War of the Hidden
Disclaimer: Nothing that you can google belongs to me.
A/N: ...and this is a bonus. Thanks for sticking with me.
Ch. 14
It's been a while since Atirddez sent down an attack. Carlisle, Dana, and Clare spent their time with Tommy, who seems to be getting worse and worse, while Udonna and the Mystics brushed up on their magic. The rest of the Rangers spent their time training with the Cullens or preparing for their next battle, why, Maxi didn't understand. You couldn't prepare for everything; she had learned that from her dad. You can never be ready. It's best to just wait 'til chaos strikes and learn how to deal with it. It's a waste of time to try to figure out what others are going to do in something as uncertain as the future. That's why Maxi doesn't even bother. While her friends were out trying to plan ahead, she sat in her room with the Time Force computer, typing frantically. Ever since her talk with Tom, Maxi thought she might have gotten the meaning of Lexian's "root" comment. Tom was Tommy's clone, but after going back in time, there's a big chance that he had somehow become Tommy's ancestor, a part of his heritage, his roots.
"Look to the roots," King Lexian had said, while Zordon told her that "Blood was thicker than water." At first, Maxi had thought they were talking about different things, but now, she realized that they were the same. Blood and roots (not plant roots, but heritage roots), both referring to one thing: family. Maxi never knew her family, never knew her heritage or her bloodline. She had grown up in Social Services, moving from one place to another, bouncing from foster family to foster family. The only thing she knew about her real family was that they named her 'Maximilian', and that some part of it was Asian, possibly Chinese. So now, she was digging through old files, trying to find out about her past.
"You're not going to find anything," came a voice inside her head. By now, Maxi had gotten use to its sudden speak-up. Ever since she morphed into the Green Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, she seemed to have gotten a near-permanent connection with Tom. He was always there, as if hovering in a corner of her brain, coming out whenever she needed someone to talk to.
And you couldn't have told me that before I spent 30 hours trying? Maxi retorted. Tom laughed. Maxi sat back in her chair with a sigh.
"Come on, why the long face?" Tom asked.
You're no seriously asking that, are you?
Tom chuckled. "No, no I'm not."
Tom, you're dead, don't you know everything?
"No I don't."
But you must know everyone's that's dead, right?
"Do you know how many dead people there are here in the Afterlife?"
A lot?
"That's an understatement."
But if I asked you to find someone for me, could you? Maxi asked.
Tom sighed. "You want me to look for your parents?"
Yeah. Maxi smiled sheepishly.
"How do you know they're dead?"
I don't, Maxi admitted. If they're alive, I have a chance of finding them, but if they're dead, then I can't do it…not on my own. Please Tom, I need your help.
"I don't get it. What's wrong? Why are you so interested in finding them all of a sudden?"
I think my real family can provide me with the answer to defeat Atirddez. Both Zordon and King Lexian told me to look there, so something must be important about them.
"I can't make any promises, but I'll do what I can."
Thanks Tom.
"I'm not saying I'll be able to find them."
Thanks for trying.
"No problem. You know I'll always be here for you, Li. We are one, you and I."
"Guys, should we be worried about Lian?" Trent asked as he and the other "teens" were hanging out in the forest after training with Daggeron and Leanbow. The two senior knights were now working with the older Rangers.
"Why? Is she hurt?" Xander asked.
"Emotionally," Tori answered. "But if your dad is stuck between human and vampire, you wouldn't be feeling so either, would you?"
"Guess not," Nick agreed. Out of everyone involved in this mission, Mystic Force knew the least. They had just defeated their own villain not too long ago. In fact, the day Maxi fell into town was the day Nick had returned from telling his adoptive parents about his biological parents. Until then, they didn't know about the other Power Rangers. They knew there had been teams before them, but until Maxi "rounded up the rainbow" they've never known who they really were. Maxi was just a new kid they met that needed help, Ranger help, and they were there to give it to her. She was still a new friend; all the others were still their new friends.
"I think it's more than that," Blake said. "Tommy's been out for a while now, but Lian seemed fine until she came back from the Moon Palace."
"Well she just got kidnapped, maybe it's that?" Maddie said.
"No, Lian's stronger than that," Kira said. "It's got to be something else. She's always been an outdoorsy person, introverted, but always speaks her mind. And now she's shutting herself up inside her room and not talking to anyone? That's not like her."
