Chapter Five

5,1

You do know that nobody loves you, don't you, that's why they haven't found you yet.

As much as Blossom had never really been that intimidated by her enemies, the fact that she had Him's or his voice in her head and nothing else but seemingly endless darkness terrified her. She had almost forgotten what things looked like as she lay in this darkness. She had seen things such as her body atrophy before her eyes and then when she had blinked, it was as if nothing of the kind had ever happened to her.

You do know that if they cared about you, they would be looking for you.

Blossom attempted to close her eyes again and work on what was really helpful to her. She wanted to imagine Bubbles's happy smile as she played with her crayons. She wanted to remember Buttercup's proud smile as she talked about the last fight she had had.

Do you know your sisters are so much happy without you. Do you know your father is -

"My father?" Blossom asked as she tried to make out his face but she had forgotten it. She could remember his voice, his laughter, a lab coat, but she couldn't remember anything else about him. She took slow breaths. "My father?" she asked as she tried hard to remember him but after so long she couldn't remember any of that and it made her feel completely numb.

You don't remember your father?

That was the first time in a long time when she had been asked a question and Blossom was terrified in the answer. She couldn't remember anything about him but she could remember her sisters. She knew that they would want to help her but where had she come from?

You don't remember any professor?

"Professor?" Blossom asked weakly and looked from side to side at the darkness. She sighed and shook her head with tears slipping down her cheeks. She didn't remember this,

Do you remember Townsville? The mayor? Your teacher?

"Townsville," Blossom said the word seemed foreign to her. Townsville? It sounded as much like home to her as the Emerald City. It was just a fantasy place and she desperately wanted to remember it. She took a deep breath as she tried to protect herself but the only people she could remember were her sisters and how much she wanted to be with them and help them and play with them again.

Do you want to go home, Blossom?

"Home," Blossom said before nodding. She took slow breaths before closing her eyes tightly. It had been so long since she had felt any deeper pain that what she had built up a tolerance to but she took deep breaths before she felt her environment change and she was lying on her back in what looked like a lab. She looked around, it felt so familiar but she didn't know where she was.

Remember, you can always return to me, Blossom.

Blossom heard that voice fade into the silence and she looked at her torn pink dress that was too small for her. Her hair was even longer than it had been and was completely tangled and her skin had dark bruises all over it. She heard a noise before backing up and against the wall. She didn't know where she was and she didn't trust this feeling in her. How could she know a place where she had never been?

"Is someone in here?" she heard the voice of her sister and she looked up nervously and timidly before floating over to her and hugged her close, crying as she hugged her and Bubbles's eyes widened and she immediately wrapped her arms around her sister.

"Blo—ssom" she sobbed as she hugged her and cried on her shoulder. "How are you here? How did you get here?" she asked and Blossom cried, too scared still to talk to her sister. Bubbles took relieved breaths. "I'm here," she said, "And so is Dad."

"We do—don't have a dad," Blossom said and Bubbles waited until they could look at one another. Bubbles took a slow breath before laughing. She had only started calling the professor dad and daddy recently because she needed her family and who else was her father but the professor, the one who created them.

"I'm sorry," Bubbles laughed, "I've started calling the professor, Dad. I mean, he is technically our dad and he's going to be so happy to see you. We have to go -"

"Don't!" Blossom said and then put a hand over her mouth as she backed into the corner and Bubbles watched her sadly. "I don't want to see them. I don't want to see them. They brainwashed you. They're planning on controlling you. Don't be stupid, Bubbles. You can't trust him. You can't trust him,"

"Aside from one another, Dad is the one person whom we can all trust," Bubbles said confused. She heard the professor's footsteps and put her hand out to Blossom. "I'll explain it to him. He won't come near you until you're ready," she said and Blossom nodded but pushed herself in as close to the corner as she could. It was only now that she was realizing how bright the light was and how much it hurt her.

"Can you turn the lights off?" she asked and Bubbles nodded slowly before doing so. She took a look back to her sister, wanting to hug her, but she had to act quickly so that she could prevent Professor Utonium from entering his lab.

