#eurydice screaming ''orpheus go!'' was definitely cut

[by-kilian]

It’s ur “💙” anon coming with part 2 bc she definitely can

Now you see i can’t send photos or gifs but I’ll link them nonetheless u can’t stop me. https://giphy.com/gifs/rihanna-OTbo92zetdsha

Again folks big spoiler alert.

Okay now yelena and levi’s first scene.. um.. why.. why is every possible character so hot dude like!!?!?!!?? I just can’t pick a side without making excuses for the others ughh

“My time in the military shaped me, you know?” She paused. “I had to take lives,” she said in a hushed voice. “Do you know what that’s like?” The switchblade grew heavier in Levi’s pocket. Then an air of understanding passed between him and Yelena in the silence. Levi dipped his hand into his pocket. “Yes.”

This scene… the tension.. i felt everything in every single part of my body istg KW i was screaming and jumping while chewing on my nails until i reached skin it was this good!! I really loved the way they just understood each other it was like “nothing personal, I’m doing my job.” There was an air of idk.. respect and kind of acceptance with a hint of challenge.. i loved it so much

Now back to My fallen angel and the stinky hairy stalkiest asshole in the universe..

Yes he’s a jerk, but a very cunning and nothing-near-stupid one.. he in-fact scared me at some point i gotta admit, because the way he connects the dots is.. wow

“You are already thinking of all the ways you can kill me because you will never be able to shed that part of you.”

“A million and one things raced through your mind, and you were ashamed that more than half of those things were trying to figure out how to kill Mathias. ”

NO BECAUSE I WHEEZED MY LUNGS OUT😭😭😭 https://giphy.com/gifs/PotatoITV-e4-coach-trip-celebrity-ghost-WiCahQsVaUjksEn7aT MY BABY PLANNED HIS MURDER IN 12928 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES😭😭😭 And as she should!!

Fast forward you see.. i should’ve knew things are going down when levi whispered “The die had been cast” i should’ve realized this but i didn’t and that’s why when mathias stabbed kilian i gasped out loud… i felt my heart breaking with her and you see it’s not for the fact that she was actually dying this bitch don’t die.. i mean because she was distracted by the thought of levi getting hurt and that was the meanest most heartbreaking thing I’ve read in a while.. and you know what’s the cherry on top? THINKING THAT SHE DOESNT DESERVE HAPPINESS.. imma kms that’s it..

You couldn’t speak, feeling nothing but pain and heat and heat and pain. It burnt through your body hot even as you felt yourself growing colder. You thought of Levi and tears welled in your eyes

Your description made me feel every single word istg>>>

And Of course i was a sobbing mess while I’m reading her crawling across the floor all bloodied to reach levi, and of course i cried myself to sleep when she reached him, and definitely i screamed in agony once you mentioned orpheus and eurydice again…

Oh and let’s not talk about once levi reached her because it’ll be my last straw..

Levi was never a religious man, but he understood religion when he was with you. With you, Levi understood the temptation that Eve faced in the garden. With you, Levi even understood how angels could fall from grace. With you, Levi understood words he never did before to an exceptionally profound level; words like devotion, redemption, and prayer.Levi wasn’t a religious man, but he learned how to truly pray that night without even meaning to. One single solemn request, the most pious prayer he would ever attempt. “Wake up, sweetheart.”  

KW WE CANT NORMALIZE YOU WRITING THIS GOOD OKAY YOUR WORDS ARE ACTUAL DAGGERS ATP THEY ARE CUTTING THROUGH MY SOUL.. AND WDYM WAKP UP SWEETHEART KW DID YOU SPECIALIZE IN CUNTOLOGY WRTING CLASS???? HELLO MISS THATS FORBIDDEN OKAY SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP LITERALLY SHAKING IN AGONY https://giphy.com/gifs/absurdnoise-horror-woman-7ztt6QLRy4PBu

Now ehem next Chapter whohohooooo🤩🤩

The last thing i expected was the chapter going this way tbh.. you see it reminded me of LDBS most heartbreaking chapters that Im never forgetting because they affected me so much.. “about her, where it started, where it ends.” The holy trinity of greif, i felt like i was reading them but now the hurt was pro max because your writing and descriptions are more.. descriptive

Also lmao zeke holding a gum😭😭😭 i knew it was a fever dream when you mentioned it😭😭😭 and the fact that killian cares about him enough to see him, dude if you planned murder during this chapter it would’ve been easier but ofc ofc you wanted to torture us. https://giphy.com/gifs/portlandia-season-2-episode-3-xT1R9SJiGMLJFB5YKA

Now.. annie?? Kw why are you like this and how you know how to connect things perfectly like that it’s pretty iconic tbh!!!

I don’t really know what to say anymore.. but each paragraph was really killing me in every possible way.. i really wished killian was able to see how much people cares about how, not just levi, whom she thinks she doesn’t deserve, but annie, erwin, Isabelle, farlan, eren, i really wished she knew how much they love her, maybe then she’ll know that she deserves every single good thing in this universe, my baby suffered a-lot and that’s why i admire her, if this was an actual novel killian would for sure be the best female mc in terms of surviving, and as levi said: Still, you were nothing if not a survivor.  She really is. Our fallen angel🥹💙💙

They’d nicknamed you the “fallen angel,” because you looked exactly like one when you arrived. One of the crash team members said afterwards that if they weren’t so concerned about saving your life, they would have shed a tear for having to cut up your beautiful gown.

I giggled in between my tears when i read this, kw never beating the fashionista allegations even on her death bed which is like a huge slayyyyy she’s a freaking queen💙💙 our fashion icon. I really loved the interaction between annie and levi, you really wrote them so well because.. i don’t know if im the only one who feels this but you know when you’re reading a chapter or a scene and be like.. “yes, this is how things are supposed to be going” from how perfect the writing and writer is? That’s what i felt and still feel every time i read one of your works!!🥹💙

When you woke up again, your face was pressed into a couch that smelt powdery and warm. It was a familiar scent but you couldn’t pinpoint it to someone specifically. As you ran your nails along the green and pink floral upholstery, you felt like you were somewhere you once called home.

Kw you really need to give me lessons on how to describe things, like genuine question how do you make your writing feel.. so so alive, like the words are beating and moving i feel them🥹

Before you could ask her anything more, protest, or move, she took her wooden spoon out of the pot and shoved a sip of it into your mouth, holding your chin as she did. 

Sophia?… https://giphy.com/gifs/mafs-sRFFCzAey4IatfTOnQ .. yeah i cried so much then, or not literally but my eyes teared up fr, i need a hug.. https://giphy.com/gifs/portlandia-season-1-episode-6-xT1R9SLI3qYhVbmeQg.

When Eren came by to visit, the first thing he did was make sure to drop some of your favorite chicken lemon soup off to you. 

I love love love the way you move from a scene to another, and seeing eren this chap was the most pleasing surprise ever!, he’s a goof ball i love him sm my baby🥹💙💙 I’m sure everything is gonna get better after his appearance i—

Especially when it came to you. Especially when it came to the both of you. The two of you were so used to having the rug pulled out from under you, from having the other shoe drop, from having your lives blown up just at its happiest point, that to not expect the worst almost felt naive. 

*gets hit by this paragraph like a truck and starts screaming uncontrollably* https://giphy.com/clips/neonrated-neon-rated-films-ofYZSv3fjXVrvpwlAL

WILL MY SUFFERING EVER END—

“You should’ve brought some clothes for Kilian,” Levi said. It was a knee-jerk reaction, one that surprised both him and Erwin. It was more hopeful than Levi intended for it to be, but he took that as a good thing. He could only hope Erwin wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. 

“You seem really happy, Sophia,” you said, turning to her with a smile as you placed the picture back down. “Peaceful almost.” 

“You,” she said in English. “Because of you.” ”

“I love you. And I promise I’ll help you finish cooking when I wake up. I might just close my eyes for a bit if that’s okay,” you gestured to the couch, feeling sleep washing over you like a tide in the ocean shore.”

Oh will it seems not never-mind.. https://giphy.com/gifs/bigbrothernlbe-kyXSJ1yPFHZ88W3v79

Now.. farlan and levi, first of all I’m glad he’s not sad anymore or hurt, but i feel like this isn’t the end of it, or maybe was this scene a closure? I’m not sure, but i loved his interaction with levi so much!!!

You know when I first met her, she went by a different name,” Farlan continued as he came into the room, trying his best to change the subject so that Levi wouldn’t keep worrying over you. “But I think Kilian suits her much more.” “What name did she go by instead?” Levi asked, not even shocked that you had somehow crossed paths with Farlan before. “Oh, she went by Annie,” Farlan shrugged. This managed to somehow get a laugh out of Levi for some reason.

That was so cute in some way🥹 i love them so much kw u don’t understand!!!

U don’t understand how much i hate you

“I’ve been waiting for you.”You froze at the sound. He was so kind, so patient, so sweet—you would’ve recognized his voice even with your eyes closed. “Lucas?” 

That’s so mean.. that’s literally evil, like omg HOW DARE YOU WE DONT TALK ABOUT WHO-COULDNT-BE-NAMED ANYMORE

“I–” you paused, trying to find your words but finding that they weren’t coming out the right way. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. You left me, that’s not right,” you pouted.

“Yes, you’re wrong,” Lucas said, shaking his head at you in an affectionate manner. “I’m always with you.” 

WHY JUST WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AUAUAGQYAAKSJSJAJAJAJAJ https://giphy.com/gifs/crying-woman-12OloSxMpkEoSI

Levi did not leave your side, not once. 

KW I HATE YOUUUUY AHAHHAHHHHHHHHHGHGGGG *insert eren infamous scream*

You hesitated, feeling a sense of warmth coming from behind the door. “Well do you know what’s behind it?” you stood up onto your tippy-toes as if it would help you get a better look. “It’s not what you think,” Lucas confirmed softly. “I promise.”Faltering again, you found that your feet would not move. “But what if I’m not ready?”Lucas shook his head at you, and squeezed your hand again. “You’ve always been ready.” Tears welled in your eyes as the water continued to wash over your feet. “What if I don’t deserve what’s behind that door?”

Kw as much as i love your brilliant mind please.. this hurts like a bitch please dont do it again.. lucas, the way killian cried when she saw him, i don’t know what to say, i just can feel it but i can’t describe it, and you know that a writing is so good when it leaves you speechless like yours did to me now🥹💙💙

When you blinked your eyes open, the first person you saw was Levi. His smile was bright and warm. It made you feel weightless. It made you feel loved. You smiled back, albeit weakly. Levi squeezed your hand gently, still smiling. “Welcome back, sweetheart,” he whispered.  

Ending the chapter with welcome back when the last was “wake, up sweetheart.” I SEE WHAT YOUR DOING KW I SEE IT

And i really appreciate it, i would like to thank you so so much for writing these new chapters and blessing us with your amazing, wonderful, beautiful, mesmerizing writing voice and style and descriptions as a whole, thank you really, to me you are my role model in writing, and i aspire to be like you or just make people feel the same way your words make me feel, i really appreciate it and please never stop writing.. never leave us kw because the fan fic writers community needs you my hidden gem.. we need your characters, scenes, gut wrenching stories and everything. If i could thank you in 60 different languages, express my love and admire you in every possible way i would’ve done it, but i know it won’t give you enough credit and it won’t come close to the feelings i go through reading your works. https://giphy.com/gifs/anime-love-bQATeUxCoCFr2

I love you so much kw!!💙💙 https://giphy.com/gifs/love-i-you-that-70s-show-2dQ3FMaMFccpi

Your lovely “💙” anon, hope i be the reason you smile once today, thank you again💙💙💙

My love again!! Gonna answer you underneath the cut 🥹❤️

LMAO @ Yelena being hot. You know what I think it is? The story itself (STH & LDBS) is a very sensual, sexy story. That's kind of the vibes I have in my mind every time I sit down to write it. It's meant to be dark, noir, and sexy, so without meaning to--everything ends up being quite sexy LOL, including characters who aren't main characters.

Also you ABSOLUTELY smashed your interpretation of the scene between Yelena and Levi. That was exactly what I wanted to establish; an understanding. The scene you highlighted in particular was a shared understanding that whatever was about to transpire was not personal. It was a warning of, "hey, I'm going to do whatever I have to do to get my job done," on both ends, and the other person being like, "yeah, and so will I." You are so right when you say there was an understanding, respect, acceptance, AS WELL as a challenge. Juxtaposing the shared notion of both of them having taken lives before was also both of them saying without saying that they are not afraid to kill the other person if it comes down to it (and it did).

And YES. Mathias is such a keen observer. I think all of you always got the sense that he "monitored" people but thought of it in the sense of cameras when it's actually much more literal. He doesn't have to resort to those kinds of things because he catches a lot just by being in peoples' presences. Not only is he trying to get under her skin and make her think she hasn't changed, he's trying to taunt her to hurt him because he wants to prove to her that she is the monster he THINKS she is. You know Kilian hasn't killed anyone in a very long time, but she definitely never lost her touch and could have easily killed him had she not gotten distracted. Like you said, it was the thought of Levi being hurt that distracted her. She was ready to go in for her kill but nothing mattered once she thought something happened to Levi. She loves him more than anything, and in that moment the only thing that mattered was his safety, not hers. In a different situation, Levi would have absolutely done the same thing. And yes, you hit the nail on the head! Her battle with not knowing whether or not she deserves happiness is an on-going one, and although she has changed a lot, sometimes those self-destructive behaviors never really go away.

