A/N: The last of the three. Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: Kim is mine. You know the rest.
Phase One
Daisyfan5534
Chapter 7
"I really appreciate you kids and Digit coming down to help me."
"It's no problem Ms. Fileshare." Jackie responded.
"I just get really busy some days, and could use the extra help. Running a Cybrary is harder than it looks."
"It does look pretty hard." Matt said.
"Tell me about it. One-hundred floors and at least one-hundred people come in everyday it's open."
"I don't know how you do it Ms. Fileshare." Inez said. "Where did Digit go?"
"Oh, I sent him to read to the younger children." Ms. Fileshare responded. "As for you three, your job is to reshelf all of these books. You can do it how ever you want, but just make sure they're all reshelved where they're supposed to go."
"Alright." Matt said.
"How are you children doing?" Ms. Fileshare asked.
"What do you mean?" Jackie asked.
"I shouldn't have brought this up, but I meant about losing Kim. It's been almost a month now, and I just can't help but think how hard this is for all of you."
"I didn't even realize that it's only a month." Inez said.
After a moment of silence, Ms. Fileshare spoke. "Kim used to read to the kids when she helped me." That got the attention of the Cybersquad. "She adored them, and she always had a crowd. Kids of all ages, actually."
"How big were the crowds?" Matt asked.
"If it was anyone else, it would be around ten little kids. When it was Kim, it would be around thirty."
"Really, that many? What did she read?" Jackie asked.
"Sometimes she read the fairytale books, because they were little kids. And other times she'd…"
"She'd read what?" Inez asked.
"Well, she didn't read, more like she would tell stories about… Your adventures. Those were what drew in the most people."
"She told stories about us to children?" Jackie said.
"Yep, almost like she was actually there with you guys. Kim could go on and on about the Cybersquad. Lots of the children had questions about you three and Digit, and Kim answered them. Ever since she started telling those stories, I've seen her crowds grow bigger. So I guess that's how you guys got so popular." Ms. Fileshare sighed. "I've never seen so many sad faces after they found out that Kim was killed."
"I can imagine Kim telling our stories to children." Inez said.
"Same here, it's a cute thought." Jackie added.
"Is that why you had Digit read to the kids?" Matt asked.
"Sort of. It's hard to find someone like Kim to read to those children. Since Digit knew her the longest, I hoped that she rubbed off a bit on him." Ms. Fileshare explained. "Anyway I have a tour to do in five minutes. I'll leave you three to work on the books. Thanks again."
Ms. Fileshare left, leaving Matt, Jackie, and Inez to work. Once they were done, they went to go find Digit. They found him finishing the story about how Kim saved them from Hacker on her birthday. When the story ended, the children hoarded Digit with questions about Kim.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, one at a time." Digit said trying to calm them down. Doing so, he noticed the Earthlies. "You three want to help me?"
The crowd of kids turned to Matt, Jackie, and Inez. Almost all of them had their hands up, desperate to ask something.
"Okay… Um… You." Matt pointed to a little poddle girl.
"What was her favorite color?" she asked.
"Blue." Matt responded. A couple of hands went down with their question in mind answered.
Jackie went ahead to point to a pompodorian boy with his hand up.
"Was she a scary person? Digit said that she would hurt her friend if he didn't let her go." he asked.
"She was aggressive at times, but it was only when she needed to. At that time, Kim was afraid that Hacker would find out about her and that we'd end up in danger if we knew about her." Jackie explained.
After a few more children put their hands down, Inez called on another child. A penguin girl. "Where is she?"
The question caught them all off guard for a second before Inez continued to answer the question. "Well, Kim went to Solaria one day and… Never came back to Control Central." she said before a few more hands went down.
"Alright, one more. You." Digit said.
"What was she like?" a poddle boy asked.
"She was brave, and she always put others before herself." Digit said. "She cared about all the good people in her life, like the Cybersquad. And even the people who weren't in her life, like you kids. Kim was a good person and we all miss her."
"Alright, children storytime is over." Ms. Fileshare interrupted them. The kids went off to find their families as Ms. Fileshare met up with the Cybersquad. "I'm sorry about that, but you know how kids are. Not offending you three in any way."
"It was my fault, I told them the story." Digit said.
"Don't blame yourself, Digit. I heard them asking you about who Kim was when I walked by giving a tour around the Cybrary. She would have wanted you to tell her story like a fairytale." Ms. Fileshare said.
"I wish her death was a fairytale." Digit said blankly.
"What's done is done, Digit. We can't change it. No matter how much we want to." Inez pointed out.
"Nezzie's right. Kim was a hero, let them think that's what she went down as." Matt added on, ignoring Inez's annoyed glance.
