I have not forgotten Syzygy, I never could. I don't know where this came from, but it did, and kinda begged to be written. So, here it is.
I don't want to give away much about the story at this stage but I think the title is a little indicative of what's going to happen.
And like always, I do not own Power Rangers or the lyrics of the songs that I will be using as the chapter titles.
Tori
I know that it might sound jaded
And I have to say
I think love is overrated
But I don't like throwing it away.
- Crash and Burn,
Thomas Rhett.
17 September, 2003.
It seems more like a homecoming extravaganza than a farewell get-together. The guys are inside, hammered beyond repair, slurring out incomprehensible words every minute, watching a football match and screaming the place down.
Their madness perturbs me, their carefree joy confuses me, my aching heart surprises me.
I had not expected to be this shaken by his departure. I had not wanted to be this shaken but here I was, an eighteen year old behaving like her life had just ended because her crush of eleven months had decided to move to another city to chase his dreams.
I press myself harder against the railing, body suddenly feeling lighter, the cold wind lashing at me.
"Tor," there is panic in his voice, as he rushes to my side, his hands firmly wrapped around my forearm. "You could have fallen."
I let my body relax against his, leaning against him.
"Did you want to fall or what?" he chuckles to himself, his laughter resonating with mine.
"As enticing as that sounds, no, Blake, I did not want to do that," I reply, my words slurring too.
I twist my body to face him and pull back slightly to create some distance between the two of us.
He stares at me for a second and frowns a little, "That sounds enticing?"
I cackle.
"I was just playing," I giggle. "I am not suicidal, don't worry."
He smiles back, but his face is marred with lines of worry.
"How much did you drink, Tori?" he questions me, voice almost accusing.
"Not much," I say. "Not at all."
He gives me one long glance, clearly disturbed to find me in this state.
"If I tell you something now, if we talk now, will you remember?" he asks, voice uncharacteristically shaky.
"Yes," I say. "Of course, I will."
"Tori, I…" he begins, stuttering at the very first word.
I look at him expectantly.
"I did not want to leave," he finally says.
"Oh."
I cringe at my reply.
"I wanted to stay here. I never wanted to go away but Factory Blue is big and if I want to be any good at motocross, which I badly do, this is the place. I don't want you to think that-"
I cut him off by pressing my lips onto his. Where I have found this newfound courage is unbeknownst to me. Maybe it is the alcohol, maybe it is the fact that he was futilely trying to explain his actions or maybe it is the assurance that no matter how much of a fool I make of myself, it won't matter because he will be gone.
Just gone.
He does not kiss me back at once and I think it is because I have surprised him but when he does not kiss me back at all, I pull back.
His eyes are closed and they snap open as I pull back.
"Tori, I…" he starts.
"Nah, Blake, it's fine," I shrug.
He opens his mouth again but I cut him off.
"You don't have to explain yourself," I say, realizing how tears were forming in my eyes.
"I can't… can't start something that I won't be able to finish."
His logic baffles me. Maybe it would not have had I not been sloshed, but now, it just sounds like a load of crap.
Horseshit.
"That's okay," I reply lamely, telling myself that I should not sour this moment because it could be the last I saw of him.
At least for a good few years.
"What are you delinquents up to?"
I draw myself farther away from Blake, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at the sound of that voice.
In all his pompous jackassery, Hunter stands at the door to the balcony, a stupid smirk on his face.
Like always.
"Delinquent?" I scoff. "Do you even know how to spell that?"
"You are a bunch of teenagers drinking. Could not find a better word."
I glare at him.
"What do you want?" I hiss.
"Nothing, princess," he smiles. "It is past twelve. I have to drive you home."
"I am not your princess and if you think you are going to get to drive my van, get real."
"I promised your mom I'd get you home and I always keep my promises," he says, voice suddenly serious, all traces of a smirk gone.
I freeze under his gaze, my knees buckle and I feel myself falling, weightless.
Before I can hit the ground, a pair of strong hands is wrapped around me, cradling my limp body.
I expect it to be Blake but surprisingly, it is Hunter. He has managed to move with some freaky speed whereas Blake has stood a silent spectator.
"Looks like it is time to go home, princess," he whispers as he helps me to my feet, wrapping an arm around my waist.
"Do you want me to go too?" Blake asks.
"Nope," Hunter dismisses him. "One drunk teenager is all that I can handle."
Blake agrees and Hunter escorts me to my van, making me sit and fastening my seat belt.
"Aren't you being a little too overprotective?" I ask, his actions astounding me.
Like always.
"Maybe," he smirks, before igniting the engine and driving off.
The familiar comfort of my bed surrounds me.
"Your parents trust you," he whispers, pulling the covers on top of me.
"I know," I mumble. "They trust me enough to leave me the whole house even when I told them quite explicitly that there was a party."
"Yeah," he chuckles, sitting down on the bed.
"I feel like puking."
