I know, I know, I know. Bunbun's a sorceress, not a sorcerer. But for the effect.. it seemed a bit sexist, so to honor Bunbun, I just referred to her as 'sorcerer' throughout the story.
Warning: Implied sex, hot people making out, bad language, a bit of angst, and- of course- blood. Also, things might not make sense if you haven't read the book.
So... enjoy?

Signed with kisses~

Almond Luver

Part five: Bunbun, Butterfly, and Lynn

The Oath of a Thief

"I doubt it's worth much, but you have my oath..."

He'd found her, broken and bloodied, by the cliffs leading to his lair, and something about the sorcerer had compelled Lynn to take a second look. Normally it meant nothing to him- he came across dead and dying people from time to time and had no issues with ignoring them. But this one…hair darker than any sand, the clear mark of one with innate Kaa, and eyes that showed as a deep hazel when Lynn kicked her awake. She was pretty, if pretty was also bleeding and vicious-looking. An interesting combination in a woman, and Lynn found himself indulging in curiosity.

"What, I'm not dead yet?" the sorcerer muttered, voice high if hoarse, shifting on the stones and grimacing. "Damn, this is going to take a while…do me a favor and hurry it up?"

The manner of the request, if not the request itself, was somewhat startling, and Lynn found himself chuckling. "And why should I help you, mahoutsukai? Ore-sama is a thief…I do nothing for free."

"Do I look like I have anything on me?" the sorcerer snapped. "It would be the work of a second to cut my throat, asshole…"

"How did you end up like this anyway, mahoutsukai? Pissed off the wrong man?"

"Bandits, actually. Thought I'd try my hand at killing them, but they had some new sorcerer knifed into working for them…I was too busy with the dragon to fight them off properly…"

The sorcerer was starting to fall unconscious again, but Lynn's interest was piqued by her tale, and so he slung the sorcerer's body over his horse and took her into his lair. He did some perfunctory work on the sorcerer's wounds, though nothing too fancy, since he hardly planned on keeping her.

When the sorcerer woke up again her first reaction was to curse. "Damn it all, Suteku and Wepuwaweto take it…I'm still not dead?" She turned her head, and scowled at Lynn. "You, thief…what the fuck are you waiting for?"

Lynn shrugged, smirking. "I was bored, you were mildly interesting…thought I might as well get some entertainment out of you before you die, you know?"

"What, you have a fetish for fucking people who are half dead?"

Lynn laughed, the sound echoing around them in the caverns of his lair. "Hardly, though I might have fucked you if I'd found you in better health… It's your stories of bandits I want, mahoutsukai. You said they forced a sorcerer into working for them?"

The sorcerer stared at him, eyes level and hard, for a long time before speaking. "Aa. They choose young ones, weak ones…sorcerers who aren't trained well. Beat them badly enough to bring the Kaa out and then keep a knife to their throat so they won't turn the Kaa on them. Usually they kill the sorcerers before they can get enough control to be a danger to them. Works surprisingly well."

"Disgusting," Lynn said with a snarl. Maybe he'd do this sorcerer a favor and finish off her job with them.

The sorcerer raised a brow. "What, you have morals?"

"Here and there." Lynn's eyes narrowed. "The only law of magic Ore-sama follows- if you're going to profit off pain, make sure it's your own."

"A surprisingly good one, especially considering the source. The priests could do with following your law."

"Rulers care more about the kingdom than the people, mahoutsukai. Don't you know that?"

The sorcerer shifted, otherwise silent, before finally answering. "I do. Well, thief, is there anything else you want?"

"Entertainment, like I said. I am in the middle of nowhere with only a horse for company, after all."

"I should have tried to kill myself before you came along, shouldn't I?" the sorcerer asked. "I was having some trouble finding a way to do it without a weapon…perhaps I could just make my Kaa slit my throat."

"I've heard that having it around while you die can be messy," Lynn warned her. "I remember a sorcerer down in Kush…he ended up with the rest of his soul bound into his Kaa that way, got stuck as a monstrous scorpion. May be more worthwhile if your Kaa is pretty, but…" Lynn shrugged.

The sorcerer sighed. "I suppose dying would be better. Maybe I'd see Obba-nim again…" she trailed off, and soon fell unconscious again.

