EDITOR NOTES: Been quite a while since I wrote anything of note, and honestly I really was not able to find the time to write. Finally I am able to post something, and hope everyone enjoys.
Chapter 139: Get Down, Be Loved
"Urgh... Son of a bitch."
Slowly but surely, the black-haired Rowdyruff Boy opened up his eyes. The words that escaped his lips is soft and dry, and he struggled to get himself upright. He looked down upon himself and the bandages wrapped around his body answered his eyes. The Rowdyruff Boy scratched his head, and within mere moments the headache struck him like a lightning bolt. He groaned as the rest of his body updated him of his injuries with the only language they know how.
Pain.
With the pain, comes a new sensation.
Hunger.
The well-built Rowdyruff Boy sat upon the side of his bed and pressed the weight of his body upon the the ground to propel himself out from the bed, but to no avail. His strength escaped him, and only served to annoy Butch even further. A sigh, followed by a deep breath focused his mind once more. A second attempt wouldn't hurt, though the Rowdyruff Boy. But then he remembered that he had something else to help him up.
His body hovered lightly over the bed and soon he got himself upright just inches from the ground, and Butch gave himself a slight smile. However, Butch underestimated the balance he needed to keep his body in motion and he soon fell down on the ground face first. With one hand, Butch pushed himself away from the floor while slipping the other beneath him to support himself. This arduous ordeal took Butch a few more minutes, but he soon find himself upright once more and with his two feet firmly on the ground. Butch lifted his leg, swinging it awkwardly to the front of him and land it in a small but assured manner.
"Alright, one step down. Now the next one."
With uncharacteristic patience and sureness, Butch slowly moved his legs one by one, and he is soon well on his way to get out from the room. The sensors on the door picked up Butch's proximity to the door and it soon opened up. Butch was about to exit the room when he bumped onto something rather small and he fell down once more. Butch groaned once more, but this time he is not the only one groaning.
"Curses!" An accented voice voiced its displeasure and Butch noticed a domed headpiece staring back at him. It took Butch seconds to know the identity of the person that had bumped into him.
"Mojo?"
"Greetings Butch, but Mojo Jojo have to go and make this solution for Professor Utonium, so Mojo Jojo is unable to stay and talk to you, for by talking to you, Mojo Jojo is unable to spend time making the solutio..."
The domed headpiece swiveled away and soon Butch is face to face with a pair of bloodshot eyes staring back at him from the visage of a graying furred simian with sickly green skin. A loud simian shrieked pierced Butch's ears immediately, and disoriented the Rowdyruff Boy for a moment. Before the Rowdyruff Boy got his bearings back, the green-skinned chimpanzee damn monkey hugged the Rowdyruff Boy in the most awkward and tightest of embraces.
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME YOU DAMN CHIMPANZEE!" Butch screamed and tried to pry the hugging old chimpanzee away from him
Butch's annoyance grew with every moment, yet for reasons unknown to him, Butch decided against punching the living daylights of out Mojo Jojo. Butch sighed and decided to just lie down on the ground and let the damned chimpanzee gets his fill. The onyx-haired Rowdyruff Boy's ears heard a bunch of voices and sounds of something travelling through the air with breakneck speeds. Butch's forest-green eyes soon turned towards the corridor where he heard the sound and his eyes soon caught the presence of a very lean and atheletic woman with raven-black hair looking down upon him with lemon-green eyes.
"Ah...Butters. Care to help get the damn monkey off me?"
To Butch's surprise, it was another voice that answered him, and his green eyes soon honed in on the owner of the voice. The owner of the voice is a slender young woman with copper-red hair and amarathine eyes, and the fairness of her skin only served to make her distinctive hair and eyes stood out even more. Butch sensed a growing relief growing within him, and a smile soon crept involuntarily upon his face.
"Get him off yourself." Blossom answered back before looking away with a huff.
"J.E.E.V.E.S, can you make the call to Lilith, Brick and Boomer that their idiot's awake?" The dark-haired young woman requested with a distinctively husky voice.
"Screw you Butterbutt." Butch poked verbally at the young woman before him.
The woman ignored it and soon offered her hand to him. Butch grabbed on without hesitation and pulled himself up with the young woman's assistance. Butch noticed that the two women looked horrible, and it appeared that they had not slept in days. There are some slight bags beneath their eyes, and whatever it is that is eating at their minds had not made itself known to the Rowdyruff Boy.
"Did I miss something?" Butch asked, but was surprised that no one bothered to entertain him.
"Lots.I highly suggest that you take a seat." Buttercup warned the Rowdyruff Boy, and that is when he knew that things are only getting worse.
Sitting at the dining table while being stared by the Powerpuff Girls only made Butch more uneasy. Butch wished that his brothers are here with him, but right now he is the only other guest in the room besides Mojo Jojo and his Japanese assistant. Butch wondered if he should say something stupid to elicit a response from the PowerPuff Girls. Somehow, a voice from behind his head warned against it.