"Drinking isn't everyone's cup of tea, princess."
"Don't call me that," I groan. "I hate princesses."
"I know," he laughs, getting up to leave. "Which is precisely why I call you so."
I fail to glare at him.
"Go off to sleep," he says. "I'll see you at the airport."
Damn.
"Hunter, I can't be at the airport," I confess.
He does not say a word and I proceed to explain, somehow feeling it is important for me to present my reasons.
"It'll be awkward," I frown.
"Okay," he says, his gaze softening. "Don't puke to death. Stay alive."
"Hunter?"
"Yeah?"
"When do you leave?"
I think I see his eyes widen, just a little, almost imperceptible; surprise on his face.
"Next week, perhaps."
"I'll miss you," I mumble, my eyes drooping close with sleep.
He smiles, does not smirk, and I go off to sleep, his smile, the last thing that I see.
"Tori?"
I am nudged out of my sleep by Hunter's voice.
"Your parents are going to be home in an hour. You might want to leave. I am certain that they would not want to see their underage daughter in the clutches of a hangover."
Brain cells still clogged with sleep, I rub my eyes lazily.
"What time is it?" I mutter.
"One," he replies. "In the afternoon."
"What?" I spring up at once and Hunter starts laughing.
"First hangover, princess, how does it feel?"
"Terrible," I groan, feeling nauseous and dizzy, all at once.
He chuckles, "It's going to be a very long day, princess."
"I never asked you why you were at my place in the morning," I frown as we walk through the woods, on our way to the Wind Ninja Academy.
"To save your ass," he states simply.
To say that I did not understand Hunter Bradley would be an understatement. What the hell was his game?
"Will you start teaching today itself?"
"I don't know," I sigh. "Maybe."
"Are you nervous?"
"Would it not be normal?"
"No," he says. "Hell, no! You saved the world. You can't be nervous."
"We saved the world, Hunter, we did it."
There is silence for some time before he replies.
"You three saved the world, Tori. I was on the ground. So were Blake and Cam. It was you, Shane and Dustin, not us."
I think I hear guilt in his voice.
"Hunter, that's not true. The three of us fought the last battle in a long war and besides, we would have been outnumbered had you not rescued the ninjas from Lothor's ship."
"I know."
"You can't feel guilty for that, you know," I say.
He stops in his tracks, looking closely at me, blue eyes piercing through me and I feel wobbly again, being scrutinized by him.
I don't know what it is about Hunter that unsettles me so much. Maybe it's the fact that despite having been on the same team that had saved humanity, despite having had the opportunity to know him, I still didn't have the foggiest idea about him. All I knew about him was what he wanted me to know and that was hardly anything.
Why am I realizing this now?
He looks away and only then do I realize that I had been unmoving under his leaden gaze. I let out a breath I never knew I was holding; the hammering of my heart the only sensation in my numb body as I follow him into the portal that lies waiting for us.
The sound of footsteps slowly dies as I see the students disappear as they walk towards the portal, and I stay back in the woods.
The sun is about to set and its dying light casts dancing shadows of the trees around. There is an unnatural rustle of the leaves and I get the uncanny feeling of being watched. Taking a look around, there is no sign of life that meets my eyes.
I glance around one last time, before deciding to return to the Academy.
The silence of the forest is restored and within a blink, a crimson beam of light comes to rest in front of me.
There is a smirk on his face as he tells me, amusement apparent in his voice, "It's just me, princess."
I have to take a few long breaths till I am breathing normally again and my heart has stopped thudding in my chest.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I hiss. "You scared me."
He rolls his eyes, "Some of your students are better than you."
I glare at him, unable to understand one damned thing about him.
"You were spying on me?" I almost yell.
"Spying is a strong word," he muses. "I'd call it observing and I observed that you are not as good as a Sensei should be."
I feel anger boiling within me, anger at his nerve, his audacity.
"And you are?"
"Of course I am," he grins. "Why do you think I am the head teacher at the Thunder Ninja Academy?"
"Let's spar, then," I blurt, my pride taking a severe beating and needing some serious repair.
"What, now?" he asks.
"Now."
"You'll lose, princess," he smirks, taking a step closer.
One blow and I will have him on the ground.
It is instinctive: I close my hands into a tight fist and aim for him. With surprising agility, he manages to block it. We move apart, settling into fighting stances.
"We are seriously going to do this?" he smirks.
"Shut up," I growl.
For the next few minutes, we fall into a rhythm: every one of my attacks defended by him, every one of his attacks defended by me, when all of a sudden, he manages to breach my defenses and I find myself on the ground.
"Did I not tell you, you'll lose?" he grins, extending his hand.
I brush away his hand and stand up on my own, which makes him laugh.
Jerk.
"Anyway, I came to tell you that Blake's flight has landed."
I have been questioning my sanity for the last twenty minutes, standing on the steps to Ninja Ops. After much debate and discussion, we eventually decided to keep the underground facility functional. After all, it had seen us through our most difficult times.
