I'm soooo sorry that I am taking so long to work on this story guys. I really need to sit down and just finish it already since the ending is near. I've just been working on my PJO story recently and time slipped away from me I guess. XD thanks for being patient. I'm going to focus all my attention on this story until it is finished! (Unless I get distracted)
Chapter 19: Dreams Really Do Come True
She gasped, struggling for air. The stitches in her sides were causing her much pain, but she didn't stop running. She wasn't sure where she was running to or why, but an instinct told her if she stopped someone would die.
The orange haired girl leaped over a fallen branch, stumbling when she landed on her feet. Her ankles were numb with fear. She marveled at how she was able to move at all. The fear that was driving her away was incomparable. She heard a shriek overhead— it sounded familiar. But it wasn't the being that radiated this intense fear.
A knot of anxiety formed in the pit of her stomach.
Suddenly, two girls materialized on either side of her. One had on blue satin pants, a white cotton top, and boots. Gold tinted armor protected her body and her blond hair was braided down either side of her head. A sleek blade was strapped to her belt.
The other girl was a brunette with dark hair French braided down her back. She was dressed similar to the first, with green satin pants, white top, and stylish work boots. Her armor was gold, but looked less protective. She likewise had a sword sheathed at her side, though her fingers curled around the hilt protectively.
She knew these girls— friends of hers, perhaps? She couldn't remember.
The redhead felt her bodyweight intensify. She looked down at herself— her faded pink gown had change to a faded pair of red pants made from a soft, but strong material and a white top identical to the others while her hair had seemed to have braided itself and wrapped around her head in the complex style she had done for most of her life. A breast plate and metal sleeves had materialized on her body with a sleek silver sword strapped to her side.
The fierce looking brunette pushed the blonde and Blossom to the ground. She sat up, peeling dizzy and disoriented only to be pushed flat onto her stomach again. "What are you doing?" The green girl hissed, laying flat directly beside her. "Do you want us to get caught?"
Blossom shook her head, not sure of what was even happening. An enormous shadow passed over several stories above her, but it's strong wingbeats caused wind to flutter her hair. It was scary, sure, bit it wasn't the monster that had radiated the fear she had felt earlier.
The three of them stayed that way, face down in the dirt until the blonde poked her head up from the tall grass. "It's clear," she whispered hastily.
Immediately they stood up, dragging Blossom to her feet in the process. The two set off at a brisk pace, Blossom between them, trying to keep up, but her legs seemed to not work.
"Blossom help us out here!" The blonde wailed.
"Yeah, Leader Girl! This is your plan!" The brunette supplied with a straining sound to her voice. The woods seemed to have gotten bigger, trees looming over them, branches scratched at their faces and hair, and a white mist curled around the roots of trees, slowly climbing higher. The image looked like a scene from a horror book.
Blossom almost scoffed. Her plan? She didn't even know who these girls were, so how could they know she had come up with a plan.
"Blossom!" A voice somewhere deep within the woods called desperately.
Blossom's eyes widened and her ears perked up with alarm. She knew that voice! Bailey...? Brice...? Brick...? Brick! Brick! Brick! It was Brick! Blossom frantically tried running but the two girls held her too high up off the ground. "Let me go!"
"Blossom! No!" The blue eyed blonde struggled to keep a grip on Blossom's upper arm.
"It's not them! It has to be a trick!" The brunette cautioned, having an easier time holding onto Blossom.
"He needs me!" Blossom ripped away from the two strangers, stumbling to the ground as she regained her balance. She ran and ripped through foliage. She could hear the huffs, puffs, and calls after her, but she kept running in the direction that he was calling from.
"Brick?!" Blossom came to a stop momentarily losing the direction from which his strong and fearful voice was coming from.
"Blossom?" He called off to the right from where she was standing.
