Chapter Text
Persephone couldn’t believe it. Hades set Orpheus up to fall, and he knew it.
She saw the girl, alone and sad for days on end, wandering around. She wasn’t even as fit to work as Hades likes to believe.
But she knew what to do, and so she went home to talk to Hades.
—
“Are you being serious right now, lover?” Hades couldn’t believe what he is hearing, “You want to ADOPT AN ADULT?”
“She was sixteen, Hades, still a teen,” Persephone points out, “You probably didn’t know that, did you?”
“Okay, whatever,” Hades shrugs, “But this is a stupid idea, why do we need to adopt her?”
“Because, again, she isn’t gonna be in the mood to work for a while, after what you did to Orpheus,” Persephone explains, “Please, Hades, at least give her the good life you promised,” she pleads to her lover.
Hades thought for a while. He was thinking of what use Eurydice could possibly have in the palace, as opposed to the mines? Maybe she could be used to making him seem kinder? A sort of ceremonial figure?
While Hades was thinking, Persephone was impatiently tapping her foot, “C’mon, Hades.”
“Alright, fine, you win,” Hades sighs deeply.
“Now that’s some compassion,” Persephone teases, “I’ll go get her.”
—-
Eurydice was sad. She wanders around town, looking at the various workers go in and out of buildings, some carrying blocks of steel to be forged, others carrying various finished products.
She does that for what seemed like hours, sometimes people top by to have a little chat, mostly those heading to the local speakeasy.
Hours pass, and she sees the Lady walking to her direction.
“Eurydice! You’re invited to live with us in the palace,” Persephone asks, “We’ll have some good food there to cheer you up.”
“Umm…sure?” Eurydice shyly responds, “I’m too sad, but food would be nice.”
The two began to walk to the palace. It was many blocks away from the factory town, so the walk was a little long.
—
In the palace, Hades greets Eurydice with an unnatural smile, “Welcome home, songbird” He says, “Lover, get her some new clothes, the feast will start in a few.”
Persephone walks out of the room to get new clothes from Elysiumville’s boutiques.
“Feast?” Eurydice asks.
“Yes, songbird, a feast for the new Princess of the Underworld,” Hades smiles again, “Isn’t that grand?”
“Least you could do is use my name,” Eurydice crosses her arms.
“Have a seat while we wait, Eurydice.” Hades emphasizes her name. Eurydice sits in a couch of pure purple velvet. It was the most comfortable couch she has ever sat on.
Eurydice takes in her surroundings, the living room was so big, full of various trinkets and paintings, as well as a large bookshelf. There was a large portrait of Hades on one wall, and Persephone on another.
“No portrait together, huh?” Eurydice jests, as she knows the reason why.
“Tried to arrange for one, but,” Hades sighs, “She didn’t want to go.”
After a long awkward silence, Persephone returns with a fresh set of clothes. A few identical dresses, some jewelry, hats, and shoes.
Eurydice was overwhelmed, to say the least, but she picked the dress she would wear to the feast. It was a long sleeveless plaid dress with a long-sleeve blouse underneath. And she got a hat that had a dark blue ribbon.
“Those are lovely, Eurydice.” Persephone remarks, “You’ll definitely look good for tonight.”
—-
The rest of the day was spent with Persephone showing Eurydice around the palace. There were so many rooms, some she wasn’t allowed to enter. There was a really nice indoor garden room that Persephone created, as well as a nice lounge room for playing games like Dominoes. Persephone tells Eurydice that she always wins that game against Hades.
There was a spare bedroom for Eurydice, and it was so beautiful. It was so much velvet, a bed of feathers, a vanity mirror, a study area, a large bookshelf, and a walk-in closet.
Eurydice goes into the walk-in closet to get dressed. There were still few clothes there, as it was her first day, after all.
“I look ridiculous,” She thinks to herself. She doesn’t even know how to use the rouge makeup that’s on the vanity table, so she just puts it on as lipstick. She wonders what Orpheus would think of her now.
She grabs a book and relaxes on her new bed. A chandelier of diamonds was hung up the ceiling. She wonders if the workers knew this was where the diamonds they mined went to.
She wonders why Persephone even suggested her living here, and more importantly, why did Hades agree. She hopes there was no ulterior motive to all this grandiosity.
“Eurydice,” Hades was heard knocking on the door.
“Come in,” Eurydice says, still eyes on the book she was reading.
Hades enters and sits on one of the velvet lounge chairs. He just stares at the girls reading quietly for a while.
