Buttercup ran toward Pokey Oaks high school with a huge grin on her face. As her feet pounded the asphalt, she rejoiced to find that pain wasn't going up and down her body. She didn't even notice the black car that pulled up beside her until the window had rolled down to reveal a stunningly beautiful face.

"Hey."

Buttercup stopped and looked toward the direction of the voice. It was a woman with curly red hair that hung loosely around her face. She was grinning a bright smile and her impossibly dark brown eyes looked friendly but with a hint of mischief at the same time.

Buttercup pointed at her. "You're the girl that saved me."

She giggled. It was rather musical to Buttercup's ears. "Yep, that's me but I also go by Seliah."

Buttercup rubbed the back or her neck. It only occurred to her that she didn't even bother to learn the lady's name.

The girl smiled. "You are so adorable."

"A-a-adorable?" Buttercup stuttered. Her cheeks felt warmer than normal. "No, one's called me that before."

"Really? I would think you would receive compliments like that more often." She put a finger on her chin in thought. "Then again, they probably haven't seen you asleep. You're sleeping face is just to die for."

Buttercup averted her gaze to the ever interesting ground and tried to get her mind under control. "Um . . . thanks."

The pretty grin suddenly faded from Seliah's lips. "Hey, Buttercup."

"Huh?"

"Are you sure you can go to school?"

Buttercup was suddenly reminded that she was on her way to Pokey Oaks without her father's permission. Her face turned grave. "Yeah, don't worry about it." She turned away from Seliah and began to resume her run.

Seliah started her car and coasted it alongside her. "Listen, Buttercup, I know you've only met me a few hours ago but I've taken care of you for weeks now. I don't want to see you hurt again."

Buttercup was starting to feel uncomfortable with how familiar Seliah was being. She acted like they'd known each other their whole lives.

At the same time, she had an unreasonable feeling that Seliah knew exactly what she was talking about, like she really did know Buttercup from the inside out. That thought made her just as uncomfortable.

"I feel fine see? I'm not even out of breath yet." Buttercup stated as she continued her jog. The school was already in plain sight.

Seliah sighed. "Maybe, but I have to at least tell you something Iris probably didn't. She's so irresponsible." She muttered to herself. "The energy you feel is just as it is. Energy. She didn't cure you. All the strain that you're putting on your body will come back soon."

Buttercup didn't think of this earlier. She screeched to a halt. "And she didn't bother to tell me this before?" She grabbed at her hair. "I'm probably going to have sore legs and now I'm yelling. I'm probably having a sore throat later too."

"Yes, exactly. So, why don't you just get in the car and I'll drive you back home. I'll even help you get in your room without your dad seeing."

Buttercup sighed. "No. I still have to do this. I'll pay the consequences for being stupid later."

Seliah frowned. "I figured you would say that." She reached into the glove department and pulled out a paper bag.

"Um . . . lunch is over." Buttercup pointed.

Seliah smiled. "I know." She tossed the bag casually over to Buttercup. She caught it. "I think you'll still need this though." The woman rolled up her windows and drove away, leaving Buttercup dumbstruck and confused.

Buttercup looked into the bag. It was an inhaler of some sort. Raising a brow, she gave the top a push. Yellow vapor drifted out.

%^&**())

Buttercup entered the building with dignity and an arrogant smile just in time to hear the bell ring. Suddenly the halls were packed with students. She stopped by the girls' restroom and took a breath of her energy inhaler.

She turned to face the huge mirror. Her hair was a mess and she had stitches on her lip but other then that, there wasn't really much visible damage. At least they don't see what's under the clothes. She thought. She didn't really know what kind of injuries she sustained but she did know that it required half her body to be wrapped in gauze.

She took a deep breath and stepped into the hall to join the rest of the students.

Many head's turned. Buttercup couldn't hold her smirk. She could almost feel the surprise like a in the students. Soon a path cleared for her

. . . . all the way to Mitch Mitchelson and his group of goons.

Buttercup's smile widened when she saw the state each bully was in. Each of them was sporting at least one cast. "Sup." Buttercup asked casually as she pushed past them, making sure to brush a few shoulders.

An arm lunged out and spun Buttercup to face Mitch. "Are you trying to pick a fight, Utonium?"

Buttercup laughed. "Of course not, wouldn't want to be knocked out by one of those fancy crutches."

Mitch narrowed his eyes and threw a punch.

Buttercup's smirked widened. It was a sloppy punch and she was sure it wasn't as powerful as it could have been. She raised her arms and deflected it.

Or that was the plan. . .

A sudden blur of red and blue shot out from behind her. "That's enough." A familiar commanding voice warned with surprising force. The owner of the voice had a hand gripping Mitch's wrist. He was grimacing in pain.

Blossom shot a surprised look at Buttercup before she turned to look back at her classmates. "Don't you guys have class or something?" She yelled.

The crowd began to recede as the red puff grabbed her recently wounded sister by the arm.

Mitch smirked. "Always relying on your sisters for everything now, huh, Buttercup?"

The green ex-puff winced. That had been a sever strike to her pride and he knew it. Buttercup vowed to beat the crap out of him later.

For now, she was being dragged to the school parking lot by two distraught sisters.

"Blossom, where are we going?" Bubbles asked.

"We're going home." She replied

"But what about our stuff?"

"We'll worry about that later but right now," she spared a glance at Buttercup, "We have to go home."

Bubbles turned around and beckoned Buttercup into a piggyback. "It's okay. I can just walk."

Blossom frowned and grabbed Buttercup's arm. "You shouldn't even be moving."

Buttercup frowned"I feel fine."

Blossom scoffed. "Maybe, but I'm not going to risk you bleeding out."

