I do not own the Power Puff Girls or the Rowdy Ruff Boys.
Chapter Forty-Two: Not Children Anymore
It had been about a few days since Brick left the volcano tower and being away from Mojo was doing wonders for him. He felt he was truly able to focus on things that needed his immediate attention. One of them being responding to the many acceptance letters he received. Brick was absolutely ecstatic about all the letters, and thought he knew which one he wanted. However, with Blossom and the baby to consider, he was going to have to adjust his plans. He hadn't gotten to speaking to her about school yet, as he wanted her to be as stress free as possible.
Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Blossom had unsurprisingly fell into a slump. In fact, all the girls had. Bubbles seemed to be avoiding Boomer, which everyone found odd since those two were the most inseparable of the couples. Buttercup was angry with Butch, who in turn was refusing to allow her sour mood to make him bend to her will. Blossom just seemed depressed and worried.
At lunch the two would sit together and Brick would just rub his hand soothingly over her back and tried to get her to eat. "Blossom, come on. You can't skip meals."
Blossom picked at her lunch nibbling bits, causing Brick to sigh and take her hand.
"What's the matter?"
"Huh?" she asked looking up at him.
"What's wrong? You've been down since—." A sudden thought struck Brick and cut off his sentence. Groaning, he closed his eyes to gather himself then opened his eyes suddenly angry. "What did Mojo say to you?"
"Nothing."
"Blossom." Brick reprimanded gently. "Haven't we had enough of secrets this year?"
Blossom worried her bottom lip and rested her chin against her folded arms on the table, effectively pushing her lunch tray away from her. "It's just…Mojo knew about something I didn't think he knew about."
"Which was?" Brick asked, not really in the mood for prying, but knowing he wouldn't get answers from her either way.
Blossom closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. "Can we talk about this later?"
Brick leaned over Blossom and brushed her hair out of her face. "Blossom, we can't save things for later. Our time is much more precious than it was before."
The words triggered tears to well in Blossom's eyes and she quickly tried to wipe them away to no avail. They ran in rapid succession down her cheeks and immediately had Brick worried at to what could've caused such a reaction.
"Hey, hey. It's okay." Brick soothed. "Don't let anything the monkey has said to get to you."
Blossom wiped some of the tears from her eyes and turned to Brick with worried eyes. "I'm worried of what you'll think of me."
"I think it's a little late to worry about that now." He chuckled trying to ease some of tension from her. He glanced at her stomach which had the beginnings of a soft swell to it. "We're going to be stuck together for a while."
Instead of easing her worries, Blossom seemed to get more anxious. She looked away from Brick and went back to resting her chin on her hands. "Yeah, if the baby isn't like Bunny." She mumbled almost too low for Brick to hear her.
"Bunny?" Brick's brow furrowed, not sure if her heard her correctly. "Who is Bunny?"
Blossom realized what she'd said and mentally cursed herself for letting her depression and worry get the better enough to let slip her sisters' darkest secret. Averting her eyes, she sighed heavily and resigned herself to telling the father of her child about the fourth Power Puff Girl.
"Bunny was our younger sister." Blossom started.
Brick's brow continued to furrow in confusion. "Younger sister? And what do you mean 'was'?"
Before Blossom could answer, the bell rang and Blossom was quick to stand up and start to leave the cafeteria. She knew she'd only have a few moments to herself before Brick came after her. To try to stall for more time, she ducked into the girls' bathroom and locked herself in an empty stall. Sitting down, she held her face in her hands and tried to quell her tears.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there before she heard the other girls in the restroom leave. Footsteps approached the bathroom stall she was in and a gentle knocking echoed against the pale pink tiles. "Blossom? Are you okay?"
Hearing the concern in her closest friend's voice, made guilt bubble and overflow in Blossom. It was like they were little kids again and she and her sisters practically abandoned Robin. She truly was a good friend that Blossom felt was taken for granted. "Oh Robin, everything's literally been shot to hell."
Robin was silently for a beat and then said the one thing that was sure to cure anything. "Do you want to have a sleepover this weekend? Just us girls?"
Blossom let out a watery laugh and unlocked the bathroom stall. Upon opening the door, she was welcomed into a loving hug by one of her best friends. Robin held tight to Blossom, and just let her cry. "That sounds great."
