Twisted Ever After

by Celeste Thrower

  I exclaim, “That voice! You were the one….”

  Her laugh is a sinister sound. “Your body is mine to take. For a millennium, I have waited for the perfect vessel.”

  I stumble back a step, “My body is mine. I will never let you take over!”

  She laughs and replies, “Hades’ chains didn’t hold me when I found you swimming in the River Styx, they won’t hold me now. I have you. Your life is mine to take. Just like when I saved it from the River.”

  “You didn’t save me from the River! My husband did!”

  She laughs again. “No one survives the River Styx, Megara. Not without the help of a God.”

  “My husband was a God.”

  “Barely.”

  She’s baiting me. I continue, “You will not escape. Hades’ chains cannot be broken.”

  “Oh?” she says with a laugh as part of the chain slowly unravels and soars towards me. I stumble backward to land on my back. The chain stops just short of me, and she lets out a groan of frustration as it snaps back to her.

  “You are mine, Megara. I have marked you. I always find a way. Once I free myself of these chains again, I will take you. You are mine. Let. Me. In.”

  I shake my head against a strange buzzing in my mind. My chest burns and I look down, the mark of the Cult of Discord is burned into it.

  “Let me in!” She booms and everything spins, I lose my footing and fall into darkness, her bone-chilling laughter the only sound.

  I land hard on my stomach, breathing heavily. Before I can stop it, vomit rises and spills onto the plush rug beneath me. I look down; it is a black inky substance, not vomit, “What is happening to me?”

  I hear thunderous footsteps and then a disgusted groan, “Ugh, Meg, seriously? My rug?”

  My head lifts in time to see him wave a hand, and the rug pulled up from the ground, pushing me up to my feet, “Ugh. Humans.” He shakes his head, and he incinerates the rug on the spot. The flames kiss my skin gently and sends a shudder through me. A new rug appears on the floor quickly; the movement makes me nauseous again.

  I gag and start to puke again; Hades snaps his fingers and a clay pot appears in my hand, the inky liquid landing in it perfectly. My vision finally clears, and Hades’ face comes into view. In the years I have encountered Hades, he has had many looks, changing at will. This time he appears as a handsome man with yellow eyes and pale skin, his hair as black as night. I think back to when he and I first met, my father’s health was failing, his kingdom crumbling. I sought out Hades and made a deal with him, my life for my father’s and Hades was all too happy to oblige. All those years ago, Hades had appeared as a monster to me, then each time I saw him after he had changed. My gaze takes in the current appearance of Hades and I find it too fascinating for my liking.

  “Is that what you are really supposed to look like?” I ask and he glares as another wave of nausea ripples through me. Hades rolls his eyes and takes a seat studying me for a few moments.

  “Humans,” he scoffs again. Once I finish, the clay pot disappears. “Now that the trash is taken out, it might be time for us to have a little chat. What have you and that frustrating husband of yours gotten into now? I have missing souls, the thread loom is a mess, and the three fates are mutiny on my hands right now. Explain.”

  Before I can stop it, I tell Hades the entire sordid tale from start to finish. He listens intently, his eyes burning with emotions I can’t place. It fills me with despair.

  “I just wish I knew what was happening to me,” I whisper. I hate feeling weak, especially in front of Hades. He snaps his fingers and a chair appears across from him. I ignore it and continue my story. He listens intently but his stare becomes so intense it makes me sit in the chair. A sense of hopelessness overcomes me, I have more questions than answers.

  I am a fugitive on the run not only from the guardsmen but Zeus himself. Nowhere is safe. I shouldn’t even care what he thinks of me. Hades rises and paces back and forth, “So that is different.” he finally says, then laughs, “Of course. Now it all makes sense.”

  I climb to my feet, but he uses his powers to make me sit back down, then he places his hands on the arms of the chair to trap me and stare in my face. I feel a little uncomfortable staring at his attractive appearance; I cannot reconcile the two sides of Hades as one person.

  “Can you transform into the Hades I know? This new look you have going on is just too much.”

