*Note: So sorry this took so long, y'all. I'm back up at college and was in a bit of a writing rut for a couple of weeks. Hopefully, this chapter makes up for it. And I hope you enjoy it too!
Chapter 3: The Living Legend
Days came and went, and soon, three weeks had passed since I've been back in school. But this particular Friday afternoon, was not another school adventure. Today was the day I helped Hercules with his training by participating in the one monster-fighting exercise I actually knew about and was most excited about: Dragons. I absolutely loved dragons for the longest time, so when I found out Hercules was going to be training to fight them, I immediately asked Phil if I could help out. Thankfully, he agreed, and using what I've read in books and watched from movies, I was able to help Phil come up with the perfect training exercise that -sure- didn't involve a real dragon, but still gave Herc that rush of the fight. Two words for you readers: Mechanical dragon. Courtesy of one Daedalus and one Icarus.
I watched from the sidelines as Hercules swung his sword at the head of the mechanical dragon. Phil was on the dragon's back moving levers to get the mechanical lizard stomping around the training grounds of his island to simulate an actual dragon fight. Well, a dragon fight where the dragon has no wings. That's technically called a drake fight.
"Stay on your toes, kid!" Phil called out to Herc. "A dragon has a wide turning radius!"
"Go for the tail!" I yelled out some good advice. "A down dragon's a dead dragon!"
"Hey, who's coaching him, Creepy-Eyes?" Phil snapped at me.
"Well, pardon me, Mr. Moody-Goat." I said offendedly.
Phil rolled his eyes and used the levers to make the dragon attack Herc with its tail. Hercules dodged the tail swing -ignoring my earlier advice, ran back towards the front end, and used the hilt of his sword to knock the dragon's head away. Forcing the machine to fall in a sitting position, and almost forcing Phil to fall right out of his seat. Not a bad tactic for fighting a dragon, but I personally would've gone for the tail to knock out it's balance that way.
Hercules gave a cocky scoff. "Heh, easy enough."
"They loaded?" Phil asked me.
"You bet." I gave him a smirk.
And with a pull of a switch and a snicker from Phil, the wooden dragon's mouth opened up to reveal a pipe, to which shot out several ripe tomatoes right at Hercules to simulate a real dragon's fire breath. A lot less -y'know- hot and murdery and a lot messier, so it's fun in that sense and provides for a very capable teaching moment for training. Icarus was the one who thought that little idea up, by the way.
"Bleach!" Herc groaned in disgust at the sight of the tomatoes on his person. "Aw, man."
"Hero rule #72: Assess the situation." Phil reminded him as he got out of the mechanical dragon.
"Situation assessed." Hercules said as he wiped off some tomatoes. "I'm battling a dragon that breathes vegetables."
"Rookie, a tomato is a fruit." Phil corrected as he ate one of the tomatoes. "Where would you be without me?"
"Probably not knowing his true destiny." I muttered under my breath.
"What was that?" Herc asked.
"I said I need a ride home soon." I rephrased myself. "I promised my mom I'd help sell her tea at the Arcadian County Fair."
"Tea? What's that?" Phil asked.
"It's a drink." I explained. "Some people think it has some weird stress-relieving abilities, but I just like it because it tastes good and it soothes sore throats."
"I could fly you over to your house if you'd like." Hercules offered. "We needed to go to Athens anyway."
"Yeah, to get the kid some new training sandals." Phil explained.
I looked over at Hercules with an arched brow. "What'd you do? Break them?"
Hercules gave a sheepish smile. "Yes."
Oh. Well, now I feel embarrassed.
Later
By the time Herc and Phil dropped me off at my mom's shop in Athens, the two of us got all the things we needed to sell tea and made our way towards Arcadia. Arcadia, itself, was about a two-hour drive from Athens, but I didn't mind that much. If this was to help out mom's shop, then it was totally worth it. After all, was known for it being a farming community that lived harmoniously among the wilderness surrounding it. Sure, the farmers were mostly sheep farmers, but they made a living, nonetheless. And Mom was going to help them out with her teas.
"Well, this will be fun, won't it?" Mom asked me.
"Yeah, this will definitely expand your business." I smiled as we finally arrived in Arcadia.
Mom nodded in agreement. "Not to mention, it gets you something to do for the weekend."
We got out of our chariot and started setting up our booth. It wasn't much, but it was nice to get things all started before we actually started selling tea. We still had a few minutes before the fair started up, so Mom and I started to take a look around. Most of the other booths were Arcadians selling homemade clothes and cheese made from sheep wool and milk -wouldn't recommend the milk, but the cheese is amazing. We wandered around for a while until we saw a whole crowd of people gathered around a stage waiting for the fair to officially open. Mom decided it was best to stay and wait till we were given the OK to start selling tea.
