::The arguement continued on and Hades did all he could to try and have the upper hand by saying everything from Cronos and Zeus' uneasy alliance to letting Hermes be his own person and decide if he wants to stay in the Underworld or not, but nothing was swaying Cronos or getting Zeus angry enough that he'd fight with the other deity and leave Hades to his plans. "Look, if he doesn't want to go he shouldn't have to! Hey, what's the harm in that, huh? I mean so what if it'll screw up his past. Is that such a loss? I mean, he couldn't be such a good messenger if he got kicked out of Olympus." Hades lied through clenched teeth, his hair blazing bright orange wishing something would work.
Hermes nodded in argreement, gripping his forked staff tighter in his hands. "Yeah, like why would I wanna go with you nutty cats when you don't dig me anyway?"
Zeus shook his head not believing what he was hearing. "Kick you out of Olympus? Hermes, that's absurd! Why would I try to get you back there if I kicked you out?"
Hermes furrowed his brow in confusion and was just about to fly forward to try and shoo Zeus away from him and Hades when a stern, sultry voice came from behind and interrupted the chaos. "Hermes, what in the world are you doing?"
The blue messenger stopped in midflight and turned around at the new voice. He lowered his darkblue eyebrows and watched over the rims of his glasses as a slender woman with long auburn hair stepped out of the shadows and paused for a moment resting her hand on her shapely hip while fixing her gaze on the flighty God.
A smirk of knowing crossed Cronos' lips and he quickly reached forward and snatched Hades to keep him from trying to stop what was going on. At first Hades was taken aback by Cronos grabbing him, but as he followed the large deity's gaze his hair flamed bright orange and smoke began to rise from his now orange tinted skin as his sights fell on the woman standing near by.
Megara glanced towards Hades and gave him a sly look before continuing forward to the hovering Messenger God. Hermes flitted back from her approach, but yet he kept his gaze fixed on her. There was something about her that he just couldn't escape. Her eyes were violet and held a mischievious glint in them, but at the same time they were gentle and loving. He kept a cautious eye on her, but yet a calming seemed to stir his senses.
Hermes shook his head trying to clear it as seemingly unfamiliar feelings and thoughts went through him. There was something captivating about this woman and from what he remembered he never felt this way about anyone before. His first instinct told him to fly up higher and away from her like he did with all females, however, he felt compelled to hover lower to the ground and see what it was she wanted. He felt no threat with her like he did ealier with Belit when she came here yelling and that struck him as odd.
Cocking his head to the side he considered this shapely woman before him and said pointedly, "What do you want, babe? We're very busy here."
Meg smiled and stepped closer to him seeing she had his full attention. "I want you to come home," she crooned. "Come home to Olympus, Hermy, you shouldn't be here. Hades is messing you up and ruining our past and future together."
Hades was about to shout out a protest when the strong hand of Cronos clamped down over his mouth to silence him. Giving Hades a side-long glance, Hermes was about to fly to his master and help him when he felt the soft touch of a hand on his face. Normally when touched he would have yanked back as if struck and would fly out of reach, but this time he remained still and gazed nervously at the woman over the rims of his glasses.
"Hermes, you don't belong here and you don't work for Hades. You are the Messenger God from Mount Olympus. You are needed back home in your own time. I need you and so does our son," Meg said as soothingly as she could.
Hermes lowered his eyebrows and snorted, "You're wrong, like, I don't have any kids, babe. Those nuts on Olympus kicked me out and..." he stopped suddenly and blinked in confusion. He then winced as a searing pain suddenly tore through his head. He put his hand on the back of his neck, rubbing it hard causing him to moan slightly from the hurt that seemed to intensify before slowly deminishing.
Meg looked up at him worridly and put her hands on his thin blue shoulders to steady him. "What's wrong, Hermes?"
He stared at her, still dazed, then softly whispered, "Megs?" A smile began to tug at the Goddess' lips upon hearing him, but she contained herself and touched Hermes on the cheek again, not saying a word knowing she had to let him figure it out himself. The little deity shook his head and furrowed his brow, "Meg, wh-what's going on? I mean..."
"Shhh...don't talk," she whispered and pushed down on his shoulders so he was level with her eyes. "Just come home to me." Meg leaned forward and lightly kissed his lips and kept close to him. "I need you home, cutie. Come back to me." She then brushed her lips against his before kissing him once again.
