The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

The Depths

[Sophia]

"Okay, ready?" Teri asked.

I nodded as I popped the bubble charm into my mouth and swallowed. Once again, the ground swayed beneath my feet and the air around me felt thin. I jumped into the tiny pool and sank to the bottom. Teri waited for me to get used to the effects before we went off together. The transition from air breathing to water breathing isn't painful, it just takes a moment for you to get comfortable with the feeling. I was still amazed by it. The pressure against your ears and chest are gone and your vision is as clear as ever. You don't even need to open your mouth to take a breath. You can just keep your mouth closed forever and never have the urge to go up for air.

Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything to help you keep warm. In fact it was actually really cold. It usually takes me a while longer to get used to the temperature, but in this weather, I definitely wasn't going to get used to it any time soon. But I still love the feeling of being underwater. Sometimes, if you focus and not move at all, it doesn't even feel like your in the water.

"You okay Sophie?" Teri asked, noticing I had my arms crossed from the cold.

"Yeah, it's just cold." I said. Although I guessed it was pretty plain to see I was taking longer to adjust.

"That's okay, I know the temperature might take you longer to get used to. When we get to my home, I might have something that can help with that." Teri smiled and turned away from me. Her pink tail flicking slowly in the water. I pushed off from the bottom and followed behind her as best as I could. It was a little hard to keep up with her, but the tunnel we went through was so tight she couldn't help me through it and sometimes she had to wait for me to catch up. When we made it through, the water turned into a dark green and I knew we were already at the bottom of the lake. Usually down here the water would be too murky to see anything, but with this little bubble charm it just looked more like a dusty room. Teri let me rest for a moment before we went off again. I still wasn't getting used to the cold, but I tried not to let that slow me down. Just swimming and trying to keep up with Teri was what was hard for me. My muscles were a little sore already, but Teri had no problem waiting for me. She understood that I wasn't able to keep up with her very well. Not even my wings could help me through.

"Hey Sophie?"

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say that I really like your wings. I bet it feels amazing to fly through the air with them."

I smirked. "Yeah, it is really cool." I paused for a moment. "Though, being underwater is pretty cool too. It kinda makes me feel like I'm floating." I added.

"Exactly. You should try sleeping underwater. It's like you can't feel anything at all. Teri giggled.

I smiled awkwardly. And then I started thinking about it.

Yeah, I bet it would feel pretty cool.

"Ready?"

"Mhmm." I nodded and we pressed on. We went down the darker tunnel. We both swam a little slower since this tunnel was tighter than the other one. But when we finally made it out, Teri let me hang onto her shoulders and pulled me through the blue abyss. Once again I could see the familiar glow of the kingdom within the darkness.

Her home.

It was beautiful. From here it almost felt like I was in a dream.

"Does everyone on the surface have wings like you?" Teri asked.

"No, it's just me and Apollo. No one else has wings." I said.

"Really? How come?"

"Well... I don't know," I said.

"What about your family? Do they have wings too?"

"Oh no, we don't have any family."

Teri stopped suddenly and I let go of her as she spun around and looked at me in shock.

"You don't have any family?"

"Well no. It's just been me and Apollo. We don't even know if we have any family. Or at least, anyone who's closely related to us," I said.

You'd think that having no other family would be sad and maybe a little depressing, but actually I'm completely fine with it. It was the truth and I had already accepted it. Honestly, I didn't even care if I had a family. I was probably just another protagonist without anyone to call family. In all the books and movies I've seen, the main character always feels sad when they're reminded that they have no family. Or even anyone to call them family. And then there's me.

You see me give a damn?

"Isn't it hard to live without any parents? You don't have anyone to look after you?"

"Well yeah, it was a little difficult at first. But we managed." I said truthfully.

"So are you really okay without having any family looking after you?" Teri asked.

"Yeah, we've been doing pretty well. It really isn't such a big deal," I said honestly.

"Well, if you say so. Let's keep going." Teri said as she took my arms and carried me to the balcony of her room.

"You can sit here and rest. I think I might have something that can help you warm up," Teri said.

She dropped me off at the edge of the balcony and swam inside. She started looking around her room for something. I didn't pay attention to her. I floated down until I sat on the edge and looked down upon her glowing city. It really was a beautiful sight to behold.