It wasn't an entire surprise that her powers turned out to be so dark. She knew there was something wrong with her.
She loved the thrill of the fight. She loved the adrenaline and the power. She even loved the scrapes and bruises that came with an exceptionally strong opponent. Everyone knew this about her and she didn't bother hiding it.
Her secret was much darker. While she did enjoy the chase and the fight, in Buttercup's mind, the best thing was after the chase she was granted this kind of control over the victim. She and she alone could decide where they were going to leave or stay. She decided when and if they could take a breath of relief at her departure. Most of all, she had a choice of deciding if it was going to be their last breath entirely.
It was an strange addiction that the green eyed girl feared about herself.
It was probably why finding her powers gone wasn't that much of a loss. She actually felt free. She didn't have the power to hunt anymore and without the chase, there was no control. With no control, there was no thrill.
This realization made her frown.
There was now no thrill. It somehow made her sad thinking about it.
She shook the thought out of her head.
No! She refused to think about it. Losing her powers were one of the best things that could have happened to her especially with the way she lost her powers, she was thought to be the most heroic kid in Townsville.
When she walked the streets, she would always be greeted with a smile. She loved being recognized that way. On the other hand, she hated the attention.
She was always the loner type and she loved her alone time. Being bothered all the time by overly friendly people was one of the worst tortures to someone like her.
That was probably why she started to retreat from civilization. In her room, it was just her alone, with normal abilities and I couldn't be happier.
At least, that's what she told herself.
$%^&*()
The imagines of that day still haunted Bubbles and would probably continue to do so for a very long time. The scare of her sister's near death experience was anything but just a little scary.
The images always jumped around her dreams when she slept.
First it would be the three of them together in a cage. Then she would be suspended in an electric field in front of a huge laser. The tip would glow and a tear would run down her trembling face.
She would scream but someone else's would always penetrate her ears. She would open her eyes and see her sister crumpled on the floor, dark smoke emitting from her form.
There would be a deadly silence around her and she would do nothing but stare at the black haired girl in front of her. She wouldn't even notice when she was let down and started to crawl over to her.
"Bubbles! Help me." Her sister would yell but it wouldn't do any good. She would just staring at her as Blossom did CPR.
She would shake her head and sob loudly. "No, Buttercup. You're not dead. You can't be. You're not." She would say in a sort of mantra while Blossom yelled at her, words that wouldn't reach her ears.
She would wake up and rush to her sister's room where she would be reading a comic or a sports magazine. Buttercup would glance at the door and smile. "The dream?"
Bubbles smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. I thought you would be gone."
Buttercup laughed. "You've had that same dream for the last month. I'm not going to go anywhere."
Bubbles knit her brows together. "Do you promise?"
Buttercup laughed. "What kind of question is that? Of course I promise."
Bubbles smiled before looking sheepish again. "Well then . . . um . . . Buttercup, c-can I sleep next to you?"
Buttercup would smirk. "Don't trust me?" She said but made room for her sister anyways.
Bubbles laughed and dove under the covers. "Nope." She hugged her sister like she would her stuff toys and Buttercup let her. Soon she drifted back to sleep and the dream continued.
The tears would rush out of her eyes and she would yell. "You can't die!" She would snatch her sister's hand and grip it. She would yell that phrase over and over until the body groaned.
"She's back!" Her other sister would say with tears in her eyes.
A small smile would graze her lips as she slept.
^&*()%^
Blossom could never help worrying about her sisters. It just came natural, as their oldest sister, to notice even the slightest changes about them, like how Bubbles' night terror were coming back, but especially the huge things, like Buttercup's past behavior.
Of course, it wasn't entirely bad. Buttercup had become nicer to both her and Bubbles. She started to just hang out with them for just the fun of it and there was hardly any fighting anymore.
She'd become more withdrawn and disconnected from other people. Even the old friends she had been starting to drift from her. She stopped going out a long time ago and she didn't even practice any of the sports she was so found of.
The weirdest thing about her was that when she thought she was alone, she would have this longing look. When she seemed to realize what she was thinking she would shake it off and she would frown. It was as if a burden had been lifted off of her and she just wanted it back. She tried to confront her sister about it but she just shrugged and played dumb.
Another thing about her sister that worried Blossom more than anything was what happened on that day.
They'd been tricked and captured by the RoudyRuff Boys and were trapped in Mojo's observatory. How they came up with such a great plan was beyond her but Blossom didn't really care. She just knew they had to get out.
For days they were in there waiting in a padded room for something to happen and a way to get free. They would get food and water through a slot in the door three times a day and possibly toilet paper for a toilet in the back. It went on for at least a month if not more. A few times Buttercup had gone crazy and began to ram herself around the cell.
"Let us the fuck out!" She yelled one time. Blossom didn't even bother to correct her. The three of them had been in a particularly sad mood. After calculating the days in their heads, they'd realized a sad truth. It had been their birthday. Specifically it had been their 16th birthday.