  Hades laughs and brings his face closer to me. “Really? Am I too handsome, Megara?”

  “Keep dreaming slim,” I say, “Not even in your wildest.”

  Hades laughs again, “Well, my dear Meg.” He takes a strand of my long curly brown hair and plays with it, all the while staring in my eyes. “What do you say we make a deal?”

  “A deal?” I ask, trying to pull deeper into the chair away from him. Yet closer he came, still playing with my hair, “The last time I made a deal with you, I was nearly indebted to you for my entire existence.”

  Hades’ smoky black magic curls around us, the atmosphere thick with something I can’t quite understand. Nor, do I want to. He offers a devastating smirk, “The only way you can escape what has become of you is for me to help you. You don’t have a lot of options, Megara.” he says, then he pushes himself off of the chair and turns away.

  “Or I could call my brother, and he could come to get you like the fugitive you are. You killed his son after all,” he calls over his shoulder at me.

  “I did not kill Hercules. I would never.”

  “Oh, right, because you loved him,” Hades says mockingly, purposely playing on the word loved. I am stunned, Hades had released me from his service when I was promised to Hercules because he didn’t need me and my attitude anymore. After Hades had saved my father like he promised, I had done everything to fulfill my contract to him over the course of many years to earn my freedom. My gaze studies him, trying to find out what game he is playing this time.

  “What could you gain from making a deal with me? You have everything you could ever want from me. Didn’t you get enough of me the last time we made a deal?”

  “I stand to gain everything I ever wanted from making a deal with you, Meg. You have always been my favorite pet.”

  I glowered at him with disgust. “Oh yeah? Just love my snarky sarcasm and endless attitude?”

  Hades chuckles, “Your wit has opened many doors for me. Your value is limitless.”

  I hesitate for a moment; Hades is right, whether or not I liked it. I have no other option.

  “What are the terms?” I ask in a voice so soft I was sure he hadn’t heard it.

  Hades smiles and stretches. “Ah, negotiations. My favorite part of the game.”

  I scowled in response, and I cross my arms, trying to figure out what the God of the Underworld wants with me.

  “I can help you, Megara. I would love to help you because your issue is affecting my peaceful operations down here, and I can’t have that. No one controls the Underworld but me, so now I have a score to settle.”

  “How is my situation affecting your Underworld operations?” I ask as I cross my arms.

  Hades rubs his temples. “Were you not listening? Missing souls, the thread loom and the three fates? This situation needs to be handled sooner rather than later.”

  “Well, hold on,” I say, putting a hand up, “I’ve done this with you before. You won’t get one over that easily on me, chatterbox.”

  A hearty laugh echoes from Hades’ chest. “You aren’t in a position to haggle.”

  “Tell me everything, or there is no deal,” I say evenly.

  Hades sighs. I roll my eyes and climb to my feet again, squaring off with him. “There is always a catch with you, Hades.”

  He walks towards me, making me step back towards the chair until my legs give out from under me, and I sit again. He places his hands on the chair arms and whispered in my ear, “You.”

  I draw in a breath. “Me? What do you want with me?”
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  “Everything,” he says. He brings his yellow eyes to mine as he continues, “The way I can help you requires you to drink a potion of mine. Regardless, I will trap you here.”

  “Because anything created and ingested from materials found in the Underworld must stay here.” I finish his statement for him. He wasn’t talking about just being owed a favor, he was putting a collar and leash on me, but why?

  “Precisely. What you have going on cannot be changed or fixed without this potion. You can either burn from the inside out and die or be free of the pain and live at my side as my Queen of the Dead. This is the decision of your life Megara, so choose wisely. I will even throw in the bonus of bringing Hercules back to life.”

  “My husband? You would bring him back and keep us apart from each other? You monster!” Tears sting my eyes as I launch to my feet, hugging myself.

