Locked up inside one's own room was an awful lonely way to spend your time, Buttercup had learned. She was on her fourth day (of a two week) winter break, and she was finding it hard to fill her days. Stuck in her own head as much as her room. She should really be studying more than anything; Professor hadn't been happy upon receiving Buttercup's grades. Her scores on her finals had come back, and they weren't…well, they weren't much. Had she totally bombed? No! So, she didn't understand what the big deal was about. She'd promised Professor her end of the year final grades would be better, at least better than a barely-scraped by D.

Buttercup had considered returning to her part-time job at the gaming store with Mitch; the one she'd held over the last summer. But she was pretty sure falling asleep on the job was prime reasoning for termination. Her lackluster energy wouldn't be a very convincing sales pitch, either. She'd pass out trying to show someone how to get the top score in Blazing Beast Battle 3. She just wanted something to do—the Hotline hadn't rung in ages, and Blossom and Bubbles both were so occupied with their own thing. Blossom was focused on school, even during winter break…didn't she know this was, like, one of the last breaks she'd ever have?

As for Bubbles, well, she hadn't entirely started talking to Buttercup again. Things had reached a standstill in the house since Buttercup had confided in Blossom, and vice versa, she supposed. They hadn't told anyone else about their conversation, so as far as the rest of the family knew, they were just tolerating each other. They could stand being in the same room, sometimes Blossom bounced her hip off Buttercup's when they were in the kitchen helping to cook, like before they were fighting. Bubbles had obviously caught on to the change, but she didn't know how to comment on it. She sort of drifted between her sisters, still kind of wary of Buttercup.

Buttercup couldn't blame her. She was turning into someone she didn't even recognize. She'd always had a bit of a temper, but lately it'd been getting away from her, turning her into someone else. Buttercup would never purposely destroy property or hurt one of her sisters the way she had. When she looked in the mirror, she looked the same; messy short hair, tired green eyes, skin tan from her athletics. When she looked inside herself, though, it was like meeting a stranger.

Buttercup's emotions felt like they were haywire. Everything was too much. She didn't feel sad, she felt like crying. She didn't feel angry, she felt like screaming. Even tiny tasks felt like too much; every time she needed to do something, she just wanted to wait, brush it off until later. She'd never done that before, she always liked getting things done…except schoolwork. These past few months were finally hitting Buttercup, catching up with her, and they were hitting like a freight train.

Rubbing at her forehead, Buttercup groaned. She wasn't sure how much longer she could take this. Blossom had done some research, but most of it consisted of "healthy sleeping habits" and other doctor nonsense that didn't matter to Buttercup. She didn't need help sleeping, she was definitely plenty tired…the problem was the dreams. She could sleep, but not wake up rested. How was she supposed to rest when she spent her dreams fighting for her life?

Getting up, Buttercup decided she had to get out of her room. The walls were shrinking. As she stomped on out, Bubbles cut her a glance, but she looked back down at the glittery looking project strewn about the kitchen table. Buttercup glanced at it while pouring herself a glass of juice. "For the fridge?" she asked, smirking.

Bubbles huffed. "For the art show!" she said, and hey, at least she was talking to Buttercup again. Buttercup shrugged and pointed to a corner of the cardboard…uh, contraption.

"Ya missed a spot here," Buttercup said, noting the spot was lacking anything shiny. Bubbles muttered something and brushed her sister's hand away. Clearly, she wasn't taking criticism right now. Suddenly, a crash from outside echoed into the house, making Buttercup flinch and whirl around to the window, nearly spilling her drink. Her heart was in her throat, but there was nothing there.

"Jeez, jumpy much?" Bubbles giggled, gathering her supplies to clean up. Buttercup looked back at her, pretending her glass wasn't shaking as she set it down, not trusting her trembling hand. She shook her head to clear it. Just someone doing yardwork, she assured herself. Why was she so jittery, lately?

"Don't worry about it," Buttercup mumbled. Venturing outside hadn't been much of a success, and the sanctity of her room was enticing her again. A small space where she could see everything going on, nothing could sneak up on her. Buttercup slipped past Bubbles without another word, returning upstairs. As she shut her door and leaned against it, Buttercup's attraction got drawn to her desk, where a few papers were lying askew.

Empty papers, reminding Buttercup of her own haunting procrastination. Her writing project wasn't going to disappear, no matter how long Buttercup stared at her desk and wished it'd just write itself. It was one of those tasks she felt better putting off, just until she felt better…but she wasn't feeling any different. Every day, Buttercup thought she'd be a little better, but that day never seemed to show. She plopped into her chair, now was as good a time as any. Hell, maybe her exhaustion would help her write. A tired girl staring blearily at her paper, at the world.

