Disclaimer: "Power Rangers" and "Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog" belong to Saban, "Sailor Moon" (the original Japanese version) belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and Toei Company, "The Lion King" belongs to Disney, and "Braveheart" belongs to Paramount Pictures. The songs "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion, "The Memory of Trees" by Enya, "The Old Ways," "Samain Night," and "All Souls' Night" by Loreena McKennitt, and "The Wind" and "Hero" by Mariah Carey all don't belong to me either, nor does the song "My Only Love," which comes from the North American dub of "Sailor Moon." Oh yeah, and I don't own the character of Rowen either (although sometimes I wish I did ^_~); he comes from "Ronin Warriors," which belongs to Sunrise Animation. The Purple Phoenix Ranger, the Black Dragon Ranger, Prince Adrian, Princess Aurora, and all things related to them are mine, however, and only with my permission will I let you use them. Whew, that's a lot of stuff, isn't it?
Author's Note: This fic is my baby, the one I've put the most time and effort into so far. ^_^ The concepts of reincarnation (this especially) and telepathy have always intrigued me in many different ways, so I just had to include them as part of this series. A lot of the other elements included here had also been floating around in my head for about three years when it came to creating Power Rangers stories before I finally came up with this very long, complex, and probably somewhat confusing story. If you want to read all of this story in one sitting, I suggest you get comfortable, because this is the equivalent of close to 50 pages in Word Document format. I've tried to make it as easy to understand as I can with something this long, but if you still need some help understanding it, just drop me an e-mail and we can talk. This fic is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for a couple graphic and bloody scenes of death and violence (and one scene of suicide) and that's about it. If you're extremely emotional (like me), some tissues may be needed for a couple scenes (you'll know them when you get there, trust me). Many, many, many things were added and/or rewritten in this version, so if you've read this before, you'll probably be able to tell what's new and will be in for some interesting new surprises.
A Rhyme and Reason Book V: "Spirits of the Past"
By Khandreia
(Timeframe: Somewhere between "The Whole Lie" and "Glyph Hanger")
Part One: Revelations
Adam wandered down a wooded path in the middle of nowhere. It was daytime, but one would have barely been able to tell by the way a thick fog hung over the forest. "Where am I?" the Ranger wondered out loud. "And what am I doing here?"
A short while later, a crossroads appeared in front of him even though he had only traveled a few yards. "That wasn't here before," Adam said to himself. "What's going on?" He looked down each path, curious as to their directions, but he couldn't see where they led through the fog. Suddenly, a fiercely cold wind blew and the skies began to darken slightly. Then Adam heard faint footsteps and a voice calling out to him. It sounded like it may have been calling out a name, but something about it seemed unfamiliar yet still familiar at the same time. And the voice didn't sound like any of his friends or his enemies; it was instead more like his own.
The footsteps grew closer. Adam turned around and saw a faint figure walking towards him. He put up his hands in self-defense and fell into a fighting stance, but once he could see the figure clearly, Adam dropped them back down to his side, stunned by what he was seeing. In front of him stood that same figure he always saw when he was the White Ranger, dressed like some type of ancient or medieval warrior and a large sword strapped to his back, and the same way he looked in all of Adam's visions. "Oh my god," Adam finally said, frightened and confused, "it's you again! Just . . . who are you anyway?"
The almost mirror image stared right at him with a slightly distraught expression, but his voice, which really did sound exactly like Adam's, remained calm. "Adrian, don't you remember anything about yourself?"
Adam looked at the young man strangely. "What? You must've mistaken me for someone else. I don't know anyone named Adrian. Who is he?"
"I'm Adrian," the young man replied, totally catching Adam off guard, "and so are you."
Adam just stood there in front of his counterpart, unable to fathom anything that was going on. "But . . . but that's impossible! How could you and I be the same person?"
"It's possible," Adrian said. "I'm only an image of your former self, and that's why you had always seen me when taking on the White Ranger powers. Thousands of years ago, on the distant planet of Khalterria, I—you were a great warrior prince who was defeated in battle alongside your true love, but the only way for either of you to survive was for the two of you to be reborn here in the present without any recollection of your past until now. As I said to you once before, I am your past, your present, and your future, Adrian."
