Kai performed Chopin's Funeral March at Shuhei Amamiya's funeral.
It was a wild and tempestuous performance, the opening section's chords writhing and wailing in the air. The angelic trio, fueled with the sweetest of his memories, of encouragement and shared practices and a nighttime walk through Warsaw with the snow falling all around. Then the March returned, painfully, deafeningly resonant. It shook the walls, yet wasn't a fraction of the pain in Kai's chest. The entire audience was bathed in tears like their own hearts were breaking.
After the performance, Kai stood before the altar and stared down at Amamiya where he lay, dressed in his formal concert tuxedo. He reached down and covered his hand, lifted it between his own, and spoke softly to him. "Amamiya, my heart is breaking. Ever since we were children, I worked hard to become a pianist so I could walk this path with you. Now that you're gone, my path is a wasteland. I'm sorry," he whispered. "I should have been with you. I should have stopped it. I should have. . . ."
It sounded absurd. He did not know what he should've done, had not known in three days, when he'd thrown open his door to find Ajino, head bowed and shoulders stooped with sorrow, and his heart had shattered. Ajino had told him, haltingly, that Amamiya was dead. By the time he was found and taken to the hospital, he was already gone. They attended different universities in different countries; there was no way Kai could have prevented his death. Yet he stood there, with Amamiya's cold hand pressed against his cheek, palm brushing against his lips, filled with restless unease.
There was something important he needed to do, some task meant for him.
- O -
A week after the funeral, Kai withdrew from of all his competitions. Ajino and Jean-Jacques Serrault cornered him in his apartment. They found him sitting on the piano bench, downcast, with his knees hugged to his chest.
"Ajino-sensei, I can't play anymore," Kai said abruptly, turning away and hiding his face. "I try but the notes are like rocks. I can't bear to listen to them." He sniffed and smiled sadly at the piano. "It's terrible, I know. Amamiya's life's work was his piano, and I've turned my back on it. I wonder what he would say."
He did not notice Serrault casting a sharp glance at Ajino. Ajino gave a slight nod.
Serrault slowly bent down and knelt before Kai. His expression was somber, but his eyes were alight. "It is said that the Queen of Death loves music," he began. "I daresay your music has talent and heart like none other. If you stand before the King and Queen of Death, and beguile them with your best piano, you may win a second chance for Amamiya-junior."
"Really?" Kai looked up with hope igniting in his chest. "I'll do it! Where should I go?"
"Do not make the journey in haste," Serrault warned. "You will only have one chance. Take the time to prepare your repertoire. When you are ready, go to Tateyama and enter the Death Valley. There, you will find a tunnel leading into the heart of the mountain, and that is how you will reach the King and Queen of Death." His expression turned grim. "But be warned. The King and Queen are fickle beings. Should you fail, you have much to lose."
- O -
Kai spent a year and a month preparing his repertoire, filling it with impassioned rhapsodies and sentimental nocturnes, poetic ballades and fearsome etudes, pieces to enchant, to coax, and to impress. At last, he was ready. He packed his backpack with offerings to the King and Queen, the burnt key from the forest piano, and the program from the International Chopin Competition, where Amamiya had practiced with him all night to help him prepare. Where he had fallen in love with his music. Where he had said "I love you."
"Amamiya, I'm coming," he whispered, and descended into the mountain.
- O -
From a distance, Ajino and Serrault watched Kai descend out of sight.
Ajino sighed. "Is this really for the best? If he fails, it will destroy him. He may never touch the piano again."
Serrault nodded grimly. "He is already shattered. His heart is pure, and his ability is immense. We may never see another like him. If there is anyone who could move the King's stony heart, it is him." He hesitated, then continued. "He may be even more talented than you."
"I know that." The corner of Ajino's mouth turned up slightly before smoothing back into a line. He looked over at the distant mountain. "Perhaps Kai will succeed where I could not."
- O -
Kai descended for what felt like days, though he did not grow tired or hungry. At last, an inky river spread before him, the river Styx, with a ferry perched on the bank, and Charon eyeing him skeptically. "Please, Charon-sama, take me across," Kai pleaded.
