A/N: Last chapter.

Disclaimer: I only own Kim.

McKenzie

Daisyfan5534

Chapter 10

'Come on Kim, I know you're still alive.' Slider has been in the same spot, staring at the ocean for the past- heck after what happened, he didn't even know how long. It was almost if time slowed down to a halt. What was he waiting for anyway? What if he was waiting for nothing; that Kim might never- 'No!' Kim can't be gone, she couldn't be.

"Slider?" The sound of his name was enough to pull him out of his current state, but he couldn't to pull away from the ocean. What if he saw Kim reach the surface?

Coop came around the corner formed by the cliff. He felt a wave of relief come over him when he found his son alive at the bottom of a cliff; but when he saw the silver locket dangling from Slider's hand, concern settled back in.

"Slider, are you okay?" Coop asked him.

"How did you find me? Slider said without breaking his staring contest with the ocean.

"Remember what I gave you before you went off with Kim?" Coop responded. Slider tensed at the sound of Kim's name, and his father could tell. "Slider what happened?"

"Kim, she- we went into the forest for some contest. After a while, we split up and I got a call from Kim. She- she was in trouble and I tried to find her. When I heard a scream… It lead me here." Slider explained.

Coop looked at the ocean, trying to picture this. Kim, a young, independent, smart, girl; was gone. Shoved off a cliff, only to drown in the waters below. It didn't seem right with him. Nor settle right with him. Which made him wonder how Slider was taking this.

"She's not dead." Slider said in denial.

"Slider…" his dad said trying to bring him back into reality.

"She- she could be stranded on a shore," he said. "Or-or, maybe she-"

"Slider…"

"She can't, she just can't."

Coop pulled his son to him. He couldn't blame him for reacting this way. It sort of reminded him of what happened when Hacker sabotaged his helmet with magnetite, forcing him to leave his son, because Hacker threatened to use it on Slider.

Hacker had to choose that day out of every other day in the year, when Slider needed him most. The difference between then and now is that he here for his son at the moment.

Other than Slider, Dr. Marbles had a close relationship; more of a father-daughter-like relationship. It wasn't completely that, but since Kim followed in his footsteps in mechanics, and he cared for her when she started living in Cyberspace; that relationship grew. And since Coop was Dr. Marbles's only connection outside his hideout, he was going to be the one to break the news to him.

"I-I can't believe it," Digit said with sadness in his voice. "How could this happen. Kim can't be gone."

"No one is invincible, Digit." Motherboard said. "As much as it seemed like it, Kim was never invincible, but she's safe now.

"No," Slider said. "Kim's still alive, I know she is."

"Slider, I know you and Kim were close-" Digit tried to reason with him before he interrupted.

"You can say it a hundred times, I'm not going to listen to someone say that she's gone." Slider said trying to deny what was being told. "I wouldn't split up with Kim, unless I knew she could take care of herself!" Realizing that it was his idea to leave Kim alone, he came to the idea that this could be his fault. Was it because of him that Kim was dead?

Coop knew what was filling his son's mind from the guilt look on the thirteen-year-old's face. Slider ran out of the room before his father could convince him otherwise. Matt, Jackie, and Inez entered the Control Room just to see Slider run out. Jackie tried to greet him, but he ignored her. He didn't want to go over this again.

"Is Slider okay?" Jackie asked before realizing the room was missing another person. "Where's Kim?"

"Kim? She's… She's uh…" Digit stuttered. He forgot that they had to explain this to the Earthlies. "She- She's gone!" the cyboid couldn't hold back his sobs.

"Gone? As in she ran away, or-" Matt didn't finish his sentence, knew what the answer was. "She's not coming back… Is she?" Matt said.

"Kim was shoved off a cliff and drowned on Solaria." Coop explained.

"You're- you're not serious are you?" Inez asked.

No one responded to the question. Inez and Jackie had tears forming in their eyes, while Matt was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Kim was dead. He didn't know her that much; neither of them did. And sure, now and again she would be asking for trouble, but Kim knew how to take care of herself. How could she be dead? Then again, who was actually close to Kim? Oh yeah.

"How's Slider taking it?" Matt asked.

"He's processing." Coop said.

"Well, do we know who killed her?" Matt asked.

"We asked Slider, but he didn't know." Digit said before flying over to the crying girls, hugging each other.

"He was the last one to see her?" Matt concluded. "He must feel horrible."

"You know Matty, maybe you should go talk to him." Digit said pulling out a box of tissues from his compartment and giving it to the girls.

"Me? Why me?" Matt asked the cyboid. "You knew Kim better than I did."

"Do you remember when you guys first saw Kim? When she trapped us in a cage?" Digit asked.

"Yeah."

