One good thing about having a small child and a pregnant wife was that both of them required naps. Hercules crept downstairs while Megara was sleeping. The dull murmur of their family and friends formed a convenient backdrop to his escape. He descended the stairs to find Cassandra waiting at the bottom of the steps.
"Where do you want to do this?" Cassandra asked.
"Anywhere– nowhere?" Hercules rubbed his head. He felt like something had fallen on his head.
Cassandra gestured for him to follow her out the front door of the villa. She sat on a bench overlooking the sea, looking toward the island of Chalkis.
Unable to muster the words to ask what he was thinking, Hercules paced behind her. As long as he'd known her, Cassandra primarily saw negative visions. That had changed recently, but he didn't know whether her visions skewed more toward negative than positive.
"I've seen two visions," Cassandra spoke before Hercules had a chance to muster the courage to articulate his question.
"Two?" Hercules asked. "So you know more about Meg and the twins than just one vision?"
"There are two equally possible outcomes to their birth, Hercules. They will survive either way."
She didn't say what would happen to Meg.
"Cass…" he started.
"There's an equal chance she lives as the other thing," Cassandra spoke with the gentlest form of bluntness Hercules knew she was capable of. As if seeing the horrified disbelief on his face, Cassandra said, "Both of the visions I've witnessed are equally valid, Herc." She set a hand on his arm. "Do you want me to tell you about–"
"No!" Hercules waved his hands around in alarm. "I can't– don't! Don't tell me anything about the possibility she might– Tell me the other thing!"
Cassandra watched him, and he saw the judgments processing behind her eyes, even though she didn't speak them. Finally, she said, "One of my visions has revealed how she could become a goddess," Cassandra said.
Hercules's heart jumped into his throat. "Really? Finally!" He lifted Cassandra in his arms and whirled around. "Oh, Cass! Meg can be with me forever! She'll finally be permanently safe! She's going to be so happy to hear this! What will she be the goddess of? I want to start getting her ready now!"
"Herc! Put me down! Meg's not the only one with a baby!"
"Oh, right." Hercules sheepishly settled Cassandra on her feet and dusted off her shoulders. "Sorry, Cass… I'm just so happy… I have to do something with this happiness!"
"Save it for your nascent goddess," Cassandra said and folded her arms to regain her dignity. "If that vision comes true, you'll have a goddess wife and three immortal children. But… in the event that the other–"
"You already said my children will live. You can't take that back."
"I wasn't going to. They will all gain immortality, and soon. You can count on that."
Hercules knew what he wasn't hearing, and it made his ears ache as if they could conjure the words themselves. He still wouldn't ask. He refused to acknowledge the possibility that Megara would die. It was inconceivable to him, and he would forcibly remain ensconced in the bliss of her future immortality.
"But I need you to know one thing," Cassandra said. "Even if Meg goes away for a while, she'll come back. You won't be separated forever."
"I brought her back before," came Hercules's kneejerk response. "There's no way I'll let her go!"
Cassandra dramatically pretended to clean out her ears. "Do you want to yell that even louder? I don't think you woke up Harmonia that time."
"Sorry," Hercules scratched the back of his neck. "Cassandra… I already admitted to my father that a life without Meg would be empty. I can't watch her… leave again because of me. Because of my children. You have to tell me if there's any way I can change which future we live through. I can't wait for it to happen. There has to be something I can do. I won't abandon her to the Fates. They've snipped her thread before."
"I've never seen two equally valid futures before," Cassandra admitted. I can't translate that into strategy. It's just something that's happened. I apologize, Herc. I truly don't want to see anything happen to her. She's made you genuinely happy, and now she's like a sister to me in two ways. But… you've got to know that if I've seen this as a possibility, you should be ready…"
"I won't. There is nothing that could prepare me for that."
"You have all of us. We can support you. Maybe Dionysus can resurrect her this time. Make her one of his followers so she can be tied to her brothers."
"She belongs with me, not my brother. I'm not going to surrender my wife to the king of debauchery! She doesn't deserve that, and I won't abandon her. She has to be here with our family, where I can protect her. I can't go through life knowing that she's wandering around the wilds with centaurs and satyrs, letting Dionysus drive her crazy. It's not the same with her brothers. They can't become Maenads."
"Would a Maenad Meg be so bad?" Cassandra mused. "You like how tough she is, don't you? Maybe a little romp with a crazy Meg every now and then might spice things up for the two of you."
"Don't even joke like that," Hercules turned away, trying to shake the thought out of his mind. "I know you're trying to make me feel better, but that's not helping."
"I don't see how there's any more I can do," Cassandra replied. "I've told you what I saw, and you only want to hear about half of it."
"Tell me more about the dream where she lives. When she becomes a goddess, is everything fixed forever? No more betrayals or tricks or heartbreaks?"
"Hey, buddy, I saw a vision. I haven't read your whole life stories. All I saw was a snippet, and all of you were happy when I saw you in it. There's nothing aside from that and the two of you with all three of your children on Olympus."
Hercules let that thought settle into his mind. There were possibilities there. She had to be safe. He'd make it so.
"Again, though…"Cassandra said, "Even the…another possibility… won't separate isn't the end at all."
"It won't be." Hercules met Cassandra's eyes as if he could impose his vision on her. "I won't allow it."
"You can't change fate," Cassandra sounded exasperated, but she knew him too well to argue.
"Yes, I can." Hercules whirled from her, his mind set on returning to Megara and letting her know that Cassandra had envisioned her as his goddess. A quick jab of guilt made him turn back around. "Thanks, Cass… I know I was difficult just now, but… this was so important to me. It'll be something to inspire Meg. She can't see herself surviving. She keeps planning for…"
"So one of you looks up, and the other looks down?"
Hercules wrinkled his nose. "Don't say it like that… Meg's… she's going to be all right." A bilious sensation rose up in his chest at the memory of the first time he'd lost her. He'd been determined then, and he still held her lifeless body in his arms.
Nothing would stop him.
He wouldn't allow that to happen again.