Old Wounds

by Zed Lotus

"No matter what we are, no matter what we're capable of, we're still just teenagers." A raw anecdote that hopes to humanize kids who've never had the luxury of being mundane. NOTICE: Chapter 8 is back up! I have no idea how it got deleted, apologies for the inconvenience, a big thank you to the readers who pointed it out.

4. Believe Me

AU: Just an idea that's been brewing for a while. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Summary: "No matter what we are, no matter what we're capable of, we're still just teenagers." A raw anecdote that hopes to humanize kids who've never had the luxury of being mundane, and show how illusory invincibility can be.

Disclaimer: A few characters are mine. The rest of them are Craig's, but I own these words :)

Rating: R/Fiction M. They're teenagers. Sex, drugs and profanity are not unprecedented.

Pairing: PPG/RRB

Notes: - Inspired by the legendary "More Than Human" by sbj and the urge for representation.

- Strong themes.

---

IV - Believe Me - Zed

Bunny smiled as she waved goodbye to Bear. He returned her a Shaka Sign from behind his wheel before driving off. They'd subconsciously spent close to two hours engaged in random banter, Bunny wasn't even aware they'd been at the coffee shop that long until Bear got a call from Butch and happened to look at the time on his phone.

She flew back home with a smile etched on her face, the ire in her exterior completely pacified, and she made a show of doing a ring-a-round in the air before landing at the front door with a laugh. She was greeted with the sight of her pink-eyed sister perched on the living room couch as she swung it open.

Blossom turned to the door, locking eyes with Bunny. The latter quickly darted her eyes to the lab door, she could hear their dad still working.

"Has he come out of there since then?" Bunny asked casually, striding over to Blossom.

"Haven't even heard him take a break," Blossom shook her head as Bunny plopped down beside her.

"He made a wise choice having a toilet in there didn't he?" Bunny jived.

A mirthless laugh escaped Blossom's lips. "Yeah."

Bunny's grin fell as she looked from her sister to the TV, not surprised that it was on the News channel. Blossom interlocked her hands on her lap, equally frowning at the reporter who relayed the weather. And they just sat there, moments passed with no words spoken, no action carried out. Until Bunny pulled her legs up on the sofa, then Blossom slightly slumped in the into the cushion.

After a few more seconds, Blossom caved.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you," she said without shifting her eyes away from the screen.

Bunny immediately turned to her, and the weight of her gaze left Blossom with no choice but to turn as well. Upon facing her, whatever was weighing her chest down instantly evaporated at the sight of Bunny's gentle smile.

"I'm not mad at you," she said.

Blossom's frown was stagnant. "I should have understood where you were coming from," she insisted.

"Don't you?" Bunny retorted, Blossom stared. "I know you understand. You were just trying to defend dad,"

"I shouldn't have done that at your expense."

"Well, I haven't exactly talked about that in a while. So you probably didn't even factor it in."

Blossom opened her mouth to reply but Bunny beat her to the punch with a soft laugh. "It's okay Blossom, really. I don't want this to be a thing between us. You're not the one I'm angry with." She finished, her eyes moving from her sister to the lab door as her smile fell.

"You should talk to him about that, you have a right to," Blossom said.

"I think we all do,"

"We can only hope dad tells us about that in his own time, but you—" Bunny's eyes roamed back to Blossom, "—you deserve to know more than he's told us."

After Bunny had stormed off, her sisters had talked and understood her reason for doing so. How could they not? They were talking about a woman that was intertwined with Bunny's very existence, of-course she wanted to know more about her.

Needed to know.

Bunny snickered noncommittally, but she smiled nonetheless. She scooted closer to Blossom and laid her head on her shoulder. "Thanks big sis."

Blossom grinned bashfully as Bunny's cottony hair lightly squished against her neck. She let her eyes settle on the TV as the newscasters discussed the upcoming state elections.

"You know, in actuality, we're biologically the exact same age." She suddenly said. Their dad had tested and confirmed this.

"Like you don't like the title anyway." Bunny rolled her eyes and they shared a laugh.

---

Bubbles and Boomer synchronized their voices, smiling at each other as they harmonized into the end of the song. The class erupted with applause the second they were done. Bubbles smiled coyly before Boomer grabbed her hand, she turned to him as he coltishly raised his other hand elegantly and chuckled as they bowed to their classmates.

Mr Bladen's eyes looked glossy as he praised them before they bounded up to their seats, where a galvanized Susie awaited them.

"I will literally die before I ever let either of you partner with anyone else for a duet." She said.

"You really think you're gonna enjoy immortality?" Boomer said, and both girls laughed.

One more duo performed before the bell went and the class collectively scampered out the door. Boomer and Bubbles had to all but wrench themselves from their teacher's embrace. They separated from Susie in the halls.

"Sorry about Mr Bladen. He can be a little dramatic," Bubbles said

Boomer laughed it off. "It's okay, I like his spirit. It was just kinda weird when he started crying..."

Bubbles swiveled her head once they entered the cafeteria. She saw Robin and Mike seated with some members of both their squads.

"Let's sit with them," Boomer offered. She followed his line of sight to see Bunny waving her over, Bear and Buttercup flanking her.

She grinned. "Okay."

"Hey Hey. How'd you guys do?" Bunny asked as Bubbles sat, Boomer right after her. He made a swift attempt to snatch Bear's chips. Bear made him slap himself instead. Buttercup cackled.

"I think we did good. The tears are always a good sign," Bubbles smiled, picking some lettuce from Bunny's tray.

"Ah, Mr Bladen. The man should be teaching Theater honestly." Bunny snickered as she recalled his shenanigans from when she and her sisters—sans Buttercup—were all in Choir freshman year.

"Where's the rest?" Boomer inquired, rubbing his cheek tenderly as he glared at Bear.

"Kim and Pablo said they couldn't even get paid to eat Monday's Meatloaf. So they went to Bruno's," Bear answered, eyes on his phone.

"Butch? Mitch? Harry?"

"Breaking the law under the bleachers. I will stab you." Buttercup said, growling the last part as a warning to Boomer, who retracted the hand that was inching towards her meatloaf.

"Mitch was laughing at Mr Colton's Periodic Table jokes yesterday. Don't know how he didn't suspect anything," Bunny said, offering Boomer a few bucks. He brightened and swiped them with a thanks.

"Suck it!" He said triumphantly, waving the money in Bear and Buttercup's faces. They both blinked at him perfunctorily as he sprung up and headed for the vending machines.

Buttercup turned to Bubbles. "Thought you didn't have this lunch?"

"Mr Anderson didn't show up to school today. Something about his wife I think." She clarified.

"So just to be clear, you guys are celebrating at an arcade?" Bear directed to all three girls on the table.

"Idea courtesy of Moi," Bubbles preened with a broad grin.

"The racing better be kick-ass," Buttercup said though a mouth-full.

"That sounds pretty tight, been a while since I bowled,"

"This guy knows what's up!" Bunny said, gesturing towards Bear theatrically.

"It's going to be great!" Bubbles beamed.

"You know, I kind of expected you guys to make a way bigger deal about it," Bear said.

"Seriously? Why?" Bunny asked and Bear jerked his head at Bubbles. Said girl had stars in her eyes as she enthusiastically relayed the arcade's paraphernalia in detail.

"Oh. Trust me, it wasn't easy to convince her," Bunny whispered.

"Bitch would have had us riding elephants in fucking Princess dresses otherwise." Buttercup said, the relief in her voice unmistakable.

Bear snorted at the image of Buttercup fuming in a regal, shimmering green dress. Boomer returned to the table, cradling two sodas and bag of chips. He slided one of the beverages to Bubbles.

"I heard some guys talking about Homecoming." Boomer said, thumbing behind him, "Are you guys going?"

"I'd rather swallow scissors dipped in acid," Buttercup deadpanned.

"Isn't Homecoming just like, a month away?"

"Three weeks actually," Bubbles answered Bunny, then suddenly assumed a slightly panicked look. "I haven't gotten those new heels yet!"

"Think I'm with Buttercup on this one. I'd rather not waste a whole night shuffling back and forth for hours under sparkling lights," Bear said as he shook his now empty bag of chips.

"Whatever Donnie Darko," Bunny laughed as Bear listlessly flipped her off.

"Boomer can come with us," Bubbles chirped.

"Us?" Boomer looked between both sisters.

"Yeah, Pablo, Bubbles and I are going as a group. Wanna tag along?" Bunny smiled at him.

He smiled back and nodded. "Hell yeah."

"Anti-Homecoming night club concert with the rest of the gang?" Buttercup offered, facing Bear.

"Anything besides the Twinkle party." He assented and Bunny returned his earlier gesture.

"I'm going to have to beat the weekend rush at the mall." Bubbles muttered to herself as Buttercup swiped Boomer's soda out of his hands.

"Oh fuck you!"

---

Blossom just couldn't concentrate, no matter how hard she tried. She was practically just fiddling with her pencil as she tried to sketch on her drawing pad, her eyes constantly flicking to an oblivious Brick.

He studied his sketch before looking up at his canvas, squinting, and making some adjustments on his drawing pad. It was only now that Blossom admitted to herself that he looked so... in his element. It was obvious he knew what he was doing. She'd seen his work.

But still, she struggled to cement this image in her mind. There was just no possible way he could've changed so drastically, especially if he'd grown up with such... frightening traits to his person. She still remembered that day eight years ago, that dreadful day in the bank. The day she'd seen a side to him that unnerved her. They were only nine, nine years old when he did that.

She'd gotten there before he looted any money, nearly jaded with having to deal with his shenanigans yet again. Upon zooming through the doors however, she was instantly alert at the horrifying sight before her.

Brick had a sadistic grin on his face as he turned to her. "Finally. I was worried we would have to start the game without you."

Blossom's voice got caught in her throat as she slowly floated down. "Brick... Brick what are you—"

"Don't move!" He ordered, and she immediately stopped approaching him. She had her hands helplessly raised in plea as her eyes roamed over the room, taking in the terrified citizens who were all hunkered down on the floor, most of them visibly shaking. Blossom looked to the cashier who was on her knees, then to the gun Brick had pointed at her head.

She swallowed a swelling lump in her throat.

"Brick. Y—you don't know how to—"

"Use it? Don't worry about it. I've picked up a few things from TV... mostly," Brick laughed as he spun the cylinder. There was a collective scream from everyone, Blossom included.

"Stop!" She pleaded, her eyes glossing as the cashier squirmed.

"Ever heard of Russian Roulette? Ace was telling me about it the other day and I thought—" he pulled the trigger. No bullet. The cashier fainted.

"Stop it!" Blossom yelled, eyes beginning to flare.

Brick zipped to a guy against the wall, pulled his head up and pointed the gun at him, "—man, I'd kill to play this game. Get it?" He laughed, and Blossom's eyes dimmed. Her anger along with them.

"P—p—please. I've got a little boy. I—Ah!" Brick pulled. No bullet.

"You get to see him again, lucky you." he sneered as he dropped him and zipped to another woman by the waiting seats.

Blossom felt them, they'd dropped out so suddenly. The thin, warm streams that fell down her cheeks. What was this? She thought as she watched this boy, this child clumsily handle a loaded Revolver. Laughing as he pointed it. She knew he was a bad guy, but this was... this was sick.

This was evil.

"You know... when you play this game, there's a one-in-three chance that you're the one who'll, you know, get popped," he grinned maniacally, raising the gun away from the quivering woman to his own head. Blossom paused.

"Let's test that." he smirked at her and pulled.

No bullet.

"Uh-Oh," he chuckled, re-pointing the weapon at the woman beneath him. "Odds don't look good, do they Blossom?"

The woman was sobbing now, unable to look up from the floor while she pleaded for her life.

"Please Brick. Please. Why are you doing this?" Blossom said. Her voice was faint, feeble. But she didn't care, Brick was about to... about to...

His face dropped into a deadpan before he arched a brow at her. "Why? I mean, these cockroaches on their bellies? Your face right now?" He paused for a cruel laugh, placing his hand over his eyes and throwing his head back. His other hand still holding the gun in place.

His laughter faded as he returned his gaze to her, looking right into her eyes and smirking darkly.

"I'm doing this because it's funny."

He was too far from her. If Blossom so much as jerked he would shoot. And if the probability he stated earlier was accurate, the next shot would not be empty. Blossom looked from Brick to the helpless lady and back, the gears in her head spinning rapidly, trying to think of something before he—

"Well," she faced him. "It was fun playing with you, Blossom."

His finger curved around the trigger. Her breath hitched, eyes widened...

"No—" Her cry was cut off by a raucous thud as Butch crashed through the wall and plowed into Brick at breakneck speed. The two of them bundled roughly towards the glass doors, shattering them upon impact. The gunshot—that did in-fact carry a bullet—fired aimlessly into the ceiling. Blossom shook herself out and was quick to zip up and catch the projectile as it ricocheted, squeezing the metal in her palm and flinging it.

She looked down as Buttercup whizzed in through the hole Butch made. And judging from her glowing mitt, she was probably responsible for his impingement.

Buttercup only looked forward, Blossom followed her gaze through the shattered doors to see Brick and Butch shuffle to their feet. The latter growled and set himself to lunge forward before Brick grabbed him by the arm.

"Let me at her!" She heard Butch say. Brick simply glared at him, before shooting into the skies. Butch issued one more furious glare at Buttercup before following suit.

"Oh no they don't!" Buttercup proclaimed and rose into the air.

"Let them go," Blossom ordered. Buttercup looked up, seeming to just notice her sister then.

"But they're getting away!" Buttercup groused as they saw a blue streak join the fading red and green ones.

"Did you stop him from robbing the bank?" Blossom asked as she descended.

"Yeah but—"

"Any casualties?"

"Well, no but still—"

"Nothing else matters, the money's intact and the people are safe. Since Boomer's also retreating Bubbles probably handled her end too." Blossom said with finality, her voice sounding a little void...

Buttercup only looked at her then. Really, looked at her.

