Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the Power Rangers TV show; the concept and everything belongs to Saban.
Writer's note: I took some liberties with the story line of Power Rangers, although I did try to stick with it as much as possible. I also don't know much about magic or Wicca, so I'm pretty much treading in dark waters there. If something's wrong, I apologize for that, and please realize that I'm trying to do the best I can with the little that I know. Margery and Tabitha are the brain child of myself and a friend in Texas (I have moved WAY too much for one person!). Please don't take them.
Dream Theater, Learning to Live
She retreated to a cabin just after Christmas, and ended up staying there three weeks after school started. Her father seemed to understand. He called her in sick and picked up her homework. She began to realize what it was the Lady wanted of her. She spent one day in meditation, one day recovering, and one day doing schoolwork, trying to keep up as she learned about what it was she had to do. Not a lot of it made sense, but she also began to understand her mother a little, and her father began to understand, too, she felt, as he watched her go through what could best be explained as an intensive training period. And then, one day, as much a surprise to him as to her, it was over. She knew it was time, at least for now, to finish school.
She was glad when she got home, ready to turn in all her assignments and find her friends. She thought she saw Adam almost as soon as she got to school, but she hadn't gotten used to him in baggy clothes or in green, and whoever it was had wavy hair longer than Adam wore his. So she ignored him until she heard the familiar six-toned beep, and he turned to check out the hall. Yes, Adam, looking very different with long hair. She raised an eyebrow at him when he caught her eye, and he smiled brightly. Then he looked down cast as his communicator beeped again. Was he smiling because of her? she wondered.
"I'll be right here," she mouthed, and leaned casually against her locker. He nodded and ran out. Still nothing on the power thing, she thought, pretty certain he'd already teleported out of the area. She shrugged, trying not to let it bother her as it had before the break, then began digging in her locker for a novel she'd wanted to finish and had accidently left at the school over Christmas.
She'd just found the book when someone grabbed her in a hug from behind and spun her around to face the others. From the feel of the power, it was Rocky, and her inventory of her friends confirmed the suspicion. There was one more, a stocky, well built boy in black and gold, and one less. "Are you feeling okay?" Kat asked, reaching out to hug her.
"Much better, thank you. I don't even know what it was. Luckily, they'll work with you here, or I might have had to stay for summer school." She glanced shyly at Adam, who stood between Tommy and Tanya. He was smiling more than she'd ever seen him, and her heart leaped. Could it be because of her? "Where's Billy?"
Tanya laughed, and gave her a hug. "You and your questions. Let's meet after school - this is something we can't exactly discuss here."
Maggie chuckled. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me."
They met after school, and that boy in black looked at her, a little wary. "Hi," she grinned. "I'm Maggie."
"Jason." He extended his hand; she shook it, then snatched her hand away and Looked at him. His aura had a touch of red in it, but the gold that was prominent flared and jumped around so much, she wondered that he could stand it. Other than that, he looked healthy enough. Although, with his aura that erratic, he wouldn't be for long.
"Let's go to the park," Tommy suggested, and they all headed in that direction.
"Bro, what are you going to tell her?" she heard Jason ask. Tommy laughed.
"Don't worry."
When they reached the park, and her clearing, they sat down in circle. "So, where's Billy?" Maggie asked. She was beginning to feel like a broken record player.
Tommy, grinning wildly, hooked a thumb at Jason. "What does he Look like?" he asked.
Maggie grinned. "A little bit red - Rocky got his power from you originally? - with lots of gold, but it's really jumpy, like...."
"How did you know that?" Jason demanded, interrupting her. Rocky grinned and nodded when she looked his way.
"I'm Wiccan. I read Auras."
"We looked just like that," Kat told him, and Rocky hit him in the shoulder.
"At least you got some sort of a warning," he said.
"So, are you going to tell me where Billy went?" Maggie asked, looking expectantly at Tommy.
The explanation, that Billy had been suffering side effects from the time distortion, surprised her. "He's where?" she asked in a whispered yell, which caused Rocky and Kat to break into giggles. Jason was still stunned, staring at her.