“Why all this?” Eurydice asks, “Why bring me here?”
“The least we could do was make your stay here forever nice.” Hades smiles, emphasis on ‘forever’.
“You had to trick him like that,” Eurydice says, “Is that because you were too coward to just let us go and leave us be?”
“Listen, Eurydice,” Hades stands up, “Orpheus started what could have been a very major rebellion. He was going to dismantle everything I started here. That punishment was only right.”
“Orpheus did nothing wrong.” Eurydice raises her voice a little.
“Well, if he succeeded, wouldn’t you be at a worse-off situation now, hm?” Hades smiles, “Now you’re here, in the best clothes, with a bed of feathers. You should be happy.”
Eurydice couldn’t contest, because it was true. Orpheus wouldn’t have been able to give all this to her, and now, even if she doesn’t admit it, she enjoys this new life in a way. Though she does miss Orpheus.
“I’ll see you downstairs by 6 p.m, as the feast starts at 7.” Hades says before turning to leave.
Eurydice stood up and walked to the bookshelf. She reads the titles of various books on there, noticing Hades’ love for Shakespeare. Half the books were Shakespeare or related, and the other half were Greek history books.
She remembers how up top, Hermes’ bookshelf was filled with all sorts of knowledge, like politics, music, astrology, amongst others.
She looks at the view from her window. Elysiumville was so big, with an elevated train beyond what those up top have. Tall buildings were everywhere, and people there seem to be living well.
She wanted to take a walk around, but figured that could be done after the feast of tonight.
She walks to the hallways, taking in her environment. There were workers that worked for the palace, doing errands and such. She wondered if these workers ever interact with the factory town workers.
It seems that they were made aware of her ew presence here, as they greeted her, “Good day, Your Highness,” and she felt so awkward.
“H-hi! I hope you have a good day, too!” She greets back at the group of workers.
She continued walking, and found the door to the indoor garden. She opens it to find Lady Persephone tending to her plants.
“Oh, dearie, what brings you here?” Persephone asks the girl, who was looking at a bush of petunias.
“Nothing, was just looking around, then I decided to pass by here,” Eurydice notices Persephone watering bushes of flowers, ranging from daisies to roses.
“Want me to show you my flowers?” Persephone offers. Eurydice nods, and then Persephone started giving her a tour of the garden. There were so many flowers, of different colors and different species. There were also various small fruit bushes. “In the outdoor greenhouse at the first floor, there are whole trees!” Persephone says, and Eurydice smiles in genuine amazement.
The two bond over the beauty of the flowers for hours, when they didn’t realize the time.
“I knew she was here when she wasn’t in her room.” A slightly annoyed Hades says as he opened the door.
“Hello Mr. Hades.” Eurydice greets the king. She wasn’t sure if it was quite appropriate yet to call him ‘Dad’, not like she wants to.
“The gathering in the ballroom has started, you two better be there soon.” Hades kindly informs them.
The two opt to wear what they were currently wearing, and joined Hades to the ballroom area.
Ambrosia wine was served on a fountain in the buffet table, and there were so many different choices of food, from different fruits and vegetables, to various kinds of baked goods.
The people were dressed so nicely, Eurydice could hardly believe that they all lived underground. She secretly hoped that the kind workers from the speakeasy would be here, but she doubts it.
She was too scared to interact with these people, as they evoke a different aura from the workers she met before. These people seemed less kind.
“Hey, what’s up?” A buff guy of average height walks up to her, catching her by surprise.
“Uh, hi,” Eurydice looks at the guy, he seems a little intimidating, but she’ll have to get used to this.
“I’m Heracles,” The guy introduces himself. A slightly taller guy carrying a lyre on his back walked to the two, and Heracles looks at him, “This is Linus.”
“I’m Eurydice,” Eurydice introduces herself to the two guys. Linus seemed more mature, but friendlier than Heracles.
“You want some ambrosia wine? It tastes so good!” Linus asks Eurydice, “By the way, nice to meet you.”
“Sure, I’d love a taste, I suppose.” Eurydice responds.
The three walk to the wine fountain, grabbing three goblets and then filling them up.
“Cheers!” Heracles says, and they toast to Eurydice.
“It’s so good, didn’t expect that from Hadestown,” She banters to the two.
“Oh, don’t be fooled, Hadestown is the shit part of the kingdom. We’re in the good part, and lucky to be,” Linus smiles, “I lived there for a while before Hades took interest in my music. You know the wall song? I composed that.”
