At What Cost?

Tommy caught the tear just above her nose and let it linger on the tip of his finger like it was a piece of gold. "She'll make it out someday, you know that in your heart. And we'll never leave her alone. Rich won't give up on her. Trini gave something for us today, Kim. We owe her that much."

"Tommy," she looked into his eyes, they were hiding behind the curtain at the hospital, afraid to face the real world, and they both knew it. "There's something I have to tell you right now. I'm not going to lie, I'm so afraid that if I don't tell you right this minute I'm going to lose you and I'll never get the chance."

Tommy lifted up her chin, held it with his hands and brought his lips down on hers, letting all the cold prickly feeling leave her body. He was so perfect.

"What is it, Kim?"

She looked up at him, smiling despite the feeling of fear she felt in her gut. She didn't want him to be angry with her. But she knew a part of him would be.

"I'm...I'm pregnant, Tommy. I didn't want to let it affect what we had to do, I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

He seemed to take it in for a moment, gripping her hand in one fist and his pant leg in the other. "You mean we're going to have a baby?"

"Yes," she cried. "Yes, we're going to have a baby girl." She thought back to when Merrick had looked at her with that careful gaze, and realized that he'd known even before she had what precious life grew within her.

Tommy nodded his head somewhat dumbly. "You could have told me, sweetheart." He paused. " I'm not upset with you. We've lost too much already for me to be upset with you." He felt awful if anything. He hated the fact that she'd been exerting herself so badly over the past weeks while carrying his child.

"But, we made such a deal about having families, about brining kids into this world..."

"And that was wrong. We can't deprive anyone the love of a child, Kim. Zack and Angela knew that there was a responsibility to shoulder, but they never chose to hold off having kids. Kim..."

Jason pulled back the curtain, putting his hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Hey, sorry to bother you guys, but we need you out there."

Emily was standing behind him, clutching his arm like if she let go he'd crumble to dust.

Tommy nodded. "We're coming, man."

Kim stood up and let Jason lead her out.

Aisha came rushing over to them. "The doctors are letting the others in to see her now." She let her hands run through her ash ridden hair. "I don't know about you guys, but for some reason I have a good feeling that she's gonna be okay. Not today, not tomorrow, but definitely someday she's gonna make it out of that coma."

Adam came around the corner, his chest bandaged heavily. "Hate to break it to you guys, but it's not time to get our hopes up yet. The test results just came in. The asphyxiation caused more brain trauma than they realized at first. They don't think she's going to make it out of the coma after all." He bit back tears, letting all the emotion of the past few weeks crash down on him. Tanya took his hand from her chair by the wall, letting him know that his grief wasn't his alone to bear.

Aisha collapsed, feeling the tears well up from her eyes and begin to pour. Rocky fell to the ground next to her, cradling her head against his shoulder. He just sat there in silence, holding her, not wanting to accept any of it yet. Someone had to be strong, and he had volunteered himself. He didn't know how much more he could handle.

Katherine came through the door, her arm bandaged from the wrist to the elbow.

Tommy came over and hugged her, touching her cheek. "Hey, you all right?"

She nodded. "I've been better, but yeah. I just heard about Trini."

The fluorescent lighting was blaring at all of them, too bright against their darkness. All of them felt completely powerless.

Someone was coming down the hall, yelling for them. Tommy recognized Wes's voice. "Taylor's stable. She's going to make it."

Kim nodded, giving silent prayers for good news.

Wes realized immediately that there wasn't any good news from them. "Trini?"

"She's gone," a cracked and half-muted voice broke from the adjoining hallway. It was Zack, leaning like a cripple against the wall, Angela unsure how to support him. He'd just lost the fight for one of his best friends.

"The doctors told us the humane thing to do is pull the plug," Angela voiced, feeling empty.

"It's Richard's decision, ultimately," Jason whispered.

Tommy nodded, taking Kim in his arms.

"Guys, I think we all need to be in there right now. I think we need to go say goodbye." It was Billy, coming inside from the balcony with Cestria. The Aquitian woman seemed at a loss for words, just as surely as the rest of them. There was not cure for this.

"Cestria, can't you do something? You guys have healed us before!" Kim cried.

She shook her head. "There is a force of great power behind this. I am powerless to stop these events."

