Hey there.
If you read and follow any of my other stories, I am so sorry for disappearing off the radar. Since the last time that I updated, I have moved to a different city and have had a complete three sixty degree turn in life. Essentially, what that has done is given me no time to write. I wish I could promise regular updates to all my stories that are incomplete at this point of time but I really can't. But I can promise that no story will be abandoned and will reach a conclusion.
Talking about this fic here, I started writing this in the month of May, 2017. It took me more than half a year to shape it into what I really wanted. I don't know where this came from but I woke up one morning and realized I wanted to write Hunter and Tori in the RPM-verse.
Last but by no accounts the least, a ton of thanks to my amazingly awesome beta bodysurfer27 who read this monster of a fic in no time at all and gave me the thumbs up sign. She is an absolute gem.
That's it, enough from me. Enjoy the story!
Also, I do not own Power Rangers, in case that is what you thought.
GIBEL
~ not death, not suicide, but simply ceasing to exist ~
The day everything goes to hell Tori wakes up at the crack of dawn – much earlier than she usually does – and strolls through the golden roads of crepuscular Blue Bay Harbor to reach the beach where she can hear the distinct powerful roar of her element.
Her surroundings are deserted and the overcrowded expanse that is always bustling with activity is now terribly empty; lifeless. She doesn't really like it; it's far too quiet and dead for her liking. What she likes is noise and life and color and so she slowly paddles out into the ocean on her surfboard where this incongruous silence doesn't reign, where the waves are loud enough to swallow her thoughts and all she can hear is the water.
By the time she returns to the shore, drenched and content, the beach has started to fill up with people; restored with the life she likes. She stays amidst it and soaks the vibrancy till she can, till it's time to drag herself to the duties that await her.
She has always liked the woods outside the academy, liked their quietness that doesn't seem lifeless or throttling; she finds this quietness comforting.
And yet when she enters the canopied forest today, her breath catches in her throat and she is filled with a strange inexplicable sense of foreboding.
Something doesn't seem right.
The feeling sits in her stomach menacingly, makes her worry even though there is no reason for her to do so.
Not yet, anyway.
Not till she walks into the waterfall, into the portal of chaos, and emerges on the other side to a sight far too familiar and far too catastrophic to even happen for the second time.
The Wind Ninja Academy is gone, reduced to rubble and ash, and the emptiness and death that she has always tried to escape is the only thing that lurks in the air around her.
Lightning doesn't strike twice, that's what she had believed and yet here she is.
She stands surrounded by the destruction, too dazed to move, her arms coming around her sides in a desperate attempt at holding herself together; she barely manages. Wherever her eyes fall, there is debris: grey and broken and asphyxiating. She thinks she forgets to breathe when she spots a black boot peeking from somewhere under the rubble—
No.
She inches forward, feet refusing the movement, too heavy, too laden—
Please don't be.
There is a noise in her head, too loud. A lot like airplanes before they take off, that whir of the engine as they ascend in the sky, up and only up, not knowing whether they will find ground ever again. She doesn't know why she thinks what she thinks, only moves forward and stops at a hand's length from the—
She surges forward, sends the obstructing boulder flying with a blast of energy and—
Dammit.
She recoils, turns her gaze away from the body – corpse – she has unearthed and lets the tears come streaming down.
What else had she expected?
She collapses on the ground, crashes down and doesn't think she can ever lift herself up till another figure steps into the world of havoc and disorder, lets out a gasp, holds back the tears that have already defeated her and pulls her back up.
"Shane," she cries into his chest.
"How?" he breathes, holding her tighter.
"I don't know. I got here and—"
"Did you check Ops?"
She draws back at once; the thought had not even crossed her mind.
He reads her expression before she can say anything. "Come on," he says as he wraps an arm around her.
She steels her heart and prepares herself for the worst and still feels a pathetic murmur of hope in her heart.
Just maybe some of them had escaped whatever calamity had struck.
Shane is a reassuring presence beside her as he hoists up the metal door that hasn't been opened in years and leads her down the stairs she had hoped she would never have to use again.
She freezes again; stops in her tracks and lets out a breath she was unaware had lodged in her chest.
"Oh, thank god." Dustin is by their side at once and Tori can't resist reaching out and squeezing his arm. He gives her a small smile, the lines of worry etched on his face not quite disappearing. "I'm fine," he tells her before she can ask.
She nods, then takes a look around; watches the terrified faces of the students as they stare wordlessly at their teachers expecting them to know what to do, where to lead them and how to save them.
"How many…" Tori ventures, unbidden memories of the black boot hitting her.
"How many did we lose?" Dustin offers and she wills herself to nod. "More than a hundred. They were taken—"
"What do you mean taken?" Shane asks, brow furrowed.
"They were deleted," Cam's voice cuts through. He doesn't look as perturbed as Dustin. Tori doesn't know what to make of it; doesn't know whether it is hopelessness or relief. "Ever heard of Venjix?" he asks them, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose.
Looks like hopelessness.
"Okay, wait. Pause. Rewind. Deleted?" Shane sputters.
Cam nods. "As ridiculous and unbelievable as that may sound, yes."
"Who's Venjix?" she asks. "The new Lothor?"
Cam sighs. "Worse than that, way worse."
Definitely hopelessness.
There's silence till Cam speaks again, "Venjix is a computer virus that had been released accidentally almost three years ago from this facility called Alphabet Soup. The firewall couldn't be activated on time—"
"If this happened three years ago, why are we coming to know about it only now?" Tori cuts him off.
"Because the virus had been dormant for all these years. Well, not dormant because it had been infecting networks worldwide but it had been very subtle. Under too many layers of code for any human program to intercept and diagnose."
"And now it has activated itself." Realization dawns upon her.
Cam nods.
"Any other attacks anywhere?" Shane asks.
"Not that we know of. Communications are down; compromised."
"So we don't know if Blake and Hunter…" she trails off, the words failing her.
Cam gives her a tired glance and then breathes,"No." She wishes she can unhear the word, wishes it could blink out of existence but it lies hanging in the air; leaden and heavy.
"So what is the plan now?" Shane's voice cuts through before the impending silence can swallow them up.
"Corinth," Cam answers. She sighs because it sounds better than hopelessness.
They have far too many students who are injured and streaking to the mystery city that Cam has full faith in is out of question.
"What about the Dragonforce Vehicle?" Dustin asks suddenly.
And the decision is made.
Their school had been home to two hundred and twenty nine students.
Only one hundred and five leave for Corinth.
And when Marah boards the ship with red eyes and trembling fingers, the bump in her belly barely visible, Tori realizes they are burying Kapri with the remaining one hundred and twenty four.
"If any of you can hear me—" the voice crackles through the communicator she has been unconsciously clutching in her hand ever since their ship has taken flight.
Her head jerks up, heart beating too fast, too dangerously, with far too much of hope. Shane's eyes meet hers at once and he almost snatches the communicator from her hand. "Hunter?" he asks into the device. "Is that you?"
There is a second of silence, perhaps two. She is aware of her heart thudding now, tension hanging in the air till Hunter's voice slices through it, cocky and pompous and just like she remembers him, "Does it sound like somebody else?"