"Welcome to the Arcadia County Fair." an announcer called out to all the fair goers to open the fair. "Unfortunately, the two-headed pig from Macedonia canceled on us."
The other members of the crowd booed at that statement.
"But we do have a famous hero, live and in person. The one and only… Achilles!" the announcer continued before more 'boos' came from the crowd. "I know. It was short notice."
Oh, I remembered this episode! Basically, Achilles is a washed-up ex-hero after his got nicked in his heel. That's right, he wasn't dead as a lot of you thought when Phil explained his past trainee's brief backstory to Hercules in the movie when the young demigod first met the satyr. I thought the same for a while until I rediscovered the episode. Although, I still wondered if Achilles and Patroclus were a thing in this dimension.
"I thought Phil said Achilles had died?" Mom asked me what all of you probably asked yourselves the first time you saw this too.
"All he said was that Achilles just got nicked in the heel." I interpreted the confusion for her. "Phil never specified that Achilles was actually dead in this dimension."
Later
Well, the fair came and went. Just not quite like how Mom or I expected. We made about two-hundred drachmas worth of sales today from selling tea, but the sales were mostly on-and-off. So, when the fair was starting to slow down after a few hours, Mom decided it was best to just head back to Athens. Not that I was complaining or not, I was bored stiff during the very long breaks where nobody came to buy tea. All that was left was a small jar's worth of chamomile tea leaves.
When the fair started to die down for the day, Mom started closing the booth. While I was helping her out, something caught my eye. I looked over to one of the show sheep fences and saw somebody. It was weird since the fair wouldn't be open to the public again until tomorrow, and most of the people had already left save for a handful of people who had booths they needed to close for the day. I only knew something was interesting when I saw that the stranger by the show sheep was dressed in black and had blue flames.
"Hey, I'll be right back, I gotta go check on something." I made something up.
"Hurry up, we don't want to hit traffic." she told me as she made her way towards our chariot.
I nodded and left to go see my ex-boss. I knew that he was here to sweet-talk Achilles into a deal because -let's face it- Hades is just that predictable. But him seeing me after so long is something that was long overdue. Especially since Hades never once considered either visiting Mom and I, himself, or inviting Mom and I to visit him. Like, I get he's a busy god, trust me, I know, but that shouldn't excuse him for not dropping in once in a while.
Anyway, when I got over to where he was, I saw that Pain and Panic had tagged along as well. Which made me happy since I haven't really hung out with them since school started back up. Now, I had a little bit of time to catch up with my favorite best friends.
"Hey, you guys." I greeted them.
The three of them turned around, and the imps had the biggest smiles on their faces when they saw me.
"Aria!" they both said happily as they jumped up and hugged me.
"Oh, I missed you too, my boys." I hugged them back.
Hades shook his head in annoyance. "Oy vey, you just saw her a couple of weeks ago!"
"At least they make time to see me." I told him with a mean glare.
"Hey, I've been busy- y'know running the Underworld, making sure souls don't leave, scheme to take over Olympus, yadda, yadda- you get it." Hades gave me his usual excuse before he gave me a sincere look. "It is good to see ya again."
"Good seeing you too, ya old hot-head." I smiled up at him. "May I ask you fellas why you're here, or should I guess?"
"Don't you already know the answer to it?" Hades asked me.
But before I could say anything else, I heard Mom call for me. "Aria, let's go!"
"Coming!" I said back as I put the imps down on the ground. "Wish I could stay and chat some more, but I gotta go."
"Already?" the imps pouted.
"I'll make it up to you, don't worry." I assured them.
"Let go of her legs, boys, ya got a job to do." Hades told them.
The imps reluctantly let me go, but not without getting some extra hugs before I left them to do their job. What can I say? When you have best friends like the three of us are, you treat your friendship like you'll die if you even mistreat it in the slightest way possible.
"See you guys around." I waved them all goodbye before running back to Mom.
Well, it was nice catching up with my old boss and seeing my best friends again, but family comes first to me. So, I ran back towards the booth, and when I saw that my mom wasn't there, I assumed she was just then getting our chariot. So, I made a beeline for our parking spot, that is, before I accidentally passed Mom on my way. I stopped in my tracks as Mom stopped the chariot a few feet behind me. That's never happened before.
"Quite the little wildfire, aren't you?" Mom gave me a smirk.
I pursed my lips awkwardly as I hopped into the chariot.
"So, what'd you find?" Mom asked when we set off for Athens.
"Uh, I thought I saw that two-headed pig everyone was talking about, but it was just a rock that looked like a pig." I lied with a nervous smile.
Mom arched a brow at me. "You saw Hades and the imps, didn't you?"
"Yes, ma'am." I admitted nervously.
