During Melody’s time in boarding school, she felt less than satisfied. Having dealt with girls who were nothing but spoiled, arrogant brats. Melody was glad she had grown up being more selfless and caring. Studying was terrible, only thanking God that she kept organized.
Every day she missed her home and often thought about how her friends were doing. Melody hadn't managed to make any friends at school, so she had to look forward to the letters from home.
There were always photos from her friends, seashells from Jane, Sam and the boy's ploy to bust her out of school. Her sisters would visit and bring her news of her father, with the bonus of secret snacks and drinks.
Hercules would mail photos of Pegasus, talking about how they both missed her. He would joke about how boring average life was now, and inform her about the small things. It was peaceful for a long time.
Melody tried to write back to everyone, especially Hercules. Every time he wrote to her, she wanted to spill her heart out, though she was never sure if it was the right time to. Ever since she had kissed Jim, she felt an immediate dichotomy. Hercules was strong and gentle, but a bit too timid. Jim knew what he wanted in life and was confident, but he was rowdy and cared more about having fun than being safe.
Nonetheless, she was still young and wanted to enjoy their company as friends now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hercules waited at the cash register tapping his fingers on the wood. He had commissioned it weeks ago, and it should have been by done now. He couldn’t wait to give it to Melody when she was home.
When he finally recieved it, he hid it in his backpack and started walking home. He was planning on meeting up with some people from school. There he had his general group of friends, though some people within he didn't get on with well. The first that came to mind was Gaston. He wondered how his new friends could stand him. It didn't help that they were friends with childhood bullies.
“Hey, Herc! Whadya get?” someone asked the redhead. The 13-year-old boy jumped, before realizing it was Aladdin.
“Nothing really, I just got something for someone,” he said, gripping his chest.
“A gift? For me? You shouldn't have!” Al said, nudging his shoulder. Hercules rolled his eyes and pushed him, while his friend chuckled.
“Even if I tried to get you something, you would’ve had it already.”
“Nah I’m only good on food, not trinkets. I'm always in the market for more.” he pouted.
“Well good, then you’ll learn not to steal.” Hercules smiled.
“You’re too much of a prude, you know that?,” Aladdin responded.
“My parents would kill me if I ever got caught.” He laughed at Al’s reaction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melody's first morning back home, she rushed outside to see her friends. They had promised to meet her at the park they first met at. She only stopped at the sound of a familiar voice behind her.
“Planning on going somewhere?” she turned to see Jim and all her other friends. Before anyone spoke, she was immediately pounced on by her friends. A suffocating group hug, with Jim pressed to her chest.
“It feels so weird to finally see you again! It's been ages!” Sam groaned, sniffling as she bit back tears. Melody laughed and returned the affection. Though she felt her heartbeat beaten once she hugged Jim.
“We really missed you, especially Jim, he was sen-.” Jim covered Peter’s mouth while his face burnt a bright red. Jim rescinding his hand after a few seconds, wiping it on his pants and Melody could see Peters pink tongue.
“He would often get seashells for you since he thought you'd miss the ocean so much.” Sam finished with a poker face.
“Oh, I thought Jane was giving me those in the mail?” Melody chirped. Jane laughed.
“He asked me to pack them since I make the packet look so pretty though I doubt that,” she explained grinning. Melody blushed from the very idea.
“I hate you guys,” Jim grumbled.
“I enjoyed them, so thank you Jim. I really appreciated it.” Melody smiled. Jim grinned back.
“It’s great to have you back, Mel.” After heading to the park with them and enjoying the cold December air, Melody saw someone coming her way. Hercules was walking Pegasus and . Pegasus began wagging his tail at the familiar scent. He started to bark wildly.
“Woah Pegasus! What is up with you?” Trying to control his pet, Hercules tugged him back. He turned his head to see where Pegasus was barking towards, and felt a pang in his gut. He started to run towards her. Melody almost felt like she was going to fall after he hugged her with all his strength. She returned the hug, feeling the butterflies again.
“Missed me?” Melody joked. Hercules nodded his head in response, still hugging her his dog was jumping wanting to her hugs as well. It was almost back to normal.
“So you’re stuck with those jerks?” Melody replied, Pegasus now sleeping on her lap. Hercules nodded, sour.
