Disclaimer: I do not own anything

Jayden crawled out of his room after what felt like months. Truth be told, it had only been a couple of weeks since he had isolated himself away from his teammates, but it felt like so much longer.

The guilt was eating at him. The screams, the looks, the horror, the hatred, the panic… none of it ever left him. He knew he had done what he had done for the good of the Earth and that, as Samurai Rangers, each and every one of them were responsible for putting the safety of the planet ahead of their own safety, but none of that could put Jayden's mind at ease.

He remembered seeing it for the first time. When he saw Kevin squirming around on the floor in pain, he himself had been terrified. Right then and there, his first thought had been to protect his friends. He took the pain away from Kevin and kept him pain free until a solution could be found. Unfortunately, the solution wasn't a good one and it had cost him everything.

His team wouldn't look at him anymore. They wouldn't speak to him, they wouldn't acknowledge him. They refused to train with him. They went out to dinner without him. They played games without him. He didn't like it, but he knew they were just doing it to keep themselves safe. He could read his own mind, but they couldn't. They didn't know he truly hated himself for what he felt he had been forced to do.

As he stepped out into the common room he spotted Kevin and Emily. He quickly looked around for the rest of his friends. He knew Antonio was out selling fish. Antonio his only friend who still talked to him, but words were always few and far between. Antonio would usually only address Jayden to tell him he was leaving the house. It was nothing special. Nothing like what they used to have together.

Mike and Mia were nowhere in sight and the house was quiet. Jayden assumed they were out as well.

He stepped further into the common room and took a seat. He noticed Kevin glaring hatefully at him and glanced away nervously. His eyes fell on Emily. She had a small look of hate in her eye, but there was also worry and fear. Jayden lowered his head and stared at his shoes as he forgot why he wanted to leave his room.

"You could have at least made yourself decent," Kevin muttered. Jayden smiled inwardly. It had been weeks since he had heard Kevin's voice.

"I'm sorry."

"If you're trying to look like shit so we'll pity you, it won't work," Kevin growled. "There's nothing you can do to help yourself, Jayden. You're better off just climbing back into your hole and staying there."

"Kevin…"

"Emily, it's fine. I deserve it," Jayden sighed. He then glanced over at Kevin and saw the blue Ranger boiling with rage.

"Not a word to her," Kevin said. Jayden saw from Kevin's body language that he was ready to kill. The blue Ranger was truly pissed off and Jayden knew the longer they were in the same room together, the more his anger would grow. He didn't want Kevin angry so he got up to leave.

Kevin scoffed and shook his head, "You coward. Go run and hide for another couple of weeks."

"Kevin…"

"Emily, it's fine…"

"What did I say?" Kevin shouted to Jayden and lunged forward. Emily caught Kevin's arm and when he felt her pull he stopped. He stood before her protectively and glared at Jayden as the red Ranger walked away. "You're the worst kind of monster there is, Jayden. You're pathetic!"

"Kevin, stop!" Emily demanded. Kevin looked down at her and it only made him hate Jayden more. After everything Jayden had done to Emily, she still didn't want Kevin treating him poorly. He clenched his fists. This was far from over.

He followed Jayden down the hallway. He heard footsteps behind him and knew Emily was coming with him, most likely to try and stop him from yelling at Jayden when the red Ranger deserved it. Kevin caught up to Jayden and grabbed him by the shoulder. He spun him around.

"After everything you put us through, you're just going to run away?"

"Kevin, you're angry," Jayden tried to remain as calm as possible, but that only seemed to make things worse. It was almost like Kevin wanted to see him turn into a monster. "We can talk about this later."

"No," Kevin shook his head. Emily grabbed his arm and started pulling.

"Kevin, don't do this," she told him.

"You don't get to make the calls here, Jayden," Kevin snarled as he stared down his leader, "the last call you made tortured all of us."

"Kevin, if you knew what I knew…"

"Was there really no other way, Jayden?" Kevin interrupted. He didn't care what Jayden had to say. Nothing he said could make the situation better. "Was it really just a torture or die scenario? Or are you just saying it was because you loved to watch us all suffer."

"If I wanted to see you suffer don't you think Mia would have had her Stone programmed by now?"

Jayden could feel the anger, hatred, and tension build up in the hallway as those words left his mouth. He thought Kevin had been protective of Emily, but the second Mia's name slipped from his mouth Kevin's guard doubled. The next thing the red Ranger knew, he was pinned up against the wall, his feet were off the ground, the back of his head was sore, and he had an angry Kevin's face only inches from his own.

"I don't even want you looking at her," Kevin whispered with a growl, "and if I see the Black Box in your hand, I don't care what your intentions are, you're dead."

"Kevin, stop it!" Emily screamed as she pulled on Kevin's arm, but the man wouldn't budge. He continued to glare at Jayden and Emily was scared one of them would do or say something they would really regret.