She lets out a breath, a smile creeping onto her lips. Shane shakes his head, almost snickers but stops himself in time. "Were you all attacked?" he questions instead.
It's a pointless question really because they know the answer even before Hunter utters it. "Yes, we were— do you—" And then there's static, far too much of it and Hunter's voice drowns in it.
"Hunter?"
But there is no reply. Nothing but silence; not even the blaring sound of static.
They take a detour and veer their course for the Thunder Ninja Academy; obviously they do.
Where the school sat, now there are bricks, mortar and ash. The sight is so painfully familiar that it doesn't even burn her eyes. All she feels is numb, spent and used; dead.
Hunter is the last to board the ship, half dragging and half supporting an injured student. "Has anyone been able to contact Blake?" he says it even before he breathes.
No one can bring themselves to answer him.
It happens twice.
The first time it happens, Tori, Dustin and Hunter are at the back of the vehicle, tending to their students and endlessly whispering to them that it would all be fine. They feel the impact and are flung against the walls, a panicked cry going across their compartment.
"What's— what's happening?" Tori cries, a sharp pain shooting through her back as she crashes against the cold metal walls.
"I think we are under attack," someone yells amidst the confusion. Tori's eyes fly to meet Dustin's who is already struggling to stand up on his feet in the vehicle that is still rocking unsteadily.
"Marah," he tells Tori. "I have to find her."
"Dustin," she calls out, trying to stop him but then she is propelled back, tearing her away from the man who has already sprinted away to find his wife.
By now, the situation is clear. Their ship has been hit and they are steadily veering down, sinking rapidly to whatever lies below them.
"We need to get out of this thing." Hunter is beside her at once, eyes darting across the compartment.
"But how?" She struggles to keep her balance. "We have far too many students who are injured—"
"Tori," he cuts her off, one sharp meaningful look piercing through her and she realizes what he is telling her.
She is vaguely aware of her hand going cold, a slight tremble setting in. But she steels her voice, delivers her words as firmly as she can. "Hunter, no."
"Tori—" His eyes mellow, a look of helplessness crossing his features.
"I am not leaving my students, dammit!" she cries, tremulous all over again.
"Tori, listen to me." She feels her hands being tugged, Hunter's arms wrapping around her wrist, drawing her eyes to meet his. "Listen to me very carefully. We have two more minutes before this hits the ground. And we need to save the ones who we can save—"
"But—"
"I know how you feel but we don't have another choice." His voice is calm, betraying the coldness of his palm that is still wrapped around her wrist.
She feels her breath trapping her; she doesn't think she has had to take a decision harder than this before.
"Tori?"
"Let's go," is all she whispers.
And when they are on the ground, dwindled in number, Tori's eyes searching for Dustin, Shane and Cam, it happens for the second time.
This time she doesn't feel the impact; she watches the pandemonium unfold before her eyes. The Dragonforce Vehicle is hit by a projectile and it explodes in front of her. She watches the fire spread gradually, swallowing the entire vehicle in its flames, orange and yellow and red dancing dangerously. Tori stands, watches in a daze, desperately hoping that this is a dream till she feels arms yanking her down, bringing her to rest flat against the ground.
This is real.
"Stay down," Hunter hisses into her ear.
"They're all…" Her voice betrays her, no words escaping her.
"They could have got out," he silences her. His hands are holding her down and she thinks were it not for that, she would have faded a long time ago.
And then the unthinkable happens and the vehicle that had been seconds from hitting the ground in its blazing macabre disappears from the sky. "What the hell?" she breathes.
Hunter tenses beside her, freezes for a moment till she shakes him by the collar. "What's happening?" she urges.
"I don't know—"
"Hunter!"
"This is what happened back at the Thunder Ninja Academy. Things just… disappeared."
She doesn't think it can get any worse; in fact when Dustin and Marah emerge in the distance with a few students, she thinks that all is not lost.
But Shane is gone, and so is Cam. And Blake.
And then the land around them – sickly and barren, sand and only sand – explodes with the unmistakable sound of laser blasters. The light blinds her and she finds herself flailing, stumbling forward, so close to the sand that is threatening to suffocate the life out of her, till she feels strong steady arms pulling her up and setting her back on her feet.
"You okay?" Hunter asks her, securing his arms around her waist as their feet work on automatic, survival instinct kicking in, dragging them away from the attackers.
She barely nods till another blast goes off; it's miraculous how they are managing to run. Tori risks a glance behind her, watches more explosions, more fire, more death. She can see Dustin a few steps behind her, guiding Marah and a few students. She has lost count of how many they have lost till now.
"Here," Dustin yells and she sees an outcrop of rocks, large enough to shield all of them. For a while anyway, till the rocks are drilled down, leaving them exposed.
It's a mad dash to their bivouac; a blast hits too close, the sound deafening her, the light too bright. She ducks, feels the roughness of the rocks against her back, calms her trembling self and finally looks at Hunter who is crouching beside her, head leaning against the boulders, eyes closed. "What's the plan?" she asks, glancing around, noting where the others have taken shelter.
He sighs and then says, "I'm going to draw their fire. Streak out as soon as it is safe." Her gaze jerks to meet his who is doing everything to avoid it. Then he adds with a wry smile, eyes still skittering. "Tell them at Corinth we are ninjas, maybe they will—"
"I am not leaving you," she cuts him off firmly. She has already lost too much; can't lose anyone anymore. And especially not by leaving them behind, abandoning them in this battlefield of death.
"Don't be stupid, Tori," he tells her, almost condescending and deprecating, and she feels her blood boil. "It's the best plan we have."
"Leaving you to die?" she can't help but scoff as there is another explosion behind them, the impact penetrating through the rocks.
"Tori." His words come out through gritted teeth. "We don't have time for this—"
"Dustin." She cuts Hunter off immediately, turning around as she focuses on the man in yellow. "Hunter and I are going to draw their fire. Streak to the city, we'll follow."
"What? No." Dustin yells over the noise of the blasts, still erupting around them.
"Take the students, Dustin," Hunter says, glancing at her disapprovingly.
"Marah needs you," Tori adds softly, playing her final card. She knows she is being manipulative, twisting reasons and leaving him with no choice but survival calls for that.
Dustin's gaze clears, her words hitting him in full force and he falters. She knows he can't say no, not after what she has dangled in front of him. "Okay." It's like he doesn't even want to agree.
Tori gives Dustin a smile and then finds Marah. "Find shelter there. We'll find you."
She isn't saying goodbye.
Marah nods and Tori steels her heart. "Ready?" she turns to face Hunter.
"Ready when you are."
It's the worst mistake she makes that day: she hopes.
When they have torn through the first batch of metal Kelzaks, as Hunter calls them, she hopes this will be the end and they'll be able to escape this madness. And then the second batch arrives and they are more in number and somehow she can't keep up and she finally collapses with a searing pain in her leg, her thoughts foggy and consciousness inching away.
It's just a laser blaster.
But it feels so much more, so much more crippling.
"Tori?" Hunter's voice sounds so distant.
