The Beginning

Bubbles smiled happily as she and her sisters celebrated their seventeenth birthday. So much had changed about the Powerpuff girls. Bubbles grew her blonde hair out long, but kept it in her trademark pigtails, Blossom kept hers the same length but now put it in a ponytail and still kept her red satin bow above it, Buttercup's hair in the front was the length of her face, but it continually got shorter towards the back. The Professor had gifted them with brand new cellphones, with unlimited long range, considering all the friends they had made across the world, now they could talk to them whenever they pleased. They all thanked him with a kiss on the cheek, and then began the cutting of their birthday cake. Bubbles giggled, birthdays were one of her favorite celebrations, it reminded her of how lucky they were, that she had two amazing sisters, a wonderful caring father, and a whole town of appreciative people who always seemed to be there for them. Buttercup wasted no time in adding contacts into her new phone, Bubbles could almost bet that Ace was the first one on her list. The two had been dating for a couple of months now, Professor didn't like it, but he figured since she was the toughest of them all she could most definitely handle herself if anything went wrong. Just about everyone knew that there was a romance between Mojo and Blossom, except for the two themselves, they seemed completely oblivious to their constant flirting with each other. And Bubbles, she had built up the courage to ask Boomer to be hers today. With a gasp she noticed that he was here already, carrying a plate that was weighed down by how much cake was piled onto it. Bubbles swallowed hard and started to walk toward him, nervously shaking and stumbling on the way.

"Hey, Bubbles! Nice party you guys are having." Boomer sheepishly smiled at the blonde girl and she noticed a slight hint of pink touching his pale cheeks.

"Y-yeah, thanks! I'm so glad you could make it! L-listen..there's been something I've wanted to ask you." Bubbles began playing with her left pigtail, reminding her of the time Him tugged at it once, the thought disturbed and confused her. Boomer began rubbing the back of his head, he seemed as nervous as she was.

"Y-yeah, I was kind of hoping to ask you something too.."

Bubbles felt eyes on her back, burning into her, making her uncomfortably warm, it seemed familiar.

"I..I wanted to know if you'd like to be my boyf-.." Bubbles was cut off by the ground shaking violently and a rather large volcano protruding out of the ground. It seemed ready to explode any second, and decorated like a cherry on top, was..Him. Everyone at the party shrieked in terror and began to fled, but with a flick of His claw, everyone was entrapped into the concentrated area by hot, molten walls. The crowd was sweating and shivering in fear. The girls flew up to where He was, they were all there, but Bubbles couldn't help but notice that his eyes stayed focus on her, the thought made her queasy. Those evil green eyes locked on her own blue ones, it felt like she was being stabbed by a million knives. He began to speak, there was no mercy in his voice, in fact, it was his not-so-often harsh tone. "Powerpuff girls, why, I don't think I got the invitation to this party."

"That's because you're not invited!" Bubbles pointed at the red devil and made a fist with her right hand, ready to knock him back where he belonged.

His eyes still dead-locked onto Bubbles' he began to respond, "I would think after all of these years, I would at least get invited to the heroes' birthday party."

Buttercup glared at Him and began yelling, "Why would we invite a villain to our party! Especially a weird freak like you!"

His voice returned to normal, for once his gaze breaking away from the blonde, over to the brunette, "A weird freak like me? Have you ever noticed yourself!"

Buttercup glared at the red man and flew at him at the speed of light and tried to deck him in the jaw, but surprisingly missed.

"What?"

An evil chuckle erupted from Him, "I'm not here to play games, girls. But I do so think it's rude to invite my 'adopted' offspring and not me." His heated eyes glided back over to Bubbles and then rested on where Boomer was standing.

Bubbles frowned, Him obviously knew of her plans, and for some reason, it upset him.

"Oh boys, I believe it's time to leave this bore of a party. Say goodbye to your little girlfriends."

Boomer made a noise of defiance, "Him, I don't want to go yet, I have something to say to Bubbles."

Him's face went back to normal and he crossed his arms, looking bored, then waved his claw at Boomer, "Then go ahead, unless you don't want to say it in front of everyonnnne." A slight smirk appeared on his glossy black lips.

Boomer swallowed and took her hands and looked into her eyes, "Bubbles, will you please be my girlfriend? I've been wanting to ask you for the longest time."

Bubbles blushed deeply, despite what was going on around them, the cowering people, and the speechless Professor, and the way too hot volcano and walls around them. "Yes, Boomer. I would like nothing more than that." She smiled sweetly at him and he leaned in for a kiss, Bubbles' eyes went wide, she was about to experience her first kiss with someone she had liked for years. She closed her eyes tightly and leaned in, surprised when she felt nothing. When she opened her eyes she noticed Him had pulled Boomer back and the other two were by His side. "No kissing on the first date." Him chuckled as the volcano, walls, and they sank back into the pits of wherever they lived. Before they were completely underground she felt His eyes on her again, making her shiver.

