Outgrowing the Past

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*Happy Nearly Halloween!!!! Next story is coming soon. In the meantime, happy reading!* 

An understood thing is that butterflies fly. You may not know how or why, but they do. Something else that should be understood is a statement concerning the Everglots. If shame ever dares to besmirch their family name, they will first try to cut all ties to it. If there is no possibility of that happening, they will find ways to keep it hidden or pretend it doesn't exist at all in the first place. Thus is the way of the Everglots.

When their eldest daughter eloped with a man that her father hadn't approved of, they cut her ties to the family name entirely. And in doing so, they also managed to forget about her. It took time, but eventually her name didn't even create any reactions from the family members anymore. It had been locked up so deeply within them that the safes key had rotted away, leaving the information of their eldest daughter contained inside for forever.

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Victoria and Victor were poised on the balcony beside each other, held softly in each others arms as they looked out into the night. After Emily had burst into a herd of brilliantly beautifully blue butterflies and flown off into the bleak fog, the wedding had continued as a normal wedding should. Elder Godnick leading the service. Scraps had elected to stay with them, up in the land of the living. After all, dog's best friend wouldn't mean much if he didn't want to join his owner once again. The maggot that had resided in Emily's decomposing eye socket had taken up residence in a fresher host. Not Lord Barkus, he was deemed too dirty for even the gross maggot.

As the newlywed pair rested against the banister, a crow flapped its majestic wings and landed beside them on the railing. The pair was lightly talking about what had happened to Emily before the crow moved to stand right in front of Victoria. As soon as it reached its destination, it instantly stopped moving. Victor tried to shoo it away from his bride but the bird still refused to move.

"Where is Emily?" The awful squak of the crow asked. Victor and Victoria were shocked and slightly afraid, moving back away from the banister.

"E-Emily?" Victoria stuttered, having only heard the name once or twice from someone other than her newly acquired husband.

"She's gone." Victor supplied, growing wary of the bird's insistent looking nature.

"Not gone. Can't leave. Where is she?" The crow asked again, growing impatient and irritated.

"She turned into a herd of butterflies." Victor said softly, slowly pulling Victoria closer to himself in an almost protective, awkward movement.

"Can't leave. Where is she? Emily?" The crow started to squak again until it glimpsed a blue butterfly coming over the horizon. Victoria and Victor could only watch in awe as the bird flew straight at the butterfly and started to attack it. It's broad beak snipped at the fragile painted wings as if to tear them free. As the pair fought, they descended onto the ground mere paces in front of and below the balcony, and right before they touched down, the bird got in one good rip along the butterfly's bottom rightmost wing.

When they touched down, they transformed into two fully grown humans. One was a brunette that looked just like Emily and the other had black hair and was slim, dressed in a tight waistcoat and long black pants. The blackened head looked to the other and smiled semi-sweetly.

"Can't leave until complete." The crisp words of what used to be the crow penetrated the night air. Emily's doppelganger looked at the crow in confusion, cocking her head to the side.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" She asked the black haired shrill person and they moved back in confusion, letting their head cock to the side in an equal level of confusion. Before the ex bird could say a word, a magnificent owl came out of the woods, landing before them in a shower of brilliant silver sparks. Upon landing, the owl also turned into a human. This person, however, had long silvery white hair that ended up resting around her ankles. She was dressed in a billowing white dress that gave her a queenly appearance. Her bony fingers pointed up at the pair on the balcony.