She wills herself to stand and fails. She takes a kick at her shin, a few more around her stomach and she barely manages to hold off the lethal blow with one final spurt of water, all her energy being channeled into it. And then she sees a blaster being aimed at her limp form and—
There's a crackle of thunder, powerful electricity coursing through the air, crimson burning through her eyes and then all the metal blinks out of her vision. "Hunter," she croaks when she realizes what has happened.
"Tori." His face hovers above hers; drained and exhausted from the bolt of thunder that had saved her life mere seconds ago. "I'll get you to the city, just…" He kneels beside her, holds her in his arms as she fades, his quavering hand on her skin.
"I can't stand, Hunter," she whispers, the words somehow making everything a lot more real. "You need to streak away. Right now."
"I am not leaving you."
"It's the best plan we have." She has the urge to laugh because this feels familiar.
"The hell we do," he mumbles. "I need you to hold onto me, okay?" He makes her sit up straighter; she latches onto him. The world seems darker somehow; she wonders if it's just her.
"Okay," she manages to whisper before everything turns black.
She wakes up in a white clinical room that makes her stomach churn nauseously. It takes her a while to adjust to the light and when she opens her eyes she finds Dustin by her side.
"Hey." His voice sounds like a whisper to her and Tori manages to nod at him.
Her memories are still a blur; she doesn't know what's real and what isn't. But there's one thing she knows for sure: the world she had always known has turned upside down and it has taken away far too many of her friends from her.
"What happened?" she croaks and instantly dissolves into a fit of coughs.
Dustin is on his feet at once and pours her a glass of water. He holds her up while she drinks the liquid and subconsciously wonders why it tastes so different; so artificial.
"You got hurt and Hunter—"
She remembers. "Is Hunter okay?" she asks, her heart pounding.
He hadn't left her.
"Yeah, he needed a few stitches," he replies. "Didn't take it as bad as you did."
She nods and indicating to her body, she asks, "So what all is fractured?"
Dustin sighs and hesitates and Tori knows she won't like what he'll say. She braces herself and clenches the white sheets in her hands. "I don't know how to—"
"Just say it, Dustin," she hears herself say. "Shane and Cam are dead. We don't know where Blake is, he is probably dead. What else could possibly go wrong?" She wasn't expecting herself to burst like this and covers her mouth in surprise when the gravity of her words sink in.
"Tori," Dustin whispers and takes her hand into his own.
She breaks down at that, tears streaming down her face, her body shaking violently. Dustin slides into the bed beside her and holds her in his arms till she forces the tears and pain away.
He tells her a long time after she calms down and then she wonders whether it would have been better had Hunter left her in the wastelands to die alone.
"Your nerves had been hit and there was nothing that they could have done to help you," Dustin tells her, averting her gaze.
She really wishes Hunter would have left her.
"Can I walk?" she manages to ask, throat constricting painfully.
"Yes yes," he tells her. "It's just one leg, Tori."
"But I'll need crutches?" she barely holds back a sob.
He looks helpless, looks like he hates the fact that he is the one who is breaking this news. "You will."
They find a tiny apartment that overlooks the lake whose water is far too blue to be natural; Tori scoffs at how transparently fake it is. Dustin and Marah take one room, Tori is forced to take the other and the couch becomes Hunter's.
Corinth preys on them in its own dangerous way. It kills them all, some faster than the rest.
While she battles her demons and learns to walk afresh, a crutch in her hand, Hunter fights his own monsters. It's not like she doesn't notice but she is far too deep in her problems – and far too busy making herself hate him – to reach out to him.
She doesn't begrudge Dustin and Marah for being a tad detached. They have their own set of problems and she understands why they don't really resonate with her or Hunter.
And when Marah is five months pregnant, the inevitable happens and they move out to a bigger space a few blocks away.
Their room becomes Hunter's. But on most mornings, Tori finds him sprawled across the couch, head buried into the crook of his arm in an attempt to shield his eyes from the sun rays — artificial sun rays — filtering through the window.
She wonders why he hates the room but never asks.
She doesn't talk to anyone and no one bothers her. She stays in her room all day, unfeeling and bitter, and she doesn't even regret it.
It's mostly pain that she feels; dark and sordid, too powerful to be overcome, too demanding and she succumbs to it. She lets it defeat her, lets it shroud her.
Other times, she feels anger; not fiery and all-consuming because that takes too much of energy, but a slow gradual burn. She is angry at the world, at the laws of the universe, at fate, at whatever has sucked the life out of her and made a mockery of the happiness she had thought she would enjoy for the rest of her life.
And when she grows tired of feeling pain and anger, she allows herself to feel hatred. She likes how it feels to hate someone, with so much of her heart that she can't stop even if she tries. It's irrational but she lets it grow; it's better than the darkness of pain and futility of anger. She can do something with this hatred; she can channel it and rejoice in it.
So she begins to hate Hunter for not leaving her behind in the wastelands; leaving her behind to die.
It is easy to hate him because he doesn't suspect or doesn't care enough to notice. He lets her scream at him for the pettiest of things, lets her ignore him for days, only to break the silence with nasty words. He lets her have it her way and soon she starts to feel impatient; she needs a reaction from him.
And so she figures she needs to hurt him, just enough to make him feel something and give her what she needs.
She gets her opportunity soon enough and she seizes it greedily because she needs to sate her ugly bellowing hunger to hurt him.
"I might have found someone who could help you," Hunter tells her over breakfast.
"With what?" she frowns.
He hesitates, glances at her warily. "Your leg."
She doesn't comprehend. "My leg?"
"You know, you could do away with the crutches and—"
And then she does comprehend. "Oh my god, Hunter! Are you pitying me?" she fumes, feeling a lot more than hatred for him.
"Tori—"
"I don't need your fucking pity, Hunter! Please spare me."
"I'm not pitying you, dammit," his voice rises a notch or two but it's still not enough; she wants more of a reaction. "I'm just trying to help."
That's it. That's her window.
"Oh yeah? You want to help? You know how you could have helped me, Hunter?" she fires, looking at him so that she can see and remember what her next words do to him. "By leaving me there in the wastelands in the first place but you probably had to be a hero and you had to drag me to this hellhole and make me live through this."
She gets the desired reaction. His facade slips, his eyes darken and he clenches his fist. "You think I saved you because I wanted to be a hero?" he asks slowly, the anger almost at the surface.
Why does her heart feel like it's sinking?
"The dome was miles away, I didn't know if their bus had made it in and I had to stay there and fight off those Grinders for a damn distraction although you were on the ground. I wanted to streak away with you but that would mean the bus wouldn't make it in and so I made a decision— I placed the lives inside that bus over yours and do you have any idea how difficult that was?" She thinks she stops breathing. "And then I took a chance, took you in my arms and streaked away, not caring if the bus had made it in. I was done losing everyone that day, Tor. I hadn't been able to save my brother, my own brother—"
Shit.
"And so I saved you. And you know what? When you talk like that, I really wish I would have left you there."
He leaves their apartment after that and doesn't return for the entire day and she gets enough time to lie in bed and cry and start hating herself.
When he returns, he leaves a box outside her room without a word.
"Hunter—"
"Don't, Tori." And he turns back and disappears into his room and shuts the door, loud enough to startle her.
