disclaimer: no.
dedication: TO HALLOWEEN BECAUSE I LOVE THIS FRICKIN HOLIDAY. also Halloween is coming up in like a week fUCK YEAH. I'M SO EXCITED.
note: all of these stories are collaborations with chokecherries, one of my super close friends on here. so she gets credit too fam!
note2: marcy (chokecherries) and I take no responsibility for any conditions (i.e. nightmares, tears, broken hearts, etc.) that are results of these stories. ;]
playlist: um, just find creepy/Halloween/dark playlists and listen to them. that is all.
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Blossom has nothing against Halloween. In fact, she quite enjoys the holiday, even if the origins are a bit dark. She's not one to dress up and go out to parties, instead she prefers to stay home and hand out candy to all the little kids in their diverse costumes. They're adorable, no denying it.
This Halloween, as usual, Bubbles and Buttercup left a few hours earlier to go out to some party a boy from their school is throwing. Bubbles bounced out of the house in a pretty white angel costume and Buttercup ran out with her, shouting her goodbye from behind her Catwoman mask.
That was about three hours ago.
She's trying not to worry. Her sisters are Powerpuff Girls, for Pete's sake. They're fine! They know how to handle themselves!
….But there's that small little knot of worry and anxiety in the pit of her stomach. She knows they should be home by now.
Blossom comes to a decision. The Professor is in the lab, probably asleep at his desk again. She's going out to find her sisters and bring them home, or at least make sure they're okay. The redhead rises from the couch, straightens her skirt and grabs a cardigan. Her boots go on over her tights-clad legs, and finally she's ready to brave the chilly fall air.
The first thing she notices when she steps out the front door is that there's no one outside (no duh Blossom, it's almost eleven at night what did you expect). She's walking for a few minutes and still not seeing anyone.
Then, she feels something touch her shoulder and screams. Loudly.
But when she turns around, no one's there. It makes her nervous (she's already anxious enough) until she notices something flickering behind a nearby dumpster. She huffs.
"Okay. Come on guys. This isn't funny." The figure doesn't respond, and her irritation falters. Who is that?
She looks again, and the figure is gone. Laughter starts up, and it sends a chill down her spine and brings goosebumps to her skin, and she curls into herself.
"Buttercup, if this is some prank you're playing on me with Butch, you can stop now. It's not funny anymore guys."
The eerie cackling has stopped, but then the street lights start to flicker out. Blossom's scared now. They're taking this way too far—
A hand touches her shoulder and she lurches, screaming bloody murder—
"Fuck! Do you have to scream like a banshee?"
x
Blossom presses her hands to her chest and looks up at a cringing Brick. "Don't scare me like that!"
He rustles the hair under his cap and gives her a look. "You're the one who looked like she was about to faint."
"What are you doing out here?" Blossom asks him.
"Looking for my brothers. I got this fucking weird message from Boomer so I came to drag their asses back home. The real question here is, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside? It's like midnight." Blossom rolls her eyes, but is secretly happy Brick's with her because she doesn't feel so scared anymore and the chill has left. For now.
"I'm looking for Bubbles and Buttercup...they never came home." Brick looks at her, like really looks at her. She's pale, not as white as she was a minute ago, but still, there's a lot of color that's missing from her face. Her hands are clutching at the sleeves of her jacket and she's faintly shaking. What the hell happened to her?
"You said you got a weird message from Boomer?" She looks up at him, pink eyes wide. He nods.
"What did he say?" He pulls out his phone and unlocks it, turning up his volume a bit and playing the voicemail.
'Brick, it's Boomer. Listen, this is going to sound freaking weird, but Butch and I are here at the Halloween party with Buttercup and Bubbles. You know, the one I told you about? In Carson's mansion? Anyway, we're here, we met up with the girls, but something's off about this place. I don't know what it is but I don't like it. I think we're gonna leave soo -'
And just like that, the line goes dead. No warning, nothing. Just...silence. A sudden breeze ruffles Blossom's hair and she jumps, wrapping her arms around herself. Brick looks up at her, then at their surroundings. It's gotten darker, and the streetlights are the only things lit, making shadows very prominent.
"That...didn't sound good." Blossom says quietly. Brick shakes his head. On the outside, he looks calm, almost bored. On the inside? He's got a gut feeling that his brothers are in trouble.
"C'mon red...let's go get our siblings back." He walks ahead of her, towards Carson's neighborhood. Blossom falls into step next to him, and it's quiet save for their footsteps. Subconsciously, she shifts closer to the taller, broader boy. She doesn't notice, too preoccupied with glancing worriedly at their surroundings, but Brick does. He wants to put his arm around her, but doesn't.
After about five minutes they reach Carson's house. It's huge, with an iron-wrought gate around it and a long, winding driveway.
They press the buzzer to be let inside, but no one responds. Neither of them say it out loud, but they both have a feeling it's best not to fly over the fence. Finally, Brick just huffs impatiently and places his hands on the iron. A moment passes, and the iron turns red then melts away. He pries open the bars and slips through, reaching back to help Blossom.
"Shouldn't there be...people here?" Blossom all but whispers as they walk up the driveway to the front door. "It looks deserted."
Brick doesn't respond, but his eyebrows are furrowed. At the front door, he knocks. No answer.
"This is like something out of a fucking horror movie..." He mutters under his breath. Blossom steps forward and blows on the door handle, making ice appear. She cracks a hand down on the ice and it shatters, opening the door. To her relief, it doesn't creak. That would've put her nerves on edge even more.
Brick goes in first. He tells himself that it's because he just wants to find his brothers and drag them out of here, but really it's because he doesn't want Blossom to get hurt. She stays close behind him.
The inside of the mansion is dark, and there are noticeable remnants of a party, but it looks wrong. Cups are crushed, liquid seeping out of them and staining the floor. Party hats are strewn around, all of them either ripped or squashed. Tables are overturned, orange and black streamers hanging limply from the ceiling. There's even some costume accessories lying around; a blue wig on the couch, a striped scarf on the floor, a pair of googly-eye glasses broken in two under an end table.
"Something's not right." Blossom whispers. She's got a bad feeling about this...
"Tell me about it." Brick mumbles in reply. They step gingerly around the destruction; eyes peeled for any signs of...anything, really. Brick is looking through the doorway to another room when Blossom notices something strange. There's what looks to be a puddle of...punch, she thinks? In the corner, but it's shaped weird and doesn't look exactly like juice. She walks over to it, and once she gets a good look she has to clamp her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream. Brick is at her side in an instant, looking over her shoulder. His eyes widen and this time, he does put his arm around Blossom, drawing her away from it.
There, on the floor, is a message.
'YOU'LL NEVER FIND THEM'
It's written in blood.
x
"Please tell me it's just ketchup."
