Volume III – The Zeta Arc

Chapter 24—The Oncoming Storm

Aaron

I couldn't decide what hurt worse: the gaping hole that burned to my touch and had managed to puncture an organ, or the fact that my boyfriend, my Zayledyn, was the enemy that had been trying to kill us for months and had given me the gaping wound. Currently he was being held in a stabilizing field, preventing him from using any powers, and his Zeta Morphers were held in an energy containment field.

"This is gonna hurt," Doc Ol was saying. My eyes looked past him at the ceiling,

How could I not have seen it? Patrick was always so affectionate—more than I had been at first—and he had easily become the highlight of my life. I knew I had become attached, as much as I tried not to. I found myself counting down the minutes of the school day so I could get home and see him. I found myself visiting him at work just to ask him how his shift was going. He was like the most interesting person I'd ever met, and every day, I felt I learned something new about him.

After his mom died, I knew he would have a hard time, but he seemed to bounce right back. Weeks after her funeral, he was working all the time, studying for his GED, and helping Doc with Ranger stuff. But as he started doing all these things, I felt him becoming distant. He started working more, he stayed out late, he hardly talked to me, and I could practically see the wall he built around his emotions.

It hurt.

But this hurt so much worse.

Now I knew why.

I felt a mild sting, then an odd freezing sensation that felt like it was pulling my skin inward. I looked down to see the hole in me seal itself seamlessly, the skin reforming perfectly.

"How do you feel?" Doc Ol asked.

I remained silent as I struggled to sit up. "Can he hear me?"

Our mentor shook his head. "It's sound proof. Among other things."

"Can you tell the others to go and let me talk to him?"

"Of course," he replied. "Do you…you want me to go, too?"

"Just turn off the sound proofing and then you guys can go."

In moments he was leaving the basement with my five teammates.

Patrick looked away from me.

"Why?" I asked, stopping in front of the stabilizer.

"It's not what it seems."

"Bullshit," I spat. "You stabbing me is what it looked like, and seeing as how two seconds ago I had a hole the size of my fist in my stomach, that's what it seems like too."

"Aaron, you don't understand."

"Then allow me to," I barked angrily.

"Look," he sighed, "after my mom died, Doc Ol and I were working on Project Zeta. We found this line of data that wouldn't go away, but then I thought Doc Ol fixed it. When I came back here to see if there was anything I could do to help while you guys were fighting Lamedd, the place was empty and Project Zeta was on the screen saying it was complete. I…I thought I could send it to you, since you had demorphed." He seemed to be reliving the moment, a look of pain on his face. "But it wouldn't work. No matter what I tried, it wouldn't work. So I flipped out and hit the computer. Next thing I know, I'm being electrocuted." He let his words sink in before he finally wrapped up his story. "I dunno how long I was out. All I know is that when I woke up…he was there."

"Who was there?"

"It's weird," he said, standing up and coming to the border of the stabilizer. "He's this fallen Seraph who wants revenge on the Cronotheon for imprisoning him in Cyberspace. He told me that when Doc Ol loaded the Zeta Attributes, he accidentally freed him. Only problem was that I guess years of virtual imprisonment can drive you crazy. We…we shared a mind. And then he took over. I wanted to tell you guys, but he—Zeta—he had enough control over me to keep me from saying anything to anyone."

I raised an eyebrow, analyzing his story. "You're telling me that my great-grandfather is some psychotic Green Ranger trapped inside your head?"

"Wait. Your what?" he demanded.

"Zeta? Where do you think my family's last name comes from? Zeta was the first Eltarian, but he sacrificed himself to imprison Cronus, which brought forth the Cronus Stone, etcetera, etcetera. My great-grandfather is dead, Patrick."

"No!" he refuted. "Ask the others! They saw him disappear after they showed up. When…when he…stabbed you…" his mouth seemed to struggle to form the words. "When that happened, the link I had with him broke cuz I was just so fucking pissed…and so…scared. I dunno, I just felt so intensely that it just snapped. And when I snapped, so did the powers; he has half the Morpher energy, and I have half."

"Oh, so now you're only as strong as three of us."

"Aaron, please."

"Patrick, you've been lying to me for what, two months now?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest. "You've been trying to kill us, you destroyed half of Beijing, murdered hundreds of people with that Dragonzord; who the fuck knows what else you've done?!"

"That wasn't me!" he shouted, his grey eyes flashing a vibrant green as sparks erupted from his fists in anger.

I looked at him skeptically. "And I'm supposed to believe you?"