"Brick." She whispered, jumping over a log. She tripped over a thick root, stumbling and rolling into a small clearing. A black stone castle loomed threatening over the tops of the trees. Lightning striked the tower, the flash revealing the unstable foundation of the ruined architectural structure and of the windows that looked like they led to a dungeon.
"Blossom." A voice said, only it wasn't Brick's.
Blossom whirled around, seething. "Berserk..."She spat venomously. She didn't know how she knew her name, but she did. The same way she knew it was Brick's voice and how she knew those girls were somehow connected to her.
Berserk smirked evily, a bronze blade sheathed on her hip. Her outfit had changed from the hot pink dress that Blossom somehow knew that she had once worn. Instead, she had on denim pants and a top similar to Blossom's only black. Her hair was styled the same as Blossom. "How you doing, gorgeous?" She asked sarcastically, evil.
She scowled. "Where's Brick?" Blossom demanded.
"Brick?" Berserk answered, sounding astonished. "You mean me?" Her voice had changed, dropping in pitch and took on a gentle undertone.
Blossom blinked back surprise. It had been her impersonating Brick! Buttercup was right. Buttercup? Who's—
Berserk picked at her teeth, then coughed. Smoke protruded from her mouth in wisps and smelt of a campfire. "Pardon me," she grinned.
Blossom fumbled for her sword, but it was too late. Berserk was already closing in on her.
Blossom jolted awake in a cold sweat. Her hands flew to her face, where scratches had accumulated on her face in the dream. Her hands and legs shook and her heart raced. Already the details were becoming obscure in her mind, but she was sure that it had been a nightmare.
A light knocking was coming from the large wooden door that lead to her balcony. Still shaking, she yanked back the covers and crawled out of bed. When the sole of her foot touched the cold stone, a shiver tickled her spine, but she padded over to the huge door relentlessly.
As she unfastened the latch that held the door closed, she silently wondered who was trying to get in through the balcony. A thief? Or...thieves? She threw the door open, hoping to find an arrogant smirk on Brick and Butch's faces and Boomer with an apologetic smile. Instead, she found Buttercup with her arms crossed, a brow raised and an amused grin.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty." Buttercup greeted. She was dressed in forest green pants, a white top, and stylish work boots. Her dark black hair was combed and braided to the side. Armor protected her body and arms.
Blossom rolled her eyes, feeling a strange sense of deja vu. Something didn't sound right, or look right technically. Unless it was nothing at all, and she was just worked up about today. Yeah. That had to be it. She rolled her eyes again trying to appear annoyed, which wasn't that difficult.
"What are you doing on my balcony?" She questioned, leaning over the side. They were almost 70 feet up off the ground. How would she get up there in the first place?
Buttercup shrugged as she leaned precariously to the right and over the edge. She grinned at Blossom's timid expression, then dropped to the stone balcony floor and walked through the door and into her sister's room. "My room is directly above yours and instead of taking the stairs, I just tied my drapes together and slid down to your balcony."
"And this was faster then walking the 5 minutes to my room?"
The green girl shrugged again. "Good thing I did. You were screaming in your sleep." Blossom tensed, eagerly encouraging her to continue. "You were yelling, ' where's Brick!?'"
Blossom blushed. "I don't really remember what happened in it. It was a nightmare though."
Buttercup smirked playfully. "Whatever you say, Leader Girl." She skipped over to the door then whipped around. "Breakfast is ready, then Dad says we need to get your plan into effect as fast as possible for it to work." Then she opened the wooden door that lead the huge cave-like hallway, then left the room without a word.
"My plan," Blossom repeated, striding over to her new closet filled with custom made clothing. She frowned as a million thoughts buzzed in her head. "My plan..." she continued to mutter, "that's what worries me."
Bubbles stroked one of her braids as she stared at the huge table filled with food. She eagerly wolfed down a stack of pancakes and a small bowl of fruit. Usually she didn't stoop to Buttercup's level at meals but when you're not sure if it is your last, you take what you can get.