Hey…that wasn't a bad idea. Buttercup picked up her pencil and scribbled that onto her outlining page. A girl with circles under her eyes and a coffee in hand, the only way she could make it through a day, like it was an elixir. She was the Girl who Couldn't Sleep, Buttercup dubbed her that as well as using it as the title for her paper. The girl who couldn't sleep had a lot of battles to face, but her greatest foe waited in her own house, in her own head. A foe she couldn't see unless she closed her eyes, or when she was so tired, she could see nothing else except her monster.

Buttercup's pen drifted across the paper as she built her character, who looked oddly like her whenever she pictured her. It was probably because Buttercup wasn't a writer, she didn't know how this whole character thing worked. Whenever she read or gamed, she could picture herself as the narrator, so that was what she was doing here. Maybe that was why she was making the girl's struggles so similar, too. It was easy watching someone else go through it. If she did that, there might even be a way for Buttercup to write her own solution.

"Br—ring!" the hotline rang, making Buttercup snap her pen in half. She'd gotten so involved in her own little world, she'd forgotten about the real one; until the loud reminder. She jumped out of her seat, but she could hear Bubbles had already reached the phone, and she was talking in an increasingly high-pitched voice. That wasn't a good sign. Creeping out of her room, Buttercup eavesdropped on the conversation.

"You're saying there's no injuries, though, right?!" Bubbles asked in a hurried voice. A familiar pang worked its way into Buttercup's gut, threatening to make her lose everything she'd eaten that day. She wasn't ready, not yet, she couldn't face that again.

Shaking herself, Buttercup almost wanted to slap herself in the face. "They're just stupid boys," she grumbled. Stupid, super-powered boys, but still…just boys. Nothing more, nothing she couldn't handle. She flew past Bubbles while the blonde was gathering the address, meeting Blossom at the bottom of the stairs. "You'll never guess," Buttercup told her, rolling her eyes.

Blossom sighed and lowered her head, stretching her arms against the banister. "Bet I can. I don't know what I'm going to do—and don't give me the same advice. They haven't done anything to warrant us going full-out on them."

Buttercup threw her arms up. "That's the thing! Do you want to wait until they do?" Buttercup couldn't see why both of her sisters seemed so bent on avoiding the obvious. Sooner or later, they were going to have to fight again. Buttercup just didn't know what they were waiting for. Her sisters…nor the boys.

Blossom pursed her lips. "But Buttercup," she said, like she was trying to explain a challenging concept to a kid. "Don't you see? We've never had to wait for them to do something. Don't you think if their goal was to destroy the entire city, or even to kill us, they'd be doing it? Brick isn't exactly known for his patience."

Buttercup wanted to ask just exactly how Blossom knew the Rowdyruffs so well, before she realized that technically, they were counterparts. Blossom was impatient. And, she guessed Blossom wasn't wrong in the sense that the boys had always jumped right into what they wanted done. "I don't care," Buttercup said, dismissing it. "Maybe they got a little smarter, so what? They're still criminals—dangerous ones!"

Blossom didn't look like she had an argument for that. Lucky for her, Bubbles came shooting down the stairs at that moment, sharing the address of a convenience store a few blocks over. "You're serious? What could they steal, chips?" Buttercup asked, deadpan. This petty crime was below them.

Bubbles shrugged. "Guess we'll find out. Maybe that's how they get food, how else would they get money?"

Blossom blinked. "That's…an interesting observation. I hadn't thought of how they would pay for anything, now that they don't have a guardian," she said, tapping her chin with her fingers. Buttercup groaned and floated up, heading for the door. She didn't pause to wait for the other two, but she could hear them catching up to her. Bubbles came to float close to Buttercup, making the green puff glance at her. Bubbles had never been good at holding a grudge, but it'd been so long since she'd last wanted to be near Buttercup. Maybe things were going to start going back to normal?

"Maybe we should try asking questions first?" Bubbles suggested. Oh, no, Buttercup didn't want that level of normal. Bubbles' empathy was going to get her into trouble one day, and Buttercup didn't want to get dragged down with her. "I mean, Blossom already tried, and it didn't end that bad. Maybe we can try with all of them instead of just Brick!"

"What is with you two and trying to humanize these human trash bags?" Buttercup grumbled, her arms folded like she was pouting. But she wasn't, because that was for babies. "I just want to get them out of the way." She wasn't about to share that she'd met Butch outside of the few calls they'd had about the Rowdyruffs, and that while it hadn't emerged as a full-out fight, she'd still pretty much lost. Deep down, Blossom was right; if the Rowdyruff Boys were to actually try something serious, it was going to be almost impossible to stop them. Buttercup was certain they'd pull something big, they were just biding their time. Maybe they were trying to lure everyone into a false sense of security by playing these dumb games.