"She told us about her nightmares. That's something I've been asking her about for the three years I've known her, and she told you guys the minute you asked her." Digit explained. "The relationship Kim and I had was like siblings who always would argue, but we would still care for each other in the end."

Matt stayed quiet for a minute, "Alright, I'll go do it."

A slight breeze came from the depths of Cyberspace, relaxing Slider as it hit him. He never understood how Control Central had an atmosphere. Kim told him the theory on why Control Central did, but he couldn't remember what she said.

Slider started clawing his fingers into his head. It reminded him that he was never going to hear Kim's voice again. Or see her soft, sweet smile, or her beautiful, blue eyes. Nothing, he was never going to see her again.

Deep down, he knew that Kim was dead. He never wanted to admit it, because he never wanted to lose one of the most important people in his life. He wanted her to always be safe, but did it have to be this way? Did she have to be killed? Maybe there is a way to see her again? Wait… was he actually considering suicide?

Slider heard the Control Central doors slide open and footsteps walk towards him. Glancing to his side, he saw Matt. The last person he'd expect to check on him. Out of the Cybersquad, he thought the girls were more likely to check up on him.

Slider spoke after about five minutes of silence, "What are you doing out here?"

"Digit wanted me to check on you." Matt responded. "How you holding up?"

"I don't know," Slider said. "What do you think?"

"I know you miss her, Slider. But tell me, what was she to you?"

Slider was silent for a while before he spoke. "Well, just missing her is nothing compared to how I feel about her. Kim was amazing; she was smart, funny, pretty… I could never call her beautiful, she'd say that I was lying and that it wasn't true. She's not like any of the stuck up girls at the skate park. They were always jealous of her." Slider said, remembering the good things about his best friend.

"What was your favorite part about her?" Matt asked.

"Her eyes. I love the shade of them when she's mad. Sometimes I make her angry just to see her eyes turn to that color." Slider came to his senses. "Guess I won't see that ever again."

"Slider, do you actually believe that Kim is dead?"

"I don't know what to believe. I mean surviving from that is pretty much impossible, but I don't think she's dead. Despite what everyone else is saying, I think she's alive." He said. "She had this quote: 'put everything into a beautiful moment, because its only temporarily. It is only then, when life is played fairly.' I never knew what she meant, but I guess I do now."

"I want to believe Kim's alive too, but if she doesn't show up in a few days, I might start thinking otherwise." Matt said.

"What are you saying?"

"Kim wouldn't want you to beat yourself up over this. Just move on." Slider reached into his pocket and pulled out Kim's locket; the last connection he has to her. "I know she means a lot to you, but it's your decision on what you want to do." Matt said.

"Thanks, man," Slider said. "You know, I don't think I can let her go. She's always going to be there, like the stars of Cyberspace."

"Hm… Maybe that's why she liked them so much?" Matt said.

"Probably." Slider said.

The teen felt a bit better as he and Matt kept talking.

The next night…

He really didn't want to do this. Then again, how could he avoid it? Dr. Marbles asks about Kim pretty much every time they meet up, how was Coop going to explain that she's well... Dead? The doc really cared about her; not as much as Slider, but still she was important to him.

Though Coop probably shouldn't have left his son alone, Slider understood that the doc needed to know that Kim was 'shoved off a cliff' as Slider puts it. The teen doesn't have the heart to say that Kim's dead, but shoved off a cliff was close enough.

Coop arrived at Dr. Marbles's secret hideout. Exiting his coop he could hear the faint sound of the radio. Something the doc got from Kim; though he listens to news broadcasts rather than music.

Dr. Marbles was sitting down on a hard bench staring at the floor, and Coop knew. He sat down next to him. Earlier today and last night the radio has been buzzing on and on about Kim's death. His son was working on a new skateboard model in honor of his best friend and thought he'd work better with the radio on since Kim always listened to the radio. Unfortunately he had to keep changing the station because all of them were talking about her death. Slider eventually got furious with it, and harshly turned off the radio before grabbing a different skateboard and riding off, hoping to calm down.

"Coop," Dr. Marbles said looking up at him. "Is it true?"

He took a deep breath before nodding.

Dr. Marbles expected this answer, yet he didn't want to believe that Kim was dead. He went back to the floor and wept for the young girl. Coop patted his back in remorse.

Using the handkerchief Ada Lovelace gave him, to soak up his tears, he spoke.

"She doesn't deserve this." He said. "She was a smart girl, this shouldn't have happened to her." Dr. Marbles loved Kim like she was his own. It wasn't the complete father-daughter relationship, but it was strong enough for him to cry for her dead body, even though the news report said they never found one.

Who would do such a thing? Obviously, there are no suspects of her murder. Some reports suggested that Slider pushed Kim off the cliff himself, or that she committed suicide, but he didn't believe the rumors. A twelve year old girl was murdered, nothing more to it.

