What? C'mon guys! I'm not getting hardly any reviews on this? I've got one dedicated reader here that I know of… momike! I REALLY appreciate the reviews Dude! Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! Here I thought I was doing pretty good with this… WARNING: Character deaths (yes, that's plural!)

Disclaimer: Yeah, gotta post it again; I don't own the characters… yadda… yadda… yadda

Chapter 6

"Ron! Nooooooo!" Kim screamed and leaped at the edge of the cliff with an arm stretched out. She landed on her stomach and an arm dangling over the edge. Her face landed in soft dirt, and it rose in a small cloud when she landed, expelling air forcefully out of her lungs. "Oof!"

She then quickly crawled to her knees, and peered over the edge, not really wanting to see what most likely was at the bottom, but she had to look anyway. Not seeing anything at first, tears began to fall like rain from her eyes and she wailed her lost loves name.

"R… Ronnnn… y… you shouldn't h… have sac… sacrificed yourself…" Her tears fell into the dry dirt, causing a small 'poof' of dust to rise with each one that fell. Drawing her legs up underneath herself, Kim Possible sat at the edge of the cliff and cried into her hands.

"Kim…! Kim…" Ron's voice floated in the air just over the edge of the cliff. Was she hearing a voice in her head? Was it wishful thinking on her part that he didn't die?

"Kim… Help me! My pants are falling!" Now THAT was her Ron! She scooted on her belly over the very edge, and looked down the almost sheer face of the cliff. If she leaned out anymore, she would go over the edge herself.

Just when Kim felt she couldn't lean out any further, she saw the top of his head! "Ron! You're alive!"

Ron's voice reverberated off the stone cliff face. "Yeah, I guess I am… But I'm in sort of a situation here! I was able to grab a tree root that's sticking out, but I don't know how long it can hold our weight!"

"What do you mean 'Our weight?'" Kim yelled back.

"I'm holding onto the root with one hand, and I caught Mr. North with the other!"

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POV from the cliff face:

Ron was holding onto Mr. North's hand with his left, and he was hanging onto a fairly large root sticking out from the cliff with his right. The weight of the larger man was stretching his muscles almost to their tearing point, but he chose not to think about the pain.

Mr. North was looking up at him, and he spoke, but not loud enough for Kim to hear. "Let me go, Ronald. It's the only way!"

"No way Mr. N.! There's got to be another way! I'm not going to let you die!"

Suddenly Anthony North's voice changed. "You don't have it in you! I should have known better! You don't have the guts to kill me! To kill your friend here! I will survive! HA HA! I will continue to…"

Ron chanced a look down at Mr. North, and caught his eyes. A multitude of things were communicated between the two in that quick glance. Anthony's voice returned to normal long enough so that he could say three more words. "Do it, Ronald."

Ron clenched his eyes shut, squeezing tears from them, and he mumbled two words to himself. "Forgive me." He then released the hand he had been so desperately clinging to. Immediately he felt relief in his muscles, but he didn't even care.

Ron heard the dull thump a few seconds later, and he hung there for a few more seconds by one hand before he reached up with his other. As he hung there from the root, Ronald Stoppable said a quiet Jewish prayer as tears rolled down his cheek.

"Ron! I'm going to lower you the line from my grappling gun!" Kim couldn't see what had just transpired. She had no idea that Ron was the only one that hung from the root now.

She couldn't lower the line straight down, so Kim lined herself up with where she had seen Ron, and fired the grappling hook straight out. When it reached its limit, it fell straight down, leaving the line to fall right beside Ron. Quietly he wrapped a leg, and hooked his hand onto the line.

"Ready Ron?" Kim yelled.

"Yeah!"

Kim pulled, and was surprised at how easy it was to pull two guys up. She still had to dig her heels into the ground though, and she looked down and saw a tree stump. Quickly she wrapped the line around to help her support the weight.

She continued to pull a bit, and then a hand came up over the edge… then another hand… and finally a shock of blond hair was rising over the edge. Ron pushed himself up, brought up a knee, and then flopped over onto the dirt, breathing hard.

"Ron! Where's Mr. North? He didn't…" She looked back at the cliff edge.

"He didn't make it Kim." Ron said with a low voice. His face was dirty, but lines were etched into the dirt from the tears that he had been crying.

"What happened?" Kim asked, placing a hand on his shoulder, kneeling down beside him as he sat on the ground.

"I… just couldn't… hang on anymore. He couldn't either." It was the only time he had ever lied to Kim.

Beep Beep Be Deep

"What's the sitch Wade?" Kim asked as she whipped the Kimmunicator from her pocket.

"I've got some bad news, Kim."

"It's not so good here either. Can it wait?" She glanced at her boyfriend as he held his head low, trying to control his sorrow.

"Yeah… I guess so." Wade said, wondering what was going on.

"We'll talk again in a bit, OK Wade?" Kim paused, and then said something else. "Wade? Can you send an ambulance out to Lake Wanna Weep? There's no rush, if you know what I mean."

"Is Ron…" Wade asked, suddenly feeling anxious.

"Ron's fine Wade. It's for… Mr. North."

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Kim and Ron walked back to the SUV, drove back to the lake, and took a trail that led back to the small stretch of rocky beach at the foot of the cliff. When they got to the point that they could see Mr. North's broken body, they didn't go any further. They couldn't. He was someone both had known, and it was just too hard to go look at him. They stayed about 50 feet back, sat down on a couple of rocks, and waited.

After the ambulance arrived and took the body away, the two teens drove back into town and to Kim's house. Ron was silent for the entire ride. When they arrived, once again the house was dark since everyone had gone to bed. Ron flopped onto the couch opposite the TV, but he didn't turn it on.

"Ron? Would you like something to drink?"

"No thanks, Kim. I just…" He looked up at his girlfriend with sad eyes and a trembling lower lip.

"Oh Ron…" Kim said. Feelings of sympathy washed over her like a veil. She sat on the couch beside him and Ron pulled her into a gentle embrace. The two just sat there holding each other in the dark.

Hearing movement in the room, Kim lifted her face from Ron's neck, and saw both of her parents standing in the doorway leading into the kitchen. Both were in pajamas, and were looking at the two, sorrow etched in their faces.

Anne went to the two, sat down beside them, and embraced them both. "Everything will be alright kids. It's going to be OK." She said in her parental-like caring voice.

"I know it's hard to lose a friend. It can be very disheartening, and it causes feelings of helplessness. I…"

Kim cut her off in mid sentence. "Mom? How did you know…?"

"Oh Kimmy… Ronald… I was at the hospital when Bonnie passed away."

To be continued…

Sorry for the short chap. I should finish this story with the next one…