Chapter 20
Authors Note: Oh my god, I am so glad I finally got to wrap this story up. You don't know how long I have struggled to find an ending to this thing. I kind of wrote myself into a corner so I ran into writers block. Then school and work got in the way, as it always does. Right now though, I've got some time on my hands so any stories that have been left by the waste side, I have decided to finish them, whether they are still being read or not. Well enjoy the finale those of you who have still stuck around and thank you for reading this.
Brick stands there staring at the giant lava monster and his future wife floating above. As it made its way towards the Powerpuffs , he decided to make a break for it. He got his body back which was all that mattered at this point, although he did wonder where he could go as the world went to hell. The lava monster lungs after the girls; trying to grab them with its massive hands. Brick turns to leave and runs right into Pandora.
Pandora gives him a wide manic smile as the red headed male backs away from her, "where are you going honey?"
"N…nowhere, I just figured you might need some extra help", said Brick, trying not to show his own fear.
"Oh Brick", said Pandora wrapping her arms around the frightened male, "I'm perfectly fine, I can handle them all by myself. All you have to do is stand there and look pretty". She floats behind him with her arms still around him and the two stare at the chaotic scene around them. The city of Townsville was being torn apart, the buildings around them began to crumble and waste away. Lava pools seeped to the surface melting all the lamp posts and structures in its path. Cars, trucks and any other motorized modes of transportation either melted in its wake or explode from the sheer heat. In the distance Brick could hear the screams of agony and pain from whoever was caught by the lava or the destruction around them. This only made Brick want to get away even more; he decided to comply with her until he found a way out. The sound of her voice in his ear broke him from his train of thought, "its beautiful isn't it, I'll have to admit, I made a mistake before. I viewed my curse as a punishment for unleashing hell on earth. I see now that I was never the one who was wrong, god is".
Brick has never been more disinterested in a conversation then he is now, "you think so?"
"I know so", said Pandora calmly, she pressed her face against Brick's, "he is the very definition of goodness and light, yet since he is the creator of all, it stands to reason that he created evil too. He would have unleashed evil into the world anyway as a counter balance to good, so why was I punished for doing it for him. I have figured it out; I bruised his ego by acting against his orders, in response, I have been made an example to all of mankind and my story was reduced to a mere cautionary tale. It's insulting."The lava monster in front of them raised its massive arm and caught Bubbles flinging her down towards the pool of lava that was collected below. Blossom fly's down just in time to catch her sister before she hits it. The monster tries to throw another punch but misses as the red head separates from her sister and launches herself directly towards its face. She inhales as much as she can and blows a large stream of ice breath directly into it.
Brick noticed his would be bride stiffen a bit in shock, "didn't know she could do that huh?" She lets go of him and floats a good distance away. He watches her with mild fascination as she begins to glow; a pentagram appears below her and sparks with the high volumes of energy she emitted.
Pandora chants a few words as her energy intensifies, her eyes then widen as she succumbs to her own madness, "I summon the beasts from hell, come forth and destroy my enemies". Dark shadowed beings begin to slowly rise from the pentagram symbol. Once they surfaced they began to swarm, fly and swoosh throughout the area, moaning and growling in an unholy mixture of noises. Suddenly a large piece of frozen lava hits her pentagram symbol splitting it in half and thrusting her backwards. She regains her footing though and glares at the one who threw it. Bubbles zooms towards her and inhales to deliver a sonic scream. Streams of shadows shoot out from Pandora's hands and wrap themselves around bubbles neck before she could exhale her power. The shadows slam her down on the concrete effectively holding her there and choking her. In an instant Blossom rams into Pandora causing her to release Bubbles, she launches them both away from the building and into another.
Brick grins a little as he floats off the floor, he attempts to fly off but is bombarded a sonic scream. It hits him like a wrecking ball and skids him across the floor face first. Brick struggles to get back up only to see Bubbles flying towards him, "shit". The shadow beasts that were released earlier intervene by attacking Bubbles. Brick takes off into the air and zooms away while the blond struggles with the beasts.
Bubbles fights them off easily and zooms off after him, no matter what happens she was not letting him get away. She shoots a beam of energy out of her hands and knocks him out of the sky and catches him in mid air by the foot. She then speedily swings him into random buildings they just happen to be passing by like a baseball bat. Before he can decipher up from down, she swings him one last time through the steel walls of Townsville prison. She pants heavily as the full brunt of her anger dies down and slowly floats down through the large hole she created. When the smoke and debris cleared she found an unconscious brick lying lifelessly on the ground. Bubbles exhaled and kicks him in the stomach thrusting him a few feet away, "we're not done with you yet".
