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No Such Things as Monsters	By : Six_string_Samurai Category: Kim Possible > FemmeSlash - Female/Female > Kim/Shego Views: 3045 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-No Such Things as Monsters
- 1
I do not own Kim Possible, nor the characters from it, they are property of Disney. This is a work for fun not profit. A fan fiction by Sentionaut (Six-string Samurai).
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No Such Things as Monsters - Part I
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It was well into the early hours of the morning by the time she made it back to her place. Not bothering to turn on any lights, she padded through the apartment by the pale moon visible in the living room window. Sore, exhausted and just about ready to collapse on the couch, she forced herself to at least make it to her bedroom before passing out, still in her uniform.
Laying there for a hand full of moments facedown on the mattress, there was the strong sense that she was missing or forgetting something, poking and prodding at the back of her mind. Huffing a sigh, the lithe shadow pushed herself up on her stomach, and glanced wearily around the room as her half-lidded eyes adjusted to the dim light from the nearby window. Nothing immediately stood out, and she was just about to put the feeling down to staying up for two nights straight, when a small motion out of the corner of her eye drew her attention.
She waited. A slight chill passed through the room, and the sheer curtains ruffled against the window. None of the windows in the apartment were ever open when she wasn't home. In fact, they were all locked, it was a practice, long ingrained to the point of ritual for the ex-thief.
Suddenly much more alert, the woman's midnight black hair shone in the darkness as she rolled off the bed, landing in an almost perfect defensive crouch. Doing her best to ignore the dull pain that shot through her hip at the abrupt motion, she flexed her hands, bathing the room in a swirling sickly green as power flooded through her veins in a rush. Blood pumping and heart starting to speed up, she licked her dry lips, the fatigue all but wiped away by the thought of an intruder in her home. It was almost laughable in some twist of cosmic irony.
Quieting the thundering in her ears, she remained motionless by the side of the bed, listening intently for anything that would betray another presence. There was only the faint breeze swirling outside, and her own almost nonexistent breathing. It was so still, she started to pick out more distant sounds, like the hum of the refrigerator from around the corner in the kitchen. Try as she might, there was nothing that sounded unfamiliar. Nevertheless, she waited, slowly easing back on the swirling energies that surrounded her hands.
And finally, she heard it, the soft plink of water on porcelain.
Flexing her fingers, she left the bedside and crossed the room, pale skin almost luminous against the dark wallpaper. Rolling her feet to muffle the sound, she listened after each step, for some change in the air, and the sound of the water. Another drip, and it was narrowed down to the bathroom in the hall by the second bedroom.
Outside the bathroom door, she paused again, letting the glow around one hand die out. The door wasn't completely closed, and she could see the light was off. Here, the drip of water was much louder and more constant, and there was a strong, sharp tang present, the smell making her stomach tighten. Flaring up her right fist, she gave the door a decent push with her off hand. It swung open halfway then bounced back as it struck something with a dull thud.
"The hell," she mumbled under her breath, stopping the door from closing with her palm and pushed it back open, and stepping in through the gap, flicking the light switch with her elbow on the way. Whoever was in there was about to get their ass fried.
That was Shego's intention, but the second her eyes focused in the soft light, the power coursing through her snapped off faster than the sudden twisting in her gut. The floor around the sink and the toilet was covered in blood, bile and bits she suddenly didn't want to identify. In the middle of the mess, completely out of it and shaking like a leaf, was the cause of her recent bouts of insomnia. "Kimmie," she breathed, her anger snuffing out, reeling against the memory that the redhead evoked, waking three weeks of hell, that was better left behind and forgotten.
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Sixteen days earlier…
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It was taking too long, and each hour it was more difficult to believe that help would ever come.
Of the two trapped women, the dark haired thief was weathering the current sitch the best, thought that wasn't saying much. Her normally pale green skin was ash gray, drawn tight around her cheeks, lending a haunted appearance, but her eyes still shown diamond hard in the few shafts of light that pierced down from somewhere in the cavern above. Her constant companion for the past countless days however, looked like death warmed over.
It was almost too much for Shego to even look at the formerly vibrant hero. In fact, the whole thing was beyond stupid in her personal opinion. She'd been gnawing over what went wrong in the long periods of silence that stretched from hour to hour. For the past day or so, near as she could figure, she'd been alone with her own thoughts. The redhead leaning against a rock across from her had stopped talking around that time, and all Kim did now was lay there, staring off at something only she could see. Sometimes, she would keep up that thousand yard stare, unblinking for minutes on end.
Frankly, it was starting to freak the comet powered woman out.
Every once in a while, Shego would say something, anything, just to try and get a reaction. But, even that no longer held the gaunt cheerleader’s attention. And, the thief was now well past the point of contention. They were both argued out, having spend the first two days constantly at each other's throats, proverbially, and physically.
It had only lasted until they realized they had no food.
The third day neither of them spoke to one another, too busy dealing with their own issues as the first real pangs of hunger began to set in. At that point, they'd already pretty much worn themselves down trying to dig their way out. But, even enhanced as Shego was, a few metric tons of dirt, concrete and steel support beams weren't budging. It was a major downside to being stuck in a collapsed hidden lair. No one on the other side knew the location.
The single upside to the whole mess was a cracked pipe sticking out of the wall that dribbled a thin line of water down across a chunk of concrete. Kim had found it by accident, after almost getting impaled on the jagged metal edge of the pipe when she was trying to climb up on the concrete to reach what they had thought was the entrance to the air duct system. It turned out to be a shadow that nearly got her killed.
The water wasn't much, but it was potable, and that was what mattered, for as long as it lasted. On that count, Kim had volunteered a sizable portion of the thief's cat-suit for the cause. While the trickle of water showed little sign of dwindling, they decided that it would be better to get the water directly from the pipe, rather than drinking from the runoff that spilled down over the dusty slab.
At the same time, the pipe wasn't exactly in easy reach, and it was better to save their strength than to keep climbing up and down the pile of rubble. Thus the idea of a makeshift pail was born. After making short work of one sleeve with the sharp tips of her gloves, the raven-haired woman turned the material inside out and tied it off on the smaller end. The lining of the skintight material proved to hold water well enough, though it took minutes at a time to fill, and one of them needed to climb up to get it each time. Though, it ended up being worth the effort, and dehydration became one less thing on their minds.