"I'll get the girls and we'll have pizza, ice cream, chips, and all the junk food we could possibly want." Robin told Blossom as she pulled back. "Bad romance movies, too."
"Thanks Robin." Blossom sighed as she wiped the remaining tears from her face.
Robin smiled at Blossom and gave a nonchalant shrug. "What are friends for?"
Blossom and Robin laughed before leaving the bathroom and heading to class.
As soon as school let out, Brick sped to the volcano tower and parked haphazardly by the park before storming up to the door. "MOJO!" he yelled, not even waiting for the door to be opened.
Once he was inside, he didn't have long to search having spotted the green skinned chimp in the kitchen preparing a snack for himself. "Brick." Mojo said genuinely surprised to see his son there.
"What the hell did you say to Blossom?" Brick immediately demanded.
Mojo's mood darkened at Brick's concern for Blossom He took his sandwich from the kitchen and started making his way to the couch. "I didn't say anything to her."
"Bullshit!" Brick snapped at him. "What did you say?"
"Nothing." Mojo evaded, not making eye contact with his irate son.
Brick, frustrated with Mojo's evasion, walked over to where Mojo sat and violently knocked the sandwich from his hands. "Damn it! What did you say? Did it have something to do with Bunny?"
Mojo rose a brow as he settled onto the couch. "Oh, so she told you."
"Not much. What do you know about her?" Brick asked.
"That she was the first abomination those girls created. Now she has one growing in her stomach." Mojo told him, only to be startled when Brick picked him up by the front of his shirt.
Smoke came from Brick's nose in a thick black cloud. "Listen when I say this, Mojo. If you ever call our baby an abomination, creature, or any other derogatory name I swear on my second life, you will never see me again. You will not hear one word from me, and it'll only be then that you have completely lost me as a son."
Mojo could see how serious Brick was in his declaration. As his name implied he was rock solid in his resolve. When he set his mind to something he fell through with it. "You're that serious about her."
"Why shouldn't I be?" Brick dropped Mojo back onto the couch and turned away from Mojo. "She's pregnant with my child and I love her. What more do you want?"
"I want you to not let her take over your life." Mojo said as he stood up.
Brick growled low under his breath as he turned to Mojo. "The girls are not the ones who are taking over our lives! It's always been you and H.I.M who has tried to control everything that we've done!"
"I've kept you three safe from harm—."
"Were we safe from harm when we got blown to bits?" Brick started. "Were we safe when we failed a second time to destroy the girls and H.I.M beat us within an inch of our lives? Was I safe when my mind was taken over and made to have sex with Blossom and then have no recollection of it?"
Mojo winced and folded his arms stubbornly. "I did the best I could."
"You could do better by getting your head out of your ass and being the father I need you to be!" Brick snapped. "What kind of father ignores his son when he says he's been raped and is going to be a father?" Brick ran his hand over his face and groaned. "Just forget it."
Brick turned around and headed for the door. His brothers were just coming in, surprised to see Brick at the tower.
"Brick." Boomer said excited to see him home. "We didn't know you were coming."
"I'm leaving. See you guys."
Butch sighed and turned to look at a disgruntled Mojo. "You're only going to push him away."
"I don't need your advice, Butch."
"No, but considering we're all in this sinking ship, I suggest we try to patch things up. Your being bent on drilling holes into everything doesn't help."
"I really don't think you should be the one to talk about drilling, Butch. He did catch you screwing Buttercup."
"I wasn't screwing Buttercup. I was in the shower and he must've saw her in my bed." Butch snapped at him.
Boomer shrugged earning an eye roll from Butch. The two made their way to the kitchen for a snack with Butch pulling out his phone. Part of him expected to see at least one message from Buttercup, but none were found. He was disappointed and fought down the urge within him that wanted to contact her. It would once again be him bending to her will. She needed to learn that their relationship wasn't always going to be him giving in. Buttercup needed to learn to give in.
"She's got you wrapped around her finger." Boomer smirked around a bite of banana.
"Fuck off." Butch mumbled as he grabbed an apple and left out the front door. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he knew he just needed to get out of the house.
