Three shadowed figures stepped forward along a catwalk overlooking a large, defunct test chamber. Far below them in the center of the room, three prongs curved out from the ground, covered in makeshift machinery, wires, and emitters.
"He is here." One of the figures spoke. "Find him." As one, the two others leapt from the balcony, and disappeared into the shadows that dominated the room.
The first leaned against the railing, examining the room, and casting her features into the limited light. She had faded red hair, and worn olive eyes. A vicious scar curved along her right jaw from her ear to her chin. A padded, midnight black suit of armor clung to her body, and a crimson red cape swirled around her ankles.
As she watched the room, the machine in the center began to whir. A faint white disk began to form in the center of the pylons, and started to grow.
She saw a shadow flicker out of the corner of her eye. Without warning, it began to dash for the machine.
Almost immediately, another was on it. The pursuer was clad in a similar body armor to the woman on the balcony's. The edges of hers, however appeared a deep green no matter where the light hit it, much like her hair.
Hoping, perhaps, for a distraction, the man being chased threw back at his foe, a small, pink, object. With a brief show of green flame, and a pained squeal, the woman swatted out of the air. It Fell to the floor behind them, twitched once, and was still. The man gave a chocked cry, looking back at the now singed form behind him, but kept moving.
The chase lasted seconds. Though his pursuit was both quick and capable, the man, who seemed to be part shadow to those observing him, reached the machine first, and dove headlong into the portal. It now resembled a miniature Milky Way galaxy. As soon as his feet passed through, it winked out of existence.
The woman chasing him stopped, and turned toward the balcony, horror evident in her eyes.
The woman watching looked back, a mournful expression on her face. A single tear slipped from her eye, and ran down the length of her scar.
Middleton, Present Day.
Shego walked in to the kitchen room of the apartment she shared with Kim Possible, two steaming mugs in her hands. Her 'roommate' sat at the square table in the center of the room, surrounded by paper with her head in her hands.
"Overworked much?" Shego quipped, seating herself next to the redhead and offering her a cup.
Kim took it gratefully and began sipping it while staring down at the mess of papers before her.
Shego raised the remaining mug to her lips, and down its scalding contents in a few large gulps. Kim glared jealously at her while she licked her lips.
"So what seems to be the issue?"
Kim sighed heavily. "I'm still trying to figure out who to invite."
"What's to fuss over?" Sego asked, confused. "I thought we were just going to invite the same people as last time."
"It's not that." Kim replied, quietly. "I'm trying to figure out how to ask my parents."
"And what's the sitch?" Shego asked, trying to get a chuckle out of Kim by using her personal phrase. It didn't work.
"I mean, they're some of the only ones who we didn't tell that we were alive. I don't know how they'd react to seeing us again after that."
"And you want to invite them in person." Shego finished for her. "Kim, they're your family, you kinda have to invite them."
"You're one to talk." Kim mumbled.
"Hey." Shego protested. "I invited my brothers."
"I meant your parents, Shego." Kim snapped.
She didn't reply.
"I'm sorry, Shego!" Kim apologized, seeing the conflicted look on her fiancé's face. "I shouldn't have said that. I was just frustrated. I know there's a reason you never talk about them, and I-"
"It's alright Kim." Shego raised a hand, cutting her off. "I'm not upset, just surprised." She sighed. "I don't really talk to my folks much. None of my brothers do either."
She paused, and Kim wait patiently for her to continue.
"After the meteor hit, the one that gave us our powers, we woke up in some sort of hospital, and they were doing all these tests on us. They let our parents in after a week or so, when they decided we were 'safe.'"
"They came in, during and hugging us. The thing was, I don't think any of us actually remembered them. All that set them apart from the nurses and doctors was the was they dressed, and how they acted towards us. That's it. None of us remembered anything about our former lives."
"So we moved on. We trained at Yamanouchi to master our powers. Became heroes because we had nothing else to do, and moved on. We haven't spoken with them since. To us, we never really had parents, and to them, their children died when the meteor hit."
Kim rushed forward, hugging Shego tightly.
"It's alright Kim. It doesn't bother me. It hasn't for years."
"I know." Kim replied, her voice cracking slightly. "It's just so..." She wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm going to visit my parents tomorrow."
"I think that's a good idea Princess."
A tall, slim, raven haired man stood at the door to the Possible's household. Dressed in a snug suit and dark tie, he looked particularly out of place at the normally laid back family's abode. He glanced around, looked at his watch, waited exactly three seconds, then knocked on the door. It was opened precisely fourteen point six seven seconds later. If you were counting, which he was.
