Disclaimer: Thank Craig Mccraken. I don't - nor will I ever - own the Powerpuff Girls.
A/N: By the way, as for silentprotester's question, Butch and Travis are two different people, who happen to look alike. A twistede version of the prince and the pauper, I suppose, minus the actually swapping places I suppose
~ CHAPTER 11 ~
Transitions
It wouldn't open. No matter how she pried at it, clawed at it, slammed it against the table. The stupid diary refused to open. She snarled and threw it across the room, but to no avail.
"Open, you damn book!" Bubbles growled, narrowing her eyes at the hardcover. She scratched the leather with her nails, laving a thin white line.
Her eyebrows furrowed. What was she doing? This wasn't her. She didn't do things like this. It wasn't her, it couldn't be her.
The mist. It was the mist. She had to find out what it did to her. How it controlled her mind and made her do such unthinkable things.
Bubbles stood up. She was leaving tonight. No more delaying. It was driving her insane and she wanted to get rid of it, whatever it was.
She opened the door ever so slightly, looking through no more than a crack. The breathing did not falter. There were no bright red eyes. He was asleep.
Blossom sighed in relief. She could finally leave. Picking up the book on the floor, she gave the door a little push, and stepped out cautiously.
Brick did not move. He kept on sleeping, his eyes closed and head leaning against the wood. She maneuvered carefully around him, placed Man of Darkness on his lap, and proceeded to walk down the halls.
Halfway to the stairs, she stopped, turned around, and quickly went back to the room. She fetched a small blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders before going back down to the first floor.
It was the right thing to do, after all. She couldn't just leave him there. It was the nearing the beginning of November for god's sake!
Blossom was a princess, and princesses didn't just let others sleep on the floor with nothing but "princely garb" to keep them from freezing to death.
"Ah, princess Blossom. Have you finished your meeting with Prince Brick?" A servant inquired, opening the door for her.
"Yes, and may you please tell the prince that I'm sorry for being so rude to him before? It really was a disastrous mess, and I hope we can start anew the next time we meet," she replied hastily, quickly slipping through, not wanting Brick to catch her slipping away.
"Oh, wait! Don't leave now. How about you spend the night?" He leapt forward, grabbing her hand, a rather frantic look in his eyes.
She shook her head no, and wriggled out of his grip, internally screaming at the prospect of spending more time in the home of such a horrible person.
It was the middle of the night, and it was dreadfully cold outside. She debated whether or not to go back and ask for a thicker cloak to help her stat warm, but upon hearing the door slam shut, decided not to.
Through the darkness that had engulfed her and the thick fog that wrapped around her arms, see could barely see a thing, much make her way back through all the winding streets. She stumbled blindly around for a few minutes, before giving up and deciding to go back. At least then she wouldn't get lost.
Blossom sighed deeply through her mouth, before turning around to head back. She blinked. The castle was gone. The glowing lights, the looming stone towers, the stoic guards. All of it. It had disappeared into the fog.
Oh no.
She took a step back, her eyes wide in fear. What was going on? Why.. Why did it all disappear? How could something like this happen? It made no sense, absolutely no sense at all. She hadn't been walking for that long. There was no way a gigantic castle like that could just vanish.
A cold breeze swept past her, whipping up her dress to mid calf. She started to tremble. Oh boy was it cold. She wrapped the thin fabric of her hood around her, and rubbed her hands together for warmth.
Click.
She whipped around, but nothing was there. The eerie silence that followed soon after was even more unsettling.
Blossom walked another ten paces.
Click. Click.
There it was again. Something was following her. Taking a deep breath, she placed one foot in front of the other, her heart beating rapidly, and began to sprint. She wasn't entirely aware of the direction she was running, and whether or not it lead to Selodia, but it didn't matter.
The clicking was becoming more intense.
Click, click, click, Click, Click, CLICK, CLICK.
The fog thinned and she saw that she had been cornered into a alley, with no way out. Her breathing was uneven, and her hair tousled.
Click. Click.
Cliiiick.
She could see the silhouette of a unknown figure approaching. He - or she - was short, and wore a torn cape that billowed in the wind. The figure approached slowly, too slowly. Blossom kept on backing up, her eyes wide in fear of what was too come. The man stopped abruptly, and her breathing stopped.
A hand reached out, a greenish tint to it's skin. The fingernails were overgrown and grimy. As it stretched further, she saw that the figure's arm was covered in a coarse, matted, black fur.
Monster.
She backed up, pressing her back to the cold stone wall. No, no, no. Was this going to be the end of her? Was she going to die? What would become of her kingdom?
Someone grabbed her hand, and she let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Blossom tried yanking her hand away, shrieking at the top of her lungs, eyes wide in fear. Another hand clamped over her mouth. She squirmed even more, and head butted the person behind her.
"Ow! Why did you do that Blossom?" A soft, feminine voice complained, letting go. "That really hurt, you know?"
Bubbles?
She stopped, and narrowed her eyes at her. The other girl rubbed her forehead and came out of the fog. It was indeed her sister.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were safe back at home! And how did you sneak up behind me? I could've sworn there was a wall right there!" Blossom exclaimed, furrowing her eyebrows.
Bubbles shook her head and looked at her sister confusedly. "What in the blazes are you blabbering about? I saw you wandering the streets, breathing heavily, looking around with big scared eyes, and I made my way through the fog to get you!"
Blossom blinked, her mouth hanging open. "But, but… there was a monster… and a wall… and he was going to kill me…"
Bubbles sighed and grabbed her older sibling hand, rolling her eyes. "C'mon Blossy, let's get you home. You must be going crazy."
