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Ethereal Vision Chapter- Hold Me In Her Arms
// Now that I know what I'm without
You can't just leave me
Breathe into me and make me real
Bring me to life //
Will sat on the bed, elbows on his knees and hands clasped under his chin. From one night to the next morning, he had gone from single to being a boyfriend. And not with just anybody, but his girlfriend had to be the Sentinel of Love. Did it mean something, that possibly Rita and Goldar supposedly foretold him were wrong? Could he actually love someone and be loved in return? Rebekkah seemed sincere in her claims of her love for him, especially since she was the one who made the first move when she confronted him about his attitude toward her after the landslide incident.
"Hey, Will, what's wrong?" The spot next to him dipped, Rebekkah taking a seat next to him. "Will, you're crying."
So, he was. Tears had been trailing down his face in silent rivers and he hadn't even noticed. Will drew in a deep breath, his nose clogged with mucus. Sitting straighter, he wiped at his face, embarrassed at being caught.
"Don't be ashamed, Will." Rebekkah laid a hand on his shoulder. "Why were you crying?"
"I thought that I would never have a girlfriend." He told her. "I'm a geek." He admitted.
"Right, you're a geek." Beck leaned back, running her gaze over him, across the broad chest and shoulders, down the long 'V' of his sides, the ripped abdomen hidden under the shirt, strong legs clothed in pants. Her hand was clasped in his firm grip that ran up to defined forearms, strong biceps to his handsome face in her eyes. "I guess I love geeks." She whistled appreciatively, giving a cocky grin.
Will blushed, something so unfamiliar to him now, tears forgotten. "I wasn't always like this. I was a small teen with a very slim build. Nothing like this." He waved at himself. "I was fed these weird positions and concoctions by Rita and Finster. They made me a little taller, a little stronger, and a little faster." Will unconsciously tightened his scarred fist. "They also told me that I was destined never to love, that no one would want me because I am- was hers. After my first escape, I believed it. I believed that I would never find happiness, much less love." Will shook his head. "Now that you told me that you love me, I'm starting to believe that she's wrong. You are making me a believer, Beck." Will laid a hand on hers. "And I'm making myself look like an emotional wreck." He gave a slight laugh.
"What ever Rita told you is a lie. Everyone deserves to love and be loved. It's one of the greatest gifts anyone can have. And everyone deserves the right to be an emotional wreck, especially after what you went through."
"What are the other gifts?"
"I'll tell you when I find out." She replied.
Will smiled. "You don't have to worry about it, Beck. I'm slowly getting to the point where I no longer believe her, that I CAN find happiness. I'm getting there slowly, but I'm getting there." And for sure, it's going to be a rough ride. He thought to himself.
"Good." Seeing Will wanted to change the subject, Beck turned the conversation back to the past, before they were Sentinels and he was a Ranger. "So, how were you like when you were smaller?"
"That's an easy question. I was a science nerd, loved doing experiments in the garage lab I had. Never really focused on anything else. The only physical exertion I ever did was when I rarely played with my ex-friends and the gymnastics I took for my hand-eye coordination."
"Coordination? You?" Beck couldn't really see Will as a clumsy person after the training exercises they had gone through the last few months. He was graceful and in the recent ones, sure of himself. But then again, she didn't know him then.
"Klutz, add that with the appearance of a nerd and you got a ripe target for bullies. I almost always got picked on by them every day. My ex-best friends tried to help tone it down. They were always there."
"You know, they kind of sound like my siblings." Rebekkah said getting up from the bed helping Will pack his sack. "I have two older siblings, a brother and sister. They're twins. Because I'm the little one, they think that it's their responsibility to take care of me, that nothing bad happens to me. When I was in middle school, there was this jerk that thought I was his girlfriend. I tried to tell him otherwise but he wouldn't drop it. Finally my brother Daniel had enough and after the high school let out, he went straight to my school and cornered the guy. Told him in certain terms that he was going to leave me alone or else. Needless to say, the jerk never talked to me again."
