He'd promised Pegasus a rest, and Hercules kept his promises. This was his pilgrimage. Multiple times during his training, he'd ventured into the Underworld after one or another of his quests. He'd gone on foot then, and he could do it again.
If he never came back, so be it. He needed to be where she was.
He was vaguely aware that he might be going overboard. But how many heroes were rescued by their damsels? Megara had been loyal to him, had endured how many countless horrors for him, and he would not forsake her.
Wandering through the grieving city, his heart was weighed down by the pain around and within him. Phil had often reminded him he couldn't save everyone and shouldn't let that destroy his optimism. Maybe that was true.
Hercules stood in the graveyard over the jar Megara had left for the letters they were supposed to swap. She'd only ever gotten one to him, but he knew she'd read them because even when he stuffed them into the jar, she'd carefully unfold them and then wrap them into a neat bundle.
"She was my friend, too."
The voice drew the merest response from Hercules. He tilted his head toward it but didn't turn.
"Thebes seems to be the one polis that doesn't hate when I arrive," the voice continued. "Megara was one of the ones who appreciated how swift I could be. She saw me from an early age, always taking away someone close. But she'd thank me because their suffering would end. She was different, though. She'd leave gifts. Living things, like flowers or a kitten. She wanted me to experience something other than death. I never forgot."
Hercules turned then.
The figure behind him was tall and pale, dressed all in black to match his dark hair, which was crowned in poppies. His black wings were tucked politely behind him. "It must be alarming for one who has evaded me for so long to make my acquaintance, but I come as a friend, Hercules. I am called Thanatos. I wish no harm to anyone. It was I who escorted Megara to the Underworld, and for that, I apologize, though it was my duty. I thought it no better should she be left to wander. A friendly face at the end of it all can sometimes offer comfort."
"Did she…" Hercules drew in shuddering breaths. He had to word this perfectly. "When she was gone, did the pain stop? Does she… is she fine now?"
"I would not be one to say. She had an obol, and thus, I paid Charon for her crossing. But she never woke. Her eyes are forever closed. Perhaps there is some peace in that."
The faint hope in Hercules's chest burst. "That's not how it's meant to be."
"A century of sleep and then rebirth suits the peaceful psyche more than longing for that which is lost. Mighty hero, I beseech you to return to the living, honor the dead, and see your fortunes abound before we meet again."
"Impossible. But thank you. I can't let her go. Everyone else has abandoned her before me. I will never abandon her."
Thanatos paused for a lingering moment and fluttered his wings in thought. "Then I shall aid you." He unfurled one wing toward the mountains outside the city. "On behalf of our mutual favor for this mortal girl, I shall bring you through the entrance Hades will consider least likely for you to breach. Have you an obol for the passage?"
"Charon knows me. If he doesn't want to help me across, I'll get across in spite of him. The choice is his."
Thanatos inclined his head. "Let us move swiftly, then." He offered his hands. "I'll carry you up there. When we reach the entrance, I shall open the portal. You are a fan of Orpheus. You know the song."
"Never look back," Hercules replied with a brief smile. Simpler times, less dire errands to the Underworld.
"I've seen you many times in the realms below. Had I not thought it would get her in trouble, I would have told Megara of your escapades."
"We're getting her out of trouble for good now," Hercules promised.
The flight over the gorge brought with it the scent of the long-rotting Hydra. Thanatos deposited him on a ledge crowded with tombs and sarcophagi. "The Royal burial ground of Thebes. Should you fail, this would be the most appropriate resting place for Megara's bones."
Tension gripped Hercules by the shoulders. "I won't fail!" He turned from Thanatos and was stricken by the sight of a statue that could easily have been commissioned to represent Megara herself. She wore a brilliant necklace of intertwined gem-studded snakes. "Why would you say we would put Megara here?"
"Did she never tell you she was the daughter of King Creon?"
A princess.
This whole time, she'd been a princess and dodged any references to her past. She'd sat there in his lap denying that someone represented her onstage in the story of her family. She'd known Adonis, and he hadn't flinched or complained over a blind date with a commoner. If he'd been looking at anything but her eyes or her hair or her curves, he may have noticed the signs. Princesses always had a way about them.
"Why wouldn't she tell me?"
