Sewn Together…
Heracles awakes.
He was typically a very light sleeper. Mostly due to his constitution but at the same time he was a very attentive, active person who rarely found rest as a good thing lest he was exhausted from something truly tenuous and even then, he kept himself composed and ready with even the slightest sound.
Rarely did he find sleep as comfortable or necessary as many do given his constitution, but he knew the importance of it for mortals.
Yet, it was strange that he woke up from what he assumed to be a deep, pleasant rest. His vision, sharp as it was felt the rays of the sun touch the room that he was in, probably through the window. His breath normal as it always was, felt a bit… strained. Like there was an unknown mass pressing against him. Two masses, actually.
What happened last night? Why was he here?
Why did-
"Mmm…" a voice hums.
Heracles blinks as he feels the mass by his side move ever so slightly deeper into his arm. Another mass, on his other side, then rubbed their skin against his own. Raising his head slowly, it was there where a well of emotions suddenly sprung up from his typically placid personality.
His hands started to shake as his nerves were overloaded by the breath of emotion circling within them. He lowers his fingers, gently and slowly feeling the sensation of hair as he stroked it. His eyes water lightly while his lips curl into a smile. Disbelief and joy wrapped his mind as his strokes became affectionate and loving as the masses curled into his arms moved and rubbed themselves lightly to his touch.
The son of Zeus was known for many things and was quite intelligent despite their monstrous appearance, yet he found no answer to why he was feeling this way. Yet at the same time, he felt thankful and ultimately happy, so much so that as a rogue tear trickled down his cheek, he felt the two masses move again much more animatedly this time.
"Pater… let Deicoon sleep more." A small, innocent voice said while he felt the mass snuggle deeper into him. Heracles continued to stroke the hair that his fingers were traversing on. The very hair and voice that belonged to his son.
"Gods above." He whispered as he squeezed the two children, snuggled against his body lovingly. His tears still continued to trickle down as joy, the utmost joy that his emotions had taken reverberated within his body like a cinder of flame igniting a bonfire.
"Why is Pater sad?" a voice said to his other side. A boy, barely four years of age with eyes twinkling in starlight stared at him while his black, raven-like hair lightly swayed to the breeze that entered their room. The child pressed his face into Heracles' chest as he pouted. "Did I do something wrong?"
Heracles' large hands gently reached out and patted the boy's head.
"No… absolutely nothing is wrong. Your Pater is happy, Creontiades. So happy." He said, his voice shaky and betrayed the image that many in Greece saw of the great hero. Yet Heracles did not care, he pulled the boy closer, kissing the top of his head with all the love he could muster as he began laughing.
"Pater, awake?" Deicoon asked beside him, eyes still sleepy as Heracles' laughs steadily increased in volume and joy as he sat up, hugging the two children into his arms, tightly while his sons looked confused. They relented, however, pressing their own bodies into their father as Heracles continued to tear up in joy.
"My sons… m-my beloved sons." He continued to say as he pressed himself tighter into his children as they all laughed.
"Silly Pater…" Deicoon jokingly said as the joy bubbling within the Heracles reached a zenith.
Once another voice entered the room.
"Husband? I heard laughter, did the boys wake you?"
Heracles was left still as a statue as his tearful eyes finally caught sight of the person standing in the doorway. Wearing a simple maiden garb and holding a young infant in her arms while her simple beauty radiated like the sunny aura of Helios…
"What?" she asked as her smile deepened.
…was perhaps someone that his heart seemingly beat faster for in droves.
He gently placed his sons down as Heracles took a step forward.
Only then did she realize that he was tearing up.
"Husband? W-Why are you crying?" she said worryingly given she had never seen him shed a tear in the entire time they were married on the shores of Thebes. Her smile was divine. Her presence, was magical as Heracles took another step, a hand raised as if reaching for her while she looked at him.
"Megara." He simply whispered as they were now barely an inch away.
"What happened? Is something wrong?" she worriedly said.
He then reached out with his hands and gently rubbed the back of his hand on the side of her face. He moved the stray strand of curly hair off of her eyes as her beloved, his wife looked back at him.
He pressed his forehead against hers. Both closed their eyes as his hands moved toward her waist, pressing her into him in a loving, fruitful embrace. Heracles continued to tear up.