"I think you're paranoid, Buttercup. That's also a sign of poor sleep," Blossom said, not turning to look at the other girl. Buttercup narrowed her eyes at that, having not let Bubbles in on that fact. Luckily, Bubbles didn't seem to pay attention to it.

"I agree. I mean, people can change right?" Bubbles twiddled her fingers. Buttercup wanted to scream "Wrong!" right in the other girl's face, but that would probably make her start ignoring Buttercup, again. So, Buttercup forced herself to swallow her feelings, and it burned.

"Okay, you know what? I'll play," Buttercup said, making Bubbles recoil and look at her in surprise. "Say they did change. Why would they? What would make them change? Weren't they made just for this?" Buttercup had to get them on that, right? The boys had been made by a villain for villainy purposes.

Blossom cast a look over her shoulder. "We were made with ingredients like they were. Technically, we were born with our personalities already decided, too," Blossom said, and Buttercup felt a terrible dread burgeoning. "Are we the same as when we were kids? Is Bubbles still a coward too sweet to hurt a fly? Are you all hard edges and bravado? Sometimes, but you still grew into something more. We all did."

"Fuck this, we're different!" Buttercup exclaimed, unable to believe Blossom. "Are you actually defending them? Am I the only one who remembers the time they drove us into the earth?!"

"No, but you're the only one who isn't willing to try something different. When something doesn't work, we have to try another way." Blossom seemed unusually patient today, and Buttercup was a little offended, like her sister was trying to be careful with her. That, or…maybe Buttercup was just overreacting. She'd done that an awful lot, so it wouldn't be a surprise. "Look, I can't put anyone at risk. But I also can't ignore that things are obviously different, this time." Blossom came to a pause up ahead, and Buttercup peeked around, seeing the convenience store with its doors cracked. They were sliding open and shut slowly without anyone provoking them.

"Hope they've got good insurance," Buttercup grumbled. Blossom stiffened suddenly and Buttercup turned to follow her line of sight. There, reclining on a statue that had been defaced to make a more comfortable seat, was Brick, looking like he was sat upon a throne.

"Can't have a little peace around here, huh?" the red-haired boy sighed, squinting one eye open at the three girls. He took a sip from a drink that he definitely hadn't paid for, and Buttercup snorted.

"This is a little lowbrow for you, isn't it?" she asked, making Brick raise a brow at her. "Petty theft? You've sunk pretty low if you can't even afford a bag of chips." Buttercup put her hand on her hip as she regarded Brick. Off to the side, near the bottom of the statue, Boomer stood fiddling with some sort of little gaming device. Also, definitely not paid for.

Suddenly, something small and hard bounced off Buttercup's shoulder. Flinching, she snapped her head to the side, in the direction the attack had come from. On the ground lay a green gummy. "What the…" Buttercup grumbled. Another green gummy bounced off her head and landed next to its counterpart, making her step back and look up. Butch sneered down at her.

"Would you rather we burned down the whole city?" Brick asked, drawing back Buttercup (and her sisters') attention in a heartbeat. He hadn't moved, smiling lazily at the Powerpuffs, and not looking too inclined for a lot of burning. But he'd said it, that meant the option was there, right? Well, she wouldn't give him the chance.

"Yeah, you gettin' nervous, Power-Punk?" Butch asked, throwing another stupid little gummy at Buttercup. She swiped the snack away midair and growled, baring her teeth at Butch like she was gearing up to attack him. "You don't got bigger monsters to fight? You must be awful bored since you can't leave us alone."

Buttercup pushed up the sleeves of her sweater. "Newsflash," she said, starting to hover, "if you break the law, the law comes for you! If you stayed out of trouble, maybe you wouldn't get fucked up!"

Butch whistled at her display of language, barking out a laugh. "Now your panties are rustled, huh?"

Out of the blue, Blossom put herself between Buttercup and Butch. "Look, we can't ignore lawbreaking," she said. "As much as I'd love to avoid you, you keep doing stuff to call us back. I want to know—"

Buttercup scoffed, interrupting her sister. "They're probably too dumb to know what laws are," she said, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out.

Butch didn't appear to take kindly to that, and he tossed the entire bag of gummies at Buttercup to showcase it. "At least I'm smart enough to aim a damn punch!" he snapped at her. Buttercup flushed, not least because her sisters absolutely didn't know about that incident.

"Still not smart enough to keep your mouth shut!" Buttercup shot up into the air, but Butch had learned his lesson, and he'd floated back to put some distance between them.

"Buttercup, hold on!" Bubbles shouted, reaching after her sister as the pair of Greens rocketed away from the scene. "Why do those two always go into their own little world?!"

Boomer, who seemed to be losing the game he was playing, sighed. "Why do you always have to be so loud? It's getting annoying!" he said, looking right at Bubbles. The blonde puffed her cheeks out and crossed her arms, only barely stopping herself from retaliating. She hadn't come here to start anything—but boy, did they make it hard.

