Due to Kim's recent ASK KIM video (discussing shipping and all) I have decided to end this story with this chapter – I know she said about how she was fine for people to write fanfiction about her with shipping etc etc BUT I still kind of feel a bit guilty about it anyway haha :) so whilst I will still be inspired by the Yogscast and all that jazz, this will be the last chapter of this particular suggested shipping; as always, please review and send me prompts for new storys etc and yeah… as I said, hopefully I'll keep writing stuff (like my Cornerstone story, go check that out ;) [shameless self-promo there…] ) and yeah – enjoy the last chapter of this story; it's been a blast!

Kim awoke in the early hours of the morning, stretching slightly and squinting out of one eye. It was barely light outside the windows and she could hear Duncan's snoring from across the room. Sitting up in the covers, she allowed a moment of disgust to pass on her face as she looked around at the purple bed she was sitting in. Yes, it was a bed and was comfy and she slept in it and yes, it was her favourite colour and it had been sweet of Duncan to make it… but…

Quietly crawling to the end of the four poster bed, she parted the hangings slightly and glanced out, seeing Duncan lying dangerously across the two hammocks – one wrong turn and he would fall flat on his face… which surprisingly didn't happen as often as it should. Kim smirked slightly as she recalled various mornings where Duncan had started fiddling with the smeltery with a red mark on his head and an almost sulky expression with a hint of hurt pride. However, that wasn't important. Kim took a moment to glare at the peacefully-sleeping-and-completely-unaware-of-Kim's-death-stare Duncan, who was still snoring happily in his sleep. Kim closed the parting and leaned back with an unhappy sigh. Yes, the bed was comfy, but Duncan's bed was way cooler - why didn't she have a hammock?

Grumpily, Kim dressed behind the partings, knowing that once awake and aware of Duncan's snores that it was impossible to go back to sleep. As she sneaked across the floorboards, she was almost tempted to put a bucket of water directly under the spot where Duncan's head would land if he fell out, but decided against it; as annoying as Duncan was sometimes, she didn't want to accidentally drown him. Kim grinned as she stepped outside, closing the door quietly behind her – the security photo did not work, despite what Duncan insisted, although Kim was happy for it to remain their; waking up to find it in front of her bed, whilst turned off, had been creepy as hell – even if Duncan denied everything whilst trying to keep a straight face.

The sun was only just starting to rise and Kim could hear some of the Chocos, obviously as eager to start the morning as she was, chirping away. She grinned as she headed over, deciding against using her jetback so she could stretch her legs, and opened the gate, closing it gently beside her. Most of the over Chocobos were asleep, but a few of the smaller ones made their way over to Kim as she sat down, pulling out her luggage and gently talking to them.

"Hello there! Why are you up and awake, huh? Why are you awake? Are you hungry? Breakfast will be soon, I promise…" she whispered to them whilst picking them up and lovingly petting them. However, their cheeps got more persistent as she mentioned breakfast and she eventually gave in to their adorable smiles and uprooted some of Duncan's plants to feed them. Giggling slightly at their stuffed faces, she left them eating and wandered over to her Botania hut, picking up her wand and rummaging through her bag of petals. It was relaxing making flowers… not all the time, but in the peacefulness of the morning, it was definitely a favourite part of the day. Kim played around with her petals and mana pools for a while past the point her daylight flowers were into bloom and was in a world of her own before she was shocked out of it by the sound of panicked yelling and an almighty crash from the direction of the house.

Worried, Kim ran over and into the house only to stop and laugh as Duncan was lying in the remains of the two hammocks, on the ground floor in a sea of wood with a gaping hole in the ceiling. Kim continued to laugh as Duncan picked himself up, correcting the position of the goggles on his head, which were slightly lopsided.

"What happened?" Kim asked as soon as she was able to stop laughing as Duncan began tidying up the pieces, good-humouredly letting Kim laugh at him as he glanced at her, laughing a bit himself.

"I got up, got dressed and sat back down on the hammock – next thing I know is I'm falling through the ceiling!" Duncan complained, subconsciously motioning to his back, which he had obviously landed on."

"Well, at least you're alright" Kim said sympathetically, laughing once more as Duncan agreed sarcastically whilst rolling his eyes. "Oh I have something to show you!" she said excitedly as she motioned for Duncan to follow her to her Botania hut.

"Hang on I need to feed the animals!" Duncan insisted as he slowly made his way outside, complaining under his breath about how he could have died whilst simultaneously managing to sulk with himself. Kim sighed impatiently.