Buttercup was looking at her phone and growing frustrated with Butch's continued silence. It was only a few days, so she tried not to get too irritated with him. However, the part of her more in touch with her feelings was extremely worried about Butch's prolonged silence. The longer he didn't contact her, the more worried she became about whether they were still a couple.
Their relationship started off rocky to begin with. Buttercup felt that it would be all too easy for something to break them apart.
"You know, I thought we were supposed to be hanging out." A froggy voice called out to Buttercup from across the table.
Buttercup looked up from her phone and towards her best friend. "Sorry." She put her phone away and turned back to the plate of fries between them. "Just checking for any messages."
"From Butch?" Mitch scoffed and he stuffed a handful of fries into his mouth. "Yeah, you sure know how to pick 'em."
Buttercup looked at Mitch and felt her face fall. "I guess."
"It was never going to work anyway. He's a Rowdy Ruff Boy. You're a Power Puff girl. You're both born to kill each other." Mitch chuckled.
Buttercup didn't say anything just picked up a few fries and put them in her mouth. "Maybe."
"What do you mean maybe? It's a fact." Mitch snorted. "He was only after your hot body."
That stung, but she didn't let it show. Mitch wasn't the best at tact and he certainly wasn't Butch's number one fan. "It started out that way."
"He's a guy just like the rest of us. You see a hot girl. You bang her a couple times. You move on. He's probably doing that now." Mitch said, not noticing the look of panic on Buttercup's face. When he did look up at her, he saw her frowning deeply. "Hey, I wouldn't get too down about it." He reached across the table and took her hand in his. "You can find someone else too."
Buttercup managed a wane smile and put her hand on top of his in comradery. Suddenly a tingle went down her back and she looked up to see Butch standing at the end of the isle. She pulled her hand from Mitch's and stood up to approach Butch.
Butch just shook his head and turned to leave out of the diner he'd felt Buttercup in. Much to his surprise, she'd been with Mitch. He was angry that every time she got pissed with him, she'd run off to that metal mouth. He was even more pissed with himself, because he said he wasn't going to bend to her will, and yet he had unconsciously sought her out. He felt that tingle go through his body and couldn't resist following.
"Butch!" Buttercup called out to him as she ran to catch up with him. "Wait. You know that wasn't anything."
"I'm not so stupid to think there was actually anything between you." Butch threw over his shoulder.
Buttercup used her super speed to move in front of Butch, being the closest she's been to him in days. "Then why are you storming off?"
"Maybe because my girlfriend is cozying up with some metal mouthed frog voiced punk, and I don't think she'd appreciate me knocking his teeth in." Butch snapped at her.
"I wasn't cozying up to Mitch." Buttercup retorted indignantly. "I was just hanging out with a friend."
"A friend? I'm pretty sure the last time you really spoke to the fucker was December, Toots." Butch snapped back. "He just wants into your pants, and he's dumb enough to think you'd be so desperate as to open your legs for him. He called you a slut remember."
Buttercup had forgotten that when she approached Mitch and asked if they wanted to hang out. "He said he was sorry." She lied blatantly.
"The hell that fucker did." Butch grumbled. "He's a guy. I know how he thinks. He thinks now is the perfect time to try to stick his dick in you, because you went crawling back to him."
"Mitch doesn't want to have sex with me." Buttercup stated, not really believing her own words.
"No, he wants to fuck you. Mitch Mitchelson just wants a heartless, dirty, hard fuck." He bluntly spat at her, not caring that she flinched from his words. "He doesn't care about you as much as you'd want him to."
"Is that to mean that you do?"
"How can you doubt how I feel?"
Buttercup's eyes hardened as she looked away from Butch. "We were fucking long before we started dating, Butch, so don't get all high and mighty with me!"
Butch stepped closer to Buttercup so he was now towering over her. She tilted her head back so she could look him in the hard emerald of his eyes. "Don't you ever compare me to that scum." He whispered deathly low.
He then roughly bumped Buttercup's shoulder as he passed her, feeling his heart pang as he did so. Buttercup held her shoulder, not because the action hurt her, but because she felt she was being dismissed by Butch. To cover up her pain she spun and yelled at his back, "Well, you're no better than he is right now!"
