"How is he doing?"
Blossom paused as she walked passed, "He's fine, a little agitated from the new strength, but he said he's best left alone." She glanced over her shoulder at the stairs. "I still can't get him to tell me anything."
Boomer piped in from the kitchen, "Is he acting any different?"
She shook her head. "I thought he might be a bit nicer after I saved his life and all but if anything he's gotten worse."
Butch slung his arm over the back of the couch and looked at them. "Worse?"
She nodded. "After I told him everything, he kicked me out and wouldn't talk to me for an entire day. The only reason I've spoken to him today is because he needed food but wouldn't leave his room." She crossed her arms. "I wonder if Him's powers are taking a bigger toll on him than I thought they would."
"Nah." Butch said, a smirk on his face. She raised an eyebrow at him. "He's pushing everyone away because he's embarrassed."
Blossom frowned. "What do you mean?"
He explained himself, "Brick, of the three of us, definitely has the biggest ego seeing as he's the leader and all. Since he serves as such an authoritative figure that means he has to be powerful and unwavering. But now he just almost died because he has a crush on a puff, it really bruised his ego."
Boomer agreed, "The best thing to do would be to leave him alone until he gets over it."
She bit her lip, "Okay."
Boomer returned to the kitchen, making something that filled the house with the smell of bacon, and Butch clicked through channels on the TV. Blossom nervously looked around, uneasy about her current situation. Without Brick, she didn't know where to go or what to do. The thought of leaving flickered in the back of her mind but she pushed it away, knowing only bad things could result from it.
"You can sit down, Bloss."
She looked at Butch and he met her with a warm smile. She gave a half a smile back. "Thanks, but I don't think I should."
He furrowed his brows. "If this is about Brick not approving of-"
"It's not." She quickly stated, earning a confused look from the ruff. She sighed. "There's a lot on my mind right now and I haven't had a chance to just think for a while."
He chuckled. "Of course that's what you'd want to do. Brick was right."
She blinked. "Sorry?"
He released another laugh. "Brick used to tell me about how you would always try to find an ulterior motive to his every action and question everything he said, always thinking too much. It pissed him off so badly."
She cocked her head. "How come?"
He tapped his chin. "Well he told me something along the lines of, 'All I want to do is fight her but she won't fucking let me. She always has some kind of damn plan formulating behind those stupid pink eyes of hers. At least Buttercup just fights, no talk, and Bubbles is too dumb to think at all.'"
A tinge of anger stirred in her stomach at the mention of her sisters but she ignored it and instead laughed out loud. "He's the one who always taunted me. Every other word was, 'You don't know what's coming, Pinky' or 'I wouldn't be so confident if I were you.' It was always mind games with him. I knew he always had some kind of devious plan, and I was right, fortunately, because he never succeeded with any of the-" Her face fell and she snapped her mouth shut.
Butch spun around at her sudden silence and snapped his fingers. "Hey Bloss? You good?"
She turned away, hiding her pale face. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I'm just going to go read...or something."
Butch blinked as he watched her walk away, her body seeming to shake as she left.
"Girls." He muttered.
She collapsed to the ground the second she entered the library, the door sealed shut. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she tucked her face away and tried desperately to push back the thoughts poisoning her mind.
Your fault
Your fault
Your fault
She slammed her head back against the wall and grit her teeth.
'It's on you. Their misery, their near death, their loss, all on you.'
"Errr." She clutched the sides of her head, a headache brewing.
What kind of sister...
Nails clawed across her skin, scraping away the disease manifesting her brain.
...puts her ego over her siblings' lives.
Words whispered against her ear, hushed and horrifyingly real. She tossed her head to the side but couldn't escape the voices. Accusations. Facts. Quotes. Threats. They echoed throughout the room and shook her body to the core. She trembled, every limb sagging with defeat. Brick was right, she was guilty. She knew that, it was so clear, and yet she still treated him as the villain. Was that why she had saved him? Was that why she continued to stay with him? Now that she knew of his feelings?
Maybe...or maybe you're both at fault and you share a bond through your delinquencies.
She stared at the wooden floorboards beneath her feet, bleak and dull, just as she feared her new life would be. But it suddenly dawned on her that her life with the ruffs wasn't as empty as she had predicted. She had been met with many new revelations and now that she was allowed to wander the house, she couldn't say that there was ever a boring moment. Quite frankly, fighting crime in a set routine everyday for the rest of her life sounded very bland compared to her life with the ruffs. Her new life was in no way better, or great, but it was something that she could adjust to.
