Prologue
Long Ago, when the world was filled with magic and broken hearts were as rare as a mermaid that never sings , lived two similar people who led very different lives; One was a prince with hair the color of a the midnight sky, eyes that never saw the sun, and cursed to an ugly existence. The other was a girl, her hair the same shade as a raven's wing and her eyes an electric green that warned others away, her father was a mad scientist. Both were tough as nails, both were stubborn, and they need to rely on each other.
"AND STAY OUT BUTTERCUP!" A voice cut through the crisp evening air, accompanied by a large bear of a woman throwing out a tall raven haired teenager into the cobblestone street. Buttercup grunted as she hit the ground and with a scowl rubbed her sore behind, slowly rising to her feet. The minute she turned her pointed glare at all of the windows on the street's buildings multiple shutters closed simultaneously.
Buttercup huffed in anger as she stomped out of town, her messy, yet short, raven hair continuously falling into her brilliant emerald eyes until she angrily shoved it out of the way. How dare they all call her father crazy when he was, in fact, a genius! After all, he saved her! Still storming, Buttercup fumed all the way up to the dark house that she lived in with her father.
"Good evening my precious darling, how are you?" Her father asked from a different room as she slammed the door open and closed, the framework of the house rattling slightly at her anger. With a sigh, Buttercup wills herself to put on a fake smile and calm down for her father's sake; he didn't need to know about what she faced at his expense.
"You know, same old same old." Buttercup replied, walking into her father's workroom. The tall raven haired man looked up from his current task of rearranging all of his files. Buttercup wasn't really the daughter of this man, for he had found her when she was stumbling around and raving like a lunatic. He took her in, and the two have had an adoptive relationship ever since, "So how are you doing Professor?"
The man didn't even bat an eye at her unusual nickname for him, and merely looked up with kind eyes, "I am doing very well, thank you for asking."
Buttercup felt the corners of her mouth quirk up, and her father smiled at the rare facial expression she now wore. But as suddenly as the small genuine smile appeared, a smirk replaced it and the moment that Buttercup looked like an angel was over. The professor sighed in exasperation, and Buttercup looked at him indignantly.
"What?" She demands, and the professor shook his head, turning back to his papers, "What did I do?"
"Oh, nothing." He sighed, and leaves the ravenette with that response. Her mouth opened and closed, much like a fish does whenever it is out of the water, but she quickly snapped it shut and instead of demanding another answer she runs her hand through her messy hair, wincing slightly when she fills a bump on her skull. Unfortunately for her, the professor catches this action and once again turns his attention to her, "Buttercup, do you by any chance have a bump on your head?"
"No." Buttercup quickly denies, and then under her breath comes a quiet, "damn." Slowly, the professor gets up, towering over the smaller teen, and starts to part her hair, "Professor, it's nothing. I just bumped my head on a table, no big deal."
Well, technically she wasn't lying, because she did indeed slam her head into a table earlier that day; the only difference was that she was in yet another bar fight and had her head smashed into a table by Princess's henchman, Mitch, who was known as one of the town's drunkards.
"Buttercup," The Professor said, worry was thick in his warm voice as Buttercup turned her head to the left and averted her electric green eyes to the ground where she was certain he wouldn't see the anger and pain reflected in them, "Let's fix you up."
And so father and daughter continued on with the medical examination for another three hours, neither one wanting to even try to go to a physician that would turn them away in a town that hated their guts.
Butch was angry.
But then again, he always was, what with being condemned to the same place for almost 14 years, not even able to go outside because the world would shun him back into the shadows.
Butch narrowed his mismatched eyes in frustration at the dark wall opposite to him, knowing that if he really wanted to that with his unnatural strength he could tear down that hateful wall without any problem; but because he wanted to hold on to what little humanity he had left, Butch just glares at the wall instead, his bitterness festering within.
A bird crowed a sad song outside, and Butch started at the odd sound, his two golden horns accidentally hitting the ceiling and scraping bits of it off. The poor boy rubbed his head after a particularly large piece of the falling rock hit him.
"Damn it all." Butch growled, snarling even more when he heard his gravelly tone. Then, almost as if nothing had happened, he continued to stare at the wall, utterly alone in the dark silence.
"Really, I'm fine Professor." Buttercup insisted as her caretaker once again began to poke and prod her with medical tools, "It's just a bump on the head, don't sweat it."