Lynn tried to get some work done with the newest magic scrolls he'd stolen and sent to his lair, but the sorcerer's body drew his eyes, as if her wounded body were a blemish needing to be fixed. She was pretty enough and decent company, but the indecision was aggravating.

When the sorcerer woke again she cursed Lynn. Her vocabulary was really quite inventive…was that even a language from Kemet just then? When her invective died down she spat on the stone floor. "You're a fucking bastard, you know that? What will it take to make you get it over with and kill me?"

"Feel free to make a suggestion, mahoutsukai."

The sorcerer snorted. "It's Butterfly, bastard."

"Lynn."

Butterfly's eyes ran over him, narrowing slightly. "I've never heard of a name like that…"

"A meaningless name. Us thieves are never popular."

Butterfly nodded. "I always thought that my father would have claimed I wasn't his if it wouldn't require him accusing my mother of adultery as well."

Lynn cocked his head, and found himself offering some personal information. "Ore-sama's village was one of thieves- they had no problem labeling Ore-sama a bastard and Haha-ue a whore when Oyakata-sama refused to claim us."

"And yet you're a sorcerer…probably better than all of them," Butterfly said, voice hard but matter of fact.

"Aa. They always regret treating demon children the way they do, one way or another."

"Mhm…" the sorcerer turned her head, staring at the far wall. "The priests say that powerful Kaa is a gift from the gods. What do you think? I'd say either it's bull or the gods really think humans are evil."

Lynn stared, trying to interpret Butterfly's voice and expression, but her face was blank, and her voice the same as ever- a criminal's confidence. "In the end? I'd say they just know what we are. Humans are capable of many other things, but the parts of us capable of the most destructive force are always our negative emotions. You hate, don't you? The sorcerer who hates without holding anything back is always the most powerful. Even innate Kaa can only make up for it somewhat."

"Hmm. Our evil is the strongest, then?"

"The most powerful forces in this kingdom were created by murder and torture." Lynn turned away as he felt the stirrings of Heka, his temper rising.

"Were you tortured, then?" The sorcerer's voice was serious again, as it had been when speaking of seeing her siblings in death.

Lynn's Heka flared up in response, and he snapped back, "Well, what about you, mahoutsukai? You say you have access to your Kaa, and I can tell that you're powerful and used to using that power, even as you lie dying before Ore-sama." He rose, sweeping over to the sorcerer and standing over her. "If I can recognize your power even as you lie here mercy to Ore-sama's every whim…" he laughed darkly. "I could do anything to you, mahoutsukai, and you couldn't fight Ore-sama off."

Butterfly had grown tense, eyes narrowed and teeth bared, and now Lynn felt the stirrings of her Kaa, the screaming of a bird of prey… "Do not…don't even think about it, Lynn. Kill me, leave me to die…but I will not stand for being used by you. Try it and I'll be sure to rip you to pieces, even if I don't get my chance in this lifetime."

"Oh?" Lynn raised his brows. "Used, you say? Hmm…it was those bandits, wasn't it? You were their tool before you grew strong enough to escape them. Seems you've been used quite a lot, mahoutsukai. What's one more time?"

Butterfly trembled, snarling, and the bird screamed, before springing forth and striking at Lynn, slashing his chest with its claws as it swept past him. In response Lynn brought forth his tiger, throwing the bird back to the wall of the lair, and the bird trilled, vanishing before he could even get a good look at it. He glared down at Butterfly, ready to insult her again, but snorted and turned away when he saw that the sorcerer had fallen unconscious again.

He paced for most of the day, temper rising again whenever he looked back down on the sorcerer. He really should have just killed her, shouldn't he? Instead he'd taken the ingrate in for entertainment, and every damned word out of the sorcerer's mouth pissed him off but also lessened his willingness to kill her. Butterfly was a hate-filled, arrogant bitch, and the most like-minded person Lynn had ever met. She really was proving entertaining.

Damned sorcerer…finally Lynn gave in and looked at her wounds again, putting some real effort into cleaning them, and after some consideration covered them with acacia and sycamore leaves before wrapping them in new bandages. She was a bit feverish but nothing too serious, so Lynn returned to his studying for a time.

"What, still alive?" Butterfly's voice was somewhat groggy when she next awoke, but just as annoyed. "Do you regularly take people in and watch them die? You have a fucked up sense of entertainment."

