Within Death {Kurapika}

Black Butterfly

"Do you know someone who has died?"

"Excuse me? Who are you?"

Kurapika was confused. He had seen a man come to life after being dead, and now, this man, who looked to be a scientist, was asking him about his dead loved ones. 

"I know, it came off a bit insensitive, but the only reason you're here is because you saw the black butterflies, right?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"-Then that means you have a chance. Quick! Who passed, and where are they buried?"

Kurapika took great offence to this question, and resigned himself to ignore it, but he was stopped by the man in the lab coat when he spoke the next words to him.

"We can bring them back, you know."

He turned back to the man and clenched his fist harshly. Bring them back? What did he know? 

"Impossible. Natural order states that what is dead should stay dead. Reanimation is... absolutely insane."

"It is insane, but natural order was meant to be broken. We have been studying reanimation for years, and now, we have found a way to do so. To bring back those who still have a chance. The same opportunity goes for you, too."

The man produced a card and handed it to Kurapika. A monarch butterfly logo printed on the back, and the front was the man's information.

"I'm not asking you to take this all in now, but you saw what happened to the man we revived. Think about it. Come back when you want. We can help you."

With that, Kurapika left.

Reanimate the dead? There was no way. They couldn't have the resources to do that. So then, what had Kurapika witnessed? Could it be possible to revive the dead? He hadn't noticed amidst all of his thoughts, but there were more black butterflies. They were following him closely, their little velvet black wings beating quickly to catch up. 

He had never thought of such unholy and unnatural means of keeping his family close, and with all the knowledge he had acquired in his lifetime, he knew it was supposed to be virtually impossible to raise the dead. The very thought was just pure fantasy.

So why  the hell couldn't he stop thinking about it?

He was the last one. 
In his wake was blood and tears 
He felt so alone in another's presence, 
and alone was what he feared. 
Then there was a light...

He wanted to see it work again. Maybe it was a con. He would watch them do it multiple times, and then he would judge if it was true. So, that is what he did. He returned to the lab,  and he told the man he had talked to, named Solomon, that he wanted to see them perform this "miracle" on multiple occasions. Solomon did not object in the slightest, and welcomed the idea of a skeptic to observe their breakthrough.

"It is normal for our clients to be skeptical of our methods," Solomon held open the door for Kurapika as they entered the operating room. "The only way they know we aren't trying to fool them is by seeing it themselves. We don't make them pay a thing for someone they lost, and they get back someone they simply couldn't live without. That person or animal also gets another chance at a life that they didn't have before."

On the operating table lay a deceased child, skin devoid of life reflecting a chorus of purple, green and blue on his arms, legs and torso. His eyes in the process of sinking into his skull, and his hair barely clinging to his scalp. His body held giant gashes that were stitched together, and his hands had barely any skin covering them, exposing stringy and atrophied muscles that were blackening from decomposition. His midsection looked to be hollowed, or more correctly, crushed.  He had possibly been the victim of a car accident that claimed his life, and this body sure wasn't fake. Kurapika knew that the smell was all too real. This was a real dead body.