Fairy Tales
Power Rangers series: Mystic Force
Pairing: Madison/Daggeron
Note: You all know you love this pairing from the moment the fairy tale influence kicked in for this ship. And there are a LOT of allusions in here. Let's just say Madison is a big reader.
Timeline: This takes place a bit after Daggeron was brought back and he started training the rangers and after Vida and Nick had that fight about 'her' turntable.
Also: I will NOT accept flames! I like this pairing and if you do flame me, do you honestly think it'll do anything but invoke bitter feelings between ships? I ask of you, reader, to respect my pairing opinions and just enjoy the fic.
(PS: I hope the characters are In Character)
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Mystic Force
"You two need to settle it yourselves!" Madison shouted to her twin sister and Nick.
They were having another row, this time about why did the Red Ranger was always so 'special' or something like that, and they'd always seemed to turn to Madison for her answer.
Xander was too busy hitting on the female customers to pay attention to their arguments and Chip had to constantly control himself from using the magic Udonna had bestowed upon him, so he was also out of the question and Phil was usually locked in his office either working on a puzzle or trying to console himself that he was not crazy.
As she went outside for her break, she took out the lunch she packed earlier that day; it was supposed to be for her and Vida, but maybe her sis would be too busy arguing with Nick to notice that someone ate a portion of her lunch.
Sitting down next to the tree she and the other rangers always used as their portal, Madison bit into the sandwich she'd made and began to think about her sister and Nick.
Come to think of it, they'd look cute together if they'd stop arguing every once in a while and actually notice it, in Madison's opinion.
Of course, being that her sister and Nick were both stubborn but they bonded because of their tolerant-hate relationship, they would start screaming and harassing her instead of each other. In any kind of situation, it's well known that the worst kind is when you're outnumbered and outmatched, and you have to go against your opinion.
"Are Nick and Vida having another fight?" a familiar voice asked from behind her.
Startled, Madison sprang out of her sitting position only to trip over her own foot and fall onto her face.
Turning her head towards the tree which she and her friends used often as a portal, she saw Daggeron emerge from the tree and let out a breath of relief.
Though it was only by that curse, Madison couldn't help but admire how youthful he looked; like he was their age, despite that he should be at least in his forties.
"Well?" Daggeron asked as he fully pulled himself out of the tree and waited for her answer.
"Huh? Oh—yes." Madison racked her mind for some kind of explanation, but that was the only thing that came to her at that time.
With as much dignity as she could muster, she pushed herself up and turned to face him fully. Daggeron raised an eyebrow at the sight and Madison followed to where his eyes drifted. From her fall, she barely noticed that the sandwich she'd been eating had fallen under her and now she had mayonnaise, celery, and tuna all over her blue jacket.
Holding back a hiss of dismay, Madison quickly knelt down and, retrieving her authentic Japanese bentoubako, began to search for some napkins.
'How can I be so stupid?' Madison thought as she searched the contents of the bentoubako and found nothing that she could use to clean her jacket with.
"Here." Daggeron kneeled down and produced a white handkerchief.
A part of Madison wanted to laugh—what kind of guy, in this world at this time, even remembered what a handkerchief was?—while the other part was telling her to thank him and ask him why he was here, right outside the Rock-Porium in the first place.
Madison jolted back to reality when she felt Daggeron's hand slide inside her jacket and upwards to where the stain of tuna salad was and began to wipe off the reddish-green mixture that was on the front of the shirt.
'He's only rubbing out the stain he's only rubbing out the stain he'sonlyrubbingoutthestainhe'sonlyrubbingoutthestainhe'sonlyrubbingoutthestainhe'sonly—!' Madison repeated the mantra in her head over and over as she tried to stay as still as a board.
In this time period, if anyone ever saw this, they might mistake their actions for something other than just a courtesy act; if it could be called that.
She quickly glanced at the door to the Rock-Porium; making sure that none of her friends were watching, she'd explode of embarrassment if any of them, particularly her sis, came out at that time and saw her and Daggeron in this standing.
When she felt something warm, most likely just his accidental hand, brush against her breast, Madison yelped out and instinctively pushed Daggeron away; a difficult feat seeing that he was taller, stronger, and heavier than she was.
