This story was inspired by StarGateLover007 and her video /watch?v=MG14PyTXBA4 I congratulate your awesomeness on this video it made me cry.

DISCLAIMER: I do not Taz or Up, they belong to Starkid.


It was in a rather deserted village in the centre of Mexico that was on the outskirts of Matehuala that the sky was transforming from the light shades of black to the clear blue the change hiding the bright twinkling lights from galaxies only the Starship Rangers could travel to. The peaceful scene was accompanied by the slow rising of the bright, orange sphere of hydrogen gases, turning the clouds around the direction of its rays a delicate shade of pink mixed with gold. The remote town was quiet oblivious to the happenings outside their atmosphere, content with sleeping in their beds until their alarms sounded calling them to school or work. And for a certain fifteen year old – a day she would soon long to forget.

The harsh tone of the alarm clock awoke her as it had every day before, but now – as the machine continued to rise in octaves and volume – it seemed to be mocking her. Succumbing to the noisy boxes protest she reached out a limp limb and pressed blindly at the buttons. Finally finding the snooze button she balled her hand into a fist and punched it, sending the room into silence once more. Drowsy, she opened one bleary, chocolate coloured eye and was faced with a wall. Groaning she stretched her aching biceps before looking out through the translucent curtains of the window above her headboard.

Watching the start of the day had always comforted the young chica, 'A new day brings new possibilities' she reminded herself as she gazed as the clouds in the sky turned from a cotton candy pink to a light shade of red. "Cielo rojo en la mañana, los pastores de alerta" she muttered, remembering the old wives tale her abuelo had taught her whilst on his farm. Reaching over to her bedside table and rifled through the top drawer, she pulled out and old, leatherback book and a pencil she had carved herself in her father's workshop. In the space at the bottom where one would write their name was, 'el libro de Tabitha, leer y te mueres.' Flipping the book open and turning to a clean page she scribbled down anything she could remember from the fading memories of her dream, the only thing she could remember; was a man. He had appeared just before her alarm had went off, only for a second – his blue eyes had seemed to pierce into her very soul, scaring and intriguing her at the same time. She threw the book into the drawer and slammed on the alarm as it sounded again; signalling the 15 minutes extra given to 'snooze' was over.

She was considering rolling over and going back to sleep, when a body crashed into her bedroom door, causing her to jump and nearly fall out of her bed from shock. The body in question flung open her door and charged in yelling her name at the top of lungs.

"Tabi, Tabi! Come on sleepy bones, wake up. Mamá said it's time to 'levanté y brilla, hija mía.'" The elder girl laughed and her sibling grinned back.

"You know you're supposed to knock before entering" she mock glared at the girl.

"I did knock!" she cried, pouting her lips and pointing to the door, "I knocked before I opened the door."

"If you call smashing your face against an inch thick plank of wood knocking, then sure" Tabitha shrugged, watching her sister as she bounced on the bed by her feet.

"Well I do." She announced holding her nose up in the air, victorious. Her sibling merely shook her head in exasperation. "Guess what day it is, Tabi!" she practically sang.

"Es sábado. ¿No?" she queried sarcastically.

"No silly ¡es tu fiesta de quince años!" The child yelled loudly; so loudly in fact that there was a bang on the ceiling and a call from the kitchen to either pipe down or assist with breakfast.

"You heard mama, pipe down and go ayudar a preparar el desayuno, por favor" she added as an afterthought as the child pouted irritably on her knee, rolled her eyes and ran out of the bedroom clunking down the stairs. "Mierda" she muttered, her Quinceañera certainly was today, 15 at last. She was happy to finally be called a woman, but she hated the fact that she would have to wear a dress. She shuddered at the thought. Glancing over to the wardrobe where the gown was hidden away from prying eyes and fingers, she sighed and rolled out of bed grabbed a change of clothes from a drawer, a couple of towels from the boiler room on the landing and across the floor to the bathroom for a quick shower.

"Tabitha, be ready by 10, your papa is off to collect tus abuelos y tus padrinos de la ceremonia." Came the call of her mother from the lower level as she began to strip from her pyjamas.