They began the slow walk to the room where Trini was lying, silent and stony upon the bed. Richard was a hunched over form in the corner, stroking her black hair, feeling the contours of her cheeks under his palm.

"I want her to die, she shouldn't have to exist like this," he finally said, choking on the all-too-thick words.

Jason nodded, knowing that this was the right thing to do.

This is the right path, Rangers, the path that must be walked for the greater good. She made the choice herself, in complete understanding of the consequences. Trini Kwan was a true Power Ranger, and in death the Power will protect her as it has in life.

Zordon was still watching them, they knew that now. it was as if he were in the room with them, casting a brilliant shroud of white light over them.

Out of impulse they all moved into a circle, raised their hands, touched the tips of their fingers, felt the power run through them and into Trini.

I love you guys, she said. I am ready to move on, now. I was born for this, I realize it now. From the moment I met you all I knew I would die for you, and I embrace it. Tell my parents, tell Richie, that I will always love them. Let them know that my Power will keep them safe. I want you guys to know that I have no regrets. My life was full and my spirit is free.

Trini's form rose in front of them, as if an angel were ascending before their eyes. And their hands fell. The monitors began to beep, the flat line signaled that she was finally at rest.

The doctors rushed in, forcing them into a huddled mass. They covered her beautiful face with the staunch white sheet, and slowly they departed the room.

"Kim?" Tommy asked, realizing she'd stopped breathing for a moment.

"I always expected all of us to die old, you know? I always thought they'd give us that."

It was raining outside, pearly drops that lost their tears. It was still summer, but the chill made it seem like winter. The fire and iron around them made it seem hopeless, like the world was razed. Then they saw Joel with Angela Fairweather and their tiny little girl, Ainslee, standing amongst the ashes, and there was hope. Carter was putting out a fire with a garden hose by the trees, and Kelsey was there with Chad helping the wounded, and Dana came at them from behind with Ryan, both holding cats that had been found amongst the wreckage by the hospital, remaining unscathed.

Aisha took the cat from Ryan and let him kiss her on the cheek, feeling the touch of a friend, someone who cared. Tanya took the other, realizing that Aisha's love for animals had made Tanya a Ranger, that these furry friends had brought them together. In a way it connected them, even at this hour of emptiness, to a feeling of fulfillment, of hope.

Farkas and Eugene, her dear Bulk and Skull, made their way through the rubble, their inner light shining despite the smudges on their faces. For the first time, Kim saw them as more than fools, more than mere heroes, she saw them as the reason she was alive.

"Why didn't you ever tell us that you saved us?" she asked, the realization of all their past heroism weighing on her in the hour when she needed most to know there was good in the world.

Bulk sighed. "Just doing our duty, Kimberly."

Skull looked at her and seemed to think he deserved a kiss for that. She smiled.

They have a different kind of Power, no less potent or beautiful.

Taylor opened her eyes, realized that there were people all around her, that she wasn't alone. The pain was numbing, not excruciating anymore.

"What happened?" she asked, realizing that she'd likely passed out from loss of blood.

"Hey, none of that," Alyssa told her. "All you need to know is that you're safe."

"Where's Eric?" she asked, knowing that she'd last seen him with her blood running over his hands.

"He's fine, don't worry. Cole drug him out so he wouldn't become welded to the chair."

Taylor's lips curved into a half-smile. "Self-sacrificing bastard."

Danny and Max climbed down from the window sill and shoved flowers in her face, telling her over and over again that they were so glad she was alive. She realized that Kendall was there too, giving all of them a wide berth.

"She's awake!" she heard Cole exclaim from the coffee machine outside her room.

Eric was through the door and at her side before Cole had finished.

"Hey," Taylor said as he kissed her cheek, then her lips. "Alyssa said you carried me here."

"I did no such thing," Alyssa promised, telling herself she would be no part of their games.

Eric shrugged. "I don't really remember much."

"How long was I out?"

"A day and a half tops, don't worry, Eric plugged that guy full of holes for you." Max punched Eric's shoulder lightly, glad that the Silver Guardian wasn't in the mood to be testy.

Taylor closed her eyes. "How bad is it outside?"

Alyssa took Taylor's hand. "We just got word from Wes that Trini died about an hour ago."

The color drained from the room immediately.

