Remember me

Shego smirked with a sharp grin as she launched an aerial attack toward Kim.

"Tired, princess? We're just getting started."

Kim dodged the blow with agility, her eyes flashing with defiance.

"Of course not! You know I have more energy than you."

"You wish!" Shego growled just as an explosion echoed in the distance. Her expression brightened with a sarcastic smile as she noticed the chaos behind her. "Oh, look at that, Pumpkin, saved by the boom."

Kim grinned just as intensely, never missing the opportunity to counterattack.

"You are. Me, on the other hand, I'm about to beat you."

She launched a rapid combination of strikes that Shego barely managed to dodge.

"Again..." Kim added with a half-smile, challenging her to continue.

Shego was about to respond when a desperate scream interrupted their fight. Drakken was approaching at full speed on his hovercraft.

"SHEGOOOOOOOO!"

Shego sighed with feigned resignation and raised two fingers to her forehead in a mocking salute.

"That's my cue. See you soon, Kimmie."

She winked just as Drakken picked her up mid-flight.

"Now what happened?" she asked in her characteristic bored tone.

"We were sabotaged, Shego! This time it wasn't my fault, and I don't think it was the buffoon's either. Someone programmed one of my controls to activate explosives I didn't even know existed!"

Shego's pulse quickened.

"What do you mean, explosives that weren’t yours?"

She turned sharply to look at the lair they were leaving behind. Clouds of dust and smoke were rising from the ground.

"I don't know, Shego! I don’t know!" Drakken responded, increasing the speed.

"Turn around!" Shego ordered, shoving him out of the seat and taking the controls.

"Shego! Why do you want to go back?! We need to get out of here as soon as possible!"

Drakken’s shouting became irrelevant. Shego’s mind was occupied by a single image: a certain redhead she couldn’t spot amidst the disaster. With her heart pounding, she raised her binoculars and scanned the chaos, floating as close as possible without risking the ship.

"Come on, princess… come out already," she murmured desperately.

"What are you talking about, Shego? Why do you care what happens to that brat? Let’s get out of here!"

Drakken tried to take the controls again, but Shego shoved him away violently. The look she gave him was enough to make the scientist shrink into his seat, opting for silence.

A minute later, another explosion shook the ground, and the lair collapsed in on itself. Shego's heart stopped for a second before a guttural scream escaped her throat.

"KIM!"

Without thinking, she jumped off the hovercraft.

She rolled upon impact to cushion the fall and ran toward the ruins without stopping, without worrying about the explosions still rumbling, without noticing the smoke choking her. Only one thing mattered: finding Kim.

"KIM!" she shouted over and over.

Silence was her only answer.

The dense smoke made visibility difficult, increasing her desperation. She tripped several times over the debris, but she didn’t stop. Her torn gloves left her skin exposed to cuts and scratches as she dug through the wreckage of the lair.

After what felt like an eternity, she stumbled upon something soft. She turned quickly, her heart racing even faster as she recognized the figure on the ground.

"Ron…" she whispered in disbelief.

She knelt beside him, and her horror grew when she saw the large bloodstain around him. A piece of metal protruded from his abdomen. Shego shook his face urgently.

"Ron! Ron!" she called, but there was no response.

She pressed her fingers to his jugular, then to his wrist, then leaned her ear against his chest. Nothing. There was nothing.

Ron was dead.

A scream got caught in her throat. Despair consumed her entirely. She forced herself to swallow her anguish and stood up again.

"KIM!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She couldn’t leave Ron there, but she had to find her.

She ran in circles, expanding her search radius, convinced Kim had to be nearby. And then she saw her. A tuft of red hair stuck out from under a beam.

"No… no…" she whispered as she rushed toward her.

Upon reaching her, tears welled in her eyes as she saw blood on Kim’s head. But the beam had also protected her body from further debris. With extreme care, Shego removed the wreckage and placed her fingers on Kim’s neck.

There was a pulse. Weak, but there.

For the first time, Shego felt like she could breathe.

In the distance, sirens and helicopters announced the arrival of emergency forces, there was no time to waste. She hoisted Kim over her shoulder and grabbed Ron's body with the other.

She found a hovercraft in decent condition and loaded them onto it with as much care as possible. She couldn’t leave Ron behind.

With one last glance at the destroyed lair, she started the craft and sped away.

"Hold on, princess…" she whispered as she accelerated, determined not to let Kim meet the same fate as Ron.

—

Shego jerked awake with a gasp, her breathing ragged, heart hammering against her ribs. For a disorienting moment, she was still there—amidst the smoke, the blood, the wreckage. The weight of Ron’s lifeless body lingered in her arms, the acrid stench of burning metal clogging her throat.

Then, a voice—gentle but firm, cutting through the haze of panic.

“Shego… relax, you're safe.”

Safe.

She blinked rapidly, her vision struggling to focus as the lingering ghosts of her nightmare gave way to stark fluorescent lights. The scent of antiseptic replaced the phantom smoke, the crisp coolness of hospital sheets grounding her to the present. But her body still trembled, her fingers curled as if still gripping debris.

"Mom?" she croaked, her voice raw.

Ann Possible gave her a small, sad smile.

"Hello, dear."

Shego tried to sit up, but the sharp tug of wires restrained her. Her pulse spiked, setting off a cascade of beeping monitors that felt almost as deafening as the explosions in her mind.

"Where's Kim?!" she demanded, panic surging anew as she clawed at the IVs.

"Shego, calm down," Ann urged. "Kim is fine. Nothing has happened."

The words should have soothed her, but they didn’t.

"If she’s fine, why am I not with her?" Her chest tightened, breath coming too fast, too shallow. She barely registered the nurses rushing in, barely felt the hands trying to still her movements.