Brick doesn't say a word as Blossom trembles against him. She's not just cold and frightened per se, although the temperature in the house is astoundingly low, but there's something...off, in the atmosphere. It feels so very wrong. She thinks she's going to be sick. Like she doesn't belong in her own skin. It makes her want to jump off the highest rooftop in the city and not catch herself.
She squeezes her eyes shut. "Ohmygosh. It's blood. Isn't it. There is actual blood on that floor and this isn't just some sick joke and..."
Brick steps forward to take a closer look—hell, it is real, what is this? Blossom is ghostly pale and shaking like a leaf behind him, and for once in her life, she's terrified. They need to get out of here as soon as possible.
"Come on, we need to go—"
She's got his hoodie sleeve in a death grip as they make their way around the wreckage to the front door. It's still open from when they came in, but as soon as he reaches for the handle, the door slams shut with such a sudden force it startles Blossom. She jumps and let's go of his sleeve, eyes wide and growing wider. Her breath catches in her throat as Brick tries to get the fucking doors to just open.
"Brick...do you feel that?"
Her voice is quiet, shaky, breathless. He glances at her from the corner of his eye, getting ready to just blast through the damn solid wood.
"It's—"
Blossom cuts herself off with a bloodcurdling scream as she slams onto the floor and is quickly dragged back into the shadows.
"BRICK!"
She's clawing desperately for a hold, and he turns just in time to see her frightened eyes before she disappears entirely, and the whole house is unearthly quiet.
Then—
He's over to where she disappeared in an instant, knocking things over and calling out her name. Shit shit shit. Obviously she'd felt something, why hadn't he listened to her? Now whatever it was had his brothers, Buttercup and Bubbles, and her.
"GIVE HER BACK. DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER."
x
She's cold. And there's something against her mouth, but she can't see anything there. She can't open her mouth; something is holding her against her will and preventing her from moving. And the worst part?
Brick's right in front of her. He's still beating against the wall where she was disappeared, screaming for her, cursing to kingdom come, and she can't move. She's so cold. She shouldn't be cold, she's immune for crying out loud, she breathes ice! Why is she so cold?!
It's as if there's an invisible wall in front of her, separating her and Brick. She's cold and helpless and something is holding her and chills are running down her spine and goosebumps are raised on her skin.
Then, the laugh. It's the same laugh from earlier, when she thought it was Buttercup and Butch. Except this time, it's right in her ear.
She loses it. All other thoughts vanish from her mind as pure panic takes over. Her heart rate skyrockets and she kicks and bites and thrashes in her captor's grip. The laugh stops, replaced with an inhuman snarl, but that only gives her a fresh wave of terror and adrenaline to use to her advantage. Whatever it is - she doesn't want to think about it or she'll lose her nerve - slips from her mouth and she screams as loud as she can. Brick freezes, and his frantic searching and banging and yelling intensifies. She keeps screaming, fighting the thing holding her. Something scratches against her cheek, then her arm, ripping the sleeve of her sweater.
She screams again, even louder this time. Tears gather in her eyes and she squeezes them shut, full on crying now. She lurches her body forward, and actually falls through the shadows and out of the wall. Her back hits the floor hard and she feels something slice against her thigh, a stinging sensation following. Blossom claws at the ground around her, kicking and screaming and practically rolling around on the floor, trying to get that - that - thing off of her.
She manages to get a glance at the hold around her leg, and is horrified to see nothing but two pitch black, clawed hands holding her.
They belong to a shadow with no face, only a wide, gaping mouth stained red, with pointed shark teeth. It hisses at her and she promptly kicks it in the face with her boot.
Suddenly, there's a wave of heat, and the - whatever it is - snarls as a blast of fire comes into contact with it. The force of the blast throws it back and it finally, finally lets go of her. Blossom scrambles away from the wall, crab walking backwards as fast as she can, chest heaving and tears streaming down her face.
And then Brick is there. He's kneeling, hands cupping her face and eyes taking in her shaking, pale, and bloodied form. His own eyes darken considerably.
"What. The fuck. Was that." He demands. Blossom lets out a sob, nerves completely wrecked. Her leg is burning, her tights ripped where the thing clawed her. Her tears mix with the blood on her now-numb cheek.
"I-I don't know." She says. Her voice is scratchy. "It, it was holding me behind the wall, and I started fighting it, and I fell, I fell through the wall and -" Another sob escapes. "It was a shadow Brick. It didn't have a face, just a mouth. Shark teeth a-and dripping blood. I heard it, before, when you scared me outside. It was laughing, that's why I was so...scared."
Brick doesn't know what to say. He does know that they have to find their siblings. And get the fuck away from this goddamned horror house.
"Alright red, calm down." He says. Blossom inhales shakily and wipes at her face. Blood smears across her cheek and hand, and Brick's temper flares at the thought of that ghost-whatever hurting her. "Here's what we're gonna do. You've seen horror movies right?" She nods, although she doesn't look happy about it. "Where're the ghosts usually hiding?"
"Usually upstairs." She whispers. Brick nods.
"Right. So we gotta go up there, find the damn things, and get our siblings back." She nods. Brick scoops her up (she's fucking short, he notices, not for the first time) and sets her on her feet as gently as possible. Her knees buckle for a moment before she straightens. Her face is still unnaturally pale, and her hands won't stop shaking.
"You ready?" he asks, though he knows the answer.
"No." She responds. "But let's do it anyway." They walk towards the staircase, and Blossom's shaking hand finds its way into his. They say nothing, the temperature gradually dropping as they go. The air is still, but unpleasantly so. Every shadow is an enemy, every movement a ghost. Brick is tense. Blossom feels like she's going to faint.
They get to the staircase, and look up. There's only ominous darkness ahead of them.
"Yep, we're headed the right way." Brick grumbles. He tightens his grip on Blossom's hand - he was not losing her again goddammit - and starts to climb the stairs.
x
The floor is creaky.
Of course.
What floor in a haunted house isn't creaky? And it's still so cold, her hands feel like ice. Literally.
Shouldn't she be able to raise her body temperature? Brick doesn't look as cold, and his hand is warm.
Blossom's gaze jumps around warily, looking for any signs of people or the being that'd held her. She shudders. She's going to be having nightmares for sure.
Her entire body feels heavy but her head is so light—is she dizzy? The cut on her leg hurts, and the one on her cheek. She has nail marks on her skin, digging deep into her flesh like it was trying to tear it away. Shouldn't the chemical X be healing them?
The house is deathly quiet, and it makes her skin crawl.
She almost screams when she kicks something, and Brick turns back to look at her. She's busy staIring at the broken halo on the floor. Plenty of other girls could've gone as angels, right? That's what she tries to tell herself, but she knows—she knows that this is the one Bubbles was wearing when she cheerfully waved goodbye.
"I'm never letting them out of the house on Halloween ever again," She mumbles, barely audible.
The floor creaks.
