Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
By: AndiKaneUnderwood
AU: Alpha/Beta/Omega, Powers According to Elements, Canon Divergence
Follows some feelings they can travel too (and I never minded being on my own, then something broke in me and I wanted to go home)
Jasmine Shiba: Alpha, Samurai Red
Maia Sato: Alpha, Samurai Green
Emily Tanaka: Alpha, Samurai Yellow
Mateo Watanabe: Omega, Samurai Pink
Kevin Yamamoto: Omega, Samurai Blue
Antonio Garcia: Omega, Samurai Gold
Water:
Kevin,
You have always been there when I needed you. I could always count on you to have my back in a fight. Thank you for fighting beside me. I am honored to have known you.
Kevin had promised to always follow the Red Ranger, to pledge his allegiance to the Shiba family and fight for a war he may not live to see expire.
What he hadn't expected was for the Red Ranger to change.
You've been a great friend, Kevin, don't ever doubt that. I am so happy to know you and fight beside you.
He'd gotten used to having Jasmine around to back him up, to help him should he need it, to be there for him if anything happened to him or Maia.
Maia may have been his Alpha, and he loved her with everything in him, but Jasmine was both Pack Alpha and his leader. He couldn't deny her anything.
Which was why he couldn't deny following her orders when they were given to him.
You're an excellent Samurai, Kevin, and I'm sorry to leave you, but this is something I must do to ensure everyone stays safe.
Kevin had wanted to go with him because that was his leader. But he was told he had a duty. He was a Samurai.
And hate it as he did, he had to stay with the others and follow Lauren's orders because that what Jasmine wanted him to do.
I have to go away, Kevin. You're going to have to follow Lauren now. Protect her as I've protected you. I know you'll make her as proud of you as you've made me.
So, even when everything in him screamed for him to follow, comfort, bring her back, he stayed rooted to the spot and prayed that they'd meet again one day.
Samurai~Samurai~Samurai
Forest:
Maia,
I'm grateful beyond words to have been able to find another Alpha to learn from. I never thought that having friends or a Pack was in the cards for me when I took up the sword.
Maia wasn't at all happy with the fact that she was being handed off to another leader like a pawn in someone's game.
This wasn't what she wanted, this wasn't what was supposed to happen.
Thank you for showing me how to be a true Alpha, for teaching me what it means to care for an Omega and a Pack. I'm grateful I had the chance to know what it felt like to lead a Pack as well as a team.
Her team, her Pack, was supposed to defeat the Nighlock. Not five of the Pack and some stranger they'd never met in their lives.
After everything they'd been through together, Jasmine was just walking out on them like that?
No. No way. Maia wouldn't allow it!
Jasmine couldn't. Could she?
Maia, you have to be Pack Alpha now. I can't be around to look after them. Make sure they stay safe.
It was in an Alpha's nature to protect and ensure the safety of the Pack, but how was Maia supposed to be Pack Alpha? She was never supposed to be.
She didn't have Jasmine's ability to intimately understand each of her Pack Mates. She couldn't make them listen to her, not like Jasmine could.
And Maia definitely wasn't able to lead anyone to do anything like Jasmine.
I know you can do it, Maia.
Maia was never supposed to be Pack Alpha. So why did Jasmine leave and make her one?
Samurai~Samurai~Samurai
Sky:
Mateo,
From the moment I met you, I figured you'd be a little different from the rest. I'm sorry you can't have those kids you want. I wish I could go back and stop that attack from reaching you.
Mateo was welcoming to Lauren, not because it was demanded of him.
But rather because he honestly thought this is what Jasmine would want.
Jasmine would want her sister to feel welcomed into her team just as she had done to the others when they joined.
You welcomed me into you're heart and life faster than I expected. At first, I didn't know if that was because you were Omega, or if it was just your personality.
Mateo hated that Jasmine was leaving.
He wanted the older to stay, but if Jasmine had to leave that who in the world could stop her?
Who was Mateo to deny the Pack Alpha anything?
I know you'll understand that this is something I have to do.
Mateo had wanted so badly to beg Jasmine to stay, but he knew better than to try and talk Jasmine out of something that she'd set her mind to.
It was just as impossible as breathing with no air.
Don't let go of hope, Mateo. We'll see each other again one day, I promise.
So, it was with a heavy heart that Mateo wished Jasmine all the luck in the world and smiled at her new leader like Jasmine was still there.
Samurai~Samurai~Samurai
Earth:
Emily,
You were the one I was that most unsure of at first. I'd heard that the original Yellow Ranger had gotten sick and I hoped that you would be up for the task. I understand now that was wrong and I'm sorry for thinking that way.
Jasmine had been Emily's biggest supporter when she first joined the team. Emily had been both excited and devastated when she was called to join the others on the front lines.
Emily had been homesick the first few days, missing Serena and the Beta's comforting presence. Jasmine was the one who told her it was okay to be homesick, that it was natural when one was away from home. Jasmine was the one who distracted her when she was overcome with sadness and longing.