Taylor turned her face into Eric's sleeve and started to cry for the first time she could remember in a long time.

Merrick looked at Shayla, and she looked up at him, elegant as always, this time completely mortal just like him. He didn't know how, or why, but she was there in the room with him. The woman wandering the streets calling his name hadn't been a mirage, she'd been real and she'd found him. Gavriel had told him to give up hope, but he'd been wrong. Shayla had survived, somehow. The woman he'd loved for a thousand years was in his arms.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are, Princess?"

Shayla blushed. "Merrick,"

He sat down beside her and took her hand. "I keep feeling like there is something fleeting about this."

She sat up against his chest. "Why would I have any reason to flee this time, love? There is nothing left for me to do but be in your arms, the Animarium wanders the stars without my guidance now, and Zen Aku is long banished from your body."

Shayla brushed a hand across his cheek.

"Why do I feel like this victory is empty?"

"Because you know in your heart the price was too high to comprehend in human terms, Merrick. Humans do not understand the concept of death the way others of the universe. It is harder for you, and now for me."

Shayla leaned him back against the pillow. "But there was good from this battle also. We are alive, here, free at last and protected as always by the Power."

Merrick stared into her eyes. "Why has the Power given you to me, Shayla? What have I done to deserve you after all my evil deeds?"

Zen Aku had claimed more of him than he realized. Even after banishing the evil spirit from his body he still claimed him as part of him. He could no more breathe without remembering Zen Aku than he could look Shayla in the eye and not feel a longing to go somewhere with her where the world could not touch them, not break them apart. The Lone Wolf was who he had become, the howler, the one in pain from being caged so long that he'd forgotten the taste of freedom, what to do with unshackled paws and unfettered love. Merrick was more scarred than he had ever realized. He didn't trust himself, and because of that, he could never really trust anyone. Not even after all he'd been through.

"Shush," she cooed. "Do not question the ways of the heart." Shayla touched his forehead with her hand. It felt like an angel wing brushing him. For a moment Merrick felt the walls break down. He wanted to change, to leave the confines of his fractured life and start anew with her.

He felt strange, lying there with her, in the motel room, with the smell of smoke from the fires assaulting his nostrils, the feeling of her clothes not the ephemeral dress, but a white camisole and jeans. They'd come so far in time that their life was completely changed, yet one thing remained constant. They still needed one another.

May the Power protect you...protect you... protect you...

The wind carried those words to the ears of the teams, bloody and exhausted, but alive. The sun gleamed above them, carrying no trace of evil.

Conner looked over at Angel Grove High and realized they'd saved it one last time, for a new class. Kira and Trent and Ethan stood next to him, fully aware of the finality of the moment. A journey of a thousand miles had taken the Rangers home.

Krista wrapped her arms around his waist, walked him to a tree similar to the tree they'd saved together in Reefside, and they sat under it, waiting for the call, waiting for Tommy. They'd been through so much together, more than they had ever imagined possible.

Tori dressed a wound on Blake's arm while Cam and Hunter watched Dustin and Shane pick up the fallen sign outside a shop. Dustin called Kelly and told her that they were safe. Hunter grabbed an apple from the basket inside, telling himself that they were free to relax, but a part of him felt that the greatest test, the test of moving on, was the greatest obstacle they still had to face.

Maya felt the ground beneath her, touched the blood streaming from the cracks in the rocks. She knew before they told her that someone had died, someone they loved and cared for. One of their own. Kendrix found her and told her that it was Trini, that she'd died to save her team. Maya turned, let the wind catch her long hair, let the breeze ripple across her bare skin, even chilling her bones, and followed Kendrix back to Leo, Damon, Kai, and Mike. The men were sitting at a broken table, too stunned by the days events to realize the reality they now faced.

Jen called Wes, telling him they were all right. Trip fixed Circuit's fried wires, while Lucas and Katie paced restlessly, waiting for the call to tell them to rendezvous again. They were all too shook up to realize that Jen's voice suddenly changed tone, that she shed a tear, that they wouldn't be seeing everyone again, this time, there wasn't a happy ending.

Jack shouldered the bag, let himself pick his way through the rubble, feeling the unfamiliar weight of the medical kits against his biceps. A single dreadlock fell over his eyes, and he knew that Sky was coming up behind him. "What happened?" he asked, noting the grim determination in Schuyler's face.