Hermes closed his eyes and trembled as a chill went down his spine. Swallowing hard he moved his free hand forward to caress Megara's cheek with his long fingers before returning her kiss with a slow nod. "Coming with me, babe?" he whispered, dropping his pronged staff to the floor with a loud clatter so he could embrace her completely.
Meg laughed softly. "You know I'm already there, Hermes. When you go through that portal I'll be waiting for you, I promise, but you have to go now before it's too late."
The blue messenger squeezed her close to him, nuzzling against her neck, his eyes tightly shut. "Promise me...like, promise me you will be waiting, babe. I've missed you so much."
"I promise," she softly replied and hugged him tightly while tears began to stream from her violet eyes, thankful that he remembered her and was coming back to his senses and going back home. "I'll always wait for you, you know that."
Taking a deep breath, Hermes kissed Meg's neck and slowly pulled back to look at her. He moved his hand up to wipe her tears away while mustering up a tender smile. "Gods, babe, I love you so much."
Meg blushed and reached down to take his hand in hers then bent down to get his dropped staff, handing it to him. "Come on, cutie, let's get you home."
He nodded, leaned his staff over his left shoulder and let Meg lead him to the yellow portal that seemed to have gotten smaller still, but was shimmering just as brightly as before. Hermes glanced up towards Zeus, Cronos, and an irate, but cool, captive Hades and smirked. "I gotta jet, cats. Ah, like, it's been a real slice and all, but dig what I have waiting for me at home," he then wiggled his eyebrows in the direction of Megara with a sly grin.
She blushed and touched his face lovingly. "I'll see you on the other side, cutie." He responded with a nod and not being able to hold back any longer, Hermes pulled Meg to him and kissed her long and tenderly, keeping her close. Meg sighed loudly and clutched the back of his toga, thankful that things were finally going to normal again.
Zeus took this opportunity to snap his fingers and turn Hermes' clothes back into his normal gear of blue not to mention bringing his Caduceus back and the soft white wings on his helmet and boots. "Be off with you, Hermes," he called. "You won't remember anything that has happened here, but you will be all the wiser to not trust Hades and his schemes any more. You are going home to the exact moment when you dropped the box and things will then go back to normal. Now, go."
Hermes beamed at him and touched his fingers to his helmet in a salute. "Thanks, babe, you are one cool cat and I mean that." Looking back to Meg, the blue deity smiled tenderly and touched the side of her face. "I'm coming home, babe, I'll catch you on the flip side."
Meg laughed through her tears and hugged him one last time. "Be safe my Hermes."
With a final look around, Hermes waved good-bye to Zeus and Cronos, scowled slightly at Hades, then gave Meg a quick kiss before pulling from her embrace and flying to the portal, hovering for a moment. Lowering his glasses he gave Meg a wink, turned and suddenly was gone through the portal in a flash of bright light. With Hermes now gone, the portal rippled, slowly dissolving into nothing bringing the slight gloom back to the War Room.
The tension that was once thick in the room was now gone for the moment. Panic and Pain zipped away hurridly before their boss caught sight of them and fried them for getting Belit involved in this and messing up his plans. Now with Megara here things were no doubt going to heat up again and they wanted no part of it.
Zeus broke the silence by letting out a breath and giving Meg a pat on the shoulder. "You did wonderful my dear, what a brave thing to do."
She nodded and wiped the tears from her face before turning around to look up at him gratefully then to Cronos. "How long will it take before he's home and things go back to how they should be?"
Cronos shrugged and pushed Hades from him with a gentle laugh. "He should be home any moment now. As for the rest, it'll happen when he's back in his own time, but we'll never know any different." Cronos smiled gently at her then turned his attentions to Hades. "Things won't be the same for your past self, Hades. I've already had the Fates from Hermes' time alter the Tapestry of Fate so you won't try something this insane again."
Hades just rolled his yellow eyes, waving his hand dismissively. He knew he was beat and it was only a matter of moments until things went back to how they were before Hermes became a resident of the Underworld. Why argue or fight about something like this anyway? When Zeus and company appeared in his room he knew it was over and it wasn't even worth his efforts to fight any longer. In fact, for Cronos to even come to Zeus' aid was proof enough those two weren't taking this situation lightly.
Still, there was one matter that continued to bother Hades. Gliding quickly forward, he loomed over Megara, his hair flaring bright orange. "You always seem to get in the way of all my plans, you know that Nut Meg?" He then glared at Zeus. "I thought she wasn't supposed to see Hermes here? You know, that thing you said about her going wacked if she were to see him in this time frame or something?"
