Kingdom Hearts: Heart of Heaven

Chapter Seventeen: Bargains

Day 5- Afternoon

It was the soft pain in her chest that stirred Shego back to consciousness when she tried to shift into a more comfortable position. Slowly, the fog in her mind faded as she attempted to use her hands to rub her eyes only for them to not move the way she wanted them too.

"Haa, in cuffs again. How is it that Kim-cake somehow manages to be even more of a pain in my side even in this world?" she angrily mumbles to herself as she takes a moment to take stock of her situation.

Taking quick mental stock of herself, most of her muscles were sore, especially in her chest where the dull pain of bruised ribs could be felt. Which was good considering her last memory of the fight was a right hook that she swore shattered her ribs. So, either she was mistaken in that moment (Highly unlikely) or they took the time to heal her with a potion or something.

That was more in line with the goody two-shoes that occupied this side of the town. So, she wasn't in the worst-case scenario, she's gotten herself out of worse and the fact that they didn't change outfits made things better as she has several thieves' tools she keeps on her at all times. Seriously people, always strip your captives of everything they have, they will always have something that can screw you over later.

Not that Dr. Drakkon ever took her advice on that whenever they managed to capture Kim but eh, he pays well enough… did pay well enough. And as she looked down at her hands, her stomach dropped a bit at seeing her 'cuffs'. Mentally cursing as she see the alien pair of shackles that completely covered her hands.

Okay, so her tools wouldn't help her here. Reaching inward, she tried to summon the green plasma of energy that was with her since childhood only for not a glimmer of it to escape the high-tech restraints that kept her hands still. Looks like little Miss Mary spared no expense to keep her contained.

Shego cracked her neck, so, it'll be a little tougher than normal. No big deal. She's escaped from maximum security prison before. This will be a walk in the park compared to that. She starts to stand only to stumble as something caught on her feet and looking down, she sees a pair of normal cuffs around her ankles.

Okay, that might make this a little more difficult. Shego didn't let that deter her though as she takes in her environment. Concrete walls, candle-lit sconces hanging off the walls with metal wire shelves lining them, and a steel door on the other end of the room. Considering the fact that she knew they didn't have proper holding cells when she scouted this area earlier, she was probably in a basement somewhere in District Five.

Looking back down at the Alien restraints, she didn't see a proper keyhole that she could pick with, and it probably was more durable than anything she could find in this ratty little place so she'd just have to deal with it until she can find something that can break it. If she could unlock the cuffs on her feet though, she'd have still have a pretty good chance to escape.

If they thought that restraining her hands was enough to make her defenseless, they were in for one hell of a shock later. Shego smirks as she feels the small pool of magical energy within her, waiting to be released.

She only knew one spell for now and it was a hell of a doozy. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be much help here. It was possible for it to break the alien device, but it was equally as possible for it to make it explode or shock herself. No point in taking that risk, she saw what it did to Kim and she didn't want any scars to mar her perfect skin.

So Shego slowly straightens out as she leans herself up against the wall. If she could just get the lockpick in her boot, she could undo these cuffs and wait to jump whoever it was that would come in to check on her first.

Carefully she started to lift her legs up towards her, her bruised ribs protesting every bit of progress she made but she ignored it. She didn't become the amazing villainess she was today by shying away from a bit of pain. Heck, she was just glad she took gymnastics growing up or this would be much more difficult.

Unfortunately, it was the last bit of distance that her chest vehemently objected to. She strained as she tried to fight against her own body, trying get her boot right next to her so that she can grab the pick with her teeth.

"Aww, that looks like it hurts. Does this help?" Then suddenly, it became a lost easier, as if someone was holding her leg up for support. "Yeah, thanks." She says as she reached in and grabbed the pick with her front teeth. "Now I just gotta…"

She pauses, swearing that she just heard her own voice come from her shadow. Slowly turning towards the wall, she sees her own shadow staring at her with a twisted wicked grin, holding its own leg up with its own mockingly free arms.

She yelps, pushing herself away from her twisted dark reflection, accidentally dropping her pick in the process. Her shadow lashes out with inhuman speed, grabbing the pick's shadow which in turn stopped the real pick midair.