"I bet she did. She went down as a hero. Or at least defending someone." Jackie said. None of them could say that Kim was dead, killed, or how she died. Not since a couple weeks after Kim's cliff fall, they didn't like saying it directly like that. It didn't hurt as much.
"The four of you have done enough for today. You are free to roam around the Cybrary if you wish or go home. I have another tour to start soon. I'll see you soon." Ms. Fileshare said before she went off.
While the Cybersquad avoided the direct saying of Kim being dead, Slider was denying it completely. You'd think after a month, he'd accept the fact that Kim was never coming back. A body is the only thing Slider has to go on that she's still alive. The Cybersquad felt bad for him. Yes it was hard for them to accept too, but they did, and they're not losing their minds over it. Not that Slider has lost his mind, he just needs to let go. They weren't the ones to talk, though. Matt, Jackie, and Inez only knew her for two months. Digit knew her for three years. It was longer, but they did fight sometimes. Then there was Slider, who was best friends with her for six long years. How do you cope with that?
Denial, that's how. Believing that you're dead friend is still alive, because her body hasn't been found yet.
Meanwhile…. On Solaria….
"Alright, let's dig in!" Ethan said before opening one of the boxes.
Every Monday, Kim and her band have a pizza party at Jerome's apartment, to celebrate their performances on Saturday and Sunday. They have the party at lunch because of Kim's job.
"Hey, K. I'll bet you five bucks that you can't eat four slices." Jerome gambled. Ever since he found and helped out Kim, he's been never said her name or her fake name. He was afraid he'd get them mixed up. So because her real and fake name starts with the same letter, he, Oliver, and sometimes Miles, would call her K.
"Oh, you're on!" Kim said before grabbing a slice a cheese. It was the only pizza the four of them could agree on. "I meant to ask, are we ever going to get a name?" she asked.
"A name?" Jerome said.
"Like a name for our band. We need one."
"Why do we need a name? I think we're fine." Oliver said.
"It will make us more professional, and it might get us booked for things."
"She has a point, guys." Ethan said.
"Alright then… How about The Pizza Slices?" Jerome suggested jokingly.
"Cute…" Kim said flatly.
"I like Kris and the Boys." Ethan said.
"That just sounds like I'm full of myself." Kim said.
"How about literally No Name?" Oliver said.
"Come on, Oliver. This should be fun." Kim said.
"Okay, do you have an idea?" Oliver asked.
"I'm thinking…" Kim trailed off. "How about JOKE?"
"K, this was your idea. Don't side with Oliver just yet." Jerome said.
"That's not what I meant. Jerome, Oliver, Ki-Kris, Ethan… JOKE."
"So, you just put all of our initials together." Oliver said.
"It's cool, I like it." Ethan said.
"You like everything that comes out of her mouth." Jerome said. "But I do like the name."
"It does catch on… Alright, our name is JOKE." Oliver agreed.
After a few minutes of joking around and eating pizza, Kim really had to get something out of the way. She almost blew her cover with Ethan. He was a sweet guy, and she liked him. Not in the way he likes her, but Ethan's nice.
She had to tell him.
"Jerome, Oliver, do you both mind stepping out of the room for a bit? I need to talk to Ethan about something."
They both nodded before they each took a slice of pizza and walked out.
"So what do you want to talk about?" Ethan asked. He seemed pretty happy, Kim didn't want to break his heart.
"I know you like me Ethan, but I don't think it's going to work out." Kim said. His smile faded. "It's not you, it's me. I'm not saying that because it will make you feel better, there's just a lot of reasons why we can't be together."
"Like what?" he asked.
"Well, we're in the same band. And if we get together and we break up, it could break up the band as well. If not, make it awkward between us. Another reason is that I'm not looking for love. I got my heart broken pretty bad, recently. Plus, I don't want to break your heart if something happens to me." Kim explained.
"Kris, what do you mean? It's not like you're going to die."
Kim stayed silent for a second. "Ethan, I trust you. Please don't betray it."
With that said, Kim lifted her hand to her black wig and pulled back. Revealing her blonde hair pinned up with bobby pins and a hair net. Kim pulled the them out and let her blonde hair fall to her shoulders.
Ethan looked panicked, like he was going to yell. Kim used both of her hands to cover his mouth. "Please… don't freak out." Kim removed her hands and let him process this.
"So… is that why you stuttered over your name?" Ethan asked.
"Yes." Kim responded.
"And that's why Jerome and Oliver has been calling you K?" he concluded.
"Yes." she said.
"Okay… So why are you here? Why aren't you fighting Hacker or something?"
"Because someone wants me dead."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Kim said. "Just please, don't tell anyone. My life pretty much depends on it."
"Okay, you can trust me."
