Black Butterfly

A/N: The style of this one is pretty different. It wasn’t originally going to be an official part of the Butterfly series, but it works to make the transition I want to make between part 2 and what is now part 4, so I’m going to use it as such.
Heh, I think I noticed a mistake I’ve been making since the beginning, but since no one’s called it, I’ll just chalk it up as one of the creative liberties I’m taking.
For anyone who’s just stepping in here: This is Part 3. Part 1 is Butterfly Complex, and Part 2 is Butterfly Fetish. If you haven’t already read those, it would be a good idea to do so now.
Codes may evolve along with the story, but the ones that appear now are set in stone.

February 14th

Lock’s POV

The sun had gone down. This had to count as evening. Lock watched the town through his bedroom window, slumped over with his arms crossed on the sill. Maybe Oogie Boogie fudged the time to make her stay longer. Like that was any sort of comfort… Dammit… and damn Barrel, too. ‘Sort of reckless?’ If she decided to pour leech berry jelly over her head and run through a stinger’s hive, that would be ‘sort of reckless.’ Sneaking off every night to throw herself at Oogie Boogie’s twisted mercy, even after how close he’d come to killing her only a month ago, and who knew how many times since then… ‘Her own business’ or not, that was a damn death wish.

On top of that, how the hell did she fall for Oogie Boogie when Lock had been trying to get her attention for years? Sure, Lock knew he hadn’t been exactly nice, but Oogie Boogie was fucking evil. The only logical explanation was that Shock liked the abuse and didn’t think Lock was evil enough. But how logical was that, really? Stupid girls. He’d probably never understand them.

Plus, this put him in another dilemma. Shock had inspired him to bring Oogie Boogie back, maybe set him free, to really shake things up around here. Not only had she beat him to it—how still remained a mystery—but if he let Oogie Boogie out he may never have another chance with her. At least this way he could catch her away from him during the day.

“Yeah, right. She’d blow you off either way…” He muttered. “Always does.”

“Still not back yet?” Barrel asked from the doorway.

“No, Barrel, she’s still not back yet,” Lock answered without turning around.

“She’s probably fine.”

“Yeah, I get that. There’s nothing wrong with you, there’s nothing wrong with her, everyone is bloody fine.”

“Are you still mad at me?” When the other boy didn’t answer, Barrel continued, “I know you’re jealous because-”

“I’m not jealous.”

“-he got to her first, but if we fight with her about it she’ll push us away. Right?”

“If we don’t, she’ll keep seeing him until something really bad happens.”

“You don’t know that…”

“Oh, come on.” Lock finally turned around. “You know how Oogie Boogie is. Aren’t you the least bit surprised she’s not dead already?”

“Uh…” Barrel rubbed the back of his head. “I dunno… Wouldn’t it be suspicious if she disappeared?”

Thinking of the book he’d found in Jack’s library, Lock almost laughed. Oogie Boogie wouldn’t give a damn if her ‘disappearance’ caused suspicion. Not if he wanted to make her ‘disappear’ badly enough. Though, there were other ways it might inconvenience him. If he ever did kill her, Lock would raise a stink in town, to be sure, and Barrel would likely be right there with him. Any hope he may have had about escaping that tree in the next hundred years or so would go to hell. Maybe as long as he stayed trapped, Shock really was safe… safe-ish… “Probably,” he said before returning his gaze to the front walk. Probably a good thing that he never told Barrel exactly where he got the idea to resurrect Oogie Boogie.

In the silvery light of the rising moon, he spotted a red figure wandering up to Jack’s gate. Not hard to figure out her identity. Who else would be straggling home at this hour wearing his coat? Her ability to walk, and in a straight line no less, helped set a lot of his fears aside, but he couldn’t see much detail from this height. Shock made her way up the twisting stairs at the same tired and leisurely pace, and then he heard the front door open at close. When he heard her feet on the stairs inside, he turned away from the window. Even Barrel had gone quiet, one eye on the hallway through the open door. They heard her bedroom door open and close. A few minutes passed, but that was it.

“See?” Barrel said, his voice a bit lower. “I told you she’s fine.”