Bubbles sped over to him before putting her hand on his wrist. "Dad, you have to stop for a moment," she said as she looked up at the professor with her innocent blue eyes. "You have to wait."

Utonium looked down at her and then turned to the lab very concerned. Maybe he hadn't taken care of Blossom since she was a baby but he had looked after her since she came into creation. He didn't want to do anything to scare her and the fact that he couldn't get close to her hurt him but he had to trust that at some point she'd be willing to see him.

"Dad," Bubbles said as she took his hand. "It's Blossom," she said and Utonium nodded. "I don't know what happened but it looks as if someone hurt her. There are some bruises but it's mostly psychological," she tried to explain. "I think we need to give her some time. I'll give her some of the clothes I got today."

Utonium looked into the lab and nodded. They would have to do this as slowly as possible. He could understand how much pain she was in and though he didn't want to acknowledge that he shouldn't be doing anything in an attempt to help her, letting Bubbles take care of the situation was something which he could do.

"Okay. You have to let me know what she needs, sweetheart," he said as he knelt down opposite her and Bubbles smiled and nodded. She moved into her father's arms and pressed her cheek against his chest where his heart was.

"I will, Dad," she said and then looked down. "I don't think she'll call you that though. Is it okay if I still call you Dad?" she asked as she blinked up at him.

Utonium hugged her closer and kissed her forehead. "Of course." He nodded. "I think it's a huge honor to have you call me dad and this gives us hope for Buttercup, right? Can you let Blossom know as soon as possible that I love her?" he asked and Bubbles nodded. Utonium saw Bubbles go back to the room to get some clothes and sighed as he went to sit in a chair and ran his hands through his hair. What had happened to Blossom which made him so scary to them?

Would creating some kind of calming scenario help? He had created the training room so that they had somewhere where they could train and release their unique powers and gifts, maybe he could have somewhere they could meditate or find peace. All he wanted was for their family to live and work together.

5.2

Bubbles hadn't lived in the darkness as Blossom had so she had to use a little of her own powers to make out the shapes of the items in the laboratory. She didn't want to crash into the wrong item or liquid and create a spill. Their so called death had been because someone wanted to use their chemical X in their genes.

Bubbles found her sister still sitting in the corner almost curled up into a little ball. She put the bag of clothes next to her and then also brought a sandwich she had made with the professor. "I brought you something to eat and something to wear," Bubbles said as she floated in front of her sister. "May I sit down?" she asked and Blossom nodded.

"Did you want to talk about anything?" she asked and Blossom shook her head. Bubbles hummed before letting Blossom rest her head on her shoulder. She didn't know what to say. She had thought that the biggest fear was that they weren't all together and that they weren't with the professor. Maybe Townsville was important but to Bubbles, family was more important but something had happened to Blossom which was so bad she was pushing family away.

"Do you know anything about Buttercup?" Bubbles asked and Blossom shook her head but her fingers nervously went towards the sandwich. "It's good. It's a salad sandwich," she said in a perky voice, she really hoped that her usual optimistic and playful nature would cheer up her sister. "It has some great vegetables in it and Da-it's said to be really refreshing."

"Did he touch it?" Blossom asked as she suddenly placed her palm flat on the ground. "Did the professor touch it?" she asked and Bubbles turned to her sister who wasn't acting the same way that she used to .It was dark, cold, and mistrusting. That wasn't like the good girl and brave champion of good she had been.

"No. I made your sandwich," Bubbles said before leaning forwards so she could look at Blossom in the darkness. "Did something happen that makes you distrust the professor? He's the one who tried to save us, you know. We got into that factory ourselves but he tried to save us, he even offered to take our place if we could just be free."

"I wouldn't trust him," Blossom stated and Bubbles leaned down to look at her expression more closely. "If you do then you might deserve to get hurt."

"Dad wouldn't hurt us." Bubbles stared at her sister. It was something she knew to be true but she didn't know how she and the professor could convince Blossom of it.

End of Chapter Five

Thank you for reading

Thank you to Alie Kettle for leaving a review on Chapter Four