A Sister Stolen
Disclaimer: I do not own the power rangers. YET.
Summary: When the twin sister Syd believes to be dead calls for help how can she refuse? But maybe she should have…
"Cadet Drew, have you changed your mind about qualifying to drive SPD vehicles?" Commander Cruger asked the pink ranger on their annual qualification day. Every skill had to be retested yearly to make sure they were still able and qualified to be rangers.
For the past three years Sydney had turned down the opportunity to test to drive the SPD vehicles. This time would be no different. "No sir." Syd replied quietly.
"Very well." Commander Cruger conceded as he walked away to test other cadets and rate their progress.
"Come on Syd, what if something happens and you have to drive?" Z argued with her roommate.
"I'll take the bus." Syd said stubbornly, hoping Z would get the hint and drop the subject.
"I'd pay to see you on a bus any day Syd." Jack teased at the thought of his sheltered teammate riding public transportation.
"Stop being stupid and just do it." Shouted an exasperated Sky. "Even Boom is qualified to drive the vehicles. What's the big deal?"
"The big deal is that I don't want to." Sydney shouted back at the blue ranger, not admitting the real reason was that she was afraid. Not just slightly afraid, totally petrified would be more like it.
"Real mature Sydney." Sky remarked in his condescending tone. The teasing had moved into serious bickering and Bridge was quick to stop it before things got out of hand.
"Alright. Lay off. Syd doesn't have to drive if she doesn't want to." The green ranger defended Syd as he came between the two rangers. He hated seeing his two best friends fight and lately that's all they have been doing. Ever since Sky had been betrayed by his friend Dru, he had been unpleasant to be around. Even Syd didn't want anything to do with him.
"Whatever." Sky mumbled as he turned away. "You don't know how to drive do you?" He wondered suddenly, turning back around to confront the pink princess. "Must be rough being chauffeured all the time." He continued to taunt Syd.
"Go to hell Schuyler!" Syd screamed as she shoved him out of the way so she could pass and ran out of the training area.
"Way to go Sky." Jack reprimanded his second in command. "You just had to push her buttons." The red ranger said disapprovingly as he left.
"Now who's being mature? What's your problem anyway?" Z commented with a look of disgust on her face.
"She didn't deserve that." Bridge agreed as he too left the sulking blue ranger by himself.
Sky gave no second thought to Syd or her feelings until he realized she was avoiding him. She didn't turn up for dinner or even movie night, one of Syd's favorite occasions. 'She must be really mad if she's not coming to a Matthew McConaughey movie.' Sky thought worried. 'I don't know why I said all those terrible things to her.' He admitted to himself. "It's not like Syd would hurt me like Dru did." He decided thoughtfully. He got so caught up in his thoughts he was almost late to his shift. "I'll have to find Syd later."
"Don't say you understand. You don't know what it's like to lose someone Sydney." Sky's words from two nights ago haunted her thoughts as she hid in her bedroom, too upset to attend the movie night. The others were probably wondering where she was but she didn't care. After the whole incident with Dru, Syd had attempted to comfort Sky but he was in no mood for it or her.
"You don't know Syd." She repeated to herself the phrase others had told her all of her life. She couldn't possibly understand anything about life because she was so happy and rich. "Apparently I've never had a problem in my life.' She remarked bitterly. "They're the ones who don't know.' Syd whispered sadly as she gazed at the picture she held in her hands.
Two blonde haired, blue-eyed girls taking their new jeep out for a drive immediately after receiving two driver's licenses. Syd recalled the angry argument she had with her sister that day, and the regret she lived with every day since then.
"I passed first so I get to drive first." Sydney reminded her sister as her dad held the keys to their new vehicle.
"But I'm older and more responsible, so I should drive first." Taylor replied back. The elder twin by four minutes, Taylor rolled her eyes when their dad handed Syd the keys. She should have known it would turn out that way. Syd was Daddy's little girl, and Taylor was much more like their mom. With a sigh, she hopped in the passenger seat while Syd cheerfully bounced into the driver's seat.
"Be careful you two." Kathryn Drew shouted from the driveway as Sydney pulled the customized pink jeep out into the street, snapping pictures of this milestone event.
"Have fun." Christopher Drew added as he waved goodbye to his two daughters, not knowing that would be the last time he would see one of them.
Syd had turned up the music to her favorite station and was singing along much to Taylor's dismay.
"Turn it down!" Taylor shouted over the loud pop music blaring from the speakers.
"No! "Sydney shouted back at her usually uptight sister. "I don't even know how we're even related, let alone twins. We're nothing alike." Taylor was the president of the senior sophomore class and guard on the varsity basketball team. Meanwhile, Syd was captain of the cheerleading squad and leading candidate for Prom Queen.
"For once I agree. I'm the responsible one and I should be driving. Pull over." Taylor demanded in frustration.
"No." Sydney refused again as she kept on driving and ignoring the pestering of her sister.
"Syd!" Taylor tried to get her attention urgently. The younger twin resisted the urge to look at her sister and responded with an angry shake of her head.
"Syd! LOOK OUT!" Taylor screamed as a tractor-trailer crossed the median and headed straight for their car. Sydney jerked the wheel in time to avoid a fatal head on collision with the truck. However, the driver of the truck over compensated for his carelessness and overturned his truck crashing into the back of the girls' new jeep. It rolled three or four times before coming to a grinding halt as it hit a tree on the side of the road.
