Chapter 78: A Normal Day (Part 3)

The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.

02 MAR (Thursday) 1989. 1834.

Blossom was desperate. Dad wouldn't talk to her, so there was only one other person she could turn to.

"Mom!" Blossom cried out tearfully as she ascended the stairs up to the second floor. "Mommy, where are you!?"

She was nowhere to be found. Desperate for any kind of attention, she penetrated the walls of The House with her x-ray vision to find her. Sweeping through the second floor, she stopped about halfway when she saw Mom in the adjoining bathroom of the master bedroom.

While rubbing the tears out of her eyes, Blossom ran into the master bedroom, then into the adjoining bathroom. "Mom!"

Selicia had been washing her face all the while. Her eyes were puffy and red, though Blossom did not notice because she'd hugged her in the legs the moment she entered the bathroom and cried into her pants.

"What the hell do you want?" Selicia asked brusquely, not in the mood to entertain Blossom, of all the Girls she had to deal with while she was facing issues of her own.

Blossom couldn't reply right away as she was reduced to tears, inconsolable, from Dad's outburst. Instead, she continued to cry into Selicia's pants, hugging her legs, perhaps hugging it too tightly.

"Get off me, damn it!" Selicia yelled and pushed Blossom away by the forehead. "What's your problem, kid!?"

"Dad wouldn't t-talk to me!" Blossom cried. "And he- he told me to apologize to B-Bunny even though it's not my fault!" She tried to hug Mom again, only for her to slap her. Selicia didn't stop there, and she started raining slaps down on Blossom while she was backed into a corner and hiding behind her arms.

"It IS your fault, you STUPID bitch!" Selicia screamed at Blossom, who hadn't stop hiding behind her arms even when Selicia had stopped trying to slap her. "I mentioned it, didn't I!? I SAID not to TARGET THE HEAD! During training! And now you've damaged this family."

"But-"

"Urgh! Your tears are disgusting!" Selicia ranted as she wiped her palm on her pants. Some of Blossom's tears had gotten on her hand while she was slapping her. But then she seemed to have stopped - just stopped being mad, as if a switch was turned off in her. She smiled, then laughed. Stooping down to Blossom's level, she studied Blossom's face while she was totally bewildered by how the woman she called Mom was acting. "I told you, didn't I? That we're both the same? You're a jealous little nobody despite all the power in the world you possess. Now get lost! Or do I have to bring my stun baton up again and turn it up to eleven?"

Selicia's threat had sent Blossom running. With no other choice, she'd gone back to her room where she thought Bunny would be. Closer to the Girls' room though, she slowed down; she wasn't entirely enthusiastic about apologizing to Bunny. She kinda, sort of, knew that she was wrong to have broken the training rules, but even then, she still felt… wronged somehow. She had been deprived of Dad's attention and love for what felt like forever. She felt the need to fight harder to get it back, and now it felt as if she was being punished for it.

Upon entering the room, Blossom saw that Bunny was there alright. She was looking out of one of the three porthole-like windows, staring at God knows what in the snow and empty neighboring houses. The lights weren't even on, so she looked like some kind of ghost haunting the room. Blossom flew to the switches and made the darkness and shadow go away, and the room less scary.

"Bunny?" Blossom called out to her, still sniffling from her traumatic meeting with her Mom and Dad's alienation.

She didn't answer her. It was fast becoming a family tradition. "Bunny, it's me, Blossom," she called out to her again. It was only when she got closer that Bunny turned to look at her.

Bunny's cheeks were streaked with tears, and the look on her face, that wretched look twisted by sadness, that beautiful face (at least with the teeth hidden) tainted by darkness, was enough to make Blossom feel guilty. It'd hit her hard then that she had made another mistake, this time not in anger, but in greed for Dad's attention.

Blossom walked over to Bunny with her hands on her mouth, horrified by what she had done. She was better than this, she knew it. Dad had been right - she did need to make it up to her.

"Oh, Bunny, I didn't know how much I've upset you," Blossom said as she held her hand.

"It's fine," Bunny said curtly, as stoically as she could, but her body language, shaken voice, and tears were telling a completely different story, though one that'd painted Bunny in a better light, enough to make Blossom realize, even if briefly, how special a little sister she had. "It was just training, and Dad said it's normal for it to get out of hand…"

Good ol' Dad was trying to make Bunny feel better. He wasn't a great liar, but there was some truth in what he said. Now, it was her turn to make it right. Walking over to a window, she opened it wide. She had to hover to do it. There was the wail of the shut-out wind, and it became a bellow when it finally had an audience. The nightly snowfall was lighter than before, a sign of the coming spring.

"What are you doing?" Bunny asked, perplexed by her elder leader sister's actions, even a little afraid of what she might have in mind.