Zeus shrugged casually and snapped his fingers and slowly Megara's form began to shimmer and dissolve and there in her place stood Belit-Sheri. "Sorry to disappoint you, Hades, but this was the only way to get him home. Love conquors all, you know," Belit said curtly, running a hand over her short red hair, smoothing it.
Hades' eyes widened and he began to shake in his rage while his hair flared out in bright orange bursts of flame. "You! How could you do this to me? I thought...ok, missy, you're fired! Canned, axed, pink slipped, the whole nine yards!"
Belit smirked at him, "I really don't give a flying harpy's feathered butt and for the record, you suck as a boss." She then gave him a very unlady-like gesture and stomped out of the War Room loudly slamming the door behind her for effect.
Belit-Sheri sighed loudly and leaned her back against the door, her head still reeling from the events that unfolded today. At least her plan worked and Hermes was finally on his way home to his own time where he belonged. She had a hunch that the only way to get him to listen was getting Megara onto the scene and the only way to do that was to have Zeus do some of that divine intervention stuff. It was a gamble, though, but the odds were in her favour and fortunately it came through as she had hoped.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Belit slowly began to walk away from the War Room and made her way back towards her office. She wasn't sure when the change in time was going to take place, but she hoped it would be soon for Hermes' sake as well as her own. She would miss him greatly and that was a given. One thing she wouldn't miss, however, was the pounding in her head, but that pain was a small price to pay to help out her friend.
Absently she wiped the stray tears from her eyes as her thoughts flitted back to her blue companion that seemed to bring some cheer to this gloomy place for the last few weeks. She missed him already and was thankful the feeling wasn't going to last. She could only hope that somehow Hermes would manage to remember her in some scant way and perhaps they could become friends again when time went back to how it should be.
*****************************************************************************************************
A blinding white light flashed in the field where all of the chaos with time originally began and Hermes reappeared hovering in the tree top holding the small metal box Hades had given to him. He looked around trying to find a suitable place to toss the box down at Hercules when he arrives, but the branches were too thick and numerous for him to get a clear shot to spring the trap.
The messenger flitted lower and flew behind the tree instead assuming it would be an ideal place to carry out Hades' wicked plan. As he got into position the box slipped from his hands and fell to the ground. Stunned, Hermes did nothing but cover his face with his hands to wait for the impending detonation, but nothing happened. Cautiously he peered between his long, blue fingers and looked down at the unmoving box.
Furrowing his brow and grumbling, Hermes hovered lower to pick the item up and shook it. "Crazy, nutty thing," he muttered, glaring at it. "Figures Hades would give me a screwed up gizmo. Eh, oh well." Hermes shrugged and tossed it into the air and then wacked it hard with his Caduceus sending the box far off into the river. "So long you square," he snickered at his lame pun, leaning his staff on his shoulder and watched the splash in the distance letting him know that the box was now gone for good. He then made a silent vow to himself to never trust Hades and his wacky plans again.
"Hermes? Hermes, where are you?" Hercules called out in the distance bringing Hermes back to the other problem he was now faced with. Now that he changed his mind about doing away with the son of Zeus in Hades' trap, he had to think of a better reason as to why he lured Hercules out here and made up that kooky story about Meg being captured by Hades.
Getting an idea, though lame, he flew back from the tree and crossed his arms in front of his chest, a proud smile playing on his lips. As Hercules got closer, Hermes could see the hero was exhausted from running such a distance so fast and poor Phil was nowhere in sight at the moment. No doubt the pudgy satyr was still huffing and puffing someplace on Hercules' villa grounds not being able to keep up with his charge.
Hercules approached Hermes and straightened his posture while gripping his sword tighter for the pending fight. He then noticed Hermes' calm expression and confusion crossed the hero's face. "Umm...Hermes, where's Hades?"
Looking skyward Hermes grinned and flew to Hercules, patting him on the shoulder. "Oh yeah, like, congrats, babe, you got here in record time!" He then flew around him in quick, tight circles and stopped in front of the hero. "Wow, well, my test is over, been nice seeing you."
"W-wait a minute!" Phil's heaving voice could be heard as he trotted up behind a bewildered Hercules. "You mean to tell me this whole mess was just a test to see how fast my boy could get here?"
Hermes nodded and flew back from the two, twirling his staff like a baton. "Sure thing, babe. I just made that zany story up because Herc had to be tested on his reaction to surprise, dig?"
"Yeah, I dig. Yeesh, you really are a nutball you know that?" Phil growled, wishing he was taller so he could give the blue messenger a smack in the head for pulling a stunt like this.
