Josh opened to door to Ron’s room slowly. Everything had come to a head a month ago in that community. But now things were slowly returning to normal again.
Or as normal as things could be anymore.
“Ron..? You awake? Your mother let me in.”
Ron’s arm waved weakly from where he lay on his bed, “Yeah…I’m up.”
Josh plopped down in the chair next to the desk. He was too exhausted from work to settle down, and let his arms hang limply over the sides, “Any news on Shego?”
“Nothing more than the doctors aren’t sure if she’ll improve or not. Even Mrs. Possible is having her doubts on if she’ll improve or not. We all know she’s able to heal quickly, but no one is sure if she can repair the destroyed brain tissue or not.”
Josh nodded, “Kim is still visiting her though, right?”
“Everyday to the point the staff is offering to let her have the other bed in the room. It’s tearing everybody up to see Kim so attached to someone like this. Someone who’s so helpless…”
Josh decided to change the subject, “What about you? What’s the word?”
Ron half-rolled over, “This Chosen One thing has it’s uses…I get “access” to things that no one knows…thing that are kept as secrets among secrets…It’s actually hard to explain…” He paused and forced himself to continue. The next part wouldn’t be easier to say, “It…it seems I’m the Chosen One to influence the fate of the world to counter some sort of end-days thing. I’m not the first though…every generation has one…and apparently male or female we’re all very similar. We all have different cultures, names, races, religions, even genders, but personality wise we’re identical.”
“Whoa…”
Ron nodded at Josh’s surprise, “Good news is I’m just a precaution. It seems that they aren’t sure when the end-days are, so a Chosen One is found every generation to guard that generation. I’m just the lucky candidate who fit the bill.”
Josh couldn’t help but feel impressed, “So…how are you identical to every other Chosen One before you, save for a few minor things, like culture?”
Ron traced cryptic designs in the air, “I’m a carbon copy in a way. It seems that every Chosen One is just a new body harboring an old soul. I’m not the only person who has this happening to them. A large number people on this planet face the same thing. Each of us has a very special role that our souls agree to, and we continue to perform it from one life to the next.
“Though, that cycle was recently broken by Shego’s change of sides.”
Josh held up a hand, gesturing Ron to stop, “Wait, Shego?”
Ron nodded, “Shego, Kim, me, you…Hell, millions of people are all specially assigned souls.”
“..Me?”
Ron nodded.
“Whoa. I mean….whoa…”
Ron smiled, “My thoughts exactly. I knew you were special…but this is a whole new level of special…”
There was a small pause as Josh’s mind ran in circles trying to understand it. “Can you explain the whole you-me and Kim-Shego thing…? I’m lost on the ‘we’re old souls with new bodies’ thing…”
Ron nodded slowly, “I can try… You see…Well you and I are a pretty simple one…I’m the very essence of emotion as a soul, and you are the very essence of logic. We can work well by ourselves, but together we’re invincible...” He paused for a moment, trying not to get caught up in the moment.
“Some lives we were together, others we weren’t. It’s all luck of the draw,” He paused again as Josh looked hurt. He hadn’t meant to be so casual about it. He mentally kicked himself before continuing.
“Kim and Shego are a bit more…complex. Their souls love each other in a way I can’t even describe, but they agreed to be on the opposite sides. The world needs a hero, and Kim’s soul is fated to be that hero, every single life time. On the other end of the spectrum Shego’s soul walks the painful road as Kim’s rival, pushing Kim to the level she needs to be to be what she is. Heroes aren’t allowed to be weak…and Shego was a way to make sure that Kim wasn’t.” His voice was choking up now.
“But…from what I understand…Shego’s soul couldn’t keep it up. The soul needed it’s mate…it’s other half…it’s yang…and obviously this mess is because of it…”
Josh got up slowly, his body trembling. He clutched onto the boy on the bed and let it go. The tears were flowing now everything came down on him. He was beginning to understand it finally, but in the end, he didn’t. It’s beautiful complexity was stunning, and enchanting. And it didn’t matter that he didn’t understand it all.
Because he had Ron. He had his other half, and that was what was important to him.
