a star is born

The first day of his training, Hercules awoke early in the morning, kissed Georgette goodbye and carried her good luck with him. His heart thundered in his chest as he crossed the field between the houses, towards where four of the Amazons were standing idly. Waiting for him, he assumed. He felt eyes on him as he moved, women standing in doorways. The eyes were suspicious. Admittedly, Hercules was used to that. 

Hercules had lived his whole life with eyes on him. Suspicious eyes. Distrustful eyes. Terrified eyes. 

What he wouldn’t give for more people to look at him the way Georgette looked at him. Like somewhere safe. That was all Hercules wanted to be for people. Somewhere safe. 

So, even though he rubbed his hands together nervously as he approached the group of women--

He was ready for this. For whatever they would have him do. He couldn’t imagine what that was, to be frank. Hercules had spent his whole life with this strength that defied logic. That hid within him but did not present itself in rippling pectorals. He had a slight build to him, despite being tall, he was lanky and nonthreatening. Until he tore a door off its hinges or accidentally crunched his phone in his hand. It had always felt so hopeless. His magic was wild, unruly...dangerous. 

“Good morning, Hercules,” Diana said, smiling fondly and brushing her hand against his arm. 

Hercules stiffened slightly but managed to smile. “Morning.” 

“Are you ready?” asked Iphito, raising her chin slightly.

“As I’ll ever be.” 

“It is time to begin.” 

Without another word, she turned on her heel and began to jog through the trees. Hercules’ sister, Melanippe, followed, and Lykopis after her.

“Wha--”

“Just follow them,” Diana said.

Hercules nodded and broke out into a run himself. Their feet pounded rhythmically across the thick jungle floor. They lept over fallen trees, they skirted around tangled bushes and vines, following a clear, winding path through the greenery. The sun shown hot above them, dazzling in and out of the leaves as the canopy hung thick around them. It smelt of wet earth. Birds called back to each other, their voices high and clear. 

It was peaceful, which surprised Hercules. He felt himself getting lost in the pounding feet and birdsong. Never much one for exercise, he had never realized how calming it could be--to just run, feeling the stretch in your legs and the fresh air in your lungs. No one spoke and, after a while, Hercules forgot what they had set out to do: train him. 

A while after that, he realized…

His lungs were burning. That was a new sensation, but one he remembered from not having his powers. He blinked and a bead of sweat ran from his hairline down the side of his face, dripping off of him. Soon after, there was a burn in his calves and his thighs. Hercules pulled up short. 

It was Melanippe, who he had passed some time ago, who passed him on the outside. She threw a smirk over her shoulder at him. “Hurts doesn’t it?” 

“I--”

She had already disappeared into the brush. 

Diana came next, stopping next to him. “Keep going,” she told him.

“But I--”

“I know. Keep going.” 

Hercules searched her dark eyes, but they held steady and true. Gritting his jaw, he nodded, and continued along the path. 

Eventually, he stumbled from the forest, back to where they started. His hands were on his knees and he was panting. “What the--fuck?” he said, lifting his head to look at each of the four women in turn. Lykopis chuckled at him and grinned. Iphito stood with her arms crossed, behind her head, the sun was setting, casting the sky in brilliant orange.

“What--what time is it?” Hercules asked as he caught his breath.

Diana handed him a water skin and he took a long sip. “Almost time for dinner.”

“We were running all day?” 

“We will do so again tomorrow. Don’t be late.” Iphito turned and headed towards where everyone else was gathering, Lykopis and Melanippe following behind. 