Butch understood why his instinct is warning him against doing anything stupid for now. The three sisters are not looking in their best shape, and the one worst off is the blonde,blue-eyed Powerpuff Girl called Bubbles. She had clearly lost some weight, and her not being her jolly self alerted Butch that something is clearly off in the Utonium household. The oppressive silence is particularly unnerving for Butch, as this is not an atmosphere that should greet a previously unconscious person.
The ring of the door bell broke the awkward silence, and Blossom headed out from the dining room for a moment. Butch cleared his through to make the silence dissapear for a moment, but the silence soon crept back into the room with haste. The brief moment of silence is broken with the return of Blossom alongside two other figures, a carnelian-haired young man with a long ponytail in a maroon turtleneck, and a boyish sand-blonde boy in a black hoodie with blue flame motives.
"BUTCH!" The two teenage boys dashed towards Butch and Butch found himself down on the ground for the umpteenth time.
"Fuck off me! You guys are too gay right now!" Butch yelled at Brick and Boomer, the red-haired boy and sand-blonde boy respectively.
"Fuck man! You're alive! Again!" Boomer sniffed and Butch expressed his disgust at his snot about to reach his chest.
Butch expected his dumb blonde brother to act the way he did. but what surprised him is his other brother is just embracing him without a single word. Butch felt a tinge of warmness within him and he blamed it on the gay hugs he is getting right now for making him all warm and fuzzy within. Butch honestly wished that it was girls instead that was hugging him, but he had nothing else to say but to sigh.
"Hello Butch." A lady with a pixie-hair cut and grey eyes interrupted the two Rowdyruff Boys, and Butch's relief is transparent for all to see.
"Thank god! Please get them off me!" Butch pleaded with Lilith, and she complied.
Butch soon stood up on his two feet, and he really wished that everyone stopped tackling him down on the ground as if he is holding a football. Butch is amazed that his wounds did not open up from all these tackles and he soon seated himself once more at the dining table. Butch had no idea why everyone is out of character this time around, and he decided to finally ask the question in his mind and tried to lace it with his own sense of humor.
"So...what the hell happened when I was out? Sounds like someone died or-"
"BUBBLES!" Buttercup yelled out.
Butch felt his body slamming down on the ground once more, and soon a pair of glowing blue eyes are now staring him down. Butch knew at that moment that he is getting a real ground and pound, and the grooved fist of the Powerpuff Girl's knuckles slamming at his cheeks served to confirm his intuition. The knuckles soon started pounding Butch's face with the full weight of the Powerpuff Girl behind each punch. The punishment was short-lived as Butch felt the weight of the Powerpuff Girl being lifted off his torso and his eyes spotted Bubbles's sisters are holding back.
"Seriously Butch, you're an ass." Boomer said to Butch as he helped him up.
"How am I supposed to know anything if I just woke up you dickcheese sandwich?! Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?!"Butch expressed his displeasure as he erected himself from the ground.
The dark-haired Rowdyruff Boy is lying down on his bed in the ward and looked up towards the ceiling with his jade-green eyes a frown forming on his eyebrows.
It appear that Mojo Jojo had administered a treatment of sorts to Professor Utonium, and the father figure of the Powerpuff Girls is now in a critical stage of the treatment as it can either kill him or heal him. To make matters more emotionally charged, Blossom is the one that gave the consent to administer the treatment in the first place. However that was close to a week ago, and there is no assurances that Professor Utonium will be alright after all. Right now, his situation appeared to be critical and there is nothing else they could do but to wait. Butch figured that it must be rough for the girls to bear such a burden on their minds. Surprisingly enough, the Lunatics and whatever dastardly forces within the city have not acted upon this moment to do any hijinks and there is an uneasy truce in the city as a result.
"Honestly this is all so dumb." Butch muttered to himself.
Butch soon heard some footsteps from the other side of the door, but he is not alarmed or felt endangered by it. Butch decided that he might as well enntertain this new nuisance and turned his head toward the entrance to his ward. The doors opened and he is pleasantly surprised by the presence of the leader of the Powerpuff Girls. The copper-haired Powerpuff Girl entered into the room without any hesitation, and Butch decided to get up from his bed to greet her.
"Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie. What brings you here in the midd-" Butch's sentence was cut mid-sentence as he noticed that Blossom is walking towards him without pause. Butch's usual swagger is lost immediately as Blossom embraced Butch into her embrace, and her softness and warmth soon spread all around his arms coiled around the back of her head and he soon find his forehead at the center of her chest. The weight of her head soon gently rest upon his own, and her pleasant scent soon came within Butch's olfactory attention.
