All night, Hercules watched life in Thebes return to normal. There were crews of people sent out to the field to fill in crevices opened in the earth and clean up any bodies. He hated the sight of the dead, but seeing them only threw into vivid relief what would happen to Megara if he didn't act somehow.
He sat on a cloud with a sleeping Pegasus and sailed overhead to look down upon the people within the city walls. It wasn't long before his desire to see Megara again drew him to the crest of the acropolis again. Nobody could see him, but he saw his beloved below, holding a scroll– not that scroll– and giving orders.
It seemed that people were building mobile structures. What were they for?
Pegasus rolled over on the cloud and whinnied sleepily.
Hercules checked his friend over his shoulder, and when he looked back down at Megara, he found her conversing with the king. Her cousin.
Megara put her tablet with its papyrus list between her and her cousin as a shield and backed away from him. He pursued.
Hercules was getting sick of this guy. Didn't he know better than to mess with his girl?
He lowered his cloud closer and sought their words in the air.
"Leave me alone!" was a predictable thing for Megara to say, but the note of fear in it tugged at Hercules's heart.
"You owe it to this family!" the detestable king countered. "We have been trying to marry you off for so long, but nobody wants you, and all of a sudden, you have a direct line to a god?"
"He's done everything he's going to for you! What's between the two of us is personal, and you won't get a thing from me!"
Hercules couldn't help but smile. Her ferocity made him a little light-headed.
Even as the rough voices of builders invoked him, he acknowledged them at the minimum so he could focus on Megara. She evaded her cousin once more, but he caught her by the wrist and swung her around so he could catch the other one despite her attempt to punch him using his momentum.
Leaning over the edge of the cloud, Hercules gripped the fluffy edge of it and forced himself to remain calm. He hadn't seen much of Megara's life, but the last time he'd intervened at the palace, she'd almost died. It may not take years for her to die of old age, now that he thought of it. As long as she was in this palace, there was no assurance that she would survive the week! He had to get her out of there!
Hercules drew his hand back, ready to summon Megara onto his cloud with him, but he wondered if that was safe, considering she was mortal. While he was still deliberating, he watched as Megara was thrown to the ground.
Many ran to her, but Eteocles screamed, "I am the king! I will mete out justice to the insubordinate!" He lodged a kick in her ribs, and Hercules watched her recoil. Eteocles brought Megara back up, limp and groaning, and whispered in her ear while Megara tried to fight free.
This was more than enough. Eteocles had failed to heed his final warning.
Hercules was moved to action, unthinking and brutal. Never in his life had he been so enraged, so incensed on behalf of another. He'd given this man one chance when he saw him choking the life out of Megara before, but now, he would receive no further mercy.
The cloud Hercules sat on started to glow with his red-gold rage, and he stood upon it, harnessing all his rage into a single beam of light. His concentrated ire shot silently, without warning, toward the King of Thebes. It left a hole through his skull the size of an egg, and he collapsed, toppling Megara with him.
None could deny the divine origin of the beam. Hercules watched them scurry about the courtyard while Megara forced herself to her feet and reoriented herself. She looked in every direction until she saw the cloud, which had doubtless been much altered by Hercules's fury.
Unlike his father, who rumbled and darkened the sky and let off a heavy crack of sound at the release of his thunderbolts, Hercules had never smitten anyone. He hadn't thought to give a warning, and after all, he'd given a verbal one already. One, and only one.
Megara raised her arm to block the light off the cloud and gazed up in his direction. Did she know it was he who had carried out this righteous smiting on her behalf? Already, the body of her cousin lay limp at her feet, and he wished to remove her from it.
He'd never seen his father smite someone before, but his recent acquaintance with the concept of death and corpses was not a pleasant one. He wished that a body would fade after its death, but he knew well enough now that it wouldn't. It created a gruesome sight on the courtyard floor, but the blood wouldn't flow from the body. Eteocles's brain and blood were cauterized by the blast.
All those mortals other than Megara dropped to their knees, and now he heard their tearful propitiations, begging him for forgiveness and protection from his wrath. A flood of begging prayers flooded Hercules's mind, but his anger was now satisfied.
He responded to these prayers with a firm, gentle voice, saying: "I will kill all who do harm to Princess Megara. He had one warning, and this is yours. Treat her with care, and honor her name. Do not test my patience."
Now that he had carried out this execution, Thebes would require a new king.
Rage-saturated ichor flowed through Hercules's veins, and he wondered if he were going out of his mind.
No, he decided when he saw Megara limping along with a servant who brought her to a couch while another shaded her with a parasol. If he had waited, he might not have a Meg, anymore.