Meanwhile
Pandora braced herself while Blossom delivered a barrage of punches at her. She raised a hand to the red heads face and blinds her with a flash of bright light. Blossom teeters back from the blow while at the same time keeping her eyes on the other woman. Anger overcame the mistress of evil and her eyes turn blood red matching the sky above her, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? WHY ARE YOU STOPPING ME? THIS WORLD MUST BE CLEANSED TO MAKE WAY FOR THE….."
"SHUT UP", Blossom shouted at her, "you're nothing but a destructive monster, you're not cleansing anything. All you know how to do is destroy everything in your path, it's no wonder you were cursed, you deserved it".
"THAT'S NOT TRUE", Pandora screamed as lava shot up behind her and jetted towards Blossom. The other female used her ice breathe to temporarily freeze the lava in its place. Pandora shoots through the now cold magma breaking it apart. She flung the large fragments violently at Blossom as she screams at her, "I'M THE VICTIM HERE, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?" Blossom dodges one fragment after another but could not dodge the beam of red energy coming from her opponent. It hit her shoulder like a speeding bullet ripping right through it. She holds her bleeding shoulder while Pandora floats up into the air, she angrily rants at her, "I DIDN'T DESERVE WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, I just wanted to see what was inside, that's all, HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME!"
Blossom blasted her with a beam of her own and hit her directly in the chest causing her to slide a bit further away holding her chest, "What happened to Silva? Where is she?"
"She's gone, you idiot", said Pandora teetering towards her, "don't you get it, she's just a vessel. As long as my personal possessions exist they bind me to my vessel; therefore this body is officially mine". She launches forward to attack blossom but suddenly felt a moment of weakness. She felt a tingling sensation in the spot where blossom had previously shot her and found her garment was burnt. Blossom zooms forward and punches her directly in the face. As the other female falls backwards she simultaneously grabs her dress sleeve tearing it off. Pandora panics and quickly distances herself from her; she summons her shadow beasts and they surround her opponent. Pandora glares at her murderously, "KILL HER", she fly's away from the scene and back towards the original building where her alter was. She couldn't believe she hadn't taken this into consideration earlier, her other possessions, where were they? She started breathing heavily as she landed close to the wrecked alter and frantically searches for the mirror. To her horror, it was shattered, possibly from the capsided stone slab on the ground, "shit, BRICK? BRICK WHERE ARE YOU?" Suddenly a laser eyebeam struck her in the back burning some more of her dress. She loses her balance and falls straight to the floor, she tried to turn slightly to the side and notices Bubbles floating there with blossom coming up in the distance, "what…..what the hell?"
Blossom lands behind her and Bubbles lands on the other side, "your little shadow minions are really weak, you must be losing your power."
Pandora glares at the both of them and tries to summon another batch of shadow beasts but is quickly stopped by Bubbles who back hands her in the face. She was thrown off her feet but before colliding with the floor, the blond jets her hand forward and ripped the necklace off her neck. She fell to the ground holding her cheek and glares at them both, "YOU BITCH". She gets up again but realizes her neck was bare; she raised a hand and felt for the missing necklace in a panic.
"Didn't you realize this sooner?" Blossom said calmly, "all you've been able to summon were these shadow beasts and the magma monster. You thought you were fully powered but you weren't, you never were".
Pandora backs away from them ready to attack again but her eyes widened as the realization hit her. Her box was gone at this point and the rest of her possessions are now destroyed due to the chaos that erupted, she spoke in a wavered tone her fear showing as clear as a bell, "all that's left is…". She didn't have the chance to finish; Blossom gripped the hem of her dress and ripped the entire thing off of her. Pandora screamed out in horror as blossom zoomed past her and flung the garment over the side of the building. In her panicked state she goes after it, leaping over the edge of the roof in a desperate attempt to grab the piece of clothing, "NOOOOOOOO!" She was not able to catch it before it fell into the pool of lava below. As she fell to her fiery doom she didn't have time to ponder her past life or to even ask god for forgiveness. There was only one statement that summed up everything she had to say to the world she tried to destroy, "I'm sorry".
