Chapter Text
No one dared make a sound, save for Ethan’s muffled tears.
Hannah’s face was pale in shock as she stared at the endless void where her sister once was.
Hannah and I approached where Ethan knelt, his arm still outstretched toward where Lex was.
He couldn’t look us in the eye, knowing that he was the reason Lex was gone for good.
“...Why?” Hannah asked. “Lexie…”
It’s an old song, don’t ask why, don’t ask how…
Ethan Green looked up briefly at his sister in law, not wanting to meet her gaze and feel even more guilt for what happened to Lex.
Ethan took the magic hat off of the carabiner holding it to his belt, almost hearing Lex chuckle at how absurd that was. He placed it on Hannah’s head, wanting to make sure she was safe.
“Don’t leave…” She said, desperate to keep her family member in her life.
“I can’t stay, knowing how I failed you.”
Ethan slowly rose to his feet and walked away, to who knows where, the only sound being his footsteps echoing alone as he left us behind.
It’s a sad song, and this is how it ends.
I hugged Hannah, consoling her after losing her family as best I could.
“Here’s the thing,” I said then. “Even though you know how it ends, you must tell it anyway, keep pushing, just in the hopes that it will turn out well this time…”
I learned that from some friends of mine. See Ethan was a poor boy, but he had a gift to give.
Ethan Green saw how the world could be, in spite of the way that it is. He saw that the world could be bright and warm and safe and happy, even trapped in thick snow, in the deep, cloying heat of Hadestown, and the people whose lives he touched came away with a fresh perspective.
On a sunny day, where birds chirped and a cool, refreshing breeze blew through the air, flowers bloomed, and a light rain fell, a large train with green and gold accents hurtled into the station.
“Can you hear that?” I whispered to Hannah and she nodded, glancing toward the station.
Everyone heard the train, felt the change of seasons in their bones as it came closer and they whispered among themselves, asking if it was true.
The green and gold train slid to a halt and Holly stepped off, in her green, flower embroidered dress and her trademark jean jacket, her smile infectious and as bright as the sun.
The whole world saw that spring had come again.
The world celebrated the return of spring and the softening of the climate.
And Hannah and I began to sing, telling the story of Ethan and Lex, telling everyone that we need to keep singing it again and again and again, in the hopes that it will turn out well this time, despite being written in stone.
“Once upon a time there was a hungry young girl, and her sister, walking in the early spring rain, to find a home.” I began.
“They stumbled across Hermes’ motel, where a poor young boy with a gift to give worked, singing his songs while waiting tables.” Hannah continued.
“The hungry girl and the poor boy locked eyes from across the lobby floor and they smiled and they knew in that moment that there was something.”
Everyone gathered round, listening to the tale, rapt in awe as we continued to weave the tale of tragic love and optimism when it feels like the whole world is against you.
We’ll keep singing it again and again, in the hope that this time we tell it, it turns out well this time, that Ethan doesn’t turn about us.
Hannah and I would tell everyone who comes through the door to our motel who would listen the story of Lex and Ethan, of undying optimism and love.
We can only hope that Ethan hears the story and finds hope and the ability to see how the would could be once more, wherever he is now.
“I’d like to take up a song.” The lady of Seasons herself stood up and took to the stage in the motel, guitar in her hand. “And make a toast.”
She held a glass. “Let’s raise our cups to Ethan Green. The poor boy who brought the world back into tune but lost everything in the process.”
“To Ethan,” I echoed, raising my own glass.
“He was brave and faced the Fates, and although he failed, we toast his bravery.” Holly gestured for everyone around us to toast Ethan, and everyone did so, one by one, raising their glasses. Even down in the depths of Hadestown, where the walls and the offices were being torn down, Wilbur and the Workers toasted Ethan Green’s bravery, hearing their queen’s song from millions of miles away
Holly set down her glass and and picked up her guitar, playing a somber, gentle melody, and was joined in by Hannah, and Lex, who was all the way in the underworld.. “Some birds sing when the sun shines bright, our praise is not for them, but the ones that sing in the dead of night… we raise our cups to them!” The trio sang as the Fates toasted Ethan, and his courage in fighting them as best he could.
“Wherever he is wandering, alone upon the earth…” Wilbur and I joined in with the ladies. “Let all our singing follow him… and give him comfort.”
The whole world, both living and dead, joined in the song, hoping that our words of admiration at his bravery would find him and offer him the solace he needed, as we raised a toast to him. “Some flowers bloom where the green grass grows, our praise is not for them, but the ones who bloom in the bitter snow… we raise our cups to them! We raise our cups! And drink them up!”
Everyone let Holly sing as they drank their toast.
“We raise them high and we drink them dry.” The lady of the underground sang alone.
Finally the whole world resumed singing, from Hannah and I up in the above ground, to Wilbur and his workers down below. “To Ethan! And all of us!” The whole world toasted once more, resolving to never give up and always choose to see how the world could be, even when it gets dark and you can’t see the light any more.
“Goodnight, all, goodnight…” Holly finished her song, and thus, our tale.