The wall song, the song that welcomed Eurydice to Hadestown seemingly so long ago, was made by this guy that’s now going to be her associate? It felt wrong, but she didn’t know what to say, lest she comes off as rude.
“You…think the wall really sets them free?” Eurydice asked Linus, who froze a little.
“I-um-I-well it was a commission, can’t have opinion on that,” Linus stammers in explaining.
Eurydice just laughs, “Oh I see, I see.”
The band’s jazz music starts to play loud, an some couples were starting to dance.
“You want to dance, Eurydice?” Linus asks. Heracles laughs at Linus’ clear flirting attempt.
“S-sure..” She takes Linus’ hands, and they dance to the music.
Something about Linus felt familiar to Eurydice, but she couldn’t quite figure out what. Nevertheless, the two enjoy dancing together, having small talk about each other, and about the other people they see in the room.
“You ever wonder if you could help the workers in Hadestown?” Eurydice asks Linus, trying to gauge where he stood on workers’ rights.
“I mean, I feel sympathetic to them, but I don’t want to go and help, because Hades pays me for my music, can’t lose that.” Linus responds, hoping Eurydice wouldn’t be turned off too much.
Eurydice asks, “So everyone in this room is just complacent to what happens there? No actions?”
“Quiet! We wouldn’t want the others to hear that, and cause trouble here, you know. It’s your party, have fun without thinking of that stuff.” Linus says calmly, but in a tone where he’s actually worried others will hear Eurydice’s subversive remarks. “Your, uh, father wouldn’t like that either.”
It was weird to think of Hades as her new father, considering he’d caused her so much harm at this point, from the storms that ravaged her childhood towns, to losing Orpheus.
“Lady Persephone would defend me, for sure.” Eurydice snarkily retorts, “Besides, after the Orpheus ordeal, wouldn’t he be softer on the workers?”
Linus stiffens at the mention of Orpheus, not knowing why the name rings a bell. He did learn of last week’s almost-rebellion from the delivery men that went to Elysiumville.
“I hope for their sake that he does, but we all know money runs the system here,” Linus answers, “I doubt he’ll go easy on them after that, to be honest.”
Eurydice’s stomach began to churn. What if the reason she was adopted into the palace was so that she couldn’t sow the seeds of a true rebellion in Hadestown? What if that was the reason Hades even agreed to this?
At the corner of his eye, Linus spots the Furies, the highest ranking in the Underworld army. The women were all dressed up for the occasion, wearing ceremonial uniforms as opposed to their usual full gear.
“Those Furies, they’re actually quite nice, they just harm those who harm the society, you know.” Linus tells Eurydice, who was also looking at the three women.
Eurydice scoffs, “You really do believe everything Hades says, do you?”
“Eh, it’s the way things are, why challenge it?” Linus smiles.
The two stop dancing for a moment and walk to where Heracles was, next to the Furies hopelessly flirting with who Eurydice learned was Megara.
“Hey, you two done dancing?” Heracles looks at the two and asks.
Eurydice smiles, “It was fun, Linus is pretty kind.”
“‘Course he is, he’s THE most popular musician in all of Elysiumville.” Harmless teases his friend, “Show ‘er what ‘ya got, singer boy!”
Linus got his lyre from his back, and began to strum a few chords. His melody captivates the five of them.
“See, he’s so good!” Heracles teases even more.
“I can see that,” The short Fury says, “I’m Alecto, by the way.”
“And I’m Tisiphone,” The slightly chubby fury next to Alecto says.
“I love your dress, princess.” Alecto remarks while she looks at the plaid dress Eurydice wore.
“Thanks, Lady Persephone got it for me.” Eurydice smiles. She was too afraid to seem uninterested to these people. She does admit to herself that she’s taking a liking to Linus, even if they don’t quite agree on everything.
“Pfft. The lady. Heard she’s a little too pro-worker.” Megara remarks, “Not a good sign.”
“What are you talking about? She’s nice.” Eurydice argues, “She was the one that invited me to live in the palace.”
“I wonder why Hades agreed.” Megara grins, hinting at knowing something Eurydice doesn’t.
“Orpheus brought back part of his heart?” Eurydice suggests.
Megara scrunches her face at the mention of Orpheus, “Ugh. That idiot boy. Caused too much trouble in Hadestown. What utter nonsense.”
“Excuse me—” Eurydice almost lunges at the Fury. Linus stops Eurydice before she went too near to Megara.