Kim waved politely to the nurses at their station. It was getting to the point that it didn’t matter what time she came in, they just let her in all the same. Just like she worked there, or was a patient returning to her room.
The walk down the hall before the visit was always a hard one for her. The wondering if today would be different, the hope that things had improved since her last visit.
She quietly entered the room.
“Hey Princess…” The woman on the bed said weakly. Shego… But she wasn’t Shego though. Not anymore. The woman was fragments of Shego.
Fragments of Kim’s other half.
But her soul was still the same. Even without everything she had used to be, Shego in a lot of ways was still the same person.
Still had that same loving look when Kim was around…still called her Princess…still held her close at night…and still tucker her in when she fell asleep on the other bed…Little things…things that most people wouldn’t notice…But Kim did.
“Hey…How’re you doing?” Kim tired to smile, the tears already welling up from inside of her.
The woman who had been Shego smiled, “Good…better now that you’re here. You’re so nice to me… Visiting everyday…everyday since you saved me…and I can’t forget it. I can’t even get you out of my mind. I close my eyes and you’re right there, with that same worried look on your face that you had when you found me.”
Kim swallowed, “Really?” It was getting harder not to tear up as the woman talked.
The woman nodded, “And then…sometimes I see that smile that you had when you realized I was breathing.”
Her eyes were watering now.
Damn it…I won’t cry…I need to be strong for Shego…
The woman wasn’t on the bed anymore. Skinny green arms had snaked around Kim, holding her close.
“Why- Why are you hugging me? I…I don’t deserve it…It was my fault you were hurt…” Kim sniffled as she spoke, trying not to cry.
The woman smiled, “Because it hurts me to see that lip start to tremble…to see tears in those beautiful green eyes. And if it means freezing my half-naked butt off to make you feel better, damn it, I’ll do it! Besides…You deserve it more than I deserve your kindness…I hear the talk…the talk of what people say I used to be a long time ago…You redeemed my soul…I’ve been saved twice by you…”
Kim smiled despite the small trickle of tears that were rolling down her cheeks. The woman was sweet…honest…She still smelled the same too…the same gentle fragrance that matched the same exotic look that she had.
Still Shego…but not…Everything I love….but without that same teasingly enticing personality…Or is it still there…in a different form? She’s the same in a lot of ways…It’s hard to say…So hard to know…
She looked up to see gentle eyes looking down at her. Her lip trembled again. It was too much…too much to see the woman she loved like this.
To see her missing so much but still be so loving. So caring…so beautiful…like a lost angel…
Soft lips were entangled in hers. It was warm, and familiar on a level that Kim didn’t know existed until just then.
And it ended just as quickly as it began.
“Why…?” Kim was confused. A woman, who hardly knew her, yet was so loving.
“Because it felt like the right thing to cheer you up. Besides…I thought people kissed people they care about. But then again…I only get “soaps” on television…Very weird things…” The woman stopped, realized she was rambling.
Kim’s mouth moved, but no sound was coming out.
“I know…I know I hardly know you…even though you know me….but is it alright…that I’m in love with you anyways?” The woman hard a worried look in her eyes. It was as if she was afraid of the answer.
She probably is afraid of the answer, Kim corrected herself. She’s not the same fearless Shego I knew…but….but that’s okay…she’s still the same woman I love.
“Yes…But only if I can love you too.”
Their lips met. The passion was the same as always, the intensity matched that of the same kind of intensity that they had when they had first fallen in love.
But the dance was different now. It was more special to both of them then they could realize. And inside of them, their souls sighed softly, as they were put back together again.
It might only last for a lifetime, but it made of for the ages they had spent apart. And that in itself was worth more than anything words can say.
A/N: And the last chapter is short, and open ended. Even though it’s sad. Read or Die the OVA series inspired the last chapter, so you can direct your hate mail to the creators of it. I know it’s a sad ending to the Trilogy, but it leaves possibility for things to get better for Kim and…the woman who –was- Shego.
I know I didn’t touch on what happened to Drakken. Why? Because I’m not sure what happened to him myself. I actual hope he died in that explosion.
Either way I hope you enjoyed the story, and that you continue to read my work as I hopefully continue to improve!