By the time she got home, she could no longer think straight. Her mind was racing with possibilities and questions, all relating to the demon she had interacted with only moments before. The dead demon who had somehow been real. Who had somehow brought her to his cave and then thrown her back to the street before he could even tell her how the hell he could help.

She pushed through the door and hardly glanced at the pair of brunettes sitting on the couch, still being entertained by their video games. She strode towards the kitchen, in need of a glass of water. Upon entering, she noticed the absence of two people and the remnants of a half eaten pie. Her brows furrowed.

A giggle rang from outside. "No it's fine, I messed up my first time too!"

It came from the backyard.

"Yeah but did you ruin an oven?" A male voice.

"Well no...but I had the oven up too high and the pie plate shattered."

"Oh...damn."

She threw open the kitchen window and was met with a pair of cerulean gazes. Both blondes' faces instantly fell upon sight of her. She arched a suspicious brow.

"Blossy, you're home!" Bubbles stood and Boomer followed. Her blonde sister fiddled with her thumbs nervously. "You weren't out for long, are you okay?"

Blossom narrowed her eyes, "Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be? I was just checking to see where you two were. But now that I know you're fine, I guess I'll leave you alone..."

Bubbles giggled, averting her gaze. Boomer crossed his arms behind his back, also staring at the grass, which seemed to be unusually interesting today. Blossom tapped her fingers against the window sill and tilted her head.

"Er...Blossy?" The hesitant voice grabbed her attention.

"Yes, Bubbles?" Blossom let her eyes fall on the blue puff.

"What happened to your arm?"

Her gaze went to the limb resting on the window sill, the limb that styled a hideous red cut in the shape of a claw. Her stomach dropped. She quickly retracted her arm and crossed it behind her other one. "Just a uh scratch...happened while I was walking through the, er, woods. Sharp branch or something I think, it was kind of dark."

Bubbles moved towards the window. "Are you sure it's just a scratch? That looks pretty bad, maybe I could clean it up or-"

"NO!" She covered her mouth at the sudden outburst and both blondes stared at her in shock. Blossom flashed them a strained smile almost instantly, "You know what, I'm really tired, I'm just gonna go to bed, okay? See you guys tomorrow."

"Blossy wait-"

But before the blue puff could finish, Blossom slammed the window shut and yanked the curtains together.

She hurried over to the staircase in hopes of retreating to her room but was stopped by a banging from downstairs. It sounded like someone was using the simulator. She glanced at the couch. Buttercup and Butch were still there. 'It has to be Brick.' But why was he down there alone? He could hurt himself and he knew that. 'Maybe he wants to be alone. Don't bother him, you've done enough harm.' Yes, but he could be in danger. She should at least check up on him, make sure everything was okay. If all was well, she would leave. No harm, no foul. Right? Right.

She brought her hand to the door and eased it open, being sure to close it behind her. Then she gathered up what little composure she had left and began down the staircase and into her father's lab.

As she walked through the lab, the banging ceased and was replaced with an eerie silence. Her chest clenched but she ignored it. When she reached the simulator, she peered in through the small window but could see nothing through the darkness. She took a deep breath and placed her palm against the detector. The doors opened with a sigh.

"Computer, primary and secondary lights on." Her voice carried through the room but was not answered. She bit her lip. "Computer, natural light on." The ceiling split apart into two sections and slid back to allow the moonlight in. It didn't do much, but it revealed her counterpart sitting on the ground with his head buried in his hands. Her heart cracked at the sight.

"Hey Pinky." His voice was painfully dull.

She stepped forward and spoke gently. "Brick, what are you doing?"

He didn't move. "Thinking. Worrying. Letting my fears consume me in hopes that it will take control over the demon." She noticed his cap was nowhere to be seen. "Clearly, it's not working."

A cloud rolled over the moon and momentarily cast them in darkness. When the light returned, Brick was standing in front of her. She jumped back with a gasp. His head bobbed. "Yeah, that's the reaction I was expecting."