"Don't talk about it like that Young Lady; you almost received a concussion because of this 'bump on the head', which means that you need to be more careful." The professor said sternly, catching her hand as she raised it to push him away.
"Oh come on, I've got a tougher skull than that." Buttercup protests, but doesn't try to push him away again. The Professor finishes up his task in a half an hour, both people remaining silent the whole while, and once he finishes he unexpectedly grabs Buttercup and pulls her into a hug.
"Professor, what are you-" The young girl tries to ask, shocked, but before she can finish he twirls her out of his arms.
"Buttercup, do you remember what tomorrow is?" He asked cheerfully, completely changing the subject. Buttercup grudgingly decided to stop pursuing the previous reason for the hug, and instead shrugs her shoulders in response to his question. He simply sighs and shakes his head slowly, "Honestly Buttercup, do you not even know when your own Birthday is?"
"Actually, I don't considering that I do have amnesia." Buttercup replied, and the older man just gives her a look that says 'don't be a smartass'.
"Yes, I know but tomorrow is the anniversary of the day I found you 14 years ago, the day that my life became complete." Her father said, smiling at his green eyed daughter with amazing young girl rolled her eyes, but she didn't deny what he was saying, "And I'm so excited that I'm going to give you your present now."
"I'm sorry, but why?" Buttercup asked, and the older man once again dazzled her with a warm smile.
"Because no matter how hard I try, you always seem to be able to find and open your present." He tried to be serious about it, but they both knew it was his fault for leaving the gifts out in the open.
"Fine fine, I will open your present now." Buttercup said, waving her hand around dismissively, but she was eager to see what she would be receiving this year. After all, last year she had obtained a small dagger with a green hilt that matched her eyes. Sure, it was quickly confiscated because she had threatened to skin Princess alive, but that didn't mean that it wasn't awesome.
The Professor went away to go retrieve it, and Buttercup quickly undid her heads bandaging; she didn't want people to see her like that, it would show that she had in fact gotten hurt and that she was weak. Almost immediately after Buttercup hid the bandages, the Professor walked back into the room with a small forest green satchel in his hands.
"I got this from the Gypsies that passed through here a few months ago. I really think that you're going to like it." He said eagerly, handing her the soft pouch. Buttercup, afraid of possibly breaking something, gingerly opened it, and gasped when she saw what was inside.
It was a pendant, not really Buttercup's style, but all the same it was beautiful. To most people, it's silver frame was shaped like a tear around a glassy clear gem, but in Buttercup's eyes it looked like a tear of starlight had fallen into her hands. Without wasting any time she quickly fastened it around her neck, the tear shaped part fell into the hollow of her collarbone, and when she looked up at the Professor her eyes were shining.
"Thank you Professor, I love it." She smiles another one of her rare genuine smiles, looking like a raven haired angel before she buried her face in her father's chest, hugging him tightly. The older man, taken aback from this uncharacteristic burst of emotion, hugged her back, a sad smile forming on his face. Neither of the two people noticed the crystal in the pendant glow, quickly turning an emerald green.
Butch was no longer in the dark room, but instead was in the dark, crumbling, abandoned palace. He walked down the grand staircase, reminiscing in the familiar architecture despite being physically different than the four year old boy he used to be. He had given up all hope for a cure about 12 years ago, when everyone disappeared into the night with the blood red moon, so when he felt the pull he was completely caught off guard.
It began in his chest, a sharp tug that he would describe later as the string of destiny losing it's slack because it had attached to someone else, and then he felt pain. Butch doubled over, reduced to his knees in pain, and screamed in agony; he looked at his large hands and pointed black talons, and in shock watched as they returned to their normal state. He felt the sharp canines recede back into his gums, replaced with those of an ordinary human, and once again felt a sharp pain in his head as his horns shrunk as well. His height and muscle bulk became that of an ordinary human, and with his now normal hands Butch fingered his face, but to his disappointment still felt the raised scar on the left side of his mouth, as well as the slightly raised skin around his left eye that was part of his curse mark.
"Well well, you've lucked out Butch." A silky voice sounded behind him, and Butch whipped around, attempting to face the intruder; but because he was not used to his human body, the only thing that Butch succeeded in doing was flopping onto the floor like a fish. This action resulted in a beautiful that sounded like bell chimes, but was probably laughter.
