A/N 2023: Oh wow, I picked up a WIP that's literally over three years old. I wonder if the change in my writing tone will be noticeable...

I'm posting it as a WIP to force myself to finish it. I think I can. I hit a block years ago that I think I can finally work around... Anyway, yeah a Drakgo multi-chap, at last! Here we goooooo!

Original A/N: So I feel like nearly all of my fics are from Shego's POV... Especially anything including any romance at all. So I made myself write from Drakken's POV this time.

For the wonderful human, Illogicat. A very, very, VERY long overdue happy birthday gift! Love you, old friend. Hope you enjoy!

The Voice

Part 1

Drakken pushed his wet hair out of his eyes as the warm rain came down heavier. He looked up into the towering trees of the jungle and through the foliage to the blazing sunset sky above. The occasional melodic, alien sounds of unfamiliar tropical birds broke through the heavy dripping of the rain. He looked over his shoulder to where Shego walked behind him.

If circumstances were different, and if they weren't being rained on... The setting could be considered romantic.

"I can't believe you!"

Or not.

"I did tell you before we left that the hover-car was acting up..." Drakken said as he turned back to watch his step. The ground was thick with greenery and finding a path was nearly impossible.

"But...seriously, how many times now have we crashed on deserted tropical islands? It's almost like you plan these crashes on purpose."

Drakken grimaced. It was true, they'd had more than their fair share of crashes recently. "Most of our lairs are in tropical locations... Because someone likes to sunbathe," he reminded her, blinking through the heavy rain to glance over his shoulder again. "Besides, this island is huge. I doubt it's deserted."

Drakken paused to look around again and Shego stepped up to his side, holding the soaked curtain of her hair apart in front of her so she could see. Drakken noted the scowl on her face and took a cautious step away from her.

Just then, something dark dropped from above and landed next to Drakken's shoe. He let out a cry as he jumped and threw his arms around Shego in fright.

"Get off—!"

Shego's protest was cut off by her own gasp as both of their eyes drifted to what had fallen. It was a spider. A very large spider, about the size of a dinner plate. And it was crawling towards them.

"Nyahh!" Drakken shouted as Shego shoved him off and darted away into the jungle. Drakken was only a few steps behind her, passing her quickly when she paused to look back with narrowed eyes.

"Shego!" he cried as he stared at her in shock, wondering why she had stopped.

Her eyes were focused on the giant tarantula. Its body was very dark brown and it was soaking wet from the rain, just as they were.

"Shego, what if there are more?" Drakken said as he turned his eyes skyward, looking frantically at the high branches.

Shego pursed her lips and shook her head, looking up warily along with him. Her eyes slowly fell to his, and the dark look she gave him caused him to step back. She wordlessly passed him and continued into the jungle. Drakken understood the threat that had just been leveled against him. Whatever happened while they were lost, she would repay him with the same severity whenever they got back.

He turned to follow her and looked around with a far greater alertness than he previously had. Amid the hot rain, he was suddenly hearing all sorts of sounds that he hadn't before. Growls and screeches and hisses and slithering...and he wasn't sure how much of it was real, and how much was in his head.

He let Shego lead the way as they trekked through the jungle, the orange of the sunset blinding them at points as they were forced to change directions by the density of the foliage. Neither of them knew where they were going, except that they were looking for some place to shelter until the rain stopped. The hover-car had been damaged in the crash and it was very unlikely he was going to be able to repair it during the storm.

Drakken stopped short as he almost crashed into Shego's back. He was about to why she had stopped, but then his eyes widened. Over her shoulder he could see that the trees and bushes were covered in the shining white tangles of spider webs. He swallowed anxiously and looked up to see that the branches and trunks above were covered in webs too. The webbing was so thick, it looked like the fake webs used for Halloween decor.

He set a hand on her shoulder and pulled gently, trying to turn her around. He watched as her eyes flitted nervously back to his, and then forward to the webs as she took a cautious step back. A crunch sounded beneath her foot and they both looked down. She had stepped in the web-covered carcass of some type of four-legged animal the size of a large dog. The animal was mostly decomposed except for the fur, and the bones shone white beneath the webbing.