The words weren't true. Buttercup knew that. Butch knew that as well, and the force of the lie thrown his way startled him enough to spin around and glare incredulously at Buttercup. "Are you fucking kidding me? I'm no better than he is?"
Buttercup didn't say anything as she held her arms defensively over herself.
"Let me tell you something, Buttercup. I am and will always be a thousand times better than him. I got the girl."
"I'm just a prize. Is that all I am? A score?"
Butch threw his hands up in exasperation. "Would you please stop this pity party you are throwing for yourself. I already told you that I wouldn't pity you. The least you could do is to not pity yourself. You're so much more than that." His tone softened as he walked back to Buttercup. "You're the strongest, toughest, most beautiful girl I've ever met and known. I'm lucky to have you."
Tears started to well in Buttercup's eyes at the sincerity in his voice, but she remained adamant about not cracking in front of him. "Then why didn't you stand up for me Saturday? Why didn't you say anything to Mojo?" her voice cracked, but she pushed on. "You just sat there looking sorry for yourself."
"Yeah, maybe I did, but do you know what was going on in my head?" Butch challenged. "My family was about to be shattered. I could see from a mile away that Brick was going to support Blossom. Boomer probably wasn't going to see Bubbles anymore. And I was probably going to get castrated, because Mojo had visual proof that we were sleeping together. Also, Mojo as you noticed has a weak heart. He can't take much more shock."
Buttercup understood all that, she did. However, part of her—a growing part of her—felt that there was nothing that could hold Butch to her if she wasn't trying hard enough. If she looked away or relaxed for a second too long, he'd slip away. "I know that."
"But?"
"But what, Butch?" Buttercup screamed at him, drawing the attention of passersby and making them go in the opposite direction.
Butch sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I know you well enough to know that there is something else. Just spit it out."
"You figure it out, snail boy." Buttercup snapped at him.
"No, you tell me what the hell is the matter!" He yelled, tired of Buttercup blowing him off and then holding a needless grudge. "It's not fair, that I'm expected to just know what is going on in that head of yours. I don't read minds, least of all yours."
"No, what's not fair is having my boyfriend be the only one that caves under the pressure that was Mojo!" she yelled back at him. "You're supposed to be the toughest of the boys, but the minute Mojo is involved you turn into a lily livered yellow belly."
"Excuse the fuck out of me for not being a hopeless romantic idiot like Boomer, or having the courage of having a knocked-up girlfriend like Brick!"
Buttercup folded her arms and turned away from Butch.
"I'm Butch, okay? The green Rowdy Ruff Boy. I'm not Brick. I'm not Boomer. I'm no one, but me." He started up when she didn't say anything. "And I'm certainly not some walking security blanket for you to validate that someone cares about you. You said my actions spoke louder than my words. How much louder do I need to be for you?"
The hand tightening on her forearm left her knuckles white and skin bleached of its color from the pressure of which she was holding herself up. "You said you felt safe with me. Why can't I expect the same from you Butch?"
The change in her tone from the loud, angry yelling and screaming to this soft, dejected whisper startled Butch. It was much different than what he normally expected of her. As she turned her back to him completely, he heard her sniffle loudly and her hand reached up to scrub at her face.
"Are you crying?" he asked in disbelief. He could handle her better when she was yelling and screaming at him. He wasn't so sure about when she was crying.
"I'm not crying!" She snapped with her head turned slightly towards him. It wasn't much, but it was enough for Butch to know that she was crying. "It's just not fair that I give and give to you, but I get nothing. So what, that I'm the toughest Power Puff girl. If I want to just be held and told that someone cares about me is that so bad? Damn it, now I just sound shallow and selfish." Disgusted didn't even begin to describe how she felt with herself. The crying and pouring her inner feelings out was not her way.
Seeing Buttercup as she was now, was new to Butch. Buttercup was tough. She didn't cry. She just fought and fought hard. Sure, he might've seen her eyes shine with tears, but never had he seen her cry. It tore a piece of his heart to see her like this—especially since it was partly his fault. Gently he put his arm around Buttercup's shoulders and pulled her into a hug. He cradled her head in his hand as he pressed her face into his chest and his own into her hair. Her tears were warm and wet against his chest through the shirt he wore. She'd never cried in front of him, and still he has yet to see her full crying face.