“Yeah,” Lock muttered, leaning out the window again. “Same old Shock.” Across the plane of the wall, he could see just enough to watch her windowsill go dark. ‘I’ll see you guys later,’ she had said. ‘I’ll explain tomorrow evening,’ she had said. Bullshit. “I should just let it go,” he said to himself. But he couldn’t do that, because he really wanted to see and make sure she was still in one piece. His pride wouldn’t let him go crawling to her, or outright ask how she was doing. How on earth could he get her to come to him? His pillow caught his eye, and an idea came to mind. He’d have to lure her in with a topic she couldn’t refuse. “Hey, Barrel?”

“What?”

“Can you go get her for me?” Walking to his bed, Lock reached under his pillow.

“She’s gonna tell me to buzz off.”

He waved the battered, leather-bound book. “No she won’t.”

Barrel’s eyes grew rounder with curiosity. “What is that?”

“Some old journal. It’s got some real interesting information about Shock’s new love bug.”

“Lemme see.”

Barrel reached for it, but Lock tucked it under one arm. “Go get her and I’ll tell both of you.” If new information about Oogie Boogie wouldn’t get her in here, then Lock would be at a loss until morning.

Fortunately, it did work, if only for a few minutes. Didn’t matter. Aside from the aches she used as an excuse to leave, she did look all right. For now. Forcing himself not to think about the things Oogie Boogie might do to her with his tongue Lock managed to fall into an uneasy sleep.

March 1st

Lock put one knee on the kitchen counter, reaching for an empty jar on the top shelf. He’d discovered that he could weasel extra time out of Shock by cooking a little excess food at each meal. It saved her time hunting down food for Oogie Boogie. His spidery fingers closed around glass just as the door flew open, cracking loudly as it impacted the wall. Lock jerked around. His leg slipped out from under him and he landed with his butt on the counter, simultaneously smacking the back of his head on the cabinets.

Before Lock could say anything, Barrel exclaimed, “Dude, Shock and Jack are about to throw down.” His eyes were two dark saucers in his round face.

“What?” One red eyebrow lowered and the other rose in an elegant arc of confusion. “No way…” He’d watched Jack scold Shock for fighting before, and he’d hardly call such confrontations throw downs. The half-ghoul looked pretty worked up about something, but Lock probably would have heard a true clash brewing from the kitchen.

As if on cue, Shock’s voice drifted in from the living room. “Well maybe they did, because I don’t have them!”

Without needing any encouragement, Lock hopped off the counter and followed Barrel through the door. The living room doubled as an entry hall—the square room at the base of the staircase, immediately accessible by the front door. Shock, Jack, Finkelstein, and Corpse Mother stood in a cluster toward the center of the room, with Sally offset closer to the foot of the stairs. Shock looked like she wanted to make a break up those stairs, but Jack had a firm grip on one of her arms.

“Igor and Jewel both saw you take them last night!” Finkelstein yelled back.

“Shock, just tell us what you did with them,” Jack said calmly.

“I don’t have the damn potions! Let go of me!”

Jack frowned at her language, but didn’t comment. “I understand, you don’t have them anymore, but what did you do with them?”

Shock didn’t answer, clenching her jaw and glaring. Lock had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly where those potions were and couldn’t answer. Most nights, she still went to Oogie Boogie’s alone. Lock usually didn’t want to come, anyway. Not because he didn’t want to get re-involved with the Boogeyman, but because things got so uncomfortable when Shock and Oogie Boogie were in the same room. There was this vibe in the air, to the point where even Shock couldn’t look at the burlap face without blushing. Of course, the Boogeyman made his own contribution to the discomfort by constantly undressing her with his eyes…

“This is stupid,” she finally growled at Finkelstein. “Most of the stuff I took was crap out of that junk heap you call a front yard and books you never read anymore. If you would have let me have it if I asked, then why are you making such a big deal out of this?”

“You’ve been stealing from me, you ruffian,” Finkelstein returned.

“I don’t know what that gambling psychopath taught you, but your behavior is unfit for a civilized community,” Corpse Mother added.

The mention of Oogie Boogie lit amethyst fire in Shock’s eyes. When she spoke again, her throat was tight with restrained emotion. “Are you serious? I borrowed some useless junk from the doctor and you want to pull that card?”

“Oh, it’s more than that. There’s the fighting. Spending all hours of the day slinking around outside the gate, getting into who knows what. And what about Corpse Kid’s puppy? My poor baby’s been crying his eyes out for two days! And Helga’s cat?” Corpse Mother said.

“You know about that?” Jack asked Shock.

“They probably ran away. How should I know?”