"Ask something intelligent and I might answer, mahoutsukai," Lynn said, not bothering to look up from his reading.

He heard movements, the shifting of a body, and then Butterfly's voice. "Why did you do this?"

"It doesn't matter. Or are you so determined to die that you won't accept a way out?"

Butterfly snorted. "I'm wondering what ulterior motive you have, Lynn. Or are you going to tell me you've had a sudden altruistic inspiration?"

"Hardly."

Things continued in that vein for two more days, with Lynn checking up on Butterfly's state every once in a while and the sorcerer complaining and insulting him whenever she was awake and had the energy. There was an edge of wariness behind her insults, though- probably afraid of what Lynn was trying to keep her alive for.

"You know that if I recover I'll be a match for you? You won't get much use out of a sorcerer who can face you equally," Butterfly said, sneering.

Lynn growled. "Would you shut up, mahoutsukai? I don't have any plans to use you, you ass!"

"Then why? I know you're not doing this just to help me. What are you planning on getting out if it?"

"Nothing, idiot. You're entertaining and I decided it would be a waste to sit around and watch you die."

Butterfly looked up at him, eyes narrowing for a moment before she smirked. "What, that boring out here? Or maybe you do want to fuck me- can't be any other available bodies around."

Lynn rolled his eyes. "Opium. Take it, and stop exposing Ore-sama to your idiocy."

Butterfly ate and drank sparingly, unable to keep much down, and though Lynn would never say anything it worried him. It was only a few hours later that he finally decided to look into the sorcerer's Baa and see if he could do anything from there. It looked healthy for a moment, relatively uninterrupted silver…before with a shudder Lynn realized that it was growing distant from Butterfly's body.

Leaving his exploration of Butterfly's soul and returning to physical awareness, Lynn's ears roared, and he dimly acknowledged the hollow feeling in his stomach. Just as he decided to keep her around the sorcerer had to go and die? Growing faint with rage, Lynn clenched his fists. The pain as his nails scraped along his skin, drawing blood, brought him back to awareness a little, enough so that he heard Butterfly.

"Are you angry because I'm going to die or because I'm going to live, Lynn?" The sorcerer asked, sounding almost dryly amused.

Lynn snarled. "This isn't some joke, mahoutsukai!"

"I never said it was," Bunbun said, eyes blank and her expression level. "You're the one who made entertainment out of my situation."

"You think it's been entertaining for Ore-sama, doing healer's work? Dropping everything for-" He broke off, muttering curses, poisonous as the Heka that was surrounding him.

Bunbun watched him, gaze still blank, as he paced about his lair, kicking down piles of treasures and burning some of the uglier pieces with his Heka. Her eyes followed Lynn everywhere, though she said nothing, gave away not a hint of what she was feeling. She was better at hiding emotions, Lynn thought distantly, with the small part of him not focused on raging. Arrogance was the only front Lynn was capable of when he needed to hide his true feelings.

Wasn't she afraid of dying? She was a thief like Lynn, would probably end up in Ammeto's jaws if she didn't find a way to escape an honest judgment. And yet she asked for death, waited for it, as if she expected something good to come of it. Idiot.

It was hours later when Butterfly spoke again, when Lynn's rage had fallen to simmering, low at the moment but gathering strength to flare out again. "You wanted to save me, didn't you, Lynn?"

Lynn said nothing, but didn't deny it. Apparently that was good enough for Butterfly, who caught his eyes, emotion entering her face and eyes again though Lynn couldn't read them. "When I realized what you were doing…I thought that if you saved me I'd give myself to you. You could have me. I don't have much else to go for, and I owe you, don't I? But you can have me anyway, even though you can't save me."

Now confusion ran through Lynn, and he covered it with arrogance. "I thought you'd kill Ore-sama if I tried to use you, mahoutsukai. Why the change of heart?"

Butterfly snorted in disgust. "I'm not talking about that, idiot. I'm giving myself to you."

Lynn raised a brow. "There's a difference?" he asked, making the disdain in his voice evident.

"Fucking idiot, yes! It's choice, it's will…" Butterfly's expression grew distant. "I doubt it's worth much, but you have my oath."