"Vale mamá" Tabitha called back. She turned the shower on and took her hair out of the pony tail she kept it in at night, picking out bobby-pins and setting them on the sink, before stepping into the warmed up water. The clear liquid coated her like another layer of skin; she lathered soap onto her hand and rubbed the hibiscus smelling cream over her body, then grabbed a bottle of shampoo – squeezing it into her hair and gliding her fingers through it, making sure to rub the cleaning chemicals in from root to tip. There was a knock on the door followed by a yell, though it was muffled by a door and the sound of gushing water she could tell that it was her other sibling come to nag her. Turning off the water and covering herself with a towel she approached the door and opened it, steam poured out from the room the second the wood was pulled away from the frame.

"What?" she asked irritated, the younger girl in front of her frowned at her sister.

"Mamá said I can fix your hair and you promised you'd let me do it ages ago, and you're in the bathroom and you're trying to do your hair yourself and it's not fair cause you promised and you said that you…" she was cut off from her childish rant by Tabitha.

"Sí, I know I never break a promise. And I'm not trying to do my hair, I'm showering!" she hissed pointing to the towel around her, her sibling pouted and Tabitha rolled her eyes. "Give me uno momento to dry off and then you can fix my hair" she said. The girls face immediately brightened and she skipped away from the bathroom. Tabitha turned and locked the door behind her before drying off and putting on the clothes she had brought. Running downstairs, she threw the towels in the laundry basket and grabbed a piece of toast from her mother's hand and was back up the stairs before the woman even noticed. Walking back up and munching on the toast, she felt as if she was being watched. She shrugged it off as nerves for later on. Stepping into her room she found that her siblings had moved their mother's vanity table into her room. The cream wood and pink flower decorations looked very out of place amongst the dark blue walls and collection of rock posters that littered Tabitha's room. Her sisters stood on either side of the backless chair with was decorated the same way as the table, both grinning with smiles so evil she was certain Lucifer himself would be frightened out of his wits. She glanced suspiciously from one sibling to the other and back again.

"I know why Maria's here, but what are you planning on Georgia?" Tabitha asked cautiously, eyes narrowing as the evil grins disappeared to be replaced by their 'sonrisas inocentes ángulo' as her mother called them.

"Nothing" Maria said cheerfully, smiling at her sister. "Right Gia?"

"Sí nothing at all," she agreed. "I'm just here for security!" she squeaked happily.

Maria groaned irritably, "Gia we're meant to lead her on! Not spill the beans!"

"Sorry Ria, I was just excited." The youngest of the trio pouted.

"No worries Gia, I didn't even see it coming, you were very convincing" Tabitha smiled as her hermana pequeña piped up at her sisters' compliment and dashed outside – to keep watch she presumed.

"Sentarse Tabi" Maria ordered, the girl in question raised an eyebrow and her sibling mirrored her action. "¿Por favor?" she added begrudgingly. Tabitha sat content that she had won that round. "Close your eyes" Maria requested not as strongly as the first time, causing Tabi to raise her other brow as well. "Well I want you to be surprised as everyone else." Seeing her reasoning she obeyed and closed her eyes. There was silence as Maria tugged at the knots in her long black hair. "I wish my hair was half as long as yours is Tabi." The young sighed as she stroked a brush through it.

"I wish it never got to this length at all, but mama insisted" she frowned, eyes still closed.

"Oh yes, you wanted that estúpido Mohican like that man in your favourite band ¿no?" Tabi chuckled lightly and Maria grinned. "Well as soon as today's over you can make your own choices, cut your hair wherever and whenever you want. You could even cut it off in front of mama and she could only beg you not to ¡Quieto!" she yelled in mock annoyance and her sister's head moved back and forth as she giggled with her sibling.

Perdón mamá! I'll keep still," she smirked, imagining her sisters' reaction.

Another longer pause of silence followed, obviously Maria was sulking. She didn't mind. The silence gave her time to consider what she would do after today, cutting her hair was a numero uno priority, though she may not cut it in front of her mother as her sister had suggested. The second thing she had always wanted to do was join the Starship Rangers, she realised that only the best of the best could join at these troubling times, but she was confident that somehow she would get in, even though she was small. Tabitha had longed to be a Ranger, ever since she had first be able to understand the advertisement on el television, she had climbed to the roof of her house to watch the stars, catch an odd glimpse of a passing Starship or hear explosions from across the border of Mexico were the ground patrols were fighting off robot invasions from the north. The thought of the robots caused her fists to clench unconsciously and a frown to form on her tanned features. Maria noticed.

"¿Qué pasa? You look troubled." Maria asked softly, concern flittering noticeably through her voice.

Tabitha sighed, "It's nothing, just thinking."

Suddenly the contact on her hair vanished and she had nearly opened her eyes but hands clasped over them as her sister yelped, "No don't! I'm not done yet, idiota."

