Hello there! Welcome to a continuation that no one asked for, lol! This is a sister piece to "All I Ask," a Blues fic I wrote awhile back. You don't have to read that to understand this though. :)

This fic was inspired by the song "When We Were Young," specifically the Billy Gilman cover from The Voice.

I don't own anything! Just putting words on a page!

Enjoy the story!

You look like a movie. You sound like a song.

My God, this reminds me of when we were young.

Let me photograph you in this light in case it is the last time that we might be exactly like we were…

The crunch of the gravel beneath his feet sounded loud in his ears as it often did on nights like this. Nights where he crept as silently as he could into the old shack, long abandoned by a raving lunatic. Since long before the takeover began. And while the ceiling remained riddled with holes from shotgun blasts, Brick refused to fix it. Partially to keep from drawing unwanted attention to it…

But more for her. After all, the shack remained in the same state it had been the first night he'd agreed to meet her there. A decision he wouldn't change for anything.

After checking over his shoulder to make sure no one followed him, he opened the door slowly, peering around the open room. Brick spotted her seated in front of the fireplace, and his breath caught in his throat.

Firelight caught the strands of her copper hair, making it shine in the dim room. The silky strands cascaded down her back, and he shoved he hands in his pockets to refrain from bolting across the room to run his hands through it. Sometimes it still shocked him how beautiful she really was – truly pretty as a picture.

And the fact that she agreed to be with him shook him too. In secret or no, he knew it was nothing short of a miracle. She was the embodiment of all things good, and he…couldn't say the same for himself. But God, did she have a way of making it feel like that didn't matter. Like she filled in the gaps being raised by evil men created rather than creating a deeper rift. Brick's chest tightened, and he moved toward her, needing to wrap his arms around her and feel her close.

However, as he crept into the room, he finally took note of her countenance. Blossom always held herself well – good posture ingrained into the fibers of her very being – but a stiffness presented itself this time. Her shoulders locked, and her face like stone.

Brick reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped backwards. Her pink eyes widened for a moment with what he could only identify as fear. After a moment, she relaxed somewhat, sending him a small smile.

Something wasn't right. Her smile didn't reach her eyes, and she kept the distance between them. Plus, she seemed to be focusing on the hole in the wall just over his shoulder, not looking him directly at all.

Cautiously, he took a step toward her with a soft smile, attempting to lighten the mood. "Expecting someone else?"

Her laugh sounded hollow and choked. Forced.

Brick frowned. Okay, he hadn't been ready for that response. "Blossom, are you okay?"

"Of course! I'm fine. Just fine. Everything's…fine." There she was, avoiding direct eye contact again. What the hell?

"Bull." He took another step toward her, and she began to move toward him before abruptly stopping. Her hands clutched each other like lifelines, and her pink gaze slid away once more. "Babe, you're scaring me a little."

This time when he reached for her, she collapsed into his embrace. He clutched her to him for a moment before realizing she was shaking. What could possibly have her so upset?

He pulled back just enough to see and her face and saw tears swimming in her eyes. "Can you please tell me what's wrong now?"

Blossom's lips parted, but no sound came out. Her mouth moved wordlessly for a few moments before the tears spilled over onto her cheeks. Brick swallowed hard. She so rarely cried, and it cut him to see her so upset. But, knowing her as he did, he knew asking again would only make her more upset that she wasn't able to find the words to articulate her situation. So he settled for wiping her tears away with his thumbs, hands cupping her face.

She clung to him and took a shuddering breath. Then, mercifully, she spoke. "Brick, we…I…"

"Just breathe, Blossom. I'm right here." He moved his hands from her face to rub her back and hold her closer again.

"We're meeting. Tomorrow."

The feeling of his heart plummeting into his stomach. "What? You don't mean…?" Brick didn't finish the question. He couldn't. There was no way she could possibly mean –

She nodded miserably. "I do."

"You can't!" His voice came out louder than he intended in his desperation. "Babe, come on. Don't be crazy. That's suicide!"

"We have to, Brick. You know we do!" Swallowing back a lump in her throat, she forced a small smile. "For the city."

"You have to fight a fight you can't win for the city? How does that make any sense?!" No. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. They weren't supposed to do this. HIM had gotten too strong – that's how he ascended to power in the first place! And his might only increased as the weeks had worn on.

The last time the girls had tried…Blossom almost hadn't come back.

Like hell he was going to let her do that again. Like hell!

"We have to try!" she shouted, her eyes blazing. "Brick, I can't just sit idly by and watch my city burn. You know I can't!"

Of course he did. Seeing the city in its sorry state hurt her, his little cherry Blossom. She was its hero. She wanted – needed – to save the day.

But HIM had caused the Powerpuff Girls to really and truly lose for the first time. And several subsequent times since then, each loss wearing on them more than the next. Something was happening to them. Their hits weren't hitting as strongly as they used to – partially from HIM's strength, but there was something else too.

He remembered too clearly after their last battle, when he finally found his way to her, the way her breathing struggled and her legs gave out under her each time she attempted to stand. Her sisters were no better off. The townspeople made sure they made it back to the Professor safely.

Brick didn't see her for weeks after that. He feared the worst before one night he got a text with a time. Though he never told her, he about cried with relief before darting off to meet her. He hadn't loosened his grip on her once that night.

And now, here she was, telling him she was going to meet with that…that thing.

"Why tomorrow?" he asked, unable to think of anything else to say. Other than pleas for her to rethink this.

"It was a request. Potential peace talks or something of that sort. If we show up first thing tomorrow." Blossom wrung her hands.

"You know he's never going to honor that."

She bit her lip and shook her head. "I have to try."

He hugged her to him again. "But can't it wait? Another day? A week?" Anything but tomorrow. Tomorrow was too soon. There was no time for him to plan if it was tomorrow!