"Oath…" Lynn's eyes widened, and again felt the unpleasant sensation of his ears roaring. The sorcerer couldn't possibly be serious… "What sort of idiot are you, to think you can do that?" he snapped. "To think that you have the right to do that? Don't you know that the oath of a thief means nothing?"

"No."

Lynn had to wonder what the fuck Butterfly had learnt as a child, to do this. He had grown up in a village of thieves, taught their ways and what was denied them from birth, and wasn't idiot enough to believe in this. Oaths…swearing yourself to someone was for nobles, priests, the Pharaoh even. No one gave a damn about the oaths of people like tomb robbers, and no tomb robber gave enough of a damn to make something as idiotic as an oath like that.

And yet he was sworn to gain revenge for his people…but even so, he didn't expect the gods or anyone else to honor it! He knew that if he wanted to survive for long enough, continue on if he failed in this lifetime, then he'd need to preserve himself and return through his own powers.

"If my oath isn't honored then I'll make it happen," Butterfly said suddenly. "It's my promise and the rest of them can go hang- I'll keep it if I have to get Anguha to set the gods who touch me on fire."

And Lynn had to laugh, amused and a bit hysterical. "Now you're making more sense, mahoutsukai. You were starting to sound like some idiotic priest for a moment there."

"Should I be insulted?" Butterfly asked, her voice containing a small hint of a drawl.

"What do you think?"

"That it's probably the largest insult you've dealt me since we met," Butterfly replied, and now amusement was evident in her voice.

Lynn didn't say anything else, hardly in the mood for joking. Energy deserting him, he swept over to Butterfly's side and sat by her, looking down at the sorcerer…his sorcerer's face, emotions and rage and something he had no name for, perhaps desire, settling to a slow burn in him. He examined Butterfly's features, pretty hair and eyes and lean body. He focused on the thought that Butterfly was his, the reality of it, and was distantly surprised to find his throat aching.

A thought came to him, a memory of a magical experiment with his innate talent long past… The spirit's appearance took after a person's appearance upon separation from the body- if Butterfly was left like this her spirit might be stuck looking this way, covered in now useless bandages and only an old kilt, forever.

Though he was reluctant to move from his place, he forced himself to rise and go digging through his treasures. Better kilt, a hazel robe like his sorcerer's eyes which, unlike his, would cut off at the elbows and knees…earrings, collar, arm bands…they'd suit Butterfly's looks.

He returned to Butterfly's side, placing them down and pulling her to a sitting position. "You don't want to look like that for the rest of your existence, do you?"

Butterfly's skin was hotter than ever, and perhaps the fever had begun to grow too high for even a sorcerer to stay fully sober in; she didn't bother responding, and her eyes were slightly glazed, though she glared well enough. But she seemed to like the clothing and jewelry, nodding over them and muttering, "Well, at least you have good taste…"

As she helped her dress Lynn removed the bandages on some of the lesser wounds, but the one on her stomach bore covering- a raw mass of flesh which he'd only been able to stitch roughly, and which had probably led to the worst of Butterfly's illness.

Butterfly looked used to the riches in a way that Lynn hadn't when first trying on his new riches as a child thief using the tiger's skills. For a moment Lynn's eyes narrowed, wondering at Butterfly's original rank, but he shoved the thought aside as unimportant a moment later. Maybe it could have been, but as it was…

His throat, damn it all, was tight again, had been for ages, and only grew worse. He let out a shuddering breath and finally lay down by Butterfly, exhausted. But he couldn't sleep, instead staring at her, not sure if he was waiting or trying to silently will Butterfly to live.

For a time Butterfly dozed, her body sometimes growing so still that Lynn would have to lean over her to check, feeling Butterfly's breath on his cheek. It didn't take long for him to grow sick of the nagging fear and its flow and ebb, so he finally remained there, lying over Butterfly with their foreheads pressed together.

When Butterfly opened her eyes again Lynn saw little but dark hazel, even more hazed by fever now. "Lynn…" Butterfly's voice was hoarse now, little more than a murmur. "What, scared of killing me?"

Lynn opened his mouth to protest the ridiculous notion of the Thief King being afraid of killing, but Butterfly took the opportunity to shut him up, using a weak hand to pull Lynn's head down so that she could kiss him. Her tongue slid into Lynn's mouth, hot and tasting of opium, and Lynn was surprised by how that much aroused him. But maybe he shouldn't be…it made sense, given how much Butterfly was like him.