Buttercup smiled as she came into the huge dining room. She took a spot beside Bubbles. "Bubbly."
"Butters."
Buttercup chowed down on bacon, eggs, toast, yogurt, waffles, and fresh fruit chasing it down with pasteurized apple cider. She noticed Bubbles giving her an incredulous look of disbelief. Buttercup smiled. "Eat up, blondy. Big day ahead of us."
Bubbles nodded slowly, raising a glass of strawberry tea to her lips without taking her eyes off of Buttercup. "Mmmmm hmmmm."
The echoes of footsteps filled the room as Blossom padded in wearing red faded pants, an identical white top as Buttercup, and the same stylish boots. Her hair was braided and pinned to her scalp neatly. She took a seat to the right of Buttercup, noticing how empty the room was. "Where's dad?"
Buttercup wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Preparing the army for war, giving speeches, making sure all women and children are safe in the outside villages."
Blossom nodded thoughtfully, fully understanding the weight of situation. It must be hard being a king. "When did you get up, Bubbles?"
Bubbles picked at her food. "Since dawn. I couldn't sleep. It's hard to describe, but being in a war scares me. But having to wait for it to begin is even worse."
Blossom nodded again. "Same here."
They both looked expectantly at Buttercup who feigned surprise. "What me? Nah, not that scared. More like bored."
"Bored!? While we await the moment where we lead an army into battle?" Bubbles cried aloud, stabbing her knife into the mahogany table.
Buttercup flicked her hair annoyed. "Geez Bubbles, I was kidding."
Bubbles relaxed a bit. "Well then..."
A palace guard stormed into the room looking antsy. He bowed awkwardly. "My ladies, your father is ready for you on the northwest wing balcony."
"Thank you-" Blossom started.
"Claudius your grace." The young man replied quickly.
"Claudius!?" The three said together. That made sense! Bubbles was sure she had seen that young man before.
Claudius stiffened. "Is something wrong?"
"No,no." Blossom reassured him.
"We're on our way, Sargent Commander." Buttercup teased, grabbing both Blossom and Bubbles by the upper arm and dragged them out of the room.
"Sargent commander?" Bubbles repeated confused.
Blossom rolled her eyes. "It was a joke, guy."
"guy?"
"Nevermind! Just forget it!" Blossom exclaimed.
Buttercup released their arms as they made their way across the castle to where their father was waiting. They didn't say anything—their footsteps seemed to communicate in morse code to each other. After what seemed like forever, the triplets reached an enourmous set of double wooden doors with golden trim. Bubbles and Blossom hesitated at the door, but Buttercup stormed right in.
"Professor!? Where are you?" she shouted at the top of her lungs.
The Professor poked his head in from the balcony doorway. Then he turned his attention away from the door. "And here they are! Monshea, your long lost princesses!"
Blossom gulped. "Wha-what?"
Buttercup got Blossom and Bubbles in a headlock and pulled them out onto the balcony. She released them and used her palm to shield her eyes from the sun that poured over her face. Somewhere below her, thousands of HURRAHS roared in her ears. Her eyes adjusted to the sunlight, and staring back at her were nearly 20,000 soldiers decked out in bulky, silver armor.
Bubbles didn't know what to do, so she just put on a smile and waved to her father's army. Blossom felt stage-fright rising to her cheeks, so she followed Bubbles' example by waving and smiling. Buttercup grinned as she held up a peace sign.
The Professor cleared his throat. "Girls, care to give the army their instructions? And perhaps a boost of encouragement?" he suggested through a clenched smile.
Bubbles and Blossom shared a nervous look, their heart rates increasing. Buttercup, however, straightened up, realizing that the other two would probably squeak out something ridiculous. She stepped forward gracefully, holding her hands together up high. "It's a blessing for us to be back with you, our people, after 16 years of our absence." The crowd of soldiers fell deadly silent. "We had been kidnapped at a few weeks old and split up, sent to different families that treated us lower than dirt." The crowd gasped.
