"Walking The Plank Of Guilt"
The song featured in this fic is called 'Take One Last Breath' by a Canadian rock band called Abandon All Shipsfrom Toronto, Ontario. Please R&R!
It had already been half-a-year. Half-a-year since Shego had left—along with Rachel—leaving behind her friends, her family...and her life. It had been hard at first but even now, it still was. She had had no choice. Things were just always going to be complicated…
"KYAH!" the ex-hero yelled, launching a round-house kick at the punching bag in front of her—making it swing wildly by force of the kick.
She was in the process of relieving some pent-up frustration in the rented warehouse that she and Rachel had renovated to suit their combating needs. The place was spacious and had weight-lifts, multiple bench-presses, and just about any other training equipment a martial artist needed. This was her zone. She spent more time there then in her own suite. It was her 'happy' place.
The black tank-top the thief wore was soaked front and back with sweat and her long, ebony hair was slightly in a state of disarray as she continually threw powerful kicks and punches at the bag non-stop for the last hour. Then panting hard and sweating bullets, Shego leaned over with her hands on her knees to recover her breath.
Maybe I'm over-exerting myself, the raven-haired beauty thought, blinking at the hard-wood floor under her feet as it seemed to tilt sideways.
The dizzy spell ended a few seconds later and she went and grabbed a bottle of water out of her mini-fridge, thirstily chugging the cool liquid.
"...Need some tuneage," Shego mumbled to no one in particular. She wiped the sweat from her brow with a hand-towel and turned on the sound system her daughter had thoughtfully put into the warehouse. A song that sounded vaguely familiar filled the air. Then she made a connection. It was sung by a post-hardcore band Shay had long ago introduced to her called Abandon All Ships or something like that.
Flashback…
"Yo, Shego!" a male voice called out.
"What do you want?" drawled the addressed woman who was in the middle of browsing through a fashion magazine—which had Lady GaGa on the cover wearing a totally weird and twisted outfit that only she could pull off—and lounging in a recliner with her booted feet propped up comfortably.
"Listen to this vibe, it's amazing!" Shay eagerly held up his iPhone in front of her face, loud music blaring from its tiny speakers. "It's my ring-tone," he declared, grinning.
The green-skinned thief arched an eyebrow and listened. "It's not half bad. I shoulda known you were into screamo-type music," she teased, playfully swatting her friend with her magazine. "It's more your scene I guess."
The musician's grin grew wider. "So says the woman who listens to The Backstreet Boys. Hahahaha!"
"Hey! That was only ONE time. The song was catchy," said Shego defensively.
"Riiight."
That earned him a hard flick to the forehead. "Zip your lips boy or you won't have 'em for future use," she warned.
"Is abuse and threats your way of showing me affection?" the young man mused.
The villainess smirked, making Shay feel rather nervous by the devious expression on her face. "Yup! Pretty much," she laughed and lovingly ruffled his hair.
End Flashback…
Shego zoned back into the present and focused closely to the song, picking out a portion of the lyrics through the lead singer's deep-throated screams. The drums and guitar were good. She closed her eyes and bobbed her head to the beat.
Take one last breath, you're about to jump to your death!
Sail away from the shoreline, sail away from the shore
I'm in front of heaven's door!
"Oh, Shay...Your taste in music is mutual," Shego said, shaking her head and smiling softly. It makes me miss my best friend even more...
The currents strong, the waves will rise
The binding chains made me realize
Sin is the anchor, holding me down!
I'm on a cruise to paradise
I'm done with sin I've paid my price
God is our captain, change your direction!
Abandon All Ships!
Look what we've built! Walking the plank of guilt!
Shego snorted at the irony of the plank part. Oh yes, she was definitely walking it. Sighing, she flicked the system off and walked over to a bench across the large room, snatching up her leather jacket and slipping on with a shrug of her shoulders. She needed air to clear her head and put her emotions under control. The stress was eating away at her.
It's not like I have anything else productive to do at the moment...she thought silently.
After writing a quick note to Rachel explaining where she was going, the villainess left the warehouse and stepped out into night.
Rachel showed up about thirty minutes afterward with a case of Corona tucked under one arm and a bag of Chinese food under the other.
"Mom? You here? Hellooo?"
She glanced from side to side for the comet-enhanced female then spotted a piece of folded paper on the fridge. With a brief pause, the teen scanned its hand-written contents, groaned, and then pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You gotta be kidding me! She's at Go Go Nightclub?" Rachel shouted, throwing her bag of food on the counter in exasperation.
She feared that the thief was falling back into her old habit of excessive drinking. She looked down at the case of beer she was holding and thought dryly, Okay, so maybe I'm being a bit of a hypocrite here. But besides the point! It's my MOM we're talking about here…I hope she hasn't done anything stupid. UGH!
Rachel put down the beer and stormed out the door to find Shego, slamming it so hard behind her the walls shook.
Shego was barely aware of the pain in her hands as she lay—completely exhausted—in the cool, damp grass under a majorly charred tree that bore deep, jagged carvings that had been made by her claws and was stained with her blood.
Many smaller surrounding trees in the park were either knocked down or burning up in bright green flames. Luckily, no innocent passerby had stumbled into her path when she had had her breakdown. The park was remotely close to her destination and she doubted anyone would find her in the darkness.
Except for Rachel that is.
"Jesus, mom! What the fuck have you done to yourself?" the teenager yelled angrily, getting on her knees and gazing intensely down at the fallen thief. When Shego's sobs filled her ears, all her anger dissipated.
"R-Rachel," the ex-hero bawled, clutching her daughter weakly. Rachel sniffed and cringed a little.
"You're bleeding," she pointed out, noticing her parent's severely cut hands. "Is anything broken?"
"I think I b-broke my wrist...and maybe a few of my fingers," was the hesitant reply.
The raven-haired youth helped her into a sitting position—carefully, in fear that she had more injuries. She hugged Shego gently as she cried, holding back her own tears.
"I'm s-so stupid for leaving—leaving t-the love of my life, m-my friends...I'm so s-selfish. I'm sorry f-for putting you through this, t-too, Rach," the thief sobbed. She held her only daughter's face in her trembling, bloody hands—her tear-filled green eyes full of sadness and guilt. It made Rachel ache even more so to see her mom in this condition. It was simply heart-breaking.
Choking back the oncoming tears, Rachel said while looking at Shego, "I don't hold you at fault for your choice. I came with you because I couldn't bear to see you leave by yourself and be alone. That was my choice. I need you in my life! You missed most of my childhood when you were in that coma and I won't let you miss the rest of my years. We may be forever cursed as creatures of night, but even if we do live for centuries to come, I want you in my life!"
Shego was momentarily silenced by this confession. She loved the girl more than ever in that moment. "You really are your mother's daughter," she said finally, smiling. Rachel gave a shaky chuckle and embraced her again, feeling comforted when the plasma-wielding woman wrapped her arms around her, kissing the top of her head tenderly.
"Thanks, Rachel. I love you so, so much...You know that right?"
"Yeah, mom. Love you, too."
END
Author's Notes: Sooo, uh, not much to say on this one. I haven't written a mother (um, father? O_ou) and daughter episode before so, urm, hope you enjoyed this. ^-^