"Not a chance," came the flat refusal. "I only ferry the dead. And you are very much alive."
Kai nodded, expecting the answer. "Then please grant me one favor. I wish to play a song, seated upon your banks, so that it may float over the river and reach a lost soul within."
"If that is what you desire," Charon shrugged.
Kai focused his energy, and a shimmering, ghostly piano appeared before him, for in the land of the dead, physical objects are no hindrance. He sat on the bench and played Chopin's Barcarolle, evoking the gently-rocking waves beneath clear skies and waving grasses.
And upon the river Styx, smooth and still as a stone, Charon brushed aside a tear and spoke in a hoarse voice. "It's been eras since I last saw the beauty of the living land, and I saw them again tonight. For that, I will take you across."
Kai bowed deeply. "Thank you, Charon-sama," he said and climbed into the ferry. The ghostly piano dissolved into silver mist behind him.
- O -
The great gates of the underworld towered over Kai as he looked up at Cerberus's three fearsome heads. Focusing once more, Kai summoned the ghostly piano and played Faure's Romance sans Paroles, and followed with Mendelssohn's Song without Words, two lovely, lilting pieces, glowing with uncomplicated beauty. He concluded with the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight sonata, the rocking, peaceful Adagio Sostenuto soothing the last of Cerberus's heads to sleep. Quietly, he eased around Cerberus and entered the gates.
- O -
The ghostly shades recoiled from Kai. A few daring souls approached to sniff him before ducking their heads and turning away.
"Please", Kai begged them. "Help me find Amamiya." He pulled out the program and showed them his picture. They backed away from him, shaking their heads and staring fearfully into the gloomy darkness. "Here, let me light your way," he said while materializing the ghostly piano. Seeing the silver-shimmering piano, the ghosts began to approach. Kai thought for a moment, then decided on Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, energetic and full of life.
As he played, the ghosts began to sway, their melancholy shaken loose. "Just one more push," Kai whispered. Struck with inspiration, he pulled the burnt key from his bag and pressed it into the piano. The piano flashed and glowed, conjuring lights and trees until the ghostly gathering was surrounded by a lush forest, dewy and alive. The ghosts began to dance and even laugh, their eyes and clothes glowing brightly. Soon, they were swirling around and past him. Kai finished with a dramatic flourish and looked around. Every spirit in the land had gathered, but there was no sign of Amamiya.
His face fell. But the ghosts were clearing a way, gently sloping downhill, for him to pass. Kai looked down and saw a castle in the distance, dark and menacing.
"Is that where Amamiya is?" He asked the ghosts.
The sea of heads nodded.
"Thank you," Kai said. He steeled his nerves and set off towards the castle.
- O -
Kai entered the castle at a run and burst into the throne room. He staggered to a stop before the great thrones, embellished with skeletons and pomegranates. Panting, he dropped to his knees and laid out his gifts, then clasped his hands before him. "Please, Persephone-sama and Hades-sama, I beg of you. My name is Kai Ichinose, and I have come to beg your favor. Grant me a chance to give a performance that moves your heart, and if you are touched, please grant me one wish."
Haughty Hades sneered down at Kai, scarred, gray, and wreathed in black flames. But gentle, beautiful Persephone looked troubled, holding out her golden arms and meeting Kai's gaze with warm brown eyes. "Brave wanderer, are you quite sure? Many have come before you to attempt the Orphean trial, and few have won my favor. But even fewer have been granted their heart's desire, for none have completed the test demanded by Hades." She laid a delicate hand on Hades's arm. "Those who fail, pay a terrible price."
"Is the price to forfeit my soul to your kingdom? I am willing to pay that price."
"It is a far worse fate," answered Persephone. "We take nothing from you. But you return to the surface haunted by regret, your loved one almost within reach, only to be lost to you all over again. Many go mad from despair. Those who survive are forever changed."
"That is also a risk I'm ready to face," answered Kai.
"Then proceed," said gentle Persephone, though her dark eyes were downcast.
