The final breath that left Megara's body puffed shakily against Hercules's face. This time, for her second death, he was holding her, looking into her eyes, and weeping. He'd missed the moment that first time, but even being here for her was not enough to make up for the fact she was gone.
"I have to go find her," he said. "Thanatos can't be far, I'll–"
The sweat-plastered hair he'd buried his fingers in suddenly lost its softness. It was as if he were clutching a gritty bit of marble left outside to collect road dust.
He blinked rapidly, but nothing could help him comprehend how Megara's slumped body went rigid or why her skin took on a glassy sheen.
"What's happening?" he asked breathlessly.
Megara's skin changed color from looking as if someone had coated it with glass to a purple sheen that glowed from the inside. A humming noise filled his ears, but he wasn't sure if it was because he was losing his mind or if this crystallization process was to blame.
"Rhea!" His voice had gone ragged. He'd begun to weep uncontrollably, and there was no sign it would ever stop. "No!" he cried at the sight of her hair taking on the same glowing crystalline aspect. "Meg! No!" he screamed even louder, but there was no stopping the progress of the crystallization.
All three of his children were wailing, and Hera had to lift his newborn sons off of Megara's strangely crystalline body. He couldn't let them see this. They should never have seen her like this! Seeing her dead before had traumatized him forever, and now it would stick with Harmonia and the newborn sons.
"It's time you paid off your debt!" Hades's voice crackled through the air, but the mad god himself did not appear.
Megara's entire body was engulfed in crystal, her face frozen in a solemn surrender.
Hercules cupped her face, yelling, "Rhea! Someone fix her! Help! We need to–"
Between his very hands, what had once been Megara's face crumbled into a fine, sparkling sand.
"No!" Hercules cupped his hands, but she fell between his fingers and into the bowl that had caught the blood that fell from her during the birth.
The rest of it was tossed away by a breeze, scattering into the air and out the window.
"Mama!" Harmonia screamed over and over, and he heard her tiny fists battering the door. Her voice mingled with the cries of her brothers.
"Good luck putting that together again!" Hades chuckled. "Consider useven!"
Hercules knelt helplessly, holding a handful of glittering purple sand that had been his wife seconds before. It seemed like a bad dream, but he was awake.
He may never sleep again.