?" she suggested, pressing her hand against his chest as if she might find one. Quite the opposite. He was the same solid wall of muscle as ever. One strap of her dress slid down her shoulder. It wouldn't take much for it to leave her exposed to him… Theoi, she didn't care! Actually, it might be just the thing she would need to console her in the Underworld when her fate consumed her. It was a foolish, horrendous idea, but she couldn't stop it from flashing through her mind. It must have shown on her face.

Hercules let out a breathy half-chuckle as if she'd told him a joke he didn't quite understand. It must be working. Soon, he'd… lift her strap back into place? Gulp with discomfort? What was happening? Megara stared down at her dress strap in disbelief. Didn't he want her? What wasn't she doing?

"No, I'm-I'm-I'm–" Good, so he was as broken as she was. That might explain it. "I'm fit as a fiddle!" he forced out, then jogged away from the bench they shared to the nearest fountain.

She stared after him, still in shock. Why couldn't he get with the program? "Wonder Boy, you are perfect," she scoffed, planting her chin in the palm of her hand. She prayed Hades had lost interest once it looked like his nephew's clothes might come off. He probably wouldn't have the same reservations about her own. The "birds" from before were noticeably absent. Maybe neither of them wanted to watch, either.

"Thanks!" Oblivious to her tone, Hercules picked up a stone and skipped it across a fountain, where it hit a statue of Aphrodite. Smooth. Almost as smooth as her failing to seduce a man who was clearly into her. She'd call it even. "Whoops!" Hercules swept the stray curl out of his eyes and winced across the water at the newly armless statue.

Megara couldn't help laughing into her hand, watching to see if Hercules would laugh along. When instead he attempted to laugh it off She sidled up to him and draped an arm across his shoulder. "It looks better that way," she said and tilted her head.

He did the same, hands clasped in front of himself as if he were a schoolboy who needed his teacher to reassure him that he wasn't in trouble.

The balance of the statue had been off. The arms had been the wrong size for the body and had curved at inelegant angles. Without the arms, the statue had an abstract refinement to its shape that Megara had to figure Aphrodite herself would appreciate. "No, it really does," she assured him with an encouraging smile.

His own smile had a familiar sort of goofy bashfulness that morphed into a mischievous half-smile. Was he mirroring her? Should she worry that he'd developed a talent for matching her energy? It was almost like he knew her.

A brilliant ray of light flashed across the sky.

Megara and Hercules paused everything to stare up at it. There had been shooting stars in the past, but Megara hadn't been topside long enough to witness one in… she struggled to remember.

"It's a good sign," Hercules murmured to her.

"What? The star?"

"Yeah. The night I left my adoptive parents to find my destiny, I saw a shooting star. To me, it symbolizes my journey. I think it means the two of us are gonna make it. You're part of my journey now. Kinda dorky, huh?"

"No, it's… just a little… You could have any woman you wanted, more than one, even. I know why I like you, but you already figured out what's going on with me, so why not pick a girl without all this baggage?"

"Baggage like being caught between cosmic forces?" Hercules made a face. "And what kind of girls do you mean, exactly? Like those girls at the villa? They don't even know me. A lot of them probably think they do because I waved at them once, or they've been to all my store openings, or they got my autograph this one time, and they keep it on them so they can show it to everyone they meet." He pinched the bridge of his nose. How did he get to be so handsome in the least conscious moments? "Phil promised me this would help me get over all my insecurities, and I'd become more confident, but really? All that's happened is I've turned into a new kind of freak. I've followed older heroes' careers. They enjoy all the attention. But this isn't what being a true hero is all about. My father keeps telling me I'm not there yet, but I have to wonder what could be missing." Hercules sat heavily on the edge of the fountain, thankfully without cracking it. His thick legs splayed out in helpless shambles, and his hands hung down where they brushed the ground.

Even Megara's freedom wasn't reward enough to kick a man when he was down. She stood over him, between his knees. "Do you know what a true hero is yet?"

"No," he groaned.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon. If anyone's ever been a real hero, I'm sure it's you. I've never seen anyone lose their mind over a mortal like this. You'd think every day was Titan Smitin' Day."

Hercules laughed breathlessly. "Yeah, but there's gotta be more to it." His fingers trailed through his hair, trying to calm himself while unknowingly riling Megara up. "But thanks for talking me through that. Before you showed up, I was having a serious crisis. Phil doesn't understand why I feel this way, but…" He drew in a breath that seemed to gather his confidence and returned to his feet. "You know, when I was a kid, I would've given anything to be exactly like everybody else."

"Ugh. You wanted to be petty and dishonest?" Megara shook her head. She had to put some space between them. If they weren't going to amuse themselves for the rest of her last night on Earth, she had to cool herself down.

"Everybody's not like that," Hercules protested from where she left him.

Megara gazed into the water of another sculpture-adorned fountain. Nobody would know better than her by now. "Yes, they are…"

"You're not like that." His reflection joined hers in the water. "Not from what I've seen."

She whirled around on him. "How do you know what I'm like?" she challenged, but the words came out softly, desperate.

