For those wondering about this chapter, the story will feature both sides now (Townsville and Viletown -Mirror world) so I can have a better control of the story ^^

The mirror world chapters are still relevant! But I want to submit all the written content that goes before that part of the story! Once I catch up to it, I will give the chapters a number. Right now I marked them with a "?" cause I dunno what number they would be but once I catch up to them, I'll finally give it a number! (So just have in mind the numbered chapters go before the ones with the "?")

Chapter 0. Family pt 1

"Hey, you're unusually quiet... What's wrong?"

"..."

"Why are you sweating that black stuff?" Butch asked as he watched a black substance drip from his brother's forehead.

"..."

"Brick, hey, say something," Butch said as he arched an eyebrow and looked at him very confused.

"I..."

"Hey, Brick, I don't know what's wrong with you but don't worry, everything's fine. Nothing happened, I'm here" Butch said with a smile that was both meant to comfort him and tease him a little.

"..." Everything is fine, nothing happened, here I am he repeated over and over again, words that soon found themselves mingling with his memory of what had happened minutes before. His eyes dilated and his body began to tremble, thing that prompted him to hug his own body in an attempt to calm himself.

"Brick...?"

"...Urk" Unable to hold it in any longer, the red-eyed boy turned away and vomited violently. Butch looked stunned by this. At first he was simply surprised, but... Seeing how his brother's vomit was black in color, he couldn't help but feel very dismayed. The black liquid was pouring out with more intensity, which frightened Butch to no end.

"W-Why are you throwing that up...is it because you don't have any food in your stomach or..."

"B-Butch... Butch..."

"What?" the green-eyed boy observed his brother breathing irregularly.

"My chest hurts..." said Brick as he tried to calm himself with all his might, for he believed that at any moment he might explode. What kind of feeling was that? He wasn't sure, but, he believed something very bad would happen to him if he continued in his current state. He did not want to die, he did not want to behave like an idiot and act as if what his brother had experienced had not happened. He didn't want to scare him, he didn't want his brother to hide from him.

Brick was trying to think on what he didn't want, this, just to calm himself down, since he believed that the raw, venomous anger that was growing inside him would tear him to shreds if he let it out. The hatred that was threatening to completely overwhelm his being would be what would accelerate his instability.

Not quite understanding what was happening to him, Butch went over to his brother and hugged him in an attempt to calm him down. He felt that this was probably the best thing he could do, since from the pair of tears in Brick's eyes, Butch feared that Brick might be holding back an emotion to the point of leading to his current instability. Although...what kind of emotion could cause him that? He understood that it was possibly stress, but...

What had happened in the span that he was unconscious?

"Brick, I know you don't like hugs, and well, I'm not much of a hugger either, but... If you want to cry and you don't want me to see, I think... I think this is the best position for that, right?" Butch asked while trying to lighten the mood somehow.

"I-I... I..." Brick was trying to tell him that he didn't know what was happening to him; however, scenes of what happened earlier assaulted him one after another, leading him to return his embrace in a desperate manner.

"Brick... Are you about to die?..." asked Butch as he stroked Brick's hair trying to reassure him.

"..."

"That's why you're resisting, isn't it? I wonder if it's hard for you to even talk..." said Butch "Although... maybe at this point it's for the best, I don't think your body will hold out for long, Brick."

"I don't want to forget..."

"I know it will be annoying for you to forget, but, I don't like to see you suffering like this..."

" It hurts, doesn't it?" Butch asked as he whispered.

"¿Huh...?" he uttered as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Boomer! I told you there's nothing to eat, so shut up!" exclaimed Brick. It took Butch a few seconds to react but he soon looked at the door of the room, and then he saw where he was.

"That was a dream...?" Butch muttered still half asleep, he was notoriously worried. Though, his attention shifted as the door to the room opened to show Boomer.

"Butch! I'm hungry!" exclaimed Boomer out of the blue. Butch looked at himl. The two of them stared at each other for several seconds without saying a word.

"Huh?" Butch finally mumbled, realizing what was going on. Was Boomer asking for food or something?

"Let's go steal something! Let's eat at a restaurant and leave without paying!" exclaimed Boomer excited as he ran and jumped on the bed, Butch kept the blond from falling on him by moving aside.