"Runaways seldom do." Thanatos led the way past a pair of portraits depicting Prince Haemon and Princess Antigone. The inscription below the portraits described them as lovers who had died together rather than allow Fate to part them. Each of them had a sort of catlike slant to their eyes, their hair was thick and curly, and their noses each had a refined slope.
"Rebels are often remembered fondest after their time," Thanatos remarked when he saw where Hercules was looking. "Megara begged them not to go, but… they summoned me."
"They left her."
"One day, she may have forgiven them, had she gotten the chance. Much may have been different had she maintained their guidance. Are you ready to continue?"
Hercules nodded. He would get Megara all the second chances she needed to forgive her brother. He had done what he was about to do.
They moved through shadows that yawned wider as they progressed into the cave. A chill familiar from his many excursions enveloped them and, with it, the smell. No wonder Megara was always covering herself in some pleasant scent or another.
"I'll take you by her place if you want to get some of her possessions," Thanatos offered.
The thought rankled him like a stone in his sandal. "Her place?" He repeated.
"Hades carved out a piece of Asphodel for her to sleep. She has some odds and ends there. I think that's where she keeps her extra clothes."
"You don't mean she… lived there, do you?"
Thanatos looked away. "She never told you much of anything, did she?"
"It seems not."
"Her pride is one thing she never gave up when she dodged her crown. Megara will never ask for help. She would never tell anyone how she suffered. She would not ask you to save her."
Hercules ground his teeth together. "I always respected her secrets. In some ways, I still do. But I know so little about her, and yet… It was enough for me. Now that we're separated, I'll take any scrap you can give me. What was she like the first time you saw her?"
"Small. Frightened. Hiding from the world. That's why she was the only one who saw what happened."
Hercules was about to ask further questions, but Thanatos swept a hand through the shadows and answered a few for him. An image of a small, frightened princess with wild, curly hair crouched among stalagmites. The god had captured in heartrending detail the way her tiny face contorted with fearful grief. He had never seen so much expression on her face. She hid it all.
"That's her?" Hercules crouched near the figure. "Meg?"
"She is only a memory." Thanatos brushed it away. "If you ever tell her I showed you this, she will make life a living hell for me." He chuckled and shook his head. "But this is where I leave you. Please don't do anything stupid." In a flutter of obsidian wings, the god had vanished.
Hercules cast another look in the direction of the spot where Thanatos had conjured an image of a tiny, helpless Megara. He wouldn't let her down.
The river beckoned to him, its grayish-blue light the only hint of something beyond the void. He saw Charon escorting a long line of the dead onto his ferry and approached without fear.
"You again?" The god croaked. "How many times do I have to tell you I don't take live ones?"
"Once you stop taking my coins, I might listen." Hercules pulled an obol from the pouch sewn into his belt. "Take me to Meg."
Charon made a crackling noise. "Let her aboard hours ago. You won't find her in that mess."
"I didn't ask for your opinion. Bring me across the river."
"Talk to them. They'll have to let you take one of their spots."
Hercules turned to the shades crowding the shore and raised both his arms to flex. "I can carry as many of you as are willing to hold onto a demigod. Who wants to cross right now?"
At the other end of the ferry ride, dozens of shades flew away into oblivion, leaving Hercules standing with Charon.
"Don't come back." Charon swung irritably at Hercules with his oar. "I'm sick of you heroes thinking you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want."
Hercules climbed off the ferry without regard for any of Charon's impotent smacking. "I will do what I will, and you'll do what you must."
The opposite shore held its own obstacles.
The last time he'd bothered to tangle with Cerberus, he'd been a puppy. Now, he'd grown dozens of sizes larger and twice as vicious. He snapped at Hercules with all three heads at once, growling like any good guard dog should.
"I'm getting in there. It'll either be past you or through you." Hercules rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. "What'll it be?"
Cerberus lunged, but he wasn't quick enough. Nothing was, anymore.
The vicious guardian of the Underworld aimed low, but Hercules leaped high. He came down with the full might of the world's strongest demigod, cratering the dog's middle head into the stone below.
Both side heads snapped for him, but Hercules perched on the middle one and slammed each of them in the nose. They all lay flat, and Hercules took the conquered hound by the ears. "You're taking me to your master. Get up."