"I'm sorry." She immediately apologized as Daggeron tried to pull himself up.
What he must think she was now. Her first impression to him was the lady who was deathly afraid of frogs due to a childhood drama involving Vida, but felt grateful to the little frog that saved her life that she broke his curse.
Now, here was Madison; prudent, clumsy, messy, and apparently a bit violent, Madison. She could feel the heat emaciating from her face and knew her skin would be that blotchy dark crimson color she'd always hated since she first saw it in her bathroom mirror.
"I'm sorry." She repeated, trying to avert Daggeron's eyes.
When she peeked upwards, she saw that he was only rubbing at the back of his head and trying to pull a few small twigs and grass pieces that were caught in his hair.
"Only bruises were to my pride." Daggeron replied evenly.
Madison only nodded and a silence settled between them.
"Are you here to see Nick or—?" Madison asked.
"Actually, I came to see you; come with me." Daggeron replied and went through the portal tree.
Madison stood there for a moment and then, not wanting to seem impolite, gathered what was left of her and Vida's lunches, a lot considering she hadn't eaten too much, followed him to the forest.
He'd told her that they were going north of Rootcore to a clearing with a large lagoon so Madison would feel more comfortable training close to her chosen element.
After a while, the silence was really annoying, they began to talk.
"So Nick and Vida honestly don't get along too well?" Daggeron questioned.
Madison nodded and refrained from laughing at the many tiffs they'd had and, no matter how ridiculous the subject was, they both refused to back down; even if one of them was technically wrong.
"No. But that's what'll probably make them a good couple." She replied; looking up to the tree leaves overhead.
"Pardon my learnings if they seem aged, but as I last recall, weren't couples supposed to like each other?" Daggeron questioned as his gaze shifted over to Madison.
He'd been deftly aware that she seemed to like Nick judging by his observations as a frog when the 5 first became power rangers.
Madison laughed again, regarding the older man.
"Yes, but fights are good too; in that kind of way, people find out more about each other that way, they'll be better set for the future. Besides; a bit before we were first rangers, an old man begged for help because his brother was kidnapped, and no one offered to. Then after Nick said he would and asked for someone else to help him, Vida followed him; it was one of those first-impression bonds, if you want to call it that." Madison explained.
"Ah. But what about you? Your sister dating, if you would call it that, the person you like more than you would another acquaintance." Daggeron inquired.
"I'd be happy for them, I guess." Madison told him as she stepped over a tree root.
"You're very altruistic." Daggeron commented; a bit concerned for her.
"Is that a bad thing?" Madison asked with a shrug of her shoulders.
"What about your wants, then?" Daggeron counter-questioned. Madison stopped; regarding Daggeron and his question.
True, she'd never really told anyone if she'd wanted anything and it would take a toll on her friendships and possible future relationships, but this was what she'd been actually taught; she and Vida had been different since birth and while Vida flourished with others, she was a bit too headstrong and Madison was there to counterbalance her sis.
"Maybe it was because I was raised to think more about others than myself or because I believe strongly in balance with my sis, or something else but I just don't consider myself many times and because of that, and because of this habit, I feel really left out and…insufficient at times." Madison confessed; thinking about how her teammates once let her drop when Fireheart came and did those cute things only a baby dragon could get away with.
Then checked herself; she was probably boring Daggeron when talking about balance between siblings and how she's moping about feeling depressed and left out because of her own faults, he probably thought of her as an attention-seeking child! She stopped, looking down quickly and admonished herself for being so self-centered at the time.
"You know that isn't true, Madison; you, Vida, Xander, Chip, and Nick were all chosen to be Mystic rangers by fate and to save both the Mystic world and the real world from moral danger you must all learn to cooperate and also depend on the others for your successes in battle. After all, you're like the person who delicately balances the rangers." Daggeron told her.
Madison looked up, barely meeting his eyes, but he could see that she didn't believe him.
"Look at your element; Water. Without water, nothing would survive and there would be much disorder in the world. With water comes a sense of tranquility and flexibility; it is the only element that can be made into any shape and still be the same. It will adapt quickly and easily to its surroundings." He explained and Madison nodded; holding her bentoubako tighter as she considered his statement.