"What do you think it is then?" Vida asked.
"If I know her like I think I do, then it's got to be something to do with Atirddez and his whole 'honor' thing," Shane said.
"Hey guys, do you think Maxi can read Atirddez's mind? Like the way Nick could with Koragg?" Chip asked.
"That would explain what was happening to her that one time," Dustin agreed, nodding. "You know, when her eyes were flashing green?"
"I don't think so," Maddie said. "Remember, Koragg was only able to do that with Nick because he used Udonna's Snow Staff."
"And have you guys notice?" Cam asked. "Lian's eyes have been green a lot lately. They don't flash anymore, just solid green."
"Yeah, I've noticed too," Xander said.
"Well I haven't," Conner said.
"You don't notice anything," Ethan replied, but then he sighed. "I haven't either though."
"Maybe it's a Green thing," Hunter said.
"Maybe," Cam muttered, thinking about it.
"So what do we do about Lian?" Trent asked. Out of all the Dino Thunder Rangers (besides Tommy, of course), Trent was the closest to Maxi. It was probably because they were both adopted by a single father who was a scientist and dinosaur expert (and had once been evil). He had come to think of her as the little sister he never had and treated her likewise, just as Jason treats Kimberly. Therefore, when Maxi locked herself up in her room at the very top of Rootcore, Trent was the one that the most worried.
"Just leave her alone."
The all turned to see who the new voice belonged to. Justin appeared, walking over to them.
"Are you sure?" Blake asked him. Blake and Hunter, being adopted too, were also quite close to Maxi. However, Justin had been the first of all the Rangers to meet Maxi and was her best friend (despite the ten-year age difference). He had lived in the Little Angels Haven with Maxi during the time of the Turbo Rangers and often visited her even after he moved in with his father. Although Justin wasn't an orphan, he knew Maxi better than anyone, the only person to match him being Tommy.
"Positive," Justin said. "If she wanted to tell us, she would. If she hasn't it's because she one, doesn't think it's time yet, or two, because it has nothing to do with the rest of us. Either way, we should respect her decision and privacy."
"You're right," Nick nodded. I hope.
"Li! Li!"
Tom's voice came one night. Maxi had been drugged under Jason's orders, it being the only way they could get her to sleep. Although her physical eyes couldn't open, Maxi's spirit managed to leave her body to the world of In-Between, where she met with Tom, face to face.
"Did you find them?" Maxi asked excitedly. Tom nodded. "Great! Where are they?"
"That's the problem."
"I don't understand."
"Your parents, they don't have spirits. They're gone."
"I know. That's how you saw them, right?" Maxi said, still confused.
"No, I didn't mean they're dead. I mean, they're gone. They've gone past death."
Maxi frowned. "How could you go past death?" she asked.
"With every person there is Life and Death, challenges for them to conquer. Life gives you obstacles, while Death gives you choices. One of the choices is to take you away, away from everything yet to everything at the same time. To cut you loose from all ties you have on Earth or anywhere else."
"I still don't get it," Maxi said, shaking her head. She's getting so confused nowadays she's seriously doubting how she managed to skip a grade in the first place.
"Your parents have taken that decision to go away with Death. They've been dematerialized. They're nothing more than--"
"Atoms, hanging around in what you see as empty space," Maxi said, reciting the words Zordon had said to her.
"Uh, yeah," Tom nodded uncertainly. Maxi sighed, hanging her head.
"So there's no way in finding out my past then?" she asked sadly.
"Well…" Tom drawled, a slow smile creeping across his face. Maxi frowned.
"What is it?" she demanded.
"I didn't find your parents, but I did find…" Tom trailed off, stepping aside to reveal another figure. An old man dressed like a Native American of some sort, his long black and graying hair tied into two braids on each side.
"True of Heart," Maxi breathed as she recognized the old shaman. Tommy had told her all about him. He had been the man who was had the Red Zeo Sub-crystal Tommy had been sent in search for.
"It's nice to see you again, Maximilian," True said. At first, Maxi's eyes widen with shock of how he had learned not only her name, but her full name, but then remembered where she was and found it not so shocking anymore.