Sky didn't want to tell him. They'd failed in their mission. "Trini's dead." Sky knelt against the toppled statue in the courtyard.

Bridge made his way to the them with Z and Sydney. They were all feeling the weight of Sky's words.

"What does this mean for us?" Jack asked, knowing that he had the most at stake, that he had a woman and an unborn child there waiting for him in the future. He wasn't part of SPD anymore, he had other obligations that he shouldn't have ignored.

"I've contacted Manx, so far, nothing there seems to have changed."

"You mean we should have known about this?" Elizabeth asked, clearly upset. "You mean this was supposed to happen? This did happen?"

Sydney put a hand on her shoulder, told her there was nothing they could have done. It had never been their place to rewrite history for their own benefit. The records had been locked for a reason. They had to live with that, and realize that someday it might make sense. Someday.

Nick took Madison's hand and wrapped a bandage around her cut palm. "Does that feel better?" he asked her.

"Nick?" she asked. "I want you to be honest with me. We made it this far, tell me, are you going to leave again?"

He evaded her gaze. "I don't know what I'm going to do Maddie."

"Nick, I love you, and I don't want you to leave again. It's been three years, and I don't think I've ever felt more alone than in that time."

He touched her face. "It isn't that simple."

"I'm sick of waiting for you to find yourself. I need to be with you, I need to know that you're here for me, the way I hope you know that I've always been there for you."

Vida drove up with Chip on Nick's motorcycle, clearly windblown. "Don't you hurt her again, Nick, or I swear to you I'll kick your ass, and no one's stopping me this time."

Chip stifled a smirk. Xander came outside and looked at them all, he'd just gotten off the phone with Jason, they were being recalled to Angel Grove park. The battle had been won at last, he didn't want to tell them yet that there was a price.

Will took his helmet off, letting Dax know he wasn't in the least bit thrilled with the way things had finished up. Mack tried to tell him that things would work out, and Rose was typing on her netbook like mad, trying to process. Ronny just wanted to drive, drive and drive until the world was just a blur.

The phone rang, it was Andrew, telling them from base that they were needed back in Angel Grove park. Ronny was in the car waiting for them all before Mack finished talking. Tyzonn met her at the wheel, touching her shoulder, offering her a bit of peace. She hated that he was right, that being reckless wouldn't fix the wrongs of the last battle. They couldn't undo the past, there was nothing but the present.

She drove, not letting Will, or Rose, or Mack, or Dax, or Ty let her know that she was dodging the shrapnel too fast for their own good, or that the speed limit still mattered at the end of the world. She was angry; beyond upset with their powers for not allowing them to save more lives.

Casey took RJ's advice and cut his losses, letting the spirit of his martial arts training teach him oneness with his failure, to accept the victory for what it was. Theo and Lily watched him, breathing in and out like he was, trying to process the day. They barely knew anyone, but they felt completely connected to each bit of pain that ran through the ranger network. Dominic leapt over the trunk of a fallen tree and came to them.

"Time to go," he shouted, not trying to hide his pain for the losses they'd soon have to bear. "The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can get on with our lives."

Andros raised his hand to his left temple, knowing that if he tried hard enough he could make the way clear for the car. Zhane was there beside him, with Karone, as always, the three of them focusing on the steel beam, willing it away.

Ashley brought up the Jeep with TJ, pausing only long enough for Cassie and Carlos to hop in back. They were all alone for whole city blocks. The fear of the monsters outside kept everyone hunkered down in the dark.

It wasn't going to be easy for the people of the devastated California town to rebuild their lives, but it never was. It was likely that, as always, it would be covered up, blamed on a weapon testing gone wrong, that an earthquake had occurred. It was too hard for the people to accept that some things, evil things, existed.

"Let's go," Andros called, feeling the beam break free.

Ashley nodded, throwing the car into gear. "If Justin isn't there I don't know what we're going to do." He'd rushed back across the city to find the survivors out by the industrial district with several others.

"If he isn't there as planned, we should expect the worst," TJ said, hesitantly.

Cassie didn't want to accept those words. "We'll get him."

