FIC: Orpheus Descending
Title: Orpheus Descending
Rating: G for General
Summary: The last time a musician defied Hell for the sake of love, it failed. But Piper is used to defying impossible odds.
Here's another for the 'fix-it' challenge.
It's so cold. So cold. Piper shivers, but the chill settles into his soul, creeping and hardening like ice. Voices cackle around him, the maniacal laughter of demons flittering just out of the corner of his eye. When he lifts his flute to his lips, his lips burn.
Before he can play a note, Neron says, "I'm impressed. I didn't think anyone would come so far for this scoundrel."
Piper inhales, his lungs freezing. He plays, fingers dancing along the flute, weaving their spell. Even the demons quiet, respectful, entranced by the music. He thinks about Trickster -- James' -- soul being trapped in this hellish place, his own aching loneliness, the long dark nights and the long dark descent into the underworld. Chains clink as damned souls shuffle closer, moaning, drawn to the mesmerizing sound. The sound of a man playing his heart out.
When he is finished, he lowers his flute and Neron says, "A pretty song didn't save Eurydice, and it won't save Trickster, either."
Piper bites his lip so hard he tastes blood. "A deal, then," he says. "You like making deals, don't you?"
He wipes his lips and signs in blood.
When Piper turns to walk away, the damned souls grasp at his legs, howling, their mouths agape, their faces warped and twisted. He keeps walking. The icy winds of Neron's hell lash at him unmercifully. He doesn't look back. Only when he sees the light does he fall to his knees, gasping for clean air, his clothes stinking of sulfur. For one terrible moment he thinks Neron has tricked him somehow, backed out of their deal, and then hands grab his shoulders. He's lifted into a tight embrace, while an elated James Jesse babbles at him.
"Omigod, Hartley, that was amazing! I... I can't believe you did it... you came all the way to Hell for me... why did you do that, Hartley, why?"
But Piper just smiles at him, touches his hand to Trickster's mouth to silence him. And then the truth begins to dawn on Trickster. Silence.
Piper has bought Trickster's freedom with the only thing he possessed that was equally precious to him.
Rating: G for General
Summary: The last time a musician defied Hell for the sake of love, it failed. But Piper is used to defying impossible odds.
Here's another for the 'fix-it' challenge.
It's so cold. So cold. Piper shivers, but the chill settles into his soul, creeping and hardening like ice. Voices cackle around him, the maniacal laughter of demons flittering just out of the corner of his eye. When he lifts his flute to his lips, his lips burn.
Before he can play a note, Neron says, "I'm impressed. I didn't think anyone would come so far for this scoundrel."
Piper inhales, his lungs freezing. He plays, fingers dancing along the flute, weaving their spell. Even the demons quiet, respectful, entranced by the music. He thinks about Trickster -- James' -- soul being trapped in this hellish place, his own aching loneliness, the long dark nights and the long dark descent into the underworld. Chains clink as damned souls shuffle closer, moaning, drawn to the mesmerizing sound. The sound of a man playing his heart out.
When he is finished, he lowers his flute and Neron says, "A pretty song didn't save Eurydice, and it won't save Trickster, either."
Piper bites his lip so hard he tastes blood. "A deal, then," he says. "You like making deals, don't you?"
He wipes his lips and signs in blood.
When Piper turns to walk away, the damned souls grasp at his legs, howling, their mouths agape, their faces warped and twisted. He keeps walking. The icy winds of Neron's hell lash at him unmercifully. He doesn't look back. Only when he sees the light does he fall to his knees, gasping for clean air, his clothes stinking of sulfur. For one terrible moment he thinks Neron has tricked him somehow, backed out of their deal, and then hands grab his shoulders. He's lifted into a tight embrace, while an elated James Jesse babbles at him.
"Omigod, Hartley, that was amazing! I... I can't believe you did it... you came all the way to Hell for me... why did you do that, Hartley, why?"
But Piper just smiles at him, touches his hand to Trickster's mouth to silence him. And then the truth begins to dawn on Trickster. Silence.
Piper has bought Trickster's freedom with the only thing he possessed that was equally precious to him.