Archive of Our Own ^beta

Eurydice stood in the middle of town. She looked up at the sky, an enormous dark cloud swallowed the horizon. She ran home. “Orpheus?” she called out. There was no answer. She looked out the window to the grassy field he often used as a place to work on new songs, he wasn’t there. The storm was going to destroy everything, she needed to get out of here and she wasn’t leaving him behind. She ran into town, calling out warnings that everyone needed to get out of here! No one was listening. She cried out frantically, begging anyone to listen, please, they were in danger! Then one of them walked right through her.

They were all ghosts. What had happened? The thought occurred this was her fault. She hadn’t warned them fast enough, now everyone was gone. Everyone was gone because she’d been too scared, petrified with terror at the oncoming storm. The storm was getting closer now, wind blew dust into her eyes. Selfish. She’d cared so much about saving her own skin, and now everyone was gone, just like always. She couldn't see, she coughed and choked on dust as it  enveloped the town. She couldn’t see the sun now. It was so dark.

Suddenly Eurydice woke up, heart pounding, gasping for breath. She was in the house. She was in bed. She felt something move next to her and murmur out inarticulate noises of confusion. “Shit.” she whispered to herself. She’d really hoped this wouldn’t happen. Having a bed to call her own and sharing it with someone she loved more than she used to think was possible was an absolute dream. She did not need her emotional baggage to bubble up while she slept and complicate things.

“‘Rydice?” a voice asked sleepily from beside her. “Orpheus, I’m so sorry.” she said, sounding more rattled than she wanted to let on.  “What happened? Are you ok?” Orpheus was more alert now and sat up in bed. “Eurydice, what’s wrong?

“Nothing!” she lied. Then she inhaled sharply, feeling bad for lying. “Well technically I had another nightmare, but I didn’t mean to wake you up.” she said quickly. She wasn’t use to sleeping next to other people and was afraid this would happen.

There was a pause before Orpheus simply asked “another?”

“Yeah…” she confirmed as she sat up beside him.

Orpheus didn’t seem to mind being woken up. He simply asked “Do you have nightmares that often?” His voice filled with dread that comes with asking a question you know you won’t like the answer to.

Eurydice had never really thought about it. Nightmares were like the wind, something that’d been following her for as long as she could remember. Every night she was greeted with surreal images of abandonment, guilt, and other things that distressed people when she said she was used to them.  “Um, Yeah, I guess so.”

Orpheus looked at her like she was a sad puppy. “Even when we’re together?” he asked.

Eurydice felt terrible, had she woken Orpheus up and now he was sad. And he was sad about her. Nobody was ever sad about her. 

As a little kid she could earn leftovers, dry places to sleep, and even the occasional coin or two if she really played up the fact that she was a pitiful little lonely orphan girl.

But that was different. She’d been in control those times. Earning unsolicited emotions wasn’t something she knew how to deal with. And she’d married a man with what could possibly be the softest heart to ever exist. And the genuineness of the worry, not pity but worry in his eyes felt like it was burning a hole in her.

“Yeah.” she said quietly, looking down at the mattress instead of at him. “I’m sorry.” she looked and sounded like a child who’d been caught doing something they knew was wrong.

“Don’t be!” Orpheus blurted out a little louder than either of them were expecting. “I just feel bad I didn’t know about it. Maybe there's some way I could-”. Eurydice cut him off “You can’t fix it, it’s not your job to fix it, it’s fine.”

Orpheus had a sweet but frustrating habit of feeling like he was obligated to fix everything. Eurydice often had to remind him that he’d done more than enough for everyone, he’d earned a rest. This was her problem. She could handle her problems. Except clearly she couldn’t.

He wrapped an arm around her. “But you’re my wife! You’re Eurydice! I want to do everything I can to make sure nothing hurts you ever again.” He said. “Well that’s a little unrealistic.” deadpanned Eurydice. She leaned up against him, not realizing how tense she’d been until she felt herself relax as she snuggled up closer. In a much more sincere tone she added “But if you could keep holding me like this, that’d be nice.” “Luckily, I can do that.” Orpheus said. The fact that he was smiling was audible in the tone of his voice.

She closed her eyes and wrapped him in a hug. “I love you.” she said. Letting herself enjoy how happy he made her feel, allowing herself to accept how much adoration he felt towards her. “I love you too.” he said softly and warmly.

They sat there in silence for awhile before Orpheus said “I know I can’t fix everything, I really do. But if you’re ever scared or upset about anything, even if I don’t know what to do, I’ll be there, ok? I want to be there for you.”

Eurydice was sleepy, but smiled and nodded her head. “Thank you for that.” She said. Maybe that wasn’t all she needed from him, but it’s all she wanted. “That means…” she yawned “That means a lot.”
The only thing more gentle and warm than the embrace of sleep that soon enveloped Eurydice was The feeling of being right beside Orpheus.