Yay! 8D The longest! Here comes Lex!
Butterflies
The Hacker
She hadn't been back to the island. Not since the first time. And she had never planned on setting foot on it again. It had taken years to get over what had happened. Years of therapy and countless hours of talking through it. And she still had the occasional nightmare of being chased by the velociraptors. She'd wake up in a cold sweat, sometimes screaming her brother's name, and have to meditate until her hands stopped shaking. It was like a panic or anxiety attack. But they were few and far between. Nearly two years since her last.
Tim's return to the island a year ago had been a surprise and shock to the family. They'd long ago several any ties they had to their grandfather's dream. Or at least, the rest of the family had. But Tim had announced that not only was he going to the island, but also that he had been back a handful of times and he was planning on moving there permanently and working there. And Tim had moved to the island, despite all their protests. And none of those revelations brought on attacks for her.
Lex had been a bit hurt at first. She felt... betrayed by her little brother. After their disaster of a trip the first time, they'd become closer. And Lex hated the idea that he'd lied to her. Even though Tim insisted he didn't lie. He just didn't tell her everything. But... she forgave him quickly. She couldn't fault her brother for following his dreams. He'd been obsessed with dinosaurs since birth and he'd been the closest with their grandfather. And she trusted him. He sent her statistics and articles on the island. There had been no deaths, no escapes, no rampages. Their safety records were flawless. Everything was perfectly safe, Tim had told her several times. And he sent her tickets every month, begging her to visit. He said it would do her good, help her to finally get past what happened to them and move on.
And then Tim had sent her pictures and videos of the baby veggiesaurus that had recently hatched. That was named Lexy. And it had been a ploy, a trick by Tim to get her there. And it had worked. Because the little long neck veggiesaurus Lexy was cute. And growing like a little week since her birth three weeks ago. She looked to be the size of a medium dog in the video he'd sent her yesterday. And Lex had a feeling that she just needed to go. She needed to go to the island and see the baby veggiesaurus and stay far away from the raptor and t-rex exhibits.
Yes. That was the reason she was there. To get over her shit and move on with her life. Though honestly, it'd been over 20 years. She was over it. She'd just never wanted to come. She'd had no interest in it. She hated when that stuffy suit guy, Masrani, had been put in charge of her grandfather's trust and started working on getting the island going again. She'd never met the man, of course. Her parents had once, maybe 15 years ago, when he first took over.
Lex shifted her weight from one foot to the other as the ferry docked. She was nervous. But she expected that. It had been over 20 years ago. She didn't want to think about just how long. Because it had been a looooong time since she was there. And she could still remember stepping down off the helicopter behind her grandfather. Lex took a deep breath and slung her duffle bag over her shoulder. Just a week. She could do this. Just a week. A week that she would probably spend most of in her hotel room, on her laptop or her phone or something, literally anything else than being outside with the dinosaurs. Well... with the dinosaurs larger than a dog.
She could do this.
But damn! She was almost shaking with nerves as she stepped down off the ferry. A sea of people practically floated across the docks around her. She got swept up with them for a few moments. Then she ducked out of the waves and stepped back, against the railing of a large tank. She knew the basic layout. Tim had sent her maps and she turned to gaze into the Mosaurus tank. Tank wasn't a good term. It was a lake. It was huge! She took another deep breath as her eyes zeroed in on the dark shape slowly gliding by. And that was huge.
She could do this.
She turned. First stop, the hotel. She'd get checked in and then call her brother. Maybe. Maybe she'd ask the front desk where he was. She wondered idly, as she pushed away from the railing, if they would tell her where her brother was. She knew what building he worked in. He had sent her a lot of pictures and maps. She could just strut right in like she belonged there. And find him all by herself. She stepped forward with a nod to herself because she was going to do just that. She barely took two steps before she stopped. She turned slightly and tilted her head. She had a weird... feeling? Was it a feeling? A weird... something. And for some reason, the weird something feeling was telling her to go the opposite way. She was equal parts annoyed and curious. And nervous. Why was she nervous? Well... the dinosaurs made her nervous. But this was a different nervous. She adjusted the strap of her bag and headed the wrong way, which was the right way, the something feeling beckoned. And it was weird.
She kept going until she reached the large fountain. She stopped and stared at it a moment. It was cool, maybe. Overly large and maybe pretty. But why? This couldn't possibly be what she was meant to see. Just a dumb... She turned slightly and stopped. Her eyes widened and she sucked in a sharp breath. Her bag slipped from her shoulder and landed on the ground with a thud. She had thought she felt the Butterflies once, when she first started college. Her college roommate. But it turned out the girl was just overly friendly and Lex had the worst case of untreated food poisoning the doctor said he'd ever seen. She was hospitalized for a week and when she was released, she quickly realized her roommate was not her soulmate.
She saw the two men, holding hands and staring at her and she knew. She knew the moment she saw them. They were her Butterflies. She recognized Simon. He was unexpected. He was a bit older than her and sort of connected to her family, even if she'd never met him. The other, the one with the glasses, she didn't know at all. But that's how this soulmate thing worked, wasn't it? Fate decided when soulmates met. The other man's mouth was hanging open. And it was adorable. She realized then what she'd been having since she'd stepped off the ferry. Maybe before. Maybe when she woke up this morning and decided today was the day she was visiting the island. The Butterflies.
In rare cases, the Butterflies of Fate chose two mates for one person. Lex had actually met someone in college who had gotten Butterflies two separate times, nearly two years apart. But Lex wasn't getting that feeling. She felt like they were both hers, but that they were also each others. An even rarer occurrence, for more than two people to Butterfly together. But Lex was certain.
Her bag forgotten, she started across the plaza towards them. Simon stiffened, she noted, as she neared. Surprise, she hoped, or nerves. But she got a sense of weariness from him. That was fine. She could respect that. They were strangers, after all. Not everyone reacted the same way. Not everyone was instantly prepared to accept their soulmate into their lives seconds after meeting. Everyone was different. And Lex could respect that. She altered her course slightly and instead, stopped right in front of Glasses. She smiled widely at him and reached for his free hand.
Glasses grabbed her hand before she hardly moved it. He moved without hesitation and held onto her tightly. Then he glanced sideways at Simon. Lex followed his gaze and smiled at Simon as well. She held her other hand out to him. She didn't move to touch him or anything, just held her hand out.
Simon watched and a few moments ticked by. But then he lifted his gaze to meet hers. And reached out slowly. And touched his hand to hers. And Lex swore, she felt a jolt of something pass through. Electricity or something.
Yeah. She could do this.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Author's Notes: Ugh! I want to write more! XD Like a After the Butterflies thing. Because I wanted to just keep writing this one! It was the hardest to STOP! But I was like, NO! I HAVE TO STOP WRITING THIS! BECAUSE THIS IS THE POINT OF THIS WEIRD SERIES!