Hercules drifted in a haze of confusion, overwrought with powerful emotions. Grief, shock, and terror whirled about in his mind, fighting to drown out the budding relief trying to grow in their place.
His recollections caught up with him, from the moment he'd first heard of Megara's death to the stage storming by his so-called fans and then the moment Megara emerged from the secret passageways in the wall.
Had Megara died or walked out of the wall? Would she be there when he woke? He thought he caught her scent, floral and warm. Was he imagining that in his grief-stricken frenzy? His head rested somewhere soft and firm while something that felt like rose petals drifted across his face. Despite himself, he began his rise back through the tiers of consciousness toward the waking world.
Would he lose his connection to Megara if he left this dream world? What harsh reality awaited him?
His eyes opened slowly, blurry vision revealing a few hazy shapes of familiar colors. That shade of brown tinged with red in the sunlight instantly drew him further into focus so that he could see Megara's violet eyes.
Her face hovered close to hers, thick auburn curls brushing his cheek. She breathed on his face. She was real.
"There you are…" she purred softly. Then he realized she had his head resting on her lap while her hands framed his face and caressed his cheek. "I missed you, Wonder Boy."
"Are we dead?" he croaked.
"No, of course not. If we were dead, I couldn't do this." She bent over him and kissed his lips.
This was real. Her softness, her warmth… He could never leave her again… Hercules lost himself in that kiss. She was there, opening her lips to him and holding him securely in her arms. The delicate yet overwhelming scent of her enraptured him out of every fear.
Hercules reached up to cradle the back of her neck to hold her to him, and every problem in the cosmos seemed to fade into irrelevance. The two of them were together, and she didn't even seem the slightest bit injured. He should've flown back to her days ago, no matter what Phil had to say.
Too soon for his taste, Megara rose back out of the kiss. "Herc," she whispered while her breath puffed against his face, "I'm sorry…"
"What?" That statement startled him out of his blissful contentment. "What are you talking about? Why are you sorry? I'm so glad… you're okay…" he croaked softly. "What could be wrong at a time like this?"
Megara's eyes were wide with violet concern. "For letting you think I was dead. The news got out sooner than I expected it to. I thought we could communicate with you before someone told you what happened."
"How about you tell me?" Hercules knelt before Megara and cradled her face in his large hands. He could shield her whole head in his hands. The sensation of her hair under his callused hands made him shiver. "You can tell me everything," he assured her.
"We weren't sure what to do… Gorgons crept into the villa, and they tried to kill me," Megara's eyes glimmered as she spoke with unshed tears and restrained fear. "None of us knew when you'd return, and it was so lucky we survived the first time… We thought the only way to survive was if we pretended I was already dead."
Hercules bent his head forward and rested his sore brow against the soft curls that framed hers. "Meg… you were so smart… I'm so proud of you for thinking up a way to survive when monsters were after you. I should've been here. You never should've had to go through that."
By now, he'd forgotten everyone else in the courtyard was present. All that mattered was Megara. He longed to lose himself in her once more, but she had more to say.
"I'm glad you feel that way… we were still trying to figure out how to get a message to you when you seem to move from polis to polis daily. You move too quickly for any courier."
"That's not your fault," he whispered to her. "None of that matters anymore. I know you did your best. Don't let it bother you anymore. We're together again." His fingers caressed her ears, and his thumbs brushed circles along her cheekbones. "I was an idiot to let Phil rip us apart. We should've been together the whole time."
"I know, we should've been. You should be my husband."
He hadn't heard her say that word in so long that it stole his breath. Hercules sat back on his haunches again to get a better look into her eyes. "Meg…" he whispered.
"I know, that's not the priority right now…" Her eyes dropped to the space between their knees.
Hercules scooted forward, so their knees pressed together. "Look at me." There was more authority in his voice than he'd expected to hear. It made him sit up taller as if he could disappoint himself. "Meg, I can't let you think our relationship means more to you than to me. It's either the same, or I want us married more than you do. You're everything to me, do you know that?"
Her eyes remained shyly averted for a long moment, but she finally locked eyes with him again. "I think so. It's still hard to believe."
"Even after we've been through so much?" Hercules pulled thick curly locks from her hair kerchief and toyed with them between his fingers. "You know me better than that, don't you? I'm crazy about you."
Somewhere in the further reaches of the courtyard, Galatea made a slight noise of amusement at that phrase.
"I just feel like I get in the way sometimes," Megara whispered. "Like I'm an inconvenience."
That sentiment narrowed his eyes. "No," he said with a firm rumble. "Everything that keeps you from me is an inconvenience and worse. I'm not putting up with that anymore. We're better together… but you've gotta tell me how you took out those gorgons!"
"I used a shovel," Megara said. We kept the blade sharp enough that… well, it worked."
"And don't forget Ismene with the gardening fork!" Galatea shouted. "She was a precious player sneaking up on those snakes!"
"But what made people think you were dead?" Hercules asked, smiling briefly at the others before his eyes locked back on Megara's face.