And they did. They ran and they ran. Every day for two weeks. From sun up until sun down, Hercules’ legs trembling, muscles burning, lungs screaming by the end of each day. 

~~~

Hercules had lost count of the days. He just knew that the Amazons were torturing him. Or fucking with him. Either way, he was pissed. He wasn’t going to stand for it any longer. He had come to them, supplementing himself, asking for help--wretched and miserable.

They mocked him. 

It was ending today. He had woken with the resolve (after much encouragement from Georgette the night before) that he was going to demand they train him. No more of this messing around. He needed to get back to his life. Georgette needed to get back to hers. 

He stomped his way across the field towards the three women. 

“Look--”

“Today, we go to the river,” Iphito announced, cutting him off.

Hercules pulled up short, blinking in confusion. The heat of the storm that he had brewed in his chest, tending to like a little fire that needed it’s flames fanned, died. He stood, his mouth parted slightly as he looked at all four women. 

“Let us go.” Iphito turned and Hercules followed, now thrown off. Baffled. 

“It will all make sense,” Diana told him, smiling kindly. 

“The fish spawn in the river this time of year. There are hundreds. So many that they clog the river like the bodies of Trojans.” 

“Is that an Iliad reference?” Hercules asked as they made their way through the underbrush towards the roaring rush of the river. 

“The wolves and tigers help clear the water ways, and still, there are more fish than one can count,” Iphito continued.

They came to a stop near the edge of the river. The water rushed and beneath the surface glinted the bright silver-blue scales of fish. Iphito was right. They stretched as far as Hercules could see, moving as one entity, until one broke from the group, jumping into the air, twisting. 

Melanippe leaned down to roll up the cuffs of her pants and then, she waded into the river. The current frothed around her calves, and then her thighs, but she held steady. She stood still, waiting for something, Hercules could tell, but he was unsure what. Then, a fish lept into the air and she reached out and caught it with one hand, holding it to the light. It glinted and sparkled in the hot, bright sun as it twitched and flipped. 

Opening her hands, Melanippe dropped the fish back into the river. 

“Now, your turn,”  Iphito instructed.

“Er, okay,” Hercules replied dubiously. He rolled up the cuffs of his own trackies and then waded into the river with his half-sister. The water pulled at his legs and he felt the fish ebbing and flowing around him, bumping into him as they tried to make their way upstream.

Hercules took a breath, watching the water--

A fish jumped and Hercules reached out to catch it but missed, ripping pieces of its tail as the fish flipped out of his grip and back into the water. Hercules stomach rolled as he turned his hand over and watched the glinting scales stuck to his fingers. Lykopis laughed from where she’d taken a seat along the bank. 

“It’s not funny,” snapped Hercules as he hoped a fish could still move without some of the fins of its tail fanned out properly. He washed the pieces off into the fast moving water.

Another fish jumped, right in front of him this time--

Hercules took a step, reaching out with both hands. The fish’s body slid against his palms, slippery, wet, and wild. His heart gave a beat of triumph as he attempted to grasp the fish more firmly--

He felt it break apart in his hands. An explosion of white flesh and guts flew from the fish as it slumped into Hercules’ hands. 

“Ah!” he cried and dropped it into the water.

“Gross,” huffed Melanippe, who was closest and bore the brunt of the carnage. She wiped off a piece of fish gut that had landed on her arm with a sneer.

Hercules stared at his hands, covered in blood, feces, flesh, and guts. His mind found himself looking at the pummel of stone he’d crumbled in his hands before, the twisted metal he’d broken before, Georgette’s dead, broken body. Stumbling backwards, he looked up, horrified. 

“What--what is the point of this? It’s cruel.” 

“No, it will teach you,” Iphito told him.

“Teach me what?!” Hercules shouted back. Despite the rushing water around him, he felt that fire burn back bright. “You’re not telling me anything!”

“Control, boy. It will teach you control.” 

Control. All Hercules had ever wanted was control. To not be afraid of grabbing something as delicate as a fish. 

“Then teach me! This isn’t teaching! This is setting me up to fail!” His hands flailed about, showering Melanippe with another round of fish flesh and guts. 

“Just--relax!” Melanippe snipped at him. 

“I won’t kill another fish!” 

“No, I’m telling you: relax. Of course you’re going to squeeze a fish to death if you’re so stressed out. Just--take a deep breath. Focus on something else. The rush of the water.”

“The cool of the river,” supplemented Lykopis from the bank where her teasing smile had faded somewhat.

“The warmth of the sun,” added Diana. 

Hercules looked between all of them, his brow furrowed. Then, his head turned towards the sun, squinting up at it. It stayed steady and bright in the sky. Lowering his head again, Hercules shook it and then took a deep breath. 

“Alright. Once more.” He let the breath out and focused on the feeling of the sun tickling at the back of his neck. 

A fish jumped, twirling, catching the glint of the sun. It fell right into Hercules’ waiting hands. Without waiting a moment, it began to wiggle and he closed his fingers over it, gently, concentrating hard, caging it in his fingers.

“Now release it,” called Iphito.

Hercules did so. As soon as the fish hit the water, the anger boiled back. “How is this any different from what I had been doing?!” 

“It wasn’t. You were concentrating too much on your own movements and less on your own calm. Do not concern yourself with yourself. Concern yourself with the fish. Concern yourself with the sun. The water.” 

“What? That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Again,” commanded Iphito.

“What? No! I didn’t learn anything.” 

Her eyes narrowed at him. “Hercules, son of Diana. Again.” 

Hercules’ nostrils flared but he focused again on the feeling of the beating down on him and he caught another fish from the sky. 

For days and weeks, until Hercules lost track, he came to the river, and he caught fish. Several more died, when his concentration broke or he was surprised. But soon--

“Wait, you don’t have cell phones?” Hercules asked, with a laugh as he caught a fish in midair and released it back into the water in one fluid motion.

“Why would we need cell phones?” Lykopis asked with a little shrug.

“I--” Hercules caught another fish, holding this one in his hand, gesturing with it a bit as he shrugged. “I guess that’s a fair point. You do know what it is, though.” He gently released the fish back into the water. 

“Yes, I know what--”

“Hercules, catch!” called Melanippe with delight and he turned, flinching back as another fish arched towards him. 

He reached up and caught it without a thought, knowing it was far too high in the air to come down without getting hurt. “Melanippe, what the fuck?”

Iphito smirked from where she was lounging in the grass. “Congratulations. Tomorrow, we begin your final task.” 

~~~

And so they did. 

This one was more involved. It required Hercules holding an egg gently in the palm of his hand and the Amazons attacking him from all sides. 

The first few tries were horrible. It only took one swing of a spear for Hercules to forget--to drop the egg and cause it to splatter on the floor of the forest or for him to squeeze it tight in his hand in shock and explode it all over himself and whoever was in the near vicinity. But as he repeated these tasks, over and over--he went longer, was able to move more. 

Again and again and again they practiced. Day fading into day. Georgette growing restless, Hercules growing frustrated.

Hercules stood, poised and quiet in the middle of the forest, holding an egg between two of his fingers. There was no noise, except for the beating of his own heart and the sounds in the canopy. In fact, it was actually very loud—monkeys braying and birds singing and insects chirping. However, his concentration was such that he barely heard this ambiance. It had faded into the atmosphere for him. 

And then, quite out of nowhere a flock of birds broke from the trees and took to the skies, as one of the Amazons broke from the treeline with a warrior’s yell, startling Hercules. The egg fumbled in his fingers as he dodged the swipe of a spear. Then another. His footwork fast, but not as fast as the Amazon’s. She kept coming, pushing him back and back. Hercules watched her swings, counting the beats in the muscles of his calves until he found a good moment. 

Reaching out with the hand not holding the egg, he grabbed the shaft of the spear and squeezed, splintering the wood in his grasp. With a smirk, he yanked the part with the spearhead away from the Amazon and held it under her chin. 

“Very good,” smirked Melanippe. She stepped back and so did he, dropping the spear to the forest floor. Her eyes dropped from his to his hand. 

Hercules lifted it and unfolded his clenched fist. Inside it lay the egg, perfectly preserved. “I did it!” Hercules shouted with glee, holding the egg up into the sky like a trophy with a triumphant yowl. 

“You did. That’s enough for today, I think.”

Iphito stepped out from the brush too and she was wearing a rare smile. Diana was at her side, dark eyes twinkling bright. “There is no more I can teach you,” the wisened Amazon said with an incline of her head. “You may have had less time than any Amazon in history, but for what you need. There is no more you need to learn.”

“What?” 

Diana, who until now, had been quiet, had tears in her eyes. “You’ve done it, my son.” She came towards him and lifted onto her toes, kissing one of his cheeks, and then the other. “I’m so proud of you.” 

Hercules smiled and let out a bewildered breath. Though, it was not Diana’s pride that he sought. It was Georgette’s. “I-I have to tell Georgette. I--thank you,” he said this mostly to Diana, reaching to touch her shoulder, but he looked at Iphito, then Melanippe too. “I appreciate your help. I will--cherish it, but--I must return.”

“To where you belong, yes,” Diana said and sniffled a bit. 

