I've been working on my Heroine's Legacy story for two years. And that's too long. As the Wizard of Oz says when he's contemplating taking Dorothy Gale back to Kansas in his hot air balloon, "You've forced me to a cataclysmic decision."

I'm fast-forwarding. Past the chapters I'm having writer's block issues with. I've been posting excerpts of chapters over at my DeviantArt account of Kim after the pivotal chpt…the breaking of her hatred.

I settle on a certain point in my narrative. Several months ago, my man whitem sent me a PM. He posited that Kim's great disability was not hatred. It was fear.

Actually, I had already been working on something like that…but you'll get the drift.

Consider this a story analogous to O. Henry's Gift Of The Magi.

Unlike my other Heroine's Legacy stories, this is not a horrid tale. This is a happy tale. A joyous tale. And yet not without its bittersweetness. Consider this an early Christmas gift.

In the timeline of the story, this tale takes place following Conversations From The Pit Of Hell.

Oh…and by the way…MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT. In case you have reservations about reading ahead in a story. I intended a happy ending for my Undead Kim along. But fear not. There are still surprises.

And so, without further ado.

A HEROINE'S LEGACY

THE KIMMUNICATOR GIFT

Kim heard the footsteps. Like a cat pouncing on a string, she was at the pipe. "Hello, Ron."

Ron head the enthusiasm in her voice. It was like a kid at Christmas. It was infectious. "Hello, Aunt Kim."

"I still love you...by the way."

Ron chuckled. "I'm glad. I'll never turn down a declaration of love. And I'll give it back in return. I've got the mad love for declarations of love."

His laughter provoked hers. "Oh, Ron...that sounds so spankin'! You sound as excited as your grandfather did when he was playing Zombie Mayhem with Felix Renton...or Roachie."

"What should we talk about tonight?"

"Hmm. I'm not sure."

"Aunt Kim, would you hold your hand out?"

"My hand? Why?"

"I have another gift for you."

"Another?" She laughed bashfully. "You'll spoil me."

"I hope so," he said earnestly.

Kim heard a rattling in the pipe. She almost laughed. This was like getting a prize from J.P. Bearymore's The article fell into her hand. Her eyes widened in amazement. It was an object she had not seen in more than six decades.

She held it up and stared at it. "It...it...it's a..." She cupped her hand over her mouth for a moment and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Ron...how did...when did..."

"I had Wilmont Load build it. He incorporated all the gizmos and gadgets his great-grandfather put into your original Kimmunicator."

And indeed it was...a Kimmunicator. By all appearances, an exact replica of her old one. As though it were a treasured relic, Kim clasped it to her breast. "Oh, Ron...," she whispered.

"Try it on."

Kim slipped it on her wrist.

"It's programmed with all your favorite books, music, movies, concerts, and television shows...including the Oh Boyz, Britina, M.C. Honey, Ballroom With 'B' Actors, Pals, Agony County, Teen Town Trauma, and The Memo Pad."

She scrolled through the menu of functions. Yes. She smiled to herself. It had all the familiar features...two-way communication...grapple hook and line...electromagnetic sensor scan diode...and...and...

"Uh...Ron...it...it generates a laser beam." Kim was shocked. The implications staggered her.

"Uh huh. Just like the various devices you carried at different times...the Kimmunicator class ring...your handheld penlight laser...and your handheld lipstick laser."

"Does it...can it...?"

"Yes, Aunt Kim. It'll cut through the cistern wall. You can have your freedom...if you want it."

"But…the barrier…the magic force field…the one your fam put up to keep me from…digging my way out."

"I removed it, Aunt Kim. This morning."

Kim felt dizzy at the enormity of the gift he was freely giving her. She had to lean against the wall.

She cupped her hand over her mouth. She needed no air, yet she felt breathless. She pressed her hand to her chest to still a heart that did not physically beat.

Her jail sentence was commuted. She had just been released. Sixty years of imprisonment had just ended, as abruptly as a snow day at school.

Forty years of confinement behind the Mystical Monkey barrier erected by Ron Stoppable. And the barrier had been lifted as suddenly as the opening of a window shade. "Ron...why?" She knew the answer to her question, but astonishment prompted her to aksk it anyway.

And he answered faithfully, according to her expectations. "Because I love you. Because I promised you could see the sunlight. Because, God willing, I'm going to see restored to you what my grandparents took away from you. Your life...your freedom...your happiness. You can leave the cistern. Today. This minute."

It was what Kim had dreamed of since the moment Tara had closed the cistern lid. And her nephew had placed the key in her hands. "Oh, Ron…oh my God...you really trust me."

"Yes. I do I told you...I'm here. The wall is all that separates you from the outside You can cut your way through in seconds and be here in the basement . Or you can cut through the ceiling slab and the gazebo deck and come into the house. I'll meet you at the back door. You can embrace me...or kill me."

The devilish little voice in her mind babbled. It's a trick! Don't fall for it! Nothing's changed! You can't just walk out and rejoin society! Not the way you look! "Ron...I still look horrible. I'm still a monster."

"No, Aunt Kim. Not a monster. You're a heroine. You're Kim Possible. You've suffered a horrible fate. But I intend to give back what belongs to you. A heroine's legacy. I've asked Wilmont to discover if there's a scientific reason why this happened to you. And I'm studying the religious texts of history to see if I can discover a mystical reason. Anything is possible for a Possible, Aunt Kim...even coming back from this. I told you. I want you with me when I go to pay my respects at the graves of your parents...and your beloved. And your brothers are still alive. And lots of your old friends. We're Possible's, Aunt Kim...you and I. We can do anything."

Kim was breathless with astonishment. Everything her grandnephew had done was with the intent of this moment. She had to hug herself to keep from shaking with both terror and excitement. Is this what Tara meant? My God...is he really going try and reverse the curse? Ron...I...I said it last night...but...I love you...I really do love you...and I don't deserve this..."

"You and Grandpa didn't deserve what happened to you...either of you. I'm just trying to make it right."

But Ron already heard the Call Me, Beep Me tones. Like a kid at Christmas, Kim was trying her new toy. "Love you, Aunt Kim. Goodnight," he said softly, and went quietly upstairs.

to be continued