Blossom frowned. "No, I didn't jump because I'm scared of you. I just-"

"You are scared of me." He growled and met her with a furious red glare. She unintentionally winced. "You're scared of me and soon everyone else will be too once they see the monster that I've become."

"Brick stop, you're not a monster. We can help-"

He turned on her. "Oh give it up already, Blossom! You can't help me, no one can. My fate is sealed, I'm going to become some kind of demon who destroys everything in sight. This city has no future with me in it! It's time to get rid of me before I hurt someone I care about. Before I hurt you." Tears flecked his eyes and she reached out. He pushed her away and she stumbled.

"You wouldn't hurt me. You wouldn't. I know you and you're stronger than this, Brick. Just let me help you, please, that's all I want. I can't live with myself knowing I didn't at least try." She went to him and held his face, seeing that he had forced back the tears. Maybe he just needed to show some kind of emotion that wasn't anger. Maybe he just needed to cry for once. "You hate yourself right now, I know. You're scared of what you might become. You want to protect me from harm but right now you feel that you're the harm. You aren't sure how to protect me anymore and that's okay, Brick, that's okay. Because I've faced you before. I can fend for myself. You don't need to worry about me, right now you need to worry about you. We all want to help, your brothers and my sisters. We can figure this out together and-"

He grabbed her arms and ripped them from his face. She tried to squirm away but his grip was too strong. He sneered at her, "Just get away, Blossom, get away and never fucking come back. I don't want you. I never have, never will. You've only ever held me back and I'm fucking SICK of it!" He shook her. "DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Brick-!" Her plead turned into a shriek as she was thrown across the room and directly into the wall, with enough force to split a crack straight down the middle of the super-power proof material. Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she turned to the damaged wall. 'He has enough power to kill you.' She whipped around just in time to duck out of the way of an energy blast, saving her head. Before she could process anything, a hand seized her hair and she was yanked to her feet. Brick got in her face and pulled her hair down, forcing her head up.

"See? See how terrifying I am? I wouldn't hurt you right?" He pulled even harder until she was facing the ceiling, his body leaning over hers so he could look down into her eyes. "Scared yet, Pinky? No? Well you should be! Because I'm fucking terrified!" His voice cracked and she let out a whimper. "Hurts doesn't it? Imagine the pain I'll inflict on everyone you love, including myself!"

"No." She mewled, chest rapidly rising and falling against his.

"No? You don't want that? Well, it doesn't matter, princess, because you're not in charge anymore. Hell, I'm not even in charge anymore. You wanna know pain? Try feeling your sanity slowly and agonizingly begin to slip every second of every day while watching the only people you care about cower away in fear of what you're becoming, no one knowing what to do, no one having a single idea regardless of the fact that time is running out and all the while fearing yourself more than anyone else because you know that you'll destroy everything in your wake if you don't kill yourself soon!" The words poured out of his mouth and in the end came as sobs. Brick stepped away and shielded his face as the tears fell. Blossom went to rub his back but found that her shoulder was dislocated and bit back a cry. She resorted to reassuring him with words.

"Don't hide it Brick, it's okay to cry. This is what you need. You need to experience other emotions besides anger. It might help you." She spoke slowly and delicately, masking her pain with a whole-hearted smile.

"No, I need to be alone. I need to-to think and...be away from you." His voice trembled but his irises still burned with hate, directed at her.

She opened her mouth but no words came out. He shoved past her, gaze attached to the ground, and stormed out of the room.

"B-Brick where are you-?"

"Home. I need to rest." He growled before slamming the door shut, secluding her in silence.

She sighed and put her shoulder back in place. "Computer...natural light off."

And she secluded herself in darkness.