"When they petrified Galatea, there was another woman with the Gorgons," Megara said, frowning. "None of us recognized her, but Medusa tells us her name was Medea. So, this Medea saw Galatea turn to stone, and I think she's the one who spread the rumor of my death. Someone must have described me to her, and she mistook Galatea for me."
"Sister power!" Galatea cheered.
"Yeah, that," Megara replied with a smirk.
"It turns out clay statues are immune to petrification!" Galatea exclaimed, coming closer. "I'd like to try it again; it was a big thrill!"
"How about we don't?" Medusa asked.
"What do you know about Medea?" Hercules asked.
"She's a witch, working for Hecate," Medusa said. "She wanted us to kill Megara as part of some grand plan."
"Hades and Hecate are both schemers," Megara noted. "I think it has to do with an Underworld power grab."
"She's done that before," Hercules nodded. "I wish they'd leave us out of that conflict, though. Why should you have to get in the middle of two Underworld gods?"
"I think it's because I'm the only vulnerable thing there is about you," Megara said. "Hate to say it, but I have no supernatural powers or godly gifts. Aside from Athena's armor, anyway. I was a little too slow getting that on when danger was here."
"He might think you're vulnerable, but you got rid of two monsters that came after you and tricked our enemies, so they left you alone. They'd better not underestimate you again, or you'll take all of them down."
Megara snickered and rolled her eyes. "You've got some strange ideas about what I'm capable of, but thanks for that. Anyway, what do we want to do about the me-being-dead thing?"
"I told our family she wasn't dead," Ismene said. "But of course, they had to put the wedding on hold to keep up appearances."
"We shouldn't put it off anymore," Hercules said. He took Megara's hands. "We've got to get married right away."
"What, you mean, tonight?" Megara's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you sure about that? It's a little bit dangerous right now, especially if we consummated the marriage and… made me… vulnerable. More so than I already am."
"All right, so we get married and hold off on that until further notice when it's safer," Hercules shrugged. "I just want to have you and show everyone that I do. We've got to be together, no matter what else happens. Do you agree?" He lifted her hands to his lips.
"Yes," she whispered.
"We'd have to scramble to get it done today, but we could try tomorrow," Ismene suggested.
"If you want to take Pegasus, you can tell everyone," Hercules said. "We should stay here, Meg." His voice was so thick with desire that he didn't even bother camouflaging. He'd been away from her for so long now that he was going mad.
"We'll have dinner together and drink some wine," Megara said. "Issie, you can go with Galatea and Medusa, visit Aphrodite's temple, and get some rest."
"Aww, she's trying to get rid of us…" Galatea cooed.
"If Herc and I are getting married tomorrow, we'll need to have some highly competent coordinators on the case, don't you agree?" Megara asked.
"Oh, yes, I'm sure that's the only reason," Ismene snarked in the characteristic Theban drawl.
"I'll get Aphrodite ready for the wedding tomorrow," Medusa said. "I'd like to be part of the ceremony, by the way."
"We can't really get married tomorrow, can we?" Megara asked. "Cassandra's all the way in Delphi."
"Fair point and Icarus is in the Peloponnese…" Hercules frowned.
"Do we have to invite him?"
"If you have problems with how he is now, imagine how much fun you'd have if he weren't invited to our wedding."
"What's he gonna do, curse our firstborn?"
The question sent a shockwave through Hercules as he contemplated the very thought of them having a firstborn child. The idea made his blood flow faster, and he wished she had no problem creating that child immediately.
She seemed to recognize that entire struggle playing out on his face. "If you really need me to, we could… try to do more…"
"Don't do anything just to please me," Hercules said, though her offer warmed his heart. "We'll only do what both of us are ready for." Doubt clouded his heart. "Are you ready to marry me, or am I pushing you? Do you feel like this is happening too quickly?"
"No, no, this has all been too slow for me!" Megara smiled with a softness in her eyes that bore no irony. "We've been apart for too long. I want to hold you." She got to her feet, and he followed her.
"You hold me?" Hercule shook his head and prayed his laughter sounded amused rather than psychotic. "You'll have to fight me over who holds whom, Meg." He swept her legs out from under her in a sudden motion that cradled her against his chest before she could squeak. "There, see? My superior heroic reflexes win again!"
He could see himself clinging to her with even more vehemence than before he'd thought her dead. He both wanted to stand before the whole world and declare that she was alive and his, and also smuggle her into secret spaces and have her all to himself. One or the other was more prominent in his mind second to second, but as he looked down at her in his arms, he was sure only of how he couldn't let anything separate them again.
If he lost her again, he was sure he'd lose her forever. He didn't know what made that thought form in the back of his mind. It wasn't like when Cassandra had a vision. It was as if something in his intuition was warning him or as if he knew that Hades would try to assassinate Megara with renewed vigor if Hercules took his eyes off of her.
"Come to bed," Megara whispered. "I think we could spend some time together in the quiet."
What seemed like seconds later, Hercules and Megara tumbled into bed together, their mutual bone-deep exhaustion driving them both to cling to one another as they slid into sleep.