He was there, just as planned, the blue of his shirt standing out against the cold gray hues. He didn't any worse off than they'd left him, and their weren't any children's corpses lying broken at his feet.

"They're all safe," Justin shouted, grabbing the frame of the Jeep and climbing in next to Carlos. "Time to get out of here."

"Wes," Jen called, climbing out of the black SUV.

He turned and raced to hug her. "I'm so glad to see you alive," he whispered into her ear.

She looked over his shoulder, at the defeated expressions on the faces of people who had gone into this fight knowing that they couldn't have any regrets. They'd gone out there knowing it was their duty, and now the knowledge of the cost of the war was heavy on them all.

Tommy looked over at her, his face sunken and exhausted. "I think we all need a night's sleep to clear our heads. If you all agree, I think it best to meet at the park tomorrow morning at nine."

After hours of fighting and driving, no one protested, or said much of anything. They all just wandered off in separate ways, broken like the ground they walked on.

Leo sat down on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands like his face was going to fall off if he let go. He couldn't bear to look up at the mirror and see the remnants of the man he had been before.

"Leo," Kendrix whispered. "You can't blame yourself for what happened. We're lucky to be alive."

"We sacrificed innocent people, Kendrix. I don't think I'll be able to get over that." He finished drowning in another glass of champagne.

"What were we supposed to do, Leo? Let them kill the rest of the world as well?"

He looked up at her. "I don't know. All I know is that I feel so hollow inside."

"Trini knew what she was getting into. We all did. Any of us would have died in her place."

"Does that make it any easier for you, Kendrix?" he asked.

"No."

"Then please don't patronize me."

She sat down beside him and let her head tilt onto his shoulder. "Sacrifice is never an easy thing to understand, Leo. But believe me, I understand it better than anyone. I know what it feels like to sacrifice yourself for those you love, to be in that world where life and death collide."

He nodded. "I just wish there had been another way."

She agreed silently. "It will get easier," she said after a while, holding his hand in hers.

He turned his head to look back at her. He kissed her, and felt her skin against his. For a moment he didn't feel as cold, as hollow. He knew somehow they would pick up the pieces.

"I'm really going to be a father," Tommy said quietly.

"Yes," Kimberly told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"I don't know if I'm ready," he said with no reservations.

"You're ready," she promised. "You'll be the best father in the world."

He looked over at Kimberly's face, the beauty unmarred by her sorrow. She deserved to be glowing with the prospect of motherhood. She deserved to be shopping for maternity wear and tiny baby outfits instead of burying her friend, instead of fighting and spilling blood over her hands like some demon, instead of feeling like she was buried under the sand.

"How can you say that, Kim?" he asked her. "How can you know that I'll be a good father?"

She shrugged. She'd known since the day he rode into her life on his white steed that she would someday be the mother of his child. She had dreamed of it for more hours than she could count. She could see herself wrapped in his arms with her body swollen and fruitful. It hadn't been the dream of a foolish teen. It was a reality coming all too true, even after a long and bramble blocked path.

"Would you believe that I knew you would be the father of my baby since the day I first met you?"

He smiled, that warm smile that made his whole face light up with pure delight.

"Things didn't turn out the way we'd planned, Tommy," she said. "But I hope that you realize how much I wanted this child."

He could see it in her eyes. She'd wanted this, her own miracle. He always expected that they'd be parents at some point, but he'd never imagined it would be so soon after their wedding. But he'd known her forever, and they didn't have forever anymore, the clock was ticking away for all of them.

"I know. A part of me wanted it too," he paused, "but I never imagined it would happen this way."

She turned away. "I keep telling myself that she's some gift from God."

"A daughter of the Power."

Kimberly sighed. "She'll be just like you, Tommy. Funny, warm, loving, gorgeous."

"No," he told her. "She'll be like you, the amazing woman I've loved all this time. "

"What should we name her?" Kim asked him, propping herself up against his chest.

"I'm not really sure."

"What's the first name you think of when you picture her?"

Tommy's face seemed to sadden the moment she asked him that. "Trini."

Kimberly understood. "What about naming her after my mother and Trini?"

"Amelia Trini?" he asked.

"Yes, I think it's beautiful. Amelia Trini Oliver."

"She'll be so loved," he promised Kimberly, holding her hand tightly. "I'll love her, Kim, more than anything."