"I didn't come here to fight. I'm not like my sister," Bubbles stated, her voice clear and strong, like she was addressing a room. Pretending she was talking to a patient (which she totally didn't practice) often helped her to talk in hard situations.

Brick narrowed his eyes, appraising both the girls in front of him as they straightened. "Oh yeah?" he drawled, tossing his empty drink aside. He wasn't making any effort to move, so Blossom presumed the situation safe. For now. "Then what did you come here for? Gonna try to talk some good into us?"

Blossom smirked. "No, but perhaps some sense?"

God damn it, why was Butch so fast? Buttercup kept trying to find the energy reserves within her, an extra boost of speed somewhere, but she kept coming up empty. It was all she could do to stay right on his heels. "Would you quit running?!" Buttercup shouted over the wind, clenching her fist and slinging her arm forward. The beam of green energy she'd aimed at Butch rocketed past him as he tilted himself to the side, spinning in the air.

"What's the matter? Can't keep up?" Butch called back, casting a sneer over his shoulder. Buttercup didn't appreciate that. Shutting her eyes tight, she popped them open again to reveal searing lasers. The bright red lights singed a part of Butch's clothes, making him curse and drop several feet to duck around the deadly light. He made a sharp turn and whipped around a light pole, now behind Buttercup, cackling the whole time. Buttercup skidded past him, feeling like she was an out of control car. Slamming her brakes, she turned to glare at him, spitting a string of obscenities that would've turned Blossom into dust. Why couldn't she catch him? She felt like she couldn't even focus right—when she looked at him, it was like she was seeing double.

Butch didn't even bother flying away yet. "Gotta catch your breath?" he called out to Buttercup, cupping his hands around his mouth. He looked like he was having the time of his life, the wind blowing strands of his hair into his face. Buttercup's jaw tightened. He looked just like a kid. He was just a kid! She could beat him! If he would just shut up! "You've really lost your touch, huh. No one's kept you on your game like I could, right?"

Butch leaned back, putting his arms behind his head like he was recounting a friendly story. Buttercup must remember it wrong. "I remember being kids and we could level entire skyscrapers. You went soft on me, princess!"

Buttercup ground her teeth together. "Shut up!" she snapped, sick of hearing him talk. Was that all he did anymore, talk, talk, talk? "I'm not gonna give you that chance again!" Buttercup ripped a sign out of the ground then, not bothering to worry about the damages. Butch's eyes widened when Buttercup whipped the sign at him, quickly reaching up to stop the metal pole from breaking his face. While he was busy catching the sign, Buttercup launched herself towards him, driving her fist into his gut.

She heard him lose his breath, but unfortunately, he was fast to regain his composure. He gripped the sign and slammed it down, knocking Buttercup out of the air. A cloud of dust billowed around Buttercup as she hit the ground, landing on her arm wrong and making her cry out. Butch hovered over her, dropping the bent sign. "Not bad," he grinned. "You need to stop and see the school nurse?"

Buttercup snarled, rubbing at her arm as she stood. She wasn't in the mood for this—whatever this was! This stupid banter! Shooting upward, Buttercup's arm was outstretched, planning to get a hold of Butch and just fucking throw him. Instead, Butch reeled back, his hand snapping up and fingers curling around Buttercup's wrist. He smirked as he caught her punch, squeezing her wrist and stilling her. He said something, but Buttercup didn't hear him. It felt like someone had poured water into her ears. Where his hand held her wrist, lightning bolts were shooting through Buttercup's nerves.

Let go, let go, let go! Her bones were going to break, he was going to snap her arm and every other bone in her body. All Buttercup could see was green—glowing green, green fire, and it was coming for her. Her chest was caving in, collapsing under the fire as her lungs filled with smoke. She couldn't breathe. Every breath she sucked in seemed to get caught somewhere in her throat. She couldn't breathe! Panicking, Buttercup snatched her arm back, too out of it to notice how easily he let her go. "It's you," she breathed, her eyes wide as she looked at him. He stared back at her, those eyes like fire—he was going to burn her alive if she didn't get away from him.

He furrowed his brows. "Me?" he asked, and his voice made Buttercup flinch—it didn't sound the same, but it was him. It'd always been him. She'd known it, why hadn't she done something? "Have you gone crazy?"

Something inside Buttercup snapped, cutting into her as it broke. "Fuck off!" she screamed, making him recoil as well as if she'd punched him. "Leave me alone!" Buttercup had to get away. She had to, and she didn't care if he followed. The wind bit into her, cold and unrelenting as she pushed herself as hard as she could. She had to get home, she had to get somewhere safe…but nowhere felt safe anymore.