Sgfsoghs, I did a lot of research into stab wounds and what they felt like. So the fact that you could feel it! 🤌🏼💋 I really wanted that chapter to feel like a knife twist, in every sense of the word so LMFAOOO I'M SORRY 🤣. Now you see why I initially wanted to release it in a double update! I felt horrible to leave you all that way without a sigh of relief in the next chapter, but it seems like you all went through the feels despite that.

And ahhh, thank you so much for your wonderfully kind words! That holy trinity chapter in LDBS was one of the hardest things to write, and in a way, chapter 14 was definitely a trail off of that because I had to tap into similar emotions of walking back to your past so that you could move forward and heal. I definitely think my writing has changed now compared to then so I'm so glad you could feel it differently!

The gum was the funniest part to me, and I honestly added it in for a silly touch and a laugh! Dreams are so silly. I thought it only made sense to introduce you to it with a giggle because it's so out there, it's so odd, and that is EXACTLY how you know it is a dream. I'm so happy you touched on the fact that Kilian only saw Zeke in her dream because she DOES care about him. That is 100% true. And yes, you're right. Kilian murdering Mathias would've been so much easier, but I never do anything easy!

Eee, you are too sweet! I love connecting things and bringing people back. Annie and Farlan were teased to come back WAAY early if you caught any of Isabel's dialogue when she spoke about her friends. You bring up a great point too, hopefully in future chapters, Kilian CAN see how loved she is, not just by Levi but by other people. She means so much to me as a character and I think it comes across each time I go to write her. She isn't perfect, she has flaws, but there is something about her that makes you root for her because I try so hard to touch on her human side as well as her darker sides.

I'm really so happy to know that you all laughed at the purposeful jokes I placed in chapter 14, too. I KNEW it was heavy so I also knew in between it, I had to give you all some light-hearted moments too. That little mention of the dress/fallen angel thing also meant a lot to me to put in because I really wanted to show the banter that happens between people who work in hospitals--the jokes and the humor amongst the horror--because I think that's kind of the only way you can get through the day sometimes after doing something as powerful as saving someone's life or helping someone.

Thank you so much for saying that about Annie and Levi's scene! 🥺 I really loved writing that scene because I could quite literally imagine their characters interacting like that and talking to each other like that, so it means the world to me that it felt like that was how things were supposed to be. You are really too kind.

And I'm always happy to help with writing questions if you have them! Honestly I just have an incredibly vivid imagination of characters and who they are. So when I think of how to write them, I think of everything outside of them--what their home smells like, what kind of furniture they like, how they dress, what they like to listen to--I think all of that helps things "come alive", so to speak. So thank you for saying that as well my love!!

Adding Sophia in definitely killed me but not as much as you know who, who I know you touch on later LMFAO so I will GLADLY offer you a hug.

I honestly love writing Eren in this universe, specifically his connection to Kilian. They don't share as many scenes in this story, but the love they have for each other is there and clearly unbroken and I love coming back to it.

Also, I'm SCREAMING at all of your gifs, you were not joking when you said you went through all 5 stages of grief LMFAO ❤️❤️❤️😭😭😭😭.

As for Farlan and Levi's scene, there is definitely a little more to happen before we get to a full closure, although we're definitely on the way there. Obviously can't spoil anything. But you are right when you say he's not sad or hurt anymore. He's moved on! The only thing is, has Kilian moved on from what she's done to him (hence why she always hid from him every time she saw him)? There's a little more to explore there but it will be touched on (trust me, it's allll planned LOL). That part with Levi laughing @ Kilian's fake name was such a treat to write also. Because he would immediately understand where she got her fake name from and why she chose that to give to Farlan. He made all the connections without even needing further explanation and laughed because he knows his girl better than anyone.

Also... Lucas. I know. I KNOW. I KNOW. I HATE MYSELF. LMFAO I CAN'T EVEN READ THAT SCENE AGAIN WITHOUT CRYING. Honestly, why did I do that to MYSELF is the better question. Because lord! Kilian loves Lucas so much, every time we go back to him, it is a source of pain. That is her deepest childhood wound but also her greatest childhood joy, so to quite literally "swim" back to him was her going back to herself to heal. He told her everything she needed to hear in order to know that he was okay, he never faulted her for what happened, and his life was joyous despite being short. By seeing him again and essentially forgiving herself, Kilian could wake up because she was no longer fighting this idea that she didn't deserve to be loved, hence the end quote in chapter 14. "Open the door. Love was on the other side and it was terrifying. Open the door." I wanted it to seem like this whole time that what was on the other side was possibly death--hence the warm light emanating from behind it--but really, it was just love. Kilian had to realize that she still had a life to live because she is so loved. So loved. She deserves to be loved. So walk through the door.

Ending the chapter with welcome back when the last was “wake, up sweetheart.” I SEE WHAT YOUR DOING KW I SEE IT

LMFAOOOO OSHGFOSH. 🌚 Do you now? But seriously, I want to thank you for both of your beautiful, beautiful, asks. You are such a lovely person, and I cannot express how much I appreciate you. You have recharged my writing spirit, made my day, and have been such a light these past two days. It means the world to me that I can touch your soul with my writing, and I truly mean it when I say it, the door is always open for writing questions ANY TIME you have them. Seriously.

I hope to write for as long as the spirit fuels me, and although my relationship with it truthfully waxes and wanes, a lot has happened recently to make me see that it is something that ignites my soul. And in igniting my own spirit, I can ignite others and touch their hearts and that is something that is truly invaluable.

Seriously, I love YOU so much, 💙 anon! You absolutely were another reason to smile today. I'm smiling now even as I head to bed. Thank you. I cherish you so much. You are always welcome to gush in my inbox, about anything, any time.

#asks #💙 anon

[solvnvceae]

hadestown + lines that should’ve been in the show

orpheus finding out about the contract ( eurydice’s cut lines )

#hadestownedit #Hadestown #hadestown musical #broadwayedit #broadwaydaily #musicalgifs #musicaledit #orphydice #reevecarneyedit #eva noblezada #reeve carney #patrick page #orpheus #eurydice #orpheus x eurydice #hades #mine #i don't remember the extra lines from eurydice being in there when i saw it #so i'm tentatively putting this one in my series of cut lines #eurydice screaming ''orpheus go!'' was definitely cut #it's only in one of the audios i have so i think they might've been trying it out #either way i'm mad they cut it #and yes ik the coloring job in this set is trash #eva looked so whitewashed in the first two that i had to put a special filter on those #and then i had to put a different filter over the second two because patrick was orange for some reason #the last one's the only one i actually like

[internalsealpanic]

Lover, Tell Me, if You’re Able

Summary: You trek down to the underworld to save a certain Robin using your admittedly limited knowledge of Greek Mythology. Nothing a little moxie can’t fix right?

a/n: I’ve been wanting to do an Orpheus Eurydice thing with Jason for a while now. I’m pretty sure this has been done but I really wanted to take a stab at it. 

listen to this song while reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP47npl3rHo

warnings: angst, slight body horror, unhealthy grieving, bad decisions, and kind of an eating disorder caused by unhealthy grieving. There is some tooth rotting fluff though.  

word count:  5,049

You snorted in your usual short, breathy laugh—which according to certain asshats sounded less like a laugh and more like the death rattle of a hyena —as you nearly tripped over what felt like the fiftieth rock in the past half hour. You cursed quietly wrapping your shaking arms around yourself letting your unkempt fingernails dig into your thoroughly abused coat which probably had a few unwanted holes by now. It wasn’t even that cold nor was it even remotely scary. You know, aside form the ghostly moaning bouncing off the walls but that was par for the course in Gotham subways. No big deal. 

After what felt like the seventieth rock, you swore. You swore loud and vicious and cutting.  You swore to capital ‘G’ god that when you found Jason Peter Todd you were gonna curb stomp his ass into next week. This is his fault for being stupid enough to- to-

Just like that, your anger and frustration plummeted into grief.

Your mind fell back to the funeral, 

For the first since you entered the dark tunnel a few hours ago—a few days ago?—, you could feel the cavernous walls threatening to close in on you as you took another shaky step. 

To all the ‘I’m sorrys’ and condolences,

You could feel your rib cage fall open. Each gentle pat on, gentle look, and hushed whispers scooping out your insides leaving a vast empty cavity save for a heart that ached too much to beat properly and a pair of lungs clogged with too tar to breathe. The expanse of your chest feeling too full and too hollow at once. 

To all the ‘he died too young’ crap,

No shit!

No friggin shit!

He was 16. He was six-fucking-teen. He just got his fucking driver’s license. 

You wanted to scream but the words lingered in your bones. Instead, the nestled and furled into a mantra and worked their way up to your throat, burning. As if folding and creasing them into a perfect, proper eulogy of hand-picked words would bring him back. 

You knew it wouldn’t. You weren’t foolish. You weren’t that hopeful. You weren’t even disgustingly hopeful. You were Alley born. You were practical and brutally realistic. You were also not dumb. As much as people in Gotham Academy seem to believe, you weren’t stupid. You knew there was no ending to his story that involved a long peaceful life. He was also a child of the Alley, born of Gotham’s gutter, there was no way he would not die young. 

Your tongue felt heavy like a tombstone being set into place. 

And to all the ‘he’s in a better place now’

HA! 

The words set your grief a flame burning it into the kind of white anger that consumes even those around you. 

Fucking hilarious. 

Just fanfuckingtastic. 

You’d see about that. 

You took a long sobering breath holding it in afraid that if you breathed out the anger would seep out leaving you with nothing but grief. 

After what felt like an eternity, you breathed out sure that all the anger, all the irritation, and all the sputtering hope had settled in your bones. 

You were going to get him back. 

You will. 

——————————————————————————————————————————

Jason tapped the edge of your science textbook with his pencil morse coding something and clearly demanding your attention. You rolled your eyes, moved your textbook an inch closer to you, and continued reading through the passage electing to ignore your likely scowling best friend. 

He tapped again. You didn’t look up sure that he’d go away if you pretended his existence was an elaborate hoax. This ingenious strategy is probably why you two have been glued together for the last 10 years.  

Losing patience, he snatched up your textbook earning a petulant, half-hearted glare from you. “What the fuck do you want, Jay?”

“Do you remember the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice?”

You blinked at him, honestly confused. 

He gave you a questioning look. He could probably see the gears turning in your head. 

You’d heard the names before but you were struggling to associate them with anything. Until it clicked. 

“Oh yeah, Hadestown the dude with the guitar-”

“Lyre,”

You made an affronted noise which made him roll his eyes at you but you could see the slight twitch in his lips at your antics. You would count that as a win. 

“He plays the lyre, you uncultured swine. Did you even read the packet?” He asked lightly tapping your head with your textbook. 

“Your posh bitch is showing,” you snorted.  he tapped your head just a tinsy bit harder with the textbook. You scowled at him. He gave you a gentle reassuring smile which roughly translated to ‘it was an accident I swear’. “Uh sure. Yeah. Course, I read the packet” you lied reaching over for your textbook which he sets down on the table behind him. 

“Are you even literate?” He joked. 

“Last time I checked I needed that to forge doctor’s notes for rich snots,” Jason wrinkled his nose trying his level best to scowl at you but from the crow's feet forming at the corners of his eyes the laughter bubbling in his chest was clearly winning out. You knew he was just worried about the unnecessary risk you were taking but it was a bad habit from the Alley days you couldn’t shake. It wasn’t like you were likely to get caught. 

“The In Class Essay is next period, dip shit” he sneered as harshly as he could. He was so bad at being a hard ass that you just smiled. “Yet here you are talking to me and depriving me of my education,” you snarked, gesturing vaguely to your book.

 You could technically get up and get it yourself but you were too lazy and you were pretty sure Jason wasn’t gonna let you get the book that easily. “Sides, it’s English who cares?” At that, Jason wrinkled his nose in disgust. “How am I friends with you again?”

You hummed, leaning back in your chair, tilting your head back dramatically before flinging yourself over the table to snatch up the textbook from the table behind him. You were a good amount taller than Jason which really wasn’t something to be too proud of. The bar wasn’t too fucking high. 

You plopped back down to your chair grinning ear to ear victoriously immensely enjoying his shocked look. Then he looked like he was about to deck you. 

“Well for starters, I’ve saved your ass from getting shanked about 15 times now. That’s just counting instances out of uniform,” He looked at you affronted. You simply rolled your shoulders. “Plus,” You reached into your blazer pocket and produced a beat-up looking tootsie pop ring.”You’re the one who proposed,”

Jason turned a luminescent shade of red as if you had just pulled out his entire cash of porn which you’ve done. “Why do you still have that?! How?”

“Because you still haven’t given me a proper one,” you said smugly tilting your head to the side inviting him for a rebuttal. He sighed exasperated. Resting his chin on his hand, palm covering half of his face, he glared at the opposite wall making damned sure that he didn’t look your way. The flush in his ears peaked through his cropped curls. It was hard to catch but your nosy ass definitely heard him mumble “I’m saving up,”. 

Your face broke into a stupidly wide smile, a warm feeling bubbling up in you. “I’ll hold you to that, lover,” you cooed cheerfully, giving him a quick peck on the nose as the bell rang. You could see the mortification attack his entire being in waves. 

