The good: it's an extra-long chapter with no "extra violence" warning.
The bad: the next update is going to be on the scale of months. To say that i'm swamped is putting it mildly.
Last story arc, people!
Love and Gratitude to the Constellations Team: Camille and Mara (friends and beta readers), and Roie (who made this possible).
Enjoy, and please review!
Arc Five: Storm Ascending
Each person is a star in a constellation of another's sky
37. After the Fire
He waited until he heard the second car leave the garage before going downstairs to the kitchen. A few seconds later, staring at the coffee machine and waiting for it to heat up, Shane was entirely unsurprised as Hunter let himself in without either knocking or having a key. Hunter had this thing with making points.
"If you even dare suggest cold pizza," threatened Hunter as he walked across the kitchen.
"I don't think we have any," answered Shane, taking another cup out of the cupboard. Hunter would find that out on his own anyway as he surveyed the fridge. "And pizza is food."
"Homemade pizza is," Hunter informed him. "If anything more complex than fried eggs has ever been cooked in this kitchen, it doesn't look like it."
"Pasta?"
"Less complex." Hunter closed the fridge, turned to the island and laid down tomatoes, bread and two kinds of cheese. "Tell me you have a toaster here somewhere."
"Two different ones," said Shane, pointing at the appropriate cupboard. "And bring the cream while you're there."
"Hey," said Hunter a moment later, as he located a cutting board and a knife. "Free afternoon today."
"Yeah, I know."
"Hey."
Shane turned his head and found Hunter staring at him intently.
"You didn't sleep well," said Hunter.
Shane shrugged. "Still the same weird dream."
"The fairy in the web?"
"That's the one."
"Of all the stupid dreams," muttered Hunter as he accepted his coffee from Shane.
Shane shrugged again. "It's harmless."
Hunter didn't look particularly convinced. He half-turned, cupping Shane's cheek.
Shane stopped mid-movement.
"Five days, Shane," Hunter said quietly. Shane didn't move and wouldn't meet his eyes. "You ever gonna tell me what happened?"
"Already have."
"Bullshit." But he let go, and Shane turned and walked off, busying himself with plates and cutlery. "This is getting old."
"The breakfast thing?"
"No, you thinking that you can lie to me."
Shane was still looking at the plates rather than at Hunter.
Hunter considered him. "I know what you're not telling me, all right?"
Shane froze.
"I know something happened between the cliff and the canyon," Hunter elaborated, and Shane relaxed infinitesimally.
"Cam said he'd tell you," he muttered, so low that Hunter barely caught the words.
"It's not about what anyone else has told me," Hunter said sharply. "It's about what you aren't telling me."
"Well, you don't need to worry about me telling Cam stuff I don't tell you," snapped Shane. "Your best friend, not mine."
"What the hell…"
"These sandwiches look ready to eat to me. What do we need to shove them in a toaster for?"
He couldn't let Shane evade forever, but he wasn't going to get anywhere that morning, either. Hunter decided not to push it. "Because it'll taste better when the cheese melts. Now, out of my way."
There was sun, which was good; there was relatively little wind for March, which was also good; and Adam deigned – after much pleading and puppy-dog eyes stares – to give them a free afternoon to party properly for once, which was why they could enjoy the weather and have a beach party on her birthday. Dustin arranged the food, Cam had been kept away from the stereo and everything would've been great, except that Shane was late.
"I can't believe it," she muttered, glancing at her watch.
"Dude, it can happen," said Dustin. "Maybe he got stuck in traffic or missed the bus or something."
Tori gave him a sour look. "Shane has never been late to my birthday party," she informed him. "Not even when we were ten."
"I'm trying to not imagine that," said Cam. "You two when you were ten. You must have been…"
"Hellions?" she completed. "We were. Seriously, though, where is he?" She went over to her bag and fished out her cell phone[cgm1]. After a few seconds she snapped it shut.
"No answer?" asked Hunter.
Tori shook her head. "No answer," she confirmed.
"Maybe he went home after school and fell asleep?" Hunter suggested.
"Fell asleep," said Tori skeptically. "You're kidding me, right?"
"His last class today was study hall," offered Dustin, "And don't hold me to it, but I think he may have bailed out early."
Everyone exchanged glances.