The lights in the room began to dim as her shadow detached from herself and began to slither across the ground in front of her. Every shadow across the walls and floors began to writhe as blank eyes emerged from the dark, mocking smiles accompanying every one of them.

Then shadows all crawled towards the center of the room, the winds howling with them as the shades began colliding together, creating a bubbling pit of darkness in the center of the floor.

Then it spouts up like a geyser, twisting into a living shadow of a lanky, well-dressed man. The full realized shadowy being walks out of the dark pit, the shadows making up it dispersing back to the dark corners of the room to watch the two with sadistic glee.

"Ah, Shego." Dr. Faciliers living shadow states, as if he just noticed her. "Seems you got yourself in a bit of a pickle." He says casually as her own freaking shadow silently laughs mockingly at her as it curls around the floor around the other man in a protective circle.

The living replica of her boss walks closer to her, his feet silent against the concrete floor. His greyscale eyes scan her up and down as he takes in her, frankly, helpless state. "So, I distinctly remember there being a plan. It was a simple one, on my first day back in the district, most of the attention would be focused on me to make sure I was on my 'Best Behavior'" he says with a smug smile.

Then that smile slowly dropped from his face, "And while all eyes were on me, you were supposed to sneak into that alien scientist's lab who thought he was too good for my district and steal his greatest inventions from right under his big alien nose."

Then he twirled his staff and slams the end of it against her chest, pinning against the wall and causing her to grit her teeth in pain. "And then you were supposed to Silence him for Daring to refuse me." He practically grounds out as he pushes his staff a bit harder into her chest. She wants to scream as her chest burns with pain, but she wasn't going to let herself do so for this jerkwad.

"So, would you kindly explain to me what exactly happened? And Please-" he says with as all the shadows around him grinned wider, relishing her pain. "-Leave no detail out."

Then he finally pulls away his staff, giving her the chance to speak. She takes a moment to take in a breath. "Man, you really know who to treat a lady doncha?" she asks, as Facilier's replica raises an eyebrow and all the shadows around him crawl that bit closer to her.

"Okay, look" she says pushing herself up a little straighter, trying her best to not to look like a freakin damsel in distress here. "I did as you asked. I got in, threatened the Alien with extreme bodily harm if he didn't hand over the Experiment Pod, you know, the typical villain thing." Then she tried to pin the Shadow man with a glare. "You didn't mention he had a partner. Or the fact that Kim Possible was here!"

But the so-called doctor just raised an eyebrow. "What does that gofer girl have to do with anything?" he asks as he cross his hands atop of his staff, using it to lean over her with typical villain glare. Trust me buddy, you don't pull it off, I've had worse glare at me before.

No, what spooked Shego was the hundreds of other glares that came from the shadows behind him. But she shoved that fear down and didn't break eye contact with the strongest man in town. "Well, considering the fact that she was the number one Hero in my old world and ruined countless of my plans in the past. I would've liked to know that she was here!"

"Really?" he asks, as he strokes his chin. "And none of my gifts helped you any?" he states, looking at between her hands and her shadow that was around his feet…

'Oh. So that's way Kim wasn't able to move out of the way of her spell in time.' Shego was wondering why Kim suddenly tripped up in the middle of their fight, she just thought she lost her edge during the time she was here. "They did. Until her new little partner showed up and ruined everything!"

"… And did this partner of hers happened to be a young man with dark brown hair and a glowing red heart?" he asks and she slowly nods as he sighs in response, "Your little stunt, attracted attention down from the entire District Miss Go." He says as he points his cane again straight at her chest. "I had the man completely distracted until you blew up the lab"

"It would've been a perfect lab accident set up" she defended, as she shrugged her shoulders. "And if he didn't suddenly cheat and gave Kim the ability to fight the Heartless, I could've taken both of them."

Then the room suddenly goes dark as all the shadows suddenly turn their white eyes on her. Faciliers shadow gets right up to her face, pushing her shoulder against the wall as his white pupils stare her straight in the eyes. "Could you be so kind and Repeat That Again?"

"He-" she swallowed, her eyes swiveled around the room, not seeing any escape despite desperately looking for one. Just eyes, all eyes staring daggers at her. Practically begging her to say the wrong thing so they could watch her die.

