Line #71 Fanfic/AloneTogether


1	''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2949422/1/bAlone_b_bTogether_b Alone, Together]]'' by [=Failte200=] is a ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' {{fanfiction}} that takes an unusually detailed and realistic (for the franchise) approach to how [[ActionGirl main character]] and one of her [[DarkActionGirl main antagonists]] might develop a relationship.
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3	The story begins with Kim and Shego fighting in one of Drakken's lairs, as they often do. But things soon go awry as they accidentally activate his latest device, a dimensional portal that sends them to an alternate universe that looks normal until [[UnexpectedlyAbandoned they discover that all the people have vanished]]. Over the course of the next twenty-one years, Kim teaches herself math to find a way back home, while Shego studies medicine to keep both of them alive in this strange new world. Over time, they fall in love. But that's only the first half.
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5	Then they return to their own universe, [[ResetButton restored to their original ages with no memory of the experience]], to discover that [[NarniaTime they've been gone for thirteen days]]. They seem completely unaffected... until each of them experiences odd little shifts in behavior, skills they didn't know before and don't remember learning, and finally flashback memories of Other World experiences. As they realize the connection to the accident, they seek each other out to compare notes, begin re-establishing a friendship, and ultimately fall in love all over again.
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7	It can be found at [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/3099050/chapters/6714170 here]] on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn or [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2949422/1/bAlone_b_bTogether_b here]] at Website/FanFictionDotNet.
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9	(No relation to Steven A. Gallacci's webcomic [[Webcomic/AloneTogether "Alone Together"]]. And neither are related to the episode of the same name from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''.)
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11	----
12	!!Provides examples of:
13	* AboveTheInfluence: Once in the Other World, once in the home universe:
14	** [[spoiler:The evening after Kim and Shego declare their love for each other, Kim starts undressing in front of Shego, thinking that's what she wants and expects. Shego stops her, because she knows that [[LetsWaitAwhile neither of them is ready]] for that yet.]]
15	** [[spoiler:After they get home, Kim tries to push away her memories of being Shego's lover and fears of being publicly known as a lesbian by seducing Ron. He stops her, because he knows that she's not herself and thinks of her more like a sister.]]
16	* AbusiveParents: Subverted. Shego's father [[spoiler: molested her once]], then wanted nothing to do with her. Kim hypothesizes that [[spoiler: he might have wanted to forget it ever happened.]] Shego still considers what he did to be wrong, but now she regrets never trying to talk it over with him.
17	* AndAnotherThing: In order to find out why Shego turned herself in, Will Du tells her that (as she requested) her capture is being kept secret, but does need to be revealed to a few select agencies. After listing them, he "offhandedly" mentions that GJ will also be informing Team Possible. Shego's reaction gives away the fact that she wants to avoid contact with Kim, and she soon reveals the whole story.
18	* TheBeard: Ron acts as Kim's beard on her insistence to prevent media backlash about being with Shego and give her time to figure things out.
19	* BerserkButton: Shego burns down an entire (empty) city in response to seeing a magazine cover that displays an oversexualized young girl on the cover. Of course, this is because [[spoiler:her father molested her once when she was a child.]]
20	* BrickJoke: The [[VictorySex celebration]] of Kim's 30th birthday in the Other World provides both a significant plot driver (when Shego remembers it) and a punch line for the final scene (when [[LuminescentBlush Kim remembers it]]).
21	* CannotSpitItOut: In the scene on the Golden Gate Bridge, Kim nerves herself up to ask Shego if she wants to remain together if and when they return home. Shego points out that there would be complications because of her status as a wanted criminal, but says that she would. Kim initially can't bring herself to respond to that, and Shego starts running to their RV to break away from the emotionally fraught moment. Afraid that their budding relationship might fall apart, Kim yells [[TheILoveYouStigma "I LOVE YOU!"]]; after a pause to work through her own feelings, Shego returns to continue the conversation.
22	* CharacterDevelopment: Loads of it. You can actually see the maturation and changes in the characters as Kim and Shego spend over 20 years in the alternate dimension.