"Trust me, you'll be fine," Blossom simply said. Walking behind Bunny, she latched onto the back of her younger sister. Bunny gasped in surprise when she was lifted off her feet, and began floating off the ground. Blossom was doing the lifting.

"Curl up your arms and legs." Blossom instructed Bunny, and when she did as she said, she flew her out the window, with Bunny screaming in surprise, before making a U-turn up to drop her off on the roof.

It was cold out in the open, and Bunny wasn't exactly dressed in winter-wear.

"W-what are we d-doing out here?" she could barely even enunciate with her chattering teeth as she hugged herself.

"I'm going to teach you how to fly," Blossom declared to her new sister. She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in her despite the wintry conditions, and it felt good.

"C-c-can I h-have a jacket first?" Bunny stuttered.

"Oh! I forgot about that!" Blossom exclaimed - she herself was dressed in combat gear, which provided her with a degree of warmth, and that was on top of her X-given natural resistance to the cold. She flew back into the house through the porthole window and came back shortly afterward with Bunny's military winter fatigue.

The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.

02 MAR (Thursday) 1989. 1846.

"Have you fallen from really high up before?" Blossom asked her younger sister while she was hovering just a couple feet away from the edge of the roof, showing off one of the powers that Bunny didn't have. Yet.

"Yes, back when I was in training. I was in a mall, and I had to jump from a higher floor down…" Bunny described her experience. Blossom thought it sounded familiar. She had done the same thing before, and in the same location no less. This led the Girls off on a tangent as they conversed at length about their experience in training. While Bunny had three grueling days, Blossom had had but one, and it wasn't as painful an experience.

"Anyway, did you feel it when you were about to land?" Blossom brought them back to the topic of learning how to fly.

"Feel what?" Bunny asked.

"That you were slowing down even before you touch the floor?" Blossom explained. Bunny thought back to that moment when she landed on the roof of the clothes shop in the abandoned mall. Her perfect memory had helped. Yes. She did seem to slow down. In fact, she was actually afraid of being discovered the moment she landed on the roof. Considering the weight of her armor and gear, she was surprised that she wasn't found out - until now when it all made sense. Bunny's face said it all, and so Blossom continued with her lecture: "I knew it. That's how I found out I could fly one day… Well, not really, but that was kinda it."

Blossom returned herself to the roof. After making sure that Bunny was watching, she made a running start before jumping a few yards into the air. Bunny thought that Blossom was just doing some gymnastics trick until Blossom did a double jump in the air by emitting an X-thrust mid-air. As a result, she landed much further than she would have had she merely just jumped. She turned around to face a Bunny who had been watching her attentively, impressed by the feat she had just accomplished even if it was an appetizer compared to flying.

"There are wings in your feet that you can't see, Bunny," Blossom explained while she hovered back to her. "I learned to use it when…" the circumstances of her discovery of flight were still upsetting to her, a reminder that there was still a rift between her and Buttercup, partially mended though it might be. "I was fighting with Buttercup, and she was hurting me. I learned to fly and I beat her."

Bunny held Blossom's hand when she recounted her past trauma, her voice still peppered with grief as if it had happened the day before. Blossom reciprocated, squeezing her hand tightly as she looked up with a smile on her face.

"Anyway, that's how I taught Bubbles and Buttercup to fly," Blossom went on to explain, before leading Bunny close to the edge of the roof. "You'll have to jump off The House and try to fly so you won't hurt yourself. Dad said it's like how mother birds taught their babies to fly."

"But that's…" Bunny couldn't even mention it for how incredulous she was, but more than that, the idea scared her. She had never dropped down more than a floor before, and now she would have to willingly jump off a cliff. She actually began to wonder if Blossom was just trying to get back at her for beating her in practice.

"I know how you feel, Bunny, my dear little sister, and I haven't given you any reason to trust me but…" Blossom went on, but found herself stumbling for words. Looking back, she was horrified by her own actions. She regretted them, and it wasn't just because she was facing condemnation from both her parents and possibly Bubbles. Tears trickled out of her eyes unexpectedly. "I thought if I teach you how to fly I'd…"

"I believe you, Blossom," Bunny had leaped the moment she saw that Blossom was upset. "Please don't cry! I'll do whatever you want! I'll jump!" And she was about to too and had it not been for Blossom who pulled her back, she would have made good on her word without any preparations.

"Wait!" Blossom shouted in alarm, wiping her tears away. She didn't want Bunny to go without the right preparations. "Concentrate on your legs, Bunny. The wings on your legs, remember that. Tell them to fly and they will. I hope they'll listen, because Buttercup had to fall many times before she learned to even jump in the air."

"Okay. Wings on legs… Wings on legs…" Bunny repeated Blossom's words to herself. "I'll be fine…"

Blossom watched morbidly as Bunny inched closer to the edge before bending her knees and posturing to jump.