Her fist connected with a solid mass, crushing whatever it was that threatened to challenge her power. Claws raked her back and she spun around, snatching the monster by it's neck. She raised it up in a choke hold then slammed it down onto the concrete, savoring the sickeningly sweet sound of bones crunching. Her vicious side was unleashed as the stress, anger, and regret spilled off of her in thick waves. With every hit, more power surged through her veins. With every drop of blood, crackling energy flowed to her fingertips. With every anguished scream, she felt more and more alive until she thought she might burst with the momentous essence of life. Movement flashed past her side. A sharp pain rocketed up her leg. She brought her elbow down, directly onto a face that splattered her arm with blood. She kicked the limp body aside and prepared for the next. This was what it was like to be a hero. Your greatest enemy always had to be villains, never yourself, no matter how much you hated that girl staring back at you in the mirror. No, the villains were forever the target. She was digging her fists into monsters' faces not because she imagined that they had a pair of pink eyes and auburn locks, but because they were villains. This was how they all relieved stress; her, Bubbles, and Buttercup. And soon the ruffs, too.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Is what Buttercup would have shouted as she tore a monster's torso in half. Her face would be beat red, mouth hanging open as she gasped for breath, her pants more like growls. A smirk would curl her lips when she found flecks of crimson staining her shirt. But it would not be a smirk of sadistic glee, no, it would be a cover-up, a veil to hide her inner qualms. She did that often, putting on a savage act to prevent her true emotions from showing. Buttercup hated many things, but emotions topped the list.

Bubbles. Oh Bubbles. Her hardcore phase may have ended long ago, but she still held a fiery rage within that pure heart of hers. And it longed to be released. So when she stepped foot into the simulator, the room had better be empty. Everything poured out while she fought, whether it be tears or curses, screams or cries, sometimes she might even split into laughter. She had a crazed demeanor to her when she trained, because she knew that nothing was at risk at that moment and she was not being watched by all of the citizens. She was free to show her dark side.

Fighting was simply something they knew and could never abandon. It was like a stress ball for a child to them. Even now, fighting was what Blossom had resorted to. She, however, did not crack a single smile during her battles. Her face remained set in a glacial grimace, pink irises alight with all of the emotions that flooded her. She spoke through her eyes and most people, fortunately for her, could not read them.

A hand wrapped around her arm and she instantly caught it, twisting it backwards far enough to hear a crack. She went into a handstand, swinging her legs over the monster's shoulders and around it's neck. She used her legs to throw him behind her, causing it to collide with another monster. Sure, she had powers. But acrobatics made things interesting and made her unpredictable.

Something touched her back and she cartwheeled away. She landed on her feet and moved into a fighting position, when her eyes saw what had touched her.

That was no simulated monster.

That was a demon straight from Hell.

"Oh my god..."

It had red skin and beady yellow eyes just like Him, but instead of lobster claws, it had real claws. Long, razor sharp talons adorned each hand along with a glistening set of knife-like teeth. It's face stretched into a hideous grin as it cackled at her. She took a step back, fearing that this was some sort of trick and Him was nearby. But then ice cold breath slithered down her neck and a pair of arms encircled her. She wanted to struggle out of the grip, but was too intent on knowing what was going on. The last time she had tried to run away from a demon, things hadn't ended too pretty, so she decided to allow the demon to restrain her.

'Him.' She told herself. 'Him must be behind this. Oh god, why is he here? How does he have an army of demons?' The lack of sense that Him made had begun to split her mind and she no longer knew what to believe.

Before she could count to ten, a circle of demons had formed around her, all baring their claws and teeth at her in vicious snarls. She could do nothing but watch on in terror, dreading what would come next.

And then a taller figure appeared, towering over all of the demons and radiating a fiery aura more powerful than Hell itself. Even just his eyes burned hotter than a live fire and they were narrowed directly at her.

"No..." She went slack in the demon's grip, her stomach sinking. "You didn't, please tell me you didn't change the simulation programming. Tell me it wasn't you."

Her pleas reached his ears and he growled, a sound so cold and dark that it made her shiver. "Who says this is a simulation? Maybe this is reality, princess."

The demon holding her threw her to the ground at Brick's feet. He barked an order at her and she slowly looked up into his crimson glare. He squatted down to her level and lifted her chin, a habit she knew he'd never break.