23	* ClosestThingWeGot: With only the two of them, Kim and Shego have to make do as best they can. The most dramatic example was when Shego has to [[spoiler:remove Kim's inflamed appendix]].
24	* CongruentMemory: Kim and Shego both start to remember what they went through in the alternate dimension when doing similar things in the real world.
25	* CountingToThree: At one point where he thinks he has Shego cornered, Will Du announces that he's coming in on the count of ten, and actually only counts to two before busting in the door and tasering what turns out to be [[DecoyGetaway a green neon sign]].
26	* {{Determinator}}: The only way home is a non-functioning interdimensional portal created by a genius MadScientist, so Kim sits down with a pile of textbooks to learn enough physics to understand it and the skills to repair it, despite knowing the size of the task. Once she learns all she can from her textbooks, she goes on a cross-country trip with Shego to go find more advanced textbooks at universities and science labs.
27	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Shego [[BungledSuicide tries]] to hang herself after Kim is lost and apparently dead in the St. Louis earthquake.]]
28	** She also considers it when [[spoiler:Kim is caught in a cave-in and presumed dead on her first post-incident mission. Will Du talks her out of it.]]
29	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Boy, do they ever!
30	* EasyAmnesia: Kim and Shego sure do forget their time in the alternate dimension easy, huh? [[spoiler: It comes back just as easy, if at a much slower rate, due to something with the moon making them remember.]]
31	* EEqualsMCHammer: Averted. Drakken's notes ''look'' meaningless to Kim at first, but the description of what Kim sees is a reasonably clear summary of what actual calculus-level math looks like to someone who doesn't understand it. She ''does'' figure it out eventually, implying that it all makes sense (at least in a Kim-Possible-universe mad-science sort of way).
32	** After Kim returns to the real world, she interrupts Drakken's plan, only to find out that [[spoiler: he's trying to ''prevent'' an earthquake]]. Things go wrong because Drakken made a basic error other than the usual "{{misplaced a decimal point}}" and "forgot to {{carry the one}}" -- he forgot to include a constant of integration, causing [[spoiler: a cave-in in which Kim gets trapped]].
33	* EmbarrassingFirstName: Shego's actual name turns out to be [[spoiler:Kimberly Anne van Gogh, mixing this with EmbarrassingMiddleName. Even after Kim is her friend and lover rather than her ArchEnemy, she is reluctant to reveal that they have the same given names.]]
34	* EnemyMine: The early stages of Kim and Shego's relationship in the Other World. [[spoiler:Also, Drakken makes a deal with Global Justice when he figures out how to recover them but needs help to actually implement his plan.]]
35	* ExpendableAlternateUniverse: Kim falls back on this concept as a way of distancing herself from increasingly disturbing realizations about her experiences in the Other World, telling herself that those things happened to another version of her, not her ''real'' self. [[spoiler:This rationalization breaks down during a phone call from Shego, who clearly sounds like the friend and lover she knew in the Other World rather than the ArchEnemy she knew in this one.]]
36	* FanSequel: Another fanfic writer wrote [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3410700/1/Fan_Epilogue_to_Alone_Together a short story]] in which Kim and Shego briefly visit the real-world farmhouse corresponding to the one where they lived in the Other World.
37	* FreudianExcuse: After thinking about her relationship with her father in light of Kim's suggestion that [[spoiler:he became aloof and distant from her because he was ashamed of the fondling incident and didn't want to be reminded of it]], Shego concludes that it was the root cause of her bad relationship with her brothers and her [[FaceHeelTurn decision to quit Team Go and become a villain]].
38	* GasolineLastsForever: Gasoline goes bad after a few months, diesel after a year or so. Even if it had been treated with a stabilizer, it would only be good for about a year (gasoline) or three (diesel). There's no way they could have had working cars and electricity for two decades in the other world.
39	* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Both Kim and Shego come close to this during their first year in the Other World. Things get better after Shego has had enough of being totally alone (see [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Screw This, I'm Outta Here]] below) and returns to Kim.
40	* TheGreatRepair: Kim has to figure out how Drakken's invention works and how to repair it to get herself and Shego home.