Which came back to this question: who killed her?

"Does Slider know anyone who could have done this?" Dr. Marbles asked.

"No. I've already asked him." Coop responded. "I'm glad that I'm here for him this time."

Then it hit Dr. Marbles. "Coop, name someone who hates your son and would hurt Kim for revenge."

"Hacker did that once."

"True, but if he did it, don't you think he would have made Slider watch Kim die." Dr. Marbles said. "Coop, you know exactly who I'm talking about."

"Doc, I know your upset about Kim, but he hated my son more than he did her." Coop explained. "Why kill her?"

"It killed him inside knowing that she was never coming up to the surface." Dr. Marbles said. "Think about it, Coop. Out of everyone, including your son; he's more likely to outwit Kim."

"You don't think I know that? We both know what he did to her!"

"What he did, was leave an invisible scar in Kim's mind that she sees almost every night, and changed her entire personality!"

"No kidding, she almost murdered me with a pipe when she found me. I didn't even believe it was her, I actually thought she was dead when I left!"

"Then you agree that it could be him?"

"It's not that I don't agree with you, I just don't want it to be him." Coop said. "For all I know he could be plotting against my son at this very moment."

"Coop, I don't think Slider will get over Kim's death. He's done enough to your son. I guarantee you."

"So now what?" Coop asked. "I can't tell Slider, he'll try and go after him."

"That's what you do: you don't tell him." Dr. Marbles said. "We have no proof if he did, in fact kill Kim. And I doubt he would leave any trace if he did. Coop, I know it hard to not tell your son who his best friend's murderer might be, but it's the best for him right now."

"I know… You know she kept pressuring me," Coop said trying to remember the doc on who Kim was. "Trying to get me to tell her where you were."

"That doesn't surprise me. She's a determined girl." Dr. Marbles said.

"She tried following me once." Coop said. "I'm lucky she broke down, otherwise I might not have lost her."

"What else did she do?" Dr. Marbles asked. He wanted to know what she was like before she died.

Coop just told him stories of what he knew and stories that Slider told him. After all, the last time the doc saw her was two years ago.

Meanwhile… In Radopolis…

It was quiet in Slider's room as he fiddled with Kim's locket in his hands. He was lying in his bed attempting to fall asleep, for the second night in a row, but failed. Because of that he started playing with his friend's locket.

It had a few scratches on the silver shell, and felt weird with it in his hand instead of around Kim's neck. Upon playing with it, the necklace fell out of his hand and on his face. He imagined Kim laughing when it did. Her laugh made him smile slightly as he lifted the locket from his face. He remembered when she showed everyone her family at the diner. The thought made him open the locket, wanting to relive the memory, but instead of seeing a black and white photo of her family; he saw a picture of Kim, a recent one. She looked amazing.

Slider suddenly felt tired. It was what he needed to fall asleep: seeing Kim's face again. He closed the locket and set it on his nightstand, right next to the picture of him and Kim when they were younger. The same one that was on Kim's desk. He took a second to look at that picture before turning out the light.

"Good night, Kim. Rest in peace."

And so Cyberspace moved on as best they could from the death of newest Cybersquad member Kim. The remaining members Cybersquad did their best to move on from their friend's death. They still lived in Cyberspace in the rooms that Kim provided for them, eating at a table with an empty chair on one side. No one ever entered Kim's room; they would always eye it knowing that a twelve-year-old blonde wouldn't come out of that room anymore.

The ones who knew Kim coped in the ways that they could.

Slider did his best knowing that Kim was never going to walk through the garage door ever again. After three days from her death, Slider felt very, very depressed. He didn't come out of his room for a long time. However the days after that he felt normal, the kind you feel when you loose someone important.

Among all the people who were upset over the young girl, only two people felt completely different. One of them was obviously her killer who was smiling on the success he did.

The other was crying, for her life finally came together in a way she never wanted to. It was part of the reason why she was crying. She heard the report of Kim being shoved off a cliff and now is dead. Was she crying over her harsh death? No. She was crying because, she managed to survive a harsh death.

A/N: And this is the final chapter of McKenzie. I am sorry if I made you cry, because this is an emotional chapter (well I think it is). No, this isn't the end of The Hidden Saga; the next story however will take some time. Please let me take my time to write it.

I really hope you readers have been paying attention, because I already told you who killed Kim in the slick and sly way that I always do. Any guesses, please PM me.

One last thing: The poll on my profile. Yeah, it will affect the title for my next two stories. So please vote before it's too late.

I love you guys who have been with me since the beginning or if you are just reading my stories now. You guys are the best. Here have a smiley face. :)

Happy Holidays!