Chapter Seven
Kimberly's Crane wasn't the one that let out the mournful cry once the Falcon was taken down. The Ape, The Bear, The Wolf, and The Frog all cried out as well, though their cries were drowned out by the Crane. The Crane repeatedly cried, as if trying to wake the falcon that would never wake again.
Lord Drakkon, upon seeing the end of the Falcon, chuckled to himself. He looked down at Kimberly who hovered over Tommy's prone body, wracked with sobs. Unaware of the danger that watched her. Lord Drakkon walked over and pressed his foot to Kimberly's side. She flinched but didn't move, still held onto Tommy's body as he pushed her over.
Tommy rolled atop of her, the wound in his back leaked blood across the ground. Lord Drakkon watched, tilting his head aside as Tommy's blood started to slow, his body wracking with huge gasps. A death rattle. A death rattle that continued to weaken as the seconds passed.
"Tommy," Kimberly whispered, holding him closer. Ignoring Lord Drakkon. "Tommy, hold on. Please. You're going to be oaky. You can't do this."
"Pity," Lord Drakkon remarked. "I hoped he would've put up a bigger fight." He stepped toward Kimberly and placed the end of his sword to her neck. Kimberly didn't flinch. She simply turned her gaze up and glared at him. "You're not afraid of me," he remarked.
Kimberly gritted her teeth. She clutched Tommy's body so hard that she started to shake. "You're not going to win," she hissed. "No matter what you're trying to do…it's not going to work. We're going to stop you."
"We'll see about that," Lord Drakkon said. He removed the sword from her neck and took a step back. I can't wait until we meet again." With that, the area around him seemed to warp as he teleported from sight.
Kimberly bent her head and sobbed over Tommy's body, holding him tightly. She hardly reacted when she felt the familiar tingling in her body before she was teleported to the Command Center. Hardly reacted when she was powered down and continued to hold Tommy's body. Hardly reacted when she heard her friends' horrified and shocked cries of surprise before bursting into loud and long sobs.
Or maybe it was still her.
She cried and cried, holding onto her boyfriend. Onto the love of her life. The best thing that'd ever happened to her. He died the way he had lived, fearlessly, hoping to protect her and everyone else he loved. The look on his face, the expression that was almost serene, staring into nothing as Kimberly held him.
His breathing was very quiet then.
Slowly growing weaker and weaker as the seconds passed.
His lips moved, straining to say something.
But the words never came.
His eyes shut halfway, lips slackened, head tilted to the side.
The great white ranger was gone.
A loud, long cry filled the air as Kimberly screamed—the cry of the crane. As Alpha short-circuited through his grief. As Zordon lowered his head and let out a low, painful sounding, "hmm" having lost one of his warriors. Trini sucked in a sharp breath, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. Her chest heaved, working hard to make sense of what she was seeing.
A white light flashed through the Command Center, making the shape of a falcon that held its head high. The falcon cawed, lifting its head before majestically taking off up through the ceiling, disappearing in seconds.
Jason sucked in a deep breath, started to sob. Then stopped once more. He placed his hands on his hips, turned away and lowered his head. His shoulders shaking was the giveaway that the red ranger wasn't as strong as he'd wanted to be.
"No," Zack whispered. "No, I don't…what hap—" he broke off.
Billy wiped at his eyes. He sucked in a sharp breath. But didn't cry. Tears dripped down his face but didn't outwardly cry. No, he'd seen too much pain through his life to cry, no matter the pain of losing his friend could be.
A friend who'd lost his life too soon.
"What do we do?" Trini asked. Her voice was a whisper. "What are we supposed to do? People will ask…his parents…? I don't know…"
She turned away, closing her eyes. A tear slipped down her cheek. Zack slipped an arm around her shoulders, hugging her to his side. His lower jaw trembled though he fought to keep himself together.
"We have to tell them," Jason's voice broke through the silence. "We have to tell everyone what happened. Our parents…his parents can't have a cover story on what happened." He took a deep breath and looked to Kimberly, almost as if for permission despite being the leader of the team. "We have to let them know the truth, that he…that he gave his life to protect the city. We have to tell…everyone…that we're the power rangers."
Billy, Trini, and Zack exchanged worried glances. It wasn't anything they thought too much about before. When they first started out as rangers, it was a thought that came to mind, but Zordon and Alpha had shut the idea down as soon as it came to mind. They couldn't reveal their identities, or they'd lose their powers.
Would they do it now?
Just to make it so that Tommy got the funeral he deserved.
Kimberly, who continued who clutch Tommy's body to her took in a deep breath. Her tears slowed to a stop. She sniffled loudly and brought a hand up to wipe away her tears, smearing a few specks of blood on her chin. She looked up at her friends, at Jason, and nodded.
"We have to," she said. She took in another shuddering breath. "We have to let them know."
"But Kim," Trini said slowly. "If we tell…we'll lose our powers."
"Yeah, we have to think this through," Zack agreed. He swallowed hard, turning away as shame came to his eyes. What was he saying? That he cared more about his powers than he did about a fallen friend? Who could think like that? "We…we have to figure out if it's something we can truly decide to do."