But, it seemed with each small victory, more difficulties rose to the fore. Even trapped in the earth as they were, the onset of summer was beginning to make itself felt. The portion of the ceiling that had collapsed had numerous small crevices and holes barely large enough to let in scant rays of light when the sun was at it's full height, and just enough to tease them with a faint breeze two or three times a day. But it was also slowly letting hot and dry air seep in. And the more the rubble above baked in the sun, the hotter it grew, and the more need for water they scarcely had.
By the sixth day, it had gotten to the point that both women had stripped down to their respective undergarments, a sports bra and panties in Kim's case, while the cheerleader discovered that her rival's suit provided all the support she needed, and the carpet did not in fact, match the curtains.
"Shego, you're…green," Kim had pointed out, with as much surprise as she could muster.
The thief, who was lounging on an angled slab of concrete, arched a brow, wondering if the younger woman was further gone than she'd thought. "Kimmie, that's hardly news, to either of us."
"No, that not," the redhead slumped, energy flagging from an earlier attempt to get more water. There was no way she was getting back up to go over and point it out to Shego, who was certainly well aware of her own body, given the shape she kept herself in. That was something else that caught Kim's attention. She could feel her body's complaints, the lack of nourishment had already taken a toll on her. Maybe it was due to her naturally quick metabolism, or her active lifestyle, but whatever the cause, a week with nothing but mouthfuls of water sloshing around in her empty belly was wreaking havoc on her.
No so, it appeared, with Shego, who might as well have stepped in after laying out in the sun at the beach. Her body was nothing but curves and firm muscle, a testament to what must be hours of grueling workouts and combat training. That wasn't to say Kim couldn't find evidence of Shego's own week long torment. It was there, visible in the shadows under her eyes, the way her long silky hair was now matted and dull, clinging to Shego in sweaty clumps. The teen hero didn't even want to consider what her own hair probably resembled. It sure felt like a rat's nest perched on her head.
It took a moment, but Kim's mind wandered back to the bright green that had caught her attention in the first place. "I didn't realize you dyed your hair," she said at length, pointing a tired arm at the thief's inky locks.
"Hah, as if, princess. You trying to imply something? I'm not that much older than you," Shego rolled her eyes, then looked back over at the cheerleader, who was staring unabashedly at the pale woman's crotch. Shego glanced down, "Oh," she took a few strands of limp black hair in her hands, then tossed it back over her shoulder. "It's better this way, trust me." Shego thought back to the name calling, and the stares she'd gotten as a kid. It had gotten better once she'd learned of certain hair care products. Yes, she'd still had to deal with the whole being green bit, but at least she wasn't all green after that.
Kim nodded, not feeling up for a real discussion on the matter. It had just surprised her, was all.
That had been one of the last few times the teen hero spoke to Shego, lucidly anyway. Over the next three days, the redhead withdrew further and further into her shell, too tired to move. All she did was stare at the motes of dust dancing up near the ceiling when the sun was out. When it got too dark to see, Shego had to strain her ears to make sure the girl was alive at all. It was just the two of them, the slow drip of water from somewhere above, and the ever dwindling prospect of help on the way.
It was a long time since she'd last truly slept, and each hour seemed to pass with agonizing slowness, while Shego waited for the first rays of sun to pierce the stones. Not that she didn't rest, or doze off for a fleeting moment. Even her considerable reserves were being sapped, slowly but surely. It was getting harder to stay focused, though nowhere near the state Kim was in. The thief had no trouble discerning this harsh reality from wishful thinking, not yet anyway. That wasn't the crux of the matter though.
The source of her restlessness wasn't within, it was the gaunt and fading redhead, whose own waking life might as well have been a nightmare; one that Kim Possible was succumbing to with each passing minute. It was that single thought, and the image it burned into the thief's mind, that kept her awake, not wanting to admit that she was all but standing vigil for the one person in this world that she considered even remotely on the same level.
Shego had all the time in the world for idle thought, and planning. She'd already mentally robbed dozens of supposedly impenetrable fortresses, stolen hundreds of priceless artifacts, scientific oddities and knocked off a few shopping malls for shits and giggles.
Unfortunately, none of those things ever held her attention for long even back in the world, and now that she had little else to think about they comforted her very little, if at all. Other things, that had been skirting the edges of her mind in the past forty eight hours, were beginning to worm their way up, poking and prodding her conscious, begging to be acknowledged. The roots of Kim's and perhaps her own survival, flourished in the darkness, waiting until the moment Shego could no longer afford to ignore it.
A few hours later, once the cavern was lit enough to safely get around the larger rubble they hadn't cleared in the early days of their confinement, Shego stretched a bit to work the kinks out. Sprawling on a concrete slab for hours did a number on her back, but it was cleaner than the ground. She’d been laying on her uniform, since hadn't gotten any cooler during the night, and it kept her from getting much grimier.
As she stood up, one of her gloves, which must have been sweat-plastered to her leg, fell to the ground. Shego looked down at it for a long time, debating if it was worth the effort to pick it back up. It wasn't like anyone was there to care where she tossed her shit. "Ugh, whatever," she bent down, fingers brushing against the black material, against one of the sharp claws built into the fingertips. Claws that she used to tear through where fire might prove too much. But, they would rend flesh, meat and bone with no discrimination.
The pale woman pulled her hand back as if stung, shooting a glance over to see if Kim was awake, breathing a faint sigh when it was evident the redhead was still lost to her dreams. Turning back, the glove was gripped tightly in her fist. Narrowing her eyes, Shego glared at the balled up bit of leather, and everything it represented. Every dirty deed she'd done, the crimes she'd committed, the damage she'd caused, and buried under it all, it was the Hope left at the bottom of the box.
Shego returned to the slab, alternating her attention between the grail in her hands, and Kim. She watched for a long time, but the teen barely stirred and didn't wake.
Slowly, deliberately, the raven haired woman pulled on the glove, flexing her fingers, satisfied with the still snug fit. Shego reached across, almost ritualistically, and drew a long thin line along the outside of her left arm, pressing down just enough to break the skin. She hissed through her teeth as blood began welling up, running a thin red contrast to her green complexion. "Come on…damn you," clenching her fist, she concentrated all her being on that angry line, coaxing the tiniest amount of her comet granted ability to the surface.