Cerberus only whimpered.
Closing his eyes, Hercules remembered to be patient. "I know you've got a job to do. But now you're going to do a job for me. Remember me?" He summoned everything of the boy he once was, full of hope. He sang the song born of his wanderings toward the temple of Zeus. He'd sung it to keep himself going through rain and solitude.
No matter what, he would go the distance, and he would reach Megara. There was no adulation any hero could ask for more to be craved than the light in the eyes of the hopeless or the embrace of the forlorn. He would find her, and she would know that, finally, she could rest in his love.
Cerberus rose to his feet, shaking his head as if to clear them.
Hercules remained in his perch by the force of his grip on the hound's ears. "Ready to go?"
Evidently, he had won over his audience.
From atop the hellhound's head, Hercules heard the ranting of none other than his least favorite relative. "…so close we tripped at the finish line! All because our little Nutmeg had to go and be all noble!" Hades had no way to comprehend how right he was.
Hercules forced Cerberus to blast his way through the stone wall that separated him from Hades. "Where's Meg?"
The tantrum Hades has been throwing came to an abrupt end. "Well! Look who's here! Wonder Boy! You are too much!" Using Meg's nickname for him hit a sore spot and twisted. "You know, maybe I should build you a little doggie door for when you crawl down here to bother me." Hades didn't seem to recognize the gravity of the situation.
Hercules would make him understand.
He made Cerberus lower him to the same level as Hades and stalked closer. "Let." He stepped on the throne's dais. "Her." He gripped Hades by the robes and forced him to look him in the eye with no escape. "Go."
The creep was still smiling.
He could rip this guy's face off if he didn't need him to point out where he'd put Meg.
"Get a grip!" Hades seemed even more amused now. He eased Hercules's hands off his chiton. He patted his nephew on the shoulder as if this were in any way a normal family interaction. "C'mere! Let me show you around."
"This had better not be a distraction. I've seen enough of the Underworld already. You need to show me where Meg is, or I'll start wrecking stuff."
"Touchy! It's almost as if you haven't already destroyed everything for me! That would be petty vandalism, and I know that's not in the hero rules."
"I'm done caring about rules."
"And all it took was one squishy damsel to make you turn your back on all those years of training? Well, well, your daddy won't be happy to hear all that education was wasted on you."
"I think I'm out of the running for the family disappointment."
"Ye gods, if it's not one of you, it's the other. Can't a god catch a break?"
"We've given you too many breaks, collectively. After the stunt you pulled, I'm shocked I'm the only one down here to remind you how big a scumbag you are."
"Flattery will get you nowhere," came Hades's glib response.
"Where it better get me is wherever you put Meg."
"Well, I know who she willed her attitude to, but your comebacks could use some work. We used to have so much fun together before she got her mouth clapped shut forever."
Hercules backhanded Hades across the mouth without a second thought.
Hades reeled back, more from shock than the pain, but Hercules only spared him a glare from the corner of his eye to notice. He flared up with red fire, but quickly diffused his own rage. "You're right. I mean, you did almost marry her. But like with so many failed relationships, another man got between you."
Hercules rounded on Hades, fists bared. "If what you want is the beatdown of the millennium, just ask."
Rather than the fear he wanted to see, all Hades gave him was another gleeful smirk. "I don't think I've ever seen you like this. I almost like it."
"Stop wasting my time and bring me to Meg. She hasn't been here that long. You must know where she is."
"Now, boys," a lightly scolding voice said from above. Do you really think this is any way for family to behave?" Hecate descended from the stalactites, flanked by her winged wolves and a cavalcade of ghosts.
"Butt out, Witch! This is Olympian business!"
"So where are the Olympians?" Hecate asked, then proceeded to laugh at her own joke. She landed before Hercules and Hades. "All I see is a washed-up exile and a mortal playing hero."
"I don't have time for this," Hercules growled. "You can say whatever you want either to or about me. I'm here for Megara. If the two of you want to trade jabs at each other's egos, have at it. I'll tear this whole place apart to find her."
"As delightful as that sounds," Hecate floated over to wrap an arm across Hercules's shoulders, "wouldn't you like to hear my counteroffer?"