"Thank you. I won't disappoint you!" Kai leapt up and summoned his piano, the burnt key from the forest still embedded among the ghostly keys, and the letters S. AJINO gleaming faintly on the side. He opened with the mournful chords of Beethoven's Les Adieux, the piano bitterly crying the syllables Le-be-wohl. Next, he played the Winter Wind etude, Amamiya's signature etude, followed by La Campanella, one of his own signature pieces, weaving the story of their journeys and struggles with the piano. He followed with Brahms's Intermezzo, wistful, warm, and affectionate.
"The next piece is one I wrote," Kai said, and began a wistful, lyrical contemporary piece. Soft, gentle sounds flowed from his fingertips. He conjured their first afternoon playing the forest piano in the sun. The tender feelings when his former rival and best friend returned to help him practice, and to support him in preparing for the final round. He pulled each glowing note out of his heart, charging them with the emotions that resided there. And as he listened to his playing, he wondered if he could give name to the sentiments harbored within.
He finished the set, took a deep breath, and looked up. Gentle Persephone was watching him with tears in her eyes and a small smile on her lips. She sat utterly still for a moment, then gently dabbed the corner of her eyes. "Such beautiful music. I will always treasure hearing your performance," she said softly. "Of course we will grant your favor," she added. "But listening to your music, it's clear that we've taken someone dear to you."
"Thank you, Persephone-sama. It's true," Kai said. "Shuhei Amamiya died a year and a month ago" - Persephone gave a small gasp - "and my request is to bring him back to the world of the living with me."
At that, Hades looked up. "That won't do!" He snarled. "Death is no temporary vacation. It is final. I won't have spirits coming and going through my realm."
Gentle Persephone turned to cruel Hades and spoke to him beseechingly. "Please let us grant Kai-san's favor. I have felt his grief through his piano, and now I can't bear to send him back carrying those feelings still."
Hades turned to Kai with an amused, vicious expression. "Then I will grant your request under one condition. You are widely renowned for your Chopin Concerto. I very much desire to hear such a moving concerto myself."
"C-concerto?" Kai asked, taken aback. "I can play the piano solo of it. Though it won't sound complete without the accompaniment."
"Nonetheless, I wish to hear your concerto as it would sound in the grand concert hall," Hades said with a vicious sneer, smug and assured of victory. "You ask me to give up a soul, so you must give me something in return. If you move me with your concerto, you may have Amamiya's spirit. But if you falter in your fingers or your heart, then your Amamiya's spirit will remain with us for all eternity."
For the first time, Kai felt a faint doubt seep through him. Performing the complete concerto on a single piano was unheard of, but what choice did he have? He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Now is not the time for doubts, he told himself firmly. His hands moved automatically to the familiar solo's entrance, and he re-positioned them to the orchestral introduction. If this is to be a performance for the King of Death, it must be the greatest performance of my life.
He began to play.
- O -
The orchestral introduction and his own solo entrance went smoothly. Kai transitioned into the haunting A-theme, gleaming and melancholy. He improvised to add in the orchestra's chords with his left hand. The few slow chords were no trouble this early on, but he knew what lay ahead. Focus, he told himself. The music picked up speed. He stretched out the tempo, working to maintain the orchestra's part between his two occupied hands. He entered the B-theme, an innocent tune of simple delight. Then came the sixteenth-note runs, switching from hand to hand, notes falling quickly as raindrops. Kai kept the notes tightly controlled, building into a dramatic flurry of notes that erupted into a full orchestral interlude.
He was almost late to play as the orchestra. He released the breath he'd been holding. It would be a close thing. With all that he had, he was just barely able to keep up with all the parts. His heart pounded and his muscles tensed. He forced his shoulders to relax. Gentle Persephone looked distressed, while cruel Hades smirked. Kai frowned. I won't lose this! He relaxed into the soloist's reprise of the A-theme, a short reprieve. Kai took a deep breath. The real battle was about to begin.
All too soon, the sweet melody burst into a flurry of notes. The concerto's intricate middle section sent his fingers flying across the keyboard, the chaotic passages sapping all his concentration. He tried to maintain the melodies in the orchestral line, but there was so much to keep track of. His once-clear notes jangled together, discordant tones landing with a thud where his fingers slipped. He lost the orchestral line. Hades's smile grew wider, while sweet Persephone began to weep. It was all falling apart.
He was falling apart.