Their kiss grew more vicious, teeth clashing and tongues twining, as if they were trying to get all the energy that could have one day been put into fucking in this one exchange. Butterfly was dying, but she felt alive under Lynn, arms slipping under his robe and scratching his back, kissing him with all the rage and desire she was capable of. And in the face of that Lynn could do nothing but respond in kind, biting Butterfly's tongue as he thought of the idiot sorcerer's death, placing a knee between her legs and pressing down hard as he thought of being left unfulfilled like this… He probably kissed like someone about to die as well.

He would have bitten Butterfly in other places if he'd had the will to pull away from their current exchange, and he had a feeling that Butterfly knew that…if she wasn't too far gone to know anything anymore, and the thought of that had him pulling one of Butterfly's arms away from him and grabbing hold of a hand, squeezing almost tightly enough to break bones.

When finally both were exhausted enough to end the kiss, Butterfly's breath was short, and Lynn doubted it was just from exertion. Her gasps were too shallow, too quiet. Their eyes met, Butterfly's blank brown, and Lynn saw that she was too far gone now- there was no recognition in them, and her forehead was burning like the desert in the day. They disturbed him in ways he couldn't say, but he continued to look into them, holding the blank gaze until Butterfly's breathing stopped and long after, focusing on them and thinking of nothing, not death and not life and not oaths…

Lynn felt almost blank with fever himself, rage and something he hadn't felt since that day which had defined his life…sorrow. Finally he closed his eyes and let himself rest, allowing himself a few moments of weakness as he never did in this life after. His eyes were wet and he didn't try to stop it, let it continue until he could bear no more and slept.

When Lynn rose again he had returned to himself, but tempered, steeled again, and with a new oath of his own. He gave himself a short glance at Butterfly's body before burning it with his Heka, sorrow and the rest of the emotions walled behind a tomb. He didn't allow himself it, because it was mad and screaming and insane and new in a way which would only hurt his quests- he would only be able to use it without abandoning his sanity after a far greater time tending it, allowing it to simmer and burn.

He carved a shenu bearing Butterfly's name in the spot where Butterfly's body had lain, the emotions concerning his sorcerer walled up too tightly for him to even know exactly why. And then he left, embarking on his quests, the old oath and the new one burning in him.

As he'd promised himself, he found the bandits and killed them.

His own soul he placed within the dungeons, hiding, waiting for a chance to break free and again try to take his vengeance.

Trapped within the stone walls of the dungeon and his mind, he paced and planned…and occasionally he thought to wonder how Butterfly would fulfill her own promise. And so the years passed, until eventually the dungeon was moved from its slot in the Tablet of the Underworld…

This time he had been found by the sorcerer, a tomb robber now, not as good as Lynn but definitely the best thief he'd ever seen after himself. She'd stolen into the chamber, past the keeper, there and gone, running off with the Sennen Ring before she'd ever noticed a breach. All the while Lynn felt her presence…his sorcerer, Butterfly…and laughed from within the stone chambers of his mind, knowing that their game would begin anew.

As he'd known she would, the sorcerer placed the tauk around her neck, cursing and trying to remove it when Lynn's laughter sounded in her mind. But it was useless- she wasn't the first to try to fight the power of the dungeon and she wouldn't be the last.

Finally she collapsed, and Lynn slipped into her mind. An opulent tomb, but full of rot…it suited her. Even more so when a trap sprung, arrows just missing him as he dodged. "It's no good, mahoutsukai," he called out, amused. "You can't fight Ore-sama…well, you can, but you can't win."

"Who are you?" Butterfly's voice rang through the rooms of the tomb, echoing so that her location couldn't be determined easily.

"Lynn. King of Thieves…remember?"

"Red robe, white hair, purple eyes…you're the thief they talk about. The one who locked himself in the dungeons."

"Oh? So it hasn't been as long as I'd thought. And here I was thinking I'd have to wait multiple lifetimes to be found…still, you took your time in coming, Butterfly."

It was the first time he'd bothered using the sorcerer's name, but it was worth the reaction he got. Butterfly's Kaa swept out, wild cat's claws prickling Lynn's throat, and the sorcerer followed, stepping out from behind a statue and surveying him with narrowed eyes. She looked similar to how she had when she'd last lived.

