Title: Five Years – all things change.

Pairing: Kim/Shego.

Rating: PG-15. Some language.

Spoilers: "Four Years Later" – up to Chapter 15.

Disclaimer: Kim Possible and all related characters symbols, objects, and themes are the property of the Walt Disney Corporation.

Summary: Here we cut back to Chapter 15 of my story, "Four Years Later" and tweak events slightly:

1) What if Kim had made it out of the lair before Shego activated her Neural Compliance Chip?

2) What if Drakken didn't send Shego after our redheaded heroine? What if he kept his promise to leave Kim out of his plans?

3) What if events had played out from there? What happens as the agreed-upon Fifth Year comes to a close? With this in mind…

Onto the insanity!

-- (Possibly a One-Shot) --

(((Excerpt from Four Years…)))

"…Okay, I'll bite – what's the deal…?"

"…I'll give you this cure, Shego – you can count on that…I want five years…"

"…Five years is a really long time, Shego – so much can go wrong in that much time…"

I can't believe I'm doing this… "Promise me one thing, Dr Dee…"

"…Promise me you won't involve Possible in any of your schemes…"

"…Fair enough – I accept…is that good enough for you…?"

See you in five years Kimmie…

(((End excerpt)))

23:30

The silver moon hung full and brilliant in the sky in the still, smothering summer night. The heat was quickly approaching unbearable, as if the night-time orb were trying to compete with her day-time sister in her jealousy and envy. It was an inaccurate assessment of the celestial bodies for certain, but nights like this one always made the Wraith wax philosophic.

This was a mission night.

And that was cause enough for a measure of introspection and self-exploration. A mission could go smoothly at best, or disastrously at worst. No matter how slight and no matter how many skills she picked up, there was always a chance that she could come back injured – or not at all

23:35

In the beginning, it hadn't been much more than an exhilarating hobby. It was the same job, the same risks, but the excitement and invulnerability of Youth had blinded her to the realities of her lifestyle. A dark-skinned hand reached up to trace a faint white line that began just above a thin, white eyebrow and ran straight down through the center of a bright blue eye to the halfway point of her high-boned, dark coffee-toned cheek. She had faced a hard lesson in her own mortality, but it could have been worse – it actually had been worse, in fact. She'd lost that eye completely and it would have stayed that way were it not for her own powers. At the time, she could have healed the wound and left no trace of the scar – the result of her brief lapse in judgement and concentration – but she'd opted to keep a small reminder at the very least:

She was only Mortal.

On the other hand, the event that had taken her eye would likely have killed just about anyone else. Flying shrapnel at the epicentre of an exploding land mine was honestly pretty far down on the list of survivable experiences. But the Wraith found herself quite unwilling to test the theory of her Immortality; the only way to disprove it would be to die, and that was one event that she was inclined to forestall for as long as possible.

Thin, black-painted lips curled up into a ghostly smirk. The puns never did cease, did they? No matter how far away she walked from the silly, naïve little girl she had been, she could never escape the constant nagging awareness of who she really was – of who the heart behind the cold, calculating face of the Wraith truly belonged to.

23:50

"You can't hide from what you are, Kimmie."

The faint whisper in her mind came as no surprise to the former heroine. It had been a long five years. It would have been supremely foolish of her to think she could go that long without hearing the voice of her mentor…her friend – even if it was only in her mind…

Her Soulmate…

If there was one thing the past stretch of years had taught the now full-grown, self-reliant woman, it was the undeniable truth of that singular statement. Whether her lover felt the same about her wasn't an issue anymore. This was it for her…the ultimate Romance of her Life. There would be no other person after…Shego.

23:55

But the events of tonight would decide the final destiny of their relationship. She gazed across the deserted street from her rooftop with a penetrating, narrow-eyed intensity. This was the place where her fate as part of a couple – part of any relationship – would be decided. If Shego refused her, if the Queen denied her Princess, then she would be alone for the rest of her life.

However long that might end up being.

23:56

Shaking her head, her brilliant, platinum-white hair shimmering in the silvery moonlight, the Wraith put thoughts of her personal life to the back of her mind. Now wasn't the time for such things…things that were left for Kim Possible to feel.

Now was the time for the Wraith.

