Seeing Red And The Heart Beneath It

Tommy woke up to the sound of waves and the sun layering his bare chest delicately with warmth. The pain that swam within his head no longer throbbed and his body was unbeaten and clean from blood. He looked down at himself, shirtless and wearing black swim shorts with his bare feet buried under powdered sand. When he stood, he recognized instantly that he was on shores of Angel Grove beach, completely desolated.

The sun began to touch the oceans surface, transforming the sky into a beautiful blend of gold and pink with light brushes of purple. The waves were coming to a calm, folding toward him in light rolls that was when he felt her presence.

Right on time.

She walked towards him, outlined in the sunsets golden rays, her eyes never leaving his as she smiled widely at him. Her hair was down and flowing pass her shoulders and her petite body embraced nicely in a white bikini top and matching mini white skirt. She looked gorgeous, every movement of her body tying him into pure ecstasy.

"Tommy." Her voice spread like honey over his heart as she stood directly in front of him with lustful eyes.

Tommy held her to him, instantly, his hands roaming across her back, massaging the smooth muscles beneath her tan skin with his palms. She relaxed into his embrace, her arms encircling around his waist and head rested against his toned chest. Tommy was sure she could feel his heart pounding against his chest and his body quivering with fear that she would leave him. Finally, he pulled back only to crest her face within his hands and met her golden, hazel eyes with his chocolate ones, the colors pouring into one another.

"Beautiful..." He said in a light whisper.

He pressed his lips against hers, missing the warmth of pouty lips and sweet tongue, slipping in and out between his lips. He loved that. He held her tighter, his arms firmly around her waist and her arms folded around his neck. Her fingers poured themselves in to his spiked hair, kindling infernos within his chest. She moaned as he sucked gently on her lips and tongue, his body craving the strawberry cream she tasted of as he inhaled the candy of her skin.

Soon, the desperation of air over came them both and reluctantly, they broke their lips seal against one another, gasping for breath.

Tommy looked at the woman in his hold, something he could spend the rest of his life doing, admiring, show every inch of her worth to him. Tears were pooling in her eyes and Tommy realized tears were forming in his.

"I missed you, so much. " Tommy cried softly. She pressed her forehead against his, her hands running up and down his chest. His fingers trailed across her chin. " I didn't think..."

Her fingers pressed against his lips, silencing him.

"I promised you I would come back."

Tommy's eyes shut momentarily, if she hadn't been holding him right then, he knew for sure he would have been floating, her words wrapping themselves around him. He felt a comfortable warmth swim through his body and opened his eyes to no longer see her, but a crane, draped in pink light.

Tommy held the crane at arm length. The birds eyes glittered hazel and pulsed with pink streaks that soon consumed both eyes, but even then, Tommy only saw her eyes.

His beautiful's eyes.

Her tears radiated with the pink light that coated her feathers. The crane spread her wings and caught a hold to a breeze. Tommy watched as it flew towards the sunset, pink diamonds falling on to the water behind her.

"Kimberly, wait!" Tommy shouted behind her. He ran into the water trying to catch up with her, until the water reached his waist. " Please...Kim!"

The crane flew till the setting sun covered her pink glow, leaving Tommy alone and still looking after her.

Tommy awoke to the chill of the chamber throwing ice down his body in daggers. His body was propped up taunt against the cold metal wall, his lone body heat doing little justice to keep him warm. His heart lapped painfully within his chest and his head filled with pressure that multiplied in the cold.

"You all right?"

Tommy eyed the youngest and rookie of them all. He was worried about him more than the others, Shane lacking in experience compared to the rest. The ninja storm ranger's body quaked and he could see streaks of blood leaking down his chest through his shredded gray t-shirt, but he remained strong and alert non- the- less making Tommy proud. He stared back at Tommy, pulling in deep painful breath and blowing out puffs of steam pass his lips.

"I've been better." Tommy replied, trying to shift slightly in his cuffs.

"You looked like you were dreaming." Shane spoke softly.

Tommy shut his eyes, recalling the dream, the magnificent crane that was Kimberly. He had no clue to what it meant, but every now and then, the dreams provoked him, teased his heart to the point he believed it would combust within his chest. Why her? Why Kimberly after all these years? After all the time it took him to move on? Had he moved on?

Why did he still love her?
" Yeah," He saw in the corner of his eye that Jason had woken fully from his restless slumber. The determination to get any sleep had failed them all.

" I can't even keep my eyes shut for a good five minutes. " Jason muttered with frustration in his voice.

"Tell me about it," Wes spoke. " It's freezing in here." Murmurs of agreement came from the other red rangers in the form of grunts.

"Yeah. I think they're trying to kill us." Leo said with flat humor. No one laughed, laughing caused pain to erupt in their chests and strain their throats as if they were bleeding. "Let's face it, rather or not they get the crystal, we're as good as dead."

The sound of locks being turned sounded from the other side of the chamber door and the rangers tensed in alarm. Jason and Tommy looked at one another for a moment each of their eyes reflecting fear.