"Blossom, were you... crying?"

Blossom blinked. Just now registering the sensation of dried tears on her cheeks. She imagined her eyes were still lightly tinted red. Outlandishly—Buttercup thought—she turned to the surrounding citizens without answering.

"Can someone call an ambulance?" she requested, the hollowness in her voice still present.

"Yeah, sure Blossom." a man answered and held up his phone, while another man—a fellow cashier—jogged over to his unconscious colleague. That's when Buttercup noticed everything.

The affrighted man by the wall who was clutching his heart as a fellow man tried to comfort him. A woman who was mumbling thankful prayers as she kissed her little children who held onto her like a lifeline. A sobbing, kneeling woman right by the hole she'd punched Butch through, a couple of people making their way over to her. The general mixture of fear and relief that bedecked the faces of every citizen present.

She continued to swivel, confused. Her eyes landed on Blossom who was equally surveying the room with repose.

"Hey, what happened here?" Buttercup asked. Blossom stopped flicking her eyes to stare at her just as Bubbles flew in through the vacant doorway.

"Are you girls okay?! Where are they?!" she cried, referring to the Boys. Only Buttercup looked at her.

Blossom's eyes were fixated on the Revolver, laying on top of the wall debris.

She remembered that day. She would always remember it.

Doing graffiti on Car Park walls was one thing. Toying with the lives of innocent people was another thing entirely. And at nine years old? Could he even blame her for being hesitant to trust him? How was she supposed to believe that he'd completely reformed, especially if his primary orientation was constituted by such dark ideals? She also hadn't forgotten that he'd been working for Him.

Brick heaved an irritated sigh and ceased drawing. He dropped his charcoal pencil among the others on the easel holder and turned to scowl at Blossom.

"Can you let me work without fucking staring at me all the time? What, is this a part of your master plan to discover my true intentions? Do you have soul vision now?" He groused.

Blossom blinked. She hadn't even realized she was looking directly at him. Regardless, she returned his glare, but didn't retort.

Brick arched a confused brow, scowl cemented. There was something different about the way she glared at him today. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she actually looked more... curious? Than angry.

"What?" He spat.

She simply held his gaze with equal venom before abruptly jerking. Brick had subconsciously mimicked the motion himself, and he looked up at the ceiling about the exact same time Blossom did.

"Blossom? Brick? What's the matter?" Ms Wilson asked and the whole class turned to look at the superhumans.

It made sense that they were the only ones who could hear it, Brick thought. It was a distant thudding. Fast approaching. Big. Really, really big.

Blossom shot up as a hulking Monster foot smashed through the ceiling. She braced herself against it before lobbing the foot upwards, away from the class.

Brick—who hadn't twitched—watched as she flew through the gaping hole, the thunderous monster roar booming above. He looked down, realizing the class was suddenly empty, no trace of life barring a gust of wind and a paper that blown by it, sailing to a landing on Ms Wilson's empty desk.

Comically, the bell signifying lunch period rang then.

He darted another glance at the hole above him before gathering his drawing instruments and books with a groan.

"This place sucks." he grumped as he casually strolled out of the class.

---

Bear smacked Butch across the head.

The latter sputtered something unintelligible as he jerked awake.

"Monster attack. Guess that means we got a free block now." Bear said, slinging his bag over one shoulder as he ambled towards the door.

Butch blinked blearily at the empty classroom before dragging himself to his feet. "What did I miss?" He yawned, rubbing at the sleep sand in his eyes.

"We gotta review a book by Gabby Rivera," Bear answered as they strode idly among the scampering, panicking students.

"Which? Wait, don't give a fuck." Butch amended as they cleared the front doors just in time to see Bunny fling the behemoth of a monster South, towards the docks. Four streaks of energy immediately trailed its soaring form.

A crowd of spectators had gathered in-front of the school, and now they rushed off the property, or to their cars. Seemingly more eager to cash in on an unintended free block than afraid there was a rampaging monster in the city.

A Townsville resident's definition of normal would starkly contrast with the generic definition, Bear thought. He turned to Butch who had his lips pursed in thought.

Suddenly, a blue streak whizzed at them, materializing as Boomer upon its halt. "You guys wanna go grab a bite at Bruno's?" He beamed, gripping their shoulders.

"Let's get high first," Butch ventured monotonously.

"Dude, aren't we gonna come back to school?"

"Your point?"

Boomer hummed, considering what kind of experience it would be to listen to the explanation of the difference between Microsis and Mesosis in the elevated realm of THC. Or was it Miklosis and Metosis? Fuck, like he would listen either way.

"Okay. I'm in." He grinned as Butch turned to Bear.

"You?"

"Naw," he answered, eyes staring in the direction the girls had flown off in. "I want to check something out."

---

Bunny gritted her teeth as she slammed into the asphalt. She grunted at the pain she felt in her shoulder as she pushed herself up.

There was a crash beside her and she looked up to see Bubbles' form collecting concrete as she skidded away. Bunny knit her brows in ire as she swerved to see the One-Eyed beast thrashing its arms around in a bid to biff the two pink and green streaks zipping around it.

She waited until Buttercup connected a powerful uppercut that sent the giant into the air before she zoomed up to its head and delivered a rattling sucker punch to its side profile. Blossom followed up by rounding a scissor kick to its midsection, propelling it further into the air.

The three Puffs proceeded to bombard the creature with a fury of punches and laser beams, keeping it suspended in the air as it jerked helplessly. That is until it managed to swing a desultory claw, the sheer size of its hand leaving Blossom no time to zip out of the way before she was slapped downwards, where she crashed through the windows of a high-rise.

Buttercup and Bunny didn't relent and the former fired her eyebeams across the monster's torso as it descended. It released a screeching cry and tried to claw her but Bunny kicked its arm away before coating herself in energy and flying through its palm.

The beast barely had time to release another roar of pain before Buttercup sped up its descent by axe kicking it where her laser wounds were still fresh. The hulking beast landed just at the head of the—evacuated—city dock, skidding to a stop millimeters away from the bridge.

"So. I guess I'm on Monster clean up duty today right? "Bunny groused as she and Buttercup floated down to the beast's twitching form. "I hate flying to that place," she said, referring the very island that was loaded with many more variants of the behemoth below them.

"You could just hurl it from here." Buttercup ventured.

"Did you guys get it?"

They both turned to see Bubbles drifting towards them.

"Yeah, stubborn fucker that's for sure. Where's Leader Girl?" Buttercup asked.

Bunny turned back to the monster as Bubbles answered Buttercup. It stopped twitching, unnaturally, abruptly. She arched a brow, that was a little stra—

The monster's eye suddenly flashed open, its mouth followed, revealing its tongue that was perforated at the tip. Something was visibly piling up in said tongue, in preparation to shoot out.

"Watch out!" Bunny warned as she zipped out of the way. Buttercup and Bubbles turned to identify the problem, and by the time they made to avoid it, the problem smacked right against them both.

The monster shot what was presumably acid from the hole in its tongue, but upon contact it seemed to be some sort of yellowish, viscous substance that carried both girls into the side of a building at full pelt.

"Girls!" Bunny yelled as her sisters struggled against their saliva-generated trap.

"Ugh! For fuck's sake!" Buttercup growled.

"Wait! Wait! I think you're making it worse!" Bubbles said beseechingly, noticing how the substance slowly hardened as Buttercup thrashed.

Bunny made to fly over to help them but arced backwards when she heard another shot. The literal spit ball missed her by inches. She stopped to hover and glowered down at the monster as it clawed at her. She zipped around its hand and landed a drop kick on its chest before it could stand to its feet, sending its form thudding back to the ground, imploding the concrete and uprooting debris into the air.

Bunny looped around its thrashing arms before shooting towards its head and releasing a a powerful glare of her eyebeams directly into the monster's own circular orb.

It cried in pain, which only encouraged Bunny to increase her intensity as her beams melded into one. But she was careless to put all her focus into that attack, and she knew this when she felt something wrap around her leg. She turned and shot a futile beam at the claw before she was slammed against the concrete.

She shot out another aimless beam from her hand that missed the monster by miles before she was slammed again.

'Conserve your X!' She thought to herself, clenching her teeth as she met the concrete again. And again. And again.

"Bunny!" Her sisters cried, struggling vainly against the yellow snare.

The monster slammed her against the ground once more before flinging her towards the parking area where she impacted a row of cars, disturbing their alignment. Lucky not to offset the engines.

Everything was faint. The cries from her sisters, the roars from the monster. It was all faint. She couldn't really hear anything beyond a piercing hum, similar to the sound of an old television warming up. The rest processed as just background noise.

Her sight was just beginning to return as well as the black lacuna in her vision opened up as she blinked. Now the sound of her heaving breath was what was most prominent. The rest of her senses were much slower to catch up, but now she could taste the dirt in her mouth, mixed in with something... metallic.

She gobbed onto the floor and saw a tint of red in her saliva.

"Great," she groaned, cringing at the monstrous screech as she peeled herself off of the car, leaving a Bunny-sized dent in it.

She looked up at the threshing beast as it jerked recklessly. Its eye was closed shut as it continued to howl in pain. Her attack earlier had done significant damage.

She exhaled and shook her eyes back into focus and prepared to take advantage of the handicap. A pink streak beat her to the punch.

Blossom caught one of its flailing arms, and arced upwards. Her momentum made it easy for her to lug the unsuspecting beast as it vainly tried to smack her with any limb possible. She grunted and skidded to an abrupt stop, switching the monster's motion as she spun it wildly before vaulting it into the air.

Bunny's eyes followed its ascending form until it disappeared beyond the clouds.

"Bunny!"

By the time she looked down, Blossom was already in-front of her.

"Are you okay?" She clamored.

"I'm fine." Bunny assured. "Let's go help the girls."

"Ugh! How do we get this shit off of us?" Buttercup groused as her sisters landed.

"No need to curse Buttercup." Blossom reprimanded passively as she scrutinized the substance her sisters were trapped in.

There was a massive thud then, one that reverberated through the whole port and momentarily lifted Blossom and Bunny off the ground. Only the latter even acknowledged the fallen monster with a glance in its direction.

"Have you tried using your lasers?"

"Buttercup has tried everything," Bubbles responded Blossom with absolute certainty.

"Maybe I can break it off." Blossom decided, stepping back and inhaling.

With inexplicable agility, the monster—that had been laying completely idle—righted itself on one arm and opened its mouth, primed to shoot. Again.

Bunny's eyes widened.

"Blossom!" She warned as she zoomed off. But just like the her sisters earlier, Blossom—literally mid-breath—didn't react in time. The monster spat, and now Blossom too was trapped in the vicious spittle.

"Come on!" Bunny grumped, mildly frustrated that her sisters' senses were asleep today.

"Blossom!" Bubbles cried as the redhead struggled just to her side.

"Well. Isn't this just peachy," Buttercup groaned.

"Bunny watch out!"

Bunny heeded the warning and careened out of the way as another catapulted glob narrowly missed her. She zipped straight towards the monster, eyes glowing in ire.

She weaved more literal spitballs before landing a direct punch on the beast's still sore eye. There was a shrill cry that emanated from it which she completely ignored and fired a beam from her hand, one that blew the annoyingly stubborn beast past the port area and towards the water.

She made to finish it off but was knocked by the swipe that came from her left. It didn't help that the hit impacted directly with her head.

She wasn't sure if she cried in pain or not, she hit the concrete pretty fast. It wasn't a hum this time, it wasn't faint in any sense of the word. It was deafening.

Everything in her head was screaming. She didn't know how long it took before she pushed herself up on her knees, spitting out the dirt she tasted yet again, the blood it was laced with obvious now. She could barely hear her exhales. Shit.

There was something else mixed in with her jagged breath. It sounded far away, but she could tell it was supposed to sound loud. She looked up and realized the monster was not where she'd left it.

Panic sparked instantly. She looked over to her sisters just in time to see the monster rip Blossom off the building and bring her up to its watery eye.

Blossom tried to escape its clutch, but she was still coated in its saliva. Bubbles and Buttercup wailed in protest, but could do nothing as the beast tipped its head back.

Bunny's eyes widened. Was it—was it about to eat her?! No! She had to, she had to...

She had no choice.

Her eyes glowed as she stretched her hand out towards the creature. It froze. She felt it instantly, the mental link was materializing. She just had to get it to drop Blossom at least, that would give her enough of an opening to—

She halted, hearing herself croak.

Something manifested in her mind's eye, right as she was about to manipulate the monster. An image she begrudgingly knew all to well. It was...

Her.

"Ah!" Bunny cried as she retracted her hand and clutched her head as the glow in her eyes disappeared.

No. No. No no no no no. Not now!

Blossom's scream pulled her attention as she watched the monster regain its movement and mockingly throw her in the air, placing its open mouth under her as she descended.

"Blossom!" Bunny screamed. Feeling helpless. Feeling useless.

"Wait!" Buttercup suddenly came to. Of-course, she thought.

"What?" Bubbles turned to her with glossy eyes.

Buttercup's body was suddenly coated in energy, and some of it shot off her.

Blossom looked on in horror as she neared the hollow pit, wreathed with double layers of large, jagged teeth.

She had to do something. What could she do with her eyebeams? No that was stupid! Her Ice Breath, her mouth was still free, maybe she could—

All of a sudden, she found herself drifting away from the monster having been inches from becoming its lunch. She stuttered before she realized she realized she was being carried by Buttercup.

"Buttercup! How did you—"

"I'm a clone Leader Girl." she answered as she stopped to hover at a safe distance.

Blossom looked in the direction she'd been flown from, watching as another two Buttercups took the monster by an arm each. The speed they'd tackled it with left it unable to react as they flung it with all their might. And the monster's roar faded with every second as it soared further and further into the distance. Conveniently, right in the direction towards Monster Island.

Bunny heaved a hefty sigh of relief as she watched the creature's form disappear beyond her regular field of vision. She shifted her gaze to the ground, staring at it, staring past it.

