Twisted Wonderland

A Glass Prison

You open your eyes, blinking several times. Looking around, you see you're not in the Island of Woe anymore. You appear to be in the audience seats of coliseum similar to the one back in school.

"Geez louise."

You dart down, peering over the edge. You see Hades lying on a gymnasium high beam smirking at a boy below. He couldn't be more than eighteen though he looks like bodybuilder. He has incredibly strong muscles and curly blonde hair.

Hades flips off the bar and lands perfectly, holding out a hand to the boy. "Name is Hades, Lord of the Dead. Hi. How ya doin'?"

The boy only backs away. "Not now, okay?"

"Hey, hey," Hades rushes over and walks beside the boy. "I only need a few seconds and I'm a fast talker, all right? See, I've got the major deal in the works. A real estate venture, if you will. And Herc, you little devil you, may I call you Herc? You seem to be constantly getting in the way of it."

You remember in the last dream that Hades was angry at this 'wonder boy' messing up his plans. Could this be that boy? And Herc... Where have you heard that name before? Your eyes widen in realization. Wasn't Hercules the name of the baby from earlier? He had to be. He looks exactly like Zeus.

"You've got the wrong guy." He shoves Hades of him

Hades is visibly getting more annoyed. "Hear me out, ya little-" Hades chuckles, placing a hand to his shoulder. "Just hear me out, okay? So I would be eternally grateful if you would just take a day off from this hero business of yours. Geez, I mean, monsters, natural disasters. Phew, you wait a day, okay?"

"You're out of your mind." Hercules begins to walk away when Hades stops him again.

"Not so fast, because, ya see, I do have a little leverage... you might wanna know about."

Hades snaps his fingers and the girl from before appears from thin air.

Hercules' eyes widen. "Meg!"

She rushes towards him. "Don't listen to him-"

Hades snaps his fingers and Meg disappears.

Hercules whirls on Hades. "Let her go!"

Hades smirks. "Here's the trade-off. You give up your strength for about twenty four hours, okay? Say, the next twenty four hours and Meg here is free as a bird and safe from harm." Hades makes Meg appear again but she has coils of smoke wrapped around her. "We dance, we kiss, we schmooze, we carry on, we go home happy. What d'ya say? Come on."

Hercules looks at Meg with fear and worry in his eyes. "People are gonna get hurt, aren't they?"

"Nah! I mean, it's, you know, it's a possibility. It happens 'cause, you know, it's war, but what can I tell ya? Anyway, what do you owe these people, huh?" Hades wraps an arm around Meg, squishing her face. "Isn't Meg, little smoochy face, isn't she more important than they are?"

"Stop it!"

"Isn't she?"

Hercules pauses, looking at Meg as she shakes her head. "You gonna swear she'll be safe from any harm."

Hades lets Meg go and walks over to Hercules. "Fine, okay, I'll give you that one. Meg is safe, otherwise you get your strength right back, yadda-yadda, fine print, boilerplate, baboom. Okay? We're done, what d'ya say we shake on it?"

Hades holds out a hand but the boy stares uncertainly between him and Meg.

"Hey, I really don't have, like, time to bat this around. I'm kind of on a schedule here, I got plans for August. Okay? I need an answer, like, now. Going once, going twice-"