Do Butterflies go to Heaven? (Open)

It was bright in the Conservatory, although somewhat cold. Well, that didn't bother Beata's resident Seattleite! Already up and about for the day's work, Amelia flitted about the plants like a little busy hummingbird. She didn't have any of her... somewhat morbid pets with her today, it was just her and the plants. She remembered way back in Easter when they had the little "egg-hunt", and the carnivorous plant that she'd faced. She didn't actually beat it, those details were pretty fuzzy. Oh well.

A flash of color on the floor caught her attention and the tiny Autumn girl made her way over to it. After she'd crouched down for a better look, she discovered it was a butterfly. A dead one, at that, dead from the sudden cold that had come in. Amelia didn't want to use her power on it. It was already so fragile and pathetic-looking that she didn't dare force it to be her zombie. Carefully cradling the insect, she carried it over to a flower bush and made a little groove in the dirt just deep enough for the poor thing to fit inside.

It was strange. She'd never really held a funeral for an animal before, more often than not she'd bring it back. It made her think. "Do butterflies go to heaven...?" she muttered aloud, no one was in the room, anyway. Once the upturned soil was moved back over, Amelia picked up one of the small, smooth pebbles off the floor and pushed it snugly into the earth. The small stone wasn't enough for her, though, and she picked one of the star-flowers nestled beneath the bush at the very end and placed it gently on the rock. She couldn't help but smile at the little ceremony.

No one would know a little bug was buried there. Except for her. Maybe she'd come back with a key or something and scratch a name onto the pebble. Yes, after her classes, she'd do it for the poor thing she found on the floor.

But before then, she'd clean this place up. Starting from her little butterfly-bush and working counter-clockwise, she pulled up the weeds that were cropping up nearly everywhere, it seemed. She barely registered the door opening, calling out an instinctual, "Good Morning!"

The boy huffed as he walked towards the conservatory. Of course he had to be stuck with researching some kind of stupid, random butterfly species for his assignment while everyone else had more interesting topics. The only information that the student was willing to diverge to him, was that the butterflies could be found in the conservatory. Anything more than that however, he'd have to find out on his own in order to prove that he actually did care for the grade.

Bruh, why couldn't I just have the internet as a power? On the real, this coulda been so much easier. I coulda been done wit this befo' it even started. He thought.

He pushed open the door inside the building, and he was startled to hear a voice calling out to him. He had expected to be the only one there, after all he couldn't imagine what kind of person would find it interesting to be in a room full of plants all day. There was literally nothing to do except talk to yourself! But clearly, there were people at the school who enjoyed doing just that. Even though he had heard the voice, he wasn't able to figure out where it had came from. It took him a minute to look around the room, and finally locate the girl that had greeted him.
 
"Yo, what's good?!" He replied. "Hey ma, do ya got a cool power to talk to plants or animals or bugs or something? I gotta have this thing done by the end of the day on a young butterfly somewhere in here, but I don't know anything about it. It'd be super dope if ya could y'know...help a brotha out? I'll do anything ya want, I just really need to make this grade." He pleaded.

Jedikiah wasn't necessarily a bad student, but tests were his strong suit. After all, with his gift he practically had the answers whispered into his ear. Even though it was only 15 seconds worth of information, sometimes he could cram that 15 seconds with as much information as possible. But on assignments, he found himself slacking off due to their low value in the classroom. However, there were times where the assignments would add up and cause him to fall behind in the class. If he didn't complete this assignment by the deadline, then his GPA would surely suffer.

He handed over the paper to the girl, so that she could read the name of the butterfly. It wasn't until after the fact, did he begin to question the girl's age. She seemed extremely small, but he figured that it was because he was because he was 5'11. But as he reflected on the girl's voice, he began to realize that there was no way that they were the same age. He was so desperate to complete this assignment, that he had to ask a younger student for help! And on top of that, he swore that he'd do anything in exchange! If it would help his grade, then he didn't really have a choice but to do what was necessary, even if his nonexistent reputation was on the line. He hoped that no one else would find out about this...

Amelia turned to face the voice in surprise, she hadn't expected someone to come up to her, even respond. But here this kid was, nearly a foot taller than her and asking about a butterfly. The girl brushed most of the soft dirt from her hands and held the paper, her eyes flickering about until she saw the picture on the insect he was looking for. 'Well, whoever is going to accept you is going to have to wait,' she thought with some dread.

"I think I can help you." She handed back the paper and wound her way back to the bush she had been at not too long ago. Wait, how was she supposed to dig it up? If she dug down directly, she might tear the wings. Standing on her tip-toes to look at the paper again, she was positive it was the butterfly she'd buried not too long ago. It felt a little awkward finding a way, but she was finally able to uncover the broken creature. Amelia glanced at the paper again to be completely sure. It hadn't changed.

The feeling of ease when she preformed her power still made her uncomfortable. She wondered why she still used it, since it was almost always for her own amusement, or out of pity. The blue-winged butterfly stirred in her palm, fixing itself upright before seeming to take in the room.

'Where cold? Fly?' It was actually a bit funny how simple its thoughts were. The girl watched as it stood and walked all the way up to the ends of her fingertips and took the short flight to the paper.

It began wandering around, oblivious to their conversation. "What do you need to know? I have access to anything that it knows right now." The butterfly's thoughts came as little whispers, barely audible. Most were wonderings on what it was walking on, why all the flowers were somehow unappealing now, and how come it felt full without having eaten.

Jedikiah was puzzled as to why the girl began digging in the dirt to find a butterfly. Even he knew that it was a thing with wings, so it should have been found in the air somewhere, not six feet under. But to his surprise, the girl knew exactly where to look because she had unearthed a corpse. And even more surprisingly, the lifeless butterfly began to move again. It spread its little wings and took flight off the girl's fingers. In truth, it was a freaky sight for the boy. He didn't know if it was the butterfly that had the ability, or the girl. The thought of having the gift of life made him uncomfortable.

