A/N: Here you all go! PRS but Jemily Style and with a major twist!
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. Mr. Saban does and always will.
~PRS~PRS~PRS~PRS~
"Emily's dream was nothing like Mia's, or Dayu's for that matter."
Top of the World
Chapter 12: Broken Dreams
September 24, 2012
Shiba House, Outside Training Area
Emily struck the dummy in the shoulder and struck it in the other, and then she stepped back. She repeated this step over and over, all while trying her best not to glance over at Jayden or the others, well, Jayden especially. Ever since he was poisoned at the Tengen Gate and nursed back to health by Deker, the guy refused to talk to anyone. If he did, they were short and somewhat rude, his voice strong, defensive, and most of all, angry-sounding. It was because of this that Emily was really starting to worry about him.
It wasn't like Jayden to do this, to ignore his friends just because of something Deker did or said to him.
Emily couldn't help it. She finally turned around and saw him. Jayden's face was exactly how it was yesterday and the day before. With Mike and Kevin preoccupied with training in the near distance, this was her chance to talk to him and hopefully cheer him up.
"Jayden, are you okay?"
He didn't turn to face her. Instead, his posture stiffened, and yet he replied anyways. "Yeah, fine." There it was again. That tone in Jayden's voice that told you that he was heavily preoccupied with something that was really bothering him and it was very wise to shut up when he was around was very obvious.
"Are you sure?" Mike and Kevin went to stand next to Emily, wondering the same thing.
"Yes."
Emily winced slightly at his anger, but then her mind traveled to an idea. Maybe...what if...?
Mia, in civilian clothes, stepped outside, her purse slung over her shoulder.
"Mia, where are you going?" Kevin asked, snapping Emily out of her train of thought.
"To the grocery store. Antonio's been working really hard on the Black Box, so I thought I'd make him some dinner."
Mike whispered, "Oh, no..."
Mia smiled at the four and exited through the Front Gate. Emily's attention was brought back to Jayden, whom she turned to face just in time to see his fists clench.
"Jayden," Emily softly spoke up, but before she could say anything else, he had opened up the door and gone inside.
All the times Emily had spoken to him just now, he was short and somewhat rude...to her, to Emily. Anyone who knew Jayden knew that he was never mean and cruel to Emily, mind you, yet, rather, he told off those who were rude to her. He would never dare to hurt Emily.
So what if...?
Mike said beside her, "Poor Jayden, first he is constantly attacked because of his knowledge of the Sealing Symbol, then he gets poisoned by his worst enemy, and then he is helped by his other worst enemy."
Kevin elbowed Mike in the side, clearly wanting to slap the back of the Green Ranger's head, but couldn't find himself to do so, as he too found himself agreeing with Mike completely.
Emily stared at the front door, which was closed, and finished her thought.
What if...I mean, was it possible that Jayden had finally figured out what Emily really was? Was it possible that he was ignoring the others merely because he needed to time to think it over?
It was possible, but...wouldn't Jayden have talked to her first? To hear her side of the story?
What if that was wrong? What if her trust in Jayden had been wrong this entire time?
No! Emily, don't think like that!
But she couldn't help but worry.
_~POWER_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_RANGERS~_
Once in the kitchen, Jayden pounded his fists onto the kitchen counter. Why couldn't he face her? He knew that she had no idea why he was being so cold. If he didn't know any better, he would have beaten himself up for acting this way. Emily didn't deserve this kind of treatment. But he was treating her like this anyways.
You see, over the past few months, he had noticed that most of the Nighlock went after Emily. He assumed that this was because the Nighlock were after him and since their usual plan involved bait, they went after Emily to get to him. That's why he was ignoring her. He had hoped that this would make him feel better. If he fooled the Nighlock into thinking that Emily meant nothing to him, they would stop going after her.
But...as time went on, he noticed that this did not do them any good. Even if he had Emily out of the spotlight, they still went after her.
And this frustrated him. This frustrated him to no end.