It's a brace of some kind and when she puts it on, her hands trembling as she does so, wishing that he were here with her, she finds she doesn't need the crutch anymore.
After that, she can't hate him anymore; she is not that far gone that she cannot draw the line where it has to be drawn.
She makes breakfast the next day: the entire spread with eggs and bacon and toast and coffee. And when he walks out of his room and sees what she has done, he smiles. It's the faintest of smiles, the slightest curve in his lips but she finds herself relaxing, a weight being lifted off her shoulders.
She knows she should apologize, tell him how sorry she is for all that she has done but somehow the words don't come and so she says instead, "Thank you."
Something changes after that. There's a shift in the air, a subtle change in the way she looks at him. She has never looked at him like that; never allowed herself to look at him like that. He has always been off limits, been Blake's brother more than her friend. And it's probably a stupid way to look at things because Blake and her happened years ago—
How long has it been? Almost fifteen years.
— and all that happened was the knowledge that they could have been something more had he not left to tour the world. As an eighteen year old, she had been bitter about him leaving, bitter at having to give up a chance at yet another normal but then time passed and his choices made sense to her. She stopped begrudging him years ago and she truly moved on, didn't feel bitter anymore at having to give up a chance at normalcy.
She never found love after that and on most days, it didn't bother her but there were days when she would wake up in the mornings and wish that one of her dates would finally work out, finally give her what she so badly wanted.
But none of that matters now, not here in Corinth when the world has been destroyed. Here and now, there's only Hunter, and her, and Hunter and her. It doesn't matter what they were outside the dome, doesn't matter that she never looked at him with a quiet fire simmering underneath her skin before, doesn't matter that his eyes never lingered on her before.
All that matters now is what Corinth has made of them: broken souls stuck in an insidious whirlpool, desperate for an escape. And if she is his escape and he is hers, she is fine with that.
"Why do you still sleep on the couch?" she asks him finally.
He looks at her with widened eyes, baffled and taken aback. "Where… where is this coming from?"
"I have always wondered." She shrugs. "Just haven't asked you."
Haven't cared enough to ask you.
"Long story," he sighs.
"All ears."
"Long story for another day," he corrects himself and she lets it drop.
She kisses him on a Saturday evening when she thinks a little too much of home: the golden roads, the white beaches and the canopied forest.
He doesn't kiss her back immediately and she freezes, fears she has misread the signs and has crossed a line that wasn't meant to be crossed. But then his mouth moves against hers, his hands tangling in her hair, pulling her closer. She gasps, doesn't remember the last time she felt this way.
The last time she felt alive.
Maybe this isn't something she would have done in the world outside but in the darkness of her room, trembling in his arms as she reaches her climax, clenching her teeth and digging her nails into him to keep his name from escaping her lips, she remembers that at the end of the world, none of it matters.
She allows herself to slip into his room another night after the first time.
He doesn't say anything, watches her through hooded eyes as she makes her way to him through the dark, sure footed and steady. She brings her hands to rest against his chest, fingers trembling as they do so.
"Tori," he whispers, a warning hanging in his voice as his muscles react to her touch. But she knows exactly what she is doing and she needs this.
She doesn't reply, doesn't find it necessary, only works on the buttons of his shirt, her eyes not meeting his.
"Dammit, look at me." He takes her hands into his, yanks them away from his half open shirt and forces her to look up. "You don't have to—"
She cuts him off with her lips on his, pushes him back till she has him pinned against the wall. He kisses her back, just as hungry and desperate, and she is reminded yet again what this is about: not love, not anything, just pain and the need to feel something other than it.
It's easier to fall asleep this way; her mind wiped clean, body numb and trembling in the aftermath of their lovemaking, and her breathing erratic. She figures it's the same for him because they fall into a pattern after the first two times: either she shows up at his door or he shows up at her door and they take it from there.
But they have their rules, the ones that come to exist wordlessly.
She makes it a point not to look at him and consciously keeps his name off her tongue, fearing what that would mean. He does the same; no promises made, no intimacy.
They don't talk about it in the mornings; they don't really believe there is anything to talk about. It's just moments of them being weak and desperate and needy for a distraction of some sort to escape the world around them. And somehow each other is the only thing that the world offers for a distraction so they seize it and don't think too much about it.
They don't spend the nights together either; it's much simpler this way. He likes leaving more than he likes being left though and sometimes she grudges him for that but eventually lets him have his little victories.
She doesn't deserve to have him in her life, not after everything she has done.
And yet, on a Sunday morning, he asks her if she would like to go out.
She doesn't even think and says yes.
"You look happy," she comments offhandedly as she pours herself a glass of water.
She doesn't see his next words coming in a million years. "I went out into the wastelands."
He has a smile on his face, probably the happiest she has seen him ever since Corinth wrapped its asphyxiating deadly arms around them, and he continues gleefully, painfully unaware of what it's doing to her. "There was a bus that came in with survivors today. Someone said their city still had people left so— Tori?"
She can feel herself trembling now, the world spinning around her, thoughts unclear, eyes dazed.
"Tori?" He is holding her now, his arms firm around her shaky self; the only thing that is stopping her from fading away.
"Alone?" she breathes.
"What?"
"Did you go alone?" She wants to sound angry but finds herself failing.
He begins to understand what this is about. "I'm fine, Tori."
"Answer the damn question," she hisses. She is impressed with how she sounds when he physically recoils.
"Yes." The admission is so soft that she almost misses it.
Her fists clench around his t-shirt involuntarily, pulling him closer. "Dammit, Hunter. Why— why do you have to be so stupid? You know what's out there... you saw what it did to us. Why would you go back again?"
"Tor—"
"What if— what if something happened? What if you didn't— Do you ever think about the consequences, Hunter? Do you ever think of the people around you?"
Do you ever think of me?
"Tori, I didn't think—"
"Exactly, Hunter!" she screams. "You don't think, you never—"
"Tori!" He cuts her off with a finger on her lips and she breaks. "I'm fine. I really am," he tells her again.
She bows against him, places her head on his chest and listens to his heartbeat. "Can you not do something so stupid again?"
He doesn't reply.
"Can I talk to you?"
She looks up from the book she is pretending to read and instantly knows what this will be about. He has that look on his face: the one he has before he does something that he thinks is heroic but is plain damn stupid.
"Sure." She is vaguely aware of shutting the book close.
"I'm sorry if I upset you. I shouldn't have gone out, knowing what's out there, without telling you."
Maybe she is wrong. Maybe this is just an apology.
"And I'm sorry for doing that." He pauses, takes in a breath and fixes his eyes on her. "But I can't promise you it won't happen again."
Plain damn stupid.
"I have nothing to do here, Tor." Now he is looking at her with pleading eyes. "I don't have a purpose or an aim or… anything at all and I... I just feel useless." Pause. "Today, when I went out there and saved that man, I finally felt like I still had something to do in this world. And I need this. I need to feel like the world still needs me."
She would be lying if she said she didn't get him. She understands what he is saying despite the ache in her heart.
She only wishes he had found something else to make him feel like the world needed him; something that wouldn't snatch him away from her arms and keep him threateningly close on the edge.
