9-18-11

10:13pm

Summary–The Rowdyruff Boys reminisce on the past, compare it to the present and fight the inevitable future while also admitting the reasons for their departure from a life of crime. A chapter for each boy.

Disclaimer–I do not own The Powerpuff Girls, which belongs to its respective owner(s) and is only being used in a fan-made, fictional story.

xoxo

Title–Hop, Skip and Lifetime Away

Chapter 1–Why (The Past)

By–Moon Prynces

xoxo

If truth be told, he did it for the girl.

Yes, it was cliché and stupid and what if she left him? Would he turn around and go back to his old ways?

Probably not. He was a "good guy" for sure now.

Was it easy? No, easy would be a regular, human bad guy turning over a new leaf. And he wasn't human. But then, neither was she.

Maybe that was why he did it.

He could feel a deeper connection between them than what normal people must feel. She wouldn't run away from him, or lose interest so easily, or give up hope.

It was that last one, really.

She was different than even her sisters. Their battles began and ended the same way – her gaze determined (to stop him), a bit happy (to see him), confident (even if they were supposed to be an even match) with a small, almost unnoticeable, smidgen of hope.

And he never understood what she meant, when he finally identified the emotion. Hope for what?

That this would be that last time he caused trouble? That they would date because she had a badboy complex? That he would become good?

"What is it?" he had demanded before a battle. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

Her face had taken on an alarmed expression. "Like what?" she questioned while cringing uselessly.

"All...hopeful!" he'd shouted the word angrily enough to make trees nearby shake.

She blinked blankly. "I was hoping...you'd realize." And he waited anxiously, hanging onto her words. "That we don't have to fight."

He'd scoffed.

How could that even be possible? They were enemies. Her and her sisters were created to be good. He and his brothers were created to be evil. Good and evil clashed.

When he'd subtly asked his brother something about it, he was told, "Do what you want."

What a concept! No one had implied he'd had a choice in all this!

Maybe people on the outside thought there were so many perks to being a bad guy, but he just didn't know any better. And he wanted to know.

So he somehow let her pull him out of his past existence.

At first he pretended it wasn't what it looked like – that he wasn't ditching his brothers and a life of crime to become a goody two-shoes.

But it wasn't all about good and evil, like he'd thought. He didn't need his every act to be something mean and unjust. And she didn't commit to good like a religion either. She still skipped class on her off days or lied to her sisters (mostly about him in the beginning of all this).

They weren't human. But they were pretty damn close. And people were neither good nor evil; never just one or the other. But most importantly, they chose...everything. Every action or reaction could go any which way.

The particular lesson he remembered was when they'd both slipped on a patch of ice. His first response was to jump up quickly – angrily – and bite out some remark before she could make fun of him. But her... She just sat there for a few seconds longer, laughing at herself until her sides hurt and he smiled as he hauled her up while she kept recalling the incident between gulps of air.

He didn't have to be that person, angry and defensive and waiting for supposedly inevitable attacks on his person.

Every day he spent with her, learning something he hadn't known before, he took one step further away from his old life – his old self – and one step closer to her.

They were friends in secret for the longest time before his brothers realized he'd come back from a battle unscathed, not even his knuckles bruised.

And they tried– tried to pull him back into his old life – the one where there was no gray area and feeling angry was so much better than feeling hurt and you didn't have to rely on someone.

But simple things like stealing someone's morning paper or destroying the local park weren't fun or funny anymore.

He wasn't going back to that, not when there were so many more wonderful things to look forward to.

Like her. The girl.

She wanted to be there for him. All that time she was hoping he would realize that things didn't have to be the way they were. They didn't have to be friends or lovers, but they didn't have to be enemies either.

And really, it took so much energy to hate someone the way he and his brothers were brought up to. It wasn't worth it. It yielded no satisfying return.

Being her friend, however, gave him a lot: Laughter that wasn't malicious, joy that came easily, someone who cared as much about his broken arm as his paper cuts.

Someone...who smiled when they saw him.

He knew it seemed idiotic – that he changed who he was for one person who shouldn't matter – but he had a choice. He could do whatever he wanted, based on anything. And if there was ever a really good reason to do something she was.

If there was this much to learn and gain from just being friends, then he had to wonder what that other relationship could teach him.

xoxo

9-20-11

11:10pm

(Chapters were not written with separate start and end dates. This date is when the last part was finally completed.)

The story will be marked as complete but there are three chapters total, one for each boy. I won't label which Rowdyruff each chapter is about but it should be easy to tell. Next chapter will be out in two/three days from now.

I was inspired to write this from a quote from Sarah Dessen's latest book, "What Happened to Goodbye" (page 368). It goes, "Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you."

Thanks.

9-22-11

2:37pm