"Fine, but come straight to the hut afterwards!" she half-threated, half-demanded as she waltzed over to her hut and Duncan went to feed the Chocobos and the dinosaurs. As Kim entered the hut however, a sudden silence came over her; glancing around worriedly, she brought her hands up to her ears, which felt muffled, only to feel nothing wrong. Hesitantly, she held a hand out in front of her and clicked her fingers together; no sound. Panicking now, she turned around to open the doors to find them somehow locked. She screamed, hoping to hear some noise of some sort, but there was no response. Except…

Kim strained to listen with her apparently death ears… yes, there was a noise. A very small, and barely heard noise coming from somewhere in the room; Kim listened intently and cautiously sneaked around her hut, listening as the voice became slightly louder as she neared the centre of the room.

"Kim, are you okay!?" Duncan burst into the hut, causing Kim to spin around.

"Don't let…" she began but the doors had already swung shut behind them, and she knew that they'd already be locked. Duncan seemed to notice the apparent lack of noise and frowned at Kim.

"Why is it so quiet in here…" he asked her with an eyebrow raised.

"I think we should be thinking why we can hear each other and nothing else!" Kim pointed out, although she was glad that she was able to hear Duncan as a break from the overwhelming silence.

"Or… maybe we just know each other so well now that we can lip-read what the other person is saying and we're imagining the sound of each other's voices…" Duncan teasingly suggested as Kim rolled her eyes. She crept forward again, listening intently as the noise had begun to start again.

"What…" Duncan began but Kim motioned for him to stop as she crept further forward, allowing the voices to rise slightly; she realised the voices were coming from the petal apothecary and she leant over it, an ear towards it – Duncan joined her a few moments later. Lying at the bottom was a pure white flower, but not a daisy – it seemed to be similar to a rose of some sort.

"I can't hear them…" Kim whispered as she bent down to pick up the flower, the voices becoming more frantic as she neared it.

A pair of purple eyes flashed into Kim's vision.

DON'T TOUCH IT.

A voice had hissed from the corner of Kim's mind and Kim shouted, distancing herself from the petal apothecary as the voices became more relaxed, whilst still on edge. Duncan had also taken a few steps back, and from the look on his face had experienced the same thing.

"Kim… I'm going to pick it up…" he muttered to her as he edged towards the flower again.

"Don't!" Kim warned him, moving towards him, egged on by a thousand whispering voices in her head. She stopped though as Duncan turned towards her with a frown on his face.

"It's the Flux that's speaking Kim. It's Mother who is speaking. And quite frankly, I'm willing to do the opposite of whatever she says right now." He said firmly and before Kim could stop him, reached into the base of the stone container and had picked the flower up.

Instantly a thousand voices screamed in Kim and Duncan's head, causing both of them to fall in pain; however, Duncan did not drop the flower. After a few moments, the voices started to die away and soon there was silence again – this time however, they could hear birds outside and the whisper of the wind through the trees. Kim held her head in her hands and picked herself up.

"Duncan, why do you always have to…" she began but stopped immediately as Duncan picked himself up and looked at her. The purple that had been creeping onto the side of his face had… gone. It had simply disappeared.

"Duncan… your hands…" she whispered, motioning towards his gloves. Duncan, noticing Kim's expression when looking at his face, hastily put the flower down carefully into the jar, and tore his gloves off; underneath, his hands were deprived of their purple colour and he ran over to the water barrel, studying his face intently.

"Kim… the Flux is gone… it's gone!" he shouted happily, dancing around the room as Kim watched him in surprise. He glanced over at her and held the flower out to her after scooping it from bottom of the container.

"Kim, hold it!" he commanded excietedly as Kim stepped away from him.

"I.. I can't Duncan…" she whispered, looking at it in fright. Duncan looked from the flower to Kim, confused.

"Kim.. it's alright, the voices have gone!"

"No they haven't… they're just… more…" Kim whispered as her head started to protest with more voices urging her away from the flower. She knelt to the floor as she whimpered in pain, causing Duncan to approach her.

"KEEP IT AWAY FROM ME!" she snarled at him as Duncan and the flower came closer and for a split second Duncan swore that Kim's other eye had turned purple as it flashed at him. Duncan took a few steps back reluctantly as Kim visibly relaxed.

"Okay… okay… don't worry Kim, I'll figure this out…" Duncan promised her as she crawled to a corner of the room, shaking noticeably. Kim merely nodded weakly, closing her eyes as Duncan leapt past her and out of the room, the doors no longer locked. As he studied the flower in the sunlight above him, he noticed that the tip of one of the petals had been stained a little purple, hardly even noticeable. Struck with an idea, Duncan flew over to the infected taint area, which was a lot closer than before and settled down in roughly the centre. Cautiously, he looked around and dropped the plant into some of the tainted soil.