That image flashed in her head one more time. She shut her eyes and shook her head vigorously.

"Get out." She whispered desperately.

She heard her name, then she looked up as one of Buttercup's clones was laying Blossom's cocooned form on the ground. The other two were waving her over. She shook herself out and flew over to them.

"Bunny, are you okay?!" Bubbles bleated.

"I'm fine, Really." Bunny waved it off, even if she knew she wasn't being entirely honest.

"There's still the question of how we get this fucking monster slobber off." Buttercup frowned as her clones reverted back into her.

"Quit cursing for once! Bunny," Blossom said. Bunny looked down at her. "I have an idea."

Around seven minutes later, Bunny had flown to the fire station, explained the situation to the fighters, borrowed a portable water hose, and flown back with it.

She twisted the lock on the tank while pointing the nozzle to her sisters. She directed the gushing water at Blossom first, and noticed that the yellow substance was indeed dissolving. She had freed all three of them within a minute.

"We can decontaminate these things right?" Buttercup said, referring to their suits.

"Don't they do that by themselves?" Bubbles inquired, checking herself to make sure there was no monster residue on her.

"That was a close one. Are you sure you're okay Bunny? You took some pretty hard hits." Blossom asked.

"Positive." Bunny answered, managing a smirk.

"Okay," Blossom nodded. "Let's get back to school."

"Shouldn't monster duty exclude us from school activities by default or something?" Buttercup groaned.

"We're not doing anyone a favor Buttercup. This is—" Blossom reproached.

"—our responsibility. Right." Buttercup groaned a reply, before taking to the skies.

"Wait. Are we still gonna have English?" Bubbles called, flying after her.

Blossom turned to Bunny as she floated. "You guys go on ahead. I have to return this anyway." Bunny said, raising the hose for emphasis.

Blossom nodded and zoomed off. Bunny watched her streak until it vanished. She frowned then, taking a second to look around her tepidly, before her eyes circled back to the flexible tube in her hand.

She sighed and rolled up the hose and locked the tank before lifting it and flying off towards the fire station.

There were many buildings that directly faced the docks. Bunny flew past one. A large, evacuated office building.

Evacuated, not unoccupied.

On the other side of one of its reflective windows, Bear hovered.

He wordlessly plucked a cigarette from his mouth and blew out smoke, watching with grave eyes as Bunny's streak vanished in the distance.

---

Butch loved Mortal Kombat. It was arguably his best video game on the planet.

It had garnered massive popularity since its inception in 1992. Spawning multiple sequel and spin-off games. An animated series. A comic book series. Even a television film series. It was also the highest grossing video game franchise of all time.

But Butch couldn't give less of a fuck about any of that.

He only lived for the gameplay. The unabashedly gory, sanguine viciousness that the game was infamous for. He loved it.

He loved it now more than ever, because it was the only way he could expel whatever the fuck it was that he was feeling.

The last two weeks had been draining in a way that really frustrated him, because he didn't know what to fucking do. Normally he would head to a batting cage. Or an abandoned garbage dump. Or the training room—thank God his mom always made sure to have one installed. Just so he could hit something. Just so he could get this feeling out of him. That was what he understood.

But this feeling, this was different. This wasn't the explosive rage he was used to, this wasn't something that made him want to channel it through his fists. On heaps of trash. Or on an unlucky monster. Or an unlucky person if he was really ticked off.

He'd never had to deal with his anger when it was directed at himself.

That's why he was plowing through the catalogue of fighters with ill-reserved savagery. Utilizing the fighter with his favorite Fatality. Triborg.

It was satisfying to watch his enemies get pulled into the death machine, to watch them get skewered by the chain blades before they were ground by the blunted cog and slowly squashed and spat out in a sloppy cube of human meat.

Normally he'd laugh at the mutilation, but now he just went back to the catalogue and picked a different fighter to skewer all over again.

He knew they were programmed, but his gestures really did make Triborg seem like he was enjoying consecutively murdering his fellow fighters. Which would make sense considering at least ninety percent of the game ensemble were absolute psychopaths. But Butch understood.

He knew a thing or to or two about being a psychopath, he thought ruefully as the match began.

Nothing else could explain it, right? He knew he'd done some very messed up stuff. He could tell himself he was born into it, that he couldn't have done anything about his orientation. But that sounded like bullshit when he acknowledged the fact that someone like Boomer shared that very same orientation.

So maybe he was just messed up, he'd grown to not really give a shit about people's opinions on his behavior. In his opinion, people were just too fucking sensitive, and too fucking political.

But that didn't have anything to do with anything did it? He thought, scowling as he smashed the buttons on his game pad.

That he wasn't what people would call 'moral' didn't mean he had the right to treat people without respect. His mom had ingrained that into his skull. And though it took some time—and a lot of school suspensions—he'd learned it.

It wasn't like he ever cared about crap like ruling the world or any of that tyrannical crap his so called 'father figures' raved about constantly. He just liked to wreck things, because he could. He knew he could whatever the fuck he wanted and nobody would be able to stop him. He was just a power-crazed child.

That was why he did it. That was why he retaliated in that manner after Buttercup had fought him in the bank, and gone on to wedgie him and leave him hanging from flag pole. She'd laughed at him. She'd insulted his power. And it had infuriated him.

That was why he'd hatched a plan. That was why he'd spied on her the following day before he had to leave with his brothers to wherever Him wanted to take them. That was why he'd surreptitiously followed her to Pokey Oaks Elementary School's playground. Watched from a tree as she met up with some brown haired kid on the monkey bars. He'd briefly thought about how a nine year old kid could be at an empty school playground by himself on a weekend. Where were his parents?

That thought quickly evaporated though as Butch smirked maniacally. He watched as they chattered and played together. It was a little weird actually, seeing Buttercup in that kind of element. But he liked it. It was going to make this revenge much sweeter.

He poised himself on the hidden branch right as Buttercup pushed the boy down in the sand and they both laughed. He grinned and pelted forward.

His timing was perfect. Using his special power, he charged up electricity in both his hands and shot at her. She hadn't seen it coming at all. And he speedily utilized that opening as she was being electrocuted.

He hooked his fingers around the neck of her dress and pulled.

He flew a few more feet before arcing upwards and pausing to hover as he looked down at her. Snickering giddily at his work.

The boy in the sand box widened his eyes from his position on the ground, horrified.

Buttercup was on her knees, reeling from the literal shock. She knew it was Butch the instant she'd recollected herself. She gritted her teeth in anger and stood to look for him.

But the instant she did, she realized she felt a lot more... exposed. She curiously looked down at herself and saw... and saw...

Nothing.

Nothing but her underwear.

And that wasn't it.

She'd felt it earlier. A strange sensation she had never felt before. One that she didn't think much of. One that she now wish she had.

It wasn't until a few days later that she learnt the reason behind it. For now though, she looked, petrified at the red stain on her underwear. Before raising her head to see him, Wes, staring at her, equally petrified.

She croaked and hunkered into the sand when she realized she'd been standing still, shielding herself in a self-embrace.

Butch cackled loudly from above her, watching as she turned her head to look up at him. Watching as her eyes shifted from him to the dress in his hand.

Her vision instantly became blurry with tears.

"Payback Butterboo." Butch said maliciously. A chillingly wicked smile across his face as the dress in his hands went up in green flames.

Without turning elsewhere, Buttercup zoomed off, faster than he'd ever seen her fly. Ever.

Butch doubled over in the air as he cackled, oblivious to Wes staring up at him. Paralyzed with disbelief.

"FUCK!" Butch yelled as he snapped the pad in two.

He couldn't believe he'd done that. He couldn't believe he'd laughed about it. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten he'd ever done it.

He looked at the shattered pad in his hands, vaguely listening to the fight that was still occurring on his screen. He looked up and stood, the two halves of the controller clattering to the ground as his fists glowed at his sides.

He waited for the anger to consume him, to envelop him so he could pour it on his TV. But it never did, it only brewed at the pit of his stomach. Gnawing at him.

He exclaimed another "Fuck!" before the energy on his hands reverted.

The sound that filled his room were his exhales, annoyingly undertoned by the game that was still playing.

He couldn't take this shit anymore, he thought to himself. His mind wondered back to the weekend. To his conversation with Bear. He looked to his door.

His brothers were all out. Bear and Boomer had said something about getting the girls presents for their birthday tomorrow. Brick said he was going to the library or something.

But his mom was home, and she was probably done with work for today.

He peered at his door a moment longer, then strode towards it.

"Mom?" He said, lightly knocking her door.

"Yes honey?" She answered from behind it.

"Are you busy?"

"Not at all. Come in."

Butch swung the door open to meet the sight of his mom sitting on her bad. Engaged in a book as she leaned against the headboard.

"What's wrong?" Olivia asked.

"Um..." Butch started, then just looked at her. Olivia arched a brow and closed her novel.

"Honey. What's wrong?"

"I, uh... I need to tell you something mom."

---

Brick nodded at the Librarian as he signed in.

He would have done his homework at home but he also wanted to check out the library's repertoire. He wanted to add something new to his book shelf, and he was hoping that for all of Townsville's repute, it would have some respectable books in its public collection.

There weren't that many people here, he could hear pages being flipped and pens scribbling against paper. He estimated there were about five or so people present, all of them towards the front, more or less. Which meant he was sitting at the back.

He ambled between the lofty book shelves, listlessly scanning the aisles. He found that there was actually a mini-section dedicated entirely to Camus.

Well, at least they had taste.

He emerged onto the tables situated at the back and—

The sound of his sneakers squeaking to a halt was almost deafening.

'No fucking way.' He thought.

Blossom looked up from the table he'd stopped right in-front of, her eyes widening as they met Brick's.

"What the—what are you doing here?" She spat.

She didn't mean to, honestly, it didn't seem all that strange for someone like him to be here, but ever since that unpleasant recollection yesterday, the sight of him did nothing but aggravate her.

Unsurprisingly, his surprise quickly morphed into similar ire.

"You understand English don't you? Told you before that what I do in my spare time is none of your God damn business."

"Watch your language! And keep your voice down!" Blossom reprimanded in a tone just above a whisper.

Brick scoffed out a laugh. "You never switch it off do you?"

That stumped Blossom, and she ended up just widening her eyes in confusion.

"Yeah, there's that 'deer caught in the headlights' look you do so well." Brick said, then paused. This inexplicable sense of Déjà Vu he kept feeling was really starting to get weird.

He shook himself out of it and glared at Blossom for good measure, before stalking over two tables away from her.

Blossom glared at his retreating form, huffing before shifting her eyes back to her homework.

Ten—extremely unfocused—minutes later, she looked up.

"You're really shocked that I blatantly distrust you? Really?"

Brick groaned and hung his head in annoyance. Why hadn't he brought his earphones?

He looked up with a frown. Though there were meters between them, and Blossom was basically whispering, he could hear her perfectly. He stared at her glowering face a moment and decided—for the sake of his peace—to humor her.

"Shocked? Not particularly. You're clearly the type of person who would hold an eight year old grudge." He answered.

Blossom rolled her eyes, ignoring the dig. "You expect me to believe you've completely reformed? I've not forgotten the things you did." She said, her glare deepening.

Brick's frown curled into a full on scowl. "You ever consider who raised me? You ever consider how I was raised? Where I was raised?" He said, gritting his teeth as he dropped the pencil in his hand to avoid snapping it.

Look at her, this silver-spoon who was born with everything at her fucking feet. Who was born into a life of adoration and praise. She was sat so comfortably on her high horse like she was some paragon of 'good'.

"I have in-fact," Blossom replied, "and that's why I find it very hard to believe that such a fundamental orientation could be undone in five years."

Brick's scoff was empty this time. "Then that's clearly your fucking problem. Believe it or not, we didn't enjoy constantly fighting little girls for a living as much as you think."

And then they just glared, they seemed to always be doing that.

Blossom looked right into those scathing, engine red eyes. Scrutinizing them as she clenched her jaw.

"Do you remember that day in the bank?" She asked pointedly.

Brick was silent for a second, but he didn't flinch.

"Perfectly."

Blossom's eyes widened. What? That was his answer?

Her lip twitched as she subconsciously squeezed on the sides of the book she was holding. "You remember toying with those people's lives and calling it a joke? You remember doing that when you were just nine years old?"

"I do." he retorted, unfazed.

Blossom fought back the urge to scream. How could he be so NONCHALANT about this?!

"You want me to believe that someone capable of that at that age would be a good person eight years later? That was... that was pure evil."

Brick peered back into her fuming eyes. "It was. And I'll tell you again..." he said, leaning forward ever so slightly as he whispered...

"You don't know anything about how I was raised Blossom. You don't know anything about me, or my brothers."

Blossom's face imperceptibly softened, and she marginally retracted. She remembered that he'd said that in class once. But this time he sounded much more grave. There was something much... darker about his voice.

And in that specific moment, she wondered—just for a millisecond—if he was right.

Brick picked up his pencil and returned his full attention to the books in-front of him. Done with the discussion.

Blossom stared at him a little longer, his words hanging around her head, before she frowned and reluctantly faced her books as well.

---

"What about these ones?" Bear said, pointing at a pair of nude stilettos from his position on the sofa bench.

"What?" Boomer whirled from the other side of the display aisle.

"These," Bear repeated, still pointing.

Boomer squinted at the shoes, then shook his head abruptly. "Bubbles would want something flashier."

"Well pick one already dude." Bear lightly grumped, eyes flicking to a pair of girls who were giggling as they threw furtive glances at him.

"I got to make sure she loves it man." Boomer said, shaking his head at another pair.

Bear whipped out his phone. "They aren't even expecting presents Boom. I don't think you have to get anything extravagant,"

"Doesn't matter. Bubbles likes presents, even on small occasions."

"Yeah? How do you know?"

Boomer paused, his back to Bear so the latter didn't see the 'busted' look in his eyes. "I've just paid attention to her behavior." He said cryptically.

