Nightmares and Promises
Everything was green and dark. Sounds of muffled voices and yells seemed to fill the air. Familiar but distant voices, arguing, fighting... Her hands ached. Her body hurt as hands held her briefly. Something was wrong with her. She didn't know what it was. Something felt like it was tugging at her core. She needed something. She needed to hold something. It was like pressure to not have what it was. Was she cursed? It felt like an unquenchable thirst. The fogginess subsided. Green lights flared from a device. Drakken was fighting someone. Possible. Was it them? The vision switched. Something was broken. She felt sick, like poison was flooding her veins. She felt fear rush over her. Then a dizziness in waves of pain.
Shego sat bolt upright. The nightmares were back again. They'd subsided by the holiday season, but now they were back. She didn't understand them. Everything felt so lived... Like the pain she felt, the fears, the longing. What was worse was the cold and empty feeling she'd wake up with, like it was something she wanted but would never want all at once. Shego felt the itchy ache she always did with the nightmare or ones like it. She rubbed her face and decided to venture to get something to drink.
This new lair wasn't like the old ones. There were two shared kitchens—one for the henchmen, and one reserved for she and Drakken on the upper level. She didn't bother getting dressed but grabbed her robe, the days of caring about being seen outside her battle suit long gone. She froze outside the doorway of the kitchen. The small stove light was on and Drakken stood lazily near it stirring something on the stove.
"What are you doing up?" asked Shego. Drakken glared at her.
"I... Nightmare," he sighed, the anger leaving his face.
"Same," said Shego as she went to grab a cup from the cabinet for water.
"I'm making some delicious cocoa moo," he offered with a shrug. Shego wanted to be annoyed, but she was too tired and shaken.
"Hit me with some," said Shego, switching her cup to a mug. "Nightmare any good?"
"Forced genetic experimentation," said Drakken. He nodded towards her.
"No idea, a lot of weird foggy things. Then I think disintegration," said Shego as she grabbed the whipped cream from the fridge. "I've had it before."
"Same here," said Drakken. "On and off since last September."
"About the same, actually," said Shego as she took her drink from Drakken and began spraying the whipped cream.
"I... That's good... Shego...really?" asked Drakken as Shego put nearly enough cream to fill another glass on his. She smirked. "Ever since that whole Time Monkey plan of Fist's turned out to be a bust."
"That was such a stupid idea." Shego rolled her eyes and took a drink and sighed as the chocolate seemed to sooth her ghost-aches.
"I blame you," said Drakken as he drank his. Shego raised a brow. "You made me go to that party."
"I didn't make you socialize with them," said Shego. "I was just trying to get you to branch out. Besides myself and the henchmen."
"Look how well that worked," said Drakken with an eye-roll.
Months Earlier...
Drakken walked around the lair in his pajamas, glad to be able to do as he pleased and take a much-needed break from villainy while Shego was away. He flopped in his chair and turned on the television. This was going to be a nice peaceful weekend. Quiet. Silent... The door burst open and he screamed in shock. Shego stood in the doorway with a raised brow over sunglasses.
"Shego! You're back soon," said Drakken as he got up and started cleaning up his popcorn.
"I got bored," said Shego as she dropped her bags by the door and checked her watch. "Okay Blue Boy, let's get you in your villain best. We have a party to go to."
"Wait? What?" asked Drakken. He didn't remember agreeing to this. "Shego, I don't remember agreeing to that. I am not going to a club or bar or..."
"No, no. You got an invite months ago to a villain party, and we're going. You need more people to hang around with other than the henchmen and me," said Shego. "Not that the bowling league idea isn't still interesting, you should get on that."
"Villain party? The one in Scotland? Shego, can we go to the next one..." said Drakken. He really wanted to finish watching his show.
"Nope, you need more villain friends," said Shego as she started guiding Drakken towards his room. "Find your best lab coat, I know you have way too many, and let's get flying."
"Uhg, Dementor's here," scoffed Drakken. He glared. "Shego, I don't want to."
"Aye, Dr. Drakken, about time you got your arse to a party," came the deep Scottish voice of the host, Duff Killigan. "I was thinking about not sending an invitation, good thing I did."
"Uh, well," Drakken cleared his throat, "busy with world take-over plans, very important."
"Pish, you're just being a tosser," a voice sounded from the lanky frame of Monkey Fist, walking over with a large glass in his hands. "Shego, nice seeing you again."
"Yeah," she rolled her eyes. She nudged Drakken and went over to socialize with other villains. Drakken could handle this, she hoped.
"Shego?" came the loud cheerful voice of Junior. "You're just in time for a limbo round."
"Let me grab a drink, and you're on," grinned Shego as she made her way to the bar.
"So, working on anything good?" asked Duff. Drakken recoiled a bit as the man patted his back as if they'd been friends for ages. "I've fallen a bit into mercenary work myself, just for the time being. Got to get my funds back up for new equipment."
"Ohm, not particularly," replied Drakken. He looked at Monkey Fist. "You?"
"Actually—" Monkey Fist began.
"If it isn't Drakken." It was Dementor. Drakken cringed and glared at him. "Finally crawled out of your failure-hole to socialize with your betters."