"Tommy would want us to do it!" Kimberly snapped.
"I know that, Kim. But—"
"—But you care more about your powers? Is that it?" Kimberly clutched her boyfriend's prone body closer to her. "You care that you're going to lose your precious powers and not that we just lost one of your friends!"
"Kim," Trini pleaded. "He's not saying that!"
"Like hell, he's not!" Kimberly's jaw quivered and she lowered her head over Tommy's body, pressing her forehead to his chest, as if trying to hear his heartbeat. A hear that'd never beat again.
Billy took a step forward. Always more levelheaded than the others, he spoke calmly though there were tinges of pain in his voice. It surely did radiate through his blue-green eyes. "He's not saying that, Kimberly. We've all sacrificed everything for this and…" he swallowed hard. "We have to think about what we're going to do moving forward. If we tell about our powers, we're not just putting ourselves out in the forefront for danger. But our families, too. Additionally, we're going to leave Angel Grove defenseless if Rita and Zedd want to attack after we give up our powers."
Kimberly shook her hair from her face, staring blankly at the wall in front of her.
"Can you hold that on your conscience?" Billy asked.
At that, Kimberly turned a glare his way and muttered something under her breath that sounded like, "Fuck you, Billy," that made Billy blink in surprise. He'd never so much as heard Kimberly say a bad word to anyone—other than Bulk and Skull—and certainly hadn't heard him her ever curse at anyone.
Billy watched her, saw the pain that swam through her eyes, dulling the bright hazel to a dark green. Wondered what it'd be like to every feel that sort of pain and simultaneously hoped he never would. His father had been affected greatly by his mother's passing from cancer. He'd seen how everything changed through his father's pain.
Kimberly—and the rest of them by extension—was much too young to go through it. How were you supposed to get through life…how were you supposed to be sixteen years old and see death so early? Death of grandparents and older relatives were expected.
But deaths of friends?
They were too young.
It should never happen.
But when you're the one who puts themselves into that danger…
Finally, Kimberly stood up and wiped her tears from her cheeks. She took a deep breath and nodded to Jason. "We have to tell," She said. Her eyes skimmed over all her friends, looking deep into them, letting them know how serious she was. "Tommy would want that. Tommy would want us to tell his parents what really happened. But…we'll have to pretend we didn't know. Pretend that we hadn't found out. That we aren't rangers. Tommy would want that, too. He wouldn't want us to give up everything for him, even though he gave up everything for us."
"For the city," Trini agreed.
Kimberly nodded.
Trini stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the pink ranger. Kimberly allowed the hug, flinging her arm around Trini's waist, pressing her face into her best friend's chest. Trini rested her head atop Kimberly's, gently stroking her hair as they stood in silence.
Billy and Zack looked to Jason, who stood tall and firm while looking down at his best friend. Then Jason lifted his chin and nodded, making Billy and Zack nod in response.
They were decided.
They had to tell.
Alpha sadly shook his head as he looked over Tommy's prone body. If it were for how…unnatural he looked, Alpha would've simply thought he was sleeping. His face was relaxed but…waxy. Like a statue ready to be put on display. If it weren't for the blood that had bubbled and dried on the front of his shirt like a wilting rose…
Alpha turned back to Zordon, lifting his chin. Zordon eyed him sadly in response, looking away. For the first time in a long time, Zordon had no answers, had nothing to say. Had no idea how to give solace to any of the rangers, let alone his longest companion.
"I can't believe he's gone," Alpha finally said, what felt like hours later. It may have only been minutes, maybe only seconds. There was only so much that could be said or done. "Tommy is the greatest leader I've seen for these guys. Without him…I don't know what's going to happen to the power rangers."
"It's not the city I'm worried about Alpha," Zordon explained. "Not the rangers. Their families are going to be affected, too. Once this gets out, once they find out their identities…I hope they know what they're getting into."
Alpha looked at his friend, appalled. Had his friend forgotten how the rangers had sacrificed everything to help them? They could've easily turned around and said 'no' when they were first told about the powers they were going to take on. He and Zordon would've just turned around and found someone else to help defend Angel Grove from Rita's threat.
But they'd grown a special bond with the teenagers that ended up becoming a small family. They went to Zordon for the advice they couldn't ask their families. They went to Alpha for some fun during their practices, and for additional support from Zordon's words—words that could become harsh at times—and taught him what it was like to be a teenager in their time. Their family got them through some of the hardest times they had.
To know one of those family members was gone…?
Alpha didn't know what to do. If he cried, if he had the ability to cry, he would've short circuited himself and the power rangers would be down one more key player on their team.
"There may be a way," Zordon said.
Alpha looked up at his oldest friend in wonder.
"There may be a way to get him back," Zordon continued. He looked down at Alpha with an expression Alpha had never seen before. One he couldn't place. "There may be a way to make it that all of this never happened. When that other ranger came through, there was a power spike we were able to discern. I think, if we can figure out where that power spike came from, we might be able to bring Tommy back."
A/N: Well, again it took me a bit longer to get this chapter out. I changed my mind on what to do with it about ten times and this is the result I liked the most. But there's more coming you guys. I'm excited for it!
~Av