Adam still didn't understand what he was being told. "That's a lie!" he fired back as he resumed his fighting stance. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about! If you say that we're supposed to be the same person, then how come I can't remember any of this?" Adrian looked at him but gave him no answer. Then all of a sudden, something occurred to Adam. Could he really be telling the truth though? he thought. The name Adrian does seem familiar now, and I could swear that I've heard of this Khalterria before, but none of this makes any kind of sense! Am I really who he tells me I am? Could this also possibly be the reason my appearance almost seemed right whenever I became the White Ranger? And this true love, how could I possibly have loved anyone else more than I love Andréa now?
A hand grabbed Adam by the shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts. He whirled around to find three more images of himself, but dressed as the Black Ranger, Zeo Ranger IV, and the Green Turbo Ranger—the three Power Ranger uniforms he had worn consistently. Now he knew something strange had to be going on. "What is this, some kind of a trick?" he demanded.
"Adam, you can't do this," the Black Ranger said, avoiding the question altogether.
"You have to stay and protect the earth," added Zeo Ranger IV. "It's where you belong."
"No!" Adrian shouted, drawing his sword and pointing it at the costumed Rangers. "You have to reclaim your past for the good of your homeland!"
Adam slowly turned back towards him and noticed how the scene had become even stranger. Adrian wasn't in the same outfit as before, but in a Black Ranger's costume that bore a striking resemblance to Andréa's Purple Ranger costume but with a golden dragon's head on the helmet instead of a phoenix. The Ranger removed his helmet, his appearance still the same as before. Then Adam also noticed that on the Ranger's belt was a black crystal that looked just like Andréa's purple crystal. "I suppose that's also part of my past," he said without emotion. Adrian nodded once.
The Green Turbo Ranger grabbed hold of Adam. "You can't listen to him," he said right in his civilian self's face. "You belong here in the present. You always said that whatever happened in the past doesn't matter anymore!"
"Let go of him!" Adrian commanded, pointing his sword at the costumed Rangers again. The Turbo Ranger let Adam go as the three Rangers proceeded to step back.
When that happened, a shrill whinny stopped everyone cold. A figure on a white horse soon appeared out of the fog, and Adam then realized who it was. It was him as the White Ranger, helmetless and staring down at him in the same way Andréa often described him as doing so in her dreams. Adrian and the horseman stared each other for quite some time, Adam finally seeing the resemblance. Finally, things are starting to make some kind of sense! Adam thought. He stared up at his White Ranger counterpart. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I don't have the White Ranger powers anymore! What's going on?"
"You don't have the Black Ranger's powers anymore or the protection of the Zeo Crystal either," the White Ranger said as his horse pranced around, "but what's more important now, Adam, is that you listen to me. It is not the path you are forced to choose, but the path already chosen for you. Take whichever one you believe is right."
Adam didn't get it. "What? The path already chosen for me? How am I supposed to know what that is when none of this makes any sense?"
"You'll know the answer in time. Trust me." That was all the White Ranger would tell him before he turned his horse and cantered back down the path from which he came, disappearing back into the fog.
"Wait!" Adam called out after him. "What does that all mean?" As he turned back, he found everyone else staring at him silently. They all seemed to know the meaning of the White Ranger's statement when he didn't. But the thing was that Adam didn't know he knew it deep within. He was too torn between his supposed distant past, his more recent past, and his present to figure it out for himself. Who was he to believe? Would reclaiming his past ultimately alter his future as a Ranger? And there was also that phrase Adrian had told him earlier: I am your past, your present, and your future. He thought about it all for a moment. "If I were to choose my past, then what would happen to my friends?" Adam asked the group. "And Andréa? Would I be leaving them all behind?"
"You wouldn't be leaving me behind, Adrian," a very familiar voice said. Adam looked up and saw a thinner, more feminine figure coming out of the fog towards him. She stopped next to Adrian and Adam finally recognized her as looking and sounding like Andréa, but he didn't know whether to believe it was really Andréa to begin with. It looked so much like her, but like Adrian, her long hair was also white and her eyes were much bluer than what he remembered them to be. And she too was dressed like a medieval-style warrior, a saber that bore a striking resemblance to Andréa's Purple Phoenix Saber hanging at her side. "I'm also from Khalterria . . . your true love, the one who was at your side when we were defeated."
"No," Adam said softly, still torn between his past and present, "Andréa, not you too. Is all of this really true?"
"My name is Aurora," she corrected him, "and yes, it's all true. Adrian, you must remember your past. It's the path that has been chosen for you." The real Adrian, still in his Ranger costume, nodded in agreement.
