Chapter Text
Orpheus couldn’t believe what he saw. Eurydice was in a nice dress with a nice hat, and she was having a discussion with the workers when he arrived. Interestingly, he also spots Linus, the brother he had some years ago. He greeted Eurydice, but the answer was one he didn’t expect.
“W-who are you?” Eurydice asks Orpheus.
“Eurydice….you don’t remember?” Orpheus asks, and he sings, “La lalala lalala, remember?”
“Oh, that weird melody stuck in my head for some reason, that was yours?” Eurydice responds, “Wait, I knew you before?”
“Eurydice, its me, Orpheus, your lover from up top, we spent a summer together,” Orpheus tells the oblivious Eurydice, “Remember Hermes’ bar, we would always order hot chocolate, or milkshakes.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, O-Orpheus, right?” Eurydice responds with uncertainty, as she simply cannot remember who the person in front of her was,
——
“Eurydice I’ll get you a memory-jogging drink,” Afra says, and she goes to the bar to get some memory drinks for Eurydice and Linus, “You, too, Linus, I saw Orpheus looked at you.”
“Thanks,” Eurydice smiles at Afra, then takes a gulp of the memory drink.
Suddenly her memories flood back, everything she did with Orpheus, the bar up top, Hermes, among other memories, including the fateful turn. She recalls that she was a worker like the speakeasy patrons before she was adopted.
“I…I hope that worked,” Afra says, looking at Eurydice, then looking at Orpheus.
“Orpheus, oh my gods!” She reached out to her lover for a hug, “What in Gaia happened? I can’t believe I forgot you!” She looks at him in the eye, she just now remembers how handsome Orpheus is.
“Must be Hades’ doing,” Orpheus responds, “Anyways, glad to see you here. Just came by to say hello, and be with you,” He adds, “It was getting really sad up there, then Hermes told me some of what happened here.”
“C’mon, you three have a seat,” Afra clears a table for Orpheus, Jax, and Eurydice. She then went to the speakeasy’s kitchen to cook some food for the visitors.
——-
Linus just looks over as the three settle down and talk. He takes a gulp of his own memory drink, unsure of what he’ll remember. He hesitates a lot before he gives in to the urge.
Suddenly, multiple scenes flash before his eyes. Orpheus chasing him for his notebook, him and Orpheus eating cookies together, the two dancing around when Persephone arrived, playing lyres together, Hermes treating them to a road trip at some point, among other memories, and then the time he ran away from home and went aboard the train.
“Orpheus,” He walks over to their table, “Orpheus, I-I remember now. You also knew Eurydice?”
“Yeah, met her around last year or so, we were together for a while,” Orpheus explains. Linus’ eyes widened at the last part.
Linus’ cheeks were tomato red, “Uh, this is awkward,” He says, realizing he’d been accidentally dating his brother’s lover for over a month.
The three fell into dead silence as Afra serves them some food. They eventually warm up and talk about each other, their lives up top and down below.
“Uh, you see, Linus and I had been dating for sometime,” Eurydice sinks to her chair, hoping Orpheus doesn’t get mad or something. She silently curses Hades for wiping her memory like that.
“I’m sorry what , Eurydice?” Orpheus asks, in disbelief at what she was saying. Orpheus’ heart sank, and he looks down at himself.
Eurydice begins to explain, “I didn’t remember anything from up top, even some of what happened while I was just a worker,” She adds, “Hades took my memories when he took me in.” She frowns at the thought of the king.
Orpheus looks like he wants to have some choice words with Hades, which is often, actually.
Jax looks at the three, “I guess I better leave you three alone to sort this out,” He stands up to go talk to the other workers.
—-
“I’m telling you, Meg, you have to find the two workers, now,” Hades growls, “Before they plot anymore damage.” His face filled with anger and ire.
Megara sighs, “Here I was hoping today was going to be chill,” She jests, “Was expecting to be hangin’ out at Heracles’ bar all day.”
“Okay, now go find them, bring them to me.” Hades’ eyes redden with the intense anger he felt towards the two workers that were said to be leading the rebellion.
Megara walks out of the room, now eager to find the rebel leaders to get this over with.
Hades looks at the new family portrait of him, Persephone, and Eurydice. He wonders if Eurydice is aiding the rebellion, and that was his biggest fear, as she now knew about the ins and outs of Elysiumville, as well as the palace, amongst other places.
—
After a few hours or so, Linus and Eurydice got along when talking about Orpheus, being with him, and his constant zoning out, “I can’t believe you left him for the same reason….” Linus lets out a small lighthearted laugh.