"Let us out!" She yelled. She rammed her arm on the door several times. Once was so hard it shook the room and broke her clavicle. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it had gone unnoticed for the moment.
"Buttercup, please stop." Bubbles pleaded. "You're going to hurt yourself." Bubbles walked toward her and attempted to calm her raging sister in front of the door.
To the three's surprise, it opened, revealing Butch who smirked and dragged Bubbles out by her blonde hair. Blossom flew forward to them with an attempt at tackling but the door closed a split second before her.
Her eyes were wide with terror. "What are you going to do to her?" The pink eyed puff yelled, just as frantic as Buttercup was just a few minuets ago. "Give me back my sister!" Tears were welling in her eyes and she began to look around the room frantically, hoping that some escape would make itself known. "Buttercup we have to find a way out. They could be doing something to Bubbles. We . . . Buttercup?"
In her frenzy she didn't see the furious look in her sisters eyes. She was panting and dark smoke was coming our from under her and through her mouth with every breath she took. The smoke began to build until it seemed like just a dark shadow. Blossom backed up. She'd never seen this power before but she had a creeping suspicion that it wasn't a good idea being near it. The smoke began to get so abundant that it seemed as if it was just a solid mass but it seeped under the cracks of the door.
In the most chilling voice Blossom ever heard, her sister began to speak, "Open the door. NOW!"
The door creaked open slowly and Boomer stood on the other side, trembling.
Buttercup flew past him without a second glance, a sooty contrail accompanying the normally pure apple green.
Blossom sucked in a breath. Foreign, cold chills were running up and down her body. "What . . . was . . .?"
Blossom heard Brick come running down the hall. "Boomer!" He yelled. "What did you do to my brother?" He demanded.
Blossom looked at the blond boy in his hands and stopped. The boy's face was completely pale. He was sweating and shivering at the same time and tears leaked from his unfocused eyes. "I-I don't know. Buttercup, she . . . BUBBLES." She remembered and raced after her sisters.
She followed the dark cloud as fast as she could, hoping that she wouldn't have to cross it. The cloud seemed to make her body shiver and her stomach churn. It made her feel uncomfortably nervous and frightened for no reason at all.
The smoky trail lead to a huge room filled with noise and commotion. Blossom picked up her pace before stopping in her tracks. In a blink the fumes disappeared without warning but a blood-curtailing scream replaced her smoke educed fear. She rushed in the room to see a laser pointed at Bubbles but with a crippled Buttercup between.
She ran to the panel holding Bubbles captive and released her. She fell but her eyes never left their sister.
Quickly, Blossom flew to her injured sister's side and turned Buttercup over so that she lay on her back. She checked the pulse and immediatly began CPR. "Bubbles Help me!" Blossom yelled.
Bubbles crawled over, in a daze, but didn't respond. "What are you doing? Find something useful!" Blossom yelled. "Bubbles! You have to find something. Electric. We need to shock her heart." Blossom screamed, trying her best to keep the tears from falling from her eyes.
"No, Buttercup, You're not dead. You can't be dead." Bubbles said in a low voice. She clearly wasn't listening to anything that was yelled at her. She grabbed her sister's hand. "You can't die!" She yelled.
Buttercup moaned. Blossom stopped and pressed her ear on her Buttercup's chest. Her ear was graced with the beautiful sound of a steady thump. A relived smile graced her lips. "She's back. Her heartbeat's back."
Bubbles smiled and hugged the dark haired girl. She groaned again and began to stir, face tense. "Blossom, she looks like she's in pain." Bubbles replied.
"We have to get her to the professor right now." Blossom responded, back in leader mode. Bubbles nodded and burst through the roof heading straight for their home. Blossom followed suit, only stopping to glimpse at her surroundings. She wished she hadn't.
Everyone was painting and sweaty. Their eyes all showed similar emotions, the very same Boomer had, fear. They twitched violently and most were in tears. They all looked sickly pale and black smoke came out of their mouths. In the front of the laser, Mojo twitched dangerously.
When Buttercup had woken up, Blossom confronted her with it but Buttercup didn't seem to remember anything after Bubbles' had been dragged away. "Doesn't matter anyways. If something like that did happened, it can't happen again." The green eyed girl replied with a smile.
Blossom hadn't realized it but she had walked all the way to her sister's room. Cracking the door open, she couldn't help smiling. Buttercup was snoring loudly with an arm wrapped around Bubbles. Bubbles was hugging Buttercup like a stuffed animal.
Blossom walked toward the bed, careful not to make too much noise. They both looked so peaceful it made her forget everything that happened a year ago.
She lifted the green blanket off the bed and covered Buttercup's body. Her arm had gotten quit cold being exposed to the night winds.
Bubbles began to whimper in her sleep. "Can't die . . ." She mumbled.
Blossom ran her hand through Bubble's hair with a smile. "She's back, Bubbles."