He didn't hear a response, meaning Bear had probably let it go and was occupying himself with his phone. Boomer thumbed his chin and refocused on the row of shoes in-front of him. The lady beside him was giving him a weird look, and he saw her gaze briefly shift to his nails, then away.

He rolled his eyes and continued to survey the heels. He stopped at a particularly shimmering pair.

His smile broadened.

---

Butch told his mom everything, from Buttercup's attitude towards him to their confrontation to the reason behind her attitude in the first place. He made sure to emphasize the fact that he was nine when he did it. He wasn't sure why, but he did.

His mom stared at him with something he couldn't quite place. Disbelief? Disappointment? Disgust? (Okay. Maybe he was exaggerating with that last one.)

Olivia mulled over the information she'd just received. She wanted to say she was analyzing it, but there was nothing to analyze. There was nothing to try and translate.

Butch was sitting on her bed as well, but his legs remained on the floor. She looked up from her sheets and decided to peer right at him.

He was definitely somewhat discomforted by that as he had to tear his eyes away from her before he could speak.

"Mom I... I don't even—"

"Do you understand what you did?" Olivia interjected.

Butch turned back to her. "I... Yeah. I know it was fucked up. It's been eating me alive mom, I haven't been able to shake the feeling, and I don't even know what to do—"

"It far surpasses the realm of 'fucked up' Butch," Olivia cut in again.

Butch clamped his mouth shut. The use of his actual name as opposed to "Honey" or "Sweetie" meant his mom was in full Scolding Mode. Which was never a good sign.

"You... violated her, in such a crude manner. You completely degraded her, in-front of her friend, without even considering the mental damage it could inflict on her."

Butch barely opened his mouth before Olivia pushed on.

"It doesn't matter that you didn't know any better. It doesn't matter that you were a child," she said, and his eyes widened because she'd practically read his mind. "If even a normal kid did that to a girl in public he would be recommended for surveillance or psychiatric prescriptions, at worst."

Olivia's expression was serious, almost angered, but somehow she managed to keep her voice level. Somehow, Butch didn't feel like he was being berated.

That was thankfully aided by the fact that her face actually sobered then, and she shifted closer to him so she could place her hand on his shoulder.

"Honey—" Butch inwardly exhaled. Honey was good. "—have I ever told you about my friend Claudia? From college?"

Butch furrowed his brows and shook his head.

"Claudia was my roommate in my freshman year, I met Auntie Helen through her," Olivia started "We were practically inseparable, the three of us. Claudia was one of the funniest people I knew, one of the bravest. The toughest. She helped me through a lot in college." She said, smiling as she reminisced.

"There was this day—" She continued, her smile doing a complete 180. "—news went around campus, about these group of boys were harassing a female student because she didn't answer their cat calls."

Butch shifted uncomfortably. "Oh... did they, like, do something to her?"

"They stripped her top off and circled her while they jeered." She answered, bluntly.

Butch felt two kinds of disgust then. Disgust that some tiny dick assholes found it funny to do that to a girl just because she booted their egos. And disgust at himself for thinking about how a nine, hell, a fourteen year old him would have found it funny as well.

"Claudia was infuriated when she heard about it. We all were, but it was different for her. I'd never seen her so angry. Helen and I eventually had to ask her if there was something more to her ire, then she started crying." Olivia momentarily paused, her eyes flicking away from Butch as she frowned at the thought.

"She didn't want to talk at first, but we managed to convince her otherwise. She told us about an experience she had in High School, when she was in her freshman year. There was this boy on the football team who kept asking her out, and she kept rejecting him. Her rejections got firmer and more vocal as he got more persistent. One day at a party, he called her all sorts of obscenities, but she didn't care. He was just a jock with a bruised ego. Though, she couldn't have anticipated just how much she'd bruised that ego."

Butch didn't like where this was going.

"The next day at school, while Claudia was gathering her book for her next class, the boy—along with his friends—ambushed her. One of them restrained her while the boy held her skirt up, and the other one helped them carry her through the hallway, all while the other students laughed."

Butch couldn't even begin to imagine how damaging that must have been. Really, he couldn't. Someone like him was just never going to be put in a situation like that, and it just hit him then how lucky he was to be able to say that.

There are some experiences that must be very, very different for girls.

"Claudia really liked skirts," Olivia continued following Butch's silence. "They were the trend back in our days. She had so many of them. But after that day, she couldn't wear a skirt or a dress for five years. Not even to her prom."

Butch was maintaining a sedate demeanor, whether he knew it or not. He just felt... weak. It made him feel so defeated thinking about what his payback would have done to Buttercup. The fearless, defiant Buttercup that fled with tears in her eyes. Because of him.

"Did the school do anything?" He heard himself ask.

"They suspended the boys, but Claudia still switched schools."

Butch's eyes fell to the carpeted ground.

"Honey. You have to apologize to Buttercup. Genuinely. Make no excuses about childish revenge, or try to palliate what you did by telling her you're different now. That's good that you are, but it doesn't erase what you did. If you want peace, you have to let her know you understand what you did, how horrible it was and how you're genuinely sorry about it."

Butch pulled his lips in and slowly shook his head.

"I don't know if she'll forgive me mom."

"This isn't about you," Olivia said instantly, and Butch whirled on her with a muddled expression. "It isn't up to you if she decides to forgive you or not. You just have to do your part in making sure she knows you're genuinely sorry about what you did."

Butch stared at his mom reverentially, though it shouldn't have come as a surprise to him that she knew exactly what to say. She often did.

He took a minute to absorb her advice, before exhaling and nodding at the floor. He turned to face her once again when he dropped his arms on his laps.

"Thanks mom." He said, in a soft tone that was very aberrant on him.

Olivia's thinned lips curved into a small smile, her hands sliding from Butch's back up into his hair. "I know you're not that kind of person anymore honey. And I know that you wish you'd have known better. Don't beat yourself over it."

Honestly, he didn't deserve his mom, but Butch would never let her know he thought that.

He simply nodded again as she caressed his hair. "Hey mom—"

She lifted a brow.

"—can I skip school tomorrow?"

Olivia gazed at him, considering, but after deducing that the exhaustion on his face had nothing to do with physical fatigue, she needed no further contemplation.

"Of course sweetie."

---

"IT'S THE DAY!"

There was nothing any of Bubbles' sisters—and most likely even their neighbors—could have done to occlude her inevitable shriek of elation in the morning. They'd all taken preventive measures with ear plugs, Buttercup had gone the extra mile and tied two of her sweaters together, using them as a makeshift rope to bind one of her pillows around her head. But it was all for naught.

Bunny and Buttercup's eyes flew open instantly. The former shifted her eyes to the alarm clock, the bright red numbers blinking; 6:12. She didn't even have time to groan.

"Wake up! Wake up!" Bubbles screamed as she burst into their room and bounced from bed to bed.

"Jesus Christ Bubbles." Buttercup groused blearily. Bubbles simply ripped the pillow off her head.

"Happy birthday!" She enunciated with a smile before hopping back to Bunny's bed and repeating the gleeful laud.

Bunny gave her a tired smile despite herself. "Happy birthday Bubbles."

"Let's get ready for school!" Bubbles preened before zipping out of the room. There was a sound of a door swinging open, followed by a faint scuffle and another shriek of "Happy Birthday" by Bubbles, followed by an exasperated iteration of complaints by a sleepy Blossom.

"We need to keep that girl very far away from coke." Buttercup grumped as she rolled over and pulled her pillow over her head.

"I'd take cokehead Bubbles over sugar rush Bubbles any day." Bunny yawned, plucking the plugs from her ear.

---

A little over thirty minutes later—courtesy of Bubbles' benevolent coercion—the girls were all dressed and ready for school.

"Where's dad?" Buttercup asked as she stepped down the stairs behind Bubbles.

"Probably at the lab downtown. He must have needed to go in early." Bubbles pouted. They would probably still see him today, but she'd have liked to start the day with her whole family present.

"Where's my flannel?!" came Bunny's cry from upstairs.

"What smells so good?" Bubbles wondered as she sped up into the kitchen.

"Why don't you check behind the other ten?!" Buttercup replied Bunny with a sneer.

"Eat me bitch!" She retorted.

"I know we agreed not to give each other presents this year—" Blossom said as she exited her room and floated towards the stairs. "—but could you guys minimize the cursing for today? For me?"

"Sit through thirty minutes of the 'The Descent' with me tonight and you've got a deal." Buttercup proffered, turning to a descending Blossom who's expression fell with solicitude.

Buttercup snorted.

"Buttercup! Did you do this?!" Bubbles clamored.

"Do what?" She asked, but she was ambushed by the aroma as well just before she walked through the kitchen door. Her eyes widened upon sighting the dining table.

"This!" Bubbles squealed gleefully, gesturing at the preset table.

A heap of pancakes overspread with maple syrup sat in the middle of the table. Flanked by two saucers filled with English muffins. Assorted with a jug of coffee.

"Whoa." Blossom and Buttercup echoed.

The latter recovered faster.

"When was the last time we had pancakes!" She brightened, making for the table.

Bubbles was already seated and had rationed some into the plate that was set for her. Buttercup simply forked one straight into her mouth.

"Just how I like them." Bubbles said, sighing in satisfaction as she chewed. Some time ago, after some persistent pleading, she'd gotten to Buttercup to try out a Vegan pancake recipe she saw online. Ever since that day, they'd completely abandoned the traditional recipe. She liked to think that was the first step in her plan to veganize all of them. However, getting them to eat healthier pancakes was one thing, getting them to permanently substitute chicken for tofu would be a much more arduous battle.

Blossom smiled at her jaunty sisters as she approached them, she was a big fan of their pancakes herself. She caught sight of a folded note in-front of the jug as she reached the table.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about." Bunny said as she emerged in the kitchen, grinning at the table in approval. She quickly swiped a pair of muffins and zipped over to the fridge.

"So what's with this sudden altruism BC?" She said, fetching a jar of Nutella. "Is this you coming out of your anti-fluff closet?"

Buttercup flipped her off. "I didn't do this," she answered through a mouth-full.

"Really? Then—"

"Dad."

All eyes turned to Blossom, who was smiling broadly at the piece of paper she held between her hands as she read it out.

"I know this one's a favorite for you girls. I threw in some muffins just to be a bit extra. Oh, and tell Buttercup to go easy," she paused to look at Buttercup, so did Bubbles and Bunny.

Said girl froze right as she was about to inhale a third pancake, staring at her sisters.

They giggled at her predictability, even more so when she stuffed her mouth with the flat cake anyway.

Blossom continued "P.S. One of you girls should video-call me once you read this."

"On it!" Bubbles declared and tapped at her phone instantly. Within seconds, her dad's face appeared on the screen. Her sisters gathered around her and John smiled at them from behind his protective goggles.

"Happy birthday girls." He said lovingly.

"Thank you dad!" They echoed in varying tones. Not that any of them were being impassive, it was just hard to be heard over Bubbles.

"I really wish I could've been there but things have been really busy lately and—"

"We understand dad, it's okay. Thank you for breakfast!" Bunny said. Her sisters dittoed their assent.

"You're welcome," John said with a grin. "Oh! Before I forget," he said, and the screen shifted as he moved his phone away from his face. Some bustling workers from his division came into view, firmly concentrated on their work, testing, observing, recording, repeat.

"Hey! It's my girls' birthday!" John's voice proclaimed. The ten or so chemists in view turned to the camera and simultaneously yelled "Happy birthday!" amiably.

"Oh my God." Bunny placed her hand over her mouth as she laughed.

"Thank you so much!" Bubbles replied, reciprocating their cordiality.

"Thank you guys." Blossom smiled also. Buttercup rolled her eyes, but couldn't curtail the smile that curled onto her lips.

John was laughing like any father who had purposely embarrassed their kids would by the time he came back into frame.

"Dad. You are such a dork," Buttercup said.

"Unfortunate that you girls are stuck with me then isn't it? Alright, I have to get going now. I'll see you girls at home."

They waved bye to him as Bubbles cut the call. The girls settled down and began to dig into their special meal, launching into casual chatter about school and their plans for the evening.

Ten or so minutes had passed when Blossom stole a look at her watch and frantically began to sort herself. She grabbed her bag and made for the door, explaining that she had to be at school early to help Ms Wilson out with something. Her sisters understood and bid her their goodbyes as she left.

It hadn't even been a full minute later when their causerie was disturbed by a repetitive car honk. The girls exchanged muddled glances, clearly not expecting any company this early in the morning.

"I'll check it out." Buttercup said, standing as she set her coffee down.

She threw the door open, her eyes widening when she recognized Bear's car, parked right in-front of their house.

It seemed they were awaiting the confirmation that they were at home, because it was only when she stepped out that Boomer emerged from the passenger door. He waved as he walked up to her—gift box in hand. Bear came into view as he rounded the car and stuffed his keys in his pocket, two gift boxes floating behind him as he trailed Boomer.

"Happy birthday Buttercup!" Boomer touted as he reached her.

"How do you fuckers know where we live?" She inquired, genuinely surprised at the sight before her.

"Gee thanks Boomer. I can't believe you guys came to surprise us with gifts before school," Boomer parodied, then snapped and pointed at her. "You're welcome."

Buttercup's face twisted into a glare as Bear reached them.

"In what universe would she say 'Gee'?" he said.

"Boomer?" Bubbles—who'd rushed to the door when she heard his voice—smiled. He looked up at her.

"Happy birthday!" He exclaimed, holding his gift forward before pushing past Buttercup.

"Does he have an Off Switch?" Buttercup asked as Bear walked in.

"We've been looking for years." Bear answered, shaking his head.

"How'd you guys find our address?" Bunny asked as she stepped out of the kitchen, her eyes flicking between him and the boxes suspended behind him.

"Pablo told us," Boomer informed, handing Bubbles her present as they both sat on the couch.

"You didn't have to show up with literal gift boxes you know," Bubbles said, chuckling as she loosened the bow-tied ribbon.