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They raced to the sight as soon as the Gap Sensor went off. Mia was currently in town, which meant she was probably already there, or maybe she was the bait this time. As the four Samurai raced to the city to help their teammate, Emily snuck a glance at Jayden. What she read in his eyes, she refused to believe what he truly feeling at that moment. She read...worry for Mia?
Her heart clenched at the mere thought of him liking Mia instead.
When they got there, Mia was already morphed, and she seemed to be fighting this Nighlock who was shaped like a rhinosorus and Dayu both at the same time. By the time the other four morphed and arrived, Dayu seemed to have just vanished.
Kevin blocked an attack from the Nighlock as Mia shouted after Dayu, "Oh, no, you don't! Get back here!"
Emily glanced over at Mia, who was running after Dayu, she didn't even notice what the Nighlock was about to do.
"Ha! You're finished now, Yellow Ranger!" Emily whirled her head around to see mist being shot her way, but then she saw red. Someone pulled her out of the way. She rolled around on the ground a couple of times before she finally stopped and was able to comprehend what had just happened.
Emily glanced up to see Jayden kneeling in front of her, and he was glancing back at her.
"You okay?" He asked.
Emily nodded. "Yeah, thanks!"
Jayden nodded and focused back on the Nighlock, Rhinosnorus, she later figured out. "Go after Mia. We'll be alright over here." Emily nodded and she and Jayden got up and went their separate ways.
As he, Kevin, and Mike fought Rhinosnorus, Jayden got a bit angry. It had happened again. He was far away from Emily, but the Nighlock had gone after her once again. This wasn't a coincidence anymore, nor was it for bait. It was something else. Something that no one had any idea about.
_~POWER_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_RANGERS~_
As Emily ran through the forest, she called out for her teammate and friend. "Mia! Mia!"
Stepping on roots and plants, both dead and alive, even nearly falling flat on her face, she didn't stop. "Mia, where are you?" She heard a yell in the distance, far or near, she couldn't tell, but she ran in that direction saying, "Don't worry, Mia! I'm coming!"
After a few more seconds of running, in a split second she saw Dayu and Mia fighting, with Rhinosnorus in the background, and then the next split second, her vision was covered with mist. She felt extremely tired and darkness was all she saw at that point.
And then...she was in a field of grass, meditating. Like nothing had happened. Her eyes were closed, she was concentrating, but she opened up one of her eyes and then the other one. She glanced out at all the people nearby and far away happy. They were all happy that they were finally living out their dreams, and this made her...happy.
This was her dream. She wanted everyone to be happy and to be secure with themselves, to reach for the stars. The sky is the limit, after all. Most of all, she was at peace. Nothing was on her mind. This was how she always dreamed her life would be. Calm, peaceful, her and others happy...nothing was on her mind.
She closed her eyes and concentrated again.
Or at least, she tried...
She felt the air around her heat up, until she felt like she was burning, both outside and inside.
She smelled smoke and when she took a deep breath her lungs filled up with smoke, and then she coughed. She coughed a few more times and then she was forced to open her eyes.
Fire was all around her. It had erupted from all the ignorance around and from her. Emily's hands fled up to her throat, which was constricting as if she was being choked. Tears fell from her eyes as that familiar voice spoke to her, taunted her...
"Who are you to determine your own destiny, puppet? Look at them, those people you protect, and the world you try so desperately to defend...look at it now..."
Emily glanced around. There they were, the city is ruins and shambles, no sun, no moon, the skyline nothing but red with black clouds. The citizens, her friends, their dreams had turned to nightmares, their bodies turned to stone.
Nothing was alive...everything was dead...
Emily felt tears streaming down her face. She was the one who would do this...after all this time, Emily still wondered how she could ever live with herself...knowing what she would become and what she would do...
Xandred was laughing...
"Emily!"
The girl immediately turned in the direction in which the voice came. It was Mia, running towards Emily.
"Emily! I'm coming!"
Then it was like Emily was hit with a ton of bricks. Her brown eyes widened.
This was the dream Mia or the nightmare Mia, but the real one, the one who had fallen asleep along with herself and Dayu.
"No, Mia! STAY AWAY! HE'LL KILL YOU!"
Emily's screams filled the entire dream world and then everything went black as it was all consumed by fire.