Hercules nodded. And then, he couldn’t help but grin again. He felt his whole life stretch out before him now. All those things that had once felt impossible now just within his grasp. For a moment, he did not know what that weightless feeling that began to fill him was. It almost frightened him with how strong it was. It almost knocked him off his feet, as if he were only a feather. 

It was hope.

The hope that he could live his life the way he wanted now. Get a job he loved. Marry Georgette. Live a life where stares did not follow him everywhere he went. 

HERCULES: The trip through hell was...a trip through hell. 

There were monsters to fight and personal issues to get through, but Hercules had trudged forward with determination. He knew the way and he would not rest until he got to the other side. It was the promise of a better future, for himself and Georgette, that guided him onwards and filled each of his steps with a confidence he rarely had.

It was not easy, but they made it through mostly unscathed.

Hercules was glad to get in the boat, float down the water, and crawl through the bushes again. They stepped out into the clearing and it felt as if they had never left. The air was humid and tasted slightly of salt. They were near the sea, Hercules knew. He took in a deep breath and started forward, Georgette’s hand in his.

It did not take long before they came across others. 

There was a spear to his throat and he pulled Georgette slightly closer, though he regarded the older woman with calm. “I know you know me,” he told her.

The Amazon, Iphito, sucked at her teeth and dropped her spear. “You’ve brought a mortal with you. You just love breaking rules, don’t you?”

“She’s not a mortal. You made sure of that,” Hercules replied, his own voice cool. “Will you tell my--Diana, that I am here?” 

“Wait here,” Iphito commanded before turning away and disappearing into the thick vegetation.

Hercules turned to Georgette and offered her a bashful, but hopeful smile. He squeezed her hand.

It did not take long for the bushes to rustle again and for his birth mother to appear. She looked as if she had not aged a day, looked exactly as she had the first time he’d seen her; dressed in a pair of leather trousers and a tight fitted shirt, her long, thick black hair braided down her back. 

“Hercules, oh! I knew you would return. I’m so happy to see you, my son.” She came towards him and leaned in to kiss his cheek. She barely had to stand on her toes to do so. Her hand was on the back of his head, stroking lightly at his hair, and then slid to cup his cheek. “You look tired, let us get you and you’re...mortal some food.” 

GEORGETTE: The trip through hell was mentally scarring to say the least. It was bad enough the first time around and going through it a second time did not feel any easier! Of course, it helped that she had an indestructible boyfriend who took extra care to make sure she was affected as little as possible and that she was almost as indestructible herself. 

But even so, it was hell. Who could forget hell?!

And it only got better because as the pair of them stood surrounded by thick vegetation and a very sharp spear directed right at Hercules’s throat, Georgette knew she had traded in one hell for another. The amazons, she really had a very strong dislike (practically hate) for them and those were the exact emotions that were running through her when seeing one appear behind the spear.

Iphito was it…? Georgette couldn’t exactly remember, not that it mattered, all of them were irrelevant to her, but the blonde did remember this woman from the first time she had been here. 

And it took every inch and every single centimeter of Georgette’s being not to react, pounce or lash. She wanted to tell the damn bitch to remove the spear, look if she had absolutely no problem raging out at the Fates, the Amazons were of even minimal importance to Georgette’s temper.  Instead, she remained composed, so much so she had stopped breathing, quite literally. Any misstep on her part could break her composure.  

The thing was, however, that Georgette really wanted this to work for Hercules’s sake, and only Hercules’s sake. She knew how much this meant to him and Hercules meant more to her than indulging her own temper. Besides, Hercules handled the situation in a manner that brought a smile to her features and a proud warmth to her chest. She hoped he understood as much when she replied to his bashful smile with a gentle kiss to his chest.

Everything was short lived of course, because if there was anyone Georgette found of the least irrelevance than the Amazons, it was Hercules’s biological mother and here she came prancing about all cooing as if she was the best mother of the fucking year— Georgette was squeezing Hercules’s hand so hard that if he had been anyone else, all the bones in his hand would have shattered.

“I’m not hungry.” Georgette replied with a very pronounced edge to her voice.

HERCULES: “Of course, of course, my mistake,” Diana said without missing a beat. Her eyes flicked to Georgette’s and Hercules’ followed, giving his girlfriend a sheepish look. The fact was: he was starving. He didn’t even know how many days it had been, since time all but stopped in the Underworld. Could probably check his phone but he didn’t want to do that. It felt out of place. 

“Let us go, we can eat, you can tell me why you are here.”

Hercules tugged Georgette along, knowing she wasn’t at all happy about this. He squeezed her hand, knowing that she wasn’t happy about any of this, but was holding her tongue. It was appreciated, even if it also made him anxious. 

They weaved through the trees, on a path the size of a deer trail, until it opened up on a busy hub of women and children going back and forth. From the center rose a billowing smoke and the scent of seasoned meats. Around this was women preparing vegetables, stirring bowls of food, setting out plates. There were long tables stretched out--all of this under a thatched roof that was open at the sides, though he could see rolled up animal skins that were most likely used as walls during rain. Beyond this structure laid houses, all hand built, none necessarily extravagant. There was maybe twenty or so, and plenty more women than that. 

As they arrived, much of the commotion died down, people staring at them as they wandered closer.

Diana seemed unbothered by this, getting in line, with Hercules right behind her, also grabbing a plate. They piled their dishes high with food, Hercules smiling and thanking every person that served him. The trio found a table towards the outskirts and settled in.

“So, why are you here?” Diana asked eagerly.

“I--well, I want to train with you.” 

Diana frowned, placing her fork back down on her plate. “That is not possible.”

Hercules frowned, felt his heart rate tick up slightly. “I didn’t choose to be like this,” Hercules told her, his voice with a significant edge to it. “It’s ruining my life.” 

“I understand that, but we have rules here. Traditions. In order to keep everyone safe,” Diana argued softly.

GEORGETTE: The scenery around her was one unlike anywhere Georgette has ever been in and that was saying a lot having just been at the Underworld before here. It was like she had been transported back in time as if she was walking through the historic ruins of a greek temple. Not that anything around her was shattered or left in pieces on the contrary all seemed to have an order to it. 

There was just nothing modern in sight. 

No males either, not that Georgette had expected any, but it was still such a stark fact to see before her eyes. They really did give away their male children. Something about that caused a burn deep down in her gut maybe because she knew the feeling of being abandoned. It might not have been because she was a male, but her mother pretty much left her for dead. 