Taking in a deep breath, I enter Ops.
Everyone is here, huddled together around the table, in the midst of a lively conversation.
"Hey guys!" I greet them.
"Yo T!" Cyber Cam is the only one who acknowledges my presence.
"Guys!" I bark. "I'm going to borrow Hunter for a moment."
Hunter looks at me, another one of his smirks forming on his lips. He gets up slowly and walks at a painstakingly low pace.
"Yes, princess?"
I bite back my caustic words.
"I need your help," I say.
"For what?"
"Will you do it or not?"
"What are we talking about?"
I glance at the guys who are not paying the least bit of attention to us.
"I want to drink," I say. "I need you to buy me a beer... or something."
He narrows his eyes at me.
"Two nights straight? Are you a booze junkie now?"
"Please, Hunter," I put on the best pleading expression that I have.
"Ask Cam to buy it," he smiles innocently.
Vindictive ass.
"You know that won't work," I mumble.
"Please, Hunter," I beg. "I need to, tonight."
"Why?" He looks fairly amused.
I open my mouth but find myself unable to voice my thoughts.
"Because," I sigh and proceed to say what will sound the most convincing. "I miss Blake."
He does not reply, the amusement blinking out of his face.
"But no getting drunk like last night. One bottle of beer is all that you will get."
"Thank-"
"Oh yeah, and another condition too."
"What's that?"
"I get to call you princess without you getting pissed."
"You possibly can't-"
"Okay, no deal, then," he says and makes a pretense of turning around.
Jackass.
I grab his arm before he can go.
"Okay," I sigh.
"Okay what?" he grins. "Say it."
"You can call me princess."
A bottle comes whizzing in my direction and I grab it with absolute animal instinct and hunger.
"Thanks," I say, opening the bottle.
"You are welcome, princess," he says, sitting down beside me.
We are at the beach, Hunter, as he keeps reminding me, having graciously bought me a bottle of beer.
Bitterness floods my mouth with one gulp of the liquid.
We sit there in perfect silence, awkward yet companionable, empty yet filled.
The drink is slowly having its effect and I feel the weight of my thoughts slowly getting lighter.
It was not an entire lie that I missed Blake but more than that, it was Hunter that brought me here.
I had realized that like always, we had given Blake a farewell of grandiosity while we had forgotten that Hunter too would be leaving.
He would not be half the world away but he would be away: even if it was two hours away.
And no matter how much grief he gave me, he was still Hunter: not really a friend, not just a teammate, undefined yet important.
And I still know nothing about him.
"Are you contemplating murder, princess?" he sneers.
"That would mean trouble for you," I retort. "You head that list, you know."
He lets out a snort of a laugh and I find myself laughing too.
"Why do we bicker like kids, Hunter?"
"I don't know," he chuckles. "Has become routine, hasn't it?"
I nod, taking another swig of the beer.
"We'll keep in touch, right?" I ask hesitantly.
He doesn't answer straightaway and I wonder what he is thinking. "We will, Tori," he finally whispers.
"Tori?" I am genuinely surprised and... moved. I'm beginning to like this evening, just Hunter and me, a first of its kind but somehow so utterly familiar.
Why didn't we do this earlier?
"Princess," he corrects himself. "We will, princess."
"Hunter?" I start without thinking. After all, this is the second farewell I'll be bidding in twenty four hours and it possibly can't end worse than how it did with Blake.
"Yeah?"
"Can I tell you something honestly?"
"Should I be worried?"
I sigh. "I feel there is a lot about you that I do not know and this is probably horrible timing but I want to know. You know so much about me and I don't, and it is almost unfair."
He does not reply, silently sips his beer, his body tense, his eyes skittering. Finally, he sighs, "Even if I wanted to, I don't think I would be able to explain all that you are asking me to explain."
I do not have an answer to that. Hunter always has evasive prevaricating answers to everything.
"But if you really want to know," he continues, which surprises me. "I do not remember much before the Bradleys. They took me in when I was three, that's what they told me. They died when I was eleven, hence the number on my bike. Then, there was the Thunder Ninja Academy and then, there was Lothor and you know the rest."
It is perhaps the worst representation that one can give of his life but it is something: I never knew why his bike number was eleven. I ponder saying something but there is nothing that comes to my mind and I let a silence descend upon us.
"We'll talk every month, we'll write, we'll text," he tells me suddenly. "We aren't going to lose each other, princess."
"Nope, we aren't." I feel the bottle getting lighter. "You didn't have to buy me the beer today, you know, but you still did. I think I know why..." I giggle, the alcohol doing strange things to my body.
"About time you figured it out, huh?" he smirks. "So that I could call you princess."
I roll my eyes. "And," I start dramatically, nudging him. "Because you love me."
He breaks out into laughter, something fatally contagious about it. "And because I love you, princess."
