Sacrifice.

Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

The Screwtape Letters By C.S. Lewis

Kim and Ron were holding each other, still, as Kim's mother came back in the room, with Cindy in tow… her face newly washed, and her eyes red. The two sat down, as Ron and Kim faced them, Kim still hanging on to Ron.

"What now?" Kim asked. Cindy looked at the teen, and saw…if not calmness in her eyes, at least a form of peace. Good.

"Now? You go home, and Ron goes to Felix's." Cindy paused, "And Ron…you promised. About your parents. I expect to hear some progress on that front." Ron frowned, but nodded. Cindy sighed. Ron's meetings with her had been, in some respects, just as bad as Kim's, except for the fact that Ron had more willingness to confront his issues…except for some things and those he confided to Rabbi Katz.

"And both of you…" Cindy said, "There's another sort of meeting that I think we should arrange….with other people."

"Other…people?" Kim said, and Cindy saw her hand tighten on Ron's arm.

"What sort of people?" Ron asked.

"It's a group for people who have had traumatic experiences—cops who have had to use lethal force, firefighters…soldiers. It will be, I think, appropriate for you two."

"I don't…" Kim said. Ron touched her.

"It's ok, KP…" Ron said. "What happens there?"

"You talk…or listen." Cindy said, "nobody keeps a record…it's just a way to talk to people who may be able to understand what happened…in a way that people like me and your mother simply cannot." Kim and Ron looked at each other…and Kim nodded. Slowly, but with growing strength.

"And we don't have to talk if we don't want to?"

"No…but I know people who have participated…and you may find yourself surprised." She paused. "And with that… Kim, Ron…do you want to go and get something to eat?"

"Nah…" Ron said, and Kim looked up at him. "I think we'll just go to KP's house and veg for a while…." Kim nodded and Ron helped her into her wheelchair. Margaret and Cindy watched as the two left the building, and got into their van, pulling out.

"So…will he talk to his parents?"

"He'll try…but it will be difficult." Cindy said. "Ron… Ron believes that they made things far worse…which they did, of course. I don't think he'll fully reconcile until Kim makes a full recovery."

"If she ever does." Margaret said sadly. "I don't know if Kim will ever get full function back in her legs….certainly not for a few years, at least."

"I know." Cindy said. "That's why I was so worried when she cleaned out her locker…" She paused, "Margaret…I'm afraid that for Kim, at least…there's very little chance of full closure on this…" she patted Kim's mother on the shoulder.

"I know…" Dr. Margaret Possible said, "I know." Cindy gave a small smile.

"But at least she's started turning the corner psychologically now."

"Yes."

"So, Kim…" Ron said, "Want to stop at Bueno Nacho to get some munchies?" Kim smiled.

"If we take the drive through, Ron." She said. "Mom will go ballistic if I don't go right home." Kim smiled tiredly, "And dad will be calling in tonight… every ten minutes."

"Yeah.. I was surprised he went to that conference, even if it is only twenty miles away."

"Mom made him."

"Oh… well, it's probably good for-" Ron's celphone rang. Neither one had the Kimmunicator anymore—Wade could call, on the celphone. The Dr. Possible's had banned them, along with any discussion of Kim's former job, and Cindy had agreed, albeit due to her fear that they would raise evil memories.

"This is Ron." Ron said as they pulled into the parking lot. "What?" He blinked. "Felix and Monique as well? OK…" Ron put the phone down and turned out of the parking lot.

"Ron, what is it?"

"That was Shelly…Zita's had some kind of nervous breakdown…she needs us."

"Well, if there' s one thing we have experience at, it's a nervous breakdown." Kim said.

Felix and Monique had been enjoying some nice personal cuddling time…well actually more than just cuddling, as Felix's mom was gone, Ron was gone…and they had the house all to themselves.

Then, just as the night was getting interesting…the phone rang.

"Ummmm…let it Ring…" Monique said.

"And if mom gets worried and comes home?" Felix asked…eyes looking at the floor…with their shirts on it.

"Mmmmmm…. Wouldn't it be worth death?"

"Death yes…what she'd do…no." Monique groaned as Felix got the phone.

"Hi…Shelly? Yeah, this is a bad time…" Felix paused, and paled. "Zita said what?"He grabbed his shirt and started putting it on. "Yeah, Me 'an Monique will be there."

"What is it?" Monique asked, as Felix got his shirt on.

"Zita…she went crazy or something and ran off to the falls…"

"What?"

"I know, but Shelly needs us to get there." Monique nodded.

"This had better not be a joke…" She muttered darkly.

Monique and Felix wasted no time in getting to the falls…and there they found Kim, Ron and Bonnie… all looking confused and more than a little put out.

"What are you guys doing here?" Felix asked. Ron looked at him and shrugged.