"Well...why was it in the dirt...nevermind...what kinda stuff does it eat? How far can it go? Is it scared of anything? Does it have a name? Does it remember ever not bein a butterfly?" He asked.

Half of the questions were already predetermined by the assignment, while the other half he was coming up with off the top of his head. When the girl said that she had access to its thoughts, he decided to capitalize on it as much as he could. After all, it wasn't everyday that you could literally talk to the thing that you needed the information about. This would be one of the easiest grades he ever earned!

His eyes trailed the butterfly as it flew around the room. Even though the girl was being extremely helpful and friendly, there was something that started to bother him. If the butterfly was dead, how could he know that everything the girl was telling him was true? Is the butterfly going to be the same in death as it was when it was alive? He doubted that the girl would know the answer anymore than he did. And in the grand scheme of things, he didn't really care. He was satisfied with the bare minimum for the grade.

"Yo, thanks again fo' the assist! The names Jed. I owe you one." He hid his mouth as he talked, trying to hide his distinct lack of molars.

Louis walked into the Conservatory, his Blue Jay friend flying around chatting with him. Pepper walked in behind him, a book in her hands. The siblings had grown somewhat apart recently, and Louis felt the need to have some "bonding" time. They thought the conservatory would be a good place to be alone, but they were somewhat wrong. When they walked in, they spotted a girl and a guy. Friends maybe? They gave each other a shrug and walked over to the pair. Pepper knew the boy as the guy Jake fought and couldn't help but give a snicker. "Hello, did you guys come here to get away from the crowded school too?" She asked kindly. Louis stood next to her, the Blue Jay flew on his shoulder. "And actually, that would be my power." The tall blonde pointed out to the other student who asked the question. The Blue Jay gave a few tweets, and Louis laughed.

At the sudden appearance of the blue jay, the small butterfly nearly made a beeline back to Amelia. She too was alarmed, but only at the amount of fear that the tiny thing could produce in such a short period of time. Indeed, it was too much, and it was flowing into her, gradually making her more and more afraid of the bird that was much smaller than herself.

"Definitely afraid of birds," was pretty much all she could get out.

It was screaming in her head, although it was comically faint. "DEATH BIRD DEATH BIRD DEATH BIRD DEATH BIRD..." She was barely able to notice why a bird had come in in the first place to process all the screaming. It would be doing so out loud, but it was probably too high-pitched to be heard.

"Erm... yeah," If she stopped looking at the bird, it would eat her. Common sense told her that was complete nonsense, the butterfly's unexpected influence said to run and hide and stop standing there like an idiot. She tried to sift through the insect's head to find some information.

"It liked the star-flowers," She pointed at the clump of tall, white star-shaped flowers under the bush. Another moment of digging. "... and clover." Keep staring at the bird and don't move. The butterfly slowly crawled into her sleeve to hide, antenna barely peeking out. Oh, he'd spoken to her. "No problem. I'm Amelia, by the way. " She still didn't let her eyes to leave the blue jay.

The girl's answers to his questions were so simple and easy to remember, he didn't even need to waste a usage of his gift. But at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if she were distracted. Two other students had entered the building, indicating that the conservatory was a much more popular area at the school than he anticipated. Maybe there was something good that came out of this stupid assignment. An easy grade and a new hangout spot, two things that Jedikiah definitely wouldn't argue about.

Amelia clearly had a connection to the butterfly, and the other male student mentioned that he could speak to animals. He also had a bird in his presence, scaring the butterfly. At the moment, Jed felt like he had the lamest power in the world. He didn't know what gift the other girl had, but he was fairly certain that whatever it was, it was going to be a lot more useful than his. Judging by her height and face, he was fairly certain that she was older than Amelia; confirming his suspicions that he asked a younger student for help.

"I was only here for a stupid paper. But I'm down to stay and chill fo' a bit." He responded to the girl.

Louis stood there a bit awkwardly. "Well, there is no need to to be afraid." He said to the butterfly. He whispered a word to the bird and it flew off. "Sorry about that." He said with a soft smile.

Once the bird left, both Amelia and the butterfly appeared visibly relieved. "No, I didn't realize it would... affect me." She smiled, then gazed at the insect while it crawled out of her sleeve and took to the air again, flitting in front of each of the student's faces now that it was free of stress. However, it landed back on the dirt and sat as if to sleep, wings folded straight up. "I hate this part," the girl thought. She glanced at the blonde boy before touching the edge of the wing, and it immediately relaxed. Again, she moved soil over it and replaced the stone and flower on top of it. It seemed such a silly thing now, since there were others around her.

"Sorry if that was a bit morbid." Feeling weird about having to look up while she talked, the Autumn girl lifted herself up onto the stone bricks and sat. Much better. "Why'd you have to do that paper anyway? It's a weird topic." The color had come back to her face and she was smiling again. The fear of the bird lingered, but dimmed as minutes passed.

Jed silently watched as Amelia conducted her funeral for the butterfly. Was that something else he should include in the paper, or was that just a personal thing on her end? He figured that it'd be best to omit that part. When she sat herself down on the bricks, he wondered if it was comfortable, but at the same time he refused to take a seat himself.

"Yur right. Its stupid. I think the teach just wanted to be a dick about my gift. Makin' it more worthless than already is. What bout' you though? Why were you so cool to help and all? I mean I 'preciate you fo' it."

"And you." He gestured over to the pair that arrived. "What brings yall round here? Is Amelia ya friend or something?"

"Uh, no, well, not really. I don't think so?" He said timidly, hating when people put pressure on him like that.