Dreams of an Absolution

"That's how we'll know

This is not a test, oh no

This is cardiac arrest

Of a world too proud to admit our mistakes

Crashing to the ground as we all fall from grace"

Collapse (Rise Against "Appeal to Reason")


Dreams of an Absolution

Chapter 17

Blossom woke late that day. By the time the near inexistent light reached her eyes, the scrumptious, though slightly burnt, scent of breakfast had weaseled its way up the stairs. Awake, but still waking, the Powerpuff girl stretched, reaching into the dark to reclaim her most precious thing. She sighed contentedly as she pulled Devil Blossom into her arms. Nuzzling the little plush doll, she cracked an eye open to gaze at the clock.

"Already seven...I must have been really tired," she muttered. It was the oddest thing, for the first time in weeks, she couldn't remember her dreams. Devil Blossom smiled back, blissfully unaffected by her likeness's displeasure. Blossom brushed the doll's hair back and sighing once more, gazing deeply at the little doll. Hoping to beat her sisters to any frustrating activities that may hinder her shower, Blossom made a b-line for her bathroom.

As she locked the door, she paused to acknowledge the darkened corner.

"Why did you let me stay up late? You always tell me to go to bed when I'm overexcited..." she scolded, hands on her hips. Overnight, her left arm seemed to have recovered—in fact, she favored it to her right arm. The demon drifted from the shadows, shamelessly watching the little girl strip away her nightie. Blossom noticed him, being caught off guard just as she slipped out of her panties.

Aku cringed and rubbed his head when she screamed. Blossom's hands flew to her chest while she spun away from the monster.

"W-what are you d-doing? I'm naked!" she managed to stutter. Aku chuckled and gentle touched her shoulder, trailing his claws across her soft skin. Blossom shivered and clenched her eyes shut. His gentle caress was like white lightning beneath her skin. Worse, he wouldn't stop touching her. Blossom blushed as a moan escaped her lips and her knees began to shake.

"Surely you could have nothing an ancient god-being such as Aku has yet to see, Blossom?" Blossom shook her head and gasped, breaking into a sweat as a rogue tendril drifted across her trembling legs. She bit her lip; Aku chuckled again, pulling her into his arms. Torture though it had been when he simply touched her, Blossom could barely breathe with his hot body pressing against her naked back. Claws and extensions trailing her body, Blossom jerked violently when his hands roamed too near to her chest.

"St-stop it! We...We're n-not alone!" she bristled when he merely laughed again. He was starting to get to her, confusing feelings—not at all unpleasant—were bubbling in her belly. His tendrils drifted higher on her legs, his hands roamed her more fiercely. Blossom shuddered, just barely able to fight her way free. Her mitts, through it all, never left her chest.

With tears in her eyes and her cheeks burning red, Blossom stared at the floor; her back stayed facing the demon. Aku grunted and reached out to touch her again, but Blossom pulled away.

"What is the meaning of this, child?" Aku demanded. Blossom growled and glared at him over her shoulder.

"I don't want you to see me!" She hissed, becoming increasingly aware of the voices downstairs. Aku rolled his eyes and crossed his powerful arms.

"You have no reason for such modesty with Aku, child," Blossom sighed and turned away. Tenderly she traced the scar on her chest.

"It's not about modesty..." Aku grunted, but vanished into the darkness. Blossom sighed and glanced back at the shadows. With a small gulp, she spun the hot water nozzle to full blast. The day had only just started and she'd already managed to screw up.

"Great job, Red..." she muttered.

XxXxX

Uka-sensei chuckled, leaning against the white board and shaking his head. He casually looked over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. Princess was practically foaming at the mouth, glaring at Blossom, who calmly smirked back at her.

"What did you say?" The little rich girl demanded, flabbergasted. In fact, most of the class was staring back at Blossom incredulously, most of all her green-eyed sister. Blossom rolled her eyes leered at Princess arrogantly.

"I asked if you could possibly give an answer without rambling about how easy it was for you to figure it out." Princess' face turned red as she sat back in her seat, brimming with rage. Blossom rested her cheek on her mitt, smirking at her self-appointed rival. That felt good...better than she'd imagined. Uka-sensei chuckled and turned to face the class, revealing the next problem on the board.

"Very good...now perhaps we can try something more exciting...you! In the back, what is the third step one would take in solving this equation? Speak quickly!" In the back, Molly jumped, staring at Uka-sensei with wide, frightened eyes.

"Th...the third step? B-but...we just started it..." She muttered. Blossom laughed out loud, getting another flurry of incredulous and vicious glares. Uka-sensei smirked and folded his arms behind his back, leaning forward.