Hercules took her hands in his. "Because you're the girl who's brave enough to face off against a monster way bigger than you who wants to do whatever nasty stuff he can think of. You're the girl who was smart enough to hijack a bizarre invention the first time you saw it and pull off an incredible move against two monsters that my best hero friend and I were struggling with. You're also the girl who gave Medusa a second chance at life, but this time with friends and powers that help her keep them. When I was at my lowest and was starting to think I was nothing but a killing machine, you were there to remind me that I fight to protect, not destroy. You're so gentle with me, even though you're brilliant enough to run circles around me. When you tease me, you're always checking to make sure you haven't gone too far. You stand up for me, and anyone else, but you never ask for anyone to do the same."

It was all too much. He tallied up her deeds, but did he know the truth of them? He might, considering he'd pieced together her Hades connection. She pulled back, trying to be polite, though her eyes drifted closed over her guilt.

Hercules let her go. So patient. With all he knew, why hadn't he called on his father to smite her yet? Why was he singing her praises as if she were the one aiming for Olympus?

Something stung her back, like an overgrown bee.

Shocked, Megara turned to see a small statue of Cupid.

Hercules might have his shooting stars, but Megara knew how to take a hint, herself.

He must not have noticed, because he forged on. "No matter what you say about yourself, Meg... when I'm with you, I don't feel so... alone."

Years ago, Megara would have gasped, and thrown herself into his arms. She would have believed that she'd finally found her way out of the seven-layered moussaka's worth of curses heaped on her family and all of Thebes.

Instead, wanted to tell him he should stop leaving himself so open. It would be impossible to stop by now, worn down as she was by Fate and the inevitable course pulling them along. Still, she had to warn him. "Sometimes it's better to be alone," she said as she walked right past him to another fountain.

"What do you mean?" That thought had evidently never occurred to him.

Megara slumped in her spot. A tremendous burden of guilt rested over her shoulders. "Nobody can hurt you," she told him. "If you were alone right now, or with Phil, this wouldn't be happening."

"You're the one who told me my birthday would be significant this year." Hercules took her hand and sat beside her. "You weren't supposed to do that, were you?"

"No…" She bit her lip. It hadn't changed anything. Here she was at the bidding of her master. She hadn't seen her way through to double-crossing Hades, but she wanted to… if only she knew how.

"What if I told you that I've been taking my time with you tonight because there's only one person here who needs saving?"

Megara looked up at him, incredulous. He didn't know about the Titans. Hades could appear at any moment, and then…

"I don't know what he's told you, but I can see what it's done to you. I won't leave you for dead. We're both going to be okay. You may not have chosen to be here with me, but you are now. I won't let anything happen to you. Maybe you can't fight for your freedom, but I can. All I need to know is what Hades promised you so I can get it for you, instead. I'll do anything for you. I'll go anywhere and find the thing that was stolen from you."

"It was never stolen…" Her mouth would not form the words.

"But you don't have a way to get it back."

She'd have to kill someone. "It's irreversible," she said and pulled her hand free of his. "I've always been cursed. The curse reaches back generations. I can't fight that, and neither can you."

"Maybe not tonight. Or not all at once. But if I ever find out what it is, nothing will matter as much to me as winning your freedom."

"He can never know." Megara checked their surroundings once again for signs of the minions. "Even were you to find this… thing. You couldn't reverse my contract. You would have to negate your own nature. By then, I'll be settled into Tartarus, and we will never see one another again."

"No…" Hercules whispered. He closed his eyes firmly against that thought. "It can't be like that!" He turned her face toward him so she could see the ferocity in his eyes. "I can't let you go. I need you! There's nobody else in my life who can understand me the way you do, and you're the only one who reaches past all the superficial hero stuff to see me as a person. Even Phil is using me to achieve his own dreams, and sometimes I feel like he cares more about my success if it can benefit him than he does if I'm even happy. You like to talk about Fate, and so do I. It seems clear to me that every sign points me to you." He pulled her into his arms, one hand cradling the back of her head so it would rest over his heart.

This comic tragedy had her in its grip. She had to fight the urge to sob into his chest and melt into his strength. Her traitorous arms encircled him, and she found that the pain receded. It was as if he had some form of healing power in his embrace.

"I'm not letting you go, Meg. I can't. I hope you know that no matter what the world has taught you, whatever Hades wants you to believe, I would never, ever hurt you." He waited for her to rally herself. Solemn and compassionate, it was easy to read every thought in his head.

"And, I don't wanna hurt you…" Megara ducked her head. There didn't seem to be a way around hurting him. No matter what she did, it would rip them apart. "So let's do ourselves a favor and…" She looked back up to find that Hercules had drawn even closer. What was he…? "Stop this, um…" He just kept drawing nearer. There was no stopping, not when the magnetism was so powerful. He didn't need to speak. "Before…" Stay rational. She tilted her head to match how Hercules moved his own. "We…"

His breath was warm against her lips. A fog of pleasure misted over her thoughts. She'd do anything for him.