She was gasping frantically, starting to hiccup as tears dripped down her cheeks, terrified and not understanding why. She was lucky she knew the way home by heart, otherwise she surely would have gotten lost. As she landed, she stumbled through her door, almost falling as she quickly kicked it shut. She brought her hands to her throat, her breathing whistling as she wheezed desperately, trying to soothe the burning in her chest. If it kept up, she was sure she'd be nothing but ashes. What was wrong with her? Had he poisoned her?!

Buttercup could hear him laughing. She whipped her head around, the sound growing louder, but she was the only one there. She covered her ears to block out the increasing cacophony of laughter, starting to sob as it engulfed her. "You're not here!" she shouted, trying to drown out that cold, taunting laughter. "You're not real!" Wasn't he, though? Hadn't he been real the whole time? Was he just waiting for her to go insane?

She shut her eyes tight, like if she just shut down all her senses, everything would be okay. When she closed her eyes though, she saw his face. He was smiling, not laughing. Buttercup's heart skipped a beat in her chest. Smiling wasn't right. He looked like a kid. Like how he looked earlier, like he was having…fun. He didn't have sharp teeth or a hungry smile, his eyes weren't glowing balls of fire. He was…just like her.

Slowly, Buttercup's breathing began to even, and she could inhale without choking. Her chest still hurt, and now her head had a throb in it too, but she could breathe. Tears were cooling on her face that she furiously wiped at, coughing to clear her blocked throat. In, and out. In, and out…she could breathe. Why should she be so afraid…if he was just a kid?

Buttercup raised her head, looking out of the window. She hadn't expected him to follow her. Well, some part of her had, but she was beginning to wonder if he was what she was expecting at all. When she shut her eyes, she saw Butch again, but he looked nothing like that when she met him in person. In person, he looked smaller, sillier…just a dumb boy with a dumb laugh. A boy who liked to steal candy and play a twisted version of tag. And that was really it, wasn't it? Buttercup felt an awful lot like she was playing instead of fighting. They landed hits on each other, but she always got up after. It was just like roughhousing, like she did when she was a kid with Mitch or her sisters.

Butch wasn't trying to kill her.

That didn't mean Buttercup knew what he was doing, and she wasn't sure she should find out. She'd rather they just…vanish. They'd been gone all this time, why couldn't they just leave again? Why did they want to stay in the city so bad? Coming down off the high of her adrenaline, Buttercup realized she was parched. As she fetched herself a drink, she heard the door open. She stiffened, fresh adrenaline pouring into her veins before she could reassure herself that danger did not calmly open and shut a door.

Bubbles skidded into the kitchen out of the blue. "She's in here!" she called, making Blossom hurry in after her. "We were worried about you! Butch came back, but you weren't there!"

"He said you ran away "again", are you okay?" Blossom asked, her voice careful. Buttercup didn't like that, she wasn't some fragile glass you had to be careful with.

"He's just mad I punched his face into the dirt," Buttercup grumbled, choosing not to share her episode. She was surprised Butch hadn't, but it wasn't like that asshole even knew what had happened. In his eyes, she probably was a coward, just running away or losing her control. She wasn't the best fighter anymore…not like this. Realizing that made a wave of dizziness crash over Buttercup, and she had to grab the counter to steady herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bubbles step closer, but Buttercup decided not to look at her. "What happened? Are you guys okay? Did they attack you?"

Buttercup looked up, looking out of the window as she awaited an answer. Blossom rubbed at her shoulder, apparently finding it hard to speak up. "We're not hurt. They didn't attack," Blossom said, making Buttercup narrow her eyes.

"So what, you just had a nice chat?" Buttercup scoffed, cocking her head to face Blossom, who looked chagrined.

"Not…really. It's too hard to get anywhere with them, but they don't seem half as aggressive as when we were children. They just seemed like they couldn't be bothered." Blossom folded her hands as she regarded Buttercup. "I know you don't believe people change, but…I'm telling you, something is different. Boomer didn't even attack Bubbles, like the first time. Granted, the game he was playing on was stolen, but…"

Yeah, but what? Buttercup sighed, her grip on the counter gradually relaxing until her knuckles weren't white anymore. "Butch has changed," she said, her voice stony. Blossom blinked and Bubbles' mouth fell open.

"Wh—how do you mean?" Bubbles asked, coming in close to Buttercup.

Buttercup shrugged, exasperated. "I don't know. He's not an angry ball of violence, like he's not losing control anymore. He's got a handle on himself." Buttercup gestured with her hands before crossing her arms with a frustrated sigh. "I feel like I'm playing grown-up tag. This is insane, why are they acting like kids?"

Blossom laughed suddenly, making both of her sisters turn on her with round eyes. Covering her mouth, but still giggling softly, Blossom held an arm up in a confused motion. "Aren't they? I mean, they're supposed to be our age. We're just like them, aren't we? Made with ingredients that don't fit us, anymore?"