"Uka is well aware, Ms. Beware," He retorted mockingly, with an unashamedly condescending tone. Molly turned bright red and lowered her head, glaring at her notes. She started to speak, but stopped, rubbing her eyes and sniffing.

"You...um...add-" she started to stutter out, before being interrupted.

"You divide both sides by four," Blossom answered, cheek still resting on her mitt. Uka-sensei sent her a not-so-subtle smirk and nodded, leering at Molly.

"That's correct, very good, Blossom," He said. Molly gasped; to Blossom's left, Elmer grunted and glared at the Powerpuff girl. Earlier, he'd been admonished for speaking out of turn. Blossom caught sight of the glare and flashed him a haughty smile. Elmer turned red with anger and looked down at his desk. Blossom giggled and shook her head, turning back to the white board. She blinked, suddenly picking up the growing clack of heels. The door flew open and Principal Durry marched up to Uka-sensei.

"Mr. Uka, in the hallway now, there is...something important," she commanded. When Uka-sensei merely stared at her, Principal Durry grabbed his wrist and began to bodily drag him from the room. The door slammed shut and the muffled sounds of an argument leaked in under the door. Princess snorted and crossed her arms.

"They're probably coming to take you away," She said to Blossom. The pink-eyed Powerpuff raised an eyebrow, noting, from the corner of her eye, several agreeing nods and under spoken comments.

"What makes you say that? I haven't done anything but risk my life fighting crime to protect you since no one else will," Though she sounded heated Blossom's voice was...oddly calm, strangely cold considering the words she chose.

"You tried to kill everybody!" Mike suddenly shouted, quickly clamping his mouth shut when Blossom turned to face him. She caught sight of Buttercup, who looked confused. Blossom slowly narrowed her eyes, speaking in a calm, measured tone.

"I didn't, did I?" Mike swallowed, too flustered to retort. Mary wasn't having the same problem though, she sniffed and leaned forward on her chubby hands.

"That's cause Buttercup and Bubbles stopped you! Even the Rowdyruff Boys had to fight you!" she practically shouted. Blossom turned to Mary with the same cold indifference she seemed overcome with. So frigid was her gaze, Mary's temper wilted when she raised her eyebrow.

"You're joking right? The Rowdyruff Boys just got in my way. They were really more of a distraction than they were an actual help against me,"

"You sound...really proud..." Blossom blinked and faced forward, her lip twitching. The air in the room seemed ready to snap. Buttercup didn't say another word. Thankfully, before things could implode, the door flew open and the adults entered again. Principal Durry pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, standing in front of the class.

"I'm sorry for the interruption...but there is some...very important...something has happened...how do I put this?" The blonde administrator cleared her throat and faced the room full of confused faces. Blossom kept her eyes on the white board, mulling over Buttercup's words. Was she proud of what happened? Carefully, Blossom turned to Uka-sensei. His frown was more sour than ever, and seemed to be growing more bitter with Principal Durry's continued presence.

"-alright...the United States of America has been attacked by..." Blossom zoned out again as the Principal continued her stuttering speech. The country had been attacked? What was the big deal? Townsville was assaulted by monsters, megalomaniacs, and goddesses other supernatural beings on a daily basis. What made an attack elsewhere so significant?

"-the planes hit the World Trade Center towers in New York just a little while ago. We don't know if there will be any more attacks but the school has gone into lock down to..." So some terrorists flew a couple of planes into two buildings? It was reminiscent of Pearl Harbor, though at least that had been away from the mainland. The trade center...how many people were there?

"Your parents have been called, though our phones are ringing off the hook right now. As it stands, no one is leaving until the school day is over. That includes," Principal Durry looked around at the three superpowered sisters. She narrowed her eyes and leaned forward on Blossom's desk, snapping her from her daze, "You three, do you understand me? No matter how often that phone," She pointed sharply at the Hotline, "rings, you are not to leave this building," Blossom narrowed her eyes, but nodded, grinding her teeth as Principal Durry backed away.

"-due to the panic, the first grade classes will be meeting...you'll be able to eat lunch at noon...recess will be held inside...at the appropriate time, thank you," Blossom stared at Uka-sensei, who stared back, his expression unreadable. She could feel it though, where her eyes failed, her heart succeeded. It succeeded as her blood raced and her tummy fluttered. She could feel it in him as well. It was taking all of his willpower to contain it.

"Shouldn't we be out there doing something? I mean, you said the city is panicking!" Buttercup shouted, climbing to her feet. Principal Durry bit her lip and turned away, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

"This is an executive order from my higher ups. If it was my decision, you'd do what you always do, but since you are my students, you are required to adhere to the safety precautions that have been set forth. I'm sorry," Blossom crossed her arms. She didn't mean it; she wasn't sorry at all. Even if it was an inkling, there was a hint of a tone in her voice that just scream that Femme Fatale was relishing this. What villain wouldn't? Death, fear, panic sweeping the entire nation.

