"How are you feeling?"
Blossom tucked another pillow behind Brick as he sat up and offered him a glass of water. He accepted the offer with a small, "Thank you."
She smiled as he downed the drink. "Seems like you're feeling better."
He nodded and set aside the glass. He massaged his brow. "My head is pounding but I'm mostly back to normal..." He paused, slowly turning to her. "Although..." He shot her a wily look, his crimson eyes lidded.
The expression on his face made her blush and she blinked. "W-why are you looking at me like that?"
He leaned closer to her. "I just remembered that I actually saved your life yesterday, and have yet to receive a thank you."
Her cheeks were scorching and his hot breath didn't help. "Thank you?" She tried.
He touched her chin, his tussled hair brushing her forehead. "How about a bit more?" His lips whispered against hers.
She put a gentle hand to his chest and forced him back down with a roll of her eyes, hiding her embarassment. "You're such a dork."
He wrapped his fingers around her hand and pulled her with him. She gasped as she fell on top of him, noses inches apart. His voice was thick as he spoke. "I deserve a reward, babe."
His words made her frown and she tried to pull away, but he held tight. Brick rarely called her babe, he rarely even flirted with her besides cheesy compliments. What he was suggesting right now was beyond her boundaries, which he always stayed within. Something about how he was acting struck a chord with her and she didn't like it.
Suddenly, he flipped them around and pinned her beneath him, setting both hands beside her head, and fixing her with a sultry gaze. "How bout' it? I'm sure your sisters won't mind the bit of noise."
That does it.
She pulled back and struck him across the face hard enough to send him flying off of her. He hit the ground on the far side of the bed. She gasped and crawled across the mattress to him.
"Brick, are you okay?!"
His eyes were wide with terror and he backed away from her. "Bloss...oh my god, I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean to say that or try to force you to-I didn't want to-you know I would never-" He slammed his palm to his forehead with a deep groan. "Fuck, I'm so sorry."
She got to the ground in front of him and took his hand away from his face. "Brick, it's okay. I understand that you're not feeling like yourself right now."
He stared at the ground in shame.
She cupped his jaw in her palm. "Tell me what's wrong."
He shook his head. "I can't explain it."
"Just try to tell me what happened yesterday." She encouraged him gently.
He closed his eyes, face hardening in concentration. "It was all so weird. It's like the magic I used just...changed me. I-I could hear everything and see everything, but it was like I was watching it all from outside my own body. No matter what I did, I couldn't break through. I couldn't do anything." His face scrunched up in frustration. Blossom let her hand rest on his shoulder as she listened. "I was so mad and all I wanted was to protect you. That anger, it took over, it fucking controlled me." He clenched his fists, his body slumped down with regret.
"Not anger, dark magic." Blossom stated. Brick glanced up at her. "It's evil, just like Him, just like the things it allows you to do. You were fine until you used it yesterday. I've seen you angry before, but never like that. Its the magic."
His crimson gaze flashed with fear. "But it's a part of me now. What am I supposed to do?"
She took his hand. "I'm not sure yet, but we're going to find out." They stood up. "How about a little training session?"
They entered the training room and sealed the doors shut, trapping themselves in a 30' by 30' space with only a table and a vase, which Blossom had brought.
Blossom moved to the center of the square room. "Computer, primary lights on." At the command of her voice, the lights flashed to life, revealing blindingly white walls. "Computer, activate all layers of protection." A metallic noise sounded through the walls which seemed to move and the air grew tighter.
"All layers activated. Oxygen levels moderated. Temperature: 75 degrees."
Blossom addressed Brick. "How are you feeling right now?"
He shrugged. "Fine."
She eyed him closely. "Any change in mood? Are you feeling somewhat angry, sad, happy?"
"Uh, no different from a few minutes ago. I feel a little bit sad, I guess."
"Remorseful?" She asked.
He nodded.
She walked over to the table and placed the vase on top of it. "No strong angry thoughts or urges to destroy something?"
"No."
She motioned to the vase. "Okay then. I want you to use your dark magic to lift this vase, nothing else, just the vase. It only has to be a few inches in the air. Nothing extreme."
Brick raised a hesitant eyebrow but did as she said. He slowly raised his arm and focused on the object. The vase rose from the table and hovered in midair. Blossom watched Brick intently. He seemed perfectly fine.
"I want you to answer some questions as you continue to hold that up." She explained and he gave her a subtle nod. "When is your birthday?"