"Shelly called us and said Zita had gone crazy." Bonnie glared.

"And Brick was just getting ready to apologize… if this is a joke…"

"Tell me about it."

"Oh God no…." All of them turned at that…and blinked. There was Zita…being held by Shelly—a wire looped around her neck. Zita had been crying, but she didn't look injured… but Shelly…. Shelly was wearing a green and black ensemble…and her face. There was a cast to it that was utterly unlike the girl they know.

"Hey Kimmie…long time no see." She said and if the rest of the teens didn't notice, Kim and Ron paled. The inflection…the tone…

"Figure it out yet?" Shelly said. "You can't be that stupid…" Ron started forward.

"Shelly, what are you-"

"Uh-uh, Stoppable…" She giggled, "One twist and your little friend's head falls off…and this isn't Everlot."

"Shelly, what the hell are you doing?" Felix asked.

"Oh, if it isn't the amazing wheelchair lad…" Shelly said, "You made me look stupid too…with that ridiculous cyberchair." She paused, "Oh God, you are all so stupid…here's a clue." She grinned and keeping the wire looped around Zita's neck, released her other hand…which filled with green fire, albeit, sparking and uncertain fire.

"I didn't get full control until I was older…but hey, it's not like any of you are up to snuff."

"Shego…" Kim whispered.

"Very Good, Kimmie—courtesy of the Juvinator and some memory engrams…" Shelly paused, malice twisting her features. She giggled, and sound that was more terrifying for its sheer ordinariness. "Here, let's see what Shelly has to say." Her voice and face changed.

"Oh God, Oh God…run, run away, oh God pleasehelpmeGod…"

"Ah…dear Shelly isn't handling it well, is she." Shego said. "Now…I'm going to kill you all…but not you, Kimmie…I'll let you explain how you let your friends down…again." Kim's faced blanched…but not with panic.

With anger.

"Ron…" Kim whispered, out of the side of her mouth.

"Yeah, KP?"

"I can't get away."

"I know—neither can I."

"But if we piss her off badly enough…maybe the others can?"

"Read my mind, KP." There was no time for a kiss… a brief look was all there was.

"Oh… still scared, Shego?" Kim said, wheeling her self forward. Shelly looked at her.

"What?"

"I mean, you didn't succeed when I was out of the chair…so I guess you're worried you'll get your ass kicked…again?"

"I beat you…" Shelly snarled.

"Not the way I see it." Ron said. "Kim's not the one trying to hide behind a 16 year old…" Suddenly, Bonnie started in.

"Yeah, like it's so hard to take isn't it?" Bonnie said. "I mean you couldn't even beat them until you had how many thugs tire them out?" She snorted, "Even your fashion sense is worse, and that's bad."

"I'll get to you Bon-Bon," Shelly hissed, "How catty will you be when people puke when they see what I've done to your face."

"Oh Please." Monique said, picking up on it, and not noticing the frantic looks of Kim and Ron, who had expected to bring Shego down on them… "Tell it to someone who cares…"

Those bitches! I'll show them!

What's a matter, Shego… getting worried? Shelly asked. This wasn't turning out like Shego had intended it to. Kim was supposed to be crawling, begging, mewling.

She's stronger than you.

No, she isn't. I broke her… I broke her! And suddenly, Shelly smiled

What is it? You're just a fake girl…why are you smiling?

Because you are pathetic. Maybe you did break her…but Ron and her friends brought Kim back. You can't match that.

I'll kill them, I'll kill them all!

And their friends, And their friends' friends?

Yes…all of them, no matter how many it takes! I'll win…I'll WIN.

No. You've lost. Shelly said and suddenly there was silence in her mind. Look at them. They're afraid of you… but not terrified. Not breaking…not running.

And then Shelly knew.

That's the point, isn't it?

Shut up… shut up!

No. You aren't trying to beat Kim…you're trying to prove that you didn't screw up! If Kim is just a fake in the end, then nobody can blame you for turning evil, for taking the easy path.

Stop it!

No.

Than watch Kim die! If I can't make her crawl, I can make her not be!

With that, Shelly charged towards Kim, letting Zita fall gasping, to the ground. Shelly's face was disfigured with Rage.

"You think you can stand before me!" She screamed, charging Kim, and Ron was getting in her way, but her hands were on fire.

Then Monique and Bonnie hit her, low and dirty, from the sides, and Felix was right behind them, metallic tentacles extending from his wheelchair. For a moment, Shelly went down, but then Bonnie and Monique went flying back. Shelly rose, screaming in fury, wreathed in fire. Felix's tentacles were snapped, melted thrown back. Felix gasped—He could smell burning flesh from Shelly. Something was wrong with her fire…it was affecting her.

Shego… you're burning us.

I don't care, I don't care! They die! They die now! they all die!