She heard the front door open and knew that meant someone was coming home. Antonio, Mike, or Mia, Emily didn't care as long as they would be able to break Kevin and Jayden up. She let go of her older brother and raced to the front entrance. To her relief she saw Mia and Mike taking off their shoes. They had gone out for the afternoon when Mia told Mike she wanted to have a conversation with him in private. After her pregnancy scare she wanted Mike talk with Mike about relationships and the dangers of moving too quickly. She knew Emily had gotten the scare along with her when she first told the yellow Ranger her period was late, and Kevin was very well aware after she sat down and spoke with him. Mike was the only one Mia was still talking to who was out of the loop. She figured he deserved to know what happened.

Emily didn't have time to ask how their conversation went. She ran right up to Mia and started pulling her older sister along.

"Kevin and Jayden are fighting," she explained quickly. "You have to stop it! Kevin's really mad!"

"He should be," Mike said. "What Jayden did was unforgivable."

"But it's still Jayden," Emily said. She dragged Mia down the hallway and Mike followed. Just as the three of them turned the corner they saw Kevin punching Jayden across the face. The red Ranger fell hard to the ground.

"Kevin!" Mia shouted. It felt good to see her fiancé punching Jayden but she knew she had to put a stop to this before it escalated. Kevin turned around when he heard her voice. Mia walked between him and Jayden and pushed Kevin away from the red Samurai. "That's enough."

"Mia…"

"That's enough," she repeated.

Emily knelt down beside Jayden, "Are you okay?" she reached over to check his face but Jayden pushed her away.

"I deserved it…"

Mike's fists clenched when he saw Jayden pushing his girlfriend. Emily had been nothing but nice to Jayden, especially given the circumstances, and he had the nerve to push her away like she was in the wrong.

"You could at least answer her question," he said. "The one person here who has even a shred of sympathy for you and you throw her away like garbage?"

Jayden looked at Emily, "Sorry, Em…"

"Don't talk to her," Mike quickly interrupted. He pointed down the hallway, "Just get lost, dude. You've caused enough trouble."

Jayden lowered his head in shame, picked himself up off the floor and walked the rest of his way back to his room.

While Mike helped Emily back to her feet, Mia glared up at Kevin.

"You didn't have to punch him, Kev."

"Didn't I?" Kevin grumbled. "He should have known it was coming. He's the one who showed his face. I wasn't looking for trouble."

Mia looked up at her fiancé for a moment before turning to Emily, "What happened?"

"Mia!" Kevin frowned but Mia didn't listen. She kept her eyes on Emily. The yellow Ranger shrank away. She didn't want to lie, but she didn't want to get Kevin in trouble with Mia.

"I tried to stop it…"

"Emy, what happened?"

"I…" Emily looked around at the three faces staring at her, "I…"

"No one's going to get in trouble, Em," Mike assured her. "Just tell us what happened."

"I don't know," Emily shrugged her shoulders. "Jayden just… came out and…"

"See," Kevin said. "Jayden came out of his room. I didn't go after him! I didn't ask him to come out. He…"

"Kevin," Mia said gently, though there was an undertone of anger, "don't interrupt."

Emily looked at her feet, "Kevin was mad at Jayden. He chased him away…"

"Jayden didn't run very far," Mike commented. "That or he came back…"

"Kevin followed him," Emily looked at Kevin apologetically. Kevin sighed. He turned his attention to Mia.

"Okay… so I did follow him, but what kind of man runs away? He came out here and pissed me off…"

"Maybe he was going to apologize," Emily suggested. "It can't be easy to do…"

"An apology isn't going to make things better, Emily," Kevin told her. "An apology is just words. It won't take away the hurt or the nightmares, will it?"

"No…"

Mia placed her hand on Kevin's chest, "Just stay away from Jayden from now on, okay?" she told her fiancé. "If he comes out of his room and you can't keep your mouth shut or your hands to yourself, walk away."

"He deserved that," Kevin said.

"I'm not saying he didn't," Mia nodded, "but it's not up to you to punish him."

"Are you saying some higher power will punish him?" Kevin asked. "The Samurai Gods? The Guardian of all things good and sacred?"

"No," Mia quickly looked over her shoulder at Jayden's door, "but if he really is the Jayden we all hope he is, you know he's beating himself up."

"Or, he's in there laughing at us," Kevin scoffed.

"Jayden's not doing that," Emily shook her head. "He cares about us…"

"Cares so much he brought you out into the middle of nowhere and tortured you?" Kevin snapped.

Mike wrapped his arms around Emily and glared at Kevin, "Stop it, dude. You're pissed, we get it. Either shut up or get out of the house."

Kevin glared back at Mike and for a moment there was silence. Finally he let out a long breath, "I'm sorry. You're right."

"Good," Mia sighed. She wrapped her arm around Kevin's waist and hugged him, "Can we please go back to ignoring Jayden? The house is much quieter when we do."

"Lead the way," Kevin nodded and gestured to the common room.

While Mia and Kevin walked away, Mike looked down at Emily and kissed her forehead.

"Things will get better, I promise."

"I hope so," Emily nodded her head sadly. "I want to go home."

"Me too," Mike hugged her tight.