"You know, it's not like I'm forbidding you from ever seeing them." she told me. "You can go and visit them whenever you want to."
"I just don't want to get back into my old habits with them." I explained to her. "I did some pretty sketchy stuff when I worked for Hades."
"I'm aware of all your 'sketchy stuff'. But that shouldn't mean you can't visit them." Mom said. "Besides, I did my fair share of sketchy stuff when I used to work for him."
I blinked in an uncomfortable way. "In what context?"
Later
When we got back to Athens, we dropped off our rental chariot back at the Agora and started wondering around for a bit. However, just before we started making our way home, I spotted Hercules and Phil just outside of the shoe store. Since Mom never really got a proper greeting with the young demigod or his trainer, I thought it would be a good idea to properly introduce her to them. And Mom was more than happy to meet them as well.
"Hey, you guys!" I greeted them as Mom and I approached them.
Hercules turned my way with a smile. "Hi, Aria."
"Whoa, Creepy-Eyes," Phil said as he checked out my mom. "You never told me you had a sister or that she was hot."
"Well, that's a charming accusation," Mom said before introducing herself. "But I'm not her sister. I'm her mother, Sirena."
"Oh! Sorry, ma'am." Phil quickly apologized.
"How was selling tea at the fair?" Hercules asked me.
"On and off." I shrugged. "We decided to head back early after the crowds died down."
Just then, a stranger walked next to Phil. The stranger was tall and physically well-built and had a long dark beard, and -to me- looked like a pirate soldier or something. I didn't really recognize him at first, but there was something familiar about him. I looked down at his feet, and he have what looked like a bronze brace around his heel. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't paid close attention. My eyes widened at the brace. There was only one hero in all of Greece and Greek Mythology I knew that had a bad heel. But I didn't want to believe it.
"Uh, who's this?" I asked, just to be sure.
"This, ladies, is the greatest hero of our time: Achilles!" Phil introduced us to the stranger.
"What?!" Mom gasped in disbelief.
"You ladies want an autograph?" Achilles flashed us a cocky smile as he spoke in a New York accent.
I was still dumbfounded at all this information. Last I saw Achilles was at the Arcadia County Fair, and he was very much older than this younger-looking hero. Something really weird was going on.
I pointed at Achilles. "How in the world did-?"
A loud, frightened scream interrupted my questioning, and we all turned around and saw people running out of the Agora trying to get away from something. Something terrifying and what sounded loud and scary. We all ran outside to see what all the excitement was about, only to see the streets on fire as flames erupted from a hole in the ground.
"What's goin' on?" Herc asked out loud.
"And what is that!?" Mom asked as she pointed a shaking finger at the oncoming threat.
My eyes widened as I saw what Mom was pointing at: A ten-foot creature climbing from out of the hole. A creature wearing a blue chiton around its waist with rust-colored scales, a fin-like sail on its head that resembled a bad mohawk, a long snout full of sharp teeth, sharp talons on both hands and feet, and a long scaly tail. The creature gave a roar before blowing a stream of fire towards the streets. Needless to say, I knew exactly what this thing was.
"It's a drake!" I yelled frantically.
"A what?" Herc asked.
"A subspecies of dragon." I clarified for him. "Four legs, no wings, same fiery breath."
Phil arched a brow at me. "You've been payin' attention to his dragon fighting' lessons?"
"I like dragons." I told him.
The drake gave a mighty roar before shooting off three massive fireballs. Whoever this joker-lizard was, he looked like he meant business.
"Athens, your streets shall run red with-" the drake paused what he was saying, and I swore I heard him mutter for a line call.
"Blood. Blood." I heard what sounded like Panic whispered.
"Blood!" the drake roared the line before breathing another blast of fire.
After that little character break, I stand corrected about my earlier statement about the drake.
As the drake kept breathing more fireballs, Mom and I ran to a store to try and keep away from the attack, but when I looked outside to see that thing terrorize all those people and Hercules nowhere in sight to beat the scales off the drake, I knew that somebody had to stop it. And so, I decided that I had to do something to stall the drake while Herc came in with the heroics. But when I started to run out of the store to play the anti-heroine -yes, I do identify myself as one- Mom grabbed my hand and pulled me back from the chaos.
"Don't you even think about fighting off that thing, young lady!" Mom yelled at me.
"Mom, I can handle it." I tried to convince her. "Besides, I fought an orthus, a pair of flying wolves, man-eating mares, and the parents of all monsters. I can do this."
Mom looked over at the drake terrorizing Athens and back at me. At first, I thought she wouldn't let me go try to stop the drake just to keep me safe, but there was something in her face that was starting to consider what I had told her about some of my past adventures.
Mom rolled her eyes and sighed as she gave in. "Alright. But if you die, you're grounded."
"Yes, ma'am." I nodded before I ran off to face the drake.
