Hey, guys! I think we're getting close to the ending, maybe 10 chapters or so! Do you enjoy it so far? I'm kinda having a shit time at work, so I'd appreciate any feedback! Thanksss! 3

'What do you think you're doing?' Blossom asked, quite evidently annoyed.

Boomer had taken a decently sized weed bud between his fingers and now he was crushing it into the joint he was making.

'Uhm...rolling us a joint?'

'Now?? Do you think it's the right time now, Boomer? They're going to wake up soon.'

'Yes, I know. I'm hoping they're having some too, might calm them down.' he said cooly while rolling it between his fingers.'

'What if they don't want to and I'm stuck here with a drugged-up you and a rabid Butch??' Blossom asked, exasperated. 'Cut it out, it isn't the moment.'

'Alright, alright. I'll wait until they wake up. Can't be long.'

He continued rolling in silence while Blossom carefully monitored the greens for signs of wakefulness.

'Don't take it personally, yea?' Boomer casually said.

'...what?'

'That Brick doesn't want you to know how he's breaking the chains. We don't know either.'

'...Right.'

The image of a nervous, fidgety Brick kept replaying in her mind. Whatever the method was, it must be taking a toll on him.

'I don't care how he does it as long as Buttercup is free. Brick promised me she'd be fine, he has to do it.'

'Yea, I guess he does owe you. Brick never breaks his word.'

Blossom noticed that Buttercup's eyelids started fluttering, she got closer and anxiously grabbed her free hand.

'Buttercup, can you hear me?'

'Hey...' the single word escaped her sister's bruised up lips.

'We're getting you out of these chains, ok? Tomorrow morning, just a few more hours, alright? You'll be fine.'

Buttercup slowly turned her head towards her sister and nodded.

'What happened..?' Buttercup managed to whisper.

'We managed to knock out Butch and we're waiting until the morning for Brick to break these chains.'

'Why not now...?' Buttercup said, coughing up some blood. She weakly tried to pull on the chains.

'No, don't. You can't.' Blossom stopped her. 'You can't break them. Brick needs to rest before doing it.'

'Why do you...trust Brick? Why is...he helping?'

Buttercup's green eyes bore into hers and Blossom could feel a familiar pang of guilt in her chest.

'He promised you'd be safe. And...we have no choice but to trust him.'

'They're all scum.' Buttercup hissed through gritted teeth.

'I'm right here, you know.' Boomer chuckled, rolling a fifth joint already.

Buttercup turned her head towards the blonde, she hadn't noticed him earlier.

'I'll say it again. You're. all. scum.'

'You don't even know me, we've never talked. Why are you so sure?'

'You're a Rowdyruff... that's enough in my book.'

He just shook his head in dissaproval, giving her a sad smile.

Suddenly, the chain jingled, and Blossom noticed a slight twitch in Butch's chained arm.

'Boomer, he's waking up. We have to keep him here.'

The blonde just nodded and continued rolling.

Butch slowly opened his eyes and attempted to look around. Both his eyes were bloodshot, it was strange to see the vivid green if his irises contrasting with the now bright red of his orbs.

'Fuck you all..' were his first words, followed by a frustrated moan. His breathing was laboured, one of his ribs had probably punctured his lungs, or at least it looked that way on a superficial inspection.

'Fuck you, too.' Buttercup attempted to use her chained arm to throw a punch at him, but it was too weak to actually infuse any power into the hit, instead just letting her arm fall flatly on his chest.

'You can't be this...touchy when we have company, Butterfly.'

'You're disgusting.'

'But you always..come back for more.' he darkly chuckled.

'Shut the fuck up.' Buttercup groaned, this time managing to hit him in the chest.

Blossom was afraid this would escalate, so she grabbed Buttercup's hand and took her body as far away as she the chain would let her.

'Stop it, you two!'

'What's the matter... Flossy? Where's your boyfriend...?' Butch coughed up some fresh blood. ' Did you tell your dear sis... you're boinking Brick 24/7? It's too much even by my standards.'

Buttercup turned towards her sisters, her eyes filled with anger and hurt.

'Buttercup, I...'

'I don't wanna know.' Buttercup interrupted her.

'Oh, but it's happening.' Butch teased. 'That's why I chained you up. Brick can't be the only one having a good time.'

Buttercup attempted to yank at the chain, but Blossom kept her in check. Blossom found it difficult to do so, they both were regenerating by the minute, their flesh mending before her eyes.