"Shhhh…" Megara lulled him to stop as he opened his eyes.
A smile graced her features as she reached up and kissed him quickly but affectionately on his lips. Mesmerized, Heracles merely smiled back as a cool interrupted their moment. His last son, the youngest reached up to his father with his tiny fingers while Megara held him.
"I'm home."
"You always have been," Megara replied as his two other sons ran to them. Joining them in a sort of celebration as Heracles held them all close.
"Not without all of you." He whispered back as he smiled.
"Did you have nightmares, my love?" Megara asked across the table as their two sons went outside, playing in the meadows after their entire family enjoyed a lengthy breakfast together. Megara looked at her husband in curiosity as the smile never left his face nor did he stop staring at her ever since his very strange awakening.
"No. I just felt like I was… lost and waking up brought me back." He admitted.
"Hm. Why would you be lost? It's been some time since your adventures. I reckoned you would be used to finding your way back to us… to me, as you've always promised." She teased. A rare blush forms on his face as Heracles grins.
"You always know what to say to make me happy."
"Isn't that what any wife should know? Mother Hera would disapprove of me if I didn't." she teased back, though the mention of the name Hera made him lose some of the smile. However, Megara did not seem to detect it. "I wonder, however, you're not the type to smile this long. Did something good happen?"
"You and our family are the best thing that's happened to my life." He said without hesitation. The way he said made Megara absolutely laugh but Heracles continued to smile. It came off as awkward, perhaps strange coming from one of the strongest men to ever live, but he chose to say it for that was as honest as his heart could ever procure at that moment.
"There is something strange with you today." She said as she walked over to his side. Heracles reached out for her hand and she obliged. He squeezes it and kisses it lightly as much as any man would pour love to their wife as she leans her head against the top of his manly mane of hair.
"But it's a form of strangeness that I can happily say I appreciate."
Heracles hums in agreement as their youngest son coos in their direction. Megara leaves his side briefly, their arms rubbing against each other in an affectionate manner while their youngest child swoons.
"Megara." He says as his wife lifts their son into her arms.
"Yes?"
"What happened last night?" he asked. Ultimately realizing that despite his happiness, his memories seemed, fractured, for lack of a better word. It was like his dreams were literal in the sense that whatever events transpired the night before seemed lost to him. What he did have, the more he thought about it were… echoes.
Voices in the night. A young boy not of his own blood screaming in tears. Lightning. Friendly faces in the form of his companions in the Argo. The faint voice of a little girl amongst many others. A volcano explosion the likes that Hephaestus would be proud of and a blonde-haired man to whom he found respect. His mind had been trying to process the many thoughts at once, but it seemed like everything was overridden because he was with his family.
It was like his mind had been mentally blocking everything away, just for the sake of this.
"You came home, husband. T'was a simple day, you took Creontiades fishing. It's the reason he came home exhausted. Your boys wished to sleep in our bed, and we obliged." She then teasingly smiled at him. "Seeing you sleep with your sons was quite the sight. Perhaps we should find more reasons for you to sleep soundly. Lest I lose sight of such a treasure."
He huffed at her words as a grin then followed after.
"I'm a bit surprised I was able to sleep at all. Yet I don't feel as if it was a bad thing."
"Indeed," Megara said as she began feeding their child she let the side of her garb fall to let the infant drink. The image made Heracles feel, comfortable and proud as he watched his lovely wife and son bond through that gesture. Moving his hands through the table, he remembered fashioning a while back until his hands came across a patchwork, hand-crafted doll.
A simple doll depicting a blonde hero wielding a sword and wearing a tunic.
Faint memories once again entered his head.
Specific memories of a young woman with hearts in her eyes. A maiden that was transfixed with a man that Heracles' mood began to shift again. A frown littered his face as he lightly stroked the doll's hair while Megara looked at him.
"I wish to meet her, someday… Heracles. If only to thank her." Megara said.
"I wish it were that simple, Megara. It was already a complex problem the moment I saw and understood what the situation was with them, but I don't know if intervening any further was any good." He admitted as the smile of a young woman came to him. The most talented, powerful mage he had ever met in his lifetime, kind… selfless (even if forced), and loyal (in some manner) to a fault.
His frown worsened as he thought about her more.
