Desolate Throne [ClefDraki]

1. [Unfurling]

[Song above: Satisfied from Hamilton]

The voices around Clef seemed muffled. He couldn't make out the words. He stared at Draven. The young adult was holding James' hands tightly. Clef tugged his hat down, casting a shadow across his face.

Those eyes... so familiar... Kondraki, you proud of him?

There was a sudden tug at his heart.

Do I miss him? I was the one sent to terminate him and I complied, though I didn't get to kill him myself. Why am I sad? He broke my fuckin neck, why do I feel upset?

He knew why, but deep down Clef didn't want to admit that he still loved him. Our relationship was off and on but we...at least I know that I loved him.

Clef looked back up just in time to see the sealing kiss. His heart started to hurt a lot more. I remember when he kissed me like that too... so full of passion and love...

Clef's eyes burned, blurred by tears. Clef hid his face under his golden locks.

Later, some people were dancing and others milled around in groups, chattering their heads off. Clef stood silently holding a wine glass by a table filled with snacks.

A fluttering green butterfly landed on the rim of his glass. Clef almost broke down in sobs right then and there. Its wings glimmered in the dim lighting. It flew off again, disappearing into the crowd.

Clef stared down at his reflection in the crimson liquid. His three eyes blinked down at himself. Clef sighed heavily, running a hand up through his hair and under his hat. Clef readjusted his hat after he removed his hand.

Clef flinched when a hand slammed down onto the snack table. He looked up at the hand's owner, they wore a one of a kind ruby amulet. That meant this was the infamous, Jack Bright.

He was clearly drunk off his ass. He was swaying off balance, using the table for support.

"Why-..." Jack broke off with a hiccup, "Why the long face, Clef?"

"I just... it's nothing, Bright. Don't worry about me." Clef took a swig of the wine.

"I think I should worry, you don't have your usual Cheshire grin. However, I'm choosing not to." He hiccuped as he finished his ramble.

Clef squinted at him.

"Don't you have a whole bunch of women to seduce?" Clef scoffed at him.

He rubbed the back of his neck. Clef studied his behavior.

"Ah, no. My date to the wedding would hurt me. I asked her to come as my date because I've been training her. She's a newbie by the way. But anyway, I asked her to come with me because I had no one else to ask. She's—..."

"Alright! Alright! Enough rambling, I don't care." Clef waved his free hand to get him to stop talking.

"Aw man, so rude. I was say gonna she's over there. Wait, that's not right," He shook his head, "I was going to say she's over there." He corrected his drunken scramble.

Clef followed his wobbly finger. A woman was talking to Draven and James. Probably congratulating them. Clef thought that maybe he had seen her before, perhaps briefly.

"What site does she work at?" Clef asked curiously.

"Oh, um, sssssite 19." Bright's slur was getting worse somehow.

Clef nodded.

"For how long?"

"Ah, ffffeww monnnthssss noww..."

Clef thought for a second.

"Didn't 19 go through a massive breach recently?"

"Umm, yeahhhh. She'ssss fine though. Had a run in with 682, dunno how she manage to get out without a scratch."

Jack started looking confused, brows knitted together in concentration.

"That... actually... doesn't make any sense at all... how did she escape without injury? She said she never went into a safe zone." Bright mumbled.

The woman came back over to Jack. She glanced at Clef. She looked unnerved by his presence.

Clef sighed and let them be. He set his glass down on a table, and he exited the building. Clef stood on the cement steps. The chilly night breeze shifted his bangs. He loosened his Hawaiian print tie, dusting off his black tux.

He sighed again. So many sighs in one night. Clef chuckled lightly, breath billowing out of his mouth and into the air. A pale cloud of warm air. He glared as it dissipated. Everything dissipates. Everything leaves. Nothing stays the same. Why can't it?

Clef leaned back and rested against the wall. He looked up at the ink colored sky. A vast ocean of darkness ready to swallow up everything he cares about. The stars looked like paint splatter across the onyx blanket. I think I only ever watched stars with Konny... A sinking feeling twisted his gut around. Tears stung his eyes.

Clef clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. I hate this stupid world... No, I hate this world's stupid people. They only ever take from me. My first lover? I was ordered to kill her. My daughter? Locked in a cage, never to be seen again. My second and last lover? Dead because I was ordered to kill him and didn't get to him fast enough.

Clef jolted when the door opened suddenly. Draven and James stepped out into the chilly night air. Their hands were intertwined, a sign of affection Clef hadn't preformed in a long while.

The door shut again. Draven turned towards Clef, a sad look on his face. James looked nervous. I tend to make people nervous, right Konny? You were never nervous, always stood tall and proud...

Draven seemed to hold back, reluctant to disturb Clef's lament.

He exhaled sharply through his nose, mentally preparing for the conversation.

"What kind of relationship did you have with my father? Some say you were enemies, some say you were friends, I don't know what to think. I've been trying my hardest to move on and I'm okay, everyone else seems okay too. Why don't you?" Draven's eyes pinned Clef down as he spoke.

Clef winced at the question. We didn't exactly let our relationship be known. It was our secret. Enemies to the outsiders, friends to our comrades, lovers to each other.

"Your father and I ar—were friends... one could say... closer than most... I want to tell you, kid... but I don't know if you really want to hear about your dad's secrets..." Clef shifted uncomfortably, rocking back and forth from one foot to the other.

Draven exchanged a look with James, one of uncertainty.

"Yes, I want to know everything I can about my dad. So, please... Just tell me..."

Clef looked at his former lover's son with an anguished look in his gaze.

"Alright, I'll just start it from the top. From the time I first met your father to the present."

Draven and James nodded, sitting down on the stone steps. Clef settled down a foot apart from the couple on the steps.

Clef gazed up at the sky. He flinched when a familiar feeling tickled his fingers. Clef stared down at the vibrant green butterfly. Its shimmering wings delicately fluttered.

Draven's green eyes flashed with recognition. Clef smiled down at the butterfly.

"So it all started one morning a few years ago," Clef began the story of the, now fallen, king of the butterflies. His throne is now desolate, void of the once mighty researcher that rode 682 and lived to tell the tale.