Kim smiled before she heard a door open and watched Jerome and Oliver walk in.
"Oliver, I can explain." Jerome said before closing the door quickly.
"There's no need, Jerome. He already knows." Kim said.
"Really, since when?" Jerome asked.
"Last practice." she said.
"Who else knows."
"Miles."
"The bouncer? Why didn't you tell me that you told them?"
"I was going to tell you after I told Ethan." Kim said before reaching for her hair net.
"Alright." Jerome said. "Hey, you don't need to wear that now. The blinds are closed, the door is shut, no one is coming up here, and besides, we don't want your hair getting all over the pizza."
"You're right. I still have three more pieces to eat." Kim said before picking up another slice.
Meanwhile…. At Control Central….
Inez was sitting at the desk in her room as she tapped her finger wildly on it, while her head rested on her other hand as Inez stared at the open laptop. Just a faded blue background with two white bars in the middle of it. One for the username, the other for the password.
She was stumped. Kim gives her a laptop and doesn't bother to give her the username and password. She would have made another account, but she was required to get into this one first.
Maybe Kim forgot to put the information somewhere? Inez asked Digit if he knew, and she went over to Slider's with Matt to look over the will again to see if it's on there. No luck. What if Kim didn't leave the information anywhere for a reason, like she purposely didn't just to mess with her.
Inez shook her head before closing the laptop after being frustrated with watching the taunting cursor blink over and over again. She gave up on trying to get in, the laptop was more of a paper weight.
Kim would probably tell her to not give up, say that she should keep trying.
Kim.
August 8th- three days before Kim's death
Everyone was sleeping, except Inez. She was reading one of the Cyberchase books, she had no idea why she was addicted to them. Maybe to find out if Kim messed up somewhere while writing them. So she was leaning up against the armrest of the couch with the open book in her hands.
She was currently lost in thought more than reading. Inez was so lost she pretty much ignored a thud, followed by some coughing. It was just minor background noise. Including a door opening a minute after the noises from before. Inez didn't even look up.
"Hey, Inez. What are you still doing up?"
Inez finally looked up to see Kim standing at the end of the couch. "I'm reading. Why are you up?"
"Nightmare." Kim responded.
"So, how are you up?" Inez asked.
"I knocked my alarm clock off my nightstand. It woke me up when it hit the floor."
"Does it still work?"
"Yeah, it does. I'm going to get something to drink before I go back to bed, do you want anything?"
"No thanks."
"Alright, just don't stay up too late."
"Okay." Inez nodded before pulling her head back down to her book.
Even though she's been living in Cyberspace for a while, Inez still sometimes thinks of Madison around Kim. She always snaps out of it when seeing Kim's eyes though. Kim's nothing like Madison, and Inez was relieved. Sure, Kim was sort of scary, after seeing her beat up a guy in the sewer. But, to be honest, she was more terrified of Madison. That's why she started reading up in the trees back on Earth, to avoid her. She accidently dropped her book one time, so she went down to go get it. She didn't see Madison, so she thought it would be fine if she read there. Boy, was she wrong. Ever since Madison started bullying her, she's been a bit scared of Kim. She knows that Kim would never hurt her purposely, but it didn't help that they were twins.
Deep down, Inez was waiting for Kim to say something mean to her. Expecting to call her stupid, a nerd, small, etc… But she never did, Kim never even called her Nezzie.
Out of all of those, being called small hurt her the most. She couldn't help herself if she was short, she just is. Matt even teased her a bit about hiding in small places while they were playing hide-and-seek yesterday. Inez ignored it, though. Matt likes to tease her.
"Inez, are you okay?"
Inez slightly jumped before turning around to see Kim standing behind her. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Really? You've been on that page for like five minutes." Kim said.
"So?" Inez said.
"Well…" Kim walked around the couch to sit in front of her. "You're already on book twenty-four, and in five minutes you should be at least to the next chapter."
Inez sighed.
"What's up?" Kim asked.
"Nothing…" Inez responded.
"Alright, I'll just keep asking the question all night until you tell me." Kim said.
Inez tried to think of a response. While she did, Kim gently pulled the book she was reading out of her hands to look at it. Inez let her do so, she didn't want to hold the book the whole time.
"What did Matt say to you?" Kim asked.
"What?" Inez asked.
"I know you two were still playing hide-and-seek while I helped Jackie with her knee. Did Matt say anything to you while she was gone?" Kim asked.
"It's nothing, just… he joked about the game being unfair because I could hide in small places." Inez said.
"Okay, so why is that… Oh…" Kim trailed off. "Go to the kitchen."
"Why?" Inez asked.
"Just go to the kitchen. I'll meet you there." Kim said before standing up and walking to her desk.
