Brick trembled. He didn't know how long he'd been tossing and turning in bed, but he did know he just woke up, gasping. "N-no, no more. . ." he breathed. "No. . . more. . . nightmares. . . please. . ."

"URGH!" He could taste the blood sprayed into his mouth. Was it his, or was it someone else's? He couldn't tell. But he'd never felt so terrified.

"Well, now are you ready to do what you must?" Brick could feel his breathe being squeezed out. His blurry vision could barely make out the fiery red snake coiled around him. And further down the body, he could see. . .

Brick gasped, partially in surprise, partially for breath. "Boomer! Butch!" His brothers didn't reply. They were struggling, too.

"You know what you must do, Brick," the voice hissed. "Only if you do it can you win!"

"I don't know what the heck you're talking about!" Brick yelled back. The pain, the dizziness, he couldn't take it. . .

"Oh, don't lie to me. . ." the voice growled. "You know what's right to do, and there's always a chance for you, mostly for you. If you decide to do it now, I'll put you-and your brothers-at ease. If you don't, well, then. . ."

The serpent squeezed harder. "AAAAGGH!" He was going to run out of breath soon. He had to do it. It would take his pride away, but he had to, or he'd die, and his brothers would, too. He didn't want any of that happening.

He opened his mouth to call for help.

Why couldn't he place that voice? It was so familiar, but he couldn't think of anyone with that voice!

"Stupid. . . nightmares. . ." Brick grumbled, shivering. He flew out of bed silently, careful not to wake his brothers. Opening the door, he looked back at the other two. His brothers. . . they looked so. . . peaceful. . .

Brick frowned with resolve. No. Nothing's gonna happen to them.

He went downstairs. Flying to the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator. "Ah!" He grabbed a can of Gatorade and immediately cracked it open. Sipping it, he closed the refrigerator and turned to fly back up.

"Hhhhhhhh!"

The sharp intake of breath caught Brick's attention. He zapped in front of the living room. Cracking open the door, he peered inside. And there was Blossom, on the couch, holding her knees together, shuddering. Tears were leaking out of her one good eye. She was mumbling something frantically. Brick could catch fragments of her rushed speaking. "No. . . no, don't. . . be fine. . ."

Brick felt concerned. Was the girl worried about something else that could have happened? Wait, what-

Brick shook his head. Why the heck was he feeling concern for this stupid sissy? He shouldn't be feeling this.

Man, this is becoming a problem. . .

This wasn't the first time things like this had occurred to him, either. That day when he beat up a doctor to care for Boomer, he had broken one of his own rules. The rule that each brother was supposed to care for his own self.

And before that, back when he had helped out a cat. Out of all things, a cat. He and his brothers were just floating around, bored, when something that sounded seriously pissed off let out one of the loudest shrieks any of them had ever heard. The trio had flown towards the shriek, and they had found a bloodied alleyway, a cat whose right forepaw had been recently torn off, and a dog with a scarred muzzle that had been scratched across as if something had tried to cut it off. It didn't take long for any of the boys to figure out what had happened. And they had sided with the cat. Because Brick had ordered them to. After the problem had been solved, and the cat had been dropped off right in front of the hospital, the Rowdyruff Boys had broken another one of their rules: to show no conscience whatsoever.

Now that he thought about it, Brick felt really stupid. He was starting to develop feelings, rather disturbing ones. Mainly fear and worry. He didn't know why, he just felt them.

"Uh, is something wrong?" Brick snapped out of his thoughts. He noticed Blossom staring at him. . . and how widely he had opened up the door.

"Er-" Dang it! Brick quickly turned in embarrassment. He hadn't really intended to check on her tonight, he'd just woken up from a stupid nightmare, and she had too, apparently. Just how quickly was he getting to nowhere?

Brick whirled around to close the door. And ended up face-to-face with Blossom.

"Erm, uh, hello. . . ?" Blossom said, feeling awkward.