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Stumbling out of the tunnel, you find yourself in a fray of souls all crowding towards the shore. You keep your head down and shuffle in step with the dead. 

‘The dead hate the living’ Constantine warned as he handed you the drachma and a beat-up old map. You handed him a wad of cash. He didn’t seem to care that money was dirty. 

You keep your expression carefully blank and focus on your feet but the sheer anxiety crawling up your spine rattling every vertebra was making that very difficult. You swallowed thickly trying to think of anything else but the depressing moans and absolutely haunted expressions were also making your life difficult. Instead, you focus on your award-winning bullshit speech that was surely going to win over the lord and lady of the underworld. Ok, sure, you weren’t half the thief Jason was nor were you even half as smart. But you were definitely the better conman. You might have had absolutely no interest in English class but words have always been your friend. You could definitely spin it with the best of them. It helped that all the rough edges that came with being an Alley kid tucked themselves neatly away behind trustworthy eyes and easy smiles. Even gods could be taken for a ride, right?

Somehow you made it to the shore without incident and even got yourself on the boat without even as much as a glance from the ferryman. That was a little unnerving but you weren’t about to complain. Not when it brought you a step closer to your goal. It might have been partially due to your unkempt appearance. Long nails, dead fish eyes, ratty coat, sallow cheeks, and dimming complexion all thanks to this wonderful diet called ‘grieving over your dumbass boyfriend/best friend because he decided to be a dramatic bitch and die an untimely death’. Part of you wonders if you simply want to bring him back so you could murder him. Maybe. Looking around at the haunted looks on your fellow passengers move that to a probably. 

Uncomfortable, you jam your hands into your coat pockets. One hand dug deep into the recesses of the pocket where the little ring was safely squirreled away. You fidgeted with it passing it from finger to finger like the coin trick you’d learned a while back.   

——————————————————————————————————————————

“Marry me,” Jason demanded unsurely, kneeling on one knee clasping your hand with both of his tiny ones. His little face ironed into something serious but cheeks flushed making them, what the girls called, pinchable but even at age 6, you were able to resist if simply for the fact that you were dumbstruck by the fact that  your best friend and crush was suddenly at your doorstep in the middle of the day and clasping your hand. 

“What?” You asked tugging your hand away but he didn’t let go. He absolutely refused to. 

“Marry me,” he insisted. “I’m proposing,” he added shyly seeing how the confused furrow in your brow did not disappear. “Lena said it was a good idea,” he added quietly.

A round of hoots and hollers exploded behind you including Lena who was laughing her ass off. Even Carol and Lassie who were busy doing their makeup were snickering  and giving you a thumbs up respectively. Your face burned hot and you scowled at all of them which just made them laugh louder. You snapped your attention back to Jason who looked at you with bright earnest blue eyes. Fuck. You crossed your arms trying to look intimidating and failing miserably because of just how goddamned cute he looked. Manipulative bastard. 

“Don’t you need a ring for that, bud?” you challenged. 

“Oh yeah,” He scrambled digging through his various pockets before producing a tootsie pop ring. Your hackles rose. What the hell Lena?

“Look at the size of that rock!” Josaline hollered from behind you. You could see the teasing smile on her face. You wanted to shrink. You wanted to maul them. You also wanted to burst because your crush likes you. You had a tiny, itsy bitsy crush on Jason for a while now. You’ve always declared that it was small but that didn’t stop the girls from teasing you relentlessly and this was just a nail in the coffin. You wanted to scream at Jason but the way he looked at you made your little heart flutter. 

“Fine,” 

He grinned wide. “Great! We can share rent,” he said his earnest smile turning cheeky. You swore some of the girls were choking from laughter. That was the moment you decided to make Jason Todd’s life miserable. 

——————————————————————————————————————————-

As it turns out, traversing the underworld wasn’t that hard. 

Nope. It wasn’t any harder than going around crime alley. At least here, you weren’t too worried about getting shot.

Nope. 

It was just incredibly. Fucking. Depressing. 

The atmosphere was suffocating and the only thing you’ve heard for hours were people listing their regrets when they weren’t too busy sobbing. Given they have every right to be this way. They did die after all. But Christ! You being able to understand it didn’t mean you could stand it. 

Jason owed you big time. 

Jason owed you the largest bowl of ice cream complete with 20 different flavors of your choosing, a mountain of whipped cream, a shovel full of sprinkles, and an ungodly amount of chocolate syrup. 

And a hug. A long ass, bone crushing hug. 

Yeah, you’re definitely demanding a hug. You don’t care if his pansy ass tries to break for it. You were getting the hug. 

Once this was done-

You turned the thought over in your head pointedly ignoring the fat droplets of tears now streaking your face. You weren’t entirely sure whether they were from relief or unrelenting anxiety. If you succeed, your 8 months of hell would have been worth it. 

But what if I fail?

What happens when I fail?

The thought seized your breath, your lungs constricting as if their cage of bones was threatening to collapse in on itself in your effort to shrink away from the possibility. You stopped breathing completely. A bad habit you picked up from your first foster home after social services took you from your home. Apparently, they didn’t think a group of hookers could provide a safe loving environment for a kid. Assholes. Breathing meant relaxing. Relaxing meant letting your guard down. Letting your guard down led to bad things. Jason never commented on your new habit after you two reunited. After you both found yourselves at the mercy of Gotham’s streets. 

“Lover tell me if you can~” You paused but not quite long enough for a response. Not like a few months ago when you’d wait catatonically for Jason to respond with the verse you’d forgotten in his oddly melodious voice. Singing was the one way you’d learned to breathe out after locking up without triggering a panic attack. Sure, it annoyed the hell out of a lot of people but who cares. You liked it. Your voice was decent. Plus, Jason loved it when you sang. Your breaths flowed easier accompanied by a melody and the smile on Jason’s face every time you sang always took your breath away.  

——————————————————————————————————————————-

“ Lover, tell me if you can Who’s gonna buy the wedding bands?~” You hummed the rest of the forgotten stanza under your breath as you wrap the ‘acquired’ blanket around the both of you. Gotham winters were a bitch but you tried your best to keep your spirits up which basically meant teasing Jason to hell and back. Who knew calling him lover would annoy him so much? 

Instead of the intended reaction, Jason simply continued to the next stanza sounding a lot more in tone than you. You huffed partially from amusement partially from frustration. 

“Figures you would know this song,” you teased.

Jason scowled tugging more of the blanket around himself as a lame form of retaliation. You leaned in closer to him and wrapped your arms around him. He huffed not really able to stay mad at you for too long.“It’s from Hadestown. The old woman at the pawnshop always plays it when she’s working,”

“Horse shit, all she ever plays when I’m there is Madame Guillotine,” You wrinkled your nose.”She probably hates me,”

“Gee, I wonder what that’s about,” Jason smirked. 

“You know, she probably has a crush on you,”

“EW! Shut up!”

“Come on we gotta milk it-”

He elbowed you. 

“Fine,” you relented, rubbing your chest and letting your head lean on his. You watched the snowfall basking in what little warmth you shared. 

“Promise me you’ll sing that when-”

“IF”

“When we get married,”

“Fine but ya gotta sing the entire GI Joe theme song plus the Baby Shark Song,”

“BET”

——————————————————————————————————————————-

You stood before large obsidian doors bouncing on the balls of your feet. The doors were carved elegantly with swirling patterns and sprawling carvings of flowers and bones. Dramatic but very pretty. Your stomach churned as the doors lurched open. 

You were going to be sick. 

Before you were a long table piled high with every kind of food you could think of. Likely you would have had to pick up your jaw and mop up a cascade of drool from the floor if not for the last few months. Your stomach threatened to implode if you kept looking. Months of not eating properly did that to you. The first few months were the worst. You were barely able to keep a  bite down without your body convulsing and rejecting it. Sadness had hollowed you out and filled you with something else during those months. 

Now,  you shifted your gaze to focus on the tall man sitting imperiously at the other end of the table on a throne carved out of precious metal. How someone looked imperious while eating was a mystery to you. It might be the fact that he was abnormally large looking to be around 10 ft tall. His frame was broad which contrasted greatly with the regal features of his face which were set in a rather loving configuration as he stared deep into the eyes of the dark-skinned woman as she recounted what sounded like a hilarious encounter with a dryad. The woman was unnaturally pretty with sculpted features and wild curls. She looked right at home underneath the sun which made her presence here ease your fraying nerves. They smiled at each other smitten with each other’s presence which almost made you feel guilty for interrupting their moment of marital bliss. 

You clear your throat as politely as you could drawing their attention and possibly their ire towards you. You took a deep breath, the kind that inflated your entire body, and forced it out through your nostrils as your mouth was busy reconfiguring itself into an easy smile. 

“My Lord Hades. My Lady Persephone,” You greeted bowing your head courteously. Your gestures were less grandiose and theatrical as the ones you used on the rich punks in Gotham which they happily lapped up. No, you made sure every movement, every posture, and every word was quieter, trying your damnedest to radiate sincerity and reverence from every pore in your body. Sure, you didn’t have Jason’s easy charisma and sure, you didn’t have the power Dick had for making everyone fall in love with you instantly but you were damned if  you were going to make a fool of yourself in front of two literal gods and squander your only chance at getting your boy back. Not when you’ve come so far. Not when you’ve done so much. Not when you’ve dirtied your hands this much. 

Hades looked neither pleased nor displeased by your presence. Good enough. The fact that you were still intact might have something to do with the mischief in Persephone’s eyes. She looked extremely amused despite your interruption. You hoped, which you didn’t normally do, that that boded well for you. 

“I am her-”

“We know,” Hades interrupts. 

Your body twitched. Rude. But you schooled your features into something resembling pleasantry. 

“You’re here for the boy,” He adds, waving his hand. Without time for your brain to process. Jason is there battered, bloodied, and bruised. The dazed look in his eyes made him look haunted which made your breath seize. A cocktail of anger and sadness and relief swelled in you as your body twitched forward. All you wanted to do was hold him, to stroke his hair, to sing to him, to take him to Dr.Thompkins to get his injuries sorted out, and possibly watch the old woman thwack him on the head half a dozen times. Hell, you would offer to count. Your stomach churned and you felt dizzy. This is the most alive you’ve felt in months. This is also the most fearful you’ve felt in months. You felt like you were going to fall apart and recongeal into an entirely new person. 

Focus. 

It was hard to do when you saw how tattered his Robin uniform looked but you managed to straighten yourself out enough in time to catch Hades as he watched you appraisingly, searching for raw desperation in your features. You tucked it away in your bones and in the deepest recesses of your chest. He seemed amused and even mildly impressed by your restraint so he dined to push further. 

“What are you willing to trade for him?”

Everything. 

Your mind screamed automatically. The word dangled thickly at the edge of your tongue. 

You would have plucked each and every star out of the sky and fashioned them into a necklace that would adorn Lady Persephone’s neck.

You would have used Poseidon’s ocean to douse the sun. 

You would have used the fires of Tartarus to set the world ablaze. It deserved it for the hand it dealt  Jason. 

You would do anything if it meant having Jason back in your arms. 

You bit your cheek hard forcing yourself to refocus. You shifted your posture making a show of thinking if only to gather yourself. You knew the answer. It might not have been the right one and if you’re being honest, it wasn’t even a good one. You rolled your shoulders trying to mold yourself into a more sure version of yourself.  

“My future,”

The room plunged into silence. 

Jason who had looked like he was not all there widened his eyes and shook his head at you. You simply leveled him a smile full of cocksure and hot air. Sure, your future wasn’t worth much. People have told you as much. But it was a novel offer. It wasn’t every day that a mortal offered their fate to you and gods love nothing more than novelty. 

Both gods remained silent. Hades narrowing his eyes at you and Persephone stared at you with an unreadable expression. The longer the silence wore on the more your confidence waned. The treacherous chorus in your head began to sing of the failure that has yet to happen. 

Persephone let out a trill of delighted laughter and Hades shook his head in amusement, his solemn lips twitching into the beginnings of a smile. Both you and Jason stiffened. 

“My love, just let them go,” Persephone pleaded sweetly cupping Hades’s face gently. It was an intimate gesture that made even you soft. 

“My dear…”

“It was not the boy’s time, my love,”

Damn straight, it wasn’t!

Hades let out an exasperated sigh before looking at you again. “I will grant you both freedom if you pass my trials,”

“Anything!” The word spilled out of you too quickly, too raw. A satisfied smile wrinkled at the corners of Hades’s eyes. Fucker. 

“I will have you do three trials-” He flicked his hand and Jason materialized beside you. “-with the boy’s aid,” Without an ounce of hesitation, you gathered him into your arms with all the bravado and restraint giving way too stupidly unfiltered happiness.  Without meaning to, you let fat droplets of tears streak your face. Jason copped your face giving you a wry smile and wiping away the tears with his thumb. 

“You look like shit,”

“So do you,”

You both laughed. You kissed his palm and took his hand from your face and kissed his knuckle. A flush crept on to Jason’s face but he couldn’t hide that any better than he could hide the loving look in his eyes when he looked into yours. 

The trials were almost insultingly easy especially when you had the world’s best Robin with you. Sure, you were battered and bruised but it was nothing you could not handle. You suspected that Persephone was rooting for you. That or Hades just wanted you out of his hair. Either way, you didn’t care. There was no way you were failing. 