Now this was making even less sense to Adam. First he was told that he was supposed to be from another time and place, but now Andréa too? But if this really was the path that was already chosen for him like she said, then there really weren't any other choices to make. And something about the name Aurora suddenly seemed familiar to him as well once he finally made up his mind. "I've made a decision," Adam finally said, beginning to walk towards Adrian. "I'm gonna go through with this. I have to know the truth."
Zeo Ranger IV stopped him by saying, "Adam, you do know that doing this may endanger yourself as well as the rest of the Rangers, don't you?"
"It's a chance I'm willing to take," Adam replied, never looking back at his three Ranger counterparts. "There's a path that's been chosen for me, and I'm choosing the one I believe is right." He reached out for Adrian's hand, the complete opposite of what happened whenever he saw him when he became the White Ranger.
"You've made the right choice, my friend," was the last thing Adrian said as he took the hand of his modern counterpart.
Before Adam knew it, the other was gone, and so were the three Rangers. He looked around and then down at himself; he was now just like Adrian in appearance as he now wore the new Black Ranger costume, his hair white again and his eyes blue once more. He then looked over at Aurora, who now wore the Purple Ranger's costume, the same Purple Ranger Adam had already known for so long. The Purple Ranger is a part of all this too? he thought, slightly caught off guard to see that costume on her. Then he suddenly noticed that the fog he had been lost in before had disappeared, and the skies were clear. The crossroads was gone too, leaving behind only a single straight path. At the very end of the path, in the distance, was an enormous and beautiful castle. "What . . . what just happened?" Adam finally asked, still not completely understanding everything.
Welcome back, Adrian my love, Aurora said softly without speaking, placing her hand on his arm as she gave him a sincere look. It's time to follow the path home.
Adam looked at her and was finally able to comprehend everything; he was indeed Adrian. Yes Aurora, he replied in kind, gently caressing her cheek, it is time.
Andréa wandered down a wooded path in the middle of nowhere, a thick fog hanging over the forest. "Where am I?" she wondered out loud worriedly. "Why am I here?"
Just then, she came to a crossroads despite the fact that she had only walked a few yards. "How could that have just appeared from nowhere?" Andréa asked herself. By this time she had become more frantic. "Adam, what's going on?" she finally called out desperately. "Where are you?"
There was no answer. Trying to find a way home, Andréa peered down each path, curious as to where they led. But suddenly, a bitter cold wind blew and the skies began to darken. Then she heard faint footsteps and an eerily familiar voice calling out something, a voice that seemed to sound like her own.
The footsteps gradually grew closer. Andréa turned and saw a faint figure approaching her. She assumed a fighting stance, her hands in front of her in self-defense, but when she saw the figure clearly, she dropped them back to her side, totally stunned by what she saw before her. It was a young woman who looked almost identical to her but was instead dressed as some sort of ancient or medieval warrior, a saber that bore a striking resemblance to Andréa's Purple Phoenix Saber hanging at her side. However, what completely shocked Andréa was that this woman had long, silvery white hair and deep blue eyes—two of the same features Adam had not that long before as the White Ranger. "Who . . . who are you?" Andréa finally asked, completely confused.
Her almost mirror image looked at her with an equally confused expression despite her voice, which really did sound like Andréa's, sounding rather calm. "Aurora, don't you remember anything about yourself?"
Andréa looked at the young woman strangely. "What the . . .? Wait a minute, but you must've mistaken me for someone else. I don't know anyone named Aurora, nor do I know you, so why are you asking me this?"
"Because I'm Aurora," the young woman replied, completely catching Andréa off guard, "and so are you."
Andréa could do nothing but just stand there without any ability to fathom what was going on. "But that's impossible! How could you and I be the same person when I've never seen you before in my life?"
"It is possible, Aurora. I'm only an image of your former self. Several millennia ago, on the distant planet of Khalterria, I—you were a great warrior princess who was defeated in battle alongside your true love, but the only way either of you were to survive was for the two of you to be reborn during the present time without any knowledge of your past until now. I am your past, your present, and your future, princess."
Andréa still didn't get it. "Nice try, but I still don't know what you're talking about!" she shouted angrily, resuming her fighting stance. "If you say we're the same person, then how come I can't remember any of this yet?" Aurora looked at her but gave her no answer. Then it suddenly hit Andréa. Maybe she is telling the truth after all, she thought. Something about the name Aurora does seem vaguely familiar now, and I could swear I've heard of this Khalterria somewhere before, but none of this still makes any sense! Could I really be who she tells me I am? And this true love, there's no way I could've ever loved anyone else more than I do Adam, unless . . .