"Don't give me that. You were her friend. The fact that she did the effort to even make that for your son, and supported you all the way back to us, is enough for me to tell you that you should have done more." Megara said with a bit of sadness in her voice.
Heracles turned to her, still holding the doll as his son seemingly reached for it.
"I didn't want to ruin the crew's morale."
"It's unfair to say such a thing, husband. Knowing full well that she was not privy to any action she's done in the last few years. Even if it were for Aphrodite's sake. You were there. Even if it was to the detriment of Jason, I believe you should have intervened." she said, her voice firm on it.
Heracles nodded slowly.
"I know. Not a day goes by where I don't… see myself in her."
Megara tilts her head in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"I... I was also a-
Flames burned high into the sky as in his madness, the monster threw a child into hell. The boy screamed 'Father!' in shock and confusion as the warrior stood still. Fist raised high and mighty into the sky as the shocked woes of a woman cry out.
Thunder rumbled as if the sky was pleased.
Thunder rumbled as if the Queen of the Gods was now satisfied.
Thunder rumbled as if-
"Heracles?" Megara's voice returned him back to the present as he blinked.
"N-Nothing… d-don't mind what I said. I feel pity for her. I-I should have done more." He hurriedly said as he had quickly forgotten the harrowing images in his head as he reached out with his hand and squeezed his wife's.
"Maybe someday you can introduce me to her. I would thank her for so much already."
"Yes, my love. I believe Medea would love that."
He then lent the doll into his infant son's hands as she smiled.
"What is this?" he asked on the shore as the growing Medea smiled at him. Holding her staff.
"A gift, Heracles. You are Lord Jason's closest friend. Probably the only true friend he has, and I wish to just commemorate such a bond by giving you a present filled with my love and thanks."
Heracles smiles, placing a thankful hand on her shoulder.
"My sons will love this gift. Thank you."
"I'm glad. I hope I was not a nuisance. I am merely a maiden, after all, chasing a pretty, handsome face." She replied with both joy and a dry sense of tone. It made Heracles feel shocked somewhat before sighing.
"You are always welcome with me, Medea. If you wish to come, I can tell-
"No. Live your life, my friend. Do not concern yourself with mine."
Heracles felt the weight of Medea's doll to be heavy, figuratively and emotionally as his son played with it. He smiled in joy while also thinking about what Megara had said.
He was about to say something more about the topic when his two sons came bursting in, happily running against each other, playing with sticks as if they were warriors fighting in combat.
Strangely enough again, those troubled memories disappeared instantly.
As joy overtook his form he cherished it as he held his family close.
It was as if, the great hero himself was blatantly ignoring the strangeness of the events transpiring around him.
Or… he did not care at all to stop or condemn it.
"I don't know if I can do this, Pater," Creontiades said as Heracles placed a supportive hand on his son's shoulder. The boy's spirit rose somewhat but his eyes were still left with much uncertainty.
"We don't need to hurry, son. Such an act is quite difficult for a boy your age." Heracles continued as he knelt down eye to eye with his son. Creontiades' hands become unsteady, but his eyes look up to his father's, praise, hope and most of his dreams based on him fully. More so when he heard the many stories his father had heard over the years, most of them of the Argo.
"But it is an act that must be dealt with courage… I am not asking you to act bravely or to force yourself with such a burden. For the measure of being a man is to take action when it matters."
Creontiades smiles as he steadies his grip on the knife his father lent him.
Heracles holds the boar down as he points towards the best place to end the boar's life.
The father of three watches as his son enacts the respectful prayer towards Artemis, eventually as the last of the respectful rites are done, he plunges the blade deep into the boar. A yelp is heard as the boar's life steadily retracts from its body. Either to Elysium or to the stars above, only the Gods in Olympia knew as Heracles smiled like every proud father would.
Creontiades sighs deeply as he looks at his father. Blood dripped upon his fingers as he processed the action that he had just taken. "It feels… scary."
Heracles presses his palm on his son's cheek. "It always does son. I am a hypocrite in saying that perhaps, but I understand the consequences of taking a life. Death is neither pretty nor acceptable. Each life is just as important as others, but for my sake, with all the times I had to take another, it merely dulls the emotion down."