Bubbles felt herself being drawn to Buttercup and her powerful voice. She hadn't known how much of a captivating speaker the green girl really was. Usually Brick or Blossom took control of the situation so confidently.
"Yet, with the help of several new friends, we realized who we really are and made our way back here to you. We defeated all odds. And all of us assembled in this courtyard will prevail against all odds as well. Blossom, Bubbles, and i have communed with an Oracle—" more gasps cooed. "and we are destined to fight the forces of the sorceress." Even more gasps.
"Following the fool-proof plan of Blossom," Buttercup indicated Blossom, and a few cheers were heard. "we are going to win this war. Professor will lead you brave young men into battle, while the girls and I assault Disoria's castle head on. We cannot explain anymore, for fear of spies."
The audience exclaimed protests, and murmers broke loose.
Professor held his hand up and his army fell silent once again. "My daughters must be on their way." He hefted a metal helmet onto his head. "Ready for battle!"
"Huzzah!" the soldiers answered gleefully, awaiting for their orders.
Blossom and Bubbles curtsied, then pulled Buttercup along with them through the doorway, while the Professor addressed some commanding officers. Bubbles squealed all giggly like. "Oh my gosh, Buttercup! I didn't know you were a public speaker!"
"Yeah! You were amazing!" Blossom gushed.
Buttercup pretended to wipe dust off of her shoulders. "Neither did I. It must be part of my Gift."
Blossom aquired a straight face. "Part of Hand to Hand Combat and or Weather? I'm guessing it's more of a special skill."
"Whatever." Buttercup scoffed.
Blossom tightened the laces on her boots, her stomach doing a flip. It was time. It had to be. "Alright. We have friends and our mother along with the entire world kind of resting on our shoulders."
"No pressure," Bubbles muttered sarcastically.
"Move out!" Buttercup exclaimed, a little too excited about marching off to war.
Bubbles urged her horse onward, the wind whipping her hair violently. Blossom rode point with Buttercup and Bubbles on either side. Th horse's felt skittish— that much Bubbles knew. The special link she shared with animals gave he the ability to sense their emotions. All three stallions were scared of the dark gloomy castle that loomed threatening over the tree tops not far off.
Buttercup stretched out her legs, groaning uncomfortably. "Riding for so many hours straight has made my butt numb."
"Stop your complaining," Bubbles scolded. "We used to ride much longer than 3 hours straight."
"Yeah, but that was once upon a time sister. We haven't rode like that in weeks." Buttercup reminded her.
Blossom smirked at their bickering. It was true — ever since they had their audience with the Oracle, they had mainly traveled by foot and when horseback became necessary and available, it was usually a conveniently short ride.
A rustle off to the right of the foliage path they were following made the blue girl's heart race quicken, knowing that the horses were going to snap. A dark presence was chasing them away. Suddenly, Bubbles stallion reared, and Bubbles fell on her back; her sword clattered to the ground beside her. At first she couldn't move, and she feared that her back might've broken.
Blossom and Buttercup's faces leaned over her, and she could hear the loud hoof beats of three horses fleeing in the same direction they had came. She breathed slowly, the pain finally kicking in.
Blossom took a firm grasp on her hand, muttering unintelligible syllables. Buttercup's paint brush ends of her braid tickled her forehead. Just as quickly as it had come, Bubbles felt rejuvenated. She sat up, expecting to wince; instead she felt good as new.
Blossom panted softly. "Broken back. Not a good thing." She chuckled softly, trying to make it a joke.
Buttercup and Bubbles cracked grins. Sure, something evil and potentially lethal just scared away their preferred choice of transportation, but it could be laughable. They were facing certain doom right? Why not laugh it off?
Bubbles nodded softly. "Thanks Blossy."
"No problem, Bub." Blossom smiled back.
