Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: Up to "The Light"
Characters: Udonna, Daggeron, Claire, Nick/Bowen, Vida, Chip, Xander
Warnings: none.
Author's Note: I placed names at the top of each section because I could tell too many people were getting confused and took out the Zordon ending because of it's lameness.

Breaking Point

(Udonna)
She can't help the tears from falling. She's tried. Merlin knows she's tried. She works extra hard to keep it from them, but they know her too well to believe her.

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(Nick)
He stays up at night and listens as her heart shatters a little more. But what can I really do? He asks himself, even though he already knows the answer. Everything. anything. So, he finally gets up and goes to her room. He doesn't disguise his footsteps because he doesn't want to scare her. She silences herself as soon as she hears his door opens, but he doesn't care. She's in there and she's hurting and she needs him, them.

He enters the room and climbs onto the bed, over the sheets, and holds her as she completely falls apart, wondering if it's possible for it to ever be mended again.

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(Clare & Daggeron)
She can't sleep at night because the sound she hears gives her nightmares. He sits with her because he feels just as helpless as she does. They've tried everything they could think of. They both start crying with her without realizing it. It's more than they can handle tonight. Neither moves, allowing their tears to stain their faces and the table and the tea they sip occasionally on.

The sound of the door opening and closing is so normal sounding it scares them a bit. They think it's her because all sounds have ceased. There's a set of footsteps and another door opens and closes. Then all of hell breaks lose and suddenly they're breaking with her for all that is lost and all that will come.

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(Chip, Vida, Xander, Madison)
They don't know how to act now. So much has change and she insists on acting like nothing has. They're not there all the time so they don't know. They don't understand the looks that the residents of Rootcore give each other. They don't understand why they all have dark circles under their eyes, or why he carries a bottle of Clear Eyes with him everywhere. They want to ask questions, but they never get to, because as soon as one has the guts to, she's telling them she's leaving. Now, they have a whole new set of questions, but it'll take time to ask them.

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(Nick)
He worries about her, about how she'll do while she's gone, but he doesn't push the matter, because she'd tell him otherwise. If there's anything he believes in now, it's in her, and that she'll succeed and come back to them, to him.

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(Clare & Daggeron)

They both know that they can stop her, but they don't. She's right; she has to do this alone. What if she can really do it and they keep from it? They'll be the one's to blame for losing him. There's too much at stake here, but they have to let her go.

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(Clare)
She works a little bit harder in her studies. She has to. Now that she's gone, someone's got to help the Rangers with potions and spells and such. He'll be training them, and she'll teach them.

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(Xander about Clare)
He believes in her, believes that she can do it. That she can do anything she sets her mind to. She saved him once, she'll do it again. He's agreed, in secret, to help her with anything she needs. He swallows any thoughts and emotions he has because he knows that now isn't the time for that. She needs him and he needs her, and together they'll help each other and the team make it through this because they have to.

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(Vida & Chip)
She finds it better to argue with him because it puts a distance between them. She doesn't know how she'll be able to handle losing him in the end. She truly thinks that not all of them will make it through this. She knows that he knows what it is that she's doing, but she doesn't care. This is how she chooses to deal with the pain before it actually comes.

And he realizes this. So, he'll play her little game, but he doesn't have to like it. He'll still ask her for rides home and force her to see him and be around him, and he'll piss her off to no end if it means she'll continue to speak to him instead of just casting him aside because she's scared. He made a vow a long time ago that he will do everything in his power to make sure she's always safe and they'll always be together, because… just because, he thinks. They just have to.

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None of them know exactly what it is that they're up against, but it secretly excites them. They know it shouldn't, but it does. They have all have their own reasons for fighting, their own reasons for surviving, and their own reasons for not quitting. It's that they keep fighting and keep surviving and keep going that connects them together. It makes them stronger and more dangerous to the other side. No more sacrifices will be made this time, though. Too many people have been forced to live half a life because they're missing what makes them whole. There's everything to lose and everything to gain and they'll fight to the end because they must, because they can, because they want to.