Yeah, sure, fighting as a dragon was one thing, but fighting a dragon was a whole other ballgame. When I turned into one, I was a dragon that couldn't breathe fire so I wouldn't have to deal with a lot of destruction. I knew what I was going to be dealing with. This drake, on the other hand, was a trickier situation. He knows how destructive his flames were and used it to his advantage knowing no one would step up to fight back. Fortunately for me, I learned a thing or two about fighting dragons thanks to one of the greatest film series of all time.
"Okay, Dragon Lesson #1: If you had to choose between a sword or a shield," I said as I broke off the wheel from a nearby wagon to use as a shield. "Take the shield."
I took my handmade shield and ran up to the drake, knowing perfectly well how to get his attention. If the dragon family was known for one thing, other than their fiery breath, love of hording shiny gems and other rich stuff, it was that they were one of the most prideful creatures there ever was. They despised insults.
"Well, well, a drake. How original." I taunted the oversized lizard. "What? Do you have a captured princess too?"
The drake turned towards me and gave me a toothy grin. "No princess, but a delicate maiden shall suffice!"
I growled at that comment. I can take certain insults, but I am not delicate. So, I charged at the drake with my shield, ready to ram right into his stomach, but I felt the wheel grow hotter up to the point where I could feel it starting to burn my fingers. I quickly dropped the wheel and saw that it was, in fact, now on fire. I looked back up at the drake and saw streams of smoke coming out from his mouth, now knowing that he burnt my shield and left me defenseless.
"Yeah, that was dumb." I said as I started backing up.
The drake then started to blow another stream of fire right at me, and I ran for it before the fire came out of his mouth. I gave a weird and frightened scream as I ran towards Hercules to get some backup in my fight. Yeah, I said backup. Don't think I was wussing out of a fight that easy. The dragon family was no joke when it came to fighting them, so it's better to fight them with two or more heroes at hand. Why'd you think all those knights were mostly killed when fighting dragons? Because they went by themselves and got cooked like a steak.
Thankfully, Hercules knew that he had to help me out. After all, he's been training on fighting dragons and needed the experience to build up his hero résumé.
"I'm ready, Phil. Just say when." Hercules said as he readied his fists for a fight.
"Yeah, sorry, little buddy, but I think this puppy's outta your league." Achilles patted Herc's shoulder. "Stay here where it's safer with the little miss."
"Do I look like a dog to you?" I snapped at him. "I had him right where I wanted him."
"Hey, girls aren't made for the battlefield." Achilles told me. "Too delicate."
"Excuse me?!" I yelled offendedly.
Okay, what is it with these one-off strangers and calling me delicate today? I'm no feminist, by any means, but that kind of stuff makes my blood boil. And as I saw Achilles go after the drake to give it a so-called 'proper fight', I stayed behind with Herc and Phil to watch how the fight would turn out. And I was not happy in the slightest. Neither was Hercules. I don't think I've ever seen the guy look so offended.
I folded my arms with a scoff when I saw Achilles. "What a jerk."
"Look, listen, and learn, rookies." Phil instructed Hercules and I as we watched the fight.
"Halt! Or I shall thrash thee!" Achilles ordered the drake.
"You? Thrasheth me?" the drake scoffed.
"'Thrasheth'?" I muttered as I processed a thought. "Wait a sec. Shakespearean actors talk like that."
Just then, the drake started breathing fire at Achilles, but the moment the flames hit the former hero's chest, it was as if they had no effect on him. Something weird was going on, and as usual, Hercules didn't pay a lick of attention to that detail. Because the moment he saw the flames hit Achilles, Herc ran towards him to try and help, and he did so by grabbing the drake by the tail and tried pulling on it to get the drake away from Achilles. I rolled my eyes at him, not for noticing the impenetrable hero, but that he now decided to take my advice from earlier and go for the tail.
Unfortunately, Herc's efforts didn't last very long. The second the drake noticed that someone was messing with him and his fight, he simply flicked his tail and sent Hercules flying right towards a fountain. The impact rammed Hercules right into a fountain where he accidentally knocked over the decorative statue, forcing all the water to spout out from the broken water pump. Phil and I rushed over to help him up right as the drake tried making his move again, only to be stopped when Achilles pulled on two small barbs under the drake's chin. Bringing the lizard to eye level.
"So, big man, picking on some helpless kids now?" Achilles asked the drake.
"Helpless?" Hercules and I repeated.
Not long after that insult, Achilles pulled the drake by the barbs and practically judo-flipped him over to the water fountain. Pressing the dragon's head onto the waterspout and forcing him to drink all that water -it's not as kinky as it sounds, all you gross force-feeding fetish having weirdos! That's how you drown and kill someone. But drakes apparently can last longer than any human would, because when Achilles finished giving the drake an unwanted beverage, he jumped onto the drake's back and the giant lizard spat out the water. Phil and I managed to get out of the way in time before all the water splashed onto Hercules.