"¡Vale, vale! I won't," raising her hands in mock surrender, the hands lifted and she felt Maria move away. "What are you doing?" A door behind her opened and a soft rustling followed. "What's that?" she asked blindly.

"I'm going to match los cosméticos to your dress," Tabitha froze at the mention of make-up and was about to get up and run out the door when a soft click from the table signalled her sister opening the make-up box, Tabitha slumped in the chair, knowing there was no escape. She huffed as Maria began and followed her orders; to tilt her face every direction, pout her lips, place her hands on the table, hold still and various other commands. Maria had put make-up on Tabitha once before, but she was only six then and Tabi had been asleep at the time, needless to say she was grounded for a month thanks to the actions she had taken against her younger sibling for painting her bright orange.

But Maria had improved her skills since then, and Tabitha trusted her – somewhat.

The brushes halted and she could hear them being carefully placed back into the box, once again considering to open her eyes again, but was stopped by Maria calling to wait as she went to get a few more things. She heard her open the bedroom door and run out, telling Georgia to watch her. Weighing her options on how pissed either sister would be if she opened her eyes for a peek, but the thought of how downhearted Maria would feel made her instantly rethink.

Speaking of el Diablo, she returned and plugged something into the wall and took hold of a piece of Tabitha's hair. She suddenly felt a hot object clamp around the base of the hair and felt it roll up to the middle, she wanted to shift away should it burn her ear – but thought better of it, as it could lead to more damage than good. Holding the hair in the position beside her ear for a few seconds before letting it drop, Maria continued in this fashion until she reaches the other side of her head, the heat next to her ear vanished and the plugged pulled, with Maria muttering about one last final touch, as something soft was placed into her hair and secured with bobby-pins.

"Get up, por favor." Tabitha jumped slightly at the command but stood up slowly, eyes still closed, Maria led her away from the table. "You can open your eyes, but no peeking until you got your dress on." She warned, with a hint of pride in her voice. Tabitha smiled and followed her orders.

Undressing and then carefully slipping into the second-hand bought, strapless white dress that her mother had embroidered with a fake red rose at the bottom right of the bodes, placing the matching white pumps on her feet as Maria zipped up the dress at the back. Ready at last to finally see what she looked like, she was halted once again by Georgia coming into the room, curiously poking her head around the door, her eyes widened as she spotted Tabitha.

"¿Es usted un ángulo?" the young girl asked innocently. Tabi's eyes widened this time; did she really look that good? Unable to hold her curiosity at bay much longer she turned to the full length mirror - she had heard Georgia drag in whilst Maria was busy with her make-up – and was shocked at the sight she was greeted with.

Staring back through the mirror was a girl who looked a lot like her, and yet at the same time, looked nothing like her. Where Tabitha would wear combats, tank-tops and boots, this girl wore a dress and pumps, Tabitha would have never in her life have worn make-up and yet, here was the girl in the mirror with foundation, eye-shadow, blusher – the whole shebang – her curled hair hung loose along her back and several of the bangles hung down the front, a crisp white rose was placed at the side parting of her hair. This girl was beautiful. Tabitha twirled and seemed to surprise herself when the image in the mirror twirled with her.

"Ay, gracias mis hermanas," the duo smiled at their elder sister. "I think I am an angel" she whispered to Georgia, who giggled.

Maria rolled her eyes, "Tan modesto" she chuckled sarcastically.

Tabitha hardly heard her as she continued to gaze into the mirror 'I should wear dresses more often' she thought happily. Suddenly their mother's voice was heard just outside the door; the youngest jumped and ran outside to tell her not to come in, lest it ruin the surprise. They heard the woman chuckle and walk back down the stairs. Georgia popped her head round giving them a thumbs up, and told them that papa had returned with the guests and were waiting for them, before she rushed downstairs. Tabitha turned to her sister who looked as if she was about to cry.

"It's not fair, you get to grow up before me" she pouted a tear slipping down her cheek. Tabitha placed a hand on it and gently rubbed it away.

"Hey don't worry, all you gotta do is wait dos anos for yours, maybe I'll do your make-up?" she asked. Maria raised a delicate eyebrow and Tabi chuckled. "Sí maybe not. Perhaps Georgia in another five years?" the pair grinned. Tabitha placed a peck on each of her sisters' cheeks.

"Don't, you'll ruin your make-up, or worse mine!" Maria let out a watery chuckle.