You returned to Hades’ hall, arms full of spoils, and Jason’s hand interlaced with yours. You both try to fight off the hopeful feeling bubbling in your chest but there was no helping it when his hand was warm in yours. You smiled gratefully at Persephone who returned it in kind, looking sincerely happy for the both of you. You made a note to send her an appropriate sacrifice once you were back on the surface. 

Hades inspected your spoils and hummed. Your stomach lurched. Jason squeezed your hand and kissed your nose. Persephone practically squealed at the adorable gesture while Hades just smiled at his wife’s antics. 

“You have succeeded,”

“Thank you-”

“But I have one last trial for you,”

Hades holds up his hand before you could protest. 

“Do you recall the deal I made with Orpheus?”

You nodded almost numbly. Jason gave you a surprised look which you returned with a scowl. 

“Good. I will make the same deal with you. Does that sound fair to you?”

You both nodded frantically. You knew this would be hard especially with your frayed nerves but it was nothing you could not handle.

On the way to the tunnel, you held each other close, soaking up contact while you could. When you reached the tunnel, you hesitantly let go of his hand making sure to remember the feeling of your fingers intertwined together. He pressed kisses to every inch of your face likely feeling guilty over your haggard state. You whispered jokes and half baked promises to appease him in return as you squeezed him harder.  You walked tensely up the tunnel trailed by his ever quieting footsteps. You began to hum every song you could think of including the very annoying ones which earned you a lot of annoyed grunts and critiques from your ghostly companion. You also chattered about everything you could think of. All the latest gossip. All the things you learned during your global crime spree. You may have left out the crime spree but you could deal with the fall out later. Instead, you focused on the happy things. The things you wanted to do with him once you two got out. Once, you brought him back to Gotham. Sure, Bruce was probably going to maul you for all the trouble you’ve caused the JLA but fuck them.  Seriously fuck them. 

After what felt like an eternity, you saw it. You saw light. Bright, crisp, and blinding. You were going to cry. You were almost there. You were almost out. Your body launched into a sprint. Your chest felt like something in it shook loose and your body was lighter than it had ever been. You were almost there. You could almost feel the sun on your skin. 

You ran into the light and -

——————————————————————————————————————————-  

You woke up on the damp earth. 

Everything ached. 

Your veins felt rusty and sluggish. 

Your mind even more so. 

Snow flitted down to the earth in gentle feathery flakes. 

Your senses returned to you one by one. 

The sound of shouting and car horns littered the periphery of your consciousness. 

Your fingers felt cold and numb. 

The familiar smell and taste of Gotham smog overwhelmed your senses. 

That wasn’t right. 

That wasn’t right at all. You were in Mani in southern Peloponnese. You were face to face with one of the Gates of Hades just a few hours ago. 

You shuffled through your coat. You did not have your drachma. You did not have your map.

You snapped your head in every direction looking desperately for any sign of Jason. Not even a single footprint. 

Your stomach dropped as despair took hold of you and clung to every bone in your body. Pulling yourself up unsteadily, you stood taking baby steps towards a thoroughly battered brick wall. Fishing your phone out of your pocket, your phone began dialing a number automatically. 

“You have reached Wayne Manor,” Alfred’s posh voice carries over the phone. 

Your breath stutters. The words claw their way out of your chest.

“Jason- Jason, he-”

Alfred remained silent. Alfred was likely shaking his head in pity. You couldn’t stand that. You could barely stand the feeling of your skin right now. Your resounding failure rippled underneath your skin making you tremble on to your knees. You could do nothing but crumple to the ground in pathetic sobs as the weight of agony and despair weighed over you. 

“Jason. Jason. Jason.”

You whispered apologetically, reverently. The words would not call him back. Those words could never call him back. 

—————————————————————————————————————————–

Piece by piece Jason returned to himself. 

Jason woke up swallowed in darkness. It was deep and unyielding. Even his training with Batman could not alleviate the anxiety that brought. 

The second thing to return was his hearing. It was deathly silent save for the pounding of his own heart and his frantic breathing. 

 Where was he?

The air around him tasted stale and the resolute smell of formaldehyde was inescapable. 

Then the pain lanced through and all his memories came back in a splotchy kaleidoscope of fear, fire, and pain.

  He was dead. 

  He died. 

  He was in Ethiopia. 

  He was trying to save his mom. 

  Oh god. 

  Oh god. 

  Oh god. 

  Where is Bruce? 

  Where is he? 

  Why is it so dark? 

  Jason tried to move his limbs but it was no use. He was boxed in. 

  That’s when the smell of earth hit him. 

  Jason pressed his hands every which way. 

  He was literally boxed in. 

  Was he in a coffin?

  He tried to scream. 

  His mouth was wired shut. 

  Oh god. 

  Oh god.

  Oh god. 

  He was going to die.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ending was a bit rushed. I might edit it later. Thank you so much for reading. Feel free to roast me in the comments. 

(Note: I tried editing the ending to make it more panicky and claustrophobic. I don’t know if t worked.)

This was inspired by the fact that Jason Todd: Not-So-Outlaw by goawayolivia never answers how Jason came back. 

Here is my answer. It is pure dumbassery.

taglist: 

@birdy-bat-writes (enabler)

@idkmanicantenglish (sweet heart)

@batarella (Because I honestly blame you for this)

@multifandomgirl-us

@foenixphire

#jason todd x reader #jason todd imagine #Jason Todd #angst #My writing #attempts at humor #dc fanfiction #reader insert #imagine #hurt/comfort #kind of #more on hurt #have fun #batboys #batkids

[elysian-drops]

omg hello??? that’s SO COOL????? i can safely say that answer to your @ was not at all what i was expecting and now i’m so fascinated this is such an interesting field to get into!! is there anything else cool about death rituals or cult traditions you can share? this is actually the coolest thing i’ve learned all day

Hi there!

I’m so glad to hear you think it’s fascinating! I definitely enjoy it as well and I will absolutely share some more because I don’t get to scream about this stuff enough 😂 New slogan for this blog: “Come learn about death and the afterlife with Elysian.” Beware there is a long post under this cut lol.

Personally speaking, my area of expertise tends to focus more on Ancient Greece and Victorian burial practices (they are wild, let me tell you). But as for the cult stuff, I’ll just reference back to my other post on Orphic traditions for a second!

So Orphic traditions were inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. If you’re not familiar with the tale, the quick run down was that Orpheus, who was a demigod born from Oeagrus and Calliope (my favourite muse, by the way), travelled to the Underworld to retrieve the soul of Eurydice. Now, for the Greeks, this tale held a lot of fascination because few are the times recorded that mortal (or, half-mortal in the case of Orpheus) men could manage to go into the Underworld and come back unscathed. A whole cult tradition was born from this idea of being able to “cheat” your way through the afterlife, essentially.

For some background, a big part to the Greek understanding of the afterlife was this idea of κλέος (kleos or “glory”). You “live on” after death when people remember you— this was the reason behind having large families and putting so much emphasis on children being taught their ancestry. This was also why so many Greeks idolised great ‘heroes’, such as Perseus, Theseus, Heracles, etc— they achieved the greatest form of kleos and are forever immortalized in the afterlife. Obviously, it isn’t feasible for the common man to go out and become a hero— and of course, children and your family will eventually forget you.

So what do you do? Bring on the mystery cults that tell you how to cheat your way into getting kleos and a good afterlife (for a fee, of course 😂). I mentioned that there was one sect of the Orphic tradition that believed in the asphodel or gold drops on the tongue— but there were multiple “branches”. The most popular were the Orphic Gold Tablets which were buried with the dead so they would have a “manual.” These things are so fascinating because they give detailed instructions to the afterlife— they even tell you what to expect when you get there. For example, the translations say once you get to Hades’ mansion, there will be a white cypress tree and a fountain— you can’t drink from the fountain because you will lose your memories/identity. You need to entreat Mnemosyne (the parallel to Lethe) to let you drink from her.

But another hiccup? There are titans guarding her— so you have to get around that. These tablets tell you to proclaim you are not a mortal and you are not a god: you are a Titan. One of my favourite translations has the conversation going like: “Who are you? Where do you come from?”

“I am the son of Earth and starry Heaven”.

Essentially, you’re saying you are born directly from Gaia and Uranus (which were the primordial deities long before the gods + titans were born and long before Kronos and Zeus came into existence). If all goes well, the titans guarding Mnemosyne will recognize you as their brethren and allow you to drink from her to start the long process of achieving your kleos.

If you want to read more on these tablets, I highly recommend “Instructions for the Netherworld” by Alberto Bernabé. It’s an anthology that collects all different translations of these tablets and gives you more detail about the fountains + what to expect for the rest of your journey into Elysium!

Thanks for letting me scream at you for a bit 😂 I absolutely love getting to talk about this stuff lol.

#answered #anon submission #queue

[ratcarney]

the stones wept

also known as papers AU #1! this is the first thing i ever wrote for the hadestown fandom and it will always be very near and dear to my heart. if you’re new here, my papers AUs are several different scenarios that i imagine could happen after the workers leave in “papers,” before “if it’s true.” enjoy!

-----

persephone liked to take walks on earth. she enjoyed seeing all of the fruits of the mortals’ labor, all in reverence to her. the bright colors, the swirling green, it was therapeutic.

in hadestown, however, walks were less pleasant. everywhere persephone went, she saw dead-eyed workers toiling over one of hades’ new projects. it was definitely unnerving, but couldn’t bar her from walking. it was one of the only things tying her to the surface world.

persephone took her flask out of her dress and sipped from it, letting the sensation lull her into makeshift tranquility before going on her way. she usually avoided looking around her while walking, but something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. a crumpled mass lay on the ground, and upon further inspection, it differed from the other crumpled masses she usually saw. those were usually rocks, or bricks, or oddly-placed piles of pickaxes. but this one appeared to be shaking. persephone stashed her flask back in her dress and stumbled over. this was a young man, thin and pale, and hurt badly. blood marred his face and stained his white shirt. despite her better judgement, persephone touched his face to brush back his hair. it was impulsive, but she couldn’t remember the last time she touched someone with the intent to care. her hand met his forehead and upon contact, his eyes fluttered open. persephone gasped. “the poet.” she murmured. he attempted to speak, but all that would come out was a harsh hissing noise.

“hey, shh.” persephone shushed him. she felt the urge to protect this boy—goodness knew how long she’d been deprived of any opportunity to care for someone, and it was in her blood. she cultivated the earth, she trained the flowers to grow. she felt compelled to help this poet that had always said such kind words about her with his cup raised high. “can you walk, honey?” the term of endearment spilled out of her before she could stop it. she hadn’t called anyone something that tender in…forever. the poet nodded feebly, allowing persephone to pull him to his feet. he held his right side with his left arm and cringed, but allowed persephone to lead him to her bar. “that’s it, yeah.” persephone whispered. “step into my office.” she sat him on a chair and stepped back to find supplies. “i remember you.” she told him. “you’re the poet.” once she had bandages and alcohol in tow, persephone pulled up a chair in front of her patient and started to tend to his wounds. “orpheus.” the boy whispered. the words had no sooner left his mouth when he sat up abruptly. “i’m orpheus.” he said this like it was a revelation and locked eyes with persephone. “i need to find eurydice.” orpheus’s eyes widened. “i…i have to go and find eurydice, excuse me, please—“ he tried to stand, but only fell back into the chair with a sharp cry and wrapped an arm around his ribcage again. persephone placed a pacifying hand on his chest. “whoa.” she said. “slow down, sweetheart. you’re not in any condition to go find anyone.” the poet’s eyes were desperate. persephone hadn’t seen desperation down here in a while, save for in the mirror.

wait. she kept her hand against orpheus’s chest, spreading her fingers wide. to her shock, a fast beating met her fingertips. “you’re alive.” orpheus blinked. “i am.” it was too tentative to be a statement, but not curious enough to be a question. “i, i am.” persephone peered at the poet in disbelief. she took in his thin, trembling frame and the cuts and bruises on his face. had she not felt his heart, she wouldn’t have known he was alive at all. “you can’t be here.” she murmured. “how can you be here?” “there’s another way, a-around the back.” “there’s another way?” she exclaimed, perhaps too loudly. orpheus flinched, and persephone quickly stopped herself from shouting anything else. he couldn’t take any sudden movements right now, not like this. “sorry…what other way?” she had searched everywhere for another way out. never before had she found a back way. orpheus shook his head. “i can’t, i…” he coughed and grimaced at the consequent sharp pain in his cracked ribs. “i can’t tell you. i don’t know, i didn’t look up, i couldn’t, i just—just couldn’t…” he concentrated on regulating his breathing, focusing on keeping his heart rate down. it was clear to persephone that he was unused to feeling like this…whatever “this” was. “calm down, honey. it’s okay. i’m here. i’m here.” persephone murmured with a hand still on orpheus’s chest. sharing escape tips would have to come later. “slow down, hush.”

“it’s my fault she’s down here, it’s my fault, i need to tell her that i’m sorry.” orpheus was shivering, but it was far from cold. persephone took her hand off of his chest to get the faux fur coat she always brought down with her. orpheus didn’t turn to look and cast his eyes downward, his arm tightening around his body. persephone draped the coat around the boy with a tutting noise of sympathy. poor kid. he really did look like he was falling apart at the seams.

