hello, hello, anybody out there (sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright)
By: AndiKaneUnderwood
Title comes from Echo by Jason Walker
AU: Alpha/Beta/Omega
Braiden Romero: Alpha
Hayley Foster: Alpha
Levi Weston: Beta
Sarah Thompson: Beta
Calvin Maxwell: Omega
Preston Tien: Omega
I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name like a fool at the top of my lungs, sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright, but it's never enough. Cause my echo is the only thing coming back, my shadow is the only friend that I have.
~Echo, Jason Walker
Preston's life had been tainted by magic since he was five years old.
Everything he loved was magical to him.
His parents were the most magical of people, but sometimes their magic was stained by malicious intent.
Not that they were malicious, goodness no. No, what he meant was that their good intentions often led him to misery and they didn't realize it.
For example, when the company was just starting out, Preston's father had given verbal agreement that Preston would be introduced to and try a relationship with an old friend's Alpha child.
The only problem was, said Alpha child would one day turn into an abusive jerk.
When Preston presented almost too early at the age of ten(1) the Alpha child, Anthony, took the first chance he could and Marked him.
No consent given, no speaking about it beforehand, no 'hey, I'm going to Mark you now'. Not even so much as a warning.
Preston had simply been sleeping one minute, then the next woken up screaming in pain.
Anthony, who was a good five years older than Preston, had lied about Preston having nightmares.
Because he knew very well that Preston's father may be an absentee parent, but the wellbeing of his son was still very important to him.
And if someone threatened the wellbeing of his son, then all Hell was sure to break loose.
From then on, Preston had spent a lot of time on his knees; thankfully Anthony didn't want a bedmate, rather a dependent, obedient, and silent companion.
Once, when he was twelve, Preston had asked his father to sever the contract with Anthony's father.
He'd begged and pleaded, everything short of getting down on his knees, for his father to cut the contract.
"Preston, I can't cut the contract unless you give me a good reason." Marcus had replied.
Preston had burst into tears and spent the rest of the night in his room, praying to whatever deity heard him for help.
It finally came roughly three years later when Anthony decided to do some traveling.
"Preston," Anthony began, "I'm leaving town. I don't know when I'll be back and quite frankly, I don't care. I don't need a scrawny Omega trailing after me or waiting for when I get back."
Preston, who was once more on his knees, startled and his eyes went wide; dare he hope?
Anthony slipped his hand into Preston's hair and tightened his grip too much.
"I'm dissolving the Bond, Preston."
Even as he said it, Preston felt the flare of pain and a shudder passed through him, but he was otherwise silent.
Preston felt the shift and relief filled his heart. He was free.
Anthony stood and left without another word.
Preston sat down fully with his legs drawn up to his chest and cried.
Ninja Steel~Ninja Steel~Ninja Steel
Preston was a few months shy of turning seventeen when he met his SoulMate in a girl who came from space.
Braiden Romero was kind and intelligent and better in every way.
Preston hadn't ever had friends in his life, Anthony had never allowed it, too afraid that Preston would become "rowdy and wild".
When high school rolled around, Preston had wanted to make friends, but he was so quiet and shy that people never really connected to him as they would to others. That wasn't to say that Preston was lonely in his high school years, he did speak with people.
The chess club was always good for a match and he'd met two people who could be good friends to him once they found a good connection.
Then Braiden came around and Preston was introduced to a life that was amazing and cool and magical and suddenly, he had not one or two friends, but five.
Braiden had ended up being her SoulMate, which he figured out about a week after they'd first become Power Rangers. You can imagine how much that new found information terrified and confused him.
But Braiden had taken it in stride, waiting for Preston to be ready rather than demanding his attention.
Braiden was endlessly patient with the Blue Ranger, never once pushing for more than Preston was willing to give.
Even with some of the learned habits Anthony had drilled into Preston (like kneeling 24/7), Braiden slowly and steadily removed those toxic tools from Preston's mind.
Braiden was happy to earn Preston's trust, to prove herself worthy of it (even if Preston had already freely given it), and to show Preston that she was never going to intentionally put him in harm's way.
Preston understood few things in life when it came to relationships with Alphas, due to his absentee father and his abusive former Mate, but Braiden was slowly helping him to understand that Alphas weren't meant to be abusive and awful. They were meant to be kind and strong and a support system (just as any partner was meant to be).
Preston was happy with Braiden, happier than he'd been since he was seven and his mother died in a car wreck.
Until Anthony came back one day.
Ninja Steel~Ninja Steel~Ninja Steel
A rapid knocking at the door tore Braiden from her peaceful sleep. She yawned as she sat up, moving towards the door from where she'd fallen asleep on the couch.
A feeling similar to despair (but not quite) and much like agony (but falling just short) settled in her chest, and Braiden didn't know how it got there but if it had anything to do with her unexpected houseguest, then she had a feeling she'd be awake for another long while.
She opened the door and gasped because standing outside drenched in water and soaked to the bone was her SoulMate, shivering in the rain.
"Preston! What are you doing here?" Braiden reached out and tugged Preston inside, "Come inside before you catch a cold."
Preston was perfectly silent as he was lead inside and toweled off quickly.
Braiden gently pulled off his clothes and dressed him in a pair of her own grey jogging pants and a red hoodie (that satisfied something primal deep inside her) to make sure he stayed warm.
And damn it if that didn't satisfy something deep within her to see her Mate in her clothes, but she pushed it down and focused on him. Preston's safety was more important than her outdated instincts.
Once Preston was dressed, she settled a blanket around his shoulders and hesitantly stepped into the kitchen to make some of his favorite tea.
As she waiting, she watched as Preston slowly bundled himself up in the blanket; movements sluggish and slow.
It became clear to her then that someone had put Preston in Headspace. The glazed eyes and absolute silence where only the final clues.
Braiden's concern was ramped up several more notches, the effects of this could be catastrophic if it had been done wrong (which was kind of a 50/50 flip, Braiden didn't know how it happened).
When the tea was finished, Braiden placed it in a mug and carried it back to the living room and gently placing it in Preston's hands.
As she watched Preston slowly wrap his shaking fingers around the mug, anger fizzled in her chest, blazing quickly into a wildfire when Preston had finished the tea under her careful watch and laid his head on her shoulder.
She wasn't angry with Preston, never with Preston, she was angry with whoever had made her lively Mate so quiet and subdued; almost like he'd been drugged again(2).
So, she pushed away the anger in favor of cuddling her friend close. Preston was more important that the anger that burned in her stomach.
Braiden whispered loving things to her SoulMate, hoping to counteract whatever went wrong with this particular drop into Headspace and felt him slowly fall to sleep.
God, she didn't want the first time she got this privilege to be like this.
Preston whined softly and Brained hushed him. "It's okay, Preston. You're okay," she murmured, running her fingers through his hair a few times.
When Preston woke up, they'd speak about this. Until then, Braiden settled in to wait until morning and Preston's waking.
It was going to be a long night.
(1) Sometimes, when genetics line up just right, an Alpha/Omega can present early. These kinds of Secondaries are more likely to have a supernatural quirk (like actual magical abilities or pyrokinesis) and are more in touch with their Secondary side. This does not make them more stereotypical or any less of a person. Thank you!
(2) So, this links to a headcanon of mine that the monsters and such the Power Rangers face aren't always so G rated as they are in the shows. I personally root for them being kind of like Marvel villains (Red Skull, Thanos, Vulture), so thus all of the Ninja Steel Rangers have been kidnapped/captured/drugged/almost fatally injured at some point in the show. My stories also function more on a 'real world' level, so all of the Rangers have PTSD and the like.