"Three fucking minutes," Shego griped, knowing she could do better, quicker. She did, and had often enough in the past, especially dealing with Kimmie on more than one occasion. The villain scowled hard at the unmarred skin on her arm, no sign of the wound after she'd wiped off the dried blood with a little spit to be sure. She was going to have to find a way to speed up if she really planned on going through with it. It was no good to her if she bled to death in the process. There had to be a way, there was nothing else left.
Her chest was heaving as she tried to steady herself. Slowly, closing her eyes, Shego told herself over and over that it wouldn't last, for what was a bit of pain compared to a lifetime? This was nothing, but a drop in the bucket. When she opened her eyes, she could breath again. She looked down, satisfied that the tremor in her hand had lessened, hell it was barely noticeable. She licked her lips, as if they hadn't gone dry days ago, despite the rising humidity. Or maybe all the moisture in the air was theirs, slowly being sucked away.
The raven haired thief surprised herself, almost jumping at the warm touch of her own gloved fingers pressing against the outside of her thigh. She took her hand away for a moment, marveling at the milky white dimples the brief contact left behind on her bare flesh. It was as good a place as any to start, and away from major veins or arteries. Just in case this didn't go the way she expected. She let out a longer, calming breath, waiting for the tremor in her chest to stop. It didn't, though she could concentrate again.
The ex-villain found it easier to latch onto the thought that Kimmie would owe her when they got out of this damned hole. The teen hero would owe big time, and Shego planned to collect, she just hadn't quite come up with the particulars yet. There would be time for that later. She vaguely recalled a saying that fit the occasion, though it brought no smile to her lips as she whispered it to herself, "A pound for a pound, right Princess?" Her eyes flicked to the dozing redhead, who somehow managed to look worse and worse in the brief moments when Shego wasn't watching.
Lightly tracing what she considered a reasonably sized circle on her hip with the tip of a claw, Shego picked up her green glove with her other hand and balled it up, stuffing a good portion of it in her mouth. No sense in waking up Kimmie quite yet.
The tiny lead weight that was her stomach, rolled around uneasily, despite her resolve as she began for real, teeth digging into the tough leather as the claw slipped all too eagerly past weak flesh and into taut muscle. The first cut of many. The rest was lost to at litany of curses, tears and blood that flowed all too freely.
Shego wasn't sure how long she spent, just trying to gather herself again after a long struggle to swim back to consciousness after her vision started going spotty. She felt she was far from a squeamish person, and attributed it no to weakness on her part, but to the tremendous strain already wrung from her body. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open, made all the more so by her effort to will her body to succumb to her will. It simply wasn't used to dealing with the physical trauma, the malnutrition and the borderline dehydration. What a fucking stupid plan, she berated herself as the cave wavered threateningly, vertigo almost sending her rolling off the slab.
Yanking the makeshift gag out of her mouth, the noirette sucked in a great lungful of air, struggling to keep her breathing steady and not start hyperventilating. Her leg felt like it was burning, not an entirely unfamiliar sensation, but the raw throbbing was the worst. It felt like her hip was vomiting blood, and her skin was all too warm and slick against the concrete. Shego couldn't bring herself to lower her eyes and see how bad it was.
Instead, she focused on the fuzziness that had to be Kim, just a few feet away. It was easier to concern herself with dragging her ass across those few steps, it was a safer focus. The pale woman managed to get over to the redhead after a fashion, each shuffling step hammering angry spikes into the bloody well she'd incised.
"Kimmie," she swallowed, leaning heavily on the slab that the cheerleader had claimed as her bed. Faced with the next task, the pain was already beginning to take on a distant quality, that or she was going into shock. "Kim, Kimmie. Wake up," she lightly slapped the teen on the cheek a few times when Kim didn't respond, leaving a thick smear of blood against skin that felt paper-thin. Shego ignored the mess, increasing the insistence in her tone. This was hard enough as it was, and Kim just had pick now let her mulishness show through. "I swear, Princess. If you don't wake your ass up in the next ten seconds," Shego smacked the teen on said ass, as hard as she dared. "God, you're so damn bony."
It appeared to do the trick though, and Shego watched as Kim made a faint noise, that might have been interpreted as a grumble, but there was no heat in it. The redhead did manage to crack one eye open, focusing on the pale form taking up her breathing space. Shego didn't like the way the younger girl's attention fuzzed in and out. Then again, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Dazed and confused, Kim couldn't very well object to something that Shego had determined was the only way they were both going to last long enough to be around when someone found them. After all, this was Kim Possible. Half the world was probably searching for her. Hell, that was the least they could do after how many times Kim had saved this damned dirt ball.
In the end, it took even less than Shego had thought, almost nothing at all to get a few small pieces past Kim's lips. The girl never said anything, and the thief wasn't even sure that Kim knew what was going on past that thousand yard stare. It would have to be enough to start. She was afraid to give the redhead too much after two weeks of nothing. Hopefully, Kim could keep it down.
The redhead stayed awake for a while after that, just laying there vacantly, accepting the few small sips of water Shego had to spare. The thief took the rest for herself, needing all she could wring out to start mending., and not looking forward to a repeat performance. Not one bit.
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Present day, Shego's Apartment
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By the time Shego finished cleaning up Kim, and the present the redhead had left all over the toilet and the linoleum, her houseguest was starting to come around. The older woman had taken the liberty of getting Kim into an old pair of sweats she'd dug out of the bottom of her dresser, there was no way Shego was letting the girl sit around in soiled clothing, stinking up her place. In fact, the thief was tempted to just burn the blood-stained things. They weren't even suitable for cleaning rags, and the blood definitely wasn't going to come out, no matter how much Oxiclean was heaped into the washing machine. She'd just tossed it all into a spare garbage bag to put out with the trash.