"What is it?" James Possible asked, opening the door.
A pause. Tick. Tick. Tick.
"If I could have a moment of your time. It regards your family."
Dr. Possible stared at him, puzzled. Five seconds...six. He stepped aside, and gesture for the strange man to enter. They walked to the living room. Eighteen.
Mrs. Dr. Possible joined them at her husband's call. Twenty nine. They are seated, ready, quiet, attentive. Thirty five. He began.
"Now, I don't want to sound presumptuous, but right now, I know more about your family than I believe you do." He ignored their shocked and indignant looks. "More specifically, the consequences your choices in the next few days will have. Not only on your, but the world's future." That quieted them.
"I ask that you listen, and after I finish, ask me what you will." He paused, unsure how to start. Seven...eight. He deiced that the beginning was as good a place as any. "In forty two hours, seventeen minutes, and nine point three seconds, Kim and Shego will return, and attempt to rebuild bridges. Where I am from, the visit turned nasty, and the bridges were thoroughly burned. I do not believe you ever saw your daughter again after that."
The Possibles were speechless. Something that didn't happen often to them.
"On her missions, Kim grew more aggressive in subduing villains. Eventually, accidents happened. Will Du, and your father," he nodded to Mr. Dr. Possible. "Will both be discharged from global justice in shame. Dr. Director will be re-instituted as G.J.'s head. She will lead a manhunt for Kim and Shego. They go under ground."
He paused, gulped. His mouth was suddenly dry. Eleven...twelve.
"Three years later, they resurface. But not the same." He shuddered, no longer seeing the Possibles. "Not as heroes." He paused, sweat leaking down his brow. He tries to count again. But he looses the numbers both times. "That's why I'm here. I've tried to set things right, but nothing works." He said, answering their unasked question. "This is all I can think of. All that's left I can change. Otherwise, that future I described to you, it will happen. And if this fails, there's no stopping it."
They all stared at each other for seventy eight seconds. He with desperate hope, they with complete shock.
"Why," Mrs. Possible croaked. "Why did we fight with Kim?"
He sighed. "I don't know the specifics. All I know, is that you had some unresolved issues. Ones that you didn't work around.
"We...we weren't very...accepting of Shego when we found out about her." Mr. Dr. Possible spoke, his voice shaking. "But I can't see that..."
"I think," The visitor interrupted when it was clear Dr. Possible no longer had the words to continue. "That you should explain your side fully, and let Kim and Shego know that you support them both. If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's that they truly do love each other. And nothing I could do has gotten in the way of that." He stood, and prepared to leave. He was about to overstay he had forty point six two seconds left before he had to be elsewhere.
"Wait." Mrs. Possible call out to him as he began to leave. "Before you go, what it your name?"
He smiled faintly, and adjusted the knob on his watch. His image flickered, and changed. He gave them a slight wave before his holographic disguise restored itself. He left a speechless couple behind him.
Middleton, Three Months Later.
Shego and Kim stood at the altar as the priest began the opening lines. Kim wore a splendid, yet simple gown of white with a light blue tint. Shego wore a snug black tuxedo with green highlights.
They weren't really paying attention to much more than each other.
At the altar, Ron stood to Kim's left, and Yori to Shego's right. In the first row of the chapel, Kim's parents, grandparents, brothers, Wade, Felix, and Monique sat on Kim's side. Team Go, Drakken, and Will Du sat on Shego's. Ron's family sat in the second row, and Hana with them, looking adorable in her pink flower girl dress.
There wasn't a dry eye in the building, which was especially surprising considering that this was Kim and Shego's seventh attempt at a successful ceremony.
When the priest asked if there was "any reason that these two should not be wed" no one spoke. One man accidentally coughed, and was shushed by the entire rest of the church, including the priest. Almost halfway through the ceremony, the entire church shook with the force of a powerful nearby explosion. Kim sighed, and Shego rolled her eyes. The priest smiled knowingly at them.
"Can we hurry this up?" Kim whispered to him.
He motioned for the ring bearers to come forward.
Monique wheeled Felix up the isle, and they each gave a platinum band to one of the happy couple. Monique to Kim, Felix to Shego, and then they retreated back down the isle.
"I now pronounce you, married. And might I say, It's about time." He said cheerfully as they slipped on the rings. "You may now kiss the bride."