Tori jabbed her finger in Hunter's direction. "Are you two still not talking?"
"We're talking just fine!" Hunter snapped back.
"Well, it looks like – "
"Tori, lay off him," said Cam sharply.
For a moment Tori glared at both him and Hunter, and then she forced herself to relax. "We aren't going through the same shit again, Cam."
"We aren't going to violate each other's privacy based on fear, either."
"Are we arguing about whether Shane's likely to get in trouble right now," asked Blake cautiously, "Or about who's responsible for whatever he's going through?"
Silence.
"Because the latter question," continued Blake, "Is really stupid. Right now, I vote we go in the water and start the fun before the daylight runs out on us. CyberCam knows to keep an eye out, and he's as paranoid as the rest of us by now. I'd offer to kick him for you if he flakes out completely," he turned to Tori, "But both of you" – he pointed to Hunter also – "would kick me."
Tori looked sheepish. Hunter glared. Dustin, as usual, seemed immune to the tension. Instead, he stole the rubber duck from Marah's hand and squeezed. It emitted a loud squeak.
"Ugh!" complained Cam.
Dustin grinned and squeezed it again.
"Give that – "
Dustin stepped away from Cam's reaching hand.
"Shouldn't have let you bring the infernal thing."
Dustin evaded another grabbing attempt, then turned and ran. Cam gave chase. Marah considered them, shrugged, and turned to the cooler[cgm1]. "I think we have ice cream here," she said over her shoulder. "Tori, you want some?"
"Is it chocolate?"
"I went shopping with Dustin, so." Marah flashed her a smile. "Obviously."
When the lightbug caught in the web started playing in front of his eyes during study hall, Shane had had enough. Term was almost over anyway, and he was pretty sure no one would notice him cutting out early; and even if they did, this was one of those days when he just didn't care.
Besides, he had finally realized that the neck of the woods in which the dream scene occurred was a real place. He was tired of repeatedly dreaming about the blasted thing, hearing that distressed whine. Maybe if he went there and proved to himself that there was no fairy light trapped in a black web then he'd stop dreaming it in a loop. Of course, then his mind would probably find some different way of yelling the message at him, but at least there would be some variation.
He hadn't been in this particular corner of the woods in years. Shane slowed his gait as he reached the general area his dream occurred in, and started looking for the particular site. He hadn't realized how abandoned this area was. Maybe it was only because it wasn't quite the weekend yet; maybe it had been different when he was younger; maybe it had always been this way and he just didn't remember. Stupid thought, that. What even made him think that that place was real? He was so young, in the dream, and it wasn't like he'd gone camping then. Yet – Shane paused, considered a bent tree leaning on another, and turned west, going on instinct – the place was eerily familiar. It felt as though he was walking in an earlier part of a memory, before the one the dream had picked up on.
When he walked into the small clearing with the burned, collapsing chimney, Shane halted. It's real, he thought. No way.
Except that it was there. Just as he'd dreamed it. Shane approached the two trees – older than they'd been in his dream – and reached for the space where the web had been. He stopped at the last inch. Belatedly, he realized that something was wrong, had to be. As he had walked into the woods, he had become convinced that this was an actual memory, which he'd somehow forgotten over the years. What made more sense, though – a repressed memory of a real fairylight he'd rescued when he was younger, or Lothor playing some really weird mind game?
He thought it was a flake of dust, at first, or some feathery bloom catching the light in an odd way. When the glowing object hovered in place maybe ten inches from his face, though, Shane was forced to admit that it looked just like the light from his dream. At least there wasn't a distressed whine, begging for help. Instead, the hum sounded satisfied, friendly, perhaps welcoming. Shane reached, tempted to touch despite the obvious danger.
Someone behind him stepped on a twig.
"Don't turn around, and step away from the Karmanian," growled a voice.
Shane turned on his heel. The figure was clearly alien, somewhat sharklike, likely[cgm1] armored.
"I'm not afraid of Lothor's goons," said Shane.
The alien laughed. "I am not one of Lothor's, foolish human. Now step aside."
"I don't think so."
"Fine," spat out the alien. Darkness gathered in its palm. "Have it your way."
