Buttercup~

My eyes flutter as I try to keep as much water out of my lungs as I can. I see Butch swimming towards me, his muscular shoulders causing him to glide through the water like a shark. He grabs my arm roughly and pulls me to the surface with him. When we break water I desperately try to soothe my burning lungs as the vertigo sets in. Butch pulls me to him and launches us into the sky, I wrap my arms around him while I try to become less disoriented. Funny how I still feel safe pressed up against him in a time like this. I let my fingers linger over his back and find something slick and sticky, I bring my shaking fingers into view to see crimson. I peek over his shoulder and see three giant gashes in his back, the tendons and muscles visibly moving as he readjusts my weight in his arms.

"Are you gonna….?" But my question is cut off by a pained roar. I whip my head in the direction to find Blossom trying to freeze the monster in place while Brick works on setting it ablaze. But the flames and ice are barely marring its scales.

The creature is half way to shore, panic and bile are competing in my throat. I swallow hard and turn desperately towards Butch.

"Butch we can't let Bubbles near it!" I shout at him and he gives me a confused look.

"Plan A?" I ask with desperation, starting to shove myself off of him though the Earth is still spinning.

"No, plan B!" He growls, "Wait one more second they can handle it. This thing is powerful, one wrong move and you could be donezo."

My eyes are glued on the five story glistening green creature swatting away two red heads. Bubbles approaches it and uses her sonic scream. It seems to disorient it at first but then everything starts to happen in slow motion. I'm tearing myself from Butch as the monster is raising its scaled hand and swats Bubbles like a mere fly. Time doesn't speed up until the deafening sound of the impact, Bubbles hits the sand so hard and so fast that part of it has turned to glass around her. Boomer is by her side instantly and the red heads are being slammed into the sand over and over again. I don't have time to waste. Bubbles is lying still and the monster is getting closer and closer to shore. I fly around the monster and execute plan A despite what Butch said. I need to end this now. I turn my right fist into a glowing green torch and use all the force in my body to upper cut this monster. I go through the soft under pallet through the tongue, the upper pallet, the brain and then finally through seven inches of bone. Bone that almost doesn't break and shreds me as I burst through it. Scales and brains tangle my hair as I continue upwards then dive towards the ocean and clean myself, ignoring the stinging salt water, before rearing back towards Bubbles. Everyone is hovering around her while she is staring at the blood splatter between her legs with glazed over eyes.

"GET BACK!" I yell out and even though my voice comes out hoarse they listen. The amount of blood between her spread legs is astonishing but I plunge my knees right into it. I wrap her around me and her face falls into my shoulder. It takes a full moment for the horror of what has happened to sink in, her chin resting on my shoulder and then she screams. It's a sonic scream that tears some of the flesh from my upper shoulder and knocks over the still standing monster miles off shore. I rub her back soothingly although I'm beginning to lose hearing in my right ear. Slowly the screams turn into sobs that turn into gasps for air.

"It's okay, it's okay." I keep murmuring as everyone stares at us. Brick and Blossom have clung to each other unconsciously, Butch is staring at me confused while Boomer looks absolutely mortified. After a few more moments of consoling she breathes "Tell them." So I do.

"Bubbles was…." I almost can't say it but I know I need to be strong for her, I clear my throat "Bubbles was expecting and the force of the impact has caused her to lose the baby."

"Oh shit." Brick whispers, pulling Blossom impossibly closer to him. "Fuck." Butch mutters but Boomer is the one who is speechless. He's rubbing his hands through his hair staring at the blood stained sand. Boomer walks over and kneels beside her and she immediately let's go of me and clings to him.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Is all she can say over and over again. Butch motions me towards him and I take slow calculated steps. My wounds are stinging now with every breath, I almost can't stand it. I can feel the skin on my upper back flapping as I move, I cringe and fight down more bile.

"We should leave them alone for a while." He whispers in my ear and places his hand very gently on the small of my back.

Butch and I are now using each other for support as we walk into his hotel room. The beige carpet is quickly redecorated with our blood trailing to the bathroom. He gently helps me remove what is left of my bathing suit as the water from the shower steams out the mirrors.

"That's why I told you plan B." He says looking me over before removing his shorts, "His bones were too dense to just burst through him like that. I hope you have Brad on speed dial you're going to have to get your tattoos redone."

He's right, I am shredded from head to toe and I even have bone fragments lodged into some of my wounds. I pull them out gingerly while Butch steps into the shower. He's already hissing as the water pours over the three large gashes in his back. I step in and pull the curtain closed, I hold onto the soap bottle as if it were a life line. Only now realizing the intimacy of the shower. Butch offers me the stream of water but I'm too cowardly. Too afraid of the burning that waits so I motion him to turn around and he does. I slowly massage some soap around and over his wounds. His back tenses and he growls.

"Sorry." I breathe and continue my work, "Tell me about the dream Brick was talking about."

"The dream?" He asks, "Oh the one that started it all?"

