Butterfly Dust

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, nothing is owned by me, blah….

Notes: Well! This certainly took me forever to get written down! That's alright though, because.. well, no, it's not alright for you I guess.. I just needed a loooooong break from ever writing fanfiction. ALSO! This is the LAST CHAPTER!Aren't you just so proud of me? . Oh, and by-the-by, I realize this is short, sorry, no getting around it, this is always how I planned on ending it. Later I'll attach this to the end of chapter three, as well as do some minor fix-ups, once everyone's had the chance to read it. I'm really very sorry about the LONG wait, but, well, by obsessions are fickle things :P

Four

This has been a long time coming, he supposed, as he gripped the fire extinguisher in his hand tighter. No child should ever have to deal with these things, no one, ever, should have to deal with these things. Period.

Staggering slightly, he managed to keep his balance at the last second. Inching his way towards the phone in the hallway, he winced as he heard Kuki scream. I'm coming. There was nothing for it; he'd have to leave her alone with…With him, for a little while. He wasn't foolish; he knew when he would need help.

Besides, it was high time that this horror end.

Shaking slightly, he picked up the phone and managed to dial 911. Without waiting for the person on the other line to say anything, he began.

"Hello? I-I need your help, it's my dad. I've been dealing with it for years but-" he was cut off by another scream. "Listen, just get over here fast, I need your help." He stated his address, and hung up without waiting for any questions.

Practically dragging himself to the next room, he was prepared for anything. There she lay, his butterfly, crookedly slumped against the wall. The piano keys were askew, and he winced slightly at the broken TV.

"Hello father. I think it is time we end this now." He said, as he stood to his full height, just below his father's shoulders. The shadow of his body seemed to consume the entire room as he lifted up his weapon of choice, the fire extinguisher.

Two

He crept silently though the halls, not wishing to draw attention to himself. He could hear shouts coming from a room farther down the hallway, and was upon the door when a medic burst through.

Almost stumbling over the boy, the medic shouted at him to get back to the waiting room, Mrs. Sanban was in serious need of medical attention and couldn't be seen right now.

"But that's my friend's grandmother!" He shouted, not really knowing what that sentence was supposed to accomplish. The medic glanced at him.

"Well, your friend's aunt and uncle will be here shortly, so if anything happens they'll tell them, now get out of here!" With that, the hall was filled with the sound of running steps, and the medic turned a corner. Number Two could hear the worry in the voices of those within the room with their patient, and he instantly had a gut feeling that something wasn't going to turn out alright.

One and Five

One didn't want to go to the tree house, he felt safe here, with her, in an empty house, and the TV blurrily talking to them. It was nice company, and he told her as much. So it was decided that they would sit there, in the dark, and watch the TV until their minds were numb and their tongues burnt from too-hot chocolate.

"Where are your parents?" One asked when the clock on the mantel struck seven. Instantly he knew something was amiss, for he had never seen Five so withdrawn. "Hey, hey, come on, it's alright."

"No it isn't!" She was trying to suck herself into the couch, anything to get away from the awful truth of it all. One reached over and touched her arm, letting her know that he was there. And by the Gods, he was there, Five realised. Someone was here for her, and really, that's all she had ever wanted.

Two

"Sanban?" the receptionist called, and three people stood up, Two did as well. "I'm sorry, but, there wasn't anything…."

"So what's going to happen to Kuki?" Two instantly asked, earning him a look from the two adults that stood up, and a glance from the crying child that was mumbling something that sounded strangely like 'grandma.'

"Well, she'll be coming to live with us, in Montana. We were coming to visit for Christmas, but…" the obvious father said, as his wife was currently comforting their child. Two made an 'oh' sound, and was suddenly too stricken to think properly.

Before he knew what to do, the Sanbans were off to go pick up their niece, who was no doubt at home right now, wondering where everyone was.

Three

"GO!" and she was running, and crashing through the door, and slipping, and sliding, and scabbing knees, and wishing her hair wasn't so long as to get in her way. Her kitten was mewling, and begging to be paid attention, and she was just lucky that she hadn't tripped over the poor thing yet. And as she neared her house, she saw the lights on, and smiled, maybe today could reclaim some sanity.

But that was not to be.

"Kuki honey, there's some… terrible news, grandma's…. is there, anything you want to take with you to Montana?" Her uncle was saying, and it wasn't sinking in. She could distantly hear sirens, her cat was rubbing against her leg, her cousin was bawling, and the sirens were getting louder, nothing was making sense, she couldn't think, and the room was blurry, no, spinning, no tilting, and her head was aching.

"I'm going to be sick." She was being ushered into the car, her new life, a new home. No friends, her cat was in her lap, and she could see the lights, red, red, red, red, siren, red. Her hand was on the window, and all she could think about was that she would never see anyone again…

And that was how she left them: two friends embracing each other, finally realizing that they were no longer alone in their struggles; a boy torn between being elated and crying; and a small boy who had suddenly and inexplicably grown up, for her sake. She would never know these things, though, because she was still huddled up on the back seat of a relative's car, eyes screwed shut as she tried to block out the flashing lights, and the sound of the sirens and crying, the radio turned up too high to try to block it out: she would never like country after this night.

And for that lone little boy that had grown up, all that he would ever have to remember her by was the snow.