For now, Kim was sprawled out on the living room couch, while Shego sat opposite, nursing a steaming mug of coffee. It was already late when she'd gotten home, and now the first fingers of dawn were prying at the blinds. Shego took a small sip, as the redhead showed signs of stirring, eventually working herself into a half-slouched sitting position, propped up on one of the throw pillows decorating the couch.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Kimmie," Shego managed to work up a decent frown across the lip of her mug. It was hard to tell if it was annoyance or concern that marred her features, though Shego supposed it was probably a combination of the two. She'd long ago determined that the simple sight of the redhead often spawned contrasting thoughts, and that had only been compounded by the last month. She took another drink while waiting for Kim to gather herself before pressing the issue.
The redhead fixed Shego with an unreadable expression, one that slowly gave way to a violent tremor that wracked across her whole body, leaving the redhead clutching her arms tightly around her abdomen, eyes screwed shut. The girl doubled over in a soundless cry. The episode passed as suddenly as it came, leaving Kim gasping for breath, staring up at Shego with bloodshot watering eyes.
Shego was across the couch and next to Kim in a heartbeat, coffee left to the end table, forgotten for the moment. "Shit, you're burning up, Kimmie," she took her hand back from the girl's sweat soaked skin. The green woman reached over Kim to flick on another lamp for more light. Kim hadn't looked this bad, even when Shego found her on the floor covered in yuck.
"..hurts, so much," the words were little more than breath, faint but getting stronger as Kim appeared to regain some measure of control.
Shego leaned back to give her some space, "are you sick, because this is hardly the best place? I mean, your Mom's some kind of Doctor," she trailed off, as Kim's expression fell considerably the moment her mother was mentioned. In fact, Shego thought she looked about to be sick all over again. "Don't even dare…do you know how much this rug is worth," scrambling off the couch, she dragged the unresisting teen into the kitchen where damage control was much easier. "If you're gonna puke again, aim for the sink…that crap is nasty and a bitch to clean," she watched with a wary eye as Kim leaned an arm against the counter, keeping her torso over the stainless steel sink until the nausea seemed to pass. "What the hell have you been eating anyway, you scared the shit out of me with all that blood…I couldn't find any sign of internal bleeding," she'd checked for bruising and swelling but found the Kim to be in pretty much perfect condition.
"stuff," Kim mumbled, turning a weary eye toward her raven haired host. "Can't keep much down…been puking it all back up," her green eyes watered a bit more, but her gaze sharpened, a little of the old Kimness returning. “I'm so hungry…I can hardly think straight anymore. I," she winced, putting her head over the drain in case more tried to come back up. "water's okay…anything else," she made an exploding gesture with one hand.
"Your parent's know about this," Shego said it just to be sure, though she had little doubt. While Kim rested more, she pulled out a glass from the cabinet over the counter and handed it to the redhead. "Here, your breath stinks, you can wash your mouth out, and replace some of the fluids you lost," Shego tapped her foot as Kim accepted the glass with a small glare. "I'm still waiting to hear about the blood."
Kim finished off a second glass of water, looking a bit less pasty than when Shego found her face down in her own mess, in fact she looked a tad embarrassed, "It doesn't all come back up right away. I thought I just had a wicked case of the flu, or something," she shrugged, "it's been all over the news lately."
"Yeah, tell me about it," the other woman nodded. She never really watched the news, or the TV much, for that matter. But it was on the radio, the televisions in stores and restaurants whenever she went out. It was kind of hard to miss. "So," Shego pulled over two stools next to the sink, taking a seat and motioning for Kim to do the same.
"Well, I didn't make too big a deal about it, I mean, otherwise, I feel fine, and I don't look sick…Mom never said anything," Kim plopped down, filling another glass and greedily draining it in the same breath.
"You don't look fine to me," Shego eyed the girl up and down for good measure. "And there's no way your mom would just let it go if she knew you were going all bulimic on her."
The redhead looked away, "Maybe I didn't exactly tell her," she eventually looked back. "It wasn't this bad, until yesterday." Kim drained another cup, licking her lips. She leaned in toward Shego, as if wanting to impart a great secret. "I found something in the fridge I could eat, but I guess I overdid it," she scowled, mostly at the memory.
"Spit it out already," the green skinned woman was getting tired, and the caffeine was losing its touch.
"I didn't know if it was just what my mom was cooking, but I tried going out to eat with Ron, and Bueno Nacho is definitely a no go," Kim grimaced. "Anyway, I brought it up kinda roundabout with Wade, and he said it might be a deficiency, Iron or something like that, you know."
"But, you just got a full checkup," they both knew what Shego was referring to, and skirted the issue with uncomfortable steps. "So."
Kim nodded, looking more than a bit lost. "So, I figured I should try and get some of than in my diet…maybe it would fix itself that way. Mom's been busy at the Hospital lately, and using the crock pot to make dinner. I figured everything was just too, uh, cooked, and vegetables are a no-go," she made a big 'x' with her arms. "Don't ask," she supplied heading off the question she could see on the pale woman's face.
Shego filled in the blank that Kim was obviously taking her sweet time leading up to, it also explained the chunks on the tile. It brought up a wholly disturbing thought along for the ride. "Meat, Kimmie?"
"Um, right. There was a problem with that too, though. I'd already tried mom's brain loaf, I'm pretty sure it's meat…anyway, I couldn't keep it down. But, dad's been planning a barbecue this weekend, and he had some steaks and hamburger patties in the freezer," the redhead paused, and Shego though she might be getting sick again, but Kim just rubbed the back of her hand across her lips, staring off into space for a disconcerting moment. It reminded the thief too much of that vacant expression she'd put up with for too long.
"Sorry," Kim ventured when she snapped back to the present. The steaks…they'd been nothing short of a slice of heaven right in her mouth. On the other hand, "turns out ground meat's bad. But, the steak," Kim zoned out again, stomach growling audibly in the quiet kitchen.
It wasn't hard to put the puzzle together, especially since Shego now had most of the pieces in her grasp. But, she had to be sure, even if that meant going out on a crazy limb. "Kim, I've seen you cook. You would have been trying to eat bits of charcoal by the time you were through with making hamburgers, let alone a steak," she prodded.
Kim seemed to be following along, "Probably," she acceded the point. "I feel kinda bad about it, but you have no idea how hungry I've been," she leaned closer on the stool again, "I couldn't have tried to cook it anyway, as soon as I pulled it out of the microwave from thawing, all I could do was smell it, Shego. I didn't even realize what was going on until I was left staring at an empty package," Kim sat back, trying not to think about how scent of the raw steak had overpowered her, how she almost hadn't bothered tearing through the plastic wrap to get at it.