"Gracias Maria. I wouldn't look half as beautiful without your help." Maria nodded and walked out the door, glancing back over her shoulder as she left.

Taking a second to steel herself and with one last glance in the mirror, she stepped out of her room and onto the landing. There was a sudden hush from below as her family stared up at her, her dress and – most noticeably – her smile. She looked over the familiar faces of her parents, grandparents and godparents, the neighbours who had dropped by to congratulate her and lastly her hermanas who grinned up at her, each with tears in their eyes.

Her father was the first to break his transfixion on the girl at the head of the stairs and made his way up towards her, holding her hands in his and placing a kiss to her forehead. "You look beautiful, hija" he told her.

"Gracias papá" her smile became even brighter as the rest of the room burst into congratulations, complements and conversation.

She had never felt so happy in all her life.

She walked amongst the crowd thanking their compliments and returning the kissed placed on her cheeks. Her only grandmother pulled her aside and hugged her.

"Ay my little guerrera is growing up and becoming una mujer" she smiled placing a soft kiss to her granddaughters' forehead and hugging her close again.

"Colette don't strangle the girl, or she'll never make it past today" her grandfather chuckled, as her grandmother hit him playfully on the arm.

Her other grandfather appeared and held her shoulders in his frail hands, "You are the eldest in our familia now Tabitha, it is up to you to hold up the family name when you go out into the world."

"And not get yourself killed" the other man chuckled, earning another hit from his wife.

"Your grandfather is right, if you must join those Starship Rangers I want you to watch yourself and come back in one piece when you finish the Academy" her grandmother said, sounding anxious at the end.

"I will mis abuelos, I will try with all my heart, mi corazón." Tabitha assured.

"Bien" the three said together.

Her father walked up to the group and placed a hand on her head, "Come Tabitha we must go to the Mass," her papa told her leading her out, the grandparents following behind. "We go to the mass and we shall soon return, I hope to see you all at the tocada." He called to the crowd as they left, there was a yell from the crowd and they immediately filed out, back to their houses.

The thanksgiving mass didn't take long, there had been prayers, praises and presentations to bless the young girl as she made the change from childhood into womanhood. Her godparents had presented rosary beads and a locket with the Virgen de Guadalupe inside, a tiara had been bought by her entire family, her father had replaced her soft pump with a silky pair of heels and she had placed a bouquet of flowers on the altar of the Virgin Mary. The ceremony had then went on with more praises to dead God asking to watch over her in later life and a blessing of Holy water was dropped on her forehead.

After the ceremony Tabitha came out of the chapel and walked back to their house and followed them to the end of their street, a blindfold tied carefully around her eyes was removed and she saw that the whole village had laid out several tables end to end along the street, piles of food on top and all were cheering happily. Many of the boys poked fun at her dress, but threatening to clobber them with her heels soon sent them scarpering, a gang of girls she had grown close to in High school came up to her and handed her a present that they must have clubbed together to buy. Thanking them she opened the box, her eyes widened as she laid eyes on the switch blade and its holster embroided with her initials.

"Muchos gracias mis amigas, es muy fantástico ¡Me encanta!" she smiled and hugged them, careful as to where the knife was pointed. They hugged back as if they would never see her again; they held the embrace and whispered good luck wishes to her. Their grip loosened when they heard someone clear their throat behind them. Tabitha squirmed out of their hold to face her closest friend, who just happened to be a boy. Her friends dispersed giving them privacy, while gossiping and snickering as they walked off to the table, where the tocada had started.

"Hola Tabitha" the boy said, shifting from one foot to the other, his voice barely audible over the squeals of children and adults chatters in the background.

"Hola Pablo ¿Cómo estás?" she asked politely.

"Bien" he said looking at his feet.

"Only good? The fiesta not exciting enough for you or something?" she frowned hoping to get the reaction she was looking for.

"No, no! The fiesta is excelente; the tables are really pretty… I mean the brillante is really party – I, no wait… I just…" he stumbled looking anywhere but at Tabitha. She chuckled and he glanced at her in confusion, which changed to annoyance when he spotted the grin plastered on her face. "That's not funny Tabi, I thought you meant it ¿en serio?" he asked exasperated.

"Oh get over it, you take things way too seriously sometimes Pablo" Tabitha chortled as he shoved her playfully. "Did you want something?" she asked turning to him.