"I don't understand... what..." murmured Butch as he saw Brick leaning against the door frame while staring annoyed at Boomer who was on top of the bed where the three of them slept. They didn't sleep like that at first, but Brick considered that as long as he could control Butch's hyperactivity and watch Boomer so he wouldn't go off and do something stupid at night like he had done before, it would be best to sleep together, even if he didn't find it the most pleasant.

"Boomer and his attack of stupidity," Brick said as he looked briefly at Butch to continue watching Boomer who had curled up in the blankets and seemed to be biting them lightly. "You've been like this for a while now, what were you supposedly doing? Sleeping?"

"Well... yes, I just woke up," Butch said as he watched Brick closely.

"Haha, well, that's obvious, but yes, I can tell... You have that stupid half asleep look, what surprises me is that you were still here and didn't run away to destroy something like the idiot you are" said Brick as he continued watching Boomer.

"Eh? You don't like destroying stuff?" Butch asked Brick who sighed right after hearing the question.

"Not if I haven't had breakfast, you tend to run away without us noticing, to cause havoc by yourself when we leave you sleeping alone" explained Brick "I like to eat something before I go destroy the city and I don't enjoy chasing you just to force you to stop... anyway, the dumbass is hungry as you can see"

"Ah... well, I'm sorry...?" Butch said without really knowing what to say. Hearing him apologize, Brick narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him, had he just...

"Is there something wrong with you? I've never heard you apologize for... being you," said Brick as he then frowned and made a fist. "You're not one of those stupid girls, are you? We had problems last time when one replaced Boomer."

"What? No, I don't have anything" Butch replied as he stood there thinking about what his brother had said, smiling mockingly as he remembered. "True, the stupid got caught in that beam... though we were caught as well, haha"

"Hey...! I'm not stupid!" exclaimed Boomer who was distracted for a moment from his hunger. Brick and Butch looked at him blankly.

"But you don't mind being called a dumbass?" they both said as they watched him return to bite the blanket.

"Okay... if you're not one of those girls... What's wrong with you? Why are you looking at me like that? Do you see me as some kind of steak? Because if you do, I can put you in your place in two seconds" Brick said to his brother, who didn't seem irritated or anything, if anything, he looked confused again. The red haired lost motivation and just looked at him boringly. "Hey, say something, if you don't say anything, I don't feel like hitting you."

"Brick, uh... well... How do I put this... Not that I care or anything, but..." Butch didn't know how to ask without causing his brother to question his behavior, not to mention that he found it embarrassing to ask just like that.

"Why are you blushing...?" Brick arched a brow conveying his confusion. What was wrong with him today?

"You, uhm... Have you..." Butch was trying to muster the courage to ask though, once he opened his mouth to talk, he chickened out. "...Seen yourself in the mirror? You're not wearing your cap!"

"The laundry robot took it, what about it?"

"It's just a little weird to see you without it..."

"You've never cared about seeing me wearing my cap, so... What were you going to say?"

"..."

"Butch?"

"Have you screamed or anything like that lately...?"

"Huh? Well yes, I've been yelling at Boomer for a while now, why?" Brick asked without understanding the point of the question. Butch was not satisfied with the answer, he would have to try again.

"No, I mean... Have you been hit, kicked or something...?" asked the black haired, again, Brick was still ignoring the intent of the question.

"Well, yeah, the idiot apparently saw my face as bacon earlier and was trying to bite me, if that's what you mean. But why does it matter? I just hit him and he stopped trying... a couple of minutes later."

"Ah... no, not exactly Boomer, I meant if..." Butch didn't know how to ask. Boomer looked at them without understanding the difficulty of the question, was it so complicated? Even with his hunger, he knew what Butch was trying to ask.

"Butch is trying to ask you if you're okay" Boomer said out of the blue. Butch went silent along with Brick. The black haired looked at Boomer with anger, he didn't want to say it like that, he didn't want Brick to start overthinking the situation... since it wasn't normal for Butch to ask something like that.

"What...?" mumbled Brick, still lost. "Why would he ask me something like that? Boomer, don't be stupid. Butch doesn't ask those kind of questions."

"But that's what-" Boomer tried to explain, but Brick interrupted him.

"You better keep biting the blanket or something, don't make dumb suggestions, idiot" said Brick. Boomer rolled his eyes, but without paying much more attention to what was going on, he did just what his brother had told him to do. Butch, on the other hand, couldn't find a way to fix what Boomer had said and just remained silent. "Well, with the idiot in his world, what do you want to ask me? Get to the point."