It was over, he knew. This would not be a moving performance, nor even an adequate one. He had tried to be the piano and the orchestra, the solo and the entire concerto, and every part of him had come undone. The best he could do was end this travesty gracefully. He abandoned the accompaniment and fell back into the familiar piano soloist's part. Just ahead was a shift to major key, like a fresh spring breeze, four bars out, and that was where he would end it. On the other side of that key change lay a passage like joyful laughter that he wouldn't reach. There would be no twinkling laughter for him.
He closed his eyes in resignation. He would lose beautifully. His fingers slowed in an improvised ritardando, the notes sounding softer and softer, stopping as he landed in the new major key on a high F-sharp. Long and clear, he drew it out, perched on the precipice of a waterfall with the tantalizing promise of what he'd failed to grasp.
With tears trickling down his face and his heart breaking all over again, he held the high F-sharp, sounding his bell of surrender.
The crystalline note rang for one second, and then two.
- O -
And the room filled with crisp notes cresting the waterfall, twinkling like cut crystals. They started softly, then quickly turned thunderous, tumbling down in a torrent and rising in a wave. "Amamiya?" Kai breathed, disbelieving. He'd know that sound anywhere, even in the depths of hell.
Shuhei Amamiya sat across the room, perched on a ghostly piano of his own, playing so ferociously that his piano was flaming. Silvery-blue flames rolled through the keys and radiated off his body. He glanced up and met Kai's shocked stare and flashed him a wicked grin. Kai leapt into action, joining in as the accompanist. He returned the grin, as bright, unadulterated joy broke loose in him, and he basked in the sound he'd so missed during the last year. Amamiya executed the rainfall of notes with perfect fingers, sounding each note in perfect clarity, the notes building into a final rush as Kai erupted into the orchestral segment.
Together they finished the first movement. Hades was half-risen from his seat, startled and angry, but gentle Persephone pressed a firm hand down on his arm, holding him back. She nodded at Kai with mirthful, laughing eyes.
By unspoken agreement, Kai began the orchestral introduction to the lyrical second movement. Then Amamiya entered with the solo line, each note shining star-bright. Kai closed his eyes and let himself float in the lovely, meandering melody. It washed over him, warmly, fondly, with an undercurrent of sadness woven into each note. Loneliness, Kai thought to himself. Yearning. And a hint of something profound and glowing he could almost recognize, that brought him to tears. He opened his eyes. Amamiya was watching him, a faint smile playing around his mouth and his eyes bright and fond. Kai stared back, captivated.
The second movement came to an end, and the spell was broken. With barely a pause, they launched into the third movement. The notes flew by, quick and interweaving, but neither hesitated in their trust that the other would be there. Amamiya's sound was fiery and impassioned, the flickering blue flames pouring from his body into the keyboard and filling it with every ounce of his soul. He's fighting for his life, Kai realized. He's warring with Hades to free his soul, giving his all to come back to me. He willed his piano to give Amamiya strength, sending him notes of determined, desperate hope. The sounds of the two pianos came together in a towering wave.
Every corner of the throne room was awash in sound and emotion. Hades fell back against the throne. Persephone's words echoed in Kai's ears: none have completed the test demanded by Hades. But they had all been alone, and Kai was not alone.
- O -
It was over. The last chord was ringing in the air. "Amamiya!" Kai called as he leapt up and flew across the room, and threw his arms around the ghostly figure.
"I've missed you, Kai-kun!" Amamiya answered, with a bright, easy smile and sparkles in the corners of his eyes. They held each other at arms length and looked at each other. Kai studied his silvery, ghostly face closely, smiling at every familiar detail.
"Ah. . . ." he abruptly remembered, and trailed off. "The trial. . . I couldn't give Hades a concerto that moved him. . . ." Understanding crashed in, and his hands knotted into fists. "I'm, I'm sorry. I'm glad I got to play piano with you again, Amamiya, one last time. It was worth the whole journey to see you," he said as his face crumpled.
"It's alright, Kai-kun." Amamiya pulled Kai into him and stroked his head. "You came for me and learned all those pieces to fight for me. That means more than I can describe. You're always doing your best to help people. I love and admire that about you."