He rolled his eyes. "Talk about a shitty question."
She folded her arms. "Brick, this is serious. Answer the question."
He shot a glare at her and she swore she saw a flicker of pain behind his fiery irises. "I don't know."
"What?"
He sighed heavily. "I. Don't. Know."
Her face instantly fell. "You...don't?"
He shook his head. "Was never important to us. We didn't even know what a calendar was until we met Him." He scoffed. "Figures the lobster would make up dumbass holidays for everything."
Blossom felt an ache in her chest, an ache that longed to go back in time and give the ruffs a real childhood. She felt guilty for having been so privileged, everyone always looking up to her, getting everything she wanted, a perfect life, while Brick wasn't even given a birthday.
"I'm sorry." She said to him, knowing it wouldn't fix anything, but hoping it could offer him at least a tiny bit of comfort.
He didn't respond and she looked up.
A gasp broke the silence and she covered her gaping mouth. "B-Brick?"
He was staring right at her with a look of pure, raw hate. And his eyes...they were glowing, and darkening, and he was walking towards her. She took a step back and at once the vase shattered and the lights died, sealing her in darkness with a pair of burning red globes that continued forward. She didn't know what else to do other than to back away but Brick only followed and she found herself pinned in a corner. Two hands slammed to the wall on either side of her head. Her skin went cold.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" His words slipped out of his mouth like venom, dripping with disgust. Disgust at her. "You think you're better than me. You think you're better than my brothers. Than your sisters. Than this whole damn world! You're just too good for all of us huh?" His voice rose to a shout and she flinched with every word.
"Brick, please just breathe. Just take a second and-"
He pounded a fist into the wall and she felt the debris crumble beside her head. Her heart hammered against her chest. He grabbed one of her wrists and her chin and brought her eyes to his. Her knees went weak. Something about the red hot rage burning within his glare sent shivers down her spine and made her hair stand up. She was scared.
"You're a perfect fucking princess, Pinky. A perfect little princess who refuses to help her starving people. Who refuses to give up the throne even when she's lost the war. So fucking perfect and smart, just so smart. You're always right, aren't you? How dare I question your logic. How dare I breathe in your presence. How dare I breathe at all." His grip on her chin tightened and she worried he would break her jaw. Fear struck through her so sharply that she couldn't move, couldn't help it if he broke her. She was back to being the weak, fragile, selfish leader. "Damn fucking right you're still selfish." She gaped at him. "I mean look at the mess you got us all into now. Forcing your sisters to befriend my brothers. Lying to everyone about what really happened to you during those three months. Manipulating me to bend to your will so that you could turn me into this, a rage-fueled, power hungry, evil MONSTER who can't control his own damn powers because a fucking slut had to walk into his life!"
She knew he was being controlled by the dark magic, she knew he wasn't himself, she knew this wasn't what Brick thought of her, and yet a fierce pain pierced through her chest and a tear rolled down her cheek. It was instantly wiped away and she whimpered at the dark face looking down at her.
Just like Him's used to, Brick's voice completely changed tone. "Aw, babe, don't worry. There's pain much worse than the truth." He brought her hand to his lips and whispered against it, malevolent irises gleaming. "Like the feeling of every bone in your body breaking, one by one." He twirled a piece of her hair around his finger. "Or having your eye wrenched out of your socket and then being stabbed countless times before falling to your death and losing a chunk of your head in the process." His breath was cold as it reached her ear. "Or being beaten to death by a pair of immature boys as your sister runs away, and leaves you to die."
A python wrapped around her throat as she choked back the sobs. "B-Brick, I-I don't know what to do. I want to, I want-"
His deep chuckle shook her to the core. "You want, you want. You only ever want, greedy bitch. How about you try giving for once?" His fingers brushed back her hair and slid down her neck, curved along her spine, and found the small of her back which he used to push her forward. She put her hands up and tried to get away from his chest. "What's wrong, little princess? I thought you were a hero, aren't heroes supposed to be generous?" Another hot tear dripped from her chin. This time it wasn't wiped away. "I thought you loved me, Pinky." His other hand was rising up her torso. She began to throw her fists into his chest, desperate to escape his greedy touch. "Don't be so cold, babe, you're like an alien from Antarctica."
His words snapped at her like sharp teeth and she felt them drive into her skin, into her heart, and she began to cry. "Stop, you're not yourself. This isn't you. Please don't do this, don't go back to being evil, Brick, please." It mortified her to beg, but she was terrified.