Shego gave Kim a quick peck on the cheek.
"Now," the priest continued. "Everyone please taken the marked exits to the portable bomb shelters that Global Justice was kind enough to erect outside until whatever misguided delinquents are handled by the newly weds."
The church emptied in record time. Kim and Shego practically stepped out of their clothing-something Monique had designed the outfits to be able to do for just this situation-and emerged wearing their mission outfits. Kim, her long sleeved black turtleneck and cargo pants. Shego, her green and black catsuit. Ron and Yori soon joined them in their Yamanouchi gear. Rufus, on Ron's shoulder, bare as usual.
"Everyone ready?" Kim asked. They all nodded. "Then lets hurry this up. We have a reception scheduled in thirty."
A figure in the far back of the building, shrouded in shadow, smiled. Humming a merry tune softly to himself, he walked out of one of the emergency exits.
"Are you sure this works?" The raven haired man asked, looking at a hastily put together contraption. Three curved pylons stretched out of a platform before him, trailing wires and covered in makeshift electronics. He had mere seconds left. He wasn't supposed to be here any longer.
"Yeah." Felix replied, checking the screen of the portable computer on his lap. "Everything checks out."
"I'll take your word for it." The man sighed. "After all, where I'm from, you were the one to build this thing."
"Although I don't think Monique forgave you for using your engagement rings as focusing lenses." He said to himself.
"Well," Felix said, turning on the machine with a few keystrokes. "It's all properly calibrated,so it should drop you off right when you left."
"Right." The man muttered. "Here goes nothing." Three seconds left. Two, one.
He stepped forward, into the light.
"Ron!" He heard someone shout. "Ron are you all right?"
He felt someone lift him up, and drape his right arm around their shoulder.
"Otto!" He heard another voice cry.
He felt someone else take his other arm.
"Hey, bafoon? Are you all there?"
He blinked and shook his head. Gradually, his vision cleared. He looked forward to see the worried face of Yori staring back at him.
"Otto, are you alright?"
"Good thing you came back when you did," He looked to his left. Shego smirked back at him "I think you wife here was about to go charging in after you."
"Are you alright Ron?" Kim asked from his right. "You look a little shocked. Is something wrong?"
He felt something squirm in his pocket, and Rufus popped his head out, staring quizzically up at him.
"Nothing's wrong." Ron choked, his eyes tearing up. All four of them looked at him, confused. "Everything's perfect."
The Same Time, In a Place That No Longer Exists.
"So this is how it ends." Kim observed mournfully, staring out at Middleton from her hideout among the dozens of skyscrapers dotting the city. "We take down G.J., we take down the villains, and its all for nothing."
A pair of arms wrapped around her abdomen as her partner pressed herself against her back.
"Maybe so Kim, but what if his plan works? What if he fixes everything?"
"I hope he does." Kim whispered, turning to hug her partner back. "I don't think I could live without you. In this, or any timeline."
"Or I, you." Shego replied.
At the edges of their vision, they saw a wall of white specks, like snow, drifting upwards from the ground into the sky. No one knew what lay behind them, only that they marched ever forward. Consuming all in their path.
Kim and Shego knew what it was. The end of the universe.
Their universe.
"I'm scared Shego." Kim admitted.
"I am too, Kimmie."
They clung to each other, to their shared existence as the world began to fall apart.
"I will be the answer," Shego began to sing softly. "At the end of the line. I will be there for you, why take the time?"
Car horns sounded. People cried out in the streets below, as thousands tried to stay ahead of the noose closing around Middleton.
"In the burning of uncertainty, I will be your solid ground."
The rest of the world was gone. Only Middleton remained. Soon, there would be nothing.
"I will hold the balance, when you can't look down."
People screamed as the slower ones began to be consumed by the white death. Deconstructed atom by atom.
"If it takes my whole life, I won't break, I won't bend. It'll all be worth it. Worth it in the end."
Buildings began to fall as their supports dissolved. They had completely evaporated before they hit the ground.
"I can only tell you what I know: that I need you in my life."
The night sky disappeared, replaced by the approaching oblivion.
"When the stars have all gone out, you'll still be burning so bright."
Then there was nothing but them. No one, nowhere. Just each other. An embrace, and a song.
"Cast me gently into morning, for the night has been unkind."
And then there was nothing.
A/N: The song was Answer by Sarah McLachlan, used for nonprofit entertainment purposes.