He pitched the darkness at Shane, a spear of oily darkness like the stuff the dream web had been made of –
The light dove over Shane's shoulder, emitting a high-pitched whine of defiance. For a moment Shane thought he saw a woman, holding out her arm as if to wave aside the spear –
There was a brilliant flash of white light, and then he was standing in a completely unfamiliar wood and the woman really was there, brown skin and bouncing curls in jeans and a tank top that looked way too normal for the circumstances.
She turned to him, eyes wide with worry. "Are you all right?"
"Who are you?" he spat. "What's going on?" And then, just in case she really wasn't one of the bad guys, he added: "I'm fine, thanks."
"You're welcome," she said cautiously. "I'm Skyla."
It could have been a trap, should have been a trap, and he knew enough about the way the Dark Ninja powers worked to not trust the insistent instinct that this Skyla person was All Right.
"You don't trust me," she said.
"Sorry," he said, moved into apologizing by the distress in her tone. "Bad experience with aliens."
"So I heard," she said.
He raised his eyebrows. "So you heard?" he repeated.
She shrugged a little. "I did my research before arriving at this solar system again," she offered.
"Why –" he began, and then stopped. "Again?" he asked instead.
"So you do remember," she said. "I wasn't sure you would."
"Wait, so that was real?" he demanded. "Assuming that I believe you, and I'm not quite there yet. Sorry."
"I suppose I should've expected this," she said. She really did seem to be calming down. "And if you're asking about you releasing me from that trap ten of your years ago? Then yes, that was real."
"I don't remember it," he told her. "Didn't remember it until I actually came here."
"But you came."
"Started dreaming about it three days ago," he said. "Which is one of the reasons I don't quite trust you, by the way."
"That's good. Not the not trusting, obviously, but that you knew despite not fully remembering. It means the transfer will probably go smoothly."
"The transfer?"
"I'm a Karmanian."
"So that's what the fish guy meant."
"His name is Vexacus; and yes."
"So how come you look human?"
"Because I thought it would be easier for you?" she said. "Would you rather if I looked like…"
"Whoa!" Shane took a step back as Skyla suddenly transformed into a ten-foot-tall monster with way too many tentacles.
Skyla shrunk back into her human form. "My point exactly."
"Jesus, what – are you a shapeshifter?"
"No, I'm just not exactly corporeal."
"You're not –"
"Karmanians are energy creatures."
"Oh." The cogs in his head were beginning to turn again. "Is that why that Vexacus is after you? He wants your energy or something?"
"Pretty much, yes," she agreed. "He's a bounty hunter. Hunts for money, most of the time, except for when he gets wind of a Karmanian about to transform. He'd been trying and failing to capture a Karmanian coming of age for two hundred of your years."
"Transforming and coming of age are the same thing?"
"Kind of. The Karmanian life cycle has three stages. When we come of age, pass into the third stage, we transform. And when we do, a great energy is released."
"And that's why he's after you."
"Yes." She looked around. "By the way, we really need to get going."
"Get going where?" he asked, following her nonetheless.
"Anywhere," she tossed a look over her shoulder. "He'll come after us."
"Well, you can just teleport us again, right?"
"Not exactly. For the transformation – well, it's complicated."
"Try me."
"I have to be in a corporeal body for the transformation."
"Like now?"
"Like now," she agreed, "Except if you cut me, I'll bleed."
He frowned. "You mean – you won't be able to teleport. Or do whatever else it is that you people do."
"Exactly," she agreed. "Until after the transformation."
"And when you transform, this energy you're going to release – are you going to explode?"
"No." She sounded amused. "Well, only if I'm alone when I transform, in which case I'd die. The energy must go to someone."
"Are you saying…"
"I'm saying," she said, turning her head and flashing him a smile, "That I'm your destiny and you're mine."
She was busy with sword practice when Lothor came into the training room. Kapri ignored him.
"Not now, Kapri!" he snapped after a moment. "We have a Karmanian!"
She paused and turned towards him, though she still held both swords at the ready and hadn't moved to wipe away her sweat yet. "We what?" she demanded.
"Well, one has entered the system and landed on Earth, heading straight for the red Ranger."
Kapri inhaled sharply. "This could be…"
"Yes," agreed Lothor. "And guess who's hot on the Karmanian's tail? Vexacus."