Then, she was charging Ron…but Ron didn't try to avoid her, and he grabbed her by the wrists, his own skin hissing and popping as it was burned.

"What now, Jewboy!" Shego hissed, "I'll burn your hands off, and then get your girlfriend…do you think she'll scream, beg like she did?"

"To save Ron?" Kim asked. "A thousand times…Shego." She paused. "Shelly? I understand. I'm sorry."

She didn't run…she had to run! Shego thought. Despair was in her thoughts. Her triumph was slipping away.

"Shelly." Ron said, face pale, but not letting go. "Fight her."

"Shelly doesn't exist!" Shego screamed.

"Yes she does." Ron said, and there was an unstoppable certainty in his voice. "You couldn't have fooled us."

"Shut up! Shut UP!" And with an explosion of power, Ron was flung back, bouncing off a tree, stunned. Then Shelly lashed out at Kim. Kim had managed to get a crutch out from its rack and the metal crutch deflected her first blow—but it was destroyed in the process. Shelly screamed and kicked the chair over, spilling Kim out of it, the teen giving an involuntary cry of pain as she fell, leaving her looking up at Shelly, smelling the burning of Shelly's skin.

"Now…beg…" She hissed. "Beg for Ronnie's life, Beg for everyone's life."

"OK." Kim said. There were tears in her eyes, but Shego couldn't be triumphant. They weren't not the hysterical tears she'd envisioned.

"No! That's not right! You were broken! You have to be broken!" The other three teens, joined now by Zita, were advancing on her, as Ron staggered to his feet. Shelly turned and hissed at them.

"Keep away!" She screamed.

"Shelly…your hands.." Monique said in shock, looking at the burned and blistered hands, getting worse by the second. Then Shego turned and her hands were up, and nobody could get to Kim in time.

Shelly was thinking. She was nothing… not a soul, not a kid, just memories. But that didn't mean she couldn't do anything. It was her body, even if only for a few days…and she had to do something. These were her friends. She had brought them to the falls because maybe they could have done something—better than Shego's idea of luring them in, one by one, to some forgotten lair.

Father… she said, a prayer from a soulless being.

Shego's attack wasn't completed. Suddenly, her left hand lashed out and grabbed her right hand, stopping the attack.

"Kim…get away." And now the voice was Shelly's.

"Shelly?"

"I can't— What are you doing! Stop it, Stop it!" Her voice scaled up shrilly… but Shelly didn't move. The teens were frozen, looking at her face, mad one second, and oddly tranquil the other. Now, Shelly was backing up, towards the edge of the cliff.

"I have to do this." Shelly said. Ron got up and started towards her, but she stopped him with a single look.

"What?" Bonnie said.

"This is Shego's body…Bonnie. Give it back! Give it Back!" Shego screamed, but Shelly was now the master of her body again. "I was just some memories she installed in it, from her own childhood…but she'll get control back sooner or later." She paused, "So I'm going to fix that." Now, they realized what she intended to do.

"Shelly, no!" Kim shouted, trying to get back on her feet.

"Sorry Kim…" Shelly said, "I'm not going to leave Shego to do this again… and it's the only thing I can do…" Now she was close to the edge. Ron looked at her, and spoke softly.

"Shelly… don't do this. You're beating her…don't do this at the end."

"I have to Ron…she's done so much… I can't let her go without doing justice." Then, she was at the edge.

You'll die! You'll die! Shego's voice gibbered in her mind

You said I'd die anyway, remember? It doesn't matter. I win. No matter what happens here, I win, because you'll never hurt Kim or the others.

And you lost. Shelly thought and suddenly Shego shrank in her mind. You wanted to show that Kim was no better than you—guess what…she is better than you, and you proved it. You didn't break Kim… love for Ron was the only tool you had.

And it worked, it worked!

No. It failed…because Ron also caught her when she Fell…all you proved is that you'll never beat them—because when all is said and done, you leave nothing behind Shego…just a bad taste.

You will too—they think you're me.

I am you…I guess…and this is the one thing I will do…for Kim. Shego used her final weapon.

You'll go to hell! Shego screamed, Remember, suicides go to hell!

But you said I'm nothing Shego—just fake memories you created or were left over from childhood. I don't have a soul, or fear of hell…or hope of heaven. Shelly laughed inside her head, I'm possibly the freeist person in history… Then she threw herself off the bridge, Shego's screams in her ear.

Take me god. I don't have a soul so I have nothing to give You that matters. Take the only thing I can give. My Service. Keep Kim and Ron, and everyone else safe, and let me take their enemy out of the world with me. As Shelly hit the water, Shego's inarticulate cries of rage and despair echoing in her mind, she had one last thought.

Well, it was an interesting few weeks.

And then there was the cold, and the roaring in her ears, and darkness.

To be continued.