Her gaze was like before, eyes so deep that they could give the impression of being blank, emotionless. It was the rest of her face that gave her away- wary and interested. Fitting. "Lynn, how is it that you know my name?"

"You told me, of course," Lynn said, smirking.

Butterfly snorted. "You died before I was even born, Ou-sama. I've never told you anything."

Lynn glared for a moment, annoyed at hearing his old name for his enemy directed at himself. "Ah, but you did, mahoutsukai. Certainly I never would have bothered asking your name…"

"If I'm of so little consequence to you then why are you wasting time invading my mind?"

"Eh? I never said you were of little consequence to Ore-sama…you should try listening, mahoutsukai." The claws broke the skin, and Lynn grimaced. "Fine, fine…we met in your past life."

The claws moved back slightly, and Butterfly frowned at him. "Past life, you say? But I'm a thief- why would the gods bother sending me back to earth when they could send me to Ammeto's jaws?"

Lynn shrugged. "Who knows… I suppose the gods will honor even the oath of a thief. Why else you'd be reincarnated so easily I don't know."

Finally the bird released him, though it still hovered behind him, a silent but warning presence. Lynn rolled his head, testing out the cuts on his neck while he watched the sorcerer. Butterfly leaned back against the statue, crossing her arms and thinking. "Well, you are interesting, Lynn, I'll give you that. Perhaps you'll be worth keeping around for a while."

"Keep Ore-sama around?" Lynn repeated. "Well, if that's how you view it…You'll find quickly that it's not your will that matters, but the will of the Items…and of Ore-sama."

And Butterfly did try removing the tauk, more times than she suspected either of them could count. Each time Lynn returned, spelling the tauk back around Butterfly's neck regardless of the distance, and the smirk and sex the sorcerer greeted him with made it clear that it was all a game to her.

They stole together for over a decade, Lynn lending Heka in lieu of more physical aid. But Butterfly was only mortal, and one night when Lynn again returned the Ring to its place around her neck, he found Butterfly dying, a poison laced arrow having grazed her during a job.

"Ah, so I'm not dead yet," she muttered as she saw Lynn's spirit form hovering over her.

Lynn snarled, ignoring the idiot and inspecting her Baa for anything that could be done for her. Damn…nothing. The poison was too far along- maybe if he'd still had the old medicines from his lair and a fucking body he could have done something, but…

He spun away, cursing. "Idiot mahoutsukai! You couldn't have drained out some of the poison before it got into your blood so far?"

"I was rather busy fleeing the guards," Butterfly snapped. "I might have been able to defeat the sorcerers they had with them…but it would have taken long enough that it would have been moot- I'd have ended up poisoned and dying either way, Ou-sama."

Lynn's Heka swept about them, a poison-laced mist. Wasn't two lifetimes of seeing the sorcerer die before him enough?

I can save her for you, a voice whispered, the sound licking around him and through his Heka. It sounded…disturbingly like his own.

Lynn stilled. "What?"

I can save her, and then you can keep your sorcerer for as long as you like…all you'll have to do is fight for Ore-sama, and Ore-sama's fight is yours…

He shuddered, some part of him remembering. "You think I'm that stupid? You'd take her for yourself, twist her desires to yours, and I'm not standing for that. If mahoutsukai is anyone she's Ore-sama's- I'm not letting you touch her even to save her!"

"Lynn, who the fuck are you talking to? I'm the one poisoned and delirious here, not you," Butterfly snapped, her voice breaking through the haze.

Lynn shook his head, trying to clear his mind and figure out just what that damned voice had been. But it eluded him, though he was sure he should know…

"Dying here? Do you think you could spare a second to finish the job? I feel like shit," Butterfly said, and her voice was weakening.

Turning back to her, Lynn felt true panic. Butterfly's breathing was shallow, and she was clearly struggling for the limited control over her body that she had. Even so she was starting to spasm. Lynn sighed and entered her mind, dragging Butterfly with him so that they stood in the rotting tomb that represented her heart.

He took hold of Butterfly's arms and shoved her against the sarcophagus, then brought his mouth to the sorcerer's. Their teeth clinked together in a vicious kiss, and though it was only in the realm of the mind, the blood that formed in their mouths felt real enough. But it also felt healthy…not infected with poison as he knew Butterfly's real blood was.