"Aquitar. That's what you missed during that time distortion, when you were down with the migraines. A whole different set of rangers, us as kids, and other fantastical monsters. Pretty weird," Tommy grinned.
"Like a whole 'nother planet?"
"Yes," Tanya grinned. "A whole different planet."
"Not fair! Can he get visitors?" She grinned and shook her head. "Man. Amazing. Trust me, I would rather have not had the migraines. They are not fun." She sighed. "So, what other changes are there?"
"None, really," Kat said with a smile that indicated otherwise.
"Well, that's good." Maggie leaned back on her hands. They separated a while after that, and Maggie was surprised to see that Adam and Tanya didn't go off together. Kat, after a short walk and talk with Tommy and Jason, returned to where she sat and smiled as she joined her on the ground.
"I thought you'd want to know. Tanya said something to Adam, I think. She's not interested in him any more."
"I wondered. Is he okay with it?"
"He seems to be." Kat shrugged, and leaned closer, even though they were alone. "I don't really understand humans much. It's so much easier for me." She leaned back, basking in the sunlight. "He worried about you a lot. Are you okay?"
Maggie sighed. "I wasn't really sick. I had to... find some things out, sort some things out. I guess I had to find out what I was getting myself into. Or rather, the Lady decided it was time I had more of a clue as to what I was getting myself into. I didn't mean to deceive you all." She shook her head. "It's really confusing, and I'm still going to be sorting it out in my head for a while."
"That bad, eh?"
"Oh, yeah. Remember that... spell I had just after I'd told you guys I knew who you were?" Kat nodded. "It has to do with that. And now that I know that, there's this urgency to get out.... I know She'll wait until I've graduated, but I don't know if I'll even be here for graduation. I'll have to see." She shrugged. And just after I get the good news.... It was almost enough to make her want to cry.
"What will you do then?"
"I don't know." Maggie laughed. "Not only are humans completely off their rockers, but Wicca are even worse." And I'm one of the really weird ones, she thought to herself.
"So, what are you going to do about Adam?"
"I don't know. I don't know if I should do anything about him. I mean, he has his own destiny; I can't really expect him to wait for mine to finish with me."
Kat tilted her head, cat-like. "He couldn't go with you?"
Maggie smiled. "We're talking werewolves just about eating my face off. I can risk me, but not him. Besides, he has responsibilities here."
"Werewolves?" Kat's eyes widened. "You're kidding."
"Nope. That's the impression I got, anyway. It might have been a real wolf, but I don't think so." She grinned. "There's a vampire, too, and a few other things I don't really want to recognize. It wasn't pretty."
"You were pale. I imagine it wasn't." She smiled.
Maggie laughed suddenly. "Wait a minute. You're a were-cat, and you doubt the existence of werewolves?"
"No, I don't doubt them, I just... didn't think they really did exist."
"That's the same thing, Kat," Maggie grinned.
She shrugged, then nudged Maggie. "So?" she asked, bringing the conversation back to Adam.
Maggie sighed. "Like I said, he has responsibilities here. Besides, I can't ask him to abandon you guys - I can't imagine it's easy to find a replacement."
"I don't know," Kat mused. "I haven't had to, yet." She looked at Maggie, eyes sparkling. "Do you like pink?"
Maggie's eyes widened. "No, no, you look smashing in it, and my plate is so full already, but thank you." She stumbled over the words. The thought of doing what they did made her stomach twist painfully.
Kat laughed, and Maggie could only imagine what her face looked like. "That wasn't nice," she said, relaxing after a minute.
"No, but I had fun." Kat chuckled, then turned semi-serious. "So, about Adam...."
"What about Adam?" he asked, and both girls jumped.
Maggie looked up at him, squinting in the bright sunlight, and wondered how he'd managed to sneak up on both of them. "Kat tells me you and Tanya are.... apart."
His face fell slightly, and he nodded. "Well, if we were ever together, we aren't now." He shrugged. "Mind if I join you?"
Kat grinned. "I have to go. I promised Tommy I'd meet him at the juice bar, where he's likely trying to beat Jason to a pulp. Talk to you later?"
"Definitely," Maggie told her, and the leggy blonde stood and jogged off across the park. Adam plopped down in her place. The whole group seemed to conspire to leave her alone with him.