“when was the last time you ate?” she asked. she wasn’t a mother in the biological sense, but every bone in her body was screaming at her to tend to this poor, lost boy.

orpheus shook his head, dazed. “i, i dunno. i don’t remember.” persephone felt a pang of guilt strike her heart. she knew it wasn’t really her fault, but she did feel guilty for everyone on earth that had to deal with the dead harvests and unforgiving weather while she was in hadestown, fighting with her husband. “here, i can get you some…” she slipped behind the bar and kneeled down. “i have some bread—it’s not old, i just smuggled it in.” persephone took it, unwrapped it, and spread a generous pat of butter on two slices. “here.” orpheus’s hunger was nearly palpable; she could feel it in the air.

he hesitated, looking at persephone cautiously. sympathy filled her heart, mixing with the guilt. “go on, honey, eat. i won’t do anything—you can eat.” orpheus lifted the bread to his mouth and took a bite. his eyes widened, and in a few seconds, the bread was gone. he devoured it practically whole. persephone chuckled despite herself, sat, and began to clean orpheus’s wounds with alcohol…not the fun kind. he winced, but didn’t have enough strength to really pull back. “is everyone as hungry as you up there?” orpheus nodded and met her question with a tentative one of his own. “does everyone get…get food like that down here?”

persephone thought for a moment. “i suppose so, yes.” then again, no one working down at the factory necessarily needed food—the nonstop labor sapped them of any hunger. nonetheless, the poet deflated before her very eyes, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. “so she’s being fed.” he whispered, half to himself. persephone tilted her head. she knew who he was talking about. the look on his face said it all. “you really love her, don’t you.” orpheus touched his right hand to his chest. “with all my heart.” persephone nodded, a ghost of a smile on her lips. she remembered feeling like that about hades—like there was no one else, nothing else that could make her feel the way he did. she missed it. “how did you get in here? other than the back way.” she looked around the bar as a precaution before continuing. “the fates are not known for their forgiving nature. atropos, especially.” orpheus blinked. “the fates?” persephone nodded. “three ladies, all dressed the same.” she set a gentle hand on his knee in her attempt to jog his memory. “never liked them, myself.” “i sang a song.” orpheus said, sounding far away. “i sang a song so beautiful, the stones wept.” he directed his intense gaze at the bewildered persephone. “and they let me in.” “must have been one hell of a song.” just like that, he stared at the floor again, avoiding any possible confrontation. “i wrote it so spring would come back.” before she could stop herself, persephone laughed. “to make spring come back?” “it’s a foolish idea, i—“ “no! no. it’s not.” persephone regretted laughing immediately. she had never seen someone so unabashedly filled with hope, she didn’t know what else to do. “how long did it take to write?” what started as trying to keep the boy distracted from his wounds has blossomed into real curiosity. she was touched that he cared so much, and not just about the weather. “it’s not finished, i still can’t…” orpheus swallowed and shook his head. “…i can’t get it quite right.” something in his eyes told persephone that he wasn’t disclosing a very important part of the story. she’d seen that look glinting in hades’ eyes every time winter ended. something like regret. “and the girl? eurydice?” she fought to keep an edge of disdain out of her voice. it wasn’t orpheus’s fault that he was starting to remind her so much of her husband.

orpheus understood the question immediately—much to persephone’s dismay. “i thought i could bring spring back, i really did. i couldn’t think about anything else. i didn’t eat, or, or sleep, but neither did she.” he raised his head weakly and made a fist just to do something with the hand that wasn’t pressed to his side. evidently, this wasn’t his favorite thing to talk about. “i couldn’t provide for her. i was blind, i couldn’t…i was so caught up in…” his dull eyes suddenly shone in a moment of temporary clarity. “ in the world that could be—“ “—that you couldn’t see the world that is.” persephone finished sharply. “the world that was right in front of you.” orpheus blinked.

“you remind me of my husband.” persephone took her hand off of his knee. “of hades?” the poet’s voice broke on the god of the underworld’s name.

you’ve scared him, persephone. he’s already scared enough, he doesn’t need more. she shook her head, taking his hand and stroking the back of it with her thumb. “i didn’t mean it badly, sweetheart.” persephone backtracked. “i promise.” orpheus shuddered, but didn’t take his hand back. persephone didn’t blame him for being scared. hades didn’t used to be so hell-bent on his factories. there was something new in his eyes that she had never recognized before. something without any reservations. something dark that didn’t used to be there. it was all about the machinery, all about the wall. what hades didn’t understand was that it wasn’t going to help anyone on the surface. making the underworld into a sauna wasn’t going to make summer come back. building a wall wasn’t going to fix the barrier between him and persephone, either. persephone pushed that out of her mind. only room for one hades-related breakdown a day, remember? think of the mortals. besides, this is about orpheus. “and eurydice…is she…?” now orpheus took back his hand and pressed it to his mouth. persephone watched as tears pooled in the corners of his eyes. he was so sensitive, this boy. when he felt things, he felt them with his whole heart, his whole chest. she could see it in the way he spoke about the girl he loved. she could see it in the way he physically ached for eurydice but barely flinched when persephone tended to the cuts on his face and his bloody nose.

a tear slowly rolled down orpheus’s cheek, seeping into the gash on his cheekbone. persephone swallowed the urge to cry with him. i was wrong. he isn’t like hades at all, she thought. hades would never feel remorse like this for me.

she pulled the fur coat tighter around his shoulders. “hey. hey, hey. honey, listen…” her hand found orpheus’s knee again. “orpheus, it’s going to be okay.” a sob escaped his lips, shaking his whole body with its force. the poet shook his head and pressed his hand tighter against his mouth. persephone could do nothing but watch as he broke down in front of her. she knew that there was nothing she could say or do that would calm him. after a minute or two, he gathered himself. orpheus risked a glance at persephone with red-rimmed eyes. upon seeing her concerned expression, he let go of the tension in his shoulders and exhaled. “it was gonna be the two of us.” he murmured. “if i had finished the song sooner, i could have…she wouldn’t have left.” “can you sing it for me?” orpheus’s expression changed from one of sorrow to one of confusion. “sing it for you?” persephone offered him a sad little smile. “you don’t have to, but i haven’t heard anything good in a while.” she shrugged. “and i’d like to hear it straight from the poet himself.” after a moment. orpheus tightened his grip on the side of his body and took a careful breath. with that, he started to sing. it was a gorgeous melody. it truly was. there weren’t any words as far as persephone was aware. it didn’t matter. he didn’t need them. every few seconds, orpheus took a pause and changed a note or two. it was a broken melody, and definitely more of a work in progress than persephone first thought.  but it was breathtaking.

every time he paused, she could see his brain working. she saw the poet writing and rewriting, crossing out and composing in his mind. she had never seen anything like it. orpheus held his next note out, long and glimmering with a gentle vibrato unique to him and him only. he repeated his previous unsuccessful melodies again after the first long note, decreasing in volume. there was a few seconds of this, and suddenly persephone watched something click in his head. something had just come together in a spectacular way. she listened closely. this tune was different. still gorgeous…but different. persephone felt it in her chest, each beat of her heart echoing every note. it was familiar, and sad, and filled with what sounded like buried affection. orpheus trailed off, eyes wide with the shock of this new development in his song. “i think that was it.” he mumbled. “that was the rest of it. that was it.” a spell that persephone didn’t realize orpheus’s voice had cast over the room broke. “orpheus, where did you get that melody?” she asked quietly.

he stared at persephone with a mixture of fear and wonder on his face. “i, i don’t know. i don’t know, i…” orpheus blinked. “it’s not mine, i know that, but it’s something i’ve felt for a long time. it’s in my heart.” persephone considered the boy, taking in his tear-streaked face and awe-filled stare. “it’s in mine, too.” the silence that fell following her words was almost comfortable. before they had really met, persephone had liked orpheus. she had liked his music. but seeing him up close, observing the way he felt so deeply for things…it made her love him. she cared about him. she wanted to see him succeed. and she didn’t want him to lose eurydice. if anyone in this world deserved pure love, it was orpheus. he had made mistakes, but his intentions were crystal clear. persephone saw this. 

“i need to find her. i need to tell her i finished the song, i…” he trailed off. “i’ll lose her forever if i don’t.” persephone made a soft, comforting noise. “you just made a mistake.” orpheus unwrapped his left arm from his side and gave a soft hiss of pain. “she’ll never forgive me.” he whispered and made to put his head in his hands, but persephone reached out and lifted his chin. his hands fell to his lap.

“orpheus, if you love her, and she loves you, then…” persephone sighed. “it would be a bigger mistake to let her go.” she fiddled with the hem of her dress. “you have to keep trying.”

“how?” orpheus asked, his voice more breath than anything else. “how can i keep trying when ha—your husband…he won’t let me.” he couldn’t bring himself to say the god of the underworld’s name. persephone didn’t blame him.

“you would be surprised.” she spoke in a stage whisper. “people will hear you through that crack you made in the wall, orpheus.” persephone raised her head to look him in the eye. “everybody knows the walls have ears.”

#hadestown #hadestown fanfic #hadestown musical #hadestown bway #hadestown broadway #hadestown au #papers au #persephone #orpheus #amber gray #reeve carney #au fic #jo.fic #jo.posts #orphydice

[joyfulsongbird]

“Eurydice finds out she's pregnant after going to hadestown and Persephone makes hades let her go back to Orpheus.”

🦥 anon, it wouldn’t let me post it as a reply to an ask so here we go: I meant this to be short but 5000+ words burst from my fingertips so here you go.

I had to change it slightly so that Eurydice has the baby BEFORE Seph gets back (assuming she’s about one to two months pregnant, which wouldn’t be showing yet, when she goes to hadestown) cause Seph leaves and doesn’t come back for six months.

***

work, work, work

constant, pulling, weight on her shoulders, never ending

gods, she’s tired

so tired

she’s never been this tired before

will it ever end?

la la la la la la la

two voices, so many souls. her mouth is closed and she’s screaming, echoing, crying.

and then the bell, the signal that this is not never ending. that work doesn’t last to the end of time, that Hadestown has some mercy for it’s workers. for the people who cry at the foot of the wall every day, except now they are tearing it down. and they cry, they cry, they cry for all of the blood and sweat that went into building and now their tears sink into the mortar, slowly tearing down what they dedicated their life to. what they believed would save them from poverty. and now mister Hades, every morning, reminds them that the wall must come down. that someday, they will see the sunshine again. he doesn’t speak in that hopeful tone, of course not, but Eurydice hears it.

she hears it and hopes. she hears that he is reaching for them with this withered outstretched hand that hasn’t known mercy for so long, and she’s taking it. and saying “this is what it’s like to be merciful”.

look me in the eyes and see what it is to forgive.

for she knows forgiveness like the back of her hand. she knows forgiveness like the deepness of his eyes. knows forgiveness like that the pit of hunger in her stomach. she knows forgiveness. he does not. she can teach him, she can teach him. teach them. It’s only been about two or three months since Persephone went back for spring, it could be longer than that, could be shorter. what is time in Hadestown? there is only the toll and the wall and the crumbling of what they lived for.

she drops her hands to her sides, still coated in grime, her body aching to stretch her hands towards the sky (well, what they call the sky, it isn’t that, it is red and dark and unforgiving). it’s under her fingernails, it’s in her hair, it’s on her cheeks. she is a full fledged creature, with mud on her body like camouflage. she is a machine, work, move, clean, again. what is cleanliness if you are just going to get dirty again tomorrow?

and what is germs in Hadestown? there is no sickness here. that’s what they were promised. a warm place of wealth and no pain. they don’t get sick, they don’t get cold, they don’t go hungry. that’s what was promised to them. but she can’t feel anymore. yes, now she can remember his face, remember his voice, but now... now she feels nothing when she sees his face.

it’s definitely worse.

it’s like she’s looking at the face of a boy she saw in passing on the street. she knows that she loved him, that she still loves him. but there is nothing in her memories that twinges her feelings back into what they were. she sees everything through her own gaze, she knows that at some point she felt these emotions that were so extreme that she cried real tears, that she laughed with this joyousness that filled the entire room. she remembers how he looked at her. with reverence. with love. how he smiled every time she entered a room, and she smiled too. she knows that she smiled too, she remembers that.

she goes through her routines, goes to her shared apartment flat with two other women. they never really speak, they don’t even make eye contact most of time. Eurydice just taps her foot against the floor, waiting for her turn in the shower. directly across the wall, one of her roommates, Afra, stands there. doing the same thing; waiting, listening, all impatiently. Eurydice doesn’t know her well, doesn’t know how she got here but she assumes they all came for the same reasons. security. safety. or maybe, just to get away. Eurydice is sure that if she’d known about Hadestown when she was a younger girl, living in a home with people she loathed, with people who loathed her, she would’ve flown off to hadestown long ago.

Eurydice gets the shower next, stepping into the already steamy small room with the tub and rusty shower head against the wall. the mirror is fogged up and Eurydice leaves it that way, there’s no need to see herself this way. there’s no need to see herself at all. what’s the point down here? who needs mirrors in hell?

shedding her outer layers, she steps right into the shower, watching as the water below fills with dirt and grime, turning it a muted gray color, she stands there until the water turns clear again. she scrubs aimlessly at her skin with the soap bar for a minute or two, trying to feel clean but the dirt stays no matter what she does. it’s under her nails. it’s in her hair. it’s under her skin. she’ll never be rid of it. she’ll never get rid of-

she doubles over in the shower, the dizziness catching her off guard.

