"The easy part was me, you know," Charon informed Kyungsoo cheerfully. "The hard part is convincing Cerberus to not bite off your head and let you pass, and the hardest part is to convince Lord Hades himself to free your lover--- your wife, right?"

"Husband," Kyungsoo corrected. He suddenly realised Charon had lost his rattling, breathy voice and sounded like a normal person.

"Right. Sorry."

"Your voice--- it..."

"Ah, about that. I get so bored down here, you know? Even though loads of people die every single day. It's not always I get a lone soul to transport, and I can't help scaring them. It's funny," he added gleefully. Kyungsoo snorted.

Soon, they heard growling. Charon giggled.

"Let's hope you can charm him as well," he chuckled. Kyungsoo set his teeth, determined. Once the three-headed dog came into view and started barking like mad, Kyungsoo strummed the strings of his lyre. He was too frightened to sing, but his fingers did not fail him and played beautifully. Cerberus, upon hearing music, fellow fast asleep and collapsed on his little island. Charon quickly steered the boat away, out of the dog's reach, and Kyungsoo stopped playing, wiping the sweat off his brow.

"I'm impressed," Charon admitted. "I honestly didn't think you'd manage to get him too. Are you a professional?"

"Actually, yes," Kyungsoo said sheepishly. "I sing and play all sorts of instruments."

"That explains it," the skeleton muttered. "Well, we're here," he announced, the boat stopping at the shore. "The Underworld."

As far as the eye could see, the Underworld was gloomy, desolate; mist flooding out from between iron bars to the water and trees dotting the otherwise barren landscape. Grey, lonely souls floated about aimlessly like ghosts behind a large, imposing black gate. Kyungsoo gulped.

"The Asphodel Meadows," Charon explained quietly. "The land of the lost souls."

"What... why are so many people here?" Kyungsoo whispered.

"They make up most of the world's population," Charon shrugged. "The in-between ones. The neither good nor bad ones."

"It's so... sad."

"I would've dropped you off somewhere happier, but this is the closest to Lord Hades'. Just go through that and at the end is his palace."

"Go through that?"

"Yes. Now, you're alive, and they can sense it. Do not, by any means, stop to talk. Don't even look at their faces. There may be people you know--- dead relatives, celebrities, whatever. Their memories have been wiped clean by Lethe and they don't remember anything, so don't bother. Just go straight, look down, and do not stray off course."

"What if I do?"

"You'll become one of them, eventually. You'll be lost, but you'll still have your memories, and eventually you'll beg to drink from Lethe, to forget everything. Pretty horrible way of dying. Or you could end up in Tartarus which isn't any better."

"How do I know if I'm on the right path?"

"There isn't a path. You simply go straight and hope you'll reach the palace." The fire in Charon's eye sockets flickered in pity. Kyungsoo straightened his back and climbed out of the boat, lyre in hand.

"Thank you, Charon. For everything."

"Anytime," there was a smile in his voice. "I hope you survive through this, I really do. Not many people can." Kyungsoo nodded at him before turning and walking towards the gates.

"One more thing!" Charon hollered behind him. "Never eat anything! Or you'll be trapped here forever!" Kyungsoo turned his head and waved, nodding to show he heard. Charon waved back before steering his boat back to the opposite shore.

As Kyungsoo approached the gates, they melted into the shadows. He steeled himself and gripped his lyre tightly as he stepped into the Asphodel Meadows.

As he walked, head down, utterly focused on walking in a straight line, he found the ground was slowly turning from dull grey to green. He forced himself to keep his head down and not look around, but when he saw small white flowers growing among the grass his curiosity got the better of him and he looked up. And oh, what a sight it was.

He now knew why it was called the Asphodel Meadows. Soft, rolling hills covered with green grass and those tiny white flowers surrounded him, with villages consisting of pretty houses in the distance. If this was where he would go when he died, it wasn't bad at all.

He made sure he was still walking in a straight line, and the next time he lifted his head was when he noticed the ground changing once again to stone. He had reached a village and it seemed for all the world like any village, bustling with people, but it was eerily quiet, without the characteristic noise of crowds. When Kyungsoo looked closer he realised the people all looked expressionless as they walked around, doing things mechanically, as if they were robots programmed to do these tasks instead of people. But then, they were no longer people.

They were lost souls.

And they were starting to notice him.