He suddenly become uncomfortable once more as he reached into his pocket and produced a small box and handed it to her. "Felix cumpleaños Tabitha" he said a she took the box and opened it carefully. She picked the red cloth out and twisted it gently between her fingers, it felt so soft.

"You made this?" she asked staring at him.

"Yeah, papa always said that handmade gifts always mean more both to the receiver and the giver." He fidgeted with his shirt as he spoke. "You always wanted to chop your hair off, so that's something to tie it back when you're at the Academy, so it doesn't fall in your eyes or anything." Tabitha smiled and kissed his cheek.

He flushed a violent shade of red as she moved back towards her house, to put the gifts somewhere safe until later. Walking up the stairs to her room she once again got that uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched, she shook the thought out of her mind but kept alert just in case. She moved into her room, headed over to her bedside table and took out the leather-bound book. She flipped to the back and lifted a flap that concealed a secret compartment; she placed the knife in beside a photo of her family while tying the red patterned cloth onto her wrist. As she gazed at the patterns on the bandana, her nostrils filled with a horrid stench of oil and heated metal, not daring to look around she glimpsed in the mirror of her mother's vanity and saw the unmistakeable features of a robot peering through the door, looking straight at her. Tabitha's breath hitched in her throat as she tried in vain to remember what her father had taught her, should she ever come into contact with a robot – but the lesson had been wiped from her mind as she stared into the machines blackened sockets where eyes would normally be. Closing the book and clipping the latch to keep it locked she counted down from three as the robot entered the room and began moving steadily towards her.

'Tres, dos, uno' she thought as with each count came a mechanical whir bringing the robot closer towards her. On zero turned whirled around and hit the metal fiend over its head with the book, causing the creature to loose balance and fall onto her bed, giving her an escape route through the door. She ran down the stairs, barely missing the very accurate shot of red lasers to her head, and out the front door clutching the book to her chest.

Tabitha ran as fast as her dress would allow her towards the end of the street to warn them about the robot, when the tables were flung in all directions from an explosion from beneath the ground, bodies were hurled towards her as she ducked to protect herself from the flying debris. Looking up the surrounding gardens and trees were aflame and people that hadn't been near the explosion were running for their lives; as a large army of the metallic androids stomped towards them out of the smoke. Tabitha shakily got to her feet and moved behind a large bin, looking around the amount of blackened bodies lying on the hot pavement, the red lasers coming from the machines hitting the once cheerful party goers, breaking ranks to give chase to those fleeing the scene. Time seemed to slow as she watched her friends and neighbours being destroyed, from the youngest toddler to the eldest citizen, no one seemed to be spared by these máquinas de destrucción.

A chorus of 'annihilate human enslavers' was heard from behind her. Catching a metallic face on the shiny surface of the bin advancing towards her, she turned and ran down the alley, the robot close behind. Though they weren't known for their speed, when it came to a chase robots were known to be very skilled snipers, proved when the edge of her dress was caught by a beam and set on fire. She stopped, dropped and rolled; this lesson she would never forget, and ran on the dress much lighter as it had now smouldered the layers underneath. Running past house after house in a mad ditch attempt to lose her chaser, tripping over the dead God-damn heels and dodging attacks from lasers as she was once again in the open.

Hopping a random fence, tearing the hemline of the dress so it was now at her knees and vaguely noticing she was in her own back garden as she ran for cover. Suddenly a heavy metal arm grabbed her by the waist; Tabitha yelped in fright and looked into the face of the robot from her bedroom. In desperation she took off one of her heels and stuck it through the bot's black sockets, it jerked and fizzled, electric pops were heard inside the metal casing before it crashed to the ground, dropping Tabitha to the ground. She looked at the shell of metal in shock, but was quickly pulled out of it by more metallic creatures holding her as they tied her to a tree by a garden hose pipe, swinging like a child's piñata. Having dropped her book as they lifted her and not being able to reach her feet, she kicked her legs as far as the pipe would allow, frustrated when she heard they scratchy laughter. She managed to kick one in the chest and reviled in slight triumph, until the cyborg hit her in the face with twice as much force. The others joined in, punching and pulling at her, laying on attacks thick and fast onto her small frame, until she could hardly feel where one attack stopped and another started.

She felt ready to beg for dead-God's sweet release, but a series of green lights and bright white explosions of robot heads changed her mind. Opening her eyes she saw headless robots scattered around the tree.

She heard footsteps approach. The pipe loosened its hold on her. Saw a pair of piercing blue eyes looking up at her.

She fainted.