Butch is not expecting this at all, as usually the Powerpuff Girl is a particularly prim and proper lady and would never just hug anyone so intimately. Butch is partiicularly confused, and his cheeks soon felt particularly warm.
"W-wha-" Butch stuttered.
"Be quiet." Blossom said assertively in a whisper, her voice as soft as it is certain. Butch nodded and went silent, knowing well to not challenge the Powerpuff Girl.
"Please... just listen to me alright?" Blossom's soft voice pleaded, and Butch nodded once more.
"Anger is irrational and fear is ignorance. It is nothing but vanity brought about by your own incompetence. Professor Utonium imparted that to me, knowing someday I will know what I need to do when the time comes." Blossom talked as her embrace gotten a little tighter.
"It is odd how my memory seem to remember everything as it is, and rationalize everything. My sisters are able to express themselves, but I am surprisingly calm about all of it. At first I though of it as me being the most rational among my sisters, but then I wonder, why can't I express myself like them? Why can't I show anything? My mind feared for him, and I am angry that I can't protect him. But his words rings time and time again in my mind and I can not forget his now, I had gave the word that will make us lose him..." Her voice trembled and the vibrations of her body can be felt by Butch.
"Pinkie, you're not okay..." Butch voiced out his concern as he sensed that Blossom had finally reached her boiling point.
"Don't worry about me! I'm perfectly sane, but this is why it is so crazy!" Blossom snapped, and she pushed Butch away from her as if she had touched a red-hot iron.
Butch was taken aback by her reaction, yet something inside of him beckons him to calm the Powerpuff Girl down. Butch looked down at her and he saw a pair of tear-filled rose-colored eyes staring back at him.
"Not it is not okay! Nothing is okay! Not even in the slightest! I wish I could forget all of this...I never wanted to know all of this I don't want any of it!" Blossom voice cracked and there is anger in her eyes.
Butch recognized what Blossom is experiencing, and he knew that she had completely lost her way, Nothing he say will bring her back. She is like a frightened puppy cowering at the slightest sounds. Butch got up from his bed and immediately pulled Blossom towards his chest. Blossom seemed surprised by the strength of Butch's embrace, but she responsed by lightly gripping Butch's clothes.
"Blossom..." Butch said gently.
"What the hell? Now you learn my name? Or were you holding off on using it for times like this?"Blossom wanted to sound mad, but it came out in a melancholic whimper instead.
Butch felt Blossom's hand slowly grabbing on the hem of his shirt, and her body appears to be far more fragile that he remembered. Butch had not expected this to happen, but nothing in his life always happened as he expected it to be. Butch knew what guilt felt like, and Blossom felt guilty that she had made a decision that might cost Professor Utonium his life. There is nothing he can do to stop that, but Butch felt that in this time, whatever he is doing is the only thing he can do to make Blossom not feel it in her soul. Butch slowly caresses her soft, copper tresses and wondered how on earth such a fragile being could have cause so much harm to those that opposed her.
"I'm sorry...I lost my cool. I know...I know how you feel about whiny women...and...how I am pissing you off..." Blossom's voice trailed, but Butch kept silent and listened on.
"But...can you do something for me?" Blossom asked with tear-filled eyes, and Butch is unable to refuse her.
"Go ahead, as long as it is something I can do." Butch answered.
"Please, stay with me as I cry."
"...Sure."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"How long will you stay?"
"You're a pain in the ass. I will stay will you until you are done."
"..Thanks." Blossom pulled closely toward Butch and hugs him tightly with her hands wrapped around his back.
Blossom's voice cracked into a cry that struggled to escape from her chest and she slowly slid down on the ground to her knees, and Butch followed along with her to his knees. Blossom's constricted howl of anguish showed the struggle of the emotions vying for control within her and handling the truths that she had arrived to, however uncertain it may be. Butch can only let her come to terms with her emotions, and he silently allowed her to come to terms with her own inner turmoil.
Butch had lost count of the sighs that Blossom had slippped into the night, not that there is any point in counting them. With each of her sigh, the darkness around them grows deeper. Blossom's gaze is not directed to any direction in particular, but the light of the room is reflected in Blossom's shimmering clear eyes. Yet in the depths of those eyes, a fog is quietly building up.
"Feeling better?" Butch finally decided to voice out his concerns.
"Yeah." Blossom's faint smile accented her feminity.
"There's more to life that simply choosing A or B. We make choices so that to avoid being left with regrets. Right?" Butch reasoned.
"That's just being thougthless." Blossom retorted.
"I guess..."Butch pondered.
"That saying, being thoughtless for now is nice." Blossom shifts around, and comes in to rest on Butch's shoulder.
"That's a surprise." Butch quipped.
"Don't complain." Blossom closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulders, and Butch can only sigh at this pecular woman beside him.
Honestly, Butch found himself on the ground once again, but this time it is alright as he was brought down by his own will.