Buttercup shot to her feet, making her way back to her sword that lay flat in the dirt. She lifted up the silver hilt, carefully sifting loose soil off of the blade. "We need to keep going."
Blossom nodded standing up. "You're right. We ne—" she froze midsentence, her voice cracking with fear. Her heart pounded, and a sense of dark energy blasted over her relentlessly.
Bubbles reached for her fallen sword, but the air seemed thick like molasses. Time seemed to slow down, and her arm felt heavy like lead. This was not good.
"Run!" Buttercup squeaked out. Her legs moved slowly at first, only moving a few inches a minute, until the cold, shadowy grip lost its hold on her and she shot out into the woods full speed.
Bubbles crawled, trying to stand up. Her feet dragged along the ground and her head felt like a boulder on her neck. Yet, she continued to increase her speed until she jolted forward into the clear forest air as well.
Blossom clenched her fist around the sword hilt, willing herself onward. There was a boundary to the shadowy grip. She had noticed that both Bubbles and Buttercup had been released at the same distance from where they had been sitting when the cold fear rolled in. As far as she could figure, it spread outward slowly until it had formed a huge square, then stopped abruptly— but it was just a hunch; it might be still spreading without her being positive.
The ginger's feet crossed over the same distance mark that Bubbles and Buttercup had crossed, and her feet felt lighter. She surged forward at the fastest pace she had ever ran in her life, therefore confirming her hypothesis about the monster's darkness.
She ran, not daring to look back. The cold metal of her sword pressed against the thin fabric of her pants causing chills to cascade her legs. Dodging and weaving was easier than it had ever been, thanks to her boots. She almost laughed at the thought of her stumbling through an uncivilized forest wearing ballet flats and a wide dress skirt.
She panted, gasping for air. A stitch formed in her side, but she didn't dare stop running. An instinct warned her that if she stopped now, someone would die.
Blossom leaped over a branch, stumbling into a roll then staggered to her feet to continue running. Her ankles were numb with the fear that still clung to her body. She marvelled at how she was able to move at all. A huge shadow passed by over head, releasing a loud screech. It sounded familiar—but it wasn't the being that radiated such fear.
A knot of anxiety formed in the pit of her stomach.
Suddenly, two girls materialized on either side of her. One was blonde while the other was a brunette. Bubbles and Buttercup had found her! Blossom frowned as she ran up to them, but the three continued to cover more ground. Something about this situation seemed oddly familiar.
Out of nowhere, Bubbles fell flat on her stomach and Buttercup tackled Blossom to the ground. Soft grass and rotting logs broke their fall and camouflaged them. Blossom, in a daze, made a move sit up, but Buttercup pushed her to the dirt. "Are you trying to get us caught?" she hissed.
Blossom shook her head, not sure of what was even happening. An enormous shadow passed over several stories above her, but it's strong wingbeats caused wind to flutter her hair. It was scary, sure, but it wasn't the monster that had radiated the fear she had felt earlier.
The three of them stayed that way, face down in the dirt, until Bubbles poked her head up from the tall grass. "It's clear," she whispered hastily.
Immediately they stood up, dragging Blossom to her feet in the process. The two set off at a brisk pace, Blossom between them, trying to keep up, but her legs seemed to not work.
"Blossom help us out here!" Bubbles wailed, her arms feeling heavy.
"Yeah, Leader Girl! This is your plan!" Buttercup supplied with a straining sound to her voice. The woods seemed to have gotten bigger, trees looming over them, branches scratched at their faces and hair, and a white mist curled around the roots of trees, slowly climbing higher. The image looked like a scene from a horror book.
"Blossom!" A voice somewhere deep within the woods called desperately.
Blossom froze, her eyes widening with alarm. She knew that voice! It was Brick! How could he have possibly escaped the dragons? She began to struggle with her sisters. "Let me go!" She insisted, straining against their holds. Tears leaked from her eyes as their grip only tightened.