"He spoke an incantation." She slowly stated, to make sure he could hear every word she says. "I tried to stop him, but he blocked the shot with his little floating star. Then he dropped a small bit of blood on her back and well… Kim stood up once more and started to tear through the heartless like tissue."

All the eyes stared between Shego and Faciliers shadow, waiting for him to pass judgement. He slowly removes his hand from her shoulder as he takes a step back. Straightening out his umbral suit, he looks down at her with apathetic glare. "Well, this Ethan character is much more of a threat than I first realized." He says in idle thought as he looks down at her traitorous shadow.

With a nudge of his head, her shadow nods and flies down to her boots, holding the lockpick's shadow and begins to tamper with handcuff's shadow, affecting the real equivalents in turn.

"You know Shego. I recall that day I met you." He idly comments as her shadow works in silence. "The washed-up woman with dreams she could no longer achieve." He says as he twirls his cane as he reminisces, "The villainess who came to me and asked to restore her, to give her back what she had lost."

The cuffs click as they clatter to the floor. Shego stretches her legs, before she slowly lifts herself off her floor.

Then her legs suddenly stop working as she drops unceremoniously back onto the ground, having to hold herself up with her restrained hands as she loses all feeling in her legs. Shego's eyes widen in panic as she looked at the now useless legs, memories returning of her first days here. Of when she was forced to rely on others to survive with her numb legs.

She grits her teeth as her eyes glow green, flickers of green energy begin to emit from the edges of where the two alien cuffs meet. "Give them back" she practically growls, trying to make herself as intimidating as possible despite these useless frickin Legs!

Then the end of the shadow man's can place itself right under her chin, pressing lightly against her throat. "Do not forget Shego, you're the one with the debt here, not me. I gave your legs back to you, and you have yet to pay me back. If you do not deliver on your promises, I will take back my gifts… with interest. Am I understood?"

Then she could feel one of her arms tingle, the familiar feeling of magic that was used to restore her mobility now beginning to envelop on one of her other limbs. Shego grits her teeth… before letting out a sigh. "Crystal" she says as she leans back against the wall, "I will get you your experiment pod."

"Excellent," he says as feelings return to her legs, her boss, oh so kindly, returning them to her so she could complete her task. This time she would have to be more careful, only jumping the alien when she was absolutely certain that he was alone.

"But the Experiment pod plan is a no-go," he says as she freezes, what? "See, I did a little scouting after the end of your little scuffle and turns out the possible six hundred plus monsters that he supposedly had? Turns out he only had four. It's too much risk, not enough reward." He says with a sigh; the room starts to illuminate as the flames within the torches along the walls begin to burn brighter. "I am almost out of time. Shego, return to District Four and we will discuss alternative payment plans for your debt."

Then the living shadow fades as all the eyes watching from the shadows retreat, and even her own shadow returns to normal, casually mimicking her movements like reality says it should.

Shego lays her head back against the concrete wall and closes her eyes for a moment. "Oh, what have you gotten yourself into this time Shego?" she mumbles to herself before shaking off her funk. She's handled worse in the past and she won't let this little hurdle stop her.

She was going to pay back her debt, then she was going to find a nice world to take over and settle down in. Perhaps one with a cute guy and nice beaches she could retire to. Yeah, that sounded nice.

'Gotta get outta here first' she thinks to herself as she pulls herself back onto her now working legs. She first inspected the wall, tapping them carefully with her restraints to check and see if they sounded hollow. Sometimes basements like these would have escape tunnels, just case the worst happened.

But She didn't have much luck there, so she walked over to the door, trying to push down on the handle with her cuffs only for it not to budge, her captors having locked it from the other side.

If she had full access to her hands, she would've torn down the metal door no problem but right now she'd just make a lot of racket that would only attract attention.

So, she had to play the waiting game. The door would open inward, so she carefully positioned herself behind it but not directly just in case some strong-armed idiot were to visit her and fling the door open and potentially smack her with it.

So, she leaned up against the wall, settling in for the long haul as she waited for her first visitor, ready to give them a nasty surprise when they walked in.

Hell, If she was lucky, they would be carrying the keys to her alien cuffs and then she could really flex her muscles and show them just who they were trying to keep captive here.


Fortunately for Shego, she didn't have to wait that long. It was only an hour when her ears picked up steps descending down to her door.