"I don't like to be predictable."

"Anyway. Happy birthday, low budget Wonder Women." Bear said as a box each floated to the other birthday girls.

Bunny cackled.

"Suck my dick." Buttercup retorted with a smile as she grabbed the box out of the air.

"Aaaaah!"

Honestly, it was only the boys who reacted to Bubbles' scream. The girls had heard too much of it today alone to still be phased.

"Look!" She squealed, zipping over to her sisters and wiggling a pair of silver heels in their faces.

"Oh. Wow." Buttercup said flatly, watching with unabashed disinterest as Bubbles' lengthy curls flopped around her as she bounced in exuberance.

Boomer laughed sheepishly. "I figured you could wear it for Homecoming, since you said you didn't—"

He oofed as she zipped back to the couch and squeezed him in her arms. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Sure. Um... Bubbles..." Boomer wheezed, starting to resemble a color comically similar to the one of his t-shirt because of the asphyxiation being inflicted on him. If she noticed, Bubbles ignored it outright. And the fact that she squeezed tighter probably entailed that she didn't.

"You know we said no presents right?" Bunny smirked at Bear

He shrugged. "Well. I've never been here for this. So shut up and open it."

She laughed but obliged. Buttercup followed suit.

The latter couldn't quite identify the sound that escaped her lips upon viewing the item the box had been concealing. A gasp? A croak? A moan maybe? She didn't really know. She didn't really hear anything in that moment honestly. Barring her sight, her senses had dulled.

"Are—are these, Bose QuietComfort?" she whispered, staring down at the headphones laying on top of creased, colored tissue paper.

"Second-gen SoundLink series," Bear textured with a dinky but smug grin. "Boom and I picked it out."

Buttercup inhaled, then turned to Bear. Her expression was strange, in that it was obvious that she was absolutely enraptured, but also extremely shocked. She stared at him, her lips marginally parted.

Bear got what she meant.

"You're welcome." he snorted.

Buttercup nodded thankfully before returning her gaze to the device that was going to be welded to her head whenever possible.

Bear turned to Bunny and found her speechlessly staring at the content of her box. He smirked again. He'd noticed that—like him—Bunny seemed to have a streetwear sense of style. So once she'd told him her birthday was coming up, he had hit Amazon and found a pair of lace up Grunge boots. He instantly knew they would be the perfect gift. He threw in about five different colored laces in case she wanted to get creative.

"Are those pancakes?" Boomer said, having been mercifully freed from Bubbles' death grip. He stood up and followed the scent without waiting for an answer.

He was unlikely to get one in any case. Seeing as Bubbles was preoccupied with fitting her new sheeny shoes and Buttercup's drool was basically streaming down her face.

Bunny slowly raised her eyes from her new footwear—hers—to look at Bear with a an almost crazed simper.

"Try to take them off every once in a while a'ight?" He grinned.

Bunny let the box fall as she held the boots to her chest. "I could kiss you."

"My lips belong to the Lord, sorry."

Bunny's smile really did garnish her face, Bear thought. He realized he liked her smile, it was infectious, gratifying. There was something about it that made him want to see it as often as possible, and he was definitely getting a good, protracted view of it now.

"Thank you." she said—more squeaked—appreciatively.

Bear shot her an amicable wink.

---

"Thank you." Blossom laughed bashfully at a boy—a very brave freshman—as he handed her flowers at her locker. He smiled back and scurried off.

She'd been getting a lot of attention today, especially from the male half of the student body. It was natural of-course, considering the occasion, and Blossom enjoyed the felicitates more than she let on. But between the mass of birthday cards in her locker and the ever emboldening boys in the school, she decided to take refuge in the library to avoid getting overwhelmed.

A figure emerged from the guys bathroom a few lockers to her left, she turned and instinctively frowned. Brick didn't give much in the way of a reaction as he neared her.

"Is all this babel because of you?" he impassively inquired, eyes sliding to the bouquet in her hand. "What's this? Powerpuff Appreciation Day?"

"How original of you," Blossom retorted as he strode past her.

"It was a guess. Just being ingenious with your city's standard of creativity is all."

Blossom bristled and opened her mouth to retort but was interjected by a cry from someone in the hall.

"Happy birthday Blossom!"

Both she and Brick turned to the sophomore waving from a ways down. Blossom managed a smile and waved back in thanks, definitely opting against giving a verbal response from this distance.

Brick shifted his gaze back to her. He'd heard Boomer mention something about the girls' birthday, but he didn't realize it was today. His scowl reappeared when she returned her attention to him.

It wasn't like it made a difference anyway.

Without another word, he sauntered away from her. Ignoring the feeling of her eyes boring holes into his back.

---

"Don't be too late boys." Olivia said as Boomer placed the cereal bowl he'd used back into the cabinet. Bear leaned against the kitchen frame, waiting patiently.

"We won't," he assured.

"And you had better answer when I call." she reinstated. Boomer came up to her and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"We will, promise." he said as he trailed Bear who'd already started for the front door.

"Alright, have fun you two, and send the girls my wishes. Love you!"

"Okay! Love you!" they echoed before she heard the door shut.

The microwave dinged a couple of minutes later and she drew out the microwave-safe dishes that contained her Broccoli Chicken Casserole. She transferred them into three dinner dishes and set the table before calling for the rest of the boys down for dinner.

Brick was down first, and his eyes almost glazed over as the tantalizing aroma knocked into him.

"Please be home for dinner more often." He said as he took a seat right beside her and instantly grabbed the appropriate silverware.

Olivia obliged him with a close-mouthed chuckle as she chewed.

"How come you aren't going with your brothers?" She asked.

"Well I wasn't invited for one, and I wouldn't have gone if I was regardless."

"Why? The girls seem like wonderful people,"

Brick suppressed a scoff. "You'd be surprised mom."

Olivia stared at him for a moment.

"You should give this place a chance honey. You might end up liking it more than you expect," she said beseechingly.

This time Brick let out the scoff. "I'd sooner drink a whole keg of iodine." He replied, biting some chicken off his fork.

Olivia looked amused, but she opted to simply smile at him knowingly before facing her food.

---

Upstairs, Butch slided his window open to air out his room as he'd just finished toking.

He'd heard his mom bid his brothers farewell as they left for the girls' party and had briefly contemplated following them. But that was a stupid idea.

Her sisters were there. All their friends were there. And she'd probably punt him in his vital areas if he tried to pull her outside.

He would do it some other time. In-fact...

He picked up his phone and texted Mitch even though he likely wasn't going to see it until much later. He just needed a location, he could coax it out of Mitch if he decided to stubborn anyway.

A car rev stole his attention and he strolled to his window that faced the street. He watched in silence as Bear's car drove by, eyes following it until it disappeared beyond his field of vision.

---

They were probably the last ones to arrive, Bear thought as he pulled to a stop behind two other cars, recognizing the one in-front of him as Pablo's. He supposed it made sense, Bubbles did say four o'clock. It was just six or so minutes shy of five-thirty now.

"Let's go get our rumba on!" Boomer exclaimed with a broad again.

"Never, ever say that again." Bear deadpanned, twisting his key counterclockwise as the car turned off.

They couldn't see much of the arcade through the slightly tinted windows. Even the flickering lights that made up the wide sign reading; BERSERKVERSE above seemed dull. But maybe that was because it hadn't gotten dark yet.

The arcade attendant allotted them their coins after they paid and led them to the Food Area that demarcated the game machines from the bowling section. They could see their friends seated in groups of six at two of the tables.

Pablo waved once he caught sight of them. "Hey guys!"

His greeting drew everyone's attention to him, then to the boys he was waving at. Boomer raised a double Peace Sign and simpered as they all voiced their welcomes. Bear asked the attendant for permission to borrow chairs from other tables, to which he agreed.

"The man!" Harry hailed as Bear chuckled and bumped fists with him. He extended that greeting to Mitch before willing a few of Buttercup's fries into his mouth.

"Hey!"

"Thank you." Pablo, Harry and Kim said to Bear gratefully. Mitch laughed as Bear willed a seat over and placed it beside Bunny.

"Late, like always," Bunny smirked.

Bear shrugged in retort as he grabbed a fry from her plate as well. Bunny found herself looking at his arms. Weirdly enough, this was the first time she'd seen him in a short sleeve. Her eyes momentarily lingered on the tattoos that adorned his inner left forearm before she looked away.

"Holy shit! How many layers are those?" Boomer said, staring at the cone of ice-cream in Bubbles' hands.

"This is my first one!" Bubbles cried defensively. Susie laughed.

"You really just lied like we haven't all been here for the past twenty minutes," Mike said.

"It's four layers by the way." Robin answered Boomer.

"Whatever. It's my birthday." Bubbles retorted, petulantly licking her ice-cream.

Boomer laughed as he took a seat and planted it between Bubbles and Billy. His eyes roamed over to Blossom, who seemed a little out of place in a neon-themed amusement arcade.

He realized something.

"Happy birthday Blossom." He grinned.

His voice seemed to have brought her back to Earth as she faced him, a little wide-eyed.

The smile she returned seemed genuine enough. "Um. Thank you, Boomer."

They all gabbled and ate for another fifteen minutes before deciding to hit the games. Bubbles pulled Boomer to the dancing section, since he was the only other person who wanted to play it. Buttercup, Mitch and Harry jetted towards the motorbike racing. Kim trailed them, staring at the retreating blondes as Bubbles laughed. The rest of the group made their way towards the bowling area.

"I can go easy on you since it's your birthday you know? Just say the word." Bear taunted Bunny as the group neared the lanes.

She scoffed. "Reverse psychology? You really that scared?"

"Hope you're not a sore loser then."

"Right," Bunny sneered as she turned to the others. "Okay. Teams?"

"I'm with Bear!" Pablo said immediately, raising his hand. They all turned to him, Bear included. Pablo didn't flinch.

"I've got a feeling you're really good," He beamed at Bear.

"I guess we're captains." Bunny chuckled to Bear, who could only blink at a gleeful Pablo.

They picked their teams and inputed them in the score machine before Mike—on Bunny's team—stepped up to go first.

The rest of them moved to the booths to wait their turn.

Blossom ended up right in-front of Bear, and it was almost like he'd seen her for the first time tonight.

"Didn't really peg you for an arcade type of girl," he ventured.

Blossom impalpably jerked and turned to look at him. She stared for a second, then said "Sounds like there's an insult in there somewhere,"

Bear shrugged. "There isn't."

Then they kind of just looked at each other. They hadn't really communicated much over the few weeks he and his brothers had started at THS. They hadn't sat together since that first Poetry class and they barely saw outside of there, if at all. So, it was understandable that they didn't exactly have a bounteous source to pull conversation from.

Though—like his brother before him—something did abruptly cross Bear's mind.

"Happy birthday by the way."

Blossom blinked, then swiveled her head away from him and nodded.

"Thanks."

---

Blossom thumbed through her poetry book, searching for one of Sylvia Plath's specifically. It was in her head throughout last night before she slept, now she was unfortunately having a hard time remembering the title.

The class was relatively empty right now—there were actually only two other people. She was a few minutes early, seeing as she had heeded her advice and consistently spent the last minutes of her break in class always. She liked the silence, it... settled her. Put her right in her precincts.

She noticed her books were disproportionately stacked out the corner of her eye. She re-stacked them instantly so they piled from largest to smallest, bottom-up. Satisfied, she returned her focus to her poetry just as another person shuffled into the classroom.

She was scanning through the stanzas when a book was literally shoved over the page, obstructing her view.

Her reflex almost took her head up to glare at the person who'd disturbed her. But her optic nerves worked much quicker. Her eyes widened.

She recognized the book immediately. The title—adorned with the simplistic cover art—read; We Should All Be Feminists.

Blossom followed the arm that held the book all the way to the person's face.

Bear inclined his head at her. "Happy birthday, again."

Blossom realized she was gaping and consciously clamped her mouth shut. She looked from Bear to the book and back, then she looked to the book again.

Bear got tired of holding it out for her and dropped it on top of her book stack.

"How did—how did you get that?" Blossom had been trying to get that book for months. It'd been out of stock literally everywhere she checked. And she couldn't find an original copy online. It was either frustratingly rough-hewn or the site was simply inaccessible.

"One of my Nigerian friends back in Canada brought a bunch of books back from home after the holidays. This was one of the many I borrowed and, well, never gave back."

Blossom openly stared at it for a second, before dropping her poetry book and picking it up.

"It's... practically in perfect condition." She said, her thumb grazing the crisp edges.

"I take care of the ones I like." Bear said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"You read Chimamanda's works?" Blossom inquired, looking back up at him.

He paused for a second. "I guess you could say that. She's slowly garnering global attention you know."

"Yeah, I know." Blossom knew, very well. She made it her business to keep abreast with the advancement of intelligent, pioneering women. "I just... I didn't peg you the type of person to be interested in books like this."

"Sounds like there's an insult in there somewhere."

Blossom couldn't believe she actually laughed despite herself. Though, it was more unbelievable that a small model of a smile found its way to his face. She'd never seen that. Thinking about it though, he'd probably never seen her smile either.

"That's fair," Blossom snickered, shifting her eyes to the book and thumbing circles on its surface before looking up to Bear again.

"You didn't have to... why are you giving me this?"

"'Cause I want to," he answered simply, catching her off guard. "Do you not like it or something?"

"No it's not that! I do like it. I just..." Blossom trailed off. She understood that it'd been her birthday but, they didn't have any ties to each other. They had actually never even had a proper conversation. Well, perhaps until now.

Bear's soft chuckles disrupted her musing.

"It's not that deep Blossom. I just heard you talking about wanting new feminist-enlightening books with Robin yesterday. And I'd given all your sisters presents, so I thought I'd let you have this."

"But how'd you guess I like Chimamanda?"

He shrugged. "You look like you know your stuff."

"Oh," she replied, unsure whether to acknowledge the compliment.

"Well, um..." she took yet another glance at the material in her hands, before returning her glance to him.