It was silence again, save for the calling of the animals echoing off of the trees.
"Where are we?" she asked, continuing to look around. They'd been walking north for what seemed like hours and there was no clearing in sight; just a bunch of tall trees blocking a grayish sky.
"We can use the tree portals to go back." Daggeron reassured and watched Madison lightly wince.
"Bad memories." She explained; not all roots went to...the best of places, as she found out.
Daggeron nodded in understanding and Madison wondered if he had gone through the same experience, or if he had just read her thoughts. Again.
"Well, then; we can go back on this." He suggested; untying the string on a roll of fabric and throwing it outward.
Madison's eyes widened when she saw that it was floating in midair.
It was a magic carpet.
She watched as Daggeron climbed upon the floating length of cloth and it supported his weight.
"Come and get on." He told her.
"Uh—exactly how much weight can that support?" Madison asked tentatively; eyeing the thin depth of the magic carpet.
"Do you trust me?" Daggeron asked and Madison's eyes shot up to him at those words.
"This is like that scene in Aladdin!" she blurted out, then covered her mouth quickly; a Disney movie? What was she thinking and doing? 'Telling Daggeron that this was like a scene in a Disney movie which in turn is similar to the fairy tale 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'.' She thought sarcastically to herself.
"Sorry?" Daggeron asked; not knowing what 'Aladdin' was.
"It's…uh…this fairy tale—story." Madison corrected herself politically. Daggeron said nothing; then reaching for her hand and helping her onto the Magic Carpet. As they rode on it, Madison still couldn't believe this was happening.
"Care to tell me that…fairy tale?" Daggeron asked suddenly; the carpet slowing down.
Madison turns from her observing position to face him.
"Well, the story starts out in the land of Agrabah…"
"And that's about it." She finished lamely.
"So a poor man falls in love with the princess and uses magic to try and win her over, but in the end he wins her over without the magic anyway." Daggeron quickly summarizes.
"Yes; it's kind of like in 'The Great Gatsby' by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, the whole theme of pretending and whatnot." Madison confirmed, and then noticed Daggeron was again confused.
Why was she talking about writers from the human world when Daggeron had no contact with other humans nearly his entire life? Did he feel that she was showing off in front of him? Did she seem too much like a snarky know-it-all?
"We should focus on finding our way." Daggeron finally said. Pulling Madison clower to the center of the carpet, the piece of fabric began to fly ahead; turning and weaving often between the bodies of tall mystic trees.
Though she still felt embarassed, Madison couldn't help but feel giddiness surge through her; she was riding on a magic carpet and this time, she wasn't six years old and the carpet wasn't her Princess sleeping bag on her living room floor.
"I take it you've never actually ridden one of these before?" Daggeron asked from behind her.
Madison turned and shook her head.
"There were no magic carpets in the human world except in fairy tales and particularly Disney movies." She replied.
"Then, if it pleases you, would you tell me another one of those as you call it fairy tales?" Daggeron asked.
Madison nodded, then tried to think of one that Daggeron might like or find amusing.
"The Frog Prince." She suggested after remembering that day when she broke his curse by kissing him in his frog form. Daggeron scooted a bit closer to her and she turn so she faced him as well.
"The story starts out with 'once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a beautiful princess. But the princess, despite her beauty, was very selfish and vain. One day…" she continued telling him the story; how the princess dropped her golden ball into a pond and a frog told her he would retrieve it on one condition—that she let him into her home, fed him and let him sleep on her pillow—and she promised to but as soon as the frog retrieved the ball she took it and ran. The frog tailed her back to the castle where the king told his daughter to honor her promise to the frog.
Before the climax, Madison stopped.
There were actually 2 endings to the well-known fairy tale.
In the modern and altered versions, the princess kisses the frog and he becomes a prince and they live happily ever after and in the version by the Brothers Grimm, she throws the frog against the wall and he freakishly turns into a prince after that too.
There were lots of fairy tales, particularly Disney movie versions, where the story frame was altered a lot.
