Orpheus's page: love always wins

Chan's pov:

I was born to be a writer. That's it.

No, I'm kidding. There's much more to my story than that.

But that was the sole reason I wanted to live for. I still do. But now there's something else. I was born 9 months after my parents escaped the Underworld. And yes, they did. They were on cloud 9 but they also knew I was in imminent danger. After all, I was doomed to be killed by the son of Hermes. Or was I?

I met him twice. He doesn't remember it, but I do.

I was trained by my mother to fight and defend myself for the said day to come. Dad taught me the arts and the beauty of life. That way I had them both. Beauty and pain in a single pair of eyes.

I met Jeongin when I was a kid. I knew who he was immediately. His wings couldn't fool anyone.

I saw him on the cliff, I saw him trying to jump. My hand reached for him and saved him.

Why?

I could have left him die. I could have solved the problem.

But it wasn't fair. And as far as I was concerned at that age, he wasn't a problem at all.

He cried in my arms and I sang to him. He fell asleep in my arms. I felt like I was holding the sun in my very own hands. I felt broken and happy and I felt drawn to stay there forever even tho it was hurting me.

I watched over him for hours, not even a second had I gotten bored. I draw in my mind every single of his features for the moment we would have met again.

He cried in his sleep. He cried awake. He cried because that was the only thing he had power over.

There were two things. His tears and mine.

When he woke up he gifted me one of his feathers. And I have been cherishing it ever since. I use it to write my stories. My poems. All dedicated to him.

"Where did you get that, son?" Orpheus sat down next to me and laid flat on the grass.

"No one. I found it." I lied.

"Hmm..." he looked up at the sun. "I found a poisonous plant once. I didn't take it. We don't take things we find, son. We take things that find us. Your mother found me and now she's my wife and the mother of my child. You understand where I'm going with this?"

"But I walked towards him." I didn't understand what my father meant. I was the one that saw Jeongin there and decided to help him, not the other way around.

"Or he walked in your way. You're no thief, son. You didn't take that feather. It was given to you." he took the said object from my hands and stared at it.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked shyly.

"Why would I be? For having a feather? Son, it's your mother you're talking about. She is a bit... intense?" he tried his best to say it nicely. He wasn't far from the truth. She was scared for me and that turned her wish to protect me into something more. A desire to make me a warrior I didn't want to be.

"She wants me to kill him. I canno do that." I sighed ashamed of myself.

"Then don't." Orpheus shrugged.

"But I'll die."

"Then kill him."

"You're not helping, dad." I took the feather back.

"When did I ever help?" Orpheus joked before he noticed how serious I was. His smiled dropped as he cleared his troath. "Maybe... maybe you won't meet again. Maybe the deal won't be fulfilled."

"But I wanna meet him again..." I confessed.

"To do what?"

"Just to look, I swear. I wanna see him. I wanna make sure he's okay."

"Understood." Orpheus stretched out. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!" he helped me get up.

"What? Where?"

"To see your enemy."

He hummed a sweet melody and at his call the forest formed a path towards the other side of the forest.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice send a shiver down our spines.

"My love, I didn't see you there!" dad smiled.

"You asked the forest to guide you and didn't think I would hear it too?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, yes! My lovely nymph is always ahead of me. That's why I married you." He kissed her cheek.

"Where are you going?" She asked again unamused.

"Mom, I..."

"To see the son of Hermes. It's strategy, my muse. We want to observe him." My father cut me off.

"Very well. We shall go then!" she started walking hand in hand with me. Her grip was tight. She knew something was off.

"We?" Orpheus gulped anxiously.

The path led us to Hephaestus's temple where Jeongin was teaching Hyunjin how to read next to a tree.

I watched the boy as he explained softly every symbol on the page with a drop of excitement. He held to that book like it was pure gold and knew the words in it by heart.

"I'll be back tomorrow!" Hyunjin waved at the son of Hermes and left.

Jeongin was alone once again, debating whether he should return to the water nymphs or just spend the night in the forest.

"There he is! He's hurt, you can take it down!" Eurydice said heated.

I looked at my father, begging him to help me before I felt his hands pushing me forward.

"Go to him." he whispered in my ear confidently.

I walked slowly towards my enemy until I got noticed.

"Who are you?"

"I'm- Uhm... I was just passing by and heard you. Do you like reading?"

Don't ask me how I came up with that brilliant line. I was young, alright? And Orpheus is not the biggest gallant either.

"Yeah, why?" Jeongin frowned at me confused.

"I like to write. I would love to write something for you." I gathered my courage to say.

"What would you write for me?" Jeongin snorted.

I should have been offended by that. I should have. I wasn't. I was admiring him and thanking the gods that he seemed better and happier. Even if it wasn't I who made him happier, I was grateful.

"I would write you poems and stories so you would never get bored ever again in your life."

"Really? And what would you get in exchange?" Jeongin was suspicious of me. I could see it in his eyes.

He didn't believe someone would do that for him. I didn't believe myself that I said that. Knowing damn well my parents were behind expecting me to fight with this kid.

"I don't want anything. Just permission to use you as my muse." my voice cracked.

Jeongin seemed amused by my pathetic confession. He stepped towards me until he got so close he could hear my heart beating like a drumm.

"Alright, smart boy. Come back when you write those stories and we'll talk." He said before heading home.

"What is going on?" my mother stared in disbelief.

"He found his Eurydice." dad smiled proudly.

"You knew... You called the forest knowing I would be summoned as well. You wanted me to see this." she told dad.

"Love always wins. They will find a way. I promise you!" he brushed the hairs off her forehead and placed a short kiss.

"You're cunning, Orpheus." she said offended. "That's why I married you." she smirked.

No matter how many disagreements they had they were drawn to each other. They gave me hope that maybe...just maybe I would meet him again under different circumstances.

"What are you doing here you three?" a deep voice startled us all.

I wrapped my head towards an old man with a cane and a hammer.

"I-"

"We weren't doing any harm, Lord Hephaestus." dad came forward. "My son was curious of these surroundings. We'll leave."

"Your boy, huh?" he watched me carefully and tilted his head. "I have a boy too." He broke into a warm smile. "He's the best thing in my life. If you want to learn to forge, little boy, you can come to me. I'll teach you. Hyunjin-ah won't give it a chance and the temple feels empty most of the days."

He was no angry god. He was a loving father than just wanted to be accepted by his son. And my heart couldn't take the view of it.

I accepted to work with him and learn to forge weapons.

This way everyone was content.

I was preparing for a fight by creating weapons from scratch for mom to be at ease, I was exploring the world as my father wish me to do and I was close to Jeongin.

So close yet so far.

I could see him, hear him, wait for him, but I wasn't meant to talk to him.

I wanted to keep my promise and come back to him with a story.

My biggest story.

The story of the boy who fell from the sky...

Icarus.