You worry so much that you'll never live up to Serena's legacy, but you never saw that you'd built one even stronger. You were a better fit for us. The Heart of the team.
Emily wanted to tell Jasmine not to go, to tell her that she was needed there.
She wanted to knock some sense back into Jasmine and remind her that her place was not out in the wilderness somewhere waiting until the Nighlocks had been defeated to see the team again. Jasmine's place had always been with the team, just like Emily's had always been.
I'm so happy to have known you, Emily. You taught me much about the way the world works and how to live the way I want to live. You taught me not to care about how others felt about me.
Emily wanted to tell Jasmine to stay. She wanted to run after her and beg her to come back.
She wanted to scream and beg and plead and cry. It wasn't fair! Why did Jasmine have to leave?
You may not be Serena, Emily, but there was never any doubt that you were always an irreplaceable member of our team and our Pack.
But she didn't. All she could do was watch as Jasmine left the team for a destiny she shouldn't have to bear.
Samurai~Samurai~Samurai
Light:
Antonio,
My love. My Omega. My only. It hurts me the most to leave you behind. We've been friends for as long as I can remember. Please don't follow me, Antonio. I couldn't take it if you were hurt because of me.
Antonio had been in love with Jasmine since the day he turned seven and had a Panic attack right there in her front lawn.
Jasmine had always been there to help him through the worst of the Anxiety. She'd always been there, period. Antonio had been crushed when his father told him they were moving away. He didn't want to leave behind the only friend he'd ever known.
I'm not sure when you figured it out, but I knew I was in love with you that day you had a Panic attack in the middle of us playing in the front yard and I helped you through it. I'd never seen a person have a Panic attack before you came barreling into my life, nor had I've ever thought I'd have to help someone through it. I guess that just goes to show you how much you changed me.
Antonio had worked so hard to be a Samurai, so he could come back and help Jasmine defeat the Nighlock. If Jasmine only wanted to be his friend, then Antonio could work with that, he just wanted her in his life. He loved her.
She was the one who'd helped the most after he'd been switched with a fish. She was everything to him. How could she just up and leave?
I know you're going to take me leaving the hardest. I know you're going to have questions. I know you're going to hurt. But this is for the best. I wish I didn't have to go. I wish I could stay. I don't want to leave you, Antonio. If there was another way, I'd stay. But I can't. I'm so sorry, Antonio.
All Antonio wanted was for Jasmine to be happy. It was his goal when he'd joined the Samurai Rangers and saw just how much the Code had messed with their heads. Not even allowed to have a relationship with your SoulMate because of the war that had to be fought. He hated that it had to be like that.
He was grateful when Ji told them that the Code was outdated and crazy, that even if the others of the clan didn't like it, he'd protect them. Jasmine had given him his first kiss that day.
And he was supposed to, what? Pretend that months in a relationship with his SoulMate didn't exist? That Jasmine didn't exist?
How could she ask that of him?
Antonio, this isn't goodbye. I'm coming back for you. When all this is over, I'll come back and take you anywhere you want to go. We'll get our own place, or stay in the Shiba home if you want. Antonio. I'll come back for you. I promise.
How was Antonio supposed to go on like he didn't have a SoulMate out there wandering the Earth and waiting on an ending to a war that may never stop?
How could he keep going if he didn't have Jasmine beside him, if he wasn't out there by her side where he was supposed to be?
I love you so much, Antonio.
Why did it have to go like this?
Samurai~Samurai~Samurai
Lauren watched from her seat on the chair as her brother's Pack grieved a loss they couldn't help.
She watched as the Blue Ranger paced.
She watched as the Green Ranger's knee bounced up and down.
She watched as the Pink Ranger sat down next to her with sadness in his scent.
She watched as the Yellow Ranger leaned back against the wall with a sigh.
She watched as the Gold Ranger rocked himself back and forth with his head buried in his arms, soft whimpers coming from his throat.
She hated that Jasmine thought she had to do this, that she couldn't stay with her Pack. Her own sister thought she couldn't stay with her Pack, God how badly had the Code messed with these kids? How badly had her father's plan to keep his kids safe messed with her little sister? How bad was it that Jasmine thought she couldn't stay with her SoulMate?
Lauren tried to figure out how to make this right but settled on letting Jasmine come back to them on her own. It was the only way Jasmine would stay and realize that the only place for her was here.
So, she took little offense to the others' dismissiveness. They didn't know her, she didn't know them. They missed Jasmine, it wasn't their intention to hurt her with their remarks.
She'd be there for them when they allowed her to be and try to be the best leader she could.
And when Jasmine came back, then she'd get to know her little sister all over again, and help her in any way she could.
What was that thing that Shakespeare said?
Parting is such sweet sorrow?
Lauren sniffled and smiled broken to herself.
Well, they couldn't have gotten it more right.