Accompanying the words with the lyre, Orpheus sung, "O deities of the underworld, to whom all we who live must come, hear my words, for they are true! I come not to spy out the secrets of Tartarus, nor to try my strength against the three-headed dog with snaky hair who guards the entrance. I come to seek my wife, whose opening years the poisonous viper's fang has brought to an untimely end. Love had led me here, Love, a god all powerful with us who dwell on the earth, and, if old traditions say true, not less so here.

–Thomas Bulfinch's "Orpheus and Eurydice"

Chapter 1: Orpheus

"Hurry up, we're almost there!"

A couple steps ahead of him, a rather slim girl in a pink jacket was leading the way, occasionally yelling back words of encouragement. Yukari Takeba, if he recalled correctly.

"Damn this dorm," Minato thought to himself as he continued to run. Four kids live here, but of course there are five floors and 100+ stairs to the top. He was barely keeping up with Yukari, she being the fit archery team star she was. Chasing Yukari, however, was certainly a better alternative to being caught by whatever was chasing them. Minato hadn't looked back yet, but judging by the growls and heavy thuds, he guessed it wasn't a pretty girl.

"It's here! Come on, hurry up!" Yukari shouted at him as she crested the top of the last flight of stairs.

"About time," Minato muttered his ragged breath, before a high-pitched screeching behind him shut him up. He rushed through the heavy metal door that Yukari was holding open for him. She quickly followed and he heard a loud slam followed by a click.

Finally given a moment to catch his breath, Minato looked around the rooftop. Well, it wasn't exactly what he could call a normal night. The sky had a nasty green color, and the moon was abnormally large and looming. Black mist limited vision to only a couple of feet. The scene reminded him of those movies with the haunted houses and the evil witches that turned people into flower pots or something. Except this was not a movie.

"I think we're safe," Yukari said quietly, evidently trying to catch her breath too. Minato had a lot to ask, but he wasn't a big talker, especially with strangers. So they both just stood there, catching their breath in the eerie moonlight. Yukari seemed to sense the awkward silence, so she started idly chatting.

"So, uh, those things chasing us…we call them shadows." Yukari laughed nervously. "They aren't fun." No kidding.

A silver glint on Yukari's person caught Minato's eye. A watch? No, something bigger. Maybe a phone? As if on cue, she drew out the silver item from her leg: it was a pistol, and she was pointing it straight at him.

"Be-behind you!"

Minato turned, only to get picked up and knocked what felt like fifty feet into the air seemingly by the darkness itself. Vision blurry and body aching, he saw that he had been thrown into the wall, and the impact had left a rather deep dent in the bricks. Just another reminder to lay off the junk food.

From the ground, he saw that Yukari was doing her best to strike a bold stance between him and some kind of black monster that was climbing over into the roof. She took her silver pistol into her right hand, knees and arm shaking. Her effort was cute, but if she didn't have the nerve to shoot him a week ago, there was no way she could take this on.

And then she put the gun up to her own head.

"Yukari, no!" he heard himself shout before he realized it.

He felt his heart slow down and stop as her finger fumbled on the trigger, one muscle movement away from blowing her brains out.

And in a flash, time resumed as the imposing darkness knocked her down, sending the gun tumbling towards him across the ground.

Half relieved but half terrified, he took his first real look at the monster. It wasn't much to look at: just a blob made out of blackness with a creepy mask and arms that extended into the night. But it made Minato nervous. He hated it, but he also felt like he knew it on some deep level. Oh well. Now was not the time for emotional reflection. It was getting closer, and fast.

Minato scrambled to grab the pistol and aimed it at the monster. Hopefully all those hours of FPS games paid off.

Click.

Nothing.

The darkness was getting closer.

Empty?

Closer.

Damn it Yukari.

And closer.

Wait.

The arms were just a couple of feet away.

Minato looked at the crumpled figure to his right. Yukari was leaning against the wall, possibly injured, fear in her eyes. Fear. In her beautiful brown eyes.

He took in a deep breath. "I hope you're not crazy Yukari," he whispered quietly to himself. Minato took the gun, and for the second time in his life, aimed it at the side of his own head.

"Orpheus."

Although everything had been black and green when he pulled the trigger, his surroundings were bright and white when he woke up.

Minato opened his eyes and sat up groggily. Where was he? How long had he been asleep? What happened to the monster? What about Yukari? ...Yukari!

"I'm right here silly."

The sound of that voice was more beautiful than anything Minato had ever heard. Sitting at the foot of his (hospital?) bed was none other than Yukari Takeba. She had a smile on her face like she hadn't smiled in weeks, and her eyes had the slightest hint of moisture.

Minato opened his mouth to respond but again found himself interrupted, this time by a hug.

"I thought you were never going to wake up," Yukari said quietly, still holding onto him. "I would have felt terrible if- well, let's not talk about that." It took her a moment to realize how close they were, and she broke away, cheeks tinged with red.

"I should let you rest," Yukari said, now regaining her composure and straightening out her pink sweatshirt, "but before I go, I just wanted to say a couple of things."

Quiet was Minato's middle name, so he sat up and held back all of the questions he had.

"First, I want to say that I'm sorry that your first week here has been so crazy. Jeeze, that was, what, two weeks ago?" Yukari sighed. "But anyway, it'll all make sense soon." Minato certainly hoped so.

"Second, thank you for saving me. As you saw, I'm a bit of a nervous wreck, but you! You're a natural!" A natural at what exactly still eluded Minato, but he let her continue.

"Finally, I think that, err, we could be pretty good friends, you know," Yukari said sheepishly, averting her gaze. "I don't want to pry, but…your parents? They're..?" Minato caught on and nodded. Talking about his parents didn't really bother him anymore.

"Well, I don't have my parents either. So at least we have each other, right? Uhm, wait, I didn't mean it to sound like that." Yukari was now in a full rose blush. Minato laughed and gave a smile to reassure her, though it was a little wobbly and nervous.

Yukari giggled. "Well, you better get some more rest. We have school tomorrow." She grabbed her bag and headed for the door. "Thanks Minato," she said before exiting the whitewashed room.

Minato's mind was racing with all of the new information combined with the events of that night rushing back. But two things stood out the most in his thoughts.

The first made him cringe.

The look on Yukari's face that night. Right then and there, he made a promise: he would never let anything make Yukari feel like that ever again.

The other thought made his heart pound and brought a slight grin to his face.

"Huh. At least we have each other."

Orpheus was permitted to take her away with him on one condition, that he should not turn round to look at her till they should have reached the upper air.