"Look, take my Morpher then," he said pointedly, throwing his hands up. "I…I swear to God, Aaron, I never wanted to fight you. I never wanted to hurt you. I was angry, and felt powerless, and I just…I just wanted to be able to do something."

I looked away from him and rubbed my forehead. "I can't do this."

"Aaron!" he half-shouted, pleading for my attention. When I looked at him, he softened. "Look at me. It's just me in here, no more Zeta."

"Dude, it's not just up to me," I said helplessly. "What about the rest of the team? You broke Matt's arm in one of the battles, and if it weren't for all the hi-tech healing equipment Doc has from my aunt, I'm sure half of us would be out of commission by now." I tried to stop it, but my anger was bubbling over, my head throbbing just as hard as it had the day I blacked out during the Zord battle with Kaf and Khaf. "You fucked up bad, dude. What are my parents gonna say? I don't know what the fuck's gonna happen!"

"So what are you saying?" he demanded, returning my anger. "Are you guys just gonna kill me or something?"

I scoffed. "Don't be an idiot."

"Well that's what it sounds like right now; like you're going to tell me you have no choice but to put me down."

"You're not a goddamn dog."

"Then stop treating me like one who shit on your best suit," he snapped back. "I don't know how to convince you that I'm me. Search my feelings; you know I'm telling the truth."

"What do you mean 'search your feelings?' You act like they never deceived me before."

"Did they? Or were you just looking for ways to ignore the problem? I know you can see my memories when we're together just like I can see yours."

"What?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"…no…I don't," I said, sounding genuinely confused.

"After we had sex for the first time?"

"Why are we talking about sex? Or is that all this really is to you?"

I instantly regretted my words as soon as they were out of my mouth, but I tried to stand my ground. His eyes turned cold, like they used to when he and I were sworn enemies at school. They were an icy, calculating gunmetal that chilled me to the bone.

"I never used you," he said lowly. "Ever. The only reason I brought it up was because after I lost my virginity to you, thinking you'd learn to trust me, I dreamt your memories. I don't know if it's because you're a fucking alien or what, but every single dream that I remembered from the night before were your memories." His words hit deep, forcing me to listen. Until he pushed further. "Now how is it that I—some normal little human being—can do all these amazing mind-reading things, when you're an Eltarian Prince, but you have no idea what I'm talking about?"

My face hardened as my fists balled angrily. "Because obviously I'm a fuck-up in that department, too," I sneered. "Sorry I couldn't impress you more."

"That is not what I meant!" he shouted. "God, you are so impossible right now. Just…just go talk to the others. You're not going to listen to me anyway, no matter what I say. So go on, bring in the fucking firing squad and let the jury decide how to carry out the execution."

"Patrick, sh—"

"GO!" he screamed at me, electricity dancing freely around him now.

I took a longing, parting look at him, shook my head, and made my way up the staircase.

"What the fuck is going on?" Jay demanded as soon as I made my way through the basement door.

I raised my arms in defense, signaling him to slow down and be patient. In reality, I wanted to punch a hole in his face. And I didn't know why.

The others looked at me expectantly.

"Apparently, Patrick's been being controlled by Zeta."

"Zeta?" Beth asked, voicing everyone's confusion. Even Doc Ol looked a little lost.

I sat down at an open barstool and ran my hand through my hair. "Eltarians come from a long line of ancient beings," I said. "You already know about Cronus—Titan of Chaos. But he had lots of siblings. One of his siblings was Zeta—the oldest of the Titans. He and his twin sister, Omega, were known as Seraphs—8 winged deities said to inherit the power of their father, Ouranos. Cronus, after overthrowing Ouranos and establishing his own reign, wanted their power. Knowing he couldn't defeat them, he tricked Omega and absorbed her Seraph energy."

I paused to see if I had my facts straight. It had been a while since I had to recite my people's history. "Zeta was overpowered, so his mother, Gaia, had him retreat with her and Zeus—the youngest of Cronus's children. Together, they forged the Cronus stone by cutting off all of Zeta's wings, releasing the majority of his divine powers. The wings, combined with a stone of Gaia's very body, formed a powerful gemstone meant to absorb divine energy. They gave the stone to Zeus's mother, Rhea, who wrapped it in clothes and fed it to Cronus—who thought it was actually Zeus. As you know, Cronus swallowed all of his children so they couldn't overthrow him like he did his father."

"I thought Zeus was a bad guy?" Matt interrupted. "I mean, my dad used to tell me stories about the Fury Rangers and all that stuff that Doc said was covered up. Wasn't Zeus the leader of the Cronotheon?"