41	* HearingVoices: During the first year alone, Kim occasionally hears Shego's voice. When Shego actually returns, Kim initially thinks that she's now [[{{Hallucinations}} seeing things]] as well as hearing them.
42	** The same thing happens to Shego when [[spoiler:Kim is lost and apparently dead. She also initially thinks Kim's reappearance is a hallucination.]]
43	* HeelFaceTurn: Shego, as memories of her relationship with Kim in the other world start surfacing. [[spoiler:Also Drakken, when Shego's mention of the St. Louis earthquake in the Other World gives him an idea that ultimately leads him to prevent the earthquake from happening in the real world. Even if he made a mistake with his calculations, he still vastly reduced the earthquake's potential strength and saved St. Louis, which gets him the public recognition for his genius that he always craved.]]
44	* HeroicBSOD: After years of unavailing efforts, Kim burns out on her studies and spends months just going through the motions to hide it from Shego. Finally, she breaks down completely under the load of frustration and guilt. [[spoiler:Shego is completely supportive and forgiving, which enables Kim to get back on track.]]
45	* HowWeGotHere: The first half of the story is spent getting us to the events of the prologue.
46	* InnocentInnuendo: Kim sighs and murmurs in pleasure as she enjoys Shego's skill at [[spoiler:cooking]].
47	* InstantExpert: Averted. At first, the mathematics in Drakken's notes looks like [[EEqualsMCHammer gibberish]] to Kim -- it takes months before she understands any of it, and years before she begins making any real progress toward getting back home.
48	** When [[spoiler:Kim gets appendicitis]], Shego manages to quickly teach herself enough to [[spoiler:successfully operate]], but ''not'' with the painless ease typical of this trope. Afterwards, she starts seriously studying medicine in order to be better prepared next time.
49	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Will Du, especially obvious after he and Shego spend some time together. May also count as a [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting ice king]] of the non-romantic type.
50	* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: After being chased by a pack of wild dogs and finding that she couldn't throw plasma balls fast enough to keep them at bay, Shego decided that they needed to start carrying guns (despite Kim's [[DoesNotLikeGuns misgivings]]).
51	* LikeBrotherAndSister: Kim and Ron. Kim, unable to deal with the realization that she and Shego were lovers in the Other World, [[spoiler:tries to prove to herself that she's straight by seducing Ron. He stops her, partly because of this trope and partly because he can tell that something is wrong.]] Afterwards, she talks to Ron about her memories and feelings, which helps a great deal.
52	--> [[spoiler:What was this weird power Ron had to make her feel better -- about ''any''thing? Suddenly, she saw Ron in a new light -- and understood that "Best Friends for Life" ''wasn't'' a step down from "Lovers". It was only different.]]
53	* {{Lunacy}}: For some reason (never actually explained in the story) Kim and Shego experience flashbacks of events in the Other World around the time of the full moon.
54	* MayorOfAGhostTown: After she gives up waiting for rescue, Shego goes off and does what she likes, which turns out to be holing up in Cheyenne Mountain for a year living off the supplies and then [[spoiler:burning down Colorado Springs in a rage after a porn magazine cover reminds her of the time her father fondled her]].
55	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Shego gets so hot and bothered at one point that she [[spoiler: commits statutory rape before remembering that Kim is only seventeen in this dimension rather than the adult she was in the Other World.]]
56	* NarniaTime: The passage of time in the alternate universe turns out to be completely independent of the amount of time elapsed back home -- when Kim finally starts getting a handle on the physics of interdimensional travel, she says there's no telling whether they'll arrive seconds or centuries after they left. It turns out that Kim and Shego spend twenty-one years in the Other World, and return home after a thirteen-day absence.
57	** As in the case of the TropeNamer, they age to mature adulthood in the Other World and revert to their original ages upon returning.
58	** Apparently, the time elapsed in the two universes was a function of how long each one took to establish a new link -- it took twenty-one years for Kim to set up and use the beacon device on her end, but only thirteen days for Dr. Drakken and Global Justice to find and lock on to it.