His face neared hers and on his skin she could see flecks of blood. A malicious grin curled his lips. "You're the last one left, babe, and I intend to finish you off myself." Before she could process what he meant, he took her by the throat and threw her across the room. Her back hit the cement and rocks flew up beside her. She quickly sat up in shock only to find another surprise. The room had transformed into the center of the city and it was as though an asteroid had hit. Buildings had crumbled to the ground in an explosion of fire, the ground was split and dented, littered with debris from the destruction. Even the sky had turned into a dark mauve storm. Her gaze flew to the only other person in the city. He was looking right at her and he didn't just have blood on his face...he was covered in it.

"Brick-" He was in front of her in seconds and she was slammed to the ground before the words could come out. His fist was driven into her face, then her stomach, and her arms were pinned above her head.

"Having fun yet princess?" He picked her up and shot her with an energy beam. She smashed through one of the few buildings that was still standing and came out the other side, watching as the structure collapsed. A cloud of dust blew up around her, hiding her from his sight. She got to her feet and grabbed her throbbing head. He was much stronger than her with his new powers and she had no idea how to fight back. She didn't want to hurt him, but he was going to kill her at this rate. She had to do something.

The dust cleared away and she took to the sky. Instantly, he was on her tail.

"What's the matter, princess, scared to fight?"

She turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Stop calling me tha-!" But stopped dead in her tracks. He wasn't there.

BAM

Her face connected with his fist again and this time blood dribbled over her lip.

"Aw, babe, you're bleeding." He stuck his hand out to wipe away the blood but she grabbed his wrist and threw him down, hard. He hit the ground and a tremor rippled through the city. She met him in the crater and drove her knee into his throat. He sputtered, pushing her away. She stopped and looked down at him with wide eyes.

"Brick are you o-?"

His crimson glare flashed to hers and then she was flying across town, smashing through countless objects, while being held by the throat hard enough to cut off her air flow. He smashed her head through a window before dragging her high up into the air.

He spoke to her in an amused tone. "See you in hell, babe." And then something sharp pierced through her stomach and a puddle of blood pooled out of her mouth. She gagged on the liquid and grabbed onto Brick's hands, but he threw her off and let her fall to the ground. By the time she reached the cement, she was already gone.

Her chest shot up as she gulped in a huge breath of fresh air. She grabbed her stomach and sat up, only to find no pain or wound. She rubbed her eyes. She was in the training room, same white walls and floor, no demons in sight...and no Brick. Her stomach may have been fine, but her head ached like she had been stabbed straight through her temple. A groan escaped her lips as she stood. She must've fallen asleep at some point and the simulator automatically stops when a person is either in a critical condition or...sleeping.

'That dream felt so real though.' She shivered and made her way upstairs. She didn't know what time it was and needed to check on her siblings.

The door opened to reveal a silent living room and a clock that read 4 am. The TV was still on but besides that, the room was cast in darkness. She walked over to the couch, presuming that Buttercup had fallen asleep while playing video games, but what she saw made her heart leap. Laying on opposite ends of the couch were the blues and on the floor were the passed out greens. She couldn't hold back the smile that crept onto her lips nor could she push away the warm feeling that filled her stomach. They were all getting along. They were actually getting along. She hadn't been completely certain how things would work out nor if the ruffs could really make it as heroes. But everything was going perfectly, the ruffs were legal heroes, they had a house, they were training and learning, they were now 'friends' with her sisters and-

...and Brick was going to kill them all.

The smile instantly fell and she backed away. Again, her mind began to race with horrible, gruesome thoughts. She snapped off the TV then hurried out the door and into the cool night air. She needed to clear her mind, she needed to go for another walk. There was no way she could sleep in this state. She just hoped Him would leave her alone this time.

So she began down the street, humming to herself to block out the thoughts, but only being able to remember the dream she had just imagined.

Where Brick had...killed her.

"You're the last one left, babe, and I intend to finish you off myself."

They were so fucked.