The drake coughed up a puff of smoke when he recovered, and as anyone who knows anything about dragons knows that if a dragon gets their flames put out, it takes forever to get them to restart again. This little instance proved one thing and one thing only from this fight…
"Drat!" the drake cursed. "Achilles has still got it."
And with another punch from Achilles, the drake stumbled - rather dramatically and pathetically- backwards right back into the literal hole he crawled out of. A hole leading straight to the Underworld. After the drake fell into the hole, the Athenian citizens came out of hiding when all was safe, and they all cheered and praised Achilles as they gathered around him to both congratulate him on his victory and thank him for saving them and their city-state. Well, most of the citizens. Mom came out of hiding and went straight towards Herc, Phil and I to make sure we were all okay.
"Wasn't so good, was it?" Herc asked Phil and me.
"Are you kidding?" Phil exclaimed as he went to congratulate his past trainee. "Achilles was sensational!"
"I was talking about me." Hercules said in defeat.
"You tried your best, and that's what matters." Mom told him to lift his spirits.
"Thanks, Ms. Sirena." Herc told her sadly as he followed after Phil and Achilles.
While all those people were gathered around Achilles to thank him for saving them from the drake, I wandered towards the giant hole in the ground. Remember how I said that I remember watching this episode? Well, it was a half-truth. Yes, I do remember watching it, but I don't remember what it was all about apart from Achilles being a part of it. If that drake he fought came out of the Underworld, then it means that Hades was the brains behind the fight. After all, he and the imps were looking for the former hero back in Arcadia, now I just needed to know why. Well, it was a good thing I already planned on visiting the imps down there.
"You're really gonna go down there for a visit, huh?" Mom asked me.
"I made a promise to the imps that I'd visit them." I explained to her. "Besides, I wanna know what this attack was all about."
Mom looked over at the hole. "You think Hades was behind it?"
"I have a hunch." I told her. "Can I go?"
Mom thought for a moment.
"Hey, y'know what? You've been missing them a lot lately," she started to say. "Why don't you stay down there for the rest of the weekend?"
"Really?" I looked up at her with a large smile. "You mean it?"
Mom gave me a smile. "I've seen how my little girl gets when she misses her friends."
"Oh, thanks, Mom!" I cheered as I gave her a big hug.
"Just be careful, okay?" she told me as she hugged me back.
"Yes, ma'am." I nodded before running towards the hole in the ground.
"Wait!" Mom stopped me so she could give me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Love you!"
"Love you, too!" I told her right as I jumped into the hole for a quick entry into the Underworld.
Two Minutes Later
It took some time climbing down the hole, especially since I didn't have any rope with me to make the climb down easier. But a few scrapes and bruises never hurt anyone, so on I went. I managed to hide myself from falling out of the exit when I saw the drake land into the Underworld's throne room near Hades. I had to make myself hidden before I made my big entrance and proceeded to punch the scales off that putrid lizard.
"I give you Memnon, master monster!" I heard Hades call out.
"Super job!" Pain complimented. "Y-you're the best."
"Too kind, thanks for the gig. Let's do lunch." the drake smiled as he walked off.
Geez, and I thought Adonis was annoying.
"Hey, no problem." Hades said before muttering. "What was up with this guy, huh? Was he stinking up the joint enough? Geez."
"'Thrasheth'?" I heard Pain ask in a disappointed tone.
Panic gave a nervous laugh. "Wh-who talketh like that?"
Well, mystery solved on where the dumb battle dialogue came from.
Anyway, I knew I wasn't going to get much done while hiding away in that hole, so, I decided to make an entrance for myself. I climbed down towards the exit, and jumped down to the floor while my former boss and best friends were still in the throne room. And when they all got quiet upon seeing a mortal land in the Underworld, I gave a slow clap as I stood back up before Hades could order the imps to get me out if he thought I was some other mortal.
"What a performance you misfits pulled." I smirked at them all.
The imps gave large smiles as they rushed over to give me a big hug.
"What're you doin' here?" Hades asked.
"Mom says that I could stay here for the weekend." I told him as the imps hopped onto my shoulders.
"Oh, she did, did she?" Hades gave a brief scoff at the thought.
"Yep." I nodded before realizing what I just said and gave a little laugh.
Pain gave me an arched brow. "What's with the laughing?"
"The way I said it makes Hades and Mom sound like a divorced couple." I told him.
"Yeah, no." Hades begun to say. "But about that-"
"Well, well," the drake interrupted when he walked back into the room and saw me. "If it isn't the delicate maiden."
I gave him a chuckle before I felt anger fuel my eyes. "You call this delicate?"