Kapri whistled. Vexacus was one of the last remaining great bounty hunters – most of the other ones had been destroyed in the Specter Wars. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand – a useless gesture, as she was sweaty all over. "You have plans for him?"
"Destiny has plans for us all."
Kapri nodded, walking over to return her swords to the stand. "All right. What do we do?"
"The other Rangers must not be allowed to interfere."
"Hm." She picked up her towel. "They can put up three functioning subteams, so we need at least four soldiers. Isn't there a Quad that came in together?"
"They're taking places six to nine."
"Doesn't matter." She finished drying her face and patted the towel over the back of her neck. "We score them relative to subteams, not individuals."
"We have five Rangers to occupy."
"Is this a pop quiz?" she demanded.
Lothor smiled at her.
"Fine." She put down the towel. "Doesn't Zurgane have a zord to take for a test-drive? Give them that and four soldiers, they'll be too busy swearing their heads off to notice anything."
"And your role in all this?"
"Brush up the blonde act?"
"I'll see you on the bridge in ten."
Lothor left.
Kapri bent over her knees, stretching her legs. She'll take eight minutes to stretch, a minute to wash her face and glamour up, and a minute to get to the bridge. That should do it.
Party time.
She'd had her ice cream; chased Hunter around the beach; ranted everyone's ears off when Shane still hadn't shown up, CyberCam claimed he was fine, and team verdict was to leave Shane be; had the water fight of her life teaming with Blake against Cam and Dustin; and then everyone's morphers went off and her day was officially ruined.
"The bad news or the really bad news?" asked CyberCam, after they all huddled close together to minimize the risk of any of their voices drifting down the beach.
"I hate it when you ask that," said Blake.
"Just get on with it," said Hunter.
"We have four aliens in different locations over the city, Zurgane in a new zord, and Shane just dropped off of the comm."
"You weren't kidding!"
"I'm so gonna kill him later."
"He's turning into you and I'll kill you both."
"Hey, guys, can we have this fight later?"
"CyberCam," snapped Cam. "What have we got on these aliens?"
"Standard run-of-the-mill space ninjas, best I can tell."
"The zord?"
"Well, it's been upgraded since the last time we saw a zord from that crew. A speed mode won't surprise me."
"Like the Winds' Lightning Mode?"
"Pretty much."
"Cam, get your zord and take down that thing. CyberCam, give coordinates to the rest of us. Anyone who finishes get their zord and help Cam, or else Cam will come help the rest of us. Sorry, Tori."
"It's okay," she said, though she wasn't exactly looking it. "I should've known Lothor wouldn't let us party."
Blake squeezed her shoulder. "We'll make it up to you. I promise."
"Can we go kick alien butt now?"
"Wait, so you're saying I can't get comm because…"
"It's a defense thing," explained Skyla. "When a Karmanian becomes corporeal pre-transformation we're pretty vulnerable, and younger species have been trying to capture Karmanian transformations since they realized we exist. The disturbances make us harder to locate. Hey, you should be grateful – if not for this, Vexacus would've located us in seconds. This way, he's stuck on the ground just like we are."
"I still don't like it," Shane told her.
She shrugged.
"So, this transformation thing." He hesitated. "You start in a corporeal body and – then you're a spirit again?"
"If that's how you want to put it." She paused her step and turned around, looking at him. "What's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"You sound disturbed."
"No, it's just… I mean, it's all right for you people, right?"
"What is?"
She hadn't resumed walking, and that meant they were stationary, sitting targets for Vexacus to find. Shane wasn't sure what the transformation would require, but he was pretty sure he didn't want Vexacus anywhere near them when it occurred.
"It's just that it sounds a bit like dying," he said, unenthusiastically.
"It is, a bit," she said. "You have the legends here, too, don't you? Creatures reborn from the fire?"
"You mean phoenixes? Bursting up in flames when they die and then reborn from the ashes?"
"If that's how you tell the stories here. Many planets have these stories, and they're all based in Karmanian coming of age."
"Wait, what? You're going to – "
"I'm not going to die," she interrupted, "and I'm not going to burst up in flames either, though my adult form is going to be pretty bright. I've heard Power Rangers are iffy about anything to do with death, but you're really stressed about it."