That night Bubbles was clutching onto her heart, it was beating so fast. She had just realized that she and Boomer were really together now, it wasn't a dream, although it had been a dream. She had wanted him for years, ever since the first time they had met and she had to kiss him on the cheek, she could have sworn she saw him smirk slightly before he seemed disgusted with the act.

The other girls were fast asleep, worn out from the day, the party had gone on for a few more hours and they had to spend the majority of it calming the people down and eventually had to take the mayor home and read him a story so he could fall asleep.

Bubbles' heart rate spiked up even farther when she heard a tap on her window. She tiptoed over to it and saw Boomer smile sweetly at her. She gingerly opened the window and he silently flew inside, she then noticed a small blue velvet box in his hand. He handed it to her, "I never got a chance to give this to you, so, happy birthday."

She opened it and was taken by the gorgeous jewelry. It was a silver necklace with a giant sapphire framed by some silver lattice.

"Boomer..I-..I.." she choked out.

"You don't need to say anything, I got this for you, well, because I uh," He looked away and pulled at the collar of his blue long sleeved shirt, "you know, love you.." Bubbles blushed hard and wrapped her arms around Boomer and pulled him in for her first kiss, it was short lived when she felt something cold yet warm pressed against her lips. She pulled away and was confused by the red claw in her way. Her eyes traveled up the arm and up to the face of Him, he looked kind of handsome in this light, but again the thoughts of him invading her mind disturbed her. He turned to Boomer and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, "What do you think you're doing here?" He huskily whispered. Boomer pushed him off and glared at Him, "Why do you keep interfering? Are you in love with her or something?"

His eyes softened slightly, but just enough for Boomer to notice, and his face resembled utter disgust, "That is just..wrong, you're like the devil, no one is going to love you!"

Bubbles frowned at the comment, overlooking the red man, absorbing how handsome he looked when he didn't look like he was about to kill her and her sisters. She felt her heart beat a little harder at the sight, not really minding it this time.

He heaved a great sigh, and fluffed up the pink collar around his neck, he was not facing Bubbles, but she could tell he was talking to her. "If this is what you have chosen...then..so be it." With a pink puff of smoke, the two were gone. Bubbles looked down at her necklace and put it on before climbing into bed, wondering what tomorrow would be like. If there is a tomorrow. That thought sent a chill through her spine.

The next day Bubbles woke up early, she was planning to sneak out before anyone woke up and meet up with Boomer. She was successful enough to get outside, and she turned to shut the front door as quietly as she could manage. She turned and flinched at the sight of a silhouette standing before her. She quickly reared back and had her back against the door. Her breathing was erratic and after a moment, she realized that she had powers, but continued to stay against the door.

Something about the person in front of her left her paralyzed with fear. The being stepped closer to her, into the light, and revealed a familiar red face that made Bubbles' heart pound wildly. He took another step closer, his eyes displayed pure malice, Bubbles frantically searched for the door knob. He reached out to her and Bubbles was raring to scream, but didn't when his claw gently tugged on one of her pigtails. She looked over at Him and noticed his tone had softened greatly.

"Him, what do you want from me? Why won't you leave me alone?" He let go of her hair and looked her in the eye, and grabbed her wrists with his claws and pinned her against the door. Bubbles planned to scream once more, her breathing was becoming ragged, her heart was pounding but it was excited at the same time. His face came close to hers and she squeezed her eyes shut. They stood there for a few moments before she opened one of her eyes slightly and saw Him just staring at her blankly. She opened her eyes and stared back at Him, not sure what exactly he was doing. He leaned in and his lips were nearly on hers before someone shouted at them.

"What do you think you're doing!" Him sighed and was suddenly gone, a miniscule puff of smoke left in his place. Bubbles rubbed her wrists and looked at the person who had yelled. Boomer ran up to her and pulled her into a warm embrace,

"Bubbles are you okay? I saw someone holding you down..and I was wondering why you weren't attacking them, but maybe I was just seeing things. I can't have you ever get hurt." He placed his head on top of hers and stroked her hair. He placed his hands on her shoulders and moved back to look at her. He leaned in and their first kiss was passionate, and mostly everything Bubbles had ever wished it would be. She felt warm and tingly inside, and experienced nothing but love. But soon after she felt unbearable heat, and she broke away from Boomer in time to watch a giant explosion of fire engulf everything around them and, eventually, swallow her whole too.