The imps flew off my shoulders as I charged right at this Memnon guy for a tackle, and he grabbed my wrists and tried pushing me away from him. Almost as if he didn't want to put on another show, the wuss. Guess he's all talk and no action when nobody's calling 'action'. Well, he had another thing coming. While I was trying to fight Memnon and while he was getting ready to break my wrists, smoky tendrils separated us. I looked over and saw Hades stepping in.
"Hey! Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time out!" Hades broke up the fight and turned his hands back to normal. "That's enough, guys, c'mon."
"Call me delicate again, and I'll wipe you out!" I threatened the drake. "I mean it!"
Memnon gave me a mean smile. "I'd like to see you try; little miss delicate."
I tried charging at him to fight again, only to be held back by Hades. I was literally dragged out of the throne room so I couldn't punch that stupid lizard for calling me that. Wouldn't be the first time Hades had to pull me away from something he knew I couldn't handle, but the least he could've done was let me knock a few scales off Memnon. My reputation was severely wounded at his sexist comment.
"What has gotten into you?" Hades asked me when he got me out of the throne room. "Huh, you wanna explain?"
"Your new little helpers, both lizard-boy and Achilles, have both shown how sexist they are when it comes to me!" I yelled out my frustrations. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, calls Ariadne Michelle Plousios delicate or that she can't fight!"
"Sheesh, that's what's gotcha all worked up?" Hades asked.
"Yes. So, as long as they work for you, I'm going to stay pissed off at them and try to throw hands any chance I get." I remarked as I folded my arms.
"Look, you're better than that, and you can prove that you can kick some yutz's butt some other time." he said as he put me down.
"Still doesn't feel right." I muttered.
"Drop it, babe." Hades said before switching the subject. "But, y'know, I'm kinda glad you're staying here for a couple of days. Been a couple of months since I had my favorite mortal around."
"You don't do favoritism." I reminded him.
"Yeah, but I stand by it, my little fox." Hades told me.
Sunday Morning
The weekend came and went, and thanks to some new gossip from the imps, I found out that Hades' new scheme wasn't another attempt to kill Hercules. Which was rare to me. Turns out, his plan was to get Phil to dump the kid so Herc wouldn't be able to train to become a hero. That's why Hades needed Achilles and why he made him young again, and why he sent Memnon to attack Achilles. To make the living legend look good enough for Phil to take him back and leave Herc behind. Not that bad of a plan, I'll admit it.
A few days passed, and some updates on separating Phil and Herc were just simple things. Achilles started to become a bigshot over the weekend, and with Phil too busy coaching him, Hercules had been left in the dust. And that conflict was made more apparent today. You see, when things started to become apparent that Achilles was coming between Phil and Herc, Phil reluctantly decided to stay behind at Achilles' villa while Hercules went on a solo hero mission to put out a fire in Arcadia. And I had to watch all this on the Tartarus Vision in the Underworld with Hades and the imps.
"Kid, I…" Phil started to say on the screen. "Achilles and I got a lot of history, you know? I'm finally gettin' my taste of the big time. You understand, right?"
"Yeah, sure. My mistake." Hercules replied in a hurtful tone. "I thought you actually believed all that hero stuff you taught me."
And with that, Hercules hopped onto Pegasus and flew to Arcadia to help put out the fire, while a heartbroken Phil stayed behind with Achilles. The coach and trainer duo were now officially over. It was kind of sad to me, really. Especially since the two almost had a father-son relationship going on. But there was someone else who was pumped about this newest breakup.
"Hello! Break out the ambrosia, my minions!" Hades cheered in victory. "I believe we have just dissolved the partnership."
I spoke up. "That's kinda harsh, don't you think?"
"Eh, the goat-man dumped the chump." Hades gave an uncaring shrug. "Who cares?"
"I do." I stated.
Hades rolled his eyes. "Of course you do."
I groaned as my ex-boss left the room with the imps. The latter of which started looking over at me with confused looks.
"I know. I know." I started to say what they were thinking. "I care too much about this kind of stuff."
"Well, yeah," Panic began to say. "But I thought the Fates said that you didn't really need to care about cosmic balance anymore?"
"Yeah, your quest has been over for months now." Pain added. "No use in worryin' about all this stuff if the whole cosmic balance is off your shoulders now."
"I guess." I admitted. "But I just feel like -I dunno- the more I keep getting involved with this sort of stuff, the worse it turns out. Not just for Herc, but for me too."
The imps looked over at each other for a moment.
"This isn't about what Achilles said to you, is it?" Panic asked. "About how girls are too delicate and can't fight?"
I gave a disappointed sigh. "No, but that is now part of my problem."
"Sorry." he quickly apologized.
"It's fine." I told him. "I just want things to turn out alright for everyone, y'know?"