Orpheus was now the one tuning red, “C’mon guys it wasn’t that bad…” He jokes with the two. He knows he can be annoying to some people, but h also knows there are people who will understand him, such as these two. He doesn’t blame them for being tempted to ride the train, if he was being honest.
“I was trying to find food—“ Eurydice was speaking, when Linus decided to interrupt.
“And I was trying to feed you—“ Linus remembers how hard it was to get Orpheus to eat during their teen years, and how Hermes would slightly scold him for it. He did learn from Eurydice earlier that Hermes did grow much softer by the time she came around.
“Okay okay I get it, I’m sorry,” Orpheus laughs and gives the two a smile, “But, Eurydice, what exactly has been going on down here?”
Eurydice wasn’t too sure what to say, but she felt apologetic, for she didn’t even remember who Orpheus was for months, and didn’t know that Linus was his brother.
“I—I, well, so you know how Hades took me in, then I had to help out with stuff in Elysiumville,” Eurydice goes on, telling the story of her life as underworld royalty, “Now, you came during interesting timing, because Hades just found out about the speakeasy because,” Eurydice sighs, “I showed it to Linus, Linus told his friend Heracles, and Heracles told Hades.”
Orpheus’ eyes widened, realizing that Hades might be coming here soon, either that or the Furies, which Hermes warned him about long before, “Oh no…What do we do?”
“Not much, I fear, Along with the speakeasy, Heracles also named two workers, Afra and Tall Guy, as being the leaders,” Eurydice laments, “It was in the file Hades gave me, a file I had to read at a press conference.”
“Again lo—Eurydice, I’m sorry for that,” Linus taps her back, “I didn’t know Heracles was such a snitch,” Linus sighs, “To be fair I really should have known. He does praise Hades quite a lot, more often than I did.”
The three hear Jax in the distance celebrating his first win at dominoes, and for a moment there was some sense of calm.
“Anyways, want to sleep at my place for the night?” Linus asks his brother, “I imagine you’d be here for a few days.”
“Sure,” Orpheus says, “We do have a lot of catching up to do,” He looks at Jax, “Do you have another bed for Jax?” He hopes Linus does, seeing as Jax complained about his back for the whole trip.
Linus nods, “Yeah, even for Eurydice, but I think Hades would want her to go back to the palace.” Linus suddenly fears for him and Eurydice, because what if Hades thought they were actively aiding the workers? Linus fears his possible return to the factory floor. He remembered those grueling months he spent living in Hadestown.
Orpheus holds Eurydice’s hand, “Will you still remember me when you come here tomorrow?”
“I’ll try, if Hades doesn’t do anything,” Eurydice responds, giving Orpheus a kiss.
Jax went to their table, “Hey, all good now?” He asks, and the three smiled at him, “I won against Dwayne!” He says triumphantly.
“Awesome,” Eurydice cheers her friend, “I remember you now! We used to talk a lot while Orpheus was busy working the dishes.” She remembers Jax being such a fun person, who played chess and even played some music himself, though he was much shyer about it than Orpheus. He was always a nice friendly sight whenever she and Orpheus were at the bar.
Jax looks happy that she got her memories back, “I really missed those days,” Jax reminisces, “Remember when it would be late night, and only three of us remained, and Orpheus would be jamming to a song while I drink my third shot, and you were cheering him on?” He notices Linus laugh a bit at his oddly specific story, “Or that time the three of us were at Athena’s library and I got scolded for being talkative?”
“I can see why,” Linus interjects, and everyone bursts into laughter, even Afra, who was only vaguely listening, as she was talking to Tall Guy.
Afra goes over to the noisy table of visitors, “Okay, brothers, I think it’s about time, it’s dining hall time for the workers so there won’t be people here,” She reminds them, “I hope you all have a safe night, wherever y’all gonna sleep,” she adds, especially directed at Eurydice, who was going back to Hades’ palace. She hopes that he wouldn’t wipe Eurydice’s memories again.
—-
Orpheus and Eurydice rode at the back, while Jax rode shotgun. Jax looked so amazed at the car, which as really nice and looked expensive. “Hadn’t rode anything this nice in a while,” He comments.
“I know, right? I can’t believe my brother has a whole car down here!” Orpheus adds, earning a laugh from Linus and Eurydice.
“Orpheus, I’m so glad you’re here,” Eurydice gives him a warm hug, which Orpheus relishes in. He hadn’t gotten a hug from Eurydice in a long time. Those were dark times of loneliness and longing, but he’s glad he’ll be hanging out with her for a while.