"What good would it do?" Blossom sighed. "This is our chance, Brick. Maybe our last one to…to save the day. In an important way."

"But if we delay, maybe –"

"We?"

"Yes, we. If we can manage to get him to push it back another day or two, I could talk to my brothers. We could help you!"

Blossom's mouth set it in a firm line. "Absolutely not!"

"Why not?"

"Because this isn't your responsibility. It's mine, and I don't want you getting involved."

He stiffened. "Why the hell not? Is it because I'm an ex-villain? You think I'll fuck it up? Or, worse, take its side?!"

"Of course not! Don't be ridiculous!"

"Then why?! I can help you. Let me do it!"

Blossom threw her hands up in exasperation before clutching them back to her face, tears beginning anew. "Because I won't risk losing you!"

This gave him pause. His heart swelled and fell deeper into the pit of his stomach all at once.

"Brick, please. I have no doubt, have never doubted, your abilities. You can do such good." She offered him a watery smile. "But I won't let you risk your life. Not as long as I'm still standing."

"So I'm supposed to just let you go and risk yours?!"

Moving her hands to his head and running her fingers through his hair slowly, languorously, as if to memorize each strand, she nodded. "It's my duty. And I know it's not fair of me to ask, but I hoped…"

That pause ate a hole through his heart. What? What did she want? He would give her anything. Anything to make her stay.

"I hoped that, if things go wrong tomorrow –"

No. Stop talking like that. Everything would work out fine. It had to work out fine! Otherwise that would mean –

"And if I fail to protect my city –"

Blossom never failed at anything. Not really. Sure, the last few fights had gone poorly, but this one would be different. There was no other option! Even if her powers were degrading, she'd figure something out. She always did!

"You will do so in my stead."

Brick never believed in the clichés about time stopping or standing still, but in this moment he fully understood the implication of the metaphor. Her words bounced around in his brain for a few moments before taking purchase.

She fully expected not to come back. This was a final standoff – a last ditch effort going in with nothing but hope in her soul and a prayer in her heart that it might work out. But his cherry Blossom never failed to have a back-up plan.

And her faith in him to do the right thing, to do good when he'd done nothing more than refrain from doing bad, nearly brought him to his knees.

When he finally found his voice again, it was a whisper of a thing. "But what about you?"

"I'll have spent my life doing what I was created to do. I can die tomorrow knowing I have done as much as I could possibly do to save my city." Blossom shrugged with a watery smile. "And what's more important than that?"

He knew she genuinely felt every word she said by the shining hope in her eyes. Her plea for him to understand. But he couldn't help himself from asking, "But what about me? About us?"

Blossom removed her hands from his hair and wove her fingers through his, squeezing his hands. Her eyes bore into his and she replied, "Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear."

His heart clenched. It hadn't been the first time she'd quoted the Charlotte Brontë novel to him, but it hurt more to hear it now. The sincerity of her tone hadn't changed, but their circumstances made the quote resonate differently now. How could she leave him?

"I love you, Brick. More than I have the right to." She swallowed past her tears. "And if I could, I would stay here, with you, in this shack forever. I would be all the happier for it."

"So do it. Stay."

"You know I want to." Her voice waved. "But I can't."

He knew that, of course. But could he really just give her up? Even if it was what she wanted?

"It's selfish of me to ask you to be okay with this," she murmured. "I only hope you can understand. But if I stay -"

"Then you wouldn't be the woman I fell in love with," Brick finished. He offered her a shaky smile. "But just promise me one thing?"

"What's that?"

"Do everything in your power to come back to me tomorrow."

For the first time that night, she released a genuine laugh and gave him a true smile. "I promise. If there is any way, I will be here tomorrow night."

"I know you will." He took a deep breath. "I love you, Blossom."

Unable to refrain any longer, he finally buried his fingers in her silken hair and pulled her mouth to his, desperate to pour every ounce of love he had into this potential last night together.

The two remained tangled up in each other until the wee hours of the morning. When the dawn came, Blossom assembled herself before kissing him with all she had. Both of them had promises to keep, depending on the outcome of the "negotiations."

Brick sat in the cabin for the next three days, hoping against hope that maybe the talks were taking longer than he thought they would. Finally, Butch called him and broke the news.

His cherry Blossom hadn't been running late. She had fulfilled her role as the commander and leader for the last time.

As tortured cries clawed their way out of his throat and tears poured down his face, he set the cabin ablaze. Too consumed by his grief to stop it until it was too late. The flames made quick work of the old, dry wood. And that only intensified his heartbreak.

He stared at the heap of ashes once his tears had finally dried, his brothers touching down on either side of him. Butch eyed him warily, noticing that he was like a coil ready to spring.

Boomer, however, braved breaking the silence. "You okay, Brick?"

No. The word "okay" couldn't be further from what he was feeling. So he simply shrugged.

"Why'd you call us here, Boss?" Butch asked.

"We're going to kick some lobster ass," Brick said through gritted teeth.

His brothers exchanged a look. Butch simply shrugged while Boomer asked, "Okay. Why?"

Brick gazed at the ashes once more for turning to look his youngest brother in the eye. "Because I have a promise to keep."

With that, he took off into the sky with his brothers trailing behind him. That lobster-wannabe fucker would pay for this, and he'd keep his promise all at once.

For what should have sounded like a win-win situation in theory, Brick felt like it was lose-lose of the century.

It's hard to admit that everything just takes me back to when you were there. To when you were there.

And a part of me keeps holdin' on, just in case it hasn't gone.

I guess I still care…

Do you still care?

...I'm so sorry.

Feel free to leave a review if you'd like, even if it's just to tell me what a monster I am for writing this. XD I would completely understand.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, regardless!

Love and Rockets,

Stranique