"How she became the Monarch Butterfly"

[January 1st, 2022]

She opened her eyes slowly after a series of sedatives. She felt a slight pain in her head but she was too numb to notice.

"Aurora.." Her father called her. "Matthias!... Should we give her another sedative?" He asked.

"She's awake?" Dr. Matthias leaned forward and torched her eyes. "It's fine.. I don't think we need sedatives." He added. "Aurora, can you hear me?"

"W-What happened?" She whispered slowly.

There was a sharp ring in her head making her close her eyes again.

"Give her time. She'll be fine. The surgery was successful after all." Dr. Matthias said, snapping her consciousness back.

She opened her eyes in surprise. She had the surgery?!

She shook her head as it pained a little. Okay. She had to recollect her thoughts. What was the last thing she remembered?

Right. It was Sean. He was trying to keep her from committing suicide. She was going to kill herself before anyone had the chance to have her get the surgery. But maybe she passed out and Sean brought her safely to the hospital.

She was alive. She could think. She could see. She could smell. She could touch. She could probably taste too. She could talk!

She overheard Dr. Matthias talking about how she avoided cognitive and speech disorders!

She was alive and well!

There was a strong spree of happiness inside her mind as she thought closely about it. She was saved. Sean saved her.

She smiled lightly.

Her father noticed.

"Aurora. Welcome back!" He cheerfully said to her as he noticed her smiling. He smiled at her before his smile faded back.

"Are you okay?" Aurora slowly asked him as she started to regain her strength.

"Y-Yes." He murmured. "I was just scared. But now I'm.." He cleared his throat. "I'm fine, sweetie. Let me c-call the others."

Her father left the room to share the news of her consciousness.

She looked at her hands with an IV drip on them. They were bruised and scratched. She raised her head a bit to see her feet after fighting them out of the blanket. They were also bandaged. What exactly happened again? Why did she have scratches and bruises when it was a brain surgery for a tumor?

Though it was confusing, she didn't want to think of anything till she felt a bit better. Now that she was alive, it was least of her worries to think of how she was alive anyway.

Suddenly, the door to her ICU opened and a few nurses stepped in. It was probably to shift her to a ward before letting in any visitors. That explained why no one was there.

The nurses took off her ventilator, IV drip, vital signs monitor and helped her lay down on the stretcher.

She still had difficulty sitting straight let alone walking. The nurses ran her stretcher across the hallway into her ward where her family and friends were waiting to welcome her.

As the nurses helped her down on the ward's bed, her mother quickly reached for her, hugging her lightly trying not to shock her much. She sighed heavily trying to keep her tears to herself so they don't overwhelm her daughter.

She cut off the hug to let her lay down straight.

Aurora couldn't see much from her angle. What she saw was most of the ceiling and whoever that came near enough to her for notice.

"Don't move or talk too much for the time being." One of the nurses said to her before grabbing the empty stretcher with the other nurses and leaving the ward.

Though she was awake, she could feel some sort of tension in the air. The grimness made her uneasy.

"Where's everyone?" She asked before trying to move around.

"They're here… Don't worry." Her mother said, holding her down so she wouldn't move. "Don't move okay? You're still recovering." She turned her head telling everyone to leave. "Rest a bit more okay? Then I'll have everyone see you. I don't want to overwhelm you right now. Okay?"

Something was off. She could see her mother panic.

"Mom… What's wrong?" She asked.

"Huh?" She muttered. "Nothing sweetie. The doctor said to keep visitors as low as possible. So, just rest first alright?"

She patted her head forcing her to close her eyes. No. It wasn't right. Something was wrong.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. She was already feeling unwell. She forced herself to fall asleep,

'Please sleep Aurora. Please sleep and hope this grimness is just what you feel. Nothing less. Nothing more.'

She clenched her teeth tightly before swiftly sitting upright. It didn't matter if it hurted.

"Mom… What's wrong?!" She asked in a loud voice.

There.

There her mother crashed into tears making Aurora tear up with her.

"D-Don't… Don't hide it please." She said as her tears uncontrollably flowed down her cheeks. "Mom!" She called her again. "Please! Say something!"

The uneasiness was killing her. What good would staying alive physically do when internally she was hurting?

"W-Where's… Where's Sean?" She asked, fearing that was the case. "Mom?!"