“Yeah, all because they’re friends with this Gaston guy.” He explained having his back on the ground, completely at ease.
“How bad is he?” she asked.
“To the point, you would rather eat glass slippers than be near him."
"Cinderella? Really?"
"You're the one who wouldn't stop dressing me like a princess as a kid!" Hercules teased.
“Okay okay, Sir Goddess I give.” He rolled his eyes at the nickname.
“Short stack.” after Hercules said that Melody flicked his forehead and he gripped his face. “Oh no, that hurts you evil siren!” he laid back and pretended to die. Melody huffed, crossing her arms.
“No fair, I’m stuck with this adorable puppy.” He chuckled at her whining voice.
“Too bad.” He stuck his tongue at her. He didn't see her gaze had landed on his backpack.
“Well I suppose this is mine now!” she snagged his backpack grinning to see his priceless face.
“Oh no, my backpack is off-limits.” he tried to get it back from her grasp.
“Oh? Are you hiding something?” Melody teased once again waving his bag away from him. Hercules felt his heart beating faster, hoping to keep it a secret a bit longer.
“Let’s have a look-see, why don't we?” she hovered her hand over the zipper.
“No!” he panicked, and pinned her down to force the bag away from her hands. He gulped as he laid above her. They laid like that for a few more seconds as tension built. Finally Hercules scrambled back and threw his backpack over his shoulder.
“S-sorry… I-I gotta go, I’ll see you before Christmas!” he shouted as he started running with Pegasus. Melody’s mind screamed in confusion as she wondered what was really that important in his bag.
When she got home, Melody pales at the scene in front of her. Sam and Jane squished together on the couch, opposite Jim and Peter. Her father looked pleasant and, by contrast, her friends looked horrified. Trident turned to see Melody, smiling and setting down a cup as though nothing happened.
“Ah, Melody, you're home, finally! I just finished talking to your new friends and they seem to be absolutely lovely.” He continued to smile as the boy's looked like pound puppies.
“Oh… g-great…” Melody feigned a smile, wondering how he found out. “Aren't you pissed?” she questioned her dad, after her friends skittered home.
“I should be, and you should be grounded until you're thirty. But then, I realized that Sam would’ve taken care of them if they dared to do anything to you over the years.” Melody sighed, the weight finally lifted from her chest.
“They aren’t that bad people.” She spoke soft, trying to keep herself small and hushed. Trident patted her shoulder.
“You're still not allowed to be alone with them. I caught you this once, and that's it. No extra chances after this. Sam or Jane have to be with you at all times if you're hanging around them.” Melody breathed a sigh of relief.
“That’s all I wanted.”
~~~~~~~
“Your dad is terrifying!” Peter said. It had been a few days since Melody returned, finally spending time with her friends now. She needed one more to complete her circle.
“Well, at least he won’t drown you, for now.” She said, shrugging her shoulders. There was a splash of cold snow on her face, as a snowball made contact with her.
“Call it a payback, Mels!” Peter yelled, grinning. She growled, throwing a snowball back at him. Sam and Jane were building a snowman, while Jim was instead making something else.
“What are you doing down there dude? You’re the only one who isn’t playing.” Sam asked, annoyed with him not being active. Jim snickered.
“Oh, I'm playin'.” He pulled the slingshot using the balloon in the middle then released it. As it smacked Sam, there was a poof of crystalline glitter and . Jane gasps at her state looking like a fairy just the face doesn’t.
Peter fell off laughing on the ground seeing the ridiculousness on her face while Melody looked nervous.
Sam slowly pulled the poor rubber off of her face looking at it.
“Let me guess… glitter in the balloon?” she sneered, seeing his devious smirk.
“Uh-huh, good luck on getting rid of it.” He got up ready to run. Sam took a step forward. “Now you look like a fairy-” Jim stopped only as he saw Sam making a massive snowball.
“Run, Jimmy run!” Peter yelled at his poor male friend. Melody sighed, having masochistically missed their constant pissing contest.
“I’ll make sure they don’t die,” she replied, running at full speed into the forest.
“We should be telling you the same thing!” Jane called out at her. Melody disappeared. Peter stared at the forest for a minute.