A hand suddenly grabbed Andréa by the shoulder, completely breaking her train of thought. She spun around and nearly freaked. There were three different Rangers that were totally unfamiliar to her yet were all Purple Rangers. The first one had some kind of dinosaur-like design on the helmet and wore a uniform resembling that of the original Rangers, the second Purple Ranger looked like a female version of Zeo Ranger IV, and the third one wore a purple version of the standard Turbo Ranger costume. Now things were getting really strange. "What is this?" Andréa demanded. "And who are you?"
"Andréa, you can't do this," the Purple Morphin Ranger said. Andréa gasped when she recognized the voice as her own.
"You have to stay and protect the earth," the Purple Zeo Ranger added. "It's where you needed." Again, the Ranger sounded just like Andréa.
"No!" Aurora shouted, drawing her saber and pointing it at the three Rangers. "You have to reclaim your past for the good of your homeland!"
Andréa slowly turned around upon hearing that and noticed how everything had become even more surreal. Aurora was not dressed as before, but she was instead wearing Andréa's Purple Ranger costume. She took off her helmet; except for Aurora's white hair and deep blue eyes, she and Andréa could have easily been mistaken for twins if they were both morphed. "No way," was all Andréa could say. "The Purple Ranger's part of my past too?" Aurora nodded silently.
The Purple Turbo Ranger grabbed hold of Andréa. "You can't listen to her," she pleaded, once again in Andréa's voice. "You belong here in the present. Remember what Adam always said? What happened in the past doesn't matter anymore!"
"Let go of her!" Aurora commanded, pointing her saber at the three costumed Rangers once again. The Turbo Ranger then let Andréa go and all three stepped back.
A sudden, shrill whinny then stopped everyone cold. Andréa looked back and saw a figure on a white horse appearing out of the fog and immediately knew who it was. It was Adam as the White Ranger staring down at her the same way he did in her other dreams. He and Aurora then stared at each other intently, and something immediately occurred to Andréa. Could this have been the reason Adam looked the way he did whenever he became the White Ranger? she thought. If it is, some of this might just start to make some kind of sense! "White Ranger?" she finally asked. "Why are you here? I thought Adam didn't have those powers anymore! What's going on?"
"Those questions aren't important at this time, Andréa," the White Ranger said as his horse pranced around. "What's more important right now is that you listen to what I have to say. It is not the path you are forced to choose, but the path already chosen for you. Take whichever one you believe is right."
Andréa stood there, still confused. "Huh? The path already chosen for me? I don't get it. How should I know what that is when I don't understand any of this?"
"You'll know the answer in time," the White Ranger replied. "Trust me." That was all he would tell her before he turned his horse and cantered back down the path from which he came, disappearing once again into the fog.
"Wait!" Andréa called out after him. "White Ranger, come back! What does that all mean?" But it was too late; he was already gone. She turned back towards the others, all of them staring back at her silently. They all seemed to know the meaning of the White Ranger's words when she didn't. However, Andréa didn't know that she really knew the meaning deep within. She was way too torn between her supposed past and her present to figure it out. Who was she to believe? Would reclaiming her past eventually alter her future as a Ranger? Then there was also that phrase Aurora had told her: I am your past, your present, and your future. She gave it some thought. "All right, let me get this straight," Andréa said. "Let's say I chose my past. What would happen after that? Then there's Adam and the rest of the Rangers. Would I be leaving them all behind?"
"You wouldn't be leaving me behind, Aurora," an all too familiar voice said.
Andréa stopped cold, knowing she had just heard that voice seconds before. She looked up and saw a larger, more masculine-looking figure coming out of the fog. He stopped next to Aurora, and Andréa immediately recognized him. "Oh my god," she gasped, her hands covering her gaping mouth. He looked so much like Adam, but she didn't know whether to believe he was really Adam to begin with. How could he just about be in two places at once? Andréa asked herself, seeing how he still was in his White Ranger form but without the pale face and now dressed similar to what Aurora had been wearing before she morphed, a long broadsword strapped to his back. "No," she said softly, "Adam, not you too. Is all of this really true?"
"My name is Adrian," he corrected her, "and yes, all of this is true. You and I were at each other's side when were defeated on Khalterria. Aurora, you must remember your past. It's the path that has been chosen for you." The real Aurora nodded in agreement.
