Megara stared into the crystal ball on Hecate's table. She'd pulled the puppet theater alongside her as a way to imagine that Hercules could somehow watch the events unfolding along with her. It was the only way to distract from the mounting pressure of hunger and thirst at war within her.
At some point, while the goddess and her minion distracted her, Hercules had gone off to somewhere the crystal couldn't follow him. That had been a nerve-wracking hour, where she wondered if he'd gone off to sulk and possibly hurt himself.
He'd neglected to do the obvious and knock on the door to the baths. Somehow, he'd resisted any effort at peacemaking or checking that she hadn't gone unconscious. That was the worst thing and the least expected. It made her heart sink to think that Medea might have damaged her otherwise ideal marriage in less than half an hour.
When would Meg even get a chance to explain? Would he believe her if she did?
Her eyes wandered to the puppet version of Hercules.
The woodwork and paint job were both high quality. Out of curiosity, she lifted the puppet's head and found that whoever had created the puppet had accurately recreated the slope of his nose and the shade of his eyes. She'd seen plenty of Herc-related merchandise, but this one was the only one in the Underworld with her, and that made it the best.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to the puppet. "None of this is your fault. You tried so hard to be there for everyone at once. I'm shocked they don't have a matching puppet of me."
Her eyes drifted back to the crystal. Hercules was creeping upstairs. He didn't call her name. He only opened a few doors a crack, then peeked through.
What was he doing? If she was actually at the house, why wouldn't he call out to her so she knew he wanted to see her? This was the least efficient way possible to find her. She'd have to explain that to him when this was over.
She grimaced to herself.
Maybe that was an assumption she ought not to make. There was no guarantee of freedom. He didn't even know she was trapped… She hung her head. "I wish you could hear me," she whispered.
Tears fought to get through the gates of her tightly controlled emotional barriers. She couldn't allow her pain to take over. Whoever was watching her right now would see and take that as an opportunity. She'd be like an oyster that unclamped its shell rather than forcing a fisherman to pry her open.
Hercules had gone back outside and told a confounded Pegasus that he was going to catch up with Megarion at the docks.
Pegasus stomped in place as if trying to understand why Hercules was leaving when he'd been so firm on staying with Meg before then. He was right to be confused. This was such a quick turnaround Meg wished she could scream.
Why would he abandon her like this? Was one frigid afternoon all it took to break up their marriage?
She got up from the crystal ball table and rubbed her arms, pacing the palace. If Hercules was already on the move, what chance did she have of a reunion? He'd go on his mission with her brother, giving Medea the perfect excuse to pretend she was Meg whenever someone checked in on her– but who would? Creon? Her friends were leaving town, and the gods had taken their eyes off this whole situation because they could no longer be bothered.
For the first time since her imprisonment, she stared off the balcony of Hecate's palace. She'd visited before, but the sight of the Underworld stretched out before her was an unwelcome reminder of how far she'd gone. Now, she was back as if nothing had happened. Until there was a visible or at least detectable sign of her child, she'd imagine herself as if she'd never been saved.
She told herself it was the hunger talking, but she knew her nature was too steeped in pessimism to blame external factors. Maybe Hercules had a plan, and she couldn't comprehend it through her emotional morass. This wasn't like him. He'd defied less surmountable odds to be with her before… how could their relationship be so fragile?
As she brooded to herself, she noted the distant flap of dark wings, a familiar sight that returned her to her senses. "Hail, Thanatos!" she called across the fields of Asphodel to her old friend.
The god's path changed. He soared in her direction. When he was close enough, she saw the concern etched across his face. "Yours is not a face I expected to see in these environs so soon, friend. Why have you rejoined the shades?"
"You know how Hecate's trying to become queen of this place? She's not getting anywhere with the gods, so she's trying blackmail with a hostage situation. Unfortunately for me, Herc's been tricked… he thinks I hate him or something. And now he's sailing to a foreign kingdom and didn't even tell my doppelgänger goodbye."
"You'll have to be a little clearer with me on that concept."
"I'll tell you all about it if you can get me something non-cursed to eat."
Thanatos glanced around. "I uh… guess 'delivery boy' is technically in my job description. How about I get you something from the Speedy Pita?"
"Much appreciated. How about I repay you with my new favorite show?" She nodded over her shoulder. "Hecate has a whole setup."
"Been a while since I rested my wings. I won't keep you waiting long."
True to his word, Thanatos returned minutes later with armfuls of to-go bags and a smile. "Guys in the kitchen thought I was there for them. Gave me a couple of upgrades when I wasn't." He set the food down in front of Megara and eyed the puppet theater. "Are you participating in the show?"
"Only if you count me as a set piece." Megara unwrapped the first gyro and leaned back in her seat. "I get moved around the stage, but I'm irrelevant at this point." Her unshed tears burned, but she buried her impotent rage in tearing through grilled beef like a savage lioness.