Brick muttered something unintelligible. After a while, he grumbled, "What do you want?"

"Well, it's just. . . I just woke up in the middle of the night. . . I had a nightmare and I got scared. And, well, the next thing that happened after I calmed myself. . . you were just. . . standing there. Why'd you look at me like that?"

"Look at you like what?"

"It was like, um. . . you weren't really looking at me, like you're seeing through me, and you were doing that for about twenty seconds. . . it was kinda making me feel uncomfortable."

Thanks for letting me know I looked creepy because I was lost in my past thoughts.

"Is something bothering you?"

"No, not really." But something was bothering Brick. It wasn't just the nightmare. It wasn't the fact that Blossom had a nightmare, or that he had dwelt on his past, during which he had broken his own rules, either. There was this strange feeling the air right now, something that Brick couldn't really place his hand on. Whatever it was, it felt bad. It was worry, fear, guilt, and hesitation mixed into one. It was a weak kind of dread, but it wasn't the kind of feeling anyone would want.

He wasn't the only one feeling dreadful. He didn't know it, but Blossom was feeling the same way.

So were the boys upstairs. "Brick? Brick!"

"Where the heck are you?!"

Brick turned away from the door, thankful to have a distraction. Soon, a forest green streak of light stopped right before him. This was followed by a cobalt blue light, which ran straight into the green one.

"Here you are," Butch said grumpily.

"Phew! Found you!" Boomer cried out cheerfully, jumping out behind the green boy.

Brick sighed. "So, looks like everyone in the house woke up. . ."

Butch raised an eyebrow. "Everyone?"

Brick gestured his head in Blossom's direction. Butch folded his arms and eyed Blossom. She lowered her eyes to the floor.

"Can we play hide-and-seek?" Boomer said. "Can we, can we?"

"Not tonight," Brick and Butch replied in unison. Brick stared at Butch in surprise. He wasn't really one to answer Boomer first.

"Go back upstairs, Boomer," Butch continued. Boomer obeyed. Brick sipped his drink and floated by when he felt a hand snag his shoulder. Brick turned to Butch, astounded. Butch didn't look back at him.

"We need to talk." Butch glared at Blossom again. "Privately." Blossom shuffled back into the living room and closed the door.

"So?" Brick asked when he and Butch had sat down at the kitchen table. "What'cha wanna talk to me about?"

Butch didn't answer for a long time. Then, "When are you going to kill all of them?"

Brick performed a marvelous spit-take at the sink. "What? Why are you asking me that? Why are you asking me now?"

"You know. . ." Butch continued, "you can just kill her now while you have the chance. . ."

Brick bit his lip. "Have you been thinking this through? All along?"

Butch nodded.

Brick sighed, "Well, maybe someday, dude. But not now. She's so hurt, she can't even kick me."

"You're actually feeling sorry for her, aren't you?" Butch asked, coldly. "Unlike how you feel for me."

"Wha. . . what?"

"You heard me. You're feeling sorry for a Powerpuff Girl, but you never feel anything for me."

Brick couldn't stay anything. What the heck was his brother talking about? "I don't know what you're trying to tell me, bro."

"Do you even care about me?"

"What the heck makes you say that?!"

"You didn't even ask my opinion on this on that day. But you talked to Boomer about it."

Brick bit his lip again. Well, that was true. He had left Butch out on the conversation. But he had done so frankly because he was afraid of what Butch would do if he ever tried to tell him about taking care of her. It had been pretty obvious; both of his brothers had wanted to do more, they'd gotten over the ugliness of Blossom's predicament pretty quickly.

But Brick hadn't. And he'd needed someone to understand. Boomer had been the ideal choice, being the idiot who would care less about anything going on in the world.

Butch, on the other hand, would probably never have understood. Why Brick felt like they had to take Blossom in for the moment, or why would even keep her alive. Because unlike Brick, who took some time to get over things, Butch would be nervous about seeing such gore, but split-seconds later, he'd be back to normal; if anything, he'd want to leave another living creature in the same shape.

