"Come on, and show them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul
This endless mercy mile
We're crawling side by side
With hell freezing over in our eyes
Gods kneel before our crime."
-Wings of a Butterfly(H.I.M.)
A couple of days later I returned to that house for a dance Sheryl had planned. I was still pretty sore from my fight with Allen, and I wasn't really looking forward to it. Though I was willing to play the formal role I had to it was all an act for me. It felt so ridged, but everyone around me seemed to think it was natural. When I really thought about it he was right, I was a street rat, and I liked it that way.
Since I was a noah, and an attractive one at that swooning young women seemed to follow me in packs; parents quietly talked amongst themselves about marriage between myself and their kids to get an edge in our tight little family. I had no interest, though occasionally I'd offer a dance to the more pretty of the lot simply for the hell of doing something. If I was lucky I might get laid without anyone making a scene out of it, though usually someone did, and Sheryl constantly trying to get me engaged didn't help. I couldn't understand my brother's fixation on that, but he was desire. Power, money, and a fancy house with a wife and….loving daughter, where things he greatly strived for. He couldn't understand the fact that that wasn't near what I wanted.
I glared up at the upper tiers of the house knowing most of my family was either hiding or forced not to come. I was actually jealous of them, people like jasdero, devit, and lulu, and even Earl, skipping out on this event for one reason or another. My boss was still close though. It was kind of funny, he loved formal events like this, or at least I would imagine, and up till a few days ago I wouldn't have been surprised why he chose not to. Now that I knew what he really looked like though, I wondered why he wouldn't. At the very least he could take my place on the forefront of unwanted marriages. Then I could sneak through the crowd and back to my guest room where I could read, or maybe even pick up a few ladies from the dance floor and enjoy my evening.
After hours of acting the many followers we had accumulated finally began to clear out. I slumped down on the couch exhausted.
"Screw my light life, I'm sleeping here…." I sprawled myself out, the ticking clock chiming for 3 am. Within minutes I was asleep.
I crossed my arms upset, looking angrily up at the tall man in the top hat who had kidnapped me.
"So what if I run off sometimes to go back to my old life? You're not my parent you can't tell me what to do!" I protested.
"You never had parents. I know this is difficult for you Trent, but you can't keep running. You need to re-harness your abilities first." He replied.
"Well I don't wanna. I'd rather practice my gambling with my friends." I turned away, pulling out the card deck I had found a couple years ago, looking down at it frustrated. It had been the only thing I had owned for a long time.
The man looked over at me with an odd expression, and before I could turn the man reached out towards me, snatching the deck from my hands.
"HEY! Those are mine give them back!" I ran up to the man angrily pounding on his chest, but he held the deck far above his head and pushed me away from him with his other hand.
"….No." the man looked at me expressionlessly, and then looked at the cards.
He wrapped his hands around them and mumbled something under his breath. A beam of light burst from his hands, and when he opened them the cards were gone. In its place was a pure black butterfly, calmly sitting in the palm of his hand.
"W-what did you do to my deck?!" I stared shocked at the little creature in his hands.
The man looked up at me and smiled lightly. "Oh nothing." He raised his hand and the butterfly took off and landed on my head.
"What am I supposed to do with a butterfly?" the creature crawled off my head and onto my shoulder. "Why did you do this?".
"To teach you a lesson." He smirked. "Find an entire deck worth of butterflies and we'll talk about getting your real deck back." He turned and began to walk away.
I looked at the little creature that had now crawled to my hand, the markings of a heart of spades on its wings. I glared at the man.
"You're such a tease! You never give me a straight answer about anything! Nothing you do makes sense." I yelled.
He looked back over his shoulder for a second, his gold eyes narrowed to slits. "Tease….yes I like that name. That's what it'll be called. You and your tease better get looking if you want to gamble again in this lifetime. I've got work to do." And before I could protest he was gone, like he'd never been there at all.
"Tease…." I scoffed "what a stupid name for a butterfly".
"Why does he always use that excuse….?" I whispered as my eyes desperately tried to remain shut against the sunlight coming through the window.
As the sunlight creeped into them the memory of my dream was driven back, and by the time they were open I had forgotten everything except the black butterfly.
"Why was I dreaming about my tease?" I sat up lazily, summoning one of them to my left hand. "Are you so hungry your taking my dreams away now?" .
It did not answer, opening its wings in silence.
"Not that I'd expect you to talk back to me…." I rolled my eyes. "I need a break. That last fight with Allen is starting to mess with my head….". I thought back to the pain of Allen's sword slicing through my noah-hood, a sharp sting traveling through my scars. "Or maybe I just shouldn't think about it at all." I smirked bitterly trying to make the pain stop. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"You're one of three people. Please don't start with "R"." I fell back on the couch dramatically, closing my eyes tight despite the blinding sun.
"No. Since its noon "R" is at school and "S" is stalking her. "J" and "D" are passed out somewhere from drinking and "L" is actually doing her job. "A" is still here though. 3." He walked over, leaning over the arm of the couch and blocking the light from my eyes. "It seems "R" is still mad you didn't play with her though. You should check a mirror." I opened my eyes a crack just to see if the smirk I heard in his voice was real.
"Well fuck…." It was, and now that I thought about it I could just feel the heated marks of permanent marker etched into my face. "This is exactly why I don't sleep at home…." I mumbled.
He laughed. "At least it's not a hangover, but you still look ridiculous." He grinned wider.
"Oh your one to talk about ridiculous, I'm gonna wash this off." I stood up groggily making my way to the bathroom brushing past my older brother without much notice.
"Yes I am. I work and live around ridiculous every day." He replied. "You're included in that, and so am I."