Butterfly Moth (GxG)

• notodontidae •

Notodontidae: A family of moths with approximately 3,800 known species. The family was described by James Francis Stephens in 1829. Moths of this family are found in all parts of the world, but they are most concentrated in tropical areas, especially in the New World.
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23

A key for every lock.

Daisies and dandelions were blowing gently in the warm wind, bumble bees and butterflies dancing along with them. The sky was an immaculate shade of baby blue, a few cirrus clouds floating along serenely. The sun shone down upon that part of the planet with a particular fondness and care.

A set of chains for every person.

A young girl who changed her name. She was no longer Nyx Alisman. She had been adopted into a new family, and decided to take a new name as part of the cleansing of her past. Nyx Oleander. That was her adoptive family's name, and now it was hers as well. She had cropped her previously extremely long hair above her shoulders as a signal of change. Slowly, everyday life was becoming more normal for her.

A prison cell to escape.

There was so much that she had yet to learn about the world. She was catching up on all of the lost years where she was meant to be learning in school. She was being taught the names of things that others would have grown up around. She was eating more, working out, and spending extensive amounts of time outdoors.

A moth for every night.

Nyx was finding that she found an odd sort of comfort in the night. Though insomnia was improving with the more time she spent beneath the sun, Nyx still found herself staying awake some nights. She would go to her window and peer out, find those constellations that she could call her own, even though she now knew that there were other ones. And she did learn a bit about those constellations as well, but the ones that she created herself always brought a sense of calming into her system.

A butterfly for every day.

Then there was her. Hemera Leora Danaus. The girl who pulled her out of the darkness and directed her to the light. Her voice that Nyx learned was so different because it was a British accent. Her dark skin and unruly brown hair. Those deep brown eyes that were filled to the brim with thoughts and emotions and experiences. The girl who Nyx learned that she had fallen for.

"What are you thinking about?" That very voice spoke up.

Nyx turned her head and gazed at Leo. They were laying in the grass of a meadow near the edge of town. It was late June, nine months having gone by. Nyx had been lucky enough to be adopted in the same town, meaning that she didn't have to go far. Leo was still right there by her side every step of the way. "I'm thinking about how far we've come."

"In what way?" Leo's untamed hair would occasionally blow into her face, tickling her nose and cheeks.

"In every way." Nyx said. "I didn't even know that the world existed nine months ago. You hadn't ever seen the night first hand. Now we're outside, and we're going to camp. We convinced your parents to let us. Don't you see the progress?"

"Of course I do." Leo replied, reaching forward and tucking a strand of Nyx's short black hair behind her ear. "I think about it all the time. When my parents found out about everything I had done to help you, they were shocked, mad, and relieved all at the same time. Then they met you and I think they realized that I'm more capable of things than they thought I was."

"I'm glad that they realized all of that." Nyx laughed lightly, unable to look away from Leo's eyes.

"Do you ever think about your mom?" Her voice was quiet, nearly carried away in the wind.

Nyx averted her gaze briefly, thinking about those words. Of course she did. She thought about Diane all the time. She was in jail now after the severe trauma she caused her own daughter. When she was first freed from that house, Nyx stayed in a mental hospital for one month so that people could keep track of her mental state after everything that had happened.

It was no shock that she had suffered a lot of trauma. Her whole life she had been secluded to a small yellow house with no real knowledge as to what the outside was like. She had never seen the sun, had severe vitamin D deficiency as a result, and she was overall extremely weak. Though Diane rarely hurt her daughter physically, the amount of mental abuse that she had caused was too much to ever erase.

The only positive of it all was Leo. She was always there through all of it, just as she had promised. She visited the mental hospital every chance she got, she was with Nyx the first time that she properly went outside and enjoyed herself. She sat with Nyx throughout the entirety of the police interviews. When news reporters and journalists learned about the insane occurrence, they always had to go through Leo before they got to Nyx.

And now Nyx was going to start to return the favor. This was Leo's first night as the moth that she always dreamt of being, and Nyx was going to be with her. She was going to show Leo all of the constellations that she had created, they were going to be okay.

"All the time." Nyx told her. "But it gets easier everyday."

"Close your eyes for a second." Leo whispered. Hesitantly, Nyx giggled and did as she was told.

The feeling of Leo's hand lightly cupping her cheek sent warm sensations throughout her skin. Her cheeks were heated and her stomach was filled to the brim with butterflies.

Very slowly, Nyx felt Leo press her soft lips into hers. The sensations increased and Nyx was beyond startled by it all. However, she didn't pull away. That was her first kiss with her first love. Nyx did her best to return it. It was slow and gentle, like the feeling of a butterfly landing on her hand. Leo's lips were soft.

One girl had lived her whole life without ever seeing the daytime. She hadn't been allowed outside, only ever during the night. No one knew of the moth by the dead end street, but she couldn't help but be drawn to the light. Now she knew that her skin always seemed to burn when under the sun for too long.

One girl had lived her whole life without ever seeing the nighttime. She hadn't been allowed out after dark, only ever during the day. No one knew how much the butterfly craved to be nocturnal, how much she wished for darkness. Soon, she was going to know exactly what the moonlight could do.

A moth and a butterfly had fallen in love.

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