Almost immediately the earth started to shake around him as Duncan stumbled slightly. Flying off the shaking ground slightly, his jaw dropped open as he saw that the purple taint of the landscape was seemingly being sucked into the petals of the flower and his smiled in amazement as he noticed the trees were becoming greener and that some of the tainted flowers were gaining colour. A distant snarl alerted his sense however as he noticed a pack of tainted wolves heading straight for the flower, drooling purple saliva and howling in pain. Duncan leapt to the floor and drew out his sword, guarding the precious and defenceless plant behind him as the wolves were joined by other monsters, skeletons and zombies and infected pigs alike.

Duncan didn't know how long he stood there, slashing and beheading monsters and creatures and tentacles alike as the all advanced towards this miracle flower, but he knew enough that as he destroyed the last taint swarm and the grass was purple beneath his feet, the area was cleansed from the taint. He picked up the flower once more which instantly drained in all the tainted blood and purple from his clothes, the tips of the all the petals a significant purple, but still an overwhelming white. Taking a moment to admire the landscape, he flew back towards the base and called out for Kim, heading into her Botania hut. As he glanced in the corner, however, a terrible sight met his eyes.

Purple stains, almost like paint, were lying in the corner and on the wall, fingerprints visible with a large trail leading towards the apothecary. As he moved closer to inspect it, the taint seemed to disappear, almost as if someone had brushed it away; the flower seemed to glow in his top breast pocket where it lay. Duncan followed the trail around the room and out through the other door, following it towards the Chocobos. He simply looked at the view in front of him as all the Chocobos laid slain, purple stains on their feathers; he only started running when he noticed the small purple girl lying in a ball in the centre of the pen.

He dropped to his knees beside her, shaking her. "Kim! Kim! Wake up!" he screamed at her as she flopped uselessly from side to side; as he did so, he heard a strangled chirp from below her arm and rolled her over. Underneath her arm, there were three small chocos, splashed with purple and looking like they were on the verge of death. As Duncan scooped them in his arms, however, the purple began to fade – after a few moments two of the chocos lifted their heads wearily. Duncan waited for the third to lift its head and gently poked it in its side, but it made no moment. After a few moments of waiting, Duncan set its body on the floor gently.

"Did I save them…?" Kim's voice quietly asked as Duncan's head shot up, and he rolled Kim over so she was facing him. She had her eyes open with purple tears rolling out of them as she looked up at Duncan with purple eyes. Duncan sat motionlessly beside her as he examined her, taking in that the whole of her body was covered in taint. He held up the two birds wordlessly and she smiled painfully.

"Good… did the third make it…?" she asked hesitantly, coughing slightly. Duncan looked at her and smiled, although there were tears rolling down his face.

"You saved it Kim… it didn't make it, but you saved it…" he managed to say, his voice breaking as Kim nodded and closed her eyes. Duncan roughly shook her again.

"No Kim, keep your eyes open. OPEN." He yelled at her as she opened them once more, tiredly.

"Duncan, they're not my eyes… Mother says they're her eyes…" she said wearily, as if she'd had this argument a thousand times in her head already. Duncan shook his head.

"They're your eyes and I can prove it!" he shouted, tears falling fast as he unfastened the flower from his pocket and placed into Kim's hair, alongside the other purple flowers. Instantly Kim's face scrunched up in pain as she cried out.

"Duncan! It hurts, please, take it away!" she pleaded as her eyes sought Duncan, who moved away from her.

"I promised I wouldn't ever hurt you intentionally Kim… but I'm going to have to break that promise today. If it means saving you then I will have to hurt you. If it means you hate me and die or live, then so be it. I will save you from the taint!" Duncan shouted at Kim as her body shook and stretched out as if some poison was leaving her system. The taint slowly creeped away from her legs, leaving them a weak, pinkish colour and unwillingly travelled up her body, almost scraping the skin off her as it drew closer into the flowers. Duncan closed his eyes and placed a hand to his mouth, biting down to stop himself from the pain he could almost feel from Kim's scream, drawing blood. Finally, after what seemed like an age of screaming, and as the last rays of sun disappeared from the sky, Kim's body gave a final shudder, and was still. The torches on the pen were already lit, giving an almost heavenly glow to the area as the stars shone down above them. Duncan, with a tear-streaked face, drew Kim close to him and cried unashamedly as her body hung limply and the flower fell from her hair… significantly more purple than it had been before.

Duncan held onto Kim's body as he howled wordlessly into the night, as his grief and pain turned to anger. He placed Kim down gently before standing up and pointing angrily up to the stars.

"Is this my punishment? For all those things I've done, and apparently will do in the future?! Is this what I get, for trying to make a difference in this world?!" he paced around furiously, breathing heavily.

"I tried to be good! I tried to protect her! I did my best! So how am I alive? HOW IS SHE DEAD!?" he screamed into the night, the stars swallowing his anger silently. He collapsed to his knees, all strength leaving him.

"If she was just still alive… Zoey is still alive, she just doesn't see Rythian anymore… just let her be alive, please. That will be enough…" He leant towards the fallen flower and stroked it's petals, feeling the smoothness on his skin. He closed his eyes as if he was in prayer.