It's driving her up the wall. In fact, maybe she's there already.
Brick's been trying all the door knobs since they reached the second floor, but none of them have opened. Then—one does.
The door cracks and Blossom is hit with this awful, awful feeling. "D...don't go in there," She shakes her head.
He nudges it open a little farther and glances back at her. "I won't even be gone for three seconds."
But don't you know, she wants to shout, don't you know bad things always happen when people split up? Has he not seen Scooby-Doo? His hand slips out of hers, and he disappears into the dark room.
Blossom counts in her head, because she's going to hold it against him if he's gone for more than his allotted time.
One Mississippi.
Two Mississippi.
Three Mississippi.
She's at twenty-seven and nearly tearing the sleeves of her jackets when he comes back out.
Blossom is a little peeved, but mostly worried. "'Three seconds' Brick? You were gone for longer than that."
See. Holding it against him.
"Sorry," he says, and reaches for her hand.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Brick doesn't apologize.
He should've thrown something back at her. Like, like 'you're such a girl' or...or 'three seconds isn't enough time to check a room, you insufferable harpy', or something. But he didn't.
Blossom jerks her hand back and stumbles backward. Brick regards her in annoyance.
"What are you doing? We don't have time for this. Come on, Blossom."
She shakes her head. "No."
He raises a brow. "What?"
The Powerpuff girl clutches at her jacket, staring at him with wide and glowing pink eyes. "You didn't insult me." She takes another step backward.
"You didn't swear." She's going to be sick.
"You didn't have a comeback when I nagged you." Blossom bites her lip. "You're not Brick."
His annoyed expression turns into the most horrible smile she's ever seen in her life. His eyes aren't their bloody red anymore, but black and unnerving. He says, in Brick's voice,
"You're right."
Blossom turns to run but he's there, pressing her to the wall, hand tight around her throat.
She kicks and struggles, but he's always been strong—stronger now with that...that thing taking control of him. She has to snap him out of it somehow. She grasps his hand and tries to pull it off, but his grip only gets tighter.
"He cares about you." Her heart stops. "I'm going to make him watch as I kill you by his own hands."
She doesn't like looking into his eyes—all the chaos, strife, and pure evil just pooling in the endless darkness. She doesn't doubt a word he says, and Brick is still in there, somewhere. Maybe she can taunt him out of it.
"I thought you were stronger than this," She wheezes. "But some ghost got the best of you? You're..." She's not good at this. "You're...weaker than I thought. Just some...stupid Rowdyruff boy who—AH!"
Blossom's struggling starts to slow as her vision is going blurry. The taunting thing isn't working, maybe if he'd been Butch...her lungs are burning and Brick looks angry.
There is one thing left she can try.
Shock him out of being possessed.
Blossom closes her eyes and takes as big a breath as she can, and then leans forward. He's close, just close enough to do this.
She presses her lips against his, and Brick—or the ghost in Brick's body—makes a startled sound. But the chokehold he has on her loosens, and his hand brushes the cut on her cheek.
She pulls back and sinks to the floor, gasping for breath. When blossom looks up, she's relieved to see his eyes are red again. He looks horrified, and she almost laughs. And then she remembers what just happened and shies away from him.
"Are you...is that you, Brick?" He brushes his mouth with the back of his hand and stares down at her.
"Just some stupid Rowdyruff, huh? You sure know how to piss a guy off, babe. You can't just fucking kiss someone while they're possessed." She gives him a weak smile as he helps her up.
"Right, well. I saved you. What would you do without me?"
He rolls his eyes. "Probably be better off."
x
He doesn't let go of her hand. She doesn't want him to.
"Let's go." Brick nods his head down the hall, where more doors await.
"How many fucking doors does this place have?" Brick mutters angrily as he tries - unsuccessfully - to open another door. Blossom doesn't answer. She's watching the shadows around them warily. She wants nothing more than to high-tail it out of this place, but she has to find her sisters. And Brick's brothers. They won't leave without them.
'I'm going to need therapy after this', she thinks fearfully, resisting the urge to jump when she thinks she sees something out of the corner of her eye.
They continue down the hallway. As they walk past picture frames, Blossom sees three of them...flicker? She looks twice, but Brick isn't paying attention. He's busy staring down the hall.
"What...?" She leans closer, eyes wide and breath short. She feels like her heart is going to beat out of her chest at this point. She doesn't think she's ever been so scared in her entire life. The air feels wrong, but she doesn't know what it is. She can't put her finger on it.
Just then, right before she turns away, the pictures move. She leans back, a sharp gasp escaping her throat. Shadows stretch from the frames and melt down the wall, slithering around her feet.
"Brick -!" The shadows form a circle around her feet and when Brick turns around, they leap up from the floor, breaking their hands apart and spinning around Blossom. Wicked laughs echo around her as the shadow tornado spins faster and faster. The sounds grate on her ears, and Blossom can only just make out Brick through the wall of shadows.
Brick is this fucking close to burning this stupid house to the ground. He watches, wide eyed, as the shadows surround Blossom, breaking her away from him for a third time. Her hair is flying, whipping around her, eyes wide and glowing bright pink. She's too pale, and her scratches are bleeding more. She's shivering and gasping and the shadows are still laughing evilly.
"I'm so fucking tired of you little shits!" Brick snarls, anger flaring higher than it ever has. They don't fucking touch her. Not her. Not while he's still breathing. Blossom's reaching for him, fighting against the stupid things, and Brick comes closer. His hair is being whipped against his neck, and he's glad it's tied back and under his hat.
"Let her go!" His eyes are fierce, jaw set, and fire envelops his palms. He sees the slightest shudder in the shadow tornado. It's there one moment, gone the next, and if Brick was anyone else he would've missed it. But he's not. He's Brick. So of course he sees. He doesn't make a plan, simply going on pure instinct and anger. These motherfuckers are gonna regret ever messing with him. They're gonna regret ever messing with Blossom.
He leaps at the wall of shadows and the laughs turn to shrieks and hisses. Blossom stumbles, falling to the floor as the shadows flinch away from her and Brick all of a sudden. They try to avoid the flames but Brick grabs one by the neck and has it in a death grip. It's clawing at him, hissing and baring its razor sharp teeth, but he barely notices.
"BRICK WATCH IT -" Blossom screams, eyes wild. He glances at her then feels a sharp pain as his hoodie sleeves are taken hostage by the remaining shadows. They try to get in his face, wrapping their snakelike arms around his sleeves. Brick's eyes glow a bright, blood red and he tenses.
"Eat this fuckers!" He growls before fire erupts from his arms as well. They shadows wail as they're burned; five, six, seven inch flames leaping from his skin. After about ten seconds they're gone, and a pile of gray ashes rests by his feet, the remnants of his hoodie sleeves. His arms are bare now, and Blossom clutches at the front of his hoodie when he helps her up. She hugs him tightly, and he wraps his now bare arms around her.