In the Disney version of Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Anastasia lives, meets up with her grandmother, is accepted as the long lost Romanov princess of the Russian Monarchy, but then decides that she didn't belong in such an aristocratic life after all and goes to be with her true love, the servant boy/con man Dimitry who helped her and her grandmother escape the massacre of her family 10 years before the movie took place, with her grandmother's blessing.
In the real life event, it's not sure, but Anastasia might still be alive (though very old) since she and her sisters sewed their family jewels into their corsets which made the bullets ricochet off of them; that and when the bones of the last Tsar's family was found, the skeletons of Anastasia and her brother Alexei were never recovered.
"Well?" Daggeron inquired.
"There are 2 versions to the ending. She kisses the frog, or she…throws him against the wall. And then the frog turns into a prince and they get married." Madison finished carefully; what was Daggeron thinking about right now?
He was probably revolted at the idea and he might also think that Madison was a sadist, since she mentioned a possibility that she might have thrown Daggeron against the wall of the Rock-Porium, or he might think about the entire fairy tale of 'the frog prince' and think that Madison was vain and selfish, or maybe…
Her thoughts stopped when she saw him smile and laugh.
"I am glad you didn't try to throw me against a wall." He said and Madison blushed; of course she wouldn't have done that, despite her phobia of frogs.
"I am too." She agreed and she sat back and let the carpet fly them out of the forest.
"Curious." Daggeron murmured.
"Pardon?" Madison asked.
They had found their way back to Rootcore, Madison wasn't too eager to go back to an arguing Nick and Vida just yet.
"I wonder if I would turn back into a frog if you kissed me again." He replied; still thinking of a few stories he himself had heard when he was younger. .
Madison felt her face burning; was he actually implying what she thought he was?
"There's a way to find out." She said impulsively.
Daggeron reached out and took Madison's hand.
"Really?" he asked with that charming accent and, for the countless time, made Madison's knees go weak.
Her face betrayed her as she felt herself standing on her tiptoes and leaning towards him.
His lips were warm and soft; just like his touch as he encircled his arms around her.
Cautiously, Madison placed her hand on the base of his neck; feeling the soft and tiny curls of his hair as she pulled him closer.
Wait a second; he was KISSING her!
He pulled away when he felt her sway a bit and looked at her curiously.
"…and they lived happily ever after." She murmured, meant for herself.
"Happily ever after?" Daggeron inquired.
Madison faltered.
"I'm sorry; you must think of me as so childish right now. Talking about fairy tales and all that; those are for little kids, aren't they?" she began to babble quickly again.
"To the contrary..." He said; making her pause.
"You're never too old to read fairy tales." He finished and she stared at him.
"Y-You knew all this time about Fairy Tales and…?" she couldn't finish.
This was embarrassing beyond belief! She rambled on about fairy tales while he knew all along, but didn't stop her; or maybe he wanted to so he could tell her he already knew about it but she just kept talking more and more and more and it was probably annoying him—
"Madison, calm down." He told her; as if reading her thoughts, and lightly rubbed the back of her neck.
"How do you know about fairy tales?" she asked as she leaned into his touch.
"Do you honestly think that tales such as those from the Brothers Grimm and Reverend Charles Lutwidge, under the penname of Lewis Carroll, came from the human world?"
"Sis!" Vida called for the third time from the door of the shop.
This time, a voice shouted back.
"Coming." It said.
Vida watched as her sister ran across the street and to her.
For some strange reason, her hair looked tossed and her lips were a definite shade redder; like the time she'd smeared their mother's red lipstick on each other when they were 5.
"I am so glad you're here; Nick and I—." Vida began, but Madison cut her off.
"Sorry; I have this really important thing I have to go to right now. Here; 10 dollars should get you and Nick something from a pizza shop or deli or something. The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Madison said hurriedly and turned to run again.
She was across the street by the time Vida realized what her sister was supposedly hinting and through the tree portal as Vida started shouting.
"ME AND NICK?!"
The end? Or just the beginning? I'm going to write a lot more stories with Madison/Daggeron and Nick/Vida, so be prepared.
Well, that's all for now. R'n'R, please.