'Finally,' Shego thinks as she cracks her neck and pushes off the wall. The door handle clicks as her visitor unlocks it, Shego grins as crouches low, ready to jump the poor fool that was walking straight into her trap.

Then the door opens and Shego waits, like a tiger ready to pounce once her victim walked into view. (If tigers were green instead of orange.)

And she pushes off the ground as soon as she saw the green fabric of her visitors tee shirt. Leaping straight at them, hands poised back to swing at her visitor's head with her own Alien restraints.

Then her mind stutters as she sees the long flowing orange hair, the slim but toned body of Kim Possible, and moving faster than the last time they fought, Kim ducks under her two-handed swing, somehow able to see the blow coming.

Then Shego felt a hand grab the collar of her suit and another press against her stomach as Kim turned her lunge into a toss as the heroine flipped her over her shoulder and sent her through the air at the wall.

Shego unable to right herself, slams against the concrete, her ribs aching with the impact but as she grits her teeth, her anger pushes her through the pain as she spins and charges Kim once more.

"Shego!" Kim yells as dodges another swing for her head, "Shego stop!" Kim yells again as she lifts her arm to block a kick.

"Why?" Shego grins as she goes for an uppercut, "Afraid you are going to lose without your little boyfriend here?" She mocks, despite knowing her own slim chances here. With her hands restrained and all the heartless under her control slaughtered, the chances she had of escaping here low. Of course, it had to be Kim who would visit her first.

Still, she didn't need her hands for this trick. She began to pull in the magic, feeling it fill herself just like she was taught, then shifted it to one of the eight elements that ruled nature.

"Thund-" but before she could finish the word, a brief flash of prismatic flames surrounded Kim. Then she was suddenly right in front of her, kicking her legs out from under her and sending her straight to the floor.

Pain filled her chest as she hits the concrete, her vision blacking out for a moment as the air is knocked out of her lungs. Her vision swirls as the pain scrambles her thoughts…

Then she heard a soft click, and she knew the fight was over. She felt Kim lift her off the ground by her shoulder and leans her back up against the wall. Her vision starts coming back and briefly blinking the fog away, she looks down and, yep, the cuffs are back on her ankles. Lovely.

"You left this next to them," Kim says, holding up her lock pick right in front of her. "Got any more I need to worry about?"

"What? Afraid of a round two?" Shego absentmindedly mocks, distracted by the burning pain in her chest. She didn't think any of her ribs rebroke, but she wouldn't be surprised if one isn't at least cracked.

Kim didn't rise to the bait though as she rolls her eyes, before starting to pat her down. As Kim searched, Shego couldn't help but notice her hesitation when she had to search her more 'curvy' areas "Oh what's the matter Kimmy?" she said as she spotted the bit of blush on her cheeks as she felt the curve of her hips. "Never had to frisk a woman before?"

"S-shut up Shego" Kim sputters for a moment before letting out a breath and with a determined glare, she sped up her search. "If you didn't attack us earlier, I wouldn't have to do so to begin with." She said as she stopped and pulled out a pick out of her other boot. Setting it next to the first she reaches in again and pulls out her filer and then her lipstick "Really?"

Shego shrugs. "It's important to always look your best, something you could do well to learn," she says smirk as Kim's glare intensifies for a second before setting it aside to continue her search.

After a few more minutes (And some light teasing from Shego as Kim searched her chest, though the teasing was quickly cut off when Kim pressed down a bit harder than she needed to against her bruised ribs in response.) Kim finally stopped her search, having exhausted her extensive stockpile considering the small pile lying on the floor.

Kim looked down at it, thinking for a moment before shaking her head. "Honestly, I was expecting more, you know, small lasers, mad devices, the works."

"Hey, you try holding a heist on a budget. See how well it goes for you." She shoots back. It isn't her fault that most of her funding was gone with their old world. Doctor D. would've given her everything she would've needed for that heist.

… including an escape plan… You never really appreciate what you have until it's gone.

Then the room goes quiet as the two of them sat there, just staring at each other…

"Shego…" Kim starts, trying to get whatever she was saying off her mind… "How could you work with those things? After what they did to us?"

Shego shrugs. "They aren't as bad as they seem. After I learned the trick to control them, they're more like trained wolves. Might bite you if you let down your guard but is willing to obey you if they are treated well… Well as long as you are strong enough to put them down if they try anything."