Buttercup wrapped her arms around Butch's waist and held tight to him. She mumbled something into his chest, that he more felt than heard. When he pulled back to look at her face, the tears had left her eyelashes wet and matted together along with her face blotched red. Butch tenderly held her face in his hands and brought his face down to kiss her. Buttercup eagerly returned the kiss and held tight to Butch.
When they broke the kiss, Butch rested his forehead against Buttercup's feeling the warmth that came from it. "What did you say?"
"I don't want to lose you." She whispered.
"You won't." he promised only to have her push him away from her, but held on tightly to the front of his shirt.
"How do you know that? What makes you so sure that I'm not going to lose you?" more tears—hot frustrated and angry tears ran down her face. "Huh? How do you know?"
Butch didn't have a proper answer to that and it showed on his face. Buttercup scoffed and wiped roughly at her face. She let go of Butch's shirt and drew back, wiping her face some more and trying to remove the look and feel of crying. She was about to turn completely away from Butch, when he reached out and grabbed her hand.
"Wait." He coaxed her softly.
"Why?" She asked without looking at him. "I don't know if I will or won't lose you. You can't assure that I won't."
Butch chuckled softly and pulled Buttercup back to him, despite her halfhearted resisting. "Now who's the prize?" He felt her response to such a corny line in his side as she lightly—for her—punched him. "Just trust that I love you, Cupcake. Nothing is ever going to change that."
Buttercup sighed and looked up at him. "Yeah, right. What about H.I.M?"
"We're going to deal with that. Don't worry about it." He told her with an encouraging tuck to her chin.
Buttercup groaned at Butch. "Don't tell me to not worry about this, all right? You three think you can handle H.I.M on your own, but you've told me what's he's done to you. I heard what Brick said about that night."
Butch sighed and held Buttercup's hand tightly in his own. "Things will be different this time."
"How?"
Butch brought his hand up to Buttercup's face and cupped her cheek. "We've got more to lose this time."
The blush that came across Buttercup's face was more than enough to boost his ego. "You jerk. Why couldn't you say that on Saturday?"
Butch didn't answer as he lifted Buttercup's lips up to his own and kissed her again. It was a tender kiss that held promises of things to come. When Buttercup pulled out of the kiss, she wrapped her arms tightly around Butch and sighed contently in security that he was there, at least for the moment.
A short distance away, Mitch had come out of the diner in search of Buttercup and was more annoyed than surprised to see Buttercup comfortably in Butch's arms. He glared viciously and wished that he could melt that content look off of the Rowdy Ruff boy's face. Butch almost feeling the jealous stare on his face, looked up to see Mitch glowering at him.
He really couldn't help it as he smirked at Mitch and pulled Buttercup closer to him and kissed the side of her head. Mitch's response was a barely audible growl and the rise of his middle finger. Butch returned his own middle finger.
After Butch left, Boomer went up to his room to call Bubbles. While he didn't have to keep it a secret anymore, Mojo would sit a growl at him the enter time he would be on the phone with Bubbles. Laying on his back, he dialed her number and waited.
She normally picked up on the first ring, but since Saturday it's taken a few rings. He tried not to get too anxious, but he was getting antsy. When she did answer, he sat up and let a smile cross his face. "Angel."
"Hey Boomer." She said, sounding genuinely excited to hear from him. "How are you?"
Boomer shrugged knowing that she couldn't see, but it helped to lighten the mood. "I'm okay. Brick stopped by today."
"He was at home?" Bubbles asked.
"Yeah, I think he was fighting with Mojo." Boomer explained. "I don't know about what."
Bubbles got quiet on her end, and Boomer could imagine her biting her lip. "It was probably about Bunny."
"Who is Bunny?" That name kept coming up, and no one was willing to say anything about it.
Bubbles sighed heavily, and Boomer heard her shuffling on the other side of the line. She was probably moving to a place where she could talk to him without distractions. "Umm, can I ask what Mojo has said about her?"
Boomer's brow furrowed. "I just know what Mojo said about her on Saturday."