"Well one night Brick woke up and took the sharpest breath of air I've ever heard. I mean so loud it woke me from a drug induced sleep. Brick used to have these anxiety attacks and would become obsessive. He would arrange the furniture in the entire apartment over and over again until he 'reset' the universe. So I go into his room and ask him what's wrong. I try to talk him down before he goes on his tangent but this time instead he tells me to pack my things and that we're leaving the girls behind. At first I don't get it. I ask him again but now he's standing and throwing all of his clothes in the middle of the bed, he's grabbing for his bag and I just grab him. We start a fight and it all goes downhill from there. He pulls the 'I'm the leader card' tells us we have one day to say our goodbyes. Then I pull that fake fight with you to get him off my case, to make him think I already told you. I never would have imagined it would have ended with a real one." His voice is so soft, how I remember it being late at night.

He feels that I have stopped working and turns around. His dark green eyes are looking me over, the worry in them is killing me but for a second it turns to hurt. I look down to see what he's staring at, I didn't really have a lot of time to assess my own wounds before making the trip up to this blessed shower. My eye catches on what he's staring at immediately, a small circular bruise atop my breast, a left over from Brick.

"Look what I was trying to say earlier was." He starts then bites his lip, "What I was saying was I have no right to be possessive of you and if you want to be with Brick or anybody else you have the right to be. I'm sorry."

He leans over and kisses the two or three hickies that are too stubborn to fade. I no longer can hold back the tears and begin to weep.

"You know Brick is still in love with Blossom." I say between two body racking sobs, "He never forgot about her just like I never forgot about you. The whole time, the whole time I compared him to you. How you touch me, kiss me, hug me, how you look at me Butch and it was never the same. I…"

But I can't go on instead I just cry like Bubbles would, years' worth of tears have been dammed up for this man and now the dam has broken. He encircles me gently and he's careful not to touch too many of my open wounds. One free hand is circling a spot on my hip that was untouched by bone.

"Shhhh. It's okay." He coos softly and the sobbing starts to slow, "Shhh Butterbabe I've got you."

I swallow the last of my sobs and try to finish my sentence.

"I still love you." I whisper and he smiles. He delicately grabs my face and comes in for a kiss I close my eyes with anticipation but the kiss never comes.

"Well well well. I never would have thought that it would end like this!" The voices echoes off of the white tiles and I fling my eyes open. Butch is frozen mid kiss, his eyes half lidded and taking me in as much as he can before our lips were to touch, the water frozen in air midstream. The shower curtain is ripped off of the hooks and HIM stands before me.

"When Brick first came back here with his brothers I thought he was going against the grain until I realized he was just trying to help my dear old friend Mojo die peacefully. That nothing was going to develop from this situation." HIM laughs but I'm frozen in place. For once I'm almost shaking in fear as I stand before HIM naked. He gives this scene a once over and sticks his claw in his mouth while he makes a gagging noise.

"My blonde son has always been so sensitive, it always seems to start with the blondes doesn't it? All caught up in their sappy feelings. Just as I was about to intervene you starting making things interesting. You started seeing Brick in what shall we call it? A new light. You were flirting with him, kissing him, hell you were even going to fuck him. I couldn't have found a better way to kill two birds with one stone if I tried. My red headed son would have been too prideful to apologize to Blossom, to tell her his real feelings for trying to explore you. No he would have sat in silence for the rest of his days and with the rejection of Blossom those would have been numbered. It was a race between Butch and himself to end him. But wow this! I never would have expected this from my heartless raven haired son. The one who enjoyed the sound of bones snapping and throats gurgling with the victims own blood. Oh no no no! I never knew my darkest son had anything but destruction in him. I didn't know he knew forgiveness or even knew how to let someone go. When had I missed him maturing? Before he could let you go I spiced things up. I sent that monster to end you all but instead it just killed Bubble's baby and that somehow brought you all together? Oh well it ends here Buttercup."

I swallow hard trying to process everything as he monologues but I'm left with no ideas, with nothing.

"Kill him." HIM growls, "NOW!"

"Wait! No it won't look right. It won't break up every one like you want. It will just bring the others closer together." I half shout and he seems to be mulling it over, "If I kill myself then it will all work out."

"Go on."

"Blossom would never expect me to kill myself. She would assume it was Butch and who's going to believe him? No one else has seen him mature like you and I have. No one else can see past the Baron of Berserk. So if he can't have me no one can right? He'd kill me so Brick or anyone else could never touch me again. Blossom would blame Brick for breaking us up in the first place and never forgive him. Bubbles would feel guilty to be the only one who comes out of this with happiness. She'll look at Boomer and see what Brick and Blossom should also have. She'd feel so guilty she would just break up with him and live in her unhappiness to avoid it." I can feel my heart in my throat as I am staring at the razor behind Butch. All I would have to do is break the razor head open and cut really really deep.

"Oh Buttercup, you're more fucked up then I thought." HIM is smiling now as I'm reaching for the razor I purposefully bump into Butch and it pulls time to start again. I'm pointing to HIM but he can't see him. His face twists with panic as I am franticly pointing to the red being staring us down.

"What are you doing?" He's shouting but then I feel the blood flow from my throat and I'm starting to choke on my own blood. Butch is crying now, clamping his paw of a hand to my jugular but I never brought the razor to my throat, I never broke the razor head I never…..my world turns black.