Bubbles wrapped her arms around her middle, hugging herself. "I…guess. When we were kids, we kind of kept to our "ingredient" ideals. Buttercup was all aggressive and angry, I was too sweet, and it made me easy to manipulate…" Bubbles pointed at Blossom. "You were a perfectionist who fell apart at mistakes, and you couldn't stand saying no. Now, we've all branched out. We're a little bit of each other, a little bit of everything!"

Blossom clapped her hands once, while Buttercup tried desperately to catch up, feeling like she was taking a test and bombing miserably. "Exactly! Maybe they've outgrown their childhood ideals and branched into real personalities! They were made just like we were, wouldn't it make sense they grew up like us?"

Buttercup clapped her hands to her ears. "Enough!" she snapped. "This is crazy. Even if your science jumbo is legit, they're still out here committing crimes. How are we supposed to curb that if no jail can hold them?"

That, and if the girls did retaliate, what if the boys really did decide to fight? Blossom wilted a bit, and something told Buttercup she didn't have that answer. "I'll…I'll figure something out. If anything, maybe we can chase them out of the city again. They've always had a weakness."

"Maybe they outgrew that, too," Buttercup mumbled. "Look, I've got some work I need to finish. Maybe you can write out a speech for Brick to convince him to fuck off," Buttercup shot Blossom a salute, darting upstairs before the redhead could so much as frown at the sarcasm or foul language.

Buttercup wasn't lying about having work to do, but it certainly wasn't that essay. No, she had personal work to do. She'd thought about sharing the rest of her nightmare problem with Blossom, but had vetoed that idea. Buttercup wanted to figure this out for herself. Besides, what was she going to do? Admit to dreaming about someone who was once their greatest adversary? Like hell that was going to go over well. Buttercup was on her own for this part, and she was going to figure it out on her own.

Besides, Buttercup couldn't rely on Blossom for everything. She wasn't going to sit back while someone else fixed her problems, she had to take this into her own hands. Plopping down on her bed with her backpack, Buttercup fished out her laptop. She didn't really use it for much aside from gaming, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to Google. She stared at the open page for a few moments, wondering what exactly she should try searching…whenever she'd looked up about nightmares, it had all been vague, trying to spoon feed her cures. Well, now she was searching for a reason.

Typing in a few inquiries about nightmares involving people led Buttercup down a couple different roads. One tried to tell her that you dreamed about other people when you were afraid of them or if they were having a big impact on your life… But she'd had the dreams long before she'd met Butch again. The other road was one she'd encountered earlier, about dreaming about those you loved.

She had no reason to dream about Butch. Until she found one link that offered her a different purpose. Narrowing her eyes, Buttercup mouthed the words on the screen. "Sometimes, your fears manifest as people who have played a big part in your life…often someone who has left a lingering memory, and often someone who hurt you. When we suffer trauma, we often hold onto it and give it a human face…"

Crossing her arms, Buttercup pursed her lips, digesting that. She supposed it wasn't too farfetched. Butch had hurt her, when she was young, and pretty bad. She'd spent a good chunk of time afraid of the Rowdyruffs returning, but she'd never divulged that with anyone else. She'd thought it was stupid, after all, she couldn't control it either way, so why be afraid of it? But for a long time after their defeat, both times, Buttercup had stiffened at every loud crash, and she'd tried to have a plan for if they ever came back.

Well, they had, but they weren't following her plans at all.

A knock at her door shook Buttercup's concentration. She panicked and held the power button on her laptop down to kill it, slamming the lid shut as Blossom walked in. "I didn't say come in," Buttercup groused.

Blossom paused, took one step back while still holding the doorknob, and looked at her sister expectantly. Buttercup rolled her eyes and waved her in, not surprised when Bubbles flounced in behind Blossom. "What is it, you still brainstorming the Rowdy-Mutts?"

Approaching the bed, Blossom sat and crossed her legs, while Bubbles collapsed onto the mattress like a diver, bouncing her sisters. Buttercup laid back to put her head on Bubbles' stomach, rising and falling with her sister's breathing. "Sort of," Blossom said, combing her fingers through her hair to untangle it from today's flights. "I think I have an idea, but I want you to hear it first."

Well, they'd barged into her room, so Buttercup kind of had no choice, huh? She waited, signaling for Blossom to go ahead. Blossom cleared her throat. "Well, all of our encounters with them have been due to them acting out and us needing to check it out. The infractions have been small, which makes me wonder if they're doing it on purpose. I was thinking, instead of them seeking us, maybe we try to look for them? They're obviously nearby, and they're not constantly committing a crime, else we definitely would notice. They must have a hideout."

Buttercup…did not like that idea. "What if that's their plan, and we're walking right into a trap?" She wasn't about to take a risk like that!