Kai looked up, his mouth trembling but defiant. "Is that what this is to you? Just me helping people like you're anybody?" He shook his head. "I follow you into Death and you still can't see that you're unique," he continued, his eyes blazing and his grip painfully hard. "Your sound is my favorite in the world. Without it, my soul is empty!"
"Kai. . . ." Amamiya began, unsure how to respond to the outburst. He reached up and gently tucked a strand of Kai's long brown hair behind his ear.
They both turned around as footsteps approached: cruel Hades, come to collect his victory. "You were not able to perform the concerto," he gloated. "I must ask you to leave now. Unless you want to remain in his place," he added mockingly. Kai choked out a single sob, and his fingers twisted into Amamiya's shirt.
"No. You can't." Amamiya wrapped his arms protectively around Kai and glared at Hades. "Send him back. Please, Hades-sama" he added. "That wasn't part of the deal. If my playing moved you, please grant me a favor and send him back."
A soft cough interrupted him and shadow fell over them. Kai jumped back from gentle Persephone, who had grown to three times her normal height and was billowing black smoke. Amamiya surprisingly, looked relieved by her startling transformation. As they watched, she advanced on Hades and transformed her head into an eldritch horror of sharp teeth and tongues. She opened her mouth and a clustered of tentacles poured out. "I believe I told you," her words rumbled in a hundred voices, "my decision on this matter."
"Er," Hades scrambled backwards. "Fine. Amamiya-kun may reside on Earth six months out of each year. . . ."
Monstrous Persephone took another menacing step forward, her fanged eyes oozing black blood, and a shriek tearing from her maw. Hades backed out of the throne room.
"What he means to say, Amamiya-kun, is that you are free to leave," Persephone said sweetly as she became gentle and golden again. As soon as the words were spoken, Amamiya's ghostly aura faded.
Kai watched Hades flee, then turned back to Persephone, standing composed and serenely smiling. She waited. Finally, Kai unfroze and threw himself down at her feet. "Thank you, Persephone-sama. We are eternally in your debt."
"Not at all!" Persephone's smile was bright and beautiful as sunshine. "I thank you for your music." She turned to Amamiya. "And thank you for your service. Sayonara, Shuu-chan!"
Kai grabbed Amamiya's hand as the throne room dissolved around them.
- O -
They sat together on Kai's piano bench.
A month has passed since Ajino and Serrault found them asleep in the Death Valley, with Tateyama rising above them. After Amamiya had reunited with his overjoyed parents, where his dignified father had abandoned all formality and hugged Kai, and his sobbing mother had taken his hand and said, "you're part of our family now."
At last they returned to Kai's apartment and sat together on the bench. Amamiya played snatches of familiar songs, transposed an octave down, while Kai improvised melodies and flourishes above. "I was always so envious you can do that," Amamiya mused.
"What, this?" Kai grinned and plucked out another dancing melodic line, lively and perfect.
"Yeah. The improvising. But now, I'm just happy whenever you play. I think about how lucky I am to hear you at all." He shifted into a new chord progression. "Er. . . thanks for saving me," he added, ducking his head down.
"Geez, you tell me that all the time," Kai grumbled, shoving him with his shoulder. "It's no big deal. I love you, right? Do you have any idea how miserable I was?"
Amamiya chuckled. "I'm sorry," he said. "I was the angriest at myself, that I was leaving you alone again. After I made a promise at the Chopin Competition to help you from now on."
"Well, you helped me face Hades, didn't you?" Kai replied. He paused, thinking. "But how did you get in there? And why weren't you afraid of Hades-sama and Persephone-sama?"
"Oh, I was Persephone's court pianist." Amamiya tilted his head with a benign smile.
"Eh?" Kai blinked in surprise. "You played piano for the Queen of Death herself? Wow, you really are amazing, Amamiya!"
"It's not a big deal," Amamiya mumbled, embarrassed. "Anyway, the whole time I was performing for you in my mind. Even though you weren't there to hear me. I kept thinking that one day I'd see you down there, even if it was a hundred years from now. When that day came, I had to be ready to play piano with you again." He looked sheepishly at Kai, red-faced but smiling. "That day came much sooner than I thought."