He was still walking in a straight line, but a girl stood in front of him and peered at his face, looking vaguely interested. Kyungsoo stopped and looked at the girl, wanting to ask her politely to move, but she poked a finger at his chest and it went right through him.

Kyungsoo gasped. More people were noticing and surrounding him, but suddenly, his vision cleared, and for the first time he saw that everything was translucent--- the grass, the houses, even the people. He panicked and broke into a run, going right through the girl and countless others, while the ghosts followed him, wailing softly. It gave Kyungsoo the creeps and it took all of his willpower to make sure he was still going straight.

Strangely enough, he didn't get tired, and soon the ghosts gave up chasing him. He looked up once again to see an ominous, dark castle looming in the distance, and he knew, in his gut, that it was Hades' palace. He passed by a few rogue ghosts, but he ignored them all.

Until he happened to look up just as a ghost floated in front of him.

"Jongin?!" Kyungsoo whispered, not daring to believe it. The ghost, hearing him, turned and looked at him, but his face showed no sign of recognition whatsoever.

"Jong, babe, it's me, Kyungsoo... your husband? Jong?" He had floated away, not interested in Kyungsoo.

Why didn't he say anything? Why did he seem not to recognise Kyungsoo? It broke his heart to see his dead love in front of his eyes but not knowing who he was. His eyes stung.

"Their memories have been wiped clean by Lethe and they don't remember anything,"  Charon had said. "So don't bother."
It only made Kyungsoo more determined to reach Hades, and he ran the rest of the way, eyes never looking away from the castle.

As he neared the castle, he spotted a long line of people at the front. He remembered his instructions and eased into the line, shuffling his feet and looking down like the rest. No one noticed, and not long after he arrived at a large, menacing room, with sleek marble floors and Greek columns and chandeliers with flickering candles. In the middle of the room was a long table, where three men sat. 

The three judges of the dead.

At the very end of the room were two thrones, one ebony, one ivory; the ivory one was empty and a stern, cruel-looking man dressed in fine robes sat in the ebony throne, looking utterly bored.

Hades.

Kyungsoo gripped his lyre and stepped forward, his head held high. He came to negotiate with the Lord of the Dead and he would not seem intimidated, even though his very soul was quaking with fear.

"You've got courage," the judge on the left commented. "I like that."

"But brother, he is not dead." The middle one observed. "My good sir, why are you alive in the realm of the dead?"

Kyungsoo steeled himself. "I have come to see Lord Hades." The third judge raised an eyebrow, while the middle one nodded as if he had seen it coming.

Hades rose from his seat. "You have come to see me?" He asked quietly, but his commanding voice sounded clearly in Kyungsoo's ears.

"Yes, my lord," Kyungsoo replied, taking care to sound respectful.

"Why?" Hades sounded slightly amused.

"My lord, I would like to have my husband back, please," Kyungsoo said bravely. The first judge sputtered and the other two glared at him, silencing him immediately.

"When did he die?"

"Four days ago, my lord."

"If you want him back so much, why did it take you so long?"

"I had to find a way to the Underworld, my lord, and---"

"What makes you think I would hand his soul over?" Hades rumbled. Kyungsoo gulped.

"I'll--- I'll try to persuade you, my lord," he stammered. Hades smiled.

"Persuade me, then."

Hands shaking, Kyungsoo held his lyre in his hands, strumming the strings. Like before, it calmed him enough as his fingers remembered how to play and softly, he began to sing.

"天涼了 雨下了 你走了

清楚了 我愛的 遺失了

落葉飄在湖面上睡著了

 

想要放 放不掉 淚在飄

你看看 你看看不到

我假裝過去不重要

卻發現自己辦不到

 

說了再見

才發現再也見不到

我不能 就這樣

失去你的微笑

紅待在桌角

而你我找不到

若角色對調

你說好不好

 

說了再見

才發現再也見不到

能不能 就這樣

忍著痛 淚不掉

說好陪我到老

永恆往那裡找

再次擁抱

一分一秒都好

 

 

天涼了 雨下了 你走了

清楚了 我愛的 遺失了

落葉飄在湖面上睡著了

 

想要放 放不掉 淚在飄

你看看 你看看不到

我假裝過去不重要

卻發現自己辦不到

 

 

說了再見

才發現再也見不到

我不能 就這樣

失去你的微笑

紅待在桌角

而你我找不到

若角色對調

你說好不好

 