Her mother couldn't stand it. Of course she couldn't. She couldn't answer her daughter either.

"H-He…" Her mother shook her head, not being able to say it.

But she didn't have to say anything anymore. Aurora understood it as she lifelessly fell back on bed.

Upon hearing the screams the others rushed inside. Her mother had almost fainted when they escorted her out.

Aurora couldn't even hear anything. The muffled and panicked voices in her surroundings sent shivers down her spine as she closed her eyes in disbelief.

She hoped what she was thinking wasn't true.

[December 27th, 2021 - The day it all happened]

"Sean?" She called his name, finally being able to remember him as he started to run towards her.

A sudden flash disappeared him from her sight but she could feel him embracing her tightly as something struck them onto the ground.

When her consciousness drove back to her, she was lying on the ground, though she didn't feel any pain. Maybe it was the adrenaline.

Next to her was Sean, covered all over with blood all over his skin.

A bus could be seen stopped behind them with people rushing over to see the commotion.

"S-Sean?" She called him within her remaining consciousness.

He reached her hand to her; His hand was scratched all over as it trembled.

"Live." He whispered.

[January 2nd, 2022 - Present]

She woke up early in the morning after having the worst nightmare of her life. How she hoped it wasn't one of her broken memories. How she wished she never had to see it in the first place.

Giselle was the only one in her sight at the very moment she opened her eyes. The grimness on her face explained everything. But as she noticed Aurora slowly opening her eyes, she quickly changed her expression and leaned in to hug Aurora.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Giselle murmured, burying her head down to Aurora's shoulder.

Aurora lifelessly accepted her friend's genuine hug.

"Where is Sean?" She asked, still hoping her nightmare wasn't real. It can't be real. No way.

Giselle didn't say a word but her silence proved everything. She took heavy breaths as she broke the hug.

"Dr. Matthias advised us not to say a word to you. He's in the ICU-"

"Let me see him!" Aurora eagerly sat up again.

"Aurora!" Giselle called her name before trying to push her back to bed. "You can't… You have to recover first… You can't see him. We haven't seen him either!" She quickly explained.

Aurora fought back, not wanting to lay down just yet. She tried to stay calm but she couldn't.

"W-Will he be fine?" She asked hesitantly.

Giselle quickly looked away, trying to hide her tears.

"He won't?" Aurora asked again as her eyes started to tear up.

"T-The Andersons… Haven't signed the papers." Giselle murmured before breaking into tears.

Aurora tried to reclaim her thoughts. What? That can't be right.

"A-Are you saying… He's alive because of machines?" Aurora hesitantly asked.

Giselle nodded helplessly.

Her eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. He was there because of her. He was dying because of her. Because she wanted to die, he decided to die in her place.

As the thoughts crippled in her mind, she couldn't sit there anymore.

She plucked the IV drip out of her hand and quickly tried to stand up only to have her vision blackened, sitting back on the bed.

"Please let me see him!" She cried as her tears fell down on the ground.

At this rate, she alone could cause a flood.

"Aurora, you can't!" Giselle, who was crying along, tried to explain to her.

"Let her see him." Dr. Matthias muttered from the ward door.

"But Doctor!" Giselle objected.

Mrs. Anderson entered the ward from behind Dr. Matthias.

"She deserves to see him more than any one of us." Mrs. Anderson muttered. "We have decided to let him go." She softly said while slowly wiping the little tears around the ends of her eyes.

Aurora pouted helplessly, not being able to stop a single tear. It wasn't within her grip anymore.

Dr. Matthias had the nurses arrange a wheeling-chair as walking on her own right now was risky.

The nurses helped her get on the wheel-chair and led her all the way to the ICU where Sean was being kept.

The cramped ICU showed nothing but machinery that was keeping him alive at the moment.

They made her wear a mask and a gown so her already recovering wounds won't get contaminated in any way.

Her wheel-chair was managed by Mrs. Anderson. They were the only ones inside the ICU at the moment.

Mrs. Anderson drove her chair closer to the bed revealing his head covered almost entirely with bandages. Only the front of his face was uncovered. His right eye was entirely covered by bandages as well.

The state of him quickly made her close her eyes tightly. She wanted to believe that it was another nightmare.