Kai nodded, his lip trembling. His throat was too tight to get any words out.
"Persephone-sama is a kind person and a romantic at heart." Amamiya continued. "It's Hades who is unrelenting and cold. He sees into each person and sets them a task they can very nearly master, but not quite. It increases the torment to have come so close."
Kai nodded in understanding. "I always wondered why Orpheus didn't wait another few steps to turn around. I would have waited. But Hades must have known or broken down Orpheus's will." He shivered, remembering how close he had come to giving up. He caught Amamiya's hand and laced their fingers together.
Amamiya squeezed his hand in return. "Persephone-sama summoned me into the throne room when you began to struggle. You. . ." He frowned at the memory, lost in thought. "You were giving up, and it was breaking you." The solitary melody slowing to a crawl, dying under an immense grief. Hades smirking and Persephone wringing her hands. The glimmer of tears on Kai's face. The fierce, protective fire igniting in his chest and setting his piano aflame.
On an impulse, he grabbed both of Kai's hands in his, ignoring the heat rising in his face and ears. "I'm here to help," he said, a solemn and earnest promise. "I'll walk this path with you. Whatever comes next, I'll face it with you." He looked out the window into the distance, in the direction of Tateyama. "Persephone-sama defied Hades to bring me to you. She must have been rooting for you all along."
"And for you," Kai said, remembering Persephone's fond expression as she said good-bye.
"For both of us," Shuhei agreed.
"For both of us," Kai echoed.
They leaned towards each other.
- O -
END
- O -
Author's Notes
Would you believe that this was originally intended to be light and fluffy? I mean, yeah, it deals with death, since it's Orpheus and Eurydice, but not really perma-death, right? And online summaries of the Orphean legend are fairly dry and clinical. I read them and didn't feel a thing, beyond like, "oh he's good at playing the lyre, and Kai's good at piano, so it could work haha".
Then the first line knocked me out like a Steinway to the head! Oof! (What do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft? A flat miner.)
- O -
Musical Notes (haha? "Notes"?)
I really wanted to give Cerberus a berceuse (lullaby). I'm not in love with any berceuses that are piano solos though. (Not to say there aren't any cool ones out there! My piano background is super amateurish.) Anyway, I know squat about putting together a performance set, which pieces flow into other pieces and whatnot, so. Any section with multiple pieces might not go together at all.
God it's so hard to describe music. Brahms's Intermezzo is love in its purest form, gentle and caressing, yet enduring as mountains, true as shining steel, vivid as the blazing sunset over the vast ocean, patient, giving, forgiving, unshakeable. (Later, I learned that it was prefaced with a poem about a mother and her baby, so my interpretation isn't far off.) Brahms's skill as a composer far exceeds mine as a writer, so please listen to it, if nothing else.
It's not specified what is Kai's "original composition", but in my head I hear River Flows in You by Yiruma.
In the Chopin concerto, Kai stops on bar 448, and this spot is often marked by a rehearsal mark in orchestra scores. ("A-theme" starts at bar 155, "B-theme" at 222, "reprise of A-theme" at 385.)
It's implied that Ajino went to the Underworld to try to retrieve his fiancee. His challenge by Hades was to perform Fur Elise, which piano students learn in grade school. Because of his hand injury, he was unable to play even this simple piece.
- O -
Referenced Pieces
- Chopin, Piano Sonata No. 2 in b-flat minor, third movement ("March Funebre")
- Chopin, Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60
- Faure, Romance sans Paroles Op. 17 No. 3; Mendelssohn, Song without Words Op. 19 No. 1; Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 14 in c-sharp minor ("Quasi una Fantasia"), first movement
- Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in c-sharp minor
- Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major ("Les Adieux"); Chopin, Etude Op. 25 No. 11 ("Winter Wind"); Liszt, Etude in g minor, S.141 No. 3 ("La Campanella"); Brahms, Intermezzo in E-flat Major, Op. 117 No. 1; (possibly?) Yiruma, River Flows in You
- Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1 in e-minor (Kai stops and Shuu-chan takes over on bar 448, this spot is often marked by a rehearsal mark in orchestra scores too)