說了再見

才發現再也見不到

能不能 就這樣

忍著痛 淚不掉

說好陪我到老

永恆往那裡找

再次擁抱

一分一秒都好

 

你的笑 妳的好

腦海裡 一直在繞

我的手 忘不了

你手的溫度

心碎了一地

撿不回 從前的心跳

身陷過去我無力逃跑

 

說了再見

才發現再也見不到

我不能 就這樣

失去你的微笑

紅待在桌角

而你我找不到

若角色對調

你說好不好

 

說了再見

才發現再也見不到

能不能 就這樣

忍著痛 淚不掉

說好陪我到老

永恆往那裡找

再次擁抱

一分一秒都好"*

Kyungsoo strummed the last few chords and stopped, choosing to let the notes linger in the air rather than muting them. The first judge started to clap but the middle one kicked him and he stopped. The third judge discreetly dabbed at his eyes.
Hades' expression was unreadable, but his black, bottomless eyes were so very fierce which took all of Kyungsoo's courage to stand his ground.

"Come with me," he rumbled and went through a door at the side that Kyungsoo hadn't noticed before. Kyungsoo followed him obediently and entered to find himself in a long, dimly-lit corridor.

"Come," Hades said again. Kyungsoo followed him to the other end of the corridor. The walls on either side were painted dark red, and were totally bare other than a few fancy gold-trimmed mirrors hung here and there and the occasional door. Even though there were no paintings, let alone portraits, he felt eyes looking at him, boring into him. It made him uneasy.

At the very end, Hades put his palm on the wall and it melted, leaving nothing but a great black void. Kyungsoo followed him in nervously.

"Wait here," Hades commanded, and disappeared. He was in a of cave, the ceiling aglow with some sort of pale green light. Within seconds, he reappeared.

"Leave the Underwear," he said, as yet another door materialised in the wall of the cave. It swung open to show a very long, very narrow tunnel, leading up to who-knows-where.

"But---" Kyungsoo protested.

"If you can reach the land of the living again without turning around, Kim Jongin will join you."

Kyungsoo's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes. But only if you don't look back."

Kyungsoo was stunned. Of course, this was what he came here for, but he never expected Hades to agree so quickly.

"Thank you, lord Hades! Thank you!" he cried, resisting the urge to hug the god.

"I am a fair god," Hades said. "Now go."

Kyungsoo bowed before running to the tunnel.

One of the judges appeared at Hades' side.

"Why did you let him go?" he asked. Hades smiled.

"He's only human, after all."

The tunnel was silent, too silent; the sound of his footsteps echoed around Kyungsoo and it reminded him of that fatal day when they went exploring, only now there was one pair of footsteps instead of two.

But wasn't Jongin supposed to be right behind him?

Maybe he hadn't fully become alive just yet.

Or maybe Hades was just messing with him.

But a god wouldn't do that.

Would he?

Kyungsoo decided to trust Hades. He /was/ a god, after all, but the temptation was almost too big to resist.

However he had heard of the story of Pandora's Box and he was not going to succumb. He would not.

It was still too quiet.

"We're gonna continue our honeymoon, Jong," Kyungsoo said softly, to break the silence. No one answered but still he continued to talk.

"We can go back to the island, or if you don't want to then we can go anywhere you like! Maybe Korea? I know you miss Korea."

"Want me to sing you a song, Jong? It's awfully quiet in here."

"Je me pense quelquefois

À vivre sans amour

Même mes rêves me font peur 

Quand tu n’es pas là..."

"It's a French song, Jong. Do you like it? It's the song for the Stella Artois commercial. I know you like that brand of beer."

"We're reaching the end of the tunnel, feel that? Feel the wind?"

"Jongin?" Kyungsoo couldn't control himself anymore, couldn't stop himself from turning to check if Jongin was really there, even when the exit was so close, he could smell flowers in the wind, could feel the wind ruffling his hair---

And the ghost of Jongin smiled at him sadly before disappearing forever.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

WOOOOOOOOOO BABY IT'S FINISHED!!!!!

okay so the ending was kinda crappy. I admit. But my other versions were much more crappier, so.

I'll be starting a new fic, Apocalypse (EXO x THE WALKING DEAD) because I'll be finishing The Longest Movie this week or maybe the next. Anyhow Apocalypse is about EXO with superpowers in a post-zombie-apocalypse world and it's gonna be so AWESOME.

English translation for the lyrics for the Chinese song. Because it's just too long.

English translation for the snippet of the French song: