Emily couldn't stay in bed for long. After a full day bedridden she was going to have to get up or the Rangers were going to start worrying, and once they started, they weren't going to stop.
She set the alarm to wake her up bright and early. Alarm clocks never woke Mike up so she didn't have to worry about him. She pulled herself from the bed and went to the bathroom right away. She got washed up, enjoying the cool shower. Her fever hadn't yet broken and so the cool water felt very good. It would also cool her down enough for the Rangers to believe she was feeling better. She brushed her teeth and did her hair. Appearance was everything when trying to fool her friends that she was okay. If she was going to act the part, she was going to look the part. And although it killed her to stand up straight, she was going to have to bit her tongue and carry on. Her knee would heal, she believed it. All she had to do was wait.
While her parents had tried to shelter her quite a bit growing up, Emily had a tendency of finding herself in the small corners of the house, sometimes going completely unnoticed while her parents had private conversations about matters they didn't want her to worry about. One of those conversations that she heard happened to be her parents talking with Serena about how far spread her illness had gotten after only one appointment to the doctor. Emily listened as her sister admitted to hiding her illness and she listed all the things she had done to make sure her parents wouldn't notice. Keeping herself well groomed had been a big part of the act. Emily still remembered her sister's list word for word. It terrified her. For years, Emily would keep a watchful eye on her sister to make sure Serena wasn't hiding anything else lethal.
But that also taught Emily what to do to hide her pain. She put her make-up on to artificially bring the colour back to her face and make herself look good as new. By the time she was done, it was time to get ready for training. Now came the hard part – acting like there was nothing wrong. She put her training uniform on, pulling the pants down below her knee to hide the dressing. She put her shirt on, tied the belt, and then stepped back into her room. She walked around to Mike's side of the bed and woke him up.
"C'mon, sleepy-head," she chuckled. Though she looked and sounded like her regular self, she couldn't wait for bedtime, where she could go back to bed and sleep like the dead, and pretend her feeling sick was just her feeling tired.
Mike rolled over and saw her up and about. He smiled, "Hey, feeling better?"
"Much," Emily nodded. She gave Mike a kiss and then walked out of the room so he could get ready. Mike sat up in bed and watched her leave. Something didn't seem right. With her cheery attitude came a bounce. Literally, she would bounce around when she moved from one spot to another. This morning, even with the giggle, the smile, and the happy-go-lucky attitude, there was no bounce. But she had been sick the day before, with a high fever. Though she felt better, her body was probably still adjusting to being back to normal. Mike shrugged it off and got ready for training.
Emily walked into the kitchen and poured some food in the dog bowl for Storm. The dog, like Emily, had a sore leg and limped around the house. But, unlike Emily, she was letting the Samurai take care of her. Her wound had closed up and she was moving around with a lot more ease now. There was a small limp, but nothing to hold her back. She raced to her bowl and buried her face in her food.
Serena was next to arrive in the kitchen and she saw Emily up and about. The first thing she did was touch Emily's forehead. Her little sister was still a little warm, but that was expected. She was moving around like usual, and smiling, and there seemed to be nothing wrong.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Serena asked and gestured to the training uniform, "You can skip this morning and train tonight. You should rest a little more."
"I'm fine," Emily promised. The toast popped out of the toaster and she offered it to Serena, "Hungry?"
Serena nodded her head. Emily put the toast on a plate for her sister. When Serena saw Emily wasn't making anything for herself she had to ask, "What are you eating?"
"I already ate," Emily had been smart enough to pull a plate from the dishwasher and pretend it was hers. She wasn't hungry in the slightest and couldn't even think of eating without making herself sick. She loaded the plate back into the dishwasher and smiled, "I was up early."
"Take it easy today, okay," Serena said. "I know you think you're feeling better, but you shouldn't work too hard."
"I won't, I promise," Emily nodded. She walked out of the room and headed for the yard to warm up for training. Serena finished her toast and went to put her plate away. She opened the dishwasher and stuck it in. Then she remembered to grab herself something to drink. There was no sense training if she was dehydrated. She poured herself some water, gulped it down and then opened the dishwasher again. This time she pulled out the top rack.
It was completely emptied. Jayden's chore this week was unloading the dishwasher every night and he hadn't failed to do so. Serena had seen him. Of course, before the Samurai went to bed, the dishes were already starting to be loaded in. They all enjoyed a few late night snacks.