"The only better you are is at being an ass," said Monkey Fist. "Do use some manners, we were in the middle of a conversation."
"Remember the rules," said Duff. "No trash-talk till New Year's."
"Fine, I'll save it for after, there's plenty," laughed Dementor as he and his goons walked away.
"Ohm, as you were saying?" said Drakken looking at Monkey Fist. He felt a little less uneasy about being there now.
"So any plans this year?" asked Senior as the night grew later and drinks fewer.
"Utilize my time better," smirked Shego. She thought about it. She was certain she could get Drakken on board with her plans if she worked at it. "You?"
"I want to find my true villain purpose," said Junior. Senior patted his arm.
"That's the spirit, Son," smiled Senior. "We should get going. It was nice seeing you again, Shego."
"Likewise, see you two around," said Shego as she drank her shot and began looking for Drakken. "Now where is he..."
"SHEGO!" There he was. Her eyes shot open. Clearly someone had decided to partake in a few drinks...or twenty. "I have a new plan Shego, and it's going to be a good one!"
"Whoa there, someone's had a few," laughed Shego as he threw his arm around her shoulder. "Having a good time?"
"Great time!" said Drakken. He waved to where Duff and Monkey Fist stood, who were equally as intoxicated. "I'm so glad you made me come. I know you were just annoyed about me interrupting your vacations. No worries, if that ever happens again...I have two new friends."
"That's good... How many drinks have you had?" asked Shego. Drakken stumbled a bit.
"A few or twenty," laughed Drakken. "Fist does this thing with his feet and Killigan and I tried. It didn't go well."
"Okay, I'm so glad you're making friends," said Shego, opting to talk to him like a child for how giggly he was. "We have to go home now."
"No. No, we... No. Killigan said we can stay here," said Drakken. He gave her a wide grin. "Aren't you happy? Now if I'm in trouble, I don't have to call you."
"Well, still call me," said Shego. She felt uneasy now. "I mean, that's my job."
"Not when you're on vacation," he snorted. A devious grin appeared on his face. "Monkey Fist has a plan to take over the world. We're going to work together."
"You're going to...what?" asked Shego. She looked wide-eyed towards the two. "Dr. D... You don't know them well enough yet to collaborate on a scheme... I mean, you need to gauge your double-cross likelihood and..."
"But I know about it, and we can do it together," grinned Drakken. He waved his hand. "You can even finish your vacation."
"Finish my... I'm not included?" asked Shego. She narrowed her eyes and Drakken looked confused as he stepped away from her.
"Shego, you can help if you want, but I'm going to have to ask them. It's kind of a villains' agreement. Just the three of us," said Drakken. He patted her shoulder. "I'll go ask."
"You'll...what?" asked Shego as Drakken stumbled over to where Monkey Fist and Duff laughed around a table of drinks. "This is not going to end well."
Present...
"I was not that drunk," said Drakken. "I don't giggle."
"Have you ever seen yourself drunk, because I did," said Shego with a small chuckle.
"Maybe my nightmare subconsciously picked up on your jealousy," said Drakken with a sigh. Shego raised a brow.
"My jealousy? Of those idiots," said Shego with a scoff, though her smile fell. "More like anger if anything. We'd just fixed our contract and you were making new ones with complete strangers."
"That's called jealousy," said Drakken. "I thought you would have liked having a break. Bet you wished I would have called them last week."
"Pft, yeah," she looked at her cup. "What did you mean it inspired your nightmares?"
"It's nothing," said Drakken. He was silent and then, "You double-crossed me in the dream. I don't know how or why, but you knew things before they happened. You tricked me into making something to control people, and then me. It jumps around a lot to various strange nightmares. Always ends the same, fog, green, familiar voices, and..."
"A burning itchy pain," said Shego. He looked at her, a look of concern on his face. "That's how mine ends."
There was a strained awkward silence between the two, neither saying a word, but dwelling on the meaning of their discovery. Shego's mind was racing, trying to pull anything from her nightmares other than the blurs. It was hard because she always felt like she was in and out of whatever was happening. Like she was her, but she wasn't. Something pulling her, pushing her... A madness she wasn't familiar with.
"You know...do you think something happened but we don't remember, because...it never happened, but it did?" asked Drakken. Shego stared at him, but for once she followed his odd logic and word jumble.
"Do we want to know?" asked Shego. She and Drakken fell silent again.
"It's getting late...early...something," said Drakken. "I'm going to head to the lab."
"You're not going back to bed?" asked Shego. She herself was gearing that way.
"No, I've got some cleaning to do. There's a lot of junk cluttering the lab," said Drakken with a smirk. "If you remember there are now three doomsday devices."
"None work," she added with a nod. She looked at her cup and felt like she needed to say something, but she didn't know what.
"Shego, do me a favor," said Drakken. Shego looked up at him. "If you do betray me, make it for a good reason?"
"Same," said Shego. She felt like it was the only thing warranted. He looked at the ground for a split second, then back at her.
"That won't ever be a problem," said Drakken, and something in his manner caught Shego off-guard when he gave her a genuine smile and retreated to the darkness of the hall.
Let's get Rolling →