"Uh..." Butch looked away, showing the twitch on his eye, not knowing what to say. "I'm trying to ask if... Have you felt like screaming or...?"

"Butch, stop" said Brick as he didn't want to believe what was happening, Boomer's suggestion crossed his mind and seemed strangely credible. "Are you trying to tell me the idiot was right?"

"Ah..." the black-haired muttered, not knowing how to defend himself. Brick really didn't seem to understand his brother's reason for asking that and didn't even want to think about it.

"Are you trying to ask if I'm okay?" Brick asked Butch who looked away. The red haired sighed, if it weren't for his brother's particular way of being, he would really think it was someone else. "You've never asked that" Boomer looked at Brick who immediately saw him stick out his tongue, Brick rolled his eyes and ignored it.

"There's always a first...?" said Butch as he frowned and pouted. "But it seems I just wasted my time asking, it's obvious you're fine"

"Why would you ask that when you just woke up?" Brick asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"It's nothing, just forget it, I don't know what's gotten into me..."

"Butch, you're not the sanest person in the universe, just say it already or Boomer will probably eat your head for making him wait," said Brick.

"Ok, whatever... I dreamt you were crying, I just don't remember why you did," said Butch. Brick was silent after hearing that, him, crying? Okay... that was one of the dumbest things he'd ever heard...

"And should I assume it was something serious since it made you ask about me?" he asked Butch who looked away again, feeling ridiculous, very ridiculous... and more so since Brick's expression of disbelief didn't help.

"Ah, what the hell, forget it, I don't even remember what it was about, let's eat something!" exclaimed Butch with the intention of making Brick shrug it off, he didn't want him to see him like Boomer.

"Heh. Well, if you say so, you were starting to worry me, talking like Boomer and everything" said Brick. Boomer stopped biting the blanket to glare at his brother.

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?!" exclaimed Boomer, offended by his brother's comment. Brick looked at him mockingly.

"That you're the weakest of us, not to mention the corniest" Brick said to his brother who frowned angrily, not liking what the other one said. Butch smiled at this and looked at them amused.

"Yes! And the stupidest!" added the black haired just before he laughed at his blond brother.

"I'm not corny nor stupid!" exclaimed Boomer, to which Brick responded with a punch to the face after approaching him. Boomer quickly responded and jumped to bite him for his hunger and as a means of revenge.

"Agh! Not again! Stop biting me, idiot!" Brick yelled as he flailed his arm in an attempt to get Boomer off him.

Butch stood there watching them and sighed in his mind, he had managed to distract Brick long enough to make him forget what had happened. He didn't want him to start making fun of him for saying things that only girls, or Boomer, would ask... although, if he was completely honest, Boomer wasn't the kind to ask those things either, as much as Brick would insist on the opposite.

Before his brothers finished fighting, Butch left the room and walked to the kitchen where he quickly looked for something he could eat, after a couple of seconds of high-speed searching, he realized there was nothing but instant soup. How could that be?

"I understand your confusion but it's true, it's all that's left of the monkey's food since we were eating everything we wanted before," said Brick who had entered the kitchen along with Boomer, who looked clearly more beaten up; however, it was apparent that he had put up a fight. "I guess he bought those to make sure we had food in some way or another, but he really exaggerated. Though it seems he really planned to leave for a long time, huh"

"Now that you mention it... What happened to him? It's been a while since he left and he hasn't come back" said Butch.

"Who knows. He practically remodeled everything for us and left one day to never come back... But who cares? He left us robots that do the laundry and clean the place"

"Do you think he left after being fed up from fixing everything over and over again?" asked Butch.

"Even if that's the case, he always ends up ruining or exploding his own stuff when it comes to fighting those dumb girls. One would think he already takes rebuilding as a given, you know, like part of his 'efforts' from evildoing"

"Yeah, it's surprising how the destruction we do can't compare to what he does by himself. I say he went somewhere to work on his next plan against those girls, nothing else makes sense but that" Boomer commented.

"He's been away too long for him to still be planning something... Maybe he got tired of us and decided to leave while gifting us his house. He doesn't really have the way to chase us out anyways" said the black haired.

"Well, it's true he's always preferred his weapons and plans over us" said Brick as a matter of fact. His brothers, after hearing the comment which obviously sounded resentful to them, looked at him with pity while trying to hold their laughter. "Why are you two looking at me like that?"