"Thank you... Bear."

He nodded.

The bell sounded, punctuating his statement. And from the looks of it, ending the conversation.

Bear strode past and took a seat in the desk behind her. Blossom resisted the urge to turn and look at him as another male student claimed the empty seat next to her.

---

A week passed by with nothing of note occurring.

Brick had mostly occupied himself with photographing some of the city after being prodded by his mom. Butch was back in school and seemingly in a better mood, his regular disposition hadn't resurfaced, but he was at least contributing to their gang banter during lunch now. Bear was glad to see a little bit of life in him again, even though the quick glares he saw Buttercup throw Butch every once in a while held a completely different meaning now. He himself had mostly just hung with the gang. Blossom had opted against willingly instigating any form of communication with Brick, and retained her peace by keeping a wider distance from him in the public library. He thankfully reciprocated.

Now Boomer though, he had something to be a little excited about.

He had gotten the exact role he'd auditioned for and was going to be playing one of the leads alongside Billy. He'd wanted to tell Bubbles at the Pep Rally, but he couldn't extract a moment where she wasn't cheering with the rest of the squad. He supposed it made sense, she was the Vice-Captain after all. It probably didn't get any busier than Pep Rally day for her.

So he waited for lunch, and once the bell rang he had literally zipped out into the halls and waited for Bubbles to emerge from her class so he could scream the good news at her. And he did just that, much to the passing students' chargin.

Bubbles had been amusingly shocked and ended up dragging a giddy Boomer towards the cafeteria, encouraged by the annoyed glares several students were throwing his way.

"Oh yeah!" Boomer and Billy echoed as they bumped fists over the table.

"I wonder what kind of make-up you guys are going to get done to turn you into twins," Susie snickered, sipping her soda.

"I'm definitely not going blonde," Billy said.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Boomer and Bubbles echoed as the table went up in laughter.

"I heard Mr Hughes is still assigning production roles to everyone who auditioned though," one of the girls said.

"Yeah he even put up a list on the auditorium doors. Think I want to register for Hair and Make-up," a boy said this time.

"You seemed pretty intent on the lead Jamie. I don't think I trust you around my curls," Boomer said.

"Wise man." Jamie replied with faux maliciousness.

Boomer laughed in good nature.

They continued to chatter excessively about everything from the play to Homecoming, pausing for the occasional laugh courtesy of Boomer's ridiculousness.

Eventually the bell went and they all diverted to their different classes. Boomer actually had a free block now, and told Bubbles he was likely going to get some new nail polish and waved her bye as he headed for the entrance.

Bubbles beat the bell by barely a minute. She had Geometry now, a class she shared with Bunny. Her sister hadn't noticed her come in, she had earphones plugged in as she gazed yonderly out the window. Bunny had always liked window seats, ever since fifth grade.

Butch was on the opposite end of the room, near the shelves. He looked lost in thought in as well, but he still acknowledged her with a glance before flicking his eyes away. She was surprised he was early.

She plopped down on her seat and drew out her phone as she waited for the teacher to arrive. She was giggling at a meme when someone walked up to her desk.

"Hey."

Bubbles recognized the voice even before she looked up. Her eyes widened in shock, somehow she'd forgotten—though in her defense, they weren't exactly talking, at all—that she also shared this class with Kim.

"You—" Bubbles started but paused when her phone slipped out of her hands, she caught it just before it hit the floor.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to startle—"

"It's fokay—fine! It's okay. It's fine." Bubbles sputtered, clutching her phone.

"Oh. Um. Okay." Kim nodded, hugging her arms to her chest.

Silence followed, but Kim wasn't keen on letting it linger.

"So. I uh... I was wondering if... like—" her eyes stopped flicking every which way and focused on Bubbles. "—can we talk?"

Bubbles felt something sharp prick her chest. Was that her heart? Was that like a double-beat just now? Why did she want to talk? She was the one who said they shouldn't—

"I uh—I don't—"

"Please?" Kim cut in. "It's been so—just ten minutes. I swear."

Bubbles stared at her beseeching expression, suddenly feeling like they were being watched. Her side glances at the class confirmed this assumption as some of the students were whispering to each other with their eyes on her and Kim. Even Bunny was staring warily between them now.

"Well... okay," Bubbles caved.

"Yeah?" Kim said, and Bubbles nodded weakly. "Cool. Uh. I'll call you after I'm done with the band?"

"Sure." Bubbles assented. She briefly thought about mentioning to Kim that she'd deleted her number, but her desire for this exchange to come to an end took precedence.

Kim folded her lips in and offered a slightly awkward but thankful smile before walking past Bubbles. Said girl turned her face down and stared nowhere. In disbelief of what had just happened. The poking/pricking sensation in her chest persisted.

She didn't look at Bunny, even though she felt her eyes on her. She actually found her eyes wandering to her right, where they met Butch's. His brows were furrowed in confusion as he flicked his eyes from her to Kim and back.

Bubbles swallowed, pocketed her phone and opened her textbook. Right as the bell rang and the teacher walked in.

---

"That was sick guys. I think we can skip practice tomorrow," Bunny said, detaching the mic from the stand and lifting it over to the edge of the garage where their equipment settled.

"Yeah I think that's a good idea," Harry groaned, sounding seconds away from hurling out his lunch as he held his stomach and dashed for the garage door.

"Hey, can I leave my Bass here?" Kim called after him.

Harry listlessly waved an approving hand. "Whatever. See y'all later,"

"You've gotta cut down on those Bruno's burgers gringo." Pablo yelled as Harry picked up the pace and disappeared out of sight.

"Wanna go watch Noroi back at my place?"

Buttercup faced Mitch as she sprung up from the couch. "The one about Kagutaba? Oh yeah, that shit's a classic,"

"I don't even want to know what the fuck you guys are talking about." Bear shook his head at them as he slung his guitar over to his back.

"Yo P. Give us a ride," Buttercup said, ignoring Bear's comment.

"Me too. Could you take me to the park?" Kim extended.

"You ladies 'ought to start paying me. I don't remember signing up to be the group chauffeur," Pablo lightly groused, but he made his way towards his car without denying them all the same.

"Your fault for being the only one with a car dude," Buttercup said pitilessly.

"Wait," Mitch piped up, swiveling his head to Bear. "You have a car."

"No." Bear replied instantly.

"Saw that coming." Mitch nodded in noble defeat before turning back to the retreating group.

"Bye guys!" Bunny laughed as she came up beside Bear. Her friends and sister echoed their replies before they all huddled into Pablo's car.

"You one of those guys who would probably convulse if your car got a scratch?" She said to Bear.

"Naw. But the person who'd scratch it would be lucky to get off with just convulsion." He answered with an uncomic tone.

Bunny rolled her eyes. "Where are you going?"

"Probably the coffee shop. Wanna come with?" He answered, which stumped Bunny for just a second.

"Oh. I thought she was off-limits," she smirked, tossing her head at his car—that they were closely approaching.

"Only for chauffeur work. This baby is driven on my terms."

Bunny definitely thought Bear was smart. And artistic. And unique in the way he thought. She definitely thought he was different from any guy she'd ever met even though she'd known him for just a month.

So she found it amusingly ironic that—in spite of all of that—when it came to cars, he was just like any other teenage boy.

He waited for her to be seated before he hunkered in and closed the driver door. Bunny's eyes surveyed the car's equally dark interior and she subconsciously inhaled.

"It still smells... new." She breathed, grazing her palms along the dash.

"I take good care of it." Bear answered, dropping his guitar in the backseat. He twisted his key in the ignition and released the handbrake.

The engine revved, sending a soft pulsation thrumming through the vehicle. Bunny felt it in her seat and subconsciously leaned back into it.

"Seat belt."

She turned to see Bear looking at her expectantly. She snorted.

"Like either of us are going to get hurt from a car crash or something?" She teased.

"It's insulting really, you suggesting my driving skills are so poor that I'd crash us," he retorted, then jerked his head beside her. "Seriously though. Seat belt."

Bunny smirked, but humored him and fastened her seat belt anyway.

Bear shifted the gear and placed his hand behind Bunny's headrest as he looked out to reverse. Bunny's eyes tepidly followed the line of his sinewy arm as the car backtracked into the road.

He drew his arm back and steered them down the street.

"Want to do the honors?" Bear said, gesturing towards the center console.

"Well. I'm certainly getting a lot of license here," Bunny said, grinning as she pulled out the aux cords—one of which was iPhone friendly and connected it to her phone.

"Don't get used to it."

Bunny snickered as she set up the audio and clicked on her playlist. Bear recognized the song instantly.

"You playing the album?" he asked as the soft cadence of The 1975's 'Somebody Else' permeated the car.

Bunny nodded, turning up the volume a little.

"Don't you think their music's kinda pretentious?" Bear said, dropping a hand to change gear.

"I mean, a little bit. But they're still one of the best contemporary bands on Earth, top ten definitely." Bunny retorted.

"Top ten?… Doubt it."

Bunny rose a challenging brow. "Want to count together?"

Bear dwelt on it for a second, then shrugged. "A'ight. I'll go first. Haim."

"Ou, nice, they're seriously underrated. Vampire Weekend."

"Obviously. Deafheaven."

"Protomartyr."

"Gorillaz."

"I'd argue that. Artic Monkeys."

"Three Days Grace."

"..." Bunny paused, holding up seven fingers. "That's it."

"No way." Bear said, unyielding.

"Deadass. Who else?" Bunny said with a confident grin.

Bear contemplated for a few moments. "Maroon 5?"

"No way. They're underrated fair enough, but they're not better than Matty and the boys."

"Matty basically carries the band on his back,"

"Could say the exact same thing about Adam Levine,"

"Fair." Bear nodded. He mused for a bit longer, but nothing convincing came to mind.

"Okay. I'll give them top ten, barely." He reluctantly assented.

Bunny then retorted by singing along to the song just as it entered the chorus. Snapping her fingers and sliding her shoulders with a smug look on her face.

Bear snorted and shook his head as they slowed to a stop at a light.

"You're really nothing like I expected you'd be." He said, facing her.

Bunny stopped singing and gave him a questioning look. She quickly decided not to overthink it, it was only natural that he'd also been curious about her before they met.

"Oh yeah? What were you expecting?" She smiled.

"I don't know honestly. I didn't really have a base to go off of. I just, I guess I didn't expect us to... instantly vibe. Almost ingenuously. You know?"

The smile on her face grew coy as she released a soft chuckle.

"Yeah. I dig... doesn't it makes sense though? Like, since we were created together and everything,"

"What, you think chemical X has got some voodoo properties that fated us to be friends?" Bear smirked.

"Shut up I didn't mean it like that," Bunny laughed and punched him in the shoulder. "I'm just saying like—I don't know. You don't think the X has anything to do with us? Finding it easy to be friends I mean,"

"Well, I'd like to believe me thinking you're cool doesn't have anything to do with some abstruse chemical substance."

Bunny stared at him, the smile on her face broadening. Bear returned the gesture and put his hands back on the steering as the light turned green.

They drove in silence for a while. Well, not particularly silence, seeing as Bunny's enthusiasm grew with every song—as did Bear's exaggerated exasperation.

Bear found himself thinking about his first day at THS. About how weird they were both being initially. About how that weirdness had instantly evaporated during their very first conversation.

His smile faltered slightly as he remembered the conversation. Which in turn made him remember Tuesday, he turned to her.

"Can I ask you something?" he said.

Bunny's jocundity almost instantly melted at his expression.

"What's up?" She asked, a bit of worry in her tone.

"When was the last time you used your special power? In battle?"

Bunny's eyes involuntarily widened in shock, but she calmed a millisecond later, hoping Bear hadn't noticed.

He had, but he didn't mention it.

Bunny thought about lying, but she had a feeling he would see right through that. "Um. It's... it's been a minute."

"Months?"

She slowly shifted her gaze away from him to stare out the window.

"Years?"

Silence.

But he noticed her hand briefly clutch around the hem of her sweater.

Bear stared at her as she refused to meet his eyes, before slowly lifting them away from her and onto the road. Were all these guys' songs about love and internalized heartbreak? He thought as he lightly frowned at the aux.

A few more seconds of quiet passed, and he decided to say fuck it.

"It's fine if you can't tell me the reason it messes with you so much. I get it—"

You don't. Bunny thought vehemently.

"—or maybe I don't," he said as though he'd read her mind. "But Bun... I know what's it like to be afraid of your own mind. When closing your eyes for too long is one of your biggest worries, there's no way to hide from it. You probably won't be able to control it, our minds are too powerful for us to have complete sovereignty over them. But you have to control how you respond to it. That's where we have power. That's where we decide whether or not we're going to be slaves to these powers."

It was strange. The way she absorbed his words. They didn't slam into her like some sort of painful, hard truth. They fell on her, like heavy shower beads, streaming over her head, and slowly down the rest of her body. They echoed in her head, but… still, she said nothing. Only hid her fists under her sweater so he couldn't see she was folding them tightly.

She just didn't want to talk about it. It... it made her feel fucking crazy. But she thought about what he'd just said, and it was obvious—astonishing—that he understood. He didn't go in depth, but he didn't need to. He just knew what she was thinking, and if she was being honest, it was a little scary.

Bunny didn't know exactly how much time passed where nothing was said between them. She could only guesstimate in relation to the fact that three songs had played. She huffed then, steeling her resolve. She wasn't talking about it. Not... not today.

But, she really didn't like this sudden awkward silence, especially around him. She didn't want them to spend the rest of ride like this. So she took a silent deep breath, unfurled her fists and laid her head on headrest before smiling at him.

"So, you think I'm cool huh?"

A beat passed where he just stared beyond the windshield. He didn't turn to look at her, but his lips did curl into a smile.

"Plus, when did it become 'Bun'? I didn't know you'd gotten so—" she started but was cut of by Bear massively cranking up the volume on the radio, and she laughed mirthfully as he turned into another street.