“woah, okay.” she murmurs to herself, reaching to clutch the slippery edge of the tub, steadying herself. it passes after a brief ten seconds but she steps out of the shower after that, turning off the water for fear of falling and hitting her head. she knows, objectively, that she can’t really be hurt here in Hadestown but old habits die hard.

dressing slowly and carefully, she addresses the main problem here is that both her head and her stomach are killing her.

well actually the largest looming problem here is: you don’t get sick in Hadestown.

Oh gods, does she have to be the anomaly here?

she’d like to just be normal, just blend into the crowd, but no, she has to be different. she has to stick out like a sore thumb in every place.

before she even knows what’s going on, she’s thrown up what little she’d eaten that day. it makes her feel a little better but sweat makes her forehead sticky, her whole body feels shaky and not quite right.

“Eurydice?” Afra’s voice is unsure of itself, they don’t often use their voices down here. “everything okay in there?”

“yes.” Eurydice calls back. “I’m fine.”

Is she?

she feels something for the first time in awhile: fear.

***

it was all very simple, she should’ve added it up the first time she threw up, so long ago. but it isn’t until she looks in a long mirror for the first time, wearing only her underclothes that she notices something.

no.

gods, no.

she doesn’t make an appointment with Hades, like he says you’re supposed to when you need to speak with him. this is too important, this is too much of his own fault that she has to speak him right then. she wants to cry, she needs to cry but she can’t. so she runs, so she runs as fast as she can until she’s at the doorsteps of the dark building where she knows he resides almost all of the hours of the day.

the door is unlocked, surprisingly, and she just walks in. down dark halls, ignoring the shadows that paint fear across her body. that’s the one thing she can feel nowadays, fear for herself, fear for Orpheus, fear for everything, for their unborn child. no child has been born in Hadestown to her knowledge, a desolate place like this cannot sustain a new life like that. it sucks life away, it tears families apart.

it’s relatively easy to find his office, it’s the only room that’s doorknob isn’t coated with dust and the door is slightly ajar, letting stark light stream into the dark hall.

she bursts inside before she even has time for a second thought.

he’s at his desk, pen in hand, paper in the other. his eyes raise to hers the moment he notices her presence.

“miss Eurydice-”

“cut the bullshit, Hades, why am I still here?”

“I-” she holds up her hand, cutting him off somehow. such an impressive, looming presence usually, but when a women on a mission is in front of him, he never knows what to do. she starts pacing back and forth, in front of his desk. clenching and unclenching her fists. should she punch him? no, no, nothing like that. she didn’t come here for violence... why did she come here? what was her mission when she set out to come here? she doesn’t know, she just knew that she had to get here.

“I thought I’d just be able to live my life in peace. In complete solidarity. That’s what you promised me. you told me I’d get- you said I’d be good here.”

“and didn’t I deliver?” he said, his rumbling voice carrying through the office. across the desk that was separating them. “aren’t you at peace?

she felt something lodged in her throat, she tries to swallow it but the effort makes her voice come out choked. “not anymore.”

suddenly, she feels everywhere. suddenly, she’s so full of feeling her knees nearly crumple to the ground. leaning against the desk. she still doesn’t cry. no, there’s almost too much feeling for that. her whole body is overwhelmed, for so long she felt nothing that this sudden feeling is almost causing her to double over in the pain. it’s fiercely coursing through her veins, her shaking knees could be from the fear or the feeling, she can’t tell.

Hades is up and holding onto one of her arms, his touch surprisingly gentle and uninvasive. he keeps her steady, while guiding her to come sit on a couch on the side of the wall.

“sit here.” he says, his voice shockingly calm and... kind. “I’ll get a glass of water.”

he busies himself with a pitcher of water that sits on his desk, and an empty glass beside it. Eurydice fiddles with the rings on her fingers, trying to sort her mind out, trying to figure out how to say it.

he’s pouring a glass of water. for her.

“I’m pregnant.”

he stops pouring.

he doesn’t turn around either. “your boy...”

“It’s Orpheus’, I’m positive.”

“how long?”

“I only just realized today. I didn’t know who to tell, Lady Persephone is gone and I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”

he’s being surprisingly calm, for a man with no children and no real relationship with Eurydice besides one layered with negative emotions.

“you don’t work for the time being.” he says after a moment of consideration. he turns around, holding a glass of water in one of his hands to face Eurydice’s gaping face. “I need to speak with my wife, but that can’t happen for another few months. So you don’t work and keep busy within what’s left of the walls.”

“what am I supposed to do? for those four months?” she has no idea when she’ll be due, the uncertainty of it is making her feel shaky. the fear strikes her again and she turns her to the side, not making eye contact with Hades again for fear of crumpling in on herself again. she purses her lips.

“I can tell you’re scared,” he begins.

“I’m not-” she starts.

“you younglings always try to convince everyone else that you aren’t terrified,” he thrusts the glass of water into her hand, giving her a pointed look.

“like you’re one to talk.”

he sighs. “only you could sass me when I’m trying to help you.” embarrassment faintly paints Eurydice’s cheeks a blush color, but it fades quickly. “let me continue.

“I can tell you’re scared,” he repeats. “but I’ll promise to protect you and your child, I may be a lot of terrible things but one thing I will never do is force a mother and her child apart. you’ll go back to your apartment and get some rest, tell your roommates that you don’t need to get up for work tomorrow, by special permission of Hades, and I’ll try to get in contact with my wife. But I have a feeling we won’t be able to have a full discussion until she gets back from summertime.”

Eurydice nods and takes a couple sips from that glass of water, her hand shakes so much, she knows that if there was ice in the glass they’d be able to hear the clinking of the two solids. but for now, she tries to act like she isn’t slowly crashing and burning.

Orpheus

Orpheus, you have a child

and he doesn’t know it. he may never know it.

“my child will be doomed to this life, won’t they?” she whispers, eyes downcast. “if-if I give them to Persephone before spring, will they be able to go Up Top? would it be possible?”

he sighs, the sound is burdened. “I don’t know. A child has never been born here before, so I don’t know.”

she stares at the surface of the water, rippling with little currents and waves from her trembling hand. “they will never know grass, or happiness, or love-”

“no.” Hades says firmly, he steps closer, he brushes her knuckles with his fingertips, unsure of what to do as a comfort. but his words are comfort enough. “your child will know love, you will love them and that is love enough.”

she purses her lips tight together, she still does not cry, she still has yet to cross that threshold of pure feeling.

“go home, get some sleep.” it’s a command, almost, like everything Hades says is. she could always refuse but instead of standing up to him like she usually prefers to, she nods, because she could use some sleep in times like now.

***

Eurydice had forgotten love until Calista.

she knew love well before Hadestown but in that span of few months, she forgot what it was like to love. to love something with this fierceness you can’t control, and to have that ability feels powerful. she felt like a monster before, but holding a child close to her chest is what makes her feel human again.

yes, they are still in Hadestown, but when life finds ways to spring up, it flourishes.

she’s moved apartments since finding out about the baby, to a smaller one, a studio with a bathroom and a tiny kitchen but it’s just for her and her daughter. people know that the only current mother in Hadestown lives there, her neighbors seem to brighten at the sight of her child. their darkness when they come back from work slides away for just a little bit of light when Callie smiles at them from afar.

her daughter brings hope, and Eurydice couldn’t be more proud. she doesn’t even know it yet, but Callie is really the carnation in the winter, she’s the light in the dark, the song in the silence.

And Persephone comes back and is immediately pointed in the direction of Eurydice’s apartment by Hades, with barely even a kiss on the cheek, she’s worried something bad has happened. It’s a combination of good and bad in her opinion.

she knocks on the door and a voice calls, “come in!”

Persephone, not knowing what she’ll find, steps inside tentatively. “Hades said to- oh my lords.”

Eurydice sits cross legged on her small bed, a baby sitting in her lap with the widest smile she’s ever seen on a child. she has her mothers eyes, even from here Persephone can see the dark color, the deepness of them.

“hi.” Eurydice begins. Persephone closes the door loudly, accidentally making Eurydice and the baby jump. she surges forward, first taking the young woman’s face in her hands, cupping her cheeks and brushing her cheeks with her thumbs.

“please tell me it’s Orpheus’.” Eurydice nods.

“It is” she assures, “look, she has his nose and you can just see, his hair, too.”

“she’s lovely.” Persephone sighs, sinking to sit beside Eurydice. Persephone brushes Eurydice’s bangs away from her eyes, she notices that they are freshly cut and a little jagged and uneven. she’ll ask about that later. “how old is she?”

“A month.” Eurydice answers immediately, her smile is genuine and Persephone can tell, there is love. a deep, motherly love that Persephone has only ever experienced when she looks at the young girl who turned into a young woman while she was away Up Top. “she came a little early, and I was worried, but she’s doing well now.”

“what’s her name?”

“Calista.” Eurydice says, gently tracing her daughter’s ears and tiny nose. “I started calling her Callie, though, and never stopped.”

“Callie.” Persephone repeats. “I love that.”

“me too.” Eurydice bites her bottom lip, before the real dawning of Persephone being here hits her. her expression barely changes and her tone of voice doesn’t at all but Persephone can feel the shift in the air.

“how is Orpheus doing?”

Persephone continues stroking through her black hair, untangling the knots like she imagines a mother would. “he just started singing again. only the past month or so. his voice sounds different after so long with so little use but it’s just as beautiful as it was when you knew him.”

Eurydice lifts Callie a little higher, adjusts her in her arms so that the child lies with her head in the crook of her elbow. “I’m sad that she’ll never get to meet him.”

she says it simply, she’s already accepted the fact, but underneath that is the lingering of sadness that lies there. an undercurrent of disappointment that Persephone came alone. she’d probably had the tiniest grain of hope and Persephone came empty handed.

“well!” she stands up, straightening out the creases in her dress. “I’d better get to the house, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen my husband up close.”

Eurydice smiles. “alright. see you again really soon?”

“of course.” Persephone plants a kiss on both girl’s heads and heads out the door, blinking away the sharp burn of tears.

***

she walks into Hades’ office and before she can even get the words out, he waves his hand at her without looking up from his ever important paperwork.

“I’m sending her up, don’t worry.”

she opens and closes her mouth. “I thought it might take some convincing.”

he scowls down at his desk. “I’m not heartless. I saw her when she first found out, the selflessness in that girl...” he shakes his head. “she was concerned about not being able to love her kid enough. not being able to provide that for her. she wanted to send Cal up there with you in the spring without her? you know that? the insanity in her, that I’d separate a mother and her child.”

Persephone steps around her and plants a firm, smiling kiss on his lips. Surprising him and pulling him away from his paperwork. “I love you.”

a smile twitches at his lips. “I love you too?”

“so,” Persephone says, promptly taking a small step back. “Eurydice and Callie will come up on the train with me in the spring?”

“as soon as I get all the paperwork in order. this is a... unique situation to say the least.” he turns back to his work, Persephone stands and watches for a moment, before planting one more soft kiss to the top of his head and heading out to get a drink. she can’t tell Eurydice yet, because if it doesn’t come true she’ll be heartbroken but knowing that she’ll be able to take the two of them up with her in the spring will be a joyous moment.

only six months until the couple that became a family gets reunited.

***

Children grow fast, this is something that Eurydice was never told. by the time Callie is seven months old, Eurydice has watched her learn to crawl, learn to reach and to touch and to smile. it still scares her sometimes, that maybe she isn’t meant for this? maybe she’s not cut out for this kind of thing. she’s already had to reason with herself over several things that just dig into her scalp, telling her Callie deserves a better mother. she had to bottle feed her, for god's sakes, her body seems to be malnourished enough and overworked enough that she can’t give that to her daughter. she has to take care of herself too, is what Persephone keeps telling her. she has to give herself a little attention too, give herself some love as well.

she faces Hades one last time in front of the train, he says he’s there to see Persephone off but Eurydice is glad that he’s there.

“thank you,” she says, lifting her chin to look him right in the eyes. “for all that you did for me and Callie, and for you are doing for Orpheus. he doesn’t know it yet, but he will be very thankful to you.”

“don’t say things like that,” he says, voice extra gravelly with the sadness of his wife leaving, but he tries to hide it. “I would never have hired you if I’d known...”

“neither of us knew, I would never have agreed to go if I’d known.”

a small silence stretches between them, she doesn’t know what to do with herself, a year ago she despised this man. everything about him made her heart shudder in her chest, but now... she’s seen his mercy and can’t help but feel that it was there all along.

she holds out her hand to shake his. “thank you, I will make sure to let Calista know as she grows older all that you have done for us.”

he lets out a chuckle as he takes her hand. “I’m sure she will also know all I have done against you.”

“in my opinion, it evens out. thank you.” she drops his hand and climbs onto the train, her stomach starting to swirl in her stomach.