59	* NoBisexuals: When Kim realizes that she's feeling definite attraction to Shego, she thinks about the possibility that she was really gay or bi all along. She thinks the difference doesn't really matter, since in either case people would label her "a lesbian" if and when she got back home.
60	* NoYouHangUpFirst: When Shego calls Kim to arrange a meeting to compare notes about their experiences, they end up doing this. Ultimately, the phone conversation continues until it's time to leave for the face-to-face meeting.
61	* OCStandIn: Will Du is less by-the-book that he was in his one canonical appearance, and is genuinely sympathetic toward Shego (above and beyond playing the [[GoodCopBadCop "good cop"]] role assigned to him by Dr. Director).
62	* OlderThanTheyLook: Kim and Shego lived for two decades in the Other World, and return home at the same physical age they were when they left.
63	* {{Paparazzi}}: Kim and Shego are caught in a passionate kiss by a horde of camera-wielding newspeople in the last chapter, [[ComingOutStory revealing Kim's secret]] and triggering her fear of how people will react. The situation seems only one more [[MediaScrum obnoxious shouted question]] away from Kim melting down in public, or the assembled media melting down under a barrage of green plasma. [[spoiler: Ron, however, manages to defuse the crisis nicely with a bit of ShamingTheMob.]]
64	* PhoneTraceRace: Shego's memory flashes from the Other World eventually drive her to call Kim to find out if she's experiencing the same thing. At first, Kim keeps her on the line, but her own memories make her increasingly uneasy until she finally tells Shego to hang up before the trace finishes. (She doesn't hang up in time, but does escape.)
65	* PragmaticAdaptation: An independent movie was made of this story, though it took a BroadStrokes approach of being about two women alone in an empty world, obviously stripping out all the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' aspects. Still, that's [[AscendedFanfic a movie based on a work of cartoon fanfiction]].
66	%%Does anyone know what movie it is?
67	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Dr. Director originally suspects that Shego is trying to [[FalselyReformedVillain pull some sort of trick]], and puts her and Kim through [[PerpSweating a probing and embarrassing interview]]. Once she's convinced of their sincerity, she helps them get together, allowing Kim to visit Shego in custody and eventually arranging for her to be released and go to work for GJ.
68	* ResetButton: Apparently played straight, then subverted. Kim and Shego return home exactly as they left, with no sign of aging or injuries from their time in the Other World. They don't even have any conscious memories of the experience... at first.
69	* RoomFullOfCrazy: Kim spends her first year in the Other World [[TheMadnessPlace obsessively spending every waking moment studying math and physics]], [[SeriouslyScruffy neglecting personal hygiene]] and [[MessOfWoe living in a mess]] of scattered books, notes, and discarded food and water containers.
70	* ScavengerWorld: Kim and Shego are able to scrounge up what they need to survive and get home from the otherwise empty world. They do run into certain limitations; most notably, Shego abandons the hovercraft because she can't maintain it.
71	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After the first few days in the Other World, Shego gives up waiting for rescue, believing [[spoiler:incorrectly]] that Drakken has written her off as an acceptable price for permanently getting rid of Kim, and goes off on her own for a year.
72	** After getting back home, she leaves Drakken, partly because memories of the Other World are making her [[HeelFaceTurn rethink her priorities]] and partly because Drakken is being uncharacteristically quiet about his plans [[spoiler:to prove his genius by preventing, rather than causing, a disaster]].
73	* SelfRestraint: After the MyGodWhatHaveIDone incident mentioned above, Shego goes to Global Justice headquarters and turns herself in, with the intent of dropping out of Kim's life while she finishes growing up. Everybody involved knows that Shego is voluntarily remaining imprisoned and [[CardboardPrison could escape anytime she wants]] [[spoiler:which she proceeds to do after hearing that Kim is missing and presumed dead]].
74	* ShownTheirWork: A lot of the interdimensional stuff is a combination of real world science and carefully disguised bullshit that's difficult to tell apart. Also, the author did some serious research for the [[RupturedAppendix appendicitis scene]], and it shows.