Georgette hadn’t taken a plate even as she followed Hercules to the table. It hadn’t been a lie what she said before, she wasn’t hungry. She couldn’t get hungry and even if she could, she probably would have still denied herself a plate. 

She didn’t like the amazons and that thought came to the forefront when hearing Diana deny Hercules his training. Diana, who went ahead and broke tradition when she decided to keep her son and in doing so imbued him with all of the Amazonian strength. When found out gave him up and left him abandoned to fend for himself. 

Seemed like this woman only found following tradition to be good when she felt like it. 

Again, it took Georgette a great deal of will power to refrain herself from reacting as quick as her temper wanted her to. Her temper at this moment would not help anyone least of all Hercules for whom she passed a gentle hand over his forearm. It was no secret that she did not want to be here and that she had warned Hercules of this very answer, but she was here for Hercules and she would be damned if he didn’t get what he came for.  

He deserved at least that.

“Well the Fates seem to believe otherwise.” Georgette stated her voice collected but not without a cooling bite to it. “He’s here at their instruction.” 

Or suggestion, but same difference. The Fates didn’t appear to just anyone, and no one needed to be an expert to know that, so if they appear to drop a “suggestion” it meant go do it. Why the hell else would Georgette have lost the argument to come here in the first place. 

“And I’m going to assume if the Fates took the time and effort to appear in front of Hercules to leave this suggestion as his solution, then they must have already weighed the importance of these traditions and yet even still, they appeared.” 

HERCULES: There was a very long pause. 

Hercules shifted a little in his seat, feeling the weight of Diana’s gaze on him. He wondered if she could read his expressions. If they were hers...or his birth father’s. Or if he was just as much a stranger to her as she was to him. The thought unsettled him as much as her gaze did and he avoided her eyes, afraid of what he’d see. Georgette could hate her all she wanted, but Hercules was too soft for that. There was a part of him that wanted to know this woman. Who wanted to know his father (if his mother even knew who he was…) Even his sister, because yeah, he remembered that he had one of those too...which felt so bizarre. Hercules wasn’t a brother. 

He wasn’t, because blood didn’t make a family.

But...it could.

Maybe.

He wasn’t sure. 

Eventually, Diana spoke. “Is this true, did the Fates appear to you?”

Hercules’ gaze darted towards her and then away again. “Mhm,” he grunted, fiddling with his hands in his lap, no longer hungry. “Not the first time.”

“The Fates have visited you more than once?” The urgency with which she said it made him lift his head, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Er, yeah...is that--weird?” 

“My son--” Diana’s gaze darted towards Georgette and back to Hercules. “Hercules. I have lived for two hundred years, and I have never seen the Fates. Only heard of them and their visits.” 

“Oh,” Hercules said, stupidly. 

“Why did they bring you to me?”

“Well, the first time it was, uhm, for Georgette.” Hercules glanced towards his girlfriend and gave her a little smile. “I’d had given up my powers to a demon and--”

“You what?” Diana interrupted, alarmed.

“Yeah, I did. Because I hate these powers. All I ever do is hurt people. Georgette died, because of me!” His voice had raised sharply, cracking before his shoulders slumped and he put his head in his hands. “So many people have been hurt.” 

GEORGETTE: There was a piercing pang that gnawed deep within Georgette’s  gut when she heard the guilt that rang out of Hercules’s statement. 

It made her heart ache. 

Georgette was very aware that she had been so angry with Hercules when he brought her back into a somewhat life after her death. She knew she had told him awful, cutting words and had practically yelled in hatred for the decision he made for her, but she never wanted him to hold the weight of her death on his shoulders. 

Maybe his decision after the fact, yes, she will not deny the raging storm of anger and hurt she had hid behind when all of that had happened, but it was never for her death.

And even after absolutely everything she couldn’t stop loving Hercules.

Georgette took a hold of Hercules’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She also tugged at it so that he could look at her.  She hoped that he was able to see the softness and warmth behind them.

“You didn’t cause my death, Hercules, a tree did that. You were the one who brought me back.” 

She didn’t care who was around her, Georgette leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. When she pulled back she settled her eyes at Hercules’s mother. 

Georgette did not like this woman there was not hiding the pure dislike for her, but she did love her son and she was here for him. She would rather place herself in the position to beg for Hercules’s behalf then have him do it. 

After everything they have taken from him and made him live through, she didn’t want him to beg for their help.

“Hercules would never be a person to use anything he can be taught for wrong. He wouldn’t bring anyone harm. He saved me. He showed me kindness and love when I was the last person to deserve any of it. Please, don’t let him leave here without the help he is asking for.”

HERCULES: No matter how many times Georgette reassured him that it wasn’t his fault that she’d been killed, he was pretty sure the guilt would exist anyway. See, guilt and Hercules were very familiar bedfellows. No one had been as loyal to him as his fucking guilt. At least, not until Georgette came along. Sometimes, he couldn’t understand how she could still make excuses for him, but--

He was glad. He’d stick with her for as long as she wanted to make excuses for him.

But, see, that was the thing, wasn’t it? Hercules didn’t want to be making excuses anymore. Hercules wanted to live his life. He wanted to live it without being afraid. He wanted to live it with the ease of his mother, who lounged in front of them, her eyes sharp and vigilant, but her posture relaxed, every line of her body smooth and happy. Unlike Hercules who always sat as if he was being poked between the shoulder blades with the tip of a knife. 

His hand turned up when Georgette took it and he gave it a little squeeze. He would never take for granted such a simple gesture that so many couples did. If she had not died, they would never have been able to be together. Of that, Hercules was sure, because he would never forgive himself if something had happened to her again. After everything. Because of him. 

He smiled softly at the kiss and ducked his head down. Bashful at the praise that Georgette was lavishing on him. Still, he couldn’t disagree with it. For once, he stayed silent. Because Hercules would never use his strength against someone. The thought wouldn’t even occur to him. He wanted to harness his powers so that he didn’t hurt others. 

Georgette’s defense of him was much better than he could’ve ever given of himself. Hercules knew that. And, so, it seemed, did Diana. He heard her sigh and looked up and--somehow--he knew by the look on her face that...she agreed before she said anything.

“I will have to speak to our leaders but--” Diana reached her hand across the table, palm up.