'You're fucking crazy. SICK IN THE FUCKING HEAD.'

'Am I, princess? What about earlier when I went to get you?'

Hearing this made Buttercup freeze, her eyes widening in shock. Seeing this Butch smirked and continued his rant:

'Yea, don't think I didn't feel it. You kissed back, right before I chained you. I know you did.'

Butch said, propping himself better on the couch.

'Guess I ruined the mood with the chain. We might have gone all the way if I didn't.'

Buttercup regained her composure and narrowed her eyes at her counterpart.

'Your brain got so scrambled, you're imagining things now. Did daddy Brick beat you up that hard?'

'Haha, nice try. You're not changing the fucking subject. You want me. See, Flossy? I was right.' Butch wiped the blood dripping in his eyes with the back of his hand.

'So...' Boomer interrupted. 'Does anyone want a smoke? Since we've got a few hours to kill.'

'What do you mean, a few hours to kill?' Butch furrowed his brows at his brother.

'Brick's breaking the chain in the morning. We're staying here until then.'

'No, he fucking isn't!' Butch attempted to get off the couch, Blossom was getting ready to restrain him, but before she could do anything Boomer activated his eye beams and fried his brother to a crisp, making his skin turn into charcoal and exposing the muscles underneath. The sudden attack made Buttercup panic, and she violently yanked on the chain.

'Sorry, Butch. You can't leave.'

'A gurgling sound came out of Butch's mouth, Blossom thought she could decipher a 'hell' and 'shit'.

Boomer turned his head towards Buttercup, but Blossom stepped in front of her sister's body.

'What the hell, Boomer?? She isn't trying to escape, leave her alone!'

'Fine, I guess. Joint, then? It's better if we keep them mellow. It's either the joint or getting fried.'

Blossom hadn't seen the blonde act this ruthless so far, she looked at her sister and nodded in agreement.

Buttercup nodded back, and reached out to pick up the blunt from Boomer's hand. He passed her a lighter as well, and he interrupted her before she attempted to light it up.

'You can also light it with our powers, but I prefer old school.'

'...Right.' Buttercup gave him a weird look as she drew in the smoke, and seemed to do it effortlessly.

'Heh, you're better at it than Blossom. You're definitely a smoker, right?'

Buttercup smirked and passed him back the rollie:

'Blossom's the goody-goody-two shoes in our family.'

The now crispy Butch chortled: 'Not... anymore.'

Buttercup retorted: 'I can't take you seriously when you look like Colonel fucking Sanders forgot you in the oven. Just shut the fuck up.'

This prompted Boomer to laugh hysterically for a minute or so, which made Buttercup chuckle uncomfortably, she seemed strangely flattered by this display.

'You're pretty funny, I think I like you.' he passed her back the joint.

'Uhm, thanks..?' BC replied as she slowly breathed in the smoke.

Blossom was pretty baffled at this exchange, but she preferred not to intervene. She only hoped her sister wouldn't make waves until morning.

'Butch, do you wanna have some?' Boomer asked.

'Wanna tranquilize...me again...with that shit? No, thanks.'

'I don't wanna hurt you again, that's why I'm asking.'

'Fuck...you...Boomer.'

'Fine by me.'

'How about you, Blossom?' Boomer tried tempting her.

'No way, one of us needs to be awake here.'

'Suit yourself, party poopers.'

A bit more time passed in silence, and Butch's wounds were healing rapidly. Before he could do anything, Boomer zapped him again. They were already through their fourth joint when Boomer asked:

'Buttercup should pick some music to listen to, since she's our guest tonight.'

The brunette seemed mellow enough to accept the request graciously. She picked up the laptop from his hands and quickly browsed YouTube.

'Ok, ok, FINE. It might be too hardcore for you, tho.'

Butch scoffed:

'You don't know what hardcore means, Butterbitch.'

Buttercup dismissed him with a wave of her hand: 'Check this shit out.'

Violent bass suddenly started booming in the room and Buttercup began shaking her head to the rhythm.

'No. fucking. way.' Blossom saw Butch mouthing the words.

Boomer once again laughed and pointed his arms at both greens.

'I can't believe it.' he drew in his breath between bouts of laughter.

'...what?' Buttercup seemed genuinely confused.

'It's the same Russian Hardbass mix Butch's been forcing down my throat.'