"Well...they don't like fire." She observes, voice shaky. Brick nods.
"After we find our siblings I'm gonna fucking burn this shitty place to the ground." He grouses. Blossom tries to laugh, but it's breathless and whispy and sounds more like a sob.
"I won't stop you." She agrees. They let go of each other, but Brick's grip on her hand is firm and the heat from his skin - intensified now because of what just happened - seeps into her own. She's so cold. The heat feels nice.
A crunching noise comes from under Brick's foot, and Blossom holds her breath. He lifts his foot, and underneath is...
"Boomer's cell phone." Brick says quietly. He reaches down and scoops it up. It's a mess of cracked glass and plastic with stray wires poking out, and it's smeared with something, something that looks a lot like...
"More blood?" Blossom whispers hoarsely. Brick says nothing, but he nods faintly. Not for the first time, she feels woozy.
"What the fuck happened?" Brick wonders, eyebrows furrowed. He lets the phone drop to the floor and wipes his hand on his jeans. "C'mon. I'm not done with these assholes just yet."
x
"What time is it?" Blossom wonders aloud. She left about ten and it feels like it's been hours since she ran into Brick on the sidewalk. "My watch isn't working. I think it got smashed or something when I crashed through the wall."
Brick snorts. "You wear a watch?"
"Yes," She snaps. "We are being attacked in a house haunted by a poltergeist apparently. So what if I want to know what time it is?"
He rolls his eyes and slips his phone out of his pocket. She'd left hers at home. "Eleven thirty. There, happy now?"
Blossom hisses as she accidentally puts too much weight on her hurt leg. "Thank you."
"What makes you think it's a poltergeist?"
She rubs her arm. "Well it's attacking us, isn't it? And causing trouble? That's what poltergeists do. Sometimes they have a reason, sometimes they don't. But this one is especially vicious," She glances down at her injuries and then back up at Brick. "So. Yes. Poltergeist. Maybe it wants something."
Brick looks at her incredulously. "Like what?"
She shrugs and gestures wildly with the hand that's not slipped into his. "How should I know? That thing was inside of your head, did you pick up anything from it? Emotions, ambitions, the sudden urge to murder me in cold blood?"
A look of hurt flashes through his eyes at the last part, but maybe she's imagining it. "I was...so fucking angry. Or that's what I got from it, anyway. At everything."
He notices the furious hand-marks around her throat and looks away.
Blossom nods, inching a little closer to him as the creepy feeling intensifies again. "So it doesn't like light, and it's angry. Anything else?"
What he doesn't want to tell her, of course, is that the ghost...thing was only hurting her to hurt him. It liked him being in the position where Blossom was suffering but he couldn't do anything to get to her.
"It feeds off of fear. Probably chaos too."
Blossom raises a brow at him. "I thought you weren't afraid of anything. Well, okay. That gives us something to work with, at least."
Brick doesn't look at her. "How huge is this fucking house anyway?"
"Language," she hushes. "Listen, I have a plan and—"
She quiets immediately at the sight waiting for them at the end of the hall. Brick steps in front of her but she peers around his shoulder in disbelief.
Because standing there, looking a little worse for wear but still alive, is Bubbles. The blonde looks relieved to see them, and takes a few steps in their direction.
"Blossom, Brick! I'm so glad to see you!"
Blossom is strangely quiet, so Brick decides to take up the initiative of finding out what's going on. "What the hell happened here?"
Bubbles slumps. "It was awful. some...some thing took everyone. I got away...but..." She looks up at them, eyes brighter than either redhead has ever seen them. "But then you came."
She motions for them to follow her. "I overhead something earlier. The ghost can't do anything after midnight. If we can get everyone out before then, nothing will happen. Come on, I know where everyone is."
Blossom holds Brick back. "That's not Bubbles," She murmurs.
Then, she proceeds to fire a beam from her free hand. It hits Bubbles square in the back...and goes through her. The hole in her stomach weaves itself back together and she turns, eyes wild and gaping mouth dripping an awful black substance onto the floor. Decidedly Not-Bubbles reaches out a hand and Brick and Blossom push away from each other as it shoots between them, the blackness finding nothing to grab on to.
Blossom raises both her fists and fires, and the dark hallway explodes with a bright pink light. When it's over, there's nothing but a sizzling spot on the floor, and outline of what used to be on the wall, and some black splatters on the floor.
Brick is, for lack of a better term, gawking without actually gawking. Blossom brushes her smoking hands off on her ripped clothes and huffs. "I hate haunted houses."
"How'd you know it wasn't her?"
She smiles awkwardly. "Sister's intuition? Also, she'd never leave the house without lip gloss. I could tell she wasn't wearing any."
Brick blinks, and Blossom brushes some fringe out of her eyes. "That thing said whatever is infesting this place can't do anything after midnight, right? We just have to stick it out a little longer. And besides," She stomps the floor with her good foot. "I know where everyone is."
x
The two of them are in the kitchen, and Brick is regarding Blossom with a great amount of skepticism.
She points to the floor. "Okay so, a lot of old houses have these secret passageways, right? Well, I read in a book once that sometimes they have cisterns, too. Every time we were attacked, I noticed something wet. I don't think it was just the ghost, I think it was water. It's coming from the cistern, Brick."
He nods. "Makes sense. So how're we going to find this thing?"
Blossom gives him a sheepish look. "…River dancing."
"What," he deadpans.
She flushes. "You know, like—like this."
The commander and leader taps and stomps around the wooden floor a couple of times. "We learned it in dance class, okay. It'll help us find loose floorboards."
Brick rolls his eyes but joins in. "River dancing," he mutters under his breath.
But it pays off, and all the clatter stops when he steps on a board that sounds a little different from the others. He awkwardly taps the surrounding ones, and shares a glance with Blossom. They pull up the boards in record time and stare down into the musky-smelling hole.
This is it.
x
"Should we...jump?" Blossom asks quietly, staring down into the cistern-well. Brick shakes his head.
"And get flattened at the bottom? No thanks." He lights his fist on fire again and holds it the mouth of the well, peering down.
"Look, there's a ladder here anyway." He turns and places his palms flat against the floorboards, lowering himself into the well. Blossom watches him, her nerves returning. Yeah, she just killed a ghost-shadow-thing, but that doesn't mean she isn't still hyper-aware of the...vibes, you could say, in a room.
And the kitchen's vibes right now are far from friendly.
Brick descends into the well, fist still flaming to provide light. Once he's a good couple yards down, he motions for Blossom to follow. She does so, but right before she lets go of the floorboards, a shadow on the wall catches her eye. It smiles evilly at her, and her stomach drops. She ducks into the well, but in her haste she puts her weight on the rung with her right leg, her bad one. Her knee buckles and she almost falls, but Brick's hand presses against the small of her back, stopping her.