"Azura." Butch growled, sitting up and looking at the beautiful woman before him; her pale skin was unflawed, she had a delicate nose, and her hair was a flaming red that women of today yearn for. The only way that anyone would know that she was something more than human, other than her blinding perfection, was her eyes. You see, her eyes had no iris, and instead were a shade that humans have yet to describe. On that particular day, her perfect form was clothed in a mermaid style gown, the bottom of which was completely aflame. In her ears were emerald earrings that were so long they almost touched her shoulders, on her wrist was an elegant bracelet of sapphires, and on her throat was a single, large ruby. Butch knew that in those pieces of jewellery were the human souls of him and his brothers, and because of it Butch hated the sorceress with a burning passion, even though she wasn't the one that initially cursed him.
"It is good to see the real you again Butch." She said, her perfectly shaped mouth smirking at the young man's misfortune. He growled, but held his tongue, "And I hope you know what this means."
"Someone's found the pendant you made. The one that you made to help me find the one who could break my curse." Butch stated, surprised that his voice was at its normal pitch instead of the gravelly tone it had before.
"Precisely." Azura nodded, kneeling down to caress Butch's face, "And I must now tell you the rules of this new game."
Butch, while angry that she had called his suffering a game, nodded solemnly at the sorceress, and she smirked at his compliance.
"In essence, you need to make the finder fall in love with you." Azura said, her eyes locked into Butch's. Butch smirked, thinking that it would be easy (I mean, hello?! He's attractive!), and Azura's eyes narrowed, "But there are a few rules."
Butch's face fell, and the witch took pleasure in the poor young man's sorrow.
"First of all, you should have noticed that your more, erm, extreme oddities given to you by Cyrene have been temporarily removed; tomorrow night, as well as all nights onward, until dawn you will be the beast." Azura started, but stopped when she saw Butch's disbelieving stare, "What is it boy?"
"You mean that I have to go through that entire process all over again every night?" He asked the sorceress incredulously, but she merely rolled her eyes.
"The Change gets less painful every time." Azura snapped, but then regained her condescending manner and once again fixed her eyes on Butch, "You'll learn to cope. But in order for the curse to be lifted-"
"I need to make her fall in love with me, I know." Butch said, rolling his eyes, and Azura threw back her head, cackling.
"Oh no dear boy, there is more to it than that."Azura finally said, wiping away tears of laughter. Butch looked at her in confusion, and Azura continued with a smirk, "She needs to fall in love with all of you, boy, and you must fall in love with her."
Butch almost felt his jaw drop as he looked at Azura with disbelief, confusion, and fear, "But why?"
"Alas, that I cannot tell you." Azura sighed, and Butch was almost fully convinced that it was genuine, "My best guess is that it is all a part of Cyrene's initial curse. After all, the best that I could do was trap your human souls to make the process of becoming a monster more bearable."
Butch once again fought the urge to strangle the sorceress for her harsh bluntness, but repressed that urge at the thought of Cyrene, the one that had initially cursed the Jojos. They still had no idea what had pushed her over the edge, but Butch had a hunch that it was the kidnapping of her three daughters; the magician thought that his family had taken the three girls, not even bothering to listen to them, and had instead decided to curse the three Jojo boys.
"I know that you hate her, but you must understand that my sister was beyond reason. If I could find her, then I would make her reverse it all." Azura said haughtily, but her odd eyes showed concern for the now twitching young man.
"You said that only Cyrene's curse on my appearance would come back, but what about yours?" Butch asked, referring to the scars on his body, his white right eye, and the tattoo that he didn't remember ever getting.
"Those are going to stay, because they're more normal." Azura shrugged, and Butch fought the urge to snort at her indifference, "Will you try to break the curse?"
"What do you think?" Butch asked over his shoulder, for he had risen off of the crumbling floor and was now heading outside for the first time in 14 years.
Once she was alone, Azura laughed silently, her form shifting to one that she was more comfortable with; her eyes were now magenta and looked like a normal human being's, and her dress was gone, replaced instead with a black and red gypsie's dress. Her fingernails became more like talons, and her skin became a few shades darker.
"I do hope that he finds what he's looking for, because I've decided that green is definitely not my color." She smiled, and in a flash disappeared, but she left one last gift for Butch…
Azura repaired the broken palace.
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Sincerely, your friendly neighborhood Xen