Blossom stumbled after Bubbles, her head turned, still looking at the fog that had consumed her.
"But…"
A dark figure snarled at the retreating forms of the two girls. The first one seemed to have been affected, but the other one was still oblivious. He was going to dispose of her, and wipe away all evidence of his failed attempt, but the first one rescued her, and he couldn't risk harming her.
He snarled again and disappeared back into the shadows. He'll have to wait for her next visit.
Boomer climbed through an open window, glaring at the locked back door. The maids were so annoying sometimes. He dusted off his clothes and was about to readjust his satchel, but then remembered he had stowed away in a hollowed out log to prevent anyone else from finding out about his mischief.
He casually made his way through the kitchen, grabbing an apple along the way. Most of the torches that lined the castle walls were already snuffed out - to prevent any "accidents" - but a few were still blazing, casting long shadows on the cold stone.
He carefully opened the door to his and his brother's room, and stepped inside. Boomer tiptoed across the room, and quietly slid into his bed, not caring about the dirty clothes he wore.
As he struggled under his covers to yank off his boots, he caught a glimpse of a figure sitting on Brick's bed. He was alarmed for a second, thinking it was an intruder of some sort, but then soon realized it was but his eldest brother.
Brick's back was straight, and his intense red eyes were wide open, staring off into the distant forests and mountains. His breaths were slow and deep, and he was twiddling his thumbs, something he did whenever he was distracted.
Whatever his brother was thinking about was beyond Boomer, but it must've been incredibly interesting for him not to notice his brother sneaking back into the room.
The blonde haired boy furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what it could be, then shrugged, and soon fell asleep.
The days passed, and the times Princess Blossom visited the Kingdom of Gadrea were brief hours of her locking herself up in Brick's old room, reading books she'd snatched from his own personal bookshelf.
Their relationship became less sour, and more distant. She stopped talking to him, even when he threw insults at her, and the only exchange between them was the meeting of eyes before she breezed past him.
Those days were dull and incredible waste of time to Brick. Though he still felt an immense amount of hatred the girl, the first day of their "quality time" was much preferred to the boring hours of sitting in his room, practicing violin.
It was a hobby - of sorts. He didn't particularly enjoy standing with his back straight and chin up for countless minutes, but at least it was something to do and was interesting. He'd found the instrument when he went exploring around the castle at age nine, still rather new to the whole "royalty" thing.
As a child he was never one for art or music or literature or anything of the kind. He found it pointless, and that having street smarts, knowing how to disarm a full grown man, were proven far more useful.
Naturally, he smashed it the smithereens. Stomped on the polished wood, laughing maniacally and shouting curses that he hadn't even known the meaning of at the poor instrument. His caretaker - half nanny and half teacher - Ima Goodlady, had stormed in, eying the ruined violin with fury.
She had dragged the wild boy shrieking and wriggling out of the room, and sat him down in another room full of musical instruments, lecturing him about how music was beautiful, and that he should respect it, and that she was going to teach him how to play.
The first fifty or so lessons were absolute torture, and he had attempted escape many times, that is, until Ima had two guards positioned outside the door to prevent any more shenanigans.
By the hundredth class he had become somewhat of a violin prodigy, and started to appreciate the arts. She had priceless paintings hung up around the castle, took him to music shows in the kingdom, and bought shelves upon shelves of books for him.
Now, at age seventeen, he was attempting to create his own songs and melodies, exceeding far past even the fast paced songs Ima had asked a professional violinist to teach him. Those were just so amateur.
The free time that the arranged marriage brought him was certainly helping him with that. While that stupid Princess Blossom was sitting in his old room, reading a book, he was actually being productive. Compared to him, she was nothing.
He became so engrossed in his music, that he didn't even notice her standing in the doorway until she started slowly clapping. Her eyes were wide, and mouth agape. Brick stared at her for a while, and she stared right back at him.
"Y-you play the violin?" She asked, eyebrows still furrowed in disbelief. He narrowed his eyes at her, wanting to tell her off and return to his music.
But he had never been known to be modest.
"Yes. Only took me a couple years to get this good. What about you, Pinky? You play anything?" She blinked and shook her head slowly. He snorted. "Of course. What else would I expect from someone like you?"
Her expression turned nasty, and she glared at him. "What do you mean by that? 'Someone like me'?"
He scoffed and turned away from her. "Never mind. Run off. Go read some more silly books. Don't bother me, you insufferable girl."
Her eye twitched. Man. That girl really had a problem. "No, I will not go read! First of all, what you said was incredibly offensive, and good literature is anything but silly! I can't believe you're still doing this!" She snapped, taking a step forward. "It's been what? Over a month since we've met, and you're still insulting me for no reason? How immature are you? I already apologized for being so rude back then, but you sure haven't! You don't have the right to talk to me like that!"
Brick smirked. "Ah. But you can talk to me however you want?"
She put a hand to her chest, indignant. "What? I haven't been the least bit rude to you since that first day! You're the one that thinks they're so high and mighty!"
He chuckled and rolled his eyes at her. "Wow, you sure are being impolite right now, Blossom. It's really upsetting me."
I've been suuuuper busy recently with hiking training for next year's mountain climb, which is this totally sweet thing my school does, and haven't had time to update much. But don't worry! I've already finished the next chapter and am currently editing it. I've started on chapter 13, too, but that'll probably take some time considering it's a major part of the plot, so it might take some extra time to finish. I've also changed the title to "Happily Ever After" since "Mysteries of the Heart" seems so generic and doesn't actually have much to do with the story itself. So yeah. That's pretty much this time's update.