“Clown saw you carry Hackles out the front gate,” Corpse Mother said. “What did you and your hood friends do to him?”

Hackles was the name of the zombie Doberman pup Corpse Mother had given her son last Christmas. Lock had warned Shock to leave it alone. Maybe she’d been desperate. Once more, Shock didn’t answer, but Lock could see her slender frame vibrating with tension.

This time, Jack broke the silence. His voice still sounded the calmest of the four, but that calm had a new and very brittle quality to it. “Where’s Hackles?”

The half-witch looked up at Jack without answering.

“Shock,” Jack repeated, “where is Hackles?”

When she finally answered, her voice was low and cold. “What are you so upset about? It was already dead. What could I have-”

Corpse Mother smacked Shock. The move even startled Jack, apparently. “You rotten little creature.” She turned to Jack. “I always knew this was a bad idea. That one,” she pointed at Shock, “was poisoned by Him, and nothing is going to change that. She’s been getting worse and worse. You should send her back to the Hinterlands she loves so much.”

Jack dropped Shock’s arm to put both hands on Corpse Mother’s shoulders. The teenager took a few steps back, one hand over her cheek, but Lock couldn’t see her face anymore.

“Let’s not get hasty,” Jack said. “I’m sure we can come to some kind of agreement without-”

“What if I want to leave?” Shock interrupted.

The Pumpkin King tilted his head at the young woman like he thought he hadn’t heard properly. “Pardon?”

“She’s just saying what everyone’s been thinking for the last six years. I don’t belong here, and I never wanted to stay here. Do you understand what it’s like to walk down the street and know that people are judging? Or to see them flinch like you’re a loose cannon that could go off any minute? I don’t see why I have to suffer because you feel guilty for murdering our guardian.”

Jack’s eye sockets elongated vertically and his mouth formed an ‘o’ as he recoiled a step. “That’s not- the Hinterlands aren’t a safe or healthy place for a young lady-”

“I’m not a young lady, I’m not a sweet little lady, I’m not any kind of damn lady! And I’m not a kid anymore. I can take care of myself outside of this… this… soft-headed, idiotic town. I’m leaving.” She said this last part with an air of finality that dared anyone to suggest otherwise. Then she turned on her heal and headed for the stairs, shoving past Sally as she went.

“Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say,” Corpse Mother called after her.

The skeleton started after Shock, but Sally stopped him. “Let her cool off first,” the rag doll said softly, with a disapproving glance at the rotund woman.

The two boys withdrew into the kitchen, so they missed anything that followed. “You don’t think she means that, do you?” Barrel asked.

“I don’t know.” Lock still couldn’t believe that fat bitch had hit her, especially after getting on her case for doing the same thing. And so what if Shock got in a few fights? Half the kids around here deserved to have their asses kicked once in a while. Shock happened to have a shorter temper than most was all.

“Should we go with her? If she does leave.”

“I’m not leaving her alone with… out there,” Lock scoffed.

Barrel nodded understanding, but still looked wary. “She might not let us.”

“Then she’ll just have to suck it up,” Lock said. He would not abandon Shock in the middle of nowhere with the Boogeyman. Her safety aside, they would both miss her, no matter how that fateful Christmas leveraged them apart. Maybe returning to the tree house would help restore the natural order. They were Boogie’s Boys, the three of them, even the one who hated being called that. Lock clasped his hands at chest level with his pointer fingers steepled against his chin and looked to one side. “If we are leaving, we should get that fat bitch a parting gift…”

“Like what?”

“What does he do with the bones he spits out?”

“Dunno, but I’m sure we could find out.”

So it came to pass that two days later, Corpse Mother entered her kitchen and found a bloody dog skull sitting on her table. That’s not what made her cry out, though. Not entirely. Hackles’s collar was clutched between the bony teeth along with a note that read, You fuck with one of us, you fuck with all of us.

Watching through the window, Lock grinned. He wasn’t usually much for psychological warfare, but the expression on her face was priceless. Plus, Oogie Boogie had been highly amused by Lock’s idea, and Shock had rewarded the devil-boy with one of her prettiest smiles yet.

A/N: Butcher Jones- If I haven’t lost you by slowing down with my updates, in regard to your review on Butterfly Complex, many pairing combinations of these four have flitted across my mind at one time or another (and not just in sets of two). I would encourage an Oogie/Lock fic. I’ve spent time looking around, and I’ve never seen that pairing before. I’d totally read it.