"Watch what you're doing, red!" He says. Blossom swallows and her grip on the rungs tightens even further.
"Y-yeah." Before Brick can say anything else, there's a crash, and the entrance to the well was covered.
"Shit!" Brick exclaims. Blossom bangs against the wood covering it, to no avail.
"That ghost, I saw it as I was coming down, it must have covered the hole!" She says, dismayed.
"Forget it, we'll just blast through the damn thing once we find the others." Brick starts down the ladder, Blossom following, albeit a bit slower.
The well isn't freezing, but it's unpleasantly cold. It smells of stale water and musty earth, and the only sounds are those of Blossom's and Brick's breathing. The flickering flame in Brick's hand is the only source of light. Blossom examines the ladder for any hints as to who they're dealing with.
It looks old, and it's made of metal. The rungs are dusty, some places more so than others. It looks like it hasn't been used in a long, long time.
After two minutes Blossom's cuts are beginning to sting unbearably.
At three minutes her right leg goes numb.
At four minutes her arms are shaking, partially from exhaustion, and partially from the injuries. She briefly wonders if the shadows' claws are poisoned. Will she get infected?
At five minutes she's less focused on herself and more on the fact that this well is never ending.
Blossom tries to distract herself by figuring out a plan. Only, there are a lot of crucial factors missing. Exactly when did this well end? Where did it end? Would they find their siblings immediately, or have to search even longer for them? Just how many shadows were there? Were they being controlled by one being? If so, who is controlling everything? What do they want?
She's shaken from her ramblings by Brick.
"Heads up," He says, before letting go of the ladder and dropping down a few feet, landing with a splash.
"Is it deep?" Blossom asks. He shakes his head.
"No, but it's fucking cold."
"Language." She half-heartedly reprimands. She continues down the last few rungs and follows him, landing with a splash of her own. The water's deeper than she imagined, almost to her knees, and the impact jars her numb leg, giving her pins and needles. She grits her teeth at the chilled water. It soaks through her tights easily and fills her boots.
They look around. Above them is the well, and the walls around them are rounded and wet, the ceiling low. They're in a tunnel, with water up to their shins.
"It's like being in a sewer." Brick comments. They turn and walk down the circular tunnel; Brick's fire still the only light source.
The air is cold and still, like the water, and it's not long before Blossom is shaking again. Brick has a tight hold of her hand, and they wade through the tunnel together. The water is dark, almost black. Up ahead, they see that the tunnel is blocked off.
"What the fuck?" Brick mutters, tugging Blossom forward. She says nothing, but she feels the temperature drop. The atmosphere changes.
They're close.
"It looks like someone boarded it up." She observes, tapping on the wood in front of them. It's a wall of boards, all nailed together haphazardly, as if the person who did it was in a rush. Brick looks down at Blossom.
"What do you wanna bet the others are behind this wall?" She rolls her eyes, but takes a step back. Brick sends a solid punch to the middle of the wood barrier, and it splinters and breaks, his hand going right through. He raises a foot, water streaming off of his converse, and kicks the hole. The barrier shudders, and the middle opens completely, a gap big enough for a person to squeeze through.
"Come on." Brick says, holding out his hand but not meeting her gaze. Her shaky hand slips into his and the two step through the broken wood.
Blossom's breath fogs in front of her. The temperature is almost at freezing, and thick darkness surrounds them. She can only just make out her own hand in front of her face. The water is deeper here too, knee deep.
"Look," Brick points to their right. There's a ledge, just barely visible. The two slosh over to it and Brick hoists Blossom up first, climbing up after her. They get to their feet and see that the ledge is actually the floor, and the water borders the left side of the room.
"We're in the cistern itself now, I think." Blossom says quietly, voice just above a whisper. Brick only nods.
"Alright, what the fuck do we do now?" Brick says, a bit agitated. Where were their siblings? There's a loud hiss, and Blossom jumps. Brick eyes narrow.
"You'll never find them," A voice says. Blossom's thoughts flash back to the message written in blood on the floor, and her other hand comes up to grip Brick's wrist.
There's a flash, and suddenly the room is lit with four torches attached to each wall. The light is a sickly yellow, and it elongates the shadows on the walls.
"And no one will ever find you, either." The voice is raspy and sounds like snakes slithering across the floor. Blossom shudders, and Brick is looking around, trying to pinpoint which shadow is the leader.
"What do you want?" Brick scowls. The voice laughs, a horrible mixture between nails on a chalkboard and hissing.
"I want you to suffer," It says. The shadows converge as one, on the wall opposite Brick and Blossom. The thing is two heads taller than Brick and looms over them, smiling widely. It's teeth are dripping blood and Blossom has to fight to stay standing.
Why does she feel so dizzy? It's like every time a shadow is near her it's sucking out all her energy.
"Ah, my dear." The shadow says, smiling and crossing the floor to take shape a few feet in front of Blossom. Brick tenses.
"You are so weak..." It hisses. "You wonder why...you have a sixth sense, dearie, and you are closer to the paranormal than you realize." Her eyes widen and her heart skips a beat.
"Y-you're lying." She stutters. The shadow laughs again, and circles the two, making Blossom's hair swish as it flies by her.
"No, dearie, though you wish I was." It responds. "And you," It stops in front of Brick. "So much anger...so much potential. In the both of you. But alas, such is wasted on mere mortals."
"Where are the others? What the hell did you do to them?" Brick demands, having enough of this thing toying with them. Blossom's whiter than a sheet.
"Ah, your families, yes?" It laughs. "They were such fun to play with...they cleared out all of the other mortals in the house when I sent out my first shadows...thinking themselves noble. But, I got to them." The shadow grins wickedly again, teeth gleaming red in the light. "Would you like to hear what I did to them?"
"What I'd like is to fucking get them back so we can burn down your goddamned horror house." Brick snarls at it.
"My, my, temper, temper." The shadow 'tsk's. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to the lady, would you?" The shadow reaches out and touches a claw to Blossom's face, tracing her eyebrow and stopping on her temple. She thinks her heart stops.
"D-don't touch me!" Blossom shrieks, jerking away from the shadow. It laughs again.
What is it with this fucker and laughing? Brick thinks.
"Where are my sisters? Where are Brick's brothers?" Blossom asks, mustering up a glare.
"Ah ah ah, don't test me, dearie. I can make things very...unpleasant, for you." It says threateningly.
Brick and Blossom are silent.
"Why are you doing this?" Blossom whispers. The shadow stops, obviously hearing her.
"Why, dearie? Why?" It rushes closer, getting in her face. "I do what I want, when I want, because I
want to. And right now, I want you to SUFFER!" It screams the last word and retreats backwards, arms in the air. "I think this will help speed things along," It says, it's smile sickeningly sweet. For a moment, there's nothing, and then, four dark rectangles form on the wall.
