When the serpent bit Eurydice on that fateful day, and Hades came to take her down to the Underworld, it was Orpheus's song that saved her and brought her back to life.  However, Hades declared, because a soul for a soul is only fair, Orpheus was to take Eurydice's place in the Underworld, in Asphodel.

"Your song isn't enough to save the both of you, Orpheus.  You do understand, don't you?" he had said.

Eurydice begged Hades not to take her Orpheus away, but no amount of tears and sobs could make the unfeeling man reverse his decision.  He led Orpheus down the cold tunnel six feet below the ground to the Fields of Asphodel, where the misery of the souls who wandered there blocked out the light of day, and no one heard his song.  And Eurydice, who couldn't bear to live in a world without Orpheus, decided to go to Hades and give him her plea to get Orpheus back.

So she led herself down the twisted tunnel to the Underworld, and when she finally got to Hades and approached him and Persephone upon their thrones, she pleaded for passage for her and Orpheus back to the land of the living.  She had nothing to give, no reason that her wish should be granted.  Hades looked upon her, a mere nymph who had risked her life above for a man, with disdain.  But Persephone took her lover's arm with compassion for the girl, recognizing the look in Eurydice's eyes as the one she shared long ago with Hades.  It made him remember what it was like to feel a love so strong that it made him take Persephone away from the world above to make her his in the world below.  Suddenly, turning such an innocent request away seemed too cruel for even the god of death.  Eurydice's love for Orpheus was able to get her through the journey to the Underworld all by herself.  But Orpheus's love stood yet to be tested.

Hades decided that if when Eurydice found Orpheus in the Fields of Asphodel and called out his name, he heard and remembered her, they would be able to leave together.  Given this task, Eurydice started her journey through the Underworld to look for Orpheus.  "We'll see if your songbird is able to hear you over his song," Hades's low voice echoed as Eurydice walked away.

As Eurydice traveled down to the Fields of Asphodel, she could think of nothing but the time she spent with him in the world above.  As she passed the Elysian Fields, she saw herself and Orpheus lying in a flowery meadow, her head resting on his lap as he worked on his song, a song so beautiful that it made all the trees and rocks nearby lean closer to listen. The world seemed to hum in tune along with him when he sang his song, filling in harmonies and chords. She watched a memory of him toss her an apple, which she caught, as he sweeps her off her feet and spins her around, laughing and dancing to his song together.

She was so confident in that moment after seeing her memories of them together that upon stepping onto the Fields of Asphodel, she was not at first worried when she did not see Orpheus among the sea of gray bodies that roamed aimlessly.  Not long after, she heard the beautiful song, a distant and sad melody.  She ran toward the sound, feet crushing the dead flowers beneath her, and soon found Orpheus, wandering without direction.  For her, it was like seeing the world reborn, like after Demeter brought back the green fields and harvest from the dark, cold winter.  However, as she neared him, she saw the plain expression on his face.  He looked confused, humming his song as other gray souls stopped to listen as he walked by.  But unlike before, there were no trees or rocks or wind to return the harmonies, no one to complete the chords.

"Orpheus!" Eurydice cried as she opened her arms to embrace him.

"Orpheus..." his voice droned, pausing his song momentarily, lips barely moving as he mumbled the name. "Orpheus..."

She wanted to call for him again, but when she opened her mouth, no sound came out.  Orpheus's dull, glazed eyes looked right through her, his hands loose like he had nothing to hold on to.

And as he turned from her, she realized that it was his song, the song which he had once saved her with, that kept him from returning to her.  He couldn't remember his own name because a once magical song, now just a sad melody, filled his head.  He failed to see her.

She looked back the way she came, but all there was to see was a place she wanted to return to no more than to stay where she was, for both were places without Orpheus.  And all she could see then was the apple that Orpheus threw at her, that she had caught, which was now rotting away in the world above, an empty promise never to be fulfilled.