Blossom shrugged. "I thought of that, but…that's not really their style. They're too brazen to play it subtle, and too impatient for a waiting game, don't you think?"

Buttercup wasn't sure what she thought, anymore. "I don't know. Nothing is making sense. They're supposed to play by a certain set of rules, instead they're just…breaking all of them."

Bubbles giggled, making Buttercup shake. "That's more in character for them, breaking the rules, even if it's not quite what we expected. Come on, Buttercup. If it is a trap, at least we can finally put them out of the way, right?"

Okay, that was more Buttercup's speed. Maybe Blossom was right, if they caught one (or all) of them off guard, maybe they'd be more apt to answer some questions. Right now, they seemed to want to avoid talking altogether. Except Butch, who never could shut his mouth… "Fine. But one wrong move, and it's over, I'm not playing nice anymore."

Blossom held her hand out, palm downward, and Buttercup and Bubbles reached to put their hands on top of Blossom's. "Deal," they said in unison. Buttercup felt a little bad entering into a promise she wasn't sure she could keep. But she could try…after all, nothing else was working, and it felt like they were going around in circles.

"Talking to them is like talking to a wall, so I'm hoping they'll be more malleable alone, or when surprised. Usually they're expecting us, since they keep doing something to attract attention," Blossom explained, boxing her hands together like she was outlining a plan only she could see.

"I kinda agree. They're not mindless anymore, they're not following anyone's orders, they're on their own. Maybe that's why they're so calm, they don't know what to do with themselves without someone controlling them." Buttercup scratched at the back of her head as she shared her two cents, not noticing the owlish looks both her sisters were aiming at her.

"That's…an excellent point, Buttercup," Blossom murmured. "Maybe they're…lost."

Buttercup had not gone that far. And anyway, lost dogs still belonged at the pound. And if they bit, they needed a muzzle.

Still, Buttercup was about to hold out her hand.

"Buttercup, jacket!" Professor shouted at the girl as she took off out of the house—and no, she didn't go back for a jacket, she just pretended she didn't hear him. She wasn't a wimpy human; the cold didn't get to her as bad. Though, up in the air, the bite of the wind was a vicious one. Crossing her arms to protect them, Buttercup meandered her way around the skyscrapers as she followed a familiar route, one she'd spent many a day traveling along. She was going to visit the gaming store, hopefully to kill some time, maybe say hi to whoever was working.

On her way, Buttercup blinked away a gritty feeling in her eyes. It never failed to annoy her how many parts of her body could feel tired. She'd taken a little catnap earlier, but the tiny amounts of sleep were only making her even more tired, now. She'd never imagined she could sleep and then wake up even more exhausted. Nothing she did was helping, and she still couldn't find any answers. She didn't know what was causing them. She still had her suspicions about Butch, about all of them, but her paranoia was (so far) unfounded. Neither Buttercup nor her sisters could control anyone's mind, get inside their heads, much less influence dreams, so she had no reason to believe the Rowdyruff jerks could, either.

Besides, it was too cool for Butch.

Buttercup dropped herself to the ground with a little less grace than usual, not possessing the energy to care about being careful. A few people walked around her, giving the hero a polite berth. Buttercup straightened, a sudden shiver arcing down her back. Stubbornly, she grit her teeth—admitting she was cold when her dad had told her to bring a jacket was a kryptonite of hers—and headed for the store. The chill deepened inside of her, hammered in with each footstep. Maybe she wasn't cold…

The door to the shop opened, letting a familiar face step outside, his dark hair sweeping to the side with the wind.

"You!" she exclaimed, her voice piercing the air. His head snapped up, green eyes widened with surprise before they slit into a scowl. "What are you doing here?!" Buttercup demanded.

Butch rolled his eyes and held out his hands. "Easy, officer Puffball," he drawled. "Am I not allowed to walk around my own city?" Butch cocked his head, a smirk making his face look young and impish. "Or do I need a license just to breathe? You gonna arrest me?"

"I'd like to!" Buttercup said, her teeth clenched. When she looked behind Butch, she was surprised he was alone, neither of his brothers flanked him. Was he…was he really out by himself? "You're alone?"

Butch arched a brow. "What, you think we hold hands everywhere like you stupid girls?" he snickered, making Buttercup flush with anger.

"You're out here stealing, aren't you? Thought it'd be harder for us to catch you if you split up?" She took a step towards Butch, but he didn't even offer to run. If anything, he looked exasperated, and that in turn deepened Buttercup's anger. What right did he have getting frustrated, he was always the one breaking laws! He was the criminal, here!

"I was playing a demo, Jesus! Carnivore Crash 2, since you're being so nosy! Anything else you wanna know? Maybe what I had for breakfast?" Butch snapped, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets.