"No Blossom!" Bubbles protested, straining to keep a grip on her sister's upper arm.
"It has to be a trick!" Buttercup exclaimed.
"He needs me!" Blossom shouted, ripping away from their holds. She raced into the greenery, twigs scratching at her arms and face. She could hear the two calling for her to come back, but she ignored their wishes. How could they be so insensitive? He could be being tortured. Despite the painful stitches, she kept moving.
"Brick?!" Blossom came to a stop momentarily losing the direction from which his strong and fearful voice was coming from.
"Blossom?" He called off to the right from where she was standing.
"Brick." She whispered, jumping over a log. She tripped over a thick root, stumbling and rolling into a small clearing. A black stone castle loomed threatening over the tops of the trees. Lightning striked the tower, the flash revealing the unstable foundation of the ruined architectural structure and of the windows that looked like they led to a dungeon.
She stopped, planting her hands on her hips. Something about this wasn't right at all. She was sure that something like this had already happened. What was the dream she had had this morning. . .?
"Blossom." A voice said, only it wasn't Brick's.
Blossom whirled around, seething. "Berserk..." She spat venomously.
Berserk smirked. "How you doing gorgeous?"
Blossom growled, not speaking a word. Now she remembered the friggin dream. Why couldn't she have remembered it five minutes ago?
Berserk frowned, clearly confused and disappointed. "Don't you want to know where he is? Brick I mean. How I did it?"
Blossom almost laughed in her face. "I know you mimicked his voice. Forgive me if you had an entire monologue written, but that is just not appealing to me right now."
Berserk blinked perplexed, but that was quickly replaced by rage. "You are going to—"
"Eat those words?" Blossom asked. Berserk looked shocked again. "Puh-leez, sweety. It sounds like something you would finds in your dimwitted blonde sister's magazines."
Berserk roared, chucking a dagger aimed straight for her throat. Blossom feigned to the right, and rolled. Without thinking twice, she hurled her sword at the viscous girl who had begun morphing into a pink metallic beast.
The sword embedded itself in her chest, and Berserk stared at it protruding from her chest. To Blossom's disgust, Berserk slowly pulled the sword from her chest, her hand smoking while blisters formed. She dropped it and it clattered to the ground. "Thank you," she mumbled.
Blossom almost couldn't believe her ears, and she surged forward catching the limp girl in her arms. Her eyes were still hot pink and fierce, but in a friendlier way— like how Buttercup gets when you teased her.
Berserk smiled weakly up at Blossom. Blossom smiled back confused. "Why...Why did you thank me?"
Tears of pain rolled down her cheeks as she answered. "I was cursed to be like this you know, we were cursed by a witch thousands of years ago."
Blossom shuddered. "I am so, so sorry. If I had known—"
"No," Berserk whispered back, her eyelids closing. "We had only two options: damnation or redemption. You helped redeem me."
Blossom didn't cry. Berserk had almost killed her and her sisters and the boys more than once. But she cradled Berserk in her lap until she died in her arms, a mirror opposite of Blossom herself —good and evil. Light and darkness. Life and death.
Blossom rested Berserk's lifeless body on the ground, resting a small bouquet of daisies on her chest. Without looking back at her dead misunderstood enemy, Blossom wiped the stained blood off of her sword, and raced off to find her sisters.
Originally, this chapter was going to be longer but instead I decided to split it into two chapters because I thought it would help it flow better. I also wanted to have updated for Thanksgiving and my kindle is about to die. Soo...What did you think?
I didn't know how to kill off the Punks and felt bad about it a little. So I made their evil and bitterness a curse, but also so that the Puffs didn't instantly forgive them and cry over their deaths. 'Cuz face it, if someone had tried killing you, your siblings, and the person you love at a total of 4 or 5 times, you wouldn't immediately forgive them.
Me? I would be like good riddance bitch!
Any who, please review! Only three chapters left!