Now Andréa was finding this even more confusing. First of all, she was told that she was supposed to be from another time and place, but now Adam too? If this was the path that was already chosen for her like he said, then there really weren't any other choices to make. And just like that, the name Adrian suddenly had a significance to her. "I've made a decision," Andréa finally said after a few minutes and beginning to walk towards Aurora. "I'm gonna go through with this. I have to know the truth."
The Purple Zeo Ranger stopped her. "Andréa, wait," she said. "You do know that doing this could endanger yourself as well as the rest of the Rangers, don't you?"
"It's a risk I'm willing to take," Andréa replied, never looking back at the three false Purple Rangers. "There's a path that's been chosen for me, and I have to choose the one I believe is right." She then reached out for Aurora's hand.
"You've made the right choice, princess," was the last thing Andréa heard Aurora say before she took her modern counterpart's hand.
Before Andréa knew it, the other was gone, and so were the three Purple Rangers. She looked around, wondering where they all went, then at herself; she was once again the real Purple Ranger she had already known but instead with Aurora's appearance. She looked over at Adrian, who was still there with her, but he now wore a Black Ranger costume that looked almost exactly like hers. Looking around again, she noticed how the fog she had been lost in before had completely lifted, and the skies were clear. The crossroads was gone too; only a single straight path remained. At the very end of the wooded path, off in a clearing in the distance, was an enormous and beautiful castle. "What . . . what just happened?" Andréa finally asked, still not fully understanding everything.
Adrian took her gloved hand and kissed it. Welcome back, Aurora my sweet, he said softly without speaking. It's time to follow the path home.
Andréa looked at him again and was finally able to comprehend everything; she was indeed Aurora. Yes Adrian, she replied in kind, staring at him intently, it is time.
[Angel Grove City Park, Tuesday, June 17, 1997, around 2:30 pm]
But if I touch you like this
And if you kiss me like that
It was so long ago
But it's all coming back to me
If you touch me like this
And if I kiss you like that
It was gone with the wind
But it's all coming back to me
(It's all coming back, it's all coming back to me now)
There were moments of gold
And there were flashes of light
There were things we'd never do again
But then they'd always seemed right . . .
"Rae, can I talk to you?" Adam found Andréa sitting by herself on top of a picnic table under a shade tree, looking at something in her sketchbook. On any other day, they would have come to the park together, but today obviously wasn't any other day. Adam's mind was still on that dream he had the night before when he finally discovered the truth behind that mysterious figure he always saw: it was actually himself as he was a long time ago. Several of the long-lost memories had gradually started coming back to him one by one, meaning everything Adrian had told him turned out to be the truth, and so now he just wondered if the part about Aurora, Andréa's former self, was really true as well. "There's something I really need to say."
Why do I have this feeling I know exactly where he's going with this? Andréa thought as she closed her sketchbook. "Go ahead," she said with a touch of caution.
"I know you're probably gonna think I'm not myself," Adam began as he sat down beside her, his hair partially hiding his face from view, "but the truth is . . . I'm not really sure if I am myself anymore."
"Believe it or not, I've got that same feeling," Andréa sighed, looking away.
"You had that dream too?"
"Uh-huh. You know, all of this makes me feel like I'm in the middle of some really weird episode of Sailor Moon."
"What do you mean by that?" Adam asked curiously.
"Well," Andréa began, "in the American version, there's this girl named Serena who's not only Sailor Moon, but also turns out to be a princess from the moon who was sent into the future when some evil empire attacked her kingdom. There's also this guy named Darien who happens to be the object of her affection when he comes to her rescue as Tuxedo Mask." She paused for a moment, the name Darien having some weird significance to her other than in that show that she couldn't quite determine but having nothing to do with her past life. "But anyway, it doesn't end there. He also turns out to be a prince from Earth who she was in love with during their first lives. So right now, I'm not sure whether to say life's imitating art or if art's imitating life."
"I can't blame you for that," Adam said, finding the uncanny similarities between those anime characters and themselves. "All of this is just way too strange for me."
"I know," Andréa replied. "But I just don't get the part with the three other Purple Rangers. There was one who looked like one of the original Rangers, one who was a Zeo Ranger—looked a lot like a female version of Zeo Ranger IV actually, and a third one who was supposed to be a Turbo Ranger." She looked back at Adam. "What do you think that could've meant?"
He thought for a minute. "I think they're probably supposed to be the parallels of the Rangers I've been, 'cause I saw the Black Ranger, Zeo Ranger IV, and the Green Turbo Ranger in my dream. But I just don't understand why they seemed to be against the idea of us taking back all these old memories."