"I… I don't like killing Pater. Even if the boar is a blessing from the Gods for us to feast."
"I never said that you should like it, son. I feel glad actually that you feel this way. No boy or man should be used to death. For it is through such events that one's heart goes dull and what remains is merely anger, pain, and indifference. One must know how to love, to care, for that is a life worth living knowing at the end of the day you can smile rather than weep."
"But… what if there is no choice?" Creontiades asks.
Heracles nods solemnly. "Then a man must do what needs to be done. Strapped with a choice where your life or those you love are on the line, then one must be brave enough to face such an action."
"W-Will I be brave enough, Pater?"
Heracles pats his head.
"The fact that you are here and doing your best tells me enough son. Not every person is the same. Maybe someday you will far surpass my own story. One thing I am sure of right now, is that you are my son, and I am proud of you regardless."
Creontiades embraces his father tightly as the larger man smiles.
They then finish up their hunting trip as Heracles carries the boar. The father and son walk side by side together as they reach their home moments later. The family celebrates Creontiades' successful, formal hunt as his younger brother Deicoon feels slightly jealous. Megara happily cheers for them while his youngest son laughs as if understanding the entire thing.
Heracles felt content as they began preparing for their dinner.
As he watched the atmosphere of his home blossom with such joy and love…
A part of him began to question how… perfect it all felt and seemed.
At the same time, he did not seem to mind.
He… preferred this.
He preferred it over the many glimpses that his shackled memory gave to him.
"Pater!"
Heracles blinks as he feels Deicoon tug his arm. The innocent, wide-eyed child pouting at him.
"Yes?"
"Bring Deicoon next time."
He giggles as he lifts his son into his arms. Joining Megara again as they prepare for their dinner. The day was already as perfect as it could ever be even as the sun began setting hours later.
Finishing their feast, it was there that Heracles began to realize that this was the most complete their family had ever been ever since…
…Megara smiles weakly as she holds her bleeding hand.
…ever since…
"…what utter travesty, cousin of mine. A monster! Truly a monster! Wicked and blasphemous to kill his own wife and children in cold blood. I should have known. The world should have known. What was once a monster, is always a monster." Eurystheus says animatedly as he points at him accusingly.
…ever since…
"H-Heracles… I… I did not-" the Queen of the Amazons muttered as his rage took over him again.
"Heracles." Megara's voice says. Breaking him from his trance as she looks at him in concern.
His two sons were talking with each other with low voices around their hearth as their youngest was already fast asleep next to the two parents. Heracles once more forgot instantly what his mind was showing him as he placed an affectionate hand on Megara's own.
"I'm alright." He mutters.
"You've been deep in thought a lot of times today. Am I to blame for making you feel disturbed?"
"No… no. Please don't think so." He said in his defense.
"I see, did you enjoy the meal though?" she asked with a bit of humor in her tone.
"What's not there to like?" he teased back as she laughed. Megara was always hard on herself, especially for being a wife. In this particular case, she admitted time and time again that her cooking was atrocious. Heracles did not mind however, regardless of his wife's imperfections, he still found her as ideal as a mother as there could ever be.
"Don't you start with me you brute." She then smiles at him lovingly, a blush present on her face. "…but, thank you, my love."
He happily laughed in that exchange as he brought her in close with his arm. The parents smiled as they watched their children continue to play with each other. It was… perfect. Perfect as anything could possibly be.
Heracles held his wife's hand tightly. Kissing the top of her head as his heart continued to beat in a rhythm that wished for this entire day to never end. The stars continued to twinkle up above as the heat and light of their hearth figuratively lit up the already warm and wholesome presence of their family.
He wanted this.
He desired this.
Even if deep down, he had moved on somewhat. Even if deep down, he had shoved this central part of himself away to block all the pain away.
The silence was beautiful. It was lovely.
He kept on believing in it. The hope. The love. The sheer impossibility of it all.
Knowing deep down, it was not to last.
That this… this was in all aspects just a drea-
"Pater, look what I found!" Creontiades said as his two sons ran to him. Heracles looked at it, an item that he had hidden long from his youth. A lyre. A relic of his past as an angry child. A rampant slew of emotions beckoned him, though at the same time, a fit of nostalgia filled his head as he slowly took the instrument into his hands. The strings were still tightly wound up as he recalled his history with such an item.