They both looked up and their eyes met in fear. Drakken dropped his hand from her shoulder as he turned around to retrace their steps. The pouring rain at the edge of the forest where they'd crashed would be better than an army of plate-sized spiders...or worse.

He stopped short as he heard Shego gasp and he whirled around as a strangled scream left her throat. Drakken's eyes widened and he fell backward and landed on his rear as he stared in shock.

A giant spider was hovering just above them in the trees. And it was giant—the size of a car—as its legs suspended it between two tree trunks. And Shego was standing directly beneath it, looking up. Almost faster than Drakken could blink, the spider had grabbed Shego with its front legs and pulled her up to its jaws.

She screamed again and green flashes illuminated the large dark eyes of the monster and its glistening black fangs as it clutched Shego beneath it. Less than a second later it had fallen to the ground and was using more of its legs to pin Shego beneath its jaws, making her nearly invisible to Drakken behind the thick limbs and long, spiky hair of the beast. The green flashing continued and Drakken stood up and frantically began looking around for a weapon.

There was none.

Suddenly what had been a violent fight abruptly stopped. Drakken's eyes widened in horror as both Shego and the spider nearly stilled, her hands still glowing bright and pushing hard into the spider's face but the dark, spindly legs no longer grappling to hold her...because she had stopped struggling.

Drakken gathered his courage and rushed forward. He kicked one of the spider's legs. It didn't react. His heart pounded as he stepped nearer and kicked past the legs against the spider's body. It was like kicking a wall, and he recoiled in pain as the spider again didn't react. He ran around to the spider's backside and started kicking hard against its spinnerets. It finally shifted in discomfort, but didn't release its prey.

Drakken turned and frantically looked around for a weapon again. The groundcover was too thick, and the trees too dense. He felt his heart would burst from panic as he spun around, seeing nothing but green...and the thick webbing that had alerted them to their potential danger to begin with. He remembered the large carcass Shego had stepped on only moments ago and he rushed towards it.

Drakken knelt down, and with a grimace of disgust he reached through the webs and fur to pull at the rib-bones of the deceased animal. They didn't want to move, and Drakken placed both feet on the dead creature's spine and grabbed only one bone, yanking furiously with both hands and bending it in awkward directions until he heard a snap and the bone dislodged from where it was attached.

He ran back with his makeshift weapon and stopped as he saw a great horror. The spider had begun to slowly wrap Shego in its silk. He watched her glow go out and her hands fall limp against the sticky threads. Drakken ran to the spider's backside again and looked at the bone in his hand, only as long as his forearm. He gripped it tightly and then mightily thrust the sharper end downward toward the spider's abdomen. The bone pierced the hide, and Drakken drove it all the way down until only the knobby end of the bone was visible.

The spider dropped Shego with a hiss and turned on Drakken, raising its forelegs up in menace. Drakken wished he'd grabbed a second bone. But in the next moment the spider dropped from its offensive position and began crawling up the nearest tree trunk. Drakken looked up as it retreated, seeing the webs above that indicated its haven.

Before the spider had vanished he ran to Shego's side and gingerly lifted her up by her shoulders. Her head fell back limply, and he stared at her half-closed eyes and her still, expressionless face.

"Shego! Shego!" he shouted at her.

His eyes drifted down to where four wounds on her body were bleeding. The first was below her collarbone and the next was near it, but closer to her right shoulder. The others were just below her sternum in the soft flesh of her stomach, side-by-side. The spider had bitten her, twice.

"Oh... Oh no..." he muttered as he looked at her blank face, and then down to her limp arms lying in the dirt and foliage and sticky with webbing. He nervously looked skyward. The spider was gone.

He shifted to be on his knees as he pulled her closer. As he looked at her half-lidded eyes that were still frozen he was sure he could see fear, and pain.

"Shego..." he said slowly. He knew she could hear him. "I...I know it hurts. Don't worry."

He turned his face away just in case she could see him as he started to cry. The words were empty. He knew about spiders. He hoped that she didn't...

The giant tarantula would have injected her with a paralyzing venom with its first bite. That was how they incapacitated their prey. But the second bite... That one would have injected digestive enzymes, to liquefy her organs so that the spider could later drink her as a meal.

She was going to die. Her death would be slow, and painful, and would take several days. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.