After a moment’s hesitation, Hercules reached out and took it. She squeezed it firmly, without fear. It almost squeezed tears right out of his eyes. Hercules’ mother--his real mother--had never touched him so calmly, so assuredly. 

That was what he wanted. His heart burned with it. 

“I will help you, Hercules. It was never my intention that you live with this burden alone. I didn’t--know. Maybe, if I had--” Diana cut herself off. Hercules drew his hand away. “Nevermind. Just...let me do what I can now.” 

“Thank you,” Hercules said, as he dropped his hand back into his lap. He let his hand cover the one that was still holding Georgette’s. 

Diana nodded, smiled once--soft and sad--and then got up and left the table. 

Hercules turned to Georgette at once and kissed her sweetly.

“Thank you,” he told her. “I love you.” 

GEORGETTE: Georgette hadn’t realized that she had stopped breathing. It wasn’t a hard thing for her to do, breathing was no longer a necessity and her body simply continued to do so because it was an engraved involuntary habit she has had since birth. Right now though, she had been holding her  breath.

She didn’t know if Diana was going to listen to her words. Up until right now, Georgette has never really begged anyone for anything. Well, she had once before the night of her rape and since then she had promised herself that she will never do so again. She would never place herself in a predicament where she knowingly admitted that the power rested on another person’s hand and not her own. 

But she had just finished pleading with Diana on Hercules’s behalf.

If Hercules hadn’t swept her into a soft and sweet kiss, her breath would have still been stuck hitched in her throat until Diana returned. Then he told her those three little words that always made her heart flutter and skip all a mess in her chest and it made her realize that there really wasn’t anything that Georgette wouldn’t do for Hercules.

“You better.” She teased with a warm smile on her features.

Without realizing how it had even started, Hercules had managed to change her life so completely.  There had been some bumps and bruises in the midst of those changes, but in the end it had all been for the better. Georgette knew that she would redo and relive every moment of her life if it meant it always gave her this: Hercules beside her telling her that he loved her. 

“I love you too.” 

Unable to help herself, Georgette stole herself another kiss just as sweet as the one before, allowing this one to linger a little longer because kissing Hercules was one of her favorite things that she always cherished. When she had drawn back, she gently placed one of her hands on Hercules’s cheek, and allowed her thumb to softly run over his skin.

“And you’ll see your mother will come back and you’ll get this training. Everything will work out.” 

As soon as she had finished those words, Diana had returned with a couple of other Amazons including Iphito. Georgette assumed that these women had to be some of the leaders Diana had spoken about and so she withdrew her hand from Hercules’s cheek and instead placed it back over his own. Look, Georgette wasn’t trying to ruin any bit of Hercules’s chances because of some PDA. She wanted this for Hercules as much as he wanted it for himself because she knew how important this was for him. Squeezing his hand, she waited to hear what the verdict was. 

HERCULES: Hercules smiled into the second kiss. 

He wished that he had Georgette’s sudden optimism. He didn’t, however. When you spent your whole life fucking things up, you tended to have a rather pessimestic view of things. That things would not work out. 

Despite this, Hercules always had hope. He spoke, out loud, the pessimism because that was easier to digest, but--he believed in hope. If he didn’t have hope, he didn’t know how he would’ve made it this far. He had to have hope that at some point, he would figure out how to control his powers and be free of them in that way. Getting rid of them entirely was not an option (since the last time he’d done that, Georgette had died.) So, he had to control them. 

And this was his shot. He knew it. He was anxious, only giving Georgette a nod in return of her words. Any more than that and he thought he might burst into tears. The muscle in his jaw was tight and he could only stare straight ahead, mostly unseeing. 

It took much less time than he imagined. 

Hercules snapped back when the amazons and his birth mother reappeared. 

Iphito looked down her long, flat nose at him. 

Hercules swallowed and his grip on Georgette’s hand tightened instinctively.

“We will train you.” Her eyes flicked towards Georgette and back again. “Only you.” 

“What--really? Really? Thank you, thank you s--”

“Training will not be easy. However, there has never been an Amazon that has failed it.” Her arms uncrossed from in front of her chest. “Do not be the first.” 

“I won’t. I swear.” 

Iphito nodded and she and her posse moved off. Diana was left behind, smiling at Hercules. 

“I can show you where you’ll be staying. This way.” 

HERCULES: Hercules stumbled home in a daze. He was sure any minute the police would be after him. If not for blatant injury, then death. He was sure that he had killed Adella. His mouth was dry, his hands were shaking. He felt like he was going to be sick. Once he managed to get his key through the door (literally, he accidentally shoved his fist through the keyhole, blasting out part of his door), he fell into the house and collapsed in a chair, immediately putting his head between his knees.

He didn’t know how long he sat like that for before he heard Georgette’s voice. She must have opened the door when she noticed it wasn’t locked (due to the huge hole.) 

Shit. He’d forgotten that they were going out to dinner tonight. 

“Shit,” he said out loud, jerking up as if someone had prodded him with a taser. His hands were still bloody. His face and shirt too. He stood up, scrambling back like an injured, abandoned dog might. Forgetting that his girlfriend was nearly indestructible. All he knew was that he could feel his own power pumping through his veins and knew that it was out of his control right now. Which meant he couldn’t, shouldn’t touch anyone. 

“Just--just stay over there,” he basically pleaded with her. 

GEORGETTE: Georgette was looking forward to her dinner with Hercules. She was even thinking of skipping the wh loool ole dinner part and just hopping straight into dessert. Hey, she was already undead, she figured she should enjoy all the best parts about it.

At least, those had been her original thoughts that were now quickly vanishing out of mind as her eyes fell over the broken through door knob in front of her.

There was a sickening feeling that began to gnaw at the pit of the blonde’s stomach, something felt wrong… and she immediately opened the door.

There was Hercules fully upright, frightened with big skittish eyes and covered in crimson red blood. An immediate rush of concern filled Georgette as she dropped her purse and walked up close to Hercules in a sprint.

Georgette had heard his plea, but she was far too shocked by the blood and clouded by fear that he was hurt that the plea hadn’t registered. All she cared about was knowing if Hercules was okay.

“Hercules, are you okay?! You’re- you’re covered in blood! Are you hurt?! Did you get hurt?! What happened?”