23:57

She had taken many forms over the years – had gone by many names in her vendetta against Global Justice and Pisces International – sinister and twisted organizations both – but that name was the one she had finally taken a liking to. She struck quickly, silently, and left only chaos in her wake. Wherever she found the dark figures of a Pisces agent cell, she brought a blinding light to reveal it to the world… Or she dragged it kicking and screaming out of the hole it had dug in its futile attempt to hide from her.

There were finally whispers of awareness rippling across the globe, more noticeably in the European Union, of a devious, secretive organization that controlled a staggering amount of the world's crime. It had taken far too long for the people to rouse themselves from their media-induced apathy, but it would not be long now before the Wraith's enemies were surrounded on all sides by governments and organizations more powerful than a lone woman with a cause.

23:58

But tonight was different. Tonight's date had been five years coming and had far more significance to the Wraith than Pisces or its corrupt practices. Tonight's appointment had been on the woman's mind every night without fail for a bare few minutes shy of half-a-decade now.

Promises had been made on that night long ago.

She was here keeping her promise to make sure an old "friend" kept his. And if for some strange reason he chose to perform to his arrogant, belligerent standard…

Well, she'd learned a few tricks over the years that could make the night a little…interesting.

23:59

There was no crime more heinous to the Wraith than a broken promise. She was guilty of a few instances, and for that she would always feel the need to atone by taking up her other mantle. She had taken it upon herself to stand guard over the common citizens of the World by keeping all those in authority accountable for their own promises. A government that vowed peace to its people but conveniently forgot it days or weeks later would quickly feel the cold, icy touch of the Wraith's fingers.

She had no designs on a place of authority other than that which she had already taken. She would leave the ruling of the Globe to those governing bodies that were more than capable of handling the responsibility of shepherding their people from one era to the next. But policing the World's governments?

That was something the Wraith could do.

But she did it with more than brutish methods. She had a hacker who could commandeer any communication medium and broadcast whatever evidence of disloyalty a government had hidden form hits people. And there was always evidence; no matter how quietly any government thought it was acting, there was always a trail.

And the Wraith could follow any trail.

She didn't even need any organization to support her either, and she was glad for that. Organizations that answered to no authority had a way of growing corrupt. The Wraith and her band of merry men were hardly an organization; and if they should ever corrupt their self-appointed purpose, well…

Not even Kim Possible could stand against the entire World.

"We could sure give them a run for their money though, couldn't we Princess?"

But, as another shadowy figure had put it, "People shouldn't be afraid of their governments, Governments should be afraid of their People."

How right you were, Che Guevera.

0:00

There it was. The Wraith turned her face up to the moon for a moment as she prepared herself.

Five Years.

She'd give it another minute – for old time's sake. Her enemy this night had been the most harmless by far, and he'd occasionally been cooperative once his plans had fallen by the wayside.

The Wraith crouched down and stared across the distance between her and her target.

There was another saying the Wraith had taken a quick liking to:

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

"Ain't that the truth, Princess?"

And there was her conscience again, using her partner's face to guide her and help her in her decisions. After tonight, perhaps she would have no more need of the disembodied voice.

"Hey, don't be stupid, Kimie – you'll always need me. I keep the darkness away from you while you carry out your whole "Angel of Vengeance" thing. I keep you from turning into the villains you fight."

A wry smile touched dark-tinted lips. Yeah, pretty ironic that…you keeping me from going villain.

"Eh..." the Wraith could clearly picture the careless shrug her former archenemy would give to accompany her reply. "The world's full of irony – better get used to it."

The Wraith took in the digits on her watch before shooting a deadly glare at the building across the way; a feral grin twisted her features and illuminated her face in a predatory delight.

0:01

So, promise broken it was to be then.

Now was the time for the Wraith's Fury.

As bright blue eyes quickly clouded over with a silvery, luminescent mist, so too did the sky above suddenly begin to darken, the full moon and stars vanishing one by one behind a growing mass of turbulent, roiling, twisting, and flashing thunderheads.

Hope you prepared for this, Drew, she thought as her glowing eyes narrowed dangerously. She leapt from her perch three stories above the street without a second thought.

Company's coming.

AN: Yeah, okay. This is totally NOT a oneshot. I have to go farther than this, don't I? The rest'll come out pretty soon, I think (of course, 'soon' is kinda of relative, isn't it?).

So please, tell me what you think. I'd appreciate any input from a fellow writer.