"Aurora…" Mrs. Anderson called her name before grabbing her hand lightly and helping her raise it towards Sean's head, making her pat it slowly while she couldn't stop crying seeing her boyfriend half-dead. "Thank you for bringing him to us." She added, continuing to help her pat him. "Thank you for living. Thank you for existing. Thank you for everything. This is what his face is saying to me right now. His face is telling me about all his feelings. He's not hurt. He's really not." She added, not being able to stop her tears, still continuing to help Aurora pat him.

Aurora hummed her pain in a high-tone as her breaths roughened along with her falling tears.

"Aurora! You're the reason why all these beautiful people were living within him! You are the sole reason why they held onto their lives."

"And I'm also the reason why they're all dying!"

Mrs. Anderson shook her head slowly as her cheeks rose with the increasing pressure of her uncontrollable tears.

"Aurora! They want you to live more than they could ever want themselves to live! They want you to live, Aurora!"

"Live for what?!" Aurora asked her as her breaths became uneasier than before. "And for a year?! Please!"

She was speechless. All their lives had to go just to account for another year to her life. She couldn't stand that.

"Aurora! Just because you think you have 1 more year, it doesn't mean you really do. They all gave their lives away hoping for you to live longer. It won't work if you give up like this."

"Aunt… I know where you're coming from. But I had Glioblastoma! I had Cancer! It has no cure!"

"Only if you don't give it a chance to cure. In that case, no disease would've had a cure!"

Aurora shook her head before putting it down on his arm. She couldn't even feel him breathe. It was a terrible feeling.

They wanted to live. She knew they did. The decision to save Aurora was probably Sean's and his alone. Probably none of his alters had agreed to it. Of course they wanted to live. If not everyone, then at least the little one.

She still couldn't believe he let himself die in her stead just to get her 1 more year.

[January 4th, 2022]

His funeral was kept simple. Aurora visited as well, only for a little while. She wasn't discharged yet. But they had to let him go now.

She hadn't been talking to anyone. She hadn't been eating properly. She hadn't been showing any emotion other than her uncontrollable tears.

After coming back to the hospital from the funeral, she had collected some of her thoughts. She still wasn't sure what to feel.

She wanted to be left alone so no one was in the ward either. It was just her, and her complicated feelings.

Only until Emilia paid her a visit.

"Hey." She uttered before pulling a small metal chair towards the bed and sitting beside her. "I found something… For you." She put her hand in the pocket of her jacket and took out an envelope.

The envelope was colored orange with a black ribbon. For the first time in a while she was intrigued to see something.

"I guess he already saw it coming… His death. I found this under his pillow. It has your name on the back." Emilia muttered before leaving her alone in the ward.

She slowly unwrapped the ribbon revealing the letter inside the envelope.

"Hi Aurora…" She read out loud before her eyes teared up. She closed her eyes to grab her breaths.

"If you're reading this… Then I probably committed suicide or something, haha. If someone else is reading this then maybe we committed mass-suicide.

The point is, whatever happened was our own choice. No one indulged us to do so.

If you're reading this, you probably had the surgery. And I'm probably not around.

Aurora… I want you to live. I want you to breathe. Yes, I'm selfish but no matter how much I thought of letting you go, I could only want myself to go instead.

Baby Sean, Palanquin Lady, Adam and Lyla, all of us wanted to choose you over us. We had decided already, to make you live no matter what. Unless you chose to commit mass suicide though.

You once told me that you saw a Monarch Butterfly flying on the first snow instead of migrating.

I wanted to tell you that if you're the Monarch Butterfly, then I'm the atmosphere you need to survive. After one climate is done with its duty, the butterfly migrates to another. I'm one of those climates that you need to migrate from.

You are what makes me the strongest before death. And I am what makes you the strongest as you live.

You are strong, Aurora.

You are stronger than any one of us.

And I fell in love with this strong, brave, beautiful Aurora.

I'm sorry for leaving you so early,

I'm sorry for making you fall in love with me,

But I'm grateful for each second we spent together.

I'm grateful you existed for me.

We are grateful for everything you did for us, Aurora.

From Sean,

The one who loved you and will always love you."

She cried the night away as she read his heartful last message.

From there on, she decided she was going to live, for herself and for him. She was going to live.

She closed her journal with a smile on her face that wasn't going to wear away easily.