I nodded. "He later became evil, but at first, he joined forces with Zeta to overthrow Cronus. After forcing Cronus to puke up Zeus's 5 siblings and the Cronus Stone, they rallied against Cronus and had him on the brink. Knowing he couldn't kill Cronus, Zeta used the Cronus stone to imprison Cronus inside the Cronus Stone—which is why it's called 'the Cronus Stone.'"

"Wait," Amy said. "If Zeta trapped Cronus, why is Zeta evil now?"

"Yeah, good question," Grace agreed.

"Well," I sighed, "this part is foggy. Eltar's documented history says that Zeta swore on his dying breath that his son would make sure no Cronotheon would ever rule over the universe again. Zeta, because he was a God, was able to reproduce asexually and birthed Zordon, my grandfather. After that, the details are really blurry. Some say Zeta still lives on Planet Zordia—some say Zeta died. Now, Patrick's telling me that Cronus actually imprisoned Zeta in the virtual world."

"I call bullshit," Jay said angrily. "I mean, how the hell could Cronus lock Zeta in a virtual world when computers didn't even exist back then?"

"Not on Earth, they didn't," I corrected him. "And Cronus was the most powerful deity to ever exist. He knew pretty much everything. Zeta couldn't kill him, and he couldn't kill Zeta."

"Stalemate," Amy noted.

"Exactly," I replied. "My guess is that when Cronus realized Zeta was going to trap him, he did the same thing. And since he knew Zeta's power was limited by losing his wings, he didn't have to worry about him getting free. That's why Zeta said his son would carry on the legacy of the Wingless One—which, in the celestial language—literally translates to Eltaryan."

Amy nodded as she took in the information. "So what does this have to do with Patrick?"

I looked over to Doctor Oliver. "According to Patrick, when you uploaded the Zeta Cyber attributes to the Zeta Battleizer, you actually encoded the imprisoned Zeta. I'm guessing that his prison was somewhere in the Eltarian data stream, lost to even our scientist." I rubbed my chin as I thought. "If he was imprisoned for all that time, his body most likely ceased to exist. But since he's an Eltarian, he can exist as pure energy, like Zordon. He must've waited for a host, then shared a mind and body with Patrick."

"So you're telling me Zeta Ranger is actually the Zeta Eltarian Seraph?" Jay asked, still irritated.

"Technically that's impossible," Grace corrected him. "Seraph's can't be wingless." Jay blinked. "But yeah, that's basically what Aaron's saying."

"So, I'm still confused here," Matt spoke up. "What happened to the powers? I mean, I saw Patrick separate into different people, but we were all trying to get you back here first. Does that other guy—Zeta—does he have the power now?"

"I think I can answer that," Doc Ol said, pushing off the counter he'd been leaning on. "The two shared equal power before, but now that they are split, the powers have also been split. Patrick holds half the power and Zeta holds the other half."

"So what do we do with him?" Jay asked haughtily. "Can't we just take the Morpher back and make it into a Battleizer for Aaron now?"

"I have an idea," Amy interrupted.

We all looked at her, the shortest of us all, and waited for this plan she'd concocted.

"Hear me out, first. We all know what's underneath this city and how much power we could get if we acquired it. Unfortunately, we needed a seventh Ranger before we could get it. We have a seventh Ranger, now."

"No," Beth immediately snapped. "He's too dangerous to be trusted."

"It's Patrick."

"He tried to kill his own boyfriend! Frankly, I know you two are friends and all, but you and Patrick aren't together. What makes you think he wouldn't kill you like he tried to kill the person he is with?"

"That was Zeta, not Patrick," Grace defended.

I remained silent, despite the heat flushing my cheeks. Not only was I embarrassed for how public my relationship with Patrick had become, but I was frustrated with the current situation. I wanted to trust him, of course I did; but would that really help anything? As a good leader, it was my duty to remove my feelings from my decision-making, right?

"Let's talk about this with him," I finally said.

"Agreed," Doc Ol backed me up.

The others slowly nodded and followed us to The Basement. Patrick was sitting in his stabilizer, arms crossed, legs stretched out, and a particularly irritated look on his face.

"Patrick," Grace started, "we want to talk to you."

He raised an eyebrow and locked eyes with her.

"Amy proposed that we trust you and give you a Super Stone, because not only would we get a power boost, but we'd have an extra teammate." She dropped her distant attitude, uncrossing her arms. "We need you. And you're one of my best friends…what do you say? Be a Ranger with us?"

