Disney owns all, I am insignificant! Sorry for the delay, a lot of birthday celebrations. As well folks, in just 31 days, I have read every single KP fanfic on this entire site (not counting everything in the crossover section, but a good number of them), over 1700 in total! OK… seriously… now that I realize it… I definitely need to get myself a girlfriend right now because I need to get life! I mean, if I can read all those fics in one month, while working full-time, and posting a chapter every two days on average, there must be something wrong with me… well, other than my sanity anyways!

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Bonnie's Curse – Chapter 9

"What do you mean she's in a coma? When will she come out of it?"

The doctor paused, again gathering his thoughts, conducting the hardest part of his job. "To be honest, we are not sure. It could be hours, it could be days, it could be… longer. With these types of situations, it's impossible to be certain. We have repaired the damage and she is stabilized, but if she does not come out of it, we will be transferring her to the US, where a specialist has already been notified as to your friend's condition. I am told she is one of the best on the planet in dealing with these types of injuries, a… Doctor Andrea Possible. Your friend will be in good hands!

Ron slumped to the floor, his hand covering his mouth. "Aww… shit!

The doctor bent down quickly, "Are you all right?"

Ron took a moment to breathe before responding. "Did you tell her the name of the patient?"

"No, but I sent over all the files after I talked with her. What is wrong?"

Ron stood quickly to his feet. "I… have to make some phone calls… excuse me." He ran quickly down the hall before anyone could stop him, the doctor's face showing great confusion. Bonnie slowly walked up to the doctor, tears in her eyes.

"Dr. Possible is the patient's mother!"

The doctor face blanched at this revelation. "Chikusho!"

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Ron quickly found a phone, he had seen them when he had come into the hospital, but when he picked up the receiver he froze. This was a call he had been hoping never to have to make, hoping that Kim would be just fine, that she'd walk right out and smile and they could be home by morning. But now, he knew he had to make the call. Her mom already knew, and probably her dad as well, but he still couldn't force himself to dial the numbers he needed to push. What if they blamed him? And why shouldn't they, he blamed himself! If he had been faster, if he had been stronger, none of this would have happened. If he could have held up Monkey Fist for just a few seconds more, Kim would have been ready for him. Everything would be fine! But he had failed, he had failed himself, he had failed Kim, he had failed her parents, who had put their trust in him to protect their only daughter. He knew that, but still, he didn't think he could survive if someone said it out loud to him. It would crush what was left of him, and he couldn't take that.

He held the receiver, gripping it tightly, for ten minutes, just standing there. Finally, he managed to punch the numbers he needed to dial and waited. He didn't wait long, the phone was answered halfway through the first ring. He knew they had been waiting for this call.

"Hello?"

He heard the voice of Kim's dad on the phone, he wanted to respond, but he couldn't get his voice to work. He struggled briefly, the words there but unable to come out. It took what seemed like hours, but the words finally started to come. "Kim… she… I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

The voice on the other end remained calm. "Ronald… just tell me what happened."

Ron fell back against the wall, tears streaming down his face as he told them the whole story.

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Ron stood at the window, looking at Kim. Tubes and IV ran all over her body, monitors beeping and sending signals. Her face was bruised and battered, and a good chunk of her hair was missing where they had operated. Her arm was in a cast, but at least he couldn't see where they had operated on her chest. He wanted to cry at what he was seeing, but he was out of tears. When he saw that in movies, he could never understand it, but now, he knew what that felt like. He felt empty, hollow, knowing there was nothing he could do to help her right now.

The fact that her parents didn't blame him didn't help at this point. They just kept repeating that it wasn't his fault, and that they still loved him, but it didn't help the pain go away, the feeling that he could have done more, that he should have done more! He should have stopped Monkey Fist! He should have killed the bastard before he could have done this to Kim! So lost in his own thoughts, he didn't notice the quiet footsteps approaching him.

"Stoppable-san… Ronald… there is nothing you could have done differently."

"There is plenty I could have done Sensei! If I had been stronger, if I had trained more… if I had called the sword…"

The old man placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Would you have invited the darkness to take control?"

Ron turned to look the old man in the eyes. "I would have been able to control it, to control myself!"

The old man sighed, and looked back upon his student. "The blade, while not alive, responds to the intentions of the user. While you might not have desired to kill him, you knew in your mind that the possibility existed within you." Sensei paused briefly, before continuing. "The true nature of a man is determined in the battle between his conscious mind and his subconscious, and that the darkness in the subconscious is too great to resist. The only way to win is to deny it battle, until such time as the darkness becomes known and understood. Only then might you succeed!"

"Sensei, I'm not sure I understand?"