"Well… this takes me back." He awkwardly said.
"Can you play it?" Deicoon asked as Therimachus raised his arms as if in support of his brother while he laid on Megara's lap. His own wife looked at him with a shrug as he sighed.
"I'm…" he bit his lip as Megara smiled at the awkward look on his face.
"Are you saying, it's impossible for you… Heracles?" she teased as he sighed heavily. The urge. The urge to prove the impossible was possible began dawning on him again as he took the lyre and tried to remember how to play it.
Taking a deep breath, he carefully tugged one of the strings with his fingers as the pleasant tune of that note in the Lyre was heard. Slowly, he moved into a good rhythm, even if it was imperfect. He was never tonally off-point, but the music he made through the instrument was decent enough that his sons watched him as he painfully focused on it.
He was without practice and even back then, his talents were never on the Lyre, but he tried his best even with the piling mistakes as his music continued. Even so, as he continued on he saw his sons eventually enjoy the act, so much so that their eyes began to turn heavy.
Then, his sweet, loving wife began humming.
It made him pause somewhat in the tune as he watched her.
Her hum was so pleasant and beautiful that he was enraptured. He was charmed as if Eros had struck his heart with an arrow. It was like seeing her again when they were first wed. It was like the most wonderful thing he had ever seen.
They continued on… into the night together as a family as his sons were now lulled to sleep.
The day had been so wonderful.
If only it were all real.
"I love you." He whispered into her nape as he clung to her. Megara shifted, humming in response as Heracles' eyes began to water. Denial and so many things wrapping his head as he tried to mentally block everything away.
He was never losing his memories.
He never forgot the events of his entire life, both the tragedies and the blessings.
He just… pushed it all away, intentionally.
Wanting for these moments to last.
Nobody was controlling his mind. Nobody was sabotaging him.
It was merely Heracles himself, wanting for this deeply ingrained wish to be reality. He knew…
"I love you too." She whispered.
…it was impossible.
He knew it could never be.
Yet his hopes and dreams, his core clung to it, because it was the most pleasant part of his life that he could no longer reach. The most cherished part of him that his heart always beats to.
Heracles reaches for his wife's face. She looks at him, with a smile.
He gently kisses her…
As the dream ends.
…
Heracles awakes.
He is immediately greeted by a simplistic room as he sits up in his bed.
He had… slept again for a significant portion of time. A frown perpetuates on his face as his long, wild hair that was seemingly always flowing as if a wind was blowing it was lifeless.
Heracles heavily sighed to himself as he thought about that dream again.
Instead of mourning, he simply made a small smile. Thankful that he had seen it.
Wiping his slightly wet eyes, Heracles stood up from his bed.
It was just another day…
Medea wonders why she even joined this little impromptu dinner.
Due to the success of their master's plans to implement their 'vaccine' to the masses, internationally. Most of everybody was present, with the exception of a few that Medea did not question. Ordinarily, she would decline and wish to continue her work inside her own workshop, but she came along after some convincing with Atalanta.
Probably the only person who was willing to talk to her closely and personally aside from their master and sometimes Odysseus who was amicable at best. It was not that she wasn't enjoying her time, the opposite actually given that the food was good and most of her mortal minio-, companions were present as well. Lisa, the kind blonde girl was quite good at her job, and it helped that she was also her dressing doll while her actual dressing dolls were not present.
She had many mortal companions. Most of them were very cute and beautiful.
Men and women alike.
If it were not for how much she respected their master who procured a very close relationship with her, she would have given in to her more… intense proclivities. It was a bummer of course, but at the same time, she was alright with it. She did not want to be jumped on by the majority of servants present and summoned by her master who were mostly all heroic in nature barring a small few.
The other reason probably was that she considered this summoning a good vacation.
Where she was free to be herself for the most part.
So much so that she was willing, even if by little to tolerate her former comrades in the Argo. Even if one of them was the younger, naïve version of herself. Even if Jason too was one of them.
Currently, they were all speaking about a certain man whom to this day Medea had very complicated feelings with. Complicated in the sense that she neither hated them that much nor appreciated their presence that much… and that person was the ever-famous Heracles.
"Damn." Peleus' son said as Medea sipped her drink.