"What was that about Rangers and death?"
"You're the first Power Ranger I've actually met, you know," she told him. "It's just stories."
"Tell me anyway."
She shrugged a little. "That Rangers don't acknowledge death; that it has to do with the way the power protects you."
He stared at her, startled.
"What if we run into death anyway?" he asked after a moment.
"What?" It was her turn to look startled. "But – your team – you didn't – "
"Almost," he said quietly.
She reached up, placing her palm against his cheek. Her pupils widened, irises going from pale blue to flame-white in a second. "Oh," she said, and immediately: "I'm sorry."
His throat was tight enough that speaking took a few tries, and was still difficult. "We all came back fine."
"But you walked very far." She removed her hand. "That's never easy."
He shrugged, looked away. "That wasn't the worst of it," he told the trees.
Pause.
"We should probably be moving."
"Yes. Let's go."
Zurgane's new zord did have a Lightning Mode – disturbingly similar to that of the Wind Megazord – and it was keeping Cam busy. They'd managed to take down two aliens, but that didn't mean that Hunter had any free Rangers to send into the zord fight: it just meant that new aliens were teleported down, keeping a steady count of four.
Ten minutes in, the comm cracked to life. "Am I the only one having a flashback here?" yelled Blake.
"So not!" answered Tori.
"What's up?" demanded Hunter, going for the shorter phrasing in favour of sparing some breath.
"It's like the hospital!" said Tori. "We're being distracted."
Instead of swearing, Hunter channeled it into an extra-juicy lightning strike and watched his second alien of the day sizzle into ash. "Shane," he said.
"Sorry, bro," answered Blake.
Alien number three appeared. Hunter holstered his blaster. Might as well take out some frustration while he was at it.
The door closed behind her with a hiss.
"It's time," Kapri said.
Choobo walked to the bars of the cage and looked up at her: "You're going to turn me back now?" he asked hopefully.
She kneeled by the cage. "Not yet," she told him. "But I'm going to let you out."
"But I want to – "
"Listen to me!" she snapped. "And listen well. Lothor is going to recruit another general today. Zurgane doesn't know it yet, but that is what will happen."
"Zurgane's not going to like that."
"That's right," she agreed. "And it means that he'll get sloppy. What you're going to do is follow him. Without his noticing," she added sternly. "You're going to spy on him. You're going to study him. You're going to be smart about it. And when he starts getting really angry and really stupid, you'll get to take him down."
"Ooh! I want to do that!"
"So you'd better do as I say."
"I will, I promise!"
Her hand closed on the cage's lock. "You'd better."
She doubled over without warning. "Uh!"
"Skyla! What – "
"Oh," she breathed, straightening her back. "So that's physical pain."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. It's just the transformation." She inhaled sharply.
Shane's hand hadn't left her shoulder. "And you're going to be in pain through it?"
"It's not that bad," she told him. "I just didn't expect it."
"I don't believe you."
She smiled, raised her hands as if in surrender. "It'll get worse," she admitted.
"How much worse?"
"Never done this before."
"Could've fooled me," he muttered. "All right. I guess no more running around."
"Probably."
They sat down, Skyla leaning against a tree.
"Any idea how long, now?"
She shrugged. "A few minutes?"
"Great."
"Hey, it's all right." Her smile was bright, but her breath was only becoming more uneven. "It'll be over soon, and then Vexacus is going to be sorry he ever came within a hundred lightyears of us."
"You said it's going to be like a power transfer, in a way."
"In a way, yes."
"What does it mean for me?"
"Well…" She took a deep breath and tried again. "That varies. It's just power, you know. What you make of it, that's up to you."
"Great," he muttered. "Hey, whoa!" His hand went automatically to her back as she bent, coughing.
"It's all right," she said, taking deep breaths between words. "It's just going fast. That's good."
"I hate seeing you like this."
She reached out, squeezed his hand. "I know," she said. "But we'll be fine."
"I sure hope so."
"Soulsight," she said suddenly. "It has to do with what Karmanians are, so there's a good chance you'll develop that. Anything else," she coughed again, "That depends. And the red Ranger thing, that makes a difference also."
"Wh – "
A twig broke. They both turned their heads sharply.
"Looks like I made it just in time," growled Vexacus. "Step away now, human."
