my eurydice - lee heeseung (1.4k words) warnings! mention of death
He could still feel the same harrowing pain that had been plaguing his chest since the day his wife died. Heeseung had never felt so much torment and sorrow in his life and he wasn’t prepared to face this for the rest of it.
Every single day in the late evening, he found himself in the same spot on his bed, curled into himself screaming out his sorrows. Begging and pleading to every deity he could think of to bring his sweet darling back to him. He no longer lived to play his music or recite his poems and the great name he had made for himself was slowly being reduced to nothing as he chose to isolate himself from the rest of the world.
It had been the day of your wedding, you and heeseung had been freshly married by the god of marriage himself and ready to spend your eternity together. The love the two of you shared was honestly breathtaking to those who ever witnessed the two of you; it was the kind of love that people spend their whole life looking for, you were each other's sources of joy and happiness - a light in all of the dark, made just for each other. The two of you were such strong spirits willed together; him being the greatest poet and musician to have ever lived - people were still even unsure if he was real, his mere presence so mysterious yet so powerful and his music so overbearingly alluring that it could quite literally save lives and you, a graceful nymph blessed with an irresistible and beguiling beauty that could never go unnoticed by those who had been lucky enough to get a look at you with their own eyes.
During the unification of your two souls, it was prophesied that your happiness would not be one to last long, but who were the two of you to question it at that moment? It was supposed to be a joyous day of love and affection, what little point is there in hurting yourself on such a day. You thought it better to have the memory untainted and pure than to spoil it with such negativity.
Except the fates were not on your side, for of course the prophecy unravelled itself on the very same day. After the wedding, you had found yourself in a frantic sprint, across the river and through fields upon fields of grass. With a man in pursuit of you; a minor god who had no good intentions, had attacked your husband in an attempt to rid him and snatch you away for himself. His main focus being to claim you as his own, whether you wanted him or not.
Upon coming to this realisation, you had taken to running as far from him as you possibly could with not really a care in where you went so long as you were safe from this man’s harm. In your futile attempt to escape, you had not realised that in the field you had run into, there was a venomous snake in front of you, who was unfortunately ready to attack. The bite from the snake had ended up killing you and you had found yourself in the house of hades, departed from your soulmate.
From that day Heeseung had decided life without you was meaningless, he needed you back and he was prepared to sacrifice whatever it took to get you. With that pain he felt being the driving emotion, he knew that it was now time to put the moping behind him and now he had to claim his beloved back from the clutches of the dead.
Entering the underworld with Lyre in hand, he played a song of his woes and troubles, of his love for his wife and of how you were ripped from him so soon and of how he needed you back. At this moment, it felt like all time had stopped in the underworld. All creatures, the furies, the spirits of the dead were drawn from their tasks, in awe of the man making his way through. It was the saddest song that had ever graced Hades, and yet it was so captivating that no one dared to interrupt or look away.
Both of the rulers of Hell looked over at him as he made his way towards them, both of them knowing what he had come for and neither of them having the heart to deny his request. With the whole of the underworld brought to tears at his sorrow, there wasn’t a way for them to reject his offer with such warmed hearts.
“We understand what you have come for, or rather who you have come for Lee Heeseung.” Jaeyun started as he stood up from his throne, watching Heeseung bow down on his knees, a sign of respect for the god and his wife.
“Together we have decided that we will grant your wish, for how could we ignore the beautiful way in which you have come down here and moved us all,” Yunjin smiled sweetly down at him. Heeseung couldn’t believe what he was hearing as he looked up towards the two, a mixture of shock, gratitude, relief and whatever other emotions he was feeling plastered on his face.
he felt as though a massive weight had been lifted from his chest, he was getting his wife back. His heart picked up its pace along with his breathing as he tried to comprehend the fact that he had actually succeeded in persuading two almighty beings to grant his wish. oh how he’d be in eternal thankfulness to those two.
“Now Heeseung, I want you to understand that there is one condition, a minor ‘price to pay’ if you will- your lover will follow behind you as you navigate your way back however, under no circumstance must you look at her until you have both completely left here.” The god's tone had turned stern, and his eyes hardened as he told Heeseung the simple rule he must follow, conveying the severity of his message.
gulping down the fear that was now slowly starting to rise, he responded “Of course, I thank you for your kindness and I am forever in your debt.” Jake lifted his hand, a sign for Heeseung to stand up from his knelt position and with a wave of his hand dismissed him on his journey back with you following behind him.
With every step he took, further up to earth, the place in which you both belonged together, Heeseung could feel himself growing impossibly impatient. The need to see your beauty was clawing at every fibre of his being. Knowing you were right there, right behind him, yet not being able to look at you was slowly driving him to insanity.
The light of the sun coming from earth was soon filling his vision, as he stepped across the threshold between earth and the underworld. With a grin on his face, one so bright that it could rival Helios himself, he turned to look at you, his lost lover whom he was finally reunited with.
Only for his grin to fall just as quick as it had risen.
He watched as you thrashed and screamed, trying your best to go against the force that was pulling you back down to where you had just come from. Tears poured down your face as you shouted for your lover who had now dropped to the floor in shock.
He watched as you were pulled further and further away from him, making no attempt to save you from the inevitable. It was too late that he had realised his mistake.
A very fatal mistake, not just for you but for him as well.
he had crossed the borderline to earth, you had not.
In the rush of the excitement and adrenaline pumping through him, he had failed to remember that he was not to look until the both of you together had left. A stupid mistake that had cost him his second chance at his marriage that was unfairly ripped from him, his second chance at really living.
The pain of losing you the first time over an accident was overbearing, but nothing could compare to what he felt now, the second time he had lost you and the fact that he had no one to blame but himself. How could he have been so stupid?
He was possibly given the most straightforward condition to follow, and he allowed greed and selfishness to overcome him. That was it.
No more chances, no more you.
a/n - not proofread, lmk if there’s any mistakes! this was so self indulgent,, i need more greek mythology fics i’m sorry 🤧