It was a bit awkward and dare she say it, timely that she was working on a small project that she wished to talk to Heracles about and now they were all speaking about him.
"He told me once that he slept peacefully when Megara whistled in his ear. How... beautiful her voice was. Perhaps even if it was not the same, that scene in the film where Megara sings reminds him... of the real her. Even if faint. He always gives a smile when he watches it." Her younger self explained as Medea turned her gaze towards the room where Heracles was, babysitting a child that Atalanta had personally adopted amongst hundreds of others. He was watching a 'film' about his life, even if inaccurate as Medea could hear a bit of it from where she sat.
"Has anybody ever asked to talk to him about it?"
It was Caenis this time that responded to that question.
"We don't... because it's the Big Guy's business. Even if we did, what good would it do?"
Medea would agree with her female comrade. Similarly fucked over by the Olympians back in her day. They were never close, to begin with, but in some cases, if there was anything that they would agree on, it was that their circumstances were nearly the same. Only Caenis found a means to supplant such a setback even if she died tragically and Medea… never found such a happy ending. Even when she was freed from the influence of the Love Goddess.
She was the Witch of Colchis.
"It's a facet that will always be deeply ingrained within his soul. Much like my own death, Heracles prefers to shoulder those burdens alone. I have no doubt that he can take it much like how he earned his success with the Labors, but he is still part human, and that event will forever be his burden." Chiron said with finality as Medea looked at him.
On a similar note, all the burdens both of her own doing and that of her time being under the influence of a higher power would always be part of the Princess of Colchis.
Medea sighed as she bid Atalanta to excuse her for a moment.
She teleported back to her workshop, finding her new charge who was still getting used to his job. The boy, Hughie was neatly sorting and cleaning her workshop to be much less cluttered as she floated close to him.
She then tapped him on the shoulder.
"Are you doing alright?" she asked.
"Whoa!" Hughie exclaimed, surprised and still not used to her random teleports. Medea giggled at his reaction as he blushed in embarrassment. "S-Sorry ma'am, I was just trying to tidy things up before I joined you upstairs."
"Didn't I tell you that I took you in not because I wanted a cleaner?" she teased.
"Y-yeah… but it's just… this is all new to me and I just wanted to help."
She giggles softly and tips his chin up. "Don't feel bad. I am thankful for the gesture but you really should join them upstairs. Wouldn't want to starve my new charge, right?"
"N-No ma'am." He smiled.
"Oh… before we join the others. Can you fetch me Project 97?"
"Oh, the boxed one?" he said as he quickly darted to her desk and gave it to him a few seconds later without a fuss. "I furnished it as best as I could. A few finishing touches here and there." he sheepishly said. Medea patted his head and took the box.
Opening it, a slew of emotions entered her as she thought about this particular work.
"It should do. Thank you, Hughie."
The sun was setting as Heracles sat on a bench in the field grounds of the facility, they were in.
The tender green fields against the sunset created a peaceful view that allowed him to calmly watch in silence. His hair was once more 'alive' in the sense that it flowed through the air unlike its former state earlier that day.
A small calm, but neutral smile graced his features as he conjoined his fingers neatly as they sat on his lap. Looking into the horizon, Heracles tried to process and think about his most recent dream and all the baggage carried along with it.
Much as he wished to respectfully join the festivities back there with his comrades, he wished to be alone at that current moment. If only to try and make himself calm and not wrought with heavy emotion. In times like this, the rationality that entailed with his Archer class made him think that the base, simplistic tendencies of his Berserker class which he had vague memories of made him jealous somewhat.
But no, he was Heracles. Strong and proud.
Stalwart and brave.
He will get over this. He was sure of it… much like the many times back then when he was alive.
That smile deepened again as he thought about the good times…
"Hm."
…and the many bright and hopeful things in his current present.
It wasn't all bad and he was mostly content.
"I don't know why you hero types like gazing into the horizon like this. It's cliché and overused." a voice said, knocking him out of his thoughts as Medea materialized next to him. She was smiling, however, even with the crass comment as her presence made Heracles lighten up.
"It's not all bad." He replied.
She huffed at his response as they both stared at the setting sun.
"I suppose it isn't…" she says as she sighs.
Heracles was about to ask why she was there when Medea carefully handed him a box.