“Calm it, you two.” Linus remarks, “Eurydice, you really need to watch your mouth here. Don’t think Hades will want to throw you back to Hadestown so soon.”
“Linus, listen here.” Eurydice turns to look at him, “I can say what I feel and want.”
Before Linus could argue, Hades went up to the mic on the stage, signaling the formal start of ceremonies.
“Good evening, esteemed guests. Welcome to Eurydice’s welcome wagon. She’s a nice person, and I’m excited for all of you to meet her.”
Everyone but the Furies clap.
“As we all know….” Hades began telling the story of the poet who came to Hadestown to get his lover back, but at the end the poet ultimately failed.
“…and now here we have his lover, now mine as symbol of my victory.”
Eurydice gasps, and everyone looks at her. She ran to Persephone, who was also taken aback.
“I thought he cared!” Eurydice was angry, “He’s just using me against the workers, Persephone.”
“I thought so, too.” Persephone responds, “But I fear this is the best accommodation for you, better than Hadestown.”
“I won’t allow him to use me against the workers, some of who are my friends.” In the weeks she got stuck in Hadestown, she had made friends with the people from the speakeasy that Hades still had no idea about.
“I know, I know you care about them,” Persephone caresses Eurydice, who was close to crying, “We’ll figure this out together, okay?”
Eurydice sobs, “Okay,” She looks up to Persephone, who was glaring at Hades, “Thank you.”
“Come on up the stage, Eurydice, Princess of the Underworld.” Hades commands.
Eurydice walks hesitantly, looking at Persephone, and then at Linus and the others that she talked to.
“Give the crowd a few words, dear.” Hades tells her before giving her the stage.
“Hello, people. I’m Eurydice, and I’m here, I guess. I’ll be kind to everyone, from the workers of Hadestown to the nobles of Elysiumville.” Eurydice spoke, “It’s rather unfortunate that this was short notice, otherwise I would have invited my worker friends from Hadestown, and shown you all how kind they really are.”
She only got some claps, including from Linus, a boy afraid of changing the world.
“Thank you,” Hades says to Eurydice with a very annoyed tone, before he took over the stage again.
Hades began droning on about keeping the peace in the Underworld, and going on a lengthy rant about Hadestown riots.
Eurydice stood behind, giving the crowd an awkward smile.
—
The eating part of the ceremony came around, and Eurydice was seated between Hades and Persephone.
In front of her on the other side of the table sat Linus, who was talking about his excitement to perform after this dinner.
“I’m sure you’ll sound great, Linus.” Eurydice smiles at him, “You have a good voice.”
“Thank you, Eury.” Linus responds, giving her a cute smile.
“Oh, making friends now, are we?” Persephone teased. She tries her best to not be obviously annoyed at Hades over this whole thing. Adopting Eurydice was her idea, but turning her to some sort of victory trophy was all Hades’ fault.
“I guess so,” Eurydice responds, “Linus and I danced earlier, it was fun.”
Suddenly, a knock was heard at the door. Hades went up, “I’ll go get that.” He assures everyone.
Eurydice and Linus continued talking, from food to the nicest hangout spots in Elysiumville.
“You should totally stop by Heracles’ bar, such a fun place, and I perform there!” Linus says happily, “We can talk a lot there, get even closer and all” He suggests.
“I’d love that, don’t worry I’ll stop by there often, for sure.” Eurydice continued eating the baked potatoes with a side dish of grilled vegetables.
“I wonder who cooked these, they’re yummy,” Linus remarks, “Especially the grilled veggies.”
“It’s made by palace workers, I greeted some of them earlier.” Eurydice says confidently, fully aware that not everyone in the room cares about the workers of any kind.
“Nice of you, I guess?” Linus just laughs.
Hades walks back to his seat, grunting with frustration, “Another stupid riot.”
“Oh, dear,” Eurydice adds, “I hope they’re okay. Did they get a break?”
“NO.” Hades says a little too loud. Persephone just sighs.
—
After a few hours of eating and dancing, the ball came to a close. Eurydice said her goodbyes to Linus and Heracles before leaving the ballroom with the king and lady.
“Hades, we need to talk.” Persephone walks up and matches pace with Hades, while Eurydice tails behind.
All Eurydice has in her mind right now is how she’s going to adjust to this new life of hers, with all these weird rich people, and she wondered if she’ll ever forget about Orpheus and Hermes up top.
—
She just finished the book she began reading earlier, and then put it on her side table, to go to sleep.
This is going to be a heck of a ride, she thought to herself. She wonders when Orpheus will find out.