HERCULES: Georgette got closer and Hercules froze, becoming stiff as a board. He felt his heart, even, freeze in his chest. Terrified of hurting Georgette. He knew that he could. He didn’t remember her own strength and magic now, all he remembered was pulling her broken body from beneath the tree trunk. In just a flash, Hercules was pulled back to that moment. That agonizing moment. The pain flashed through him like a lightning bolt and he stumbled backwards, away from Georgette.

He tripped over the coffee table, smashing it to pieces as he stumbled and tried to regain his balance again. “Stay away!” he repeated, his voice tight as a violin string. Tears flooded his eyes, blurring her figure in front of him.

“It happened a-again,” he choked out. “I-I hurt someone. I’m--I’m always hurting someone.” 

He bowed his head and scrubbed at his face. He didn’t deserve to cry. 

“And it will keep happening, as a matter of fact,” came a voice that was at once foreign and familiar to him. 

Hercules blinked the tears out of his eyes and then, they widened as he noticed three women, with cloaks like smoke, sitting in his living room. Clotho, in her square glasses, was poking through the rubble of the coffee table. Lachesis was standing next to Georgette as if she were sizing her up. And Atropos was lounging in the armchair lazily. It was her who spoke next:

“Yes, it would do you good to learn some tact.” 

GEORGETTE: Hercules had all but stumbled on his own feet and landed sprawled on the floor breaking the coffee table with him. Georgette knew that he was still pushing her away and even still her immediate reaction was to approach closer and get down to his level the minute he had hit ground.

She was never good at listening especially when what asked of her was not something she wanted and in this case, all she wanted was to comfort Hercules.

This other person that was supposedly harmed was not even a concerning thought for Georgette, honestly, they didn’t even cause a blimp in her thoughts all she cared about was making sure Hercules knew she was here for him.

He wasn’t a monster to her like she was sure he was feeling of himself right now.

Tears began to coat the skin of Hercules’s cheeks and they made her heart ache and her chest bruise. Georgette very gently caught the rest that continued to spill from those beautiful dark chocolate eyes she has grown to love so much with the pad of her thumb. She inched herself closer to place a very soft kiss on Hercules’s forehead.

“Oh Hercules I’m su-” Georgette wasn’t able to complete her sentence stunted by the sudden feeling of a presence beside her. Turning her head,  just to make sure that she wasn’t going crazy, sure enough there was someone or something…? Right up next to her! 

Georgette immediately jumped right up, caught completely off guard and now staring at three women of the likes of which she has never seen before. (That was saying a lot since she has been through the Underworld)

“Who- who the fuck are they?!”

HERCULES: The feeling of the kiss was still lingering on Hercules’ forehead as he blinked and tried to register the fact that the Fates were standing in his damn living room. For a second, Hercules’ gaze jumped around. Looking for Hades...or maybe Ashton Kutcher to jump out somewhere and tell him that he was being punked.

The Fates didn’t show up in just anyone’s living room.

Hercules was just anyone. He had always felt like a just anyone, even with his powers and how he hurt people. He was still just a just anyone. 

Except he wasn’t.

Son of Diana. Demon. Demi-god. Amazon.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your pretty little friend?” pouted Lachesis, standing up with Georgette and reaching out to tug on a piece of her hair playfully. 

“Introduce us and you’re one more step on the mend.” This was a command from Clotho.

Hercules cleared his throat. “Er, yeah--these are the...Fates,” Hercules stammered, clearing his throat. “Clotho.” Her eyes glinted behind her glasses. “Lachesis.” She gave a little bow. “And Atropos.” She waved her scissors lazily at Georgette.

“They’ve come to help...I think. I have met them once before when you--”

“Died. So sad. So pretty. It was never supposed to happen, what a pity.” That was Atropos, her voice lilting like she was singing an advertising jingle. She laughed afterwards.

GEORGETTE: Let this important fact be noted: Georgette did not like people touching her hair, especially strangers she didn’t know a lick about. Don’t touch her hair unless you are someone she cares about and honestly that list stretched out to like three people only. Don’t touch her hair, she will verbally assault anyone who was so stupid enough to do so.

That being said, one of the Fates was currently touching her hair and a verbal assault should have followed except that Georgette was currently standing motionless and quiet.

The Fates. 

The Fates were currently standing in Hercules’s living room.

See, Georgette knew of the Fates, in the mythological sense. Her mythology was pretty on point and has only gotten more so advanced with Hercules. They would spend time together where Hercules would share mythological stories with her and she would love the excitement in his voice and the spark that would catch his eyes whenever he did. 

So, she knew of the Fates, but she often got this picture of three old shrew women who own like three pieces of yarn for hair and passed a mythical eye ball around to share in her mind.

That was not at all what she was seeing now. 

Thankfully, or rather un-thankfully really, one of the Fates had said something that immediately erased all of the shock that had settled on her features switching them over to one of a stuck nerve.

“Thank you for that recount of my death, I wasn’t at all very personally aware of it.” She snapped sarcastically. 

It probably wasn’t the best idea to throw attitude at three immortal beings who controlled the very tapestry of your life, but they had aggravated a very personal chord and Georgette had an exceptional temper.

“What are you doing here?” 

HERCULES: If Hercules wasn’t in the middle of a near-to-full-on break down, maybe he would’ve laughed at Georgette’s peevish attitude towards the Fates. He wasn’t surprised by it, even through the haze of his self-loathing, he could recognize that. He wished there was room for the fondness that he was sure he felt deep down beneath the panic. 

All the fates found it amusing, apparently, as they tittered with their dark and ghoulish chuckles that sent shivers up the spine. 

“We’ve come to help, do not doubt us. Listen close, you’ve no reason not to trust.” They chanted it in unison like the choruses of old.

Hercules laughed once, humorless, but he sat up so that his elbows hooked around his knees. “Well, you can’t make anything worse.” 

“You must go to the land of your mothers,” they recited, “and once you’re there--seek their guidance. It is only through them that your powers manifest and you have a chance.”

Hercules stared and then he stared some more. He knew that they spoke of his birth mother. Someone he tried not to think about often. The wound was still fresh. The confusion over who he was and what it meant was fresh. He hated her, in a way, for damning him to this life due to her own selfishness, but Hercules was too soft to really hold that hate in his heart. So, he pushed it out and ignored it.

But now: the Fates were telling him that she was the key.

“The--Amazons? You want me to go to the Amazons?” 

“We know you’re thick, but we thought you were more quick.”

Hercules scoffed. “Thanks. I can’t just go to the Amazons. What makes you think they’ll even listen? Or want to train me?”

