Work Text:
Charles took a deep breath.
He strummed his lyre once.
“King of shadows,” he sang, strumming his lyre again. “King of shades.”
He held Thomas’ gaze firm while he sang.
“Thomas was king of the underworld.”
The god snorted. “Oh, it’s about me.”
Charles paused for a moment, not sure what to do, before just deciding on continuing.
“But he fell in love with a beautiful lord, who walked up above in his mother’s green field.”
Thomas laughed rather abruptly at that, glancing over at Monty.
Not quite sure what was so funny, Charles looked to Missus Niko for help, frowning.
She just shook her head, smiling.
“Go on,” she urged.
“He fell in love with Montgomery,” he continued, meeting eyes with Monty, who offered him a faint smile, “who was gathering flowers in the light of the sun.”
Thomas watched him with wary eyes
“And I know how it was because... he was like me.”
Charles swallowed, and turned his head to look at Edwin, his lover.
“A man in love with a man.”
Edwin gave him a beautiful smile, eyes overflowing with love and encouragement and hope. Hope to get out of Hadestown, to be free, to be with his partner.
Charles pulled in a deep breath.
“Singing la la la la la la la.
La la la la la la la.”
Thomas shot to his feet, shock painted across his features. He took a step closer, eyes wide.
“Where'd you get that melody?” the god asked, confused, almost frantic.
“La la la la la la la.”
“Let him finish, Thomas,” Monty spoke up, a soft look in his eyes.
“La la la la la la.”
Thomas stopped where he stood, just watching. He seemed afraid.
“And you didn’t know how,” Charles sang, putting his whole heart into his song. “And you didn't know why. But you knew that you wanted to take him home.”
He turned back to Edwin at those words, reminded of their first meeting all those months ago.
“You saw him alone there, against the sky.” Charles poured all his love for Edwin into his voice. “It was like he was someone you’d always known.”
He saw as understanding lit his lover’s kaleidoscope eyes, fiery adoration burning in his gaze.
“It was like you were holding the world when you held him.”
Charles knew this feeling. He knew it very well. As he looked at Edwin, his world, that was all he wished to do. Just hold him. Go back to the way things used to be.
“Like yours were the arms that the whole world was in.”
And Charles was goddamn lucky to have Edwin, to have someone as beautifully wonderful and amazing as his partner. Something he never should’ve taken for granted in the first place.
“And there were no words for the way that you felt.”
There hadn’t been. And there still weren’t.
“So you opened your mouth, and you started to sing.”
Bolstered by the sight of the Thomas’ workers’ empty eyes coming to life, by the sight of his lover, by the sight of the nearing light at the end of the tunnel, Charles opened his mouth and sang.
“La la la la la la la.”
The workers, hope lighting their eyes ablaze, Edwin, relief and love erasing his every fear, and Monty, come to life again, all raised their voices up with Charles.
“La la la la la la la!” they sang together.
Charles looked around, dumbfounded. He didn’t expect…
This was what his music was for. To bring people together. God or man, that didn’t matter right now. They were all equals as they raised their voices high and sang.
“La la la la la la la,” Charles sang.
“La la la la la la la,” they echoed back, voices raised in harmony.
Thomas prowled around Charles, Edwin, and Monty, anger written plain across his face. But there was also confusion. And something else that made him seem like just a man. Just a man afraid of losing all that he loved.
Monty glared defiantly at his husband, keeping his eyes locked on him even as the god stalked back and forth.
Their chorus continued despite the king, it was something beyond even what he could control.
“La la la la la la la.”
The workers and their prince circled Charles, singing with him, brought together by his song.
“La la la la la la la.”
Charles spun around and around, meeting the eyes of every worker, invigorated by their hope.
Together, they could change the mind of a cold-hearted man too afraid to see all of what he was doing. Together, they could right what was wrong with the world. Of this, Charles was certain.
“La la la la la la la.”
Their voices grew louder and more powerful with each moment, ringing out with certainty and strength.
“La la la la la la.”
Charles stopped playing his lyre and raised his arms up to just sing, pouring everything he had into his song, their song.
