"I believe one of the hardest things you can do is conquer your fears, but if you have a goal, then it's your job to open up and let it be real no matter how scary it seems."
--Unknown
Dreams and Thinking
I.
Ron gripped the blade in his hand as he stared at the vaguely simian face in front of him. Though the face was once familiar it was now twisted by a horrible sneer as the figure in front of him just chuckled. Gripping the sword with a tighter grip Ron stepped forward advancing towards the figure that held a simple looking metal shield with a monkey's face covering the front in a silent scream. As the two closed the distance Ron's determined face was reflected in the shield showing that the freckles of his youth were no longer as clear and a single almost invisible scar running down his left cheek. An odd detail to note before a battle but one that was noted anyway. The reason for the fight though was unclear though there was the feeling that much was at stake.
"Give her back Monty." The voice that came from Ron was full of determination and a deep quality that reflected the seriousness of his demand. It was clear he intended to back up his demand if it was not meet.
"You wish to have your spawn back then take her. I'm the only one standing in your way." The shield attached to the simian like figure shone for a second as blue light blossomed from its center and moved towards the edges.
The two figures exchanged further words after this with Ron glancing to the side at some unknown object clearly showing his agitation. The words they spoke though went unheard all that was clear was that the two meant to end this now. For what reasons is unknown. The next moments occurred in a blur as both combatants met sword crashing into shield as they spun at each other. At times it appeared the blade changed into various other weapons but each time it struck the shield was there. It always was there.
The scene blurred again before clarifying into the solid image of Ron standing facing the unknown figure. He seemed to say something more but the words were lost as a sharp wind blew up. Just as the wind reached an almost screaming intensity the whole scene flashed yet again a blue light blocking out all sight. When the light faded the figure stood over Ron holding a broken shield in his hand. Ron lacked any weapon.
"So be it." With that the simian figure brought his foot down upon Ron's neck snapping it like a twig. As the breath left the blond haired man's body a scream rose bloating out all other noise. The source of the noise could not be seen even though there was a desire to see where it was coming from. All that could be seen was the simian figure slowly backing away before blowing away like dust in the wind until nothing remained but the scream. Only the heartrending scream of a child.
II.
Kim awoke sweat drenching the night shirt she wore as her scream died on her lips. The image of Ron laying there in the dirt his neck broken remained in her mind as she panted for breath. What scared her more was that it was not the Ron she knew but what she imagined he would look like when he was older. "Alright Kim calm down I'm sure there nothing more to this but a simple nightmare."
Plucking at her sweat drenched shirt Kim shuddered as she looked back at her pillow. She doubted she could fall back to sleep after that and a quick glance to the clock by her bedside showed she only had a few hours left till school. Running her hand through her hair she tried to calm herself and get through her panicked filled mind that Ron was ok and she had not just seen him die. She just couldn't get past the feeling that he had. That awful deep down fear in her bones that just wouldn't go away no matter how much she tried to rationalize with herself. Looking over at the phone she contemplated if it was worth it to wake up Ron because of a simple nightmare. It was the image of the figure that he had fought though that decided her.
Picking up the phone she hit Ron's number on her speed dial waiting for him to pick up. A tired voice soon answered with a simple hello. With more excitement then she meant to show Kim answered. "Ron is that you?"
"KP? Do you have any idea was time is it?"
Kim glanced over at her clock before answering. "Four thirty two."
"Really? It's that early? Sleep Kim, need sleep."
Kim frowned trying to think if she could focus Ron for a second in order to ask her question. She went with it anyway. "Ron have you had any nightmares recently."
"Like the one where I wake up in a Naco?"
Kim frowned at that but decided to keep moving on. "No about more important things."
"Like Mr. B becoming my dad. Sick and wrong on that one KP."
Kim sighed realizing she'd have to be more specific. "No about transforming swords and Monkey Fist."
There was silence on the other line and Kim began to wonder if Ron had fallen asleep. When he answered she could tell he was a lot more alert. "Transforming swords KP? No I don't think I've ever dreamed about that. Why?"
Kim frowned racking her brain for more questions to ask. "What about Monkey Fist and some sort of shield he's holding."
"What kind of shield?"
Thinking back to it Kim remembered the biggest feature on it was a monkey's face opened in a silent scream. "A shield with a monkey's face on it. Does that ring any bells?"
This time the answer came much quicker. "A monkey's face. Sick and wrong KP why would I dream about that."
Kim sighed in relief realizing that if Ron hadn't had the same dream then more then likely it didn't mean anything. "No reason Ron. Anyway I guess I'll see you in the morning."
"Alright KP, see you in the morning. By the way why did you call?"
Kim blushed as she looked down at the phone hoping she wouldn't have had to answer this question. "Well...I just wanted to check up on you that's all. Make sure you weren't up playing that mummy bashing game of yours."