So you get to live a comfortable life whilst your sisters continue to suffer?
She closed her eyes, shaking away the thoughts. Yes, she had been in the wrong. Yes, she had made mistakes, as did her counterpart, as did the ruffs, and so did her sisters. They had been the ones to directly disobey her orders and land themselves in a fight that they could not win. She didn't blame them for their fate but they weren't innocent either, she had to believe that, she had to let the guilt go or else she would never be able to move on with her life. Maybe she didn't deserve a decent life but what is the point of living a life that you don't believe in? What is the point in living in guilt and misery? Why waste something so beautiful and rare? Her father did not go through the burden of creating and raising her only for her to give up on life. It was like food, others in the world were starving so how could she waste the bit that she was privileged enough to get? A sigh escaped her lips and her body went still at her command, relaxed. She tilted her head back and focused on only the sounds and smells around her, remembering the technique that Bubbles had taught her. The warm, spiced scent of cypress slipped through her nose, mixing with the smells of must and the fresh air that blew in from the opened window. She inhaled deeply. Pages of books shuttered in the faint breeze. The wooden structure of the room creaked and groaned lightly and the birds outside sang in their high pitched voices.
She was so intrigued by the songs from outside that she didn't even hear the footsteps or sense his entrance, until her eyes opened and she was staring straight into the crimson glare of her counterpart. So much for leaving him alone. He blinked at her and she held his gaze, neither of them moved. She noticed a new smell that smothered the others, one of cologne and firewood. She let her eyes travel down as she spotted his lack of a shirt. Just as she suspected, his torso was perfectly sculpted, so gorgeously so that any other girl would be drooling. However, she simply returned her gaze to his and gave him a small smile.
"How are you feeling?" She asked gently. His red eyes were glued on her and he took a moment to respond. He walked over and slid down the length of the wall, resting beside her, close enough for their legs to touch.
"Tired, still, but also like I need to get something off my chest before it suffocates me." He turned his head to her. "I owe you an apology."
Her eyes went wide. An apology...from a ruff. That was something she had never expected to hear. Although lately many things were coming as a surprise to her.
He looked down at his hands as he casually folded them together. Many emotions flashed across his face, his features twisting and straining with thought. Finally, after a long, drawn out silence, he sighed. "You saved my life. Without you I would be laying in a hole underground right now turning into a rotted corpse. I don't know why you did it. I've been trying to figure it out for days but for someone as selfish and cold as myself, I can't comprehend that sort of thing. Not that I really need to know your motives...but it's still bewildering because here I am, dragging you through hell and back, tormenting you and playing with your emotions like this is all a sick game, and then, instead of letting me die, you do everything you can to save me. I don't know that I'll ever understand you, but for what it's worth...thank you." He looked at her, the corner of his lips lifting into a small smile. Then his face grew serious again as he continued. "I am sorry, truly. But I doubt that can fix much, a measly apology versus my attempt at killing your sisters, forcing you to live with me, and making every second of every day miserable for you. Which still bugs me. My god, Blossom." He stared at her then, his expression one of disbelief and insanity. "If I had died, you could have returned to your sisters and never had to worry about them dying ever again."
She frowned, taking in everything he had said to her. His apology was as heartfelt as he could make it and that touched her. But the fact that he was mind blown that she had saved him made her heart ache. "Brick, that's what I was created to do." She began, resting her hand on his. "My sole purpose is to protect the people of this world and to secure peace. You may be my enemy and a threat to my siblings but it's simply impossible for me to watch a person die before my eyes without lifting a finger. I have to help people. Otherwise my life is meaningless." She glanced at the open window, watching the curtains ripple in the breeze. "You and your brothers have the privilege of freedom, you're free to make whatever choices you want. You can protect or you can attack. You can roam about the world without a single care. But me?" She turned to him. "I'm the commander of the only heroes left in this world. If we fail, everyone is sentenced to a life of destruction and death. I might not be able to be the globally loved hero I used to be anymore, but that doesn't mean I can't help those around me. When I get the chance, I won't let it go. I might want you dead, but not at my hands." She retracted her arm and sighed. "And maybe I've grown used to you."
Brick smiled then, a real, true smile that didn't just pull at one corner or disappear instantly. It was a contagious smile. His red eyes twinkled and he took her hand back in his. "If I'm being honest, I no longer hate your company either."
They both laughed out loud happily, and for the first time ever; the red leaders got along.