_~POWER_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_RANGERS~_
When Mia woke up, she was slightly startled by what had just happened before leaving th dream world. Emily had been surrounded by fire, nothing but fire, and she seemed like she was hurting really bad. I men, she was crying, for goodness' sake.
But when she looked at a grieving Dayu in the real world, she remembered what Dayu's dream was about. She and Deker were once...married.
Mia carefully took a stepp forward, but a twig crackled underneath her foot. Dayu held up her head.
"I thought I felt someone in my dream..."
Mia took a deep breath and asked, "Is it too late to revert your back to your original form?"
Dayu stood up and unsheathed her sword, facing Mia. She laughed. "Are you really that naive that you would seek a way to save me rather than destroy me? You're even weaker than I thought."
"But, Dayu..."
"I don't need your pity!" And Dayu attacked, but the blade didn't peirce Mia's arms exactly, but rather, someone else's...
Emily had woken up in time and taken the hit for her older sister figure.
Mia's eyes were wide and set fixed on Emily, who had collapsed, holding her left forearm. In the next split second, Mia leaned down to help Emily up.
"M-Mia, I'm fine...I'll be okay..." Emily tried to get out, but Mia wasn't listening.
"I'll never hold back when we fight anymore, Dayu! I'll kill you with every last inch of my strength!"
Dayu had, surprisingly, backed off when Emily had jumped into the fray, but Mia didn't care about that at the moment.
"You will pay for this, Dayu! And you'll pay for you attack on Emily's birthday too!"
Emily's ears were buzzing. Mia's yelling was only making it worse. Her world was going dark. She would have collapsed by now if Mia wasn't holding her steady. She was closing her eyes, she felt so tired; Mia's loud voice caused her to awaken, even if it was only slightly.
"Do go to sleep on me now, Em. Don't worry, Dayu's gone now, but you have to stay awake."
_~POWER_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_RANGERS~_
After the fight with Giant Moogers, Jayden was dead tired from keeping that portal to the dream world open for Mike and Kevin. They must have succeeded in destroying whatever was keeping the victims asleep, because after a while, they all woke up, including Antonio. Since Antonio basically had to half-carry Jayden back to the Shiba House, it was a perfect opportunity to finish the Red Ranger off once and for all. But together, the two childhood friends drove the Giant Moogers through the gap from whence they came.
Now, they were just resting on a nearby bench.
"Every muscle hurts..." Antonio was complaining.
"It happens, Antonio," Jayden couldn't help but smile at his friend's antics.
"There's your smile, amigo. I really missed it." Jayden said nothing, knowing perfectly well what Antonio was talking about. "And at least you're talking to one of us, like actual conversation, instead of one or two words." Antonio paused. "Why, buddy? That's all I want know..."
"I'm trying to protect her..."
"Ah, it's the classic ignoring-her-to-save-her-from-myself cliché..."
Jayden blushed lightly. "More or less."
"Buddy, you don't have to say who she is. I know it's Emily, not Mia."
"How?"
"I see the way you look at her, Jay. It's obvious. You like her, don't you?"
"Yes! I mean, no! I-!" Jayden stopped before he hurt himself. "I don't know. I've never felt like this for anyone else before, so it's all new. And- Can it, Antonio Garcia! Nothing's set in stone yet."
Antonio was trying really hard to wipe the smirk off his face for his friend's sake. "I know, but I can tell you really do care about her, dude."
Jayden sighed just as the garage door next to them opened.
"Yes, I can tell that also, Red Ranger..."
The two rangers glanced up, surprised to see him here, but then Jayden glared and stood up, despite his wavering strength, ready to fight.
"Deker..."
The cursed man had the worst timing in the world.
~PRS~PRS~PRS~PRS~
A/N: Well? What do you think? Tell me how I did! Review! How do you like the Jemily twist I gave it? And sorry for the late update! A preview:
Chapter 13: "The Ultimate Duel"
"Twenty-four hours. That's how long Jayden had. If he didn't show up within that time period, Deker would come after the very thing Jayden held most dear to him: Emily."
I think I will go for that sequel. What do you think?