"Shego, if you don’t calm down, I’ll have to sedate you," Ann warned, regret lacing her tone.

"NO!" Shego’s plea cracked. "Please, no! I need to see Kim!"

A sharp sting.

Then, a familiar pull—heavy, inescapable. Drowsiness wrapped around her like iron chains, dragging her back into the dark.

The moment her consciousness slipped, the nightmare swallowed her whole.

BOOM.

The explosion ripped through the lair again, heat licking at her skin, the force sending her stumbling back. Smoke curled around her like grasping fingers, choking her lungs.

"KIM!"

She ran, feet slipping on debris, her palms slick with blood—Ron’s blood. She tripped, fell, scrambled forward. Her breath came in ragged sobs as her fingers tore at the wreckage, nails breaking, skin splitting, hands shaking—

Another explosion. The ground caved beneath her.

BOOM.

She jolted awake with a strangled gasp.

For a moment, the dream clung to her, the phantom scent of blood and smoke thick in her nostrils. Her hands still shook, fingers curled into the sheets as if she were still clawing through debris. She had to remind herself—here, the air was clean. Here, the ground was solid.

A warm pressure on her arm. A voice. Familiar. Steady.

"Relax, you're safe. Kim is safe."

She turned her head sluggishly, breath still unsteady, and found Ann Possible watching her with quiet concern.

"How long?" Shego rasped.

"Two days."

Shego's stomach twisted.

Two days.

She pushed herself up, but her body felt heavy, sluggish. "No. Too long…" she muttered, yanking at the IVs.

Ann sighed. "You need to rest."

Shego gritted her teeth.

"I need to be with Kim."

“She hasn’t been alone for a single moment. You need to take care of yourself. You can’t help her if you don’t recover.”

Shego sighed, exhausted. She lowered her gaze before murmuring with vulnerability:
“I don’t want to sleep anymore. I don’t want to remember…”

She lifted her eyes, her gaze shimmering with unshed tears.
“Mom… all of this is my fault.”

Ann watched her with sadness.
“Shego, why would you say that?”

“If I had left Drakken earlier, like Kim wanted, none of this would have happened.”

Ann shook her head.
“That doesn’t make what happened your fault.”

Shego didn’t seem convinced, but she didn’t want to keep arguing.
“I just want to be with Kim.”

Ann nodded.
“I’ll arrange for you to be transferred to her room, but you’ll remain under treatment.”

“I don’t want to be sedated again.”

“They won’t sedate you, but you need to sleep.”

“I don’t want to.”

Ann realized that insisting was pointless. She stepped aside and let Shego make her way toward Kim’s room.

—

Two days later, Shego lay on her hospital bed, positioned as close to Kim’s as possible, watching her profile in the dim light.

"Kim, can you hear me?" she whispered, gently caressing her cheek. She ran the tip of her fingers down Kim’s neck, along her arm, until she finally intertwined their hands.

"You know… I was about to propose to you. I had everything planned. Would you have said yes?"

"What did you just say?" Ann's voice startled her.

Shego turned slowly toward the doctor.

"Nothing."

"You said you wanted to propose to Kimmie?" Ann asked, eyes wide in surprise.

Shego held her gaze for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. I’ve had the ring for months. That was supposed to be our last mission. After that, I was going to bring you all together and ask for your blessing."

Ann stepped closer, placing a gentle hand on Shego’s leg.

"Shego… I would have given you my blessing gladly."

Shego averted her gaze, swallowing hard.

"Thank you… Mom."

The word slipped out before she could stop it. She froze, holding her breath.

"Shego, what’s wrong?" Ann asked, concerned.

But Shego didn’t respond. Her eyes were locked onto Kim’s hand.

A faint squeeze.

For the third time in seconds, she felt a weak but unmistakable movement.

"Princess…" she whispered, kneeling on the bed. Her heart pounded as she leaned closer. "Can you hear me? I felt you, Princess. Please, wake up."

Ann rushed to the other side of her daughter’s bed. Kim's eyelashes fluttered, her unfocused gaze roaming the room. Shego gripped her hand tighter.

"How do you feel, Princess?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Kim tried to speak, but only a raspy murmur escaped. Ann quickly brought a glass of water with a straw.

"Take it easy, sweetheart," her mother whispered.

Kim took a few sips before trying again.

"What… what happened?" Her voice was hoarse and weak.

Shego let out a shaky smile.

"You had an accident… but you're safe."

Kim frowned, blinking in confusion before turning to Shego with a look that sent a cold shiver down her spine.

"Why are you here?"

Shego stiffened.

"What do you mean, why? I'm taking care of you, obviously."

But Kim’s expression hardened.

"Since when do you care what happens to me?" she asked, her brows furrowing.

Shego felt a lump in her throat.

"Kim… what do you remember?"

"I remember that you’re my enemy." Kim’s voice was cold, distrustful. "What are you up to?"

Shego’s stomach dropped. Her breathing became erratic.

"Kim… we’re not enemies."

The redhead gave her a skeptical look.

"Please don’t tell me you’ve turned into a hero now. I’m not buying it."

Shego turned her face away, her mind spiraling between desperation and heartache.

Ann, who had been watching in silence, placed a supportive hand on Shego’s shoulder, squeezing gently.

"Kim, there’s something important you don’t remember," Ann began softly.

"What is it?" Kim demanded, struggling to cross her arms despite her weakness.

Shego swallowed hard, inhaling deeply before murmuring with a voice barely above a whisper:

"We were more than rivals, Kim. We were… we are… a couple."

Kim’s eyes widened in shock and confusion.

"What?"

The silence that followed was suffocating.