"Just give in, princess." His voice was thick, hovering beside her lips. His eyes closed and he pulled her against him. She went stiff as his hand slipped under her shirt and his lips neared hers.
"Please..." She cried.
"YO!"
The door slammed open and both teens jumped. Brick stumbled back and Blossom hurried out of the corner, wrapping her arms around herself. She glanced at him and he stared back, a dead look in his eyes.
"When the fuck is it gonna be my turn! I thought you made a schedule!" It was Butch.
The room was still cast in shadows and she was grateful that the green ruff couldn't see her in such a weak state. She quickly wiped away her tears and fixed her shirt. Brick was still staring at her, but a new look was in his eyes, a look of horror.
"B-Blossom?" His voice reached her ears, trembling.
She held her hand out to him but he flinched away. "Brick?"
He shook his head. "No, I don't want to hurt you."
"HELLO?"
"Yes, Butch, I'll be right-"
"Go ahead." Brick cut her off. "We're finished."
"Wait, Bri-" She tried to grab him but he bolted out of the door, nearly knocking over his brother. He wanted to be alone. No, he wanted to be away from her, because of his shame. But what could she do? She didn't know how to fix this. So she squeezed her eyes shut and forced back the tears. "Computer, secondary lights on."
The room flashed to life and Butch turned to her, startled by his brother's flee at first but a cocky grin quickly covered it. "Oh, sup Bloss?"
She went to him and yanked him into the room, throwing the door shut. "Let's just train already."
Just as soon as everything had begun to fall into place, it fell apart again.
Brick's dark magic was taking over, it was controlling him and turning him into something horrible. Blossom feared that it would only get worse as time went on. What if it eventually took full control? What if the effects became irreversible? What if they were already too late?
She let her head fall into her hands.
She had never dealt with dark magic, she was never able to understand problems concerning powers, that was the Professor's territory. Without him, she was lost. She knew the moment she chose to crush Him's heart over Brick that she could be risking it all. She knew the consequences could be tragic. But she had had no other choice. What could she possibly do now? When Butch had knocked Brick unconscious, she had hoped that he would wake up back to normal and that the 'change' only happened when he was using the dark magic...but clearly that wasn't the case. Him's powers were now a part of Brick, just like he had said. There was no way for her to remove those powers. It was possible that they could practice and attempt to help Brick gain control of- No, it wouldn't work. It was too dangerous. He should never have to use dark magic and for some reason, her gut told her that the more he used it, the worse he would get. So what then? Would she just knock him unconscious every time he acted up? Chain him down any time he went into a fit? Dose him with antidote x and hope that it would weaken his dark magic but not kill him?
'What if you can't do anything?' She clenched her teeth. 'What if Brick was always destined to be evil? To fail. And your attempts are useless. What then, princess?' No, there had to be a way. Just like when he had been dying, when all hope was lost, Blossom still found a way to save him. It just couldn't end here. Brick couldn't-he just couldn't, she wouldn't let him...'If he fails to control the evil and takes off on a murderous rampage, what will you do? He's a danger to everyone and your duty is to protect the people. In order to protect them you'll have to erase the danger. You'll have to kill-'
She got to her feet and made her way downstairs, shutting out her thoughts. She wouldn't think of such things. Not now. Not after all of the progress they had made. Even if Brick did become dangerous, she could never bring herself to ki-to hurt him. After all, heroes weren't supposed to kill. She held herself to a higher standard than that.
'So then what will you do with him? He can't be locked up, he's too strong. You can't take away his powers. Sedatives don't work on superhumans. There's no other option. Just look at what he did to you.'
She stopped dead in her tracks and stared down at her arm. A sickening purple welt was already forming on her wrist. She glanced around to make sure her sisters weren't nearby before slowly lifting up her shirt. Tears stung her eyes and she looked away. He had burned her stomach.
Her heart went to her throat and she collapsed to the floor, curling into herself. Horror struck every fiber of her being and she began to tremble. She pictured his hateful, glowing red eyes moving closer to her, grabbing her, cursing her existence, curling his fingers around her throat and cutting off her air pipe. Her cheeks matched the color of her wrist and he would laugh in her face. He would laugh and then he would let her fall, dropping her at his feet before taking off to kill the rest. Only to get himself killed. She buried her face in her arms and closed her eyes.
"What have I done?"