But there were no cups. No one had had anything to drink. Serena knew the others were still in their rooms getting ready and so they hadn't used any dishes this morning. Any glasses they had taken the night before were likely still in their rooms and would be loaded in when they came into the kitchen.
But Emily was up and she had eaten, as far as Serena was concerned. And yet there was no cup, which means she either drank right from the sink like an animal, which she never did because there were so many cups available, or she hadn't had anything to drink at all.
Serena slammed the dishwasher shut and followed her sister outside. Emily knew how important it was to stay hydrated, especially when she was sick. If she wasn't drinking even a few sips of water, what the hell was she doing?
Serena watched her sister from the patio. Emily was warming up like usual.
"I already ate," Serena heard Emily's voice echo in her head. She didn't sound like she was lying, and Emily was a terrible liar. The only time she could lie convincingly was when she was hiding something.
Either Emily was speaking the truth or she had a secret.
Serena watched her closely. Her sister was a lot like her. More and more every day.
And it wasn't a good thing.
-Samurai-
"Good," Ji nodded his head as he watched the Rangers practice. Now his job was mostly just encouragement. Though perfection was impossible, the Rangers had all become masters of their own style. Very rarely did he have to correct their technique or offer pointers.
He did lift Antonio's sword a little higher, but that was just to remind the gold Ranger to keep going. The sun was hot, even for the early hours of the morning, and the Rangers were growing tired. Ji would cut training short, but he wanted them to last a few more moments. Nighlok dried out faster when the weather was warmer, because like humans they dehydrated quickly under the hot sun (a reason why Nighlok attacks weren't as common in the summer). However, Nighlok did still come out, and the extreme heat wouldn't hold some of them back. The Rangers needed to learn to fight under any circumstances.
When Antonio was back in a proper stance Ji stepped back and looked to Emily. Because she needed to take it easy after spending the day sick in bed, Ji had her train with Mia. The pink Ranger knew how to be gentle yet effective when it came to training and would be a perfect pair for Emily on this day.
After a couple more minutes, Ji called for the end of the session. The Rangers all dropped their swords and fell to the ground, lying on their backs. They were hot.
"Summer's officially started," Mike chuckled. "Dudes, I love the sun as much as the next guy, but can someone turn it down a few degrees."
"Tanning time," Antonio smirked and sat up to roll up his pants. He lay back down, putting his hands behind his head and basked in the sun, "I'm going to be a golden god by the end of the day."
"Or burnt," Kevin stated bluntly.
Mia laughed, "We'll have two red Rangers then."
"Speaking of burning," Mike looked over to Emily, who had fallen over with the others, "How are you feeling, Em? You should probably get into the shade soon. Maybe even a cool shower. I'll let you go first this time."
There was no answer from Emily. Mia, who was closest, reached out and poked her arm.
"Emy?"
There was still no answer. Serena bolted up, rushing to her sister's side. She knew there was something wrong. Ji was also next to her in a flash, checking her temperature. He had had his doubts about letting her train, but Emily insisted and acted like she was better. He shouldn't have believed her. Just as he was about to start barking out orders for the Samurai to help him with Emily, she tensed up. Before Ji could even begin to wonder what was happening, she started to twitch. Ji backed away, jumped to his feet and raced inside.
The other Samurai watched helplessly as the twitching eventually subsided. Serena felt sick to her stomach.
Serena had been feeling ill for a long time, but refused to believe it was anything serious. She had a responsibility to become the yellow Ranger and would not let that duty fall on her baby sister's shoulders. Emily could barely survive elementary school bullies. There was no way she would be able to survive the Nighlok attack.
As Serena played the flute to sooth her sister and dry her tears, she felt the world start to spin. She missed a few notes and found herself short of breath. She pulled the flute away from her mouth and started to cough. Little Emily looked on with worry. Serena tried to supress her coughs, but there was nothing she could do. The more she resisted, the stronger they got, pushing their way from her lungs until Serena couldn't catch her breath anymore. She couldn't even hear her little sister screaming over the sound of her coughs.
Then, blackness.
Serena heard sirens wailing in the background she was pulled from her sister's side. Paramedics, bearing the Samurai emblem on their uniforms, carried her sister away.
Two arms wrapped themselves around her. They were Mike's arms.
"She's strong," Mike whispered. His voice was shaky. "She'll be okay. She's strong like you."
Serena gulped. Those were the least comforting words she had ever heard in her entire life.