"Yeah," Pain said as he and Panic gave me some comforting hugs. "We know."
Later
Well, the day progressed, and while I started cleaning up my room before I headed back home for the night, I couldn't stop thinking about Hercules and Phil. I know I should've expected it from Hades, but seeing Phil so wounded when Herc just left was just heartbreaking. I know I've said this before, but I'll keep saying it until it gets through every reader's heads when they read this story: Sometimes it hurts to know so much about this world and I can't do anything to stop it.
Sure, my talk with the imps helped a little, but I couldn't help but feel like I was stuck in a rut. I was done with my quest the Fates sent me to this world to do, but now it feels like there was nothing much left for me to do. True, I wanted to stay here and live a new life and have adventures, but without adventure, then what was I supposed to do? I didn't want to be stuck as some delicate maiden like both Achilles and Memnon called me. I wanted to be someone better. I just don't know how to prove it to everyone all that I'm still here, wanting to be a part of this adventure.
Anyway, enough sulking.
As I finished cleaning my room, I headed down to the throne room to say goodbye to Hades and the imps before I left for home. That is, until something specific caught my eye. I must've left the Tartarus Vision on after Hades saw the Phil and Hercules partnership breakup, because it was still playing. And what I saw on the screen immediately lifted my spirits about the demigod and the satyr.
"Hey, Hades!" I called for my ex-boss. "You might wanna take a look at this!"
Hades then appeared right next to me in a puff of smoke. "What is it it?"
I pointed at the TV right as Phil and Hercules started to apologize to each other about all that's happened between them. Needless to say, Hades wasn't happy about what he saw.
"Kid, I'm sorry!" Phil was the first to apologize.
"Oh, Phil, I-I can't do this without you!" Herc told him.
"Ah, you betcha ya can't do it without 'im, you little yutz." Hades rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Oy. Nice work Achilles."
As Hades' flames started to glow a bright orange color, I decided to make my quick escape before I got caught up in whatever sort of wrath and punishment Hades had in mind for Achilles for screwing up and around instead of focusing on his mission.
"I'm just gonna go in the other room for a sec." I quickly ran out and immediately called for Pain and Panic. "Boys, get some snacks! There's gonna be a fight!"
Five Minutes Later
Well, after Achilles' slip-up, Hades closed off the deal he made and turned the former hero back to his old self -emphasis on the 'old' part. But Hades was still on board with trying to separate Hercules and Phil. The new plan? Sending Memnon to Phil's island to attack them both to try and kill them. And as much as I didn't like the sexist lizard, I'm not one to turn down an epic fight. So, while Hades and the imps watched the fight to see the drake win, I had a more interesting way of viewing the battle.
"Yeah! Yeah! All right!" Hades cheered as he watched the fight. "Come on, clock him!"
Almost as if he could hear Hades from the mortal realm, Memnon did in fact clock Hercules right in the gut.
"Yes! Yeah, now that's a good hit." Hades said before swiping a bag of popcorn from Pain's hands. "Give me some of that popcorn."
I gave Pain my popcorn. "You can have mine, bud."
"Thanks!" Pain smiled as he helped himself to the snack.
"Okay, place your bets, gentlemen!" I clapped my hands, stood up, and took out a notepad and pen. "How much on one or two deaths?"
"I got fifty drachma on those odds, babe!" Hades exclaimed.
I wrote that down before asking another bid. "And how much on their survival?"
"Ten drachma for me!" Pain raised a hand. "I'm feelin' lucky."
I wrote it down and looked over at Panic. "What about you, bud?"
"Undecided." the teal imp answered while he kept watching the fight. "Ooh! He just missed a fire breath attack!"
Hades gave me a proud smile. "You gamble like that with your mother around?"
"No, she'd never approve." I said as I wrote down the bets and put my notebook back in my pocket and sat back down to watch the fight. "But this is totally worth it."
Hercules continued to fight Memnon. "What? No hammy lines?"
"I'm not acting this time!" Memnon snarled as he swung his talons at Herc.
"Acting?" Herc repeated.
"Yeah! Hades wanted me to make Achilles look good, but when Achilles couldn't split you two up, Hades sent me in to kill you!" the drake spilled the beans as he kept swinging and missing at Hercules. "Or the goat-guy. It doesn't matter."
"Why do they do that?" Hades asked in annoyance. "They got to spill every detail of the scheme?"
I gave a shrug at the situation. "Eh. They've verbal diarrhea."
I caught the imps snickering at my comment.
"Oh, be mature, you two!" I scolded them.
Our attention turned back towards the TV when Hercules took Memnon's tail and pulled it in front of the drake to trip him over. Herc thought the deed was done, but when his guard was down, Memnon punched Hercules in the jaw and sent him flying right towards a boulder. Herc hit his head and got knock unconscious after that. Phil rushed towards him to wake him up but ended up getting cornered by Memnon. The drake was ready to strike them both.