---

Bubbles sat on one of the benches facing the lake. The park was relatively empty now. Save for some dog walkers and an outdoor yoga class, she was relatively unaccompanied.

Her arms hugged her pulled up knees as she tried to maintain a semblance of composure. She'd tried using her phone, but nothing was distracting enough, so she pocketed it and opted to stare at the waddling ducks. That actually brought a smile to her face, she loved seeing animals moving freely in their natural element.

Her eyes roamed to the elderly lady on the bench further to her right who was spraying seeds on the ground for the descending birds who pecked at them. Bubbles smiled ardently at the sight, then jerked as her phone abruptly chimed.

She drew it out and stared at the screen, an unknown number displayed on it. She exhaled and answered it.

["Hey,"]

["Hey,"] Kim replied. ["So... where are you?"]

["By the lake,"]

["Cool. I'll be there like, now,"]

["Okay."] Bubbles said and immediately cut the call. She stared at her home screen—well, her eyes looked in that direction, but they weren't really focused on anything—and exhaled again. Now the chirping birds sounded less pacifying and more daunting. It was barely a minute later when Kim approached her.

"Hey." the pinkette smiled.

Bubbles managed a dinky smile herself, though she couldn't hold it for long. Kim looked at the bench and felt it a good idea to sit on the other end.

"So... what'd you want to talk about?" Bubbles asked.

"Well, I uh..." Kim trailed off to laugh softly. "I know I don't really get to tell you how to... deal with this—" she gestured between them, "—but it would... help, if you faced me at least."

Bubbles hesitated, averting her eyes from Kim's, but eventually, she floated and veered enough to face Kim before slowly planting herself back on the bench, knees still hugged to her chest.

"Thanks," Kim smiled inelegantly. "So, how are you? How've you been?"

"I've been good. You know, cheer, choir, family. The usual,"

"Yeah, Susie told me you and Boomer sound really good together," Kim said, her tone indiscernible.

"Yeah, he's really good." Bubbles affirmed.

"Must have been so weird when he and his brothers came back right?" Kim managed a grin.

Bubbles shrugged lightly. "At first I guess, but Boomer's really easy to like to be honest. So it wasn't that strange for long."

"Right," Kim nodded slowly. "How's your dancing going?"

"Good..." Bubbles trailed off, contemplating. "I'm getting to perform at a big charity event for the city." she added.

"Seriously? That's awesome. What charity event?"

"Mayor Bellum's planning one. It's gonna be held at the Morbucks' mansion,"

"Damn, congrats. That's huge isn't it?" Kim grinned genuinely this time.

Bubbles chuckled just above a whisper. "Yeah, I guess it is, thanks."

A brief silence followed that. Bubbles suddenly seemed very interested in the billowing leaves on the tree behind the bench.

Kim shifted, tepidly rubbing her palms on her cargo pants. "I like your hair down," she ventured, and tried not to wince.

"Thanks, thought it was time to finally ditch the pigtails you know?"

"They were legendary though," Kim said, allowing herself a small laugh.

"Well, you know, things change." Bubbles replied, her smile falling around the last two words. Kim's smile followed.

So then did another period of silence, where Kim looked at Bubbles who looked back but not really.

"Hey I don't mean to be, you know, but—" Bubbles said, steadying her gaze. "—why did you want to talk?"

Kim blinked at her then shook her head faintly. "Right, sorry. It's just... I just..."

She looked up, fixing her hands on the sides of her lap. She drummed her fingers along it as she briefly looked away from Bubbles.

When she looked up and spoke, her voice was much more mellow.

"I miss you."

Bubbles didn't know what she was expecting when she came to meet Kim here. After all... she was the reason they were in this position. Bubbles was finding it hard enough to deal with the situation already. And she was sure Kim knew that. So why? Why was she...

A croaky, joyless laugh escaped Bubbles' lips as she buried her head in the company of her knees. Kim continued to stare at her, disconcerted.

Bubbles didn't need to hear this. She really, really didn't need to hear this.

Kim clenched her thighs. "Bubbles... I know what I said, but I promise I didn't mean any of it. I—I know it hurt you, and I'm so, so sorry—"

Bubbles' grip around her legs tightened.

"—words can't describe how sorry I am. I didn't want this to happen to us—"

Then why did you let it! Bubbles thought, shutting her eyes tighter as she felt them gathering moisture.

Kim frowned with a deep-seated guilt. She swallowed, then pokily inched closer to Bubbles.

"—I want to make things right. I know... I know I've said that before, but I mean it this time."

Why? Bubbles sniffled. Why did she always do this?

"I—I promise Bubbles. I won't—" Kim said as she tenderly placed a hand on Bubbles' elbow.

It happened very fast.

Before Kim could blink, Bubbles had zipped away from the her, up into the air before she changed her mind.

"Bubbles! Wait! Please!" Kim cried desperately.

Bubbles flew on, faster, aiding the wind in drying her pouring eyes as she blinked furiously. Kim's voice rapidly fading in the background of her sobs and the rushing wind.

---

Holy fucking shit he couldn't believe he was this nervous.

Fuck.

Butch was perched on the roof of the apartment building directly on the opposite side of the street to the Fitness Center. He had considered lighting up a joint, but guessed it was a pretty stupid idea to be high for this.

He'd talked to Mitch and gotten him to fill him in on Buttercup's plans for Saturday morning. Mitch had declined at first, wondering why Butch needed such information. That had only lasted for about ten minutes before Butch squeaked it out of him. The Ruff could be very persuasive—and intimidating—when he wanted to be.

Mitch told him that the Swim team was going to start practice from Monday, but Buttercup liked to get in early laps at the weekend before on her own. With Basketball and Swim season both looming, Butch wondered how it was possible for her to be on both teams. Though, if the hype he'd heard about her athleticism around school held any truth to it, then it wouldn't be such a shocker if a few rules were bent for her to compete for the school as much as possible.

His legs hung over the edge of the building, his hands drumming against the dingy concrete as he hunched forward. His eyes stayed dilated as he literally peered through the facility, the swimming pool specifically. It was relatively scanty, maybe only about seven or eight people were gliding through and beneath the fifty meter long pool.

Buttercup was one of them.

It was easy enough to keep up with her with his supersight, but he couldn't have imagined how awestruck the people in the water with her would have been. She bulleted from one end of the pool to the other in a flash, like she was of some variant of aquatic specie herself.

Butch briefly thought about getting caught. There was the plausibility that she could pick up on the sensation of being watched, but she seemed intently focused on her drills.

He watched on silently. Trying to douse his restlessness by swinging his legs. That didn't work. So he opted to play with his power instead, watching sparks of green electricity dance between his fingers. That was more effective.

A healthy amount of time passed. Nearly an hour—in which time Butch had actually zoomed back home and borrowed a couple of cigs from Bear to calm his nerves. Or honestly just to smoke something. He had returned to spectating Buttercup's swimming. Her stamina was crazy, he thought as he toked on the last cigarette. He didn't know what she'd done when he briefly left, but since he returned she hadn't taken a single break. As she emerged from the diving end though, she grabbed the bars of the metal ladder and climbed out, seemingly done for the day.

Butch burnt out the cig just in time, chucking the filter as Buttercup strode over to the bleachers to get her towel. He dropped his X-Ray vision and floated down to the sidewalk.

He managed to get through the receptionist. He wasn't interested in registering for anything. He made it the pool section easily enough, though when he climbed up into the natatorium Buttercup was nowhere to be seen, but he knew she was in the changing rooms.

He perched on the nearest bleacher seat and waited, watching the people that currently occupied the pool to pass time. No more than twelve minutes passed before one of the three doors on the far right opened, drawing Butch's attention. Buttercup stepped out, shouldering a small duffle bag that most likely contained her wet swimwear.

She hadn't seen him yet. She had her Headphones on, and looked in the middle of picking a song play on them. Butch inhaled and zipped to the doorway.

Buttercup didn't look up until she began to descend the small staircase that led to the natatorium's exit. When she did, she halted instantly.

Butch didn't even have time to gauge her reaction as she immediately moved past it and pulled her headphones down to her neck.

"What the fuck?" She clamored, indignant. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"We need to—I want to talk to you." Butch blurted.

Buttercup stared at him in apoplectic disbelief. Was he fucking stoned or something?

"Are you fucking stoned or something?" She scowled.

"Please Buttercup."

Buttercup instantly sobered, practically blindsided. By the plea, or by the fact that he'd used her actual name, she didn't know. But she just now gave herself the chance to look at his expression properly.

He looked almost, courteous. His features were relaxed, not brusque, his tone wasn't demanding. In-fact it had come out in a tone she didn't know he was capable of projecting. He almost looked... desperate?

But that didn't do much to deter her.

Her face hardened again. "Why should I give you any of my time?"

"I don't have a good answer for that. I just... really want to talk to you."

Need to talk to you. Butch inwardly textured.

Buttercup's glare didn't simmer, but her stance did get less pugnacious. Her shoulders slackened as she looked at him. She couldn't place the expression on his face, he actually seemed a little uncomfortable, like he'd never spoken to someone like this before.

Buttercup didn't know why she assented, but she did. "You've got five minutes."

Butch's fists loosened ever so slightly, relieved more than she would ever know.

"Not here." Buttercup said, shoving past him.

Butch stared at her retreating form as she veered for the reception. He bumped his fist against his thigh repeatedly before falling into step behind her.

---

Coincidentally, Buttercup had chosen the roof of the very apartment building he'd been watching her from. He didn't mention that though, for obvious reasons.

She adjusted her bag and faced him as her feet hit the roof. Eyes narrowed, arms crossed.

"What." She spat.

Butch's thumbs rubbed his knuckles as his amenable eyes stared back at her.

"I... I remember. What happened on the playground I mean."

Buttercup continued to wordlessly glare. Butch slowly swallowed.

"I just wanted to say—" He started, then trailed off.

Say what? Where should he start? Fucking fuck this was so fucking messed up. How did someone even begin to apologize for this? What was it his mom said again?

"It was fucked up, it was so fucked up and I'm so sorry I did it. I was nine you know? I didn't even know just how messed up it was. I just wanted to get back at you for that wedgie," was what he thought to say, but his lips never granted the words permission.

Buttercup didn't glitch, if anything it was almost like her impatience was intensifying the weight of her glare.

Okay. Not that. No excuses.

"I never thought about how badly it could hurt you, and you have no idea how deeply I regret that. I never would have done it if I'd known better." Was another thought that never escaped his lips.

How long had he been openly staring at her now? And why was it so God damn hard to look at her? Maybe that was the problem, maybe he shouldn't be looking at her.

"Spit it out! I've got shit to do," Buttercup demanded.

Butch exhaled as his eyes drifted down. "I—"

"Look at me."

Butch looked up, brows raised in surprise.

"You want to tell me something yeah? Then fucking look at me while you do it." Buttercup scowled. She was angry, furious. She was fucking boiling. Every second she looked at him, the anger in her collected, threatening to explode through her fist.

Yet here she was, waiting for him to talk. Wanting to here what he had to say about this.

Butch's wild, confused eyes sobered into something incredibly contrite. The change didn't go unnoticed by Buttercup, who arched a brow as he said...

"I'm sorry."

A silent beat passed where they just blinked at each other.

"I'm sorry," Butch repeated. "I'm so fucking sorry fuck." Butch said, running a hand through his hair, disquieted. "Buttercup, I'm not going to bullshit you. I have no fucking idea what to say. Or how to fucking say it. What I did to you was so messed up and... and that's it—"

Buttercup couldn't believe she felt her eyes soften.

"—that's it. It was a twisted, vile thing to do. And I thought it was a fucking joke. I'm never, ever going to understand how badly it affected you, but that makes it even worse. I'm so fucking sorry, you have no idea." Butch finished, or perhaps ran out of words. The latter seemed more likely the case as his mouth hung open following his last sentence before he just clamped it and dropped his hand from his head.

After a few seconds, he got himself to look back up, eyes meeting a stoic Buttercup.

The wind picked up in that moment, and Butch watched as her hair billowed around her face, eyes riveted to him.

He gritted his teeth, then allowed himself a dinky chuckle despite the atmosphere. "Are you gonna say something?"

Buttercup peered at him a second longer, before shifting her eyes elsewhere, her gaze directed at the blocks of buildings beyond them.

Butch was just about to reiterate his request when she spoke.

"So what then?" She said, turning back to him. "You want me to forgive you?"

"I mean, I guess that's up to you. I just..."

He trailed off, taking a breath. "I just want you to believe me."

Buttercup's eyes marginally widened. Butch wasn't sure about anything right now, but he guessed that might have been a good sign. He was definitely going to cater to his mom for the rest of the day.

Buttercup's gaze lingered, then averted from him once again.

"I never expected you to apologize." She said, in a tone he couldn't read at all.

Butch didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't.

Buttercup suddenly felt numb. Thinking back, she realized that Butch had been bothering her much less the past three weeks. Hell, she actually even barely noticed he was around. He hadn't hung out at practice with the band, he spent lunch away from the cafeteria whenever he could. Even in the classes they shared together he sat as far away from her as possible. Her reminder had really bothered him that much?

But then—she frowned—she had to remind him. He had done something that horrible to her and forgotten about it. His apology didn't erase the damage that he'd done. But...

He was apologizing. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he looked fucking sick. Like he hadn't really slept well in a while. It was obvious that he was genuinely sorry about it. And even though it might seem reductive, Buttercup wondered just how many girls—victims—got this, an authentic, sans bullshit apology, given with accountability.

Then there was the fact that she wanted to be done with this. She'd more or less moved on before he came back here, not willing to let anybody's actions have any power over her. And here, this. This was the perfect opportunity to close the door on that memory forever.

Butch's fists had unfurled though he still didn't move. Now he was wishing he had at least one cig left.

Buttercup scoffed, and it drew Butch's attention.

"Okay then," She said, already turning to leave. Butch blinked rapidly.

"What? Okay what?"