The door hissed open casting a flood of blinding white light to attack each ranger's vision. Slowly, their eyes swam into focus to meet the hunting, burning red eyes. She entered, her hips swaying slowly from side to side as if to stretch the piercing sound of her heels. Her eyes bored into each of them and her hand brushed their torsos, fingers purposely dragging across open wounds, an affect much more gruesome than salt. She stopped in the center of the room, her head general observing them from the entrance and only exit to the cell.

Tommy swallowed.

Something is going on, He mused. Diamond was confident and showed it graciously to them each that that just with the tip of her finger she could kill them whenever she pleased. Her greeting them with her presence could only mean one of two things: She was there to kill them or torture them through integration.

Tommy tensed as the clicking resumed.

Click

Click

Click

She stopped... right in front of Tommy. Her smile spread wide, revealing her clean white teeth framed with crimson red lips; the same color as her deathly, abnormal eyes. Her electric blond hair was flawless and laid just as flawlessly around her face, the rest of its length cascading down pass her shoulders. Her perfectly manicured nails gleamed crimson, tapping against the long sleeved black dress she wore. The V-neck front of her dress dropped down her chest just above her stomach, displaying a silver necklace with a black rose jewel hanging between her peaking bosoms. Her bell ended sleeves tented around her slender, ringed fingers and the hem of her dress falling around her ankles and black heeled sandals.

The look she was giving him was enough to push him into illness. Her eyes seemed to burn right into him, ripping away the thick layers that made him a strong ranger and leader of the team. He wanted to look away, but at the same time, the red pools of eyes enslaved him, keeping him glued to her pointed stare.

A long, soft purr flowed from her lips, like a siren luring him to his death; Tommy to clench his teeth in sickness of their intent. Her hand lay on his cheek, fingers lightly brushing his lips. Tommy snapped his head to the side, tugging at his restraints that kept him in place, trying to escape her touch.

"Oh, Tommy..." She moaned softly, both her hands gripping on to his head so that he was forced to look at her. "Did we have a bad dream?"

"Get you hands off me," Tommy threatened between his gritted teeth.

"My, my aren't we grumpy," She pushed his head back against the wall behind him, sending dull shocks of pain traveling down his spine at the hard connection of his skull against cold metal. Tommy's cheeks puffed as he with held the agony. Her fingers raked through his spiked hair-do, the tips of her fingers massaging his scalp. She leaned in purposely, pressing her chest tightening against his, like a femme fatale. Tommy cringed, his emotions exposed inside and out.

" I felt you, stirring in your dreams. Reaching out to someone, but what I want to know is who? Who is it that you reach for night after night? I've kept quite an eye on you, Tommy, you can't hide from me." Her lips slightly grazed his ear. Tommy felt sick, his heart starting to quicken within his chest. " I think it is obvious that I need to remove whomever your heart holds dearest, in order for me to get what I crave," She looked him now dead in the eye. The way her red eyes gleamed, like dark rubes caused him to shiver. " Don't you think so, red ranger?"

" I don't know what you're talking about." Tommy spoke calmly though he was starting to become a little shaken.

"We told you, we don't know where your crystal is; we don't even know what you're talking about." Jason roared, struggling in his cuffs. An energy orb struck his chest, causing his body to stretch out in shock and his mouth to open into a wordless cry. The energy soon drained from his body, leaving him leaning heavily forward in his chains, gasping for breath.

The other red ranger's all fought against their restraints at the sight of her powers seeping through him, but it was no use. The metal that gripped their wrists and ankles held on to each of them tightly. With a smirk of approval, she made eyed each ranger, her palm landing on them all, one by one. A silent threat to not be interrupted again passed with each contact.

" The prophecy tells me otherwise: Within the strength of warriors the power is born in red, lurking beneath the heart the crystal is folded in hand." She quoted from something none of them recognized. " One of you has it, there is no mistaken that." She turned back to Tommy her hand replaced back on top his forehead. " And since, you are considered the greatest of them all, it is you who will pay first for keeping me from what is rightfully mine... I'll take away what you cherish as you have chosen to do to me."

Her hand glowed a rose colored red against his forehead, heat radiating of her slender hand and pulsing through his blood as if she reached right into him and grabbed on to his very soul. Tommy felt his mind open to her, like a book full of pages, and she turned them till she found just what she sought. Tommy fought to resist, but his body was paralyzed to her power. She read the pages of his subconscious mind, practically tearing his heart to pieces as she smiled at new discoveries. Her hand removed from his head and Tommy pulled in deep breaths, his forehead beaded with cold sweat that burned his skin. Tears swam in his eyes as he saw the images of what she was prying through relapse in his mind.

The beach.

The pink glowing crane

Kimberly...

Author's Note: My beta-reader (Rickey) was able to help me with this chapter, so hopefully its okay. I wanted to get this chapter out of the way to bring some focus back to the red rangers, before I posted the long awaited chapter of the intergation of Kimberly and the revival of Alpha 5.

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