Medea did not meet his eyes as he looked at her in confusion.
"What's this?" he asked as he opened the box. Medea did not answer. Instead, as soon as Heracles saw the item within the box… he essentially paused in shock.
"This is…" he started, his words dying down quicker than he could continue as a well of emotions bloomed within him. His lips quivered as the slight shake in his hands reached out for it.
"Oh my." Heracles lips curved into a small smile as he held the item in his hands, pulling it close to him. He squeezed it as if questioning if it was real while Medea snuck a gaze at him by his side.
Heracles held the doll as the image of Therimachus and his two sons entered his head.
Megara's smile appeared once again as he affectionately stroked the doll's hair.
He then looked up into the sky, hope brewing in his heart as a large, freeing smile appeared on his face. The best smile he probably had in ages. He did not even notice that the Witch of Colchis held a comfortable smile to his reaction.
Heracles then turned to his friend, who was still not meeting his eyes.
"You shouldn't thank me… a witch doesn't deserve any such thing." Medea drawled in acceptance and honest admittance as Heracles thought about her life and his. Megara's words still lingered in his head as well as the last memory he and Medea had together before she was gone from his life.
It was… a sore subject for both of them.
But at the same time, Heracles moved his arm to her side and pulled her closer to him.
Medea unintentionally leaned her head on his arm as they both gazed at the sunset.
"Then perhaps it's the monster thanking the witch this time."
He feels Medea huff beside him.
"You and I are not alike as much as you think…" she reasoned out.
"I know…" he said firmly, yet the warmth of their current predicament still made him feel hopeful.
"… but you're still my friend, and maybe that's enough." He finished as Medea sighed.
"…Maybe. Maybe it is."
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"Margaret Shaw?" a voice said, taking Maeve out of her unconscious state as a large amount of exhaustion and numbness wracked her form. She slowly blinked as sensations and feelings started to get back to her bit by bit.
The first thing she saw, however, was Caster. The infamous Supe Doctor Olympia had.
"W-What happened?" she asked.
"Oh? You don't remember?" the masked man said Maeve raised her head a bit and saw that she had lost her legs amidst many more injuries wrapped in bandages and gauze.
Maeve began to panic as the seconds continued on. Horror dawned on her face until the Doctor placed a hand on her forehead.
"It's nothing too serious, I assure you. Without any form of sudden interferences, I can get you back up to shape in mere hours."
"W-What?"
"Ah? Were you about to ask me how you got to this point?" The doctor then shifted to his tablet while Maeve continued to feel horrified. "I'm not privy to the details, but be assured… Achilles was the one who got you to safety. Peleus' son was very thorough, otherwise, you would have died before I could even treat you."
.
.
.
.
"Mistress… what's wrong?" Ilmo Koskela asked in his native language.
Sitting across from him while tending through the local lake's fishpond was their 'visitor'.
"A King who once ruled a mighty kingdom whose castles were wrought with chalk and heart is to come." The being, looking like a child continued to tend to the waters as ripples occurred around her. Ripples that glowed subtly with light against the darkening day. "They shalt question mine existence."
"Are we to stop them, mistress?" Ilmo asks.
The child stopped and stared directly into his face, unnerving him to the bone.
"No. Tis time they understand what their effects are to the world we stand on."
The child then returned to her work as the ripples increased.
"Mine brethren, far in relation we might have, once consecrated and tended the waters of Greater Britain. Now, such lands are barren of the wonder and touch the world once had."
"Great Ahti was related to Britain?" Ilmo asked, confused.
"You misunderstand, dear Koskela, fifth of thou family's name… the world is no mere Lake…"
The entire water around them glowed as the child sighed.
"…it's an ocean."
AN: I wonder if that last line rings to any Remedy fans. If it does! Then great… you're awesome.
Again, I'm very sorry this was delayed. I was very tired the past week and was very busy. This was technically the Valentines Special, but I wanted to make this an important segway so that future storylines give more weight to the decisions our MCs have. As for Medea, yes we are going to see more of her soon, especially with Hughie's part.
As for the other teases…
Yeah… better wait lol.
Also this is my tribute to one of my fave Superman Stories, "For the Man who has Everything"
Both the original comic and the JL Unlimited Episode are amazing.