“Same, I’m glad I get to visit,” Orpheus smiles, “I might actually extend my stay to help the workers,” He adds with determination in his tone, “I want to make up for, you know,” He didn’t need to continue as both knew what he meant.
“That’s great, actually,” Eurydice holds his hand to calm him from that memory, “I’m sure Afra and the others appreciate it, and I think they’re not even mad at you for the thing.”
“Hold on, so the failed rebellion that was at the papers somewhere eels ago was Orpheus’!?” Linus’ eyes widen at the realization, but at the same time doesn’t look too surprised.
“Y-yeah…” Orpheus responds, “He-he let some workers go with us, but he gave me a condition,” Orpheus continues, “I shouldn’t look back at Eurydice, while we were walking out,” He dreads saying the last sentence, “B-but I did.”
“Orpheus,” Eurydice cups his cheek, “I really don’t blame you. I believe Hades set you up. It’s not your fault.” She gives him another kiss. Eurydice truly believes what she said, and she still despises Hades for it.
—
After they dropped off Eurydice near the palace, Jax moved to the back seat to chat with Orpheus, as they didn’t get to do that much back at the speakeasy.
“By the way, those nights were awesome,” Orpheus agrees about the nights he brought up to Eurydice earlier, “I was so bummed when it just became the two of us after…that.” He closes his eyes no bows at that last word.
“We’re here!” Linus points at the high-rise tower to their right, “I live on the 8th floor, Eury’s been there a couple times or so.”
Orpheus was about to ask why when he remembered exactly why. He now wonders what Eurydice saw in Linus, and if it really as tied to her vague memory of him, or if she genuinely liked him. He begins to wonder, now, if Eurydice still likes Linus now her memories are back.
The three disembark the car after Linus parked it at the basement parking. Jax looks excited to see a nice place of residence, but Orpheus just looks wary. What did Linus have to do to get this far up the social hierarchy of the underworld?
They ride the elevator to the 8th floor. The whole building had a quiet aura to it, like they wouldn’t tolerate the type of antics and revelry typical at the railroad town up top.
Linus’ place was fairly big, with a living room area, a kitchenette, a bathroom on the other side, and then a door leading to a bedroom area.
“I’ll be setting up the folding beds for you two,” Linus says, before going into the bedroom to set up the folding beds there.
Orpheus took the time to take in his surroundings. The living room had nice sofa with comfortable fabric, a small coffee table with some mugs that presumably had coffee on them, and there were lots of magazines, clothing shop catalogs, and newspapers scattered on the table and the edge table. Jax elected to take a short nap on the sofa while waiting for a bed.
He decided to snoop around the nearby bookshelf. He was his brother still, after all. He saw a notebook that looked old and weathered, but what surprised him the most was what he saw inside. Draft lyrics to the rally song Hades makes the workers sing filled up the first fifty or so pages, with what was labeled “FINAL” filling up the next three. The lyrics were the familiar ones Orpheus heard while he was searching for Eurydice on his first trip to Hadestown.
He was so engrossed in reading the notebook that he did’t notice Linus came back out. “Orph, what are you doing?” He looked at Orpheus, then at the notebook.
“So that’s what you had to do,” Orpheus says matter-of-factly. He gave Linus a shocked and disapproving look, “Why?”
Linus stood still, looking apologetically at Orpheus, now that he realizes that his brother was the one who essentially started a rebellion against Hades over someone he lost. Linus found it hard to word a response, but speaks, “I was having a hard time at the factories, at Hadestown. I didn’t even know that that was what Hades offered me—“
“Maybe if you listened to Mr. Hermes you’d know!” Orpheus interrupts, eyes beginning to swell with tears, ‘’You wouldn’t have left Hermes and I alone up there.”
“Don’t you remember why I was so desperate to leave?” Linus began inching closer to Orpheus. Their height gap shortened, but Linus was still half a head taller. He continues, “Gonna be frank with ya, you were so annoying to live with. And clearly still, as you just touched my stuff. This s my house, y’know.”
Orpheus scoffs at his brother’s remarks, “I see you learned a lot from your idol, huh?” He snarks-or at least attempts to. Orpheus couldn’t understand why Linus was suddenly so mean about a notebook, because wasn’t he doing the same to him back in the day? He asks Linus, “Besides, didn’t you used to get my notebooks while I was writing?”
“Are you seriously hung up over events from half a decade ago?” Linus looks annoyed at this point, wondering why he didn’t just drive these two to a hotel. Well, at least the other guy, Jax, was peacefully asleep.