“La la la la la la la.”
There was something just so powerful about all of their voices merged together.
The sound filled the space, growing beyond anything Charles could’ve ever dreamed.
This was what he was meant to do. He knew that now.
“La la la la la la la.”
Power was rushing through him, making him dizzy. The weight of it all was staggering, but Charles kept his chin up.
He had to be strong. Everything depended on him.
“La la la la la la la.”
As they sang, Charles’ mind flashed back to his and Edwin’s first meeting. What was it that he’d said?
A song to fix what’s wrong. To take what's broken, and make it whole.
Well, this was it.
And, gods, wasn’t it beautiful?
“La la la la la la.”
And he could tell it was working. He could see the dumbfounded look on Thomas’ face, shocked by their actions, by the song. The song that used to be his.
But what had become of that man?
“La la la la la la.”
Only the Fates knew, he supposed. But maybe Charles knew, too.
Because, in the end, he and Thomas were quite alike. Whether that was a good thing or not, only time could tell.
“La la la la la la la.”
The workers orbited Charles—and Thomas, who stood frozen beside him—as if he were the sun and them the planets.
Monty, who sang with them, focused on Thomas, his gaze bright again.
Niko, who’d been watching silently from the sidelines, had joined in, a joyous smile spread across her face.
“La la la la la la la.”
And Edwin. His lover, his light, his world.
Charles just wanted to gather him up in his arms, and take him home—the same way he’d wanted to when they had first met.. He wanted to apologize for everything he'd done wrong, for everything he didn’t do.
He would later if they got out of here. Gods, please, let them get out of here.
“La la la la la la la.” Their voices surged up one last time, then faded away, like the tide of the ocean.
The workers and gods stopped circling and everything seemed to go still all at once.
Charles breathed deeply. He had to get this right. Or else they were never getting out of here.
He strummed his lyre once more.
“And what has become of the heart of that man,” he began, the workers vocalizing softly in the background, “now that the man is king?”
Thomas stepped away, his back turned to the crowd.
“What has become of the heart of that man… now that he has everything?” Charles asked, eyes fixed on an unmoving Thomas.
Beside Charles, Monty stared at his husband’s back, an angry, yet imploring look in his eyes
“The more he has, the more he holds, the greater the weight of the world on his shoulders,” Charles sang. “See how he labors beneath that load, afraid to look up, and afraid to let go."
“So he keeps his head low.” Charles stomped on beat, eyes fluttering shut as he sang. “He keeps his back bending.” He stomped again.
“He′s grown so afraid that he'll lose—” Stomp. “—what he owns.” Stomp.
It was then that something shifted in Thomas’ frame—something different to the set of his shoulders. He softened, maybe.
“But what he doesn′t know is that what he's defending…”
Thomas spun around to face Monty.
“...is already gone,” Charles finished.
Thomas and Monty stared at each other, the memories of years past flashing in their eyes. The memories of different times, of better times.
“Where is the treasure inside of your chest? Where is your pleasure? Where is your youth?”
Thomas began to take slow, hesitant steps towards his husband, their eyes still locked.
“Where is the man with his arms outstretched to the one that he loves with nothing to lose?”
Monty moved forward as well, and the pair met in the middle, just looking, not touching.
Charles glanced over to Missus Niko who gave him a nod.
“Singing la la la la la la la,” he sang out, eyes slipping shut again.
A brief moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever, then—
“La la la la la la la.”
Charles’ eyes flew open again, and he stared at Thomas. The king’s voice was faint and hardly there but still—he was singing his song. The one he’d sung to Monty all those years ago.
Monty brought his hand to his mouth, speechless. But he didn't have to speak. His eyes said it all.
“La la la la la la la,” Charles vocalized softly, grinning, with hope burning hotter in his chest.
Monty offered his hands out to Thomas, and they finished the song together—him, Thomas and Charles, all in harmony.
“La la la la la la.”
Thomas reached out, perhaps to take Monty’s hands in his own, but—
There, in his palm, rested a single red carnation.