Taking a deep breath, Bubbles readied herself to tell her boyfriend about the worst thing her sisters ever did. "Bunny was our sister."
"Was?"
"She's dead now. We—Blossom, Buttercup, and I—made her." Bubbles said.
Boomer froze and sat of straighter. "What happened to her?"
"She was unstable." Her voice wavered and there was a distinct sniffle on the side of her the line. "We didn't…know that she…" her voice broke and she seemed to be trying to catch her breath.
"Hey." Boomer spoke softly. "If it's too hard to tell me—.
"No." Bubbles interrupted. "I think it would be better if you knew. Especially Brick."
Boomer swallowed and made himself as physically comfortable as he could, as Bubbles revealed one of the darker days of the Power Puff girls. It was easy to see where the girls would've thought it was easy to create one of their own. Unfortunately, they didn't understand the responsibility of caring and properly teaching their creation. They also weren't prepared for how the death of that creation was going to affect them. That also made a fission of fear develop in Boomer's stomach at what would happen to Brick and Blossom's child.
Would the baby be unstable? Would the child die after a short period of living? Would the child even be born? The questions only brought on more questions and that worries that they unfortunately didn't have time to think about. H.I.M was the threat at the moment.
"H.I.M knows about this doesn't he?" Boomer asked.
"We'd be stupid to think that he didn't." Bubbles confirmed. "He's going to try to use that against us and when we're weak, he's either going to take you three or try to get rid of us."
Boomer's fist clenched in the bedsheets and he had to restrain himself cracking his phone. "I won't let that happen." His voice had gone deathly low. "He's going to have to kill us first and I know he doesn't want that."
Bubbles' throat was thick with sudden fear for Boomer. "Boomer."
"What?"
Bubbles fell silent as she tried to quell her fears, knowing that this was what H.I.M wanted. He wanted them afraid and confused. It would too easy to break them apart if they were. "Be careful, okay. It would… kill me if anything happened to you."
Boomer sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know how you feel."
"I love you Boomer." Bubbles told him vehemently. "No matter what happens, I love you."
Despite the tenseness of the situation, Boomer smiled and felt his chest swell warmly with pride. "I love you too Bubbles. Nothing is ever going to change that."
Mojo sat with his fingers steepled and his chin resting pensively atop them. He was losing everything that meant something to him and he had to do something. Brick had already outsmarted him by moving the money he'd given him, so he couldn't do much to him. He'd thought about pulling the boys out of school, but the year was almost done. It would ruin everything Brick worked so hard for.
Suddenly a thought came to him. If Brick went to a college away from Blossom, maybe he would have a chance at getting his son back. Just maybe. He couldn't be absolutely sure, but he knew he had to try. Then there was the child itself. And Mojo used the turn child loosely. Hell, he refused to acknowledge that the thing was going to be of any relation to him. Mojo swallowed the bile and depression that tried to swarm him in that moment.
"Brooding quite hard aren't we, Mojo?" H.I.M's voice startled Mojo out of his thoughts.
Mojo jumped up from where he was sitting on the couch and turned to see H.I.M sitting on the kitchen island, his boot clad legs crossed at the knees. "Would you please stop popping in and out of my house at your leisure?"
"Where would be the fun in that?" H.I.M asked as he stepped down from the island and walked toward Mojo, heels clicking menacingly. "My, my, my. The negative energy surrounding this place is stifling." He paused and let a smile come across his face. "It's positively wonderful."
Mojo groaned and folded his arms across his chest. "What is it that you want?"
H.I.M shrugged nonchalantly. "Looking for Brick. I don't sense him around here."
Mojo swallowed and looked away from H.I.M. "He's not in at the moment."
H.I.M quirked an eyebrow and hid a smile.
Boomer had come out of his room and was heading to the living room when he saw H.I.M and paused. His hand clenched around the railing and the metal ground against itself before snapping. The sound of the metal tearing drew H.I.M and Mojo's attention to him. "Boomer, it's nice to see you."
"Fuck you!" Boomer snapped at H.I.M before turning back and going into his room and slamming his door hard enough to rattle the tower. The sound of plates and glasses shattering in the cabinets could be heard.