She tries to remind herself of all that she’s been told by Persephone, love herself and that has to be enough, as she climbs the train, she’d handed Calista over to Persephone while Eurydice puts her things on the train. her heart beats so fast, this rhythm of readiness, of anticipation.

thump, thump, thump

Get Callie, she’s getting fussy in another woman’s arms.

thump, thump, thump

Sit down in a seat before the train starts moving.

thump, thump, thump

“if it isn’t my favorite songbird.” a withered voice comes from the front of the train car.

“Hermes.” Eurydice breaths, she speeds her steps up to meet him halfway and throws her arms around his neck. she buries her face in the man’s shoulder, letting him gently hold her like a father would hold a daughter, gently, calmly. he pulls back after barely five seconds.

“you takin’ the train?” she nods with something like tears stinging in the back of her eyes but they aren’t close to falling, yet. Hermes’ smile stretches almost all the way to his eyes, wrinkles creasing on his forehead. “he’ll be waiting for Seph, right by the station.’

Eurydice smiles but her heartbeat is still flurrying over her entire chest, heat spreading across her whole body like a licking fire. she needs a distraction from her shaking hands and churning stomach. Hermes pats her cheek affectionately, finally looking over her shoulder and squinting at Persephone holding the infant in her arms. he narrows his eyes, like he’s seeing a mirage and isn’t sure exactly what he’s seeing.

Eurydice breaks away from him, going to Persephone to take her daughter from the other woman’s arms. “this is your kind of granddaughter, Calista.”

“a lovely name for a lovely girl.” Hermes smiles in that way he always does when he knows something, when he looks at someone and can see their future. Eurydice always feels exposed whenever Hermes looks at her, like he knows what goes on in her head every day. like he knows all of her fears and hopes and emotions. the train starts moving in that moment and Eurydice has to sit down, holding Callie in her lap, pulling her tightly against her chest.

they move through tunnels, the dim lights of the mines flash through the windows every once in awhile, flushing the four of them in a golden glow, turning Persephone’s green dress into a brownish color, splashing across Hermes face briefly and throwing shadows like the darkness of the wall falling over her. she hasn’t worked on the wall in months, hasn’t gone into the mines in about as long, but it still haunts her. to forget how to feel, though since Orpheus came and left, the place improved it still left her feeling like there a life she was missing out on, the other half of her. or maybe it just was that her other half was Up Top. Callie taught her to remember feeling, taught to feel again altogether. and when she begins to whimper in the dark of the train, her heart stutters and all she wants is to make her smile again.

“shhh,” Eurydice murmurs, bounding the little girl on her knee briefly. “it’s alright, love, shh.”

even just her voice soothes the child and she quiets, she is normally not the most emotional infant, though they all cry, Eurydice knows that from her younger siblings. she takes after her mother in that, she only gets emotional really when Eurydice gets emotional. so now, when Eurydice is nervous and fidgety and on edge, the girl picks up on it and begins to cry. she calms herself, taking deep breath and pressing a kiss to her daughters soft bed of dark brown hair.

it’s a longer train ride than Eurydice would think, so they sit in silence, contemplative over what is to come, over what is going to happen when those doors open and sunshine floods the train car. when Orpheus is right before her what will she say? what will she do? he doesn’t even know she’s coming, he’ll be happy to see her, won’t he? yes, yes, he will. she knows this, she knows he loved her, and hopes for that present tense to re-enter the assuredness of her vocabulary. she loves him, simple as that, and he will love what she brings with her.

as light starts to flood the car, she closes her eyes, feeling the warmth flood through her body. the familiar scent of the dirt and the trees, the sound of chattering voices and birds beginning to chirp, everything so familiar yet so foreign. the last time she was this anxious to step outside was during The Walk and she never stepped foot outdoors during that. she’s both ready and most definitely not.

“here,” Persephone says. “I’ll take Cal, and you can step out by yourself. take a look about, greet old friends without this little one in your arms.”

reluctantly, Eurydice relinquishes Callie into Persephone’s arms. she stands, ready to face her fate, ready to smell the earth, bask in the sunlight. she is here, she is full of light, she is ready.

she’s ready.

the train car opens by itself and she steps out, shading her eyes with her hand to gaze over the crowd, which a hush falls over. she is known here, though she looks different. though having been pregnant and gave birth, she’s lost weight. the doctors she saw worried for Callie’s health, when Eurydice has spent her whole life only getting just enough to eat and too often in Hadestown she neglected to eat, after the pregnancy especially, it seemed. she just simply... forgot to take care of herself sometimes. those were the days where she got talks from Persephone, lectures from Hades, both about taking care of herself not just for herself, for Calista. she tried her best, but old habits die hard. she looks more tired now, her hair now just brushing the very tops of her shoulders but the bangs freshly cut. every few months, or when she was feeling especially restless, she would go to the bathroom with a pair of scissors and retrim her bangs. what a great influence she’ll be on her kid.

and in the crowd, in the very back of the crowd, is a boy just a little bit older and more tired looking. and his eyes are raised to hers. his mouth is forming the first syllable of her name, with a question in his eyes. is this real? are you real?

and she wants to run to him and say yes yes yes yes im real this is real this is true

but she can’t move until Hermes walks up beside her, loops his arm through hers and begins to walk her down the steps of the station. the crowd parts for them and Eurydice can’t help but see the imagery of it all. like a bride walking down the aisle, she is being given away for the second time in her life. the first, she gave away herself, in secret. not an elopement but a ritual in which they were “married”. this time, she is given away to this life that she once gave up. here, she is being given permission to step back into this life, she is being given permission to look him in the eyes, to speak to him. he gives her away and leaves her there at the altar- or rather, right in front of Orpheus- and leaves her there, blending back into the crowd.

���how- how... what are you- how are you-?” he runs a hand through his hair, just looking at her, just... looking. “Eurydice-”

when he says her name, her entire body feels like it will combust and she can’t just stay standing there. it feels like their first kiss: happening before she knows what’s happening and over before she wants it to. whistles break out through the crowd, a laughter spreading through the silence. the tension breaks and she’s left just feeling his hands at her waist, and his face close to hers, his breath against her cheeks, fluttering her eyelashes against the breeze.

“how-?” he asks again.

she licks her lips, unsure of how to say it. “I’ll show you.”

Persephone is already walking towards them, holding Callie to her chest. Orpheus, the ever confused, just stares. the two dots not yet connected yet, so he must say the first thing that comes to mind.

“congratulat-”

Persephone shakes her head and laughs. “no, poet.” and hands Callie to Eurydice.

he watches with wide eyes as Eurydice holds the child in one arm and with the other, adjusts Orpheus’ arms so that she can gently place the girl in his arms. she holds both his arms and the baby for a moment before removing her hands and stepping back. his eyes flick from Eurydice, down to the infant, and then back to Eurydice in a panicked state.

“her name is Calista, she’s seven months old... and she’s your daughter.”

Orpheus lets out a huge, deep, shuddering sigh that feels somehow close to tears. he finally looks down and admires the face of the girl in his arms, and as he does, Eurydice tells him about her.

“she has your nose, and your hair, but my eyes. she’s not very talkative but she likes to be read to before going to sleep, and she always, always prefers to sleep close to me, or close to a person. she’s like you, she loves to listen. and she loves people-”

she stops herself at the sight of his face, smiling but filled with this sorrowful inside. “I can’t believe- I missed a whole life starting... Eurydice, she’s so beautiful.”

“not your fault, Orpheus, neither of us knew.” she murmurs. “and now, we’re here.”

“you’re home.”

#hadestown #hadestown fic #orphydice fic #orphydice #orphydice kid #eurydice #pregnant eurydice #i dont really think orphydice will have their own kids but this sprung from my fingerse #hermes #persephone/hades #hades #persephone #canon compliant #and then not #this is so fucking long im so sorry

[joyfulsongbird]

All I’ve Ever Known- 4/4

the final part is here! this part is so fluffy and some angst there at the end. I promised this would crush you and I hope it fulfills. this was an amazing thing to write and I loved every word.

***

There is no light for her to see his expression. There is no assurance to stop her beating heart. she tries to tell herself over and over, the seasons will change, this summer will end, leave before you get too attached to this life.

It feels too late, she’s warm and comfortable and… happy. that’s never happened before. this has never happened before.

“Orpheus, I’m- I’m sorry.”

“what?” he says, she can hear the confusion in his voice. “why?”

“I didn’t mean to- gods, I wanted to leave but now, you’ve made it so much harder for me, you know that?”

“harder for you to… leave? leave who?” she lets out a small laugh, it feels wet and on the verge of tears or a scream of some kind. she could grip both sides of her head, block out his voice, just muffle all of the things that are rooting her here, to this place.

“you. I couldn’t leave you after even just this day. I…” she shakes her head, trying to clear her head to something she can shape into words. these sentences keep falling out of her mouth wrong, and she needs it to be right, she needs him to understand clearly.

“Orpheus, do you see this?” she gestures to her whole body, to the ratty dress and the choppy hair and worn out boots. he nods silently, she barely sees it in the dark. “this feral, good for nothing girl who never… who has never known anyone like you.”

“Like me?”

“kind and good and wants to talk to me and you haven’t hurt me.” a voice in her head says not yet but she pushes it down, for the first time, she resists those voices.

“I guess I’ve just been lonely for so long, I forgot what it feels like to not to be alone.” she says quietly. “It feels like I never had someone in the first place, and now you’re here, standing right there, and I just… I’ve never wanted to be near someone. to stand side by side someone and not run away.”

he’s still silent, she can’t see his expression and all she wants is to shine a light on it so she can gauge his reaction. is he disgusted? does he hate her now? is the whole world crumbling around her and she can’t see it? how embaressed she’d be if she confessed the first feelings she’s felt in years, maybe the first true feelings in her entire life, and be shot down and wounded, like a bird that can’t fly. she’ll have to limp out of here.

she takes a step forward, despite how sticky and sweaty her palm is, she lifts an outstretched hand. lifting her eyes to meet Orpheus’, she tries her best not to communicate her desperation, she wants him to hold her, and more importantly, she wants to hold him. she wants to wrap her arms around him and never let go. and then a miraculous thing happens, he reaches up tentatively, taking her outstretched hand gently in his. their fingers don’t quite fit together yet, unsure of how to fit her small hand in his large one.

like magic, he looks to her for confirmation and she wants to scream into the void “yes, this is more than okay! this is wonderful!” but she doesn’t, because if she’s anything she’s composed, she’s mature and older than she appears. the giddy schoolgirl that never flourished wakes up in her chest, she breathes out a sigh of content at the feeling of drawing him close. she’s not even fully aware of where she moves, she just knows that his hand rests on her waist and she isn’t pulling away, her back is on his chest. she knows that for sure, his heartbeat is strong, quick, reverberating through her body in shivers. despite the darkness, she feels flooded with sunlight, from the top of her head ranging all the way to her fingertips and toes, she is alight with rays of shining light. it’s almost like when he holds her, the world stops moving, earth stops turning on its axis and it’s just two people in an embrace. she forgets cold, she forgets winter, she forgets all of her hardships, all she wants is to be held like this for one more second.

this is far more than she had been expecting… so she pulls away. ashamed, she holds him at an arm's distance, they are close enough so that if she were to lift her eyes up, she could see his expression. but she doesn’t, and the reason is simple, she’s scared. scared that everything will change. that wind will switch directions and she’ll be struck stranded on a boat she claimed could stay afloat.

he reaches to touch her again, she feels the brush of his fingertips through her thin slip and something sparks. she takes a quick step back, her skittishness back again, almost like an outdoor cat not yet tamed. his hands drop back down right away.

“this is all I’ve ever known, Orpheus.” she whispers. “cold and darkness. how to take care of myself in those cold and dark times.”

he clears his throat softly, as if in preparation. “I don’t know how to do any of those things, Eurydice. I don’t know why you let me hold you, but when I saw you for the first time, I knew that I’d known you before, maybe lifetimes ago, but I knew you before we met. I feel like I already know you, and I’ve barely known you for a day.”

she screws her eyes shut, trying to ignore the bubbling in her stomach, the flutter of her chest. gods, she just wants to let it all go, free herself from this turmoil. and she does so by doing the only she knows how to: acting, freeing her body up by moving her body forwards.

she takes two determined steps forward, leaning into him and firmly placing two palms on his chest, gripping the white fabric in her hands. a desperate need to know what it feels like to be near to him. one of his hands comes up to cover a hand, the skin of his hand cool on top of hers. she shivers at a touch on her cheek, but doesn’t pull away. her hair gets tangled in his fingers but she just takes his hand back in hers, the warmth of it all so strange. his skin is cool, but in the bottom of her stomach, the center of her chest, her cheeks, everything is ablaze with the warmth of every sun she’s seen in every summer she’s lived through.

“you are someone I’ve always known.” Eurydice says, starkly and loudly. not a whisper, not a shout, but said so simply that it doesn’t even feel romantic. in her hand, it sounded so lovely, like the words that always come out of Orpheus’ mouth but falling off of tongue they sounded off, too loud for their small environment and the little gap between them. but instead of drawing back, she sees him smile, the smallest, most wonderful smile she’s ever seen.

the world is strange, Eurydice knows that. fate works in ways she could never think of. but she never imagined she’d be here, in love with a poet, in love with a boy she hasn’t yet known for more than a week. in love.

she’s in love.

the kiss happens before she’s really aware of it, his fingers are grazing along his jaw one second and the next, she’s tasting honey and the sweetness of someone with a voice made up of every song ever written. usually, her bodily instincts would kick in at this point, she’d grip the back of his shirt and tug him closer, how she always does when she’s kissing someone. but she’s aware of every movement, every shift of weight. instead of gripping him close, she allows her hands to wander, delicately counting up his ribs. and there, she can feel each time he takes a sharp intake of breath, each time he exhales. her hand finally rests over his heart, thump, thump, thump, a quick steadiness there under her palm.

she pulls away after what likes both a few seconds and a million years. close, they are still quite close, but what lies between them is what causes her to pull away.