  Hades rolls his eyes, “No. We need Hercules to eradicate Eris’ essence from your body. He needs to kill you and sever the bond between you and her. When you died, Eris had started to infiltrate you, and by the time Hercules got to you it was too late. Hercules sealed her within you because it was the only way to still save you from the River Styx.What he didn’t count on was how strong Eris is, which I could’ve explained to him had he asked me for help. Instead, he handled it on his own and Eris got a free ride to Greece. Now she is on the verge of breaking free of her bonds. If Eris escapes it will throw the world into discord and everything will shatter, which could have consequences more direct than you could fathom.”

  After a few long moments, I know there’s nothing I can do. It wasn’t a question; I need Hades to save the world Hercules loved.

  “I agree to your deal, Hades.”

  “Fantastic! Shall we shake on it?” he asks, his attractive face showing signs of mischief. We aren’t off to a good start with that shimmer in his eye.

  I know I’m in for a whirlwind, but nothing could ever prepare me for what I was to experience. I take a breath and shake his hand. I can feel his dark power rippling through me, solidifying our deal.

  Hades bends his lips to my ear and whispers, “I’m sorry, but this will hurt.”

  Before I can ask, he shoves his hand into my chest and grabs hold. “Trust me.”

  “Trust you? I wouldn’t trust you if I-”

  “That’s not very nice, Megara!” he replies and squeezes whatever he grabbed within me, and I pass out.

  I wake, and I’m in that dark place again. “Hades you—”

  “Shh.” I hear his voice, but I don’t see him anywhere when I look around. “Listen to the sound of my voice. Trust me, Meg. You are far more valuable to me alive than dead.”

  “Only because you want me to be warming your bed,” I mutter.

  Hades laughs at this. “So that’s what you’ve been thinking about.”

  “Dream on, lover boy.”

  Hades laughs again. “I don’t know where she is rooted inside of you. You need to go through this dark place to find her. You need to find the Blade of Bonds and get that obnoxious husband of yours. Blade first, then Hercules, okay?”

  “Uhm, okay, why can’t you just get the dagger?”

  “It has to be someone dead, and I’m making your potion.”

  “Dead? I’m not dead, did you forget the came back from the dead thing?”

  He scoffs. “Oh, Megara. This is why Hercules should’ve come to me when this first happened.”

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  He sighs as if he doesn’t like to think about it, or doesn’t want to tell me the bad news. Then he replies, “Meg, you have been half dead since you came back to life. Regardless if that hunk of yours brought you back, Eris latched onto you. The moment she did, half of your soul has been lost, and she has slowly been taking you over. That’s why you have been experiencing all of these weird symptoms.”

  “That doesn’t explain everything,” I snap, knowing he was keeping secrets. What did I expect?

  “Eris is the personification of chaos. She doesn’t have a body. She‘s pure energy and needs a vessel. The one she once had was destroyed when she caused the Helen of Troy incident. It was a nightmare, and that wasn’t her first offense. So my charming brother, in all his annoying glory, expelled her and made me her warden.”

  I fall silent, the only sound I hear is the beating of my heart.

  “Meg, you do understand this is a war for your very soul, right?”

  Emotions bubble up, but I suppress them, and follow the path my mind has set before me. It spiraled in a million directions. I look at all the options and feel confused and overwhelmed.

  “Now, the important thing you have to remember, Megara, is this is a battle happening inside of YOU. Any enemies you face are yours; figure out how to beat them. I can’t help you.”

  A sigh escapes my lips as I rub my temples trying to make sense of everything Hades is telling me.

  “What? You thought this was going to be easy?” Hades laughs. “Tell me you haven’t become that naïve, Meg?”

  “Shut up Hades!” I yell. I trust my instincts and advance down my dark pathway, halfway through it turns to ice, and I began to freeze.

  To distract myself, my mind wanders to the past experiences I have had with Hades. The last time I was indebted to him for the sake of my father, I felt overwhelmed and puzzled. Hades is hard to pinpoint, sometimes he is awful, sometimes he is wonderful, and other times he is mysterious.

  After I wander in the cold a little more, I can see the dagger up ahead glowing and sticking out of a wall.

  “I see the blade.”

