This is another of the myths I've always loved but it's so saaaaad
It was like any other day, really, judging souls…Persephone and Hades didn't usually do this personally, but there has been a plague in Thebes. Most victims were difficult for the compassionate Goddess to judge fairly. She'd wanted to send a murderer to Elysium. Hades assigned Minos to plague victims, they took everyone else.
To be honest, no one ever trusted Persephone to judge anyone. She could be cruel, she'd advocated against a man who had forced himself on a young woman for hours yesterday. No one understood why it was so important to her, he had been immaculate otherwise, one maiden here and therewas not a great crime. But Hades relented and sent him to Tartarus.
The other judges viewed her behaviour as too erratic, so she was always left as advisor to her husband, together they were very fair.
Persephone hadn't said anything for hours, it was mostly for asphodel for this lot. They were incredibly boring. Then there came a Tree Nymph. She had died young, young enough to be a maiden. Persephone sat up, sad that such a beautiful child had died.
"Please." She said softly, before Hades could announce her sentence. "Please…I must go back…Orpheus will be waiting for me…" Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Please…he must not be alone…"
Persephone gripped her husband's arm. "Let her go." The words were a plea, as desperate as the woman in front of her.
Hades frowned, "No." He looked at her like she was crazy.
"Euridyce," For Persephone knew the name of every soul that came though her domain, "We will tell him where you are…and he can join you."
"He will die without me…" She cried, "Do you know what will die with him? What we will miss?" Euridyce cried out sadly, "Please! Please! I beg you! I must return to him."
Persephone put her face in her hands. Hades watched the situation as though he was in a madhouse. He decided Persephone was just tired. He tried to placate her with his declaration. "Euridyce, you have been a good wife and companion, you shall be sent to Elysium." Never had a soul made such an inhuman cry at that declaration, she slowly faded away. Persephone turned to Hades, tears streaming down her cheeks. It alarmed so much that he ordered her to her chambers, kindly, but it was still an order.
Even when he returned to her, pressing kisses to her cheeks, Persephone could not stop thinking about the woman.
"My love…she was only mortal…" He said helplessly when she began to cry again. "I can't set her free…just for asking…it would be madness."
"I know but…did you see her face?" She pushed tears out of her eyes. "My darling, mortals are so…so alone in the end. To die…it must be horrible. To be separated from the one you love, to walk all the way to styx alone. And we pass judgement on them like we have a right to."
"We do have that right," Hades frowned, "We are Gods."
"They have more courage than we do…even the worst ones. I couldn't do it, I couldn't die…"
"Persephone, my love, what is this nonsense? Please…" The fear in his voice was real. He'd never seen her like this. Was she going insane, "Perhaps this place is getting to you…maybe you should visit your mother…" He had never suggested such a thing, he would tear down Olympus before a day of his time was taken away.
"No, my love." She curled into his chest. "I'm alright." She closed her eyes and fell asleep, completely exhausted. Hades sighed. Maybe he was too old to understand, or too much a part of darkness. He just couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't over.
Orpheus arrived, living and breathing, before Hades. He pushed past souls, placating him with the only weapon he had. The lyre rested on his arm, and he strummed absently at the strings. He was music, and his music was beauty.
Persephone knew immediately who he was. She had visited Euridyce before in Elysium. This must have been the music she meant, something beautiful enough to awaken her dormant spirit. Persephone felt herself moved to tears, just by the sound. It was a sad song, he offered nothing else, but it was music. And therefore it was hopeful.
"Oh, revered Hades and Persephone, my legions of the underworld. I will give you anything… if you may return my wife—my soul Euridyce to me." He looked at the ground, but Persephone knew what he was feeling.
Hades frowned at the boy, "I can do such a thing easily, someone fetch me a knife."
"No!" Persephone screamed, falling to the floor. Just one song, and her soul had been altered. She pressed her face against her husband's legs, "Please…please…they cannot die…you cannot kill them."
Hades stared at her. "The woman died herself, and the man has come to the land of the dead of his own accord. Why do you presume to say I kill them?"
"Can you not see that they exist together?" Persephone said, "As sun to flower. As water to fish. As air to man?" Her voice broke, her head pressed to his calves. It was a ridiculous, demeaning display, but Hades was too worried about her to be embarrassed, and she too desperate.
She whispered softly, "As summer to winter…" And he lifted her shoulders, placing her on his lap, terrified she would fling herself at something sharp if this continued.
He said softly, so no one could hear but her, "I will do what I can, but…it is not possible for her to return as anything but a Ghost if he breaks the spell…I will not allow that to happen."
Persephone nodded, still crying. He could not understand her feelings. What had this mortal done? Why did her heart bleed for him so. The music was…well exquisite, but Hades had long since lost an appreciation for such things. He rubbed slow, soothing circles on Persephone's back.
"Very well mortal." He said, coldly, "Your wife may return to you, but you must leave this place, she will follow you, and you will neither hear nor sense her. If you loose faith in my word, if you look back, she will never be able to return with you."
Orpheus frowned, then nodded. As he turned to leave, Hades waved his hand. Euridyce appeared behind Orpheus. She reached out but could not touch him, called his name but he could not hear her. Orpheus closed his eyes, this was going to be painful, the hardest thing he had ever done.
Hades called someone else to judge souls for a little while and carried Persephone to her room. He laid her down on her grass bed and sat next to her. "Please…" He said softly, "What is wrong love?"
She looked up at him and kissed his palm. "I am going mad." She teased, then when she saw it hit a nerve she frowned and pulled him to her.
"Mortals never affected you so…" He stroked her hair.
"So many mortals are…" She trailed off, "Wasted…but Orpheus…Euridyce…I could see the greatness in them the moment she walked into the room. And I knew whoever loved her must be great…"
"I don't understand you." He sighed, exasperated.
"Darling…why do you love me?" She said, cupping his cheek.
He flushed, "I suppose it's your…capacity for joy. Pure happiness."
"Did you know that with that comes a great capacity for suffering?" She put a finger to his lips. "No my love, I have not felt it in a very long time…when I was young, and forced to…carry Zagreus…that is when I realised how every moment could be agony, when I learned that Tartarus would be relief from what I felt." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Shh…I am alright." The concern in his eyes had made her pet his hair, gently soothing him, though it was het pain being revealed.
"Persephone, what does this have to do with them?" He said softly, kissing her hair.
"Euridyce was suffering, more than anything you could cause or cure. I know I would suffer so much if I knew you were out there…alone, forever." She frowned, "I understood that pain, and I knew her capacity for joy, for love, and I knew the man who loved her must have that capacity too."
Hades laughed, "Do you think I feel that?"
"Yes, my darling." Persephone smiled softly, "But you have suffered so long, I don't think you remember anymore."
"So you suffered with her?" He said, feeling a little better now that things had been explained.
"If a man came to you, and told you not that he needed his wife returned to him, but that he had to live, so his poor, beautiful wife would not be left alone…"
"I would let him go." He said softly, the words surprising him. "Persephone…you have changed everything." He kissed her neck. "I love you."
"He is going to fail, isn't he?" She mumbled softly.
"I couldn't do it." Hades admitted.
She frowned and pressed her forehead to his shoulder. He almost wished he hadn't understood her. He wanted them to succeed, but they never could. No one ever had.