"Okay," she whispers.
He physically draws back his head. "Oka-ay? That's it?"
She shrugs, pays no attention to the dead feeling inside her. "Just— just stay safe."
"Stay," she whispers the next morning when she feels him stir beside her; his time to leave her.
He stills, body stiffening beside her. "What?" he breathes, convinced she is talking in her sleep.
She shifts, readjusts the sheets over herself. "Stay," she repeats, firmer, as she rolls onto her stomach and tentatively runs a hand through his hair, eyes locking with his.
He doesn't reply, brings his face closer to hers so that his lips can meet hers. Something feels different as he rolls them over and climbs on top, his lips never leaving hers. "Is that what you want?" he rasps, pulling back to watch her closely.
She manages to nod. "Yes." She brings their lips together again. "Yes."
That's all the confirmation he ever needed and pushing her back onto the bed, he lets his lips course down her body. She doesn't hold back today, doesn't even try to and when he takes her over the edge, head buried in between her legs, she cries out his name.
"Hey." He rubs her arms gently and forces her to look at him. "I promise I'll come back, okay?"
She looks away and manages to nod at him. "You have your communicator with you?"
"Yeah yeah."
"Just— just stay safe."
He doesn't break his word.
He comes back every time, always finds a way back to her. He doesn't return unscathed though; the treacherous terrain and the threats she barely knows about carve bruises on him, leave him battered and weary. But he always returns alive and breathing and it feels enough for her.
Every time the door opens and he stumbles in, legs faltering at the sight of home – her – she feels a weight being lifted off her and she tries not to fling herself at him but that's exactly what she does. He never wavers and catches her in her frenzy and holds her till she is steadied; anchored.
And after that, she pushes him back and narrows her eyes at him, inspecting the bruises he brings back with him.
Sometimes she frowns as she cleans the cuts, the burn of the antiseptic eliciting a hiss from him, or as she wraps a strip of coarse bandage around the gashes, no reaction of pain from him.
And he tells her, "It's just a scratch, Tor."
"Remember you had asked me why I slept on the couch even after Dustin and Marah moved out?" he asks her out of the blue one day.
"Yes," she says, unsure.
"It's really uncomfortable to sleep on the couch," he says and she stares in confusion. "You can't have nightmares if you don't fall asleep at all," he completes and she breaks.
She should have seen this day coming but had somehow managed to fool herself into believing that this time around, the universe wouldn't be so ungrateful and would let every life be saved.
It's late into the night when the door opens and she hears the familiar footsteps of Hunter. She is already in bed and is about to call out his name when he appears at the door to her room. He is trembling, hands grasping the door frame in a desperate attempt to hold himself together.
"Hunter," she gasps.
"I killed her, Tor," he whispers hoarsely, bloodshot eyes meeting her own and she wishes she could leap off the bed and rush to him and hold him in her arms.
She is sitting up straight now, moving her legs painstakingly till they touch the ground.
"Tori." He clears the distance between them when he realizes what she is doing. He sits beside her, his body angled towards her, barely any distance between them and after a moment of indecision, uncertainty, he wraps his arms around her waist and buries his head into her neck. "I killed her, Tor," he whispers again, voice choked.
"Breathe." She secures her arms around his back. "Just breathe." She feels him relaxing against her, his body no longer quavering. "That's better," she whispers into his neck.
He sniffs but doesn't let her go. She doesn't ask him to, either.
"Tell me what happened," she says softly, still in his embrace.
"I killed her," he chokes again.
"Before that."
Hunter hesitates, she gives him his time. Finally he whispers, "I found her in one of the houses. Everything else was wrecked there... And when I saw her, I thought she had survived and I would be able to save her but..." He trails off and Tori holds onto him tighter, urging him to go on. "She attacked me, she was under Venjix's control. I tried, Tori. I did... I really did but I couldn't get through and I had to... I had to kill her."
She thinks she stops breathing for a moment, her heart clenching for the man holding onto her like she is his last hope, his last salvation.
What else will this world make them do?
She doesn't have words to allay his fears or rest his demons and so she keeps him in her arms till sleep claims them both.
Tori hears of the thousands of people who walk through the gates of Corinth every day, escaping death and annihilation to find life and hope in the domed city. She wonders why she can't be one of those people; wonders why she can't push Blue Bay Harbor, that is nothing but dust and rubble now, out of her mind and accept safe and protected Corinth as her home.
Maybe it's because Corinth lacks life and color and is too man-made and artificial and fake. Or maybe it's because within the impregnable walls of Corinth, it seems to her as if the world ceases to exist. She doesn't really know.
But Corinth is humanity's last hope and she may not like it but she can't hate it either.
Till the gates to it are permanently sealed off and it starts to feel like a claustrophobic cage that only exists to sap the life out of everything; till it starts to feel exactly like the hell it has always been.
Hunter has the worst reaction to the gates being sealed off. He retreats to the shell that has never failed to protect him when everything he has known has collapsed around him. He doesn't talk, not more than monosyllabic words anyway, and doesn't stay home for most hours of the day. When he does, he is nothing more than a ghost.
Tori is aware of losing him with every passing day, every passing moment; aware of him regressing to the Hunter Bradley she had known years ago when the responsibility of the world had been in their hands. But she has watched him change and open up over the years, has watched him become her pillar of strength in these months of entrapment and no matter how much she tries to deny it, she has fallen for him and can't imagine life without him.
She has the urge to scream herself hoarse at him. If she didn't get to give up after losing a leg, he doesn't get to do it now; he doesn't get to leave her in this mess all by herself.
He fucking doesn't.
She lies awake in bed on the seventh night and watches his back turned on her and decides that she has had enough. She falls asleep and waits for the next day to confront him.
But when the next day comes, he is gone.
She finds a note on the table that confirms her worst fears: there's word of another city that could have survivors and he has volunteered to save them.
He returns after two nights and finds her waiting at the dining table, head sunken into her hands that lie on the table haphazardly. She stirs as soon as he shuts the door behind him and he realizes just how badly he wants to feel her arms around him. But she looks up and glares at him with anger and relief and far too many emotions to identify.
He scrambles for words and is about to explain himself, possibly joke about no fresh scars this time, when she stands up straight and clears the distance between them in slow but sure steps and shoves him against the door and smashes her lips against his.
By the time he realizes what is happening, she pulls back and screams herself hoarse at him.
And after she is done yelling at him, he quirks her an amused smile and asks, "Happy?"
That makes her seethe and she is about to launch into another tirade when he takes her face into his hands and kisses her gently – starkly different to her kiss minutes ago – and holds her in his arms till all her rage dissipates.
"Would it have killed you to take the communicator?" she finds it hard to keep her voice stern with his hands all over her body.
"Bad pun," he laughs into her skin.
After the first time – the one where he waits by the exhaust gates till they stop breathing fire and it's safe for him to streak through – he decides to do things the right way.
For her, more than him.
"So let me get this straight. You want to volunteer to go and see if there are survivors in cities that have been razed to the ground?" The colonel stares at him with disbelief.
"Yes, sir."
The other man still looks at him like he is crazy.
"I just want you to lower the gates when I ask you to. That's all."
"Whatever you want, son."
Hunter gets word of another city with survivors two days before her birthday. And when he leaves, with the silent promise that he will return, she can't quite understand why she feels so bitter that she will be spending her birthday without him.
She hadn't expected him to remember her birthday and stay with her and-
Who is she fooling?
It's just that she'd thought the company would have been nice.
She doesn't expect Dustin to remember either; she doesn't even know why she remembers it after all that has happened.
But when the clock strikes eleven, there's a knock on the door and when she opens it, she finds Dustin and Marah on the other side with the baby in a perambulator and a box that looks far too much like it has a cake inside.
"It has thirty three candles too," Marah tells her with a smile, a gleam in her eyes.
And when Dustin smears cream on her face, she lets him; in fact, she returns thefavor.
Then the door opens just when she thinks the day is over and he walks in and she can't help but smile. He clears the distance between them and firmly wraps his arms around her.
"Didn't think you'd be back today," she tells him.
"Couldn't really miss your birthday now, could I?"
On one of his wanderings in the wastelands, Hunter comes across a black car – far too broken and damaged to be properly functional – and a man resting against it. He looks like a survivor but Hunter isn't willing to take any chances.
He has promises to keep.
He approaches the car stealthily; it's perfunctory. After all, the end of the world hasn't been able to take away his skills developed and honed by years of practice.
He is probably five – maybe six – steps away from the car when the man turns around sharply, body settling to a defensive posture, fisted hands in front of his chest and questioning eyes staring into him. "And who are you supposed to be?" he asks Hunter without any ado, no pleasantness in his voice.
Hunter is taken aback initially. In all his years as a ninja, no one has ever heard him sneak up on them. That has always been his strong suit and he doesn't really like to be beaten at a game in which he has never tasted defeat. And so his first instinct, as it has always been, is to distrust the man who is glaring daggers at him. "I could ask you the same thing," he hisses, tight lipped and mirroring the stranger's unpleasantness.
There is no reply from the man in black and Hunter takes the time to inspect the stranger and that is how his eyes fall on the morpher fastened on the man's wrist and suddenly the black car and the all-black attire make sense to him. "So you're the new black ranger?" he asks, crossing his arms across his chest.
The tables have turned and it's now the other man's turn to be taken aback. He drops his fisted hands awkwardly to his sides and stares at the older man in disbelief. "How-"
"Morpher." Hunter indicates to the other man's wrist. "Black is your religion." He nods at the car. "Been there, done that."
The other man creases his brow and takes a step back. There is a beat of silence till he finally asks, "So you are one of the good guys?"
Hunter snorts. "Something like that." And then he stretches his arm forward. "Hunter."
The other man looks absolutely startled by now but takes the extended hand nevertheless. "Dillon."
"So what were you doing out here, Dillon? Doesn't the city need the rangers?"
Dillon glances at him and considers his question before mumbling, "The city has the rangers it needs."
Hunter hears the unspoken words in that voice: my team is better off without me. He understands what Dillon is telling him and understands what he isn't, understands all the emotions and all the wars in the other man's head.
Been there, done that.
"Planning to leave then?" Hunter muses.
Dillon's eyes fly to meet his.
"I don't read minds, if that's what you are thinking," Hunter can't help but let out a laugh at how scandalized Dillon looks. "I just... Like I said, been there, done that."
Dillon doesn't look convinced. "How exactly do you mean?" he questions. "Been a black ranger, you mean?"
Hunter doesn't pay attention to the sarcasm leaking from the other man's words. "Crimson," he explains. "Only crimson there ever was. My brother and I—" He feels his throat tighten at that but shrugs off the feeling; this isn't the time for tears. "—went through some... shit. We did things we shouldn't have done and figured it would be better if we left town and let the original three fight the battle."
He has Dillon's full attention by now and the man in black looks a tad more convinced that this stranger he has met in the outskirts of town where no human dares to tread could actually know what he is talking about. "I take you didn't leave?" Dillon asks softly.
"We left the first time. Stayed back the second time."
"Why?"
Hunter sighs, "The responsibility meant something, I guess. You don't get to be a Power Ranger and run."
"Right," Dillon mutters.
"It gets better with time," Hunter reassures him.
"Does it?" Dillon is apprehensive and Hunter can't really blame him.
"Yeah, it does. More or less."
There is silence after that. By now, Hunter has realized that Dillon isn't the type of person who starts conversations. He knows he isn't that type either but over the years he has improved on his social skills. At least, that's what his team tells him now and again.
What's left of his team, anyway.
"Your brother..." Dillon starts but immediately trails off.
Hunter recognizes the question. "He was navy, the only navy there ever was. He didn't make it to Corinth."
Hunter returns home after that, into the arms he can't imagine life without.
Tori heaves a sigh when he opens the door and staggers inside. She walks as fast as her legs allow her and wraps her arms around him. His hands come around her instantly and he buries his head into her neck and breathes her in.
"Find anyone?" she asks into his chest.
"It was worse than a ghost town," he whispers. "I should have listened to them when they said it would be impossible for anyone to survive there."
"You did what you thought was best," she says, pulling back to meet his eyes while her hands remain fastened around his waist.
He caresses her cheek and lets his fingers linger there. "Things fine here?"
She nods and closes her eyes, melting into his touch.
"I met the new black ranger."
"And?"
"That's it."
Tori doesn't believe him entirely but doesn't push either. Somehow this doesn't feel like the time to do so; right now she only wants to hold onto him and feel his reassuring touches and kisses and forget the world around them for a moment.
The next time Hunter meets Dillon it's at the Command Center. He is there to find out if there's word of any other city that could possibly have survivors – there isn't – and Dillon is there with the rest of his team, there to interact with the kids from the city.
Hunter hangs back and watches the new team of saviors, feeling irrationally useless and incompetent. He knows he is still saving lives but that doesn't stop him from wishing he still had his powers.
"I see that you stayed," Hunter greets him.
"Yeah." Dillon has an amused smile on his face. "Hasn't really got better, just so you know."
Hunter smirks and is about to tell the other man something when a tiny blonde woman skips to where they are standing. "Hello there," she smiles at him instantly and extends her hand. "I'm Summer."
He recognizes her as the new yellow and after he blinks a few times and finally acquaints himself with her ebullience, Hunter takes her hand into his own. "Hunter."
She reminds him a little too much of Tori, the Tori he has always known, the Tori he had lost for a few months after the attacks and the Tori who has just started to surface back.
"I know who you are," she tells him, the smile not wavering for a second. "Ex-crimson ranger who is now saving lives outside the dome. You are kind of a legend." She adds after a split second, "And you are a ninja. Impeccable record."
"Wait... what?" Dillon looks thoroughly confused. "A ninja?" He glances at Hunter and then at Summer. "Is this a joke? Ninjas aren't real... right?"
Hunter finds Summer looking at him and they burst into laughter, perplexing Dillon even further. "Well," Hunter manages to say in between the laughs. "In case you don't believe..."
And then he streaks out of the room in his blaze of crimson, leaving behind a Dillon who has his mouth wide open. "I'll be damned," he mutters and Summer laughs once more.
