The cemetery was beautiful. Everything was trimmed grass sectioned off by flower beds, surrounded on most sides by woods that were just big enough to seperate the place from its surroundings. The result was a colourful, peaceful place to lay the recently deceased to rest.

Mourners gathered. Words were spoken. The coffin was lowered into the grave.

The ceremony ended, those assembled began speaking among themselves.

One among them caught a hint of movement at the edge of the woods, a figure they believed they recognised. Excusing themselves with a whisper, they left the congregation for the treeline to seek the figure out.

"Hello, Shego."

"Hello, Kimmie."

Shego looked different. She was still green, still wearing her trademark catsuit, but... it was her face. Her attitude. Not grumpy, not even sarcastic. Satisfied? Peaceful?

"Are you real?" Kim chose to ask.

"Uh, pretty much. As far as I've ever been able to tell. You... might wanna rephrase the question."

"Are you alive?"

"...No. I'm not that."

Kim had a vague sensation that she should have been more hopeful a moment ago, but she wasn't surprised by Shego's answer. She also had a sudden impulse to poke the green girl and see what happened, but it struck her as rude. "A ghost, then. After some of the things I've seen, I can believe in ghosts."

"Meh. Ghosts haunt. I don't see myself sticking around for that, unless it's to prank Dr. D or my brothers." She pointed her thumb in the direction of the gathering, of which Team Go was a part. "I'd rather think of myself as a free spirit."

"In any case, I guess I get my wish after all." Kim took a big breath before repeating the lines she had rehearsed countless times in her head. "I'm so sorry I killed you, Shego. The fake boyfriend really did a number on me. I was ready to give up, but Ron got me back in the game. Then when I saw all of you in that control room, saw Drakken gloating over my weakness, I got really angry. When we defeated you, Ron and I went to the prom together. We danced, we kissed." Kim smiled. "He called me at three in the morning to double-check." The smile fell. "We didn't know you were dead until the next morning."

She paused to see if the villainess had anything to say, but apparently she was content to listen, so Kim continued. "It took a few days to sink in, and then I totally freaked. Watching you sail into that tower and get zapped before it collapsed on you... I enjoyed it. It never occurred to me that you might not survive. I had my revenge, and I'd finally beaten you, once and for all. To find out I'd killed you... it was selfish, thinking about what I'd done, not what I'd done to you. I was sorry I'd taken a life. I felt like I had to be punished, but they never even arrested me for it."

"Happens all the time, cupcake," Shego pointed out. "Side effect of the business, whichever team you're on. Besides, after all the times I tried to kill you, or left you to die, I'd say turnabout is fair play."

Kim shook her head. "No... what I did to you wasn't fair. I cut your life short. Who knows what you might have done in the future?"

"How could you know whether the future would be better or worse with me in it?" the green girl countered.

"I took the choice away, Shego. That's something I had no right to do." The teenager sighed. "And then, when I visited Drakken in prison, and he told me you never knew the plan until that night, the guilt really set in. I didn't take a mission all summer. I cried myself to sleep every night. Ron tried to be there for me, but I wouldn't let him in. I couldn't believe I was worthy of him anymore. Him, Monique, my family... they took turns keeping me company whenever I left the house, which wasn't often. I wanted to be left alone. I deserved..."

Kim had wandered off the script, but it didn't seem to matter. She'd never expected to say anything to Shego's face ever again. What was one more admission? "I even thought about killing myself, you know. I actually considered how I'd do it. Would you believe I had a religious-based panic attack about it? What if the bible was right and I'd go to hell? I could beg forgiveness for killing you, but killing myself... it'd be too late, then, wouldn't it?"

"Don't ask me," the ghost said with a shrug, "I never paid much attention to that stuff."

"In the end I figured I belonged in hell, anyway. Besides, you were probably there too; in which case we could keep each other company forever."

Shego raised an eyebrow at the redhead. "Yeah... before I died, I would have considered that hell."

"And after?"

"Death tends to change your outlook, princess. The money was fun but I couldn't take it with me. Besides, I ended up hoarding most of it for my retirement... except I had no plans to retire. Especially while you kept coming around for me to beat up on."

"As if," Kim responded automatically, but she smiled as she said it.

"My point is, I was having fun. I enjoyed my job, I enjoyed my vacations... and I enjoyed you most of all. The last few years, you've been the only thing in my life to really challenge me. The biggest downside to dying is that we don't get to smack each other around anymore."

"And you're not mad?"

"See 'new outlook' mentioned previously. I understand why you did it. I know you didn't mean to kill me. And hey... I always thought, if I don't get to die a rich old woman, I'd better live fast, die young and leave a gorgeous corpse. You may have left my hair completely frazzled, but," the villainess looked her nemesis in the eye and told her, "I forgive you, Kim."

"...Thank you, Shego. That means so much, coming from you. I don't know if I can ever forgive myself, but it helps to know that you do. Assuming I haven't gone mad and you're a figment of my imagination." Kim took a cleansing breath, then turned to face the gathering. "I don't want to leave you alone, but I should probably get back. They'll wonder where I've gone."

Shego stepped up beside her, matching the teen hero's gaze before glancing over at the redhead and asking in the softest voice Kim had ever heard, "Who do you think they're burying over there?"

Kim didn't answer. She just stared across the clearing at all the people who'd turned up. Her family. Her friends. So many of the people she'd helped since she started doing more than babysitting.

It was funny. She didn't feel like crying... but a tear slid down her cheek anyway.

"They'll be okay, pumpkin. They'll miss you, but they'll survive. And you'll all be together again, someday."

Shego slid her hand into Kim's and felt the teenager grip it tightly. "Come on, Kimmie. Take a walk in the woods with me."

Kim let Shego lead her away.