“That is for you to decide, we do not see why they cannot coincide.” 

“Great.”

GEORGETTE: The Fates wanted Hercules to ask the Amazons for help?! They wanted him to return back to the Underworld and ask the very people who had left him out in this world like some worthless dog without warning or guidance as to what he was going to face?!

Georgette hadn’t even realized when she let out a steely and very unrelenting no. 

That was the thing about Georgette, she often spoke before she thought and when angry even more so. It wasn’t something she was planning to change about herself either. She had already learned what staying quiet could do to you. She had stayed quiet once about her rape and look at how that had left her later on in life. 

“No.” Georgette repeated clearly so if the Fates didn’t get it the first time they were definitely going to get it now.

“You want Hercules to return back to that god-forsaken hell hole?!” 

Quite literally and she had every right to call it as such since she had gone through the Underworld herself. She still remembered every bit of it, every ounce, second, minute and hour of that journey back to the world above. Georgette had images of the Underworld seared into her brain and she had gone through the Underworld once. Hercules had gone through it twice and these fucking hags wanted him to live through that some more?!

“To ask those heartless, barbaric bitches for help?! The same ones that left him to fend for himself in the fucking first place! Those same sorry excuses for beings that knew exactly what he was and didn’t give two flying fucks. If they didn’t care the first time why they hell would they care now? What, would you like Hercules to get on his knees too and beg for that help even though they are the reason for all of it!” 

Georgette was seething. 

None of it was fair. 

Hercules had gone through so much already. He has gone through enough, gone through more than the average person has in a lifetime and the Fates wanted him to do this? Like-like if he wasn’t worth some dignity? Or worth being treated right? 

“Did I get this all straight?” She snarled.

HERCULES: Georgette went off.

It didn’t surprise him. Georgette was always going off about something. He found this quality endearing most of the time. She was passionate and he loved that about her. He appreciated her standing up for him, because he could never find it in him to stand up for himself. She had always been good about not making him feel like a monster, like someone worth forgiveness and someone worth protecting. (People didn’t think he needed it, considering that he was nearly indestructible.) 

Hercules stayed quiet, though. 

He stayed quiet and he thought. Something that Hercules rather spent much time on. He was reactive. He acted. But, there was nothing to act on. Not this moment. He still felt shell shocked by all of this. What had happened to Adella. The Fates in his living room. And more than all of that: the instructions they gave him.

To go see his birth mother. To go venture to the Amazons. To ask them for help.

It had never occurred to him to do that before and he felt like an idiot now. It made sense. If they had the same abilities as him, of course it would make sense for him to train with them, to ask for their help. They knew how to control their abilities. He’d seen it himself.

Thinking over.

Hercules got up off the floor. 

Atropos smirked from where she was sprawled in an armchair, touching the tips of her scissors to her fingers. 

He walked towards Georgette, putting a hand on her arm.

“It would be that easy?” he directed this at Clotho.

“Easy has nothing to do with it, we’ve told you what to do. Now it is up to you.” Her eyes flicked to Georgette and back to Hercules. She smirked and then, in a blink, the three women disappeared, leaving his apartment just the way they’d come. 

The air was heavy with silence. 

“I’m going to go,” Hercules said. He turned to face his girlfriend. “If they can help me, I have to go. It doesn’t matter all the rest. I can’t live like this anymore, Georgette.” 

GEORGETTE: The Fates disappeared as quick as a batting of an eye and the room was left with a piercing silence. The silence didn’t really bare down on Georgette or cut as deep until Hercules had placed his hand on her arm. The moment he had done that gesture the blonde already knew what his decision was going to be. 

And so, she walked away, she placed some space between them and kept her back to Hercules. 

She was just so angry and in all that anger was a storm of different emotions whirling around chaotically that Georgette didn’t even know what she was supposed to feel. She wanted to shove him, yell, pound her small fists over his chest again and again. She wanted to strongly and very clearly reiterate all the damage those Amazon hags had caused since Hercules seemed to have missed it all the first time she said it. 

She wanted to plead with him not to go. She wanted Hercules to see himself the way she saw him, see how big and how entirely she really loved him because maybe, then maybe he would get it. He would understand all of this anger that was eating at her insides and why the last thing she ever wanted was for him to go back to those women.

And Georgette got it, she did, she understood why all the rest didn’t matter for Hercules. She knew how big his heart was. It wasn’t like hers that only expanded for those she cared about, his heart always yearned to stretch out to everyone, to care for everyone. All injury to himself in the process of it all didn’t matter to him, but it mattered a great deal to Georgette. 

He would go, go back through hell and swallow everything else in, risk getting hurt and humiliated and Georgette never wanted that for him.  

Was that really so bad? Was it so bad for her to want to protect him? To want more for him?

Did it even matter? He was going, he already said he was as clear as day and that was Hercules. He would go through his decision like a bull in a china shop. Georgette was proof of that herself, she was undead. 

Georgette didn’t realize how long she had been staring at the wall or when her hand had wrapped itself around her wrist, her nails sinking into her skin. She took a deep breath in for what purpose she wasn’t sure because it did nothing to suffocate her emotions but she did so anyways before she turned around to look at Hercules. Georgette knew herself very well, she knew that when she looked at Hercules, her eyes wouldn’t even try to hold a single emotion back. 

“Then it doesn’t matter what I have to say does it? You’re still going to go.”  

HERCULES: “Yeah, I am,” Hercules said hotly.

He rarely put his foot down like this. Pegasus always lovingly referred to him as the strongest pushover they’d ever met—and it was true. Sometimes, Hercules wondered if this was an instinctual habit due to the fact that…Hercules hurt so many things when he stood his ground. He became a solid wall, impossible to break through. And he hated that. So, in all other aspects of his life, he tried to be soft.

But he couldn’t be soft about this. It was tearing him apart, already. He knew that this was what he needed to do. The bloody Fates had told him so! And, besides, it felt like the right decision.

“You don’t have to understand, but it’s what I need to do, Georgette. You—you don’t get it. I can’t keep living my life like this!” His voice rose, surprising even himself. Hercules rarely got this worked up. He had always been afraid of his own temper.

He sighed harshly, his shoulders collapsing. “Look, I’ve got to at least try, Georgette. I can’t live like this. I can’t—make a life for us like this.”