"That's unlike you. Don't you have an angle?"
Megara jerked her head in the direction of the puppet theater. "That's the only one they left me with. But I'd have to control Hercules, and they want me to be the one who helps them make him comply with Hecate's take-over-the-Underworld bid."
"Is that what it's for?"
"Magic is confusing and unpredictable. I don't want to mess with it. Especially if Hecate somehow gets to own me if I use magic. I'm not playing her game."
She'd never destroyed a gyro so fast.
"Do you have any other option?"
"Not that I know of," she said and considered the image in the crystal ball while she started on the second gyro. Her thoughts were clearing now that hunger wasn't as much of a factor. "I know I need to keep Hecate at arm's length at all times, but she can make me disappear and reappear wherever she wants, just like Hades. I didn't even make a deal with her."
"And yet she has taken you prisoner."
"Here's a thought: why don't you carry me topside?" She aimed her gyro in the direction of the crystal ball. "Even if Hecate snatches me back, I might have a minute to tell Herc what's going on so he stops hating me."
"I doubt he hates you. I was there when he came for you and showed him the way. You were not yet his wife back then. I struggle to comprehend a scenario where he loves you less than he did before."
Megara sighed and set aside the remnants of her smuggled meal. "It's not that really, it's just… I don't understand what he's doing. Unless this thing is showing me lies, and that doesn't seem to be its function. Hecate got good intel on me using this thing."
"Might it not be best if this thing were destroyed?" Thanatos asked.
"It's all I've got right now… aside from the puppet."
"And you haven't tested it. But it's supposed to control him, somehow? What if you could get him to do something you wanted."
"Go home and look for me so he knows the me he left behind is a fake, maybe?"
"Or… tell him where to find the real you."
"I don't want to do something wrong and hurt him somehow… but trying this might be my only option."
Within the crystal ball, Hercules and Jason were speaking with Megarion, trying to make jokes with him.
Megarion was more brooding than usual. Nothing either hero said broke through the shadows over his eyes. "Are we going to talk about who's watching my sister?" he growled.
"She's with friends," Hercules said.
A face appeared behind him, that of a young woman whose eyes Megara wanted to claw out. "I've heard so little about her for how important she seems to be."
Thanatos wordlessly spread a wing across Megara's shoulders.
"I don't understand why he's participating in this when Medea's on Hecate's side," Megara said. "I mean, really? Isn't this an obvious trap?"
"Perhaps he wishes to accompany your brother through the trap," Thanatos suggested.
Megara chewed her lip rather than rage over the fact that she wished she was as important as her brother.
"That puppet is seeming like a better idea every moment," Thanatos noted.
With a huff through her nose, Megara turned to the puppet where he hung. "Maybe all he needs is a good shake."
"By all means." Thanatos moved out of the way while Megara approached her victim.
It was cute. She didn't know if she could do it real violence, but she could use it to vent her frustration. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do right now, but I need you to know I didn't say or do those things, and I can't believe you'd walk away from me." She plucked at one of the strings, making the puppet twitch.
She checked the crystal ball, but evidently, her activities had not made any difference.
"Come on…" she mumbled to herself. Why would Hecate give her something magical that didn't even do magic? "Don't you think there's something you're missing? You don't want to think this through?" This time, she flicked the puppet's head. "I'm not going to use you and make Hecate queen, but I also can't sit here forever doing nothing."
Medea made a face in the crystal ball, something like surprise mixed with amusement. Did she know about Megara pulling the strings when Hercules didn't? That wasn't supposed to be how it worked.
"I've never been so frustrated with you," she growled and took the puppet by the strings to give it the first good shake. "Malaka! Notice something's wrong!"
A heavy thud and a crash followed.
Megara and Thanatos both whirled around to see a god with handsome Theban features leaning on a staff topped with a pinecone. He wore long purple robes wrapped in leopard skin and seemed a little off-kilter. Maybe drunk. His smile didn't fit the Theban archetype. It was brilliant as he rushed across the room and gathered Megara into a fierce hug. "Meg! I'm so glad it's you!"
"Dionysus… just as I remember you when last we met," Thanatos said.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's great!" Dionysus didn't even glance Thanatos's way. He instead focused all his attention on Megara with tears at the corners of his eyes, and pulled her into a kiss.
Before their lips made contact, Megara was shrieking at the outrage. She jerked back from the strangely familiar warmth of it and smacked him across the face."Get off me!" Megara shoved the god away, but he was surprisingly tenacious. "You have got to be my weirdest cousin and the others were all born of incest!"
"What're you…?" Dionysus took a step back. The smack had apparently done absolutely nothing to him, but he remained hurt and confused. Then he glanced at the crystal ball and smacked himself across the face. "Yeah. Forgot. Hold on a second."
He concentrated, and before her eyes, the trappings of Dionysus evaporated. In seconds, there stood Hercules. "Found ya! Now… how about we try that again?"