Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters mentioned in this non-profit Non-copyright infringement..-ing fic. If I did...Dustin and Hunter would be in my closet.
Author's Note: So like I said, I really...REALLY need to lay off the Duster fics so I'm branching to a Dustin/Marah fic. This is going to be interesting XD Hopefull this goes off well . enjoi
Stockholm syndrome:
n.
A phenomenon in which a hostage begins to
identify with, bond with or grow sympathetic to
his or her captor.
"ey guys, I going on vacation fo few weeks with my dd.
-Waldo"
"Who's 'Waldo'?" Hunter asked as he looked over Tori's shoulder at the letter she was reading.
"That's Dustin's first name" She informed, "His spelling is really bad"
"Hey Sensei, did Dustin say anything to you about leaving?" Shane asked, he was naturally concerned; it wasn't like the earth ninja to just up and leave without letting anyone of them know.
"No Shane he did not, perhaps he forgot"
"Forgot to tell all of us?" Blake crossed his arms and chuckled, "I don't think so" The thunder ninja knew he was a space case but forgetting to tell all of them, no way.
"Blake's right. I think something's up"
"Hunter's right..." Cam chimed in from the other side of Tori.
"Really?" The navy thunder smiled and earned a punch in the shoulder.
"Look," He took the letter that was scribbled on the back of a cable bill, "He misspelled a lot of things-"
"What's that mean?" the red ninja asked, sensing that the samurai ninja was onto something.
"He's leaving us a message...he missed the 'H' in 'hey'...and 'M' an 'R'...and two 'A's"
"Okay....he left us some letters," Shane took the letter and looked it over for some clue as to where he was, "C'mon Dustin...."
"Marah," Hunter said simply "She took Dustin"
"What?"
"Shane, H-M-R-A-A...rearrange the letters and you get 'MARAH'"
"Oh..." he stopped to think then nodded, "Right, I never got into scrabble" The fact that Dustin was able to pull something like that off just confirmed to him that Dustin wasn't as confused about things as he put on.
"Marah has him...so we go to Lothor's ship?" Tori asked, she wasn't quite sure how but they needed to because he had Dustin.
"Yeah...but It'll be weeks before I have anything that can get up to Lothor's ship in space"
"Just supe up the zords so they could go into space"
"It doesn't work like that Blake...look...the only thing we can do is wait-"
"Lothor has Dustin, we can't just sit around and do nothing" Shane's temper was flaring, he couldn't help it, his best friend was captured by Marah and was on Lothor's ship. They could be torturing him...or worse.
"I know how you feel Shane but we can only wait..."
"....Fine"
***
"Hey!....Hello!!" A loud grunt emerged from a large room and the two kelzacks that stood outside the door looked at each other then forward. "I know you dudes are out there!!"
Dustin had been on this ship for only about three hours and he felt like he was going insane. His chest rose and fell quicker than usual as his vision of the wall in front of him spiraled; he clenched his eyes and shook his head. Next time he was going to eat breakfast, even if it meant being late for lessons...again. A soft hiss got his attention and soft shoes hitting the hard floor came closer after a second and another hiss.
"Hey...you don't look to good"
"Lemme go dude" He opened his eyes and spotted Marah approaching his left and he instinctually shifted to the right.
"I can't..." She frowned as she got down to her knees and moved some damp hair from his face, "Are you hungry?"
"No, I'm not eating any of your evil space alien food"
"Aw, come on yellow ranger, it's not that bad" She wore a small hopeful smile but when the captured ninja looked away from her she sighed. "I'll bring some anyway, I'm sure you're really hungry" He didn't respond so Marah got up and left.
Dustin looked up at the very strange looking cuffs around his wrists, if only he could get out. He could find the other captured students, maybe even free them then bam! They take over Lothor's ship and head to earth. The yellow ninja found himself wearing a smile, the first in a while, remembering that he would definitely need his friends if he wanted to pull something like that off. On his own he wouldn't be able to take over Lothor's ship, was he being modest? He knew he was a skilled fighter, sensei told him so, but he knew he could be over powered by the force Lothor had on his side.
"Here...a peobuller and jeatty sandwich" Marah sat down next to him and held the plate up to his eye-level before setting it down on her lap. The snack was on what looked like wheat bread but he knew it wasn't, the 'butter' was slime green and the substitute 'jelly' was a bright orange. From the looks of it she quickly made it herself and that made him wonder why she was doing this, after what happened. She used him. "Well, take a bite..." She held that sandwich up to his lips and he turned his head, "Please?" She pressed the faux bread against his lips and he turned his head again. "You gotta eat sometime ranger" she informed, setting the sandwich back on the plate then placing the plate on the ground. "Eat it later then" Marah got up and started working on the cuffs that held his wrists over his head. He was being set free? Yeah right. His wrists fell away from the wall onto his lap and he looked at the soft glowing red chain that was connected the cuffs to a spot on the wall over his head. "There," The space girl smiled, clearly feeling accomplished, "Make sure you eat all of that" she pointed to the sandwich before leaving the room.
"Yeah right dude, I'm so outta here" He said to himself as he stood up then started walking to the door. The chain yanked then pulled him back to the wall. "Oh....So not cool" It was like a lock on a seatbelt. He slid down the wall and looked at the...whatever she called it sandwich then winced as his stomach let out a very audible growl. Hunger won out over his brain and he grabbed the sandwich then took a bite out of it. A deep frown broke over his face, only because he was picturing the way the food looked in his hands, it looked nasty. Remember what Shane said. Dustin sighed and slowly chewed and his frown turned up to a hinted smile. The red ninja had told him once; back when they were kids that it was mind over matter, it was only gross because he thought it was. At first he disagreed, saying that the little bumps on his tongue said that sauerkraut was nasty no matter how you ate it but in the end, Shane was right, he usually was. The earth ninja ate the rest of the PB&J sandwich with a smile as he thought about everything else but what he was eating.
***
The yellow clad ninja was lying on the hard floor with his bound hands resting over his stomach, he was totally stoked that Marah didn't poison him but on the other hand his stomach was starting to hurt. There was a sharp pain in his torso and he wondered if she planted a Matrix thing in his body. Now he was totally creeped out on top of everything else. Great!
"Hey..." Marah came back into the room, "you feel better?" Her tone was so sincere and kind but Dustin couldn't shake their past. What she did.
"Kinda, yeah" Now that she mentioned it, his stomach was starting to feel a bit better.
"Good, do you want some more food? I can make you something else" He could really go for some pizza but he doubted this place was on Pizza Hut's delivery route. Damn.
"No thanks"
"Look...ranger, about before on Earth I-"
"I don't wanna here it Marah" It was uncharacteristic of him to be rude and curt but he didn't really want to be around her and talk to her or be on Lothor's ship for that matter. He sat up with his back toward the saddened space ninja and tapped his nails against the thick center of the cuffs.
"Well...I'm sorry. I really am" He didn't say anything so she bit her lip then picked the empty plate off the floor, "I'll um...bring you some more food ranger" She said as she walked back to the door.
"It's Dustin dude...My name's Dustin"
"Dustin" She repeated with a soft smiled as she looked at his back with shining eyes. On one hand she knew she was going to get in trouble for visiting the prisoner but on the other hand, the ranger...Dustin, was opening up to her...maybe not 'trusting' but it could happen over time and that was totally worth writing 'I promise I will not talk to the cute yellow ranger prisoner' a million times over and over again on the clear board. She looked at him a second longer before leaving the room, her smile growing slightly. Yeah...totally worth it.