Inez did as told. Kim soon came into the kitchen with a purple pencil in her hand.
"Do you see this?" Kim stood by the corner of the kitchen wall.
"Yeah." Inez responded.
The wall they were both looking at had markings and dates on it. Inez figured that Kim was measuring herself.
"Come on, put your back up against the wall."
Inez did so while Kim used the colored pencil to mark her height.
"Well, you are about as tall as I was..." Kim said.
"When you were my age?" Inez asked.
"When I was eight." Kim trailed off.
Inez turned around to see if Kim was telling the truth. And she was.
"If it makes you feel better, I was more like eight and a half." Kim said trying to cheer her up."
Inez didn't respond before staring down at her feet. She hated being short.
"Hey," Kim put a hand on her shoulder and Inez looked up at her. "You'll grow."
"I know, but I'll always be the short one."
"If you keep telling yourself that, you might as well be."
"I hate it, though."
"You are the youngest, Inez. Of course you're shorter. You shouldn't beat yourself up over that."
"Easy for you to say. You're the tallest."
"Slider calls me short. He has an inch and a half on me, yet he knows I can beat him up."
"You never do, though."
"Well, he's my friend, and he always puts me in headlocks."
"Why does he do that?"
"Because I'm short." Kim said. "Listen, it's not a bad thing if you're short.
"How is it good, then?"
"Well, for one, you can hide easily. Another thing, people can and will underestimate you, and you can use that to your advantage."
"I guess you're right..."
"You're a sweet, smart girl, Inez. It doesn't matter how tall you are, what matters, is what's on the inside. I know that sounds like every cliche, but you should be more worried about people trying to change you, rather than your height."
Inez felt better. Kim was right, she shouldn't beat herself down. "Thanks, Kim."
"Are you going to be alright?"
"Yeah."
"Good, now about you wanting to grow. How does one naturally do so?"
"Are you trying to get me to go to bed?"
"See, I told you that you were smart. You catch on very quickly."
With that said the two went off to bed. Inez was tired, but she was happy. It was like she could talk to Kim about anything. At least she knows who she could go to for advice.
Maybe Kim didn't give her the username and password because she thought she could figure it out. Kim said that she was smart, so why is her mind a complete blank? Inez feels like she should know this, but why didn't she?
She's been sitting here for a while now, and even longer when she thought of that memory. After Digit mentioned that Kim was sweet with her warm smile and gentle eyes, Inez remembered when Kim was talking with her that night. When Kim was sweet, she really cared.
Kim cared about her, she cared about all of them. That's why all of their faces turned sorrow after Digit talked about her being sweet. They remembered her like that. That's how Kim would want them to remember her as.
Nighttime…. On Solaria…
Kim closed up shop and dropped off her stuff in the cave. She was swimming in the ocean to celebrate and to cool herself down. She was pissed.
It was September 10th. She was waiting until midnight to celebrate one long, hard, damn month in hiding. Kim hated it, but she gave herself some props for lasting this long. Alone.
Maybe she'd be better off dead. Maybe it's not worth fighting. Her light was getting extinguished by the darkness in her mind. How much longer until it's gone? How long can she keep pushing it to the back of her mind, before she gives up?
Kim couldn't think about that. She's meeting with someone tomorrow. Kim was going to let out all of her emotions at midnight then compose herself before meeting with the guy.
Maybe she shouldn't. It's not a set-in-stone meeting, it's optional. Why is she reconsidering? The darkness started pushing again, and Kim is letting her walls come down. She was done.
Her mind continued fighting on what to do while she swam. Does she fight or does she finally give in? Should she keep torturing herself, or should she torture others. There was so much she could do, so much that could happen. What is there to do?
Kim exhausted herself finally from swimming. She stopped to take a break and to hopefully bring her mind to a conclusion, but she was too focused on her double take. She thought she saw a shark in the corner of her eye.
She did another, again thinking she saw another shark. Was she being paranoid?
To her dismay, she wasn't. Kim finally saw sharks all around her. Below her, all around her, even one above her. Shark Grotto. She remembered Jumper telling her about accidentally swimming there the other day.
Kim was panicking. She didn't know what to do. Everywhere she looked there was a shark. Then she looked one way and her eyes widened. A shark was coming towards her. It was huge.
Why wasn't she moving? Why wasn't she swimming away? She was faster than a shark, she could out swim it.
It just kept getting closer, and closer, and closer…
"This is Erica Ram here reporting from Solaria. As you can see, the people behind me is crowding around a body that washed up on shore this morning."
A/N: Ha, a cliffhanger. Did Kim's body wash up after a shark encounter? How will everyone react? Did you enjoy the three chapters? If you did please let me know. Thanks for reading! See you on the flip side.