Post by Alice Liddell on Aug 30, 2009 23:07:23 GMT -5
This story should be suitable for all.
It's essentially a backstory for Megara, and focuses on the events surrounding her selling her soul to Hades.
Enjoy ^^
It's essentially a backstory for Megara, and focuses on the events surrounding her selling her soul to Hades.
Enjoy ^^
********************************************************
For the record I just want to make one thing clear before we start. I did NOT want to date him. I didn’t even want to look at the guy. And I certainly did not want to fall in love with him.
Perhaps I should introduce myself. I don’t want to but hey, if you care enough to read this you may as well know what you’re reading. The name’s Megara. My friends call me Meg, so I guess you can call me Megara. I haven’t exactly had many friends in my life. I thought I did once but… well I’m getting ahead of myself. The only thing I’ll say now is that it is not a good idea to drive a goddess berserk. But it was not my fault! I… I’m getting ahead of myself again.
So I guess you should just sit back; take a bite of pita and pour yourself some Hercul-ade because it’s going to be a long and bumpy ride.
Chapter I – In which I win one argument and lose another
People think that being a Princess is all balls, gowns, princes and happily ever afters. Well believe me they’re wrong. I’m a Princess, although you wouldn’t know it to look at me, and take it from somebody who knows; being a Princess is boring. Really boring. It’s essentially just like being any other girl, only with no freedom at all. Whatever you try to do it’s: “that’s not ladylike”, “don’t talk to them”, “marry this Prince”. My father was always trying to marry me off to Princes… heroes… contest winners… I wouldn’t have any of it, and it’s probably the reason I’m not the biggest fan of men. You should remember that, it’s important, and I may decide to test you later. My mother was almost as bad; she seemed to think that everyone and anyone was out to kill me and was so overprotective I wanted to scream. And did, frequently. Still, I guess it could have been worse. My cousin married his mother by accident and had several children. Famous story, I think they made a play of it.
“That’s it! I am through being home-schooled!” I slammed the door of the classroom behind me, stalking through the palace’s labyrinthine corridors in an almost blind rage. I’d never had much luck with tutors, and they’d only gotten more creepy as I’d gotten older. At this point I was ready to strangle the next elderly man who leered at me, so it was probably a good thing that I didn’t run in to anyone else in the halls.
“Problems, dear?” my father’s voice rang out from behind me, so I sourly turned to glare at him. King Creon of Thebes was the sort of man you wouldn’t want to put in charge of a city. With his squinty eyes , feeble arms and wispy hair he looked like he’d be more at home in the libraries of Athens rather then a city with as many problems as Thebes, which was probably why he was always trying to affirm his authority by marrying me off politically.
“You could say that,” I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly how my father would react to this, “I’m fed up with being home-schooled.” He sighed dramatically, stepping forward and resting one hand on my shoulder in an attempt to steer me back towards the classroom.
“If you’d just marry Prince…”
“He’s got less brains then he has fingers,” I replied, cutting him off irritably and roughly brushing the man’s arm away, “and I hope I don’t need to remind you he was missing half of his.” He shuffled awkwardly for a moment, unable to deny that as potential suitors went this one wasn’t even scraping the bottom of the barrel, he was brushed up from the floor beneath it. He changed tack, well used to this almost weekly conversation on my future.
“You know what your mother is like,” he began, casting a wary eye around as if the woman could be lurking behind one of the statues, “ever since the assassination attempt…”
“I do know what she’s like,” I stated, cutting the king off mid-sentence once again, “and if she had her way then the statues would move around more then I do.” I sighed, leaning against one of the aforementioned sculptures as I glared at my father. “I’m a big girl father, too big to wrap in cotton any more.” This was it. We’d reached this point in the conversation several times before, however this time I was going to emerge victorious. I straightened up again; calmer now then I had been when I burst from the classroom. Turning away from the king, I prepared to set off down the corridor, however paused for one final statement.
“I’m going to high school tomorrow.” This wasn’t a question, and I quickly walked away from my father to make sure that he was aware of this. Oh both of my parents tried to stop me that night, and that morning as well, however I had made up my mind and was not going to change it for anyone. For some time afterwards I regretted that conversation, after all it was when I began attending high school properly that everything began to fall apart in my life. But hey, the fates do what the fates do, and things all worked out in the end.