"Well, you coulda just asked-"

"Boomer didn't ask."

"Get to the point!"

"Can't you think about me next time before you do anything else?!"

"COULDN'T YOU HAVE TOLD ME ABOUT HOW YOU FELT ANY EARLIER?!" Both brothers stared at each other, shocked.

For the first time, the red had yelled at the green.

And that wasn't it. Butch felt his blood slowly boil over. Brick was right. And he would have done that if he had expected Brick to listen to him.

Brick felt more startled. He hadn't known Butch had felt this way at all until now, and he was even more amazed his brother had managed to keep quiet. That was, until just now. Did he really seem that untrustworthy in even his own brother's eyes?

The two just stared at each other, silent, until Brick broke the still air, "I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"Sorry if you felt that way. But can you tell me these things right away next time?"

Butch went quiet. "Fine. But you won't listen anyways."

"I would. I just wish you'd tell me, so I can."

The twosome stared at each other once more. But they didn't gaze at each other with shock and distrust. This time, their gazes were warm and forgiving.

"Answer my question," Butch said, talking a little softer. "When are you going to kill them?"

Brick stopped to think for a moment before replying, "When she's better. It's not fun if you're not fighting them and if you're not the one giving them scars."

Butch waited for more, but Brick was silent. Butch nodded. Then, he asked, "When do you plan to take her back?"

Brick scratched his head. He hadn't thought on this one at all. Now that he thought of it, if they were ever going to fight the Powerpuffs the way they preferred to, Blossom was probably going to have to be returned home first. "I'll try to get rid of her as soon as possible, OK?" he sighed. "Just not now."

Butch nodded again. After some awkward silence, he said, "It's getting late. We should sleep."

Brick rolled his eyes. Says the guy who woke up to find his brother and talk to him about difficult affairs.

They finally exited the kitchen and zoomed upstairs into their room.

Not regarding Blossom, who had been sitting in the shadows, peering out the living room, attempting to listen in on the conversation. She hadn't been able to catch onto much, but what Brick said rang out loud and clear to her.

I'll try to get rid of her as soon as possible.

Panic rose in her quicker than bile. She would die. Soon, she would be dealt with, and her sisters would follow shortly after. She sobbed silently. What good was it being a heroine if villains could do this to her?

"At least he won't be doing it anytime soon," she whispered, trying to comfort herself.

"At least, not now."

FINALLY!

UGH. . . I JUST SURVIVED THE APOCALYPSE. Or so it seems.

SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE, GUYS. ONE MONTH AND THREE DAYS. WHY?!

Well, my school's had some projects that were like make-an-instrument-out-of-trash-within-two-weeks impossible. I guess that's enough.

I'll try to update monthly from now on, but that's not a promise.

This chapter was terrible. . . I know it sucks. Remember how I said that I had the middle of the story planned out a lot more than the beginning and the end? Well, scratch what I said. I realized I had the beginning and the ending planned out a lot more. No wonder this didn't end up as satisfactory as I wanted it to. Because when I've got the start and the end of the story planned out before the middle, it tends to end up being a short story, and I'm having a terrible time trying to make this story longer.

Not to mention, I've been sick lately, and it's hard to think straight when your head's pounding with fever.

AND MY COMPUTER BROKE DOWN TEMPORARILY. That really got me set on my nerves. I'm pretty sure some of my ideas are lost down in my Abyss of Forgotten Memories. (Hey, that wasn't a bad name.)

Take a note of Brick's nightmare. And Blossom's mumbling. It becomes important later on.

One more thing before I take a nap (my head hurts so much): PLEASE SEND IN MORE IDEAS. I'M STILL SUFFERING UNDER A SEVERE CASE OF WRITER'S BLOCK.

I WILL BE, LIKE, SO HAPPY WHEN I FINALLY GET TO THE ACTION.