A/N This is the second part of my short story. To be honest, I'm surprised at how many hits this story got in just under a week! Anyways, thanks to the people who responded. Enjoy! (Or rather, dread)

ONE MONTH BEFORE THE INCIDENT

"Koalas are a what again?"

"Marsupials."

"I thought it was a city in Malaysia."

"That's Kuala Lumpur! Seriously, Ron, how could you know a city thousands of miles from here if you don't even know the name of an animal found in a picture book!"

"Hey! I grew out of picture books ages ago!"

"Oh, so comics don't have pictures then?"

".......you did not just hurt me there."

Kim sighed, and continued on her way to school, with Ron walking beside her. It was always the same. Wake up, meet Ron, argue, go to class, argue during lunch, go to class, argue AFTER school, go home, then argue on the phone. Nobody but Kim had the sufficient amount of tolerance to deal with Ron everyday. Not even Oprah. She really hoped Eric would swoop in and take her away right about now.

Just then, the sound of a motorcycle came speeding down the road. Kim turned just in time to see a man in a Harley Davidson's stop beside her and motioned for her to get on.

Thank you, God.

She turned around to the startled Ron, and said "Hey, I'm gonna jet. See you at school, kay?" Ron, still a bit baffled by the Eric's sudden entrance, replied "Uh, yeah, okay." Kim waved, then zoomed down the road. She was happy that she didn't see a look of anger on Ron's face.

Her thoughts might have changed if she saw Ron's clenched fist.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Ron watched Kim ride away, he could not help but feel angry. Angry at Kim, but mostly angry at himself. He loosened his fists and looked into the open palm of his right hand. Nestled in it was a rusty metal ring. Cracks adorned the simple-looking band, and rust eroded the once shiny appearance of the piece of jewelry. Ron looked at it, and sighed. He was planning to remind Kim of the promise they made back in preschool. He did not care if she just laughed, mocked, or even looked disgusted at him.

As long as she remembered.

"It has been over ten years. Kim's moving on, but I don't want her to forget what we had." Ron thought. He had planned to naturally approach the topic through their usual conversation, but then pretty-boy Eric just HAD to come in. "My god, I swear that bad timing is the focal point of my life.....oh well, there's still lunch and after school." With a sigh, Ron continued on his trek to school.

At lunch, Ron made his way to the cafeteria in search of Kim. He entered through the double doors and looked around the tables. At once, he spotted the hair of a certain redhead and strolled over toe his destination. Feeling renewed confidence and courage in accomplishing his goal, he called out to Kim.

"Yo, KP! Over-"

It was then that he also saw a certain angelic-looking guy sitting beside her. He was unusually close to her, and was talking to her. Ron's mouth froze in mid-sentence, but Kim still hear the cry. She turned her head around and saw Ron, mouth open and eyes wide. She said, "Hey Ron. What's up?"

Ron shook her head, then in a flustered manner, he replied, "....It's nothing. I was just doing......mouth exercises. Yeah. Well then, see you. Got some homework to do, you know?"

Kim tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "Alright, I'll let your "mouth exercises" off the hook. But seriously, homework? Since when do you skip lunch for homework?" She asked suspicously.

"Um, well.....i just thought I'd give it a try."

"......ok. See you." said Kim, and she turned her attention back to Eric. Eric turned to look at Ron, and gave him a smirk. Ron scowled, then stomped out of the cafeteria. Once he was out, he sprinted down the hallways until he was outside the school. There, he finally stopped and took a minute to regain his breath. Suddenly, he whirled around and punched a stone wall of Middleton High with all his might.

Thump.

Ignoring the pain in his arm, he punched the wall again and again until he could see blood and bruises scattered all over his hand. He then sat down with his back to the wall, and put his head in his hands.

"Darn it. Darn it! How can I even talk to Kim if Eric's there! Because of him, I can't do anything! If this keeps up, he'll be the guy Kim falls for, and then I'll be left by myself! Why? Why!? Why doesn't Kim remember? Everytime I tried to remind her in a subtle way, she'd just give me a weird look! This SUCKS!"

Ron grunted out in frustration, then took in deep breaths to calm him down.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to try after school. Maybe, just maybe, things might be better."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kim stared at the door Ron just went through, and frowned. Kim thought that Ron was acting strange. Eric noticed her facial expression, and asked,

"What's the matter?"

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing...."

"Doesn't seem like it. Is it about Ron?"

"How did you know?"

"It's quite obvious."

Kim blushed at being found out so easily, and Eric smiled. He then leaned in, and asked in a low voice.