Shane's hand tightened on Skyla's. "I don't think so."
"Walk away now and I might let you live."
Shane shook his head. "Nope."
"Stupid human."
"Get some new lines."
Moving slowly and deliberately, Vexacus unsheathed a mean-looking knife and stepped forward.
Skyla's jagged breath turned into a moan. Her hand clenched, pressing Shane's painfully. "Don't leave," she hissed. "Whatever happens, don't…" She bit back a cry.
"Yes, that'll make things easier," agreed Vexacus.
"You're the idiot," Shane told him, "Not me." He raised his right arm sharply. "Ninja Storm!"
Vexacus halted. "Nice party trick," he said. "Think it'll stop me?"
"I don't know," gritted out Shane, "But it's sure buying me some time."
Vexacus took a step forward.
Skyla screamed.
Everything drowned in light.
"…completely redo the gravity generators, also. I think we can adapt the inverse conversion formula from the neutron core's matrix."
"Dude, hello, evil zord right there?" CyberCam sounded exasperated. "Why are you dictating me notes?"[cgm1]
"Because," said Cam, slashing yet again at Zurgane's zord, "Now is when I'm thinking about it and I'm perfectly capable of doing two things simultaneously, thank you. Besides," and he ran his zord's sword directly through the other zord's midsection, "I think I just totaled this one."
"Should've aimed for the chest, would've totaled Zurgane."
"That area's better shielded. Which you should know, as…"
"Whoa!"
"Wha – "
"Signal from Shane's morpher – no locale yet – what ever – Zurgane's trashing a greengrocer's."
Cam sighed as he reached for the eject. "Pilot the zord back in, I'll handle that. And talk to Hunter."
"Without details? He'll flay me!"
Cam rolled as he landed. Zurgane was thirty feet down the road. "You can't be flayed," he said shortly.
"Thanks for the concern!"
"CyberCam," he said warningly as he ran.
"Done before you asked." The AI had the guts to sound smug. "Gotcha."
At first he thought the light had passed, and couldn't understand why Vexacus was still frozen in place and covering his eyes. Then he saw the bird of flame, like the largest swan he'd ever seen, hovering in the air right next to him.
He didn't feel her amusement, yet he knew that she was amused.
'Of course there's no heat!' she laughed. The words were there and not there, like the Knowing. 'Flame's corporeal.'
'So what are you?' The words slid quick and easy as they were formed.
'Soulfire,' she said. She'd said much more than that, but most of it wasn't verbal. She must have sensed his discomfort, because she added: 'You won't have such an easy time with corporeals, don't worry.'
She was already yearning for the stars. 'Will I see you around?' he asked.
'What's distance to a soul?' she asked. 'Part of me is within you now. What do you think?'
'I think you think you're funny.'
She sparkled. 'I'll see you around,' she promised. 'Take care, Shane.'
'Take care.'
And she was gone.
Vexacus lowered his arm. "Fool," he hissed. "I'll kill you and rip the power from your soul."
"I don't think so."
"Stupid human."
"What's with the racism?" demanded Shane.
Vexacus charged, knife held low and aimed for the center of Shane's abdomen. Shane attempted to jump out of the way – it was a lousy angle for sidestepping or rolling under – and discovered that that was a lousy idea.: Vexacus with a knife equaled Zurgane with swords – simply too fast and too skilled for Shane to dodge completely. On top of that he'd definitely done his homework and picked that knife with a morphed Ranger in mind: in short, it hurt. It could have been a really rough fight which Shane wouldn't have stood a chance at without backup, except that Skyla was right – whatever he'd absorbed from her interacted with his morpher. He could feel it, like a strange double echo in the power, a slick layer of fire under his skin or a second pulse.
Vexacus backhanded him, sending him flying through the air towards a tree, and Shane had had enough. He twisted, rolled in midair, landed smoothly, rose to his feet and reached in. The second pulse merged seamlessly into his and the fire burst out, power-lava crusting into an armour, like morphing squared.
Vexacus growled.
Shane went into a spinning kick. It connected with Vexacus's shoulder, making him stumble several steps backwards before he caught his balance again. It wasn't just extra protection, realized Shane as he pounded in a series of punches and wrapped it up by slamming Vexacus straight into an old tree. Extra speed and added strength, also, and – he discovered as he evaded another stabbing attempt he couldn't have possibly seen or sensed – far better instincts for when to turn and in which direction.