"Its zombies KP and you could come up with a better way to check. Well Good Morning I guess. Bye."
"Bye." Kim hung up the phone a bit of relief flooding through her after that call. It was short lived though before the image of her best friend's lifeless body again occupied her mind. Pulling her legs up to her chest Kim sat there staring at the wall unable to shake the feeling that the dream had more meaning then just being a simple nightmare. For the life of her though she couldn't figure it out. She remained sitting there till her alarm went off later that morning.
III.
Kim was on edge to say the least as they crawled through the air duct of Drakken latest lair. Not only was she in less then a good mood about going on the mission but that nightmare was not helping to keep her calm. "Amp down KP." Letting out a surprise yelp Kim spun around to the previously yawning blond haired boy behind her. Rufus was even out and about giving her a concerned look instead of sleeping like he usually did for these early morning missions.
"I'm fine Ron I don't know what you're talking about." Kim gave her best attempt at a confident smile. It appeared Ron didn't buy it.
"I don't have to be Wade to figure out your on edge KP. You've been glancing around nervously since we got this mission and frankly its scaring Rufus." The rodent in question shot Ron a disgusted look as he shook his head and grumbled. "Alright buddy and it's scaring me too. Come on KP what's up?"
"Nothing wrong Ron I'm just jumpy from too much coffee this morning."
"Kim you don't drink coffee."
Kim blinked a flush coming to her cheeks before turning back around and heading forward. "That's got to be the problem then I should make sure to drink my juice instead of Daddy's coffee."
"Daddy?" Kim winced again at her slip up but didn't bother to reply. Instead she took out her laser lipstick and started to cut a hole in the air duct. "Seriously KP I think we should talk about this first."
Kim glanced back this time going into her mission mode voice. "No time Ron, now just stay up here and I'll finish up down there." That way at least she knew he'd be alright. Kicking through the ruined side of the air duct Kim shot out her trademark grapple and descended to the ground blocking out Ron's objections and Rufus's usual grumblings. That pet of his was too much like Ron at times.
"Kim Possible so good of you to show up." Kim crouched down as she landed on the floor looking up at Drakken and his assembled henchmen. The lot of them looked like they had just gotten out of bed all except Drakken who had flowers in his hair. She didn't want to know. "By the way do you notice anything different."
"Um..." Kim kept repeating to herself not to mention the flowers. "The flowers." She winced again at yet another slip up.
Looking back again at Drakken she could tell he was now looking at her in that way she had come to recognize. He was about to rant. "Frankly kids these days are completely unable to recognize good taste. I mean I go through the trouble of redecorating the lair, panting the walls, and even adding in new drapes and what do you do. You simply cut through my rather expensive heating and air system and don't even bother to notice. You know even us super villains have feelings and the way you completely ignore my hard work hurts. Do you have any idea what you're doing to the henchmen?" Kim didn't want to look but in the end the sobs drew her attention as she looked at the broken hearted henchmen. "They stayed up all night cleaning up this place you know and the least we can expect is a bit of appreciation. A thank you once before you go ahead and get your thrills in. Is it so much to ask for a hero to pause just once in the whole blowing up of the lair to at least admire it. Just because I've put on weight doesn't mean you can ignore me Kim Possible!" Why did all her villain foes have to be insane?
"Dr. D if you done making an idiot of yourself can we deal with the problem at hand like taking out the left over trash." Kim spun around seeing Shego holding her blond headed partner and best friend by the collar of his shirt. "Hey Kimmie you'd be surprise what you find in air ducts these days." Kim's heart froze as she watched Shego's glowing claw move closer to Ron's face. For the first time ever on a mission she felt real fear.
"Shego what have we talked about choosing our words. You know I run a tight ship around her and your bad manners are starting to rub off on the henchmen. For example the other day I caught one of them..."
"Dr. D shut it!" With Drakken's rant cut short Shego turned back to Kim her unlighted gauntlet now tracing a line over Ron's left cheek leaving a trail of blood in its wake. As Kim stared the image of Ron's fear filled eyes were replace with two sightless brown orbs staring at nothing forever. She wanted to throw up.
"Come on Shego after all we've been through together you're not going to just throw it away like that, are you? I've got frequent flier miles I haven't used yet." Shego just turned around a smile on her face though it quickly turned to shock when she saw a very close pink face staring at her instead. Without a moments pause, two very sharp teeth snapped on a very exposed nose.
Shego of course wasted no time before running around the lair screaming for someone to help take off the offending rodent. Not once did she think to fix it herself but despite this Kim still couldn't laugh even when Ron began to. Instead she watched as Rufus finally was knocked away and a very ticked off Shego prepared to attack. Again she could do nothing as she felt her heart hammering away in her chest. Two dead eyes just kept staring back at her haunting her and reminding her of her failure.