"Oh, YES!" Hades got excited at the sight. "You da man! Go for the kill!"
But before Memnon went for the kill, old man Achilles showed up to save Hercules and Phil to redeem himself and started fighting the drake. Had to admit, I was a little impressed to see the old guy still able to fight despite not looking like a young, bearded Sylvester Stallone. Especially when he kicked the scales off Memnon. I'm just sorry I wasn't the one beating up the lizard after what he said to me. The cherry on top of this fight was when I saw Achilles use his armored gut to block a headbutt from Memnon, knocking the drake unconscious! It was freaking hilarious!
Well, for me, it was.
"I just -I hate this!" Hades said in frustration as he shut off the TV. "This is just -it's too much."
"Walk slowly towards the exit." I whispered to the imps as we started backing up and away from Hades.
"Don't have to tell us twice." Pain whispered back as the three of us started to tiptoe towards the exit.
"I got -I wanna rip their heads out. I gotta blast something." Hades rambled before he called "Pain, Panic, could you come here a minute?"
The imps eyed at each other for a moment. "Run!"
And just like that, they ran right out of the throne room right as a trail of Hades' flames started chasing after them. And I was awkwardly left alone with an angry Hades as a particular thought started to enter through my mind.
"How pissed would you be if I asked for your bet money now?" I asked him nervously.
Hades' only response was an angry glare as his flames turned bright orange.
"Just thought I'd ask. Just thought I'd ask." I said before I ran right out of the throne room.
Later That Evening
Well, after that exciting fight, I went back home that evening with a more hopeful attitude and some extra drachma in my pocket. Sure, I was still mad at Achilles, but it doesn't mean I don't respect him for going back to redeem himself. If he wanted to come back and be a hero for the right reasons, then the old man earned my respects. Maybe I could take a chapter out of his scroll and be a hero for the right reasons too, not just to prove a point to him.
"Mom, I'm home." I called out as I entered the tea shop.
"In here, hon." Mom called out from the kitchen.
I followed her voice into the kitchen, where I saw her sitting at the table with a cup of tea next to her. But what scared me a little was that she was holding onto her head like she was in pain. Before we officially moved her, I found out from Uncle Homer that mom was having some severe headaches that started happening a few days before I tried running away from Ancient Greece. He tried asking her about it, but she told him that they were nothing more than just migraines. While it may not seem too worrisome, it still scared me a little. Especially since she didn't want to talk about the migraines in front of me.
"You okay?" I asked her.
"Yeah, just a…" she shook her head and gave a weak smile. "Just a little headache is all."
"Are you sure?" I asked in concern.
"Yes, of course." she assured me as she changed the subject. "How was the Underworld."
"Pretty good, although I'm still mad about what that drake and what Achilles called me." I admitted to her.
"What'd they call you?" she asked me.
"They called me 'delicate'. Like, what is this? The Renaissance Era?" I ranted. "I'm anything but delicate."
"I know that. But…" Mom thought for a bit before leaving her seat and going to the kitchen table. "If you wanna prove that you're not delicate to settle your little tiff, I might have something that could help with that."
I gave a confused look. "What is it?"
"This came in the mail today." she said as she handed me a brochure. "It might be a mis-delivery. Sparta never sends mail to Athens."
I took the brochure and opened it up, and sure enough it was from Sparta. But this brochure proved to be useful, for it was a brochure to a Spartan military camp. One that was sure to turn the young minds of Sparta, or any other minds that weren't Athenian, and shape them into the perfect soldiers. Mix this brochure and what I learned from Achilles together, and I got the brainstorm of all brainstorms: a brain-hurricane, as I like to call it, as a grin grew on my face.
"This is perfect!" I exclaimed happily. "I do this, and I'll be able to be more than just a delicate face!"
"Are you sure about it?" Mom asked me. "It was just a suggestion."
"I'm sure, Mom." I told her eagerly. "I wanna do this."
"Okay, I'll send in an application," Mom gave me the ok. "But you are gonna have to make sure no one finds out who you really are."
"No problem," I shrugged that problem off. "I've lied about my identity before; I can do it again."
"But there's one other thing." she continued when she showed me something on the brochure. "You'll have to make a personal sacrifice."
I looked at where Mom was pointing at on the brochure. A very important regulation was required for any new soldier of Sparta, one that gave me a bit of a shock when I read it for myself. I rubbed on the tips of my long, mousy-brown hair as I contemplated that rule. If I was ever gonna prove that I can fight, then my personal beliefs would have to be best suited for the better. It wouldn't be easy, but I'll do it just to prove myself.
"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." I finally said.