Vexacus swore and hissed.
Under his helmet, Shane grimly grinned.
"Is it a bird? Is it a plane?"
"Now what?" demanded Cam, who was trying to handle Zurgane and half a troop of kelzacks simultaneously.
"You'll see in a few!" yelled CyberCam, and Cam didn't have time to make another demand before something like a small comet landed high-speed on the pavement.
Wherever Shane had disappeared to, it had apparently been fruitful. The red Ranger had acquired body armour with collapsible plasma jet-driven wings, a shield and a broadsword which Cam most definitely did not remember programming into the Red Wind matrix.
Shane turned towards Zurgane. Zurgane took a step back.
"I had a lousy day," said Shane. "Beat it."
Lothor's general did.
"I've been wondering," asked Lothor, "If you intend to stay in the neighbourhood."
Vexacus's eye flicked down to the bandages around his torso, and he snorted. "Not really."
"You can still get that power," said Lothor, his voice a sweet but light suggestion. "Transforming Karmanians are hard to find. You may not get another chance for a very long time."
"Rangers aren't easy to kill, as I think you found out. And hanging around trying to kill a Ranger is not a paying job."
"It might be," said Lothor mildly, "And I haven't been trying to kill them. Yet. It's their power that I'm interested in – and I don't need to kill them to take it. So if you'll agree to help with that, say, as a general in my army," he tossed Vexacus a datapad, "I wouldn't mind at all if you finished your business with the red Ranger afterwards."
Vexacus caught the datapad and studied the numbers. After a moment, he raised his gaze. "You've gotten yourself a general… Sir."
Apologizing to Tori was bad but not as hellish as could be expected, possibly because Adam had mitigated the birthday girl's anger by sending Marah out to get cake, balloons and party hats while they were fighting. This gave him the guts to try and bail out as soon as debriefing was over. He wasn't too surprised that the entire gang disbanded, that Blake had gone with Tori or that Hunter had stuck with him without so much as saying a word. He also wasn't surprised to find no light under the door when he returned from the shower, even though he'd left Hunter sprawled on the bed with a magazine. Shane turned the knob and stepped in.
The next moment he was pressed against the wall, Hunter's arm a light but very present weight against his throat.
"So which one was it?" whispered Hunter, his breath ghosting warmly against Shane's cheek. "The one in which I rape you, or the one in which you kill me?"
It took long seconds for the syllables to decode into meaning.
Hunter infinitesimally increased the pressure, and Shane pushed him half across the room on instinct.
"That's answer enough," Hunter breathed.
Shane turned his loss of balance into movement, bending over his knees. "Fuck off."
"All the dreams about that day, they only ever had two endings," said Hunter, voice clipped. "And maybe they both suck big time, but I had to know."
"It was neither."
"What?"
"No," snapped Shane, straightening and shaking his head. "Forget it."
"Shane…"
"I said no!"
"Do you know what it was like?" demanded Hunter, "Watching you this past week?"
"Maybe you can't save me, either!"
It felt like the words ripped out his lungs on their way out. He hadn't expected to say that, hadn't realized he had until it was done and the blast of it had pushed him away from the wall and halfway to Hunter. He hadn't expected the bitterness strong enough to make him shake, either, or the sudden feeling of expansion, as if everything had become vast and distant in the space of a single heartbeat.
"Shane?"
He didn't push when Hunter reached, didn't fight it off when Hunter pulled him in. The distance was still there, still real, but the hug felt like a promise he'd been waiting for since the edge of the abyss of death, or perhaps since Adam had explained the situation to them.
"You said," he told the air over Hunter's shoulder, his voice nothing more than a whisper, "'Quit trying to save me.' You kept saying that. And I couldn't get to you – we couldn't get out until I gave and agreed, and…"
Silence lingered.
"What happened?" asked Hunter eventually. "After I threw us off that cliff."
"Toxipod's island," said Shane after a moment.
Hunter tensed. "But you said – "
"It didn't – end like that. Like you said it usually did. It – I pushed you away. That's all."
