LAST CHAPTER. YES.

I just wanted to, as usual, thank all of those who've left reviews and favourites: your support is lovely (: Probably the reason why I've actually completed this, because nine out of ten of the larger pieces I start I never complete. I'm lazy.

ALSO, thanks for 1200 hits! I know it's comparatively small to other pieces, BUT it's still very nice for my self esteem.

Megamind, Minion and Roxanne head home after a few last days in Phuket. I've decided I'll probably do the wedding as a seperate piece, as it feels like it strays a little from the point of this story. So, keep me on author alert? That would be nice (:

Enjoy thoroughly, and I hope you have liked following this piece through to its completion!

Maddie. xx

Those last few days in Phuket were good ones. The weather held fast, with each day unseasonably warm and glaringly sunny enough for the trio to spend time enjoying their holiday. Megamind hired a motorbike, something he considered mundane next to his hoverbike, but the way Roxanne gripped his waist and cried out joyously as he took her on a high speed jaunt over the countryside made up for the lack of flight. They spent hours on a hilltop overlooking the ocean that afternoon, sitting on a thick rug and enjoying the Thai-style picnic Minion had put together for them. Roxanne looked like a girl with her hair mussed by the wind and wearing only her cuffed shorts and a singlet. Megamind held her against him while they watched the sunset; her fingers drew patterns on the outsides of his wiry legs. His fingers had slipped slyly under the fabric of her shirt, stroking the skin of her stomach. He ran his tongue along the fine edge of her ear, listening to her sigh. She'd turned on him, then, kissing him with a fierceness saved only for the moment before they made love to one another.

Other days they had spent with Minion, wandering the cramped streets and inhaling the scents of cooked meat and incense; of blossoming jasmine and foreign spices. They'd taken a longtail boat out over the reefs, marvelling at the way the ocean could be so clear, like a blue-tinted window; as they watched, sea creatures dove and darted and glided beneath them. They'd snorkelled that day, too, submerged in lukewarm water and surrounded by an alien world of pastel coral and vibrant anemones; of scales and fins and bulging bright eyes. Minion had shed his avatar, leaving it slumped in the boat, and swum in excited circles around Megamind and Roxanne, who were comparatively clumsy swimmers.

"This is incredible!" he'd cried. "Sir, can we please get a salt water aquarium installed in the lair?"

Roxanne had spied a turtle lazing on the ocean floor, and swum to touch its shell; she was as startled as it was when it flinched and shot away from her reaching fingers. With gentle coaxing by Minion, it had eventually allowed her to run curious hands over its segmented shell and knobbly fins, watching her with wary brown eyes.

Megamind had spotted a reef shark, sleek and silver with a black fleck on its pointed dorsal fin. He spent the rest of the afternoon in the boat, despite Minion's reassurances that he was not on the menu.

"I won't risk having that shark rip off a vital part of my beautiful body!" he wailed, sending Roxanne into fits of laughter.

They spent another day driving through the jungle-strangled mountains of the Tak Province of northern Thailand, trekking through vine-tangled and mosquito-infested rainforest to see the Thi Lo Su and Thi Lo Re waterfalls upon Roxanne's insistence.

"It's about seeing this entire country, not just the most desirable parts," she told them, swatting a large spider from her shoulder and ignoring Megamind's scream.

The waterfalls were worth the walk; icy jets of water erupted out of the jungle's depths to pool serenely amongst the trees, bordered by jutting stones and soft moss. They dipped their feet into the cool shallows, easing blisters and aches. Hoots and squawks of the exotic wildlife echoed around them in a never ending eddy of sound. Here, Megamind felt uneasy; Roxanne, however, took photos and followed mysterious sounds with childlike curiosity. It took much coaxing to get her home.

On the very last night, Megamind entered the expansive bathroom to find Roxanne soaking her bruises and sore muscles in the wide tub, surrounded by candles and enveloped in the scent of frangipani and jasmine.

"I'm taking these bath salts home," she informed him sleepily. "They smell delicious."

Behind her, the ocean stretched past the horizon, lit by the setting sun. One of her little feet was propped on the edge of the bath, her pink toes wrinkled, and Megamind took his in his hands, squeezing and stroking in practised motions.

"I'll miss this place," he said, "for both its bath salts and its beauty."

"Me too," she admitted, pulling her foot from his hands and shifting around so her head resting on the inside of his bare thigh. He kneaded her shoulders instead. "We should come back here for our honeymoon, perhaps."

"Indeed," he replied. "I'd like that, very much."

"Do you hate me a little, for forcing you home?" she asked shyly, turning her face to kiss his skin. He shivered.

"Roxanne," he replied, "even in my most evil and villainous of moments, I could never muster an ounce of hatred for you."

"But do you really despise the thought of going home?"

Megamind contemplated this. He hated the idea of going home and falling into the niche they'd been trapped in before they left. But what if they could start over? Roxanne would take her job reporting, of course she would, but no one said he had to go back to playing the hero. If Music Man could retire, couldn't he? And if he did…squillions of scintillating possibilities! With his intellect, and his dastardly good looks, he knew that he could do just about anything he wanted, unless it was athletic. Or culinary.