"I don't have siblings so I don't know how that feels." They walked to the door and began to head to the forest near the beach.
"Sometimes I would like to wring their necks." Beck shrugged. "But I wouldn't have it any other way."
"It seems I'm going to have to worry about how your parents are going to react to me along with your siblings." Will said as they started down the stone steps of the hidden stairwell. Unlike the others, this one was carved into the cliff side, the stone arcing over them and coming down to the meet the floor. Windows were carved into the wall every four feet, allowing the sun to shine into the stairwell. Torch brackets were set between the windows for light at night when the moon wasn't shining.
"Why do you say that? I think they are going to like you." Beck squinted an eye at him. "Are you planning to tell them about your imprisonment?"
"Yeah. They should know after all. They are your parents."
"Not if you are condemning yourself." Beck stated.
"I'm not." Will shifted slightly.
Beck snorted. "Right. They will like you; I'm sure of it. My dad will understand. As I told you before, he was in the military where some of his friends were captured and tortured. Out of everyone, he'll understand."
Will looked out the windows. "Maybe. Maybe he won't. People can be unpredictable even if you knew them all your life. I learned that the hard way."
"But not everyone's like that, Will." The stairwell opened out into where the forest met the beaches of Phaedos, the cliff towering over them. "Wow, it's beautiful."
Will agreed. The forest was made up of what looked like giant redwoods but instead of red, they were brownish gold or dark silver. "I've never seen trees like that."
"No one has." The pair followed a small brook that flowed from the forest into the ocean, no doubt fresh as Will could see where the two waters met. "Too bad I don't have a camera. But luckily I brought some paint."
"Paint?"
"Yeah, I love to pain and draw. Something that Jessie and I have in common. I know how to make my own paint so I started to make my own when we got here. The brushes took me a little longer to make."
"Let's find a spot and set camp so you can have time to draw." Will said. Suddenly he stopped, placing a hand over Rebekkah's mouth. She turned toward him, her question reflected in her eyes.
Will raised a finger to his lips and pointed at the animal that had caught his attention.
Standing no more than a hundred yards away was what resembled a deer but you definitely tell it was native only to this planet. The antlers were curved up and back, kind of like what you would see on Chinese dragons. The deer had a coat of black and dark brown, a little dark grey mixed in here and there. Around its neck was a lion's mane of lighter grey. Will presume it was male as the one next to it was smaller and the horns less ornate. The one next to the female had to be a baby, the horns barely budding and a pale grey with flecks of brown and black barely peeking in. They were feasting on the weeds that grew along the river banks.
Will crouched, Beck following suit. The male deer was looking at them, large black eyes wary. Beck slid her sack around quietly, removing her drawing pad he guessed and what looked like charcoal. He caught her eye and smiled. Sitting back, he watched the family of deer eat. The male deer gave them one last look before beginning to eat again.
As Beck drew, Will watched the family, especially the little one. Every now and then, it would jump from where it was eating to the river, splashing his mother. Sometimes, it would come up behind its sire and give a little bite before bounding off before the elder buck could do anything.
After what seemed like hours, the deer finally finished eating, taking one last drink at the river before trotting away back into the forest.
Will took a peek over Beck's shoulder. "That's a really good drawing, Beck."
"I still need to finish it but it's almost done." Beck said as she closed the pad. "Those were really beautiful. The little one seemed very mischievous. Kind of reminds me of Joseph and Scott."
"They'd be very flattered." They started moving again. They continued to walk in companionable silence. They stopped again further down the river to eat. "Beck, can I ask you a question?"
"Yup."
"What made you come after me? Especially since I was treating you the way I did."
"You mean like confronting you and all that?" Will nodded. Beck swallowed her bite. "At first, after you kind of screamed at me at the simulation, I was trying to hard to figure out what I had done wrong to make you so made at me. I was kind of making myself believe that you hate me. Jessie and Kayla were helping me to calm down. Kayla told me that she knew where the same thing had happened but ended differently, where they both had suffered. I didn't want to lose the chance that you actually did love me, so I gathered up the courage that I had and marched down to your room."