'No.' Buttercup shook her head incredulously.

Blossom had to agree with the blonde, she'd heard this mix playing a few times before when Butch was around.

'Haha, you're basically the same person. Hilarious.' Boomer added.

'No, fuck that. My music taste is better than this animal's. Lemme show you.'

Familiar notes started playing. Blossom remembered the song playing from Buttercup's room when they were younger.

'You think you can impress them with Sex Pistols? PATHETIC.' Butch hissed at her before getting blasted again by his brother.

Buttercup's eyes widened in anger as she swiftly looked for another song to play, this time, harsh electronica.

'Ah, easy...Gesaffelstein-Viol.' he scoffed. 'How predictable.'

Blossom herself was kind of amused at this point, but nowhere to Boomer's level.

'Ok, your turn, you choose something, Butch.' Boomer winked at his brother

'NO, I'M NOT DONE, DUDE.'

'Whoa, fine, go ahead.' Boomer put his hands up defensively.

Another song that her sister liked started blasting, and Buttercup pinned his counterpart with her gaze.

'It's. Blood. Rave. Song.' Butch slowly answered, punctuating each word, staring back into her angry green orbs.

Buttercup growled in frustration, which made Boomer erupt in another wave of laughter.

'Geez, can you guys...Get a room or something? You clearly listen to the same music.'

'That doesn't mean anything!' Buttercup clenched her fists, visibly annoyed.

'Boomer, stop teasing her, she's uncomfortable.' Blossom intervened, the only lucid one of the bunch.

A devilish smile appeared on Butch's still raw face.

'Yeah, BC, this is a good thing. We like the same music, we can go to really cool raves and shit. Not like you've ever been to one till now. You've got so much stuff to learn from me.' he said in a patronizing tone.

'You're kidding me, right? I've been to more underground parties than you could in a lifetime. You've got shit to learn FROM ME!'

'Fine. It's a date.' Butch winked at her.

'What?? I never..'

'Help me ditch these losers and we can go now.'

'You're out of your goddamn mind! I'm not staying chained to you for one more fucking second, you psychopath!'

This time Boomer blasted Buttercup as well, making her writhe in pain on the floor, and gave Butch another blast for good measure.

'Boomer! What on earth...?'

'Sorry, thought she was going to try to escape, can't be too careful. ' Boomer answered, slightly regretful.

'Ok, this is nuts.' Blossom started pacing about the room. 'We can't go like this until the morning... Are you guys absolutely sure we can't break these by ourselves?'

Butch chuckled darkly and Boomer simply shook his head.

'We had years to figure it out, Brick was the only one who could.'

Blossom could not simply let it go, she started inspecting Buttercup's handcuff. She expected she'd find some weak spot, or a keyhole, but it was a simple metal band.

'What's this made out of, anyway?'

'Not sure, but it's impossible to break, like I told you. We tried everything.' Boomer replied

'You clearly didn't since Brick managed to open them!'

'You can ask Brick then.' Butch playfully suggested. 'But you know he's not gonna tell you. Not even your magical cunt isn't that magical.' he said in a sing-song voice.

'You're a special kind of asshole, you know that Butch, right?'

'Hey, just telling it like it is. Don't shoot the messenger.'

They stood in silence for the next few minutes, silence only broken by Boomer's occasional puffs.

Blossom looked at her sister's wounded face, she didn't know if it was the right time to ask, but realized this was as good of a time as any in the current circumstances:

'How's everyone doing...? The professor, Bubbles...?

Buttercup seemed taken aback.

'Bubbles is fine, still going to the shelter. The professor is angry, obviously.'

'Obviously.' Blossom timidly answered.

'He wants you to come back.'

The words were charged, Blossom could feel it.

'The antidote...is it done already..?

She felt both brothers' eyes on her, she needed to choose her words carefully from now on.

'Buttercup, I can't. I'm...with Brick now. I made a promise.'

'He apparently broke his, so why would you keep yours? '

Blossom knew they were on thin ice. She regretted trusting Buttercup to be subtle, she seemed genuinely pissed off. She decided she'd try to dispel any suspicion the boys might hold, with the risk of wounding her sister:

'I don't think you get it, Buttercup. I'm in love with him. I'm in love with Brick.'

She didn't expect the words would flow off her tongue so efortlessly. She almost convinced herself of it. It seemed so natural, so true.

'...maybe it is..?'