He thought of the possibility of a home for himself and Roxanne. It would be large, he thought, but homey, not cold and dark like his lair (which he refused to give up, despite the ridiculous loan rates and that contemptible little man who dealt with his rent). There would be windows to display the lawn outside, and a vegetable garden for Minion. There would be a swing set for his children. He could build a tree house, or a crib for an infant. He thought of the milky smell of a newborn and the lingering scent of Roxanne's perfume; the traces of herself she left in photographs and discarded clothing and lipstick marks on coffee cups. He thought, again, of how she would look in a wedding dress, with a smile that curled the sweet bow of her mouth and crinkled the corners of her eyes.

Megamind thought of Metrocity, and he thought of home.

"No," he said firmly. "I don't."

They bathed with one another then, running soaped hands of the other's skin with tender strokes and passing long gazes, shy gazes, akin to those they'd shared years ago, when they had both felt so new. When they went to bed, they curled around each other like pieces of a puzzle; his bony waist to her curved hips; the long arch of his neck just the right shape to accommodate the soft curve of her cheek; his sleek torso to her rounded body; his thin lips against the plump lines of her mouth. Her skin was cool against his and the rhythm of her heartbeat sank into his bones.

When he woke the next morning, she was still entwined around him, right where she was meant to be.

They left late morning, their bags bulging with souvenirs and accumulated worldly goods. After the heat that sent sweat trails down Megamind's and Roxanne's back, and had Minion adding ice cubes to his tank, the air-conditioned plane was a blessing. Megamind felt some kind of creeping anticipation; a mixture of sweet nostalgia and the tingle of a new beginning. He was going home, but he would be starting something that was parallel to his old life. Forget battles and smoke and inventions and witty lines premeditated and noted; he could have most of this drama in the comfort of his own home, with Roxanne and Minion. He would create something even more fantastic for himself. Something worthy of his suave personality and incredibly handsome and breath-taking looks. Megamind felt certain that his and Roxanne's rare melon-kolie nights would become even rarer.

They slept for the majority of the flight, with several months' worth of jetlag hanging on their shoulders. They only woke when the captain's voice rattled through the intercom, informing them that they were hovering over their home city.

Megamind peered out of the window, seeing Metrocity's skyscrapers gleaming in the early morning sunshine; he thought that the way they grabbed at the sky was something akin to the I Fell Tower, or the monoliths of Phuket. He saw wide city squares and neat rows of trimmed trees, much like those in the city of Paris. The rolling hills that framed the city reminded him of a tamer version of the wild moors of Scotland; the streams and small lakes in the city's expansive parks were reminiscent of those he'd seen shot through the green wilderness of England. In Metrocity, he saw everything beautiful and exotic combined and distilled until it became something that resembled a home.

Beside him, Roxanne clutched his hand, the band of her ring cool on his skin.

Three months later and Megamind was content. He sat in a deep armchair of the home he'd found for the three of them on the outskirts of the city. Roxanne was at work, reporting cheerfully to the people of Metrocity that the city had never flourished so brilliantly; employment rates were high, the economy was booming and police finally understood that their job was more than pointing a gun and crying in fear. The crime rate was diminished, the city was clean (that was compliments of the brainbots) and people had become motivated to look after themselves, rather than relying on a heroic figure to do it for them. Music Man, his true identity hidden by his scruffy beard and his pseudonym, had finally made it in show business, playing at bars and rowdy night clubs with a passion that people could only describe as superhuman.

Really, Megamind thought, things could not have worked out better.

From the wide window in the lounge room, Megamind watched Minion weeding his vegetable garden. Behind him, a tyre swing swayed from the branch of a tall oak tree. He'd told Roxanne it was there in anticipation of their children, but she knew as well as he did that it was for his own enjoyment.

Childishness aside, Megamind had found a calling for himself, albeit temporary; he was writing an incredibly extensive biography for the Megamind Museum, which, in spite of his retirement, still stood tall and proud behind his mighty statue. He found this thoroughly enjoyable, predominantly because he got to talk about himself in great detail and without any trace of modesty.

Megamind paused over his laptop, his long fingers drawing back from the keys. Staring out at the warm autumn sunshine, a thought occurred to him; somewhere else, it was winter; it was raining; it was snowing; it was sticky tropical summer. Somewhere else in the world, people were laughing and crying and shouting and talking and drinking and eating and living.

But in each of these foreign places, he would not here the chime of Roxanne's laughter, or see the way she wore her engagement ring with pride; he would not rub her feet after she'd come home from a long day at work, or attempt to make her breakfast and end up setting the toaster on fire, or lie with her in the soothing dark of an autumn night.

He was content here in the huge home he'd bought for his family, both present and future. He thought he would continue to be, until he was too old and frail to breathe anymore.

He was, indeed, content in every part of his bright blue body.