"Good luck," Blossom wished Bunny, who, after some hesitation, finally jumped off the roof. Blossom would then quickly scramble to the edge to watch. Deep down inside, however, she felt the temptation of sadism. Despite the lessons she had learned from her mistakes, she couldn't help but wish for Bunny to hurt herself - even if it was just pain, it'd have to do - especially when she knew that things had changed when Bunny was born.

Bunny plunged into the snow at full force. She was fortunate that she wasn't dressed in her full combat kit or the weight would have made it worse. She'd lost control while she was falling, landing on her back. The snow had cushioned her fall, and her natural X-thrust had helped, but it was still a rough landing, one that had sent ripples of pain through her back and body when she landed.

Ploooom! The empty, night air rang out loud and clear.

"Are you okay down there, Bunny?" Blossom called out from the roof. Bunny groaned, her eyes closed as she tried to block out the pain, but it was fast fading away.

'It's not real, this monster you call pain. It's like a nagging voice in your head, but it's important as a warning sign,' General Blackwater's voice reminded Bunny, loud in her mind amidst the ringing.

Bunny opened her eyes and smiled bitterly. She held up a thumbs-up sign. "I'm okay! Can we go again?" she replied to Blossom, who flew down to fetch her and lift her back to the roof. To fly would be the ultimate freedom, something she wanted very much. But most importantly, it was a chance to bond with her leader sister, who appeared to be the eldest of all of them, despite being born at the same time as Bubbles and Buttercup - as told by her Dad.

It was around this time that Bubbles and Buttercup happened to be in the living room, and had seen Blossom airlifting Bunny. They ran out to watch when they realized what was going on. Bunny was just about ready to jump when she saw that she had an audience. For some reason, it'd made her slightly nervous. She was used to having people watch her train, but her sisters were different.

Bunny was about to jump when she saw who else had come out to watch. Dad. Sweat was pouring down her forehead despite the cold.

"Don't be shy, Bunny," Blossom tried to egg her younger sister on. "Just remember what I said and you'll be fine."

"Go, Bunny! You can do it!" Bubbles shouted some encouragement.

After taking in a deep breath, Bunny took the plunge, focusing on her legs so that the invisible wings there would take flight.

The ground seemed to be rushing up to her, an endless white wall of snow. It was like sitting in a car when it was about to crash, until...

She went the other way. Gravity seemed to be turning in on itself when a force strong enough had pushed her up, sending her in an arc across the lawn of The House, landing just feet away from the pavement close by - thankfully - because she had landed chest-first in the snow.

Blossom flew to her while she was recovering from her fall. Bubbles and Dad were cheering her while they were similarly running towards her.

Bunny was still seeing stars as she rolled on her back, groaning from the fall. Up above, the real stars had joined those born from her pain. Up above, she could see a particularly bright one standing out among the rest as she lay there, spreadeagled and gasping while she tried to will the pain away. Despite the pain and difficulties she suffered, she couldn't help but think that this moment - this specific moment - was beautiful.

"That was great, Bunny! You did it!" Bubbles exclaimed excitedly before pulling on her hand to sit her up.

"I knew you had it in you, Bunny! My smart, strong, talented little baby!" Dad smothered her with love as he held her by the sides and heaved her to her feet.

"But… I wasn't able to fly…" Bunny said dejectedly, which turned quickly into confusion when she was showered with so much praise despite her failure to go airborne.

"Of course not! I don't think anyone in their right mind would expect you to - but you've done it! You did the double-jump - and at such a tender young age, too!" the professor explained.

"Yeah! It took us forever to fly!" Bubbles said. Historically, it took Blossom more than three weeks to discover flying, Bubbles a little more to do the same and Buttercup much longer to catch up. That Bunny could come close to flying in one week was a feat in and of itself.

Blossom was watching in the meantime, apart from the circle Bubbles, Dad and Bunny had formed. A smile crept up soon after. She'd done it. Bunny was happy and smiling again, just like Dad wanted. But it'd also meant that Dad's attention was diverted back to Bunny once more. Her smile crept away after that, replaced by hopelessness, and defeated tears. But then Bunny pointed at her:

"Blossom helped me lots. I wouldn't have done it without her," she said, and soon all attention was turned to Blossom. Next thing she knew, she felt Dad's hand on her back, and when she looked up, Dad was kneeling in front of her, wiping a teardrop away.

"Now that's the Blossom I know," Dad said. "The smart, savvy, nurturing leader of a big sister to the rest of your team."

"I just want you to love me," Blossom managed while she was sniffling and holding back tears.

"Don't think for a second that I've stopped loving you," the Dad replied. They hugged after that, with Blossom spilling the last tears of the night.

Blossom would continue to instruct Bunny on the lawn after that, teaching her how to control her X-thrust better to do her double-jump with greater reliability. Out in the dark porch of a neighboring house, a lonesome, scrawny man had been watching before quickly retreating back into his home.