Servants brought her wine and cheese, but there didn't seem to be anyone who'd check on her physically.
Hercules watched as the servants scurried away from her, and Megara curled up on the couch.
He ought to go down there and check on her. He could use his healing powers like he'd done before. Everyone else was distracted by the hole in their king's skull.
Clearly, he could've thought through the proportionality of his response, but he wasn't a mortal who would be chased around by the Furies. If someone had to take this creature out, at least it was him, and he could defend his reasoning to anyone.
"Yeesh, isn't it a little creepy watchin' your girl from up here?"
Hercules narrowed his eyes rather than turning his head toward his uncle. "Aren't you a bit out of your domain right now?"
"Hey! I'm just sayin'. I came up here to check on that kingly corpse. Can't say I'm not surprised you started a murder venture. I didn't think we'd ever have something in common!"
"Isn't murder that thing you do when someone doesn't deserve to die and you ruin everything?" Hercules asked. "I sort of thought that was a hobby of yours. My father is the god of Justice. Why shouldn't I carry out justice when mortals can't?"
"Hey, hey! I'm not judging; that's your department. But you know, I could suggest a few more people you should put a hole through. By the way, nice, clean handiwork! Not like your dad, yeesh! This kill had class!"
"Get off of my cloud, okay? I'm not in business with you or your lame attempts to make me like you."
Hades slung an unwelcome arm around his shoulders. "Not so fast! Ya see that girl down there? Well, technically, for now, she belongs to you, but in the end, they all eventually belong to me."
The same urge to smite arose in Hercules, though he knew it wouldn't work on Hades as effectively. He'd have to do something, though. His aura flared up as if the light of it could repel his uncle. "I'm not kidding. Leave me alone."
"It's just such a shame you can't spend more time with her because, hey, she's mortal! She'll probably get married soon, you know. Mortal girls never stay single for long, and y'know, she's got curves that'll–"
Hercules swung a backhanded fist into Hades's face. "Not. Another. Word."
But Hades had a point.
Under normal circumstances, Megara would already be married. Zeus had made it clear that he couldn't marry her and that he wouldn't make her a goddess to live with him.
Hades finally moved further away from him. "I'm tryin' to talk to you, you little–!" Hades flared up with flame that might've done some real damage if he weren't immune to it.
Hercules glared at his uncle, hoping to intimidate him off the cloud so he could get back to thinking over his options.
What he got in return was a seething rage that made what he felt seem insignificant in comparison. It was a deep-seated, murderous poison that made him shiver. What had he ever done for his obnoxious uncle to hate him so much?
As quickly as he'd seen it, that hatred vanished behind a pleasant (enough) veneer. He was not stupid enough to believe it. "I'm no expert on love," Hades started.
"Obviously," Hercules snarled back.
"But I think no couple can stay together if they're too different. You see, I brought this little potion along, and I thought you'd consider taking it. That is if you care about her enough." Black smoke surrounded Hades's hand, and a glass vial appeared in his palm, topped with a skull and full of a magenta liquid. "It's available if you ever want to go down there and try your luck."
"I can go down there whenever I want," Hercules reminded him. "I was there yesterday."
"As a tourist!" Hades barked out a laugh. "But you should be thinking long-term. You're not as dumb as your father, are you?"
"Will you buzz off?" Hercules snapped. "Bring me one that'll make her a goddess, and we'll talk."
Hades's fake smile vanished. "So, ya don't really wanna end up with this girl, after all, do ya?"
"I'm not going to become mortal, so you can take potshots at me, no. So go back to your musty basement and count your cobwebs or something. I've got a life to figure out, and you've got… I'm not sure. I think maybe you've got some kind of hobby? Dolls, right?"
"You really are a gem, aren't you?" Hades snarled. "But don't bother listening to your dear old uncle. I only know what happens to mortals in too short a time. You seem to be slowly figuring that out, but I gotta wonder: How long before she breaks it off with you because she's sick o' waiting around for ya?" Hades exploded into a cloud of smoke that made Hercules gag.
He knew it was on purpose and that his uncle was somewhere enjoying watching him choke. He brushed the last remnants of the smoke away from his face and glared at the empty bit of sky his uncle had occupied.
How dumb did Hades think he was to take that potion?
Or maybe not stupid, but emotional.
His eyes wandered down to the courtyard again.
Meg was taking a nap. He shouldn't disturb her, but he knew he needed to be close to her.
Maybe he shouldn't be a real mortal, but nothing was stopping him from a little charade.
"Pegasus," he said over his shoulder, "how'd you like to meet some nice mares at a stable in Thebes?"