And that was the key to controlling them, strength. A strong, unwavering heart will not budge against the Heartless's predations and leave them vulnerable to your commands. The sheeple would never be able to command them like I could, not after Facilier's own lessons gave her the means to do so.

"Shego, that's…" Kim sighed as she placed a hand on her forehead, rubbing it for a moment before kneeling down, trying to get to eye level with her.

Then looking her straight in the eye, Kim says "Shego, you scared a lot of people with that stunt. Scared enough that they are considering silencing you for the safety of others.

That… oh god. They were going to do what? But… this town was filled with goody two shoes! They let Facilier go, and he was much worse than me! "They… They would neve-"

"They will." Kim cuts her off, with a sharp tone she's never heard from the heroine before. "Shego, you were right, this isn't our old world. The rules have changed, and he's seen too much death to risk letting you off the leash again."

He? Oh… was it the Hotshot that was going to pull the trigger? The 'little fiery guardian' that the Doctor warned her about? The new unknown that just entered the district a week ago? That made more sense. From what she knew of most of the residences here, they wouldn't have the stomach to go that far.

Still, if it was just him, then maybe she had a chance. She just couldn't let herself get caught by him and she was doing well enough fending him off before.

"Oh, your new sidekick has a bit of a ruthless side, does he?" she smirks, as Kim looks away as Shego nails it straight on the head. "I had no problem taking him before your little intervention Kimmy-cake. What makes you think he would be able to do so now?"

Kim locks eyes with her again. "You mean when he was taking it easy on you? Tell me Shego? How much fire was he using in that fight?"

Kim sighs as she stands back up. "I've convinced him to give you a reprieve. He will leave you alone as long as you stop… this." Kim says as she gestures to all of her, which, rude.

"But, if he catches you doing anything. If anyone catches you hurting others again. He will stop you… permanently" Kim's tone started to break on the last part and… she didn't know how to take that.

Then after closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Kim locks eyes with her again. "Shego, for the sake of our previous friendship-" Shego grit her teeth at the reminder of her time under the Attitude-whatever's influence "-please, take this second chance and stop. For your own sake."

Then Kim gathered up, all her tools and left, leaving Shego alone in the concrete room which felt oh-so smaller than a moment ago.

…What was she going to do now?


Kim lets out a sigh as she leans against the steel door to the basement where she just left her old rival in. She… she did her best. Now it was up to Shego to make the best of her second chance…

Why didn't that thought comfort her? It should be easy for Shego to make a new life here. To give up villainy and start anew. It was a new world. Old crimes were forgotten here, and she could settle down, maybe get herself a boyfriend, and just… stop.

… But she had her chances before. An opportunity to rejoin her brothers, a chance to just live life as a teacher even after the stray blast from the Attitude Adjuster restored her but every time, she rejoined villainy for what? For money? For power? Kim just couldn't understand why someone would do such vile things for such small reasons.

Kim was… was afraid that she was going to lose her last connection to her old life. To lose what was… for a brief moment… a dear friend to her, that she hoped was still in there somewhere.

Kim leans her head back and rests it against the metal of the door. Just… wondering when things got so complicated. Was this a part of growing up? Learning that the world wasn't as black and white as she thought it was?

… Was she doing the right thing?

Kim shakes her head as if trying to rid herself of such thoughts. As Ethan said, things were going to get worse, and like Shego, villains always took advantage of the chaos in order to fulfill their own goals, no matter who it hurt in the process.

Only now, their actions hurt everyone's chances of survival, not just the few people they stepped on. This wasn't the peaceful world we used to live in, and Shego needed to see that.

As Kim walked up the stairs and into the hallway of Mary's 'Office' building, she could only hope that Shego could see reason and turn around her life.

Kim then opens the door to the foyer and seeing the empty room, Kim guessed that Ethan was still talking with Mary. So, sitting down on the soft couch, Kim grabbed the teapot Mary had left out for them earlier and poured herself a cup, waiting for Ethan to finish.

Luckily, she didn't have to wait long as a couple of minutes later, Ethan walked into the foyer himself, looking a bit tired but visibly brightening as he spotted her. "Hey Kim." He says as he walks up and, hesitating for a second, takes a seat next to her. "So… how did the talk go?"

