Disclaimer: I STILL do not own PRNS, or any part of it. I also do not own the song "My Last Breath" by Evanescence, which is quoted throughout and was also the original inspiration for this story.

Thanks to everyone for your reviews, and I'm sorry it's taking me so long to update! I have a new job which is turning out to be pretty crazy and exhausting, so I don't always have a regular time to edit/upload - which is why I'm giving you guys 2 chapters this time :-)

Chapter 3: Back to the Dark

After a long day of fun, at 10 o'clock the Rangers decided to call it quits—they knew they would have training early in the morning, and possibly a monster attack; and besides the beach closed at 10:30. Waving to her friends, Tori climbed into her blue van and started the engines. She watched as Shane pulled out in his red Lexus, followed by Dustin in his Storm Chargers van and Hunter and Blake in their Ford 4X4. Cam, she observed, merely had CyberCam teleport him to Ninja Ops. That empty place is his only home every night, she thought somewhat sadly. Yawning, she navigated her van through the dark streets to her home, lazily dragged the inner tubes and beach balls to the back of the garage – I'll deal with them in the morning—and then went to her room. Slipping into an extra large Storm Chargers t-shirt, she snuggled up under the covers and was soon fast asleep.

Something lurches inside me. I look down and see my shirt is the color of Hunter's uniform now; no longer is it blue. I taste blood in my mouth, an uncontrollable amount of blood. My senses blur, my body numbs and gets a thousand pounds heavier. My eyelids are also heavy, oh so heavy, and I know that I am dying now…

Once again, Tori sat up in bed, screaming wildly. Panting heavily, she clutched her heart, and felt it pounding far above her normal heart rate. "It's just a dream," she lectured herself aloud. But that voice in the back of her head, the one that we all have, that always reminds us of the darker side of things, would not leave her alone. Or is it? the voice whispered sinisterly. Tori shuddered. Suddenly her mother ran into the room.

"Tori, dear! What is it? What's wrong?" She shook her head wearily.

"Nothing, Mom. Just—just a bad dream." Her mother pursed her lips.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tori shook her head. "All right then. If you need me, dear, just come get me, all right? Good-night honey." Her mother kissed her on the cheek, and vanished back to her own room again. Tori bit her lip. I cannot go on like this, she thought in desperation. There has to be another way. She paused a moment, thinking, quivering with dread. You have only one choice, that voice in her head reminded her. You have to tell them.

"But if I tell them," Tori argued with herself aloud, "Then they'll think I'm a wimp, and they'll get all over-protective on me." But she could see that her inner logic was winning. A dream that I've had this many times, cannot be just a dream. I should tell someone, she thought. "All right. I'll do it. First chance that I have tomorrow. I'll tell them.