“I’m not, I’m just pointing out how you got double standards there,” Orpheus explains, and he was sad that Linus was only excited to see him for a brief few hours before being like…this.
Linus was about to get a word out, but a different voice spoke in the room.
“Y’all woke me up, what was going on?” Jax asks, his red beanie messed up from sleeping on a sofa with it on. He notices that both Orpheus and Linus looked annoyed or angry at each other, “I hope y’all not fighting on our first night here hangin’ together,” He looks at them one after the other.
“We’re not, my brother was just being difficult for some reason,” Orpheus explains to Jax. Linus just lets out a grumble, clearly very annoyed.
“Weird, you always told me he was rather nice,” Jax remembers Orpheus telling him about Linus, when they got close three years ago, months after Jax moved into town.
“Wait, what?” Linus’ expressions softened. He never expected that Orpheus wold even care to remember him after he left, let alone talk good about him.
“Orpheus told me you really cared for him, you looked after him even when he couldn’t look after himself,” Jax says, “He said that he appreciated all you did for him, and he missed you a lot.”
The living room falls into silence. Orpheus was just looking at Jax, who looked at Linus. Linus was looking back and forth at both of them. The only sound that could be heard was a nearby radio from the next-door neighbor.
“Orpheus, I-I didn’t know you appreciated me,” Linus calmly walks over to the shorter boy, “I left because I thought I was useless, that I couldn’t stop you from zoning out.” Linus continues to explain, “And the-the wall song, was something Hades commissioned, and he offered me life in Elysiumville in return. I took it because I was a bad worker, Orpheus, they were gonna throw me to the Beyond with how bad I was.”
Orpheus went in for a hug, hugging Linus after all these years, “Oh my gods, Linus, I’m sorry I didn’t know how to show how I appreciated you back then,” He looks down at himself, “I even feel that I made the same mistake with Eurydice. Now both of you are stuck here, all because I can’t express my feelings well,” Orpheus begins to sob hard, “I r-really don’t know h-how to make it up to both of you!”
Linus reciprocates the embrace, patting his little brother on the back, “Orpheus, it’s okay. T’was my fault I decided to follow Hades, it was ultimately my decision, I’m sure its the same with Eurydice’s case,” He pulled the boy to a tighter hug, “Now c’mon, the beds are ready for you two.”
Orpheus walks into the room, and sees the two folding beds side by side on one end, and Linus’ bed on the other. There was a whole shelf of vinyls, a radio, a gramophone, as well as a two-door wardrobe. He settles down on one of the folding beds, and Jax walks in to settle down on the other.
“Anyone want’a change of clothes?” Linus asks the two indirectly. He opened the wardrobe and got two pairs of sleepwear from one of the drawers.
Jax eagerly got a pair then goes to the bathroom, while Orpheus hesitantly got the other, “Sorry, by the way, for snapping at you like that,” Orpheus apologizes to Linus over his reaction to the wall song situation, “I was threatened with getting sent to the Beyond, too, my first time down here. I guess songs in either direction move Hades to not do it, huh.” He lets out a small snort after that last sentence.
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell anyone, not even Eurydice, but if I could delete that song form existence, I would,” Linus sighs at himself, reflecting on the influence of that darned wall song he made just to get an easy ticket to Elysiumville.
Orpheus looks at his brother, “Sometimes we leave bad marks that are permanent, but that doesn’t mean that it’s your burden forever. People grow and change all the time, especially with the help of others,” Orpheus adds, “I take it Eurydice helped you?”
“Yeah, she did,” Linus smiles, reminiscing the welcome wagon feast where the two met, “She also eventually showed me the speakeasy. But a slip-up led to the mess we’re in now.”
“Well, now’s your chance, Linus,” Orpheus grins, “You can make up for the past, if you help fight for the future.” He then pats Linus’ shoulder before he stands up to go to the bathroom to get dressed after Jax returned.
After Orpheus returned to the bedroom shortly after, the three got ready to sleep. Linus turned off the lightbulb, then he places a vinyl of relaxing jazz onto the gramophone, and lets it play to lull them to sleep.
—-
The air in Hades’ palace was tense, and Eurydice could sense that since she stepped on the doorstep. It’s why she went straight to her room, to distract herself by reading the many interesting books that were on the bookshelf. Hades never interrupted her for anything, so she assumed that either he went to sleep much earlier, or he’s doing things related to countering the whole rebellion thing going on.
After a few books, Eurydice felt sleep settling in.