"That's all?" repeated Hunter skeptically.
Shane remembered that moment. Remembered the despair, the loss that hollowed him inside out and left no reason or will to fight.
"Shane?"
"I just pushed you off, all right? And that's when you said – told me to stop – " Shane couldn't bring himself to say it again.
"But you can't," said Hunter. His voice was as distressed as it was quiet. "That's not fair. It's who you are."
He meant it as a snort, but it came out as something between a humorless laugh and a sob. "That's how it was."
Hunter's hands moved from his back to his arms and back again. Shane tensed up, in the first fraction of a second, but then relaxed into the slow caress. When his breath evened out Hunter dared a little more, reaching up for his face and down to the side of his body.
"All this week," Hunter whispered, breath warm and damp against Shane's skin, "You were – you barely even made eye contact, man, and I was so afraid that in there I'd – " His voice broke, a shudder running through him. He breathed slowly and continued. "I always – the ending where I – die – I always thought it was less bad."
Shane swallowed. Lowered his head. "If it was going to end badly," he said, "I wasn't going to – "
Hunter kissed him quickly, just a touch of lips on lips, just enough to make him shut up. "Don't," he breathed, "Don't say it." He had both his hands on Shane's face, and maybe that was enough to stop Shane from saying what he almost started to.
It was an odd feeling: Shane just standing there, passive. He practically radiated yearning but he hadn't moved; had left it to Hunter, and the trust felt not unlike holding someone's life in his hands. It was oddly familiar, in a reversed sort of way, and when Hunter realized that things started to make more sense.
"You got it right," he said. "It doesn't work that way."
"What doesn't?"
He shifted his hands to Shane's waist, arranged them so they could have eye contact, standing as close as they were. "All this week," he said quietly, "I kept reaching for you but I couldn't get through, because you didn't let me. And I did that to you, for months, not letting you in. I think maybe no one can ever save anyone else, because it just doesn't work that way. Can't save someone if they don't want you to, or if they don't want it for themselves. But we can do something," and he had to reach for Shane's shoulder and grab, because Shane was moving away at his words. "Fact is, we did get through, eventually. It's just… maybe it's more like helping someone save themselves than saving them."
Shane shook his head. "That went way over my head," he said, but he stepped back into Hunter. "Try running it by me again next morning. But if you're saying that we had some kind of really big misunderstanding, then I get you."
"Colossal misunderstanding," Hunter told him. "Yeah."
He kissed Shane again, properly this time, slow and careful, and Shane was still letting him run things. It scared him: because he wasn't sure what he was doing, because of the trust it implied, because memories of nightmares still hung in the room.
"Just don't stop," murmured Shane. "Please."
"I'm afraid…"
"Just don't stop," repeated Shane, and he was maneuvering them towards the bed now. "I couldn't be sure, even when you were breathing – just keep talking, man, keep moving, so I know you're here."
Hunter only had a faint idea what Shane was going on about, but he got what he was asking and had enough presence of mind to pull the blanket over them.
He wanted to say, Don't let me hurt you, but Shane had already answered that: by whatever third ending he'd found for that nightmare, by saying, So I know you're here. Maybe that was the best promise Hunter had to offer: finding Shane's pulse with his mouth, letting his hands under the shirt of Shane's pajamas, fitting into him as Shane stretched.
Shane's breath caught. "Missed you."
"Don't push me away next time."
"Who was pushing whom?"
Okay, Shane had a point there. But. "I think you're talking too much."
"You gonna do something about it?"
Hunter hadn't expected the strength of his own reaction. "Stop scaring me."
And maybe Shane got it, because he didn't protest when Hunter stopped and his voice carried no disappointment or anger. "This scares you?"
Hunter didn't have the words to explain, so he just shook his head.
Shane got it anyway. "It's part of the fun," he murmured, fingers stroking Hunter's cheek and then working their way down. "Knowing that you can do it. Knowing what you can do."
"Didn't scare you?" Hunter murmured back.
Shane huffed. "Was more scared of you wanting to get hurt."
I didn't, Hunter wanted to say, but he was pretty sure Shane wouldn't believe him and he wasn't entirely sure Shane would be wrong. So instead, he took a deep breath, put his mouth right against the base of Shane's throat and whispered: "Okay."