"Brick...I have a bad feeling about this." Blossom tugs on his arm and whispers in his ear.
The shadow rectangles on the walls darken, then four people fall half way through the wall. The very four people Brick and Blossom came to get back.
Blossom instinctively wants to rush to her sisters and make sure they're okay - they're not okay of course they're not but I need to help them - but stops.
Something's wrong.
Her sisters and Brick's brothers are hanging from the shadows, but their hands and feet aren't visible.
"They're being held captive." Blossom says, horrified.
"Son of a bitch." Brick curses. He turns to the shadow. "Let them go!"
"Mmm, let me think...no." It clicks its claws together and more shadows take form on the walls.
The air feels so heavy, so sinister; Blossom feels like she can't take a deep breath. She feels like she's choking. She wants to crawl out of her own skin. Her stomach drops to her toes and the shaking in her hands worsens.
"Let the fun begin." The shadow says, going back to stand by their siblings.
The other shadows rush the two.
x
"Get back!"
Blossom and Brick dodge an attack from both sides and end up back to back. He mows a couple down with his eyes while she fires off round after round of bolts at the shadows rushing at them from all fronts.
Once in a while, their eyes stray to their siblings, hanging limply from the wall. What happened to them?
But they're tired. They've been fighting this for hours now, and even superbeings have a limit. Blossom's leg and cuts are killing her, and she's only gaining more per second. They can't keep this up much longer, and if they fall, what happens after that?
"I'm going to try and get them free," She murmurs to brick, freezing one of the shadow beings and then kicking it. It shatters into a million pieces and her breath solidifies before them.
Brick swears. Loudly. And with some new, creative ones she's never heard before thrown in. "Blossom, if you think I'm letting you go near that fucker again, you must've sustained some cognitive brain damage during your younger years."
She shakes off a phantom limb and frowns. "There isn't any other way. We need them, I can't...my leg. And you're not doing too well yourself either."
They've never dealt with this before. How do they deal with this? She feels like she's going to vomit again, maybe faint. Her mind becomes cloudy and her legs start to give out on her.
Brick catches her before she collapses into the water. "Shit—Blossom!"
He pushes her away as the shadows start to devour him whole. Brick struggles, but it's pointless. Blossom comes back around and reaches for him, but he grits his teeth.
"Get out of here, Blossom!" She recoils at his tone, the fire burning in his eyes and the things beginning to suffocate him. She thinks, they're all going to die.
Blossom scrambles to her feet and over to the wall where their siblings are being held. Butch is the closest, so she grabs onto his shoulders and tries to forcibly pull him out. Her entire body is trembling and it doesn't even seem like Butch is even alive, but she's still trying.
And then—
Her eyes get impossibly wide and her pupils are almost nothing against her empty bubblegum irises. She stops struggling, and freezes. Her expression is pure terror.
Brick pulls against the things attacking him and snarls at the thing standing just a few feet from her, its smile awful.
"What the hell are you doing to her?!" It turns to him, and grins.
"I'm sharing your siblings' memories with her."
x
Boomer crashes through the hallway, cell phone in his hand and eyes wild. "I called Brick, but the line got cut off. Did you get everyone out?"
Butch and Buttercup nod at him, both sharing the same grim expression. "Fucking kids, man. Summoning demons and shit. Haven't they ever seen a horror movie?"
Butch kicks the wall, and Buttercup shivers suddenly. "We need to get the hell out of here. I wasn't able to get a hold of Blossom. Who knows what she's doing."
Bubbles comes floating down the hallway, rubbing her arms, teeth chattering. "I-is it just me, or has it suddenly gotten colder in here?"
Before any of them can reply, something dark and massive shoots out from around her and she disappears, her scream still echoing through the old house. Boomer and Buttercup are both alert in an instant.
"BUBBLES!"
Butch pushes Buttercup back as whatever the hell it is resurfaces and slithers toward Boomer. "Move!" His blond brother turns a second too late, and he's dragged into the black hole. Buttercup is frantic.
"Butch!"
He grinds his teeth and pulls her behind him as he flies down the hallway, not touching anything but the air. The thing keeps leaping off of walls and up from the floors, so maybe if they don't touch them—
Butch almost slams into the wall when one of the nasty little fuckers pops up right in front of them. He blasts it away, and Buttercup battles the ones coming from behind, but it's not enough. She slips her hand into his, because they're getting ready to make a break for it, but something tangles around her ankle and starts to drag her away. She doesn't move at first, but then more join the first, and suddenly she's being pulled away from him.
"BUTTERCUP!"
Her hand is slipping out of his, and they make eye contact for a second too short. Then she's ripped from his grasp.
He's angry, so angry, especially when she disappears, fighting.
Something gets him from behind, and everything goes black.
x
"You can hurt me all you want," Boomer spits some blood from his mouth. "It's not like I haven't felt it before."
You can't touch me, he wants to scream. Not after everything I've already been through.
The dark thing with the horriblebloodyterrifying smile laughs. It echoes off the walls and pierces his soul.
"But what would you do if I did the same thing to the girl?" It wonders aloud. "Would you suffer? Would it kill you to see her be killed? That sounds fun. Let's try it."
Boomer struggles against his bindings and screams.
x
"Does it hurt?" The monstrosity questions. Butch grinds his teeth.
"I'm going to put a hundred holes in her. And the more she struggles, the more bones I'm going to break. There are two hundred and six in the human body, you know? Hers have an especially nice sound when they snap."
Buttercup weakly pulls at her chains, and it grins.
"Seven."
x
"Isn't it wonderful?!"
Brick sneers. "You're fucking sick."
The awful thing cackles, then leans closer to him. "Do you want to know a secret?"
"No!"
It pulls back and throws its arms up in the air. "Too bad! She's going to die!"
It dances around. "She won't be able to handle it. The stress of the supernatural on her sixth sense is eating away at her. Haven't you noticed? Haven't you? She's been miserable since the two of you first met up! She's already dying! And now with all the painful memories she's just gained from both of your siblings, it'll put her over the edge." Pausing, it considers. "Maybe she'll implode. Like, you know, a meltdown. There will be so much suffering!"
"Shut up!"
"She won't be able to handle it! It'll drive her insane!"
"SHUT UP!"
"Have you ever seen someone losing their mind? It's—"
"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP."
Brick heaves, and it watches him carefully. "You're going to be the best one yet," It decides. "So much anger. How will you react when she dies, I wonder?"
Blossom lets go of Butch and falls back. Her chest is heaving, and her eyes are still wide. That's when she starts screaming. It's a terrible sound that echoes off the walls and cuts through a person's soul. The dark being revels in it.
But.
It's too busy laughing to notice the ice beginning to creep over the cavern. It's solidifying everything in its wake, and the temperature begins to drop steadily. Blossom is holding her head and screaming louder, and the permafrost is still overtaking the place.