"Kimmie, why are you here," the noirette wasn't wholly sure she wanted to know what was going on in Kim's head. This was the last thing she'd expected, on finding the comatose redhead.
"I had Wade track you down," Kim gulped down more water. It was helping less and less, she absently noted.
"Like I couldn't have figured that out," Shego snorted, privately not liking the way Kimmie kept wiping at her lips. Absently licking them. Neither of them were at the top of their game, but Shego was more confident of her own ability to best the younger woman. If it came down to that.
"Once I figured out what was wrong, how could I not come here," the redhead rubbed sweat from her brow, staring at Shego feverishly. "I wanted to blame you, at first. Back then, when I came too enough to realize what you were doing. To both of us," Kim turned red-rimmed eyes to the glass she was holding. "All I could think of was all the people I would be letting down if I died. Of what they might say," the glass rotated in her fingers. "If it would have been better had you let me sleep, better than this," Kim set the glass on the edge of the counter. "I don't know why it took me so long to figure out the sitch."
Shego nearly shied back from the intensity in Kim's stare.
"I mean, I'm suffering pointlessly, when you were here in Upperton all this time," she made a grab for the counter when another tremor seized her, much shorter this time. Flushed and beginning to drip sweat, Kim let out a ragged breath. "Why are you torturing me like this, Shego? Getting your last evil kick in?"
"No, I…it isn't like that. We talked about this. Look, there's plenty of brainy people you and I both know, that can help you. You're sick, and it's not too late to find out how to fix it," Shego got up from her stool. "I'll take you wherever you think is best. Get a hold of your dial-a-nerd, and I'm sure we can come up with a plan, if you don't want your parents in on it." That's the last think I need right now, she thought.
"Shut up, Shego." Kim staggered off her seat, taking half a step toward the pale woman. "I could smell you the second I got into the building. It's killing me, and I can't sit around anymore with this hole swallowing my insides. I don't want this in me," she ground out, clenching her fists. "I came here, because I had to get out of the house."
It suddenly clicked in Shego's head why Kimmie eyes were so blood shot. It wasn't because of whatever was wrong with her. The teen had probably been crying the entire trip from her home all the way here.
"I had to go, because mom started smelling like that steak. I can't let that happen. But, I know how to make it go away," the resolve that Shego encountered every time the two of them had met in combat, was etched in Kim's face.
"Is that what you think, Kimmie," she weighed her options, and knocking the girl unconscious was the best bet. After all, the redhead was right in one thing. Hadn't she been tortured enough? "I'll get you help, I promise," she flexed her hands and the kitchen lit up in a flickering green. "I can't give you anything else." Shego raised her hands, the muted thump of plasma igniting echoed in the confines of the apartment. The power came as easily as it ever had, despite nearly a month of neglect. Unlike the single-minded concentration it took the pale woman to heal herself, this was as natural as breathing.
Almost within striking distance, the redheaded teen reached back and pulled the stool around between herself and that flickering light. She continued to stare at the older woman, muscles beginning to tremble in anticipation. "That's where you're wrong, Shego," there was a glint in her eye that faded, melting into a well of despair as a few tears trailed down her cheeks. "I, I thought I could do this on my own. I tried so hard. I knew if I could get here, it would be okay. I'm a hero, this is nothing," she yelled the last, slamming the wooden stool down hard enough to crack one of the legs. Kim leaned over the lopsided stool, heaving deep breaths, sweaty hair flung down, covering her face. "It's nothing," the words came out weakly.
Shego took a step forward, this was probably the best chance she was going to have to put Kimmie down without a fuss. She was used to Drakken's mood swings, and the occasional tantrum, but a teenage girl going into meltdown wasn't something she was used to seeing from the other side of the glass. Slowly, she reached out to put a hand to the side of Kim's head, it would be quick and she could quietly get the girl the professional help that she needed.
"How am I supposed to go home? I can't…I can't look at them."
The naked glow paused inches from contact. "You didn't do anything wrong. I told you, we'll get you back to normal."
Kim's shoulders started to hitch, and Shego drew back slightly, not wanting to get puked on. But, the sound in the back of the redhead's throat wasn't gorge working its way up. It was a wet chortle. Desperate laughter, more worrisome than the fragile tears of a moment ago.
"Didn't do anything…," Kim choked out between gasps of laughter that died away. She raised her head, staring past Shego through a curtain of sweat streaked red. Lifting her hands up, fingers splayed, Kim turned her eyes down at them. "It's not just mom, or the tweebs. Don't you get it, Shego…it's all of them. Everyone. Don't you know how far it is from my house? How long it took me to get here!"
Shit, Shego thought about it. There's no way she wouldn't have noticed Kim's ugly ass ride parked anywhere close to the apartment. Didn't she normally hitch rides? The redhead hadn't taken a Taxi, not without cash. She'd gone through Kim's clothes out of habit, before trashing them, soiled but not so much as a piece of pocket lint. All that bloo-- She'd been too preoccupied with the possibility of injury, that it hadn't occurred to her that the stains all over Kim's cloths might not have all belonged to her in the first place. The t-shirt had been drenched for fuck's sake, "W-what did you do, Kimmie?"
"He was already...bleeding. It was warm, I...I don't remember," Kim brushed the hair out of her eyes, lowering her hands. Her face was flushed, and now her gaze was fixed unerringly on Shego, moving from green eyes, down full curves and coming to, lingering on the raven-haired woman's right hip. Her nostrils flared, and she looked back up to see comprehension slowly dawning on Shego. "You started this, and you can end it. I know, I can feel it right here," Kim put a hand on her stomach. "I can smell it," her nostrils flared longer this time. "Damn it, Shego," she shouted, knocking the stool over without a glance, "I can still taste you!"
The glow around the thief's hands sputtered out at the sickening revelation. "Kim, I--," it was all she had time to say before the redhead was on her, slamming them both hard against the island countertop, Shego mashed backward at a painful angle. As she grappled with Kim, her injured hip jammed against one of the drawer handles, sending a wave of fresh pain that she struggled to ignore, in favor of fending of Kim's grasping hands. The redhead wasn't even trying to strike any debilitating blows, Shego found. It was more like the girl was looking to pin the thief's arms, keep them at bay. Doy, she thought, wanting to kick herself for letting her guard down in the first place. Her hands lit back up.
