Megaera tuts as footsteps echo into her chamber of Tartarus. A violet glow from the eternal fires blazing in their golden dishes painted the room in purple light, it has become far too familiar for her liking. She tightens her grip on her whip, the leathery black wing upon her shoulder flexes in irritation.

“Turn around, and go home.” She demands lowly, her jaw set. She thought you knew better than to attempt an escape from the Underworld like your brother.

The Underworld wasn’t perfect by any means; However, leaving the Underworld meant leaving her. She bristled at the revelation, at your audacity.

“Have you lost your mind?” She hisses, her pink leather whip slicing through the air so the crack of it against the ornate tiled floor echoes. Pebbles and loose chunks of the green statues in the chamber tumble to the ground.

She was bound to her duty to stop you, to send you back to the lobby of the manor in a splash of thick, red water-- no matter how much it ate away at her heart. Defeating Zagreus did not leave her conscience screaming, why were her hands shaking when it was you standing before her?

A putid scent from the depths of Tartarus settles into the room and makes her pulse pound in her temples. The heels of her feet lift off the ground and she shifts her weight onto her toes, bending low into an attacking stance. “You know I’m going to have to stop you.” Don’t make me do this, she wants to add, but refrains.

Megaera wanted to demand you to turn around and return to your rightful place in the House of Hades-- back where it’s safe, back where she can be with you. If she didn't stop you, someone else would, and she could guarantee it would not be pleasant. Or maybe you’d never be stopped, and you’d slip from her grasp entirely.

Losing you would destroy her.

The muscles in her back pulled taut and her golden gaze sharpened further. “You’re a fool.” Her voice is harsh, filled with an unfamiliar sense of dread and fear. However, the words are angled only towards herself. The only fool was her.