That's when it notices, and all rejoicing stops at once.
"What is this? What—this isn't supposed to happen! It's almost midnight—make her stop!" Some of the shadows rush over to quiet her, but when they step within five feet, they're frozen solid.
"Somebody, make it stop! Make her stop!" The ice begins to creep up its form, and it can't get away. It's still screaming when it becomes a permanent ice sculpture, expressionless face frozen in horror. There's a sharp crack, and suddenly Blossom stops screaming. The ice stops, too.
Brick finally breaks away from the frozen shadows and slides over to her. "Blossom? Hey!"
After a moment, she wearily opens her eyes.
And fires past him at the frozen shadow being. It shatters everywhere, and she smiles in relief.
"Midnight."
x
It's completely silent for about five seconds. Then -
"Holy fucking shit." Blossom doesn't have the energy to scold him. She doesn't have any energy, period. They're silent except for heavy breathing.
"I hate to say this red, but we're not out of this yet. We still gotta get out of this hellhole." Brick mutters. "Can you stand?"
"I don't know." She answers honestly. She doesn't know the extent of their injuries. She's not sure she wants to know.
"Well, come on, let's wake them up so we can get the hell out." Her hand on his wrist stops him from approaching his brothers.
"Brick..." She slowly meets his eyes. "Just...be easy with them, alright? They..." She shudders, and he didn't think it possible, but she pales even more. "They went through some...some really bad stuff." He nods once, and her hand slips from around his, falling back in her lap. She watches as he walks over to his brothers first. Blossom gets on her hands and knees and crawls slowly over to her sisters, muscles burning with that simple task. She stops in front of them. They're lying on the ground in front of the wall. Their shadow prisons had been frozen as well, releasing them instantly.
Brick kneels next to Boomer first.
His youngest brother is bloodied, scraped, burned, bruised, and god knows what else. They all are. Brick taps his fingers against Boomer's cheek.
"Hey." He says quietly. It's the gentlest tone Blossom has ever heard him use, and she watches him with wide eyes. "Boom. C'mon man, you gotta get up." He's lightly slapping Boomer's cheek, now. "We're gonna get out of this fucking place, but I need you to get up first. Boomer?"
Said blonde lets out a long, low groan. Blossom smiles. He's alive.
"B...rick?" Boomer manages to get out. His eyes squint open, and a small, almost unnoticeable smile forms on his oldest brother's face.
"Hey Boom."
"Bubbles..." Boomer groans again. "Where's Bubbles?" He starts struggling to get up, and Brick restrains him, laying him back down.
"Hey, calm down. She's fine, she's with Blossom over there. How do you feel? Can you stand up?" Boomer nods slowly, taking in his surroundings. He opens his mouth to ask, but Brick holds up a hand.
"I'll explain later. First, we gotta wake up Butch." Boomer falls back on the ground with an 'ugh'. Brick rolls his eyes, but moves onto his black-haired brother. He leans over Butch's face.
"Butch." He says. "Butch, wake up man. We're getting out of this shitty dump." Butch's eyebrow twitches, but otherwise, he doesn't move. Brick sighs, telling himself that he has to go easy, or else Blossom will have his head. He does what he did to Boomer, lightly slapping Butch's cheek. No response.
"Butch." Brick deadpans. "Wake the fuck up." Butch lets out a strangled noise in the back of his throat and his eyes open wide. He lurches upwards, and his forehead collides directly with Brick's nose.
"Aw, fuck!" Brick swears, leaning back and clutching his nose. Boomer snickers from his position on the floor. Brick sends his brother a death glare.
"Brick?" Butch asks, eyes finally coming into focus. "The fuck? What are you doing here?" Brick drops his hands from his face and glares at his brothers.
"Rescuing you, dumbasses. I'm never letting you out of the house on Halloween ever again." Butch looks around.
"What the hell happened here? Where's Boomer?" Boomer raises his hand, still lying on the ground. Butch relaxes, eyes taking in both his brothers' forms, and the still-unconscious ones of Buttercup and Bubbles.
Speaking of which, Blossom is still trying to wake her sisters, and has been for the past two minutes.
Nothing is working.
"Girls," she says hoarsely. "Girls, get up. It's time to leave." She presses her forehead against Bubbles'.
She's close to tears.
"Bubbly." She almost sobs. "Come on, we have to go." Still nothing. She cradles her sisters' heads in her lap, her own bowed over them. "I'm so sorry, I never should have let you come alone. I should've come with you, I should've been here. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Her hair curtains her face, and she squeezes her eyes shut, tears escaping. "Wake up." She cries. "Please. I saw what that - that monster did to you, but you have to wake up. You have to." Her voice drops to a broken whisper.
"Don't leave me."
After a moment of silence, Blossom palms away her tears and sniffs. She tucks a strand of Buttercup's hair behind her ear, and wipes some dirt off of Bubbles' cheek.
"Come on, Buttercup." A watery smile forms on her face. "Don't give up yet." She draws in an unsteady breath. "What happened to 'toughest fighter', huh? Show us what you're made of. Show us you really are the toughest of them all."
"…Nngh...damn straight I'm the toughest..." Buttercup's voice says. It's gravelly and rough, but she's awake. Her eyes are open and looking up at Blossom. Blossom's eyes pool and she lets out a half-laugh-half-sob.
"Bubbles, you too." She looks at her blonde sister. "Don't leave us hanging. Don't give up." After a moment, her youngest sister's eyes flutter open, and her lips quirk up into a smile.
"Never." She whispers. Blossom helps the girls each sit up, and they know not to question her just yet, by the look on her face.
"Let's get the fuck out of this place." Brick says. Boomer drags himself into a sitting position and rises to his feet. He shakes his head once he's upright, and walks over to Bubbles. She takes his hand with a smile and he lifts her up as gently as possible. Butch heaves himself upwards and walks over to Buttercup, stumbling a bit at first. He holds out a hand and Buttercup takes it, using him as leverage to pick herself up. Brick says nothing, but he walks over to Blossom and scoops her up without a word. She wobbles on her feet, but manages to pull enough resolve from somewhere deep down to remain standing.
"How do we get out?" Boomer questions. Blossom grimaces.
"We have to go through the cistern drainage tunnel and up an old well that leads to the kitchen." Brick answers before she can. "Come on, this way." He steps down into the water again, and Blossom follows after them. Butch and Buttercup are next, and the blondes bring up the rear. No one complains about the freezing water temperature. Before they leave, however, Brick turns back and blasts every single one of those shadow-assholes into miniscule shards of ice.
Brick leads the way through the broken wood barrier, and once they're all in the drainage tunnel, he intertwines his fingers with Blossom's. Bubbles' right arm is looped with Boomer's left, and Butch and Buttercup brush shoulders as they walk.
