*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.
~~~
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.
"You have been chosen. You will guide her. You will fix her. Once she knows who she is, you may initiate her finally training." Victor's face instantly filled with both dread and fear.
"What? Pardon me, but despite being her husband for a short amount of time, I hardly knew her. How am I supposed to remind her of herself?" Victor shouted down at the woman and she just chuckled lightly, her voice tinkling like bells.
"You're not. She is." Her judgmentally pale white bony finger pointed up at Victoria before she faded away into nothing. The ex bird person in all black cocked its head to the side before jumping, transforming back, and flying away into the night.
Victor and Victoria descended from the house and approached the frightened and shivering girl that was apparently Emily, her brown hair whipping around in the wind. Her eyes blinked up at the couple as they approached, tentative footsteps moving slowly through the night with soft, gentle taps.
"Who are you?" she asked softly up to the pair.
"I'm Victor and this is..." Victoria cut off Victor, going to lead the shivering girl inside.
"Victoria. Come, warm yourself by the fire and we can talk in the morning." Emily bundled up and was ushered into a bedroom by Victoria. Victor went to bed and Victoria sat in a chair as the fire came to a sizzling demise.
~~~
Slowly Vitoria was roused from her slumber by her faithful maid, Hildegarde. Her face was pinched with age, but her eyes themselves were wider tonight. Wider than should be possible in her old age. One of the ornate wood framed chairs was pulled into the room over to beside Victoria at the fire. The room remained silent as they watched the fire that Hildegarde had relit prior to waking the younger girl. Finally Hildegarde spoke, breaking the silence.
"I saw her when you got married too. But she was clearly deceased then and she isn't now. It's almost a miracle."
"She gave up everything so I could marry Victor, but I still barely know why." Victoria paused, watching the flames dance in the fireplace. "She told Victor she couldn't and that their relationship was wrong. She said she was a bride, her dreams were taken from her, and that she'd taken them from someone else. She admitted to loving him but swore he wasn't really hers. Because she saw me, she gave up her love for him and let me marry him." Hildegarde processed those words slowly, her eyes never drifted away and her face wholeheartedly attentive.
"That's just like your sister. Don't be afraid, don't be silent, keep on speaking."
"S-Sister!" Victoria jumped up, suddenly wide awake and shivering. "What are you talking about? I don't have a sister!" A defensive edge crept into her voice.
"Victoria. You know how your parents are. When Emily eloped, they cut all ties to even being related to her. They even changed their parenting style to raise you. It was like she never existed. And when you came along, they had already long forgotten her."
"But then, she gave up the man of her dreams not for him, but for her sister! Why would she do that when it was so obvious that I didn't know her relation to me? She could have gotten away with it, with me none the wiser."
"Family is much more than a wordㅡ it's a feeling of warmth and love that neither time nor distance can change. I guess she believed you were still within those boundaries."
~~~
When Victoria awoke next, she was entwined within Victors arms on their newly shared bed. Soon Victoria tried to pull away and Victor awoke as well, sitting up to rub his sleepy eyes and join the society of the day.
"What is it?" He asked curiously, barely conscious.
"Where's Emily? I need to speak with her." Victor couldn't hide the look of confusion that befell his features.
"Don't you remember darling? She turned into a flock of butterflies." Victor was trying very hard not to sound condescending, but rather comforting instead.
"Yes, but after that she was attacked and became human and was staying with us until she could officially pass on. Last night it was the decree of this owl woman and another bird being."
"Bird beings? What are you talking of Victoria? Are you feeling ill?" Victoria smiled as she stood up, slightly ignoring her newly acquired husband.
"For once in my life I feel absolutely wonderful. Let me just go see Hildegarde."
"So you hadn't heard then?" Victor asked lightly, making the corners of her smile dim minisculely.
"What haven't I heard?"
"Hildegarde passed at some point last night. She's gone to the land of the dead."
"That can't be. I just talked to her. Late last night. How can this be?"
"I'm sorry." Victor apologized, trying to pull her close, but Victoria ran. She ran out of the room. She ran out of the house. She ran into the woods. She ran farther and farther until she tripped on a tree's root and landed in a sobbing mass of her own ripped skirt.
Had none of it happened with Emily the previous night? Had Hildegarde really talked to her before she'd died? Had any of it happened? She just longed for a simple sign.
"What happened last night?"
~~~
A piano's sweet chords seemed to play softly through the night air. A single set of notes played sweetly before a familiar voice cut in. (*This is the soundtrack from the piano duet scene from the movie*)
"Hi. I think you dropped this." The soft spoken pause led to more beautiful playing. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I lied to you about wanting to see my parents. It's just this whole day hasn't gone, well, according to plan." Who was Victor speaking to? In her heart, Victoria already knew the answer.
A sweeter harmony came above, playing sweet notes to the saddened previous ones. The duet continued until a fanfair begun and the noise drifted away into nothingness. A veiled being stood in front of Victoria's crouched form and grabbed her hands to pull her to her feet.
"You get in life what you have the courage to ask for." The figure stated softly, her voice full of care. Victoria walked after her as she led her to the edge of town.
"What of the birds? And Hildegarde and Emily?" Victoria asked, gaining some semblance of confidence to talk to the veiled being in front of her.
"The birds weren't there for Emily, they were there to make sure you knew the truth. Hildegarde loved you, but her time had to come, the same as anyone else's. And Emily." The figure pulled back her veil to reveal brown hair that shifted into a shower of butterflies, each departing with it's own agenda. But one stuck around for longer. It landed on Victoria's outstretched fingertip and she observed the tear in it's wing. A tear that a bird's beak had made just the night before.
Victoria got to her feet and wandered back home. As she crossed the bridge, the butterfly left it's perch and Victoria reunited with Victor, pulling him close.
~~~
"Emily, be careful!" Victoria called out, coming over to scoop the little brunette up in her arms. It had been years since she and Victor had gotten married and now they had a beautiful daughter all their own.
The little girl reached up into the air, pointing as something flew up high above them. As the thing came closer to the ground, Victoria smiled. A butterfly with a beautiful broken blue wing landed on her little outstretched finger.
"That's my sister. The wonderful woman you were named after." Victoria told her beautiful child sweetly. The girl smiled up at the insect, having heard the stories from her mother for her entire life.
~~~
"You kept your promise.
You set me free.
Now I can do the same for you."
~Emily, Corpse Bride~
~~~
*Do not be afraid. Do not be silent. Keep on Speaking. is a quote from Acts 18:9. The "family is" line is also a quote that I do not claim is mine. Happy almost Halloween and, happy reading!*