"How is the world outside Corinth?" she asks him one day.
He startles, glances at her sorrowfully but finally replies, "It's not pretty."
"I just... I wish I could go," she whispers.
She probably sounds petulant but every time Hunter leaves her behind and goes out into the wastelands she is left pining for more, wishing she could be saving lives with him.
But she can't.
"Tori," he starts and she hears what he isn't saying.
"No, it's okay. I know I'll slow you down."
Hunter lies awake that night in bed and listens to herbreathe beside him and keeps thinking what he can do and when he finally realizes it, he presses a kiss on her forehead and falls asleep with a smile on his face.
"Rise and shine, Tor." She wakes up to sunlight filtering through the windows that have been opened wide and Hunter smiling at her.
It feels like it is too early and so she groans and pulls the covers over her head.
"Come on, I mean it." Hunter promptly pulls the covers off her.
"Go away, Hunter," she tries to sound venomous but she is far too sleepy.
"You wanted to see what's outside Corinth, now let's go."
Tori is wide awake at that. "Wha— what?"
"Exhaust gates open in half an hour. We'll have a tiny window to slip past, now let's go!"
He is so excited that Tori can't help but smile although she feels her heart sink to the pit of her stomach. "You know I can't streak, Hunter."
He pulls a face and plops down onto the bed beside her and takes her face into his hands. "You don't have to. You just have to hold onto me real tight."
"A little morbid for the first date, I think," Hunter quips when he sets her down on the other side of the dome.
Her head is still reeling; the world is still a crimson blur. She hadn't even known she had missed the speed and thrill of streaking till she had been in his arms and he was pacing through the city, reducing everything around her to obscurity.
She doesn't know what she would do without him in this world.
She takes a look around. There's nothing to be seen, sand everywhere the eye goes, lifeless and uninhabited. It's not pretty, like he had said.
"Take me out on a happy date later, then," she says after a while.
"It's a promise."
Hunter never learns how Summer manages to find his phone number but one night when he is lying in bed, Tori tucked into his side, her fingers combing through his hair making his eyes droop close, his phone starts to vibrate on the adjoining table, lighting up the dark room at once.
Tori's fingers stop immediately and he lets out a groan. He just wants to ignore whoever is trying to call him but Tori nudges him purposefully when she realizes what he is trying to do. "Answer it," she tells him firmly.
"Do I have to?"
She fixes him with a glare and he budges. He doesn't recognize the number but answers either way.
"Hunter?" The woman on the other end is barely containing sobs. "It's Summer." He has a rough idea of what this is going to be about. "Dillon isn't with you, is he? He took off hours ago and something's up with the tracker and—"
"Hey hey hey," Hunter cuts off her rant. "Breathe, okay? He isn't here but I'm sure he is fine wherever he is." He can feel Tori's eyes on him and after a moment, he asks the woman on the other end. "Do you want me to look for him?"
"I have been searching in the city but he isn't anywhere," she doesn't sound as shaken as before.
Of course he isn't.
"Do the others know, Summer?" he asks.
"No," she whispers. "It's late and I didn't want to wake them up. It's just that I can't find him anywhere and you are the only person he talks to-"
This is news for Hunter and he doesn't quite know how to feel about it. "It's fine. Look, I think I may know where he is and I promise I'll find him but-"
"I'm going with you," Summer's voice cuts him off, firmer and surer than he has heard her tonight.
He sighs and glancing warily at Tori, tells her, "It's out in the wastelands." He hears Summer gasp on the other end and feels Tori's narrowing eyes on him. "Just- just trust me this once, okay?"
"How will you even go out?" Summer asks hoarsely.
"Ninja skills," Hunter forces a laugh. "I'll drag his ass back to you, I promise."
Summer lets out a mirthless laugh and whispers, "Thank you."
"Sure," he says and hangs up.
"Don't forget to take your comm with you," Tori tells him before he can start to explain the situation. She gives him a meaningful look and whispers, like always, "And stay safe."
He doesn't like leaving her behind; this feels like the hardest part of all his journeys. But like he had told her months ago, he needs to do this, for himself more than anyone.
"I will," he tells her, pressing his lips on her forehead as she wraps her arms around him.
"You better."
Hunter finds Dillon just where he had thought he would: the patch of land where they had met for the first time.
There is no need for stealth this time and as soon as Hunter is in earshot of the other man, he says the only thing that will elicit a reaction from Dillon, "Summer is worried about you."
"Well, she shouldn't be," Dillon comments bitterly. "I almost killed her."
Hunter sighs.
Been there, done that.
"Some mind control thing?" Hunter ventures.
Dillon glares at him. "What did Summer tell you?"
"Nothing. She only said you took off hours ago and she couldn't find you anywhere in the city."
"So you came here to find me?" Dillon doesn't seem impressed.
"Who else can move through the gates of Corinth?" Hunter comments. "Superhuman speed, remember?"
"Oh right, you are a ninja," Dillon mumbles.
A silence befalls them till Hunter breaks it, "Lothor – our Venjix – warped my memories. And my brother's too." Dillon is looking at him now and he continues, "Twice, by the way. The first time he fed us lies but we eventually figured it out. And the second time..." he trails off because he hates thinking about it. He hates thinking about that island where he had almost killed his brother and the Winds. He is aware of everything that could have happened had Blake not got through him and-
"What happened the second time?" Dillon's voice cuts through his thoughts.
Hunter shakes his head and clenches his fists, hopes the other man cannot see what that island has done to him. "The second time was worse. I... I was under his control for far too long and I almost killed everyone on my team. Including my brother."
"I'm sorry." Dillon's expression softens.
"All I'm saying is shit happens if you're in this business. It's just how it is."
Dillon doesn't reply for a long time and Hunter wonders what he is missing till his questions are answered. "I have robotic implants fitted in me," Dillon says, almost inaudible. "Venjix... He basically pulls my strings."
Hunter doesn't know what to say in reply to that; there really is no reply. It's all broken useless words that don't really help. "You wanna run?" he asks instead.
Dillon considers his words and thinks about them but finally shakes his head, "Not really. Running isn't an option anymore."
"Okay."
"Want a ride back?" Dillon offers.
Hunter doesn't refuse.
"Hey." Hunter slides underneath the covers as soon as he returns home.
"Is he okay?" Tori asks him, turning to face him.
"Yeah," he replies. "He is fine. He was just... having a moment."
"And how is Summer?"
"She screamed at him for a really long time, punched his chest a few times," he says, eyes shutting close. "A lot like how you screamed at me when I left for the first time after the city had been sealed off."
Tori smiles at him and fondly runs her hand through his hair.
"He just reminds me a lot of me," Hunter mumbles, sleep almost upon him.
"Dillon?" she questions.
He hums in reply. "I really was difficult, wasn't I?"
She laughs and pecks his lips. "Who says you still aren't?"
The next afternoon there is a knock on the door and Tori finds a blonde woman standing outside.
"Hey," the other woman smiles at her. "I'm Summer—"
"Oh, hello," Tori returns the smile. "I've heard a lot about you. I'm Tori. Please come in."