Will licked his lips. "Did I hurt your feelings when I said those things?"
Truth or lie? "Yes you did, Will. It still hurts. I won't lie to you."
"I'm sorry." Will looked at his hands. Beck could see something was troubling so she waited patiently. "What I said to you bothers me." He looked up at her, a haunted expression in his eyes. "I purposely picked those words with a single objective, to try to hurt you so you could leave. And now, I afraid that maybe I go that little extra distance to push you away even more. I'm afraid that I might actually turn against you."
Beck quickly got and moved to him, wrapping her arms around him. Will immediately wrapped his arms around her body, holding on like she was his lifeline. And maybe she was. "That's not true, Will. You'll never hurt us. I know that you would rather kill yourself then hurt me or the others."
"Are you sure about that, Beck? What if you're wrong?"
"The only way I'll be wrong if you GIVE UP being good. I'll be wrong if you LET yourself turn. But I KNOW that you are the type of person that will continue on fighting even as the shit hits the fan. Sorry for the curse words but that's the truth." Beck stated firmly.
Will nodded, not saying anything more. It was going to take him a long time to find himself again. But for now, he let her hold him in her arms, sitting underneath the blue sky and dark canopy.
(VvVvVvVvV)
"Where have you guys been?" Ryan asked as Will and Rebekkah appeared at the top of the stairwell, the sun beginning to dip beneath the waters.
"Nothing where we won't blush." Will replied. "How was the beach?"
"The crabs here are monsters! Forget the ones in the jungle. These little buggers have bad-ass attitudes!" Gabe announced.
Jessie rolled her eyes. "He's only saying that because he fell asleep and one of them walked up his shorts. Let's leave at that that they hit the family jewels." The others started laughing, Gabe giving Jessie a glare that would have leveled a small city.
"You should have seen it when he was jumping around, trying to get it off!" Kayla announced. "I've seen someone jump so high!"
"If they had went up your pants, you'd wouldn't like someone else laughing at your expense." Gabe sniffed.
"Well, as they say, it's not funny when someone gets hurt, it's hilarious." Joseph said. He ducked as Gabe sent an object at him. "Ow!"
"It was fun at the beach." Toni said as the Wolf and Tiger Ninjetti took the remaining seats. "What did you guys do?"
"Talked about a lot of things. According to Will, he was a geek when he was small." Beck said as she served Will and herself. Seeing the looks on the others, she added. "I know."
"You, a geek? I can't see it." Ryan announced as he took a bite from the plate. "You look like one of those athletic guys who play sports when they can."
"Better believe it."
Everyone started when suddenly Mark shouted out. "Now I know why you look so damn familiar. You're the boy that vanished from school; William James Cranston, the science genius of Angel Grove."
"The science genius?"
"Yeah, everyone believed he was going to graduate real early was destined for those high ranked universities, you know, like Oxford or MIT? Then he suddenly disappeared right about the time the Grey Ranger kicked up its attacks." Mark stopped when he saw the look on Will's face. "Uh, sorry man. I didn't mean to rant."
"It's okay. After all, it's the truth."
"Doesn't mean that I should ranting like that." Mark told him.
"It's okay."
Gabe looked up at him. "That means the Rangers are Trini Kwan, Jason Lee Scott, Tommy Oliver, Zackary Taylor, Rocky De Santos, and Kimberly Hart."
"How'd did you know that?" Will was startled at how fast Gabe had put the pieces together.
"Now that Mark mentioned out your full name, I remembered who you are or were. You used to hang out with them. I remember that after the Rangers showed up, they kept wearing the basic colors. Red, yellow, Green, Blue, Black, Pink but not in that order." Gabe said.
"You're right. We all go to Angel Grove High and we didn't even see it." Scott said.
"Hiding in plain sight." Gabe said.
"I know where Jason lives." Kayla said.
Will cut her off. "Don't even think about it. I don't want you guys fighting them because of me."