"Just… bring her back. Or take me. I'll get rid of the rest of the Flux across this world… just let her be alive…" he whispered to the flower, failing to notice the figure rising behind him.

"…Duncan? You do realise I'm alive, right?" a voice groggily called out to him as Duncan whirled around to see slightly shaken but standing Kim, with perfect brown eyes and a slight smile on her face, holding the third choco which was chirping and very much alive. Duncan pulled her into a tight hug, almost crumbling the animal between them before drawing back and checking it carefully.

"Oh… did you hear what I said?" Duncan tried to ask casually whilst wiping his eyes. Kim nodded.

"To be honest, I'm surprised that you weren't confessing your undying love to me or something" she joked as Duncan laughed weakly and shook his head, realising that his feelings for Kim had almost… disappeared. Not just his feelings for her in what could be considered a romantic way either… his feelings of protectiveness, of friendship almost had significantly vanished.

"Mother said that we were connected strongly by the Flux and that's why you felt the way you did." Kim said simply as Duncan looked at worryingly, nodding however as it made sense on a scientific level.

"So it's like… everything we did together whilst infected with the Flux never happened…" Duncan realised, stating this out-loud to Kim, who nodded in relief.

"It feels like that" she admitted, as both she and Duncan looked sadly at each other for a moment. The friendship had been fake, planned by the Flux and by Mother. Duncan nodded, glancing up in the sky. This was his justice, his final payment. He knew it was coming before Kim opened her mouth, and knew he deserved it too. He had paid an unimaginable cost, but it was worth it for Kim to stay alive.

"I think, maybe I should spend some time on my own now… do a bit of my own stuff, build some things, grow some plants, cook lots of food… I mean, you did kind of break you promise by hurting me and when Sjin did that I left so maybe it's… well…" Kim suggested worriedly, waiting for Duncan to react; Duncan could tell she was so afraid he wouldn't let her go. However, Duncan smiled to himself sadly - he had let her go in the moment he had thought she was gone. He just wouldn't take her back… at least, not yet.

"Good idea… I think I'm going to look into some more complicated science stuff you wouldn't understand anyway… like taming dinosaurs and making a zoo!" he suggested cheekily, laughing with Kim as she looked relieved and exasperated.

"Yeah… you could call it 'Duncan's Park' or something" she suggested sarcastically, laughing as Duncan took her seriously, already forming plans.

"So what will you do?" he asked Kim as she smiled at him in the moonlight.

"Not sure… I think I'll make a massive village for people to live in; so people like you can come stay somewhere when you come visit me!" she said, hinting obviously as she looked at Duncan hopefully.

"Yeah… it'll be quite a while before you're able to house people though" Duncan pointed out as Kim nodded gratefully, relieved as she knew he understood she needed space and time to heal. She leant forward and gave him a friendly hug, which he returned and motioned towards the houses behind them.

"I'll just… get my things and go" she suggested, walking away from him. As an arrow whizzed past her head though, narrowly missing her, she speedily walked back to Duncan, who already had a sword in his hands. "Or I could leave in the morning when it's safer…" she said decisively, laughing with Duncan as they walked back to their bedrooms for the last time. As they leapt into their respective beds, Kim was distracted from examining her smiling non-tainted self in her hand mirror by Duncan's voice.

"Hey Kim?"

"Yes Duncan?"

"You should call the village 'Nano's Village'."

"Why?"

"Because the village will be small and you're small… and you measure small things in nanometres…."

"OI!"

"Well, you're also pretty loud as well… I know! I officially name you 'Nanosounds' because that's beautifully ironic!"

Kim allowed herself to think before responding to Duncan's stifled laughter.

"Fine, Lividcoffee, I gladly accept Nanosounds if you now go by the name I just created."

"What the hell is a 'Lividcoffee'?"

"Well you're always more likely to be mad with me at stuff which I do wrong unless you have a coffee; in which case you're a charming person!"

"Kim?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Goodnight Lividcofee!" Kim said sweetly as she closed her eyes, smirking. She was already planning the various building and plants she would have in her little village – with a little help on the side, possibly…

"Goodnight Nanosounds…." Duncan's voice trailed off sleepily. He had a lot of work to do once Kim was gone tomorrow – travelling the world trying to find a real cure for the taint, such as discovering the elements of the miracle flower, was going to take a long time.

.

.

.

Ridgedog watched the sleeping mortals and smiled. Accidentally dropping his flower that could cure any illness had been the right thing to do… it would be hell to explain to the others though… He wondered briefly if he could pass it off as an accident… that it had been coincidental it had landed directly in that petal alter thing…

He smiled to himself as he looked at the world below him, a little more greener; just the way he liked it – he hated the colour purple.