"Is that a unanimous request?" he asked, his voice tense and edgy.

"I'm for it," Matt immediately said. I assumed he was trying to redeem himself with Patrick after his outburst toward our relationship.

Amy chimed in, "You know I want you on the team."

"I suppose we need all the help we can get against Mesomorph," Beth sighed.

"I side with whatever our leader says," Jay stated firmly.

Great, all the pressure was on me.

Patrick's eyes fell on me, and I gritted my teeth as I thought. It was hard, but I dropped my anger. I looked my boyfriend in his warm grey eyes—the same ones I'd fallen in love with—and searched every inch of his soul with whatever connection we had. He was there. All there. And he was scared. He needed us as much as we needed him.

"You've always said you wanted to be a Ranger," I said, "and we've all thought you'd be the best since the very first day. Every single one of us expected you to join us some day on the battlefield. And even though we never expected it to happen like this, it did. And it's in the past." I took a deep breath, glancing at my teammates beside me. I had made my speech as a leader. Now I needed to make it as a person. As a boyfriend. "I want you by my side for as long as you want to be."

I felt the tension in the room dissipate immediately.

Doc Ol swiftly disabled Patrick's field and helped him out of the container. "Welcome aboard, Patrick." He smiled and added, "Officially, that is."

He smiled meekly as he rubbed his hand through his dark brown spiky hair. "You…you guys are really just gonna let me join? Just like that?"

"I've been on the receiving end of the whole Evil Ranger thing myself," Doc said, placing a hand on Patrick's shoulder. "Sometimes, there are forces that are outside of our control. The only thing that we can do is learn from our mistakes. Your service as a Ranger will help correct those mistakes."

"But all the things I did," Patrick objected, "all the people I hurt. And everything I did to all of you." He looked at us ashamedly, his head hung low. "This isn't what I meant when I said I wanted to be a Ranger."

"Dude," Matt spoke up, "it's okay. Aaron told us about what happened. It could've happened to any of us, but you were most vulnerable at the time." He stepped forward and put his hand on Patrick's free shoulder. "We're just glad to have you back, dude. I'm glad to have you back."

The two exchanged a grin before they shook hands and bumped shoulders, sealing the deal.

"Should we go get those Super Stones, then?" Jay asked, I heard the frustration in his voice but chose to ignore it. I didn't have the strength to confront him too.

"Let's do that tomorrow," Doc Ol responded, patting Patrick's shoulder before looking to all of us. "Aaron still needs time to heal. That medicine will only seal and speed up the healing process, but it's still tender. Plus, I think we've had enough excitement for one day."

"Agreed," Amy sighed.

We said our goodbyes and began to head out of the basement in rays of teleportation. When I arrived outside my house, I noticed Patrick's green teleportation beam next to me and couldn't help but feel a bit anxious about it. The idea of him being the Green Ranger still made my head spin.

We made our way up to my room in silence where we began to disrobe down to our underwear and immediately sought refuge in my bed. Five minutes later, he spoke.

"I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry."

I opened my eyes and immediately locked onto the tears building up in his eyes. His hand was lightly tracing the side of my stomach where he—no, Zeta—had stabbed me.

"I believe you, dude," I whispered concernedly.

He shook as he suppressed his sobs, wiping at his eyes with his tan forearm. "I thought I was gonna lose you, too. I really thought you were gonna die. I could see it in your eyes."

I couldn't hear the sadness in his voice. Only the anger. Only the fear. I could tell it would take a while for him to make amends with his sins. I knew he hated himself in that moment. The only thing I could do was love him.

Someone had to.

"Hey," I said, turning his face toward me with a few fingers, "it takes a lot more than that to kill me." I grinned at him.

He didn't answer at first, his chest hiccupping with the last few of his sobs. They were silent and dry, no tears falling. I think his pride was keeping him from crying in front of me again. He'd done this the night his mom died. It was so weird to see Patrick so emotional again. He hadn't shown the slightest bit of any emotion in so long that I had forgotten what it was like. And it was like once Zeta was finally gone, Patrick was back to how he was before becoming the Green Ranger.

Hurt.

"I'm just so scared, dude," he finally admitted. "I'm so afraid to lose someone again. I don't think I could handle it."

"Don't worry," I said laughing lightly, "you're stuck with me for the next 50,000 years. Or something like that."

He gave a small smile and moved closer to me. "Oh, God. I dunno if I can handle that."

"Don't worry, you've got time to practice."

He chuckled and spoke into my chest. "I love you, dude."

"I love you, too."