  “Okay, that’s perfect!”

  I step toward the dagger and let out a scream as the platform shatters beneath my weight.

  “Meg, what happened?”

  “I’m falling!”

  “This entire world reflects your emotions, Meg! I can’t help you! You have to save yourself!”

  Hades’ words echo in my mind as I fall further and further. Then time itself froze. I quickly realize that every platform crumbled was an emotion I had buried since coming back to life. I was trying so hard to be normal for Hercules. Once I had that realization, I was able to move and climb up the frozen platforms to the top. I finally made it to the dagger, which glowed with fire. I took a deep breath and reached into the flame. It burned slightly, but I gripped the hilt and pulled it out.

  The blade felt heavy in my hand. “I got it, Hades.” I say as I start to regain warmth and feeling in my extremities. He makes a celebratory sound, then the wall opens, revealing a room filled with fire. At the top of the platform ahead, I see a statue of my husband, looking proud and strong.

  “I found him,” I report breathlessly.

  “Go to him,” Hades directs softly, “You won’t have much time. I have administered the potion.”

  I take a deep breath as the liquid begins to fall around me like rain. The potion hisses as the flames touch it. The flames flick at me but don’t burn as I move toward my husband. The warmth spreads across my body settling in my heart. I climb to the top of the stairs and embrace the statue of my husband. At that moment, I realize what Hades didn’t tell me, and I choke back tears.

  “Hercules” I say, hugging the statue tightly. “I love you more than I love life itself. Thank you for everything, for always being there for me and sensing the emotions I never spoke aloud. The moments I had with you will be the moments I treasure most.”

  I press my lips against the statue’s and then slide the hilt into the statue’s hand, the one I remember Hercules favored when he battled. The statue crumbles away, revealing a smiling Hercules underneath, “Oh Meg,” he says in his alluring voice. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Hercules,” I whisper, he embraces me, and we kiss with passion. After our brief reunion, my heart pulses with pain, and I nearly fall, Hercules holds me in panic, “Meg!”

  “Hercules, the seal, Eris is breaking free,” I scream as I feel myself burning from the inside out. I stumb
le over the brief explanation of the situation to my husband as he begs me not to make him kill me.

  Finally, I grab his hand, and shove the dagger into my heart.

  “Meg, no!” Hercules yells as I grunt. The pain is unbearable when paired with the burning Eris causes inside of me.

  “Hercules, go be a hero. It was always your dream,” I say. Blood seeps from my wound while I speak, “Though I may not remember loving you, my heart and soul will. Thank you for loving me, Hercules. You made me feel alive, somewhere in the depths of myself, I will always love you.”

  A searing pain goes through me, and I hear Eris screaming inside of me, and everything fades.

  I wake up in somewhat of a daze lying on the stone floor of Hades’ lair. Hercules is staring at me, screaming my name. I reach a hand up to him; he takes it and screams some more. “I love you,” is all I can choke out before thunder and lightning sound. Then suddenly, all of the emotions I have for Hercules are ripped away from me. The Blade of Bonds severs our connection as if it were never there.

  My eyes open, and I’m standing in front of a mirror. My brown eyes take in my reflection, from the dark brown hair to the ivory skin. My white toga, a bloodstain where I had shoved the Blade of Bonds into my flesh is the only proof of what has transpired in recent weeks. I watch as my entire body transforms. My ivory skin becomes beautiful porcelain, my long curly brown hair becomes black as night, and my eyes turn blood red.

  I look terrifying and beautiful at the same time.

  Flowing from the bloodstain on my heart, my white gown becomes black and blood red. All wounds I have suffered in this ordeal have healed. I admire myself for a moment. I was so different and yet the same.

  Hercules is there in the room as well kneeling at his angry father’s feet. Hercules’ gaze dances over me with no emotional recognition. Zeus has sentenced Hercules to complete Twelve Labours as punishment for keeping the fact that Eris had nearly leaked into the world from him. Hercules will be in exile until he is able to complete his Twelve Labors.