Sydney didn't know what happened after as she woke in the hospital the next morning. She had suffered a terrible concussion and had broken her right arm and a few ribs, not to mention the numerous bruises that covered her petite body. But none of the physical injuries hurt as much as the realization that her sister had died. She had died instantly as the jeep crashed into the tree.
Syd spent her junior year in high school being tutored at home. She couldn't bear to go to school and see her friends and not see Taylor. Even being at home was torture for the young girl. Though the twins had been close as kids, they had grown apart in their teen years; but they still had a relationship that most people envied.
Fearing for her mental well being, it was with great sadness that her parents sent her to the SPD academy in New Tech City. They hoped a new start would be what Sydney needed. It was a last resort, they didn't know what else to do. They had lost one daughter, and they didn't want to lose another.
As the clock passed midnight, April 7th became April 8th. Today was Sydney's 20th birthday. What had been the happiest day of her life for sixteen years now only served a painful reminder of the day that her sister had died.
She heard footsteps approaching and quickly jumped under the covers and pretended to be asleep to avoid her roommate. She lay there quietly as Z got in her pajamas and brushed her teeth.
Syd regretted not going to Kat to get some sleeping pills but she hadn't wanted the extra attention that request would garner. The inevitable questions and looks of concern would be too much for the pink ranger to take. But now as she tossed and turned about in bed she wished she hadn't had so much pride. She could only hope and pray that the next day wouldn't be filled with battles.
Around 2 am found Sydney finally drifting off into a restless sleep, but not without the usual dreams that haunted her this time every year. Visions of a tractor trailer heading unavoidable towards her jeep, the sounds of her own screams and Taylor's, the funeral, but mostly images of her sister. Even four years later she could remember vividly what she and Taylor had been wearing.
Knowing that she would be taking her driver's license picture later gave Syd a bit of anxiety as she tried to pick out the perfect outfit. Finally she chose her favorite pink halter-top and mini jean skirt and pink sandals. Taylor, the practical one had chosen her favorite pair of jeans and light pink polo shirt to go with her running shoes. Syd remembered teasing her sister's lack of fashion sense as they left for school that morning.
Syd would do anything to take that whole day back; she would even trade the rest of her birthdays to have her sister back.
She wasn't surprised at the return of the images; she had come to expect them every year on this day. As images of the accident faded, a new image appeared. It was blurry but the voice was unmistakable.
"Syd." Her sister's pleading voice made Sydney sit straight up. 'No way.' She thought with a shake of her blonde curls. She waited to see if the voice would return. She hoped it had been a distortion of her dreams. She had never heard her sister's voice before in her dreams.
"Help me." Taylor's voice returned, sounding as weak and scared as Syd had ever heard her.
"How?" The pink ranger questioned scared yet hopeful that she could help her twin. She had accepted her sister's death but something had never felt right. Every time she visited the gravesite, she couldn't feel the presence of the sister she had spent sixteen years playing with, fighting with, and sharing secrets with. She couldn't explain it to anyone, just attributed it to twin intuition. Though they had there great difference they were still loyal to each other. Syd and Taylor could always sense when the other twin needed them.
A vision of her sister standing on the cliffs overlooking New Tech City gave Sydney her first clue. Suddenly a sinister figure appeared behind her sister, the familiar villain chilling Syd to her core. "Broodwing." She whispered in shock even as she threw off the covers desperate to get to her sister.
"SYDNEY!" Taylor screamed in fright as Broodwing forced her away back to the caves.
"Hold on Tay!" Syd promised as she quickly exchanged her pajamas for a pair of jeans and her running shoes. She signed out at the front desk and was out the door.
"After I destroy everything the pink ranger cares about, I will destroy her!" The young villaness declared triumphantly. "Now we wait." She said excitedly waiting for her prey as the trap was set.
If Z hadn't been in such a hurry to get to breakfast she would have noticed the disarray on the pink ranger's side of their room. First off there was no pink ranger in her bed, which was unusual because Sydney Drew was usually the last one out of bed. Syd's comforter and sheets were thrown about as if she had left in a hurry. Peanuts, her beloved elephant was on the floor next to her favorite slippers. One of Syd's pet peeves was cold feet thus she never left the room without her slippers, at least whenever she had on her pajamas. Her shower bucket was still dry and still left hanging on the back of the door from the previous day.
The yellow ranger raced into the dining hall desperate for a quick breakfast and a much-needed cup of coffee before signing in for her morning shift. She had overslept the alarm and was racing around like a mad woman much to her male teammate's amusement and she was gone before they could say good morning.
"So have you thought about how you're going to apologize to Syd?" Bridge reminded his roommate as the three boys ate alone, a rare occurrence.
"I don't know why I snapped at her like that. It was uncalled for." Sky said regretfully, remembering his harsh words to his sensitive teammate. He could still see clearly the devastated look on her face before it changed to one of anger.
"Look, I know you're still upset about Dru," Jack admitted slowly; "But you better go find Syd and make things right before we have another battle." The red ranger advised the blue ranger.
"You're right." Sky agreed easily, not wanting the tension between him and Syd coming to a head during a battle. He picked up his tray and headed to the girls room for some serious begging for Syd's forgiveness.
What the blue ranger didn't know was that the pink ranger had signed out of SPD earlier that morning. Nor did he know that she wasn't back yet, even 6 hours later.