"I don't get it either," Andréa said. "There has to be a meaning to all of this, but it just . . . doesn't make any kind of sense! There's absolutely no way you and I could've had the exact same dream, at probably the exact same time, and be told the exact same thing by two people who claim we were once them, unless . . . oh no . . ." Her voice abruptly trailed off. She could tell that Adam knew exactly what she was going to say without even having to say it. In fact, she didn't even have to look at him to know that he knew, and that was the problem.
Andréa, can you hear me? . . .
Yeah Adam, I can hear you, but I don't know how or why . . .
Adam and Andréa slowly turned to face each other, both totally caught off guard by what had just happened. They had both been telepathic during their previous lives, and that connection, like everything about their past, was only now returning to them. "Well, that explains a lot right there," Andréa said, resting her head in her hands and staring off into space. "Boy, my mother certainly wasn't lying when she always said that everything in life happened for a reason, 'cause now we've finally figured out why everything happened the way it did when you were the White Ranger. They weren't side effects at all; the power just happened to trigger certain characteristics you used to have before either of us knew the truth. In fact, the only real side effect of that was when your face looked really pale."
"So that's what that figure I kept seeing always meant by saying that he was a part of me and that we'd know the truth about him soon," Adam added, now realizing that his telekinetic, healing, and manipulative abilities were indeed natural. "I never would've guessed that he was really supposed to be me all this time. I guess this also kind of explains the déjà vu feelings we've had about each other too, but to be perfectly honest, all of this is starting to scare me."
"You're not the only one," Andréa replied. Then she thought of something. "Do you think Dimitria might know something about this? She is my mother, after all."
"I'm not sure," Adam said as he stood up, "but it would probably be a good idea to let the others know what's going on anyway. Something else in the dream was saying that this could . . ."
". . . Endanger the rest of the team, I know," Andréa finished, knowing exactly what Adam was going to say, which slightly freaked both of them out. "I think you're right. We've gotta tell them." She stood up as well and raised her communicator to her lips. "Alpha, can you have the others meet Adam and me at the Power Chamber?" Andréa said into it. She glanced over to Adam. "It's . . . kinda important."
"That's the understatement of the year," Adam commented to the side.
"Hey, yo, what's Divatox up to this time?" Alpha finally answered.
"Nothing that we know of," Andréa replied. "Listen, can you just have the others meet us there? This is something everybody--Dimitria included--needs to know, and, like, right now."
"Okay, okay, no problem, you guys!" Alpha called back. "I'm on it!"
Adam sighed heavily. "Here goes nothing . . ." The two then teleported to the Power Chamber, wondering exactly what kind of reaction they might get from Dimitria and the other Rangers.
[Power Chamber, a few minutes later]
All six Rangers arrived at the same time. "Adam, Andréa, what's going on that you needed to talk to us?" asked Kat. "Is there a problem?"
"Alpha told us it was really important," Tanya added.
Adam and Andréa exchanged glances. "It is," the latter began. "It all started when Adam and I had this one . . ." Her voice trailed off as the two of them spotted someone in front of Dimitria, apparently talking to her and dressed in a long, hooded, dark-colored robe. This person quickly turned around at the sound of Andréa's voice and looked to the other four Rangers, then to Adam and Andréa, and gasped.
"Who's that?" Justin asked impulsively.
The hood was removed to reveal a young woman of perhaps eighteen or nineteen. She looked human, like she could have been part-Indian due to her dark hair and complexion, but her clothing and jewelry were clear evidence that she wasn't from Earth. Something about her seemed oddly familiar to Adam and Andréa—the Purple Ranger especially—but neither of them could determine exactly why yet. "Aurora, Adrian," she said as if she had just seen a ghost, quickly bowing to the two, "it's true! You are alive here on Earth!"
The other four Rangers looked at each other in total confusion. "What's going on?" they started asking each other. "Who's she talking about?" Then they all looked over at Adam and Andréa, neither of them showing any kind of surprise by what they had just been called.
"This is what we wanted to tell you that was so important," Adam finally explained. "There was this dream Rae and I both had last night where we were told that we had lived in another time and place, and how we had to remember this past." The other four Rangers still didn't seem to understand, but the young woman hung on his every word, nodding for him to continue.
"Yeah," Andréa continued, "and we were being told this by our former selves as well. Though we had our doubts, we took our chances with our supposed past." She glanced back at Adam again for a moment. "After that, there were all these memories coming back to us, of being together, of being Rangers, and even of her." She then looked over at the young woman. "Is all of this really true?"