"But come on, Will. They abandon you to Rita." Kayla argued. "They need to know their mistake."
"And for what? So they can feel guilty. I don't want to throw it in their faces. We would be no better than Rita. Just leave it alone. It's between me and them, Kayla. Please, just leave it alone." He begged.
"Fine." Kayla turned back to her meal.
"Soooooo, now we were talking about the Rangers, it reminded that we don't have those giant-moving robots." Mark turned the conversation to something new, trying to lessen the stress in the air. "I want me one of those giant robots."
"And so you shall get one." Dulcea said as she appeared right at Mark's elbow.
"Ack! Don't do that!" The Panther Ninjetti said as he got back in his seat after sliding off.
"What do you mean, Dulcea? Do the Sentinels get their own robots?" Will asked as Dulcea leaned on her Singing Staff
"No, the Sentinels do not come with the Zords you have seen the Rangers use. You will have to build your own." Dulcea looked pointedly at Will. "You have the knowledge to build them, Will. You have seen how one works."
That's true." Under Rita's control, he had seen the inner working of the Velociraptor Zord along with the Dragon Zord and the rest of the Rangers' Zords when he had stolen them that one time. Plus he should know how one should work considering he had updated the Velociraptor Zord so it was more powerful than both the MegaZord and Dragon Zord combined. A fact that still bothered him to this day.
"We also have the Ninjetti Zords that you can study along with the old Aquitarian Borgs that used to protect the planet of Aquitar before they built new ones. They are different as they also work on telepathic communication between the pilot and the Borg itself." Dulcea said.
"Telepathic communication? We can't do that." Ryan frowned.
"Ah, but you can. Your training will start soon." Dulcea said with a twinkle in her eye. "With the training, you will be able to communicate to each other and to your vehicles when they are built. A Ninjetti Sentinel who is properly trained can send information and send it to another Sentinel during battle within a blink of an eye. They can also ward off telepathic attacks and able to communicate with those who do not have telepathic abilities."
"So you want me to begin building the vehicles for the Sentinels?" Will asked the Master Warrior.
"Yes, along with a battle cruiser for travel between planets."
"You're asking the impossible." A battle cruiser? Did she really believe that he could actually build one capable of interstellar travel?
Dulcea only smiled. "With the Ninjetti, anything's possible."
That answered his bloody question.
"Let's call them Ryders." Everyone turned to Dayleen. "Let's call them Ryders. It means 'mounted warriors'."
"Mounted warriors. Sounds good." Toni said.
"We can give them codenames so in case the enemy hacks into our communications, they won't understand who's who."
"What about the ship?" Jessie asked.
"How about Dead Reckoning?"
"I like the sound of that." Ryan agreed.
"What does it mean?" Kayla asked.
"Dead reckoning is a method used by pilots to estimate the position of a vessel using the previous determined position, course, and distance traveled since when they couldn't determine their position by the stars in the night sky." Will shot off.
"Okay, I guess he is still a geek." Scott said after everyone was quiet.
"Can you say that again?"
"Basically, they guess where they were by using the last time they recorded their position and used the distance they traveled since then along with the course they took to find out their new position." Will said simply.
"Oh!" Everyone looked at each other.
"All for Dead Reckoning, say aye." Dayleen called out.
"AYE!" Everyone called out."
"That solves that problem." Joseph said.
"Well, it's going to be a pain in the ass to build it." Will muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"How hard can it be to build a intergalactic ship and eleven Ryders?" Mark asked.
"Ask me that when I finish."
Spyridon- Here's the next chapter for Ethereal Vision. Just those who follow this story, the prequel for this AU called 'What I've Done' while be taken back to the writing board and rewritten to actually turn into a story in itself. 'My Heart's a Battleground' will also be taken down and rewritten to follow the first two. The samething will for 'The Valley of the Shadow of Death' which will be tweaked here and ther and probably new chapters added. So keep on the lookout for updates regarding this AU line. AND DON'T FORGET TO DROP A REVIEW!