"Do not worry, you will. Here, take this with you." Sensei held a large crystal in his hand, light gleaming from the multiple facets. Ron blinked, trying to figure out where Sensei had hidden such an item until now. He took it in his hands, turning it over and over.

"What is this for?"

Sensei smiled up at the young man. "This will help you tame your darkness when you meditate. It serves… another purpose as well, one that you will know when the time is right!"

"Wait, what do you mean when the time…" but the old man was already gone when he looked up.

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Ron was definitely not the happiest person on the planet when he was told he couldn't accompany Kim on the transport back to Middleton. He spent a full hour begging and pleading to be allowed on the plane, but the doctors never relented. So, he consigned himself to flying back separately, with tickets provided by the Yamanouchi School. Bonnie spent hours trying to get him to talk, to say anything, but the entire flight was spent with him looking out the window, hardly moving at all. He didn't even react when the attendant brought out lunch. This had Bonnie greatly concerned! She placed her hand on his arm, hoping that contact would help, if only a little. The last few hours of the flight were spent in silence.

When the plane landed, it took several tries before he responded, and even then, he looked like he was half asleep as she led him from the plane and through the terminal. Bonnie found her car where she had parked it, and guided Ron into the passenger seat. She drove as quickly to the hospital as she could, looking on Ron every so often. He seems so vacant, so lost. I wish I could do more to help!

They reached the hospital in record time, and parked the car. She helped Ron to the doors of the hospital, hoping that Kim had arrived safe, and praying she might have recovered in the hours they had been out of touch. They weren't more than two steps in the door before Ron was barreled over. Ron's mother had grabbed him into a tight hug, so tight Bonnie could see him wince in pain a bit.

"Oh Ronald, you had us so worried! When we heard about Kim, we were afraid you had been hurt too!"

Bonnie saw most of Kim's family standing right behind her, and decided it might be best just to leave them to what they had to do. With a look over her shoulder, she headed back to her car, but didn't get far when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Kim's father, a look of concern on his face.

"Bonnie, I wanted to thank you for all you did!"

The young teen frowned, lowering her eyes, "I didn't do anything! I…"

"Don't say that!" Dr. Possible grabbed her firmly by the shoulders. "Ron may be have been heaping all the blame on himself when he told us the story, but he also told us how you saved Kim. If it wasn't for you, she wouldn't be alive right now!" He pulled her into a hug, holding her tight. After a few moments, she pulled away, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I… I should get going. My parents are probably worried about me."

"Are you sure you don't want to stick around?"

"Yeah, I should go." She turned and walked as quickly as she could to her car, driving off before she could change her mind.

The drive wasn't far, and she got home quickly. The first thing she noticed was the lack of vehicles in the driveway. She pulled in, killing the engine. Unlocking the door, she called out to her parents, just to be sure, but there was no response. The large house seemed to amplify her call, but the sound was quickly swallowed by the silence that seemed to pervade the large house.

Yeah, my parentsreally miss me, don't they.

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They had to wait some time before the family was allowed to see Kim. When they were finally allowed in, they just stood there in silence for the most part. Even Jim and Tim were quiet for the most part, only speaking when they handed Rufus back to him. Finally, they all left, Mr. Dr. Possible taking Jim and Tim home, Mrs. Dr. Possible having to run some more tests. Only Rufus remained with him, sitting on his shoulder. He took her hand in his own and just held her like that, as the sun set outside the window, and darkness claimed the skies.

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Author's Notes – There you go, no evil cliffie this chapter! And just for reference, chikusho means damn in Japanese.

And thanks go out to;

MatthewC – You are absolutely right, he does. And like I said, heroes are determined by the adversity they face. Kim can do anything, she walks away with a smile and moves on. This time, she can't! When she wakes up (and she will gentle readers), she'll be forced to deal with adversity, as she never has before! And yes, while Ron's story will be along that familiar vein, it's not the destination that's important, but the journey there! Finally, as I said, when I started this story I didn't intend for this to happen this way, but as I was writing, I realized my characters would be lacking the "motivation" to follow through on some of my ideas. Remember that 4-day gap between updates last week? That was me trying to find another way! Just remember, I am planning on 4 stories, there will be plenty of Kim, but she'll just be on… hiatus briefly!

Peggi J. Crawford – Yes, I am an evil, evil, cliffie writing man! I seem to add a cliffie to every chapter I write. Considering I really hate them for TV shows, I'm surprised at myself. Well, at least with my story, you don't have to wait the whole summer to see the cliffie resolved, just a few days!

I'd also like to thank Worker72, mattb3671, and Darkcloud1.