"Yes," she replied, nodding again. "I am Taliana, former chief advisor to the royal court of Tashalla. I was the one who helped the two of you escape The Master and be reborn during the present time."
The other Rangers were still completely lost. "Dimitria," Tommy finally broke in, "how come we're only finding out about this just now?"
"It's quite simple, Rangers," Taliana continued, answering Tommy's question. "Several thousand years ago on a distant world known as Khalterria, Aurora and Adrian . . . Andréa and Adam to you . . . [the new names were rather unfamiliar to her] were both royal heirs of their kingdoms as well as leaders of a massive army against a dark force, known only to the people as The Master, that invaded their world. However, the entire army was decimated in the battle, the prince and princess the lone survivors, but their kingdoms refused to surrender. As one last hope for victory, I gave them each a powerful crystal that they could use to become two of the very first Rangers. But despite these efforts, they were still overwhelmed. My final option in order to keep them from dying was to send them into the future to be reborn with new identities and no recollection of their past, and so they're only now finding this out at the same time the rest of you are. When I did this, it was my hope that once they reached the age at which they were sent away, they would be able to remember their past lives and return to their homeworld to fight The Master."
Andréa thought for a moment. "A powerful crystal we could use to become Rangers?" she repeated to herself. She remembered how when she first joined the team, Zordon had said that the Purple Ranger was one of the very first Rangers and that the original one would have found her to be her worthy successor. But had she only known then that she actually was that original Purple Ranger all that time. "Of course! That's where my powers came from!" She took it out and looked it over. "Wow, all this time I thought I had come across this thing by chance, but I never would've guessed that it was supposed be mine all the long!"
Taliana took the crystal from Andréa's hand and inspected it, smiling at the Ranger. "Yes, the Purple Phoenix FireStar Crystal. But . . . where's the other one?"
"You mean there's another crystal like that?" Kat asked.
The girl nodded and looked at Adam. "You don't have the black crystal?" she asked.
Adam remembered the part of his dream when Adrian had become a Black Ranger and had a crystal like Andréa's, then remembered something else about it, like he had seen it not that long before. It was also the reason, he finally realized, why her crystal had seemed so familiar to begin with when he first saw her as the Purple Ranger. "I think I might have it," he said, "'cause I came across something like it not long after becoming a Ranger, but I had no idea what it was back then."
Andréa pulled him aside. "You mean you've had it all this time and never told me?" she asked him just loud enough so that they were out of everyone else's earshot.
"How was I supposed to know what it was?" Adam came back. "I was fifteen going on sixteen then and still learning about being a Ranger. If I had known then what I know now, maybe I would've brought it up. But does that really matter anymore now that I know I have it?"
Andréa let out a perplexed sigh. "I guess not. But you still have to go get it."
"She's right," Taliana broke in. "You have to find the Black FireStar Crystal if you are to have any chance of defeating The Master."
"I understand." Adam turned to Andréa and kissed her on the cheek, forgetting how everyone else was watching. I'll be back as soon as I can, he said to her telepathically as the other Rangers looked on without the ability to hear or understand anything either of them were saying.
Andréa smiled. And I'll still be waiting here when you get back, she said back to him, watching quietly as he teleported away in a streak of green light.
"I see that the two of you have become a couple," Taliana said to her, smiling as well. Andréa blushed at the fact that everyone had indeed seen that little display of affection. "Tell me, just how did you and . . . Adam . . . meet for the first time here?"
Andréa smiled again as she thought about that, once again forgetting that the other Rangers were there to hear everything. "Well," she began, "we actually first met as Rangers not quite a year ago, but neither of us knew each other's identities. Then, two days later, we really met. I know it's not as--how should I say?--romantic as the first time around, but I had accidentally run into him at school. Even though we barely knew each other then, once our eyes met for the first time, I knew there had to be something special. Later that evening was when I stumbled upon his identity as a Ranger, but I still hadn't revealed mine to him yet. It wasn't until the day after when I revealed my identity to him while we were in the middle of a major battle. But since then, we've been virtually inseparable." The rest of the Rangers smiled and nodded in agreement, knowing how rare it was to find Andréa without Adam close by and vice versa.
Taliana couldn't help but grin. "The two of you always were inseparable," she recalled. "I remember that time when you originally first met Adrian."
"Yeah, me too . . ." Andréa said rather dreamily, able to remember that night as clearly as if it had just taken place.