"Yes, it reminds me of that time when you asked Mojo if he really loved his laser beam more than us!" said Boomer still pitying his sibling. (This conversation is a reference to the comic issue 'Father knows worst')

"The three of us questioned him about that, don't come up with whatever suits you!"

"But you were the first one to ask!" Butch smiled joyfully while pitching in, however, Brick sighed in exasperation and crossed his arms in disapproval.

"No, moron, you were the first one to ask that"

"Maybe, but you were really indignant over it, I wouldn't be able to forget your anger from that day!" Butch stated while greatly enjoying teasing Brick, it was just inevitable to do so when the moment arose.

"Well, anyway, maybe Mojo died somewhere. I'm starving... Let's eat at a restaurant and leave without paying..." said Boomer as he disregarded the previous subject.

"But you've already eaten all my punches, you shouldn't be hungry, stop being annoying with that. Everyone here is hungry," said Brick. Boomer looked at him, not too excited to hear that.

"Haha, very funny... and Brick, there are only three of us here... you talk like we were many" said Boomer. Brick looked at him for a few seconds but then ignored him to look at Butch.

"Well, let's go get something to eat, unless you two want instant soup again," said Brick. Boomer didn't look happy about it, in fact, he was clearly against it.

"Not instant soup again! I want more food!" exclaimed the blond. Brick looked at him sideways and just punched him in the face to shut him up.

"Well yes, it looks like there is no other option..." said Butch when he saw everything empty, and then thought of something. "Oh, how about some cooking?" Brick and Boomer were shocked by the suggestion.

"Are you serious?" Brick asked. Boomer spoke right after.

"Yes, are you serious?" repeated Boomer. Brick looked at him with displeasure, he was very upset that Boomer did that, nevertheless, he let it go.

"Of course!" Butch declared with confidence, causing the other two to automatically laugh. Butch looked at them, what was so funny?

"Butch, between what you asked when you woke up and what you just said... I think this is dumber and funnier, cooking? Us?" Brick started saying "If we want something we just take it, you know? Like the dumbass said, just go to a restaurant and leave without paying, we don't need to cook or anything stupid like that"

"Huh? So you don't want to see what we can do?" Butch asked. Brick seemed mildly interested in hearing that.

"If you talk about 'cooking' and end up burning and blowing things up... yeah, that sounds like fun, that could be something to do today," said Brick. "We have to eat something first, though," Butch understood with that answer.

"No, I'm talking about..., forget it, I'll figure it out," said Butch as he then ran at full speed to Mojo's room before returning and flying out of a window. "Boomer, hurry up, ding-dong!"

"Ah! Food, great!" exclaimed Boomer who immediately followed him thinking they were going to a restaurant. Brick looked in the direction they had both gone, where was Butch going?

Not caring about it anymore, Brick decided to follow them. The red haired boy ran to get this red cap back from the laundry robot and jumped out from one of the windows, propelling himself towards the sky; catching up with his other two brothers soon after.

Without spending much time watching Butch and wondering where they were going, they followed him and ended up in an unfamiliar street. Brick looked around trying to understand where they were.

"Hmm... this is..." Boomer muttered as he noticed a sign that said, ''Supermarket'. Both the blond and the red haired watched Butch, who looked at the place with a smile.

"Butch... What are we doing at the supermarket?" both Boomer and Brick asked.

"Oh, it's just that I want to cook" Butch said in a casual tone. Brick and Boomer didn't seem to understand.

"What...?" mumbled Boomer expressing his confusion. Brick remained silent until he understood what his brother meant.

"I see... You mean to destroy the place, right?!" exclaimed Brick as he smiled at the idea. Butch looked at him in disbelief.

"No... I meant I felt like buying things and trying to cook," Butch said in an attempt to clarify his intentions.

"Huh...?" both children murmured as they really didn't believe Butch could mean that.

"Butch... but you can't even cook," said Boomer.

"Yeah... the idiot is right, I don't feel like getting food poisoning. We should steal something instead" said Brick.

Butch rolled his eyes when he heard them, they weren't helping him at all.

"Hey, if you two don't like the idea, you better leave. I'm going to cook even if I have to eat my failures!" exclaimed Butch. "Besides, I'll make something while following the instructions, it can't turn out that bad"

Brick raised an eyebrow, and then sighed.

"Well... I guess it won't kill us to wait for you," said Brick as a way of accepting what his brother wanted. Butch then rushed to the market with his brother's approval.