"Tell you what, I'll take you to Bueno Nacho tonight! After all, today IS Friday."

Kim looked up with surprise etched on her face. "You're taking me out on a date?"

"Yup! What do you say?"

"I don't know......"

"Look, don't worry about Ron. Who cares about him?"

"He's my best friend, Eric!"

"That doesn't mean that he isn't a loser."

".....What did you just say?"

"I mean, come on! Why do you even hang out with him? He's dead weight. He physically challenged, lacks academic ability, and honestly, he's a social retard! Everyone hates him!"

"Shut up. You don't know Ron."

"Hey, don't be mad. I'm just telling you the truth."

"You know what, you're not telling the truth. You're only saying stuff that you THINK is true!"

"Relax, Kim."

"No. I'm outta here." said Kim icily. With that, she got up and headed to her locker for her next class. Eric sighed, then said quietly, "You're not out. Not yet."

"Hey Ron!" Kim shouted as she waved over to the blond-headed boy. Ron looked up, and jogged oer to where she was.

"Ready to go, KP?"

"If it means getting away from this place, totally!"

So, they marched on and talked about the usual: What happened in the classes, who flooded the toilets, and the reasons as to why Mr. Barkin is such an over-the-top Authoritarian. (Ron claimed it was because he failed the U.S. Navy entrance exam even though Kim told him that the Navy did not have a written exam for applicants).

Then, the talk soon moved into the "subject". Somehow, they ended up talking about jewelry, and Ron found an opening to tell Kim about the ring they used as a promise years ago. He took it out from his pocket, and showed it to her. Kim leaned in to get a closer look, and narrowed her eyebrows in concentration.

In an uncertain voice, he asked, "You know, we used to play with this ring, remember?"

Kim's face lit up, and exclaimed, "Oh, right! That! I think I lost mine though......"

Ron was relieved to know that she remembered the rings, and said, "Yeah, those were good times. We played with those rings all the time, and we even made a promise to be together!"

Silence.

Ron looked up to see if Kim did not hear what he said, but what he saw was the one thing that he feared would happen. Kim had a blank look on her face. She stared at him for a moment, then said, "What?" Ron gulped, then tried to follow up, but his voice betrayed him. "You know, the promise we made. It was pretty important."

"We made a promise?"

"......you don't remember?"

"Are you sure it happened?"

Those words stabbed at Ron like knives, and he had to use every bit of willpower to not lose his composure. His hands shook, and he lowered in head.

"How could you forget something like this?" He whispered out in a miniscule voice.

"Huh? I-"

"I spent my whole life going through hell just to fulfill it! I thought that if I endured, everything would be alright! You were the one that wanted to go to Middleton High, and I followed you here! I stayed with you through this past decade! How could you not stop to even think about why I'm doing this? HOW COULD YOU FORGET!?"

"Look, calm down! I have no idea about what you're talking about!"

"Of course you wouldn't. After all, everything just slipped out of your mind, right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's nothing."

"Why are you being such a spaz?"

"Because I've wasted my whole life fulfilling a promise that you forgot! Because that jerk Eric has the hots for you! BECAUSE LIFE STINKS!"

"Why would you care about what Eric thinks about me!?"

"Because I'm jealous, alright!?"

Kim gasped, then asked timidly, "Wait, are you saying that-" but she was interrupted just as a motorcycle stopped by them and the driver took off his helmet. Kim swiveled her head in alarm to see Eric standing before them. He smiled, then looked at Kim. He said,

"Need a ride?"

"........Yeah."

She got on the bike, and turned around to look at Ron. It killed her to see suffering in his brown eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"ARRGGHH!"

That was what Ron screamed out as soon as he was in his room. Rufus looked up in surprise. Ron collapsed on the bed, and covered his face with his pillow.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid! Now everything's ruined! I shouldn't have shouted at her like that! I bet she's mad at me for saying such stupid stuff. You know what, I gotta go apologize to her. That should help. I was so out of line there."

Ron slowly got up, and walked out the door, with a perplexed Rufus still wondering what the heck was going on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We're here, Kim."

"Mm."

"What's wrong?"

"It's none of your business."

"If it's about what I said during lunch, then I apologize. I didn't have the right to talk about Ron like that, so please, forgive me, alright?"

"Yeah, whatev."

Kim got off the bike, then turned around to face Eric, and in a dull voice, said "Thanks for the ride."

"No prob. Anyways, are we still good for BN?"

"Like heck we are."

"I thought you forgave me."

"That doesn't mean I'm going on a date with you."