But, the redhead didn't let up in the face of the roiling plasma, reaching in instead to grab hold of Shego's wrists, with strength that surprised the older woman. So she turned up the heat. "I'm not letting you do this, Princess," she grit out when Kim's grip didn't slacken in the least. "It's not too late."
The struggle reached the end of the island and the two women rolled off, hitting the floor.
"Shego," Kim grunted, taking a knee in the ribs as she fought to get a better position. "You're the one who doesn't understand what you did. It is too late," her expression lost some of the manic energy that had been flushing it. "Look," she commanded as she secured her position, pinning the glowing hands to the side of Shego's head. “Look at what you did," Kim gripped harder, her own hands fully immersed in the energies that began to gutter out as the pale woman understood what she was being shown. The green light died out, and Kim's skin wasn't even the tiniest bit irritated.
"How? There's no way you could have known," Shego stared hard at the girl sitting on her chest. Kim's grip was solid, and maybe stronger than her own, but Shego was certain she could get out. She'd been trying to rely on her plasma, and not enough on the edge that her skill gave her over the teen. Since when was Kim immune to comet powers, she questioned herself, trying to think of the most recent clashes. She'd knocked the redhead for a loop back in the cave, with a blast. Yeah, right before a week long buffet at Chez Shego, the pale woman reminded herself. But, the doctor's hadn't found anything wrong with Kimmie, another voice piped up in the back of her mind. Other than saying the girl was in impossibly good shape for weathering such an ordeal, the voice continued. And neither of us exactly volunteered the truth, did we.
"I told you already, I can feel you. Your power, or whatever. It's a heat…makes the hunger ease off, enough that I can think clearer. It doesn't bother me because you already stuffed me full of it, bit by bit." Kim leaned down, almost touching foreheads with Shego. "See, I'm feeling better already."
Something warm and wet landed on Shego's cheek, but she couldn't reach up to wipe it off. A low rumble that sounded like it was a tiny engine, unmistakably came from Kim's stomach.
"Sorry, you're making me hungry," Kim breathed, sitting back up.
Shego balked at the string of saliva that swung from the bottom of Kimmie's lip, down to the warm spot on the pale woman's cheek. Oh, gross…she's drooling on me. "You're going to have to let go sometime, Pumpkin."
Kim only grinned, and the string of saliva broke. "No big…if I knock you out first," the teen reared her head back.
"You've gotta be shit--"
Outside the window, the sun was smiling down brightly over the slice of Americana that was proud to call itself the hometown of Kimberly Ann Possible, teen hero and self-professed girl who could do anything. Ask anyone that lived there, and they would proudly admit they knew someone…who knew someone, whose life had been touched by the redheaded hero. More than half would claim it had happened to them directly. Lives had been saved, changed, and bettered by the hands of one young woman, and sometimes the bumbling good-natured blond boy that made up the other half of Team Possible. Intentionally or not, Kim had placed herself on a very high pedestal, and all it took was one tiny push to fall.
And she was falling so very fast.
Luckily, a pale forehead was rushing up to catch her…
There was a meaty thwack and the redhead rolled backwards, clutching her face, hot wetness streaming down between her fingers. "My nobse…," she still managed to turn the flailing roll into a neat tumble, coming to a stop in a guarded crouch. Taking one hand away, Kim pinched at the shattered cartilage as hard as she could stand to stem the flow. Getting to her feet, she held out her free hand to ward off the raven haired woman in the middle of kip upping from the floor.
Shego wasn't smiling, didn't feel like gloating. She just felt sick inside, like the teen had jabbed a knife in her gut and was wiggling it around for good measure. With her plasma useless, things were taking an ugly turn. Shego had beat Kim to the punch, catching her dead center in the bridge of the nose, with a preemptive head butt of her own, and it hadn't even stunned the girl. She did look pretty angry though, Shego had to admit, rubbing the sore spot on her own forehead. But damn that stung. "Back off, Princess. I'm not some damn drive through. You can't get it your way." Ugh, maybe they could call a time out so she could get some aspirin.
"Shgo," Kim spat out a thick gob of blood that was running down the back of her throat. The coppery taste that filled her mouth wasn't the same, not at all. She might as well have been comparing the taste of cold canned tuna to wood grilled Mahi Mahi. Yes, they were both fish, but it was all about the quality, and the preparation that went into it. "It's you, or someone else," the blood was already slowing to a weak trickle. She could feel the swelling going down already and the cracked cartilage realigning. "They don't have what you do," she let go of her nose, wiping away the clotted blood. "They can't…come back like you can. Your's is a gift that keeps giving. You do have more to give. We both know you always will."
"Kimmie," Shego stood up taller, ready to try and take Kim down. Ignore what Kim was proposing. Because if she listened it might start to make sense. That wasn't a way she could help Kim, not again. This wasn't like before. There were other options, other people that could do for Kim…who could undo what Shego had done. That was real, it was human. Shego didn't need to be on both sides of the hero/villain line to see that Kim wasn't in her right mind. "We both know I can't let you do this. It's not survival…it's just sick."
"It's sick," Kim's voice was very quiet. "You think it's sick, after what you did. You…," her tone steadily rose.
"I didn't have a choice, you were dying," Shego matched the redhead for volume.
"You had a choice and you made it. You didn't ask me! I didn't even know what was going on," Kim trembled, the muscles in her arms bunching up even through the sweats she was wearing. "I was the one that didn't have a choice…who gave you the right…who," Kim punctuated her statement with a sharp kick that dented the refrigerator door, caving it partway in. "But, we can't change that. Help me make this not a bad thing. I can still beat it, but only with you."
Shego stared at Kim, then stared at the fridge. It was a stainless steel door. Just what the heck is going on inside Kimmie. That sick feeling doubled with a vengeance. "We talked about this…you even told me it was okay, because even that was better than dying. You're making it sound like I enjoyed carving myself up like a fucking turkey! Like it was some kind of revenge, as if I could have planned it out," this was the last thing Shego wanted, to be picking at wounds that weren't even scabbed over yet. The nightmares didn't help, and now this. Anything was better than this. Kim promised they wouldn't bring it up, ever.
