By Nyassa Kaiba
Notes: About the figure that I had on the mountain in this chapter. NO I DIDN'T STEAL SUICUNE!
I also do not own the poem used in the previous chapter. It's by a witch named Ly De Angeles and is from her book, The Feast of Flesh and Spirit.
Ron had first watch that night. So he saw the shadow leave the tent. He'd put up a shelter for himself and Rufus, but the figure wasn't interested in company. Ron stole one last glance at the tent to make sure that Kim was alright and followed Shego out onto the promontory at the end of the reef. That was also where the ruins of the lifeboat Ron had gotten from the plane had sunk.
Shego wasn't interested in the wreck either. She lay back, looking up at the sky. "Goddess please…" She murmured. "Just a word! Mother said that… that you could hear when somebody needed you!" She wiped away a tear. "I… I feel lost… and so tired… tired of the fighting… tired of the pain… If you can hear me Goddess… I just want it to end…" Shego lifted a small glass flute to her lips and began to play a soft, sad tune.
Shego didn't see Ron creep back to the fire. If Shego wanted it to end, then it was a feather in Ron's cap. No more Shego meant more than the fact that Draken was a sitting duck. It meant that Shego was going to learn a little more about being human. That would be worth seeing.
Shego set the flute down, the music having calmed her nerves. Her uncle had owned a glass shop and the delicate instrument had been a gift for her tenth birthday. The Villainess hadn't stopped until she'd figured out how to play it. Whenever she went on a trip she brought it everywhere.
Draken had laughed at Shego when he first saw her with it. Then she had played and his jaw had dropped. And when he realized that the playing calmed her temper he stopped complaining. If it kept her calm and focused and shut her up for a few minutes it was worth letting her keep it to him.
Shego smiled sadly. She'd be leaving for a little while, she'd told him, "Try not to get into too much trouble." Was her parting shot.
And so she'd boarded the plane that would be carrying Kim and Ron to their mission in Africa. The rest, as they say, had been history.
She came back into camp to find Ron tending the fire. "She didn't stir?"
"Still sleeping." Ron told Shego. "I didn't know you played an instrument."
"My uncle owns a glass shop." Shego replied. "He gave it to me when I was ten."
"And you still keep it?"
"Draken wanted me to smash the thing at first. Then he realized that playing it calms my temper. So he let me keep it." Shego chuckled. "As if he could make me DO anything."
Ron smiled softly. "Your watch isn't for another hour. Why don't you get some shuteye. Kim's going to want more information about this place and since she's got a broken leg we'll have to be her eyes and ears."
"Suits me. I haven't had the chance to have a look around. I saw some odd carvings on one of the rocks in the reef, but I haven't had a good look at them. And if there's one ruin there's got to be more." Shego sighed. "I'll see you on my watch." She crawled into the tent.
In her sleep, Kim smiled and snuggled closer to her. "Hm…" Her eyes fluttered open. "Shego?"
"Hey, it's okay, I just went out for a breath of air." Shego reassured her. She stuffed the flute back into her bag and out of sight.
"What was that?"
"Just a treasure of mine." Shego sighed. "Sleep now. I'll keep watch."
"Okay." Kim closed her eyes again.
Shego sighed, looking over at the secret agent for a moment. "Man Shego, when you fall, you fall hard."
Neither Shego, nor Ron, saw the figure watching them from the mountain above. The figure was enormous, shaped like a wolf, only with a flowing mane. Nasty looking fangs hung from it's mouth and two tails spread behind it. Abruptly, the figure ducked back into the ruins from which it came.
The next morning the two girls woke to the smell of breakfast. "Rufus found a bird's nest, so it's scrambled eggs this morning." He poked his head in the tent. "Here's your portion." He handed each of them a plate.
Shego groaned. She had gone to bed at dawn once her watch was over. She felt as if she'd partied down all night with a hangover. "I'm going to go back to bed as soon as I've finished eating."
"Don't forget the dishes." Ron said with a smirk.
Shego groaned.
"What? You've got to pull your share."
"I pulled my share keeping watch over your friend last night." Shego argued.
Kim chuckled. She thought that they actually would make a great team if they stopped arguing. "Isn't there a stick that I can lean on to go with you while you explore?" Kim asked mournfully. "If there's ancient ruins out there then I want to see them."
"And to think this was supposed to be my vacation." Shego groaned. "Ron, go find me a straight pole about up to Kim's chest."
Ron nodded and ran off, leaving Rufus behind. The mole rat curled up on Kim's stomach and fell asleep. "Hey, I take it you're feeling better?"
"A lot stronger than when I first came." Kim replied. She smiled. "I'll be on my feet in no time."
"You're a terrible liar Kim." Shego sighed. "When you're hurt that badly it takes awhile to get back on your feet. Ever feel vertigo Possible? Nasty feeling."
"I'm okay, really." Kim lied, again. She felt really tired.
Ron came back with a long, straight piece of driftwood. "Will this work?"
Shego tested it. "Should be tough enough." She handed the stick to Kim. "Try to stand. And be careful, the bones won't have knitted together yet."
Kim tried, struggling to stand. It tore Shego's heart to see her struggle, but her mother had always said that one had to master one's own stunts, otherwise you'd never learn them. "Aren't you going to help her?" Ron asked angrily.