Buttercup was taken aback for a second. That was one of her favorite games—er, the first one, anyway. She hadn't gotten around to checking out the sequel. "You play?" she asked, before she shook her head and pointed at him. "I mean, whatever. You're always causing trouble, you and your asshole brothers are nothing but trouble. You think I'm gonna believe you? I should put a tracker on you and check every time you're outside!"

Butch leaned back against the wall of the shop, daring to look bored. Buttercup was about ready to punch that lazy smirk off his mouth. But she couldn't, not yet. Blossom would lose it if she knew Buttercup had instigated the fight. Even if that grin of his was technically goading. "Don't know who made you the mayor of this place," Butch said, raising his arms in a shrug. "But I'm allowed to be here. Get over it."

Get…what?! "Fuck you!" Buttercup said, totally forgetting she was in public. She dropped her earlier composure (it was but a thread, anyway) and stormed forward, pointing a finger into Butch's chest. This close, she was jarred by learning that he'd outgrown her. He was a good three inches taller, now…and oh, that pissed her off. She'd been the taller one when they were kids.

Butch leaned his head back, sneering down at Buttercup's scowling face like he was just daring her to pull something. "I want you out of my city," she hissed, glaring right into his eyes.

"Newsflash, princess. This is my city, too. I was born here just like you," he said, his voice even and cool. Buttercup clenched her teeth hard, making her jaw click as she wrenched herself away and turned her back to Butch. This was fucking crazy, all that time dreading their return, the time they spent recovering, and Butch wanted to pretend it didn't happen? That he was somehow different? Maybe Blossom and Bubbles were naïve enough to fall for it, but Buttercup wasn't.

"You've been gone all these years, and you think I'm gonna believe you showed back up for no reason?" Buttercup's fists were shaking with the restraint of not losing control, and it took everything in her. She barely glanced at him from the corner of her eye, but she caught him diverting his gaze, his eyebrows furrowed like he was as confused as she felt.

When she turned her head to face him fully, however, that look was gone. "Who cares why we're here? I didn't know everyone had to ask the Powerpuffs if they could come to Townsville," Butch was losing his patience and Buttercup could see it. Something she'd said had gotten to him, that, or he was just sick of listening to her. Good, because she was sick of seeing him. "It's just too much fun pissing you off."

Buttercup whirled around then, intent on bodily harm, but Butch only raised his hands and backed away. "Easy, green-bean," he told her, floating up and starting to hover back. Buttercup stayed on the ground, willing herself not to chase. "Why don't you loosen up a bit?"

Buttercup blinked, watching him leave and never turn back. Loosen up? And what, let her guard down? Fat chance! If that was the goal, he'd better hope he was more patient than she was, and she knew firsthand that was a no-go.

In no mood for games anymore, Buttercup launched herself off the ground, the wind from her take-off making several nearby children giggle as it blew their hair all about. Buttercup had to get home and tell Blossom about what had just transpired, though what difference it was going to make, Buttercup couldn't see. She only knew one way to deal with villains, and now Blossom was telling her it wouldn't work, as if the Rowdyruffs were suddenly not villains? They'd lost their club villain card?

Blossom happened to be outside, pulling weeds in the garden. Buttercup landed behind the other girl, stirring up a little cloud of dirt that Blossom waved away with a cough. "Buttercup! What...what happened?" Blossom started to snap, only for her voice to drift off when she caught sight of the stormy expression on Buttercup's face. "Was it them?" Blossom dusted her hands off as she stood.

"One of 'em," Buttercup grumbled. Blossom cocked her head, looking ready for another question, but Buttercup beat her to it. "We didn't fight. I thought Butch was stealing, but he was just…wandering around."

Buttercup looked angry at that, but Blossom couldn't figure out why. "Well…isn't that a good thing? We don't want them to commit crime, Buttercup."

"I know!" Buttercup snapped. "I know. But…I kind of do. They're bad guys, Bloss, they don't just fix themselves. Butch used to be so violent, so angry…how do we know they aren't just hiding all of that? They're monsters!"

Blossom screwed her mouth to the side. "I wouldn't go that far. They were experiments in the wrong hands. Imagine if we weren't made by Professor, we…"

"Don't you say it! Don't you dare say that," Buttercup cut Blossom off, her eyes blazing. She was never going to be compared to the likes of Butch, to any of them.

"Well, it sounds like he was just minding his own business, but you're looking for a reason to convict them! I don't get it, Buttercup." Blossom was getting fed up, and Buttercup was glad someone else was finally feeling as upset as she did over this whole mess.

"Look me in the eyes, Blossom. You think they're okay, now? You think they're civilians?" Buttercup's voice dropped lower. She certainly wasn't going to protect them.

Blossom averted her gaze, but she held her head high. "No. Not quite. But maybe they're more than the same villains, too."

Buttercup snorted. "Yeah, we'll see."