Now, she was raking Shego over the coals, jamming splinters of wood under the thief's nails. Maybe Kim was right to do it, and that thought worried at Shego, worming under her skin, crawled through her veins, made her hip throb. What was a pound of flesh worth anyway. Surely not this. Not this.
"I can't do it," Shego deflated at last, dropping her stance.
"Do what," Kim uncoiled, wondering if the thief was finally giving in to sense. The teen wasn't lying when she told the other woman how she felt. This really was the best way. She could still be a hero, and more, she realized, glancing at the damage she'd caused in her anger. Shego had given her a gift, something more than either of the two had realized at the time. She had to look at it that way, had to see the blessing beneath the curse. If she didn't, she would only continue to see the fear and loathing that followed her reflection in the mirror. A real hero couldn't afford to hate herself. She could only accept and move forward. It was a sure feeling that settled the roiling in her gut, but sharpened the hunger. The beast was knocking at the door, and Kim…no, a Hero was strong enough to answer.
"What, Shego," Kim asked a second time, calmer, more…in control of herself. Just being in the same room as the comet-powered woman was steadily easing the suffocating feeling that had been hanging over her like a shroud the past week. Already, the horrible night had passed, barely more than a whisper now in the back of her mind. There was no room for anything else right now, her focus completely taken by Shego's presence. "Tell me, what can't you do? Just tell me, and I'll do it," the redhead moved across the carpet, sidling up to the taller woman. "That's just how it works. I help you, and you," Kim leaned in closer, tilting her head to get the thief to look at her, "help me."
Shego kept her hands clenched at her sides, refusing to acknowledge the teen. Kim was right, all of this was her fault and she'd been stewing in her own guilt for three straight weeks. As if the nightmares weren't enough, and the dull burning pain in her leg wasn't a reminder of what she'd done. This Kim didn't want to forget. Those trembling tear-streaked eyes were offering not forgiveness, but the return of a terrible dream.
As if summoned, Shego's fist unfolded, pressing faintly against the heat radiating from her hip, the raw ache that had been plaguing her, robbing her of sleep. Her hand came away warm and sticky, her palm glistening with a red sheen. It must've been when I hit the cabinet, she realized with a slow glance downward. Sure enough, a dark blotch was growing down the side of her slacks. A sharp intake of breath against her shoulder broke the momentary daze.
"I'll take that as a yes," Kim snaked around behind the taller woman, snagging the wrist of her bloody hand with one arm, and reaching up with the other to tilt Shego's head back and to the side, intent on breaking her balance.
"Wait, what," Shego blustered, twisting to try and reverse the hold, but Kim pulled hard, letting herself fall backwards, sending them both tumbling, a tangle of limbs on the couch.
Shego found herself on her side, one of Kim's legs wrapped around her waist, and the grip on her neck tight, just short of cutting off her air. The angle she was bent back at killed what little leverage she might have had, and Kim still had a grip on her arm, holding it twisted up behind Shego's head. For a moment, she had a free hand and lit it up, recalling too late that the most it would do was ruin the upholstery. Then the arm cranking her neck tightened. Snuffing the glow out, she wedged her hand up between the crook of Kim's elbow and her own throat, passing out right now was the last thing she wanted. "Kimmie," she gritted out, "Kim, let…go!"
The ex-villain rocked hard to the side, trying to pull them both off the couch, anything to break the iron hold Kim seemed to possess. All it served to do was unpin the cheerleader's right leg, which snapped free and scissor around, cementing Kim's hold. It was getting harder to breath with a pair of what felt like steel bands, constricting on her sides. To add insult to injury, the hand that Kim had captured was getting a different kind of attention. A soft wetness played across her palm, sliding around her fingers, lingering for a moment then darting away. Shego tried to close her hand, but insistent pressure twisting against her wrist and side of her thumb kept it a futile gesture.
There was a faint tink as Shego's manicured nails clicked against a harder surface. Teeth, her mind supplied drunkenly as the blood to her head thinned. The warmth returned, along with a gentle but insistent pressure, sliding erratically over her palm. Kim's licking up the blood, she realized as her vision clouded.
"Shego," a whisper tickled at the edges of her waking, begging to be let in. "Shego," a little more insistent, almost recognizable. "This isn't nap time green bean, you're sucking all the fun out."
The unfamiliar name brought a crinkle to her brow, and cracking open an blurry eye invited only a headache inducing glare from beyond the edge of Shego's awareness. Shapes and blurs of color slowly resolved into things she could place, a forest green lampshade, a picture on the wall that she'd lifted from a London art gallery three years ago. The pony tailed redhead sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at her. Kim, what the hell is Kimmie…oh, right, Shego rubbed at her throbbing temples. It all came rushing back, a little sketchy, but mostly there. Finding the teen passed out on the bathroom floor, the mess, the kitchen…the bleeding. Kim.
Still marshalling her thoughts, Shego sat up, thumping her back against the headboard.
"I didn't think you would just conk out like that, guess I don't know my own strength anymore, huh," Kim gaze wandered around the room, eventually drifting back to Shego. She was obviously waiting for something, but exactly what, the comet-powered woman wasn't sure. The teen's focus seemed to slide lower as Shego racked her brain, trying to decide what she was supposed to do about this craziness.
"What have you been doing, Shego," Kim asked, scooting herself across the sheets, until she was brushing against the other woman's feet.
"I don't…what are you talking about? I should be asking you that, Princess," she was all set to keep going, when Kim put a hand on her leg. Light pink on a long expanse of green. "Kimmie, where'd my pants go?" Shego looked down and found Kim had almost completely undressed her, leaving her in a half-buttoned dress shirt and panties. The feeling of wrongness increased, compounded by the feathery touch against her skin. Shego was far from uncomfortable in her own skin, quite the opposite, most of the time. Hell, she'd spent almost two weeks stark naked not ten feet from this very same girl. Of course, said girl had been borderline delusional almost the entire time. But, right now…she felt, exposed.
"I'm talking about this," Kim slid her hand all the way up Shego's thigh, stopping to touch the edge of an oval gash. Puffed up around the edges with thick scar tissue, the wound was about the same size as the hand brushing against it, an angry weeping valley of red out of place on an otherwise blemish free green that seemed to stretch forever. There was a faint hint of concern in that voice, mingled with curiosity.