"Do you still have your phone?" Blossom murmurs. Brick nods, he picked it up after Blossom froze everything.
"It's a little after midnight." He tells her. The walk is silent save for the water swishing around their feet. They finally reach the end of the tunnel, and Brick lifts Blossom up onto the ladder, pulling himself up after her. Buttercup goes next, then Butch, and after him, Bubbles and Boomer. The ladder seems shorter than Blossom remembers, but then again, her mind is scrambled and her vision going hazy around the edges at this point.
She's so tired.
She doesn't remember it's blocked until they reach the top and her hand collides with the floorboards. She turns it to ice with her breath and Brick blasts it, and sparkling ice dust rains down on the teens.
Blossom tries not to show it, but being back in the house scares her. She's skittish as they walk through, jumping at every shadow, holding her breath around every turn. Her eyes flick around wildly, always looking for danger. She hasn't stopped shaking yet.
The front doors are still bolted shut, but Butch solves that with one well-placed kick. Brick and Blossom are the last ones out, making sure they're siblings are safe. However, once they're a good hundred feet away from the front porch, Blossom collapses on the ground. The others don't notice at first, being in front of them, but Brick falls to his knees beside the redhead.
"Shit - Blossom!" He says. She's curled in on herself, arms hugging her ripped sleeves, and her head is bowed. Her shoulders - hell, her entire body is shaking violently. A loud sob escapes her and Brick notices the tears streaming down her face.
The other four turn back, and seeing both their leaders on the ground, rush back. Blossom is leaning into Brick, and he wraps his arms around her, bringing her closer.
"It's over." He says into her hair. "We killed that motherfucker." She laughs weakly through her tears, and nods, burying her face in his shoulder and fisting her hands in his hoodie. She's crying of pure relief, relief that they're alive, that their siblings are safe, and that thing is gone. Forever.
Her nerves are completely and utterly shot, and she never, ever loses her composure like this, but she couldn't care less about appearances at the moment. Right now, she just wants Brick to hold her as she cries.
Their siblings are in front of them, and Bubbles is silently crying just watching her older sister lose it. Buttercup will never admit it, but her eyes are wet too. Butch and Boomer are speechless.
For another minute, no one speaks. Blossom's uncontrollable sobbing calms until no more tears escape. Brick holds her the entire time. When she's calm again, she looks up at the others, and by the light of the full moon, they see just how injured Brick and Blossom really are.
Brick's hoodie sleeves are missing, and his jeans are torn in multiple places and wet from the knee down. There are burns, claw marks, and blood smears all over his clothes. His face and arms are scratched as well, and his cap is crooked on his head. His shoes are untied, dirty, and sopping wet.
Blossom looks worse. Her hair is a wild mess, her hair tie missing. There are deep scratches on her cheek, and her face is smeared with blood, dirt, and tears. Angry red and purple markings circle her neck. Her sweater sleeve is ripped with deep claw marks on her arm, and the bottom half of her sweater is torn off. Her skirt and sweater are smudged with blood and dirt, and her tights are ripped in many places. The most prominent injury is the four deep claw marks on her right thigh. The marks look deeper than the ones on her arm, and they're bleeding profusely. Her tights are wet from the knee down, and her boots are scuffed. Both her and Brick also have smaller injuries: minor bruises and scrapes along their arms and legs.
"What the fuck happened, bro." Butch says to Brick. He's still kneeling on the ground, slouched, and Blossom is slumped against him, eyes half-lidded. The two of them look dead.
Brick still manages (somehow) to send a glare to his brother. It's weak, but at least he tries.
"You guys went to a Halloween party, the mansion was haunted, Blossom was kidnapped and fell through a wall, I was possessed by Casper the Unfriendly Ghost, Blossom almost died twice, I almost got mauled by shadows, y'know. The fucking usual when dealing with the paranormal." And Blossom starts to cry again, but she's smiling weakly. Brick squeezes her, his arm around her shoulders.
"I hate ghosts." She says, her voice wavering.
"I fucking hate Halloween." Brick grouses.
x
Buttercup lifts her arm and inspects her torn costume. "How the hell are we gonna explain this to the Professor?" All three girls pale, and by this point Blossom doesn't even look alive.
"...We don't." The commander and leader squints at them. "But you two are never ever going to a Halloween party again. Ever. That was awful. We almost died. I fell through a wall. Brick was possessed, and I kissed him and—"
She pauses. Everything is deathly silent. Then—
"YOU DID WHAT NOW?"
Blossom holds up her hands in defense or surrender (she hasn't decided which quite yet) at the shell-shocked Buttercup and Boomer, giddy-looking Bubbles, and...is Butch...is he smirking at her?
"It was to snap him out of being used by a ghost! Calling him a stupid Rowdyruff wouldn't work—"
"Oooh," Butch and Boomer marvel.
"—Andandand," Suddenly, she rounds on Brick. "That thing," She says with some spite, "When it was possessing you, it told me that you care about me."
Dammit. He was hoping she'd forgotten.
Blossom stares up at him with narrowed eyes. "Is it true then?"
Is she dense in the head? Perhaps that thing I said about serious cognitive brain damage is true.
"You haven't noticed?" He asks, in that same quiet tone from when he was trying to rouse Boomer. Blossom recalls all the things he's done tonight, the way he wouldn't look at her after almost strangling her, the way he was calling out her name when she was being held in the wall. The way his hand slipped from her throat up to brush her injured cheek when she kissed him, how he kissed her back.
"Oh," She says simply, stomach rising to her throat. Or maybe those are butterflies. She can't tell anymore.
"And she kissed him," Butch points out, gesturing into the empty air. "So we all know what that means."
Blossom's cheeks burn. "It was to save him!"
"You could'a just started singing 'Tainted Love' really loudly, he hates that. Or annoyed him out of it."
She frowns. "And how was I supposed to know that?" Butch grins.
Brick takes her hand and helps her up, and Buttercup stretches. "Well, I for one want to go home and take a shower. Then sleep for a week."
Boomer raises his hand. "I call first dibs on the shower back home!"
Brick and Butch groan, but the latter is quick to recover. "Maybe I'll just share with BC, then."
"No." Buttercup and Blossom say at the same time.
Bubbles smiles and takes Boomer's offered arm as they head back to the Utonium household. They all walk in amiable and exhausted silence until Butch starts to sing.
"Sometimes I feel, I've got to, run away. I've got to, get away from the pain you drive into me—"
"Shut up, Butch."
x
EXTRA
From then on, every Halloween, the boys invade the girls' house and the six super powered teens just have a movie marathon.
(But absolutely NO scary movies. At all.)
x
.
.
FIRST STORY DOWN WOO.
this was a hella long oneshot sorry (not really hAHA) anyway, hope you enjoyed this! leave a review with some feedback! also, go read chokecherries' stories. they're great.
peace out girl scouts,
two red converse