“We should go after her huh?” he asked, knowing the answer.
“Of course.” Jane went off to the woods as he followed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hercules was climbing up the hill with his friends, swallowing hard. “Scared, Herc?” Eric asked him.
“Never.” Hercules groaned and slid down the hill on his sled, screaming in excitement. Once he got closer to the ground Hercules readied himself for the fall to the ground. He was about to go up again but stopped from someone calling his name.
“Yo Hercules, we wanna talk to you for a bit.” Hercules groaned, turning to see his old bully from childhood.
“Nice of you to call me by my name for once.” He grimaced while he saw his comrades laughed.
“Oh come on, we were teasing.” He grinned.
Hercules rolled his eyes. “What do you want?”
“We wanted to say you aren’t half bad over the past years. You finally got control of that weird strength of yours.” He patted the redhead’s shoulder.
“Thanks, I guess..?” Hercules felt appreciated, albeit surprised. Then that feeling vanished.
“We were wondering if you knew what happened to that siren girl? Haven’t seen her since school started. We wanted to give her a gift, of sorts.” Hercules felt a knot in his stomach, he knew he had to act tough in front of these kids, or else.
“Oh, who, Melody? Pff! She’s gone off to some snobby rich school and hasn't seen her since.” He said it as proudly as he could. They seemed convinced.
“Oh? You sound so relieved.”
“Yeah, for sure. She was always clinging to me, like, as if we’re that close.” Hercules continues gloating. “I only became friends with her because I felt so bad for her since her mom was dead. She's pitiful,” He felt like throwing up after he had said that. He knew she would cry if she heard him talking like that. He could see the boys flinch at the news, giving one another confused looks.
“I didn’t know that… she seemed fine for a kid to lose her mom at a young age.” They agreed. Hercules bit his lip, knowing he screwed up now.
“Yeah, it's because she's a sad baby girl.” He coughed.
“Yeah… guess she is a tough kid after all.” One of the boys shook his head.
“I’m sure she can't annoy you anymore.” He patted Hercules’s shoulder then went off with his fellow friends. The demigod took a long breath in, hoping they won’t bother her anymore.
“Is that how you see me?” he heard a familiar voice crack. Turning around, he saw Melody hiccuping with sobs.
“Mel… this isn’t what it looks like… please let me explain- “ He tried to reach out to her, but she backed away from his hand.
“I-I told you never to say anything about my mom to anyone… You knew how much I hated it. I trusted you.” She glared at him, tears still spilling down her face.
“I know but-”
“Let me finish. Are we not close, Jerkules? If I remember correctly, we were the only kids who were outcast! No one liked us because we were super weirdo's!” She poked at his chest, pushing him back a step. “I was clingy because I’m not used to being friends with boys! I didn't know what to do with a friend like you!”
“Well excuse me, I was only trying to help you by making sure they left you alone!” He was yelling.
“By telling them how annoying I am and how my mom is dead? That's not okay!” Melody screamed. He rolled his eyes.
“You know how those guys will do anything to hurt you!” Melody stared at him for a while then turned away from him.
“Yeah, well, now you're one of those guys.” She started to walk back to the woods to find her other friends.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hercules tried to go after her. She kept walking.
“Don't ever talk to me again,” Melody tried not to cry, especially in front of him. Hercules’s heart panicked, grabbing her wrist to stop her.
“You don’t mean that... You have no idea how much you mean to me.” He gripped her, her wrist turning red. Melody winced and tore her hand away, marching forward.
"Leave me alone. I don't care anymore." Hercules felt his world crash down. As he watched her walk away, he felt everything shatter in a manner of seconds.
“I'm deleting your number! And don't expect anything from me anymore!” he screamed at her.
“Good! I'm glad!” She replied, tears now streaming down her face. Hercules walked back to the hill in a huff, and watched his friend come down.
“Dude Herc, did you see that? I did a-” Aladdin tried to explain.
“No. I didn't.” He asked, barreling up to get his anger out of his system.
“Something wrong bud?” Al asked, knowing something was off.
“Nothing. I'm fine.” His strong friend replied and continued going up.
“Did we miss something?” Eric asked Aladdin after walking past his demigod friend.
“I dunno man, beats me.” He shrugged.