“is this okay?” Orpheus asks, drawing back slightly. “you’re okay?”

“yes,” she smiles, something burning behind her eyes at the fact that he even bothered to ask. “yes, I’m more than okay… kiss me again?”

he does. and she loses herself in it. running her hands through his hair, trailing down to trace his spine. his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her ever closer. he tastes like sunshine, like honeydew and faint mint mouthwash. she’s not sure how to bridge the space between reality and Orpheus, it’s as wide and far as the space between space and time, nonexistent yet infinitely far. how can you measure that kind of thing? she can’t get him out of her head, she can’t cut the tie that keeps her attached him, otherwise she would’ve left the moment she severed that tie. it’s unbreakable, somehow, she’s still here, still holding him close. still kissing him. the warmth in her stomach that she’s been trying to ignore now flourishes, it grows and spreads through the rest of all her, all the way to her fingertips to the ends of her hair. but no matter how much harder she kisses him, how passionate it gets, he’s still holding her with a gentleness behind his touch. she’s still holding him with feather light fingers.

still holding him.

*

the warmth of him wakes her, the odd feeling of being so close to someone just isn’t normal. the comfort that settles in her chest isn’t right. so she wakes, it’s still dark, it’s still warm. she can’t ignore that. it is bright and warm and the world has stopped turning for them. and it’s terrifying.

she shifts, lifting herself to look around the small home he lives in, one room attached to a little kitchen, a tiny bathroom with a shower separated by a curtain, one red couch. not much, barely anything, really. definitely not sustainable for two people. he’s a poet; a musician, he can barely take care of himself, let alone take on another body. and she can’t either, she lives off of each days wages, from odd jobs here and there, dancing at bars here and there, pickpocketing on the side. they could never…

she sits up, the notion of it is insane, the idea of it even crossing her mind isn’t right. so quietly, she slips out of bed, padding across the floor to find her clothes. she could pack her things and go right now, go, go, go where she could forget about the pretty boy with the pretty voice and the beautiful heart. she could run off into the distance, follow the train tracks until she falls off of the earth and never see the light of day again. she’d never have to face the beating of her heart again, or the idea that she could love someone, that someone could love her. but she knows, deep down, that at least one night, his name would cross her mind again, and then she’d see his eyes and then hear his voice, and the feeling would be back. she’d always come full circle back to this place and this feeling and him.

she’s more than half dressed before she even stops to look at his form, lying on the bed, all slumped and messy and inviting. as she pulls on her slip over her underclothes, she blinks at the silence that he can achieve in sleep. for someone always making noise in waking hours, he’s a surprising silent sleeper. not a snore, not a grunt, he just lies there like a corpse. the only indication that he is alive is the steady, slow up and down of his rib cage. his arm that had been resting on her side now lies palm up, stretched out like it’s reaching for her. his body seems caved in and incomplete without her back pressed against his chest. and if she shifts slightly to the right (which she then does) she can make out his face, hair falling over his forehead slightly, lips parted just so. lips she had been kissing not to long ago. his eyes closed gently, she could kiss his eyelids right now and he might not wake up.

damn him

slowly, she lifts his arm as she climbs back into the bed, covering herself first with the thin blanket, then replacing his arm back where it was before: resting gently on the curve of her waist, the heaviness keeping her grounded.

It scares her half to death when he speaks, even though it is just barely a whisper. “were you going?”

it takes her half a second too long to respond. “no- no, I just got cold, that’s all.”

her face burns at getting caught in the act. cold, my ass. It’s summer, she’d have to be cold blooded to be cold enough to put on more layers right now. and he knows it.

“you could leave, if you want to, I’ll pretend I’m asleep and you can go.” he’s trying to hide his hurt, the hurt she know he’d have felt in the morning if she’d just gone a few minutes ago.

“of course not.” she answers right away. “I’m staying right here.”

moments pass in slow silence until she can’t take it anymore, she rolls over onto her other side, to face him. his eyes watch her with reverence in them, completely enraptured by her mere presence. her fingers trace over the bones of his face, down the bridge of his nose, along his jawline, under his eyes. she takes one of his hands and places it on her cheek, leaning into the warmth of his palm, never wanting to pull away or feel the cold again. his hand moves on its own accord, brushing across her eyelashes, slowly running his thumb over her lips before again settling perfectly against her cheek.

“say that you’ll hold me forever,” she whispers, the words catch in her throat. she’s never said something like this before. “say that the wind will never change on us.” her eyes finally meet hers, something in them keeps her here, keeps her from running. “say we’ll… stay with each other and it will always be just like this.”

his answer is immediate and genuine, never doubting, never taking a moment to reconsider.

“I’m gonna hold you forever,

the wind will never change on us,

as long as we stay with each other,

then it always be like this.”

it’s the first time in her whole life that she’s been told this and she believes it. so she doesn’t know what to say, so she says nothing. instead, she relies on what she always does: her gut. instincts kicking in, she leans in, kisses him one more time, that hand still on her cheek, just as gentle, a reminder that he is here to stay.

#hadestown #hadestown fic #orphydice fic #orphydice #eurydice #orpheus #all i've ever known #all i've ever known fic #4/4 #final part yall #this has been fun #i swoop in here with a fic right after the chaos of last night #they'd better not see this

[joyfulsongbird]

Be My Friend, Don’t Go Away

for @nightshade300 a fic where Orpheus and Eurydice meet as kids.

***

Eurydice doesn’t like her house, all her friends (well, the few friends she does have) say they love their houses and their rooms and their moms and dads. she doesn’t. she knows somehow she’s supposed to love her home and her mom and dad, but the part of her that hates walking through the door stops her from loving going home.

so she doesn’t go home until it’s so dark that she admits that she’s frightened.

but for now, she sits on the floor of a forest, a dark forest that has ins and outs that she plans to discover in the years to come. the world moves in the slow circles, the trees hold her close. she’d say she feels at home here but she knows that even now she is unsafe. she grits her teeth, eyes open and wide and watching. she can’t relax, her muscles are always tense. so when she lies down in bed and has to let her eyes close, her legs and arms hurt from the day. she’s constantly vigilant, walking on tippy toes.

she walks about, the shadows frighten her but she sneers back at them. they’re just shadows. they can’t hurt her, like other things can. she’s got to get better at that, she’s got to squash her fear, just like Cas says to. she’s gotta hold herself up, he tells her to hit back, to scream, to bite, to run. she isn’t sure what she’s supposed to do if there isn’t someplace to run to. what do you do if there is no place that someone will hold you and tell you they love you? her solution: go to the forest. where trees hold her in their branches, where shadows caress her cheeks, where leaves braid her hair. and sometimes, wind plays her music when it whistles through the limbs and canopies above.

so it’s surprising to her when she hears actual music drift through her usual hiding place.

she isn’t afraid of what lurks in this place in the daylight, so she marches with loud feet, hoping that would scare the music away but it doesn’t, if anything, it grows louder. but soon, she finds that’s because she gets closer to the source. when she finds herself getting very close to her favorite clearing, she can practically feel the person’s presence in the place she loves to sit and sing and wait for dark in. she waits behind a tree, listening to the music. well, listening at first. but then, enraptured. she can’t stop listening. it’s a little messily plucked in some places but she feels as if this person is very skilled, the resonance she can recognize like it comes from her own vocal chords. the melody striking her deep inside of her. it makes her want to cry and laugh and jump and shout and smile all at once.

in a burst of energy and determination, she jumps out from behind the tree and the music abruptly stops. she’s faced with nothing more than a boy, maybe a little younger than she is but not by much. sitting in the center of the little clearing, clutching a guitar now tightly to his chest, is a boy with a shocked, frightened look in his eyes. she understands why, she’s a dirty, feral looking girl who definitely needs a bath who just jumped out of nowhere.

“what are you doing here?” she snarls, stalking forward and snapping out of her musical reverie. 

“I-I-I... um, my... I just...” he’s scared, she can see that but the way he’s cowering at her is just a little much. she’s not that much bigger than him anyways, only taller by maybe an inch.

“my name is Orpheus.”

he blurts it out like it’s a shameful sentence, like he isn’t allowed to say his name. which she didn’t ask, by the way.

“I didn’t ask you what your name was.” she crosses her arms over her chest like her mom does when she’s upset with Cas, it looks intimidating when she does it anyways.

“It’s Orpheus.”

“I know, you said it before.”

“what’s your name?”

“Eurydice.” she says proudly, she loves her name, it means Justice. that’s what her mom says at least. it rolls off the tongue easily and just sounds wonderful to her.

“that’s a funny name.” Orpheus disagrees apparently. she opens her mouth to retort angrily but before she can, he looks down at his guitar, strumming out a chord and opening his mouth, singing out one word on one note.

“Eurydice.”

she has to stop, stunned at the way he can make her already beautiful name sound so... lovely. so musical.

“nevermind,” he says. “I could write songs about your name, so that makes it good. a good name, that’s what Eurydice is, a good name.”

“you’re weird.” she says, in her sarcastic voice that her brother has been teaching her, trying to scare him away. it doesn’t work, he sticks his tongue out between his teeth, scrunching up his eyes.

“mister Hermes says that isn’t a nice word.”

“who’s mister Hermes?”

“he’s my... he’s mister Hermes.”

she tilts her head to look at him again, considering how he might come to be here with her never seeing him before in town. “is he your dad?”

Orpheus strums another chord. “I don’t have a dad.”

she bites her tongue, forcing the lie past her lips, mostly because she wants it to be true. “me neither.”

his eyes shoot up, meeting hers directly for the first time. he has good eyes, she decides, green and brown and shiny. “really?!”

she nods, tucking black hair behind her ear shyly.

“I never met someone else who didn’t have a dad! do you have a mom too? I don’t, but that’s okay, I have mister Hermes who’s real nice and talks to me and I got to play my music for him the other day, he says I’m really good and... sorry.”

“why?”

“why what?”

“why are you sorry?”

he shifts awkwardly in the grass. “I talk a lot, everyone says I should stop.”

deciding that this boy isn’t dangerous, she drops down to sit in the grass in front of him. “screw ‘em.”

he blinks at her, confused. she shrugs. “they don’t matter, not really, you be you. that’s what my brother says.”

his eyes light up. “you have a brother? that’s so cool!”

she has to laugh, because she usually doesn’t get along with kids her age this well. but Orpheus is nice, and talks too much or too little and likes her name, all of the qualifications she needs for a friend.

“so are you moving here?” she asks, hoping that the answer is yes. she could use a friend. since the current count is 0.

“we’re here on a... business trip, I think. that’s what mister Hermes said.” her heart sinks a little in her chest, of course her only potential friend is here temporarily. of course her one chance at eliminating a little of her loneliness can’t be utilized.

“oh.” he seems to recognize that that made her sad, that her expression falls after he said those words.

“sorry.”

she shakes her head. “that’s not your fault... play another note thingy on your guitar. I like the way it sounds.”

a smile works its way onto his face, he has a wonderful smile, she decides. he arranges his fingers intricately on the fretboard of his instrument and plays one beautiful note, letting it ring into the clearing and reverberate through her head. she absorbs it, taking it in and breathing it out. it almost cleanses her of her entire bad day, letting her start anew with this new cleaned out body.

“how-?” she begins before she’s cut off by a loud shout that rumbles through the forest, she jumps to her feet and scampers back into the forest before she can even stop to consider who or what it is that’s coming in their direction. a small voice follows after her but she doesn’t stop to hear what Orpheus says, instead, she puts some distance between the two of them before backtracking a little when she realizes she might’ve left Orpheus alone in danger. and she’d never leave a helpless boy to the clutches of a wild animal, that’s just not nice.

she watches from a distance as a man in a fancy silver suit comes into the clearing, taking Orpheus hand and pulling the boy to his feet.

“you know you aren’t supposed to run off like that, Orpheus.”

“I know.”

“you could’ve gotten lost or seriously injured.”

“I know.”

the man sighs. “why did you come out here? it’s just plain forest.”

“I met a girl.” Orpheus blurts out. The man gives him a strange look.

“A girl?”

“yeah, she liked my music.”

“hm,” he considers the idea for a moment, as he thinks he begins tugging Orpheus out of the clearing. “could’ve been a wood nymph.”

“what do wood nymphs look like?” Orpheus asks as he slings his guitar over his back, contentedly taking mister Hermes’ hand.

“they’re small, very pretty little things, and fearsome too.”

Orpheus nods. “she was all of those things. and she was really, really pretty so that probably means she was a princess wood nymph.”

mister Hermes laughs. “probably.”

Eurydice never thinks that she’ll ever see the boy with the guitar who loved her name ever again. and she was very wrong.

#hadestown fic #orphydice #orphydice fic #hermes and orpheus #eurydicexorpheus #kid eurydice #kid orpheus #they are cute ass kids #fic prompt