Boomer looked at Brick. Why did he say that? Was he okay with the idea?

"Brick... Why did you agree to stay?" asked the blond one, wanting to understand his brother's way of thinking. Brick looked away as he thought about his answer.

"Butch is just experimenting, I'm not happy with the idea, but... I think it's okay to let him do what he wants," explained the red-eyed boy. "I'm not going to help him so the least I can do is this."

"I see... I've never really gone into the supermarket," said Boomer as they both went into the place to look for Butch.

Once inside, the children walked through the aisles and finally found Butch putting a gallon of milk into a basket.

"Butch... What do you think you are doing?" asked Brick as he questioned this. He wasn't thinking about...

"Looking for ingredients?"

"I'm talking about the basket..."

"Ah, Brick... baskets are used to carry things so you don't have to carry them yourself" explained Butch. Brick sighed again, what made him think he didn't know what it was for?

"No, don't be an idiot. Are you thinking of buying...? Weren't you thinking of taking everything and leaving?" asked Brick. People looked at them with concern, they weren't speaking very quietly and that made people nervous.

"No... I think I was very clear when I said I wanted to buy things and try to cook," Butch replied. Brick looked very lost.

"I didn't think you were serious when you said you wanted to buy..."

"And do you have any money?" asked Boomer, believing that this was an important fact to consider.

"Yes... Do you have money? Because you can't buy anything if you don't..."

Butch reached into his pants pocket and showed them a fist of bills. Brick and Boomer were stunned by that.

"But of course I know I need money, that's why I went to Mojo's room before I came here," Butch explained. Brick was silent but soon nodded slowly.

"Well, I guess it still counts as stealing if you use stolen money... do whatever you want," said Brick. Boomer looked around and realized that people were now ignoring them, or at least didn't seem to be paying attention to them anymore. Maybe they didn't care about the money being Mojo's?

"Yes" murmured Butch as he put the money away and kept looking around for something interesting. "I feel like making pancakes, ah, I'll buy some chocolate milk too" he added as he walked away from his brothers.

Brick then looked at Boomer, he was slightly concerned by his brother's strange attitude.

"He seems to be going through a very strange phase," Brick said. "I find it hard to believe he's not one of those girls in disguise.

"Hmm... Why would there be money in Mojo's room? Didn't he take his money?" the blond boy suddenly asked himself, Brick sighed. Did it really matter?

"I guess there's probably more money in his room," said Brick. "But right now I care more about this"

"Oh?" murmured Boomer curiously as he followed Brick's gaze to Butch, who was still browsing for stuff. "Well, at least he looks like he's having fun"

"I don't know what he'd find fun about doing this..." said Brick as he noticed the black haired turning around to see him.

"Hey! You guys can pick something! I brought enough money!" exclaimed the boy happily. Brick couldn't help but look blankly at him.

"Why does he look so happy about that?" asked Boomer. "If we wanted something we'd just take it..."

"I don't know what's up with him... but I hope this doesn't last that long," Brick said. It's not that he was angry about his brother's attitude; he just... he just didn't understand.

Author's note:

I want to comment that I'm not a native speaker, so, if you see anything worth mentioning do tell me! It helps me improve ^-^

Also, I want to state the Powerpuff girls will only appear when the story wants them to! This is not a romantic story, it's more of an analysis of the Rowdyruff boys going through this 'what if' scenario and such.

Thus, the normal thing is for the girls to not show up that much, specially at the beginning. I know it's a little weird for me to insist on this, but, over on deviantart, at first, I had people asking about the girls whereabouts or I get people asking if this story is about the boys, wondering where the girls are. So yes! Please have in mind the boys are the main characters and romance is in no way relevant to the main plot!

Also, for those interested on following the comic version, you can find it over on t-a-p-a-sxio/series/Flames-of-a-reverie/info (erase the - between the word 'tapas' and the x change it for a dot)

If you prefer reading on wattpad you can find it here: wattpad(punto)com/story/319749600-flames-of-a-reverie ("punto" means "dot")

The mirror world chapters are still relevant! But I want to submit all the written content that goes before that part of the story! Once I catch up to it, I will give the chapters a number. Right now I marked them with a "?" cause I dunno what number they would be but once I catch up to them, I'll finally give it a number! (So just have in mind the numbered chapters go before the ones with the "?")

This story will now combine both sides (Townsville and Viletown -Mirror world) so I can have a better control of the story ^^