Chapter Twenty Eight

Time had passed. Days had crept by, the house seeming strangely empty no matter how long Tommy spent there. Most of his time, he remained in the lab, not wanting anyone to see a Ranger wandering around inside the house. Trina had woken up as she was supposed to, her memories of the temple completely gone.

The story of illness continued and Trina remained at home, doing her schoolwork in a corner of the lab or playing on the video game system Tommy had persuaded Hayley to attach to the main computer. She was being really quiet. She didn't speak unless asked a direct question. Even then, half the time she would just look blank or shrug, not really having heard what was being said.

She missed her brother.

Tommy had never been close to his brother so he couldn't really understand how it must feel for her to be without Will. The twins had always been inseparable, no matter how often they argued. Hayley had once commented that they sometimes seemed like two parts of one being. Tommy remembered that so often now, seeing Trina appear only half alive.

Maybe if she were able to get back to some semblance of normality, she would be able to adjust. But Tommy and Kat didn't dare let her out of their sight. The enemy was probably still after her. So Trina was trapped here in a strange state of limbo, her life unable to continue. So she remained, constantly reminded of the reason for her imprisonment and feeling more deeply the loss of her brother.

After the first couple of days, when neither the Order nor Hayley had been able to find any trace of the enemy's soldiers or Will, Tommy had gradually begun to accept that the change would now be complete. Even if she had waited, which had never been known to happen, even if Will had fought her more strongly than Jason or any of her other victims, the process would be complete by now. His soul would be consumed by the enemy.

Tommy cried tears behind his helmet and was unable to wipe them away.

He hugged Trina often, needing to know that she was really here, safe within his reach. But he wished for the feel of his skin on hers. All he could feel was the inside of his gloves.

He was almost grateful when Mesagog or Trent attacked. He felt completely useless in the lab, doing all sorts of tedious tasks that he'd been putting off for ages, but unable to do anything to help his family. It felt good to be able to fight something solid. Every time, he imagined it was the Order's enemy he was hitting. Though, when Kira was controlled, a part of him had been terrified that the enemy had somehow got to her. Even when she was safe again, he worried about what would happen if the Rangers somehow fell to the enemy's powers. Would she do that?

Maybe if he knew more about her plans, he'd be able to guess who was still in danger. The only theory they had about her targeting Will was based on the idea that she expected him to try and save him. But if he was completely gone, there was no possible power that could restore him. He'd expected Will to reappear soon after he'd been taken, but there'd been no sign of him.

"Hey, bro," said Jason, coming down the stairs. He had a steaming mug in his hand. Tommy stared at the coffee enviously. The morphing grid might be able to sustain him like this, but that didn't stop him missing things. On the other hand, he hadn't had to go to the bathroom in over a week.

Jason had stayed with them. Tommy wasn't sure what excuses he'd had to make to get time off work, but he was grateful for it. Blake had gone back to his racing, but left about a dozen different ways to get in touch in case they heard anything from Hunter.

Tommy had only had one real conversation with Hunter since all this, but even that was stretching the definition. Hunter claimed to be perfectly fine and point blank refused to talk about how things had ended with his brother. He was a Bearer now and was determined to do that duty, even if that meant being separated from Blake. Tommy almost wanted to grab him and shake him, screaming at him that this pain wasn't necessary. He saw what Trina was going through and he didn't want to have to face Hunter inflicting the same hurt on himself.

"How are you doing?" Jason asked quietly.

Tommy didn't have a simple answer for that. Kat was barely speaking to him. She was still hurt about his apparent betrayal and Tommy wasn't sure how to close the distance that had formed between them. She was hurting so badly over losing Will and she wouldn't let Tommy in to help her through the pain.

The pain that Tommy also felt.

Everywhere he looked, he saw signs of Will. Memories clung to everything in this home. He wished for his son back so much that the feeling became a physical ache. There was a black hole inside him, swallowing up any thought of hope. He knew Will was gone and every spare thought was filled with guilt, conjuring scenarios of how he could have prevented this.

Tommy looked across at Trina, sitting on the floor in the corner, colouring pictures in silence. He was losing her too.

"I wish I could make this not have happened," Tommy muttered.

"I know," Jason said. He touched Tommy's shoulder in a way that was probably meant to be comforting, but Tommy only felt the harsh armour. That which protected him also served to hold him apart from those he loved most. That was true of far too much in his life.

Jason went over to Trina and complimented her pictures. Tommy went back to sorting through old boxes of junk. So many bits of useless paperwork were mixed in with treasured photographs. He found a picture of his wedding, Kat beaming so much that her smile outshone the sun. On either side of the happy couple were Jason and Trini, each clutching one of the twins. Tommy remembered how long that photo had taken to get, because Will had kept insisting on trying to eat Trini's hat.

"Tommy, look at this," Jason said, coming back over to him. He placed in front of Tommy one of Trina's pictures. It had a girl and boy in the centre of the paper. Tommy knew Trina's drawing style well enough to guess that they were supposed to be Trina and Will.

They were holding hands, but she'd drawn Will with silver eyes.

However, that wasn't what got Tommy's attention. Each of the twins held, in their free hand, a sword. Over their joined hands, glittering in gold pen, was a gem.