Kimberly relaxed. "I know you will, Tommy." She put his hand over her stomach. "We'll be a family, we'll be all right."

He didn't need her to say that. He knew it in his heart.

"I wish you could tell me what the future brings, Jen. I wish I knew that things were going to be all right."

"You know I can't, Wesley." She brushed the curtain closed and flicked on the desk lamp. "Even I don't know what every action brings, or why certain things are. We were taught at Time Force to act, not out of fear that we will erase our world, but for the sake of it. We are just as likely to mess up the time line by not acting, as we are actually doing something. I, for one, am going to do something, no matter what the cost."

He stared up at the mint green ceiling of the motel room. "I'm sorry I ever came into your life, Jen. I'm sorry that I stole your heart from Alex. I'm sorry that any of this happened to you."

She turned, landed stomach first on the bed beside him. "If you're sorry, then it's a waste of your strength. For years we've been separated, yet here we are, still just as in love and hopeless as we have always been. Don't be sorry for anything. We both made a choice to be here, Wes."

"What if something happens to you here?"

"Like what?" she asked, turning his cheek toward her face.

He shrugged. "I just don't want to cause you any more pain than I know you already face."

"You don't bring me anything but happiness. You should know after seven years how I feel."

"But in the end you always leave, you always go home, and we're left here, wondering what comes next. When does that become insufficient? When do I see you for the last time, Jen?"

She paused. "Maybe you don't have to. Maybe this time things are different. Maybe this time our mission was permanent."

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying the Commander said goodbye. We're here to stay, all of us, Wes."

He kissed her passionately on the lips. "You didn't say anything!"

"Because my duty was to fight not caring if I lived or died. Now, I've won and I can finally live at peace with you."

"I love you," he whispered. "I love you, Jennifer Scotts, I love you."

She smiled, laughing against his chin. "Maybe tomorrow won't be so bad after all. Maybe we'll be able to be a family again, Wes. Maybe this time, we'll all be closer, stay in contact, be one with the Power we've been given."

"I'd like that, to see us all together under the sunlight in this new world, and get through the pain."

Jen shook her head. "The pain won't ever really go away, Wes, you know that."

"Yeah, but I we've got something to live for, so eventually it won't be so unbearable anymore."

"It's strange how we all came for a wedding, and now, after these intense weeks, we're going to face a new day, and soon we'll all be saying goodbye to Trini."

Wes knew that the shadows in the room were hiding tears streaming from her eyes, tears of sadness, of happiness, of exhaustion.

He wrapped his arms around her, feeling her tears streak his chest. She met his lips with hers.

"I wish this moment could last forever, Wes. I wish that we didn't have to face tomorrow."

"Shush," Wes told her, she buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm here for you."

Jen knew that he would be, just as he always had been.

"Make me feel alive, Wes," she begged of him. "Make me feel alive."

Nick looked over at Madison, tracing the ties on her corset style blouse with his eyes.

She kept turning her head over her shoulder, keeping her back turned.

"I didn't give you my blanket for no reason, Madison. I gave it to you because I care about you, a lot more than I ever wanted to admit."

"Can you give me a promise, Nick?" she asked, running her hands through her long black hair, grown now past her waist. "Don't make any empty promises, don't take me here, tell me that you love me, and leave again. Vida's right, you'll break my heart."

He rushed to her side, kissed her, held the back of her head in his hand. "What if I don't make any empty promises, what if I really will stay this time?"

She turned her head, not sure if she could believe him.

"I didn't know who I was, Maddie, I had all these conflicting identities, the son, the orphan, the Light, the stupid young man, now I don't have that problem. I know who I am, I am Nick Russell, I'm the guy I've always been. I don't need magic to tell me that." For the first time in years he knew exactly who he wanted to be.

Madison welcomed a second kiss. "I believe you."

Nick pressed her against the wall. "I never should have tried to fight this."

Madison let the air leave her lungs. "Nick?"

He looked into her eyes. "I love you."

She smiled back at him. "Maybe the world isn't so black and gray."

"I know where my light has always been," he whispered into her ear. He lifted her gently off her feet and brought her down on the divan and pressed her down against him. She looked up at him with her perfect smile and he knew there was no woman in the world who could give him a love more beautiful than that he shared with her.