Finally he ended the kiss, resting his forehead against Butterfly's and glaring into her eyes. Butterfly stared back, gaze blank…a sure sign that she was terrified, really. Lynn shifted his head a little and spat the blood out, watching how it stained the floor of the tomb as if it were real.

"I said you could have me, didn't I?" Butterfly murmured. "Even if you didn't save me, I'd be yours…it's still true. So, another twenty years or so?"

Lynn shuddered, throat tight, but he still smirked. "I'll kick your ass as usual, mahoutsukai. Count on it."

And with that he swept away, leaving the chambers of Butterfly's mind and locating her Baa. All it took was a few twists with his Heka to stop Butterfly's vitals, and as Butterfly's soul left her body, Lynn was forced back into the dungeons of the tauk, condemned to wait again.

And though the waits sometimes felt unbearable, he met Butterfly again and again through the years. Once a noblewoman, once a priest, sometimes even a prostitute…but she did tend towards tomb robbing still, most of her lifetimes featuring their profession. With Butterfly Lynn saw Kemet's fate turning, witnessed its fall to Greece and the Greek's Egypt fall to Rome in turn.

It was strange, though, for as the centuries passed by he noticed a significant decrease in magic, though Butterfly was as powerful as always. But with the beginnings of Christianity those with innate Kaa were hunted more than ever, so many dying as youths before ever gaining a hold on their powers. Magic grew weaker…and Butterfly stopped returning to him.

Trapped in the tauk, Lynn's perception of time was terrible, but he knew enough to recognize when he had missed one of Butterfly's lifetimes…and then another and a third. He never knew what was holding Butterfly's soul from him, and though he contemplated the problem, even turning to the dark powers of the dungeon for answers, he slowly went mad in the isolation.

Memories eroded, till all that was left was the quest for revenge.

He let the tiger take control again, slowly inching towards his final goal…it was all that existed to him, really, until one day he ran in front of some idiot on a bicycle, the tauk having alerted him to the presence of a missed one, and saw her.

"What is this?" the sorcerer asked, light voice vaguely familiar, as she dropped her bicycle.

Lynn cocked his head, looking the woman over in interest. "So you're the one I've been sensing…hopefully you'll be less annoying than the last sorcerer I stole from."

The girl gave him a puzzled look. "I suppose not."

And that was how their alliance started.

Dead for longer than he could remember and completely devoted to his goal, Lynn had thought that he'd abandoned the desires of the flesh…but he found that he wanted the sorcerer a great deal. She'd be entertaining, and she wouldn't mind a bit of blood…

But he shoved the thought back, unwilling to waste time on it, and set to outlining a plan with Bunbun. It was decent, though a sight more convoluted than anything Lynn would have devised. Still, good enough, and he could always intervene if Bunbun fucked things up…

Which she did. And he, of course, intervened by taking her place.

"Lynn, you idiot! Why didn't you just kill me? You should just've gotten it over with!"

The words were familiar, strikingly so, and Lynn's eyes widened as memory returned to him, the witnessing of death after death and a seemingly eternal struggle for power between them which didn't even matter… "Butterfly…" he murmured, shock and relief and frustration and elation coursing through him…

"What? You're about to die, Lynn- now isn't the time to start acting like an idiot," Bunbun said, tear-filled eyes narrowing.

Lynn had to laugh- how many times had he said just that to Butterfly? Barely in this world anymore, he suddenly felt more attached to it than ever, and once again amusement coursed through him as he tried and failed to encompass all of the years in his thoughts during the short time he had left.

And maybe he'd forget and be driven mad again, but he knew now, the turns of life and death and how little it all really mattered in the end. He was Butterfly's and Butterfly was his, and tomb robbers and murderers though they were, even their oaths would be honored.

So as he watched Bunbun crying by the flames of his Kaa, and felt his own body being devoured by darkness, he could still laugh, smirking over at his sorcerer. "Apparently it's going to be a while…Don't cry for Ore-sama, all right? I'd like to be able to kick your ass again when I return, you know."

For a moment, though he doubted that Bunbun truly remembered, there was a flash of recognition in his sorcerer's eyes, and an answering nod was the last thing he saw before his body and soul vanished into the darkness.