The next morning, after several more attempts by both parents to convince me otherwise, I set off into the city towards Epimetheus Academy. One advantage of being a Princess was that things could be arranged for you at the drop of a hat, and thankfully he had sent word ahead so that they were expecting me. One thing I’d failed to take into consideration however was that a new student turning up out of nowhere was an almost guaranteed formula for being a social outcast. Wherever I went on the campus I was stared at as if I were some sort of sideshow freak, to such an extent that by lunch time I was almost ready to go back to Hans, the four-fingered fellow father had waiting for me.
“Hi,” I was so caught up in my own thoughts that it took me a moment to realise that the girl was talking to me. I’d been sat alone at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, glaring at my tray as if it had dealt me a personal insult, so much so that I hadn’t noticed the girl approach, “I’m Harmonia, can I join you?”
“Do what you want,” I replied, slightly more bitterly then was probably wise with the first person to be friendly to me, “not like anything could make this a worse day.” I sighed, looking up for the first time since the conversation began. Harmonia turned out to be friendly enough, if a little odd. There was something not quite human about her, from her totally symmetrical hair to her obsession with things being neat and ordered at all times. She was however ridiculously popular (mainly due to her unearthly good looks), which thankfully meant that her acceptance me also made me accepted amongst the rest of the school. I soon assembled a group of… I wouldn’t call them friends per se… but they were close enough for Epimetheus academy to be a great improvement on home-school. Harmonia listened to my problems, and was always quick to offer a solution. Unfortunately, it was this that led to disaster.
“How do you feel about blind-dates?” chimed Harmonia, sliding into the seat beside me one boring Thursday afternoon. She’d been clamouring about setting me up with someone ever since I mentioned my father’s obsession, and seemed to believe that if I had a boyfriend then the king would finally leave me alone.
“Well my father has been trying to marry me off since I could walk,” I replied, idly checking my nails in one hand, “so if you can honestly find anyone I’d like then I’m his.” My voice was dripping with sarcasm, however Harmonia didn’t seem to either realise or care about this detail.
“Great!” she replied, as if I’d jumped for joy at the offer, “he’ll meet you at the theatre at 8.” I looked around at her in abject horror, lip curling up as I glared at Harmonia.
“You do have a brain under those platinum blonde curls right?” I asked scathingly, seriously doubting my companion’s intellect for the first time. She giggled at this, waving one hand dismissively in a way that made it clear she wasn’t going to back down on this issue.
“You’ll have fun,” she insisted vehemently, “I promise.” If I’d known what would result from that evening’s plans, I would have turned and fled the school that moment.
[/size]For the record I just want to make one thing clear before we start. I did NOT want to date him. I didn’t even want to look at the guy. And I certainly did not want to fall in love with him.
Perhaps I should introduce myself. I don’t want to but hey, if you care enough to read this you may as well know what you’re reading. The name’s Megara. My friends call me Meg, so I guess you can call me Megara. I haven’t exactly had many friends in my life. I thought I did once but… well I’m getting ahead of myself. The only thing I’ll say now is that it is not a good idea to drive a goddess berserk. But it was not my fault! I… I’m getting ahead of myself again.
So I guess you should just sit back; take a bite of pita and pour yourself some Hercul-ade because it’s going to be a long and bumpy ride.
Chapter I – In which I win one argument and lose another
People think that being a Princess is all balls, gowns, princes and happily ever afters. Well believe me they’re wrong. I’m a Princess, although you wouldn’t know it to look at me, and take it from somebody who knows; being a Princess is boring. Really boring. It’s essentially just like being any other girl, only with no freedom at all. Whatever you try to do it’s: “that’s not ladylike”, “don’t talk to them”, “marry this Prince”. My father was always trying to marry me off to Princes… heroes… contest winners… I wouldn’t have any of it, and it’s probably the reason I’m not the biggest fan of men. You should remember that, it’s important, and I may decide to test you later. My mother was almost as bad; she seemed to think that everyone and anyone was out to kill me and was so overprotective I wanted to scream. And did, frequently. Still, I guess it could have been worse. My cousin married his mother by accident and had several children. Famous story, I think they made a play of it.
“That’s it! I am through being home-schooled!” I slammed the door of the classroom behind me, stalking through the palace’s labyrinthine corridors in an almost blind rage. I’d never had much luck with tutors, and they’d only gotten more creepy as I’d gotten older. At this point I was ready to strangle the next elderly man who leered at me, so it was probably a good thing that I didn’t run in to anyone else in the halls.