Maybe it was just her imagination.
"What were you talking about?"
Maggie grinned. "You and Tanya. And what I'm going to do after Graduation." Or before, she added mentally.
"So, what are you going to do?"
"I have no idea. Buy a car, for sure." She leaned back, basking in the sun much the way Kat had just minutes before. "What about you?"
"I'm looking around for something to do. I don't know what, yet, but I'll find something."
"I can't wait to hear about it," she murmured.
"Why? You leaving?" Maggie couldn't identify the tone in his voice.
"I don't know. Maybe." She looked at him, then sighed. She couldn't lie to him, to any of them, really, but definitely not to him. She couldn't have said why. "Yes. I don't know where I'm going, or how long I'll be gone, or even how soon. I don't think I'll be walking with you guys."
"At graduation?" He sounded disappointed. She shook her head. "Why?"
"She's getting impatient. She needs help, now, and I'm the one She wants."
He nodded. "This has something to do with that day in the juice center, right? Just after you told us you knew who we were." She nodded. "What did you see?"
"A lot of really scary stuff." She shook her head. "Nothing I want to think about now. I'm going to have to soon enough." And I don't want to risk the chance you'll want to come with me. He didn't respond to that, either her words or her thoughts, and they sat in a companionable silence, basking in the sunlight.
Strangely enough, she never saw evidence that Tanya had broken up with Adam. They seemed to be together every time she saw them. Adam looked happy enough, which made Maggie happy for him. It also made her avoid them a lot more, because more often than not she had the impression that he wasn't happy at all.
Jason was a riot, once he got used to the fact that she knew they were Rangers, and even commented once it was nice not to have to make up an excuse to take off. More than once she'd distracted his girlfriend, Emily, while he and the others had to take off and fight. It still bothered her that she couldn't track them, she'd gotten used to being able to do that, but she managed to get over it. And having someone else around who was newer than she was a nice extra.
It wasn't long after her return when Jason got sick. Emily seemed to take it hardest. Maggie wasn't there when he staggered into the Youth Center and collapsed, but it didn't surprise her at all. She'd seen it coming. Although she never got an explanation of where those Gold powers had come from; they didn't taste quite the same as her other friends. Then he lost them, and went back to being normal, or at least as normal as the former Power Rangers ever seemed to get: Maggie never knew what he Looked like after that. He just wasn't around much.
Graduation loomed ever closer, and Maggie began to feel the urgency to get ready to leave. She found a good car, a used green Jeep Grand Cherokee with a black interior that was in excellent condition, and began to plan what had to go with her. Every time Kat saw the Cherokee she'd burst into hysterics. Maggie understood why, but didn't comment; she did, however, blush every time Kat started laughing, and pretty soon she had Rocky grinning at her knowingly every time she drove the thing. Adam never said a word, maybe because he was rarely around, but he couldn't have missed it. Tanya simply scowled whenever the topic came up, but eventually she, too, saw the humor in the situation. It was enough to drive Maggie batty. At the same time, she was grateful for such good friends.
She found that she had some free time, and she spent a lot of it studying up on supernatural occurrences and other weird stuff, anything she could get her hands on; her friends were involved in the Little Angels Haven shelter/orphanage, and raising money for it. The guys were involved in a tournament, and the girls were there to mentor the children. Then two things happened at the same time. The urgency to leave became overwhelming, and she couldn't find her friends.
Metallica, Carpe Diem Baby
The first thing she did was call Kat, and she was told that she had gone camping with friends. Camping? She hadn't heard anything about a camping trip; she was usually invited along. She called Tanya, Adam, and Tommy with the same response. When she called Rocky, however, she was told he'd had an accident and was in the hospital. She got the particulars on which hospital, and as soon as she hung up, got in her Cherokee and went over.
He looked absolutely pathetic in the neck brace, and she almost started to cry. But he opened his eyes and smiled at her. "Hey. How are you?" he asked softly.
"Never mind me. How are you?" she asked, batting absently at the balloon ribbons that hung down in her face.
"I'm fine. Or, I will be in a few weeks. The doctor said it wasn't too bad, considering." He explained what had happened.