"I hear you," Buttercup said, halting to turn and look at him, frown prevalent. "This doesn't mean that we're fucking friends now."

Butch let the sentence resonate, then nodded slowly. He would take that.

Buttercup began to float, holding the strap of her bag in place. "Hey,"

Butch looked up at her back.

"The other kid that was there that day... he's taking that shit to his grave." She said, swiveling to look at him one last time. Her tone laced with venom and warning.

"And so are you."

"You got it." Butch replied instantly.

Buttercup blinked at him, huffed, and zoomed off. Her streak fading into the sky.

Butch's eyes followed it until it dissolved into the clouds. Suddenly, the gargantuan sea of sky blue fell, the white, malleable poof beds that were clouds were suddenly wisps in his vision. He felt his back hit the concrete, and the sea settled again, the clouds reattained their dilatory, cottony appearance.

He continued to stare at the sky, arms and legs spread out on the roof. He felt the tightening at the base of his stomach slowly loosen itself as he heaved a very, very heavy breath.

---

Bunny swept her eyes from side to side.

Where was she?

She tried to move, but she was restrained. But by what? She didn't feel any binds on her wrist. She wasn't in a cage of any sorts.

What was going on?

'What's going on' She thought. She'd meant to say it, but she realized she couldn't speak, but she could feel her lips. She could feel all the parts of her body.

So why couldn't she see any of them? Why couldn't she use any of them except her eyes?

A scream in the distance. Bunny looked up, met by an illimitable darkness. Suddenly Buttercup was floating in-front of her. Tiny. Infant Buttercup.

The five year old Buttercup stared at her pointedly. Another scream.

'Are those the girls? We have to help them!' Bunny said.

Buttercup blinked at her. "Nothing."

Bunny didn't understand.

"Nothing." She repeated, then suddenly, she screamed, her body ashing as though she was being burned from the inside-out.

Bunny screamed in horror. At least she wanted to. No sound escaped her throat. Instead, she fell. Sideways.

How could she fall sideways?

This abyss was white. Bright. Bunny liked that. It meant she could see herself now.

She tried raising her hands to her face. No such luck.

Or not.

"What are you doing?"

Her eyes flicked to the side to see Bear standing beside her. He turned and looked back.

'Bear?'

He shook his head. "I thought you were different. You're just a mess."

Why would he say that? She tried to talk, desperately. Not even croaks of air sounded. She was trying so hard.

Bear shook his head and flew off.

She tried to follow his streak, but now she was in-front of a mirror. She stared back at her reflection.

How did she get here? Why was the mirror so big? Why was that shadow behind her?

What?

She gurgled. Her eyes widened as she saw it. It was so much. The blood was so much. It streamed down her lips, onto her clothes. The massive fist through her torso the perpetrator. She looked down at the red smeared fist while she choked on her own blood.

The shadow ambled out of the darkness, stepping into the light that only surrounded the mirror.

Bunny watched as the figure was illuminated. And she tried to scream when she saw...

Her.

Tall. Lofty. Hulking stature. Bedecked in her horizontally stripped, purple dress. Hair swept into a tattered ponytail.

The figure opened its mouth to reveal jagged, spaced out teeth in a sick smile. It looked at Bunny through the mirror with those unfocused, purple eyes before slurring...

"Bunny do good."

Bunny gasped as she shot up in her bed, inadvertently throwing her pillow to the ground and disturbing the night lamp.

She whipped her head around anxiously. From the vanity, to the closet to the plethora of posters on the wall. She was safe, she was in her room.

The night lamp went on suddenly and Bunny turned to see Buttercup staring at her, eyes tired, but wide with worry.

"What happened?" She asked.

It was then that Bunny realized she was panting. Heavily.

She rapidly scanned the room one last time before focusing on calming her breath.

"Hey," Buttercup sat up. "What's up?"

"N—nothing," Bunny said, managing a stable voice. "Just a bad dream. Really bad dream."

"You sure you're okay Bun?" Buttercup insisted.

Bunny nodded in assurance.

Buttercup gazed a second more before nodding. "Okay. Take it easy. Need the light?"

Bunny shook her head and the night lamp went off. She heard Buttercup stretch back on her bed and pull her sheets over her head. Within five minutes her breathing had already resettled into a rhythmic pattern.

Bunny glanced at the alarm clock, the red numbers blinking; 4:37. She sighed and shifted around, but she knew she wasn't getting any more sleep tonight.

She hugged a pillow to her chest. She hadn't had one of those nightmares in a while. Between the fight and her conversation with Bear a couple days ago though, she supposed it made sense. She groaned, hating a lot of things in that moment. She wondered if she should tell her sisters, after all she'd been dealing with this for years. Maybe she should tell her dad.

She shook her head.

It would be stupid to bother everyone with her problems. It wasn't like it fundamentally affected her life or something. Well... except in the case of her special power, but she'd gotten this far without it anyway, she thought as she blinked in the umbra. Thinking of the dream, thinking of the figure that had been intermittently haunting her mind since she was nine.

Since she was born.

She threw her covers off and shuffled out of bed, sticking her feet into her fluffs. Sleep wasn't an option either way, and right now she could really use some coffee.

---

[Btw. Is there a reason we only hangout in school?. I feel like ur not using my potential as a friend properly.]

Boomer hit send, smiling at the screen. A tiny bubble of dots appeared under Bubbles' name immediately.

[Boomer smh XD. Don't I still owe you a personal story before it's official though?]

Boomer laughed.

[OMG I totally forgot! I want a story or I'm taking the heels back.]

[What heels? ]

[Don't hurt me]

[XD. I'll see what I can do about the story]

[U've got five days]

Bubbles didn't reply immediately, so Boomer stared at his screen the for two minutes or so, wondering where she'd gone. He busied himself with scrolling through his socials for a while until he got a notif of her text.

[Sorry. Monster Attack. Ttyl.]

[Oh sure. Save me a scale (jk that's gross af)]

Boomer threw his phone beside him and sat up. He surveyed his room, thinking about what to do. His stomach made a suggestion by growling.

"Okay, I hear you buddy." He said, rubbing his tummy. He hopped out of bed and stuffed his feet into some shoes. He quickly switched his t-shirt for a sweatshirt and zipped to his vanity, nodding satisfyingly at his hair and pocketing his phone.

He was welcomed by the euphonious sound of the piano as he exited his room. He grinned and closed his eyes almost reflexively, floating down their spiral staircase. He emerged in the living room and immediately drifted to the piano where Bear was sat.

Said boy briefly glanced up at Boomer's hovering form before returning his eyes to the keys.

Brick was here too, Boomer noticed when he opened his orbs. His redheaded brother was sprawled on the couch sofa, staring yonderly at the ceiling, equally immersed in the beautiful acoustic their brother was permeating the room with.

Boomer closed his eyes again, so he could get the full experience, so none of his other senses could disrupt the purity of the cadence. It wasn't until Bear was done that he even realized Butch had joined them.

"Dude. You should have been born in the 80's or something," Butch said from his position at the bottom of the stairs.

"More like the 1700's," Brick ventured.

"I wouldn't mind that. Only drawback is no cigs." Bear replied, standing as he closed the upper sill.

It hit Boomer then that all of them were together, and an idea sparked immediately.

"Hey, let's go out to get lunch!" He proffered, descending to the floor.

"Bruno's?" Butch smirked. Bear noticed.

"Dude don't you want to try something else? I heard of this really good diner near the suburbs," Boomer beamed.

"Word on the street is Bruno's burgers are unmatched. Why would you want to switch up?" Butch retorted with a frown.

"Bruno's isn't going anywhere. I'm down with somewhere different today," Bear said.

"Ha!" Boomer exclaimed triumphantly.

Butch heaved a defeated groan. "Fine. What fucking ever. Let's bounce then, I'm starving."

"Care to join us. Oh Fearless Leader?" Bear said, looking to his last sibling.

Brick simply reached for the remote. "I'm good,"

"Come on man. You barely get out." Boomer pushed.

"Almost like I don't like this city or something. Weird," Brick replied in a jaded tone.

"Dude, you're still on that shit? Your disgust extends to the food too?" Butch arched a brow.

"Yes." Brick said flatly.

All his three brothers simultaneously rolled their eyes. "You're really not coming?" Bear asked.

"What? You guys gonna drag me there?" Brick scoffed.

Bear assumed a thoughtful look, then turned to Butch and Boomer. They were looking at him with a similar expression. Then almost in unison, they all smirked and turned to Brick.

Brick sensed their gazes and turned to see their mischievous faces staring back at him. His eyes suddenly widened in realization.

"You fuckers better not be th—agh!" He was cut off by three pairs of hands grabbing onto him and pulling him off the couch.

---

Brick hit the pavement, hard. He immediately shuffled to his feet to issue his descending siblings one of his infamous, glowing death glares.

"What the hell?!" He clamored as they landed in-front of him one after the other.

"We're already here Brick, you might as well," Boomer said, looking at the sign above his brother that read; Blacktop Diner.

"I might as well? Like you didn't just drag me here without my volition?" Brick seethed.

"You're kinda making a scene bro," Butch said as he bounded past Brick and knocked Boomer over the head (The fuck?!) just because.

Brick blinked and looked to his left. The people sat at the window booths quickly averted their gazes from him to their food.

"Seriously man. Aren't you hungry?" Bear inquired, stopping in-front of him.

Brick glared at him. "Do I look hungry?" His stomach betrayed him with a growl the instant he spoke. He looked down at it then back up to a smug Bear who jerked his head at the door behind him.

"After you."

Brick's glare lingered for good measure before he adjusted his cap and spun on his heel, ambling for the door himself. Bear snickered and followed him.

There was a decent amount of people in there, most of them seated in the booths with few occupying the stool seats across the lengthy counter.

Butch and Boomer hunkered into the second booth to the wall, each claiming a window spot. Brick and Bear joined them respectively. A waitress sauntered over once they were seated and asked them what they would like, offering a few suggestions. Between that exchange and glances at the menu the boys made their order.

Butch watched with shimmering eyes as the young—probably in her twenties—waitress made her way back behind the counter.

"Man, how are waitresses always so damn fine?"

"Marketing," Brick stated flatly, slumping in the seat slightly.

"You're certainly in a better mood today," Bear finally voiced his thought to Butch.

"What can I say? La Flame just announced his upcoming album. I'm getting served by a fucking vision of a waitress. And Boomer's hair looks stupid, all is right in the world." Butch answered, punctuating his sentence by flicking a few sparks at Boomer.

The blonde replied by slugging Butch in the face.

"I liked you better when you were mopey and depressed," Boomer declared with a scowl.

"Fuck you." Butch retorted, tendering to his jaw.

Bear stared at his green-eyed brother until those orbs roamed his way. Once they did, he gave him a relieved, brotherly smile.

Butch returned it.

The waitress returned with their drinks. Butch slyed her a tip as he took his glass. She furtively swiped it and shot him a wink before leaving their table.

"Yo, did you see that? She's defo into me," Butch proclaimed.

"It's a waiter trick dumbass. Keep it up and you'll go home with an empty wallet." Bear affronted, sipping his Milkshake.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Boomer smirked.

"Oh suck it. When was the last time you even kissed a girl cubana?" Butch riposted.

Brick more or less drowned them out as he sipped his Egg Cream. His eyes lazily roamed the diner, from the chattering second-rates in the booths to the assorted design of the floor. He looked back up when his ears picked on something that sounded like a news report. His eyes flicked to the TV above the counter and he realized he was right. It was in-fact the news channel, reporting...

He frowned. "Well. Look at this."

His voice drew his brothers' attention and they looked to him, then followed his gaze to the TV.

"Damn. Santa Cruz?" Boomer said, leaning forward.

The story being reported was of the Girls engaging two monsters, keeping them just beyond the water at the docks. There was a massive ice wall—probably courtesy of Blossom—obstructing the beasts from progressing into the city as they tackled them two-on-each.

"Makes sense, there's a monster occupied island off their coasts as well." Bear said.

Townsville was just over a forty minute drive away from Santa Cruz after all, and they shared a coastline.

Butch snorted. "Lucky they're not getting the big guys with all that water around 'em huh?"

"We took care of that remember? For a good while at least." Brick said.

Bear looked away from the TV, suddenly very interested in his drink.

"Hey. I know it's uh—I know we don't really talk about it but..." Boomer said, eyes halting at Bear for a second before shifting to his other brothers. "I don't know. Do you guys miss the jobs?"

"Kinda." Bear shrugged, and three pairs of shocked eyes whirled on him. He simply sipped his drink.

Brick let a beat pass before replying himself. "Yeah. I guess. It was something to do," he shrugged, eyes still on Bear.

"Pft! You enjoyed it more than any of us you filthy fucker," Butch scoffed at the redhead. "I sure as hell miss the pummeling. I need a fucking fight soon,"

Boomer's laugh was soft. "Don't jinx it."

Not a second after the last word escaped Boomer's lips, there was a hefty, resounding thud that vibrated through the whole diner. A slew of confused murmurs emanated from the diner's occupants. Then another thud followed, disturbing the boys' drinks on the table.

Butch looked out the window, then slowly turned to Boomer with a mad grin. "Too late?"

And it was music to Butch's ears when a reverberating monster roar sounded in the distance. The diner exploded into chaos, but all of the people seemed too frightened to take their chances outside and one by one—mostly—jumped and sprinted behind the counter for cover. Soon, the boys were the only ones sitting in their booth.

The four of them exchanged glances as another thud boomed, educing affrighted screams from the passel of people hunkered behind the counter.

Brick looked from his brothers to the TV, seeing the girls still intensely locked in battle. His gaze fell to the numerous poked-out heads that were staring at him. Some of them muttering their recognition.

He turned back to his brothers. Bear blinked at him. Boomer's arched brows very discernibly said So...? And Butch's grin threatened to split his face in half.

Another roar echoed. Brick groaned.

"You've gotta be fucking shitting me."

~End: Ch. 4~