As Shego charged forward Kim watched in dull shock as Ron kicked out against a pillar before jumping back screaming as he held his foot. Shego smirk at that was short lived as a piece of the ceiling fell down and hit her on the head. Ron's triumphant cry rang out. "Score one for the Ron man!"
"Buffoon you think you're all that but you're not." Kim looked over to see Drakken pressing a button on his belt which deployed a set of overly large chopsticks. Frowning, the mad scientist grumbled a bit before walking over instead and dragging Shego to the escape route. It was over within a matter of minutes in which Ron danced his happy dance the entire time.
"Hey KP did you see me?" Kim was finally pulled out of her dull shock as she looked over at Ron. She could still see the trail of blood running down his cheek. She did the next natural thing and began to cry.
IV.
"I see." Kim sat glumly on the floor looking up at the old man currently rubbing his cheek. The man's short pepper gray hair was currently covered by a ridiculous looking cowboy hat and a pair of black shades covered his blue eyes. Apparently he was in a cowboy faze at the moment and she was sure Mike had made a few comments. "So why is it Kimberly you feel I am best suited to deal with this problem?"
Kim frowned as she looked at him a feeling of fear creeping into her. "I don't know." She hated the unease clear in her voice at that reply.
A sigh escaped the old man as he looked towards Mike who was currently practicing towards the side far away enough to not be heard. "I know you go to my grandson often for someone to sort your problem out with. Do you not feel you can do the same this time around?"
Kim looked down as she shook her head. "I don't think he can help this time."
"Then you feel you can not sort this problem out is that right?" Kim flinched as she sat on the floor. "What about Ronald himself? Why not talk to him about your fears?"
"I can't. What if when I tell him about it..." She trailed off unwilling to finish that statement.
"It may come true?" Kim numbly nodded her head as she sat on the floor. "What if by telling him he can then prevent it?"
Kim looked up at that a frown on her face. "Do you think then that this is some sort of possible future?"
The old man in front of her just sighed at that as he reached up and adjusted his hat. "Kim I once had a dream that my wife was going to die by the hands of an enemy of mine. Do you know what happened?" Kim shook her head. "She died of cancer at the age of sixty seven. Sometimes dreams are just that and even if my dream came true there would be no gain from worrying about it."
"But what if..."
"You can prevent it? How by killing Monkey Fist? If you feel that will solve the problem I can take care of him for you easily Kimberly. Is that your wish?" Kim just shook her head as she looked down. "Kim, there are no easy answers for the fears you face. When my son in law died my daughter was so afraid that she wouldn't let her son even practice anymore in case he was hurt seriously. In the end her irrational fear lead her to try to shelter her child from all the dangers of life. It was Michael himself though who decided what he wanted to do concerning this not her. I guess what I'm trying to say Kim is you can live in fear about Ronald's safety but he will still decide what to do with his life. Not you. If he wants to put himself in danger you can't stop him all you can do is watch over him. Understand?"
"But what if I quit going on missions. Won't that solve the problem?"
"If you feel that is the solution then that is what you must decide. I will not tell you that you shouldn't or that you shouldn't choose this out of your worry over Ronald. Only a fool will separate his or her fears from their decision but only a fool lets it lead them. Think about what you want before you decide."
Kim looked down as she stared at the floor. "Am I being stupid worrying so much about this?"
"We all fear death Kimberly and I think we both know what the boy really means to you. It's up to you to decide if the dream is a warning from the future, a crazy product of too much milk before bed, or a subconscious warning about the dangers you put Ronald through. The fact is Kimberly that there is always the possibility that any one of you could be killed because of what you all chose to do. Is it still worth it despite the risks?"
Kim stared at the floor pondering the situation in front of her. Shaking her head she stood up looking at the old man still seated in front of her. Smiling she held out her hand. "Thanks I'll think about it."
He nodded once before taking her hand. "You were always my best student Kimberly Ann Possible. Never forget that."
"And Ron?"
"Was too busy tripping over his own feet to learn anything. Now take care." Kim smiled as he turned to leave waving goodbye to Mike as she walked out. She had things to thinks about.
The End
A/N: Well another story set in the 'Russian Incident' Universe. Hope you all enjoy and just something to put out. Anyway still working on my other stuff so here hoping I get some progress done on that. Anyway as always leave a review and you'll get a reply.
Now as for explanation into what's happening. Now I know that some of you will read this and go 'is that it?'. Well not exactly but that's all there suppose to be at this point of the story. It's just a short look at a possible decision Kim will be faced to make. Nothing more and nothing less. Stuff like how Ron handles Kim breaking down and crying isn't important towards the story but things like Kim worrying about her fears are. Simple as that. What does she decide? You'll just have to wait and see. Anyway that's all for now.
Disclaimer: Disney owns KP.