But, it was the expression on the redhead's face that Shego was focused on, that, and the slender fingers that were beginning to trace an ever-shrinking circle around the raw wound. She knew full well what Kim was asking, it was obvious after all, especially after Kim's own little display in the kitchen. There was no way Shego's injuries would take this long to heal. The presence of any kind of recent scar, a mystery waiting to be unraveled.
Of course, that wasn't all that was on Kim Possible's mind just then. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue, Shego," she slid closer, leaning across the bed to bring herself even closer.
Warm breath against her skin distracted the thief even as she was working on an answer, and a plan.
"What've you been doing, hmm," Kim slid herself closer, until she was almost mashing Shego against the headboard. Her fingers slid completely across the weeping gash, drawing a sharp hiss from the woman the redhead was nearly straddling. She held her hand up so they could both see it, glistening with a crimson sheen. "Why," the word came out hardly more than a whisper.
The pale woman didn't have a ready answer, at least not one that she was willing to admit aloud. It was, complicated, all twisted around in her head. It hadn't even been a conscious act, not in the beginning. Nightmares that woke her, thinking she was still in that damned cave, only to find blood-stained sheets instead. A small thing that quickly spilled into her waking life when she wasn't paying close attention. Idle hands that scratched, little by little. Penance by the drop. "Does it really matter," she said at length.
Kim dropped her hand, "You tell me," her fingers found their way back, pressing insistently against the wound until blood began to well up. "Tell me something, that can make this go away," her voice strained and she dipped her head, ignoring the pain that flickered across Shego's face. Spreading her fingers, Kim lowered her face until her lips brushed against the pooling crimson. Her tongue slid across in one broad stroke, drawing most of it in. This close, it was like drowning in a taste her entire body trembled for.
Shego grit her teeth as the wound throbbed anew under the redhead's attention. It didn't last, as Kim stopped probing with her fingers to make room for her mouth. Kim's tongue slid across her in languid strokes that missed nothing, slow but insistent. The constant hot pressure gradually numbed the ache, turned it into a lesser thing, a memory of pain. This was nothing, compared to what she'd done herself.
The feeling welling up in her chest was thicker, heavier than the blood being coerced from her skin, yet raw, just the same. Even if she had to own up to her past, something that she understood needed to be done, it had to be on her own terms. "I can't, Kimmie," her breath caught just a moment when the redhead paused, looking up at Shego from between a curtain of red.
There was no sign of the earlier questioning gaze, no trace of the Kimmie she'd found covered in her own sick. Hunger. Craving. The thing that had been peeking out from behind the redhead's eyes all night was awake and staring right at Shego with a need so thick it choked at the pale woman. Kimmie was not at home, and that thought snapped Shego out of whatever self-pitying stupor she'd been lulled into. Not that it changed the situation.
If anything, she was still quite aware of the drubbing she'd been handed out in the living room, and wasn't exactly in a hurry for a rematch, especially one that would in all likelihood end up wrecking her apartment. However, the alternatives weren't much better. Furiously, her mind began to race, as she weighed the options. All thoughts of fight or flight burst apart as Kim's teeth suddenly pierced the wound she'd been working on, that alien gaze still locked with Shego's own.
There was nothing tender in that bite, and as the redhead clamped down, digging deeper, her tongue stabbed and prodded, as if she were searching for something.
"Kimmie," the pale woman grit out through clenched teeth, "let go," she punctuated the command by lighting up a fist, heedless of the collateral damage.
For her part, Kim didn't so much as glance at the energy flaring up less than a foot away. If anything her mouth tightened perceptibly more, along with a subtle pressure as she slurped at the now freely flowing blood.
"I said let—go!" It was all the warning Shego gave before her fist connected with the edge of Kim's jaw, the glow snuffing out just before contact was made. She knew it was a solid hit from the way Kimmie's head snapped back, though the blood that splashed crimson on the wall was undoubtedly her own. Solid or not, the girl atop her didn't so much as budge.
Slowly turning her head back to face Shego, Kim's expression barely wavered from the moment before, though a few strands of hair had whipped around, leaving a sole green eye to stare fixedly up at her. "Feeling better now?"
The offhand way Kim said it wasn't quite what the ex-thief was expecting, but the whole situation was so screwed up at this point, it didn't wholly surprise her. The only question was, if that didn't work, what the hell was she supposed to do now? Whatever was changing in the redhead, was only growing stronger. She hadn't been pulling her punch, aside from not wanting to fry Kim on the spot.
"Well," Kim questioned, focusing the single eye on the green tinged face above her. When Shego didn't look as if she would respond immediately, the redhead seemed to shrug to herself, glancing back down at the freshly oozing wound she'd been exploring. The renewed sight of the torn flesh tugged at something in her core that surged, struggling to bubble to the surface. It left her mouth wet, sent her stomach knotting. Almost too much at once, an emptiness that needed filling.
Whatever tenuous hold the redhead had over her sanity, her sense of self, was snuffed out by the scent of the glistening wound. Restrained hunger burst outward from her core, swelling upward to flood out the thoughts in her head, leaving nothing but a raw ache.
The noirette was all too conscious of the sudden change in expression flowing across Kim's face. The way her lips contorted from thinly veiled threat into a feral grin. Sharp focus that had only seconds before shone brightly behind green eyes, was gone, leaving only the vaguest of after-images. None of which inspired confidence in the trapped thief. Shit shit shit, her mind raced, coming up blank.
"Kim?" Shego ventured, already knowing the answer in her gut. It wasn't the hero she'd come to know, living behind those eyes at the moment. "I'm so sorry," the trapped woman breathed out, feeling as the glow sprang up around her free hand. "I just hope you can forgive me," she closed her eyes to the manic smile, blind as it was to the flare of power that rushed to meet it head on. Some things simply hurt too much, far beyond the dull ache that blossomed in her fist as bone met bone. There was a dull thump. Heat that exploded. The world lit up pink through her eyelids. A once familiar weight, now made strange as it took flight from atop her. Worse was the acrid smell of burnt hair. None of which she chose to witness.
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No Such Things as Monsters