“Problems, dear?” my father’s voice rang out from behind me, so I sourly turned to glare at him. King Creon of Thebes was the sort of man you wouldn’t want to put in charge of a city. With his squinty eyes , feeble arms and wispy hair he looked like he’d be more at home in the libraries of Athens rather then a city with as many problems as Thebes, which was probably why he was always trying to affirm his authority by marrying me off politically.
“You could say that,” I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly how my father would react to this, “I’m fed up with being home-schooled.” He sighed dramatically, stepping forward and resting one hand on my shoulder in an attempt to steer me back towards the classroom.
“If you’d just marry Prince…”
“He’s got less brains then he has fingers,” I replied, cutting him off irritably and roughly brushing the man’s arm away, “and I hope I don’t need to remind you he was missing half of his.” He shuffled awkwardly for a moment, unable to deny that as potential suitors went this one wasn’t even scraping the bottom of the barrel, he was brushed up from the floor beneath it. He changed tack, well used to this almost weekly conversation on my future.
“You know what your mother is like,” he began, casting a wary eye around as if the woman could be lurking behind one of the statues, “ever since the assassination attempt…”
“I do know what she’s like,” I stated, cutting the king off mid-sentence once again, “and if she had her way then the statues would move around more then I do.” I sighed, leaning against one of the aforementioned sculptures as I glared at my father. “I’m a big girl father, too big to wrap in cotton any more.” This was it. We’d reached this point in the conversation several times before, however this time I was going to emerge victorious. I straightened up again; calmer now then I had been when I burst from the classroom. Turning away from the king, I prepared to set off down the corridor, however paused for one final statement.
“I’m going to high school tomorrow.” This wasn’t a question, and I quickly walked away from my father to make sure that he was aware of this. Oh both of my parents tried to stop me that night, and that morning as well, however I had made up my mind and was not going to change it for anyone. For some time afterwards I regretted that conversation, after all it was when I began attending high school properly that everything began to fall apart in my life. But hey, the fates do what the fates do, and things all worked out in the end.
The next morning, after several more attempts by both parents to convince me otherwise, I set off into the city towards Epimetheus Academy. One advantage of being a Princess was that things could be arranged for you at the drop of a hat, and thankfully he had sent word ahead so that they were expecting me. One thing I’d failed to take into consideration however was that a new student turning up out of nowhere was an almost guaranteed formula for being a social outcast. Wherever I went on the campus I was stared at as if I were some sort of sideshow freak, to such an extent that by lunch time I was almost ready to go back to Hans, the four-fingered fellow father had waiting for me.
“Hi,” I was so caught up in my own thoughts that it took me a moment to realise that the girl was talking to me. I’d been sat alone at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, glaring at my tray as if it had dealt me a personal insult, so much so that I hadn’t noticed the girl approach, “I’m Harmonia, can I join you?”
“Do what you want,” I replied, slightly more bitterly then was probably wise with the first person to be friendly to me, “not like anything could make this a worse day.” I sighed, looking up for the first time since the conversation began. Harmonia turned out to be friendly enough, if a little odd. There was something not quite human about her, from her totally symmetrical hair to her obsession with things being neat and ordered at all times. She was however ridiculously popular (mainly due to her unearthly good looks), which thankfully meant that her acceptance me also made me accepted amongst the rest of the school. I soon assembled a group of… I wouldn’t call them friends per se… but they were close enough for Epimetheus academy to be a great improvement on home-school. Harmonia listened to my problems, and was always quick to offer a solution. Unfortunately, it was this that led to disaster.
“How do you feel about blind-dates?” chimed Harmonia, sliding into the seat beside me one boring Thursday afternoon. She’d been clamouring about setting me up with someone ever since I mentioned my father’s obsession, and seemed to believe that if I had a boyfriend then the king would finally leave me alone.
“Well my father has been trying to marry me off since I could walk,” I replied, idly checking my nails in one hand, “so if you can honestly find anyone I’d like then I’m his.” My voice was dripping with sarcasm, however Harmonia didn’t seem to either realise or care about this detail.
“Great!” she replied, as if I’d jumped for joy at the offer, “he’ll meet you at the theatre at 8.” I looked around at her in abject horror, lip curling up as I glared at Harmonia.
“You do have a brain under those platinum blonde curls right?” I asked scathingly, seriously doubting my companion’s intellect for the first time. She giggled at this, waving one hand dismissively in a way that made it clear she wasn’t going to back down on this issue.
“You’ll have fun,” she insisted vehemently, “I promise.” If I’d known what would result from that evening’s plans, I would have turned and fled the school that moment.