GEORGETTE:  Hercules’s voice rose, something Georgette was not used to. It almost took her for a loop and made her flinch. Hercules was not the one that entered into a temper that was Georgette. She was the one that always unleashed her anger not giving a flying care where and how it landed. 

But Hercules’s voice rose and it reminded Georgette of Ryan. 

She felt awful that such a thought had even crossed her mind because Hercules could never be like Ryan, he wasn’t a monster, he would never seek to purposely hurt her. Even still the thought had formed and it left her muscles debating if they should still go ahead and flinch or make her fingernails sink even deeper into her own skin to stop her from attacking. 

She did neither.  Instead, she spoke.

“Then go!” Georgette spat venomously, releasing her hand from the clench it had on her wrist. “Go have your damn try and do everything those hags want you to do! Because apparently none of it will affect you so I’m just being the stupid one here actually giving a rats ass and worrying about how this can all just finish only fucking hurting you in the end.”

Georgette began to move now because well one, standing still never worked for her when she was angry, it always made her feel like a caged animal and two she wasn’t about to stay here when her opinions and concerns meant absolutely nothing so she needed to start looking for her purse so that she could leave. 

“So be my fucking guest, Hercules!” Where the hell was that stupid purse?!   

HERCULES: Hercules had no idea what this meant for him and Georgette...but he knew what it meant for him.

Did it hurt that she didn’t trust him on this? That she wasn’t going to support him? Definitely. However, he needed to do this. That was all he knew. That he needed to do this, with or without help. If he didn’t, he’d never be able to take care of Georgette the way he wanted. Their lives would always be plagued by this decision. This moment. Maybe, it wouldn’t matter in the end and Georgette would stay pissed at him, but for the first time in a long time, Hercules had hope. Which meant that he hoped that when all this was fixed, when he was fixed, Georgette would forgive him and see why he had to do it.

So, he didn’t try to stop her. Instead, he handed her the purse that she was looking for. He didn’t need to be told that was what she was doing. He’d seen her lose it a thousand times before, especially when in a huff.

Silently, he handed it off to her. There wasn’t much to say. Georgette could see the hurt on his face. He could see the hurt on hers. There was nothing for it, though. 

This had to be done. It was destiny. 

So, the door closed and Hercules packed his own bag. Then, he went to the only place he knew to get the gates open: to Hades’. 

His wife let him inside, heavily pregnant and clearly tired. It made him nervous just looking at her. She was so fragile. He thanked her and waited awkwardly for Hades to come down the stairs. When he did, Hercules rose quickly, but carefully. Then, he explained the situation. 

“You don’t have to come into the Underworld with me,” Hercules assured. “I know the way.” 

With that, they set off through the forest. Unlike last time, Hercules didn’t say anything. He was quiet and determined, his jaw set. The trip was silent and felt both long and unbelievably short. It was Hades who alerted him that they had a tag-a-long, as soon as the Gates had opened. The blue flames flickered silently in the backdrop.

“Georgette?” 

Hades left without preamble, telling Hercules he had about two minutes before the gates shut tight and, no, he wasn’t coming back to open them again. 

“What are you doing here?” Hercules demanded as soon as Hades disappeared.

GEORGETTE: So, Georgette hadn’t exactly thought out this decision of hers to the extent that it probably should have been thought out. She just knew that once she had made it, she immediately went into action and found herself in the forest.

By no means was it a pleasant trip reaching the Gates of Hell. Georgette was not a nature girl. She did not appreciate dirt, or grass, branches, leaves, insects and disgusting creepy crawlers. 

She hated this forest and it’s trees. They, after all, had taken her life from her.

Yet here she was trying very hard not to be daunted by her surroundings or think back to those painful memories this exact entrance could make her relive. Even against everything, against her better knowledge because this was a trip through the Underworld after all, here she was. Wasn’t that how it always ended though?

Georgette coming right back to Hercules. 

“I’m still really upset.”

She stated because it had to be well known that her being here didn’t forfeit what she felt regarding this situation. She was still pissed and she still believed all of this was a terrible and very unfair idea. 

“But I don’t want you going through hell alone.” She admitted, her voice growing soft. “I know how that feels.”

Maybe not so much literally going through actual physical Underworld hell alone, but Georgette had gone through a rape alone. She had gone through the trial of her rapist alone. The rape, the trial, both were very real.  Both had been hard and both had been excruciating painful. They were her hell.

And being alone through hell, that was something she never wanted for Hercules. If he did this alone, she would be like every other person who had deserted him in his life. She wouldn’t forgive herself, so yes, she was still pissed off, but her anger wasn’t worth deserting Hercules.

“And I don’t want that for you so… that’s what I’m doing here.” 

HERCULES: Despite the circumstances, Hercules laughed.

It wasn’t a loud laugh, more of a chuckle than anything, but it felt very out of place, here at the entrance to the Underworld.

He was just surprised—delighted, suddenly, by this turn of events and he couldn’t help the smile that showed on his face. How fond he felt of Georgette, as she glowered at him. He wanted to kiss her, even if she’d just said she was upset with him. And he would. He’d wait, maybe, but he would.

There was a relief, too. It meant that if she was here, Hercules wouldn’t have to be alone. If she was here, she couldn’t be too upset with him. Hercules could handle pissed off Georgette, but he couldn’t handle a Georgette that wasn’t speaking to him, a Georgette that hated him. He was plenty familiar with his girlfriend’s temper and while it was a sight to behold, as long as she was still talking to him, he wasn’t going to worry.

And, y’know, he didn’t know when that had happened. Once, Hercules would’ve worried at every fight, every annoyance that he caused her (which was a lot.) But now, he just—wanted to laugh.

He softened, though, at the next thing Georgette had said and he stepped forward. Reaching out, he placed his hands on her shoulders and drew her a step closer so that he could kiss her forehead. His hands moved to her cheeks and he smiled at her.

Lou knelt down by Adella’s side and started barking orders, but Hercules just stood there, staring. He watched it like a movie. As if it was a painted set piece. His heart was louder in his chest than the whispers around him, than Lou’s commanding, and then very soft, voice. 

He stood there and didn’t know what to do, paralyzed with fear, his stomach sick with the feeling. It had been so long since this had happened last, Hercules had let his guard down. He’d let himself become clumsy and careless. And now, someone else was hurt because of him. Someone else was hurt, probably very badly, because of him.

And people were staring.

And it was all his fault.