Story WIPS

Beomgyu - Neverland

Beomgyu has grown to hate butterflies.

Landing on this island had been bad enough. He can't even remember what life was before Neverland, only bits and pieces of blurred images floating around in that empty abyss in his chest where his heart is supposed to be.

All he remembers are scraped knees, bicycles, broken guitars and broken dreams, and a name.

Star Seeker.

The name haunts him with every passing night on this island, the star glowing above (the second from the right, which feels familiar to him for some reason) giving the feeling of observer. Of watcher. Of indifferent god, allowing his suffering on this place to continue.

The first day, it was a gnawing hunger that was only satiated by the golden, glowing fruit from an ethereal tree. A world of pinks and blues and purples had surrounded him as he'd sunk his teeth into the juicy flesh, and while it was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted, something felt like it had...left him. Dissolved. Gone, never to be returned to him.

The second day, it was the feeling of eyes on him. Not like the Star, no. These eyes were much more...malevolent. No matter how hard he'd tried to escape their gaze, the feeling had lingered, a creeping feeling that hadn't deserted him until his body had given in to the exhaustion he'd fought desperately to stave off.

Today, it's butterflies.

Today, a kaleidoscope of butterflies greets him as his eyes slowly open, adjusting to the ever-shining sun overhead and the fluttering rainbow that now fills his vision. He rubs his eyes, slowly opening them as he realizes what the fluttering colors actually are.

His jaw drops in awe as vibrant wings are reflected in his eyes, the gentle flapping of such delicate creatures moving something deep within him.

It's a moment of peace in the turmoil, the eye of the hurricane, the shelter in the storm, and he wishes the moment would last.

But the whispers come instead.

He thinks he imagines it at first. Something whispers in his ear softly, gently, like a stray breeze in the wind.

"Give up."

Beomgyu pauses, frowning as he watches a butterfly pass. What was that...?

He shakes his head of the thought, returning to the beauty of the kaleidoscope in front of him, but then a beautiful blue butterfly with shimmering wings lands on his nose.

His eyes sparkle with wonder as he stares at the creature.

And then it whispers something to him.

"Disappointment."

It flutters away as Beomgyu winces in shock, slowly coming to the realization that butterflies, *butterflies* of all things are malevolent here. But it's too late. Soon, they're darting around him instead of just fluttering softly, spitting words at him with soft whispers, a colorful breeze that quickly escalates to a terrifyingly beautiful storm.

"Scrapes and bruises-"

"-screams and cries-"

"-smashed guitars-"

"-and smashed dreams-"

"-and yet-"

"-no one listened."

Beomgyu falls to his knees as the whispers turn into a cacophany of biting voices, which turn into a painful ringing that seems to rattle in his brain and chest.

"stop," he begs as he clamps his hands over his ears. The ringing only increases. "stop..."

"Blood and guts-"

"-pain and anguish-"

"-disappointment and scars-"

"-and yet-"

Beomgyu falls to his stomach, groaning as he grabs at the dirt under him.

He wonders if he imagines this next part, if he imagines half of the colorful storm gather to form a rectangle. If he imagines a black abyss, dark and unforgiving, forming inside the butterfly doorframe. If he imagines someone stepping out of that dark abyss. And if he imagines that that someone...

Is him.

A creature that looks just like Beomgyu stands in front of him, grinning a sharp-toothed grin. It's eyes are as dark as the abyss it stepped out of, just as cold and unforgiving as well.

The creature smiles down at Beomgyu, Beomgyu weakly scrambling back until his back presses against a tree. He begins to panic as the creature, the false him, the clone tilts its head to the side, its smile falling for a second before returning as it steps closer to Beomgyu. Beomgyu's chest rises and falls as the ringing gets louder, as his vision blurs, as the false him grows ever closer until the ringing is unbearable. The creature reaches out to hold his chin with two fingers, forcing him to meet its eyes.

Beomgyu is petrified as the creature begins to speak, its voice sounding like a cacophany of voices all speaking at once. Whispers, yells, screams, cries, pleas, all drip from the creature's multilayered voice.

"And yet," it says coolly, "no one listens to you."

Beomgyu feels his senses overload as he begins to fall into unconsciousness. His heart still pounds, the ringing still sounds in his ears, but his body feels so...distant. So foreign.

The last thing he thinks he sees is the creature turning black before morphing into someone else. The last thing he thinks he hears is a nasally laugh as the devil's voice echoes through his last remaining bits of consciousness.

"Sweet dreams, Star Seeker."