"Boomer!" Mojo yelled up at him, before sighing and running a hand over his face. "I've completely lost control."
"Hmmm." H.I.M said as he turned to look up the stairs. "Maybe I should go talk to him."
"No." Mojo said quickly. "I don't need your help in parenting my sons."
"Our sons, Mojo." H.I.M said as he turned to look back at the black chimp with fur greying around his temples and face. "I did help in their creation."
"Recreation. They always have and will be my sons first. You simply revived them."
"Simply revived?" H.I.M questioned, turning toward Mojo with his claws clamped behind his back. "I didn't just revive them. I made them stronger. I made them more powerful. Those boys owe me everything." His voice had dropped to its deeper bass. "You as well for allowing them to remain with you."
"I initially created them!" Mojo yelled at H.I.M. "They are my sons. Mine!"
H.I.M's aura grew dark and crept over Mojo. "Mind how you speak to me primate."
Mojo's face contorted into a snarl as he glared at H.I.M. "You don't scare me. Never have, never will."
"But I do know what does scare you." H.I.M started. "You truly are a sad and lonely creature, aren't you Mojo?"
Mojo and H.I.M stood off against each other until the front door opened to reveal Butch. Butch looked between his parents and glared at H.I.M. "What in the hell are you doing here?"
H.I.M pulled back his aura, before turning to Butch. "I can't come and visit my sons."
Butch's eyes turned to hard emeralds as he walked in a wide circle around Mojo and H.I.M. "Both of you aren't much of parents right now. In fact, I can't even stand to look at either one of you."
Mojos brow furrowed in worry as he turned to Butch. "What have I done?"
"Are you fucking serious?" Green eyes widened in incredulity. "You're standing there talking to the demon that fucked our lives." He said with a hand thrown in H.I.M's direction. When Mojo didn't saw anything, Butch shook his head in disgust and turned his back on them to start rummaging in the kitchen.
"Butch." Mojo called out to him.
"How exactly have I 'fucked' your lives as you've so eloquently put it, Butch?" H.I.M challenged him. "Explain it to me, so that I understand."
Butch froze while he was looking in the pantry. H.I.M was baiting him and he knew it. "I don't have to explain myself to you." Bravely he turned so that he was staring the red skinned demon in his yellow eyes. "You know what you've done."
"I want to hear you say it." H.I.M softly demanded, causing the hair on the back of Butch's neck to stand on end in fear. "Or are you too afraid?"
Butch hated that H.I.M easily saw through him. He was more than afraid, he was downright terrified. However, he wasn't stupid enough to admit that to H.I.M. The demon was playing a game with him and he refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to him. Soul searching or not.
"Hmmm." H.I.M murmured as his eyes glowed and he turned away from Butch. "I see attitude adjustments are needed all around."
"H.I.M that is enough." Mojo said as he watched Butch turned his back on the demon, but kept an eye close on H.I.M as he moved around the room.
H.I.M smirked and chuckled to himself, before turning to Mojo. "I can help with the predicament that you seem to find yourself in Mojo."
"Predicament?"
"Our sons." H.I.M spoke in a whisper. "Particularly one concerning the father to be."
Mojo was about to ask how H.I.M knew of Brick's pending fatherhood when what Brick said to him rang in his ears.
H.I.M did what he did to show not just me, but the three of us that he still has power over us.
Were we safe when we failed a second time to destroy the girls and H.I.M beat us within an inch of our lives? Was I safe when my mind was taken over and made to have sex with Blossom and then have no recollection of it?
What kind of father ignores his son when he says he's been raped and is going to be a father?
Mojo looked away from H.I.M and sighed. "Just leave. Your help is not needed."
H.I.M sniffed proudly and turned away from Mojo to Butch. Butch preparing the skillet to cook potatoes when he felt H.I.M staring at him. "Tria pertinent es ad me."
Those words were easily recognizable to Butch, as he and his brothers heard them night after night while recuperating from H.I.M's brutal attack. Boomer's developing tongue for all languages translated for his brothers through his tears. You three belong to me. He never let them forget that, even when living with Mojo.
The freedom they believed to have was simply an illusion. It would continue to be so until H.I.M was dead.