Buttercup looked confused and Blossom couldn't help but stare, wide eyed. "You honestly don't know?"

"Know what?"

"You of all people wouldn't get knocked down just from punches and kicks. You were stabbed."

&(*)(&&(*)(

The ride was quiet but it didn't last very long. It was probably 5 minutes but the silence seemed endless.

They touched the asphalt of their driveway with a soundless landing. Blossom still didn't say anything but her face was grim. The house was also quiet meaning Iris and Seliah wouldn't be able to help her in this situation.

"Professor, we're home." Bubbles called in the house timidly.

"Girl's you're early. Is something . . . wrong?" His eyes rested on Buttercup. "I see you know she's awake."

Blossom snorted and marched into her room.

The professor looked up at her worriedly. "I think it would be best if you escort your sister back to her room Bubbles. I'll have a talk with her later." Buttercup sighed and trudged into her room.

The door clicked to a close and Bubbles grabbed Buttercup's hand and hugged it to her chest. "I'm so glad you're okay. We were so worried. We really thought you were going to die."

"Aw, you know I wouldn't die just like that. Not after what I'd been through." Buttercup tried to reassure her.

Bubbles gave her a weak smile. "Oh yeah, let's get you back in bed."

Buttercup nodded and rummaged around her drawers for some clean pajamas. Bubbles pulled the desk chair to the side of Buttercup's bed and just sat, patiently waiting for her sister. That's something Buttercup always loved about Bubbles. She knew about her sisters' insecurity always made sure to adjust to them.

Buttercup laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Bubbles was the first to break the silence. "So, Mitch and his friends really jumped you?"

"Yeah." Buttercup replied simply.

"All 5 of them?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, Buttercup. I'm so glad that you're alright."

The green puff shrugged. "Don't worry. I promise, next time, it's going to be different."

At the words "next time" Bubbles couldn't help but flinch. She shook her head and placed a hand on her sister's. "There won't be a next time, Buttercup." The green puff tilted her head in confusion. Bubbles sat back down. "We think it's a bad idea for you to go back to school. Blossom and the Professor made some arrangements and you won't be going back to Pokey Oaks with us."

Buttercup's jaw dropped. "You guys aren't serious."

"You'll really like this school though." Bubbles reasoned." It's so physical. I bet you'll fit right in."

"That's not right! Do you know how hard I fought those guys just to prove a point? I beat all five of them! Isn't that enough?"

"But Buttercup, you came back almost dead with a stab wound we weren't even sure you were going to recover from."

"So are you siding with them now?"

Bubbles began to get flustered. "Well . . . . I . . . no that's not it . . . it's . . . ."

The professor and Blossom opened the door to stumble on the scene. "Now, Buttercup, that's quite enough. You'll aggravate your wound. You should be resting now anyways."

"I'm staying at Pokey Oaks, Professor."

Blossom scowled. "Stop being unreasonable. You know those guys aren't going to let you go just like that. What about next time, Buttercup?"

"I'll beat them just like I did this time."

The professor tried to intervene. "Girls, girls . . ."

He was cut off. "Yeah maybe but what'll you come back with next time? A gunshot wound or internal bleeding?" Blossom shot.

"I'll recover from it just like now. I'm tougher than that and you know it." Buttercup leaned forward practically spitting out her words.

"You. Got. Lucky." Blossom stated each word with more force than the one before. "When will you learn that you don't have powers anymore? There are things you won't recover from just because we cry over you. You can't just fly away if you bite off more than you can chew. You aren't invincible and if you keep going like this I promise you, you will die."

Buttercup clenched her teeth but didn't reply. Frankly, she didn't know how.

"Buttercup!" Bubbles exclaimed pointing to Buttercup's side.

A crimson stain began to form on her dark green pajama shirt and it kept growing. Buttercup looked at it a bit confused. She lifted her shirt and saw that her whole torso seemed to be covered in gauze. The gauze on her left side was soaked through with bright red blood.

Professor Utonium sighed. "You ripped your stitches."

Blossom went pale. "I'm sorry Buttercup, I didn't mean to."

Bubbles hovered over to examine it. Buttercup ignored her and continued to stare at the red splatter in amusement. I guess all that running topped with this shout fest really did something.

"It's quite alright. She's going to be just fine." Professor Utonium escorted the two puffs out of the room. "I'll take care of her now both of you finish your homework."

The two nodded obediently and drifted off to their rooms.

The tired professor looked at Buttercup and sighed before offering a smile. "Why don't you lay down? Let's get that fixed up."

Buttercup slid her bloody shirt off and laid on her back. The professor gingerly worked on taking the gauze off. Buttercup would wince every so often from the contact of the surgical scissors on bare skin. After a long stretch of more silence between them Buttercup finally trusted herself not to yelp from small pangs of pain. "I'm sorry I made you three worry."

The professor didn't look up from his needle and thread. "We're just really glad you're okay but please be more careful next time. I don't think I can take another life and death experience from you and, frankly, you're sisters are closer to murderous then I'm comfortable with."

Buttercup chuckled briefly. "I get it but I still don't see the point in pulling me out of the school. I really wanna stay."

The professor's brows knit together. "The three of us agree that it's best that you enter in a different school. This school is much better suited for you anyways."

Buttercup had to clench every muscle in her body to keep herself from striking out at things. I don't understand this. With powers, things are always out of control, without them, everyone is always telling me to do. At least back then, I could at least fight for what I want. She was so tired of it. She was so tired and she was so angry.

"Buttercup, honey, are you okay?" The professor asked. His voice sounded distant.

Buttercup couldn't pinpoint where his voice was coming from. "Professor, I'm so . . .tired." Her eyes fluttered close.