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5 Days later
Blossom flew through the bright blue sky; despite what had previously happened today was actually a normal sunny day. She tried her best to not look down at the waste land that use to be Townsville. She had done her best to cool down and break apart the left over magma which flowed everywhere. Within the past 5 days she had seen countless deaths, not just in Townsville but in other parts of the world as well. There were very few survivors but she was thankful of just that, the professor was able to get some of them to safety before the chaos spread outside the city. The hardest thing for her and bubbles to deal with though, was the death of Buttercup and Silva. She didn't care what Pandora said, Silva was more then just a vessel, she was as real as everyone else in this town and she suffered just as much. Tears welled up in her eyes but the wind quickly blew them away as she rushed towards her destination. She finally arrived in front of Townsville prison and entered the building. She knew she wasn't the only one who experienced great loss; Brick's whole family was done for as far as she knew. She still didn't know whether Butch was officially gone or not. She expressed her condolences for his loss, which shocked the hell out of everyone who bared witness. She didn't care; all she wanted was for everything to go back to normal. The professor helped the police lock the remaining rowdyruff up in a special cell wrapped in antidote x soaked chains and cuffs. Blossom decided to pay him another visit to wrap up a few more lose ends, which was seen as strange considering she had just came from her sister and Silva's funeral. Again she bypassed all the strange looks and inquiries she was faced with as she walked past the police officers along the way.
She came upon the police chief who was walking her way with an arm full of files. Blossom gives him a small smile, "Good morning chief".
"Ah Ms Utonium, hello", said the chief, "you here again? You must really believe he can be rehabilitated".
Blossom ignored the question but still remained pleasant, "I won't be long, Bubbles is meeting me here anyway".
The chief smiled and reached into his pockets. He then pulled out a metal ring of keys and handed it to Blossom, "take as much time as you need".
Blossom takes the keys and nods in his direction, "thank you". She continues on towards the nearest stair case and makes her way down to the specialized cell Brick was held in. She finally reached the basement floor and quietly made her way to his cell. The red headed male sat there in his cot with his head ducked down low. His hands and feet were tightly bound by the wrists and ankles. He didn't raise his head but he knew she was there. He didn't really care at the moment, for the past few days it has been the same song and dance. She would come, look at him while he shouts curses and berates her and then she would leave without saying a single word. It was ridiculous, like she was looking for something meaningful in him but just couldn't find it.
He could hear the door of his cell open but didn't hear blossom come in, which meant she was standing there at the door again watching him…..again. Brick groans and slowly raises his head, "seriously, what the fuck are you waiting for?" His eyes met hers only to see a blank expression on her face, the same one she had every time she was there, "I'm not apologizing, I told you before; I'm glad I killed Buttercup and nobody gives a fuck about the kid but you". He grinned up at her expecting to see some kind of emotion whether it be sadness or anger. Instead he got nothing out of her, which angered him even more, "DIDN'T YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID? I DON'T GIVE A SHIT. If you're looking for any signs of regret or redemption you won't get any here". Again there was no response from the other powerpuff, at this he became truly enraged, "GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK. Just say something dammit, why the hel…." Within second Blossom was right in front of his face, his eyes widened but it wasn't at her sudden change in position. It was the intense pain that erupted in his chest, and the feeling of his own blood leaking down to his stomach. He slowly peered down and eyed the large carving knife embedded directly into his heart.
Blossom looked down at him with the same blank look she did before, "I heard you loud and clear, but the truth is, I just don't care anymore". She leaned over and whispered in his ear knowing that his hearing would be going pretty soon, "I haven't said anything because there's nothing to say. I don't want to talk about morality or ethics and I'm tired of thinking and agonizing over what is justified and what isn't. I don't want to think about this anymore, all I want you to do is die". She could feel Bricks body slump against her own and the pool of blood collecting around her feet staining her sneakers. She straightened and stood there staring into nothing. After a while she exhaled for the first time in what seemed like months and raised a knee pressing it against brick's body. She then pulls her knife out of the body allowing it to fall to the floor. She didn't expect to feel anything from seeing him die, there was just nothing there. She turned around to walk towards the door but ran into Bubbles who stood there leaning against it.
The blond tried her best to avoid looking at the body soaking in its own blood on the floor. Bubbles caught a glimpse of the blood on Blossom's shirt, pants and shoe but quickly shrank away from the sight choosing to focus on the ground, "um….I found Butch, he was unconscious but on life support in Mojo's lab".
Blossom gave her a sympathetic look and smiled at her reassuringly while wiping her knife off on her pants, "its ok, I'll take care of …"
"I already took care of it", said Bubbles as tears welled up in her eyes, "he's dead".
Blossom closed the distance between them and wrapped an arm around her sister, comforting her, "I'm sorry bubbles; I didn't want you to have to go through that". The blond wraps her own arms around Blossom and allowed the tears to flow from her eyes.
After what seemed like forever, Bubbles wiped her face clean and looked at Blossom trying to force a smile, "it's ok; everything's going to be ok, right? Everyone involved is gone, so all we have to do is clean up the mess, right?"
Blossom smiled at her genuinely knowing that it was all finally over, "Right".
The End