"… about as well as I expected." Kim answered honestly. She didn't expect the brief scuffle but Shego was never one to go down without a fight. "I… just hope she takes this chance." She admits to the war veteran, still feeling conflicted about Ethan's actions against the villainess.

She… she understood his reasons for stamping her. She understands the lines he put in the sand for Shego. In his mind, if he let her go, then everyone she hurt would be his responsibility and with the increased stakes here, that wasn't a chance he wanted to take… Kim was honestly just glad he listened to her and gave Shego this chance.

"I do too Kim." He admits as he starts to raise his hand and for a moment he looks like he was about to grab her hand but places it on her shoulder instead. "I'm sorry, but I can't ignore the Heartless she has under her control and what she was about to do to you. If I can stop her from doing so again, then I have to. I can't put her wellbeing above the others, not with what she has done."

Kim smiles as she grabs his hand and gives it a small squeeze. "I know. I just… wish it wasn't like this. That it came to this."

He squeezes her hand back as the two of them sat there, their hands still intwined with one another. "So… what did Mary want to talk about?"

He lets out a sigh. "Just a warning about the visitation rights she granted Facilier in negotiations." He said as Kim's eyes widened. She was here when Facilier was banished, and it was good riddance to bad rubbish. She knew a villain when she saw one and with all the disappearances surrounding him it was good that he got banished when he did. Though, what made Mary change her mind now?

"He will be watched whenever he visits but Mary thinks he might pull something before the Festival and just wanted to give me a heads up." He admits as they both enter the lobby of Mary's 'office building'.

Then Kim put two and two together and looked straight at Ethan "You're entering the tournament?" she asked with incredulity. Why would he willingly jump into the viper pit like that?

Ethan sighs as he turns to face her, his hand leaving Kim's as he stares her straight in the eye. "Kim. I can't stay here in District Five. If I am going to change things, stop this apocalypse from completing then I need full access to all of Traverse Town and eventually other worlds. District one is where the Ship port is at and in order to truly stop the Heartless I will need to leave eventually."

He lets out a breath. "That is why I am joining the tournament. If I win, I can use the win to get full access to the rest of town, and even if I lose-"

"You are still within District Four, and it will be easier to sneak into District One." She finishes for him as she thinks it over… yeah it makes sense. It's a decent plan and it's by far not the worst one she's ever heard. Hell, she's tried worse in her old world and always managed to come through in the end.

"… By yourself?" she asks as he lifts an eyebrow. "That district is full of thugs and mercenaries Facilier's bought off. You need someone to watch your back and… I'm willing to help if you'd let me." She says as she brushes a lock of hair out of her vision.

"… I'd love to, but I'm the only one invited to go. How will you get in?" that's… a good point.

"I'll think of something. Maybe Jumba can make something or maybe I will have to do a bit of scouting but if you're going to stop the Heartless than don't think you have to do it by yourself. I've saved the world more times than I can count. You're going to my expertise if you want to succeed." Kim says with a grin.

He gives her a cute smile in return. "Thank you, Kim."

"It's no problem, Ethan" she says, feeling her cheeks heat up a bit before she pauses "Luz's class is going to be starting in a bit isn't it? I don't think we should miss it considering the 'world-saving adventure' we are about to go on." She says as Ethan gives a small chuckle.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea, the next glyph is fire and I have the strangest feeling that I am going to be a natural at it." He states as Kim softly punches his shoulder for his sarcasm before the two start making their way out of Mary's house.

"So, did Mary want anything else?" she asked curiously as she closed the front door behind her and the two started walking down the street. It seemed strange that Mary would want a face-to-face with Ethan with a warning that he probably already expected.

Ethan nodded as the two passed by a couple of pedestrians, Ethan staying oddly quiet until there was no one within earshot. "Mary is splitting up the experiments Jumba still had on hand so that they aren't all in one place, just in case future thieves try their luck again… And she gave me one for safekeeping."

Kim eyes widen as she turns to look at him. "Which one?"

He pauses looking around for a moment before with a flick of his hands, a small blue marble exits his sleeves and rests in his palm.

A marble with a three-digit number printed on it. Labeled '221'.