Kevin let out a piercing scream.
"That's no good," said Sarah. "Nobody's going to hear it."
"I... you..." said Kevin. He leaped for Sarah, crying, who disappeared and reappeared on the other room.
"I killed him? Yes, I killed him, Kevin. Do you know how hard that decision was? How long I waited just in the hope that something would happen, or that you could convince him, or something, so I wouldn't have to do this? How many times I went over the decision in my head?"
"You said you wanted me to convince Jon. You didn't say you'd do this!"
"If you had convinced him, I wouldn't have needed to!"
In the middle of the room another female form materialized. Kevin recognized the leggy brunette as Nicole Tiller.
"You're in on it too!" he yelled.
Nicole looked around, and down at the corpse. She didn't answer, except to look down at it and say, sadly, "It worked. I see."
"H-- how did you do it?" asked Kevin. "How did you take Jon away from me! And why couldn't you just take away his powers or something?"
"I guess I owe you an explanation," said Sarah. "I didn't just take away his powers because I wasn't going to risk the slightest chance he could come back. And that's the same reason I'm not telling you how I did it. This isn't a game, Kevin! It's not a comic book where you catch the bad guy and he gets free a month later to rob another bank."
She waved her hand and Kevin became Karyn again, without the extra breasts and hair. And though only she and Nicole could see it, almost everything that Jon had done across the planet reversed itself (except Jimmy Gordy and a few other assorted changes that really were for the good).
"Sarah..." said Nicole. "We can't just leave her like this. Sarah?"
"I don't know what to do," she replied. "We shouldn't be doing this! But we have to! What can we do?"
"Sarah?" said Nicole. "It isn't necessary. Let's bring back Jon. We can put a mental block on him so he won't try to regain his powers, okay? It should be safe enough. Nobody has to die here."
"I may regret this," said Sarah, "but we're both regretting this now anyway." She just looked at Jon. A moment later he struggled to his feet as Karyn watched. Then he threw a punch at Sarah's stomach--or he would have, if he hadn't suddenly been teleported to the couch.
"No, Jon!" yelled Karyn. "She had your life in her hands!"
"How dare she..." said Jon. "She has no right!"
"Let's go," said Nicole. "There's nothing more we can do here. I'm feeling very tired."
"Me too," said Sarah. "And I haven't spoken to my family in weeks." She took Nicole's hand, and they both disappeared.
"I can't believe it," said Jon. "After all I did... I was just trying to make the world a better place and some bimbo cheerleader decides I'm a menace to society. And she destroys it in an instant. Tomorrow we're going to have to go to school, pretend that everything's normal, maybe 'The Stud' will threaten me again."
Jon and Karyn were both surprised when an old man replied, "And that's your fault."
Jon, recognizing the voice, turned around to be sure. "Grandfather!" he exclaimed.
"Those two girls weren't trying to hurt you," said his grandfather. "They were trying to keep everyone else from getting hurt. If you had just used the stone to protect yourself from bullies, to save a few lives, help a few people, they never would have done anything to you. Instead you used it for revenge and bullying and conquest--and make no mistake, 'fixing' the world is conquest, even if you're not sitting on a throne giving orders."
"I won't do it again. Can you get me the-- the---." Jon stammered, unable to even ask for the stone, because of Sarah.
"The stone back?" said Jon's grandfather, finishing his sentence. "No. I'd sooner believe they won't do it than that you won't do it again. I gave you power--I gave you almost unlimited power. I trusted you with it, because you're family! And you abused it! Be glad Sarah didn't change your sex or turn you into a poodle."
Jon began to realize just how much he had lost. If only he had done what his grandfather now suggested. Did he really have to turn people into bimbos or make his best friend a guy against her will? He did, and as a result it was all gone. Every last bit of it.
"Is there something else you need to say?" asked his grandfather.
"Can you at least let me have something? Keep people from being mean to the geeks?"
"Okay," said his grandfather. "I'll do something about students getting hurt or threatened. You deserve that much, just as a human being. Nasty words you'll still have to deal with on your own. But before I do it, I want you to promise to remember just one thing."
"What is it, grandfather?"
Jon's grandfather was already fading away, but Jon could hear his response quite clearly.
"In this story, you weren't the good guys."