Summer makes her way into the tiny apartment. "I just wanted to thank Hunter for what he did last night."
"You don't have to," Tori tells her, leading her to the sofa.
"Dillon's stupidity sometimes makes me stop thinking," Summer says, a hint of frustration in her voice. "I couldn't think of where else he could have gone and just called Hunter."
Tori smiles kindly at her. "It's fine. Hunter is out though. He'll be back any moment."
"I'm a huge fan of yours, by the way," Summer tells her sheepishly.
"Me?" Tori laughs, finding the thought incredulous.
"You were the only girl in the team. Plus, you owned the surfing world—"
Tori's smile falters at that and Summer quickly realizes what she has said wrong. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she whispers, her eyes unconsciously darting to Tori's legs. "I didn't mean to—"
"It's okay," Tori hears herself say although it really isn't.
Summer looks around the room uncomfortably till Tori puts her at ease, repressing the painful memories. She is still alive, she has to remember that. "I was a little surprised Hunter went out and made a friend."
Summer looks at her sheepishly and says, "Me too. Dillon isn't exactly a friends person."
Tori snorts. "Maybe they just trade brooding secrets, who knows?"
His lips feel listless against her skin one night and she stops him with a hand on his chest. "What?" she asks simply.
He looks a little abashed and climbs off her and drops heavily onto the bed beside her.
"Well, what?" she asks again when there is no reply as she turns to face him.
"I was just thinking that this—" He waves his finger between the two of them, voice tinged with doubt. "—wouldn't have happened had Venjix not attacked."
She thinks for a long moment. She can't say he is wrong. "Does that bother you?" she asks slowly.
"What? No!" he sounds a lot less apprehensive now. "I'm glad— Does it bother you?"
"Of course not," she answers immediately. "If there's anything that I don't regret about the last few months, it's... this."
Us.
She can't bring herself to say that though and hopes he understands.
Tori runs into Summer on a day they have decided to make it rain in the city.
"Your man brooding fine?" Tori smiles at the younger woman.
Summer flushes at the comment. "Dillon- He isn't... we aren't..."
That reminds Tori a little too much of Blake and her dancing around each other.
She wonders if he is alive.
She hopes he is, more for Hunter's sake than her own.
Summer's attempt to veer the conversation to other territories drags her back to the present. "Didn't you find it hard to be the only girl in the team with the guys always being stupid and so… macho?" Summer frowns. "I mean, I have Gemma and Doctor K but the guys – Dillon and Scott, specifically – are always at each other's throats and it's so annoying."
Tori laughs because she knows exactly what the other woman is telling her. "Shane—" It doesn't hurt as bad to take their names now and Tori isn't sure whether that's a good thing. "—and Hunter used to be at each other's throats all the time. It was stupid and annoying but very amusing," she tells Summer with a good-natured roll of the eyes.
"Well, history really does repeat itself," Summer laughs. "I think our garage hasn't fallen prey to their stupidity because Ziggy and the twins always have some wacky thing going on."
"That used to be Dustin back in the day," Tori recollects fondly. "Now he is a dad and all mature and adult. It's sort of..."
"Disconcerting?" Summer offers.
"Yes," Tori chuckles. "That's it."
"So I met Summer today," she tells Hunter later at night. "And we realized our teams are almost the same."
He looks interested and raises an eyebrow at her, a smile already on his face.
"There's Shane and you versus Scott and Dillon. Stupid male egos." Hunter begins to protest but she cuts him off. "Ziggy is their Dustin, with a little help from the twins. Summer is me-"
"The heart of the team," he does cut her off this time and she finds her stomach fluttering at the compliment.
"I would say Flynn's Cam 'cause they understand zords and stuff but that's where it ends. Cam..." she trails off because she can't quite articulate her feelings.
But he understands and completes for her, "Cam is far too Cam for anyone to ever be him."
"Was."
The final battle comes before they expect it to.
Word of the hybrids being activated reaches them twenty minutes into the discovery of Venjix's master plan.
She doesn't even try to stop him when he says he needs to keep the streets safe; under control.
But before he slips out into the city that is now a jungle of madness and chaos, he kisses her like every other time. She waits for the words that she clings to every time he leaves her.
I will come back, I promise.
But he hesitates, opens his mouth but closes it almost immediately, his hand falling limply from her face.
"What?" she whispers, foreheads resting together, breaths mingling. Something tells her she won't get those words today.
"Just… if something happens and I don't—"
Of course she had to be proved right.
She pulls back abruptly, her hand flying to cover his mouth. "No."
"If—" He removes her hand gently from his face, smiles at her almost reluctantly and then brings his lips onto hers once again.
She can't kiss him back; her chest feels tight and she can't breathe anymore.
He pulls back eventually when she doesn't respond, gives her another look that makes her heart ache. "Tori, I need you to hear this."
"I will when you come home," she whispers, somehow willing herself to talk. She tries to turn away, not give him an opportunity to say what he means to say as goodbye but he holds her firmly, keeps her in place.
"I love you."
"Don't." She shakes her head furiously, tears pricking her eyes. "Don't you dare say that to me now, Hunter. Not now, not after everything."
He doesn't reply, slowly runs a finger down he side of her face, caressing her cheek and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Nothing is going to happen to you, okay?" She wishes she could sound more certain. And then, "Promise me you won't do anything stupid. Promise me-"
"I'll come back," he steals the words out of her mouth. He doesn't sound very convincing but it is what it is and for now, it is enough.
It has to be.
He does come back, albeit with a few more cuts and bruises than usual. Tori doesn't mind them; at least he is still breathing.
She ends up kissing him harder than she intends to; he keeps up with her. And when they pull back, she tells him, breathless but relieved, "I love you so much."
He beams at her, a finger stroking her cheek. He pulls her closer, her head tucked under his chin. "Me too," he breathes.
And the war does end finally. The dome around Corinth, that had always made her silently dislike the city, lifts and people start leaving, stepping out to rebuild the world that had been destroyed.
"Where do you want to go now?" he asks her late at night
She doesn't even think, the word rolls out of her mouth. "Home."
The day after the war ends and they are about to leave Corinth, once and for all, Dillon visits him.
"I found my sister," he tells him. "I hope you will find your brother too."
They find Blake on a day when it rains, clear pure water pouring from the skies and soaking both of them as they stand unbothered and careless in the shower.
"I have missed this," she confesses.
He smiles at her, haphazardly combs through her damp hair and whispers, "I know you have."
They change out of their wet clothes in the car and by the time they reach the ruins of the Thunder Ninja Academy, the dampness in her hair is gone.
They find him amidst the rubble, hidden from civilization and noise and chaos, so obscure that if they had blinked too fast, they would have lost him one more time.
Tori sees him first and stares for the longest of time till Hunter follows her line of sight and— They look at each other till they can will their legs to move, cover the distance between them and find each other one more time.
The world is built again, brick by brick, from scratch.
Time heals the wounds Corinth and the apocalypse had carved recklessly on her the scars remain. But on certain days, amidst the golden roads and white beaches and canopied forest, she forgets the scars and the dome of death and everything in between and simply breathes.
In.
Out.
She is alive.