* * *
Aurora stood nervously behind her mother and father's thrones, only once in a while peeking out at the ballroom floor. "Come now, Aurora dear, this is your celebration," Queen Constantina, her mother, said, smiling. "There's no need for you to hide."
"You're seventeen now and our only daughter," King Aurelius, Aurora's father, added. "You really must find someone soon before it's too late. Your mother and I aren't immortals like Taliana."
Aurora reluctantly came out and stood between her parents, seeing no one of slight interest in the room. She had on a beautiful purple gown, her long white hair styled elegantly as it fell over her shoulders. "I know," she replied quietly, walking to the window and staring out for a brief moment, "but I just . . . don't like being forced into this. If I do find someone I want to marry, I want it to be for love and not just because I have to for the good of the people."
At the far end of the floor, a clamor arose from the courtiers at the celebration. A very handsome and stately young man dressed in a black outfit, a black and red cape, and partial body armor had just entered the ballroom, his nearly shoulder-length white hair falling around his tan face and blue eyes. The king and queen stood up to see who he was as the other young women in the crowd looked him over with many a dreamy sigh. Even Aurora was taken by this young man's charm. "Oh my, it's him," Constantina said, almost falling for him herself, "but I don't remember him being on the guest list."
"Who is he?" Aurora asked, totally captivated by him. "I've never seen him here before."
"That's . . . that's Prince Adrian . . . of Corinthia, but . . ." the queen replied, her voice trailing off as she noticed how her daughter was staring intently at him. "Aurora?"
She didn't answer; she was too busy staring at him. When the prince and princess's eyes finally met, Aurora descended to the floor. She had heard of Adrian before, but she had never really known who he was or what he looked like until now. Despite that, though, she suddenly felt drawn to him in a way she couldn't understand; it was as if she knew she was destined to be with him forever. Adrian walked in her direction as well, never taking his eyes off the lovely princess. At the same time, he too felt as though their lives were supposed to be intertwined with each other. A hush fell over the crowd, everyone staring as Aurora continued to move toward the prince and completely forgot about how nervous she had just been about being forced to attend her own birthday celebration.
The two met near the center of the floor, still staring at each other. Adrian bent down on one knee, reaching out for Aurora's delicate hand and kissing it in the chivalrous manner in which he had been taught to treat all women regardless of their age or class. "May I have this dance, princess?" he asked her in a soft, kind voice.
Aurora smiled and blushed. "Yes, of course." Adrian immediately returned to his feet as he took both of the princess's hands and started to dance with her. The music swelled into a beautiful, sweeping ballad that fit the scene perfectly. (As she recalled the memory, Andréa thought it to have sounded a lot like an orchestral version of Enya's "The Memory of Trees." And at the same time, the outfit that Adrian had been wearing that night reminded her a lot of the one worn by Prince Darien in Sailor Moon, yet another strange similarity she found between her and Adam's past lives and the characters on that show.) Everyone, including the king and queen, watched as the two danced the night away, never leaving each other's side and nothing else mattering to them now except themselves. For the first time in her life, Aurora had truly found herself in love with someone, and it was what she had wanted.
Much later that evening, the two slipped out of the palace and into the vast courtyard. It was a warm and quiet night as the two moons and the countless stars shone brightly; everything was as perfect as perfect could ever be. "For years," Adrian said to the princess, "I have heard tales of a beautiful young princess who lived here in Tashalla, never quite sure if they were true, but now I am standing here with this princess in her land."
"My mother had always told me stories of a handsome warrior prince from Corinthia," Aurora replied, "but I too never knew that they were true, and now here I am with him as well."
Gazing into her eyes, Adrian took Aurora's hands into his and drew her close to him. "Even though I have met many young women over time," he continued, "none have ever come close to your charm and beauty. He paused for a moment and then said something to her in an ancient Khalterrian tongue: "Ishalám senta nari kama, Aurora."
Aurora looked at him in amazement; one rarely ever said that phrase, which really had no true translation but could possibly be translated as "You are my one and only true love," to someone he hardly even knew. To Khalterrians, it was one of the most intimate phrases any two lovers could say to each other, and so she then realized that he truly did love her if he would already say that to her. But then again, she already had strong feelings for the prince as well, so it was only fitting that she would say the same thing back to him. "Et ishalám senta nari kama toren, Adrian," she responded. Finally, with very little hesitation, Adrian leaned into her and kissed her, Aurora's very first true kiss.