Suddenly, Eric grabbed Kim's arm. She looked at Kim in surprise, and saw his face contorted with fury.

His words dripping with anger, he seethed, "You don't have a choice. You're now mine." With that said, he managed to pull Kim into a forceful kiss. Kim flaied for a second, then, with her experience in fighting, managed to get an arm lock on Eric and beat him into a pulp in under a minute. She wiped off her mouth in disgust, and started heading home.

Clink

Kim looked back, looking for the noise. She looked at the ground, and in the middle of the concrete pavement, was an old ring. She was confused as to why the ring was on the ground, but then saw the shadow that lurked just behind the ring. She looked up, and froze.

The shadow belonged to Ron.

Ron had seen everything. He saw the kiss between Kim and Eric, and at that moment his heart was torn into two. He just stood on the curb, his face unreadable, his body stiff and rigid. Kim opened her mouth, then took a step forward towards him.

"Ron, it's not what you think..." Kim tried to explain.

"Just....save it, Kim."

"WAIT!" She ran across the street as Ron.

Just then, time slowed down. In her haste, Kim did not see a truck approaching her at 60 miles per hour. She looked at the truck, and braced herself, but then, she was pushed away from the danger, and she saw someone take her place.

It was Ron.

He had dived in to save Kim, and managed to push her away just in time before the vehicle collided with her. However, he was not so lucky. The neighborhood was soon awaken to a hideous crunching sound and the sound of squealing brakes. Kim screamed. The truck driver quickly got out of the truck and asked her if she was alright.

She continued screaming.

About 20 yards from the truck was the mangled and broken body of Ron Stoppable. His eyes were closed, and his limbs were placed in awkward positions. Kim ran up to him, and shook him. For a minute, there was no response. Gradually, he opened his eyes, and saw Kim's tear-streaked face. Although he had broken several ribs and all of his limbs, he tried to smile.

"You alright?"

"Why......why did you do that for me?"

"I was supposed to stay by your side, but I don't exactly want to stay with a corpse." Ron chuckled, but then winced in pain. He took a deep breath, then said,

"If it's for the one I love, then it's worth it. Besides, I'll be fine. I promise."

Kim sobbed, then asked meekly, "Promise?"

Ron nodded, and his eyes started to glze over.

"Wait, Ron, don't go. Not yet!"

"I'm happy that I got to protect you."

"Wait, not yet! Just hold on!"

"I'm.....happy....."

"NO! RON!"

She continued to say his name as the ambulance came, she continued to say his name as he was laid on a stretcher, and she continued to say his name as he was rushed into ER. The doctors forbade her from entering the ER, and she sat outside, waiting for Ron, waiting for the boy she had promised. She then rummaged in her pocket, and took out the ring that Ron dropped. With it, she made a new promise. A promise that if Ron survived, she would uphold the old promise. She would never leave Ron. All she asked for was for Ron to live.

The ring snapped in half.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

A MONTH LATER

"Good morning, Doctor Craig."

"Same to you. How's the patient doing?"

The nurse bit her lip, then said "He passed away."

The doctor took in a breath, then said "Poor boy. He died at such a young age. He was even loved too. That sweet girl kept coming in with flowers, cards, and whatnot. I can't stand to have to tell her." The nurse lookd out at the parking lot, and said "Well then, get ready. That's her car right there."

"What the- you know what she drives?"

"It's kind of hard not to remember a visitor's car when that certain visitor visits five times a day."

"Point taken. Anyways, I'm going into the room and checking the report. Gotta make myself look professional, you know."

The nurse rolled her eyes.

Doctor Craig strolled in to the room. In it was a bed surrounded by a vast array of flowers, from orchids to tulips, roses to violets. A mountain of "Get Well" cards lined the table beside the bed, and fruit baskets were piled neatly at the corner of the room. In the bed was a boy in his teens. His face was covered with bandages, making him look like a mummy. However, a tuft of blond could be seen protruding from the white layer. The only part of his face that was exposed were his eyes, and they were closed. Doctor Craig walked up to the patient and checked his pulse.

There was nothing.

He sighed, then bowed his head to give a short prayer for the boy. It was wrong to not give condolences to the dead, even if he saw dead people everyday. He noticed that there was something caught in his hand. Doctor Craig managed to wrench it open, and in it he saw a crumpled sheet of paper with writing on it. Apparently the boy had written his last words on this.

Scrawled in tiny writing were the words, "The pain in my dreams have finally disappeared. With huge relief and gratitude, I can truly fall asleep."