"Great, Rocky." She sat down in the chair next to the bed and touched his arm. "So, they all went camping without you?" Then she realized what she was Seeing. A perfectly normal Aura, if slightly red tinted and tinged with blue, almost the same as Billy's when Tanya had come from Africa. "Um. Rock."
"You're confused, aren't you."
"Yeah." She crinkled her eyebrows together. "How did you know?"
"That's the only time you call me Rock. Every other time it's either Rocky or Rocko." He grinned, then winced as he tried to shrug. "And they didn't go camping. Well, maybe they are camping," he corrected himself. "They went to rescue a magician from another planet, and to keep someone from taking over the earth." He laughed lightly. "The story of our lives."
"So it seems." She leaned back. "Who inherited your powers?"
"A boy from the shelter, named Justin. He'll do fine. It'll be a little weird for the others to adjust to, but they'll do it." He chuckled, wincing as it jarred him. "I guess they really didn't have time to call you; they took off from here yesterday, and there isn't a phone up there. And, for all I know, they didn't have time. We usually don't." He grimaced, as if realizing the 'we' did not include him anymore.
"Wow. You guys get a lot of excitement, I guess."
"Yeah. Comes with the power."
Maggie sighed in the comfortable silence that fell; Rocky was one of the ones she'd always been able to talk to. "I'm not going to be in graduation," she finally said.
"You're not?" His eyes flickered up to meet hers.
"No. I have to go. And if it weren't for the fact that most of my friends are missing and I really want to say good bye to them, I'd already be gone. She wanted me to go this morning."
"You won't be able to stay for the competition?"
"No, no, that's in a week. She'll have me chewing nails." She shrugged. "I hope she lets me stay until they get back."
"Yeah." He eyed her for a minute. "Will you come back to Angel Grove?"
"Definitely." It came out too fast, she could tell by the look in his eyes.
"Why?"
"Unfinished business." She could feel her face flushing.
"Which is?"
"Adam." She sighed, and covered her flaming cheeks with her hands. He'd probably already known that; Rocky was more observant than a lot of people gave him credit for. She figured that out after his first knowing smile and wink. "We never really had a chance to find out if we could be anything. I don't know if he wants to; I guess I'll find out when I get back. I don't want him to wait, though." And there's the whole Tanya issue....
Rocky looked up at the ceiling. "He wants to know, too. He's just had this feeling that he.... that he had to wait." His hand tapped the bed. "He goes by these feelings, too. It's wild. I can't do that."
She nodded. "It takes practice, believe me." She tilted her head to the side. "If you'd like, I can try a healing spell on you. Would you mind?"
He looked at her, considering, then sighed. "If you believe it would help, sure. Just," he grinned suddenly, "don't tell my mom. She'd flip."
"All right." She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "I have to go; I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to take with me."
"Be safe, okay?" he said as she stood up to leave. The image of the werewolf's jaws sprang to mind and she shoved it away.
"I will. You be careful." She smiled, waved, and left the room.
Once the spell was done the next day, the urgency slammed into her, hard. She got the impression that the Lady had been distracted, and that distraction was finished, now. She called Rocky, who had been released not long after she'd left the day before, and asked if they'd returned yet.
"No, I haven't heard anything," he said. "What's up?"
"I have to leave in the morning. I don't know if I passed, but She wants me to go. If Adam gets in touch with you, please have him call me, I don't care what time it is. I left a message at his house, but I don't know if he'll get it...." She couldn't believe how close to tears she was.
"Maggie, calm down." He seemed to be thinking. "Write him a letter, and if he hasn't called, leave it on my porch on your way out. I'll make sure he gets it and reads it, okay?" There was a pause. "Are you packed?"
"Yeah, mostly." She was amazed that her voice wasn't shaking.
"Good. My family's out, there's a horror movie on TV. You know, the kind you laugh at. In fact," he added with a laugh, "its Bride of Hackensack. Come over here, I'll leave a message at Adam's to call here if he gets home, and relax a little. Okay?"
Maggie paused, looking at her stuff in boxes, then nodded. "All right. I'll be there in half an hour."