"Hermes," Herc interrupted while rubbing the back of his neck in confusion, "Why....why would you do something like this? I mean, you got me all worked up in believing that Megara was definately in trouble."
The messenger shrugged and flitted up and out of reach before Hercules came to his senses and tried to grab for him. "Well, babe, you do know that I was your 'guardian' a while back and I just thought I'd do something to keep you on your toes to make sure you still got the right stuff and didn't get out of shape."
"He is not out of shape!" Phil bellowed and trotted around Hercules to get a better view of the little diety. "Now, you get out of here and go bother someone else and stop taking up our valuable time. If there was a real emergency going on someplace, you just prevented Hercules from getting there on time, Wing Tips!"
Hermes chuckled softly and looked at the satyr over the rims of his purple lensed glasses, "Well, I'll tell the Big Z you said that dig? I was told to keep an eye on his kid now and again and since you don't approve, I might as well tell him that, huh?"
Phil balled up his fists and fumed at the messenger. The satyr wasn't in the mood to get zapped by an thunderbolt hurled by Zeus again, but yet Hermes and his crazy tricks and ideas were really getting on his nerves. "Fine, Hermes," he muttered and waved it off dismissively. "Now if you excuse us, we have work to do. C'mon, Herc."
Hercules furrowed his brow and looked from Phil back up to Hermes. "Ummm...ok, Phil," he responded keeping his eyes on the flighty blue form hovering in front of him. He knew Hermes was weird, almost to the point of being annoying, but this was completely off the wall even for Hermes. The hero stepped forward and shook his head. "Next time you pull something like this, Hermes, make sure you leave Hades and Megara out of it. That really was uncalled for...you know how I feel about both of them." He then gave Hermes a look that showed he was serious about what he just said and turned to join Phil on the long walk back to their home.
Hermes mocked the words behind Herc's back and leaned his Caduceus on his shoulder, proud that at least he was able to talk his way out of this without too much trouble and conflict. Talking like that was a gift of his and although he hardly used it, it did come in handy in situations like this. At least they bought his wacky story and that was good enough. He was thankful that Hercules didn't make such a fuss about this cruel little joke, but he had to think of something quickly to make up for his gone wrong plot.
Glancing to the river where the box Hades gave him now rested in its watery grave, Hermes tipped his winged helmet to it in salute and then flew off back towards Olympus pleased with how the day turned out regardless if it didn't go as planned. One thing for sure, Hades was going to be irate that the things didn't work, but again Hermes didn't care. He was done with trusting Hades and any wacky plans he might come up with in the future.
As the sparkles Hermes leaves behind from fast flight began to dissipate, a flash of orange flame and black smoke appeared with Hades emerging from it grinning from ear to ear. He looked around excitedly, his yellow eyes darting about trying to find the flighty messenger in hopes of good news about his plan. Not seeing Hermes, Hades began to scowl, small licks of orange flames already begining to flicker in his hair.
"Alright, Twinkle Toes, where are you?" he grumbled, looking up into the tree tops and around the field. Absently waving his hand to rid the last remaining sparkles floating in the air, Hades stomped around wondering where the blue goof had went and if the job was even carried out.
Feeling his anger begining to mount, Hades started to curse under his breath about not being able to rely on such a screwball of a god and that he must have been insane to think that Hermes could have even done a job like this correctly. A glint on the surface of the river suddenly caught his eye and only added fuel to his anger for it was the box he had given to Hermes.
With a growl, Hades waded into the water just far enough to reach the box and yank it out. "Geez, you send a guy to do a chimp job and he botches it. Oy, next time I should get a chimp!" He pondered that for a moment then snickered. Since Hermes obviously screwed the job up there was nothing saying that he couldn't use this chance to do something even more wicked. What was stopping him from going up to Olympus and getting rid of Zeus via the little silver box?
A cunning grin spread across Hades' face. "Oooh yeah! I get rid of Bolt Boy, take over Olympus, then I can do what I want to Jercules. Alright, that's settled. I guess Hermes is forgiven this time."
Giving the box a gentle kiss, the Lord of the Underworld prepared to head to the heavens to carry out his plan. Suddenly, the box began to shake and vibrate bringing Hades to a stunned halt. As predicted before, a blinding white flash filled the area and when it diminished all that was left was the silver box floating peacefully for a moment on the river's surface. It bobbed for a moment then slowly vanished back underwater. Hades was gone and now it was his turn to be stuck in time.::
The End...?