The United States was about to become a criminal's paradise.

XxXxX

Blossom had never been a fan of the cafeteria in her short tenure at Townsville Elementary school. It was too noisy and even with her reduced abilities, her hearing was impressive enough to pick out the subtle and not-so-subtle jabs and insults aimed in her direction. Typically, she could focus on Boomer's eating, his noisy chewing was often enough to drown out the cesspool of human activity around her. On that day, things were worse than ever. In light of the sudden attacks, everyone seemed on the edge knowing they were housing one of the worst villains of all time within their walls—protecting her even. What made that day worse than any other, was the added security. Uka-sensei, a powerful Monstro-American and teacher no less, was required to stick around the cafeteria for the safety of the students. That meant no Baku, no chance to play boyfriend-girlfriend even if it was just for an hour.

"I hate this," Blossom growled, fists clenched and braced against the table. Boomer munched on a banana—he'd been eating more every day, she noticed—and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't get the big deal...don't bad things happen all the time?" Blossom laughed and nodded. Idiocy seemed to be where true brilliance laid in wait.

"That's right. Townsville is devastated on a daily basis. We had an entire hospital crumble to the ground the other day! Why is this such a fuss now? Just because regular people did it? Don't make me laugh..." Still, try as she might to rationalize it, Blossom had noticed Bubbles that morning. She had packed Octi. Was this it? The horrible event the doll had warned her of? Maybe...he was the reason the country had reacted so violently to a relatively meager attack. Even one of Mojo's assaults, back in the day, caused more financial destruction than either of those buildings falling. God and the burnt remains of police documents only knew how high the death rate had been in Townsville before she and her sisters were born.

"Maybe..." Maybe, she thought, it was because the attack had been committed by presumably normal humans. It was easy for the human race to point at metahumans, demons, sorcerers and deities and blame them for trouble. It wasn't everyday people causing destruction, it wasn't the normal people. No, the freaks, they were the dangerous ones. The world would be a better place without so many freaks. But when regular people committed an act on this level maybe...it shook that safe foundation. Maybe it worried them, the human race, that they weren't as normal as they hoped to be. It worried them that maybe...they weren't any better than the freaks.

"Hey, Aku is alone. I guess the other teachers are scared of him," Blossom looked up, hearing Boomer's voice, and immediately picked out Uka-sensei from the crowd. He sat at the very back of the cafeteria, like a phantom looming over a graveyard, watching them with an expression of intense concentration. No...that wasn't true. Uka-sensei didn't care about the rest of them, he stared straight at Blossom. Smirking, she got to her feet.

"I'm going to sit with him, see you later, Boomer," Boomer blinked and started to stand up, but Blossom was already gone. Pushing her way through the crowd, she was pleasantly surprised to find the tables surrounding the monster were free. She slipped into the shadows, sliding close to her favorite educator. Uka-sensei smirked and rested his chin on laced fingers.

"It's amusing, is it not, child? To watch how the sheep are shepherded so easily by fear...swing a stick and watch them run," he mused. Blossom smiled and nodded, sliding even closer to him. She swallowed and looked around the room. There were eyes on them—Buttercup, Bubbles, Principal Durry, various faculty—but for some reason that only spurred her on. Blossom wrapped her arms around his and hugged it tightly, burying her face in his powerful limb. They were afraid...she could at least pretend.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered.

"Why, Blossom? You've done very well today...Uka is impressed by your sudden aggression, it's a drastic change...an odd change," Blossom clenched her eyes shut a little tighter and nuzzled his arm.

"For this morning,"

"...Think nothing of it, child. Aku understands your plight," Blossom shook her head and dug her mitts into his sleeve. Her chest was starting to burn.

"I wish you would..."

"Do you think this day will have any significance? Aku fails to see the importance of such trivial casualty," Blossom looked away, eyes drifting over the crowd of students and teachers. She made eye contact with Buttercup. Her lips twitched; she turned back to Uka-sensei.

"I don't think anyone will remember in a week..." Uka-sensei laughed and nodded. Blossom smiled, but narrowed her eyes and looked down.

She'd been wrong before.

XxXxX

September 11th - America Under Attack!

September 14th - Terrorists, In Our Country?

September 20th - Monsters: The Source of Destruction

September 21st - Can America Recover?

September 23rd - Monstro-Americans and Terrorists: A Comparison

September 30th - The Worst Attack in American History

October 3rd - Meta-Humans and Monsters: Are They the Problem?

October 13th - Connection to the Late April Attacks?