A/N

Thanks so much for all of your kind reviews!

You all are going to hate me for these next few chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Powerpuff Girls.

Chapter 38

(Boomer's POV)

She quivered beside me, pressing into me as asking for some sort of comforting touch. She was seeking protection and confidence, yet I didn't even have enough to spare for myself. Instead, I took her hand in mine and squeezed, attempting to lend her positive emotion through that action, and it seemed to work. I could see the goosebumps dotting her skin subside in my peripheral vision from where she sat beside me.

Bubbles and I were sheltering in what was left of some foliage near the square where Brick had planned for us all to meet. Butch would start a fight with Buttercup any moment now, and then the plan would have to come into action. While it wasn't the greatest I'd ever heard, and it wasn't too thought through (it WAS the green one of our group's, after all...) it was better than absolutely nothing. I could count all of the loop holes as if I were a young boy, tonguing the holes made by my missing teeth. There were so many places it could go wrong, and it was just like Butch to take the low probability that it would work. He always denied his optimism in circumstances like this, yet it was easy to see that it was there, in plain sight. I couldn't help but feel anxiety. Surely, if I'd noticed the loopholes and my girlfriend beside me was feeling the same way, it was easy for a demon to do the same.

"Is that our cue?" Bubbles questioned quietly, gesturing to Buttercup and Butch, rolling around on the floor about 100 meters away from us, cussing up a storm and tossing up dirt wherever they went. The girl looked livid, while my brother (naturally) looked quite entertained.

"What did he do to get her so mad this time?" I couldn't help but ask, curiosity getting the best of me.

There was a brief pause before Bubbles answered me, her tone a mix between sadness and interest. Turning to me, her eyes were a clear icy blue. "He just kissed her."

My eyebrows shot up, wrinkling my forehead. "Wow. That's bold."

"Poor Butch," She sighed. I shook my head despairingly. I felt bad for my brother, I truly did, but I didn't want to get too heavily involved in the affairs of two incredibly stubborn, angry people. This was probably a job for women.

Without another word, she and I moved as one, reaching them at the same time and separating each respective counterpart, however I took her sister while she took my brother since Butch was just pretending and didn't actually need to be restrained.

Buttercup immediately began to struggle out of my grip, trying to get away from me and get back to her victim, who continued to egg her on. She switched motives after awhile from struggling to attempting to gnaw her way out of my hands, like a dog.

"What's wrong, Sunshine?" He laughed, "You're all bark and no bite, and you seem to act like an animal, yet you don't value puppy love?"

"Shut up!" She hissed, lunging at him, but I held her back.

"Calm down," I urged her, digging my fingers into her skin, "What did he do this time?"

"He kissed me."

Bubbles and I pretended to be stunned for a brief moment, but then she smiled and I nodded at my older brother. "Nice bro."

He gave me a cocky wink in return, which made the brunette I was trying to hold back even more angry. "That's all you're going to say?" She shrieked.

"It was going to happen anyway," Bubbles returned, letting go of Butch to play with her long blonde hair.

This made both brunettes get defensive, and it wasn't planned at all. We weren't acting now, we were actually getting thoughts off of our chest. Was it a bad thing? I had no idea, but the statement made by the bubbly blonde definitely seemed to be.

"Hey, just because you all are happy together happily ever after doesn't mean that we need to be," Butch snarled at Bubbles, and she shrank away, hugging herself in defense and looking at the ground. This, in turn, made me angry because no one talked to my girl that way, even if he was my brother. "We're perfectly fine by ourselves."

"Hey, don't you do that," I growled, letting go of Buttercup for a brief moment, which happened to be my mistake. As soon as I did so, she zipped right over to Butch again and began another torrent of angry punches, pummeling his solid chest. This didn't do much at all, but it did put us back a few seconds. This plan seemed to be going good, though I had no meter with which to gauge what was supposed to be good and what was supposed to be bad.

Exhaling heavily, I took hold of the brunette girl again and forced her back, but she continued to scream and attempt to get away. "It's true anyways!" She yelled, hair falling into her face as her body relaxed for a moment, "We don't want to be together, and no one ever listens. Well, I don't want to, anyway, he's the bozo that kissed me. Is that the only reason you're even back?"

"You're lucky I kissed you, Sunshine," Butch spat, "And I'm back to help!"

"Don't you ever fucking-"

"Language!"

"Sorry, Bubbles. Don't kiss me! I didn't ask for it, I don't want it I don't want your help!" Buttercup started to struggle again, and I dug my fingers into her skin, using the momentum she was creating to whip her around so she could face me.

"You need to grow up, Buttercup! It doesn't matter what you want anymore. He's here, and without him we'd all be nothing!" I yelled in her face, and from the corner of my eye I saw Butch tense. He didn't like me talking to his girl this way as much as I didn't like him talking to mine. "You saw how fu-Sorry, Bubbles-screwed up we were without him. Stop being so selfish and immature, we need him!"

"I don't want any part of this! And I'm not immature," The brunette insisted, and from where she stood away from us, Bubbles was suddenly by my side again.

"You are too!" Her blue eyes were like fire, her tone cold as ice.

"Coming from the one who would beg for a band-aid and couldn't go on with her life if she managed to scrape her leg in a little scuffle with big sis when she was twelve years old?" Buttercup hissed, and I managed to shrink back this time. Her voice was terrifying.

"That's not what this is even about!"

"Stop talking to her that way!" I snarled, but they didn't hear me and carried on with their argument.

"Oh, what do you know? You're younger AND you're a boy, you're naturally less mature and don't have a say in this," Buttercup scoffed with a roll of her eyes, and this automatically made me even angrier.

"What are you fighting about?" The voice was loud and demanding, and made us all stop immediately as the reds zoomed into the circle of all of us, pushing us away. The impact of Buttercup against my chest knocked the breath out of my lungs, but I still managed to keep hold of her.

"Butch kissed me," Buttercup explained again, less patient this time with a roll of her light green eyes.

Once again, silence enthralled the group when my oldest brother decided it was time to break it.

"About time," He said, uttering a low chuckle while Blossom covered her brow and shook her head. They were not faking their surprise, while we actually had been, so their reactions were genuine.

"Don't freaking say that!" Buttercup snarled again, beginning yet another attempt to free herself from me, but I wasn't going to let it happen. "Ugh, I hate you, Boomer."

"That's not nice!" Bubbles interjected again, sticking up for me. That little moment made me smile, which everyone else caught. "Be nice to him!"

"OH MY GOD YOU GUYS ARE SO STUPID!" Butch groaned, throwing his hands up in the air.

"I thought you wanted this?" the blonde girl of the group fired back, which made my dark haired brother shut his mouth for a moment before starting up again, still unsure of what to say.

"I don't know what I want."

"I know what I want!" Buttercup shared loudly.

"NO ONE CARES!" The reds yelled at the same time, which got Buttercup all fired up again.

"Really? Look what you did," I sighed, but my annoyance was interrupted by a sudden feminine evil laugh. We all stopped what we were doing, and looked around for the source of the noise, but all we could see was a new plume of tell-tale red smoke.

"I do love a good argument," Came the voice, and chills traveled up my spine. I knew that this was supposed to be the plan, but I always hated to see the guy face-to-face.

"Hello, children."

Him was back. Again.