Chapter Text
A revolution.
The idea was brought up briefly, but it sparked a flame in many peoples hearts. A way out. Freedom. Real freedom.
People had started doing small things. Looking up, starting fights, singing, anything they could. And who was leading them? Mr Reeve Carney, someone who had been in Hadestown for years. A veteran, you could say.
He was a good friend of Eurydice, as well as Eva. She was relatively new to the underground, coming at around the same time as Eurydice. The three of them quickly became good friends.
“I don’t like this Reeve.” Eva said in the small break room. That’s another thing that was added to Hadestown following Orpheus’ departure. Short breaks in between shifts. “It’s too dangerous. Who knows what could happen.”
“We have to do something. Orpheus was right, it isn’t okay down here.”
Eurydice stayed quiet. She never liked how the two bickered over this.
“What do you think, Eurydice?” Eva looked at her, giving her those damn eyes, the ones that say “I will jump scare you when you least expect it if you disagree with me”
“Uh, sorry Eva, I have to agree with Reeve on this one.” Reeve high-fived her, before sticking his tongue out at Eva.
“Fine. If Eurydice thinks it’s a good idea, maybe it is. But it needs work. We need a plan.”
“Then we’ll make one.”
And that’s what they did. For hours they worked out ideas, finding problems with bad ones, problems with good ones. They worked all night, during shifts they brainstormed ideas alone, and yet, they came up with nothing.
And then, in their darkest hour, a shining light appeared. His name was Patrick Page. He had been there for years, and was fed up with Hades, although his voice was deep like his.
“I’ve been wanting to organize a revolution for years now. No one wanted to join, they thought it was too dangerous. But, I think you and your husband have sparked something in these people. I think now’s the time. Here’s the plan.”
He unrolled a huge page of plans. “That’s a lot.” Eva retorted.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. Basically, you guys will be by the gates. We have people start attacking guards, and the dogs will come over to help, because that’s what they’re supposed to do. With them distracted, you can easily sneak out the door. Sound good so far?”
“Hold on, I can see why people thought this was dangerous, they’re putting their lives on the line for what? Four people to escape?” All of them were sceptical of this man, but only Eva voiced her thoughts.
“Okay, number one, three people. Number two, I’m not done yet. Do you want my help or not?”
“Three?? Who’s not going??” Now Reeve’s getting antsy too. He doesn’t trust this man, Eurydice can tell.
“Guys, let him finish before you start asking questions.”
“Thank you Eurydice. Now, I will be the one staying behind. You guys will come back, and try to reason with Hades and Persephone, especially Persephone. She never truly liked this stuff, and Hades would go to the end of the universe to make her happy, so play to her feelings. You’ll have to talk to her before you go back, as you’ll need to get on her train to get back here. Hopefully, Hades will make this place better. If not, we will have to take… greater measures. But that doesn’t need to be talked about right now. Sound alright?”
“I suppose it sounds alright.” Eva grumbled.
“Great. We’ll start to gather people at break time tomorrow. Not sure why they don’t have guards in the break rooms, but whatever, it makes this easier.”
The three nodded at him, before heading to the barracks. Eva and Eurydice went to their shared room, while Reeve went to his one that he shared with a man named Andre.
“What do you think of this Patrick character? He seems a little suspicious, in my opinion.”
“I think we can trust him.” She didn’t say anything more, and simply got into her bed and slipped under her covers. “Goodnight, Eva.”
“Goodnight.”
*-*
“Alright everyone. Here’s the plan.” Patrick was standing on a chair in the middle of the break room. Eurydice was outside of the room, keeping watch just in case a guard came looking for everyone. She was a little worried about how loud Patrick was being, but pushed it to the back of her mind. That could be a future Eurydice problem.
He eventually quieted down when he got to the actual sharing of the plan. The silence was bit unsettling for Eurydice, who started singing a random tune under her breath. “La la la la la la laaa” she sang, not sure where she knew the melody from, but she liked it nether the less.
Eventually, the silence was broken by a loud cheer from inside the room. It seemed the people of the underground agreed with the plan. Patrick eventually stepped out of the room. “We’re doing it today. It’ll start in the mines, at the next shift change. Be ready. Use this to buy anything you might need.” He handed her some coins. And with that, he disappeared.
The bell signalling the shift change sounded, and everyone moved to their next workplace. Eurydice sighed before heading to the mines. She picked up her pick axe and started digging.
She sighed, the shift seemed longer than usual today, adrenaline pulsing through her veins as she mined. Finally, the shift change sounded, and she was off to the races. She gave a quick thumbs up to the other people in the mines, before heading to the entrance to the underworld.
She hid behind a hill, just out of sight of the giant dog guarding the door. Reeve and Eva joined her shortly after, and her gave a thumbs up and a comforting smile. She smiled back, her body anxiety ridden. This had to work. The afterlives of all these people depended on it. And she really didn’t feel like going to the great beyond just yet.
After a few anxiety filled minutes, the dog started to bark and bolted away. The tree looked at each other, before taking off towards the exit. “Last one there’s a rotten egg!” Eva shouted.
The three started to run faster, not wanting to be the rotten egg. Surprisingly enough, Eva ended up being last, Eurydice before her, and Reeve getting there first.
“Did I say last? I meant first.” She said with a coy smile at Reeve. He rolled his eyes at her.
“Come on guys, we have a long walk ahead of us. Let’s get started.” Eurydice pushed them forward.
In the beginning, they were still dead, so the long walk didn’t take too much of a toll on their bodies. But as they got closer to the surface, their muscles started to ache from the walk, as well as the wear and tear on their bodies from their years in Hadestown. And then, they saw the light.