"It's nice to see you too, sir," Maxi replied, although she couldn't remember how he could've seen her before. She was trying to be polite, but the wise man was able to see her impatience underneath. He smiled.
"Let us sit and I'll tell you what you want to know." True sat down on the ground cross-legged and Maxi scrambled to follow. That sat facing each other; Tom had gone away, to give them their privacy. True closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. Maxi, as impatient as she was to hear what he had to say, knew better than to rush him, so she sat as quietly as she could and bit her tongue to keep from speaking. True seemed to approve. After a while he smiled again.
"Patience is a virtue," he said almost dreamily. Then he opened his piercing green eyes. "Now, Maximilian, what is it that you seek?"
"My parents, sir. Do you know anything about them?"
"I know them both very well," True said, nodding, "your mother and father: Gideon and Bethany Conley."
"Conley," Maxi murmured, having heard her last name for the first time. She made a mental note to look up that name on the internet, as well as "Gideon" and "Bethany".
"Yes. Gideon and Bethany Conley, both great people, wise and powerful."
"Powerful?" Maxi asked.
"Yes, very powerful."
"In what way?"
"Both your parents have powers, Maximilian. Not those Powers, but powers, just the same. You can talk to people of the past, borrow their powers, your father can speak with the many Gods and Goddesses of different religions and beliefs, borrowing their powers. Your mother is a bit different. While you and your father could talk to spirits, she can physically leave her body and become a spirit. Your brother takes after her, able to leave his physical body as well."
"I have a brother?"
"Yes, a twin brother, born only one second before you."
"Is that possible?"
"It is when you were born at the exact time of the time spell."
"Time spell," Maxi murmured, frowning and brow creased as she thought about it. Then it hit her. "1996, Master Vile turned back time, reversing the Rangers back to kids."
True nodded. "You were only halfway out when the time wave swept over the Earth, taking every human being back eight years. The doctor, the nurse, your parents, your brother…"
"But not me?" Maxi asked, confused.
"No, not you," Sam said, shaking his head.
"Why not?"
"You were not fully born yet. You were not fully human yet."
"Then how did I survive?"
"I used my own life-force energy to push you pass the World of In-Between and into Life."
"Is that possible?"
"For some of us, yes."
"How?"
"Only those of us who are fully connected to our true selves can give life to others."
"So who is he? Who is my brother?"
True looked at her in shock. "Surely it's not that hard! What are the characteristics of twins?"
"Siblings that are the same age?"
"What else?"
Maxi thought about it. "Two individuals who look alike?" True nodded. And then Maxi gasped. "Atirddez is my brother?"
"Yes, he is."
"But…how?"
"Four years ago, your brother and parents came across vampires on a camping trip. Your parents were both killed on the spot and your brother was…"
"Turned into a vampire," Maxi finished dryly.
"Yes. And that attacker, after finding out what your brother could do, kept him by his side, to use and manipulate him."
"And my brother followed this attacker…willingly?"
"No. This attacker has an ability of his own: hypnosis. He uses his power to control others, to make them do his bidding."
"And that explains why those vampires all looked funny, including Atirddez!" Then Maxi gasped again. "Ragdlog, he's the attacker, isn't he?"
"You are a bright child, Maximilian."
"Thank you, sir," Maxi said, bowing her head. She waited a little while before asking. "What is Atir—my brother's name? My parents can't have named him after Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa."
"You are right. Your brother's full name is Macbeth Forester Dyre Conley."
"Wow, that's a long name."
True smiled. "But yours is even longer."
Maxi looked at him. "It is?" she asked worriedly.
"Your full name is Maximilian Lorelai Skylar Trygg Conley Oliver." Maxi gave a low whistle as a reply and True chuckled.
"You named me, didn't you?" Maxi asked after a while. True nodded.
"I named you 'Maximilian' first, because it means 'great'; you are destined for greatness. And second, because you are definitely one in a million. Most likely one-of-a-kind, now that I think about it," he added.
Maxi smiled. "Thank you, sir. And if you would allow it, I wish to add one more to my name."
True cocked an eyebrow.
"If you would allow it, I would be honored to add Trueheart into my name."
True smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "The honor would be mine." The he got up to his feet. Maxi quickly follow suited. "Now it is time for you to go. Go with your knowledge to win this war and conquer this obstacle. Go now, and may the Power protect you."