"Make it 20 minutes, or you'll miss the beginning of the movie."
"Got it."
The two of them were in stitches over the special effects and the memory of Adam's nightmare the one time he'd spent the night at the school. Rocky pointed out every instance one of the group had taken the place of a character in the movie, with his matter of fact "oh, and that was me. Don't you think Billy would have been better as a werewolf?" or "That turned out to be Zordon, then Mondo, and then he really freaked out". She couldn't stop laughing, and she wasn't quite sure if she was laughing at him or the movie. It was almost over when they heard footsteps pounding on the porch, and an urgent knocking. "Hm," Rocky said, and got up to answer it. Maggie heard a low conversation, then Rocky returned with Adam, who sank down next to her, out of breath.
"Sorry. They scrambled Bulk and Skull's brains, and we had to put them back together.... They were weirder than usual. Skull thought he was Antonio Banderas."
"That's something," Maggie said, and took a deep breath. She got a nose full of one of the most horrid stenches she'd ever come across. "What is that?" She wrinkled her nose. Adam looked at her in confusion. "You... where were you?"
He looked down at his jacket. "Oh." He shrugged out of it, throwing it unceremoniously across the room. "I... got slimed. It was not a pretty thing."
"Slimed?"
"Never mind." He smiled, then the smile fell. "You're leaving," he said before she could bring it up, and she nodded.
"Tomorrow morning. I have your address, and I promise I'll write."
"So will I." He took a deep breath. "I'll miss you."
She blushed. "I'll miss you, too. I'll be back, but don't hold your breath, Adam. I don't know when." I don't even know if, she thought to herself, but didn't voice the thought aloud. The only thing that would keep her from coming back was death. She hesitated, then leaned forward and hugged him for the first time, holding him close to her to feel the power in him, and to catch his scent one last time. "I'd better go," she said suddenly, pulling away from him. She could feel tears gathering in her eyes, and didn't want to cry in front of him. "I think it's going to be a long drive tomorrow, and I want to call everyone else."
His eyes were startled when she met them next, and he nodded. "Be safe, okay?"
"You're the one with someone hunting you," she said with a smile. "You be careful." She stood and looked around, suddenly anxious to be gone before she embarrassed both of them. "Where did Rocky go?"
Adam glanced around, too. "I don't know." He stood and followed her to the door, where Rocky stood in the entry way, peering out at the street. "Rocky," Adam said.
He turned, surprised, wincing slightly as he did so. "Oh. Hi. Just a minute." The doorbell rang and he pulled the door open to reveal Tommy, Kat, and Tanya all crowded in the doorway. "I called them all, when Adam showed up," Rocky said, and Maggie was surrounded by her friends, smothered in hugs. It was getting harder to keep the tears hidden, but she somehow made it, begging off with the truth that they - and their power, which had changed again, she noticed distantly - were starting to overwhelm her and her shields. She escaped finally and drove home slowly, afraid that she would crash because she couldn't see through her tears.
The next morning dawned bright and clear, and she was on her way out the door, leaving her father with a kiss, when Adam arrived on his bike, out of breath, screeching to a halt in front of her car. "I was hoping I'd catch you," he said, leaning the bike against her jeep and walking over to her. "I wanted to give you something." He grinned. "I figured it had to be small, portable, and you said once you liked this." He handed her something, and she hesitantly took it, opening her hand to find one of his necklaces in it. It was her favorite, a black and green yin yang design, a perfect symbol of him, of the power he held. "Please, take it to remember me by."
As if I could forget you, she thought as she reached out to hug him again. "Thank you. You take care of yourself, okay?"
"I promise. You be careful, and don't tell me I'm the one who's got someone hunting me," he added as she opened her mouth. She laughed.
"Okay, I won't. I'll write and tell you where I am. I'll see you later?"
"You'd better," he smiled, and opened the door to her jeep. "Thanks for keeping our secret."
"Thanks for letting me in on it," she smiled. She got in and he closed the door, then moved his bike so she could drive out. She waved one last time, at both her dad and Adam, then pulled out of the driveway. She at least got off her street and out of his sight before she started to cry in earnest. Her tears lasted until she was well out of Angel Grove.