"And what would that do to her dignity? If you don't do it yourself you'll never learn." Shego pointed out.
Kim tried one last time and fell on her face. "Ow…" She whined. "Man that hurts! A little help here?"
"Sorry Possible. You've got to master your own stunts." Shego replied.
"Just a hand up?" Kim asked wearily. Now she knew how Felix felt.
"Sorry Kimmie."
"Don't call me that please." Kim growled as she struggled to get up. She got one leg, then… slowly, agonizingly the other leg came up. Kim's injured leg folded under her briefly as, with a cry of triumph, Kim quickly propped the crutch under her weak side.
"See? I knew you could do it." Shego smirked.
"Don't tell me you planned that." Ron stated.
"Maybe I did and maybe I didn't. You'll never know." Shego smirked.
Rufus growled at her. "Easy Rufus, she DID help. However indirectly."
Kim got her first look at the island. There was a huge rock in the middle of the bay, and two reefs jutting out to make a lagoon. Behind them was a huge mountain, possibly a volcano. Between them and said volcano was a jungle. "Woah… big island."
"Yes, big island. Now are you coming or not?" Shego took Kim's free hand and gently led her into the forest.
It didn't take long to find fruit. Shego recognized one and plucked it off the tree. "Pomegranates." She offered a half to Kim.
Hungry for something besides travel rations Kim ate her half. "The forbidden fruit." She muttered.
"How ironic." Shego said with a chuckle.
Kim sucked the juices from her fingers, and Shego fantasized another sort of juice being licked. Stop it. She mentally smacked herself. You just barely get together and you want to get into that? Remember how long it took you to get down with Julia? Shego also remembered Julia's rejection when she found out about Shego's plasma ability.
That had been one of the reasons she took to villainy. Special abilities were common among them, look atMonkey Fistfor example. Shego snorted.Too much, just too much to take in. By rights she ought to kill Kim right now. But her feelings for the red head were just too strong to ignore.
"Penny for your thoughts Shego?" Kim asked curiously.
"Just thinking about home." Shego replied." Buffoon, have you tried the communicator?"
"It's RON, and I did, it's like somebody's jamming it." Replied Ron.
"Jamming?" Kim asked, startled. "So there's somebody on the island?"
"Yup." Ron yawned, plucking a large grapefruit from one of the citrus trees. He pried off the rind as he walked. "That's part of the reason why I couldn't sleep last night. I was worried about us being attacked."
"Ron next time you find signs of civilization, tell me okay?" Kim told him.
"You and Shego were snuggled up in your love nest." Ron smirked, giving her a poke.
Kim growled and swatted the poking hand. "Oh shut up. And when we get home not a WORD to mom and dad that I'm dating a villainess."
"Hey KP, your secret's safe here. As long as Shego doesn't hurt you in any way I don't care."
"Oh I can make it hurt, but in a GOOD way I emphasize." Shego smirked.
Kim flushed as she realized the villainess' meaning. "SHE-GO!" Kim whined.
"Just kidding!" Shego smirked. "You should see the look on your face!"
Kim growled and swatted her with her crutch.
It took about another ten minutes until they got to the rose hedge. "Wow! That smells good." Kim said, sniffing one of the blooms. "Heady, almost like some perfume that Monique used to be into."
"Oh, HER?" Shego asked disdainfully.
"Do I detect a note of jealousy?" Asked Kim with a smirk.
"Oh do shut up." Shego growled.
"Um… hello-oh, how are we supposed to get through this?" Ron asked.
"I would think that would be obvious. Should I upgrade you from Buffoon to Idiot?" Shego asked with a growl.
"Oh really?"
"You get through it like THIS!" Shego flamed and burned an archway through the hedge. "Ladies first!" She told Kim with a bow.
Kim took two steps and stopped.
An enormous blue wolf with a black mane, six inch long fangs, and two tails stood in her path, growling. "How dare you violate the shrine of the Anubites." It growled.
"Okay, this is weird. We're stuck on a desert Island with a wall of roses all around it and when we try to get through we're attacked by a blue and black, multitailed wolf that TALKS!" Ron cried, clearly on the edge of freaking out.
The wolf's body began to change, until it became a human with blue and black skin and a wolf's head. "I am Anubis, keeper of the Shrine of the Anubites! And you have violated our sacred place! You must pay dearly!"
That was when Shego sensed it. It was as if something were dragging at the darker portions of her personality, rage, hate, grief, guilt, all of them were being pulled from the darkest corners of her mind, in a sensation as keen as pain.
And then the monster appeared, and Shego almost screamed. The creature was like a cloak that had no body inside. And as she watched it began to change. The creature became an enormous, slavering tiger, about the size of a small car. It was black with lime green stripes and enormous fangs. It's eyes were as round as dinner plates and about the same size and they bulged out of it's head.
Shego. It called in a voice that echoed through her head.
What are you? She wondered, clearly horrified and repulsed by the image.
I am you. The creature replied with silky menace.
No you're not! I'm me!
I am your Mana. I am what you could easily be. A creature of rage and hate and pain! Join with me! We shall be powerful!
The world was fading out around her. Kim screamed for Shego to get up. But the Villainess was suddenly robbed of all strength. She blacked out, Kim's cries of horror echoing through the back of her mind.