75	* SituationalSexuality: As the two start becoming attracted to each other, they tell themselves that it's because there is no one else available. Shego clings to this notion longer; Kim starts to suspect that she was really gay all along. The difference may be that Kim is a virgin while Shego has heterosexual experience with [[spoiler: Señor Senior Junior]].
76	* SlaveToPR: Kim is initially unwilling to acknowledge her attraction to Shego because she's afraid to face public reaction (if and when they get home) to her being a lesbian, as she's a celebrity crime fighter. Later, [[spoiler:she figures out a way to get home, but can't bring herself to use it until it becomes necessary to save Shego's life after an accident, since she believes she'd have to abandon her relationship with Shego when she returns]]. After they get home, she doesn't know how to deal with the increasingly clear memories that she and Shego were lovers in the Other World, and when all else fails tries to stay in the closet using Ron as TheBeard.
77	* SleepCute: The night before they start a long road trip, Kim and Shego are both overcome by memories -- Kim accepting that Ron has moved on by now, Shego feeling that her old life was empty and meaningless. They end up sleeping together (literally ''just'' sleeping) to comfort each other.
78	* StatusQuoIsGod: It ''seems'' like that is how the story is going halfway through... [[spoiler: and then you remember that the story is only halfway done, and the status quo starts to be increasingly upended.]]
79	* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat: This seems to be the case in-universe, where Kim and Shego have no idea how they learned to drive a manual transmission (Kim) or cook (Shego). The reader recognizes this as a result of lingering memories from the Other World, and the characters eventually figure this out.
80	* SymbolicMutilation: Each of the two suffers an injury that deprives them of a major character trait -- [[SheFu ultra-athletic]] Kim gets a broken ankle that doesn't properly heal, forcing her to rely on Shego for defense and scavenging; [[DeadpanSnarker sharp-tongued]] Shego is left mute in the aftermath of [[spoiler:her suicide attempt by hanging]]. Like everything else that physically happens to them in the Other World, these are [[ResetButton undone]] when they return home.
81	* TheresNoPlaceLikeHome: Most of the first half of the story is spent with Kim and Shego trying to get back to their own dimension. They eventually succeed.
82	* ThrowTheDogABone: One of the few [[PortmanteauCoupleName Kigo]] stories out there that actually leaves Drakken in a better place than he had been in at the beginning. [[spoiler: Once he learns of the impending St. Louis earthquake disaster, he has the genuinely bright idea of ''preventing it entirely'', manages to prove his genius by stopping the worst of it in spite of his mistake, and Kim even becomes his intern at the end.]]
83	* TrespassingToTalk: When Shego decides to turn herself in, she sneaks into Global Justice HQ and waits in Dr. Director's office until she shows up, then negotiates an arrangement where she's taken into custody without a public announcement so that Kim doesn't try to contact her.
84	* UnexpectedlyAbandoned: When Kim heads home after the accident (thinking that Ron has been captured and she'll have to find and rescue him), she's a bit surprised to find nobody there. She gets increasingly weirded out when nobody answers the phone or Kimmunicator....
85	** Shego is the one who figures out what happened, since she'd heard (if not really listened to) Drakken describing his latest invention.
86	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Averted when a checkout clerk notices Shego's [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation skin tone]]. Shego has a standard response for such situations: she [[BlatantLies says]] that it's [[TooMuchInformation a skin cream made from cow placenta]], a gambit that unfailingly makes the questioner [[EmbarrassingCoverUp wish they'd minded]] [[YouDoNotWantToKnow their own business]].
87	* WalkingTheEarth: Shego does this for a while [[spoiler:after giving up waiting for rescue]].
88	** After Kim has gleaned all she can from Drakken's notes and the local libraries, she and Shego take a long trip around the country, visiting science labs and following up leads in Drakken's correspondence.
89	* WeddingRingRemoval: Shego removes the neck chain [[RingOnANecklace where she keeps her ring]] (so that she won't accidentally destroy it by activating her HandBlast powers) just before [[spoiler:trying to kill herself]], not wanting anything connected with Kim to be part of that.
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Context Fanfic / AloneTogether